For the people ... (Soldier Up Book 4)

by Steven Linde

  They moved through the World War Two aviation exhibition, this was part of the main entrance to the facility there were hangers spread out that would have other aircraft. There last stop was the small cafeteria, Jones and Morgan were on either side of the door with Chief Lindsey prepared to open it, but it was locked. ‘Why would the door be locked?’ the Chief thought. He looked through the small window and thought he saw some movement inside the room. Chief Lindsey carried a sawed-off shotgun with him and used it to blow locks on doors, he seldom got to use it and he was happy that the opportunity had come up.

  Chief Lindsey withdrew the shotgun from his back holster and pumped a round into the chamber, help it close to the lock and fired, blowing out the lock and leaving a small hole in the door. The sound of the shot reverberated through the entire complex. The Chief pulled the door open, finding all sorts of item blocking their way the SEALs pushed through. What they found was all sort of bedding, food, water and other items. What they also found were a dozen women with children huddled in one of the far corners of the room looking terrified. “Afternoon ladies.” Chief Lindsey said. “We’re with the United States Navy.”

  The women were staring at the three heavily armed men standing in front of them. “Anyone?” asked Petty Officer Randy Jones. “We’re not here to hurt anyone, we’re here to help.”

  The women were still staring at the men you could tell they were afraid and not sure what to believe. Chief Lindsey contacted Lieutenant Danielson on the radio and updated him on their find. In turn the Lieutenant updated the Chief that the surrounding hangers had World War One and two aircraft that looked in great condition, that they had found a flyer from the museum that stated all of the aircraft were flyable. Lieutenant Danielson stated that he had already relayed the information back to Commander McDonald and by-the-way they were ten minutes out.

  Chief Lindsey turned to Jones and Morgan, “Marines are ten minutes out.” Both men nodded they understood.

  “Marines? Did you say Marines? United States Marines?” A young woman asked the first to speak.

  The three SEALs were a bit startled by the woman’s outburst, “Yes ma’am, a company of Marines from Oceana will be here less than ten minutes.” The Chief responded.

  “Is there a Lance Corporal Higgins with them?” The young woman asked.” He’s my husband we lost contact with each other.”

  Chief Lindsey stood there looking at the woman, raised his eyebrows when she asked, “I don’t know let me ask.” The Chief radioed the Lieutenant, “Sir is there a way we can find out if there is Lance Corporal Higgins with the Marines?”

  “I don’t know why don’t you come out and ask them, they’re here.”

  Chief Lindsey turned to the woman, “Ma’am can you come with us? The Marines are here and you can see for yourself.”

  “What about the others?” she asked.

  “Y’all can come if you like that’s up to you.” The Chief replied. Chief Lindsey, Jones and Morgan turned and headed to the front entrance to unlock it. Once there they had no problem opening the large double doors. They stepped out as the Marines were pulling in and unloading from their vehicles and ordered into formation. The young woman and several others accompanied the SEALs out and were astonished to see the Marines as much as they were the SEALs. As the Marines spilled out of their vehicles they got into their squads which formed their platoons and eventually the entire company.

  “There! There he is!” the young woman screamed, breaking away from the rest of the women and ran past the SEALs toward the Marines. Lance Corporal Higgins, fourth platoon, first squad noticed the shrill scream of a woman that sounded oddly familiar. Then before he knew it, he saw a woman running towards his platoon. There were still men manning the machine gun turrets in the Humvees and they quickly trained their weapons on the woman, “Stand down! Stand down!” yelled Captain Luxon to the Marines in the turret that were preparing to fire. Mrs. Higgins found her husband and launched herself into his arms. The young Lance Corporal was startled when he saw his wife, he accidentally dropped his weapon which was quickly recovered by the man next to him, and god forbid the Gunny saw that. The young couple hugged and kissed.

  As it turned out the night of the event the Lance Corporal was on duty aboard ship and his wife was twenty miles away at their home. They hadn’t seen each other since that wretched day both assuming each had been lost. “Lance Corporal Higgins front and center!” yelled Captain Luxon.

