"Go, Cec."

"My G.o.d, Ben, we must have vastly underestimated the number of creepies. My spotters around here say it appears there are several thousand creepies moving toward your position. And that's just from this point."

"It's as we discussed, Cec. We were overconfident. Are the planes airborne?"

"That's ten-four. They've been up for an hour.

It's approximately four hundred and fifty air miles to your location. The pilots don't like to push those old crates too hard. Every engine we're using is long overdue for an overhaul.

Call it four hours to touchdown. That will put them down just about one hour before dark."

"Couldn't be better, Cec. Hang tough. We'llsee you."

Buddy and his Rat Team were flushing out creepies as they blew the buildings around the old airport. They took one alive, dunked him in a huge old fountain-which was now filled with fresh rainwater-and took him to Ben.

"Well, he smells some better, at least" Ben said, after the creepie was handcuffed to a radiator pipe in the old office building. "Talk to me, mister."

"I will tell you nothing!"

"Oh ... yeah, you'll tell us. One way or the other. It's your choice."

"I'll tell you nothing!"

"Drugs can produce some amazing results,"

Dan said. "Obviously Buddy captured some sort of officer in the Believer movement. He knew quite a lot, actually. Very informative fellow."

"Where is he?"

"Lamar drew some blood for study. Must have scared him quite badly. Poor fellow died. Lamar is having an autopsy done on the remains."

"I can see you're all broken up about it."

"Oh, quite. The creepies really suckered us this time, General. Us, and the street punks. Obviously the street punks never had a clue that the majority of the creepies were living below the city. They had quite an elaborate system worked out. But once we're free of this little upcoming altercation here at the airport, it will be a very simple matter to seal off any underground tube systems and the sewer systems."

"How many are we facing, Dan?"

"About fifteen thousand, Ben."

Ben whistled softly. "d.a.m.n. were we ever suckered!

Now tell me the rest of it, Dan."

"They've got Cecil pinned down. There is no way he can move to help us. They've split their forces. They are antic.i.p.ating help from the north and they'll be waiting. As far as we are concerned, they'll be throwing about five thousand people at us tonight."

"Corrie, how many planes are bringing us supplies?"

"Everything that can fly, General."

Ben turned to Therm. "You heard it. Let's get ready for it."

Therm nodded and left the office building.

"Is everything and everybody positioned, Dan?"

"Ready and waiting, sir."

"I want teams standing by to off-load supplies as quickly as possible so those planes can get the h.e.l.l out of here. I want them back in the air to start ferrying West's people in to the airport at Santa Monica.

Corrie, do we still have a strip open there?"

"As far as I know, sir."

"All right. That will take some more pressure off Cecil. We can't use the runways up here at Ontario because they were destroyed. Corrie, b.u.mpCecil and tell him to radio Seven and Eight.

Tell them to come down behind us, through Barstow and San Bernardino. We know that's reasonably clear.

Fighters are escorting the transports so we can use them to strafe any mortar emplacements past the buffer zone. They've been advised of that, Corrie?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right, Dan. Let's you and me make an inspection tour and see just how good a shape we're in.

his The planes began coming in right on schedule, about an hour before dark.

Almost immediately, sniper fire began coming from the ruins surrounding the airport. And just as quickly, Rebel gunners began sh.e.l.ling the ruins with mortar and cannon fire, while the fighter plane escorts strafed the ruins.

The pilots did not cut their engines. They taxied out of the way of incoming planes, the cargo was off-loaded, and within minutes they were taking off, heading back to base, while other planes were landing.

Mortar rounds and artillery sh.e.l.ls were off-loaded and rushed to waiting crews. Medical supplies were taken to Doctor Chase. Rounds for Big Thumpers and Vulcans and Gatling guns were rushed to waiting crews. Claymores and pressure mines were offloaded and Buddy and his Rat Team began laying them out on the perimeters. Flares were brought in, as were tear gas rounds and canisters, clean socks and underwear, and food.

Beth checked off the contents of each plane, and then relayed that information to Ben. "It won't be a picnic," Ben said to Linda. "But I believe we can withstand anything the creepies throw at us." He smiled grimly and added, "We'll probably know in about an hour."

She was pushing .380 rounds into clips and slipping the clips into an ammo pouch. "It's bad, isn't it, Ben?"

He nodded his head. The movement was barely noticeable in the waning light. "Yes, it is. Very bad. And they're going to start lobbing mortar rounds in here before long. The reason they haven't done so before now is because they haven't had time to move the mortars into position. The streets are in such bad shape, getting cars and trucks through them takes hours.

They're having to hand-carry the tubes and rounds in for long distances."

