Without law 11, p.21
Without Law 11, page 21
It wasn’t one hundred percent fixed, but it was ninety-nine times better than it had been before.
“Whoo,” Paige said as I shut the engine back off. “That sounded pretty good to me.”
“Me too,” I told her with a smile. “Good call.”
“You fixed it,” Bailey called out from the fire pit.
“Just about,” I said. “It should hold for a while.”
“Nice job on the duct tape, Paige,” Anna said.
“Thanks,” the brunette said as we took our seats back by the fire.
“Coffee’s almost ready,” Bailey announced.
The day began to get a little bit lighter as we sat for a moment, then Bailey poured us each a cup of coffee, and I breathed in the aroma as I looked up at the blue and pink and orange of the new day.
“I never used to get up in time to see a sunrise,” Tara sighed as she held her coffee cup in both hands and looked up to the sky.
“Me, either,” Paige agreed.
“You guys missed out,” Anna said.
“You got up in time to see the sunset before the EMP hit?” Tara asked. “Seems like you were the one who missed out. On life, that is.”
“Plenty of runners get up early,” I chuckled. “The weather is cool in the morning, and it makes for a nice run when you don’t have to worry about getting really hot in the middle of the day.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Bailey said. “I stayed up a few times and was able to see the sunrise, but I didn’t really get up early enough to see it, it was just from staying up all night.”
“I did that once or twice, too,” Tara said, “but it’s not the same as waking up and watching the sun come up.”
“No, it’s not,” Bailey sighed. “It’s so pretty.”
“I don’t know,” Paige said, “I think I like sunsets more than sunrises.”
“But the sunrise is the start of a new day,” Bailey said with a soft smile. “How can you not like that more than the end of a day?”
“The end of one day is the only thing that allows us to have a new day,” Paige said with a shrug.
“You just blew my damn mind,” Tara said with wide eyes.
“Thanks,” Paige chuckled.
“Don’t get too big of a head,” Anna said, “it’s not hard to blow Tara’s mind.”
“Hey,” the platinum blonde scoffed, but Anna laughed and elbowed her to show that she was kidding.
“What’s that delightful aroma?” Brody asked as he came out of his tent.
“Bailey made coffee,” I said. “Would you like a cup?”
“That would be excellent,” he said. “Thank you.”
I poured a cup and handed it to him as he joined us around the fire.
“Where did you all find coffee?” he asked after he took a large swig.
“We’re pretty savvy,” I told him.
“I already knew that,” he chuckled.
“Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes,” Tara said. “We can head out after that.”
“Excellent,” Brody said with a grin. “You all really get settled in for the day, don’t you? Coffee and breakfast. Whew. Normally I just get up, take a leak, and head out.”
I felt my jaw set as I regarded the dark haired man, but I took a deep breath and controlled myself before I responded.
“I find that when your team is satisfied and happy, they tend to have a more productive day,” I said slowly.
“Two different styles of management, I suppose,” Brody said with a shrug.
“I like the way we do things,” Bailey said with a small smile. “It gives us a chance to get up and be alert for the day.”
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “Besides, if I don’t eat breakfast then it’s harder for me to focus on what I’m doing.”
“Plus we walk a lot,” Anna said. “And when we’re in combat you get major adrenaline rushes. We use a lot of energy throughout the day, and if you don’t keep it up then you’ll dehydrate yourself and kill your muscles.”
“I’m guessing you were some kind of athlete before all this?” Brody chuckled.
“A champion runner and skier,” Anna said with a straight face.
“Impressive,” Brody said, “but I always liked snowboarding more.”
“They’re both difficult in their own right,” Anna said. “Where’d you go snowboarding?”
“Oh, here and there,” Brody said. “I didn’t go often.”
“Mmm,” Anna replied, and she took a sip of her coffee as she shot daggers at the man. He hadn’t impressed her with his limited knowledge of horror films the first time they’d met, and he definitely didn’t impress her just then. If Anna was anything, it was real and honest, that was one of the reasons she was my second in command, and the fact that Brody obviously had no idea about snowboarding seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth.
“So, what’s for breakfast?” Brody asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Tara, what’s for breakfast?”
“Oatmeal,” the platinum blonde replied with a smile.
“Yum,” Paige said. “We haven’t had oatmeal in a while.”
“I love oatmeal,” Anna sighed. “It was one of my favorite breakfasts as a kid.”
“You would pick oatmeal over Fruity Pebbles as your favorite childhood breakfast?” Tara asked.
“Or Trix?” Paige added.
“I wasn’t allowed to eat cereal that had a lot of sugar in it,” Anna said with a shrug.
“That explains so much,” Tara said, and she gave the redhead a look of mock sympathy. “I’m so sorry for the hardships you faced.”
“Oh my god,” Anna laughed and smacked Tara on the arm. “Whatever. My parents just didn’t want me exposed to a lot of sugar, it’s not good for kids.”
“I loved oatmeal as a kid, too,” Bailey said with a smile.
“See,” Anna said. “It’s not just me.”
