“Are you lost…prophet,” Moses asked with disdain and a sarcastic chuckle. “Is God not directing you any longer?”
“No…no, we’re close,” Alistair replied. He tried to suppress the smile on his face. All he could think about was getting back to his mom, and his brothers, and getting back to Ashley. Moses’s taunts didn’t matter anymore, Moses didn’t matter anymore. He wouldn’t even be a thought much longer.
“How much further then?” Moses snapped as he moved closer to Alistair and MJ.
“We’re close,” Alistair replied. “Very close.”
“Good,” he said angrily and looked over his shoulder. “Barnaby, it’s time.”
Alistair turned just as Barnaby and the other guards rounded on Faith with guns drawn. Faith gasped and stumbled backward. She had a look of disbelief stretched across her face and her eyes flitted slightly toward MJ with a hint of warning.
“Moses, what is this?” she asked.
“You’ve had this coming for some time now,” he replied. “This is judgement.”
Hector and Gendry reached into their rags and gripped the handles of their knives. Faith nodded at them as her hand crept slowly for the pistol on her hip. She swallowed then forced a smile on her face and stared at Moses defiantly.
“So, this is where you make your move?” she asked, trying to stall.
“My move?” he echoed. “Faith…Faith, we don’t need to play these games anymore.”
“What games?”
She’d barely gotten the words out of her mouth when the gunshots went off and Hector and Gendry fell to the ground. Blood oozed from their heads into the sand in thick globs. Their eyes stared blankly toward the sky and Hendry’s leg twitched in rapid spurts.
“No!” Faith shouted. “What the hell did you do?”
She grabbed the handle of her pistol and snatched it from her waistband. Before she could get a shot off or even level it at a target, Moses whirled around and shot her in the arm. Groaning, Faith dropped her gun and fell back.
“Did you see that, Barnaby?” Moses asked with a laugh. “She was gonna shoot me.”
Barnaby tilted his head to the side and chuckled. Moses glared at Faith when an incredulous look then spat onto Gendry’s dead body.
“I found him, you know that?” he asked. “I found this piece of shit, roaming the wasteland. Out here all alone and he chose to throw his hat in with you. You! What have you ever done? What have you ever given to these people? What has it ever cost you?”
“Don’t do this, Moses,” MJ pleaded.
“Shut up! I’ll get to you and your band of non-believers,” Moses said then took a deep breath and turned back toward Faith. “You thought I hadn’t noticed, Faith? That you could do all of this right under my nose? Actions have consequences.”
Smiling through the pain, Faith lifted her head and glared at Moses then to the small crowd behind him. She fought back tears as the pool of blood beneath Gendry and Hector’s head soaked the sand. “They were so much better than you,” she mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Fuck you!”
Moses laughed. “This…this is what it has come to,” he replied and turned to face the others. “This is how far the outsiders will go. He promised you salvation, he promised that we would look upon our God. But this is all that he’s brought us…lies and deception.”
“No, Moses. You’re the one who lies,” Faith growled. “You’ve built your kingdom on fear but we needn’t be afraid anymore.” She started to laugh.
“You’ll be judged woman, damn it you will be judged! But not by me, by your peers. Let them look upon you with their own eyes and see the traitor that you are.” Moses turned back to the small group of followers that had made the journey with them. “You’ve come this far and still we are no closer to our lord. All because this woman planned to kill me. This wasn’t a journey to the Earth God, this was Faith’s attempt to take over, to disobey what we hold sacred. The penalty for this is death. But I will not make this decision alone.”
“Don’t believe him!” Faith retorted. “We’re so close…so close to freedom. Can’t you smell it? We can take our lives back…we can live how we used to. You just have to be brave. All you have to do is trust me, trust me and I’ll ----“
The explosion from the gun was so startling even Moses jumped. Alistair’s mouth fell open as blood splattered onto his shoes and Faith’s lifeless body fell to the side. Gasps and cries of disbelief came to life like fingers banging on a broken piano. Barnaby smiled and stowed the smoking revolver back into his holster.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Moses snapped.