  The Lance Corporal had forgotten where he was for the moment, leaving his wife he ran to his CO, came to attention, “Aye, aye sir!” he barked.

  “Listen Higgins you need to take that pretty wife of yours back inside the building, I understand your children are in there too. Take all the time you need I’ll square it with the First Sergeant.”

  Lance Corporal Higgins smiled, saluted and did an about face, he hurried back to his wife. He retrieved his weapon and grabbed her hand and headed into the museum. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, even the tough Navy SEALs as well as the Marines were happy to see the reunion.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The two scout Humvee’s pulled to a screeching halt in front of Oceana’s BHC, two of the Marines jumped out and hustled into the clinic. Sergeant Cleo Taylor frantically looked for someone in authority, he approached one of the nurses, “Excuse me ma’am, we’re in from the field, Captain O’Hara sent us over to see your CO. Where can we find him?”

  “His office is down the hall there you should be able to walk right in but he may have already gone home.” Replied the nurse.

  “Ma’am this is incredibly important we need to get to him, I can’t stress enough how important it is. It affects everyone…from a medical standpoint.” Said Sergeant Taylor.

  “What’s going on Sergeant? I’m the nursing supervisor and I’m in charge when Commander Hall isn’t present.”

  Sergeant Taylor thought about it for a moment, then handed over the note from Captain O’Hara and the one from the Doctor at the camp. The nurse took them, read the one from Captain O’Hara then hurried to open and read the one from the doctor. “Oh my God.” The nurse said under her breath. “I’ll send a runner to get Commander Hall now. He should be back shortly; can we get you anything while you wait?”

  “No ma’am we’ll wait outside with our vehicles if it’s all the same. Captain O’Hara did tell them help would be out there no more than two hours and he would be back at the camp by the end of the day to make sure.”

  “I understand Sergeant, but there is only so much I can do.”

  “Yea ma’am.” Said Sergeant Taylor. The nurse walked off, leaving the two notes sitting on the table. Sergeant Taylor looked at the notes and watched her walk away, he stood there shaking his head, no wonder things were so fucked up he thought. Sergeant Taylor grabbed the notes and he and the other Marine headed back out the door. They exited the clinic, Sergeant Taylor didn’t know what to do next, Corporal Moore asked what had happened, Sergeant Taylor told them the clinic’s CO wasn’t there and there was no one there that was going to help. Corporal Moore followed on, “You mean Commander Hall we passed him as we came in he was walking down the street.”

  Sergeant Taylor turned to Moore, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I didn’t know you were looking for him. We can still catch him at his quarters or the O-club.” Said Moore.

  “You know where his quarters are?” asked Sergeant Taylor.

  “Yeah I just said I did.” Stated Moore indignantly.

  “Careful Moore or I’ll put my boot up your ass.”

  Corporal Moore looked at the Sergeant as if saying, really? “Ok, Moore you’re driving. Everyone get saddled up we’re moving out now.” Said Sergeant Taylor.

  The two Humvees tore out of the BHC to where Corporal Moore said Commander Hall was quartered. They hadn’t gotten more than a quarter-of-a-mile away and found Commander Hall stopped and talking to two other officers. The two Humvee’s came to a sudden halt when they recogn
ized Commander Hall as one of the three officers. Sergeant Taylor exited the vehicle and hurried over to Commander Hall and the other officers. Sergeant Taylor came to a halt in front of the officers, came to attention and saluted. The officers returned the salute. “Are you Commander Hall from the BHC?” asked Sergeant Taylor.

  “Yes I’m the Commander. What can I do for you Sergeant?”

  Sergeant Taylor handed him the two notes, “Sir would you please read Captain O’Hara’s first followed by the second one. Commander Hall opened the Captain’s note and read it. Then noticed Sergeant Hall still standing at attention, “As you were Sergeant.” Said the Commander. The Commander continued to read; he completed the first one and was now completing the second one.

  “How old are these messages?” asked the Commander.

