Jeff Hirsch - The Darkest Path

“Who do we have here, Mr. Solomon?”

I was about to jump in, but Grey beat me to it.

“Mr. Vasquez! This here is my sister’s boy,” Grey said, as smooth as could be. “Adopted. He lost his folks in a Fed bombing raid. He was supposed to join us back in Yuma.”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Grey.”

Grey turned to me. “And you brought that damn dog.”

“He just followed me!”

Grey rolled his eyes, then dug through a box on one of the shelves. “Look, fellas,” he said with a smile. “He missed the convoy and just now got caught up. I told his mom I’d try to get him back on Path and if I don’t, my mom is going to have my hide. You understand.”

Grey lifted his hand from the box and held three big bars of chocolate out to the men.

“He won’t cause any more trouble. I promise.”

Vasquez ignored him, staying sharp, his eyes moving from me and Bear to Grey and back, his index finger tapping his trigger guard.

“Your pack,” he said to me. “Take it off and kick it over.”

I slipped out of my backpack and tossed it between us. Vasquez took a knee and tore through it, scattering my clothes around the truck. The revolver in my back felt like it was on fire. What if they wanted to pat me down? There was nothing behind the soldiers but highway and desert. Even if I managed to run, there was nowhere to go.

“Satisfied, Mr. Vasquez?”

Vasquez looked up over my things, eyeing me hard before turning back to Grey.

“Like you said, Mr. Solomon, he’s your responsibility. He causes any trouble, he’s mine. Got it?”

“I do. Yes, sir. No worries here.”

Vasquez took the chocolates from Grey. Both of us nearly jumped when Vasquez’s comm squawked on his shoulder.

“Wanderer One, this is lead. We’re alpha charlie and on the move in five.”

Vasquez took the mic off his shoulder. “Understood. Wanderer One out.” He looked at me like he was memorizing my face, then signaled to the other two. They lowered their weapons, and the three of them jumped off the back of the truck. Neither of us moved until we heard the soldiers’ boots pass the side of the truck and disappear down the line.

Once they were gone, Grey looked down at me and Bear so hard it was like he was trying to see straight through us. He didn’t need to say a word. He was praying we were worth it.

“That’s not the first time you’ve done that.”

Grey didn’t take his eyes off the road. “First time I’ve done what?”

“Lied to somebody like Vasquez.”

Grey flicked his headlights on. We had been driving for hours and were now somewhere in Utah. The Californian front sat out in the darkness to our west.

“I think he’s calling me a liar, Mr. Bear.” The dog made a pleased snuffle as Grey rubbed his ears. “Mr. Bear says it takes one to know one, Henry .”

My mind spun for a denial, but if Grey planned on turning me over to Vasquez, he would have done it by now.

“When’d you know?”

“Pretty much right away,” Grey said. “You’re slick, I’ll give you that, but not half as much as you think. So what’s the story? You a capture?”

I nodded. “About six years ago.”

“Why run now?”

“Commander decided I should be helping give people the Choice.”

Grey downshifted as we came up a steep rise. “He the one who did the work on your face?”

“One of his men, yeah.”

“And now you’re trying to get to…”

“New York.”

Grey started to say something but pulled it back and shook his head.

“What?”

Grey glanced over at me. “Look, things may not be perfect here, but over in the Fed… I mean, do you even have any idea what the world was like before Hill?” Grey held up his hand before I could say a word. “Course you don’t. What are you? Twelve?”

“I’m fifteen.”

“Whatever. Back then, we were smack-dab in the middle of three wars and a depression that was getting ready to celebrate its tenth birthday. And you think anybody was trying to do anything about it? Heck no. Before Hill came along, politicians and their buddies were raking in billions while regular folks starved in the streets. And that’s still the way it is in President Burke’s Fed. I bet there are folks over there right now who are so rich they barely even know there’s a war going on and wouldn’t care if they did.”

The cab lit up red as brake lights flared in front of us.

“Ah, man. Not this again.”

Grey’s air brakes squealed as he brought us to a shaking stop in the middle of the road. Bear stood up to peer out the window as we sat there, engine rumbling. This had happened throughout the day. Scouts at the front would see something and the whole convoy would stop, waiting for the bomb team to check the road for IEDs.

Every time it happened, tension settled over the convoy like a fog. Grey tapped the fingers of one hand on the big steering wheel, while the other lay ready on his gearshift. I could feel the entire convoy leaning forward and waiting. Fingers on triggers. Muscles taut.

“They always find them?” I asked.

“Last run I did, a troop carrier ran smack into one of those new ones the Brits are sending over. A bloodier mess you’ve never seen. Twenty men torn to shreds.”

“The British are helping the Feds?”

“It’s all hush-hush since Hill promised any foreign country caught interfering is getting a nuke for their trouble, but yeah, they’re helping. Just can’t be too obvious about it.”

A trio of soldiers trudged up from their places in the rear of the convoy. I sank into my seat until they passed us by. Outside, the darkness lit up from artillery fire at the front. Tremors moved through the ground and up into our bones. Bear dug himself into my side with a whine and I stroked his side until he calmed.

“You think he’ll win?” I asked.

“Don’t think anything,” Grey said. “I know.”

“How?”

“You ever heard Hill speak?”

“I’ve read speeches.”

Grey scoffed. “Not the same. Not by a mile. I was at a rally out east, near the front, and he made this surprise visit to see the boys….”

Grey was quiet for a moment, reaching over to scratch Bear’s head, while he puzzled something out.

“You know how you read in history books about people like George Washington and Alexander the Great, and you get to thinking that’s the only place folks like that live? In books. Well, I saw Nathan Hill standing not one mile from the front and I’m here to tell you, he’s one of them. He talked to those boys for hours and when he was done, it was like…” Grey’s eyes shone as he remembered. “It was like all their lives they had been living on dust, and someone finally gave them a drink of water. Mark my words, the minute California falls, this whole thing is as good as over.” Grey laughed a little to himself. “So I guess it won’t matter where you end up, huh?”

Static came through the radio mounted over our heads. Bear woofed at it, and Grey reached up and switched it off, leaving just the rumble of engines around us in the dark.

“So if you’re such a true believer, why do you help people like me?”

Grey shrugged.

“You’ve done it before, right?”

Grey glanced up at me and then went back to petting Bear. “Hill and the beacons,” he said slowly. “They’re smarter men than me. I know that. But I don’t like giving folks the Choice. Simple as that. People ought to come to the Path on their own. Give ’em the chance and they will.”

Grey reached across the cab to smooth down a curled piece of tape on the dash. It was holding up a picture of a pretty, fine-boned woman with a heart-shaped face and springy curls.