Midnight Squad: The Grim (42 page)

           
“Everybody!
We’re going to run
about one mile south. Then I want Katy, Danika, and Janine to loop east before
running north. Danika, when you head north I want Katy to ride on your back.
You’re fast enough, and strong enough that you should be able to get to the
city quickly. Penny, you and Alhambra will loop west before heading north. You
can carry Ally to the city just like Danika. I’m going to move east for three
miles with one of these bodies. Then I’m going to drop him and make a break for
the city. With Penny’s ears, and Danika’s nose you should be able to find each
other. I’m counting on you to find me when I get to town. If you don’t see me
by dawn, then steal a car, and get as far away from here as possible. Go north.
The farther you get away the better. If this works, they’ll have to split up to
search for us. Let’s see them figure out why they were following for sets of
footprints south, then it splits and becomes one set of prints east, and one
set west. Good luck. Now get out of here.”

           
Janine didn’t move, “Grim? What about these men?”

           
“I‘m going to kill them to save us.
I’m sorry, but I’m out of options, and time is running out. If I had a better
choice I‘d take it
.“
I felt a knot in my throat. I
know that what I was about to do was hurting Janine, but I was hoping she’d
find it in her heart to forgive me. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to forgive
myself.

           
Penny’s face was a picture of concern, “I should be the
one to go alone. I’m the one most likely to escape. They could catch you.”

           
“No, I need you to take Alhambra to safety. Besides for
this to work I need you and Danika to get everyone else to safety. It’s the
best chance for ya’ll.”

           
“What about you? You aren’t as fast as we are, and you’re
nowhere near as strong. Plus you’ll be all alone.” Penny’s voice was tight with
concern.

           
“Penny. This isn’t a discussion. I need you all to get to
safety. Eisen wants all of you. He even wants Ally. He can’t give Elizabeth any
powers until he kills Ally. Getting you all to safety is a win for us. The only
one here that can get caught and it won’t matter is me.”

           
“But!”

           
“Damn it Penny! I don’t want any buts. I can live with
them catching me. I’ve been doing this for a long time. If he gets me…well it
was bound to happen eventually. If they catch me then it’s no big loss.
However, you girls are special…every one of you. Katy, you’re funny, smart, and
you make Goth as adorable as a sack of rainbows. Danika, you are the most
considerate, tenderhearted person I’ve ever met. Janine, I think you might just
be the best friend I’ve ever had. Thank you for everything, and I’m sorry I
couldn’t have been a better friend to you. I’ve been meaning to tell you this,
but it just seemed like a bad time. Jesus told me to tell you that you don’t
have to be afraid. He said you’ve always kept the faith. When you are ready to
come home, he’ll be waiting. I’m not sure what that means, but he seemed to
think it was important for you to hear it.

           
“Wh-wh-what?
This isn’t funny
Grim!” Janine seemed to be on the fence between anger and confusion.

           
“I’m not joking. If we all make it then I’ll tell you
everything, but considering the circumstances I thought it would be good to get
it off my chest, and that brings me to Penny.”

           
Penny’s eyes looked so scared and nervous. She looked
almost mousy. “Jesus told me to tell you something too. He said if you’d keep
your faith in him that he’d always have a place for you in his kingdom. He wanted
me to tell you that. Now if you don’t think I’m bat shit crazy then I want to
tell you something else. This isn’t from him…it’s from me. I…love you. I love
you when you’re nerdy. I love you when you’re beautiful. I love you when you
are being sweet and playful. I love you even when you’re scaring the crap out
of me. We’ve had a very strange relationship, and sometimes I’m not sure what’s
going on with us. As strange as it is…as scary as it is…I can’t think of anyone
I’d rather share it. I’m sorry to dump all that on you, but I had to get that
off my chest. If you want to talk about it more then we can do that when we all
catch back up together. In the meantime, you girls have to get going. I have
one last thing to do here, and please don’t make me do it in front of any of
you.”

