Tooth and Nail (Draft In Progress - Book One)

Chapter 26 - Everything Burns

The leaders of the Dragon Nation don't breathe fire, but their guns do. And when those guns are turned from the hands of the ROTC to that of the adults and fellow students they were once holding hostage, the leaders really wished they were real dragons.

Carren, Ellis, Marcus, and Robert marched out of the ROTC unit with the end of hot barreled guns pressed to their backs, and did not dare turn around. They themselves were unarmed, but together were a most effective team of assassins. Thats why it had been so easy for them to keep command of their fortress for so long, they were a perfect unit of speed, beauty, and brute force.

Carren could shoot a handgun at a target a block away, and hit with deadly accuracy.

Ellis was the charm, that made people want attention, while quietly scaring them half to death with  intense knowledge of the human body, and exactly how to incapacitate a person with three hits.

Marcus was a body and a brain. He could bench 350, then squat for hours before he took a swig of water, and do his math homework at the same time.

Robert was a martial arts machine, and had abs of steel.

It was a miracle that they had been put in the same small outer-city town to be trained together. And they had grown to know each other well. Carren relied on Marcus dated Ellis supported Robert who was dating Carren. A complete team. Almost unstoppable, except for the father they thought couldn't hurt a fly who started their morning with a reminder of what dads do, protect their own. Carren had taken his son along with her own brother to meet the firing squad of seven that belonged to the Round Rock Law Enforcement program, and that was not taken lightly by the rest of the survivors. In the end, it got the elite force kicked out of their country, and sent out into Zarth, where they would face their greatest Final Exam yet - their friends.

The last news Carren had heard from Wally was that the Red Rivers were on the move from the Red Zone heading south through the Bubble, possibly on their way to the southwest lake area. It was a bit of a distance to manage on foot, but Carren suspected they would play it like the Havens, and borrow a bus or two. The Red Rivers were a small force, just as small as the recently expelled Dragon Army. It wouldn't be long before the RRLE kids were kicked out too, or made to kill each other out of some lost sense of dignity and loyalty to the Dragon Nation. Either way, the Dragon Army would not be offering welcome arms to the RRLE, not after they had refused to open fire on the angry mob this morning. If you can't protect your leaders, how can you claim to respect them?

Ellis held Robert's hand as they walked south on Deep Woods Drive. They were too far south to start with to make it worth walking to the Round Rock East transportation facility, but that didn't mean they wouldn't find a good family van parked somewhere. And with Marcus's brains and bulk, it wouldn't be hard to get in.

The shortest leg of their route on foot was three miles, heading directly to the La Frontera shopping center that the Havens claimed to have cleaned out. Carren was sure they wouldn't have licked it dry, and that they could find somewhere safe for the night, if not an abandoned four-door. It was a forty-five minute walk, one that Carren had taken before. She didn't mind it much, except that it hurt her feet to walk the six mile loop. Today she would be going only one direction, and in the company of her best friends. She didn't even notice how much she was sweating until they stepped inside the Kohl's on the end of the first building. It had been untouched. Marcus collected a shopping cart and Carren jumped into the basket. She loved it when Marcus did things for her. Ellis had Robert, or could have, if Ellis wanted him, and Carren had Marcus. It was easy. They were in mismatched pairs, and no one had boundaries.

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We toured the store in style. The lights were still working, the automatic doors still had a bell that would ring when anyone walked in, Ellis and Robert each got their own baskets, and we split up into the aisles. We grabbed anything and everything we wanted. We collected piles of leather and anything black or red. They were our team colors. Elly and Bobby picked up mostly shoes. Trainers and joggers and high tops and new laces. Marco and I stuck to the upper body. Leather jackets for everyone. Belts. Jeans. New tees and shorts. We were well stocked when we pantomimed walking through the check out lines, popping every drawer and emptying them of cash. We knew we would see someone at some point who saw money as something still of value, or someone clinging to the idea that society could rise again. We threw it all into new backpacks and purses and grabbed every reusable shopping bag there was. Walking out into the parking lot, we couldn't help but high-five, knowing we'd done well. The next most important thing to find was food.