We Go On (THE DELL) (23 page)

It took me longer to find the
place in the dark than I thought it would. There was a small copse of woods
that came within about thirty-yards of the inside of the wall. That was the
location of the bend in the wall. I planned to hide in the trees close enough
that I’d have a clear shot at anybody coming over. I should’ve told Dave and
had him send a couple of his guys out to back me up but I was afraid there
would be too much noise and alert any attackers to our presence. I set up at
the base of a big oak tree and waited.

It was a quiet night and, being
March, it was still cold. I had worn my heavy coat over my sweater but the
briskness of the evening helped to keep me alert. The evening dragged by and my
mind was occupied with thoughts of what I should do. By midnight, I thought I
had made a mistake; that I was wrong about what they intended. I decided I'd
wait until 2 a.m. and, if nothing happened, I'd call it a night. By 1:30 a.m.
my back hurt from sitting in the cold against the tree. I had to stand up to
stretch and was so stiff I had to use the tree trunk to help me get to my feet.
I tried to be quiet and just straightened up from a stretch when I saw the rope
come over the wall.

I moved cat-like back behind the
tree using it as cover. The night was clear and the stars provided enough light
to see a man in full combat kit slid down the rope to the ground. As soon as he
touched down he moved to his left and took a knee providing security for the
others that were sure to follow him. The second man had started down the rope
and I decided to act before I was too out numbered. I took aim and fired three
rounds at the kneeling man. I started forward as he crumpled to the ground and
I reached the wall just as the second man touched down. He flung the rope away
and turned bringing his rifle up as I swung my rifle at his head. A satisfying
thud rewarded me as the stock of my rifle connected with the right side of his
head. He dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

I searched him for weapons and
found several pair of flex cuffs attached to his rig. Disarmed and flex-cuffed,
I left him and checked the other guy and found him dead. All of my rounds had
struck him high in the shoulder and head. I went back to my prisoner and
checked him. He was still out so I got on the radio to Dave and filled him in
on what had happened. He told me he'd have a team there as soon as they were
assembled and from his tone I could tell that he would be chewing my ass for
going out alone. I probably deserved it. I was suddenly struck with the
realization of what would I do if more soldiers started over the wall. So I
fired a few more rounds over the top of the wall to dissuade anybody else from
attempting to climb over.

I latched onto the grab handle on
the back of my prisoners vest and drug him back to the trees where I'd have
some cover while waiting for Dave to show up. I heard the man moan as he
started to come to. I prodded him with the toe of my boot and told him to stay
quiet or I'd shoot him. He must have believed me because he didn't make any
more noise.

As soon as Dave arrived, we loaded
the prisoner into one of the ATVs and headed them back to the EOC. Dave didn't
say much; just muttered dumb ass under his breath before ordering several of
his guys to remain there to make sure another attempt wasn't made. Dave drove
me back to the EOC so I could interrogate the man I'd caught. The whole way
back he kept muttering and I only occasionally caught a word. Mostly what I
heard was stupid and asshole. I made a mental note to remind him about who
worked for whom.

"What's your name?" I
sat across the table from the young man. His hands were still flex-cuffed
behind him causing him to lean forward in the chair. I could see the large bump
on his scalp just above his right ear from where I had hit him. I was sure his
bell was still ringing but there was no pain written on his face as he stared
back at me. So far he had refused to answer any of my questions.

He was a tall good looking guy.
Military haircut, and in real good shape. It’s obvious he had been eating well
and spending time in a gym. Where ever he'd come from he wasn't struggling to
live the way we had been. I could tell he was a hard ass and if I played it
hard we'd get nowhere fast. This had to be a good-cop, better-cop type
interview.

I called Dave in and asked him to
remove the guy’s cuffs. Dave gave me a questioning look and I motioned for him
to go ahead. He shrugged and cut the flex cuffs. "Please don't make me
regret doing that," I said as the soldier brought his hands around in
front of him and leaned back. He looked at me but said nothing. I continued,
"Look I understand what you’re thinking. I used to be a soldier but I'm
not anymore and neither are you. Now we are the same; we're both survivors.
That's all and I don't think it's going to hurt anything for you to tell me
your name."

He continued to stare back at me
for a few seconds. "Nate. My name is Nate."

I nodded and thanked him for
telling me his name. I introduced myself and explained that I was in charge
here. I told him that he wasn’t going to be harmed and I just wanted to
understand why they were threatening us. He scoffed, "You didn't have a
problem killing my partner. Why should I believe you?"

"You attacked us," I
said. "We have tried to live peacefully but we aren't going to let someone
waltz in and take our home away from us. We didn't come to you and threaten
you. We’re simply trying to survive and if you had come to us and asked, we
would have let you in. Demanding we turn our home over to you and then killing
our people when we said no is not the way to gain our cooperation."

He considered this for a moment,
then he turned. "I just do what I'm told. I don't get involved in the
politics. I'm just a shooter."

