Moriah Read online

  “What was Bear like, as a person?”

  “He was quiet most of the time. He taught me how to fight, how to survive. Whatever he didn’t know, he had others teach me. Tris and Bruce…others that aren’t around anymore. You know, he’s been gone long enough, and I’m old enough now—got some distance between those days—I can say this about him: my father was extremely driven. I don’t want to couch it in religious language like the Bishop, like Fred, but it really was like he was answering some calling.”

  “We learned about the zombie wars in school,” Riley told him. “It was never a given that human beings were going to win.”

  “I don’t think I ever realized how bleak it was, even as a little kid. I mean, I’ve seen Bear and Tris and the army go at it with millions of those things. Millions. And win. And after every battle there was another one looming. I guess, if I had been old enough, it might have crossed my mind that the battles were never ceasing, that as soon as one had been won, there were dozens more, right? I know it was hopeless for a lot of people. We had so many casualties, and they weren’t all at Zed’s teeth. But I was a kid. What did I know?”

  “Well, our side won, right?”

  “Pretty much. There’s still pockets of them here and there. Those trees and mountains where I met you? Out by the bomb? A few hundred of them up in there.”

  “And Africa?”

  “Africa should be pretty hairy.”

  “You guys have come this far, you’ll make it.”

  “You know, Tris wants to find those people that were following you.”

  Riley had been thinking about them too. “So do I.”

  “Most everybody else, though, they understand the importance of getting this show on the road. We have to meet the others at the coast. When they get there, they’re not going to wait forever.”

  “I know, Dee. I don’t expect anyone to help me. I mean, you’ve helped me so much already. I’m safe here. I’m finally safe.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I guess I’ll find my way back to New Harmony. And I’ll tell them what happened. I don’t know what I’ll tell my dad. I’ll get some people together, and we’ll go and find Tommy and the girl. And we’ll kill them.”

  “That’s the thing that always bothered me about this,” admitted Dee. “Like Zed wasn’t enough for all of us to worry about. You’d think, if something was going to have the power to band us together—Zed would have been it, wouldn’t it?”

  “But it did, Dee. For the most part. I don’t know if you’ve seen that, out here, on the move all this time. In New Harmony it’s different. The only other people you’re going to come across out here are the ones that don’t want to be a part of any society, the ones that were thrown out.”

  “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

  “Bear never wanted to settle down?”

  “I don’t know, maybe…” Dee said, reflecting. “But I don’t know if he could. She was wrong, you know.”

  Somehow Riley knew Dee was referring to Tris. “How do you mean?”

  “We spoke, the night before he went away.” Dee meant himself and Bear.

  “What’d he say?”

  “We talked about the difference between remorse and regret, and you know what he said? He said remorse was regret for something you’d done in your life. And regret was, well regret was regret that you hadn’t done something in your life. He told me he had no remorse, for any of it. But he said he did have a regret.”

  “Which was?”

  “He told me—and you’ve got to understand how weird this was, coming from him…I mean, he was larger than life, yes? He said he regretted he never got married. He said he regretted the fact that he never loved anyone the way a man was made to love, was made to love another, to love a woman.”

  “Well, judging by the stories, it sounds like he was too busy killing.”

  “That’s just it. And here’s the thing. The difference between him and Tris? He recognized it, and it bothered him. Tris doesn’t. Bear felt that what he had done all those years, fighting like that, that it had left him incapable of love.”

  “What’d you say to him?”

  “I told him that me—” Dee touched his chest to emphasize the words “—my person—my existence—that I gave lie to that claim.”

  “How’d he respond to that?”

  “He smiled. He was so…big. I know you’re probably thinking to yourself, why does that matter? But this is the thing about Bear. I’ve heard other people say, when they were kids, how their dads or moms or whoever seemed so big to them, and then when they—the kids—get older, they get bigger than their dads and moms. But Bear? As I got older and grew, he got bigger. And I don’t just mean physically.”

