by A J Newman
Both forces only met token resistance and sniper fire, which slowed them down and made them keep taking cover, however when the captain's men got north of Bridge City, the resistance increased. The captain found his men under heavy attack from the front and rear of his column. Just as he noticed that his vehicles were bunching up due to the withering fire from the south, all hell broke loose. There were explosions from both sides of the road and the men and vehicles were peppered with shrapnel. A fourth of his men were cut down in a couple of minutes.
“Sergeant, move into the woods towards that barn and regroup! They’re killing us.”
“Leave the wounded and get your asses over to the barn. We’ll get them later.”
Before the soldiers could move the Humvees and armored vehicles, there were thunderous explosions that flipped two of the Humvees and destroyed two armored vehicles.
“Retreat, head back to Highway 10. Fuck this place and fuck the major.”
They fled as fast as they could while still taking heavy fire and explosions left and right. There were only six vehicles and about seventy-five men left by the time they got back up to Highway 10.
Charlie gave orders to the mortar teams to begin firing on the enemies’ mortar emplacements first and then the advancing men. He also told the leaders to blow the IEDs when the enemy got close enough for maximum killing power. Many of the IEDs were bombs wrapped in nuts, bolts and washers and secured to trees at chest height. The Port Arthur forces outnumbered the enemy forty to one.
“Don’t use the cannons unless I give the order. We only have about a hundred rounds and I want to save them for a real threat."
Major Johnson’s team was taking small arms fire when he heard his captain yelling at his men to take cover. He heard several thumping sounds in the distance.
“Take cover, incoming!”
The men scrambled for cover under or behind trees, logs or their vehicles. The mortar shells rained down on them for several minutes killing twenty-four and wounding as many.
Johnson yelled, “Start returning mortar fire at will! Blast them off the face of the earth.”
Before the mortars could be fired, numerous IEDs exploded around them and they were attacked from all sides. His men were dying all around him and there was nothing he could do. He grabbed a white T-shirt and waved it out the window of the Humvee.
“Men, stop firing. We are surrendering. Please stop shooting, we surrender!”
“Throw your guns down, come out with your hands up and walk to the crossroads. We will shoot anyone who runs or makes a sudden move.”
“Men, do what you’re told. We surrender.”
Only fifty men were able to move on their own, another twenty-three were wounded and the rest were dead. Charlie’s team rounded up all of the enemy and forced them to walk to a holding area outside of town. The wounded were placed in the backs of dump trucks and driven to the holding area. They waited in the dump trucks until their comrades finished walking to the holding area.
Major Johnson saw his men were still in the back of the dump trucks and started yelling, “Why aren’t my men receiving medical treatment? This is against the Geneva Convention.”
“Shut the fuck up or I’ll knock your damned teeth out, you worthless piece of shit. Joe, take the Major, and his officers and have Fred interrogate them. Your men were going to killrape and take overour town; screw the Geneva Convention.”
“You must treat my men and me as prisoners and….” Charlie hit Johnson on the side of his head with the butt of his rifle just enough to shut him up without knocking him out.
***
“Captain Jones, we just established radio contact with the Police Chief of Port Arthur. He says that a group of five-hundred men claiming to be US Army attacked their town a few days ago.”
“I’ll have to check with Stokes before I can send help to them. See how long they can hold out.”
“Sir, they don’t need help. They want to know if we know a Major Johnson and what we want them to do with a couple hundred prisoners.”
“That Johnson is the traitor that was guarding the Compound in Mobile. Put the Chief on the radio.”
The radio operator called for Port Arthur and had the Chief on in just a few minutes.
“This is Charlie Adams; I am the Police Chief and head of our local defense force. We have one hundred fifty-six prisoners and about eighty of them are wounded. Do you want them? We believe them to be traitors to our country. They intended to take over our city and use it as a base of operations for their own gain.”
“Charlie, this is Captain Jones. We know of Major Johnson and you are right, he and his men are the bad guys in this disaster. Yes, we would like to take charge of them. Can we approach your town and take them to Mobile? I’d like to send a helicopter over to quickly pick up Johnson and his officers.”
“Certainly, but you need to know about a hundred escaped and went on towards Houston.”
“Thanks for the heads up, I’ll send some Apaches to find and destroy them.”
“Sir, could you take a look at Sowell and Houston while your birds are over that way? We were going to see if we can help those folks out and need some intel on the bad guys.”
“I will have them recon those areas for you. By the way, are y’all interested in joining our team? We won’t force you or send soldiers to protect you, but we can send arms and supplies to help you take back the area around you. We’d really like you to help us take back our country.”
“I’ll talk it over with the Mayor and town council, but I’m sure we will want to join in with you.”
“Charlie, tell me, how did a bunch of civilians defeat a battle tested company of soldiers?”
