Sometime during the night, the men fell asleep. Dallas thought that if they suffocated in their sleep it wouldn’t be the worst way they could die. The wool blanket had fallen from the ceiling and the morning sunlight was shining down without the trees blocking it. Smoke arose from the ground as Dallas looked outside and saw the devastation. The side of the mountain was bare and naked in a black coating of carbon. Trees that could have been just as old as the mountain itself were now gone.
“How do our supplies look?” Dallas asked Ben.
“We need water,” Ben replied, without needing to think about the answer.
“That’s a given,” Dallas said.
“MREs are enough for a couple of days,” Clive said, looking in his bag.
“Ya, if you like eating shit.” Budd had to add his distaste for the Meals Ready to Eat.
“We’ll hold up here for a day and let the area cool down. Never know if there will be a flare up or the wind could change direction.”
“There’s nothing left to burn,” Kelly said getting a good look at the destruction.
“I can go look for water,” Ben suggested. All of them had training on where to find such sources. However out of all of them Ben was the most familiar with the immediate area.
“Wait until the afternoon, then we will decide. Conserve your energy and eat the packets that have water in them.” Dallas chewed on the fatty beef stroganoff and wondered how wars were fought on such crappy diets. Maybe the quality of the food was low because the military didn’t plan on their men living to the next meal.
Ben left the cave that afternoon. Small patches of fire were sporadic and randomly lighting up around him. The occasional burst of flame would catch him off guard as the sap of a pine tree ignited into a hot flame, but died just as quickly. Ben wondered if this was what the Greeks referred to as Hades.
At the bottom of a hill a small stream ran through the woods. The water was shallow and had pieces of charcoal and ash floating in it turning the water grey in color. While he had hoped the water collection would be a simple snap and grab he now had to filter the water before bringing it back. He removed a bandanna from his pocket and filled the bottom with a layer of sand from the creek bed. Then he took pieces of charcoal from a nearby tree trunk and placed the charcoal on top of the sand. The filter was crude and didn’t have the cleaning power of an industrial filter but it would get the job done for a day. Using one of the empty bottles, Ben poured the grey water through the top of the bandanna and watched as the bottom of the filter gave a cleaner version of the initial product. To keep the process going he had to fill the last bottle with grey water to filter in the cave once one of the other bottles was empty. In the meantime, the canteens were filled and the men had water for the day.
The climb back to the cave was more difficult than the journey down. Fires were still springing up from the heat and from new sources of energy that were being found by the glowing embers. Ben tried to stay away from anything that looked like a partially burned tree. Hopping over the burnt logs, he tried to make quick work of the trip and slipped at one point, catching himself as he almost fell and burned his hand in the process. The smoke was still hanging around with the wind dying down. The wet bandanna in his pocket was taken out and tied around his face to help filter the air. It helped with the quality of the air he was breathing, but he noticed he was becoming more winded as he worked harder to climb back up to the cave. When he finally made it the men saw the bottles of water and Budd quickly chugged his bottle as if he was dying of thirst.
“Easy,” Dallas said. “We might be here another day.”
“Or more,” Ben said, pulling the bandanna off and flinging it onto the floor, happy to be rid of it. “The area is still burning. Unless we get rain in the near future, I don’t think we should go anywhere.”
“How far is the water source?” Dallas asked.
“Just down the hill. Maybe two clicks, but the climb back is a bitch and the fire isn’t out in some areas. I had to filter it before I brought it back up.”
“We can rotate until we hike out. Anybody have any objections?” Nobody said anything in response and that was how the men were able to stay hydrated until they could leave the cave. Dallas removed a small pocket journal from his pack and started writing down what they needed and where they would go next. First on the agenda was finding the rest of the men from the base.
On the fourth day after the fire, a soft mist of rain came in from the coast helping to cool the fire that had decimated the area. The smoke was replaced by a steamy fog as the water was sent back into the air once it hit the hot coals and embers. The men made their way down the hill and Dallas plotted out their path using a topographical map and compass. They would go back to the base and follow the road the rest of the base was going to use to march out. Exiting the cave, they could see that their destination was just as devastated as their own area.
The distant horizon disappeared as they descended the hill and crossed the creek they received their water from. The fence had melted just as they had expected, leaving the steel post standing. The base was for all intents and purposes, gone. Wooden frames pointed towards the sky with the facade gone. Trucks had been painted black from the burning fuel and the interior was stripped down to the metal components. Dallas had seen such things when he was in Afghanistan. Vehicles hit by air strikes looked like this. The tires had melted and the vehicles sat on their steel frames forever to rust away.
“This is fucked up,” Budd said looking at the base that he once knew.
“Everybody seen enough?” Dallas asked as he started to walk away, already knowing the answer. How much of this could the men see? Their only hope now was to find the rest of the regiment and hope they had made it out in time. Dallas had little hope of this, knowing the speed of the fire and how the men were traveling. He could hope they found shelter like they had and waited out the blaze.
The gate and guard shack were now gone, all that was left of the entrance was a steel sign that had survived with the paint burned off leaving only a black film. It still told visitors where they were going. Now the sign did its job as an accurate portrayal of the base.
