"Alright," LaRouche said. "Until we know what"s going on, I think we should do all inter-squad communication on a subchannel, and stop attempting to make contact. We will keep one of the Humvees monitoring the main channel, in case Camp Ryder attempts to contact us."
Wilson looked at the other two men, and they stared at the floor in front of them.
"It"s been two days," Jim said, speaking carefully. "I think we"re at a point now where we need to decide what we"re going to do."
LaRouche c.o.c.ked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"
Jim took off his tortoisesh.e.l.l gla.s.ses and inspected the lenses. "I know this isn"t going to be the popular opinion with you guys, but I think we need to consider going back."
LaRouche waited for a moment. "Okay." He opened his palms. "Why?"
Jim seated the gla.s.ses back on his face. "I think something is wrong. We haven"t been able to raise Camp Ryder on the radio in two days. I know the mission is important, but so is Camp Ryder. If they"re in trouble, we should go help them."
"We don"t know that they"re in trouble," Wilson said. "You"re just a.s.suming that because we haven"t been able to get the radios to work. Could be something as simple as one of our repeaters going down."
"But do we want to take the chance?" Jim asked. His voice was low. "I don"t think we should take chances with other people"s lives. We need to work on the side of caution here."
"And if we go back now, and it turns out that nothing was wrong, then that"s six days gone. For nothing." Wilson addressed himself to LaRouche this time. "You heard Lee when he briefed us. We"re already behind the ball on this thing. We don"t have time to waste."
Jim rubbed his head, seemed exasperated. "Wilson...we"re talking about our friends. Our families."
Wilson raised an eyebrow. "We"re also talking about the entire eastern seaboard, Jim. We"re losing time as we speak. What happens if we don"t blow these bridges in time? There"s more at stake than just our friends and families." Wilson seemed to not like the sound of the words coming out of his own mouth and looked like he"d tasted something sour. "It sounds harsh, but it"s the truth."
Jim"s jaw locked. "Fine. Let me and four others take one of the Humvees and backtrack."
LaRouche gave him a pained look.
Jim continued. "We"ll head back towards Camp Ryder, but we"ll check the repeaters as we go. If we can find the problem and fix it, and reestablish contact with the camp, then we"ll head back and rejoin you guys."
"Absolutely not," LaRouche shook his head.
"Why?"
LaRouche spit off to the side and wiped a string of tobacco juice from the stubble on his chin. "I"m not splitting up the team," he growled. "Jesus, Jim, you know what"s out there right now-you"ve seen it with your own eyes! We"re already looking at long odds, I"m not gonna cut my team in half."
Wilson spoke evenly. "Well, then we really only have two choices. We either all go back, or we all go forward." He shrugged. "I say we go forward."
"I say we go back," Jim said stubbornly.
They both looked at LaRouche.
The sergeant shook his head. "We"ve gotta keep going. I said it two days ago, and I haven"t changed my mind. We"ve got a job to do and Lee is counting on us doing it as quickly as possible. Whatever is going on..." he trailed off for a moment, then simply stated, "We"re gonna keep going."
"LaRouche..." Jim began.
"Decision"s been made," LaRouche said, curtly.
The ex-priest looked at him from under his brow. LaRouche knew that Jim wouldn"t defy him, but that didn"t mean that he agreed with all of LaRouche"s decisions. In fact, he seemed to disagree more often than not.
"Does everybody else know the situation?" Wilson asked.
"Seems like it would just invite argument," LaRouche sighed. "I hate to keep things from them, but it"s better that we make the decisions and go with it, or we"re going to be sitting around, discussing it for days on end."
Wilson shifted uncomfortably. "Sarge, you know I have your back, whatever decision you make. But I don"t think keeping it a secret is going to go over well." He turned partially so he could look at the others as they pulled out blankets and foodstuffs to prepare dinner. "Some of these guys have family back at Camp Ryder. I don"t think it would be right not to give them the option of going back."
LaRouche pursed his lips in irritation, but didn"t respond immediately.
"I know you don"t want to split up the team," Jim lowered his voice. "At least explain the situation. Let them come to their own decisions."
"How many have family back at Camp Ryder?" LaRouche asked.
"Joel and Dorian both have wives, and Nick has a wife and a kid."
"Fine." LaRouche s.n.a.t.c.hed his rifle off the wall. "We"ll do it your way."
He marched over to the group of ten that had formed a tight circle between the LMTV and the tanker, enjoying the residual warmth of the engines as they laid out their bedrolls and got a few small propane camping stoves burning. Wilson and Jim followed behind, but kept their distance as though they feared being present for the backlash.
LaRouche stopped in front of the group and held up a hand. "Listen up for a second."
The sound of quiet conversation and the clank of cookware ceased and the eyes of the team went to LaRouche, who did not look happy.
