Until we found the crashed transport plane, we didn’t know what was out there in the Ruin. We knew someone had managed to fly a jet, but that didn’t tell us much.
Now we know about the American Nation.
The old government collapsed, and even though there are rumors that the president and some members of Congress went into hiding in a bunker, no one’s ever heard from them again. Captain Joe Ledger told us that a big group of survivors managed to take over the city of Asheville in North Carolina. There are more than a hundred thousand people there, and at least another fifty thousand living in fortified towns near there. Joe and a bunch of soldiers cleared out the zoms, and they have teams working to clear out all the areas around the city. They took back an army base and an air force base, too, which is why they have so many weapons. And the jet. They also have Black Hawk and Apache attack helicopters. Most of that stuff is in North Carolina.
I asked him if there were helicopters and stuff in the hangars, but he didn’t answer.
CHAPTER 31
Benny said, “I found something I think you need to see.”
“Is it a red powder?” Joe asked quickly.
“What? No. Why?”
Joe waved it away. “What’ve you got for me?”
Benny produced the Teambook and handed it to Joe.
The ranger stared at it for a moment, eyes bulging from his face. “Where did you find this?”
“The reaper had it in his quad. And no, I don’t know where he found it. We… didn’t really talk, you know.”
“This must have come from the plane, and it definitely wasn’t there when I searched it. That means it was removed before that day.”
“Is that good for us?” asked Benny. “Does it mean the D-series records are around somewhere?”
“It might.”
“Joe, what if the records aren’t around here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… it just seems strange to me that one complete set of records is all that’s missing from the plane. So far we haven’t found that stuff, and none of the zoms was Dr. McReady. What if she was never onboard that plane?”
“The whole point was to evacuate her, kid.”
“I know, but maybe something else happened. Would there be any kind of record of that?”
Joe grunted. “It’s possible but unlikely. Once the plane left, McReady wouldn’t have had any way of getting out of there, and my rangers have been to Hope One. She didn’t stay behind.”
“Are there other places she could have landed? Other bases like Sanctuary?”
“Not like Sanctuary, but there are a million places she could have landed. No way to know unless it was recorded, and I’ve been over every inch of that plane….” His voice trailed off.
“What is it?” asked Benny.
“I might be jumping the gun here. We actually don’t know if the plane landed anywhere else or not. There was no flight log in the cockpit, at least none that we could find. I knew all those guys. Only Luis would know, and we never found his body.”
“Who?”
“Luis Ortega, the logistics coordinator. He would have maintained a record of everything. Luis was detail-oriented like that. You sneeze and he has a record of the time, the date, and the air-speed velocity. He never missed a trick.”
“Wait… I know that name.”
Benny flipped to the picture of Sergeant Luis Ortega and showed it to Joe. “Is this the guy you’re talking about?”
“That’s him. Luis was a big ol’ boy, looked like a linebacker but he had the heart of an accountant. He was exactly the kind of miss-nothing guy you’d send when you wanted to evac a research facility. He’d bring back every last paper clip.” Joe cocked an eye at Benny. “How is it you picked up on him so fast?”
Benny explained about how he’d thought he recognized the man but couldn’t remember from where. “Is he here?” he asked. “I mean, is he maybe one of the zoms over on the airfield?”
Joe thought about it. “No, I don’t think so. Last time I saw him was when they were loading the plane to fly up to Hope One. But… let me know if you remember where you saw him. If those D-series records weren’t onboard, or if Doc McReady planned any other stops, maybe to drop some of her research and cargo anywhere, then Ortega would definitely be the one to know all the details. That’s his job.” Joe grunted again.
“What?”
“I kind of wish he was over at the airfield. Being the logistics guy, he’d have a notebook with every detail of every movement of every person, every box, every piece of pocket lint. Ortega was totally anal-retentive. He was always making notes about stuff and shoving them into his shirt. Added them to his duty log at the end of the day.”
“I also found one little notebook, but I don’t think it’s a duty log.” Benny handed it over.
Joe leafed through it and gave a dismissive grunt. “Reaper prayer book. Might be useful as toilet paper, that’s about it.”
“No,” said Benny, “look at the last page.”
Joe flipped it over and scanned the list, and his face made an ugly shape. “Oh… crap.”
“What’s it mean?”
Joe held out the book and pointed to the first lines.
CA/R 1: 4,522
Quad: 66
CA/R 2: 19,200
Quad: 452
“R stands for reaper. CA is California.”
“How do you know that?” asked Benny.
“Because there are abbreviations for Nevada and Wyoming, too. NV and WY.” Joe sighed. “These are head counts of reaper armies. Looks like there are two in California, one of 4,522 and a much bigger one of 19,200. Then you have 14,795 in Nevada, 2,375 in Utah, and 8,371 in Wyoming. You were asking about how many reapers there are. This is your answer.”
Benny did the math in his head. “That’s 49,263. Oh my God.”
“Yeah, well, we already knew we were in big trouble.”
“What are the rest of those numbers? The quads… those are how many bikes they have?”
“Yup, and the good news is that they don’t have a lot of them. Sixty-six for one group and only 452 for the big army.”
“That’s good news?”
Joe sighed. “Actually, come to think of it, it’s not. Saint John is probably using quads to pull equipment and food wagons, but push comes to shove, he’ll detach those and use the quads like light cavalry.”
Benny had hoped this stuff might help Joe find the D-series notes, but instead it was quickly crushing Benny’s own optimism. He almost didn’t give the ranger the last piece.
“I also found this,” he said reluctantly. “It’s a handwritten note, and I think it’s from Dr. McReady.”
Joe read the note.
Mutations reported in California.
This needs to be checked out.
Field Team Five?
“What’s it mean?” asked Benny.
The ranger gave him a brief, bleak stare. “It means that we have more questions than answers.” Joe clicked his tongue for Grimm, who lumbered to his feet. “Listen, kid, I want to go show this to Colonel Reid. Maybe she can make something out of it.”
“Who?”
“The base commander. She’s my boss.”
“How come I never met her? You never told me anything about—”
“There’s a lot you don’t know, kid, and there’s a lot I’m not authorized to tell you. Now’s not the time to play catch-up. Go find your girlfriend and Lilah. Let them tell you their story.”