Crenshaw nodded once more. “Well, it was good meeting you all. Hope you make the most of this nice weather we’re having. Call on us if you need anything.” She gave us a parting salute, then turned stiffly and walked back toward one of the Jeeps. She had a hitch in her step similar to my own on account of her prosthetic leg. Once Crenshaw was securely inside the Jeep, the remaining soldiers peeled off two at a time to join her. Then they were all crowded back into their vehicles and maneuvering five-point turns outside our gate. I watched them turn off at the end of the road and prayed they’d never return.
“They’ll be back,” Macon said, putting a voice to my worry.
“No doubt about it,” I agreed.
And when they did, we’d need to be ready.
TWO
KITTEN
“It might besomething we could use, like batteries or medicine,” I said to the guys as we debated what to do with the soldiers’ “gift.”
“I don’t trust it. What if they’re waiting for us to open the gate so they can ambush us?” Cipher said.
“Or posted up just down the road.” Macon nodded toward the houses farther down the street.
“You really think they’d do that?” I asked, disbelieving.
If it were up to me, I probably would have let the soldiers inside. Cipher didn’t trust the military, for good reason, but I’d had a different experience. When we were struggling to survive in the first few years of the plague, convoys of military would often come by and drop off supplies–food, water, and medicine. Their doctors gave us shots and medical care too. Even the soldiers who’d come later and confiscated our guns were respectful. They could have just searched our home and seized them, but they’d offered us several months worth of food in trade.
Jeremiah had been a soldier.
I shuddered at the thought of him. Maybe he was lying about ever being in the military, and even if he wasn’t, he was a bad soldier, a power-hungry betrayer of his own squad members and our country. I refused to use him as an example of what a good soldier could be.
“Could be a bomb,” Cipher offered.
“Or some sort of spyware,” Macon said.
“If it’s spyware, Gizmo and Wylie can hack it and make it our own,” I reminded them. There was nothing those two couldn’t fix or repurpose.
“What if it’s set to detonate if we mess with it?” Macon asked.
“Why’d they want inside so bad?” Cipher asked.
“To take our guns?” Macon suggested. “She was interested in that.”
“Maybe they want to make sure we’re not slavers.” I gestured to the very well-constructed but also intimidating wall that surrounded us. “I mean, what would you think?”
“Fair point,” Cipher said.
“I’m going to see what’s in it, and if there’s nothing dangerous, I’m bringing it inside,” I said with as much authority as I could muster.
I expected Cipher to argue or tell me it was a bad idea, but he only frowned a little and said, “I’ll go with you.”
“I’ll cover you both,” Macon said.
Satisfied with the plan, we climbed down from the watchtower and headed over to the front entrance. Wylie had welded together whatever heavy-duty metal we could find to make a gate, and the two sides of it were chained together with a bunch of keyed and combination locks. Cipher had gotten it down to less than thirty seconds to open the gate, having spent three days practicing to get that time. Speed was necessary in an emergency situation, he’d told us, which was why he’d madeeveryone else practice it too. He was always three steps ahead, the reason why we’d elected him as our leader.
“Hold up, babe,” Cipher said. He grabbed two pieces of rebar from where they were leaning against the barricade and handed one to me. He’d stashed all sorts of objects around the compound that could be used as weapons in an emergency situation. He signaled up to the watchtower, and Macon gave us the all-clear.
Cipher pulled the key ring from his belt and deftly disabled the various locks while I scanned our surroundings outside the gate. He’d taught me how to act as a lookout, even with my hearing impairment, how to shoot a gun, and how to get myself and an injured person to safety. He’d performed those drills with all of us so that we could move about freely outside the compound during daylight hours when the Rabids were dormant. We still had to worry about other humans though, a threat that I took more seriously than ever.
Cipher swung open the gate and we both passed through, each of us checking our surroundings and then the duffle bag in question. It was about two feet long, a faded olive green color that was the United Forces standard, made of heavy canvas with a zipper down the center. A good bag, useful too. Jeremiah had owned something similar. It was where he’d stored the rope.
Get out of my head.
I shook out my limbs, trying to loosen the phantom feeling of being tied to that stake when he’d used me as live bait for Rabids. The ropes had been so tight I couldn’t move an inch, could barely breathe or even turn my head. Like a mummy, he’d trapped me. I reached for the inhaler in my pocket and squeezed it tightly. The thing wouldn’t do me much good anyway. I was only getting propellant out of it now, but having it with me still soothed me.