LaRouche looked back at them. "At this point, you all know I don"t beat around the bush, so I"ll just spit it out. It"s been two days since we"ve had any radio contact with Camp Ryder. We have no idea what the problem is. Could be something as simple as a malfunction with one of our repeaters..." he cleared his throat. "...Or it could be that something very serious has happened at Camp Ryder that is preventing them from responding to us.
"I"ve considered the options, and my decision remains the same as it has always been. We were given a mission, and we"re going to complete it. We"re not turning back. We"re not splitting up the team to send anyone back. I know that a few of you have wives and children back at Camp Ryder. I also know the threat we"re facing ahead of us. If we encounter The Followers, I"m gonna need every gun I can get. Not to mention the importance of the mission."
He found the faces of Joel, Nick, and Dorian, and he looked directly at them when he spoke. "If you choose to leave, I won"t stop you. But I won"t help you either. You"ll go with what you have on you. You won"t get any extra food or water or ammunition. I can"t loan you a vehicle, or send anybody with you to watch your back. I"m not doing this to be a d.i.c.k, but like I said, I still have a mission, and I intend to complete it no matter what."
Of the three men, Nick seemed to be the most perturbed. He stood his tall frame up, raised one of his long, thin arms in question. He was a tall man, in his thirties. He had a skeletal face and an awkward gangly-ness to his stretched-out frame. His deep-set eyes were close together, and a thin, blue vein bulged noticeably under his left socket, so that it seemed no matter what his mood, he appeared to be intensely angry about something. He stood there, his shoulders cinched in a permanent shrug. "We can"t make it back to Camp Ryder by ourselves. It"d be f.u.c.king suicide."
"Yes, it would," LaRouche nodded.
"Well, you"re not giving us much of a choice, are you?"
"No, I"m not," LaRouche said. "But that"s the situation. If we don"t make it to the bridges, if we get wiped out by some jack-f.u.c.k religious fanatics before we can do what we came here to do, then we"re talking about annihilation. Everything on south of us gets wiped out." LaRouche shrugged. "So, no, I"m not giving you much of choice. Because I don"t have much of a choice to give."
He shook his head and turned away from them. "I"ll take first watch."
He found a rusted old ladder on the outside of the building, leading up to the roof. With a bottle of water and a pop-top can of ravioli, LaRouche climbed to his post just as the last shade of gray collapsed from the sky and left complete and utter blackness.
He looked back and forth across the sky but saw no sign of moon or stars. Somewhere above him was a thick cloud cover, and the wind buffeted against him. Perhaps he wasn"t doing anyone any favors by taking the first watch-it seemed like there might be a late-night storm coming through, just in time to soak the other two watchmen.
He climbed up on a dusty air conditioning unit, scared away something that hissed and scuttled loudly across the rooftop, and he nearly fell off in surprise. When he had recovered his heart, he flicked on a flashlight for a brief moment, scanning the top of the roof. There was nothing to see.
"f.u.c.king rat," LaRouche felt a shiver work down him.
He had settled into position on the top of the air conditioner. He turned off the flashlight and scanned the perimeter of the property, though his eyes were still light-dazzled and he couldn"t see much. He closed his eyes and listened, but there was nothing but the wind rattling through leaves, and the creaking of ma.s.sive timbers in the forest behind him.
He removed the wad of chaw from his cheek, but didn"t throw it out. He wiped the dust from a section of the aluminum box and set the moist brown ball there. Then he popped the top on his canned ravioli and considered that he had once thought canned pasta was disgusting. Now it was the most flavorful thing he"d had in months.
He ate the ravioli with his fingers. When he was done, he licked the sauce off and wiped them on his pants. He took a long gulp of water. Put his tobacco back in. He situated himself more comfortably and draped his arms over the cold metal of his rifle, shrugging his shoulders against the wind.
His three hours of watch dragged on mercilessly.
The rain didn"t come for him, but the rat did. It scurried around the edges of the roof, always disappearing before LaRouche could turn his flashlight on. He wasn"t sure what he was going to do when he caught the b.a.s.t.a.r.d in the light. Shooting it would make too much noise, and it would be far too nimble to stomp to death. But at least it occupied him until the next watchman clambered up the ladder to relieve him.
It was Joel. Even in the darkness, LaRouche could tell it was him. His pale skin seemed to glow, and his white-blond hair stood out in a round puff on top of his head. LaRouche had always thought "Q-tip" would make a good nickname for him.
LaRouche nodded to Joel and stood from his spot on the air conditioning unit. "You taking next watch?"
Joel nodded.
LaRouche stood facing the man, waiting for something. Either for Joel to speak, or himself to come up with some piece of wisdom to offer. But he had nothing. And apparently neither did Joel. LaRouche took a step forward, put his hand up on the other man"s shoulder.
