Aline frowned. “Why?”
“Because you have no plans to deliver a vaccine to the provinces. And, I plan to make sure a vaccine is available to everyone that’s left in this world.”
Her lips thinned. “Once Phase Three is complete, if there is still a need for vaccinations, and if it can be safely distributed, we will distribute it outside the capital. I give you my word.”
“Those are two suspiciously big sounding ‘ifs,’” Griz said.
Clutch shook his head. “Just let us use your radio network. We can find someone else who can produce the vaccine in mass quantities so
everyone
can be vaccinated. That way, you don’t need to pull resources, and the vaccine can be made. We’ll stay out of the way of your operation here.”
Aline sighed. “Believe me, I don’t want anyone else to die. I’m not the Grim Reaper. Nothing would make me happier than to see the virus erased from the world. There has been far too much death already. However, the survival of this country is riding on my shoulders, and it’s a responsibility I can’t take lightly. The preparations for Phase Three are underway. At this time, a vaccine will only confuse people. They’ll ask why they need a vaccine if we’re destroying all the infected.”
“Then tell them about the virus,” I said. “Because any person with half a brain knows that killing every zed and every trace of virus on this planet is impossible.”
James finally spoke up. “We’ll kill every last zed in this country. I guarantee it.”
“You sound like a politician,” Griz said with a snarl.
After a moment of silence, Aline nodded to Peter who brought over a carafe of red wine from the bar. He poured some in each crystal goblet. She held up her goblet. “I’m disappointed that we aren’t seeing eye to eye, but I believe we’ll work out our differences. That you’ve brought us news of New Eden’s survival is enough to celebrate. Here’s to the future.”
We reluctantly held our glasses up, and I took a sip of the sweet wine.
Aline smiled and took another long drink. “This isn’t the best vintage, but wine has become such a rarity, I savor it whenever I can.”
After I had another drink, I frowned and set the goblet down. A sudden case of vertigo overtook me, and I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them, everyone was blurry. I grabbed the table for support. “Clutch.”
He kicked back his chair and pulled out his sword, but I heard the weapon fall, and he grabbed onto my chair. I tried to reach out to steady him, but my hands no longer obeyed me. Clutch fell, and I found myself falling.
“Fucking politicians,” Griz slurred as everything went black.
Chapter XXVI
I woke up with a searing headache in pitch darkness. Even blinking my eyes hurt. I groaned and sat up.
“I apologize for the headache. The tranquilizer is a bit strong, but its effects will wear off soon enough.”
I recognized Mike’s voice, but could only make out a male silhouette in the darkness. Surprisingly, my hands weren’t tied.
“Where are my friends?” I asked.
“We thought it best to talk with each of you separately.”
“You drugged us?”
“It minimized the risk of an altercation. You must understand. We preferred not to go this route, but when you and your friends showed animosity, you forced our hand. We need you each to be reasonable. Every survivor has a role in the new country.”
I guffawed. “What makes you think I want to be a part of this new country?”
“We’re not perfect, but we’re trying to make things work. We’re trying to save as many as we can.”
“Killing survivors is not a good place to start,” I said.
“Aline isn’t afraid to make the hard choices. She must go certain lengths to ensure the new country succeeds.”
“She’s not a leader,” I said. “She’s a bully.”
Mike sighed. “The human race is on a precipice of survival. We can’t afford provinces to operate separately from us. If we don’t work together, we’ll all die.”
He walked closer and flipped a switch. Light flooded the small room, and I shaded my eyes. The room looked to be a small apartment of some kind.
“We need everyone’s help to eliminate the zed threat. We need capable pilots more than anything. Our air force has taken a beating, and we need to replenish. Pilots, no matter how little experience, are needed.”
“So I’m being conscripted, is that it?”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“And what’s mine?”
“You can choose to fly missions, or you can choose to return to New Eden.”
“What’s the catch?”
“Nothing for you.”
I let the words sink in. “And my friends?”