“Captain, they assumed that we were a bunch of civilians without any training or fighting experience. It was a deadly mistake. Look up Major Charles F. Adams, 101st Airborne.”
“Charlie, we have found another guy from Mobile that sounds a lot like you. Have you heard of John Harris?"
“Yes, and tell that old fart that I still owe him an ass kicking for that bar fight in Bangkok.”
“Then I guess you also know Gus McCoy; he appears to hang out with Harris.”
“Damn, it’s old home week on the Gulf. How’d those two amateurs survive the SHTF? Have you checked your back pocket? Those two need to be watched closely.”
Charlie stopped laughing and added, “Captain, come on over and let’s see what we can work out. I think we have the same goals. Bring John and Gus. I’ll feed y’all well.”
***
“I talked with an old friend of yours. Do you remember Charlie Adams?”
Gus spoke up, “Hell yes, we know Charlie. We go back to our wet-work days. What did that old SOB tell you?"
Bob filled them in on Port Arthur and the recent events including Major Johnson’s aborted siege of the city.
“I almost feel sorry for Johnson; only five hundred men against Charlie Adams. That wouldn’t be a fair fight even if Charlie was all by himself,” John added.
“We’d like to visit with old Charlie. Can you make that happen?”
“Yes, and remember, you asked to visit with him.”
Chapter 16
Mopping Up and Rebuilding
Mobile, Alabama
September 25, 2020
John chose Mobile to be the capital of the New Territory. Not a lot of thought had to go into this decision since the Navy was supplying a reactor to power the city until the Mobile power plant could be restarted. John picked the Compound to house the new government, mainly because it was relatively safe from attack and had an enormous amount of food and other supplies that would be needed. He also wanted a complete separation from Mobile’s city government and later the state of Alabama’s government. He thought of the compound as one would think of DC, the home of the ISA’s government.
Tom and Sam took up the task of cleaning up the compound and getting it ready for the new government, while Sam healed up enough to get back to w
ork with his dad. The Compound had thousands of bullet holes and hundreds of broken windows, but was in good shape otherwise. Of course, the DHS barracks had become a pile of rubbish and would linger on for many years before finally being cleaned up.
John banged the gavel and then threw it in the garbage. The ten people around the table laughed and gave high fives to each other.
“Gavels are for people with weak voices. Now, let’s get this meeting going and figure out how the hell we are going to govern this land, how much land we are governing and who is going to do what.”
“John, you need to pick your cabinet and brush up on Robert’s Rules of Order. We don’t need any fist fights in the middle of one of these meetings.”
“Alice, you are correct. Bone up on the rules and guide us on the rules until we can choose a parliamentarian. Thanks for volunteering.”
“I don’t plan to rule by decree. I want your input, but I will make the final decisions until we get elections established. Now, I open the floor for nominations for the territory made up of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The first job is temporary Governor of Alabama. I nominate George Washington. I see all yeas and no nays. George, you are temporary governor. Choose the people that you want to help you run your state and the city of Mobile.”
George replied, “I can pick anybody that I want?”
“Yes, I don’t have the time to help you and I trust you to handle the state.”
George quickly said, “Sally, I want you to be the leader of the area north of Mobile. Take a team and survey the area up to Jackson, on Highway 43 and Evergreen off 65 North. Find some leaders that can handle some of these small towns. Watch for thugs and kill them every chance you get. My best advice is to call for air support if you find any large groups of thugs. Tom, I want you to be the Mayor of Mobile.”
This continued until the break for lunch. Gus was appointed Secretary of Defense, Anne appointed Secretary of Treasury and so on until all key positions were filled. John chose the most conservative lawyers from Mobile to make up the three-person Supreme Court and had all of the doctors and nurses select a Surgeon General.
“Gus, beef up our defenses quickly, and then send teams to take charge of all of Alabama. Make friends and arm them. Eradicate all the bad guys. We need to get our backyard cleaned up before we can clean up Mississippi and Louisiana. Send Steve and Jim over to Pensacola to make friends and see how they are doing. Tell them to go with enough force to fight their way back in case the situation goes south.”
“How much help will we get from the Military?”
Bob replied, “Same as before, unlimited arms and supplies, but only a few advisors.”
“I almost forgot to bring up an opportunity that Bob told me about just before the meeting. He told me about a group just like us that has made Port Arthur a model city for what we want to achieve. Port Arthur is in our area and I think we should go over and invite them to join us.”
Gus replied, “What if a group doesn’t want to join our new country? We have assumed that everyone would, but I think we need a plan if they don’t.”
“Damn Gus, I never thought that any of the good guys wouldn’t want to be a part of our new country. The answer is simple join or leave. We will not have a divided country from the start. We might as well cull out the undesirables in the early days of our republic.”
“John, that’s a slippery slope. I think a lot of people don’t deserve to live in our country, but should I be the one to make these decisions?”
