Fulcrum: V Plague Book 12 (10 page)

From the Air Force Base, we stayed to the east of Las
Vegas.  There were plenty of roads through the area, but if they weren’t
clogged with wrecked vehicles, they were thick with milling infected.  For
a short time, we were able to move out into the desert, but soon reached a
series of low, rocky hills that fronted a small mountain range.  They were
impassible with the Humvees.  I had to call a halt when we came to a point
where there weren’t any infected in the immediate area.

Telling Long and Sam to sit tight, I pushed the NVGs off my
eyes and took the map from Rachel.  Turning on the flashlight with the red
cellophane covering the lens, I started trying to find our approximate
location.  As I was poring over the map, Dog woke up and thrust his head
into the front.

It took me a couple of minutes, but I figured out where we
were, then looked over our options.  I didn’t like the idea of continuing
south, even though we were skirting the metropolitan area.  There were
just too many residential areas to pass through, and they all butted up against
the base of the hills.  If we ran into a problem, say a herd too big to
push through, our options would be limited to retreating, or turning west into
the city.

I didn’t doubt the accuracy of the intel I’d gotten from our
prisoner.  He’d said the city was jammed with abandoned vehicles and
roaming infected.  This fit with every other city I’d seen, so I was
comfortable with taking him at his word. 

What I did know was I had no desire to approach the more
densely built-up and populated areas.  A road that headed due east,
crossing the mountains before turning south towards Lake Mead, caught my
eye.  We had already passed it and would have to backtrack a couple of
miles, but I decided it was worth it.  On the map, at least, it appeared
to go through the middle of nowhere.  Perfect for avoiding infected.

Handing the map book back to Rachel, I turned off the light,
lowered my NVGs and filled in Long and Sam over the radio.  Making a
U-turn, I led the way back north and turned east onto Lake Mead
Boulevard.  Quickly, we began climbing, leaving any sign of civilization
behind. 

The road was in good shape, relatively smooth, and ran
straight as it climbed.  On either side of the asphalt were fairly steep
slopes of sun-blasted sand and rock, only the occasional cactus breaking up the
monotony.  As we progressed, a sense of unease settled over me.  Soon
I was scanning the passing terrain with the night vision, paying more attention
to it than the road in front of me.

“What’s wrong?”  Rachel asked.

“Nothing, really,” I said.  “Just don’t like being
bottled up like this.  Perfect place for an ambush if someone was so
inclined.”

She nodded without saying anything.  After another
moment, Sam’s voice sounded in my earpiece.

“Not liking this terrain,” he said.

“Agreed,” I answered. 

“How far to the crest?”

“Maybe another three or four miles,” I said, picturing the
map in my head.

“Copy.”

The radio fell silent at that point, and I pressed harder on
the accelerator.  It didn’t do any good.  We were climbing a steep
grade as we approached the pass that was in a saddle between two jagged peaks,
and the Humvee was already moving as fast as it could.  I didn’t bother to
glance at the speedometer.  There was no point.  

“There!”  Rachel cried, her arm extending towards a
point near the top.

I had seen it too.  A brief flash of light.  Very
brief. 

Now was decision time.  Did we stop?  Turn
around?  Press ahead and trust in the Humvees’ armor?  I made the
decision without hesitating.  You never knowingly drive into an ambush
unless you already know what’s waiting for you and are prepared to overwhelm
your attackers.  We had no information and no weapons other than rifles
and pistols. 

Calling a warning on the radio, I hit the brakes and brought
us to a quick stop.  Long and Sam, both experienced warriors, kept some
distance between us this time.  If you’re about to be attacked, bunching
up just makes it easier for the enemy and hinders your ability to turn a
vehicle around and get the hell out of the area.

“They’ve gotta have night vision,” Long said over the
radio.  “No way they saw us otherwise.”

“Sound,” Sam countered.  “These engines were making a
lot of noise climbing the hill.  Besides, if they had night vision, they’d
probably have radios, too, and wouldn’t be using a light to signal.”

The SEAL had a good point.  But just because they might
be short on technology didn’t mean they were short on weapons.  Our
Hummers might be up-armored, but that hardly meant they couldn’t be disabled by
some well-placed shots.  The armor was intended to protect the occupants,
not the vehicle.  A few high velocity rifle slugs and we’d be driving on
flat tires that would eventually shred off until only steel rims remained.

And that was if we weren’t facing a truly devastating
weapon, such as a .50 caliber rifle.  With the right ammo, our armor
wouldn’t be enough to keep us safe.

“Think these are the same guys that were flashing the light
right after we left Groom Lake?”  Rachel asked.

“Doubt it.  That’s a long way away, and there’s no way
they could have gotten here ahead of us and set up a trap.  Hell, we
didn’t even know we were coming this way until a few minutes ago.”

