Chapter 25Assault on Weather - Tuesday, August 7th
Five people walked through an open forest. There were fields on each side of the small copse of trees and the sun was bright out there, but soft and shaded in here. Green shadows flittered about on the silvan floor as a soft and warm breeze hit the walkers in the face. The wind smelled of river.
The leader of the small patrol was in uniform. A weapon at the ready in a sling around his neck. Behind him a tall man with a brown beard and slightly tinted eyeglasses walked, A shotgun in his hand. Next to pass the trees was a short, squat man with dark scraggly hair and a full fluffy beard. He too held a shotgun. Two young kids, still on the south side of thirteen came next. Pistols holstered at their belts. And last a slight, dark young man, a scoped, hunting rifle at the ready, checking their back trail for any sign of, well, anyone. His hair had been freshly cut to a very short high and tight. The sparse, black beard he had worn that morning, now gone. He had borrowed Fic’s razor before they had headed out.
The group came to a road at the edge of the woods. The road ran along the river which was in front of them just after the road. A steep embankment leading to the water’s edge.
They turned left and moved up the side of the road. Fic brought them into a slow jog, so they could shorten the time they would be exposed on the road.
They came to the large rock with the trail leading to Jimmy’s cabin. Fic stopped and turned to the group. “Kitsune and I can get these two canoes. The rest of you head back about fifty meters to that driveway that goes towards the water. I’m pretty sure I saw another canoe down there that we will need for the mission. Go see if it is secure or what we will need to free it for use.” Fic really didn’t want the kids to see Jimmy. He probably wouldn’t be looking too good after a full day in the heat.
Fic and Kitsune headed up the trail while the others backtracked to the other driveway. As they approached the cabin, Fic was at the ready, with Kitsune backing him up. He expected to hear flies as they got to where Jimmy had fallen, but all he heard was birds.
They came within sight of the cabin and where Jimmy had fallen was just a patch of grassy dirt with some stains in the grass. Jimmy was gone.
“Let’s make this quick, Kit,” Fic said to the young man.
They moved to where the canoes were stored next to the cabin and were relieved to see they weren’t locked up or chained down. They looked around for some paddles and none were in sight. Kitsune entered the cabin and started looking around in the mess that all the commotion had stirred up and found two paddles. He saw a board lying next to the bed and picked that up. “That’ll do in a pinch,” he said to himself.
He came out and Fic was ready with the canoes. He threw the two paddles and one makeshift paddle into the canoe, grabbed the two front handles of the canoes as Fic grabbed the back two and they headed back down the trail.
The two men went to the driveway and found the others at a tired looking red canoe that was chained to the post of the porch of a small cabin that was very near the water’s edge. They were trying to figure out how to get it loose.
They dropped the free canoes at the water’s edge and Kitsune started looking around the cabin and in a shed that was back by the road. He came back with a claw hammer and a crowbar. He had also found two more paddles.
Rodent Whisperer went to work on the lock and chain and after a few sharp blows and some prying, the canoe was loose.
Joey had noticed the lack of enough paddles for three canoes and he went looking around in the woods, finding a thick stick that would act as the sixth paddle.
They lined up the canoes and looked out at the river, which was empty of any traffic. No one could be seen on the other side of the river. Everywhere seemed deserted.
“I’ll cross with Daisy,” instructed Fic. “You can use the board as a paddle,” he said to Daisy. “I’ll only need a little help to get her across. Rodent Whisperer, you go with Joey and his stick paddle. BS and Kit, you come in the third canoe with the real paddles.”
The three canoes set out into the river, going only fifteen feet or so before the current picked them up. At that point all three of the canoes turned up stream into the current and the paddlers dug hard.
After about ten minutes of hard paddling, they were on the other side of the river. The river was making an oxbow bend here so there was a nice stony beach that Fic had aimed for and had hit the target, if only a little downstream of the middle of the small beach. The group quickly disembarked and pulled the canoes all the way up the beach and into a small stand of trees near the water’s edge.
They found some branches and fronds to cover the canoes to try to disguise them and then Fic gathered Joey and Daisy. “Ok, this is your part of the mission,” Fic started. “Hide over in the little blowdown over there and keep an eye on the canoes. If anyone comes, first, just try to observe. If there are only one or two, you can engage if you feel you can get the drop on them. Don’t take any chances. If you appear to be outnumbered, just retreat up the ridge to the AT. From there you should be able to shake any kind of pursuit. We are going to wait until dark to enter the base, if we can, so we should be back before midnight. You have gear to spend the night here, so if we haven’t returned by first light, take the canoes and head back to the farm.”
Both tweens nodded their heads together. A determined look on both faces. “Please find my Ma and Brother,” said Joey. They were happy to be doing their part in this rescue effort. If they lost the boats and get chased, the river may become an obstruction instead of their means of escape. They went to the blowdown and hunkered down. Pistols in their hands now and senses alert.
Fic motioned for the others to follow and started moving away from the river towards the tall ridge that was in front of them.
They found a country road and started following it as it passed a few houses and then the woods came in close on either side as it moved up in elevation.
They reached the top of a rise and the road turned to the south following the small ridge top. Fic kept going in an easterly direction, moving into the woods and starting to bush whack.
They could see there were several small hills that ran from south to the north. “This is the area called the roller coaster. It’s a bunch of small hills that go up and down and the trail follows it. We should be able to pass the trail on that drawl to the left. Crossing the trail on the downside.”
