Arkadium Rising (18 page)

"In that case," Jason interrupted, "lead the way, RJ, and we'll follow. Just get us as far away from here as possible."

RJ waved for them all to follow him to a spot that didn't look like much of a trailhead at all. It zigzagged almost immediately, but as Jason watched the others file onto the trail, the path started to reveal itself. In the weak predawn light, Jason would've missed it completely.

Jason was the next to last to take to the trail. He shifted Monique on his shoulders and she gave off a small grunt of pain.

"You are a good man, Jason Grant." Eldon brought up the rear of the group. He carried his own AR-15, but it looked like a foreign artifact in his grip.

"Go to hell, Eldon."

"There is no heaven or hell; just man's harmony or discord with nature."

Jason wanted to say something in return, but knew it was impossible to get anyone so set in their beliefs to consider the alternative. Eldon seemed like a nice enough person on the surface, but who would willfully, intentionally be a party to the destruction of civilization?—only someone weakened by collective madness. Jason said nothing. Instead, he shifted until he could see over Eldon's shoulder to the rear of the house. He spotted Hector and Austin barreling through the open sliding door; they ran blindly, just wanting to escape whatever pursuit was hot on their heels. A number of single gunshots rang out, muffled somewhat coming from inside the house.

"We better move!" Eldon urged Jason down the trail with a wave of his scrawny arms.

Hector spotted Eldon and then called out to Austin. They changed their direction and sprinted toward the trail.

"Go, go, go!" Hector called out, waving them on.

Jason hurried as fast as he could. He made it no more than thirty feet down the trail before his chest felt like it would explode. The blood was pounding in his ears and his right shoulder was growing numb. Eldon impatiently jogged behind him.

"Keep at it, Jason. You're doing great!"

Gunshots tore through the woods, shredding leaves and splintering branches within twenty feet of Jason.

"They're gaining on us!"

More bullets peppered the dark forest. The toe of Jason's left shoe caught on a tree root. He nearly went down, but Eldon grabbed him under one arm, allowing his next stride to even out and he once again took up his torrid pace.

He glanced over his left shoulder and saw Austin and Hector had reached the path, and had taken up positions to defend their retreat. He felt a surge of joy. Marcus was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on, come on!" Hector called out and laid down a steady burst from his weapon until it was empty. He slipped in a new magazine and readied to fire again.

"He's coming!" Austin said. "That sonofabitch made it!"

Jason's thighs felt like they were on fire as he struggled to keep moving at a good clip. When he chanced another look behind him, he saw Marcus breach the edge of the trail. Together, the three men opened fire. Glass shattered, bricks crumbled. And still they fired at their pursuers.

"All right, boys, take off. This is about done," Marcus said.

"Aren't you coming?" Austin asked.

"Got one more thing up my sleeve."

"Oh… Jesus H Christ Almighty!" Austin said, his hillbilly accent coming on thick with his excitement.

"She's a beaut, right?"

"Is that sumbitch live?"

"Sure as you and me," Marcus said.

Jason, unable to breathe, stopped in his tracks and gulped in as much air as he could manage with Monique resting on his shoulders. He turned around, just as Eldon had behind him. They both witnessed Marcus pulling the pin on a hand grenade. He held it in his hands like a quarterback would a football while searching for a receiver. He reeled back his arm and let the grenade fly. His brother had always been the more athletic sibling. He could have gotten college scholarships to play any sport he chose to focus on. Instead, by the time he entered high school, Marcus had already accumulated an extensive and storied rap sheet.

Nothing happened for what felt like too long a time frame. And then a quick, violent explosion rocked the Thompsons' house.

"Yeah, got 'em!" Marcus yelled.

"Fuckin' A!" Austin said.

Hector slapped his leader on the back and they all rushed to reach the group.

"Hello, brother. Don't look so disappointed. It'll take more than a bunch of redneck deer hunters to take me down."

1.

Marcus was walking point at the leading edge of their group, pushing the pace through the dense foliage to put both the forest fire and any continued pursuit by the people of Concord safely behind them. Jason struggled to keep up after carrying Monique in a fireman's carry for over an hour before RJ took over. He couldn't remember ever being so exhausted. Eldon walked next to him, his bald head peeling from the added exposure to the sun these last few days. He wondered about Eldon's occupation before the EMP. He couldn't picture him as anything other than a librarian nearing retirement.