  “You were living with a myth,” remarked Riley, thinking back to a conversation in a bar with a drunken tracker.

  “And that’s why—when he talked to me about how he wished he’d gotten married? That sounds so mundane, doesn’t it? I’d never seen him that vulnerable. I don’t know. Part of me didn’t like seeing him like that. You have to understand. He was more than human to me.”

  “I do understand, Dee.”

  “Thanks.”

  “He was your dad.”

  Dee rubbed his mouth with his hand.

  “And that was it? You never saw him again?”

  “Never.”

  “Do you have anything to remember him by?”

  “He left behind some of his weapons. He’d given me this a long time before.” Dee drew the .357 magnum from its holster. “Be careful. It’s loaded.”

  Riley made sure to keep the barrel aimed away at the floor as she hefted the revolver in her hand.

  “This is nice.” After studying it from several angles, she handed it back to him. “Well, you’re not going to ask me to marry you, are you?”

  Dee laughed, taken aback. “No.”

  “Listen—”

  There was a commotion outside.

  “Come on,” Dee didn’t bother to holster the Colt Python. He rose, grabbing up the lantern. Riley followed him, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders against the day’s chill.

  As soon as they’d stepped outside, Kevin came running up to them. “Dee!” he yelled. “They got Victor!” Men and women were moving around the camp, preparing for something.

  “What happened, Kev?”

  “Command tent,” Kevin called as he trotted past, “now.”

  * * *

  Inside the tent, Tris was sharpening the blades of her sickles on a whet stone. She had a determined look on her ruined face. She wore black-grey camouflage pants and a black tactical assault vest brimming with flap pouches. The dozen other men and women present looked up as Dee and Riley entered.

  “This is her fault,” someone said, pointing at Riley.

  “Shut up.” The anger in Dee’s voice was unmistakable. “Shut up! You know what? Get out of here. Get your ass out of here now. You hear me?”

  The man left sheepishly.

  “What happened?” Dee asked Tris.

  “Whoever those people were, chasing Riley?” Tris didn’t take her eyes from her work. “They snatched Victor.”

  “What? How do we—”

  “They left a note.” Fred Turner held his cat. “They said they were willing to trade. Her—” he indicated Riley, “—for him.”

  “I’ll go,” Riley stated.

  “They can’t be serious.”

  “They’re serious,” stated Bruce. He and Kevin wore black vests that matched Tris’.

  “I’ll go.”

  “They’d better not touch a hair on Victor’s head.”

  “They won’t,” Riley mentioned quietly.

  “What?” asked Kevin. “How do you know?”

  “I just know. They’re not like that. If they told you they’d trade him for me, that’s what they’ll do. And I’ll go.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Carrie wondered.

  “I’ll go to them. Thi
s wasn’t right. It was my fault this happened. If I wasn’t here—”

  “Riley, be quiet.”

  “No, Dee,” said Tris. “Let’s hear her.”

  “Just give me a gun or something.” Riley pointed to the grenade around Tris’ neck. “Just me one of those.”

  “This girl got moxie, huh?” Tris held her sickles up to the light in the tent, admiring the shine of the blades.

  “No good, Riley,” said Dee. “We’ll take care of this.”

  “We’ll take care of this together.” Tris twirled the sickles in her hands before replacing them on her back. “Including you.” She looked at Riley. “Dee, get her a gun. Bruce, Kevin. Grab your rifles. Carrie, you get ready too. We’re out of here in fifteen.”

  “I’m coming,” Fred invited himself along.

  “Do whatever you want, bishop.”

  * * *

  When Alex came to visit him that morning, Steve was playing cards with Brent. He’d heard about the double suicide in the hospital, known who they’d been. He found himself looking out the window often, but the corner across from his house was empty. It was reassuring to have Brent, his old friend, around.

  A bottle stood unopened on the table between them. It’d been there since last night when Brent had brought it over.

