The last rebellion, p.11
The Last Rebellion, page 11
part #3 of EMP Survivor Series
Danny looked at Shawn. “And no one did anything?”
“Edward was in charge there,” Shawn answered as if this explained everything. “He might have been an asshole, but he ensured we had food, shelter, and what we needed to survive.”
“Then why don’t you go back to him?” Danny asked.
Shawn tensed, but Maggie interjected before the situation escalated any further. “He had a gun. He was the only one with a firearm, and he made it clear to everyone that he wasn’t afraid to use it. He wasn’t a good man, but we didn’t have another choice. We had nowhere else to go.”
Danny thought back to what Copeland had just said, about making sacrifices, about answering the call. “There’s always a choice.”
Danny stood, and he walked out of the dining hall. He hailed a boat to take him back to shore. He wasn’t going to leave those children in the hands of their abusive father. Danny already knew what kind of future that looked like. If Edward was as abusive as Danny’s own father, then he wasn’t about to leave the children in that environment. He was going to make sure those kids didn’t have to be afraid anymore.
17
Charlie couldn’t stop looking over his shoulder, but Tanner kept his attention forward. Even when they reached the Humvee and were back on the road, Charlie couldn’t stop glancing in the rearview mirror.
“We have plenty of distance between us if they follow,” Tanner said.
“It’s not if they follow; it’s when,” Charlie said. “Sir’s dogs don't give up so easily. You and I both know what it’s like to work for him. He casts a spell on everyone.”
“He never cast a spell on me,” Tanner said defensively.
Charlie glanced at the bag between them in the front seat that contained the partial plans for the Phoenix device. “Do you think this will be enough to stop them?”
“Slow them down, maybe,” Tanner answered. “But the only way to stop this is to kill Sir. You stop him, and no one else is smart enough to take over his position. Those dogs will be leaderless.”
Charlie had considered killing Sir more than once, but his family remained in danger until he was sure all of Sir’s contingencies were taken care of.
“How come he never came after you?” Charlie asked.
“Who says he didn’t?” Sir answered.
“You seem like you’re still whole,” Charlie replied. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”
Tanner kept one hand on the wheel, eyes ahead. “I was married,” Tanner said. “For eight years. I wanted the same things you did, Charlie. The house, kids, the whole nine yards. We even got a puppy.”
Charlie had never known anything about Tanner’s personal life, and seeing as the man was living alone in the woods, he couldn’t imagine this story would end well.
“When I started work at The Bunker, though, it began to take up way too much of my time,” Tanner said. “Days would go by without seeing my wife.” He shrugged. “Eventually, she just got tired of it and divorced me. I wasn’t even shocked when I came home one day and she was gone. She left me the divorce papers, and I never saw her again after I signed them. She didn’t even want anything. She said I could have it all. She just wanted out.”
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said.
“Don’t be,” Tanner said. “It was better for her. Once I saw how the world was, how fragile it was, and all of the threats and dangers constantly trying to push people to the absolute brink of chaos, I knew I wasn’t capable of being the kind of person who wanted a family and children. It was too complicated. Too dangerous.” He looked to Charlie. “I know that’s the kind of danger you’re trying to keep from your family. And it’s admirable. But I can tell you from experience, Charlie, that violence always finds people who can’t stay out of a fight.”
Charlie faced forward, thinking about all his choices after joining The Bunker. Unlike Tanner, Charlie was already married and had children when he worked for Sir. Walking away and avoiding his family wasn’t an option anymore.
But Charlie had a choice now to end all of this before it spiraled out of control. Maybe he was trying to do too much and try to prevent something from happening that he wasn’t even sure would happen.
“I sometimes wonder if he’s in my head still,” Charlie said, glancing out through the windshield. “I convinced myself that I wasn’t his puppet anymore but look at me.” He gestured to the bag that held the design schematics. “I’m still out in the field doing his dirty work.”
“He can’t be trusted,” Tanner said. “Everything that man does, every thought, every breath he takes, it’s all for the singular purpose of gaining as much control as possible. He’s always a dozen steps ahead of you.”
“Even you?” Charlie asked.
Tanner tilted his head to the side. “I’d like to think I’m a step ahead of him.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “And so modest—”
The gunfire caused Tanner to jerk the wheel, slamming Charlie into the door, but Tanner quickly regained control. Charlie glanced behind them and saw the caravan of Sir’s Bunker team vehicles following them down the road.
“It’s them,” Charlie said.
“So much for our head start,” Tanner said.
The caravan opened fire on them with the fifty-caliber gun mounted on their lead vehicle. The massive bullets cut through the Humvee’s plated armor and shredded the back tires.
Once the tires blew out, Tanner lost control of the vehicle. “It's too stiff! We’re losing too much speed; we need to bail!”
Charlie looked to Tanner, then to the enemy closing in on them. “We jump out and we’re sitting ducks with that fifty-caliber machine gun trained on us.”
“We don’t have a choice!” Tanner said, and then he pointed ahead up on the right. “There! We’ll head for that gas station for cover.”
