Nightmare Factory, page 12
“Shit…”
“Joe, this lab. The one that Dr. Reichert used to mix your meds…”
He faded out completely, and when it cleared up, he was unusually silent.
“What about it?”
“It’s a DARPA deep site,” he offered as an explanation.
“I know that.”
“No, you don’t know, dipshit. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This isn’t your fucking neighborhood CVS. The site doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist even for me.”
“Oh,” I said dumbly. There was nothing I was aware of that was off limits to him. Shit, he took me through the old Area 51 site on my eleventh birthday. It was boring, actually. Most of the good stuff had been moved or destroyed decades earlier. An old TriCraft prototype dropship was the only thing I even remembered.
“Yeah, oh,” he said. “Watch your fucking back. It would break your mom’s heart if I let anything happen to her baby.”
“Mom’s dead, Pops, has been for…”
“Stop being a dick, okay? The woman still has feelings.”
The connection went dead.
“Did you get all that, Ada?” Despite her being hard-wired into every part of my brain and body, she rarely was aware when one of my dad’s calls slipped though. This time, though, she was.
“Yes, I have made modifications to the route and updated it on your overlay. I might also suggest you find a place to rest for the night. We did not make as much progress as you estimated today.”
The truck’s batteries were draining faster than I’d hoped, too. I’d pulled power cells from a few of the vehicles back at Johnson’s Gap, but they looked questionable. It was full dark when I pulled off into an isolated spot that seemed to suit my needs. Two days into the apocalypse and electricity was already becoming a rare commodity.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
BANSHEE
Bayou opened her eyes to a sea of red… foamy, blood red. Something moved across her visor. She saw small, wriggling things. They coalesced slowly into fingers, then a hand.
“You there, Boss?”
That was… um… Priest? she wondered, her head still foggy. With a start, she realized she should be dead. “Sitrep,” she called out hoarsely. She felt cracked ribs, and everything that wasn’t flaring in pain seemed numb.
“Halo got him… her, Bayou. Damn shot had to be two-thousand meters.”
“One shot?” She might still be half unconscious, but no one had dropped one of these beasts, even with a dozen shots. She leaned up painfully and wiped more of the animal’s blood from her helmet. Riggs realized she was covered in the stuff.
“One shot, LT,” Halo’s voice came in over her comms. “I’m approaching now. AO looks clear.”
“Yeah, he said he noticed a small indentation behind the ears,” Priest said, clearly impressed with the man’s shot. “Only about an inch across, but armor plating must not be as dense there. Nailed the fucker just before she was about to take your damn head off.”
“Yeah, thanks, Halo,” she said absently. The last thing she remembered was seeing the jaws opening wide. Inside that mouth were more than just rows of razor-sharp teeth. It had wriggling tentacles like things that seemed to want to pull her into its open maw. An involuntary shudder ran through her, sending waves of pain as it passed. “Oh, God! Everything hurts.”
Priest triggered a pain patch from her battle armor’s tactical controls. Bayou’s eyes fluttered as the drugs swept through her system. The third member of the team broke through the trees nearby, trotting toward them, sweeping his rifle for threats.
“Good shooting, man,” Priest said as Halo eyed the kill. Danny ‘Halo’ Jenkins was not the best shot in Banshee. Well, he wasn’t prior to today. That honor belonged to Darko. Darko went down under the first attack by one of these prehistoric abominations. His sniper’s nest had seemed safe until the damn thing ran right through it just before dawn.
“She okay?” Halo asked, seeing Priest lay the lieutenant back down on the ground.
“Pain meds knocked her out,” Priest said, going through her suit’s internal monitors, which were patched into his head-up display. “Probably cracked ribs, bruised organs, no significant internal bleeding. Concussion likelihood is, um… moderate.” He checked through the medical readouts one more time to make sure.
“We need to get the fuck out of here, man,” Halo said, obviously already thinking about the challenges of hauling there injured C.O. and going back for Darko’s remains.
“This mission is a bust.”
“Worse than that,” Priest said, looking up. “Bayou couldn’t get through to JOC at Space Command. We got no ride.”
“Well, shit,” Halo said. The Joint Operations Center handled all the logistics and tactical support for the teams.
The other man just nodded. “Any chance that was the last of these rhino-beasts?”
“No telling. Due to their size, I think there would be a limit to how many you successfully keep in any one area,” Halo replied.
