by Reed, N. C.
They all had problems.
-
Mitchell Nolan pulled the small Cougar MRAP to a stop in front of the building being used for official business in Jordan, casting his eyes around them and taking in the changes.
“At least they seem to be taking things seriously,” he noted, dismounting along with Clay. Zach remained in the turret while Heath climbed onto the hood and sat on the top of the vehicle, his rifle in hand.
“I think they're at the point where they could withstand even a determined attack so long as they weren't facing any real armor or purely overwhelming numbers,” Clay agreed. The two walked to the office, finding Pickett himself waiting to greet them.
“Sanders,” the older man nodded stiffly. “Didn't expect to see you folks in town.”
“I thought we were always welcome, Mayor,” Clay replied coolly, giving the man an appraising look.
“Never said you weren't welcome,” Pickett agreed. “Just surprised to see you, especially after the last few days.”
“All of which can be laid directly at the feet of yourself and your militia commander, Mayor,” Clay reminded him. “We've been nothing but friends to you, all of you, and you know that to be true. We've covered you when you couldn't, or wouldn't do it yourself. We've already had this discussion,” Clay suddenly shook his head and made a motion as if waving away the discussion. “We came here to warn you about a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“We found evidence today of what may be either a rogue military unit running around raiding small areas, or else maybe someone with stolen equipment and munitions pretending to be an actual military unit, or part of one. They're apparently well-armed and have no qualms whatsoever about shooting defenseless people, regardless of age, gender or anything else. We don't know how many of them there are or what they're wearing, though the one survivor did say they had vehicles similar to ours and outfits like ours. That doesn't help much, I know, since these outfits were available commercially before the Storm.”
“As for the vehicles, the simple fact is that any number of National Guard and Reserve armories around the area could have the same equipment we have or better, all of which can be reset after an EMP and might be made to run, depending on the damage inflicted when the Storm hit. We haven't inspected any of them, so we don't know what might have been there, or if it's been looted.”
“Why ain't you looked?” Pickett asked.
“Not our business,” Clay shrugged. “We've tried not to drift far from home since this started, and we don't plan to start now. The nearest armory we know of is in Lewiston, and we've not been that far. So far as I know there wasn't a Guard presence in Peabody. Was there?”
“No, there wasn't,” Pickett admitted. “Not since the old 30th Brigade was deactivated. So who is this bunch that's running around like that? And where did you come across 'em?”
“I already said we don't know who they are,” Clay reminded him. “Nor have we met them. We just found where they had been, south of here a ways off the old Jefferson Highway. I don't know the road, to be honest. None of 'em had signs on them when I left so that's the best I can do. There's no way to know where they're operating out of or if this will happen again. It's possible they did it just passing through, I don't know. We did note that there were no young women or teenagers among the dead, so draw your own conclusions as to what they're doing. We did, and it ain't pretty, to be honest.”
“What are you gonna do about it?” Pickett wanted to know.
“There's nothing we can do other than care for the one survivor we found,” Clay shrugged. “We don't know who they are, where they operate from or where they went after leaving. For all we know they're still somewhere right here in Calhoun. Hence our making the trip into town to let you know what we found so you can take precautions against being caught out by them.”
“You should warn Dawson about this when he comes in so he can be prepared,” Clay finished. “He's a professional, so he'll know what to do as well as we do or better. You'll need to be more vigilant until and unless we see if these people hit again.”
“Seems like you ought to be out searching for 'em,” Pickett's eyes narrowed.
“I don't have the manpower to do that, Mayor,” Clay replied calmly. “You may remember that was the reason we were trying to recruit people from your fair town? To strengthen our numbers so that we could have patrols out looking for just this sort of problem? There are only so many of us, and only so much we can do. This is more than we can do. Just that simple.”
“Well, somebody needs to do something!”
“If we run into Mister Somebody, we'll tell him you said that,” Clay laughed, trying to stay friendly. “You can, of course, feel free to 'do something' yourself.” When Pickett appeared to be about to object, Clay cut him off.
