I thought it was interesting seeing, once I had stopped shooting, what my graduating classes reaction was to the sound of gunfire. They did pretty good. Most of them immediately ran for cover and drew their weapons. I was so impressed that I realized it might be smart of me to say something so I didn't get shot. So I yelled "US Marshall! It's over people." I walked over to Sledge just to make sure he was dead. He was. It would have been a miracle if he wasn't but if anyone would have a spark of life left it would have been him. It was weird but I kind of liked him. To bad he went over to the dark side somewhere along the line. I was getting ready to start looking for his truck keys when the security team arrived with weapons drawn and yelling "Drop your weapons now!"
I looked at them and said "Fuck you. US Marshall serving a warrant. Point them muzzles in another direction before I jam them up your asses. Better yet, secure the area and get them people moving." Then I went back to looking for the truck keys. He had them in his front pocket. I hit the emergency button on the clicker and the truck with the light bar and goodies started talking. I shut it up and pocketed them. When I got back on my feet and looked around the security team was moving people on. A couple was complaining about the blood all over the Prius and I saw Sherri and her escort standing not to far away staring at the bodies. I yelled to the security team which had doubled in size to put the bodies in the back of my new truck and walked over to her.
"Hey Sherri"
"Hi Gardener." She had greeted me but she wasn't looking at me. She was totally focused on the dead guys.
"Sherri." No response so I said it again softer "Sherri."
"What?" She looked at me and looked away just as quick.
I kept my voice low and soft and ignored her escort who was staring daggers at me "You want to to shoot them before they throw them into the back of the truck? Kick them maybe?"
Now I had her attention. "Why?"
"Might make you feel better?" I was starting to feel like an idiot.
"I'm fine. Nothing happened. Nothing." She was smiling way to brightly at me.
I looked at her escort, back at her, and said "Sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. You take care now." I touched my hat and left. I made it two paces when I heard her say "Thank you" I didn't stop but I did hesitate for a heartbeat.
They were chucking Greasy Ink into the back of the new truck when a lieutenant decided to get in my face, offically rather than personally.
"Marshall"
"Yeah?"
"The base commander would like to see you in his office in exactly one hour. Plus I will need you to fill out an incident report and provide us with a copy of the warrant you were serving."
I looked at him. I wasn't really all that much older than him in years but I felt lifetimes older right then.
"No problem Lieutenant. I'll get right on it."
"Thank you sir" and he was gone but not before yelling at the body loaders "Lets move men. The Marshall has somewhere he has to be!"
He looked back at me for approval and I gave him a lame ass salute that was more of a wave than anything else. He loved it. What a ass kisser I thought.
I walked over to my truck where they had just finished chucking my kills into the back and told the Corporal who was in charge "thanks."
"No problem Marshall." He dropped his voice "Good shooting. We heard what those assholes did. Sorry to draw on you like we did but..you know... it's procedure and people were watching."
I slapped him on the shoulder and told him "Yeah. I know. We're good."
I got in the cab, it was a crew cab, and it stunk of sweat, booze, and reefer. I guess passing the urinalysis test wasn't a job requirement in their line of work. It turned over nicely and I drove out of the parking lot on to the field and headed for the tree line were I had left Zane and Woof. I pulled up so the passenger side door was facing the woods and got out leaving the engine running.
Zane was good. He didn't pop out of the woods when he saw me coming. Instead he stayed back inside the tree line until I called his name.
"I heard shooting."
"Yeah. That was me."
I opened both passenger side doors and told Woof "You're in the back fuzz brain." Woofs nostrils were flaring and as soon as he got in he was looking out the back window.
"C'mon kid. We got to roll."
He didn't see the bodies because he was too short. With the crew cab seating he couldn't see them either. So the first words out of his mouth were "Did you kill Sledge and them others?"
"Yep."
"Good. They were bad people."
"And now they're dead people."
"So do we go find my Mom now?"
"Buckle up and hold on."
