Children Of Fiends (3 page)

“George. Where are we?”

“Like you expected. Just outside Benson, Arizona.”

“Okay, radio Blakely and tell them to slow it down to fifteen. Crawl until light so we can see what we’re coming into.”

“Aye, Aye. Pot’s on. Still got coffee flavored crystals from that Kroger outside of Dallas.”

As the dawn’s dim light revealed the cold wasteland that was the never-ending desert, the low buildings that made up the meager skyline of Benson, Arizona came into view. As they approached the San Pedro River Bridge, Dean had Wen bring the engine to a stop just before the crossing. The water was high and moving fast. While he and Sanders inspected the bridge, Bill Wall, Maggie Tender, Naoto Kitta and Tom Murphy got off and quickly ran through their water drill, lowering a big hose down to the rushing water and working a hand pump to get it up into the engine, and eventually the canteen. Just like El Paso, it was a time consuming process and they took turns, two at a time on a double handle. Dean ordered a scout and Hernandez and Kelly helmeted up to head toward the town with Mr. Kile, Bishop and Cinders rounding out the squad.
 

The scout team immediately took notice of how green things were. The train tracks ran parallel to Interstate 10 Business Route and they stepped up to the roadway to make walking easier. To their surprise, it appeared that a system of newer looking pipes had been built along the road leading back to the river. Dez brushed a light layer of dirt off one of the pipes. “Has to be post-Omega.” They eventually walked through a tunnel that led under the tracks and entered a residential neighborhood. A brief look at back yards had them stopping in their tracks. The pipe system broke off into smaller systems that led into the neighborhood. The backyards were filled with lush gardens. Hernandez keyed her mic. “Captain, you seeing my heads up?”

Dean, who had been distracted by Cookie handing him a shopping list, pulled his visor back down. “Uh, got it. Wow. What the hell?”

“And this.” Hernandez looked at a line where fresh laundry was drying. “There is a working irrigation system running down the highway from the river. We got a live population.”

“No contact?”

“None yet.”

“Okay. Sit tight. I’m going to suit-up with Green and Palmer.”

“Sir, the situation calls for you to remain with-”

“Thank you, Chief. Sit tight.”

When Dean and his team arrived, he noted with satisfaction that Hernandez had followed his order. She had spread her squad out, but they hadn’t moved any further forward. As a cat wrapped itself back and forth around KK’s ankles, Dez said, “Tame, well-fed house cat. No other movement.”

Dean felt relief for the cat that Hansel wasn’t nearby. “We break into two squads. Leave me Cinders. You go down to Sixth Street, I’ll take Fifth and we work west block to block.”

As they walked, a slight breeze caused a variety of movement: flapping laundry, swinging tree branches and bushes, keeping them alert. The cat stuck close to KK’s heals, mewing for attention. House after house exhibited recent occupation, but still no people. At San Pedro Street, Dean took note of a swimming pool that had been converted to a fishpond. Trout swam in lazy circles in the greenish water. He touched his mic and said to Dez, “Let’s start poking through some of these places.”

The house with the trout pond had an outdoor barbecue converted to a full time kitchen. Loose chickens scratched around the surrounding yards. Dean and Green went through the front door first, followed by Palmer and Cinders. They worked their way through the modest house in a classic urban warfare room-by-room search. The cheap furnishings were clean and dust free. An unspoiled meal was laid out at the dinning table with places set for five. Dean scattered a few flies as he touched some stewed carrots. “Cold.”

Palmer said, “Last night’s dinner.”

They went through the house next door and the one across the street and kept coming across the same scene over and over: recent occupation with meals in various states, clothes, games, toys. There was no electricity, but candle making had come back into fashion. Some fireplaces still contained burning embers. Dez’s squad came upon the same things. Green climbed a telephone pole to get a look from a higher perspective. There were many chickens, a few cats and dogs and lizards skittering about, but not a single sign of people. The two squads reconnected in front of the Benson City Hall where a new looking American Flag flew at full mast. A search of the building showed a functioning space filled with the trappings of bureaucracy, but again no people.

Dez said, “No signs of struggle, hasty exit, nothing. Like they were beamed aboard a spaceship.”

Bishop blurted, “Way the world’s gone – probably what happened.”

Dean said, “Dez, your squad keeps checking it out. Take Kile with you. The rest of you, round up a bunch of these chickens and whatever else looks good. Least we can do with this situation is get a few meals. Assuming that they survived those explosions last night, we still don’t know what or who is following us. I want to be out of here in an hour.”

