Edward Llewellyn - Prelude to Chaos

By the time we reached the Cove the fog had thickened and the cutter was only just visible, still on station, still hove-to. “They won’t do much intercepting!” said Barbara as we went alongside the wharf. “Have you got that gadget of yours fixed, Mister Gavin!”

“I have, Miss Bernard.” I locked the final clamp. “One of these days I’m going to risk my life and paddle your ass!”

But before she could pick up the brawl Yackle appeared above us on the dockside. “How did it go?”

“Perfect! That cutter’s out of action.” Barbara did not elaborate. So Yackle had known what these two kids had planned!-

“Thank the Light!” He glanced at Ranula, ready to cast off, children and young mothers crowding her decks. “That armored column has left Standish. Mister Gavin—is your spoiler working?”

“Far as I can tell it is.” I climbed up to join him.

“We won’t need it now!” said Barbara, putting me down. “We may! We may! Mister Gavin—leave it operating. Barbara—you will escort Ranula out into the Bay and wait with her offshore.”

“But with tanks coming along the road—”

“Get movin’, young lady!” said Enoch, looming out of the fog. “We’re looking after the road. You’re needed at sea.”

She scowled and went hard astern, backing away from the dock. I followed Enoch up the now almost deserted village street. “Where is everybody?”

“Aboard the boats or going aboard. We was going to chance it, even if Barb’s idea hadn’t worked. Only chance we got. We may be able to hinder them tanks. There’s no way we can stop ’em.”

“Where’s Judy?”

“Took her bike and went off up the road.”

“What?” I grabbed him by the arm. “You let her go off? They’ll grab her! Or kill her!”

“She said you was to wait above the bridge with Kitty. The Doc knows what she’s doing, even if we don’t.”

“Christ—nobody knows what anybody’s doing in this place!”

“We know we’ve got the kids safe aboard the boats. And we know we can put to sea.” Enoch gently took my hand from his arm and started to fill his pipe. “Why don’t you do like the Doc says. Go and wait above the bridge. This time there will be shooting.”

I was on my bike and away while he was still speaking. I couldn’t imagine what crazy reason had sent Judith to meet an advancing armored column on a motorbike, but the only thing I could think of was to go after her. I skidded around the bend short of the bridge and found the Brinks parked across the road. Jehu waved me to a halt.

“Where’s my wife?” I yelled at him.

“Cornin’ back! Listen!” He held up his hand and I heard the whine of her Yama in the distance, getting closer. “Best go up to the bridge with that gun of yours. So you can knock down anyone who’s chasing her.”

I went scrambling up to the command post overlooking the bridge. Only Kitty was there. Her eyes intent up the road she hardly glanced at me. “They’ve passed the fork,” she said. “The lead tank’s at the fourth click. And Judith’s well ahead.”

I flopped down beside her. “What the hell’s going on?”

“The tanks are coming. And here they come!”

The Yama came first. Judith, without her helmet, her hair streaming, was racing for the bridge. I suddenly realized that the planking was still in place, but it was too late to do anything about it. At least she would be able to ride across.

Instead she skidded to a halt and let her bike heel over, looking as though she had dumped. The commander of the first tank around the bend evidently thought she had and, seeing her as potential loot, went roaring forward, one of the crew emerging from a hatch, ready to grab her.

Before he could she had wrestled her bike upright, jumped astride, and taken off, splattering crewmen and tank with mud flying from her rear wheel. The tank started after her. The planks rattled as she crossed the creek, glancing back, her hair flying. At the last moment the tank driver doubted that the bridge would carry his weight and locked his treads. The tank skidded onto the bridge and then slowly nosed down into the creek as the planks gave way. Judith waved and disappeared around the bend.

“That’s blocked it for the cabron!” said Kitty, picking up her com and calling. “Block in place this end!” As the driver’s hatch started to open she added, “You can start shooting now, Mister Gavin.”

I had been wanting to shoot at something ail day; I bounced a round off the driver’s hatch and it snapped shut. The crewman who had been outside the turret waiting to grab Judith had been thrown into the creek. He was scrambling up when I fired and dived back into the mud. An armored personnel carrier came round the bend, its hatches opening. Rifles cracked from along the ridge above the creek, ricochets went screaming away into the woods, hatches crashed closed. More tanks arrived, their turrets traversing, their cannon searching for something to shoot at. But they couldn’t elevate sufficiently to sweep the ridge and the holiday warriors who manned them stayed in them.

From farther up the road came a series of dull explosions and the ground shivered beneath us. “There goes the overhang!” said Kitty. “Now they’re blocked both ends.” She began to call on her com, “Pull out everyone. Back to the boats!” She listened for a moment, then said to me, “They’ve still got a few things to get aboard. Do you mind staying here for a short time, Mister Gavin? Keeping those tanks closed down until everybody’s ready to sail?”

“Glad to be of help!” I growled, bouncing another round off an opening hatch. At last here was something I was able to do.

Kitty disappeared down the slope. I caught glimpses of shadows moving back through the trees toward the village. Presently Sam came out of the woods and dropped down beside me. “I’m the last, Mister Gavin. Everybody’s back. And safe too!” He laughed. “Should write a letter of thanks to the Department of Highways for not fixin’ our road!”

“Find out how much longer they want us to stay here.” The fog was thickening and soon even these troops would be venturing out of the carriers.

Sam called on his com, then said, “Evacuation complete, and the boats are out of the Cove. Them tanks won’t catch nobody now. Enoch’s waiting alongside for you and me. Let’s go!”

“Coming!” I used my last magazine to spray the blocked column, then slid after Sam down to the road.

“Will you give me a lift to the wharf on the back of your bike, Mister Gavin? I’ve never been on a motorcycle.”

“You haven’t had enough excitement for one day? Then climb on!” We rode back to the village, down the empty street, past the deserted houses. Our own cottage above the cove was already hidden by the fog, and I wasn’t sorry. I’d been happier there than any place I’d ever been.

Enoch was waiting on the wharf. “Coast Guard’s drifting with her screws all tangled. The boats are hove-to offshore. That spoiler of yours is working fine. They look like a patch of rainstorm on my radar.”

“Where’s Judy?”

“Aboard Ranula with the kids. Jehu took her out. You ready to leave too?”

I turned to look up the village street. The lights had been left burning in most of the houses, so the Settlement glowed in the mist as though it was still alive. But it was dead, and its people were out on the Bay. Driven out to become refugees in their own country. I shouted curses into the fog, curses at the tanks coming to destroy the remnants of a civilization. A world ending not with a bang but a snarl.

Enoch touched my arm. “Reckon we’d best be moving.

Those soldier-boys will be crossing the creek soon. And they’ll come ashooting.”