Trail of Tears (26 page)

“It’s okay,” she heard the words as if they
were spoken from a distance. The voice sounded strained. She saw a
blur move across her field of vision, but couldn’t see what or who
it was. “Sandra,” she heard the voice again. “It’s okay, calm down.
You’re safe.” She felt something brush against her face and her
vision cleared. She saw Amanda. More accurately she saw Amanda’s
eyes. The rest of her face was swaddled in a scarf.
What the
hell is going on?
She thought, but allowed Amanda to press her
back down. Amanda disappeared and she heard a muffled stream of
words and then Amanda was back, pulling her scarf away from her
mouth. Her smile sent a flood of relief through her. Amanda was
talking again but the words washed over her unheeded. The smile had
been enough. If Amanda was smiling then she would trust to that
until her damn head cleared.

Amanda Reitzig sighed in relief. She had
worried that Sandra’s condition was deteriorating. The fact that
she had not woken up had been worrying. It was impossible to change
dressings on the wounds with her patients strapped on to the
sleighs and wrapped in as many warm cloths as they could spare.
They had already lost six patients and one older woman who had
succumbed to the cold. Amanda felt each loss personally and had
argued for each person’s burial. She was adamant that they should
take the time for everyone and she had won for the first three but,
after that, everyone had been looking behind them as if expecting
to see Carter powering through the storm after them.

Too many were dying. Apathy and fear for
their own safety had slowly taken hold and now she barely managed
to gather enough people to remove the body and cover it lightly
with snow before they hurried on to catch the main party of the
caravan.

She was exhausted. Physically she could
barely stand as she rushed along the moving line, opening layers of
clothing, ensuring IV drips had not frozen, though most had so she
had to replace them with ones she wore beneath her own clothing.
Replacing the layers and moving on to the next. She had been doing
this constantly now for four hours and the snow wasn’t making it
any easier. Losing a patient was draining, though the worst part
was the constant battle with the living, forcing those who pulled
the sleighs to stop while she examined the patients who were still
alive. Trying to ignore their hard glares as she delayed them and
fighting yet another battle with Tony Grier when she wanted to bury
those who had died.

She felt for all her patients but she had
been most worried about Sandra Harrington. Her wounds were severe
and she had not had the correct facilities to operate. Her worry
was not just for her patient though. She knew that Sandra meant so
much to this community. She was a founding member, her exploits
were still told to children by grateful parents, and her loss would
be devastating to everyone. Her well-being until now had been
almost taken for granted. It was as if she were charmed. Destined
to be their protector forever. She was the soul of this community.
No, her death would be hard to take.

If Sandra Harrington died, she also feared
for Peter Harris. Whatever the council may tell themselves, this
community’s survival depended squarely on Peter Harris’ shoulders.
It always had. Even when he had been banished he had protected
them. If Sandra was their soul then Peter was their heart. He was a
tower of strength and she feared that he would not recover if
Sandra were to die. She tried to prepare him before she had left,
but she could see that he was pushing away the reality, using his
mission to block the potential heartbreak. He would continue to
concentrate on his mission until he joined them again and then he
might have to face a completely different reality. One he was not
prepared for.

She was not out of the woods yet, but the
fact that she had woken up spoke volumes and allowed Amanda to sigh
in relief for a brief moment before she moved on to her next
patient. She looked out into the snow, trying to see through the
storm.
How much further?
She felt the urge to find Grier and
learn where they were, but she was just too tired. She stood where
she was, feeling the cold of the snow seep into her boots, sucking
her body heat. Oh to just lie down and fall asleep. She heard the
laboured grunting of the men as they struggled with their sleigh
and she held up her hand to stop them. They stopped, but were soon
looking over their shoulders, eager to get going again. She ignored
them and moved over to her next patient. A blanket of snow rested
on the prone body as if nature had already decided her patient’s
fate and buried this person. She pulled herself up onto the sleigh
and angrily wiped the snow away. Her motions were laboured, but the
adrenaline kicked in and soon she had revealed the body beneath.
She hated this part. She pulled the blanket from the faces and
examined them. She held a small mirror against their mouths and
almost collapsed in relief when a thin line of moisture caught on
the surface.
Alive, thank God
.

