Midnight Skills

by William Allen

  “Alright, ma’am. If you’re ready, we can head out directly,” David finally announced. They’d already strapped down the supplies gathered from the house, as well as a few clothes Tina found undamaged. Apparently, the raiders had taken it upon themselves to burn most of the clothes they couldn’t use for themselves. The pantry, though emptied of any foodstuffs, did yield a few unopened bags of salt and a few dishes Tina claimed for herself as sentimental items.

  While Luke and Alex attached a ball hitch to the old extended cab Ford truck, Angel and David looked over the Hillebrandt stock trailer to see if it was suitable for use. In addition to Tina’s own mare, Cissy, the last horse in the barn, an old piebald gelding named Doc, represented the last of the livestock left at the ranch.

  When they loaded up in the heavily burdened truck, Luke took a moment to dig in his small shoulder bag and withdraw a box of shells from the bottom. Wordlessly, he handed them to Tina when the small woman climbed into the front seat.

  “What? Oh, you weren’t kidding,” she said with a bit of a start, and she recognized the black writing on the white cardboard box. Fifty rounds of .45 ACP, just like Luke had said.

  “Yeah, well, that carbine won’t be much good if you don’t have some ammo for it. I always carry extra for my pistol. You have an extra magazine for that?”

  Tina shook her head in the negative, so Luke continued.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get you something more suitable when we get home. Or you can borrow one of those rifles David and Angel took off the raiders.”

  David vetoed that suggestion quickly.

  “I wouldn’t trust any of them to shoot worth a crap until I can get a brush and some solvent through them. No surprise, these animals didn’t maintain their weapons. No, but there’s a SU-16 stashed behind this seat. Not exactly a precision sniper rifle, but I guarantee it will fire every time you pull the trigger.”

  Luke nodded, and a slight grin touched his otherwise stern features.

  “Kel-Tec to the rescue. I use a PF-9 as a holdout, myself,” Luke explained. “Saved my life one time.”

  “Really? Haven’t heard that story,” Alex piped up, standing near the truck door. He was trying to play it cool, but his interest in Tina hadn’t gone unnoticed by the other men.

  “I’ll tell you about it on the way back,” Luke replied. “Let’s get this show on the road before my dad sends out a search party looking for us. I tried to call in earlier, but I don’t think they heard me back home. I did get confirmation from the Feely household, though.”

  “Oh, you did mention them earlier,” Tina said. “I knew Shane from school. He’s okay?”

  “Yeah,” Alex responded, and Luke moved around to climb into the truck bed. “He and his family are holding out for the moment. We met up with them yesterday. Where we wiped out the rest of these raiders, in fact.”

  The ride back to the Messner ranch passed without incident. David drove the old F100 Ford while Luke, Angel, and Alex hunkered down in the bed of the truck, cushioned to some extent by the cardboard boxes and soft-sided luggage brought along by the newest probationary member of their community. Despite his initial quiet demeanor, David warmed up as time passed and proved to be quite informative for Tina, once he got going. She noticed his eyes never stopped scanning, though, even as he spoke.

  “So, you guys are like a small town, just springing up next door to the Messner place? How’d that work?”

  “The farm on that side was vacant, and had been for years,” David explained. “Between us, the Farrells, and the Greenville refugees in the old Skillman place behind Sam’s, we have a solid core group. Add in the other half dozen farms and ranches within a few miles and we have a fairly secure setup. Some of the people who came in with me have moved around some, but between the four homesteads, I’d say we have over two hundred people in just the four locations.”

  “And where would I stay?” Tina asked, and her voice sounded a lost.

  “I’d recommend you bunk at the Messner place to start with. They have a few extra bunks in their women’s dorm, and besides,” David added with a little chuckle, “that’s where we dropped your horses.”

  “So, Alex and his sister live there, too?”

  “Sierra? Oh, yeah, but she comes over to our house quite a bit, too. She’s friends with my adopted daughter, Regina, and her brother, Kofi.”

  “Coffee?”

