Zommunist Invasion Box Set | Books 1-3

by Picott, Camille

  “I hope you’re ready to be stitched up by an amateur.” She returned his touch with a soft one of her own. “It will leave a scar.”

  All he cared about was surviving the next fifteen minutes. “Stitch me up, Cassie.”

  Lips pursed, she nodded and got to work. He closed his eyes, fatigue threatening to pull him under.

  The first sting of the needle brought his eyes flying open. After the pain of the knife wound, he hadn’t expected a tiny needle to hurt. He’d been wrong.

  At least it helped him stay awake. He knew falling asleep from blood loss could be fatal. He had to fight to stay awake as long as possible.

  He dug his fingers into the dirt as Cassie sewed, grinding his teeth against the sting.

  “You okay?” She paused only long enough to look up at him.

  “Fine,” he said between gritted teeth.

  Twenty minutes later, Cassie tied off the thread. Spill and Jennifer had a raging fire. Leo sagged against his tree with relief.

  “You need to get closer to the flames.” Cassie took his hand and helped him to his feet.

  He let her lead him up to the edge of the fire. She sat down cross-legged and pulled him down beside her.

  “Lay down,” she said. “Rest. We’ll keep watch.”

  Leo didn’t argue. He pillowed his head in her lap. The last thing he registered before passing out was the feeling of her fingers in his hair.

  39

  To Die A Hero

  Cassie combed her fingers through Leo’s hair, letting the warmth of the fire sink into her. The heat of the flames reached her through her wet shirt. Part of her shirt had already dried, as had Leo’s hair. When she ran a hand down his ribcage, his skin was warm. She took that as a good sign.

  Bruce was on the other side of the flames, periodically feeding wood into the fire to keep it going. Jennifer had opened up all the packs and spread everything out to dry. Spill was checking all the weapons and cleaning them.

  Griggs sat cross-legged on Cassie’s other side, pulling pine needles off a branch and flicking them into he flames. He and Spill kept exchanging looks.

  The solider was starting to scare her. The infected veins had spread quickly. They now inched their way over his jaw. How much longer before he turned? She glanced over at a machine gun, wondering if they would have to use it to put him down.

  Put him down. Like Griggs was an animal. She despised the Russians for doing this to them, for making them hurt people they knew and loved.

  “Now what?” Cassie’s voice was dry and raspy. She realized the others hadn’t heard her. She cleared her throat and tried gain. “Now what?”

  Jennifer’s eyes flicked up. “We warm up and rest, Cass. We wait for Leo to wake up.”

  “I know that part,” Cassie replied. “I mean, how are we going to get to Luma?”

  She’d been working through options in her mind for the last ten minutes. Assuming they found their way out of the woods, they could travel by car, bike, foot, or boat.

  “We need to eat.” Jennifer retrieved some of the food Nonna had packed for them, which consisted of dried venison and two loaves of bread. Luckily, Nonna had packed all the food in Ziplocs so it was all dry.

  Jennifer tore the loaves into chunks and passed them around with the venison jerky. Cassie realized she was ravenous. She dug into the food, inhaling it.

  The sun was fully up by the time they finished eating. She guessed it was seven or eight in the morning. They needed to get to Luma, but all Cassie really wanted to do was stay by the warm fire and hold Leo.

  Jennifer sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. “How’s he doing?”

  “Better.” Cassie ran another hand over his ribcage. “He’s warm. And his color looks better, doesn’t it?”

  “It does.” Jennifer eyed Cassie’s stitches across Leo’s waist.

  “It’s going to leave a scar,” Cassie said.

  “Leo won’t care. It’ll make him think of you every time he sees it. He’ll like that. He’s sentimental that way.”

  It struck Cassie that Jennifer knew Leo a lot better than she did. She sighed to herself. She supposed she should be jealous, but she wasn’t. Leo didn’t look at Jennifer the way he looked at her.

  “I want to tell you something,” Jennifer said. “Something I should have told you years ago.”

  “What’s that?” Cassie returned her hands to Leo’s hair, staring into the flames.