She continued on with her ritual, replacing
IVs and ensuring bandages were not too soiled and then proceeded to
replace the covers and motioned for the men to continue onwards.
She looked back and saw the next struggling pair.
Jesus, when
will this end?

* * *

Harris heard the rumble of tanks and cursed.
Had they bought enough time? It only seemed like they had been
fighting for less than an hour. That wasn’t enough time. Even the
tanks would make up the distance against his people struggling
through this storm. Yes, they might find it difficult to find them,
their trail would be non-existent in this storm, but it was a large
convoy of people and Carter could send vehicles out in multiple
directions until he found them. They had to delay them further.

He hobbled back to where Seager would be
waiting, cursing his torn heel. Bullets stitched the air but most
of them were just fired by thralls shooting their relief as the
tanks rumbled up behind them. It did force him to keep low though.
The numerous fires backlit any movement so he had to take the
longer way around. It wouldn’t matter if a bullet was aimed or not
if it hit him.

April and Seager were exactly where they
were meant to be. April looked frightened. She might not be able to
hear the tanks but their vibrations were easily felt through the
earth, even packed with snow as it was.

“Are we going?” Seager looked just as
frightened but he put a brave face to it, although his relief at
seeing Harris was obvious.

“You are,” Harris panted as he drew level
and pulled his scarf from his mouth so April could read his lips.
Seager started to object but Harris cut him off. “I’m not sending
you away, Robert. I need you to catch up with the others and get
them moving faster. Tell them to leave the heavier items and make
their way to the train as quickly as they can. Get Grier to leave a
few men to take out any scouts and delay any advance.” He looked at
April. “You have to get them to understand. Leave anything that
isn’t critical. Otherwise those tanks will roll over them and we’ll
lose everything.” April nodded and pulled Seager with her.

“We’ll see you later, right?” Seager looked
at Harris earnestly and Harris could not hold the boy’s gaze. He
nodded briefly and turned back towards the gunfire. He needed to
find Warkowski and McAteer. A small smile cracked his face as a
thought began to form.

* * *

“You’re serious?” McAteer shouted over the
noise. There were five tanks and twelve half-tracks in the force
that was already positioning itself and the noise from their
engines was deafening. The scene was a strange one. On one side
there was a huge force and on the other a few ragged fighters. It
seemed impossible but there was a stalemate. The dawn was beginning
to crack the horizon, spreading its fingers of light across the
scene. Between the two sides lay the reason for the stalemate. One
of the huge tanks lay on its side, silent with black smoke pouring
from its hatch.

The humans had been lucky. The tank had come
too close to a fuel drum that had soaked the surrounding snow. Once
the tank drew close McAteer had thrown a flare into the saturated
area and a wall of flame erupted around the tank. The crew of the
tank had been taken by surprise. They were not trained for tank
warfare, merely told how to drive and shoot so the sudden extreme
rise in heat terrified them. Every surface was suddenly too hot to
touch and they panicked. They opened the hatch to escape but the
fire poured down into the tank like a living entity, burning and
searing them as they scrambled to escape. After a few minutes the
shells overheated and the tank blew. The tank had been thrown into
the air. The thralls on the main lines did not see what had
happened; only that a sudden wall of flame had appeared and one of
their tanks had been torn apart. They were unsure if the surface
before them was mined or whether the humans had some sort of
weapon. Either way, they were happy to wait until the light came
and they could examine the scene more carefully.

Every now and again one of the humans would
fire from cover and the answering fire would saturate the
surrounding area with .50 calibre blasts and a few high explosive
shells for good measure. The humans were long gone but the sheer
noise and physical presence of the tanks were taking their
toll.

“We have to do something while the light is
still poor,” Harris insisted. “Once they see the ground is clear
they’ll roll over us and won’t stop until they blow the shit out of
our train.”

