“I hope so,” Dreya yawned. “But I need to sleep now.”
“Get some rest.” Katrina scooted closer to keep her warm. “You’re doing something big now.” Dreya’s breathing steadied as she drifted away.
Katrina stared at the ceiling for hours. This is bad. So freaking bad. How are we going to handle this? The world has gone down the drain. This is no place to raise an infant. Oh… but there is going to be a little baby.
*
A loud knocking on the back window woke the girls up. The morning sun shone weakly through the glass and Katrina could see her breath in the air. She instinctively sat upright and put her arm across Dreya- and the baby- to keep them down. Mia grabbed the rifle and was pulling it onto her lap.
“Put it down and come out here ladies,” a raspy man’s voice barked from outside of the Jeep. “I just want to know what you are doing here.”
Katrina looked to Mia. “It might be him. Stay inside. I’ll go out and talk.” Mia nodded. Katrina climbed into the front seat. She tucked her hair behind her ears and reached for the door handle. Her teeth felt gritty. Her mouth was dry.
The cold morning air hit her like a freezing whip. She pulled her hands into her thin sweater sleeves and crossed her arms over her chest. “Morning,” she smiled. “How can I help you?”
The old man wore a pair of overalls underneath a heavy Carhart jacket. His boots were military issued and beaten up, Katrina noted, but his beard was long.
“I think that is my question kid.” He did not look amused. “Want to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to camp out on an Army base?”
“Seemed safe.” Katrina shrugged. “Plus we were waiting for someone to meet us.”
“Who?” The man stepped closer to the Jeep as Katrina took a step back.
“1st Sergeant Warner. Well, he was a 1st Sgt. once upon a time.”
“Is that so?” The man rubbed his bearded chin. “And who told you to meet this 1st Sgt.?”
“My dad did.” Katrina shivered. “Sgt. Major Floyd.”
“You’re telling me that Floyd sent a little girl out here for this?” the man huffed. “I don’t believe that for a second. You and your two girlfriends need to get out of here.”
Katrina looked at the fogged windows of the Jeep. She couldn’t see inside. The man had to have been watching them since last night.
“Wait 1st Sgt. Warner,” Katrina called as the man walked to his truck. “My dad said to tell you about the day I was born.”
“I’m listening.” The man paused but didn’t turn around.
“The day I was born, my dad came running into your office to tell you his wife was in labor. You barely looked up as he bounced anxiously from foot to foot. Finally, you leaned back in your chair and said, “I suppose you want the day off then.” My dad was so nervous he laughed. “I’m not sure what I should ask for,” he said. You glared at him and said, “take a half day.” He ran out the door and made it to the hospital just in time.” Katrina raised her sweater covered hands up. “The dramatic story of my birth.”
The 1st Sgt. coughed, and Katrina heard the faintest chuckle behind the noise. The man pivoted to face her before squatting down and putting his head in his hands. “Damnit Floyd,” he groaned. “Is your dad okay?”
Katrina nodded. “He is up in Washington fighting. The government took Pendleton and blew up 29 Palms. The men went to Barstow to head them off there.”
The 1st Sgt. stood. “That means they are hungry. Good. But they’ll come here next. You ready to do this?” He looked over to the Jeep. “You know you shouldn’t have brought those girls.”
“I had no other option.” She looked at the ground. “The base was being bombed and they are my friends. I couldn’t leave them behind.”
The 1st Sgt. grunted. “Well follow me then. I’ve got to make a quick radio call and we will get started.”
“Alright 1st Sgt.,” Katrina said as she walked back to the warmth of the Jeep. “What is it that we are doing exactly?”
1st Sgt. Warner made a noise somewhere between disbelief and exasperation. “I guess you’ll find out in a minute.”
Chapter 18
Two semitrucks came down the main highway. 1st Sgt. Warner pulled his pickup truck out on the road ahead of them and Katrina followed with the Jeep. They turned down a dirt road and carefully avoided the washed out ruts until the pickup parked in front of a hill shaped bunker.
