Worst Case Scenario - Book 5: Militia (5 page)

CHAPTER 8

With the structure of the new militia taking shape, the group turned its attention to the immediate future.

“Okay, so what about all of those people that are on the other side of the hill?” Mary asked.

“Good question.  I want to divide into three groups and see if we can learn some things before we decide to recruit, walk by, or avoid them completely,” Ian devised.  “First off, Violet, I would like you to stay with the camp.   We’ll move the vehicles and the horses up into the woods and have things ready to go at the drop of the hat.”

Violet nodded at Ian, eager for the alone time.

“Mary, I need you at the ridge we were at yesterday.  You are our eyes and ears.  If you see something we need to know, call it out to us.  Worst case, you can give us some suppression fire if needed.”

“You got it,” Mary responded.

“Take the sniper rifle I showed you yesterday.”

“I don’t know if I can hit anything at that range.”

“Doesn’t matter, if you put a bullet near a situation, that may be all we need.”

“She’s got wicked good aim,” Leah added, smiling at the other women.

Mary nodded.  “I’ll do what I can.”

“Joshua and Grace, you two and Anna and Adam will need to divide once you get down there.  Keep your eyes and ears open for anyone that sounds like they want to organize and fight.  If you find anybody that is active or former military, call me, and we’ll do our best recruiting pitch.”

The four nodded.  “Yes, sir,” Joshua added.

“Also,” Leah added.  “Hand guns only. We don’t need to scare people.”

“Damn!” Adam mumbled.

“Oh my…” Leah whispered to her husband as they crested the hill and descended down to the racetrack.  From their position, they could see I-20 beyond the camping area around the track.  There were hundreds of cars along the stretch, and the skeletal remains of a burned out tractor trailer truck lumped up against the median.

Most of the people seemed to be milling around the structure of the track.  The gates were open, and Ian could make out dozens and dozens of people around the stands.

The group entered the gates and headed towards the backside of the grandstands.  People were milling around in various stages of confusion.

“They look hungry,” Leah whispered.

“They look desperate,” Ian countered.

“Hey, I’ve noticed a few people that have received medical help,” Grace offered the observation.

“Smart, Gracie,” Ian whispered.  “So, they are at least getting medical help here.”

“Does anyone see any police or military?  I don’t,” Joshua commented.

“Not yet,” Ian answered.  “I don’t see any freakers or any real threats, either.  Why don’t we split up.  Anna and Adam, see if you can locate the medical people.   Grace, you and Joshua, why don’t you see what is going on down at the track. There are a lot of people milling around the pits.  We’ll keep exploring the grand stands and grounds.  Meet back at the gate in an hour.”  Everyone looked at their watch, and the six became three groups of two.

Grace and Joshua exited the grandstands and started making their way down to the pits.

“Why are all these people just walking around?  Are they living here?”

“Looks that way, Grace.  I bet most of them came off the highway or walked here from Atlanta.”

“Why would they come from Atlanta?”

“I guess they are fleeing the fallout from the explosion or are scared, and the public place gives them some sort of comfort, safety in numbers and all. I really don’t know.”

“Hey,” Grace leaned closer to Joshua.  “Two guys, that way,” she looked in the direction she wanted Joshua to look.  “All armed and checking people before they go into that door.”

“I see them. It looks like they’re guarding whatever is on the other side of the door. Let’s check it out.”

The line of people wasn’t that deep, perhaps 20 or 25.  The people looked tired and hungry, but complacent.  The guards were letting in one or two at a time.

The pair held back and watched for a few minutes, each trying to blend in with the milling around of the crowd.  “Hey,” Joshua stopped a middle-aged woman.  She was filthy and looked like she hadn’t eaten in a week.  Her shirt was ripped along the sleeve, and her jeans were covered in dried mud.  She seemed to favor her left arm and held it close to her rib cage.  She didn’t stop at first until he put his hand on her shoulder.  She jumped, and it looked as if she was going to scream.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!  We just want to ask you a question,” Grace intervened.  “Shhh.  We just want to talk to you.”

“Talk?  You just want to talk?  Cause, I don’t have anything else to give you.”

Grace stepped in front of Joshua; his presence seemed to be terrifying her.  “We don’t want to take anything from you.  We just want to talk.”  Grace tried to talk softly to the lady.  She reached up to put her hand on the lady’s arm, but she flinched away. 