“If you choose to stay and fly missions, they’ll stay here, safe. If you choose to return to New Eden, they’ll be sent to join the squadrons in the south.”
“So you’ll send them to their deaths if I refuse.”
“They could survive.” He paced back and forth.
“Why are you doing this? You can train more pilots. You can find more loyal survivors. Why go to all this effort?”
“Because every survivor is crucial,” Mike said before taking a long pause. “And the government is still in its infancy. We can’t afford the toxicity of negative opinion to taint it. You would bring toxicity back with you to New Eden, and it would spread, just like the zed virus.”
Ah, the truth finally comes out.
I nodded as he spoke. “The jobs are to keep us busy. But, you wouldn’t let us go home regardless of what my decision is.”
“You have a decision,” Mike said. “Be a crucial part of our new country.”
“This ‘new country’ has already dropped nukes in the U.S. Now, you’re talking about poisoning the rest of the country. What’s going to be left for the survivors, if there even are any?”
“Idealism must be a nice trait to have. I haven’t had that luxury for some time.” He walked to the doorway and dropped a hotel keycard on the table. “You have until morning to make your decision.”
He left.
I jumped off the bed, my throbbing head nearly sending me back on my butt. I pushed through it, found my backpack on the floor, and paused at the door. I remembered the plastic keycard, grabbed it, and headed out the door. The hallway was lined with more numbered doors. A hotel of some kind.
I started heading one direction, then changed my mind, did a one-eighty, and headed in the opposite direction.
I opened the door to the stairwell to find a stern-looking Griz and Clutch coming up the stairs with another man. My eyes widened. “You’re okay.”
Clutch’s features lessened in an instant. He hurried forward and lifted me into an embrace. He held me tight. “You’re all right.”
“I love you,” I said under my breath.
Clutch lowered me but didn’t let go. He looked me in the eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but the other man spoke first. “Your friend can show you your room for tonight. I’ll stop back in the morning with breakfast. If you need anything before then, dial 0 and ask for Adam.” He paused before heading back down the stairs. “Oh, and be sure to walk around town. Take in the scenes. It’s really pretty here in the winter.”
As soon as the man had gone, we looked at one another. “Where were you going?” Clutch asked.
“To find you,” I replied.
We stood in the hallway for a long moment. “What do we do now?” I asked.
“It sounds like they’ve ‘invited’ us to stay the night,” Clutch said, his voice full of venom. “That’s what we’ll do.”
I pulled the keycard out of my back pocket. “I guess that’s what this is for.” Mopey, I led them back to the hotel room I’d been in moments earlier. Once inside, they locked the deadbolt on the door and spent the next several minutes looking for cameras or microphones while carrying on a casual conversation about the weather.
Finished, they shrugged at each other, and then Clutch motioned for us all to go into the bathroom. Griz turned on the shower as a sound dampener, and I stood there, watching both.
“I didn’t find any bugs,” Clutch said.
“Neither did I,” Griz said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not on someone’s very own reality show.” He then leaned against the counter. “I’ve never met a bureaucrat I liked,” He rubbed his temples. “Damn, my head hurts.”
“What’d they talk to you about?” Clutch asked me.
“They gave me a decision to make. Fly for them or else.”
His lips thinned.
“What’d they say to you?” I asked quickly.
“They brought in a ‘general’ who clearly never served a day of his life. He told us that the military wasn’t finished with us yet,” Griz said. “The dumbshit droned on and on about the necessity of forming a stable government and how they can’t afford to split their troops among the provinces, which was his way of saying we weren’t heading home. That we’d find out our orders tomorrow.”
“How can they do that?” I asked. “Just because you were in the military before doesn’t mean you have to do what any officer wants for the rest of your lives.”
“He said the zeds are terrorists. They’ve declared war on the zeds,” Griz said. “So, yeah, they can basically make any citizen do what they want.”
Clutch scowled at me. “And, I’d bet they have some kind of job for you, too.”
I swallowed and looked away.
He cupped my cheek. “What did they do?”
