The Soldier
Chapter 13

After putting about a dozen miles between themselves and the Charelston Docking Port, David turned the truck into a side road, went another mile then drove it into the bushes. He turned off the engine and got out and threw the keys deep into the brush.

“We go on foot from here, no doubt there is a GPS tracker in this thing,” he said in explanation as Clifford and Billie climbed from the cab, then the three of them helped the others out of the tire slings underneath the truck.

“Any injuries?”

“Only some cuts and scrapes from when you pulled off,” Caitlin said.

They were surrounded by stands of tall pine heading off as far as the eye could see to the west. To the east was the Wall and its support facilities, but otherwise there wasn’t a building in immediate sight.

“So this is the first time anyone from the outside has set foot in America,” Caitlin said.” How long has it been?”

“At least 150 years, as far as I know.”

Caitlin looked around, still amazed at what she saw. Huge trees surrounded by what appeared to be impenetrable layers of brush and grass. Even from where she stood she could see birds flying about and small rabbits and other animals exploring along the edge of the wilderness.

“So what the hell happened to Charleston?”

Clifford shrugged in response to Caitlin’s question.

“What do you mean?” Willie asked.

“The docking port is the Charleston Docking port. If I remember the little American History they taught us, Charleston was a pretty good size city. What happened to it?”

“We can figure that out later,” Willie said. “Right now we need to get off of this road and replace some place to hold up until Logan can replace us, assuming he survived.”

Caitlin sighed and looked back over her shoulder.

“We don’t even know if they got off the Star,” she said. “If they did, and they weren’t captured, Logan will replace his way outside. It seems this road is the only way he would come so it makes sense, at least to me, to stay close to the road.”

“Forgive me, but don’t you think the Americans would start off by sending a search team along this road as well?”

“Yes, they probably would,” Caitlin agreed. “But I think we need to make as much headway as possible before they regroup enough to do that.”

“And how long might that be?”

“No idea, but we need to get away from this truck and we need to keep moving, so let’s move out”

They had been walking for just about an hour when Caitlin brought them to a halt. They still had not seen any sign of any building or structure that would have indicated that Charleston had once stood there. Caitlin was beginning to feel like she was caught in some low-budget post-apocalyptic science fiction film, or at least a very bad dream. If it were a dream, Caitlin found herself thinking how badly she wanted to wake up.

She waited a moment for Willie, who had taken a rear guard position, to catch up before she spoke.

“Right. I think it’s about time we got off the beaten path, so to speak,” she said, looking at Willie and David who both nodded their agreement. “So, we are going to move off the road into the forest. Hopefully we’ll replace some clue as to what is bloody going on here.”

“You mean like what the hell happened to Charleston?”

Caitlin looked at Willie. “Among other burning questions. Now, stay alert. I expect search teams will have been sent out by now, plus given the overgrown nature of things, we very well might have to deal with the wildlife as well.

“Any questions?”

She looked from Clifford to Cayne to Franklin. Each man stood silently. Franklin brought up his BAR, and rested it comfortably in the crook of his elbow to show he was ready.

“Excellent, let’s move out,” Caitlin said.

Caitlin started walking slowly, looking for any kind of opening in the thick brush that would allow her team to get off the road and under cover. The undergrowth was so think she was beginning to think they would be forced to remain on the road.

“I don’t suppose anyone thought to bring a machete along,” she said as she looked nervously back up the road, half expecting to see the American search team come around the bend at any moment.

“Even if we had one, I wouldn’t advise using it,” Willie said.

“How come?”

“Because, if we hacked our way into the forest, we’d just be leaving a huge sign for the damned Americans that virtually screams ‘they went that-a-way.’”

Caitlin looked at Willie.

“Obviously you have some experience in this area, why don’t you take point?”

“Because Logan left you in charge and I don’t question the chain of command,” Willie said. “It’s not proper.”

Caitlin almost smiled.

“Well, is it ‘proper’ if I ask you to take the lead?”

“That would be completely proper.”

“Well then,” Caitlin said with a wave of her arm, “please do take charge of our little group, Mr. Alonso, and get us the hell off this damned road.”

“My pleasure, Ms. Anderson,” Willie said as he came up to the front. He moved back and forth, carefully examining the bushes and trees until he found what he was looking for.

