Essem couldn’t tell where the weapon was fired from, but it didn’t really matter. The aftermath of the explosion came hard and fast as Rotars soldiers poured deeper into Shade’s Rest on foot and in the vehicles.

Essem dropped down next to Kelly’s motionless form. The gangers who had him in their sights just moments ago had turned their attention toward the explosion and were now moving with their fellows. Essem exhaled in satisfaction over his luck then took a closer look at Kelly. She was still breathing. Essem carefully searched her body and found the entrance wound, but could not find an exit hole.

Kelly’s eyes opened with a start as Essem poked around. “Ahhhh!” she rasped.

“Sorry,” Essem mumbled as he placed pressure on the wound.

Kelly moved his hands away, shaking her head. “Don’t bother. I know it’s pretty bad.” Her voice wasn’t much above a whisper and her eyes wandered as she tried to speak. Essem looked at her helplessly. “Kelly, I…” he began, but stopped when he realized it was pointless for him to say anything.

Engine roars and gunfire cracked deeper into Shade’s Rest. Essem knew he couldn’t stay here any longer. The fight was moving and he had to do something. Carefully, he removed the quiver on Kelly’s back, but the effort still brought forth grunts of protest from the dying woman. Securing it on his back and grabbing her bow, Essem checked to make sure it was safe to move then turned back to Kelly one last time. She was looking at him through half-closed eyes. Slowly, she lifted her arm. Essem reached out and took her hand gently, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

He studied her face intently as it twitched involuntary at the pain of death creeping in. Kelly muttered something but Essem couldn’t make out. He leaned in to ask her again, but Kelly simply smiled. Essem froze for a second then found himself smiling back. He brushed his free hand across Kelly’s forehead as her eyes closed. Essem felt his heart sink further, and a tear roll down his cheek. I didn’t even know you.

When he realized that she was indeed gone, Essem placed her lifeless hand across her chest, stood, and then carefully lowered himself to the ground. Essem quickly inspected the dead gangers nearby and grunted in satisfaction as he secured another pistol and a sub-machine gun from two of the burnt bodies. Looking toward the sound of the engines, Essem began his pursuit, being careful to stay close to houses or other cover. Even if he was the only one, he had to do something. Then he stopped, frozen in place as he crouched by a patch of overgrowth. A chill raced down his spine and Essem turned and looked back toward the gate. The chill he felt was replaced with a flush of heat of regret. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten.

Dad!

* * *

James pressed himself up against the side of the house and peered around the corner. The Rotars’ rough oval shaped formation moved slowly through the streets of Shade’s Rest in a deliberate march. Gunfire was scattered as defenders darted in and out of the homes and behind cover to take shots at the Rotars. Sadly, those shots consisted mostly of rocks and the occasional arrow. Bruce had told James that the town didn’t have a large supply of weapons, and the majority of those were placed at the front gate where Bruce thought they would be needed the most.

James now found himself behind the advancing gang. He had a small band of defenders with him. He felt a twinge of guilt for having pulled away from the gate, but he knew it meant death to stay there. It took all he could to convince those with him to leave, but once the gang had burst through and opened fire, they realized the old man had been right.

From there, they’d been darting in and out of houses, picking off the Rotars when they could. James thought they might have aggravated the Rotars enough to turn around when they picked off two drivers, but that’s when James saw them take out the heavy weaponry. He didn’t know what it was; he just knew it was big and thus dangerous. He and his makeshift squad ran like hell to get clear, and almost everyone made it before the house they hid behind was turned to tinder in a massive explosion.

James knew at that point they had to drive these killers off  quickly. “How many firebombs we have left?” he barked to the five men behind him.

“Three,” one of the men answered. It wasn’t a lot, but it might be enough. James looked back. Only three of the men in the group, himself included, had an actual firearm. The rest had bows or spears and a few rocks. “Make sure you bowmen have the fire. We need to get moving if we’re ever going to catch up. You better hope Bruce has the defenses set up.” He stepped out into the street, signaling the men to follow. “Once they get there, it’s going to get real ugly, real fast!”

As they moved through the streets, James took a look back towards the gate. The carnage was obvious and brutal. It was going to a long time for Shade’s Rest to recover from this. The guilt he felt surfaced once again. James couldn’t look at the destroyed gate, a flaming building or a wounded body without feeling responsible. James cursed himself for getting too involved. He wanted desperately to just leave with Essem and never look back. Essem. His eyes wandered up toward the wall where he knew Essem was supposed to be. He was too far away to make out any details, but the distinct lack of activity of any kind around the entrance to the town sent a clear signal. James wanted to turn right around and search for his son, but he knew any more hesitation could mean even more death. Please, Essem. Just stay alive. When this is done, we’re leaving.

In the distance, James heard the roar of engines die down. “They must have made it to the town hall.” James knew Bruce was there, along with the man they’d brought in.

They were out of time.

Kelly nodded.

“I think so.”

Essem took a breath and backed up as far as he could. The distance was a little over three meters, but the pair would have a running start. Essem knew they had to slow the Rotars’ initial thrust beyond the gate. If the gang managed to establish a foothold , they’d be able to pour in unopposed. Already he saw small squads of gangers trying to move beyond the perimeter that was being set up. And they seemed to be doing it with little resistance. Either the Shade’s Rest defenders weren’t putting up much of a fight or they simply weren’t there. Essem didn’t like that last option at all. James was down there somewhere. His old man wasn’t one to give up easy, though. Essem knew his dad wasn’t stupid either. If hiding meant that he would live, Essem was sure James would do it.

Essem looked back at Hal one last time. “Once we get into position, you worry about anyone else trying to get in.” He jerked a thumb back toward the outer wall. “And don’t forget to use those rocks.” Essem gave a quick glance to the pile of fist-sized stones lying near Hal. “Let’s go!” Essem barked before taking two powerful steps and leaping off the ledge.

He landed with a loud thump, and quickly threw himself forward to avoid rolling over backwards and off the roof. Essem turned and waved Kelly forward. She hesitated at first, then found the courage. Her jump wasn’t as powerful as Essem’s, but it got the job done. She landed closer to the roof’s edgeand quickly scrambled into position. Essem held out a hand, which she used to pull in closer. Both heard a shout from Hal.

Essem looked up to see Hal taking aim and letting fly with an arrow somewhere behind him. With his hand still holding Kelly, he yanked her forward and let go. Spinning, Essem dropped down into a crouch as a short spear whizzed just overhead. Bringing his pistol to bear, he steadied his aim with his other hand and quickly assessed the scene.

Two Rotars had come around the side of the house. A third was on the ground clutching his leg where Hal’s arrow had struck home. Essem couldn’t tell how the other two were armed and he didn’t wait to find out. He squeezed off one round from the pistol and the bullet impacted in the ground just in between both men. Damn it! Essem cursed to himself as both men split away. One readied another spear , while the other opted instead for a pistol of his own.

Essem tried to track the man but he kept darting back and forth. The ganger’s progress was quickly stopped as another arrow thunked into the ground right in the man’s path. He hesitated long enough to give Essem another chance. He took aim, squinted and fired. The round clipped the man in the shoulder, blowing free flesh and bone. The man howled as he dropped his weapon and hit the ground.

A deep thud struck right near Essem’s foot as the other man’s spear hit. Essem jerked to the side and started to scramble up the roof. He saw the man move away as Kelly and Hal both sent arrows in his direction.

“C’mon!” Essem shouted to Kelly as he completed his scramble to the top of the roof. She followed as Hal sent one final arrow toward the fleeing ganger.

Essem and Kelly laid flat on the rooftop and peered over the edge. He could see that the Rotars had not only pushed through the gate but were close to establishing perimeter. The remaining vehicles had moved in and were huddled close to the entrance, waiting to get inside.

It was then that Essem realized that the gunfire had subsided and that he and Kelly were the only defenders from Shade’s Rest still around. Essem wasn’t sure if everyone else had fled, died or both. He looked at Kelly, while he signaled to Hal.

“Looks like it’s just us. Get out your firebomb.” Essem pulled his free and secured his sparker. He looked up and saw that Hal was crouched and staring at him. Essem mouthed the words, ‘stay down’ and followed it up with a hand gesture.

Moving quickly, he lit the cloth fuses on both pieces of pottery. He pointed toward where he wanted Kelly to throw. She nodded.

“Once we throw these, we need to get the hell out of here.”

Kelly nodded again.

Then Hal screamed.

Essem stole a quick glance and saw that Hal had slumped against the wall. Looking back, he saw close to ten gangers around the house’s edge. Without hesitation, Essem switched targets and hurled his firebomb toward the group while shouting to Kelly to throw hers.

Essem’s hit the ground with a burst of flame that caught three of the Rotars in its radius. The others moved but took aim at the pair and fired. Bullets punched through the shingles and into the wood below, sending splinters toward Essem’s face. Standing his ground, he returned fire, catching one of the ganger square in the chest, dropping him to the ground. Somewhere on the other side of the house, Essem could hear screaming. Good shot, Kelly.

“Back to the wall!” Essem shouted as he grabbed Kelly’s hand to take her with. He jerked suddenly when she didn’t follow. Looking back, he saw a pool of blood rapidly expanding from her midsection.

“Shit.” Essem said as he let go of her hand.

Then the explosion hit.

The trio stared back at him. Unsure of what to do, Essem opted to simply smile. “How are you doing?” he asked weakly, even more unsure of what to say.

The two men returned his question with stares of disbelief, but the woman started to chuckle. All three looked at her, but she continued to chuckle. “Sorry,” she offered. “It’s just kind of funny that we’re all here, ready for battle and all you can say is, ‘How are you doing?’”

Essem started to chuckle himself. Now it was his turn to apologize. He shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t really know what else to say.”

“How about your name? You’re one of the new people, yes?”

He nodded. “My name’s Essem.”

The woman extended her hand. “I’m Kelly. This is Hal and Eric.”

Essem shook her hand and gave a nod to each man. Hal wiped his face clear of sweat and pushed the headband higher up to clear his blonde hair away from his face.

“Any advice? The closest we’ve ever had to a fight is just some basic combat drills and some wrestling.”

Essem wanted to pursue the illogic of never learning to really fight, but thought better of it. He looked over their weapons, then back over the wall. The Rotars were very close. He didn’t have much time.

“They’re going to hit this place hard, no matter what they do. We’ve all got firebombs. Those are your best weapons. Don’t use them unless you can hit for sure. These things will hurt, so you got to make them count.”

Eric shook nervously as he looked at his bow. “I don’t think I can shoot another person. Hunting is one thing; this is totally different.”

Essem thought back to encounter at the dead-velopment. “You’ll be surprised what you can do when you have to.” He stood and looked. The Rotars’ vehicles were in sight, a wedge of charging rattletrap cars and trucks with a monster of a van taking the point. His mind made the image to look like a massive, nightmarish beast. Smoke billowed behind the formation, mixing with dust to appear as a coat of black and brown. The roar from the muffler-less engines gave the beast a howl like a demon from hell. Spikes protruding from the sides of the cars took on the shape of claws and savage teeth, hungry for flesh. The visage ignited the spark of fear in Essem’s belly into a full, raging panic. He took several breaths to steady himself, then looked back at Eric, Hal, and Kelly. “And try not to panic.”

“Too late,” Eric muttered as he stood up next to Essem.

A small section of the wooden wall to Essem’s right exploded into tiny fragments, and several harsh hisses zipped past his ears. Essem dropped back down, and heard the sound like a fist punching rotted fruit. He looked wide-eyed at Kelly who was still huddled behind the wall. Stupid, Essem. So stupid.

Kelly started to scream. Then Hal followed.

Essem turned and saw Eric’s lifeless body crumple next to him. The left half of his face was gone, leaving only red, meaty fragments.

Hal vomited.

“I just…” Essem began, but the words got stuck in his throat.

The sounds of gunfire and its impact on the outer wall erupted all around him adding to the chaos and offensive symphony created by the roaring of the Rotars’ engines.

Essem swallowed hard. Get a grip, damn it! He forced back the panic then braved a peek over the wall just in time to see the lead van break free from the wedge, and the other cars slow slightly.

He ducked back down, grabbed Kelly with one hand and Hal with the other. “They’re going to ram the gate! Hold on!”

As Essem braced himself, his mind flashed to everyone else. Maple had left to be with Runner, who was in hiding with the other kids. And his dad. Essem’s stomach soured. His dad was near the gate.

The fireball and the shockwave seemed to hit at the same time. The ledge shook violently as flames shot high in the air. Essem fought to stay balanced, his steel grip holding fistfuls of Kelly’s and Hal’s clothing. Shrapnel and debris rained down in all directions. Essem squinted through the mess, trying to find the van. He couldn’t see it.

The adrenaline kicked in. Essem stood in a low crouch. He shouted to Hal and Kelly. “C’mon, we’ve got to help them. They busted the gate!” Essem pulled the pair along with him.

The outer wall of Shade’s Rest had been built to take best advantage of the houses it was designed to protect. Where possible, roofs were used in the walking wall that surrounded the entire settlement. This made for a rather loping trek as the three pushed toward the gate, which Essem guessed was about thirty meters away.

They heard the sounds of engines, gunfire, and shouts as they neared. Visions of James lying bloody and dead near the gate raced through Essem’s mind. Dad, you can’t be dead. Damn it Dad. Be alive! ‘I’ll be near the gate’ was the last thing James had told Essem before he went to post on the wall.

“Look out!” Kelly shouted as she came to a hard stop. Essem didn’t stop in time and knocked her over. As Hal fell on top of him, Essem looked up to see a small clay bottle, with a flaming top arc over the last house that stood before what remained of the gate’s entrance. It landed less than ten meters from where they lay, bursting into a blob of flame that covered the last run of the walkway and the roof blocking their path.

The trio struggled to their feet. Essem looked at Hal and Kelly, as he freed the pistol from his waist. “Get your bows ready. Let’s get these bastards.”

Kohl smiled as he finished his inspection, reaching his command car. His second, a well-muscled man who wore a deerskin vest covered with loose hanging trinkets and jewelry, approached him. His voice carried a deep timbre as he spoke.

“Everything’s ready.”

Kohl acknowledged him. “Good. You’ve run the weapons check, Harmon?”

The big man nodded. “Yes, but we’re getting low on fuel. We’ll have plenty to get there, but if we spend too much time zipping back and forth, we’ll run out. We can’t use the geecee’s. They’re too slow when pulling the cars and will probably get shot.”

Kohl agreed. He didn’t want to use any of their pack animals in the coming fight. They were far too valuable, especially the geecees. A common nickname for “genetic constructs,” these beasts were wide and varied and came from before the war. Engineered specifically for a variety of roles, they were common in the years well before the war, when genetic engineering was commonplace and at its height. From cross-breeds to existing animals created for a specific function or entertainment, the rise and use of such creatures truly created a world in which animal and human worked and walked side by side. When the war came, the age of the geecees ended in a flash, but like so many other animals they found a way to survive and even make a place for themselves. Some even became of great value, because of their function, with some even holding greater value than human life itself.

“No, we won’t be using them. Plus, if our plan comes off right we shouldn’t have to push much further than past their front gate. I don’t think there’s much fight in these people. Their leader, yes. The people, no way. Once the ram breaks through their front gate, I wouldn’t be surprised if they start fleeing or surrender right there.”

Harmon followed Kohl’s gaze to the van at the front of the Rotars’ line of vehicles. While the back end was completely cut open, and the tires appeared to be patched multiple times, the front had been reinforced heavily with a sloped and pointed wedge attached to the van’s front end. The wedge ended in a sharp tip and was decorated with various animal and human skulls for extra effect.

“You think this will bust their front gate?” Harmon asked.

“I got a good look at it. The gate is thick, but it won’t stand up to the ram. Once we break through the rest of the vehicles can follow. All we need to create is a perimeter and expand out from there.” Kohl smiled. He felt a great sense of satisfaction inside. He didn’t like the way Bruce treated him, and in a few hours, he was going to pay. To Kohl this wasn’t about getting Tim, Maple and the girl back. It was about teaching a lesson.

 * * *

Essem leaned against the outer wall of Shade’s Rest, looking back in towards the settlement rather than out beyond which he knew he was supposed to be doing. He’d been on duty on the walkway almost immediately after he spoke with his father about what had happened with the Rotars and the meeting with the Elders. Essem wasn’t sure how he felt about it all though. On one hand he wanted to fight. He wanted to show people like Tim that they couldn’t just take what they wanted. He wanted to beat the rest of the Rotars just like he beat Tim. At the same time, he knew that a lot of people might get hurt, even killed. In the few days he’d been here, Essem had come to like several of the people he’d met. The thought of them being hurt because of a problem he had started didn’t sit well with the young man. Ever since Bruce had made the announcement to Shade’s Rest about the possibility of a war, Essem had noticed a change in the people of the settlement. People who had previously spoken and been cordial to the young man suddenly kept their distance and cast disapproving glances. Others tossed scornful comments his way, anger coloring their voices. But it wasn’t universal. Some people, including those he’d never spoken to before, approached him and took the time to say that if there was a fight, it wasn’t his fault, or that of his father. These people claimed it was going to happen sooner or later, and they were tired of running. Essem could tell that for a town that seemed unified on the surface, there was trouble and tension brewing underneath.

“Shouldn’t you be looking the other way?” A voice jarred Essem out of his thoughts.

He looked up and saw Maple approaching. Essem noted that she had cleaned up significantly since being here. She’d been able to bathe, get new clothes, and eat. Her mood had even seemed to improve. She was coming at Essem with a limp in her step, but that was due to the large sack she hefted. She set it down at Essem’s feet with a loud ‘whuf.’ “What are you thinking about?”

Essem stood and faced her. “Not much. What’s in the sack?”

Maple placed her hands on her hips. “Rocks.” She pointed back toward the gate where other residents could be seen hauling similar packages. “We’ve been gathering them all day. Just in case.”

“Good idea.” Essem opened the sack and fished through the rocks. They were all good sized, with nearly all of them as big as his fist or larger. A solid hit from one of these was going to hurt. This was one aspect that made Essem happy. Shade’s Rest had a fair supply of weapons but he knew it might not be enough. The fact that they were improvising in this manner showed a spirit of determination that might be enough to make up for any shortcomings the settlement had for arms.

“How’s Runner?” Essem asked as he turned his attention back to Maple.

Maple looked out over the wall. “She’s good. She’s made some friends.”

Essem nodded. “Good. I think she’s being accepted here better than the rest of us.”

“Maybe.” Maple rubbed her chin. “I don’t know. People seem to like me well enough.”

“That’s because you cook for them. If you make good food, people will always like you.” Essem let some irritation creep into his voice.

Maple picked up on it. “Is there a problem?”

Essem looked at her. He couldn’t tell if there was a problem or not. Conflicting feelings raced back and forth in his mind. Part of him wanted to yell at Maple, and blame her for their current situation, but another part wanted… something. Essem couldn’t tell what though, which made him even more frustrated. He hoped it wasn’t any sort of deeper feelings. He didn’t want to have anything like that for Maple. He didn’t mind having her and Runner along, but he didn’t want to feel that way toward her, but he wasn’t exactly sure why. He remembered a few conversations he’d had with James. His opinion had always been that ‘women complicate things’ but James never really explained why, and what things were being complicated.. Essem thought it might just be a desire to be with her. He’d been with a woman once, but that was years ago. He remembered the feelings he’d had leading up to that disastrous encounter, and this did feel a little like that. In the end, Essem figured it would be best just to shut those feelings out until after everything was over.

He shook his head. “No. Nothing.”

Essem watched as Maple squinted at him, trying to understand what was going on. She soon gave up and turned to walk away.

Then Essem heard the rumble. It was in the distance but as the moments passed it grew louder. He leaned over the walls edge and stared toward the horizon. Maple joined him  in searching. A small cloud of dust joined the approaching rumble.

There was no doubting it now. The Rotars were coming.

And yet at the same time, he felt an excitement burn inside of him. In less than two hours, his entire life had been turned upside down. He had been content to be a leader of a settlement struggling to find some stability, the shepherd to a people that both needed and appreciated the steady hand he often provided. Now he was not only facing the threat of an attack from an angry gang of slavers but the verbal assault of those actually in charge of the settlement of Shade’s Rest – the council of five Elders.

But Bruce had also come to realize something else about the Elders and Shade’s Rest, and he had James to thank for it. Bruce had always thought he was part of and led a just and caring community, but it was James and his son, Essem who taught him otherwise. Now all Bruce had to do was convince the Elders of it.

Bruce knew the Elders had always truly run Shade’s Rest with the role of mayor being the executor of the Elder’s will. The Elders had always lived their namesake: the oldest members of the settlement. Since Bruce had become part of Shade’s Rest decades ago, the Elders were always those who were alive before the world changed. Everyone always believed they were best suited to manage the transition and be the guides to all those born after the world changed, giving them a connection to the past while helping to avoid the mistakes of it. The mayor was always chosen by the Elders, but the residents had approval of the choice. It was a system that had worked well for Shade’s Rest and kept them alive and functioning for decades. Bruce could not remember in all his time here or from the stories he had heard of anyone challenging the Elders authority. It made sense, really. After the bombs fell, people didn’t live very long. Those who did suddenly were regarded with a respect they hadn’t seen in ages. Bruce had heard tales and stories about how the world had been obsessed with youth, with the aged being discarded and shunned from society. Now if you were old, it meant you knew how to survive. Knowledge that was invaluable. To defy that knowledge was not only insulting, it was disrespctful and often unwise.

Bruce nodded. “Yes, Elder Notten, they will stay. We are not going to send them out to their deaths just so that we may live and be spared any violence.”

A new Elder spoke up first. It was Elder Shore. He had wild, stringy gray hair that swayed gently as he spoke. “So you wish pain and suffering on our people? Why is this, Bruce? You have always been a good and faithful leader. Why would you choose an incident like this to make a stand?”

Bruce knew this question was coming. He’d even asked himself the very same question moments before speaking. He just hoped that he was right. “Elder Shore, I understand your concern. In years past, even before I was chosen as mayor, we lived a life that was based on staying as far away from trouble as possible. It didn’t matter what form the trouble took; if it was a threat to us and our people, we moved out of the way and kept going.” Bruce opened his arms and gestured to the former grocery store that had become the Elder’s Hall. “We had always been told that we would find a place where we could indeed call home. Some place where we would be safe and never have to move again.”

Bruce shook his head and looked directly at each Elder. “But that time has never come. We have always been on the move, being as nomadic as the slavers that now threaten us.” Bruce pointed to James, who stood in silence as Bruce pled his case. “Or this man and his son. They have wandered all their lives as well. This pair has known nothing but the road all their lives, and they have little to show for it, save for the clothes on their backs.”

Bruce stepped forward, raising a finger toward Elder Notten who looked like he was about to retort. Bruce cut him off. “But this pair has something we seem to lack. A moral center. A sense of justice. When the small girl, Runner, literally fell into their camp, pursued by armed men, they decided to stand and protect her, knowing no more than what they could see.

“And what have we done when faced with the same? We’ve decided to turn them over. Walk away from the trouble. And we think ourselves better than two walkers who have no more than each other?”

Bruce turned and faced James. He placed a hand on the older man’s shoulder. Though he looked James in the eye, he continued to address the Elders. “I wanted to turn him over because I knew that’s what you would have wanted, but James and his son reminded me that if we truly want to not just survive in this world, we need to make that stand for what we believe in.”

Bruce turned toward the Elders and squared his shoulders at them. “They stay, and we will fight if we need to.”

Notten raised a hand. “If you are done, Mayor Haft?”

Bruce nodded.

“You make a strong case, and while I do not disagree with your principles, they are misplaced here. While you may claim to have found a moral compass, you will find that slavers are without any. They will just as easily kill, enslave, or rape you without a second thought. And when they attack, they attack with such ferocity that there are few that can stand in their way.” Notten pointed a finger toward James. “In your effort to show your moral fortitude by saving this man, his son, and those who came with them, you might very well doom us all, and what will that prove?”

Tate, one of the female Elders, joined in. “Elder Notten is correct. Taking such a stand will bring you little comfort when you are lying dead in the street and your sister is being ravaged by these lawless men.”

Bruce was about to protest, but James took a step toward them and spoke. “Look, we didn’t want any trouble when we came here. We just wanted some help. Bruce gave it. He showed me some kindness and even when he turned us down for keeping that man that ganger wants.” James turned back and looked at Bruce. “He made me believe, even if it was for a small moment, that maybe I was wrong about what people in towns and other settlements are really like.” James snorted. “But you took care of that.” James raked his eyes across the elders. “You’re no different than that ganger, you know. The only difference is he uses guns to kill people.”

Bruce watched helplessly as James turned toward him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I appreciate your efforts. We’ll take our man and get as far away as we can. Hopefully you won’t have to give this place up.”

Bruce’s eyes followed James as he made his way out, until a voice brought his head back around. It was Elder Shore. “A moment, please.”

Bruce looked. James stopped and turned. Shore continued. “Just because my fellow Elders do not like our mayor’s brashness does not mean all of us do. While it is true Mayor Haft has defied our will, perhaps he is right.” Shore turned toward his fellow Elders. “I say we put it to a vote on whether we make a stand.”

Bruce watched in amazement. He could see the looks of anger on Notten’s and Tate’s faces. They attempted to speak, but Shore continued. “Those in favor of taking a stand against these slavers and accepting our mayor’s defiance raise their hand.”

Time seemed to slow as Bruce watched as Shore’s hand raise, followed closely by the two elders, Thomson and Swann, who had remained silent for the entire debate.

The nervous tingle Bruce held in his stomach the entire time suddenly faded away, replaced by euphoria.

“It seems we have a majority, Mayor Haft. There is no need to ask the opposing question.” Bruce looked over at Shore. The Elder’s face held no emotion as he stared at Bruce. “They may stay in the settlement, and you are now charged with making sure we are ably prepared for an assault.” Shore’s tone dropped. “Please, Mayor Haft. Do not make us regret our decision or our faith in you. The lives of all of Shade’s Rest now truly lie in your hands.”

Bruce’s details to the rest of his talk with Kohl confirmed everything else. Trouble was coming to Shade’s Rest and James felt responsible. James pleaded. “Bruce, what can I do to fix it?”

The pair had already started walking deeper into the settlement, but Bruce stopped at this and turned to face the older man. “Fix it?” He spoke with exasperation. “There’s no fixing this.” Bruce gestured beyond the wall. “I know his type. I’ve seen it before. Full of himself warlord who can’t see beyond his own ego. He doesn’t get what he wants and now he’ll punish us for defying him.” Bruce sliced the air with his hand, calling for an end to the discussion. “No. There’s no fixing this. Any blood that is shed over this is now on your hands.”

Inwardly James cursed the moment Runner fell into their camp. Everything had been fine for him and Essem until that moment. From there it had all gone downhill as far as James was concerned. But what would have happened to Maple and Runner if you hadn’t been there, old man? James thought to himself. Either way, James couldn’t let this go. He had to fix it. “No. There has to be something. I know this is my fault.”

Bruce turned back around and glared at James. James watched his face. He could see the anger. Then something changed with Bruce’s expression. James could see Bruce’s brow begin to furrow, and his eyes squint. He was started to look conflicted. James wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Your fault?” Bruce let out a heavy sigh. James knew for sure the man was conflicted. “I’d like to blame you. Really I would. Some old-as-dirt road hagger comes into my town and begs for help, then brings trouble in the form of a gang of angry nomads. I’d like nothing more than to set this at your feet, and then string you up by them.” Bruce raised his hands in exasperation. “But this one’s on me. It’s all my own damn fault. I should have given you up right away.”

Bruce’s last words hit like a punch to the gut. It was tough to hear such callousness, but he wondered if he would do the same if the situation was reversed. Still, James wasn’t sure what he was hearing. First Bruce was blaming James and Essem, now he was taking the fall. James knew something wasn’t right. He held up a hand in a calming gesture. “Bruce, take it easy. You’re not making sense. We can figure this out, and solve it.” James saw the tension in Bruce’s face fade slightly. He knew he had a chance. “First things first. Where are the rest of your defenses? Where do you keep the weapons?”

Bruce shook his head. “No, the first thing I need to do is report to the Elders. They need to know and make the decision.”

James blinked in surprise. “Elders? I thought you were in charge.”

Bruce continued to shake his head. “I make sure everything runs within the settlement, but the elders make all the choices.”

James studied Bruce’s face as he spoke. He could tell something was bothering the other man even more when he spoke about the Elders but couldn’t tell if it had to do with what had just happened or if there was something more going on.

Bruce started walking again. “You better come with. They’re going to want to talk to you.”

*  *  *

James stood inside the wide open square room. The shape was familiar to him from his youth and early years. He remembered that his mom had always used the term ‘market’ when describing these types of buildings. His dad had always called it a grocery store. Either way, James’ furthest memories of these buildings were always pleasant. They involved him asking for sweet treats and often being lucky enough to get them. After the bombs fell, James’ memories changed dramatically. He had nightmarish recollections of scrambling and searching for food, or even fighting others for a scrap or package of something. Inside, he chuckled at the idea of a building holding shelf upon shelf of food that anyone could purchase or trade for. Such a thing was a luxury from a world long gone.

Now James found himself alongside Bruce in one of these buildings. The center area had been completely cleared out, replaced with five chairs upon which each of the Elders sat. Behind them against the wall was a series of curtained off areas that James guessed must have been their living quarters. To the right looked like a general assembly area. Stumps, chairs and crates were scattered about. Behind him were tables of various lengths and sizes. Some were set up, others folded and still others of a more permanent nature. This must be their town hall. It almost seems like a throne room. James stood in silence as Bruce finished up his report to the Shade’s Rest Elders.

“So, Mayor Haft, you feel that this Kohl and the rest of his gang will return soon with a show of force?” One of the Elders with a shaved pate that only served to accentuate his wrinkled face spoke.

Bruce nodded. “Yes, Elder Notten.”

“And there is no more hope of negotiation?” A female Elder who sat buried in furs and animal skins, her hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail spoke in a pleading tone.

“I don’t believe so, Elder Tate,” Bruce answered, regret in his voice. “I have seen his type before. He feels he is superior to all those he meets. Much like a spoiled child, when he doesn’t get what he wants he throws a temper.”

Notten answered back. “But he is not a child. He is a slaver with likely many weapons and soldiers at his disposal. And he presents a serious threat to our settlement – a settlement we’ve had for a very short time. A settlement we have all come to love in this time.”

Bruce nodded again. “Correct.” He paused. “Elders, what would you have me do?”

The group of five looked back and forth at each other. James could feel his stomach tighten. He knew what was coming.

It was Notten who spoke. “The choice is clear, Mayor Haft. Turn their man back over to them, along with the woman, the child and the two travelers who brought them here.”

James wasn’t sure which reaction he was going to take. Part of him wanted to rail against the five elders, to vent all his frustrations on groups such as this that he had seen so many times before. But another part wanted to simply turn and leave. Grant them their wish, and be rid of this place forever. James had seen this before. It was one of the reasons he never could live among others. I’m too old to listen to this crap. These idiots need to know what they are doing,who they are hurting.

Before he spoke, he looked over at Bruce. He saw the man’s jaw was clenched tightly. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. James looked down and saw Bruce’s hands clenched into fists. James realized that Bruce had made his decision, and it wasn’t the same as the Elders. He found himself feeling for the settlement’s leader. James could tell there was much more going on between Bruce and these Elders than he wanted to know. It’s not the time, old man. Just let it go. Just make it easy on him.

James placed a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Bruce. We’ll just go.” He looked toward the Elders. “We don’t want to cause any more trouble.”

“No.” Bruce spoke through gritted teeth. It was almost a whisper at first, but Bruce said it again, louder this time. “No.” He looked toward the Elders. “We’re not doing that. They’re going to stay. All of them.”

Bruce didn’t like to judge people from appearances. Not in this day and age anyway. He’d met far too many people whose cover never matched the contents of their book. But with Kohl, Bruce found that old prejudices died hard. From the moment Bruce saw the man, with his sloppy, miscut hair, ragged clothes, and posture that smacked of arrogance, Bruce knew he wasn’t going to enjoy the negotiations.

He could tell right away that the man was not only a liar, he was something that Bruce despised even more – a slaver. He was beginning to realize that what James and Maple were claiming was likely true. It didn’t make the situation any easier for the leader of Shade’s Rest. Bruce was willing to turn the man over to Kohl and his gang, but something nagged inside him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that simply turning his back on this matter wouldn’t solve the problem. He didn’t fully know the conditions Maple, Runner and the others were living under. And yet, at the same time, he wasn’t sure why this was his concern at all. He had an entire settlement of people to look after. People who expected Bruce to do what was right by the Community. People who expected him to keep them safe. Getting tangled up with a nomad gang was the exact opposite of that. Maybe he’ll be reasonable.

“My what?” Kohl uttered, some shock still in his voice.

“You heard me. I have one of your men.”

“And how did you come to have him?”

Bruce could sense a growing irritation in Kohl’s voice. Or maybe he won’t be reasonable. “He was brought to me in chains. The people who brought him in claimed he tried to kill one of them, as well as hold one of them captive. What do you know about this?” Bruce worked hard to seem sincere.

It was clear Kohl wasn’t buying it. His voice had nothing but irritation in it. “I want my man back.” Kohl looked past Bruce toward the settlement’s outer wall. “And if you’ve got my man, then you have something else of mine. The woman who brought him in, and the men with her; they’re the real criminals here. They stole from my camp, and killed one of my men. Give them to me. I want justice.”

Bruce shook his head. “A woman did come in with your man, but she had nothing on her. She couldn’t have stolen anything.”

“She took that child.” Bruce watched as Kohl gritted his teeth. He could tell the man was becoming more agitated. “That child was an orphan under our protection!”

Kohl tried to sell the line, but Bruce wasn’t buying it. Still, he worked to keep his face and voice calm. The last thing he wanted was a fight. “With respect, Kohl, I think you’ve made it very clear to me what your kind of ‘protection’ is.”

Kohl stepped in close toward Bruce. He saw Kohl’s face twisted in anger. His eyes were darting quickly between the settlement and Bruce. He knew Kohl wanted to act on the feelings inside. It was obvious Kohl didn’t like being spoken to in any sort of defiant manner. What Kohl said next confirmed it.

“You watch yourself, man.” Kohl hissed as he pointed toward the outer walls of Shade’s Rest. “You think those walls would hold us back if we came at you full force? Not a chance. They’d fall in a heartbeat.” Kohl’s eyes became wild. “Then the rest of you would go. One by one. We’d kill those who fought us, and those who didn’t–” Kohl let the word linger. “Well, they’d be spared of course.” Kohl chuckled a bit. “I’m not some sort of heartless bastard. They might have to work a little harder to earn their keep.” Kohl smiled at Bruce. “Do you get me?”

Bruce leaned in close to Kohl’s face. He could smell the scent of burnt meat on Kohl’s breath. It mingled with his stale body odor. The resulting smell made Bruce slightly ill. These negotiations didn’t go at all like Bruce had hoped. Short of an outright firefight here and now, they were going the exact opposite of what Bruce had hoped. He was being put in an impossible situation, and Bruce could feel his own anger start to bubble up. Even if he did turn the ganger over, Kohl would come back to ‘punish’ Bruce and Shade’s Rest. Holding on to him would only bring a fight. Bruce’s aggravation simmered in his mind. Why? Why now? This is the best place we’ve ever found. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of making these people move every time a threat comes around.

No more.

He looked at Kohl. Bruce tried to keep his voice calm, but failed. “I wanted to come out here and have a respectable conversation with you, Kohl. I wanted to find out if what they said about you was true. I wanted to find some sort of peaceful way to resolve this.” Bruce shoved the ganger back. At the edges of his vision, Bruce could see Kohl’s men raise their weapons. Kohl just stood there, shocked. “Now it’s impossible!” Bruce looked toward the trucks Kohl and his men had. His hands gestured wildly “You want a war? For what? One man and two slaves? Do you really want to come back here guns blazing, possibly losing more of your men in the process of just getting one?”

Kohl found his guts and took a step toward Bruce. He pointed toward the wall. “I want is my man, and those with him. You willing to risk losing your town over some people you barely know and don’t give a shit about?”

Bruce wasn’t going to back down. Not now. He couldn’t. If he let Kohl bully him here, it would only make things worse. “We’re done here. You’re not getting a damn thing from me. Get back in your truck and get the hell out of here.” Bruce turned his back to the man and made his way back to the gate.

Kohl shouted back. “You’re going to regret this! You made the wrong move, old man!”

Bruce whipped around and came at Kohl. He pointed back toward the guards along the walls. “It’s going to be you who’ll regret this if you don’t leave. Now!”

Bruce watched as Kohl slowly backed up, never breaking eye contact. As he swung himself into the truck, Kohl paused for only a moment. Making a pistol shape with his hand, he pointed it at Bruce and pretended to fire. With that, the trio of trucks revved their engines and roared off down the road.

Once out of sight, Bruce turned back towards the gate . He stormed in and turned toward the men just inside the entrance. “Where is he?” Bruce could not conceal the anger in his voice as he spoke. The guard clearly knew who Bruce was looking for, and gestured up the access steps to the walkway along the outer wall of Shade’s Rest.

Bruce vaulted the steps, making his way past the guards and citizens who had come to watch the exchange between he and Kohl. It did not take him long to find James. Bruce walked up and stopped directly in front of the man. James met his gaze.

“I’m sorry.” James spoke quietly.

“You’d better be. You may have just killed us all.”

The trader had mentioned the settlement during his dealings with the Rotars. Kohl had heard about the settlement known as Shade’s Rest, but didn’t really pay much mind. Barris kept hinting that Shade’s Rest would have useful goods and services for trade. It made Kohl curious, and with the recent tension caused by Maple and that young girl she took with her, not to mention the loss of Tim and Dan, Kohl felt he could use the distraction.

The outer wall looked secure. It was wood. Thick timbers in most places, though there was obvious signs of fresh patching with lumber, steel and other scavenged materials. Some memories of recent history started to come back to Kohl. If he remembered right, the previous occupants of this settlement went down sometime in the last year. Kohl couldn’t remember who he’d been told was responsible, but he did remember that it wasn’t a group he wanted to run into. The Rotars were a fairly nomadic group themselves, and they were in need of a few things. Hopefully this would be a peaceful trade.

Beyond the wall, Kohl could see a few rooftops, chimneys and smoke from fires. The new occupants certainly seemed active. Faces continued to pop up over the top of the outer wall. While some looked curious, most looked concerned. Kohl’s group had about ten people, divided up over three trucks. They didn’t hide the fact that they were armed. Why would they? Kohl always felt it was better to present a face of strength than any other sort. It kept away those who didn’t want any trouble. Those that would deal with you likely had strength of their own. That meant that things stayed peaceful. Most of the time anyway.

After Kohl had announced their intentions to seek trade and do business, it was time to wait. Thankfully it didn’t take long. The front gate opened. Kohl took note. It was a single, thick door that slid just wide enough for a group of four to exit. Three men and one woman. The three that hung back were armed, but the lead man didn’t appear to be. Kohl hopped out of the passenger side of the truck and met him halfway.

“That’s far enough,” the man said.

Kohl held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. “Easy, man. I’m just here to trade.”

The other man paused. “My name’s Bruce. This is Shade’s Rest. What are you looking to trade?”

Kohl held out his hand. “Kohl. We’ve heard about you recently.”

The man started to extend his hand, but stopped. “From who?”

Kohl pulled his own hand back. “Easy there. We heard about you from a merchant by the name of Barris. Said he stopped by your town a few days back. That’s all.” Kohl smiled to make his point.

Bruce rested his fists on his hips. “Sorry. I’ve learned you can’t be too careful.”

Kohl nodded.

Bruce pointed to the trucks. “So, what do you have?”

“We’ve got plenty. We’ve got ammo, some foodstuffs. We can give your people some combat training. Looks like you might be still doing some work. We’ve got a workforce if you need something built.”

Bruce cocked his head. “What do you mean ‘workforce?’”

Kohl didn’t like his tone. This Bruce seemed too suspicious. “What do you think I mean?”

“We don’t need or use any slaves here.”

Kohl squinted. “Who said anything about slaves? They’re not slaves. They can come and go as they please in our camp. They trade their skills for the protection me and my men provide.”

“Is that so?” Bruce urged him on.

Kohl nodded. “Of course. In fact I just had a few people leave the camp entirely. They weren’t happy with the arrangement, so they left. No questions asked.”

Bruce let it drop. “We don’t need any laborers.”

A silence fell between the two men. Kohl could tell this Bruce had standards. Kohl pegged him as a man who always tried to live by ideals rather than necessities like he did. Living by ideals won’t get you far in this world. “So, Bruce. What do you have to trade?”

“We’ve got clothing, wool and leather. Medical supplies. I don’t know what kind of foodstuffs you have, but we’ve got some as well. We’ve also got tools. Tools for gardens. Tools for your homes.” Bruce pointed at the trucks. “You have more vehicles? We might be able to repair them for you.”

Kohl found himself becoming bored. While the medical supplies might be needed, Kohl had his sights on other things to help ease the tension his camp was suffering from. He stepped in closer to Bruce. “Nah. I don’t need any of that. What have you got for fun?” Kohl let the word slide out. “My people need some fun, Bruce.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Kohl playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Recreation, Bruce. My men need something…” Kohl paused and leaned his head over to look at the woman in the group standing behind Bruce. “… new to play around with.”

Bruce’s expression stayed flat as did his tone. “We don’t deal with that here.”

Kohl smiled back. “Bruce, both you and I know everything’s negotiable.”

Bruce leaned in. “I don’t deal with slavers.”

Kohl felt irritation crawl up his spine. He didn’t like the term and hated the charge by Bruce even more. He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know what we do. Who does he think he is, calling me a slaver. I don’t keep my people locked up behind walls, Bruce. “I’m not a slaver. I told you that.” Kohl let the irritation show in his voice.

“Call it what you want. We’re done here.” Bruce turned and started to walk back.

Kohl felt a sting in his gut. He really didn’t like Bruce’s attitude. He was doing exactly what Barris had done – acting like he was better than Kohl in some way. Kohl could feel the urge to teach Bruce a lesson start to work its way around his head. His hands clenched into fists and his jaw startd to tighten. “The last man who turned his back on me found his face in the dirt on a hole through his gut.”

Bruce whirled around. Kohl heard the sounds of rifles being raised and cocked. “Are you threatening me? You’d never make it away from here alive.”

Kohl smiled. “You think this is all I brought with me? Don’t be stupid Bruce. If I really wanted to, I could take everything you offered for trade.” He looked again at the female guard. “And more.”

Bruce hesitated. Kohl could tell he’d made an impression. A hint of a smile crept across Kohl’s face. Now you’re beginning to see who’s really in charge here, aren’t you Bruce? This made Kohl happy; made him feel good. If this was like other trade negotiations he’d done in the past, Bruce would calm down and see some reason. Or at least apologize. Kohl liked it when people apologized to him. Once the apology was given, they’d be able to conduct some proper trade.

Then, for some reason Bruce smiled. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give you something you really want, and then you get the hell away from our town. And don’t ever come back.”

Kohl smirked. This wasn’t what he expected to hear, but Kohl found himself intrigued. “Bruce, there is nothing you have that I would want that bad.”

“How about I give you your man back?”

Kohl cocked his head. “My what?”

That’s kind of what we have here.

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Both he and James had been given jobs on work crews. Bruce’s settlement, Shade’s Rest, had been working hard at turning a relic from the past into hope for the future. The hard work, along with the ability to get a decent meal, made an immediate difference in Essem’s mood. He was actually enjoying what was going on here, and what he was doing. For the first time in weeks, Essem was relaxed, even though it was just a bit.

James was another matter. Essem noted that he worked hard, but when the two would sit down together at night, James didn’t have much to say, and what he did say was never positive. Essem wasn’t sure what he was looking for to be different this time though. Every village or settlement the two had found themselves in over the years, James had acted the same – indifferent.

Runner and Maple were earning their keep as well. Runner’s age and size meant she was assigned to simple cleaning crews, much like the other children. She took care of clearing and moving rubble and debris. Essem noted that she didn’t seem to mind the work that much. He thought it odd for a kid. He hated doing work when he was young.

Maple was another matter. She’d been assigned to the kitchen and he realized that Runner was right; Maple was a good cook. The strange thing Essem noticed was that Maple didn’t seem happy. He couldn’t understand this. She was free. Tim was no threat to her and she’d even been able to get paid in some supplies for whenever they were going to get back on the trail. When he’d had a chance to talk to Maple about all of this, her response was simply, “I was stuck there, and now I’m stuck here. One prison to the next if you ask me.”

Essem put his tools down and grabbed a drink of water from his canteen. He felt it was time to catch some air, so he announced his break to the other people in his crew, and stepped outside.

The air was crisp and put a good bite to his skin. The sun was high in the sky and it gave a nice warm contrast to the chilly air. Essem made his way around the settlement. He had to admit they’d done a good job of securing it. The wall that had existed already had been reinforced where needed or rebuilt where necessary. The guard posts were secure and the approach to the settlement had been well-cleared and some decent defenses erected. The interior needed a lot of work, but Essem agreed with the priorities. You can’t have much of a settlement if you don’t have some way of protecting it.

