A Creature of War, Book 4, CH07 (Patreon)

“If they don’t, then she isn’t going to be much trouble, is she?”

“You are a soldier,” Vee said through gritted teeth.

“Yes, sir! And I’ll protect her with my life, Sir!”

El bit his lips to keep from smiling as Samuel twisted what Vee meant to his own benefit.

Vee was shaking. “Fine,” he snapped. “But leave now. If she’s still here by the time I go to the cell, I am going to turn you both over to the civilians.”

Samuel nodded, but didn’t move.

“You’re dismissed!”

The tiger Ran off.

“Mary,” the bull said, visibly trying to control his anger. He looked at the fox, who winced under the glare.

“Sydney, Sir.”

“Mary, you and Sydney go around and make sure everyone else is ready to go. Find a standard issue backpack for each one of them. They’re to fill them with as much dried meat as will fit. When that’s done, we need to get the cart through this place and load it with as many arrows as will fit.” He paused. “But no more than half of what’s here. I’m not leaving the civilians defenseless.”

“There’s more than enough, Sir,” Sydney said.

“Good.” He finally sounded like his normal self. He raised his voice “I need someone to find DHC, RSM or IGJ. When you do so send them to the meeting room. Mary, they all know about it?”

“Yes, Sir,” She replied.

“Good, then get to it.”

The fox and hedgehog ran off in different directions, and a moment later, the rest of the soldiers headed in Mary’s direction.

El followed Vee through the corridors until they reached a meeting room lit by the sun, coming in through the large window. The table in the center could accommodate twenty people, but there were only five chairs around it.

Vee sat on the edge of the table and seemed to deflate a little. “How are you feeling?”

El forced a smile. “Shouldn’t you be able to tell?”

“I’m not asking about your body and you know it.”

El looked away at the edge in the bull’s voice. “Sorry. I wish I was okay to lead again. I know you never wanted it. But the fact that controlling water and fire is so damned hard… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s all I can think about most of the time, and then I’ll try to do it by reflex and nothing will happen. That sends my mind spinning out of control.”

Vee pulled him into a hug. “Hey, I’m not complaining. I’m sorry for snapping. I’m tired and this mess isn’t helping my mood. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

El smiled at him, not having to force it this time. “I’m okay, I promise. Water’s is getting easier to control, so I’m improving.” Vee kissed the top of his head.

“Should I come back later?” DHC asked. “The hedgehog made it sound like you needed to see me.”

Vee motioned for the rabbit to enter. “Where are the others?”

“RSM was at one of the guard towers last time I saw her. IGJ was walking the wall with a handful of the local soldiers.”

“Any movement from Mexico?”

“Nothing that was reported to me.”

“Good. We’re packing things up and leaving in the morning. All of us, including the local soldiers.”

“Sir, won’t that leave the border undefended?”

“The civilians can take care of that. I’m not leaving any soldiers here who doesn’t want to stay, and Mary said no one wanted to stay.” He took down a map from the wall and placed it on the table.

RSM joined them a few minutes later. She glanced at the map then sat down.

“IGJ?” El asked.

“She’s on her way. She got in a conversation with a local about the usefulness of portable latrines. I have no idea where she got enough information on those to have an opinion.”

“That’s not important.” Vee indicated the map. It was another historical map, a few centuries old. “I’m pretty sure this road still exists. We can take it north to Fort Dallas. It’s a major base, so we should be able to find some command officers there. And hopefully a more recent map. From there we can head North-East. Hopefully, one of these roads is still there.”

DHC looked at the map. “Any idea how long until we finally get home?”

Vee shook his head. “Unless we come across a truck that works, we’re looking at doing the same as we did in South America. The one advantage we have here is that the roads should be in better conditions, so we’ll have an easier time with the cart.”

“Then do we want to go north that quickly?” RSM asked. “Where are we going to be when winter hits? Do we really want to be caught in one again?” She looked at the map and traced a road. “Why not just travel East along this road? Hopefully it’ll keep the winter mild. And after that we can head north and reach the Lab before the next winter.”

El studied the route she was suggesting. He put his finger on a city named New Orleans. “The one problem is that this isn’t there anymore. I was at the Baton Rouge Air Base, sixty years or so ago, and it’s on the coast. I don’t know exactly how much of the coast on his map is gone, but I’m pretty sure there’s a fair bit of it.”

Vee Traced from the Texan border all the way to Alabama. “All this is gone. A hurricane I think. I don’t remember when, but I remember hearing about all that being washed away. But it was south of the road.”

“That means that if we need to get off the road for any reason, our options are limited. Do we really want to be stuck between an enemy and the ocean?”

“I don’t think we need to worry too much about that, we’re in the US now. And she has a point about winter.” He traced a route going mostly North-East. “This was the way I was thinking of going. It would put us around Lake Erie by the time winter hits. As bad as winters get in Vermont, that region always got it worse. If we stay south, we’ll have better hunting grounds. Remember, this is home. We’re not raiding cities here.”

“There’s a lot of rivers heading north. Those allow us to resupply our food by fishing if anyone knows that one.” El looked at the rabbit and cheetah.

“Don’t look at us,” RSM said. “We were green at the start of this. I figured out how to hunt by imagining the animals were enemy soldiers.”

“Considering IGJ knows about latrines, if one of us knows about that, it’ll be her.”

“Know about what?” the ostrich asked as she entered the room.

“How to fish.” RSM said.

“I thought fish was a type of food.”

El grinned. “That answers that. South it is. This looks to be a large city. It should still be there.”

