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Post by 9idrr on Oct 28, 2019 21:07:39 GMT -6
Logan seems to be a likable guy and the MC seems as though he's seen and heard it all. Ain't nobody put one over on him in years, if ever. Please drop more chapters on us at any time.
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Post by solo on Dec 30, 2019 10:58:40 GMT -6
Hello Ladies and Gents; Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year. I wanted to let you know that I have been derailed from writing more on this story. I know it seems like a lot of excuses but trust me when I say this, I would much rather be writing.
First the minor thing: for some reason, the electronic version of my first book, Diver's Down was blocked from the KDP website for some reason; the form notification said something about content that may be offensive to some people... (What? I guess preparedness and survival can be offensive to those who aren't and can't). Having a hard time getting folks to return my phone calls. The paper back version is still available but am thinking about pulling it; polishing it a bit and finding an official publisher to do it right. Or I may just polish it and then resubmit it to KDP again. Just wondered while it was listed on their site for almost two years before someone thought it was some how offensive.
Now the major things; I spoke about my health changes and challenges; But for those who don't know I am active duty Navy and just to be a little cryptic, I am an instructor at a small command located on an Air Station in Northwest Florida and My office was in a certain bldg on that base that had a major incident earlier this month. I am safe but the aftermath has been challenging, especially since we are prevented from reentering said bldg and getting our professional and personal gear and we are now located in an alternate location. To make matters worse, all my versions of my current story are located on a computer and backed up on disk that are now sequestered in said bldg.... So it may be a while before the next submission. That is really all I can say about that as the investigation is still very much hot.
And finally, the last two weeks I have been dealing with the deterioration and passing of my 89 year old father who lived two states over from me. Lots of travel to say good bye, and for the service and to begin work on clearing the estate. He is in a much better place now. He is a 20 year vet of the Screaming Eagles, 101st Airborne. His main job was leading 105 Howitzer teams; His service ran from 1948-1968. I came along in 1969 so I did not know that part of his life and he sure didn't talk about it that much. He spent a further 22 years with the USDA and after 42 total years of Federal Service, he retired to his small farm in rural Mississippi.
You guys are like a second family so I just wanted to let you know, "Why don't he write no more?" Here's to hoping that the dawning of the next decade is much better to each of you than my last four months have been. And as we know, be ever vigilant!
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Post by NCWEBNUT on Dec 30, 2019 17:35:48 GMT -6
Sorry for your loss Solo, you take as much time as you need to get things back in order, we will always be here, I lost my father as well many years ago he served with the 101st as well 23 years, with two tours in Vietnam, something he never spoke about either.
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Post by 9idrr on Dec 30, 2019 21:40:28 GMT -6
It's good to see you back and know that you're okay after that bit of nastiness. Very sorry to hear about your father, but if things were gettin' hard for him, maybe it was time for him to go to Valhalla. By now there should be lots of Screamin' Eagles there to greet him. Next time you visit his grave or say a prayer for him, please pass along my thanks for his service. Thanks, too, to you for your own. We'll be happy to get any little bit of this story whenever you have the time and the inclination. The good stuff is always worth waitin' for.
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Post by texican on Jan 3, 2020 22:05:41 GMT -6
Solo,
Losing a parent is always tough, but you will overcome given time.
Now the loss of your office building is also tough especially if they will not yet you back in.
With KPD, hang in there and it will get better or not. There are other sites.
Please take the time that you need to get back up to speed.
Texican....
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Post by solo on Jan 10, 2020 13:54:01 GMT -6
Chapter 23
12 May 2018 Logan Compound Purvis, MS
Dana looked at her fellow diving medical officer and with much sympathy said, “You’ve done what you could. Go get some rest, I will close.”
“Yes, I don’t think it was enough.” Sara said.
“It is considering what we have and don’t have here. What is it? One, Two AM?” Dana asked, hopefully distracting Sara a bit.”
Sara smiled and gave a slight shrug. She looked down at the still form on the table and watched his shallow breaths. “It’s up to him now.” The surgery had be long and considering it the path through his abdomen and the lower part of his thoracic could have been a lot worse, it was essentially a through and through. She had to stitch up parts of the small and large intestine, and find some stubborn bleeders but for the most part the procedure was straight forward. Or at least it would have been on a modern Operating Suite. The kitchen table in this older farm house wasn’t that. Suddenly the long hours took their toll and she just wanted to crawl into bed.
She walked into the family room where almost the entire clan, Belinda and Jacob were waiting. Tim and Kurt were out on a little recon to Purvis; Tim would have wanted to be in on the surgical procedure for sure. And Angela and the new girl, Anna, were in the upper OP while Gina and Julie were in the lower OP.
Marsha looked up when Sara came around the corner. “We did what we could. It’s up to him now.” Sara told her, and the whole room.
Ethan looked over at Chad and nodded. “Okay, everyone. It’s almost two. We need our rest. Rod and I will relieve the OP’s at four so they can sleep. Tim and Kurt will be back in the morning.” With a lower voice he looked at Marsha, “Look, he too stubborn to go out like this. You just have to believe that he will be up and about before you know it.” Then to the rest of the group, “Let’s plan to meet after breakfast. We have a lot to do and time is getting short.”
“What about Jacob and Me?” Belinda asked.
“Your boy is by himself at your homestead, I would suggest you go ahead and go back, but we really do not know how safe night travel would be. It’s up to you. I do want to personally thank you for what you did for Marc.”
“It was all Belinda. I was still feeling sorry for myself and taking it out on your team. I think we should revisit our way forward together. Our boy is tucked snug and daylight is in a few hours, if we may we’d like to stay and have that discussion with a little sleep behind us.”
“Our doors are open to you guys. Sorry we haven’t been hospitable before.” Ethan said.