Tanner veered toward the turnoff, but the caravan was quickly gaining ground. Charlie wasn’t sure if they would make it, so he grabbed the bag with Phoenix plans and tucked it into his pack.
“Don’t lose that,” Tanner said, eyeballing him.
More fifty-caliber gunfire rained down on them like hellfire, and Charlie and Tanner ducked. The bulletproof glass provided some cover, but it was starting to fail under the relentless hail of gunfire.
“I’m going to hit the gas pumps,” Tanner said, yelling. “We’ll need to bail out before then, so get ready!”
Charlie nodded and unbuckled as he positioned himself near the door. It had been a while since he’d tucked and rolled out of a vehicle, but he hoped his muscle memory would kick in.
“Now!” Tanner shouted, and the pair bailed out of the Humvee ten yards before it collided with the gas pumps. Fuel sprayed up from the lines and started leaking over the concrete while the Humvee barreled into the building, crashing through concrete and glass before it finally stopped.
Charlie was already sprinting toward the woods nearby for cover when the caravan turned off the road, and when he looked behind him and stared down the fifty-caliber weapon aimed at him, he didn’t think he would survive.
But then the fire started.
The flames spread quickly, engulfing the gas station and creating a barrier between Charlie and their pursuers, allowing them to run away.
Charlie sprinted toward the woods behind the gas station. When he reached the safety of the trees, he searched for Tanner, but he’d lost him in the chaos.
Charlie glanced behind him again on his sprint toward the woods and saw the security forces regrouping, abandoning the vehicles to pursue them on foot as they moved through the woods near the gas station and away from the flames.
Charlie double-timed it away from the enemy. He didn’t know how many of them were in pursuit, but he knew it was more than he would be able to stop. When Charlie reached the tree line, he didn’t slow his pace against the thick brush and the uphill climb. He wanted to get to higher ground to make it easier to defend his position. He might not be able to kill all of them, but he could make catching him so tricky that they abandoned their pursuit.
Charlie found a nice, rocky spot with a good cover that gave him a bird’s eye view of anyone approaching from below. He hid the pack with the designs under some rocks, then took position and waited for the enemy’s approach.
Smoke from the fires at the gas station rose higher, and Charlie knew it would burn until the fuel ran out, risking the possibility of creating more fire by having it spread to the surrounding woods. There was no telling what damage it would cause, but they’d had good rainfall, and Charlie hoped the damp wood would make it difficult to spread.
The noise from the fire also made it difficult for Charlie to hear the enemy following him, so he constantly glanced behind him to ensure he wasn’t being followed. Sweat dripped into his eyes, which stung and made it difficult to see. Charlie wiped the sweat away, not wanting to miss anything coming his way.
Eventually, Charlie saw some of the enemy moving up the mountain. They were spread out, making it difficult to pick them off. The moment he opened fire, it would give away his position, allowing the enemy to regroup.
Less than fifty yards separated Charlie from the enemy, and he wondered when he should choose to take his shot. The last thing he wanted to do was give away his location too early, but if he waited too long, he risked losing his chance to surprise them, and he’d be overwhelmed.
Charlie peered through the scope of his rifle and found his first target. He steadied his breath, waited until the target was thirty yards away, and squeezed the trigger.
The bullet found its target dead on, and Charlie pivoted his aim to the next fighter ascending the hill, but the target found cover before Charlie could line up his shot.
The enemy held their position on the hillside and fired intermittently up at Charlie, who was forced back behind the rocks to shield himself from the gunfire. The number of fighters below made it difficult to return fire, and Charlie knew they would use the opportunity to advance their position.
Charlie reached for one of the grenades and pulled the pin. He snuck a glance at the enemy’s advancing position. They remained apart, but Charlie believed he could position the grenade to where he could get two of them to feel the effects of the blast.
Charlie lined up his shot and timed the throw between a pause in gunfire. He released the pin, arcing the grenade high so it would only roll a few feet when it landed, and he ducked back down behind the rocks for cover when the explosion rocked the mountainside.
Charlie then emerged from cover, using the momentum of the blast to turn the tide in his favor, and lined up his next few shots.
The blast from the grenade caused enough confusion for Charlie to take out at least one more of the security forces gaining ground on him, but the team recovered quickly and forced Charlie to stand down.
The gunfire intensified, and Charlie checked his ammunition, which was running low. He wouldn’t be able to hold them off for much longer. And if he wanted to slow them down, he would need to destroy the one thing they wanted more than anything: the Phoenix schematics.
Charlie grabbed his lighter and was about to torch them when more heavy gunfire rained down from higher up on the mountainside.
Charlie ducked at first, thinking the enemy had somehow managed to sneak around him, but the shooter wasn’t aiming for Charlie; they were aiming for the security forces below. It was Tanner.
Charlie glanced up and saw Tanner raining holy hellfire down on the enemy, providing Charlie the opportunity to escape.
Charlie gathered his things and quickly ascended the mountain, returning fire when he found cover. When he finally reached Tanner’s position, he collapsed behind a rock formation to catch his breath.
“Took you long enough,” Tanner said.
“How did you find me?” Charlie asked.