The truck had been setup to run law enforcement lights and I hit them. Then I hit the gas, whipped the wheel, leaving some ugly tire marks on the carefully mowed grass of the field and we rolled. I blew through the gate at twice the posted speed limit and flipped the guards off as we went past. Zane and I were laughing our asses off and Woof was slobbering all over the back window. Life was good.
I can see how this is going to go. "why did you shoot them" "i wanted to"
ReplyDeleteI think Gardener skipped reading the first half of "How to make friends and influence people".
ReplyDeleteI can see how this is going to go.
ReplyDeleteHow what is going to go? The base commander thing? G is getting out of Dodge.
I forsee a rather amusing phone call coming soon. What kind of carrots might the marshalls have to keep G interested enough to do some odd jobs. He might like the idea of having intel... maybe the occasional supply drop of goodies (you know the real fancy stuff for the rest of the troops). Then again, how is Max gonna feel when he's told he is to report back. Obviously they are tracking the horde with satallites.
ReplyDeletethedreamer
Again, nice work Nova. (Is this sounding like a broken record? I can't think of more to say.)
ReplyDeleteDreamer - I wouldn't underestimate the feds. They got from Gardener as much as they could expect. He took out the trash and disposed of it. If they knew about Gardener, Max and Freya, then they couldn't be surprised that he did the cleaning and got out of dodge.
If I were to wear a tin foil hat, I'd say Gardener should ditch Sledge's truck ASAP, along with the Sat phone. It's not as if the General could count on a 100% success rate with killing Sledge. Just in case, if I were the General, I'd put a beacon in Sledge's truck as well as Gardener's. He'd get one of them back, either way. And if it's not under the seat cushions or stuck to the underbody, it's probably in the gas tank. Good luck getting it out and still have a functioning vehicle.
Gardener never did get the book "How to be a Person" that everyone else got. No surprise he never read "How to make friends..."
ReplyDeleteYeah. The "tell Max he is back on duty" part I added, well, I don't know if it will matter but know he is bound to his oath and punishable under the UCMJ (Unified Code of Military Justice) It is another way of sending a message.
D^2, No, I don't mind. It's hard to tell a story when you don't think anyone is sitting around the campfire.
Tracking them? This is the US military working inside the Zone of the interior, homeland, whatever...
Even if their abilities have degraded by 50% they are still capable enough, if provoked, to kill almost everyone in the Horde.
Right now it is all about internal politics, strategic goals, and the desire for the desire of the ruling class to hold on to and expand power. The fed's at this point are various powerblocs with the General holding things together. I am writing this assuming he is practicing current COIN operations in areas where they are unsure of their control.
NOVA COIN doctrine would suggest then that the horde is under observation. Perhaps I don't appreciate the size of the horde at this point (I really have no idea, when I think of horde I think of a LOT of people). Given that there are very likely few bands like that, and the US has enough sats already looking over the US, well it's not a big jump in my mind to have some analyst who just checks them once a day. The Feds may be in fed-land, but it's the control of space that gives the US much of its power to reach out and touch whoever it wants in the world.
ReplyDeletethedreamer
thedreamer,
ReplyDeleteYeah. I am still working this out in my head. My guess is that it's not unlike the tribal situation on the frontier or overseas now.
Some you buy off, some you work with, some you don't even really pay all that much attention to because they are not an immediate threat.
I doubt if by themselves they are that big (the horde. It's more likely along the lines of:
a. Freya. Check once in awhile to see if she shows any staying power and signs of becoming a serious problem. She is already on a few power blocs shopping list. Do they or can influence events?
b. General checking on population movements
c. Capable leaders are rare. Find them and keep an eye on them. Can they be used, bought or need to be eliminated.
d. On a local level can we work them into our current strategy? Can they be used a long the way?
Best wishes for 2011 Nova! Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteWow. I would have drained the fuel out of the Brethren truck, just for good measure. He did spend good coin on it. :-P
ReplyDeleteThanks getyourselfconnected! You too!
ReplyDeleteJennie,
I think he just wanted to roll. Plus he didn't think of it. You will be good at the survival stuff should it come to that I think.