Chương 121: Part Eleven: Due East

Louis sat in the pickup bed beside the covered machine gun, one hand braced against the mount. Savannah sat across from him, her bandaged wrist held close and Louis's rifle across her thighs. The road behind them lit white again. Since they left the farm, white streaks had crossed the sky one after another. Savannah shifted the rifle with her good hand.

"Your father ain't waste no time."

"It's the Collective," Louis said.

"They don't wait for morning." Savannah looked at him, then back toward the sky.

"I hope every militia man is shittin' himself right now." He almost smiled at that. The truck bounced hard over a deep rut. Louis braced himself against the gun mount. The mounted gun's canvas cover slapped once against his arm. He caught it and pulled the strap tighter. His fingers slipped once before he got it tight. Savannah watched his hands.

"You ever fired one of those?"

"Once in Las Vegas on a chopper," he said.

"For fun." She gave him a look.

"Rich boy games."

"Rich boy training," he said.

"Same difference." She lowered the rifle across her legs.

"Bet you ain't bleed."

"I didn't. I went back to the casino after." She sucked her teeth.

"Figures. I spent my teenage years watching folks die in the streets. You spent yours playing with machine guns." Louis looked past the cab toward the road.

"You can hate me for it."

"Who said I hate you?" He glanced at her.

"You sound like you do." Her mouth tightened.

"Maybe I'm just pissed I ain't get to blow up that fuel stop with you." He laughed once, short and rough, and she surprised him by laughing too. Another flash rose behind them, brighter this time. For a second, the truck bed, Savannah's face, and the road behind them showed white. Then it went dark again. Several seconds later, the sound reached them. Savannah turned her face toward it.

"What you think it look like over there?" Louis shook his head.

"Probably like hell."

"Good," she said.

"Let it burn."

"I don't feel good about it." She looked at him.

"You feel guilty?"

"No, but I don't feel happy either." He shifted his grip on the gun mount.

"I feel nothing." She studied him.

"You weren't made for this."

"What does that mean?"

"Being a soldier. Or a killer." She gestured behind them with her chin.

"You started it 'cause you had to. Now you in it, and it ain't who you are." He looked at her.

"What am I, then?" She looked away toward the horizon.

"A guy who got lost and trying to find his way back." The road straightened briefly. Ahead, beyond the cab, Louis saw a low smear of smoke spreading above the hills. In the dark, the smoke showed as a black band against the lighter edge of the sky. The sky was beginning to pale to the east. It was not dawn yet, but the land had shape again.

"Can I find it?" he asked.

"Your way back?" He nodded. Savannah looked toward the road before answering.

"I don't know." Then she looked at him again.

"But I'll stay with you till you do." For a second, Louis could not answer. He reached across the truck bed and covered her hand with his. She let him. Her skin was cold from the wind.

"Thank you, Savannah," he said. She looked at their hands, then back up at him.

"Don't make me regret it."

"I won't." The truck crossed a narrow wooden bridge. Boards struck hollow under the tires. Below them, water ran over stones. The truck jolted, straightened, and kept going. Savannah leaned closer so she did not have to raise her voice.

"What about your girls?" He looked at her.

"What about them?"

"They love you. I can tell. I see it when they look at you." She paused.

"I ain't sure I understand it, but it's real." Louis did not answer at once. He kept his hand over hers.

"Then I think I'm lucky." She gave a short laugh.

"One man. Four women."

"I didn't plan it. It just happened." She shook her head.

"Still. Even with all this shit, you got all of them choosing you. That ain't nothing." She looked away again and lowered her voice.

"Some folks go their whole lives and nobody chooses them." He watched her face in the gray light.

"I don't think that's true about you." She glanced back, almost angry.

"I don't need nobody to choose me."

"I know. But someone did." She did not look away.

"You mean you."

"Yes."

"Louis, you don't know me well enough to choose me." She smiled a little.

"You just feel responsible 'cause I got caught."

"Maybe." He kept his voice even.

"But I know what I feel." She looked at their hands again, then back at him.

"And what you feel?"

"Like I want to know you better," he said.

"Like I want you to be safe. Like I'm glad you're here with me. With us." Her fingers curled slightly beneath his.

"I was afraid when they had me."

"I know." She watched his face.

"Not afraid they'd kill me. I can handle that. I was afraid when they were sending me to Montgomery. I seen what they do there to girls like me." Louis tightened his grip on her hand.

