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34. COSTARAMANNH CITY LIMITS: Treachery Unlimited.

Oh! To sleep, perchance to dream. But, no. We're going! We're going right now!

We move our trucks out on The White Road again. The lead truck pulls out, stops, and Eenunh pulls up behind it. The truck bringing up the rear point pulls out, and backs up! We back up! The lead truck backs up.

Now, I'm watching a string of trucks, coming from somewhere in the woods where we were, unseen by me, and going down The White Road, south toward Costaramannh! They're leaving a muddy track on The White Road!

We sit. I start counting after about eleven trucks have come out. We pull forward, roll down The White Road. I start with that number and count eight more coming out behind us. They stop coming out of the woods. I look ahead. We're going slower. Trucks in front of us are pulling away, widening the gap between us and them. The trucks behind us are going slower still, letting the gap widen behind us. Thin Man must perceive my curiosity. He explains,

"We'll arrive at the west entry gate a little later than some of the ones ahead of us. We're hoping seeing the line of traffic will make them less likely to inspect us all too closely. The first trucks in will submit to whatever inspection the guard want. When we start lining up, hopefully, they'll stop being meticulous and let us through. They may know who we are, our three trucks. We're a little cleaner now than when we left." Thinking of the muddy road and how our own wheels and undercarriage might be muddied I take 'cleaner' to have a different meaning.

"I saw a lot more ammunition unloaded than I saw loaded on the patio," I tell him. "Is that what you mean by cleaner?"

"Neh," 'Yes', he says. "We brought a resupply of ammunition, food and medical supplies. "Gary, we're... going into a war zone. Entemannh City is in the zone. There's no place on the planet that isn't in the zone, subject to incursion by soldiers, some acting as terrorists, State-Sponsored terrorists, some with personal motives, money, ideology, but... terrorists. We have to be prepared to go on the offensive if necessary to defend ourselves. We are... prepared. Your personal quest and interests won't matter if we get involved in hostilities. It will be terrorist war and no man, woman or child will be safe. Prepare yourself for that possibility, maybe... inevitability.
The commander says the factions that want to resort to violence are prevalent, but subdued by a majority of Citizens who won't tolerate it. But there are always the few who will be incited... radicalized... to think... 'I can fix it with my weapons!' 'I can provoke some action that favors my agenda.' 'I can get away with it.'
The simple fact we are coming is known, and that makes us a target for their ambitions. Intelligence reports chatter that the extremists may try to use us to... divide... and conquer. That's their agenda. That central thought makes everything else... every other Citizen's aspirations for peace and safety... irrelevant.
So we are prepared to counter that. We may not succeed. They don't seem to have overwhelming numbers, but they believe a skirmish, where they CAN overwhelm another force, is just as... desirable... to advance their agenda... as a full scale outbreak of war. Propaganda blaming us could spark an uprising in their favor. It's just... unpredictable."

I shudder! It's an overwhelming fear! I try to get a grip. I can't think of anything to say. Thimiannh perceives my distress. He turns away, looks out the windshield, down The White Road. I look too. I don't see the trucks that went before us. I do see their muddy track, fainter but perceptible. I look behind, see a single truck top a rise far back there, and sink out of sight again.

We're slowing! Ahead I see two trucks, stopped in a low spot on the road. There's one in each lane! One facing away, one back toward us. Roadblock?

Off to the left I see troops with large buckets, coming up from a creek near the road. Eenunh takes signals from a soldier on the road, pulls past the truck parked facing us, across the left lane, behind it. She pulls into a creek gravel area, just wide enough to pull into, and stay facing down the road, stops. The troops just seem to dash buckets of water on our truck, right bow, not left. I hear splashes at the right tires. Eenunh gestures with her left hand, pulls back onto The White Road, passes the parked truck in the right lane, and we're rolling again! Maybe... only that side was muddy... and... they don't want the mud to reveal that we had stopped at their camp.

No one's talking. The hum of the truck is hypnotic. I want to sleep. I'm afraid to sleep!

I would guess about twenty minutes have passed when Thimiannh says, "Here!"

"Here's our turn," Eenunh announces. I want to see her face, to look in her eyes, to... know... and let her know... I'm ready to do whatever it takes... to advance our agenda, our personal... family agenda. I console myself that she knows.

As if to share that feeling, Tinunh scoots closer on the bench, from behind me, and intertwines her arm with mine. I look and can't help but smile at her. She's not smiling, then does. She pats my arm with her right hand. My fear returns! Tinunh, a child, caught in this... this... terror.

I look away, out the windshield. The road goes right, west, the loop, an outer 'belt' that circles the city, follows the flow of a river. I see a similar turn angling to the left, east. The main White Road goes to a damaged bridge! I see holes in its floor. The trestle above the roadway is twisted, leaning to the left. No foot traffic.

