Chapter 17:
Will They Be Expecting Us?
“Well, you think they’ll be expecting us?” Marley asked.
“Won’t know until we get over this ridge,” I replied determinedly.
We worked our way up a hill, knowing the outpost was on the other side of it. We were finally going to be in a friendly area. We wouldn’t have to worry about rogues, cannibals, wolves, or slavers anymore. This was it. It was supposed to be anyway.
“We still gonna be friends when we get there?” Marley asked me abruptly.
“Have we ever been?” I replied nonchalantly.
“We’re practically twins,” he said, trying to joke back.
I stood still, motionless and without expression. “No. No, we aren’t,” I said back sternly.
“Look, Dustin, we already did this, didn’t we? Can we go one mile without an argument?”
I refused to speak.
“Dustin! I am sorry about your brother. I am sorry about your family, your friends, about everything you’ve lost. But that’s not on me. If you need to vent then do it. I’m here for you and right now I’m the only friend you got!”
“I… I don’t have the energy,” I stated after a moment to consider his offer.
A sudden explosion over the ridge caught us off guard and forced us down to the ground for cover. We moved instinctively due to our bodies not being given enough time to register what was happening. Marley hit the ground hard and grabbed onto me. He crawled over to the top of the ridge and attempted to drag me along with him. We got to the top and peered over the other side. We saw it all. We saw the outpost in all of its glory. The last great stronghold of the rebellion. The walls were huge and the city it was harboring inside was massive. Some of the buildings were on fire at that point. Another explosion sounded and lit up in the middle of the outpost. We looked to our left and in the open field was a convoy of military vehicles. Troop transports worked their way to the front, dropping off soldiers when they got close to the walls. The soldiers wore their power suits to showcase their might. They appeared to be in pristine condition, undamaged by the several years of continuous fighting.
Marley looked to me with panicked expression showing on his face. “Dustin… it’s over.”
“For both of us,” I replied. “They’ll hang both of us for this.”
“We have to run.”
Marley and I got to our feet and turned our backs only to be caught by a man holding a crossbow pointed at us.
“Don’t move,” he demanded nervously. His entire body was trembling.
“Look, we were just leaving,” I said persuasively. “We won’t be a problem.”
“No. See that town down there? That’s my town and you two are gonna help me get it back,” he explained quickly.
“You’re gonna take on the military?” Marley asked jokingly. He started walking away from the man to show he was not prepared to take him seriously.
“No. We’re going to,” he said sternly. His nervousness was beginning to wash away, showing his true determination.
Marley stopped in his path and turned to the man. A curious expression showed through on his face. His eyebrows raised and he continued looking at the man in apparent anticipation.
“How?” I cut in.
“I have a plan,” he said, sounding unsure of himself.
“Great,” Marley retorted.
“Follow me.”
We followed the man to a hut deeper in the woods. Through a megaphone down the road, we heard the military commander requesting that the outpost’s inhabitants stand down and relinquish their weapons. They wouldn’t and the three of us knew that. There would be fighting soon.
“This is the rebellion’s last outpost,” I said to the man. “We don’t know how many more troops the government has. Is this really a good idea?”
“This is the last of the Hyena’s outposts. The rebellion is still well and strong, though. It’s just fractured into many different parts. If anything, it’s the government that is weak and scattered. We were so close to our goals and this is just a hiccup. There’s no reason the military forces should be this far out. That means this is just a small detachment. They’ve been planning, though. They just want to look strong with their equipment and vehicles, but they don’t have much firepower to actually back it up.
“And that’s just a theory, isn’t it?” Marley inquired knowingly.
“Yup,” the scraggly man replied as we moved inside of the hut.
How can we trust him? He must be insane.
“And we’re going to test that theory, aren’t we?” Marley said back.
“Yup.”
The man led us inside the small one-room hut which was filled with a military-grade arsenal: assault rifles, power armor, grenade launchers. This guy had it all.
“Where’d this all come from?” I asked.
“You don’t ask a man those kinds of questions,” Marley said before the man could reply.
