Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“When am I going to learn?”

“What are you talking about, Kara?”

“I feel like I’m still that two striper just getting to the unit. I’m still ****ing up. This time, it almost got Angelique killed. I’m a hazard on missions, I get people hurt or killed, and I’m scared to be around other people. I....just being around me attracts tragedy. I don’t know why you guys put up with me being around.”

Garen stopped moving boxes and looked at Kara.

“We want you around because we love you. You are more switched on than 99% of the people out there. You don’t get people killed, you save people who would have died without you.”

Kara wasn’t even looking at Garen as he spoke. She was staring at her feet and the box on the floor. Garen could see the wet spot growing on the cardboard from her tears flowing down her cheeks. He and Bekka loved her. They needed to snap her out of this and soon, otherwise it could take root. If it did that, the downward spiral would be harder and harder to break the longer it goes.

Her voice was quiet and faltering when she spoke next.

“My impulsiveness almost got Angelique killed, and my distracting him probably got Christian killed. How many others have I screwed up? When am I going to learn?”

Garen visibly cringed. Damn, this well is deep.

“Kara, neither were your fault. There were still the element of the bad guys to blame. You didn’t pull the trigger on Angelique and you didn’t blow up Christian. Each time you tried to do your best for them as the situations unfolded. You led some of the bad guys away and broke the ambush plan. You put yourself at risk to do so. What more could anyone ask of someone?”

They had gone through the stadium and pulled all the bad guy gear they wanted to take with them down to the loading dock. To this they added the small pallets of MRE and other food supplies. They left the pallets of water. One of the saddest things they saw was the room with all the luggage stacked in it. It reminded both of them of the pictures of the processing centers for the camps in Germany. These they left alone.

They did take the two laundry carts full of firearms and weapons turned in by those coming to the stadium for refuge. These would have to be sorted and organized later. These could, at the very least, make good trading items in the future since the group really had what they needed for firearms at the current time.

While they were organizing all the stuff they wanted to take with them down on the loading dock in piles of must, want and would be nice if it fits, Garen and Kara started wondering where the hell Allyson and Bekka were.

They didn’t want to use the radios because Bekka wasn’t sure what monitoring the bad guys were doing. They had a lot of other tech, so it wasn’t out of the question for them to be sweeping comms as well.

Where was Bekka and Allyson?
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“Ok Odina, Tell me about your kids.”

“Is this a ****ing job interview?” Odina was back to bristling.

“”Worse, it’s a life interview. It is a small little bubble I have and your grandfather wants me to let you in. I’m trying to keep my family safe, but we all know the rules and how to act without compromising safety and security. We are dedicated to each other’s safety. I have been shot trying to protect some of them, and have killed to protect most of them. Each of them have the same commitment to each other. It would be hard to just toss someone else into the mix. I want to know you are worth killing or dying for. That’s what this little ‘job interview’ is about. I’m trying to find out in a few short minutes if you are enough of an asset to kill or die for. Prove to me you are worth it, or you can deal with the sex traffickers and the gangs on your own. I don’t have time for your shit.” Bekka’s temper was in full roar now. She was using up too much time. She had to get back. They had to get out of town before too many people came to investigate the noise.

Odina was rocked back on her heels a bit. She was normally the one doing the intimidating due to her size and forwardness. She had at least six inches and fifty pounds of muscle on this woman. She was a bit stunned and unsure what to say. Bekka got tired waiting for her answer.

“Tick ****ing Tock. I got places to be.” She turned to the Grandfather. “She doesn’t seem interested. How about six rifles instead for the HMMWV and trailers?”
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Allyson was getting worried. She had puttered around about as much as she could and was now just waiting for Bekka’s return when the radio crackled to life.

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL”

Allyson recognized Bekka’s voice. She scrambled down and hauled up the door with the chains. She was surprised by what she saw in front of her. An ugly, multi-color HMMWV with two trailers pulled up outside the Center door. Bekka was behind the wheel. She yelled out the window.

“Ok, Allyson, go get the other SUV and let’s get over to the Stadium, we have been gone too long as it is.”

Allyson ran back up to the second deck. A quick check of Angelique’s vitals and med drip, and she was on her way back down. As she pulled out of the building, Bekka was there to close the roll down door. After locking it, and the exit door, Bekka came up to the window of the SUV.

“OK, we need to get going. We will swap things around at the stadium and attach the second trailer to yours when we get there. How is Angelique doing?”

“Garen has me keeping her fairly snowed, so she doesn’t hurt. We will need to do some serious work to figure out what is stretched, strained, or torn when we get to the house. Where did you get the Hummer?”

“I cut a deal, I’ll explain when we get with everyone. Go, I will catch up in a moment.”
 

LawPoet

Contributing Member
:siren:“Tick ****ing Tock. I got places to be.” She turned to the Grandfather. “She doesn’t seem interested. How about six rifles instead for the HMMWV and trailers?”

Super important concept here, and one which applies to OUR HERE AND NOW: When sudden, potentially overwhelming societal change appears, who can/will adapt quickly enough to save themselves and others? Such a "life test" is before our eyes with COVID19.

