The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (16 page)

Julie smiled
and said, "You have such a way of making me feel better, you know
that?"

"Always
glad to help!"

All in all,
life was settling down and they were thriving in the village.  The hot tubs and
saunas were very popular. Julie and Helen shared their hot tub with a couple of
the other girls and their sauna with all the women.  The second sauna and the
rest of the tubs were open to everyone.

The theater was
a hit as well, with everyone having movie suggestions.  Sometimes they would even
just play recordings of normal TV from before the virus.  

Life before the
virus now seemed a different universe entirely.  Sometimes it was difficult to
remember what that other reality felt like.

Samantha had
proven a genius with her cameras and had a collection of fantastic shots of
everyone.  It seemed like she was always in the right place at the right time
to get the shot.  It didn't take long for everyone to enjoy getting shots of
themselves looking great.  It soon dissipated any irritation with the constant
presence of a camera snapping away.  Eventually, they forgot it was there.

When Helen
asked about how many shots Samantha had, she showed her several external hard
drives.  Helen was shocked.  Samantha said, "Relax, they're not full
yet!"

This week,
Julie and Helen were at the lookout cabin for three days.  It was a vacation
for them, relaxing with nothing more to do than watch for anything that didn’t
look quite right.  After all their duties in the village, the slower pace
seemed like heaven.

“What do you
think our lives will be like once the flu is gone?” Julie asked. 

Helen thought
for a moment and answered, “People will be starved for authentic leadership. 
They will rally quickly around anyone who can provide stability of any kind. 
Whoever steps forward as the heroic leader who can pull everyone together will
be adored like FDR.  There will be critics, but the people will stand behind
that person and follow them anywhere.  It will be a dangerous time if it's the
wrong person.

"For us, we’ll
be busy till our dying day trying to rebuild and make a better world where the virus
could never happen again.  It will be a frontier world again.  We can fix some
mistakes, but we’ll probably make others.  We’ll change.  We'll adapt.  Maybe
we’ll build more sustainably this time around.”

“Mostly, I just
worry that people will have learned nothing at all,” said Julie.  They sat for
some time not saying anything at all. 

Off in the
distance, Julie noticed traffic turning off of the I-40.  “Helen, look,” she
said pointing to the freeway.  They both looked through their binoculars and
stared in disbelief.

Julie said, “A
fucking tank?!   You’ve got to be kidding me!” 

Helen grabbed
the radio, keyed the mike and said, “Base, we have a situation.”

Rob’s voice answered. 
“Go ahead.”

“We have a semi
with an Abrams tank on the back, followed by a large bus.  They have turned off
the I-15 and are about fifteen minutes from your position if they don’t stop. 
I’m anticipating that they are coming to you and will stop far enough out to
try to unload the tank without catching your notice.  Figure maybe 45 minutes
to an hour before you are in danger, if you're lucky, but no more than that.”

“Roger that.  I
need to know when they are unloading.”

“Will do,
boss.”

IN THE VILLAGE

Jim was next to
Rob when the call came in and was already in action before it was done.  Before
30 seconds were passed he had called for an emergency gathering and everyone
except the watches and lookouts came running. 

The first two
to run up were Luke and Ricky.  Rob screamed at them.  “You two set up the guns
on the chopper,
now! 

Rob turned to
Jim and said, “We need a pit behind the roadblock for a tank trap.  Make it as
deep as possible with straight sides.  Cover it with a tarp or net and
leaves.   I’m going to try to take out the bus and truck from the chopper. 
They
may not be in the tank yet
!”  Rob saw Dave running up and yelled to him,
“You’re with me on the chopper!”

Rob and Dave
ran off after the boys at a full sprint.

Jim looked at
everyone else who was running up to them.  Briskly and loudly, he pointed at
each person and said, “We need a tank trap behind the roadblock.  Frank, get
the excavator down there.  Matt, take the bulldozer and start the hole.  Get
out of Frank’s way once the excavator is there.  Susan, Samantha, Tim, Pia,
Angie.   Get the camouflaged tarps out the supply shed and cover the pit.  We
need the tank driver to not see it and to drop the tank right into it.  Get to
your positions when it’s done.”  They ran to their tasks.

