by John M Grier
~***~
About midway through the night, Suzie approached the lone guard. She simply appeared as a higher ranking female officer, which was naturally intimidating to the lower ranking male guard in this matriarchal society. She said in a stern voice “Open the door.”
The startled guard jumped to his feet and stood at attention at the first sound of her voice. Realizing he was just given an order that was in direct contradiction to his standing orders, he started to protest “But Lt. Jameson said not to open the door to anyone but her.”
With a stern expression on her normally perky face, Suzie demanded rather impatiently “As you can plainly see, I outrank Lt. Jameson. Open the door now!”
“Right away.” He said visibly shaking.
The door opened and before anyone could speak, Suzie said “The prisoners will please follow me. Guard, you will remain here and guard this door.”
Confused, but unwilling to disobey an order from a female officer, he simply resumed his post and said “Yes Ma’am.”
Suzie led the two friends down several hallways, retracing their path through the building and nearly made it through the door to the parked vehicles when Shultz and his large friend spotted them. Recognizing Suzie, he shouted “Stop them, the officer is an imposter!”
The two male guards went virtually unnoticed in their efforts at least at first in this subterranean matriarchal town. The confusion of a pair of males giving orders allowed the trio the necessary moments required to escape. The three travelers broke into a run and made it through the door in the midst of all the confusion. Jack got the HumVee started and they sped away.
Once they were out of town, Paul asked “Who are those people?”
“I think they are the remainder of the government of the United States of America” said Suzie. “I overheard enough conversation to feel pretty confident about that. Apparently, when the EPA took complete control, the fragments of government that was left simply went underground. Also, it would seem that over time the society that now exists underground has become matriarchal in nature. That fact alone is what enabled me to get you out. I was able to intimidate a male guard into opening the door for me.”
“I was wondering how you pulled that off” said Jack.
Paul spoke up and said “Sorry to interrupt this fascinating study on the intricacies of ultra-secret subterranean militant cultures, but look who’s behind us.”
Jack was too busy driving and had only limited view behind him in the mirrors due largely to the big travel trailer and hovercraft he was towing, so Suzie relayed the info to him. “Jack, there are seven military HumVees following us in a rapid maneuver that will surely catch up to us in no time.”
“These roads are really nice and well maintained, but offer no place to hide. Anybody have any ideas?” asked Jack as he frantically searched for some way to lose his pursuers.
The lead chase vehicle took that moment to start shooting at them. Jack was both a bit frightened and intrigued at the same time. Whatever those guns were, they didn’t shoot bullets like the weapons he was used to. These were some sort of particle beam type of energy weapon. The first shot went wild, but the second shot melted the mirror off of the driver’s door of the HumVee.
Paul spoke up quickly and said “I have an idea, although it’s a bit risky.”
“I’m open to suggestions” said Jack as he began blindly swerving from side to side, taking up the entire roadway in an effort to keep their pursuers behind them.
“Okay…I’ll take the gun and go back into the hovercraft and try to disable the lead vehicle.”
“Bad idea, Paul. I applaud your eagerness, but you have never fired a gun before. You take over driving and I’ll go back and shoot out the tires of a few of them. Just be sure to hold it steady while I’m climbing over the trailer.” They quickly changed places while maintaining their speed. Keeping his head down, Jack slipped out through the back window after changing places with Paul. He climbed to the top of the trailer and decided that was as good a place as any to make his stand, lying down. He took aim and shot out the tires on the lead vehicle.
The HumVee apparently had some type of 'run flat' tires, but the control was diminished enough for the driver to eventually lose control. The big military vehicle spun off to the side of the road and rolled over onto its side. He shot the next three as well before making a big enough mess to stop them. Satisfied that the pile up he created was sufficient to occupy them for a while, he climbed back over the trailer to their vehicle.
Knowing it would only be a matter of time before they resumed the chase, he wanted to get as much distance as possible between them. He quickly dropped into the back of the HumVee and said “Let’s get as far from here as we can. Keep heading north, if possible, and hopefully we can surface somewhere away from both the surface government as well as the underworld version.”
The four wrecked vehicles must have clogged up the tunnel pretty good because they never caught up to the travelers. Paul kept driving for quite a while. As they drove, they passed many places where they could stop for a rest. Most of these side tunnels were natural caves that opened onto the man made tunnel they were traveling through.
After several hours, Paul pulled off the road into one of these side tunnels and they decided to take a break and stretch their legs a bit. He was still shaken up at the gun fire they had escaped and needed time to think. Gunfire was as alien to him as little green men would have been to Jack.
