Hive Invasion (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

By midday, Krysty and the others, along with the remaining Silvertide members, had accounted for everything they had left. The final tally was four of the collective members killed in the flood, and six they assumed were missing, instead of washed away to die. That didn’t count Ryan or Mildred.

They had also found two of the previously missing collective members, both drowned. There was no obvious sign of the parasites, and without Mildred on-site to verify that they were clean, Krysty and J.B. weren’t keen on keeping the bodies around for too long. Fortunately, neither was the rest of the collective, and all of the dead were burned in a pyre while a prayer was said over their bodies by Elder Chreis.

Along with the earlier damage inventory, it was found that two more of the wagons were disabled enough so that it would be at least a day before the train could get underway again. The overall mood of the group, already sullen before this news, had turned downright hostile, particularly in regards to their sec personnel. Krysty was already partially aware of that—even if she hadn’t seen the dark glares leveled at them, she could sense the emotional mood of the group.

Elder Chreis had shared the news with them once everyone had come back together at the new camp. “Sister Krysty, a word, if you please.”

“J.B., come with us,” she said as she walked a few yards away with the older man. “What’s going on?”

To his credit, Chreis looked pained at being the bearer of this bad news. “There has been much talk among the rest of the collective about whether to follow your sec directives anymore. Many feel that your group is at least partially responsible for the situation we are now in—”

“Just a second,” J.B. interrupted. “Are you people trying to blame us for the fireblasted
weather?
”

“Let the man finish, J.B.,” Krysty said. “Go on.”

“You must understand—” The older man looked around before he continued speaking. “We are a simple people, who follow the Lord’s word in all things. As such, that makes many of our populace... Well, rather superstitious.”

“Careful. That sounds suspiciously like educated words coming from your mouth,” Krysty said with a smile to reassure him that she was kidding.

Chreis smiled back and nodded. “I knew you were clever ones from the way you spoke. Yes, I had received some schooling back home many years ago. I was even a teacher before I decided to join the collective on its journey. It is my hope to reestablish my school when we are finally settled somewhere and train the next generation to continue driving back the darkness.”

“That’s all great, but I hardly see what that has to do with us and how we’ve been handling things,” J.B. said.

“You have to understand that many of the adults here don’t have much of an education beyond the bare minimum. Many can barely read or write, since there wasn’t all that much call for it outside whatever called for technical aspects, like the water machine. The physical skills—farming, hunting, hide tanning—are all passed down orally and by hands-on training, as the older generation passes on its skills and information to the next.”

“And with so much emphasis placed on the tools needed for survival, other aspects fall by the wayside, while certain other rituals and stories take on an oversize importance in their lives,” Krysty said.

“That’s it exactly,” Chreis agreed. “I think there are those who still believe in you and what you’re doing, but there has been a gathering of like minds in the colony—mainly from those who have recently lost members—who are saying that you people are allied with these kidnappers, and trying to lure us astray so that we’ll be easier prey for them.”

“These folks do realize that we’ve also lost two of our own to these bastards?” J.B. asked, two pink spots on his cheeks highlighting how angry he was. “To accuse us of collaborating with them takes a hell of a lot of gall—”

“Actually, I can see where they’re coming from,” Krysty said, cutting him off. “Forgive my bluntness, Chreis, but your people are more shrewd than I gave them credit for to think of this. Even with Tully and Latham witnessing what we did back at the building where we first met them, we could have arranged all that as well to insinuate ourselves more completely among your people. After all, who would suspect us after watching us kill one of our own? No one.”

“Krysty, you’re talking paranoid delusions here,” J.B. said. “If that was true, then we also would have had to set up that situation two nights ago, where we saved three people from being taken, remember? Are they saying that would have been all planned, too, including killing the three kidnappers, just to make us look good?”

“Yes,” Krysty replied flatly. “Keep in mind that I’m saying the people who are unhappy are fitting what has happened into their own narrative, to fit what they think is happening. However, that scenario does have some basis in fact.”

