Retribution Read online

  Body parts were everywhere. Torsos, limbs, even heads were sprinkled amongst the chunks of dirt, rock, and smoldering, jagged drone bits. He attempted to call out for Jerry once again but only dry heaved and rolled to his back, staring up at the sky.

  His hands covered his face and his eyes squeezed shut. His palms smelled of dry, dusty Earth and blood. He began to wonder if the blood he smelled was his own, and if it indeed was, where it was coming from. Footsteps seemed to be dragging themselves nearer to his right. His eyes opened, and he slid his hands from his face.

  “Jerry!” Jasper jumped up and hugged the man approaching, half out of joy and half to be certain he wasn’t a ghost. “I thought for sure you were down in that…” His voice trailed off as he stepped back, glanced at the trench, and shuddered.

  “Me? Nah, kid. Take more than a few toys to finish off this old grouch.” Jerry looked around the highway. “Where’s your brother?”

  “He’s okay too. We ended up down the shoulder that way. Saw a van get hit and roll. He thought it was Talia and the kids. Ran out toward ’em, and it thankfully wasn’t them; but he’s helping with the injured there. I ran back here to see what I could do and to find you.”

  “Glad he’s okay.” Jerry limped away from the trench, waving Jasper with him. “C’mon. We gotta get this disaster rolling again as soon as humanly possible. Snakes are certainly on their way to finish the job.”

  Jasper followed the limping man. “What’s wrong with your leg?”

  “Not sure, but it’s felt better. What direction is the rolled van you mentioned? We have to get everyone back here ASAP to pack up what we can salvage, tend to the wounded, and get moving again.”

  “Way out that way.” Jasper indicated the direction he had come from. “Actually, it looks like they may have had the same idea and turned around. The ones that didn’t flip, I mean.”

  The two men looked in every direction they had seen vehicles fleeing as the attack had unfolded. They now found vehicles returning to the highway toward them. Jasper started walking toward the shoulder he and Robin had scrambled down during the attack. “I’m going to make sure they picked up Robin. I told him I’d be back as soon as I found a ride to transport the wounded.”

  “Understood. I’ll begin calling everyone together and taking quick inventory of the salvageable.”

  Jasper nodded in reply before quickening his pace. Just as he slid down to the overturned truck they had attempted to take refuge beneath, the vehicles pulled up in front of him and stopped. Doors opened and people began hopping out. Robin was among them and headed straight for Jasper.

  “How bad is it up there?” Robin nodded to the highway above.

  “Bad. Do not let the kids go up there. And we have to get moving as quickly as possible. General is sure snakes are coming to finish the job, and I agree.”

  “He’s okay then? Jerry?”

  “Yeah, he’s all right. Limping a little, but compared to what else I saw in that trench, he’s doing great.”

  Robin nodded. “Well, tell him we’re outta here.” He sighed. “And I don’t mean in that direction. I mean back the way we came.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Dude, we got kids here. Heck, even if I didn’t, I’d be turning back. This is ridiculous. What are we gonna do even if we survive this suicide crossing? Who are we kidding? We’re not soldiers. Some of those guys are, and the General sure is, but us?” He gestured back and forth between himself and Jasper. “The majority of this crew, we’re just regular, ordinary, everyday family folks. I’m all for going back to hiding in the mountains if that’s where I can best avoid situations like what we barely survived here.”

  Jasper slowly rotated his head side to side, taking stock of precisely how bleak the odds were that the group in front of him would indeed be capable of the task they were undertaking. “You’re right. This is nuts.”

  “So you’ll come with us?”

  “No.” Jasper shook his head. “No, I’m going for it. I can’t take this forever. The hiding. The running. I want things back to normal.”

  Robin’s eyes rolled. “Well, I do too, brotha.” He shook his head. “I just don’t see how this is helping achieve that.”

  “I hear you. I don’t have kids though. I hated my job before this all happened. For the first time in my life, I feel purpose, direction.” Jasper looked back up at the road over his shoulder. “Simon said it could help. I want to try. You should go though. For sure with the kids. C’mon.” Jasper started back up the small slope to the highway. “Let’s just tell Jerry quick and see who else wants out. We really gotta get movin’.”