           
Penny opened her mouth to say something but I
interrupted, “Please…we’re running out of time. You all have to go.” Penny was
a blur. Her lips pressed against mine so quickly that it took me a moment to
realize what had happened. She felt so good. Her soft lips made everything just
fall away. I never wanted it to end. When she pulled away I whimpered a little,
and tried to lean in to continue the kiss. It took me a moment to remember what
was happening. I felt tears building in my eyes. “You all have to go now.
Penny…
be
careful please.” She hugged my hand and led
them all south. Part of me was glad they were gone. I didn’t want them to see
me cry.

           
I looked down at the soldiers, and picked out the
lightest one of the dead. I carried him with me outside the transport. Along
the way, I saw Penny’s backpack. For some reason I just had to bring that damn
skunk to her. I pulled the bag out and tossed it next to the body. I was aware
of the men speaking, but I’m not sure if they were begging me for their lives,
or taunting me. I was only there in body. Everything else in me left with the
girls. I turned back to a group of fathers, sons, lovers, and husbands. I tried
to remind myself that they were the enemy, but I knew they were just poor
schmucks doing their job. In the end I was only able to do what I had to by
reminding myself of what would happen to my people. In the end there just
wasn’t room for mercy this time, because any mercy I showed here would likely
cost me my friends. If we didn’t escape I’d never get to be with Penny. I’d
never be able to make it up to Janine. Niki and Danika would never see one
another if we were caught tonight. So in the end I did what I had to. I pulled
the pin on the thermite grenade and tossed it into the center of the crowd.
“Game on”, and as the fire from the grenade melted and burned through the men I
simply swung the backpack over my shoulder, and then started dragging the dead
body beside me like a wounded teammate. I don’t think I’ll ever get their screams
out of my head, but even those screams simply joined the gigantic chorus that
was already howling there.

           
His name was Richard Lankey and I’d just carried his
lifeless corpse a full mile before I heard the sound of military choppers. I
was becoming very well acquainted with the term dead weight. We moved as fast
as possible, but Rich was heavier than he looked. It really didn’t help that I
was carrying that damn backpack. The combination made things clumsy and
awkward. There were still two miles to go before I could drop him, and the
ground was hard so my feet were already starting to hurt. Rain hadn’t graced
this area in two months, and so I had to stomp the ground to leave boot prints.
The combination of Richard’s surprisingly fat ass, and trying to leave an easy
trail to follow made for much slower going than I’d hoped. I wanted the enemy
following me if possible. As fast as Danika and Penny moved, I figure they have
to be halfway to the city by now.

           
The longer I played the decoy, the safer my girls were
going to be. Normally I could have done this jog without too much problem, but
stomping with every stride was really wearing out my legs. I slipped on a rock
and fell face down. Richard’s limp body flopped down on top of me. I pushed up
and shrugged Mrs. Lankey’s baby boy off my back. “Rich, you couldn’t leave
those Twinkies alone could you pal?”

           
I thought about leaving him, and making my break to the
city, but I needed to make sure Penny had enough time. They could hide if they
make it to the city. One hard tug and I pulled Richard’s body up into a
fireman’s carry. My legs moved like rusty pistons as we traveled further east.
There was a faint rumble of thunder. Storms could hit with hardly any notice,
and I’d be foolish to just assume that those rumblings meant nothing. This
could be good and bad. It would be good because it would make it next to
impossible for them to find me unless the helicopter had the ability to see my
heat signature. The bad part is that in the desert, a freak thunderstorm also
meant that there could be flash floods, and mudslides that could drag me off to
a very unpleasant end. Therefore, I might be able to slip away from the
approaching enemy, but still drown under tons of mud.

           
Feet plodded along to a steadily slowing rhythm that wore
me down with every bounce Rich took on my shoulders. One of his hands dangled
down my torso and kept slapping against my groin. I moved it out of the way,
and then it’d fall back to its original place. “Damn Rich, just because they
repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell it doesn’t mean you get to be all handsy with me.
No means no Rich.”

           
The night air was already cool, but then a cold breeze
overtook me. I could smell the rain on the night air. Thunder rumbled again,
but it was much closer this time. There was no question. I was about to be
standing in the middle of a rainstorm. I kept hoofing it, and tried to get
another half mile in before dropping Richard to head north.