  “Hello, Alex.” Brent greeted the younger man who came into his house, Riley’s ex-boyfriend.

  “I’m glad you’re up,” Alex said to Steve. “I wasn’t sure…” Alex knew from having dated Riley that there were nights Steve and Riley’s uncle Brent drank so much they didn’t move much before noon the following day. “I was hoping I could talk to you.”

  Steve gestured to an empty seat at the kitchen nook. “Let’s talk.”

  Alex settled down. “I’m going out there, to find Riley.”

  Steve, Brent, and Alex filled the three seats where Steve usually sat with his son and daughter, both of whom had been gone for nearly two weeks, gone into the Outlands.

  “That’s a bad idea,” Brent responded. “You don’t even know where they went.”

  “I know where they were put down,” Alex forged ahead, intrepidly. “I talked to the helicopter pilot. Grimaldi’s going to take me.”

  “That was a week ago, over a week ago,” Brent shook his head. “They could be…” he looked at Steve. “They could be anywhere now.”

  “So what’d you want to come and talk to me about?” Steve asked Alex.

  Alex looked at him, disappointed. “I don’t know.” He inhaled and puffed out the air. “I thought maybe you’d want to go with me.”

  “Riley and Anthony are grown up now, Alex,” Steve reminded him.

  “Which means, what? They can look after themselves?”

  “They can make their own decisions. And believe me, this wasn’t one I agreed with.”

  “Maybe coming here wasn’t…” Alex looked down at the table. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “You two broke up, didn’t you?” asked Brent.

  “She broke up with me. But so what?”

  “So,” Steve put it to him plainly, “maybe you shouldn’t concern yourself—”

  “See, that’s funny, because here I was thinking—seeing how Riley is your daughter—that maybe you should.”

  Brent watched the look come and go across his old friend’s face, knew how close Alex had come to getting hit.

  “Alex,” Steve said, “You’re a good guy. I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to you.”

  “I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about Riley.”

  “What about your parents, Alex?” asked Brent. “How would they feel if you went out there and something happened to you?”

  “Like Steve said,” Alex gazed out at the man from the corners of his eyes. “I’m all grown up now, too.”

  “I had to prepare myself,” Steve said quietly. “When they left, I had to prepare myself that maybe I’d never see them again. You know how hard that is? Any idea?”

  “So, what, we’re just going to sit around—”

  “Alex—” Brent attempted to interrupt.

  “I’m hoping they’ll be back,” Steve remarked almost to himself, “I hope to God they are.”

  Alex was breathing heavy, as if he were barely containing himself. Steve and Brent didn’t know if the young man was close to crying or screaming. When he could speak, he did. “I’ll be at the helipad, if you change your mind. Tomorrow morning, first light.”

  He pushed himself away from the table and got out of his chair.

  “Hey, Alex,” Brent called after him as he made for the door. “Be careful out there.” His comment went unacknowledged.

  Sometime after Alex had left, the bottle on the table remained untouched. Steve sighed and laid his cards down. “My head isn’t in this.”

  Brent looked at him. “Whatever you decide,” he told Steve, “I’m in.”

  “Thanks, Brent.”

  Steve parted the slats of the window blinds with his thumb and index finger and looked out onto an empty street and the dark night.

  * * *

  “Dee.” The man with the thick mustache behind the table in the armory tent smiled warmly at Dee and Riley. “New lady.”

  “Jerry. We need to outfit Riley here.” Dee turned to her. “Well…” Dee wasn’t very happy that Tris demanded that Riley accompany them, and that Riley wanted to. “What do you want?”

  “What’s this one?”

  “Pick it up.”

  Riley raised a black, mean-looking rifle in both hands.

  “Heavy?” Jerry asked her.

  “No, it feels good. It’s got some heft to it.”

  “CETME semi-automatic battle rifle,” Jerry explained as Riley sighted down the barrel. “Chambered in 7.62 NATO. Big recoil on that sucker.”

