This Shattered Land - 02 (39 page)

“He
was a cop?” Sarah asked, a stunned expression on her face.

Steve
nodded. “And according to the people who knew him from before, he was a good
one.  At least until election time came around.”

Gabe
snorted. “Let me guess, he decided he ought to be the one running things?”

“Exactly.
He had a few heated debates with the mayor, shouted some insults, even nearly
came to blows with the sheriff once in the middle of town over in Bruceton.
Tore a deep divide among the survivors living there. Mayor Stone won the
election by a landslide, but there were a lot of folks not especially happy
with the decision. Kilpatrick and some of his supporters retaliated by raiding
the towns weapon and food supplies and joining up with a rogue militia group
calling themselves the Free Legion.” Steve spit the name out like it tasted
bad. “Bunch of psycho-fuck murderers is what they are.”

Considering
what I’d seen Steve do in the past I didn’t think he had much room to call
anyone a psycho or a murderer, but I let the comment slide. I wasn’t exactly
pure as the driven snow myself.

“So
Ronnie Kilpatrick and a bunch of these Free Legion idiots were the ones who
tried to kill us.” I said. “Do you know how many more of them are out there?”  

Steve
smiled, white teeth contrasting against his dark face paint. “I’m not sure, but
after today, a heck of a lot less. Mr. Garrett took out quite a few of them
back there.”

“I
had help.” Gabe rumbled, gesturing at the rest of us.

“So
they were just lying in wait on that road, hoping someone would come along?”
Sarah asked. “Why weren’t they out attacking large communities? Seems like they
could net more loot that way.”

“They
tried.” Steve said. “They got their asses handed to them by the townsfolk. This
isn’t a major metropolitan area out here, its rural and mostly isolated. Just
about everyone who lives here owned a gun before the Outbreak, and they’ve been
trading food for weapons and ammunition from out west since last summer. The
area has fertile soil and plenty of empty fields to plant crops in, not to
mention chicken farms and orchards. Food is wealth these days, the kind that
can buy safety.”

“So
this Free Legion outfit tries to take over the town, fails, and resorts to
banditry. That about sum it up?” Gabe said.

“Mostly,
yes. They’ve also been actively recruiting and trying to negotiate their own
arms deals with less reputable communities.”

“Such
as?” Sarah asked.

“There
are plenty of places all over the country that can be walled off from the dead
and turned into fortified encampments if you have enough manpower and resources
to manage the construction and security. The military lost a lot of ordnance
not far from here on I-40 back during the retreat across the Mississippi.
Anyone who gets their hands on that kind of hardware becomes a force to be
reckoned with overnight.”

“Can
I ask a few questions?” Brian said, raising a hand as though he were in school.
We all looked at him, surprised. He’d been silent for so long I forgot he was
there.

“Fire
away.” Steve said.

“It
was you that helped us when we got attacked, right?”

Steve
nodded once.

“Okay,
so what were you doing there?”

“The
mayor of Hollow Rock doesn’t give away the town’s resources for free. In
exchange for giving us some of their limited supply of antibiotics to help my
soldier, they required the use of our…unique skill set. They’re tired of
dealing with the Legion, and they want to do something about them. My men and I
spent the last couple of weeks gathering intel and feeding it back to Sheriff
Elliott and the town Mayor. I’ve caught them robbing and kidnapping people a
few times, but never when I was in a position to do anything about it. At least
until today, that is. I’d been following them for four days, staying out of
sight and monitoring their movements. The plan was to track them back to
wherever it is they’re using as a headquarters with the rest of the Legion. That
was until you folks came along.”

Sarah’s
eyes narrowed. “You sure took your sweet ass time joining in the fight.” She
said.

Steve’s
face went still, his yellowish eyes glittering dangerously. “I was watching
them through a spotting scope, out of my rifle’s effective range.” He tapped a
finger at the M-14 next to him. “I hustled to within striking distance as fast
as I could without exposing myself to enemy fire. Getting myself killed
wouldn’t have helped anyone, and no, I’m not sorry it took so long. You were
holding your own. I did what I could, when I could.”

“And
we’re grateful that you did.” I said, sending a hard stare Sarah’s way. She set
her mouth in a grim line and glared right back.

“But
what about the other two? You said there were two other men you’re in charge
of.” Brian interjected.

Steve’s
expression lost some of its tension as he looked back at Brian. “The road you
were ambushed on isn’t the only one the Legion is watching. They divide their
forces and try to guess where the merchant caravans from the river are going to
come from. The locals patrol the nearest choke points, but they just don’t have
enough people to cover all the approaches from the west. Most caravans make it
through without trouble, but some of them aren’t so lucky. The Legion are a
bunch of cowards. If a shipment looks too heavily guarded, they leave it alone.
Five people on an ATV with a trailer full of goodies behind them...” He shrugged.
“That’s too easy to resist.”

“Or
so they thought.” Gabe said.

Steve
grinned at that. “I have to admit, I was impressed. All of you fought as one,
not many people can do that.”

“But
here’s what I don’t understand.” Tom said. “Why did they offer to let us leave?
If they’re so ruthless, why didn’t they just kill us right away and take our
stuff?”

That
same thought had occurred to me as well, and I was fairly certain I knew the
answer. “If I had to guess,” I said, pointing a finger at Sarah, “it would be
because of her.”  

“The
hell do you mean?” She asked, frowning.

Steve
glanced my way and nodded. “I know this is going to sound horrible, but women
are the most valued commodity available to the marauder communities.”

Sarah
paled at that. “So what you’re saying is-”

“They
wanted you alive.” I interrupted. “That’s why they tried to get us to lay down
our weapons and walk away. If we’d have done that, they would have killed
everyone except you and taken you prisoner.”

