by Aurelia Skye
“If I go, she goes.”
Collier looked away from Jeff, clearly done with the discussion. “We should expand the number of people who go out on runs, and those who have military training. If you’d like to join the roster, please speak with Avi to volunteer. Even if you don’t feel like you want to go on runs, it’s a good idea for everyone to have basic training and know how to handle a weapon, in case we have to defend the armory. I expect everyone over the age of fifteen to learn how to handle a gun.”
A quiet murmur went to the audience, but I wasn’t entirely sure if it was one of approval or disapproval. There appeared to be pockets of both throughout the crowd.
“That’s it for now, folks.”
I watched Collier walk away for a moment, smiling when he passed by Maisie, paused, and turned back to face her. His hand ghosted over the baby’s head, and there was a moment of tenderness in his expression before it became all business again. As he left, I was encouraged by the flash of humanity. There were likely more people like Jeff, who were ready to abandon any among us who couldn’t take care of themselves, but it seemed clear Collier hadn’t even entertained the idea.
That didn’t make me any less frightened of what we were facing. A shiver went down my spine as I remembered Collier’s words about us being at war. Before HLV, it seemed like our country was always at war, but it was somewhere else. It happened globally, not locally. We had been insulated from the grim realities of being at war, protected from the true sights and sounds of combat by careful filtering before it reached our eyes or ears. There were probably many among the group who had been in an active war zone, but I certainly wasn’t one of them. I was terrified for everyone I cared about and clung tighter to Grayson, who was snuggled in my arms and had been half-asleep during the meeting, since it was so early.
My gaze moved to Avi, and I was pleased to see the number of people surrounding him, clearly volunteering. As I glanced at the door, I wasn’t surprised to see Jeff pulling Lori through it, clearly having no intention of volunteering or signing up for further training to defend this place. That didn’t surprise me, but I worried for Lori. If he insisted on leaving, she’d probably go with him, and that was likely to end in disaster for both of them.
Lian came to my side, placing a hand on Grayson’s back in the tender fashion that seemed unconscious. “Collier has an assignment for us. Sofia has offered to watch Grayson. Why don’t you go get suited up? I know it takes you a little while longer to get into your body armor.”
I swatted him on the arm for teasing me, but carefully handed over Grayson, who snuggled against Lian. He perked up when Lian told him he was going to go visit Sofia, and I figured he would soon be awake for the day. Poor Sofia, who was still struggling with morning sickness. Before heading to the locker room, I ruffled Grayson’s hair. “Take it easy on Sofia this morning, okay? She might not be feeling well to start with.”
He looked solemn. “I will, Mommy.”
I still hadn’t gotten used to hearing that word, and it tugged at my heartstrings every time he uttered it. I ruffled his hair once more and forced myself to walk away, trying not to think about the fact that it could be the last time I ever saw him. I didn’t know what our mission was, and it might not be more dangerous than any other, but the reality was any time we ventured out now, we were at greater risk than we had been even a few days ago.
I couldn’t stand the thought of Grayson losing another family, and I was glad Finn remained behind despite his vigorous protests. At least the little boy would have someone to take care of him, though I doubted anyone would shirk the responsibility. I was sure Sofia would’ve taken him in too.
That I even had to think about such a thing brought tears to my eyes and reinforced the seriousness of our situation. In that moment, I could understand Jeff’s desire to just leave, realizing it was motivated by his need to protect his child. I didn’t think it was the right choice, but I was more sympathetic toward his thought processes than I had been just moments before.
By the time I emerged from the locker room reserved for women, I found a large group standing nearby. Lian was among them, so I moved closer to him, barely hiding a grimace when I saw Liu at his side. That surprised me, and it was even more surprising to see the older man in body armor and sporting serious firepower.
Lian eased away from his father when he saw me and moved closer. I cocked a brow and jerked my head in Liu’s direction.
“He used to be a commander in the Chinese army. He volunteered, and apparently, he’s kept some of his skills sharp. Avi wouldn’t have cleared him for duty if he hadn’t proven himself.”
I hadn’t actually been worrying about his competency. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that Avi would’ve allowed someone unqualified to join an active team. I was just unsettled by his presence in general. Thankfully, he seemed determined to ignore me, and that was a policy I could embrace wholeheartedly.
It wasn’t until we were settled in the truck, some of us sharing benches in the back due to the larger size of our group, that I discovered what our mission was. “Cows?”
Chris grinned. “Or sheep, or pigs. Really, anything we can domesticate, breed, and eventually eat.”
“Finn’s going to be pissed he missed this,” said Avi with a laugh from the front of the truck.
“He can have my spot,” I grumbled under my breath. The idea of trying to round up huge animals and trekking through fields full of poop was completely unappealing. On the other hand, I could certainly go for a real hamburger. My stomach growled at the thought, and I realized I had skipped breakfast.
Without batting an eye, Lian passed me a granola bar, and I inhaled it quickly.
The first part of our mission involved driving to the outskirts of the city and beyond, scouting for animals. We were hoping to find a large homestead, where the animals had plenty of space to graze. It was the best chance we had at finding some still alive. Those confined to small spaces who hadn’t managed to break down fences would have run out of food and water long ago.