  David gave a little laugh at that, then shook his head.

  “Sorry, but he’s gotten that a time or two in the past. Kofi. His parents were from Nigeria, and it is a common enough name there. He’s fourteen, and Regina just turned eleven. Sierra is twelve or thirteen. Don’t say anything, but I have a hard time keeping track. Paige is still thirteen, I think. That’s Luke’s little sister.”

  “Wow, that sounds like a lot,” Tina said softly. “Is Paige, is she like Luke? All intense, all the time?”

  “No, not really. Don’t get me wrong, though. If you show up with bad intentions, Paige will shoot you. But then, so will Regina. So, you knew them, back before? Luke and Alex, I mean.” As David spoke, a touch of curiosity crept into his voice.

  “I didn’t really know Luke back before. Different schools and all. Just to say hi, so not really, but he didn’t seem so, I don’t know, scary then. The only reason I showed myself back at home was I recognized Alex. His father was there when Daddy bought Bright for me, and I saw Alex working her on the ropes.”

  Hearing the way her voice changed at the mention of Alex, David had to suppress a smile. Alex was a good-looking kid, with proper manners that showed parenting. He was maybe too nice for this new world, but if he stuck with Luke, he’d get an education in mayhem, David realized.

  “Alex is a good kid, or young man, I should say. As for Luke, I have to say, I knew him a bit back before as well. Mainly, though, I knew his father. Sam and I shot in some of the same competitions, and that’s how I got to know Luke. And you are right, Tina. He’s different since all this happened. More so, than just about anybody I know.” David paused, as he thought about how to correctly phrase his next words. “I know he’s still kicking himself for letting you get the drop on him, but here’s a word of advice: Don’t ever do that again.”

  “You mean, don’t piss off the boss’s kid? Yeah, I got that idea already.”

  “Not exactly. Sam Messner wouldn’t let you defending yourself cloud his judgment. His mom, well, Claire doesn’t need to hear that particular story. Not ever. Now, Amy probably wouldn’t kick up too much of a fuss, since she’s been out there in the wild almost as long as any of us. No, I was just saying, don’t ever try to bluff Luke or back him into a corner like that.”

  “Uh, why do you say it that way?”

  “Because if you’d tried to get him to disarm, he would have gone for his pistol, even with you pointing your rifle at him. He’d have felt bad after, when he saw you were out of bullets, but he wouldn’t hesitate in pulling the trigger.

  “Tina, you need to understand, and forget what you used to know,” David paused for emphasis before continuing. “Luke, for all that Amy has returned some of the outer trappings of humanity to him, isn’t like most other people. He is polite and well-spoken at times, but under it all, he is a stone-cold killer.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t know him that well? How can you be so sure?” Tina asked, with hesitation in her voice. Almost like she didn’t want to hear the answer.

  “Like I said, I didn’t know him that well before. Now, we’ve had a chance to spend some time together. Luke’s good in a scrap, and his father’s training is only making him a better fighter. His dad might say Marine, where I may say soldier, but we mean basically the same thing.” David paused for emphasis. “Luke knows in this new world, giving up your weapons is the same as admitting defeat, and Luke wouldn’t surrender his weapons like that to anyone. He’d die first, going down swinging. Just like I would.”

  “Is it really still that dangerous everywhere? I tried to get s
ome of our neighbors to help, after, you know, but only about a quarter of the homes around us still had anybody in them, and none were willing to help me. Not even come to the door.”

  Tina teared up at the harsh recollections. Of sleeping in the woods and scavenging for scraps to build a shelter from the rain. And of hiding from others, who wanted to take her horse or her life. Probably both. The worst, however, were the abandoned firepits she’d found, with suspiciously familiar-looking bones casually tossed into the still warm coals.

  “I thought, you know, at first, they wouldn’t help because of who I was, but even the African American families I tried to approach turned me down. Now, I thought I heard one of you guys mention ‘the war’. Are we at war with someone? Like somebody is invading the country?”

