On the morning of the 30th, the intruder team will move into the woods and infiltrate the fort. That will give them time to look around and get a sense for what is on the inside. Besides their handguns tucked away on their person they will each have a back pack that will contain some snacks and water, some zip ties (handcuffs) spare ammunition, a disassembled M16 and two smoke grenades. Once the situation begins to unfold they have about 2 minutes to get their M16s assembled and ready to fire.
Keith has given them some ideas as to people that they may be able to trust, and places that they can safely spend the night while they are in the fort.
The Sniper teams need to be in place by 8 am on the 31st. This will give us a little time to scope out the area and have a good line of sight for the events that will hopefully unfold.
The two direct assault teams will quietly approach the east bridge (East Dominick St.) and park out of sight just around the corner. They will have radio contact with the snipers who will act as ears and eyes. Keith will also be wired with a radio that will allow for us all to listen in on the conversation between him and Womack. We will have ear phones so we don’t give ourselves away.
At about 9 am, Keith and Pam are going to drive out into the open and approach the fort. They will stop about 200 feet from the entry gate. They should be seen long before they get there but if not, they will yell to get attention from there. The hope is that Womack will march out there and confront them. Keith will admit that he made a mistake in running away and that they want to rejoin the group. From there, it is a crap shoot.
Keith will have a hand and vocal signal that he will give if they find that the scenario is getting out of hand and then, it is over to the sniper teams and the assault teams to move it. The intruders will act as a rear guard and neutralize any interior resistance. Yeah, sounds very military, basically because that was how Major Barkley laid it out to us.
If all goes well this should be done by 9:30, with no injuries to any of us. We shall see.
We present the plan tonight at dinner.
May 29th
(Lance) Quiet, thinking, getting lectures from Del about what to do, how to act, what to watch out for. Even though I had showed her my new found skills I think she is nervous about this and this is her way of hiding it. I know that I am nervous, this is not like the old days of Captain Emo playing videogames, this is the real deal, there are no re-does or saved lives that you can revert back to.
Gonna hit the Fire Pit tonight, I think that will help.
(Margo) I am worried about Lance and Del, well, all of them that are going to be in the hot seat on this. I just need to focus on my job, and get it done. I have done this before. I don’t like killing people, but there are times when it has to be done.
Code is good with what is going on, he has never spotted for me before, but he will do fine. He is more there to protect me while I focus on what I need to do. I take the guy to the right, closest to me, whoever it is.
Code and I hit Vespers tonight. It was a pretty big turnout. Even Ron and Fred were there and that kind of surprised me. I thought they might be having their own kind of gathering. It was kind of quiet, no theme, or lecture, just comradery, just being with friends.
It was funny, last thing before we broke up for the evening, and it ran later than usual, seemed no one wanted to leave, but Ron asked Matt if he would lead us in a pray.
Matt nodded, and began, “Our Father, who art in heaven……”
(Matt) Not much to say, packed, ready to go. At the fire-pit tonight we were a family, at least for today. Thank you for watching over us and bringing us together.
May 30th
(Matt) The ‘Intruders’ were off early this morning, at about 4:30. It wasn’t light yet, but dawn was not far away. It looked like the weather was going to be our ally, at least for today. We figured it would take them about 4 hours to drive out to the Rome area. They would park to the south of the camp, and have to hike in, taking position in the woods and then one by one join the group.
They dressed in normal clothes, ‘all the better to fit in with Grandma’, I thought.
The rest of us spent the day looking over our gear, checking our trucks, weapons, and thinking.
We did the Fire Pit and like last night, it was a good turnout, family, we are a community right now, with one thing to strive for.
It was an early night because we would be on the road at 3:00 AM to be in Rome by 4. The dance is supposed to start at 9:00.
(Margo) My gear has been checked, and rechecked. We are ready to go. I spent some time trying to do some drawing this afternoon, but the picture would not flow from the pencil.
Code and I snuggled, it is going to be an early morning.
May 31st
(Margo) Nick had coffee and hot food for us this morning. There was both excitement and nervousness in the air. Lucy knew something was up and was right at my side the entire time. She knew I was going and I think she sensed that this time she was going to stay behind.
Code was a little grumpy bear this morning, at least until he had something to eat and a couple of cups of that stuff we call coffee. Actually, Nick and Tay freed up a bag of real beans that we kept for special occasions. It was vanilla bean flavored. I forgot how good it tasted and that little buzz from the caffeine.
We were on the road by 4:00. I rode in the Coyote truck with the Major and Bernie. Code was in the back seat with me. We didn’t talk much, just drove on along I-90 in the dark. It was light when we got to Rome, no headlights to give us away.
Code and I were dropped off about a mile and a half from where our sniper post was. We would walk, sneak in and be ready for 8:30 or so.
We had come in from the southwest side of the fort and before we got to the building in the northwest corner that we were supposed to sit on we found a great little spot in the woods that gave us the perfect line of fire on the front gate as well as the entire west side of the fort. We hunkered down, ready, waiting.
(Matt) Tanya and I were up early, and we were ready to roll along with everyone else. We both had our tasks for the day, and ours, would be not that risky, unless there was something unusual in the mix.
