by Marcus Sloss
“We looted the zone you and the colonel indicated for us. While we were meeting you, Isaac purchased a bunch of pebble-shooting weapons. Not sure what ratio or how many he received. Since I publicly said I was leaving, I am your problem now.”
My jaw twisted in a grimace. I was distracted by a screaming chipmunk a few trees deep into the woods.
“What was that?” Sarah asked.
“A chipmunk or squirrel. I got this new gun and littered the forest with smoldering chunks of pine. I did not know they could scream like that. Gary is our builder, a fantastic man. His team is going to be building more longhouses. I am personally going to get in the dozer and flatten out some terrain for you,” I said to Sarah.
“Thanks, Cap, Officer Duchess out,” Sarah said.
“You sure are a charmer, Eric. So… Eric… are you mad at me?” Perci fidgeted as she spoke.
“Ha! I am proud of you. You were right to kick your mom’s ass. If you didn’t do it, I would have. I will hit a girl who crosses me. She literally killed me. I think that deserves a bloody lip and a bruised ego.”
“You mean it?” Perci was almost whimpering.
“Hey, I am not sure what you are going through, but I am here for you. You are my queen. You’re allowed to need to lean on me,” I said with an arm over her shoulder. I walked us to the gate. “You're going to be okay.”
“Yeah, I’ve just… never lost control like that before. That nitrogen reactor went into your arm and your feet left the dirt in a swoosh of power. The doctor felt no pulse, reached into his assistant’s lab coat, and poured black sludge down your throat. I spun on mom and hit her so hard she went down in a single punch. I didn’t feel bad until a minute or so ago. That was my mom. We have fought a lot, but never to violence. She has never hit me before.”
“Yeah, well, if you killed Gcorp I bet she would have. Sorry, best I can compare it to. I know talking about the fatherless childhood you went through is tough.”
“Actually, now that I have you, I feel better about it. I always resented Mom for never taking a lover. Who uses sperm from a thousand men to impregnate their eggs and then hides the list from their child? Mom. That’s who. Our children will grow up with a father, or if something tragic happens, they will have hours of footage of you to hold on to. I may have been recording you with Mary.” Perci gave me big, loving eyes. “A lot. I adore seeing you with her. So does her mother. Did you know Jarod, the father, did not hold Mary?” I shook my head no. “He was a germaphobe. Apparently, kids are their evil weakness since they—you know—are covered in gross shit with no care in the world about germs.”
“Explains why Mary has been so clingy,” I said. I saw Perci frown. “Perci, when there is no fighting, I cherish clingy.”
“The term is so negative,” Perci said while waving to Mitchell as we entered Stronghold Mansion. I turned us for the dozer. “You may make it seem not, but generally speaking, clingy means overly needy. Which I—”
I kissed her hard. Even swept her off her feet. There was a catcall from the wall that I ignored. I set her down and bolted for the dozer. Perci waved with wet eyes of joy. I stopped looking over my shoulder to ensure I didn’t run into anything.
The dozer had a special parking spot behind the mansion not too far from the river. I noticed a tavers’s body caught on the hydro bridge we built. I jogged over to the river with my weapons ready.
“Douglas, this is Cap.”
“Hey boss. What can I do for you?”
“I got a dead tavers, get me eyes on their herd. We had fifteen and added seven, so there should be twenty-one warm bodies,” I said, quickly doing the math.
“You sure about that?” the smartass thirteen-year-old said. I started using fingers to verify when I heard. “Ha! I just wanted to see you count with your fingers. Twenty-one red dots. There is fading blood stains near a disturbed area. The largest female has some wounds.”
“Thanks, Douglas. I will chalk it up to a dominance fight,” I said and dialed up Mitchell. When he answered I said, “Got a body in the river by the dam. Get it to the freezer, please.”
“No bury?”
“No, ramoths will probably eat it. Hell, if things get dire, we may even. Better to save it.”
“Roger, Cap. Mitchell out.”
