The Resistance: Book 5 of the After The Event Series (10 page)

Ally

              She squeezed through the small hole in the side of the building and within a few minutes knew the entire trip had been worth it. As her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room the first thing she spotted on the shelf directly in front of her was a large bottle of lighter fluid. She ran over and picked it up, confirming it was almost completely full. Ally couldn’t help but smile. This alone would fetch quite the price when they went to the market. Tiger sneezed behind her, causing her to jump.

              “Tiger! You scared the crap out of me,” she yelled.

              She could have sworn that it looked like the dog smiled.

              Ally knew she shouldn’t be wandering the wasteland by herself but she couldn’t just sit around the safe zone all day. They had taken a break from scouring the wasteland for people, mainly because they had yet to turn up a single lead, which meant the majority of their days were filled with walking around the market or fixing up their home-all things that she enjoyed in small doses, not so much when it was the only thing she could do. So Ally had begun telling Adam and Dena that she was going out to hunt or walk around the market and instead she came out here. In just a few trips she had managed to find quite a few useful items and when they asked she just told them she found them on her walks to and fro.

              As she placed the lighter fluid in her bag something else caught her eye, something she hadn’t seen in years. Soap. A six-pack of solid soap bars sat in a package just a few feet from her. It felt like she had just found gold.

              “Tiger, do you know what this is?” Tiger just stared at her. “This means we don’t have to walk around smelling like old feet anymore. Or stinky dog.” Tiger whined. “Ok, smelling like a stinky dog isn’t so bad.”

              The top half of the building had collapsed, all but hiding--and sealing--the basement area. Looking around, Ally could tell she was one of the first people in a long time to enter. Inside she found several shampoo bottles, toothpaste, mouthwash and even toilet paper. It was hands-down the greatest scavenging trip she had ever taken. She managed to fill up her pack and still have items sitting on the shelves for next time. Smiling, she turned to leave when she saw something framed on the wall. She walked closer and saw it was a crayon drawing of two stick figures holding the hand of a smaller stick figure, with a house in the background. Ally didn’t know why but she couldn’t stop staring at it. It was like the pictures they had found at the abandoned building. It was a snapshot of a time when the world wasn’t so mean. Tiger whined behind her, snapping her back to reality.

              “Tiger, do you think things are going to get better?”

              Tiger followed her gaze toward the picture but the dog just tilted his head in confusion.

              “You were just a puppy when I found you so you never knew how things were before. Things didn’t used to suck so bad.” Ally bent down and grabbed the dog’s head in her hands. “I mean things were still tough sometimes but never this bad.” Tiger licked her face and Ally just laughed. “You bring up a good point.”

              She got up, dusted herself off and then squeezed through the opening in the building. They walked down the destroyed streets with the only sound being the crunch of rubble under their feet. Ally tried to imagine what everything looked like before it had been destroyed when Tiger growled. She stopped but the crunching sound of feet over rubble didn’t. Ally hid behind what used to be an opening of a storefront but was now nothing more than a single cracked wall. The sound of the crunching got louder until three soldiers turned the corner, good soldiers. They walked with their rifles slung over their shoulders and talked causally like they were just out for a stroll. They were good soldiers but Ally had already been told that anyone found wandering the wasteland would be kicked out of the safe zone and never allowed to return, so she stayed hidden. The soldiers walked past and out of view, but she waited until she couldn’t even hear their footsteps before she started to move.

              She made her way out of the ruins into the safe zone with no further issues. She intended to head back home but as she passed through the marketplace she spotted Dena and Coby walking about causally. Coby saw her first and waved, Tiger ran to him instantly.

              “Hey Ally, I was wondering if we would run into you out here,” Dena said, giving her a smile. The woman’s attention turned to her pack. “What did you bring your pack for? It looks full.”

              “Ah, in case I found anything else,” Ally said quickly.

              Dena frowned for a second. “Ok…just don’t go wandering off too far. You know they say even the outskirts of this place aren’t always safe. So find anything good?”

              Ally smiled. “A few things. I’ll show you later.”

              “Mom, are you going to show her what you go-” Coby started.

              “Shush Coby,” Dena interrupted. “If you’re done there is something we wanted to show you and Coby when you have a second.”

              Ally and Coby shared a confused look.

              “Ok,” Ally said.

