Chapter 10
MARCH 12, AFTERNOON
THE TRAINING EXERCISE THAT DAY followed a different plan. The number of attackers had been reduced by half to get an idea of the maximum number the defenders could handle. The defenders had also utilized every lesson they had learned from the first exercise, while the attackers utilized the enemies’ tactics again. It was still a close battle, but this time the defenders won, although with still heavy losses.
After the conclusion of the exercise, Adrian said to Linda, “Your troops are learning and adapting quickly, I’m very impressed with them. I feel vindicated in asking you to lead them.” While Adrian was talking to her, he was growing uncomfortably aware of feelings he had never expected again, and those feelings, in turn, caused him to feel guilt. He felt like he was betraying Alice, but didn’t have control over it. This conflict caused Adrian to speak more harshly than he wanted to, though he knew that these feelings weren’t Linda’s fault, she wasn’t coming on to him in any way.
Linda immediately noticed the undue harshness of his tone, not understanding why he was giving praise in that rough way. Adrian asked stiffly, “You’ve had time to consider relegating leadership to someone else. Have you arrived at a conclusion?”
Linda was worried by the enormity of the role she was playing and her extensive self-doubts of her ability to perform under fire. These should have been enough for anyone to deal with, she thought, yet on top of that, she also had to deal with her involuntary but undeniable growing attraction to Adrian. Not only was he attractive, but she sensed an undercurrent of emotional vulnerability, and that started a chain reaction of feelings that were moving rapidly out of her control. Whenever she was near him, she found herself acting almost mean, suppressing feelings she was uncomfortable with and didn’t want him to know about.
Linda sighed, then responded, “Yes, I’ll continue to lead them, it wouldn’t be fair to them to make a change now, and I think you knew this would happen the night you talked me into it. You manipulated me and I still resent it. These women are not only brave, but they are fighting for their loved ones—their children, mostly. There isn’t any stronger motivation in the world than that. Women can be as effective fighters as men are, and I’ve been thinking that maybe you should utilize the best of them, and me, in the direct fighting.”
Adrian was surprised at this suggestion, but hid it and replied, “I know women can be excellent fighters. I’ve spent a lot of time overseas where women fight alongside men. I have no doubts of their capabilities, having faced some and also fought alongside some of them. But in those cultures, they’ve had generations to adapt to the idea. Here, it’s different. Women have been placed on pedestals since the beginnings of the country, and men here have false ideas about women’s fighting abilities. What I’m afraid of is that our men will be less effective if they are fighting alongside women, especially women they have relationships with.
“In the foreign armies the women are not from the men’s families, or even neighbors. It’s a big difference and one I can’t risk, these men and women all know each other. Many intimately. It’s not the ability of the women I am concerned about, but the men’s effectiveness if they become over-protective of the women next to them when the bullets are flying. I do not want the men distracted in any way, and that kind of distraction could be fatal.”
Linda was listening, but couldn’t stop thinking his scars accentuated his attractiveness. He was virile and had undeniable presence and charisma. She tried hard to suppress her rebellious feelings as dishonorable to her husband’s memory and completely inappropriate for the time and circumstances. She was also surprised by Adrian’s matter of fact respect for women’s abilities; she hadn’t seen that coming.
Linda wasn’t aware of her scowl in response to her feelings, and the scowl had no relation to Adrian’s statement when she replied, “That’s something I can understand. My husband would get like that sometimes, and I always hated it. I’m fully aware that I can’t fight a man hand to hand and expect to win, but with a gun it’s—as you say—a matter of keeping a clear head. Bullets are equal. I have to say I disagree with your decision, but I can’t find fault with your reasoning.”
They looked at each other for a long moment with a tension that caused irritation between them.
Adrian finally replied, “I’m leaving in the morning to go on a scouting trip. I need to see the raiders for myself, form my own opinions and do some probing. I’m leaving you in charge of the men and women while I’m gone.”
Linda’s surprise at this announcement replaced the scowl. Adrian went on, “I want you to continue the training and exercises, evaluating what you see and giving me a full report when I get back. The men need to be evaluated for their ability to keep up and for any individual signs of mental or emotional weakness in a fast and furious situation. Also they need to work on battlefield communications, throw them some surprises and see how they react, pull unexpected ambushes. See if the captains can improve the speed and accuracy of communications on the fly. Your own command needs the same kind of attention—work on the runners being faster and on verbatim transmission. Commands passed by runner need to be simple, brief, uncomplicated, but they have to be precise. Surprise the women with attacks they don’t know are coming, see how they react. Work on those things while I’m gone.”
“You’re leaving me in command of the men?” She felt a sense of intensely heightened pressure.
“Yes, Colonel. You are the highest rank, and that means you are in command while I’m gone. Don’t screw it up.”
“‘Don’t screw it up?’” she retorted with obvious anger, her face reddening. “Would you have said that to a man left in command?”
“No. To a man I would have been less polite, and he wouldn’t have asked me about it, either,” Adrian responded sharply.
Linda tried to keep her face non-committal, but she was stumbling inside at being trusted with so much so fast. She said coldly, “Don’t worry, General Bear, I won’t f*ck it up.”
