Solaris Mortem: The New Patriots (17 page)

The remaining Anti-Movement members collected food, medicine, and weapons. They had tarps, sleeping bags, and tools. A gas siphon and tire chains had been acquired. Finding a rig was the last, missing piece of the puzzle.

Terry and Vince celebrated when they found it in a little tin garage. The kind of little garage kit you might buy from Costco. It was an old, early-eighties Suburban with decent tires, and four-wheel drive. With all of the members that had dropped away, the Suburban would have enough room for all of them, too.

“You think it’ll start?” Terry said, grinning. “It’s about the right year.”

“Nah,” Vince said. “Battery’s gonna be dead…fuel’s probably fouled.”

“Let’s find out,” Terry said, hopping in. “Shit…keys….”

Vince scowled. “We’ll check the house again.”

Terry pulled down the visors, checked the console and glovebox, then under the floor mats. “Got it.” He held up the key. “We’re getting out of here, buddy.” He inserted the key and turned the ignition.
Click—click—click.

“Battery,” Vince said. “Pop the hood.”

Vince checked the connections, and Terry tried it again.
Click—click—click
was all they got out of it. “Let’s pull the battery and get it charged,” Terry said. “We can try it again tomorrow.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Vince said. “Let’s pull the battery from the work truck and see if it even turns over first.”

Terry pulled the battery from the work truck while Vince did a quick in-place carb clean on the Suburban.

“What are you doing?” Austin asked.

“We might've found our rig,” Terry said. “We’re gonna try this battery and see if it turns over or not….”

It fired right up. All three men hooped and hollered and jumped in the air.

“We need to figure out where we want to stash this and get it stocked,” Vince said. “Preferably, as close to our rendezvous point as possible.”

“And do we know where that is yet?” Austin said.

“No, not yet. Working on it,” Terry said. “For now, it’s probably as safe right here as anywhere.”

Terry got home later and hung up his coat. “Where’re the kids?”

“They’re at the school,” Kat said. “Movie night.”

“Ah, I see,” Terry said. “Kat, I’m just going to cut straight to the chase here. We found a car. It runs, I’m leaving. I want you and the kids to come with.”

“I don’t know, Terry,” Kat said. “Leaving scares me.”

“
Leaving
scares you? We have a chip in our heads that explodes if we wander off. How does
that
not scare you?”

Kat first looked shocked, then let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s for our own protection, Terry. How else do we keep track of who’s been vaccinated and who hasn’t?”

“Please tell me you don’t actually believe that….”

“What else would it be?” Kat said.

“Control, I guess. I don’t know for sure. I mean it’s not like I completely understand it or can relate to it, but I do know one thing. This is
not
how a free society operates. It’s just not. There’s some deep, dark shit going on here. I know you’ve thought about. How could you not?”

“Yes,” Kat said, “of course I’ve thought about it. But have you? Have you considered,
even for a minute,
that maybe, just maybe, they’re not all out to get you? Maybe this isn’t some vast conspiracy. Maybe it’s just them doing the best they can for now. You know? Desperate times—desperate measures. That sort of thing. Things might look a whole lot different in a year from now.”

“Now there’s something we
do
agree on,” Terry said. “Only, you think things might getter better around here. I’m convinced they will get a whole lot worse. I don’t want to be here when the other shoe drops, Kat. And I don’t want you and the kids here, either.
God, no.
”

Kat considered Rick’s proposal to her: that she be a spy, that she spy on her own brother. She hadn’t told Terry about that, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. No—she was pretty sure she didn’t want to. Terry would have an absolute field day with that one. And she had to admit; Rick's directions didn’t quite sit right with her either.

Maybe Rick did have a couple of skeletons in his closet. Lord knows every other man she had ever been romantically involved with had proven to be an epic disaster. She had a bad picker.

“I’ll think about,” Kat said at last. The next part was hard. “Some of what you’re saying kind of makes sense.”

“Thank you, Kat.” Terry was pleased, hopeful even and decided, for now, to let the issue rest.

Kat prepared supper, and as she did so, she thought about Terry’s words. She also thought about something else. Even if Terry was one-hundred percent right, that was no guarantee of safety. In fact, who’s to say that aligning with Rick, right or wrong, wouldn’t be the safer choice. Rick wouldn’t hurt her or the kids.
Would he?

