Uncertain Times

by Travis Wright

  The Marines took point, flanks and the militia’s rear, hand in hand with the resistance fighters. They had hoped to bring trucks and supplies back this time, but since they had been destroyed, they had several miles to walk.

  Once they reached the snowmobiles, the Navy corpsman, the wounded and as many militia as they could hold were shuttled back first, then the dead, before the Marines.

  The rest of them made it to the outer perimeter after dark. Rick halted the combat patrol to confirm entry. He squelched his radio three times and saw two flashes of IR light in response through his night vision from FOB Talladega. They maneuvered into a single-file line to avoid the traps and barbed wire littering the area. They made their way up the mountain to the stronghold of the cave system.

  “It looks like you boys have your act together,” McGee said once they reached the first bunker and people came out to inquire how the raid had gone.

  “Thanks,” Jim replied. “We simple folk up here in Alaska do what we can.”

  The two men smiled and nodded before continuing.

  The dead had been put under tarps outside the entrance to be buried in the morning. Jim hesitated for a moment before going inside to check on the wounded.

  “Shangri-la, huh?” McGee said when they entered and he saw the sign hanging from the ceiling.

  “I think you’ll find it’s been appropriately named.” Rick mentioned as he walked wearily by.

  Young kids ran amok, laughing and playing like kids do. The scenes were normal most days; energy and excitement sometimes however, felt surreal.

  “Get some food and rest men,” Jim said. “We will meet for burial services for the fallen at 0800. Captain, these are our living quarters. We still need to talk further, but for now, you and your men are welcome to stay in the main cave area until we can make other arrangements. There’s a restroom right over there.”

  “I would like to volunteer them to help with perimeter security, if it would be alright. My men are well rested and ready to help.”

  “Not tonight,” Jim said. “You and your men can stay right here if you don’t mind. We will talk after we bury our fallen. We still have questions.”

  The Marine captain did as asked, and Jim knew he understood. The people on watch were given explicit instructions to report anything out of the ordinary and to sound the alarm if the Marines tried to leave or wander further into the cave.

  The kids were happy to see Jim when he walked into their cave chamber just behind the cabin. He had been gone for almost a week helping out the new community, and organizing and going on patrols.

  Mary had been the only one who had seen him recently.

  “How did the mission go?” Mary asked him.

  “It turned out to be a set up, but we hit them back hard.”

  “Did anyone get hurt?”

  “We lost some good people, one of them being Matthew, but we acquired some new help on our way back.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me shower and then we’ll go see Bill and the others to discuss our new friends.”

  Mary looked confused and concerned, but didn’t press the issue. She could see the fatigue on Jim’s face. A hot shower would do him wonders.

  Jim showered and changed into fresh clothes. He wanted to clean his weapons, but being so tired, so he had Tristan and Todd do it. The original group met in the main cabin around the fireplace and discussed the Marines and the help they now offered.

  January 10th/Continuation

  Well, the Marines have landed…We lost some good people today, and another of the original group. Matthew was a good kid and didn’t deserve to die, but he left this place doing his duty for the country he loved. The help we needed is here — at least, we hope. A small unit of Recon Marines arrived today, and many people are overjoyed. We shall see what their arrival brings us.

  The next morning, everyone, including most of the people from the north side of the mountain, met in the main cave area to honor the fighters who had been lost. The closest person they had to a preacher turned out to be a deacon from a Baptist church in Homer, a town to the south. Makeshift coffins were made with plywood. There weren’t normal size American flags available, but a few 4-by-6 flag sticks were found. The sticks were removed and the tiny flags were attached to the coffins. After a prayer and condolences were afforded to the families, the militia buried the fallen in a growing graveyard south of the cave, a short distance outside the perimeter. The frozen ground had made it harder to dig the graves, but with the extra help they now had, they were dug with ease.

  “Captain, can you assemble your men, please?” Jim asked him. “Our whole community needs to know everything.”

  “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

  —Abraham Lincoln

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Listen up please!” Jim boomed over the noise of the large group which had assembled in the main commons room of the cave. “This gentleman is Captain Daniel McGee. He’s one of the several reconnaissance Marines who have come to our aid. He has something to tell all of us.”

  McGee was more than forthcoming. He started at the beginning when the U.N. troops first entered the country.

  “At first the enemy appeared to be similar to the U.N. troops we’d seen practicing on most of our bases. Then their numbers began to raise concern in some places. Before we really knew what hit us, martial law had been implemented in every major city across the country. People were told it was for their safety. With U.N. troops on each of our military bases, it was difficult to know where to start.

