Free Schism by Britt Holewinski Page B

sarcastically.
    “What, you don’t think that was just a bit…misogynistic?”
    “Get used to it,” he muttered under his breath.
    “What?”
    “Nothing. Turn left up here.”
    “I know,” she snapped.
    The rest of the ride was silent until they reached Aspen. Upon entering the town from the north, they were stopped by a barricade similar to the one outside Beaver Creek. This one was guarded by four male teens, each armed. It seemed as though everyone was armed these days. Two of the young men approached them.
    “Morning,” said Jim, who was now behind the wheel. “We’re looking for a place to stay for a while.” It was direct and to the point. They were all too exhausted for pleasantries.
    The guard on Jim’s side glanced at his very expensive-looking watch. “It’s afternoon, actually. Twelve-fifteen to be exact.”
    “Alright, good afternoon then,” he muttered, unsure of what to say next. He turned to Charlie, who was sitting next to him. Equally confused, Charlie shrugged, so he looked back at the guard who had yet to say anything else. “So, uh, any chance we can go through?”
    Instead of responding, the guard reached behind to his back pocket and unclipped a push-to-talk radio. He turned away from Jim and began communicating with someone, taking the conversation out of earshot.
    “What the hell is going on?” Andy whispered in the back.
    “Don’t know,” Ben said.
    A minute later, the guard returned and clipped the radio back onto his pocket. “You can go through, but you have to leave your weapons here.”
    “Sorry, not going to happen,” Ben called out, preempting any response from Jim or the others. “Our weapons stay with us.”
    But the guard stood firm. “Those are the rules. Either you leave your weapons here with us, or you turn around and head back to wherever you came from.”
    The tension in the air lingered until Morgan spoke. “Why don’t two or three of us stay here with the weapons and the rest go through and see what the deal is?” Her voice was weak from fatigue but her words were resolute.
    “Alright, I’ll go,” Andy quickly volunteered. She was losing patience with these towns.
    “I don’t like it,” Ben said with a shake of his head.
    “Well, what choice do we have?” Morgan snapped back loud enough for the guards to hear. “They don’t know who we are or what our intentions are. You can hardly blame them for being careful.”
    “She’s right,” Andy said. “I’ll be fine.”
    Biting his lower lip, Ben turned away in defeat. Meanwhile, Jim and Charlie got out of the truck to join the discussion.
    “Andy, I’ll go with you,” Charlie offered.
    Morgan opened her mouth to protest the notion of her brother venturing into the unknown before realizing she was about to contradict her own argument.
    “Alright. Let’s get this over with,” Andy said brusquely. “The two of us will go,” she called out to the guards and gesturing to herself and Charlie.
    The guard standing nearest to the truck radioed ahead to some unseen person, telling them that a male and a female were coming their way, along with a brief description of Andy and Charlie.
    “Where exactly are we going and how far is it?” she demanded of the guard.
    “Walk along this road for about two miles. You’ll see more guards waiting there. They’ll show you to where to go.”
    Andy and Charlie exchanged uneasy glances, and she wondered if they should take the truck and just leave the others with the weapons to save time. But then if they got into some kind of trouble, their friends would be too far away to help. No, best to leave all their resources in one place.
    “If we don’t come back in two hours, come after us,” Andy muttered to Jim, who was holding her rifle. “We’ll walk quickly, so it shouldn’t take longer than that to find out what the deal is.”
    “All right, we’ll stay in the truck just in case,” he replied.
    “Don’t do anything stupid,” Morgan said to