Published: 02 Jan 2017

Hunter exchanged places with Devin well before he felt he should, but the fact of the matter was, he was still beyond tired. Furthermore, he knew Devin, out of anyone, had done the least at the plane crash. To Hunter it really didn’t matter if Devin had already pulled a shift as a guard. He needed to do more as a team player, especially since Devin was supposed to be the assistant patrol leader. Because of this, the second he saw Devin get up to use the bathroom, he pointed his light at the door, told him he needed to take next watch and was out cold almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next thing Hunter knew he was gently being shaken awake with a hand on his shoulder. He grumbled even as he rolled over and looked up. Seeing the female medic looking down at him, with her hand on his shoulder, he jerked back and reached for his pistol. Before his hand could grab it, Vernon’s voice came from the far side of the room, “Relax, dude. You’ve been asleep for over a day and it’s your turn to be seen by the doc.”

With his hand now securely wrapped around the pistol grip, he glanced over, “Looked at by the doc?”

Luke came into the room from the door leading to the main area of the community center buttoning up a new-looking scout shirt, “Yeah, full checkup. They brought one of the doctors from the hospital to give us a full once over. Every scratch and cut gets looked at for signs of infection, he gives you a few pokes and prods and makes sure you don’t have any bumps or other odd things growing inside you. Once you’re done with him, the dentist will check, clean and take care of any tooth problems. You’re up after Gage, then we may have to hogtie Devin when he gets back, so he sits in the dentist chair.”

Hunter couldn’t help but laugh, having heard out of both Devin and his dad how his dad paid a great deal of extra money every time Devin had to go to the dentist to get him full sedation, since Devin had a huge phobia of dentists. Hunter didn’t have all the details, but it had something to do with getting a broken tooth pulled back when he was three or four and biting the dentist.

Gage also spoke up from the other room, “Master Sergeant Keating also wants Sergeant Jimenez to go over everyone’s weapons and make sure we are cleaning and taking care of them properly. It’s one on one, but it’s a good class and you get to shoot at some targets with them giving you pointers. Devin’s the only one who totally bombed, but Angus and Zeki didn’t do too good either. It’s with a few of the other National Guard guys we didn’t meet yesterday, but they were pretty cool.”

Seeing Hunter shake his head, Vernon spoke up, “They really aren’t taking no for an answer either, especially since we have guns Mr. K. didn’t show us how to take care of. It was Mr. K.’s idea too, so just forget about arguing. They also want to take Gus, Zeek and Devin out to learn to shoot a little better before we head out on our own again. I bet they make Devin go out with them several times before they OK anything other than a .22 for him around here.”

“I’m pretty sure they won’t let Devin carry anything but the .22 no matter what. He kind of scared them with his weapon handling.” Gage spoke with absolute certainty. “They want to make sure all of us knew exactly what we are doing with all our weapons. They will test you to see if you need to join the can’t shoot very well group, but I don’t think you will be one of them.”

This was followed up by Gage’s voice lowering a bit, “Sorry, Doctor, but I’m fine. No cuts, no burns, no big scratches…”

The voice of one of the military men cut Gage off, “Boy, the doc is about to have a lot of others to look at, so get your damned shirt off and britches down so he can give you a once over!”

Vernon moved over to the door to where he could see Gage, “It’s quick, Gage, and you know Mr. K. said to…”

Gage said something under his breath no one else could hear other than the doctor. As he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on the gurney with an odd degree of anger, he shot a nasty glance over at the military man on the far side of the room. He then dropped his pants and turned slowly, “See, I’m fine!”

The doctor held up his hand as he saw the military man start to move toward Gage, “Let me just give a quick listen to your chest, check your glands, and do a fast tick check in your hair. It’ll only take a couple of minutes at most.”

The doctor then looked over at Vernon while motioning the military man back, “I think your friend is a bit uncomfortable with this, can you stay while I give him a once over?”

“Sure.” Vernon stated as he stepped back into the room. He then glanced over and grinned at Gage, clearly a bit confused over Gage’s obvious trepidation, “The worst part is how cold the ear thing he puts on your chest is.”

Again Gage muttered something so softly the doc could only make out part of it. But seeing Gage hop back up on the gurney and sit, the doctor moved up and made his exam as quick and hands off as possible. “You look pretty good other than the bruise over your shoulder…”

“Comes with firing the grenade launcher.” Gage responded as he quickly pulled his pants on. “Don’t worry, It’s not something high on my list to do very often, but they made me fire a few of the practice rounds this morning just to make sure I knew what I was doing. The way they were acting, I bet they thought me carrying the 203 was a joke.”

“We did,” the man at the other door confirmed, “but you did real well and your shooting is outstanding.”

Luke nodded in full agreement. “You should have seen him in Selden. He took out several and they never even knew where he was shooting from.”

This seemed to take Gage’s mind off the physical. “I got a good scope.”

“Yeah,” the man stated with a wide smile, “but even without a scope, you are a crack shot. Your trigger discipline is on par with anyone I have ever shot with.”

Gage grinned at the high praise of the man, but rubbed his shoulder lightly, “At least those practice grenades don’t hurt as bad as the real ones. The one I fired at the truck a few days ago nearly knocked me on my ass.”

“Didn’t do much for the truck either!” Vernon snickered.

At hearing this, the doctor’s eyes went wide as the man across the room openly snickered, “He’s pretty good with it, Doc, no joke. Gage, here, hit with two of the four chalk rounds we gave him and the other two were close enough to where they would have done damage to soft vehicles and kill close by infantry. Everything else we tested him on was even better. He just doesn’t know how to miss.”

“But a grenade launcher?” The doctor managed to gasp out.

“Yup, surprised the hell out of me, let me tell you. But from what I’ve seen and heard, these kids had a good teacher, real good. I just have Hunter left to test, but I am told he’s not too bad with what he carries. If so, it won’t take Corporal Glass and me more than an hour or so with him, then we can concentrate on those who need a bit more work.”

Hunter cringed at the idea of having to take classes with military guys he didn’t know. He was still very nervous about even being around them, let alone being real close to more than one without his friends being around. Still, he could not disrespect the adults around him by voicing his concerns and fears. Instead he decided to totally change the subject in a way he hoped the National Guard people within earshot would not take it as anything other than a kid being a kid. “What about food?” Hunter asked as he sat up. “I’m starving!” Spotting the woman who had woken him, eyeing the gun in his hand, Hunter quickly managed to smile at Specialist Grimm, the female medic, “Sorry…”

“OK, to be anxious, young man, but you need to be careful about grabbing a gun before you know what is going on around you. It is a good way to accidently shoot a friend.”

