Dux Bellorum (Future History of America Book 3) (41 page)

Erik froze.
 
Voices drifted down from on high.
 
He slowly turned in the shelter of the bushes and peered through the leaves up toward the top of the four-story parking garage.
 
Someone leaned over the safety railing and waved.
 

"Somebody was definitely up here!
 
There's busted glass all over the place!

"Okay—fan out and look for them!" a voice—it sounded like a girl—shouted nearby.

Erik held his breath.
 
The responding voice sounded like it could've come from the other side of his building.
 
He readied his rifle and thumbed the safety off.
 
Whatever the hell was going on, he wasn't about to be captured.
 
Never again.

"Hey, like, if you're out there, let me know okay?
 
We don't want to hurt anybody!" the girl called.

Erik frowned.
 
That's what they all say…

"Seriously!
 
Look, maybe we can help each other out?"

Erik adjusted the grip on his rifle.
 
Suspicion began to cloud his mind.
 
She certainly didn't sound like a soldier.
 
She sounded like a twenty-something college student.

Movement at the far end of the building caught his eye.
 
Someone stepped between two trees around the corner, flashing past his narrow field of view before he could make out who they were.
 
The shape was shorter than what he expected, about Brin's height.
   

"Hello?"

He readjusted the grip on his rifle again and closed his eyes.
 
Stop
.
 
It's a God damn girl—I can't shoot a girl…

He waited, peering out through the base of the bushes as the girl strolled past humming a tune.

She sounds nervous…

The girl eventually worked her way around the building, walking within three feet of Erik's position and stepped back out into the sunlight.
 

"You think he went this way?" she called, hands cupped over her mouth.

"We're not even sure if it's a he!" someone yelled back from the top of the parking garage.
 
"Don't even know if there's more than one or not.
 
We just know
someone
was up here!"

Erik watched as the girl put her hands on her hips.
 
"Well, I don't see anybody down here…you sure they came this way?"

"Nope!
 
Keep looking!"

"For what?" she asked.
 
"I don't see anyone."

"I don't know…footprints?
 
Crime scene shit, you know?
 
Look, just hurry up!
 
The Jocks might come back…"

Jocks?
Erik shook his head in disbelief.
 
If these jokers are serious about trying to hunt someone down, they've got a lot to learn.
 
All I have to do is pull the trigger and I might be able to take out both of them.
 
Ted certainly could.

Instead he waited.
 
His instincts paid off—the girl grumbled something about wasting time and walked off to the left, over toward the next building.

Erik waited another few moments until the person up on the fourth floor of the parking garage turned and disappeared back into the shadows.
 
He didn't see anyone else on the ground level, so he inched his way toward the far corner of his building, then rose to a crouch and waited.

After counting to 30, he was fairly satisfied the coast was clear.
 
Erik sprinted across the street and ducked behind a parked car.
 
He looked south and spotted the short brick wall surrounding the library a few blocks in the distance.
 

But there was still one major problem: there was at least a 20 or 30 yard gap between cars before he found cover again.
 
If anyone looked in his direction, they'd make him in a second.

Erik gathered his courage took a deep breath.
 
He adjusted his helmet then sprinted for the next car down the street.
 
His boots rang out like thunder on the pavement as he ran for all he was worth to the next car.
 
He skidded to a stop and dropped painfully to his knees, hoping no one spotted him.
 

Kneeling there panting, he listened for the telltale shouts that would signal someone had seen him.
 
After a moment of listening to the chirping birds in the trees and the pounding of his own heart, he shook his head in disbelief.
 

I may not be a real soldier but these guys are pathetic.
 
How did no one see me?

With renewed confidence, Erik got to his hands and knees before standing and sprinting for the next car.
 
In this manner, he leapfrogged his way back to the safety of the low brick wall surrounding the library.
 
Without pausing to stop for the final car, Erik vaulted the wall and threw himself lengthwise in the grass.
 

He lay there until his heart slowed and his breathing had returned to normal.
 
He peered up at the darkened windows of the library and realized most of the trees on this side of the building effectively blocked the view of his hiding spot from anyone on the inside.
 
If someone happened to be glancing in the right direction at the right moment they might spot him, but for the most part, he felt fairly invisible.

Erik backed up against the brick wall and slowly raised his head enough to look north.
 
The street remained quiet and deserted.
 
Only a slight breeze ruffled some of the leaves on the nearby bushes and a piece of newspaper flitted across the street.

Thanking God for his luck, he trotted the last block on his side of the brick wall until he came up to the barricade of ruined cars, behind which sat their dismantled van.
 
He took one last look up and down the street, then quickly rolled over the brick wall and made for the visitor’s center.
 
Brin was there waiting for him.
 
She opened the window as he pushed aside the juniper and slipped into the building.

He lay there panting, his back against the wall as she refastened the window. She squatted next to him.
 
"Are you okay?
 
What's going on?
 
We heard a gunshot."

Erik removed his helmet and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
 
Ted appeared at the base of the stairs, followed by Teddy.
 
He walked over to Erik and handed him a fresh water bottle.

"What's the sit rep?"

Erik nodded his thanks and took a long swig.
 
"This place is
definitely
not deserted," he said around a gasp for breath.
 
"I found a parking garage full of cars and trucks about five blocks north of here.
 
