When the gunshots came, they were deafening. Kayla braced for the pain, but mercifully, there was none. Just a release. A sense of peace. The roar of the rolling waves in the distance and the squawk of seagulls overhead. And the smell of blood.
Not just the smell, she could feel the stuff running down her neck, warm and slippery. Was this what death was like? Then a voice, “You can get out of the hole now.” Obviously her spirit guide calling her.
“Ooooy. Get out of the fucking hole. Now! We have to move.”
Kayla looked down. She was standing there among the bodies. The bloody, twisted bodies of soldiers who’d been shot. Zoey stood beside her, frozen. She ran her fingers over her head and neck, looking for wounds, there were none. The blood she could feel running down her skin must have come from somebody else. Looking to the other side she could see Noah and Bowie also standing. They seemed unharmed, but stunned. Two soldiers stood on the edge of the hole yelling at her. She tried to process what had happened. Noah was first to move.
“Come on, guys.” He grabbed her arm and she felt herself moving with him. He began laughing to himself as he climbed out of the hole and reached out to help her up. She in turn reached for Zoey, who moved slowly, her mind was somewhere else.
“What’s happening?” Noah was asking one of the soldiers.
“We’re with you guys. Give us a hand, we have to bury these bastards and get moving.”
Kayla watched in a daze as Noah helped the two soldiers push the remaining bodies into the hole and cover them with sand.
“Come on Kayla. Bowie.”
Kayla felt herself grab a shovel and she went through the motions of shovelling sand onto the bodies. Unsure of what she was doing or where she was. She looked over to Bowie, who seemed to be in a similar state.
They moved quickly, loading the dead soldier’s rifles from into the back of one of the vehicles. The soldier then opened a back door and Kayla helped Zoey in, then climbed in after her. They sat in silence, staring straight ahead.
“Where are we going?” Noah asked one of the men.
“We’ve got to get to the rendezvous point before 0800 hours. Otherwise, we might be mistaken for rebels and they’ll shoot us.
“I thought we were rebels?” Said Noah, sounding a little confused.
“Not anymore. As of this morning, we are the US army. Most field generals have now moved over. It’s just the pawns in the Pentagon and the Marxists who are still left in the forces who are holding out.”
“Really?” Asked Noah, “Wow.”
The engine started and they drove away from the beach.
“We’re going to push through to Washington today and set up camp for a final assault in the morning.” He turned and held out his hand, “I’m Sargent Callaghan, this is Private Byrne. Call me Roy.” Noah, saluted and gripped his hand warmly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Private Byrne stretched out his hand, “I’m Pat,”
“I’m Noah, Sir.”
“Noah, eh? I sense a good old Southern Christian upbringing,” said Pat with a chuckle. “No need to say “Sir” until we’re regrouped. And even then, it’s just for Roy, here, because you and I are the same rank.”
“Who are the rest of your crew?” Asked Roy,
“They’re all civilians,” said Noah. “This is Kayla and that’s Bowie, they’re both writers. And that’s Zoey.” Noah, motioned to each of them. Roy moved the rear-view mirror around to see them, while Pat turned in his seat.
Kayla braced for the pain, but mercifully, there was none. Just a release. A sense of peace. The roar of the rolling waves in the distance and the squawk of seagulls overhead. And the smell of blood.
Not just the smell, she could feel the stuff running down her neck, warm and slippery. Was this what death was like? Then a voice, “You can get out of the hole now.” Obviously her spirit guide calling her.
“Thank you for saving us,” said Bowie.
“My pleasure.” Pat turned to Kayla, “Did you really shoot a Senator?” He asked.
“A pedophile,” said Kayla, eyeballing him. “He deserved it.”
“Thank you for your service to our country, sister,” said Roy with a chuckle. “Well that’s one less swamp creature, to rob the people.”
“You caught him with a kid?” Asked Pat, Kayla nodded. She continued staring at Pat until he became uncomfortable.
“What’s up sister?”
“You’re black.”
“So are you.”
“But I mean, why are you supporting the Facicsts?”
Pat laughed. “You think it’s that simple, Sister?”
“I guess not,” said Kayla averting his gaze.
“You know what they did to our military? They politicised it. They got rid of our best soldiers, anybody who said anything remotely against communism, or the leftist rioters. They had us spying on each other.” He laughed, “Roy and I just hung in there. It was easier for us, because we’re black and they couldn’t really push us on ideology. That would be racist. But we were waiting for this day. Boy, were we waiting.”
“Yeah, Brother,” said Roy, “That felt so good. Those Marxist, woke shit-heads didn’t see it coming. Nasty little shits. They were really looking forward to your execution.”
