“Thank you,” Colby replied. Slowly he moved over to the door of the truck that was still open and took out a radio that was on the seat. There was masking tape wrapped around the button to hold it down. He brought it up to his lips. “Did they hear that, Hank?”
“Loud and clear.”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
“Bait and switch. Happens all the time, bitch!” Colby said using Hank’s own words. Right then, armed locals converged on the waterfront from every direction. Rachel turned one way then another. A truck rolled in and more poured out, fanning out, rifles aimed.
Colby motioned for Dylan and Alicia to come to him.
“It’s over, Rachel. It’s over.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Boone said. He got on his radio bellowing orders. Rifles turned toward the people.
“Put your weapons down,” Colby said.
Boone was agitated, he kept his gun outstretched, turning, ready to unleash a round if need be. Colby didn’t expect him or his men to go easy. He looked like a cornered animal. Wild. Unsure of who to lash out at.
“I’ve had enough of this shit!” Boone said, grasping the back of Dylan’s collar.
“Let him go, Boone!”
“Fuck you.”
“Boone,” Rachel said. “Release him.”
“I should have never listened to you. Too weak. All words. Well I’m not.” He got on the radio. “Attack!” As soon as he said that, a gun erupted and Dylan fell forward.
“NO!” Colby tossed the grenade at Boone as he ran back toward the bay, trying to take cover. The grenade bounced a few times then exploded, at the same time chaos erupted. Gunfire dominated as the people turned on Boone’s men and they opened fire on the crowd. Colby got low, hurrying over to his brother, telling Alicia to get in the truck, get out of the line of fire. When he reached Dylan he was still alive but bleeding badly.
Colby dragged him back toward the truck. “Don’t you die on me.” He was coughing hard, holding his neck which was gushing blood. Tears streamed Colby’s cheeks as he slipped out of the grenade vest. Once Dylan was out of the open, Colby applied pressure to his neck while yelling for someone to get him a medic. “Stay with me. Stay with me!”
His hands were gloved in warm blood. It was flowing too fast. His pulse quickened.
“Help. MEDIC!” he yelled but his voice was lost in the noise of battle. Locals around him dropped, some shot in the leg, others in the chest or head. There were casualties on both sides. So much noise. So many people. So much horror.
Keeping his hand firmly on the wound, he tried to remain calm. “We’ll get you a medic. You’ll be all right. Just hold on brother…” Colby knew he wouldn’t survive. He was holding out hope when there was none. Dylan’s eyes rolled back in his skull. “Dylan. Dylan!” He lifted his head and cradled him, running his bloody hands over his face as the world around him vanished into chaos.
Chapter Thirty-One
The battle for Eureka was a long and hard fight. It didn’t end with Dylan’s death. As the first rays of sunlight filtered through the giant redwoods, Colby was still in the grip of loss. Bloodied, drained of strength and numb, he looked out across a smoke-covered street full of bodies. It was a senseless war, one that was driven by ignorance, lies and ego. He couldn’t say for sure how they knew it was over, only that they had fought through the night and emerged on the other side with fewer people.
At some point, after unleashing his anger with the others, he’d returned to Dylan and was holding him, apologizing. As if any of that could change the outcome. His face was an ash gray. Memories flickered through his mind. His laughter. His words of encouragement. His straight talking. The what-ifs tortured his mind. If he’d only done this, or that. Would he still be alive?
Alicia was the one to pull him out of it.
“He’s gone, Colby,” she said. “Come on.”
Zeke and Jake assisted in placing his body into the back of the truck so they could take him home to be buried. He would join a long line of Rikers that had fallen. His grave and tombstone found in a small private cemetery in the hills.
Born, raised, most Rikers had been buried there.
Covered in blood and grime, Colby looked out across the town as they drove away. Exhausted survivors checked the dead, and helped the injured. It would take time to find them all. They would have to go street to street and return once the fires had died down. Boone’s men had set ablaze many of the homes.
They continued to burn as the sun rose.
Zeke dropped Alicia and Colby off at their home, or what used to be their home. For both of them it no longer held the appeal it once had. As Colby got beneath a solar shower to wash clean the blood, he broke down. All the grief of the years came bubbling to the surface. Losing Skye. Losing his father. Losing Lincoln and Dylan. Trying to remain steadfast in the face of it all had worn him down. Once he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist, his eyes were red, his heart numb. He could still hear the cries of the fallen, and the last few breaths that Dylan took. “You okay?” Alicia asked as he entered the house. He wasn’t but it was human nature to ask that. People wanted you to feel okay. They didn’t know what else to say.
“You know, he almost looked at peace before he died,” he said.
“He can rest now. He saw a lot. All of you have. Far more than anyone should see in their lifetime.”
Over the following days, after Dylan’s funeral, Colby learned the full extent of what had taken place as the community fought to regain control of Eureka.
Rachel was found among the dead. It