Again, superior PAW fiction teaches as much as it entertains.

BHW: When you talk to your wife, assure her that in places she's never been, believers she has never met kneel in their quiet places and plead for her continued improvement and the fullest possible return of her health and joy. We may only know her through meeting you (virtually), but we think she has excellent judgment in the character of those with whom she chooses to go through life. Healers are special.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Oh God I’m tired. I’m standing there trying to decide if Odina would be useful and more importantly, compatible enough to consider the deal. She puffs out her chest like we are on the prison yard and I’m the new girl. That set me off. My temper is one of my biggest weaknesses. It can short circuit reason and sanity. It can also release the evil side of me.

There is the part of me I work hard to keep caged up. It tells me all kind of bad things. I normally channel it for good, like trying to figure out how they bad guys would do something so I can counteract it. Sometimes, however, it can scare me when I listen to it. It was telling me bad things. When Odina bowed up at me, it was telling me I could drop both of them before they could react, take what I needed and no one would be there to stop me. The grip of my pistol was sharp in my hand. I started talking instead. The bad imp was still trying to get me to just cut to the chase and drop them. I had to change the paradigm before this got too far. I knew if she took one step towards me, it was over.

I had decided the trailers weren’t worth killing four people over, at least not to me. That’s when I started with the alternate deal to the old man. Rather than answer me, he lit into his granddaughter something fierce. About what he was doing was to ensure they had a chance at life. About his failing health. And, most importantly, about the need for a tribe. That struck home to her, or the culmination of them did. She finally seemed to get the danger still lurking outside the safe walls of the house.

Odina seemed to shrink a bit, cowed by the realization of all that he said. She apologized to him and to me. She then asked what I wanted to know. After a few questions, she called her children out to meet me. Kateri was her little girl and Chayton was her son. Both looked to be in fine shape, obeyed their mother quickly and without question. In other words, they were freaks. The rest of the meeting was taken up with going over the HMMWV and hooking up the trailers. Fortunately, there was a hitch mount added to the back of each trailer. He had a pintle hook that fit the socket. This meant she could drag both trailers at once, making this a much faster way to bring two trailers.

I went over some radio frequencies, which ones to use to call them, which ones to use if they were under duress and so forth. The plan was if they needed to cash their golden ticket, they would go up into the forest, then call on the right frequency. We would then find them.

Something in my gut said it was the right thing to do, but it still made me nervous. I told them this. I also told them to start squaring away the vehicle and supplies to bug out with now rather than later. There might be little warning when the time comes.

My parting words were that I hoped to not see them out there, but if it comes, we will be ready. A deal is a deal.

The evil imp in my head reminded me. I could always not answer their radio call. I let him believe that was an option, just to shut him up.
 

Sportsman

Veteran Member
I see what you did! I was convinced that she had too much attitude to bring along. Cooler heads won out.
Thank you for the fast chapter turnaround!
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
It is a reference to page one of this story thread. It deals with one of the main characters (Bekka) transition back to a combat footing. (http://xf.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/market-day.559096/)

It was a code phrase from a conversation concerning her lack of desire for returning to a combat footing.

“ He told me that one of these days I might need to go back to being that combat veteran I once was. I told him I didn’t want to. His reply was “John Wick didn’t want to come out of retirement either”
When he called me on the radio as he got out of town he told me “Jenny Wick, its basement time”. This was a way for him to relay the belief we would need to go back to deployment mindset and activities until we got a good handle on the situation”
 

Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
CCG,

Well the group will add a amazon, two kids and maybe a grandpa and a hummer and two trailers.... Now that will be interesting....

Garren has 3 or is it 4 naked women running in and out of his life and maybe be adding another....

Thanks for the chapters....

Texican...
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“Punchbowl Approach, this is Ryder 32 and 68 heavy, inbound for pax and cargo.”

The radio had crackled in their ears. The signal strength was very low. Bekka must have hers turned down to almost no transmit power or be very far away. Garen was happy to hear Bekka’s voice. He was beginning to wonder. He was also happy she was not using one of the duress words.

“Ryder Flight, your arrival was scheduled for earlier.”

“Aircraft problem, Punchbowl. Had to do a tail swap.”

“Copy, you are cleared for straight approach and taxi to the east taxiway. Pax and cargo is staged for your arrival.” Garen and Kara shifted around so they could watch the approach. Although there were no duress words given, they didn’t want to take chances at this point. It would be bad enough when they were loading the gear into the vehicles. Garen was wondering what the vehicle problem was that needed it to be swapped out, and for that matter, what did they swap it out for and with who. He sure as hell hoped it wasn’t the moving truck or the ambulance they had ditched. They had ditched them for a reason.

