Time for a Meeting (Part 2)

Posted on Thu Jun 27th, 2024 @ 4:53pm by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Alonzo Blazevic & Timothy Reynolds [Captain, US Army] & René Rouen & Vienna Quinn & Serena Reynolds DR & Civilian Thea Matthews & Edward Harrison Jr

2,086 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Winter is Coming
Location: Bob's Pancake House
Timeline: 6 September 2010 - 11:30 a.m.

"There were bits of raw meat in the dealership," Hale said after a moment. "I think someone led the not-nearly-dead-enough in. Like bread crumbs."

Serena shuddered slightly. "Crazy people do crazy things." she said softly.

"We'll have to be more careful from here on out," Hale said. "Someone led them right to us and then hung around to take a shot at Rene. And that changes things. Let's see if we can pull together some sort of quick meal, maybe something to drink, and we'll take a minute to talk about how things should go from now on out."

Edward nodded, then went into the kitchen, to see what was there.

Alonzo followed the other into the kitchen.

René glanced at Thea, his expression a mix of curiosity and concern. "How bad is it? Will I have a permanent limp?"

Thea shook her head and offered a warm smile. “I don’t think so, not with the proper aftercare and physio. That’s something I can help you with.”

Vienna nodded. “Me too, I’m willing to help any way I can.”

René looked relieved. Though his leg hurt, it wasn't too bad. His thoughts shifted to something concerning to him. "There's something I need to talk about with everyone. Though...I'm not sure what it means."

Vienna gave René a curious look. “Care to give us a clue?” She smiled a wry smile.

René shook his head. "It's something I want to tell everyone at once. Something that happened at the pharmacy before all this happened."

Vienna nodded. “Okay let’s wait until the others come back in.”

Thea offered a caring smile. “Do you need more pain relief? I can check what we have if you do?”

René shook his head again. "The pain isn't to bad at the moment. We should save the pain medication anyway."

Serena, with Patrick in her arms slowly moved to the kitchen area to begin looking for food and such.

Seeing Serena enter the kitchen, carrying her son, Edward smiled softly. "Ma'am," he dipped his head respectfully. "It was Serena, right? Forgive me, I'm bad with names and remembering some things. Took a few heavy hits back in my football days."

"All good" She replied. "Yes Serena. And this is Patrick. My husband is Timothy, he is probably out there with the Major."

The big man smiled. It was a gentle smile, that matched his eyes. "I'm sorry if I scared you before, when I was carrying the boy. My Mama always told me that my size could make people uncomfortable. But I promise, I'm not a bad man. I will protect my friends, but I also don't like getting violent." He turned a bit quiet, almost ashamed. "I hurt someone once because I got mad."

Serena smiled again. "I can tell you are a good man, Edward. You would not have carried Rene so far if you were not." She assured him.

Hearing Serena's kind words caused a happy grin to fill the big man's face. "He needed help, and Mama always taught me to help those needed it."

Smiling, Serena shifted Patrick to her hip and began opening Cupboards. "Lets see what we can find, René is going to need something to help with replacing the blood loss."

Edward nodded happily. He then started to search the higher cupboards and cabinets for anything. He then went to go open the fridge, but paused. He placed his ear against the door and knocked on it.

When there wasn't any sound given back, he looked at Serena. "Do you think any food in here would still be good?" He hadn't opened the freezer door yet when he asked the question.

"Probably, power has been off but they are designed to stay cold for a few days." She replied.

[Meanwhile, Up on the Roof]

Timothy could feel the anger directed at him from his wife. And worse, he knew why. However, now was not the time or the place to discuss it. He would wait until they were alone. Instead, he moved through the pancake house, until he found the roof access, and went topside. As he wasn't really hungry at the moment, he decided to go stand watch over the group.

Hale watched Tim go and knew where he was most likely headed; he gave the others time to pull together the food and followed Tim up to the roof which would just the kind of place a sniper liked best. He found a spot within Tim's peripheral vision and leaned against the wall. Spend enough time in the field, you learned to take advantage of the quiet moments, to savor them, because you never knew when you'd get another one. And so, he watched the approach from the road, and waited.

More damn soldiers that was what Alonzo thought when the latest batch had found them, friends of Hale. Wherever Hale went, Alonzo was quick to trail. He was a journalist after all, no good stories fell into his lap. When Hale left, Alonzo naturally was curious to see where it would take him. Apparently, to the roof. He tried to keep some distance.

Timothy knew Hale had joined him on the roof. After a few moments of silence, he spoke softly. "You know things will have to change, Hale. While I will follow your leadership, and do what I can to protect these people...my family's safety is now my number one priority." He looked over at his friend and brother, hoping his words didn't ruin their long friendship. Hell, the man had been his best man, when he married Serena!