“Chickens,” called Trenton from the front of the truck.
Avi slowed the truck and pulled over to the side, and the one behind us did the same. We climbed out of the truck to examine the chicken situation, finding several foraging in a large open field. There was a house in the distance, and it had probably once contained a chicken coop.
“Let’s round them up.” Trenton sounded blasé about the task.
Chicken chasing turned out to be far harder, but more hilarious, than I’d anticipated. The chickens weren’t docile and ready to be rounded up. They seemed to have gone feral, if a chicken could do such a thing, and led us on a merry chase. It was ridiculous to see a group of heavily armed individuals chasing chickens throughout the pasture. I giggled more than once in the ensuing half-hour that it took to round up fourteen of the chickens. There were a few more, but they were determined to escape, and we decided to let them go.
Someone had come prepared, and there was a separate cage in the trailer being towed behind the other truck. They stuffed the birds inside, and I felt sorry for the poor things, but I was looking forward to real eggs again. I hadn’t had any since Camp Utopia, and I imagined the chickens we had on hand there had also perished. I hoped they had fled into the night instead, but their fate remained unknown.
We spent the next few hours doing basically the same thing. Mostly, we just drove around with little luck until midafternoon. We had stopped for a lunch break, and Clint had his binoculars. He was surveying the surrounding area when he let out a sound of excitement. “Avi, look at this.”
I looked up from my unappealing MRE and watched Avi move to Clint. He took his binoculars and looked in the direction where the other man pointed before nodding. “It definitely looks promising.” He turned to face the rest of us. “It looks like we have a herd of cattle in a distant pasture up there. Everybody hurry up, and we’ll see if we can find a way to get to them.”
I hated to wa
ste food, but it was no sacrifice to drop the something masquerading as meatloaf into the five-gallon bucket we were using for trash before someone closed it with the lid. We climbed back in the trucks, and our quest for cattle continued.
It took almost an hour-and-a-half to find a way to reach the cattle, and the last part of the journey involved going over rough fields that had never been paved. I clung to the cargo strap above me with my other hand wrapped firmly around Chris’s as the trucks climbed the hill.
Finally, we reached the area where we could get to the cows, and they were still surprisingly docile even after likely not seeing another human being for more than a year. Once we got to the cows, it was a simple matter to herd them together. At most, we’d be able to take five, and that was including one of the calves. The problem was getting them to board the trailer attached to one of the trucks.
I stifled a snicker when Lian got the thankless task of discovering the genders. It was obvious which one was the bull, of course, but not so obvious with the younger cattle.
“I think you’re enjoying this a bit too much,” said Chris as he stifled a laugh.
I held up my hand, putting a small space between my thumb and forefinger. “Maybe just a little.”
“Laugh it up,” called Lian. “I’ll make you pay for it later, Natalie.”
With that, I chortled gleefully.
Soon enough, Lian had figured out which of the calves were male and female, and we were able to herd two of the males into the trailer. The bull didn’t seem as placid as the as the others, so we made the decision to avoid him.
“Did you make sure they aren’t geldings?” asked Clint.
Lian looked up from where he was trying to push the last male calf into the trailer. “Huh?”
“As in gelded?” Clint explained further at Lian’s vacant look. I was confused as well. “Do they have their testicles?”
Lian took a step back. “I’m not checking that.”
I giggled again as Clint moved forward, lifting one tail and then the other before nodding. “Intact.” With that, he slapped the one on the buttocks and urged it in, and they were both in the trailer. “You might want a young heifer too. Give her time to grow up and fill the difference in the lifespans.”
Lian had his hands on his hips, and his indignant expression almost sent me into gales of laughter again. “If you know all this, why aren’t you the one checking gender?”
Clint gave him a lazy smile as he shrugged. “Nobody asked me.”
Clint selected a heifer, and her mother was easy enough to prod along too, because she followed her baby. Clint eyed the herd once more, pointing to one that looked smaller than the others, but wasn’t a baby. “We could probably get her in. She might not be as healthy as the others, but she’d probably make some good steak.”
My stomach rumbled at the thought, even as I winced when I looked at the cow that had been earmarked as dinner. I looked away quickly.
After that, there wasn’t much reason to continue searching, though we decided we’d come back again the next day, possibly with more trailers if we could find another one, and try to get as many of the cows on board as possible. It might have to wait a couple of days, because we had to be sure we had a large enough area to house them all. I knew a group had stayed behind today to build a corral, but I wasn’t certain how fast they had progressed. No one else knew that answer either, so we were tentatively planning to come back.
Passing over the land back to the road was even rougher than it had been coming, but that seemed to be because we were slowed down by the need to keep pace with the truck pulling the trailer. Going slower should have been less jolting, but it seemed to have the opposite effect, and my teeth clacked together more than once. By the time we reached paved road again, my jaw was hurting from cracking and clinching.
The truck with the cattle pulled ahead of us, and we brought up the rear this time. It was a smooth drive back, and we didn’t run into trouble. We checked the state of the corral, finding it more than adequate to hold the five cows we’ve captured, along with room for at least another ten to fifteen.