“OK, these bushes will yield a bit and let us through. The trick is, not to break any of the branches to give the Americans a clue that we entered the forest here. Quite frankly, I don’t give these damn Yanks a lot of credit, but they just might have someone who knows how to track in a forest and broken branches will be just what they would be looking for.”

With that Willie stepped towards a brush and very gently pushed it out of the way revealing a clearing just off the main road. He motioned the team to move through. Caitlin stepped away from the opening and indicated that Clifford and his men should go through first. Clifford looked back up the road towards the Wall for a moment, then turned, ducked and moved carefully through the small opening, taking care not to cause any damage to the branches. He was quickly followed by Cayne and Franklin. Caitlin went last and then Willie followed them through.

As they entered the clearing, Caitlin caught up with David who glared at her in silence.

“What’s eating you?”

“What’s eating me, is that Logan is probably dead and, frankly, I don’t think you have it in you to get us out of this mess and back to England.”

She matched his gaze and all the venom in it.

“I don’t like the idea any better than you that Logan might be out of the picture. But understand this, Willie. If the rest of us are going to survive, and I’m not even talking about getting out of here, we are all going to need to work together and I can’t bloody-well deal with you wining about not having Logan in charge.

“Now you just get your mind around that and try to focus on your job, because I’m going to need you and I need to know that I can count on you.”

He glared at her for a minute and then smiled.

“Well, a bit of a backbone in you after all,” he said. “Yes, you can count on me, whether Logan replaces us or not.”

“Grand,” Caitlin said as she headed deeper into the wilderness that had seemed to have swallowed up Charleston.

Willie was hanging back where the team passed through the growth, making sure that there were no broken branches or any scraps of clothing that would indicate to a search team that the fugitives had left the road. Not replaceing anything, he turned and hurried after Caitlin.

Once they had made some progress deeper into the forest, the undergrowth became less dense, making it easier for them to make progress. After about a half-hour of carefully moving brush aside they came to a path of sorts heading off in a generally westward direction.

“What do you think?” Caitlin asked, looking at Willie.

Before Willie could say anything there was the sharp sound of a stick breaking off in the distance. Willie spun in the direction of the sound. He had his rifle at his shoulder by the time he finished turning. Caitlin crouched where she was, her pistol out. She motioned for Clifford and his men to take cover in the underbrush.

As Caitlin watched, Willie started to move cautiously in the direction of the sound. He made a circular motion with his hand to which David responded with a nod before he headed off in another direction to try and circle around behind who or whatever was approaching them. Willie walked slowly, taking extreme care with each step to make sure that he did not make any sound of his own that would give away his location.

Caitlin began to move as well, walking slowly toward a stand of pine trees. She took a position behind one of the trees where she could keep both David and Willie in her sight.

She thought she heard a slight rustle behind her. Before she could turn her head, a strong arm snaked around her and a hand clamped over her mouth. She could feel the cold muzzle of a pistol against her ear.

“You realize of course,” the voice was a deep growl, but somehow familiar to Caitlin’s ear, “That if you expect to survive, you are going to have to be a hell of a lot more careful.”

She was just about to drop her pistol in surrender when she realized who belonged to the voice. She turned and found herself looking into Logan’s eyes.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Caitlin nearly screamed at him.

Logan tucked his gun into his belt. “By who? I took you completely by surprise.”

He walked out into the clearing where he could see Willie and David at the far end of the path. He turned and walked back to Caitlin.

“How far up did you tell them to go?”

“About a kilometer,” Caitlin said. “Logan, what the hell is going on here?

“If Charleston is the major port these days, where the hell is the city?”

“I don’t have a clue,” Logan said. “Charleston was a major city, at least before this damned wall was built. And I would have thought that it still would be since there’s a docking port here.”

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s no city here. In fact, other than the wall, there doesn’t seem to be much of anything here.”

“I noticed,” Logan said. “Things have obviously changed since the wall went up, and not for the better. I think our first order of business is to try and make contact with the locals.”

“And hope that they don’t rush right off and turn us in to whatever authority is in charge of this wilderness?”

“Quite right,” Logan said.

By this time, Fitz Hammergalt had come out of the forest to join Caitlin and Logan. He was limping and had a torn piece of his shirt tied around his upper left arm.