Technically,
she
was guilty of treason, now.

The next morning, Rick came to visit with Kat again at work. Kat was tired as she’d been up half the night wresting the answers for these dark questions.

Rick was all business. He seemed pre-occupied, too. He gave her a quick peck then asked, “So, what has your brother been up to?”

No—how are you? Or, you look great, no nothing. Just, what do you have to report?

“Nothing. What do you mean? Just work,” Kat said.

“Kat. You know what I mean. And you and I both know that your brother has been involved with the Anti-Movement. I shouldn’t have to remind you, that is treason.”

Kat decided right then and there that she would support her brother—at any cost. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid as to not see what was right in front of her face. “Terry has made some mistakes,” Kat said, “but that’s all over now.” She stroked his chin gently, and he started to smile. “The Anti-Movement is dead. Forget about my brother, okay? I’ll tell you what: how about if I come over later tonight and help you forget all about it?”

“Oh yeah?” Rick said.

Kat nodded and looked up at him with her best sexy eyes.

“Okay, then,” Rick said, smiling. “I’ll be seeing
you
later.”

Rick left, Kat felt sick, but what else could she do? Gotta use what God gave you.

She went to find Terry on her lunch break.

“Hi Kat,” Terry said, “What are you doing here?”

“I had to talk to you.”

“Okay, what’s up?” Terry had a hopeful feeling again that Kat was coming around.

“I’m in,” Kat said. “I’m with you.”

Terry hugged her immediately, picked her up and spun her around.

“I need you to watch Jonathan and Tabby tonight, though. Okay?”

“Sure,” Terry said. “Anything. Why? What’s going on?”

“I just have to take care of something. I’ll talk to you about it later. I’ve got to get back to work.”

“I love you, Sis.”

“I love you, too.”

Terry left early to beat the kids home but first he went to the commissary to buy a couple of treats. Fruit snacks for Tabitha and saltwater taffy for Jonathan.

He was about to leave when he turned around to buy more.
A few for the road.
It could offer psychological comfort later, once they got out of here. Something to remind them of
normal.

He wanted to talk to the kids about leaving, about the journey ahead. He started scripting it in his head when he realized he had better wait for Kat. They hadn’t talked at all about how to talk to the kids.
Her kids,
he reminded himself. That didn’t mean he couldn’t cast a line, though. See if he got any nibbles.

Terry wondered what made her change her mind. Was it his words? Was it something else? Either way, he was thankful. It meant he didn’t have to make the tough decision.
Should I stay or should I go?

He’d been long convinced that
go
was the only option but what if Kat hadn’t come around? What if he was faced with the choice between a crack at freedom without his family or staying behind to be near them?

It was a tough one, and he appreciated Alisia’s struggle with her mom. The difference was, Alisia was the lynchpin. Without her help, (the flasher) how would any of them escape? Plus, he wanted Alisia along. Of course, he did.

At home, Jonathan was the first to ask, “Where’s Mom?”

Terry started to answer when he realized—he didn’t actually know. “Uh…I’m not sure, kiddo, but it’s just us tonight.” It wasn’t entirely unusual for Terry to watch the kids so Kat could run an errand or go spend time with Rick, but where was she now? Certainly not with Rick.
Was she?
That wouldn’t make any sense. She just made up her mind to flee this place. Rick was the embodiment of everything wrong with New Seattle.

“Okay,” Jonathan said, but he looked sad. So did Tabitha. They wanted to see their mother.

“Hey, but guess what I got for you guys?” Terry said, and he produced the candy.

“Yay!” they both cheered.

Yep. Psychological band-aid to the rescue.

While the kids chomped happily, Terry asked, “How was school today?”

“I hate it,” Jonathan said immediately.

“I hate it,” Tabitha mimicked.

“Hey, now,” Terry said to Jonathan. “Let’s not be teaching your little sister bad habits. Okay?

“What was so wrong about school? You wanna be smart, don’tcha? Readin’, Writin’, ‘Rithmetic.”

Jonathan laughed a little at the drawl Terry used. “We’re not even learning any of that stuff….”

