by Nathan Jones
“We probably took out fifty or so blockheads in all, and came away with a good haul of supplies,” he finished. “We're stronger and they're weaker for it.”
Rick and a growing crowd of onlookers, including Marines and other volunteer groups, had been following every word, and at that the younger man whistled through his teeth while shaking his head. “Leave it to you to do the impossible every time, man,” he said. “How many people did you bring with you?”
“Fourteen. But judging by how it went we might've been able to pull it off with just me, Jane, Tam, Carl, my dad, and Martin.”
“The blockheads in the shelter,” Trev said quietly. “You . . .”
“Took care of them,” his cousin replied with a slight grimace. “The most dangerous and least pleasant part of the plan, but it went off without a hitch.”
While he was talking Davis emerged from the command tent and came over. Lucas went to meet him, and after giving a quick summary of the raid he formally donated the two trucks carrying supplies to the sergeant.
After he was done Davis shook his head. “Incredible. Knew I should've tried harder to recruit you back when I had the chance. And your boy too, by the sounds of it.”
Lewis went over to join them. “We've got plenty to do up near Aspen Hill,” he replied, then introduced himself as leader of the townspeople's defenders.
“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” the sergeant said, shaking his hand firmly. “I've heard a bit around camp and from Williams about your town fighting off some well armed raiders.” He chuckled. “I know your people need you, but if it ever gets boring up there you're more than welcome to join us here.”
“I'll keep that in mind.” Lewis turned towards the trucks. “We made a list of the supplies we brought, if you want to go through it with us.”
“Right.” But before following the taller man Davis turned to the crowd of onlookers. “Now I know not all of you are off duty at the moment. I get why you'd be interested in watching some much needed supplies come in, not to mention hearing about our side thrashing the blockheads, but that can't get in the way of your duties.”
There were some groans of disappointment, and the sergeant abruptly grinned. “Dinner's in a couple hours, ladies and gentlemen. What do you say we make a proper celebration of it then?” The groans turned to cheers as Davis glanced back at Lewis and Lucas. “If you folks want to join us we'll give you a hero's welcome.”
Trev was worried they would refuse, and he didn't blame them considering the things they had to worry about at home. So he was happy when Lucas nodded. “Sure. That would give us a chance to touch base with friends and family here.”
“Glad to hear it.” The sergeant abruptly raised his voice. “Until then, back to work everyone!”
The crowd scattered to their various duties, or to whatever they'd been doing in their free time. Trev had Alice take Ed south to visit Matt, radioing ahead to let his friend know his dad was on the way. By that time Lewis had gone over the supplies with Davis, including enough food to put a dent in the camp's hunger problems, two dozen AK-47s, a dozen MP-443 Grach pistols, and plenty of magazines and ammunition for both. More than satisfied with the haul, the sergeant got his Marines to work securing the trucks and unloading everything.
With their part of things done Trev figured they should get back to work, too. He led his dad, Lewis, Lucas, Jane, and the squad back towards the training grounds.
“If you want to give us a hand with the training I'd appreciate it,” he told his family. “We were splitting the duty with Matt's squad, but with him back out there it's on our shoulders.” He gave his cousin a lopsided smile. “Maybe you can tell me if I'm doing something wrong.”
“You seemed to have a handle on it when you were training your squad of volunteers before heading out here,” Lewis said. “But I'm happy to help out.” The others nodded their agreement, even Jane.
Trev grinned. “And while you're at it you can tell us news from home. Especially how the blockheads responded to your raid. They did respond, right?”
His dad nodded grimly. “In a big way. Just about everyone who went on the raid decided to head back to the refuge and get some sleep, but I wasn't tired. I stayed to watch the canyon with the Mayor and her defenders and saw their response firsthand. All the way through the morning and afternoon, right up until these guys finally woke up and invited me along to share the spoils.” He nudged Lewis with his elbow.
Lewis shrugged. “He's been filling us in too, but we didn't have time to hear everything. Let's get started with training and we'll discuss it while we work, like you suggested.”
“Sure.” Trev spent the next few minutes focused on getting everyone back to doing dry fire drills, in this case ones involving ducking out from behind cover. Once the recruits were hard at work his squad and their visitors could step back and keep an eye on their specific groups while his dad described his morning and afternoon watching to see how the blockheads reacted to the attack.
It turned out he didn't have to wait long, and they reacted in a huge way.
The first sign of it came when Chauncey radioed ahead about a half hour later, passing on a message from Colonel Grimes's people along Highway 6. The scouts there had noticed a detachment of blockheads breaking away from the fighting to head south, and were relaying that warning to everyone in the region in case they showed up somewhere else.
Trev's dad, the Mayor, and the people with them hardly needed to be told. They'd watched as the missing vehicles rolled in from the north, and throughout the rest of the morning more vehicles rolled in from all directions until the size of the convoy below had almost doubled.
The new soldiers joined the ones already there in the furious work of building defensive fortifications and establishing an even tighter network of patrols and sentry outposts. They also built to account for their enemy having at least one heavy machine gun, and set up more than a few heavy machine gun emplacements of their own.