Hunter held up the pistol so the lady could see he was gripping it without his finger on the trigger, “Mr. K. made sure we know what we are shooting at before putting our finger on the trigger. It was one of his ten biggest rules.”

“Ten biggest rules?” Another military female asked as she dropped off a small bundle of clean clothing on each of the bunks.

Vernon answered, “Yeah he gave us these ten rules. We had to recite them like a scout oath several times a day and had to promise to do so once a day after we left Jennings.” He smiled as he saw all the adults looking at him, “Well, I guess I may as well get it out of the way for today and let you hear them.”

Vernon paused for a second and glanced over at Hunter. From the other room Gage started speaking. Both Hunter and Vernon joined in. “One: Where you go, your weapon goes. Two: Go nowhere alone, even if you have to take a dump. Three: Water is life – refill canteens every chance you get. Four: Make triple sure all water is safe before using it. If you aren’t sure, filter it and boil it. Five: Before you leave someplace, check and do a buddy check to make sure nothing is left behind. Six: Your firearms and knives are your most important tools – keep them clean, oiled and ready to use at all times. Seven: Never point a firearm at someone unless you are ready to use it. Eight: Know what you’re shooting at before your finger touches the trigger. Nine: Eat nothing spoiled, rotten smelling, or meat off a sick animal. Ten: The patrol is your family and must come first. Fight others, not your family.”

Hunter held up the pistol again showing his finger was off to the side of the trigger guard, “Rule eight, know what you are shooting at before your finger touches the trigger.”

“Impressive!” Spec. Grimm responded with a smile, “but you are safe here. Let yourself unwind a bit.”

Hunter almost said something, but stopped himself with the shake of his head and let out a long breath. “Not so easy, especially after a couple of the nightmares from last night. They really made me jumpy…”

“I had them too.” Sergeant Lang, the other medic, admitted as he entered the room and moved over to Hunter, nodded to the pistol and held out his hand. “I have seen some bad stuff, but nothing like what we saw up on the ridgeline.”

Hunter fought to keep a neutral face. Having the military people this close was beyond uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but see the Colorado guys smashing the rifle into Scott, even as the others talked about taking Nikki and Tamera. The reasoning side of his being told him this was not the same, but it didn’t really matter; the image of those few moments were burned into Hunter’s mind.

The problem was, he also had to deal with the teachings of his dad, who was huge on never being rude to adults. With a great deal of reluctance he handed over the pistol. Then, in an attempt to put some distance between himself and the two medics, Hunter stood and moved toward the bathroom, taking his pack and rifle as he did so. He decided to be partially honest with the woman, “The girl with the mangled arm is what I keep seeing when I close my eyes.”

Sgt. Lang let out a long sigh, reached out, and turned Hunter so he was looking into the boy’s eyes. For a large, fairly well-built black man, his eyes showed a much softer inside than Hunter ever expected. “I saw the look on your face last night, kiddo. You wanted to help but couldn’t. Nothing to be ashamed about. Every medic and paramedic I know has run across a nightmare scenario, the one where not only does it leave you weak-kneed and helpless at the site, it sticks with you after. Those are the ones you do what you can, if anything, and let someone else deal with it. You did a hell of a lot of good out there. Let those memories take over.”

Hunter found himself surprised by not only the man’s words, but the soft understanding tone. If the guy hadn’t been wearing a military uniform, Hunter was sure he would really like the guy. However, once again there was a flash in his mind’s eye of the rifle butt slamming into Scott’s face so he simply nodded with a degree of understanding, took a couple of steps back to first get out of the man’s grasp, then to put a bit more distance between him and the man, at last he finally turned and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Even as the door closed he could hear Sgt. Lang say to someone else in the other room, “He’s real shook up. Let’s see if we can help him some. PFC. Mosley, get me an update on the girl with the shattered arm, you know the girl I had to cut the lower arm off of last night up on the ridge. Even if the news is bad, it will give our young budding medic peace of mind to know.” He paused then spoke again to no one in particular, “He may be a bit edgy, but on the plus side, he keeps his side arm clean and oiled. His is way better than a couple of the others.”

This was followed up by Spec. Grimm saying, “Well, Sgt. Jimenez and Cpl. Glass are going to work with him on firearms just to make sure. In the meantime we need to get him a basic physical and get all of them a real meal. The last food they got was way too long ago and from the way it sounds we will have our hands real full in the next couple of hours or so.”

Hunter moved to the sink, turned the water on and stuck his head under the faucet. He closed his eyes and let the water run down through his hair and around his ears. It was cool, almost cold, but it took some of the edge he was feeling off. Part of him wanted to run back out and tell Sgt. Lang he didn’t want to know about the girl, but to do so would be a lie. With all the other sins he might have done over the past several days with the people he killed, he figured lying, even a white lie, was not something he wanted to explain to God in his next set of prayers.

Even as he pulled his head back and whipped his hair around some before bringing a hand towel up to dry it, he glanced upward, “God is it wrong to think about a girl I did nothing to help, instead of those I shot? Shouldn’t I remember the faces of those I killed more than those I couldn’t help? Is there something wrong with me?”

Hunter brushed his teeth, knowing there was no real answer but it did feel good to voice his thoughts. The fact he was sure there was a God listening also helped. He exited the bathroom feeling slightly better. As he got to his cot, he found his pistol lying on the pillow along with freshly washed clothing he had been wearing before he went to bed. To take his mind off of things he could not control, he glanced at his watch and realized it was only an hour or so before noon. He had went to bed only a couple of hours after sun-up the day before and other than his couple hour guard stint and two other trips to the bathroom, he had slept over a full day. “Man, no wonder I am starving!”

This didn’t stop him from checking his sidearm, however. Even as he mumbled about food, he expertly checked the safety, ejected the magazine, verified it was fully loaded, then made sure a round was chambered and ready to fire. He also didn’t hesitate to slap the magazine back in before giving it a visual inspection.