“What do you mean?” Terry asked. “Then what are you learning?”

“All we ever talk about is the New Patriots. And how we have to be good citizens…and stuff like that.”

“Really?” Terry said.

Jonathan bobbed his head.

“Oh…well…you won’t have to go to school forever, you know.”
Maybe not for very much longer at all…

“I know,” Jonathan said, and Tabitha mimicked him again.

“Now, don’t eat all of that and spoil your dinner,” Terry said. “What should we eat?”

Macaroni and cheese from a box was the consensus.

Kat went to Rick’s directly after her shift and let herself in with the key he had given her. She made herself busy preparing dinner and tried to push unpleasant thoughts out of her head. Unpleasant thoughts that she knew would now be with her forevermore.

Rick came home and slapped Kat’s ass. “Hey, baby.”

Kat cringed. Everything had changed and she wanted none of this sort of attention from Rick. “Hey, babe,” she said, then wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

“I was beginning to think you didn’t like me anymore,” Rick said.

Kat shushed him. “Take me to bed.”

Rick was all too happy to oblige her.

Kat was ill. Had it really come to this? Was her role in the apocalypse to be the Chancellor’s whore? She pushed it aside and made quick justification.
This is survival. If I don’t do this, Terry’s dead. Maybe I’m dead…my kids….

An agonizing three minutes later and it was over. She fought back a tear. “I’d better go finish dinner for my hungry man.” She crawled out of bed and made sure to offer up a little eye candy.
God, how she hated herself….

Rick grinned and squinted his eyes. “That was great, baby.”

It took everything Kat had to return the smile.

While they ate, Kat couldn’t help but ask, “So did I make you forget?”

“Come again?”

“Oh, yes,
please,
” Kat said.

Rick was baffled momentarily until he caught the innuendo, and then the meaning of the question. “Terry
who
?” Rick said.

Now Kat smiled for real.

Terry was helping Tabitha get her shoes on for school when Kat opened the door. “Mommy!” Tabitha said. “Where were you? I missed you, Mommy.”

“I missed you, too, sweetie! Come here and give me a hug,” Kat said, and she bent down to scoop Tabby up.

“Where were you, Mommy?”

“Mommy just had some things she needed to do. Now, hurry up. Get ready for school.”

Terry had figured out where Kat was, what she had been doing. It only took a look into her eyes to confirm it.

“C’mon, Tabitha, it’s time to go,” Jonathan said. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetie. How was your night with Uncle Terry?”

“
Mom….
” Jonathan thought he was getting a little too old for names like
sweetie.

“Sorry—Jonathan, Sir!” Kat said and saluted.

“
Mom,
” Jonathan said again, then his face cracked into a smile. Kat grabbed him and tickled him until he cried out, “Stop it! You’re gonna make me pee my pants!”

“All right, all right,” Kat said. “You two had better get going. Have a good day, okay? I love you.”

“Will you be at home tonight, Mommy?” Tabitha asked.

“Yes, mommy will be home tonight. I’m all yours.”

“Yay!” Tabitha said.

“Bye, Mom,” Jonathan said.

When the kids were out the door, Terry asked, “So, were you…with Rick last night?”

Kat’s face tightened and her jaw clenched. “Don’t judge me, Terry. Don’t you dare.”

“No, no I wasn’t. I swear it. I mean,
oh, God.
This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

“You could say that.…”

“I am so sorry, Kat. Really…I am.”

“It’s okay,” Kat said. “It will be. I need to get ready for work.”

“Yeah. Me too. Okay,” Terry said. He felt horrible. Lower than dirt. He had forced his sister, his only sister, his only family…
to sleep with the enemy.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A
lisia and Otis were enjoying a brief break from their duties at the clinic when the receptionist, Lizzy came into the break room.

“Hi Guys,” Lizzy said. “There’s someone here to see you, Alisia.”

“We’re taking a break,” Otis said. “They can wait.”

“Umm…actually…probably not. It’s the new Chancellor. Seems like he might not be the
waiting
type.

“Oh God,” Alisia said. “What does he want?”

“He didn’t say.” Lizzy's fingers thrummed on her clipboard, and she adjusted her glasses.