  “Do you remember that time I forgot my grips for the parallel bars at home?”

  “Not really. You forgot stuff all the time.”

  “That’s true. I’m talking about that time Mom dropped both of us at the gymnastics club because she had to get her hair done. It was a Saturday morning and you had to miss your favorite cartoons because she didn’t want to leave you home alone.”

  Cassie wrinkled her brow. “Wasn’t I, like, six years old?”

  “Seven,” Jennifer replied. “You were in second grade. Anyway, when I realized I’d forgotten my grips, you took it upon yourself to go home and get them.”

  Now Cassie remembered. “Oh, yeah. I got lost. I wandered around for hours and ended up at the library. I had to beg the librarian for a quarter so I could call home on the payphone. Mom was really mad at me.”

  Silence fell between the sisters. Cassie wondered why Jennifer was bringing up this particular memory. It wasn’t a shining one as far as Cassie was concerned.

  “I never said thank you for giving a shit.” Jennifer stared at the flames as she spoke. “You were only seven, but you loved me enough to walk out of the gymnastics club to go home and get my grips.”

  “You’re my sister,” Cassie said.

  Jennifer turned to her. Cassie was surprised to find her blinking wet eyes. “You are the best little sister a girl could have. I love you, Cas. I just want to tell you that in case … in case, well, you know.”

  Cassie did know. “In case we die.” She let out a long exhale. “I love you, too.” It felt good to say it, just in case.

  Jennifer returned her gaze to the fire. “I thought we were all going to die at the Bohemian Grove. I really did.”

  “Me, too.” Cassie did her best to block out the memory of the screaming Soviets, the feasting mutants, and the dead girls. She wanted to bury memories of that night at the bottom of a deep well.

  “It’s time,” Spill said.

  Cassie and Jennifer looked up from their conversation, but Spill wasn’t talking to them. His gaze was fixed on Griggs.

  “It’s time, Griggs.”

  “No way. Not like this.” Griggs stood up, angrily shaking out his arms and stomping up and down in front of the fire. “I want to take some Soviet assholes out with me.” He was sweating profusely. The edges of his irises were tinged with red. “I want to help blow up the bridge. At least give me that.”

  Spill didn’t move from his spot on the ground, but Cassie saw his hand stray to his weapon. She swallowed, her hands tightening on Leo. Bruce inched a little closer to them. Jennifer shifted onto the balls of her feet, looking ready to pounce if necessary.

  “There isn’t time,” Spill said. “The infection is spreading too fast. I’m sorry, man.”

  Griggs punched a tree in frustration. “Dammit, man, I wasn’t supposed to go out like this. I promised my sisters I’d come home to them.”

  Spill didn’t say anything. He rose to his feet, hand still resting on his gun. Griggs continued to stalk back and forth, anger in every muscle of his body.

  “He should have let me fight back in the Bohemian Grove.” Griggs stabbed a finger at the sleeping Leo. “I could have died fighting.”

  Cassie licked her lips. “I saw you die back in the Grove,” she said slowly. “You fought off two mutants so the rest of us could get away.”

  Griggs rounded on her. “What are you talking about?”

  Jennifer understood what Cassie was trying to say. “I saw it, too,” she said. “Two mutants would have captured us if y
ou hadn’t sacrificed yourself and fought them off.”

  Cassie’s throat tightened as understanding dawned in Griggs’s eyes. The anger went out of him. His shoulders sagged with the grief of defeat.

  “I saw it, too,” Spill said. “You died bravely in battle. That’s what will go into my debriefing. Everyone will know you died a hero.”

  “If you live long enough to give anyone a report,” Griggs said bitterly. “America might not even survive this invasion.” He heaved a sigh, leaning up against a tree. He scratched at the infected veins seeping up his cheek. More disappeared into his hair line along his neck. “I promised my sisters.”

  Spill held out his hand. “Give me your tags. If I survive, I’ll make sure they get them. I’ll make sure they know you died a hero.”

  Time stretched as the two soldiers eyed each other. Bruce inched a little closer to Griggs in case he tried to bolt. Jennifer rested her hands on her machine gun, mouth set in a hard line. Tension swelled on every side of the crackling fire.

