The problem, despite the bravado she displayed on the outside, and the half-hearted attempts to convince herself otherwise on the inside, was she didn’t really want to die today.
CHAPTER 4
Devils Tower, WY
They escaped Westby and headed south, away from the explosion and search drones. They made it through the entire state of Montana without sighting any additional enemy patrols or aircraft. When they saw the dark shape of Devils Tower on the horizon of northeastern Wyoming, it gave them a place to aim for a quick stop.
“You’ve got sixty seconds to enjoy Devils Tower,” Uncle Ted remarked, sounding like Clarke W. Griswold of Vacation fame. She was well aware they had no time to sight-see. The only reason they’d stopped was the prospect of finding a place to eat and gas up in a state scarce on towns or gas stations, even before the reboot. As they all expected, the gift shop had a snack bar attached to it.
“I’m buying some new clothes,” Emily replied, walking inside. “I’ll not wear the uniform of my mortal enemy a second longer than necessary.”
“I can’t stop you,” her uncle replied to her, “but don’t throw them out. The uniforms might come in handy again.”
“I never thought I’d see this place,” Kyla admitted, still hanging out on the front porch. She pointed to the nearby natural wonder, which was a mile or two away, and spoke to her uncle. “Mom always wished she could take me to National Parks out here.”
Above them, the monolith stood about a thousand feet tall with a flat top. The black obsidian structure had distinctive lines down the side, as if a volcano’s lava had cooled inside the mountain, all the outer rock and dirt had been stripped away, and then a giant used a trowel to cut grooves from top to bottom.
“Your mom would have loved places like this, no doubt about it. She’d probably beat bongos as she hiked around the trails up there.”
Kyla laughed, openly acknowledging her mom’s eccentric side.
“What’s the big whoop? Looks like the world’s biggest tree stump,” Meechum said, unimpressed.
Her uncle chuckled. “Don’t ruin the moment, people. Take in the nature. Do your business while I find another car willing to give us some gas.” Uncle Ted grabbed a hose and gas can—both things they’d found when they’d gassed up a couple of hours ago. He then hurriedly walked around the end of the wooden building.
“I’m going over this way,” she stated.
Uncle Ted popped back around the corner. “Make sure you have your rifle, Kye.”
She tugged on the rifle strap and smiled, glad to have it. The attack in Westby after they’d left had spooked her thoroughly, and the lonely drive had given her several hours to think about whether she’d been the cause of it. There were a million ways to look at it, but in the end, she judged it dumb luck the enemy drone appeared when it did. She’d been quick on the tablet and disassembled it immediately. There was no way a drone could have been on top of them so fast.
However, no matter what it was, she desperately wanted to check at least one more time to see if the people at Rammstein had received her call for assistance. While the others were inside, or scouting vehicles for gasoline, she snuck to the rear of the building and pulled the tablet from its hiding spot under her black shirt.
Kyla studied the tablet for a long time, going back and forth in her head about whether to take the risk of firing it up one last time. If she did, and got confirmation the military knew where to attack, she was going to break it to bits, to ensure it couldn’t give away their position. If she didn’t fire it up now, well, they might be driving into a warzone…
I have to know if my message went through.
Without realizing it, her hand was wrapped around the battery. Was it a sign? Did she instinctively know what was necessary? This was the time to be bold and save her friends, and the country.
“Just a peek…”
Devils Tower, WY
It had been a long several-hour drive from Westby to Wyoming. They’d exited the truck in Montana only once, at a hardware store, giving Ted a chance to ensure the weapons were properly slung over their shoulders, safeties on, and were the models each person wanted. After grabbing a length of hose to use as a syphon, and a gas can, he let each of them practice firing while he got fuel.
They stayed away from the shirts and socks blowing down the street…
On the road again, Meechum had cracked open the boxes of ammo and loaded magazines. When everything was good, she broke apart her pistol and put it together about twenty times.
Now they were at Devils Tower for another fuel stop.
“Stay close to the truck,” he warned, walking to the back to distribute weapons.
He selected a Benelli automatic combat shotgun as his primary weapon, thinking it would be best for close-up work if they were surprised. Kyla and Emily each took AR-15s. He deemed those as medium-range weapons, though they only had red dot scopes. He gave Meechum the AR with the Steiner Optics scope. Well, it was more like she took it for herself.
The good news was there were still twelve other rifles in the back of the truck, along with a few shotguns and a couple leftover M9 pistols. The man in Montana was truly a firearms enthusiast.
After some brief small talk with Kyla, he grabbed the hose and gas can and took off into the large parking lot of cars. When he got about fifty yards away, he tossed them down and unzipped his fly.
“Oh,