Well, at least I knew why the tavers were left on quarantined worlds. Then again, I think only potential races capable of expanding through space were prohibited. There was still so much a simple man like me did not know. The lifeless body floating in the river; that I understood. The darkness crept from my soul to produce a smirk on my face. Not wanting to let the demons have a place on this fine beautiful day, I went back for the dozer.
The machine had traction-grip steps that were not needed on the dry day. The seat squashed under my body. I gave mental nudges for my weapons to release power. The power cables retracted with a slight hiss. I set the weapons on the dozer dash. The door automatically closed, recognizing my permissions. The display pad jutted forward as the machine hummed to life. I looked at the pad that was pinging the ground with sonar to determine elevations. Exterior cameras picked up objects that painted a partial surface picture. I selected the area not far from the container wall that we had still not utilized. There were sporadic trees with fairly level ground.
When I selected auto drive, the dozer rolled forward on its tracks with a gradual turn. I used the images imprinted into the memory of the other longhouses to draw four new plans for homes. A few clicks onto the pad and the onboard manager gave me an itinerary for approval. Travel to location. Remove trees. Level land. Return to the charging point. Pretty awesome. I clicked accept.
I got an alert from Norm. He had been complaining about the lack of rain. Enough complaining that he wanted to build an irrigation lane from the river to the farm fields. Suddenly, I found a reason for our plastic bars. Piping.
Clive, our resident plumber, was outside the gate. I was surprised by this until I saw him with his family at the Xgate. I asked him to go into the Xgate and build irrigation piping and plumbing piping with our plastic. The response was as expected. “Wait, can we do that?”
I knew he would figure it out. The bulldozer rolled to the first tree. I had seen this process a few times now. The dozer paused when it was ready. The pad flashed. Human operator needed. Please use proper precautions and procedures. Click here to learn how to put a chain around a tree. I was mildly entertained by the idea of watching someone putting a chain around a tree. The video showed a man pressing the unwind button on the winch. The first try did not have enough wire cable. The operator went back and spooled out more. I closed the video. It was less entertaining than I anticipated.
I wrapped the tree without an issue. The dozer forced me to manually pull the tree out with the controls. When the roots came free of the dirt, I programmed a course for the nearest tree pile. There must have been a hundred trees waiting to be processed. I sighed, wishing we had unlimited funds. Turning a full tree into planks outside of golden days would be awesome.
I called Clive and his Gpad went straight to disconnect. He must be inside with Goldie, or whatever version he saw. I sent him an alert to notify me when he returned. I checked Torrez’s Gpad. He was nearing the Xgate. I gave him a ring.
“I got a big list here, Cap. Last chance to change it,” Torrez said, sending me the list.
I browsed the items and saw he added a few backpack nitrogen reactors. Most of the items were basic. I agreed that we should get a lot of medium-grade armor and weapons for now. We had a few hundred people willing to gear up but only eighty or so sets of armor. In fact, the list had accounted for more armor over weapons.
“I like what I see, Torrez. So, I need you to ask the storage mind reader a question that evaded me. Can we convert old cars into bricks of materials? I know we cannot take an old truck and create a new truck. I need to know if there are limits on what we toss into the converter.”
“Ah, you want to drain the lemon lot. I can ask.
I was also going to ask if storage had to be removed. Did you ask that one?”
I cursed while hitting the steering wheel. Nope. I had not. “Hey, if we can toss in vehicles, throw some in so Nancy can buy more medical supplies. Actually, I will call Jevon…” I paused and pulled up Jevon’s Gpad. He was sleeping in RV2. “Nevermind, I will put a command channel call out.”
I hung up on Torrez. I typed a quick message to work with Torrez on converting gas-guzzling vehicles if we could. Jacky replied that the being in charge of our Xgate storage approved the vehicles for conversion. Perfect. I wondered how many vehicles we could have stored for the next golden portal. Might even be able to avoid Denver.
I left the dozer to unhook the tree from the winch. Not far away a car came double-hitting its horn. That would be Sarah. The gate guards let her in. She sent me a call.
“Go ahead, Echo Team,” I said.
