Still stunned, she stepped back, Katy’s screams clouding her thoughts. She stumbled for balance. The surrounding soldiers’ weapons were firing, and the refugees screaming—some running to the block house; others aimlessly into the woods. Blue streaks of light raced across the field to her front.
“Ma’am,” Jesse yelled, his face now inches from hers.
Laura swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay, let’s go,” she said in a dazed expression. Not afraid, she wondered, Is this what shock feels like?
Jesse forced a smile and led her forward. A bright flash of blue turned Laura’s head in time to see a running man’s body engulfed in a splash of blue. It looked like he’d been swallowed by illuminated jellyfish. How beautiful, Laura thought for a split second before the man’s body was again revealed, nearly naked and stripped to the bone by the blue blaze.
“Oh shit,” a crouched soldier shouted, looking down at the maimed man. He raised his rifle and fired at unseen targets to Laura’s rear. She pushed forward, adrenaline spiking her senses, heart beating frantically, and Katy’s tight grip around her neck. With clarity came the fear—she was now eager to escape. She ran the trail, struggling to keep up with the retreating soldiers and civilians ahead of her. They rounded a corner near a row of tiny cabins. Jesse stopped her with a tug at her elbow and pointed deeper into the woods to the north. Civilians ahead of her continued down the trail, others rushed through the thick vegetation in the direction Jesse indicated.
“Keep going, and don’t stop. We’ll hold them here,” Jesse said.
“Where do I go?”
“Just run. Run until you can’t hear the fighting, and then hide.”
Laura hesitated, gunfire thundering in the distance. She pleaded with Jesse to go with her, to show her the way. He gave her a knowing nod and strapped the nylon backpack to her shoulders. He snatched her rifle and checked the action before placing it back into Laura’s hands. “Go, stay quiet, and hide. We’ll find you—Jacob will find you,” he said solemnly, turning away. She went to follow in his direction when a blue bolt of energy splashed against one of the small cabins. The roughhewn pine boards were quickly swallowed in flame.
She looked back and saw that he’d been hit. The thigh of his uniform now scorched and blackened, somehow the big man managed to stay on his feet. He fired his rifle directly into the advancing enemy, not stopping until the bolt locked back. He shot her a scornful look as he reloaded. “Go,” he yelled. “Get the hell out of here.”
Katy screamed into her neck as she turned and followed the others into the trees.
Chapter Sixty-Four
A distant groan of fire and earth rolled through the forest, the trembling ground forcing the soldiers of the beleaguered patrol to huddle together, their stomachs gripped tightly with fear. Looking in the direction of the camp, watching as the tiny pillar of black smoke was joined by a ball of orange flame and roiling black smoke, Jacob froze. His heart stopped as the men in Jacob’s company lost any momentum they thought they’d earned from the helicopter attack.
“No, it can’t be,” he whispered.
Clem burst from the tree line, his oilskin coat now smeared with blood. He looked to the fight in the distance then back to the men, shoving them out of the clearing in the road and toward the cover of the forest. “Keep moving, get into the thick of it, we can lose them in the back country,” he shouted. “We move south, away from it all.”
Jacob stumbled back from the paralyzing fear. Looking over his shoulder at the older man who was still shouting orders, Jacob thought he caught a glimpse of a smile on the man’s face—an eagerness for the man to be in charge, to take command, like he’d found his opportunity.
“We can’t. We have to get back for my family… for the others… there could be survivors,” Jacob said.
Men were already moving into the woods, vanishing in the thick trees like they’d been instructed. Masterson rushed ahead, passing a cluster of men and closed the distance, stepping between Jacob and the older man. “Clem, I appreciate your help, but you’re not in charge here.”
“Fuck who’s in charge. I’m just trying to keep you lot alive. Soon, everyone at that campsite will be dead, and whatever is there will come back at us. Then we’ll be sandwiched between them and the things just over the hill we’re already running from.”
Rogers stepped up next to James and cleared his throat. He spat on the ground near Clem’s boot. “You leave those people to die back there, and you’ll be running from me also.” Rogers stood up straight, adjusting his rifle, while James fell in behind him.
Clem slowly panned down, laughing, looking at the wet spot on the pavement before looking up to shoot a sadistic grin at the bearded scout.
“Nobody cares about them. Right now it’s about survival, and if they don’t have the means, well, then we can’t go sacrificing ourselves for them.”
Rogers clenched his jaw and nudged a step forward. Clem let a hand drift from his hip to rest on the grip of a holstered sidearm. Turning to face Rogers, he squared his shoulders and stepped a half pace forward, inviting the threat. “Master Sergeant, I suggest you get your people un-fucked,” he said without looking away.
The muscles in Jacob’s neck tightened; his eyes locked on Clem’s hand wrapped around the butt of the pistol. Instinctively, he pulled his own rifle closer. Distant combat echoed behind them, rattling through the trees, reminding them of the people dying at the camp.
Rogers shook his head slowly and his expression hardened before turning toward James, ignoring the others.