“That
explains why Ronnie ordered his men to cease fire when they had us dead to rights.”
Gabe said, and slammed a palm into the boards beneath him. “I should have seen
it coming. I should have backed off and gone another way. I should have
fucking
seen it.”

“Stop
that shit.” I snapped. Gabe turned his angry gaze toward me. “You’re not
perfect, Gabe. You’re human, and you make mistakes just like anyone else. No
one here blames you, especially not after how hard you fought to get us all out
of there alive. And we
are
alive. We wouldn’t be if not for you, so cut
the self-recrimination bullshit already.”

Gabe
stared at me a moment longer before his anger faded. He looked down. “Thanks, I
think.”

“So
what now?” Brian asked. “I mean, what’s going to happen when we get to Hollow
Rock?”

“We’ll
get you to the doctor to treat your wounds, and get you some hot food. I need
to brief the town leadership on what I learned and check on my unit to make
sure they kept the undead away from the crops.”

“Why
do they need to do that?” I asked. “I thought walkers only ate meat.”

“First
of all, Riordan, your speech is slurring pretty bad. You’re obviously high on
those painkillers. I’m guessing that’s why you’re asking me such a dumb
question, but I’ll answer it anyway. The undead don’t care about crops, but
they can still trample them. That kind of thing will ruin a harvest.”

“Oh,
right.” I said. I leaned my head against the boards behind me and closed my
eyes. Maybe it was the strength of the drugs, or opiates combined with blood
loss, or maybe both, but I was getting seriously woozy.

I’ll
just rest my head awhile.
I thought.
Just for a minute.

The
conversation around me grew dim and distant, and then the world went black.

*****

The
smell of wood smoke drifted to me through the darkness. My eyes fluttered, and
I sat up to look around. I expected to feel pain from my gunshot wound, but it
didn’t come. I ran a hand over my side only to find that the flesh had healed.
Strange.

From
what I could see in the gloom, it looked like I was under the roof of one of
the many bare shelters that stood along the Appalachian Trail as resting places
for hikers. I couldn’t remember how I got here, but for some reason it didn’t
strike me as anything to worry over.

Man,
did that fire smell good.

 I
got my feet under me and set off in the direction it was coming from. A couple
of miles passed before I saw the glow of a campfire off in the distance. I
increased my pace, and soon stepped into a wide clearing under a bright canopy
of stars.

A
lone figure sat on a low stool poking at the fire with a stick. He looked up at
me with a smile, and motioned me over. I stopped short and gaped at him in
shock.

“Close
your mouth and come on over here son,” He laughed, “You look like a landed
fish.”

I
forced my feet into motion and sat down on the ground across from him. “Dad? Is
it really you?”

He
shrugged. “More or less. As much of me as can be here, anyway.”

He
looked exactly as I remembered him. Tall, lean, and broad-shouldered, with dark
eyes, dark hair, and movie star good looks. It was the same face I saw in the
mirror every morning, albeit with my mother’s blond hair and blue eyes. Even in
his late forties, my father was still a handsome man.

At
least he was, until a stupid drunken bastard named Mark Kasson drove a Ford
F150 into his Mercedes head-on at over eighty miles an hour. Pain shot through
my stomach as the memory of my mother on a hospital bed with tangles of wires
and tubes streaming out of her assailed me. I shut my eyes against the image to
drive it away.

“It’s
good to see you again, little buddy.” My father’s voice washed over me like a
warm breeze, soothing away the pain. It had been far too long since I’d heard
that warm baritone. 

“Been
a long time since anyone called me that.” I said, smiling up at him.

He
nodded. “You always got mad at me when I called you ‘squirt’, so little buddy
it is.”

I
laughed. We sat in silence for a few moments before he spoke again.

“Things
have been pretty tough for you, haven’t they son?”

“You
have no idea.” I replied, my smile fading.

“I’ve
been watching over you as much as I can, but we’re pretty limited here on what
we can do to help. I can guide, but I can’t interfere.”

“What
do you mean?” I asked.

Dad
gave me a sad smile and shook his head. “I didn’t come here to talk about that,
you’ll find out when the time comes, same as everybody else.”

I
let that sink in for a moment. “What about mom? Is she coming?”

Dad
shook his head. “I’m afraid not son, she’s already moved on. I will too,
eventually, but I have some things I need to do first. Unfinished business, you
might call it.”

“Like
what?”

“Like
what brings me here tonight. I need you to listen carefully, son, and trust me.
It took a lot to get what little time we have. Let’s not waste it.”

I
frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I
don’t expect you to, at least not yet. Things are happening, and you’re going
to be in the middle of it, whether you know it or not. You need to know that
the decisions you make in the days ahead are going to have far-reaching
consequences. Not just for you, but for everyone.”

I
shook my head. “I don’t follow. What’s happening? What am I supposed to do?”

He
gave me that same sad smile again. “You have it in you to be a leader, son. You
just need to stop being so damn impatient all the time and learn how to trust
people. You can’t be everywhere, and you can’t do everything. Find the strength
in yourself to see the good in others. It’s there, I’ve seen it.”

He
got up and came around the fire. I stood and faced him. “Dad, none of this
makes any sense. I don’t know what you want me to do. How are we even here?” I
held my hands up in frustration. Dad smiled and laid a hand on my shoulder.

“Your
friend Gabriel is a good man. He has a lot to teach you if you let him. His
responsibilities are no less important than yours, but there are others taking
care of his end of things. I’m here for you.”

He
saw the confusion on my face, and laid warm hands on my cheeks, looking me in
the eyes just like he used to do when I was a little boy.