“Here,” Joshua reached around Grace’s waist and produced a bottle of water.

Grace took the water and offered it to the lady.  She took it, opened the cap, and drained the entire amount without stopping.

“Do you want to sit down?” Grace gently put her hand on the lady’s elbow; she didn’t pull away.  Grace directed the lady towards a stack of empty crates in a shady spot.  “My name is Grace.”

The lady looked at her.  “I’m Angela.”

Grace smiled.  “Nice to meet you, Angela.”  The lady nodded curtly. Her eyes shifted away from Grace to Joshua.  His presence was still making her nervous.

“How long have you been out here?”

“Since my car stopped about a mile up the highway, like one or two weeks.”  A tear streaked over his cheek and fell to the ground.

“Do you have any family or someone with you?”

Angela nodded.  “I did, a guy.  We work together.  Well, we used to.  He was in the passenger seat when we went off the road and hit the tree.”

Graced turned her head to look back at Joshua. He was constantly looking around as they talked.  “Were you hurt?”

“I was alright, but Keith was in the passenger seat.”

“Right, and is that where the tree hit?”

She nodded.

“So, you are here alone?”

She nodded.  A second tear fell to the ground.

Grace was trying very hard not to reflect the pain and suffering that the lady had obviously gone through since being stranded at the side of the highway.  She swallowed hard, trying to keep the lump in her throat down.  “Where are you from?”

Joshua handed another bottle of water around to Grace, and Angela took it before Grace could offer.

Angela wiped the tearstain off her cheek.  The action left a clean line on her dirty face.  “Little Rock.”  She took a long draw off of the water bottle before speaking again. “We, Keith and I, we both work for Wal-Mart corporate, and this is part of our territory.  This is the first water I’ve had in two days.”  She looked at Joshua for the first time.  “Thank you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Grace smiled.  “What’s going on over there?”  She nodded her head towards the guards.

“They are selling everything.”

“You mean water?”

“And food.  They were the first into the track and somehow secured the food.  I gave them everything I had to get a melted candy bar and a bottle of water.  That was on day three.”

“The attack happened nearly two weeks ago. What have you been doing to survive since then?” Joshua asked.  Grace knitted her eyebrows at him, thinking he hadn’t asked with enough compassion.  Nevertheless, Angela answered anyway.

“Well, after they raped me the first time, they gave me a hot dog bun and a cup of water,” she looked up at Joshua, her eyes flush with new tears. “I don’t know how much more of this I can do.  I just want to go home,” she said, and her body quaked with a sob.

Grace pulled the other lady into an embrace, letting her cry onto her shoulder.  “We will help you,” Grace whispered.  “We will help you.”

CHAPTER 9

Captain Cho had his directive from Colonel Xu.  He was now listening to the briefing by the new Governor, occasionally jotting down a few notes on a small pad.

“He is extremely intelligent and a master at survival,” Governor Payne offered. He eyed the officer as he diligently took notes. He liked the coolness of the man that Xu had picked for the task.  Payne hated the fact that he actually had to deal with Agent Burrows.  He would rather be governing his new territory, but the man, Burrows, knew things about him that he would rather keep from the Chinese. 

“Drink?” Payne asked the man as he poured a scotch neat.

“No, sir.  Thank you.”

Payne took a sip, the aroma of the drink stinging his eyes.

“Do you have his records?  Or something that detailed his missions?”  Captain Cho asked politely.

Before helping to initiate the attack on America, Senator Payne had gone to great lengths to expunge his past from his records.  He knew that, if the government survived the initial attack, they would dredge up every detail about him; and this secret from a shared past with Burrows was the one thing he wanted to bury deeply.   Even though the records were clean, he had not dealt with the one loose end, Agent Burrows, before the attack.  So now, it was something that needed to be dealt with, and then he could move on. 

“I will send you the ones that I have access to,” Payne affirmed.  “Captain,” he added. “I have known this particular agent for almost thirty years. He is deadly when backed into a corner.”

“Well then, Governor, I will avoid corners,” Cho said, playing niceties with the American puppet.  “But, Governor, I do have a question for you.”

Payne nodded for him to ask the question.

“If you have known this agent for so many years, you must have grown fond of him.  Why would you want to kill a friend?”

Payne downed the rest of his drink.  “Captain, Agent Burrows is like your second girlfriend.”

