Chapter 35

The trio had started off at dark the first night without event. They had walked down the road, and then trekked down the abandoned right-away until they were a few hundred yards northwest of the city limit sign. At that point they had split up, Matthew moving south along the western edge of town until he reached a small hill overlooking the school.

Rob had moved along the northern edge of town, and then using the cover afforded by a large drainage ditch, moved more into the town itself. Meredith had opted to sit tight and coordinate their movements, as well as watch closely with a spotting scope that they had brought along.

All three of them were covered in green burlap ghillie suits, and as such kept to tree lines and other such cover where their woolly shape would not be suspicious.

As daylight came, the first thing that was noted was that the largest part of the invaders seemed to be inside the town proper. There was only a light picket line around the perimeter. The rest seemed to be gathered around the square in the middle of town.

The second thing that was apparent was that they had not come to pillage and move on. Construction of several structures was being supervised by armed guards. It appeared as if the men from the town who had survived the encounter had in fact been conscripted into hard labor.

The progress was watched for a day and a half before Rob and Matthew began to withdraw back to their rally point. It was clear that one of the major construction projects was some sort of prison camp.

It had been clear by the observations of the three that the men were used for forced labor, and the women were used like property. Several times they had all been forced to look away while a blatant rape took place in front of peers in broad daylight. It became so common that they simply stopped keeping count.

It was assumed by all that the camp in question was to be used to house the prisoners. There were what appeared to be several hundred prisoners of both sexes being kept in an impromptu compound on the old football field.

There had also been several enhancements to the security going in. They had watched as pickets and sentries had established more permanent dug in installations. They had watched as Observation posts and machinegun emplacements had been installed in strategic locations. Matthew had to crawl off of the hill he had been on, narrowly escaping capture when it had been chosen for a suitable observation post.

As Matthew and Rob neared the rally point so they could meet up with Meredith and head home, they heard a noise. Both men had been walking quietly, and they both hit the ground instinctively on either side of the trail they had been walking. Slowly the noise got louder and the source was revealed. It appeared that two men were hobbling along, carrying the body of a dead man between them. Behind them strutted a man in a faded set of army surplus BDU's. He carried what looked like an old Tommy-gun and was swinging it back and forth between the two prisoners.

"C'mon," the guard growled. "I've got shit to do. Get a move on." He swaggered and kept pointing the gun around, waving it every which way. Rob immediately noticed his lack of respect and familiarity for the firearm. Clearly he was an amateur.

As the two men lumbered by with their load, one of them noticed Matthew peering out from under the ghillie suit. He gave a slight gasp but continued on without making any other indications that he had seen anything. By the time the men had all passed by Rob was certain that the guard could hear his heart beating like a base drum within his chest in a quick staccato rhythm. The two men peered across the path at one another. Rob held out his hands, counting down silently on his fingers "three, two one."

With a start a bush stood up behind the cocky unobservant guard and the butt of a rifle caught the man at the base of his neck. The man staggered forward, dropping the sub-machinegun and fell forward into the mud. Meredith whacked him on the temple for good measure and then pointed her gun at the two men holding the body.

By that point Rob and Matthew had gotten their wits about them and found their places at either side of Meredith. Wordlessly the two men let go of the body, letting it fall haplessly to the ground, and threw their hands up in surrender.

None of the three raised their weapons and after a moment of silent staring the two men slowly put down their hands. Matthew stepped forward and presented his out turned palm. Slowly the man on the right stepped forward and grasped the hand, shaking it as if it was a gesture that he had known once but forgotten. He looked up at the green heap of burlap before him and smiled, another human gesture that seemed both familiar and yet unfamiliar.

Matthew pulled his hood back with his other hand, showing his painted face. He smiled. "Matthew Baker," he said. "Nice to meet you."

The man smiled again, realizing that the gesture wasn't a trick, he finally dared speak. "Jim Mitchell," he croaked in a voice that didn't seem used to speaking. "Is this a rescue? Is this finally over?"

Matthew looked over his shoulder to Rob. Rob had also pulled his own hood back and nodded emphatically. "We can get you out of here."

"Were you being held prisoner?" Matthew asked.

The second man, who had stood idly by spoke up. "Involuntary servitude is what I would call it," he said with disgust. "In other words, slavery."

"Well we can ask the hard questions later," Meredith said somewhat brusquely. "We need to interrogate this fine gentleman and get some answers first." She gestured toward the unconscious form of the guard on the ground.

A few hours later the five had found a barn a mile to the north of town. They had transported the unconscious guard and had now bound him to an old wooden chair that they had found in the loft.

A bucket full of stagnant water drawn from a nearby mosquito infested cistern and the man came to. It was a few minutes before he was able to get a clear picture of his surroundings and predicament. When he looked for the first time into Meredith's dark eyes, he shivered and sweat beaded on his forehead.

The four men listened to the screams for over an hour. No one in the group would give any more descriptions other than to say it wasn't a good idea to get on Meredith's bad side. In fact, Rob downright refused to talk about the interrogation except for the information gleaned from the young man.

The invaders called themselves "The Militia." The Militia consisted of eight hundred men. The origins of the Militia was actually with a prison some sixty miles away across the state line.

The "General," as the man in charge was known, had been a warden. He had enlisted the help of some of his guards and oddly enough some of the higher functioning inmates. Using the arsenal and manpower that the prison had given them they had gone about trying to subdue the area and exert control. It seemed that power truly did corrupt, and that the only difference between a warden and an inmate was whether they adhered to the laws of the time. Lawlessness equalized them.

The Militia had traveled in a widening circle around the prison, looking for a suitable location to settle. They had taken to rounding up anyone that crossed their path and doing with them as they chose. Some of the men joined the ranks, but most were used as expendable slave labor.