As we were getting ready to load up I called everyone in to a circle, “We all know our jobs today, and I sense that goodness is on our side. We are doing a just act, for whatever your reasons or whatever you believe, it is right, have faith in that belief, and in yourself and your family.”
“Amen” echoed the group.
“Let’s roll” said the Major. And we did.
Tanya and I rode up in the Hummer with Ron and Fred. On the way we talked about the early days, the rescue at Lake Danahee where Fred and Ron and some of the group were safe from the Changed, Zoms we called them back then.
We talked a little about the time we had to deal with the biker gang; I could feel this bothered Tanya a little and shifted the subject to other things. She had suffered at the hands of the bikers, and it touched an old wound.
As we rode, I wondered how Linda, the crazy real estate lady or Helen, the librarian were doing. On the way back we probably should check on both of them just to see that they are okay. Womack may have sent scouts out, and well, just to check and see that they are okay.
Pam and Keith were next in the Nissan Pickup truck that he had been driving. It had NY plates so he would use it to drive onto the property and it would look like it was just some ratty old truck he scrounged up. But before he got to his staging area he had to drop off LJ and Chelsea. I think they had the worst of the ride because they had to ride in the back bed of the truck. I found out later that it was actually not that bad, they slept most of the way up, or at least LJ did.
The last car in the little caravan was the red Prius, the Zoidberg. It was the medical car, and Mark drove it, it was kind of his vehicle going back to the early days of Peru. We picked that one to take because it would be good fuel wise but also if we needed a low noise approach we could use that. Charlene rode with Mark.
The trunk was packed with medical supplies which we hoped we would not need.
The others staged on East Dominick Street while Mark and I worked our way to the building we were setting up in. From the second floor we had a great view of the front gate and were easily within range. I almost think that the 50 Cal rifle I had was overkill, but if this had to be done, a kill, and had to be done quickly so a 223 might lack the punch.
The radios were up and working, it was 8:30. Soon, I thought.
I wondered how the situation was going in the inside. I hoped that there were no issues. All seemed quiet, so I was guessing so. Teckla and Delaney had radios, so if it was bad, they could call for support, unless….well, let’s hope that is not the case.
At 8:47 someone came to the gate and started to walk out. It was one of the workers, the town’s people. Mark looked at him through the spotting scope, no, it was Lance. He walked out, and over to the corner of the fort, gave a little peep around the corner, flashed a thumbs up and then walked back in. I thought nice touch, there kid, you guys inside are okay, and that is good to know.
This was it; the next 15 minutes were going to be interesting I thought, seemed more like it was the next minute, everything seemed to go down so fast.
At 9:00, Keith and Pam drove onto the fort grounds and to about 200 feet from the front gate actually, probably closer to 150 feet. They stopped, and got out of the truck. I could see some scurrying on the top of the rampart. Keith reached in and blew the horn a couple of times. It was like kicking the ant hill, scurry, scurry.
“Show time” Keith said and we all heard on the radio wire he was wearing.
Three soldiers came out of the fort. The big one in the middle was Womack, I remember him from when we watched him stake out Marcus. This was the guy I took the shot at. I guess I didn’t do such a hot job.
As Womack walked up to Keith and Pam he laughed, it was a deep heavy laugh, one like James Earl Jones or Roscoe Brown, a deep richness to it. “Well, Look who comes crawling back, not liking the outside world so much?” said Womack.
“No, it is not nice out here. I want to come back home” answered Keith.
“I see, and you brought my favorite play thing as an offering, commendable.”
I am not sure if it was just a quirk with the optics of my scope or if Pam twitched a little at that.
“No, see that is not exactly what I am looking for. I want to come home, but I want you to leave, to let us be.” stated Keith with a touch of edginess.
“Oh really, and you think that you are just going to come here, ask me to go, and I am going to say, ‘okay, my bad, we’ll leave’…..think again motherfucker. You ran out on us, you betrayed us, your buddy Marcus has already paid the price, and now I think it is going to be your turn” Womack replied.
“Womack, I….”
“No, Motherfuck, that ain’t how it’s gonna fly, you are dead, you are eater bait, and your little bitch, well she is going to find her own suffering!” Womack screamed.
Keith stayed calm, glared at him for what seemed a minute, took a long slow breath and finally said, “Okay, one last time, is there anything I can say or do that will make you get with my program?” As he spoke, he held his hands out to his side and shrugged, kind of a gesture of questioning.
“What? Hell No, You got……”
That was the signal, the soldiers to either side of Womack sort of exploded and fell as the 50 cal slugs from Margo and I found their marks. The crack of the bullets being fired resounded almost as soon as the thud of the bullets hitting their target.
Womack was quick; he grabbed Pam and held her in front of him. He kept moving, twisting, so a shot was not going to happen.
“Imma kill her, and Imma kill you,” as he started walking backwards toward the fort, dragging Pam with him. He got a couple feet then dropped to his knees, holding his crotch. He was screaming.
“You shot me, you fucking shot me in my balls!”