“What’s on the other side of the mountains?”

“Nothing,” I said, thinking about the map.  “Just more
desert.”

“Long,” I called over the radio.  “Send Igor up the
slope with the rifle.  Tell him to use the thermal scope and see if he can
tell what’s waiting for us.  Rest of us dismount, but stay by your
vehicles.”

I shut off the engine and stepped out into the night. 
The air had been cool down near the city, but it was downright cold at this
higher elevation.  A steady breeze was blowing, making it feel even
colder.

Rachel and Dog joined me near the rear bumper of our
Hummer.  I turned a slow circle, carefully looking over our surroundings
with the night vision.  Igor was silently scrambling over rocks to gain
some elevation, finally finding a spot he was happy with and placing the rifle
on top of a small boulder.

Checking on Sam and Long, I was happy to see they had their
rifles up, scanning the area.  Dog, standing next to me, lifted his muzzle
and sampled the breeze.  His nose twitched for a long time, his head
turning slightly as he caught the scent of something.  But he didn’t growl
or seem concerned over what he’d detected.  Lowering his head, he sniffed
the ground, then followed the trail of something to the edge of the pavement
where he lifted his leg and marked a struggling bush.

“At least no infected in the area,” Rachel said, watching
him.

“Not upwind, anyway,” I said, turning to look at Igor when I
heard his broken English in my ear.

“Seven people,” he said.  “Two thousand meters. 
They not move.  Maybe infected.  Not tell.”

“Vehicles?”  I asked.

“Nyet.”

The breeze was coming from the direction of the unknown
people, and Dog had taken a good snootful of the night air.  These weren’t
infected.  I trusted his nose. 

“Can you see any weapons?”  I asked Igor.

“Da,” he answered immediately.  “All have rifles.”

Seven people with rifles didn’t cause me undue
concern.  What did was what might be waiting for us that Igor couldn’t
see.  More people concealed in caves.  Heavy weapons.  Vehicles
on the other side of the pass that could block the road.

“Do we go back?”  Rachel asked.  “Work our way
around the city?”

I didn’t have to give it much thought.  There were
other ways to go without having to risk the unknown waiting for us at the top
of the mountain.  Nodding, I was opening my mouth to call Igor back down
when Sam’s voice sounded over the radio.

“Contact!  Nine o’clock.  Thirty degrees
up-slope.”

I spun to face the hill looming over the left side of the
road, snapping my rifle up and searching the area Sam had identified.  It
only took a second for me to find the target and I paused in surprise.  A
young woman, no more than 18 or 19, was peering around a boulder with a rifle
in her hands.

“Hold your fire!”

I spoke quickly over the radio before someone put a round in
the girl’s head.  Other than having surprised us, she wasn’t doing
anything threatening.  Yes, she had a rifle in her hands, but it wasn’t
aimed at us.  She was just holding it, the muzzle nowhere near pointed in
our direction.

“Igor, check the rest of the slope,” I said, keeping the
girl’s face centered in my rifle’s scope.

“Clear,” he said after a long pause.

“Copy.  Keep an eye on the pass.”

“Da.”

“Come down!” I called to the girl.  “Nice and slow and
keep the muzzle of that weapon pointed away from us.”

After hesitating, she slowly stood and began picking her way
down the slope.  I told Sam and Long to keep checking the area around us
without taking my attention off the girl. 

She was wearing jeans and hiking boots with a couple of
jackets layered over a flannel shirt.  Long hair was pulled back into a
severe ponytail, and her face was filthy with streaks of dirt.  Moving
easily, she descended to the edge of the road.  Reaching level ground, she
paused and looked us over before stepping closer.

“Are you the real military?” 

“Yes, we are,” I said, lowering my rifle’s muzzle but keeping
the stock to my shoulder.  “The people ahead.  At the pass. 
They yours?”

She stared at me for several beats before nodding.

“OK,” I said after watching her eyes.  “If you’ve got
some way to communicate with them, tell them to relax.  We don’t want to
hurt anyone.  We’re just passing through.”

Her eyes tightened slightly as she peered at me in the
darkness.  Finally, they slid to the side to look at Rachel and Dog, then farther
back at Long and Sam, who had their rifles up, scanning the surrounding
slopes.  Slowly, she reached into a jacket pocket.  I tensed but
didn’t raise my rifle.

“Just a flashlight,” she said, correctly reading my body
language.

With exaggerated caution, she brought her hand out, and I
could see the small light gripped in her fist.  Aiming the lens up the
road, towards the pass, she began flashing out a message.  I thought it
was Morse code but couldn’t understand the language.

When she finished, there was a long pause, then a series of
flashes answered.  She started to send another message.

“Hold on,” I said, taking a step closer to her.  “Let’s
not get carried away with the conversation.  What did you say to them?”