  “Hour-and-a-half.” Said the Sergeant. “We stopped at the clinic spoke with the nursing supervisor. I gave her the notes, she said she was sending a runner to get you. She then set the notes on the table and walked away.”

  “Can you give me a ride back to the clinic? We need to get the ball rolling.” Said Commander Hall.

  “Yes sir you can get into any one of the vehicles and we’ll head right back.”

  The two men got into the Humvees.” The two Humvees turned around and headed back to the BHC. Once back at the BHC Commander Hall ran into the clinic and told the admin’s to initiate the callback roster and tell them we are moving out in one hour and that it’s not a drill.

  It took two hours for all of the medical personnel to get in and get the trucks loaded, then they were out the gate headed to the camp being led by Sergeant Taylor in his Humvee. Sergeant Taylor told Commander Hall it wasn’t a long drive, eight miles out at the most. Commander Hall asked Sergeant Taylor to hold up a half mile away from the camp he didn’t want everyone driving in until he found out what the exact situation was. This caused a reaction from Sergeant Taylor, “Sir are my men and I infected?”

  “I don’t know how you are feeling?” asked Commander Hall. “How close did you get to the infected patients?”

  “Sir we never left our vehicles, we were a couple hundred yards off pulling perimeter guard.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it Sergeant since you weren’t close to any of the infected I’m sure you’re fine.”

  “Well sir that’s not entirely true now that I think about it. Captain O’Hara had been next to the tent with the patients while speaking to the doctor. He came to us and gave us our orders as well as the notes.”

  “Don’t worry about it Sergeant I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.” Commander Hall didn’t really know that but he didn’t need the Marines to panic right now they were their security.

  “How far now Sergeant?” asked Commander Hall.

  “Sir about half a mile, I’m pulling over here. I’ll leave the other Humvee here to provide security while we take you in.”

  “That’ll be fine Sergeant I need to speak to my XO and let him know what the plan is. Why don’t you sit tight for a moment and let me go talk to him.”

  “Aye, aye sir.”

  Commander Hall exited the Humvee and headed to the truck right behind him. Lieutenant Gary Padilla was his Executive Officer, both he and the Lieutenant were Physicians first, then Naval Officers second, at least that’s how they saw it. He stopped at the truck and spoke to the Lieutenant for five minutes and returned to the Humvee, “Alright Sergeant lets go.”

  That was all that Sergeant Taylor needed, he hit the gas, the Humvee lurched forward, “Sorry sir didn’t mean to do that.” said Sergeant Taylor looking a bit sheepish now.

  Commander Hall laughed, “It’s fine Sergeant, let’s just get going.”

  They were less than half-a-mile from the camp and were there in less than five minutes, Sergeant Taylor maneuvered through many of the obstacles that had been placed in the road by the camp members. “Stop here Sergeant.” said Commander Hall. “Is that the hospital over there?”

  “Aye sir.”

  “Once I get out I want you to pull back to the edge of the camp, stay put and be back here in fifteen minutes.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea sir, the last time we were here they tried to kill the SEALs which as you can imagine was a mistake on their part.”

  “I’ll be fine Sergeant I promise. Please be back here in fifteen, OK?”

  “Yes sir roger that.”

  Commander Hall stepped out of the Humvee, stood and looked around. He began walking towards the camp’s medical tents, stopped and looked back. “Sergeant get the hell out of here!”

  Sergeant Taylor looked at Commander Hall, smiled, then started the Humvee moving forward and turned around heading back a few hundred yards. However, Sergeant Taylor wasn’t going to leave Commander Hall totally exposed, he was heading back up to the hill where they had covered the SEALs from. Moore in the turret had a clear field of fire into the camp from there if he had to light them up with the M-249.

  Commander Hall walked to the medical tent, he didn’t see any people around, and it was eerily quiet. He peeked into the tent, pulled the tent flap back and entered. He came to the first patient; he was pale, covered in blisters, black splotches all over his body. Commander Hall reached down with two fingers to take his pulse along the neck, the patient was dead. He moved from patient-to-patient and found each one dead. He moved into the adjacent tent and found another group of patients, but these were all alive but looked to have the same symptoms.