"Whereas the safety of the entire group is mine," Hale said. "But I understand. If you ever feel that you and yours would be safer going your own way, no hard feelings here." He shook his head. "Seeing her and P.J. and Thea, of all people, so close to where it happened ..." he shook his head, gaze trained on the street below. "And now, knowing that there was an active shooter? Got to say, I'm worried. We need to work out some rules of engagement for the group ... or maybe non-engagement." He stared down at his empty hands and wished he had a cup of coffee or a bottle of water.

Alonzo had not brought anything with him, coffee or water. He simply came with his curiosity. He knew there was no point in trying to be stealthy. Two army bros were undoubtedly going to hear him, sense him in some fashion. He stepped out making his presence obvious.

"You willing to go on record with that?" quipped the journalist. "An active shooter" commented Alonzo. "As if we did not have problems."

"The evidence is there," Hale said as he turned to include Alonzo in the conversation. "Rene got shot and not by one of us. That group of not-quite-dead were drawn to us. I found some of what drew them. Then too, the doors were closed and later ... afterward ... I saw that they were open again. Someone planned this. Why? Who? Got no idea. Just adds another level of 'not safe' to the equation."

Alonzo looked Hale. "Things are getting worse. It won't be long until your former friends go off, break free. Maybe they already have? Maybe it was someone with military training that took a shot at Rene?"

"My friends," Hale repeated, "aren't former and they don't break. Not like that." He sighed and returned his attention to the street. "Truth is, there's no way of knowing who it was. Not with the little information we have right now anyway."

Tim thought about the whole thing for a few beats, then shook his head. "Definitely not a teams man. While we can be crazy at times, when the shit hits the fan, we are all buttoned up and ready for orders." He shook his head again and chuckled mirthlessly. "Hell, this ain't the 60s and Vietnam. Uncle Sam learned the hard way about mixing chemicals and highly trained killers. If there's an Apocalypse Now prick out there, then either he played too many video games or had some basic training, but washed out midway through. The military is very careful who they let in. Remember, unlike the rest of the world, ours is still a volunteer military. If he got by the recruiters, the DI's would've found his crazy ass, and smoked the shit out of him before sending him packing."

He then looked over at Hale. "We will stay, so long as the feeling is safe. As for the rest, well, while we can't really put them through basic, we can get them trained up on survival skills, possibly even some weapons training. And I don't just mean firearms. We are basically at the same technological level that the Japanese were, when the Chinese invaded their islands. Weapons were made forbidden, so the Japs invented new weapons that hid in plain sight."

Hale had been nodding along in complete agreement; Alonzo came from a different 'world' in a sense. And maybe he didn't know but Hale did. No one he knew could have done this. Just not possible. "I was thinking that we need to organize them some too. So that everyone knows what to do if something happens. Protection for the children and those that can't fight. So, they know what they should do ... and it won't be heading into the middle of the fight."

Timothy looked over at Alonzo. "Well, Alonzo, you've heard our ideas, do you have anything that would work better?"

"I may forgive, but I don't forget. We had a sense of safety with a military presence not too long ago. One where you began to feel uneasy," Alonzo said looking at Hale.

Alonzo did not directly blame Hale. "I woke up after the glass of our jeep rained down on me where I slept. Where did our military go?"

"You know damned well where they went," Hale said. "Three convoys left out of Bangor and took everyone who wanted to go, who wasn't able to fend for themselves."

"The plan is fine. My family left a war zone to keep me safe in this land of opportunity. It looks like I have no choice but to survive this. Your plan is fine. We all need training, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't trust the uniform folk coming in with their training and their ranks, their structure and routines."

Timothy made a show of looking around the roof from where he was sitting. "What uniform folk are you referring to? I only see Hale, who you already know to be honorable, and myself, who he knows to be just as honorable. Maybe put down your pitchfork and look around. You want to blame the military for this? You'll be barking up the wrong tree. The person who set all of this in motion lives, or lived, at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The military was following the lawful, while painful, orders of that office. The first part of that order was to recall all off-base personnel. Had comms not gone down when they did, I would've gotten the call to head back to Campbell." He looked over at Hale. "Did you get a call before it all ended?"

"No," Hale said. "And believe me, my first thought was to get back to Kentucky orders or no orders. Would have if there weren't all the teenagers to consider. Didn't feel right to just abandon them all." He shook his head. "I have to agree with Tim. Those that broke, they weren't regular military. They were the ones that got called up at the last moment. The ones who didn't have the experience or the training they needed." He turned toward Alonzo, surprised somewhat at his attitude. "I've known Tim and Serena for a long while. Was best man at his wedding. You can trust him, same as you trust me ... assuming you do, of course."

Alonzo shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't shot you yet. So, there must be some level of trust" stated the journalist. "I have teenagers to keep safe. It's going to take time for me to accept new faces regardless or who has history with them."

Hale listened and heard, maybe for the first time, but said nothing. He nodded and said, "we should all get downstairs. That goes for you too, Tim."

 

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