              The entire walk back to the house consisted of Coby asking what Dena was going to show them and Dena answering that he would just have to wait. Coby never took this as a satisfactory answer. By the time they made it back home Ally had a headache and was ready to go on another trip.

              The sun was beginning to set so when they walked inside it took her a second to adjust but as she rounded the corner into the kitchen she saw it. On the counter sat a cake, a relic of an ancient time and of a different life. A single lit candle sat atop the cake and behind it stood Adam with a huge smile on his face.

              “Mommy, what’s that for?” Coby asked beside her.

              Dena walked over to Adam’s side and looked at Coby and Ally. “Things have been…really tough lately but you all have battled through it with us.” Dena looked to Ally. “It’s easy to say we probably wouldn’t have made it here if it wasn’t for you. So since we have missed some birthdays, I thought it would be nice to make up for that.”

              Ally had been going to the market long enough to know that the ingredients to make anything, let alone a cake, were hard to find and expensive to get. “How did you-”

              “I have been getting a lot of work from the peacekeepers and our neighbors,” Dena said

              “And you aren’t the only one who knows how to scavenge,” Adam said with a smirk.

              It was out before Ally could stop it. The tear ran from her eye to her cheek, where she quickly wiped it away, but it wasn’t quick enough. Dena looked down, trying to fight her own emotions, and Adam gave her a wink.

              “You both deserve a little happiness,” he said.

              Dena walked out from behind the counter and handed Coby a plastic bag. The boy reached inside and pulled out a Superman action figure. His face lit up and he jumped into Dena’s arms. They stood there for a second hugging until Dena gently pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked over to Ally and smiled.

              “Don’t think we’ve forgotten you.”

              Before Ally could say anything Adam pulled a bag out from behind the counter and handed it to Dena. Ally could see over a dozen arrows sticking out of the bag.

              “We figured you could always use some more arrows,” Dena said with a smile.

              A lot had happened since the world went dark. Through that time and all the struggles, Ally had forgotten a lot of things. As she looked over at her presents and took that first bite of the powdery cake and felt her taste buds come alive at the onslaught of sugar, she realized this was a moment she refused to allow herself to forget.

Ben

              Getting from Manhattan across the water to Long Island was the problem. With the Screamers overhead, occasional helicopter patrols and regular foot patrols, it was going to next to impossible to cross one of the bridges unnoticed. So if they were going to get noticed they needed to make sure they could blend in.

              Ben watched as the two Chinese Humvees drove down the empty street and stopped near a car that was burning in the middle of an intersection. A Chinese soldier manned the machine gun in one of the Humvees and swiveled it around slowly 360 degrees, searching for trouble, while three soldiers got out of the other Humvee and carefully walked up to the burning car. Dex was their best shot and he had no trouble hitting the man on the machine gun. The soldier’s head exploded as the sound of the gun going off echoed throughout the empty streets. Ben fired a burst at one of the soldiers standing near the fiery car, dropping him; the other two dropped at the same time. Dex’s second shot hit the driver of the second Humvee before he could back up to leave. There were still two more soldiers in the last Humvee and they fired blindly toward the buildings all around them. Ben and the others stayed hunkered down behind windows just out of sight. A burst of fire from across the street, either from Crimson or Reaper, ended the resistance in short order. The entire exchange probably lasted less than thirty seconds.

              They moved quickly. Reaper and Crimson each took a Humvee and the others piled into them, and in less than a minute they were driving through the streets toward Long Island. Ben was in the Humvee that Crimson was driving, along with Ty and Ghost. No one said anything. While no one would admit it, they were all waiting for that familiar scream. They knew that if they heard it there was a 50% chance they were going to be dead in seconds. But that scream didn’t come. They drove through the Brooklyn Bridge and soon found themselves in Queens.

              Just as planned, they drove several miles and then pulled off and abandoned the Humvees. They had considered trying to use the vehicles to get all the way to Long Island but Watt warned them of the Chinese checkpoints set up along the way. So once again they were on foot. The Humvees did give them one last parting gift: food, ammo and much to Ghost’s delight, a grenade launcher.

              The next few days were slow going. Watt’s ankle limited their speed; that, combined with the possibility of Screamers patrolling the sky, led them to move slowly and carefully. The days consisted of them moving from alley to alley while they were in Queens, to them moving from building to building when they finally managed to get to Long Island. Yet despite all that they moved with a purpose. For the first time they had a tangible goal.