Main Street runs straight through the middle of town, east-west.
 
The parking garage sits right off that street.
 
Four floors," he continued, describing the vehicles he found inside.
 
"I found a big SUV on the top floor, but couldn't figure out how to get the window open."

Ted frowned.
 
"Did you try your knife?"

Erik rolled his eyes at him.
 
"Of course I tried my knife—you need something pointed to break a car window, right?

Ted nodded.
 
"That's what the handle's designed for," he said.
 
On Brin's questioning look, Ted unsheathed his own knife and handed it to her hilt first.
 
"Here.
 
Look at the base of the handle that raised part of it that looks like a pyramid."

"It's not very sharp," Brin said running her thumb across the little nub that stuck up from the bottom of the handle.

"That's not the idea," he said, taking the knife back.
 
"When you swing the handle of this thing toward a car window, all the force of the impact is directed towards that point.
 
Even if it's rounded a little, that's a tremendous amount of force projected at the glass.
 
Works like a charm—it'll bust open a window, easy as you please."

Erik rested his head against the wall and sighed in frustration.
 
"Yeah, well, I found out the other end doesn't work so well."

Ted laughed.
 
"You didn't…"

Erik pulled his knife out and stared at the damaged tip.
 
"I did."

Ted laughed again.

"What was that gunshot, then?"
 
asked Brin.

Ted stopped laughing and stared at him.
 
"You
didn't
," he said.

Erik picked up his rifle and thumbed the safety on.
 
"Oh, I did.
 
Earlier, I saw a bunch of people coming from the north.
 
I watched 'em slip across Main Street and start attacking some others.
 
I didn't know what the hell was going on—these two groups were chasing each other all over the place and fighting and ransacking some of the buildings.
 
I was out of options and time.
 
It looked like they were heading in my direction, so I aimed at the window and pulled the trigger.
 
Instant access."

"Good grief," said Ted as he rolled his eyes.
 
"You may have gained instant access, but you gave away your position to anybody with two ears—"

"Where's the car?" asked Brin.

Erik looked down and felt the heat rise in his cheeks.
 
"I got the car open, but I didn't know how to hot-wire it."

"No spare key?
 
No valet key?"
 
asked Ted.

Erik shook his head and looked up.
 
"Nothing—but I did manage to avoid the ten or so people that ran into the parking garage looking for me."
 
Erik continued to relay the details of his escape.
 

 
"Looks like those SERE lessons I gave you weren’t a total waste of time…" Ted joked.

"I'm just glad nobody saw you," said Brin.
 
Satisfied that Erik was not wounded, and they were in no immediate danger of being found, she turned and ushered Teddy out of the room, saying she was going to check on Lindsay.

Erik watched his wife disappear upstairs and sighed again.
 
"I just keep feeling like I can't do anything right…"
 

Ted slapped him on the shoulder and stood next to the window.
 
"Don't worry about it.
 
It was an honest mistake."

Erik took another swig from the water.
 
"You know how to hot-wire a car?"

Ted laughed.
 
"No way in hell.
 
Why?"

Erik grimaced and let his head rest against the wall again.
 
"Just curious.
 
How are we gonna get a car running?"

"Well you could just ask," said a voice from the other side of the room.
 
Erik snapped his eyes open and raised his rifle to aim at the chest of a bearded man in jeans and flip-flops.
 
He looked like a vagrant.

Ted already had his pistol out and aimed with a rock-steady arm toward the intruder.
 
"Don't move.
 
Hands up."
 

The man continued to stare at them with his hands in his pockets, an irritatingly smug look on his face.
 
"That's no way to treat a visitor, man—and in case you didn't know, like, you
are
in the visitor’s center…"

The ex-deputy stepped forward and holstered his pistol when he heard Erik take his rifle off safe.
 
The bearded young man opened his mouth to say something, but Ted lunged forward and swept his feet out from under him, simultaneously swinging his left arm to the stranger's sternum.
 
The bearded fellow crashed to the floor sputtering gurgled curses.
 
It was no contest.
 
Ted had the young man's face down on the floor with his hands behind his back and legs spread in a matter of seconds.

"Who are you?
 
How'd you get in here?

"Ow!
 
Hey!
"

"What's going on?" asked Brin from the top of stairs.

Ted flashed his knife in front of the beard.
 
"Who do you work with?
 
How many other are there out there?"

"Brin, stay up there!" Erik called.

"Whoa, man!
 
Slow down!
 
I'm not here to hurt anybody!"

"Who's that?" she asked.

"How many are with you?" roared Ted.

Erik ignored the two men on the floor as he moved to the stairs.
 
He pointed his rifle at the open exit door down the hallway.
 
"You okay?" he called up the stairs.

"
Yes!
 
What's going on?"
 

"Get the kids in the room and lock the door!" his voice brooked no argument.

"Okay!"

Erik waited until he heard the footsteps retreat and the door slam upstairs before he moved down the hall and investigated the open exterior door.
 
Just outside the door frame, the same girl who’d walked right past his hiding spot stood staring at the rifle in his hands with wide blue eyes.
 
Her tangle of blonde hair had been pulled back into a ponytail.
 

She stood there shaking like a leaf.
 
"Hey…omigod…I–I–" she muttered.