The road leaving the base looked like the highways around Mount Saint Helen’s after the volcano erupted destroying the immediate area and laying soot over the rest of the country. Dallas remembered his mother telling him about cleaning the ash off her car to go to work. She wished she had saved some of it in a jar or something to show him later, but never did.
The men were starting to run out of water again making the hike to find the rest of the regiment more important than before. Granted, they were surrounded by water, but finding drinkable water was the real issue. Even with the crude filtering system Ben had made, they would eventually need to come up with a better source before they developed worms or other side effects.
Two hours after they left the base they came across the rest of the men. At first they didn’t realize they had found them. Bodies burned down to their skeletons and aluminum frames ofrucksacks being all that was left of equipment. Dallas had been correct in thinking the base would be surrounded by the fire and many would die trying to get out. The men looked for survivors.
Budd checked the runoff ditches on the side of the road only to find partially burned bodies of men that likely suffocated to death before they burned. They had tried to hide from the fire, but in the end failed to find a safe place they could still breathe in.
“Everybody is dead,” Clive stated to himself. He was trying to accept and process what had happened. Dallas wondered if the somber look on his face was the same one he had on 9-11.
Kelly found the body of a Platoon Sergeant, wearing the three upside down “V”s with two rockers underneath, on the remains of a jacket. Kelly took the pins off the corpse and placed them in his pocket. Hundreds of bodies lay all over the road and in the ditches where men tried to take shelter. Dallas wondered if any were able to run their way to safety. It looked like
the entire group had been taken by surprise and overrun by the flames.
“Collect the dog tags,” Dallas said. “We can hope that one day the families will be notified.”
For the next two hours the men went from body to body pulling the chains off the necks. In some cases, the chain would pull through the spinal column of the deceased causing Budd to vomit on the side of the road.
Kelly found Clive taking the dog tags off of a burned body.
“Hey. Cabey,” Kelly tried to gain his attention. Clive wiped a tear away before turning around.
“Ya Hu,” Clive stood up and turned around. He saw Kelly holding Platoon Sergeant pins in his hands. “I’m not taking it.”
“Protocol says that in the loss of a Platoon Sergeant, a responsible Staff Sergeant must be appointed to replace them.”
“Responsible,” Clive pointed out the important word. “Those aren’t for me.” Turning his head, Clive looked at the tall stocky man that had taken over the day the fire came through and nobody in the group had questioned his judgement.
The dog tags were placed in an ammo pouch to be taken back to the remains of the base.
“Shannon, where do we go from here?” Clive asked Dallas.
“I don’t have a damn clue.” Dallas looked at the two ends of the road. “Why are you asking me anyway?” Clive put his hand out and resting on his palm were two Platoon Sergeant pins.
“Oh shit.”
“Somebody has to be appointed,” Kelly said. Budd and Ben both stood behind watching.
“All of you in agreement on this?” Dallas asked.
“Shit man, you know I don’t want those.” Budd had to add his own two cents.
Dallas took the pins and started removing his old ones.
“From now on don’t call me Shannon,” Dallas gave the request to the men.
“Sure Sarge,” Budd replied.
Dallas looked down the two ends of the road. One lead out of the base and the other heading back to it. He felt like both paths were a death sentence in their own way. “We can head back to the base and see if any supplies survived the fire.”
“You think that might be a waste of time with what we saw?” Clive asked. He wasn’t questioning the order, simply trying to think it through. They both knew all of the same facts. If Dallas said they were going to the base Clive would follow.
“We can hope something is left. Anything right now would be more than what we already have.” Dallas looked at the rest of the men who appeared to be in a somber mood being surrounded by the corpses of their former friends and colleagues.
The sun had set by the time they reached the base. Not wanting to spend the night in a graveyard, the men set up camp in the street and waited until morning to search through the remains of the base. Being out in the open was better than the coffin feeling of the cave a few days before. At least now they could watch the stars at night and enjoy a fire, if they had any wood that was still burnable. The fire had not left them with much to work with. The night air grew cold and the men huddled together to stay warm throughout the night.
The next morning the men ate from their MREs and drank the instant coffee they had come to rely on for an immediate energy boost.
“Do you think that the number of shootings on military bases might be from the quality of the coffee they give us?” Budd asked. “I might not be the most cultured individual in the group, but this is ridiculous.”
“You’re not cultured at all,” Kelly added.
“But what I’m saying is that even I know shit coffee when I drink it and this is shit coffee.” Budd took one last swig and emptied the rest of the cup on the ground.
The men split up to cover more ground in less time. Dallas and Clive went to the mess hall to see if any food made it through the fire. Budd, Kelly and Ben were sent to the depot for the same mission of supplies. In three hours they would meet up at the armory where they hoped to see the weapons intact. They didn’t need them at the moment, but Ben was adamant about going hunting for food. “You give me a .223 or bigger and I’ll bring home some food,” he stated to the rest of the men. They had to admit they liked the sound of that.
