Holding the fort, p.5
Holding the Fort, page 5
“Get on the bus, now!” the driver screamed. He glanced at a few nearby guards. “Grab that kid!”
Several soldiers began to march toward Ethan.
“Go ahead, son,” Ethan’s dad said. “We’ll talk later…I love you.”
Ethan’s mouth slowly closed, and the soldiers escorted him onto the bus. The diesel engines rumbled to a start, then the buses pulled away. He watched his mother and father through the window until the bus turned off the street. There was so much left unsaid. So many secrets, but now they were his. Ethan’s dad said he’d had his reasons for lying to him all those years. And Ethan knew he had his own reasons for not telling his dad the truth now. Though, in the moment, that knowledge was a bitter pill to swallow.
Ethan turned to the rest of the group with a dazed look on his face. He spoke quietly. “He told me the truth…My dad finally told me the truth.”
Chapter 8
Life at Briggs AFB
A massive four-story dormitory at Briggs Air Force Base provided the accommodations for the young refugees from Blackwoods. The building was entirely gray and lacked any splashes of color, except for an open courtyard with a well-manicured, lush green lawn that sat in the middle of the structure. The first two floors were reserved for the girls; the top two floors were inhabited by the boys. Each floor was supervised by two pairs of soldiers—basic airmen who lived in the dorm along with them. The military officials in charge tried to cluster the areas as best they could according to age, with the youngest kids closer to the soldiers in charge. It was two people to a room, a small room at that, and every two rooms shared an adjoining bathroom. The setup was a lot like a college dorm, though everyone was pretty sure there wouldn’t be any crazy parties going on here.
Ethan and Caleb shared a room, as did Austin and Glenn, on the third floor. Annika bunked with her friend Holly Myers on the second floor. Holly had been a good friend of Annika’s for a long time and, except for Holly not being interested in Laser Wars games, they had quite a bit in common. They both enjoyed reading, movies, zombie-fighting video games, soccer, and perusing videos on the internet of cats in compromising positions. Despite their friendship and varied mutual interests, Annika was going crazy from not being with the rest of her Team Blackwoods squad. They had only been in the dorm for two hours, and she was already feeling out of the loop. Dinnertime couldn’t come fast enough.
*
The dormitory cafeteria sat on the ground floor. It was at least three times the size of the school cafeteria the kids were used to. A sixty-foot-long food line stretched in front of the kitchen, with vague aromas of Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and peas lingering in the air. The place was bustling with the activity and chatter of everyone from nine to eighteen-years-old eating dinner at the same time. The jam-packed line moved quickly, though. Servers armed with ladles and hairy forearms slopped a mishmash of food onto the kids’ plates with the efficiency of an automated assembly line.
Annika got her tray of food and weaved her way through the crowd. She finally spotted Ethan and the group waving at her from a table in the far corner. She took a seat with them and exhaled an exasperated sigh. “Anyone hear anything about when they’ll let us out of here?” she asked.
“No,” Ethan said. “But from the looks of it, we may be here a while. They just posted an activity schedule for the week on the wall outside our room.”
Annika shook her head sharply in protest. “They can’t keep us here for a week. It’s June seventh. Fatal error in five days. Then two days after that the whole town—”
“Psssst,” Ethan hissed, interrupting her. He nodded to a table next to them where four young airmen had just sat down. Annika swallowed her frustration and became quiet.
“There’s also a rumor going around,” Caleb added, leaning into the group, whispering. “Overheard the Mitchell brothers talking about some bigwigs from the Air Force coming in to interview the kids.”
“About what?” Annika asked.
“Don’t know exactly,” Caleb said. “But I don’t think it’ll be about the food.”
At that moment, Annika’s roommate, Holly, and three other girlfriends of hers from class sat down at a nearby table. Holly and the girls waved at Annika and motioned for her to come over. Annika smiled at them, then turned and shot a frustrated look at the rest of her team.
“This is awkward,” Annika said, speaking quietly and covering her mouth. “Be there in a minute,” she said to the girls, forcing a smile.