It was when Dez’s squad had finished searching the town and was heading back to the train, that KK saw the movement. They had been through dozens of houses, block after block, and had found nothing but life abandoned. Nearly every home lacked a basement, but as they passed one of the oldest houses in town, KK spotted a dimly lit face in a ground level window. “Contact. Basement window at our ninety.” The squad quickly broke into cover. From various angles, they used their helmets to zoom in on the basement window. The devices enhanced the image so that they could all see the face of a young girl standing three feet back, mostly in shadow. The girl looked terribly frightened while clutching a rag doll to her chest. Dez said, “I’ve got a girl, maybe nine or ten. Anybody see anyone else?”

They entered the house from both back and front, leaving Kile on the street as look out. The doors had been locked, but the frames were feeble, leaving a single well placed kick to act as a key. Just like all the others, the house had been recently full of life. A quick sweep confirmed that the ground floor was empty and they met up at the basement door. Dez decided that KK was the least frightening of the bunch and put her on point. The door was locked so Kelly stood to the side out of any potential line of fire and called out, “U.S. Army. You are safe. Will you please open the door?” She waited for perhaps ten seconds for a response and called out again. “I’m going to open this door. It’s going to be loud, but we have no intention of hurting you.” She waited for ten seconds more and looked at Dez who nodded to go ahead. A swift kick sent the door slamming wide open. Kelly peered around the corner. Everyone’s rifles pointed at the black hole that greeted her. Kelly called out, “Hello? We are friends. I repeat, we don’t want to hurt you. Could you please come up?” They waited in silence for perhaps thirty-seconds more and then Dez gave her a tap on the back. KK said, “I’m going to come down, okay? My name is Katherine. Can you hear me?” Nothing. She began her decent, with Bishop behind. She turned to him and said, “Give me some room to go down first. You might spook her.” The stairs were stereotypically squeaky, with each step causing an inner groan for Kelly. The helmet lit the darkness around her with a greenish glow and when she reached the floor she had to duck so she wouldn’t hit her head on low hanging pipes. In addition to a washer, dryer, hot water heater and furnace, the room was filled with the stored cast offs of American life. “Everybody seeing this?” asked KK rhetorically. “Bishop, stay on the stairs.” She started poking around a pile of boxes, looked behind the hot water heater. “Hello? It’s okay. You’re safe.” The dryer was empty and then she spotted the freezer chest. A glance at it told the tale; a hole cut in the door with a mesh screen over it. Clearly it was made to hide someone and not suffocate them. Kelly stepped to the machine and said, “I know you’re in there. I promise I won’t hurt you.” There was no response. “My name it Katherine Kelly. I was also a frightened little girl once. What’s your name?” Nothing. “I’m going to open the door, okay? I promise that you’re safe.” She reached out while holding her head back. Training for booby traps had her bracing herself like she was about to be blown to pieces. She lifted the door – and the freezer was empty. Smash! Behind her glass broke and she spun around to see the girl climbing a tool bench, knocking over jars of nails and scrambling out through one of the windows.

“Shit! She’s getting away!” She ran to the window but the girl wriggled out before she could get there. “Kile!”

“On it!”

On the street, the girl, maybe ten, wearing a flower print dress, cornrows weaved into her black hair, blindly ran while still clutching her doll and crashed into the arms of Mr. Kile. The girl screamed and tried to bite. It was all the big man could do not to let go of her. “You’re all right! It’s okay! We’re friends!” She twisted and broke free just as the rest of the squad came running out of the house. The girl screamed again as she was cornered, pee running down her legs.

“Take off your helmets!” yelled KK as she pulled off her own. The girl shook with fright. Kelly made eye contact. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” Upon recognizing a friendly human face, the girl clutched her doll harder and burst into tears. Kelly handed her gun to Kile while motioning for everyone else to point theirs in the air. She slowly approached. “You’re okay. You’re okay. We’re here to help.” The girl stifled her tears and glanced around for escape. When Kelly was three feet away she stopped and said, “My name is Katherine. What’s your doll’s name?”

The girl glanced at her doll and finally said, “Darcy.”

“Darcy is a nice name. She has pretty cocoa skin, just like you. Can I touch her hair?”

The girl looked down at the doll again and then slowly held it out from her body. As KK reached to touch the hair, the girl stepped forward and hugged her, breaking down into sobs of exhaustion.

When they got close to the train, Dean and Eliza met them with their helmets off. The girl walked with her hand held tightly to KK’s, partially hiding her face behind her doll. Dez said, “She hasn’t spoken another word.”