Cho raised an eyebrow in a quizzical fashion.

“Your second girlfriend is the one that rescues you from your first mistake.  They help when you think you are in trouble, and then, well, you need to move on.  But, because of our mutual interest to serve the public,” he drew the word
serve
out.  “We were never allowed to break up and go our separate ways.  Also, like second girlfriends, you spill your guts to them, and they know everything about you.  Let’s just say, Captain, that Agent Burrows knows too much about me and is a very real danger to the plans of the State.”  Payne always liked bringing in the
higher power
of the State when addressing the soldiers…it evoked a small sense of fear.  But, Cho never flinched at the word.

“Governor, if this man, this second girlfriend of yours, is as dangerous as you make him out to be, then he is not only a threat to the State but to the Americans as well.  I am sure that they will thank me once the task is complete.” Cho smiled.  He knew that what he just said was a line of bullshit.  He was called in to do this job because he possessed skills that qualified him for the task at hand.  He actually enjoyed killing, and up to this point in this war, he had been able to kill without recourse…he was looking forward to a challenge.

CHAPTER 10

“War Dawgs, we’ve counted over twenty armed personnel.”  The team’s earpieces crackled with the report from Ian.  “This appears to be some local freaker turned post-apocalyptic lord, who is shaking the locals down to sell food.”

“We concur,” Joshua answered quietly into his microphone.

“Roger, that, Joshua.   Adam, anything?” Ian asked the next brother.

“Sir, Anna and I think we are zeroing in on the medical people,” Adam reported.  “We are located on the west side, outside of the track.  There is a pretty big green army tent set up over here.  We are going to go take a look inside.  There are two guards, and they look military.”

“Adam, I don’t have a visual on you or the tent,” Mary warned on the radio.  The western side of the track was completely blocked by a giant section of stands.

“Adam, hold tight.  We will all come to meet you before making contact.”

“Roger, that,” Adam responded and looked at Anna.  “I guess we sit and wait?”

She felt there was more to this tent than met the eye.  “There’s definitely someone medically trained working in the tent,” Anna said.  She had seen someone with stitches walk past her and noted the precision of the work.  Violet had been drilling her on stitches for almost a week.  She knew a good one when she saw it.  “I’m sure that your mom will want to meet them.”

“Yeah, getting her back to work might really help her out.”

“True, and what about you?” she asked.  A wave of heat rushed over her scalp with the question.  She really liked Adam, and would have never dreamed of dating a 10
th
grader three weeks ago…but…they just got along so fantastically. 

Adam tilted his head back and forth a few times.  “Josh and I will be able to help mom out.”

Anna leaned into him.  “I didn’t ask about Joshua and your mother, I asked about…” she stopped talking, her vision caught by people coming out of the medical tent.  Adam turned to look as well.

“Mom?” Anna whispered, and then took off running towards the people.  “MOM!”

“Wait, No!” Adam yelled and took off after her.

The two guards at the tent entrance both caught sight of the screaming girl running towards them and raised their rifles.

“Stand down!” the larger guard said, advancing a foot or two in the direction of the screaming girl.

Adam pulled his handgun out and aimed it at the guard that had advanced.  Things were happening too quickly.

“DON’T SHOOT!  DON’T SHOOT!” a man’s voice boomed from inside the tent.

The lady that Anna had seen at the tent entrance turned around when her husband yelled.  She saw the girl running towards the tent.  Panic flowed through her, followed as quickly with relief.

“Oh, God!  Anna!  Anna!” she started running towards the girl, and they met in the middle with a climatic hug.

Adam still had his pistol drawn and was edging up to the two women.  He had his eyes on the guards and an Army officer standing between them.  He was ordering them to lower their weapons.  Adam brought his handgun down a few degrees but never truly lowered the weapon.

“Oh, God!  Where did you come from?” Dr. Tabby Cadet asked her daughter, pulling her back far enough to get a look at her and then pulling her back into her chest.

“Anna?!”

Anna looked up from her mother, tears streamed down both of their faces.   It was her father.  He pulled her into a massive bear hug, lifting both women off of the ground.

Adam felt a hand gently touch his shoulder, and he flinched.  Grace leaned next to his ear and spoke in a soft tone.  “Holster your pistol if you want to make a good first impression.   Those are her parents.”