“She was talking too much,” Barnaby replied. “You said we had to kill her.”
“That was for them to decide you idiot!”
“Sorry.” Barnaby shrugged and gave him a sheepish look.
MJ scowled at them both as she shifted onto the balls of her feet. She’d been quiet, slowly moving herself into position to strike. The small knife Faith had given her was clenched tightly in her hand, pressing against her skin so hard that it bled. But that didn’t matter, Moses was going to die.
“Barnaby…tread lightly,” Moses said then looked back toward Alistair and the others. “I had so much planned for you. You would’ve gone out in spectacular fashion. But now…what’s the point?” He flicked his hand into the air and turned away. “You know what to do.”
CHAPTER 33
THIS IS ALL WE HAVE
“Almost there,” Max shouted over his shoulder in an encouraging voice. “You know what they say about the journey of a thousand miles?”
“Shut the hell up!” Craig replied.
His leg hurt so much he could hardly stand but he couldn’t take another three seconds of Max’s motivational quotes. Gritting his teeth, he hobbled a bit faster and cursed under his breath.
“I think I see someone! Thomas!” Max shouted in relief as a smile spread across his face. “It’s Thomas.”
“Hell, you guys are a sight for sore eyes,” Thomas said as he closed the gap between them and shook Max’s hand.
“Where is everyone else?” Craig asked.
“Just inside. We vented the place like you said then eventually opened the doors. Hope that was okay…couldn’t make out your last message.”
Craig looked back the way they came and shrugged. “Seems like it doesn’t matter now. Everyone doing alright?”
“Yeah…yeah, we’re all fine. Glad to be breathing and have you guys back. What’s the word on everyone else?”
Before anyone could respond a series of deafening crackles echoed through the sky. Craig paused and looked over his shoulder with terror in his eyes. Max mirrored his reaction and they both cast wary glances at one another.
“That was a gunshot…right?” Max mumbled. “Several gunshots?”
“Come on!” Craig replied and started back toward the warehouse at a pace his leg couldn’t support. “Thomas keep everyone inside!”
“I can help,” Thomas yelled back to him.
“No…just keep everyone inside. I don’t have time to explain but it’s not safe out here. Max, let’s go!”
Max swallowed. He hesitated momentarily then dropped his bags and ran after Craig at a timid pace. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked back at Thomas and frowned. Against all odds he’d made it back to the egg safely, now he was leaving again but he didn’t have a choice, he had to find Cindy.
“Those were gunshots?” he asked in a scratchy voice. “Craig! Those were gunshots, weren’t they?”
“Yes, damn it! Now keep up!”
They hurried over the distressed tundra toward the unknown. And even though they were exhausted, fear proved to be a significant motivating factor. It wasn’t fear for themselves but fear for their loved ones. It wasn’t a question of whether MJ’s group was lost any more, it was a question of whether they were still alive.
Max was in a state of panic. He found it hard to control his breathing as
he stumbled over the rocks. Images flashed through his mind, playing nightmares that he’d never have the heart to tell anyone about. He wasn’t Craig, he wasn’t a soldier but he was still in love.
A voice echoed in his head saying the same thing over and over. Why did you let her leave? He should have never let her go. There was nothing more important than keeping Cindy safe and he’d failed. And no matter what they’d been through, she was his link to the life he used to know. She was the last person that really knew him, the only family he had left.
Gritting his teeth, Craig pushed through every ounce of pain until his leg was numb. As the sound of another gunshot echoed, he forgot that his leg had ever been injured in the first place. It didn’t matter anymore, nothing mattered anymore but finding his friends.
As Craig reached the top of the sand dune, he looked down into the valley ahead and saw a cluster of people standing around. He gasped at first and dropped to a prone position, pressing his chin into the dirt.
“What is it?” Max grumbled as he crawled up beside him.
Craig pressed his finger to his lips and collected himself. “There’s people down there,” he whispered.
