Nathan Jones - Determination

Matt hadn’t realized this was going to draw spectators, although he supposed people liked watching things go boom. Together the crowd entered the military camp and sought out Faraday, who was waiting by some trucks with a dozen soldiers.

The lieutenant gave them an annoyed look as they approached. “Hey! I offered to take some of you out there to watch as a courtesy, sort of a nod to the time you spent defending the canyon. I never agreed to host a field trip. I’m only taking four or five of you.”

There were some disappointed groans at that. “Can’t we just ride on the tailgate or something?” Jim asked.

“Heck no.” The blond man’s glare intensified. “If you really want to see it, you can head out there on foot and hope you get there in time. But you’d better be ready to do more than two miles in fifteen minutes.”

“Fine.” Jim broke into a run along the canyon road. A few others joined him, including Alvin. Most, however, turned back towards the refuge, grumbling.

Faraday snorted. “Kids.” He motioned. “Five of you.”

They settled on Catherine and her husband, George, Matt, and Mary to ride along. Everyone else joined the others heading back to the refuge.

The ride didn’t take long in a vehicle, and they passed Jim and the others not far outside of camp. Once they reached the top of the canyon and piled out George led the way to an overlook that gave a good view of the canyon and valley below.

“This is where me, Lewis, Dad, and Uncle George watched the Gold Bloc troops arrive and occupy the town,” Mary said. “It’s been almost a month, hasn’t it?”

George nodded. “We could’ve blown the road then. We haven’t really used it, aside from when Lewis took the truck down to take the scouts out that day, when we drove up it with the stolen trucks from the shelter, and one or two other times. And… yesterday.”

“We should’ve blown it,” Catherine said quietly as she leaned into her husband, who put his arms around her. “It’s just been a threat all this time.”

Matt had heard Lewis’s reasons for keeping the road intact, and he agreed that it had been pretty useful. But the Mayor’s words came from grief, and he didn’t see any point in contradicting her.

Faraday broke away from his soldiers to join them on the overlook, whistling softly at the view. He held the detonator in his hand. “Would any of you like to do the honors?”

There was a pause as everyone looked around, then Catherine broke away from Scott to stand beside him, holding out her hand. The lieutenant showed her how to disable the safety, and the older woman nodded her understanding and lifted the device.

“Brace for detonation,” Faraday said into his radio. Probably an unnecessary precaution, since no one on their side was anywhere near the site. Catherine waited for him to receive confirmation, then at his nod pushed the button.

Matt watched with the rest of the group as a deceptively small series of explosions went off, all along the cliff overlooking the narrowest part of the canyon down below. There was barely enough room for the road and the stream to run through the gap there; it also wasn’t far from where the truck had gone off the road.

The explosions tore free chunks of rock and set off small landslides, and with a rumbling roar loud enough to have a physical force even from where they stood the gap was closed off.

Maybe Catherine was right, and they should’ve done it from the first. They’d taken a risk keeping the road open for so long, with a chance that the enemy might find a way to defuse the explosives and force their way up the canyon. If the blockheads had they would’ve gained a path into the mountains that they could use to attack a dozen other positions, all the way north and south along the range from Highway 6 to I-70.

They’d played with fire keeping the canyon open for potential raids, and they’d been burned for it. Good people had been killed. Then again, who knew how things would’ve worked out if they’d tried something else. Matt wasn’t about to judge Lewis’s decision or its outcome.

He turned away. The canyon was sealed now, and nothing short of a major effort and heavy machinery would open it again. And now that the military had taken over defending the area that wouldn’t happen, even if the blockheads did have the equipment to try.

The others joined him, Catherine pausing just long enough to return the detonator to Faraday. The lieutenant waved them on. “We’re going to stick around and get to work,” he said. “Hope you folks are okay with walking back.”

“Fine,” Catherine called in a weary voice. “Thank you for giving us a chance to see that.”

“Least I could do. My condolences again for your loss.”

The group was silent as they passed the truck and the soldiers clustered around it and started up the road for home. After about five minutes they caught sight of a very winded Jim and his companions stumbling up the road.

“Oh come on!” he wheezed, barely audible in spite of his effort to shout. “You couldn’t wait a half hour?”

Mary ran ahead to give her cousin a consoling hug. “I’ll describe it for you,” she said by way of apology.

The rest of the group caught up, and George tussled his son’s hair. “You realize we’re moving everyone to Lewis and Jane’s valley today, right? You’ve been up less than an hour and you’re already pooped.”

Right, the move. That was going to be a delight. Matt glanced over at the Mayor. “I was thinking we should get going hauling the carts and wagons as soon as possible. I’m not sure we can reach the valley by nightfall, but we should try. The sooner we can get there, the sooner we can start building shelters and making other preparations.”

Catherine nodded. “Not everyone will be ready to leave, but those who aren’t can catch up. Will you go on ahead and get started?”

Matt nodded and quickened his pace, pulling ahead of the group. George caught up to him, and together they hurried back to the refuge.

He was an old hand at moving by now, having gone to and left the shelter a few times. Not to mention traveling. And after evacuating their town the other residents of Aspen Hill would also be better prepared for it. He was more worried about how they’d fare once they got to the valley.

At least the defenders who weren’t heading south with Jane would have more time to help out, rather than needing to patrol and do sentry duty all the time. It would still probably be a good idea to defend their new home, just to be safe, but unless the refugees by 31 got rowdy or the blockheads broke through he didn’t expect too many threats.

The shelter group had packed up their camp by the time he and George got back, to his relief, with even the animals tethered to the wagons or cart, or their cages loaded up for travel. Two of the last items to load up were Lewis and Lucas, lifted carefully onto a nest of sleeping bags in the cart. The two men grumbled at being a burden, doubly so because they couldn’t help haul the group’s belongings. George’s attempt to lighten the mood, by pointing out that the cart was pretty light thanks to all the grain they’d lost, fell completely flat.

Matt took a look around the group and realized that missing so many of their men they were going to suffer, even hauling the lighter loads. Which meant that even though he was needed to oversee the entire town’s move, he’d have to do it while throwing his weight against the cart’s pushbar.

“Rest up,” he told everyone. “I need to see how everyone else’s preparations are coming, and if anyone needs a hand. I’ll be back once we’re ready to move out.”

From Sam’s expression it was obvious she wanted to go with him, but the prospect of the day’s ordeal was enough to dampen even her determination. He gave her a kiss and left her watching the group’s animals, then headed out into the camp.