Essem rounded a corner that brought him to the central square. A number of people made their way back and forth through this area, but Essem sought out one person in particular.

Tim sat chained to a series of heavy blocks in the shade of a tree. He flicked at the worn and wilted grass around the base of the tree, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. He only looked up when Essem stood right next to him.

“And what do you want, friend?”

Essem looked at the strength of the shackles on his ankles and the length of the chain. “I just came to see how you are doing.”

Tim looked back down at the grass. “I doubt it. You just came here to make sure I was still stuck. Don’t tell me you suddenly had a change of heart.”

“No.” Essem wasn’t sure what else to say.

Tim looked back up. “Unless you’ve come to tell me that my situation has changed. That’s what it is, isn’t it?”

Essem didn’t answer. He stared at Tim a bit longer, then turned and continued walking.

“Seriously? You’re just going to walk away? You just came here to gloat?” Tim scoffed. “I bet you don’t even know what ‘gloat’ means do you? You’re just some idiot road hagger.”

Essem stopped but didn’t turn around. He stood there reviewing the words. He had to admit he wasn’t completely sure he knew what ‘gloat’ meant. Essem never thought of himself as stupid. There was a lot he knew and a number of skills he had. He’d never felt stupid, but something in the way Tim spoke to him always made him angry. Always made him feel like he wanted to hit something.

Essem turned. He walked back up to the chained ganger. “You know that one way or another, you’re going to die, right?”

Now it was Tim’s turn to stare back, unresponsive.

“If Bruce and the rest of the settlement decide to serve justice or if we do. It’s going to be the end for you.”

“The end for me?” Tim shook his head. “No, I don’t think so, friend. These people won’t do it. They don’t believe you, and they’re not killers.” Tim raised his nose toward Essem. “And you? You and your old man are killers, but only when you need to; when you have to. Maple sure as hell won’t do it. She gets mad enough all right, but when the kill is helpless right in front of her, she melts like sugared ice on a cake.”

Essem could feel his anger start to rise. He was beginning to question ever coming and talking to Tim. He wasn’t even sure why he was doing it in the first place. He wanted to lash out and hit him, but he held back. He could hear his father’s voice in his head. ‘Don’t do it. It’s what he wants you to do.’

Tim could see that Essem was clenching his fists. “Am I making you mad, friend? It’s kind of funny that I’m the prisoner, but you seem to be the one restraining yourself.” He chuckled at his own joke.

Essem felt his father’s restraining words vanish in a wave of rage. Essem’s fist lashed out striking Tim hard on the side of his face. The ganger sprawled to the ground. Essem felt the rush adrenaline surge as he leapt on top of Tim, straddling him. He rained several more blows down on the man. “You’re worthless!”

Essem couldn’t tell if the ganger was groaning or laughing, but the clanging of a bell stopped Essem’s assault cold. His eyes darted around for the source, but Essem couldn’t find it. Instead, he saw people running back and forth, many with worried looks on their faces.

Essem got up off of Tim, reached out, and stopped one of the residents as he ran by carrying a bow and a makeshift quiver of arrows. “What the hell is going on?”

The resident panted as he looked Essem up and down. “There’s a big gang approaching the gate. Everyone is getting into position.” He pushed Essem’s hand away and resumed his hurried pace. Essem looked down at Tim. There was no doubt now. The ganger was laughing.

Tim spit blood from his mouth. “I bet you it’s the Rotars. Maybe I’m not worthless after all.”

The small bit of Shade’s Rest that Essem had been able to see since they got inside the gate told him that this settlement had to have been less than a year old. There was still plenty of work to be done. The majority of the people he saw were still living in tents, yet there were plenty of houses and other structures around.

“They’re probably not cleaned out or are in need of repair,” he told Runner.

She nodded. “We never lived in houses with the Rotars. We always were in tents or in a thing with a slanted roof.”

“A lean-to,” Essem answered.

“A what?”

“Lean-to. It’s a shelter where there is only a one-sided roof.”

Runner nodded again. “I think I lived in a house when I was younger. I don’t remember for sure. I remember something with rooms and walls. But that was before we joined the Rotars.”

Essem poked at the fire with his stick. “When did you and your sister join the Rotars?”

Runner turned to look at him. “Maple’s not my sister.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t have a sister. Or a mom or a dad. They all died a few years ago. That’s what I was told anyway.”

Essem paused, letting his gaze sink into the crackling flames. “You don’t remember them at all?”

Runner just shook her head.

A trio of residents from Shade’s Rest strode by, keeping their eyes on the pair the entire time. Essem stared back, his face expressionless.

“They keep staring at us.” Runner mumbled.

“I know.”

“Why are they doing that? Is there something wrong with us?”

Essem shook his head. “No. I don’t think they get a lot of visitors.”

Runner chewed on that thought for a moment. “They shouldn’t do that. They can at least say ‘hi.’ Maple says that sometimes people aren’t very nice though.”

Essem nodded. “My dad says that too.”

*  *  *

James watched as Bruce paced around the room. He could tell the leader of this settlement wasn’t very happy with the situation James was putting him in. At first, Bruce didn’t buy their story, or that Tim was their captive. He seemed suspicious and suspected that Tim was just a plant or something other than what was being claimed. He only started to soften his stance when Maple broke down in tears over what she had gone through and shown Bruce the bruises.

Though he had softened, he still wasn’t one hundred percent on board with the idea of taking in a prisoner.

Bruce turned toward Maple. “I’m not saying he didn’t hurt you, or at least not guilty of something, but that’s the problem… I don’t know. He didn’t commit a crime on our lands. We’re not in the business of taking in other’s prisoners.”

Maple started to protest, but James held up a hand to cut her off. “No, you’re right. I can’t ask you to dispense justice when you’ve got no reason to.” James stood and moved to the door. “He’s our problem and we’ll deal with him. Let’s go, Maple.” James placed a hand on the knob then was struck with a thought. He turned back toward Bruce.

“You know if we take him out of your settlement, we’ll just end up killing him, right?”

Bruce nodded. “I know how road justice works.”

“True. But what if he had some value to you?”

Bruce shook his head. “No. I’m sure he’d put in a good day’s work, but I’d need at least one man to guard him, so it’d be a wash.”

“I wasn’t thinking about him being a laborer.” James stepped forward. “What if you traded him back to his gang?”

Maple shot James a glare. “You can’t be serious!”

“I’m not partial to killing if I don’t have to. Frankly, I’m not partial to it at all.” He looked at Maple. “And with all due respect, miss, I know you’re angry, but I don’t think you have it in you. You’ve never killed before have you?”

Maple met his gaze with a glare, but its strength quickly faded. She lowered her head.

James turned back to Bruce. “How about it? Gangers always need their people. If you traded him back, you’d probably stay on their good side. At least for a while.”

Bruce weighed the options. James could tell he was making sense, but he wasn’t sure if Bruce wanted to play that game. “If I traded him away, you know they’d be asking about you.”

James nodded. “I know. But I don’t plan to stay long. By the time this all goes down, my son and I would be long gone.”

Maple looked at him. “What about me and Runner?”

James didn’t answer her.

Bruce shook his head. “It’s tempting. He could be worth a lot, but I’m afraid the answer is ‘no.’ It’s just too risky. Better to wash my hands of all of you now.”

James sighed. “Fair enough.” He was angry. He didn’t like the idea of even more baggage to watch out for on the trail. He could tell that this subject was closed. It was time to change things. “I noticed on the way in, that you’re still in need of plenty of work here. My son and I can do carpentry. We’d be more than happy to work our keep, meals and some supplies over the next few days if you’d agree to it.”

Bruce nodded. “I’ll give you a day to prove yourselves then barter for the next three. We’ll see where we’re at then. What about your captive?”

James looked at Maple. Her face was a mixture of anger, confusion and sadness. “We’ll cover half of his fee to keep him locked up. She can cover the other half.”

Bruce looked toward Maple. “Agreed. And what can you do?”

Maple looked toward James, then toward Bruce. She sighed. “Where’s your kitchen?”

“The kid,” answered a voice.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, the kid. She charged out from behind a bush or something. She was so small I didn’t even see her. She ran at Tim with a stick. Tim tried to catch her, but that’s when Maple broke free. Then the shooting started.”

“Shooting. Did anyone get hit?”

Alex nodded again. “The old guy. But it didn’t look too bad. He was up and walking around.”

Alex lifted his eyes and watched as the man across from him stood. He was just under two meters tall, and though he bore a somewhat scrawny appearance, Alex knew better. Kohl was the leader of the Rotars for a reason. His close-cropped hair sat atop an intimidating face. Alex also knew that Kohl was a rough and dirty fighter. His leathers and the machete sheathed at his side only backed up that reputation. Alex swallowed nervously as Kohl approached.

“So, Dan got shot because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut in front of some old guy with a gun. Tim got distracted by a kid and beat by a woman.” Alex opened his mouth to correct Kohl’s assessment but quickly thought better of it. “And you got away.” Kohl chuckled. “Alex, sounds like you made the best choices of anyone there.”

Alex was surprised. He hadn’t expected that reaction from Kohl. The last man to have failed Kohl ended up having his hands cut off. Kohl made the sickening comment about people coming back “empty handed” after that incident. That fear had started to build in Alex before Kohl made his comment. Alex stammered his reply. “Uh, th-thanks, Kohl.”

Kohl placed a hand on each of Alex’s shoulders. “Oh, don’t think for one minute I’m happy with this. I’ve got one dead soldier, an officer that’s been captured, and two missing workers.” He squeezed Alex’s shoulders harder. “This isn’t good, Alex. This is the third disappearance this month, and the second where my men have come back with nothing to show for it.” Kohl squeezed even more and leaned in closer to Alex’s face.

“What are people going to start thinking if they see that they can make a break for it and get away with it? Where will that leave us?”

Alex started to answer, but Kohl cut him off before he could begin. “Not in a good place. And that’s what it’s about here. That’s why the Rotars have been successful and been able to survive as long as we have. Everyone knows their place.” Kohl sighed. “Or at least they did. And now because I’m losing men, some of the others might get the idea that we’re weak.” Kohl began to rock Alex back and forth slowly, matching the cadence and emphasis of each word. “And that is something we cannot have, Alex. We can’t.”

Kohl released the man from his grip and started to move toward the exit of his tent. “They need to be reminded of who is in charge, and why it’s important that they stay.” Kohl flipped the flap to the side and stepped out. Alex hurried after him.

By the time he caught up, Kohl had already gotten his other officers and soldiers to gather up the entire camp. Kohl made his way to the camp center.

The Rotars’ camp was circular in design, with a central square for meetings and other large gatherings. The worker’s tents, along with any livestock and other structures encircled the square, while Kohl and his soldiers kept their lodgings, as well as the food stores around the workers. All the camp’s vehicles formed the final defensive perimeter keeping intruders out and everyone else in.

Slowly, the workers filtered in. Alex watched their faces as they started to bunch up in the center square. Most seemed understandably nervous. Alex expected that. Kohl rarely called for such gatherings unless he planned to have the camp uproot, or make an example of someone.

Alex knew there were no plans to go anywhere.

Finally, everyone had gathered. Kohl had fetched himself a crate and jumped up on it. He raised his hands to quiet the few murmurs that remained.

“I want to apologize first to you all for interrupting your workday. I know you’re all working very hard, and I wanted to say, ‘Thank You.’ I think I don’t say that often enough.”

Alex studied their faces. He could see some expressions stay just as nervous. Others softened a bit while some of the others gave a glimpse of skeptcism. One group started to shift a bit, their ankle shackles clinking loud in the breeze.

Kohl continued. “But then again, I find myself asking the question, ‘why?’ Why do I need to thank you at all? I mean, from where I stand, we all seem to understand the arrangement we have here. Your job is to work for the betterment of the camp, while my job and that of my men is to keep the camp safe. We protect you.” Kohl began to raise his voice. “And just a few days ago, our protection was repaid how? One of your group ran away, taking another with her. She did not respect the arrangement. She thought it was unfair. She was unhappy here!”

Alex continued to scan the crowd. Many of the faces were starting to look to the ground, doing whatever they could to avoid eye contact. He was beginning to wonder himself where Kohl was going with this.

Kohl lowered his voice a bit. “And to be honest, this hurts me. These are not easy times we live in. Some of you were born before the Fall, but most of us here were not. We’ve known nothing but this hard life we live. We’ve tried to make things easier, but it’s never really happened. This is the life we know. This arrangement is what works for us. This arrangement keeps us alive!” Kohl pointed toward the workers. “And when some of you decide you’ve had enough, and leave, that ends up hurting everyone else left behind. I had to commit several men to try and find this runaway, and they couldn’t do it. But that’s not the point. While they were gone looking for her, what would have happened to all of us if we’d been attacked?” Kohl threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

“It wouldn’t have been pretty, that’s for sure. And it would have been her fault. She would have effectively signed your death warrants.” Kohl brought his tone lower. “And that’s selfish. Something that just shouldn’t exist today.”

Kohl jumped down off the crate. “But all this has made me think. Made me think that if there are more of you that don’t want to be part of what we’ve built here, then we don’t want you here. And I don’t want to waste resources going after you. So I want to know now. If there is anyone who wants to go, you are free to do so. I promise you we will not come after you.”

Alex felt a twinge in his stomach. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was Kohl serious? He never would have done something like this a month ago. Alex watched the crowd of workers. None seemed willing to move.

Kohl urged them on. “Yes, I’m serious. If you want to leave, now is your one and only chance.”

A group of three men broke from the group and raised their hands. “We would like to go.”

Kohl nodded. “Are you sure?”

All three men nodded.

Kohl signaled to one of his men to loosen the shackles. They hesitated at first, but quickly complied when Kohl gave a second gesture. The chains fell to the ground and the men looked up at Kohl.

“Go.” Kohl encouraged.

The men started to leave the circle.

“Now,” Kohl began.

Alex went on alert. Here it comes.

The Rotars’ leader continued as the men slowed their pace. “Now that you are leaving the camp, this means you are no longer a part of this camp. You’ve left the protection of the Rotars. You’ve left my protection. You are out on your own. And now you’re competing for the same resources we are. In my eyes, that makes you my enemy.“

Alex watched as Kohl drew his pistol and shot the lead man. The gun blast echoed loudly and nearly everyone jumped, including Alex. The slug struck the man in the neck, and he fell lifeless to the ground.

The other two men stopped and turned toward Kohl. Slowly they raised their hands in surrender.

Kohl regarded them with a strange look. “Is there something you want? We don’t know you. You’re a stranger to our camp. Your friend there proved to be our enemy. I should regard the two of you the same way.” Kohl paused, and lowered his gun slowly. “Unless you’d like to join our camp and be part of our mutual survival.”

Both men looked at the Rotars’ leader and nodded their heads.

Kohl smiled, and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. “Well then, welcome to our camp!”

Now it had become a new home for him and his followers.

Followers. Watch it, Bruce. They follow you by choice, not by command. He corrected himself. Citizens. That’s better. Bruce was their leader, but chosen by vote, not by anything else. Bruce felt he’d served everyone well enough, but he always had doubts. This group had moved. A lot. Too many times for Bruce’s tastes.

Now, on this once overgrown street, they’d found a new place to stake their claim. Bruce hoped it would be the last time they would ever have to move.

A voice off the side of the street brought the man out of his thoughts, and he turned toward it. A woman emerged from her home. She was in her forties, like Bruce. She strolled across the lawn toward him. He smiled.

“Good afternoon, Linda. How’s the house coming?”

Linda looked back at the structure. The exterior wasn’t much to look at. Though all the weeds and overgrowth had been cleared, the siding was still dirt covered and fraying. The windows and door frames showed obvious signs of work. “It doesn’t look like it on the outside, but the inside is finally shaping up. The rot in all the rooms has been fixed, and the living rooms had all the holes patched, and we’ve made access for a fireplace. There’s still some issues with the basement, but if we can get a decent ration from the next supply mission, we should be able to fix that.” She smiled devilishly at Bruce.

Bruce held up his hands and feigned innocence. “Hey, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just the leader here. You have to talk to Fred about supplies. He’s in charge there.”

Linda gently punched his arm. “Aw, c’mon! What good is it to have your brother in charge of this entire town, if you can’t get a favor or two?”

Bruce mockingly rubbed his arm as he looked at the house. “How many families are staying in this one?”

Linda’s tone turned all business. “We’ll have three. One for each room. Once we get the basement repaired, we can house one more.”

Bruce looked down the block at the other houses. He could tell immediately that the neighboring house was a complete loss, but the others looked viable. “What’s the status on these structures?”

“They’re coming along, but this one here is the best on the block.”

Bruce crunched some numbers in his head. “Well, you’re actually doing better than some of the other blocks, save for Alpha. But they’re ready to have the last of their tents moved to their final spots.” Bruce sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. But you’re the Block Boss, you need to make your case for your share of supplies.” Bruce looked further down the road and at the house beyond repair. “You’ve still got some messy street here, and this house could be torn down and turned into a garden. Why haven’t you scavenged supplies from that yet?”

Linda pointed toward the roof. “It’s actually the tallest house on the block. The interior is trashed, yes, but the vantage points from that height for snipers are too good to pass up.”

Bruce exhaled through his teeth. He didn’t like to think about those kinds of things, but he knew Linda was right. He studied the house closely. “Makes sense. Make sure you add to your list a few traps on the inside of the building so we don’t leave the sniper undefended. Might also be worth it to build a bridge between it and another house.”

Linda nodded. “You got it, Mister Mayor. I’ll get that stuff pulled out of my ass right away,” she mocked.

Bruce smiled back. “You don’t need to be the Block Boss you know. There are still some outhouses that need digging.”

Linda was about to respond when they both noticed someone come charging up the street. He was headed directly toward the pair. He slowed and stopped in front of them, huffing.

“Catch your breath, Kim. What’s going on?”

Kim heaved a few more times, spitting out words between each breath. “Visitors… they… have… a prisoner. They want… to leave him… here.”

Bruce looked at Linda, took off his wide-brimmed hat and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Well this is new. Let’s go have a look. Are they still outside the gate?”

Kim nodded.

*  *  *

Bruce climbed up the ladder and stepped up on the platform that ran around the length of the wall. He peered over the edge at the group of five below. He quickly saw that one of them was bound, and was being carefully watched by a woman with a spear.

“What’s your business?” Bruce shouted down.

The older man answered. “Hello there. We’re looking for shelter for a few days, and we have a prisoner we were hoping you could take off our hands.”

“A prisoner? From where? And what has he done?”

“He and his men were trying to capture these girls, to take them back to their camp. We intervened.”

Bruce cocked his head. “How do you know they aren’t the criminals? Maybe that man and his men are the law from their camp.” Bruce watched as the bound man turned back toward the woman and said something. She responded by a quick slap to his face with her shaft from her spear. The younger of the two men moved quickly to stop the situation from escalating.

The older man continued to speak, gesturing toward the younger girl. “She’s not much younger than twelve. I doubt there’s anything they could steal or any serious crime she could have done.“

“I dunno, old man. The other one seems more than ready to use her spear.” That comment brought chuckles from the guards stationed along the wall. “What happened to the men he was with?”

“One escaped, and the other was killed,” the older man answered flatly.

Bruce took his hat off, and leaned on the wall, in between the spikes at the top of each post. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll let you in, and you can secure him, but I’ll have to think about your request.”

The older man’s shoulders sunk. “Fair enough.”

“Are you armed?”

He nodded.

“We don’t take kindly to weapons here. You’ll have to check them in.”

The man nodded again.

Bruce signaled for the gate to be opened. “Welcome to Shade’s Rest, my friends.”

Pickles. She’d had one only once when she was younger. All she remembered was the salty, tangy taste. She carefully pried the lever on the back of the canister forward, and heard the slight air ‘pop’ as the seal broke. She took the top off and stuffed it in the bag she had tied around her waist. The emerald juice in the canister sloshed back and forth, causing the four pickles inside to swirl in a slow motion dance. Wiping her hand on her pants one last time to clear away any remaining dirt, she thrust her hand in and grasped the topmost one.

The crunch, salt and tang filled her mouth and she felt her lips purse a bit as she gleefully chewed the vegetable, adding more bites along the way.

“How are they?” Essem asked her as he walked along by her side.

Runner mumbled something in reply, but she could tell by Essem’s expression that he had no idea what she had said. She swallowed the last bits of pickle in her mouth. “They are so good,” she repeated, as her hand fished inside the jar for another.

“Make sure you drink the juice after you eat them all.” Essem pointed toward the jar.

Runner looked at the green liquid. “Really? Why?”

“Because it’s good. That’s why.”

Runner scrunched up her face as she sniffed the glass. “But it smells so sour.”

Essem shrugged. “Well if you don’t want it, I’ll take it.”

Runner nodded as she bit into another pickle. The sun broke through the clouds above and its warm beams caressed her face, warming it instantly. Between the warmth and the pickles, she felt a smile break across her face.

From what Runner could tell, the deals they made with the trader Barris had gone well. She certainly was happy. A jar of pickles just for herself. The only thing that would have made it better would have been some eggs, or maybe some pig. She noted that James was happy. He’d gotten some more bullets and some food. All of the stuff they’d gotten had come from the boots and other items taken from Dan, the guy James had shot and Essem had “salvaged.” She was beginning to understand how this all worked.

Now they were on their way to the settlement Barris spoke about. They’d been walking toward it all day, and Runner had been told they would be there before the sun went down. Barris said there were quite a few people there, and that they might be able to do something with Tim. This made James happy.

Runner turned and looked at Tim. He was being pulled along by Essem once again, with Maple right behind. His face didn’t look happy. He seemed to be walking along with no real expression on his face at all. Runner slowed herself down and pulled alongside Tim. He didn’t seem to pay any attention to her.

“We’re almost to the settlement.”

No response.

“Are you worried about what will happen when we get there?” Runner looked at Tim.

Still no response.

“What do you think will happen to you once we get there?”

Tim continued to look ahead. “They’ll probably hang me.”

Runner saw Tim jump as Maple poked him in the back with her makeshift spear. “Don’t talk to her like that,” she barked.

Tim looked back at her. “You want me to lie about it, sweetheart?”

Maple lifted her spear to threaten him again, but Runner interjected. “Would they do that because you hurt Maple?”

Tim looked at her and shook his head, then gestured with it toward Maple. “No. They’ll do it because she’s going to tell them about what life is like in our camp. She’s going to cry, and say all kinds of things. Then she’ll point at you and say that she res–AHHHH!” Maple’s spear cracked the side of Tim’s head, cutting off his sentence.

“That’s enough.” Maple looked at Runner and jerked her thumb backward. “Runner, get away from him.”

She complied, watching Tim the whole time. He turned his gaze away and continued marching forward. Runner looked at Maple. “Is that true? Is that what you’re going to say?”

Maple didn’t answer, keeping her eyes locked on the road ahead.

Runner pressed again. “I know they were bad, Maple. I know the Rotars did bad things. But is that what is really going to happen?”

Maple looked down at the younger girl. She stared at her for some time, saying nothing. Runner stared back, trying to puzzle out the look on Maple’s face. Maple glanced toward Tim, then back to Runner. Her expression softened slightly. “I don’t know. But I know that it’ll be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

Runner smiled. She knew that was what Maple would say when she didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t really worried about anything. Her excitement over seeing another settlement overshadowed any sort of fear she might have been feeling. Still, she couldn’t stop wondering what was going to happen to Tim.

She dropped back away from Maple toward the end of their line and fell in step with James. The older man smiled at her, his dark-toned skin lighting up from the grin on his face.

“How are the pickles?”

“They’re good. Thank you.”

James patted her shoulder. “I’d say you earned it. I never told you, but you were pretty brave back there in the woods, when you charged in to save Maple.”

Runner shrugged. “I didn’t want to see her get hurt.”

James nodded. “I understand.” His toned turned flat and all happiness left his voice. “But don’t ever do it again. You were one lucky little girl. Brave yes, but also lucky. You may not be so lucky next time. I would hate to see you dead.”

Runner swallowed hard, and she felt her face get very warm. She felt bad that James was upset with her, so she simply nodded.

She said nothing for the next hour as they continued to walk. Finally, the shame she felt had passed enough for her to speak up. “What is going to to happen to Tim?”

James looked at her, then toward the ganger. “Well, I don’t know.” He sighed. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough though. Take a look.” James pointed toward the horizon.

Runner followed the line from his finger. In the distance, she could see the black dots that were shaping into buildings and smoke rising into the sky that she knew were from campfires.

They’d made it.

“I said we don’t bite. However, if you decide you want to use that weapon, then we might have to shoot you and the rest of your little group.”

Essem looked around. He didn’t even think that there might be snipers hiding out.I can’t even see where they are, but they can’t be too far away.

The man spoke again. “Really, man. It would do you some good to just stand up. It will make my men feel better, and make me feel better, and maybe, eventually make you feel better.”

“How can I trust you?” Essem shot back as he crept forward to find the source of the voice.

“Well, naturally you can’t, but I wouldn’t be much of a trader if I wasn’t a little trustworthy. Look at it this way: if I wanted to kill you, I could have already.”

A thought triggered in Essem’s head. There’s no snipers out there. “You’re bluffing.”

The man’s tone changed, turning much more serious. “I don’t bluff. Not on this.” Essem saw the man stand. He was seated next to the transport, concealed by a tarp that blended near perfect with the surrounding grass and scrub. The man opened his arms wide, and brought his tone back to the more pleasant sound. “Will this make you feel better? I’m taking the first step here. Now, how about you follow suit? We might have lots to talk about. Or even trade.”

Essem could feel his heart pounding. Is this how Dad feels when he takes the lead? He took one deep breath and got to his feet, keeping his eyes trained on the man the entire time. Though he held it low, Essem kept his father’s shotgun trained on the man.

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it? I don’t have a weapon drawn. You want to lower that shooter?”

Essem turned back toward his father and the rest of the group, then back toward the man. He slowly lowered the shotgun. The man smiled in return and began to move toward him.

“Good! My name is Barney, but you can call me Barris if you like. Most people do.” Barris stood about the same height as Essem. He appeared lean except for the bulge showing around his waist. His dirty blonde hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail. He wore rugged clothes, but Essem could tell they were better made than what he wore. As he came out of the ditch, Essem could see that he was armed, a holstered pistol on his left thigh. He smiled again at Essem as he extended his hand. “How about a proper greeting now?”

Essem was slow to react, but stuck out his hand and shook Barris’. Now able to get a close look at the man’s face, he could see a small earpiece with a connecting microphone running along his right cheek.

Barris caught the look and tapped the small headset. “Told you I don’t bluff about that.” Barris looked past Essem and waved toward James and the rest. “Why don’t you call the rest of your group over? It’ll be dark soon. We should camp together.”

Essem turned hesitantly, but waved his father in.

*  *  *

James knelt down by the stream flowing through the culvert. The water babbled quickly past. Methodically he removed his bandages followed by his jacket and multiple shirts he wore. The chill of the night’s air wrapped around his exposed skin, bringing forth goose bumps all over his body.

Carefully, James scooped up water in a cupped hand and splashed it gently over his wound. It still seeped red from blood and the water made crimson rivulets that ran down his arm. The water was colder than the air and James hissed at the chill. He continued to splash at the wound, doing his best to rinse it clean. Eventually he leaned down and placed his shoulder in the water. It wasn’t the most comfortable pose, but the coolness of the running water made quick and better work than what his hands were able to do.

“That’s a nasty would you have there, sir.” Barris spoke, looking toward James. “Were you shot?”

James nodded. “Grazed. I’ll be fine.”

Barris chuckled. “Fine he says. You were shot and you walked away. That’s more than fine in my book.” He gestured toward Tim. “Did this one do it to you?”

James nodded again.

“And you let him live?” Barris scoffed as he looked toward Tim. “He’s done you a great favor, sir. You’d best respect that.”

“I wouldn’t have let him live.” Maple spoke flatly as she stared into the crackling fire that rested in the center of where all of them, save James sat.

Barris nodded toward Maple. “I take it he’s hurt you in some way?”

Maple was about to answer but James cut her off. “It’s not important. He’s our prisoner now.”

“But what do you plan to do with him? Surely you can’t take him with you forever.”

James stood. Taking his inner shirt, he gently dabbed the wound. “We don’t plan to. We’ll find the nearest settlement and have them deal with him.”

Barris nodded, and slowly rubbed his chin. “They might. We just came from one.”

Runner’s head perked up. “Another settlement? Where?”

Barris gestured over his shoulder. “Back that way. Probably take you almost a day to reach it.”

James could see Runner’s eyes light up. He looked back at Barris. The man was starting to ask too many questions for James’ taste. The last thing he wanted was any more attention. Attention bred strange stories that would be told to others. Others who still might be looking for some runaways. Time to get this merchant’s mind elsewhere.

“So you’re a trader. Well, what have you got to trade?”

Barris turned his attention toward James. A smile spread across his face. The firelight revealed a mouth with both missing and gold covered teeth.

“Let’s take a look, shall we?”

James looked at his son. He was walking lead with Runner by his side. Essem carried a length of rope in his hand, pulling the ganger Tim behind. Maple walked behind them, a makeshift spear in her hands. She made sure Tim kept moving and kept his mouth shut. James figured she’d be perfect for that job. He was right. Anytime Tim spoke up, a poke to the back or a good tap on the side of his head made him stop right quick.

James brought up the rear. He carried a full satchel over his shoulder. After capturing Tim and an unsuccessful search of the area for the other ganger, Alex, the group made their way back to James and Essem’s camp. There Essem completed his salvage of the dead ganger. Boots, clothes, a few bits of food and a decent knife was about all he carried. James was a little surprised that no one asked about burial for the dead ganger. So it was James that had brought it up.

“I suppose we should bury him.”

“Why?” Maple had spoken in a lifeless tone.

James looked at her. “Because he’s dead.”

Maple met his gaze then shot a glare toward Tim. “Burial is for those with souls.” After that, she walked away from the scene and sat by a tree, waiting.

James looked over at Runner, who was standing next to Essem. Runner spokesoftly before pointing at the dead body. “Maple said that Dan hit her a lot. More than Tim or Alex did.”

Essem shrugged and pulled out his spade. He set about scooping several shovelfuls of dirt on the body. James watched for a bit then made his way over to the tree they had tied Tim to. Tim looked at Essem’s efforts, then toward James. “Thanks, old man.” He spoke with no emotion.

James looked toward Maple, then back toward Tim. “You can thank me if you survive the night.” He then looked back toward the burial scene. “Personally, I think he made out better than you will.”

It was about eight hours later, and the group found some fortune in the form of what appeared to be a well traveled road. This road, another relic from the Time Before, looked like it was probably used as a main artery between settlements. Essem knew they shouldn’t be traveling directly on any roads. His father hated the idea, but with an injury and a prisoner, hiking parallel to any traffic route was going to be too difficult to manage. Plus Essem had argued that their chances of coming across any other road travelers, or even another settlement would be much better. James had reluctantly agreed with him.

Essem scanned the horizon as he plodded along, Runner at his side. He didn’t mind the girl being next to him so much, but he did find that her questions were becoming a bit irritating. It didn’t take him long to figure out that she had never been beyond the borders of whatever gang or camp she’d been kept in. Most of her questions were about him and James and where they’d been and what they’d seen. He did his best to answer at first, but as the hours wore on, his responses grew shorter.

“So,” Runner began, looking back to James. “Why did you take all Dan’s stuff?”

Essem wassurprised by this question. He thought for a moment. “Salvage.”

“What’s salvage?”

“Dad also calls it money. It used to be different when Dad was a kid, but now when you want something, you trade for it. We could get food or ammo for those boots and clothes.”

Runner scrunched up her mouth, thinking. “So does that mean you kill a lot of people to take their stuff?”

Essem smiled and shook his head. “No. Sometimes we find things that we can trade, and when we have time, we’ll do work for things or make things to trade.”

Runner looked at him eagerly. “What do you make?”

“Dad can build things out of wood. I can too, but I’m better at making fishing nets.”

Runner held out her arm. “I can make things too. Maple taught me how to craft bracelets and baskets. She knows how to do that. She can also cook food.”

“Everyone knows how to cook food.”

“Not like Maple. She’s really good.”

Essem nodded. The sun was getting low in the sky over his right shoulder and he knew they’d have to camp soon. Finding a place to safely camp was going to be tricky. The woods had thinned considerably, and the grass here wasn’t too high. A fire was likely out of the question. Still moving, Essem scrutinized the horizon. Then he cocked his head. What’s that? He held up an arm, stopping their convoy and making sure everyone stayed silent.

James slowly moved closer. “What is it, son?”

“I hear a stream. It’s got to be up ahead somewhere,” Essem whispered back. He turned and faced his father, looking at his injured shoulder. “Let me go check it out.”

James knew what his son really meant. There wasn’t going to be much argument this time. He extended his shotgun, and dug in his pocket, fishing out his last four shells. James looked him sternly in the eye. “This is it. Be careful.”

James took the group off of the road as Essem trotted forward. Keeping to the shoulder of the battered road, he moved closer to the sound he knew for sure was a stream.

Then he saw it.

A vehicle of some sort was down in the ditch, covered by a patchwork of grass. Essem looked around for signs of life. Seeing none, he crept ahead, his father’s shotgun leading the way. Essem dropped down and began to crawl slowly toward the vehicle. He was only a half dozen meters away at most. It didn’t look right to Essem. He could tell the vehicle had been put there recently, but he saw no one. He could hear the rushing water right next to the transport, but could see none of it. Must be by an overgrown culvert.

Essem crept forward a bit.

“There’s no need to be so paranoid. We don’t bite,” came a voice. 

“You’re pretty brave when you can’t be seen. Care to tell me who you are?” Tim glanced toward Alex, who was frantically scanning the woods for the source as well. He gestured with a tip of his head for the ganger to start making his way to a better position.

“I just want the girl,” came the shout back.

“She’s not yours to have. You’ve got no claim to her. Do yourself a favor and just back down. You’re just going to end up hurt, or dead. And for what? Someone you don’t even know? It’s not worth it, friend.”

“I’m not your friend.”

Tim laughed. “No, I guess you’re not.” Tim smiled and made a welcoming gesture with his free hand. “Tell you what. You could be if you wanted.” He looked toward Alex. The ganger was still moving, and searching. “Clearly you’re good in a fight. Not that Dan was much of a threat to anyone but himself. But you showed me that you’ve got the guts to kill. Or was that your partner?”

Tim waited for a response, but got none.

“Nothing to say to that, huh?” He looked again to Alex. His partner gave a curt nod of his head. Tim took the cue. Alex must have found him. “Fair enough.” He paused on the word. “Friend.” Tim started to move. “We’re going to go now. Like I said, do yourself a favor, and stay out of it. She’s ours. If you’ve got the young one, keep her. Or bring her back to our camp and trade her in for a bounty. You’re bound to get one.” Tim began to march Maple away from where Alex had indicated the voice was coming from.

The rock whizzed high over his head, but Tim knew it was meant for him. It was followed by a shout.

“Maple!”

Tim turned toward the sound. He saw the little girl, Runner charging toward him, a large stick in her hands. “Alex, get her!” he commanded.

Alex lunged for the girl, but he was a step too slow and his fingers slipped over the back of her shirt. Overextended, the man stumbled forward, struggling to keep his balance. Sonofabitch! Tim adjusted his stance to better intercept the charging girl. He loosened his grip on Maple’s hair.

She didn’t hesitate. Putting both hands on Tim’s chest, Maple pushed him away with a scream. Tim maintained his grip, but he felt Maple slip and begin to fall. He let go and she fell to the ground. Moving quickly, he stepped toward Runner. In his peripheral vision, he saw a shape emerge from the woods where he’d been watching. Then he noticed a second coming from the other side. Tim heard gunshots coming from one side, and also from Alex’s direction. He felt his control of the situation quickly fade away. He knew he had only one chance to get it back.

*  *  *

James flinched instinctively as he saw Alex and Essem trading pistol fire. Thankfully, Alex was a bad shot on the run. James wanted to chase the ganger down, but he had another, more immediate goal. He watched as Runner pulled back on the stick, ready to strike the other ganger. She seemed oblivious to the gunfire around her. That damn kid. It’s like Essem all over again. The makeshift staff hit the ganger ineffectually, not even breaking his stride. He scooped up the girl and turned toward James. Instinctively, he raised his shotgun.

The ganger fired first. James felt a hot sting tear into his shoulder. It was followed by a biting pain that made him stumble and drop his gun. He let out a shout in pain and clutched his shoulder. James turned his gaze back to the ganger and saw that he still had the gun pointed at him.

Maple leapt on to the ganger’s back, and began swinging and punching furiously. He wasn’t ready for the extra weight or momentum. He failed to stay upright and hit the ground. Maple continued to swing away at the man. James saw Runner squirm free from underneath. The ganger finally regained his composure and struck back at Maple, forcing her off. He made to get to his feet, but Essem was on him quickly. He pointed the pistol square in the ganger’s face.

“Hey, friend.“

The man’s efforts deflated, and relaxed his pose.

Then James saw Runner.

She had the man’s gun, and also had it pointed at him.

“Runner, no!” Maple shouted. “Put the gun down. We’ve got him. Tim can’t hurt us now.”

Runner was shaking. “But he was hurting you.”

James could see the fear in the ganger’s face. He wasn’t sure he was going to survive this. James slowly moved toward Runner.

“But he’s not hurting me anymore.” Maple moved toward the girl. “You saved me. You. Saved Me.”

James added in. “You did good, Runner. But now we need to put the gun down.” He stepped up right next to her and extended his hand. “Give me the gun, girl.”

Runner’s arms slowly lowered, and tears formed in her eyes. She dropped the pistol and ran toward Maple, crying. James scooped up the gun and looked at his son. “Get him tied up.”

*  *  *

Alex squinted to make out the details. He could see one of the men tying Tim up. He was binding his hands behind his back, and taking away all his weapons. He saw Maple looking at the older man’s shoulder. He knew there was no way he was going to be able to rescue Tim or get the girls back.

He hunched down in his hiding space. Kohl is going to be pissed.

James had left Essem back at their camp, telling him to scavenge what he could first off the dead man then catch up. James didn’t want to lose any good salvage, and he also wanted to keep Essem back far enough for James to get a good assessment of the situation before having to deal with Essem’s bullheadedness again. James could tell that these men, were more dangerous than the last group they had tangled with. Both were armed, and the only reason the other ran was because James had the drop on him but hesitated.

James heard a shout up ahead. He knew they were close. He stopped and hissed atthe girl. She hesitated. “Stop moving. We go slow from here.”

“Why? They’re right up there.” She pointed toward James’ shotgun. “You can get them. There’s only two of them.”

James shook his head. “We’ll get them. Don’t you worry about that. But we have to do it carefully.”

“But there’s only two of them!” Runner insisted.

“Do you know what they have?” James shook his gun. “The man I shot probably had a pistol, but I don’t know what the other two have. Do you?”

Runner hesitated. Her shoulders sank. “No.”

“Then we do it slow. Don’t worry, we’ll get your friend back.” James could hear Essem charging through the woods, rapidly approaching behind them. He let out a high whistle when he spied Essem and saw his son change course. Within moments, he was crouched down next to James and Runner.

“We need to work quickly. There’s only two, but I don’t know what they’re going to do or what they’re armed with.”

Essem jumped in, looking at Runner. “Did you see them have anything big like this?” he pointed toward his father’s gun. Runner shook her head.

James pointed past a group of trees. “I think they’re up there, just past that thick patch of trees on that rise. I don’t think they plan on sticking around very long, but we can cut them off. Circle around left, but keep your distance. They’re armed.”

Essem smiled as he held up a newly found pistol. “Yeah, but so am I.”

“But mine hurts more.” James made a gesture with his shotgun. He looked at Runner. “What is your name, girl?”

“Everybody just calls me Runner.”

Essem smiled. “Runner? What the hell kind of name is that?”

She looked back at him defiantly. “It’s mine.”

Essem chuckled as he stood up and started to move away. James watched him. “I’ll give you five minutes then I’m going in. Do not go in there yourself. You got damn lucky last time. This won’t be the same.”

Essem nodded then trotted off into the woods.

“Five minutes!? They’ll be gone by then.” Runner made to move.

James placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?” He applied more strength to keep her in place. She resisted at first then relaxed. “I’m going to guess that you and this Maple girl have escaped from somewhere, and that these three have been out looking for you, to bring both of you back. Since they don’t have you, I’m thinking they don’t want to go away very far. They’ll wait for us to come and rescue her. They’re going to hope to kill me and my son, so they can catch you and take you back.”

Runner studied him intently.

“So that’s why you need to stay here, Runner. Essem and I are going to get Maple. But you need to hide here, and wait for us to come back.”

James stood and started to move toward the thick patch of trees.

“It hasn’t been five minutes yet.”

James nodded. “I know.”

“Why did you tell him that, then?”

James smiled. “Because Essem is a lot like you. He likes to charge in without thinking. I need to get there before he does so he doesn’t get himself killed.”

Runner nodded. “Wait.”

James turned to face her again. “What?”

“You never told me your name.”

James smiled. “It’s James. Just James.”

*  *  *

James moved carefully through the trees. He was doing his best to stay quiet, but the branches and undergrowth were making that difficult. Thankfully there was enough aural cover from the birds and other wildlife to mask most of the noise.

At least that was what James was telling himself each time he snapped a twig.

He could hear voices up ahead. Two men and a woman. The woman was scared. And crying, most likely. James knew he was close, so he dropped down on his belly and slowly crawled to the base of a large pine.

Peering around, he saw them. Just as Runner had said, there were two men. The one who had fled stood watch, checking the trees, most likely looking for James or Essem. The other was arguing with the woman. She stoodhunched over. Her face was dirty and her clothes torn. He could see the dirt on her face was streaked, most likely from tears and a small trail of blood that ran from her nose and the corner of her mouth.

“You’re gonna call for her, and get her to come back here!” one of the men shouted.

The woman spat. “Go to hell!”

The man wasted no time and backhanded her. Her head snapped to the side and she spun to the ground.

James felt his hands tense around his shotgun. He wanted to spring into action, but that might just as quickly get the woman killed.

James started scanning the area around for Essem. He knew his son had to be there somewhere. He just needed to find him.

“Get up!” the man shouted.

The woman rolled a bit on the ground, struggling to get to her feet.

The man reached down and grab a handful of her hair and heaved her to her feet. She screamed and clutched at his hand.

James wasn’t sure what to do. From this distance, his shotgun wasn’t going to be effective to take one of them down. He couldn’t find Essem, and wasn’t sure if he was even in position yet.

“Now, let’s go! And you will call to her.” The man started to drag Maple by her hair towards where James was hiding. James slid back down. This could work. Just keep coming, you bastards.

Then the gunshot went off. And James heard another voice. It was Essem.

“You let her go, or you’ll be dead where you stand!”

Damnit.

This was not.

The shouts from behind her were mixed. She could hear Maple’s voice screaming at her to keep running and to not stop for anything. She could also hear the men, Dan, Tim and Alex. All were hollering. She couldn’t hear what they were saying. All she knew was that their voices sounded scary. And angry. That scared Runner the most.

Maple was close behind her, she could tell that. The men were further back, but catching up to Maple, despite the head start the two had gotten. Runner could feel herself pulling away, but couldn’t bring herself to look back to see. She was too scared.

“To the right!” Maple barked from behind, her breath heavy from sprinting. Runner looked. The trees grew thicker in that direction. She wasn’t sure why, maybe Maple wanted them to climb to freedom, or maybe find another hiding place. She didn’t take time to think. She just acted. A cut to the right and a small vault allowed her to clear a small patch of branches. She could hear Maple protest as she had to plow through the same patch. “Don’t stop!” Maple yelled.

The shouts from the men continued, but were getting muffled as the trees began to thicken. Runner had to slow as she ducked and jerked around the claws of branches that sprouted from the trees. Fear would only allow her to slow so much. She felt stings as some limbs scratched and cut across her face, arms and legs.

She heard Maple scream somewhere behind her. It didn’t sound good, and she choked out a cry of her own as she felt her eyes water up. Her legs continued to pound forward. She heard a deep grunt and another scream from Maple. “Runner!”

Panic overtook the young girl as the fear spiked inside of her. Her mind locked up and she felt her legs begin to move even faster. Her body, confused by the terror she felt, let out a scream and forced her to steal a look behind. Her eyes barely made out the detail of the trees before she felt something hard hit her foot. As she whipped her head back around, Runner culd tell it was caught, and she was forced to the ground with a rough thud.

Runner let out another cry as she hurridly freed her foot and scrambled up. Her right foot hurt. More shouts and the snapping of wood grew very close. Runner’s eyes focused behind her; her heart leapt as she saw Maple burst through the trees. Half of her shirt was ripped away. The fear returned like a punch to the gut as she saw all three men right behind Maple.

She didn’t wait.

She turned and ran. She ducked under branches and jumped over downed logs and stumps. The ground also tried to hide rocks that poked through the earth, causing her sprint to turn more into a strange dance at times.

Runner could hear the men’s shouts. She forced herself faster. The shouts faded just a bit.

