A New World: Conspiracy (34 page)

“I’d warn you about doing that. The sandy
areas adjacent to the river are tricky and there are a few swamps
that would make the crossing difficult. We do, however, have a ford
nearby which I can guide you through,” James replies.

Greg thanks him and offers for the survivors
here to join theirs in the northwest. They’d have to make their own
way or wait until the C-130 is available to transport them.

“I appreciate the offer, but we have it
pretty well here. We’ve managed to adapt and I’m not sure some of
the others could tolerate a move of that magnitude mentally. It’s
comfortable here and we can make a go of it. It’s as safe as we can
make it and…well, it’s home.”

Greg gets that reasoning. Comfort and a
feeling of safety are vital to long-term survival. They’ve passed
the most pressing survival issues of shelter, sustenance, and
safety. There is still the stress of the potential marauders but
that would be true anywhere. They have that up north but the
stresses there are greater and seemingly every day. Perhaps they
should find a place like this and move.

Thoughts for that later
, Greg thinks,
finishing his meal.

“Seeing the day is getting on, I doubt
you’ll make it to your destination before dark. You are welcome to
stay here with us,” James says. “You’ll have to stay the night
somewhere and we’d welcome the company.”

Greg heads outside to talk over the offer
with the team and they agree it would be nice to sleep on real beds
and have another hot meal. He knew they wouldn’t turn that offer
down.

What soldier says no to a hot,
home-cooked meal?
Greg thinks, returning and thanking James for
his offer.

The team spends the afternoon helping mend
the fences they obliterated on their run through the fields. In the
evening, they sit in the restaurant with the townspeople engaging
in whatever conversation arises. The late afternoon glow spreads
across the parking lot outside. Greg feels nervous tension come
over him as he looks through the glass to the ending day outside.
The people make no move to finish their evening and relocate to a
more secure location. It feels odd to be sitting in such an
indefensible place with the time of the night runners quickly
descending. The anxiety building inside is almost suffocating. He
notices the other team members apprehensively glancing outside. The
later the day gets, the more their glances are directed to the
windows and farther back in the building. Yet, the din of
conversation and laughter inside never changes.

It’s at this point that Greg fully realizes
the stress of what they’ve all been through and continue to carry
on a day-to-day basis. Night and darkness will always be a source
of fear for as long as he walks this earth – at least when outside
of the compound. He recognizes the comfortable feeling the
residents here have. They have the same back at Cabela’s, but an
underlying current of tension doesn’t allow them the same comfort
these people seem to have. He wonders if they will ever be able to
achieve something like this and envies these people their ability
to relax.

Night closes in. The shrieks Greg has become
accustomed to when the darkness falls near population centers don’t
materialize. That doesn’t ease his anxiety though. Eventually, the
people of the town begin departing for home. The normalcy of what
used to be everyday life has now become the unreal nature…something
that doesn’t seem right anymore.

After the restaurant has almost emptied,
Greg and his team bid their farewells. James has set them up in
several rooms in the hotel. Although still anxious about the
nighttime and night runners, Greg asks for rooms on the lower
floor. That is so they can make a quick exit to the Stryker. The
atmosphere with the survivors is relaxed, but he sets a watch
nonetheless. Those on watch will stay in the Stryker. He trusts the
folks they’ve come into contact with but, with the world the way it
is, that trust only extends so far. He noted that James set them up
in the hotel rather than inviting them into their homes. James is
only extending his trust so far as well, and Greg is sure that
James has set someone to watch them. It’s possible that James feels
like the Stryker is a two-sided coin. On one side, having it parked
on the northern end, where they have been harassed previously by
bandits, is a security to the town but, on the other side, it also
represents a threat to the community.