“After that, the back road to the base should be on the other side and will take us up the next larger ridge.”
They moved through the woods passing a small man-made pond and came to the road that led to the base. They followed along on the side of the road, ready to get off if they heard anything. They were moving fast now. Fully alert and ready for trouble.
Suddenly, they heard a vehicle coming down the road from the direction of their target. Fic quickly waved everyone off the road. They jumped over the side and started moving downhill. Crouching and sitting still as the vehicle passed where they had been on the road. “I guess this road is getting some use now,” said Fic. Noting that it was another Humvee that had passed them.
Fic motioned for them to come down the hillside with him and as they moved along the side of the ridge, they came to a path moving from left to right in front of them. As they stepped onto the trail, Fic saw the tell-tail white blaze that he had been following for the last several weeks.
Fic called a halt, and everyone gathered around him. He pulled out the handheld he still had that he had taken from his captor and turned it on. Immediately he heard traffic on the channel he was on.
“Searcher three, this is searcher four. What’s your twenty?” A voice came out of the radio. “Search four, searcher three, I just left base and am heading down Morgan Mill Road. Going to patrol around to the west and south. So far, no sign of any insurgents,” another voice replied.
“Roger that. Searcher four out.”
Fic turned the radio off and stowed it in his cargo pocket. He started off again on the other side of the trail and started climbing again through the woods.
There looking for someone, he thought to himself. Are they expecting us?
He shook off a small, uneasy shudder and continued on.
They climbed the ridge away from the road or any trails. The brush became thick, and they had a lot of blow downs, but Fic wanted to wait until the end of the day, when the sun was gone. They approached a fence that ran through the woods. It was about eight feet high and topped with barbed wire. To the left would be the gate that opened where the road came into the base. To the right, the fence stretched for about a quarter of a mile before turning to the east and heading to the road that was the main entrance to the base.
Fic came to the fence and crouched down, the others following his lead. He looked up and down the fence and was thinking whether they should head towards the gate, or try to breach the fence somewhere along this length.
Kitsune looked to the right and said, “I think we may have a way in,” and started walking that way.
They followed him about two hundred meters when they came to a blow down that had fell across the fence, destroying a section and squashing it to the ground. A man could easily get over the fence by walking on the fallen tree.
Normally, the perimeter is patrolled daily to find things like this, but Fic guessed even though they appeared to be keeping their grooming standards, not all the duties from before the bombs were being adhered to. The next part of Fic’s plan became clear.
“Ok, this is where I will head into the compound when it gets dark,” Fic said, looking to the southwest to see how long they had until the sun went behind the ridge that was across the river and past the highway and it looked to be about three hours at least. Traveling overland and getting across the river had taken up a lot of the day, but they still had to wait a while.
“We will wait here until dusk, and this is where I will leave you three. Once I find Brittany and Joey’s kin, I will come back here, and we will be able to head west to the river straight from here.” Fic looked around the area. “Stay hidden over there,” he pointed to the top of the tree which still was full of leaves, but they were all brown and dead. “You can build a little nest in that and be able to keep watch on the fence line and look for my return. Until then. We stand by, to stand by.”
“I’m going to take a little scout,” Kitsune said to Fic. At first Fic thought he was going to not authorize that request, but then thought that Kitsune really was a good scout, and he knew things.
“Ok but be careful and stay out of sight. Don’t get too close to the gate and don’t make contact unless you have to. We need that element of surprise. Or better yet, getting in and out without them even knowing we were there.”
Kitsune gave Fic one of Brown Shades’ two finger salutes and moved off into the woods as the others hunkered down in the nest they were carving out of the fallen tree.
The young man moved down the ridge and circled around towards the gate. The thick forest hid him from view after a few seconds.
Private George used his key card to disengage the lock and moved through the back gate which was unguarded. Security had become pretty lax, he thought to himself as he started down the road away from the base. That’s good for me. Let’s me do my business in peace.
George had been a regular army private when the bombs fell. Just minding his own business and standing his watches in the Operations Center as a radio operator. Staying out of trouble and under the radar. All the better to do the things he wanted to do, even though he was in the army.
He pulled a large joint out of his breast pocket, put it up under his nose and took a long sniff. “Ahh,” he said. “Mother Nature’s finest.” After the stress of the last couple of days, he needed a break from his mind.
He walked off the road into the woods to the left. Following a light trail that he had made from his many visits to his hiding place.
When the bombs fell, everything went crazy. At first, they all went into alert and prepared for the government leadership to arrive as planned to continue operations in this now state of war, but no one ever showed up.
Then, a large group of soldiers came to the front gate and demanded to see the commanding officer. When Colonel Gifford came out to talk to the men, he was shot in the head like a piece of meat. When the XO rushed over to see what was up, he met the same fate. Suddenly all the men in the group had drawn their weapons and had basically taken over the base. It was the perfect surprise. The base wasn’t expecting rogue soldiers to show up.
At first, they had put all the crew into the mess hall and guarded the doors. Next, they brought each of the captives to see a man named Richard Flaherty. He would ask some questions, sometimes seemingly unrelated to our situation and then he would say that he was the new leader of this ruined country, and you could either join the rogue army and serve him, or… He always left the or unsaid.
