The Independents, page 17
part #2 of Holding Their Own Series
Terri immediately answered for him. “We’d love to join in Pete, thanks for inviting us.” Terri closed up her bags of goodies and looked at Bishop. “I’ll show you the rest later. I got several things we needed.”
As Bishop and Terri entered the bar, several of the townsfolk had already gathered. Many were sitting around the bar, while others scattered among the available tables, drinking water or whatever else they had. Bishop found a table toward the back and the two sat while more people continued to wander in.
After about five minutes, Pete looked around and then asked for everyone’s attention. He had a small stack of papers in his hand. “Okay everyone, thanks for joining us today. I have several notes here from all of you, and we’ll go through each and every one of them today. First up, is a note from George and Cindy Beltron. They want to discuss the topic of school and educating the children.”
Bishop sat fascinated as the day wore on. The town meeting covered everything from schooling the young ones to maintaining the cemetery. The town had a small elementary school before the collapse, with the middle and primary school located an hour and a half away in Alpha. A couple of the school’s teachers were still in town, and the local people who had smaller children wanted to see what would be involved reopening the school. The discussion was eventually tabled because the teachers were struggling to put food on the table and keep their households going. Without pay, there was no way the town could reopen the school. Three people volunteered to deliver ideas on compensating the teachers at the next meeting.
Security was another hot topic. There had been a handful of incidents since Bishop and Terri had left town. While the community had formed a loosely organized group of men as a posse, volunteering time was difficult because folks were struggling with day-to-day demands of this primitive lifestyle. The men who manned the roadblocks at each end of town all reported that the time required was becoming a burden to their families.
And so it went the rest of the afternoon. Some issues were resolved quickly, while others required more thought and analysis. Bishop would have normally been bored to death with the entire affair, but it was interesting to watch the process. More than anything, it gave him optimism for the future, something he badly needed.
Were it not for the final speaker, Bishop would have left the meeting believing things were positive and upbeat. When Doc Hopkins was given the floor, everything seemed to grow darker inside the room. The man reported in a monotone voice, and everyone in the room felt his pain. He wasn’t saving many patients, and it was clearly pulling him down.
After the physician’s report concluded, several hands shot up, and one man spoke out, “Doc, what do you need? We’re so lucky to have you here, is there anything we can do?”
“Please excuse my attitude today. I’m especially tired, and the last few weeks have been somewhat demoralizing. Short of our having equipment and supplies, I can’t think of anything that will improve our success rate for treating people. It’s not going to get any better as time goes by, and I can see the day coming soon when we’ll be even more restricted in what we can do.”
Another man asked, “What do you need, Doc? Maybe someone around has some of what you need?”
“I sincerely thank you for the thought, but what we need is the equipment that would only be found in a hospital or well-funded clinic. Everyone has been so kind and brought me whatever medicines and supplies they have had lying around. But I need x-ray capabilities, blood transfusion, pumps, monitors, and other machines. I don’t think anyone has that sort of thing in their garage.”
“There’s a hospital in Alpha…,” someone volunteered.
Bishop looked around the room and noticed everyone looked down at the floor. The reaction struck him as odd, and he couldn’t help but speak up. “What’s wrong with Alpha? I mean, I know there was an explosion at the chemical plant, but the air should have cleared by now. What’s going on there?
No one seemed to want to answer Bishop’s question. It was finally Pete that looked up and volunteered information. “Bishop, no one really knows what is going on there. A lot of the people here have family and friends in that town, and a few of us have tried to see how things are there.”
Another man interrupted Pete. “Tim Rollins and his brother left to explore Alpha a month ago; no one has heard from either man since. They were both pretty good hands and capable men.”
A lady in the corner spoke up. “Riccardo Mendez rode his horse to Alpha, but he didn’t even get close before someone started shooting at him. He left and came back.”
