Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
They didn’t have much time. For this to work, they needed a little bit of space between them and their pursuers.

Kara pulled the pack off her back. Along the bottom of the bag was a small, long pouch. In it was the tools she needed to make their escape possible. She handed the pouch to Angelique.

“OK, kid. You run forward and find a big enough tree. Zip up it, wrap the webbing around a big limb for an anchor, and clip the carabineer and pulley on with the rope. When we get there, you and I hoist his broke ass up the tree, then you follow him up. Then the hard part; you two hide and blend into the tree.” Kara said in a rush.

“And what are you going to do while we are up the tree?” Angelique asked, even though she suspected the answer.

Kara grinned, not a happy cheery one though. It was a sad smile.

“I’m going to be the bait, keeping them moving along so they pass you guys by. When they are good and far, you two come down and make your way to one of the hasty pick up points.”

“And leave you here by yourself in the woods? Bullshit!” Angelique exclaimed.

“Look, all three of us stay together, we get caught, and some or a lot of people die. We do this, everybody lives.” Kara said. She knew they didn’t have time for long discussion but she needed Angelique to understand and be on board for it to work.

“Why can’t we all just hide in the tree?” Angelique was grasping at straws and she knew it. She knew Kara had a solid plan, but…it brought back shades of the city, where Kara ran off to play bait for the jeeps to keep them away from her.

“Because if the tracks just stop, then they search harder and find us all.” Kara took a big deep breath. They didn’t have time for this. “You’re stronger than me, if it comes to it, you have a better shot at carrying him out of here than I would. I’m faster than you. I can keep just past their grasp for hours on end. When you’re clear, I’ll turn up the speed and leave them in my dust, get my ass to one of the pick-up points and we all go home. Now, get us that tree. I will help him get there.”

Kara’s tone left no room for either Angelique or Zed to object.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Once Angelique raced off to find a tree, Kara helped Zed up and started after her.

“It’s a pretty risky plan you came up with.” Zed said between grimaces as they moved along the forest.

“Well, it’s the best I had for an alternative to Plan B. It’s a long way from defending your home to deserve to be killed. These guys, I don’t know. We didn’t see sophisticated comms so they are still hunting the killers they were told to find. Or… they didn’t like us killing those two.”

“Yeah, but the bad part is, for this to work, they have to want you bad enough to go faster and be sloppier to have enough task focus to miss the change.”

“I know. I’m not quite sure how I intend to do it. Maybe let them catch up to me some so they get a glimpse or two, or maybe shoot one of them in the leg, or near one of them. I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”

“Don’t get yourself killed on our account, Kara. If it’s going to be a gun battle, let’s do it together. Together, we could win.”

“Yeah, we could, but it would spoil all the work we have been doing the past several days. Don’t worry, I got this.”
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Kara and Zed caught up to Angelique at the base of a large tree. Angelique had two ends of a rope running high up into the branches. Kara set straight to work tying Zed into the end of the rope, talking all the time.

“Zed, Angelique and I are going to haul your ass up the tree. Your whole job is to fend off the branches on the way up and get yourself strapped in once you are up there, then Angelique will join you, you guys pull up the rope and I make a mess down here and go lead these guys on a merry little chase.”

Moments later, Zed was forty or fifty feet up the tree. Once he was secure, Kara looked over at Angelique.

“OK, kid, He’s all yours. Give me at least six hours to make sure I have them well away from you, then call the house and get a pick up. You’re smart enough, skilled enough and strong enough to pull this off.” Kara wrapped Angelique up in a quick hug, then after letting go but before taking off, she tweaked Angelique’s nose.

“See you at the house. Stay safe.” And she was gone.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
And g'day y'all.
A brisk day of woods running being chased by a pack of neanderthals may change Kara's mind about whittling them down but, we'll have to wait until CCG has a break between classes or take lunch to find out more.

My mother always stressed the virtues of patience .....

Thank you Sir.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
hiDing in a tree?
Work w/ what's at hand plus, its a known issue in fieldcraft; you have to train people to look up.
PNW down into N CA and east, across the Rockies still, even after Weyerhaeuser and the other forestry robber barons, had some pretty substantial timber stands of old growth.
Of course if the wildfires continue unabated as they have, that may cease in the near term.

If you've never been, you should go.
 

