Chapter 6

Bravo Company’s Second Platoon was passing through a housing tract on their way to the Wise Substation. A block in front of them, a lone male jogged from one of the houses to the middle of the road and turned to face the oncoming pickup trucks. The vehicles were civilian, but it was clear from the people in the beds of the pickups who were dressed in military uniforms that this was a military convoy.

Standing immobile with his hands on top of his head, the man waited for the lead pickup to arrive. Fear crossed his face as he saw the soldier in the bed of the lead pickup move to man the machine gun and point it in his direction. Live or die, it was too late to retreat. He was committed.

The convoy’s lead gun truck stopped just short of the man and soldiers took up defensive positions on each side of their vehicles. Weapons were pointed at the houses on each side of the road with the muzzles panning back and forth as they tracked their owners’ eyes.

The man watched as a soldier exited a pickup truck that was toward the center of the convoy, and moved forward between the vehicles and the soldiers on one side of the vehicles.

“Good afternoon. I’m Lieutenant Aaron Denton of the Ark Army. Your name, sir.”

“Mason Williams, Lieutenant. Can I put my hands down now?”

“Sure, Mister Williams. Is there something that you need?”

Motion to his right caused Aaron to turn his head in that direction. Emma Collins, one of the Negotiators, was moving forward to join him. Aaron said, “Mistress Collins, return to your vehicle and get inside of it. NOW!”

As the startled woman backed away, Aaron turned back to the man and said, “I’m sorry about that, please go on.”

“Ahh ... I was sitting on the porch and saw you coming up the road, and I thought you may be able to help us. Five of us are holed up in the house and we are short on food and water. We would have scavenged what we need from local stores, but we’ve been afraid to move around. Someone has claimed the only grocery store in the area and they shoot at anyone that approaches them.”

“Alright, Mr. Williams. You said there are five of you staying here. How many people are in the house right now?”

“We’re all there, just me and four more.”

“Thank you, Now, this is the way we are going to handle the situation. First, I will make sure that this isn’t a trap, and then we will see to your needs. I want you to call to your friends and have them come out of the house unarmed with their hands raised above shoulder level and fingers spread. Once we check them and the house out, we can give you some food and water while we talk.”

“Uh, Al is sick and unable to get out of bed.”

“For Al’s safety, I suggest that you have your friends help him come outside. My people are keyed up and likely to shoot first if startled in this situation.”

In a loud voice, Mason Williams shouts, “It’s okay, guys. They’re from the Ark and said they can help us. They want you to come on out unarmed with your hands up over your heads and fingers spread. They also want you to bring Al with you.”

A few minutes later, a woman comes out with her hands held out to her side.”

“We’re coming. Don’t shoot!”

Two more women follow her supporting a man who can barely walk.

“Ladies, sit down on the grass. You can lower your hands, but keep them in sight.

“Mister Williams, is there anyone else living in the houses on this block?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay, go sit with your friends and like I said keep your hands where we can see them.

“Sergeant Powell. Have your people watch our survivors and the surrounding area.”

“Sergeant Carter! Take your Squad and checkout the houses on this side of the street. Sergeant Adams, you and your Squad checkout the homes on the other side of the street.”

Fifteen minutes later, Sergeant Olivia Adams and her Squad returned and she said, “The houses on the west side of the street are clear, Lieutenant.”

A few moments later, Sergeant Noah Carter returned and said, “East side is clear, Sir.”

Walking back to the Negotiator’s pickup truck, Lieutenant Denton said, “Mistress Collins, from now on, when we encounter survivors you will stay in your vehicle until I finish assessing the situation. I will call you if I need your assistance in handling the situation. My people and I have trained with each other and we know what we will do in any given situation. You are an unknown, and I don’t want you interfering in the situation and possibly creating a problem. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but I was only doing my job.”

“No, Mistress Collins. You job is to aid us after we have established contact with the survivors and after we have evaluated the situation. If the survivors are peaceful, then you can help them. If there is a problem and I think negotiation will help, I will call you forward and allow you to negotiate with the survivors from a safe location. There was no immediate problem and I needed to assess the local area, so I did not request your presence. During an encounter, your job is to sit in the vehicle, which is usually the safest place for you to be, until called forward or told to do something else.

“The area is now secure and you can leave your vehicle to help the survivors. These people are short on food and water, so I imagine they will appreciate five of those Care Packages you brought with you.”

As Lieutenant Denton heads toward the group of survivors, he heard and ignored a muttered, “Asshole!”

Approaching the group of survivors, he noted they are all in their late thirties and early forties.

“Mr. Williams, are there any other groups of survivors in this area?”

“I think so, but I’m not sure where they are at. We’ve been staying inside as much as possible. We scavenge food and water from the houses around us at night, but we haven’t seen anyone when were out. Every so often, we hear someone shooting, so I think there are still a few groups approaching the grocery store looking for food.”

“Do you have any idea how many people there are at the store?

“Sorry, Lieutenant, I don’t. I only went near it once. When the bullets started flying by my head, I didn’t stop to count the shooters; but, there were at least two. Al said he saw people using flashlights as they moved around inside the store at night, but he didn’t want to get shot at either.”