"Listen..." he began.
"I"m staying," Joel said quietly.
LaRouche looked down. Closed his mouth.
"I"m scared, man." Joel"s voice wavered slightly when he spoke, though in the darkness LaRouche couldn"t make out his expression. "I"m scared for my wife. I"m scared for what might be happening. But you know what?"
LaRouche looked at the man. "What?"
"I"m getting used to it." He took a breath. "There"s just...there"s just no getting away from it. There"s always something new to worry about. And if there"s something wrong at Camp Ryder, you know...what the h.e.l.l are we gonna do about it?"
LaRouche wasn"t sure, but he thought maybe Joel was crying.
"I mean, it"s not like there"s anyone out there taking hostages. Either nothing has happened at Camp Ryder-which I hope to G.o.d is the case-or something has. And we"re already too G.o.dd.a.m.ned late. And if we"re already too late, then...then there"s no point in going back."
A miserable noise escaped the man. "Jesus...is it wrong that I can think that way? It"s my wife I"m talking about."
LaRouche squeezed the man"s shoulder. "Joel. We don"t know that anything has even happened."
"Why can"t we reach them?"
"When there are multiple theories, the simplest one is usually true."
"What?"
"What"s simpler to believe?" LaRouche faced the man and spoke with a confidence that he had to pull up from a shallow and fast-dwindling well. "That someone or something has somehow overrun all of Camp Ryder, and that no one remains to answer our radio calls-including no one at any of the outposts? Or that there"s a problem with our radios?"
There was a long moment of silence between them.
Joel eventually sniffed loudly and LaRouche could see him nod his head in the gloom. "Yeah. That makes sense."
LaRouche gave him a gentle slap on the arm. "It"s gonna be alright, man."
"Yeah."
"I"ll see you in the morning."
LaRouche made his way down the ladder again, growing more and more tired with each pa.s.sing rung. The ladder left little oxidized particles of metal behind on his hands and made them gritty and smell like blood. Inside the warehouse again, the light of a single wind-up flashlight cast a weak glow, barely illuminating the forms of his eleven sleeping teammates.
He had already laid out his bedroll so that he simply moved quietly to his spot, lay down, pulled the blanket up over his chest and was asleep before he knew it.
It seemed he had only just closed his eyes when he opened them again and found the warehouse illuminated by great swaths of yellow morning light. His breath plumed in the air and he realized it was the clank and rustle of people gathering their things that had awaken him.
He leaned up, found Jim folding up his bedroll, his eyes puffy and red, his hair a matted mess, face creased deeply by hard sleep. Jim regarded him warily.
"Jesus," LaRouche threw his blanket off. "When were you gonna wake me?"
"You"re usually up by now," Jim explained. "Figured if you weren"t waking up with this racket, you probably needed the sleep." Jim looked around briefly and he lowered his voice. "Listen...I haven"t seen Nick this morning."
LaRouche stood up, rubbing his face and his eyes and looking around quickly to confirm Jim"s claim. "s.h.i.t. Did he have a watch last night?"
"No. Wilson"s up there now."
A voice mumbled behind them: "He left."
LaRouche spun and found Joel, pulling his pack up onto one shoulder. In the light, strain showed on Joel"s features. The definition of "careworn."
"He left?" LaRouche demanded.
"At first light." Joel avoided eye contact. "Didn"t say nothin" to n.o.body. Just grabbed his s.h.i.t and left out. I just happened to wake up as he was leaving."
LaRouche bore his teeth again, an expression that was becoming familiar to his team. He raked all ten fingers through his hair. He swore once, quietly. Then again, with more volume.
"Hey, Sarge!"
LaRouche turned and found Wilson stalking into the warehouse from outside.
LaRouche raised his eyebrows in question. "Did you know Nick left?"
"Nick left?"
"I guess you didn"t."
Wilson reached him and looked around conspiratorially. "I think we got another problem."
LaRouche s.n.a.t.c.hed his rifle up from beside his bedroll. "Of course we do. What is it?"
Wilson turned on his heels and began walking briskly outside, this time with LaRouche in tow. Through the dingy abandoned offices, with their wet carpets and torn walls and vines creeping in through the windows, Wilson led him to the large open panel of missing gla.s.s that had been their entry and exit. There he pointed east.
At first LaRouche thought it was a storm cloud, dark and ominous, looming towards them from the eastern horizon, seeming to be silhouetted by the rising sun that hove through the dark ma.s.s in dazzling ribbons. But it was too narrow. And LaRouche could see it boiling, he could see it rising angrily. Far enough that he couldn"t smell it yet, but close enough to see the billows.
A black column of smoke.