Chapter 15

Harry said, “If we hadn’t moved on, we’d be dead now.”

I smiled grimly. “There’s an old saying that my company Sargent used to use. ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.’ That Sargent’s advice lives on. So do we.”

I looked around. “Ten minutes and we leave. I want to be away from here. Hopefully, they won’t look any further but my neck itches. We’ll move out. Carl’s squad has point and Harry’s squad will cover our rear. Keep spread out.”

We moved out on time getting further away from the aliens’ old base every moment and heading in an unfamiliar direction to us and hopefully fooling any alien scouts. We walked all day and saw two alien air ships during that time. They appeared to be concentrating on the area north of their old base. It was late afternoon when one of Carl’s men came to me. He said, “Carl wants you to come up and have a look. We’re not sure what we’re seeing.” I looked at him strangely but moved to the front of our slow-moving column and joined Carl.

Carl’s squad had stopped at the top of a rise which looked down into a slight valley. The squad was in the trees. I stood with Carl hidden from view and looked into the valley. I now understood his confusion and concern.

A road would cross our planned path. On that road were ten tents lined up five to a side in neat rows. There were men standing around in a military manner. There was a sentry about one hundred yards from us and from the tents. It’s like they were out on maneuvers before the aliens came.

I whispered, “What the hell? Carl, I don’t blame you for being shocked. I’m shocked. It looks like they have been here a while. I don’t get it. I can’t believe the aliens haven’t noticed them.”

Carl asked, “Riley, what do you want to do.”

“I think we need to meet these people and find out what’s going on.”

“Works for me, Riley. I’ll go with you if you want.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I would like company. Let’s leave our rifles here and go down with our pistols holstered.” Carl nodded and put his rifle against the tree as did I. We motioned to his squad to watch. We stepped back and then moved out where we would be seen and started walking forward. We didn’t get far before the sentry saw us.

He brought his rifle into a more ready position but didn’t point it at us. We walked toward him not trying to hide our progress. When we were about fifty feet away, he said, “Halt and be identified.”

We stopped and I said, “I’m Riley Norris and he’s Carl Robinson. We are leading a small group of survivors. What are we seeing? Aren’t you concerned about the aliens?”

He said, “I’m Private Horace Johnson of Company A of the Ninth Battalion. Let me get Captain Reynolds.” He used a radio! I truly didn’t understand what might be going on.

A minute later, a man my age approached us. “I’m Captain Reynolds. Private Johnson asked me to talk to you. Where are you from?”

I said, “We’re a group of survivors from around the Atlanta area. It was bombed. Most of us lost relatives or friends. We have fought the aliens, too. I’m Marine reserves and Carl was army. We worry about having a heat signature because the aliens seem to track people that way.”

Captain Reynolds said, “We took out their heat tracking satellite two days ago. Someone beat us to their base and wiped it out according to our observer. The aliens bombed it into history this morning. Do you know anything about that?”

“We attacked it and pulled almost twenty captives out of there. The aliens were feeding them to tentacled creatures in vats. We hit each vat with a couple of grenades as we left. We figured they would bomb soon but made it away getting clear.”

Reynolds then said, “You need to report to our HQ. We need more men as well as women for the pleasure battalions.”

“What,” I asked, “is a pleasure battalion?”

“Females are not allowed in fighting companies. Unattached females join the pleasure battalion until they find a mate. They do serve to improve morale.”

“I see. Where is your HQ. It’s light enough that we can head that way and make a few miles.”

“It’s due west of here in Monroeville just across I-85. You should be able to make it by tomorrow afternoon. I will radio ahead but radio can be picked up by the aliens and they bomb any location.”

I said, “Okay, Captain. It was good talking to you. We’ll head out now. I know where Monroeville is on our map so we should have no problem in finding it. Good luck.”

We were out of their hearing when Carl asked, “What are we going to do?”

“We’ll talk about it though will start out west. I don’t want Captain Reynolds to be alarmed. On the other hand, I don’t think our ladies would want to be part of a ‘pleasure’ battalion. We’ll put down a few miles and talk this evening.”

Carl said, “Do you really think they took out the heat-seeking satellite?”

“In light of their continued existence without an attack, it’s a real possibility. I’m not sure I want to bet our lives on that.”

We had gone around the encampment without drawing notice from Captain Reynolds or his men. By dusk, we were about five miles away. I had Sam and his squad watch our “six.” We weren’t being followed which made me glad. I didn’t want a confrontation or have to fight him if that could be avoided. We stopped in a big thicket of pines and gathered around for supper and to talk.

We warmed over our meal and sat in a big circle of two rows. I said, “I want everyone to know what happened today. I’ll then give you my thoughts about it.

“Today, we topped a hill and saw ten tents lined up in two rows of five each. The men there were in army uniforms and had sentries. Carl and I advanced to talk while his squad covered us. We talked with a Captain Reynolds. He said that they were Company A of the Ninth Battalion. He didn’t identify further and I didn’t ask. We’re headed west at the moment which is toward their HQ. From what he said, it appears that more men are there as well as women who are in ‘pleasure’ battalions. According to him, women don’t fight but do ‘improve’ morale. He suggested that married women weren’t in those battalions. That’s my report.”

“My opinion is not to join them. I don’t like the idea of pleasure battalions. That suggests to me that their leadership lacks an appreciation of women as anything other than sex objects. That lowers both groups and loses abilities that are beneficial to humans. We’re fighting a war with aliens but we don’t have to give up our values to do so successfully. That’s my opinion and stance. Sheila and I will head in a different direction than their HQ.