Vindicta, p.30
Vindicta, page 30
“We have to get them back!” Kate said.
Kim nodded sadly.
Everyone stared and even considering all the implications of such a thing happening was a monumental task. Storm, Joe, and some of the others seemed to grasp them sooner than Kate and the rest.
“This is a huge operation. These freaks aren’t uncoordinated. This is a full-scale, planned attack. This was planned in advance,” Storm said.
Joe looked disturbed and Warren was frowning at the dirt under his feet.
“If that’s true, then there must be other places, other holdouts,” Kate said. “We can’t be it.”
“There are, but I don’t know how long they’ll be able to hold them off. I’ve been trying to pinpoint all their locations. So far, I know of five strongholds on this continent that seem fairly stable. I haven’t been able to think of a way to make contact without alerting the hybrids.”
“So this convoy, they could be allies?” Kate asked.
“Yes, but unfortunately, I don’t think they’ll make it much further unscathed—”
“What do you mean?” Joe asked.
“That herd of giants that we managed to reroute around the base is headed right for them. They’ll intercept at any time.”
“Shit,” Warren said. “Those damned things will be hard to take down without some heavy artillery.”
Storm nodded and bit his lip, thinking.
“Can we get them some air support? If they can make it here, we can attempt to make contact. Maybe we can retake the base,” Storm said.
“If we burn the pilot, they’ll send him to the bottom level. That’s where they’re keeping the prisoners. I’ve been keeping tabs as much as possible, but it’s hard. I don’t have access to that level. They’re still alive though, most of them. For now.”
“Can you talk to the pilot? That convoy could give us the firepower we need. We’ll have to plan it out carefully, but I know we could do it,” Joe said, with a glance at Storm.
“I’ll have to go back,” she said and Kate watched Wes tighten his arms around Kim again. She felt guilty for them asking this of her. It wasn’t fair.
“Come back as soon as you can and we’ll start the preliminaries. For now, can you mark the convoy’s location on the map?” Storm asked, unfolding the large map and laying it out.
“Sure, last I saw they were headed for a little town southeast of here,” Kim said, leaning over the map.
“What’s it called?” he asked.
“Haswell.”
◆◆◆
Kim left after filling them in on the other little details that seemed important.
One of which was the fact that the OGF had lost considerable troops when they took over the base. The MPs and security forces had gone down fighting and had taken out a good part of the enemy with them.
Martinez himself had taken out an entire team of the enemy with a few frags before they took him down. Kate’s sorrow at the loss of life weighed her down. She was ready for it to be over.
The resistance had added to the body count, though Kim had said the last of the skirmishers had been rounded up and sent underground.
Kate did not like the sound of that.
The other thing that she didn’t like were the places out west that Kim had mentioned. Storm seemed to know a bit more about it, but he wasn’t talking. Not yet.
The next week was tense and tempers were short.
The weather turned even colder and flurries floated in the air at sporadic times. They huddled together to stay warm, and only had a fire when necessary. Storm said even in the tunnels, the smoke and heat could be detected on imagery by an analyst that knew what they were doing.
Supplies were scarce and Storm had finally decided to send a couple of teams to the larger grocery store. It was a gamble, but the supplies they could get would make all the difference in the upcoming battle.
And there would be a battle at some point, Kate was sure of it.
He sent Delta team to the store one night later the third week. Everyone left behind was tense and the conversation was stilted. Joe and Storm poured over the map and papers that they had scattered around them. Notebooks filled with ammo counts and contingency plans sat in their laps. Hot, weak tea steamed in their cups nearby.
Kate played tic tac toe in the dirt with Wes and Parker until they lost interest.
It wasn’t until right before dawn, a dangerous time, that they heard the squad coming back. The grins on their faces were answer enough.
Nobody had gotten hurt, and they had more food.
◆◆◆
“They’re out of quarantine tomorrow. At that time, the General is going to question them. If he finds out what he needs to know, he’s going to send drones to take them out when they get outside of the base.”
“The fact that they went into quarantine at all is surprising. I didn’t figure a group like that would go for it,” Storm said.
“The word is that they’re looking for people, but I don’t know any more than that. I do know that their blood tests came back. Some of them had antibodies. They were taken to the holding facility.”
“Damn.”
“If we’re going to do this, we need to move soon,” Kim said. “General Brown has freaks on standby and I’m not sure when or if he’s going to coordinate with the other hybrid leaders. I know that the new people aren’t going to stand for having their people taken prisoner though. They’re going to want revenge for that and the people that were killed. I don’t want our pilot’s sacrifice to be for nothing. We need to be ready to move when they move.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow night,” Kim said. “Tomorrow night we’ll take back the base. I’ll take out as many of the security forces around the base that I can without being detected, then I’ll find you.”
