Poison and Wine
Chapter 37
Disclaimer: Revolution belongs to people richer than me.
When Bass and Charlie finally emerged from their cocoon of new marital bliss, the first person they came across was Miles. He took one look at them, noted the red bracelets but more importantly that each was now adorned with a new ring on their left ring finger. His face had contorted with supreme disgust. "Tell me nothing. I want to know nothing," he demanded. "But congratulations."
"Thanks brother," Bass said with a huge grin.
"Don't grin at me," Miles said. "I'll punch you."
"Don't be so grumpy, Miles," Charlie teased.
"The less I know about whatever the happier I am and the prettier your new husband's face gets to stay," Miles informed her. "I was sent to find you because we are going to be stopping soon. We are a few miles from Harrisburg and we'll gather the last bit of wood and food before we swing south. Intel suggests they believe we are coming at them from the south. Taking the train the longer way around has proven strategically sound."
"Gotcha," Charlie said.
"So just make sure that you have all your stuff all set to go. We don't know if we'll have to abandon the train and go on foot at any time," Miles suggested and made to move around them.
"Bass only has two shirts to pack now." Charlie couldn't prevent herself from ribbing her uppity uncle.
"I swear to God Charlie," Miles grumbled as he shoulder bumped Bass out of his way. He was mumbling under his breath as he lumbered away but it sounded like he said something about jumping in a river and reeking of sex. Charlie couldn't stop the snicker that escaped and Bass smirked at her antics. "I mean it kid. I'll be the next one to push you off a moving train," Miles called back when he heard her laughter.
"Wait—somebody pushed you off a train?" Bass inquired.
"Jason did when we were marching to Philly to get my brother," Charlie said and tugged on his arm so they could go towards the food car because true to his word they hadn't left their quarters until well after breakfast.
"Were you hurt?" Bass asked.
"No. A couple of bruises but I've had worse. It was worse losing Danny because he was right in front of me," Charlie admitted.
"I wish you had managed to get him," Bass told her.
"Me too," Charlie admitted. "He might still have died but I would just like the extra weeks with him."
They were greeted by Monroe Militia when they reached Harrisburg. Guns were aimed at their open doors and identification was demanded. Bass and Miles exchanged loaded glances—the time had finally come. There was no more just playing Generals to their hodgepodge army but time to be part to the Militia. But in the look was the understanding that it wouldn't be like before. They moved towards the front of the crowd waiting to detrain. "It's me, President Monroe with General Matheson and allies."
"Let me see," called out a voice from an angle outside of the train that neither man could see. But the sound of it rang so clearly to them—it was a voice they'd known for over a decade. Then like some magical aberration there was Jeremy Baker in full Militia uniform striding towards the car door to inspect the people claiming to be the two highest commanders of the Republic. He paused and took in their rather changed appearances then nodded his head. "I'll be goddamned. It really is you two sons of bitches."
"Jeremy?" Bass said in awe. "But how…"
"Am I alive right now and standing in as commander of the Militia while you have been out gallivanting with Texas of all places?" Jeremy surmised. "Because while you were too busy going crazy and obsessive over all things Matheson and power, I was gaining friends and supporters within the Militia. It really wasn't that big of a leap for me to figure that I was next on your chopping block after that hitman attempted to kill you on the street. They shot me in the arm so there'd be blood and then I was snuck out of the city and hiding out in Massachusetts for a while. Then I heard about the bombs and that you were MIA. Things started going to hell. So I did what we were trying to do all along: Tried to reestablish order. Been a hell of a time doing that and dealing with these asshole Patriots."
"That's what we've been dealing with the last couple of years," Miles commiserated. "So if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get the hell off this train."
"Yeah come on. We won't shoot you for treason," Baker gave a wry grin.
"Ha-ha. Good one," Miles said as he hopped off the train and his pack swung around and slapped him the back.
"It's President Monroe and General Matheson," Jeremy Baker announced to the militia and they all began to defer to Bass and Miles. "Let me get us a wagon that'll take us to your living quarters."
"I thought part of the State Capitol building had been rehabbed for living quarters?" Miles asked as they marched along the walk and did his level best to ignore the men that stood at attention and saluted as he and Bass walked by.
"It was. But then these Patriots started attacking us and Philly was bombed," Jeremy explained. "I figured that was a rather big target if they wanted to take out what little bit of leadership we were operating with."
