“And what can we do about Joyce and Jeff and him and that drunken lout. Who else knows?” The last was directed at Tevy.
Tevy’s stomach heaved, and he feared bringing up the drink right in front of the bishop. He considered and dismissed arguments and pleas, entreaties and suggestions. He knew they were all to no avail. He went with the simplest answer.
“Fuck you.”
He made it to the corridor before he emptied his guts.
*
Kayla got naked behind the blockhouse and Amanda poured several buckets of water of cold water from the well over her. Amanda was almost as excited by Kayla’s marriage, and she confided that she intended to have Elliot at the earliest possibility, which was only delayed because, after one fumbling and drunken attempt to remove her jeans, he had passed out on his bed in the dorm of the Brat Pack.
Amanda loaned Kayla a dress, and Kayla twirled once in the light cotton, loving the feel and the freedom. She couldn’t wait for Tevy to take it off. She couldn’t help but dance a little, in spite of the exhaustion. Everywhere you looked, people danced, cheered, drank, and kissed, mostly in the courtyard by the church, although the whole cantonment was one huge party in the morning sun. Vlad was dead and the rippers that had threatened them for so long were vanquished. Bobs had done it. People sang her name and Webb’s. That was the only blemish on the day, that Tevy and Elliot weren’t getting their due for their role in ending Vlad’s life, but Kayla was sure the record would be set straight in the next few days.
“He must be pretty tired,” said Amanda as she fussed over the dress. “Do you think...” She blushed.
Kayla laughed. “I’m pretty bagged, too, so maybe we’ll sleep first.” She gave Amanda her most mischievous look. “But when we wake up, I’ll put him through his paces.”
They both laughed. A man from the crowd with a bottle tried to kiss Amanda, but she kneed him in the groin and pushed him away. He laughed and kept going, looking for someone else to kiss. It was that kind of day.
Tevy came out of the church and Kayla had to suppress a surge of disappointment. He hadn’t cleaned up at all. In fact, he looked worse than after the medic from Webb’s army sewed up his many gashes. Suddenly, Kayla feared his death. He looked so sick. Had Vlad got him after all? Was he dying and turning into a ripper? She ran through the crowd, pushing people out of her way.
“Tevy!” She got to him but didn’t embrace him. Vomit mixed with the blood on his shirt. “Are you okay?” She put a hand on his shoulder and it was still warm, and he was standing in full sunlight. These were good signs.
“Oh, Kayla. We have to do something.”
“What happened? Tevy, what happened!”
“Emile...he was drunk. He told Bobs about Margaret, about her being Bertrand Allan’s daughter.”
“Oh, shit. Does she know about him?”
Tevy shook his head and looked as if he might throw up again, but he held it together. “The bishop, the bishop says that she’s got to become a nun, that they’ve got to keep it a secret. That she’s got to die without having children herself.”
“What? Why?”
“Joyce was right. Allan’s to be a saint and this would spoil his...I don’t know...his sanctity. Like saints aren’t supposed to have sex, I guess, especially without getting married first.”
They had a little time but not much. Bobs would move fast on this, but Kayla intended to move faster. She turned to Amanda. “You should come with us. Go wake Elliot. Slap him, throw water on him, whatever you have to do. You drag him to the Merchandise Mart.”
“What do I tell him?” Amanda looked bewildered.
“Tell him that Tevy needs his help more than ever.”
After last night, that was saying a lot.
Amanda’s lower lip firmed up, and she got that detached look she always got when going into battle. “Got it.” She ran up the steps of the church.
“Tevy, are you okay? Can you run?”
Tevy nodded, and a little color had returned to his face.
“Good. I’m going to get my guns and ammo and get out of this dress. You run for the Mart and warn Joyce and Jeff. I think they were planning to go tomorrow, but they’ve got to go now. I’m going with them.” Now the big question. “Are you coming with me?”
He looked genuinely surprised. “Of course. We’re married.”
She ruined the dress by giving him a deep hug despite the blood and vomit.
“Run!” She gave him a quick kiss on his lips.