George wasn’t stupid, he had seen their ruthlessness with the CO and XO, he readily joined the rogue army and just as he guessed, things had gotten a little easier for him. He could come and go as he wanted, just needing to check in with Sargent Wheeler every couple of days and he could sneak out for a quick smoke before going on watch in the new operations center. So much had changed since the bombs. Not all of it good, but for him, it was better. He had a little more power and freedom than a lowly private doing his duty.
He could do things with some of the locals, like Jim Henry, and make his own way in this new world. The last thing he did with Jim went to shit though. The girl, the doctor, then Corporal Richard finding out we had the girl and taking her, beating Jim in the process. He knew when to choose his battles, and that was one he had let go. Oh well, there will be more. He was one of the people in power, for now.
He sat on a log that was familiar and comfortable and pulled out a lighter. He fired up the joint and sat puffing it every once and a while, looking out into the forest as it started to lose its light.
He took a large pull on the smoking roach and started coughing. When the smoke cleared from in front of his face, he saw a cardinal, sitting in a tree not ten feet away from him and looking at him. The bird sang a few bars of cardinal song and continued to watch him as he finished off the joint. Stubbing out the small roach and putting it back in his pocket. “I’m fucking starting to get paranoid,” he said out loud to himself. “I swear that bird is watching me.”
“Hey bird,” George said. “What do you want? I ain’t sharing.” He started to laugh at his joke that was only funny to his addled brain.
The bird took flight and flew over his head, appearing to dive toward him and making him duck down. “Holly Shit!” He exclaimed. His paranoia increased.
George sat on the log for a while and looked at the forest as his buzz intensified. He looked around for his weapon and realized that he had left it in his locker. Oh well, he thought. I’m safe out here so close to the base and that bitch is heavy.
He stood unsteadily and started to walk down the path. He took about three steps and discovered that he was looking down at the barrel of a shotgun. He followed the barrel back to the owner and saw a young black man holding the shotgun and sticking it in his face.
Fear crossed his face and the young man said, “That way.” Moving his shotgun up and pointing it behind George.
George saw no option but to follow his orders. He was so fucking high, he didn’t think he was even able to run, if that was what it took to get away from this crazy man with a gun and he sure didn’t feel coordinated enough to fight him for the weapon. He turned and started walking the way the man had pointed.
The three men sat. Each looking in a different direction. Fic was looking at the spot that Kitsune had gone, and he saw some movement from that direction. Suddenly a soldier came through the bushes, his hands were up, and he was looking over his shoulder. Behind him, Fic saw Kitsune with his shotgun pointed at the man’s back.
Hmm, he thought to himself. Time to alter the plan a bit again.
When the man approached, Fic noticed that the man’s name was George. “What do we have here,” he said softly to Kitsune as they walked up to the hideout. “Private George, I presume.”
They sat the soldier down in the middle of the group and started asking him questions. Fic first asked about the situation in the base. How many personnel? Were there guards? Are they keeping prisoners in the west side stockade? Then he started asking about Jim Henry. The doctor and finally about his daughter. He didn’t let George know that Brittney was his daughter and George was so dazed, he would just answer the question without even thinking that he was giving up vital information.
“Yeah, we took a girl,” he said groggily. He was confused and was thinking that the guy in uniform asking him all the questions was one of Flaherty’s Rogues as they had started calling themselves. “She was pretty hot, and Jim really wanted to do her. He wouldn’t stop talking about her. Too bad she messed up her ankle.”
It took all of Fic’s energy to not slap this wasted scum silly. He took a deep breath and moved back away from the smiling shit head. He thought for a moment and looked at Kitsune, then at George. “Take off your uniform, George,” he ordered the soldier.
George looked at Fic for a full thirty seconds with glassy eyes before saying, “Take off?”
“Yes, we need your uniform,” Fic said firmly. “That hot chick you took was my fucking daughter. We are going in to get her out. You will stay here, and my friends here will take care of your waisted self.”
He turned to Kitsune and said. “Put on his uniform. I may need some help and your freshly groomed face will fit in nicely. It’s like you knew you would be coming in with me.” He smiled at the young man.
Kitsune nodded and took the guy's uniform and changed into it. Stuffing his clothes into his small pack.
They tied up George and sat him in his skivvies in the center of the blowdown.
Fic handed his rifle to Brown Shades and took his pistol. Kitsune did the same with Rodent Whisperer. They didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention if they could and in the close corridors of the base, a long gun may be a hindrance.
Kitsune held up the soldier’s key card. “At least they are still using the key cards. If yours doesn’t work, maybe this one will.” This card had a blue stripe instead of Fic’s red one. Not as much access as his, but it should help them get through the gate at least.
“Good observation Kit,” Fic said. “I just hope mine works, because I had some killer access in the base. This skiv only has a few levels of access.”
Fic gave Rodent Whisperer and Brown Shades their final update on the plan, nodded to Kitsune and started heading back the way Kitsune had come.
The two uniformed men followed the light path past the smoking stump and came to the road. Turning right, they walked towards the gate as if they belonged there.
Fic approached the gate and pulled out his key card. The gate was closed. The road gate spanned the road and had a chain keeping it shut and was locked with a large padlock.
To the right of the road gate was a person sized gate with a card reader that had a red light glowing at them with a keypad below it. If all went as planned, Fic’s key will be scanned, and the gate should open.
Fic held his key card for a few seconds. Getting ready to try it on the scanner. After thinking about it for a bit, he put his card away and retrieved Private George’s from Kitsune who had clipped it to his shirt pocket flap. He held it up to the scanner. The device beeped when it read the card and then nothing. The red light continued to stare at them as they stood there. After about ten seconds, Fic reached for his key card, when the device beeped again, the light turned green and there was a loud click.
