by EE Isherwood
They had tree cover for a few hundred yards getting away from the houses, but the landscape soon opened up to treeless, grassy plains. Grain silos and farmhouses dotted the horizon; those would be the only places to hide. As it was, he sped over a small rise putting a bit of a barrier between them and the town of Westby. It wouldn’t save them from the eyes of the drone, if it was looking to the west of the town, but it would prevent them from being spotted by anyone on the ground back there. He assumed search parties were everywhere.
“How did they find us?” Emily asked, still craning her neck to the rear.
“Maybe they’re following a pattern,” Kyla suggested. “If they’re automated, like everything else, it would make sense for them to be on pre-planned routes.”
That settled his mind enough for him to suck in a calming breath. His heartbeat was dangerously fast, and he’d begun to think who would use which of the new rifles for a last stand if they’d been spotted.
Minutes later, with the truck’s speedometer up around one-ten, he figured they might be in the clear. “Nothing’s up there?”
The women scanned everywhere, searching for eyes in the sky. “I don’t see any, Unk. I think we made it.” Kyla sat in the back seat directly behind him. He saw her smile in his rearview mirror.
Emily exhaled with relief.
Only Meechum seemed unconvinced they’d gotten away. She had her window open and hung out like a puppy dog, always watching behind them.
Ted gripped the wheel, wishing he had the black Camaro he and Emily abused while getting into New York City. Without a speed limit, or police anywhere along the route, he was certain he could cross the state of Montana in record time.
A low roar reverberated in his lungs. He and Emily shared a confused look.
“Damn!” Meechum exclaimed. “Look back there.”
Emily bumped her head on the window trying to see behind them. “My God. They blew up the whole town…”
Ted slowed a tiny bit, so it was safe for him to look over his shoulder. Ten miles back, on the smooth plains of Montana, a black plume of smoke rose as if a nuke had wiped out the city of Westby. Given the small size of the town, a nuke wasn’t even necessary. It was more likely a heavy gravity bomb dropped from some enemy bomber in the stratosphere.
The three women alternately cussed or spoke in awe of the rising cloud, but he could only speed up and keep them on the road. He wanted to believe Kyla’s theory about automated search patterns and luck, but he thought things through with an eye toward the new style of warfare surrounding them. If the enemy was smart, and he always assumed they were, maybe they tapped into the computer systems of the water company this morning. Since the entire nation was gone, any unusual water consumption would stand out on their computer screens. Their showers might have tipped off the enemy as to where they’d spent the night.
He’d need to be a lot more cautious going forward. They would jump in a lake to get clean, if necessary.
“Belt in everyone. We’re not dropping below a hundred until this thing is out of gas…”
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
“Tabitha, I’m sorry I couldn’t get you before lunchtime. As you can imagine, I’m very busy with the invasion of the old America.”
“I bet,” she snarked.
David took her from the cell but stopped at the door of the crazy man. “Hey, I have a special delivery coming for you. A present that’s going to blow your warped little mind.”
“Bah!” the man yelled from deep inside his office cell.
David seemed unconcerned. He waved her forward, out of the prison area.
Tabby was glad to be out of the cramped quarters and away from the rude guy in the other cell. However, other than location, her situation didn’t improve. David made her uneasy in a way she found hard to put to words. When she’d first met him, she’d found him not the worst-looking guy in the world. He brandished a charming smile and friendly demeanor that made you want to talk to him. He was a little older than her dad, maybe in his late forties, but he had the long white hair of an elderly man, which gave him an unusual, almost elfish quality. In any other situation those unique features might have made him an interesting character. However, once she learned who he was, and what he’d done to her parents, she only saw a monster. A monster with malevolent, dead eyes.
Yet, he talked like a pleasant librarian as they strolled the halls. “I understand your confusion. You dislike I found you attractive enough to save, but you hate yourself for being flattered by it. You’re glad to be alive, while at the same time crushed your family didn’t make it. You feel rebellious and vindictive, yet you hate knowing you lost a war you didn’t even know was coming to your shores.”
She wouldn’t ever give him the satisfaction of knowing her pain. “I’m not confused at all. You killed everyone I loved. What more do I need to know?”
He waved her through another door, guiding her forward as if it were a chivalrous act. “That’s why I set aside some time for you. I know I can’t make you want to be here, but I think I can make the case you should accept this as your destiny. Maybe you’d even see it as an opportunity.”
“You want me as your wife, don’t you?” She’d been fearing this moment since she first saw the other women in the gym-like chamber. If she and the others were to be the mothers of a new generation of Americans, and he’d gone out of his way to capture her after seeing her on the unauthorized broadcast in St. Louis, it stood to reason he’d try to get her to like him.
No freaking way that will ever happen.
He laughed politely and brushed some of his long locks out of his face. “Oh my, you’re a wonderful young lady with a gift for straight talk. However, you’re half my age. Do you believe I’d really do such a horrible thing?”
“Isn’t it why I’m dressed like a prostitute from Star Wars?” She swooshed her hands down her sides, showing off her blue spandex attire, along with the added skirt.
