Armageddon Run

Chapter Eight

It seemed as if a sea of faces were staring up at him.

“Is that all of them?” Blade demanded.

“All we could find,” Geronimo replied.

Blade, perched on the top of the SEAL, glanced down at the 340 or so people thronging the town square. The SEAL was parked in front of the command post.

Bertha, Rudabaugh, and Orson had spent several hours lugging the bodies of the slain soldiers to a house two blocks from the square. A dozen of Catlow’s residents had assisted in conveying the injured to a house on the northern outskirts. Hickok and Geronimo had gone from house to house, rounding up the inhabitants. Owning a firearm was illegal for civilians in the Civilized Zone, and since the military had long since confiscated all privately owned weapons, resistance had been nonexistent.

And now, after having climbed the metal ladder attached to the rear of the transport to permit access to the solar collectors on the roof, Blade was prepared to address the assembled citizens. Hickok, Geronimo, Bertha, Lynx, Rudabaugh, and Orson stood near the SEAL, their respective weapons at the ready. Lynx was there too, but he disdained guns and relied exclusively on his pointed claws.

“People of Catlow!” Blade began, raising his arms to attract their attention. “We mean you no harm! We require your cooperation, and if you do as we say, no one will be harmed! Do you understand?”

No one said anything.

“As all of you undoubtedly know,” Blade continued, “we wiped out the garrison this morning. Why we did it, I can’t say. Who we are, I can’t say. But I can say we are enemies of the Doktor! I can say we want to bring freedom to the Civilized Zone! We want you to become masters of your own lives, to live without the Government telling you how to do everything! Think of it! How would you like to be free? How would you like to set up a new Government, one where the people have the power and not a dictator?”

Blade paused to gauge their reaction. Most were gaping at him in stark bewilderment.

“My friends and I came here for several reasons,” he resumed. “One of them concerns a man named Toland.”

There was a faint stirring among the crowd.

“Let me explain!” Blade shouted. “We know there are many in the Civilized Zone who are unhappy with the way things are! We know many want to change the status quo! The Government calls these people rebels!

We call them freedom fighters! A friend of mine took a paper from the Doktor when he visited the Citadel recently. This paper was classified. It told us about rebel activity in this area and about one man in particular, a rebel leader called Toland. This report said Toland was born in this town, in Catlow. It said he is believed to be hiding here, but the Government troops haven’t been able to ferret him out. Well, if he is here, we want to talk to him. Toland! If you can hear me, come forward! I give you my word you will not be hurt! Don’t be afraid! The future of the Civilized Zone hinges on what you do!”

“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” a man yelled.

“What? We attacked the garrison just to flush Toland out into the open?” Blade retorted.

“We wouldn’t put anything past the Doktor,” a woman cried.

“So you suspect we’re in league with the Doktor?” Blade asked. He put his hands on his hips and glared at them. “We hate the Doktor as much as you do!”

“Prove it!” a man demanded.

All eyes were on Blade.

“That’s easy enough!” Blade declared. “I take it all of you have heard about what happened at the Cheyenne Citadel? How the Biological Center, the Doktor’s headquarters, was destroyed by a thermo?”

“Yeah, we know,” a woman called out. “So what?”

“So do you know who is responsible for doing what the rebels were unable to do in a hundred years?” Blade queried.

“None of us know how to use a thermo!” a man shouted by way of justification.

“So who did it?” Blade challenged them. “Who did have the know-how? Who’s responsible?”

Several voices responded in unison, “Lynx!”

Blade grinned. “That’s right! Lynx! I understand some of you have seen pictures of Lynx in the news. He’s probably the most famous rebel in the entire Civilized Zone.” Blade straightened to his full stature and swept his right hand up and down, pointing at the furry man-thing below him.

“Take a good look! Who is he? Take a good look, and then tell me we’re in league with the Doktor!”

The gathered citizenry began milling about, as those farthest from the SEAL pressed forward to catch a glimpse of the smallish creature. Some of them recognized him, and there were gasps and startled countenances galore.

Lynx, Blade noticed, ate up all the attention, standing with his arms casually folded and an imperious expression on his feline face.

Minutes passed.

Finally, a tall man with black hair and blue eyes, attired in a denim shirt and old jeans, moved through the assemblage and stood in front of Lynx.

“What do you want, buster?” Lynx demanded.