For Budd it had been years since he had gone hunting; the last time was with his brother in the mountains. They came across a marijuana field and quickly left the area before they were shot. The local pot farmers were known to shoot first and ask questions later. That moment had discouraged him from going hunting ever again. He wasn’t one to admit fear but he was smart enough to know what was worth the risk and what wasn’t. His brother had been shot the year afterwards and made it back to the house to be taken to the hospital. Budd wasn’t going to risk going out into the woods unless he could be sure that the neighbors wouldn’t look at him as a target.
Dallas and Clive found the mess hall still standing. Being made from stainless steel sheet metal they had high hopes of having food inside. The door was locked and Dallas had to resort to using a screwdriver to remove one of the metal sheets. The task was time consuming and when they pried the metal sheets off they quickly made their way inside. With the lack of lights, it was difficult to see anything. Clive unlocked the steel door from the inside and propped it open with a rock to let the light in.
“What does it look like?” Clive asked.
“Looks like we are good for a while. The kitchen was supplied for the entire base for a few weeks. Since there is only a handful of us that means the supplies will last a while.” Dallas picked a can of freeze dried eggs off the shelf and looked at it. He was going to end up losing a lot of weight in the coming weeks and months if they didn’t think of something soon.
Once Dallas and Clive had an idea of how much food they had, they grabbed their bags and went to the armory. The rifles and other weapons on the base were kept in a giant vault. The door was much like a bank vault, round, chrome, and intimidating to look at. Of course, the door was closed and locked and the men stood looking at it like a Rubik’s Cube.
“Any ideas?” Dallas asked the other men.
“C4?” Budd said.
“That would work except if we have any C4, it’s in there.” Kelly replied.
“Any tools in the airplane hangar?” Dallas suggested.
“The type that need electricity,” Clive commented.
Dallas grabbed the round handle on the vault door and tried to push it counter clockwise to open the door. It didn’t budge.
The men gave up for the moment and went back to the mess hall to hydrated some freeze dried food for dinner. The evening sun showed the areas that were still smoldering from the fire. The base was a wasteland and the men would have to search for a new home soon without any shelter in the area.
“How the hell are we going to get our weapons?” Budd asked. Instead of thinking, he was getting frustrated. Their prepared meal quickly disappeared and the men sat back thinking about their dilemma.
“I have an idea.” Clive sat up and grabbed an axe with a metal handle off of one of the burned out Humvees.
“That’s going to do a whole lot of good on that door.” Budd hollered out, not moving from his seat. “You’re a real genius.”
“It’s not for the door,” Clive said looking at the other men.
“I think I know what he is getting at.” Dallas found another axe sitting by a burned out barrack. The men building the fire break had clumsily dropped the tools when they returned exhausted. Back at the armory, Clive looked at the walls in adjoining rooms and saw what he was hoping for. His hand slid over the cinder block wall and he was hoping that military budget cuts would be as bad as he was hoping. Swinging the axe back, he shifted his weight into the wall. Chunks of cinder block flew off the wall and Clive realized he should be wearing goggles for the job. Instead of spending time looking for goggles, he continued on as the men watched. Dallas joined in and the two of them made light work of the hollow walls that surrounded the vault.
“Did you ever notice that the walls inside the vault were made of brick?”
Clive said.
“I never paid attention,” Dallas admitted while becoming winded from the labor.
The two men made a hole and then the other side started to fall inside. Sure enough, the walls of the vault were made of brick. The door was a distraction. During the normal operation of the base, anything used to take the wall down would have brought attention and the MPs would have arrested the thieves. Things had changed since then and the men now expanded the hole in the side of the vault. To steal the weapons quietly someone would have to crack the lock on the door and that wasn’t possible. With the base empty, taking a wall down was a viable option.
Budd, being the smallest of the men, was put through the opening to look around. Using a lighter, which wasn’t the smartest option, Budd was able to look around and get an idea of what was still on the base.
Rows of M16s and other variants were lined up neatly against the wall. Old model Berettas were also in the safe. Stashed in a corner were the M14s that some of the other units used. Sitting on a shelf above the M14s was a wooden crate that Budd did not recognize. He took the box down and opened it to find silencers inside for the M14s.
“Hey guys, not only do we have A-team guns, but we have silencers as well.” Budd said, handing one of the cylinders out of the hole in the wall.
A broad smile grew on Ben’s face. He had wanted to try hunting with silencers for years, but they were illegal in most states for the simple reason of the cylinder appearing “intimidating.” Ben had this argument before with people regarding the use of silencers in hunting. He would point out that in cases where one would have been useful in urban circumstances, the shooter could still get away with not having one. The Beltway snipers were one example he could turn to. A father and son who cut a hole in the back of their car and shot people at random through the trunk. They didn’t have a silencer and yet they were at this task for weeks without anybody being able to hear the shot or pinpoint where it came from if they did. As for hunting, a silencer would be handy for taking game down without spooking the rest of the herd and possibly ruining the hunt for other people. Now Ben could hunt and take home more game if it came to that.
Homefront: A Story of the Future Collapse Page 5