“How?” Kate asked.
Joe put a hand on her shoulder, seemingly giving her the go-ahead.
“I’m a tracker,” she said with a smile.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Battle of Fort Carson
Kate- Present
Kate wiped her constantly running nose and grimaced. The cold made her nose run and her eyes cloud with tears, but at least it was a clear night and the moon was bright enough to see without the NODs. Her aim was shit with NODs and it wasn’t like she could practice.
The squads were quiet and anxious as they rolled into town.
The base was silent, and the gate was unguarded. The only indication that Kim had taken out the security freaks was the empty patrol truck parked at the guard shack and the puddles of black goo that rested in the seats.
Storm gave Reed the signal to move on through. They were going directly for the mountain. If they were going to retake the base, they needed to kill the General and control the TOC.
They spotted movement on the hill, and the flash of moonlight off of a pickup truck told them that Kim hadn’t gotten all the security personnel. They needed to move carefully, and take out the stragglers fast, before they could radio in.
A loud crashing boom echoed on the other side of the base and a moment later, an alarm began to sound.
“Shit. There goes plan A,” Red called down from his place on the MK19.
Storm picked up the radio, knowing there was a chance the hybrids were listening in. “All trucks. ID your targets and only fire on my signal. We don’t want to hit friendlies.”
They made it to Norad road before a line of patrol vehicles caught them at the intersection.
“Fire!” Storm called, giving the order. “Take out the gunners!”
Their truck pulled into an abandoned lot across the road and Kate pulled on her Peltors and watched as Red fired the devastating grenades at the lead truck. It was quickly incapacitated, the gunner nowhere to be found.
She prepped her mounted weapon, but the rattle of the M249 mounted in the back of the truck vibrated through her stomach and the rounds, combined with the firing of the other trucks, quickly took out their pursuers.
The element of surprise was gone, and they would now be actively hunted. They couldn’t expect to have it this easy again.
“I hear choppers!” Red yelled.
“Get us up the mountain,” Storm snapped at Reed. “Kate, be ready.”
The wind whipped her face as she pivoted the machine gun that rested on the swing arm mount at her right. They slowed at the curves and she glanced back, reassured at the line of gun trucks behind them.
“The alarm is sounding up the mountain!” she called up to Storm, not sure if he could hear it.
“Roger. Prepare to fire!”
Ahead, the road narrowed and in the very center was a line of vehicles racing their way. “Veer off and open fire!” Storm called.
Kate sighted in on the lead vehicle.
She aimed for the driver’s side of the windshield and squeezed a burst, destroying the unreinforced glass and the head behind it. She was numb to the kill and when Red lit up the truck with the grenades, she moved her focus to the next one.
The Humvees behind the security trucks began firing their heavy weapons at their first two gun trucks. Red cried out in the turret, and she gasped as a line of fire grazed her shoulder when the rounds hit. She grabbed her shoulder and looked back at the platform where Dana and Tricia manned the weapons in the back.
She saw Tricia’s blood-covered face where she slumped at Dana’s feet.
“We’re hit!” she screamed.
Red, still alive in the turret, fired again. She and Dana concentrated their fire on the Humvee.
“Young, bring up the other Mark 19!” Storm ordered, between firing.
The Humvee stopped firing at them and Kate saw people on foot exiting the vehicles behind. They were going out into the trees.
“They’re surrounding us!” she called out, directing her fire toward the swift figures.
“Cease fire!” Storm yelled.
The firing stopped after a few sporadic bursts from the other trucks finding targets. The sudden silence was almost deafening.
“Move up. Get to the tunnel. Prepare for heavy resistance,” Storm said.
Heavy resistance? What the hell did they just encounter if not heavy resistance?
They reloaded their weapons and every single person was on alert. Tricia was sitting in the back, still bleeding, but not moving. Kate hoped she could hold on a bit longer. Dana was talking to her, but Kate couldn’t make out exactly what she was saying.
The rest of the ride was a blur of anxiety, cold wind, and occasional dark buildings. They were going up a hill, and at the top, they were expecting to encounter more enemy personnel.
“Last curve. There’s a parking lot on the left,” Red called.
“Young, move up. staggered column,” Storm said into the radio. “This is it.”
They gained the top of the hill and Kate was scanning the hillside, looking for freaks on foot. She saw nothing, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
“Tunnel ahead—what the fuck?” Red called down to them in surprise. “Looks like we’ve got a standoff here!”
“Between who?”
“Our mystery troops and the hybrids, it looks like,” Storm said, calling a halt for all trucks.
They stopped and Kate stared at the strange grouping in the light from their GMVs headlights, which Reed had just turned on.
