Deadland Rising (part 3 of the Deadland Saga)

Courage (Chapter 27)

February

The fire bomber's wheels squeaked as they met the concrete, and the heavy plane settled onto the runway. My best landing yet. All fourteen pilots were required to make a test flight once per day until Aline approved the release of the third phase of Operation Redemption.

When we weren't flying, we were in the briefing room working on flight plans. The lead pilot walked to the front of the room and addressed us. "A warm front is coming through. The forecast is thirteen degrees Celsius tomorrow, which means it's finally going to be warm enough to load the Orange onto our birds and start missions. Expect the green light tomorrow afternoon," he said. "Get plenty of sleep tonight. You won't see much of it for the next couple months."

The tension was palpable in the room. Including me, nine of the fourteen pilots had been conscripted into service. At least five pilots were adamantly against spraying the Orange toxin and vocally raised their concerns daily. I was more careful. While I never voiced opposition, I never championed the operation. I tried to blend in so I wasn't noticed, though I suspected Aline kept a close eye on all of us.

She was a relentless wolf wearing the guise of a compassionate leader. Preoccupied with building a centralized government, she refused to see the blood she'd spill to make it happen. She never visited any of the provinces, preferring instead to stay within the safe confines of the capital. She'd convinced herself that as long as the capital survived, there was hope. But, she'd neglected to take one thing into consideration.

Loyalty.

She'd augmented her pilots and troops with people from the provinces. And, we didn't easily forget life outside the capital. The so-called Provinces of North America had forgotten about its provinces, but I hadn't.

The fourteen of us, along with other airport personnel, crammed into a bus and rode back to town.

"It sounds like tomorrow is going to be the big day," Akio, a fellow pilot, said.

"Yeah," I said. "It sounds like it."

He looked off into the distance and got closer to speak quietly. "Well, they can send me out, but they can't force me back."

"Your flight crew may have a different opinion," I said, reminding him that Aline had assigned at least one staunch loyalist on each crew.

He shrugged and leaned back. "They can't fly."

"No, but they can shoot you."

"There are worse things."

"Like what?"

He ignored the question and instead nodded to the sidewalk. "The riders are back in town."

I smiled. As soon as the truck stopped, I hurried to catch up with Griz and Clutch and gave them both hugs.

"How was the supply run?" I asked.

"The usual," Griz said. "A whole lot of nothing."

Clutch and Griz were riders, troops who went out on supply runs and scouted the area. It was the most dangerous of duties, and we weren't surprised when both Clutch and Griz were "randomly" selected to be riders after they were assigned to the capital's military division.

We headed up the steps of the Hotel, where everyone in the capital's forces lived. It actually was a hotel, and the three of us still lived in the same room we stayed in our first night in the city. If we had tried to escape, we wouldn't have made it fifty feet without being trampled by the entire force.

Our room was on the sixth floor, but we climbed all eight flights to the roof. We went up there to watch the sunset on every evening the guys were in town. It was the only place we were confident wasn't bugged.