all god's orphans
Chapter 45

In the morning, Brian awoke exhausted. It wasn’t just his muscles that were being pushed to their limit, his mind was also being tested. Every day was just another straw being added to the camel’s back and it felt certain to break any moment now. He looked for Wes at breakfast, but he wasn’t there. Instead, he sat beside Carla and listened as she talked about her day.

She seemed to fit here without issue. She enjoyed the company of the other women and doing the laundry gave her a sense of accomplishment. Brian couldn’t understand that, but he was happy that she was content, at least. This is what he had promised Daniel, after all, and he was making good on that promise. He was taking care of her. He tried not to let it bother him that she didn’t ask after her own son. Of course, to her, Daniel was just someone she had met only recently and seen little of in the preceding days. He wondered how she might feel about that if her memory ever came back.

Near the end of breakfast, Brian saw Wes enter the mess tent. He looked horrible. His clothes were dirty and his eyes looked like two piss holes in snow. There were several other soldiers with him, all displaying the same lack of joie de vivre.

“Are you all right?” He asked, half-expecting Wes to not remember who he was, he looked so zonkered.

“Fuck, man.” Wes sighed. “I feel like I died and went Hell. And then came back here. I think I would prefer Hell.” He sat down at a table without bothering to get anything to eat.

“Where have you been?” Wes put his head on the table for a long moment and didn’t answer. When he did, he spoke low and desperately.

“We’ve go to get out of here, man.” He said. “They’re preparing for something big and I feel like if we don’t leave now, we won’t get another chance. I’ve seen plans calling for all of the AGO’s to consolidate.”

“What?” Brian couldn’t imagine why they would be doing this.

“It’s like they think a fight is coming.” Wes wasn’t acting like his usual self.

“Does it have anything to do with those bodies we found?”

“What do you mean?”

“Apparently there’s a group going around calling itself the Revelation Riders. They’re probably the ones who executed those naked guys.”

“Maybe.” Was all Wes could say. “We’ve been moving vehicles and a bunch of new guys, like special forces guys have come in. They’re running things now. They’ve got a blockade ready to go across the interstate for some reason.”

“Special forces?” Brian didn’t know what to make of that. Maybe the real army would get there soon and they would be put into real units. That idea didn’t scare him, necessarily, but it would make taking care of Daniel more difficult. If he could get him to a real medical facility, he could relax. Maybe the regular army had one, he told himself. “I can’t leave yet.” He said. Wes raised his weary head.

“You’re not listening to me. We need to go now.”

“I can’t go.” Brian said. “Not yet. I need meds.”

“Do you really think they’re going to get a shipment of insulin here any time soon. Look around you, dude. There’s nothing here. We’re just militia.”

“They said they were expecting some in about a week.” Brian pushed back. Wes was too tired for this bullshit.

“Oh, yeah?” Wes said without thinking. “Did they say something like ‘Hopefully we’ll get that in about a week or so’?” He could see he was right. “Get a clue, Brian. That’s code for ‘never’. Do you know how long they’ve been saying we’ll get real equipment? It’s always the same answer. ‘Hopefully in about a week or so.’ For all you know, your brother’s already dead.” At that, Brian got up without a word and walked away. “That’s not what I meant.” Called Wes, but he was too beat to give chase.