Free Deadlocked 7 by A.R. Wise Page B

responsible for this disease. And you’d be right to say we should cower, and be happy just surviving. I don’t disagree with you about that. We’d all have a much better chance of living if we just disappeared and tried living in the wreckage of what used to be our homes. The problem is, I just can’t do that. Every time I see a building falling to ruin, or a broken down car on the side of the road, or a school with no one in it, I’ll be thinking about the way things used to be. I can’t live that way without trying to do something about it. Even if I can’t win, I’m just the type of guy that has to try and fight. That’s all there is to it.”
    “But you’ve got to see how stupid that is,” said Laura. “You’re risking everything on a fight you can’t win.”
    Reagan grimaced. “Can’t win ? Don’t count us out too quickly.”
    “I need you guys.” Laura seemed desperate and on the brink of tears. It was late, and her daughters were asleep in an apartment across the hall. She was in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, with her hair tied back in a ponytail, looking the part of a domestic housewife caught in the middle of a long day of cleaning. “You’re the only family my girls and I have left now. I don’t know what we’d do if something happened to you.”
    The four men were quiet, almost ashamed. “Come here, kid,” said Reagan as he took Laura’s hand. She stood up beside him and he took the cigar out of his mouth as he brought her closer. “Nothing’s going to happen to us. We’re just going to go let these fuckers know that the world’s not going to sit back and let them get away with this. We’ll blow up a few train tracks, pop a few tires, and just be a pain in their ass for a bit. Then we’ll come back and get you and the girls and take off. Okay?”
    “We need you,” said Laura.
    “We’ll be back, Laura. I promise.”
    “You’d fucking better be.”
    Reagan clasped the back of her neck and then kissed her forehead. He pointed at the guys and then waved them on. “Come on, boys. Let’s go start a war.”
     
    *   *   *
     
    August 24 th , 20 years after the apocalypse
    Hero has captured Beatrice Dell, one of the members of The Electorate.
     
    “ Lady, you’ve got some explaining to do.” Hero pointed at the couch. “Sit your ass down.”
    Beatrice was ashen, just now realizing the trouble she might be in. Her hand was over her heart and she looked dumbfounded by how rude the black man was being. Then she started to fan her face as she took on a dismissive tone. “Well, Levon, I take it you’re one of Jerald’s men. Is that right? I can tell you, mister, you have no idea what sort of trouble you’re getting yourself in here. Do you know who I am?”
    “I told you to sit down.”
    She didn’t. “Whatever Jerald has told you, I can guarantee it’s not the entire truth.” Beatrice walked to the kitchen of the cabin and started to look through the cupboards. “Do you have tea here?”
    “Damn it,” said Hero. “I told you to sit your ass on the couch.”
    “Save the bravado, boy.”
    “Boy?” Hero reacted as if it were an affront. “ If there’s just one real man left on Earth, you’re looking at him, lady.”
    “You can puff your chest all you like, but I know you’re not going to hurt me.” She found the cabinet with tea in it, boxes wrapped in cellophane that she started to rummage through. “Jerald’s a lot of things, but he’s not stupid.”
    “No, but I’m starting to think you are.” Hero pointed his pistol at her to make a point.
    She smirked and rolled her eyes, then stuck her fingernail into the wrapper of the tea box to slit it open. “I forgot how tough your type likes to act. If there’s one thing I don’t miss about the old days, it’s dealing with men like you.” She took a tea bag out of the box and let it drape by the string as she smirked at Hero. “You think that gun makes you powerful, but you don’t scare me.