“The gunfire wasn’t exactly quiet,” Tanner answered. “We need to keep moving up the mountain, get to the other side.”
Charlie gestured to the enemy below. “They’re not going to stop chasing us. We need to lose them before we go any farther.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing while you’ve been playing grab-ass?” Tanner asked, and then he gestured to the rocks nearby.
It took Charlie a moment, but then he noticed the explosive device attached to the rock and the wires strung to other devices spread along the rocky outcropping.
“We run, then we blow it and send a rain of mountain rocks down on their fucking heads,” Tanner said. “You head farther up first, provide cover fire for me to join you, and then we blow it. You ready?”
Charlie nodded.
Tanner tossed Charlie the detonation device, and then he waited to put himself into a sprinting position.
“Go!” Tanner shouted.
Charlie hurried up the mountain, which had become steeper the higher they climbed. He was practically running on all fours, but he never stopped to look behind him or to take a break. It was a stretch of transparent and open rock, the perfect kill zone for any decent shooter looking for a quick and easy shot.
But Charlie made it to cover without injury, then positioned himself to provide cover fire for Tanner. He was about to pull the trigger when a thought crossed his mind.
It was a terrible, horrible, evil thought. If Charlie’s goal was to prevent The Bunker from regaining control, that meant erasing The Bunker. And while Tanner was no longer a member of The Bunker, he still knew more secrets than anyone other than Sir himself. If there was one person who could fill the void after Sir was gone, it was Tanner.
But Charlie pushed the thought from his mind and opened fire on the enemy below as Tanner hurried up to the cover to join him.
Tanner slid behind a nearby rock, winded from the quick run. “Blow it! Now!”
Charlie pressed the button, and the explosion that followed shook the very ground of the mountain. It rumbled and rattled beneath them, spewing rocks outward and upward, and Charlie feared the entire mountainside would crumble and vanish.
The rocks tumbled down the mountain, falling trees, and the landslide pushed the debris to the gas station below.
Once the avalanche ended, Charlie stood and looked for any signs of survivors below in the aftermath. But he saw none.
“They’re dead,” Tanner said, standing up. “No one could have survived that.”
“You’d be surprised at how often people have said that about me,” Charlie said.
“But those bastards down there, aren’t you,” Tanner said. “C’mon, we’ll have to hike it back to the island now since we don’t have a car. Best we hurry it up.”
Tanner walked up the mountain instead of down.
“Wouldn’t it be faster to go back down?” Charlie asked.
“The soil’s too unstable,” Tanner answered. “Unless you want to trigger another landslide, we’ll take the long way down.”
Charlie nodded, but he lingered behind, feeling as though there was still something alive down there, and he would regret not checking to ensure the evil down there was dead.
The darkness was disorienting and crushing. The weight on Captain’s chest was so intense that he was having trouble breathing. He couldn’t move, couldn’t see, and was running out of air. It wasn’t until he tasted the dirt on his mouth that he realized he was buried.
The explosion had triggered a landslide, and he wasn’t fast enough to evade it. He focused every muscle in his body to move the earth around him, and when he finally made a little bit of space, it shifted enough soil to open up some light.
Captain focused on the light, slowly and painstakingly pushing toward it with all his might. He eventually pushed a hand up and out of the dirt and pulled himself up like a zombie rising from the grave.
Captain gasped for air when he finally broke the surface and then hurriedly removed himself from the pit where he was buried. He crawled away from the hole he’d escaped and collapsed near a fallen tree.
Captain spat, unable to rid himself of the soil packed into his mouth, nostrils, and ears. He reached for his canteen. Thankfully, his pack was still attached to him, and he gulped down the water, coughing up some because he drank so quickly.
Captain squinted from the sun and coughed from the smoke from the fires. Even though he was out of the hole, breathing was still difficult. He wondered if dirt had gone down his windpipe, but as he checked himself for injury, he realized one of his ribs was broken.
Captain removed his Kevlar shirt and reached for the medical pack in his bag. He found some gauze and wrapped it tight and securely around his torso. Any movement triggered the pain, but the faster the wrap, the easier it would be to keep his ribs stable.
The pain was nothing more than another obstacle to overcome. It didn’t matter what these people threw at him; Captain was too focused to quit, too determined. So, long as he was still breathing, he would continue his pursuit for Sir and find the rest of the designs.
Once Captain patched himself up, he scoured the landscape for any sign of survivors. But the longer he walked, the more he was sure he was alone.
Captain reached for his radio. “Team Echo, this is Team Bravo. I need a ride.”
“Copy that, Bravo,” Echo replied. “What is your location?”
“Follow the smoke,” Captain answered. “I’ll meet you on the road.”
Captain had split up his team, wanting to put only some of his eggs in one basket. He had read Charlie Owens’s file and knew this man was a formidable adversary. If he were going to beat him, it would take more than brute strength. He would need to outsmart the man, thinking of Owens’s next moves before he did. And the harder Captain thought about what Charlie might be doing, the more convinced the man was going back to his family on Beckett Island. And Charlie was sure he would be able to use the man’s family to his advantage.