           
Moving in the dark was testy at best. The ground was
uneven, and I had to balance keeping a quick pace with not falling on my face.
Out here a sprained ankle or a twisted knee would bring my chances of survival
to zero. If I moved too carefully they’d catch up to me, and then a sprained ankle
would be the least of my problems. To make matters worse, small flashes of
lightning kept ruining my night vision. Hopefully it was doing the same to my
pursuers. Thunder shook the ground like a group of rampaging elephants, and the
storm was just starting. It felt like it would be much worse before it got
better. If I was lucky I’d make it to the city resembling a drowned rat. If
this got as bad as it looked, I’d be lucky to make it at all. Finally, it was
time to head to the city. I dropped Richard unceremoniously to the ground. He
landed in a clump, arms and legs bent in odd angles. “I’m sorry Rich, but it’s
time to go our separate ways. It’s not you…it’s me. I’m just not ready for this
kind of commitment.” I left Richard like a bad date, and ran north for all I
was worth. My legs were already tired, and the first few drops of rain were
slapping against the ground like tiny anvils. It wasn’t long before Mother
Nature was spanking the earth with angry drops.

Wind
picked up, and the rain began to flog the ground harder, and faster. The ground
was so dry that it disappeared almost instantly. I’d moved about a quarter mile
when the lightning filled the sky again, followed by a clap of thunder that
left my ears ringing. When I looked back over my shoulder I could see, just
coming over the horizon, several well-armed men. I could just barely make out
the shoulder mounted Gatling guns. Eisen wasn’t playing, he’d already brought
out some of his synthetics, and he was using them to hunt me down like dogs
hunting a rabbit.

           
The rain grew in intensity. The water stung my face and
thumped against my body. The dry ground had soaked up almost all it could, and
it was now becoming a slippery mess. The earth started taking on the
consistency of old pudding, and with every step the ground oozed around my
foot, only to try and suck my shoe down into the muck as I pulled it out to
take another step. I kept trying to run north, but by now it was turning into a
heavy trudging pace. I had to assume that the clones were making better time
than I was. Since they were bigger, they probably sunk deeper into the mud, but
since they were stronger, the mud had less of an effect on their attempts to
pull their feet out of it and move forward. I pushed myself even harder to get
some distance between us when I slipped and fell. My forehead and my ankle both
were throbbing before I was able to push myself up to a sitting position. I
touched the painful spot that pulsed on my forehead, and when I pulled back my
hand it was streaked with blood. In desperation, I tried to get up to my feet,
but my ankle wouldn’t support me, and I crumbled to the ground. If I had
something to brace my ankle with then I’d have been able to walk, but I didn’t
have anything to use as a brace. If I stayed here they’d be on me in no time.
Moving was the only choice, and so I crawled painfully onward.

           
It took twenty agonizing minute to crawl another quarter
mile. My thoughts were getting cloudy, and the throbbing in my ankle was
changing to a dull roar or pain. Crawling on dry ground would have been slow
and painful, but crawling through this mud was making everything nearly
impossible. It was like climbing through ice cold syrup. Everything stuck to
me, and I couldn’t grip onto anything. This time, when I rolled onto my back to
see where the clones were, the lighting flashed and I could see several of
them. They spread out in different directions and canvassed the area while I
stayed frozen…afraid to move until I could see where they all were, and where
they’d move to. Lighting flashed again, and I counted nine, but those were just
the ones I could see from laying on my back. Who knew how many were out here
looking for me? I had to assume I missed a few, but I couldn’t wait around to
make sure. I hissed in pain as I slowly rolled back onto my stomach. With every
ounce of resolve I could muster, I tried to baby crawl away, but there was
nothing fast about anything I was doing. Every time I grabbed the ground to
pull myself forward, my hands slid halfway back to me before I could even start
moving, or I just tore up oozing clumps of mud. It was an exercise in
frustration. The clones kept getting closer. They weren’t gentle or subtle, and
even over the wind and rain I could hear the occasional footstep. It was only a
matter of time before they found me.