"Politics?" I asked.
"I don't understand what you mean and the 'I just do what I'm told' excuse
won't cut it. You attacked us with no provocation and some of our people are
dead. You and your group are responsible. Why? That's what I want you to tell
me Nate. Why?"

He looked down at the floor for a
long time. I thought he might ignore the question when he looked back up at me
and said, "Because that crazy bitch told Dick to attack you. If she tells
Dick to do something; he does it."

"Who's Dick?" I asked.

"Dick Whittaker. Our fearless
leader. I think him and the bitch have something going. She says jump and Dick
asks how high."

"Okay, if you know she's
crazy, and I agree with you by the way, why do what she wants?"

"Same reason you're fighting
back. To survive. If we don't do what we’re told we get kicked out of the
Complex and you know what’s going on out there," Nate said.

"What's the Complex?"

Once again, he paused before
answering. I guess he was considering what or how much to tell us. "It’s
part of the National Laboratory at Oak Ridge, outside Knoxville. I've been
there since before the world went to shit." He paused again. "I don't
agree with what we're doing here but I don't want to starve to death or get
turned into one of those things either." He spread his hands as if to say
'what am I supposed to do.'

"What if we offered you a
place here?" I asked him. Dave, who had been standing at the door behind
Nate, gave me a look that asked if I'd lost my mind but didn't say anything,
but I wanted to know what Nate knew.

Nate looked at me doubtfully. "You'd
do that?"

I nodded. "Yes, on two conditions.
One, you have to agree to abide by our rules just like anybody else wanting to
join us and, two, I want to know everything about Dr. Dumont and
Whittaker."

"All right, here's what I
know. I was an Army Ranger and when I discharged I was hired by GMOI, Global
Military Options International. I worked a couple of security jobs for them.
Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Rwanda. Then they wanted us to go to Egypt and escort
this doctor back to the States. We were told he was a close hold so I figured
he wasn't a willing visitor. Turns out, I was right and he'd been detained by
CIA because he was some kind of biotech guy. Anyway, we escorted him to the
Complex where we met Dr. Dumont. She was the head of a project trying to find
an antidote for whatever it was that the Egyptian had invented." He paused
and asked for a glass of water. I asked Dave to get him one then motioned for
Nate to continue. "The National Lab has their own security and we were
just supposed to keep an eye on the Egyptian. We had been there a couple of
months when he disappeared. Dumont went nuts and had Whittaker running around
trying to find him. We never found him because four days later the country went
to shit."

Dave returned with the water and
after Nate downed the glass he began again. "Dumont has been trying to
figure out what happened ever since. Back in August, one of the satellites
found you guy's and she's been about to piss herself since then. The Complex’s
underground and she wants this place because she's tired of living in a cave. She
told Whittaker to get rid of you guys so she could move here. We tried the
first time back in November by luring the infected to you. Whittaker's idea. He
thought you would either starve or try to escape and we could just walk in and
take the place. It didn't work so Dumont came up with the idea of trying to buy
the place. We all knew that wouldn't work but she's crazy and you can't tell
her shit." He shrugged. "So here we are. That's all I know."

I couldn't believe it. The siege
by the Stinkies, our food shortage, all the problems we'd had since the Marvin
incident was because Dr. Alanis Dumont didn't want to live underground any
longer and all she would have had to do was ask and we would have let her in.
Then, to try and give us something as worthless as money, to get us to move. My
god, she really was insane. I knew then there would be no negotiating to end
this. We were going to have to fight.

I told Dave to take Nate to Doc
Groves and get him checked out. If he passed the physical then set him down and
explain our rules. If he agreed, then get him settled at the barn. Dave didn't
like it but said he’d do it. “Keep him guarded and away from the fight. If he
tries anything stupid don’t hesitate. Kill him.” I said the last part loud
enough so that Nate could hear me.

“Roger,” Dave said and led the
young man away.

I sat at the table and considered
what Nate had told me. There was a lot here to consider. This was going to be a
real fight with a well-trained enemy. How many of our people could I afford to
lose? How long could we hold out? Food wouldn't be a problem for a while but
after last night’s attack and what I found out today it was obvious they
wouldn't stop. There would be more attempts to get in and eventually they would
succeed. What would we do then? Talking to Dumont was useless. She was insane
and there would be no rational discussion with her. Maybe I could talk to
Whittaker. Maybe I could convince him the way I had Nate. It was worth a try.

I found Camille at her desk in the
EOC office. She directed the security folks while Dave took care of Nate. I
told her what I wanted and she said she'd get some people on it right away. I
told her I needed to go home for a while and to call me on the radio once it
was set up. She said she would and I left to go home to see Kat.

When I got to the cottage, I found
Kat still asleep so I went to the kitchen and began fixing a pot of coffee. We
still had a few eggs from our allotment and I decided to fix breakfast for the
two of us. I worked at the stove when she came in and asked what had happened
so I told her the story. I told her everything, the attack at the wall. Then
about the interview with Nate and what he'd said. She sat at the table sipping
coffee and listened. I finally explained my plan and asked her what she
thought.