“Look, Mister Pickett, we already hashed this out a couple days ago. You've somehow got the idea that we're here at your beckon call, and that our only job, for lack of a better word, is to protect your town. I thought I'd made sure you knew that ain't the case, but maybe I didn't make myself clear.”
“I told you we were looking for people to add to our roster because we needed the strength to do more, and you and Mister Dawson took offense to our doing so. Fine. We stopped. But without that manpower, you can forget us being out here running around looking for trouble. Not our job. Wouldn't be our job even if we were stronger in number, but we'd probably have done it just the same. Not now. We can't, not without endangering our families, which we aren't going to do. So, again, that's why we're here to warn you about what we found.”
“Assuming they were only strong enough to attack a small community of people of maybe one hundred or so, then they like as not lack the strength to attack you here with the improvements you've made. But don't count on that. Assume the worst and that way you aren't surprised. Does that about cover it?” he turned to ask Mitchell.
“Sounds like it, Boss,” Mitchell nodded.
“Mister Mayor, always a pleasure,” Clay nodded. “We'll be on our way.”
“Is that it?” Pickett called out to Clay's back. He stopped and turned.
“What else would you like?” he asked. “I've shared all I know about the situation. If we find out anything else, we'll tell you as soon as we can. It's important we keep communications open and share information.”
“So you know about this bunch running around doing all this, and just warn us about it and do nothing?” Pickett pressed. The Mayor was clearly looking for a fight and Clay was growing weary of it.
“Mister Pickett, what have we done to you that's made you hate us so much?” he asked suddenly.
“What?” the older man was caught off guard.
“You heard me,” Clay took a step back in Pickett's direction. “What have we done to you and yours that has led to this hostility? Have we not helped you every way we can? There are nearly two thousand of you I'm told, yet we bring labor teams into town and help you build defenses, provide materials and resources that we'll probably end up needing ourselves to help you get things up and running again, the list goes on, and yet, rather than be thankful, you're determined to be hostile toward us in general and me in particular. I'd really like to know why that is. To know what I did that has angered you so much that you can't even accept an honest warning of trouble on the horizon without being a horse's ass.”
“You remind me of the French, after World War Two. Twice in the same century we saved them from the Germans, and yet they hated us, possibly because we'd had to rescue them, I don't know. We gave you a hand up, supported you and defended you, and this attitude is our repayment for that. So, I'm wondering why? What makes us so deserving of that attitude?”
Pickett was red-faced once more by the time Clay finished, but was silent.
“Nothing to say?” Clay pushed just a little. “So, it's just personal, I guess? Something to do with me, or maybe someone else in my family? One of my men, maybe? I don't get
it. I can't see any reason for you to be so hostile, and yet here we are. You don't have to tell me, of course, but if you did, and it was something I could fix, then I'd try. But by all means, sit on your reasons and keep them secret.”
“We warned you of a possible danger, just as we did before. I was wrong in thinking that you would appreciate anything we've done for you. Still, I had thought after everything we've done for you, we could at least be friends. Clearly that's not to be the case. So, we'll bid you farewell, Mister Mayor. You should be on your way to not requiring help from anyone in the future, which is good. We won't bother you again, Mister Pickett. Whatever it is we did to cause you to hold us in such contempt, at least be aware that it wasn't intentional. We really did want to be friends. Good luck in the future.”
Ignoring the spluttering behind him, Clay made his way to the Cougar, where Mitchell already had the engine running and Heath was back inside. Climbing aboard, he nodded at Mitchell who put the vehicle in motion, carrying them home.
“What's in his craw?” Mitchell asked as they headed out of town.
“Your guess is as good as mine, and he won't say,” Clay replied. “I've tried talking to him but all I get is attitude. I'm tired of it. They can sink or swim on their own as far as I'm concerned. We've done more for them than we should have as it is. We'll be lucky if we don't end up fighting against weapons we gave them. It was a calculated gamble and we lost. That's all.”
