Eleven #2
I nodded, then turned around as the door opened, and two more young men were shown in.
The outside guard and a man I guessed was the driver came in a moment later, followed by the man who had interviewed us.
The guard closed a wire mesh door I hadn't noticed, then locked it.
We were now locked in the back as he sat down in a seat at the front of the bus that faced the rest of us with his rifle across his lap as the driver started the bus.
Meanwhile, the man who had interviewed us was going through a folder and looking up at each of us in turn.
I waited until after the bus started moving, at which point he sat down next to the guard, still going through his paperwork.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Quiet."
"We're not going to Farmingham, are we?"
"I said, be quiet."
"So where are you taking us?"
"I thought I told you to shut up!" the guard said, raising his rifle.
Invoking my champion's voice, I yelled at him, "Sit down! Shut up! I'm talking to your boss! Now, how about you tell us what's going on?"
The guard sat down, looking shocked, and the man with the folder looked up, surprised.
"You are all now enlisted in work camp five."
"By whose authority?"
"Mine, of course."
"So you just go around kidnapping people?"
"No, you all volunteered after being told that if you did, you wouldn't be prosecuted for espionage."
"Wow, you're a real winner, aren't you? So why the pressgang?"
"We need people to rebuild the city, but we don't have the money, so I was told to do so by any means necessary."
"And enslaving people was all your feeble little mind could come up with?"
"I can have you shot, you know."
Getting up, I walked all the way to the back of the bus.
"Better," the man said, looking back down at his paperwork.
Shifting into my champion form, I lowered my shoulder and pushed off the back of the bus.
I sprinted down the aisle, slamming into the mesh door, which couldn't handle that much weight at that speed.
The door flew open, and I smashed into the guard with enough force that I knocked him senseless.
The swinging mesh door clipped the man who'd interviewed us, and Suzona was on him in an instant, while Evean slipped in behind her, relieved the driver of his pistol, and held it to his head.
Shifting back, I cast a cure on myself, but not on the guard.
I wasn't about to waste anything on him.
Getting up off of him, I got out of the way as Suzona bitch-slapped the other man, then dragged him into the back of the bus and divested him of his clothes and everything else he had.
I don't know whether she tied him up or killed him, and I didn't care.
"Okay, you, the guy who's a local, come up here and tell the driver where to go, unless you'd rather drive?"
"I'll drive," he said.
"Great. Ev? How about we question the driver and see what we can learn about what's going on in Farmingham?"
"I sent the other idiot through to Ary," Suzona said, coming back to the front of the bus.
"Oh! Well!" I said with a laugh as I took the rifle from the guard. "We need something to tie these two up with."
"I think I have something in my bag. Then I need to take a nap."
"Who are you people?" the guy who'd offered to drive asked as Evean easily manhandled the driver out of the seat, though he was quite a bit larger than her.
"Retired special forces," Evean said. "We're actually older than we look, and someone asked us to come through here and take a look at things. I would advise that when you leave this bus, you forget about everything that happened."
I noticed the driver got really pale at that point.
"Care to tell me about it?" I whispered to him.
"The military commander of the city came up with the idea. They've got guys like Efrum—the one who interviewed you—at a couple of the boat docks. They grab whoever they can and impress them into service under fear of prison."
"Do his bosses know about this?"
"Maybe? I don't know! Everyone's so focused on the war, we haven't been able to get anyone!"
"What about hiring people?"
"With what? We don't have any money. We barely have enough resources to fix the locks, and that's months behind schedule because we don't have enough workers!"
"I suggest you tell your boss when you get back that he either does the honorable thing, or it won't go well with him."
"The honorable thing?"
"Suck-start his pistol."
"What… what about me?"
I shrugged. "You're not the man in charge. I'd say tell everyone everything, and pray a lot."
Suzona came back with some strips of cloth we used to bind the driver and the other guard, who was still unconscious. I noticed Suzona healed him after we tied him up.
"He was dying, William. You hit him very hard," she whispered.
"Oh."
"Let me go talk to Aryanna."
"Sure," I said and gave her a kiss. That done, I looked over at Evean, who was talking with the guy now driving the bus.
"How long to get there?" I asked her.
"Stuart here says it's an eight-hour drive."