John replied, “I have discussed this very topic with every one of you in this room and our military leaders. I received the same answer from every one of you. It is the same as our founding father’s plan for our country. It will be a Christian country based on Christian values and laws. Non-Christians are welcome, but must assimilate into our society and obey our laws. Each state will have its own set of laws per the constitution. Kids will be able to pray in schools again. So I guess the answer is that anyone who wants to stay in our new country has to have our same values or we will fail again.”
“Thanks for the clarification; out with the bad guys, in with the good.”
***
The droning of propellers quickly put John to sleep during the flight to Port Arthur. He awoke just before they landed at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport. The sun was behind them and only wispy white clouds were in their path. The Gulf Coast was beautiful and had no activity, which made the scene almost scary to behold. There were no boats, ships or people to be found. Just as they were landing, Gus saw several groups of people camping on the beach and found that comforting.
“John, wake up! Look at the city. There are people everywhere, farming, driving and just living a normal life!”
John snapped to attention and looked out the window and said, “Damn, look at all the people. Gus, we need to know how they are doing this.”
They landed at a small, but modern airport that appeared to be functioning, as it normally would have been before TSHTF.
“These guys are way ahead of most of the country," Bob said "and we have found that there are dozens of small cities like them that were much better prepared than the rest of the USA. We need to find them and get them in the fold before the president and DHS sends them to concentration camps.”
The plane taxied up to the terminal, the pilot cut the engines and they left the plane. There were about twenty people at the terminal waiting to greet them. There was a banner above the entrance to the lobby that read, “Welcome to Port Arthur – John and Gus.”
“John and Gus, you are the two ugliest old bastards I have ever seen. How the hell did you two survive?”
“Well Charlie, you are still dumb as a box of rocks and where is the old folks home that you hid in when TSHTF? Who’s been packing your sorry ass?"
The rest of the Port Arthur crowd did not know what to make of the name-calling and taunting, and then saw John give Charlie a big bear hug.
Gus shook Charlie’s hand and said, “I don’t hug men and I really don’t hug men as ugly as you are.”
Charlie slapped Gus on the back and gave him a hug while Gus was protesting. Charlie then introduced the visitors to the Mayor and other town dignitaries and John introduced his team to the town folks. Charlie guided the visitors to a small school bus and had his men load their gear into a pickup. They went to city hall while the pickup took their gear to the hotel.
“First, I want to thank you for inviting us over to visit your city. Second, we want to assure you that we mean you no harm and finally we want you to join us in rebuilding our country into what the founding fathers meant it to be."
John and Bob took turns explaining the military’s role and abilities to the Port Arthur town council.
Mayor Jack asked, “So how do you plan to govern this new country, Bob? The US Military is the best in the world, but I don’t like them being in charge of civilians.”
“Mayor, the military will lead, support and protect you until you can elect a president, congress and Supreme Court. Then and only then, will we go back to the traditional role of the armed forces. We promise you that we will back out of a leadership position; however, we also promise that we will never let a bunch of progressive socialists take charge of our country again. We have wiped all federal laws off the books except the Constitution. The states, through their congressmen, will govern the country. The Supreme Court’s charter will be changed to only enforce the constitution and not change or enact laws."
He then told them about the three districts being set up and John’s leadership role in Alabama-Louisiana.
“John, so you swear that we will be part of your district, but we are free to run our own town and surrounding area.”
“Jack and Charlie, I’m not over your area, but I swear that we will live up to the promises made tonight. In addition, we want the Mayor to govern this end of Texas, including Houston.
Bob interrupted and said, “Mayor, if it makes you feel better, we can add T
exas to John’s responsibility.”
John shook his head in agreement.
“That would make us feel much better since Charlie already has trust in John and Gus.”
Bob continued, “We plan to see what’s going on in DFW, Austin, San Antonio and Corpus Christie as quickly as possible, but don’t be surprised if we don’t ask you to help get those areas ready to govern themselves. Port Arthur has the largest army in this part of the country. We will embed some advisors to train and help with tactics. We will also provide air support, transportation, fuel and all the ammo and guns you could use in the next hundred years. We also have warehouses full of spare parts for most vehicles and machines that you will find useful. What we will ask in return, is that you farm some extra ground to provide food for our soldiers. That is the only payment that we expect.”
“Damn Bob, I like what I’m hearing. Council, raise your hands if Port Arthur should join this motley crew.”
Every councilman voted yes.
Charlie loaded them up in three jeeps and gave them a tour of the city and surrounding area. John’s team was astounded at the level of preparation that the town had accomplished before TSHTF.
Bob saw thousands of cows and asked, “Is there any chance of us getting some of those cows from you?"
“Of course, how many do you need? We’ll get them ready for you to pick up in a couple of days.”
“Jack, I don’t know how many, but I’ll call our Mess Officer and find out. We haven’t had fresh meat since a week after the bombs went off.”
***