Dan walked in. "We've got your bunker dug, General. It's about a hundred yards behind and to the east of this building."

"Thank you, Dan. Let's go, people. We're moving."

The bunker was about twenty by twenty and seven feet deep. It was damp and it was cold, but it was a h.e.l.l of a lot safer than what Ben and his team had just left. The roof was beamed with heavy timbers, corrugated metal placed on that, and earth on topof that. Boards had been placed on the floor as walkways to keep from churning up the mud.

"The last plane has left, General," Corrie told him. "Everyone got in and got out safely.

Cecil is now coming under small-arms and mortar fire."

"We're next, then. Everybody in flak jackets and helmets. Check gas masks."

"Done," Corrie told him after a moment.

Linda looked up. "Sounds like a covey of quails overheard."

"Mortars," Ben told her, just as the first rounds began exploding, knocking chunks of earth and mud from the walls of the bunkers. "Tell the artillery to return the fire, Corrie. Let's get this dance going."

For a few moments, it was a battle of cannon and mortar, a deafening, nerve-wracking cacophony of ground-trembling thunder.

During a few seconds' lull, Ben said, "Corrie, advise the troops the creepies will be moving into place while this is going on. Ready flares."

"Flares ready, sir."

Creepie mortar fire stopped. "Flares up."

Flares were fired and the harsh brilliance caught the creepies as they were advancing across the buffer zone.

"Fire!"

The Rebels opened up with every weapon that could make the range. Creepies went down like pins in a bowling alley. The Believers called their people back. The first attack had been beaten back without a single Rebel dead or wounded.

Ben waited in silence for a couple of minutes. Then he smiled. "They're short of mortar rounds," he said. "I believe they gave us all they had during the last barrage."

"That won't disappoint me," Jersey said.

"Get Cecil, Corrie."

She handed him the mike. "Cec. Are you still coming under mortar attack?"

"That's ten-fifty, Ben. Small-arms fire only."

"That's ten-four, Cec. They've shot their wad, then. I'd guess they're out of rounds."

"They've still got us pinned down tight."

"Same here. But if small arms is all they have, we've got the fight won. It'll just take a little time. We'll wear them down with artillery and then bust out as soon as Seven and Eight show up. As soon as West shows up with enough people north of you, he'll push to your location."

"I d.a.m.n sure won't complain about that."

"See you in a couple of days, Cec."

After twenty-four hours of exchanging fire, the Rebels could tell the creepies were losing steam.

By noon of the second day, spotters reported the creepies falling back into the ruins.

"Keep up the artillery fire," Ben ordered.

"Don't give them a chance to catch their breath.""Seven and Eight are a few miles out, sir,"

Corrie said. "They want orders."

"Tell them to come on in and share supplies with us.

Eight will occupy this airport and Seven will accompany us into the city."

The next day's dawning brought an end to the rain.

"Saddle up," Ben ordered. "We're moving.

Scouts out along the Interstate to the junction with 55.".

Eight Battalion moved into the airport, and Ben took his people and Seven Battalion in pursuit of the creepies holed up inside the ruins of the city.

They advanced twelve miles the first day, moving over to within a few miles of what was left of Anaheim. Ike was barreling in with Georgi paralleling him. The rest of West's troops were coming in with the rolling equipment. Cecil had cleared LAX and planes were landing every hour, bringing in explosives from Base Camp One.

Dan's Scouts had found maps of the sewer system and the tunnels under the city. "Blow them," Ben ordered. "Blow every entrance and exit you can find.

Seal it off-block it. The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds like the tunnels and the darkness. Let's give it to them. Let it become their tombs."

The Rebels advanced, working block by block, blowing and burning everything that stood in their way. This time the devastation was total. They left nothing standing behind them. Early fall melted into late fall, and more rains came. The Rebels worked on, destroying the city and flushing out creepies.

It was the most ma.s.sive undertaking the Rebels had ever tackled. House-to-house and building-to-building searching and destroying and fighting.

Cecil was working from LAX east, West and Ike working from the north down, and Georgi and Ben from the west toward the ocean. Seven and Eight were working from the south northward. They left nothing behind them except devastation.

On a bl.u.s.tery cool day in mid-November, a man came staggering out of the smoking, battle-ravaged ashes of what remained of Los Angeles, carrying a white flag.

"You hold it right there, a.s.shole!" a Rebel yelled.

The creepie stopped.

"What do you want?"

"To speak with General Raines."

"About what?"

"Surrender," the Believer said bitterly.

"When h.e.l.l freezes over!" Ben said.

"Anybody else, I'd say give them a chance,"

Ike said. "But not these people. No way."

"I will not accept the surrender of those creatures,"

Dan said emphatically.