Then she heard Maple scream again. This time she only heard her say, “NO!” Then nothing. Runner could feel her breathing speed up. Her head was getting hot, and her chest was starting to hurt. Her foot still ached, and she could tell it was slowing her down.

The shouts were getting closer, but Runner could tell there was one less voice. Someone had caught Maple. The tears started to return.

More sunlight began to hit her face. Runner could tell the woods were getting thinner. There would be no place to hide. She didn’t know what she would do now. Maple was gone. She always knew what to do. Runner had never been beyond the Rotars’ camp. She’d never been alone. A seed of anger sprouted inside her. She was mad at Maple for bringing her away from the camp. Why did she do that? Why did she take me away? I don’t want to get caught. They’ll hurt me!

Runner darted around a tree, ducking a bit to avoid a low branch. She thought she caught a glimpse of a person just beyond the trees, but she was moving too fast to be sure.

Then suddenly the ground vanished beneath her and she felt herself fall.

Runner hit the ground hard. When she stopped rolling, her eyes focused on the two men standing over her. One was young, and the other looked really old. Both looked surprised.

*  *  *

Essem looked down at the young girl, then to his father. James lifted his shotgun and pointed it toward the trees just above their camp.

“Here they come.”

Essem lifted his club and moved a bit to the left, around the body of the girl lying on the ground.

A pair of men broke through the trees, catching themselves before falling from the drop-off.

“That’s far enough.” James said flatly.

The men were gasping and sucking for air. They looked surprised and confused.

“What the hell is going on here?” Essem asked the men.

One of the men took a big breath and stood taller. James could tell he was trying to look tougher. To James’ eyes, his heavy breathing destroyed any attempts to make that happen. “Nothing of your concern. Best put down that gun, old man,” he barked toward James.

“Son, I’ve never bothered to take orders from wastes of space like yourself, and I don’t intend to start now.”

Essem saw the girl scramble to her feet. He moved like a flash toward her and caught her arm before she could get away. She struggled, but he held her fast.

The man shouted at Essem. “You let her go. She’s ours. We own her fair and square!”

“Own?” Essem cocked his head.

James poked the gun in the direction of the men. “I don’t think so. Nobody owns people.” His expression darkened. “I was going to ask your business with the girl, but I know all I need to now.” James gestured with his shotgun back toward the woods the men came from. “I think it’s time for you to get the hell out of here.”

The talking man reached behind his back.

James didn’t hesitate.

The shotgun blast caught the man square in the chest, knocking him back and to the ground. It echoed loudly around the trees.

The second man turned and raced back into the cover of the trees, his panicked sounds quickly fading away.

Essem turned and looked at the girl. She had tears in her eyes and looked terrified.

James approached her. “It’s okay, now. They won’t bother you again.”

The girl pointed toward where both she and the men had come from. She spoke through sobs and gasps. “Maple. We have to save Maple!”

In Maple’s mind, it was only a matter of time.

She couldn’t let them be found. They were too close to freedom.

Runner tugged nervously at Maple’s shirt. She whispered in panic, “Maple? What are we going to do?”

“Shhh,” Maple cautioned. “We can’t do anything yet. We have to wait until they go to sleep. If we try to get out now, we’ll make too much noise.”

“But they’re so close. They’re going to catch us.”

Maple shook her head, refusing to believe. “No. They won’t catch us. They won’t catch you. You’re too fast.” She stroked Runner’s dirty, matted hair. “Just stay still and stay quiet. I’ll tell you when we can go.”

Satisfied, Maple turned her gaze back toward the trio of men who had been chasing them down. It was too dark to recognize who was who, but she knew the names. Dan, Alex and Tim. Dan and Alex were idiots, thugs who did little more than follow orders and beat those who didn’t listen. Tim wasn’t like that though. He was smarter. He wasn’t the leader of the Rotars, the gang that had taken Maple captive, but he knew the leader and was one of his lieutenants. Tim was cruel. He’d beaten Maple many times in the past. He’d taken her when he wanted. But he wasn’t the only one. There were plenty in the Rotars Maple didn’t want to see again, or if she did, wanted to see them dead. Maple worried that if these three did find them, she might not even make it back to the Rotars’ camp. Tim might rape her then kill her right here in the woods.

One of the gangers moved away from the campsite, heading straight towards their hiding place. Maple’s eyes widened and her insides turned to ice. She placed a hand over Runner’s mouth as she felt the girl stir. “Shhhh.” she said as softly as possible, learning in towards Runner’s ear.

Maple could feel Runner squirm in fear as the man stopped just over two meters from where they crouched. Maple made her words deliberate and almost imperceptible. “If they find us, we’re in trouble. Just. Sit. Still.”

The man’s belt clinked as he undid it and dropped his pants. Maple watched in disgust as the man squatted down and let out a few grunts. A thought raced through her head about making a break for freedom at that moment, but she quickly dismissed it. Though this man was preoccupied, the other two wouldn’t be, and they’d be in quick pursuit. Maple suddenly found herself smiling over the situation. The ganger had come over here for some privacy, but was getting something else entirely. The smile was quickly replaced, when the man stood back up and buckled his belt. The odor of his business wafted through the clump of bushes hiding the pair. Maple felt Runner’s hands go over the one she held over the younger girl’s mouth, trying to block the scent. Maple followed suit, covering her own nose and mouth, but allowed herself a chuckle on the inside over what had just happened.

Maple gave a sigh of relief after the ganger made his way back to camp. If this area had become their impromptu latrine, that meant that they’d be steering clear unless they had to relieve themselves. The  odor was a steep cost to pay but Maple suddenly felt much safer.

It was clear Runner didn’t like the idea. In the fractured moonlight, Maple could see her fanning the air in front of her face. A few ‘shushes’ kept the younger girl in line. Maple now focused on making sure that her charge got some sleep, while she figured out when and how they were going to escape.

Maple figured their best chance at getting away from the Rotars’ camp was just before dawn. There would be enough light so they could avoid the natural hazards of the forest floor, but dark enough where they might get enough of a head start. Plus, at least two of them would still be sleeping.

Satisfied, she kept her eyes focused on the makeshift camp. Their fire crackled with warmth, something Maple certainly didn’t have. Even with Runner snuggled in close, the chill of the air passed through their threadbare clothes like it wasn’t even there. The shivering helped Maple in her fight to stay awake, but that, coupled with frequent head shaking, wasn’t enough. The fatigue and hunger from the past two days of running finally caught up with the young woman, and she drifted off.

Maple’s eyes snapped open with a start, and she let a small gasp escape her lips. Her stomach tightened with fear as her eyes darted around, desperate to catch her bearings.

She was still hunkered down in the cluster of bushes and shrubs. Runner was curled up tight against her side, and still asleep. Maple took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Then she remembered who she was hiding from.

And that the sun had already come up.

She looked over at the camp.

All three gangers were asleep. Someone fell asleep on their watch.

Maple felt herself begin to panic again. Their window of escape was wide open. They had to move and move now.

She placed a hand over Runner’s mouth,  nudged and whispered her awake.

“Wake up Runner. We have to go. We have to go now.”

The young girl let out a whimper as she stirred.

“Shhhh. Now listen to me, honey.” Maple glanced toward the camp. They all still slept. She looked back in the opposite direction. “You’re going to go first. Just ease out slowly. Try not to disturb too many branches. Once we’re out of these bushes we can run, understand?”

Runner nodded.

Maple gave her a gentle nudge to get her moving. Runner’s small frame started to twist and writhe as she did her best to escape the cover of the shrubs as quietly as possible. Maple kept close watch on the camp. It seemed to take forever for Runner to clear. The men in the camp stirred.

She looked back and saw that Runner was free. Maple’s body ached and protested as she moved to navigate the branches and brambles. Too many hours in the same pose made her sore and stiff. Each time she moved a hand or foot to a new place it sounded like she was breaking glass. Maple’s breathing quickened and she could feel her heart pounding hard in her chest.

Slowly, deliberately, she emerged out of the bushes. Joy shot through her body as she saw freedom once again in her grasp. She took a quick look at Runner and smiled. Runner didn’t return the look. Her eyes were transfixed behind Maple.

The joy vanished as Runner let out a scream.

“Yes, Runner. As long as we keep still, and quiet, they won’t find us here.” Maple  spoke with as much confidence as she could muster. She hoped this time it would make an impact on the girl. The dozen or more times she had asked previously hadn’t, but Maple hoped that at some point, if she kept saying it, Runner would believe it. Maple hugged her legs closer to her body. The night’s chill was beginning to set in. She could almost feel the bones in her thighs. Maple had always been thin, but the recent hard marching of the past few weeks, plus a distinct lack of food had taken their toll. She wasn’t emaciated by any means, but another week or two and she’d be there.

“Why won’t they just leave us alone? We got away from them, why can’t they accept that?” Runner sniffed as she wound her hair through fingers. The girl looked around at the shrubs and bushes that surrounded the pair. Beyond was nothing but the dark of night.

Maple laughed on the inside. She knew the real reason why, but she couldn’t explain that to Runner. She wouldn’t understand. Not yet anyway. Maple tried a different approach. “People don’t like to lose things that belong to them. Remember when you lost Clawford?”

Runner mumbled in the affirmative. She still missed that cat. Everyone thought the name was silly, but Runner had liked the play on the name ‘Clifford’ one of the elders had given the cat. And considering the way that animal would scratch everyone, it fit.

“You looked for him for days. You just couldn’t give up. He was your cat, and the thought of never finding him again drove you crazy, remember?”

Runner seemed to understand. “So the Rotars won’t stop looking because they own us?”

That brought up Maple’s anger . A scowl showed both disgust and rage at the gang that claimed ownership of the girls. “They don’t own us, no matter what they tell you. People do not own other people. That’s not the way it works.”

“But you said –”

Maple realized the flaw in her analogy. “Okay, it’s kind of like that. The Rotars think they own us, and so don’t want to lose us. They don’t want to do all the work that we do, so they want to find us and bring us back to do that work.”

Runner shrugged. “I never minded the work that much.”

Maple spit. “That’s because you’re still a kid.” She poked at Runner’s chest. “When you’re older, you won’t like it so much.” Maple could feel the pain but it was deep inside her. Rage and anger had long replaced any pain she felt over some of the jobs she’d been required to do.

“Is that why we left? You didn’t want to do the work anymore? Is that why you took me with you?”

Maple could hear the innocence in Runner’s voice. It brought her comfort and a touch of hope. She thought about their escape. It had been something she’d planned for some time, and when the moment came, she didn’t hesitate. She didn’t give Runner much choice in the matter actually.

The secret of her escape was something she’d kept to herself. Maple had seen too many times in the past when others has plotted to escape the Rotars, only to see their plans foiled when they were sold out by their fellow captives. She vowed not to let that happen to her. Her plan had only two goals; to get free and bring Runner with, whether she wanted to or not. Maple knew that Runner might not understand everything, but she had come to care for the younger girl too much to leave her to a life in shackles. Plus, there was her own sister. Maple could feel the pain over the loss of her sibling creeping in from the edges.

Now that she was actually free (or at least on the road to freedom), she was still a bit unsure as to what was next. The pair had no food, supplies or direction. They just needed to get away; as far away as possible.

Maple looked toward Runner in the darkness. “I didn’t want to do the work anymore, yes. I know there is much more to this world than working and dying for the Rotars.” She mussed Runner’s hair, smiling . “And I took you with me because I love you.” Maple felt a lump rise in her throat, as tears came to her eyes. She fought to keep it back. “I had a little sister once. She died after getting too sick. You remind me of her.”

Maple could see the faded glint of Runner’s teeth smiling in the rays of moonlight that pierced their overgrowth shelter.

A snap of a branch in the distance caused both girls to gasp. Voices quickly followed. They were men’s voices. Two, maybe three of them. Maple placed a hand over Runner’s lips as she peered through the tangle of branches. She could see the glow of their lanterns slowly approaching. One of the men was complaining loudly.

“Why are we wasting our time searching now? It’s too damn dark to see anything!”

“Dan, would you shut the hell up? The way you keep bitching is just letting them know we’re coming,” said another voice.

Dan ignored the order. “C’mon, Tim, think about it. They could be right by us, but it’s so dark, there is no way we’ll ever see it. These lights aren’t enough to flush them out. Let’s just make camp and pick it up in the morning?”

A third voice jumped in. “Dan’s right. This spot is as good as any in these woods. Let’s just camp. Those girls aren’t gonna get far. They gotta sleep too.”

Maple watched as the trio stopped. They couldn’t have been more than thirty meters from their hiding spot.  Her heart was racing and she swore she could hear it. A tingle crept up her spine as she watched them carefully.   If she could hear her heart pounding, they probably could as well.

“Fine!” Tim said with disgust. “We’ll camp here, but we’re up and back at it at dawn, got it?”

The two men grumbled a half-hearted salute as Tim ordered them to gather deadfall for a fire.

Maple’s heart sank. Her pursuers were right next to them, and making camp. They would find them for sure. They’d be taken back to the Rotars’ camp. Runner would be beaten and Maple knew that more severe punishments awaited her. Panic set in as she thought about what bargains she could strike to save her life, maybe buy her some more time to escape again. They’ll never let you escape again, Maple. They’ll take you for a few days then kill you in front of the others. Kill you in front of Runner.

Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her dirt covered face.

Runner moved Maple’s hand away. She whispered in a panic, “Maple, what are we gonna do?”

James looked at his son, considered his question, then turned without saying a word. After a few steps, James turned back toward his son. “I’m going to get that rat. You stay here to make sure they don’t come down, and if they decide to break our deal, you light that up and make this house burn.”

Essem looked confused.

James sighed. He could see his son wasn’t going to let it go. “I don’t want to kill them, son. But I also don’t trust them.” James looked out at the three bodies in the middle of the overgrowth covered street. “And we’re giving up a lot of good scavenge just to get out without injury and to get a damned rat so we can eat. And I won’t give that up.” James’ gaze flicked to the makeshift torch and the sparker in Essem’s hands. He could tell what his son was already thinking. “Don’t do it, son. Don’t you light it unless you see them break the deal.” James turned away and crossed over toward the other house, making sure to give Essem’s victims a wide berth.

Essem moved to the foot of the stairs, keeping an eye on his father as he stepped inside of the doorway and retrieved the rat carcass. He listened carefully. He heard whispers from the upper floor of the house where the original attack came from. He felt the anger over the whole situation rise again. His father had been everything to him for so many years; he couldn’t fathom the idea of losing him. The pair had been in a number of scrapes, but James had always kept the pair safe, no matter what it took. Sometimes people had to die. Essem thought about the times he had to kill before. It wasn’t easy then, and it wasn’t easy now. Essem knew he should feel bad about taking the lives of those men. James had taught him that. Except Essem didn’t feel bad this time. These men had tried to kill his father.

And they were going to let the rest of these people go.

The people that tried to kill his father.

James signaled to his son that he’d retrieved the rat, and it was time to go.

Essem took a few steps toward the doorway, then stopped. James continued down the path back toward the entrance to the development. He signaled once again for Essem to join him.

Essem looked at the sparker, a relic from the Time Before. It was a tool that produced flame via a spark generator that was powered by the sun. That’s what his father told him.

The father who almost died.

Essem lit the torch. The flames roared to life quickly on the bundle of scrap wood in his hand. Essem looked toward the bundle of wood in the doorway and tossed the torch. It landed perfectly and the wood quickly began to burn. The flames began their slow spread as Essem walked away from the house and toward his father.

Before his son even reached his pace, James knew what he’d done. He stared at his son in disbelief. Essem did not meet his gaze. James looked back toward the house and spoke flatly. “This isn’t over but  we need to go now.”

“They’ll be able to get out, you know.”

James glared at his son. “That’s what I’m afraid of. There were more than two up there. Let’s hope they decide not to come after us.” James cradled the dead rat and sped up his pace to put more distance between the growing fire and the fleeing pair. “Plus, we need to find a new place to camp for the night.”

The thought hit Essem in the gut. I hadn’t thought about that.

*  *  *

Essem had never seen his father so angry.  He’d had the silent treatment before, but not for this long. They’d made it safely away from the development, and James didn’t speak. They’d found a place to camp, and James didn’t speak. They’d finally had their first meal in three days, and James hadn’t spoken . That was what clinched it for Essem. Food was always a reason to be happy. Especially this meal. The rat was of exceptional size, and actually filled their bellies. And yet, his father never said a word.

As Essem sucked the last bits of meat off the assembly of bones in front of him, he looked into the small fire that separated them. “I’m sorry.”

“No you’re not,” James shot back with no hesitation. His face tried to remain emotionless, but the anger and frustration was obvious.

Essem lifted his eyes from the flame and looked at his father. “Yes, I am.”

James snorted and shook his head. “No, son. You’re not. I can tell you’re not. You wanted to kill those men. To kill them. All of them.”

Essem pointed a finger at his father, defending himself. “They were going to kill you! I had to do something!”

“For those first three, fine. But the rest? We’d made a peace, son. But that wasn’t good enough for you.” James pointed a finger back at his son. “And now what have we got? Two men, maybe more, hot for revenge just like you were. They want you dead.”

“They’re never going to find us. That’s where they lived. They won’t come this way.” Essem looked around to make his point.

James threw his arms in desperation. “But what if they do, boy? What if they do? And what if they catch us? Do you think they’re going to have any mercy on us, after what you did?”

Essem could feel his argument crumbling. “We left them their stuff.”

James stood up and towered over his son. “That doesn’t matter one bit to them. All that matters to them is that they gave us their word and kept it, and we gave them our word and shit on it.”

Essem felt himself getting hot, and not from the flames nearby. He shot to his feet and glared at his father. “We wouldn’t have had this problem if we’d just taken them out in the first place! We’d be sleeping in someplace nicer than this, with some new gear and maybe even more food.”

James took a step back and swallowed. He hadn’t seen anger like this from his son. His tone softened slightly. “You can’t just go around taking things from people. You know that. Have you forgotten what I taught you?”

Essem walked around the fire toward his father. “We sure as hell can’t keep wandering from settlement to settlement, looking for trade or work to get our next meal. Why can’t we ever just stay in one place for a while?”

James shook his head, and stood his ground. “You can’t trust people, son. You know that.”

Essem reached his father, and moved his face in close. His eyes took on a wild glow in the orange light of the fire. “Why not? Why the hell not, dad!”

James looked his son square in the eye. “Because they’ll do to you what you did to those men back there.”

His eyes locked in on the upper window of a house across the street. The glass was non-existent and the frayed remains of a curtain hung loose. He saw no one, but the angle of the arrow made the window the best bet.  That has to be it. James charged toward the house just as two men came out, makeshift clubs raised to strike.

“Dad!” Essem shouted as he scrambled to his feet. The attackers were too close. As he leapt through the bay window of the house James had pushed him in, worry soured his in his gut over not being able to make it to his father in time.

James brought his shotgun to bear, which caused one man to break to his side, out of way of the barrel. The other stayed on course and launched his club toward the older man. The heavy stick struck James in the chest as he fired, forcing his shot to go wide, knocking him backwards.

Essem’s legs pumped hard as he ate up the distance between him and his father. Another arrow struck inches from his foot as he drew his knife and threw on the run.

James turned to meet the man who struck him with the club  but was too slow. The man drove a dirty fist into the side of James’ face, knocking him further back. The attack continued with the draw of a blade as James drew a blade  from his belt. Through the dizziness from the blow to his face, James thought he heard a scream behind him. Essem?

Essem didn’t waste any time taking satisfaction in his well-placed knife throw. He noted the man wasn’t down, but he was hurt and distracted and that was all he needed. He planted his foot hard, cut left and placed himself between his father and the man attacking him. With a rolling motion, he reached down and scooped up the club that had hit his father. Essem could sense the man’s knife dangerously close to his gut, but it was too late to back out now.

Cradled in his left arm, Essem thrust the weapon into the man’s stomach. He heard the whuff of air forced out from the lungs, and could feel the sharpened blades on the club’s end cut through the man’s clothes and into his skin. His fist arced into an uppercut and snapped the man’s head back sharply; the man bent backward and dropped to the ground . Essem spun, slid the club along his arm and clamped down hard on the grip. His aim was only slightly off. He’d hoped to connect with the other attacker’s head but only found the shoulder. Still, the force of the blow disrupted the man’s attack.

Essem pressed his advantage, swung his club back around and brought it down at the base of his opponent’s neck. Blood sprayed as the man fell away, his screams turned to gurgles.

Out of the corner of his eye, Essem could see that his father was watching. Essem heard James’ voice as he  raised the club over the body of the man who had tried to stab his father. Three quick strikes brought sprays of blood from the attacker’s face. Essem took a quick glance at his father, then up toward the window where the attack began. “Dad, get out of here!” he shouted as he ran into the house.

“Son, wait!” James scrambled to his feet after his son. He burst through the doorway and could hear that Essem had already made it to the second floor of the house. Hearing shouts that he knew were his son’s , James doubled his pace up the stairs.

“You already saw what I did to the others! If the rest of you want to be like them, just hang on to your weapons,”  Essem barked down the upstairs hallway.

A muffled voice shouted back. “Round that corner, boy, and we’ll fill you full of arrows before you even make it two steps.”

James placed a gentle hand on Essem’s shoulder. His son jerked, but quickly relaxed when he realized who it was. “Son,” James whispered. “You can’t get them from here. Let’s just cut our losses, get our rat, and get out of here.”

Essem shook his head. “No!” he hissed. “They almost killed you. I can’t let that pass.”

“There’s been enough killing today, Essem. And they almost killed me, but they didn’t. I’m here, and I’m fine. Let’s go.”

Essem hesitated. He looked at his father’s eyes. James could see the anger still brewing behind them, but also knew he’d gotten through. James didn’t wait for a response. “Okay, let’s make a deal!” he shouted up the stairs.

A pause. “Go on.”

“We don’t want any more trouble, and clearly this is your place. I can’t give the lives of your friends back, but I can give you my promise that we’ll leave their bodies alone. Just let us get our rat, and we’ll be on our way.”

Essem’s eyes went wide. James could see that his son wanted nothing to do with that deal. James held a hand to keep his son quiet.

“That’s not much justice for our friends, old man.”

James nodded. “There’s not much justice at all in this world, but if we stay and fight, there’s going to be more dead. Who does that help? So do we have a deal?”

Another pause. James could hear the whispers. Clearly this wasn’t an easy decision for them. James tried to puzzle out how many might be up there. He suspected at least two, but by the voices, it might be more.

“Get your rat and get the hell out,” came a flat, exasperated reply.

James smiled, as Essem soured his expression. “We’re agreed.” He slowly eased down the stairs, urging his son to follow. Essem paused for a moment, but a stern look from James, one he’d given so many times in the past, made the younger man move.

As the pair reached what remained of the house’s living room, James collected some scraps of wood and quickly wrapped them in a strip of cloth from his satchel.

“What are you doing?”Essem asked.

James dug a hand into a pants pocket, and fished out his sparker. He handed both items to his son. “Making some insurance.” He smiled as he bunched some more scraps around the house’s entrance.

“Insurance for what?” Essem took the items and followed his father outside.

“We made an agreement, and they should leave us alone. In case they don’t, we’ll burn them down.”

But that was long ago. If James trusted his memory, it would have been somewhere around fifty years behind him. When he was young. When he became an unwilling orphan after just barely becoming a teenager. When the bombs fell and the skies erupted in fire. Fire that brought death, suffering and the end to the lives he, his family and friends knew. The comforts they’d enjoyed had vanished in an instant. James never really knew the reason why. And by now, he didn’t care.

The only thing James did care about crouched behind him, watching their backs. His son Essem was forty years James’ junior. The life they led had forged the younger man into a lean build with close-cropped hair. His face, though weathered by the elements, still retained its youthful appearance, something which stood in stark contrast to James’ haggard look. James, too, was lean; it was impossible not to be, but time had taken an additional toll on the older man.

James studied the area beyond the entrance gate. Even fifty years after The Fall, many houses within this once gated sub-division stood. Some were burnt shells; others had been completely consumed by the nature that had struggled to return after the damage done by the bombs. What troubled James most about the collection of houses was the obvious sign that others had lived here, and recently by the look of it. He knew that meant there would be no real supplies or provisions to be found. Still, there had been times where he’d been lucky with such searches in the past.

“What do you think, son?”

Essem took the cue to change his position and creep forward. Crawling low, he poked his head around his father’s legs. Giving the area his own cursory look, he answered, “It doesn’t look like much is here, Dad.” Essem sighed. “We don’t have much choice though. We haven’t eaten in three days.”

James nodded. “Or seen any caravans either.” The father echoed his son’s sigh. “I’ve always hated these types of searches.” A small breeze kicked up as James reached inside the ragged longcoat he wore. The cool air flowed readily through the holes and worn patches of the clothes both men wore, bringing a brief respite from the heat. James readied his shotgun, stepping forward with care. Essem jumped to his feet and grabbed his father’s shoulder.

“Dad, wait.”

“What?”

Essem turned his father to face him. “Do you smell that?”

James’ eyes narrowed as he sniffed the air. “No. What is it?” He sniffed again.

Essem sensed his father’s caution . “It’s faint, but I can smell burnt wood. There must have been a fire, and not too long ago either.”

James took another look into the field of decaying, vine covered shells. You’re getting old. You never would have missed that before. “Good catch, son. Keep an eye out.” James continued moving. He heard Essem begin to protest but cut him off before the words even finished forming. “Don’t push it. I’m still going first.” James turned without waiting for a retort.

Essem mumbled one regardless. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

That’s what I’m afraid of.

*  *  *

So far, the search had been a wash. In the four houses they’d checked, there was nothing left to scavenge, which was a disappointment, but the ambush he’d expected around every corner had not happened either. The pair had discovered a good place to rest for the next couple of days. This was easily the biggest boon to the two men . Being defensible and dry was always on James’ mind. Having a place to operate from gave the pair time to safely explore the homes in this “dead-velopment” as Essem was fond of calling them. They would have enough time to make sure that they wouldn’t miss any hidden treasures.

Crossing the expanse of grass and scrub that carried the once well-used road beneath it, they approached the next house.

“This one doesn’t look so good, Dad.”

James knew his son was likely right. Only a small portion of the roof still stood; the rest had collapsed into the structure below. But there was a basement, so there could be something down deep.

Essem approached the door to this house, like he had all the ones previous. “Careful.” James whispered as his son stepped up onto the porch, avoiding the rotted floor sections.

Essem turned and look back at his father. “Will you stop saying that?” he snapped as he crouched near the entrance.

James exhaled his frustration through his nose and followed his son.

Essem’s arm shot sharply into the air, telling his father to hold still. James could feel his gut tighten and turn sour, as he brought his shotgun to bear. Quickly, he scanned the area around him, and realized it wasn’t looking good. He was out in the open, and if someone was in the house, Essem was walking right into any trap that might be laid. It was the worst possible position.  They had to move, and now. “Son!” James hissed.

The younger man’s only reaction was to slowly reach toward his hip, pulling out the battered and worn knife the pair had found years ago. It had become Essem’s favorite, and though it was chipped and the grip rewrapped several times, the young man had taken great care as if it was still new. His hand enveloped the knife’s handle. Essem paused, then snapped his arm out in one quick strike. The blade vanished in a blur and Essem sprung in to the home after it.

“Essem!” James hissed again and moved toward the porch. Before he even reached the steps, his son had returned to the battered doorway smiling. His knife was in one hand; the dead carcass of a large rat in the other. James felt all the tension drain from his body.

“How do you like your rat, again Dad?”

The air between them hissed as an arrow  split the wood of the door frame with a loud thunk, only inches from Essem’s leg.

The wagon showed up right as the sun was going down.  It was a simple wagon with wooden benches lining each side of the back.  James helped Jim step up into the wagon and waiting until he had settled into a seat to take one across from him.  “Thanks for the ride Bill.  My son and I appreciate this.”

“Awe don’t worry about it James.  I’m sure I owe you more than a ride after all the things you did for me when my dad died.  Now are you two ready to go?”

“Ready as we’re going to be.”  Bill turned back to his horses and started the wagon.  He went fairly slowly to keep the ride as smooth as he could.  Jim stared out the side of the wagon at the town.  Things seemed to be getting back to normal.  Jim marveled at how quickly everyone fell back into their routines.  Much sooner than Jim expected he saw the gates of Fort Massac in front of them.

The Fort was busier than Jim had expected.  It had been cleaned up since he was last there.  Jim noticed the frames of a few new buildings being put up where tents used to be.  When the wagon rolled through the front gates Jim saw that there was a brand new well built in the center courtyard right where he had burned down the old one.  Sergeant Reynolds and Chloe were standing by the well waiting for them.  The wagon pulled up next to them.

Chloe gave Jim a smile that shifted into a frown.  “Jim, what are you doing here?  You should be in bed resting.”  She climbed up into the wagon to help him down.

“I’ve been in bed resting for almost a week.  I’m going crazy in that room.”  He held up a basket.  “Besides I brought food.”

“Good because if we’re going to be a couple I think I should warn you that I can’t cook.”

“Well that could be a problem.  I just made sandwiches.”

“Well then I know a great place for a picnic that would give us a view of the river.”  She leaned in close to his ear to whisper.  “It also can’t be seen from any of the guard towers.”

“Lead the way.”  Jim felt the strain against his chest and he climbed out of the wagon.  He let out a groan of pain.  “I hope it isn’t too far.”

Chloe took the basket from Jim and lead him out the back gates of the fort.  She walked him into the woods and to a small clearing along the cliff bank.  The moon was bright and with the light from the fort they were able to see the area pretty clearly.  Chloe helped Jim sit down against a tree and she sat down facing him.  “So I hear you had a meeting with the mayor today.”

Jim was hoping to avoid the topic for a while.  He still didn’t know what she would think.  When he spoke his voice came out quieter than he intended.  “He wanted to thank my Dad for all his help.  He said that I could stop training with the Militia if I wanted and that I could start working on whatever I wanted to do with my life.”

“Well what did you tell him?”

He tried to read her face, but couldn’t.  He wasn’t sure if it was because it was dark, she was hiding her mood, or because he just didn’t know her well enough to read her reactions.  He found himself hoping it wasn’t that he didn’t know her well enough.  “I told him that I wanted to work with GCs at Fort 24.  I know how important the militia is to you but….”

“That’s great news.”  She interrupted him with a big hug.  He tried to hide how much it hurt.

“You’re not disappointed in me for not going into the miltia?”

“Are you kidding me?  This isn’t for you and I’d spend all my time worrying that you were going to get yourself hurt.  I’ll feel much better knowing you’re safe.  Besides you were great with the GCs.”

“Wow, you have no idea what a relief it is to hear you say that.  I am sorry I won’t be going through training with you though.”

“You wouldn’t have been going through training with me anyway.”  Jim looked at her puzzled.  “Joe and I were both promoted to full Militia because of how well we did.  He had already gone through most of training anyway and I grew up at the fort so I knew the stuff better than most of the full times anyway.”

“Congratulations.  I know how much that must mean to you.”

Chloe moved over to sit next to Jim and took his hand in hers.  “What’s wrong?”

Jim sighed.  “I feel guilty.  We both have good news, but it was less than a week ago that David and Rick died protecting us.  I don’t feel like I should be happy yet.”

“Jim they gave their lives so we could keep living ours.  The best way we can honor them is to make the most out of the time we have.  For tomorrow that means I’m helping to clean up and, for you when you’re ready it means finding the two large cat like creatures eating livestock to the north.  For tonight though it means that you should lean over here and kiss me.”

A smile came over Jim and he leaned over to kiss her.  He knew that their lives had been changed forever, but he still didn’t know what that meant. They talked and made plans for the future until they fell asleep in each other’s arms.  The future could have had anything in store for them, but in that moment Jim knew that together they could get through it.

The End

Jim was overwhelmed with possibilities.  He never imagined that he would have to decide his future so soon.  He knew that he didn’t want to be in the militia, but he always thought he would have those years to figure out what he actually did want to do.  Now he found himself in a room with his father and the town mayor waiting for him to tell them what he wanted his future to be.  He was being asked the most important question of his life.

Jim thought of Chloe and began to doubt.  The militia had been her life long dream, but the past few weeks had taught him that he wasn’t cut out for it.  He wondered what Chloe would think of him if he chose not to continue his training.  Would she understand, or would she lose respect for him?  He became obsessed with thoughts of losing her over his decision.  For the first time in his life he wondered if he should just continue militia training.

“Well?  I know this is a big decision so if you need more time to think about it I’ll understand.”  Jim was startled by Mayor Parker.  He had been so lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten that the mayor and his father were still in the room focused on him.  The room suddenly felt very silent.

As Jim thought about the past few days the answer finally came to him.  It seemed so obvious that he couldn’t believe it took so long to think of it.  He was still worried about what Chloe would think, but for once he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what he wanted to do with his life.  “I want to work with the GCs at Fort 24.  Not part of the militia, just the GCs.  Michael is short staffed now and all the GCs seemed to love me.  I know I could help them rebuild.”  He held up the book Chloe had brought him.  “See I’ve even been reading up on GCs.” Jim realized that he was rambling and fought to stop himself.

Mayor Parker was staring at him with a surprised look on his face.  “Well I never would have seen that decision coming.  It makes sense though.  You already know about the secret and I have a glowing report on you from Michael sitting on my desk here.  I will have to talk it over with him of course, but I don’t see any problem here.  One of the first items on my ‘to do’ list was to find new staff for Fort 24.  It looks like you two have helped solve my problems for me again.”

James and Mayor Parker continued to talk for another twenty minutes, but Jim didn’t hear a word that they said.  He sat there with his thoughts bouncing back and forth between imaging his future and trying to figure out the best way to tell Chloe that he wasn’t going to finish militia training.  He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice his dad stand up and shake the mayor’s hand at first.

Jim followed his father out the door and back home in a daze.  As they reached the front door he realized that he didn’t remember any of the walk there.  “Dad did that really just happen?”

James chuckled a bit.  “Welcome back.  I tried to talk to you three times on the way home and I don’t think you heard a word I said.”  There was a big smile on his face.  “Yep it really happened, but you need to focus on recovering first.”  James reached down and picked up a folded piece of paper off the ground.  “Besides, looks like Chloe dropped by and left you a note.”

Jim took the note from his father and unfolded it:

Jim I came by, but you weren’t here.  Sorry I missed you.   I’ll be back tomorrow morning.  I just didn’t want you to think that I didn’t come by today.  There have been some changes at Fort Massac that I can’t wait to tell you about.

Chloe

James folded the note back up and put it in his pocket.  “Dad I know I’m pretty sore, but if I take it slowly can I go out to Fort Massac tonight?”

“You’re not up to that kind of walk yet, but I was heading back out to meet with Jason tonight anyway.  I thought you might want to come along so I’ve got a wagon coming by to pick us up at sunset.  Of course you would know that if you had listened to the conversation in Mayor Parker’s office.”  James gave Jim the smug smile that he was starting to find very annoying.  Jim stepped through their front door and went straight to bed.  He wanted to get a little rest before going to see Chloe, but he knew that there was no way he would sleep with so much on his mind.

“Mayor Parker will see you now.”  Jim was startled by the woman’s words.  He had been waiting in the lobby with his dad for at least a half hour.  The time had passed quickly at first while he read the book that Chloe had given him three days earlier.  The book didn’t last long though and Jim had found himself looking around the room with nothing else to do.  He began to fixate on old pictures of the town hanging on the wall.  It was this daze that the mayor’s assistant had pulled him out of.

“Thank you Ms. Summers.”  James rose out of his seat and walked towards the Mayors office door.  Jim rushed to catch up with his father and quickly regretted it as pain ran through his chest.  Slowing to a walk Jim put a hand over his chest.  James was holding the door open for him.  “Careful Jim.  You don’t want to pull your stitches out.”  Jim just nodded and walked through the open door.

The office was exactly as Jim remembered it.  The walls were mostly bare and windows covered two of them.  Mayor Parker was sitting behind a desk that was a little too large for the room and very cluttered with papers.  Two small wooden chairs sat in front of the desk.  Mayor Parker looked up from his paperwork to see Jim holding an arm over his chest.  Without hesitation he rushed around his desk and pulled one of the chairs out.  “Jim please sit down.  I probably should have given you a few more days rest before asking you to come in.”

Mayor Parker reached out a hand to James who took it in a firm handshake.  “Thank you for joining me James.  It’s good to see you again.”  He motioned towards the other chair.  “Please have a seat.”  As soon as James sat down Mayor Parker moved back around the large desk and dropped into his own chair.  He sorted through the papers on his desk until he found the one he was looking for.

“I thought you might like to know that Davidson and former Mayor McQuery are both locked up in our jail.  They have been surprisingly open to answering any questions we have for them.  We are still piecing together the whole plan, but the more I talk to them the more I realize that this whole thing was their fault.”

“I’ve also gotten quite a few internal reports on just what happened over the past few weeks.  Each version of the story is a little different, but everyone agrees that you really stepped up and took charge.  We lost a lot of good men, but we would have lost even more if it wasn’t for you.”  He looked over at Jim.  “I’ve heard some good things about you too.”  He sat the papers back on his desk.  “I’m sure we’ll sort everything out over the next few days, but I just wanted to personally thank both of you for all you have done for this town.”

“I’m not sure what to say to that.  My son and I did what we could, but I don’t know that we did anything more than anyone else.  To be honest I’m not sure why anyone even listened to me.  I haven’t been in the militia for years.”

“James you’re a natural born leader.  It doesn’t matter if you have a position or not people listen when you talk.  If you want your old position back in the Militia it’s yours.”

“No.  I’m done with that part of my life.  The last few weeks brought back too many unpleasant memories.  I have realized that I need to do something more with my life, but the Militia isn’t it.  Who knows if you decide to retire I might just go for your job.”

“I hope you do wait for me to retire because I have a feeling you would win any election you tried for at the moment.”   Mayor Parker gave a chuckle, but it was more a nervous chuckle than an actual laugh.  “Well there has to be something I can do for you.  You just name it and if it’s within my power I will do it.”

James looked over at Jim.  “Actually there is.  You see my son never wanted to be in the militia.  At least he didn’t want to have it forced on him.  I know its policy that everyone gets trained, but I think he’s had enough field training the last week to teach him anything he would need to know in an actual emergency.  What I would like is for my son to have a choice.  If he wants to continue in the Militia I will support him fully, but if he wants to do something else with his life after what he’s been through I don’t want him to have to wait four years to start that.  I just want him to have a choice.”

Jim was stunned.  He looked back and forth between his father and the mayor.  What his father had asked for was unheard of and went against a policy that had been in place for over thirty years.  The idea excited him, but he couldn’t imagine the mayor actually agreeing to it.

“Consider it done.  Jim you have a very important choice in front of you now.  I’ll do everything in my power to help you down whatever path you choose.  If you choose to continue with Militia training then you can continue as soon as you recover.  If you choose something else though I’ll help you get the training you need for that.”  He smiled widely.  “So tell me Jim; what do you want to do with your life?”

Jim only stayed at Fort 24 for a day after he woke up.  There were enough injured people on both sides that the bed was needed.  They loaded him into the back of a wagon first thing in the morning and started off for home.  As the wagon bounced along the road Jim realized that he still had not seen Chloe since he had woken up.

The wagon pulled up outside Jim’s house and his Dad came out to meet him.  He helped him down and Jim realized that his entire body was sore.  Each and every step he took towards the house required a considerable amount of effort.  When his dad offered him a shoulder to lean on he gladly took it.  “I feel so week.”

“A gunshot will do that to you.”  James raised his shirt and pointed to a scar on his stomach that Jim had never noticed.  Jim was reminded again just how little he knew about his father’s past.  “This one kept me in bed for over a week.”

Jim slid into his bed and was grateful to not be standing anymore.  “It’s going to be hard to walk to Fort Massac for training like this.”

“Don’t worry about that for now.  They aren’t expecting you back until you’ve fully recovered.  That’s going to be a while.”  James made Jim a glass of water and set it next to his bed.  “For now just rest up.  Get plenty of sleep and drink lots of water.”  James went to leave the room, but stopped at the door.  “You really scared me Jim.  I thought I’d lost you.  I know I don’t say it much, but I love you son.”

The moment was awkward for Jim and he wasn’t quite sure what to say.  He finally settled on, “I love you too dad.”  It didn’t seem like enough, but he wasn’t quite sure what else needed to be said.  “Dad, when I’m feeling better I want to know more about mom and your time in the Militia.”  James nodded and left the room.

The rest of the morning went by quietly.  James left after about an hour and Jim found himself completely alone in the house.  There was nothing to do and he didn’t feel like spending the energy it took to stand up until he had to.  That was when he heard a knocking on the door.  He thought about getting up for a minute, but finally decided to just yell out “COME IN.”

Jim watched as Chloe rushed into his room.  Her eyes were red and puffy.  “Jim I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up.  I got so busy yesterday that I didn’t make it up, and when I went to Fort 24 today they said you were gone.  I thought you were dead until Michael told me you were back home.  I had no idea where you lived so I had to ask five people before I found the wagon driver.”  She sighed heavily and sat down next to his bed reaching up to take his right hand in hers.  She seemed to be recomposing herself and soon looked like the much more confident Chloe that Jim was used to.  “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I got run over by a horse.  I’m sore all over and sometimes it hurts to breathe.  Mostly though I’m bored out of my mind.  There is nothing to do here.”

“I thought you might say that.”  Chloe reached into her bag and pulled out a book.  She handed it to Jim.  “I saw how interested in GCs you were back at Fort 24 so I asked Michael if you could borrow one of his books.

Jim looked down at the book and saw the title.  Why is my dog smarter than my daddy? He laughed loudly and quickly came to regret it.  Pain racked his chest and he gasped.  “Very funny, but apparently it hurts to laugh.”

“Sorry.”  She reached into her bag and pulled out another book.  “Here this is really the book I grabbed for you to read.  It’s a history book on how GCs were originally developed.”  She handed him over the book and he began to flip through it.

“Thanks.”  He lay there in silence for a moment.  “Chloe is it really all over?  Are things getting back to normal?”

“I don’t think I know what normal is anymore.  I’ve been spending all my time helping them clean up Fort Massac.  We’re still trying to put together the list of everyone that died.  Ammo is getting pretty low too.  The blacksmiths are working overtime to replenish the stocks.  I honestly have no idea what’s going on in town.”

They sit there quietly for a few moments until Chloe broke the silence by leaning down and kissing him.  “You scared me.  When I saw you get shot I thought I lost you.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”  She took his hand and just sat there next to him for a few minutes.  They didn’t say anything, but they did smile at each other.

“I hate to leave so soon, but I spent all morning looking for you.  Daddy is going to get worried about where I am.  Besides you probably need your rest anyway.”  She stood up and walked towards the door.

“Will you come back to visit tomorrow?”

“Of course I will.  I might even be back tonight if I can finish up in time.”  She turned away but at the last moment as she was walking out the door she glanced back.  “Oh, and if you ever even think about sacrificing yourself to save me again I’ll kill you.  Either way I have to live with the guilt.”

Jim struggled to open his eyes.  It felt like they were made of stone, but through sheer force of will they began to slightly crack.  Light flooded in and it seemed so bright that it hurt to look at.  The further he opened his eyes the easier they seemed to move.  Everything was blurry so he began to blink furiously trying to bring the room into focus.  His arms rose to wipe the sleep from his eyes and his right hand caught on something.

He felt pain, but it was all very distant.  In his mind he began to go over the list.  His back ached and he remembered hitting the ground.  His head throbbed reminding him of the rock.  He couldn’t forget the gunshot that was responsible for the burning pain in his chest.  There was a new sensation though.  Something in the back of the hand that had gotten stuck now had a sharp pain to it.  With great effort he turned his head down towards the hand and saw that there was some sort of tube going into it.  Blood was smeared around it and Jim got the distinct impression that it was not supposed to do that.

The room finally started to come into focus.  It was a small square room with very little furniture other than the small bed he was in.  The walls were lined with cabinets that didn’t seem to match the walls.  There was a light coming from a clear rectangle in the ceiling.  The light seemed familiar.  A blur of motion caught his attention.  There was a man rushing around trying to bandage up the hand with the tube sticking out of it.

Jim tried to speak and found that his throat was sore.  The first attempt at words simply didn’t produce anything understandable.  Jim knew what he was trying to say and had to admit that he couldn’t even understand himself.  He paused for a moment and then tried again.  “Where am I?”  The words burned his throat and came out very hoarse.  He hoped it was good enough for the other man to understand him.

“Shh, don’t try to talk yet.  Just relax.”  The man put his hand against Jims shoulders and pushed him back flat against the bed.  Jim wasn’t quite sure when he had pulled himself up.  “This is the infirmary in Fort 24.  You were hurt pretty bad in that last fight and almost didn’t make it.  You need to rest a bit more before you try to move.  Michael will be in later to answer all your questions.”

Jim wasn’t sure why the answers made him feel better, but in some way they did.  He was alive and he was finally safe.  As he laid his head back against the pillow he felt the sleep overtake him.  He dreamed wonderful dreams of Chloe followed by horrible dreams of violence and gunfire.

When Jim woke again Michael was sitting in a chair next to him.  “Good Morning Jim.  How are you feeling today?”