Then Bradley Wuddle and Kevin Kim sat at a table catty-corner from them. Shortly after that, Tristan Fox, Garret Murphy, and Jason Monroe—former Delta Team members—sat at the table as well. The five of them eyeballed Team Blackwoods for an agonizingly long and uncomfortable moment. The expression on Tristan’s face was just one of confusion. He simply didn’t understand how the five members of Team Blackwoods had become such good friends, and so fast. But Bradley Wuddle had an especially nasty glint in his eyes. Though he could never in a million years muster the courage to say anything spiteful to Austin, his eyes said it all. They were full of malice.
“Yeah, very awkward,” Austin said under his breath.
Finally, the tense moment was interrupted by a broad-shouldered colonel in a sharp blue Air Force service coat. He was tapping on a microphone at the front of the cafeteria. The amplified thumps resonated throughout the spacious room. When everyone saw that a colonel was about to speak, an immediate hush overcame the cafeteria. There was not the slightest whisper or peep. The colonel stood atop one of the tables and stared with ice-cold blue eyes into the sea of students. He held their gaze for quite a long while.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Colonel Grissom,” he said at last in a deep, even voice touched with a hint of Southern drawl. “I hope your stay here has been pleasant so far, and that you’re enjoying the food and accommodations.” The words the colonel used were friendly, but the way he spoke them suggested this wasn’t just a social call. The officer’s jaw tightened, then he got down to business. “We’re investigating a security incident that occurred in Blackwoods yesterday. While we can’t divulge the exact nature of the issue, we would like anyone who has witnessed any strange or unusual behavior to come forward, privately of course, and tell a ranking officer right away. We will also set up a secure phone line where you can call in and anonymously report anything suspicious.”
Zeke and Jeremiah Mitchell were sitting with some friends at a table nearby the colonel. They both looked confused. Zeke raised his hand with a question.
“What is it, son?” the colonel asked.
“What exactly do you mean by anything suspicious, sir?” Zeke asked.
The colonel sighed deeply. “Son, I wish I could tell you more. I really do. But right now, just be on the lookout for anything at all out of the ordinary.”
Zeke and his brother still looked perplexed, but they nodded their heads dutifully. “Yes, sir,” Zeke said.
“All right then,” the colonel said, his voice stern. “If anyone here has seen anything, we expect to hear from you. Understand?” Everyone in the cafeteria nodded nervously. “Good. We’ll be in touch with some of you, I’m sure.”
The colonel got down from the table, pivoted quickly on his heels, and left the cafeteria flanked by two of his lieutenants. All the kids breathed a sigh of relief, even though no one, save for Team Blackwoods, had any idea what they had to be nervous about in the first place.
*
Later that evening, the team met in Ethan and Caleb’s room to discuss matters in a more private setting. But they didn’t have that much privacy. The soldiers in charge insisted that the doors to the rooms remain open at all times, except during bedtime, and regular guard patrols circled the floor at fifteen-minute intervals. Then there was the annoyance of Bradley Wuddle, who would pretend to just be walking by their room innocently, only to sneak glances inside when he thought no one was looking. So the group still had to be quiet when they spoke, but it sure beat trying to talk about sensitive information in the crowded and boisterous cafeteria.
Ethan gazed outside the window of the room for a long moment, then he turned to the rest of the team with a glum look on his face. “Three sets of fences, guard houses on each side, cameras everywhere, probably guards on the rooftops…might as well be a maximum-security prison. We’re not getting outta here until they let us out.”
Annika sighed disgustedly. “So all we can do is sit around, stare out the window, and just hope we don’t see that blue dome go over the town?”
“I don’t see another move here,” Ethan said. “Trying to escape would only blow our cover. If the fatal error happens, we gotta have the element of surprise.”
“Yeah, Ethan’s right,” Caleb added.
“And what if the force field dome comes down before we can get inside?” Glenn asked. “Then what?”