"Good idea," Bass agreed as he climbed onto a wagon with Miles and Jeremy. He held the wagon driver until he saw Charlie climb into the back. He hadn't expected the resurrection of an old friend and didn't like being separated from her but he really wanted to catch up with his friend. "How have you been doing against the Patriots?"
"They haven't completely overrun us if that's what you mean," Jeremy answered. "Truthfully up until a few months ago I was up in New England mostly dealing with that part of the Republic. It was cut off from the southern part of the Republic because people were afraid of the fallout from the bomb. But we got reports of Patriots traveling pretty close to the area so we figured it couldn't be too dangerous otherwise they wouldn't go walking around it."
"It is safe—or as safe as it probably can be at the moment," Bass said thinking of what they'd learned of the Nano.
"At first we heard reports that Texas had assassinated you but then we heard that you were marching across the countryside taking down Patriots," Jeremy informed as the wagon traveled down the city streets. Age had cracked much of the pavement and it was hardly a smooth ride.
"Yeah well the reports were a bit exaggerated," Bass snarled as he recalled being chained and led to his death.
"Get over it, Bass," Miles said.
"Yeah, you're not the only one here who's supposed to be dead," Jeremy taunted.
"Exactly. Suck it up, Bass," Miles said.
"Oh shut up. You're still pissed I married Charlie," Bass scoffed.
"Charlie? Charlie? That blonde with the crossbow?" Jeremy asked.
"That's her," Bass said with pride.
"You're married?"
"You don't have to sound so damn surprised," Bass groused.
"Um, the President that I recall wouldn't have settled down with one woman," Jeremy reminded him. "Also that man you knew wouldn't apologize but I am. I'm unbelievably sorry that I tried to have you killed and glad you outsmarted me."
"Well first, I was clearly insane and second, you don't know Charlie that well," Bass said by way of explanation.
The wagon stopped in front of a large two story red brick home. There was a white veranda around the front of the house and two smaller balconies on the second floor. It was a few blocks away from the Capitol building. It was a generally nondescript area and there were not a number of guards outside the facility to attract attention. Bass did a quick scan of the area and realized that there were a number of Militia guards stationed in nearby buildings. Jeremy led them all up the walk way and into the atrium. They were met by a man in a uniform. "Sirs," he said. "I've had Linda prepare rooms for everyone."
"Thank you Sergeant Walsh," Jeremy Baker said. "Make sure that the President is given the suite and I'll take the quarters near the stairs."
Shuffling in behind Bass and Miles was their usual misfit band: Charlie, Rachel, Aaron, Priscilla and her two girls, Gene, Connor, Leila and Bones. "I'm afraid we don't have rooms enough for everyone," Walsh admitted worriedly.
"Charlie and I will be sharing quarters," Bass spoke up. "The only ones needing their own rooms are Rachel, Miles, Gene and Bones."
"No need Monroe," Bones spoke up. "I just came along to find where the base of operations will be. I'm going back to be with my wife and the rest of my clan. We and the rest of the army were given lodgings nearby."
"That'll be fine," Bass said.
"We'll be staying with them," Leila said.
"All right that should make more than enough room for everyone," Bass decided.
"Yes sir," Walsh said. "We've prepared baths for everyone."
"Oh thank God," Aaron said with real feeling.
Walsh dared crack a smile. "Follow me and I'll escort everyone to their rooms."
Once inside the largest bedroom, Charlie and Bass both shared a bath in the in suite bath. Charlie let loose a heartfelt moan of appreciation as she sank into the steaming bath water. It was a little too warm but her body was partially frozen from the train, which shielded them from the elements but wasn't abundantly warm, and from the wagon ride from the train station. It'd been a while since Charlie had been in such cold weather but she was adapting back to it.
"You normally only make that sound if I'm making you come," Bass noted.
"Yes, well, don't be jealous," Charlie teased. "It's only bath water."
They heard the exterior door open into their living quarters. "Sir, we've left your uniform hanging in the wardrobe."
Bass visibly winced.
"What is it, Bass?" Charlie worried.
"It's my uniform. My President uniform." Bass said. Charlie's face lit with understanding. "Exactly. Are you going to be okay with seeing me wear it? Because I'll burn the thing in the yard if you want."
"Keep the scruff and I'll be okay," Charlie attempted to joke. But Bass was having none of it and leveled her with a look. "I mean, it'll be weird but what about us isn't unusual? If I start to see you getting sucked back into it I will kick your ass. Deal?"
"Deal," Bass agreed readily. "And I'll keep the scruff. I know what it does to you."
"No. You'll keep it because you like what it makes me do to you," Charlie remarked.