Jim looked down and saw that the tube wasn’t in his hand anymore.  He breathed deep a few times and tried to gauge how sore his throat was.  It felt much better than the last time he tried to talk.  “I think I feel better than last time I woke up.”  Looking around the room everything seemed to be perfectly in place.  “I guess they didn’t get in the building after we left.”

Michael chucked a little.  “Oh they got in.  The entire building was trashed and most of my notes have been burned.  This was just the first room we cleaned up.  With so much of my staff dead it’s going to take me months to get this place back in shape.”

Jim looked down at the stitches on his chest.  “How did I survive?”

There was an awkward silence for a moment.  “You almost didn’t.  Doc Gregg happened to be in your unit and saw you take that bullet for Chloe.  He started working on you immediately after you hit the ground.  The fight broke up pretty quickly after that and they were able to get you bring you back on a cart.  When we got here the place was trashed and we rushed just to get this room clean enough to work in.  If it wasn’t for Doc working on you obsessively the whole time you wouldn’t have made it. We’ve been giving you antibiotics ever since hoping to avoid infection.  I wish I could tell you more, but I’m not a doctor.”

Jim looked down at where the tube had been in his hand.  “Where did the medicine come from?”

“Well I think you probably know everything else about GCs at this point.  When they were originally being made people wanted to get the most out of them even if they died.  That usually meant food, bones, and leather.  Some GCs were special though.  They produce chemicals that can be used for medicine and harvested when they die.  We lost a few pigs in all the fighting and that means you get medicine.”  He was smiling now and Jim knew that it was a smile of pride.  Michael loved his work with GCs and would never miss a chance to tell a person how wonderful they are.

“So did we win then?  Is it finally over?”

Michael looked much more serious.  “Well since all of my best friends are dead I for one don’t feel like a winner.  If you mean did we stop them and get the GCs back then yes we did.  The more we talk to the survivors the more this whole thing just makes me sick.  Their heads were full of lies about us.  Some of them even thought that we were rallying an invasion.  They were told that we were only doing so well because we wiped out other communities and took their resources.”  He shook his head.  “These aren’t bad people; they were just twisted by McQuery and Davidson.  It’s all such a waste.”

Jim didn’t know what to say so he decided to change the subject.  “Where is Chloe?  Is she ok?”

“Oh she’s fine.  She didn’t leave your side for the first day, but after that she went back to Fort Massac to help her dad get it all sorted out.  She comes by every day to check up on you though.”

The words “first day” and “every day” jumped out at Jim.  “Wait a minute.  How long have I been here?”

“You were shot three days ago.  You’ve been in and out of consciousness for the past day.  If I had to guess I’d say Doc will have you moved to your house to recover in another day or so.”  Michael got up and headed for the door.

“Thank you for everything Michael.”

He stopped at the door and glanced back.  “Don’t thank me.  I just figured you would want a friendly face when you woke up.  It’s Doc Gregg that you should be thanking.  That man saved your life.”  Michael closed the door on his way out.

Jim found himself alone in the room lost in his own thoughts.  He wanted to believe that it was all over, but had a hard time accepting it.  In the past week he had made and lost friends, taken a life, fallen in love (though he certainly wasn’t ready to tell her that), and met the man who killed his mother.  These were just some of the life changing events he had gone through before almost dieing.  It couldn’t be over because he knew that he would have these events with him for the rest of his life.

Jim was amazed at how well everyone worked together.  They all seemed to know exactly what they were supposed to do and were taking up positions with only the slightest of direction.  He knew that most of these men were not full time Militia, but thought that if anyone outside of town had seen them they would not be able to tell the difference.  For the first time Jim was seeing first hand why Militia training was mandatory.

James was completely focused on giving orders.  “This is it people we are going to end this now.  Jim, Chloe you two are going to follow Sergeant Thorne.  Your unit is going to ride in from behind and cut off their retreat.”  James didn’t stop to explain any more.  He just went from group to group giving final orders.

Men were lining up all along the road hiding in bushes, trees, and ditches.  Jim was amazed at just how well the men were able to blend into the background.  As he rode into formation behind Sergeant Thorne he hoped that this unit would not have to hide as well as the others.  The anticipation was so high that he had to struggle to hear the instructions.

“Ok, we’re going deeper into the woods away from the path and back west a bit.  When the shooting starts you will all fall in behind me and we’ll ride straight in behind them.  Have your guns ready because we will be going in shooting.  Watch where your shooting and don’t hit anyone riding in front of you.  Any questions?”  Jim looked around hoping someone would ask something.  He wanted any sign that he was not in over his head.  The group was silent only nodding as a reply.  Lacking any form of reassurance Jim fell into formation and tried to keep the nervousness off his face.

The wait for Jim was excruciating and felt like it lasted forever.  He fought to keep from jumping at every sound he could hear in the forest.  Thoughts of ambush ran through his mind, but everyone else seemed calm.  He told himself that if they were not worried than he shouldn’t be either.  That was when he heard the first gunshot.

Gunfire report echoed through the forest.  At first it was just a few random shots, but it quickly grew into a full firefight.  Sergeant Thorne raised his hand and motioned forward as he rode off at a full run.  Jim fell into place behind Chloe as the group darted through the trees further west, but back towards the road.  The trees parted and the group found themselves on the road with another unit joining them from the other side of the forest.

The two units combined seamlessly with Sergeant Thorne taking the lead and the other sergeant moving to the rear.  They rode as a single force straight towards a large caravan of animals and supplies.  Most of the enemies were in the front of the caravan already engaging the rest of the Militia, but there was a squadron waiting for them at the rear.

Jim watched the men in front of the take aim before he even thought about pulling out his gun.  He felt a wave of relief as the rest of his unit opened fire.  They were ready even if he wasn’t.  He reached for his own gun while watching people both in front and beside him fall.  Sergeant Thorne motioned and a handful of men moved to the tree line on either side of the road.

Jim watched as Chloe took aim and brought down two men.  He marveled at just how good a shot she was.  He opened fire himself, but all of his shots went wide.  He knew that he wasn’t a good shot to begin with, but riding while trying to shoot made it even more difficult.  The bullets were more likely to hit the livestock.

The caravan was coming up on them very quickly and Jim realized that he didn’t know what to do once they reached it.  It was then that Sergeant Thorne motioned again.  The men in front of him dropped off their horses and lay on the ground still shooting.  Chloe joined a group of men moving to the right and Jim followed.  His eyes scanned the caravan.

Most of the men at the rear of the caravan had fallen, but the ones that were left had taken cover.  They were firing from around and in some cases inside the carts.  There was no clear shot at any of them and the Militia was all out in the open.  Jim realized that this was why they were moving off the road and couldn’t help but be worried.  He glanced up and saw a rip on Chloe’s sleeve with a bit of blood around it.

“Are you OK?  Were you hit?

“I’m fine, it’s just a graze.”

Some of the men hopped off of their horses and hid among the trees.  Jim and Chloe stuck with a batch still mounted and waiting for the right moment to ride out.  For Jim it was just an excuse to stay with Buttercup and she was the only thing keeping him from falling into complete panic.

Jim took a moment to take in the whole battle scene.  There were bodies all over the ground and some of them were people that he knew.  Bullets were still flying, but at this point they weren’t really hitting anything other than ground and trees.  Further up the road the gunfire was even more frantic.  The fighting couldn’t be made out through the large caravan, but Jim suspected that it looked similar to this.  There was no way to tell who was winning at this point, but looking around at the bodies he decided that they had all lost.

“This is all so pointless.  If they’d just come into town and talked with us I’m sure we could helped them out.”  Jim had to talk loudly to be heard over the gunfire, but he tried to make sure that only Chloe would hear him.

“Between Mayor McQuery and Davidson who knows that kind of horror stories they were told about us.  Besides it’s too late for that now.  They’ve killed too many of us.”

Sergeant Thorne motioned from across the road and Chloe took off towards the caravan again with the other men who were still mounted.  Jim spurred Buttercup forward.  His eyes moved from person to person in the caravan looking for anyone aiming at him.  He almost didn’t catch the gun moving within a hay pile.  It was aimed directly at Chloe.

Jim drove Buttercup forward as fast as she would go.  He was amazed at the speed and realized that he hadn’t come close to her top speed before now.  They overtook Chloe before she ever knew what was going on.  Jim felt something punch him hard in the chest and all the breath was knocked out of him.  The sky filled his eyes as he slid backwards off of Buttercup.

The pain was more than Jim had ever felt and he wasn’t sure if he could handle it.  His chest felt like it was on fire and then the ground smashed into his back.  He thought he heard Chloe yelling something, but it was so far away that he couldn’t make it out.   The back of his head hit a rock and bounced off of it.  In that moment he saw the blood soaking his chest and wondered where it had all come from.  The sky filled his eyes again and he watched as it all went dark.  In the distance he thought he heard Chloe crying, but as his head hit the rock again everything faded away.

I wanted to let everyone know that I will not be posting a new issue this week.  I’ve had a hectic few weeks with work, Fear the Con, my dog having surgery, a death in my family, and sickness all hitting at once.  Basically I decided that I needed to take a week off because I was just not in the right mindset for this particular piece of work and my wife complains that I kill characters when I’m like this.  I have of course used all of this to inspire some other projects I’m working on.  Skies of Glass:Metropolis will continue back on schedule next week and it remains important to me to only miss a week under extreme circumstances.  The past two weeks certainly qualify.

After ten minutes Jim and Chloe found the road.  It was the first major landmark that they had seen and Jim couldn’t help but yell in excitement.  They didn’t know the area, but they knew how they had gotten to the road.  That meant that they also knew how to get back to the camp from there.  In moments tents came into view.

Remembering the welcome that they had received the first time Jim slowed Buttercup and raised his hands above his head.  “Is it just me or is the camp twice as big as when we left?”

Chloe was straining to look around his raised arms without falling off the horse.  “I don’t know.  All I see is armpit.”

Jim blushed and lowered his arms.  “Sorry.”

Chloe let out a giggle and squeezed him a little tighter.  With his arms down she could strain her neck and try to see.  “Wow, the camp is crowded.”

Jim strained his eyes and began to make out faces.   He saw a street cleaner, a teacher, and a tailor all mixed in with the Militia that had been there before.  “Looks like they called out the reserves.”  His eyes locked on a man hanging limply by the arms to a tree near the edge of camp.  His face was swollen beyond recognition and his whole body was soaked in blood.  One foot seemed to be twisted in a way that Jim thought a human foot should not be able to do.  He was about to say something to Chloe about it when seven armed men ran up and aimed their weapons at them.

“Stop there.  Get off the horse slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”  Jim and Chloe did as the man asked.  The man looked familiar and Jim was sure that he had seen him in town somewhere.  He just couldn’t put a name to the face.   The man wasn’t regular militia though and Jim wasn’t going to do anything to startle him.  “Who are you two and what are you doing here?”

“Knock it off Ben it’s me Chloe.  This is Jim.”

“Chloe?  I didn’t see you back there.  I see you’re finally old enough to start orientation.”

“Close enough with everything going on.  Jim this is Benjamin Hill.  He’s the librarian.”

“Well at the moment I’m a camp guard.  Half of the town has been activated at this point.  We manned all the forts and outposts before sending reinforcements here.”  He motioned for the other men to lower their weapons.  “Who’s your friend?”

Jim offered his hand and the man shook it.  “I’m Jim.  I’m just going through training.”

“He’s James’s son,” Chloe offered.

Jim noticed that the man’s grip tightened at the mention of his father’s name.  The handshake got much more vigorous as well.  “It’s a real pleasure to meet you Jim.  I’m betting your dad is going to want to see you right away.”  He started walking into the camp with Jim and Chloe following closely.  “You know it is amazing to me how easily he’s falling back into the routine.  There are full time Militia here and yet he is seamlessly taking charge.”

They walked in awkward silence since Jim wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the man’s glowing compliments about his father.   He was beginning to realize that he had learned more about the man in the past two days than he had in his entire life up to this point.  He was even more surprised by how much he was learning about himself.

Jim was surprised to find that James was in the same tent that he had been in before.  It wasn’t that he thought he would move, but the camp looked so different that he didn’t recognize it.  As he climbed inside he found his dad standing over a table with a large map on it. There were 4 other men gathered watching him intently and nodding their heads.

James looked up and saw them.  “Good you’re back.  Come on over to the map and tell us what’s going on up there.”

Chloe took the lead and started pointing to places on the map.  “They’re gathering all the GCs here by the barn.  It looked like they were almost ready to move out.  We were spotted so they’ll probably be in even more of a hurry now.  They might even be moving already.”

“No, not yet.” Jim added.  “They had the animals loaded, but they didn’t have any of their food loaded yet.  If they started when we left they might be almost done now.  If we head to Fort Massac we can help stop them at the bridge.”

James shook his head.  “They’re not going to use the bridge.  They’re going to head further east and try to cross the river by ferry.”  Jim wondered how his dad could be so sure of their plans.  He could be guessing, but there was so much confidence in his voice.  James pointed to a spot on the map.  “We’re going to have to move now and cut them off right here.  We don’t have much time, but if we get moving before they do we should be able to surprise them.”

Jim glanced at the spot that his father had pointed to.  There were troop placement marks drawn all around it.  He found the camp and his eyes followed path lines from it to this spot.  “You already have it all planned out don’t you?  You knew they were going to run.  Why the hell did you send us up to Fort 24?”

“I didn’t know when you left.  Davidson finally shared some useful information once you were gone.  I would have sent you anyway though because we can’t trust anything he says.”

“Why would he tell us anything?”  Jim remembered the bloody man hanging from the tree.  In that moment he knew why Davidson had talked.  What he didn’t know was exactly how he felt about it.  He found that happiness and revulsion were at war in his head.  It must have shown on his face because James didn’t bother to answer his question.

“I think I know how you feel and we can talk about that later.  Metropolis needs her GCs and those bastards are about to take them.  We need to get moving now to set up the ambush.”  James turned to the other four men.  “You know your orders.  Get everyone armed and on their horses now.”

The four men saluted and spoke in unison.  “Yes Sir!”  Jim watched the file out of the tent.

Chloe waited for the men to exit the tent to speak.  “That was Rick’s dad.  Does he know?”

“I don’t think so.  I haven’t had the heart to tell him and I need him thinking straight for the fight ahead of us.  He might have gotten word before they left town, but it sounds like things are pretty hectic back there.”  Chloe nodded.

“I need you two to get ready too.  We need every gun we have.  Chloe you’ll be glad to know that we have plenty of horses now so you two won’t have to share anymore.  Now get out there and get in line.  I think its past time we finished this.”

Jim tried to keep the disappointment off of his face when he heard that she would have her own horse again.  If Chloe saw it she chose not to say anything.  Instead she took him by the hand and led him out of the tent.  They ran into Joe on the way to the horses.  Jim noticed that his right hand was wrapped in bandages.  He thought about asking him what had happened, but after thinking about it for a moment decided not to.  Joe’s injuries were going to keep him out of the fight and that seemed to make him vary angry.

Chloe picked what seemed to be the biggest horse available.  It was a large stallion and Jim was sure that it would be fast.  It might have been the biggest horse available, but when Buttercup came along side she was still slightly larger.  This gave Jim a sense of pride as he climbed up into the saddle.  They took their place in line and before long the whole troop took off towards the ambush site.

Jim was nervous, but adrenaline pushed him forward.  For the first time since all of this had begun he had hope that it was about to end.  One way or another it would all be over soon.  With the extra militia they had the numbers now and if they could just get setup in the ambush spot first they could end it quickly.  The plan was good, but he couldn’t help but wish that Connie and Dayton were there with him.

The lions hadn’t returned to the camp yet.  Jim knew that they could take care of themselves, but he was still worried for them and himself.  The image of Connie ripping apart the man who had been chasing them fill Jim’s mind.  His body shuttered at the memory and suddenly he wasn’t so sure he was ready to see Connie again.  It left him conflicted because the idea of going into the biggest fight of his life without her watching his back scared him.  He didn’t have a choice though so he rode on in silence.

Jim and Chloe rode quickly, but quietly through the woods.  A rush of exhilaration swept over him.  As it always seemed to lately his mind wandered back over the past week.  He could hardly believe how nervous he was riding Buttercup before.  Chloe and Joe had out ridden him on much slower horses just because he didn’t feel comfortable.  Now as the trees flew by him he realized that nothing had ever felt more right.  Next time they raced as long as he was on Buttercup no one else would stand a chance.

As they got closer to Fort 24 Jim focused on staying alert.  His head swept both directions in front of them trying to spot anyone that might be waiting to ambush them.  He listened for the sound of movement or worse yet more gunfire.  There was no indication that anyone else was in the woods with them.  Occasionally Buttercup’s ears would perk up and she would pull to the right or the left.  Jim was learning to trust her instincts so he did his best adjusting to her queues.  He didn’t know if there was anyone out there, but he knew that if there was she was keeping them hidden.

Jim and Chloe approached Fort 24 from the West.  They stuck close the path Jim had taken on that first day when he was riding patrol with Joe, Rick, and David.  It seemed like so long ago to him now that he could not believe it was less than a week ago.  He thought about the encounter with the Ist woman and the mistake he had made that almost cost David his life.  This of course reminded him of all the mistakes he had made days later that in the end did get David killed.  With great effort he pushed the thoughts out of his mind.  He couldn’t afford to be distracted and make another mistake to put Chloe into danger.

Chloe leaned into Jim’s ear.  “We should get further off the path soon.  I don’t know the area, but we should be close and we don’t want to come over a hill in full view of the fort.”

Jim pulled Buttercup to the left and they shot off into the woods further north.  “I think I can bring us out near one of the grain silos or maybe even the barn.”  Images of the fort danced through Jim’s mind.  He tried to position the pond, animal pens, and barn in his mind.  He was thought he had them all lain out correctly, but he was sure about the largest grain silo.  It was right on the edge of the forest.  If the ladder was facing away from the fort they could climb right up and get a view from above.

Buttercup jumped over a thick brush and they found themselves out in the open with no more cover.  Jim frantically looked around trying to take the scene in.  They were about 20 feet from the largest grain silo.  He could see the fort in the distance and the barn straight ahead past the silo.  The pens were filled with animals this time and he could see people on horseback mixed in with them too.  They didn’t seem to notice them yet, but Jim knew they only had seconds.  He cut sharply to put the silo between them and the men on horseback.  They wouldn’t have cover from the fort right away, but it was the best he could do.

They came to a stop flush against the silo.  There was not a ladder on their side.  It seemed obvious to Jim that the only ladder would face Fort 24 so they could watch it.    Chloe whispered, “I was watching the fort.  I didn’t see any movement.  I couldn’t tell if there was anyone in there or not, but they don’t seem to be coming out after us.”

“I was watching the pens.  They’re full of cows and horses now.  I don’t think anyone spotted us, but there are a bunch of guys there.”  Jim noticed that Chloe was looking back and fort to both sides of the silo.  He remembered how they had gotten caught trying to sneak into Fort Massac and quickly turned away from Chloe to watch the sides of the silo as well.

“Glad to see you learned something.  Let’s try each focusing on one side though.  It will work much better that way.”  Jim blushed in embarrassment.  Once again Chloe was thinking a few steps ahead of him.  He put his back to hers and she stepped up against it until they were back to back.  “Much better.  We aren’t going to see anything like this though.  Get back on Buttercup and be ready to run.”

“What are you going to do?”  Jim noticed as he asked it that Chloe was no longer touching his back.  He turned to find her in a full run towards the side of the silo he assumed had the ladder.  The side that faced Fort 24 and could possibly be seen from the pens.  Without thinking he took off running after her.  He was relieved to find as they rounded the silo that there was smaller silo next to it blocking their view from the pens.  It would not block it all the way up though.

Chloe was already 15 feet up by the time Jim reached the bottom of the ladder.  He climbed as quickly as he could only stopping to look over his shoulder at the fort.  There wasn’t much left of the guard tower that would have faced them and Jim realized it was the one that they had caught on fire the day before.  He let out a breath of relief and then climbed the rest of the way up to join a very annoyed looking Chloe on the catwalk.

Chloe grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close.  Jim could tell that she was fighting to stay at a whisper and anger filled her tone.  “What the hell are you doing?  You’re supposed to be on Buttercup and getting ready to get out of here if this goes bad.”

“I wasn’t going to just leave you up here.”

“You weren’t supposed to.  You were supposed to be ready so if I have to run I can just slide down the ladder and jump on a horse without waiting for you to get on first.  That damn thing won’t let me anywhere near her until you’re already on.”

“So you just thought you would rush up here and put yourself in danger without even telling me?”

“I figured you’d just try to talk me out of it and we would end up fighting.  Probably draw attention to ourselves and get caught again at best.”

“So instead we have that same argument up here where we will likely draw attention to ourselves and get caught.”  As soon as he said it he realized that Chloe had not been making eye contact with him during most of their argument.  Her eyes were darting around.  She was also being quieter than he was.  “You’re looking out to make sure no one is going to come up the ladder behind me or ride in from Fort 24 aren’t you?”  She nodded.  “So continuing this argument now instead of going over and seeing what they are doing at the barn is probably just going to draw more attention to us and keep us from seeing what we need to.”

She gritted her teeth a bit.  “Fine, we can fight later.  Let’s do what we came here to and get out of here.”  She gave him a slightly friendlier look.  “If I didn’t like you so much I would push you off this roof.”

Jim smiled back.  “Then who would convince Buttercup to let you on?”

Chloe shook her head at him and then gave him a quick kiss.   “Ok so maybe I do need you for more than just making me look good.”  She let him down and moved over to the edge.  “No one is climbing up or coming out from the fort so far.  I think we’re clear for now.  Let’s go take a look.”

Jim crawled after her towards the side of the silo facing the pens.  Many of the pens were full and there were men leading more animals out of the barn.  From this angle Jim was able to make out chicken cages being loaded onto a horse drawn cart.  Four much larger carts already filled.   “I can’t quite make it out, but I think those carts are full of sheep and pigs.”

“They’re packing up the animals and getting ready to leave with them.  We have to get back to your dad and let him know what’s going on before they get away.”  The two of them crawled over to the ladder and Chloe waited for Jim to start climbing down.  She kept a lookout until he was about half way before jumping on the ladder herself.  “We need to move now.”

Jim looked over his shoulder and saw three horses coming from Fort 24 directly towards them.  He climbed down as quickly as he could and missed the last rung of the ladder in the process.  Falling backwards he tumbled to the ground doing his best to turn it into a roll and found that he was back on his feet faster than he imagined possible.  Buttercup was already running towards him and he was on her just in time for Chloe to jump from 10 rungs up and land right behind him.  She grabbed him tightly and Jim thought they might both fall off because Buttercup chose that moment to break into a run.

Jim finally managed to feel stable on Buttercup just as they reached the edge of the forest.  He spared a moment to glance back and saw that the lead man had pulled out his gun and was taking aim at them.  He pulled Buttercup sharply to the left and pulled her into a jump over the same brush that they had entered the field from.  The gunshot rang out over the open field and the bullet stuck a tree that they would have been in front of mere seconds ago.  “Too close.”

Buttercup cut seamlessly around the trees, but they could not lose the lead horseman.  The distance was growing between them and the other men, but this man was somehow keeping up.  Chloe said what Jim was beginning to fear.  “I think he’s on a GC horse.”  Jim lowered himself closer to Buttercup hoping for more speed.  “I know she’s faster than this.   Maybe it’s because she’s carrying both of us, but if we don’t get some more speed we’re never going to lose this guy.”  Jim was glad that she didn’t point out the other difference.  He simply wasn’t that good at riding a horse and while he had gotten much better he was probably doing things to slow her down.

There was a loud roar and Jim looked up to see Connie running past him.  Without realizing it he slowed Buttercup to a trot as he turned back to watch.  Connie cut to the left so she wasn’t coming directly at the man.  Her muscles rippled as she went low and then leapt into the air.  The man moved to react, but Connie had come at him too fast for him to get his gun all the way up.  Her jump was too early to hit the man full on, but she did land against his left shoulder.  Teeth bit in hard and she used her weight to help rip the man off his horse.  The man screamed for a moment but large jaws snapped down on his neck.

Jim turned away not wanting to see any more.  He knew that the cat was a hunter, but he wasn’t quite sure he would ever be able to look at her the same way after seeing it in person.  In the distance he heard the other two horses approaching.  “Come on Connie we need to get out of here.”  Connie gave a small roar, but did not follow him.  She stood facing the direction the other men were coming from.  There was a rustling to the right and Jim glanced up to see Dayton crouched down hiding by a tree.

“They’ll be fine Jim.  We have to go.  Your dad needs to know that they’ve given up the fort and are moving the animals.”

He didn’t like it, but Jim knew she was right.  He grabbed the reigns and pushed Buttercup onward.  “I hope Buttercup knows how to get to the camp, because with all the twists and turns trying to lose them I’m not sure that I do.”

“Joe!  What are you doing here?”  Jim momentarily forgot how angry he was at his father and moved to his new friend’s side.

“You didn’t think I’d let you two newbies get all the glory did you?  Danny and I got your note and I rushed straight out here.  He’s organizing the defense back at the fort.”  He held up his bag.  “I brought some food.  You two look like you haven’t eaten in a day.”

Jim thought about it for a moment and tried to remember his last meal.  His stomach growled at just the thought of food.  “I guess we haven’t and I think I’m starting to feel kind of weak from it.”

Joe tapped his bag.  “Let’s find somewhere quiet and have breakfast.  We can talk while we eat.”

Jim wanted to argue, but his stomach wouldn’t let him.  It growled louder than anything he had heard Dayton or Connie do.  “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”  He turned back to his dad.  “This argument can wait.”

Chloe and Jim followed Joe out of the tent and to a clear area on the edge of the camp.  They ate in silence for a while until Joe finally asked what was on his mind.  “Your note mentioned losing friends.  I’m afraid to ask, but I need to know.  Where’s Rick?”

Jim put down the piece of bread he was eating.  He just sat there for a moment trying to pick the words.  Chloe ended up speaking first.  “We were ambushed outside of Fort Massac.  Rick saved our lives….”  She choked up a bit.  “He didn’t make it.”

A pained look came over Joe’s face.  “I was afraid of that.”

Jim added, “David didn’t make it either. He was shot at Fort Massac.”  He didn’t know how close the boys had been, but the expression on Joe’s face convinced him that they were good friends.  Jim watched as pain and anger fought for control of Joe’s face.  He wasn’t quite sure which won.  Jim decided to change the subject.  “Did Mayor McQuery say anything else after we left?”

“He ranted about the town not understanding him and how it deserved all this.  Basically all we got out of him was that he wanted a new life so he sold the town out to a struggling town.  He convinced them that we were hording resources and that he could get troops moved around enough to let them walk right in and take what they wanted.  The Ist woman that we ran into was a family wondering through from the North.  He had Mr. Dempsey take some food from the town pantry to pay them for the ambush.  They were a distraction to pull troops off the southern border.”

“It worked,” Chloe added.

“Not as well as he thought it would though.  Since we all lived patrols were sent up there, but we didn’t go hunting as far as he wanted us to.  He came up with a backup plan to poison some of the town’s food so everyone would be too sick to fight back.  Danny killed that plan by taking his flight a few days early.  I’m not sure if Mr. Dempsy would have gone along with that anyway.  He was helping McQuery out, but he didn’t know the whole plan.  He’s a greedy bastard, but he never wanted to hurt anyone.”

Jim filled Joe in on all the events that had happened since they had last seen them.  Joe shook his head in disbelief for much of it and struggled to hold in his emotions as he heard about how his friends died.  He asked few questions as Jim told the story only wanting to know details about the fights they had lived through.  He listened intently as Jim told him about Fort 24 and what it really was.

When Jim finished Joe thought for a moment before replying.  “These people don’t really seem all that organized.  We were so scared of them in the beginning because of how hard they hit us, but after Fort Massac they didn’t have a clue what to do next.  They’ve been getting by on numbers, but when the rest of the town is called into the militia and gets here they won’t stand a chance.”

“That’s assuming they are dumb enough to stay at Fort 24,” Chloe added.

Near the end of the lunch James came out to join them.  “I thought about what you two said.  If you want to be involved I have something for you to do.  We need to know what’s going on at Fort 24 since we left.  It’s purely a scouting mission and if you’re spotted I want you to run.”

Chloe spoke first.  “Why us?  We’ll do it; I just want to know why you picked us for this.”  Jim thought she was a little too eager for the mission.

“Before the bombs they use to do something called whispering.  Basically it was a way to bond a GC to its owner.  The people at Fort 24 know how to make GCs, but there hasn’t been anyone in this area that knows how to whisper them in over 50 years.  Jim you bonded with Buttercup, Connie, and Dayton faster than I have ever seen anyone bond with a GC.  They listen to you almost as well as if they actually were whispered to you.  Buttercup is the fastest horse we have and if they have our GC horses from Fort 24 she’s the only thing we have that stands a chance of outrunning them.”

Jim thought about it for a moment.  “Yeah that makes sense.  I’m not really doing anything special with the GCs though.  Just giving them a pet or a scratch behind the ear.  They’re smart, but their still just animals and they seem to like the same things that other animals do.”

“Whatever it is it seems to be enough.  We need this information now so we can decide what our next move is.  Take Dayton and Connie to protect you and be back here as quickly as you can.  Oh, and be careful out there.  Don’t try to be heroes.  If you’re seen you run.  Have Buttercup take you as quickly as she possibly can back here.  Do you understand?”

They both replied, “Yes” and walked off together towards Buttercup.

Joe looked at James, “What about me?”

“Chloe only got to go along because I knew that she’d keep Jim safe.  The less people go the more likely we’ll keep it a secret.  We still don’t have any idea how many people they have or if more are coming.  I assume that Jim and Chloe told you about Rick and David.”

“Yes sir.”

“I also assume based on everything I have heard about you that you’re pretty pissed off right now.  I’m betting you would just love to get your hands on these guys.”

“You have no idea.”

“Good.  Then there is a man who can answer all of our questions that I would like for you to meet.  His name is Charles Davidson.”  James turned and started walking.  Joe rushed to catch up.  “I want him alive to face trial in town because that’s what Jennifer would have wanted.  She really believed in the town government.”  James stopped in front of his tent and pointed to a tree behind it.  “He’s back there, but I think you would have a much better conversation away from this noisy camp.  Take him into the woods a ways.  Do you understand what I want you to do and are you comfortable with it?”

“I understand and I’m looking forward to meeting Mr. Davidson.”

Scott took the lead through the woods.  “Standard protocol in this type of situation is to fall back to a secure distance and regroup.  They seem to only be taking pot shots and not following so I’m guessing everyone will be pretty close.”  Jim nodded silently in acknowledgement.  He realized the man wouldn’t be able to see the nod behind him, but he didn’t care. He was more than a little sick of the man’s attitude towards his father, but he had to begrudgingly admit to himself that the man knew more than he did about this kind of thing.

The group soon came out into a small clearing and was greeted by a handful of Militia with guns aimed at them.  “Drop your weapons and get your hands above your head now!”  The three did as they asked and Jim took the opportunity to look around.  There was a flurry of activity.  Militia troops were putting together a small make shift camp.  There were a few people not in uniform trying to get all the horses tied to trees in an organized manor.  Another handful of Militia near the edge of the clearing brought their weapons up and aimed them out into the woods preparing for more intruders.

James came out of one of the tents at all the sound.  “Stand down they’re with me.”  The men lowered their weapons and returned to patrolling the edge of the clearing.  A few of them continued to look over their shoulders and watch the group.  James motioned towards the tent.  “Let’s talk inside.”  Jim wanted to start screaming about being left behind right there, but decided that making a scene in front of the whole camp wouldn’t help anything.  He reached down and grabbed Chloe’s hand giving it a quick squeeze and hoping that she understood his unspoken message to stand down.  With the anger he saw on her face he was surprised that she took the queue.

Chloe stomped into the tent wordlessly and James followed her.  Jim waited for a moment and then knelt down in front of Connie and Dayton.  He reached out to scratch each of them behind their ears.  “Ok girls, you two can go play.  Be ready to come running if I scream though.”  He stood back up.  “Buttercup,” he said in a loud voice.  He didn’t yell for fear of giving away their location, but if she were close he wanted to make sure she heard him.  He heard a sound behind him and turned quickly to find Buttercups face mere inched from his own.  Jim let out a loud gasp and stumbled back falling to the ground.

Jim pushed himself up and dusted the dirt off his pants.  He was trying to ignore the laughter from others in the camp at his expense.  He moved around to the side and untied Davidson from the saddle.  The bound man slid off the horse and fell to the ground with a satisfying thud.  Jim went over to the first man who had gained his composure.  “That man needs to be tied to a tree.  We don’t want to risk him getting away.  My horse also needs to be taken care of and she is not to be tied up.”

The man looked up at Jim and gave him a grunt.  “I don’t work for you.  Do it yourself trainee.”  Then he went back to putting up the tent he was working on.  Jim just stared at the man for a moment.

Scott stepped up next to him.  “I’ll take care of it Jim.  You go ahead in to talk to your dad.”  Jim wasn’t sure why Scott was suddenly being so nice and didn’t want him to change his mind.  He thanked the man and then rushed off towards the tent.

Jim could hear Chloe’s voice before he got to the tent.  “That still doesn’t give you the right to just leave us there back there.  We’ve lost friends and we have a right to be involved in taking these people down.”  Jim entered the tent and took in the sight.  Chloe was standing right in front of James with her finger in his face.  He looked uncomfortable, but he wasn’t backing down.

“I left you there to protect you.  Neither of you have been trained for anything like this yet.  Beside Jim never wanted to be in the Militia to begin with.  This isn’t his something he’s ready for and I thought he would be happy to be given a way out.”

Jim decided that now was the time to let his anger out.  “You just don’t get it do you dad?  I understand how important the Militia is and I don’t have any problem with it.  I have a problem with being forced into training.  I don’t like not having a choice and you took the choice away from us when you rode off in the night like that.”

“I was just trying to protect you both.  You shouldn’t have to be involved in this and I should have never dragged you along from Fort Massac.”

Chloe turned from him and let out an exasperated sigh.  “You’d be dead by now if we hadn’t come along.  Plus you didn’t drag us anywhere, we chose to come along.  We’re tired of seeing our friends killed and want to do something about it.”

Jim shivered a bit as the memories of all the death he had seen in the last day came back to him.  For a moment he wished he had gone back to town so he wouldn’t’ have to see anything like that again.  “Look at this point whether you like it or not we are involved.  It’s our choice to move forward or to run away.  We could have been shot trying to catch up with you because we didn’t know what was going on.  That’s what happens when you try to cut us out.  You just put us into more danger.”

A familiar voice came from the entrance to the tent.  “Jim you’re being too hard on your dad.  He was just trying to protect you.  You have no idea the kind of pressure that must come from leading this kind of group and it has to be a distraction to be worrying about a loved one at the same time.”  Jim looked to the entrance to find Joe standing there with one shoulder bandaged and a large bag hanging over the other.  “Besides we can’t waste the time arguing about it.  Let’s get each other up to speed and then get back to killing these bastards.”

Jim called Dayton and Connie over as he untied Davidson from the tree.  His hands and feet were still bound so there wasn’t much chance that he could try to escape.  Still Jim didn’t want to take a chance.  With Chloe’s help he dragged Davison over to Buttercup and they threw him up on her back.  A few extra ropes were used to secure him so they wouldn’t have to worry too much about him falling off.

Jim was zoning out a bit trying to decide what he would say to his dad, but he could tell that Chloe was trying to talk to him.  He finally managed to clear his head and decided that he couldn’t ask what he had missed without admitting that he wasn’t listening.  “so we should ride in slow to avoid spooking anyone.  That will also let us turn and run if we find that it’s not our people.”

“Got it,” Jim said and hoped that hadn’t missed anything too important.  When Chloe climbed aboard Buttercup and wrapped her arms around him again he quit worrying for a moment and just enjoyed the feel.  He decided that no matter how many times he experienced the sensation of being up on Buttercup with Chloe holding him tight he would still be memorized each time.  He looked around the area one last time and called out, “Connie, Dayton follow us.  If he falls off feel free to eat him.”  With a whip of the reigns they were off down the path towards Fort 24.

After a few minutes Jim slowed Buttercup down to a gallop.  He tilted his head back towards Chloe.  “I haven’t heard any gunshots since we woke up.  Either the fighting is over or everyone is trying to conserve bullets.  I’m not sure which to hope for.”

They came out in a cleaning and Jim took a moment to look around.  “This was a campsite last night.  The fire is still smoldering and I can see where they pitched their tents over there.  How far do you think we are from Fort 24?”

Chloe took a minute to look around for landmarks.  “I’m not sure.  I’d never been up here until last night.  I’ve spent plenty of time at Fort Massac and out with Big Danny, but Fort 24 was off limits.  If I had to guess I’d say that it can’t be more than a few minutes ride north from here.”  Jim nodded and signaled Buttercup to continue moving.

Jim heard a whizzing sound and then a small circle on the tree next to him exploded in a shower of splinters.  Jim had to cover his eyes to avoid the debris.  “Get down” he warned as he lowered himself as close to Buttercup as he could.  He pulled left and Buttercup shot off the path and away from the gunfire.  She jumped into a small ditch and came to a stop as Jim and Chloe dismounted.  Connie and Dayton leapt after them.  “Good girl, get to safety and wait for us to call.”  Buttercup whinnied and then ran further into the woods away from them.

Jim and Chloe huddled low as more bullets hit the dirt at the top of the ditch.  “Jim, Chloe over here.”  Jim looked around for the voice and didn’t see it at first.  His eyes finally focused on a tree off to his right and a person crouched behind it.  The person was motioning for them to join him behind the tree.

“Scott is that you?”  Chloe asked.

“Yeah, talk later we have to get back to safety first.”  Jim couldn’t argue with him and since Scott seemed to know more about what was going on than he did Jim decided to take his advice.  He dropped to the ground and crawled towards the tree.  Glancing back he saw that Chloe was following him.

“What’s going on,” Jim asked.

“Your dad screwed up again.  When we left the fort they were able to get the fires out and join the rest of their people without us providing cover for ours.  They flanked us and we had to scatter into the woods. Most of them have fallen back to Fort 24 and I’m betting without us there they have probably already busted in that back door.”

“And what would we have done if we had been there other than get shot ourselves?”  Jim looked at Chloe and could see the anger in her face.

“We had the high ground on that roof.  We could have held them off for as long as we wanted, and they were too afraid of hitting Michael to risk breaking in.  We had the advantage and we gave it away.  Now what do we have?”

Jim smiled.  “We have them.”  He nodded towards the two lions that were stalking over towards them.  He leaned down to rub behind their ears.  “Ok girls it’s time to see what you can really do.  Attack.”  He pointed up towards where the gunfire was coming from and both lions ran into the woods in that direction.  Connie cut to the right and Dayton headed off to the left.  In about a second they were completely gone from sight.  After a minute they heard a scream come from the woods and the gunfire stopped.

The three of them waited listing for any further gunfire.  Finally Dayton and Connie came through the woods and down into the ditch.  Connie’s mouth and mane were covered in blood.  Dayton stalked over to Jim and dropped a gun from his mouth.  “Good Girls.  Now let’s find everyone else.”

Jim woke to the sound of birds chirping.  He looked down and saw that Chloe was still fast asleep with her head in his lap.  Dayton and Connie were still curled up next to him, but Buttercup was grazing on the other side of the path.  He became concerned as he realized that he could see all of this.  It was morning and the sun was coming up.

“Chloe wake up.”  He shook her a bit and she let out a big yawn.  “It’s morning.  Dad should have back a long time ago.”  As soon as she crawled off his lap he got to his feet as quickly as he could.  He stormed towards the path yelling, “Sam, Scott, Cookie, wake up it’s morning.”  There was no sound coming from the other side of the trail except for a faint rustling.

After a few minutes Jim walked back over to Chloe and the animals.  Chloe had pulled a mirror out of her bag and was brushing her hair back into its ponytail.  “So what’s the deal have they heard from your dad?”

“Davidson is tied to a tree, but everyone else is gone.”  He began pacing in front of Buttercup.  “Why would they leave us here?”

Chloe walked over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders to stop his pacing.  “What did Davidson have to say?”

“Nothing he’s still gagged.”

She smiled at him.  It was a sweet smile with a tint of humor to it.  “You know you could take the gag off.  Someone had to take him off the back of Richard’s horse and tie him to the tree.  He was probably still awake when everyone left.”

“Oh I didn’t think of that.”

She smiled and then kissed him on the cheek.  “I know you didn’t.  That’s just one of the things I find cute about you.  Come on, let’s see what he knows.”  She grabbed him by the hand and led him across the trail to the tree Davidson was tied to.

Jim reached down and pulled the gag out of his mouth.  “Ok where did everyone go and how along ago did they leave?”

Davidson spit towards him, but Jim took a step back and avoided it.  “Why should I tell you two anything?  Last time I tried to talk to you I ended up having that gag shoved in my mouth.”

Jim moved forward, but Chloe put her hand over his chest to stop him.  She sat her bag on the ground and pulled a large knife out of it.  For a moment she stood there running her hand up and down the side of the knife carefully avoiding the blade.  “If you just think back a little bit further in that conversation I believe you will remember me telling you that if you didn’t answer I would cut off your balls.”

“You’re bluffing.  You’re tough don’t get me wrong, but you ain’t got it in you to mutilate someone.”

She moved close to him with the knife in hand and knelt down.  “I don’t bluff.  I’m a terrible liar and people tend to see right through it.”  She brought the knife down across his chest cutting through cloth and flesh.  A trickle of blood started to flow from the cut.  She ran the knife up and down his cut coating it in blood but taking care not to cut him further.  “It means I have to do things I don’t care for sometimes.  Now where did everyone go?”

Davidson turned to Jim with a desperate look on his face.  “This bitch is crazy.  You have to get her away from me.”  He pulled against the ropes trying to get free, but they were tight and barely gave enough slack to struggle.

Jim put his hand on Chloe’s shoulder and she let him pull her back.  As soon as she was a safe distance away Jim spun back around using his momentum to drive his fist into the side of Davidson’s face.  “I’m tired of having to jump through hoops before you’ll talk and I’m not doing it anymore.”  He grabbed him by the collar and smacked him back against the tree bouncing his head against the bark.  “You’re the bastard that killed my mom.  I never knew her because of you so if you think I’m going to stand here and listen to your shit every time we have a question for you…”  Jim was choking up a bit and finished his sentence with another punch to Davidson’s face.

Chloe was standing there watching Jim with a raised eyebrow.  Jim thought he heard a gasp come from her the first time he punched Davidson, but he couldn’t be sure.  He looked at her as he stood back up straight.  He walked past Chloe towards Buttercup.  “Kill him, but cut his balls off first.”

Davidson was panicking again.  “Wait, I’ll talk.”  Jim paused and turned back to him.  “Your dad came back by himself right after you two went over to the bushes.  He gathered everyone up, but when he saw you two asleep he told them to let you be.  He said he’d feel better in the fight without worrying about you getting hit.  They tied me to this tree and rode off up the trail.

Chloe shoved the gag back in Davidson’s mouth and then joined him at Buttercup.  “I thought I was supposed to be the bad guy and you were supposed to go easy on him.”

“He doesn’t deserve it.  He get’s bad and worse.”

“That was a pretty good bluff asking me to kill him.  I almost thought you meant it.”

Jim looked at her.  “It wasn’t much of a bluff.  That bastard needs to die.  Dad may want it to be public, but I don’t care when or where it happens.  I just know I can’t bring myself to do it with him tied up like that.”

Chloe started packing her things back into her backpack.  “Well Jim what do you want to do from here?   I’m voting that we head up the trail back towards Fort 24.  I want to know what we missed.  If you want to take Davidson back into town or go check on Big Dan to avoid going back into a fight we could do that too.  We just have the one horse and it will only listen to you so I guess that means it’s your choice.”  Jim could tell there was a bit of resentment to her tone.

“I don’t want to get any further messed up in what’s going on at Fort 24, but my dad’s there and I’ll worry until I know he’s ok.  Plus I also don’t care for him taking the choice out of my hands and just moving on without us.”  Jim looked back at the tree.  “I think we should try to catch up with them, but no matter where we go we’re not leaving him here.  I’m not going to give him any chance at all to escape.”

Chloe looked relieved.  “Alright then let’s go give your dad a piece of our minds.”

As Jim climbed up on Buttercup he realized that he felt safer with her around.  He couldn’t quite explain it, but things just seemed to make more sense when he was sitting up in the saddle.  Having never had a horse of his own he wondered if it was like this with all horses or if she was special because she was a GC.

He pulled Buttercup’s reigns tight and enjoyed the feel of Chloe’s arms as they slid around his waist.  With the extra people from Fort 24 there were not enough horses to go around so everyone had to double up.  Chloe had wanted to control the horse, but every time she went to climb on Buttercup would move to Jim and lower herself down for him to hop up first.  Jim found it very endearing that she seemed to be picking him, but Chloe just found it annoying.  Finally she agreed to let Jim have the front and Buttercup didn’t mind letting her climb up behind him.  He just smiled gratefully as he reached up to pet her mane.  She may have belonged to the Militia, but she was his horse.