“It's always the way of it,” Mitchell nodded. “After tomorrow we should just pull our heads in and stay home.”
“That's the plan, as of now,” Clay promised. “I've had enough.”
-
“We had to reset the arm,” Jaylyn Thatcher said quietly when Gordy came to check on Charley Wilmeth. “She's still a little loopy from the gas, but she's awake. Is this important?”
“I'm afraid so,” Gordy nodded. “She wants us to go and get her things. I need to know about her stock so I can organize the vehicles we need for it. Ideally, she needs to go with us so we don't miss anything. She doesn't have to do anything,” he raised his hands to fend off what looked to be an angry rebuttal from Thatcher. “But we can only make this trip once. With that in mind, we don't want to miss anything. She's been through enough as it is.”
Thatcher calmed noticeably at that, nodding slowly.
“Go ahead then, but if she starts having trouble then that's it. And as long as she's fit in the morning, she can go, provided someone is watching her at all times.”
“I can't promise that,” Gordy admitted. “I won't be commanding the mission, just organizing it. But I will pass it along.” With that he walked over to where Charley was laying on a bed, arm in a freshly applied fiberglass cast.
“How you feeling?” he asked gently.
“Rode hard and put up wet,” the young woman admitted. “I think I passed out when they straightened my arm. It was broken worse than I thought.”
“You're pretty tough, making it through all that with a broken wing,” Gordy encouraged. “I'm planning the trip to you ranch in the morning,” he got down to business. “I need to know how to organize our vehicles. We've got a stock hauler we plan to use, but I wanted to know if you had horse trailers, and if so, how they were pulled.”
“The stock hauler will work for the bulk of the herd,” Charley agreed. “But there are six stallions there, and they can't be hauled together in the open like that. They'll tear that trailer and each other apart. We have three trailers, including one that hauls up to eight horses and has a small cabin in front. It needs a large fifth-wheel capable truck to pull, and ours died when the sky lit up. Our six-place hauler also needs a fifth-wheel, but the four hauler can be pulled on a standard hitch with a two-ton bumper and two inch ball.”
“We'll have a semi with a box trailer as well,” Gordy was nodding as he made some notes to himself. “Will that be enough to get your equipment as well as any personal things you'll want from your home?”
“With the room in the horse trailers and the cargo area of the trucks, probably,” she nodded after giving it some thought. “I'd like to get as much of our furniture as I can, just to have it for others if nothing else. Also, I've heard that bedding is in short supply and we have four beds and a sleeper sofa. That would have to help, since I only need mine. I'd say so long as we can get most of the horses in your stock trailer, and you intend to pull all of our haulers back here, there will plenty of room. My father had the equipment to do a lot, but it's all in one building. Some things he just dabbled in rather than specialized, so his equipment and supplies will reflect that. He does have a great many tools that you may find useful, however. If you have another truck, maybe just a small box truck, you might find it useful. We don't really have much left in the way of food or silage, though we do have some mineral blocks left along with some supplements and medicines.”
“Do you think you'll feel up to making the trip tomorrow and showing us where everything is that you want to bring with you? I doubt we can make this trip again with the threat the group that attacked you represents.” Gordy tried to keep his voice comforting.
“Do you think they could attack here?” she sounded the least bit afraid, but he could tell she was hiding a lot more than just a little.
“They can try,” he said grimly. “I can't promise you they won't, or that they can't hurt us, but I can promise you they'll pay for it. This place is as secure as any place can be in this day and time. Two dozen soldiers and another two-dozen civilians trained to defend the place themselves. We have the manpower and equipment to make them sorry they came here. But that's one of the reasons that we need to make the trip tomorrow, and get it all in one go. It will take a lot of manpower, which takes that same manpower away from the farm. We try not to be divided any more than we can help.”
“Makes sense,” Charley agreed. “I didn't realize there were so many soldiers.”
