by EE Isherwood
He looked back once, to ensure Kevin and his pile of candy were settling in. It would shock his LT back in ‘Nam to know he was allowing a sentry to eat from a bag of treats, but he had to work with what he had.
“It’s going to be a long night.”
CHAPTER 13
Fort Collins, CO
Ted had no idea what Emily was trying to pull, but his confused glances between her and the camera seemed to catch the attention of the newswoman. She whistled loudly to catch his attention. “Hey! You! They’re talking in the studio, so I have a second off-air. Stop flirting with your friend and stick by me.”
Chastised, he looked directly at the woman. She seemed to take it as acceptance, so she faced the cameraman again. “This next segment, I want to walk toward the trucks and get some vox pops. Man-on-the-street type stuff. You guys know what I’m talking about, right?”
Todd and Louis nodded quickly. She looked at him a moment later. “You and Typhoid Mary better keep an eye on me, or I’ll report you directly to David himself. I’m a big deal, don’t you know?”
He knew better than to open his mouth, but he couldn’t resist. “My friend over there said she recognized you from the old America. Mentioned remembering you on a commercial for an…anti-diarrhea medicine?” His inflection ticked up at the end, conveying a sense of surprise.
Darla appeared mortified. “Diarrhea? Do I look like someone who would do such a sick commercial? I was on freaking network news. I worked at the White House! Before that, I ran the floor at Channel 7 in Denver.”
“I’m sorry,” he lied. “Maybe she’s still hallucinating from when she had the flu bug. Sometimes, guys and gals like us aren’t the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.” In the span of sixty seconds, he’d been able to insult the woman to her face, then pan every guard in America wearing black. He felt good about what he’d done, but he needed to take the edge off by making her talk about something more interesting and less provocative. “If you were such a big deal, you must have been somewhere special when the attack came in.”
She stomped across the pavement until she reached the sidewalk where he’d taken up overwatch. After composing herself, Darla answered his question. “I was in a hole with everyone else, of course. Banking guys. Corporate honchos. It was a real who’s who, let me tell you. And now, they’ll all see my face on their television sets. I have no competition in this market as long as you do your freaking job!”
Ted acted as if he was really impressed by her. He smiled, pretended to listen, and held his gun at the low-ready, as if bad guys were about to attack at any second. However, he kept half his attention on Emily across the street.
She remained on the edge of the big parking lot where the cranes would soon offload the cargo, but he also had a good view behind her, including the black SUVs, the TV van, and his own vehicle. But far beyond those, a tractor trailer hauled a silver tanker, which he assumed was a driver who’d been separated from the convoy. If the fleet was as large as Darla claimed, there would soon be trucks parked on every street for miles around. He needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Commandeering a transmission was no longer a viable option. They would find a different way to communicate with the outside.
Darla was back in front of Todd’s camera. “I am now standing close to the unloading zone here in Fort Collins. All over the Old World, trucks like this are delivering supplies for our heroes at the front lines of this cleanup effort. Each truck is bringing in robotic help for guard duties, surveillance, and demolition. Human handlers will be paired with each one, of course, but one woman could potentially control dozens of them at one time, giving her tremendous reach.” She turned on the charm. “I wish I could get my hands on a drone or two. I have some ex-husbands I’d like to sic them on.” Her laughter sounded real, but it could have also been polished delivery of her lines.
From his spot, the vehicles came in from right to left, ending at a line of parallel trucks at the head of the convoy, directly in front of Darla. It gave her an opportunity to walk toward them and get an interesting angle on how the cranes dropped down and unloaded the materials. As her guard, he followed.
“These beastly trucker machines are doing their jobs, for now, but someday they, too, will be chewed up and destroyed by our robotic friends. In time, we will look back on this news report with yours truly, Darla Forrester, and hardly remember how large these vehicles really were.” She leaned against the chrome bumper of the first big rig.
Ted again noticed the tanker truck behind Emily. It was heading their way, but it had some cloth or tarps blowing around on its sides. His first thought was the driver didn’t properly secure his load, but he remembered it was a tanker; there was nothing to secure.
He absently stepped closer to the reporter.
Darla continued to drone on about the robots, the simple unloading methods, and how proud she was of herself for being there to record it. No sincere mention of the truck drivers, crane operators, or her own security team.
The truck continued to get closer. It was moving fast.
“Shit,” he said under his breath. Louder, to the camera team, he added, “I’ll be right back.”
He sprinted across the six-lane street, pointing behind Emily to get her to turn around. “Look!”
Ted’s warning instinct kicked in. The loose material on the incoming truck wasn’t what he thought. They were flags secured on poles next to his exhaust stacks. Giant, oversized, red-white-and-blue American flags.
Emily figured out to turn around. As soon as she did, he swept her into a run. “This way!”
Ted had the presence of mind to know which way was safest. They ran toward the approaching truck, putting as much distance between themselves and the head of the convoy, where the runaway driver seemed to be heading.