The five horses were just enough to fit all ten of them.  This was in question at first because Cookie’s size was just large enough that they weren’t sure if Richard would fit on the horse with him.  James took Michael with him and lead the group into the woods.  As usual Jim took the rear following the brothers.  Dayton and Connie ran on either side of Buttercup because she was the only horse that didn’t panic at the site of them.

As the fort vanished behind them Jim couldn’t help but wonder what they would have done if there had been just one more survivor at the fort.  He then remembered that Bill Turner was still back there.  He knew that there wasn’t anything that he could have done for the man, but it still felt wrong just leaving him.  He might have seemed like a jerk, but this was the man that raised Buttercup.  Jim decided then that if there was anything he could do to help rescue him he would do it.

James led the group through the woods back the way they had originally come.  When they found the road he slowed them down to a trot.  Finally with a hand motion he stopped the group.  Then he rode ahead with Michael towards where the reinforcements from Metropolis should have been gathered.  He was afraid of spooking them by coming in full speed with five horses.  James had told them that a twitchy trigger finger would be less likely to shoot a single approaching target.  Jim hoped that he was right.

Ten minutes passed as the group waited.  Most of them got off their horses and sat on the side of the road, but Jim and Chloe stayed on Buttercup.  The adrenaline was finally wearing off and it had been a long and exhausting day.  Jim yawned and Chloe smacked him in the shoulder.  “No yawning, you’ll make me do it.”  She let out a big yawn of her own and then gave him another playful smack on the shoulder.  “See, what did I tell you.”

Jim wanted to laugh, but found that he was just too tired.   His head bobbed down a bit and he had to jerk it back up.  In the quick motion he lost his balance and almost fell off the horse.  If Chloe hadn’t been holding him tightly he probably would not have recovered.  “I think maybe we should hop down too.”  He didn’t want to suggest it because he was really enjoying the feel of her arms wrapped around his waist.  The thought of breaking something in a fall off Buttercup outweighed the content he was feeling in that moment.

“You’re probably right.  I don’t know how many times I can catch you.”  She laughed a little before sliding off the horse and offering her hand up to Jim.  “Come on; let’s go sit by that tree.”  He dismounted and followed her over to a tree not too far off the road.  It was a large oak just out of sight of the others.  As he sat down Jim found it hard to keep his eyes open.

Chloe gave Jim a quick kiss and then lay down on the ground looking up with her head in his lap.  He found himself mindlessly stroking her hair.  “I thought I would have a good view of the stars from here, but all I can see are tree branches and leaves.”  She chuckled a little bit.  “Well that and I can see right up your nose.”

Jim felt at once self conscious and pulled his head away from the tree to look down at her.  He was still tired, but found himself slightly more awake now.   He started to say something, but found himself just staring into her eyes.  Even without any real light around he could swear that they shined.  “What exactly do we have between us here?  Are we a couple now?”

She looked up at him and smiled.  “You always have to make things difficult don’t you?  I like you.  You like me.  We’re in a really rough situation here and because of that we’ve let our guards down.  For now just enjoy it.  After things are back to normal then you can overanalyze it.”

“I guess you’re right.”  He leaned down to kiss her.

She leaned up part of the way and whispered.  “I can still see up your nose.”  He instinctively tried to pull back, but she grabbed him by the back of the neck and gave him a long deep kiss before laying her head back down.  This time she looked away from him and towards the road.  She reached up and took his hand in hers and pulled it to her chest just over her heart.

Connie and Dayton wondered over the tree.  Dayton came up on Jim’s right side and curled up into a ball pressed against his side.  Connie lay on the ground a few feet from them staring at the road.  She rested her head in her paws.  The ground may have been hard and the tree may have been scratching his back, but Jim realized that it was the most comfortable he has ever been.  There in the darkness with the occasional distant sound of gunfire the four of them fell fast asleep.

“There seems to be another stalemate out there.”  Richard walked into the room with Michael behind him.  “Both sides lost some men, but now they’re all under cover just taking occasional pot shots at each other.  The people inside the fence here are all too busy fighting the fires so they don’t lose their hiding spots to worry about helping their people.”

James turned to talk to them.  “I thought Davidson here could be used as a hostage if they didn’t just scatter, but I guess everything has changed now.  He claims that he’s not their leader, and with that stalemate I’m not sure it even matters.”  James sighed and walked over to the map spread across the table.  He stared at it thoughtfully for a few moments.  “Wait a minute.  Did you say they were ALL fighting the fires?”

“Pretty much.  Why?”

“What about the ones back here?”  He pointed to the side of the map where they had come into the fort.  “We didn’t throw anything back there so are they around front now too?”

The man thought for a moment.  “You know I’m not sure, but I think it is clear out there.  Wait here I’ll check.”  With that the man was out the door and running down the hall.

James turned to face everyone else.  “Ok, gather everyone and any GCs at the back door.  If it’s really clear we’re going to rush back the way we came and try to meet up with the reinforcements.  I don’t want to risk them burning this place down with us inside.”

Michael laughed a bit.  “You do realize that this is a brick and metal building.  It would be pretty hard to burn down.  I’m all for getting out of here though.  I don’t like all the shooting and won’t be comfortable until I’m no where near it.”

Jim pointed to Davidson.  “What about him?  He would slow us down or yell for help when we opened the door.  If we leave him in here he might get free.”  He looked from his father to Chloe.  “I’m not going to just let you shoot a tied up man either.  He needs to be dragged back to town and put on trial.”

Chloe started to say something, but James cut her off.  “No Chloe, Jim’s right.  I want nothing more than to shoot this son of a bitch in the head, but there are others in town that have suffered at his hands too.  He needs to die, but I’m not going to take the moment away from those families.  You two find a way to gag him and see if you can tie him up on Connie’s back.  She should be strong enough to carry him without being slowed too much.  Michael come with me and let’s see if I can patch things up with Sam and Scott.”  James left the room with Michael following close behind.

Jim grabbed another bundle of ropes and started tieing Davidson back up tighter.  He noticed that the man was staring at Chloe the whole time.  It bothered him so he made  a point to pull the ropes extra tight.  When he was done he began rooting around in the cabinets looking for something to gag the man with.  He found a couple roles of some sort of gray tape that he had never seen before.  It seemed strong, but a bit rubbery.  While he wasn’t sure what the original purpose was the tape would do exactly what he needed here.

Jim unwound a foot of the tape and moved towards Davidson’s mouth.  The man spoke quickly trying to get the words out while he still could.  “Hey Girlie.  I’ve been thinking that you looked familiar for a while now.  I finally figured it out.  I think I knew your mom too a long time back.”

“Do it Jim, I don’t want to hear another word this piece of filth has to say.”  Chloe turned away and wouldn’t look the man in the eye.  She wrapped her arms around her chest just under her breasts and held herself tightly.  The room was silent except for the sound of tape being wrapped around the man’s head.

Chloe stood at the far end of the room looking down at the floor.  She was shifting her weight back and forth between her feet.  Jim didn’t say anything as he walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders.  She lay her head sideways against his.  “Thanks.  I never met my mom and I don’t know anything at all about her.  If he did know her… well I don’t want to find out something horrible from him.  I’d rather hear it from my dad.”

“I understand.”  He just stood there holding her for a moment.  “We need to get going.  We still need to tie him up on Connie and find out if there are any other GCs inside that we need to get out.”

“There are, but they won’t be any trouble.”  Michael’s voice startled the two and Chloe smiled at how far Jim jumped.  “I read once that people used to use birds to deliver messages in war time.  I thought it was a wonderful idea and if we could have birds fly our messages between forts we wouldn’t need to drag patrols out so often.  I’ve only got two at the moment.  I call them Hermes and Iris.”

Jim cocked his head.  “Those are names from Greek Myth.  I thought I was the only one in town who ever read those books at the library.”

“You probably are.  I made those copies from the originals.  In the early days after the bombs they were desperately trying to take every electronic book they had and get it written down while they still could.  The Greek Myth books in the library were copies made from actual books found here.  Turns out one of the scientists was a collector and had a bookshelf full of history and mythology books.  He believed in knowing what had come before to avoid past mistakes.”

Chloe’s eyes seemed to light up.  “I would love to see that collection sometime.”

“If we live through this I would be more than happy to go through each book with you and tell you what I know.  For now though let’s go set the birds free.  They’re trained to fly out to Big Danny’s fort so we can send them a message if you like.”

“How long can the message be,” Chloe asked.

“The tube I attach to their legs is pretty small.  There are two of them though so a couple sheets of paper probably.   I think we have some left up here in that drawer on your left.”

Jim opened the drawer and found an old journal inside.  He flipped through and noticed that most of the pages had been torn out already and all the pages left were blank.  He torn out a single sheet and grabbed a pencil from the drawer as well.  He set the paper on the countertop and began writing.

Dear Dan.

I hope this message reaches you in time.  Don’t trust anyone in Militia uniforms unless you know them.  The town has been invaded by outsiders and they took Fort Massac first to get our uniforms.  We took it back, but lost friends in the process.  Now they are focused on Fort 24.  That’s where we are at the moment.  If Joe is still there please take care of him and don’t let him try to come join us.

Jim

Jim finished writing the letter and handed it over to Michael.  He rolled the sheet up into a small tube shape.  “Ok, I’ll go get the birds ready then.”  He turned and walked back out the door.

Chloe was gathering what extra rope they had in the room.  “Do you really think that we can tie him on to Connie?  I’m just not seeing how that’s going to work.”

“I’m not sure either.  I thought about having her pull him, but he probably wouldn’t survive the trip up the hill.  Maybe we should just start by throwing him on Connie’s back and seeing how that works.”  He whistled and yelled, “Here Connie.”  A few moments later the large lion trotted back into the room.

Jim and Chloe tried every way they could think to tie Davidson onto Chloe.  They started with wrapping him around her middle, but he kept sliding down under her belly where he would drag the ground.  Next they tried putting him on her long wise on his back, but he was just too tall.  Finally they tried to wrap his arms around her neck and dangle his legs loose.  That one came closest to working, but he fought back and even tried to choke Connie.  After all these setbacks they realized that they just didn’t have a way to make it work.  She was a Lion not a horse.

Chloe let out a loud sigh.  “So if we can’t have her carry him, and we can’t leave him here can I just go ahead and shoot him now?”  Jim looked at her with a hard stare.  “Jeez relax I’m just kidding.   Well mostly.”  She threw her rope on the floor.  “This can’t be that difficult.  We have to just be over thinking it.”

Michael walked in pushing a few boxes on a metal device.  It had two wheels on the bottom, a flat area for stacking things on a handle to push when it was leaning back.  Jim and Chloe stared at it for a moment until finally show spoke.  “What is that thing you are pushing the boxes around on?”

“Oh this?  It’s called a dolly.  I wanted to hide some of my work in these cabinets in case they got in.”

Jim laughed a bit.  “When you finish could we borrow that?”

“Sure I guess.  I’m pretty much done with it now.”

In about five minutes Jim and Chloe had Davidson tied, taped, and even belted tightly against the dolly.  He tried to struggle against it at first, but after they let him fall on his face with no hands to catch himself he decided to calm down.   They weren’t sure how it would work on grass, but figured if they both pulled they could keep it moving pretty well.  They stood back and admired the solution they had come up with.

It was about this time that James walked back in.  He took one look at the bundled Davidson and broke out laughing.  He grabbed his stomach and bent over grabbing the wall to keep his balance.  “Oh, that is ridiculous.  I love it.”  He wiped a tear from his eye and managed to stand back up straight.  “Ok wheel him along.  Everyone is gathered at the back door and ready to go.”

They followed James down the hall wheeling Davidson behind them.  Everyone was waiting at the end ready for a fight including the two lions.  Jim glanced in the bird cage and noticed that the other bird had a message too.  James saw his son staring at it.  “I wrote a message for Big Dan too.  Hopefully at least one of our messages will make it there.”  Jim just nodded at his dad.

“James put his back to the door and faced the crowd.  “Ok everyone this is it.  I’m going to open this door and lead the group across the courtyard.  Michael is going to open the bird cages and let the birds out before following behind with Connie and Dayton.  Everyone needs to run quickly in case they notice us.  I don’t know if Stan is still in the woods and I’m not sure if our horses will be waiting or not.  Either way we regroup over the hill unless we are being chased.  Any questions?”

Everyone just shook their heads.  “Alright then.  Here we go.”  James opened the door and took off running across the courtyard.  Michael opened the bird cages while everyone else started piling through the door.  Jim watched as the two birds flew over his head and took to the sky.  He and Chloe will dragging the dolly holding Davidson behind them as they ran.  He made a point not to look for guards and just ran as fast as he could.  Michael brought up the rear as the group raced over the courtyard, through the fence, and up the hill.

The dolly was not as easy as Jim and Chloe thought it would be.  They had to pull harder as it hit the grass.  A few bumps early on almost made the thing turn over entirely.  Overall it was a useful tool, but it certainly wasn’t made for situations like this one.  They had dealt with worse in the last day though so through sheet determination they dragged Davidson with them into the clearing.

Jim looked up and was filled with relief.   Buttercup and all the other horses were still tied to trees at the corner of the clearing.  Stan was on the hill with his gun aimed down, but he had not fired yet.  It seemed like for once a plan was actually going exactly as they had intended and Jim couldn’t help but kick himself for thinking that.  He relaxed a bit though and realized that they still had to circle around without being caught, figure out which set of reinforcements were theirs and make it to them without either group shooting them on site.  There were still plenty of ways things could go bad.

Jim caught up with Connie just as she pulled Davidson into the kitchen.  He followed a few steps behind and grabbed the extra rope he had laid out on the counter.  After about a minute Davidson was tied tightly into a chair.  He tried to struggle at first, but a few well timed growls from Connie seemed to take the fight out of him.

James walked in with Chloe right behind him.  “It’s getting nasty out there.  Seems our backup arrived at the same time another group of his people did.  Now its just chaos as they try to kill each other.”  James grabbed a chair and sat on it facing Davidson.

Jim watched his dad carefully not sure what he would do next.  James had lost control on the roof looking at this man through binoculars.  There was no telling what he would do when face to face with him.  Jim worried that they wouldn’t get any information out of this man before his father snapped and killed him.  He decided to change the subject to stall for time until someone else got there. “I thought we weren’t getting help until morning.”

James just stared at the man so Chloe answered him.  “So did we.  They had lamps and torches to light their way though.  I guess daddy was too worried about us to wait.”  She walked over to Jim and gave him a big hug.  She leaned into his ear.  “Whatever else happens now you remember that you did good out there.”  She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

After a few moments James broke the silence.  His voice came out deep and growling.  He got louder with each word.  “Why are you here Davidson?  Why have you come back to Metropolis?  What is your plan?”  James pulled his pistol out in a blur of motion and pressed it into the side of Davison’s head.  “Talk damn you.”

Davidson laughed.  The sound chilled Jim a bit, but he fought through it.  “You actually think I have a plan?  You think I’m leading these men?  No you humiliated me and took one of my eyes.  No one would follow me after that.  If that wasn’t bad enough; do you have any idea how hard it is to relearn your aim after losing an eye?”

“You killed my wife and had her head delivered to me.  Do you think I’m going to feel sorry for you?”  James reached back and punched him so hard he almost knocked the chair over.  While it was rocking he gripped him by the shirt and pulled him close.  “I’m only going to ask you one more time.  What was your plan for Fort 24?  What did you possibly hope to gain?  Even if you and your men took it there just aren’t enough men here to hold it.”

Davidson laughed again.  “You really aren’t listening.  I don’t have a plan because I’m not in charge.  I’m just another grunt.  After the Fort was locked down our leader took off with over half our men to take care of the patrols.  He left me in charge of the group here, but it could have been anyone.”

“You’re lying.  You’re just trying to save your own life.”

“You already said it yourself.  I killed your wife and had her head delivered to you.  There’s no way we’re both walking away from this one.  You’re either going to shoot me or I’m going to get free and shoot you.  It just amuses the hell out of me that you’ve got me built up to be some big mastermind when my entire life has been falling apart since running into you.”  He chuckled.  “I was actually worried about coming into town because of you, but you’re as pathetic as I am now aren’t you?”

James reached back to hit him again, but Jim grabbed his arm and stepped in.  James gave him a harsh look, but stepped away and let Jim take his seat.  “Ok fine let’s say you are just a grunt.  That doesn’t mean you don’t know anything.  What were your orders and who gave them?  You can’t expect us to believe that you were left in charge here without orders.”

“You’re his boy aren’t you?  Yeah you have her eyes.   I wonder if you will scream like she did when I…”

James leapt past Jim shoving him to the ground in the process.  His hands wrapped around Davidson’s throat and the chair shattered under the impact as he was driven into the floor.  His hands were still tied, but his legs were now free and he took advantage by bringing his knee up in a strike to the crotch.  James let out a cry of pain and when his hands came off his neck Davidson took it as a chance to head butt him in the chest.  With the wind knocked out of him it was not difficult to roll James off onto the ground.

Davidson tried to stand, but found it difficult to do without free hands.  He made it into a sitting position and rocked back and forth trying to get his feet under him.  If he could get into a kneel or get to a wall for leverage he might be able to stand.  The muscles of his arms strained against the ropes and sweat poured from his face.

All this only took a few seconds before Chloe’s boot spun around and hit him right in the face.  It was a strong kick and he smacked back on the floor sliding a few inches from the impact.  Jim had just managed to get to his own feet when Chloe had pushed past him and spun in such a fluid motion that he might have admired it if he wasn’t desperately reaching for a wall to avoid another fall to the floor.  She grabbed him by the shirt and looked straight into his eyes.

“Stay down.  I’m sick and tired of all these stupid mind games today.  I want answers and I want them now.”  His mouth moved to spit in her face, but she was too fast and punched him in the face.  “Maybe you didn’t hear me.  I said I want answers.  A couple of my friends died today and you are going to tell me why.”  She pulled a knife our from behind her back and pushed it against his crotch.  “If you don’t tell me I’m going to cut your balls off and then ask again.”

The man hacked and struggled to get his breathe.  “Ok, I’ll talk.  What do you want to know?”

“Where do these men come from and why are they here?”

“They come from a National Guard base outside of the Paducah.  You people don’t know how good you have it here.  They weren’t farmers and their leaders took off to check on family when the bombs dropped.  They took in everyone they could from the surrounding towns, but the only way they could feed them was learning to raid other towns.  These people grew up in that always struggling and never knowing when the next meal would come.  They’ve known about you for years, but haven’t been strong enough to raid.”

Jim had stabilized himself and was helping his dad up.  “What changed?  If they’ve been too afraid why would they suddenly change their minds.”

James grunted in pain and leaned against a wall for support.  “McQuery.  The bastard reached out to them and told them about the GC plant.  They figured that they could take the CGs and eat well for a while.  Probably sell the ones they didn’t eat for money.”

“Close, but oh so short sighted.  Yeah they wanted the CGs, but the plant was more important.  Why take a few CGs when you can take all the stuff you need to make more?  They scrapped all the vehicles they could and sold them to Linden for the money to pay off McQuery.  He was supposed to set everything up.    I don’t know all the details, but most of it worked out fine.  Fort Massac was almost empty and we had no problem getting the uniforms.  When we got up here there were way too many people and patrols.  The key wasn’t where he said it would be either.  We saw the plane he was supposed to signal us with, but it’s like he only did half what he promised.”

Chloe let him go and stood back up.  “So why didn’t you just bust the door down or start some manageable fires?  You had enough men out there to force your way in.”

Jim answered before Davidson could.  “Because they didn’t want to hurt Michael.  They have no idea how this stuff works and when they realized they killed two of the men that did they couldn’t risk any more.  This place is useless if you don’t understand it.”

“Your kid’s smarter than you James.  The only reason you’re all still alive is because we need the people that work here just as much as the stuff.  We don’t even know what to take let alone how to use it.  My guess though is that if our men win the shootout with your backup they’ll just cut their losses.  Take what GCs they can and burn this place to the ground to keep you from making more.  I already decided to do that, but didn’t have the authority to order it.”

James finally looked like he was steady and looked much calmer than he had in a while.  “So everything fell apart for them because Danny got that plane ready a few days early.  They moved before McQuery was ready for them to.  Now they’re bound to be desperate and that makes them even more dangerous.”

Two flaming glass bottles flew off the roof and smacked into their targets.  The first hit a small pile of wooden boxes covered by a tarp.  As it impacted the glass shatters a small blanket of fire spread out lighting up the night.  The second glass bottle landed on the ground.  It was just past the box on its left.  The flames burnt quickly, and left only two directions anyone standing behind the box could go to get away from the flames.  Both directions were out in the open.

Another bottle smashed into the side of the guard tower.  The flames rolled down the side and soon one entire side of the frame was ablaze.  Normally fires might not spread this fast, but it had been a hot dry summer so far.  All the wood and underbrush had become very dry and were making for very good kindling.  The man stationed in the guard tower was realizing that as he frantically tried to find a way out.

Jim was watching all of this from the front door of Fort 24.  The reinforced door had a little sliding slot on it to allow people inside to verify who was on the other side of the door before letting them in.   Jim had been nervous about being spotted so he wouldn’t open the slot all the way, but it was cracked enough that he could see through.  He saw panic forming outside the door, but he still did not see a man with an eye patch.

Connie growled at the door and looked up at Jim.  He reached down and scratched behind her ears.  “Not yet girl.  Just a little longer.”  Connie purred a bit at his pet, but Jim could see that her muscles were still tense.  She didn’t like the sounds that were coming from the other side of the door.  Jim wondered if she smelled the smoke and was reacting to that as well.

Jim had wanted to bring both Lions to the front door, but Michael talked him out of it.  Michael had explained that if someone got in the front door during this plan and shut it behind them they wouldn’t have either Lion left to protect them.  It would also be a huge loss to lose both of what could be the only GC lions left in the world.  Jim didn’t want to see anything happen to either of them, but thought that they would stand a better chance if they went out together.  That was when Michael gave him a new plan that was even better than what he and Chloe had come up with.

Jim continued to watch everyone running around trying to avoid the fire.  The people on the roof were not firing because they wanted to make sure everyone was out in the open and not trying to hide from gunfire.  He just had to be patient and wait for Davidson to show himself.  Finally as the legs of the guard tower gave way he had to run free of his hiding spot to avoid debris.

Jim swung the door open, rose his handing pointing towards Davidson, and screamed as loud as he could “Connie fetch!”  The large animal moved faster than Jim could have ever imagined.  It ran close to the ground and than leapt through the air coming down on top of Davidson.  The man tried to scream, but the lion had knocked the wind out of him with its impact.  Connie roared loudly and brought her teeth down on Davidson’s neck.  It didn’t bite though, it just held him in place for a moment.  “Fetch,” Jim yelled again.  The lion paused for a moment, then grabbed the man in her teeth and started dragging him back towards the door.

The Lion’s roar was heard throughout the courtyard.  Some men turned and ran from the fort, some men held their ground remaining hidden, but a few came into the open and aimed their guns at the large animal.  Gunshots rang out from the roof and bullets rained down on the men.  Jim could only assume that it was his dad and Chloe shooting because people were falling to their shots at an alarming rate.

Jim held the door open as Connie dragged Davidson through it.  The Lion dragged the struggling man into the hall.  Jim went to close the door, but paused as he saw more people approaching the fort.  From the direction of the Fortress of Solitude a group of horseback was riding very quickly towards them.  From the direction of the town Jim could see torches coming out of the forest.  They were moving slowly and Jim suspected that they were on foot.  He couldn’t tell for sure which side either group was on yet so he closed the door and latched it.

Jim looked at Davidson who was struggling and failing to get out from under the large lion.    “Good Girl.”  Jim rubbed his hand over Connie’s head giving her quick energetic pets.  She looked up and licked his face.  Her tongue was rough against his face and felt kind of like sandpaper.  He noticed that she put more weight on the man when she leaned up to lick him so Jim let her have one more lick before stepping back.

Davidson was waving his arms wildly trying to get up, but the weight of Dayton was just too much to overcome.  Jim thought about having Dayton drag him back to the kitchen, but realized there was something he wanted to do first.  Jim moved quickly and kicked Davidson in the side with all his strength.  The man let out a grunt and the Lion pressed harder against him.  “Stay down you son of a bitch,” Jim yelled at the man as he kicked him in the temple.

Jim grabbed a rope he had left on the floor and walked towards Davidson to tie him up.  The fight seemed to have been taken out of the man either by the kick to the face or the weight of the Lion on his back.  With no difficulty at all Jim was able to securely tie the man up.  He rubbed Connie’s head again.  “Kitchen,” he said and watched as Connie dragged the man down the hall.  Jim started to follow, but he spared a moment to look at the door and wonder what was going on outside.

After a few minutes the group had 6 bottles filled with a clear liquid that Michael had sworn to them was the most flammable thing in the fort.  Chloe had asked for more, but they just didn’t have any more bottles.  She had them grab a shirt and rip it into large bundles and strips.  Each bottle got one strip dipped into it with a bundle wrapped around that stuck into the opening.  The rest of the strip was left hanging over the top.  The Militia man that had been stationed on the roof was helping her.  Jim decided that he would ask the man’s name at the next available opportunity.

Everyone else seemed to be keeping busy too.  James was walking along the edge of the roof making an effort to keep out of the line of fire.  He had been gathering the positions of everyone on the ground and what they were hiding behind.  He noted that the back gate they had run in though was now closed and locked with men in the north guard towers.  Bill Turner was still tied up in a cart out front.  Stan had helped Sam down the ladder and they were well on their way to the infirmary.   Sam had protested the entire time that he was fine, but his shirt being soaked in blood seemed to lose the argument for him.

Jim wasn’t sure how he could help, but he didn’t want to get in anyone’s way either.     He had never seen his dad lose it like he had a few minutes ago.  Chloe seemed to have things well in hand and Jim had to admit to a bit of jealousy as she laughed at something the unnamed militia man said.  He rethought his earlier decision and came to the conclusion that he didn’t want to know the man’s name after all.

“Something doesn’t add up here.”  Everyone turned to look at Jim.  “They outnumber us, but they aren’t trying to get in the doors.  Mostly they’re just hiding behind stuff.  They have to know we have help coming.  So why aren’t they doing anything?”  No one answered him.  “I think that their whole plan fell apart.  They’re confused and don’t know what the next step is.”

James spoke first.  “Even if that’s true we’re still outmanned and outgunned.  They might be a little disorganized, but they still have someone calling the shots.  Don’t think for a second that they won’t find a way to get in before our help gets here.”

“That’s just it dad, they should have already.  I think they’re afraid of hurting Michael.  What could they possibly know about running this place without him?  They killed the other two scientists so he is the only one left.  They only started shooting at the building when we shot them.  If they know anything about Michael they probably know that he won’t shoot a gun.  If someone’s shooting it isn’t him so they can shoot back.”

Chloe smiled.  “Let’s say you’re right.  They’ve had our number all along until now. If this isn’t some big conspiracy anymore than taking out the guy calling the shots could break up the rest of them.”

“Exactly.  When we start throwing those things instead of just going for chaos we should throw them somewhere to make Davidson come out in the open.  Why not let the lions out too just to help scare them?”

Chloe ran across the roof to Jim and wrapped her arms around him.  She gave him a quick kiss.  “With thinking like that we might just survive this after all.  Go share the plan with Michael and get everyone else ready.”  She pointed to the glass bottles on the ground.  “Your dad and I will figure out where we need to throw these to get Davidson out in the open.”  She pointed at the unnamed Militia Man.  “Richard will be our messenger when everyone is in place.”

Jim tried to hide his smile and rushed down the ladder.  He ran off through the halls looking for Michael.  He knew that the fighting was about to start again, but there was a calm about him because he was sure that this was finally the end of it.  They had a plan and even though they were outnumbered he knew deep down that nothing more could possibly go wrong.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record I wanted to thank everyone again for reading and commenting.  Your comments, e-mails, and tweets really do help to keep me energized.  The editing comments also are a big help.  When I started this project I had two editors looking over the story before I put them out.  Due to the rigors of real life after a few releases I lost the editor that was good at catching these little grammar issues.  I am grateful to still have my wife editing for content and consistency, but she will be the first to admit that grammar is not her forte.

So what does Skies of Glass: Metropolis hold for 2011?  This story will continue for another 4 months or so.  I may increase the word count of the weekly releases to shorten this time.  Once it is completely released there will be quite a bit of editing and reformatting before making it available in PDF, EPUB, and possibly other formats.  I am contemplating a podiobook release as well if there is interest.  There are other future projects that may give further glimpses into the city’s past and future.  Your feedback at this stage can greatly impact the direction future releases take.

New Years has provided the typical look back at what has come and forward at what will.  For now though my focus is on now and making sure that I don’t get off track with the crazy holidays and the backlog that comes with it.  So thank you all again and I hope you have been enjoying reading the story as much as I have been enjoying writing it.

Jim glanced at Chloe a few times on the way to the roof, but looked away each time before making eye contact.  He couldn’t really argue with her comments, but he also didn’t know how he was supposed to react to them.  He wondered if he should be more concerned about her willingness to kill or her assessment of him.  Finally he decided that her mindset would help them survive and focused on her thoughts about him.

The Group went back to the door that they had first come into the fort through.  His dad opened one of the doors in the hallway and Jim was surprised to see a ladder on the other side of it.  At the top of the ladder was a hatch.  James climbed the ladder with the rest of the Militia men with him.  Jim held the door open and looked up at Chloe.  “After you.”  He let his eyes meet her this time.  She stepped up to him and kissed him quickly before grabbing the ladder and climbing up.

Jim felt immediately better and as he climbed up the ladder behind her enjoying the view.   All his concerns about her comments left his mind.  As he realized how easily he was being distracted he felt a bit shallow.  That didn’t stop him from watching her though.  He could have sworn she glanced back at him when she got near the top.

By the time Jim came out James was already standing at the edge looking through his binoculars.  He was leaning against a 3 foot wall that framed the roof.  The roof had many large metal devices on it and rows of shiny black metal squares.  He wasn’t sure what any of it was for.  “Damn it, I see Turner tied up in the back of that cart.”  His dad’s head swept back and forth surveying the scene.  He looked at a man Jim had to assume had already been on the roof.  “Any idea who their leader is?”

The man pointed out to a section of the courtyard.  “There that guy with a patch over one of his eyes.  He seems to be giving the orders.”

James turned his head to look in the direction the man has pointed.  He immediately froze and Jim could see the muscles in his shoulders tense up despite how dark it was.  “I can’t believe that son of a bitch would sell us out to him.”  James turned around and threw the binoculars against the roof shattering them as they impacted.  He pulled the gun from his back and before anyone could react he was at the edge of the roof firing wildly.  Jim thought he could hear him screaming through the sound of the gun.

“What the hell?” Scott asked as he stepped away from James.

The gun clicked empty and everyone had to dive for cover as return fire shattered bricks along the edge of the roof.  Jim crawled over to his dad who was already reloading his gun.  “What the hell are you doing?  Have you lost it?”  He had to yell to be heard over the gunfire and the ringing in his ears.  “What happened to the plan?”

“That son of a bitch with the eye patch is Davison.  He’s the man who killed your mom.”  James crawled over and popped his head up over the edge of the roof just long enough to get a few more shots off before taking cover again.  The rest of the militia men and Chloe joined him.

Jim lay there stunned.  He knew the basic story of how his mother had been killed, but his dad would never talk about it.  James had done something to anger a particularly organized band of Ists and they had repaid him by killing Jim’s mom on their way out.  They hadn’t just killed her though.  That wasn’t enough.  They sent a messenger as far into town as he could get to call James out.  When James came out to meet him the man pulled her head out of a bag on the side of the horse and tossed it to him.  They never found the rest of the body.

Jim had been traumatized by the story the first time he heard it.  He went straight to his dad and asked him if it was true never imaging that it actually was.  James told him that for the most part it was, but he wouldn’t give him any more details about it.  He wouldn’t even tell him what had happened to the messenger, but he had finally known why his dad left the militia.  This was the first time since that night that his dad had mentioned his mother’s murder.

Reality brought Jim out of his thoughts harshly by smacking him in the side of the head with a flying piece of brick.  It hurt, but when he touched it and pulled his hand away there was no blood.  There was a growing bump though.  He let out a breath in relief and crawled closer to his dad.  “What do you mean that’s the man that killed mom?”

“Davidson was the leader of a band of Ists to the north.  The bastards had the farms terrified until I led a group up there to break them.  He’s only got one eye because I shot him in the face.”  He paused for a moment to take a few more shots.  “Davidson was smart though.  He had people in town working for him.”  Jim thought he saw a tear in his dad’s eye.  “One of them grabbed your mom.  You know the rest.”

“So this guy gave the order?”  James nodded.  “And he’s the guy leading the men who killed Rick?”  James nodded again.  The events of the past day all ran through his mind.

Jim found himself screaming as he leaned over the wall firing his gun.  He couldn’t remember standing up or even aiming.  He didn’t see the man with a patch over his eye so he was just firing at any movement.  Every few seconds someone would move out from behind cover and fire back at them.  Jim realized that he had been lucky none of them had hit him yet just as Sam took a bullet in his shoulder.  He let out a scream of pain.

Scott crawled over to check on his brother.  “They’ve got too much cover and we’re just wasting bullets.  They’re going to pick us off.”  He looked at James.  “I thought the plan was for all of us to take aim and catch them off guard.  What the hell did you think you were doing?”

James looked hard at Scott and Jim thought for a moment that he might leap across the roof to attack him.  James lowered his head though and spoke quietly.  “I lost my temper and screwed up.  Is that what you want to hear?  Well it’s true, but it doesn’t change a thing.  Now find a way to get your brother down to the infirmary.”

Scott started to speak again, but Chloe cut him off.  “No more bickering.  I’m not going to die because everyone has lost there minds.  I have an idea; well actually I’m stealing an idea from Jim.”  Jim looked at her blankly.  She turned to the Militia man that had been stationed on the roof.  “We need bottles and a bunch of whatever you have up here that’s flammable.”

“Yes ma’am,” was all the man said before climbing down the ladder into the building.

Everyone stared at Chloe speechlessly.  “At least someone around here has some sense,” she said as she walked to the opposite side of the roof.”

The kitchen was a tiny room with a counter along the wall by the door.  A square table sat on the opposite wall with three men gathered around it.  They were all pointing frantically at the table while yelling at each other.  Jim watched as his dad and Chloe joined them at the table.  After about a minute the arguing seemed to stop as James took over the conversation.

Jim wondered into the hallway and sat on the floor leaning against the wall.  He was surprised to see that Michael followed him.  “It’s kind of crowded in there isn’t it?”

“Yeah.  They all seem to know what do to, I just feel lost here.”

Michael sat down across from Jim.  “I know what you mean.  You think its bad now try living in a fort full of Militia.  It’s all planning and drills all the time.”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you militia?”

Michael laughed.  “Me?  No, I went through the training like everyone else, but it was just too much structure and I can’t imagine shooting anyone.”

Jim grimaced and lowered his head.  “I couldn’t either until this morning.”

Michael was quiet for a moment and Jim had to look up to see if he was still there.  “I learned about this place when I did my training.  I’ve always loved animals and the idea of breeding things like Dayton was like a dream come true.”

“I still don’t get it though.  How’d you get them to let you work here if you didn’t enlist?”

“What part of your training would teach you about genetics?  How about breeding animals?  Have they mentioned anything about that?”  Jim just shook his head.  “This is only a fort because it’s the most valuable thing our town has.   It needs to be protected, and it needs to be secret so what’s happening right now doesn’t happen.  The real work needs dedication and focus.”

“Do you do the work by yourself then?”

Michael lowered his head.  “There were four of us.  Two of them are in the pile of bodies out back and I have no idea where Turner is.”

“Bill Turner?  The stable master at Fort Massac?”

“Well that’s one of his jobs.  We have a few types of horses up here and he’s in charge of breeding them. That big red barn out back is all his.”

“So Buttercup came from here?”

“She’s one of the brightest most loyal horses that I have seen him raise.  Beautiful creature.”

“Mr. Parks, I know this place is supposed to be a secret, but do you think I could get a tour if we survive.”

“I don’t see why not.  You already know the secret so it’s not like there is a point to hiding anything else.”

Chloe came out into the hallway.  “You ok out here Jim?”

“Yeah, I just didn’t really have anything to add in there.”

She sat down beside him and took his hand in hers.  They sat their in silence for a few minutes until Michael struggled to his feet.  “Well I’m going to go crazy sitting here waiting for something to happen so I’m going to check on Connie.”

Jim looked at Chloe and then motioned to the kitchen with his free hand.  “They come up with anything?”

“Yep, it has been unanimously decided that we are screwed and the only reason they haven’t shot up the front door and come on in is because they are afraid of hitting the equipment or the people who know how to use it.”

“They already got two of them.”  Jim looked at her.  “Why did you come out here to sit with me instead of staying in there planning?”

She sighed.  “Your dad is the only one that would listen to me.  Apparently because I haven’t been through training those idiots think that I don’t know anything.”  She shook her head.  “We should be up on that roof taking them out one by one.”

“I don’t know if I can shoot anyone else.  I still feel like I’m going to throw up every time I think about it.  I just don’t know how everyone else does it.  This was just supposed to be training before I went on to my real life whatever that would have been.”

“Jim being in the militia is what I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.”  He lowered his head, but she reached out and lifted it back up with her free hand.  “I never imaged it would be anything like this though.  I’m glad that you don’t want to kill anyone else because I want to shoot every last one of those bastards and I think I need someone to help me keep perspective.”

Jim stared at her not sure what to say.  He squeezed her hand tighter.  “I know how much the militia means to you.  Would you think less of me if I didn’t enlist when my training is done?”

“The militia is what I want, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s for everyone.”  She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.  “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d feel better knowing you weren’t in the militia.  You’re a great guy with some leadership skills, but you just aren’t cut out for this.  I’m afraid that you’re going to freeze up again and get yourself or someone else killed.”

Jim stared at her not sure how to react to her comment.  The awkward silence was broken by James stepping into the hallway.  “Well Chloe once you stepped out one of the boys came up with the brilliant idea to go up to the roof and start picking them off one by one.”

She smiled.  “I wonder how they ever came up with that one.”

“I don’t know.  Come on; let’s head up to the roof.”  He held out one hand to Jim and one to Chloe to help them up.  Then he started down the hall with everyone following.  Jim didn’t say a word on the trip up to the roof.

Jim stumbled back against the door and let out a scream as he pointed to the other end of the hallway.  Everyone turned to see a large creature slowly stalking towards them.  It opened its mouth wide letting out a loud roar that echoed against the walls and revealed a mouth full of sharp pointed teeth.  Chloe joined Jim in his scream and everyone stepped back towards the door.  More gunfire could be heard outside and Jim thought that some of it sounded like it was coming from above them.

The large creature roared again and then shot towards them at a full run.  Jim screamed more and curled up against the door.  He was relieved to see that Chloe was doing the same.  He didn’t want to be the only one panicking.  He didn’t need to worry about that though because his dad turned and grabbed for the door trying to get them out of the building.  Before he could get his hand on the knob the great beast leapt through the air and landed on his back driving him into the floor.  He let out a grunt of pain as he hit.

The creature sat on James’s back and moved its head towards Jim.  He found himself just inches from its teeth and a drop of drool fell down onto his foot.  The thing sniffed first him and then Chloe.  It looked at the others and when Scott went to move it let out another roar.  Jim was so close that he heard a ringing sound in his ears afterwards.

James let out another grunt of pain as the weight shifted.  He took a deep breath and then with great effort whispered.  “Don’t anybody move.  Just stay calm and don’t do anything threatening.”

Jim took a good look at the creature.  He noticed that most of its weight was on its front legs so while it was holding his father down it was trying not to crush him.  It moved with a grace he had only seen in cats, but this thing was much bigger and stronger than any cat he had ever seen.  Its nose also reminded Jim of a cat, but it had a large tuft of fur around its face that didn’t look like any cat he had ever known.  Everything about this animal screamed predator, but there was something in its deep blue eyes that just didn’t seem right.  That was when Jim realized that he could clearly see even though they were in a hallway with no windows.

Jim looked up at the ceiling and saw the source of the light.  There were square panels that lined the hall and seemed to be producing light.  He had never seen anything quite like it.  The light was steady and not flickering at all like the lamps that he used at home.  It was brighter too.  The hall was as bright as being outside in the afternoon and the walls were a blank white making it seem even brighter.  There seemed to be a quiet hum all around him.

The cat like creature did not move from James’s back.  It continued to watch the whole group and would growl at anyone who attempted to move.  Jim noticed that the sounds of shooting outside had died down considerably after the second roar and wondered if this thing was the reason that the men outside had not made it in.  The more he looked into its eyes the calmer he became.  The thing could obviously kill them all, but it wasn’t doing it.  It seemed to just want them to stay where they were.

Jim reached his hand out towards the animal, but jerked it back quickly when the thing growled at him.  He slowly reached up again and this time the thing let him touch it.  He scratched the back of its ear just like his old cat had enjoyed and the thing let out a long purr.  “Good kitty.”  Chloe looked at him with her eyes wide open, but she didn’t say a word.  The creature’s tongue shot out and Jim tried to cover his face as it licked him relentlessly.

“Some guard dog you are.”  There was a man in a long white coat at the end of the hall.  “Here Dayton.”  The thing licked Jim a few more times then ran down the hall towards the man and sat at his side.  The man looked at James.  “Alright mister, turn over nice and slow so I can get a good look at you.”

James rolled over onto his back.  “What the hell is that thing?”

“James is that really you?”

“Yeah it’s me.”  He struggled to get to his feet.  “You didn’t answer my question Mike.  Just what the hell is that thing?”

“Oh this is Dayton.”  The man smiled. “He’s my guard dog.” He chuckled.  “Well guard lion.  Before the war these things were in high demand.”  He patted the thing on its head.  “Think about it, all the powerhouse of a lion, but the personality of a dog.”

“So that thing is called a lion,” Chloe asked

“This thing as you put it is called Dayton.  Physically he’s a lion.”  The man tapped Dayton’s head.  “Here though he’s a dog. He’s been my own personal GC and this place’s guard for five years now.”

Jim was staring at Dayton.  “This is absolutely amazing.  I go my entire life never seeing a GC and now I’ve seen two in under a week.  What are the chances of that?”

The man looked at James.  “Wait a minute, James did you bring them in here without telling them what this place was?”

“Well everything happened so quickly, and I’m not really in the Militia anymore so it isn’t my secret to tell.”

“There is a stack of bodies out there and the only thing keeping us from joining them are some locked doors, two lions, and a few armed men on the roof shooting anyone who comes for the door.  I think if their lives are in danger they deserve to know why.”

Jim looked at the man.  “Did you say a couple of lions?”

“Yeah, Dayton here has a sister named Connie over by the front door.  She isn’t nearly as friendly so when they started coming in before the boys could get up to the roof she managed to grab one and rip him apart.  She bought us enough time to get set up for a defense.”  He turned towards James.  “They caught us completely off guard.  When they showed up in our own uniforms we all thought more reinforcements had come from Fort Massac.  What’s going on around here?”

James sighed.  “McQuery sold us out.  I don’t know who these people are yet, but they knew everything about how we work.  I think McQuery even arranged for the Ists up here to pull troops away from the forts and put them on the roads.  If that hadn’t happened they never would have taken Massac.”

Jim moved over to Dayton and started petting him.  “Wait a minute; you said that she had a sister.  Just how many GCs are up here and where did they come from?”

The man looked amused.  “They come from here.”  He opened his arms wide to indicate the building.  He took a slight bow.  “My name is Michael Parks and I am the head researcher for Fort 24.  We are what may very well be the world’s last functional GC lab.”

Chloe stepped towards the man.  “How is that even possible?”

James spoke.  “Before the bombs this place had its roof lined with solar panels.  I don’t know how they work, but they kept the power going at first.”

“Not all the power.” Michael corrected him.  “Just emergency power.  Particularly the freezers.   Most of the staff left town to find family.  Some died during the food riot.  In the end though a couple maintenance men and one intern came back and kept the place together. They used the broken solar panels to keep the working ones going and eventually hooked up a few generators too.  Of course we don’t normally have this many lights on.”

Jim was crouched petting Dayton.  He looked up.  “Even if the stuff still works, how do you know how to use it?”

“Jacob, the intern, taught us what we know.  He didn’t know how to do everything and had to teach himself quite a bit. It certainly isn’t as easy for us as it was for them, but after a while we kind of got the hang of it.  It took us three generations to get Dayton here.  Once we have a line though we just breed them like we would any other animal.  This place is just as much farm as it is lab.”

“I still don’t understand though.  If you make all these GCs where do they all go?  Why haven’t I ever seen them?”

James looked at his son.  “Mostly they breed horses and cows up here.  Those go out on the trade ship.  We keep a few horses for ourselves and eat plenty of the cows, but if we want to keep this place safe it needs to be secret.  We can’t exactly keep it secret if there is a GC in every home.”

“It’s not a secret anymore,” Scott said from the corner.