“What about the hairy lady who sentenced us?”
“The captain?”
“Yeah, what happened to her,” asked Kayla, “did you run out of hormonal treatment?”
“Yep,” said Roy, “They didn’t plan things very well. It was one thing to accept transgenders and provide their treatment, but nobody thought to stock up on hormones, so of course, once the war started, we ran out.”
“There must be some confused and angry transgender officers,” said Bowie, thoughtfully. “I don’t think anybody wrote that,”
Roy looked puzzled, “What do you mean, “wrote that?”
“It’s a long story,” said Bowie with a groan.
“But it’s a story our army commanders need to hear,” Interjected Noah.
“What has it to do with?” Asked Roy
“The virus, the election. Everything. Bowie knows the guys who planned it.”
“Guys who planned it?” You mean the puppet president?
“No, not him,” said Bowie, cursing Noah for raising the subject.
“Leave it,” said Roy, I’ll see if anybody in command is interested once we’re organized.
He turned the vehicle onto the highway to head south, then suddenly stopped.
“What the heck?” Said Roy, turning to Pat. The soldier held his gun at the ready, peering through the windscreen.
Kayla looked up to see a wave of people, coming toward them. A convoy of all types of vehicles; trucks, vans and cars, surrounded by people on foot. They took up the entire six lanes of the highway, A crawling mass of humanity.
Roy slammed the Humvee into reverse and backed into the side street a little. They all remained fixated on the huge convoy moving toward them.
“Must be the Latinos,” said Roy, peering at the moving mass, “We heard they were on the move.”
“Should I try the radio?” Asked Pat.
“No. We don’t know who’d be listening in.”
“The Illegals,” said Noah, “must be heading to Canada”
“Yep,” said Roy, “poor bastards. The puppet lets them all in, smack into the middle of a civil war.”
“We better navigate around the back streets,” said Roy, thoughtfully. He backed up a little further. The front of the procession had reached them now, but most of the people appeared to completely ignore them. Their eyes remained fixed on the road ahead. Kayla noticed that the vehicles appeared to be laden with sick people and some of those walking beside the vehicles seemed to stumble, coughing. Their eyes showing pain and desperation.
“What happened to them?” She asked, “What’s wrong.”
“What didn’t happen to them?,” said Roy grimly. “Harassed the whole way by Coyotes and Predators, then on top of that, they get stopped and vaccinated.
“Well at least they won’t get the virus,” said Kayla.
Bowie began laughing.
“What’s he laughing about?” Asked Pat
“The vaccines aren’t supposed to stop the virus,” said Bowie, “they’re to make you sick.”
“He’s right,” said Roy, “it happened in our platoon. Half of them went down sick, some of them really bad. Fatigued all the time.”
“Roy went down,” said Pat, “his autoimmune system went wild or something.” Roy nodded grimly.
“You guys didn’t get the vaccine?” Asked Roy, looking back at Kayla.
They all shook their heads.
“Your lucky,” he said. “Half the platoon were in the hospital at one stage, including Pat here.”
“That will make them easy to fight then,” said Noah, “because I don’t think many of our blokes were vaccinated…”
“How come they got beaten back then?” Asked Kayla.
“It was only one battle,” said Roy, “And they weren’t pushed back far. We’re meeting them about 20 miles south.”
He looked around at the streets as they passed them, “If we can get there…”
He turned into a side street that ran parallel with the highway. It soon came to an a T intersection, with the only option to turn away from the highway again. The Humvee veered dangerously through the empty streets, Roy’s frustration starting to show as he hit the brakes.
Their path was blocked by an upturned army vehicle that had recently been hit by a missile. Smoke still billowed out from the wreck and the street around it was strewn with debris.
A human arm protruded from the wreckage. The air was thick and foul smelling. Kayla covered her nose.
“I wonder who hit this?” Said Pat, thoughtfully. “It must have been the loyalists. Our assault hasn’t started yet.”
“They might have been making their way to the rendezvous like we are.” Said Roy, reversing away from the wreckage. He turned down another street and they drove along in silence for a couple of minutes until they came across the highway again.
“Shit.” Said Roy in exasperation. “We’re not going to make it.”
Kayla looked out at the sea of people stumbling slowly down the highway, their blank eyes staring ahead. Poor bastards, she thought, They look terrible.
“We can’t just sit here,” said Noah.
“I’ll try the radio,” said Roy, maybe they’ll be broadcasting. There must be a few units in this situation.”
There was static he went through the channels on the radio. Pat moved his ear close to the speaker.
“Wait, what’s that? Go back.”