“Okay, thank you for your help, Mister Williams. I’m going to report back to my headquarters and let them know about the situation and that you are here. Later today, or possibly sometime tomorrow, they will send someone out here to take you back to the Ark where you’ll be checked out by a doctor and taken care of. Of course that’s if you want to go.”

After glancing at his friends, Mason Williams said, “Yeah, we’ll go and it will be good to get to a safe place.”

“Squad Leaders, to me at the command truck.”

“Alright, you heard the man and checked out the houses. What do you think?”

Sergeant Adams said, “Sounds to me like he was telling us all he knows. The houses are empty, and my people said they had been ransacked.”

Sergeant Carter said, “Same here, sir. The surrounding houses show signs of being unoccupied for a long time.”

“Thanks, I’ll let the Ark know what we found.”

“Delta 1, Bravo 3. Over.”

“Go, Bravo 3. Over.”

“We have a group of five survivors at 45781 Jeff Road, Delta 1. Two men and three women; one man is sick, but not critical, and the others are in fair shape. The survivors report the local grocery store is being held by a group of survivors who fire on anyone that approaches. Over.”

“What’s the nearest cross street, Bravo 3? Over.”

“It’s about two blocks before Jeff and Arlene merge. Over.”

“Roger, Bravo 3. I can have a detail there for survivor pickup in about an hour. I’ll pass the word on regarding grocery stores being potential threats. Out.”

Lieutenant Denton approached the group and said, “I contacted the Ark and they are sending a survivor pickup team to pick you up, but it will take about an hour for them to get here. They have your address and when they get here, I suspect they will have you go through the same routine. They may also want you to show them the store that fired on you.

“We have to leave to take care of other matters. I’m sorry we forced you to sit out here in this so-called rain, but at least we didn’t have any lightning. You may want to go back inside until the team gets here.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. I’m not sure how much longer we could have survived if you hadn’t come along. Now that you mentioned it, it’s been months since we had thunder and lightning. The only thing we get is this damned rain.”

In a loud voice, Lieutenant Denton shouts, “Okay people. Mount up and let’s get going.”

“Ark 3, Delta 1. Over.”

“Go, Delta 1.”

“Did you copy Bravo 3’s transmission?”

“No, Ark 2 and I were away from the radio.”

“Bravo 3 encountered survivors. I dispatched a survivor pickup team to retrieve them. The survivors reported a local grocery store has been seized and the survivors said they had been fired on when they tried to approach the store. Over.”

“Understood, Delta 1. Ark 3 out.”

Putting down the microphone, Carl Fenton looked at Mike Henderson and said, “How do you want to handle this, Mike?”

“Not sure, Carl. Personally, I would like to just shoot the bastards. But, I can also understand their situation. We have the time, and it sounds like a policy decision. Let’s call and see what Jon thinks of this.”

“Jon Reppa.”

“Jon, this is Mike. Lieutenant Denton ran into our first group of survivors. They informed him of a problem we didn’t consider. We may be getting it wrong, but evidently, some of the survivors have seized one of the local stores and are shooting at anyone who approaches to scavenge the store.”

“I know we addressed survivors looting a store, Mike, but I can’t recall considering survivors seizing and holding stores using force. Has anyone been killed or wounded?”

“The only thing reported to me, Jon, was the people approaching the stores were being fired on.”

“Okay. Let’s assume for the moment those were warning shots, and not intended to wound or kill. I can understand a will to survive, but preventing people from getting to supplies needed for survival isn’t right either. Assuming no one was shot, how do you think we should handle the situation, Mike?”

“I can understand fighting for the survival of your family, Jon. They probably realize the food supplies are limited and want to keep what they have for their family. God knows, I would probably do the same thing in their shoes. So, assuming they and anyone else who has seized a store haven’t done anything else that would require us to take action, I’d settle for just bringing the people holding the stores in and putting them to work.

“Now if they’ve shot someone or if they have done something else that is inappropriate, I’d follow our ROEs, which means we execute them or ban them depending on the circumstances.”

“That sounds good to me, Mike. Let our people know about this, and let them know that they should use extra care in approaching buildings that may contain resources survivors need. Anything else?”

“One thing, Jon. I’m thinking we should hold off and deal with this particular event as part of our securing the area rather than sending out a dedicated patrol. Do you agree?”

“Yes, there are undoubtedly other stores in Auburn that have been seized. Finding and taking care of the problems will probably be part of a street-to-street effort, and we don’t have the manpower to deploy for a dedicated search right now. Just make it one more effort to do as we look for survivors. If there is nothing else, I’ll talk with you later.”

“Nope, nothing else, Jon. Bye.”

After staring at the speakerphone, Carl Fenton looked up and said, “I’ll let Bravo Company know and add it to our list of topics to address in our pre-deployment briefing tomorrow, Mike.”

“Bravos 1, and Seal 1, this is Ark 3. Over.”

“Bravo 1, go Ark 3. Over.”

