Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
All the time Kara was gone talking on the radio, Angelique was splitting her time and attention. She was hearing Kara and Bekka in her ear and also trying to pay attention to Larrissa at the same time. Fortunately Larrissa wasn’t talking much so Angelique was able to hear most of Kara’s radio traffic.

After several minutes back and forth, a decision was made. The rest of the group was coming down to Larrissa’s place as soon as they got some stuff together. Angelique tried to keep her Russian poker face on as they worked in the room. After a few moments, Kara came back into the room.

“OK, Larrissa, I think we can help you out some. We will take the bodies down and scare up some hogs for you so you don’t have to waste your ammo right now. Unless you’re set up to render them down completely, If we just skin and quarter them and hang them in one of your sheds wrapped in plastic, they will freeze overnight and you can thaw and process as you see fit..” Kara paused as she saw Larrissa’s wheels turning and her head nodding. Kara continued.

“So we secured stuff out of Mrs Leary’s house a week or two ago. I don’t think she would begrudge you the food, so we are bringing that down as well. That should help with the side dishes. You said you had cows and goats. Ho ware you set for working them?”

“We have been taking care of them for the last eight or ten months, just me and the kids so we should be alright now that the jackass and his brother aren’t here to screw it up. Brody is fourteen and been managing the cows with his sister Ruby, and Ashley helps me with the goats and her little brother Fynn.”

“Well we are just up the road but we don’t want to hang a big welcome sign out for everyone to notice. Speaking of which, Right now, Ashley has only seen the two of us and we’d kinda like to keep how many of us quiet so……”

“I won’t tell them, and we can leave them in the barn while the moving about is going on. Later, I would like Brody to meet all of you guys since I’m not getting younger and he will be the one running things before too long.”

“Sounds like a good idea, just not one for today.”

Larrissa went to the barn to speak to her children about what happened and to let them know to stay inside.


Almost an hour later a low rumble and the crunching of snow was the only real signs proceeding the arrival of the Hyena buggy with a small trailer in tow. They pulled up to the courtyard where Kara, Angelique and Larrissa waited. All three of the bodies were already moved to their respective locations, Charlotte to the wood shed to wait for burial in the morning and the two for bait bundled up here in the courtyard.

The three passengers of the vehicle climbed out and approached. All bundled up for the cold, shemaghs, bulky coats and goggles, made all three hard to recognize at first. Garen and Bekka came forward while Allyson helped Kara and Angelique lift the bundles onto the trailer.

Bekka was the first to speak. “I’m sorry for your loss. I wish we could have helped sooner. If only we had known.” Garen joined in. “Kara filled us in with a brief snapshot of the situation here. We are more than happy to lend a hand in these trying times. Other than taking out your trash and bringing back some pig, what more can we do for you?”

Larrissa thought a moment. These two were the two she met before but they were so different now compared to when she met them before. She snorted. Who was? “You are already doing a lot. It just feels good to know I’m not alone up here on the hillside with the kids. Better question, how can I repay you for helping us?”

Garen and Bekka smiled. Bekka spoke next. “Well, we hear you have cows and goats. If you end up with an excess of milk or butter or yogurt and such, we could help alleviate some of that. We can help keep the pig population under control and in your pantry to help offset any need to cull your own herds>”

“Speaking of herd,” Garen interjected. “With Mrs. Leary not around, we will keep doing some patrolling there and with your permission, down to the edge of your pastures to keep an eye on things for all of us. That means if you need to expand back into her pastures and barn, we will help keep an eye out on them.”

Garen led her back to the side of the trailer where there were several boxes unloaded from its bed and a rifle case.

Bekka played tour guide now. “Several boxes have the food from Mrs. Leary’s, plus the cat litter pails have one pound bags of rice in them. This should help with the side dishes.”

Garen picked up the rifle case and handed it over to Larrissa. “This should help with the game gathering. A spare 22 rifle and a couple bricks of ammo plus cleaning supplies. It’s clean, accurate and reliable. The barrel disconnects if it has to go in a pack, but its small enough already.”

