I didn’t say anything.
‘All right,’ he said, regaining his demeanor. ‘Have them put down two random grenades per day to each perimeter quadrant. We might discourage some of the sniping, anyway. Could you have the supply chief come over? I’m sure we’re going to have to eat the last of the horses soon.’
I left. Splevins the CIA man passed me, heading toward Spaulding’s tent. He didn’t look happy. I dodged and crouched my way between bunkers.
That was the last time I saw Spaulding.
I was in the command bunker when the supply chief came in to see the major this morning.
‘Things are missing,’ he said to Putnam. ‘Damnedest things.’
‘I didn’t think you kept inventory since Christmas,’ said the major.
‘Some things yes, some things no. We just ran a tally on Spaulding’s orders yesterday. They weren’t there today.’
The major sighed. ‘What did he take?’
The supply chief had a clipboard. He read off the expected things first – ammo, lurp rations, grenades, two ponchos, survival kit. Then:
‘Grid maps. In series. From here through Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania to western New York state. Like he knows exactly where he wants to go.
‘Tin snips. Two three-ring clip binders. Thin tin plate we had for repairs. Cold chisels. Flashlights. A small radio beacon assembly. Tack hammer.’
‘What the hell’s he gonna do with that stuff?’ asked Putnam.
The supply chief shrugged. I went over to Spaulding’s footlocker. I opened it. Most of his things were there, personal and issue.
‘Not even a note,’ said the major. ‘I already had a look. His Bible’s gone, though.’
‘How should we list him on the morning report?’ I asked.
‘Missing in the line of duty,’ said Putnam.
‘Very good, sir,’ I said, and left.
Leake XV
‘The certainty of death is attended with uncertainties in time, manners, places.’
We fought them out of the city and into the hamlets. There were more and more of them and fewer of us. We hadn’t been that many to begin with.
We straggled through one of the garden villages and out into its beanfields. The Huastecas were close behind; arrows and spears were coming through the beans like snakes.
I was down to two magazines with maybe ten loose rounds left in my pockets. The carbine was holding them back, but they weren’t showing much of themselves anymore, either.
A whole flock of arrows came down on us. We could see more Huastecas coming out of the city.
The beak on the woodpecker costume caught an arrow. It was hot as hell inside all those feathers. A Huasteca stepped out from behind a scraggly bush to use his atl-atl. I shot him somewhere low.
Took had picked up three spears from the ones thrown at us.
‘They’re going to run us in shifts,’ said Moe, pointing to where a line of Huastecas on the road were doing warm-up exercises. ‘They’re in for the long push.’
‘Great.’
‘Well, you farted off their god,’ said Took.
‘We’d do the same for them. They never made it to our temple.’
The warriors on the road were stripping to their breechcloths, picking up their weapons.
‘I’ll hold them a while,’ I said, like in the movies.
‘Shit you will,’ said Moe.
He watched them a moment. ‘First they’ll get you, then they’ll get the rest of us. We’ve got to keep running at least as long as we can.’
Some of the moundbuilders had already taken off toward home. Their paths through the beans looked like rabbit runs.
‘I’ll see you back at home,’ said Moe. He put both of Took’s arms on his shoulders and hugged him, then did the same for me, avoiding the woodpecker bill. Then he was gone through the beanstalks.
Took drew in a deep breath. ‘Let’s go!’ he said.
Fifteen kilometers later the sun dropped at our backs. My lungs were tearing out. Six months earlier I would already have been dead, half the distance we had covered. My feet had become automatons. I was taking little short steps, stumbling.
I turned occasionally. I had only fired off a few shots, when one of the Meshicas was especially stupid. I only missed a couple of times.
The Huastecas seemed to be in three waves. The runners were half a klick back. There was a larger body beyond that, then half the city, way back of them. That much we saw from a small rise we went over.
I could see a few of our people, too, even with us, in flashes between the shrubs and crops. The Huastec runners were slowly closing a pincers on us. It was still two kilometers wide, but I could feel it.
If we kept running like this, we’d smash into a tree trunk and do their work for them. We slowed a little, trying to see what was ahead.
‘How-long-will-they-keep-on?’ I asked.
‘Till-they-catch-us,’ said Took.
An arrow bounced off a tree trunk, to keep us honest. Sometime in the night we slowed, but so did the Huastecas. They didn’t want to lose anybody either, but every time we crossed open spaces they yelled and drew closer. I couldn’t see shit, but they could.
We heard victory whoops off to the left as somebody slowed to a walk and they caught him. I couldn’t tell if they were killing and eating him on the spot or were taking him back to the slab as a real high tone sacrifice. I didn’t have the breath to ask Took.
I just knew that I couldn’t go much farther. I would be walking soon, and they could get me. I’d shoot myself in the head and spoil their real fun, but they would have the rest. I’d have to give Took the woodpecker suit first; I’d told Sun Man I’d bring it back.
It was probably pretty ragged by now anyway. The bill was flopping and the sound it made rustling wasn’t as muffled as it had been.
Took stopped and I almost ran into him.
‘This-way-fol-low-me.’ He pointed left. We came to some twisted old trees, thick as three men, with long low branches.
‘Up!’ he said. We went up the first one. I followed Took to the end of a low limb. He stepped across to the interlaced limbs of a second squat giant, then a third. I couldn’t see anything, I could only feel a half-meter-wide limb under my feet.
We reached a fourth tree, in the center of them. Took pushed me toward a smaller limb. We must have been six meters up.
I pulled myself up into a bunch, trying to slow my breathing. The limb swayed in the slight breeze. My throat and nose were raw. I felt like lead.
We heard the runners go through below us, tireless, steady, probably a fresh gang. A few minutes later the second wave came through, somewhere between a trot and a fast walk. They talked among themselves. They were a long time passing under us.
Then we waited. It seemed like an hour; it was probably only a few minutes.
These people were having a party. They were laughing, talking, whispering; they barely moved. One leaned his spear against the tree next to ours and took a whiz. I couldn’t see much, but didn’t look down when some of them came by with torches. The largest bunch of them were singing some kind of war chant. We heard their armor clink, the padding of different feet, the creak of wood shields.
There were hundreds of them, and they took an eternity to pass by.