We reported to Collier, and he nodded as we debriefed. “We need another trailer then?”
“Maybe two,” said Clint. “If we can find a couple of larger capacity ones, we can certainly get enough to fill our corral. It’s a fairly sizable herd, and we might want to consider expanding the space reserved for the cattle.”
Collier looked thoughtful. “The trailer you used today was a lucky find. Where might we find bigger ones?”
“Maybe the stockyard,” said Clint. “There’s also a trailer supply store out on the highway. They carried farm equipment and horse trailers.”
“If you feel up to it, why don’t you take some trucks and go get a couple of those trailers so we can get an early start in the morning?”
Clint nodded at Collier’s suggestion, and the rest of us did the same.
As we moved to the trucks, I counted the numbers around me, discovering we had ten people in the group. We weren’t paired with Alyssa and her men today, and I missed the chance for girl talk, but our group seemed to be working together well, even though Liu was part of it. He was still ignoring me, and I was endeavoring to do the same. Apparently, we’d found a way to work together, and all we had to do was pretend like the other one didn’t exist.
It was late afternoon, but we should have enough light to finish this task before sunset. Clint drove the lead truck, since he knew where the trailer supply store was, and we decided to try there first. Lian drove the truck I was in this time, and his father was beside him. Trenton sat on his other side, and I sprawled in the back between Avi and Chris. My head was on Chris’s shoulder, and Avi had my feet on his lap. It was good to unwind for the moment and just savor their company, though I missed having Lian and Finn.
The drive to the trailer store was uneventful, and they had one good-sized trailer that Clint thought would fit our needs. That meant we’d still have to go to the stockyard or continue scavenging for a second trailer, though we probably wouldn’t do so today. We’d make do with the smaller one that we had used earlier, along with the new one that could hold at least ten cattle, according to Clint.
We had just finished hitching up the trailer to Clint’s truck when a sound shattered the silence. It wasn’t exactly unfamiliar, but I had a difficult time placing it for a moment, since I hadn’t heard anything like it in months. I gasped as a helicopter suddenly appeared, preceded by high winds blowing in our direction and whipping up dust. There was no mystery about friend or foe status, because the helicopter started firing at us right away.
We scrambled for the trucks, and Clint put his in gear. He peeled out with the trailer bouncing behind him, and the helicopter didn’t pursue him. Instead, it focused on those of us remaining. We were moving to the truck as fast as we could while trying to avoid the bullets. Apparently, the pilot had guessed our intention, because he turned his attention to our truck. There was no Hollywood-style explosion, but there was a definite sound of popping tires, followed by a hissing stream of steam that issued from the engine block after several rounds from the helicopter.
Avi and Lian had been in Clint’s truck, and I was glad they were going to make it to safety, even though I wished they were beside me as I ran into the building, following the others. Chris grabbed hold of my hand as we neared the entrance, but we were forced apart by a spray of bullets that targeted the space between us. I doubted the helicopter pilot was trying to split us up so much as trying to shoot us, but it served the same purpose.
I ran left when I reached the building, finding myself heading toward the offices rather than the front of the store. Our people were scattered, and I couldn’t see any of them. We had radios, but when I tried it, there was nothing. I didn’t know if it was broken, or if the pilot had some sort of jamming device. Either way, I couldn’t contact other members of my team.
There was a furtive scrape, and I strained my eyes to se
e in the darkness. There was light coming from the windows at the customer end of the business, but it was much dimmer back here in the administrative side. “Who’s there?” I hissed.
There was no verbal response, but Liu stepped into my line-of-sight. I supposed I should have been glad to find any member of my team, but I would’ve preferred to go it alone rather than try to work with Liu.
“Have you seen the others?” I whispered.
He gestured toward the opposite end of the store. “They’re up front. Radios aren’t working, so they’re probably being jammed.”
I nodded, pleased I’d reached that deduction for myself. “What are we going to do?”
Liu shrugged, which wasn’t reassuring. “Lian will send help as soon as he gets a chance to radio for it. There are likely more of the militia coming as well. They probably used their helicopter as a scouting vehicle. In the meantime, we try to evade them as we wait for rescue.”
“We should join the rest.”
He nodded, looking thoughtful, though it was difficult to tell in the gloom. “That is the sensible course. We should all stick together. I’ll join them in a minute.”
Something about his phrasing bothered me, but not as much as the sight of his gun raising and leveling at me. I glanced over my shoulder, half-convinced he must have seen someone behind me, but of course there was no one. He was aiming the gun at me. I frowned at him. “What are you doing? Put that away.”
“Lian will be sad about your death, but he’ll get over it. There’s a nice Korean girl at the camp now. She’s not Chinese, but she isn’t you either. He doesn’t need you.”
“He does need me, and I need him. Lian loves me.” We hadn’t actually exchanged those words yet, but I knew how I felt, and I was reasonably certain Lian felt the same. “He’s not going to let you keep coming between us, and he’s not going to fall in line with your plans to marry that nice Korean girl. He loves me, and I’m a nice girl too. No one’s going to love him the same way I do. Don’t you want him to be happy?”