Fic quickly reached back to the gate and pulled it open. They had access.
There was a small courtyard and then the walls of the base rose above them. It looked like a one-story building with no windows. What people didn’t know as common knowledge was the building went down, not up. Ten levels worth dove deep into the mountain. Carved out over the years.
The door had another card reader. Fic once again scanned George’s card and after about six or seven seconds the light turned green, and they heard the click once again and Fic pulled open that door. They were inside.
From what Fic had gathered from George’s rambling, all the prisoners were being kept on level 3 on the west side. Fic and Kitsune walked along the corridor and passed the elevator. He motioned to the stairwell, which was another thirty feet along the hallway. Fic pushed open the door and the two men entered and started down the steps. “We need to avoid running into others as long as possible,” he explained to Kitsune.
After going down three levels, Fic opened the door to another hallway that looked a lot like the one they had just left. He turned left and started walking along. They came to several doors that had a square window in each. Fic walked to each door and looked inside. As they walked down the corridor, a soldier turned the corner. After a few seconds of panic, Fic just started walking towards them as if he had somewhere to be.
The man walking towards them was busy looking at a clipboard and didn’t notice them at first. As they got closer, he looked up at the two men approaching them. Showing no recognition, he nodded, mumbled a soft “Good evening Sarg.” and looked back down at his clipboard, continuing down the hallway. The ruse was working so far.
Fic slowly let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding and kept moving down the closed in space. The soldier turned a corner into one of the cross hallways and moved out of sight. Fic continued to check the windows.
He came to another door. This one had a card reader next to the door. A small sign above the door said, Stockade #1, Secure Area, Authorized Personnel Only.
Fic held up George’s card and the red light remained red after the first beep. The door stayed locked. After waiting a good 45 seconds, Fic handed George’s card back to Kitsune and tried his card. The light turned green almost immediately, beeped and clicked open. He pulled the door open and the two men entered the room. His card still worked.
It was a large room with several small rooms lined up all around the edge of the room. Small windows looked into these rooms as well.
There was a clipboard hanging near each of the doors. Fic went over to the first one and looked at the clipboard. There was a list of about fifteen names on the clipboard. He looked in the window and saw several people sitting on the floor on a couple of beds and on a chair or two. It looked like there were about fifteen people.
He scanned the list and didn’t see his daughter’s, Joey’s mother nor brother’s name on the list. These were most likely the people who had been taken by the rogues to do whatever they were doing here. He stood and thought for a few seconds. He wanted to free them all, but doing so now would cause a commotion that may hinder him finding the three people he came to rescue. He moved to the next door and looked at the clipboard there. Still no Joy. There were six more clipboards to check and after checking five more, he found Joey’s mother and brother’s name. He looked up at the sign above the door, noting the designation. Turning to Kitsune, he said, “Ok, Joey’s kin are in here. We can’t let them out just yet, I need to find Brittney first.”
Kitsune nodded his understanding, also noting the door label and moving to the next clipboard which was the last one in this room. Brittney’s name was missing from that one too.
“There are two more rooms like this,” Fic said. “Let’s go.”
They went back out into the corridor and walked to the next room. Stockade #2. Scanning into that room, they repeated the process of checking the clipboards in that room once again not finding Brittney’s name on any of them.
“One more room,” Fic said to Kitsune.
They entered the corridor once again and started walking towards the last room of the Stockade area of the base.
Suddenly two soldiers came around the corner that was past the last room. In between them limped a tall young woman. Her ankle had a bandage wrapped around her lower leg but there was no cast, and she wasn’t using crutches. It was Brittney.
Fic’s heart started racing, but he quickly decided to try and get past these guys and then follow them to see where they were taking her. If they could get out without making a fuss, they wouldn’t have to hurry too much getting back to the river.
As they started to pass, Brittney’s eyes came up to look at the two men coming towards her as the two soldiers basically ignored Fic and Kitsune. Her eyes grew two sizes as she recognized her father, but quickly went neutral as she saw his quick shake of his head in warning. She understood immediately that he had a plan and her screaming out to her father was not a part of it. She was pretty quick on the uptake when it came to plans.
The three people passed the two soldiers and moved down the hallway away from each other. Fic waited until they turned the corner, then turned back to follow them. The shot of adrenaline he received when he recognized his daughter had made his senses razor sharp and his was hyped up. He took a deep breath and continued. He came to the corner and peeked around. They were waiting at one of the elevators. He waited until the doors opened and they entered the elevator. Fic heard one of the soldiers tell the other to hit the five button. As the doors closed, Fic ran to the stairway with Kitsune at his heels. They threw open the door and stared down two more floors.
The elevators were pretty slow in the building, and he was looking out the window to the stairway door when he saw them exit the elevator, turn right and head down the hallway away from the stairwell door.
Fic exited the stairwell with Kitsune right behind him. They moved to the next corner and peeked around. They saw the two men and Brittney stop at the third door down and knock. A muffled voice came from inside and the men entered, escorting Fic’s daughter in front of them.
Fic waited at the corner for a full minute. The door opened and the two soldiers came out. They turned and started coming toward Fic and Kitsune. Fic quickly looked back at Kitsune and mouthed, “Follow me.”