              “This is the kind of neighborhood I want to live in one day,” Dex said.

              They were walking down a residential street with what had once been nice two- to three-story houses on both sides. The yards had since been taken back over by nature and even now most of the houses had vines crawling up the sides of them. Despite all that it was obvious this had once been a very nice neighborhood.

              “Don’t think you could have afforded this neighborhood on military pay,” Crimson said.

              Dex frowned. “I probably would have gotten a private sector job eventually. Security for some big-wig or celebrity. Maybe work for one of those private military firms. Shit, when we finish kicking the shit out of the Chinese the least Uncle Sam could do is give us first pick at a place to stay.”

              “I wouldn’t live here,” Ghost said, looking around. “Too many people. Give me a house surrounded by farmland, with no one around for miles.”

              Ben thought of the farm. He remembered the open fields and how he would run around them all day dreaming of adventures. It felt like a lifetime ago. Now here he was walking down a deserted street in a war zone with an assault rifle in his hands.

              “What about you, Crimson?” Dex smiled. “You a city girl or a country girl?”

              “I’m not a girl,” she said simply.

              “Fair enough,” Dex said, shaking his head.

              “Quit talking about the future and the past,” Reaper said, falling back into their group. “Focus on the present or you’re going to get everyone’s head blown off.”

              “Yes sir,” Dex said slowly.

              Reaper sped up and walked ahead of them again. Ben noticed Dex clench his jaw tightly but the man didn’t do or say anything else. The sound of birds chirping filled the afternoon air and the cool breeze blew through Ben’s hair; despite where they were it was actually quite nice. The peaceful feeling was dashed as the sound of gunfire ripped through the air and caused all of them to run for cover. Ben dove into the ditch of a nearby overgrown yard and got into a prone position but couldn’t find anything to fire at. The sound of gunfire continued but the sound of the battle was clearly happening several blocks away. Ben would have been embarrassed but as he got to his feet he watched the rest of the squad doing the same.

              “Up two blocks,” Ghost said as he pulled out his binoculars. “Looks like we got two Chinese Humvees focusing fire on an old parking garage.”

              “They shooting at friendlies?” TY asked as he wiped himself off. The look of panic hadn’t yet left his eyes.

              “If the Ricers don’t like them then they’re friendly,” Crimson said.

              “Doesn’t matter.” Reaper walked over and looked through his own binoculars. “Our mission is to get to that EMP. This little skirmish should serve as a distraction to give us some time.”

              Ben turned to him. “Wait, what? What if those are soldiers?” His thoughts turned to Mason.

              “Then they know how to take care of themselves. Let’s move out,” Reaper said and began to walk in the other direction.

              Ben watched as the other soldiers around him hesitated. Ghost looked like he was going to say something but stopped. Crimson’s face turned red and she didn’t move.

              “Sir,” Ben started, “with all due respect, if those are fellow soldiers we need to do what we can to help them.”

              Reaper stopped where he was, with his back to him. The man didn’t move but Ben watched as he pulled his chest up. The man turned around and his face was dark. “I’ve given you an order, soldier.”

              “You’re ordering me to abandon people in need.”

              “It doesn’t matter if I’m ordering you to jump off the goddamned Empire State Building,” Reaper was on him within seconds. The man stood next to him, looking down his crooked nose, just even with Ben’s eyes. “An order is a damned order and you better follow it.”

              Ben felt his hands shaking but he focused so his voice was even. “I can’t follow that order, sir.”

              Reaper’s face grew red and Ben could see the rage building up.

              “Sir,” Crimson said,, stepping forward, “as far as we know those men may have secured the EMP and due to unforeseen circumstances have to hoof it back somewhere for repair. If we leave them to the enemy then our mission is a failure.”

              Reaper’s eyes didn’t leave Ben. “We have our orders.”

              Ghost cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I’m with them, sir. They need someone to kill Chinese and that was exactly what I was trained for.”

              Reaper finally looked up and shifted his gaze to the others. Ben felt like a giant weight had just been lifted off him.

              “You defy my orders and go running to play the hero and you are not only jeopardizing the mission but the entire war. You know what this means?”

              “Yes sir,” Crimson said. “I don’t mean to lose this war. But I also know what I’d lose if I turned my back on my brothers and sisters.”

              Reaper’s hand fell to the sidearm on his waist and floated there. Crimson and Ghost noticed but didn’t budge.

