Z-Day + 1 - 9:07 AM Mountain Time - 1 mile east and 2 miles south of Scobey, Montana On the plateau- Major Nelson Harris walked out from behind the helicopter, followed by Katarina and Julie. They approached Staff Sergeant Dauterive. "Sergeant Dauterive!" said the major.
Dauterive saluted. "Yes, sir?"
Clyde Bell drove the pickup truck up the trail and over the lip of the plateau at that moment. All attention suddenly turned towards the truck, and weapons swiveled in its direction, but nobody fired, perhaps because of the makeshift white flag. Now Jake could see everything that Clyde had described. The helicopter was a Huey of some sort. There were two pilots sitting in the cockpit, and nine other people were up here too. All of them were wearing body armor, and most of them were wearing Air Force uniforms. The two women following the officer were wearing civilian clothes beneath their armor: khaki trousers and white tank tops. Clyde hadn't been kidding about how beautiful they were. Jake doubted he had ever seen anyone as gorgeous as the redhead. The brunette carried a bow and a quiver of arrows on her back. The civilian women and the officer held pistols. Another woman was busy working on the helicopter's engine, though she was in uniform. One of the men lay prone, gripping a sniper rifle set up on a bipod.
Katerina pulled a grenade and held it in both hands, one finger lightly touching the rather heavy pin. She would not be taken again. Oh no. And she would kill the butchers as well. "Stop them," she muttered. If the others were to surrender (weakness), if they were to give in (cowards), then they would deserve to die (deserved...) If they fought, they might win (perhaps they want to be captured), and frighten off the others (maybe they have their sympathies), or at least die bravely rather than be subsumed by those monsters (surrender, acceptance, acquiescence ... men like dogs, obey the strongest and enjoy it). Any who looked at her might be able to see by an absence of fear in her eyes and the set of her jaw, that she would gladly kill the men approaching.
On the plateau-
Several of the Air Force personnel on the plateau swiveled to face the truck and point their weapons in its direction, including Major Harris. "Halt!" he shouted, then lowered his voice to a mutter. "How the hell did they get this close with nobody seeing them?"
As the truck crested the edge of the plateau, everyone could see a greasy white rag tied to the antenna. The two men within did not look like the ones who had come earlier. They had full heads of hair, and they wore no uniforms, just overalls and work shirts.
Clyde applied the brakes and the pickup truck screeched to a halt. "Whoa, whoa, don't shoot!" he shouted. "We're friends!"
Jake looked over at Clyde admiring his bravery but unsure of the next move...
He laid down his carbine on the seat of the cab and raised his hands up, only pausing to open the truck door to step out. He really wished he could wipe the sweat from his brow but was unsure if any extra motion would bring down a hailstorm of gunfire...
He exited the truck and took a few steps before yelling...
"We mean no harm!" He shouted. "We lost one of our own to some Aryan bastards recently and were just lookin to find them..."
He paused and then added...
"We thought the dead would be our worse problem but that wasn't the case..."
He paused again, awaiting a response....and hoping things would proceed relatively o.k.....
On the plateau-
"Well, you don't look like them," said Major Harris, pointing his pistol at the ground. "They killed one of you?"
Clyde left his own rifle in the truck's cab and emerged with his hands up. "No, sir," he said. "Abducted. A waitress named Tricia Barrett. She was fleeing from them and took shelter at our ranch. They laid siege to us, and she panicked and ran. They grabbed her and went away. You've got to help her!"
"Sir, as much as I'd like to, we have a very specific, vital mission to accomplish, and we can't vary from its parameters. If we can do something for her without endangering the mission, we will, but that doesn't seem likely right now. A few of those Nazis paid us a visit not too long ago, which is why we're a bit jumpy. There was a girl in their pickup truck, and their leader called her Tricia. Dark hair, pretty, late twenties?"
"Yeah, that sounds like her."
"It didn't look like she was afraid of these guys. The leader said she was his girl, and the way she looked at him seemed to confirm that."
On the plateau-
"Major, she was terrified!" insisted Clyde. "She would not have gone with them willingly. Maybe she's suffering from that...whaddayacallit? Stockholm Syndrome?"
"If that's the case," said Major Harris, "that only makes it even more impossible. You can't rescue someone who doesn't want to be rescued. My suggestion is that you steer well clear of these guys. They're heavily armed, and there are a lot more of them than there are of you. There's nothing that can be done."
"Dammit, you can't just leave her to them!" He shook his head.
"Son, we tried," said Jake, putting a hand on Clyde's shoulder. "You heard the man. Let's get back to the others. Though I don't look forward to breaking the news to Lara. I saw the look in that girl's eyes when she realized they had Tricia and there was nothing she could do for her."