“The one missing the leg is right about that,” the man replied with a smile on his face. “But I got these from killing those military guys. A lot of them from raids on the police stations.”
“Police stations? Why would they need rocket launchers?” I asked confusedly.
“Remember before the war. The police looked more like soldiers than the actual soldiers did. And they started acting like soldiers because of that,” the man explained. “Works for me, though, because it’s all mine now.” He laughed for a moment upon cradling a submachine gun that he appeared quite fond of.
“And you have enough ammunition here?” Marley asked.
“What do you think?” the man replied rhetorically without turning to face Marley.
“So what do we get to use?” My voice made me appear nervous, but I was more confused. I was ready for whatever came next. I just wasn’t sure of how it would play out.
“In your conditions?” he asked, looking to me and Marley with a hint of concern. “Look, I have a power suit here for myself. I can be a formidable distraction and that suit can take quite a pounding, but something tells me you two can’t. I have a little something around back for you two. Follow me.” He led us around the side of the hut and showed us a towering macine with a tarp covering it.
“What is it?” I asked the man.
“Our key to destroying that army over there,” the man replied. He put his arms on his hips and smiled to whatever resided underneath the tarp.
The machine towered over us. It had to have been at least twenty feet tall. At the top something protruded from it even further. The man walked over to it and took the tarp off. It was a tank. The man looked to us and smiled, showing his teeth.
“I don’t even want to know how you got this, do I?” Marley asked, still staring in awe at it.
“What kind of tank is this?” I questioned, having never seen anything like it.
“A drone,” the man replied. “And there’s another around the back. You two will be piloting them from the inside of the hut. How does that sound, boys?” He was still smiling and we could feel his enthusiasm.
“We’ve never... “ Marley started. “We’ve never done anything like this. We have no idea how to work one of those things.”
Marley’s right. As much damage these things will do to their morale, we won’t actually be much use.
“Don’t worry, boy. It’s like piloting a remote control car. Except bigger, harder, and much more dangerous,” the man explained.
“I don’t like this,” I said quietly.
“Oh, you don’t?!” the man asked loudly and sarcastically.
“Look, man, we don’t have to help you!” Marley barked back. He threw one of his crutches in the direction of the man and almost fell over but I caught his arm and he leaned on me for support. “We didn’t ask for this! We didn’t ask for you!”
The man just stood there and smiled for a moment before saying: “You’re scared. You’re scared and you
’re not even the one going out in the power suit. It’s alright, boy. I just need you to trust me and we’ll get through this all. Okay?”
Marley looked to me and I nodded. “We can do this,” I said to him. “This is far from the hardest thing we’ve had to do.”
“It’s not that. We’ve been through so much, I just want it… to be over already. It was supposed to be over. Over that hill, that was supposed to be it,” Marley said.
“Well, it’s not. It’s been a living hell for all of us, so shape up and let’s get through it together,” I said to Marley.
Marley hung his head down low for a moment before picking it back up and looking to me, his arm still around my shoulder and his hand still gripping me tight. “Thanks, Dustin. You’re a good friend.”
“Enough of that shit. Let’s get going before the kissing starts,” the man said, half in disgust, and half jokingly.
“Wait,” I called out to him. “What’s your name?”
“Garrett,” he said back. He turned to face the hut and walked to the door. We followed him through it again and he motioned for us to sit in the seats with monitors in front of them. He explained how to guide the tanks using the sticks and there were various buttons to be used to fire missiles or to shoot the machine guns. I didn’t want to compare it to a video game but it was a little too much like the feeling of a controller of one.
“You alright, Marley?” I asked.
His breathing was getting heavier and faster. “Yeah, I should be fine.”
Garrett was in the corner of the room putting on the power armor and gearing up. He put grenades and extra ammunition in the reserve pouches on the armor. Once everything was on his person, he gathered a large rocket launcher as well as a sniper rifle.
“Not using the crossbow for this one?” I asked Garrett rhetorically with a smile.
He laughed, never making eye contact with me. He was scared, more scared than us. And rightfully so. He was going into the fray. We just had to sit here and watch the monitors.
