by Cliff Deane
Gus thought it unlikely that FACs would just pop out of the woodwork; no, they would have to be trained.
Levi agreed, and the two of them decided to call for Pickett’s Cavalry to move forward and engage in guerilla warfare against the Caliphate.
* Camp six is the call sign for Major Guyardo in command of the training program at Camp Lejeune, five is his XO, two is HQ, and one is his SGM.
“Camp 6: Dude 6: Message follows: wait: Over.”
“Camp 6: Dude 6: Motor passage into DC impossible. Millions of dead cars and trucks.
Roads completely blocked from Alexandria Virginia.
Have Cowboy 6 contact me to transport material to Alexandria: Over.”
“Dude 6: Camp 1: Cowboy 6 is out of pocket for another 30 minutes. Standby: Out.”
“Nest Dude 6: Message follows: Info to Kahuna 6…Over.”
Levi repeated the message sent to Camp 6.
“Dude 6: Nest 2: Roger, message received: Willco: Over.”
Nest: Dude: Roger: Out.”
◎
4 May1000
Camp Dude, I-395
Potomac River. Bridge
Alexandria VA
“I wish Ralph could be here to see this sight,” said Levi. “Once we left the farming areas and enter the cities we find not a single person; not one. When the food ran out, so did the people. After only one year, nature was making inroads on reclaiming the cities of the world. In another thirty years, this will all look like Detroit, well, without the graffiti and the crack houses. It’s unnerving; I wonder how the Caliphate is feeding its soldiers?”
Gus sent Tim and Kev to search a few houses in the area, just to see what was left.
Kate asked if they were going to go to Delaware.
Levi put his arm around her shoulder and asked if she wanted to go and see her home.
She said, “Dad, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to forget Delaware ever existed, so, heck no, let’s let that sleeping dog just stay under the porch. There is nothing there I want to see.”
Levi bent over and hugged his little girl Katie and asked, “Delaware? Never heard of it.”
Katie smiled and said, “Thanks, Dad, you da’ man!”
“Yep, dat’s me; da’ man.”
At 1630 when the scouts arrived back at camp, they were depressed by what they had seen.
Tim said, “Sir, we could not find anyone alive out there. We went into several houses and found not one crumb of food. There were many dead Soccer Moms, their Minivans, and SUVs, but not a single living person. We did see some rabbits, but no dogs or cats. We figure they followed the walkers and fed off the dead where they fell.
The grasses are knee high, pavement cracks are appearing everywhere, and where there is a crack, there are weeds.
“General, it gets worse. We came upon three churches; each one was burned to the ground, and the Pastors were crucified just in front of the ashes.”
Levi hung his head and sighed deeply before saying, “Damn it, I was afraid this is what we would find. The Islamists are doing to Christians here, the exact same thing they did in their own lands to Coptic Christians. I suspicion that is also why we don’t find even one person scavenging among the abandoned buildings.
All right, it looks like we’ll have to get mean, like Jim Croce’s old junkyard dog; I mean to get Old Testament in return. As the Old Testament says, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and we are the optometrists and the Dentists. We’ll just see how they like it. I just wish we had bacon strips to place across the foreheads of dead Imams.”
Kevin asked, “Sir, what are we going to do? With the millions of dead autos and everything breaking up, will we ever be able to reoccupy the cities, and if we can’t, what will we do? These cities are in important places, especially along the coastal areas. I mean, someday we’ll want to begin trade across the ocean, but these huge ruins sit on the very sites that are needed for new settlements. How can this be fixed?”
Levi and Gus looked at each other, and Levi signaled Gus to go ahead and speak.
“Tim,” said Gus, “you have just asked a question that is truly one for the ages. An entire infrastructure must be invented to allow the destruction and recycling of the city debris. Personally, I doubt if your great grandchildren will see this renewal. Just as one example, the engineering and reinvention of the steel industry. Without starting at square one, how can we recycle usable steel from the rusting cities? All of that technology will require complete reinventing.
Oh, sure there are surviving steel mills…now, but who will know how, or even what those machines were for, or how they worked. There are so many processes which must be rediscovered before recasting steel I-beams is even possible. The first step will be nails and horseshoes.
Basically, my young friends, we are screwed, blued, and tattooed.”
Kevin said, “But, sir, we’ve made such huge strides in Defiance, why can’t we just continue to rebuild civilization?”
Now Levi chimed in with, “Tell me, Kevin, do you know any coal miners or anyone who knows the first thing about converting coal to coke? I know, I don’t, but I sure wish I did.”
Tim said, “So let me get this straight; our new nation will hit a technology wall, and we’ll just stagnate?”
“No, I sure hope not,” said Levi, “but progress will slow dramatically, and probably take at least a hundred years of technological ebbs and flows before we learn how to make steel, even in small scale Blacksmith’s shops.
No, I don’t think we will completely stagnate, but you must realize that we are living off the inventions used before our world’s civilization collapsed. Thirty years from now, no one will know how to repair solar panels or hydro generators. So, yes, then we will take a step back, but electricity is a true necessity for civilization to progress, so the lack of electric power will spur some young thinker to rediscover how it works, and how to produce it. That day is when civilization will begin to make wee small steps toward the reintroduction of technology.