Belinda looked at her husband and through tight lips said, “We haven’t been the best of neighbors either. Hopefully, this big Oaf, that I love to life, and I and all us you will be able to move past this.”
“Love to life. I like that.” Ethan smiled. “There is a room there, but it only has cots. You are welcomed to it. The door closes for privacy.”
“That is appreciated. Thank you and good night.” With that, Belinda and Jacob retired for the night. Though it would be a short night, it would be the best sleep they have had since the whole world changed.
A little while later, at 0345, Ethan made his way toward the lower OP via the tunnel to relieve Julie and Gina while Rod headed toward the upper OP to relieve Anne and Angela. Ethan would have preferred to how two people in each OP at all times, but they were a little short-handed and he wanted to let the others get more rest.
He got to the end of the tunnel and making sure there was no light to backlight him he eased out the hidden entrance and after closing the door stopped to allow himself to acclimate to the night sounds around him. He slowly took in the sounds, the smells and eventually as his eyes adjusted, the sights. It was a semi-bright night as the moon was waning. He moved silently over to the OP that was up the hill slightly to keep a wider watch over the lower part of the property and the road and though not to the top so it would be silhouetted.
As he go to within ear shot of the OP he whispered the challenge and waited for the response. After a time he whispered it again. When he failed to get a response again, he paused and began to realize that he had something nagging at him, his sixth sense had been screaming at him, but he hadn’t really noticed as he was too caught up in the going through the motions. Kicking himself he thought about what his father often told him, ‘Complacency is the biggest killer!’
He eased over to the OP and slipped inside. It was empty. Looking out he tried to see if the girls had decided to take a short patrol but couldn’t see anything. It then hit him and registered that he had a metallic taste in the back of his mouth and that he was getting it from his sense of smell. He left the OP and then moved in a slow circle about five yard away and when he came to the front of the post, the smell was strongest. His foot then touched something that was out of place. He looked down and found the body of a young man. The taste and smell he had was from the blood that had totally vacated the man’s body. Thinking caution was the better part of valor, he backed out of the area and back to the entryway.
When he was about to break noise discipline and alert the house, Rod came over his ear piece, “OP 1, this is OP 2.”
“Go OP 2.”
“Upper OP is vacant. No sign of friendlies or Tangos. Over.” Rod transmitted.
“Lower OP also vacant. Be alert and meet me back inside. We need to recon but we need to do it smartly.” Ethan’s heart was beating a mile a minute. Something has happened to his Julie.
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Post by texican on Jan 10, 2020 15:02:35 GMT -6
Solo,
Thanks for the chapter....
Seems like a silent attack happened....
Texican....
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Post by 9idrr on Jan 11, 2020 21:26:56 GMT -6
Nice to see that the new year brings us more. Hope that writing helps you move ahead in your things you're dealin' with.
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Post by solo on Mar 6, 2020 9:33:48 GMT -6
Chapter 24
13 May 2018 Logan Compound Purvis, MS
Ethan made it back to the command center, his stomach in knots. He looked at Dana sitting at the controls, sort of nodding and cleared his throat. When she looked up and shook the cobwebs out of her head, he asked, “Have you seen Julie, Gina, Angela or Anna?”
Beginning to feel the full effects of sleep inertia on top of being awake and performing a complicated surgery, she wasn’t fully with it yet and finally manage a, “Huh?”
Ethan, trying very hard not to show his frustration, took the seat next to her and began to loop through the camera feeds recorded in the last two to three hours. Remarkably, there were no angles on either OP and there was no record of movement on adjacent feeds.
Rod came over his headset, “OP1? This is OP2, Over.”
“OP2? OP1 is in the CCC. Go ahead.”
“Control, OP2 stayed out to do a little recon. There still is no sign of friendlies or tangos.”
“OP2, Control. Come one in. Let’s button up tight until we have daylight. There is nothing on the feeds.”
There was a pause and a very week squelch break came over the coms. “Put her there…. up…. check the ….. make sure…..” a man’s voice came through. The contact was weak and broken.
“Hold up OP2!” Ethan chipped. He strained to listen to the receiver, hoping to get a little more insight. As the communication originated on their system, the source could be an outsider who got extremely coincidental or this was one of the watcher’s head sets.
“Where’s Kurt?” Ethan asked Dana.
“They Bivouacked in Purvis. They hit upon a good stash right at dark and felt like they didn’t need to transport after dark.”
“Can you raise them?” Ethan asked.
“Not since around Midnight.” Dana answered after some thought.
“Who do we have here? Logan is laid up and Marsha isn’t going to leave his side, you and Sarah. Chad, Brian, Jacob and Belinda.” He paused. “You, me, Rod, Carl and Carmen. And of course the bookends of Alan and Thomas.”
Mr. Landry spoke up from the back of the cavern, “Damn too few people if you want to properly defend this place.”
“Oh yeah, Mr. Landry as well.”
“What is going on?” Chad asked as he came down the steps from the house.
“Our two OP’s were vacant. The ladies were gone. Tim and Kurt laid over in Purvis and no one has heard from them since Midnight and Rod is out checking things out.”
“What did you see?” Chad asked.
“There was a dead young man I’ve never seen before near OP1, no other sign. The feeds are empty.”
Chad looked at the feeds and focused on the one that showed a swath of the land between the road and the OP. He ran it back and forth a few times then stopped. Looking at the time stamp he said, “At 0146, this camera was turned away from the area overlooking the OP. See?” He then replayed the image a couple of times. “And?” Dana asked.
“The and is that someone made a significant swath of property blind to and from OP1. If we look hard enough, the same thing probably happened to OP2 as well.” Ethan said.
“Two questions,” Chad paused. “Who knew our system well enough to do this and why?”
At that moment, Rod cut in over comms. “Command? OP2. Wire cut near back quadrant. Seems to be single entry and exit point.”