“Dismount,” Storm said. “Delta, stay on the guns and provide overwatch.”
Kate got out, bringing her rifle up. They didn’t move out into the light yet.
Storm hesitated, then called out to the people that seemed to be holding an officer hostage.
Could it be this easy?
“Identify yourself!”
There was silence and she thought they might not answer, but the one in the front finally did.
“This is Staff Sergeant John Bradley of the Arkansas National Guard! We’re holding General Elias Brown hostage for the safe return of our people!”
Her mouth dropped open as she looked at Storm and Red. Red was mouthing a curse and Storm was shaking his head in shock.
She grinned. “Is that your Bradley?”
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, and she saw uncommon emotion cross his face. He nodded and the rest of their guys started talking over each other in excitement. They walked out into the light, weapons ready in case the hybrids tried something.
The closer they walked, the more something stood out to her. One of the guys looked a lot like her brother...
When he turned a bit more into the light and she saw his face, her heart jumped into her throat.
It was him!
“Jared?! What the fuck are you doing here?!” she yelled.
It seemed too good to be true, like too much of a coincidence. How the hell had he ended up with Storm’s guys and then here? It was too much!
“Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates! You never know what you’re gonna get!”
Tears prickled her eyes at his stupid movie quote. That sealed it more than anything else. Anyone else would have answered her like a normal person, but not Jared.
“Oh man, I don’t think we can handle another Carson,” Red groaned and Kate grinned.
Storm looked baffled and ecstatic all at once and she knew exactly how he felt. “Bradley? We thought you were dead!”
A giant of a man, wearing what could only be described as an animal skin cloak yelled to get their attention. “We don’t have time for reunions. They’re coming out!”
“Back to the trucks,” Storm hissed.
She didn’t want to leave her brother, but she could cover him better with the SAW than she could standing out in the open with just her M4. She jumped behind the mount as the others climbed back to their places.
The hybrid contingent stood outside the entrance to the tunnel with a group of bedraggled-looking people. Prisoners. Jared’s people, if she had to guess.
Suddenly, the strange stillness was broken by a struggle near the back of the group of prisoners, then the night exploded into gunfire.
Kate watched as a freak next to Jared jerked the officer’s head back, and Jared killed the man with one thrust of the knife. Lead zipped past them and toward their convoy, and Storm began to fire as the prisoners and Jared’s guys hit the dirt.
Kate opened fire on a freak that was about to shoot a crawling woman and felt a wave of joy as the rounds chewed his head up like a watermelon.
“Dismount! Fan out, but watch for crossfire!” Storm called, and they went into the trees. Kate took shots at the freaks that she could see. Her arm was mostly numb, but she managed to keep firing.
She glanced over and nudged Storm as she saw the strangest thing she’d seen in a long time.
“Are they charging those freaks with swords?” she asked.
“Looks like it,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
Who the hell had her brother teamed up with?
She cried out as her brother lunged for a woman, getting a stray bullet across his cheek in the process. He was still moving though and that comforted her as she scanned the trees for the enemy.
The last time she glanced at the clearing, a freak that seemed to be allied with Jared was decapitating a hybrid.
The night had ended strangely, that was for damned sure.
Epilogue
Kate- Present
Kim showed up out of nowhere and conversed with Storm. They decided the area was safe enough to start providing aid to those wounded in the battle and to send for Jen, Wes, and the team that had been left at the mine to defend them.
Jared had more people than they had realized, and she was a little shocked at the size of the convoy that showed up at daybreak.
She was shocked at the size of the people as well. She had thought Storm was more the exception than the rule, but he would fit right in with this race of giants.
Her brother was freaking weird and the apocalypse seemed to have amplified that. There was just no telling who he would find to ally himself with or where he would end up.
Storm ordered his team to start tending to the wounded and Kate helped.
In a while, she would find Jared and they could catch up. She would tell him about their mother. She would meet the woman he seemed to be fond of if the way she was sitting in his lap was any indication.
She closed her eyes and turned her face to the scant heat of the sun. A small respite from the intensity of battle, and its aftermath. She shifted her plate carrier to a more comfortable position and adjusted the bandage on her shoulder.
The sun was rising. It was a new day. They had work to do. Their capture of the base was only the beginning.
There were people to meet, strongholds to contact, prisoners to free, Charlie One to hunt down, and a major threat that existed out west that needed investigation.
Yeah, she had plenty of things left to live for. She looked at Storm and sighed.
And more popping up every day.
Thank You for Reading!
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Books by A.L. Masters
The Salvation Plague Series in Order:
The Turning
The Mutation
The Replication
The Elimination
Vindicta
Book Six ~ In Progress
Salvation Plague Universe Standalone
Of Course I’m Not A Cult Leader ~In Progress