“You don’t like it?” he asked with what seemed like real surprise. “The other girls love their outfits.”
She snorted. “I’m sure they’ll tell a male dictator holding them captive deep inside the earth what they really think about their spandex school uniforms…”
They traveled deeper into the hallways of the underground facility. She knew nothing about NORAD besides it was a military bunker in the mountains. As best she could tell, based on where she’d spent the night, part of the facility was reserved for office space. They walked down another nice hallway but came to a set of double-doors which seemed to hold back darkness on the other side. David leaned against the door as if to open it, but then stopped abruptly, almost making her bump into him.
“Tell me. What would you have done if I’d forced you to be my wife?” His dead brown eyes searched her for the answer before she could voice it. She immediately wondered if the whole thing was a test. Maybe she was supposed to want to be his wife, rather than be forced. He could then feel good about not being an ass, and she could presumably feel her new career path was worthwhile. Mom and Dad might tell her to take the deal, if only to give herself time to figure a way out of it. She however…
“I’d find a way to kill myself,” she said in a I’m-empty-inside tone of voice.
They stood there for a few moments. He watched to see if she’d been serious. She, in turn, searched her feelings to decide if she’d really go through with such a scenario. Seconds later, she thought maybe she could. She’d rather die than have to be a slave to him. Right?
He laughed out loud. “I knew it. You’re truly a wonderful addition to our team.” He held up a finger. “Not as my wife. Goodness, no. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. But I do have some young men I’d like you to meet.”
“Calgon, take me away,” she mumbled. It was a phrase her mom often said when tourists at the mine were being difficult. She had no idea who Calgon was, or where she’d take her mother, but saying it reminded her of the feisty attitude she wanted to emula
te.
David threw her a sideways glance, bemused at her word choice, then pushed through the doors. “Follow me.”
The underground facility changed in an instant. They entered a tunnel chiseled from raw stone. It was about ten feet tall and wide, with an organized bundle of wires running along the base of the wall on the right side. A row of bulbs hung in a line about every twenty feet on the ceiling.
“What is this place?” she said in a wonder-filled voice, despite herself.
“Have you ever heard of the word antipode?” he asked mysteriously.
“No,” she barked, anxious to cancel out the sound of being interested.
“Well, you will. Down this hallway is the weapon which has made it so easy for me to be here, deep inside your country, without a scratch on me.”
David walked a few paces ahead, obviously excited to show it to her. She followed at a slower pace, wary of what she would find. It wasn’t so much the weapon that worried her, but his cagey questions and wandering eyes. Whatever else he said to her, she was convinced a power-mad invader like him would have no qualms about making her be his wife.
The problem, despite the bravado she displayed on the outside, and the half-hearted attempts to convince herself otherwise on the inside, was she didn’t really want to die today.
CHAPTER 4
Devils Tower, WY
They escaped Westby and headed south, away from the explosion and search drones. They made it through the entire state of Montana without sighting any additional enemy patrols or aircraft. When they saw the dark shape of Devils Tower on the horizon of northeastern Wyoming, it gave them a place to aim for a quick stop.
“You’ve got sixty seconds to enjoy Devils Tower,” Uncle Ted remarked, sounding like Clarke W. Griswold of Vacation fame. She was well aware they had no time to sight-see. The only reason they’d stopped was the prospect of finding a place to eat and gas up in a state scarce on towns or gas stations, even before the reboot. As they all expected, the gift shop had a snack bar attached to it.
“I’m buying some new clothes,” Emily replied, walking inside. “I’ll not wear the uniform of my mortal enemy a second longer than necessary.”
“I can’t stop you,” her uncle replied to her, “but don’t throw them out. The uniforms might come in handy again.”
“I never thought I’d see this place,” Kyla admitted, still hanging out on the front porch. She pointed to the nearby natural wonder, which was a mile or two away, and spoke to her uncle. “Mom always wished she could take me to National Parks out here.”
Above them, the monolith stood about a thousand feet tall with a flat top. The black obsidian structure had distinctive lines down the side, as if a volcano’s lava had cooled inside the mountain, all the outer rock and dirt had been stripped away, and then a giant used a trowel to cut grooves from top to bottom.
“Your mom would have loved places like this, no doubt about it. She’d probably beat bongos as she hiked around the trails up there.”
Kyla laughed, openly acknowledging her mom’s eccentric side.
“What’s the big whoop? Looks like the world’s biggest tree stump,” Meechum said, unimpressed.
Her uncle chuckled. “Don’t ruin the moment, people. Take in the nature. Do your business while I find another car willing to give us some gas.” Uncle Ted grabbed a hose and gas can—both things they’d found when they’d gassed up a couple of hours ago. He then hurriedly walked around the end of the wooden building.
“I’m going over this way,” she stated.
Uncle Ted popped back around the corner. “Make sure you have your rifle, Kye.”