“Any sign of friendlies or tangos?” Ethan asked.
“Negative.”
“Pull, back so you can watch the AO. I am sending out a rover team to follow the path.” Ethan stated.
“I could follow. I don’t want them to get too far ahead.” Rod offered.
Ethan looked at the clock, it read 0430, and thought, had so little time passed? Pushing the transmit button on the hand held, “No sit tight. It will be light soon. I’m going to send the team. Code word 17 when we arrive. AO is hot, I repeat AO is hot.”
Ethan sat back and thought real quick of who to go with him. He needed to keep experience here at the camp and he needed experience too. Looking at his cousin’s best friend, he said, “Chad, I am going to go looking for them. With Logan down, I am going to need you to lead things around here until I get back. I am going to need to move fast so I am going to only take three others with me. Rod will stay back and be a rover inside the fence. I am going to send Carl out with him. I am going to take Carmen, Dana and Brian with me. Carmen is silent but deadly in the woods and Brian really knows this area.” He left his reason for taking Dana as tacit; everyone was hoping her medical expertise would not be needed.
“Put Thomas and Alan on the cameras and get Jacob and Belinda up to speed. I know they want to get home and check on their boy, but it may not be the safest to travel. Whoever or whatever is out there may be coming in force next.”
Ethan went upstairs to get his go team. Once assembled, the four went to the gear locker, which Ethan noted was starting to look a bit sparse, and pulled enough supplies for a week in the woods. For battle rattle, they were equipped for speed with just basic web gear. For this excursion, they each too M-1’s and their side Glock 19. They only carried a few extra magazines for each as again their plan wasn’t engagement.
As they finished the quick prep, they single filed went out the Pole Barn entrance and silently made their way to where Rod was set up. When he got close, he hissed, “Houston!” Rod responded in a whisper, “Oilers!”
Ethan and his team met up with Rod. They looked eye to eye and Rod looked deep. “Son, don’t make this personal. That leads to mistakes. We need you too bad for that. We don’t know how long we will be without Logan.”
“You know you won’t have to wait that long.” Logan whispered from behind Rod. No one has seen or heard him approach. Still as Ethan looked at his cousin, the sight terrified him.
“Cousin, you bullheaded son of a *()7%4. You know you should not be out here!” Logan essentially looked like someone who had just had major surgery; His skin was pasty, he was deeply out of breath and he look like he could fall out at any moment.
“I can’t let you go without me. Family sticks together.”
“I got this, Marc. You go and take care of yourself. I will take care of this one.” With that, he managed to grab Logan before he passed out. Rod reached down and swooped up the Navy Diver, be for he fell and carried him back inside.
Ethan watched them go with respect, but also a health sigh of pity. He could only imagine what Marsha would do when she realize Logan had slipped out on her. With a quick scan for Situational Awareness, he picked up the sign and began to track beyond the fence. Before long, he came to a faded dirt road that went east and west in the tree lined forests. The tracks led off toward the East. Toward Purvis. After watching for a few minutes, he sent Brian and Dana across the path. Then after a few more minutes, he start off, sticking to the left side of the dirt. After about five yards, Brian stood up, crouched and began to walk on the right side, staggered about five yards behind Ethan. And so they slowly made their way towards Purvis, all staggered and all on fullest alert.
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Post by 9idrr on Mar 6, 2020 21:40:05 GMT -6
Thanks for postin' more for us, solo. Glad you ain't the type to let Cliff enter into the picture. ;^)
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Post by texican on Mar 7, 2020 0:54:05 GMT -6
Thanks Solo for the chapter....
Hope you are doing well....
Texican....
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Post by solo on Apr 14, 2020 13:45:08 GMT -6
Chapter 25
13 May 2018 Logan Compound Purvis, MS
Soon the sounds of morning greeted the team as the night began to fade to day. There was a coolness wafting on the light breeze that morning. The sights, sounds of the birds twittering with each other and even the smells reminded Ethan of camping when he was much younger.
Before it had even become the vogue thing to do, he had always used a hammock when he camped. He enjoyed the feeling of suspense as he prepared to go to sleep each night and while he would still have to contend with the flying and most often biting insects, he was mostly spared from the ones that crawled. That was always a bonus for him. But his favorite time was in the morning when he would first become aware of this time between darkness and light, when he was still asleep, but not quite, and before his racing brain would begin to assemble the list of things he wanted to accomplish that day.
He remember one particular morning when he was gently swinging between two long leaf pines, that he looked out and saw two raccoons rummaging through his camp, their efforts frustrated by his planning the previous evening of suspending everything. He watched as they carefully avoided his long fire pit that he had crafted the day before with long saplings stacked and held in place by two smaller sticks driven into the ground serving as a backstop. The fire that he had banked the night before had served its purpose well, being reflected back into him, providing warmth on this chilly night before dying down to a nice bed of coals. He would soon blow these coals back into a smaller fire to make his morning coffee.
It was with this memory of the coffee and how much he would like some that something got his attention and pulled him harshly back to the present. His first thought was, as always, his amazement at how far his mind could wonder when given the chance and his second was a berating of himself for not staying in the here and now when there was so much danger and so much on the line.
It took but a moment to realize what had brought him back. The birds and their insistent squawking had stopped.
He immediately dropped to his knee and the rest of the team did the same thing. He carefully scanned 180 degrees in front of him while knowing that the rest of the team behind and to the side of him were doing the same with their own parts of the circle. After a couple of minutes, he began to feel a little exposed and began to ease off the trail slowly. The others, seeing this, did the same.
Glad that they had brought the in-ear comms, Ethan whispered, “You guys got anything?”
All he got back was single squelches from everyone indicating negative responses.
