We the People vol 2: Liberty or Death

“I’m sorry about this,” Thane said as she dragged the soldier’s body into a dense thicket. He was one of the more intact corpses, having taken a shard of wood in the throat—shrapnel from one of the destroyed wagons. She was likely to run into more people on the road, and perhaps more trouble. It was her duty to both the mission and her team to keep herself healthy.

That’s what she tried to tell herself as she stared into the sightless eyes of the corpse. The soldier’s face was lined, rough, as if he’d lived a hard life. Some kind of wound on his cheek had healed into an ugly scar, and half the hair on his head was missing. The flesh of his scalp was bubbled up along the edge of the baldness, perhaps an old burn.

“I’ll make sure to bury you, after,” she said, though the words felt banal and hollow. Picking up a fist-sized rock, she brought it over her head and prepared to smash it down on the corpse’s skull.

For a time she held it high, fighting with herself. After a tense few minutes, she finally lowered the stone and hung her head.

“I can’t do it,” she said “I just can’t.”

Maybe she didn’t have to. Maybe she could keep off the roads, avoid danger so she wouldn’t have to heal...

Thane smiled utterly without humor.

Maybe I’ll just wave my hands and everything will go back to what passes for normal.

She peered down at the soldier’s body. Realizing that she had to work quickly before she lost her nerve, she grabbed the stone and brought it down hard on the man’s head. His face jerked to the side as she opened up a deep rent near his left temple. Using her powerful fingers, she widened the hole amid a sickening crack until she could scoop out the gray matter within. Once the grisly task was begun, her instincts took over. It wasn’t as if the cerebral repast was unpalatable...far from it, in fact. Thane couldn’t keep most solid food down, and brains not only nourished her they were simply the most delicious thing in the world.

Wiping her gory mouth, she stood up briskly and set about digging a hole for the body. She had no shovel, but found one among the bodies in the meadow. Digging was easy, because feeding always invigorated her. Her body seemed lighter, faster, and her mind keen. Gently, she lowered the body into the new hole and covered it. Using two broken muskets, she formed a crude cross and thrust it into the newly-tilled dirt.

Then Thane set about a task that she had been putting off since she first came upon the slaughter. Roughly a dozen spirits were milling about the chaotic jumble of men and horses and wagons. Calmly, she took each of them to their final reward. Most of them went to what she called the Happy Place; Golden light enveloped them and brought them up toward something beautiful. However, two of the men had been wicked, and the light that shone down on them was deep red in hue. Funny, whether they were good or evil they always ascended from the ground, a fact that made her doubt her sanity for the ten thousandth time.

Her task done, Thane headed out at a brisk jog. It was nearly the evening hour, the roads desolate. At once point she paused, enthralled, as a pack of silver-maned wolves crossed the road ahead of her. One of them stopped for a moment, ears pricked in her direction. It gave a tiny growl and then bounded off into the verdant green.

Why am I scared of wolves? I’m a freakin’ zombie, for chrissakes!

She amused herself during the long miles by running scenarios in her head whereby she had to defend herself from wild animals. Then she pondered the matter of her diet. Could animal brains be used as a substitute?

Somehow, she didn’t think it would be that easy.

Thane came to a wide stream, which dragged at her ankles as she forded it. Shiny fish slipped through the eddies and whirls before they disappeared with one snap of their muscular tails. She noticed a column of black smoke coming from upstream, and decided to investigate. The road she’d been traveling had degenerated into a mere game trail, and she was no longer certain she was heading in the right direction.

An umber crawdad scuttled out of her way and slipped into the water. Fat hornets buzzed around her head when she passed under their nest, though she paid them little mind.

“Don’t start none, won’t be none,” she said to a particularly bold insect that hovered right in front of her nose. Maybe it got the gist; The hornet buzzed off quickly.

The smoke drifted above a crude fence made of logs, most of them still covered in bark. There were strange gaps in the fence, too narrow to stick one’s head out of, and Thane realized they were murder holes for muskets.

Indeed, a cobalt barrel thrust out of one such slot and pointed in her direction. She caught a partial glimpse of the determined face looking down the sights.

“State your business!” He barked. Thane saw a flash of red at his shoulder and sighed.

Oh great. British.

“I’m lost, good sir,” she said, hoping her early American accent was authentic enough. “I’ll just turn around and won’t cause you no trouble.”

“Hold!” Thane froze, cursing her luck. “Hang on, madame. I’ll be out to assist.”

She sighed, noting that the soldier had relaxed considerably. Maybe he hadn’t realized she was a woman until she’d spoke; Her dress was a tattered, stained mess and her hair wasn’t much better.

A scraping sound heralded the opening of the gate. Two ten foot sections of the barrier split open and swung outward. Thane saw inside the small base, spying at least three dozen soldiers milling about. Seven of them were guarding a low log building with no windows.

The British soldier approached, his face friendly but curious.

