Outland (World-Lines Book 1) (30 page)

Aug 25

Bluto

Bluto was in his glory. He had complete control of the situation. He had one of the two bitches in his power. The dweeb that controlled the time machines stood in front of him, terrified.
Looks like he’s about to piss his pants.
Bluto smirked in satisfaction.

“The portal’s in the shed,” Kevin said, pointing.

“Go get it. Bring them all,” Charles said.

“We only
have two, and the scavenging party has the other,” Kevin replied.

“Good,” said Charles. “Get it.”

“I can’t move it on my own!”

Charles looked impatient. “Oh, Jesus H… you and you—” He pointed to two somewhat more muscular men. “Help him move it out here.”

It took only
a few minutes, and the portal generator and gate were set up in the area in front of the goons and their hostages. Kevin looked at Charles, and at his nod turned on the portal. The gate faded into focus, showing the parking lot outside the warehouse, covered in damp packed-down ash.

“The fuck? You messing with me, pansy boy?” Bluto didn’t like being played the fool.

“You’ve been away for a while,” said Kevin. “Yellowstone erupted. That’s why we’re here.”

Charles looked at the ash on the other side, and turned to Bluto. “Yeah. Remember back in Portland after Mount St Helens? Same shit.”

Bluto shrugged. He would take Charles’ word for it, and it made little difference in the end. They were going home. A little ash for a few months wasn’t going to be a big deal.

Looking at Erin, he said, “Now here’s how it’s going to work. You’re going to walk through there, and if you or the other dweeb give either of us any trouble, you’ll both die right away. And we’ll take out as many of your friends as we can.” Bluto leered at her, his nastiest smile. “And later on, I’m going to teach you a lesson about manners,
bitch!”

He took the gun out of Erin’s mouth and put it to her head. He and Charles started chivying their hostages to the open gate. They stepped through, then Charles pushed his hostage to her knees, aimed at the portal generator through the open gate and fired. There was a flash of sparks and the gate closed.

Charles and Bluto paused for a moment to make sure that the gate closed on their side. Then they looked around at the gray-brown landscape.

“Looks a little different now,” Bluto commented. “Still, good to be back.”

He turned to Erin. “Now, bitch, time to set the rules.” He grabbed her breast, put his face a few inches away from her, and snarled, “If you even think about trying anything, I’ll fix it so you never walk again. Got me?”

Charles watched all of this with interest, still towering over his hostage and holding her by the back of her collar. Suddenly there was a gunshot, and his head disintegrated in a spray of blood and brains.

“The fuck?” Bluto yelled and spun around, attempting to drag Erin with him to act as a human shield. Instead, Erin went limp. Bluto was a large man, but he wasn’t ready to support a hundred and thirty-odd pounds with one arm. Erin dropped from his grasp. As she hit the ash-covered ground, there was another gunshot, and Bluto staggered backwards.

Erin spit ash out of her mouth and scrambled to get out of the way, in what she hoped was a safe direction, while keeping as low as possible. There was another shot.

***

Bluto felt the impact of the bullet. He felt no pain, but the shock drove him backwards a few steps. There was a flicker of motion, and his gaze fixed on a short, curvy brunette with an assault rifle bearing down on him, her face glowing with rage. With an almost physical shock, he recognized her as the bitch who had nutted him in the warehouse.

In an unintentional parody of the last encounter, he growled, “Fucking bitch!” and raised his gun. There was another muzzle flash, and he felt another impact. This one drove him back and he staggered and sat down. Somehow he still managed to hold onto his gun, and he tried to bring it up again.

The angel of death snarled at him, “Burn in hell, motherfucker!” and squeezed off another shot.

Bluto fell backwards as the world ended.

***

Erin

Erin watched in amazement as Monica advanced on the goon, methodically squeezing off shots.
She looks just like SWAT!
Erin thought in admiration.

Finally Monica yelled something at the goon, shot him again, and he went over on his back. She walked up, looked down at his jerking body, and put three more quick shots into him.

Erin and the other girl got up and wiped themselves off. The other hostage was looking at Monica like she was eight feet tall and green. Monica asked her if she was okay, and the girl wordlessly nodded. Monica came over to Erin and put her arms around her.

It was like a floodgate opening. Erin started to sob, and before she knew it she was shaking and crying. Monica held her and said something that Erin couldn’t make out.

As Erin was running down and beginning to get control of herself, she heard a shout from nearby. They all looked up to see several people coming out of a gate, armed and looking for something to shoot. Erin got a sudden mental image of angry ants boiling out of a nest and she giggled uncontrollably for a second.