Pete looked at Bishop and added, “Two houses on the outskirts of town were raided three weeks ago. Everyone inside was killed, and the places were cleaned out. The tracks led back toward Alpha. That’s when we set up the roadblocks and had everyone move into town that could. The Benton ranch has been hit twice. They believe both times it was people from Alpha.”
Bishop noticed everyone was looking at him, waiting on some sort of reaction. The only thing he could think to say was, “I see.”
The town meeting broke up, and everyone started wandering home. Bishop and Terri walked back toward The Manor, each lost in their thoughts. It was Bishop who broke the silence, “Terri, I have so much I need to talk to you about. Let’s get some chow and relax in the gardens. I want to see what you got at the market, and I’m sure you’ll want to hear about my day.”
Terri nodded and looked at Bishop. He has that look again…that look like the entire world is resting on his shoulders.
Both analytical thinkers, Samantha was in hot pursuit of David’s queen in the most rousing game of chess The Manor’s lobby had seen in years. Betty had some beef tips and peppers cooked on the hotel’s open fire pit. As Bishop and Terri entered the lobby, the aroma hit them and both realized how hungry they were. Terri presented Betty with six eggs she had bartered for, and the hotel manager seemed thrilled. She made a plate for each, and they retired to a garden table with beef, peppers, corn bread and roasted pine nuts. It was a feast like they hadn’t enjoyed in months.
After they finished eating, Terri offered to help Betty clean up before she talked to Bishop. As they were carrying the dishes into the kitchen area, Betty announced she had one more surprise for Bishop. She opened a drawer and pulled out a metal tube containing a cigar. Bishop responded with a look of “for me?” and Betty pushed the rare item into Bishop’s hand.
As Terri helped with the kitchen duties, Bishop returned to their table and carefully snipped the end of the cigar with his fighting knife. In no time, he had the cigar puffing nicely and sat back to relax and enjoy the luxury.
Terri appeared a bit later and teased Bishop, “Would you care for some Port with your smoke, sir? Is there anything else I could do to make your experience here at The Manor more enjoyable?” Bishop choked when her eyebrows went up and down. Terri sat next to her husband and watched him take a puff from the cigar. When he exhaled, a bit of the smoke drifted her way, prompting her to scoot her face away from the odor. “For all the glamor those things have, they sure do stink. You’re not kissing me with that mouth until you gargle with some kerosene, mister.”
Bishop started to put out the stogie, but Terri waved him off. “Enjoy it babe – just keep downwind of me. My nose seems to be working overtime since I’ve been pregnant, but really, I don’t mind.”
Bishop handed her the Colonel’s briefcase, unlocked. He showed her the folders, and then focused on his smoke. It took Terri about an hour to read through all of the material. When she had finished, she looked at Bishop with a blank look on her face.
Her voice was ice cold. “So my love, what does this have to do with the price of cheese in China?”
Bishop responded without emotion. “Not a damn thing, I guess.”
Terri wasn’t going to let it go that easily. She tapped her fingers on the tabletop, waiting on Bishop to expand on his last comment. When it was clear he wasn’t going to do so voluntarily, she pushed for more details. “Bishop, he wants you to deliver his report, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Terri stood up and walked around the table with her fists balled on her hips. Three times she stopped and pointed her finger at Bishop, but no words came out. Twice, she stopped, pointed her finger at the Colonel’s room, but no words came out. Bishop just sat with a neutral look on his face, not daring to say a word. She continued working up a good head of steam.
Finally, she stopped her pacing and looked at the sky, spreading her arms wide, “This is bullshit…pure, U.S.D.A Government inspected table grade bullshit. How could he do that to you? How, in heaven’s name, can he lay this on you?”
Bishop shrugged his shoulders. “It’s important, Terri…I guess that’s why.”
Terri spun and leaned into Bishop’s face, “No, it’s not important!” She moved an outstretched arm in a wide arch, pointing at Meraton, “This is important. This is what matters. These people are what counts, not some bullshit power game being played by a bunch of government fucks who aren’t risking anything but their egos. The guys who carry the guns and die are what matters, not those elected pukes and all of their cronies – they don’t mean shit anymore. They had their chance and fucked it up.”
