Chapter 16

"Thanks for coming down. I am going to need a lot of help from everybody in the group, and the way I am going to get it is to assign everyone jobs. Everyone is going to be overworked, but I will not allow it to be an excuse. The first duty I have assigned is Guard Commander." He turned to face Alex Jackson and was met by a penetrating pool of darkness and the reflection of a single Coleman lantern.

"Alex, I'm going to ask you to accept the position, but I'm going to put some restrictions on you for tonight only. Toby Melton is standing watch right now, and has been out there since before the big meeting earlier. He needs to be relieved soon, so I took the liberty of assigning tonight's duties before you got here. You can change them if you want to, but I need to restrict the number of people who are on guard tonight to three. You, Rafe, and Gus. I've set up a three hour rotation with you taking the first watch, and have told Toby and Marty you would be relieving them at about eleven. Okay?"

"Yeah, sounds alright. Then you probably have Rafe relieving me, and then Gus after him right."

"You, my friend, have been peeking at the schedule."

"Nah, it just makes sense to do it that way. Rafe had a nap this afternoon, and this way Gus can catch about six hours before it's his turn at five."

"That was the idea. Do you want to change it?"

"Nope. It sounds good.

"OK. There is another reason I put you on first, Alex. I need Gus and Rafe here for a meeting with Abbott and Darrell. Be thinking about training the women to stand guard as well. There are going to be a lot of things they are not physically able to do, so they will need to pick up the slack by pulling guard duty. How much time are you going to need to get ready for duty tonight, and remember you need to be there soon."

"I won't need but maybe five minutes. Why?"

"I need to brief you on what we are going to be discussing after you go on. It's going to concern both you and your duties as guard commander."

"Well Boss, you've got five minutes."

"First tell me who you want as your junior officer."

"My second-in-command as it were?"

Josh answered with a nod.

"From the way you have this place set up, I'd like to have you, but my second choice would be Toby or Gus, either one."

"Why me Alex, I'm just a truck driver. I don't know from nuthin' about guarding."

"One, I've seen you operate as the leader of our convoy. Two, You've got a wife, and that means you have more to lose, and you will put more into it. Toby also has a wife, and he was the one who took it on himself to post a guard in the first place. That shows initiative which is a must for my S in C."

"Good points Alex. Gus why don't you take the job, because I've got a lot of planning for Toby to do, as well as a couple of necessary jobs that will take either him or me away from here for awhile." His brow creased as he jotted a few additional lines onto the legal sheet in front of him.

"Toby is going to be in charge of the weapons and ammo we have on hand. We aren't going to have to worry too much about either for awhile, but what we have is all we are going to have, so everyone has got to preach conservation. Food supplies are first on the conservation list. As it sits, we are going to have to resupply tomorrow because we don't have enough to last with this many people. I expect there will be more of us before too long. There is a grocery warehouse near Garland we will visit tomorrow, and I hope whoever is behind this madness hasn't destroyed it already. Alex, as a mental exercise why don't you put together a group for a run tomorrow. Figure four people, and you and I." Before the statement could sink in he continued. "I need to be there because I know basically what we have, and where we are able to store things. Toby and Marty will be in charge while I'm gone. They will be doing a lot of exploring to find out what we have, in addition to handling their primary responsibility of administration. When they finish organizing I don't think they will let me get out and about, so I'm going to go tomorrow. I have a lot of anger to release and I need action to release it."

"Questions?"

"Count me in too Alex, and if possible, I would like to see if my Bronco is still stuck on the pipeline. We could use another cargo vehicle for the trip."

"OK Rafe. I might as well name the rest of the crew too, because I will need your OK on the others, Josh. I can't take Gus, because he is my S in C, so Judy is my next choice. Jessica has a good head on her shoulders, and knows what items of food will keep. You can brief her on what we already have so she can help choose the staples we'll need. Darrell's a good kid, and I'd like to see how he works with the rest of you so he's the last of the team. Any objections Josh?"

"No, it sounds good, but why not Jim Abbott?"

A broad, toothsome grin rose from Alex's chin as he studied the leader's face. "Mainly," he finally said with more than a little pomposity, "because you wouldn't let him go."

A matching smile evolved into being as Josh finished, "Because we are going to need an engineer, so we can't risk all three of our candidates on a foraging mission. There's a lot more to you than meets the eye. Maybe you should lead this group, and I should just be a gofer."

"Not me massa-boss. I's just a dumb nigger. I don't know from nuthin, and I shore don't be as smart as any white man, Massa-boss."

"Well Sambo, you best stop being so uppity or I'll shut off your watermelon supply, and won't let you play no more basketball."

The camaraderie of the five was confirmed in the gales of honest, tension relieving laughter which teared the eyes and brightened the hearts of each of the them. General conversation ensued until Alex took his leave to replace Toby, with instructions to have the Meltons and Jessica join the next meeting to take place.

When all concerned had arrived Josh explained what was going to happen the next day, as well as appointing Toby his surrogate and captain of the armory. He assigned equal status to Rafe and Jim Abbott, naming them chief's of Maintenance and Engineering. He also put Jessica in charge of the kitchens and food control. After a short discussion of generalities he dismissed the participants so they could get some sleep, but asked Jessica and Marty to stay behind to go over what they had, and to make a shopping list for the next day's venture.

While the others filed out of the doorway he had a minute to reflect on the two women who stayed behind. Jessica, though only an inch or so taller than Marty's five foot frame was not at all so well endowed. Her body left no doubt she was a woman, especially as it was currently attired in a loose skirt and an almost tight jersey blouse, but there was no real comparison to the overabundance with which Marty was equipped. Jessica's hair was a light brown, and the long layered cut left only the front of her collar and shoulder seams exposed around her neck. Her slightly aquiline nose prevented her from ever being called beautiful, but her eyes and mouth had not lost their smile even in the face of such a great disaster as had occurred earlier in the day. Overall, she was more than pleasant to look upon, and though he knew she was not well educated, she displayed a native intelligence in her conversation that spoke much of the depth of her thought processes. He felt she would be a definite plus in the overall group survival equation.