The broken asphalt of the bailey crunched beneath his feet as he walked away from the shade and into the light. He could hear the tink tink of the smiths along the west side of the keep, as well as the rumble of the mill to his left, in the middle of the bailey. He looked around to make sure no one was coming over to talk to him, then turned towards the gate, which was just west of the mill, and broke into a jog.
As he covered the hundred feet or so, he thought back to when he was beginning his job as quartermaster, back when the fort was still being established. It was a pre-war building, and he had been a fairly regular customer. In fact, he was here when the founders secured the fort the day of the invasion.
He stopped about halfway between the keep and the gate, and looked around. As he compared the landmarks he nodded and talked to himself, “Yeah, it was just about here. I was loading up my truck, probably with bottled water and dog food. And then they just rolled up like they owned the place.” He chuckled, “Well, in a way, they did.”
Robert hefted the twenty-four pack of bottle water from the flatbed into the bed of his truck, then pushed it forwards into the bed of the truck. He turned to pick up the twenty pound bag of dog food when he stopped.
Half bent over he looked over the back side of the flatbed and saw half a dozen vehicles drive into the parking lot one, right after, the other. He stood, pushing his hat up to wipe his forehead, using the action to get a better look at the trucks entering the lot.
The lead truck was a black, late model SUV with tinted windows and a whole slew of antennas along it’s roof and rear bumper. Behind it was a black passenger van, fifteen passengers at least, also with as many antennas as the SUV in front of it. The SUV turned and headed for the store entrance, stopping on the concrete in front of the main doors. The Van turned the opposite direction and parked parallel to the street in the second row of parking spaces.
Behind the van was a utility truck, but it wasn’t from any of the local utilities, as it was painted black like the others, and had it’s own complement of antennas. It followed the SUV up to the front entrance and parked just past it, next to the liquor store entrance.
Behind the cherry-picker truck was a pair of moving trucks, black with antennas. They both parked behind the van. The final truck to enter the parking lot was a semi pulling a flatbed loaded with construction vehicles. Robert identified a pair of Bobcat skid loaders, a backhoe, and an extendable fork lift.
Robert stood in awe as the semi pulled past the van and moving trucks, and consequently right past him and his little flatbed before pulling around and stopping between the other vehicles and the road.
“What the?” was all Robert could say before all the doors opened, and his world changed.
In less than five seconds twenty-seven men and women exited the half-dozen vehicles. They were all dressed alike, from their black combat boots, to their side arms, to the MP5s hung across their chests. They also wore black balaclavas with sunglasses and radio headsets.
The four occupants, three men and a woman, of the SUV and the mixed pair from the cherry picker began working at the entrance, setting up some sort of command point from the back of the SUV. From what Robert could tell from his angle, the back of the SUV was set up with at least a dozen flat-screen monitors.
A second group, consisting of the mixed pairs from the moving trucks and the semi as well as five from the van, began working to off-load the semi and the contents of both trucks. Robert would have paid more attention to them, if it wasn’t for the actions of the final group.
The actions of the final group were unified only in that the pairs were doing the same thing in different parts of the parking lot. Robert remarked to himself that the pairs, heck the whole lot of them, were surprisingly mixed given the obvious offensive nature of the whole operation. The ten that remained split into five groups and spread out from the van out among the sparse cars of the lot.
As Robert watched the pair coming towards him, he thought that it was rather odd how little cars were actually in the lot itself. He looked around and quickly counter less than two dozen, all of them with people by them. He then looked behind him, to the highway that the store was so conveniently placed near, and saw the on-ramps clogged full of cars. It seemed that the noise barrier was doing a spectacularly good job, as only as he paid attention did he notice the cacophony of honks and horns coming from the interstate.
“What the?” he said, repeating his earlier cryptic exclamation. He was about to make a wise-ass comment when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and saw the pair that had been approaching him had finally made it while he was gawking at the traffic.
“Sir?” asked the one on the left. She was taller than Robert by about an inch, and had removed her sunglasses. Her partner beside her took a much more offensive posture, with his right hand resting on the grip of his MP5.
“What?” asked Robert, partly annoyed and partly bewildered.
“Sir,” said the one of the right. Unlike his partner, his was not in an inquisitive fashion.
“We’ll need you to come with us sir,” his partner added. She turned slightly and gestured to the store itself, he brilliant blue eyes looking to the entrance, and then back to Robert before he head could follow.
“What?” stammered Robert. He took a half-step back and nearly fell into the back of his pickup. “What are you doing here?”
“Sir, we’re here for your protection,” said the one on the right, his hand gripping the MP5 more intensely. “As my partner said, we need you to come with us. We have to get you inside.”
“Why?”
“Sir, there’s a situation. We’re here to help, but to help you, we need you to cooperate,” she said. Even though only her eyes were exposed, Robert got the impression that she was trying to be nice, but that he was trying her patience.
“Okay, just let me…” Robert began.
The man reached out and grabbed Robert’s arm, “No, we need you to move now. We have to secure the site, and we can’t do that until you’re inside.”
Robert tried to protest, tried to rip his arm out of the other man’s grip, but it was no use. So, he relented and began to walk towards the store entrance, the man letting him go as he cooperated.
“Thank you sir,” said his partner, the smile on her face evident in her tone.
“It’s Robert.”
“Well, thank you Robert. I’m Jessica.”
“And him?”
“I’m none of your concern, Bob,” he replied curtly.
“It’s Robert,” growled Robert, obviously used to, and annoyed, but people constantly trying to contract his name.
The man raised his eyebrows above the tops of his sunglasses and tilted his head, wordlessly telling Robert that he didn’t care. The trio quickly got to the entrance, along with a dozen other people and their herder. They milled around aimlessly at the entrance to the store before someone came out. It was the woman who got out of the SUV a few minutes before, though her balaclava was pulled down, allowing her short cropped raven hair to show. She was in her late thirties, the same age as Robert, and hand an air of authority about her.
“Welcome to your new home,” she said, a smile on her face and her arms open wide. “I know this is difficult to understand, but at least for the foreseeable future, you all are going to be staying here.”
The civilians began to murmur, but she stopped them with by clearing her throat. By now the herders had returned with the final store patrons who were in the lot, making for a total of two dozen civilians, ranging in age from twelve to fifty, with Robert’s thirty-eight on the high side of the median.
“You all were, are, very lucky to be here. An hour ago, the improbable, but not unforeseen, event of an invasion occurred. While you were here shopping the entire communications network of the world, from the internet, to the telephone, was shut down by an outside force. This, predictably, caused a great deal of panic. Luckily, the agency I work for had a plan for such an emergency, and within that hour we, my team and I, were sent here to secure this site. We will not run out of food, and in time, you all will be allowed to find and if you want, return with your families. But, as of right now, we need all of you to calmly come inside where it is safe and secure.”
“Who are you?” shouted one of the assembled civilians. Robert couldn’t see the man who asked the question, but the same question was on his mind as well.
“My name is Melissa, and I’m the administrator for this facility. In time, I hope that we can become friends, but for now, I need you to all go inside,” she replied,. She stepped to the side, and the civilians, all two dozen of them, slowly and calmly, entered the store. Robert was the last to go in, and stopped to look Melissa in the eye and ask her a question.
“Who are you, really?”
She looked him over, then smiled. Robert knew that smile, it screamed bureaucracy, “I’m the woman who just saved your life.”
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