Dead Team Alpha: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (32 page)

The woman looks down at Val and gives her a slight smile and nod.

“Now, the Mayor has a few last words before the fun begins,” Commander Lee says. “I hope to see many of the faces I am looking at now show up to the Trials. Thank you.”

The crowd cheers louder and stands to applaud the commander as she leaves the podium, using a cane that someone hurries up and hands her. The Mates watch her go and Val can’t help but notice how much older her aunt looks. Not just because of the
limp, she has from her wound, but from the way her shoulders don’t hold the crisp attention they once did.

She knows she’ll have to speak with the woman, but not today.
Today, she will celebrate being alive with the Mates and the rest of the Stronghold. Today, she’ll celebrate the present and the future, leaving the past for others to worry about for just a while longer.

***

“Enter,” Commander Lee says from behind her desk. She looks up as the door is opened and smiles. “Val. Just who I wanted to see.”

“Yeah, I know,” Val says. “Benji came and got me.”

“He’s working well as my personal assistant,” Commander Lee says. “One recommendation my son was actually right about. While I suspect it was so the young man wouldn’t have to be a Runner anymore and can just stay in the Stronghold to be safe.” She grimaces, but not in a mean way. “I’m not getting grandchildren, am I?”

“I don’t think so,” Val grins.

“I always thought Ford and that Pickering girl would work out,” Commander Lee muses. “But that was his ‘experimental’ phase, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was,” Val says. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Commander Lee says, waving her inside. “Sit. Let’s talk.”

Val does sit. It has been a month since the memorial service at Folsom Field, and her wound has healed enough that she no longer winces with simple tasks like sitting and farting hard.

“We still have Trials scheduled,” Val says, shaking her head. “I can’t believe how many people have volunteered for the Teams.”

“Most of them will be fit
only for support duty,” Commander Lee says, “as you have witnessed, but many will make good Mates. Some of those for DTA, even.”

“I think so,” Val agrees, waiting.

“Which is why we need to talk,” Commander Lee says. “And this is hard for me to do.” She takes a deep breath. “Despite some objections by your fan club, I have decided that Cole Wright should take over as Team Leader for DTA. I am sorry.”

“No, no, I expected it,” Val says.
“I don’t have the experience Cole has. He’s been TL for two Teams, I haven’t. And I don’t know if I’m up for the task anyway.”

“Oh, cut the false modesty crap, Val,” Commander Lee smiles. “We both know you are up for anything.” She nods at the blade strapped to Val’s hip
that rests in a new sheath. “You come from a long line of ass-kicking women. You will make a great TL one day, just not today.”

“Totally understood,” Val says. “I get it.”

“Good, good,” Commander Lee says. “Which means I need your help making sure Mates Diaz, Swanncutt, and Peters don’t eat TL Wright for lunch. Can you help with that?”

“I’ve been pulling Cole out of scrapes for years,” Val laughs. “I’m an old pro at that.”

“Perfect,” Commander Lee says, nodding towards the door. “Then I think you have some candidates to put through Hell. Run them hard. DTA only takes the best of the best.”

Val nods, but doesn’t get up.

“Is there something else, Mate Baptiste?” Commander Lee asks. “Something you need to ask? You have that look on your face.”

“Yes,” Val says. “There is something I need to ask, but not as
Mate to Commander. I need to ask as niece to aunt. Can I do that?”

Commander Lee looks a little startled, but then her face softens and she nods. “I think so.”

“You know what I’m going to ask, don’t you?”

“I do,” Commander Lee says. “My brother has been bugging me for weeks about whether or not you and I have had the ‘talk’ as he puts it.”

“So you will tell me what really happened with my mother,” Val says. “Who these Code Monkeys actually are?”

“I’ll tell you what I can,” Commander Lee says
, “which isn’t all that I know.” She holds up a hand to stem Val’s protest. “We are still a military organization, Valencia. I can’t compromise the safety of the Stronghold to make a Mate feel better about her life. Not even if that Mate is my favorite niece.”

She takes a long time before she continues.

“The Code Monkeys used to be part of a group from a place called Circuit City,” Commander Lee says. “Formerly Seattle, Washington. They came here, already messed up in their heads, a full on crazy cult that left that city in ruins, having butchered every last man, woman, and child. This was before they had started to cut their eyes out at birth.”

“Jesus,” Val
says. “At birth?”

Commander Lee nods. “We don’t know much about their early days when they got to the Silos, just that they found someone along the way. This person was blind, but may not have been born that way
, but we just don’t know.

“They took up residence in the nuclear missile silos. After some
time, they almost began to worship the nukes like gods, in a way. It was probably a mix of the technological culture they came from in Circuit City and the religious fervor their new leader created. They lived in the dark in more ways than one. That’s when they began to cut out their eyes; when they started training as blind from birth, choosing the most deadly of themselves to become Code Monkeys. You saw the markings on their backs?”

“Yes,” Val says. “
Braille.”

Commander Lee’s eyes go
wide, and then she smiles and shakes her head. “Of course. John. I’m a fool to never realize you’d figure it out.”

“The codes?” Val asks. “Do they launch the nukes?”

“Not on their own,” Commander Lee says, “but you already know that. There are over thirty nuclear silos, each one with a separate launch code. I don’t know how many Code Monkeys there are, but the codes on their backs are different. Each one corresponds to a silo. Couple that with the authorization code and the nukes can be launched.”

“But the nukes are disabled,” Val says. “That’s why my mother got sick, why John was born with so many problems. The uranium was removed.”

“But it wasn’t,” Commander Lee says. “We had no where to put it so we left it in the nukes. We just disabled the missiles so they couldn’t fire.”