  “Like two minutes!” shouted Talia from behind them. “Tops!”

  “For sure,” Robin called back.

  As they crested the small hill, they spotted Jerry twenty yards or so ahead. He stood on a chunk of what appeared to have been functioning as part of the median in the highway prior to the attack. He was directing the able bodied to load the unable into a bus that had miraculously managed to survive the onslaught virtually unscathed. He spotted the Cain brothers approaching and shouted out to them, “You two, grab that gentleman to your left there and get him into the bus.”

  Jasper and Robin spotted the man Jerry had indicated laying in the road as calm as he could manage considering his leg was severely broken. They hurried over to him and cringed at each other after looking him over. Robin kneeled down beside the man’s head. “It’s Ron, right? Couple weeks ago we talked for a while after dinner one night.”

  The man nodded before responding through gritted teeth, “I remember.”

  “Ron, there’s no good way to tell you this. We have to move you from here to that bus over there.”

  “I see it.”

  “Yes, well, I’m sure you’re aware of this already, but you have a badly broken leg.”

  Ron chuckled before wincing. “You don’t say.”

  “We don’t have time to stabilize it, and we have to pick you up.”

  Ron looked Robin dead in the eye. “Do it. Quick. Just do it, guys, and don’t stop till I’m on that bus.”

  Jasper patted him on the shoulder. “You got it, man.” He moved down to Ron’s feet, placing a hand under each ankle. He looked up at Robin. “Ready?”

  Robin slid his arms under each of Ron’s armpits and returned Jasper’s stare. “One. Two. Three.”

  Both Cain brothers lifted, and Ron’s breath left his body. He coughed twice as he tried to suck some air back into his lungs. The brothers lugged his battered body as quickly as they could over the decimated highway. They finally arrived at the open rear door, and a woman helped receive his torso from Robin as Jasper slid the lower half of Ron’s body in.

  “Good luck, man. ” Robin slapped Ron’s good leg, then grabbed Jasper’s tee shirt and yanked. “C’mon, let’s move.”

  The brothers jogged over debris to Jerry. Jasper called out as they neared, “General, we gotta talk, and fast.”

  “Spit it out, kid. No time to sit down with a cup of coffee here.”

  “Robin and a bunch of others are heading back. This is too dangerous. This assignment we were given is not for kids or old folks or really anyone not trained for these kinds of situations.”

  “I agree.”

  Robin’s eyes snapped up from the spot on the ground it had been focusing on. “You do?”

  “Absolutely.” Jerry stood taller and shouted loud and strong. “Listen up, everyone! The wounded are being loaded up to head back. Anyone under twenty or over sixty is going with ’em. Everyone in between can decide for themselves if they want to continue, but you need to decide now. I’m talking this instant. You do not get to play this one over in your mind. We’re splitting up and departure is ASAP. This is far more perilous than I had anticipated. Nobody will hold it against you if you choose to head back to the mountains. I never would’ve brought everyone if I fully understood just how bad the snakes tore up the roads and how devastating the drone swa
rms can be if they have those kinds of numbers and catch you in the open like that.”

  Conversations broke out all around. Questions peppered Jerry from every direction. He identified what he felt were the most pertinent and responded. “The only vehicles we will be taking with us toward Wisconsin will be the lightest and most off-road capable. We need four of the chargers loaded up with us. The rest go back. Weapons the same. We’ll take just what we need, the rest head back to the mountains for your defense. We will need two medics and two mechanics. The mechanics will have to be good with the chargers as well as the vehicles.”

  Many hands shot up, followed by enthusiastic calls to volunteer. Jerry shook his head. “I really appreciate the enthusiasm. Especially after what we just endured, but I mean it, just two of each. We need the mountain colony as durable for the long haul as possible. If this attempt at a quick solution to the occupation should fail, strongholds like that will be our only hope of mounting a long-term resistance. Draw straws if you have to. I also need some soldiers to head back with them as well. Move it, people. Figure this out and get into functioning vehicles, now.”