The youngest member of the group of National Guardsmen raised an eyebrow, “Sgt. Lang would never mess with someone else’s weapon…”

Hunter forced a smile as he looked over at the eighteen-year-old private who had a bit of a baby face. The teen didn’t even need to shave yet. “After gun safety, one of the first things our assistant scout master drilled into us was to always double-check our weapons after anyone else handled them, no matter who. It wasn’t one of his prime rules, but it might as well have been.”

One of the men who came out to the crash site to help stepped into the room, “Damned good advice, damned good. Private Weathers, Hunter wasn’t showing any disrespect and from the way it sounds, has seen real combat a couple of times. Just cause he is six years younger than you are, doesn’t mean you can’t learn from him, so drop the tone a notch.”

The red headed private’s eyes went a bit wide, “Sorry, Staff Sergeant.”

Hunter looked over to the door, “It’s OK, Sergeant Bass…”

“The hell it is.” SSgt. Bass barked back. “Pvt. Weathers, there, ain’t done nothing but get out of Basic and AIT. He saw a bit of fire at some farmhouse before we got here, but didn’t fire a single shot. He didn’t even go out with the others this morning. Besides, what we saw at the farm was mild. It sure was nothing like you all had to deal with at the plane wreck. Plus, from what we have been hearing, you have been in at least three engagements and have won all of them.”

“Only because Gage was with us.” Hunter stated as he shot Gage a grin.

“Maybe on the first three, but you did great on the roadblock,” Gage responded with a wide smile, having all but shook off his attitude and anger over the physical. “Pretty much all of us took the fight to those idiots.”

“Indeed you did.” Mr. Meeker spoke up as he entered the room. Seeing Hunter with his rifle over his shoulder, he took a deep breath, having had to tell all the others the same thing already, “Hey, Hunter, if you don’t mind, can you keep the assault rifle here?”

Hunter frowned and hardened, “Why?”

Vernon moved in and held up a hand to stop Hunter, “It’s making some of the town’s people a bit nervous with kids walking around with Army guns. We can keep them with us around here, just not in town. They are OK with us having pistols and a regular rifle, but any rifle is really pushing it, so you have to get the OK from the military guys first.”

Mr. Meeker snickered, “And even those stipulations took some convincing from me and having Deputy O’Hara talk to the sheriff from Jennings. But you have to be checked out by one of the sergeants first, even to keep a pistol with you.”

Hunter pulled the rifle off his back and looked at it. Vernon snickered, having seen Gage do the same thing with his assault rifle, “I talked to Mr. K. on the radio, Hunter. He says to be nice about it, but as always, keep something to shoot with us at all times.”

Gage patted his pistol, then his hunting rifle, “Me, I’m keeping the .308 with me!”

“Good, cause I feel safer even seeing you with it!” Hunter stated with complete conviction in his voice. “We’d all be dead without you with a rifle in your hand.”

Sgt. Lang let out a short snort, “Kiddo, let me assure you this much, should it even appear the shit is about to hit the fan, we’ll get you to your rifles or your rifles to you before the first round gets fired. This is all about the town folk, not us. Hell, from what Tom, here, says, you all looked like pros out there.”

“As many hours as Mr. Korbal worked with us, we better be…” Vernon snickered.

“We can all still do better,” Gage announced. “Remember Tom dropped a few of those jerks.”

“Only because they were running or diving for cover from you all.” Tom smiled as he tossed Hunter a box of chocolate chip granola bars. “Something to hold your hunger off till we can get you a cooked meal, but let the dentist see you first.”

Hunter glanced back at his rifle, “Man, it feels so wrong not to have it with me…”

Spec. Grimm motioned for Hunter to follow her even as she spoke. “Sorry, but you’ll just have to live with your pistol and shoulder rigging for now. We’ll get you checked out and from what we hear you’ll be able to carry a long arm and pistol anywhere in town before dinner.

“Just keep in mind, from what the mayor says, there are over three hundred kids in Hill City, and it sounds like there is about to be more. At this point, only a few of the oldest are walking around with any kind of weapons, and none of them regularly, so eight boys all under the age of fourteen walking around armed to the teeth doesn’t do much for the nerves of the people here and sure undercuts parental or law enforcement authority. Trust me, if my nine year old saw you walking around with the firepower I first saw you all with, he’d be telling me how unfair it was that I wouldn’t even buy him a BB gun when he was here over Easter. Now I’m regretting that decision while hoping he is still alive.”

Hunter’s eyes went wide, “Where is he? Any chance we can look for him for you?”

Spec. Grimm shook her head, “Nick was with his uncle and his wife in Eldon, Missouri.” Seeing Hunter give her an odd look she went on to explain, knowing the more she was truthful with all the boys, the more they would trust. There was a ways to go and she could tell it. It was in all the boys’ eyes. There seemed to be a huge amount of suspicion in all of them when it came to dealing with her or any of the others from her unit and it really bothered her. “I was a stupid sixteen-year-old when I had him. I got lucky enough to have an older brother who was willing to be a dad. Nick is with them most of the time, but he comes to live with me… used to at least… part of the summers and part of winter break and most spring breaks.”

The woman wiped away a couple of tears, “To be honest I look around here and hope he is in a safe place like this. If not… Well I don’t even want to think about him being alive and not being in some town like Hill City. From what we have seen and heard there isn’t too many places a nine-year-old can go to be safe anymore.”

“No luck with the radio trying to contact the town?”

Spec. Grimm’s lips tightened up as she stared down at Hunter for a moment, “I’ve been too afraid of what I would find out to ask MSgt. Keating to try. I think he has already and is just waiting for me to ask, but…” She hung her head, “If he is safe great, but I would want to go to him and my duty is here. If he is missing… then I know in my heart I would take off to search for him just like you all are doing trying to find your folks. To do so would also being abandoning my duty to my unit and the people here. It would also be like finding a needle in a field of haystacks.

“Besides, should my brother manage to get him out here, which is a real possibility since we grew up here, I left a note in my house in Logan as to where we are at.”

“So you have been to Logan? Is there anyone there?”

Spec. Grimm motioned for Hunter to sit on a rolling hospital bed, brought in so the boys could all get physicals. At the same time an older man in a white doctor’s coat came over, “Hello there, I’m Doc Louis. Do me a favor and strip down to your undershorts for me so I can give you a once over.”

