After Days (The After Days Trilogy) (28 page)

24

It had been snowing lightly ever since we had arrived in Lincoln and now, as we trudged through the trees, our shoes crunching through about six inches of snow, it began to fall harder. That was when I heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter coming from the direction of the small city we had left behind. I shook my head in resignation as we all stopped and looked back down the mountain and over Lincoln. Brooke pointed out the searchlight that seemed to be sweeping from left to right as it followed the highway through the small city.

Luke reached over, wincing at the movement, and tapped the rocket launcher. “You might need this soon,” he whispered.

I nodded and we all set off again, a little more purpose in our steps. I tried not to look back as the noise of the chopper got closer and closer, but eventually the sound changed slightly and I realized that it was now taking a more direct route. Straight up the mountain.

We were all puffing hard, both through exertion and fear, when we finally reached a sign post
proclaiming Drake Mountain Ski Resort. We left the tree line of the highway and hurried across a long concrete bridge. The chopper sounded even closer now and when I looked back I could also see the splash of headlights illuminating the trees from road level. The second Hummer. Goddammit! We were so close!

Once we crossed the bridge,
we rounded a bend and there it was. The ski lodge sat a couple of hundred yards away in a natural depression. Its windows were dark, some of them broken. It was clearly abandoned. I heard Brooke begin to cry as Luke whispered a swearword.

Feeling as hopeless as anyone, I urged them all on with Sonny bringing up the rear, shouting words of reassurance. Even if the safe haven didn’t exist, we still needed the protection that the abandoned lodge would afford us.

We had made the open gates in the stone fence of the Lodge when I heard the chopper’s engine whine as it picked up speed. They had spotted our tracks crossing the bridge. It roared towards us. “Keep going!” I screamed at the others as Luke and I turned to face the enemy. Sonny paused but I told him to get the others to shelter.

“Be careful Isaac!” Indigo called as she passed me. I looked at her, wondering if it was for the last time. 

“Help me get this thing loaded, Luke.”

We squatted on the ground and I handed Luke the grenade.
Even though clearly suffering, he deftly loaded the weapon and pulled out the sight before falling onto his backside, panting. He pointed at the trigger. 

“Don’t pull it too soon, and aim a little above the chopper… the trajectory… will drop after the initial…blast.”

The chopper was closing in and the circle of light from the spotlight trailed over the uneven ground, heading right towards us. I placed the rocket launcher against my shoulder. I heard Luke groan. The effort of the climb had been too much and he collapsed face down on the ground, a bloom of blood soaking into the snow around him.

At the sight of my
friend, a sob wrenched my throat and my eyes blurred with tears. I took aim at the chopper. I heard the distant screech of tires as the Hummer turned from the highway but didn’t allow my concentration to waver, even as its headlights illuminated the bridge.

I squeezed the trigger and
was knocked down by the concussion of the blast. As I fell to my butt with my ears ringing, the weapon fell from my hands and sizzled in the snow beside me. The grenade flew at the chopper…and missed it completely. Frustration and anger burned through me as it’s fiery trail etched a line across the night sky before it arced back to earth and exploded harmlessly in the forest.

I was already climbing to my feet as the chopper pilot veered needlessly
away from the wayward shot. The aircraft steadied and its spotlight found me. I had had enough. I was done. I pulled the revolver from my pocket and stalked towards the chopper, firing shot after shot at it until the firing mechanism was clicking on empty chambers…even then I continued pulling the trigger. I screamed up at it.

“Come on!”

I waited for the hot lead to tear me apart…and then the world exploded. I stared dumbfounded. The helicopter was in flames and as it plummeted to the ground, I noticed white clad figures running in from all directions, one of them carrying a rocket launcher.

I didn’t hang around to look closer, I dropped the revolver and ran back to Luke, falling on him as the chopper hit the ground a hundred yards from us, throwing up debris and snow.

When I felt it was safe, I started to climb off Luke and suddenly found myself staring into the muzzle of a machine gun. I looked up expecting to see a Chinese face standing over me. It wasn’t. It was a middle-aged American man. The first non-Chinese person over the age of sixteen that I had seen in more than a month.

“Do not move!” he screamed down at me as I looked up at him with wide eyes.

Behind him I saw the Chinese Hummer pull to a stop as soldiers began to exit their vehicle. I was surprised that the man in front of me didn’t turn his attention to them.

It became obvious
why soon enough. The Chinese soldiers weren’t aware of the threat, they hadn’t spotted the interlopers. The firefight was over quickly. The invading soldiers were cut down mercilessly by the men in white camouflage, who immediately secured the area.

“Throw down your weapons and place your hands on your heads!” yelled a gruff voice from the direction of the lodge.

I looked over; my people were placing their guns on the ground and putting their hands in the air as the men in white closed in on them. “Do it now!”

