Fireteam Delta Read online

  Silence descended over them. Summers watched as a guard rushed by their wagon, heading to Synel’s. He recognized the guard as one of the scouts Synel had sent to check the road after their last run-in.

  Summers stood on the wagon, trying to see further ahead.

  In the distance, a large group walked toward them. There had to be about fifty figures. With no wagon in sight, it looked like a small horde.

  “What the hell?”

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  Summers watched as men and women with haunted eyes looked hungrily at their wagon. They stood at the side of the road, watching the caravan as it passed. Some yelled words Summers couldn’t completely decipher. Most looked sick, starving, injured. It was clear they were refugees, and that whatever Beorn’s family had encountered was not an isolated incident.

  “Jesus . . .”

  “Don’t suppose we have enough food to help?” Cortez was looking at the sheer number of people in front of them.

  “No.” Nowak spoke with finality. “We help one, we could end up with a riot on our hands. At worse, we might make whoever we gave handouts to a target.”

  “And we need to think about ourselves. I’m not liking the odds we’ll resupply in the city,” Logan added.

  “What?” Cortez looked at Logan, confused.

  “He’s right,” Summers agreed. “They’re starving, walking down a road that leads away from the city. Do the math on that.”

  “I’d say we have a month left on our own if we ration it. No idea if that’ll get us to safety.” Nowak looked to Cortez. She wasn’t happy.

  Summers watched a family tend to a wounded man. They looked to be changing his bandages. They eyed him as he passed. Summers only caught a glimpse of the man’s back as they left, but he’d seen enough bullet wounds in his lifetime to recognize them even at a glance.

  “Hide your guns,” Summers called over.

  The others listened, catching on to his line of thinking and tucking their rifles behind the cloaks they wore on their backs. They’d already experienced one group that could recognize an M4 at a glance. They were lucky they hadn’t made themselves a target already.

  Cortez just sat, silently observing the groups as the wagon passed them by. Most were adults, but he saw a few families as well. Some with children even younger than Asle.

  Some of the kids were alone.

  “Nope. Fuck this,” Cortez declared. She hopped down and approached the kids with a hunk of bread she must have snatched from the back of the wagon.

  As soon as they saw it, the other refugees started forward.

  “Cortez—” Nowak started.

  “Back me up here, Summers,” Cortez called back.

  Summers looked to Nowak, who gestured for him to get on with it.

  Fine. Guess they were really doing this.

  “Take that from them, and you die,” he called to the older men who were walking forward. They stopped, staring up at Summers. He just stared back, and by the time they were out of sight, the bread was well and truly gone.

  He hoped that move of theirs didn’t end up hurting the kids in the long run.

  Chapter 19: No Entry

  Asle sat in the back of the wagon, Logan beside her. It had been three days since the incident. The constant trickle of people on the road away from the city had slowed their progress to a crawl.

  She glanced at the people passing by their wagon. No one familiar.

  “Why do I have to do this?”

  Asle’s voice sounded tired, even to herself.

  “Tell me about it again,” Logan asked.

  Asle repressed a sigh. Logan had made her repeat the moment she killed Beorn over and over that morning. He said that it would help, but she couldn’t see how.

  She felt Logan’s hand on her head.

  “Have you ever been afraid of anything?”

  Asle nodded. She’d been afraid of a lot of things. People, bugs, guns.

  “And was there anything you stopped being afraid of? Maybe after you’d spent a lot of time with it?”

  She nodded again.

  “I won’t lie to you. What you did is something you’re going to remember for the rest of your life. But when we repeat it like this, it’ll hurt a little less each time, just like the way you got over your fear. You confront it until the memory just sort of wears out.”

  “Fine.”

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  “Think that’s it up ahead.” Summers looked at the road that opened up in front of them. Synel had smartly slowed their progress so the guards would be able to handle the growing crowd.

  Summers looked to see Asle poking her head out of the back of the wagon. She’d been doing that more often now.

  “I’ll tell you if I see them, all right?”

  Asle ignored Summers for a moment before nodding. So far, they’d seen no signs of Beorn’s family. It was possible they’d outpaced the caravan, with this many people on the road, or perhaps something had stopped them.

  The city came into view.

  “Christ’s sake . . .”

  Large walls towered over the ocean of men and women in front of them. Summers understood then that the refugees they’d encountered on the road were only the braver, more desperate few who had abandoned hope of entering the city.

  “Stay sharp. This place is a fucking powder keg.” Nowak instinctively brushed a hand against the barrel of the gun beneath his cloak.

  He was right. Even from here, Summers could see people trying to push their way toward the city. The gates were closed, with guards positioned on the walls and in front of the entrance.

  As they passed through the crowd, all eyes turned to them—hungry eyes.

  “Cortez, do I have to remind you why pulling that stunt with the bread again would be a bad idea?” Nowak turned back to the woman.

  “I get it.” Cortez looked out to the sick, tired, starving horde.

  Shanty towns had started up, peppering the area, leaning against the city’s wall. Small fights broke out here and there. Some with the guards; some with the other refugees. And still more seemed to be heading toward the city, despite everything.

