Children Of Fiends by C. Chase Harwood Read Free Book Online Page B

saying. “Aye aye, Captain. Green, you and-”
    “No,” said Dean. “Green gets some rack time. Dismissed, Sergeant.” Green offered a half-assed salute and began to walk inside. Dean looked back at Hernandez, while speaking loudly for everyone, “You spot something. You call it in right away.”
    “Like I said, aye aye, Captain.”
    Dean found Eliza standing at a filthy window, gazing at the shore. Before he could speak she said, “We need to end this.” He began to respond, but she put a finger to his lips. “It’s already too much of a distraction. I find myself wanting to be with you rather than doing anything else. It’s mostly brain chemicals and if we stop, so will the chemicals. There will be some withdrawal, which will suck, but it’s for the best.”
    Dean felt his heart deflate. She was right of course, but still… It had been working. He looked into her eyes and could see how very much she didn’t want to embrace her own logic. He gave a slight laugh at the absurdity of it; two people who are falling… Two people like that should be able to explore it, dammit. She smiled with understanding and offered her own slight laugh through her nose. He said, “Agreed under protest.”
    “Me too.”
    He wanted to kiss her so badly that gravity seemed to be pulling him toward her. Instead he looked out the window and said, “I’ve got people waiting for me.”
    She tried and failed at sounding nonchalant. “See you later.” He touched her cheek and turned to walk away. She said, “Stewart?” He stopped and looked back. “Be careful.” He smiled and nodded and continued walking. Sanders and Mr. Kile stood at the gangway waiting patiently for him. Sanders offered him an M4 and he wore it like a cowboy settling into a saddle.

    Niles took the Sentinel goggles off his head and handed them back to Beckman while shaking off the sensation of being immersed in the machine’s 3D world. “Too bad about the sound.”
    When it had been spotted the night before, Beckman and Collins had pulled the Sentinel into the crane’s cab with its darkened windows to protect the operator. With no heat signature when in idle, the Sentinel was well hidden from the Northerner’s night vision gear, but its ability to collect sound was cut off. Niles looked at Thompson. “So, a fuel problem then?”
    “We think so.”
    Beckman put the goggles back on and said, “I have observed black sludge being pumped out of the bilge.”  
    Thompson glanced at the surroundings. “Highly doubtful, viable fuel around here.” The Shoremen had taken up a post on the roof of the California State University across the river’s mouth and the docked Delfshaven. The school building looked down on a smaller inlet with several ferry docks scattered about; one of them holding the stealthy shape of a U.S. Navy DDG 1000 class destroyer. Despite a patina of harsh weather, the space around the destroyer seemed peaceful, untouched, with none of the panic driven wreckage that defined the waterfront everywhere else. Collins commented more to himself than to anyone else, “Controlled this area until the end, the Navy. Something went worse than wrong to leave that.”
    “That?” asked Plimpton.
    Collins nodded at the destroyer. “Just a very fancy boat.”
    Thompson smiled. “Come a long way we have, Councilman.”
    “Yes, Major. What about the fancy boat, Collins?”
    Thompson cut Collins off, continuing with his thought, “Nice it would be to have it pay off. The trip I mean” He nodded toward the Delfshaven. “Nice it would be to have those turbines for The Shore. Return triumphantly with those and a tale of what has become of America.”
    Plimpton mulled it for a moment. “Killing the Northerners shouldn’t be too difficult, but Mister Beckman indicates that the turbine ship is stranded.”
    “Collins is right. It’s a very fancy boat.” Thompson waved for the vicar to join them. The big man had been quietly offering morning prayers