“Cindy?” Max asked and lifted his head.
Craig didn’t reply. He pushed himself onto his elbows and stared back down the hill. In silence they both scanned the mural of faces in disbelief. They had been the only survivors for so long. Suddenly, everything they thought they knew had been turned upside down.
“There!” Max said excitedly and pointed. “Jesus Christ! They’re gonna kill them.”
Alistair, Cindy, Daniel and MJ were standing side by side. Barnaby was in front of them holding a gun with the barrel slowly swaying back and forth like he was playing eenie meenie miney mo. The remaining people were circled together around them, watching with a mixture of confusion and excitement.
To the side was Moses. He was talking with wild, animated gestures. He slammed his fist into his open hand then started to pace before breaking out into a terrifying laugh.
“Who is this asshole?” Craig mumbled. “What the hell have they gotten themselves into?”
Max took a shallow breath then grumbled in a monotone voice, “We’ve gotta stop this.” He ripped the sling over his head and pulled his rifle to his shoulder. He stared down the length of the barrel and aimed but Craig grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Wait!”
“What the hell do you mean wait? I’m not gonna just sit here.”
“Neither am I,” Craig replied through a clenched jaw, trying to hide his frustration. “We need to be closer. We’re only gonna get one chance at this.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
“I’ll take the shot. From here you’ll probably kill one of our own. Get down the hill, get as close as you can and when the shooting starts make sure you keep the barrel pointed at the bad guys.”
Max wanted to snap back but there wasn’t time. He nodded eagerly then started on all fours down the hill, clutching his rifle between his sweaty fingers, dragging it through the sand.
Craig settled into a comfortable position above him and stared through his sights until Barnaby’s head was lined up in his crosshairs. There were three other armed guards standing nearby but Craig figured he could drop at least two of them before Barnaby’s body hit the dirt.
Moses was still walking back and forth, flailing his hands as he spoke. The crowd behind him seemed enamored by every word he said. Not one eye dared to look away.
This made it easy for Max to make it down the hill without anyone even noticing. They were all too wrapped up in Moses’ rant about how he was the true chosen one and not following him would result in death. Faith had been right about one thing, fear was certainly Moses’ power.
Max cracked a smile as he crept up slowly from behind the crowd. Craig watched him for a moment then panned back to Barnaby and prepared to put him out of his misery. Just as Craig’s finger rested on the trigger a loud grumbling rolled through the sky and a convoy of black painted pickup trucks barreled across the desert, coming to a stop a few feet away from Moses.
“Perfect timing,” Moses elated. “The Vees will be happy.”
A ragtag army of a few dozen or so men dismounted from the pickup trucks and made their way toward him. It was a tangled array of old, young, fat and skinny soldiers who looked ill-equipped to hold off a band of determined boy scouts. Most were carrying guns though, and the ones that didn’t had an assortment of butcher’s knives hanging from belts around their waist.
“No disrespect, Moses but we usually like to carve em up while they’re still breathing,” a tall, gangly man said as he shot Barnaby a look and crammed his filthy fingernail into the gap between his front teeth. “Them Vees seem to like it better that way…when they ain’t getting em squirming it’s the next best thing.”
Moses laughed. “Not to worry Charles, Barnaby was just keeping them in check until you arrived. They’re all yours.”
The man grinned then hacked up a wad of spit and shot it into the dirt. Rubbing his greasy hands together, he crooked his head to the side. A few of the men behind him started toward Alistair and the others as they gripped their knives and smiled.
One of the men unsheathed his blade and Cindy shivered. MJ squeezed her hand and pulled her close. “It’s gonna be fine,” she whispered. “Just stay behind me.”
The men continued to advance and MJ took a deep breath to steady herself. She had no intention of becoming food for the Vees. They might kill her but it came at a cost and she was determined to collect every penny.
“What the hell is that?” the man named Charles asked suddenly and stopped in his tracks.
