Rise From the Ashes: Lena's Story (5 page)

Sure enough, before we stopped to camp the evening of the first day out, we heard the sound of motorcycles in the distance. Mick supposed since they went so far on gas he figured that was how most of the people would try to get around. If you scrounged just a few gallons you could get to the next place to hunt for some more. Ed nodded.

“That’s probably some people trying to catch up with us,” Sue chirped too loudly. She was trying to convince herself.

“Lena, lead Sue up into those trees and take all the horses up with you. Ed and I will stand here a little back from the road and see who these guys are.”

There was no time at all. We weren’t even fully in the trees when the bikes came roaring into view. Three of them. Each doubled with a man driving and a girl riding behind. It was the girls who pulled out pistols and started firing!

Sue’s horse jumped, almost threw her off and started running for the trees. Lady stayed solid and the other animals took comfort from her and stayed grouped together and trotted into the trees after Sue, who must have been hanging on for dear life. She did come out with branch slap marks all over her face and legs.

The bullets hit wild. Gee, poor girls; must be hard to shoot from the back of a moving bike.

Mick had his pistol out and dropped the first two bikes. The third spun around flinging gravel and dirt and took off. Loved the loyalty. One driver was dead and his girl started to scream and cradle his head. The other driver was shot somewhere and his girl was scrambling and patting the ground around her. It dawned on me she was trying to find her gun! What f-ing nerve. She was going to try to kill Mick. I was swinging Clint around to go help when another shot rang out.

I saw Mick with his arms out to his side, his right hand still holding his gun.

Then I saw the girl slump.

Mick just stood there.

It was like an eternity. Then he lifted his gun and shot the other girl and then the wounded driver. I watched his pale face. I knew he was wracked with remorse. I felt sick to my stomach. It was different finding my dad dead. Helping the neighbors bury the ones who died. Those people had died a sort of normal death, as if they all got really sick at once.

I watched these guys get shot down. Like mad dogs. Suddenly I had no strength and I slipped off Clint and crumpled on the ground sobbing.

Mick was there in a second.

“Did you get shot?”

I could only shake my head no.

“Oh. I see.”

Ed reached us then. He had been nicked by a bullet along his upper arm.

“Cry if you need to. But when you think about tonight, think about how they started firing on us the second they could. They didn’t even know we had guns to fight back. They were fixin’ to take us all down with no questions and no mercy. Your man did right. If we let ‘em live they would have killed other people along the road. That’s a fact.”

Later I was to realize that was about a month’s work of talking out of Ed.

I remember how quiet we all were that whole night around the campfire.

I didn’t blame Mick. He knows that now. Back then I was in such shock I couldn’t talk to him. I was shocked because I had never seen a violent death before. I had thought my whole world had been turned upside down by the flash/bangs.

No, this is when it really started to sink in.

Chapter Five

It was mid-summer and Manny felt the days were slipping past him, he was running out of time. He could smell his own stink as he stood taking a break in the shade. Sweat had soaked not only his shirt tight to him, but also his tan pants. He felt like his clothes were trying to strangle him. His lank curly hair was growing out long and dark. It was also soaked and smashed against his skull and cheeks. His body was as long and lank as his hair. He looked he was about to tip the scale into starving prison camp inmate.

Just a little more to go and it would be deep enough.

This was the eighth cache he had created. Each one about 4 feet down and 5 feet long. In them all were weapons of all kinds, a little gold, a little dried food and a pair of boots his own size. The Big Shit was going to hit the fan soon. If they could pull it off. He wasn’t part of them anymore, but he had known more of the language than they thought. Well, he could understand it, not speak it.

Manny had spent 6 months that spring in Pakistan. He had been sent over, all expenses paid by Brambo, the mid-sized drug lord in eastern Columbia. Brambo wanted to be a big drug lord. He figured that guards were great, but he wanted a few well-trained guys who would know how to make bombs, know how the Taliban kept ahead of all the forces hunting them; and could share that information with him. Brambo sent over 4 young boys. Manny was 16, the other 3 were 15. So he had become the defacto leader of the training troops.

Brambo had paid a chain people very well to get the 4 boys over there and an interpreter to walk along with them everywhere. They learned enough. Supplies, weapons, bombs and how to code communications. How to find abandoned buildings, set up perimeters. But it was what Manny overheard that at first frightened him, and then feed the seed of his vision for grand power.

The Taliban was planning a huge attack on Germany, France, Greece, Spain, the U.S. and Canada. Included would be bombs, biological warfare; all set to go at the same time all around the world. Every single person who had any connection to them was going to be given instructions to do something on that day. It was going to happen in late summer.

When Manny got back to Columbia, he did not tell Brambo any of this. Just strutted around with the other 3 boys and showed off what they had learned. But whenever he could get time away, Manny had started to steal weapons and the other things he figured he would need to build his own army. It was easy since he was basically a general or whatever for Brambo. If those rag-heads could pull off crippling the stinky U.S. then he was going to be ready to take Brambo out and take over here. He could do it right now, but Manny knew if he did that, then the other drug lords would figure he was not solid enough in his power and come right away and wage war on him. If he waited until the whole world was off balance, he would have time to off Brambo, get firm in his command over the little army right here and then use all of his training to move out and take over the entire country.

