Red America: Green Light
Chapter Two: Covering Fire
Lorna Dane felt the ground shudder as a column of Soviet tanks trundled past her apartment building, part of the ongoing "urban pacification" of her neighbourhood. She didn't understand why it was so necessary for the Red Army to keep moving so much heavy armour through here, since this was an area of New York that had clearly given up and completely accepted Soviet control years ago. Then again, she thought, she wasn't the one at the head of the command structure, so she didn't have all the necessary information to make such decisions. Of course, since Colonel Osborn had proven himself to be a sadistic brute of a commander more than once in the past, Lorna supposed it was just as likely to be him flexing his muscles for the sheer hell of it. Trying to put thoughts of him out of her mind, Lorna returned to the kitchen sink and the dishes she'd left unwashed since the previous night – hot water was at a premium these days thanks to the Soviet military, and since she'd needed a shower more than anything else, she'd decided that dirty dishes could comfortably wait their turn. Behind her, Libby played with her patchwork dolly Flossie-Bell, chattering away happily to her as she set out plastic tea-cups and poured imaginary tea for her and the three teddy bears sat a short distance away.
Lorna smiled to herself in satisfaction. Libby had been so pleased when she had received Flossie-Bell for Christmas (or what passed for it these days, anyway) one year ago, even though Lorna had had to stitch the doll together herself from various scraps of cloth and cannibalised old toys. Flossie-Bell was a raggedy mess of disproportionate parts, with train-track stitching scars running all over her body and a dress that was too small in some places and too loose in others, but Libby would not be parted from her. She even took her to bed every night and cuddled up to her as if she was the source of all the warmth in the world. It always warmed Lorna's heart to see her present, which had been such a labour of love, being so well received. And since today was her day off, she thought it was too good to let that sight go to waste... not to mention she wanted to get Libby as far away from the Russian military as possible. Central Park seemed as good a place as any, since Russian soldiers tended not to go anywhere near it unless they absolutely had to, or unless they were off-duty. "Hey, sweetie," she said as she ran a dishcloth over a couple of plates, "how would you and Flossie-Bell like to go to the park today? I don't have to go to work tonight, so we can stay out all day if you want."
Libby squealed with delight. "Yay!" she exclaimed in a flush of sudden excitement. "Can we get some cotton-candy, too?"
"I don't see why not, as long as you remember the magic word," Lorna chuckled. "We could have some pizza for lunch as well, if you want – how does that sound?"
"Yeah! Pizza!" Libby said, almost dancing with happiness. "When can we go, Mommy?"
"Well, let me just finish these dishes, and we can get going as soon as we can. Why don't you go and ask Grandma to help you put on something nice while I'm drying up, okay?" Lorna replied, brushing her wet fingertip against Libby's nose affectionately as she heard her mother returning from her morning run. "You wouldn't want to go get pizza in something boring, would you?"
Libby shook her head quickly for a moment, causing her pale green hair to end up surrounding her face like a frizzy halo, and then dashed off out of the kitchen to find her own favourite dress as she clutched Flossie-Bell tightly to her chest. Turning back to the task at hand, Lorna plunged her hands back into the bowl of warm water and scrubbed some crusted-over food off Libby's miniature cutlery before putting it all out in neat rows in order to let the water drain away from it. Once she was satisfied that it was all ready, she ran a dishcloth over them and put them away in their usual cupboard – in other words, the one that was as far out of Libby's reach as possible. Lorna knew her daughter far too well to let her inquisitive nature get the better of her in this situation, after all, and she wasn't about to risk either her daughter's well-being or the safety of her kitchen because of Libby's curiosity. When everything was put away safely, Lorna risked opening a packet of chocolate-chip cookies and taking out two for herself; she figured that it was an adequate reward for doing the housework. Pouring herself a glass of cold milk to go with them, Lorna sat at her kitchen table and savoured her short period of peace, which was broken only by Libby's excited chattering and her mother's exclamations of stunned surprise from the next room. She smiled broadly to herself and took a big bite of one of her cookies, knowing that Libby would be far too excited to make any rational judgements about what to wear right now. From past experience, Lorna knew that it would take her daughter at least half an hour to calm down, so she planned to use the breathing space as best she could... and to make sure she got a peace offering ready for her mother when Libby was finally done with her. She thought a plate of milk and cookies might be a good start...