“Then we tell the military where we stashed the metal briefcase,” Austin said. Then he took a tense, deep breath. “But if that dome comes down again, God help us all.”
Ethan stared out the window again, eyes distant, deep in thought. “If the fatal error does happen again, I don’t think the attack will be the same as the first time around.” Ethan turned to face the group. “The last time they abducted the entire town with the teleporters. But we gave the military the electromagnetic frequency that jams them, so if they listen to what we wrote in that letter, the teleporters won’t work. The machines will have to find another way to take control of the town.”
“Any guesses on how they do that?” Glenn asked.
“I have no idea,” Ethan responded. “But just like we want the element of surprise, they would too. My bet is—” Ethan stopped quickly as he heard some approaching footsteps. Two airmen on guard patrol walked past their room and quickly looked inside. Everyone became silent until they had passed and were a safe distance away. “Like I was saying, whatever the machines do, my bet is they’ll do it sneaky.”
“Right,” Caleb said with a grim face. “And there are much worse things than having that force field come down over the town, locking the robots in…Just think if those things got out?”
A moment of somber silence overcame everyone.
“At least the briefcase is safe,” Ethan said, trying to salvage some optimism.
“Yeah, and all this talk might be for nothing anyway,” Glenn said, riding the wave of hopefulness. “The officers and scientists at the research facility might’ve already figured out and fixed the fatal error.”
The rest of the group nodded, happy to end the evening on an up note, even if they knew better than to believe it.
Chapter 9
The Rat
Even though the military was on high alert, summer school managed to continue right on schedule in the dormitory at Briggs Air Force Base. With one exception—the school day was now eight hours long instead of four. The officers must’ve thought the best way to keep the kids out of the way was to saddle them with schoolwork. No one was allowed out of Blackwoods during the lockdown except for a select few teachers. Ms. Goodfoot was one of them. This morning she was picked up by an Air Force staff sergeant in a plain white sedan and punctually delivered to the dormitory at 7:50 a.m. sharp. She was to do her educational duty, then be returned home in the same car driven by the same staff sergeant at exactly 4:30 p.m.
No one on Team Blackwoods felt like sitting through eight hours of instruction, knowing full well that an extraterrestrial-related robot rebellion could happen at any time just a few miles away. But skipping class was not an option. The place was flooded with soldiers making sure the kids were in the right places at the right times. Even if they could break away, the five of them being absent together would look suspicious. And Colonel Grissom was on the lookout for anything suspicious.
Time crawled slowly and tensely for the group. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, but the day seemed like it should’ve been over already. At any given time, one or more of them was peering outside the classroom window that faced the town of Blackwoods to the east. They were searching for that distinct cobalt shade of blue that had covered the town before. Thoughts of seeing that force field dome again made their stomachs churn. Ethan had to pry his gaze from the window to look at the clock. The only consolation was that, in less than ten minutes, Ms. Goodfoot would dismiss them for lunch. Then he could get together with his team and talk about the things that mattered, though he had no idea how to better their situation.
The mercy of lunchtime was nearly upon them when a hard knock on the classroom door changed everything. Ms. Goodfoot stopped talking about geometry and opened the door. Colonel Grissom stood in the doorway, taking up all the space with his tall, muscular frame. The colonel completely eclipsed his two lieutenant assistants who were standing behind him.
Grissom scanned across the classroom of students with a stern, forbidding face. His jaw was taut and clenched, looking like it was carved from a block of granite. His intense, striking blue eyes were devoid of emotion and seemed to have the ability to stare at everyone in the room at the same time. He looked away from the class for a moment and turned his attention to Ms. Goodfoot.
“Sorry to interrupt your class, ma’am,” Colonel Grissom said. Then he handed her a note and resumed eyeballing the students.
Ms. Goodfoot read the note, nodded to the colonel, then looked up at her class and announced: “Colonel Grissom needs to talk to the following students…Caleb, Annika, Glenn, Austin, and Ethan.”
