B00C74WTKQ EBOK (8 page)

The girls, faces and hands blackened with charcoal in a horizontal, tiger-stripe fashion, all shook their heads in silence.

Adrian turned to Race. “Okay Race, take command.”

Race called the girls into formation, checked their equipment and dress to make sure they were ready to go. She checked that they had their field rations, water, and ammunition. Checked that their guns were cleaned and loaded with one in the chamber, and safeties on. Then she outlined the mission, showed them on the map where they were going, how they would get there and the type of movements they would utilize.

When Race determined they were ready, the unit moved out in two, single-file lines, spaced far enough apart to not make them close together targets, yet still remain in visual contact with each other.

Adrian had placed odd objects along their route to simulate an enemy sighting. Whenever one was spotted by the point person, they gave the signal to drop and cover while the situation was sorted out. Race sent scouts ahead to check the route for terrain problems or enemies, and behind to watch their rear and flanks as they moved slowly and silently, almost invisibly towards their destination.

The girls were absolutely silent, using the terrain to stay as hidden as possible. There was no talking, no whispering. They took this exercise seriously, graduating meant they knew what they were doing and that would please Adrian, failure was just unthinkable. From ten years old to seventeen years old, they treated this with the gravity of adults.

The unit collected the flag and began their return. Per Adrian’s instructions they came back by an entirely different route, this one taking them over difficult terrain. It included two stream crossings that required rope work. It also required scaling four steep rock faces to cross two deep ravines. Adrian had pre-warned Race that he had set up an enemy ambush along their return trail. She didn’t know where it was or when to expect it because he had only told her to expect it and to treat it as a live fire exercise—the girls would be firing live ammo. This was the most difficult and dangerous training the girls had been exposed to yet, and only Race knew it was coming.

Adrian had made crude dummies of straw and twine. He had chosen the mock ambush location carefully, assembling the straw dummies into a classic ambush from higher terrain.

Adrian watched as the patrol approached the ambush point. He raised his pistol and fired four rounds into the air. This was Race’s signal. She looked up where Adrian had fired from and saw the dummies he had set up to resemble the ambush team. Race looked back and saw that the girls had taken cover and had assumed a guns-out position, as they had been trained.

“Ambush, Ambush!” Race yelled. “Take that hill! Advance and cover. Team One, put cover fire onto those enemy soldiers, live rounds, by turns
now
!”

She was almost surprised at herself for automatically giving the correct instructions and by the fact that the girls performed exactly as they had trained to do.

“Team Two, Advance under cover!
now
!”

Again the girls performed flawlessly.

It was, of course, obvious to the girls that this was an exercise, they were after all shooting at dummies. But it was a live fire exercise, shooting real bullets over the heads of their team mates as they advanced, then having live rounds shot over their heads as they leapfrogged past them and took up a forward position. It was exciting and extremely dangerous. One mistake and one of their beloved partners could be killed. The girls focused on what they were doing, and were very careful not to shoot each other. They shot the dummies to pieces, scoring direct hits with almost every shot they took.

It was the work of only a few minutes to over-run the ambushers. The girls leapfrogged up the hill, pouring suppressive fire into the ambush as they covered each other.

When the girls had taken the hill, Race looked around for Adrian but didn’t see him. She brought the girls together and had them sit while she critiqued the exercise. “Excellent work team! You followed orders and followed your training almost perfectly. There were one or two minor improvements that could be made, minor but important. Team One, you should not have advanced quite as far as you did each time, you left yourselves exposed to too much fire by trying to cover too much ground. Next time take less ground each time.”

She turned to the second group. “Team Two, your rate of fire was a little too fast, slow it down just a hair and you’ll be that much more accurate and deadly. Not much, but slow it down just a hair. Okay, let’s move out, we’ve got a couple of hours to go before we get back. Keep your concentration, watch everything, and look for anything that doesn’t belong. Rita, you take point. Move out!”

Adrian watched and listened from his hiding spot. He approved of everything the girls had done and the weaknesses that Race had identified.
She is definitely officer material
. When the girls were out of sight he headed straight back to camp. They were armed, and had their adrenalin up from the live fire exercise. This was a dangerous two hours, maybe more dangerous than the ambush exercise itself had been. He had listened to make sure that Race had made the girls put their weapons on safe, but it would only take a second for them to lay down a barrage of fire, and Adrian didn’t want them to spot him and spook.

He waited at the campsite for them.
They’ll be on their own soon. I could literally leave them right here and they would be fine, but they might be even better off in Corpus…maybe. Either way, I can leave them now and have a clear conscience about it.

They would be back on the road the next day, and the girls would be tested soon after.

Chapter 9

T
heir first day back on
the road was uneventful. When they camped that evening the girls automatically exited the back of the truck as though they were in enemy territory. The older girls went out first, rifles locked and loaded. They came out fast, ran, and spread out in a fifty-foot circle surrounding the truck, dropping into a prone position weapons at the ready. After waiting long enough to ascertain that they weren’t in immediate danger, they jumped back to their feet and searched the surrounding area silently and effectively, making sure that there were no nearby problems. As they left to perform that chore, the middle girls exited the truck and followed a similar procedure, completely surrounding the truck also. When the older girls returned with the all clear, then the middle girls moved outwards, making a perimeter of fifty yards around the truck. The younger girls exited the truck and moved out in a similar fashion as the other girls had—not so much because it was warranted, but as a matter of practice and discipline.