"Wait, did you say Lara?" asked the major. "What's her last name?"
"Something Russian," said Clyde. "Voronova, that's it."
"You know Lara Voronova?"
"Know her? She's waiting for us back in Flaxville with the rest of the folks from the ranch."
"I will go with you," said Katarina. "Lara is my friend. We should go back to this ranch. The helicopter is broken and *this man*" - she points in the direction of one of the men - "told the other men they should come and attack us soon. They have many men and big guns."
On the plateau- Major Nelson Harrisreacted slowly, but Sergeant Dauterive was even slower. "Dammit!" shouted the major, swiveling to face the sergeant and leveling his pistol at him. "Drop your weapon, sergeant! I'm placing you under arrest!"
Larry Dauterive slowly lowered his M4 to the ground and raised his hands. "Sir, she's got it all wrong!" he protested.
"They want to wait, think we have time, but we not have time," said Katarina, inwardly pleased that she forced their hand. "They come soon. What we do? There not enough people and our stealth plan not work. Please I go with you?" She knew it was cowardly but she had a bad feeling about being out here in the open. "That man as good as sell me to them. Point out I'm pretty. He rapist." She says the last bit with a derisive snort. "Or want to be." She'd half planned to take that man out with her when the racists came out for her but at this stage she just wanted to live.
On the plateau-
"That's a damn lie!" drawled Dauterive.
"Save it for your court-martial, Dauterive!" barked the major. "Sergeant Valdez, Airman Winters, disarm him and take him into custody!" Jessica and Marcus advanced and did as ordered. Dauterive offered no resistance. Once the prisoner was secured, Major Harris turned to face Katarina, though his features did not soften. "That was not a very smart move, Ms. Iliescu. You tipped him off that we were onto him before I was ready. He could have caused a lot of damage if he'd been so inclined. Please try to think things through before you speak or act. Now, you want to go to your friend Lara in Flaxville. That's a good idea. I need to talk to her. There are more traitors, and she may have valuable intel that can help us identify them. I'm prepared to offer her entry into Warren Air Force Base, and she can return with us."
Katarina blushes though more out of shame for her poor timing than out of any true regret. "Next time I wait for your order...." She frowns. "Maybe we go with them?"
On the plateau-
"Yes, that's a good idea," said Major Harris, nodding. "I really need to talk to Ms. Voronova in person, and you're her friend, so you can help convince her to come back with us. Ms. Saint James, you know her too. You'd be welcome to come along. It would be best to get the two of you away from here anyhow in the event of an attack. I don't like not being here under the circumstances, but it'll take some time for them to organize something, so I'm confident I'll be back before anything happens. The pilots will be in charge until I return. Sergeant Valdez, you're the only noncom we've got now that Dauterive is in custody. I need you to prepare our defenses."
"Consider it done, sir," said Jessica. "Airman Winters, you'll guard the prisoner. Keep him in the crew compartment in the chopper so he can't interfere or signal the enemy.
"Yes, Sergeant," said the small black medic. He cuffed Dauterive's arms behind his back with his own plastic flexcuffs and ushered him into the helicopter at gunpoint.
"Smart choice for guard duty," said the major. "He won't be that much use in a pitched battle, and we know we can trust him."
"Actually, sir," said Jessica, "Airman Winters is a very good shot. Now if it comes to CQB, he lacks the physical strength and fortitude he'd need, but he'll be sorely missed if we can keep the enemy at a distance. Of course, if we can do that without him, we'll be fine. But I know we can count on his loyalty and vigilance. He won't let the prisoner get loose."
"Good. I'll try not to take too long getting back."
"Major, we'll give you a lift," said Jake Bell. "Clyde, you drive. Ladies, you should ride up in the cab wth him. The major and I can ride in the bed of the pickup truck."
"Osbourne," said Jessica, "keep an eye on that compound. Let me know if you see any unusual activity."
"Roger that," said the sniper.
"Rourke, keep up the repair work. Getting this bird off the ground ASAP is our top priority."
"You got it, Sarge," said Catherine.
"Simpson, patrol the perimeter. Don't let anyone sneak up on our position."
On the plateau- Julie climbed into the cab of the truck and slid into the middle seat, sitting next to Katarina, while Clyde got behind the wheel. Jake and Major Harris got into the bed of the truck.
"All right, son," said Jake. "Take us back to Flaxville."
Clyde nodded and pulled out while the Air Force personnel made themselves busy behind them. The pickup made its way down a winding trail that ran down the side of the cliffs and soon reached ground level.