  “You have to do it.” Griggs swallowed. “You have to do it for me, man. I’m Catholic. I can’t kill myself.”

  Spill’s eyes widened, but he nodded.

  Griggs turned to Cassie and the others. “It’s been a pleasure to serve with all of you.” He gave them a sharp salute. “Give the communist bastards hell when you get to Luma Bridge.”

  “We will,” Jennifer said.

  “Pleasure to serve,” Bruce said.

  Griggs gave Cassie a weak smile. “Give them hell, chess captain.”

  She nodded, throat too tight to speak. She wanted to say something, but words completely failed her. What could she say to a condemned man?

  With one last look at them, Griggs strode away from the fire. Spill followed him.

  Cassie, Jennifer, and Bruce sat in a tight knot around Leo. Cassie could hardly breathe. Would Griggs really go through with it? Or would he fight off Spill and make a run for it? What if he tried to fight Spill? What if he turned completely before—

  A single shot cracked through the trees. Cassie jumped. So did Leo. He bolted upright in alarm, the top of his head cracking into Cassie’s chin.

  “What happened?” he gasped, looking around in alarm. “What’s going on?”

  Spill walked back into the clearing. His eyes were hollow. Griggs’s dog tags clinked in one hand. The dead man’s fatigue shirt was wadded in the other. He must have taken those for Griggs’s family.

  “He died a hero.” Spill’s voice was wooden as he shoved the dog tags into a pocket.

  “We all saw it.”

  “We all saw it.” Cassie’s voice was so soft, she wasn’t sure it even carried until Spill nodded at her.

  Leo exhaled and slumped back onto Cassie’s lap. “Griggs?”

  “He died a hero,” Spill repeated.

  No one said anything else. The crackling of the tiny fire was the only sound.

  40

  Battledress

  “We have to move out.” Leo swallowed his last piece of dried meat and pushed resolutely to his feet. His side ached, but he felt better after another nap, some more painkillers, and food.

  Cassie cast him a worried look, but didn’t argue. She knew it was past time to be moving. They all did. It was ten in the morning.

  The loss of Griggs weighed on Leo’s shoulders. He hadn’t known the man very well, but he was the leader of this mission. He was responsible for everyone here.

  Griggs’s death was a grim reminder of just how much was a stake. They might not make it back from Luma. It was odd to think that less than a week and a half ago, his biggest problem in life had been picking apples. That last muggy morning he’d spent in the orchard with Dal and his dad was now a cherished memory.

  “What’s the plan?” It was the first time Spill had spoken since declaring Griggs a hero.

  “There are lot of homes in these woods,” Leo said. “We find a car and drive south. We stick to the back country roads and get to Luma.” Hopefully, they would be able to avoid Soviet patrols.

  Leo’s shirt was a bloody, sodden mess on the forest floor. He hadn’t brought a replacement. There hadn’t been room in his pack.

  To his surprise, Spill threw a wad of dark green fabric across the clearing at him. “Griggs wanted you to have it.”

  It was the soldier’s fatigue shirt. Leo held it between his hands, awed that Griggs had thought to leave it to him. The man barely knew him.

  “It’s his battledress,” Spill said. “It’s a big fucking deal to give it to you. He wanted you to make sure it sees some Russian blood.”

  Leo nodded as he pulled on the shirt. It was a good fit. There was dried blood on the shoulder where Griggs had been shot. His fingers lingered on Griggs’s name patch as he buttoned it up. He wished he’d gotten to know the other man better.

  “I’ll make sure it does.” Leo spoke as much to his companions as to the departed Griggs.

  Bruce kicked out the fire. They divided up the weapons, making sure everyone had extra ammo and bombs. Spill added all of Griggs’s C-4 to his pack. Nonna had even sent an extra spool of fuse wire, which Jennifer tucked into her pack.

  They set out on foot. It wasn’t long before they came to a one-lane gravel road.

  Leo spotted a familiar red mailbox with a blue bird painted on one side. “I know where we are.”

