B. E. V. Page 6

  We huddled together the rest of the night on the front porch swing, watching the flames lower and rise until the early morning, when black smoke replaced the firelight and drifted into the sky. I kept searching and hoping I'd see Pop, his old truck rattling up the road and him telling me everything was all right. It was a mistake, a fire out of control. But as the hours passed, and the sun sank lower in the sky, I still saw no sign of him.

  Smaller columns of smoke rose from all over the valley now, Black Morgan's scavengers attacking the farmhouses. Pop had been wrong, the colonel was taking everything down and carting away whatever he could.

  Towards dusk, a column of soldiers, trailed by armored vehicles, crawled up the road to our home. I watched the men approach, frozen. Why come here? Then I realized we were next on their list of homesteads to raid and snatched Kat by the hand. "Better hurry, it's time to hide," I said more calmly than I felt.

  She glanced wildly around the porch. "Where?"

  "Our safe room, I'll show you. Wait here a minute."

  I hurried back to the fence to check I'd activated our landmines, even though I knew they were, paused to think about what else I might have forgotten, and hobbled back to the porch steps, dragging Kat inside the house. "Here." I pointed to the floor in front of the fireplace.

  Pop had decorated the boarder of the grate with flagstones meant to save the rug from burning embers. Along the edge of one stone, on the right-hand side, was a faint crack. I dug my fingers into the edge and heaved upward. The flagstone lifted, revealing a dark hole with a ladder. I slid the flagstone to the side and gestured.

  "You go first," I said. "You'll find a hatch about ten feet down. Open it and keep going. I've got to secure the doors as we go."

  "Wait!" Kat dashed away and returned lugging her duffel bag. She peered down the shaft dubiously. "You're sure? It's dark down there," she said.

  "Yeah, don't worry, it'll be okay," I replied, pushing her forward while staring out the window. "I've done this a dozen times. I'll be right behind you – but hurry up."

  Kat started down the ladder and I followed, trying hard not to step on her fingers as she hesitated at each rung. I dragged the flagstone back in place and locked it with two sliding bolts on the underside.

  "I'm at the other hatch," Kat's voice floated up to me through the darkness.

  "Good. Twist the ring to the left and lift it open. You'll find a toggle switch to the right – it switches on the lights."

  A moment later, a dim, luminous glow flooded the shaft. "Got it!" Kat yelled back.

  "Good, I'll be right there," I shouted down to her, "make yourself at home." I had one more chore to do.

  Pop installed explosives on the trap door. Anyone trying to pull up the flagstone without first disconnecting them in a way only Pop and I knew would set off the bombs and collapse the shaft.

  I made it through the second hatch and locked it tight behind me. Kat was standing in the middle of the room staring in awe.

  "Wow, I never knew this was down here!" she exclaimed at last. "What is this place?"

  "Our safe room," I said. "Basically, an underground bunker."

  Against one wall were bunk beds with the power plant for the room tucked underneath. Two other walls contained shelves loaded to capacity with canned and dried food. Up against the fourth wall, Pop had pushed a work desk and stacked our medical supplies around either side. Water tanks stood upright in the corners.

  "Will we suffocate down here?" Kat asked. She kept casting terrified glances at the walls and ceiling.

  I slumped on the lower bunk. "Right now we're running off bottled air," I replied, "with an air purification system. If we're here more than forty-eight hours, I have to switch over to outside air, but I hope we don't have to be."

  I walked to the worktable, switched on the computer, and received an outside view of the farmhouse. Kat hurried over and hung on my shoulder.

  The armored vehicles had positioned themselves in front of the main gate. Men carrying rocket launchers fanned out in an arc with others waiting behind. I pulled up a view with the other cameras, and then became frustrated trying to switch back and forth between displays and split the screen into four, so I could watch all sides of the house at once. The rockets roared and the main gate exploded in a shower of sparks.

  "They're not playing games," I muttered as the armored vehicles rumbled forward. The rest of the scavengers converged on the other three sides of our enclosure.

  The rocket launchers spoke, and I lost my picture in a blast of static before the screen went dark.

  Kat jumped and yelped, "What happened?"

