Then Came War (18 page)

The refugee center was pretty fun, especially when people wandered in. Rick was a funny guy who gave every refugee a hard time. He joked and Tyler got a kick out of that.

A lot of people had come through over the last day or two, especially after George got word out and sent men east to search out others. A lot of towns on the coast were burned out and people had no homes.

George also was preparing the grade school a mile up the road to house people.

It was temporary, he said, until the war was over. Something they all hoped wouldn’t take long.

Tyler ducked behind the bookshelf when he heard Rick’s voice. He was joking with someone. “Because we have to know who is here. Don’t you want the government to know you’re alive?”

“Don’t think the government really gives a shit about us,” the man said. “Do you?”

“Oh, heck yeah. But we do need your names. We’re keeping track of everyone that comes through here or stays here, just in case.”

“In case of what?” the woman asked.

“In case someone, someday, comes a looking for you,” Rick replied. “Just humor us. What else do you have to do?”

Tyler couldn’t hear the whispered conversation between the man and the woman, so he peeked.

When he did, he gasped.

Had he not recognized the woman, he wouldn’t have known the man. He had grown a beard, probably from not shaving, and wore a baseball cap. But the woman’s hair was pulled back tight and he could see her face. She had worn her hair like that on the train and after the wreck.

The man, Ben, was the one who had helped Harry look for his father on the train.

He helped Harry with his dad.

Tyler would never forget that.

He wanted to jump out and say, ‘Hey guys!’ but he didn’t. He remembered Harry had asked them all to stick together and those two had just left. And despite what he said in the car, Harry had looked mad at them for leaving. They went their own way on that bridge.

So out of respect for Harry, he wasn’t going to say anything until he talked to him.

“Oh my God. Look who it is!” Lana screamed out brightly.

Tyler jumped.

Busted.

“Tyler.” Ben smiled.

Tyler took a step, opened his mouth, and fearful that Harry would get mad at him for talking to them, took off running.

Confused, Lana looked at Ben. “That was Tyler, wasn’t it?”

“I’m positive it was.”

Then they both noticed Rick was shaking his head.

“What?” Ben asked.

“Man.” Rick held a clipboard, shaking his head. “First you arrive without a gun to protect yourself, then you insult my grammar and then you scare away our young. You two are O for three.” He handed them the clipboard. “See if you can do this.”

***

“Harry!”

Tyler ran from the library via the safe route.

He went down to the basement, out the back door, in the basement door of Della’s Diner, up to the diner, out that door, around the corner to the newly erected scaffolding and ran down that block. There at the end was a school bus, back door open. He ran through that into the back door of
The Tap
.

There were a lot of safe routes set up. Scaffolds, buses, one basement to another, all provided the safety of minimal street exposure during the daylight, just in case.

Then again, the men on the rooftops kept an eye out and would alert them if any planes were coming so some did not bother taking the longer, safer routes.

But Tyler always took the safe route.

Harry was supposed to be at
The Tap
, but Buzz told him he was at George’s old car garage. That was another two blocks through the alley. Tyler ran, staying close to the buildings.

“Harry!” Tyler called out as he raced in the shop.

“What in the world are you screaming about?” Harry said. “Shut the door.”

“Sorry.” Tyler shut the door.

“Why are you running the streets? I thought you were eavesdropping on school and looking up that piece of rock.”

“I was and ...” Tyler looked around the garage; it was lit up, windows blackened. Four other men, including George, were at a table. They wore gloves and had metal things in front of them. Some looked as if they were measuring a black substance. “What you guy, doing? Can I help?”

“No, you cannot help,” Harry told him. “And we’re making explosives. So just in case George’s old hands start trembling, you might want to get out of here.”

“Whoa, cool. In case the enemy shows up?” Tyler asked.

“Exactly.”

“Whoa, that’s cool.”

“Tyler.” Harry tilted his head. “You ran in here screaming. What’s up?”

“Oh. You remember that guy, Ben from the train and his wife?”

“They were the ones that left us on the bridge,” Harry said. “Yes, I remember.”