Bass let loose the first real laugh since he'd entered Harrisburg. "You got me there, babe. How about we celebrate our honeymoon one more time before we march off to war?"
"I suppose," Charlie pretended to be put upon but she was already sitting up and crawling towards him. "Do I have to call you General now?" The mockery danced in her blue-gray eyes.
"Yours," Bass said and pulled her into his arms. "Just call me yours."
Charlie and Bass walked down into their new war room and immediately saw Miles tugging at his collar. They'd wrangled him into wearing the uniform too. "General Matheson," Charlie said.
"Shut up," Miles snapped and scratched at his wrist. "Stupid thing is itchy. Was it always this itchy?"
"We can worry about your wardrobe malfunctions later," Baker said after the door was shut. "We need to talk strategy."
"Hey, where's my mom?" Charlie wondered. Rachel didn't typically miss one of their sessions.
"Rachel Matheson asked to be given a sequestered room. She's in tinkering with a bunch of computer stuff," Jeremy explained. "I have no idea why but then that woman never did make any sense to me."
"While Rachel plays X-files let's get to work," Miles said. Bass took the seat at the head of the table, Miles took the seat to his right and Charlie to his left. Jeremy sat next to Miles and Aaron, Gene and Bones all sat on Charlie's side of the table. "We are about 100 miles from D.C. That's where we know the Patriots are basing their operations."
"With your train it'll take is a few hours to get there," Jeremy reasoned. "How did you get the train, by the way?"
"Patriots took it from Georgia. We took it from the Patriots," Bass said.
"Fair enough," Baker said. "Guess it's a good thing you had all the train rails fixed in the Republic with the expectation of using them again."
"Do you have any intel on the Patriots?" Bones spoke up.
"We've pretty much pushed them out of the northeastern part of the territory. What lingered we just pushed up and out towards Canada and let them deal with them as invaders," Baker said. "They've probably got about 500 troops left in Washington. You've spread them pretty thin with your assaults south of us. Not to mention that Texas was cutting them down pretty fast."
"We haven't heard anything from Blanchard in weeks," Bass admitted. "We have to assume that Texas isn't going to be much help from here on out. We have no confirmation but let's assume that Texas has fallen."
"Are you sure?" Charlie worried. She thought of Henry and all the other kids she'd sent to Austin from Ardmore. She never should have left him behind but she thought he'd be safer inside Austin and not traipsing across the country towards certain war and almost certain death. He'd seen enough carnage. Now she may have doomed him to an even worse fate because the Patriots were probably already rounding up kids to turn them into their recruits.
"It's likely kid," Miles told her. His voice was void of any sarcasm or scorn.
Charlie remained quiet the rest of the meeting, lost in her thoughts. She'd seen what the Patriots could do to a person. She'd experienced it too. Worry about what Henry could possibly be enduring burned through her stomach, climbing and scratching at her throat making her feel sick.
"How many of the Militia is in the area that we can round up for an attack on the Patriots?" Bass inquired.
"We have 350 men in Harrisburg. I can have another 200 rounded up in twenty-four hours or so. I didn't want to put all our troops together in case they attacked or had any other means to drop bombs or anything," Jeremy explained.
"Good decision. They took out a lot of our men when they bombed Philly," Bass reasoned.
"Yeah. It's…we have a place in upstate New York where we moved a lot of the refugees from Philly. The ones that survived…you wonder if it really was a blessing," Jeremy said somberly.
"We will get them for Philly," Bass promised.
"Send word to our surrounding Militia troops to march directly to D.C. and we'll be there in three days by the train. No point in asking them to march to us just to try to cram more people on the train. Let's give our guys a chance to get some rest, a decent meal, and thaw from the goddamn cold before we go make war," Miles ordered.
"What about the civilians that have been traveling with us?" Bones asked.
"They'll be left behind. This expedition is only soldiers and necessary personnel for medical care," Bass ordered. "Let's limit the number of casualties that we'll inevitably incur. We are also going to leave a contingent of soldiers behind in Harrisburg so we don't leave the city unprotected."
"You've been in charge of these men for the last year or so, Baker. You'll know who would be good to leave behind in case of an emergency—they'll need a good leader—and who we definitely should take with us," Miles said. "You come up with the list."
"Gotcha, General." Baker said. "I'll have that to you by the end of the day."
"Good. Now there's one issue that we need to address: We are running low on ammo and the Patriots seem to have stockpiles of it. We are going to be marching straight to death unless we can round up any guns and ammo," Miles leveled with everyone.