*
Tevy ran. He wanted to sleep so badly, but a second wind came to his rescue, and the running helped to clear his head. He weaved through the crowd and had just reached the cantonment gate when he saw a familiar hawkish face and sunglasses.
“Milan! What are you doing here?”
The pilot looked over in surprise, and then a big smile spilt his face. “Hey, if it isn’t the guy who saved my life! I am here for the party, of course.” His Czech accent was more pronounced than usual, and his words were slurred.
“I thought you were out of action, that your ankle was all messed up.”
“Oh no. It was just a light sprain. I have been flying troops in from Malmstrom all week, even with the ankle. I can work the rudder pedals with only a bit of ache.” He pulled up the leg of his jeans to show off the tension bandage between his jeans and his running shoe. “It’s my ribs that still really hurt, cracked but not broken, but they need every pilot, so I have pain killers. It’s the big push on the rippers so everyone must go above and beyond.”
“So you’re flying another little plane then?” Tevy thought of Margaret. If they could just get her away at least, maybe with Joyce, then perhaps Bobs would let the rest of the Raiders go too.
“Oh no. This is big so we’re all going big. They’ve given me an old Herc, but it is a very good plane. And hey, is not my timing good?” He held up a wine bottle and grinned. “I land with a bunch of troops this morning so I get to join the party here while she is refueling. This is a ’12 Cabernet Sauvignon. Probably the last wine from France that I will ever drink.”
“I need your plane.” Tevy couldn’t even pretend to hide his excitement.
“What?” Milan lost all the drunken, back-slapping happiness.
“I need you to fly everyone back to St John’s, all of Joyce’s Raiders anyway.”
“Impossible, young man. They have no airport up there that can take my Herc, and there is no way I will put her down on that broken highway.”
“Then fly us to Duluth. Just get us the hell out of here.”
“What is all the rush? We won.”
Tevy wanted to scream his frustration. He grabbed the man by his shoulders and shook him. “I’m asking you to save my life. Do this and we’re even. Save my life.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll just let Webb know that I have to make a detour—”
“No! Don’t tell Webb. Don’t tell anyone. We have to leave in secret. Bad things could happen.”
“What things?” Milan’s brow furrowed, and he studied Tevy like a man who is worried he’s the butt of a joke.
“Just have it fueled and ready. Are you at O’Hare?”
“No, they’re saving that for all the bombers and fighters. I’m up on the highway like always.”
“Even better. We’ll be there in an hour, and we have to go right away. Can I trust you?”
“Yes. I would be drained of blood and rotting if it weren’t for you.”
“See you soon.”
Tevy ran, but he decided to make a detour on the way, really just a change of route. He got a bike from his favorite bike store and rode for the house with the bunker. He drew his shotgun just in case, and made his way down to the basement. The bunker door was closed.
Tevy knocked and shouted, “Mr. Allan? It’s Tevy. We need to talk.”
The door opened and Allan stepped out. He had changed his clothes and cleaned off the blood of Vlad, but he trembled like a newborn lamb.
“Are
you all right, sir?”
“Call me Bert.” He sat heavily on the couch. “I’ve apparently crossed a line into a new level of infection. The parasites are working some new magic or evil. I shouldn’t have drank Vlad’s blood, but I’ve been starving for so long.”
Tevy wanted to know more, but Kayla had infected him with a sense of urgency.
“Sir, Bert. Bobs knows about Margaret, knows that she’s your daughter.”
“Does she know about me? That I’m a ripper?”
Tevy shook his head. “No, just about your daughter. Emile got drunk.”
“How did he know? Did you tell him?”
“No, I swear, I don’t know how he found out. But he knew, and he was drunk and he was happy for you.”
“He just killed me.” Allan’s expression showed his anger. “She was the one good thing that came out of that year. I don’t want Bobs to have anything to do with her.”
“It’s worse than that.” Tevy took the armchair but didn’t sit back, fearing its comfort while this tired. “She and the bishop, they’re not happy. Saints aren’t supposed to have children. The bishop wants to start a convent and put her in it. He says she should never have children and should always be a secret.”