Protocols said to continue the mission, even two members down they were still combat effective. They knew the lab had to be close. These guard beasts were undoubtedly the last line of defense.
“Wonder how they keep them from killing each other?” Priest said, running a gloved hand over the rough hide.
“Good question. Probably the same way they train them not to kill their creators. Drugs, electric shock, mind control. Who the fuck knows?” Halo offered.
“That’s a hard copy.” Priest seemed to realize he was holding onto Bayou’s hand and awkwardly placed it next to her prone body. Everyone in the squad knew he had a thing for her, but he would never admit it. Didn’t work to mix pleasure with business, as they say. She was the boss, unless Kovach was with them, then he was top dog. “She talked to Prowler,” he said, mostly to deflect the conversation into new territory.
“How the fuck he get through? The entire Milcrypt comms are down.” The MCN was a tight channel band of the internet. It ran on a highly compressed secure band on any available network and tied together every military service on and off the planet. It theoretically never went down, but today… well, it was down.
“He’s got Ada. Remember?”
“Oh… right,” Halo said, nodding. “Any chance he can get us an extract?”
“He’s working on it, but in the meantime, we need to put eyes on the target,” Priest said. He saw the other man’s expression. “Look, I know the rest of the world has gone to hell, but we still have a job to do. Darko died for this mission, and Bayou was one inch away from getting a complete frame off restoration like Joe did. That shit has to count for something, okay?”
The other man nodded. “I hear ya, brother.” Like most war fighters, they knew you did your job for the man next to you, not the pukes back in the CIC. “Let’s make this count.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
LUX
Lux listened to his stomach growl. It was loud enough to wake him up, even though he didn’t believe he had ever gone to sleep. He was cold, scared, and tired; he didn’t want to open his eyes no matter how hungry he was. Then the growl sounded again. It wasn’t coming from him. It was coming from something close. Maybe his mom had…
His brief moment of hope vanished as he opened his eyes and stared into the dark, wolf-like eyes that were watching him. He was propped up on his elbows and he crab-walked back into the tree behind him, never taking his eyes off the animal.
The wolf moved closer, now only a few feet away. In the dim morning light, it was difficult to make out detail. Lux’s eyes were mostly shut anyway. “Go away!” he cried. He felt the wolf’s leg brush against his. He was crying, and he held his arms in front of his face. Whatever was about to happen, he didn’t want to see. “Please,” he begged. “Please go away. Marcie, make it stop!”
Alissa had been telling him monster stories all week. Even after her mom told her to stop. Now he was living a real one. He silently wished she was here instead of him. That would serve her right. But then she would get dead and that would make her mom sad and then his dad would be sad. Would he even miss me? he wondered as he swore he could hear the wolf’s heart beating…. maybe it was his own.
Then it was on him, the monster’s hot breath. He could feel it on his face, then wet saliva on the arms he was using for cover. He pictured long bloody fangs dripping the wet, foamy drops on him, then he felt… a tongue. The wolf, no… not a wolf. The dog was licking him. It was a dog.
Lux moved his arm down as the big, furry dog moved up against him. His silky soft hair brushed across his face and tickled. Instinctively, he patted the animal’s neck and rubbed his ears. The dog lowered his head and nuzzled into the boy’s chest affectionately.
Lux shared his meager breakfast with the dog, a cereal bar from the red bag. He’d already finished off the juice in his book bag. It was warm and kind of nasty, but he was so thirsty. The dog had run off a few times, which made Lux sad. He was glad to have some company, even though he’d been scared at first. He’d never had a dog. Always wanted one, but they were expensive and a lot of work, his mom had said. Thankfully, the dog kept coming back.
Having no other ideas, Lux decided to follow the dog the next time. The dog slid through hidden trails like he knew every rock on the hillside. He was a pretty dog, Lux thought. “Maybe you’re a girl, though. Could boy dogs be pretty? His hair was long and a yellowish red. Every few minutes, the dog would stop and look at him with an expression Lux thought was, ‘Hurry up, kid.’
“I’m coming.”
They went downhill for a long time. Lux thought that would be easier than going up, but it wasn’t. He kept sliding down, but the dog just skipped and jumped between trees and shrubs. At the bottom of the hill, he followed the dog as it ran down a long trail that looked like it might have been a stream at one time. It was damp, and he could see sandy spots in places. They walked for a long time, and he had to stop twice to rest. He was really, really thirsty now.