As Hunter let out a little sigh and started to undress, Spec. Grimm answered the question, “Three of us are from Logan, so the Ell Tee let us take one of the Strykers up there. Crooked Creek pretty much flooded the south side and several places were burned. It looked to me like some of the transformers blew up and started lots of fires. By the time we got there, most of the people had fled, but there were twenty-two who were still there. They had been hit a couple of times by escaped prisoners from the jail in Norton, so they all came back with us. Logan is now empty.

“I know MSgt. Keating took six others back up there, along with a few locals to take what was useful and bring it back here. They got into a shootout with several of the inmates and killed a dozen or so. They let the others run after making them drop their weapons and Sgt. Jimenez grabbed everything they dropped and did a full sweep of the town, so there is basically nothing left. We even raided the school and took all the books and stuff so we have more learning stuff for the kids here.”

Even as Spec. Grimm continued to tell Hunter what she knew about Logan, Kansas and the roads going up there, the doctor had him take a few deep breaths as he put a stethoscope up to Hunter’s chest and back, then tapped on his knees. The man spent a couple of minutes examining a particularly large scratch on Hunter’s left arm, taking a few seconds to put some antibiotic cream on it. “The others all say they got tetanus shots. How about you?”

“All of us did, sir,” Hunter responded. “Mr. Korbal, our assistant scout master, made me get one even though I know I had one two years ago, after I stepped on a nail. He said he wanted an exact date on record for all of us.”

“Not a bad idea, especially in the world we now find ourselves in. There’s no telling when more will be made so having a current one is a good idea. I wish I had enough to give everyone in Hill City one.” The doctor held up Hunter’s arm, “Where’d this nasty scratch come from?”

“There was a sharp edge off the bumper of the truck I ducked behind when I was getting shot at.” Hunter grinned as the man’s eyes went wide, “I’ll take the cut over getting hit by a bullet any day.”

The doctor made a snorting sound as Spec. Grimm openly snickered. Still the doctor looked concerned, “What happened to the person who shot at you?”

“I’m pretty sure Gage happened,” Hunter forced a nervous snicker. “Basically every one of us owes him for taking out someone shooting at us.”

“How about you?” The doctor asked with a great deal of apprehension in his voice.

“I took down a few… well three for sure… I think I got help on one and helped on a couple of others though. It’s not safe at all out there.”

Doc Louis ran a hand through his graying hair, “How you dealing with it?”

Hunter shrugged, “Sir, I really didn’t have much choice. They were shooting at me and my friends. Besides, Mr. Korbal knew this kind of thing would happen and taught all of us what to do.” Hunter glanced around to make sure none of the others were in the room before he whispered, “But Devin didn’t learn very well at all…”

Sgt. Lang let out a bit of a chuckle, “Devin is the one we will be working with the most. He is definitely on the low end of the totem pole in your group as far as combat effectiveness.”

Doc Louis glanced over at Spec. Grimm and Sgt. Lang, “They’re just boys…”

MSgt. Keating overheard the comment as he was entering the room and made a growling sound. “Doc, you may see little kids. Me and the rest of my unit see boys who went to the plane crash on their own and helped get them all here safely. We see boys who took out the bandits allowing Tom Meeker, his wife and kid to get here. We see boys who are very much responsible for turning Jennings into a place of safety and by taking out the roadblock just down the road from us made Hill City a safer place as well. Plus, after talking to a couple of the others who were just too shook up to sleep yesterday after seeing the mess at the crash site, we used the information they gave us to go get them others. Call them what you want, but keep in mind the young men you are seeing this morning have helped hundreds of people so far, probably well over a thousand, even as they try to find their folks.

“Before the world went to shit on us, the President of the United States would be hard pressed not to give them all Freedom medals. Also keep in mind, they aren’t done yet. Each and every one of them have come to me to see what I can find out about their families, so they can all go right back out there as soon as I find something useful for them.”

Before Doc Louis could say anything, Spec. Grimm cut in, “Don’t bother trying to talk them out of it, Doc. You would have better luck asking a school of piranha to not eat a hunk of meat tossed in their tank.”

The man let out a sigh as he checked Hunter’s neck and jaw both visually and by feel before he took a step back. “I’d hate to see anything bad happen to you all.”

“Yeah, well we don’t want anything bad to happen to our families…”

Even as MSgt. Keating snickered at Spec. Grimm mouthing the words ‘I told you so’, the doctor let out another sigh. “Well, other than looking a bit undernourished and the deep scratch, you look pretty good. Any problems I can’t see? Have any pain anywhere?”

Hunter shook his head, “Not really. Some ringing in my ears, but I think it’s from all the guns I have had to shoot over the last few days. Mr. K. had us use some headphone like things we found in the military plane when he was teaching us, but we didn’t bring them with us…”

The man frowned and dug into a bag sitting on the counter. After a few seconds he pulled out a pair of small boxes. “I know you may not always get the chance, but if you know you are about to shoot, you and your buddies need to use these. I’d hate to see your hearing go to pot at such a young age.”

Hunter looked at the box of foam globs and read the instructions. “Disposable ear plugs? I didn’t even know they made these.”

“Full headset hearing protection is better, but those will help. They are reusable, but throw them if they get dirty. There is too much of a risk of an ear infection and nowhere near enough antibiotics left at this point.”

Hunter pulled on his pants and stuck the two boxes in his pockets. “I’ll spread them out so we all have some, thank you.”

Doc Louis gave Hunter a slight smile. “You are very much welcome. Now as a word of advice: If you go poking around in drug stores while you are out there keep your eyes open for more. Gunfire can really mess up your hearing. Hearing protection is probably not going to be on the list of things most people will try to grab either, so with any luck you’ll run across some more.”

Hunter started to pull on his scout shirt only to have MSgt. Keating shake his head, “Your pants are clean, but toss your shirt over in the dirty clothes pile. We washed the stuff you were wearing up at the ridgeline and put it on your cot. We’ll wash all your guys’ dirty stuff when the wind picks up a bit more, so we have enough power to use washers and driers.”

Hunter nodded and moved back into the other room to finish getting dressed. As he did so, he realized there was no sign of several of the others. He shot a look over to Luke who was playing around with an MP3 player. “Hey, where’s Gus, Zeek, Ram and Devin?”