James nodded at him.  “No, it’s not.  Look I know everyone probably has a lot of questions, but right now we’re in a building surrounded by people who want to kill us to get inside.  Tours and history lessons can come later.  Right now we need to get a full security report and plan our next move.”

Michael started walking down the hallway away from them.  “Come on then, we have a command center set up in the kitchen.”

Jim managed to get the three men’s name before they left Fort Massac.  Stan was a large man and Jim wondered for a moment if the small horse he found would be able to hold him. Jim didn’t know what he did for the militia, but a stealth mission did not seem like something he would be particularly good at.  That was likely why he rode in the very back of the line.  Jim and Chloe were right up front following closely behind James.

The last two men were brothers. Sam and Scott hung back slightly to keep an eye out for anyone trying to ambush them.  It seemed excessively paranoid to Jim, but it was starting to get dark and with everything that had happened he was willing to accept any precaution.  That included the riffles they all had strapped to their backs.  The brothers had been adamant about the riding formation and it had the added benefit of putting the rather loud Stan even further behind the rest of them.  For that reason alone Jim supported it.

They rode through the forest and past the farms that lay north of town.  In the distance they could hear the bells faintly ringing.  They rode fast and as quiet at they could while keeping to the well worn trail. James came to a stop and held his hand up signaling them to do the same.  “Ok guys stop here.  It’s time to get off the path.  If we go straight in and they’ve taken the fort they’ll see us coming as soon as we cross the hill.  We won’t even make it past the lake.”  He turned his horse to the east.  “We’re gonna take the old highway and come in from the north.  They won’t be expecting that.”  He added in a whisper, “hopefully.”

It had gotten very dark by the time James brought the group to a stop again.  He got off his horse and motioned for Jim and Chloe to do the same.  “Have you guys noticed how quiet it is?”  They nodded.  “Fort 24 is just ahead and we haven’t heard a single gunshot.”

“What does that mean?” Chloe asked.

“I’m not sure.”  James tied his horse to a tree and pulled a pair of binoculars out of his saddlebag.  “We need to get closer.”

James led the group through the trees and the barbwired fences surrounding Fort 24 came into view.   There were torches and a large bonfire going inside the inner fence.  Jim could barely make out the men walking patrol around the courtyard, but his Dad seemed to be focusing on them.  “I don’t recognize any of the guards.  Course I’ve been out of the Militia so long that might not mean anything.”

Chloe reached out for the binoculars and James let her have them.  She watched for a few minutes.  “I don’t recognize any of them either.  No one is going in or out of the building though.”

Scott joined them with his own pair of binoculars.  “I recognize the guy putting more wood on the fire.  At least I recognize the black eye that I gave him right before he tied me up back at Fort Massac.”

Jim sighed, “Damnit that must mean they have taken the fort.”

Chloe looked at him.  “I’m not so sure.  They aren’t going in the building, and I think I’ve seen a few men aim their guns at the door.  What if they haven’t gotten inside yet?”

James looked at her.  “Yeah that makes sense.  That door locks from the inside and are pretty thick.  The windows were all blocked up years ago.”  James pulled out a key that was dangling from a necklace hidden in his shirt.  “Jason gave me this before we left Fort Massac.  They’re focused on the front door, so we’ll sneak in the back.”

Jim looked at his father.  “What happened to this just being a recon mission?  What if they are inside?  What if they see us going in?  What if…”

Chloe grabbed his hand tight.  “Jim there is nothing about today that is going to be safe.  We know these bastards killed Luke, Rick, and David.  Who knows who else they might have killed?  I know you’re scared, but so was Rick and he still saved our lives.  If there’s anyone down there we need to at least try to help them.”

James stared at Chloe and then back to Jim.  “She’s right son.  I’m going in there, but that doesn’t mean you have to come.  You can stay out here and no one will think any less of you.”

Jim seriously thought about it for a moment.  He looked at Chloe and knew that his dad was wrong.  She would think less of him if he didn’t go in with them.  He looked back at the brothers and knew that they would lose some respect for him too.  He knew that his dad wanted to protect him, but wondered if he would be disappointed in him too.  “If you’re all going I am too.  I just wanted to make sure we thought this out.”

“Son if we think this out we’ll never do it.”  He looked back at Stan.  “Cookie I want you up here watching our back.  Anyone comes at us you shoot them and then hop on Buttercup and ride.”

“Cookie?” Jim asked.

“What’d you think I did at Fort Massac?  I’m the cook.”

Jim glared at his dad.  “You are going to have a cook cover us?”

“Hey now, that ain’t a nice way to talk about me.  I been shootin guns since before you were walkin.”  He shook his stomach in his hands.  “Besides if you’re going to be running for that door do you really want me slowing you down?”

Jim sighed.  “Sorry, I guess you’re right.”

James stepped towards the fort.  “Alright enough talk.  When I run you follow me as close as you can.  They aren’t watching this side, but could still spot us running.  Everyone understand?”  They all nodded in agreement.  James watched the patrol for a few minutes and then spotted the perfect chance.  He took off running for the door with the others right behind him.

James ran past a large stack of something that Jim could not identify.  It was covered in a cloth and seemed to have lumps all over it.  He noticed the others using it for cover as they ran to the door so he ducked behind it as well.  His feet caught on something sticking out from under the cloth and he fell to the ground.  Staring back at him from under the cloth was a human face with a bullet hole in the forehead.  Jim screamed.

James struggled with the key trying to get the door open.  Jim just scrambled to get moving and Chloe ran to help him.  “So much for our element of surprise,” she said as she dragged him to his feet.

James swung the door open and the brothers rushed through it.  “Come on you two move it!”  Jim and Chloe made it to the door just as gunshots rang out from the forest.  James closed and locked the door behind them.  “Well kids, welcome to Fort 24.”

“I don’t get it, why aren’t more of them coming?  All that shooting should have gotten their attention.”  Chloe was helping a bloody and beaten Sergeant Reynolds stand while Jim untied his father.

James looked up at her.  “She’s right.  If that racket didn’t draw a crowd then there’s probably no crowd to draw.”  He struggled to his feat.  “Oh I don’t doubt that there’s at least a few more here, but not enough to spare.”   James was actually smiling at Sergeant Reynolds.  “Jason I haven’t seen you look that bad since the last time we fought.”

Sergeant Reynolds coughed a bit and winced in pain as he chuckled.  “The only difference is that you looked worse than me then.”

“In your dreams glass jaw.”

Jim looked at Chloe, but she just shrugged her shoulders at him.  “Hey guys all this bonding is nice and all, but in case you didn’t notice everything is falling a part here.  People are dying.”

James put his hand on his Jim’s shoulder.  “Son, trust me Jason and I have been in worse situations than this one.  Things have gotten really bad and in times like that you can’t let it get to you.  You have to just put on a smile no matter how fake and just keep moving forward.  If you stop to dwell on it you won’t be able to do what needs to be done.”

“That’s good advice Jim, I just wish your father would have listened to it when I gave it to him.”  James turned to Sergeant Reynolds and gave him a very serious stare that was not in any way pleasant.  “It might be out of place, but you know it’s true.”

“Yeah, I suppose I do.”  He turned back to Jim.  “Ok son you have been out there, just how bad is it.”

Jim tried to keep the pain off his face, but he just couldn’t do it.  “Rick and David are dead.”  He could see the pain on Sergeant Reynolds face.

Chloe stepped up.  “Luke is dead too, and Joe was shot.  He’ll be fine, but he couldn’t make the ride here.”

”We ran into some of their men and they were dressed like our Militia.  I think that’s why they really wanted Fort Massac.  They wanted the supply depot to get uniforms.”  Jim thought for a minute.

James looked at Sergeant Reynolds.  “They knew the defenses here too well and it can’t be a coincidence that they hit now while most of the troops are on the Northern boarder.”

Chloe continued, “ Mayor McQuery made some sort of deal with these people and the signal to move was Big Dan’s plane flying overhead.  He thought that he would be in it though so he seems to have panicked when Dan flew over early.”

James looked at Sergeant Reynolds.  “That makes sense now.  The bastard set this whole thing up to give them a shot at Fort 24.  We need to find out who is still here and then get up there.”

“I thought you were retired.”

“That was before they tied me up and tried to kill my son.”

“Fair enough, let’s go.”  Sergeant Reynolds led the group out the door and to a weapons locker.  They all loaded up and followed him towards the supply depot.  They searched room by room, but it was completely empty.  “Ok, now the barracks.”

Sergeant Reynolds started to step out the front door and a bullet hit the doorframe right next to his head.  Splinters of wood hit him in the face and he dove back inside.  Jim’s dad kicked the door shut and two more shots ripped into it.  “How many,” James asked.

“Two I think,” followed by a groan of pain was Sergeant Reynolds reply.

Jim was so busy watching their dads that he did not notice Chloe move to the back of the building and slip out the door.  He sat back happy that this time he didn’t have to make any decisions.  The adults were here and he could just do what was told and before long be back home safe and sound.  Then a gunshot outside and a man screaming in pain brought him back to the present.  There were more shots fired and finally another man let out a pained yell.  James slowly and carefully opened the door to find Chloe standing there with her gun up on her shoulder.  “You guys coming or not?”  Jim looked around and realized for the first time that she was not at his side.

James smiled, but Sergeant Reynolds looked angry.  “What the hell do you think you are doing?  You could have just gotten yourself killed.”

“Sorry Daddy, I’m small though and good at sneaking.  I knew I could take out at least one before I was spotted.  I was going to come back in after that, but I had the second shot and I just couldn’t pass it up.”

Sergeant Reynolds sighed and then stood up.  Limping his way to the door he said, “I think I hurt myself more in that dive.  At this rate I don’t know how well I’m going to handle a horse.”  James looked at him, but didn’t say anything.  Instead he followed the man out the door and headed towards the barracks.

Jim hurried to follow their dads, but Chloe stepped into the supply depot and blocked his path.  She hugged him tightly and whispered into his ear, “I think it’s getting easier to kill people, and I’m not sure what that means.”  Jim tried to think of the perfect thing to say to her, but in the end he just held her back for as long as she would let him.  They heard another gunshot though and broke the hug to run out after their fathers.

By the time they caught up the barrack doors were open and Jim could see his father checking on Old Man Higgins.  There was a dead man lying by the front door that Jim did not recognize.  Sergeant Reynolds was waiting outside looking around the tents.  “Don’t worry kids, it looks like there was only one guarding the door and James got him.”  Jim knew that his dad had been in the Militia, but the idea of him killing someone took him off guard.  He had just never thought about his father that way.

Jim and Chloe went into the barracks.  It was a narrow building with beds lining both walls.  At the moment there were only a few people in the building and all of them were tied up.  Jim went over to his dad and heard old man Higgins talking.  “Stop fussing James, it’s nothing.  Those bastards had no respect so when they started makin a mess of the folded uniforms in my stock room I hit one of them up side the head with my cane.  His friend wasn’t too happy about it and slapped me around a bit.”

“You’re lucky they didn’t kill you.”

“Maybe, but that place is just as much my home as my house is and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let anyone mess it up without a fight.”

James glanced over his shoulder and saw his son.  “Jim could you and Chloe untie the few men we have left here?  I need to have a very uncomfortable talk with Jason.”  Jim nodded as his father walked outside the barracks and closed the door behind him.  In a few minutes they had all five of the men untied just in time to hear Sergeant Reynolds yelling from the other side of the door.

“I’m glad you decided to finally step back up after all this time, but this is my fort now and those are my men in there.  If anyone is leading them up there it is going to be me.”  Jim Chloe and all 5 men rushed over to the door to try and hear the conversation.  Old Man Higgins just lay in bed seemingly uninterested.

“You said it yourself, you don’t know if you can even ride a horse.  I don’t like this any more than you do, but this is why we make everyone go through training.  We have a town full of Militia troops just waiting for someone to organize them and take back both forts.  That has to be you.”

“I don’t have to like it though.”

“No, and I would be disappointed in you if you did.”

James pulled the door open and Jim stumbled forward.  Sergeant Reynolds looked at the assembled group in front of him.  He pointed to one of the men, “Jenkins I want you on a horse and heading to check up on Big Dan right now.  He probably knows more about what is going on than we do by now.”  He pointed to the next man.  “Slinkard I want you in town right now sounding the alarm.  They have to know something is going on here so they should already be organizing.  I want battalions of men here immediately.  We secure this sight then sent backup to James.”

“What about the rest of us sir?” one of the other three asked.

“You’re going with James.  When our troops show up at Fort 24 they need to know what they are walking into and that’s your job.”  He looked at Chloe.  “I hope you are as good at sneaking as you say you are because if you get yourself killed up there I’m never going to forgive myself for agreeing to this.”

A thought occurred to Jim, “Where is the horse guy, Mr. Turner? Chloe and I have horses out in the woods, but everyone else is going to need them and I haven’t seen him.”

Sergeant Reynolds spoke up, “My guess is that they took him with them.  I haven’t seen a body and if McQuery told them everything I’m sure they would want to take him alive.”

James spoke up and Jim was surprised to see everyone stand in attention to listen.  He was even more surprised to find that he had done so as well.  “Listen up, I want everyone in front of the fort, on a horse, and ready to ride in under five minutes.  I don’t care where or how you find a horse just do it.  Jim, you and Chloe get your horses from the woods.  I’ll feel better knowing you’re on Buttercup.  We leave as soon as everyone is in place.  This is intended to be a recon mission only, however if we get there and can make a difference in the fight we will do so.  Does everyone understand me?”

Jim was startled when the three men still behind him all in a chorus answered, “Yes sir.”

“Good, then move it.”  Everyone including Jim and Chloe took off running from the barracks to find horses.

The guard backhanded Chloe and sent her tumbling to the ground.  She twisted as she fell, but she couldn’t do much with her hands tied behind her back.  Jim watched as her face smacked against the floor.  Her feet kicked hard as she tried find footing and get away.  The man rubbed his back where it had hit the desk and began to move towards a struggling Chloe.

It all seemed to be happening in slow motion to him.  The guard was yelling something, but he couldn’t make out the words.  Chloe had flipped over and was trying to kick at the man.  Her feet smeared blood across the flood.  Jim wasn’t sure if it was from the first guard or David.  Chloe’s first kick hit the man in the knee and knocked him back.  She pulled her leg back tight and kicked out again.  He was ready this time though and moved to the side grabbing her leg and dragging her as he did.  With her hands tied and her leg in his grip she struggled, but couldn’t get free.  Jim knew that she was yelling too, but he couldn’t hear her either.

The man limped as he dragged Chloe towards his gun.  She twisted and turned until she was able to catch her other foot on the desk as he tried to drag her past.  Pushing hard against it she pulled her leg free of him and slid a few feet back away.  The man stumbled back as the leg was torn from his hand, but he did not move back towards her.  He continued towards his gun as she struggled to get to her feet.  The guard grabbed the gun off the ground and started to bring it up in Chloe’s direction.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Jim screamed as he shot off of the floor at the guard.  He had not moved other than a rocking motion since stumbling back away from David’s body.  He moved so quickly that the stunned guard who had forgotten about him in his struggle with Chloe did not have a chance to react.  Jim slammed into the man hard and knocked him off his feet.  Jim rode the man down to the ground and landed sitting on his chest.

Jim’s left hand grabbed the man’s shirt by his neck and pulled him slightly off the ground.  His right hand was a blur of motion as it hammered into the guard’s face over and over again.  The back of the man’s head bounced off the ground repeatedly from the impact, but Jim did not stop.  He continued to scream as the skin began to peel back around his knuckles.  His hand and the guard’s face were both a solid sheet of red with no way to tell which one the blood had come from.  Jim did not stop though and he did not slow down even as the man stopped struggling under him.

“Jim you can stop now, I think he’s dead.”  Chloe managed to get to her feet, but she was staying back from the bloody scene.  Jim didn’t look at her as she spoke.  He just kept punching the man.

Finally Jim stopped and pulled himself up.  He rushed to a corner and threw up again.  After he finished he looked down at his hand and screamed in pain.  “I didn’t feel it at all when I was punching, but this hurts like hell now.”  He was hissing out the words through pained breathes.  He screamed again and tried to open his hand.  It was curved over like a claw and each attempt to straighten it shot more needles of pain through it.

Jim looked David, the guard, and finally at Chloe’s eyes.  He did not recognize the look in them.  She finally spoke.     “Are you ok?  I mean I know you’re not physically OK.  I can see your hand.”  She looked at David, but avoided looking at the guard.  She paused and wouldn’t make eye contact with Jim.  “You scared me there with the rocking back and forth.  I know this is rough, but Jim, you can’t shut down like that.  He could have killed us, and you might have done permanent damage to yourself losing control like that.”

Jim lowered his head and moved towards the door.  “I need to get out of this room.”  He moved outside into the courtyard with Chloe following close behind.

“I just don’t get it.  You keep going back and forth between being a natural leader and seizing up unsure what to do.  I don’t know which one is the real you.  You just seem to let things build and build until you explode.”

Jim turned back to face her.  He made sure he did not look back into the open door they had come out of.  “I don’t know what to do here Chloe.  This is all new to me.  I didn’t want to be in the militia like you do.  I’m only here because I have to be.”

“Bullshit.  You showed up the other day because you had to.  You didn’t have to try to mount a rescue operation on an armed Fort Massac with just me.  Wow, now that I said that out loud it sounds really stupid.”

Jim smiled slightly.  “Yeah, but I couldn’t let you come in here alone.  Look I don’t know if I’m just not cut out for all of this or if it is just too much too quick.  You seem to be handling it pretty well though.  You don’t even seem scared.”

Chloe actually laughed.  “Are you kidding me?  I’m terrified.  My brain hasn’t quit screaming at me to run away since I saw Luke lying there dead back at the Fortress of Solitude.  I killed someone and I watched Rick die in front of us.  He was my friend too.  Now with everything going on here I don’t know if you will be the same person when it’s all over.  Even worse I don’t know if I should be more worried that you will freeze up and get us killed or lash out and get us killed.  I’m a nervous wreck and the only way I can keep going is if I don’t stop to think about it.”  Jim went to hug her, but she stepped back.  “You’re not touching me with that bloody hand.”

“I’m sorry I…”

“You don’t need to apologize, just pull yourself together until this is all over.”  She walked towards him and pressed her body tightly against his.  She leaned in close bringing her lips less than an inch from his.  “Now if you are quite done will you please untie me so we can finish rescuing our fathers?”

“Jim what the hell is happening out there?  Why isn’t anyone coming to the door?”

Jim crawled to the ladder trying to keep himself out of view for anyone aiming in the windows.  “I screwed up David.  I took one out, but they are going after Chloe first.  By the time they come back here it will be too late.  We have to get out of here,”  Jim was desperate and hoped that David would tell him exactly what to do.  Before this morning he had never really been in a fight and kept telling himself that he didn’t have a frame of reference for a situation like this.

“I’m out of ideas.  I could give you a hundred better ways to hold this fort, but breaking out of a locked room is not my area of expertise.”

“Shouldn’t there be another door in here somewhere?”

“Yeah there is a door down here leading into the class room, but they locked it too.  There’s also a window down here, but they shut and latched it.  There used to be another door up there, but they walled it off a year ago so there would only be one way into the supply room.”

Jim took a chance and glanced out the window towards the tower that Chloe was in.  The man from the courtyard was standing right outside it pounding on the door.  Jim sighed a moment of relief as he realized that the man hadn’t gotten in yet.  The relief soon turned to terror though as he looked up to the top of the tower and saw that the guard was gone.  He watched as the door opened and Chloe was thrown onto the ground outside of it.  The first man grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along the ground roughly to the center of the courtyard.  He shoved her down inches from the fire and both men brought their guns up to point at her head.

“Ok runt, here’s the deal.  You’re going to come down and wait by the door.  I am going to open the door and you are going to come out here without causing any more trouble.  If you don’t we will shoot her in the head.  Deal?”

“Ok, just don’t hurt her,” Jim yelled.  He moved to the ladder and started climbing.  “They have Chloe again.  They are on their way, but if we resist they will shoot her.”

“If you walk out there they will shoot you.  It makes sense.  You identified yourself as the troublemaker, they kill you in front of her and she falls apart which will make her dad crack.  They still want something from him or he would be dead by now.  No,” David said as he pulled a knife from the desk, “when that door opens we kill the man on the other side of it and take his gun.  If the man in the courtyard fires at anyone it will be us not Chloe.  Unless she does something she is safer than us.”

Jim was a bit disturbed by how calm and cold David had sounded when discussing his death.  He remembered the guns pointing at Chloe’s head and worried about the plan.  If anything at all went wrong they could all die.  “Are you sure about this?”

“You can never be sure.  These guys are predictable, but if you took one of them out they are going to be emotional and possibly desperate.  That means anything goes.”

Jim heard the latch coming undone on the other side of the door.  David was already behind the door.  Jim stood in front of the door about 6 feet back.  He didn’t move as the door flung open and the man stepped in raising his gun to Jim’s head.  David slammed the door back into the man’s side with his knife hand and grabbed his riffle with the other.  The gun went off and Jim felt a sharp pain on his left ear.  He dropped to the ground to avoid any more shots and stared out the door at the man in the courtyard who was bringing his gun up to point at where David had been.  David was too fast though and closed the door so the man couldn’t have a clear shot.  Everything was dark now with the door shut, but Jim could still hear the struggle.  It didn’t last long and soon all Jim could hear was a gurgling sound that faded into silence.

“David?”

“Stay down; I’m going to open the door.”  As the door cracked open a very bloody David was illuminated.  He was lying on the ground with the riffle aimed out the crack in the door.  Jim looked to the other man and was completely unprepared for the site.  He turned away and immediately threw up his breakfast.

“We don’t have time for you to be squeamish.  Pull it together, get over here, and open this door the rest of the way so they will shoot at you.”

“What!?!?  Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because if his gun is rising up to shoot at you it isn’t aimed at Chloe and it won’t accidentally go off when I shoot him.”

“What about the other tower?”

“The angle isn’t right, he can’t make the shot.”

Jim thought about the plan.  He didn’t like it, but admitted to himself that there wasn’t going to be any plan that he did like.  David knew what he was doing and if this was what he thought was best than it had to work.  “Ok, I’m going to duck out of the door as soon as I open it though.”

“Sure, won’t make a difference if he gets the shot off, but if it makes you feel better go for it.”

Jim walked over to the door, pulled it open sharply and then jumped out of the way.  As the door opened he looked out and saw the man from the remaining tower standing at its door and raising his gun.  Two shots rang out and Chloe let out a scream.  The man holding a gun to her fell to the ground before he had even gotten his gun up.  The other tower guard though had gotten his shot off.  Jim looked down at the unmoving David and saw a large hole in the top of his head.  He wretched and thought he would throw up again, but there was nothing left.  He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around them.

The tower guard ran through the open door and aimed his gun right at Jim’s head.  Chloe burst through the door with her hands still tied behind her back she tackled the man with her shoulders driving him into the desk.  His gun flew from his hands and fell to the other side of the desk.  “Jim get the gun!”  Chloe looked back over at Jim.  He was curled up in a fetal position on the floor rocking back and forth.

Jim’s shoulder struck the ground with the full force of his weight.  His hands were pulled tight behind his back and tied with rope keeping him from breaking his fall.  His shoulder throbbed as he rolled quickly to get off it. He had never been tied up before and found it extremely difficult to pull himself to a sitting position without his arms.  He glanced at the now closing door he had just been thrown through and saw them dragging Chloe away.  The door slammed shut and he heard a lock being snapped into place.

His eyes strained to adjust to the lack of light.  The building was on the inside of the Fort against the outer wall so there were no windows in the room.  He knew that the upper level had windows, but this room had no stairs up.  There was a slight crack of light coming from under the door, but it wasn’t enough to see by and all the candles had been put out or removed.  He closed his eyes tightly and then opened them hoping they would adjust enough to safely move.  It didn’t work and he swore in frustration.

“Jim is that you?” came a whisper from what Jim assumed was the corner.  He heard someone riffling around in a desk.

“Who,” Jim started to ask.  He tried to move his arm up to cover his eyes as a bright light focused right on him.  His shoulder shot with pain as his arm strained against the ropes.  The light moved towards the floor, but Jim was still seeing spots.  “What the hell?  David is that you?”

“Yeah, they threw me in here when they took over the Fort.”  David aimed the flashlight down into the desk as he continued to dig through it.   “Your Dad is in one of the towers and Sergeant Reynolds is in another.  I think they were keeping them separate to question them.  I’m not sure about anyone else.”

“They dragged Chloe off right now towards the northwestern tower.”  Jim moved over to David’s side hoping to figure out what he was looking for.

“That’s where her dad is.  They must want him to know that they have her.”

“I don’t want to find out what they have planned for her.  We need to get out of here now.”

David pulled a knife out of the drawer and Jim turned his back to him to give him access to the rope holding him tight.  “The next room over has the ladder to the second level.  If they even thought that was a problem they must have figured I couldn’t get up there on crutches and you couldn’t find it in the dark.”  He held up the flashlight and shook it a bit.  “They probably have never even seen one of these.  Now let’s get you up that ladder.”

As the rope finally snapped Jim pulled his arms around front and rubbed his wrist.  “Great so we can get upstairs.  So what?   We’re still trapped here with only a knife and a flashlight.  What we need is a way out of the building before they hurt Chloe.”

David sighed and limped towards the ladder with the flashlight in hand.  “You kick out the inside window up there, toss things out, whatever it takes to get someone back over here.  I’ll be waiting by the door and stab them as they come in.  Then we have their gun and an open door.  We free Sergeant Reynolds and then your dad and we take back the Fort.  Yes it’s a bad plan, but it’s all we have.”

Jim started climbing up the stairs.  “I guess you’re right.  I don’t have anything better.  Be careful down there.”  Jim came out on the second floor.  There were two windows on one side of the room that had been covered by metal on the outside wall of the fort.  There were tiny little slits in the wall that Jim guessed were for shooting out.  On the wall that faced the inside of the fort there were two more windows lighting the room.  He rushed over to look out them.

Jim quickly tried to size up the forts defenses.  He could see one person in each guard tower and that was it.  Chloe was no where in sight, but one of the men who had captured them stood in the doorway of the far tower with his riffle aimed inside.  There was no one in the courtyard and he didn’t see anyone coming in or out of the gates.  They really must not have left many people here, Jim thought to himself.

Jim finally looked around the room.  The far wall had beds lined up against it and as Jim saw wooden trunks at the end of each he had a moment of hope.  Maybe someone had a weapon in their trunk.  Quickly he ran to each one and dug through them.  There were no weapons so either the Militia did not keep them in their trunks or whoever had taken the fort had already cleaned them out.  “Damn, why can’t something go right today,” he muttered.  He then remembered the kiss that had gotten them caught.  He thought about how lucky he was to have been thrown in with David who obviously knew this building very well.

As Jim continued to sort through the trunks he got an idea.  He found an old glass bottle in one, an oil lamp in another, and started to tear apart a shirt.  He poured the oil into the bottle and shoved the shirt down into the opening.  He sat it and a book of matches by the window and pulled it open.  He tossed the lamp out the window and it shattered against the ground a few feet from the building.  He drew back inside away from the window incase the guards in the tower decided to take a shot.

There was screaming outside as Jim lit the match.  He glanced outside and saw that one of the men was dragging Chloe out into the middle of the courtyard.  Her hands were pulled behind her back like Jim’s had been.  Jim put out the match.  The man’s gun was at his side and not aimed.  “Come on out into the window where I can see you or she is going to get it,” he yelled from the courtyard.

Jim looked out the window.  The far tower door was still open and the other man who had captured them was now walking away from it.  Jim lit the match again.  He remembered everything he had seen in the last day and yelled, “Chloe run!”

She kicked the man holding her hard in the knee and then brought her own knee hard into his groin.  The man tried to scream, but in the end just wheezed in pain as he fell to the ground.  The moment his hand let go she took off running back towards the room she had come from yelling, “Daddy.”  Jim threw the now lit bottle at the man the moment Chloe was out of reach.  The second man started to raise his gun, but hesitated as the bottle shattered next to the first man covering him in flaming oil.  Chloe used this moment of hesitation and shot past the man and into the tower closing the door behind her.

The now burning man finally managed a scream.  It was a sound Jim thought would haunt him for the rest of his life.  He could smell the horrible sent of burning flesh.  The man struggled to his feet and took off at a run out the fort towards the river.  Jim wondered if he knew about the rocky hill and 10 feet of beach before it his the water.  As the man jumped off the edge of the cliff Jim decided that it was a safe bet to assume he probably didn’t know.

Jim looked back to the courtyard and was glad that the center was made of gravel.  The wooded frame of the well had caught on fire and was now burning brightly.  There was no where for the flames to spread though.  Jim sighed as he realized all the ways that his plan could have failed.  Then he realized that the man left in the courtyard was not opening his door, but running towards the tower Chloe was in instead.  A bullet barely missed his head and he realized that the tower guards had now seen him as well.  He pulled back from the window as the realization that his plan actually had failed struck him.

Jim thought about their predicament.  He and David were trapped in a locked building at Fort Massac.  Chloe was in the tower across from them with her dad and both were likely tied up.  He might be able to squeeze out a window, but there were guards on the towers who would shoot him if they saw him.  The man he had burned screamed loudly enough that any other troops out at the supply depot or barracks probably had heard him and were on their way.  Finally there was a very angry guard heading right for Chloe.  His situation had actually gotten worse and Jim was starting to realize that it was his own fault.

“You grew up in Fort Massac.  Do you have any tricks to sneaking in?”

Chloe looked thoughtful for a minute and then shrugged.  “Daddy let me head into town whenever I wanted.  There was no reason to sneak in or out.  I think coming in from the River might be our best bet though.”

“Why’s that?”

“If we come up the hill right by the Fort there isn’t much open land to cross to get to the wall.  Plus the guards will probably be watching the river, the bridge, or the town.”  She bit her lip a bit as she though.  “Yeah, I bet we can slip right in under their noses.   We’ll have to leave the horses in the woods, but I think it’ll work.”

“That’s a better plan than I had.  Much less likely to get us shot.”  Jim smiled at Chloe, but he didn’t really feel it.  The day was really wearing on him.  “You lead the way,” he said as he pointed towards the river.   Chloe took off at a gallop and Jim fell right in behind her.  A few short minutes later they had the horses tied to a tree and
Chloe was leading Jim down a very steep path to the river front.

The southern wall of Fort Massac is about 50 feet from the edge of a cliff.  The river itself is 35 feet almost straight down from the edge of that cliff.  As Jim stood on the shore with the water of the river hitting the back of his shoes he started to doubt Chloe’s plan.  He wasn’t sure if they could climb the rocky ledge.  She on the other hand was perfectly confident and already about 10 feet up before he moved to follow her.  He admired how she seamlessly moves up the rocks like she had done this hundreds of times before.  As he struggled to follow her exact path he realized that she probably had.  When he slipped and fell 5 feet skinning his arm he became sure of it.  After that he paid much more attention to where she had stepped and tried to follow it.

Chloe stopped right before the edge of the cliff and carefully looked over.  “Ok, it looks like they only have one guard on each tower and the gate on this side is open.  We should run for the wall as soon as we climb up top.  We’ll be out in the open then.  I don’t think they’ll see us, but if they do they can’t shoot us from that angle.”

Jim finally managed to make it up to Chloe’s side.  “Ok.  I’ll count to three and then we climb and run.  Let’s stop with our backs to the wall and listen for movement.”  He reached down and pulled his gun out.  “Just in case,” he told her as she glanced at it.

Chloe nodded and said, “Three.”  Then she took off running for the Fort’s southern wall.  Jim shook his head and then quickly moved to follow her.  He glances up at the corner towers as they ran.  The southeastern guard was looking towards the bridge and the southwestern guard was look back towards town.  He didn’t think that either one turned towards them as they ran.  A few seconds later they were both standing flush against the wall panting.

“What happened to one and two?”

“Why chip away at our resolve by waiting to count?”  She smiled at him.  He smiled back and this time he meant it.  His eyes locked on hers and there was a moment when neither of them moved.  For that split second he forgot about everything that was going on and just focused on her.  Jim reached out and touched Chloe’s cheek with his right hand brushing some of her hair back in the process.  They moved closer together and their lips met with hers parting to allow his eager tongue a chance to explore.  The kiss was probably too wet and too energetic, but to Jim it was perfect.  He wished that it could last forever.

As they pulled apart she looked into his eyes.  “What was that for?” she asked.

“There was no way I was going to get shot without doing that first,” Jim said with a grin.  His face then took a much more serious expression.  “I know its bad timing and all, but we may not have…”

She put her finger to his lips to stop him from speaking.  “Stick with the confidence.  It suits you.”  She leaned in and kissed him again.  This time it was a much calmer kiss and he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her tight.

“Aw isn’t that cute.”  The two spun around towards the gate to see two men in Militia uniforms aiming riffles right at them.  “Why don’t you two lovebirds drop the gun and put your hands out where I can see them?”

“Crap.” Jim mumbled and dropped his gun.  They held their hands out in the open palms up as the men walked over to them.

“Good boy.  I don’t want to shoot you, but I won’t think twice about doing it if you try anything.”  The man who was speaking circled around behind them.  “Now let’s go for a little walk inside the Fort.”

Jim tried not to look at the men he had shot.  He didn’t want to see their faces.  As long as he didn’t look at them he could still pretend that it hadn’t happened.  He could lie to himself long enough to do what needed to be done.  His mind was racing with panic and he was struggling to take the situation one step at a time.  If he could keep the numbness going he could function.  Chloe was upset at her first kill.  That was something he could focus on and push the thoughts of his own out of his head.

Jim looked at Chloe’s face.  She was still sniffling but the tears had stopped flowing.  “I guess I’m out of tears,” she said while staring into his eyes.

“I guess so.”  He paused.  “Look you didn’t have a choice.  He would have killed you if you hadn’t…”

She cut him off.  “Don’t.  Please, I’m not ready to talk about it.  Not yet.”  She backed out of his arms and pulled the hair out of her face.  “How are you holding up?”

“I’m not ready to talk about it either.  There’s still too much to do and I can’t afford to break down now.”  He choked a bit on his words.  “We did what we had to and now we have to live with it.”

“We might have to kill more people before it’s over.  Do you think it’ll get easier?”

Jim turned and started to walk towards Rick dropping his gun in the process.  “I hope not,” he said while glancing back over his shoulder.  Chloe watching him closely for a moment and then ran to catch up with him.  As they got close enough to see how badly hurt Rick was she quit following and went back to the horses.

Rick was barely holding himself in a sitting position by leaning against his right hand.  His left one was attached to an arm that was flopping loosely past a bone protruding out near the elbow.  As Jim got closer he noticed that the side of Rick’s face had been banged up pretty hard by impacting the ground.  Blood was pouring from it and his left eye had swollen shut.  He had managed to pull his leg out from under the horse during the fight, but it had deflated like the bones underneath had been crushed.    “Damn, you aren’t going to be able to walk are you?”

Rick looked panicked, but kept his voice steady.  “My whole leg is crushed and I can’t feel my toes.  I think…”  He coughed up some blood and wheezed hard trying to catch his breath.  “I think that I might be busted up inside too.  I couldn’t let them shoot you guys though.  I just had to do something.”  His right arm started to quiver so he lowered himself to lie on his side.  “Wish I had done something different.”  He looked up at Jim with pain in his eyes.  “I don’t want to die.”

Jim looked at him silently not sure what to say.  He felt very uncomfortable and buried beneath the weight of the last few minutes.  He felt guilt thinking about how horrible he was feeling when Rick was lying in front of him so much worse off.   What kind of person thinks about themself when their friend is dying in front of them, he wondered.  He glanced back at Chloe and found that she was grabbing guns and watching the tree line around them.  It seemed that she had gotten control of herself and was being practical again.

“Rick, lay still.  Just rest and we’ll get you some help.”

“From where?  They have Fort Massac and town is too far away.   I did some scouting before you got here. They hit the supply depot for uniforms and then most of them went North towards Fort 24 dressed like our Militia.  They left just enough to hold Fort Massac and patrol.”  His voice was getting very strained and the coughing was coming more often.

“Seriously Rick just rest.”

“No, you need to know what I found while I can still tell you.  Both of your dads are still alive in there.  They are tied up and each in a separate corner tower.  I guess they wanted to question them separately.”  His voice faded off and his eyes started to close.  “Jim, do me a favor.”

“Anything”

“Tell my mom that I love her.”  With that Rick closed his eyes.  Jim watched him a few minutes as he struggled to breath.  His chest was still moving as Jim left him to join Chloe at the horses.

“Our Dads are alive for now.  I still don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ve had enough of watching my friends bleed.”  He climbed up on Buttercup.  “I don’t know how, but we are going to ride over that hill, rescue our fathers, and take back Fort Massac in the process.”

Chloe got on her horse and handed Jim a gun.  She had a determined look on her face.  “Damn straight we are.  I feel sorry for the bastard who gets in our way.”  Her words were strong, but her voice cracked as she said them.  She gave one final glance back over at Rick and the tears started to flow from her eyes again.

The pillar of smoke could be seen from town.  As Jim and Chloe raced through the downtown streets on their way to Fort Massac they could see panic begin to spread.  Of course part of that panic could probably be attributed to their speed as they rode right through groups of people that had to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled.  Many of these people cursed at them as they rode past, but nothing slowed their momentum.

They could hear the town’s warning bells going off as a signal for everyone to move inside and keep the streets clear.  They were meant to help keep order in a dangerous situation and let the militia get where they needed to be without wondering if someone was friend or foe.  At the moment they were only making things worse.  People seemed to be flooding the streets to try and see what had triggered the bells, and large groups were gathering and pointing towards Fort Massac.  They couldn’t see the Fort, but that much smoke had to mean trouble.

While Jim had the faster horse he found himself struggling to keep up with Chloe.  She drove her horse at the very max of its capabilities and didn’t seem to show any regard for her or its well being.  He held on tightly to his own horse and hoped that when the time came he would be able to keep her from riding right into a bullet.  As the big statue of the man holding a grocery bag that marked the pantry came into view he knew that he was running out of time.

In the road ahead was a band of Militia men waving wildly at them.  Jim thought Chloe was going to ride right thought them and apparently they did too because two of them reached for their guns.  At the last possible second she pulled back on her reigns and brought the horse to a sliding stop right in front of them.  “What’s going on?  Is Daddy OK?”

Jim brought Buttercup to a stop alongside Chloe and took a good look at the men.  He looked from face to face and realized that he did not know any of them.  Certainly he didn’t know everyone in town and many of the Militia members rarely came into town.  Still though he found it extremely odd that out of the three men he did not know a single one of them.

“Wait a minute.  Who are you?”  Chloe asked.  “I know everyone at this Fort and you aren’t from here.”  In response the two men who had drawn their guns took aim and the third reached for his.  Jim started to grab his own, but knew that if they went to shoot it would be too late.

The next few seconds were all a blur.  There was a rustling in a bush off the road and Rick came bursting out still on horseback riding right at the men and yelling at the top of his lungs.  The men turned in shock at the sound and the one on the far left fired in its direction.  Jim managed to get his gun up and fired it at the man on the right.  Chloe dropped off of her horse putting it between her and the men.  All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Jim tried to survey the scene and figure out his next move.  Chloe was reaching into her boots as the man in front finished pulling out his gun and started moving around her horse.  Rick’s horse had dropped to the ground hard pinning his leg under it.  He was screaming in pain.  The man on the left was now moving to finish him off.  Jim’s shot had struck the last man in the chest and he crumpled to the ground.

With only a split second to think Jim realized that he didn’t have a clear enough shot at the man moving towards Chloe.  He cussed as he raised his gun and fired at the man walking towards Rick and just barely missed him.  The man realizing that he was under fire dove for the cover of a nearby tree.  Jim cursed and looked back down at Chloe.  The man had made it around the horse, but Chloe grabbed his hand and twisted it into what looked to be a very uncomfortable position.  He had dropped the gun and she had buried a knife into his stomach up to its hilt.  The man doubled over and fell to the ground trying to grab the knife as he fell.  In a pained voice he yelled out, “Ben run, that’s an order.”

Ben  took off running away from them and back towards Fort Massac.  Jim knew that he should try to stop the man before he told others what had happened, but as he pulled up his gun he hesitated.  The shock of what had just happened began to hit him.  He had shot and possibly killed a man.  There was someone lying on the ground bleeding if not dead because of him.  The realization of this hit him hard and the gun shook slightly in his hand.  It was at this moment that Jim finally remembered that his own father had been in the fort when they rode out.  It might not just be Chloe’s dad that was in danger, but hit own.  At this realization his hand steadied and he began to pull the trigger.  He fired shot after shot until the gun clicked and even then he pulled the trigger three more times.  On his third shot the man had fallen to the ground.

Is this what I am now?  A killer. He thought to himself as he stared down at the first man he had shot.  The man was not moving.  He looked over to Rick who was grunting in pain trying to pull himself out from under his dead or dying horse.  Finally he glanced down at Chloe who had stepped back and was staring at her now blood soaked hands crying as the man in front of her stopped moving.  He slid down off of Buttercup and wrapper her in his arms.  She sobbed into his shoulders and then gave a pained hiss as he touched her back.  He remembered that they never had cleaned up her cuts and he moved his hands down closer to her waist where the blast had not hit.

He stared at the first man he had ever killed over Chloe’s shoulder as he held her.  He tried to soothe her by telling her it would all be ok, but he didn’t believe it.  Nothing would ever be the same for either of them again.  I didn’t have a choice, but does that make it right?  Now that I have done it twice, will it get easier? Should it?  What does it mean if it does? The questions swam in his mind and he had no idea how to answer them.  Jim Held Chloe tight and wondered if she was thinking the same things he was.  Chloe’s sobs gave way to a choking sound.  Am I a killer?  If that’s what it takes to protect those I care about then I guess I have to be.

Everything happened so fast that Jim could barely take it all in.  They had assumed that the grey haired man was working alone, but they were wrong.  There was another man hiding inside the plane.  When Jim was out of site the man had leaned out of the plane door with a gun in his hand.  Chloe was blocking Joe’s view so he didn’t see any of it. The man leveled his gun at Chloe’s back and fired just as Jim started to run back towards them.

The gunshot didn’t seem right to Jim.  The guns he had been around were loud, but they had more of a crack to their sound.  This one was a much larger boom.  He also expected a tiny flash of light, but this was a much larger and much brighter flash than he had ever seen from a gun.  Men normally don’t double over in a pained bloody mess after firing a gun like this shooter had.  Finally if all of this hadn’t been enough for Jim to figure out that the gun was not like anything he had ever seen he still had the realization that regular guns stayed in one piece after being fired and this one didn’t.  The gun had literally exploded in the man’s hand as he fired.

Jim turned his attention to his friends.  Joe was screaming in pain as all of Chloe’s weight had struck his gunshot wound hard.  Chloe was letting out gasps and hisses of pain as the back of her white shirt started to turn red.  She was not crying and did not scream.  Instead she seemed to be focusing on getting off Joe and turning around to see what had just struck her.  As she did Jim managed to get a closer look at her back.  Her shirt was shredded and there were tiny little cuts all over it.  He let out a silent thank you prayer when he realized that none of them were very deep.  Buttercup had not moved from her spot and continued to hold down the struggling grey haired man with her hoof.

Jim turned to the man writhing in pain.  He knew that this man tried to kill Chloe, but still as his anguished screams filled the runway Jim couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man.  He walked closer to the man and tried to make out his face under the layer of blood that now coated it.  He couldn’t be sure, but he thought that the blood was just being wiped there from the mangled arm flailing around.  “What the hell was that gun he tried to use?”

“Deadman’s gun,” Joe replied in a strained voice.  “He must not have been able to get his hands on a real gun so he tried to build one himself.  Apparently wasn’t very good at it.  Usually they just don’t fire at all, I have no idea what he screwed up to have it explode in his hand like that.”

Chloe hissed, “Idiot had to have screwed up the ammo and the barrel to do something like that.  Looks like he took all of the shot meant for me.  Guess that means I got some of the gun.”  She turned her back to Jim.  “How bad is it.”

“Not too bad.  You’ll be fine.”  He sighed.  “OK let’s try this again.  Chloe you go untie Big Dan so we can get both of you cleaned up and start sorting through this.  See if he has a first aid kit for both of you.”  He watched Chloe walk slowly towards the large open doors as he handed Joe the grey haired man’s gun.  “Cover me.  I want to find out who this bastard is.”

Jim walked over to Buttercup’s side.  “Alright mister we’re going to let you up and if you try anything my friend Joe over there is going to shoot you.  Since you shot him already he might be a bit on edge so I suggest moving real slow.”  Jim patted Buttercup.  “Let him up girl.”  Jim looked at her carefully.  “Hey Joe remind me when we get back to Fort Massac to ask Turner what she was really bred for.  After all this I’m not buying that she is ju st meant for new riders.”  Buttercup lifted her hoof up, but stayed very close to the man.

The older man rolled over and as their eyes met a spark of recognition hit both of them.  The very angry face of former mayor Shannon McQuery leered through the dirt.  “Just what the hell do you boys think you are doing?  Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in right now?”  He struggled to his feet stumbling as he tried to regain his balance.  Jim noticed Big Dan coming towards them from the hanger with Chloe running trying to catch up.  She was gripping a first aid kit in her hands.  “I may not be the mayor anymore, but I still have friends in….”