“Bobs and her publicity machine. Why did she have to make me her martyr? Why does she have to make me a saint?” Allan stood and looked up the staircase in frustration. “I should go to Joyce. Where is she? How long till sunset?”
“Her Raiders are at the Merchandise Mart now. They’ve made it their base, their blockhouse, but it’s only about noon. You can’t go for hours.”
Bertrand crossed the room in one step and grabbed Tevy’s shoulders, much the way Tevy had done with Milan. “Then you have to get Margaret out of here, back to St. John’s, far from Bobs. If she tries to stop you, then hold her off until dark. I’ll come for her.”
The door to the bunker opened further, and Radu pushed into the room, looking weak but alive. “And I will come too,” he said. “I love a just fight.”
Suddenly, Tevy remembered Radu not running in the woods, Radu warning them, Radu covering for them, Radu running with them in the final attack on Vlad.
Radu hosted a portion of the Dependable Rogue. Tevy was sure, and his conversion to the Ericsians was complete. It just made sense.
*
Tevy found Joyce and Jeff on the third floor of the Mart, where they’d made a good base for Joyce’s Raiders. They had cleaned out useless office furniture and used the dividers to make rooms, all facing the north-side windows, which had been free of ripper and Daylight Brigade sniper fire during the last days.
Most of the St. John’s people had stayed in the blockhouses in the city, trying to get to know people and establish themselves in Chicago. They would doubtless be at the party, now looking for potential wives or husbands. Only about forty intended to return to St. John’s, and they were all here, packing weapons and ammo and clothes.
“Damn him to hell,” said Joyce when Tevy explained what had happened.
“Kayla says you’ve got to get out of here today. Now.”
Jeff shook his head. He seemed solidly sober, but then Tevy could rarely tell when Jeff was drunk, because he was better than Elliot at hiding it.
“Bobs has got the buses in the cantonment. When I tried to drive one out this morning, I got stopped by her new Redemption Brigade. They said I needed Bobs’ permission to take one of our own goddamn buses. Bastards were surrendering to me last week and begging for their lives, and now they only take orders from Bobs.”
“We don’t need the buses,” Tevy said. “I ran into Milan, and he’s got a Herc out on the highway fueling right now. I got him to promise to fly us to Duluth. From there we can find another bus and some fuel and drive the rest of the way.”
Joyce looked out the window in the direction of St. Mike’s. The glass was shot out during the battles, and a cool breeze blew down from the north. Now she looked back at Tevy in surprise. “You’re going back with us?”
“I have to. I mean, I’m married to Kayla. At least we married each other, and she’s going back, and I told Bobs to fuck off.”
Jeff barked a short laugh. “No kidding?”
“I’ve converted to the Ericsians. I can’t stay here if they find that out.”
Joyce looked stunned. “My God, you really are like Bert.”
“That’s the other thing. I stopped by to see him on my way here. At the bunker.”
Jeff interrupted him. “You know about the bunker?”
Tevy pointed to Joyce. “She said he’d be in a bunker, and I could only think of one bunker in the whole city, and I know every basement. I’ve visited him a couple of times.”
“Christ, you’ve got balls.” Jeff studied him with new interest. “It’s going to be good having you at St. John’s.”
“Save that for later,” Joyce said. “What did Bert say?”
“That if you’re not gone by sunset, he’ll be coming to get you out.”
“We’ll be gone.”
*
But the afternoon dragged. They had one pickup truck, a small 4x4, which they could use to ferry gear up to the plane, but before they finished piling it high with all the ammo and weapons they could find, disturbing reports started to arrive. Mabruke had already pulled the Ericsians back to Wright Sanctuary, but he sent a runner to Joyce to warn her that the Redemption Brigade had started bulldozing churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues. All of the cantonments except for St Mike’s were being ripped apart.
