“As of right now, Rick, you’re the only civilian left on this base. Everyone else—including that friend you came in with—evacuated days ago. In twenty-four hours we’re going to be evacuating the base and moving out to an undisclosed rendezvous location on the west coast.” The Colonel looked at his watch again and shook his head. “Look, I feel bad you’ve been locked up all this time. Your friend went out on a plane the day after you went in there, along with most of the rest of the civilians who were staying on the base. If you hadn’t been so stubborn then you’d be most of the way home by now.”
“Working in a think tank to fix whatever’s going on instead of being home with my family. No thanks.”
“Whatever. Look, you have two choices right now. In approximately… three hours we’re evacuating. The C130s are loaded and we’re abandoning the base and heading for the west coast. If you want to come with us I can spare a seat.”
“Head back towards California?” Rick shook his head. “No way. What’s the second choice?” A series of distant explosions far above Rick’s head punctuated the conversation and he looked up at the ceiling.
“Your second choice is up there.” Colonel Leslie pointed upward. “One of the largest street gangs in Las Vegas decided that the civilian takeover of the base would be the perfect time for them to try and steal some more military-grade hardware.” He shook his head. “Inbred idiots. Unlike firing on scared, hungry civilians I don’t have a problem killing gangsters. Unfortunately they’ve hidden themselves among the rest of the civilians quite well and I don’t have the manpower or time to go hunting for them.”
“You want me to… what? Join a gang?”
“Don’t be stupid, Rick. In the hangar directly above us there are several Humvees loaded with supplies, weapons and everything needed for a long patrol route. The Army grunts had them ready before everything went to hell and they’ve just been sitting there. If you’re lucky and nobody’s broken into the hangar then you can take one and get out of here and keep going east. If you’re unlucky then you won’t have to worry about traveling anymore.”
“You don’t have a plane or something?”
Leslie chortled and shook his head. “No. I realize that may come as a surprise given that this is an Air Force base, but we don’t typically have planes that an unlicensed civilian is capable of flying and landing just sitting around ready to go.”
Another explosion came from above, which was followed by the appearance of a group of airmen at the end of the hall. “Colonel Leslie!” One of them spotted the Colonel and shouted at him. “We have to go!”
“You want to go with option A, you come with me. Otherwise keep going down this hall, turn right and take the narrow stairs up to Hangar Delta. Your call, Rick. Good luck with whatever you choose.”
Colonel Leslie turned and ran down the hall towards the airmen, not bothering to look back in Rick’s direction. Rick stood in the hall for a long moment, trying to figure out what to do when another explosion shook the underground structure, flickering the lights and shaking the halls.
“Dammit!” Rick turned away from the direction the Colonel had run and continued down his original path, heading for the staircase leading up to the hangar. There was no way he was going to head back west and, while dealing with thousands of rioters and gang members sounded like a terrible choice, it was a choice that was accompanied by a slim chance to continue heading towards home.
That alone made the most difficult decision the easiest in the world.
Chapter 18
Nellis Air Force Base
Las Vegas, Nevada
As Rick took the steps up towards the hangar two at a time, the rumbles of heavy equipment, scattered gunfire and people shouting and screaming grew louder. At the top of the stairs sat a thick steel door that he unlatched and pushed open, revealing a hangar similar to the one he had been taken to when he first arrived at the base. The hangar had enough space for several jets to sit comfortably side by side and end to end with room to spare.
Light shone down from the ceiling of the hangar from long bulbs though several of them were flickering, casting eerie shadows across the hangar floor. The room was nearly empty aside from a group of six Humvees lined up near the far entrance to the building. They looked nearly identical to the group that Rick and Jane had been brought in on aside from a slightly different paint job.
Rick hurried across the hangar, wincing every time he heard a gunshot or an explosion outside, wondering if each one was going to be the end of him. As he ran closer to the vehicles, he heard a commotion from outside one of the smaller doors built into the main rolling doors. Three separate smaller doors were built into one another like Russian nesting dolls with the smallest large enough for people and small equipment to pass through, the next for small vehicles to pass through and the next size for large trucks.
A series of small windows were built into the vehicle-sized door at shoulder height, and outside Rick could see several faces peering inward at the interior of the hangar. One of the people swung a sledgehammer at the door, sending a boom echoing through the voluminous space. Rick picked up his pace as the sound came again. Each blow sounded slightly different, and after three or four more he realized that the people outside were succeeding in their attempts to break through the door.
Rick was close enough to the doors to hear what the people were saying and, apparently, for them to see him. One of them pointed at him and shouted at the others. “Hey! Who’s that guy?”
“He’s not military!”
“Let us in!”
Rick ignored their calls and continued towards the Humvees. When he arrived at the line of them he began opening their doors, looking through them to see which one he wanted to take. Rifles, backpacks and metal cans full of ammunition were loaded into the back of each vehicle, and after looking through the first three he couldn’t see any discernable difference between them.
As the noises outside the hangar grew louder, Rick glanced over to see cracks of light shining through the edges of the doors and realized that the crowd outside was close to breaking through. He ran back to the initial vehicle—one of two in the lineup with a gun mounted on the top—and opened the driver’s door. The interior was covered with dirt and all of the surfaces looked worn and faded. He slammed the door closed and reached for where he assumed a lock would be, but found nothing. A long metal rod ran the length of the door on the interior with a small indentation three-quarters of the way down. He pushed on the rod, rotating it in place and heard a thunk from the door as the rod locked it in place.
“Okay then.” Rick muttered to himself and put his hands on the steering wheel. “Where are the keys?” He grasped the side of the steering column, looking for a place where he could even insert a key, and found no sign of the ignition. More pounding and shouting came from the doors and he glanced up to see an arm reaching through a gap, grasping for a lock on the interior.
Rick continued searching for some way to start the vehicle until he finally noticed a large push-button switch sitting near the steering column. Rick jammed his thumb into the button and the engine roared to life, surprising him enough that he slammed his hand down on the small horn in the center of the steering wheel, startling himself with the timid “beep” from the vehicle.
“Crap!” Rick ran his hand over the levers to his right and wiped off a layer of dust that covered the labels for the shifter. “You’d better work, dammit!” Rick looked up to see the smallest door in the stack swing open and a crowd of people began pushing through. He pulled back on the shifter, putting it into drive, and the Humvee lurched forward. He spun the wheel to the right and felt himself push up against the door as the vehicle accelerated into the turn.
Rick looked around the hangar for any other exits, but as the shouting behind him increased in volume and gunfire started to ring out, he realized his only option for escape was in the opposite direction. He turned the wheel again, heading back towards the set of doors and the group of people who were pouring in through them. Rick leaned on the horn as he drove forward though his warning was met with three of the people raising handguns and opening fire.