Page 27 of The Black Rider
Luci ran her fingers through her black hair and just rolled her eyes.
“I’ve never understood certain white people and their idolization of groups that lost their wars. How much time do we have?”
“About six hours. I’m guessing they scavenged enough fuel in the back of those trucks that they won’t have to stop to find any on the way here. How are the mines?”
“We’re hit the hardest by Rage Head herds on the Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico border. They walled California up and sent patrols to kill the Rage Heads. Texas is walled up too, but the state is divided now. We have to put new mines in every day.”
“What do you mean about Texas?” I asked.
“Texas rebuilt things like California did. They have power and long-range radios. There’s nothing to listen to except each other and Isaiah. There are a lot of radios in Texas, and I think civil war may break out within their walls. Some people believe Texas can take care of itself and rebuild on its own. They are doing a brilliant job of that and totally can.
“You’ve also got people there that have put total trust in Isaiah. They think he helped end the war, and he only wants to help. They believe him when he says he’s hard at work on a vaccine and that Mexico has resources for everyone and won’t share,” Aeron said.
“And that’s total bullshit,” Luci growled. “We have open trade with California. We tried the same with Texas, but we were only ever able to meet with one person at the gate every time. They told us no. Gangs have mostly taken over New Mexico and Arizona. It’s not safe to trade with them.”
“Well, we will not be able to talk a bunch of armed Nazis down withwe tried,and I can probably have a working vaccine in a few days, so we’d better get to work,” Leif said.
Luci made a head signal to her team.
“Get to work. If we live through this, I expect you to keep your word, Leif. I want all my soldiers vaccinated from Rage Head bites as soon as possible.”
Leif held out his hand.
“You’ve got yourself a deal, Corporal Luciana.”
Luci shook his hand and snapped to attention.
“Pay attention, grunts. We’ve got an attack headed our way of the shithead human variety. They are heavily armed, and they’ve got trucks capable of breaking through our barrier. Let’s go find out if Nazis can fly.”
I felt pretty useless. I learned I was pretty good at bashing brains with Smurfette, but I didn’t know the first thing about explosives, and I was sure I didn’t before my memories got wiped.
Aeron and Leif both slung an arm around my shoulder.
“Come on, Ariel. We will teach you the beauty of playing with C4.”
Chapter 21
I
was pretty amazed watching everyone work together during the apocalypse. Sure, they were all setting up explosives to blow up Nazis, but it was still a beautiful thing to watch. I knew I was slowing everyone down. I managed to set a few explosives, but I had a healthy fear of not blowing myself up in the process.
They didn’t want to blow the entire bridge, but they still needed to set the explosives far enough from the barricade that it didn’t go down. They seemed to know exactly where to do this and had everything arranged just as we could see a bunch of trucks in the distance.
Aeron and Leif yanked me back behind the barricade. Aeron handed me a massive gun.
“It’s not Smurfette, but you need a long-range weapon for this. They aren’t Rage Heads. You can hit them anywhere and do damage. I need everyone to cover me so I can get close enough to kill everyone who survived before they start shooting,” Aeron said.
“Are you nuts? They have rocket launchers.”
“Listen to me, Ariel. You’re the only one who doesn’t already know this. When I raise my right hand with two fingers up, close your eyes. Youhaveto close your eyes, or you’ll die too.”
I didn’t like this. I didn’t care if Aeron was the Horseman of Death. I didn’t want him walking out there with a bunch of pissed off Nazis with guns, but it wasn’t like I had another solution to whip out and save the day. I had this massive gun in my hand, and it just felt so unfamiliar. It wasn’t triggering any memories like I’d ever picked up one before, much less fired it.
Leif grabbed me and yanked me down.
“Showtime.”
I was so focused on Aeron, I wasn’t even looking at the trucks headed our way. I was in the back of a garbage truck that had view slots cut and welded in place. Leif shut all the view holes, and they both covered me with their bodies.