Monica waved to the would-be rescue party and yelled, “It’s okay. Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.”

The men came over to the group, looked at the bodies, then at Monica. One of them said, “I guess you’ve got this all under control.”

Monica grinned at him. “You know, I never did finish my dinner. There better be food left or I’m gonna be pissed.”

Everyone looked alarmed.

***

They had stepped back through to Outland, and Erin was hosing herself down while someone else operated a hand pump. The other ex-hostage, Suzie, had already cleaned up and was enthusiastically telling her story to all who would listen, which was pretty much everyone.

Erin could see people occasionally turn to look at Monica with awe on their faces. Monica was oblivious to all this byplay; she was stuffing a second helping of venison chili stew into her mouth.
Great. She’s going to have an even bigger ego now.

They were safe, back in the colony. Suzie had an abrupt feeling of disjointedness as she realized that she now thought of this as the place of safety, in effect, as home
.
Her friends were loudly solicitous, asking her if she was okay and hugging her. She somehow managed not to burst into tears.
It’s over!
She kept telling herself.

She got all the dust washed off with help from a hose and some very cold water. Someone manned the pump for her, then continued to do so when Erin Savard took the hose for her turn to get clean.

Suzie, meanwhile, was getting bombarded by questions from people. And, pleased to be the center of attention, she was happy to answer.

She left no detail out as she told the tale: the large bald black man who held a shotgun to her face and threatened to blow her head off; the rough handling as she was shoved through the gate to Earthside at gunpoint; the spray of blood, bone, and brains as the man’s head exploded. She spared no detail in telling how Monica Albertelli advanced on the other man, calmly
shooting him again and again as he attempted to return fire.

Suzie swore to herself that Richard Nadeski was strictly off-limits as long as Monica showed any interest. Suzie didn’t need that kind of trouble!

Aug 25              Omni

It took very little time to find the place where the goons had taken down Phil and Pete. They found the bikes a few feet into the trees. There was blood, shredded clothing, and discarded items that had come from the boys’ pockets. They continued to search in wider circles until there was a shout. They gathered around the location, and gazed sadly down at the two bodies. The two had been partially buried under rocks and deadwood, to make them harder to spot.

They collected the bodies, wrapped them in tarps, and took them back to the compound. After discussion, a small group took the backhoe and dug a couple of deep graves a short distance away. At the same time, the bobcat was used to gather some large rocks. Pete and Phil were buried with the entire colony in attendance. They placed the rocks over the graves to prevent any possibility of predators digging them up.

A somber crowd returned to Rivendell after the burial. The town now had a graveyard.

Aug 27

Bill

It took a full day for the National Guard platoon to get themselves and their civilian refugees organized, gather all their supplies, and line up for departure. Bill had reminded Lieutenant Collins that they could come back for stuff any time, but the lieutenant did not want to leave anything behind that could be a temptation for anyone. He also wanted the refugees to have time to get ready without undue stress.

Bill looked over the caravan as they assembled. There were five personnel carriers, bursting at the seams with military personnel, supplies, and refugees. Even so, some of the troops would be hoofing it. They also had three hummers with mounted machine guns up top.

Bill looked at the lieutenant. “Kind of heavily
armed for disaster management, aren’t you?”

Lieutenant Collins laughed. “Those are army units. There’s a whole story behind how we ended up with them. Maybe some time I’ll tell you how I spent
my
summer vacation.”

***

Collins

The trip was uneventful. Even if there had been legions of looters patrolling downtown Lincoln, they wouldn’t have wanted to tangle with a fully armed and equipped National Guard platoon.

In very little time, they arrived at the address that Bill had specified. They stopped the caravan, and Bill, Lieutenant Collins, and Corporal Chavez got out.

The first thing Lieutenant Collins noticed were two corpses lying in the ash. From the look of them, they’d been there for about a day. The manner of death was graphically obvious, especially in the case of the one missing half his head.

Lieutenant Collins looked at Bill and raised an eyebrow.

Bill looked a little ill. “I recognize those assholes. I’m sure there’s a story.”

At that moment, a gate opened up in front of them, big enough to accommodate the vehicles. Richard walked through, with a couple of other men trailing him, holding weapons. The other men looked around and took up guard positions. Richard waved at the group and came walking over.

Introductions were made, and Richard said, “Thought you might want to come across and have a quick look. Then we’ll see about getting your vehicles placed.”

Lieutenant Collins pointed to the two bodies, which no one seemed to be paying any attention to, and looked a question at Richard.

Richard grimaced. “Oh, that was Monica. Those two pissed her off. Not a good idea on the best day.”