The rest of the mission crew paused from their activities to look at the survivor. “You’re well fed,” said Eliza who kneeled before the girl but kept herself a good ten feet away. She looked into the girl’s big brown eye’s and saw plenty of light in there as the irises focused on her own. “Hello there,” said Eliza. “My name is Eliza and this is Stewart. Are you okay?”

The girl paused as though she was thinking about it. Then nodded yes.

“That’s good. Are there other people here?”

The girl quickly shook her head no.

“Can you tell us where they are?” asked Dean.

The girl hugged her doll closer while nuzzling harder against KK’s side. Eliza looked up at him and said, “Let me talk.” She turned back to the girl. “We know that there were other people here. Can you say where they went?”

The girl looked around as if getting her bearings and then pointed south.

“Are they in another part of town?” asked Dean.

Eliza glared at Dean then turned back to the girl, “Is there somewhere else that they might have gone? Somewhere nearby?”

The girl stared straight ahead and then spotted Hansel and Gretel looking at her from the train. She gasped and immediately dropped to the ground, prostrating herself as if genuflecting.
I’m sorry
, she let burst from her mind.
Please don’t hurt me. My parents made me hide
.

The assembly looked back and forth between the girl and the pucks, confusion reigning over all of their faces. Gretel finally spoke to them, saying, “She is communicating with us. She thinks we will hurt her. Her parents hid her.”

“Where are her parents?” asked Dean.

Gretel and Hansel looked at the prostrate girl, her body shivering as Corporal Kelly crouched and gently stroked her back. Finally Hansel said, “Others who are like us took them away last night.”
 

Gretel continued, “All of the humans here were taken south. It was very sudden.”
 

Hansel said, “She refers to us as The Chosen.”
 

Gretel said, “The Chosen took them south. Her parents hid her in a locker or some box and she was left behind.”
 

Hansel said, “The humans here lived…” He looked at his sister not sure how to describe it. She continued for him, “under Chosen rule.”

“Okay, now that’s some fucked up shit,” said Green.

“Sergeant. Perimeter watch, now,” said Dez.

Everyone was suddenly hyper vigilant again. Hansel said, “They are not here. They have gone.”

Dean said, “We need to move anyway. We’ll sort the rest of this out on the train.” He said to Kelly and Eliza. “Get the girl aboard.”

The girl suddenly stood, desperation crossing her face. “No! I have to wait for my mommy and daddy.”

Gretel said, “They will not be coming back.”

“How do you know?” asked KK.

Hansel pointed at the girl. “She knows. This was a gathering place. That is all. This is where the Chosen gather the humans from the North.”

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Sanders.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” said Dean. “We are getting back on the train. Let’s move!” He looked at Kelly, “Drag her if you have to.”

The Shore train blew through Benson, with the riders taking little notice of the once inhabited surroundings. To Major Thompson, any town meant potential danger and they sped up to pass through quickly. They had stopped outside of Lordsburg to acquire decontaminated water for drinking, but from there, the sole focus was to put an eye on the Northerners and stick with them. It wouldn’t matter that they were seen. They’d lit up the landscape for twenty square miles with the explosions in El Paso.
 

Thompson had made room for Plimpton to stand with him in the cab while Gallagher and Collins drove, and he glanced at the councilman, not for the first time, wondering at the nature of the slightly built fellow’s power. After all, Thompson himself was a man of power, a man with leadership built into his DNA. Yet Plimpton, despite being a somewhat frail… No, frail wasn’t right… A man of smallish build and the air of what Thompson considered a dandy. Yet, despite this, the councilman had supreme confidence. Thompson had seen it falter when they were under attack, but Thompson himself had felt his loins lock as he had contemplated jumping out into air filled with hydrogen cyanide, roaring flames and marauding telepathic demons. When it came to Plimpton, no one questioned the man. He had that rare gift of having an aura that demanded respect. Despite everything that he knew about the councilman (and his utter distaste for working with him) Thompson hadn’t even considered making room for say, the vicar inside the cab. Plimpton allowed his head to nod down to his chest to rest, and it occurred to Thompson that his grudging respect for the fellow pissed him off. The guy was after all a – As though he had been cued by Thompson’s inner thoughts, Plimpton suddenly looked up and turned to the major. He offered a brief friendly smile and said, “Lovely it would be to have a place to lay one’s head. Shame we haven’t spotted an abandoned passenger car yet.”