Redaction: The Meltdown Part II (22 page)

“Dying of radiation exposure is very nasty. First you—”

“I’ve already gotten the Cliff Notes,” he snapped. “Doctor Mavis Spanner sent us. We picked up some fuel to keep the generators running so everyone can get to safety?”

“Fuel? Fuel!” the man shrieked. “I’ve got fucking fuel! It’s water I need. Water! In eighteen hours, the first spent fuel rods will be exposed to air and then everything will glow for thousands of years!”

Chapter Sixteen

Mavis’s stomach jumped into her mouth. Whoa! She clawed at the ‘oh shit’ handle above the rear door and jerked upright in her seat. Humvees weren’t supposed to move sideways. After swiping her hand over her mouth to wipe away any drool marks, she peered out the window. Headlights shimmered on Fossil Creek. Rain snaked down her window and drummed on the metal roof.

“The river’s running pretty high.” Black currents sucked at the sandy banks and white foam swirled on the wide, usually placid water. Stubby blades of grass bobbed on the waves. The sand bar on the left had completely disappeared.

“Current’s strong.” David didn’t glance at her in the rearview mirror. Muscles flexed in his jaw and under his tee-shirt as he manhandled the steering wheel.

The back of the Humvee swung to the left. Shrubs clawed at the side. She tightened her grip until her fingers began to feel numb. “It’s been raining all day, but I didn’t expect this.”

Hadn’t taken the rain into account in her bug out plans. Or the snow being reported at higher elevations. Her three day trip was beginning to seem ridiculously optimistic. Good thing she’d asked Papa Rose, Falcon and Brainiac to buy her four days.

General Lister reached for her abandoned cup of coffee. He sniffed it then drained the last couple of sips. “Rain’s a nice break from the sandstorms and blistering heat of the Middle East, isn’t it, Sergeant-Major?”

“Yes, Sir.” The tires dug into the blacktop and the vehicle shot forward. Headlights illuminated the break in the trees and shrubs lining the creek bank.

Light shone inside the vehicle as the personnel carrier behind them entered the water. He didn’t veer off course or fishtail. Perhaps the heavier vehicles would be okay.

One by one, Mavis pried her fingers from the handle. Pins and needles crept along her skin. She might have overreacted a smidge. “It’s not the rain that’s the issue. We’re traveling through washes and unmaintained roads.”

Lister grunted over the squeal and thump of the wiper blades. Part of the dry-rotted rubber flopped over the glass with each swish. “They couldn’t slow us down any more than stopping for all those civilians. Besides, we’ll be on state roads soon. Smooth sailing all the way to Colorado. Should be snug in a mine shaft by this time tomorrow.”

It would be nice, but they both knew it was a fairy dream.

Those small towns along the way posed a hazard, especially if folks were unwilling to move or barricaded the road. Mentioning the impending meltdown might have pried a few people loose. Then again, it hadn’t kept settlers from claiming radioactive homesteads around Chernobyl. And would surely have led to panic when it was coupled with the anthrax attack.

At least there was tangible proof of the disease.

Too many people would dismiss the nuclear threat because it couldn’t be seen, touched or felt.

With a bump, the Humvee lurched from the river, the swoosh of draining water barely discernible above the crackle of thunder. Gravel pelted the undercarriage as they steamed along the muddy road and the interior quickly flooded with the crimson glow of the tail lights in front of them.

Mavis grabbed her computer and lifted it from the floor. Might as well get a few more hours of work in. “Did Sunnie’s truck make it to camp?”

“They’re behind us.” Instead of following the carrier in front of him, David veered into virgin desert. The vehicle rocked wildly and branches scratched at the doors. Tires slipped, dug in, then pushed them higher. “Have been since we stopped for lunch.”

Right. She knew that. Her cat nap had dulled her wits but at least the fire in her throat had settled into a low simmer. She glanced out the window. From their vantage on a hill above the river, she counted ten large trucks serpentining down the dirt road plunging into Fossil Creek. “Which one is she, do you know?”

“Fourth from the rear.” Headlamps spotlighted Lister as another truck left the river.

Nine trucks remained.

David jockeyed the car back and forth until she could see the convoy through the thump and squeak of the wipers. “Robertson, flash your headlights.”