“I knew you were mad about that.” Tyler nodded. “You didn’t say, but you looked it.”

“I wasn’t happy.”

“Are you holding a grudge?”

“No. Why are you bringing them up?”

“They’re here, signing in at the refugee center.”

Harry stood up straight and his head cocked back. He laid his hand on Tyler’s back. “Then I should be the welcome wagon. Let’s go.”

“You gonna yell at them, Harry?” Tyler asked, with rattling excitement. “Are you?”

“Tyler...”

“They left us, Harry. They made me cry.”

“Now who’s the one holding the grudge?” Harry shook his head. “Let’s go.” He gave a pat to Tyler’s backside and left the garage with the boy, informing George he’d be back.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

They gave Brendan a change of clothes, jacket and personal hygiene products, and then told him he couldn’t go home.

Not that Brendan wanted to, considering he lived just inside Brooklyn. But he had nowhere else to go.

They asked if he had family or friends, and while he did have a brother in Seattle, Brendan simply said he had no one. That way he could stay and see what was going on.

They had moved farther east to a former Home Depot warehouse which was being used as a base of some sorts for the US military. He’d stay there at least for a few days to talk to them, not that he had heard anything important while in New York, but he had seen a lot.

That’s what they told him.

Brendan was fine with that.

He was surprised that there was television. He had tried like hell to find a radio station on his journey out of New York.

He heard a newscaster discussing the situation, and Brendan slipped quietly around the partition that was set up around the television.

There were five or six soldiers sitting there, watching and eating.

An aerial view of New York was behind the anchorwoman. She shared the television screen with some professor from Oklahoma.

“And as you know,” the news lady said. “We are in a complete media blackout. We aren’t privileged to know what is going on with our military and our allies. And even if we find that information, we are obeying the media silence order.”

“Why is that?” the Professor asked. “Don’t the American people have the right to know? I want to know. I have family in the occupied territory.”

“A lot of us do…”

Brendan pulled a chair up next to a soldier. ‘Hey, I’m sorry to bother you. I’ve been out of the loop. Do we know why they attacked?”

The soldier lowered his spoon into his bowl, turned his body and extended his hand to Brendan. “Lewis,” he introduced himself. “You’re the train guy, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s me.”

“Good going. Thank you.”

Brendan tilted his head. “You’re welcome, I think.” He scratched his head. “But do we know?”

“I’m sorry. Yeah. They want the president to resign. Step down. They were just discussing that. You missed it.”

“But I thought it was a media blackout.”

Lewis shook his head. “Not on that. That was clear when it all went down. You just missed some actor on this show saying we should open dialogue and negotiate before we raise arms... Can you believe that shit?”

“I know we’ve been fighting, I was in the middle of it.”

“Yeah, but the big push is coming.” Lewis winked. “We’re still bringing in soldiers and aircraft the back way. We have to have a lid on the media, can’t have…” suddenly Lewis stopped and stood up as someone announced, “Colonel in the room.”

Stand? Sit? Brendan stood.

“At ease,” the colonel instructed and walked immediately to Brendan. “I’m Colonel Hayes. I just wanted to come in here and shake your hand and thank you.” He extended his hand.

Brendan shook it. “Can I ask for what?”

“We didn’t know where they were setting up the main branch of operations. We figured New York, but thought they’d be smarter about it. We were able to lock in and confirm that Intel you gave us. It’s a pretty big Base of Operation. And in about …” the colonel looked down at his watch, “twenty-two minutes, we’re gonna have a pretty good foothold in our push, thanks to you.”

“Wow. Really? Cool. You’re welcome.”

“Glad you made it out of there, son.” He shook his hand again and, as fast as he had walked into the room, the colonel left.

To be honest, Brendan didn’t have a clue as to what was going to happen. What was the push? He gathered that they would be using the information he gave them to hit the base of operation.

“Largest ever,” Brendan heard one of the soldiers saying to another. “Tomorrow at this time, it’s balls to the wall.”

Brendan turned toward that soldier. “The largest ever what?” Brendan asked.