He figured they had a good ten seconds to run before the hell-for-leather tanker rammed the convoy. The guy in the cab wore a white cowboy hat, suggesting he was a good old boy who drove trucks for a living. A guy Ted would have been honored to drink a beer with.
Today, the man shifted in his chair as he approached, seemingly interested in watching him and Emily run for their lives. The guy might have been suicidal, but he kept his wits and gave them both the finger while flashing a huge grin.
The giant flags cracked the wind as the truck barreled by at seventy miles an hour. For the last few seconds, the air horn sounded, making Ted think of a dive bomber coming in for the kill…
“For the love of God, don’t stop!” he yelled to Emily.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
A pair of guards brought Tabby back to the auditorium with the white cube, but there were no spectators around. They made her stand by the device, which hummed with energy despite appearing to be turned off. They refused to tell her how long she would have to wait, and she didn’t have her phone to check the passage of time, but it seemed like hours. By the time someone showed up, she’d been sitting on the floor for a while.
“Oh no,” she said under her breath.
“Hello, my dear.” It was the woman who called herself a handmaiden, Charity. She continued to wear the white skin-tracing spacesuit, though her fiery red hair was gathered up in a bun.
Tabby climbed to her feet. “Hello,” she said glumly.
“David said he was terribly sorry he couldn’t be here for this, but he’s had to deal with a counterattack against the Legion which took place in Fort Collins. He said I would be more than capable of conveying his displeasure at what you’ve done by trying to escape.”
She glanced over to the two guards, who showed no discomfort at having been made to watch her relax next to the cube. Their black jumpsuits and black rifles were properly intimidating. However, the redhead was just as threatening, even as she spoke in a pleasant voice.
Tabby tried to jump ahead. “I wasn’t really going to leave. I only wanted to get a breath of fresh air.”
“I’m sure,” the redhead replied, obviously not fooled.
>
Charity looked to the dark alcove to the side of the stage area. “Bring them in!”
The stern woman had already threatened to harm Audrey and Peter when they all came in the first time, but now it struck her how selfish she’d been. “Please don’t hurt them. Put me in the box. I was the one who tried to leave.”
The woman crossed her arms. “So you admit it?”
She nodded wildly. “Yeah. I did it! Me!”
Two people walked out from the darkness. The first man looked like he’d been left out in the sun for about a week straight. His skin, where it was exposed, was bumpy and red. He walked hunched over, as if wearing a backpack full of lead. His grunts made his short walk seem a monumental challenge. The guy looked a bit like the man who’d been tossed inside the white light earlier in the day, but she couldn’t be sure.
The girl behind him was Audrey. There was no question about it. She was dressed in the same white-and-orange clothes she’d been wearing earlier. When she saw her, the girl’s face burst with recognition and happiness. “Tabby!”
No one stopped them from meeting, so she embraced Audrey in a long hug. She pretended to be overly dramatic, though she was holding the other girl to whisper to her. “Are you okay? Where’s Peter?”
“I’m fine. Peter was taken to another cell. I could talk to him, but I haven’t seen him. I’m not sure where he is…”
“I miss you guys.”
The girl hugged her even tighter. “I miss you, too. You’re rocking this uniform, but why are you dressed like them?”
“It’s a long story. I—”
Charity coughed to get their attention. “That’ll do. I don’t want you to miss this.”
She and Audrey ended the hug, though she gripped the girl’s hand and held it, practically daring the female boss lady to break them up further.
Charity didn’t care. She motioned to the guards. “Push him into the box.”
The men pulled out gloves, then roughly shoved the male prisoner into the clear framework of the cube. After shutting the door, they took off their gloves and stepped back. Charity had the floor.
“This man is responsible for betraying the Legion. He’s killed members of our family. You saw part one of his punishment earlier today. He was placed inside the David Cube to receive justice. As you can see by the boils and lesions on his skin, justice was served.”
Tabby’s stomach curled up in a ball.
Looking at him anew, she recoiled at the realization that his skin wasn’t sunburned. It was, as she said, covered in sores. The man wasn’t old enough to walk around hunched over and in pain. Something had indeed changed between the time he’d gone into the cube and now. The sight was terrifying.
Her heart could have been outside her body. The drumbeats sounded as if they were next to her ear. She wanted to reply with a witty, snarky answer to prove she didn’t care for all the theatrics, but the sight was too grisly. And Audrey was next in line…
“Now, for the next part of his sentence.” Charity tapped a control box she’d been carrying. The white light turned on, as it had before. Unlike the last encounter with the mock sun, the man screamed in agony as he stood there.
“What are you doing to him?” she said, almost too quiet to be heard.
Charity stepped next to her. “Fascinating, isn’t it? His technology really has changed the world.”
“Yeah, if you like futuristic torture chambers.”
The woman’s eyes seemingly caught fire. “That’s not what this is. As usual with you American fools, you have no idea what you’re talking about. This isn’t about destruction; it’s about touching creation.” The older woman watched the bright light for a short time with apparent wonder, as if the machine was a newborn being introduced to the world.
