Deadland Rising (part 3 of the Deadland Saga)

Justice (Chapter 18)

Christmas lights draped from the guardrails of the walkways, giving the silo a festive ambience. Except for the Marshall survivors, no one seemed to notice that a brilliant man had died yesterday. Justin had given everyone the day off. The excitement was palpable as residents prepared for tonight's Christmas Eve celebration. Nearly everyone-even the non-Christians-was helping decorate and plan skits. People were smiling. Benji was in a wild group of seven kids running down the walkways.

Clutch, Griz, and I were included in the few exceptions. We were fully geared up and on our way topside when we ran into Justin. "Good morning," he said with more enthusiasm than usual. "You'll be back before dark, won't you? Everyone's been looking forward to the banquet for some time."

"That's the plan," Clutch said.

"One, maybe two airports, and then invite Sister Donaldson and Connie to tonight's banquet," I said, neglecting to mention Henry's name. "It's a full day."

Justin nodded. "If they happen to bring Connie's husband, we'll have him stay in the lab with the others."

"Understood," Clutch said. "We'd better head out."

Justin stood off to the side. "It looks to be another sunny day. Be careful out there."

"We always are," Griz said as we walked past Justin and outside.

New Eden's vehicles were all parked outside the silo by a new gate installed after the fires.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of starlings flew over the ruins of New Eden. Birds were one of the few species that multiplied after the outbreak. Like mice and cats, they were everywhere now, and I had nightmares where the birds became sick like the dogs and wolves and would dive-bomb us. It wasn't as bad a nightmare as some.

Luckily, these starlings seemed to have no interest in us, to dive-bomb or otherwise, as we headed toward our vehicle. Clutch and Griz chose our Humvee since a few inches of snow still blanketed everything. It was full of gas, along with six five-gallon containers full-we always kept everything ready in case we had to make a sudden evacuation.

As we approached the vehicle, I glanced at Griz. "Shotgun, sucker."

Griz held up the key, a shit-ass grin on his face.

My eyes widened, and I made eye contact with Clutch. He took off running, and I leapt forward. He had a head start and reached the passenger side first. When he reached for the door, I tackled him from behind. He went down on a knee before catching himself and somehow managing to grab me and flip me over him. I landed on my back with a thud, and the air was knocked from my lungs.

I looked up to see Clutch standing over me. He tried to give me his mean look but failed, and he held out a hand. I grabbed it, and he pulled me to my feet. I pouted. "Bully."

"It was self-defense," he countered before he brushed snow from my hat. When he looked at me, I could see warm love in his brown eyes, and it melted me. I smiled and leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around me.

The Humvee's engine roared to life, and we broke apart. Clutch opened the front passenger door, but instead of climbing in, he held the door open for me. I grinned and jumped in. "Thank you."

He climbed in the backseat, "Remember, paybacks are hell."

Griz drove through the gate, which the guards closed as soon as we'd left the safety of New Eden. The roads weren't as bad as I'd expected. Other than a few high drifts, which Griz seemed to take pleasure in plowing through, we made pretty decent time to the first airport, where we were able to fill up over fifty gallons of avgas into plastic containers and stack them in the Humvee. It was a small airport with fourteen hangars and without a zed in the vicinity. After we scared off the lone dog, we checked out each hangar. Unfortunately, not a single plane would start. We could jump start a couple, but I was hoping to find a plane that started without any issues the first time. Call me superstitious, but I felt more comfortable in a plane that didn't need encouragement to run.