  There was no doubt in Summers’ mind that this would end badly.

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  The caravan had parked itself in a small clearing a good distance from the city, and from the people crowded outside its gates. Guards had been set up to watch the wagons, though most were relegated to making sure anyone and everyone not already with the caravan stayed far away.

  Asle jumped out of the back. It was clear she wasn’t doing well.

  “You good?”

  She wasn’t, but Summers saw her nod anyway.

  Synel stepped out of her wagon, heading toward them and the “border” her guards had set up.

  Summers had only studied for the better part of a month with her, and he’d improved by leaps and bounds, but he was still only human. So, when she started shouting what he assumed were orders to the group, he wasn’t surprised to be left completely clueless.

  “Asle?”

  “We’re going to the gate.” Asle replied. “She wants volunteers for the guard.”

  Nowak stepped down. “I’m not optimistic about our chances here. We might be better off moving on.”

  Logan nodded in agreement. “Don’t think we’d get a ship here, anyway. The only things left would either be out of our price range or military. Doubly so, since we’d be going into enemy territory. From their perspective, at least.”

  Logan had spent the better part of the trip studying the maps they’d gotten, among other things. To their surprise, the city was near their original target destination, Anchorage. And it was definitely a match to their own world. The fact two cities of this size were built in the same spot on two different worlds might have been interesting if that same geography wasn’t screwing them over.

  Going south, towards the approaching army, wasn’t a trip any merchant w
ould take. No matter how much money they threw at them.

  “Doesn’t change the fact she’s going to try.” Summers gestured to Synel. “Or that we need food.”

  Making it to the next city was out of the question. They simply just didn’t have the supplies to get there. There was, of course, the hope that they could forage on the way, but given the luck the locals looked to be having, it didn’t seem like a smart bet.

  Nowak sighed.

  “Take a spear, then.”

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  Summers had, predictably, been one of the few people Synel approached. And he had, predictably, accepted. As they made their way through the crowd, Synel had insisted on keeping Summers close by. Whether that was sentimentality, or a healthy sense of self-preservation, Summers couldn’t decide.

  He’d strapped himself with as much gear as he could carry, most of which was hidden behind his cloak. Which was why he cringed as Synel moved in close.

  “Thank you for this,” she whispered.

  Summers felt a hand brush against a flashbang he was fairly sure could take out his shoulder. He was momentarily grateful for the elves’ reserved nature as she pulled away.

  “It’s nothing.”

  They’d made it to the front gate in no time at all, most of the elves in the crowd having parted for their armed escort. It wasn’t like they had anything to take, after all.

  The guards, however, were very interested indeed. Summers counted around fifty on the wall itself, and most of the eyes were on him.

  No, actually, everyone’s eyes were on them. While the crowd may not want anything to do with them, they were still the most entertaining thing happening nearby. And if the gate opened for them . . . well, something told him more than a few of them would try to rush it.

  Something to remind Synel of when they were done.

  The woman spoke with a guard who stepped forward. Summers could only understand a few words, but the one that got a reaction was “weapons.”

  Things wrapped up quickly after that, with Synel looking more upbeat than she had.

  Summers had turned to head back to their wagons when he saw the flash of black metal.

  About a dozen feet away, a group of elves approached the gate, wearing the same uniform as the guards. A few looked injured, but what they held in their hands was unmistakable.

  They had a shitload of guns.

  Chapter 20: Recruitment Drive

  “You’re sure? Like, absolutely sure you saw it?” Nowak looked to Summers.

  “Yes, I’m fucking sure.” As soon as Summers had gotten back, he’d told everyone what he’d seen. Without Asle, and forced to stick with the group, he’d been unable to do much more than gawk at the guards hauling in the weapons. “They looked pretty beaten up, too. If I had to guess, I’d say they were salvaged.”

  “Just like ours, then,” Cortez noted.

  Their own wagon had more weapons than they could count. Most were in working order, but a few had been more or less destroyed during the attack. Those were being used as spare parts.

  “Could be another platoon, or what’s left of it?” Logan speculated.

  “Ain’t that bad for us?” Cortez asked. “If they got wiped out, then there goes our shortcut home.”

  “No,” Logan started. “We got to the city as fast as we could. There’s no way whoever took the town and the people they got these guns from are one and the same. That squad’s still out there.”

  “Gotta agree, but that’s good. It means that whoever’s here was committed enough to send a lot of people. That could mean they had an exit strategy.” Nowak looked at Synel, who was yelling orders to the rest of the caravan. They were getting ready to head out after the guard’s agreement to let them into the city. “Summers, think you can get Synel to ask around? See if any of the locals know about the guns?”

  “I can try. You think they might have another one of those gates to our world around here?”

  “Maybe.”

  Summers looked at the city in front of them. It was a monster compared to where they’d come from, rivaling even a smaller, modern city. The walls were thirty feet high, and regular patrols walked its length. Given the size of the gates they’d be headed to, he had doubts they’d be able to shoot their way out, like they had in the last city. It would be a whole lot messier, at least.