When it turned off, it took a few moments for Tabby’s eyes to adjust. When she was able to look into the chamber, the guards had the door open for the crazy guy to walk out. As she got her first look at him, she assumed it was a practical joke.
“Where’d the other guy go? The one you infected with…with…” She didn’t know what could have infected every square inch of someone’s body. Tabby couldn’t finish the sentence without sounding stupid.
“You are more correct than you know. He was infected with everything we could find to stick inside him. We pumped him up with cancers, bacterial infections, non-communicative viral payloads. You name it. But David always has a reason for doing things. Today’s plan was for this man to return to the chamber a second time to complete your lesson.”
She cast a guarded look over to the woman. “You mean it was supposed to happen this way?”
Charity appeared satisfied at the man’s condition. “Not exactly like this, but close. He wanted you to know what would happen to your friends if you crossed him. Lucky for you, he knew you would fail to stay away from the exit door. It provided an easy way to teach you the facts of life here.”
Tabby was crestfallen. The man’s suffering had been all her fault.
“I was in the cage,” Audrey interjected. “I feel fine.”
Charity turned to Tabby, ignoring Audrey. “Your girlfriend was placed in the light earlier today, too. David did it as part of his benevolence. He cured your friend’s diabetes.”
“No way!” Audrey exclaimed, yanking at Tabby’s hand.
“No way,” Tabby echoed, sounding the opposite of the other girl’s excitement.
Charity pulled the mystery man closer but spoke directly to Tabby. She acted as if Audrey and the man were props, rather than living people. “If you’ll notice, this man Dwight no longer has the unfortunate conditions he bore as when he went inside.”
“Thank you!” Dwight gushed. “Me and Poppy couldn’t take another second of the pain.”
“But he won’t get too comfortable,” Charity added. “It’s late in the evening. The day’s over. David will infect him again in the morning. He’ll spend tomorrow suffering with another dozen afflictions. Then, at dusk, he’ll cure him again.”
“Far out,” the man replied, seemingly high.
“You people are insane,” Tabby said, not sure if it would get anyone in trouble.
Charity flashed a crooked smile. For all her facial beauty and hourglass figure, her teeth were far from perfect. “The message here, Ms. Tabitha, is we have the power to make your friends’ lives absolutely miserable, just like I warned you. Your responsibility is doing as you’re asked with good cheer. If you aren’t going to play nice, David’s next meeting with you will be to show your two friends how many diseases can be inserted into a person’s gene structure at the same time.”
The man, Dwight, stared at various points in the room as if everyone was famous and he was touring the inside of the White House. If she didn’t know better, she would guess he’d emerged from the box stoned out of his mind. When he saw her studying his actions, his face lit up. He looked her square in the eye.
But he didn’t really see her.
“Poppy! That box is one far out trip! I died and came right back to you.”
CHAPTER 14
Wheatland, WY
“This is a nightmare that never ends,” Kyla remarked, still looking behind her. Most of the convoy continued south on the interstate, but a long line of flatbeds hauling construction vehicles exited at the same place Meechum tried to escape the flow of trucks. “They’re exiting here, too.”
“We do seem to have bad luck these days,” Meechum said in her understated way.
“What do we do?” Kyla asked. “It seriously looks like we’re leading this parade.”
Their black pickup truck threw up dust as they drove the gravel road away from the highway. Half a mile back, the lead vehicle, also a pickup truck, had its headlights on as it followed. There were more tractor-trailers than she could count, and they were still coming off the highway.
“We do have a bit of good news,” the Marine said dryly.
Kyla turned around to face the front, sure the other woman
was about to sock her with bad news. Nothing seemed to rattle the fighter.
“I think we can lead this group to where they’re going. Doesn’t that look like the kind of out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere place a crew of construction guys might go?” Meechum pointed to three tall smokestacks peeking over the tops of the trees lining the creek.
“What do you make of it?”
The driver shrugged. “I’m a Marine, not a tour guide.”
“It might be a factory…or a powerplant.”
“I’d go with powerplant. Why would anyone put a factory way out here?”
Kyla thought about it for a few minutes. The trucks behind them weren’t in pursuit. No one would chase them with flatbed trailers full of tractors and cranes. The most likely scenario was they’d chosen an exit that corresponded to where some of the trucks were scheduled to exit. The three smokestacks had to be their target.
So we have to not be there.
“Meech, do you think you can lose those guys? We only have a few miles before we reach the stacks. If we get there, we might be asked to help out with whatever they’re doing. We’ve got to find my uncle, not put coal in a furnace, or build widgets.” She channeled her eighth-grade social studies teacher, who constantly talked about manufacturing widgets as part of his lessons about industrialization.
“I can lose anyone, trust me. I once had a guy hit on me at a bar. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I went to the bathroom, kicked out a boarded-up window, and got the hell out of there. Yeah, before you ask, the place was a dive.”
Kyla cracked up. “That’s not what I was going to ask. You’re a badass extraordinaire. Why didn’t you just beat him silly?”
“That was before my ass-kicking days. I was sixteen at the time.”