  "Hit the house and busted something," I replied. I threw up my hands. "We'll have to sit here and guess what's going on." I kept pushing keys and nothing appeared. "Everything is dead."

  A few minutes later, a rumble shook the bunker. Kat cringed close to me, and I put my arm around her. "Is this going to cave in on us?" she asked as she stared at the ceiling in fright.

  "No," I assured her. At least I hoped it wouldn't. "Something, or someone, hit a landmine." I squeezed her tight, trying to act braver than I felt. "The house is fighting back."

  "Why are they doing this?"

  "Don't know," I admitted. It seemed an awful waste of time and ammunition. I thought about it. "Maybe Colonel Morgan doesn't want to leave a bunch of pissed off people behind? I bet last time he destroyed a town whoever was left attacked him from the rear. If he kills everyone he doesn't have to worry."

  It was well after dark when the attack started, and it seemed we sat for hours in fear, concussions of explosions rocking the bunker. But when I checked my watch forty-five minutes passed. Still, there couldn't be much left of our house by now. I waited another hour to assure myself the soldiers stripped what they wanted and moved on. When I hadn't heard anything in a while I decided to take a chance and reconnoiter. I wasn't going to try exiting the same way we entered, however.

  "You stay here, Kat. I'll be back in a bit." I began hauling the workbench out of the way.

  She lent me a hand. "What are you doing?"

  "Going outside to see what's happening." Behind the table was a small steel hatch. I opened it revealing the dark mouth of a passage. "Lock this behind me," I cautioned Kat. "If I'm not back in an hour, I guess you're on your own."

  I crawled into the opening and started inching my way up the tunnel, not easy with my leg and in the dark. I'd done it with Pop, but by myself it was twice as long and creepy.

  The shaft sloped up and I was almost to the end. The mouth exited into a dry wash with a jumble of boulder on the hill above the house. I pushed bushes out of my way and low crawled to a spot where I could peer down at the farm.

  Below, in the dark, I made out smoldering embers – the remains of my home.

  A hand tugged at my pants leg. "Hunter?"

  "AHHH!" I twisted away and stared behind me, almost jumping out of my skin at the same time. Kat wiggled up next to me. "What are you doing here?" I gasped, my heart beating in my chest. "You scared me half to death. I told you to stay in the room."

  "I got frightened." She crept closer until her body touched mine and she could see the farm.

  "Don't bother," I told her, "everything is destroyed."

  "We have no place to go then," she said thickly.

  "Sure we do. Back to the lab."

  Kat gave a deep sigh. "I guess so, if it's still there.

  We hurried back down to the shaft. Kat grabbed her duffel and I threw her a spare backpack. "Here, use this, we're gonna have to travel light."

  I tossed a few things in a bag, and we left. My bum leg was already beginning to ache from all the crawling – not my leg really, but my hip and side. I debated sneaking down to the farmhouse to find my scooter and decided against it. Pop's workshop had collapsed, and my shed still smoked. If the scavengers hadn't taken it, my ride was buried under tons of rubble. We made it to the road leading to the lab and started.

  After two miles, pain
seared half my body and I gritted my teeth. In another quarter of an hour, I told Kat, "I gotta stop." I gulped, easing myself down against a tree.

  Kat flopped next to me. "Leg hurt?"

  "Nah, I figured you need a break, you're a girl." When she scowled at me, I admitted, "Yeah, sorta. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be okay."

  "What do we do if the lab's gone too?" Kat wondered as she gazed at the stars.

  "I guess we become skels," I replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "We don't have many options do we? Unless Morgan's soldiers haven't destroyed the other towns in the area. In this case, maybe we can beg sanctuary with one." The agony in my body lessened. With a groan, I pushed myself to my feet. "Push on."

  We kept this up throughout the night until the early hours of the morning. Every time the pain built to the point where it felt as if someone was shoving a nail up my spine we'd take a break. As the night wore on the rest periods became longer, the walking shorter. Finally I admitted, "Can't take it Kat. No more."