  “Can it mess someone up?” she asked him.

  “It’ll ruin their day.”

  “I think I can handle it.”

  “That one’s got a fixed stock. We’ve got another here with a folding stock.”

  “This will do. Thank you—Jerry, right?”

  “That’s right.” Jerry looked seriously at Dee. “They have Victor, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Dee answered glumly, then told Riley, “You’ll need a handgun.”

  “Hey, Sharon,” Jerry called back further in the tent to someone unseen. “Could you bring up some seven-sixty-two NATO and whatever twenty round magazines we have for the CETME’s? Thanks, honey.”

  Jerry turned his attention back to Riley and Dee. “My wife.” He smiled at Riley. “May I recommend this?”

  Riley took the revolver Jerry handed her.

  “Taurus Model 4510.” Jerry ran down the specs as Riley popped the cylinder, squinted down the barrel and felt the weapon in her hand. “Chambered for .45 Colt ammunition. Five rounds. Fixed rear sight, fiber optic front sight. Ribber—not rubber—grips. Nice little piece. Decent range for a hand gun what with those .45s, too.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Tris asked for a ballistic shield.” Dee relayed the request to Jerry.

  “Now what’s she got in mind?”

  “Who knows.”

  “I think we’ve got something. Hey, Sharon, hon? Could you bring up that riot shield too, please?” Jerry lowered his voice and spoke seriously to Dee and Riley. “You all go and bring Victor back.”

  “That’s the plan,” acknowledged Dee.

  * * *

  “Okay, Frankie, I want you a few hundred yards behind me, over there,” Gammon pointed. “And Toby, you’re over there.”

  Frankie and Tobias looked towards the woods where Gammon indicated. They’d have the trees behind them and the grass to cover them, but Gammon was going to be sitting here exposed.

  “Now, when they show up,” Gammon instructed them, “ya’ll don’t go doin’ anything stupid. Don’t show your hand until you have to is what I’m sayin’. Stay where you are, let me get the girl and cover us on our way out. These people got no trouble
with us, they just want their Victor back.”

  “What if they try and kill you once you tell them where they can find their Victor?”

  “Well, see Toby, I’m kind of counting on that not happening. But if it does, that’s when you two step in. But both of you wait for my signal.”

  “Which is…?”

  “Which is what, Toby?”

  “What’s the signal, Ed?”

  “Well, it’s not like I have one worked out. But if you see me hollerin’ and shootin’, that’s a sure good sign right there. Any other questions? No. Good. Get yourselves out there now.”

  “Ed?” Frankie asked. Toby, gripping his scoped rifle, trudged off through the grass.

  “What’s on your mind, Frankie?”

  “Red.”

  “What about her?”

  “Rodriguez ain’t happy about Red.”

  “Yeah, I know that…”

  “No,” Frankie warned, “you better keep an eye on him.”

  “I’m hearing you, Frankie.” Gammon looked out at the night. “We get this girl, we get back to the others, the both of us can keep tabs on Rodriguez, all right?”

  Frankie nodded. “See you later, Ed.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be seeing you, Frankie.”

  * * *

  “Here,” Tris tossed a hand grenade to Dee. He caught it but yelled at her, “Tris—for Christ’s sake!”

  “Don’t worry, they’re smoke.” Tris gave Riley the once over. “Give your rifle to Dee.” Riley figured it was better not to ask. “Okay, let me see your sidearm.” Riley handed Tris the Taurus 4510. “Revolver. Nice.” Tris stuffed the Taurus in her own web belt. “Here, hold this,” she handed the riot shield to Riley, “and this.” Riley looked down at the roll of duct tape Tris had placed in her other hand.

  “What’s the shield for?” Dee asked Tris.

  “In case we need it.”

  “Hey, what about my guns?” Riley demanded.

  “It’s all part of the plan,” said Tris. “You trust me?”