  “C’mon.” Jasper smacked Robin’s arm. “Let’s get you and the kids loaded so I can say good bye quick.”

  The pair of brothers ran for the shoulder again where Robin had left his family. “All right, give Uncle Jasper a hug, and we gotta go.”

  A lanky little girl with big round eyes looked up at Jasper. “Where are you going, Unky Jasper? Why aren’t you coming with us?”

  Jasper bent down and lifted her up and into an embrace. He squeezed her and kissed her cheek. “Awww, sweetie, I’ll see you soon. Just gonna go help Unky Simon quick, and then I’ll be back.” He gave her another kiss on the cheek before putting her back down. He grabbed Robin’s shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. “Go. Now. Get these beautiful kiddos out of here and back up to the safety of the mountains.”

  Robin nodded. “Love you, Jass. Good luck.”

  “Love you too. Now go.” Jasper broke away and walked backwards, blowing kisses to his niece and nephew before turning and racing up the hill. He quickly spotted Jerry yanking himself into the driver’s side of a large tan pickup truck. He sprinted over and pushed him up and in. “Now slide over with that jacked-up right leg. I’ll be doing the driving.”

  Half of Jerry’s face creased into a grin, and he scooched to the passenger side. “You’re lucky we’re in a hurry, or I’d smack you one good for talking to me like that.”

  Jasper chuckled as he pulled the door shut and fired up the truck. He shifted it into drive and quickly maneuvered through the debris and onto clear road as he accelerated.

  “First chance to hit a side road, we take it,” Jerry said, scanning the horizon. “Find us some place to hide out for the night and plan a route that won’t leave us so exposed.”

  Jasper simply stared into the rearview mirror at the opposite horizon and the more numerous group of vehicles heading in that direction.

  “You hear me, kid?” Jerry asked.

  “What? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Side road. Hideout for night. Got it.”

  Chapter 21

  A flap at the side of the briefing room had retracted somewhere into it. A cavity lay empty behind where it used to be. In front of that cavity the black and chrome cruiser floated two feet off the ground, a pair of feet stuck out from the underside of the cruiser. The feet were large, bare, and tapping into each other along to what Todd assumed was a Buffett song blaring from somewhere nearby.

  Todd approached the feet and lay down off to the side of them. He peered under the cruiser. “Whatcha doin’ to my ride, old man? And where are your shoes?”

  “Hang on a sec, I love this part. It’s from a cover he played at Alpine.” Ben tapped along to the beat on his thigh until the song came to an end. “What the heck do I need shoes for under here? Sometimes you just gotta bare foot, man.” Ben switched his focus from the wrench he had been cranking to his questioner. “I was loading your ride into that nifty little chamber on the side of our landing vessel. You know there’s a few of ’em like that? Got two other cruisers loaded up already. That briefing room ship is chock full o’ surprises. Anyway, I heard something I didn’t like, so I stopped and headed under to take a look see.”

  “Whaddya find?”

  “Nothin’ major. Just a little regular maintenance issue. Slide under here a little more and I’ll show ya.”

  “No thanks.” Todd grinned sheepishly. “For some reason I’ve just never been real good as a mechanic. I can do stuff around the house a little. Kinda handy that way, but man, you get me under a car or trying to fix a lawnmower or something, and it’s a disaster. It’s not for lack of trying. My grandpa used to try to teach me all the time. I just have some kind of mental block with it.”

  “Well, if Gramps couldn’t get through to ya, no chance for a two-bit hack like me.” Ben got back on with his task. “You chat at all with your pops again before we left Mars? Just curious. It’s cool if you don’t wanna talk about it.” Ben looked back at Todd and shrugged. “Cool if you do too.”

  “Sort of.” Todd rolled his eyes. “I mean, not talk, really. He had a short note sent to me right before we departed.”

  “Didya read it? And slide that socket wrench sittin’ by my foot to me, if it’s not too much trouble.”

  Todd located the requested tool and obliged. “Yeah. I read it. Meh.”

  “Meh?”