"You're not going there."

"I know." She took a breath.

"That's why I was afraid.

'Cause for a minute I thought I was going there for real. And that I'd die there alone."

"You're not alone. I wouldn't let that happen." She pulled her hand back and turned to face the road.

"I didn't think you'd come for me."

"I was always coming for you." She looked away from him.

"When I was in Atlanta," she said, "there was this girl. We was friends. Not close, but we knew each other. She got picked up for walking home alone after dark. They took her to the jail. Three days later she came back. Couldn't look nobody in the eye. Never talked about what happened. Two weeks after that, she hanged herself in her room." He did not answer. He just listened. She looked down the road.

"That's what I was thinking in that prison truck. That I'd be next. That I'd rather die fighting on the road than end up like her in a cell. I was getting ready to try something. Anything, while you and Nowak were talking about fried chicken. That's when I decided if you didn't make a move, I would. And I'd probably be dead. I knew the odds." If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"I'm glad you didn't have to do that." She almost smiled.

"Yeah. We got lucky. That fat ass Hale got hungry at the right time."

"It wasn't just luck." She looked at him.

"You think not?"

"I think we made our luck. And you made yours." She studied him, then looked away.

"I was ready to die. But not like that girl. Not in a cell." She let out a breath.

"Not with them thinking they won."

"You didn't let them win."

"No," she said.

"I didn't." Another streak of light crossed the sky to their left. This time it was farther away. The sound was only a distant roll. Savannah looked toward the ridge before speaking again.

"You ain't what I expected."

"I'm not sure what that is."

"Rich white boy. Prince. Spoiled." She shrugged one shoulder.

"Too soft for this kind of road."

"You think I'm soft?"

"I used to. Now..." She looked at the dark ridge ahead.

"I think you just pretend you harder than you are." He let out a short breath.

"Maybe."

"And I think you trying to be good at a game you were never meant to play." She shifted the rifle across her legs.

"Maybe that's what makes you different."

"From other men?"

"From other rich boys." He smiled.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" She gave him a sharp look.

"Take it however you want." He laughed, easier this time. Savannah's mouth turned upward at one corner.

"Louis." He looked at her.

"If we survive this," she said, "I'm taking you to bed." He stopped laughing and stared at her. She held his stare.

"I mean it." Louis had to take a breath before he answered.

"Savannah... I'm not going to sleep with you just because—""Shut up." She cut him off and shifted closer on the truck bed floor, keeping her injured wrist close. Louis thought at first she was adjusting for balance. Then she leaned across the narrow space between them and kissed him. Her mouth was warm and tasted of smoke and blood. She put her hand on the side of his neck and held him there. He put one arm around her and drew her closer as the truck bounced under them.

When she pulled back, her face was inches from his. She did not look away.

"Did you understand what I just said?" she asked. He swallowed.

"Yes."

"Good." She leaned back against the truck bed, but her hand stayed on his shoulder.

"I hate talking about feelings. So don't ask me again."

"Alright." He looked at her.

"But you can kiss me again if you want." She gave him a hard smile.

"You'll know when I want to." He nodded. The truck hit another rut. Savannah let her hand fall from his shoulder and reached for the rifle, checking the action with her good hand. Louis turned back toward the road. Ahead, Gladice slowed and turned off the road between two broken fence posts. An old barn stood in the gray before dawn, roof sagging, weeds high around it, no light inside. Gladice shut off the engine under a leaning oak. They got out of the truck. Louis climbed down first.

Savannah followed more slowly. Gladice had already opened her door and stood looking toward the hills, one hand on her pistol.

"We are close to the border," Gladice said.

"We should talk about what's next." Louis nodded.

"Let's do it inside." They checked the yard first. In the damp ground near the barn, they found only the tracks their truck had made. Then they gathered inside. The barn smelled of old manure. Gladice spread a road map on a broken worktable and pinned two corners with water bottles. Cherish stood beside her, red-eyed and quiet. Angelique leaned against a support post. Donya sat on an old crate and rubbed her eyes. Willa stood near the open barn door. Savannah stayed by Louis, rifle still in her hand.

"Alright," Gladice said.

"We are here. More or less." Willa leaned over the table and adjusted the flashlight so the beam fell across eastern Kentucky and the West Virginia line. The map was old and torn at the creases, but the roads and towns were still legible. Blue circles marked gas stations from years ago.

