Reclamation (Best Laid Plans Book 4) (27 page)

Somehow he'd been planning for a major road trip, but the 25 or so miles they had to go wasn't all that far: a day of walking with backpacks, a few hours on a bicycle, and what felt like no time at all in a moving vehicle.

Huntington had been roughly twice the size of Aspen Hill before the Gulf refineries attack, but the influx of refugees had almost doubled that population again. Then winter hit and, from what Matt had heard from Chauncey's radio communications, hit hard; by spring the town had barely a thousand people left, and as soon as warm weather started touching the mountains to the west many of those survivors had headed up there in search of food.

The few hundred remaining people did their best to fish Huntington Creek and hunt game in the surrounding area. That meant many of the houses were unoccupied, and Matt wondered with bemusement whether his own overcrowded town shouldn't be considering moving some people down. Of course there were far more considerations than just space these days, and he wasn't sure how many Aspen Hill citizens would want to leave their community.

From the looks of it the military had set up camp in a field a mile or so west of Huntington, and Matt turned the truck in that direction. As he got closer he could see three official looking tents, two bigger ones for sleeping maybe twenty men at once, and a smaller one slightly off to the side. A bit beyond those tents several more had been set up, most no larger than four-man camping tents.

In spite of the early hour the camp was already bustling with activity, with maybe a dozen uniformed soldiers and more than twice that many civilians, probably volunteers. From the way they were entering one of the larger military tents and leaving with plates of food Matt guessed that one was being used as a mess tent. Although at the arrival of the truck most of the people in camp forgot their meals and stood to watch their approach.

Even though Williams should've sent word ahead by now that Aspen Hill's volunteers would be coming, the soldiers still went for their weapons. Matt hoped that was just a precaution as he braked fifty or so feet away and pounded on the rear wall of the cab to let everyone know they were here.

He hopped out, hands up. “We're volunteers from Aspen Hill!” he called to the soldiers, none of whom actually had their weapons raised and pointed their way, thankfully. “Corporal Williams said this was the place to meet!”

The soldiers relaxed. “A little radio warning would've been nice,” one of them shouted as the others slung their rifles on their backs or set them aside. Another ran towards the smaller official looking tent, probably to alert the officer inside of their arrival. The soldier who'd spoken ambled forward to shake Matt's hand as the rest of the volunteers hopped out of the truck and gathered up around him. “How many'd you bring?”

“Two dozen,” Matt replied, returning the man's firm grip.

“Out of a town of hundreds, I bet.” The soldier shrugged. “Not amazing, but you're practically patriots compared to the other towns we've gotten around to approaching in the area. Somebody made a dog's dinner of things here after the Gulf burned, eh? Made you all more than a little leery of authority.”

Matt did his best not to feel insulted by any of that. “So what now?”

“Now we wait for Sarge to introduce you all.” The man turned, motioning for them to come on with him to camp. As Matt and his volunteers moved to follow the flap to the smaller tent opened and the soldier from before emerged, closely followed by an officer.

At Matt's side Trev stiffened in surprise. “That's Sergeant Davis!” his friend told him.

The soldier turned to give them a surprised look. “You know him?”

“He gave us a lift,” Trev answered. But by that time Davis was already making a beeline for them.

The soldier with them hurriedly saluted. “More volunteers, Sergeant,” he said.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, Private,” Davis drawled. His eyes were on Trev. “Looks like you decided to accept my invitation after all.”

Trev nodded, then turned to gesture Matt's way. “This is Matt Larson, leader of Aspen Hill's defenders and of our volunteers.”

Matt stepped forward and, following the soldier's earlier example, saluted. “I hope we can be useful.”

“Don't salute, Mr. Larson,” the sergeant said with some disgust. “You may be under my command, but you're not part of the US Armed Forces and certainly not in the Corps. You and your people are volunteers, irregulars.”

“So, um, what should I do?” Matt asked, feeling stupid.

Davis swore with surprising volume. “Whatever I tell you to! And right now I'm telling you not to embarrass yourself and me by saluting.”