Before he could finish the thought Big Dan had pushed Jim out of the way and punched the former mayor across the jaw.  The older man crumbled to the ground.  “You son of a bitch.  You don’t have any friends except that scumbag over there.”   Big Dan pointed to the man rolling around in pain on the ground and Jim finally recognized him.

“Patrick Dempsey,” Jim whispered to himself.  He turned back to Big Dan who was standing over the former mayor pushing his finger against his chest all the while still yelling.  He looked over at Chloe who had started to clean Joe’s wound.  She gave him a shrug.

“You think you can just walk in here hit me in the head, tie me up, and steal my plane.  My baby.”  Big Dan turned back to the startled group.  “This bastard held a gun to Luke and made me answer questions about how the flight went and what I was using for fuel and when they finally had all their answers they made me watch as they shot him.  Then they hit me in the head and dragged me to the other building to watch them take off”

Mayor McQuery spit out blood onto the ground.  Jim thought he saw fear in his face.  “You brought this on yourself.  You and James ruined me, but I still have some money.  Just let me go and this ends here.  I have to get out of town.”

“You mean Linden money?”  Jim asked and Big Dan looked at him.

“At the Celebration he dropped a bag full of it,” Chloe added.

The older man looked worried now.  “Are you just going to let him bleed to death over there?”

“You mean like you did to Luke?  Yeah I am, and if you try to change the subject again I’m going to make sure you start bleeding out too.  What would you need with money from Linden?”

“I understand.”  Everyone turned to Jim.  “His life here sucks.  Everyone hates him.  So he decided he wants to make a new life in Linden.  Dad told me about the time he went there.  With the money he has and this plane he would be set for the rest of his life.”

“Ok, you have me.  Now just let me go and I’ll just ride away and you’ll never see me again.”  The man sounded desperate now.

“No we’re missing something here.”  Chloe put her hand on Jim’s shoulder.  “He killed Luke and made Danny watch.  This is about more than just leaving town, but he keeps bringing that up.”

“Please don’t let me die…”  Jim was startled to hear the pained voice of Patrick Dempsey.  “I’ll tell you everything, just don’t let me die.”

Big Dan hit Shannon McQuery again and then turned to face the bleeding man.  “Talk.”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”  He shook his head.  “We didn’t expect you to take the plane up two days early.  We weren’t ready.  We knew if we saw you up there they did too so we had to act.”  The man started to nod his head like he could barely stay awake.  “It was the signal.  It was supposed to be us flying out… but it’s too soon.”  He nodded again.  “You have to understand.  I didn’t know what he was planning until today.  I would have never….. “His eyes started to close.  “I didn’t know.  No time….   they are coming.”  His head hit the ground hard as he lost consciousness.

Shannon spit more blood this time on Big Dan’s foot.  “Did you really think I would just leave this town after how badly it humiliated me.”  He raised his voice to a yell.  “I did my best, but it was never good enough.  I just couldn’t live up to my own father.  Do you know what that feels like?”

Dan glared at him.  “You planned on flying out of here a couple days from now, but I got the plane ready earlier than you expected.  What was your flight out of here supposed to signal?”

Jim’s jaw dropped and he let out a huge gasp.  “It was supposed to signal the camp to the south.  Their flight over it was supposed to signal them to move, but instead your flight did.  That’s why he is trying to get out of town so quickly.  They’re coming, and because of our encounter with the Ists up north there is hardly anyone there to defend Fort Massac.”

“Daddy,” Chloe gasped and then shot off up the hill towards her horse.

Jim grabbed Buttercup by the reigns and climbed up.  “Even if Rick got there in time to warn them the troops were probably already on the move.”

Joe struggled to his feet and handed Jim the gun he was holding and then stumbled back against the plane.  “I’m in no shape to ride.  Go, we’ll send reinforcements when the next patrol gets here.  Don’t let Fort Massac fall.”

The former mayor started laughing in a way that disturbed Jim deeply.  “You still don’t get it.  Fort Massac is going to be crushed and that’s just the beginning.”  Jim started to ride off after Chloe, but the mayor raised his voice to yell after him.    “I didn’t sell them Fort Massac.  I told them what was in Fort 24.”  He continued to yell, but Jim was too far away to hear.

Jim was surprised that the building wasn’t completely dark.  It wasn’t bright, but there were enough holes in the roof to provide light to walk by.  As Jim’s eyes adjusted he saw Chloe running towards someone lying on the ground.  The man’s hands were on his stomach and blood pooled around him on the floor.  He wasn’t moving.  Jim let out a sigh of relief as he realized that the man was much too small to be Big Dan, but then felt a wave of guilt for being glad that someone else had been hurt.

“Luke, oh god Luke,” Chloe sobbed as she knelt down over the man.   “There’s so much blood and he isn’t breathing.”  She looked up at Joe.  “Please help him.  Please just try.”  Joe rushed to Luke and reached out to his neck feeling for a pulse.  He looked into his eyes and put his ear to his mouth listening for any sign of breathing.  Jim moved over wrapping his arms around her.  She gently cried into his chest and Joe began chest compressions on Luke.  “He was my first boyfriend,” she managed to whisper out in a hoarse voice.

Joe looked up and Jim could see the pain on his face.  “I’m sorry Chloe, but he’s gone.  We just got here too late.”  Jim looked down at Chloe and she sobbed harder.  He wanted to say something to help, but couldn’t come up with anything good enough.  Joe was shaking his head looking at Luke.  “The only thing left to do is find the bastard that did this and make him pay.”  He looked down at his blood soaked hands.  He stood slowly and moved to the door.

Jim heard the engine of the plane roar into life.  “Guys I think whoever did this is about to steal the plane.”

Joe picked up his gun and stared at it.  “No they are not,” he snarled.  “They aren’t leaving this fort.”  He walked out the door and headed towards the runway.  Chloe peeled away from Jim giving one final glance at Luke before moving to follow Joe.  Jim rushed to catch up.  He was afraid, but he couldn’t let Chloe risk herself in her current state of mind.  She wasn’t thinking straight and he was afraid that she would get herself killed in her grief.  He realized a few seconds later that he should have been more worried about Joe.

Joe walked around the corner of the building and onto the runway.  He pulled his hand up and started to squeeze the trigger on his gun.   Jim listened as Joe fired four shots and then the gun jammed.  Joe let out a string of profanities and threw the gun.  “You’re going to pay for this you bastard!” he screamed as he started into a run towards the plane.

As Jim looked around the corner he could see a grey haired man on the far side of the plane.  He was leaned down and Jim could see that he was holding something in his hands.  He looked through the open doors into the large building and saw Big Dan tied up against a wall.  There was a line of blood running down his face, but his eyes were open and he was turning his head to follow Joes’s movement.  He was alive and he was trying to scream something, but Jim could not make it out.

In a harsh moment of clarity Jim realized that the item in the grey haired man’s hand was a gun and Joe was about to walk around the back of the plane right into his line of fire.  Jim took off at a run and screamed, “Buttercup, here!”  Jim could hear the horse coming from behind him.  He could see Joe reach the back of the plane.  “Joe lookout he has a gun.”

Joe was too far away to make out what Jim had said, but he did hear and he hesitated.  That was the only thing that saved his life.  He slowed and because he did the grey man’s shot didn’t hit him square in the chest.  It did hit him though and tore through his shoulder.  He spun to the right with the force of the shot and fell to the ground.  A growl of pain came from Joe as the bleeding shoulder hit the hard runway.  The man moved to take another shot.

Buttercup did not stop when she caught up with Jim.  Instead she ran past him and straight towards the sound of the gunshot.  Jim couldn’t see anything of the man except his legs moving closer to Joe and the plane blocked his view.  The man walked to the edge of the plane and Jim could see his arm raise and aim the gun right at Joe’s head.  Jim watched in terror knowing he wouldn’t make it in time and that there was nothing he could do.

Just then Buttercup leapt over the tail of the plane and smashed into the man.  He let out a scream of pain and the gun flew out of his hand sliding across the ground.  It came to a stop about 10 feet from Joe.  The grey haired man fell and Buttercup stood over him.

“Good girl Buttercup,” Jim said as he walked around the plane towards Joe.  She stood up, but put her hoof right on the man’s back when he moved to get up.  “Keep that trash there.”  She neighed as a response.  “Joe are you ok?”

Joe hissed in pain.  “Yeah, it hurts like hell though.  I need to stop the bleeding.”

Jim nodded.  “Chloe help Joe put pressure on that wound.”  He grabbed the gun from the ground and glanced at the grey haired man lying face down under Buttercup’s hoof   “Don’t even think about moving.  I’m going to go untie Big Dan and then we can find out what the hell is going on here.”  He turned and walked with confidence into the large building.

Joe ripped part of his sleeve off and winced in pain as Chloe pushed against the wound.  He looked up at her.  “When did he grow a spine?” he asked as he tilted his head towards Jim.  Chloe smiled at him and her cheeks shined still wet with tears.

“He may be shy, but he’s a stand up guy when you push him far enough.”

Chloe was leaning over Joe helping put pressure on his wound and her hair was in his face.  Because of this neither of them saw the second man lean out of the plane door.  They did not see him raise his gun and aim it at them.  They did hear the sound of it going off though as it thundered through the fort.  Joe screamed as Chloe fell forward into his wound.

There was no witty banter or friendly competition as the four left the Fortress of Solitude.  The four were focused on getting to Fort Massac as soon as possible now that the seriousness of the situation was hitting them.  Big Dan had seen a camp to the South.  Normally this would not be a big concern, but with most of the troops patrolling the northern border there just wasn’t enough men left to protect the Fort if something were to happen.  The longer they discussed it the worse the situation looked from a tactical standpoint.  They had to let Sergeant Reynolds know what was going on before it was too late.

Big Dan had told them to ride straight back to Fort Massac.  He explained that the patrolling troops dropped into the Fortress of Solitude every hour or so just to check in.  They had left just before the group arrived so there was at least another half hour before more troops would be there.  It would be at least another hour after that before reinforcements could be organized and sent to Fort Massac.  Dan had then grabbed a bag from under a stack of parts and pulled out a bundle of sticks.  “These babies are for emergency only.  They burn a dark red and if the patrols see it they will know to come straight here,” Big Dan had told them.  He explained that it wouldn’t save them much time, but every minute could count; unless of course they were all just being paranoid.

A few miles from the Fortress of Solitude Jim glanced back over his shoulders.  “Hey guys, I think something is wrong back at the Fortress of Solitude.”  He brought his horse to a stop.  The other three turned their horses around and rode back to him.  “Big Dan said that he was going to put up a smoke signal.”  He pointed back towards the fort, “but there isn’t any smoke coming from back there.”

“Maybe it didn’t light,” Joe offered.

“Maybe, but I also thought I heard a sound come from the Fort right after we left.  I didn’t think anything about it until now.  I just figured it was Big Dan banging things around again.”

“We need to get back and warn Daddy,” Chloe said with urgency to her voice.

“Look we just need to warn Fort Massac, but if something is going on back there it could be dangerous.  I suck in a fight,” Rick admitted.  “I’ll ride straight ahead and get the word out, you guys check back in at the Fortress of Solitude.  That way we get the word out and get some piece of mind.”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Joe said with an air of shock to his voice.

“Ok, let’s stop talking and get moving,” Chloe said as she started back towards the Fortress of Solitude.  “I say we stop just outside the fort and scout it.  That way if nothing is happening we don’t look like idiots,” she yelled over the loud galloping sound of the horses.

“Jim I hope you aren’t wasting our time,” Joe yelled.

“Since you’re the only one with a gun I hope he is,” Chloe replied.  Jim glanced over and saw an expression on her face that he did not recognize.  He realized that he didn’t know most of her facial expressions yet.  It had surprised him that she decided to join them instead of riding ahead with Rick to warn her father.  Chloe Reynolds was not going to be an easy person to predict.

Joe brought his horse to a stop on the hill before the Fortress of Solitude and the others joined him.  “Ok, tie the horses to those trees.  We are going on foot from here.”

“Why?” Chloe asked as she moved to tie her horse to the tree.

“The horses would be too loud and too good of targets.  I don’t want to tell Mr. Turner that I got one of his horses shot.  No, we’re going to sneak down there quietly so if anything is happening we won’t give ourselves away.  If nothing is happening then I don’t want to hear about this from Danny for the next two weeks.”

Jim reached into his bag and realized that he didn’t have any rope.  He thought carefully and whispered into Buttercup’s ear.  “Be a good horse and wait here for us.  Do you understand?”  The horse whinnied and rubbed her head against Jim.  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Jim said as he moved back over to Joe and Chloe.

Joe was lying on the top of the hill looking through a broken pair of binoculars in his right hand.  It had been snapped in two at one point so only one side was left.  He joined Joe on the hill and strained his eyes.   Joe handed him the binocular.  “Look out in front of the second building.  I can’t tell for sure, but I think that’s the plane out there.”  Jim stared through and saw what could be a wing of the plane over the roof of the building.

“Yeah I think you’re right.”  He handed the binocular over to Chloe so she could look in.

“Ok here is the plan.  We are going to sneak down and over into those bushes.  Then you two are going to sneak up to the back door of the first building.  I’ll hold back covering you with the gun until you get inside.  We’ll see what we can from there and then move into the second building.  Any questions?”

“No sir,” Chloe replied as Jim shook his head.

“Good.  Let’s go.”  Joe started down the hill and the other two followed.  He has his gun out, but was pointing it towards the ground away from them.  He took up a position in one of the bushes at the bottom of the hill and pointed his gun out towards the back door.  He whispered, “Move quietly.  Slowly push the door open and stay to the side so I have a clear shot if I need it.”

Jim and Chloe moved slowly over to the building.  Chloe moved very quietly, but Jim found himself stepping on every twig between him and the door.  Chloe just shook her head at him.  They slid up against the building with Jim on the right side of the door and Chloe on the other.  Joe motioned for them to open the door and Chloe slid it open.  Nothing inside moved.

Joe crouched and walked over to join them.  “Chloe you go first, I’ll cover you.”  Jim started to object, but Joe cut him off.  “I know what you’re thinking, but you are just too loud to go first.”  Jim nodded.  He didn’t like it, but they were right.

Chloe slid into the building slowly.  She let out a sharp gasp and took off running to the front of the building.  Before even thinking about it Jim ran after her.  Joe walked in after them shaking his head and said, “These newbies are going to get me killed.”

Jim watched in awe as Chloe seemed rode ahead in full control of David’s horse.  He knew this horse was difficult, but she never wavered.  She also didn’t take it easy either.  Chloe was riding in the lead position and made sure she got it back from anyone who tried to take it.  Jim knew that Buttercup was faster, but he had no desire to be in front.  Joe on the other hand seemed to take this as a challenge and Jim found himself riding far faster than he was comfortable with just to keep up with them.  He was relieved to see that Rick was also struggling to keep up.

“Jim I think you should put them in their place.”  Rick struggled to yell out the words as he hung on tight to the reigns of his horse.  “Let Buttercup show them what she can do.”

“Buttercup might be up to it, but I’m not.  I don’t feel like falling off and breaking my neck.”  Jim held on tightly.  He didn’t want to admit that on a regular horse he didn’t think he could even handle this pace.  He gripped the reins tighter and said a silent thank you to Stablemaster Turner for giving him a GC.

“Come on you two.  Can’t you keep up?”  Chloe chanced a glance backwards as she yelled and Joe made another move to take the lead.   She expertly cut him off laughing as she did.  “Oh no you don’t.  I know what Buttercup can do Jim, you don’t have any excuse.”

For a moment Jim was able to put all his fears out of his mind.  He leaned forward and whispered into Buttercup’s ear.  “This is all you girl.  I’m just going to hold on tight and you are going to put an end to this.  You can show them both how it’s done.”  He leaned back up and tried to prepare himself.  “This is it.”  He gripped the reins and prepared to give the signal, but at that moment they topped a hill and the Fortress of Solitude was in view.  Jim realized that he had waited too long.  They were already here.

Chloe and Joe slowed down as they reached the edge of the Fort.  She finally let Joe take the lead again.  Jim and Rick came in close after them.  At a slow gallop they four rode together into the Fort.  Chloe and Joe argued the whole way about who won the race while Jim and Rick tried to stay out of it.  Joe was the first off his horse.

Big Dan was walking out to meet him.  The big man was walking quickly and with a huge smile on his face.  He opened his arms wide and grabbed Joe by the shoulders shaking him.  “Did you see it Joe?  I was flying.”  He let Joe go and moved over to Chloe.  “Chloe what are you doing here?  Did your dad send you?  Did he see?”

“I think everyone saw Danny.”  She gave him a quick hug.

“Yeah you’re going to be the talk of the town,” Rick added.

“Can we see it?”  Big Dan turned to look at Jim.  “The plane, can we see it?”

“I don’t see why not.  Now that everyone knows about her I guess I can show off my baby.”   Big Dan’s smile grew even bigger.  “Follow me.”  He walked to the front of one of the big metal buildings.  He knocked three times and then started to pull the giant metal door open.  There was a loud creaking sound as the door gave way.  The building was mostly hollow inside and the ground was littered with tools and mechanical parts.  Everything was dirty and covered in grease except for one large item in the middle.

It was a machine with a rounded body and flat wings sticking out of the sides.  The large spinning blade in the front was just now coming to a stop.  The whole thing sat on two wheels in the front and a single wheel in the back.  It wasn’t clean exactly, but it had at least been wiped down at some point.  Jim had never seen anything like it.

“It’s really an airplane,” Jim said to himself as he walked over to it.  He ran his hand along the wing.  “It’s beautiful Dan.  How did you get this thing running?”  Jim climbed up to look in the cockpit.

“This has been my project for more years than I care to count.   I found thing out here when I was your age.  It had been striped of anything useful.  I had no clue how to put it together so I have been learning as I go.”  He leaned in closer to Jim and whispered, “Just between you and me I’ve blown out that engine 4 times trying to get it running.”

Jim chuckled.  “It’s our secret.”

Dan’s face suddenly had an expression that Jim couldn’t place and he shot off across the hanger.  “Hold on, I just remembered something.”

Chloe walked over to Jim.  “So you like machines?”

“They are fascinating.  I have seen a few engines, but never one that ran.  This though, this is just mind blowing.”

“You’re kind of cute when you get excited.” She smiled.  Jim just blushed not sure how to respond.  He looked around the room trying not to let her see his reddening face.

A loud clanking sound echoed through the building.  Jim, thankful for the distraction, turned to see Big Dan digging through the drawers of a metal desk.  He tossed things from the drawer on the floor and dragged his arm across the top clearing it.  Finally he pulled out a big rolled up sheet of paper and spread it out across the desk.  It looked like a hand drawn map.

“Got it.  Ok everyone gather around.  I need you to take a message back to Sergeant Reynolds.   This is important.  I saw something while I was up there.  I almost forgot in all the excitement.”  He started drawing on the map and circled a section.  “Here just south of the river.  There was a camp a few miles down.  It looked pretty big and it’s hidden from the road.  I couldn’t tell how many people were there, but it was enough to get me worried.”

Jim was the first to speak.  “With all the troops up north looking for ists anyone coming from the South would be able to sweep right in.”

“That young Jim is why I’m worried.  It might be nothing or it might be serious trouble.  We need to know which and we need to know it now.”

Much to Jim’s pleasant surprise his dad did not talk about the incident with the Ist woman on the way to Fort Massac.  Instead he told Jim a few stories about his mother and their relationship before he was born.  He told how they met, about their first date, and even how he had proposed.  Jim had heard a few of these stories before, but still listened closely for anything new about his mother.  She had been killed when he was so young that he could barely remember her.  That bothered him.

He tried his hardest to remember anything about her as he heard the stories and found that even though he didn’t it still hurt to think about it.  There was something deep inside that made him miss her.  Now as he realized that even his memories of her had faded the sense of loss was strong.  He could only imagine how much harder it was for his father to share these stories and wondered why he was picking now to tell stories of young romance.

As they reached the giant statue of a man holding grocery bags his dad stopped and sent him on ahead.  Apparently he wanted to talk to someone at the town’s food pantry before continuing on to the Fort.   Jim was relieved that the guys were not going to see him walk in with his dad.  Perhaps his dad remembered more about what it was like to be a teenager than he had gave him credit for.

Jim walked into to the Fort and took a look around.  Chloe was in her usual corner and gave Jim a smile over her book.  She reached a hand up and pointed over to the opposite corner of the fort.  As Jim turned his head he was greeted by the site of David sitting on a bench with a crutch leaned up against it.  Rick and Joe were already there surrounding him.  “David, you have no idea how happy I am to see you,” Jim said as he walked over to the group of boys.  “How are you doing?  Does it still hurt?”

David looked up and acknowledged Jim with a nod.  “Nah it doesn’t hurt too bad.  They have me on some pretty good pain killers.  Tell you the truth I’m not really sure how I’m doing.  That was a close one.  They said that if we had been a minute later or gone anywhere else I would have bled to death.  That kind of puts things in perspective.”

“I’m so sorry about this.  It was all my fault.  If I hadn’t road ahead without you guys you wouldn’t have had to come to my rescue and take a knife for me.”

“Did you learn a lesson?”

“Yes,” Jim admitted with his head down.

“Did anybody die?”

“You could have been killed,” Jim exclaimed.

David spoke slowly, but was loud and forceful.  “Did….Anybody….Die?”

“No” Jim admitted

“Well you learned a lesson and no one had to die for you to learn it.  Way I see it no harm was done.”  He smiled.  “No guarantee I’ll feel the same when the pain medication wears off.”  He laughed and with that laugh a weight was lifted off of Jim’s shoulders.  Guilt he didn’t realize he had been carrying floated away.

“Are you back on duty?”

“Nah, not yet.”  David pointed to his leg. “I can’t ride a horse and I certainly can’t walk from Fort to Fort.  I just wanted to make sure you all knew I was OK.”

“Hey!  Do you guys hear that?”  Chloe was standing up now and walking towards the boys.  “It’s a buzzing sound.”

Jim listened closely.  “Yeah, I think I hear it.”

“Come on, let’s take a look.”   Chloe grabbed Jim’s hand and dragged him behind her towards one of the corner towers.  The other boys looked on at the two in shock as they ran together into the tower.

“Well I think Jim is going to have a story to tell us later,” Joe chuckled as he started to follow them up the stairs.

The wooden tower was square in shape with a spiral staircase inside.  The original design has a roof at the top of the tower, but this had long ago been replaced with an extension to the tower and an open lookout deck.  David stayed on the bench below, but the rest of the group gathered and strained their eyes to see anything that could be making the strange buzzing sounds that Chloe had noticed.

The four stared in every direction looking for anything that could be making buzzing sound that continued to get louder.  Finally Chloe looking to the NorthWest got exicted.  “Look up in the sky.”  She pointed towards a small black thing in the distance.

“It’s a bird,” Joe said dismissively.  “Something else must be making that sound.”

“No, I don’t think so.”  Jim said quietly.  “I remember reading about something in History class.  I think that’s an airplane.”  About this time a sputtering sound could be heard from the object and a few puffs of smoke came from it.  This repeated a few times as it got closer.

“It is.”  Chloe was getting excited now.  “What would an airplane be doing here?”  She turned back towards the inside of the fort.   “DADDY COME SEE THIS!”  When she yelled Jim had to cover his ears.

Jim looked down into the center of the Fort.  There standing by the well was Sergeant Reynolds and his dad.  They were staring into the sky.  “Oh I see it baby, but I don’t believe it.  He actually got that bucket of bolts working.”

James was laughing.  “I don’t believe it.  Last I heard he was still missing a few part.”

“Believe it or not that scumbag McQuery actually did something for a change.  Of course I don’t think he realizes it.  He came back on the last trade boat with a bunch of mechanical parts.  None of them worked in the tractors, but they turned out to be exactly what Danny needed.”

Everyone in the Fort stared into the sky as the plane flew overhead.  It crossed the Ohio River and continued south.  After about five minutes the plane looped back and flew over the Fort again, but this time word had spread and the few people left at Fort Massac were gathered outside to cheer.  Most of the troops had been pulled from Fort Massac to Fort 24 since the boy’s encounter with the Ist woman.

Sergeant Reynolds yelled up to the tower.  “How would you four like to head over and be the first to congratulate Big Dan on his flight?   I’d go myself, but we’re too short staffed for me to leave.   Besides James and I have a few things we need to discuss.”

A big smile came over Chloe’s face.  “I get to go?”

“I don’t see why not.  It’s just a trip out to see Big Dan and back.  You want to be involved in the Militia and your 18^th birthday is only a few weeks away so with David out we might as well give you an early start.”  He smiled up at her.  “Now go on before I change my mind.”

“Yes Sir,” she said with a salute.  “Thanks daddy.”

A few minutes later the four were on their way to the Fortress of Solitude.  Jim was once again on Buttercup and grateful for it.  David’s horse was just too difficult for him to control and he didn’t want to fall off in front of everyone.  When he looked up he saw Chloe riding David’s horse.  She was completely in control of it.

The band was playing a slow song and Chloe stepped closer.  Jim reached out wrapping his arms around her waist.  As he pulled her closer she wrapped her arms around his neck.  They moved to the music like that bodies pressed tightly together.  She rested her head next to his with their cheeks touching and her mouth less than an inch from his ear.  He could feel her warm breathe against it and realized that she was breathing a little bit heavier too.

Jim pulled back and looked Chloe right in the eyes.  They didn’t say anything; just stared at each other.  Jim stood there taking in the whole moment.  The feel of her body against his and the look in her eyes was almost too much for him.  He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening.  This is actually going to happen he thought as he moved his head closer to hers.

She started to speak, but the words came out in his Dad’s voice.  “Don’t you think you should wake up so you aren’t late for your second day of Militia?”

The world came crashing back to Jim with a sharp contrast.  He was lying in bed and his eyes were stinging as he opened them.  His dad was standing in the doorway to his room grinning and the sun was shining in his window far too brightly in his opinion.  “What?” he managed to ask hoarsely as he moved his hands up to block the sun.

Jim’s dad spoke as he moved to the curtains and pulled them open wider letting even more of the offending sunlight into the room.  “Well its Monday morning and I figured you would want to get an early start.  Make up for that late start you got on Friday.”

Jim struggled to sit up and thought back to the events of Saturday night.  They had obviously inspired the dream that he had just been so rudely pulled out of, but they certainly had not ended like that.  After Jim’s dad left he and Chloe had talked for hours.  They shared life stories, told jokes, and generally got to know each other better.  As the celebration died they both went their own separate ways and headed home.  Jim liked the ending from his dream much better.  Well the ending that almost happened until his Dad woke him up.

Thinking about that night reminded Jim of a question that had been bothering him.  “Dad,” he started slowly.  “What is Linden?”

Jim’s dad looked thoughtfully at him and than sat down on the end of the bed.  “Linden is a town in Tennessee about a weeks ride from here.  I haven’t traveled much, but I did make a trading trip there when I was just a little bit older than you.  That was quite a trip.”  His dad seemed to be lost in thought for a moment and Jim wasn’t sure if he was going to continue.  “They are one of the few towns I have seen that is actually better off than we are.   That town is beautiful and its people know it.  They really care about their town.”

“What makes it so special?”

“Well for starters if you need anything mechanical they are the best place to find it.  Red’s junkyard has more parts and more working machines than anywhere else that I have ever heard of.  That alone makes he town valuable.  Besides that they actually have a history similar to ours when you think about it.  It’s a town too small to be hit that rallied together and built a life for itself after the bombs.”  His dad looked thoughtfully at him.  “Why do you ask?”

“Well when Mayor McQuery tripped and his bag fell open huge stacks of paper with the name “Linden” written on them fell out.  I think it might have been some kind of money.”

“Money you say?  That is odd.  Why would he need Linden money and how did he get as much as you say you saw.  It’s just worthless paper here in Metropolis.”

“He also had a book, but I couldn’t make out the title.”

“I’m surprised that man even knows how to read.”  The disgust in his tone could not be missed.  He sighed.  “Well it seems like you were quite the snoop while trying to help him get his stuff put away.  I don’t trust that man, but so far we don’t have any reason to think he is doing anything wrong.  Maybe if we are lucky he is just planning on leaving town so we don’t have to ever see him again.”

His dad stood up and walked to the door.  “If I start talking about him you really will be late.  Hurry up and get dressed.  I’m going to walk you to the Fort this morning.”

“But dad,” Jim started to protest.

“Don’t worry I won’t embarrass you.  We’ll split up just before getting to the Fort so it doesn’t look like your old man is dropping you off.  I have quite a few subjects that I need to talk to Jason about.  It’s been too long since we last spoke.”  It took Jim a minute to realize that his dad was talking about Sergeant Reynolds.  His dad then added as he walked into the living room, “Besides it will give us a chance to finish our discussion of how you should have reacted to that situation with the Ist woman.”

Jim groaned at the thought of the impending conversation as he started to get ready.

Chloe gave Jim her best pouty face.  “Come on Jim, I thought we were having fun here.”  She reached out for his hand, but he jerked it away quickly.

“I don’t think so.  Drop the act, it isn’t going to work anymore.  You can’t flirt your way out of this.”

Chloe sighed and with the sigh her entire demeanor seemed to change.  She stood up much straighter now and her face was far more serious.  “Ok I admit it; I had no idea who you were until yesterday even though we probably have been in school together most of our lives.  You just weren’t in my circles.”  She sighed again.  “I didn’t mean it to sound like that.  We just didn’t have anything in common.  Now that you’re in the militia you hit my radar.  That’s it really.”

“I don’t buy it.  You don’t act like this around Joe, Rick, or David.  It also doesn’t explain why you felt the need to put me in the spotlight back there.”  He was pointing angrily in the direction they had just come from.

Chloe once again sighed.  Jim wondered if it was her way of stalling to think about what she wanted to say.  “If you really want to know I thought the stuttering thing yesterday was cute.  Like a scared little puppy.  I wanted to see if you would do it again.  You were so nervous around me and I couldn’t help but try to push it a bit.  I was just trying to have a little fun with you.”

“So basically you just do whatever you want without ever thinking about anyone else.”  Anger was still in his voice, but Jim was starting to calm down.  He wasn’t even yelling anymore.  “Have you ever thought about how the people you use feel?”

“Not often enough apparently.”  She reached out again and this time he let her take his hand.  “Look Jim, I think we started off on the wrong foot here.  You’re a pretty nice guy and apparently do have a backbone in there when pushed.”  Jim started to protest, but she cut him off.  “Believe it or not that was supposed to be a complement.  I can’t seem to say anything right to you tonight.”  She looked at him thoughtfully.  “You know I don’t think anyone except Daddy has ever spoken to me like you just did.  That probably means I really deserved it.”  She mumbled under her breath so quietly that Jim almost didn’t hear her over the celebration sounds.  “I guess it also means that I owe you an apology.”

“Come on I think we need some new beers and this time I’ll buy.”

“You know saying you owe someone an apology isn’t actually apologizing.”

“Nope I guess it isn’t.”  The bounce had returned to Chloe’s words and she turned quickly towards the beer cart tugging on Jim’s hand.  As she spun she smashed hard into an overweight grey haired man knocking both of them to the ground.  The man’s duffel bag went tumbling and ripped open spilling papers at Jim’s feet.

A spark of recognition struck Jim.  “Mayor McQuery we are so sorry.  Here let me help you with your bag.”

As Jim started to reach for the former mayor’s bag the older man shuffled quickly on the ground to gather up his papers.  “I think you two have helped quite enough young man.”

Ignoring the attitude Jim bent down to gather a stack of papers that was blowing away.  He had never seen the design on the papers before, but they looked like some sort of paper money.  Jim couldn’t help but notice the word “Linden” written on the bills before Shannon McQuery grabbed the pile out of his hands and shoved them back into his bag.  Jim noticed a book on the ground as well, but the older man grabbed it before he could make out the title.

“Those are mine and I’ll thank you not to paw them.”  He pushed the last handful of money into his bag and held it shut tightly.  “You know if I were still mayor I could do something to teach all you little brats some manors.  In fact you know what I’d do?”

Jim did not even notice his father had walked up to them until he spoke.  “My guess is you wouldn’t do anything at all unless someone bribed you to do it.  Of course I could be a bit jaded by your actual term in office.”

The former mayor looked to have lost his confidence.  “James, I see you still don’t know when to keep your mouth shut and stay out of other people’s business.”

“I guess I don’t.  I certainly couldn’t keep it shut while endorsing Mayor Parker for your job.  I also couldn’t keep it shut while cheering at the announcement that he won.”   Shannon McQuery opened his mouth to speak, but James continued to the assault.  “and I just don’t think I will be able to keep it shut while I’m kicking your crooked ass for giving my son attitude.”

The former mayor looked like he had something more to say, but thought better of it when he saw that James was not backing down.  He held his bag closer and turned back into the crowd.  “What’s it take to get just a little bit of respect in this town.”

“Having a spine or a moral bone in your body would help,” James yelled after him.  He then turned to the kids.  “I think I’m all celebrated out for the night.  Jim I’ll see you at home.  Chloe, say hi to your dad for me.”

After James had wondered off Chloe looked at Jim.  “What was that all about?”

“I have no idea.  I don’t even know how he knew your name.”

“I’ll tell you what I know,” Chloe said with a smile.  “I know where you got that buried courage streak of yours.”  She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.  “Now come on, I still owe you that beer.”

Jim handed Chloe a beer with his left hand and stared at his own in his right.  Time for a little courage he thought as he took a big drink.  This beer was much better than what he had on the night of his birthday.  It had a much stronger flavor and he didn’t feel the need to vomit at the very smell of it.  Nothing but the best for the Summer Celebration apparently he thought.  He didn’t like the taste, but figured that if he had enough it wouldn’t matter anymore. Chloe took a drink from hers as well.  Jim was finally ready to try and have a conversation when a woman began screaming behind the band.

“You lousy Son of a Bitch you slept with an Ist didn’t you?”

The woman yelling at the top of her lungs startled the pair and they both turned in the direction the sound had come from.  “Well someone is angry,” Chloe joked as she grabbed Jim’s free hand.  “Come on let’s see what’s going on.”  Her blonde hair bounced as she pushed her way through the crowd dragging Jim along behind her.  What horrible timing Jim thought until he realized that Chloe was holding his hand.

“Now Doreen; just calm down honey.  You’re making a scene.”

The man was speaking softly and Jim could barely make out his words.  He did recognize him though.  Jim leaned in close to Chloe’s left ear and whispered, “That’s Patrick Dempsey.  He’s my neighbor.  I think he works in the food panty.”

Chloe leaned into his ear and Jim could feel her warm breath on it.  “Yeah I recognize him.  He used to be the mayor’s assistant until Mayor Parker was elected.  I’ve heard some rumors that he was crooked, but no one seems to have any proof.”

“Don’t you ‘now honey’ me.  I don’t care if I make a scene.  Joanna saw you heading up North a few days ago and now I hear that there are Ist around.  What am I supposed to think?”

Jim could tell that the man was getting frustrated.  He let out a big sigh and raised his hand up in the air.  The sarcasm in his tone screamed that this was not going to end quickly.  “I don’t know, how about thinking that you should trust your husband?  How is that for what you are supposed to think?  Maybe,  ooh crazy idea, just maybe you should ask him in private instead of yelling at him in front of the whole town.  Oh and how about just this once having the conversation BEFORE you start drinking?”  She started to speak, but he cut her off.  “Besides if I were to ever cheat on you I haven’t sunken quite low enough to do it with a filthy Ist woman.”

The woman was crying now, but fought back the tears with loud sobs.  “How do you know there is a woman up there and that she’s dirty if you weren’t up there with her?”  The words were barely understandable through the sobs.

“I know there’s a woman because I heard the stories about yesterday just like you did and I know she is dirty because she is an IST.  Of course she is dirty.  Besides who knows if the stories are even true.  There might not even be an Ist woman up north.”

“Jim knows.”  Jim was caught completely off guard by Chloe suddenly speaking out loud.  He was caught even more off guard by her hand shoving him out towards the fighting couple.  “He was there yesterday.  He knows exactly what happened and what the woman looked like.”  The crowd was staring at Jim now and he was getting very uncomfortable.

The man turned angry eyes towards Jim and Chloe.  “You two just stay out of this.  This is between me and my wife.  It’s none of your business.”

The sobbing woman looked at Jim.  “Was she prettier than me?”

“Uhm,  uh.  She was,  uhm.”  Jim heard Chloe failing to hold in a giggle behind him.  He had dealt with quite enough of being made fun of the last two days.  When he spoke again he was forceful.  “Pretty?  She was a violent bitch that tried to kill me.  She was a dirty horrible woman that stabbed someone who was just trying to protect me from her.  If your husband even tried to approach her she would have killed him without blinking and he wouldn’t be here to listen to your drunken ramblings.”  Jim wondered if he was being too harsh, but the woman annoyed him.  He had always liked Patrick and didn’t think he deserved this kind of public humiliation.

Jim turned to force his way through the crowd.  He heard the man call out behind him, “Hey you can’t talk to my wife like that.” He decided to ignore it and keep moving.

Chloe called out from behind him.  “That was harsh.  I like it.”  She was slipping through the crowd trying to catch up with him.  “Hey wait up.”

Jim turned to face her.  “What the hell was that?  I’ve been in school with you for years and you have never so much as said a word to me.  Now suddenly you are following me around trying to find new ways to make me uncomfortable.  What is your game here?”

Jim and his father live almost a mile from town square.  It takes them on average twenty minutes to make that trip.  This is exactly how long Jim had to listen to his father give him a speech about his reckless behavior the day before and how lucky he was to still be alive.  This also happens to be the same speech he had given him the previous night and all morning.  By this time Jim didn’t think he could take hearing much more of it so as soon as they reached the crowd and he could hear the band playing he shot forward into it.  This was his escape.

“Don’t think we’re done talking about this!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Jim yelled back as he slipped out of sight.  He knew the band would be set up in town square at the statue’s feet and the beer carts that he was now old enough to buy from would be circling that square.  Street performers would be spread throughout the crowd and gathered around the bonfire that lit the square.  As it got darker the town officials would walk the street lighting torches.  The whole thing was kicked off by a speech from the mayor that Jim was thankful he had missed.  He did wonder whether the events of the previous day had been mentioned or not.

As Jim neared the bonfire a drunken man stumbled into him.  He was knocked off balance and barely managed to keep from falling on the ground.  Beer splashed onto his shirt.  “What the hell man watch where you’re going.”  The man turned and Jim finally got a look at his face.  “Joe?  Are you already drunk?”

“Yeah I’m drunk.  After what happened yesterday you think I could have any fun if I wasn’t?”

“We are supposed to be keeping an eye out for trouble though.”

“Bah they just didn’t want us kids involved in tracking down those Ists.  Well they can shove that in their pipe and…..  pipe,  Piper.  Project Piper.”  He smacked his head a little too hard and it glowed a soft red.  “We forgot to tell Sergeant Reynolds what Danny said about Project Piper.  I better do that now.”

“I think you are a little too drunk to do that now.”

“Whatever,” and with a dismissive wave Joe stumbled off in the general direction of Fort Massac.

Jim shook his head and continued towards the music.  As he reached the bonfire he noticed a crowd of boys about his age all dancing and decided to take a closer look.  As the he got closer he glimpsed movement in the center of the circle and moved into a better position to see.  There in the center of the crowd was Chloe Reynolds wearing a tight red dress that clung to her hips and didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination.  The front was cut low and showed off quite a bit of cleavage.  As she was dancing with her hands in the air her long blonde hair was flying around her.

Jim stood and watched as Chloe captured all the boys attention.  She slide her back tight against one of the boys and wrapped her arms around his neck rubbing seductively against him.  When she let go she bounced over to a boy across from her and wrapped her arms around his neck.  She leaned close and Jim thought for a minute that she was going to kiss the boy, but as her lips were just about to brush his she spun to the right with a giggle and ran her hands across another boy’s chest.  This continued for the remainder of the song as Chloe went from boy to boy teasing each of them.

When the song ended she waved at one of the boys and started for the beer carts.  As she passed the boy she almost kissed reached out and smacked her butt.  The next few moments happened so quickly that Jim could barely register what he was seeing.  As his hand touched her backside she reached back and grabbed the boy by the wrist.  She twisted the wrist hard spinning it around behind his back and using her other hand to put pressure on his shoulder.  The boy slammed into the ground hard and Chloe rode him down landing with her knee in his back.  “Is that any way to treat a lady?” she asked as she let go of his arm.  She ruffled his hair and smacked his head into the dirt fairly hard as she stood up.

Jim froze as he realized that Chloe was walking right towards him.  She stopped about two feet in front of him and ran two of her fingers down her chest.  “Well if it isn’t the new guy.  So tell me do you have any hobbies besides staring at me?”

“Well uhm, I un.”

She startled Jim as she laughed loudly.  “You’re more nervous than you were with Daddy.  Relax I don’t bite.  Much.”

“Sorry about the staring and all.  I was nervous yesterday and today well you were putting on quite a show.”

“Do you know what it’s like to have complete control over a group of people?  No I don’t suppose you do.  It’s a real rush and the closest thing you can get to adrenaline rush of a fight.”  She looked back at the boy who was just now being helped to his feet.  She blew him a kiss.  “So what’s your name new guy?”

“Jim, I’m Jim.”

“Well Jim today is your lucky day.  You are going to make all those boys back there jealous by getting the privilege of buying my next beer.”  She wrapped her right arm through his left and led him off towards the beer carts.

This is already the most interesting celebration ever; Jim thought as he walked Chloe towards the beer cart.

“You let Jim ride David’s horse?”  Bill Turner had a shocked look on his face.

“It was an emergency.  David has been hurt and we knew the GC would be smart enough to make it back.”  Rick said defensively.  The two boys had decided to drop the horses off since Joe was already in with Sergeant Reynolds by the time they arrived and his horse had been wondering off.

“Oh I get that, but what you apparently don’t get is that David breaks in horses for me.  His horse is always the wildest one I have.”  Bill chuckled and looked at Jim.  “You’re lucky he didn’t just toss you off.”  He sighed and his face took on a more serious expression.  “I hope David is ok, he’s a good kid.”   He started leading the horses back to the barn two at a time.

Sergeant Reynolds was walking out of the fort screaming commands and that everyone was scrambling to react.  “I want 21 men on route to Fort 24 right now.   Twenty of them report to Commander Jackson for immediate deployment to deal with Ist activity.  The other man needs to meet me at City Hall with a report on David’s status.   I want 5 more men at the Fortress of Solitude backing up Danny.  I’m taking these boys into town to explain what just happened to the Mayor.  We’re going to be running on a skeleton crew here men so I want all eyes South.”

Rick walked towards the man.  “Sergeant Reynolds, I want to be one of the men that go to Fort 24 to hunt down the Ist that did this.”

“I’ll tell you the same thing that I told Joe.  Not gonna happen.  I’m not sending you boys into harms way and you can’t be fully affective to Commander Jackson without clearance into Fort 24 and you are a good year away from getting that.  My decision stands and we do not have time to discuss it.”  He stepped up to the stable.  “Bill I need four horses.”

As the boys rode to town Jim had a chance to take in the sites he had missed while running to the Fort that morning.  The first thing that caught his eye was a large statue in front of the town pantry.  It was a man holding a paper sack.  The pantry was just a warehouse and was positioned close to Fort Massac to allow for better control if another food riot were ever to break out. The town’s food was actually handed out from City Hall and large amounts were never onsite.  Up ahead on the right was an old theatre that a group of kids from school had just recently started using for plays.  On the left in the distance was a water tower.  It had been reinforced over the years and whatever had once been painted on it had chipped away until there were just flakes of color left.

Town hall was the largest prebomb building still standing in Metropolis.  It was two stories with large open courtyards on all sides.  A stable had been built to the East of the building.  In the back a 20ft tall statue of a man stood holding his hands to his waist.  It had a long red cape and a bright red and yellow S symbol on its chest.  Jim knew that this iconic character had been important to the town before the bombs.  He had seen the symbol still standing all throughout town.  In the days after the bombing though peoples priorities had changed.  The town had created a new identity for itself and surviving was more important than honoring a fictional character.  There were still those in town that knew about him and tried to keep his stories alive.  Jim and his father were certainly not those people.

Shannon McQuery Sr. was the Mayor who had seen Metropolis through the bomb and was single handedly credited for its current well being.  He is remembered as the greatest leader Metropolis has ever known, and his son is remembered as the worst.  Under Shannon McQuery Jr. the town had seen corruption and mismanagement like they had never known before.  Jim often wondered if it was the stress of not being able to live up to his father’s legend that led to the mayor’s downfall.  Whatever the cause it left a large mess for current mayor Frank Parker to clean up.  Jim found himself standing in front of this man telling him all about yet another complication that he would have to deal with.