Gage responded, “Zeek and Devin went with a group of the National Guard guys because they found another train and they wanted to work with both of them on shooting a bit more. From the way it sounds, the train was partially looted, but they want to get it as close to here as possible so they can bring supplies up here from it.”

“Wow, good to hear. What about Gus?”

Luke looked up from his MP3 player; “He and Ramsey went with four of the other Army guys and several men up to Kirwin.”

Before Luke could say more, Hunter’s eyes went wide, “Oh, my God! The scout camp…”

Luke nodded, “Yeah, it was opening weekend at Camp Hansen for those going to first session up there. Since Spence went with his cousin’s troop after our other patrol broke up, he’s up there, or at least was. I talked to him just before he left, so I’ve been thinking about what they must be going through ever since we got all the fires out.

“When I mentioned it to the big radio sergeant guy, he was able to contact someone up around there. From what he found out it sounds like they are in big trouble with flooding and put up some red cloth on the flagpoles and junk. The guy on the other end of the radio said there was no way to get to them because the camp is on high ground and surrounded by water. As soon as they found out, the lieutenant guy said they could get to them with the Fox. I’m not sure what that is, but they headed up there at first light with a big truck like the one Gage stopped and two weird Army vehicles. Ram and Gus were awake and dressed and wanted to go, so the lieutenant guy had them jump in the back of a big armored eight-wheel armor truck thing with a big gun on the top.”

Before more could be said, Spec. Grimm poked her head into the room. She was fully geared up with a rifle over her back and a medic pack hanging over her left shoulder. “Hunter, the dentist is ready for you in the far back room. Vernon, if you don’t mind, can you grab your assault rifle and join me and Gage next door? They need a medic up at the scout camp and we don’t want to pull any more of our forces out of town than needed, so I’d like you two to be with me and Pvt. Weathers in case we run into trouble.”

Hunter nodded and moved toward the door but glanced back at Vernon, “When will we know how many are at the camp?”

Vernon shrugged, “You’ll have to ask the radio sergeant guy. I think he can talk to them.”

Twenty minutes later, with the dentist working on cleaning his teeth, Hunter managed to speak as MSgt. Keating walked past the door, “Sir?”

Seeing the huge man stop and turn, Hunter pulled his head away from the dentist so he could talk, “Sir, I’m kind of worried about what is going on since Spec. Grimm took Gage and Vernon. Is there any word on the Camp Hansen?”

MSgt. Keating entered the room. He studied the boy in the chair for a few seconds, making for an uncomfortable moment of silence before speaking, “Hunter, to be honest with you, we are pulling some kids and adults out, but they were running out of food and drinking rainwater. Lieutenant Grader also reports they are even pulling some out of trees, who have been stuck in them for over a week now and are suffering severe exposure. They are too busy to give us any kind of an exact count, so we’ll just have to wait until they get back. I can tell you some fools were stupid enough to shoot at Grimm, but the bullets didn’t even penetrate the armor. From what she reported, your buddies dropped three of them, while Pvt. Weathers didn’t and they joined up with Lt. Grader without any other problems. You now know as much as I do on that front.”

The massive man then managed to crack a slight smile, “On the other hand, I do have some information. And while it’s not exactly what you were looking for, I did find you one piece of news the sheriff of Jennings thinks you in particular may find as very good.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“Jonah, some brother of a kid by the name of Levi made it to Jennings this morning. He’s not in great shape but he should be fine in a few days…”

Hunter cut the man off with a sigh, but quickly forced a smile. However, it was abundantly obvious he was hoping for better news. Still he nodded after only a few moments, “I’m glad for Levi and Rivka…”

“Well, from what I heard this morning, you and your buddies are the reason the kid was able to find his brother and sister safe and sound which is incredible to me. However, the news gets better, but since you interrupted me, it can wait until you finish your checkup and visit with the dentist. As soon as you are done, come see me in the radio room. The sheriff of Jennings wants to talk to you.”

“I’m sorry! Can’t you just tell me?” Hunter pleaded.

MSgt. Keating cracked a slight smile, “Some things are worth waiting for and it will serve as a good reminder for you to not be rude. Now get your pearly whites cleaned, get something to eat so you can get some meat back on those skinny bones of yours, and come see me.”

Hunter clenched his fist and frowned as he watched the massive man just barely fit through the doorway without ducking. He held up his arm, “I’m not that skinny!”

This got a chuckle out of the dentist partially because the boy’s entire mindset changed from wondering what the military radioman had found out, to feeling bad about being called skinny. “Young’un, the only one he hasn’t told to put some meat on their bones so far today, is your friend with the red hair. Even Doc Louis says the rest of you could all stand to eat a bit more.”

Hunter made a slight pouting sound, “Yeah, well there are two normal sized kids muscles, plus lots of extras inside Angus. He is the only non-adult I have ever seen who can flip a big back tractor tire. It almost wipes him out, but he can do it. Most adults can’t and he thinks it’s funny when he does it and some adult tries and totally fails. I’ve seen more than one, who, like me, can’t even get it off the ground to begin with.”

The dentist made a whistling sound, “Something tells me I’d be right there with you. Now open back up and sit still so I can finish up. It sure sounds like I may have my work cut out for me when the lieutenant gets back from up north and I’d like to be ready for them.”

Ramsey scanned the area with the binoculars, looking for any signs of life from his position on top of the Stryker eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier; even as Corporal Way maneuvered the smaller amphibious APC over to a former windbreak of pine trees with a half submerged and partially buckled picnic pavilion just to the north of the line of trees. This was as close as the Stryker could get, but the lieutenant had positioned it with the best chance to spot survivors in the campsites on the east side of the campground.

From his vantage point atop the Stryker, what was left of the summer camp was difficult to come to grips with for the boy who had come to this place with his friends the prior two years. In his mind’s eye he could picture the layout of the camp, with each area having a tree line to give it some privacy from the other campsites. He could even picture the pool, and the many hours he had spent in it. Now however, it was all but gone. The water was well over halfway up on most of the buildings he could see, and where the pool house should have been was nothing. The building was gone as was the outdoor pavilion, while the pool itself was under at least a couple of feet of water.