I see the river! It's substantial! Briggs must have seen this from orbit! Why didn't he tell the rest of us there were cities?

Rolling over the hilly landscape, along the river, the highway has long runs uphill, long runs down. I see water-trucks moving on the river.

Another bridge ahead, the west entry! I see it. Trucks are lined up there, just three. I worry for our safety, look at Tinunh again. She's looking out the back. There are two trucks coming! They're pretty far back, but coming. I wonder if they see us, the drivers on the road, the people at the bridge. I feel very... out in the open.

Eenunh stops at the intersection where the bridge approach is. I see back up a smaller road there, not a white pavement, just what... looks like brown creek gravel sloping up into the forested hills. I wonder if the... guerrillas are in position up there. The loop goes on ahead. She turns left, pulls up to the back of the trucks already ahead of us. Soda says,

"The one in front of us and the one behind are ours. Ours are cleaner than that one. I don't think the one they're looking at now is with us, just random traffic."

The gull wings are up on that truck. It looks like the back doors are standing open. Armed men stand around, looking only mildly interested in whatever is going on in the truck.

I see the two trucks pull off the loop, in behind us. I think about being blocked in, unable to move, to maneuver and escape. Everyone remains calm.

Out the back I see another truck, out on The White Road, at the intersection, unable to turn in. It sits there a long moment, then goes, goes on down the loop.

The two new trucks behind us... are they ours? I think so. They're cleaner than the one up ahead, cleaner than the one I saw go on by. A flash of white, another truck goes by behind us, and another stops at the intersection. I move across to the right side bench, see that two trucks are stopped on The White Road. They seem to be waiting to turn in. Tinunh rejoins me, takes my arm.

"We're rolling!" Eenunh says. I look, see the trucks in front of us moving up. The lead crosses the bridge. The second stops, gull wing up, conversation, gull wing down! He goes. Eenunh pulls up. Gull wing up. Conversation.

No go! We're sitting.

Thimiannh goes to the back, opens the doors. Tinunh tightens her grip on my arm, lets go, sits back, wraps her hands around her right knee, rocks. Miss Casual.

"If we get out," Tinunh says, starts again, "If they make us get out, let's you and I stay close together. Put your hood up." I do. Ballcap. Human hair. White skin. "Put your gloves on!" she commands.

The guards come to the back. Yes, we're getting out. They're courteous. Soda comes past us, quick eye contact. Tinunh jumps up behind her, pulls at me, turns. I'm up behind her, look back toward the front to see Eenunh going out the gull wing, a smooth leap!

Outside the wind is cold, coming up off the river. I can smell the river! They don't show much interest in us. Tinunh takes my hand, leads me to the right side of the road. She looks up at me. "Let's look at the river," she says. We do. I look at the woods across The White Road, wonder if I got into them if I could walk back to the guerrilla camp... if... I have to.

I glance over my shoulder at where Soda and Thimiannh are standing by the back of the truck. Eenunh is standing about five feet out, facing into the truck. She raises her voice, the guards apparently up in the back of the truck. Thimiannh has his left hand up holding the top of the door, casual, left arm crooked, fist on waist, casual. I tug at Tinunh. She takes hold of my hand, eyes a'flicker, lets me lead her back toward The White Road. I want a better angle on our truck. I point at a weed,

"Look at that growth on that one weed," I'm saying, quietly. "I wonder if that's an insect egg case." I start to tell her about the preying mantis, but she shushes me, her finger on my lips. She simply nods. I turn back to look in the back of the truck. Two guards are simply sitting there, on the back end of the cots. Tinunh squeezes my hand.

"Maybe friendlies!" she says. "Maybe they're with us! Still, look away."

I look at the girl in the passenger seat of the truck behind us. She doesn't look at me. She looks like the young girl who sold me underwear. I'm pretty sure she is that girl. I thought so on the patio before we left, no longer a cute little shop girl, now a precision-moving soldier. The driver, yes,one of the commanders of Thimianh's militia. I wasn't entirely sure this was one of our trucks until now.