They saw Terry’s SUV come around a corner leading up to the east loading dock. Allyson was driving it. They knew Angelique was supposed to be in that as well. All looked right so far. Next came a HMMWV, but it looked off for some reason. As it got closer, he could recognize many mods to the original. This looked like a hillbilly bastardized spec ops version. There were racks and baskets mounted all over. Everything was a different color. They could see from this distance it was a soft skinned, semi naked rolling frame rather than one of the up armored later models. It was dragging two trailers behind it. Garen and Kara could see Bekka behind the wheel. The rest of the vehicle was empty.

Garen and Kara looked at the vehicles, then at each other. What followed was a thirty second conversation of half-finished sentences and phrases. They had both packed enough aircraft pallets, trucks, shipping containers and such to be able to roughly gauge what can fit where at a glance. They directed Allyson to pull up to one spot and Bekka to another. Before Bekka could even get out of the vehicle, Garen was cranking down the wheeled support on the rearmost trailer to decouple it from the one in front of it. Hat this point, He didn’t care how or why they were there, he just wanted to get loaded and move. It was broad daylight and he didn’t like being out and about in it. Part of him was considering running this whole train back down the street once they were loaded and hiding in the Center building until nightfall to cut down on observers seeing them rolling with all this stuff. Bekka joined him at the trailer tongue.

“OK, Bekka, do I want to know where and why?”

“Old man Ezekiel’s shop. I knew he had the trailers.”

“The trailers I understand, but the HMMWV? What did it cost us?”

Bekka gave him the thumbnail sketch of what went down and what it potentially entailed. He didn’t seem pleased, but then again, he wasn’t really displeased. It was more the added moving pieces when they were tired, hurt, scared and out in the open. After she explained, Garen weighed in on it.

“Sounds like a decent deal. If they show up, we will turn the training building back on. This will also open up the option for any of the others who feel the need for some more room to move down there. Cheer up, more hands make the work go faster.”

“And eat the food up faster, and make more noise, and attract more attention, and so forth and so on” Bekka countered.

They wheeled the trailer over to the back of Terry’s SUV. Using a hand truck, they four of them began loading the trailers as quickly as they could. Each rotated shifts with Angelique as the others kept loading. It was past noon when they had finished. It was time for the next decision.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“If we hole up out here, we need to do so where we can work on Angelique. We need to let up on the drugs and see where we are at with her. If we go to the Center, we are elevated, we have a solid perimeter, and we are not very visible. But that keeps us out another day. I know we are all fried, but this is too big a decision to just one of us make. I want some input.”

Garen looked worn out as he stood there speaking. They knew all of them looked like this. They knew they needed rest. This was the concern, give in to get home –it is, or hole up away from base again, and hope the bad guys don’t come back in force hunting them for revenge. Each was silent as they gauged their own energy reserves and weighed their options.
 
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Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
CCG,

Run home now to safety during daylight, maybe....
or
Rest some until dark so the internal batteries recoup and then run home in the dark....

Hard to see a convoy in the dark unless you have night vision or IR....

The bad boys gone to lick their wounds....

How soon back for the bad boys also need to rest and recoup....

Could both groups pass each other silently in the night????

Thanks for the chapters....

Texican....
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In the end, there was no debating it. They all knew the right answer. They went to the Center. This would give them the best chance. They drove the vehicles all the way to the top deck to turn around, then parked down on the next deck where they been operating from a few scant days ago. They carried Angelique into the apartment. This would give them a sheltered area where light and sound wouldn’t escape, giving them way.

They moved as little as possible out of the vehicles, wanting to be ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. They did, however, stash some key supplies here in their bolt hole in the city. This now included a couple of their new M4 carbines and a stash of MREs to go with the other stuff left earlier.

After a quick check revealed the rooftop water cistern was still full and functional, everyone cycled through the shower to clean up. Garen was first in line so he could run the pharmacology of bringing Angelique back from her induced unconsciousness. Angelique was second in line. They carried her into the shower and cleaned her up then dressed her in some running shorts and a tank top before being placed in a sleeping bag on the bed before they got her awake. With it zipped open, a full orthopedic assessment could be done on her injuries to determine how much she would need to be splinted and bandaged.

Once the right drugs were figured to bring her back around, Garen excused himself to the roof for lookout duty. He figured friendly female faces would be less startling to her as she swam upward through the mind altering drugs. His presence could set things off in the wrong direction.

From the roof, Garen was able to observe a decent amount of the city. He saw little movement down in the old commercial district where they had been operating for the last couple of days. No surprise there. Gunfire tends to slow down the tourists. Up higher towards the residential sections, there was sporadic movement here and there; a person in a backyard, a couple people moving from one block to another, but nothing like the significant movement he was used to seeing from up here before. He started scoping out the areas he was thinking they would be driving through in the dark soon. He had to do something to stay awake.
 

LawPoet

Contributing Member
Hoping for swift recovery for Angelique. How strange that a fictional character should lead us to think of someone real, quite needy, but also a shadowy being to us. "Life imitates art"?
 

LawPoet

Contributing Member
I check for updates every few hours. CCG is uncommonly generous with his new chapters--they may not be long but they're frequent and they remove some of the terrible bitterness of each day's new insanity. Thank you CCG.
 
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