Larrissa was at a loss for words for a few moments. This was more than she expected. She gave them directions to the lower field where they had been dumping some of their composting type garbage. She also gave them a small bag of the moldy feed they baited the pigs in with normally.

Moments later, Kara, Angelique and the other woman she hadn’t met hopped on the trailer, Garen and Bekka climbed into the seats and the whole crew moved down towards the lower pasture in the dark.
 
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ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
It was a really long day for all involved. They lay in the snow for quite some time waiting for the hogs to get bold enough to come out. Once they shooting started, it didn’t last long. They successfully dropped eight and let the rest scamper back into the brush. The next part had to happen quickly as well before things froze, like their fingers.

The eight unlucky pigs were quickly gutted. The next part was harder. Using a tree limb, they hung and skinned the pigs. All the organs except the hearts were left in the same area to feed the survivor pigs and other scavengers, as were the skins. They agreed with the idea of having someplace for the scavengers to be attracted to. This kept them farther away from the house. In low quiet tones the group discussed doing the same thing up at the house. They just had to figure where.

With the skinning complete, the saw came out to quarter the pigs so they fit better in the plastic trash bags. Soon, all that was left was dropping off the meat.

When they pulled up outside the house, Larrissa came outside quickly.

“I don’t know how to thank you!”

“It was the right thing to do. I’m glad we could help.” Garen replied from behind the wheel as Angelique, Allyson and Kara offloaded the bags into an outbuilding. Before they were finished, Larrissa stopped them.

“You guys keep two of the pigs. You did all the hard parts.”

Kara knew not to argue. She had seen that look before. She had been places where they were dirt poor and had nothing, but they would offer food or drink. The polite thing to do is to accept it and move forward. To refuse makes it seem like the offer wasn’t enough or was unacceptable in some way, or even worse, acknowledging their plight and making them feel insignificant and helpless.

“Did you want more fronts or backs or does it matter?” Kara instead asked. This way it kept Larrissa in nominal control of the situation.

“Even mix would be great. I also have this for you guys.” She held up a large pail with a sheet of plastic over the top.

Angelique had to ask. “is that fresh…….”” Larrissa cut her off.

“Yup, fresh cow’s milk, as in twenty minutes ago fresh. Bring the bucket back down and I or Brody or Ruby will fill it back up. The youngins’ hands are two small for the cow, so they only do the goats.”


The ride back to the house was a quiet one for the most part. Bekka was the one to break the silence.

“Maybe we should dig in the connexes some and see what we can find. These guys might appreciate some gifts for Christmas morning.”

“There should be some toys in Terry’s connex we can give them.” Garen commented.

“Angelique and I can do that tomorrow while you guys patrol and break down the pigs some” was Kara’s input.

“Yeah,” Angelique yawned. “Rest some tomorrow I guess since we are back to the forest side the day after. Maybe we could find a good baiting spot out on that side. We might get something other than pigs.”

Each of them went back to their own thoughts as the Hyena and trailer slowly made its way back up towards the house.
 
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Chapulin

Veteran Member
A nice substory, what about this woman we haven't met that hopped on the trailer in 4081? We are back to the house and nothing more has been said? I dislike dangling "characters".
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Chapulin said:
A nice substory, what about this woman we haven't met that hopped on the trailer in 4081? We are back to the house and nothing more has been said? I dislike dangling "characters".
Click to expand...


It was Allyson, she just wasn't introduced by name to Larrissa since they were still trying to keep some details sparse, like not saying that there were only five total at the house and they were all there.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Days later, Kara and Angelique were sitting on a snowy hillside in the forest, watching the sunrise over the trees.

“Its days like this I don’t miss everything as much.” Kara said as she sipped her cocoa.

Angelique looked over at Kara, her own cup in her hands. “You’re just happy to be away from the compound today and not helping the others unloading the stuff from across the street.”

“Well………yeah,” Kara admitted. Everyone was sore from moving a crap ton of stuff from the house across the road from the compound. “I still smell the diesel on me.”