The fourth truck from the back fell dark then blazed on.

Lister chuckled.

Lucky guess or was the general really that good? Mavis opened her laptop. Probably a combination of both, gold stars were hard to earn in the Corps. She ripped her attention from the crossing and focused on the screen. Worrying wouldn’t help Sunnie. Besides, only they seemed to struggle across the creek bed. “I’ve been thinking about adding a civilian consultant or two to our group.”

Funny. Technically, she was a civilian, yet neither she nor many of the other survivors seemed to think of her that way.

Lister chewed on the earpiece of his readers. “The snake who thinks he’s a preacher and doesn’t know his name?”

She rubbed the goosebumps from her arms and swallowed the bile rising in her throat. “Definitely him.”

“Keep him close, limit his influence.”

Because a bullet through the brain was off the table, at least for the moment. Perhaps, she’d find a side benefit in the hazardous road ahead. With the human race facing extinction, one death would make a huge impact on future generations. Especially if certain undesirable traits were chlorinated from the gene pool.

“Exactly. But I was thinking more in terms of this fine upstanding gentleman.” She brought up a picture of an obese man in a dirty flannel shirt. Deep-set beady eyes glared at her from extra rolls of flesh.

Lister’s salt and pepper eyebrows soared toward his crewcut. “I’m too tired for sarcasm, Doc. Why him?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s in league with Reverend Trent.” She resisted the urge to wipe her tongue on her sleeve just associating a man of God with that scumbag. But until she had proof, she had no choice.

God help her if Trent P. Franklin really was a man of the cloth.

She called up everything Sally had managed to compile on the fat man before handing her laptop to the general.

“Dirk Benedict.” Lister prodded his glasses higher up his nose. “He’s got a record of drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest. Could be an authority issue.”

“It was ten years ago and that’s not why I picked him.”

“I know that name.” David turned in the driver’s seat. “Can I see a picture of him?”

Lister angled the screen so David could see it.

“Yeah, he has authority issues and is a lying asshole.” His lips twisted in a sneer. “He tried to claim to support dead people so he could get more rations. When that didn’t work, a couple of folks in his neighborhood reported that he’d stolen their supplies. God knows how many he bullied, but I’d bet it was more than a handful.”

“A perfect ally for the Reverend, then.” Good to know her instincts had been on the mark.

Lister handed the tablet back to her. “What makes you think he and the Reverend are working together?”

“They exchanged too many meaningful glances while I was talking and since neither of them are gay…” Five too many to be exact. Given his six and a half foot height and bulk, Ol’ Dirk was easy to pick out. He worked the crowd in a predictable pattern—stop every four feet, chatted up the males in his vicinity. If they turned red in the face, Benedict moved on.

If they didn’t…

A chill washed down her spine. She stuffed her hands into David’s jacket and sunk into his spicy scent. If any male seemed receptive to Benedict’s message, he would face front, then point at the man and give the thumbs up.

The Reverend Trent had nodded each time and had almost smiled when Benedict had give one man two thumbs up. She detected a coup forming in the storm. Her fingernails bent against the metal laptop. That would not happen on her watch.

“They’re up to something.” David drummed his fingers on the dash as the third truck plunged into the creek. Water eddied halfway up the tire and lapped at the step.

She eyed the fourth truck from the end then panned east. Lightning flashed over the watershed, illuminating unbroken lines of rain. Her skin tightened over her bones. “Tell them to hurry.”

Lister opened his mouth but David spoke first. “They’re going as fast as they can.”

The next truck plunged in. Muddy water obscured nearly three-quarters of the tire. Branches appeared like shark fins in the river. Three more to go. How high could the water get before the trucks couldn’t make it across?

The general cleared his throat then scrubbed his hand over his face. “We’ve just gotten rid of one bad regime, I’m not happy to be starting over again with a new crop of self-serving bastards.”

“I want another two civilians.” She dragged her attention away from the creek. They would make it. They had to make it. “Four civilian representatives, one from every branch of the service and me. That’ll give us nine people, so there shouldn’t be any ties.”