“How do you figure that?” J.B. asked.

“To make this work, we have to assume that these parasites are only interested in their own survival and to reproduce by whatever means necessary,” Krysty said. “With that goal in mind, and remember some of what we learned about bees, for instance, in Heaven Falls, a hive will often sacrifice members if the risk versus reward is acceptable. If they believe they have the chance to get thirty or forty new members by sacrificing three or four, they might very well go for it. In that case, inserting double agents among the target group makes perfect sense.”

“All right, all right, I get your point.” J.B. blew air out through his pursed lips. “Well, whatever you think of them, they’re still the bad guys and we’re still the good guys. That is the case, right?”

“Yes, I was just putting myself in these people’s shoes for a minute, that’s all,” Krysty replied. “Whatever our next step against the kidnappers is going to be, we’d better settle this matter before it gets any more out of hand. Chreis, can you gather everyone in a few minutes? I find it’s best to face our accusers and see if they still have the guts to confront us directly.”

“I will,” the elder replied. “Let’s meet by the double wagon your friend created. Most of our people are near it already, so it will be easy enough to gather the rest.”

“We’ll give you a few minutes to gather everyone, then we’ll head over, all right?”

“Thank you, sister.” The elder trotted toward the forlorn cluster of working wagons, with Krysty and J.B. watching him leave and not saying anything until they were sure he was out of earshot.

“You and Ricky get the truck running yet?” she asked.

J.B. nodded. “Yeah, it’ll go, but I can’t guarantee how far. Engine’s balky at best, and there might be water in the fuel line, so she may stall out on us when we least expect it.”

“All the same, it might be best to have it ready.”

“Especially if our little powwow doesn’t go as planned,” he observed soberly.

“Right. I don’t really expect them to attack us, but it only takes a minute or two for a crowd to turn into a mob. Either way, best be prepared if that comes to pass.”

“Way ahead of you,” he replied. “While we’ve been cleaning up after the flood, I’ve been packing supplies in the truck, just in case we were going to try to head out to find that redoubt—or if we had to bug out in a hurry, for whatever reason. There’s enough in there to last us a week or two if we eat lean. The weapons, of course, are our biggest aces in the hole.”

“Exactly. When the time comes, you, me and Doc will be the ones to talk to the others. Ricky will be manning the truck, in case there’s trouble, and we’ll put Jak up on the hill with a carbine—just in case.”

J.B. nodded. “Works. Give me a minute to get the boys set up, and then we’ll head over.”

Krysty nodded, and the Armorer loped off while she checked the load in her Glock 18C before putting it back into its holster, hoping that she wouldn’t be forced to use it this day.

* * *

W
HEN
K
RYSTY
AND
J.B. finally headed toward the pair of wagons, they saw that the bulk of the collective was already assembled, with clusters of men and women talking among themselves.

As the two approached, Krysty noticed that the majority of them were armed now, mostly with farm implements—pitchforks, shovels, axes—but others were carrying improvised clubs and many hands hovered uncomfortably close to the knives sheathed on their belts. The two were easily outnumbered by a factor of ten to one.

“Jak’s in position,” J.B. said as they walked up to the wagons. “Ready to face our grateful employers?”

From inside the wagon, they heard Doc’s booming baritone as he entertained the children with a fantastic story about a girl named Alice, who was apparently in the midst of a strange adventure featuring a talking rabbit and a queen who sounded as if she ruled a kingdom of playing cards.

Krysty stepped up to the side of the wagon and knocked on the gunwale. “Sorry to interrupt, Doc, but we’ve got some business to take care of, and we need you to join us.”

The old man looked from her to the kids, all of whom groaned at the interruption of their story. “I am sorry, children, but I’m afraid we’ll have to pick this up another time. Perhaps we can get together after dinner, and I will tell you how Alice escaped from the Queen of Hearts.” Catching Krysty’s nod away from the wagon, Doc got them all on their feet. “All right, little ones, everyone run along and play.”

