Battle Lines (The Survivalist Book 5) (18 page)

He oriented himself toward the shoreline and dropped back below the surface. As soon as he was under, he kicked hard, pulling himself forward with both hands. He swam until he felt like his lungs were about to burst and then came back up for a quick gulp of air. To his surprise, he had made it nearly all the way to the shore. He tested the footing beneath him and found that he could stand. He kicked off and swam the final few strokes. When his belly began scrubbing across the mud, he hauled himself up and darted into the dense thicket of trees lining the river.

As soon as he was behind cover, Tanner peeked back toward the river. Samantha was slowly drifting downstream, but the gunfire continued, first a small splash to her left and then another to her right. Amateur marksman or not, whoever was doing the shooting was willing to follow her until the job was done.

Staying a few feet inside the tree line, Tanner began to make his way upstream. He had barely taken ten steps when he saw two young men, perhaps in their late teens, walking along the shoreline. The first was a spitting image of Macaulay Culkin. Not the cute kid from
Home Alone
but the emaciated heroin addict. Like other chronic drug users, every few seconds his body involuntarily convulsed—a sudden jerk, as if someone had touched him with an electrical wire. The second youth was nearly as skinny, but his most noticeable trait was a pair of ears that flared out like those of childhood actor Erik Per Sullivan. He held a Marlin .22 rifle down at waist level, shooting as he walked. Culkin looked over his shoulder, giggling and waving around two cans of beer.

Tanner ducked behind a large tree and waited for them to come a little closer. He reminded himself that it was always safer to let an enemy be the one in motion. He slid the knife out and tested its edge. It was plenty sharp. The smart thing to do would be to gut them both and be done with it. They sure as hell deserved it. But the thought of killing two such pitiful young men didn’t sit well with him. And killing was not something that could be taken back once it was done.

He slid the knife back into its sheath. Maybe killing them wasn’t the answer, but he sure as hell planned to teach them a lesson they wouldn’t soon forget.

As they passed directly in front of him, Tanner rushed out with his arms spread wide. He managed to plow both boys to the ground. As they fell, the rifle fumbled from Sullivan’s grip, splashing muzzle down into the mud. They squirmed and flailed, desperately trying to push him off, but with one hand on the back of Sullivan’s neck and the other crushing Culkin’s nuts, keeping them on the ground proved easy enough.

Once he had them settled down, Tanner rose up on one knee and shouted toward Samantha.

“Sam! It’s all clear.”

Samantha peeked over the edge of the boat and eyed the situation. When she was satisfied that it wasn’t some kind of trick, she slid up onto the thwart and began rowing in his direction.

“Please, mister,” squealed Culkin, “you got my privates.”

“What? These little things?” Tanner squeezed his testicles, and the boy’s face twisted in agony.

Sullivan suddenly jerked to the side, trying to pull free of the grip on his neck. Tanner dropped his body weight, driving the point of his elbow between the boy’s shoulder blades. Sullivan cried out, screaming profanities that were as revolting as they were creative.

“This situation’s real simple,” growled Tanner. “If you fight to get away, I’m going to hurt you. Everybody clear on that?”

Culkin nodded vigorously. Sullivan didn’t reply.

“Now,” he said, watching as Samantha hopped out and dragged the boat onto shore. “Either of you care to tell me why you were shooting at us?”

Sullivan turned his head sideways to keep from taking a mouthful of dirt.

“Because you’re an ass wipe.”

Tanner dropped the elbow again, this time a little harder.

“I can see that you and I are going to get along great. You like pain, and I like giving it.”

Samantha hurried toward them with her rifle in hand.

“You okay?”

He nodded. “Better than these two knuckleheads.”

“Why were they shooting at us?”

“My question exactly.” He turned his attention to Culkin. “Well, numbnuts?”

“We were just foolin’ around. We didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”

Tanner squeezed his testicles, and the boy screamed as tears started down his face.

“Jeezus, mister, please!”

“You didn’t mean nothin’ by shooting a rifle at us? Is that what you just said?”

The boy pressed his eyes together, desperately trying to manage the pain.

“I want you both to look at my daughter.”

Culkin immediately turned toward her but was unwilling to make eye contact. Sullivan refused to even try. Tanner drove a finger in behind the boy’s ear, and he shrieked in pain.

“If I have to tell you again, I’m going to lose my temper. Believe me, you don’t want that.”

“You really don’t,” said Samantha.

Sullivan tipped his head around so that he could look up at her.

“That’s a good boy. I see we’re finally communicating. Now, when you look at my little Samantha, what do you see? And be careful with your answer.”

“A girl,” said Sullivan. “I see a girl.”

“What else?”

Culkin said, “Look, mister, we’re sorry—”

Tanner squeezed the young man’s testicles again, and this time, his eyes rolled back into his head as he nearly passed out.

“I’m talking to him now.” He turned back to Sullivan. “Go on. Describe her to me.”

“She’s young,” he said, swallowing. “Maybe ten or eleven.”

“I’m twelve,” said Samantha. “I’m just small for my age.”

“What else?”

Sullivan was breathing hard now, trying to manage the pain.

“She’s got brown hair. A pretty face. Bright eyes.”

“Keep going.”

“I don’t know!” he shrieked. “What do you want me to say?”

Tanner gripped the boy’s neck even harder, and leaned down close to his ear. When he spoke it was through clenched teeth.

“I want you to tell me what’s so God awful about her that made you want to put a bullet in her.” He pushed Sullivan’s face down into the dirt. “You tell me that!”

“Tanner,” Samantha said, moving closer. “I’m okay.” She reached down and put her hand on his shoulder. “Really, I’m okay.”

