I walked over to the drone, which sat behind the C-130. It was large itself, with a wingspan of almost sixty-six feet. Slung beneath those long wings hung the various weapons that had been loaded up on it. The body of the drone, which was identified as a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, was 36 feet in length, ending in its giant V-shaped tail and engine. It looked sleek and deadly just sitting there.
Brian and Harry were already walking around it and looking it over. I looked around the base and caught Diana running toward a large fuel truck. She was alone. I thought that was stupid, so I raised my MP5 and took off in her direction, running for all I was worth. I caught up just as she opened the door to the truck. I pushed the door closed and went to a knee, sweeping the area around us.
“What the hell are you doing, numb nuts?” she yelled at me.
“You went off by yourself and never even looked in the truck for danger before opening the door. I’m sure being in a plane has sheltered you to all the bad shit going on, but that was the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Now give me a second to check around the truck, then we can look through the windows before opening the door and climbing in,” I said as harshly as I could. I wanted to make sure she knew I was not going to argue with her, nor take any more shit.
I came to my feet and slowly made my way around the truck, taking special care to look underneath it, even climbing up into the large round steel trailer. Once I was sure the outside of the truck was safe, I cautiously stood on the step under the door and pulled myself up so I could see inside the cab. It looked empty, but I was not taking any chances. I stepped back to the ground and motioned for Diana to unlatch and open the door widely. She did so, and I stuck the barrel of my MP5 into the cab and checked the floor, seats, and even behind the seats. I was being overly cautious, I know, but I didn’t want to lose anyone.
“The truck is secure. Thank you.” I turned and proceeded to walk away.
Diana shouted behind me, “I’m sorry and thank you for all your help!”
I gave her a thumbs up and continued walking away. I kept my head moving around, though. I was still uneasy about all this quietness. I felt like we had flown into one of those Twilight Zone TV episodes. Any second now, we should hear Rod Sterling welcoming us to the Twilight Zone. It was during this vigilance of looking for danger that I saw more Humvees parked by the large repair hanger. “Heaven, will you come and do some recon with me? Over,” I radioed.
“Of course, my friend. I will bring Cupcake with, we may need a mechanic.” I watched as they both detached from the rest of the team and trotted over.
I pointed out the Humvees to Cupcake. He whistled softly, “That is a big hangar. Hopefully it wasn’t being used to house the sick and infected. Or a morgue.” I looked over in Cupcake’s direction.
“Dude, shut up. I don’t want to hear that. You jinx us, and Heaven here is gonna gut you like a fish.” Cupcake stopped midstep and looked back at us. Heaven fingered the knife riding in its sheath on his left hip and winked at him.
“Gotcha. My mouth is getting me in trouble again.” He shut his mouth and pulled his weapon to his shoulder. We continued side-by-side sweeping the area around us, prepared if we came under attack.
Once we arrived at the hangar, I was even more shocked than earlier. The place was as quiet and deserted as a haunted house. I’m sure you get the similarities, right? Eerily quiet, jittery nerves, and waiting for something to jump out at any second. As Cupcake and Heaven cleared the Humvees, I stood behind the hood of the lead Humvee, rifle pointed at the massive hangar doors, which were opened just enough for one person to come through at a time.
After five minutes, Heaven appeared next to me, “Wanna poke our heads in there and check it out?”
“I really don’t, but I am going to do it anyway.” I checked the safety one more time to make sure it was off and checked to make sure I had a round chambered. Heaven stepped in front of me and took point. I followed a couple of steps back, just in case he needed to turn or back up.
We made it to the opening, and Heaven led with his barrel through the opening. I counted ten seconds and followed him in. The hangar was not pitch dark. We had enough light from the sun as it filtered through a high window in the pre-dusk time of day. From what we could make out, the hangar was filled with replacement parts and a KC-135 that looked like it had seen better days.
We stopped fifteen feet in and strained our ears to hear any sounds. The place was as quiet as a mausoleum. See how I keep using the macabre to describe things? I really was waiting for anything to jump out at us. Nothing happened, so we moved back outside. Cupcake had started all three Humvees and was waiting in the lead. Heaven and I took the other two and followed Cupcake back to the C-130. We parked near the other two vehicles and walked over to the team sitting inside the plane.
“We found three more Humvees, and they are full of fuel,” Cupcake informed the team.
“Hey, Kuppers, we have a slight problem I don’t think anyone thought about. We planned to leave right away after landing, but a round trip is going to easily take five hours. The sun is sinking fast, so even if we left now you will not be back here ‘till past midnight. You don’t want to be out there in the dark, do you?”
He pushed his hand through his greying hair and sighed, “You’re right. It has been a very long day, also. We will leave at first light. We should probably sleep in the plane tonight. Vic, set the schedule for the guard tonight, Doc go through the supplies and prepare a meal. Phillips, how is all this going to play out with our air escort?”
“I was thinking that same thing. I’ll contact them and let them know what we are thinking. Maybe they can land, refuel, and bunk with us tonight. I’ll check and get the General on the horn. We need to fill him in on what we found here, or didn’t find here,” Phillips answered. He got to his feet and made his way up to the cockpit.
I joined the group, sat down next to Julie, and pulled Angel onto my lap. I needed her light to keep me grounded and gain strength from. Julie laid her head on my shoulder. We sat there listening to the conversation and planning session for the night. This time, Delta would be spared from guard duty. Senshi and Doc would take first shift and be spelled by Cupcake and Kuppers, who would then be followed by Diana and Pete. I found out that Pete was the name of the copilot, the friend Helmut had called to put this whole thing in motion. Full name Pete Kirby, a First Lieutenant. The man was a quiet guy. He melted into the group and stayed to himself mostly, although he would answer any questions asked. He just stayed out of conversations. He was bland, stood just under six foot, clean shaven, blue eyes. That was the only way to describe that guy.