Grumbling and sighing, the kids jumped down from the wagon and quickly scattered. “No news about our missing companions yet?”

Krysty shook her head as she climbed up into the back.

“I trust from your expressions that not all is well in Kansas?”

“Not really.” Krysty lowered her voice. “The natives are restless. Just stand with us, and be ready to run if we have to.”

“Oh, dear.” Doc grabbed the lapels of his frock coat and held them like a sideshow carnival barker. “I stand ready to assist any way I can.”

“Just stand next to us and look dignified for right now,” Krysty replied. “You both ready?” They each nodded. “Let’s do this.”

She turned to the rest of the people around them, all of whom had clustered around the back of the wagon. Elder Chreis stood next to it with his hands raised, trying to keep the crowd from bombarding them with questions, but lowered them at a nudge from Krysty. “It’s all right, Elder.”

She then raised her voice to address the crowd. “I understand that many of you are upset and frustrated about what happened last night. This won’t be much consolation, but the rest of my group and me are just as concerned about our missing people—
all
of them, yours and ours alike—”

“Even since Bough gave you control of sec, everything’s been going wrong!” yelled a man in the crowd.

“Is that so?” Krysty replied. “It seems to me if we hadn’t been around, you folks would be missing three more people, who instead were saved by us from being carried off.” She took a breath before plunging ahead with her next statement. “You also might have been missing the entire Bough family, instead of simply mourning the loss of Elder Bough. Not to mention how badly last night could have gone if we hadn’t been here. Who knows how many people might been taken if not for us—”

“You were the ones who had us set up camp next to the spring,” another person shouted. “The flood could have killed all of us!”

“Now, just a minute!” Krysty said, raising her voice loud enough to be heard, but not shouting the other man down. “That spot had everything we needed at the time—water, and a defensible location in the event of an attack. Now, this isn’t your first time out in the world. We all know how unpredictable the weather can be. Obviously if we’d known the storm would have been that bad, we would have taken better precautions. But the fact remains that the enemy did try to use it as cover, which would have happened anyway, and if not for the flood, things might have been a whole lot worse, since that was what really broke up their attack.”

Now Elder Chreis stepped forward. “There is no doubt that we have suffered more tribulations in the past few days, from the loss of Elder Bough to the flood and this latest assault by these people. In Elder Bough’s wisdom, he saw fit to put the vote to all of us before we took these folks on, and indeed, I don’t think anyone here can truly speak against their helpfulness and willingness to stand with us against the scourge of those who are stealing our people. In the elder meeting this morning, it was agreed that we would be willing to put their continued assistance to a vote if you all wish it.”

There was a lot of grumbling among the people, but no one was shouting at them anymore, which Krysty took as a good sign.

“I’ll call for the vote!” The woman they knew as Sister Saea pushed to the front of the crowd. “But first, I want to hear what you plan to do about these people. They have to be stopped once and for all, and our people have to be rescued!”

A chorus of agreements and shouts of approval rose in answer to her words, and Krysty nodded once the noise had died down. “On that, you and I are in complete agreement. It is very obvious that these marauders are going to keep coming after you and us until they have gotten what they wanted—apparently, to have every single one of us under their control.”

The muttering and conversation turned nervous and fearful. “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of letting them call the shots all the time. I want to— No, I’m going to strike back!”

She turned to J.B. on her left and Doc on her right. “Even missing our two people, we can do a lot, but we could do so much more if all of you would stand with us.”

“But there is only so much we can do!” a man shouted. “We have all taken a sacred oath to not spill blood for any reason.”

“But that does not remove you from defending what is yours!” Doc’s voice startled Krysty. Before she could say anything, he continued, “For does not the Good Book say in Psalms, ‘For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy, and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight’?”