by Eric Vall
“Two-man teams,” Anna said. “Bailey, you’re with me, Paige and Tara, and Rolly and Tav.”
“Yes ma’am,” I grinned.
“Don’t let her head get too big, Tav,” Tara rolled her eyes.
We moved to our respective teams and cleaned out the main hallway first while Winchester laid down in the administration office doorway and watched us work. We searched the men’s pockets before we carried them out to the pile the civilians were forming and everything we found went into the corner by the door, even the guns and ammo. When the last body was moved, I had sweated through my shirt, and we had built a nice pile of goods and bodies.
We made quick work of the teachers’ lounge as well, and Tara only complained about the smell one other time throughout the process.
Rolly and I made our way back inside after we carried the last body to the pile and found the girls opening all the windows in the teacher’s lounge.
“We thought it could use some airing out,” Bailey said with a smile.
“Fresh air,” Tara sighed as she stuck her head out the window and breathed in deeply.
Anna rolled her eyes at the platinum blonde as she moved the guns and ammo from the teachers’ lounge into the hallway.
“Good boy,” Tara said as Winchester stood on his back legs to put his face out the window next to her, and she rubbed his ear.
“Where are the Colonel’s quarters?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But they shouldn’t be too difficult to find.”
“Have we checked behind that door there?” Rolly asked as he pointed to a door on the left side of the room.
“I’m betting that goes to the office,” Paige said.
“That was probably how they came around last night,” Anna agreed.
“Worth a shot,” I said, and I walked over to the door and opened it.
Paige was right, it led to the administration office, but there was a hallway to the right that led to the principal’s office.
I went down the hallway and opened the door. The desk was pushed to the corner of the room and a cot sat to the left.
“Looks like this is the place,” Bailey said, and she pointed to the uniforms that stuck out from under the bed.
“Good instincts, Rolly,” I said, and I turned to grin at the man.
“I do what I can,” he shrugged. “I’m going to take the guns and ammo out to the pile the civilians have made.”
“I’ll help,” Anna offered.
“Me too,” Tara agreed. “I’d rather not go through that asshole’s stuff.”
“Come on Winchester,” Bailey said as she walked out of the room to help as well.
The dog trailed behind her like she was his favorite thing on Earth. He seemed to like Paige and Bailey the best, and I smiled as I watched the brindle dog follow Bailey’s command.
“I think he likes his name,” Paige grinned.
“You did good,” I told her, and then I moved to the desk and began opening drawers.
Paige searched the duffle bags and under his cot.
The drawers were full of a mix of the previous principal’s notes and some random notes of The Colonel’s.
“Seems he was hoarding food,” Paige said as she lifted a couple of cans from the duffle bag she was working on.
“I’m not surprised,” I said. “I’m sure this guy didn’t care about anyone but himself.”
“Yeah, seems they were safe when they raped the women at least,” she said, and she held up a box of condoms and pursed her lips.
“I know it’s fucked up,” I said. “But with the state of things it’s good that the women won’t have to worry about carrying their rapist’s baby.”
“You’re right,” she sighed. “Did you find anything?”
“Not yet,” I said, but just then I noticed a large envelope stuffed between some books on the shelf behind the desk, so I reached for the manila envelope and opened it.
“What’s that?” Paige asked as she moved to look over my shoulder.
“They’re military documents,” I said, and I pulled out the contents and set them on the desk.
“Maybe this has what we’re looking for,” she said.
“Only one way to find out,” I grinned and started reading through the papers.
I wanted to find out anything about the EMP and why it had occurred, but most of the documents were dated before the EMP hit and there was nothing of value among them.
“What’s this one?” Paige asked as she held up a correspondence. “It looks like a telegraph.”
“It is,” I said as I reached for the paper.
“It’s dated after the EMP,” she said as she pointed to the date.
“Yeah,” I said. “These are orders from Washington DC.”
“Is it… is it saying that North Koreans attacked the west coast?” she gasped as she read over my shoulder.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “These are orders for The Colonel and the commanding officer at Burlington to march south to Virginia.”
“Why Virginia?” Paige asked.
“Probably to meet up with the rest of the Armed Forces close to the capital,” I said.
“It says that the North Koreans were pushing east,” she pointed at the paper. “And that they had working vehicles and some strange weapons.”
“The Colonel must have thought that the situation was hopeless if he was willing to abandon his post,” I shook my head.
“But last I heard the North Koreans couldn’t even get a missile off the ground,” Paige said. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me either,” I agreed. “We know The Colonel deserted with his men, but what about the commanding officer at Burlington?”
“Right,” Paige said. “Why didn’t he leave either?”
“Maybe that’s why he was having the civilians start to build wagons,” I mused.
“This is insane,” she stated.
“This does sound like science fiction,” I said. “But we can’t just dismiss it.”
“I just don’t get it,” Paige scoffed. “I thought North Korea wasn’t really a threat.”