“Henry Dobbins should be one of them. He’s former military and a head shrinker. He might be able to profile the preacher and his minions.” Lister ripped his glasses off and tapped them against his laptop. “The last should be a woman, but make no mistake, you’re still in charge, Doc.”

“Yes, I’m still in charge. I’ll still make most of the decisions. I still have the plan,” she tapped her temple, “up here. I want to use this committee to head off whatever Reverend Trent, Benedict and the others are planning.”

Another truck dipped in the creek. She released a shaky breath. The water hadn’t risen too much.

“There are more?” David raised his voice to be heard over the spitting rain.

“Four more.” She brought up the pictures she’d taken during her speech and laid them side by side, severing limbs and body parts of the people around them.

“You’re a sneaky woman, Doc.” Lister leaned closer and shouted to be heard above the rain and the squeaking wipers. “I thought you were adjusting the tablet to reduce glare and all the while you were taking snapshots.”

That’s what he was supposed to think. She shrugged and showed it to David. With satellite connections being down most of the day, Sally hadn’t been able to identify them or dig into the Reverend’s background. Tomorrow, she’d chat up the men personally. “Do you recognize any of them?”

David pointed to the first guy. “He was on my route. Never caused any trouble, kept to himself.”

Great, isn’t that what neighbors said about serial killers?

“And the others?” Her throat throbbed from shouting.

The wiper screamed. Metal scraped glass. Dry glass. She stared straight ahead. Yet, the rush of water roared inside the Humvee. She froze while her brain frantically groped for the right connection.

The next truck drove into the river. Water splashed up the grill. The vehicle in front of Sunnie’s inched down the bank. The currents swarmed its front tire. Headlamps shone on the small bushes churning in the water.

She blinked and the thought snapped in place. Flood. Her mouth dried. Flash flood. Lunging forward, she ripped the earpiece from David’s head and shouted in the microphone. “Get out of the river. Get away from the water!”

“What the—” David cupped his red ear.

“Get out!” An arm manacled her wrist and jerked, moving the microphone away from her mouth. Clammy air pressed against her skin. In the flash of lightning, she spied it—a wall of brown water speeding toward the trucks. Tree trunks bobbed like broccoli on the surface then drowned in the murky darkness.

Her heart stopped. Her lungs seized. Oh God! Setting her hand on the dash, she levered higher. They weren’t going to make it.

“Mavis—”

“No!” David’s cry disappeared in the wet slap of water against metal.

The wave caught the tail of the first truck, spinning it. Headlights blazed then glowed weakly as the river swallowed the hood. A heartbeat later just the top of the arched canvas remained. Screams punctuated the night. The vehicle was swept out of sight.

The river shoved the truck in front of Sunnie’s against the bank. A tree crashed into the side. Canvas was sucked away leaving exposed metal ribs. People stood up one second only to be swept off their feet and disappear in the dark water. The river crested the bank, knocking the carrier on its side. Water chewed at higher ground, undermining the earth under Sunnie’s truck before sweeping aside the overturned vehicle and gulping it down.

Mavis lifted her hand. Blood screamed painfully through her veins as her heart resumed beating. Lister’s grip loosened then fell away. “Robertson, back that truck up. The ground is unstable.”

“Copy that.” The back-up lights flowed over the glossy hood. “Backing up.”

The truck behind him didn’t move.

“All trucks, I need you to retreat to higher ground. Now!” The rear truck lit up the bumper then trundled backward. The lights disappeared between two high trees then emerged again. Soon it bumped along a level road twenty feet above the water.

“All available personnel!” Lister groped on the floor before hooking Mavis’s headset and hurling it at David. “I need all available personnel with ropes and poles down to the river’s edge. We have people in the water. I repeat, we have people in the water!”

Her head swam with voices, orders and acknowledgements. In the glow of the camp half a mile to her right, flashlights bobbed in the darkness.

David stuffed the communicator in his ear and slammed the Humvee in gear.

Mavis licked her dry lips. The second to last truck lumbered after the first. The third vehicle hadn’t budged. Sunnie was still blocked in. What was wrong? Why wasn’t it moving? “Who’s driving that truck?”

David jockeyed the Humvee along the hill. “Who’s the driver behind you, Robertson?”

“Don’t know, Sergeant-Major.”