One of the big tasks was syphoning and transferring the home heating oil from the house. Garen had them transferring and topping off all the tanks of their diesel vehicles. He had some complex formula about how much kerosene to add to each tank as well. Before too long, all the fuel tanks of the eight-wheeled beast were full, Terry’s Suburban’s tanks were topped off and they still had more.

Between this and all the stuff Bekka and Allyson found inside, they were shuffling and moving things all over the place. They used Terrys Suburban for all the back and forth, topping off the tank when they were done. Garen wanted to load the big plastic storage tank he found in the back of the place into the Suburban and load it up with fuel as well but Allyson reminded him they would have to fire up the forklift to move it and they haven’t cleared the snow away to get the forklift out from where it was tucked.

Kara and Angelique escaped and exchanged sorting and putting things away for a deep night/early morning patrol on the forest side. They were changing out and collecting the memory cards from the game cameras scattered across the forest expanse as they went.

Angelique was in her element. She loved it out here in the forest. She always loved it when she was visiting her father and thought she knew why he loved the wilderness, but now she really understood it. She ran her free hand along his green wool jacket, thinking of all the time she thought she was going to have with him when she moved to the forest to be with him. Shoot! She never even got the chance to actually physically move in before everything went to shit! Now here she was deep in the woods with someone who loved it as much as she did. Garen and Bekka and Allyson enjoyed it, no doubt about that, but Kara seemed to come alive in the woods.

With all the frantic activity of the city fight over, the injury rehab and medical learning mostly done, Angelique could now slow sown and absorb what was around her and get a better feel for the family she was with now. Some of that was just watching them.

Bekka and Garen were the parental units. They were usually the voice of reason and restrain. They were the ones trying to think long term rather than right now. Angelique mused about how different things might have been if Daddy had found someone like Bekka to marry instead of her mother.

Allyson was more like a long ago separated older sister. She was the closest to her own age but with her experience as a cop, she feels much wiser than her years. She had such a sense of wonder when the two of them would patrol and Angelique could show her something new in the woods. Conversely, Allyson seemed so pleased when she could teach Angelique something new about people or observing people or moving in urban terrain. Angelique was smiling as she sipped her cocoa and looked over at Kara.

Kara had her eyes closed and her head tilted back in the new dawn light. Angelique loved seeing the rare happy and relaxed expression on her face. It was so different from the anguish and grief carved in her face that night next to the pond after her medical scenario. She loved being in the woods with her. Kara traded tips and tricks back and forth on all things woods lore. She was almost like a kid herself in the woods

Angelique’s musings were broken by Kara. Without even looking over or opening her eyes, Kara spoke. “You about done? We have to swing all the way out to the owl camera this morning and work our way back. If all you’re going to do is stare, we should get underway.”

Angelique didn’t know how she did that. Kara always caught her staring. She downed the rest of her cocoa. They had a lot to do today.
 
T

txs

Contributing Member
long time ago we would add roughly a quart to a half gallon of kerosene to our oliver diesel tractors when cold weather rolled around. From the late 90s on I worked for a junker part time for years, we would get paid to remove the old heating oil tanks from basements, I had a double fuel filter setup off a junk combine, with a small 12 volt fuel pump we'd run the diesel through the filter right into our trucks, couple ounces of howes is all we added to it. thank you, Sir
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The day was long. There were plenty of cameras to check, and lots of up and down hills on the cross country skis. It was early afternoon and location elevendy-seven it seemed like when they heard an engine in the distance. Kara and Angelique looked at one another. They knew they had to investigate. First though, time to call it in.

“ATC, Night Owl Flight, we have aircraft in the training area with no announced flight plan.” Kara still had the transmit power low. They had small radio repeaters on a couple different ridges so they didn’t need much to get the signal back to the house. One of the other things Bekka set up was each transmitted back to the house on different frequencies. Depending on which one the house received them on, they knew where the crew had to be.

Allyson’s voice came back over the radio. “Night Owl Flight, ATC. See if you can get a tail number. There are no projected flights in the training area today.”

“Copy, will advise when we get more info.” Kara looked over at Angelique. Angelique had tightened the straps on her subgun to put it across her chest, ready to grab as she skis.