Greg takes the first watch with another team
member. Looking over the dark countryside, he reflects on the
world. It’s not really that much different than what he’s been
accustomed. His parents were killed when he was young, and he was
sent to his grandmother to be raised. Life was as normal as any
other child. They weren’t rich but his grandmother worked to
provide for him. Not having the money to go to college, he was able
to get an Army scholarship and rode that through his four years at
the university. He graduated with his degree and an Army
commission. After that, he opted for the Ranger path and has been
deployed for the most part since his training. He’s used to being
away from home and surrounded by enemies so this new world he finds
himself in isn’t entirely different. The only change is that the
enemy is on his home soil. And those that he protects have been
significantly reduced in numbers.

Looking over the darkened town, he’s glad to
know that some have a greater chance of seeing this through. It
gives hope that they’ll find the soldiers’ families and, on a
larger scale, for the continued existence of humankind. The people
in this town are thinking in the long-term and seem to have it
handled providing marauders don’t get to them. As far as bandits
go, they won’t last too long in this world because of their
mentality. Their take-what-you-can-when-you-want attitude is a very
short-term way of thinking and that’s how long they usually last:
short-term.

There’s a peace here that Greg can’t quite
get secure with. He’s become used to that underlying tension.
That’s not a bad thing, but it can’t be sustained. He’ll have to
talk with Jack when he sees him next. At the very least, these
people have given him something to strive for and the knowledge
that it can be done.

Dawn arrives without a single scream to wake
him. He folded into the comfort of the sheets and fell instantly
asleep following his watch. Feeling like he could sleep the entire
day away, he rises and performs his ablutions. Walking into the
parking lot with the sun having just crested the eastern horizon,
the metal hull of the Stryker is bathed in the early morning rays.
After the comfort of the bed, he’s loathe to climb back into the
cramped quarters which will more than likely be their only home for
some time to come.

James pulls in with his pickup shortly
thereafter and greets Greg and his team. Off in the distance, Greg
hears other vehicles driving through the streets of the city. The
town had a day off with their arrival but is now back at whatever
tasks they have. Greg is eager to be off but will miss this place.
He won’t forget the peaceful feeling but doubts he will ever see
these people again. It’s like those at Mountain Home. To the people
he meets, he and the team are just a quick interruption in their
quest for survival – something that will be told in stories around
the table for a couple of weeks and then forgotten.

He and James exchange some small talk and
they are soon on their way. They follow the truck through the
northern gate and turn left onto a dirt road. They turn again and
come to a narrow dirt causeway between two sloughs. The sloughs
give way to swampy areas that would be next to impossible to cross
with a motorized vehicle. James negotiates an almost invisible
pathway through. They wind this way and that until arriving at the
river. Sand and stunted trees line the banks. James guides them to
a narrow part of the river and they ford. Staying near a hill, they
come across another dirt road. Following it, they soon intersect
the highway north of the fallen bridges. James pulls to halt on the
side of the road. Greg has the Stryker pull behind and the two meet
on the grit-covered shoulder.

“Thank you for everything,” Greg says as the
two exchange handshakes.

“It’s our pleasure. Good luck to you,
captain,” James says.

“And to you, James.”

There’s nothing left to be said, so Greg
climbs aboard the armored vehicle. He has the driver pull onto the
road and, with a wave to James, they head north. Greg glances back
to watch James diminish as they motor down the road. James climbs
into his truck, backs up, and, entering the dirt track, disappears
from view. Not far to the north, the road bends, turning east
toward Pueblo.

If anything, the terrain is even more remote
and barren upon leaving Lamar. They continue their slow travel and
it’s a couple of hours before they come across their first town.
Greg holds to his plan and circumvents the city. He’s ever-watchful
for the bandits James cautioned them about. They aren’t impervious
in the Stryker, and he is mindful that it wouldn’t take much in
today’s world for a group to raid a military base and come up with
hardware that could quickly take them apart. At their current rate
of travel, Greg hopes to arrive at their destination by
mid-afternoon. This assumes they can continue to circumvent the
larger towns and make it safely through Pueblo and Colorado
Springs.

