Monster Nation(45)

Vikram was waiting for him in the school's lobby when he was dismissed. The Major belonged to the Regular Army and had no standing in the command post and in the interest of base security he shouldn't have been allowed inside at all but Clark was truly glad to see his old friend.

'He chewed out my fourth point of contact,' Clark said, surprising himself a little. It was a euphemism he hadn't heard or used since the earliest days of his career. 'I'll be lucky not to be court-martialled after this.'

Vikram shook his head to brush away the negativity. 'We can do good in this world, or we can be miserable over the bad that is already done. What would you have me do?'

'Get up to Florence. Sit on the prison, clamp it down. We cannot let the work there be delayed, no matter what else happens. You may receive new orders while you're there'I can hardly ask you to counter them, but make sure before that happens that Florence is airtight.'

Clark dismissed him and headed down to the parking lot of the school where a convoy of RTD buses was headed out, stuffed full of civilian evacuees. A motor pool staff sergeant assigned him the last military vehicle in the lot'an enormous lumbering eight-wheeled M977 HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) that was built for hauling cargo. Before Clark could even inspect the two man crew he had his platoon, too, a scared-looking group of warfighters who fell into ranks behind their platoon sergeant without a word.

'Sir, platoon reporting for duty, sir!' the platoon sergeant barked. He looked like a prospector with a bushy white non-regulation hair spilling out of his helmet and eyes like embers set at the bottom of dark pits. He had his men in line, though, there was no question of his ability. He gestured and a specialist ran up holding a soft boonie hat'a fisherman's hat in desert camo'as if it were a crown. Clark understood the gesture and knew he should not outwardly acknowledge it. These were veterans and they were acknowledging that he was one of their own. He put on the boonie hat and handed his peaked uniform cover to the specialist in return. He had no doubt he would get it back dry cleaned and reblocked. The sergeant major nodded discretely and turned to face his platoon. 'Attention to orders!'

'Drive on, chief,' Clark said. It was the traditional order to keep up the good work. The platoon leapt like synchronized swimmers into the HEMTT's boxy cargo compartment. Clark rode up front with the crew in the much more comfortable shovel-nosed cabin. The driver got the prime mover roaring and shuddering out onto a deserted Colfax Avenue, threading the needle between big tent churches and peepshow parlors, fast food franchises and gas stations.

Everything had changed.





Monster Nation





Chapter Thirteen


Downtown Denver is considered a safe zone until 9:00 PM tonight or until further notice. Medical care and food distribution centers on the 16th Street Mall will remain open until that time. [Emergency Broadcast, Denver, CO 4/4/05]

'Shar, turn the AC up. It's getting' all sweaty in heah.' Charles wiped at the back of his neck. Nilla studied the small thin hairs there, the way they lined up where his hand had plastered them down. She could see his pores opening up in the heat, the tiny droplets of sweat gathering together, turning into rivulets that ran down into his collar.

'It's all the way up already,' Shar complained, but she played with the controls anyway.

In the back seat Nilla felt the heat but she stayed perfectly dry. Her sweat glands didn't work anymore. She tried rolling her window down a crack but the air that came pushing in felt like the exhaust from a blast furnace. Too much. She was tired of riding in the car, tired of being hot and cooped up.

The two of them shared a coke'the last of the sodas they'd pilfered from the motel'but they didn't think to offer her any. They had barely spoken to her since they'd started out that morning. When Charles had stopped to refuel at an abandoned gas station at a lonely intersection high in the mountains Shar had gotten out with him, as if she didn't feel safe in the car with Nilla.

She could hardly blame the girl, she supposed. Not with the kind of thoughts she'd been thinking. Mael Mag Och had told her the kids weren't her friends. She'd seen for herself the way the living looked at her'like she was something unclean. The enemy. Why should she think of them any other way? She didn't belong among them anymore. That should have been clear to her from the start.

Mael had said she should abandon Charles and Shar. That she should make her own way east. He'd said some other things that she didn't even want to think about but he'd been quite clear on that point. No more fraternization with the living. Something in her responded to that message and she longed to strike out on her own. No more dirty looks. It would be so much easier than the silent game the three of them were playing.