Chapter 23

"Sir, rider approaching on horseback." Sgt. Langford said.

"Well well. On a horse you say? This should be good. How soon until the plane is completely unloaded, Sgt?" Greg asked.

"About another 10 minutes sir." Was the response.

"Well, keep an eye on our rider. I don't think he is dangerous, but double check with security." Greg stated and went over to where one of the two vehicles that had been unloaded already sat. Greg sat on the hood of his Humv and watched as the rider got closer and closer.

Greg watched interestedly as the rider finally arrived and dismounted from his horse. Sgt. Langford talked with the man for a moment then hurried over to Greg.

"Sir? His name is Mark Garret. He is a rider for a local farmer rancher by the name of Halstead. Apparently Mr. Halstead wanted to know what was going on and sent Mr. Garret here to find out." Sgt. Langford stated.

"Well, lets not disappoint the man. In the meantime, help get that plane turned around. We still have another load coming in." Greg said getting up and walking to meet with Mr. Mark Garret.

"Mr. Garret? My name is Greg Baron. General Greg Baron." Greg said, holding out his hand.

"What did you say? Over." Asked the voice of Julian Halstead over the radio.

"It's a government exploration group sir. They say they are exploring parts of the Eastern States.

Apparently they are going to head out to the coast and sort of map the area sir." Mark Garret said into the radio.

"Tell you what, see if General Baron would like to come up to the house. Hell, bring 'em all. From what you say, there aren't that many of them. Over." Julian instructed Mark.

Greg had been listening in and nodded his head to Mark, who then relayed Greg's agreement. He told Mark to relay that there was another plane due in shortly, and that when it was offloaded they would be ready to head out to the Halstead house.

An hour later saw Greg and two of his soldiers going up the drive of a very old house. To be more exact, it was an old mansion. Plantation style. Greg could not believe what he was seeing. It was almost something from the movie Gone With The Wind. He almost expected to see Clark Gable standing there.

Instead there was a man of about 40 or 45 standing, and waiting for them. Greg got out of his vehicle and the man came forward with his hand out.

"General Baron? I am Julian Halstead. Welcome to Halstead House." Grinned Julian shaking Greg's hand.

"Thank you. Nice to be here, and might I say, a very impressive home." Greg responded.

"Thanks. Wait till you get the ten cent tour before you make any judgments though." Grinned Julian.

"Actually, I look forward to it. Before I became a general in the army, I wrote books, and I had a story set in a local such as this. Be nice to see how close I got it just from my research." Greg said.

About that time a young lady came out the front door. "Snacks are set dad. I set them up in the east dining room." She said smiling.

"And this, is my daughter, Shirley. She is my right hand, and mistress of the house." Julian said, smiling with fondness at his daughter.

Shortly all were sitting at a medium sized table in the home's east dining room. They had set a nice table of welcome for Greg and his two men. Home made bread, slices of roast were thinly cut and lay for the taking. Along with potato salad. Two tall pitchers, one holding just water, the other cherry koolaide. After eating, Julian lead Greg and his men out to the back of the house, and into a screened in porch. It was quite comfortable.

"So. The meal is done, and now we come to the crux of the matter. What brings you here?" Julian asked.

"As we told your man, the US is doing a survey of the east coast. We have a freighter coming up from the south, but it will take several days to get here. In the meantime, I am going to try to set up a base of sorts, and do a little local looking around. Since you have a place here, perhaps you could fill us in on conditions here, and on the coast?" Greg suggested.

"That's interesting. How is the rest of the country fairing, do you know?" Julian asked.

So Greg filled him in on what he knew. What had happened after the disaster, and how things stood in Montana and Texas. A few other states had centralized areas with stable populations now. Slowly, almost glacially, the country was starting to pull itself back together.

"Well, with us it was a little different. Virginia sits on the coast. After it starting raining, we had people straggling in, but nothing that seems to have bothered the others. Unless you know we are here, we are sort of protected by the land itself.

"Only two ways into this area. The first is the road you landed those planes on. The bridges are down at several locations, so we have had no traffic at all, except for local stuff. The second is an old dirt road that winds and is bad in several places. However, that would be your best bet to get out of here."