  “Pretty much.” Todd’s eyes closed and he inhaled deeply. “Okay, maybe not totally meh. It was, at least, sort of, a teeny bit, kind of acknowledging at least the possibility that he may have contributed to the Vikard occupation we now have to deal with.”

  Ben chuckled. “Well, that’s a start, I suppose.” He wiped his brow and re-gripped the socket wrench. After a few cranks, he cleared his throat. “I ever tell you ’bout my old man?”

  Todd slid up to a seated position on the floor. “Not really. Nothing comes to mind anyway.”

  “Stubborn as a mule.” Ben slid out from the underside of the cruiser, dropped the wrench, and sat up beside Todd. “Passed a touch of that on to his eldest son, if I’m being completely honest. Anyway, right about the time I was turning forty, him and that brother I got that moved out to Colorado got into a stupid pissing match. One thing led to another, and next thing you know, three years had gone by and they hadn’t even spoken. Well, harvest time came around, and one night my dad didn’t come in for dinner. Mom waited a while and then finally went out to look for him as it was getting dark. Found him out in the field flat on his back. Suffered a massive heart attack hours earlier. She had begged him for years to hire some help for the harvest, but, like I said, stubborn as a mule. So, long story short, my brother is still kinda messed up from it.”

  “So you’re saying I should maybe consider making the effort to patch things up with my dad?”

  Ben shook his head. “Nah. Not really tryin’ to push you in any direction or anything. Totally different situations, especially with what caused the rift, and yours is still really fresh. Just…” Ben looked up at the ceiling far above and scratched his neck before returning his focus to Todd. “I guess my point in bringing it up, if there was one, is you never know. Crazy stuff happens all the time, and then poof, someone’s gone forever. Take all the time you need and make whatever decisions are right for you, kid. Just sayin’ I’ve seen how it can affect someone, having a parent pass away with a rift still in place, and well, I love ya. Just don’t wanna see you suffer any more than you already have.”

  Todd cracked a thin smile. “I hear you. It’s a good point. I’m just trying to keep it out of my head right now, honestly. Too much at stake with our current predicament. Have to do my best to compartmentalize it for now. I will deal with it. Really. I just don’t need that massive distraction taking up too much of my limited capacity up there at the moment.”

  “I get it, I get it.” Ben stood up and started collecting the tools scattered about the floor. “Just kept ha
ving that pop in my head when I looked at ya lately and wanted to get it off my chest. Again, whatever you decide is right for you is all good by me. Honestly, there is no correct way to handle certain situations. You just do what feels the most right, and no matter what you pick, some things will never go back to feeling the way it used to. Straight line, man.”

  Todd’s brow creased. “Straight line what?”

  “Time. Just keeps movin’ in that one direction.”

  “Todd…Todd, you in here?” Jack’s voice bounced around the cavernous space.

  “Yeah, buddy. Over here by the briefing room ship with Ben.”

  Jack wove his way around the big black vessel at the center of the room. “Hey, guys. Sasha sent me to find you. Everybody’s presence is requested for dinner to go over some stuff.”

  Todd stood up. “What stuff?”

  “Not sure. Just said find you guys and head back up to the upper lounge in there.” Jack pointed at the ship beside them.

  Todd tapped Ben on the arm. “Maybe put your shoes back on before we head up, huh?”

  Ben shrugged. “Probably not the worst idea.”

  Chapter 22

  Simon slowly stirred an enormous pot. He spooned a bit of the thick, lumpy olive green soup out and dumped it into a small cup on the counter beside the stove. Li slid an oven mitt onto his hand and tapped Simon on the arm as he approached the wall oven to the side of him. “Stay by your stove. My bread is coming out.”

  Simon collected his little cup and scooched back over in front of the stove. He grabbed a spoon and tasted the soup from the cup as Li opened the oven door. “Oh, man.” Simon swallowed and placed the cup back on the counter as he moved closer to the first loaf of bread Li had placed on the same counter. “That looks,” he inhaled deeply through his nose, “and smells heavenly.”

  “Just wait until you taste it,” Li replied with a wink.

  Sasha appeared at the top of the stairwell near the center of the room. “Now that is a familiar smell. Did my parents stow away in here when we left Mars?”