“Um… what do I do now?” Sarah said.
“The old vehicles in the lemon lot consume gasoline. We are emptying the lot and using it for medical supplies. Go ahead and have free reign driving those. Your Gpads will give you directions. Figure out some supplies you want soon because I plan on stopping trade an hour before the golden portals stop. I want two hours between times. I know, still more than half a day away. Thanks, Sarah. Oh, send your needs to Jacky—you’ll find her on the command channel,” I said and hung up the call. I dialed into Douglas’s Gpad with an instant connection. “Hey, Douglas, fly the drone over Cornerstore Stronghold.”
“Drone en route, ETA five minutes.”
“Douglas, on the radio, you say mikes instead of minutes.”
“Why? They’re the same length to pronounce,” Douglas said.
I grunted in frustration. He always had a point. I let the subject drop and closed the connection. The bulldozer drove itself to the next tree. So the cycle repeated. I was rumbling over the rough terrain to tree three when my Gpad sent an alert.
I opened the video to see the Cornerstore vehicles in a mess of a formation in the plaza parking lot. It appeared that most of the trucks were loaded up. I saw a group arguing and figured that was probably the council infighting. I zoomed my feed in. Laura was pointing weapons at others. Uh oh. Isaac lunged to disarm his hysterical wife. People dove to the pavement as the weapon burst munitions into the air. Douglas jerked the drone instinctively. The shots were nowhere near, but I knew the feeling of wanting safety when shot at. The camera returned to show Laura on her back, eyes open, and blood pooling beneath her. Isaac charged a stunned Jason, whose weapon was aimed at Laura. I knew too well what transpired. Isaac never reached Jason. Jason’s weapon fired. Isaac stumbled forward until he collapsed. Shit. Jason freaked out. He swung the alien weapon around wildly at the people yelling at him. I knew his panic. I knew his instinct. He had nowhere to run with his peers pointing weapons at him. The next logical thing happened. The barrel went under his chin. Without a chance to stop him, the top of his head tore free in a spray of gore. Three leaders died in less than a minute. They survived almost two weeks of the apocalypse only die to each other.
Gpads started to activate. I silenced all of them. They were confused. I saw more and more of them turn on until almost everyone had their Gpads on.
“This is Cap, I am sorry for your loss. I liked Jason, Isaac, and even Laura as a person. If you want sanctuary, you will follow the rules. One of the rules is no weapons unless qualified on the ranges. My soldiers will not tolerate anyone approaching the gate with a weapon. There will be a bin at the end of the forest. Put your weapons in there and then approach the gate slowly. Do not drive quickly at the gate guards. Be calm when entering your new home. We are preparing places to sleep now, a roast of food, and warm showers for everyone.” - Cap
The chaos, division, and jammed vehicles miraculously unwound as they drove for Stronghold Mansion. Seven peeled off for Denver and three went west for Utah. Maybe Salt Lake City. With electric vehicles, water, and food, they could make it pretty far. I wished them luck openly on the main channel.
My Gpad rang.
“Hey, Perci, what’s up?”
“You okay?”
“Uh… yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You watched three people die. I am… I am… We could have given… I feel…” Perci said sadly while stuttering.
Well, shit. I stopped the dozer while rapidly slinging my weapons. My Gpad said she was in RV3. Between seeing me die and now this, she was probably near a breaking point. Perci did not see much death in Saudi Arabia. Even if she had, this was a messy reality. People went insane. Insane people with guns led to deaths. I actually agreed with gun control for crazy people.
I found Jill cradling Perci on the back bed. Jill waved me away to watch a princess movie with Mary. I grabbed a beer from the fridge first. With a cold brew in my hand I lazed about, watching a story about a mermaid wanting to be free of her duties. I tipped the beer at her struggles while I waited to be relieved of babysitting duty.