“How did you end up lost, my dear?” Thane didn’t like the way he was looking at her largely bare legs. She reminded herself that the feminist movement was centuries away and her kind was mostly thought of as property.

“I-I lost my dad in the woods,” she said quickly, taking a step back “I was trying to get back to Bennington, but-”

“Bennington?” The man’s eyes narrowed. “That’s a long way from here, madame.”

Oh crap.

“Did I say Bennington? I meant Manchester.”

“I think perhaps you’d best come inside and speak with my superior,” said the man, reaching out to try and take hold of her bicep. He dropped to one knee a moment later, face twisted in agony, as Thane applied a nasty finger lock she’d learned from Bast.

“No touchies!” she said sternly. “Now, if I was going to Bennington, how would I go about doing it?”

“Spy!” He managed to scream. “She’s here for the General!”

That piqued Thane’s interest.

“General? What General?” she asked.

The man became tight lipped even as she heard footsteps approaching. Soon she was surrounded by no less than fifteen Redcoats, muskets leveled at her.

“General Stark, right?” she prodded.

The man’s eyes grew livid, and she knew she was right. Then Thane looked up as if she hadn’t noticed she was surrounded until that exact moment.

“Oh, hello there!”

“Release our man, wench!” barked a man with a drooping mustache and fancy shoulder pauldrons who seemed to be in charge.

“Well, that wasn’t a very nice way to ask, was it?” Thane smiled sweetly.

“Please...you’re breaking my thumb!”

Thane hadn’t realized that she’d increased the pressure. She released the man, who scrambled behind the line of his fellows.

“Now, see? That’s the power of please!” she said.

“Then please put your hands behind your head and go through the gate,” said the leader. At least he wasn’t without a sense of humor.

“I’m sorry,” she said sweetly “but I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“If you do not, we will gun you down where you stand!”

Thane cursed silently. She didn’t think he was bluffing, and she wasn’t wild about the idea of finding more fresh brains if their musket balls tore her to shreds. Then a bright, yellow flash bloomed behind the soldiers, and she grinned.

“That wouldn’t be a very good idea,” she said.

“Silence! How many men are in the woods? Who is your commander?” barked the man in the pauldrons.

“Well, I don’t know about men, but there’s another woman out here. A powerful one, and she doesn’t look very happy.”

“I am a busy man and have no time for a foolish woman’s prattle,” said the leader.

“Okay, but she’s right behind you.”

Apparently, the oldest trick in the book wasn’t so old, because more than a few soldiers turned to see what she was talking about.

Maybe I just invented the oldest trick in the book. Nah, she’s actually there.

“Hey Thane,” Faraday said, waving at her with one hand. The other hand, her right, was cradling a ball of energy so bright and hot the soldiers couldn’t even look at it. “I didn’t drown.”

“I’m glad to see that, Farrah,” Thane said.

“Want me to kill these guys?” Faraday asked bluntly.

“Not unless they’re too stupid to run. Try giving them a demonstration.”

Faraday cocked her head to the side while the leader roared.

“Silence! Men, arrest these spies immediately!” he barked.

“But...but s’trewth! Look at her hand!” said one of the redcoats.

“I’ve seen men who can pull doves out of their sleeves before,” said the leader. “It’s just a trick!”

Faraday pointed her hand at the ten foot barricade to her left and released the ball. Thane could remember Chui postulating that Faraday created plasma with the energy she stored. She didn’t know what plasma was, exactly, but whatever its make up the ball exploded in a rush of heat, light and wind. The impact threw most of the soldiers from their feet, and a twenty foot section of fence was reduced to smoldering splinters.

“Looks like they’re pretty smart,” Thane said as the lot of them yielded to the better part of valor. No one ran as quickly as the leader, whose howls of terror echoed through the trees for several minutes.

“Thane,” Faraday said, hugging her.

“Uh, hey,” Thane said, patting her back “it’s all right. I’m fine. Thought you didn’t like touching?”

“I’m getting used to it,” Faraday said.

“How did you find me?”

“I told you, Thane, I can feel the absence of energy in you. Like a reverse lighthouse.”

Than bit back a question that probably wouldn’t have been answered anyway, and scanned the woods.

“Where is everyone else?” Thane whipped her head around, looking both for her companions and any Redcoats who might be bold enough to stick around.

“They’re taking the rivers to Bennington.”

“And they just sent you off on your own?”

Faraday stared at a bit of smoldering log on the ground and kicked it.

“Faraday!” Thane said chidingly. “You ran off, didn’t you?”

“No one else wanted to look for you! Not even Bast!” The blonde girl’s pretty face was wrinkled with rage. “They said the mission was too important!”

“Faraday, I appreciate what you did, but Bast was right. We’re talking about the end of everything here.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Of course not!” Thane laughed. “I’m happy as hell to see you! Let’s go rescue the good General from his wooden cage and see about rejoining the crew.”

