Rebel's Revenge Chapter 19

Chapter 19



Somewhere between sleep and wakefulness he felt the warm body of someone lying next to him and his thoughts drifted back to Karen and Tanitha. For some unknown reason his manhood was engulfed and slowly squeezed until beyond his control it came back to vibrant life. He then felt the pressure of a warm body suddenly lying on top of him then his manhood was taken and placed into the place of eternal warmth. Suddenly he awoke with the full realization of where he was and the circumstances surrounding his present position. For a long time he forgot everything until sudden rising serge of uncontrollable eruption engulfed him. He picked up the spent body of the warm creature lying on top of him and slowly turned over, depositing her on the warm soil of the cave. He staggered to his feet and headed in the direction of a light source lighter than that offered in the other direction.

"Still a good three hours before daylight, Top," a quiet voice came from the ledge by the cave entrance.

It was Gary and Taileea's sitting at the entrance to the cave enjoying the warmth of each other’s comforting body.

"You two get some rest," Monday replied, "I'll take the watch until Grady and I have to leave on the recon."

He walked over to the still smoldering fire and carved off a large piece of the roasted bird for breakfast and grabbed one of the water skins. Taking a position at the entrance to the cave he sat down and slowly ate his meal. The bird, or Gahn as the women called it, tasted remarkably like chicken, a meat he was very partial too. He made a mental note to look for signs of other wounded birds on their recon south and to dry some of the meat for jerky.

He thought casually of this new dilemma he found himself in. Not the fact of the modern civilization but his sudden and unexpected acquisition of another bride. Tanitha and Karen would already be hard pressed to accept his story of how he'd inherited Daria, but to return with yet another woman from another civilization would be difficult to explain. They'd rightfully think he went out of his way to find a new member for his growing harem from every land he discovered. No. It wouldn't be easy to explain. Yet, he couldn't abandon the girl now nor explain his actions as those of pure lust, because he saw something in her that drew him to her as he had been drawn to the others. The more he thought about it, the more hopelessly confused he became. What he needed was action to keep his mind occupied. He walked over to where General Zanik was snoring next to his lady love.

"Wake up Grady," he whispered, trying not to awaken his companion.

As usual Grady came awake like an angry hibernating bear, roaring and moaning and awaking everyone in the cave.

"Sorry," he whispered, "time to go already?"

"A little early," Grady replied, "we gonna get an early jump on the day?" Henri joined them at the rekindled fire while Grady eagerly stuffed his face with meat.

"I'm leaving you in command while Grady and I are gone," Monday stated. "You might want to make a sweep of the local area to see what weapons you can find and look for any of those birds which are left in an edible condition. Of course you know to keep a close look out for signs of these unknown men."

"No problem Top," Henri replied, "I spent almost a year with a recon unit of the German Paratroops and learned a few things about camouflage and cover and concealment. I think I could manage to get around the area without being spotted."

"Chris and Gary are very good at moving through the underbrush and leaving no tracks. They learned all I could teach them and they practically live with the Ionar. I don't know if it's a smart idea to take any of the females though because we don't know their level of ability in woodcraft."

"I'll leave that up to their Senior Sergeant, I have a good feeling she knows their level of training very well."

"Good," Monday continued. "Grady and I will make a beeline toward the south. I'll try to time it so that we go out for half a day and use the other half to return so that we are back here by dark. If we haven't returned by dark though, don't get worried. We may encounter things which will delay us."

"And when should we start to worry?" Henri asked.

"If one or both of us is not back by this time day after tomorrow that means something has happened to prevent us from returning."

"My actions then?"

"Send Chris and Gary to locate us if possible and if they fail to return in the same time frame, take the women and head for the settlement."

"What about young Throwar?"

"Tell him I want to use him to go back to the Vikings and then on to my settlement and warn them of this new turn of events. I'd like to wait to see what we find on this recon though. It's important that he have as much knowledge as we can gather before he leaves. In the meantime, just knowing he has an important mission coming up will keep him out of trouble."

Monday took two large chunks of the cooked meat, salted them and wrapped them in a piece of thin leather he carried in his thigh pocket. He then picked up one of the small bows, tested it for strength, and returned it to the pile lying near. Instead he grabbed several strands of the thin leather strapping which could serve as bola cords and two pieces of thin leather to make pockets for the anchoring rocks. Henri was watching him with curiosity.

"I can throw a rock further than that bow can shoot," Monday offered in explanation, "But I will take one of the short spears though and I learned to use a bola with accuracy many years ago. It's a good medium distance silent weapon good for knocking out guards or anyone we might want to question."

Grady joined him in his own preparations and they were soon ready to depart.

"Well Colonel," Monday whispered, seeing most everyone else had gone back to sleep, "may the force be with you."

Again Henry looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Don't take any wooden nickels," Monday laughed, heading down toward the ravine.