Until Race gave the all-clear signal, all of the girls were on hyper-alert status, weapons loaded, safeties on. When Race satisfied herself that there was no imminent danger, she gave the signal and the majority of the girls returned and began setting up the camp. Four of the girls stayed at the outer perimeter as sentries.

Adrian had done nothing more than observe.
The girls have it down pat. They are a scary bunch. Feral girls actually. They have their weaknesses, aren’t close to invincible, but if they stay alert and follow procedure they’ll be safer than most people these days. One of their best weapons is surprise; no one is going to look at them and understand their capabilities until it’s too late.

While the girls were setting up camp, four more of the girls left for a combination long range look-around and hunting trip. They would first scout the surrounding area out to a mile in each direction, then if all was clear they would hunt for as long as they could, knowing to be back just before dark. Two girls went north and two went south, moving out to the mile radius, then circling counter-clockwise until they reached the opposite compass point before they commenced hunting.

Adrian had stressed that they should take every opportunity to avoid being surprised. Surprise should be their weapon, not one they ever allowed anyone to use against them.

That evening he worked with some of the younger girls on knife-fighting techniques. They were pretty good already, but could always be better. He showed them how to use their diminutive size to advantage. There were two primary targets these girls could get to if they had the element of surprise on their side. First target was the femoral artery. Adrian drilled them on its location, and the best thrust-and-slash combination to cut that artery. Once the artery was cut the girl was to run, staying out of reach of the assailant until the blood had pumped out of him.

The second target was the genitals. Adrian stressed that this target might or might not disable their opponent, but wasn’t usually fatal. This was to be used only if for some reason the femoral artery was blocked and unavailable. He stressed that it was a poor second choice. It was a shock weapon; an assailant that realized his genitals had been damaged might go into shock or might go into an uncontrollable rage instead, so it was best left as the last possible tactic.

By dark the two long-range teams came in with one young feral hog, two rabbits and five squirrels which they would supplement with canned food. The girls understood the value of the canned goods, which could save their lives if hunting wasn’t possible, and were also valuable trade goods. They dipped into that supply as rarely as possible, and then they ate the least popular trade foods first.

The girls took turns on night watch, two hours each, as the others slept. Night watch was a permanent routine now, and would be continued even if they ended up living in a nice house in town.

When the first light in the eastern sky was apparent, the night watch woke up that morning’s cooks. This was another group chore rotated among the girls. Those on breakfast duty would stoke up the fires and prepare the morning meal while the others got up, put their sleeping gear in the truck, took care of their morning nature calls, and washed up. As soon as the meal was finished the girls got to work cleaning up the dishes. Cleanup was performed by everyone who was not on an assigned duty at the time. The perimeter guards stayed on guard, their meal brought to them. Their dishes were collected and cleaned. They wouldn’t leave their posts until relieved or called in by Race. Without being in a rush, the now well-organized girls were ready to roll forty minutes after the guards woke the cooks. If they were in a hurry they would skip the meal and be loaded and ready to go in less than two minutes. This was an emergency drill that Adrian had taught them and that Race practiced frequently.

Adrian had also been teaching the older girls how to drive the truck. He began by teaching them the basics of how each component of the truck worked, and then gave them simple problems to diagnose. When he was sure they understood the workings in a basic way, then he taught them the maintenance routines. Checking the fluids, belts, tires. What the dash gauges indicated and what would happen when they showed trouble. Only after they had all of that did he begin teaching them to drive.

The girls were extremely fast at learning most things. They quickly understood the basics of internal combustion engines, and drive trains. They got into the preventive maintenance routine quickly and efficiently. But teaching them the physical skills required to drive the truck was fundamentally different. The girls struggled with it. There were practical reasons for their difficulty. The truck did not have power steering and required a great deal of upper body strength at times, especially driving off road. Their shorter legs made it difficult for them to reach and manipulate the foot pedals. Their shorter heights meant that they had less visibility directly in front of or beside the truck. All of these were unavoidable and Adrian could clearly see their impacts.

Driving on paved roads was considerably easier and that skill was the one most quickly attained. By the third day on the road, Adrian had become a passenger, a nearly silent passenger. He rarely had to tell the girls what to do, mostly he observed and only occasionally made a quiet recommendation.

The next morning Race pulled the immediate evacuation drill and timed the girls at ninety seconds. This was a simple exercise. Each girl went to sleep each night with everything already packed on the truck except for their bedrolls and weapons. When awakened by the evacuate signal, three short quiet whistles, they picked up their bedrolls and weapons and piled into the back of the truck. Each girl had an assigned spot in the truck, with the perimeter girls maintaining weapons ready.

Race gave the girls a thumb’s up and told them to dismount and prepare breakfast. The cooking utensils were kept on the truck except when in actual use. As soon as the meals were prepared and eaten the dishes and pans were cleaned and returned to the truck. The girls could get into the truck and be ready to roll usually long before the truck could be fired up and ready to roll. For this reason the night watch kept the wood gas generator burning on low all night in case they needed to make an emergency exit from the area. Adrian was teaching the girls to be alert, aware of their surroundings, and ready to act or react on an instant’s notice.
Independence comes with a price; constant vigilance, to paraphrase a quote of our founding fathers.