Katrina, Dreya, and Mia climbed out of the Jeep and walked up to Warner. The sun had begun to melt the morning frost and the old bunker door glistened from the moisture. Two men came over from the semis and looked uncomfortably at one another when they saw the girls.
“Is this for real?” the man with the backwards ballcap asked.
“I was hoping he’d send me a team and he sent me the powderpuff girls instead.” The 1st Sgt. shook his head. Katrina’s cheeks turned red.
“We can do anything you need us to do.” Mia squared her shoulders. “So quit yapping and let’s get started with whatever this is.”
The 1st Sgt. chuckled, and the men joined his laughter. “Alright kid,” he said as he opened the lock. “Might as well get what we can.”
He pulled up the metal door to expose a cylinder shaped bunker tucked deep in the ground. Rows of cases lined the walls, each was marked with a serial number stamped on the side.
Katrina walked deeper into the room and let her eyes adjust to the dark. “What is all this?”
“Contingency plans. The key to winning the rebellion. Another apocalypse.” The 1st Sgt. shrugged. “Take your pick of the name you want to call it. The government has been stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and ammunition in these bunkers since World War 2. The Resistance fought to gain control of this area so that the government rats couldn’t get their hands on this. If they broke through Southern California, that means they are coming to get it.”
“Why didn’t they come to get this first?” Katrina spun around to face him.
“They are heading to Barstow to get the stockpiles of rations. Which means they are hungry and that’s good. It shows we are winning.” Warner looked Katrina in the eyes. “If they get control of this, we lose.”
“Okay,” Mia called from the doorway. “Let’s go then. We need to move it all. Like now.”
“I like her.” Warner smiled. “But it’s not going to be that simple.”
Katrina shook her head. “There are miles of bunkers here. How are we ever going to get this all?”
“Now you see what I see.” Warner smirked. “The forklifts will be here soon. We’ll get as much out as we can. Till then, start moving these crates here. We don’t want them using mustard gas on us, do we?” He grabbed a case and winked at her. “Guess your dad thinks you are a hard worker, eh?”
Yeah, Katrina thought as she lifted a heavy container. Thanks Dad.
*
Katrina watched Dreya nervously all morning and helped anytime she lifted something too heavy.
“I’m not going to break,” Dreya finally whispered. “Stop worrying about me.”
By the time the forklifts arrived, the girls and men were drenched in sweat. The forklifts moved missiles and a nuclear warhead from another bunker and put it in the back of the semi. In the middle of the day, a woman drove up with food that Katrina barely tasted. That evening she returned with more food and three more men to help.
“Where were you all at?” Katrina asked as she chewed a mouthful of her hamburger. “This place was a ghost town when we drove up.”
1st Sgt. Warner rubbed his lower back. “Watching. Waiting. We wanted it to seem abandoned so if aerial cameras or drones happened to look, the government wouldn’t think there was an immediate need to attack.”
They continued to work until after the sun went down, using the headlights from the vehicles to guide the way. The first semi was sealed off once they packed it full.
“Take a break,” Warner told the girls and loading crew who were tottering on the
ir feet. “Tomorrow will be an easier day.”
Katrina, Dreya, and Mia crawled into the back of the Jeep. They snuggled close together and fell asleep almost instantly.
*
Katrina woke up a few hours later. Her muscles were screaming out in pain. She quietly climbed out of the vehicle to stretch because she didn’t want to risk waking Dreya.
The second semi had been moved across the field. Katrina walked through the goat heads and sagebrush in the grey early morning light until she reached the truck. 1st Sgt. Warner was moving slowly as he continued to stack more crates.
“Did you sleep?” Katrina asked. The man grunted in response. She looked in the back of the semi and noticed it was more than half way full already. Katrina grabbed another crate and began loading.
“We aren’t going to be able to get all of these bunkers,” Katrina said as she stacked the next case.
“No, we won’t.” Warner let out a heavy breath. “But you do the best with what you have.”
“We can get more semis here,” Katrina said in confusion. “Radio for more help.”
