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Taking a deep breath, she thought of Jenni’s words. She knew they were true, but all she could feel was her fear and her fingers trembling against the warming glass of the window.

Chapter 34

1. Time to Die

“Move it, Calhoun. They’re coming and they’re hungry,” Rune said firmly.

He seemed unfazed by the utter reek coming off the old crazy guy. He straddled his Harley and waited for Calhoun to slide on behind him.

Rune had ridden the makeshift elevator, which was a pallet lowered by a crane down to the ground outside the wall, holding his bike firmly to his side. Calhoun had ridden down behind him. The fire line was far from the wall and there was no way Rune was going to be caught without a quick getaway. He shifted the bag of grenades so it rested more firmly against his back. Today seemed like a good day to use them.

“I ain’t as young as you, you long haired hippie,” Calhoun muttered, managing to swing his old leg over the bike.

“I ain’t a hippie, Cal. I’m a biker,” Rune answered.

Calhoun’s response was cut off with a shout as the bike lurched forward and roared over the rough terrain toward the fire line.

“Damn smart ass city folk. They should have started bulldozing those mounds in the middle and worked themselves out. Now we got a huge ass “v” with a big ol hole right where we should have our best defenses,” Rune shouted into the wind.

“Nobody listens to me! I said that from the get go! But they wanted a kill zone! I got the inside information! I know how to deal with this stuff.

Years and years of planning for the clone uprising. ”

“You may be a crazy old shithead, Cal, but you know what’s going on in your own way,” Rune’s voice growled. “You’re a mean old codger. ”

“Not as mean as Nerit,” Calhoun pouted.

“No one is as mean as Nerit,” Rune admitted as the bike came to standstill.

They were close to the open end of the high walls made of dirt, dead foliage, tree trunks and the remains of houses and buildings. Beyond the opening were the gas tanks half buried into the soil. Beyond that, the hill dipped downward. The wind was moving downhill and away from the fort. The smell was just barely noticeable. The smell of death.

Calhoun fell to his knees and began to dig up the device rigged to explode the fuel tanks. When he had tried to begin the start up sequence, there had been no response from the remote device. He knew the problem had to be right here, where it was set up to transmit and receives. Pulling out the huge metal box, he popped it open and began to examine it closely.

“What’s wrong with it?” Rune asked.

“Don’t know yet,” Calho

un answered.

“Cause, you know, it’s almost time,” Rune stared out through the wide opening, arms folded across his chest.

“Yep. I know. ” He glared down into the device. “Gawddamn gremlins got into it. I knew it!” Calhoun beat the ground with one fist, then controlled himself and adjusted his satellite dish hat. “Okay, I need Jason. ”

“The kid?”

“Yeah, the kid! You know, our future leader. Our John Conner? Our freaking salvation! THAT ONE!”

“Take a chill pill, Cal. Calling the fort,” Rune said, then took out his walkie-talkie.

“I don’t need a chill pill,” Calhoun muttered as he began to sort through the wires with his grubby fingers. “I need the freaking gremlins to stay out of my stuff. ”

“We need Jason down here, Peggy,” Rune said, then listened to the static for a moment.

“Okay, I let him know,” a voice said that was not Peggy.

“Hey, Yolanda. You pulling double shift?”

“Yeah, things not so good with Peggy. ”