He started walking and turned the corner, moving at a speed that made it look like he has some place to be quickly. He gave the men a quick nod as he went by, saying nothing. They returned the nod and continued past them. None the wiser.
Fic and Kitsune came up to the door his daughter had entered and looked above the door frame. A small sign said Engineering.
Fic placed his hand on his pistol, getting ready to draw it and opened the door, not bothering to knock like the soldiers had.
The room he entered was small. There was a desk opposite the door that was empty and to the right was an open door leading into a much larger room. Fic turned and headed for that door as he heard a man’s voice talking in a smooth silky hiss.
“I know who you are,” said the voice. “Your father used to work here, didn’t he. We have all the records that were in the base. He has been flagged as a resistance fighter down south. A traitor to my cause if I may say so. I need to know where to find him and I’m willing to hurt you to find out.”
“I don’t know where my father is,” Brittney lied. Her voice was shaky and had a high pitch which denoted her stress level. “He was away from home on a training exercise when you did your shitty takeover, and we haven’t heard from him since. I don’t know how you ‘flagged’ him, but we have almost given up hope on his return.”
Fic felt a bit of pride in her acting, but he wasn’t too surprised. His girl was a very smart cookie.
Fic pulled his pistol as he passed the threshold, sweeping the room as he entered and saw only one man standing behind a large wooden desk. “I’m right here,” said Fic drawing his bead on the man’s forehead. “Who the fuck are you?”
The man was about six foot four inches. He had dark hair cut in a severe high and tight and a thick mustache of the same dark color. His eyes were hypnotic, almost crazy looking, and his smile exposed very large teeth. He was dressed in all black. Black pants with a black long-sleeved shirt that had the sleeves rolled up. When Fic walked in and addressed him, he only showed surprise for a second before his face went blank. It was almost as if he was expecting him, but still wondered how he had gotten into this room so easily. Seeing that he was in uniform, he quickly saw how he had made it this far.
“Sargent First Class Clayton Collier, I presume. The man said. A smug look on his face. He started to sit in the chair behind his desk, reaching for the edge of the desk as he did so.
“Don’t fucking move, asshole,” Fic ordered. “I know there is a button on the back side of the desk. If you really know all about me, you would know I was chief of Security here before the bombs. I know every level in this place and every security alarm and safeguard. If you move one more inch, I will shoot you.”
The man froze and looked at Fic with hard eyes. His smug look lost a little bit of his sleaziness and was that a touch of fear Fic just saw flicker across his face for a minute. This man looked like someone who wasn’t used to being told what to do.
“Move away from the desk and sit in that chair over there,” Fic said motioning to a chair in the corner of the room. The man did as he was told, keeping his eyes on Fic and his pistol the whole time. Brittany came up to her dad and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, but careful not to distract him from his aim.
“Hi Daddy,” she said. “I knew you would find me.” She moved off behind him and looked at Kitsune, not recognizing him, but understanding he was helping her father. “I’m Brittany,” she said to the young man.
“Kitsune,” was the man’s soft reply.
As he sat down, the man noticed Fic’s companion. “So, you are in on this too, Private George,” he said, reading the name tag on Kitsune’s uniform. Kitsune stared at him for a few seconds and decided to just go with it. “I sure am,” he said.
“So, you know me, now why don’t you tell me who you are?” Fic said.
“I’m Richard Flaherty. I run this place,” he said. That smug smile was back. “Actually, I run the whole fucking country now.”
“Seriously,” Fic said, not believing the tall man. “Who the fuck are you? And why were you interrogating my daughter?”
“I assure you sir; I am Richard Flaherty. I picked this office because I wanted to be out of the way. A little hard to find. I don’t like having guards around all the time. I’m the one who took over the country overnight. A feat never before accomplished until I came along. I’m the greatest leader of my time. Of any time. You should be bowing down to me.”
The man really had an ego, Fic thought to himself. He had seen news reports of Flaherty when he was first stirring up trouble, but he hadn’t paid a lot of attention after he figured out that he was a kook. If this was really the guy that had caused all the trouble, he had to fight through to get home, Fic thought this was great luck. Fic’s plan shifted in his head.
The man continued. “I had received reports that some ex-army guy was causing trouble down south and after some investigating, we figured out who you were and where you were heading, but we must have underestimated your movement. Just a half hour ago, my security guys said that your old key card had been used at the stockage rooms and that someone using your card was in the base. I didn’t really think it was you, but maybe your wife, so we decided to move your daughter from her cell and be on the lookout for a woman roaming the halls. So, you understand my surprise when you showed up. In uniform. Bravo Sargent.”
Fic’s plan shifted once again. This was turning into a shit show, but he had found his daughter and knew where Joey’s family was. The bonus was that he had the monster that had caused all the trouble in this country down range of his weapon. He could take him out right now. Would that set the path of the country back on track, or just make it harder to get out of here with his daughter? He was going to find out soon enough.
“How is your ankle Brit?” he asked his daughter.
“It hurts, but I can walk. Let’s get out of here.”
“Ok, world wrecker,” Fic said to Flaherty. “You are coming with us. You will go in front, and me and my partner here will escort you and this girl out of the base. We will head for the stairs and move up to level one, then out the back gate. Once we are free of the base, I’ll let you go.” Fic explained… And lied. “You are our ticket out of here. If you cooperate, we will cut you loose once we are safely away from the base,” his lie expanded.
