299 Days: The Stronghold

Chapter 122 Aftermath of False Attack (May 12)

It was a great night down at the gate with the euphoria from the evening’s events lingering in the air. Most of the guards realized now that they were probably not prepared for a full-on battle for the gate. What had been casual guard duty, hanging out with friends and carrying around rifles was now far more serious. Each person down at the gate had played through his or her mind “what if 100 gang bangers had tried to come through the gate?”

Good. They needed to have a reality check, especially one that didn’t involve any actual shooting. Rich, Dan, and Grant talked about how important it had been for people to think this through. To think about how serious the threat was and how much work it took to prevent the slaughter of them and their families. People needed to understand exactly why they were fighting in order to fight hard. They understood now.

Rich, Dan, and Grant used that night to finish organizing the defenses. Dan talked to squads about what they would do in the case of an attack. How they would get more ammo from a runner. How they would get the wounded to the fire station. How they would communicate with other squads. How they would treat prisoners. Grant was just listening to Dan because he had no idea how to do these things. Rich was listening to Dan, too.

One thing Grant hadn’t known about was the hidden observer who had radioed in “visitors.” Grant asked Dan about that, and he pulled Grant away from the crowd. Dan whispered, “I don’t want anyone except you and Rich, and maybe the Team, to know about our sniper. I don’t want the guards to be talking and compromising him. I’ll introduce you to him later, if he comes back across the gate, but he’s Sniper Mike. Mike Graggola. Iraq and Afghanistan. Army scout and marksman. He didn’t go to sniper school, but he’s a great sniper.”

Dan pointed across the river, on the other side of the gate. “He’s out there. Somewhere. He lives across the gate in that house,” Dan pointed to a house on the other side of the road to Frederickson. “I know his dad. His parents are in Pierce Point now so they’re safe. But Mike is free rangin’ over there. With a handheld CB. He has a night vision scope. One of the ones that is commercially available for hunting.”

Dan looked troubled. “He got pretty messed up in the sandbox,” meaning Iraq and Afghanistan. “Mike has PTSD and likes to be in the woods alone. He’s not dangerous or anything. In fact, he’s a great kid. Quiet and polite. But he said that when he got back, he couldn’t shake the feeling that people were watching him. He knew it wasn’t true, but he had been watched for so long by people trying to kill him that he got used to it. He had seemed to be improving, but then this crisis or whatever it is happened and now he’s back in a combat role. Exactly what he didn’t need.”

Dan looked over toward Sniper Mike’s probable location and said, “Damn. I hate war. Really, I do. It’s what I did for a living—and what it looks like I’m doing now. But I hate it. I remember when Mike was a teenager, out driving too fast and trying to make out with girls. That wasn’t that long ago. Now he feels like people are watching him, even though he knows they’re not. He feels like there’s something weak about him for having PTSD. Of course, it’s not weakness. It’s what the brain does when you’re in a shitty situation for a couple tours like Mike was.”

Dan looked down and kicked a rock with his combat boots. “I hope he can come out of this.” Dan looked up at the gate and all the guards. “But I doubt what’s going on now will help him. People are still trying to kill him, it’s just that it’s the cops or gangs or whatever now. Maybe not right now, but they’ll be back and would love to snuff out our forward observer. He’s all alone over there. He’s got a sniper rifle with that night vision. He’s got a bunch of guns to take care of himself and food and water at his house. But he’s out in the woods all the time. Poor guy.” Dan just stared over at Mike’s house and then walked away. He had nothing else to say. In fact, talking about how Sniper Mike had come home to a war here depressed Dan.

All the leaders were doing their best to keep everyone’s readiness high. No relaxing. A convoy of police, FC, gangs—or a combination of all three—could make a run across that bridge at any moment.

People were getting tired late into the evening. Squad leaders asked if people could nap in shifts. Everyone looked at Dan. “Sure, half at one time. Two hour naps.”

Grant took a nap himself. Around dark, a truck came from the Grange with blankets. It was mid-May, so it got down to about 60 degrees at night. Not terrible, but not exactly warm, either. Grant found a piece of dirt and borrowed a blanket. The ground was hard, but he was so tired he was out cold. Someone woke him up in the middle of the night. Surprisingly, he was nearly refreshed. Grant got a caffeine pill from his front pocket. In a few minutes, things were fine again.

It was quiet that night. He could hear the guards talking, and overheard the most amazing conversations. People—usually people who had never really talked to each other before—were talking about their lives, their dreams, their fears. They were talking about stupid stuff, too, like which young starlet in the movies was hotter. These people who never really knew each other before all this were bonding. The group was getting tight fast.

