Explosive Resistance

by Linda Jordan

  “I agree. Are you still on the lookout for someone who’s a good strategist and understands the type of weapons Collins has?”

  Gregor laughed. “You’re dreaming. Unless Morrigu comes upon that person in her travels, we’re not going to find them. Someone with that skillset would probably be a mercenary. They don’t come cheap and they won’t volunteer, like the rest of our army. And they want to fight with the winning side. I’m not sure we’re that yet. We don’t have a plan. And we’ve got no assets, no gold. We don’t have enough arms. And ammo. We need more ammo.”

  “Morrigu said she’ll talk about a plan when she returns.”

  “Good. It’s about time. We need one, because you know that Collins is locked up tight. He’s had decades to cement his defenses. And he’s got money, maybe even more than Morrigu used to have.”

  They left the barracks and went back outside. It had stopped raining, but the main path was filled with puddles. They stepped around the water, trying to keep their leather boots dry.

  “Yeah, but I’ve done some reading in my life. It used to be that people who were rich lost it all, then gained it all back again, plus some. It’s like they had the knowledge and power to regain all their wealth. If anyone can do that, Morrigu can.”

  “I agree,” said Gregor. “That’s why I’m still here. That and I like living. She’d kill me before letting me leave. And where would I go?”

  “You’d never find as sweet a deal as you have here,” said Damon. “Where else could you drink rosemary tea and eat baked camas bulbs with rabbit?”

  “I might leave for a steady supply of coffee, though,” said Gregor, laughing. “God, I miss that stuff.”

  In the evening, Damon and Gregor sat in the Cap listening to the rain pour down. The fire in the middle guttered and swirled with the wind blowing through. Damon decided they should build a proper chimney and close the building in. It was just too drafty and come winter it would only get worse.

  “Okay, I made a list of army ranks,” said Gregor. “There were also different ranks in the navy, those armies were on boats. Also, air force which had planes. And marines. They were also an army but on land, I think. The army ranks are complicated. And they were different in other countries. I think we should keep things simple and do things our own way. A lot of these kids have no education.”

  Damon looked at the list. “I agree. There are too many here to remember. It’ll be too confusing. We’ve got what, 250 soldiers now?”

  “As of today, 258.”

  “How large should the smallest fighting unit be?”

  “Ten. Ten privates,” said Gregor.

  “Okay ten. We’ll call that a Squad.”

  “Good. Let’s call their leader a Sergeant. And four Squads make a Platoon. Who’s in charge of that?” asked Gregor.

  “You tell me.”

  “A Lieutenant. That’s what it used to be in some armies.”

  “Okay, then next,” said Damon.

  “Four Platoons, that’s about 160 soldiers, make a Company. They’re all led by a Captain.”

  “And that’s close to where we’re at now.”

  “Yes, but we’ve got to at least double that in order to take on Collins. So all the Companies report to a Captain. And then the General is in charge of everyone, the Companies, which we’ll just call the Army and the Support Division, doctors, cooks and supplies. Right now that’s you. And your assistant would be an Aide, with an e on the end. That person needs to have a high rank as well, like a Captain.”

  “Where are we going to put everyone?” asked Damon.

  “Well, I expect we’ll pick most of those people up along the way.”

  “That’ll mean we’ll have to triple that number for support people. We’ll need food and medics,” said Damon.

  Gregor said, “Sounds like a nice dream. I don’t think we can do that. We’d be lucky if we could get as many support people as soldiers.”

  Damon sipped his now cold tea. It tasted bitter and truly awful. He hadn’t bothered to ask what was in it.

  “We really need to recruit more medics. Soon. They’ll need more training than the soldiers. I don’t know how we’re going to feed all these people either,” said Damon.

  “I hate to say this, but when we’re on the move, we’ll have to just take the food from passing villages. We just can’t carry enough food for 400 soldiers and 400 support Division. Even for one day. How long will it take us to get to the Eastside?”

  “I don’t know. I have an old map. Says it’s about twenty miles. But we don’t know what roads still exist. And we don’t know where we’ll have to fight our way through. If we’re carrying supplies we’ll have lots of wagons and horses. Damn, we need electric vans,” said Damon.

  “Why don’t you assign Eamon some soldiers, people who like to work with machines and have them start scavenging. Working with Carlos and Martina, they might be able to rig up some sort of electrical system. Maybe solar? I don’t know,” said Gregor.

  “That’s a good thought. Otherwise transporting everyone will be hell. Collins will see us coming a long ways away. And with his planes we’ll all be dead.”

  “We need to travel in the Squads then. Eleven soldiers are easier to hide. Gather together every few miles, in places where we can find cover.”

  “That puts us at more risk on the ground,” said Damon. “From aggressive villagers.”

  “True. And it’s slower, but we need to come up with something.”

  “We need to take out Collin’s planes and travel quickly there before he can ramp up his defenses.”

  “Good. You’re in charge of figuring out the first part, General.”

  “What are we going to do about ammo?” asked Damon.

