Chapter 27

Alex came up to me. “Boss, should we tell what we did and why over the radio?”

“You’re asking me because you think we should. Why?”

“I think those folk who are abusers should know that an avenging force is around that also successfully fights the aliens. That’s why I have Janey on a lot.”

“Good. On radios, you are the expert. You have a feel for the folks to whom you talk. It’s always been my habit to listen. We can abide by your plan. I think it might get some people to change their ways when they realize that retribution can reach them. That was one purpose the cops always served. We’ll just have to see how it works out. While I think Texas is our next target, we need to think about what to do after we finish off another alien base.”

Alex said, “I would suggest a slight detour to Nebraska. I think they and the Texans are good folk who need to get organized. It will help them and give us a good feeling before gong into another fight. I worry that the aliens can’t be too stupid. At some point, they will change tactics because we are wiping them out. I think those vats are more important than we can conceive.”

“Tell Janey to go ahead with your information plan. We need to look at the map to think about Texas and Nebraska.”

Sheila and Margaret returned as we headed toward the “map” table. They joined us as we looked over the map. I smiled at Sheila. “Ladies, how did your interviews go?”

Sheila looked at Margaret who said, “There’s two who are leadership material. Sheila set one up as squad leader and told them they would be part of my platoon. They went to see Joe to get equipped. I told Gloria to take her squad out to practice with their new arms once Joe had issued them their guns. Marcy is working with Al. That will be interesting.”

I looked at Margaret a little harder. She said, “Marcy does not take any guff from anyone except Jim and then not much. Al will learn to work as her subordinate or rebel and die. He said something off to her once and she had her knife at his throat instantly. He’s learning.”

The four of us moved to reviewing maps. Nebraska wasn’t really on our way to Texas but Alex wanted us to go and then Sheila supported him. She said, “We need to get more people and Alex thinks they’re good people. It’s out of the way but should be worth it. Riley, that should be the call.”

I smiled and said, ‘So be it. We start evening after this.”

It was early evening when Janey called me over to the radios which were about fifteen feet away. I walked over followed by Sheila. Janey was back at the radios saying, “Hello, Missouri. This is Janey in Tennessee with Riley’s Group. The answer to your question is that the Tennessee group that would never identify no long exists. We had stopped to find out about them and were attacked. That attack was quite unsuccessful with only one survivor. We then went after them and took them out after that. We found eight women that they were abusing. We invited them to join us as full members and they did. We are open to those who fight the aliens and believe people are equal.”

“This is Grant in Missouri. I regret that necessity but had wondered about them. My wife found it curious that they wouldn’t identify.”

“Our radio group leader, Alex, wondered particularly after they wouldn’t id to talk to me.”

I heard a chuckle. “Yes, particularly if the guy is single. Mary wants to talk to you, if that’s okay.”

“Sure. Go ahead, Mary.”

“Thank you. I’m Mary, Grant’s wife. You said the Tennessee gang had eight women captive that they were abusing?”

“That’s correct, Mary. I’m Janey. Gloria, one of them, is now leading them as a squad in our group. We are organized somewhat along military lines since our overall leader was a Marine before the aliens. He’s here and is a good guy. He’s married to Sheila who is his number two. They are a great couple.” Janey laughed. “They’re also listening.”

Mary laughed. “That’s good to hear. On news issues, fly-overs by the aliens have been up for the last two days. We rarely use a vehicle but do have crops planted. Grant is concerned that they notice the plantings and are searching for the planters. We plan to be more careful to not be noticed. We’ve told the others in our group to be careful about being seen.”

“Riley thinks they track by heat sources. We travel by night exclusively because we’ve never seen an air ship at night nor heard one. We tested that early on by providing a good heat source and it was well after daylight before it was attacked though we started its heat around two in the morning.”

Grant came back on. “We hadn’t thought of that. We will warn our group about heat this evening when we meet. Thank you, Janey.”

“You’re welcome, Grant. We are glad to help anyone fight the aliens. Are you aware that they are taking captives now?”

“No, we have just seen them kill.”

“At their bases, we have found creatures in vats that would run a tentacle into a person’s body. The tentacle would then suck all the juices from the body casting the dry husk to one side. The last base had six vats which we blew up with grenades tossed into the vat. We didn’t need it but it gave us still another reason to take out their bases. We save the captives.” Janey stopped for a moment and then continued, “I was one of those captives freed in an attack. If it wasn’t for Riley’s group, I would be dead by now.”

“So, you’re releasing the captives?”

“Yes. All are offered a chance to join the fight. Most do and we all accomplish great things.”

Grant said, “Your group sounds good. I would like to meet up with you and your leader, Riley.”

“We might head your way. The signals we are hearing are in north Texas. We are considering a detour to Nebraska for a friendly meeting.”

“Well, Janey, we would be glad for you to come.”

Janey said, “We’re looking at maps now. I hope to see you. I’ll talk more later. So long, Grant, Mary. It was good to talk with you.”

Grant said, “So long, Janey. It was good to talk to you.”

Janey reached over and turned off the radio. She looked at me and said, “I really would like us to go to Nebraska.”

Sheila smiled, “We’re looking at maps to do that. Join us.”

We gathered around a table that I had set up for map use. It didn’t take long to map a route to Nebraska. In our travels, we had learned that interstates were good except for the big cities which had been bombed. We planned our route as much as possible. I set a time to leave for tomorrow at twilight. We would now start spreading the word. I knew many people would be glad to hear that we were heading for a friendly group.

We rested up and left as scheduled. It was a long night as I listened to the little chatter from our point persons. It was quiet as we went around Nashville which had been bombed. At four, I called a halt for the day telling Joe to have Leon’s squad find us accommodations for the day. We were approaching St. Louis. He passed that on and they shortly notified us that they had found a good place. I found that the radios were very helpful in our travels. I just hoped the aliens didn’t have a radio guy like Alex. I hoped, as usual, that my worry was sufficient.