“We kicked the hornet's nest,” Jane observed after Trev's dad finished up with a few more pertinent details. Trev nodded grimly along with the others.
“Apparently while I was sleeping the Mayor radioed in a warning to camp that they needed more defenders out there,” Lewis said. “A lot of the sentries and patrols around the refuge itself have been pulled to guard the slopes. And since we've lost that layer of protection she wanted the townspeople to be prepared to flee deeper into the mountains at a moment's notice.”
Lucas nodded. “It's not just paranoia, either. If every single blockhead down there decided to charge up the mountain slopes simultaneously, I'm not sure several dozen defenders would be enough to stop them. Or even seriously slow them down, for that matter. Even with the weapons we got from Turner's raiders, the numerical disadvantage would be overwhelming.”
Trev's dad sighed heavily in unspoken agreement. He looked pretty ragged, which was no surprise since he'd been up all day and most of the night, and this grim talk had him looking even more tired. “One small silver lining, at least,” he said. “We've pulled a bunch of enemy troops into this area, which should ease the pressure on other more vulnerable spots along the mountains. If we can hold them off we've already done a lot for this war, without the need to stick our necks out again.”
“That's a bit defeatist, Uncle George,” Lewis argued. “Just because there are more enemies down there doesn't mean we can't keep up our attacks, as long as the blockheads don't decide to attack first. After all, we were overwhelmingly outnumbered during last night's raid. That didn't stop us from succeeding.”
“It's not just the extra people,” Lucas chided. “They'll be on high alert now. Any attack we try will be that much more difficult, and we won't catch them by surprise again.”
Lewis glanced at Trev and grinned. “Sounds like a challenge, Dad. We could try attacking from a different direction, or attacking in a different way. They've set up some of their sentry posts pretty close to the foothills, for one thing.”
/> Lucas gave him an impatient look. “So? They've got the canyon locked down tight now. There's no way we're getting any more vehicles in or out of there.”
“We don't need to. They've come to us, and while they've been doing their best to defend against heavy machine guns there's not much they can do about missiles.”
Jane frowned. “You want to go with the plan of launching a few their way from a safe distance and then running?”
Lewis looked north as if imagining the view of the valley around Aspen Hill, with enemy soldiers swarming everywhere. “It's not the worst plan. With so many enemies we're running out of options, but we still have some. We should use them while we can.”
It was Trev's dad's turn to frown his nephew's way. “Have you considered the consequences for the town if we provoke a response we can't handle? What if the helicopter that attacked Matt and the other volunteers not a stone's throw from here heads up to our neck of the woods? All it would take would be a few missiles of their own, launched at the refuge almost before we even know they're coming, and hundreds of innocents could die.”
That was a good question, unfortunately. Trev was jazzed about his cousin's successful raid, sure, but he didn't want his friends and family facing the backlash for it. “Maybe we should suggest they move into the forests, on that slope near the meadow,” he offered. “They'd be more concealed in there, and with a bit of planning they could still evacuate to safety fairly quickly.”
“Conditions in camp are bad enough without making another move,” his dad argued. Then he sighed. “Although it's probably a good precaution, since that helicopter could decide to swing by even if we don't do anything else. Better to prepare for it now.”
Lewis nodded reluctantly, followed by Jane and Lucas. Trev glanced over at Rick and the rest of his squad for their opinion and got a few shrugs. “This is over my head,” his friend said. “I don't know what plans you guys are making.” His eyes narrowed and he spoke to Lewis directly. “But for the sake of my family back home, whatever they are I hope you realize that defending the refuge is your first priority.”
There were general murmurs of agreement at that.
“Without question,” Lewis agreed. He straightened. “Looks like your volunteers finished this set of drills. What do you want them on next?”
Trev glanced at Rick. “Squad drills?” his friend suggested. “Covering fire and organized withdrawals?”
“Yeah, I'd say they're ready.” Trev looked over at his family. “Want to give me a hand with some of the slower learners? They're in squads with the better recruits, but they still need a bit of hand holding from time to time.”
There were nods all around, and they headed over to rejoin the volunteers.
Trev pulled Lewis aside for a second as everyone else got organized. “Hey, how are you doing?” he asked quietly. He remembered how his cousin had been after shooting Ferris and Turner, back when the raiders first arrived.
Lewis gave him a crooked smile. “Fine, all things considered.” Trev gave his cousin a doubtful look, and his smile faded. He leaned a bit closer. “It's getting easier each time. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.”
That sounded more like the Lewis he knew. “Being able to do what you need to do without tearing yourself apart over it seems like a good thing.”
His cousin shuddered. “It was pretty bad in there,” he admitted. “I'm not sure I ever want to get to the point where I can do something like that without hangups.”
Trev nodded soberly, resting a hand on Lewis's shoulder. “Just remember yourself, and remember why you're doing it.”
“Yeah, you too.” Obviously finished with the subject, his cousin thumped him lightly on the chest with the back of his hand and started past him. “Let's get going.”
* * * * *
Davis normally gave everyone but those with specific duties the evening off, starting after dinner. True to his word, tonight he shifted schedules around so more people would be able to enjoy that time off to celebrate. Particularly by relieving Matt's squad after a 12-hour shift rather than their usual 16.