Jim addressed
the rest of the group. “Everyone else to your positions.  Be prepared to
abandon the village if it’s overrun.  We can’t handle an Abrams if it gets in. 
Get the kids to the hidden shelter and keep them there till you hear from us.  Move. 
Now!”

Jim turned and
jogged into the HQ building and went into the communications center to find
Ann.  “How are we looking?” 

She keyed the
mike, “What’s the story?”

Helen answered,
“They’re about three miles out and slowing down.  It looks like they’re looking
for a place to unload the tank.”

“Copy that.”

They heard the
sound of the chopper taking off.  Ann looked over at Jim and said, “I think
he’ll make it in time.”

“God, I hope
so.”

ON THE BLACK HAWK

Luke and Ricky set
up the .30 cal’s on each side of the helicopter and loaded them as they’d been
taught.  They put on their helmets and harnesses and secured themselves with
straps, leaving the doors open.  Rob jumped in, put on his helmet and started
the chopper.  Julio was right behind him and took the right machine gun.  Luke
took the left, while Ricky kept his M4 with grenade launcher pointed down and
out of the aircraft.

They were
airborne and Rob called for a weapons check.  Three affirmative responses
followed and he said, “We’re going in hot.  Keep your heads and try to take out
everyone on the bus before they can get out.  Top priority is keeping the crew
out of the tank.   Once they’re in there, we don’t have anything that will
touch them.  Understood?”  Again, three fast affirmative answers.  “Here we
go.  I’m going straight up the right side to start.  Don’t hit the chopper.  
And neatness doesn’t count.”

A moment later
they were coming up to the two vehicles.  Dave took out the cab of the truck
first and it veered out of control and jackknifed across the road.  Dave and Ricky
shifted to turning the bus into Swiss cheese.  Rob turned the chopper around
and came up the left side, where Luke added to the maelstrom.  The bus slowed
until it drifted and hit a tree and rebounded off.  If there was anyone left
alive in there, it would be a miracle. 

Rob made
another turn and Dave further shredded the cab of the truck and the bus.  “Rob
said, hold your fire.  Anybody see movement? “After a moment he asked, “Dave,
you think you can secure that tank?”

“Let’s do it.” 

“Luke, fire on
the bus while I drop Dave”

Rob came to a
hover while Luke pounded the bus yet again and Dave slid down a rope out of the
other side of the chopper and onto the top of the tank.  Rob pulled away
quickly.  Dave attempted to open the hatch of the tank as the tank’s engine
started.  Unable to open the hatch, he stayed on top of the turret and used his
radio.

“The tank is
active!  The engine is running.  It’s chained to the trailer, but there is no
way the chains will hold if the driver knows what he is doing.”

Rob yelled into
his headset, “Dave!  Get off of there!"

Dave jumped
down of the back of the tank and ran like hell for the nearest tree line. 

Rob got back on
the radio.  “Jim, you heard that?”

Jim answered, “Affirmative. 
We’re evacuating.”

Rob said over
the chopper intercom, “Let’s light them up boys.   It’s just going to annoy
them, but we might get lucky and blind them or get them to do something
stupid.”

They opened
fire with the machine guns.  The turret started turning, looking for a target,
while the tank itself started moving back and forth attempting to break the
chains.  It only took a moment for the chains to start breaking and the tank
was soon worming its way off the side of the trailer.  After a moment, the
front right corner fell off the side of the semi trailer and the final chains
broke.

Rob told the
boys to conserve ammo and climbed to a higher altitude to monitor the tank’s
movement.  Unfortunately, once it was off the side of the trailer, the tank
took off up the road at about 20 MPH.  

  Luke watched
the tank and thought,
What the hell do we do now? 
He and Ricky watched
as the tank picked up speed.

Rob called in,
“Jim, you have a matter of minutes.  He’ll be on you any time now and he'll be
looking for payback.”  Rob could see the excavator slowly retreating up the
road to the village.  It would be okay as long as the pit worked. 

Over the
intercom, Rob said, “Luke, Ricky.  I’ll need you to fire on the tank as soon as
it looks like it will go over the embankment.  You got that?”  Both agreed. 

