"You can't really..." The man said, shaking so hard that he looked as if he were going to have a seizure.
"Just relax, we aren't here to hurt you." I said
"That's kind of hard to believe when you've all got weapons."
"Jesse, give him the gun back," I replied, strapping the kukri back to my belt. "I know it's hard to believe, but you can trust us."
"Just don't try anything stupid." Jesse said handing him the gun.
"Why are you still in the Park?" I asked him after he took a seat at a small table.
"I've got no where else to go" he replied, as I sat down across from him. "Say what happened to ya's face?"
"I got into a fight with the wall of a cliff."
"The Chinese didn't do that to yous?"
"No, although they tried." I replied. "My name's Connor and this is Jesse and Liz."
"I'm Mike."
"Where are you from Mike?" I asked, curious that a Park Ranger in Washington would have such a thick east coast accent.
"Me? I'm from Boston," He said pronouncing it BawSten. "I got tired of the city, so I moved up here afta college."
"Do you have a wife, kids?" Liz asked
"Nah, look at me." He said laughing, "the ladies ain’t so big on short, chubby guys like ma self."
"How long are you planning on hiding out here?" Jesse asked.
"Probably til the war's ova." He said laughing. "What bout yous guys?
"Headed north," I said
"Why's that? Yous gotta tell me what happened in Portland"
"It's kind of a long story." I replied
"That's fine, we got bunks in the back, yous can stay here for a few nights."
"Alright," I said, proceeding to tell him our story. “I'm the last man on earth you should harbor.”
"So when did yous start the broadcasts?" he asked.
"Eh?" I wasn’t sure what the hell he was talking about
"Aww c'mon, the broadcasts when yas comes on the radio out of nowhere, or like when you cut into the middle of the TV screen and are all blurry."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Jesse blurted out.
"Yous guys is messing with me aren’t ya?" he asked.
"I’m afraid not, but seriously what are you talking about?" I said becoming more intrigued.
"Oh man, you ain’t shittin me, ares ya?" he asked looking extremely confused.
"Are you going to tell us what the heck you're talking about?" Liz asked, frustrated but amused.
"Well, umm, here's the thing." He said, starting to look at us suspiciously. "Did you or didn’t yous make that interview a week or so ago?"
"With Raul?" I asked.
"Who? Oh you mean R.C.?" he said looking relieved, "Ya that's him, sounds kinda Hispanic or somethin."
"Yes, that was me in the interview."
"Ok, so from what I’ve heard on the radio it was posted online and started to get a followin. Tens of Millions of views within three days of something'"
"Amazing," Liz said to herself.
"Yeah, your damn right. But get this, what happened next." He said as if he were telling us about a prize fight. "So then, the next few days, the Chinese, theys makin their broadcasts and all of a sudden this mean sonnuvabitch cuts in all shadowy and blurry."
"What do you mean?" I asked
"Well it was just a, what do you call it... like a cut out..."
"A silhouette?" she said.
"Yeah, that’s it, it was a silhouette of yous or somethin and it was playin clips from yas recording." he said "then it starts happenin more and more, they try and cut off the frequency, but it doesn’t always work!"
"Interesting..." I said, listening intently
"Not to mention the radio," He told me next, "yous come cutting in mid song or right in the middle of those fucks broadcasts. It's always the same shit, but it really makes ya feel all tingly. Like somethin in the worlds changing ya know? They try and convince us we's been broken, then BAM here's the fuckin' General. He says fuck those guys, ya know?"
"I get the feeling."
"It's like our Kennedy assassination man." He said, so excited he was beginning to get up and pace, "Like our generation will be defined by looking back and sayin to each others, When did you first hear the General?" That shit gives me chills every time. Telling us we're all the resistance, it makes me wanna fight too! Come on brotha, let's fuckin do it!"
"Wow" Liz said laughing, Mike looked at her shocked.
"It is kind of funny," Jesse said, "We had no idea this was happening."
"So you're tellin me that the general and company is right here in my cabin and yous guys ain’t had a clue this was going down?"
"Well," I said "I knew he was trying to get the word out, but I didn't think it would be that effective. Not by a long shot."
"This changes everything." Liz muttered
"HELLS YEAH IT DOES!" Mike yelled, carried away in his excitement. “We're gonna win this mothafucka.”
"I guess at this point we've gone beyond running and are going to have to get to Seattle to put a face behind the movement." I said, still contemplating what would need to be done. I couldn't quite accept it. I started to feel afraid, more scared than the day I entered basic. There was no turning back, is this what I wanted? Shit no, could I even handle it for a minute?
"Man! I feel like my prom date just knocked on the door!" Mike said
"What?" Jesse said, laughing uncontrollably.
"Ok, ok wise guy, that was a bad analogy or somethin." He said slightly offended, "Who is this kid?"
"That kid's killed more men than most soldiers ever will." Liz said gravely.
"No shit? Yous the third one they're after aren’t ya?"
"Wait" I said standing up and walking over to Mike, every instinct in me screamed kill him. I couldn’t let Jesse be hunted alone. My voice came out harsh and slow, as I drew close allowing no room for him to avoid me. I was like a bear looming over a house dog, compared to his puny frame. "What do you mean third?"
"Two guys and a girl, they said yous guys are killers," He told us, shaking visibly "They're trying to discredit yas, like you were convicts or somethin. I figured you'd all be a little talla, ya know?"