I watched an invisible dust bunny on the floor for a while before I spoke. “They need pilots to drop the Orange toxin. If I don’t fly for them, they said both of you would be sent to join up with the squadrons to die in the south.”
“They can force us down there, but they won’t be able to keep an eye on us all the time. We could go AWOL,” Griz offered.
“They also hinted New Eden would be bombed with the Orange toxin,” I said.
Clutch shrugged. “We didn’t tell them that everyone’s living in the silo. They should be safe inside from the Orange.”
I shook my head. “They’ll be safe as long as they’re inside when the area is sprayed. But, if we can’t warn them, anyone who went outside during or after the spray could die.”
“These guys have got their heads up their asses,” Griz added. “They’re convinced they can kill off the zeds and then start fresh. It didn’t work in Vietnam when we had less ground to cover and more resources. It’s sure as hell not going to work now.”
“The way I see it, we have three choices,” Clutch said. “We can try to escape, but they have a dozen guards posted downstairs. We can tell them to fuck off and get shot or conscripted anyway. Or we can play along with their asinine plan, bide our time, until we find a way out.”
“But the antigen will be lost,” I said.
Griz smiled. “Not if we find a way to get it back.”
I chortled. “That’s an awfully big ‘if.’”
“The capital has radios here that can reach most of the world. If we can get the word out that we have an antigen for a vaccine, then all we have to do is get the research and samples to the right folks.”
“So,” I drawled out. “All we have to do is find a way to prevent the entire North American continent from being poisoned, get access to the capital’s radio network and broadcast news of the antigen, and not get killed in the process. In a nutshell, we’re going to save the world.”
Clutch thought for a moment, shrugged, and nodded.
Griz’s brows rose. “Save the world? Yeah, that about sums it up.”
I smiled. “I’m in.”
COURAGE
Chapter XXVII
February
The fire bomber’s wheels squeaked as they met the concrete, and the heavy plane settled onto the runway. My best landing yet. All fourteen pilots were required to make a test flight once per day until Aline approved the release of the third phase of Operation Redemption.
When we weren’t flying, we were in the briefing room working on flight plans. The lead pilot walked to the front of the room and addressed us. “A warm front is coming through. The forecast is thirteen degrees Celsius tomorrow, which means it’s finally going to be warm enough to load the Orange onto our birds and start missions. Expect the green light tomorrow afternoon,” he said. “Get plenty of sleep tonight. You won’t see much of it for the next couple months.”
The tension was palpable in the room. Including me, nine of the fourteen pilots had been conscripted into service. At least five pilots were adamantly against spraying the Orange toxin and vocally raised their concerns daily. I was more careful. While I never voiced opposition, I never championed the operation. I tried to blend in so I wasn’t noticed, though I suspected Aline kept a close eye on all of us.
She was a relentless wolf wearing the guise of a compassionate leader. Preoccupied with building a centralized government, she refused to see the blood she’d spill to make it happen. She never visited any of the provinces, preferring instead to stay within the safe confines of the capital. She’d convinced herself that as long as the capital survived, there was hope. But, she’d neglected to take one thing into consideration.
Loyalty.
She’d augmented her pilots and troops with people from the provinces. And, we didn’t easily forget life outside the capital. The so-called Provinces of North America had forgotten about its provinces, but I hadn’t.
The fourteen of us, along with other airport personnel, crammed into a bus and rode back to town.
“It sounds like tomorrow is going to be the big day,” Akio, a fellow pilot, said.
“Yeah,” I said. “It sounds like it.”
He looked off into the distance and got closer to speak quietly. “Well, they can send me out, but they can’t force me back.”
“Your flight crew may have a different opinion,” I said, reminding him that Aline had assigned at least one staunch loyalist on each crew.
He shrugged and leaned back. “They can’t fly.”
“No, but they can shoot you.”
“There are worse things.”
“Like what?”
He ignored the question and instead nodded to the sidewalk. “The riders are back in town.”
I smiled. As soon as the truck stopped, I hurried to catch up with Griz and Clutch and gave them both hugs.