Fic went up to Flaherty and plucked his key card off of his shirt pocket. He looked at the card. It was blank, had no picture or other information, but Fic would bet that it would open every door in the complex. He took his card and flung it into the corner. They knew he was here and were probably tracking his movements. They knew he had been in the Stockade rooms. He hoped that they didn’t know where else he had gone.
The four people moved out of the Engineering Office, through the reception room and out into the hallway. They moved down the hallway with Flaherty in the lead, next came Fic, with his pistol at the ready, but hidden as best as he could. They made it to the stairwell and headed up the steps. When they reached level three, Fic told Flaherty to stop.
“We need to do something first. You have some people here being held against their wishes. We are going to let them out now.”
They moved on to level three and made their way to the stockade rooms. Using Flaherty’s key card, they entered the third room and went to the cell where Joey’s mother and brother were being kept. Using Flaherty’s card once again he unlocked the cell and pulled the door open. Standing at the door, he said, “Is Anne and Davey Dunning here?” At first no one answered. Fic started looking around the small cell that was jammed with people, he noticed a boy that looked a lot like Joey, but a few years older. He was standing next to a woman with blonde hair and what Fic thought favored Daisy’s looks. Looking at them, he asked again, “Are you Joey’s Ma?” I came here with him and his cousin Daisy. We came to rescue you.”
At the mention of her son’s name, her eyes grew wide, and she nodded her head. “You came with Joey?” she asked with wonder.
Fic nodded and waved them over. “I’m Fic, Joey and Daisy’s friend. Come with us and we will take you to them.”
The two captives moved behind Fic and gathered with Kitsune, Brittney and Flaherty. Anne looked at Flaherty, confusion on her face at first, and then some anger, and finally understanding. He was their ticket out of here.
Fic tossed Flaherty’s key card to a man that was standing next to him. “I need you to do me a favor,” Fic started. “I need you to open all of the cells in this room and in the two others that are out the door and to the right. Once everyone is free, tell them to go up two more levels and find a door to the outside. We need to spread out as much as possible to cause confusion and increase the odds of everyone getting out.” What Fic didn’t say was that he needed the distraction to help cover their escape. He hoped for the best with them, but right now his priority was his daughter and Joey’s family. He couldn’t rescue everyone himself. He would need help.
The man nodded his head and went to open the other cells in the room.
Fic turned to his small group and ushered them out as the people he had freed went to help the man and find their own families that they had been separated from in this complex.
The five escapees and one captive moved back down the hallway and back into the stairwell. Moving up once again, they came to the first level where the door to the outside was located.
As they were making their way towards the back door, a soldier rounded the corner, his pistol drawn. Just then an alarm started sounding in the complex. Fic grabbed Flaherty who was right in front of him and placed his pistol to the side of his head.
“Hey Chuck,” Fic said. Recognizing the man. “What the fuck is going on here? I go away for a couple months and the whole place goes to shit.”
Staff Sargent Chuck Murry was a friend of Fic’s. They had had each other’s families over for bar-b-ques and birthday parties. They had known each other for several years. They had been in the sand pit together.
“Clay?” The man said, a confused look on his face. He brought his pistol up towards the people in front of him until he could figure out what was going on. Kitsune trained his weapon on the Staff Sargent.
Chuck recognized Flaherty right after he recognized Clay. “What are you doing Clay?” Confusion racked his face.
“This asshole had Brittney,” Fic replied. “You know this is the asshole who caused this whole mess. I’m here to fix it.”
Chuck stood staring for several seconds, then he lowered his weapon and said, “I never liked that asshole. I only went along because he threatened my family. I suggest you leave his body in the ditch outside.” He looked disgustedly at Flaherty; hate filled his eyes. “I’ll try to cover for you here. I have a small group of guys who are as fed up as I am. We will re-establish control of the base. Just get rid of him. I assure you; he is way too dangerous alive.”
“I just need him as insurance to get out of here with everyone safe. I most likely won’t have to hurt him,” he said looking at his captive. Trying to give him a little bit of hope. It was always easier to control people, when they thought they had a chance of surviving.
Chuck approached Fic and pulled out a pair of handcuffs he had on his belt. “These might come in handy,” he said to Fic, handing him the cuffs. He turned and started heading back the way he had come. “Hurry,” he shouted back at them as the alarm continued to sound. Other sounds were reaching them now. Shouts and the banging of doors. A shot rang out deep withing the structure.
They exited the door and moved to the gate. It was dark now. Within a few seconds they were through the gate using George’s card and moving down the road to the little path. Fic grabbed Flaherty’s arms and cuffed his hands behind his back. He pushed Flaherty towards the path, and everyone followed. Another thirty seconds and Fic could see the blow down. He didn’t see Rodent Whisperer, Brown Shades or George at the blow down.
The sound of the alarm was banging down the mountain, echoing through the forest. That was the only sound he could hear. Every bird or insect that had been making noise before was silent. The alarm rolled on.
The group circled around the blowdown and Fic saw Brown Shades motioning them from another covered area a little down the dark hillside. He quickly moved over to Brown Shades, keeping a grip of Flaherty’s shirt as he went.
“We heard the alarm and decided to move a little downhill, but still within sight of the blowdown,” Brown Shades explained.
George sat in the corner of the covered area, in his underwear, hands tied behind his back and now he had a blindfold and gag on. Fic looked at Rodent Whisperer with a questioning look and he shrugged, saying, “He just wouldn’t shut up.” A small smile on his face.