“My parents didn’t really let us have sugary cereals either, though,” Bailey said.
“Damn it, Bailey,” Anna chuckled.
“What, it’s true,” Bailey said. “You’re right, they’re not good for you.”
“I feel so bad for them,” Tara stage whispered to Paige.
“I had no idea that while I was rolling in Trix and Cookie Crunch there were kids out there suffering so bad,” Paige whispered back.
“Are they always this dramatic?” Brody asked me as the girls broke out in giggles.
“Pretty much,” I told him.
After a few minutes Tara dished up oatmeal for each of us. It was thick and sweet like there was brown sugar in it, and I savored every last bite. I didn’t care how Brody felt about our morning ritual, my team got coffee, breakfast, and chatting time every morning, and we still got our shit done for the day.
After everyone had finished their breakfasts we put away the tent since we planned on leaving at midday, then we threw on our gear and backpacks and set out toward the river to follow it to town like we had the day before. I split up the Barrett so that I took the heaviest part and Bailey had the barrel. It put an extra bit of weight on my back, but the rifle was far too heavy for Bailey to carry on her own, and I wanted to help her.
I just hoped we wouldn’t have to use the big fucking beast.
“Where are you all going?” Brody asked.
“The river will lead us into town,” Paige explained.
“I have a better way,” Brody said. “Follow me.”
“But--” Paige said, and she looked at me.
“We said we would go to his scouting spot,” I said, “let’s follow Brody.”
“Alright,” Paige agreed, but she still frowned.
Brody led us onto the main road by our campsite, and back the way he had come from the night before. I didn’t like being out in the open, but I had my pistol at the ready, and there were plenty of trees on the side of the road if we needed to take cover.
“So where exactly is this scouting spot of yours?” Anna asked.
“There’s a building on the outskirts of town,” Brody said. “But you can see directly into the campsite.”
Our spot the day before had been to the side of the outpost, so it would be nice to be able to see into the full camp, but I’d have to be careful to make sure we didn’t get spotted, and I didn’t trust Brody not to put my team in danger.
The sun lifted higher up as we walked, and I figured it was probably seven or eight o’ clock by then, which meant we had a few hours until we needed to head to the refinery.
We kept up with Brody as he led us toward the city on the main road, and I scanned the area constantly to make sure we weren’t about to run into anybody on patrol.
Once we reached the city limits, I grew even more nervous. Brody just walked right in like he owned the place.
“Brody,” I said. “We should be careful, they have jeeps out patrolling the area all the time.”
“Don’t worry about it, brother,” he told me. “We’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
I was pissed, but I didn’t argue, instead I just kept my pistol ready to go as I surveyed the area.
Brody led us up a few blocks until we reached a large apartment building. The place looked desolate as hell. A lot of the windows were busted out, even the ones on the higher floors, and I wondered why that would be necessary. Either the guys around here had used this place for target practice, or somebody had been thrown out of a window or two. I’m sure there were other explanations, but I couldn’t think of any right off the bat. It was incredibly strange that the windows would be broken so high up.
“Voila,” he said as he gestured to the place.
“Not exactly on the outskirts of town,” Paige mumbled, and I smiled at her sassiness.
“Let’s go,” Brody said. “If we get up to the roof then we’ll have an excellent view.”
I followed Brody through a large, busted out window, into the abandoned apartment building. There was trash and shell casings on the floor, and some blood and bodies as well. The place stunk, and I had to pull my shirt up over my face in order to prevent myself from gagging.
“The windows on the higher floors,” I said. “They’re busted. You didn’t do that, did you?”
“One or two,” Brody said, and he turned to flash me a grin.
“Why?” I asked.
“I saw that some of them were broken,” he said with a shrug, “and it looked like fun.”
“Weren’t you worried that would draw attention to yourself?” Bailey asked.
“Nah,” Brody said. “The patrols don’t come by here very often.”
Brody led us to a stairwell, and we started the ascent upward. There were probably ten floors in this place, and it would be a decent climb, but at least it smelled better in the stairwell than it did on the main floor.
The stairwell was filled with graffiti of all different kinds. There were satanic symbols, crazy names with lots of cartoons around them, and even some beware, danger signs.
“This graffiti is creepy,” Tara said as we made our way up.
“It looks like some of it has been here for a while,” Anna said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if kids started to tag it as soon as the EMP hit,” Paige said. “Most of the graffiti we see around probably isn’t that new.”
“I don’t know,” Tara said. “This one over here that says ‘if you go down, you’ll die.’ That seems pretty new.”
“That seems like an odd warning,” Anna said. “What were they afraid of on the ground?”
I wondered that myself. Was it the men that were here and had set up this outpost, or was it something else? We knew that the guard had gone crazy in more than one place, so that was an option, but so were Canadians. There were too many reasons to be wary to say which one it was for sure.
As we climbed I heard the rumble of a jeep outside, and I stopped in my tracks and all the girls followed suit behind me.
“What are you all waiting for?” Brody asked as he turned to look at us.
“You don’t hear that?” I asked with my eyes narrowed. “There’s a patrol outside.”