"I'm glad you're with us," Eldon said. When Jason glanced his way but didn't reply, he continued. "Everyone has their role in this group of the Arkadium."

"Then why am I here? And don't give me any crap about brotherly love or family bonding, or so help me God, I will punch you in the throat." There was no longer any smoke in the air, but as he seethed in anger, he could smell it lingering in his clothes and filthy hair.

Eldon, caught off guard, flinched and then somehow chuckled. "I could say those very things and not be wrong. But since you are sensitive about the subject, I'll refrain."

They trudged down a ravine without speaking; only the occasional snapping of twigs and the steady rush of a far off creek broke the silence. He didn't know how long ago they had escaped the Thompsons' estate, but the morning sun was at full strength and his shirt was already soaked through with sweat. Jason didn't necessarily feel hungry. Just, tired. Weak. The thought of food, after all he'd seen and experienced (and the crimes he'd committed), seemed somehow vulgar and self-indulgent.

The group halted but Jason didn't notice until he almost stumbled into Hector, who was on the trail in front of him. Far ahead, Marcus was holding his arm aloft, his fist clenched.

Jason looked around, on alert, but for what, he didn't know. The group continued to inch forward. "What… what is it?"

"Don't you hear that?" Hector whispered.

"No, I don't…" Jason strained to hear, and soon enough he was able to make out a discernible rhythmic pattern. "Wait, what is that?"

Hector replied, "Is that someone chopping wood?"

Marcus motioned for Austin to take the left flank, and Hector the right. Once they were in position, he waved everyone forward.

Eldon arched a bushy eyebrow. "I think we're about to find out."

They advanced slowly into a clearing populated with blooming prairie flowers. A small cabin stood in the middle of the clearing, the rough logs covered in moss, the roof made of sod.

There was indeed a man chopping wood. He seemed so invested in the process that he didn't even notice their approach, even when Marcus got within ten feet of him.

Marcus cleared his throat, and then again more loudly, and finally the man looked up from his labors.

"Oh, hi, um… I'm sorry," the man sputtered. "You snuck up on me," he said and then noticed the size of the well-armed group. "Scart hell outa me. Still are matter fact."

The man wore nothing but bib overalls and work boots. His reddish hair was a mop around his ears and thin on top, and his beard fell clear to his sternum. He rested an axe with a worn shaft and sharp blade on his shoulder. An open-walled shed was off to the side, nearly filled to the roof with firewood.

"Is it just you here?" Marcus asked.

The man's beady blue eyes darted briefly to each member of the group. "Please forgive my bad manners…" He looked to the ground as if ashamed. "I ain't seen so many people at once, well… in I don't know how many months."

"Are you alone?" Marcus pressed.

"Yeah, jus' me. Jus' me since my boy, Cameron, he decided he didn't wanna hunt no more." He shook his head in lingering disappointment.

"All right then, we just need to take a load off. Check our wounded. Is that okay with you? I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Name's Jerry Hackford." He leaned his axe against his wood shed, wiped his hand on his overalls, and then offered it to Marcus.

"Nice to meet you, Jerry." He shook with him warmly. "I'm Marcus. And these are… these are my people."

The emotion in his brother's voice surprised Jason. Sensing his vulnerability, Delaney went over to Marcus and put her arm around his waist.

"So, you got injured?" Jerry scanned the group until he settled on RJ and Monique. RJ still gamely carried his stepmom even though he looked about as tired as Jason felt. Kylie and Dawn stood to either side of him, full of concern.

"Yeah, one of us took a bullet in the leg."

"I got a nice restful spot. Come 'long, come 'long, it's like paradise!" RJ followed Jerry around the side of the cabin, with Mandy quickly on their heels.

"You two," Marcus said to Hector and Austin, "keep watch at the perimeter. I think we lost them, but you never know."

Both men nodded and then split off from the group, heading in the direction from which they had just come.

"Why don't you see if you can help Mandy?" Marcus said to Jason.