  Overnight, they took over seaports and airports nationwide. With the mixed troops on the bases, no one wanted to start shooting. Here in Alaska, U.N. troops were sent to each city and most rural areas in order to gain control. Six transports and hundreds of troops were flown into Prudhoe Bay alone in order to take control of the oil pipeline. No shots were fired up there, as far as we know and with the flammables you can’t blame them. Control of Valdez and its port gave them complete control of the oil supply. So far, no U.S. Military forces have tried to take the pipeline or oilfield back. We’ve been too busy in other places. There are thousands of people stranded up there and we have no idea when we will be able to get to them, but we will. The U.N. knows the workers’ expertise is needed to keep the oil flowing, so I’m sure they will be treated well enough to continue working. We retrieved this information from satellite images and radio traffic before we were shut out of our own systems.

  The idea behind this attack was to take over without firing a shot. At first it worked, but then civilian militias suddenly formed across the country, as well as rogue U.S. Military units, who began fighting back. I’m sure they expected this and with U.N.’s initial air superiority, there wasn’t much people could do to resist at first.

  What made things easier for units like ours was being overseas and then being redeployed somewhere in the U.S once things became clear. That’s why it’s taken a few months to get up here. Once we got everything figured out over there, we had to figure out where to strike here at home. We want our country back, too, but at what cost? Precision strikes were needed in order to minimize civilian casualties. We have different units striking in different parts of the country. The problem, however, is there are over 150 nations involved in this One World Unity nonsense. Though not all countries or citizens are on board, of course.”

  Bill, being the most knowledgeable on the one world power conspiracies, chimed in.

  “I read about a man named James Paul Warburg, some foreign agent of the Rothchild Dynasty, he had been a major player in the Federal Reserve Act scam. He made a statement before the U.S. Senate some time back. ‘We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether world government will be achieved by conquest or by consent.’”

  “Sounds about right,” Jim said. “I suppose we have our answer. A
select few were ready to simply hand everything over for money and power, but we sure as hell aren’t.”

  “Hell no!” A few people yelled.

  “Does anyone have any questions?” asked Cpt. McGee.

  “Are any other countries on our side?” a man asked from the back of the crowd.

  “Unfortunately, none who can really make a difference right now. China’s one of the major opposition players and has been making it damn difficult for the worldwide takeover. The U.N. Security Council figured once the U.S. fell off the world map, China and others would just follow suit. However, they would rather see the U.S. stay as is, since they have become rich off of us. China has sent us as many supplies as possible, but they’re fighting a three-front battle, much like we are. Will they come to our aid with troops after they have control back in their own country? We really don’t know.

  This is a pretty conventional war. With so many countries involved in World War III, no one will use a nuke — at least we hope not. The worst that’s happened is EMPs being detonated, like the one used on Anchorage.”

  “So, we continue fighting until someone gives up the ghost?” asked Jim.

  “We fight until we win, or die trying,” McGee said with a sigh.

  “If the U.S. Military does get the job done and gets rid of these invaders, what’s stopping you from taking over in the U.N.’s place?” asked a woman near the front.

  “The plan’s to get the country back together and start anew. The Constitution’s solid. It’s only a handful of people who are the problem, and when we get rid of them it will be much easier. We will start over, it will be better, but we have to make sacrifices before we get there. Martial law will more than likely need to be implemented for a short time until order has been restored,” McGee said. “Not many people will like this answer, but it’s how it needs to be and the people will deal with it like they did everything else. A new government will be installed and there will be a new congress, senate and president once we take the country back.”

  The room exploded with more questions, and some people were getting angry at what the captain said.

  “Thank you and God bless,” Jim said, stopping the conversation before it became volatile. “Please get back to what you need to do today. Captain, please come with me.” Jim took McGee to a side room to talk. “So, how long will you be staying?”

  “As long as we can. We will eventually be called out to another part of the country to fight. We will do whatever you need us to do while we’re here. By the way, did your people find the air drop?”

  “We had it dropped on the other side of the mountain just in case it wasn’t what you said it was.”

  “Fair enough. Would you like the tracker for the electronic beacon attached to each package?”

  “Why don’t we go get them together?” Jim suggested with a friendly, trusting smile.

  “I’ll have my men combat ready in five minutes.”

  “Roger that,” Jim said, “I’ll go get my guys ready too.”

  Both men recognized the pragmatic and icy professionalism each portrayed. They sensed the need they both had for mission accomplishment and the duty they had to their country and its people.

  They put a patrol together with snowmobiles and four-wheeler trailers they had put on skis. Half of the Marines stayed back with Rick so he could go over security protocols with them and fit them into a rotation on the perimeter and patrols.

  The group followed the beacon to the closest package drop area. The snow turned out to be deeper in some spots and made what should have been a short trip, much longer. Before long, they saw a parachute flapping in the wind in an open field. It turned out to be completely intact and upon opening it, they saw a mixture of food and water. The water looked frozen already, and some of the gallon jugs split open from the expansion. They loaded it on the trailers and some of them rode back to the cave to drop it off. Two Marines escorted them. The rest of the men moved on to the second signal on foot. When they could see it, in a narrow valley below, the group halted when the point man’s hand rose up into the air. Everyone took a knee and froze. The supplies were being torn apart by three people.