As the tank
slowed and turned toward the embankment, Rob dropped altitude and brought the
bird in to one side and behind the tank.  Ricky opened fire with the grenade
launcher and Luke fired the machine gun.  The turret was again turning and the
tank's machine gun opened up on no particular target.   Rob moved the chopper
up out of range.

The tank
started up the embankment, paused at the top, and fired its 120mm cannon into
the village before starting down the other side muzzle first directly through
the leaf covered tarp and into the 15 foot deep into the pit.   

Rob watched as
Matt drove the bulldozer up a moment later and started burying the tank under
sand.  The NAU girls were there covering the tank with rifles in case those
inside tried to use the emergency hatches.  Samantha had a rifle in one hand
and was snapping away with a camera in the other.   In just a few minutes those
hatches were completely covered.   

In a short
period of time much of the sand that had been removed from the pit was pushed
right back in and there was no longer any possible escape for the tank crew. 
Shortly thereafter, a mound of dirt covered the tank completely.   They would
have to reroute the entrance road to the village, but the satisfaction of
burying that beast was entirely worth it.

Rob thought he
couldn’t be prouder of all three of his kids today.  He breathed a sigh of
relief, keyed the mike and said, “Jim, they took out the tank.  We eliminated
the bus and truck. No one made it out of the vehicles, but that doesn’t mean
there aren’t more out there.  I’m heading out on recon, but will be close
enough to get back in a few minutes.  Dave will call for pickup when he’s
ready.”

“Copy that. 
Good work, guys.”

A few minutes
later they found a new camp of RV’s and buses at a ranch about 10 miles from
the village. There were bodies in a field behind the ranch, most likely those
of the ranch owners.  Rob said angrily to the boys, “I want to finish this
now.   These folks will be with the group that was on its way to kill us all. 
We need to finish them off now.  Can you do this?”

Both of the
boys said, “Yes.”

“We’ll go in
fast and take out all the vehicles first.  Then we move to the house.  Make
your shots count.”

They flew in at
several hundred feet and fired down on the vehicles.  When Luke saw people
running, he mowed them down with the .30 cal.  They fired at the ranch house,
tearing up the roof and walls, but it didn’t catch on fire.  After a few
minutes, both of the .30 cal machine guns were out of ammo.  Ricky emptied the
grenade launcher into the house as well. 

Rob flew
straight back to the village, calling ahead for more ammo.  When they landed, Will
and Julio loaded up the .30 cal ammo, their sniper rifles and gear.  Ann joined
them and took the copilot’s seat.  Fifteen minutes later they were approaching
the ranch house. 

Rob flew fast
and low enough for Julio to fire an incendiary grenade into the wood
structure.  It was instantly in flames.  No one ran out of the house, but they
assumed that whoever was there would have bailed by now anyway.  They flew over
the surrounding area, finding nothing.  Rob didn’t expect to.  He would fly
back over after dark and find them with infrared.

He flew back to
the ranch and let the bird have a rest. 

The fire
started by the tank had been put out by the time they got there. Rob wondered,
How
the hell do you miss with an Abrams?

LATER THAT EVENING

The chopper had
been fueled and reloaded earlier, and was ready to go.  Jim took Rob aside and
said, “Are you sure this is the right call?  I’m worried that we’re kind of
getting into war crimes territory here.”

“Look, Jim. 
Those assholes are surviving by killing and taking from others.  Any of them
who are left will continue to do so.  We can get them now.  By tomorrow, they
will have spread out too far and the risk of hitting innocents will be too
high.”

“But you don’t
know that everyone with them was involved.”

“It doesn’t
matter.  They were with them, even if they were just providing support.  We’re
going to nip this thing in the bud.  We were just lucky those assholes didn’t
know how to use a tank properly.”

“Just know that
I don’t like this.”

“That’s why
you’re the Mayor.  You're supposed to be bothered by stuff like this.”

“Just be
careful, Rob.”

This time Rob
flew with only his own crew.  They tracked and quickly eliminated all the
survivors they could find.  A group of around fifteen had made it five miles
out before setting up camp.  Rob dropped a flare and the machine guns made
short work of them. 
Good riddance,
Rob thought.