Mayor Parker listened quietly to the boys telling their story.  He let each one tell it as they remembered and took notes occasionally.  When the last boy was done with his story the Mayor finally spoke.  “This is troubling on many levels.  You boys were set up for an ambush and are lucky to be alive.  Those Ists somehow managed to raid town food as well.  This says to me that they are organized.”  He shook his head.  “I haven’t seen this level of organization since James crushed the last band thirteen years ago.”  Mayor Parker looked at Jim.  “Your father is a hero and this town can never repay him enough for what he did or what you two had to sacrifice.”

The Mayor turned back to Sergeant Reynolds.  “We are still going to have the celebration tomorrow.  This town needs its yearly morale boost and I will not have this incident tarnish that.  I can’t help but wonder about it’s timing.  One day before the celebration seems like too much of a coincidence.”  He looked at the boys.  “We cannot spare extra men to attend the celebration now.  They need to be patrolling the northern border.  I want you three and any other recruits to keep a close eye on the town during the celebration.  I want you to celebrate and have a good time, but you keep your eyes open for anything suspicious.”

Before any of the boys could answer they were startled by a knocking at the door.  Mayor Parker motioned for Sergeant Reynolds to open the door.  “I have news from Fort 24 sir.”  Jim was not sure if the man was speaking to the mayor or Sergeant Reynolds.  “The Taylor boy pulled through.  It was real touch and go for a while there and they weren’t sure, but the docs managed to stabilize him.  They said another few minutes and it would have been too late.”

Mayor Parker looked back at the boy.  “Well I guess you three have something extra special to celebrate this year.  You’re dismissed for the rest of the day.  Go home to your families before word of this spreads to them.  Sergeant Reynold you stay here.  We need to talk.”

The reason I am writing this is to let everyone know what to expect over the next few weeks.  I am going to be at Gencon starting Wednesday, but I am dedicated to ensuring that each part of this story comes out on time.  I also want to give you all something extra for the week of Gencon.  This week’s story which is currently going through its final editing pass introduces a few more locations in town.  I figured some of you might like to see some pictures of the places that inspired this story.  This evening part 10 of Skies of Glass: Metropolis will go live.  Throughout the week a few bonus editions will be released with some vacation pictures I have of the town.  I am not an artist at all, but if I can come up with a map of the area for you I will release that as well.  None of this information is needed to read or enjoy the story and it is just my way of giving a little bit more on the week of Gencon.

Thank you all again for taking the time to read my labor of love and if you are enjoying it please tell your friends and help me grow the audience.  The more readers and feedback I get the better the final product will be.

David’s horse didn’t lean down for Jim to get on like Buttercup had.  No this horse just stood there waiting for him to get on.  He grabbed on and tried to pull himself up.  The ground hit him hard in return for his effort.  The second attempt went much better.  He actually made it up onto the horse.  He held on tightly as the horse started walking around aimlessly.  This definitely wasn’t going to be as easy as riding Buttercup and certainly wasn’t going to be as smooth.

As the boys took off towards Fort 24 Jim was finding it hard to keep up.  This ride was not nearly as smooth as the previous ones.  He noticed that the horse needed constant correction to stay on course.  Buttercup had taken care of all of that for him.  She knew where she was going and didn’t need him to get there.  This horse was very different.  He didn’t feel like he had complete control and was not comfortable riding as fast as the other boys.  Jim knew that this was necessary though.  David needed the smooth ride.

Jim glanced up at David on Buttercup.  He was leaning over and barely upright.  They had grabbed a bandage from Rick’s pack and wrapped it around David’s wound to apply pressure.  The former white bandage was now a bright red.  This did not look good. A knife wound like that would not be bleeding this much unless it had hit something important.  They had to get him help quickly.

The land they were riding through was beautiful and he knew that if he wasn’t so worried about David he would have wanted to go much slower and take it all in.  There were fields of grain, fenced in cows grazing, and a pond being fed by a natural stream.  He could see geese swimming across the top of the water.  The grass covered hills rose and fall all around them.  All the while not a sound could be heard except the birds and their horses.  He wanted to take it all in.  Of course he also might have just wanted to go slower because he couldn’t control this horse.

As they crossed on final hill Jim got his first look at Fort 24.  The building was an old brick building with one square barbwire fence enclosing another one around the outside.  At the corners of the outer ring of fences were large wooden lookout towers and even from here Jim could tell that there were men with guns in them.  Between the two fences Jim could see at least 3 armed men walking patrols.  Behind the fort was a large field with multiple animal pens sectioned out and converging in a small pond.  A large barn sat on the other side of the pens.  Across the trail a large grain silo sat at the end of the forest.  This strange site of farm and fort unnerved Joe.  He couldn’t help but wonder why a farm would need so much security and even stranger secrecy.

As the boys started down the hill two horses rode out at top speed to meet them on the hill.  “Hold there.  Identify yourselves.”

Joe took point, “We’re the daily report from Fort Massac.  We ran into some serious trouble a few miles back.  David is hurt bad.  We need to get him inside and get him help now.”  Almost on queue David fell off of Buttercup and onto the ground.

The man who had addressed them turned to his partner.  “Chris let the Fort know what is going on and get an emergency bed set up.  I’ll bring David down.”  As the second man rode off at full speed towards the Fort the speaking man turned back to face the boys.  “Get him up on my horse.  I’ll take him in and we’ll see what we can do for him.  You boys need to get back to Fort Massac and let Sergeant Reynolds know what just happened here.”

Joe stepped towards the man.  “We are not just leaving him here.  This is my friend and I don’t give a damn about your secrecy I’m going to make sure he is ok before I go anywhere.  Then I want to go with whoever goes out there to hunt the Ist that did this.

The man raised his voice, but it still had an air of control about it.  “You will stand down now recruit.  David is our friend too and he is the only one of you that has clearance to be in Fort 24.  None of you are cleared for active combat either.  You will report to Fort Massac as you have been ordered because even if I wanted to,” he pointed to one of the wooden towers, “those men would not let you in.  We will take care of him, but every second I’m standing here arguing with you is a second that he is losing more blood.  ”

“Damn it Joe; David doesn’t have time for this.”  Frustration filled Rick’s voice.  “I don’t like it any more than you do, but we have to get him in there.  Besides he’s right that Sergeant Reynolds needs to know about this now.  They were organized and the whole town could be in trouble.”

“Fine,” Joe pointed to the Miltia Guard.  “if he dies I’m holding you personally responsible.”

Jim was getting very uncomfortable.  He never cared for being around arguing, but in this case he also felt responsible.  David was hurt protecting him and he could just as easily be the one laying on the ground bleeding out right now.  The realization struck him hard.  I could have died.  This was just supposed to be a training day and this mission was just supposed to be a simple ride.  I was stupid and because of it I could have been killed and David might still die.

Rick helped the man pull David onto his horse.  Joe watched them both with a scowl the whole time and as soon as David was in the gates he took off full speed towards Fort Massac.  Rick just shook his head, “You know the sad thing here Jim is that I agree with Joe.  We should be in there with him, but standing out here arguing that was just doing more harm than good.  If you don’t learn anything else from today you should at least learn that following your gut isn’t always the best thing to do.”  He hopped back up on his horse.  “Come on let’s get back.  If everything I hear about GCs is true Buttercup here should be smart and loyal enough to follow without us needing to tie a rope onto her.”

No one spoke on the entire ride back to Fort Massac.

Jim’s head spun trying to process everything that had just happened.  This woman he thought was in trouble was really waiting to ambush them.  She would have stabbed him if David hadn’t arrived and taken that hit for him.  David was now lying on the ground with a knife embedded in his upper leg.  The muscles in his leg seemed to be spasming wildly causing more blood to gush out around the knife.  If that wasn’t bad enough Joe was aiming his gun at the woman and preparing to kill her right in front of his eyes.  All this going on while I’m standing here like an idiot, Jim thought.  I have to do something.

Jim finally snapped out of his indecision and started moving.  He wasn’t sure what he could do for David, but he could still reach the woman and hopefully Joe wouldn’t shoot if he was in the way.  Jim lunged at the woman and tackled her to the ground just as Joe pulled the trigger.  The gunshot was loud and left Jim’s ears ringing.  He had never been this close to a gunshot before and he could have swore he felt the air rush by him before the bullet struck a tree a few yards from him.

The Woman hit the ground hard.  She raised her hand to try and cushion the fall, but had been taken by such surprise that she couldn’t stop herself in time.  The right side of her face smashed into the path and she let out a grunt of pain.  Jim was grabber her arms and pulling them behind her back twisting her shoulders in a way that sent shock waves of pain through them.  She raised her head as best she could to the woods.  “THEY HAVE ME, GET OUT OF HERE!”

Within seconds of the woman’s scream sounds could be heard in the woods.  Bushes rustled and soon the sound of hoofs moving away joined it.  The sounds came from three different points in the woods and all seemed to be moving away further in to the woods.

“AMBUSH,” David screamed through clenched teeth.  He had finally gotten a hold of the knife handle and ripped it out the back of his leg.  Blood gushed from the now open wounds.  He reached into his backpack for an extra shirt and started wrapping it tight over the wound.  He had been on the sidelines too long.  David with great pain pulled himself to his feet, but the moment he put weight on his bad leg it gave way.  He found himself once again on the ground.  This time he was cursing.

Joe stalked over to Jim and the woman.  It was obvious that he was angry, but Jim wasn’t sure if he was angry about being set up for an ambush or about Jim’s own actions to save the woman’s life.  She was struggling under his weight trying to get free.  Jim would not underestimate her again.

“What the hell was this?  Why were you trying to ambush us?”  She did not answer Joe’s questions.  Instead she continued to struggle and spit at Joe’s feet.  “So that’s how it’s going to be huh?  Fine, I’m almost glad new blood here saved your life.  He guaranteed that you will rot in a cell.”  Joe was almost yelling as the anger came out in his voice.

Rick looked nervous.  He had rushed to David’s side after the fall and was now helping him to stand again.  “Come on man, we need to get you on a horse and get out of here.  Oh god you’ve lost so much blood.”  David leaned on Rick and they limped towards his horse.  “All this bumping is going to make things worse.  We have got to hurry.”  David just grunted as Rick led him to Jim’s horse. “Jim you take David’s horse.  Buttercup will be a smoother ride.”  On the walk to the GC David never once took his eyes off the captive woman.  Rick helped him onto the horse.

Joe walked over to Rick and the woman.  “I’m going to check for more weapons.  Hold her tight” Joe reached out for the woman.  She struggled against Jim’s grip and finally managed to get a little movement room.  She bit down hard on the inside of Joe’s hand between his thumb and index finger.  He screamed out in pain and jerked back causing her teeth to rake against the smooth flesh.  His hand was bleeding now.

Jim was caught off guard by the scream and loosened his grip slightly.  It wasn’t much, but it was just enough.   The woman was able to turn herself slightly and struck out with her knee.  The blow landed on target between Jim’s legs and pain shot through him.  His hands dropped as he crumpled to the ground in a fetal position.  Breathing was difficult and his eyes blurred slightly.  He couldn’t say or do anything, just ride the pain.

Not wasting a second of the confusion the woman ran for the woods.  As she was about to disappear into the brush she reached down for a backpack that was lying on the side of the road.  Taking a second too long she glanced back behind her focusing her gaze on Joe and in the process failed to make contact with the bag.  He was pulling his gun out again.  With only a split second to act she dove into a bush and out of sight.  Joe fired in after her and listened for a scream of pain to indicate he had hit something.  The sound never came.

“Guys we have to get to Fort 24 now.  David has lost a lot of blood.”  Rick was climbing into his saddle.

David was slumped over on Buttercup.  “Get that bag,” he managed to grunt out and pointed to the bag the woman only seconds ago had failed to grab.

Jim was still struggling to get off the ground so Joe approached the bag first.  He picked it up and unzipped the top.  “Let me just see what’s in it then we’ll get you some help David.”  He glanced into the bag.  “It’s food.  Canned and jarred food.”  He paused.  “It all had the Metropolis logo on it too.  How did an Ist manage to get this much food from town without being caught?”

As the group started off to the east Joe turned to Jim.  “So far we have been riding through the safety of town.  The path to Fort 24 is going to take us along the outside of town.  It’s pretty safe, but you need to keep your eyes open.  I have seen Ists once or twice along this route.  They tend to get spooked by people on horseback and even more so when they notice that I am armed.  We simply don’t look like an easy target.”

“I didn’t realize that they got this close to the city unless it was an attack.”

Jim was startled when David spoke for the first time since the awkward conversation about the Militia.  “Don’t ever underestimate them.  They are always pushing to see how close they can get to town.  Sometimes they even clean up and wander into town with the traveling merchants.  Most of them are just wandering groups looking for supplies, but there are a few organized bands nearby.  You can hear them hooting and hollering off in the woods if you ride this patrol at night.  So you keep your eyes open out here.”

“Trust me; I know how bad these guys can be and I wouldn’t dream of letting them get the drop on me.”  Jim was riding with his head down and his mind lost in memories that he wished he didn’t have.  He barely remembered his mother, but he certainly remembered how his father had reacted to her death.  Thirteen years ago as of next week his mother had been brutally murdered to prove a point.  His father had a breakdown and spent the whole night crying.  That was after all the natural reaction to having your wife’s severed head left on the side of the road for you.

The boys rode in relative silence for a while.  They passed numerous identical fields and a pond as the path started to veer more to the North.  There was the occasional small talk between Rick and Joe, but the look of pain on Jim’s face sent a clear message that he did not want to talk.  David was silent again as he had been for most of the trip.  Jim thought that perhaps he had his own story about the ists, but he couldn’t imagine it possibly being as bad as his own.

A woman’s scream cut through the silence from the path ahead of them.  Without pause Jim spurred his horse to run full speed towards the sound.  As he gripped the reigns tightly he was reminded that Buttercup was a GC and she could run considerably faster than the average horse.  He was twenty feet ahead of the other boys before any of them had even registered what was going on.  David looked back at the other boys as he prepared to spur his horse on.  “That damned idiot is going to get himself killed.”  The rest of the boys followed, but Jim was moving so fast that he was soon out of sight.

As Jim hit the top of a small hill he caught sight of a woman laying in a fetal position in the road ahead.  Her back was to him, and her dirty blonde hair covered much of it.  Even from this distance he could tell that her clothes were torn.  He strained his eyes, but could not see any blood on her.  He slowed to a trot and called out, “Are you OK?”  When she didn’t reply he decided to hop off the horse and take a closer look.

As Jim approached the women he noticed that she was sobbing into her hands.  He could also hear the sounds of the other Militia boys just over the last hill.  This is my chance to prove myself to them Jim thought.  If I can calm her down and find out what happened before they get here maybe it will make up for all my stupid comments today.   “My name is Jim.  I don’t know what happened here, but I’m going to help you.”  He tried to sound reassuring, but thought it came off more nervous than anything else.  He kept looking around to make sure whoever had done this wasn’t waiting for him.

David reached the scene next.  He quickly sized up the situation.  There was a seemingly injured woman lying on the ground and Jim was approaching her.  She was lying in a fetal position with her hands down near the ground.  Her arm muscles were tensed like she was gripping something and she was watching Jim approach out of the corner of her eyes.  David knew the signs and realized that he would only have seconds to react.  He leapt off his horse and lunged between Jim and the woman.  He just prayed that he could move fast enough.

Everything happened so quickly that Jim could barely register what had happened.  As he stepped near the woman he saw a glint of light reflect off of something on the ground.  David whirled in grabbing him and pushing him back away from the woman, but her arm was already in motion.  David presented his back to her shielding Jim as best he could.  Jim saw the tip of a knife explode out of the front of David’s upper leg with a splatter of blood.  David let out a scream of pain as his leg gave way and he dropped to the ground.  Blood had already soaked the front of his pants.

“What the hell!?!?” Jim exclaimed as he pulled himself up off the ground.  The woman was struggling to her feet and trying to move off into the woods.  David was bleeding pretty badly and couldn’t seem to reach the knife handle in the back of his leg.  Jim knew that should either try to stop the woman or help David.  He told himself that he just needed to decide which and move while he still had time.  He didn’t move though.  He stood in a state of shock hesitating to do anything.  His mind screamed at him to move, but fear and shock left him paralyzed.

The other two boys came over the hill at full speed and one of them let out a gasp of shock.   Jim suspected that it was Rick because Joe instantly took command of the situation.  He pulled his horse to a stop and pointed at David.  “Rick help David and Jim.”  He pulled the hand gun from his side and aimed it at the stumbling woman.  “I’ll take care of her.”

The boys were farther outside of town than Jim had ever traveled.  The path had taken them through the northern most edge of town and out into open fields.  It had been a few minutes since they had seen any buildings and no one had said a word.  The awkward silence was finally cut by Rick.  “Well Jim this is it.  Over this hill is ‘The Fortress of Solitude.’”

The first thing that Jim noticed about the fort was that it was much more open than Fort Massac.  There were no outer walls or large towers and it was noticeably missing the constant flurry of people.  In fact if Jim didn’t know it was a fort he might have mistaken it for just a collection of buildings.  The only odd thing that stood out was a long road that was better maintained than any Jim had seen before.  Jim wondered about the purpose of this road to nowhere.

Four large metal building rectangular in shape were lined up in a row along the road. Each of them looked to be pre-bomb construction which he could tell by the curved roofs.  Postwar buildings were far more focused on function than aesthetics and curves were much harder to build.  The skeletal remains of a fifth building barely stood next to them.  It still had the basic frame, but most of the outer walls had been pulled down over the years.  Jim noticed patches on the remaining buildings and realized that this one had most likely been used as parts to keep the others standing.

“Well Jim, since this is your first patrol I think we will give you the honor of taking point..”  Jim noticed a chipperness in Joe’s voice that had not previously been there.  “Just ride around and approach the first building from that Road.  We’ll hang back a bit and let you get to know Big Dan.  Just tell him that you are from Fort Massac and you are here to get the report from the ‘Fortress of Solitude’.”

“Ok, I guess.”  Jim knew that they could hear the trepidation in his voice.

As he rode around the front of the build Jim noticed that each of the four buildings had a very large door in the front.  In fact the door covered most of that side of the buildings.  The road had a well maintained path to the second building, but the paths to the other building had been allowed to atrophy.  Jim also noticed a normal sized door on the side of each of the buildings.

As Jim headed for the first building a rather big man was walking out through one of the large doors to meet him.  He had the kind of build that was difficult to tell whether he was muscular or pudgy.  In all likelihood it was mixture of both.  The man had a large bushy black beard and mustache that matched his curly unkempt hair.  He wore jeans and a t-shirt with little rips and black stains all over it.  “Well hello there boy.  I don’t recognize you, but I see Joe and the boys back there so I’m guessing you must be a new recruit.”  There was a certain kind of cheeriness to his voice that put Jim at ease.

“Yes sir.  My name is Jim.”  He remembered what Joe had said.  “You must be Big Dan.  I’m here from Fort Massac to get the report from the ‘Fortress of Solitude’.”  As the words left Jim’s mouth he noticed the smile slightly fade from Big Dan’s face.

“Dang it boy this place is NOT named the “Fortress of Solitude”.  That was just a nickname some guys from town thought was funny 40 years ago when this place was set up.”  His hands were waving wildly in the air as he spoke.  “This Fort doesn’t have a name.  I guess if I gave it one maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with everyone reminding me how lonely it is up here.”  He paused.  “Wait a minute, Joe put you up to that didn’t he?”

“He told me what to say yeah.”

“Ah good old fashioned hazing.  I remember my first day in the militia.  James set me up on lookout duty outside Fort Massac while him and Jason climbed the wall so they could dump a bucket of leftover oatmeal over the wall onto my head.”  He shook his head.  “Oh I got them back, but that my boy is a story for another time.  For now let’s see what we can do about Joe.  My name is Daniel by the way, but most everyone just calls me Big Dan.”

Jim dismounted from his horse and offered Big Dan his hand.  “Nice to meet you Dan.”  Big Dan took Jim’s hand and gave it a firm yet friendly shake.  Jim could tell that this man could seriously hurt someone with just a handshake.

“Nice to meet you Jim.”  Big Dan walked towards the other boys with a purpose.  “Joe, Joe, Joe….  Hazing the new boy at my expense.  I thought you’d know better than that.”

“Awe Danny, it’s just harmless fun.  Figured you’d give him a scare to rival the one Sergeant Reynolds gave him this morning.”

“You know you are one of the few people who know me well enough to call me ‘Danny’ and that means you know me well enough to come up on Sunday and help me with some cleanup in the garage.”  The other boys laughed at this, and Big Dan turned back to Jim.

“So Big Dan are you all alone up here?”

“Almost.  I have an assistant named Luke, but he is picking up a package from town for me at the moment.  We are all alone up here and don’t hear from anyone else except these daily patrols.  As for that…”  Big Dan took up an official tone.  “I don’t have any Ist news to report out this way today.  It is quiet as usual.  You can tell Sergeant Reynolds though that I should be done with “Project Piper” by Wednesday.”

Joe nodded his head at Dan.  “Danny, you take care and try not to get too bored out here.  I’ll make sure to stop by early on Sunday so we can chat for a while before getting to work.  We need to get a move on if we want to make it back to Fort Massac for a late lunch.”  Joe rode ahead a ways while Jim was getting on his horse.

Big Dan walked closer to Jim.  “Jim you should watch out for Joe.  He is a good kid don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t seem to know how to deal with a conflict he can’t shoot at.”

“Thanks Dan.  I’ll keep that in mind.”  Jim rode off to the East to catch up with other boys.

“Whoa!  Is that a GC?  Where’d Turner get that and why does the new guy rate it?”  Rick couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice.

David answered.  “Mr. Turner has raised Buttercup from a pony, and you don’t rate her because you actually know how to ride a horse.  Jim here doesn’t.  Plus do you really want to ride a horse named Buttercup?”  This caused chuckles form Joe and Rick.  Jim didn’t seem very amused by it.

Joe took the lead position and spoke with an air of command.   “Alright boys today we’ll be hitting the “Fortress of Solitude” and then heading over to Fort 24.  As everyone but Jim knows we will not be allowed inside Fort 24.   When we get there someone will ride out to meet us and when we leave we will forget that we even know it exists.  We’re glorified messengers without the glory.  Pretty simple.  Any questions?”

“Yeah, what’s up with Fort 24?  What could possibly be such a big deal around here that we aren’t even allowed to see it?  Why have I never heard of it before?”  Jim had to admit to himself that he was now fascinated by the mystery of Fort 24.

Rick pulled his horse along side Jim’s.  There was excitement in his voice.  “I don’t know what’s in there and it drives me crazy.  I’ve learned not to ask though.  Sergeant Reynolds is pretty laid back, but even he seems to get agitated when someone asks too many questions about that fort.  You ask me, I don’t think he knows what’s in there either.  Best not to ask.  If they want that place to be a secret I don’t want to be the one to spoil that.”

Jim nodded in acknowledgement.  “Ok, I’ll drop it for now.  Oh hey, I have another question.  What’s up with Chloe?  Why was she hanging around the Fort?”

“Well she’s Sergeant Reynolds’s daughter for one thing and she does live there.  She wants to follow his steps in the Militia.  Why wouldn’t she hang around there and try to learn?”  Joe was very matter of fact in his explanation.

OH, “Chloe Reynolds” of course she is his daughter.  Jim felt stupid for not catching on to that himself.  He was so busy being nervous and not talking that he hadn’t made the connection.  This left him wondering what else he hadn’t caught on to this morning.  I suppose I should keep my mouth shut for a while before I say anything else stupid.   I don’t want that to be my last question though.  I should ask something relevant.”

“Joe can I ask you another question?”

“Sure”

“Why are you the only one of us with a gun?  I figured I would still need to be trained, but Rick and David should have guns checked out to them.”  Jim had been wondering that since first meeting the boys.  He thought to himself that this was a much better question.

“Oh, that’s a simple.  This is my gun not the Militia’s.  My dad gave it to me for my 14th birthday and it hasn’t left my side since.  The Militia doesn’t check guns out to you until you’re full time.  It’d look pretty bad having a recruit shoot themselves.  If you have your own gun you can keep it on you.  There just isn’t a need for them most of the time. ”

“I have to say this whole militia thing isn’t anything like what I thought it would be,” Jim mused.

“And just what did you think it would be like?”  There was a hint of defensiveness in Joe’s voice.

Jim wasn’t sure how open he could be, but decided to go for full disclosure.  “Well to be honest I expected it to be a hell of a lot stricter, for one. I thought it was going to be two years of brainwashing and  I definitely expected more guns.”  As soon as he said it Jim wondered if he had been too blunt.

Rick let out a burst of laughter.  “Well this one sure doesn’t beat around the bush at all.  Man you couldn’t have been more wrong if you had tried.”

“I guess not.”  Jim’s voice did not sound convinced.

David who had been relatively quit the whole ride finally spoke up.  “Look I know some people aren’t happy about being forced into this, but this town needs everyone to understand how the militia works for it to be effective.  The militia is here to defend and protect.  Nothing more.”

Jim wasn’t quite sure what to think about it anymore.  It was just too soon too tell.  He regretted his comments and desperately wanted to change the subject.   If only I went with my instincts and kept my mouth shut.

The boy’s rode the rest of the way to the “Fortress of Solitude” in silence.

“We spent far too long talking about policies and procedures.  We need to get you up and moving before you fall asleep.  Hell we keep talking and I might just fall asleep myself.”  Sergeant Reynolds gave a slight chuckle as he held the door open and waited for Jim to step through.  As he stepped out of the classroom Jim got his first good look at the inside of the fort.  Sure he had seen it on his way in, but he was far too flustered to absorb it all.  He had been so nervous that once the laughing ended he just let himself be ushered into the large building he had spent the last three hours in.  Site seeing was the last thing on his mind.

There was a large building lining the far wall directly across the courtyard from him.  This building made up most of the west wall.  On his right was a third building about half the length of the other two.  It took up the space between the east wall and the front gate.  On each of the four corners of the fort were square towers topped by a large room.  They were not much taller than the main buildings so Jim was not sure what purpose they served.  On his left was the gate leading out to the Ohio River front and on the right was the gate he had come through.  Unlike the metal outer coating most of the fort’s interior was wooden.

Sergeant Reynolds led Jim out the Southern gate and off slightly to the east.  They passed a statue of a man steering a boat and headed for a medium sized wooden building connected to large fenced in fields.  The Sergeant continued to talk.  “I was going to tell you about the other two forts, but perhaps it would be better to let you see them for yourself.  Twice a day we send a group out on patrol.  They ride from fort to fort sharing the news of the day and keeping an eye out for trouble.  Seems like a good chance for you to see what I’ve been babbling on about and get to know the boys all at the same time.”

David was standing by the stable talking to a middle-aged man with scraggly black hair.  The man seemed jittery like he always had to be moving in some way.  “Hey Jim, are you ready for your first patrol?”

“Yeah, I’ve been sitting WAY too long.”

“If we get moving now we can be back in time for lunch.  Rick is already out on the road waiting for us outside.  Bill here will set us up with a few horses.”

The man turned sharply at Jim.  “You must be the new kid.  Well let me tell you something right now new kid, these horses are worth more than you are.  They are to be protected at all costs.  Have you ever even ridden a horse?”

Jim wasn’t sure if this was another joke, but he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of reacting in case it was.  “Not really.  I’ve been around them enough, but haven’t actually had a need to ride one.”

“Well in that case I have just the horse for you.  If you can’t ride this one you have no business even looking at a horse.  Of course this one is also special so if anything happened to it well it best be over your dead body.”  Bill Turner disappeared into the stable for a few minutes and reappeared with a rather large horse.  Jim stared at the horse for a few seconds trying to figure out what was so different about it.  It was certainly larger than any horse he had ever seen, but its coloring was a normal brown.  He looked into its eyes and there was a quality there that he just could not place.  This horse was large and he could just tell from those eyes that it was smart.  Jim thought back to his pre-bomb history class from last year and it suddenly realized what he was looking at.

Jim stared at the horse in shock.  “Is that what I think it is?”

“That’s right boy, this here is a Genetic Construct. A real, live GC.  This horse is smarter and faster than your average horse, but more importantly it is made for new riders.  You just let her do all the work for you and she will bring you both back safe.”

“Where did you manage to get a GC?”  Jim reached out and took the reigns of the massive animal.  He had never actually seen a GC in person.  He knew from his classes that companies had genetically engineered animals for a variety of purposes.  During the resource wars animal labor had became an important part of society again.   He glanced over at David, but if he was surprised he certainly wasn’t showing it.

Bill Turner beamed with pride as he handed the reigns of the horse over to Jim.  “That boy is my little secret and I would prefer if you didn’t share the fact I have her with anyone.  Buttercup really is more valuable than you are.  You take extra good care of her, and I promise you she will do the same for you.”  Jim expected Bill to help him up on the large horse, but to his surprise the horse bent down to make it easier to climb on.  Once Jim far firmly in the saddle the horse stood back up fast.  It was so fast it caught Jim off guard.  He thought he might fall off, but found the horse adjusting to keep him centered.  He reached up to pet her neck appreciatively and noticed that she didn’t feel any different from regular horses.  She was definitely something special though.

Bill reached into a bag sitting near the fence and pulled out a bundle of carrots.  He handed them to Jim.  “She likes to have a snack mid ride.  Now you make sure you give her all of these.  If you try to eat one yourself and short her I’ll know it.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jim said in a sarcastic tone.  The horse turned and smoothly started walking towards the road without Jim having to do anything to lead it.  Jim had forgotten Sergeant Reynolds was there until he stepped up to walk beside Buttercup.

Once they were far enough from the stables to be out of earshot Sergeant Reynolds spoke again.  “Don’t mind Bill.  He wouldn’t be a very good stable master if he wasn’t overprotective.” He reached out and pet the horse on the side of the head.  “Give it a week or two and you should have him won over.  Win over Buttercup here and you might do it in a few days.”

“I’ll try, but I think you’d have to have four legs and hooves to win that guy over.”

Sergeant Reynolds chuckled at Jim’s comment and turned back towards the fort.  “Well I’ve got work to do and the others have a good head start on you.”  David now mounted on a horse of his own came up on Jim’s right.    “You two best get moving.”

Jim and David set off at a gallop to catch up with the others.  Jim was amazed at just how smooth the ride felt and found that the horse seemed to already know where it was going.  That was a good thing because Jim had no clue.  After a few minutes they fell in formation behind Rick and Joe moved to take up the rear.  Three hours into his first day and Jim was already setting off on his very first mission.

While the run from town had worn him out; the sweat pouring from Jim’s face now was came from fear and nervousness.  He knew that Sergeant Reynolds would be a stern man, but he wasn’t prepared for anything quite like this.  He wanted to say something smart to put the man in his place, but found himself struggling to put together a coherent thought.   “Well, uhm,  sir.  I errr,  I tried to get here on time sir.  I didn’t…”  His mind raced trying to come up with a way out.

“What’s wrong with you boy?  Do you have some sort of brain damage?  Spit it out. Well uhm, sir.  Are we going to have to teach you English on top of everything else?  You might be the sorriest excuse for a trainee I have ever seen walk through that gate.  Well are you going to say something or am I going to have to make you run laps around the fort until you remember how to speak?”

Jim didn’t know what he would have said next, but he was shaken out of his shock by the sound of laughter.  “Sorry Sarge, that look on his face though is just too priceless.  Well, uhm, sir.  I err.  He looks like he’s going to piss his pants.”  The boy on the end was laughing loudly and barely managed to get the words out.  Once one of them had broken down it was only seconds before the others had joined in.  Soon they were all bending over holding their stomachs as they laughed hysterically.  Jim saw Chloe look up from her book just long enough to give them an annoyed look and then return to reading.

“Well damn boys, I had a whole speech ready to go.  I thought I could make this one cry and you have to go and give me away.  I didn’t even get to ask him if he would be more comfortable in a dress.”  Sergeant Reynolds looked annoyed for a minute as his hands waved in the air.  Finally a smile cracked and he couldn’t help but join in the laughter.

Jim stared relieved and confused all at the same time.  “What’s going on here?”

Sergeant Reynolds managed to regain his composure, but the smile never left his face.  Jim noticed that it made him look significantly less scary than he had been just minutes before.  When he spoke again his voice had a jovial tone to it and Jim could tell that he was trying to hold back more laughter.   “This is a militia, not a military.  We’re just another part of the town, and like to have a little fun with our new recruits.  Everyone gets the speech.   Even if they show up an hour early.  I can usually keep up the angry act for at least five minutes, but the boys here just had to be a part of it this time.”

“Dad warned me about you though.  He said that you were real hardcore and that you didn’t have a sense of humor to speak of.”

“Your pop is an old buddy of mine.  We went through training together twenty-five years ago.  There’s no way he’d spoil this joke for me.  Besides he doesn’t like to admit falling for it himself back in the day.”

Sergeant Reynolds turned from Jim to face the other boys. “How about we do some introductions?  Each of these boys has gone through training and most decided to make a full time career of the militia.  They all have different specialties.  Here on the end is Rick, one of our scouts.”  Sergeant Reynolds pointed to a short skinny boy with black hair on the end.  He was in good shape, but certainly didn’t seem intimidating.  Rick shook his hand and stepped in front of the next boy.

“In the middle here is David.  He’s a guard focusing on keeping the traders safe.  When the trade fleet goes out next spring you will be on it with him.”  Now this boy Jim found intimidating despite his bright red hair.  David was much taller than he was and had a very serious look on his face.  Jim noticed that his eyes seemed to always be moving like he was taking in everything around him without ever turning his head.  Jim was not even slightly surprised when David used his handshake as a chance to test his strength.

“Finally Joe here will be teaching you about the weapons we have available.”  Joe was smaller than David, but still noticeably more muscular than Jim.  He was also the only one of the boys that had a gun strapped to his side.  Jim noticed that his handshake was not quite as firm as David’s, but he could tell he was putting more effort into it.  “You will also get a few bruises from him when it comes time to learn about hand to hand combat. That just leaves me.  I’ll be teaching you policies, procedures, and pretty much everything else you’ll find boring. “

“We expect a lot out of you here.  Make no mistake; it will be hard at times, but it can be fun too.  Of course today you are going to be doing a lot of sitting around and listening to me talk.  For the record, that’s not the fun part.”  There were two large building, four towers, and a shorter third building that made up the fort.  Sergeant Reynolds pointed to one of the larger buildings.  “We best get started.   Head on in there and take a seat.”

The next few hours were filled with Sergeant Reynolds explaining the basic rules of the Militia and what his training would consist of.  Jim thought to himself; when he said this would be the boring part he wasn’t kidding.  I wonder what book Chloe was reading.  It is such a nice day out today and here I am sitting in a fort looking at a chalk board. The realization hit Jim that Sergeant Reynolds had quit talking and was staring at him.

“I’m going to guess that you have no idea what I just asked you.”

“No sir.  I’m sorry.  I must have zoned off a few minutes ago,” Jim admitted with a bit of guilt in his voice.

“That’s ok.  Everyone has their limit for sitting in a room digesting this stuff.  It’s a lot to take in and to honest I don’t expect you to remember most of it until you’ve been here a few weeks.  Come on, let’s get you a horse”

Jim was exhausted by the time he reached the Fort.  It wasn’t that he was out of shape, but the June sun was beating down on him the whole way.  He forgot his water at home in the rush to get out the door and hadn’t bothered to eat that morning either.  Dehydration was starting to set in and a nasty hangover certainly wasn’t helping his disposition.  Jim couldn’t help but think of the string of bad decisions that left him doubled over panting inside the supply depot.

“You look like Hell.”  Old-Man Higgins chuckled.  He was walking through the depot picking out uniforms, basic supplies, and much to Jim’s relief a bottle of water.  “Bet you can use this.”  He was an older man with a full head of grey hair.  Time had begun to catch up with him as he moved slower than he once had.  Despite these signs of wear and tear he was in fairly good shape for a man in his 70s.  The years couldn’t take the smile from his face.

“Let me guess, you stayed out all night celebrating your birthday with friends and had to run all the way out here from town.  If I had a dollar for every time that happened, well I guess it wouldn’t make any difference at all now would it with the dollar not meaning anything and all.  I just can’t seem to give up those old phrases though.”  He sat a pair of black boots on the counter and wiped a bit of mud off of them.

“I can’t seem to give up this building either to tell you the truth.  This used to be a visitors center before the bombs dropped.”  He pointed to the wall behind Jim.  “You can tell by all those pictures I won’t let Jason take down.  He keeps telling me that maps or signs would be more useful.”  A sigh escapes his mouth.    “He’s a good man, but he misses the point.  History is important or we will just repeat our own stupid mistakes.  Society has just gotten to the point now where we can start stabbing each other in the back again.”  The man’s face took a much more somber tone as the conversation shifted.

“You know I was working here that summer.  When the bombs dropped that is.  I wanted a little extra money and was hoping to buy a car before school started up again.  My parents were visiting relatives, and well..”  A hint of pain could be seen in his face.  “They didn’t make it.  All I had left was this place.   Nobody cares about the history here anymore though.  That’s a whole nother world.  They only care about the now and the technology of before.  It’s such short sightedness.  If they would have only looked to history before deciding to blow us all up it might never have happened.”  There was another sigh.  “Ah, but I am rambling.”  He sat the bundle of supplies on the counter and turned away.  “You best get changed and up the hill to report for duty.  Jason’s going to be mighty hard on you for being late.  The way you look now ain’t gonna help your case much either.”  As Old-Man Higgins strolled into the back room Jim was thinking that he had just finished the most one sided conversation in his life.

“Well I guess I best get this over with,” Jim sighed as he stepped into what used to be a bathroom to get changed.   The sun shined through the window just enough for Jim to get changed by, but not enough to clearly see all of the supplies in his pack.  He was thankful that his own bag was able to fit nicely into the new one.  There was no table to set his bag on while he changed and he didn’t want his personal items touching that floor.  Enough time had been wasted so he decided to dress quickly and get orientation over with.

As Jim approached the Fort he got his first good look.  Once it was a replica of a fort built by the French in 1757.  At least that’s what all the plaques in the supply depot said.  Pictures had shown a large wooden structure that only barely resembled what now stood in front of him.  Metal from cars, building, and whatever else could be found had been used to reinforce the walls.  These additions had grown the fort to twice its original size and changed its clean structured appearance into a twisted metal monstrosity.  On either side of the fort buildings there were buildings that Jim could tell had been constructed after the bombs.  There was a clear style difference in post bomb Metropolis architecture that focused much more on function than aesthetics.  A large drawbridge sat in the middle of the fort’s outer wall, but without a trench or water running around the fort it sat flat on the ground.  It reminded Jim of a mouth waiting to swallow him whole.  His dad had described the site, but nothing he had ever seen could quite compare to the site before him.

As Jim walked across the drawbridge he saw three other boys slightly older than himself in appearance lined up.  He couldn’t help but be disgusted by how perfectly in formation they stood.  They were so rigid and stern.  In front of them was a fourth much older man who was pacing back and forth.  A sense of dread filled Jim.  The moment had finally come for him to pay for his bad decisions.

Jim noticed a girl he recognized from school curled up in a corner with a book.  Chloe Reynolds was undeniably cute and Jim liked how her long blonde hair draped over her shoulders.  He found himself staring a bit longer than appropriate.  Perhaps he was just delaying the inevitable.  Jim quietly approached the older man and with a nervous voice gathered the courage to speak.  “Are you Sergeant Reynolds?”

“What do you think?  Who else would be standing here pacing because some snot nosed punk can’t seem to wake up in the morning.  Do you think these men have nothing better to do then stand here wasting their morning waiting on you?”  His voice had gotten extremely loud and he moved to be directly in Jim’s face.  “Well boy don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

“You better hurry up and get moving boy.  You don’t want to be late for your first day of Militia.  Sergeant Reynolds doesn’t have much patience and you DON’T want to start off on his bad side.  That man sure can hold a grudge.”  James chuckled as he watched his son nick his cheek shaving.  “See now that wouldn’t happen if you had woken up earlier.”

Jim was rushing to get ready as quickly as he could, but he had been up a bit too late the night before celebrating his 18^th birthday.  Good friends and poor quality liquor had taken its toll.  Of course Jim didn’t really have any frame of reference to determine what liquor would be good or bad.  “I know dad, I’m hurrying.  The fort is only a mile away so I’ve got plenty of time if I run.”  Jim’s words were muffled as he slipped a shirt on over his head.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll make a great first impression on Sergeant Reynolds if you show up panting and out of breath.”  Jim’s father sighed and all the laughter drained from his face.  “Look in all seriousness son I want you to be careful out there.  I know it’s only your first day and you’ll be in training for a while, but it’s a dangerous world.  We have it pretty good here in Metropolis and there are a lot of people out there that are jealous of that.  You keep your guard up because the Ists are always out there waiting to stab you in the back if it isn’t.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry so much.  We haven’t heard from Ists in almost six months now.  Besides it’s not like I have much choice in this.”  Every male age 18-22 has to serve full time in the militia before starting their real lives.”  There was a mocking tone to Jim’s voice as he paraphrased the line he had heard so many times growing up.  The idea of serving in the Militia was something that really bothered him.  Actually, the idea of being forced to do anything bothered him.  He took a deep breath to get control of his voice hoping to keep things from getting out of hand.  “I know how dangerous the Ists are.  I may not like the idea of being in the Militia, but it is important and to be honest I wouldn’t mind getting a little bit of payback for what happened to Mom.”  His father started to speak, but Jim cut him off abruptly.  “I won’t do anything stupid, but I can’t talk about this now I really am going to be late.”  Jim paused at the door on his way out.  “Besides its just training what could possibly happen during training?”  With that parting comment Jim grabbed his bag and was out the door running full speed east towards Fort Massac.

Jim’s father stood in the door to their house watching him run off into the distance.  “Your mom would be so proud to see this day,” he mumbled to himself.  Memories of all the time both good and bad he had in the militia swam through his mind.  He thought of his old friend Jason Reynolds and broke out into a laugh.  “I’d give anything to see your face when you meet Jason.”  When the laughter stopped James went back into the suddenly very quiet house.

The seeds of the story you are about to read go back to a Skies of Glass campaign that Dan ran from late 2008 to early 2009.  The campaign had our characters crossing Missouri on an escort mission to Linden, Tennessee.  As we traveled I found myself wondering just what the town of Metropolis, Illinois would be like in this world.  Would it have survived the hardships that had come, and would the Superman statue still be standing?  I wanted answers to these questions, but a side trip to Metropolis in-game just did not make sense for the characters.  Alas the campaign ended and I never did find out what the status of the town was.

Over the next few months my mind raced with questions about how Metropolis would have held up.  I started writing backgrounds and developed the entire history of what the town had experienced over the 50 years or so from the bombing to the time frame of our campaign.  As the town became more real in my mind, I began to write a story set in this era.  I intended to post this story in a serialized format but found myself drawn into other creative projects.  I left this work for a while, but in the back of my mind it was screaming to be worked on.

Fast forward to a few months before Fear the Con 3.  I knew that I wanted to run a game or two, but I just could not get a superhero story put together.  I created characters that I was proud of, but the story just would not come.  I was also nervous about running a system without ever having played in it.  Suddenly the solution hit me.  There was a story, characters, and city in a world that I cared about.  I even had a system to run that I had played enough to be comfortable running.  All the pieces fell into place and my story became the foundation for two sessions of Skies of Glass that I ran at Fear the Con 3.

Returning to the town I put so much thought into reignited my passion for the story.  I found myself creating new characters and expanding the town and its mysteries.   Thoughts of  driving to the real world Metropolis again just to take more pictures for further inspiration even started to float through my head.  The serialized story that will be presented here week after week is a true labor of love.  I genuinely care about these characters and this town and I hope to make you the readers care as well.

On February 24th, 2109, nuclear warheads activated all around the globe.  In less than 12 hours, centuries of human progress were reduced to ash.

Some survivors rose to the occasion, providing for their neighbors and banding together to maintain some shred of social order.  Others lashed out in fear, taking what they needed by any means necessary.

50 years have passed since that day.  Mankind has adapted to its new condition.  The population is slowly recovering, and governments — both benevolent and tyrannical — have formed to rule over the scraps of once-great nations.  Farmers, nomads, and criminal gangs wander the unclaimed spaces left behind.

The world has started over, but as some look to a brighter future, others see this as the chance to reshape the world in terrible ways.  Mankind sits upon a precipice of hope and despair, and the men and women of this age will decide how this ruined civilization will be reborn.

What’s available right now?

We are proud to present To Find a Home, a web comic written by Chris Hussey and illustrated by Mikey Mason, based on an original setting created by Dan Repperger.  Additional background information can be found on the Resource page of Fear the Boot.

Why isn’t the comic on the front page?

Skies of Glass is a setting that we hope will contain many stories, conveyed through a variety of media.  This homepage is being kept for important announcements regarding every aspect of this creative property — not just the initial comic.

What else is coming and when will we see it?

Skies of Glass was first conceived in 1995 as a roleplaying game, and it has seen multiple incarnations as a game and prose setting over the years.  What exactly will we develop or release next?  That question is being discussed internally even as I write this post.  We want to deliver quality products, so we’re weighing the attention we can give Skies of Glass against the other properties we’re equally excited to bring to market.  In the meantime, I’ve been given a logo and color palette I’ll be using to at least spruce the site up a little.