“Do you have another bandana?” Fic asked Rodent Whisperer. “I think I want to put one on President Flaherty here.”
“Flaherty?” Rodent Whisperer and Brown Shades said in unison. Looking at the man dressed all in black. “He don’t look like no President,” Rodent Whisperer added.
“Yep, this is the guy who has caused all this shit. I think we need to put things right,” Fic said. “Maybe it’s time we took our Country back.”
Rodent Whisperer brought a bandana over and Fic covered the man's eyes. This might slow them down, but he didn’t plan on having either of the soldiers with them for much longer.
Brittney recognized George sitting in the corner and she quickly went over and kicked him in his chest with her good leg. He toppled over and moaned through the gag.
“You mother fucker!” Brittney hissed at the fallen man. “I should kill you for what you did to me,” she continued, kicking his prone body once again before stumbling back on her hurt leg. “You and Jimmy will pay for taking me.”
“Jimmy already paid, honey,” Fic said to his daughter. “I’ll fill you in on all the details, when we are safe at home.”
“We better get away from this place now. He started off, once again grabbing Flaherty by the shirt and guiding him along. Rodent Whisperer pulled George to his feet and started guiding him by the shoulder. They bushwhacked straight down the mountain until they once again crossed the Trail.
The sound of the alarm faded, but they were now hearing a lot of gunshots from up around the base. I large firefight was taking place at Weather. They moved off of the other side of the trail and entered the gully they had come up just a few hours ago. Going back down in the dark was an extra challenge.
Fic called for a quick stop to assess everyone’s ability to keep going in the dark. Brittney was still limping pretty badly, but her anger at George was still steaming and it made her not feel the pain too much. The two captives had fallen a few times and were a little banged up. Fic decided they were slowing them down. He expected to get to the country road that led to the river where the kids and canoes were waiting soon. It was time to do what he had been delaying until he felt safe enough in their escape.
They came to the road and once again stopped. Fic told the others to start following the road to the left and he would catch up with them soon. “Leave George there,” he said. Pointing to a spot next to the road.
Rodent Whisperer sat the man down and moved away. Looking at Fic to try and figure out what he was going to do. Shrugging once again, he turned and started walking down the road. Helping Brittney along, asking her about her injury so he could assess how bad it was. Anne and Davey followed them.
Brown Shades and Kitsune stood looking at Fic. “What are you planning, son?” Brown Shades asked. A worried look on his face.
“I just need to do my part to get us back to normal,” Fic explained. “This is on me. You guys go with the others. I will catch up in a few minutes.”
Brown Shades nodded his head, turned and started after the others. Kitsune stood staring for a few more seconds, then turned and followed Brown Shades.
Fic was alone with Flaherty and George. He stood there for a full minute, letting the others get far enough ahead before he did what he knew he had to do. He looked at the pistol in his hand. This would do the job fast and clean, but the sound will travel and if there are rogues out looking for us… He didn’t take the time to finish the thought.
“You’re not going to kill us,” Flaherty said from behind his blindfold. “You don’t have the guts. I’m too important. This country can’t run without me.”
Fic stood looking at the man with disgust on his face. This guy was a total piece of work. He was the reason he was separated from his family for so long. Why his son was lying wounded in his home and why his daughter was taken. With him gone, maybe the world can find its way again.
Fic holstered his pistol. “You’re right,” he said to the blindfolded man. “I’m not going to kill both of you.” He pulled his long knife, grabbed Flaherty’s hair, pulled back his head, placed the knife on the left side of his neck and drew around until he was on the other side. “I’m just going to kill you.” Blood spurted on George, and he started to scream under his gag. “This Country was just fine before you came along. It will be fine after.”
Flaherty fell to his side, trying to say something, but his efforts just made more blood squirt out of his lower grin. After another minute, he stopped moving.
“George,” Fic addressed the sobbing, half naked man. “I’m letting you live. Eventually you will get out of your bonds, and I suggest you get as far away from here as you can. If I see you again, I will let my daughter do to you what I did to Flaherty. Nod if you understand.”
The man nodded briskly and repeatedly, saying something from behind the gag that Fic couldn’t understand.
Fic wiped his knife on Flaherty’s pants leg, sheathed it and started down the road at a slow jog, catching up to his friends.
Fic caught up to the others after a few minutes of jogging. Everyone noticed that he was alone. No one said anything about it.
They followed the road back to the river. The four men with head lamps lit the way for the three without. Rodent Whisperer continued to help Brittney with her walking.
As they moved along, they heard more far off gunfire. A few explosions had added to the fray. It appeared that the situation up in Weather had grown even hotter. The battle continued as they made their way to the canoes.
“I guess Chuck must have got his men together and is fighting off the rogues, Fic said. “That’s good for us if they are being kept busy, they can’t come looking for us.”
They walked down the dark road and when they were getting close, Joey and Daisy came out of the shadows. Joey ran to his mother and threw himself into her arms. Hugging her fiercely. Daisy came up and said hello to her kin. Patting Davey on the back. “We came for you,” she said.
The group had now grown to nine. Three to a canoe. They dragged the canoes out of their hiding place and back into the river’s edge. Everyone took the same positions with Davey asking if he could paddle for Daisy and she agreed, moving to Kitsune and Brown Shades canoe. Brittany went in Fic’s canoe and Ann went with Rodent Whisperer and Joey.