The weight of what Commander Lee says next is evident on her face, as if years have gone by in a single sentence.

“But we have since repaired the nukes,” Commander Lee says. “When we received warnings that the Consortium had finally obtained their own.”

“Jesus,” Val says. “You repaired them? Was that what the
increased tours and patrols for the Silo Teams were for?”

“Partially,” Commander Lee says. “They were also there to make sure things were operational so the nukes could be fired from the command center in Peterson Air Force Base. If we had stuck to the
Silos, then we would have been fine. But we wanted a central location, one much closer to the Stronghold than the Silo Park, and I believe that is where the Code Monkeys were hiding.

“The Teams had cleared them from the Silos, or so we thought. It is a maze of interconnected tunnels down there, as we found out later. Those that escaped must have gone to Peterson. Only natural since it is an extension of the Silos in many ways. For a couple
decades, they have grown their numbers. Probably taking on refugees that happened upon them, but also breeding their own killers.”

“How did we not see them?” Val asks. “Teams patrol Peterson a few times a year.”

“Yes, true,” Commander Lee says. “But never the nuclear launch control center. That’s where they must have been. Deep down under the base, locked away where we wouldn’t find them and where no Team would go, because they didn’t know about what happened so many years ago.”

“And you kept i
t silent, why?” Val asks, trying to keep her anger in check.

“
The same reason why you will keep what I have told you quiet,” Commander Lee says. “For the good of the Stronghold. We are a strong and proud community, but we are still people. We don’t lose many, but sometimes, folks just wander off into the wasteland, either to end it all or with some dream in their heads that they will find something new and better. They are crazy to think so, but that is life. We couldn’t risk those wanderers telling others,
strangers
, that the Stronghold has nuclear weapons. It would make us an even bigger target than we already are.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Val says. “I don’t agree, but I see the strategy. But what is this about the Consortium and nukes? Why are we reactivating ours?”

Commander Lee shakes her head. “I can’t answer that yet. I will when I can, but for now, just trust me.”

“Can you answer one question though?”

“Maybe. Depends on the question.”

“How did you find out about the Consortium’s nukes?”

Commander Lee smiles. “The Teams aren’t the only asset the Stronghold has. Let’s just say we have friends in strategic places.”

“Spies?” Val asks, shocked.

Commander Lee shrugs. That’s all the answer Val gets.

The two women watch each other for a
minute, and then Commander Lee stands.

“You have Trials to get to, Mate Baptiste.”

“Yes, sir,” Val says, getting to her feet. “Thank you for telling me what you could.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Commander Lee says. “Dismissed, Mate.”

Val salutes and nods, turning crisply as she walks to the door.

“Oh, and Val?” Commander Lee asks.

“Yes?”

“You sure I won’t have grandchildren?”

Val laughs. “I’m never sure of anything with Ford, but I can say someday, you’ll have grandnieces and grandnephews.”

“Hamish? Really?”

Val shrugs. “A girl loves who she loves,” she says, patting her side. “Especially if that love can patch her up and keep her going. Isn’t that we all are looking for? A reason to keep going?”

“Yes
, we are,” Commander Lee nods. “Yes, Val, that’s exactly what we are looking for.”

***

“Hello, candidates,” Cole shouts at the dozens of scared faces before him. The Gym bleachers are filled to capacity and the place is sweltering with the summer heat. “Are you having a good day today?”

No one answers.

“No? Yes?” Cole asks, walking up and down the lines of candidates that have come for the final Trials to decide the new members of DTA. “What? Am I talking to myself?” He grins a wicked grin. “Well, if that’s the case, then how about you all drop and give me infinity push-ups? I’ll tell you when to stop. Once I’m done talking to myself.”

The rows of candidates just stand there.

“FUCKING MOVE NOW,YOU WORTHLESS BAGS OF FUCK ALL!”

The force of his voice is so strong that some of the spectators in the bleachers almost drop and start doing push-ups
themselves.

As the men and women, young and old, begin to sweat and strain, Val joins the other members of DTA and walks up and down the lines, shouting at the candidates, badgering them, doing everything she can to get them to quit. She is pleased that none
does.

She looks at the expectant faces of the crowd and
winks as she sees Hamish amongst them. He gives a quick wave and she rolls her eyes since she can’t wave back while trying to be a hard ass. He nods in understanding and taps his wrist, then he gets up and moves towards the doors. She knows he has responsibilities that have nothing to do with the Teams.

She almost envies him for a second.

One day, she’ll have to decide whether or not she’ll have responsibilities beyond the Teams. The thoughts of her mother being gone so many times when she was a kid fill her mind. So does the thought of how her mother’s duty to the Teams is what really killed her. Not the cancer, not the suicide, but duty.

Yet
, as she looks at her fellow Mates shouting and cursing at the struggling candidates, she knows she isn’t done with that duty. When she is, she’ll sit down with Hamish and figure out the next part of their lives together. For now though, she’s happy with a few good fucks a week and knowing she has someone to come home to after a mission with DTA.

Because now more than ever, Val truly believes that every person counts and even with secrets –
especially with secrets
- the only way the Stronghold can move forward is to always remember the past.

And hopefully not repeat it.

The End

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Jake Bible lives in Asheville, NC with his wife and two kids.
A professional writer since 2009, Jake has a record of innovation, invention and creativity. Novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, Jake is able to switch between or mash-up genres with ease to create new and exciting storyscapes that have captivated and built an audience of thousands.
He is the author of the bestselling Z-Burbia series for Severed Press as well as the Apex Trilogy (DEAD MECH, The Americans, Metal and Ash.

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