Bishop simply nodded and pretended the rocks at his feet needed to be arranged.
“Come on, Bishop. Remember how we saw people eating dogs on the way out here? If the fucking President of the United States will sit at that table and eat a dog in front of me, then I will reconsider my point of view. Until then, he is nothing, means nothing, and will never be anything again.”
Bishop had expected a major reaction from Terri, but not this strong. She was as mad as he had ever seen her, and the anger seemed to be growing. He was in new territory here and was trying to think through how to handle it, when her mood suddenly changed and her voice went monotone cold.
“So, you are supposed to find the president, deliver this report, salute, and head back home?”
Bishop looked her in the eye, “Not exactly. The president is coming to Fort Bliss, a few hundred miles from here. The Colonel wants me to convince the Commander in Chief to compromise and work with the Independents. Why he is convinced I can do this, I don’t know.”
Terri sat down at the table and crossed her arms over her breasts. “Bishop, I have agreed…no, supported your doing some pretty crazy stuff since we left Houston. I’ve watched you put on that rifle and walk off I don’t know how many times. You don’t know what it’s like to sit and wait for you to come back. It’s worse than your being in the Army or going off to war. At least some chaplain would knock on my door and let me know you were dead or wounded or missing or whatever. At least if you came home from the Army missing a leg, they would help me take care of you. Not out here, Bishop. Not now. We are on our own out here. If you had gotten yourself killed at Big Bend, I would’ve never known. I would still be sitting at that camper night after night, waiting for a blessed rock to hit the roof. I would always wonder what happened to you. There would be no closure Bishop, no flag-draped coffin, no honor guard, no wives coming over and letting me cry on their shoulders. That’s the worst of it – not knowing.”
Bishop just looked down at his feet again. He wanted to remind Terri that the same thoughts raced through his mind just two days ago when he considered whether or not to check on the plane, but thought better of it. This all needed to be out in the open.
Terri wearily sat on Bishop’s lap. She sniffed a few times and sighed deeply. She looked up at the stars and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She looked at Bishop and then pointed skyward. “There, by the way, is Orion’s Belt. I promised you the other day we would find it. I didn’t have anything to do after you left to get Samantha, so I got out the book and found it.”
It took Bishop a while to finally see what Terri was pointing at. She was always so much better than he at abstract things, like connecting the dots of stars.
Bishop reflected, “The ancient people must have been very bored most of the time, Terri. To sit at night and look up at the sky and find those combinations, make up those shapes and create legends out of just a few pinpoints of light. I wouldn’t have been much help to them. I just don’t have the imagination, I guess.”
The couple sat and looked up at the stars, pointing and enjoying the view of the ultra-clear Texas night. The change helped calm Terri’s mind.
“Okay, Bishop, we need to finish this conversation. What do you want to do?”
“I want to go back to the ranch as soon as possible. I want everything to be like it was two days ago before we heard that airplane. Unfortunately, that’s impossible. We have David and Samantha to think about, as well as the Colonel.”
“What about his files here? What about the president and civil war and all that?”
“I thought we were in agreement that was bullshit?”
Terri jumped off his lap and pointed her finger at him again. “Ohhhh no, you don’t, Bishop. Nope, no way,” Terri replied, shaking her head. “You are not going to put that on me, mister. I never said you couldn’t go. I’m just mad this fell on your head like this.”
Bishop chose his next words carefully. “Terri, I don’t know how I would get to Bliss. The route goes right through El Paso, and everything we have heard indicates that’s not the place to be these days. Even if I went around El Paso, I would imagine Fort Bliss is locked down tighter than a fly’s ear.”
Terri started to speak when a distant popping noise interrupted her. Before she could even ask what the noise was, Bishop was moving, “Fuck! Those are shots! Get the kids, get your rifle, and get everyone into our room. I am going to see what is going on.”