“It’s likely that we are running out of time.” He removed his jacket and laid it on the truck’s step rail. “And I only have two drivers for two trucks.” He moved to get another box.
“I can drive a big truck,” Katrina said proudly. “So I can drive another one for you.”
“Yep.” The 1st Sgt. stretched out his shoulders. “You’re my second driver.” He pointed to himself and back to her. “One. Two.”
“What if I couldn’t drive the truck?” Katrina stared at the man, the lines of her forehead creasing.
“Well then I probably would have strangled Floyd with my bare hands.”
The puzzle pieces slid into place as her brain caught up. “Two drivers. Me and you. No one else will know where we are moving this to.”
“Bingo.” He grunted as he lifted another box.
She shook off the confusion and rushed to help. “Are we leaving the trucks somewhere?”
“Too dangerous. We have to empty them and hide this.”
“But we can’t unload all this by ourselves,” Katrina said as she helped him fit the crate against the truck wall.
Warner rubbed his shoulder and she saw a hint of pain flick across his face. “I’m trying to figure that out now. I might blindfold them or throw them in the back. I guess we could always just shoot them after we are finished.”
Katrina’s jaw dropped. “That isn’t funny.”
“No?” He laughed. “I kind of thought it was.”
“Dreya and Mia won’t say anything,” Katrina huffed.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t now. Just like you wouldn’t say anything. But now isn’t what I’m concerned with. In the right circumstances, under extreme pressure, everybody breaks. The more people who know where we are moving it to, the greater the liability.”
“Well then, I could get captured or even you…” Katrina’s voice trailed off as she thought through the situation. “That is why you are out here and not fighting with the Resistance, isn’t it? Anyone can guard this place, but you know the secrets. It’s harder to catch you if you are in hiding.” Warner nodded as he continued to work.
“But I can’t go into hiding,” Katrina stuttered. “I just promised Dreya that I’d bring her back to the base in Arizona.”
“Well you better explain things to her fast because you don’t have another choice.”
Chapter 19
The rest of the crew joined Katrina and 1st Sgt. Warner. Dreya looked embarrassed as she pulled up in the Jeep with Mia hours later.
“It’s my fault,” she whispered to Katrina. “I just couldn’t wake up for some reason.”
Katrina looked to Dreya’s tiny waist and back up to her eyes. “It is definitely not your fault. You need the sleep. Do you want me to say you’re sick so that you can go lay back down?”
Dreya shook her head. “I’ll be fine. It looks like you are almost done anyway. Let’s just hurry up and finish.” The girls worked side by side. Katrina made sure to grab the heavier equipment from Dreya despite her looks of annoyance.
The woman who came with the food the day before reappeared in her Station Wagon carrying a tray of biscuit sandwiches. Warner lowered the door of the semi and bolted it shut.
“Just in time.” He winked at her as he reached under the foil for some food. She quickly whispered in his ear and he stood up straight. “It’s time to leave. Get your chow to go.”
“What’s happening?” Katrina asked as she stood up from the ground.
“We just got word that Barstow is struggling to hold them off. Unless the Sgt. Major’s team gets there in time, they don’t think they’ll make it.”
“What do you want us to do Dad?” one of the men asked.
Katrina did a doubletake as she looked at the men who had driven over the semitrucks the previous day. They both had the same shape to their nose that Warner had. This mean old man has a family? Katrina stared in disbelief. I did not see that coming.
“Excuse me Miss,” Warner said as he took off the woman’s apron. “It’s not your favorite so I hope you don’t mind if I cut it up.”
The woman laughed as he untied the strings. Then she kissed him goodbye before she left in her vehicle.
Katrina’s mind was blown. “Did you see that?” she whispered to Dreya.
“I can’t believe it either,” she laughed. “It’s a weird world we live in.”
“Listen to me.” 1st Sgt. Warner regained his calloused voice. “These are blindfolds. That means you are supposed to be blind. Do not look out. Do not try to remove them until you are told to do so.” He tied the material over his sons’ eyes first. “Knowing where this location is puts a mark on your back. And in the event of capture, you can potentially jeopardize the whole mission. I repeat, do not take these off.”