Lorna held tightly onto Libby's hand as they walked towards the entrance to Central Park, feeling her daughter start to pull away from her in her excitement. When she had calmed down and decided to get ready for this day trip, Libby had chosen a knee-length green dress with white socks, which Lorna was sure would end up completely covered in grass stains. Still, it was what Libby had chosen to wear, so Lorna had had to go along with it. Passing a Red Army soldier as he and his squad marched down the street with their rifles held casually at the ready, Lorna made sure that she kept her eye contact to a minimum. With Libby around, she didn't want to provoke any needless displays of superiority, so she bent closer to her daughter and quietly ushered her past the soldiers, whispering soft words of reassurance to her frightened child. Then, what she had wanted to avoid happened – one of the soldiers turned around and focused directly on her. Libby whimpered a little as she felt her mother's fingers clench reflexively around her shoulders, and Lorna felt her daughter's tiny body start to shake as the Russian soldier towered above her. "Hello there," the soldier said, looking down kindly at Libby before reaching into his pocket for something. "Your daughter is very pretty, yes?"
"Yes," Lorna said, feeling a little confused, and more than a little apprehensive. "Yes, she is. Why do you say that?"
"I wish to give her something, as a token of friendship between our two peoples," the soldier said, producing a small bar of chocolate. "If we do this often enough, then perhaps you will begin to see us as something good." He handed the chocolate to Libby, who took it with a great deal of apprehension, as if she thought it might bite her before she got the chance to eat it. "There. It is good, yes?"
Libby nodded silently with her eyes still saucer-wide, clinging to Lorna's leg with her free hand. Lorna reached down with one hand and started to stroke her daughter's hair softly to reassure her. "It's okay, sweetie," she said softly. "Say thank you to the nice man for your present now."
"T'ank you," Libby mumbled in a voice that was almost a whisper, looking down towards the ground as she did so.
"It was my pleasure," the soldier said with a broad smile. "Remember that, little one. We are here to help you."
"That's good to hear," Lorna said shortly, fighting to keep her tone civil as her patience finally ran out – she hardly wanted to get the soldier angry, and have him hit her for disobedience right in front of her child. Quickly, she walked her daughter away from him, and his smile rapidly evened itself out into the familiar expression of stony, businesslike determination that Lorna was used to seeing every day, his gaze returning to the street as she and Libby were quickly forgotten. And the next time you try to indoctrinate my kid with candy, I'll fucking kill you... "Good girl – you were really brave," she said to Libby as her daughter held tightly to her. "You did really well. Come on, we'll go feed the ducks now – did you remember the breadcrumbs?"
"Yes, Mommy," Libby reached into a pocket with her small hand and drew out a plastic bag. "I kept them safe in my jacket. Do you think the ducks will like them?"
"Absolutely," Lorna said, smiling. "When I was little, Grandma and I used to do this every weekend, and we never had any complaints."
"But Mommy, ducks can't talk!" Libby said (quite sensibly, Lorna realised). "How do you know they liked them?"
Lorna chuckled. "Well, they kept coming back every weekend – whenever Grandma and I showed up, they'd all fly down to see us. I think that means they were pretty satisfied customers, don't you?" She pointed towards the pond that was only a short distance away from where they were standing, where a large crowd of ducks was huddling together on the water, waiting for the influx of visitors that always happened around noon. "See, look – there they are, all ready for their lunch. Why don't we go and see if they're hungry right now?" Libby shrieked with delight as soon as she saw the ducks, and skipped happily off towards the water with the plastic bag swinging from her small fingers. Lorna took hold of her free hand just to make sure that she didn't run off – with the Russian Army swarming through her neighbourhood the way they had been these past few years, there was more chance than ever of a lost child never coming home, so she was determined never to have that happen to her or to Libby. When they reached the edge of the pond, Libby dug a small hand into the bag of breadcrumbs and threw a generous handful into the water, laughing as several of the ducks began squabbling over the new supply of food. Almost automatically, Lorna drew her daughter gently back from the lip of the pond before she threw a handful of her own into the water, just to make sure that she didn't fall in. "Careful, honey," she said, disguising the worry in her voice as best she could. "The water's not very deep, but you wouldn't want your lovely dress getting wet, would you?"
"Sorry, Mommy," Libby said, in a truly apologetic tone. "Can I still feed the ducks?"