  “Asle, you going to be ready to head out soon?” Logan looked to the girl, who was fastening a harness to the cow. She nodded.

  Summers sighed.

  “Guess we’re doing this, then.”

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  Summers sat at the head of the wagon, watching the crowd. Guards had been sent out from the gate, clearing a path for their procession, making things significantly less stressful for the small group. Now that he didn’t have the threat of being torn apart hanging over him, he got a chance to survey the crowd.

  He saw guards keeping the peace. A few had tied up a man, hauling him through a heavily guarded side door in the city’s walls. More were handing out some kind of hardtack as a few of the refugees followed them around.

  At least they were actively trying to keep people from dying on the city’s doorstep.

  Asle had her head poked out over the top of the wagon, watching the crowd, just as he was. Summers hadn’t seen Beorn’s family, and with a group this large, they could look for a week solid and still end up missing them. But he wasn’t going to stop her. Something told him she’d just blame herself if something else happened to that family.

  A shout caught Summers’ attention. By the wall, a group of young men were being rounded up, huddled beside the mass of guards blocking the gate. Most looked content to be there. However, their families had apparently taken exception to something, and a fight was brewing.

  Summers realized that the guards hadn’t been handing out food. They’d likely just been paying off families. Probably in exchange for volunteers. One such guard led a teen boy toward the others as the family shouted something back.

  “They’re recruiting,” Nowak observed. “Smart. I mean, better than waiting for the riot.”

  Then, from the mass of guards, a man stepped forward, a young woman by his side. Even from a distance, Summers could see something was wrong with him. Half of his face was a ruined mess.

  Summers’ wagon passed through the gate, and the man turned to regard them. His eyes met Asle’s, and he waved. The girl waved back, and the man paused.

  Then a shout came from the crowd, and a man stepped toward the line of guards, shouting something. Seconds later, a guard shoved a spear through his chest.

  “Jesus.”

  Summers watched as the man fell. He didn’t get a chance to see what happened after that, as they passed under the gate and into the city itself.

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  Screams sounded in the distance as the wagons came to a stop. He did his best to ignore them.

  Summers started to turn when he found Synel at his side, her hand outstretched toward him. He took it.

  “Appreciate it.”

  As Summers hopped to the ground, the huge gate behind them slammed shut, and the guards moved almost immediately to inspect the wagons.

  It was at that point that Summers realized their mistake.

  “Sarge, we may have a slight issue.”

  If they’d remembered what the last city was like, he’d have realized that they checked their wagon coming in. That hadn’t been a problem, since no one recognized a gun or even a grenade for what it was. However, that was not the case here. Here, it was a big problem.

  “Shit.” Nowak watched the guards checking the wagon in front of them. They were moving fast. “Right.”

  His eyes immediately went to the very big, locked gate at their backs.

  Summers’ scrambled for a solution while Synel watched him, a deadpan expression on her face. That was probably the most emotion he’d seen her show.

  “Uh.” Summers t
ried his best to think of how to phrase what he was going to ask. “Can’t. Look.” Summers gestured to the wagon.

  Synel considered him a moment before she moved closer. Reaching behind Summers to their coin pouch, she fished out a single stone. “I will take care of it.”

  “Uh.” Summers didn’t quite know how to react as she moved to the guards who were finishing with the wagon beside theirs.

  He watched as the woman spoke with the guards for a moment. They seemed to get riled up, something that the caravan guards beside Synel noticed, standing straighter themselves.

  Synel waved a hand, calming her own guards as she reached forward to the man in front of her, placing the single stone in his hand. Then, she nodded to Summers. The man walked over to their wagon, glancing at it only a moment before ordering more guards to move on to the next wagon in line.

  Summers let out a breath of relief as Synel strode back to him, pressed her lips against his, and then turned away, heading off.

  “What . . . ?” Summers wasn’t sure how to process what just happened, but he noticed Synel’s eyes briefly flit up to the top of their wagon.

  “Did that bitch just try to mark her territory?” Cortez hopped down. She still had one hand on the butt of her rifle, hidden behind her cloak.

  “Territory?” Summers asked.

  “Forget it. Apparently, your girl’s the jealous type.”

  “Oh . . .” Summers coughed into his hand. He’d done his best to convince Synel that he and Cortez were not a thing. As it turned out, she hadn’t fully believed him. Summers watched as the guard he assumed was a captain continued to wave others on from their wagon.

  Well, jealous or not, it was nice to have someone like her working on their side.

  <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

  The port was busy, or rather, it was a clusterfuck. Ships of all sizes covered the docks, but they still weren’t having much luck.

  “He said that unless you have an order from the . . . Ying, he can’t take you.” Asle looked to Summers.

  “She means the council, I think. Like a group of people that calls the shots.”

  The man said nothing as Asle spoke again. They’d decided they could pay double, if that’s what it took to get them where they needed to go, and out of whatever war was on their doorstep. The man shook his head in response before turning to leave. That left them with no options whatsoever.