I could see that Sonny still held his semi-automatic and I held my breath, not exhaling until he finally bent over and placed it carefully on the concrete in front of him. I snuck a closer look at the man standing over me. He was armed with what looked to me like a US military issue M16 and also had the telltale haircut of a military man.

These guys were US army. But how could they be? I tried to stop him when he bent over Luke and reached for his throat, but he brushed me away.

“Easy Son,” he felt for Luke’s pulse and immediately called out. “We have a casualty over here! I need a
medic and a stretcher!”

Two men materialized with a fold up stretcher and I watched them
carefully lift my friend onto it as the man guarding me led me over to the rest of my group. As I reached them, still with their hands in the air, the two men carried Luke past us and through the open door of the Lodge.

“Where are they taking him?” Sonny asked.

“He’s in good hands, if he can be saved the Doc will save him,” said the gray haired man who appeared to be giving the orders.

“We came because we heard the Morse code message on the radio,” I called, as I was pushed into the huddle. “We are looking for sanctuary, not trouble.”

Looking at the men I reassessed my initial impression, these men were not all soldiers, not by any stretch.

“They're spies, Randall!”
a voice yelled.

I looked across at
the owner. He had a long bushy beard and I could see his gut straining against the material of his white camouflage.

“Hell they led the fuckers right to us! They even brought a chink with them, we should waste them now!”

“Shut up, Leroy,” the man he had called Randall snapped. The fat one held his stare for only a few seconds before looking down at his feet. “We're going to take them to the Professor, just like we were ordered to if anybody answered the signal.”

Randall looked back at us with piercing blue eyes. He was by far the oldest man in the group, and clearly military or ex-military. He looked fit and hard and was obvi
ously the leader.

“You all stay right where you are and a couple of my men are going to come and search you. If you make any move at all that I consider threatening, I'll order you shot down like dogs, do you understand me?”

We all nodded. I understood the words, of course, but was struggling to understand why this was happening... had the message been a trap all along? Or where they just being overly cautious?

As the men came in to search us, I realized that they were a real mix. Some white, some black, at least one of them looked Hispanic. There were no Chinese men among them, not even a vaguely Asian looking person. There were also no women for that matter.

My brain worked furiously, trying to figure this out. Had these people not been exposed to the Pongyang flu, or were they somehow immune? Could there be some sort of vaccine against it? I had hoped that we might find safety and answers here at Drake Mountain, but so far it was only danger and more questions.

The men efficiently patted us all down and checked our bags, confiscating blades and anything else that might be used against them
, before collecting our firearms from the floor. Sonny soon had a scattering of knives and shuriken on floor by his feet. Indigo's revolver was taken away as well.

While we were being searched I noticed another group of men cleaning up the mess left by the firefight. I had to admit they looked to be quick and efficient, clearly they wanted no trace left of the firefight if the Chinese came looking for the missing soldiers and helicopter.

We were directed through the front entrance of the lodge and overhead lights were switched on. We shaded our eyes as the leader, Randall, came forward. “Zip tie their hands and black bag them. We're taking them through the mountain to the Vale.”

“Surely there is no need for that? We’re on your side...!”

Sonny protested and took a half step toward Randall. There was a sound. A sort of a click-fzzzz, and suddenly Sonny stood up straight, his arms locked at his sides, and he jerked spasmodically for a moment before the humming sound faded and he collapsed in a twitching heap on the floor.

The man standing behind him, Leroy, had a TASER in his hand, the wires running to small prongs in Sonny's back.
Brooke began to cry and enraged, I took a step forward, only to feel the hand of one of my captors grip my shoulder firmly. The guns of the men around us kept the others at bay.

“I still say we waste ‘em…
or at least the chink,” said Leroy. “We can't take no enemy to the Vale.”

“We don't know yet that he
is
an enemy, Leroy,” Randall said tonelessly. “You have to look deeper than a person’s skin, man. Now get him up and bound. I want him reaching the Professor in one piece, you hear me?”

Randall’s words heartened me a little; at least we were being taken
to see someone. Maybe this Professor guy would be more reasonable. It sounded like he was in charge of the whole deal, but my brain refused to let me fully believe that we were safe, my hopes had been shattered too many times. 

My hands were pulled behind my back and a plastic zip tie slipped around my wrists. It was tight enough to hold them but not tight enough to cut off circulation.

All around me the rest of my group were being similarly treated. I caught Indigo’s eyes and nodded encouragingly before a black sack was pulled down over her head. I did the same for the others, trying to reassure them as they looked back at me with apprehension and fear. Then my own head was covered and the world went dark. With the bag over my head, sightless and surrounded by armed men, I was as scared as I ever remembered being in my life.

“Now, we're going to lead you through a couple of tight places,” I heard Randall say from in front of us, “and it’s going to be a bit of a hike
. You should be fine as long as you don't do anything stupid.”

A hand grabbed my shoulder and propelled me forward. “Let's go people! Leroy, cut the lights!”

END OF BOOK ONE

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