"Sure," Lorna told her with a smile. "Just don't fall in, okay? I don't want to have to come rescue you." She ruffled Libby's hair and then threw another handful of food into the water, watching the crumbs briefly speckle the surface before they were snapped up by either a hungry duck or one of the numerous goldfish that teemed throughout the pond. The breeze was warm, and brushed against Lorna's face gently, like a lover's fingers. She smiled as she felt the gentle sunshine on her cheeks, and for a fraction of a second she almost forgot that the Russians had turned New York into their own private playground. For a brief moment, it seemed like there was nothing in the world to stop her from doing exactly as she wanted to do, but, as usual, the feeling was too good to last. She turned back to the pond, and saw Libby busily trying to empty the entire bag of breadcrumbs into her hand. Quickly, she stepped forwards and plucked the bag out of Libby's fingers. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, honey," she said with a smile, as Libby looked up at her indignantly. "Your hands are way too small for that to work. Here, let's do it together, okay? Hold out your hands." She tipped a very small amount of the bag's contents into Libby's cupped palms, and then upended the bag into her right hand. Kneeling down, she sprinkled the crumbs onto the water directly in front of her, and watched, delighted, as several of the ducks began swimming towards them. Libby squeaked with excitement as they swam almost within arm's length, and eagerly added her handful to the water.
"Look, Mommy!" she said. "Look at them!"
"See what I told you about them knowing a good thing when they saw it?" Lorna chuckled. "Say – how about we go and get that cotton candy now?" She pointed towards a vendor at the intersection of two paths, and then took Libby by the hand to prevent her from running away faster than she could catch her. When she got to the cart, she got two small whirls of cotton candy on long wooden sticks and then handed the smaller of the two to Libby, keeping in mind that they would need to be eating lunch soon. It wouldn't really do for her to be full up when she needed something more substantial, so Lorna had a plan for making sure that that didn't happen. Slipping her free hand into her pocket as she and Libby sat down on a park bench to eat their absurdly sugary snacks, she drew out a red-stitched softball from her coat pocket and said "Would you like to play some catch when we're finished?"
Libby nodded quickly. "Yes please, Mommy," she said, her voice slightly muffled by the contents of her mouth.
Lorna smiled. "Great! Let's just make sure this all goes down properly before we start, though – wouldn't want you to get a tummy ache, right?" The two of them sat down on a nearby bench and cuddled together while they ate their snack. When Lorna was sure that Libby would be fine to run around a little, she stood up and said "Shall we start now, sweetie?" Libby nodded excitedly, still licking her sticky fingers, and then ran a few metres away from her mother. "Get ready!" Lorna exclaimed, and threw the ball gently towards her daughter. Libby ran to catch it, and managed to just about grasp it with one small hand. Then she threw it back as hard as she could – but Lorna still had to run forwards a little to make sure it didn't land on the ground. What the hell, she's only three, she thought with a smile.
They played catch for about half an hour, laughing whenever they missed a throw, or threw so badly that the ball ended up nowhere near its intended target. Soon, Lorna could feel her stomach growling, and could see Libby looking equally hungry, so she picked the ball up and said "Would you like to go and have that pizza now, honey?"
"Yay!" Libby exclaimed, clapping her hands and nodding vigorously. "Can we go to my favourite place, please, Mommy?"
Lorna tapped her chin with a fingertip. "Well... I don't know about that. Have you been a good girl today?" She fully intended to honour Libby's request, of course – her favourite place was a few minutes' walk away, so it was hardly too far to travel – but she thought this might make her smile a bit.
"Yes, Mommy," Libby said brightly, already knowing this routine off by heart. "I've been a very good girl."
"And have you done everything I've asked you to do?"
"Yes, Mommy," Libby said, trying hard not to grin.
"And are you really hungry?"
"Yes, Mommy!" Libby said, finally bursting into a fit of giggles.
"Well, I guess we have to go, then," Lorna replied, holding out her hand. "Come on, kiddo, let's go eat." She led Libby towards the entrance of the park and out into the street again, and saw a convoy of Russian tanks trundling across an intersection up ahead. They didn't seem to be heading towards anything important, though, judging by their speed and the disposition of the men standing behind the machine guns in their turrets, leading Lorna to automatically breathe a little sigh of relief. She felt Libby squeezing her hand a little more tightly then, so she squeezed back and said "Don't worry, sweetheart, they're not here to hurt anybody. They're just passing through, okay? They'll be gone soon." The tanks rumbled away almost as quickly as they had appeared, leaving behind nothing but oily tank-tread marks smeared all over the surface of the road, and some smoky exhaust fumes that curled away lazily on the breeze. When she was sure they were out of sight, Lorna decided to quicken her pace a little, just to make sure that she would not run into any more of them – the Russians had twice threatened to ruin her day off, so she definitely didn't want to give them an opportunity to try a third time. "Would you like me to carry you, honey? I bet that would make us get to the pizza place faster," she said, holding her arms out. Libby nodded, and so she hoisted her daughter up onto her shoulders gently, feeling the welcome weight settle onto her and hoping that this would help the journey go a little faster.