Now that it was later morning, he could see better. The dog was wearing a collar. He wondered if maybe it had been in one of the other cars on the road. If so, he might have belonged to someone. He tried to get close enough to read the tag. He could read most things now, but the dog would pull away every time he reached for it. He was playful and seemed to think everything was a game. Lux was okay with that. It was kinda fun and kept him from thinking about how scared and thirsty he was.
They were heading farther and farther from the road. Farther from where Marcie had been, but he had no choice… right? Marcie had told him to get away. Lux was tired and scared. The playful dog seemed like a friend; he would just trust him for now. Hopefully, the dog would look out for him.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
KOVACH
You know how in the movies and books where the soldiers say they can fall asleep anytime and anyplace, no matter the circumstances? Yeah, I must have missed that part of the training back in basic. No matter how tired I am, as soon as I try to sleep, my head fills up with random thoughts like a hive full of angry bees. After a restless night, I got up early and repacked the truck. Sumo was off doing his business, and I decided that was a pretty smart plan. As I finished up, some of the jumbled thoughts of the previous night came rushing back in.
I’d killed fellow Americans yesterday. I mean, I’d done it before. The Posse Comitatus Act, or rules against military action on domestic soil, went out decades ago. Right after the massive insurrection at the Tacoma power plant. Still, something was very different now. Those guys were virtually my neighbors. Yeah, they were stupid and greedy and totally unprepared for the fight they got, but a part of me almost felt bad for them. That is, until I saw the numerous cracks in my windshield and realized a dozen or more rounds had hit the old truck in various places. By the time I finished going over every inch of the vehicle, I was so angry I wanted to go back and kill them all over again.
Thankfully, the truck was okay, and after a cold breakfast, I took time to install the passenger seat Hank had given me. To his credit, the generic brackets attached easily, and before dawn we were back on the road, Sumo sitting proudly on his new, synthetic leather covered throne. He gave me a look I could have almost taken as approval.
“You’re welcome.”
The dog ignored me—he was not a morning person.
“Joe,” Ada said by way of greeting.
I knew by her tone she was about to lay out my itinerary. You know, conference call at nine, emails about the lost shipment, dentist appointment after lunch. Yeah… no, not any of that.
“The route you are on has been modified since our original destination is now forty-seven miles away.”
“Yeah, Virginia.”
“Unfortunately, the direct route will go through several small towns between here and there. And…”
She cut me off before I could say anything.
“No, we can’t take an alternate route. It would be much farther, just as risky, and the batteries likely wouldn’t hold up.”
Shit, I’d almost forgotten about the batteries. Looking down at the old-style gauge, it was hovering in the amber zone two bars below the green. Two bars above the red. As I watched, another section of amber light flickered off.
“It’s dropping fast. Do we need to stop and hook into the solar blanket?”
“The forecast for today is overcast skies, so the energy you could collect would be minimal. I estimate at the current consumption rate, you will just make it through the first of those towns before batteries become critical.”
“That seems sub-optimal. Likely not the place we want to be stranded.”
She agreed but pointed out it might also be the best place to find spare batteries or possibly even working charging stations. West Virginia had been coal country and one of the last to embrace renewable energy, but they jumped on the mini-nuke plants. Much easier than stringing transmission lines up and down the mountainous terrain.
“Makes sense. See what you can find and let me know before we get to any populated areas.” So far, there had only been a few stalled cars, but that would increase as we moved farther east and closer to any settlements.
Pittsview, West Virginia. Proved to be as memorable as I had expected. A battered sign at the city limits stated a population of 587. About a dozen, bleak looking storefronts that seemed to have weathered a few more winters than was fair. A garage on the opposite side of the road looked hopeful until we saw it was boarded up tight. The entire town looked sad and broken, and not because of the more recent events. The battle that had claimed this town was neglect, and it had started a good generation earlier.
“Anything?”
My built-in AI didn’t respond at once, which was a good way of preparing me for bad news. “I’m monitoring local connections to the internet. That will let us know who has a working device and potentially a way to power or recharge them.”
It was a reasonable plan, but comms units, data tablets, and such mostly ran off the universal p-cells now, and they could go ages without a direct power source. Still, the intel would be helpful, alerting me to…
“People ahead,” she interrupted. “A large number of them a hundred yards ahead and fifty yards south,” she amended.