Jason was about to protest, but Delaney stepped between them.

"There's a fire pit out front," Delaney interrupted, placing a hand on Marcus's chest. "Do you want me to fix some lunch?"

"You read my mind," Marcus said.

"Yes, I did. And while I was I also found out about what you want to do later in our tent."

"Could be. Could be you're just projecting your own wishful thoughts."

"Could be…" Delaney gave Marcus a wicked grin before heading over to the fire pit.

Jason didn't feel like arguing with Marcus about ordering him around, so he shrugged and headed over to see if he could be of any use to Mandy.

The nice restful spot turned out to be a well-used rope hammock strung between two shady oaks. Jerry had hurried ahead and held it in place so it wouldn't move. "Ease her down, gentle-like."

With Linda and Eldon hovering at the foot of the hammock, already praying together, RJ groaned as he slowly eased Monique from his shoulders onto the hammock. He stepped away and stretched his back, obviously relieved. Mandy set her med kit on the hammock near Monique's hip and immediately broke it open to switch out the sodden bandages.

Dawn patted her brother on the shoulder. "Good job, Junior." She sat at the base of the oak tree at the head of the hammock and closed her eyes.

Kylie hugged RJ, and then they walked hand-in-hand a short distance away. They sat together among the purple and blue prairie flowers. RJ unscrewed his water bottle and offered it to her. She drank from it, wiped the spout, and then handed it back to him. He drank from it, a tired grin playing around the bottle's rim. Jason thought the two teens were lucky to have each other to face the circumstances together. He hoped they would be able to pull free from Marcus and the Arkadium, hoped their love would outlast the ravages wreaked upon their civilization.

Jason stood next to Mandy. Monique's face was chalky gray, her lips cracked. "Can I help with anything?"

Mandy was too busy and too focused to say anything. When she stripped away the soiled bandages, the wound in Monique's thigh wept thick blood that Mandy wiped quickly away with a sterile cloth. She ripped open a new packet of gauze and covered the wound.

"Here hold this in place," she said, and Jason replaced her hand with his own. The midday humidity was oppressive, even under the shady oaks, but Monique's skin was cold and clammy. A cloud of mosquitos formed above them and Jason tried to swat it away with his free hand.

Jerry laughed softly. "Those critters'll take holt of your scruff and steal you away, you not careful."

"How do you stand it?" Jason asked.

"I stand 'em just fine. I must taste awful bad. They leave me 'lone, and I return the favor."

Jason smiled at the old man and then got a better look inside Mandy's kit as she rummaged for something. Besides the bandages, gauze and surgical scissors, he also saw a number of vials with pictures on their labels instead of writing.

"Why the pictures?" he asked. Jerry leaned forward, curious.

Mandy placed her hand on Monique's forehead, clucked her tongue, and then took hold of her wrist to check her pulse. She shook her head and then looked up at Jason. "Did you say something?"

"Your medicine bottles, they have pictures on them. Leaves, and what are those…? Roots or twigs?"

"Writing is no longer allowed under the Arkadium's governance. I'm sure your brother explained that to you."

"But pictographs are fine? Isn't that kind of like cheating?"

"The world will find its level, and when it does, we'll know our place in it."

"Excuse me," Jerry cut in. "What's this Arka—something-or-other you're talking 'bout?"

"There's been a change in power," Mandy said simply. She removed a stone pestle from her kit and poured a brown powder in it from one of the vials.

"Is it election time already?"

"No, not exactly," Mandy said. "The Arkadium… they took matters into their own hands.

"These Ark people, they what, took over Warshington? And, lemme guess, that's why ya'll are armed like it's some kind of war."

"Something like that," Jason said cynically.

"We… it was nothing of the sort!" Mandy looked up from her mixing of holistic powders. "There is no more power. Both literally and figuratively. The power was given back to nature, to God's given plan."

"Amen!" Eldon said. With the group's Brother Abel's support, Mandy went back to her mixing, keeping a wary eye on Monique as she worked.

"You didn't see the explosions?" Jason asked.

"Explosions… where?"

"A couple of days ago. Felt like the world was going to break apart."