“Fritz caught a bullet,” Logan said. “It’s not too deep, but it bled for a bit. But I think he will be able to carry on until we replace someone with some medical training.”

Caitlin gave Logan and glaring look.

“You should make a habit of reading your team members’ bios a bit closer.”

She walked over to Fritz. “Do you mind if I take a look?”

“It’s all right Fritz, our Ms. Anderson was an emergency medic for a while. The fact just slipped my mind.”

She gently unwrapped the bandage to examine the wound. It was covered in crusted blood and there were some white patches that indicated where an infection was attempting to take hold. She looked over to where the other two Star crewmembers were sitting.

“Mr. Cayne, somewhere in our gear is an emergency medical kit. Please replace it and bring it over here.”

She probed the wound gently with her fingers, causing Fritz to grimace in pain.

“Sorry, Mr. Hammergalt.”

“It’s OK, and call me Fritz. It seems we’re all in this together, and the formality of the ship is no longer necessary.”

She smiled.

“Fritz it is. And I’m Caitlin. Tell me, can you move your arm OK?”

He gingerly moved his arm, again grimacing in pain.

“It seems to be working OK, just hurts like the dickens.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cayne,“Caitlin said as she took the medical kit. It was about the size of a large briefcase. She placed it flat on the ground and opened it.

“Fritz was quite lucky, Logan,” she said as she pulled out what she needed to deal with the bullet wound. “It looks like the slug went straight through his arm without breaking anything. All I’ll have to do is patch up the entrance and exit wounds and he should be fine.”

She looked Fritz in the eye.

“This is going to sting.”

She began to swap antiseptic lotion over the wounds. Fritz grunted slightly but said nothing. Satisfied the wounds were sufficiently cleaned, Caitlin looked for something to close the wounds. The kit contained a supply of sutures, but Caitlin didn’t want to take the time or deal with anesthetics.

“I know there in here somewhere,” she said, somewhat annoyed at the time it was taking to patch Fritz up.

“What?” Logan asked.

“There called butterfly bandages,” she said, “Ah, there they are.”

She opened a pack pulled out two bandages. They were roughly square, but each had four longer arms of adhesive. She cleaned and dried the area around the bullet holes. She pressed two arms firmly onto Fritz’s arm on one side of the bullet hole allowing the adhesive to attach itself firmly to Fritz’s arm. Then she pulled the bandage across, drawing the hole closed and attached the other two arms. She repeated the process with the exit hole. Then she took some gauze from the kit and covered both wounds.

“Not quite as good as regular sutures, but it will do under the circumstances,” she said. “I want you to let that arm rest for at least a week.”

Caitlin a sling out of the med kit. “Here, put this on, and you leave that arm in the sling at all times unless you are sleeping.”

“Logan!”

Logan looked up. David and Willie were approaching.

“Gentlemen,” he said. “What did you replace?”

Both men were grinning broadly, but they knew when Logan was getting down to business. Reunions would be later, if the situation allowed it.

“We found absolutely nothing,” Willie reported. “We walked up a kilometer or so, but could only see maybe another half a click because of the forest. But I think we’ll be OK for a while at least.”

“Right,” Logan said, looking at Caitlin and Fritz with a questioning expression. “Well then, if we’re ready, I think we should move out. Fritz, think you can handle a bit more walking?”

“Do I really have a choice?” Fritz asked. “I’ll be fine.”

With that, the eight of them stood, shouldered their packs and started walking.

Initially the group was surrounded by a swampy terrain with stands of trees rising from the water. Sounds of birds and other wildlife surrounded them. Several hours passed, and as they walked the terrain was definitely sloping gently upward and the surrounding landscaped morphed into stands of tall pine trees.

Logan looked at the wilderness around him and tried to enjoy the magnificent splendor. But the fact that the lot of them probably trapped in the United States for the rest of their lives kept getting in the way.

Caitlin quickened her pace to catch up with Logan. She walked beside him for a moment or two, waiting for him to say something, but he concentrated on keeping his pace up, while allowing his eyes to scan the forest on either side of them as if looking for something.

“So, we’re here, the Star’s probably in pieces at the bottom of the Atlantic now, so we have no way out,” Caitlin said. “What was you plan for getting out of here?”

She looked at Logan.

“You did have a plan for getting out of here, didn’t you?”