My plan was very simple; I would
place the body of Whittaker’s dead man outside the gate and then put up a white
flag to let them know I wanted to talk. When they came to recover the body I
would tell them I wanted to parlay with Whittaker. Then I'd try to convince him
to stop the attack. Depending on his attitude I was prepared to offer them
sanctuary in The Dell. Kat asked me if I thought it would work and I told her
honestly I didn't but I was completely out of ideas. If this didn't work the
only thing we could do was hunker down, kill anybody who tried to get in and
wait them out. It would all depend on who was the most stubborn. Kat told me
that if stubbornness is the deciding factor then Whittaker might as well leave
now because he didn't stand a chance. I laughed and thanked her for her vote of
confidence.

Her comment helped to lighten the
mood and we ate breakfast and chatted as if nothing had happened. I felt better
after our talk and helped her to clean the dishes when a call came in on my
radio. I answered and Dave told me all the preparations were ready and they
were waiting for me at the gate. I told him to go ahead and move the body and I
would be there shortly. He replied he would and I signed off. Once again my
wife wished me luck and I took off for the gate.

Arriving at the gate I went
directly to the tower and climbed the ladder. The white flag fluttered in the
cold breeze and I stood in plain view hoping that Whittaker’s people wouldn't
start shooting. Again, it didn't take long for them to react. As I watched, the
black Ford Excursion came through the cut and started toward us. They pulled
into the serpentine and stopped about twenty yards from the gate. I told the
guards to keep them covered and I went down to talk to them.

It wasn't Whittaker but a couple
of his men. I told them that they could pick up the body of their man and asked
them to deliver the message that I wanted to meet with Whittaker to discuss
ending hostilities. They told me they would deliver the message and took their
dead comrade. As soon as they had him loaded they backed out and left. About
ten minutes later, the SUV was back at the gate. I had told the guards to be
especially watchful and if things went bad not to hesitate. I wanted them to
target any enemy they could see. If we were going to go down it would be
fighting.

Whittaker exited the truck as soon
as it came to a stop. Along with him were two security men carrying rifles.
Whittaker had a new pistol and didn't look happy as he approached. He stopped
about ten feet away from me and his men took up positions at the front corners
of the truck. Whittaker didn't say anything so I started. "Thank you for
agreeing to talk to me." He didn't respond at all. "I wanted you to
have your man back and I hope we can come to an understanding," I said.

He continued to stare at me
without responding. Finally I asked, "Why did you agree to talk if you
aren't going to say anything?"

"I just wanted to listen to
you whine. I knew you were a pussy and figured it was just a matter of time
before you were begging for us to stop," he said with a sneer.

I tried to keep my cool. It
wouldn't do to try to negotiate with this guy if I let my anger show. I got my
voice under control. "I want to discuss the possibility of coming to an
agreement to stop killing each other. It’s not helping either of us to keep
this up." I paused again to see if he would respond and he did.

"I told you before that I
intended to kill you. I'm not going to entertain any discussion until I've
accomplished that," he said. I looked him right in the eye and saw the
moment he made his decision. His hand started for the holster on his hip and
time slowed down. Instinctively my right hand dropped to where the 45 waited. I
saw his pistol start up out of his holster and I responded. My pistol cleared
its holster and rotated toward Whittaker held close to my side. As the muzzle
pointed at Whittaker I pulled the trigger twice. I watched his weapon still
coming up into his shooting stance as my two rounds struck him in the chest. He
reflexively fired a round that struck the asphalt about three inches from my
left foot and skipped into the gate. Time sped back up to normal as Whittaker
collapsed onto the road.

I tried to get a handle on what
had just happened when I became aware of full auto fire coming from the towers.
The two security guards dropped to the ground hit multiple times. The truck
immediately started to reverse out of the serpentine. As I watched a line of
holes appeared in the hood and advanced up into the windshield. The truck
swerved into one of the Hesco barriers and came to a stop. Another burst of
fire struck the windshield obliterating it. I looked up at the guard manning
the M-240 machine gun and he yelled that I was clear. I nodded back at him and went
to check the men we had just shot.

Both guards and Whittaker were
dead so I moved to the truck and found the driver in the same condition. Smoke
came from under the hood and I decided to get back inside the gate. I knew
there would be retaliation and I didn't want to be caught out when it came. The
response was quick. I just had time to get back inside when machine gun fire
from Whittaker's men streaked in toward us. We pushed the gate shut as heavy
caliber rounds slammed into it. My gunner in the tower targeted the enemy gun
and after firing a few seconds I heard him whoop in pleasure then drop down
behind the top of the wall. He sat there laughing until I asked what was funny.
He leaned over the edge to see me. "Son of a bitch didn't think I could
hit him. I qualified expert on this gun the year before everything happened.
Maybe they won't fuck with us so much now." I told him good shooting and
he smiled and sat back out of sight.