"They should have just shot him," muttered Katarina, knowing that the group they were leaving would soon be overwhelmed and killed or captured. All they had done was deliver the helicopter to those horrible men. They would rape the women, kill the men, rape the women, kill the men. That was the future. It was logical that cruelty mingled with pragmatism would win out over any form of kindness in this world. She felt bad for Tricia but there was no way through. At best the humans on this world would finish each other off for the zombies. At worst humanity would remain as the cold, callous and cruel became the fittest to survive. She toyed with the idea of pulling the pin out of the grenade and killing them all here and now. It would be a kindness. For everyone. The Major, the others, they would all soon lose themselves in brutality and watch their morals slip away and they would become just like the others. Or they would die.
This was the truth. The existential truth of the world. Humans were no better than animals ... but unlike animals humans could know what they were losing, what was happening to them, and they would remember. She envied the next generation of women who would be reared for the kind of maltreatment she had suffered. They would be closer to animals ... they would hardly know any better. It would still hurt, of course, to be despised by the men they would doubtless come to love - their brothers, fathers, husbands - but that was the life that women had led for so long that it was obviously something women could cope with. Perhaps a slave mentality triggered at an early age.
She wished she had that but she didn't. She would rather die. In fact, she was still tempted to die.
Die or run away from these people.
Her beauty was a curse. She smiled grimly at the thought. How often had people laughed at those who said that line? Oh no, it couldn't be a curse. Beauty brought you nothing but joy. Beauty made you worthwhile. Yet she was kidnapped because of her beauty. Raped because of her beauty. Her beauty was for other people's enjoyment. A commodity. It meant she couldn't stay with them - these men - because deep down all men were monsters. Civilisation couldn't protect her so what could its antithesis provide?
She stared out the window and let the tears slide down her face but the set of her jaw implied raw helpless rage.
On the road-
"That's not how the military operates," said Clyde as he drove to the east across open ground, Julie sitting silently between them. "Hell, that's not how this country operates. Things may have gone to pot, but we've got to be better than that. If we could get back to that base, we might be safe there. We didn't have a destination in mind when we left my family's ranch. The rest of the Bells are waiting there: my wife Veronica, my mom Mary, my cousin Caitlin. In addition to your friend Lara, there's also a guy named Sven she and Caitlin picked up on their way north. He's a disc jockey."
"Now the enemy get a helicopter and a soldier and women to have their babies," she says angrily. "They know where you live? If they do, we should get people and keep going. Those men are our future if we don't keep going. If they take more women, they make more of themselves." She snickered suddenly. "Soon be inbred though."
On the road-
"We don't live there any more now," said Clyde as he drove onwards. "We already got everyone together and bugged out. We stopped in Flaxville for supplies, and that's when we saw the chopper land. Pa and I went to warn them. We had to tell them what had happened to Tricia. I was hoping they could do something for her. We didn't have any real plans of where to go. We were probably just going to head east to get as far away from those bastards as we could. Now, maybe we can head for their air base."
On the road-
After another couple of miles, the pickup truck reached a road heading north and south, where Clyde turned left, heading north. "We should be in Flaxville in about a minute," he said to Katarina as she stared out the window. "You know, Lara's lucky to have a friend like you, come out all this way to find her when you could have stayed safe back at that base."
In Flaxville-
"I wouldn't say that," said Clyde. "You unmasked that traitor. He could've gotten a lot of people killed if it hadn't been for you." He drove through an intersection and into the tiny town of Flaville. It didn't take him long to find the others. A woman of about fifty years, though her looks had not yet faded, stood in front of a warehouse, the largest building in town. Next to her stood a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties. "There's my wife and mom," he said, pulling up.
In Flaxville-
"Most people notice Veronica first, but my mom's always been a looker," said Clyde, parking the truck in front of the two women, both of whom had shotguns held loosely in their arms.
"Jake, glad you made it back," said the older woman. "I see you brought back a few new friends."
"You might say that, Mary," replied Jake. This here is Major Nelson Harris of the U.S. Air Force. Where are the others?"
"Inside," said Veronica, jerking a thumb at the warehouse behind her. "Looking for useful stuff."
The major climbed out of the back of the truck. "Good morning, ladies," he said. "I need to speak to Ms. Lara Voronova. I've brought a couple of her friends with me: Katarina Iliescu and Julie St. James." He motioned to each of the women in the cab in turn.
OOC,[b]Katarina[/b], [b]Julie[/b], and [b]Major Harris[/b] are moving to the thread linked below. Please stop reading this thread at this point. Everyone else remains in the current thread.