"OK, Angelique. Let’s go down this draw over there,” she pointed off towards her right, in the same direction the sound appeared to come from. “If they are getting too close to the house, it will be from down there. It shouldn’t be somebody joyriding. This is for a purpose. They might be hunting. If so, we don’t want to look like food on the hoof.”

“So, once we get there, what are we going to do then?” Angelique wasn’t sure what to do at that point. Was it something where they would kill someone to prevent discovery, or would they warn them off. If they warned them off, wouldn’t it just draw more attention?

“First things first. Let’s get a look at who they are. We can try to find their direction of travel. I figure to do a two person ‘L’ ambush. We find a good point, square up and whoever is closer to head on, they challenge while the other moves up the side and turns in, about a thirty meter offset, trees depending. What do you think?”

“OK, Kara sounds like a plan. If we hurry up and get to position, we can ski faster since their machine noise will cover any noise we make.”

“Great! When we get close, start looking at paths of travel across the terrain. We need some sort of choke point or an area they have to slow down or stop the machine. I don’t want to try to tail chase a snow machine.”

Angelique and Kara tightened their gear and moved out quickly. The peaceful woods just got dangerous, maybe.
 
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Cohickman

Veteran Member
Nice. Could be Doug?? I will have to go back and see what timeframe the met in Book 1. Eeer... 2. IIRC the Park team had done in the bad guys before the snow fell.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique and Kara found a section of trees a little too tight for a snow machine to traverse easily just after a narrow point. If the snowmobile didn’t come this way, it might not get anywhere close to the house. They were in position when they heard the motor shut off ahead of them. . Now was when it could get all kinds of squirrely. They had to get anything said and set up before anyone got close. The window for talking was rapidly closing. People on a snow machine would still be a bit deaf from the noise for a short time.

Kara and Angelique spread out about thirty feet apart and settled in to wait. Before long, they heard sounds of people moving through the trees. Kara was the closest to the movement. With hand signals, Kara indicated she would take point and engage them as needed while Angelique should move out to the side and come back in on the flank.

Before long, the three people appeared through the trees. At first glance, it was one adult and maybe two children or small adults. The adult and the smaller of the two children had slung rifles. All three had day packs on. Their clothing seemed to be in good repair. All three were not moving like they were sneaking or stalking like she would expect if they were hunting animals. This group didn’t appear to be outwardly hostile at this time. She decided to take a chance.

“It’s a little late for trick-or-treat and I don’t see reindeer, although two of you are short enough for elves. You want to explain yourselves, carefully. The rifles need to stay on your shoulders.”

The guy was looking ahead now, trying to find the source. Finally he seemed to narrow down the direction until he was looking directly at where Kara was crouched behind a tree. He spoke out in a loud calm voice.

“Just up here looking for a friend. Thought I was still inside the park and not on someone’s land. .” He held his hands out to his sides, palm forward to show they were empty. He turned his head to the side and said something to the other two.

Kara thought she recognized his voice but couldn’t place it right away. Kara could hear the slight swooshing sound of Angelique on her skis moving around to the flank. Good, they had them in a good crossfire if things went to shit. Time to get more info though.

“So, who are you looking for and why?”

The male slowly reached up and pulled his hat off and spoke up.

“I’m the Ranger for this part of the Park. I’m Doug, and you are?”

Thank God! Kara’s heart leaped in joy, both for Doug’s survival and for Angelique. She stood up straight and stepped out into the open. Her weapon lowered, she pulled off her head and face wrap and pushed the goggles up. Doug got a good look at her face for the first time and visibly relaxed. Kara saw the women next to Doug looked confused and a little apprehensive still. They will sort them out in a minute though. Kara spoke out loud, the joy obvious in her voice.

“Doug, you took your sweet ass time. Damn glad you made it! Who did you bring with you?”

Doug looked at her, a mix of relief and a little bit of worry on his features.

“Kara, you’re a hell of a sight for sore eyes. I got to ask. Please tell me Angelique got here.” The last came out as a plea.