MARCH 13, PRE-DAWN
Adrian was packing travel rations into his backpack. He packed parched corn, cornbread, jerky, a jar of pecan butter, and a small amount of smoked ham from Sarah’s pantry. It gave him an idea.
“Sarah, do you think you could create a densely nutritious battlefield ration? Something that travels well, doesn’t spoil quickly, and has tons of calories? Something that doesn’t require field cooking?”
She thought for a moment then replied, “Yes, I think so. I can think of a couple of approaches. One would be a food bar made of chopped pecans, cooked cornmeal and sorghum molasses. I can experiment and come up with a bar that will be a bit tough to chew but pack a calorie wallop. I doubt if it will taste very good though. Or I can use hog lard and make pemmican with dried meat and chopped dried pecans. The pemmican bars would have to be individually wrapped and sealed and won’t last long.”
“How long would they last?”
“In this heat and humidity, maybe a week.”
“How about trying both? The pemmican would have more calories and would be eaten first, saving the molasses bars for after the pemmican is gone. If we’re out there more than a week, I’ll be really surprised.”
“I’ll work on it and get samples made up. When I get it right, I’ll get the women to start making them in quantity. How many will you need?”
“Fifteen for each person going afield. As for size, about two thousand calories each, whatever size that turns out to be. We need food that doesn’t require cooking or heating. Something stable, and light enough that we can carry it with us. Something we can eat on the run and keep our energy levels high. If there are any stimulants that can be added, so much the better, but the stimulants would only be in two thirds of them. The non-stimulant ones would be for night rations and marked to show the difference. Some pill type stimulants would be good for the night watches too.”
“I’ll talk to Jennifer about that,” Sarah said. “She’ll know if we have any or where we can get some, and the right dosages per bar. Two thousand calories is a lot for one meal, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but these are going to be extremely high active days and we’ll need a lot of energy. I’d rather they were too big than too small; we can always eat only part of it if we need to, but being short on calories would be detrimental. This will give us a slight advantage. Those raiders don’t carry a lot of food, depending on raiding as they go. We’re not going to give them time to raid and stockpile food once we engage them, so they’ll be hungrier and weaker than us.
“Well, I’m off to meet Tim and Jerry. We’ll be back in four or five days. I’ll see you then.”
Sarah gave him a quick hug and asked, “Tim? Isn’t he a little old for a hard trip like that?”
Adrian replied, “He’s in good shape for a man his age; I think he’ll keep up. I want him there to look over the sniper possibilities, and maybe to pick off a few bad guys while we’re out there.”
“You take care of him and Jerry. Aw hell, I know you will. Be safe and come back healthy—all three of you.”
The three men had been walking for a little over an hour, heading east to find the raiders. They were moving quickly, but not double-time, as Adrian would have preferred. He needed his two friends in good shape throughout this endeavor, and was careful not to exhaust them. There was little talking as they walked, but knowing they were far from the enemy they didn’t whisper when they did talk. That would come later.
Tim was carrying his .50 caliber sniper rifle inside a strong fiberglass case that was made for it. It was a heavy and awkward load. The case was lined with a dense foam material, cut to fit the rifle and scope so that it was protected from being jarred. He also had his favorite side arm in a belt holster, a 9mm Glock. Jerry was carrying an M4 and one hundred rounds of ammunition pre-loaded into magazines that were in pouches around his waist. Since he was also carrying forty rounds of .50-caliber ammunition for Tim, he didn’t carry a side arm.
Adrian also carried an M4, with one hundred rounds of ammo in magazines. His side arm was his favorite combat pistol, the unbeatable 1911 .45 caliber. His was a recent make from Springfield arms, a duplicate of the original Colt design with only a few modifications to improve it. An enlarged ejection port, a polished ramp, and an adjustable Timney trigger.
All three men carried large knives. Adrian’s knife was one he’d had custom made for him before the grid had dropped, the one he had carried and used in combat for years. It weighed a solid five pounds with a larger and thickly spined blade and heavy knob at the end of the handle. The blade was made of uniquely alloyed high carbon Damascus steel that had been phosphate coated and blued to a dull black color. The Damascus construction allowed for an extremely hard steel that was flexible instead of brittle. It was difficult to sharpen, but held a razor’s edge a long time. The balance and weight had been arrived at with the knife’s maker after considerable trial and error; with Adrian using several prototypes before being fully satisfied. It looked like a small machete in size if not in shape where it more or less resembled a Bowie. The knife’s maker was an expert in forging samurai swords and had reluctantly taken on the project only after Adrian had worn down his defenses. Adrian had met him while training in Okinawa. The fact that the knife would actually be used in combat, and not as a showpiece put on a mantle, was the final deciding factor. The grip was classic samurai sword style, never slipping in his hands no matter how sweaty or bloody. The balance was perfect for Adrian, but awkward for most men.
They reached the eastern outskirts of Hillsboro shortly before dark. Adrian said, “We’ll camp here. This will be our last night to have a fire before we begin our return. We’ll find our scouts day after tomorrow at the rendezvous point. They know when to expect us, and can then point us to the raiders.”