“I see that,” McAteer sighed, “but, hell,
it’s a bit desperate. Even for you.”

Harris shrugged. “How many do we have
left?”

“Twelve still able to move,” McAteer said.
“Three others too wounded to be going anywhere in a hurry, or
anywhere at all if I’m honest. And Waters has a bullet in his leg
but can still hobble. Caulfield rigged him a crutch but he won’t be
running in the hundred meters for a while.”

“Okay, send Waters off after Seager and
April. They could do with somebody older when they catch up with
Grier in case he doesn’t take them seriously.” McAteer nodded. “The
three wounded can take up positions on the hill with Warkowski and
his team. I don’t want to hear it, Warkowski.” Harris turned to the
big man. “You’re more valuable up there keeping their heads down
than staying down here. Anyway, you’re too damn big, might as well
carry a flare above your head and start singing for all the skills
you have for covert work.”

Warkowski was about to argue but shrugged
instead and laid a slab of a hand on Harris’ shoulder. “Take care,
my friend. I have no intention of explaining to Miss Harrington how
you stood heroically till the last so please keep your damn fool
head down.”

“Are we set?” Harris asked McAteer and the
soldier nodded.

“Jesus, I was told you were unorthodox, but
this is just plain crazy.”

Warkowski laughed. “When we are safely away
from here I’ll tell you of the time he ran straight at the vampire
lord of this area with nothing but his bare hands. Now that was
crazy. By comparison this plan is merely on the fringes of
madness.”

“I should have stayed in the camps,” McAteer
laughed.

Carter surveyed the open ground and
fidgeted. He wanted to force an advance. They were in tanks for
fuck’s sake. But the still smoking ruin of the destroyed tank was
proof positive that the humans were not without their teeth. If he
pressed his forces forward and lost another tank they would turn on
him like rabid dogs.

He had to be clever. In another hour it
would be bright enough to advance safely. The humans could have
littered the whole area with mines and this damned snow provided
the perfect cover. But he couldn’t sit and do nothing either. He
had already sent a sizable force back on their trail. That patrol
would make their way behind the humans and take them from the rear.
He had sent thirty thralls into that flanking manoeuvre and he was
confident that they would crush the humans. What was another hour?
And, if his thralls believed that he was waiting on the dawn for
their safety, it would only help his standing.

As well as flanking the humans he had
ordered a number of fuel cans brought forward from their supply and
his thralls were already soaking the ground ahead of them in
diesel. Before they moved out he would set the whole area on fire.
The heat would take out any mines that might be ahead of them and
the flames would hide the tanks as they advanced. If they kept
moving the heat wouldn’t harm the tanks and the flames as well as
the flanking team would catch the humans unprepared.

He was concerned though that the number of
humans was far lower than he had expected. It struck him that this
was merely a holding action. Somewhere out there the main body of
people were struggling to flee from him. It shouldn’t take too long
to find them once they moved past this skirmish and then he could
return with the rebels dead and his pens filled with food to trade
with the vampires. He smiled. And the special ammunition, of
course. It had been a long time coming but, finally, things seemed
to be going his way. He looked up at the horizon and saw the sheets
of light spreading across the land in the distance. It wouldn’t be
long now.

* * *

Harris moved in the shadows. Ahead he could
see the thralls pouring fuel onto the ground and he smiled. That
was an unexpected bonus. He and the others were crawling towards
the enemy lines, their white clothes allowing them to blend into
the snow easily. He signalled for the others to take an account of
the diesel and he moved ahead.

Twelve humans storming a line of enemy
soldiers bristling with tanks and heavy armour was certainly not
something he had planned for but he didn’t see much choice. They
had left three of their number behind to continue taking pot shots
at the thralls and reminding them that they were still there. Two
men and a woman were back on the line with enough ammunition to
make it seem as though there were more. He hated leaving the
wounded but hard decisions had to be made if they were to buy the
main force the time to get to the train. They were soldiers, he
knew, but it did not make his leaving them any more palatable.
There was no way they would be able to make the journey; in fact
two of them may not make the dawn but still it rankled.