Tinunh pulls at me, holding onto my hand, leads me back to stand beside Soda. What's happening? I keep my head down. The flare of Soda's hips is a delight to stare at. Eenunh is there, close enough to touch. I don't look at her. Tinunh steps in front of me, brings my gloved hand up across her throat. She begins to shiver, and... then... to chatter her teeth. The men in the truck seem to notice, suddenly step out. All my people step back towards us, give the guards room to go to the left side of the road, away from us. A little more conversation. Eenunh, Thin Man and Soda sort of crowd them toward the left side of the road, form a shield for me and Tinunh. They give the salute. Thimiannh returns it. They go on to the next truck. Tinunh pulls me to the back of the truck, hops up and in, turns to me, reaching for my hand. I step up, in. She sits toward the front of the left bench. Eenunh comes and pushes at me to sit beside Tinunh, sits beside me. Soda prefers to sit by Tinunh too, goes past us, squeezes in behind the driver's seat. Thimiannh is in, closes the doors, the space darkens. He sits by the doors, looking out the windows, some hand signals. He gets up, goes to the passenger seat. I look around Eenunh, see the doors open on the truck behind. Not much movement. Tick tock, tick tock. The doors close, the guards come forward. Thimiannh says Eenunh's name. She turns to me, kisses in the general area of my mouth, goes quickly to the driver's seat. After some words from outside, Eenunh closes the gull-wing. Starts the engine. We roll, and... cross... the bridge into Costaramannh. A broken sign says "Welc...", just enough letters to maybe have said 'Welcome', in Emoilihn, and, on the other side of a big hole, "...ramannh."

Yeah. Welcome!

There is a long ramp down from the end of the bridge. I see a levee along the river, water-trucks cutting through the water. Eenunh stops at the bottom of the ramp. She twists to look back up the ramp and across the bridge. We all look. The other truck isn't coming. Gull-wings up, back doors open. Our men out on the ground! They're armed, hopefully intimidating. Some are facing back toward the other trucks, some forward, dealing with the bridge guards.

We sit. I get nervous! I look around in front of us. "Eenunh, watch out front. This could be an ambush! We're sitting pretty much out in the open. Tinunh! Go up and help watch. Thimiannh, keep an eye on what's happening back here! There's room to turn in this intersection and go back if there's something going on back there!"

Thimiannh says, "I like the way you think!", comes back, sits on the other bench, golden irises flickering back across the bridge. A long moment, watching. I open one of the back doors, just wide enough to step out on the roadway, armed! I want the bastards back there to see me if they're pulling some [naughty word removed]!

The men are getting in. I see the cabin darken as the back doors close. Gull-wings down! They're rolling! I get in, close our doors, sit on the end of the left bench. Tinunh sits on the right.

"Wait until they get here," Thimiannh is telling Eenunh, as he gets back to the passenger seat. "I want to know what the delay was."

The truck pulls up, the commander out the passenger side gull-wing, where the girl was sitting before, comes to Thimiannh's window. I see the girl in the driver's seat.

"They tried to tell us we'd need a full inspection, and it was going to take a while," he reports. "The attitude was very cold, indifferent to our travel order. He didn't even look at it! He started barking orders and treating us like we weren't uniforms. I didn't like it. We armed up and cooperated to a point. But they started yanking out bins and I let them get close to our ammo and told them to stop! I told them they were bending up the bins and that was bad for the hunters who would need them in the season of The Waters! We had our weapons aimed in their direction and they stood there in the truck a while. The one in charge finally waved the other two out. We kept them covered as we pulled away."

"Okay," Thin Man says, grimly. "Trust no one! I think they were trying to separate us. They were friendly to us. You saw that. I didn't tell them you were with us, but I think they knew. They know now. There's treachery afoot! Trust no one!" The commander goes back, climbs in the gull-wing, and closes it.

Eenunh turns left, onto what I remember from the map is the outermost loop , across the river, inside the city limits. It goes all the way around Costaramannh. After about a hundred yards, she turns right. The street is long, wide, curves left and over a long arc that goes out of sight to the right in the far distance. Every building, looking like individual homes, most once behind stone walls, some lower, some higher, is damaged! Every one!

"Is this the route the Koobs told us to take?" I ask. Eenunh and Thimiannh, Soda, all answer, "Neh!"

I turn, find my bag, get out my other rifle, pop in a clip, check the safety. Tinunh follows my lead. She lays both hers on the bench on the right, pointing back. I see her tiny green finger check the safeties, on. She goes forward and kneels, opens Eenunh's bag, lifts two rifle barrels, and tucks the end of the bag under them. I hear her pop in a clip, then another clip. She does the same for the bag beside Thimiannh. Soda, now on the bench behind Thimiannh, has one of hers out, clipped, and pops a clip into the other one, in the bag. I grab a handful, four more clips. Put them in every pocket of my coat, outer pockets, two, inner pockets two. I think I can get one more in each pocket, but everyone else, thanks to covert Tinunh, is getting single clips for pockets. I don't know if they're following my lead or just... live like this... prepared to fight for their lives! What a world! What a shitstorm I'm into, neck deep! Fear chills me! I warm myself up with anger! Common people shouldn't have to live like... No. Common people have always... lived like this. The only defense has always been self-defense. The powers that be have always been as much a threat as any uprising, any insurgency, any madman or madwoman with a 'fix it with my gun' incitement.