Faraday followed her into the camp. The explosion caused some casualties; Thane grimly stepped over a sundered body, curled up almost as if it were asleep. They approached the low building and located the entrance. The rusty chains holding the hasp shut snapped easily when Thane twisted them in her powerful hands, and the door shuddered open on creaky hinges.

A man looked up from his seat in the straw. He was wearing the long-tailed overcoat popular with noble men, dark blue in hue. His graying hair was in disarray, the white powdered wig which had once covered it crumpled up in his fist. Beads of sweat ran down his thin-boned face, and eyes as piercing as a hawk’s glared sullenly at her.

“What new torment is this?” He shifted a bit, rattling the chains holding his ankles a short length apart. “When I heard the munitions depot go up, I had hoped my rescue was at hand.”

“Close enough,” Thane said, coming in before him. “And the munitions depot is quite intact.”

“You’re a woman?” he asked incredulously.

“And you’re John Stark, right?” Thane countered.

He drew himself up with as much dignity as he could muster under the circumstances.

“I am General John Stark of New Hampshire commonwealth, leader of the volunteer minutemen brigade from Manchester.”

“Leader?” Thane shook her head sadly. “Don’t know how to break it to you, but you ain’t leading jack right now! I saw what was left of your army.”

Stark’s face grew haunted, and it took him several moments to speak.

“I fear that we may be losing this war. Never did I dream that the British would have cannon with so great a range you can’t even hear the report.”

“Yeah, well, a wise man once said it ain’t over til it’s over.” Thane knelt down and examined the manacles around Stark’s ankles. There was about a half inch gap between steel and flesh.

“What are you doing?” Stark’s voice bordered on outrage as she stuck her finger in the gap between.

“Setting you free, so don’t act grateful or nothing.” Thane pulled until the ring snapped. Stark gasped in astonishment as she repeated the process on the other side.

“What witchery is this?” He shuffled away from her as much as he could in the narrow log house.

“Oh god, every time I do any thing it’s ‘witch this’ and ‘witch that!’ It’s kind of depressing.”

Thane went to the exit and joined Faraday. Over her shoulder, she said;

“It’s up to you, but my friend and I are heading to Bennington. If you want to go....well, strength in numbers and all that.”

“How come he’s scared of you, Thane?” Faraday asked, mouth an inverted u.

“Because he’s smart,” Thane said with a chuckle. “C’mon, I bet there’s a commander’s desk with all kinds of neat papers in it.”

“How do you know that?” Faraday followed Thane as she explored the camp.

“Simple: There wasn’t any wifi or cell phones back in these times. If you wanted to give orders, you had to do it in writing.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s what Bast considers small talk,” Thane said with a giggle “Military history.”

“Small talk?”

“Uh,” Thane stared into Faraday’s innocent eyes and swallowed hard. “Never mind. Let’s see if we can’t find those papers.”

“You’ll find them in that structure,” Stark said, coming out of the log house. He stood well away from Thane but he seemed to have regained his composure. Using both hands, he put his wig atop his head.

“So good of you to join us, General,” Thane said. She gestured toward the indicated building. “Please, lead on.”

Stark believed there were documents of great interest locked in a cedar chest. Thane tore the hasp off and tossed the still-closed padlock to land heavily in the fireplace. Taking the parchment outside so as to have more light, Stark spread them out on a tree stump and pondered the text for a time.

Faraday and Thane did a thorough search of the base. There was a small stable on the North end, but no horses to be found. The women did turn up a large stockpile of black powder and musket balls, and there were two wagons laden with food and sundries for the British Army.

After they’d reconnoitered the area, the two of them joined Stark at his stump.

“Uh, General,” Thane said “with all respect, maybe we should get out of here? It’s only a matter of time until the British come back.”

“Indeed,” he said, carefully rolling up the parchments and sealing them in a leather case. “I don’t suppose the Reds left us any horses?”

“Afraid not, but there’s two wagons full of stuff.”

“Which are quite useless without beasts to pull them.” Stark cursed, kicking an overturned bucket so hard it shattered against a nearby boulder. “I’ve lost my army, lost my freedom, and now it seems I’m to lose my mind!”

“He’s kind of fussy, isn’t he Thane?” Faraday said.

Thane had to clamp down on her lips with her teeth to keep from laughing.

“He’s kind of had a rough go of it,” Thane said with a shrug. “Try and have some pity.”

“Oh, okay.” Faraday stared at the azure sky above, eyes seeming distant.

“Your companion...” Stark said surreptitiously to Thane “she is a bit...odd.”

“Faraday’s not odd,” Thane said with a snarl “she saved YOUR sorry ass, so maybe you should cut her some slack, capice?”

“You speak Italian?” Stark seemed impressed.

“Uh, not really. We should head out.” She turned to Faraday “you hear that, kiddo? We’re moving out!”

“No rest for the wicked,” Faraday said.