"That's taken care of," Jeremy said with an enigmatic grin. "You aren't the only ones stealing from the Patriots. You stole a train; we stole a few of their munitions stockpiles. And each time we defeat them we make sure to relieve them of all of their weaponry."
"Good. That'll definitely level the playing field," Bass said. "Alright. I think that's everything."
"Hold on," Aaron spoke up. "I think Rachel and I need to go along with the troops."
"Absolutely not. You're not a soldier, Aaron," Miles said. "So unless you can still light people on fire you aren't any good to us and you'll get yourself killed."
"But we made a deal with the Nano remember? If we're heading straight into D.C. and the headquarters of the Patriots don't you think we might find some records of their plans with the Nanotech? Are any of you going to know what to look for or what you're looking at?" Aaron countered. "We can go with the medical unit if that'll make you feel better. Gene should probably come along because they probably have records of all their nasty plans like they did in Ardmore. He might be able to figure out their plan."
"Gene is in charge of the medic unit," Bass said. "But if he can leave that behind once we take D.C. then that'll be fine. But his first priority is taking care of the wounded."
"Agreed," Aaron said.
"Alright. We'll dismiss until later when Jeremy has a list compiled for us," Bass said. "Send word that we need to start organizing and replenishing food stores and any medical supplies to be stocked on the train."
"Paloma and Rosa are already working together on the food," Bones said referring to his wife and the unofficial head of the camp followers, respectively. "As far as I know, Doc Porter was already rounding up supplies."
"Good. Dismissed," Bass said and stood from his chair.
The next couple of days passed quickly as they kept finalizing and fine tuning their battle strategy. Wagons kept moving through the city carrying loads of munitions that Jeremy had buried and locked away so the Patriots couldn't find them and take them back. Train cars were all filled with medical supplies and food. Priscilla was going to stay behind with her girls but everyone else in their merry band was going—including Connor, who refused to let his limp stop him from going to battle.
Rachel was the only person missing in action. She hadn't once attended a single war council meeting and had kept herself holed away in the small room she'd commandeered for herself. The door was kept lock at all times. If it wasn't for a tray of food that was taken inside the room and then placed empty out in the hallway it would be easy to believe she had disappeared or died. It was hours before they were set to leave and Aaron decided they needed to do an intervention.
That was how Charlie found herself outside her mother's door with Bass, Miles, Aaron, and Gene knocking on her mother's door demanding that she let them in. Rachel cracked the door open just enough to show her face. "Mom, let us in. This is crazy."
"I'm not crazy, Charlie. I'm working. I'm trying to appease the Nano so they don't bother you anymore," Rachel snapped. "Stop pounding on the door."
"Rachel, don't be a bitch," Bass shot back at her. "She's only concerned about you."
"You want me to do the coding or do you want me to talk to you about the coding?" Rachel said in her pathological superior than thou voice.
"Whatever. The train is heading out in a couple of hours," Bass said. "You either get on or get left behind."
"I'll be there," Rachel vowed.
"Yippee," Bass said sarcastically.
"You can talk to me about the coding, Rachel. I'll surely understand what you're working on," Aaron rationalized.
"Not this time, Aaron. I'll see you all on the train," Rachel said. "But if you want to do me a favor. Try to find me a couple spare laptops." Then she shut the door in their faces.
"A couple spare laptops?" Miles repeated incredulously. "Sure I'll run over to Best Buy and get her a couple dozen."
"Laptop?" Charlie asked.
"Portable computer," Aaron explained. Charlie nodded understanding but she didn't really know what it looked like. "How the hell are we going to find a couple of those?"
"If Best Buy's out we can always try Staples," Miles joked.
"Be serious, Miles," Bass snapped. "I'll talk to Baker. We used to have a stock pile of computers in the Republic in case the power ever turned on. We figured they'd be necessary. I'll see if we still have any around."
"Great. Since Bass is going shopping, the rest of us need to get the last of gear together and be ready to get on the train," Miles said. Then he leaned over so Rachel could hear him through the wooden door. "Rachel, whatever you're doing, don't forget to get your gear ready. The train really won't wait."
"I'm ready, Miles," she called back. "Now go away."
The group of them looked at each other and just shrugged. There wasn't anything they could do if she wouldn't let them into the room, not that most of them would understand what she was talking about anyway. Rachel was being mysterious for a reason. Charlie just wondered why.
A/N: All feedback is welcome. Thanks for reading!