“The birds stopped. There is something or someone out here that has done that.” They had traveled about thirty minutes from the compound. The property was only about a mile outside of Purvis and if walking normal speed would only have taken 15 minutes or so. But as they were on a full alert maneuver and the dirt path, which was an old logging road, meandering a bit, it was taken much longer.
Not familiar with this way, Ethan was not sure how close they were to Purvis. As the land was mostly flat, the two-laned rutted path did slope away from them a little and ended at the bottom with a sharp turn to the left. The trees thinned ahead and he could see what maybe a hard topped road in the dim morning light.
“Stay here and stay alert.” Carmen piped up. “Let me check it out.” Ethan immediately said, “No, I need to do that.”
Carmen whispered, “I am better in the woods than you.” Meaning she was a bit more stealthy. Before he realized it, she had proven it to be true as she made her way to the turn in the path just off to the road to maximize what little concealment there was.
She stopped and eased off the path further, going even slower. “You see something?” Ethan whispered. He was answered with two squelches. That was a yes.
The team soon lost sight of her and they held their spots. Ethan desperately wished that he knew was Carmen saw. It was about five more minutes before he heard, barely, the unmistakable spit of 9mm rounds coming out of a suppressed Glock 19. This was followed by a window of silence that only lasted 45 seconds but seemed to take a week.
Just as he was about to pull everyone forward to the turn, his squelch broke. “Threat neutralized, two tangos down, AO secured.” Carmen whispered her report. She walked back up the path toward her side of the turn and in the middle of the curb waved the team to her before turning back and heading forward.
When the rest of the team met her she was bent over two bodies in well concealed positions checking pockets and collecting weapons. When Ethan arrived, he noticed that they wore matching uniforms but they didn’t look normal.
He kneeled beside Carmen while Brian and Dana set up a loose defensive perimeter. “Who are they?”
“You want the good news or the bad news first?”
“I don’t care, surprise me.”
“Well, the bad news is that these are Chinese soldiers, or rather, sailors. They are most likely from the submarine that we saw going into Panama City Beach and had it out with there.” Carmen said.
Ethan nodded as he remembered the story of Logan and his teams escape from Panama City and the Chinese who had attempted to capture or kill them at the base. “What’s the good news?”
“Well, the good news is that while they may be good at driving a boat underwater, they aren’t very good at this land fight thing. While they were set up nicely, they weren’t very attuned to what was going on around them. I was on top of them before I saw them and just did get them before they saw me. Good thing because they were equipped with M14’s and these nasty little noise makers.” She held up what looked like a Remington 870.
“That looks like police issue.” Ethan said. “Yes, There are serial numbers on the butt of the hand grip.” She turned it over and showed him. In lighter but still subdued letters and numbers, the inscription read PPD0011. On the other, it read PPD0017.
“I think you are right. I haven’t seen one like this though. A hand grip with an adjustable stock?” Ethan mused.
Brian whispered from behind him. “That is what I think they called the Police Marine Magnum. The Purvis Police Department made a big deal when they first bought them, saying it would really make a difference. I think they were just trying to justify their new toys.”
“But wasn’t this department rather small?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, only about 5-6 patrol officers and maybe three in the leadership cadre and dispatch.” Brian confirmed.
“Well if these numbers are sequential, they had at least 17 of these. Why so many for so few?”
Brian supplied, “They bought about a dozen extra for auxiliary purposes, they said.”
“So we may have about twenty of these floating around. If no one objects, I’d like to keep this one (He held on to 0017). And if it is okay, Carmen, you keep the other as I would like you to walk point from now on. That was impressive.”
“Thanks, I will.” She secured it in easy reach to her web gear on the side. “But the real question is, why did these Chinese fellows have them? Has Purvis been overrun?”
“I don’t know. If so, then we are also probably looking for Tim and Kurt as well. These two were either watching the road or the trail.” Ethan gesture to the road that the path had turned to.
“Probably both. This is where the trail ends.”
“Then that is Talowah Rd.” He pulled out his map and did a quick check. “Yes, looks like we are just south of these ponds. There are a couple of houses there. Let’s go check them out, I am guessing they are being used to quarter the rest of these fellows.” With that he folded up his map and nodded to Carmen to head out. As she passed him, he said, “Remember, recon, don’t engage.”
She smiled and looked down at the two Chinese sailors, “That ship has already sailed, don’t cha think?” She eased off down the road keeping to the right where the rising morning sun in the southeast would keep her in shadow for a bit longer. The rest followed, with greater distance between.
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Post by NCWEBNUT on Apr 14, 2020 15:03:30 GMT -6
I got to hear and shoot a PSA 9mm SBR this weekend with a suppressor on it, Man did that give me the fervor for one. Thanks for the Chapter Solo.
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 14, 2020 21:43:07 GMT -6
Solo, you set the hook quite some time ago. Now you're playin' me like a sturgeon. Well, maybe like a striper? Would you believe a bluegill? Anyway, thanks for more good stuff.
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Post by solo on Apr 15, 2020 9:58:59 GMT -6
I got to hear and shoot a PSA 9mm SBR this weekend with a suppressor on it, Man did that give me the fervor for one. Thanks for the Chapter Solo. To me, and I may be strange, but it has a satisfying sound and rhythmic feel. Most Satisfying.
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Post by solo on Apr 16, 2020 11:02:53 GMT -6
Chapter 26
13 May 2018 Logan Compound Purvis, MS
As soon as she was able, Carmen transitioned to the pasture as the land began to give way to expansive pastureland from the trees that surrounded them. As the road was still dropping a little in elevation toward the ponds below, she felt the need for stealth over speed and led the team through the treeline as it looped toward the east. Before her, as she could still see a ways north, were three houses, all spread out, two on the left side of the road with the ponds to their west. The ponds were impressive in size and well maintained. The remaining house sat on a slight hill the next hill over and overlooked the great open pasture land. There was an old pole barn behind the house.
