Trial by Ice by Casey Calouette Page B

slowly near the shore. With each receding wave the boat creaked. William kept his eyes on Berry, who was looking into nothing. Grue stared at the four men before him.
    “I want a share of the patches left too, and a chance to go through the supplies you’ve recovered,” Berry finally said.
    “Bullshit,” Leduc spat. “Pick your own gear.”
    The tension rose as everyone unconsciously reacted, rocking onto toes and preparing to move. William realized he didn’t have a gun anymore. Little use it would be if the shooting began.
    William raised his hand. “Done.”
    “What?” Leduc turned at a quartering angle to the group. 
    “Are we done?” Berry asked.
    “Come get your rations, then we’re done,” William replied. He held Berry’s gaze for a moment and turned. He hobbled slowly through his men back towards the camp.
    The other three waited a moment and backed up, keeping themselves faced at the tent. Berry laughed and blew them an arrogant kiss. Grue stumbled backwards and caught himself before entering the tent.
    William hobbled and kept his head down. Maybe he should have shot them. He deflected the argument from Leduc on the way back—the others kept silent. He had avoided a shootout and would be rid of them soon enough.
    “That’s it?” William asked as he stood next to Crow and looked over the rations.
    Selim squatted nearby and nodded sadly.
    “That’s it,” Crow stated.
    A small sealed case sat apart from the rest. The ration bar pile was looking alarmingly thin. And now he was going to give away a quarter of them. Vito dropped a pile of the nanite patches near the case.
    Berry came with Grue and Nur. James sat outside the tent with an assault rifle on his lap. Nur grabbed the case of ration bars and the patches and lugged it back to the tent. Berry slowly poked through the pile of wreckage without comment. Grue whispered at him but Berry waved him off.
    “We’ll pump in the morning,” Berry said.
    The pair turned and walked away. All the eyes in the loyalist camp watched them trudge back.
    Crow stood and walked next to William. “I don’t like it.”
    “I don’t like it either, but we’ll be done with them soon,” William replied.
    Crow opened his mouth as if to speak but closed it.
    William saw it. “What?”
    “Hmm, we’ll see.”
     
    * * *
     
    Two days. In two days they had stripped half the shelter and rigged it into a sail. The meager pile of supplies stayed close to Crow, while nonessential gear was lashed to the boat. The night before, the reactor was hoisted into place and the wires ran to the purifier and both sets of heating coils.
    Berry had been seen with James working on the smaller boat but the progress seemed stilted. William had thought of going over and telling them they were leaving but decided against it. Instead he went back inside the torn tent. He laid down inside a damp sleeping bag and tried to sleep.
    Gunfire racked him awake from a dreamless sleep. The rapid fire burst of an assault rifle lit up one wall of the shelter. A man screamed in pain with a sound like a beaten animal.
    William rolled onto his side in the darkness and fumbled to get his bearings.
    “Move! Spread out!” Selim hissed as he dashed through the room and ran outside.
    Men rushed past William and spread out the door. He realized the imperative was to get out and into cover. The tent was a death trap, one grenade and boom, they were done. He crawled outside without his crutch. After the previous meeting, he had remembered the pistol. It was tucked into his jacket.
    “Get down dammit, get over here,” Avi whispered to William.
    William crawled towards Avi’s voice. Hands grabbed him and pulled him behind a frost-coated rock.
    Firearms opened up around him. He pulled the pistol out and clutched it to his chest. “Who is it?”
    “Gotta be Berry,” Avi said.
    William felt dread and relief wash over him. He feared they were under attack from the mainland. They could handle Berry.