Families First: A Post-Apocalyptic Next-World Series Volume 6 Battle Grounds Read online

  * * * *

  Vlad took Javi outside, sitting on a bench as the birds sang this new morning.

  “Your daddy saved my life, you know.”

  “No, I didn’t know that,” Javi said. “How?”

  “He and Lance drove me all the way to a hospital when my leg was bad and made me really sick. Then, do you know what your daddy did?”

  “No,” he responded, becoming more interested in the story.

  “Then he won me back in a boxing match!”

  “Were you lost, Mr. Vlad?”

  “No, but some people wanted to keep me longer than I wanted to be there. Your daddy boxed the champion of the whole place and beat him. Then he won me, like a prize.”

  “That’s funny,” said Javi.

  “It’s strange, for sure,” replied Vlad. “Your mom says I’m supposed to give you a hug and tell you she loves her Snuggle Bug. Do you know what that means?”

  “Yes, sir. She always calls me that.”

  “Can I do that?”

  “Okay,” he said, leaning in for a quick hug. “When is she coming to get me?” he asked, as if she had just gone to run a quick errand.

  “She loves you very much,” said Vlad, not able to hold back the tears or answer the question directly…

  “There was an accident at the machine shop last night, and she went to heaven.”

  Javi, with no expression, was processing the information in his fragile young mind.

  “Do you understand?” asked Vlad, after another thirty seconds without a response.

  “Is she in pain?” Javi asked.

  “No, she feels good and free. They say it’s just like that up there.”

  “Do you know anyone up there, Mr. Vlad?”

  “Yes, my wife is there, and both of my parents.”

  “Can you talk to them?”

  “I do almost every day.”

  He buried his head into Vlad’s shoulder, erupting into tears and mostly inaudible pleas to bring her back. They sat there for nearly 30 minutes before the last tear of the morning had been shed by either one. “What if my daddy doesn’t come back?” asked Javi. “Will he come back?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Vlad, “but I do know he will do everything he can to see you again. You can count on that. And for now, I will take care of you like my very own. That’s what your mother asked me to do, and I promised her I would. A man never goes back on a promise; you know that, right?”

  “Yes, sir,” he said, laying his head back on Vlad’s shoulder, not moving for what seemed like an hour to Vlad but could have been all day if it was up to him.

  * * * *

  “Hey, guys,” came a voice from across the lawn. Can I sit with you two?” Anna asked Javi.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

  “I’m Anna, and I know we haven’t talked much but I’m a special friend of Vlad here. I knew your mom and dad—not very well but enough to know they both love you very much. Can we take a walk, just you and me?” she asked, knowing Vlad had to get to work soon.

  “Okay,” he replied, taking her hand.

  “You’re a good man, Vlad,” she whispered, blowing him a kiss.

  Joy and I watched it all from inside, not hearing a word spoken and not needing to. Some time later, not too long, though, I left for work—vowing to Joy that I would be careful. She told the boys about Sheila, and they asked if they could still play with Javi.

  “Of course,” she told them. “He needs good friends, now more than ever.”

  * * * *

  The funeral services were getting a bit morose for Mac, who wasn’t too fond of funerals in general, and he wondered how many spots were still available under the meticulously manicured grass, even now. The cemetery had been here and in use since the 1940s and wasn’t built to handle this heavy of a load, he was told by a Council member.

  He gave a quick nod, spotting his old friend. Jimmie’s headstone sat on fresh dirt towards the center of the squared grounds. Mac hadn’t known Sheila and only talked with her for a minute, but she seemed nice—and she was a great mechanic, he had heard from more than a few in Lance’s group.

  John gave a nice service, with a few from our group speaking about her, including Joy and Nancy. Lonnie’s wife refused to attend, still citing the fire incident daily.

  Mac made a mental note to talk with Lance about little Javi. It wasn’t his place probably, but he was the head of security, and someone did lose their life on my watch, he thought. Either way, he still wasn’t sure how the new group would assimilate into the Ranch.

  “It’s strange,” he told Cory. “When individuals like you and your son come here, it’s easy. Here are the rules, stay or go, but with a group that size traveling all together, they already have a set of rules—probably quite different from our own.”

  “Just give it time,” replied the always level-headed Cory. “It just takes a bit for everyone to get on the same page, just like we did with the new security team.”

  * * * * * * *

  Chapter Nine

  Saddle Ranch

  Loveland, Colorado

  Mike and Sergio

  The defectors, as Baker now called them, drove slow but steady towards Saddle Ranch. Baker put out a bounty of one rifle and 20 rounds of ammo on each of their heads, minus his granddaughter that he told everyone was kidnapped.