Matt tensed as Gutierrez stepped forward and, completely ignoring the previous exchange, saluted stiffly. For a moment Davis looked like he was going to explode, but then he seemed to notice the man's rigid bearing. He gave Matt a questioning look as he saluted back. “You military, son?”

Gutierrez maintained his salute. “Private First Class Raul Gutierrez, Sergeant.”

The sergeant grunted. “Army?” Gutierrez nodded. “Welcome aboard, then. Where were you stationed when things broke down?”

“Last fall I was assigned as an escort to the FETF convoy bringing relief to Carbon County, Utah.” The former soldier hesitated, then assumed a determined expression. “Over the fall and winter, under the leadership of a FETF administrator my squad abandoned our duties and began robbing US citizens.”

Davis's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Private, in just about any situation I can think of you just asked for unimaginably severe punishment. Possibly even the death penalty.”

Matt did his best to shove down his rising alarm. Had Gutierrez really needed to bring all this up? What good would it accomplish but to cause trouble for a decent man? Then again, maybe as a decent man Gutierrez hadn't seen any other choice.

The former soldier's salute faltered slightly, but he kept his position. “I make no excuses for my behavior, Sergeant, and am prepared to accept the consequences.”

“Well if he won't make excuses I will,” Matt said, stepping forward to stand beside his friend. “Raul Gutierrez abandoned the raiders when it looked like they were going to attack Aspen Hill, and joined us in defending the town. He's risked his life on numerous occasions doing just that, and in the time I've known him his actions have shown his bravery and integrity.”

Davis gave him a hard look. “This doesn't concern you, Larson.”

“I'm not sure I agree, sir,” Matt replied. “Gutierrez has been fighting under my command and I bear responsibility for him.”

The sergeant said nothing, looking between them as the silence stretched for what seemed like an agonizingly long time. Behind them the other Aspen Hill volunteers were shifting uncomfortably, a few even murmuring to each other. Gutierrez's arm had begun to shake slightly from the effort of holding the salute for so long.

“At ease, Private,” Davis finally barked. Gutierrez immediately dropped his arm with a quiet noise of relief. “I'll ask you one simple question. Did you harm anyone during your time as a criminal?”

The former soldier hesitated. “I did my best to help those we robbed and protect them from harm. In pursuit of that I hit a few people to quiet them down and keep them from receiving a harsher punishment from someone else. I never killed anyone.”

“I see.” Davis glanced over at Matt. “Do you vouch for him?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then he's your problem to deal with.” The sergeant turned back to Gutierrez. “We can't afford to turn down people willing to fight, so I've been ordered to look past a wide range of minor criminal activity in volunteers, provided they commit no further crimes. If and when order is restored and some sort of legitimate government is created you may be held accountable for your actions, but faithful service defending your country may be your way to a pardon.”

Davis's voice hardened. “Don't claim to be a member of the US Armed Forces, don't use your former rank, and stay with the Aspen Hill irregulars until such a time as you are dismissed or the group is dismantled. Understood?”

Gutierrez nodded, started to salute, then hesitated and dropped his hand again. “Understood.”

The sergeant grunted and turned to Matt, pointing towards an empty section of camp. “Your people can camp over there. Once you're settled in we'll have a longer chat about what your duties will be and what sort of discipline and behavior I expect from the people under my command.” He turned and started back towards his tent, calling over his shoulder. “Welcome to the war.”

* * * * *

Most of the volunteers had portable one-man tents, either a gift from the town or what they'd already owned. A few, like the married Donnells and the brothers John and Tony Russo, shared tents, but for the most part everyone had their own. Trev thought that was a good way to do it, since it meant they'd be more flexible in their sleeping arrangements depending on what Davis wanted them to do.

Speaking of Davis, Trev had just finished setting up his tent and was making sure everyone else in his squad had a handle on theirs when the sergeant came stalking over to the camp.

“All right, people, listen up!” he bellowed. The few people who'd been too occupied with their work to notice him jumped and whirled around. A few of the Aspen Hill volunteers awkwardly saluted at his approach, forgetting he'd told them not to.