This house itself was unremarkable, looked to be built in the early 1970s or so and was single story light colored brick. The barn was on the older side, looked well used and had a tin roof. Still the structure looked solid. There didn’t seem to be any sign of movement.
As they worked their way to the back side of the property, still in the tree line and shadows of the morning they checked out what they could see from the lone house and barn on their side. On first glance, it looked deserted. But as they scanned, Ethan got the feeling that they were being watched.
Brian began to whisper, “There’s someone at the window to the left looking out.”
“It looks like it has been empty a while.” Dana intoned quietly.
“No, all three of these houses are occupied. Someone has gone through the trouble of keeping the yard maintain. There is a well-worn over path from the house to the barn. There is no new growth on it so it is still being used. Same thing with the path from the barn to the pasture. That is cattle and there is very fresh patties all around.” Brian summated.
Ethan scanned some more. “Yes, I just saw that curtain move. My question is, where is the live stock now?”
That question went unanswered. “I’m fairly certain they know we are here but who are they?” Ethan added.
“Well after what we encountered, we can’t just go up to the farmhouse and knock can we?” Carmen put a clamp on a plan that was forming in Ethan’s head that was just along those lines.
They sat quietly for a few moments just watching, “I wonder why they don’t have someone in that barn loft? It isn’t much but it would help with over-watch.” Almost as soon as he said it, the back door began to slowly open. A rifle barrel slid out and stopped. Then it continued with a figure kneeling behind it. As soon as he saw the hair, he knew. And his heart hit his throat. It was Julie.
She paused a moment to check for movement. It was apparent that she wasn’t aware of the four of them in the woods. Ethan so wanted to call out to her, but she was at least a football field and a barn away and he had no clue who all was around, friend or foe to hear him. She eased to the side of the barn away from him so he lost sight of her.
Ethan turned to where Carmen was but she wasn’t there. It took him a moment to realize that she was part way across the field walking in a stooping crouch, not making any noise. Her movements were liquidly smooth, but quick. Before Ethan knew it, she was leaning against their side of the barn with her back to the wood. Ethan let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“What was that?” Ethan hissed into his mic.
“There’s no windows on this side. I figured when Julie made her move, anyone in the barn would have focused on her and not this side.”
“That was still a foolish move!”
“Do you honestly think that those Chinese know enough to be watching the wood line too?” She paused. “Look, I am in a pickle here. Be prepared to give me coverage and I will try to make contact with Julie without her shooting me.” She whispered. “And please stop armchair quarterbacking me.”
Ethan stopped and realized that is indeed what he had been doing and was chagrined. She has been in the soup as much as he had over the last few months. He watched as she disappeared around the far side of the barn.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was at most two minutes, Carmen broke squelch and spoke in a normal voice. “Guys, it’s all clear. No tangos. But you need to remain in place.”
Ethan responded, “How’s Julie?”
“She’s unharmed. But we have a situation here we need to sort out first.”
“Copy.” Ethan turned to Brian and to Dana. “I would feel better is you too went North and South of this house and keep a watch. Let me know if you see anything.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see my girl.” Ethan smiled.
“But they said to wait.” Dana said.
“I know. I will hang back.”
Ethan began to walk across toward the barn. When he got to within a dozen yards or so, Carmen stepped around the corner and stopped him with her stare. “You don’t listen so good do you?”
“I’m guilty.” He held up his hands.
Julie stepped around Carmen and smiled weakly at Ethan. “Stay there please. As much as I would love to squeeze your guts out, we can. These people, both the owners and the Chinese died from something. It looks like some kind of infection or biological. It’s bad and I’ve been exposed. And now probably Carmen.”
Ethan stopped in his tracks and simply said, “Oh….”
Julie leaned her head to the side and said, “You came for me?”
“I lost you once. Not doing it again.”
“But that first time was your own stupidity.”
“Granted.” Ethan stared, realizing his one overwhelming feeling was relief.
Just then his ear piece broke, “Ask her about Angela?” Brian asked.
Ethan looked around and realized none of the other three were around. “Where’s Gina, Angela and Annie?”
Julie paused and said, “Now probably isn’t the time for the full story but the Soldiers grabbed Angela and Annie. They were trying to get to me and Gina as well but I put a kibosh to that quickly. I back tracked that guy back to the path, I assume you found the path, and was just in time to see another larger group come by with Angela and Annie bound. I left Gina to watch them as I step away to make the radio call, and that is when I heard she was discovered. It happened all so quickly, but as they came for me, I managed to get away. I lost my comms in the process.
She paused to look around a little. “I decided I needed to see where they went over getting you all and I tracked and followed them here. I almost messed up and stumbled into those two left behind to watch before seeing them at the last minute. I was able to make it around them without them knowing.”
“We found them and took care of them.” Carmen chimed in.
Julie nodded and continued. “Well I watched then come to this house and then quickly leave. If I have my guess just right, I would guess that this was where their leadership had set up and those guys that grabbed Gina and them were a scout team. One thing for sure, they left in a hurry and I bet Gina, Angela and Annie were exposed as well.”
Ethan looked down deep in thought. Carmen asked. “Do you know where they went?”
“I was just about to pick up the trail again when you showed up.”
“Okay, hold on.” Ethan said. He activated his mic and asked Dana, “Hey Doc, I think we need you up here. Come to me and not the girls. They have been exposed to something.”
It took a few minutes for Dana to arrive. All the while, Ethan and Julie made eyes toward each other. When she got there Ethan gave her a run down and then she asked Julie some follow-on questions. Then she stopped and looked for a moment. “It seems to be something unrelated to the types of things we see run through populations that have poor sanitation, like dysentery, typhoid or anything else. I’d have to examine the bodies but without a live person to see what symptoms we are dealing with, it is hard to say. Could be Yellow Fever, Small Pox, SARS or something completely new. These two need to be quarantined and I need to see the bodies.”