“So you’re Lynx?” the man questioned.

“What’s it to you, bub?”

The man extended his right hand. “I am Toland.”

Lynx, ever suspicious, slowly offered his own hand.

Toland shook, smiling. “I am pleased to meet you. We have heard so much about you and your escapades, I expected to meet a giant ten feet tall!”

Lynx smiled. “That’s the price of fame, I guess.”

Toland glanced up at Blade. “Whoever you are, you must know they will send more soldiers. You should leave while you still can.”

“We’re counting on them sending more soldiers,” Blade said.

“Yeah,” Lynx chuckled. “I can’t wait to see the Doc again!”

“The Doktor!” Toland exclaimed. “The Doktor is coming here?”

“If all goes well,” Blade affirmed. “Which is why we need your help.”

“I will do what I can,” Toland offered, “but I must tell you my people are too scared of the Doktor to fight him.”

“I don’t want you to fight for us,” Blade elaborated. “I need your assistance in another respect.”

“What can I do for you?”

“How many rebels like you are there in the Civilized Zone?” Blade inquired.

“Thousands and thousands,” Toland stated. “And for every one willing to resist the tyrant Samuel the Second and the Doktor, there are two or three more who would join our cause if they thought they had a chance of winning. There are far more than the authorities suspect.”

“Do you have any way of contacting them?” Blade asked.

“We have a communications network,” Toland answered. “It’s crude, but effective.”

“Could you get in touch with the other rebel leaders within, say, the next week?” Blade queried.

“I might be able to do so,” Toland said warily. “Why are you asking all of these questions?”

Blade crouched and stared into Toland’s eyes. “Because in a week the Doktor will be dead and the Cheyenne Citadel, or what’s left of it, will be in our hands. Two weeks after that, we will take Denver and oust Samuel the Second. We could use your support.”

Toland’s mouth parted in slack amazement. He shook his head, as if doubting the testimony of his own ears. “Kill the Doktor? Depose Samuel the Second?” He looked around. “Just you seven?”

Blade laughed. “Think of us as the bait laid out for a marauding bear. Once the bear takes the bait, we spring the trap we’ve set. I can’t supply the details, but there are many, many more of us. We are called the Freedom Federation and we have declared war on the Civilized Zone. We have no ambition to conquer the Civilized Zone and subjugate its inhabitants. We only want you to install a new, free Government. It will then be up to you whether you enter our Federation.”

Toland seemed to be in a daze. “Can it be?” he muttered. “All of our dreams come true? All of our prayers answered?”

“Will you aid us?”

“Any way I can,” Toland vowed.

Blade nodded. “Good. You must get your people organized and ready to leave Catlow as soon as possible. We don’t want them here when the Doktor arrives—”

“I can see why,” Toland interrupted.

“We’ve found two jeeps and two trucks behind the command post you can use,” Blade went on. “You’ll have to carry as many provisions as you can. We’ll give you enough firearms and ammunition from the garrison’s stores to adequately defend yourselves.”

“Where could we go?” Toland wanted to know.

“Have your people travel north and wait,” Blade said. “In two or three days it should all be over, one way or the other, and they can return to their homes. They can take the injured soldiers with them.” He paused.

“As for you, take whomever you need and begin contacting the other rebel leaders. I will detail what I want you to tell them.”

“This is to good to be true!” Toland remarked.

“It’s true,” Blade assured him. “It may be the only opportunity you will ever have to throw off the oppressive yoke of totalitarianism.”

Hickok glanced up at Blade, a sour look on his face. “Gee, pard, you’re gettin’ worse than Plato when it comes to using those ten-syllable words!”

“Where do you think I first heard it?” Blade rejoined. “So! Do we have a deal?” he asked Toland.

“We have a deal,” Toland confirmed.

Blade started down the ladder. He stopped on the third rung and stared at the rebel leader. “Before I forget, there is one thing you must not do under any circumstances. Don’t allow any of your people to head due south along U.S. Highway 85.”

Toland glanced over his left shoulder in the direction of the highway. It went completely through the town, but bypassed the town square three blocks east of where they stood. He nodded his comprehension. “The Doktor will be coming from the south.”

“Exactly,” Blade agreed. “And I would imagine he won’t be in the best frame of mind. Considering his homicidal tendencies, I wouldn’t want to be the one to come between him and Catlow.”