  “What do you want to do, Jim?” McGee asked.

  “Let me go down there and talk to them,” he said. “Cover me from here. I’ll squelch the radio twice if I need you to take them out.”

  With a wave to his right and left, McGee had Marines fan out and take aim on the looters. The militia members filled in the gaps.

  Jim walked slowly down to the air drop. When he made it within 100 yards or so he said, “Hello there.” Rifles were instantly raised and pointed at him. “Easy now guys, I only want to talk.” He kept walking toward them and they told him to stop about 20 yards out.

  “What do you want?” asked one of the men who sported a scraggily beard and wore dirty, ripped clothes.

  “I just want to see if I can have some of my belongings. I will share them with you,” Jim told them, “But I don’t want you to take the whole lot.”

  “This stuff fell out of the sky and no one was here to claim it.”

  “Well, we had to find it first with this.” Jim showed them the tracker which began beeping louder the closer he moved to the pallet. “I’ll show you how it works so you can see it’s in fact, mine.”

  “What’s stopping us from killing you and simply taking it all?” asked the woman in the group.

  “Diane!” the other man said sharply.

  “My men and about a dozen Marine snipers,” Jim told her while keying the mic on his radio. A handful of green lasers appeared suddenly on the chests of the three people.

  They raised their rifles at Jim again.

  “You need to lower you rifles now. Those lasers have rifles on the other end.” They did as Jim asked. The rest of the patrol walked down to meet them, except for one Marine on overwatch. “Now,” said Jim. “Who are you and what are you doing out here?”

  “I’m Roger, this here’s Diane and Peter,” The man with the beard said.

  “We were at a friend’s cabin for the weekend when this started,” Peter said, before Diane cut him off.

  “We were attacked by men in uniforms. They killed my husband.”

  “They also killed my wife,” Peter said.

  “You’re the only ones left?” Cpt. McGee asked.

  “There were eight of us. We recently ran out of food and propane at the cabin when we heard the planes and saw the parachutes.”

  “How did you three manage to escape the soldiers?”

  “With the guns we have, we were able to fend them off, but at great cost, as we already told you.”

  “We can offer you a safe haven,” Jim offered. “But, you will have to earn your keep. We could use more people in the militia, if any of you have firearms experience.”

  The desperate trio was more than happy to join the group. The men on the snowmobiles found the patrol again by following the snowshoe tracks. They loaded the supplies from the second airdrop and were sent back with the new people.

  “The lady looks familiar, but I can’t place her,” Matt told Jim once the machines were gone with them.

  “I’m not sure who she is, either. Right now, we have three more drops to find before dark and we’ll have enough food, water and much needed medical supplies to last another few months for each one of the people we have with us now.”

  January 11th

  Winter’s here to stay, but thankfully we have more supplies than we could have anticipated. The food stores are stocked and medical supplies from the airdrop have Doc smiling ear to ear. Cpt. McGee and his men have done a great job helping out and their expertise has put most minds at ease. Some of the people talk about this nightmare coming to an end soon, but the reality is, it could go on for a number of years. Time will tell, but we will continue to be vigilant in the meantime.

  “Never give in and never give up.”

  —Hubert H. Humphrey

  Chapter Nineteen

>   “We have a slight problem,” Jim told Cpt. McGee one cold morning in the common area.

  “What’s wrong, Jim?

  “One of your Marines, a Sgt. Collins has been brought to my attention.”

  “What’s he done?”

  “Apparently, he’s been fraternizing with one of my men’s daughters.”

  “How serious is it? Is she underage?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. She’s 20. The father, Stan, is just concerned that Collins might not be a good fit for her.”

  “I can order him to stop this immediately if it’s what needs to happen.”

  “She needs to stop going to his post at night. Other than that, I know Millie and will have a talk with her personally.”

  “I’ll handle the dereliction of duty with Collins right away,” McGee concluded.

  Jim knew in slack times there would be trouble. A few older kids had recently been caught drinking with some of the Marines and each of them had been reprimanded. It still remained unclear where they had obtained the alcohol. Some young men had been stealing food from the kitchen also. Whatever the issue, it was handled appropriately and never in private, but in front of the masses. However, the one between Millie and Collins was delicate.

  “Millie, can I talk to you for a moment?” Jim asked the young woman the next day as she walked through the common area.

  “Mr. Stanton, what can I do for you?” she said, surprised while pulling her long black hair out of her eyes.

  “Mary and I would like a word with you if it’s alright?”

  “Uh…sure.”

  With Mary’s help, Jim explained to Millie the sense of duty and honor from a Marine’s standpoint. Specifically, their code of conduct while on duty.

  “It’s a fine line,” Mary told her. “I can see why you like him though. His blonde hair, hard body and tan…” A smile crept across Mary’s face. “Uh… remind me of Jim when he was younger, except for the blonde hair and tan.”