CHAPTER 4
My ass was planted in front of a tree growing out of a hesco container. My legs swayed as they dangled over the edge of the mesh sack. I was watching the procession of new residents from my perch. They were healthy looking, with only early signs of food rationing. Their clothes were nasty with sweat stains, dark coloration on light clothing, and nasty matted hair. By the looks of it, they had had to limit water at some point, which meant no washing clothes or showers. I felt bad for Mitchell and his team performing inspections—Perci, too, when I caught sight of her with a scrunched nose.
They were performing the necessary task of processing people coming inside. My first mandate to my new citizens was that everyone needed to take a shower. We had looted an excessive amount of clothes from the surrounding area.
Jill waved when our eyes met—she was handing out clothing to those in need from a stuffed trailer. The process was orderly, although moving at a slow pace. Perci was taking notes on every person based on their Gpads. Jill had to dig out appropriate clothing from a piled mess that she tried to organize while still working the line.
I stopped watching them work to check out the weapons bin in the middle of the field. Mitchell relocated the container there so it would be easy to monitor as people removed their weapons. The Cornerstore refugees were dropping off new rifles we could certainly use. I wanted to play with one but instead respected the rules.
Perci recovered from her bout of sadness quickly, her grief minimal as she dove into her work. After I comforted her I noticed the three bodies were left in the street with their weapons under them. Mclain cleaned up the bodies and inspected the buildings. He reported that the sewage had backflowed, hence why they picked today to move. I figured it had to be something. I also did not want the same problem. I diverted Mclain to get me all the other water pumps he could. I was going to set those machines on standby, or maybe even install them to prevent a failure causing a problem. Mclain responded that he could drive three old cars into the gate and buy a fancy new alien pump that would work with our electrical. That obviously won me over.
The community was on a spending spree. The grand market, as it was termed, contained a lot of items to buy, including toilet paper. I personally had everything I needed. A nice bed, an epic armor set on the way, and I already had some kickass weapons. Wait, I needed some scan glasses still, or something comparable. I checked my Gpad: twelve hours left, with about four more until night hit. I could wait until next week since there was no scenario where I would be a scout. I flipped through some requests that were seeking approval. Jacky was rubber-stamping just about everything. Alien drones on Torrez’s list; that piqued my interest. When I thought about it some more, the only things I needed besides goggles were team-oriented like the drones. I would love a shield dome protecting our homes.
This is why I got paid the big bucks. I stopped watching the individuals coming in and investigated the market list. I scrolled until I was able to search for stronghold items. The results we
re for furniture. When I searched for a fortification shield that worked… Huh. Probably a translator thing. There were eighty-two variations of large shields with numerous power types. The best versions were on gravity sleds using nitrogen power plants with compatible electricity. There even were wiring connectors on a side panel for us to use. I swear I once watched a robot army movie with something similar.
Speaking of robots, I had not noticed any. I called Nancy and learned she was not on Earth. I checked for Jevon — Yup, he was awake.
“Check on why there are no robots. Also, see if someone inside can afford a fortification shield, please. When able.” - Cap
“OMW” - Deluxe Duke Jevon
His Gpad winked out. I returned to dangling my legs with a soft sway. Mitchell walked my direction behind the row of planted trees in the hesco dirt. He plopped down beside me with a tired grunt.
“They are in shock. Like a lot of shock,” Mitchell said with an exhausted sigh.
“We are, what, ten days into the apocalypse? You would think they would be somewhat adjusted.”
“Did you watch the video Mclain sent back? They were crammed into those buildings. They had shelter, food, water, and power. They were even able to spread out after many of those hiding fled for Denver. I think most of them gripped onto the past by hiding from reality. The past where you were in a store that sold you everything you could ever want after a five-minute drive. A shower will do them good. Work is better. Not sure what they—”
“I know exactly what task they need. Get the backhoes to dredge out rocks into the salt trucks. Dump the rocks by their new homes. Have them add rock flooring to the longhouse slots I cleared,” I said while pointing inside the gate to the right. Fresh people were already leaving the mansion showers. The post-shower line headed to the BBQ pit for strips of gross gargoyle meat. I shuddered thinking about having to eat more tonight. “Gary is almost back with enough trusses for a dozen homes. I will probably send him back for a plywood run.”