“Seal 1, go Ark 3. Over.”

“Be advised that Bravo 3 reported survivors are seizing stores and shooting at people who approach. Exercise extreme care when approaching buildings that contain resources a survivor may need. Out.”

It was early in the afternoon of the first day of the Ark’s return to the surface. Captain Maroun, Lieutenant Jackson, and the rest of Company B’s First Platoon were headed south on Auburn-Folsom Road. Their convoy was spread out over a quarter mile stretch of the road. As they approached Oak Hill Drive, Captain Maroun, whose vehicle was at the center of the convoy, decided the Platoon needed to assemble before turning off the road and heading for the Hydroelectric Facility. Captain Maroun prepared to contact Lieutenant Jackson, who is in the front half of the convoy. There was no need for the transmission to reach the Ark, so he used his personal radio, which used the Ark’s frequency, but only had a range of several miles.

“Bravo 2, Bravo 1. Over.”

“Go, Bravo 1. Over.”

“We are approaching Folsom Dam Road. Wait for me at the intersection. Out.”

“All Bravo 2 vehicles, Bravo 2. Assemble at the Folsom Dam Road intersection. Bravo 2 out.”

As people started exiting their vehicles, Lieutenant Jackson shouted, “Sergeant Edwards, set up a defensive perimeter. Squad Leaders and drivers assemble on me. Everyone else, back in your vehicles.”

After stepping to the side and consulting with Captain Maroun, Lieutenant Jackson said, “People, you have seen the maps of this area. Just to remind you of the route, we need to make the first right as we go through the gates and then another immediate right. That will put us on the road to the Hydroelectric Facility.

“Immediately after our second right turn, the road bends back to the left and runs beside some buildings that will be on our left. Once we pass the buildings and about a half of a mile further down the road, the road makes a sharp bend to the left. The Hydroelectric Facility is about five hundred feet beyond that bend.

“Sergeant Davis, all of our trucks are to stop about two hundred feet short of the bend in the road just prior to the facility. I can’t envision why anyone would be at the facility, but First Squad is to deploy to the facility and check for survivors and any hazards within the facility.

“Sergeants Edwards and Centril, you are to set up a defensive perimeter around the convoy.

“Are there any questions? ... Alright mount up and move out.”

As they waited for First Squad to finish checking out the facility, Captain Maroun and Lieutenant Jackson were standing off to the side of the Captain’s gun truck and privately discussing Lieutenant Denton’s earlier radio transmission.

“What do you think, Chris? Is this seizing and holding stores going to be a common thing throughout the city?”

“I don’t know, Ahmed. My guess is someone got the idea to hole-up in a food store, and others in the area may have decided that is a good idea. So it is likely to happen elsewhere, but it could be just a local thing.”

“Yeah, Chris, that area down toward Wise Road is mostly residential with very few stores, so the incident sounds right for a local thing. My main concern is whether the people will be willing to surrender without a fight.”

“If it was me and they resisted, I’d have my gunner put a burst of M240 fire through their front door. That should convince them that holding out is a bad idea.”

“Yes, that would probably work, if the Negotiators can’t talk them out.”

“That’s true, Ahmed. Do you have a lot of faith in the Negotiators?”

“Not really, Chris. But policy says to give them a chance, so we will give them a chance, if the situation permits.

“I assigned our Lead Negotiator to your Platoon, Chris, based on a few things I heard before we exited the Ark. If those things are true, putting her with Aaron might have been a disaster. While I was briefing you and Aaron, I got a bad feeling from Mistress Turner that seemed to confirm the things I heard.

“She is supposedly headstrong and unwilling to accept the reality of our ROEs and the reasons for their existence. If I’m not around, be careful around her for I suspect she is going to challenge your authority. Just remember your mission takes precedence over her mission. If you have a situation with a survivor and tell her the Platoon needs to leave and she refuses to go, let me know. Colonel Fenton knows about her attitude and has authorized me to leave her behind if the situation warrants it. The decision is mine and I will give you a direct order, and then inform the Colonel of the details and my decision. I will likely order you to leave her with the survivors, and if her coworker refuses to leave without her, we will leave her behind as well.”

“That seems a little extreme, Ahmed.”

“I know, Chris, but a pick up team will probably get to her location within a few hours, or at most a day, so she shouldn’t be in a high-risk situation. Maybe she will learn something from the experience.”

“Bravo 2, Bravo 2-1. Over.”

“Go 2-1.”

“No survivors, Sir, and the building appears to be undamaged other than a few small holes in the roof and walls. Over.”

“Roger 2-1. We will be joining you shortly. Bravo 2 out.”

Turning to his people, Lieutenant Jackson shouted, “The facility is clear. Mount up and move out.”

After arriving at the facility, Sydney Paltran and his crew headed inside to check out the hydroelectric equipment. Turning to Lieutenant Jackson, Captain Maroun said, “Lieutenant, when First Squad returns, have Sergeant Davis set up a guard post here and relieve them in the morning. The two of us and Second and Third Squads will check out the office buildings back where the road splits.”