Sportsman

Veteran Member
Whew! Now we know who the pair to be picked up is... unless he's throwing another twist at us. This is a good plan considering their constraints. Sure would take a lot of patience to keep from whittling down the pursuers a bit while circling back to their home for a confrontation. I understand how much work has gone into stopping the bloodshed, but you can only go so far.
Thank you.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Whew! Now we know who the pair to be picked up is...
what an optimist!
unless he's throwing another twist at us.
CCG? He wouldn't do that ....In a freaking heartbeat!!
This is a good plan considering their constraints. Sure would take a lot of patience to keep from whittling down the pursuers a bit while circling back to their home for a confrontation. I understand how much work has gone into stopping the bloodshed, but you can only go so far.
Yes! The offer was made, in a very open-handed fashion. Spit on my hand, I'll spit on your grave.
Thank you.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Just imagine there is a cougar waiting for a tasty morsel, such as yourself, to walk under...
Well yes that would do it but they tend to not hunt from up in the trees; usually just off some elevation -I've hunted where the cats live in N America and yes, to them, we're a menu item.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
We have them all around us, I have watched one take a chicken not 20 ft from the house.
Do you live where they're protected-period or if they're predators on stock, can be treated like yotes & other assorted varmints?
 

ted

Veteran Member
Like yotes and other predators. That one ran into a surprise getting away, had to jump over a sleeping Pyrenees and dropped the chicken. The dog came out of the woods with a puzzled look on his face and kept looking back wondering why it was raining chickens...LOL
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
The dog came out of the woods with a puzzled look on his face and kept looking back wondering why it was raining chickens
*****************************************************
Perfect pet video! there'd be a zillion hits by next Monday but if you're sort of remote, you have little reason to wear a GoPro around the yard
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Six hours. Six hours doesn’t sound like a long time, in abstract. Six hours can feel like forever depending on the circumstances. Like perhaps, hiding fifty feet up a tree hiding from a bunch of people hunting you and, presumably, wanting to kill you. Add in darkness and it actually gets better since it helps the brain think it can hide better. Add a teammate with you that is hurt bad and unable to escape if you are caught? It gets worse. Knowing you are medically as well as morally responsible for that person, doubly worse.

Angelique was feeling the stress. She got Zed secured in the tree with her and settled in to wait. They had to be quiet. That was, after all, one of the big things about hiding and not getting caught. This meant she couldn’t talk to Zed about her nervousness, her fear, her worry, both for them and especially for Kara.

Kara, the one who has once again become bait to try and keep Angelique safe. Kara, who trusted Angelique to take care of Zed medically. She didn’t even check Angelique’s work on Zed’s leg, she realized belatedly. Angelique was worried for Kara.

Angelique wasn’t sure how long into their waiting it was, but she was sure she heard some gunshots in the distance. Before she could move or do anything, Zed’s hand was on hers, motioning her to stay still. Every fiber in Angelique wanted to race down the tree and come to Kara’s aid. All the while, every logical part of her brain told her she couldn’t, otherwise all of this was for naught.

Angelique looked into Zed’s eyes. She could see he wanted to help Kara as well, but knew better than to try.

They sat. They sipped water. They waited.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique checked her watch for like the zillionth time. Six hours. Time to move.

For the last hour, she was trying to figure the best way to proceed after they got down from the tree. The first thing she knew; their path of travel had to change.

The original extraction point they were headed to wasn’t one of the emergency ones near the road. It was one of the creep along logging trails. Kara was still headed in that direction to keep the pursuers on the same vector. Angelique and Zed would move at a ninety degree angle to that path of travel. This would make their departure much easier to miss if they ever backtracked looking for them.

Angelique’s next worry was how to make good speed and distance from their original trail initially to enhance the separation. This caused her to wrack her brain quite a bit. Finally, she had a solution, but Zed wouldn’t like it.

Zed spent most of the time in the tree berating himself for being so clumsy and screwing everything up. Here he was, the great African hunter, able to sneak up and touch a gazelle before it saw him, able to track poachers on their own ground, steps in a damn hole and breaks his leg! Now he has put Angelique and Kara in danger for his dumb ass!
 

txs

Contributing Member
I know i get things wrong, sometimes, but if they got in the tree before dark and it mentions being in the tree while its dark, how does Angelique manage to look at Zeds eyes?
 

Remedy

Member
I know i get things wrong, sometimes, but if they got in the tree before dark and it mentions being in the tree while its dark, how does Angelique manage to look at Zeds eyes?
This was at the start of the 6 hours. Therefore still light out?
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
A Ping, one ping only please… asking for an update to brighten an otherwise dreary day…
I feel your pain :gaah: but, RL, work assignments et al just won't go away.

JB's approval rating may be edging downward; does that help? At least somewhat?

Remember when Jen Psaki took her position? She almost immediately announced she'd only be there for 2 years; maybe she knew that was JB's shelf life as POTUS.
Hopefully, that helps; I feel better just typing it in here....

And now, back to the real story......
 
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Chapulin

Veteran Member
Getting someone out of the tree is a little more than jumping. Kara has half the effectiveness of 6000 troops, but as Zed proved it only takes a step to change your fortunes. Before we drag politics in here, consider which 2 are going to be there for pickup.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Once Angelique had them down the tree, it took some convincing to get Zed to accept her plan, then about half an hour for them to reconfigure both their gear before setting out. This also gave the drugs she added to Zed time to work.