  “You do?” Jennifer wrinkled her brow at him.

  “The owner of Gravenstein Pie lives a mile that way.” Leo gestured. “She was a friend of my mom’s. I used to deliver apples to her house

  “Does that mean you know where we can get a car?” Bruce asked.

  “Yep.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they drove down the gravel road in an old jeep with faded gray paint. The keys had been found in the cigarette ashtray; people who lived out here in the country never worried about theft.

  Leo drove, keeping them to remote roads as they navigated south. He’d wasted a lot of time out here when he first got his license. Sometimes he’d just get in his blue Chevy and drive with the music on. Even when on errands for the family farm, he always liked to take the long way home.

  Those pointless meanderings now paid off in spades. It took them no more than an hour to reach a curve in the road that led back to the main highway. Instead of staying on the asphalt, Leo slowed and drove off the shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” Spill asked.

  “Scenic route. This is protected state land.” Leo gestured to the forest looming just in front of the jeep. “We don’t want to stay on the road. It will take us back to the main highway. The Soviets will be able to see us coming from miles away. We’re going to sneak up on them from the wilderness.”

  It would take them longer to get to the bridge this way. But the light was on their side, and they had a four-wheel drive vehicle. They would cut through the forest and open grassland that bordered the ocean, then go on foot to the rocky overlook that bordered the road leading to the bridge.

  He shifted into four-wheel drive, steering around a large blackberry patch and driving out into the uninhabited land of the coastline. It wouldn’t be long now. Another few miles and they’d be at the bridge.

  41

  Overlook

  Leo drove slowly, maneuvering around trees and rocks. The air was crisp as it flowed over the open-top jeep. The smell of dried grass and bay trees filled his nose. Mixed with it was the tang of salt from the ocean. Aside from the rumble of the jeep, birdsong and wind were the only things to hear.

  “Out here, I can almost forget the world isn’t complete shit,” Spill said from the passenger seat. “I’m from Michigan. I’ve never seen anything like this.” He gestured to the nature around them.

  “Wait until you see the ocean,” Jennifer said.

  A short while later, the trees fell away, replaced with shorter manzanita and lupine. There were large swaths of open grassland between the plants. The blue of the Pacific Ocean glimmered in the distance.

  Soon, the lan
d opened up completely and revealed Luma Bridge. It was a dark necklace strung across the pristine blue of the ocean bay.

  Leo drove another mile and a half, pulling the jeep to a stop when the land dropped away in a tall bluff. To their left, a steep, rocky hillside loomed up and cut off all views of the bridge.

  “We have to climb up there.” He pointed to the steep jumble of rock and brush. “The top overlooks the bay and the northern entrance to the bridge.”

  They piled out of the jeep. Leo took a brief moment to touch Cassie’s cheek before starting up the hillside. There was emotion clouding her eyes. He couldn’t decipher what it meant.

  “You okay?”

  She smiled and nodded, the expression not quite touching her eyes. She moved beside him to the base of the hillside. They grabbed rocks and shrubs and began to climb.

  It was a quarter mile scramble up the steep landscape. Leo was panting by the time they reached the top. His side ached. The cut was an unneeded distraction. He ignored the pain as best he could, making a mental note to take another pain killer when they returned to the jeep.

  The sun was bright, the wind loud in his ears as it blew in off the ocean. Leo and the others lay in a line across the top of the hilltop overlooking the bay. The entrance to the Luma Bridge lay almost directly beneath them.

  It wasn’t a surprise there was no one up here keeping watch. The cliffside sloping down to the bridge was dizzyingly steep. There were no roads to the top. If Leo hadn’t spent his life out here and didn’t have a decent sense of direction, he wouldn’t have been able to find it. He pulled out his binoculars and studied the scene below them.

  “What do you see?” Spill asked.

  “Two jeeps on either side of the bridge,” Leo said. “Eight Soviets on each side. Minimal weapons. They have their standard machine guns and hand guns. That’s it. I don’t even see RPGs mounted on their rigs.”

  “Sixteen against five.” Spill’s voice was grim. “Those aren’t great odds.”