We are now; and will continue to be, throughout your lifetime an agrarian society, scavenging off the glory of a lost world. Oh, we’ll get there, but it will not come to our descendants without blood, sweat, and tears.”
“Gee thanks, sir, now we’re really depressed.”
Levi laughed and said, “All right, I have something that may brighten your pitiful attitudes; please listen because this is important. If the Caliphate conquers us, then civilization as we knew it will be lost for thousands of years, but, starting tomorrow, you will take the first steps to stop the Caliphate.
Tomorrow morning, you will depart on foot to find the head honcho in DC. Look for the spinnerets on Mosques; that’s where you will find the leaders. Put your sniper skills to work and search out the Imams, or anyone leading troops or discussions, and kill them from a long way off.
Tim, you decide who is shooter and who is spotter. We want you back within seventy-two hours with a body count. Don’t try to kill them all at once; get in, knock off a few then skedaddle back here.
What you do in the next three days may cause a delay in the Imam’s plans and give us time to get the Horse Cavalry up here to create even more delays, to allow the complete training of the Task Force at Lejeune.”
Once Major Pickett arrives and takes over ops here, we’ll move on to see if the Caliphate is over the next hill; ten-four?”
Both scouts said, “Ten-four sir. We’re on it.
Kate’s ears perked up, and she asked, “What is that sound?”
Everyone strained their ears to listen; finally, Gus said, “Oh dear God, I know what that is; noon call to prayer. There must be an active Mosque nearby. It’s coming from our west, probably only a quarter mile or so, maybe less.”
“Okay,” said Levi, “quick change of plan. A functioning Mosque may well prove to be very important because every Mosque will have maps showing the locations of all the other Mosques in the entire DC area.
Tim, di
d you get a good sound direction from the broadcast?”
Tim looked at Kevin who pointed the direction, and Tim agreed. “Yes sir, we’ve got it. What are your orders?”
“Good men, now here’s what I want you to do; gear up and be ready to depart in one hour and find that Mosque. My hope is that it is empty and a recording is set to play five times a day, and no, I do not know how they would accomplish that feat.
I do not believe there will be many people there, so if there are, you are weapons hot to take them out. Then enter the Mosque, find those maps and take them all, then high-tail it back here. Oh, take a block of C-4 and detonate it at the center of the prayer hall. It won’t bring the building down, but it will make it difficult to use for prayer, and if you find any flammables in the cleaning supply closet, pour it on the floor, and the blast will light it up.”
“Yes sir, would you like for us to put our Vigilante call sign on the wall?”
“No, I think we’ll forego that little touch for now,” said Levi.
◎◎◎
Chapter 10
We have loosed the
Dogs of War
4 May
Walter Reed Dr
Alexandria
The days were getting warmer and more humid as April gave way to May. The sky was red at dusk, on 3 May and promised a bright sunny day for the fourth. The temperature was in the mid-seventies
The two scouts made their way west and then a bit south after spotting the telltale onion shaped minarets denoting a Mosque. As they made their way to within visual range of the entrance, they spotted two Muslims in traditional Pakistani garb. While Kevin watched from a hidden location within one of the building's southwest of the front entrance, Tim set up the L115 Sniper Rifle and the Spotters scope, while Kevin kept an eye on the two men who seemed to be arguing.
The firing position was set back from the window to help hide the flash, and further reducing the sound of the shot.
The two men sat down in the grass in front of their building, and each took out a copy of the Quran while they waited for something. Within minutes another man came out of the building with flatbread and hummus. It was obvious they were discussing some verse in their Quran while they ate their meal.
Since they were all eating, both scouts felt sure that no one else was in the building.
Tim looked to Kevin and asked, “Ready to do this thing?”
Kevin nodded and took his position just to the left of Tim and began giving him range and wind information. Tim made small adjustments to his sight picture, using the knobs on the top and right side of his scope.
Tim said, “Kev, I’ll take the first one out with a shot to his heart, then take the other two as they either jump to run or try to help their friend.”
“Good plan, you’ve got the data from me, so have at it.”
Tim sighted in on the man sitting with his back to the scouts and loosed a round that entered the man’s back, passed through his heart and exited explosively out of his left breast. His two friends were splattered with the exploding blood and body tissue.
Both men initially grabbed for their friend as the man on the right was hit on his left side, just under the armpit and missing his outstretched arm as the bullet bored into his heart. As the third man rose to escape, his head exploded from the impact of the supersonic .308 round.
Kevin said, “Whoa, great shots there, Ace. It’s good he didn’t get a chance to run ‘cause then he would have just died all tired out.”
“Funny man, Kevin, funny man, but there are three men who won’t be beheading anymore non-Muslims; as they did in Germany back in 2021. Oh, man that was one bloody year. After the bloodletting, I remember watching FOX, seeing the German’s actually deporting two million Muslims back to their home country and then closing their borders to any and all Muslims.”
