The Guardians (4 page)

"Well Son, I hope things work out and you find him, but even if you don't, we could always use more patriotic prior service types like yourself around here.  You would have a home and a purpose.  You can help us put this country back together, starting with Texas of course," Mark said as they walked towards the administration office.

"I appreciate that Sir, I really do, but once I find Luke, we'll be off to find our parents.  I could never live with myself, and I'm sure he couldn't either, if we at least didn't try to find them.  I can't live with that dark cloud of uncertainty, not knowing where or how they are," Nate said just looking at his feet as they walked.

As they approached the administration office, Mark put his hand on Nate's shoulder and led him inside.  They walked down the hall and passed several wounded personnel, some of which were missing limbs and had other serious injuries from the attacks by the cartels.  Mark said, "Most of the folks that work here, who aren't medical personnel, are casualties themselves.  We need just about every able bodied individual to staff sentry locations and checkpoints, as well as our security patrols on the border and throughout all of our towns and cities where we have a presence.  These folks are continuing to serve in any capacity they can and we have a place for every one of them."

They entered the administration office and an attractive young female in her early twenties immediately caught Nate's eye.  She was dressed in a Texas State Guard uniform and was sitting behind the desk.  When she saw them enter, she looked up, smiled and said, "Good evening Colonel Tucker." 

This caught Nate off guard as he had been thinking of Mark Tucker as just an ordinary man.  Nate still was not completely up to speed on the whole Texas State Guard versus the Texas Citizen's Guard thing.  After all, he was not wearing any rank insignia and until now, everyone had been calling him Mr. Tucker or Mark.

"You're a Colonel?" Nate asked with a confused look on his face.

"Yes," he replied.  "Off premises we keep a pretty low key.  Our folks are all volunteers that could leave anytime, so there is no reason to push the hierarchy thing too hard.  It's also a wise security strategy to keep our positions discrete outside the gates, given the cartel's penchant for
kidnapping.  I'd rather miss out on a few salutes and formalities than end up hanging from an overpass with a warning sign around my neck."

The young woman just grinned at Colonel Tucker's explanation and then said, "How may I help you gentlemen?"

"Nate here is looking for his brother who was a medical student here at the university when it all went down.  He has traveled a long way to find him, so we are hoping you may have some sort of record on him," said Colonel Tucker.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Luke, well officially Lucas Hoskins, but he always went by Luke Ma'am," Nate replied.

"Well, let me look," she said as she rolled away from the desk in a wheelchair.  Nate was so taken back by her beautiful smile that he had not even noticed that the chair she was sitting in was a wheelchair.  She was missing both of her legs from just above the knees.  She noticed him staring and he quickly looked away.  She said, "It's OK.  I get that a lot.  The desk hides things.  I was a TNG medic and was hit by an IED in an ambush while on our way to help an injured civilian.  Unfortunately, that all happened to be a ruse used by the cartel to get us to the kill zone."

"Oh no," he said in an embarrassed manner.  "It's just been a long time since I've seen such a beautiful woman."

She just blushed, smiled, and rolled on over to her files.  She went through several different cabinets until finally pulling out a file and saying, “Lucas William Hoskins?”

“Yes, that’s him!” exclaimed Nate.  His heart raced at what felt like a thousand beats per minute in anticipation of the information she held in her hand.  “Is he here?  Is he OK?”

“He was here for a while, but he volunteered to be a field medic.  It looks like he is currently with a unit that is on an extended patrol.  That’s all of the info I have here as this is basic personnel info, but perhaps Colonel Tucker can help you find out more,” she said as she returned to her desk and handed the file to Colonel Tucker.

“I’ll see what I can come up with.  The actual movements of individual units are kept quiet, for obvious reasons.  Let’s head back to Post 19 where we met so I can reacquaint you with your horse and gear.  You can spend the night there while I try to find out how to locate your brother.  Hopefully I’ll have some more useful information for you by tomorrow,” Colonel Tucker said as he took the file from the clerk.

“Yes Sir!” said Nate in an excited tone.  This had been the first time since it had all happened that he had heard anything at all about a family member.  If Luke was with the TNG, he would surely be able to track him down.  “Thank you Ma’am for the information.  You've made my day,” he said to the young woman as he turned to leave.  “Oh by the way, what’s your name again?” he asked her. 

“Oh it’s Lisa Sanchez.  Sargent Lisa Sanchez,” she said with a smile. 

“Petty Officer Nathan Hoskins if you want to put it that way,” he said returning the smile.

“OK kids, we’ve got to get back to catch the next van for the return trip.  Thanks Sargent for the information, I’ll see you around,” Colonel Tucker said as he led Nate out of the room.

As Nate and Colonel Tucker left the building and walked back to the guard shack to catch the van back across town, Colonel Tucker said to Nate, "We've got some makeshift sleeping quarters and shower facilities back at Post 19.  You can check on your horse and we'll get you a shower and a rack for the night.  I'll check around with our Ops folks to try and track down your brother, and we'll go from there if anything turns up."

"Thanks a lot Colonel.  I really appreciate what you're doing for me.  This is more help than I ever expected or have received since it all began," Nate said with sincere gratitude in his voice.

"Call me Mark, no need for formalities between us.  Besides, if your brother has been serving alongside us all this time, he deserves our help in getting you two back together," Mark said as he gave Nate a pat on the shoulder.

Just as Colonel Tucker said, Nate was given a bed and had his gear, including his shotgun, returned to him.  He visited with his horse and gave her food and water that the TSG personnel had provided him with before turning in for the night.  That night, Nate tossed and turned in anticipation of what the next day would bring.  A combination of excitement and uncertainty pumped through his veins as the culmination of his struggles during the past year's journey was about to come to fruition.