“Your military and you don’t know Morse?”  She asked.

“I know Morse,” I said, “But I don’t know the language you
were using.”

She looked at me for a moment before laughing.

“Texting,” she said, looking at me expectantly.

“Excuse me?”

“Texting.”  She smiled, waiting, then sighed when I didn’t
get it.  “Just like tapping out a text message, it’s faster and easier to
signal without spelling out every word.”

I thought about what she was saying for a moment, then
smiled in surprise.  She was right.  If you could send a message with
less than half the characters, and it could be understood, why bother to tap
out all the extra letters? 

“Maybe you’d better tell me your name, and exactly what your
friends up top have in mind.”

“I’m Chelsea,” she said, glancing up the slope as she spoke.

“Movement.  Come our way.  Two people,” Igor spoke
over the radio.

“Who’s coming, Chelsea?  Not a good idea to try and
surprise us,” I said, hoping the warning was clear in my voice.

“I’m just a lookout,” she said after a pause.  “My
brother’s coming.  No surprises.”

I nodded and told Igor to keep an eye on the people
approaching, but not to engage unless they did something threatening.  He
acknowledged, and I motioned for the girl to move farther up the road so I
could watch for the new arrivals and still keep an eye on her.

“What are you doing out here?”  Rachel asked the girl.

Chelsea looked at her for a beat, then shook her head.

“My brother will tell you if he wants to,” she said.

We stood there, no one speaking, for what felt like a long
time.  When I finally detected movement on the road with my NVGs, I
mumbled to Rachel, telling her to keep a close eye on the girl.  She stepped
several yards away from me, rifle held tight in front of her body.  Dog,
picking up on the elevating tension, took up station between us.

The two figures quickly resolved into a male and a female,
each carrying a rifle.  When they approached to within thirty yards, I
called out for them to stop.  Neither had night vision, and both were startled
when they heard my voice.  They stood in the middle of the road, looking
around.

“Come forward slowly.  Keep your rifles pointed at the
ground,” I yelled to them.

“Chels?  You OK?”  The male shouted without
moving.

“I’m fine,” the girl said.  “Just do what they
say.  There’s a sniper on the slope, watching you.”

I could see their heads turn to look at the hill where Igor
was sitting.  After a long pause, they cautiously stepped forward and
approached the front of the lead Humvee.

“Close enough,” I said, moving forward to meet them.

The boy, well, man, was about 20.  He was tall and thin
and held the rifle like he was familiar, but not quite comfortable with it. 
His right arm was heavily bandaged and in a sling.  The girl next to him
was much shorter, barely five feet tall, with a figure that showed even through
the warm clothing she was wearing.

“Hi,” I said.  “I’m Major Chase.  US Army.”

I wasn’t getting a bad vibe from these kids.  If
anything, I was a little concerned that they had so casually just walked up to
us, apparently trusting us without a second thought.  I watched them,
watching me, rocking sideways when Dog moved leaned against my leg.  The
two kids looked down at him briefly, then back at me.

“You’re really Army?  Not that militia?”  The boy
asked.

“Yes.  We’ve seen the militia.  They look like bad
news.  What did you have ready for us at the pass?”

I could see an embarrassed grin spread across his face
before he spoke.

“We thought you were some of those militia assholes. 
Got some rocks ready to drop down on any vehicles that try to come through.”

I nodded, staying silent so he would keep speaking.

“I’m Caleb.  This is Tiffany,” he gestured at the
shorter girl standing next to him.”

“What are you doing out here, Caleb?  Any adults with
you?”

He bristled slightly but held his tongue when I asked the
question.

“Sorry,” I said.  “That wasn’t a slight against
you.  Is there anyone older than you?”

“I’m the leader if that’s what you’re asking,” he said,
clearly offended.

“Leader of what?”

“Don’t really know,” he finally said.  “Us, I
guess.  We’re just trying to survive and stay clear of the militia, so
they don’t take anyone else.”

I paused when I heard that little tidbit.  A moment
later, Rachel stepped up next to me, no longer watching Chelsea.  If I
wasn’t confident Igor was keeping an eye on things from above, I would have
warned her to stay focused.

“What do you mean, take anyone else?”  Rachel asked.

Caleb sighed and looked over at his sister.  She met
his eyes and after a few seconds, nodded.

“They took six of us.”

“Just girls?”  I asked, a sinking feeling in the pit of
my stomach.

“Yeah, but I was the only guy to start with,” he said.

I looked around to make sure Sam and Long were still scanning
the area.  They were doing their jobs.  I checked with Igor, who
reported that other than the five people still at the top of the hill, we were
alone.

“OK, Caleb,” I said, lowering my rifle to hang on its
sling.  “You’d better tell me what’s going on.”