“Yeah, people,” I said, finishing my thought. The GMC crept silently up on the cross street. As the cab moved past the building on my right, I could see a small crowd of maybe fifty people all gathered outside a building that Ada helpfully identified as a budget food store. The kind that carried mostly staples, canned goods, diapers, and such.
A uniformed man was blocking the crowd from entering. Brave soul. Then, as a few people exited the building, he allowed an equal number to enter. “They’re all carrying toilet paper,” I said in total bewilderment. Every one of the people coming out had a few small bags of whatever and a massive pack of the rolled white stuff. “They’re out here risking their lives to get that?”
Ada seemed perplexed as well but pointed out that common sense nor survival training was essential to the populace anymore. “They are panicking, Joseph.”
They looked scared, but harmless. I’d seen before how quickly a mob could turn ugly, though. A few of them noticed the truck and began pointing. “We need to get out of here.” Then the chime sounding low battery went off.
“Perfect,” I said, moving the car to the curb and killing the power. “Sumo, out, guard.”
The dog exited behind me and took up station beside the truck. I slung the MK4 into the slot on my back, the mag lock affixing it solidly. I holstered my sidearm and carried my tactical helmet as I began striding confidently toward the uniformed guard.
I don’t know what the young deputy thought he would encounter this morning, but it obviously hadn’t included seeing someone like me. The crowd in front of the store parted as I approached, and his right hand dropped to the butt of his own service weapon. I gave a slight shake of my head to the man. Whatever happened, I didn’t want to undermine his level of control here. I also didn’t want him to try to shoot me. That would fuck over my own plans.
“That’s far enough, mister. Sorry, locals only inside the store. Council’s orders, not mine.”
Looking past the man, I could see the darkened interior of the store. “I don’t want to get inside, officer.”
I heard Sumo growling far up the street. “You may want to warn your folks not to try and steal my truck, though. My dog has been a bit grumpy today.”
The deputy was nervous. That was bad. Nervous people do stupid shit. Nervous people with guns do stupid shit that gets people killed. The crowd behind me began to press in again; maybe they thought I was an ally, maybe they just wanted to see me take out the one man who was keeping them from there twenty-four pack of cheap toilet paper. I didn’t know, didn’t much care. I turned around and in the best imitation of my dad, politely told them to, “Get the fuck back or die.”
“Joe, this lab. The one that Dr. Reichert used to mix your meds…”
He faded out completely, and when it cleared up, he was unusually silent.
“What about it?”
“It’s a DARPA deep site,” he offered as an explanation.
“I know that.”
“No, you don’t know, dipshit. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This isn’t your fucking neighborhood CVS. The site doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist even for me.”
“Oh,” I said dumbly. There was nothing I was aware of that was off limits to him. Shit, he took me through the old Area 51 site on my eleventh birthday. It was boring, actually. Most of the good stuff had been moved or destroyed decades earlier. An old TriCraft prototype dropship was the only thing I even remembered.
“Yeah, oh,” he said. “Watch your fucking back. It would break your mom’s heart if I let anything happen to her baby.”
“Mom’s dead, Pops, has been for…”
“Stop being a dick, okay? The woman still has feelings.”
The connection went dead.
“Did you get all that, Ada?” Despite her being hard-wired into every part of my brain and body, she rarely was aware when one of my dad’s calls slipped though. This time, though, she was.
“Yes, I have made modifications to the route and updated it on your overlay. I might also suggest you find a place to rest for the night. We did not make as much progress as you estimated today.”
The truck’s batteries were draining faster than I’d hoped, too. I’d pulled power cells from a few of the vehicles back at Johnson’s Gap, but they looked questionable. It was full dark when I pulled off into an isolated spot that seemed to suit my needs. Two days into the apocalypse and electricity was already becoming a rare commodity.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
BANSHEE
Bayou opened her eyes to a sea of red… foamy, blood red. Something moved across her visor. She saw small, wriggling things. They coalesced slowly into fingers, then a hand.
“You there, Boss?”
That was… um… Priest? she wondered, her head still foggy. With a start, she realized she should be dead. “Sitrep,” she called out hoarsely. She felt cracked ribs, and everything that wasn’t flaring in pain seemed numb.
“Halo got him… her, Bayou. Damn shot had to be two-thousand meters.”
“One shot?” She might still be half unconscious, but no one had dropped one of these beasts, even with a dozen shots. She leaned up painfully and wiped more of the animal’s blood from her helmet. Riggs realized she was covered in the stuff.