As they got situated, a huge explosion lit up the night. They all looked up the mountain and saw a white light growing up on the top, right where Weather was. A large mushroom cloud flashed out of the light rising into the air and turning a dark red.
Fic yelled for everyone to shove off and get into the river. The canoes were pushed into the river and the rowers started paddling like their lives depended on it, which was actually the case. When they were about twenty-five feet from the river’s edge, a large shock wave came rolling down the mountain. The sound it made resembled a freight train, but much louder. They could hear trees being blasted to the ground as the blast came chasing after them.
The blast hit the canoes, sending them all tipping over and pitching all the passengers into the river.
Fic was waiting for the water to start boiling and the skin to melt off his face, but that didn’t happen. When he came up out of the water, he involuntarily sucked in a large gulp of air, waiting for it to burn his lungs, but it didn’t. The blast had moved on and it appeared that if it was a nuke, it was a low yield one. Who knows if they had just been irradiated. He couldn’t think about that now.
He looked around and saw heads bobbing in the river. The current had grabbed each of the swimmers and the canoes were being drawn down river. Fic had lost his paddle and he couldn’t see any in the dark water. All he could do was start heading for the far side of the shore, looking for others as he went.
The first head he came to was Brittney. She was swimming to the shore just like him. He came up to her and asked if she was ok. She said she was fine and kept moving towards shore. She was a strong swimmer, and he was confident that she would make it with no problem.
Next, he saw Davey, also swimming towards shore. He followed him as they kept heading to the western side of the river, away from Weather. Away from the explosion.
Fic made it to shore at the same point as Davey and Brittney. He assessed their situation and besides being wet, they were fine. Luckily it was a warm summer night and there was no danger from the slightly cool water of the river.
“Stay here and keep looking for others. If you see anyone, give them a shout and help them get to shore,” said Fic. “I’m going to move downstream to see if I can find anyone that way. The current was strong out in the middle.”
Fic took stock. He still had his pistol but had lost his head lamp and rifle. He also still had his small pack with a few odds and ends in it.
Fic started walking along the shoreline heading downstream. He came to two people huddled on the shore. One was bending over the other, who was lying flat on the sandy shore. The hulk leaning over the other was Rodent Whisperer and he was performing rescue breathing on the prone person, who Fic saw was Anne when he got close in the darkness.
“I think she hit her head when we flipped over,” Rodent Whisperer said in between giving her a breath. “I pulled her to shore and when we got here, I noticed she wasn’t breathing.” Just as he was about to lean over and give her another breath, she started coughing and a spurt of water came out of her house. Anne moaned and tried to sit up.
Rodent Whisperer held her down. Reassuring her and helping her clear the water she had taken in. Her coughing enabled Joey to find them in the dark. He came running up and kneeled in front of his mother, holding her hand and patting her on the back as she continued to cough and sputter. Ann looked at Joey and then around the area as she continued to cough. “Davey?” she gasped out between coughs.
“He’s fine Ma’am,” Fic said. “He’s up stream a ways with my daughter.”
Fic noticed that Joey’s head lamp had fallen around his neck and asked to borrow it. He put the lamp on his forehead and started moving down the river looking out over the river and down the shore. A bright light of the burning military base shown from the top of the mountain, helping his search some.
Fic pointed the light into the river then back to the shore as he searched downstream looking for the other missing members of the group.
After moving about a hundred meters, he came upon Daisy, sitting on the shore hugging her knees and sobbing. Beside her lay Brown Shades. His glasses were gone, and his eyes were open, but he wasn’t breathing. Fic quickly moved to his side and started checking his vitals, finding no pulse or breathing. He started CPR on his longtime companion, but it didn’t look good. Up and down he went, pressing down on his chest and trying to keep the blood circulating in his body, hoping that his heart would start up again and he would suck in a breath, just like Anne did.
Fic told Daisy to move up the shore to the others and to get everyone back here, tossing her the head lamp.
She grabbed it and started north, looking for the others.
In five minutes, everyone was gathered around Fic and Brown Shades, as he continued trying to revive him. When he grew tired, Rodent Whisperer took over. Everyone watched and prayed that Brown Shades would start breathing again, but it didn’t happen. After they had been trying for over an hour, with Davey and Joey taking a turn, working together as a two-man team, taking turns doing the compressions, Fic told them to stop. He was gone.
Everyone stood by their fallen comrade as the river came rushing past in front of them and a fire raged on the top of the mountain across the river. The burning base lit up the night. They could smell smoke in the air and were wondering if the forest hadn’t also caught fire.
Suddenly, Daisy said, “Where’s Kitsune?”
They all realized that they were still missing a member of their group. Kitsune hadn’t shown up.
It was late. Well past midnight and everyone was exhausted. Fic directed everyone to move up to the house where they had found the third canoe. “We are going to have to wait until first light to move on,” Fic said. “Let’s get Brown Shades up to the house and we can place him there until we can come back and take his body to the house.”
They carried Brown Shades up to the small cabin, broke into the building and placed Brown Shades on a small bed in the back room. Anne and Daisy wrapped a sheet around him and covered him up.
Everyone gathered in the large main room of the cabin and took stock of their situation. They had lost most of their weapons except three pistols. Fic’s rifle, and Rodent Whisper and Brown Shades’ shotguns were gone also. They only had one head lamp now. Everyone huddled together and let their body heat dry the river water that had soaked their clothes.
Daisy sat next to her aunt, sobbing quietly. No one slept.