“This is it, boys,” Garrett announced. “Once we push the military out of here, it’s all ours and it’s gonna stay that way. You ready?”
“Yeah,” I cheered slightly.
“We’re ready,” Marley chimed in, putting his hands on the controls.
“You two will clear the path for me as I take them out with the sniper rifle. I have most of the treeline ready to blow with explosives. I’ll trigger them if they get that close. Start moving as soon as I leave this hut. Is that clear?” Garrett looked to us with a stern expression and hoped for affirmative answers. We nodded our heads to him as we turned to face the monitors again. We heard Garrett leaving the hut and we started up the behemoths waiting outside. They moved loudly and clunkily all the way outside of the treeline. The military men saw our tanks approach and turned to face them with weapons trained, not that their weapons would have had any effect.
I don’t like this. Those people out there, the ones that are starting to looking more like ants on my monitor. I don’t want to kill them.
I looked to Marley and his face revealed nervousness. He pushed his hand on the button that would allow the men to hear his voice through the tank.
“Lay down your weapons and we will pull back,” he instructed.
The military commander ordered his men to stand down and raise their hands. They knew they were outmatched. We’d won.
Suddenly, Marley’s tank fired a rocket at one of the troop transports, destroying it and scattering the debris throughout the field.
“What did you do?!” I screamed.
The soldiers retrieved their weapons and began firing in every direction. More troop transports appeared from the wooded area and two vehicles came rushing through with ramming rods on the ends of them. They raced hurriedly to the frontline and blasted a hole through the wall of the Hyena outpost. The rebels on top of the wall attempted to hold off the soldiers nearing the wall, but they began pouring in.
“This isn’t over until they’re all dead, Dustin,” Marley said with a sudden resurgence of courage.
What has he done? We could have avoided this whole mess. It was almost over. The military was going to pull back and let us live. This can’t be happening! I have to pull myself together. Look at the controls. No, everything’s going fuzzy. I can’t see. I can’t think straight. Those soldiers out there aren’t to blame for any of this. Only one person.
I loosened my grip on the controls and suddenly became aware. This was his plan all along. He wanted them all dead so he wouldn’t have to fear them coming after him ever again.
“You son of a bitch!” I screamed as I lunged out of my chair and on top of Marley.
“What are you doing?!” He stared into my eyes with a determined gaze. “We have to finish this, Dustin!”
The tanks stood motionless but we could hear the sounds of battle coming through the machines. Out of our peripheral vision we saw the flooding of the troops into the Hyena outpost. I had grabbed Marley by the collar and he gripped my arms. We stopped our bickering once we were aware of the shift of power in the battle that mattered.
Without saying a word, we both got to our feet and manned the tank controls again. As much as I hated that the battle was even happening, it would be more detrimental to us if the Hyena outpost were to fall. We weren’t ready to let that happen while we had a means to stop it.
Small arms fire bounced off of the tanks. The military forces didn’t have much in their arsenal to take on the beasts we piloted. We moved them forward like chess pieces moving toward the king. The commander in his humvee cowered upon seeing us approach. He retreated into the inside of the vehicle and ordered them to go the other way, away from his troops as well as us. It appeared we wouldn’t get the king after all. It moved faster than we could move the turrets to target the vehicle. It didn’t matter. Getting them to retreat was all that mattered to me. To Marley, all that mattered was every man and woman in uniform to disappear forever.
“We’re doing it, Dustin!” Marley cried triumphantly. The field was then filled with either dead military troops or retreating ones. The troop transports didn’t even bother waiting until the soldiers could get back into the field. They stormed off as quickly as they’d come.
The ground started shaking after we had a moment of feeling victorious. Suddenly, drones flew through the air faster than we could comprehend. They dropped a load of missiles onto the tanks as well as the outpost and flew off. The tanks burst, becoming immobile and unusable. The outpost set aflame and the occupants started rushing out for safety.