Sure enough, it was only a short while until they arrived at the door of the restaurant, and Lorna crouched down to let Libby get back on her own two feet before taking her by the hand and leading her indoors. It didn't take them very long to find a table by the window, as it was hardly full at all. Lorna lifted Libby into her seat and then sat down opposite her, picking up a menu and flipping through it. "Well, here we are," she said. "What would you like to have today?"
"Ham!" Libby cried. Lorna smiled at that; Libby was nothing if not predictable when it came to her choices of pizza toppings, rarely straying from a set number of favourites. "Ham, Mommy!"
"Okay, sweetie, I think we can do that," Lorna replied, before she pointed to Libby's dolly and said "Would Flossie-Bell like anything?"
Libby put her ear to the dolly's mouth, and said "She says she wants some pineapple."
"Ham and pineapple," Lorna said with a smile. "Got it. Anything else?"
Once again Libby put her ear to her dolly's mouth, and said "Can Flossie-Bell please have some Coke too?"
Lorna tried her hardest not to smile at that. Good hustle, kid, she thought. "Sure, that sounds good to me. Just as long as she drinks it, not you."
"Silly!" Libby said, giggling. "I wouldn't do that!"
"Well, I'll be keeping an eye on you just in case," Lorna replied. "I'm sure Flossie-Bell will be able to tell me all about it if I miss anything." She called the waitress over and said "I think we're ready to order now. I'll have the Red Star special mozzarella with extra anchovies, please."
"Okay, that's one Red Star special mozzarella, extra anchovies," the waitress said, scribbling it down into her notebook before she turned to Libby. "And for you, madam?"
"Ham," Libby said shyly. "And my dolly wants pineapple."
The waitress smiled. "One ham and pineapple. Okay, I'll see what I can do. Would either of you like anything to drink while you're waiting?"
"Just some water for me, please," Lorna said. "And my daughter's dolly will have some Coke – but not too much. She's already had some cotton candy today, so much more sugar and she won't sleep tonight."
"I see. I'll make sure I get a small glass, then," the waitress said with a knowing expression, tucking her pen and notepad back into the small apron tied around her waist. "I'll be back with those drinks as soon as I can."
The waitress left their table – and then the street outside shook with a thunderous explosion, which Lorna recognised as the impact of a rocket launcher. Quickly, she ushered Libby under their table, and then looked out of the window. The building across the street was almost crumbling in on itself thanks to the yawning, jagged-edged hole which had been torn in its side by the explosion, and pieces of brick and metal were strewn across the ground in a halo of rubble. Thick rubber-coated wires were thrashing around on the concrete sidewalk, sending out jagged blue tongues of electricity and clouds of smoke billowing from within the wounded building. To her right she could see a knot of rebels emerging from an alleyway, laden down with grenades and other explosives and laying down a curtain of suppressive fire from their pilfered weapons, but she couldn't see who they were supposed to be suppressing until she saw a small group of black-clad soldiers emerging from the smoky ruins. They were enclosed from head to foot in armoured suits, red stars gleaming on their shoulders and their faces hidden from view by dark-eyed helmets, and they carried large, brutal-looking rifles. Lorna had never seen their design before, but they were at least twice as bulky as the standard Russian assault rifle, with what looked like a grenade launcher slung under the weapon's long barrel. The presence of a second trigger guard seemed to confirm that, and Lorna felt a cold smear of terror ooze down her spine. This was not going to end well for anybody.
The lead soldier squeezed his weapon's trigger and a volcanic spray of bullets scythed across the street, liquefying at least one rebel and blowing the leg off another. The soldier behind him stopped to put a single round through the crippled rebel's forehead, presumably to prevent him from pulling the pin on the numerous grenades he had strapped to his body, and then opened fire on the fleeing rebels alongside his leader.
Lorna didn't wait to see any more. She simply crawled under the table where Libby was whimpering, and clasped her daughter tightly to her body. "It's all right, baby girl," she whispered. "Shh, now. Everything's going to be fine. We'll be all right, I promise."
She hoped that was true.