I listened as I heard the engines of the escort planes above us. Harry and Brian stood and went down the ramp to see what was happening. The sun’s light was dying fast and, without lights, the jets might have a problem landing. I stood pulling Angel onto my shoulders and walked down the ramp. We stood there watching the jets as they lined up on the runway and came in fast. They landed very close to each other, so close that at first I thought they would crash into each other. They slowed, then taxied their way over to us. They popped open their canopies and climbed down to the ground. I was taken back when I identified them as women. Brian and Harry met them, and they shared a brief discussion. Diana at that point walked past us and headed for the fuel truck she parked nearby. This time, though, she took Apache for protection.
Diana helped with refueling the jets and then moved the fuel truck far away from us. Didn’t want it exploding so close to us, just in case someone decided they didn’t want us here. “Can you let me down, Dan? I want to say hi to the them.” I raised her up over my head and winced as the scar stretched in my arm.
I put her down, and she ran up to the new pilots. Both pilots stopped dead in their tracks, surprised to see the little girl. They removed their helmets and kneeled down to meet Angel at her level. Angel, always being a precocious little girl, held out her arms and gave them hugs. You could almost see the exhaustion and worry from the women melt away as they hugged her. She took their hands and walked with them up the ramp and into the C-130’s cargo bay.
Doc walked around with heated MREs and handed them out. I took my seat with Julie again, and we ate our MRE, sharing bites of each other’s meals. I had something that was supposed to be beef brisket, at least that’s what was printed on the package. Honestly, it was more like warm shoe leather in oil. I added the entire packets of hot sauce, pepper, and salt into it, with only a modicum of flavor. Julie had buffalo chicken, which tasted much better than what I was trying to chew through. We traded our desserts and shared a cup of instant coffee.
With our bellies sated but not full, we made our way over to an unoccupied area and rolled out our sleeping bags. My back was aching and felt stiff. Julie helped me take off my Zomgo pack, weapons, and armor. I unbuttoned my military blouse and then peeled the T-shirt off. Julie touched my back lightly. “This is bad, honey. The bruises are black and have spread up your back. I’m going to go get Apache to take a look at this.”
While I was waiting for her to come back, I rolled my shoulders forward and brought my head down toward my knees trying to loosen the knots and stiffness from my back. My mind was filled all of a sudden with noise. Not audible noise, more like a jigsaw of multiple pictures in pieces. I couldn’t grasp onto one. I tried. I shut my eyes and tried to grab onto one, only to have it slip away. I was becoming worried and a little upset. I felt hands on my back and a voice, but they seemed far away. I concentrated on the pictures and pieces, watching them swirl around in the darkness. I gave up and let them go. I opened my eyes and found Angel on the ground in front of me, staring into my face.
“How can I help you, little one?”
“I think you fell asleep and were dreaming.”
I smiled at her, the, reached out and ran my hands through her hair. She giggled and got to her feet. “You have really bad owies on your back, Dan.”
“Yes, he does,” interjected Apache as she rubbed something wet on my back.
“What are you rubbing on him?”
“This is cortisone cream. It should help with his pain and the bruises.” Julie sat down in front of me with her legs folded under her like only women and certain Yoga masters can. For any man to sit in that position would surely sprain something in his nether regions.
“Your eyes are really bloodshot. Are you okay, babes?”
“Just tired, and my brain won’t hush,” I said through gritted teeth, as Apache increased the pressure of her massage.
“That should be enough for tonight. Get some sleep, Dan. I’ll work on your back tomorrow night.” Apache patted my shoulders and made her way over to where Hase had set up his sleeping bag near Delta.
I motioned with my chin at her, “When did that start happening?” I asked regarding Apache and Hase.
“I think they used to have a thing back when she was in the Army. I think they started up again while we were at that mountain house licking our wounds.” She took my hands and helped me into my sleeping bag, then down onto the hard metal cargo floor.
I sighed and hissed at the pain. I wriggled around a little, until I felt a little more comfortable and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was awake. I laid in the darkness, listening to some soft snoring and the in and out of breathing from several people. At some point, I had taken my hands and arms out of the sleeping bag. I had a small hand holding onto my right hand and what I assumed was Julie’s in my left. I felt loved, and even my back was starting to feel better. Not so stiff, and the aches seemed to be ebbing, also. I lay there listening for any sound from outside the plane. No sounds evaded the plane from outside. I rolled my head over in Angel’s direction. Her eyes were open, and she was studying my face. “What are you doing awake, hun?”
“All slept out,” she said in a whisper.
“Yeah, I think I am, too,” I whispered back.
“Dan?”
“Yeah, Angel, what’s up sweetie?”
“Is everything going to be ok today?”
Something in her voice was starting to worry me. “Of course, kiddo. Our friends are going to take us to my dad’s ranch.”
“Is he a nice daddy?”
That was a strange question. “One of the best, kiddo. He has always wanted a granddaughter. I bet he is gonna love having you around.”
“I hope he is a lot like you.”
“He is a much better man than me.”
“Good. I’m going to miss Kuppers, Doc, Cupcake, and Senshi.”
“Me, too, but they have to go and help the General. To try and protect others who need them.”
“The people need you, too.”
“They need us all, hun, but I want to go home and start something new. Maybe build a new little community where we can help others.”
“What time is it?”
A voice in the darkness answered, “It’s time to start getting everyone up. It’s 6:30 in the morning. Want to help me, Angel?” The voice belonged to Kuppers.