“Hands up!” Two men rushed in the room from behind us holding Garrett at point blank. One stayed back with Garrett while the other moved forward toward Marley and I. The soldier hit Marley in the gut with the rifle and pointed it at me afterward. Marley fell to the ground.
It’s over. It’s really over. They’ve caught the one they’ve been after since the start. I don’t want to imagine what they have planned for us. “Kill us now,” I said weakly. I was in disbelief. The tide turned so quickly.
“Dustin! What are you saying?!” Marley yelped in pain.
“It’s either quick and painless here or they’ll take us back for a public execution!” I explained loudly to Marley.
“We’re not with the military,” the soldier said. “We’re with him.” A man stepped in the room. He wore shiny power armor and carried a large rifle.
“What do you want?” I was becoming confused and following my confusion was anger.
“You, Dustin,” the man said in a familiar voice. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
The man took off his mask slowly and looked at me. Long, scraggly hair was pushed out of his face. His beard had grown but his face was recognizable. Cuts and scars littered his face. The years had not been kind to this face, but it was one I knew; it was one I had not seen in years. Seeing him almost gave me a sense of comfort; a feeling that told me: “You can go back to your ol
d life now. Everything is going to be fine.” But I knew it wasn’t like that. I started to fall over but before I could falter, he grabbed my shoulders and stood me up straight.
“You came all this way for me?” I asked nervously.
“Of course, Dustin,” the man said. “You were my brother.”
“It’s been so long.” A smile formed on my face and the man also composed a grin on his. Slowly I said his name, “Jason.”
“You remember.”
“How could I forget?”
“That’s a good question,” Jason replied. “Because you did.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you were coming back for me. You and Walsh. I waited for you for days. Then the days turned into weeks. And then… into years. Dustin, you wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to go through. The scars on my face are nothing compared to the scars covering the rest of my body, the scars on my mind, and where were you? I’ve been waiting for so long. Just to… to see you again.” His voice was bitter, yet peppered with hints of joy and compassion. “You were my brother.” He slowly reached his hand out and gripped the back of my head, feeling the full length of my hair. He pushed his head in and our foreheads met.
“You are my brother, Jason,” I replied.
“Was.”
“What do you mean?”
His face was unmoving. “You left me to die, Dustin. Me and Marissa.”
Marissa?! I haven’t thought about her in years. Those kinds of memories only caused me pain, pain I didn’t want to feel. But now everything’s coming rushing back to me.
“Marissa. How- how is she?” I asked nervously.
“She died a long time ago, Dustin. I didn’t think you’d care. I tried protecting her the first few weeks. We both thought you’d come back for us. We waited for you. My family was murdered. My little brother, and they even got my sister. All Marissa and I had was each other. She needed you. But this cruel new world eventually took her from me too. I was alone. I’ve been alone for a long time. And then I found something I was good at. And I knew I wanted to know what happened to you. I’ve been living this- this nightmare, this curse for so long now. I just wanted it to be over. And some part of me thought it would be over when I found you. Maybe when I found you, I would stop feeling this way. Maybe I would have some kind of closure. I could ask you why you left. I could ask you why you never came back. So here I am.” He lifted his arms slightly to his sides and waited for me to respond.
“Jason,” I started. I looked away from him and tried to compose myself. “I don’t have any reason or excuse for you. I had to protect my brother. That’s it. But I am glad you made it out alive. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. You still are my friend.”
“You made up your mind a long time ago, Dustin. Back when you chose not to come back for your friends. Just like I made up my mind a long time ago also.”
“And what did you decide on?” I asked uneasily.
“Soon enough,” he replied. He turned his back on me and instructed for his mercenaries to grab ahold of Marley and I. They each grabbed an available appendage and lifted us up. They guided us through the woods. Looking back we could see the aftermath of the battle, the wreckage and city still burning bright. We finally reached an idle helicopter littered with bullet holes in its hull. Jason instructed us to get in. We complied.
Marley shot me a nervous glance and whispered: “I know you have a plan like back in the town. How are we going to get out of this?”
I ignored his gaze and looked out the window as the ground shrunk below us. “We don’t.”