  “I think we need to do another raid. Three of the most recent recruits came from the same village. They knew how to handle guns, so I asked them where they’d had guns before. Turns out, their village was built in an area that had been full of gangs. The villagers chased the gangs out when the townspeople first moved in and found huge weapons stashes that the gangs had left behind. They put the weapons in a brick building on the edge of the village and then bricked all the windows and doors shut. Just in case they ever needed weapons. It’s still there, overgrown with blackberries. And apparently, teenagers being teenagers, two of them crawled under the blackberries and chiseled away a small hole in the brick walls. They got all the way inside, found the guns and learned how to use them, although they never fired any of them. No one else in the village found out, except those three. They always put the bricks back in the hole, made sure the blackberries covered everything.”

  “Interesting story,” said Damon. “Do you think we can get in, steal the guns and get out without being noticed?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll probably have to enlarge the hole. That won’t be quiet. It’s worth sending a scouting party though. One of the recruits and one of our experienced people.”

  “Good. Do it. Then we can make a plan. Our army will be worthless without enough guns and ammo. Do you know what type of guns?”

  “It sounds like a mixed bag. Everything from antique rifles and handguns all the way up to automatic weapons, sort of like what we’ve got now. The new recruits counted them all once. Over two hundred guns. How many of them are still functional is another question. There were cases and cases of ammo though.”

  “Good. Before we do another raid though, someone had better take care of those squeaking wagons. They’re way too noisy.”

  “Already done,” said Gregor. “Eamon took care of that the day after we got back. Those wagons are now as quiet as they’re ever going to be.”

  “Good.” Damon felt thankful for so many good competent people.

  “I’ll send them out in the morning. The village is quite a distance.”

  “Okay, I think we’re done now. We both better get some sleep. Tomorrow let’s talk about who should be what rank. That’ll take some time.”

  Gregor nodded a
nd got up, then left, walking out into the pouring rain.

  Damon tossed his cold tea out the open door and took the heavy mug, setting it in with other dirty dishes. He nodded at one of the cooks, who looked up from stripping green leaves from a stalk of some kind.

  He didn’t even know some of the new cooks’ names. Or many of the new recruits’ either. People were coming here so fast Damon couldn’t keep them straight. Even though he’d interviewed them all. He had found three more people to help Maci out. Just a drop in the bucket of who would be needed.

  Damon was still hoping to take over Collin’s empire with a minimal amount of bloodshed. He figured it was probably unrealistic, but one could always hope for miracles. Sometimes, they even appeared.

  He rubbed his eyes and headed out for his house. It had been another long day and he felt so weary.

  The next morning after breakfast, he found Callie sparring with Angie out in a clearing. The grass was wet and both women’s clothes were damp and muddy from falling. The air was crisp and foggy, but at least it had stopped raining again.

  Most of the nearby trees stood bare of their leaves. Except the evergreens, but even those had dropped all their flagging needles. It was midmorning and about as light as it would probably get, unless by some chance the overcast sky cleared and the sun came out. Which was unlikely.

  He liked the feel of the fall darkness though. It seemed natural for planning and scheming. For building an army, under cover of darkness. It felt secretive.

  Damon’s boots were wet from the grass. Or maybe they’d never dried from yesterday. He stood off to the side, watching the two women. The air smelled of smoke blowing over from the Cap. Behind it, two of the new cooks were smoking some salmon that had been caught. Damon hoped they could find a way to stretch the amount of time it would be edible. They were up to two days. That wouldn’t be long enough, but the cooks were still experimenting. The smoking salmon smelled delicious and made his mouth water, even though he had eaten breakfast not long ago.

  The cooks promised him a lunch of the last batch of smoked salmon and some soft goat cheese with crispy crackers they’d made. He hadn’t asked what the crackers were made from. They didn’t have much wheat and sometimes it was better not to know those things.

  Callie seemed to be teaching Angie a few new moves. Angie weighed probably one and a half times what Callie did. And a good portion of that was muscle gained from lifting all those heavy pots. The cook had obviously learned a lot from Evangeline.

  Callie was obviously more experienced, but Angie wasn’t half bad and knew how to use her size. They were more evenly matched than Damon would have thought.

  Callie kept attacking and finally, Angie tired enough to create an opening for her.

  After Callie had taken the larger woman down, she helped her up and said, “You’re getting so much better at defending yourself. Good job.”

  “Thanks,” said Angie, wiping the sweat from her face and breathing hard.

  “Evangeline’s going to be proud of you. Tomorrow morning?”

  “See you here,” said Angie. Who was grinning as she picked up her coat, waved to Damon and left the clearing.

  “Good morning,” said Damon to Callie, who was gathering her coat and a water bottle.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Are you helping all of Evangeline’s students?”

  “No, just a few. We divided them up between us. It’s going to be a while before Evangeline could get back to teaching and we decided her students needed to keep learning. It helps us get better too.”

  “Thank you. I hadn’t thought of her classes.”

  “You can’t think of everything. No one can,” said Callie.

  Damon could see the steam rising off her. She really had been working hard.

  “Exactly, which is why I came to talk to you.”

  She looked at him, wrinkling her eyebrows as if confused.

  “I need an assistant. And Eamon, Jax and Gregor recommended you. They said you have a good mind for keeping track of things. Can you read?”

