Sixth instalment

Gratitude

Saunders made his way over to the area of the camp that Hernandez had pointed him in. It was woefully small to be the survivors’ area; it consisted of about a half dozen tents arranged haphazardly in a semi-circular set up. He spotted the woman sitting at a makeshift table made of various pieces of debris from the base. She looked up at him as he approached, and he stopped a little short of the table. ‘Ma’am, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” She gazed at him for a second, and then murmured the first words he’d heard her speak, “You’re the one who pulled us out, aren’t you?” Her voice was smooth, he could hear sadness in it, but barely, she kept it in check and didn’t let it show. “Yes ma’am, I am, name’s Saunders. May I ask what yours is?” “Anara. We heard shots on our way back to base. I wanted to turn around, but Hernandez made us speed up and get back to base, what happened?” “Nothing you need to worry about, and Hernandez did exactly as I had told him. No reason to risk four lives when one person risks theirs. Now, how did you get to be in that hole with that boy?” “Well, I was staying with one of my parents friends from college while I was having a job interview in downtown, they had to leave on vacation for a bit and asked if I wouldn’t mind staying a few extra days to watch their kid. I, of course, agreed to return the favor, cute kid, but a handful before bedtime. I heard the sirens, but not being from here thought nothing of them, Chris though, the little boy, came running in scared, so I asked him what he was supposed to do, and he just ran over, rolled over the carpet, and pointed to the hatch. So I opened it and tried to get him to get in, but he wouldn’t, so I went down first and he followed. It was dome shaped maybe six or seven feet across and about four feet high at the center. I was about to get out myself and see if I could find out what had happened on the news, but I heard a series of horrible explosions and the house started shaking, then something blew the hatch shut. I reached up and spun it closed tight and we sat there for what seemed like eternity. We found a few glow sticks in a shelf that was in the side of the shelter, we popped one at a time, and would sit in the dark till we absolutely had to see or we’d go made. The second one we popped we noticed a small container in the floor of the shelter and in there was a few cans of beans and some water. All around not the best supplies ever, but I guess they saved our lives. I had been in ROTC when I was in high school and did a stint in the marines till I got discharged for refusing a few orders that I found to be morally reprehensible, so I was tapping out s-o-s in Morse code on the bomb shelter wall any time I heard a noise from above.” “You were in the marines? Reserves or what?” “I went in with the surge to Iraq in 2007, got discharged in late 2010. Since then I’ve been moving around a bit trying to find a niche that I can fit in comfortably.” “What rank were you when you were discharged?” “Sergeant.” “Would you be willing to help out with this situation? It’s a cluster fuck, Bates won’t admit it, but we need all the hands we can get.” “Saunders, I would be more than willing to help, but I’ve been under men like Bates before. He’s the type that got me discharged after the incident in Ramadi.” “You were involved in the My Lai of the middle east?” “Not quite, I got discharged for making it very clear I didn’t want to be involved.” “Well, if that’s what you’re edgy about, I can make sure you’re in my command, and believe me, if Bates wants anything distasteful done, he knows better than to come to me for it.” “Ok, I’m in then, so long as Chris gets looked after here while I’m out.” “Of course. I’ll be back around 0900 tomorrow morning and we can get you over to Bates and geared up.” “Yes sir.”

----------------------------------------------------------

You can always go…

Saunders stopped by Anara’s tent to make sure she was still ready to go to see Bates. She was already up and waiting on him outside her tent, and they went to see Bates. He was inspecting the medical set up they had at the base. There were a lot more military personnel then Saunders had seen the first day he’d been at the base after the strike. It looked like the majority of them had made it to the bomb shelter and survived the missile strike. Saunders walked up to Bates “Sir, reporting for duty.” Anara stood off to his right slightly behind him. “Good Lieutenant.” His eyes went to Anara, “who is this?” Saunders was about to introduce her when she spoke up “Sgt. Anara Tobin, USMC, sir, just wondering if I can help out Lt. Saunders here.” “Good to have you here, Sergeant. Saunders, I’m sending you to the downtown area, I need a good recon of what’s left and who’s left. You did well yesterday, even if you did get back late. Take the Sergeant here and get her suited up, then find Cpl. Hernandez and head out. I’m sending a Private Johansson with you as well, he’ll be waiting by the main gate of the base, just pick him up as you leave.” “Yes sir.”
By 1000 hours they were ready to move out. Anara had taken a P90 submachine gun from the armory and had gotten herself a pack and supplies along with some BDU pants and combat boots, opting for a grey tank-top under her combat vest instead of the BDU top, complaining that it was to restricting. Hernandez had joined them with his M16, and the picked up Johansson with his M60 at the gate on the way downtown.
The route to downtown from the base was close to twenty miles, and they were planning on spending a few nights on this excursion so their packs were moderately heavy. By 1600 they were only a few miles away. The landscape had become almost completely flattened as they neared the city center and the route was getting to be less and less walking down city streets with scattered debris and more climbing of burnt out cars and piles of rubble from buildings that had been completely flattened by the strikes. They weren’t even to their destination yet, and Saunders was already expecting four days of nothing while searching for more survivors.