From off to the left, they all heard a gasp. Kara knew Angelique was in some disbelief and wasn’t sure how she was going to take this new development at first.

The person on the skis was coming closer. Doug looked over. The woman was wearing an old battered green wool coat. A submachine gun was slung around her neck, hanging loose at the end of its sling. She stepped out of the bindings and walked forward, .pulling her scarf and goggles down. Her jet black hair falling free. Doug saw those hazel eyes he knew so well, even though they were watery and leaking down the woman’s face.

“Daddy?”

Doug and Angelique embraced and cried for a long time there in the snow.
 
C

Cohickman

Veteran Member
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I should have just waited 10 minutes!

Nice, now time to regroup, reorganize, distribute weapons and gear, figure out who is going to live where, etc.

CCG, ou may have ment this as a break point, but like Ricky used to say, "you got some splainin to do!"

Can't wait for the next installment. Sabine hang in there!!
 
Griz3752

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
ComCamGuy said:
AT LEAST I NOW HAVE TWO OUT OF THREE TIMELINES SYNCED!!!!!!

Now I can breath and move forward with the group from 1 and two now together( or at least at the same calendar point) as we progress.
Click to expand...
And I'm sure I speak for all your followers: Thank God for small blessings!

You, in your creative processes, did that to your self so, self-inflicted wounds .....:rolleyes:

But we're a forgiving lot so, take what time you need to get back on a single track ;) We'll be here.

I for one have to go back to the various transition points so I can stay on point when you get up to speed again.

G.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Heidi felt a bit confused and disoriented. She knew they should find Angelique up here and she tried to picture Angelique and Kara and Garen and Bekka from Doug’s descriptions, but trying to fit the people around her to the people Doug was describing still didn’t quite match.

This wasn’t helped by her aversion to crowds. Heidi wasn’t like this growing up. She wasn’t like this when she went into the military. She started getting uneasy with large groups of people after she started deploying. She had to watch everything on everyone around her, looking for threats and clues to violence. She tried to suppress it after her first deployment, but subsequent deployments reinforced it too well.

She was somewhat on edge going to classes when she got her teaching degree. She was the one in charge in her classroom when she started teaching, so the control helped dampen her unease and panic. Her later jobs, primarily as a bartender, didn’t make as much sense. She was in crowded bars slinging drinks, but because the crowd was on the other side of a physical barrier and she had her safe space to move around.

The past months, it has been mainly just her, Emilia and Doug and sometimes Zed and or Jesse. Most of this time was outside in the woods as well. Now she was meeting a bunch of new people in spaces she wasn’t familiar with. It didn’t help that Angelique and Kara were at least a foot taller than her!

Doug was also distracted. Understandably so, but she was used to being at least a third of his attention and now she wasn’t sure if he would even notice if Emilia and her lagged behind and got lost.

Emilia wasn’t sure what to think about these new people they met up with. She also sensed her mom was apprehensive too. She didn’t think these guys were a danger to them or bad people did she?

Before too long, the group came into the perimeter of Bekka and Garen’s lands. Angelique was in the lead now playing tour guide. Kara dropped back to the back of the group. She wanted to check on a few things. As the group moved forward, Kara matched pace with Heidi and Emilia as they came alongside.

“Please forgive her. She has had nothing but us old fogies to talk to and she is so excited to see her father again. Those two are going to be in their own little bubble for a bit, I’m afraid.”

Emilia was kind of at a loss for words at the moment, something unusual for her. Heidi fell back on her ability to adapt anywhere, a key component of survival in the military. First came sarcasm.

“It’s ok, I should have expected Doug to dump me for a younger taller woman.”

Kara’s repost was reflexive. “Well, shit, the taller part isn’t hard, but I don’t see him going the teenybopper route, he isn’t wired for 220.”

Heidi was going to make a comment but she was caught off guard by her brain finally processing the sign they had just passed. She looked back at the sign then had to ask.

“Contaminated Soil Reclamation Project- Keep Out. Do we need to worry about that?”