Warner tied the girls’ eyes and Katrina led them both by their hands up into the cab of the semi.
“Katrina.” Dreya sat awkwardly in the bucket seat. “Why don’t you have a blindfold on?”
“I guess this was a part of my dad’s plan. I am supposed to know where we are putting this stuff. Plus, he needed two drivers.” Katrina smirked as she started the engine.
“But that makes you a target,” Dreya gasped. “Stop this right now. I don’t want you to get hurt.” She reached up to untie her mask.
“Leave it there Dreya,” Katrina’s voice was stern. “I don’t have a choice. You always say that we have to help. This is how I help.”
“There has to be another way,” Mia said from the floor of the cab behind the seats. Katrina shook her head and then remembered that the girls couldn’t see her.
“No,” she said firmly. “This is the way it has to be. Get some sleep now. We still have to unload all of this when we stop.”
*
Katrina smiled as she looked at the drool leaking down Dreya’s chin. She had been following Warner’s truck for hours as they weaved further into the backcountry away from civilization. The last forty miles were driven on small dirt roads that led deep into the Mojave Desert. Nothing soft lived this far out.
She still didn’t know how she was going to break the news to Dreya that she couldn’t go with them to the base. Wait until later, Katrina pushed the thoughts away. Work first.
*
Warner began breaking a distance in advance to allow Katrina the time to stop. She turned off the engine and gently woke the girls.
“You can take your blindfolds off now,” she whispered.
“Where are we?” Mia yawned. “Or are we allowed to ask that?”
“The middle of nowhere.” Katrina climbed down from the cab of the truck.
In the clearing to the right sat a small backhoe and forklift. Dirt was piled into a hill overlooking a freshly dug pit.
“Who did this?” Katrina asked, eyeing the hole.
“I did,” Warner answered as he unlocked the back of the trucks. “I’ve been coming
out here for a month now in order to get this ready. Sure glad I didn’t dig it too wide.”
It was faster unloading the cargo into the pit than it was loading it into the trucks. By nightfall they were exhausted and began to move slower. Warner tossed out bags of MREs. Mia licked the crumbs out the packet without complaint. Katrina’s feet dragged a path through the dirt as she shuffled between the vehicles and the hole.
Everyone had stopped talking hours earlier, communicating only in single syllables. Muscles and bones aching. Katrina noticed even her thoughts were speaking in caveman grunts. She worried about her friend, but Dreya didn’t utter a word of protest.
After the sun rose, the boys moved the last forklift haul containing the warhead into the pit. Then they drove the vehicle up the ramp into the back of the truck. Katrina, Dreya, and Mia collapsed in a heap on the ground. The 1st Sgt. started the backhoe as his sons came to sit next to the girls. Warner began moving the dirt to seal off the pit.
“He hasn’t slept in days.” Katrina watched him as he covered the cargo.
“That old man?” The son with the curling hair laughed. “He doesn’t sleep. He runs on cuss words and coffee.”
“My dad is like that too.” Katrina smiled.
“It seems like your dad trusts you more than ours trusts us. You didn’t have to wear a blindfold.” He threw a rock across the open field.
“It’s not that.” Katrina leaned back on her arms. “It’s that we will go separate ways. I’ll take the secret of this somewhere else while he keeps the secret there. It would be stupid to jeopardize his whole family. Your dad trusts you enough to need your help and that’s the highest honor we can get.”
Warner pulled the backhoe shakily up the ramp and then closed the back of the second truck.
“Well I don’t know how we did it, but we pulled it off.” 1st Sgt. Warner shook Katrina’s hand.
“I have no doubt that you could’ve pulled this off by yourself,” Katrina laughed.
“I don’t know about that.” Warner smiled. “But now I know there is one other unlucky S.O.B. to hold this secret. If something happens to me,” he paused as he looked back to his sons, “I know the Resistance still stands a chance.”
Project Dandelion: Resistance Page 8