“She wants to make everyone to move into the Loop, and she’s using the celebrations as cover,” said the runner, a pre-teen girl with long red hair and long legs for her age. “Mr. Mabruke says he thinks she wants to force them all to convert to Chicago Catholic Church. The Redemption Brigade all had to be baptized at St. Mike’s, and all the prisoners Webb took today are going to be, too. She’s building an army of her own, and she’s already got Webb with her, so she’ll be the most powerful force in Chicago.”
“Then you guys will be in danger at Wright,” said Joyce. Margaret hid behind her mother’s leg and peeked shyly out at the runner. Joyce had kept Margaret very close since Tevy’s news.
“We’re leaving Wright and going very far away to one of our other settlements.”
Joyce told her to pass on best wishes, and the runner sprinted for the stairs.
The only good news was that Martin had already left with some people in a van, and Jeff managed to reach him by radio and update him and ask him to prepare the way at Duluth, find a bus and supplies.
Kayla arrived dressed in jeans and her multi-pocketed vest, her battle clothes, carrying a heavy bag of ammo. Tevy’s heart leapt at her arrival, because he had been afraid that something would go wrong, that something would prevent her from joining him. They embraced and Tevy craved to meld with her, not just sex, but fuse together as a single human being.
Elliot and Amanda had taken Kayla down to Emile’s boiler room under the church and raided the shelves for all they could carry. Elliot had given Emile, both of them still drunk, a lecture about alcohol and the damage Emile had caused with his loose lips. The couple arrived not long after Kayla, burdened with their own backpacks full of ammo.
Shortly afterwards Emile pulled up in his truck, the fifty cal still mounted in the back and Helen riding shotgun. Tevy was happy to see them both, his foster parents, and he received a big hug from Helen. “You did so well, my boy. I’m so proud of you.”
“You got a lot of nerve,” Joyce said to Emile, who had changed his shirt and sobered, although the bags under his eyes spoke of lack of sleep and a hangover in the making.
“I know. Really, I know and I’m so sorry. But I gotta to warn you. When I woke up there in Bobs’ war room, she and Alvarez were having one hell of an argument. He wants her,” he pointed to little Margaret, who had gone to Helen for a hug and was now up in her arms, “to go into a convent. She wants a...a quick and permanent solution.”
; At first Tevy didn’t get what he was saying, but Emile’s huge guilt, his embarrassment at what he set in motion, gave a clue as to what catastrophe was unleashed. Emile glanced at Margaret to make sure she wasn’t looking and drew his finger across his throat. “Bobs called in her Redemption Brigade, the Red Shirts, because no one else would do this.”
Joyce shook her head in disbelief, and for a moment Tevy though she was going to attack Emile. Instead, she turned to Jeff. “I don’t care who’s packed and who isn’t. Fuck everything. We’re leaving right now.”
It was too late. Tires squealed as vehicles outside skidded to a halt. Men shouted and running feet pounded the pavement. Tevy and Jeff were the first to the window, leaning dangerously far out to look down. 4x4s arrived to join others that had just stopped. Men with blood red shirts jumped out and ran to take up positions. They were well equipped with weapons and ammo, some even had Kevlar vests.
“Shit.” Jeff leaned far out the window to look down at the street. “Those are the same Redemption Brigade assholes that wouldn’t let me take a bus this morning, and it looks like Bobs has pulled out all the stops for them. Trucks, gas, guns, and ammo.”
Tevy never liked Bobs’s idea of forming the Redemption Brigade. They were traitors not just to humans, but to Vlad Who Bleeds, their master. These were not people to be trusted at all, clearly willing to switch allegiances at a change in the wind—people of very low moral fiber.
Jeff looked back from the window. “Looks like we’re to be arrested.”
“When hell freezes over.” Joyce hefted her Uzi. “This is still one defendable position. Set up the heavy guns on the third floor, east, south, and west. Everybody else down to the first floor.”
Tevy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “We’re going to fight?”
“We’re just going to keep them back until dark and then we’ll slip away somehow, maybe with Bert’s help.” She pointed at Tevy. “Can you get through their lines to Novak and make sure he’s waiting for us?”
The 1000 Souls (Book 2): Generation Apocalypse Page 31