  I could see panic growing in Kat each time we'd stopped, her eyes darting from my face to my leg. She said, "You rest. I'll go scout ahead, it can't be but a couple more miles anyway. No sense knocking ourselves out to get there, just to learn Morgan's destroyed the place and have to walk somewhere else, right?"

  I hated to admit it, but she had a point. "Yeah, go – no wait." I fished around in my pocket. "Here, take the key. If the lab's destroyed you may still be able to enter through the garage and use the freight elevator."

  "Thanks," she tucked it away. "Well –"

  "Be careful, will ya?"

  She flashed me a smirk and stood, hitching her backpack farther up her shoulders. "Of course. See you – I'll be right back."

  After Kat left I fell into a stupor. I kept repeating under my breath, "Lousy leg – lousy Black Morgan – lousy Greys for what you did to me!" until it became a chant.

  I fell asleep, dreaming Greys kept chasing me in a spaceship, shooting lasers at my leg. Black Morgan laughed in the background while I screamed in pain. Kat was shaking me saying, "Wake up, Hunter – wake up! You're having a nightmare."

  I bolted upright. "Huh?"

  A dark figure shoved a laser rifle in my face. The tip moved down and he jabbed the muzzle into the pit of my stomach.

  "I said, up on your feet, kid!" The gun bobbed up and down.

  "Uh, Yeah. Sure." I pushed myself erect and shoved my hands in the air. "What do you want with me? I didn't do anything."

  Another man in camouflage elbowed his way through the bushes and stood next to him. "Haven't done anything for us yet, kid," he said, "but you're going to fetch us a small bounty once we bring you in."

  The first soldier motioned with his rifle. "Start moving, keep your hands up."

  They prodded me to an old Humvee and forced me inside. "Sit tight, son," advised the gun-toting soldier, slipping in beside me. He pushed his rifle against my side. "We'll take you back to camp, tie you up, and hand you over to our CO tomorrow. Afterwards, you’re his business."

  "You're part of Morgan's army?" I asked.

  "Correct, received orders to pick up stragglers, this is you buddy."

  I felt sick. It meant the labor gangs. I'd heard stories about what happen once you were caught.

  "Morgan doesn't want me," I pleaded, trying to act as scared as I felt. "I'm a kid. Why don't you let me go?"

  We hit a bump and his laser dug deeper into my side. "It's nothing personal, kid," he said. "We have our orders, and we get a bounty for each one of you we bring in. Relax," he advised, "there's nothing ya can do about it."

  We veered off the main road onto a dirt path where a burnt out campfire and small tent stood. Both soldiers jumped out of the Humvee and hauled me after them. "Face the other way," one ordered, "and put yer hands behind you."

  I felt ropes tied around my wrists. "I'm heading out," announced the laserman, "see if I can scare up anyone else."

  The second soldier nodded. "I'll watch the pup," he gestured to me, "and start the fire going. Have some rations hot when you come back."

  As the Humvee drove off my guard said, "Get into the tent and stay there. Make any noise or poke your nose out and you lose it, understand?"

  This was harder than it sounded. I had to deal with tied hands and my bum leg. "I don't think –"

  "Here, I'll give you a start." My guard grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shoved me forward, adding a kick in my pants for good measure. I flew into the tent, landing on my face. "And stay there." The tent flap closed.

  I took a deep breath, alone, tied, and captured.

  Chapter Five

  I lay on my stomach and caught my breath, and then started kicking with my good leg until I flipped myself over. I did the hardest sit-up I'd ever done and peered around.

  The tent was dark, empty, and hot. Between my struggles and the heat, sweat trickled down my spine, dripping into my eyes and making my body itch. I tried listening, didn't hear anything, and wiggled closer to the tent flap.

  "– to heck with Morgan, stay up all night and all we catch is one kid," I heard my guard mumble to himself. "Waste of time." He released a groan, and I wiggled back just in time as the tent flap lifted and he peeked inside. He saw my scared face and grunted, "Good," and dropped the flap again.

  I sat in the dark, wondering what I should do. Kat would never find me here, and no one else would be searching for me. It was either the labor camp or figure out a way to escape.

  My eyes adjusted to the light, and I searched for something to help me escape, but the tent was empty. With a sigh, I began tugging and twisting my arms and felt a slight play in the ropes. I kept working until my shoulders ached, and I wasn't sure if sweat or blood lubricated my hands.