“Well, can’t say it’s an invasion. So counterattack, maybe?” Lewis replied. “I mean, yeah, a counterattack. We have guys out there on the front lines and in the occupied territory fighting, but we’re gonna do something big. We are gathering troops in warehouses like this until after the strike on New York. Keep us hidden until then and, man, when we hit them, they won’t know what they got themselves in for. They’re calling it the push.”

“What’s that mean? You’re gonna push them out?” Brendan asked.

“Sort of, yeah. Force them to surrender. Push back the front lines. We have to. We have to take this country back.”

Brendan understood that very well. He wanted that, too. He had only question on his mind. What would happen to the people on the other side of the lines, those trapped in the occupied territory? What would become of them?

***

Judith nibbled on a cracker spread sparingly with peanut butter. She had a half of cup of juice she used to wash it down. “Coffee would be better.” She smiled. “One day soon.”

“At least we’re sitting still, right?” Foster asked.

“Yes. And let’s talk.” She extended her hand across the table and patted his hand. “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“You have to eat.”

“I will.”

“Ok, sweetie. Here’s my question to you. What are you going to do?”

“Well …” Foster sat back. “Today I was going to look around the three shelters and see what was going on. Take a tour. Did you wanna come?”

Judith shook her head. “I think I’ll rest and not much for me to see anyway,” she joked.

“Sorry.”

“I’m joking around, too. But I wasn’t meaning the immediate when I asked that question.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I was talking to that Manny guy we met when we came in. They need people to go on runs with them to get food and supplies. He says that have about 200 people in the shelters and everyday they pick up more.”

“What does that mean for you?” Judith asked.

“Well, I was going to go with them tonight on one of the runs. I’m fast, agile, and they don’t have people my age to help them. They’re either a lot older or very young.”

“Oh, Jimmy. Jimmy, honey, it will be dangerous. You heard them. They’re fighting not far from here. You can hear the shots, Jimmy, it’s dangerous.”

“I know, but I want to help. I want to pull our weight.”

Judith sighed. “I don’t want you to pull my weight. You don’t need to anymore. Okay?”

Foster’s head lowered. He liked taking care of Judith and he’d known that eventually she wouldn’t need him. “I don’t mind.”

“I know you don’t. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. This war, this fighting, it won’t go on forever. Us being stuck on this side of the war … won’t be forever. Where are you going?”

Foster was taken aback by the question. “What do you mean?”

“Are you going to search again for your mother?”

Foster shook his head. “I doubt it.”

“Al right, well, listen to what I am going to say,” Judith said. “I realize you were a ward of the state for a very long time, most of your life, I’m guessing. I also realize that with all that’s going on, and your age, you’re not gonna be a top priority in finding a new set of foster parents.”

“I figured that. I’m old enough, Jude. I’ll be cool. I’ll manage.”

“I’m sure you will. But you are not old enough. And you shouldn’t have to manage. You’re sixteen. In what grade?”

“Tenth.”

“Tenth grade.” Judith nodded. “You still have to graduate high school, go to college …”

“I might join the Army.”

“Even then, to be a soldier you need an education. How are you going to do that when you’re out on the streets scrapping to get by? My point is …. I know you have lived in New York for a long time, your whole life, but I have a grown daughter who works as an accountant at a Casino in Vegas. I was thinking I need to see her. It’s time to give up New York and Vegas won’t be that bad. Are you game?” she asked. “No pun intended, but do you want to gamble on Vegas.”

“Are you asking me to go with you?”

“Absolutely. I know. I know that right now I can’t do much of anything. But this sight will come back. And even if it doesn’t, well, damn it, I’ll be on my feet. I’d like to take care of you, Jimmy. I’d like to be the one that makes you stay home and study, cooks your meals and drives you insane because I don’t like the girls you date.”

Foster stuttered, “Wh … why?”

“I never had a son. I always wanted a son. You know they say …” Judith waved her finger. “A mother and son have a bond. And I am a very good mother, ask my daughter. She cried when she got that job and had to leave me. You ask her.” Judith nodded. “And I raised her by myself all those tricky teenage years.”