  “Yes, it is still that dangerous. There’s likely hundreds of self-appointed dictators and warlords trying to carve up the country, but the worst are from a rogue faction in the Department of Homeland Security.”

  Tina was quiet again for a while after that. When she spoke again, her voice sounded dull and depressed.

  “So, the people who should be defending our homes are the ones threatening us? And where is the Army? Or the Marines?”

  “Oh, they are around, Miss Hillebrandt,” David reassured her. “But our military is hamstrung by a lack of supplies and poor transportation. Those nice MRAPs that seemed all the rage don’t seem to run too well without electronics, and neither do our airplanes. Plus, they are out of food, just like everybody else. So far, the bulk of the fighting against the rogue factions has been by local National Guard units and what Luke likes to call the Home Guard elements. Essentially, civilian militia.”

  “Well, that sucks. But at least, you guys seem to have it together. Is that because of Luke’s father? I know he was retired from the Marines, I think. He seemed kind of intense the one time I met him. And I can’t believe Mr. Gus is dead, too.”

  ‘We’ve all lost people, Tina. I’m truly sorry about what happened to your parents and your brother. If it helps, you might try talking to one of the other young men back at our community. His name is Scott Thompson, and I heard he lost his parents in a similar situation. And then there’s his wife, Helena. Her mother was killed just recently, too, by those Homeland thugs I mentioned earlier. Plus, Scott’s got two little sisters you will probably like. But like I said, we’ve all lost people. But I think we’re close to turning a corner. Now that we have a new President and all, maybe we will see some progress. Time will tell.”

  This revelation about a new president unleashed a whole host of new questions from Tina, and David, his eyes never ceasing to scan the road, tried to give her answers. The rest of the trip passed without any new attacks, so David was willing to count this as a win when he pulled into the gate at the Messner ranch. His voice, however, had nearly given out. This was the most he’d talked since leaving the school that day, and his vocal cords were unaccustomed to the work. Oh, well, we all make sacrifices, he thought with a little smile to himself.

  CHAPTER 15

  As expected, Luke got reamed when he delivered his after-action report to his father. Luke expected it, and didn’t try to lay blame elsewhere, even when his father gave him the chance.

  “It was stupid and sloppy,” Luke summarized. “We should have taken more men, both to scout the house and to watch our backs on the hill.”

  They were meeting privately in the impromptu security room Sam Messner had set up, adjacent to the radio shack and situated back in the windowless rooms dug out from the side of the hill. This mass of earth, reinforced with rebar and concrete, performed nicely in protecting a large part of the family’s electronics from the fury of the CME’s storm. Formerly used as a food storage chamber, the ten-foot-square security room now boasted four flat screen televisions wired to duplexed security cameras, replacements for those fried in the event, and a pair of desks, each equipped with old but serviceable tower computers.

  None of these devices were in use at the moment. The cameras, while providing useful coverage of the likely approaches to the homestead, were no match for live watchers, and at the moment, the Messner ranch boasted two roving patrols making irregular circuits around the property. No, the cameras really came into their own at night, when a single watcher could monitor the perimeter. This worked as an effective force multiplier with the existing patrols.

  “Live and hopefully learn,” his father finally concluded. “But you screw up like that again, and I’ll have to yank you out of the field. Yes, you should have taken more men, and if you couldn’t, then Alex should have been watching your six. You don’t necessarily need a spotter at the ranges you described, but you knew you were in contested territory. Never forget that the enemy gets a vote too.”

  Luke looked down, trying to resist the color rising in his cheeks. His father was correct, and Luke knew it. Still cocky from getting the drop on a larger force the day before, and carrying it out with nary a scratch, Luke made a rookie mistake that but for the grace of God, could have killed both him and his friend.

  “I know, sir,” Luke managed to squeeze out, “won’t happen again.”

  “All right then, the incident is over and done,” Sam declared with a wave of his hand, as if erasing the mark on Luke’s permanent record. “You up for making that run to Kingwood with Mike tomorrow?”