"How do you know all this, when you're this far out in the woods?" I asked
“He's twice your size, dick head.” Jesse muttered. Even he was bigger than Mike. Hell, Liz was damn close to his size.
"The radios still work up here, man."
"So they've said they're after us?" Liz asked pulling a 9mm out of her satchel.
"Oh yeahs, they said theys gonna do some crazy shit once they find ya." He said, slowly realizing how bad it was as he told us. Knowing that he might have implicated himself. "They're.. gonna.. well.. they wants to make an example.. they said they'd execute you in front of the entire world.."
"Well, isn't that daunting" I said, defiantly. I Pressed my hand against the wall behind his head, my face inches from his. “Why the hell should I trust you, Mike?”
"Ha, you really are a tough sonnuvabitch!" he squeaked, “I want, no I need you to come out ahead, ya knows?”
"You think they're in the woods yet?" Jesse asked quietly.
"Nah kid, I’d have known if they was."
"You didn't know we were here."
"Hell I didn't!" he said as if he were offended.
"How long did you know that we were out there Mike?" Liz asked, her hand on his shoulder to calm him a bit.
"Well, I saws ya fire a few days back when I was at the river, but didn't think nothin' of it." He said, "But around a week ago I was sure I saw yous guys from the cliff top."
"Nothing else behind us?"
"Nah, but the other rangers all left for their families right after this started, so it's just me out heres."
"How far are we from a road?" I asked
"About thirty five miles or so."
"How do you manage that hike?" Jesse as
ked incredulously.
"Oh? ha I ain’t hiking that, I take the gator." He laughed.
"You have gas out here?" I said, curiously.
"Oh yeah, we gots everything. I got a generator, gas for the gator, we even got fresh water and a hot shower."
"Wow, that isn’t bad at all" Liz said.
"Say, yous guys wanna hang out here a few days? Rest up, your arm don’t look so good, General." He offered with a wink. Maybe he really did want to help us. After all, what good would a man like him be in a revolution?
"I’m not so sure..."
"Aww, c'mon, I haven’t talked to anyone in a few days. You guys can clean up and relax for a while, then I can take ya north on the gator if ya wants." He offered, looking somewhat desperate for companionship.
"Alright," I said, knowing I needed the rest, but becoming slightly suspicious. "We can stay, but only if you have a decent first aid kit."
"Oh shit," Liz said, gasping "We need to clean your... well... there's a lot that needs to be cleaned before you get infected."
"How bad is it?" Mike asked.
"Well..." I said
"Oh shit, man! Did you get in a fight with a fuckin' bear?" He said as I pulled off the bandage off pf my face.
"I take it, you don’t want me to accompany you to prom anymore?" I asked grinning.
"Well, yous still prettier than me." he said, "Lemme grab my first aid stuff, this place is like a field hospital."
"You should see the bear" Jesse said. "Actually, he fell down a cliff and stopped himself with his teeth apparently."
"It tasted like chicken." I said dryly, I could feel the wound on my face pulsing after I had taken off the bandage. I began rummaging through my bag for the painkillers.
"Connor, are you almost out of those already?" Liz gasped, noticing that the bottle was almost empty. "That was supposed to be a month supply."
"Yeah, and I was also supposed to take it easy." I replied, angry at myself that I had let them see the bottle. "I don’t think hiking a hundred or so miles and scaling a cliff fall into that category."
"If it feels half as bad as it looks, I'd be eaten that whole bottle at once" Mike said, looking for the best medicine to use on my face. "Listen, you should probably go try and wash that as best you can. It's gonna sting like a sonnuvabitch when ya clean it."
"Yeah, sure," I replied, glad for the excuse to leave "Where's the sink?"
"Oh, it's on the other side of the bedroom over there."
"Fuck..." I muttered as I looked at my face in the mirror. I hadn't realized how bad it looked until now. While none of the cuts were too bad, it looked as if I had scraped off half of the skin on my face and side of my head. There was one nasty looking gash about two inches above my right temple. It burned like hell washing the dirt and grime out. The wound was raw, as if I had fallen off a motorcycle face first.
"Alright boss, lemme get this cleaned up for ya" Mike said, sitting at the table which was filled with medical supplies.
"I'm looking forward to it," I said sarcastically.
"Connor, maybe you can take a bath after we're done." Liz suggested, "Soaking your arm might help a bit."
"Yeah, that'd be nice." I said, I was exhausted and looking forward to sleep.
"Looks like a storms coming in." Mike said as he was cleaning my face, which did in fact hurt like hell.
"That's good." I said
"You still think yous guys is bein' followed?" He asked nervously.
"I can't imagine that they wouldn't be looking for us." I replied, "A big storm is just what we need to wipe away our tracks, if we left any."
"Alrighty, you're all done boss." Mike said placing new bandages on my face, "plus yas don’t look like a half mummy anymo' “
"Thanks Mike," I said, "Do you guys mind if i go soak for a bit? Id really like to be able to move this arm more."
"Yeah go ahead." Liz said, waving me away. “So Mikey, tell me everything you've heard."
"Well.." Mike said as he began filling them in. I ran a bath, pouring in a cup or two of Epsom salt to help relieve my muscles. A few moments later, after struggling to get my shirt off, I dropped into the bath. I could hear them talking in the front of the cabin, they seemed excited. It sounded like they were talking about politics for some reason. As I relaxed with their chatter in the background I began to nod off.
Chapter 14