"We probably don't want to be on the bus when it gets to town."
"Assuming it's safe for anybody to go to town. We'll have to see what Aryanna tells Sue."
"True," I agreed with a nod, and looked back at the rest of the passengers, who were still looking a little shocked.
"Sorry, folks. Yeah, I know, it's all coming at you pretty fast, but it sure beats being in a prison camp, right? So try to get some rest. You all have a long trip ahead of you still."
"How about we go back to the port?" one of the men asked.
"I suspect that when this prison bus doesn't show up, they'll send out a squad to look for it. Hopefully, that idiot didn't leave any paperwork that identifies you behind, so no one should be looking for you. So if you decide to move on, go to another canal boat port, okay?"
Most of them nodded at that.
Moving up to Evean and the driver, I asked him in a soft voice, "When was the last time you spoke with your mother?"
"A little over a month ago. That's why I decided to come back home and check on things. Normally, we talked every two or three weeks. They said there was a problem with the lines, but…" He shrugged. "I thought I'd check anyway."
"Is there a safe place we can stop along the way, and you can call her, or someone else, and find out just what's going on?"
"Yeah, there's a roadhouse about halfway between the port and the town. We can stop there."
"Okay, just warn us when we're getting close so we can get ready."
"You don't think these assholes will be there, too, do you?"
"I'd rather not take any chances."
"Oh. Right."
Going back over to Suzona, I took a moment to check the two pistols and the rifle we now had, and how much ammunition we had. That done, I waited for Suzona to wake up.
"Well, that was interesting," Suzona said, yawning as she stretched and sat up straight.
"What did you learn?"
"The military governor declared martial law over the entire area.
He suspended all rights and is forcibly enlisting every working-age man and woman into his newly formed 'work corps'.
He's been extremely harsh with any and all resistance, put a complete media blackout on the area, and severed all communications with the rest of the country. "
"So what happens if these folks go to Farmingham?"
"Nothing good, that's for sure."
"How far is it to where we need to go?"
"About four hours ahead of us."
"So the roadhouse Stuart was talking about is near it?"
"I must have been asleep when you talked to him about that."
"Do you know if there are roaming patrols or any of that?"
"Only in the towns."
"Stuart, you hear all that?" I asked, raising my voice.
"Yes, sir!"
"Is there a way out of the area that won't run us afoul of any of this?
"If we head east when we get to the roadhouse, yeah. It's a long trip, but it goes to Burrsville."
"Does the bus have enough gas for that trip?"
"I don't know, maybe? If the fuel tanks were full, probably?"
"Is there fuel at the roadhouse?"
"Used to be."
"Well, I guess we're taking the roadhouse, filling up the bus, then sending all of you on your way."
"We are?" Suzona asked, giving me a look. "This isn't exactly our fight, William," she added in a softer voice.
"Yeah, I know, but I don't want anything bad to happen to these people because of what we did."
Suzona looked towards the people at the back of the bus, more than a few of whom had fallen asleep, as it was getting late, then back at me. "I see your point."
Evean came over, dropped into the seat on the other side of me, and sighed. "Boy Scout."
I laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."
"So what's the plan?"
"We sneak off the bus when Stuart drives in, subdue everyone, fill the tank, and he drives off. After, say, an hour, we just disappear. With any luck, we'll be able to find the gateway out of here before anybody comes looking for us."
"Let's pull off the road for a while and get some sleep. It will work out better if we show up late at night," Suzona said.
Evean and I both agreed.
"Let me go see if Stuart knows a good place to stop."
#
It was well after midnight when Stuart stopped just within sight of the lights at the roadhouse.
Everyone on the bus was awake. If worse came to worst, Stuart would take the bus to the corner, drive down it as far as he could, and then once it ran out of fuel, they'd get out and walk.
The three of us could feel the portal, which, if I had to guess, was maybe a quarter of a mile from here.
So leaving for us wouldn't be a problem at all.
As soon as we were away, Evean and I shifted into our champion forms and led Suzona around the back of the roadhouse through the darkness, as our night vision was superior to hers.
There were several buildings in the area; a couple of them were definitely homes, and one looked like a repair garage, but they were all dark now.
The roadhouse had its lights on, and there were people there, but the big question for the three of us was, who were they?