"Are we really going to cross West Virginia?" Donya asked. Gladice pointed with one finger.

"That's the plan."

"Into Ohio or Pennsylvania?" Willa asked. Angelique spoke from behind her.

"Pennsylvania."

"Why?" Louis asked. Donya said, "Because most of the Ohio River line along West Virginia is a radioactive zone even today."

"True," Willa said.

"And crossing that thing with no hazmat suit is suicide." Louis studied the map.

"How about Virginia?" He pointed to the southern edge of the map.

"We can still try the route to Richmond once we get inside West Virginia." Gladice shook her head.

"Not many options there. Mountains. Mined-out places. Roads either dead or watched by snipers."

"Snipers?" Cherish asked.

"Appalachian Guerrilla Forces," Gladice said.

"They shoot before asking questions." Cherish swallowed.

"Oh."

"That leaves Pennsylvania." Gladice moved her finger northeast along the border.

"That's a hell of a way."

"Two hundred miles?" Louis said.

"More like two-fifty," Willa said.

"And we have no idea what's on the road between here and there."

"We don't have a choice," Angelique said.

"The only other way is back, and we are not going back."

"No," Gladice said.

"We cross into West Virginia. Find a place to hide by morning. Then move at night. Two nights, maybe three, and we are in Pennsylvania." Louis looked from the border line to the river.

"Okay. But let's talk about how to get into West Virginia first." Willa tapped the map with one finger.

"That's Tug Fork River," she said.

"And we need to cross it." Louis leaned closer.

"The bridges will be guarded."

"Maybe." Gladice traced the river.

"We need a place where the river is narrow and slow. Maybe a ford."

"Or an old bridge they ain't watching," Savannah said.

"Especially with all this going on." Louis nodded.

"Good point."

"Then what?" Donya asked.

"Once we get across?"

"Then we improvise," Gladice said.

"That place is complicated as hell. Who knows who controls what right now." Louis looked at her.

"Who are the players?" Gladice started counting on her fingers.

"There's the People's Army of West Virginia. They're the biggest. Communist. Militant. Old-school labor types. Then there's the Road Authority, which is more like a toll-collecting mafia than a government. Then a few local militias. Some religious, some not. Some of them work together. Some shoot each other on sight. And every once in a while, the Virginian Republican Guard comes up the valley and shows everybody who's boss."

"How do you know all this?" Cherish asked.

"Because it's part of the NCO training course back in the Collective," Gladice said.

"That's what we were taught. Could be out of date now." Angelique stretched her arms above her head.

"So we walk into a war zone and hope nobody notices us."

"Pretty much," Gladice said.

"We must not let anyone know who we are. Otherwise we become a first prize for half the factions." Louis nodded.

"We still have IDs on us. We are refugees. Fleeing the war."

"Ain't nobody gonna believe us," Savannah said.

"Then we shoot the ones who don't," Gladice said.

"Or we don't talk unless we have to," Angelique said.

"And when we do?" Donya asked.

"We let the least suspicious person talk," Willa said.

"Who is that?" Angelique asked. Willa looked around the group.

"Depends on the situation."

"Like I said. Improvise." Gladice looked around the table.

"How many guns do we have?" Willa counted.

"One M1911, two Glocks, one M14, and the mounted machine gun on the truck. Loaded, belt-fed, with a few boxes of ammo left, but no extra magazines for pistols."

"Not great," Gladice said. Angelique shrugged.

"It's better than nothing."

"Food and water?" Louis asked.

"Enough for two days," Willa said.

"Maybe three if we stretch."

"The fuel in the truck?" Louis looked out the barn door.

"Almost full," Gladice said.

"But that thing is loud and draws attention."

"We gonna need it anyway," Savannah said.

"We ain't walking two hundred miles." Gladice nodded.

"We drive when we can, hide when we must."

"Then we can't waste time," Louis said.

"We need to move. Find a place to cross the river and be over it by morning."

"Agreed," Gladice said.

"What about your father?" Savannah looked at Louis.

"Ain't there any air support he can get us?" Louis hesitated.

"Unless we have exact coordinates, it's hard for him to send help without risking friendly fire. He cannot bomb everything."

"Then we are on our own," Angelique said.

"Like always."