“One shot, LT,” Halo’s voice came in over her comms. “I’m approaching now. AO looks clear.”
“Yeah, he said he noticed a small indentation behind the ears,” Priest said, clearly impressed with the man’s shot. “Only about an inch across, but armor plating must not be as dense there. Nailed the fucker just before she was about to take your damn head off.”
“Yeah, thanks, Halo,” she said absently. The last thing she remembered was seeing the jaws opening wide. Inside that mouth were more than just rows of razor-sharp teeth. It had wriggling tentacles like things that seemed to want to pull her into its open maw. An involuntary shudder ran through her, sending waves of pain as it passed. “Oh, God! Everything hurts.”
Priest triggered a pain patch from her battle armor’s tactical controls. Bayou’s eyes fluttered as the drugs swept through her system. The third member of the team broke through the trees nearby, trotting toward them, sweeping his rifle for threats.
“Good shooting, man,” Priest said as Halo eyed the kill. Danny ‘Halo’ Jenkins was not the best shot in Banshee. Well, he wasn’t prior to today. That honor belonged to Darko. Darko went down under the first attack by one of these prehistoric abominations. His sniper’s nest had seemed safe until the damn thing ran right through it just before dawn.
“She okay?” Halo asked, seeing Priest lay the lieutenant back down on the ground.
“Pain meds knocked her out,” Priest said, going through her suit’s internal monitors, which were patched into his head-up display. “Probably cracked ribs, bruised organs, no significant internal bleeding. Concussion likelihood is, um… moderate.” He checked through the medical readouts one more time to make sure.
“We need to get the fuck out of here, man,” Halo said, obviously already thinking about the challenges of hauling there injured C.O. and going back for Darko’s remains.
“This mission is a bust.”
“Worse than that,” Priest said, looking up. “Bayou couldn’t get through to JOC at Space Command. We got no ride.”
“Well, shit,” Halo said. The Joint Operations Center handled all the logistics and tactical support for the teams.
The other man just nodded. “Any chance that was the last of these rhino-beasts?”
“No telling. Due to their size, I think there would be a limit to how many you successfully keep in any one area,” Halo replied.
Protocols said to continue the mission, even two members down they were still combat effective. They knew the lab had to be close. These guard beasts were undoubtedly the last line of defense.
“Wonder how they keep them from killing each other?” Priest said, running a gloved hand over the rough hide.
“Good question. Probably the same way they train them not to kill their creators. Drugs, electric shock, mind control. Who the fuck knows?” Halo offered.
“That’s a hard copy.” Priest seemed to realize he was holding onto Bayou’s hand and awkwardly placed it next to her prone body. Everyone in the squad knew he had a thing for her, but he would never admit it. Didn’t work to mix pleasure with business, as they say. She was the boss, unless Kovach was with them, then he was top dog. “She talked to Prowler,” he said, mostly to deflect the conversation into new territory.
“How the fuck he get through? The entire Milcrypt comms are down.” The MCN was a tight channel band of the internet. It ran on a highly compressed secure band on any available network and tied together every military service on and off the planet. It theoretically never went down, but today… well, it was down.
“He’s got Ada. Remember?”
“Oh… right,” Halo said, nodding. “Any chance he can get us an extract?”
“He’s working on it, but in the meantime, we need to put eyes on the target,” Priest said. He saw the other man’s expression. “Look, I know the rest of the world has gone to hell, but we still have a job to do. Darko died for this mission, and Bayou was one inch away from getting a complete frame off restoration like Joe did. That shit has to count for something, okay?”
The other man nodded. “I hear ya, brother.” Like most war fighters, they knew you did your job for the man next to you, not the pukes back in the CIC. “Let’s make this count.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
LUX
Lux listened to his stomach growl. It was loud enough to wake him up, even though he didn’t believe he had ever gone to sleep. He was cold, scared, and tired; he didn’t want to open his eyes no matter how hungry he was. Then the growl sounded again. It wasn’t coming from him. It was coming from something close. Maybe his mom had…
His brief moment of hope vanished as he opened his eyes and stared into the dark, wolf-like eyes that were watching him. He was propped up on his elbows and he crab-walked back into the tree behind him, never taking his eyes off the animal.