“Eh, it’s alright,” he said. “They won’t come in here.”
I was shocked at his nonchalant attitude. I’d known Brody to be a loose cannon when we served together, but he’d never been an outright dumbass. If anything of his military training had survived, I would hope it would be the urge to be wary. In this type of environment that mentality was sometimes the only thing that stood between you and your enemy.
“Come on,” Brody said, and he continued up the stairs.
I waited for the sounds of the engine to die down, then I followed him slowly.
I was hot by the time we reached the top floor, but before I could stop him Brody threw open the door to the roof and walked out.
“Brody,” I hissed through my teeth, and I grabbed him by his pack and pulled him back through the door. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” he chuckled. “There’s no need to manhandle me, Tav.”
“I think there is,” I said. “I’m sure this roof has a few feet up as a barrier, but not enough to shield your whole body, and there are twelve separate guard towers in that outpost.”
“Calm down,” Brody said. “It’s fine, I did this yesterday. These guys aren’t even paying attention.”
“Listen,” I said seriously, “you can be an idiot on your own time all you want, but you will not put my crew in danger. Do you understand me?”
Brody narrowed his eyes at me, but he nodded his head slowly.
“Loud and clear,” he said.
“Good,” I said. “Now, how tall is the barricade out there?”
“About three feet,” he answered.
“Girls,” I said, “you know what to do.”
“On it,” Anna said, and she led the girls to the door, and they crawled out quickly.
Brody moved to follow, but I grabbed him by the pack once more.
“You’ve been out of the game for a while,” I told him, and my voice was a bit kinder then. “But my crew and I, we do this all the time. This is our life, and we’re good at it because we’re cautious. We’ve helped you once before, and we can help you again, but I can’t have you running out into danger thinking it’s going to be fine. You’re not alone right now, there are other people here, and I won’t have you put their lives in danger just because you think it’s okay to put your own at risk.”
“You’re a good leader,” Brody said after a moment, and he smiled at me, but his eyes were still narrowed. “I think you’re too cautious, but I respect you, brother, and I’d never want to put your team in danger. My sincerest apologies.”
I didn’t believe a word that he said, and I knew he was pissed that I just undermined him in front of my crew, but he had acted like a complete idiot the whole time he led us to this place. I wasn’t about to get myself or one of my girls shot because of him. He had the audacity to say something about our morning routine, but then act like this? What the hell was wrong with this guy?
I nodded slowly as I made eye contact with him, then headed out onto the roof. The girls were already set up at the far end with their binoculars out. Brody was right, this place had a good view of the outpost, and it was high enough up that I was sure you could see a good bit of what went on down in the yard.
I crawled over to the girls and got out my own binoculars so I could peer over the edge.
“Thanks,” Paige said.
“For what?” I asked.
“You know what,” Anna said. “I don’t even know what to do with Brody.”
“We can always kill him,” Tara said nonchalantly.
“Tara,” Bailey hissed. “We don’t just kill people.”
“Why not?” Tara asked. “We kill people all the time. He’s kind of a dick.”
“If being kind of a dick was a crime then we’d have to kill you, too,” I chuckled.
“Yeah,” she said. “Sorry, I’m just pissed. That really frustrated me. I know we like to chat and have fun, but not when it comes to getting shit done.”
“I know,” I said with a soft smile.
The roof door opened behind us, and we all went quiet as we peered over the edge once more.
“So, what did I miss?” I asked as Brody crawled up next to us.
“Not much,” Anna said. “They’re sending guys out on patrol, and a couple of jeeps just came back.”
“Pretty much the same stuff as yesterday,” Paige said.
“Hey, Paige,” I said, “can I see that map you drew up last night?”
“Sure,” she said, and she pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to me. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I said, and I looked to see what building Bailey had marked as the weapons arsenal, then I quickly folded the paper back up and shoved it into my pocket.
I kept an eye on the arsenal, and I definitely saw more than a couple guys go in with less than they came out with. Bailey was right, that was definitely where they kept their weapons.
I pulled out my piece of the Barret, and Bailey handed me hers. I wanted it set up in case we needed to get a serious shot off quickly. There were jeeps all in the compound, and if we needed to take one out, then this was the quickest way.
“Thanks,” Bailey said as she helped me put the large rifle together. Once it was finished, she put on her ear-protection and peered through the scope.
“No problem,” I cleared my throat as I let my gaze drift down her back. Her tight little shorts pulled up high against her pert ass cheeks, and I had to take a deep breath and forcefully rip my eyes away from her butt so that I could do my job as her spotter.
Damn, she looked so fucking sexy staring down the sight of that massive rifle.
“It seems like there are more guys getting ready to go out on patrol,” Tara said.
“Where?” I asked and I scanned the area with my binoculars. In the distance, I could see the gold-domed capitol building and the park in front of it that was now covered with weeds.
How quickly our civilization had fallen apart.
“Over by the jeeps,” the platinum blonde said. “They’re loading the trucks up with weapons.”
“They send out lots of guys for patrol,” Bailey said.