  “Excuse me!” said the camp’s doctor. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  Commander Hall didn’t hear him come into the tent and was momently startled, he quickly stood and looked toward the man, he assumed he was the camp’s physician.

  “I’m Doctor Hall from Oceana.”

  The man is the dirty lab coat eyebrows raised in surprise, Dr. McVee stepped forward extending his hand, “I’m Doctor McVee the camps Physician. Are you the only one? I was expecting more.”

  “No I have an entire medical company with portable hospital about a half-mile down the road. I needed to find out what was going on and how to approach the camp before they came roaring in.”

  “Thank god.” said Dr. McVee. For the next twenty minutes Dr. McVee explained the situation. By then Sergeant Taylor had returned and was sitting anxiously waiting for Commander Hall, Sergeant Taylor was weighing his options to go in and get the Commander or continue to wait for fifteen more minutes. Sergeant Taylor told himself fifteen minutes more and after that they would go in guns blazing. I was going to be easier to ask Captain Luxon for forgiveness for shooting up the camp to rescue the Commander than have to explain why they didn’t do anything while the BHC commander was being killed.

  Five minutes after Sergeant Taylor arrived, Commander Hall arrived back and climbed into the Humvee. “How’d it go, sir?” asked Sergeant Taylor.

  Commander Hall looked at Sergeant Taylor and patted him on the shoulder; let’s get back to the herd we’ve got a lot of work to do. “Aye, aye Sir.” Responded Sergeant Taylor.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  All of the medical supplies that had been collected and were in the warehouses had been delivered to Womack. Lt. Colonel Sanders from 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 504th PIR was going above and beyond. The Battalion had done an excellent job in securing and holding the various clinics and medical centers throughout the Fayetteville area. They were able to establish security, get food, water and establish some electrical services for them by bringing in military generators. However, Lt. Colonel Sanders, like everyone else recognized the long term implications of not having an infinite source of fuel. He did his best to explain to ecstatic civilian medical personnel that they could only use the generators for lights, refrigeration, if they had any that worked and a few other devices.

  Each clinic and hospital was delivered a week’s ration of fuel, typically in civilian fashion each one blew through their rations within a few days and had the rest of the week to d
eal with no electricity at all. The civilian administrators were then outraged that the military refused to give them more. It took a few more weeks for them to realize that the Army was not going to give in to them, that there was no more fuel coming if they didn’t use their rations wisely. Lt. Colonel Sanders had helped each clinic and hospital set up their own security which was supplemented by roving military patrols, it proved to be effective until several of the clinics were hit by gangs that overran the security, killed them and the medical personnel and took everything in the clinics not nailed down. Eventually the 504th PIR was able to track down the gangs involved and eliminated the threat, there wasn’t much due process these days, they were found with the medical supplies, ordered to give them up and lay down their weapons. Instead, they decided to fire on the Soldiers who returned with overwhelming fire power thus eliminating any further threats.

  During this time Police Chief Darrell P. Budsworth of the Fayetteville Police Department met several times with General Portson. Each time the Police Chief demanded that the Army was intruding on his jurisdiction and he wanted US Army vehicles, fuel, ammunition and weapons. Each time General Portson kindly explained to the Police Chief it wasn’t going to happen and that it was a civilian affair. In addition, that in a national emergency he did have the authority granted to him by the President of the United States to declare martial law and use whatever forces under his command to ensure the health and well-being of the local communities. Each time the Police Chief left the meeting with the post commander, he left angry, threatening the General with this and that, the General never took the bait knowing there was nothing the Police Chief could do. In fact, three-quarters of the police force was unaccounted for and even if he was willing to help the Police Chief there’s a good chance the local stations would be overrun. With the vehicles and weapons, ending up in the wrong hands, leaving his Soldiers vulnerable when they had to go take them back.