As they entered the mouth of the ravine he once again directed Grady to go up the side of the hill to prevent their tracks from being seen coming from the ravine. They surveyed the area first from the hidden security of the hill side. No movement could be seen in the open areas leading to the woods. He searched for Hemdall's body where it had lain in the open but could not find it. As he and Grady passed near the point where it should be, Monday noticed a trail leading off in the direction of the woods. There were no new footprints but the tracks of some large animal were visible in the soft earth. Evidently some hungry scavenger had made off with Hemdall's body during the night.

For several hours they traveled due south in a steady ground eating pace. The terrain was mostly hilly with scattered clumps of thick forest and an occasional small stream bed with very little water running in them. As they came up over a small rise they were suddenly surprised by the rapid change in the terrain. Spread before them there were still small hills but they were entirely different from the hills in which they had been traveling. Instead of the thick green deciduous forests the surrounding vegetation had turned into dry desert terrain with clumps of prickly cactus, mesquite trees, and sage brush scattered about. In the distance they could see what appeared to be part of a large mountain range.

He looked at Grady in worry. "This isn't normal," he said, "it's as if we left the rolling hills of Tennessee for the rugged desert plains of Arizona."

"Just like what happened to our county," Grady replied, "one minute we're in Mississippi the next we were surrounded by huge friggin jungles."

"Then you think it's possible this area we're entering is not originally part of this world, just as we weren't?"

"Probably got here the same way we did however the hell that was."

"I can't think of any other explanation," Monday stated, "at least that would explain their modern weapons. We'd better take it carefully from here on, we don't know if they have binoculars or trip wires or anti-personnel intrusion devices. Hell, they may be watching us right now."

An hour later they topped a rise and were again caught by surprise. Sprawled beneath them in a shallow wide valley with a good sized river running through its center was a modern city. To the right and left they could see where the thick forest begin again in a circular pattern around the city. It was as if a large fifteen mile circle of city had been plucked from its original place and re deposited here. The Mountains on the far side of the city were only partial mountains, most of them having been sheared off by the wide boundary of the circle. The city looked vaguely familiar to Monday but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. To their left less than half a mile away, ran a modern four lane interstate highway heading in the direction of the city. They walked toward highway because the desert they were traveling in offered almost no concealment, whereas, the banks of the highway and sage brush piled up against the Interstate fence barrier would easily hide them if necessary.

Ten minutes later they were standing and gaping at two signs. One sign said, "U.S. Interstate 66," the other said, "Albuquerque - 2 Miles."

"Well I'll be a son of a biscuit eating basketball player," Grady remarked, looking wide eyed at Monday. "Albuquerque's in New Mexico ain't it? Reckon we weren't the only ones grabbed up by that time-space warp thing?"

"Don't know," Monday quietly replied, looking closely at the scene below. He'd spent some time in Albuquerque at Sandia Base where they had the Atomic Research Labs and at the Airbase. Something was wrong though. He knew he must be standing on what the locals called, Nine Mile Hill, and the airbase and labs should be nestled up against what remained of the Monzano Mountains across the valley. There was no sign of the airbase and many other features of the city of Albuquerque as he remembered it appeared to be different or missing. Not only that, he knew Interstate 40 ran through Albuquerque, replacing the famous Highway called Route 66. "It's Albuquerque all right, but something's wrong." Before he could speculate on the differences a loud voice behind them said, "Hands up you guys, throw them weapons down on the ground, turn around, an no tricks."

They raised their hands into the air and turned around as the voice demanded. The excitement of the moment had caught them completely off guard.

"You speak English," Monday remarked, looking at an extremely dirty pair of young men holding automatic rifles leveled at them in a menacing manner. They were dressed in a mishmash of soiled civilian clothing and both were wearing sweat stained Stetsons.

"What else are we supposed to speak idiot?" one of the gunmen barked back, and where in hell did you two come from?"

"Mississippi," Monday replied, pointing back over his shoulder.

"You a damn liar," the other gunman screamed back. "Ain't no body left east of Texas what the radio activity didn't get!"

Monday glanced at Grady who was as perplexed as he was.

"What radioactivity?" he asked, suddenly aware of differences in the men's dress he'd not seen in forty years or more.

"See Tom, he's a shit faced liar, he's one of them government men. Look at them odd soldier boy uniforms they's wearing?"

"Ever since the Big War ain't no body come from the East mister," the first gunman stated, "so Al's right, you gotta be government men or something, or else friends of them greenies north of here."

"What Big War?" Monday asked again, his arms beginning to ache from holding them over his head.

The two gunmen looked at each other with a puzzled expression before the first one talked again.

"The Big War of 63," he stated, "when the Japs and Germans dropped the fucking A Bombs on us. You sure as hell gotta remember that, unless your a damn idiot, a fool or a liar."

"God almighty," Grady blurted, "what n' hell's going on Top?"