“How are you going to do that without exposing yourself?”
“I am going to lead these two back at a safe distance and get some of that MOPP gear we have back at the ranch. I think MOPP-4 is on tap for today.”
“Bring me back a set too. Maybe, I can help too.”
“That’s a negative. Two reasons. You are one of our leaders and decision makers, you need to stay not exposed.” Dana said.
“And what the second?”
“Actually there are four. Gina, Angela and Annie.” Dana said.
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Post by texican on Apr 16, 2020 19:58:48 GMT -6
Thanks Solo for the chapter.
Now virus to go with all the other problems.
Texican....
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 16, 2020 21:30:32 GMT -6
A fix! A fix! Thank you, kind sir.
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Post by solo on Apr 17, 2020 7:56:33 GMT -6
Thanks Solo for the chapter. Now virus to go with all the other problems. Texican.... With what is going on, you almost have too.
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Post by solo on Apr 22, 2020 11:51:18 GMT -6
Chapter 27
13 May 2018 Purvis Courthouse Purvis, MS
At around noon, Logan and Brain had made their way north down Talawah road and met up with the Baxterville to Purvis Rd. From there the going got slower as they approached first the county maintenance yard, where all the service trucks were kept, and then the Purvis National Guard building and compound. The yard behind this building was full of large earth moving equipment as this Guard Unit was a part of an Engineering Battalion. Ethan smiled because he remembered before he left the many high school dances that were held in this building. Interesting how and when memories can be triggered.
There was no one moving about either of these place, nor the houses across the street from them. The road, which looked newly put into place turned sharply in front of the Armory. They instead followed the old road bed and came shortly to the back side of the First Baptist Church property.
Ethan spoke up, “What do you think? Should we check out the Courthouse and County complex up Main Street first or should we go over to the City Hall complex?”
Brian thought for a moment. “We could split up?” He put out there.
“No, better not. How about this? We go and check on the Courthouse first. Then work our way toward city hall on the back roads. That will keep us off Shelby Speights Drive.” Shelby Speights Drive is the main road through the small “City” of Purvis. City Hall sits on this road on the other end, the East Side of town.
“Okay, but let’s take the tracks to get to the Court House. I’d feel too exposed on Main Street.” Brian said.
“Good idea. Right after the tracks cross the road in front of the church there, it cuts through the rising hill and provides a covered approach.” Ethan agreed.
The two worked their way down the backside, the southern end of the church property and came out on the tracks. As they made their way north, they saw the dome of the courthouse come into view, but the rest was obscured as the railway cut through the hills that started to build a little.
Ethan marveled over the dome of this old building. Though it had been damaged by a large F4 Tornado back in 1908, it was one of the few buildings left standing. This tornado left its mark on the then young city as it tore a swath from near Amite Louisiana to rural Wayne County, Mississippi maintaining a reported width of two miles for most of this path and leaving 143 dead in its wake, most of which were people living in rural regions. Indeed, only seven of the 150 buildings was left and of the 143 people killed, 60 people were counted in and around Purvis alone. Appropriately, the Purvis High School mascot was the Tornados.
When Ethan judged them to be even with the Courthouse, they made their way up the sharp slope and undergrowth and came out just across Main Street from the Courthouse. They waited in concealment for a good 30 minutes, watching for any sign of movement, activity or just life in general.
It wasn’t lost on him that he felt totally inadequate with the stealth movement as this was more Logan’s, Kurt’s and Carmen’s cup of tea and he had just sent Carmen back with Julie. Brian was good at this in a country sort of way, but not as good as if he did this as a military type profession. Though, thinking on it, there are ways of slacking on this skill as well so he was sure to not make the assumption that every person who has served in uniform possessed the skill that uniform reflected. This lead to Ethan thinking about how the general population reflected the bell curve in most area and that it also applied to subcultures like the military. It was even a fact….
Brian nudged Ethan and stirred him out of his ruminations. Ethan kind of smiled to himself. He mind has always chased rabbits like this, but it seemed that of late they have reflect more things related to survival.
Ethan looked to where Brian was motioning. A gaunt figure of a man had stepped out onto the front steps and stopped by one of the tall pillars that framed the front façade of the old courthouse. It was about this time that he began to wish that they had come up from behind the Courthouse where the old county jail was. He simple overthought it and figured everyone would be in that newer complex.
The figure did a slow scan down both directions of Main Street before coming back and settling on where the two were hidden. “Reckon, you two can come out now.”
Ethan felt the rock that was building in his stomach grow into a full lead weight. Grudgingly, he stood up and began to cross the road, keeping his M1A at low ready.
“You won’t be needing that. You are here of your own free will and you can leave whenever you choose.”
That voice was very familiar. He couldn’t place it. Brian came up beside him and stood.
“We watched you two from when you went behind the church. I got this whole place wired. Nothing happens without my knowing it.” The Man said.
“Isn’t that a bit dictorial?” Brian asked.
“No. Anything to protect my citizens. Or what is left of them.”
“Kind of funny that you set up in the county offices, Mayor.” Brain said.
Ethan was dumbfounded. The rail thin man before him was a shadow of his former plump self. The man smiled when he saw recognition in Ethan’s eyes. “Yep, the new diet that was force on us made a huge difference. I figured I needed to either get on with living or to get on with dying. Guess you can see which one I chose.”
Brian, seeing that Ethan still was trying to catch up, continued, “I see you really have embraced living.” “And I aim to keep it that way. I found a wealth of information that was printed out from forums online before the power went out. Seems like a lot of you prepper types wrote how to guides disguised as stories and get this… It was all for free for whomever wanted to read it. Guess even those so called experts didn’t know how the economy worked.”
