To Be A Warrior

Chapter 25: Long Train Running

"Alright there, Colonel? Comfortable?" Sam asks, sounding jittery and anxious.

"I'm fine," Colonel Sage replies politely.

"Cup of tea or anything? Twiglet? They're homemade."

"I'm fine," He repeats, less politely.

"Uh, right. Okay. Okay. So, thanks to the tracker Five and Peter planted on the Rider's big rig, me and Janine have been watching what they do over the past few days. Turns out they're surprisingly predictable. Um, I mean, for anarchists."

"Yeah," Jody agrees beside me. "They really are. That's why we found their caches of weapons in the tattoo parlor and that."

"And what have you learned on this occasion?" Colonel Sage asks, and I look over to Janine, since I have yet to have the pleasure of reading the reports.

"They make a stop at least once a day at Crips-Lane Services."

Jody nods. "And we've been talkin' to the ex-Riders from Fort Blackmoore, the castle. Turns out the Riders aren't just one big group. They keep absorbin' little tribes of biker gangs. So right now, there are two enemy groups inside the Riders, the Hogs and the Frogs."

I bite my lip to suppress a giggle at the rhyming, although it does little good when Sam speaks.

"Sounds like an Adult Swim cartoon which turns out to be a complicated metaphor about politics that I don't understand."

"The Hogs recently set fire to the Frogs' leader," Janine explains, ignoring the way my eyes widen. "The Frogs are consequently in a murderous mood."

"Hopping mad, in fact."

I choke on a laugh, and I can picture Sam beaming in the coms shack. Although maybe he's not, since Colonel Sage is there, and even though the man is only of average height and build, he gives off an extremely intimidating aura that might keep Sam from saying too many jokes. Shame. Sam's little added bits always make my runs better.

"Thank you," Janine says, her voice tittering on irritation. Whether it's about my laughter or Sam's words that brought it, I can't tell. "Runner Four, this intel will be of great help in carrying out Colonel Sage's plan. Colonel?"

He clears his throat. "Yes. Well, to my regret, I entered into an arrangement with the Riders. A marriage of necessity, as they possess a mobile oil refinery. I supplied them with crude oil, they refined it into petrol. Until they attacked my convoy." His voice drops an octave, and I flinch at the anger in his tone. It's gone the second it appeared. "So, we will steal their refinery and frame the Frogs."

She nods. "Time is of the essence. The Riders generate so much noise that zombies are never far behind. We must lure the bikers away and take the refinery before the horde catches up. Runner Four, Runner Five, this mission is ours. Let's run."

And we do, the gates of Abel already up, the few people that have stayed around watching as we run out and the gates lower, cutting them off from their glimpse of the outside. It's not that much of a view anyway, if I'm honest.

And we listen as Sam instructs us-well, more so me-where to go. Janine and Jody already know where Crips-Lane Services is, and I feel kind of bad that I didn't have much to give for this mission besides a pair of legs. Unlike Jody I haven't asked anything about the Blackmoore guys' time with the Riders. We're shared stories, but I never asked them about it. They like that. They like that I don't push them, that I don't interrogate them. That was their words, too. One guy, Dominic, told me that Janine scared him almost as much as the Riders did.

They like me because they can relate to me, just like how they can relate to Nicole. And for once I don't have to worry about these guys seeing me as a parent instead of peer, because that's how it's always been for those younger than me, even by a few years. After all, Milo is only three and a half years younger than me.