Further up north, toward where the main entrance monuments stood poking out above the water, the main storage building still stood, but had water over a foot and a half up on its sides. Tied to the side of the building were half a dozen canoes. The main dining hall also had a few canoes tied to it. While it was also partially under water, this building was slightly higher up than most of the other buildings, so the water was up to about half way between the bottom and bottom of the east side windows. The problem was, both these buildings were on the far west side and were difficult to fully see through a lines of trees originally planted to give each campsite some privacy and protection.

Ramsey looked over the spots where the tents normally sat on the closest campsite, the place he had stayed the summer before. It was gone, nothing at all was left. Even a few of the trees were missing. With a deep sigh, he panned further over taking a closer look at the other three sites Ramsey could at least somewhat see. It was near total devastation. There was nothing other than a single partially collapsed picnic pavilion; the other two hard structures were missing entirely. The other thing he noticed was the main flag pole held a badly tattered US flag, but it was upside-down while every power and light pole had red cloths tied to them. Two of the light poles only had tatters of red material hanging off them though.

Ramsey focused in on the amphibious M93 FOX, as the six-wheeled vehicle pulled close to the structure, where two figures could be seen clinging to what was left of the top of the former rain and shade shelter. Ramsey clenched his fist, as one of the two made a move too soon and slid off the edge and into the water.

Up on top of the FOX, Angus didn’t hesitate. He yanked off his armored vest and dove in after whoever had fallen into the water, while the man Ramsey now knew as Private First Class Hulbert quickly climbed up through the top front hatch of the APC and managed to grab the arms of the second figure even as he, too, almost fell into the water.

Fortunately for whoever it was, PFC Hulbert was strong enough to grab the outstretched hand and all but toss the skinny, small person onto the top of the vehicle. The young military man then hastily scrambled over to where Angus had jumped in. A few seconds later, PFC. Hulbert grabbed a second figure and hoisted what was clearly a child up by the back of the kid’s shirt and pulled the boy up onto the top of the basically flat topped APC. Before he even fully secured the boy, Angus’ hand came into view as the very strong boy climbed up the side.

With a long sigh of relief, Ramsey lowered his head, suddenly very happy Lt. Grader had demanded he stay on dry land and help keep watch, rather than help in the actual rescue efforts. Ramsey knew, even as he watched Angus slide over next to the kid he had helped out of the water, there was no way he could do what either PFC Hulbert or Angus had done.

From below, Lt. Grader shouted up, “Do you see any others close by them?”

Ramsey focused in on the area around where the FOX was and nodded even as he shouted out, “Yes, sir, the trees to the southwest, I have someone in the tall pine and another two trees down, but…”

“But what son?” The lieutenant demanded to know.

Ramsey gulped, “Um, the one two trees down is kind of hanging there and not moving… I… I don’t think whoever it is, is alive, sir.”

Below Ramsey, Lt. Grader let out a trio of curse words before grabbing the radio and giving the information over to the crew of the FOX. The man then shouted back up, “Kiddo, I know this is scary, but keep scanning close to the M93, we don’t want to waste fuel or have a mechanical problem by going back to areas we already covered.”

“But if they are dead…” Ramsey found his voice suddenly failing.

“Keep your breathing under control, there kiddo!” Lt. Grader shouted back up. “You won’t be doing us, or those out here any good if you have an asthma attack. Keep in mind, some of these kids have been out here a really long time and we still need to check on all of them we can find. We need to pull up to and check each and every one of them. With any luck, some of these bodies are still alive, just too weak to move much. Even if it is only a few, we can’t abandon them when we are probably their last shot. Also, we know we just got two alive and there are more out here, so stay calm and focused. Your buddy is counting on you spotting for him, after all.”

Even as the armored personnel carrier churned through the muddy water, the two rescued figures were helped down into the safety, security and warmth of the vehicle. Ramsey brought up the binoculars again. This time, Angus was able to grab the person on the tree and pull him onto the top of the APC with no real problem. As the person came into view, Ramsey could clearly make out the remnants of a scout shirt, with a first class rank patch over the breast pocket. Whoever it was, clutched onto Angus and didn’t want to let go. It took Pvt. Hulbert to slide over and pull the boy off Angus, before the two could get him below.

Ramsey shuddered. He knew in his heart he would have given up long before things got this bad, even if he had survived his breathing troubles, he was certain he would be among the dead.

Once again he pulled up the binoculars and cringed, as Angus reached out, then rapidly pulled his hand back. Angus shouted out something and made a slashing motion across his throat confirming Ramsey’s suspicions. Whoever it was had died hanging on to a tree only yards from what Ramsey could only guess was a friend. While not overly religious, he suddenly found some of Hunter had rubbed off on him. He said a quick and silent prayer for both the living and the dead.

Lt. Grader’s voice shattered his thoughts as the man once again shouted up, “Anyone else close to them, kiddo?”

“No… No sir… No one I can see!”

“OK, you said there was someone further to the west?”

“A few, sir, there are a group of three campgrounds just to the left of the roof of the big fallen building, with the edge of the roof poking out over the water. That used to be the medical and storm shelter area…”

“OK, where do you see the people?”

“I see three in the horseshoe shaped line of trees just to the south of where the edge of the roof is sticking up, and I have someone waving a scout shirt further south, um, right about where the small amphitheater was. He is in the really big pine tree right near the top.”

There was a pause, “OK, good eyes, kiddo, I got him. We’ll go after him first. Keep searching. You are doing great up there!”

Ramsey continued to do his best to give directions down to the lieutenant so the man could radio the information over to the amphibious vehicle for nearly fifteen minutes before he could no long make out anyone in the area. The APC then disappeared from view, as it searched behind the lines of trees where Ramsey couldn’t see. Thirty minutes later, the very slow moving FOX reappeared and made its way back toward the APC Ramsey was on top of and the deuce and a half truck right behind them. As it got closer, Ramsey counted eleven kids and one adult on top. All twelve looked to be in horrible shape.

Before the FOX was even halfway back, Lt. Grader shouted up, “Hey, things don’t sound good at all and I want one of my medics up here along with a bit more firepower, but I don’t want to pull too many of my people out of Hill City. Three of your friends are cleared to carry weapons, a Gage, Vernon, and Luke, which two of those three would you think are the best to help up here and give us extra security?”

“Gage for shooting no doubt, but Hunter would be the absolute best…” Ramsey started to respond.