The sergeant ignored them. “Time to tell you all what you're going to be doing. It's very simple so I'm sure nobody will have problems understanding.” He paused, staring into the crowd as an expectant hush fell, then abruptly pointed at the mountains stretching northwards and southwards behind him. “Our job is to prepare ourselves and this area to ensure that, should an enemy come, they will
not
find a way into the mountains. We have a twenty mile long stretch of ground to protect, from Highway 31 to just north of your own little slice of heaven in Aspen Hill.”

Trev felt a moment's hope at that. If they had to protect the area near their town that meant they might be able to spend some time there. Maybe the goodbye hadn't been as final as he'd thought. He might even find the time to help his family out here and there.

His hopes were dashed as Davis continued. “Fortunately for us your town is even better armed than you are, and they've agreed to cover that area on their own. We're going to take them up on that offer, so in fact we have closer to fifteen miles to cover. Realistically though, we'll be stationed in the canyon not far west of us and hold Highway 31, or destroy it and block of any means of getting past if necessary, as our top priority.”

He once again waved vaguely northwest. “Some of you I'm going to give assigned areas to guard. You are to go over every square inch of that area until you know the terrain by heart and can walk it with your eyes closed. Knowledge of the terrain is one of the main things that'll keep you alive when the blockheads pay us a visit. If you find time you'll also prepare defenses, especially if any roads leading up into the mountains are situated in your area. Those we need to be prepared to destroy as well, then defend from any troops they send on foot.

“The rest of you are going to either be patrolling or standing by as reinforcements. You will learn the quickest and quietest routes to get to the positions your friends are going to be guarding. You will learn how to spot the slightest sign of suspicious activity, and how to efficiently report it so we can respond as quickly as possible.”

Trev had his own look at the mountains. They seemed so peaceful that it was hard to imagine Gold Bloc soldiers swarming up the tree-lined slopes and meadows. But with any luck there wouldn't be, because the blockheads to the east would be stopped in Colorado and the blockheads to the west would be stopped on the other side of the mountains.

To his surprise Davis's next words mirrored his thoughts. “Now mind you, at the moment it looks like we won't be seeing many enemies in our neck of the woods. Which should be pretty obvious, because if we
were
facing any sort of threat here we'd have more than one squad of Marines and 50 or so local hayseeds to work with.”

He abruptly raised his voice to a bellow. “That does
not
make our job any less vital! If an enemy
were
to get past us they could hit our main front on the other side of the mountain from behind. The western defense would be surrounded and annihilated! So I will expect you to take your job seriously, and that includes training hard as well as learning the surrounding terrain.

“Believe me, we should have plenty of time to do both, and I am prepared to personally instruct you on the use and care of your weapons, as well as strategy and small unit tactics. I will also personally have a problem with anyone who does not take advantage of the time we have to prepare as much as possible, and you do
not
want me to have a problem with you.”

The sergeant abruptly relaxed and waved at the two trucks by the command tent, one his own and the other brought by Aspen Hill, which the Marines had immediately commandeered. Trev didn't mind, since the town had intended to give the vehicle and supplies to Davis in the first place, but the way the transfer of ownership had occurred still kind of rankled.

“As you can see we have two vehicles. For them we have a little over 100 gallons of diesel available. Do not expect more. We will avoid using them at all costs so they'll be available for emergencies, so get used to hoofing it through hill, dale, and up cliffs if you have to to get around. Any questions?”

Trev spoke up. “Does that mean our squads will be getting split up?”

Davis glanced around the assembled volunteers, looking amused. “Formed into squads, did you?” He shrugged. “We'll have to see how it goes. We've got a decent number of people, but we've also got a lot of ground to secure. At the moment it might be better to split everyone up in teams of three or four so they can get familiar with their assigned areas, and maybe rotate shifts for different duties.

“Once the blockheads get a bit closer and it looks like we might be facing action at some point I'll probably reform the squads. I'll respect the military structure you've already chosen, though, and no matter what duties I assign you I encourage you all to train in your teams, squads, and working together between your squads as well.”