Chapter 34

The mood around the gathering was very somber. Everyone had heard Bryan's report, at least secondhand. The adults which were not on watch duty had gathered in the main room of the house because it was the most spacious.

The four women, starting with Meredith, took turns introducing themselves one by one. Bryan heard their names, but the vision of the hand coming out of the vent from the cattle trailer now haunted his thoughts and distracted him from the goings on.

He had counted an estimated three hundred armed men, or presumably so. It was only safe to assume that the truck drivers were armed as well as the guards. There was also the fact that Bryan had witnessed only a percentage of the convoy and had no idea how many had passed by the intersection before he was able to get close enough to see.

The ladies had reported that what amounted to a light squad of men had come into town and seized the courthouse and the arsenal at the sheriff's office. From there the convoy rolled straight into town and as the force accumulated, started ripping people out of their homes and herding them toward the center of town.

The elderly and sick were shot on sight. Men who put up a fight were shot as well. Children and women were separated from the men and rounded into a sort of holding area created by backing four trucks with low-slung trailers into a sort of rudimentary corral. The details of what happened after that point were only speculation because none of the women in question had actually been in the holding area.

The men were tied ankles and wrists with riot cuffs and lined up on the sidewalk. Occasionally one was selected and shot at will, though the basis for this selection was not known.

Overall, the invaders had the effect of overwhelming numbers and speed and efficiency with them. They had taken the town quickly. And the townsfolk, most of whom had seen very little violence in their lifetimes had been so shocked that they had not been able to put up much resistance.

The women had heard the shooting and fled their homes as soon as it became clear what was going on. One of them, a middle aged woman named Sharon, had witnessed her husband gunned down right next to her. Another had lost her sister when a group of armed men had pounced on her. The woman, whose name was Carrie did note that she was likely alive. The others agreed, though it was likely from what had been witnessed that she had been brutally raped and beaten for trying to escape the invasion.

Meredith and her daughter Callie had escaped and run directly for the farm, knowing that safety was to be found there. However, they had lived on the opposite side of town. Though it was dangerous, they had woven through the chaos and skirted the north edge of town where they had hooked up with the two other women.

Fortune was on their side when they came upon two invaders talking, smoking cigarettes, and paying no attention to their surroundings. Meredith had shot them both from twenty feet away with a round of 00 buckshot, killing one outright and mortally wounding the other. The other women had stripped the men of their weapons, both handguns and rifles, and also had in their possession a handheld FM band radio.

Somewhere in the darkness they had found an old railroad right of way which led out away from town and crossed all the creeks and ditches. It was not clear of brush and weeds, but at least it was mostly flat, and the women had made their way away from the town, watching the dark shadows of the trucks slowly piling into town out of the corners of their eyes until the right-of way took them out of sight of the highway.

They had kept on, following the unused rail bed until it intersected with the road Bryan had been on. They had carefully climbed through the fence and started down the middle of the road toward the farm. No sooner had they taken a step when Bryan came blazing up behind them on the ATV in the darkness, startling everyone involved.

Bryan was a bit taken aback by the story, especially the way which Meredith had dispatched the two men and not blinked. She was most definitely tough as nails. The three women with her were looking distinctly shell-shocked, especially Sharon.

The situation having been declared and described as best it could; next came the strategizing.

"So what do we do?" Rob asked the obvious question.

"Keep our heads down until they move on," Derek said. "It's not like we are really all that visible from the road. If you didn't know this place was here, would you come looking for it?"

"What about the people that attacked us back in the spring?" Bryan interjected. "They know we are here."

"People in town know you're here too," Meredith pointed out. "Especially since you started training people to grow and forage food."

"So again," Rob said, more morosely than before. "What do we do?"

"Bugging out really isn't an option," Derek said. "We have too much infrastructure to move and too many people to feed without it." He eyeballed Bryan. "Right?"

"That's correct," Bryan said slowly, his face distorted into a look which was filled with unmistakable disgust. The thought of leaving all his hard work and security behind was unappealing in much the same way that realizing you just ate half a bug is unappealing.

The conversation continued well into the morning hours. The sentries from the Observation Posts were traded out on their regular schedules and they were updated in kind. The discussion went on. The sun rose, breakfast was served, the morning chores were done, and still the discussion went on.

By lunchtime it had become apparent that they simply did not have enough intelligence on what they were facing. Derek, Andrew, and Rob sat down together and began drawing up a plan to gain more information and size up the strength of their likely foe. Jack monitored the frequency that the handheld radio was set to and had taken ample notes about what he had heard.

"The chatter is completely technical in nature," he reported to the other three men. "It's a very professional group if their radio chatter is any indicator. The channel seems to be a sub-channel and I am scanning for other channels they are using. This may just be a squad or some other logical division's specific channel."

The other three nodded, then looked back over their plan of attack. The sooner that they knew who or what they were up against, the sooner that they would be able to deal with it.

That evening they presented their plan to the rest of the group, outlining what they needed to find out. The discussion that followed was not nearly as long as the one the previous evening, but was no less heated. The main point of contention was who was to go on the mission. The three that had presented it had all volunteered, but the rest of the group thought it foolhardy to send their three best military minds off into the unknown. They thought it even more foolhardy that their only medic get put in harm's way as well.

As such, it soon became Rob, Matthew, and Meredith that were picked to go on the mission. The three of them were excused from guard duty and allowed to rest thoroughly. The next day would be spent memorizing, outfitting, preparing, and resting for their mission which would begin at dusk the following evening.