You know, Grant thought to himself, maybe the scare of the gangs or cops or whatever coming for the semi was actually a blessing in disguise. It got the guards organized. It got the sandbags put up. It got lots of volunteers down here. It got people to bond. It’s amazing how different a situation can seem a few hours later. Grant had gone from expecting a bloody fight, and maybe even dying, to seeing the whole thing as a positive experience.

He went to see Lisa. She was still down at the volunteer fire station in case there was a night attack. He was trying not to hang around her too much because it would look bad. Everyone else was supposed to stay alert but he, a leader, was chatting with his wife? That would not be a good example.

Grant came in a couple times to see her and explained the whole role model thing about why he wasn’t going to be hanging out in the fire station with her. She seemed to understand.

Lisa didn’t say it, because it wouldn’t change anything if she did, but she really wanted him to be with her. As much as she thought he was a gun-toting hillbilly wild man, she felt safe around him, especially with all this going on. She noticed that Grant seemed more confident and fearless than most others. What she didn’t know was that Grant had been around guns so much and had people shooting right next to him on the range during training with the Team that this didn’t faze him. Not as much, at least. He was still scared, but not terrified. He knew that most amateurs were such bad shots that a guy shooting at him was likely to miss him. Even close in, most bad guys would be terrible shots. Most cops only shot fifty rounds a year to re-qualify on their pistols; Grant had seen them on the law enforcement range the Team practiced on. Gang bangers were even worse shots. They pointed their guns sideways and cared more about how they looked with a gun than actually hitting a target. Besides, Grant had the confidence of knowing that in a fight he’d react the right way, not run. Back in Olympia when looters were attacking Ron, Grant had driven straight for them, got out, started shooting, and hit them very efficiently, without even thinking. He knew he’d react the same way in the next fight. That created confidence.

Grant’s calm and confidence was exactly what Lisa needed. She wanted him to be in the safe volunteer fire station with her. But she was watching everything that he was doing and had to admit that he needed to be doing all that. Organizing, motivating, training. Leading. She was proud of him, but she just wished he could excel at something else, like being a lawyer in a nice subdivision without gangs and food shortages. With law and order and a prosperous economy. She wanted the old days back. Most of her thoughts kept coming back to that. She desperately wanted “normal” back.

Finally, the break of dawn came. It was such an awesome sight. Now Grant understood the phrase, “Pray for dawn.” It meant there wouldn’t be a fight that night. People were now thoroughly restless. It was obvious an attack wasn’t coming right now.

Or was it? Dan reminded people that dawn is one of the most likely times for an attack. Defenders are tired from being up all night and that crack of light helps attackers see. Motivating people was getting harder and harder the longer they were there in a constant state of readiness.

The sun was finally up all the way, and it was morning. People were really tired now. Quite a few fell asleep right where they were. The two-hour nap thing kind of broke down.

Dan and Rich motioned for Grant to come over. “I think it’s time to let half of them go back,” Dan said. “What do you guys think?”

Grant looked at Rich. He was glad to be included in leadership decisions like this, but was very conscious that he had no military or law enforcement training. Grant was trying very hard not to overstep the authority he had earned.

Rich took the cue. He appreciated that Grant was focusing on political and organizational things instead of trying to be the big boss, especially on military matters. “Oh, yeah,” Rich said, “we need to get them back. They’ll just fall asleep on us and our command authority will be lost.” Grant just nodded. He was thinking the same thing.

Dan said, “Rich, half of each squad can go? Sound good?”

Rich nodded.

“I’ll get some trucks down here,” Grant said. He went to Heidi, who was asleep, and had her radio Chip to send down several trucks. It was the CB, which was not secure, so Grant didn’t say, “Come pick up half our guards.”

People were getting hungry, too. It had been a long night. Grant told Chip to have the Grange ladies cook up a big-ass breakfast.

“Way ahead of you, Grant,” Chip said on the CB. “I’m smelling hash browns as we speak. Mmmm.” Hash browns sounded so good right now. Extremely, mind-blowingly good.

Grant asked Rich and Dan, “How does a 7:00 p.m. Grange meeting sound?” That would give both halves of the guards a chance to take a nap. “I’d like,” Grant continued, “to tell everyone about the semi of food and my plan for distribution. Well, actually for not distributing it now. We need to talk about the weaknesses we learned from this. Like an alert system, a transportation system, and anything else I’m forgetting. I want a quick vote on the semi situation because we have the glow of victory right now. I want to use that to get my plan for waiting until winter to distribute the food voted on. Any objections?”

Rich and Dan shook their heads. Sounded good to them.