“Actually, the plan for getting home assumed we got off the ship undetected,” Logan said. “Assuming we had accomplished that, I felt we would be able to sneak back aboard the Star at some point for the return voyage.

“I truly wasn’t expecting all the internal monitors tracking our every move and having to fight our way out,” he said.

“Well, in hindsight, that was just a wee bit optimistic, now, wasn’t it.”

“Just a bit,” Logan said.

The two of them walked in silence, with the rest of the team strung out behind them in a loose column. Caitlin looked back.

“Do you think we should tighten it up a bit, in case we run into trouble?”

Logan glanced over his shoulder. “Probably not necessary at this point. Willie said it’s all forest up ahead, so any problems will come from the rear, at least for now.”

“That may be,” she said. “I don’t know what the hell happened here, but I think it’s safe to assume that there is some remnant of American government operating, after all that’s who you think pinched your precious computer chip. Correct?”

“Most likely. Why?”

“Because, dear Logan, I think it’s highly likely that our friends back there let whatever government exists know that there are intruders wandering about. And despite how much of a wilderness it looks like America has become, there is probably some form of police or military in place and my guess is that they will be out looking for us before too long.”

“And you think we should replace us a little hiding place?”

“I do,” Caitlin said.

“Well, if you can replace one,” Logan said with a wave of his hand at the surrounding wilderness, “please feel free to bring it to my attention, because I sure as hell don’t see any place to hide. Unless you want to suggest that we all climb up the nearest pine tree and wait until the bad guys go away.”

Caitlin looked like she was about to respond, but she was cut off by a shout from ahead of them.

“Logan, Caitlin get up here! You both need to see this.”

They looked at each other briefly than quickened their pace to catch up with David, who had taken point. They exited the forest to replace themselves looking at a highway overpass. Before anyone could say anything, the distinctive sound of an approaching truck began to build behind thenm.

“Everyone, replace cover,” Logan said, and the group immediately moved back into the forest. All but Logan who found a vantage point from which he could see the highway while still under cover.

He watched the cargo truck slow as it approached the highway, then turn onto an entrance ramp before it accelerated off to the South. Logan cautiously walked back towards the highway, listening for the sound of other trucks, either on the highway or coming from the docking bay. Hearing nothing, he signaled the others to join him.

Logan walked towards the highway and saw two signs

“Interstate 95 North – North Carolina, New York and Washington districts” on one and “Interstate 95 South – Savannah and Florida districts” on the other.

After reading the sign, Logan turned to Caitlin and David.

“What do you think? Should we take the high road,” he indicated the interstate, “or the low road?”

“Either way, I seriously doubt any of us will be in Scotland anytime soon,” Caitlin said grimly. “But we will definitely make better time.”

“I say we stay off the bloody thing,” David said. “We can follow it if you think that’s best, but we should walk under the cover of the forest as long as we’ve got it. And I don’t think we will be able to walk much faster up there. The brush isn’t too bad and we’ve been making pretty good time.”

Logan stopped and considered.

“I think you’re right, David,” he said. “But let’s keep that motorway in sight, so at least we’ll know we’re heading in the right direction.”

“Right direction for what?” Caitlin asked. “Where exactly are we headed?”

“Good question,” Logan said, adjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

“You mean to tell me you had no solid plan on what we were going to do once we got here?” Caitlin was not happy.

“Like I said, my general plan was to replace a local group that would be inclined to help us, the local branch of the Whole Earth movement so to speak. And regardless we need to put some more distance between us and Docking Bay, and frankly I don’t really care which direction we go at this point as long as we keep moving.”

She glared at Logan but said nothing.

Logan looked at the rest of his team that had since caught up with them.

“Right. We’re going to strike out for New York. For no better reason than I hope its still some kind of a major city in this new America. It’ll take us a bit of time, and we’ll be forced to live off the land. Judging by the look of things, I don’t expect we will be coming across any hotels or supermarkets along the way.

“So keep an eye peeled for anything edible – fruits would be good, or perhaps a deer or other bit of wildlife for the evening meal pot.”

He looked each man in the eye.

“Any questions? Very good, let’s move out.”

Logan turned and started walking north in the shadow I-95. David fell in beside him as the rest of the group began walking. Caitlin eventually shouldered her pack and fell in with Willie at the rear.