Pam turned toward him, in her hand was a little 380 pistol. Wow, how she had gotten the gun out of her pocket and took the shot, I never saw it.
“Yup, I did!” She said defiantly, with a rasp in her voice, “I’ve thought about that every day and night for a long time. You ruined me, you treated me like I was your dog, you treated all of us like we were dogs, and you’re shit. Every night before I would go to sleep, if I could go to sleep, I would think about this moment.” We could hear her through Keith’s radio.
By now the assault teams were rolling up ready to enter the fort, but it was not needed. The intruder team had done their job and the remaining 6 soldiers were being marched out the gate.
Pam did one more thing that kind of surprised us, but in retrospect, I can understand it, not sure I agree with it, but understood it. She shot him in the right side of the chest. On the surface, I would not think a fatal wound, but she hit him in the liver, he had about 30 minutes of bleeding out before he died. There was nothing anyone, the Major or the doctors in the fort could do about it. Pam was a nurse once, and she knew.
“Make peace with the devil, you’re on your way to join him in Hell” Pam said, with both bitterness and relief in her voice. She had control of her life again.
And so it went. Some of the people who lived tin the fort were now out with us. Keith was a hero, he, they, we had saved them. We all gathered up in front of the fort circled around the dying Womack, it was kind of surreal, we just watched as the black, dark blood seeped from his chest.
Charlene started to unload some medical supplies, to maybe help, but the Major shook his head. “Nothing we can do for him.”
Soon Womack’s breath became more rapid, he had been muttering, cursing and ranting for much of the time. But as the breathing became more and more rapid, almost panting, he became quieter. Finally, he just said “Mother, help me” as his last few breathes escaped him. He was quiet, and no longer the tool of the devil. We insured he would not re-animate. We burned the bodies of The Three that had been killed.
It wound down, and we began to pack up. It was still early, but we were all exhausted, the adrenaline and the early start had taken their toll. We were invited to stay with them at Stanwix for the night, it had been a long day, and we accepted. We had food, and we shared.
June 1st
(Lance) I did not get the chance to write the last few days. And I really don’t have that much to say. Real war is so different from the on-line stuff. In a way you feel more alive during, and after the battle, but is it scary, once you are in the middle, it is all, how do I describe it? It is all just kind of automatic, you see, you sense, you do, and you don’t think about it, there isn’t time. It was as Master Nick had taught me.
Del was the one who came up with the idea for me to walk out and let everyone know we were okay, she covered me. We had gotten ready and had our rifles ready by the time Keith showed up at the front gate.
Teckla and Langley had worked their way up on to the rampart as the excitement and confusion of Keith’s truck pulling up. They subdued the three soldiers who were there without a fight. I think that their comrades being shot and the scene just shut them down.
Del and I had the remaining three neutralized also. We began to march our captives out the gate. We all gasped in surprise as we saw Pam put one in Womack’s chest.
It was kind of funny, I think all but one of the inside guys we had captured were relieved that Womack was down. One guy, a corporal cried out, and tried to run to him, but Del tripped him and he fell face first on to the ground.
By now the people from inside the fort were coming out the door. They saw Keith, and Pam and were relieved, I think they were afraid at first that we were just another occupying group.
We turned the prisoners over to the residents; they locked them up, and would decide what to do with them. I heard some talk among the locals and it seemed that with the exception of the corporal, the other 5 guys were actually pretty good dudes, in a bad situation, and that they would not be killed, and maybe ev
en allowed to stay in the fort. The corporal, well, he was not in a good place right now.
Del and I wandered the fort, it was not a bad place, it had a lot of good things, it was defensible, they had a pretty good food program going between what they were growing, and what they had scavenged from the area.
They supplied us with some rooms where we could sleep for the night. I think we are heading back to our camp in the morning.
(Matt) “I have one question Matt, the other night, when you led us in prayer, you, you used the Lord’s Prayer, why was that?” asked Ron.
I looked at him for a moment, “It fit, it is a universal, be it the Christian God, or Father Sky, or Yahweh, it is all the same being, the same spirit, it is the Universal Good, and in that case, it fit, we all understood it, we all believe in it.”
He let it sink in, then said, “Thank you, you’re right.”
As we were packing up and getting ready for the trip back, I heard a voice behind me.
“You have done well my friend, you have learned lessons. I am pleased.” It was Chris, the guy we had met on the road after our hasty exit for Rome. He was still in white, although it was painter pants and a white shirt now.
I was kind of surprised to see him, especially here, and now. I smiled, “You taught me a little.”
“Yes, and so did Helen,” he smiled back. “Will you thank her on the way back to your camp?”
“I was thinking that we should check on her and that crazy cat of hers. And while we are on crazy, probably visit Fort Plain and see how the Real Estate lady is doing.”
“That would be good.” He said.
“Just out of curiosity, how did you know about Helen, did she tell you that we were there?” I asked, I figured he must have bumped into her or visited the library after we left.
“Oh, no, I never met her, all I know is that she is a good person, and that you would find her, and she would help you.”
I let that sink in for a moment as I turned to toss a pack into the Hummer, when I turned around Chris was gone.
The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance Page 23