“Normally I’d agree, kiddo. Hunter is about the only one I’ve really gotten to know so far. He’s a hell of a kid, but he isn’t cleared by Doc Louis, and my people say he needs an extended break after everything he did with the plane survivors. Besides, he still hasn’t been checked out by Sgt. Jimenez on shooting. Of the other three names I gave, who do you want up here with you?”

“Gage for sure, then Vernon. I like Luke but… well let me just say, I really don’t… well I trust him… um…”

This got a snicker out of the man, “I get it kiddo, I really do. There is a difference between a friend and a buddy. Luke is a friend, the others are more buddies, right?”

“Good way of putting it sir…” Ramsey paused and cringed, but getting called kiddo all the time was kind of starting to bother him so he looked down into the Stryker, took a deep breath, and spoke, “Sir, can you just call me Ram or Ramsey?”

The man glanced up with a stern look, which quickly softened as he saw the boy flinch back with some fear, “Sorry, there kiddo… um, Ramsey, I am just way too used to calling my nephew kiddo and you seem so much like him, it’s kind of eerie. Truth is, I didn’t even think about it. I’ll screw up a few times, but I’ll try to call you by your name, what do you prefer, Ram or Ramsey?”

Ramsey forced a tight grin; clearly relieved the man was not mad at him for asking. “Um, I kind of like Ram. It sounds tough…”

This got a burst of laughter out of the man, “You are tough, damned tough, and should be proud of how you have handled yourself. Ram it is. I’m going to get Vernon and Gage up here too. I am getting reports of serious trouble though, so get your armored vest on. I hear it may cause you some breathing problems, so if you need to, take an inhaler hit. I want you in top shape. Also, either come back in here or hold on, I am going to move us so we can see parts of the camp we can’t from here and I only have one good arm to drive with.”

Although a bit nervous to be with one of the men alone, Ramsey was starting to like the lieutenant. After a few moments of debate, he slid down into the Stryker and sat down next to Lt. Grader. He glanced over not being able to contain his curiosity, “How long does it take to learn how to drive one of these?”

The left side of Lt. Grader’s mouth turned upward, “Ram, tell you what, you keep your head in the game up here for me, and I’ll give you a rundown and even let you take it part of the way back. In the meantime, it sounds like we have a bigger problem surrounding those two bigger buildings with the canoes, so I want you to get your armor on, grab one of those Kevlar helmets, adjust it down to your size, or as close to your size as you can, and keep a low profile for me the next time you head up top to spot for your buddy. Until your friends get here with the other Stryker, though, we are going to keep trees between us and those buildings.”

“Why?”

“Not real sure. Those we rescued aren’t really in the greatest shape nor are they making much sense, but those who are coherent are telling Cpl. Way to stay away from them, so, for the moment, we are going to do just that.”

Devin watched as a dozen men from Hill City formed a bucket brigade from the second to the last boxcar of the train Sergeant Haley Collins had found while scouting tracks to the south of Hill City. Much like the first train they had come to, this one was sitting on the tracks in the middle of nowhere. Well, he admitted to himself, it was somewhere. It was between WaKeeney and Oakley.

The trip here was a cerebral kick in the gut for Devin and kept playing through his mind. What he saw told Devin the world he knew was indeed gone and even finding his family was not going to bring it back. Truth be told, even though Devin felt he should stay with his friends, he was mentally done. At this point, he wanted to find someplace to settle down and try to wait things out. He didn’t even care if it was Jennings, Hill City, or somewhere else. It simply didn’t matter to him anymore as long as it was kind of civilized. In his way of thinking the only sane thing to do was to do nothing, or at least as little as possible and see what the future would unfold before him. Even what everyone else was trying to do was pointless, what good would it do to find a family member? It would change nothing. He couldn’t go buy what he needed nor could any other family member. All the stuff he had found would have to be his money since he figured his dad, with the nearly cut off arm at the state park, was dead. The misery didn’t end there either. He was sure his home in the middle of Colby was ashes and his family’s wealth was blowing around in the radiation-filled wastes in and around Colby.

All this was further reinforced by the ride to get to this train. Being in the APC and looking out of one of the gun slits as the small convoy went through the much larger town of WaKeeney, a town he knew well, had been the final straw for Devin. It left him shook up and the whole place was something so terrifying as to be out of a horror movie.

The streets were all but empty and entire blocks were burned to the ground. Going by the hospital was sickening. Much of it was burnt and the roof had collapsed. There were shot up cars in the parking lot and bullet holes in the remaining walls. The high school only a block or so down was in no better condition. Devin couldn’t help but notice there was not a window left in the school. Even more telling as to the deplorable conditions of the town was when he looked over toward the center of town. The water tower was simply not there. At first Devin couldn’t understand it, having seen the slender looking tower with the sharply sloped lid at least a hundred times in his young life. However, even as he looked again, there was no sign of it at all. In his heart, he knew it had fallen down, probably in one of the many strong storms or earthquakes to ravage the area.

Devastation continued with every street he looked down. Finally, as they made it to the turnoff leading to the side road following the railroad tracks, they came to a hotel and gas station. There was no question the gas storage tanks had gone up. There was nothing left except twisted rubble and a foundation where the gas station used to stand. Making matters worse, the hotel had clearly taken part of the blast. The walls were caved in on the side facing the gas station and the hotel sign was knocked over, pointing directly away from the ruins of the gas station. Half a dozen charred cars and SUV’s also told the story of the power of the blast.

Even though the town was clearly all but done for, Devin watched nervously as a few people on the streets moved to observe the armored vehicle he was in go by. Almost all had rifles or handguns, and one even had a couple of pretty small kids with rifles with him. Even the one kid about his age walking down a side street by himself was armed and had a large backpack which was way too big for his frame. The only good thing, if anything was good about what he was seeing, was the survivors didn’t seem to be fighting each other. Instead they moved into and out of structures seemingly at random. Most had packs, which in Devin’s mind meant they were trying to find whatever they could. Also on the plus side, they showed no real hostility toward the convoy, although a few did try to wave them down. Devin guessed seeing the heavily armed APC escorting the small convoy of trucks was enough to prevent anyone from doing anything stupid.

For a few seconds Devin contemplated asking the female staff sergeant to check on one of his dad’s business partners and family, but decided against it after seeing a one rather scroungy looking man with a big rifle flip off the convoy as it drove past.