‘This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy.’ Angelique kept telling herself. It took her quite a bit to convince Zed, and in the process almost unconvinced herself. Now he was playing the part of cheerleader for her effort.

“You can do this. Hell, other than your father Doug, you are about the only one who could. I trust you and believe in you.” Zed said as they reset the gear while they waited for the drugs to kick in.

Now, she had Zed in a fireman’s carry, across her shoulders as she slowly and carefully walked towards their destination.

Zed was slimly built. This helped her. They were almost out of supplies. This helped with bulk. The biggest thing though was all the hours spent with Allyson and Kara and Bekka and Heidi.

Allyson and all her work rebuilding her shoulders and hip range of motion after her injury made them strong. Bekka with all the walking, building her stride into a deliberate and balanced motion. Kara for the hours and hours patrolling the uneven terrain enhancing her surefootedness and efficiency of movement. Heidi for her eternal drive to work out and get stronger and put all her dissimilar elements into a cohesive powerful frame.

All of this combined within Angelique, creating someone able to carry Zed several miles to safety. Not that it would be easy for her, but it was doable. It would be uncomfortable for Zed, so she dosed him with a sufficient amount of Ketamine to keep him from feeling the pain in his leg, especially with the jarring of the walk.

With her carrying him, that left only one set of footfalls to disturb the ground, one set of tracks to follow. If she was careful and deliberate, she would leave almost no trace as she went. She just knew they also had to get off the axis of travel soon.

They were moving towards the closest high speed pick-up points. She would radio in when they got to a hide site overlooking the pick-up point. She didn’t want to call them in and end up bringing them into a trap.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique deliberately forced her mind to rotate through several topics; where are we, where are we going, are we making noise, are we leaving tracks. These became her mantra to keep moving. Stop. Listen. Look up the trail. Check footing. Move forward. Stop. Check behind them. Tap Zed’s arm and feel for his squeeze in reply. Listen. Look up the trail. Check footing. Move forward. This became her pattern.

At one point she started to question if she could do this. Part of her mind raced back to a couple of the books she read while laid up at the house. This was like a couple of the stories about the special operations stuff. Here she was, trying to do something real military people who trained for years did. Who was she to think she could pull this off?

Unbidden, she heard her father’s voice. He was reading her a bedtime story, back when she was a little girl. Her favorite.

“This is the story of Hugh Glass…”

Damnit! She isn’t hurt! She hasn’t been mauled by a Grizzly! Zed is counting on her! Kara is counting on her! ****ing focus on the task at hand!

She heard another voice, only this one wasn’t just in her memory. It was a soft whisper in her ear. It was Zed.

“You got this. I believe in you.”
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique got them to a good spot overlooking their pick up point. It was a state department of transportation cinder yard. There were no plows or inloader in the yard, just the big piles of cinder to dump on the road in the winter. There was nothing there worth stealing. It did provide a great place to turn a vehicle around in if you needed to quickly.

Angelique got Zed situated in the brush alongside the clearing before she made her radio call. She extended her antenna for better range and clarity, crosschecked the map reference then keyed the mic.

“ATC, Dawn 63. ATC, Dawn 63.”

Moments later, she heard Bekka’s reply.

“Dawn 63, ATC.”

“ATC. Need an Uber for two at the Qik-Y Mart.” She tried to not yell or be heard a thousand feet away. She wanted to get the call made and get back to Zed.

Bekka’s voice came back quickly with a worried tone.
“ATC, copy, Uber for two at the Qik-Y Mart. Wait one.”

Angelique waited and waited and waited. It seemed like forever, but soon Bekka was back on the radio.

“Dawn 63, ATC.”

“ATC, Dawn 63.”

“Pelican 28 Uber outbound to your location. Stay inside out of the weather as much as you need to. They will call when they get close.”

Bekka sounded like she was back to her strong, confident self. Angelique could breathe now. Help was coming. She had to get back to Zed, get him wrapped up and hunker down for the waiting.

“Copy, we will stay dry.”
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Getting someone out of the tree is a little more than jumping. Kara has half the effectiveness of 6000 troops, but as Zed proved it only takes a step to change your fortunes. Before we drag politics in here, consider which 2 are going to be there for pickup.
Its a lot more than jumping if one has a busted limb; if not reversing the pully lift, its probably a belay of some type. Either way, I don't think speed is available
 
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Sportsman

Veteran Member
Getting someone out of the tree is a little more than jumping. Kara has half the effectiveness of 6000 troops, but as Zed proved it only takes a step to change your fortunes. Before we drag politics in here, consider which 2 are going to be there for pickup.

Now I'm glad I didn't have time to read this morning! We know who the pickup pair is. And if Angelique drives Zed back alone, that might leave some fresh fighters to help with the local situation.

That worry about "who's the two" for so long takes a toll no the reader. We need another batch of words rather quickly to help recover.

Thank you.
 
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