The rest of the group returned, and Winchester ran to Paige. She reached down and rubbed his ears but continued looking at the paper.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
“Yeah,” Tara added. “What did you find?”
“Well, this telegraph says that it was North Korea who attacked us,” Paige answered.
“Are they actually invading the US?” Rolly asked with a frown. “Where are they?”
“West coast,” I answered. “The Colonel and commanding officer were ordered to take their men south to Virginia to meet up with the remainder of the Armed Forces.”
I still couldn’t make sense of the orders. Was the team in Virginia all that was left of the military? I knew a lot of our military was stationed overseas, but we had nuclear subs and aircraft carriers that should be operational and able to retaliate unless they somehow took them out too.
“I thought North Korea was just all talk?” Tara said. “I mean, I’ve seen Team America: World Police like five times. Their leader guy is an idiot.”
Paige raised an eyebrow at her.
“What, it’s a great movie,” Tara said with a shrug.
“Virginia isn’t that far,” Bailey said, and she bit her lip and took a seat on the floor next to Winchester.
“How many guys are supposed to be in Virginia?” Anna asked.
“It doesn’t say,” Paige shook her head. “But each state has National Guard troops, right? So probably a decent amount.”
“What else does it say?” Rolly inquired as he sat down on The Colonel’s cot.
“It says that the North Koreans had working vehicles and some unidentified weapons,” I told him.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Bailey said as her eyes grew big.
“No,” Anna agreed. “It doesn’t.”
“It sounds pretty st
range though too,” Tara said. “Like, why all of a sudden did they attack?”
“And how did they manage the EMP?” Bailey asked, and her blonde eyebrows pulled together.
“I’m wondering what those strange weapons are all about,” Rolly muttered, and he shook his head.
“How seriously should we be taking this?” Anna asked.
“We can’t disregard it,” I said. “If it's even half true, there is going to be big trouble here, eventually.”
“Well shit,” Tara muttered.
“How long do we have?” Anna asked, and her face was as serious as her tone.
I looked around the room and saw that each member of my team had a solemn expression. I guessed mine was probably about the same.
“I don’t know,” I said. “America is a big place and it would take a while to conquer it, even with very little resistance.”
“What should we do?” Bailey asked in a small voice.
“The only thing we can do is be ready,” I stated.
“Take out one bunch of assholes and another just pops up,” Tara sighed.
“But now we have more people to stand with us,” Anna said.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “We took out an entire outpost of military guys last night. We can handle whatever comes our way.”
“We can,” I said, and I smiled at the girls. “If we plan accordingly.”
“That’s what we have you for,” Rolly grinned.
“Well, that and other things,” Tara winked.
“Plus, we have a dog now,” Bailey grinned, and she looked down at Winchester who rested his head on her knee.
“True,” I laughed.
“I’m just glad we have a bit more testosterone in this group,” Rolly grinned and called Winchester to him.
The dog nuzzled Rolly’s hand and sat in front of him.
I looked around at my team as they watched Rolly coo at Winchester. I knew they were all worried, but watching an old man with a dog was enough to take their minds off of it for a moment.
Chapter 16
My team and I made our way back out to the courtyard to find that the civilians had loaded the trucks with bodies. I was happy to see that they had taken the initiative and figured that once we taught them how to farm and hunt, they would be self-sufficient enough to leave on their own for a while.
“Looks good out here,” I called out as I made my way to the truck.
“Thanks,” Jeff grinned at me.
“Where should we take the bodies?” Cathy asked.
“Did you make sure the other truck started?” Anna inquired.
“Yeah,” Jeff confirmed. “It’s not pretty, but it still fired up.”
The truck had taken some damage in the initial fight and had more than a few bullet holes in it. But if it still ran that was a start, it would make moving these bodies a lot easier.
“Is that all the bodies?” Tara asked incredulously.
“Yeah,” Cathy said, “We got them all in the three trucks.”
“Good job,” I grinned. “Is there any fire starter around here?”
“I found a bottle,” Jeff said. “It’s only about half full though.”
“That will work,” I nodded. “Who wants to come and help with these bodies?”
“I’ll help,” Mike offered.
“Me too,” Jeff said.
Another man offered to come too, but I couldn’t remember his name.
“Let’s go find somewhere to dump these,” I said, and then I turned to my team. “Who wants to come?”
Tara took two steps back and avoided eye contact.
“I’ll go,” Anna said, and she rolled her eyes at the platinum blonde’s antics.
“I’m in,” Rolly said with a smile.
“Jeff, you’re with me,” I said. “Rolly and Anna, you take another truck, and Mike and… I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”
“It’s okay,” the guy said with a small smile. “I’m Jim.”
I knew I had heard that name yesterday, and I gave the guy a once over before I remembered where.
“Didn’t you pass out from digging yesterday?” I asked. “Are you sure you’re up to this?” The guy already looked scrawny as hell, and I wasn’t sure he should be doing anymore hard labor until he had more protein in his body.