Terri started to say, “Be careful,” but Bishop was already gone.
Chapter 13
Bishop rushed to his room and grabbed his equipment. It took him a few moments to switch to a full fighting load. He attached his night vision onto his rifle, verified everything was secured, and jogged out into the night air. He could see Terri, Betty and the kids heading to the room as he left.
Others had heard the shots, and a group of men was gathering on Main Street. Bishop ran up and found Pete pointing west toward the roadblock. More individual shots sounded, followed closely by a long rattle of automatic weapons fire.
Bishop asked, “Do the guys manning the roadblock have auto weapons?”
One of the men answered nervously, “No – someone from the outside is shooting.”
A pickup truck started its engine nearby and quickly pulled up to the group of men. Bishop recognized the driver from the town meeting earlier in the day. All of the men started climbing into the bed, handing up their weapons as they pulled themselves into the back of the truck.
Another single shot, followed by a rattle of automatic fire sounded in the distance.
Bishop shook his head, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
One of the men looked up and protested, “We have to help ’em…everyone swore they’d come and help if there was trouble.”
Bishop thought for a moment, “You men stay here and spread out. Don’t let them into town. I’ll ride out and help our men. I have an orange glow stick. If you see an orange light, don’t shoot us coming back.”
The intensity of the shooting down the road was increasing as Bishop climbed into the passenger side of the cab. He told the driver to turn off his headlights, and grabbed the wheel using the night vision to steer. The men of Meraton started spreading out as the truck sped off.
Bishop had the driver stop about a quarter of a mile from where the roadblock had been put in place. The shooting was louder now, and he could see the twinkle of muzzle flashes in the distance.
He told the driver to turn around and go back halfway to town, shut off the truck and keep a sharp eye out for anyone not wearing an orange glow stick. The driver nodded and quickly did as Bishop asked.
Bishop moved off of the road about 100 meters and then turned toward the roadblock. He found a slight rise in the terrain and took cover behind what was a small knoll rising from the desert floor. He was scanning with his night vision, trying to grasp the tactical situation in front of him, when a noise very close-by made him freeze.
He moved only his eyes slightly to the side and made out three men moving toward the road not more than ten feet away. They were going to step on his rifle if they kept going. Bishop thought there were only two Meraton men guarding the road. He didn’t think anyone else from the town would be out here, but he didn’t want to get into a fight with allies. When the men were less than five feet away, they stopped and crouched down. Bishop thought at first they had seen him, but they stayed put.
As slowly as his could, Bishop moved his arm and reached for his flashlight mounted on his vest. While the light was small in size, the LED bulbs were very bright and he hoped he could reach it without the men’s eyes detecting the movement. After his hand closed around the handle of the light, he gradually shifted his weight to one side so as to unhook and remove the torch.
Again, moving only his eyes, he checked to see what the three men were doing and could make out their heads scanning from side to side. They are either waiting on someone or something to happen. Another exchange of shots occurred down on the road, and Bishop used the noise rolling across the desert floor to click off his rifle’s safety.
The men were to his right and the M4 was in his right hand, flashlight in his left. In one motion, Bishop rolled onto his left side while swinging the rifle around one-handedly. His left hand hit the switch on the light, and he pointed it at the stunned men only a few feet away.
As the light swung an arch caused by Bishop’s rolling motion, it crossed the faces of three men, all holding MP5 submachine guns. The light in their eyes caused them to raise their arms and turn their heads and that gave Bishop the time he needed. His rifle started barking at pointblank range, and hit its mark even though he could manage only one hand on his M4. He kept firing until all three men were down, turned off the light, and quickly moved away from the knoll. He hadn’t traveled three strides away when the ground where he had been lying erupted in small geysers of sand caused by the impact of incoming rounds. They had been waiting on someone. How many Columbians are here? What are they doing?