Max darted from behind a rock and scurried through the dirt like a lizard. Charles shouted again and Max froze as the crowd turned to face him. For brief moment no one moved, his sudden appearance had broken up an otherwise perfectly planned murder.
“What do we do with him?” Barnaby asked with a smirk as he raised his rifle and looked back for permission.
“He with you?” Charles turned to Moses and asked.
“Kill him!” Moses jabbed in a frightened tone. He frantically scoured the desert as he shuffled backward and reached for his gun. “Who else is out here? Spread out, find them! Barnaby, kill him already!”
Max didn’t move. His eyes flickered to Cindy and she beamed at him in desperation. He wanted to save her, to do something, anything but he couldn’t. Fear paralyzed him and as Barnaby took aim, he closed his eyes and mumbled an empty prayer.
“Shit!” Craig groaned as he watched the scene unfold below him.
With Barnaby in his sights, he took a deliberate breath and held it. As he’d done so many times before, he squeezed his hand and the Grim Reaper tore from the barrel of his rifle, screeching through the air with a deafening crackle.
The first shot ripped through Barnaby’s forehead. He was dead before his body hit the ground. The next shot found Charles, sending him crumpling into the dirt. Two more of his men fell dead beside him then all hell broke loose.
The mob went hysterical, running, screaming, diving to the ground as gunfire erupted all around them. MJ grabbed Cindy by the arm and dragged her from the fray. Alistair and Daniel were hard on her heels as they rushed to a cluster of rocks and hunkered behind them.
“Max is back there,” Cindy shouted as she looked over her shoulder. “We can’t leave him.”
“He has a gun…we don’t!” MJ growled.
Grimacing, Craig slid down into the valley, picking off Moses’ henchmen like he was playing a video game. Even outnumbered and injured, Craig’s skill was still a force to be reckoned with. He was dropping bodies before the guards could as much as think about shooting in his direction.
The unarmed followers scattered like shards from a broken vase. Some took shelter behind the trucks, some took the trucks altogether, others raced back across the desert on foot in an attempt to make it home. Still, Moses had enough martyrs, bullets, and
rage to make things interesting.
“Find them! Kill them all!” Moses roared in a demented voice. He spun around wildly with a knife in one hand and a revolver in the other. Shouting incoherent madness, he fired at the rocks where MJ and the others were hiding until the gun clicked empty. Cursing, he threw the old pistol into the sand and charged toward them, slashing the air with his knife.
To the other side, Max had finally come to his senses. He ran after Cindy but stopped when he saw Moses sprinting in the same direction across from him. Kneeling, Max took aim and fired a single shot. The bullet hit Moses in the shoulder and spun him around. He yelped and fell into the sand, still clenching the rusted blade.
“Cindy,” Max called out.
She stood up and bullet sailed across her head after ricocheting from the rock in front of her. Trembling, she dropped back to the ground as MJ glared at her with an incredulous look.
“Are you stupid?”
“Sorry,” Cindy mumbled.
“Stay there!” Max warned.
With his rifle sweeping back and forth, Max made for their location. Bullets were still flying everywhere as Moses’ half-assed soldiers ran for cover from Craig’s violent assault. For the ones that Craig missed they were still likely to be killed by friendly fire. There was no place that was safe.
Like a scene from a cheap action flick, Max marched across the killing field with reckless abandon. Whether it was rage, arrogance or stupidity that propelled him forward, he didn’t see fit to duck or otherwise avoid the gunfight that blazed across the desert.
A dense cloud of dirt and rock debris hung in the air in defiance of gravity. It made it difficult to determine friend from foe, which resulted in people firing blindly as a precaution. Even Max sent several rounds over his shoulder as he made his way toward the clump of rubble.
Craig continued to take down target after target with laser like precision. Hobbling and firing from his hip, he slowly closed the gap between him and the others while at the same time trying to keep Max alive. People were popping up from everywhere, rushing in and out of the kill zone in a hysterical race for safety.
Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set Page 100