  Max was excited and nervous about his arrival in the Valley, wondering if they would let him in. Dr. Baker would be even a tougher sell, given her name, he suspected. But maybe they will be so happy to get another doctor that they won’t make a big deal of it, he thought.

  “How many people do you think you will have to kill, Sergio, between here and Saddle Ranch?” asked Max, making New-World small talk.

  Sergio shook his head, laughing. “I don’t know, Max, but you’re a funny one, that’s for sure. You sound like Billy Crystal in that movie City Slickers when he asks Curley that. ‘Hi, Curly—kill anyone today?’” said Sergio in his best Billy Crystal impersonation.

  The answer would end up being “two,” with a third credited to Mike from the back and Sergio repeating that he could use a man like Mike in the organization. A small detour and two mild skirmishes, if either Sergio or Mike were asked about it, had them turning at the elementary school near Saddle Ranch mid-afternoon.

  Reaching the northern gate, the same as the first group, they parked. Sergio walked slowly towards the barricade, hands to his sides.

  “Hands up!” called out someone, getting a “nope” reply from the military man, not complying but also not taking another step.

  “I’m Sergio, and my boss’s boss is the Colonel that knows Samuel like a father. Also, we have Mike with us.”

  “Who?” they asked.

  “Mike—part of the Saddle Ranch group that should have rolled in here recently. He’s just a late arrival, is all.”

  “Do you mean Lance’s group, the ones who rode in with a tank?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” he said. “The name is right.”

  “Hold on,” said the guard, as Sergio walked up to the truck’s back to talk with Mike.

  “You didn’t tell me your group has a tank?!”

  “It’s the first I’m hearing of it,” replied Mike, “but they did know they were coming here to fight. Must have picked it up after I left them.”

  “Bring Mike up here,” called out the guard.

  Mike did his best to slide out of the truck and walk straight enough.

  “I’m not drunk,” he called out as he approached. “Just gut-shot is all,” getting a grin out of Sergio.

  “Sergio,” said the guard, “you check out. Mike, it’s going to be a bit.”

  “Why’s that?” asked Sergio.

  “Different groups,” he replied. “Saddle Ranch is at a funeral right now, and we can’t get hold of them,” said Samuel’s guard.

  “Who died?” asked Sergio.

  “Some woman mechanic—part of your group, I guess, Mike. Got squished l
ast night by a school bus, of all things.”

  Mike’s right arm shot forward from his body faster than the guard had ever seen before. He had the man’s collar in his fist and demanded to know her name.

  “Easy there, Mike,” said Sergio. “This man is just telling the facts,” although he did think he could have been more tactful about it.

  “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t, but she has a little boy with some Spanish name I heard.”

  “Where are they?” Mike demanded, not letting go of the man.

  “Up the road one mile, then on your left up against the Rimrock.”

  “Move aside,” said Mike, letting him go and walking right through the barricade.

  “Hey, mister, you can’t just...” called out another guard.

  Mike kept walking and tried to run before tripping and nearly eating pavement. He made it 50 yards and was out of breath when the horn honked.

  “Get in,” called Sergio, with him and Max helping Mike climb into the back.

  At exactly one mile, according to the odometer, Sergio pulled the truck off onto a dirt road to the left, heading towards a dark red Rimrock and what appeared to be almost a hundred people gathered at its base. There were a few trucks and four-wheelers parked, but many had just walked the half-mile over, and most of those looked wide-eyed at the speeding truck heading towards them.

  “I’m slowing down,” called out Sergio to his passengers. “I don’t want us getting shot at out here.”

  * * * * * * *

  Chapter Ten

  Saddle Ranch

  Loveland, Colorado

  Bill stepped forward, as did Samuel, assessing the situation. I started to walk over, with Joy trying to hold me back. The passengers headed out slow—three men and a woman.

  “It’s Mike,” I called out to Jake and Lonnie, both not far from where I stood. “I don’t know the other three, but that’s Mike for sure,” I added excitedly, before remembering why we were all standing out here in the first place.

  Javi let go of Joy’s hand and ran to him, crying “Daddy! Daddy!” nearly knocking the strong man over, jumping up into his arms. “She’s gone, Daddy. Mommy died and went to heaven,” he said, through his sobs.

  Of all the scenarios Mike thought could happen if things went badly, this was never one of them. It was supposed to be me that dies first, always me, he thought, holding Javi tightly and feeling comfortable doing so.

  Was she run over? he thought, not wanting to ask in front of Javi. Did someone do it on purpose?—feeling his face flush.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, seeing his reaction and looking into his eyes. “She had an accident at the machine shop, working on a school bus. It was a tragic accident and nothing more,” I added, handing him the wallet he entrusted me with only a week ago. I had it in my pocket every day without fail until he returned.