“We try to keep a low profile,” Gordy admitted. “We aren't here to cause problems. We're just trying to protect our own families and homes.”
“Do you have enough room for all our horses?” she asked, concerned. “Enough food?”
“We do,” Gordy promised. “We're working a little over three thousand acres now, and we've got a large crop of hay and corn planted. We can mix our own version of sweet feed as well. We've got a lot of horses too, and were planning on raising more. With you here as our expert we should do a lot better than we would have alone,” he smiled.
“I'm far from an expert, but I can at least dance to the music,” Charley smiled. “And yes, I'll be going with you tomorrow. Thank you, all of you, for letting me come here,” she added.
“Of course,” Gordy said easily. “We're glad to have you with us. We'll be leaving very early in the morning, so try and get some rest, okay? If you need anything just ask, and if you want to talk to me or to Uncle Clay, he's the Boss, just ask. Someone will call us.”
“Thank you,” she said again, clearly sleepy. “I am tired.”
“I'd be shocked if you weren't,” Gordy patted her uninjured hand. “Get some rest.”
-
“We're going to need two fifth-wheel hitches, another with a standard two-ton hitch, and she recommended a small box truck if we could manage it just in case, because her father had a lot of tools,” Gordy reported an hour later as the crew gathered. “She says the majority of the herd can ride in the stock hauler no further than we're bringing them, but they have six stallions that have to be separated. I have to say I'm glad to hear that, because we need the blood lines.”
“That's a lot of vehicles,” Jose mused, sitting back in his chair as he looked at his own notes.
“I want to add Terri and Dee Talbot to the crew, too,” Gordy added. “Both of them will be a big help handling the horses. I also had to promise the doctor that someone would stay with Charley at all times to keep an eye on her.”
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Nate rubbed his face with his hands. �
��Okay, we're going to have to get some of the civvies involved in this,” he looked around the table. Most heads nodded in response.
“We'll add Moses Brown to the list, as well as Abby,” Clay decided. “And that's it,” he added firmly. “As it is we'll have to cancel everything else tomorrow and the farm be on full alert until we get back. Now,” he changed tracks, “with so many vehicles going, we need drivers. Drivers that can pull trailers loaded with livestock,” he added.
“Abby can handle one, and so can I,” Gordy said. “That takes me out of the combat vehicles, but it's still there.”
“Cliff Laramie can handle it,” Shane added. “So can Moses. Both of them dealt with loads like that before the Storm and on the trip here. For that matter, so can Kurtis, and he hasn't been checked out in any of the vehicles or crew weapons yet.”
“I'd be shocked if Dee Talbot can't handle a trailer, at least the smaller one,” Gordy threw in. “She grew up on a farm, after all.”
“We need another security ride for this many vehicles,” Jose noted. “Mitchell can take Thug Life and you can use it to ride scout or trail as needed, since it's more maneuverable. We probably won't have more than three per vehicle, and only two while on scene, driver and gunner. I do think Boss is right to want one of the Guardians along for the firepower. That would mean mounting fifties on both Cougars would still leave the launcher on the Guardian if you needed it.”
“We need to carry anti-tank weapons, too,” Mitchell said grimly. “At least a couple LAWs per vehicle. If this bunch has MRAPs we might need them.”
“I'll take one in the Beast, as well,” Tandi nodded. “With the ram on the Beast, we should let it lead after whichever MRAP is in front. Not much can stand in her way up to a Brad or Abrams. Especially if I soften it up with a LAW,” he added with a smirk.
“I don't like this,” Clay sighed, “but it needs doing, and this sounds like the plan. Let’s get the vehicles in line and drivers assigned. I want us on the road by dawn's early light. I want us loading horses and everything else by full light if at all possible. Jose will assign posts for the defenders that will be on alert while we're gone. I'll leave civvie dispersion to you as well, since you'll have to protect them. I would suggest that all children be gathered at the school, including those from the orphanage. I know it's a pain, but it narrows down the area you absolutely have to defend.”
