Caitlan could move fast considering her size. She didn’t go for the sergeant’s nose—she went for his balls. Her big leg shot up and her foot disappeared into the baggy crumple of pants collected around his crotch. He dropped to his knees making a wheezing noise that sounded like air being forced through hole-ridden newspaper. She slapped the side of his face with enough force to knock him down onto his back. Caitlan wasn’t finished. She sat on his stomach, pushing the last little bit of air from his lungs. “Is this car actually mine?” She broke his nose with the first punch. “Did I use real money to pay for it?” She knocked out four of his teeth with the second.
Angela pulled her off before she could bust the rest out. “Okay... you made your point.” Michael and Amanda were back up on the car hood, huddled against Nicholas. The boy was crying.
“Fucking weasely little bitch,” Caitlan said, glaring at the unconscious soldier. “You okay back there, Hayden?”
“I... I think he’s dying.”
Fred the car-compound security guard was on his elbows and knees, crawling around on the pavement and coughing up blood. Caitlan squatted down beside him and rubbed his back. “Can you breathe, sweetie?”
Fred nodded and rasped. “Hurs real bah... Cank swallow...”
“You’ll live.” She grabbed the back of his skull and pounded his forehead into the highway. The rest of him collapsed down into unconsciousness. Caitlan stood back up. Angela and Hayden had horrified expressions on their faces. “Don’t go looking at me like that. These two have to sleep for a few hours if we’re going to try and make a clean getaway.”
“A clean getaway?” Angela stumbled from one sleeping soldier to the next. “What did the two of you do in that town, rob a bank?”
“You saw how they were,” Hayden protested. “Brayburne’s locked down tight with guys like this running the place. They would’ve taken the car and forced us to stay.”
“And that would’ve been worse than driving aimlessly across the country?”
Caitlan and Hayden stared at each other guiltily. Caitlan shook her head. “You weren’t there, you didn’t see the condition people were in. They were staying in dirty tents... being forced to work for water and food. It was goddamned pathetic.”
Angela threw her hands into the air. “What do you expect the army to do in conditions like this?” Nicholas was crying harder, and the twins were squeezing him tighter. “The world we knew is gone! I think we should give Brayburne a chance.”
Caitlan pushed at Sergeant Jeffrey’s shoulder with the tip of her shoe. “I don’t think Brayburne’s going to give us a second chance.”
Angela ran her fingers through her short grey hair. “We can’t keep running like this... We have to find a home for these kids.”
Hayden had finished dragging Fred into the ditch. “There’s bad people staying there. A lot of the men in uniform aren’t really soldiers. Trust me, I know.” Caitlan helped him do the same with Fartel. “Get that gas put in the car and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter 10
Nicholas wanted to drive with Hayden in the Buick, but Hayden forced him to ride in the Audi with all the others. Caitlan fired her car back up and lowered the window to talk with Hayden one last time before setting off. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Hayden adjusted his shirt. It was a good fit. “Take the first gravel road ahead and turn north. Go ten miles or so, and turn west onto Highway 16. About six miles after that you’re going to turn onto Highway 83 and start driving north again. There’s a big gravel pit on the east side of the highway not much further. Wait for me there. If I’m not back with you guys by midnight, keep heading north. Find something... somewhere. Take care of the children.”
“Don’t do this, you big fool,” Caitlan said. “That boy in the back seat needs you more than he needs the rest of us.”
Hayden leaned down and smiled at his son. He gave him the thumbs up. “I have to see this through. I can’t just let it be.”
“She’s right,” Angela said. “We really should stick together.”
And you really should mind your own business. You’ve never lost a horse before, so what would you know about it?
Angela slid back into her seat and shut her eyes. Caitlan drove away.
Hayden went and sat in the dead grass next to the laid out soldiers. One of them would hopefully regain consciousness in the next few hours. He would need more information before setting out on his own.
It was Fartel that woke first, for which Hayden was grateful. He didn’t think Fred would be all that cooperative after almost decapitating the man. Hayden pressed his knee into the sergeant’s throat. “The men that brought the tank into town... where are they staying?”
He tried spitting into Hayden’s face, but it was impossible with so many missing teeth. Hayden jammed the knee in harder. “Tell me.”
“Last... tent. Last tent on the... west end of Main Street... it’s where all the... aack.” Hayden lifted his knee. “Where all the... new recruits stay. Now help me up, you fucking—”
He punched him in the center of the forehead. Jeffrey’s bloodshot eyes crossed inwards and shut again. Hayden no longer cared if he lived or died. He took the keys from the trunk lock and started the Buick. He sprayed the men with flying gravel and headed back for Brayburne.
***
Fred Walleyes woke up three hours later. The sky above was a blistering shade of pink and orange. The sky had been doing all kinds of crazy shit since the attack.