  “Yes. And write. Haven’t had much of a chance to use them, though. What would I be doing?”

  “You’d be keeping track of the new recruits, along with me. Interviewing them when they get here. Writing down their information, so we can assign them to a barracks, and to the type of work which best suits them. And making sure people are distributed to where they’re needed most. We have some areas, like the MedCenter, which will need a lot more people. Not everyone will work for that. It takes a certain sort of person to want to help people and be strong enough to handle the gore.”

  “I can see that. You also need people who have some knowledge of herbs and healing. People who are willing to improve on what they know and learn from Maci.”

  “Right. For my assistant, I also need someone who can command respect. As the second in charge, they’d have to deal with any crisis that might happen when I’m gone, or too busy with another problem. And they’d have to be able to stand up to someone like Gregor and tell him he’s wrong. He rarely is, but you never know.”

  “I could do that,” said Callie. “I’m used to telling people they’re wrong. That they don’t have the full picture.”

  “And I need someone who does see the full picture. What we’re trying to do here is very complicated. I need someone who can help me figure out all that we need to consider. We’ll be sending out Scouts soon, to map our route around the north end of the Salish Sea and then south down to the Eastside. And we’ll need to plan how to deal with all the obstacles they find. If I die in battle, my assistant would have to be able to step in and take charge.”

  “I couldn’t do that. I don’t know enough,” Callie frowned.

  “You’ve got a bit of time. We’re not going to battle just yet. And I’m not planning on dying, but death doesn’t always give us a choice. What work detail are you on right now?”

  “I’ve been helping whoever needs it with the livestock. I know animals. But they’ve all learned so much and haven’t really needed me lately. So I started teaching Evangeline’s students. I don’t know that much about fighting, but I know more than they do. So, I organized the other more experienced people to help out. That way we’ve all got time to be where we need to be.”

  “Good. Then if you’re willing, you start today.”

  “I think I could do this,” she said. “Yes. That would be interesting. And challenging. I like a good challenge.”

  “I’ll meet you in the Cap after lunch and explain my system to you. Maybe you can improve on it.”

  Callie grinned and Damon knew she’d take him up on the challenge.

  14

  Evangeline

  Evangeline walked slowly around the center of the village. Maci had told her not to go any further.

  “If you collapse, I want you to be where someone will find you.”

  She’d learned not to argue with Maci. At least she didn’t have to use the cane anymore. Maci had that much confidence in the progression of her healing.

  It wasn’t raining at the moment, but everything was wet. The plants, rocks, tree trunks and rough wood tables and benches, made out of split logs, were covered with small puddles of water. The air smelled fresh and clean.

  It was exhausting work regaining her physical strength. Nearly two weeks in bed had made her feel as if she’d lost all muscle tone and endurance. At least her head didn’t ache any more. And she felt all right, until she moved it suddenly. Maci told her it might take a few more weeks before that went away.

  So, she walked slowly in circles around the Cap and the central buildings. She heard the bluejays yelling at each other, or maybe at humans. Noticed the moistness in the air. Watched the subtle changes of light coming through the gray clouds.

  This was Evangeline’s first fall in the far north. She’d always lived in the south. Never seen leaves turn red, orange and yellow and watch almost the entire forest drop its leaves. In the south it had been ju
st a few trees dropping leaves, here and there. And never with the bright colors she saw here.

  Now, most of the nearby trees stood bare. The tall evergreens were still green, looking happier from the near-constant rain. Many of the smaller plants were simply gone. Jackie told her they had retreated beneath the ground, growing roots all winter long and that they’d return in the spring.

  Others were annuals. That’s what Evangeline’s book called them. They dropped their seeds and died. The seeds would create all new plants, now or in the spring. Those would flower, seed and die as well, repeating the cycle.

  What Evangeline was growing to love most though, was the smell of everything after the rain. She walked beneath the hundred foot firs and smelled the deep rich black soil, wet from the rain, which filled the air. The earthy smell grounded her in ways the scent of sandy soil from Texas never had. And it smelled different from Florida and Louisiana. The scent was stronger and permeated everything. She breathed it in like a drug.

  Felt the strength permeate her entire body. Give her energy. Heal her weakened body.

  And she kept walking. Making her muscles work.

  After lunch, she always met Angie in the Cap, or if it was dry outside, they sat at one of the rough wooden tables nearby and had the tea of the day. Angie knew everything that was going on and wasn’t afraid to talk about it.

  “Well, we have a new cook. For a short while. Leyla, who’s about four months pregnant. Came to us because she’d been raped by her father. Didn’t want him to get his hands on her child. Poor girl. She’s walked through hell and back. You’ll like her though, she’s strong.”

  Evangeline shook her head. She’d seen plenty of people like that growing up in the south. Hoped it had died out in the rest of the world. Apparently not. There were always people in power who seemed to thrive on abusing others.

  That was one of the reasons she began studying fighting at such an early age. Determined not to be either used or abused by people like that. She’d always enjoyed sending them to their death.

  What about now? There were still people like that in the world. She couldn’t kill them all and maybe she felt like she’d had enough of death. That healing good people would be a better use of her energy.