"But the Dominion could have intelligence on the area." Louis looked at the map again.

"Willa, can you send my father the general plan and ask if he has any intel on West Virginia?" Willa nodded.

"I can do that. I'll keep it short and encrypted."

"Do it." He turned to the others.

"If we have anything useful from him, we will adjust the plan."

"What if we get caught?" Cherish asked. Her voice was quiet but steady.

"We will die fighting," Gladice said.

"There is no way I'm going back to a Dixie jail." Louis looked at Cherish.

"We will not get caught." Cherish looked at him, then nodded. Her face was still pale.

"Alright," Gladice said.

"Everyone take a last piss, drink some water, and get ready. We leave in ten minutes." They split up. Angelique and Gladice moved to the truck and checked the machine gun. Savannah picked up one of the water bottles and drank. Donya and Willa went behind the barn. Cherish came to Louis.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Of course." They stepped a few yards from the others, near a broken section of the barn wall. Cherish looked up at him, then looked at the ground.

"Is it true what you told my father?" she said.

"About what?"

"That you will take me to the Dominion?" Louis exhaled.

"Yes." She waited for more. Then she said, "I don't want to go."

"Your parents think it's best."

"I know." She swallowed.

"And I trust them. But I don't want to leave them here to die."

"Cherish..."

"I am not a child," she said, sharper than before.

"I can fight. I can shoot. I'm not afraid to die."

"I believe you." He kept his voice low.

"But your father asked me to get you out. And I made a promise."

"I know." She looked away, toward the dark fields beyond the barn.

"Sorry. It's just... I wish things were different."

"Me too." He hesitated, then added, "You will like the Dominion. It's not perfect. But it's—" Then he realized he had said almost the same thing to Jennifer a lifetime ago. He stopped. Cherish looked back at him.

"It's what?"

"It's better than here." He tried to smile, but it felt weak. She looked down again.

"Okay." He wanted to say something comforting, something honest, but the only thing that came was, "We should get ready."

"Yeah," she said. Louis left her and went to the truck bed. Gladice was there, testing the belt on the machine gun. Angelique stood beside the truck, watching. He opened his arms. She came to him and rested her head against his chest.

"I was worried," she said into his shirt.

"When you were gone."

"I know," he said, stroking her hair.

"I was too. But I'm back." She lifted her head.

"For how long this time?"

"As long as I can be." She reached up and kissed him possessively. He pulled her close. The kiss was desperate and fast, like a breath held too long. Then he thought of Savannah's kiss. He pulled back.

"What is it?" Angelique asked.

"It's Savannah," Louis said.

"Something happened between us. I will tell you later, when we are safe. I promise." Angelique's gaze flickered toward Savannah, then back to him. She nodded once.

"Alright." She reached up and touched his face.

"We are all alive, Louis. That is what matters. The rest, we will figure it out." He held her for a moment.

"I don't know what I did to deserve any of you."

"You are a prince, mon coeur," she whispered.

"You are allowed to have a court." He let out a short laugh.

"A prince on the run with six women and a technical."

"A traveling court," she said, a small smile on her face.

"We are the most sought-after fugitives on the continent."

"I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"Of course it's not." She pulled back.

"But it is who we are now." She squeezed his arm.

"Let's survive this. Then we can argue about the rest." He nodded and let her go. Willa came back from behind the barn and nodded at Louis.

"I sent him the plan," she said.

"Encrypted, short, and clean."

"Anything back?"

"For now? A coordinate on the border with West Virginia. An old railway bridge over Tug Fork."

"Is it guarded?" Louis asked.

"Maybe. But maybe not," Willa said.

"It's better than nothing."

"Thanks, Willa." He kissed her on the cheek.

"Appreciate it." She kissed him back.

"Anytime."

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too." She squeezed his shoulder. Gladice jumped down.

"Alright, lovebirds. Let's get this show on the road."

"Right." Louis climbed into the bed with Savannah. The others got back inside the cab. The engine turned over. Then they were moving. Savannah looked at him after the truck settled into a rhythm.

"That's a lot of women."

"It is," Louis said.

"You planning on collecting more on the road?" He laughed.

"No. I think we're at capacity."

"Good." She shifted her weight on the truck bed floor.

"Not sure I'm great at sharing." He looked at her.

"I think you do just fine." She gave him a small smile.

"Maybe."