“Yep, I remember and don’t forget the chain reaction when the UK and France did the same, followed by all the European countries. What a shame the U.S. didn’t follow suit; if they had, we wouldn’t be fighting another war against Islam right now.”
The scouts waited for twenty minutes before feeling comfortable that no one else was around. Kevin prepared to slip into the Mosque, find the maps and place the C-4 charge which was fused for fifteen minutes.
As he entered the Mosque, he looked to his left and immediately found a large stack of the exact maps that General Levins said would be there. He stuffed all of the maps into his vest before dashing up the steps of the minaret to see how they did the electronic prayer call. Upon reaching the topmost landing, he found a small solar charger connected to a megaphone. The call to prayer must have been done by one of the dead men and not a recording.
Kevin picked up the charger and megaphone and sped down the stairs to place the charge in the prayer hall. Before igniting the fuse, he dragged the bodies into the mosque and placed them in prayer position directly atop the C-4.
He then ignited the fuse and quickly made his way back to Tim.
He reported what he had found and done, as they gathered their gear to leave the building and make their way home.
At the fifteen minute mark from the ignition, the C-4 blew a large hole in the floor, and the concussion collapsed a portion of the roof. Of the three dead men; well, there just wasn’t much left to find.
After reporting back to Levi, a meeting was held so everyone could hear the story. After the briefing had been finished, Tim asked Kevin why he had placed the bodies in prayer position.
Kevin said, “There was the possibility of someone else entering before the detonation, and with them in prayer position, I figured the new arrivals wouldn’t notice the C-4, and we might get a few more.”
Everyone considered that maneuver a very good idea and would make it a part of normal procedure, time and circumstance allowing, of course.
From Levi’s Atlas, he noted a new campsite two miles distant and directed the scouts to move back to the Mosque for recon, and then rejoin the crew at the new location. They were to report no later than (NLT) 0900 hours on 6 May.
After gathering the necessary supplies for a forty plus hour mission, Tim and Kevin were ready to move out within two hours.
At their designated departure time Tim found Kevin and Kate in deep conversation. So as not to interrupt, Tim called out that it was time to “saddle up and move out.”
Their trek began near dusk and walking on opposite sides of the streets past the deserted homes; both men felt that they were being watched from the many homes they passed. Kevin called these apparitions, ghosts of a dead world.
They knew, of course, that the homes were empty, yet each scout periodically jerked his head to a house to try to catch a glimpse of those restless, long gone spirits.
The two scouts arrived back at the Mosque and found it still empty and dark. After settling into their OP, they spoke in low tones about their life. Tim finally got around to asking Kev when he and Kate were going to be married. He received the expected plethora of denials from Kevin, who said, “Tim, I guess it’s pretty obvious that we care about each other, and who knows, if we survive for another three or four years we just might get hitched when she turns seventeen, and I’ll be twenty-one. Until then, I guess we’ll just be close friends and get to really know each other.”
“Well, well,” said Tim, that sounds good, but if the General catches you messin’ with his little girl, he will shoot you.”
“Yeah, I agree, Kev; and the burning question of the age is; is she a good kisser?” asked a smiling Tim.
Kevin didn’t take the bait and said, “Don’t know, but I’m willing to wait for however long it takes to find out. With all the shit she’s been through, I’m leaving it up to her to set the pace. I mean it, Tim; I can wait, because I know she is worth waiting for, and of course, I don’t want her to kill me.”
“Oh, there is one more little question I must ask. When you tell the General, will you be wearing a flak vest? ‘Cause he might just shoot you if he thin
ks you don’t have the best intentions for his little girl. Hell, he might just shoot you on general principals.”
“Yeah, there is that, and I gotta admit that I’ll be a little concerned about his reaction if it ever does go that far, and yes, I’ll be wearing a double flak vest. I can’t say I’ll be looking forward to it, but if the time comes, I will step up and ask him for Kate’s hand, because I’m pretty sure that Kate is going to be worth it, Tim.”
Tim gave Kevin a pat on the back and said, “Yeah, I think you’re right, and I’m proud of you buddy; you are handling this thing just right.”
They continued whispering in low tones for a bit longer until Tim decided it was time to begin their one-hour watches.
The remainder of the night was uneventful.
◎
5 May 0815
Walter Reed Dr
Alexandria
A battered old Ford pickup truck carrying four men turned the corner onto Walter Reed Dr and slowly approached the Mosque. Three of the men took up defensive positions and slowly began to proceed into the building while the fourth man waited outside.
Kevin said, “Tim, that’s got to be an Imam. I say we take him while the others are inside, then nail the rest as they come out.”
“I don’t know Kev; our orders were to maintain visibility on the Mosque and report back what we saw.”
“Tim, our orders were to take out the officers, the Imams. Let’s take the shot.”
“Yeah, your right, this opportunity won’t come along every day. Okay, range, wind speed, and direction?”
As Tim was making his scope adjustments, he heard…”
“WAIT! One of the other three is coming back out of the building. If we shoot now, the others in the building will know what’s happening and sit tight. If they have working radio communications, we could be in trouble.”