The wolf moved closer, now only a few feet away. In the dim morning light, it was difficult to make out detail. Lux’s eyes were mostly shut anyway. “Go away!” he cried. He felt the wolf’s leg brush against his. He was crying, and he held his arms in front of his face. Whatever was about to happen, he didn’t want to see. “Please,” he begged. “Please go away. Marcie, make it stop!”
Alissa had been telling him monster stories all week. Even after her mom told her to stop. Now he was living a real one. He silently wished she was here instead of him. That would serve her right. But then she would get dead and that would make her mom sad and then his dad would be sad. Would he even miss me? he wondered as he swore he could hear the wolf’s heart beating…. maybe it was his own.
Then it was on him, the monster’s hot breath. He could feel it on his face, then wet saliva on the arms he was using for cover. He pictured long bloody fangs dripping the wet, foamy drops on him, then he felt… a tongue. The wolf, no… not a wolf. The dog was licking him. It was a dog.
Lux moved his arm down as the big, furry dog moved up against him. His silky soft hair brushed across his face and tickled. Instinctively, he patted the animal’s neck and rubbed his ears. The dog lowered his head and nuzzled into the boy’s chest affectionately.
Lux shared his meager breakfast with the dog, a cereal bar from the red bag. He’d already finished off the juice in his book bag. It was warm and kind of nasty, but he was so thirsty. The dog had run off a few times, which made Lux sad. He was glad to have some company, even though he’d been scared at first. He’d never had a dog. Always wanted one, but they were expensive and a lot of work, his mom had said. Thankfully, the dog kept coming back.
Having no other ideas, Lux decided to follow the dog the next time. The dog slid through hidden trails like he knew every rock on the hillside. He was a pretty dog, Lux thought. “Maybe you’re a girl, though. Could boy dogs be pretty? His hair was long and a yellowish red. Every few minutes, the dog would stop and look at him with an expression Lux thought was, ‘Hurry up, kid.’
“I’m coming.”
They went downhill for a long time. Lux thought that would be easier than going up, but it wasn’t. He kept sliding down, but the dog just skipped and jumped between trees and shrubs. At the bottom of the hill, he followed the dog as it ran down a long trail that looked like it might have been a stream at one time. It was damp, and he could see sandy spots in places. They walked for a long time, and he had to stop twice to rest. He was really, really thirsty now.
Now that it was later morning, he could see better. The dog was wearing a collar. He wondered if maybe it had been in one of the other cars on the road. If so, he might have belonged to someone. He tried to get close enough to read the tag. He could read most things now, but the dog would pull away every time he reached for it. He was playful and seemed to think everything was a game. Lux was okay with that. It was kinda fun and kept him from thinking about how scared and thirsty he was.
They were heading farther and farther from the road. Farther from where Marcie had been, but he had no choice… right? Marcie had told him to get away. Lux was tired and scared. The playful dog seemed like a friend; he would just trust him for now. Hopefully, the dog would look out for him.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
KOVACH
You know how in the movies and books where the soldiers say they can fall asleep anytime and anyplace, no matter the circumstances? Yeah, I must have missed that part of the training back in basic. No matter how tired I am, as soon as I try to sleep, my head fills up with random thoughts like a hive full of angry bees. After a restless night, I got up early and repacked the truck. Sumo was off doing his business, and I decided that was a pretty smart plan. As I finished up, some of the jumbled thoughts of the previous night came rushing back in.
I’d killed fellow Americans yesterday. I mean, I’d done it before. The Posse Comitatus Act, or rules against military action on domestic soil, went out decades ago. Right after the massive insurrection at the Tacoma power plant. Still, something was very different now. Those guys were virtually my neighbors. Yeah, they were stupid and greedy and totally unprepared for the fight they got, but a part of me almost felt bad for them. That is, until I saw the numerous cracks in my windshield and realized a dozen or more rounds had hit the old truck in various places. By the time I finished going over every inch of the vehicle, I was so angry I wanted to go back and kill them all over again.
Thankfully, the truck was okay, and after a cold breakfast, I took time to install the passenger seat Hank had given me. To his credit, the generic brackets attached easily, and before dawn we were back on the road, Sumo sitting proudly on his new, synthetic leather covered throne. He gave me a look I could have almost taken as approval.
“You’re welcome.”
The dog ignored me—he was not a morning person.
“Joe,” Ada said by way of greeting.
I knew by her tone she was about to lay out my itinerary. You know, conference call at nine, emails about the lost shipment, dentist appointment after lunch. Yeah… no, not any of that.