This struck Ethan as odd as he also had perused those types of sites from time to time. “Guess, in the end they were right though. What is the economy now?”
“It’s all barter, now. Though with the way you two snuck up here, there was no barter in mind.” The mayor said.
“Wait, you are telling me you are a bartering entrepreneur now? Instead of taking it?” Ethan was incredulous.
“One adapts as one must. In my readings I came to realize that the best commodity was skill and you can’t really take that. Take you for instance. You had an intangible skill called leadership. I don’t know why, but people tend to follow you blindly. Now can you sell that skill? Yes. If you have the right know how. Brian here has some skills, but his greatest value to you and your group is his hard work ethic and his knowledge of the surrounding communities, both of which are valuable in their own right.”
Ethan tilted his head sideways. These were solid coherent statements coming from this narcissistic hothead. Narcissism doesn’t go away, it just needs the right conditions to show itself.
“I see you boys are still trying to wrap your heads around this. Look, I admit I was wrong to attack you guys last year. What was yours is rightfully yours. I only scavenge now from those who no longer have a claim on anything. It is a solid and legal business model.” The mayor paused. “I just wish I could have come to my senses while my daughter was still alive. I wish that sheriff was still around so I could discuss that issue with him myself.”
Ethan shook his head.
“How are you all fairing out there, now. Anything you need?” The mayor asked.
“Na, we’re good.” Ethan responded evenly. He had definitely learned his lesson about OPSEC and he wasn’t going to give this man, no matter how smooth talking and trustworthy he sold himself to be any information.
“Suit yourself. Come on in, let me get you a bite and a drink.” The mayor offered.
“I think not”
The mayor shrugged. “Okay, suit yourself. I get it. I hope we get to talk more in the future.” The mayor turned to go back inside. “Wait. I have a question.” Ethan said.
The mayor stopped and turned. “Okay.”
“We had three members of our homestead taken yesterday. Have you seen them?”
“Are you accusing me? That sounded awfully accusatory.”
“No. You seem to have a pulse on what is going on.” Ethan said.
The mayor looked at Ethan for a while then seemed to make up his mind. “We are down here in the Courthouse because all of the area on the other side of the rail tracks are controlled by someone else. We all had a long go of it but decided a stalemate was better than the alternative. I met with their leader and we reached an agreement.”
“Who is this leader?”
“A tallish Chinese fellow. A Captain of some sort.”
Ethan’s heart, who had been on a bit of a rollercoaster since Julie was taken the night before caught in his throat. “I Chinese Captain?”
“Yes, A Deng Yao Ming or something like that. Seems to have it bad for your cousin Logan.”
“Were you planning on telling us this?”
“Well, now a days, information is just as valuable as any barter.” The mayor smile.
“Well then I got some info for you. Those Chinese who took our ladies were set up in,” He looked at Brian to complete.
“The old Byrd place just on Talowah Rd.” He filled in.
“Yes, in the main house there. Only they were all dead when we found then from some sort of sickness. It looked to be fast acting. And our ladies were gone.” Ethan could tell by the Mayor’s face that something he said triggered something. “What?”
“Well, here is some free information. There seems to be a highly contagious virus going around that is fast acting on certain folks and not on others. My folks here have been safe so far, but if you come in contact with it, the death rate, especially now is almost 1 to 1.”
Ethan’s head slumped. If that was the case, his Julie could be a goner and he and everyone at the compound could be infected.
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Post by texican on Apr 22, 2020 16:20:28 GMT -6
Solo,
Thanks for the chapter.
Texican....
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 22, 2020 20:28:32 GMT -6
Don't blame the guys for not trustin' this guy. Not one bit.
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Post by solo on Apr 24, 2020 11:40:57 GMT -6
Chapter 28
13 May 2018 Purvis Courthouse Purvis, MS
Brian led Ethan back down Main Street toward the church. Ethan had that feeling that they were being watched the entire way. “Now what, Boss?”
“We need to find Gina, Anna and your Angela. And that means crossing the tracks.” Ethan stopped, scanning across to the east side of Purvis.
He remembered the very road he stood on, various small town parades for Memorial Day. The same Christmas decorations on the power poles each year. There was a lot of Nostalgia in this scan.
“I want to get Angela back but we are facing some rough odds. I don’t trust the Mayor at our back. He knows that we are down in strength now and what is really stopping him from taking the compound now. We don’t know where Kurt and my brother are either. And we don’t know who or how many is across the tracks.”
Ethan thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go. And he walked down Shelby Speights Drive and crossed the tracks. As soon as he could he turned to his left and went down behind the set of Medical offices there and soon came to the mom and pop Farm Supply store. Giving it a good once over for future reference, they proceeded to the front entrance leading out to a cross street that ran parallel to the Speights. Brian had put some space between them to make it harder to take out both of them.
Ethan approached the trees in front of the Farm Supply, Brian came up to the side of the building. He happened to glance through the dirty window there and stopped short. He took off at a sprint to the front entrance and pushed his way through the doors. Ethan, hearing this loud noise at his back quickly backtracked to where Brian had entered the building.
As Ethan pushed through the doors, he heard a suppressed gasps from his left. Quickly checking the main showfloor, which was an utter mess, he turned left and went through the next door. He was not prepared for what met him there. Hanging from the beams in the above, unfinished ceiling were two large meat hooks. Hanging from those meat hooks by heavy duty rope tied to both wrists were the naked and very abused bodies of Kurt Wolf and Tim Broadmore.