He would have marble floors, he would have large black cars, he would have beautiful girls following him around and too afraid of him to reject him when he forced them to have sex with him. He was going to go after the tanks as soon as the other drug lords were confused and trying to figure out what was going on. He was also going to be legitimate. He was going to take every damn thing over and then be called king.

Oh, that’s right, Manny thought to himself as he felt the sweat drying on his back. It may sound outrageous, but when the rest were trying to figure out whether to duck or run, he was going to take over. He was going to be king over a green and rich country and control all the cocaine, something that other people would give the last of anything they had to get more of. People were going to come crawling to his country, and the other Columbians were going to be proud of him and be glad to have him as a king.

~ ~ ~

“The peasants are expecting too much.”

“Yes, they are getting too much information.”

“The last time we interfered overtly with their internet, they rioted. We were the laughingstock of the world. The arrogant Americans threatened to stop buying our products. So what can we do now?”

“I am not going to let those dirty men in rags take over my business and run me out. I say damn the Americans. We have to cut all, I mean ALL, access to the internet.”

“Yes, we can put our own websites out there as the only ones that they will be able to reach. We must re-stress how patriotic it is to have only one child, to work and do your duty. We must get them back to where they were fifteen years ago.”

“We will pay heavily for this, the Americans will try to affect our trade.”

“Yes. Yes. But we cannot let them rule us! Our country is huge. We will be fine, perhaps a few villages will starve out. It will not matter. No one will know, because no news will get out except the news we put out.”

“Sounds fine, but you know there is always someone who sneaks in or out and takes pictures.”

“I don’t care! We are not going share our illustrious positions with worthless peasants.”

“I am not. I say, Premier Xi Jintao is correct. We must disable the internet and crush the peasants and ignore the Americans. It will cut into our trade, but we will make sure that hurts only the rebellious peasants.”

“We must decide then. Let us speak to disable or appeal to their patriotic feelings.”

“Disable.”

“Disable.”

“Disable.”

“There is, then, no need for me to speak. I will contact our leaders in the People’s Liberation Army, while each of you must prepare your new websites and ensure all your people will act in accordance to our agreement.”

The five old men bowed to each other and left the lush room. The sun was slanting in the only window. The warm sunbeams bounced off a rich mahogany desk that was inlaid with a matching mother of pearl dragon and phoenix. They were curled around each other in an eternal battle.

~ ~ ~

“Andrei, my friend, I know you think I am a strange old man. I appreciate that you have given me some time for afternoon coffee.” Gennadi smiled at his younger friend. He had called a few days ago, asking for a small meeting. Now Gennadi was finding it hard to get the words out.

The men were sitting on an outside deck of a local hotel, enjoying a summer afternoon and looking out over the Caspian Sea. Insects were creating a soothing white noise in the background.

“My friend, now that I have nearly reached forty, I am much more careful whom I call old.”

A low chuckle was his answer.

Andrei could sense how important Gennadi felt this was, so he was not going to push him. Besides, Andrei had cleared his schedule and had nothing the rest of the night. As the head of the Russian Federation Air Force, he was constantly busy. Constantly being called on for worthless public appearances or decisions that could cost lives. His assistant was always having to push him to get him to those handshaking events. He deserved the occasional evening to himself, and he always enjoyed his old instructor’s company.

Gennadi had always had the reputation for being too socially liberal, too kind and too accepting of all lifestyles. But there was no doubt that no one rivaled him when it came to coming up with brilliant new ideas within jet and space propulsion, and along with those top secret assignments he taught physics.

“Right, you’ve been patient, but I need to get right to it. You know that when I am working on a new project, I go into my formal study and meditate. I recline and relax and must act like an American hippie. I’m surrounded by my crystals which I am sure hold some form of power we can tap into. I read about it, but can never figure out the theory behind them. Anyway, I am getting sidetracked. While I have been trying to focus on how crystals can enhance a laser beam, I have been having some disturbing dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Yes, ones of death along all the European and American coasts. Confusion, chaos.”

There was a long pause.

Andrei was still sitting patiently. Gennadi was strange, but not prone to hallucinations or believing in signs found in chicken entrails. He must have a point. The insects were getting louder as the sun now dropped to the horizon and sent out clear, sweet light to dance over the Caspian.

“The entire Earth was buzzing and unsteady. All but a small area here, where a flag with our bear on it was flying steadily and our part of the Earth was the only spot where the clouds of destruction were not swirling.”

“You sound concerned. Do you actually think this is a premonition?”

“I really do, my friend. The dreams are not like a normal dream. They are strong, like I have just watched a film. None of the details fade. The same dreams come to me each time I am in my study. Without fail.”

“Even if I felt as you do, I could do nothing to make our superiors act in any way. Why have you decided to share this with me?”

His old teacher looked up. Held his gaze for a very long time. “Because you are in all these dreams.”