“Bowie, what was the purpose of the vaccine, anyway?” Asked Noah.
Kayla looked from Roy to Bowie, waiting for his response. This is not good, she thought.
Bowie looked frightened, his eyes darted around the group. “I, er…”
“You wrote that part, didn’t you?”
“It all went wrong,” said Bowie. “The Deplorables wouldn’t take it in the end. Not many, anyway.”
Roy moved the tuner back until Pat stopped him.
A scratchy voice came through the channel, “Calling free army units delayed by the refugees. Leave your vehicles now. Enemy forces are using drones on waiting vehicles. I repeat, leave your vehicles now. Take cover and wait for us to come through.”
Kayla instinctively peered out of the window, looking at the sky for a drone. She heard the door open and saw Roy leap out and began barking orders.
“Pat, grab the radio, Noah, get the rifles and ammo out of the back. Kayla, grab that duffle bag of food.” He surveyed the surrounding buildings as he spoke. Kayla helped Zoey out of the car and grabbed the duffle bag. She followed the group toward the closest warehouses lining the road.
Something made Kayla turn back. “Hey, No!” she shouted.
A group of young men had broken away from the refugees on the highway and were rummaging through the vehicle they had abandoned.
“Leave them,” said Roy, grabbing her shoulder,“ Keep moving.” He broke into a trot and the others followed. The door was locked, so Roy began to kick it. Kayla looked back at the vehicle again. One of the men had got it going, the others had piled in and they were now driving toward the highway to join the refugee convoy.
Thank God, thought Kayla, they won’t hit it once it’s in the conv… A huge explosion rocked the area, the force slamming Kayla against the warehouse wall. Her vision was blurred and her ears rang. In the distance she heard someone shouting, “Get inside.” She felt tugging at her arm and looked around. Zoey was pulling her to the door, the others must be already inside. She could hear the screams now from the road. Screams of pain, terror and anguish. She glanced back to see the vehicle had disappeared. Through the smoke, she could see a clearing, strewn with burning debris and body parts. The door slammed, shutting off her vision, but the screams continued. Kayla held her hands up to her ears. She thought for a minute, then moved toward the door. Pat blocked her way. She beat his chest,
“Get out of my way. We’ve got to go. We’ve got to help them.”
“There’s nothing you can do.” Said Pat, holding her tight.
“But, those people,”
“They’re dead. We’ve got no medical equipment, nothing.”
“Sit down,” said Roy clearly becoming agitated. Those people will tear us apart if they see the uniforms.”
“It’s our fault,” Kayla was screaming now. “Those innocent people,”
She felt a hard slap on her face. It stunned her for a moment, she looked to see Roy’s face in front of her, his eyes deadly serious. Her face continued to sting where he’d slapped her. She could feel her temper rising
“Shut up. You’re putting us all at risk.” Kayla looked around, the others were all sitting against the wall, watching her intently. The warehouse was empty, except for some wooden pallets and scattered cardboard boxes. She sat down next to Zoey silently and put her head in her hands.
“Do you think the drone will come back?” It was Noah’s voice.
“Who knows,” said Pat, “But they would have seen bodies, so they might think they got us.”
Kayla couldn’t get the haunted faces of the refugees out of her mind, “Why are so many of them sick?” She asked, “It can’t be just the vaccine.”
Roy shrugged, “I think it’s a big part of it. Even now, I can feel something not right in my body – It’s like something inside of me is working against me, you know? Like an invader.” He put a hand on his chest, his eyes showing a hint of fear.
“Bowie, what was the purpose of the vaccine, anyway?” Asked Noah.
Kayla looked from Roy to Bowie, waiting for his response. This is not good, she thought.
Bowie looked frightened, his eyes darted around the group. “I, er…”
“You wrote that part, didn’t you?”
“It all went wrong,” said Bowie. “The Deplorables wouldn’t take it in the end. Not many, anyway.”
Kayla glanced at Roy, he was glaring at Bowie.
“What was the vaccine supposed to do to Deplorables?”
Bowie was silent. Roy drew his sidearm and cocked it. He stood and pointed the gun at Bowie’s chest. “Answer me. What was the vaccine supposed to do?”
“Roy, no,” said Pat. Both he and Noah were now on their feet.
“Was it to kill us?” Roy’s voice was becoming louder, his hand trembled.
Bowie bent over, covering his eyes. He was shaking like a leaf.
“Tell me,” Roy’s finger began to tighten on the trigger.
Noah flung himself at Roy, just as Pat moved in. The three of them struggled. There was a shot.
“Oh God,” cried Kayla as one of the men fell to the floor.