“Houston,” Vee replied. “I was there a hundred-twenty years or so ago.”

“Wait a minute,” the cheetah said. “Did you just say a hundred and twenty years? And you sixty?”

“Yes,” the bull replied. “We’re old.”

“Way too old,” El sighed.

“How is that possible? Our lifespan is supposed to be fifteen years at most.”

Vee shrugged. “They don’t know. Their best guess is that it’s a side effect of what gave us our powers.”

“Where can I get that? I’d like to outlive my dead by date.”

IGJ snorted. “You really think you’re going to live even that long? We’re the only three survivors of the mission. What are the odds we’ll make it through the next one?”

“That’s enough.” Vee fixed each of them with his gaze. “I’m not going to have you talk of dying. If it happens it does, but until then we’re focusing on living, is that understood?”

“Yes sir!” they answered in unison, with varied enthusiasm.

“Good, then we’re taking the southern route. We’ll aim to spend winter around here,” he indicated the Florida and Georgia area, “and then head north. That gives us plenty of time to figure out how we’re going to make a camp for all of us. Any questions?”

There were none.

“Good, go see to the cart and the food. Then I want you to rest. Sleep, have sex, talk, whatever, but rest. We need to be on the road first thing in the morning.”

* * * * *

At first light, they set out, escorted by a dozen civilians armed with bows. After a few blocks they were left alone to continue, but Vee had them stay on guard. The new leader of the humans hadn’t asked about Susan, but El and Vee had discussed the probable reactions to finding out she was gone. None of what they’d come up with had been pleasant.

The attack came as they were almost out of the city. The buildings had thinned enough it was possible to see the horizon through some of them.

Arrows came at them from the rear and by reflex El tried to get the air to defect them. Nothing happened and one of the arrows ended up in his shoulder.

Fear was greater than the pain. He looked at all the arrows flying at them. He heard the groans of pain and caught sight of unmoving Anthros and he was afraid like he’d rarely been. He saw the next volley come, and he saw his death in them.

He didn’t want to die. Fuck he didn’t care how old he was. He wasn’t ready to die. He screamed his fear and anger, and the arrows exploded in all direction.

Someone grabbed him and pulled him under the cart. A bear looked at him like he was insane. El ignored him and pulled the first aid kit for his pocket. He pulled the arrow out and let out a scream.

Afterward, as he hurried to bandage his shoulder, he was sure he’d felt the ground shake. When he was sure he wouldn’t bleed to death before Vee could heal his wound, he looked out from under the cart. He saw arrows in the air and tried to make it solid. He felt the air want to respond, but if the arrows were affected, it wasn’t enough to make a difference.

He found one of the shooters, a woman on top of a building, bow in hand and releasing another arrow in their direction. He tried to bring the building down, but he couldn’t feel the ground or any of the earth that was part of its construction.

He slapped a fist on the ground. He was useless. He saw another human, between two buildings this time, and with a scream of frustration he ran at him. He remembered to pull his knife out as the man turned in surprise and aimed at him.

El jumped as the man released the arrow. He ignored the pain in his leg and landed on him. He stabbed him over and over. When he was able to make himself stop, he looked for someone else to attack, but the fighting was over.

Vee had the living humans on their knees, hands on their head, and as El limped closer, the bull touched the first one in the row on the forehead with a finger and the woman dropped, dead.

He did that to the one next to her, and the one next to him. With each new death the people became more agitated. By the time El was Vee side half the attackers were dead, and the soldiers had to hold the rest in place to keep them from fleeing, but even they looked nervous at the ease with which the bull killed.

The last few were begging for their lives. Saying they’d do anything to them. That they hadn’t been given a choice about attacking them. Vee continued killing them until the last man, who was babbling incoherently by then.

Vee’s finger paused an inch from the man’s forehead. “Do we need to send a message?”

“I don’t see what’s the point,” DHC answered.

“Show of mercy?” one of the soldiers asked. “A warning not to do this again?”

The man was nodding fast. He babbled something, then stopped and fell over. Vee wasn’t looking at him. His eyes were on the lynx, blazing with anger.

“Who?” was the only word that made it through the bulls’ clenched teeth as he took El’s shoulder and under the bandage.

“She’s dead. Most of the blood’s hers.” 

Vee glared at him.

El looked away. “I know I shouldn’t have gotten angry, but I felt so useless. One moment I managed to deflect a volley of arrows, the next I can’t even stop one. I can barely do anything without—”

“Stop.” Vee’s anger made him look up again, and he saw how much willpower it took for the bull not to squeeze his hand until his fingers were digging into El’s shoulder. “You’re not your power. You have plenty of skills. Stop thinking otherwise.” His gaze softened. “Please stop dragging yourself down. You’re a great leader, and that has nothing to do with your powers. Please El, I know this is rough on you, but I need you to pull yourself together. I need you by my side, not sniveling in a corner.”

“I don’t snivel,” El stated, feeling his hackles raise, and Vee smiled.

“That’s who I need. I don’t need you to lead in my place. I’m okay until we get home and Eek takes over, but I need you with me.”

El nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Thank you.” Vee kissed his forehead and then healed his injuries.

They left the human bodies there, but put their own dead on the cart. When they were well out of the city, they buried them.

El realized that since the world had changed, this was the first time they’d gotten the chance to bury their dead. The others had been lost to that explosion, or its fallout, and the river.

He looked at the twenty-five soldiers that formed Vee’s unit, and couldn’t help wondering how many of them they’d have to bury before they got home. And how many of them they wouldn’t be able to bury at all.