Brian stood there with his head slumped as he silently mourned his brother. Ethan put his hand on Brian’s shoulder and felt the wracking grief pouring through him. Ethan guided Brian to a folding chair and helped him sit. He turned and walked to the two men. Both bodies had very little color left in them and it looked like lividity had set in. They died sometime the day before. Ethan went to get another chair and worked to cut them down. He didn’t know how they were going to get them back and he felt a sense of urgency to continue looking for the ladies. He turned to look at Brian, but he wasn’t there. Ethan ran outside and was in time to see Brian take off to the east on Clark Street.
Ethan followed and saw Brian turn on the street leading to the City Hall. He ran to try and catch up but could not do it. Brian was determined to get into the building.
When Ethan caught up, Brian had already entered the building from the jail side. Ethan heard two soft chunking sounds which was what he took as Brian firing his silenced Glock. This was followed by a loud shot and two more soft chunking pops. Ethan ran inside and found the two holding cells and two dead Chinese fighters dead by the doors. Brian was leaning over the prostrate form of a naked female. After a moment, he helped her to sit up.
After a moment, the lady shook her head and turned and looked at Ethan. “Are you going to just keep staring or are you going to get my clothes.” It was Gina and she did not seem too worse for wear.
Ethan grabbed her clothes from near by and then he and Brian turned their back. Brian left the cell and Ethan called, “Wait.”
“We need to clear the building.” He left out that he needed to find Angela.
“You okay?” Ethan asked.
“I’m good.” He moved out and quickly cleared the building.
“How about you? Are you okay?” He looked quickly at Gina. She had quickly dressed but the contusions were very noticeable.
“They had plans for me, but they didn’t succeed.” Gina said. “So yeah, I’m good.”
“Looks like they worked you over.”
“I gave as good as I got. Where’s my boyfriend?”
“He’s at the compound. Listen, we need to get Angela and Anna and get out of here. We can debrief at base.” Ethan said. Brian walked back into the room in time to see Gina’s countenance fall.
“Brian. I am sorry. They didn’t make it. They were in the next cell and were worked over pretty good and they didn’t survive the night. I am so so sorry!” Gina said with tears in her eyes.
Ethan looked at her and then looked hard at Brian. First his brother, and now the love of his life.
Brian looked as you have expected. He dropped his head and walked toward the front of the building and stepped outside. Ethan watched him then turned back to Gina. She walked to him and hugged him. After a moment, Gina gathered her gear, they had taken her weapons, and both Gina and Ethan walked out.
To his surprise, Brian was still standing there. Ethan again put his hand on his shoulder. “We need to get back he whispered.”
Brian looked at both of them and gave a sad smile. He turned and hugged Gina and then Ethan in turn. “Thank you both. You gave our family hope and became my family. I can’t go back to the farm right now. Please understand.”
Ethan looked at him and knew. He didn’t know what Brian had planned and he searched his eyes. He didn’t see self-pity. He saw resolve. With a nod, Ethan said, “We are going to miss you, Son. You are family to us. You will always be welcomed.”
“I know boss. Don’t worry, I will be okay. I just have some work to do.” With that Brian crossed Speights and crossed the large vacant lot. Ethan lost sight of him when he got to the treeline and began following that toward Mitchell Avenue and where Purvis Elementary was located.
“Now what?” Gina Asked.
“Do you know where their bodies are?”
“No, they took them out about an hour ago.” Gina answered.
“Let’s head back. I am sure they know we are here. You were at the house with Julie and them?”
“Yes, I don’t know where Julie went. They brought us here this morning. They did just about everything you could imagine to those poor girls. Their last couple of hours were horrible. I knew I was next, but I wasn’t going to make it easy on them. That is when Brian walked in.” Gina had gotten a faraway expression.
“I am sorry, Gina! We should have been smarter about our watch standing. About so much really.”
“You had no way of knowing.”
“Yeah, well, Kurt and Tim are over in the Farm Supply building. Both of them are dead too. And oh yeah, as of now, both you and I are in quarantine. There was something at that house. All the Chinese folks are dead.” “All of them?”
Ethan just nodded.
“Then that is all of them. There are no more Chinese. These two escorted us under orders. There was some sort of agreement in place.”
Ethan stopped walking. “All of those submariners are gone?”
“Yes, there weren’t that many to begin with. I bet they were targeted at that house.”
“Regardless, you and I will have to go into quarantine. We are down a lot of folks and with Logan still recovering, You, me, Julie and Carmen possibly infected, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of folks for our side.” Ethan said.
“Do you think Brian will be okay?”
“He has some things to work through. We all do. But him more so then the rest of us.” Ethan said.
They continued back to the Church across the tracks and turned down the Purvis to Baxterville road, back toward their compound. The day had quickly passed as it was now late afternoon. They didn’t know that they had a tail.
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 24, 2020 20:03:51 GMT -6
Well, at least we ended this chapter in a more low key manor. No major cliffs that I can see. Thanks for more.
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Post by solo on Apr 27, 2020 9:37:42 GMT -6
Well, at least we ended this chapter in a more low key manor. No major cliffs that I can see. Thanks for more. One of the directions writing this tale in both part took me was 1) Even the unprepared can be lucky enough to survive to get some sense about them. Look at how many OPSEC failures this crew had. 2) Having a lack of skill can be overcome with a strong work ethic and 3) Even the strong and ready sometime meets up and finds the wrong side of evil and bad luck. I realized that I had failed at #3 to a certain extent. I was having our protagonist, and they were many, look like superheros too much. I hope that it is apparent in the last few chapters that our group is now experiencing some things not going their way. Though I wasn't quite ready to do away with say a Logan or Ethan, and Kurt was one of my favorites, seeing Logan get critically wounded and key members of the team dying is a reality that can't really be planned for... Poor Brian was sent into a tail spin with all of his losses and the loss of manpower on the compound will be felt in the chapters to come. Just wanted to give everyone a glimpse of someone who has been personally, professionally and now isolatedly hammered the last few months. Thank you for all of your readership and patience. - Solo
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