Nathan Jones - Determination

Trev shrugged. “I don’t know. I figured we could just run down the clock.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. “Run down the clock,” Lewis repeated flatly.

“Yeah. I mean we’re about a month into summer, and the temperature is capping out at 75 degrees in the valley on the warmest days. And from what I’ve heard it’s still getting colder, not warmer. It’s not going to be too much longer before we run into a brutal nuclear winter, and the blockheads aren’t going to be able to do anything then. Besides, they’ve got supply lines that stretch across half the country, and that’s got to be killing them. The war will win itself if we just wait.”

“Like the town waited against Turner?” Lewis asked. Trev fidgeted uncomfortably as his cousin continued. “Let’s say winter did come, and instead of leaving the blockheads decided to hunker down. How’d you like to be trapped up in these mountains , which may I remind you we know from personal experience are way colder than the valley, through a nuclear winter, with enemy soldiers out there causing mischief?”

Another awkward silence fell. “Besides,” Jane said. “We’re not even to the hottest part of summer in a usual year. Nuclear winter may be coming, and probably way earlier than winter usually does, but it’s still months off. The blockheads could do another attack like they did along the Wasatch Front any day now. We can’t afford to sit around waiting for an act of God to save us.”

Lewis propped himself up on his elbows with a grimace of pain to meet his eyes. “We’ve all lost people, Trev,” he said quietly. “But we can’t let up now. Everything we can do to win this war, we need to do. We’ll all have an easier time during this winter if we can drive the blockheads away before it starts. Especially if we do it soon enough that we have some time to properly prepare for it, without needing to look over our shoulders for enemies.”

Trev tried to smile. “You’re right. Besides, with you here we could really do some damage.”

If he could go into a situation with anyone, it would be with Lewis. But even so it was hard to drum up any enthusiasm for the thought. He didn’t like the fact that the thought of going after the enemy left a sick feeling in his gut. He didn’t like the thought that he was afraid to act because he might get more friends killed.

It wasn’t rational, and it was keeping him from doing his job as a leader, but feelings were rarely rational. He just needed to act, even when it was the last thing he wanted to do. Bury the doubts that made him hesitate, made him refuse to act, until they weren’t quite so loud.

He wasn’t sure he could, but it would be easier with Lewis in charge. He could set aside some of the burden of being a leader and it would make things less complicated. Maybe he could even limit who went on these raids just to volunteers, so even if things did go wrong again he wouldn’t have ordered anyone to their deaths.

Trev grit his teeth. He didn’t want to think like that. “What do you have in mind?” he said to get out of his own head.

Lewis and Jane glanced at each other, then at him. “I’ve been thinking it over in my copious spare time,” Lewis admitted. “I’m sure my wife has been too. And don’t lie, Trev. Even if you’re not wild about the idea, you’ve probably considered possibilities yourself.”

“Maybe. So again, what did you have in mind?”

His cousin told him.

Third time’s the charm for uncomfortable silences. Jane finally cleared her throat. “Sounds doable.”

“You’re going to have to run that by me again,” Trev said, shaking his head slowly.

Lewis grinned at him. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds.”

“It sounds like you want to lead a raid against a target a stone’s throw from thousands of blockheads in Huntington,” Trev shot back. “It doesn’t have to be as crazy as it sounds.”

“No really, just hear me through. Davis has spent all this time staging attacks where he did everything he could to avoid the enemy and just take out high value targets. And you’re right, we’ll be sneaking right into the belly of the beast to do our damage. They won’t even see us coming.”

“Sorry Lew, your logic falls apart there. If we walk right into the middle of them they don’t have to see us coming to crush us. We won’t be able to do anything without raising the alarm, and then we’re stuck with no way out.”

His cousin waved a finger at him. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small black device.

Trev frowned at it. “Oh yes, that explains everything.”

“Come on, Trev. Don’t tell me that after all this time you’ve spent around Graham, you never asked him about the tools of his trade.” Lewis carefully waved the device his way. “This is a detonator with a countdown timer. When his team was setting up explosives in Aspen Hill Canyon Graham gave it to me, just in case the remote detonator malfunctioned.”

“Graham’s going to kill you if he finds out you stole that,” Trev said with a low whistle.

Lewis’s smile turned a bit lopsided. “He never asked for it back. I’d rather say “sorry” than “please”, especially with a crater fifty feet wide to show for it.” He carefully tucked the detonator away again. “Give me five minutes in a blockhead armory with this thing, and I’ll make every raid we’ve done up til now look like a water balloon fight. And best of all we’ll be in and out without making a stir, long gone by the time it goes off.”

Trev tried to hold his annoyed expression, but against his will a rueful chuckle burst out. “Remember back in the good old days, when you were the one calling me crazy when I came to you with these sorts of plans?”

Lewis grinned back. “So that’s a yes, then.”

“I guess we’ll see what Gutierrez and Ben think.” Trev reached down to clap his cousin’s shoulder. “But I’d say it’s a definite maybe.”

Lewis finished outlining his plan, then leaned back away from the campfire, resting his head on the log he was leaning against. “What do you think?”

“I think we didn’t have a proper fireworks display last 4 thof July,” Trev, seated next to him, replied with a wide smile. On Lewis’s other side Jane simply nodded in agreement.

Ben, sitting across the fire, leaned back and raised his hands. “Not that I think it’s a bad idea, Lewis, but my squad’s out. I want to bring my people home once this war’s over, and that means letting the blockheads come to us behind the safety of our emplacements. That’s worked well for us so far. Everything else we’ve tried?” He shrugged. “Not so much.”

“Fair enough,” Lewis said. “I prefer volunteers for these attacks anyway. Would your people at least be willing to consider picking up the slack, taking extra shifts on sentry duty and patrols while we’re out there?” Ben hesitated, then nodded. Lewis turned to Gutierrez. “Raul?”

“Of course I’m in.” The former soldier leaned forward. “But you know what I say? I say taking out roads is great and all, and shooting at blockheads is going to happen no matter what.” He waved towards the campfires visible in the valley below. “What we should really be going for is stealing their supplies, like you did in that raid on your shelter. Hit them right in the gut and make things easier for ourselves at the same time. And if we’re sneaky enough we don’t even have to get into a shootout.”

Lewis had been nodding the entire time. “I had the same idea, after we’ve done this first raid taking out their armory. Davis has been avoiding blockheads while taking out the roads, and nobody’s tried to go anywhere near one of their camps. If we blow up some munitions they’ll double up their defenses around armories, and might not even see us coming for their food.”