  After an eternity of pain, the ropes on my left wrist slipped over my hand. Seconds later, I was able to shake them off and unwrap the rest from my right. I sat and gulped air, and then crept to the flap and peeked out.

  My guard was nodding by the fire. As I watched, his chin fell on his chest and he snored gently. Without making any noise, I started a slow crawl around the side of the tent.

  My dumb leg tangled up in a branch. As gently as I could I tried brushing it off with my good foot.

  "Hey, kid! Where do you think you're going?"

  My guard was awake and stalking toward me. I snatched at the branch and brought it racking across his shins. He howled and went down.

  Before he could recover, I swung at his head. The branch connected with a meaty "THUD". I slammed him again and again, as if killing a snake, all the while screaming my head off. When my arm was so tired I couldn't hit him anymore, I stopped.

  I don't know if he were alive or dead, and didn't hang around to learn. I dragged my good leg under me and staggered into the woods.

  It was light now, the sun high in the sky and birds flying through the trees. When I was far enough, I stopped my blind rush, slowed, and tried making my way back to the main road.

  I saw no sign of the second soldier or the Humvee, and kept praying he hadn't discovered Kat returning for me and captured her too. When the main road loomed into view, I hung on a tree to catch my breath and thought.

  If I stayed on the road, Morgan's men might drive along and capture me again, but if Kat did come searching, she would never locate me in the woods.

  I wasn't familiar with this section of the road, everything appeared different from when I drove it with Pop or on my scooter. I couldn't be too far from the lab, though, I was sure. I decided to stay in the cover of the trees, parallel to the road, and hope I'd spot Kat or the lab before the soldiers caught up to me.

  I set off.

  The ropes rubbed my wrists raw, my shoulders still throbbed, and the pain in my back and side stabbed at me. It was take four steps, stop, and walk four more. I was afraid to sit and rest because if I did, I would never stand back up.

  The road made a sharp bend to the right. Runoff from the surface cut a deep gully through the woods.
Easing myself to the bottom, I slipped across rocks, mud, and floundered to the other side, grabbed a protruding root and tried pulling myself up the slope.

  Dirt collapsed and I lurched backward. Taking a deep breath, I braced my good leg, and tried again.

  This time the root broke off in my hand.

  I was stuck. I couldn't climb out of the gully.

  One end of the ditch ran down the slope, the exact wrong direction I wished to go. The other wavered uphill, undercutting the road surface.

  I gritted my teeth, took a deep breath, and picked my way to a slap of asphalt overhanging the cut. I knew where I was now, about a mile from the lab. If I could fight up to the road, I'd take my chances and follow the pavement.

  All I had to do was grasp the asphalt, do a pull-up, and swing myself over.

  I latched onto the lip, tugged, and struggled until my face was over the top. With a grunt, I locked my elbows on the surface, pushed, and swung my good leg up. For a moment, I tottered and felt the asphalt crack underneath my hands. The chunk of road, a pile of dirt, and I crashed backward.

  When the dirt settled and I stopped sliding, I had a mouthful of sand and a half a ton of road surface pinning down my bum leg.

  My leg wasn't crushed, but my foot was trapped in a small pocket, and no matter how hard I pulled it wouldn't come free. I kept tugging and cursing until the sun disappeared, and I couldn't pull anymore. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

  ****

  "Hunter – Hunter. Please wake up!"

  It was dark. I opened my eyes and a salty tear dropped on my cheek. "Hey, cut it out," I shoved Kat away, "you sting." I tried standing and remembered my leg was still stuck. "Oh, man." I pushed into a sitting position.

  "Where have you been?" Kat surveyed my half-buried body. "And how did you get into this mess?"

  "I've been hanging around, waiting on you, what do you think?" I tried tugging on my leg again. "Can you pull me out of here please?"

  Kat glanced up at the road and back at me. "I don't know. I'll try."

  She ran down the gully and staggered back dragging a heavy branch, pushed a rock over by the asphalt block, and jammed the lever in between. "Ready?" she asked.