              Dex finally stepped forward but faced away from Reaper and toward Crimson and Ghost. “The longer we debate this the worse it is going to get. You all disobey orders, then it will be noted and even if we win this war you will have to answer for it.”

              “Agreed,” Crimson said quickly.

              “Yes sir,” Ghost said shortly thereafter.

              Reaper looked back down at Ben.

              “Understood,” Ben said, meeting Reaper’s gaze. For a second he just stood there and then he turned and walked toward Crimson and Ghost. He again felt his hands shaking but he kept them close to his side in order to hide it.  By the time he got to Crimson and Ghost, Ty was at his side.

              “I’m with you,” Ty whispered.

              The sound of a helicopter came from the distance and began to get louder.

              Reaper looked at Dex and Watt. “Find cover; we’re about to have company.” They crossed the street and took shelter in one of the houses.

              The others went to the other side of the street and ducked down under a tree.

              “All right, we got a plan here?” Crimson asked.

              Ghost looked through his binoculars. “Looks like they are firing at the third level of the parking garage; whomever they are after is held up there.”

              The helicopter approached from the north over a grove of trees and floated over the parking garage, just out of firing range.

              Ben ran the figures in his head. Two Humvees and a helicopter. “Ghost, you still have that grenade launcher?”

              The binoculars fell from Ghost’s eyes and he smiled. “Hasn’t left my side since I grabbed it.”

              “How many grenades do you have?”

              “One locked and loaded and five ready to go.”

              The helicopter hovered just even with the third floor and the attached gun opened fire into the garage.

              “Ghost, you take the helo; Crimson, grab two of those grenades and we’ll take the Humvees,” Ben said. It was quiet for a second and he looked over and saw both Ghost and Crimson staring at him. Inside of annoyance he saw a smirk on Ghost’s face and a small smile on Crimson’s hardened face.

              “Yes sir,” she said and grabbed two grenades from Ghost.

              They cut through the overgrown yards and the dilapidated fences, quickly but carefully making their way behind the Humvees and the helicopter. They sprinted across the open street separating the residential neighborhood from a business district and found themselves directly behind the enemy. They stopped behind a bank and gathered themselves.

              “Watch for friendly fire and wait for my mark,” Ghost said over the sound of guns firing as he slipped off to get closer to the helicopter.

              The firing from the garage had all but stopped. A burst of gunfire came every twenty seconds or so, but whoever was up there was either hurt or running out of ammo.             

              Crimson handed him a grenade and as he grabbed it she didn’t let go. He met her eyes and she nodded once and then let go. Ben paused for a second, summoning his courage, then left the safety of the bank and crossed a small alley and took up position behind a large ATM. Ty hid behind one a few yards away. The Humvees were less than twenty yards away. The sound of their guns firing was deafening and Ben could feel the ground shaking under him. Ben caught Ty staring at him so Ben pointed two fingers at his eyes and then directed his fingers at the enemy. Ty’s eyes grew wide and he nodded his head and turned back toward the Humvees.

              They all waited for chaos to erupt, and erupt it did. The helicopter hovered for a moment then the sound of it rapidly accelerating filled Ben’s ears. Ben looked up and saw as the helicopter veered away from them and then exploded into a ball of flame. For a second all he did was stare but he managed to pull his attention away long enough to pull the pin from his grenade and toss it under the Humvee closest to him. It landed on the ground a few feet away and rolled just behind the rear. Crimson’s grenade exploded, lifting the Humvee closest to her high into the air, where it flipped over and landed upside down. The few seconds it took for Ben’s grenade to explode felt more like hours but it finally went off. The blast from Crimson’s grenade must have pushed his to the side because when it went off it hit on the driver side of the Humvee, causing it to flip over sideways, where it came to rest.

              Crimson was on her feet seconds after the Humvee came to a rest, and she circled around her Humvee and fired off several shots. Ben and Ty circled around theirs and he saw a bloody hand reach out from inside the Humvee as a Chinese solider began to pull himself out. The soldier managed to pull his shoulders and waist out from under the Humvee. The bloodied soldier looked up and his eyes met Ben’s and for a full second they just stood there. Ben watched as the soldier’s face transformed from pain to fear and ultimately exploded into a ball of meat and bones. He looked to the side and saw Crimson there with her gun still pointing at the soldier.

              “We don’t have the ability to take prisoners right now,” she said, her face expressionless.