****

Chapter 4: The Confederacy

Evan and Jason were on their way to Ollie and Mildred Thomas's farm for what was now their weekly security visit.  Being that the Thomas farm was only a few miles away, they were riding Evan and Jake's mountain bikes in order to conserve the fuel that remained in their supply cache.  Mike Vandergriff was staying behind this trip to remain at the homestead for security.  The three men always rotated this duty by sending two out on a run, while one stayed behind with Greg and Jake to supervise the security of the homestead.  Jake and Greg had both grown up a lot in a short amount of time.  With the stability that once allowed American youth to live without a care now just a memory, maturity was now a factor of survival.  Everyone now must contribute to survive, and this includes the possibility of being involved in an armed conflict.  After the assault on the Homefront last fall, they had both risen to meet the challenge, leaving the men much more comfortable leaving the Homefront for supply and security runs.  They planned to add Greg to these runs soon, with Jake soon to follow if it all goes well.

"Well, if nothing else at least we will never have to worry about getting out of shape having to travel like this all the time," Jason said as they peddled their bikes up a fairly steep hill.  The topography of East Tennessee made travel by bike or foot a workout, as it is extremely hilly and mountainous.

"Yea, I'm saving a ton of money on gym memberships," Evan replied with a snicker. 

As they approached the farm, they followed their normal security protocol and mixed up their arrival procedures just in case the place were to ever be under surveillance by would-be looters.  They did not want anyone with hostile intentions to be able to easily pattern them in order to undermine the security support that they provided for the Thomas's.  They stopped about a half mile away from the front gate and hid their bikes off to the side of the road behind some bushes and foliage.  "You swing wide to the left and come in through the hay field, and I'll handrail the road off to the right through the woods.  If it all looks clear, I'll approach the house via the driveway so that Ollie and Mildred can see me coming.  You stay just out of sight as usual until I get to the house and I'll signal you to join us if all is well," Evan said.

"Roger Roger," Jason said as he ducked off into the woods, quickly disappearing from view as he blended into the natural environment.  Both men now wore camouflage clothing year round as function now always took priority over fashion.  Evan and Molly had stockpiled a decent amount of surplus camouflage, such as several seasonal varieties of Swiss camo as well as German Flecktarn.  Flecktarn was a good year-round pattern for the region, and could be acquired cheap and in bulk prior to the collapse.  Mike and Jason also both still had a stockpile of camo from their military days, as well as from recreational hunting.  They had both managed to bring some with them during their respective bug-outs.

Both men followed their respective routes stealthily and observant.  Nothing could be taken for granted these days.  Since the collapse, the decency of society outside of one's own associations could not be assumed.  The members of their alliance were constantly dealing with thieves and looters since most of the population of the major cities had now become migrant groups of people in search of food and a new place in the world.  At times, they seemed like plagues of locust, devouring resources as they moved from place to place.  At first, many of them were simply looking for a handout, but the high mortality rate from exposure and starvation had hardened most of the survivors into bands of thieves and looters that would do whatever it took to survive.  Without the basic food production and survival skill sets that rural Americans tended to be ingrained with, the lifelong urban dwellers had to simply take what they needed, and more often than not, it was by force.  Evan often joked that the Hank Williams Jr. song "A Country Boy Can Survive" was being proven right every day.

As Jason made his way around to the hay field, he set himself up in a position where he could remain inside of the tree line, out of sight, and behind cover.  From there, he would be able to engage any threats at or near the farmhouse with his Remington 700 in .300 Win Mag.  He brought along his "Remy" on every outing to act as the designated over-watch, while Evan or Griff took up the point position with a high capacity intermediate weapon such as an AR, AK, or VZ.  Today Evan had brought along his beloved VZ58 side folder.  For their runs outside of the Homefront, he loved its incredibly compact and easy to carry size when folded, especially when traveling via mountain bike.  This combination of both a Remington 700 and a VZ58 gave the pair both a high rate of fire and long range capability, allowing them to address the myriad situations that may arise during a run.  Once in position, Jason clicked his hand held radio mic three times indicating to Evan that he was now on watch.  This meant that Evan could approach the house with the confidence that he was in Jason's kill zone for fire support, in the event things were to go south.

Evan heard the clicks through his earpiece and slowly emerged from the side of the road.  He began to walk in plain view towards the house, so that Ollie and Mildred could visually identify him.  As he approached the house, the front door opened and Mildred came out and said, "You're just in time for coffee," which was their phrase to let them know they were not under duress, whereas she would use tea instead of coffee if someone was known to be listening or observing. 

Evan clicked his mic four times to notify Jason that the home was secure and said, "Good, I could sure use a cup."  With that, Jason emerged from his position, slung his rifle over his back and proceeded to the house.  Evan kept a watch over Jason while he proceeded towards the house.  Once he reached the front porch, the two men joined Mildred inside.

"Good morning boys," she said with a smile.

"Good morning Ma'am," they both responded.

"Ollie is out checking on the cattle in the back pasture, he should be back anytime.  So how was the ride in this morning?" she asked.

"Nice and uneventful," Jason said as he reached out to accept the cup of coffee that she was handing him.

"Yep, other than having to wait up for Jason it went smooth," Evan said with a devious smirk as he looked at Jason who was taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yea right," Jason said.  "I was just trying to set a slow pace for the old man here so he wouldn't overdo it," he said as he returned the smirk.

"You two remind me so much of my boys, always picking at each other in fun," Mildred said with a smile, although Evan and Jason could both see the hurt in her eyes of not knowing what had become of her own children.

Just then, they heard the back door open with Ollie's familiar knock to let Mildred know it was only him entering the house.  He had told her that if she ever hears someone enter the house without a sign that it is him, to run to the basement and lock herself inside.  Their basement, being completely underground to act as a root cellar, had become their bug-in or panic room if anything were to happen.