  “Okay,” he said, letting out a long breath he held like a smoker taking their last drag before quitting the habit for good.

  “The leader here, John, is giving the service. Would you like to say something?”

  “Only to Javi, but I’ll listen to the rest,” Mike replied.

  Sergio spoke quietly with Samuel, nodding Mike’s way a few times over the next ten minutes.

  * * * *

  Sergio, Max and Dr. Baker were given apartments temporarily until the Council could meet the following day. Mike asked if he could crash on the couch in our apartment, maybe not wanting to be alone tonight. “Of course!” we told him. He and I would stay up well past midnight, sipping scotch and reminiscing about Sheila and the trip so far.

  The next morning Vlad pulled Mike aside, giving sincere condolences and the basics of what he knew. He was sure Mike would be upset that he left her alone in the shop, but his response was that she liked to work alone, she had always told him.

  “I talked with Sheila when she was still alive,” said Vlad, telling him the code. “She said to tell you ‘A Boy named Sue’” and continued to recite the rest of her message, nearly word for word.

  “I’ll need to think on it,” he said, asking Vlad if we could keep Javi for the night.

  Joy and I brought breakfast back the next morning for the four new recruits. I didn’t want them getting a hundred questions from other diners before they had even spoken to John, Bill or the Council. The meeting was set for 10 a.m. in the Pavilion basement, as was becoming the customary location nowadays. Bill asked a few from our group who knew Mike best to attend as well, including Joy and me, Lonnie and Vlad.

  It started with condolences for his girlfriend and concern that Mike had grabbed a security man of Samuel’s by the throat, according to him and one other guard, with all others saying it was just his shirt collar.

  “I understand your concern at that moment, Mike,” said John, “but here we do not lay hands on each other—with only a few exceptions in a matter of life or death. I understand you left your group for a week, only to return now. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, that is correct.”

  “Where were you?” he asked, already having a good idea from myself and Lonnie in previous conversations.

  “I was a spy in Baker’s camp,” he said, getting gasps out of some Council members hearing this for the first time.

  “You mean like a James Bond 007?” asked a woman on the Council.

  “Or the former British spy who lived right up the mountain here?” asked another.

  “Something like that, but I got shot before I even got there. Sneaking around is not really my strong suit,” he replied. “I guess I’m more of a get-things-handled guy.”

  “And you?” John asked Sergio. “You work for the Colonel, I hear.”

  “Yes, sir, in a roundabout way.”

  “And you two?” he asked, pointing at the only two left.

  “I’m Max, and this is Dr. Ba… I mean, her name is Sally, and she’s a Dr., so maybe Dr. Sally.”

  It sounded dumb coming out of his mouth, and he was sure the jig was up before it had even started, but she introduced herself as Dr. Sally, and everyone else just thought she had a hard-to-pronounce last name, seeming to be the case with first-name doctors, in Max’s experience.

  “Well, Dr. Sally and Max, we can always use more medical personnel here,” said John, welcoming them officially.

  “And how about you two?” asked John, looking at Mike and Sergio. “Were you hoping to stick around?”

  “Excuse us just for a minute,” said Mike, without asking. He took Sergio by the shoulder and led him out of the conference room and into the hall.

  “Is that an offer—what you said before to me?”

  “The one where you come work with me?”

  “Yeah, that one.”

  “Sure. Technically, you would work for Ronna unless he didn’t want you, or maybe the Colonel would place you on his team. You have a good resume that both men have seen up close and personal. What about your boy? What you would be doing is no life to be dragging kids around with you.”

  “I’m already doing it, and you’re right. Sheila told one of the group members, the Russian guy, Vlad, that she wanted him and his girlfriend to take Javi. She said she was worried I would take him into the mountains with me, and he would miss his childhood around other kids. I’ve only been here a day and already got in trouble in the first few minutes. I thought about it last night, and again today. She is right; he needs a mom and dad, as well as friends and safety. I’ll fight hard for The Great Battle, but when it’s done, if I am still standing, then I will leave—one way or the other.”

  “I’m staying too,” said Sergio. “But only until the Battle is won. As I said before, this isn’t the end for Baker and groups like him. It’s the beginning, and they are coming soon by boatloads from China and India. Wait until that comes to a head. They have been fighting off and on over the years about land of much less significance, but they are the two most populous countries on earth, and everybody has to eat. That’s where people like me and you, if you are up t
o the task, shine. Our job will be nothing short of saving our great country, and I’m afraid it may be more than even you can stomach.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m talking about scuba diving fifty miles off the coast to plant a device on a ship full of would-be occupiers and sinking it before it hits our port. Or blowing up an entire port so ships can’t dock or refuel, stranding them halfway between here and home.”