“I’ll be fine,” Jim assured me. “I had just been out in the heat all day yesterday and hadn’t got any water.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “Jim, you and Mike can take the last truck. Jeff and I will lead the way.”
They all nodded and headed to the trucks.
“Guess you’ll beat me this time,” Anna laughed as she hopped in the driver's seat of our truck.
“Only ‘cuz you’re letting me,” I grinned as I hopped in the beat-up military vehicle.
Jeff and I took the beat-up truck and led the way down the dirt road. When we got to the main road, I took a left and went farther down from the outpost and the farms. I didn’t want anyone to have to smell this nastiness, and this way if anyone did see the smoke it would lead them farther away from the little community we had built.
“So you were a Ranger?” Jeff asked as we continued down the highway.
“That’s right,” I said. “3rd Ranger battalion out of Fort Benning, Georgia. You a military man, Jeff?”
“Not me, no,” he shook his head. “My dad was though, and my brother and even my brother-in-law. One Navy and two Marines.”
“Why didn’t you join?” I asked. “Oftentimes military runs in the family.”
“That it does,” he agreed. “I blew my eardrum when I was a kid. They fixed it for the most part, but I still have some hearing loss in my right ear. They wouldn’t take me.”
I glanced at Jeff and saw that his mouth was turned into a frown and his eyebrows were pinched together.
“My dad was military too,” I told him. “He died when I was young, but that’s what made me want to join.”
“That must have been rough,” Jeff said.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I understand the drive to live up to your parents. I’m sorry they didn’t take you.”
“It’s alright,” he shrugged. “Probably would’ve made a lousy soldier anyway. I couldn’t even get us out of the mess with those National Guard assholes.”
“You would have been a far better soldier than they were,” I assured him.
“It makes me sick thinking that the military were the ones responsible for all that shit,” he seethed.
“I know,” I nodded. “But people are people. They’re good or bad and given the chance most will become bad.”
“You’re probably right,” he sighed. “I just had so much respect for the military before all this.”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “But remember it’s people now who are making these calls, not the military as a whole.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I guess you’ll get a few bad eggs in any profession.”
“Don’t worry,” I grinned. “We’ll crack ‘em.”
“That was super lame,” Jeff laughed, and I chuckled with him.
“Looks like we’ve found our spot,” I said when I saw a large field to our left just up the road.
“Won’t we start a wildfire?” Jeff asked.
“No,” I shook my head. “There’s a shovel in the back of our truck. We’ll dig a small trench around the fire, so it won’t spread.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “Sounds like you’ve thought of everything.”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve killed a bunch of men,” I said with a smile, though I had to admit it probably made me sound scarier than I would have liked.
I pulled into the small field and hopped out of the truck. The other two trucks were close behind, and Anna parked her truck so the ass end faced my truck, and Mike did the same.
“Alright, let’s get this going,” Anna said, and she moved to the back of her beat up truck and started pulling bodies out.
Rolly moved to help, and
the beautiful redhead and the old timer worked quickly.
I tried not to laugh as I watched the stunned faces of the civilians as they stared at the two members of my team.
“You gonna stare or are you gonna help?” Anna asked with a wry smile as she hefted a body in the center of our trucks.
“Oh, shit,” Jeff said as he reached for a body from the back of our truck. “Sorry, it’s just kinda awesome to see a woman and an older man doing this.”
“All in a day’s work,” Rolly laughed as he pulled another body from the back of the truck.
Everyone worked quickly after that, and we had the bodies all piled up within half an hour.
“Anna,” I said as I threw the last body on the pile, “can you grab the shovels out of the back of the truck?”
“On it,” she said, and she crawled into the truck bed and returned a moment later with two shovels.
“I’ll dig,” Jeff said, and he reached for one of the shovels.
“Me too,” Mike offered, and he grabbed the other shovel from Anna.
“Okay, we can take turns, let’s get some water first though,” Anna said, and she went to the front of her truck and returned with enough water bottles for our little crew.
The men said their thanks as she passed them out, and Mike and Jeff drank half their bottles then started to dig a trench around the bodies.
“When we get back, we can go get the farmers,” Rolly said. “I’m sure they’d help the people at the school get a plot set up to grow.”
“Is this just an excuse to see your girlfriend?” Anna grinned.
“Well,” Rolly blushed. “I wouldn’t mind seeing Betty.”
“We’ll go get the farmers,” I laughed. “But we need to figure out if everyone is staying at the school or going to the abandoned farm.”
“I think we’re going to split into two groups,” Jim said.
“Okay,” I nodded. “That’s fine too.”
“The farm isn’t far, right?” Jim asked.
“No, not too far,” I assured him.
“Okay,” he nodded. “I’d still like to visit everyone from time to time.”
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Anna said with a smile.
We drank our water in silence for a few moments, but then Jeff started to breathe heavily, and Jim replaced him. After that it only took about ten more minutes before the trench was completed.