The highway continues to parallel the river
course. Greg finds a gas station in the small town of Manzanola
which has above-ground fuel tanks. With the team set out in a small
perimeter, they top off the Stryker’s tanks. Well into their day,
they haven’t run across a single sign of survivors. It makes Greg
think that the town of Lamar and finding others in the nearby
communities was either a fluke, or anyone in the towns they’ve come
across since has ran afoul of the bandits. Either way, each place
has proven to be a ghost town. With little food sources nearby –
cattle or fertile hunting grounds – he doubts any night runners
have survived in this remoteness either.

Each road sign they pass shows the mileage
to Pueblo counting down. At times, the opposite lane of the
two-lane highway gives the impression of vehicle tracks – side by
side sections of pavement can be clearly seen. The traces appear to
be the width of autos rather than armored vehicles which brings
some relief to Greg. He isn’t sure of the observations as it could
be just a trick of the wind, but he isn’t taking any chances. He
slows and they methodically survey the area ahead before proceeding
on. This takes more time, but Greg doesn’t want to gamble.

Housing developments and small industrial
parks appear ahead as they near the outskirts of Pueblo. At the
very edge of the metropolis, a highway branches off which skirts
the outer edges of the city. The Stryker turns onto this new
highway and they are soon in barren lands once again. Before long,
residential neighborhoods appear to the left toward the urban
sprawl, with the large expanse of Colorado State University to the
right. As they proceed, there are an increased number of bare spots
in the pavement.

Just past the university, Greg has the
vehicle turn onto a highway that parallels the interstate
connecting Pueblo and Colorado Springs. The increase in the vehicle
track sightings makes him nervous, especially with the report from
James that the bandits came from this direction. With Fort Carson’s
proximity and the large armored presence there, he wants to proceed
with all the caution at their disposal. The thought of abandoning
this leg of their mission doesn’t enter his mind, but he won’t rush
pell-mell into it either. The protection and armament of the
Stryker suddenly seems very limited compared with what they could
come across.

They leave Pueblo behind in the
mid-afternoon. A wide river bottom separates them from an
interstate a klick to the west. The river and its surroundings will
make it difficult for anyone on the other side to intercept them.
The route they have chosen will join with the interstate just south
of Colorado Springs.

Sporadic farm houses disappear entirely as
they proceed north. Escarpments hide the interstate for miles at a
time. The eastern hillsides, showing deep ravines from runoffs, are
cast in shadow as the sun pushes its way west across the blue sky.
They need to be on the other side of the river in order to get to
Manitou Springs, so it’s imperative that they find a bridge or some
other means to cross. Going through Colorado Springs isn’t an
option; an urban environment can become a deadly place.

There isn’t a single bridge to be found
along the way and Greg doesn’t want to risk foundering the Stryker
while fording across sandy beaches he sees next to the river. They
continue until sporadic farm houses give way to the beginnings of a
residential neighborhood. He’s left with a decision. They can go
through the urban area to find a bridge to cross, they can ford the
river, or they can abandon the mission altogether. With the last
not being an option and, as he doesn’t want to enter into the large
community ahead, he has the vehicle strike west.

Traversing an empty field, they come to the
river. It’s not wide at this point, and they cross a small strip of
sand before plunging in. The river is initially deep, rising to the
hull itself, but shallows as they progress across. On the far side,
the Stryker powers up a low ridge of rock. The engine whines louder
and the nose of the Stryker rises into the air before crashing back
down with a jolt. To one side, hidden in a copse of trees, old
washing machines, toilets, and other discarded sundries are
piled.

Greg has them continue west and across the
interstate where it becomes obvious that vehicles have passed
recently. Their passage has cleared a path on both sides of the
freeway. The Stryker climbs and descends the small embankments of
the highway. In a field on the far side, with the outskirts of the
city in the distance to their right, Greg has two teammates
disembark to erase the marks of their passage as best as they can.
He covers them with the .50 cal, but they are able to complete
their task unhindered.