Once the rest of the Aspen Hill volunteers arrived they wanted to hear about the raid again, a suggestion heartily approved of by the Marines and civilian irregulars and volunteers who'd missed the details earlier.
Lewis seemed a bit reluctant to dive into storytelling mode. Maybe he was leery of revealing the shelter's secret tunnel to so many strangers, although after the raid the blockheads had almost certainly found it and that was now a pointless worry. Or maybe he wasn't eager to boast about the necessary actions he'd taken.
Seeing his son's hesitation. Lucas stepped in and gave a brief description of the raid. He also answered the inevitable questions and waited good-naturedly through the cheers and bold talk from Davis's people. The camp had been on edge since the first attack, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and everyone seemed almost desperate for this sort of morale boost.
Or as one Marine put it, “If a bunch of hayseeds up north can pull off that kind of win, we'll tear the blockheads apart.”
His boast didn't get quite the reaction he'd hoped for. People might've been on board with the sentiment, but nobody wanted to downplay what Lewis's team had accomplished that morning. Especially among the volunteers. The soldier flushed slightly, but made a small apologetic gesture before going back to his drink.
A few gallons of high proof alcohol were among the other supplies Lewis had brought in. Davis had set them aside for medicinal purposes, as an antiseptic or in extreme cases anesthetic, but somehow one of the jugs had “gone missing” and was now being passed around among the Marines.
Trev wasn't sure whether the sergeant would go on the warpath for the theft, or given the celebration would let it slide. For all he knew the man might've handed off the bottle to his men himself, or given a broad wink as he turned his back. If so he hadn't shared his generosity with the volunteers, and the Marines weren't either. Trev heard a few mutters of resentment about it, but for the most part people weren't in the mood to let it rain on their parade.
As the celebration wore on everyone from Aspen Hill sort of naturally gathered off to one side for their own more private conversations. With the big news out of the way the discussion had shifted to passing along news and messages from loved ones back home, and giving the Aspen Hill visitors letters and other messages to take home with them.
Matt had pulled Lewis aside to talk about his duties leading the defenders, and Jane had come along to listen in. With Trev's dad, uncle, and Ed Larson talking with a few of the older men among the volunteers Trev felt a bit out of the loop, so he headed over to where Rick sat leaning against the mess tent's cloth wall. His friend also looked a bit out of the loop, alone amidst all their friends, although he looked up and nodded as Trev approached.
“You seem strangely depressed about hearing that our town just scored a huge win,” Trev said, plopping down next to his friend.
Rick smiled faintly. “That's not it. I was just thinking that if I'd been up there Lewis would've asked me to go along for sure. I could've been part of something useful. Here?” He waved towards the volunteers on the other side of the tent, many of whom were new recruits. “I'm stuck on babysitting duty.”
Trev did his best to hide his annoyance. “Training the new volunteers is important. It's literally a matter of life and death. Not just for them but for us, since we'll probably be working with them in the future.”
“I know that.” His friend looked a bit annoyed himself. “Still, man. Lewis's team took out like fifty blockheads. They stole five trucks and a bunch of weapons and supplies. Then I look at what we're doing and it just, well, doesn't seem like much.”
“Maybe not.” Trev gestured vaguely in the direction of the canyon mouth. “At least you were part of that first attack.” Rick grunted but didn't respond, so he kept going. “Come on, you're complaining about not going into life or death situations. If it makes you feel better there's sti
ll over ten thousand blockheads along this stretch of mountains. You'll get more chances to fight them than you ever wanted.”
“Yeah.” Rick looked down at his hands, still morose. “If we ever get these recruits trained to the point they're worth anything in a fight, so we're free to get back to something useful ourselves.”
Trev's annoyance was creeping back. “You're the one who volunteered to join my squad. You could be out with Matt right now.”
“What, picking my way over deadfall up to my knees, trying to find deer and waiting for the enemy to attack the least likely spot ever?” His friend abruptly laughed and pushed to his feet. “I know, I know, I'm being a tool. I've got nothing to complain about, especially during a celebration.” He clapped Trev on the shoulder. “Speaking of which, should we get back to it?”
“Yeah.” Trev fell into step beside his friend as he headed towards Matt, Lewis, and Jane. “Let's enjoy being out of the fight while we're here, okay? I know Lewis, and what happened on that raid is tearing him up a bit. We might be in that same situation soon.”
“Sure.” Rick abruptly paused and turned to him. “You know I'm happy to be part of the squad, right? I never meant to complain about that.”
“I get it. I'm doing the best job I can here because I know it's important, but it's easy to feel like I'm not contributing much. I just don't let that get in the way of doing what's in front of me.”
His friend grinned. “I won't either. We'll get these guys whipped into shape so they're ready when the time comes.”
When they joined the others that seemed to be a signal for a few of their squad mates to close in and pester Lewis for more details. Gutierrez in particular wanted to know what techniques they'd used sneaking up on the shelter, and all the details about the blockhead sentries and patrols they'd evaded. Things like how the enemy organized their emplacements and routes, what sort of night vision and other gear they had, how vigilant they were, etc.