He let up on the boy, and Sullivan immediately lifted his head, gasping for air. Tanner looked up at Samantha, and she smiled at him. It was enough to bring him down.

He took a deep breath and let it out very slowly.

“All right,” he said, letting the boys go and standing up. “It’s time for your punishment. Both of you, on your feet.”

Neither of them moved, their eyes wide with fear.

“Do I have to say it again?”

“You should do as he says,” coaxed Samantha. She seemed to understand that the real danger to them had passed.

Sullivan and Culkin scrambled to their feet.

Tanner said, “Okay, now strip.”

“What?” they both cried.

“Get down to your shorts.”

Sullivan started to undress, but surprisingly, it was Culkin who hesitated.

“Was I unclear about something?”

“No, sir. It’s just, uh, well, sir, I don’t have any shorts on.”

Tanner grinned and shook his head.

“That, young man, is between you and your little fella.”

Culkin looked over at Samantha, who was trying her best to cover a grin. He shrugged and began to undress. When he pulled off his stained trousers, he used both hands to shield his so-called privates. By the time they were finished undressing, both young men had turned a bright shade of red.

“Now, toss your clothes out into the water.”

They did as instructed, with Culkin doing his best to maintain what little remained of his dignity. Tanner picked up their rifle and hurled it out into the river as well. Then he went over and unloaded his and Samantha’s gear from the boat.

When he was finished, he said, “Okay, now both of you get into the boat.”

They hurried over and climbed in. Despite being naked and bruised, both seemed relieved to be getting away in one piece. Tanner reached across and shoved both oars into the water. Then he gave the boat a good push, sending it out into the Potomac. Both boys immediately ducked down inside the boat, perhaps fearing that they were about to get some of their own medicine. But Tanner didn’t shoot at them. In fact, he no longer had any interest in them at all.

“Ready?” he said, slipping on his backpack.

Samantha watched as the boys floated down river, thinking they looked a lot like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

“Yeah,” she said, “but can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why did you have them take off their clothes? Was it to embarrass them?”

“Partly.”

“Why else?”

“Why do you think?” Tanner wondered how long it would take her to realize that he wanted to make sure they weren’t armed.

She thought for a moment, and then her eyes lit up.

“I think you stripped them of their pride to give them a chance at a fresh start. You know, the way the monks do when they walk around in those funny-looking robes.”

Tanner said nothing.

She grabbed his arm. “That’s it, isn’t it? You were trying to teach them some kind ancient Buddhist wisdom.”

Donning what he hoped was an all-knowing smile, he said, “Yeah, you caught me.”

Tanner and Samantha hiked up a shallow embankment, through a narrow patch of trees, and out onto a four-lane divided highway. Cars, trucks, tractor-trailers, buses, and ambulances stretched as far as the eye could see. Directly across the highway was a dense forest that neither of them had any desire to plod through.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Virginia.”

“We’re out of D.C.?”

He pointed back toward the river.

“That side is the District. This side is Virginia.”

“Hmm,” she said, making a mental note of the geography tidbit.

“But it really doesn’t matter anymore. You can call that side Samanthaburg and this side Tannersville, if you want.”

She stared across the Potomac.

“If that was my city, I’d get rid of all the mean people.”

“Oh really? What would you do with them?”

“I’d send them over to Tannersville, of course.”

They both chuckled.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” she said.

“What’s that?”

“Being one of the last people alive.”

“I guess.”

“Everything’s sort of starting over. Cities. Governments.” She touched his hand. “Even families.”

The gesture touched him, and he wasn’t sure how to respond without getting emotional. In the end, he fell back on humor.

“Are you saying I’m weird?”

She gave him a sidelong glance.

“I wasn’t saying it, but now that you bring it up…”

He gave her a playful shove.

“Which way now?” she asked.

“Let’s walk south to the Arlington Bridge. We can go back out the way we came in, maybe even on the same motorcycle.”

“Do you really think it’s still there after all this time?”

He smiled. “Sam, it’s only been a few days.”

“No.” She looked up at him. “Really? A few days?” It seemed impossible that so much had happened in such a short time.

“Afraid so.”

“Wow. We really live a busy life.”

Tanner laughed. “We do at that. If we can just get home, though, I think things will finally settle down. Who knows? Maybe we can even get on with living a more peaceful life.”

She made a face that said she wasn’t buying it.

“No? Why not?”

“Tanner, you and I aren’t built for that.”

Her words surprised him. “That’s a strange thing to say. If we weren’t built for a peaceful life, what were we built for?”

She stared at the mayhem stretching in every direction.

“I hate to say it, but I think we were built for
this
.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“I haven’t decided yet. What about you?”

“I’m good.”

“Really? Nearly the entire world died, and you’re
good
?”

He shrugged. “I never really liked the world much.”

“Why not?”

“Too many rules, I guess.”

She thought about that a moment.

“Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem for you.”

“Because I’m a criminal?”

“Because you’re a man who doesn’t like to be told what to do.”

He nodded. “Got that right.”

They started walking south on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Despite the threat of feral dogs, roadway bandits, and desperate survivors, the walk seemed much less stressful than their trek through the animal-infested park had been. Violent men were one thing; bacteria-laden dragons were another.

After two long miles, they came to a concrete ramp leading up to an overpass. To their left, they could see that the overpass crossed back over the Potomac, and to the right, it headed deeper into Arlington. Without stopping to discuss options, Tanner started up the ramp.

Samantha hesitated as she tried to make sense of several large green signs that hung over the highway. They didn’t look familiar.

“Are you sure this is the right bridge?”