“Bit of a tough cookie, is she?” Corporal Chavez asked.

“Oh, believe it,” Bill said. “I think you and her will get along just fine.” He grinned at Chavez, and she grinned back.

Lieutenant Collins gestured to Richard to proceed, and they walked through the gate. The lieutenant staggered a bit as he stepped through, as if he’d been bracing for something that turned out not to be there.

Corporal Chavez chuckled. “Stevenson is probably
peeing himself with excitement.” Private Stevenson was driving the lead vehicle and was therefore forced to stay put until ordered through.

Lieutenant Collins looked around. He saw a sea of tents, large and small, in a large fenced area. There were people scattered around, some working on tasks, some just enjoying the sunny day. Collins looked up at a sky that he hadn’t seen in many weeks, wide and blue from horizon to horizon. A few clouds floated lazily above, and he could feel the sun warming his skin. In the distance, ranch-style fencing had been put up for cattle, sheep, and horses. Near at hand, people were getting up from whatever they had been doing and coming over to rubberneck. The buzz of conversation rose steadily in volume.

“Hey, sunshine! You made it back!” A short, curvy brunette made a bee-line for Bill Rustad.

Lieutenant Collins noted with interest the way the crowds parted for her. She hit Bill at full stride—the lieutenant was sure he heard an
oompf—
and gave him a bear-hug, practically lifting him off the ground. The lieutenant couldn’t decide if he should be envious or sympathetic.

“So, they gave you time off for good behavior?” She grinned up at Bill. He smiled back, his arms around her, and Lieutenant Collins couldn’t help noticing how little pleased Richard was with this.

Lieutenant Collins stepped forward and said to Bill, “So I’m expecting this is Monica?”

Monica turned, stuck out her hand, and said, “Monica Albertelli. Welcome to Rivendell.”

“Lieutenant Tom Collins. And before you say it, I’ve heard them all.”

Monica laughed. She had a good laugh. Lieutenant Collins understood Bill and Richard a little better.

He continued, “I saw a little of your handiwork on the way in.”

Monica’s expression clouded up. “They killed a couple of my friends. No one does that. Fuckers needed killing.”

Lieutenant Collins noted out of the corner of his eye that Corporal Chavez was nodding with approval.
Oh, boy. Two of them. This is going to be interesting.

***

The trucks had come through, and the troops and refugees had been organized and bivouacked. Lieutenant Collins had a short meeting with the members of the Planning Committee. There were no real surprises, other than the amount of ordnance that they had in Rivendell. Lieutenant Collins privately admitted that he could have won a straight-out firefight, but it would have been close.

He’d also seen the coffee supplies and the professional coffee maker. Yep. Bill Rustad for President.

***

Erin

Some adjustments were necessary to make room for the refugees and military personnel. Tents had to be moved. In a couple of cases, people had set up small green spaces in front of their tents, which had to be given up. But the Guard personnel were quick and efficient. In no time, accommodations were up for the new residents.

Along with many others, Erin was doing a bit of rubbernecking, when a familiar face caught her eye. “Oh my God! Professor Collins!” she yelled, and rushed over. Just in time, she noticed a woman and two adolescents standing near the professor, so she aborted the intended bear hug, instead grabbing his hand as she reached him.

“Yellowstone erupted and it blew more than three thousand cubic kilometers of ash into the air and on this side it blew sometime in the last one hundred thousand years and that's what killed people off over here and I think it left Nebraska with more hills and a higher ground level and the climate is cooler and wetter here and I don’t know if that's global warming and without people the Pleistocene animals aren't extinct!”

Erin stopped and took a large breath. Professor Collins smiled at her and said, “We’ll go over that in detail later, I think. I’m glad to see you alive and well.”

Erin smiled back timidly and turned to the woman beside Professor Collins. “I’m Erin. I’m one of his students.”

The woman returned a friendly smile. “So I gathered. I’m Mary.” The two shook hands.

Erin turned back to Professor Collins. “So how did you end up in the National Guard refugee camp?”

The Professor gave an embarrassed chuckle. “You’d think I’d know better than to stay in town, wouldn’t you?” He shrugged. “But it took too long to gather my family together, and by the time we were ready to head out, everything was gridlocked. We stayed home until the ash fall stopped, with the intention of trying to get out of town then. But guess who shows up on my doorstep, but my little brother in a big hummer?”

Erin was blank for a two-count. Then, “Lieutenant. Collins? Duh!”

“Yep,” the professor said. “Always good to have connections in the military.”

He continued, “So how did you end up here?”

Erin looked down for a moment and considered. Where to begin?