Kara laughed. “Only if you trip over the sign. It’s just there to influence the gullible.” Kara stopped walking. Heidi stopped when she did. “We are glad to have you here. This will give everyone someone different to talk to. Don’t worry, you will have Doug back to yourself again in a little while.”

Before she could control it, Heidi blushed. She didn’t want to let herself admit to herself any feelings for Doug, much less jealousy of others having more of his attention. Shit! How far her social skills have atrophied! She was fighting such things from so many angles. She didn’t want to screw things up with her boss. She didn’t want to screw up their friendship, and she sure as hell didn’t want to have relationship issues in this highly volatile and isolated situation.

Emilia was a little shocked to see her mother blush. She was also startled that someone who only met them an hour or two ago called her out on her feelings for Doug. This was going to get interesting.
 
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2T2-Crash

2T2-Crash

Contributing Member
I never had to make off FOB runs or convoys, just dodge IDF and rockets.
ive loaded too many amputees though, I don’t like watching IED scenes or dudes losing legs and shit in movies.
I do want to face main entrances when I go places, I do want to be armed where legally allowed, and I do prefer to avoid any crowds.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
After walking through the empty subdivision that was Garen and Bekka’s land, they finally got to the house. It reminded Heidi, Doug and Emilia a bit of Doug’s cabin with its all stone old school design and construction. The parallels continued inside with lots of wood and stone. It was warm, cozy and inviting. So were the rest of the crew.

Being set upon in the woods by the giant elves, Heidi and Emilia weren’t sure what to expect when they met Garen, Bekka and Allyson. Garen was anti-climactic to meet. He looked like someone you could meet at the hardware store buying nails or at some fast food restaurant ordering a happy meal for his kid. Bekka was about the same, but Heidi could see more of the iron in her eyes behind the warm smile and greeting.

Allyson was younger than the other two and had a different vibe to her. Heidi felt more in tune with her. Maybe it was the whole law enforcement backgrounds each shared or perhaps she could sense something about the way Heidi was feeling surrounded by all the new people.

It only took a few moment for Allyson came over to Heidi.

“Hang in there. It’s a lot to take in. I know,” Allyson smiling oddly as she walked by offering her a drink, then disappearing back into the crowd.

Heidi seemed to know Allyson had been the odd one out before, just by the way she came over and tried to put her at ease.

The introductions were done, people were starting to feel less like strangers, no weapons were drawn, at least not in anger, the giants had not declared war on the elves, and Doug relaxed enough to remember they needed call in to Zed and Jesse to let them know they had arrived safe and mission successful.

“I’ll be right back in.” Doug said as he started walking towards the door, radio in hand.

“Silly, get back over here. No reason to go out in the cold, just give me the frequencies and I’ll get it dialed up.” Bekka walked him over to her radio desk in the corner.

While Doug and Bekka were working with the radios, Garen broke into their conversation with a quick question for Bekka. He whispered in her ear quietly. She thought about what he asked for a moment or two, juggling the logistics in her head. She smiled and nodded her head. Yes.

Garen turned to the group. “Doug, Heidi, Emilia, Christmas is only a day away. Holidays are a time to bring people together, reunite, make new friends, get to know people. It is a long trip back to your place. We are have plenty of room here. Why don’t you stay here and we can have Christmas together.

“Doug, while you are on the radio, ask Jesse and Zed if they will come as well. Please tell them to join us. We have all been through some rough times. It is time to celebrate with family, old friends and new please accept our invitation”

Doug looked around Heidi and Emilia who both nodded in agreement, before giving his answer.

“Garen on behalf of the elves we thank thee and accepts your offer, I will tell the wise old men of your offer during our transmission.”
 
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F

Freebirde

Senior Member
Griz3752 said:
I think those seem perfectly correct to many here .....
Click to expand...

I have never been 'downrange' and you will not find records of me serving in any military on this planet. Call me paranoid, given a choice I will not set with my back to a door or window. I scan building tops and highpoints when I go outside. I look for cover when I move about. I prefer the outside end of the pew or row when at public gatherings. 'They' may get me someday, but 'They' will have to work for it.
 
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