Devin couldn’t help but wonder what the return trip would bring. If things went right, or at least according to plan, Zeki would get the train running and would take it back to WaKeeney. The idea was park it right where the tracks met the highway. This would give those from Hill City easy access to clean it out and take the goods the slightly more than twenty miles to Hill City. The hope was to make contact with some locals in WaKeeney and offer to let them have some of what was in the train. This way those who were left would then have supplies and would willingly split what was left. Unfortunately, there was no established leadership left in the town, at least none known. Hill City’s mayor had tried to establish communication a few times, from what Devin had been able to find out, but thus far had no luck. Instead several survivors had come to Hill City saying there was no water, no power, and was getting more and more dangerous. Those same survivors also confirmed the next largest town to the east of WaKeeney, Hays, had been hit by a nuke. Yet the home of another Wal-Mart, Devin reminded himself for about the tenth time since hearing what had been targeted.

From the way it sounded, the first few days after the day the world exploded those in WaKeeney had tried to come together. They formed a town council and drafted a makeshift militia to protect the town. For reasons unknown to those who fled to Hill City, cracks quickly started to appear and infighting, first with arguments and then with gunfire broke out. A large earthquake had been the final straw. Open fighting broke out between two factions, which ended in the death of nearly all the “leaders” from both sides. Fearing family members from opposing sides would start a blood feud, many fled.

As with many other places, the day Hunter was now calling the “Day of N” and a term most of the others were now using, had brought a once nice community to its knees. In this case it took a few days, but the results, at least in Devin’s way of thinking, was the same as if a nuke had been dropped on the place. In some ways Devin was starting to think it would have been better for those living in the ruins if it had. He was even starting to think it would have been better if he had been in one of the blasts. To be vaporized with no pain, would certainly be better than living through the aftermath. But here he was and he wasn’t going to kill himself, even though the idea had occurred to him. No, he would just have to deal with the cards he was dealt, which at the moment was being “drafted” to help Hill City.

The problem was Hill City wasn’t in great shape and didn’t have enough supplies to make it through the coming months and the winter to follow if it didn’t do something fast, and the town leaders knew it. There was also security concerns, which the National Guardsmen were helping with but were not the end all answer. The biggest immediate security problem was WaKeeney. The larger town was straight south of Hill City and a serious concern for Hill City as things now stood. Hill City couldn’t let armed thugs come up the highway to steal food and supplies already in short supply, and keeping a standing guard contingent big enough to fight off large bands of desperate and possibly sick folks constantly coming up from the south was the last thing Hill City wanted, or needed, to deal with.

Devin rubbed his forehead and forced himself to stop thinking about what he knew and had seen for a few seconds. Zeki was counting on him after all. From where he was on the front of the train’s engine, and took a moment to do what he was tasked with, which was looking out for possible danger. From his vantage point, he could see Interstate 70. There were dozens of cars, some on, some off the interstate, most with doors, trunks and even hoods open. This told Devin the vast majority had already been looted. Still, two of the soldiers had gone down and checked things out. They found two semis that had been looted, but between the two trucks, one of the mechanics had managed to get one running and had scrounged enough gas to get it to the train. It was this semi Devin watched as it got loaded with case after case of Chef Boyardee products.

Once at the train, the men quickly siphoned off enough gas out of the train engine to fill the tanks of their vehicles, a few of the trucks the men from Hill City had driven down, and the semi. While most of the men had firearms with them, only the four National Guardsmen had theirs out and ready, while the real labor was being done by the civilians from Hill City. For Devin this didn’t sit right. While he knew this is what had been agreed to and was probably the safest way to handle things, it really looked like the guardsmen where forcing the others to do the hard work.

He couldn’t help but wonder if this was the type of thing happening down in El Paso. Was the Army forcing people to do all the work? Was this the kind of thing the sheriff and mayor seemed so worried about? He bet it was. The problem was, there was nothing he could do about it and was just starting to hope the surviving military from Fort Bliss didn’t want to come up this far. This also made him wonder about the seemingly nice National Guardsmen he was with. There was very little stopping them from taking over if they wanted to. No one would be able to do much to the big armored vehicles they had and certainly nothing against the tracked tank like Bradley’s they had shown Devin before taking him out to shoot.

He glanced over to Zeki, who had his head buried in an access panel below the main controls for the train engine. Hearing the smaller boy muttering, he let out a sigh, “Can’t get this one started, Zeek?”

Zeki poked his head out from the access panel, “Me think it be same problem, but this older ATP. Not can find the breakers and not know what happen if me cut wires. Wish me could call Uncle Kadir.”

“Yeah, we all wish we could call someone.” Devin sighed even louder as he looked out over the interstate again. Spotting a couple of crows, he pulled up his binoculars and just as quickly dropped them back down in front of him as he realized they were feeding on a dead human body. Even as he tried to shut out the image, his mind flashed back to one of the Resident Evil movies where the crows got the disease by feeding on the flesh of the zombies. He lowered his head and fought the desire to puke.

After nearly fifteen minutes, Zeki’s voice came from deep inside the access panel. “I gots it!” Less than a minute later there was an electrical zapping, followed by a yelp.

Even as Devin moved to check, Zeki pulled his head out, shaking his hand. Seeing the look on Devin’s face, Zeki forced a pained smile, “Wire, not have no cover go into breaker. Not be well place to touch!”

This got a slight smile out of Devin, “Good place, not well, Zeek.”

“Good, well, not either one feel nice.” Zeki grumbled while shaking his hand vigorously.

This finally got a snicker out of Devin, “Will it start?”

Zeki shot Devin an annoyed glare even as he reached down, flipped a couple of switches and pushed a button. Seconds later the train engine coughed a few times then fired up with a large belch of black smoke.

Off to the side SSgt. Carla Fox looked up with wide eyes, “Damn, he did it!”

Several of the men from Hill City also stopped loading the semi to look up, only to see the small youngster looking down with a massive grin on his face. If anything, this lifted all their sprits more than finding the train and supplies had. The smile of the boy was infections. Everyone worked just a little harder.

Less than thirty minutes later, the train started moving down the tracks toward WaKeeney.

While Kyle likes feedback, he really likes it in the form of criticism. If you don’t like something, find errors, or just want to bitch about something, email him at: KyleArrons at CastleRoland dot net. If you are only reading this and you are enjoying the story, you may still let him know at the above email addy.

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