On the plateau- Airman Kevin Osbourne watched the compound through his scope. "There's some kind of assembly going on in the main square," he reported. "Looks like there's about a hundred people there! I can see the guy addressing them. Got some sort of Nazi uniform on, lots of fruit salad on the chest, stripes down his pants legs like a general. He's gotta be their leader. Hey, Sarge...I bet I could plug him at this range."
On the plateau-
"The major won't want us to take any drastic action in his absence, Airman," said Jessica.
"But, Sarge, this could be our only chance!" protested Kevin. "After this speech, he may go back inside and we won't get another shot before they come for us."
"If you kill him, it'll be war."
"So? They're coming for us anyway. At least this way they'll be leaderless, demoralized and in disarray."
"I don't know," said Jessica. "I'd better contact the major and see what he thinks."
On the plateau-
"Sir, this is Sergeant Valdez," said Jessica into her throat mike. "Airman Osbourne has spotted the skinheads' leader out in the open, in the compound's main square. It looks like they're all assembled there and he's giving a big speech. He's confident that he can take out their leader, but this is a limited time opportunity. He might not get another shot once the speech is over, and they could be getting ready to attack us. Should he fire or not, sir?"
"Man, just look at that little martinet," said Kevin, eyeing him through his sights. "He's pumping his fist up and down like he thinks he's Hitler or something. He probably does. Given the circumstances, he could be the next Hitler - unless I punch his ticket now. If you had the chance, wouldn't you have killed Hitler in 1933 before he really got started?"
"I would wait for approval from my commanding officer first," said Jessica.
"This is a bad idea," Gary Simpson said. "If you take that shot, they'll come down on us like a ton of bricks."
"And if I don't, they'll still come down on us like a ton of bricks," said Kevin.
Sergeant Jessica Valdez,"Hold on, Sergeant," replied [b]Major Harris[/b] into her ear. "I'm going to need to give this careful consideration."
On the plateau-
"Dammit, it looks like they're wrapping up," muttered Kevin Osbourne. "That speech is climaxing, and all the Nazis are really getting into it. In another minute, they'll disperse and we'll lose our chance. It's now or never!"
"Sir, the speech their leader is giving is coming to a close," Jessica reported into her radio. "If we don't do it now, we never will. We need a decision fast."
Sergeant Jessica Valdez,"All right, Sergeant," replied [b]Major Harris[/b]. "Tell [b]Airman Osbourne[/b] to take the shot."
"Take the shot," she said after a brief pause.
"YES!" said Kevin, his finger tightening on the trigger...
On the plateau-
"What the-" started Osbourne. The general took cover and was surrounded by his men as Osbourne prepared to fire again. He wouldn't get another shot at him. He scanned the compound in the direction from which the shot had come and quickly spotted the enemy sniper, up in a watchtower in one of the corners. He drilled him at long range in the center of mass, dropping him instantly. "Scratch one sniper!"
"What about the general?" asked Jessica from behind the chopper.
"They got him behind cover real quick. I don't have a shot. Crap, they're mobilizing!"
"Well, kill as many as you can until you find an opening!"
"Okay, go." Jessica spoke on her radio. "Sir, Osbourne missed his first shot. An enemy sniper opened up on him, but Osbourne plugged him. The enemy are starting to move out. I think they'll be coming our way."
Technical Sergeant Jessica Valdez,"Roger that, Sergeant," replied the major. "Keep me informed."
Osbourne took another shot, this time at the guy who looked to be second in command, but again he missed. "Dammit!"
On the plateau-
The pilot fainted, but Lt. Rebecca Doolittlesomehow maintained her composure. She quickly unstrapped herself as she spoke into her radio. "Simpson just murdered Osbourne!" she shouted, scrambling to her feet and into the rear of the helicopter, unslinging her MP-5 as she went.
Simpson ran for the helicopter, using it for cover. When Sergeant Jessica Valdez leaned around from the rear of the chopper and poked her M4 out, he opened fire on her, nearly hitting her with another burst. Luckily, she ducked back behind cover as the bullets zipped past.
Inside the helicopter, Dauterive lashed out at Winters with his leg, but the medic sprang back and pointed his rifle at him. "Just give me an excuse," snarled Winters.
"Abandon your position!" said Major Harris over the radio. "Forget the bird, just save yourselves!"
Lt. Doolittle emerged from the chopper, followed by Airman Marcus Winters. Sergeant Jessica Valdez joined them. "You heard the major," she said. "We have to get out of here! Run!" She started down the winding path that led off of the plateau, then stopped and doubled back. "It's too late! They're coming!" Tears in her eyes, she spoke into her radio. "Sir, we're trapped! It's all over."
"I'm sorry, Sergeant," replied the major. "I made the wrong call."
"No, sir, they were going to do this anyway. At least you and the civvies got out."