Everyone stared at the five of them. A gossipy murmur quickly engulfed the class. As the members of Team Blackwoods filed out behind Colonel Grissom, Austin glanced back into the classroom. He found Bradley Wuddle’s beady eyes. Bradley’s face flushed a bright red, and he quickly looked away. Austin shook his head in disgust as he left.
*
Colonel Grissom and the two lieutenants who were accompanying him ushered the group into a waiting room. The room was about the size of a small bedroom but lacked any of the comforts of home. The walls were entirely made up of gray cinder blocks, and the only decoration on them was a single Air Force recruitment poster. The poster depicted a formation of F-35 jet fighters streaking across a beautiful blue sky, with the words “Aim High-Air Force” in blue and silver lettering below. Two wooden bench seats were the only furniture. Other than the vibrant poster on the wall, which seemed almost sarcastically placed, the room looked every bit like a holding cell.
A place the Air Force put people who were in trouble for something.
“Wait here. Give me a minute,” the colonel said as he left, closing the door behind him.
As soon as Colonel Grissom was gone, Austin turned to the group and scowled. “It was Bradley Wuddle, I know it. Did you see his guilty face? The rat didn’t even have the guts to look me in the eye.”
“Psssst!” Caleb hissed urgently, then whispered, “Don’t say another word. They could be listening to us. This place could be bugged.”
“Good point,” Ethan said.
The group scoured the room looking for any hidden listening devices. The walls were bare concrete, but they checked behind the poster on the wall, under the wood benches, the light fixtures, and even the door hinges.
“All-clear,” Caleb said. “Go ahead.”
“Look, I agree Bradley’s a rat,” Glenn said. “But what could he possibly know to tell Colonel Grissom?”
“He could mention that the five of us never used to hang out together. Then after graduation, we mysteriously became a band of brothers…and a sister,” Annika said. “Wuddle wouldn’t have to know anything, just pass it along to Grissom as something suspicious.”
“Yeah,” Ethan agreed. “Bradley Wuddle knows nothing, yet he still knows enough to make Grissom a pain in our butts.”
“That stinkin’, rat-faced, son-of-a—!” Austin yelled and pounded his fist on the bench.
“Rest assured, the military’s going to dig up all the surveillance video they can find on us in the last five days,” Caleb said.
“Yeah, but we kept this quiet,” Ethan said. “We were careful…Plus, the security cameras around town have great video but no audio. They couldn’t hear a thing.”
“Well, you can count on them listening to everything we say from now on,” Caleb said.
“We gotta stick to the original story,” Ethan said. “The one we told when we skipped the last day of school—that Austin challenged the rest of us at Laser Wars, and we accepted the challenge. After the battle, we settled our differences and became friends.”
“Yeah, military officers will buy that,” Austin added. “They study history. Lots of countries have gone to war with each other and ended up allies.”
“We can even mention that to them,” Ethan said. “Say we were like countries going to war and ending up allies. It’ll help us keep our stories straight.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Glenn said.
At that moment, the clip and clop of military-issue dress shoes echoed outside the door. The sounds of footsteps closing in fast. The group silenced themselves and braced for visitors.
Colonel Grissom opened the door. His two lieutenant assistants were no longer with him. Instead, he was accompanied by Generals Turnbull and Vaden. Glenn’s father looked concerned. Austin’s father was fuming, his face already an unhealthy shade of red.
Colonel Grissom looked at Austin and Glenn with cold, uncaring eyes. “Austin and Glenn, your fathers would like a word with you,” he said, then held the door open and nodded politely to General Turnbull and General Vaden.
Austin and Glenn exchanged quick, nervous glances with each other, then looked back at the other members of Team Blackwoods. Glenn left first. Austin lingered for a moment, reluctant to face what he knew was coming.
“Now, dammit!” Austin’s father roared at his son.
Austin walked out of the room looking as dejected as an inmate on death row trudging toward the electric chair. His shoulders were slumped, and his head hung so low he was scarcely taller than Ethan.