She tugged on the rifle strap and smiled, glad to have it. The attack in Westby after they’d left had spooked her thoroughly, and the lonely drive had given her several hours to think about whether she’d been the cause of it. There were a million ways to look at it, but in the end, she judged it dumb luck the enemy drone appeared when it did. She’d been quick on the tablet and disassembled it immediately. There was no way a drone could have been on top of them so fast.
However, no matter what it was, she desperately wanted to check at least one more time to see if the people at Rammstein had received her call for assistance. While the others were inside, or scouting vehicles for gasoline, she snuck to the rear of the building and pulled the tablet from its hiding spot under her black shirt.
Kyla studied the tablet for a long time, going back and forth in her head about whether to take the risk of firing it up one last time. If she did, and got confirmation the military knew where to attack, she was going to break it to bits, to ensure it couldn’t give away their position. If she didn’t fire it up now, well, they might be driving into a warzone…
I have to know if my message went through.
Without realizing it, her hand was wrapped around the battery. Was it a sign? Did she instinctively know what was necessary? This was the time to be bold and save her friends, and the country.
“Just a peek…”
Devils Tower, WY
It had been a long several-hour drive from Westby to Wyoming. They’d exited the truck in Montana only once, at a hardware store, giving Ted a chance to ensure the weapons were properly slung over their shoulders, safeties on, and were the models each person wanted. After grabbing a length of hose to use as a syphon, and a gas can, he let each of them practice firing while he got fuel.
They stayed away from the shirts and socks blowing down the street…
On the road again, Meechum had cracked open the boxes of ammo and loaded magazines. When everything was good, she broke apart her pistol and put it together about twenty times.
Now they were at Devils Tower for another fuel stop.
“Stay close to the truck,” he warned, walking to the back to distribute weapons.
He selected a Benelli automatic combat shotgun as his primary weapon, thinking it would be best for close-up work if they were surprised. Kyla and Emily each took AR-15s. He deemed those as medium-range weapons, though they only had red dot scopes. He gave Meechum the AR with the Steiner Optics scope. Well, it was more like she took it for herself.
The good news was there were still twelve other rifles in the back of the truck, along with a few shotguns and a couple leftover M9 pistols. The man in Montana was truly a firearms enthusiast.
After some brief small talk with Kyla, he grabbed the hose and gas can and took off into the large parking lot of cars. When he got about fifty yards away, he tossed them down and unzipped his fly.
“Oh, man, I made it,” he exhaled to himself. He hadn’t needed to go when they stopped at the hardware store, but it had been building every minute since then. Stressing out while doing over a hundred miles an hour in a flying brick didn’t help his bladder. At all.
Minutes later, feeling a thousand times better, he got himself together and went to work securing their next tank of gasoline. He found a similar SUV on the lot and went to work opening the fuel tank door. For a few seconds, he considered whether it made more sense to borrow the new SUV than take its gas, but he’d gotten comfortable in the other one. He knew its limits. Ted also considered taking a sportier vehicle, like that Camaro, but there was nothing like it on the lot.
While thinking through all his options, he noticed Kyla standing behind the gift shop building. He looked away, afraid she was using the public restroom, but was glad to know where she was. His duty as protector of his sister’s daughter went on no matter what.
Ted used the syphon to drain a full five gallons for his red plastic fuel container. After securing the cap and grabbing the hose, he took a few steps toward his truck. Motion caught his attention in the back seat of a plain-looking mini-van parked in the next row. Since everyone in America was supposed to be gone, there was no possibility it was two teenagers rolling in the hay. An activity Kyla’s mother fretted about constantly.
But what was it?
He allowed himself a few tentative steps toward the van, stopping when
he was next to the open sliding door panel. When the attack happened, the owner of the van had been loading or unloading, like the van back at the lighthouse. The father’s clothes were on the ground below him. A child’s pajamas were there, too.
Don’t look at them.
With deliberate slowness, he craned his neck to peek around the edge of the door…
The thing on the seat was about the size and shape of a large, rolled-up sleeping bag. It was brown and furry, like someone had left a snuggly blanket on top of the bag, but it was also moving.
Ted’s heartbeat picked up the threat before his brain. He instinctively knew it was dangerous, but his mind was unable to spell out what it was. As his flight response kicked in, he remained fixed on solving the riddle, if only so he could tell the others what to be afraid of.
Was it a dog? An oversized racoon?
He took a step back, wondering if he could lock it inside. He’d have to close one door and then run around to the other side of the van to shut the other. But it could be done…
Kyla interrupted his plan when she screamed. He whipped his head to see what she was dealing with behind the building. A brown blotch ambled through the brush about twenty feet from her, grunting and snuffling. It was the moment he figured out what was in the van.
Ted glanced inside one last time. A small head had popped out of the furry ball. A young bear cub seemed to listen for its mother. When it saw him, the thing showed a level of confusion he could appreciate. It let out what at any other time would have been a cute little growl.
Over by Kyla, the mama bear stood on her hind legs, looking right at him.
“Oh, shit!” Unwilling to leave his gas can, he carried it as he crouched down and hustled away from the den on wheels. He suspected there were other brown furballs in the rear of the van. If he scared them all, their mama would be relentless in terminating the intruder.
