War World X: Takeover Read Online Free Page A

Hell’s-A-Comin’, so I’ll explain it to yahs. We help each other…even if yah wasn’t lucky enough to come from Ireland, Or Scotland, or Wales. Yah’s miners, and we’s the older of all miners’ unions. We help each other out when we’s outside and on surface, yah understand? If ya got food, ya don’t let a brother go hungry. Ya help him in a fight. Ya protect his claim when he asks ya, and he’ll do the same for yahs.
    “All of ya’s Brothers now…so as ya line up at the beer, look at each other’s faces so ya’ll know each odder. And with the tappin’ of the keg I call the meeting adjourned.”
    And he hit the plank once more.
    As the others were turning toward the bar, an older miner came limping up to him. “Hey, Irish,” he almost whispered. “A word in private, if you please?”
    Himself studied the older man for a moment, heart thudding as he recognized him. At last, this was the man he’d waited so long to see. He looked left and right, then strolled out of the dugout and into the windswept street. The old miner followed.
    “This should be far enough t’avoid unwelcome ears—Mr. Bronstein,” he said quietly.
    Bronstein winced, but then smiled. “You’ve done your homework,” he admitted.
    “What’s left o’ the unions on Earth ain’t fools,” Himself grinned. “We’ve taken a page from you Wobblies, and learned ta study well—an’ keep good records.”
    “Knowledge isn’t exactly power,” Bronstein admitted, “But it’s way the hell out in front of raw ignorance.”
    “It ain’t power, but it damn-well is survival. That’s the mistake your First Union made.”
    “We had knowledge,” Bronstein growled. “It wasn’t enough. Why do you think you can do better?”
    “First Union had only the one cave-complex,” Himself said carefully. “We’ve got several already, and we’re workin’ at diggin’ more. We’ve spread further up and down the river, and we’re makin’ settlements a good ways inland from it. We’ve already got connections with the farmers, and we make more—and we also help ’em by digging, uh, storm cellars for the lot of ’em, if ya know what I mean.”
    “It’ll take you a lot of work to connect them.”
    “So we take our time. First Union, well, ya jumped too fast: didn’t get enough bolt-holes an’ supplies before ya made yer move.”
    “Hell, we thought we had to make our move before Kenny-Co brought in the next load of transportees for scabs. We didn’t think the company could hold out for much more than two hundred days.” Bronstein laughed bitterly. “We also thought, miners being rare then, that we were too valuable to shoot. Honest mistake.”
    “Well, we gotta big population down here now.” Himself glanced up and down the dirt street, just making sure. “Aye, and we got no illusions about what the companies will do if we challenge ’em straight out. Nah, we don’t just strike; we use a different tactic.”
    “Such as?”
    “First, we don’t call ourselves a union. Nobody mentions the Industrial Workers o’ the Worlds, nobody quotes the old sayings, and nobody gives any hints the Kenny-Co ears might pick up. By the way, how did ya get alive out o’ that cave?”
    The old miner winced. “When the survivors saw that the Marines weren’t going to follow us into the cave, we put on a little performance for them. They bought it and we kept our heads down afterward. How did you guess?”
    “People talk, and I’m good at listenin’. But you get the idea we’re playin’ at here? We’re just the Fraternal Order of Hibernians and Caledonians, and we’re just a social an’ charitable organization. Ya got that, too?”
    “Starting slow, then.”
    “An’ as a charitable organization, it makes sense we should make deals and ties an’ all with the settlers. All the settlers.”
    “Even the Harmonies?”
    “Especially the Harmonies.” Himself fixed Bronstein with an impaling glare. “Who do ya think’s got the