“The route you are on has been modified since our original destination is now forty-seven miles away.”
“Yeah, Virginia.”
“Unfortunately, the direct route will go through several small towns between here and there. And…”
She cut me off before I could say anything.
“No, we can’t take an alternate route. It would be much farther, just as risky, and the batteries likely wouldn’t hold up.”
Shit, I’d almost forgotten about the batteries. Looking down at the old-style gauge, it was hovering in the amber zone two bars below the green. Two bars above the red. As I watched, another section of amber light flickered off.
“It’s dropping fast. Do we need to stop and hook into the solar blanket?”
“The forecast for today is overcast skies, so the energy you could collect would be minimal. I estimate at the current consumption rate, you will just make it through the first of those towns before batteries become critical.”
“That seems sub-optimal. Likely not the place we want to be stranded.”
She agreed but pointed out it might also be the best place to find spare batteries or possibly even working charging stations. West Virginia had been coal country and one of the last to embrace renewable energy, but they jumped on the mini-nuke plants. Much easier than stringing transmission lines up and down the mountainous terrain.
“Makes sense. See what you can find and let me know before we get to any populated areas.” So far, there had only been a few stalled cars, but that would increase as we moved farther east and closer to any settlements.
Pittsview, West Virginia. Proved to be as memorable as I had expected. A battered sign at the city limits stated a population of 587. About a dozen, bleak looking storefronts that seemed to have weathered a few more winters than was fair. A garage on the opposite side of the road looked hopeful until we saw it was boarded up tight. The entire town looked sad and broken, and not because of the more recent events. The battle that had claimed this town was neglect, and it had started a good generation earlier.
“Anything?”
My built-in AI didn’t respond at once, which was a good way of preparing me for bad news. “I’m monitoring local connections to the internet. That will let us know who has a working device and potentially a way to power or recharge them.”
It was a reasonable plan, but comms units, data tablets, and such mostly ran off the universal p-cells now, and they could go ages without a direct power source. Still, the intel would be helpful, alerting me to…
“People ahead,” she interrupted. “A large number of them a hundred yards ahead and fifty yards south,” she amended.
“Yeah, people,” I said, finishing my thought. The GMC crept silently up on the cross street. As the cab moved past the building on my right, I could see a small crowd of maybe fifty people all gathered outside a building that Ada helpfully identified as a budget food store. The kind that carried mostly staples, canned goods, diapers, and such.
A uniformed man was blocking the crowd from entering. Brave soul. Then, as a few people exited the building, he allowed an equal number to enter. “They’re all carrying toilet paper,” I said in total bewilderment. Every one of the people coming out had a few small bags of whatever and a massive pack of the rolled white stuff. “They’re out here risking their lives to get that?”
Ada seemed perplexed as well but pointed out that common sense nor survival training was essential to the populace anymore. “They are panicking, Joseph.”
They looked scared, but harmless. I’d seen before how quickly a mob could turn ugly, though. A few of them noticed the truck and began pointing. “We need to get out of here.” Then the chime sounding low battery went off.
“Perfect,” I said, moving the car to the curb and killing the power. “Sumo, out, guard.”
The dog exited behind me and took up station beside the truck. I slung the MK4 into the slot on my back, the mag lock affixing it solidly. I holstered my sidearm and carried my tactical helmet as I began striding confidently toward the uniformed guard.
I don’t know what the young deputy thought he would encounter this morning, but it obviously hadn’t included seeing someone like me. The crowd in front of the store parted as I approached, and his right hand dropped to the butt of his own service weapon. I gave a slight shake of my head to the man. Whatever happened, I didn’t want to undermine his level of control here. I also didn’t want him to try to shoot me. That would fuck over my own plans.
“That’s far enough, mister. Sorry, locals only inside the store. Council’s orders, not mine.”
Looking past the man, I could see the darkened interior of the store. “I don’t want to get inside, officer.”
I heard Sumo growling far up the street. “You may want to warn your folks not to try and steal my truck, though. My dog has been a bit grumpy today.”
The deputy was nervous. That was bad. Nervous people do stupid shit. Nervous people with guns do stupid shit that gets people killed. The crowd behind me began to press in again; maybe they thought I was an ally, maybe they just wanted to see me take out the one man who was keeping them from there twenty-four pack of cheap toilet paper. I didn’t know, didn’t much care. I turned around and in the best imitation of my dad, politely told them to, “Get the fuck back or die.”