Tim, weary from the day’s march, said, “You’ve set a pace I can maintain, I appreciate that. But if worse comes to worst, you two move on out and I’ll fend for myself.”
Adrian replied, “Appreciate the thought, but one thing we all have to get in our heads is that we leave no one behind, and we come back for their bodies later of those killed in action. That may sound foolish, but it’s good strategy. Men fight better when they have confidence that they are never on their own. It’s an advantage we’ll have over the raiders. Those men know if they are wounded they’re left behind, and it doesn’t give them any confidence during a battle action. Our men will have that confidence; I believe it is not only right, but also smart.”
Tim replied, “That’s nice, Adrian, but I can damn well take care of myself. You don’t spend two tours in ‘Nam and then live to be my age by being a p-ssy. I know what I can do and what I can’t do, which is more than I can say for most folks. If you get all three of us killed because you’re too damn noble to have good sense, you won’t be doing me or anyone else any f*cking favors. So let’s get this straight right here and right now before the bullets start flying: if we have to run, then the best thing is you two run one way and me another way.
“If we have time to pick a place to meet back up, fine; if not, I’ll see you back at the fort. I will not be responsible for getting you two killed for some pretty little theory you have. And I sure as shit won’t be letting you get me killed for it, either. Most likely, I’ll have a better chance of surviving on my own if they are in hot pursuit anyway, done it before. Jesus but you modern day warriors are a bunch of ball-less wimps. You wouldn’t have made a pimple on my worst man’s ass back in the day.”
Adrian and Jerry couldn’t help laughing. When Adrian got control again, he said, “Roman told me you were a bit salty, I should have listened better. Okay, we’ll do it your way if it comes to it. Let’s hope it doesn’t.”
MARCH 14, NIGHT
Adrian took the last watch. He assigned Tim the first watch so that he would get the maximum amount of uninterrupted sleep before moving out the next morning. Jerry had the middle watch. Adrian had set their watch lengths at two hours each, giving them each six hours of sleep. Adrian took the four-hour watch. He was in better condition than the other two, and he always rose early anyway. He spent his watch hours going over his plans, tactics, and strategy, searching for weaknesses or improvements. It was productive time for him as he thought of things to change or try.
At the first sign of light, Adrian awakened the two men. They set about preparing breakfast and putting up their gear. They ate smoked ham heated in a skillet, placing the ham between two layers of warmed cornbread. It made a satisfying and filling meal, and it would be their last warm meal for several days. They washed it down with hot tea. Tim remarked, “You know, I’m starting to like this faggot tea. It’s pretty good. I see why those shithead Brits love it so much now.”
Adrian grinned and said, “We need to maintain our pace from yesterday. Tim, I need you fully operational when we get there. How’re you feeling? Don’t bullshit me, either. I would rather slow down than get there with you of limited use.”
“I’m a little f*cking stiff from yesterday and sleeping on the ground last night. Let me get warmed up, and then ask me again in an hour or two. I’ll give you the straight dope. I’m too old to play p-ssy games about important shit.”
Adrian smiled and said, “I believe you, oh ancient one. Jerry you, doing okay?”
Jerry replied, “Never better, cousin. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Two hours later, Adrian called a break. Each man took off his boots and socks. The boots were placed where the maximum amount of sunlight and wind would enter and dry them. Socks were hung on sticks to get wind and sunlight, as well.
Adrian asked Tim, “Okay, how about it, Mr. Antiquity, how’re you holding up?”
Tim threw a rock at Adrian and replied, “Just fine; I can keep this piddling pace for days. I could go faster in a pinch, too.”
The men examined each other’s feet for blisters and hot spots, then put on fresh socks and hung the used socks on the outsides of their packs to continue airing out.
“We’ll skirt around the south of Hillsboro,” Adrian said. “We have no need to see the town, and we would be too exposed.”
They walked until lunchtime, and then settled down for a cold meal of parched corn and jerky. They took off their boots and followed the foot hygiene drill, as they would at every break for the duration of their journey. They all knew that it would be stupid to hobble themselves with blisters, so every reasonable precaution was taken.
Later that afternoon as they continued their march, Tim spotted two men in the distance. He gave the hand signal and they all hit the ground. Adrian got out his binoculars, a powerful set made by Zeiss, and scoped out the two men.
Adrian said, “I can’t tell much from this distance. Tim, how in the hell did you even see them?”
Tim replied, “It’s an old man’s trick. I was a prepper from way back and had Lasik surgery as part of my preparations long before the grid dropped. I thought glasses would be a bad thing to be reliant on if the shit hit the fan someday. Believe it or not, I have 20/15 in one eye and 20/10 in the other. I can see a gnat at two hundred yards and tell you if it has balls or not.”
Adrian said, “I believe you. They’re a long ways off and I didn’t see them. I bet that vision helps with the long range shooting.”
“Some, but with this scope, I probably wouldn’t need better than 20/20.”
“They’re probably refugees fleeing from the raiders; they don’t act like scouts, but we’ll wait until they’re closer to decide. I wouldn’t want to make a mistake and assume they’re not scouts if they are.” Adrian said.