But this, this is palpable treachery, organized treachery. We're conspiring against a power structure that is conspiring against us. I sense it. It is very covert, but there. As if I need confirmation, we're there. Eenunh says,

"This is it! This is the lodging they sent us to. It looks like there's no one here, no vehicles, no security, no one out, walking in or out or about! It looks abandoned. Look at the weeds growing! The whole neighborhood's destroyed."

"I can see out Eenunh's window through the end of the long building and out the back of it. the front windows there are blown out! The back's been blown away!

Suddenly I see a truck through that hole, coming out of what may be an alley behind it! I wonder if this is the beginning of an attack!

The truck stops, over there just at the end of the building. Eenunh keeps cruising, slow, slowly, her right hand drifting down to touch her rifles. The gull-wing of the passenger side of the other truck goes up! Eenunh throws up hers! Thimiannh says, "That's our man!" I see the passenger come out, armed, and start walking quickly across the weed-lot under the trees between the alley and the street. The truck rolls on, comes out on the street. The commander of our other squad keeps coming, bee-lining afoot down the roadway. The truck pulls forward, reverses, comes back to in front of us, convoy renewed! Eenunh rolls forward as the man comes quickly, up to Eenunh's side.

"The backs of the roofs are more damaged than intact!" he's telling Thimiannh. "I had a man inside a while ago. There's no running water. The place has been open to the weather. There aren't any rooms, any rooms," he emphasizes, "fit to house us! We're in their trap, Captain!"

Suddenly I see a white truck rounding the distant curve!

"Look!" I shout, pointing!

Another truck comes from behind a ruin, bounces over the curb into the street in front of the first one and the two keep coming!

I look out the back, two more white trucks, at a distance, coming behind!

Our crew behind are out on the ground, armed, arrayed three and three on the street behind the truck!

I open the back doors, stay in, waiting for someone to tell me what to do! Our men in the truck ahead of us are out, armed, two on the left, three on the right. I see them pointing to the right! I think they're deciding where to take cover if this turns into a fire-fight!

The trucks come, ahead, behind! They slow as they get closer. Stop. They're sitting. Our people are standing their ground! I think we should all be finding cover, finding it in shelled out buildings and behind debris. Six men, and women, behind us. Six ahead. Us, four adults and a child! My heart is pounding! I have to get out!

"I'm getting out!" I announce, and step just behind the truck.

"Stay right there, Gary!" Eenunh shouts. "Stay right there! If we have to run you get your oomam ass back in! If we have to fight here we'll all get out together and go to my right, to that ruin with the green awning! I look through the crack of the door on the right, see the awning, not much building around it.

Suddenly from behind I see two more trucks coming behind the two that came before!

Where did they come from? They didn't come from far up the curving street!

They speed to the curbs, left and right, angle in toward the center of the street, lurch to a halt!

A dozen men pour out the back of each one, armed! Two more come out the gull-wings. They don't go for cover, but kneel in rows right there on the street, beside the trucks they came in, some covered by the bows of the trucks, which is no cover at all! But they have eyes on the other two trucks!

The two trucks that came before have not disgorged any troops. And don't. They sit.

I look through our front windshield and see the same thing has happened out that way! There are two dozen soldiers, out, on the ground, some on the sides of the road with cover, most simply kneeling in the snow in the street, weapons at the ready. The two trucks ahead of them, idle, no activity.

Movement on the ground behind catches my eye as I turn back to look that way. A single soldier is coming forward, from the second set of trucks, to the passenger side of the truck closest to where his stopped. The gull wing goes up. He... She! It's the guerilla commander from the woods! She stands back, conversing from an angle behind the passenger. Suddenly the butt of a rifle comes out the truck window! The soldier stands still, reaches, takes it. I can see the back doors through the windshield, see them open. Soldiers on the ground change positions, come in with sight lines on the back of the truck. The walls of these trucks might not be much use against the flechettes, but, a direct shot, into the back of one, doors open, would be hard to hide from!

He flags his troops to come forward, gathering tightly behind the rearmost truck, more coming on to lay siege to the one closest to us. A glance up the street, same scenario.

The commander on the ground backs toward the back of the truck. Two soldiers, each side, shoulder their weapons, come forward, disappear behind the second truck. They come away, laden with rifles! They go back to their own trucks, and in. I look in front of us, see a similar scene has played out there!

"We're secure!" Thimiannh says. "My team! Her team! I love them each and every one!"

He laughs! I laugh. The girls don't laugh, but there's a sense of relief, a physical... relaxation I can sense. We're secure!