  “Just like that? Go forth and sin no more, my son?” Luke asked, his voice nearly cracking as his surprise surfaced at his father’s words.

  “What? You want me to slap you on the end of your nose with a rolled-up newspaper? Sorry to disappoint, Luke, but this is the big leagues. Yes, you got overconfident because you were operating close to home and expecting a cakewalk. You screwed up. Going to do it again?”

  “No, sir,” Luke replied softly.

  “Sure, you will,” Sam insisted. “Probably not in the same manner, but you will make mistakes. That’s the nature of what we do. Mistakes happen, even if it is shit beyond your control. Don’t get me wrong,” Sam continued, his voice hard as flint, “I take this very seriously. You make a big enough mistake, and men under your command will die.”

  Luke tried to suppress a gulp before he responded. This was his father in full Gunnery Sergeant mode, and the teenager knew now, just what that meant. His father had given orders in the past, and men had died. On both sides. Luke prayed he would never have to bear that burden, but in his heart, he knew the likelihood of this coming to pass was great.

  “Yes, sir,” he replied, acknowledging the point.

  “Now, like I indicated before, we have other concerns,” Sam Messner continued, shifting gears once again. “Major Warren is receiving increasingly insistent messages from General Rayburn about the need for more supplies at Fort Hood. Primarily, food and fuel.”

  Luke just shook his head. Fort Hood was hundreds of miles away, but if Major General Russ Rayburn was to be believed, the Army base represented the largest intact military force left in the state. Rayburn declined to give a total, but intimated to Major Warren that his command, comprised of elements of the First Cavalry Division and several attached brigades, numbered perhaps as many as ten thousand. With the presence of on-base housing, Sam had guessed their dependent population was at least equal that in number. That was a lot of mouths to feed. Too many.

  “We can’t feed them,” Luke replied automatically. “Not us, and not even with this county’s total agricultural output. Which would simply leave us starving in their place.”

  “Agreed. And Major Warren agrees too. He speculates they have upwards of twenty to twenty-five thousand holding the base, a mixture of active duty, prior service, and civilians.”

  “Wait,” Luke paused his father, “I thought I read the combined population of the various bases totaled more than 65,000. Am I mistaken?”

  “Probably closer to 75,000,” Sam Messner corrected. “In the days before. Even with the lockdown, they’ve certainly lost troops to desertion since the lights went out. Guys with f
amily elsewhere would likely start walking when they realized the long-term effects of the CME. Plus, we know from eye-witness reports of multiple attacks on the base from bands coming out of Austin and San Antonio. Even though they’ve managed to hold much of the old perimeter, they’ve also taken casualties doing it.”

  Indeed, Luke thought about the written accounts he’d read. With the area around Killeen and Fort Hood still in near-drought conditions, the smarter locals moved further east in search of better opportunities. Central and West Texas might look pretty in a postcard, with the fields of bluebonnets coloring the pastures, but the lack of significant groundwater beyond a few man-made lakes made the eastern part of the state much more hospitable. Hence the hundreds of thousands of refugees limping out of Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.

  On their way east, some of these refugees with family in the area made their way to Shelby County, and the sheriff made a point to interview the new arrivals. The stories they told ranged from grim to horrific, and several made comment on the efforts by multiple groups over the months to claim the base for their own use. Efforts that failed each time, no matter the cost to either side.

  “We have any idea what kind of transport General Rayburn has at his command?” Luke asked, his voice edged with trepidation. This, he knew, might be the key question. Even if he had an army ready to head east, the distance and the lack of potable water might well doom even an otherwise well-provisioned unit, should they be forced to travel on foot. General Rayburn must know his options would be limited by sheer logistics, those cold equations that’d controlled troop movements since the earliest of times.

  His father shrugged, then cleared his throat.

  “Unknown, just like the general’s actual numbers. We know they have at least a few old transport trucks running, since his scouting parties have managed to reach us here. Don’t know about anything bigger, but they have the facilities there to refurbish vehicles almost as good as we have at the Red River Depot.”