Jacob watched as James and Rogers worked together clearing areas and blind spots around corners. They quickly cleared danger areas and leapt back ahead before pulling the rest of the column in close behind them.
The way they traveled down the main street was far different from anything they’d done in training. The method in which the point man and slack man played off of each other’s movements and hand signals seemed choreographed. Jacob slowed as he watched the men out front clear another corner until Stephens moved up behind, urging him forward.
“What’s wrong? You see something?” Stephens whispered.
Jacob flinched, startled by the man moving up beside him. “What? No, it’s just… how am I supposed to do that?” he asked, pointing ahead with a free hand.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get it. Trust me, you’ll be glad you got teamed up with us,” Stephens answered.
Jacob stopped and froze when he noticed the men out front had vanished from view. Stephens grabbed him by the collar and together they knelt behind the body of a large Chevy sedan resting on flat tires.
“Where did James go?” Jacob whispered.
Stephens didn’t answer; instead, he put a gloved finger to his lips to signal silence while he searched the streets ahead. Jacob looked back and saw Jesse lying flat on the ground, his M4 resting in front of him. Marks was just behind him, looking through a pair of binoculars. Jacob turned back ahead and searched the empty street.
He saw a flash of movement on the far side of the street, which turned out to be a stout woman in a flannel shirt and camouflage pants. She carried an assault rifle close to her chest and ran to the front of what was once a pharmacy. She stopped at the front and two more men dressed similarly ran past her and leapt through the broken storefront window. After a brief pause, she followed them inside.
“Deltas?” Jacob whispered.
“No… bandits, maybe militia; either case, they’re bad news and we try to avoid them when we can,” Stephens answered.
Jacob looked at the building then back at Stephens. “So we just ignore them?”
Stephens shook his head. “Any groups out here are usually bad news; the types that can’t adapt to the camps or military service. Best case, they’re friendly and want our gear and help but they’ll slow us down and deplete our supplies.”
“And worst case?”
“They’re hostile and will kill us to get what we have. Listen, some of them ain’t all bad, but the groups out here are noisy and they take a lot of chances. Especially the ones this close to friendly lines, there’s usually a reason they choose to live in the hot zone. We need to keep our distance, okay? You may find this hard to believe, but it’s not all puppy dogs and rainbows outside the wire.”
Jacob nodded his understanding. Stephens pointed far ahead, turning Jacob’s attention back to the patrol. The point man was on his hands and knees and waving them forward.
“Okay, bro, you need to be sneaky now. Get your ass up there without them seeing you,” Stephens whispered, patting Jacob on the back.
Jacob nodded and pushed himself back onto his rear. He gripped his rifle tight as he took a last look toward the pharmacy building. The stout woman was nowhere to be seen. He stepped off lightly at first, testing the sound of his footfalls. Hearing nothing, he picked up the pace and ran ahead expecting to hear the sounds of gunfire. Finding another bit of cover ahead, he stopped and ducked low to hide behind a small van while he caught his breath. He glanced back and saw Stephens signaling for Jesse to move up.
Jacob duck-walked ahead and looked around the front bumper of the van. Closer now, he could see into the pharmacy storefront and hear the sounds of shelves being pushed over, but the woman was still nowhere to be seen. Looking ahead, he spotted Rogers waving him on impatiently. Jacob got back to his feet and sprinted forward. Running with his head down, he didn’t stop until he was feet away from Rogers. He carefully slowed his pace and knelt down beside the other soldier, breathing heavily as he pressed himself into the cover of an old stone bench.
He looked over his shoulder in time to see Jesse move up and drop into cover beside him. They held their position until all of them were grouped back together. Rogers shot Jacob thumbs up before the man climbed back to his feet and resumed his patrol just behind James. Stephens waved Jacob on and he moved ahead and fell back into the column. Looking around, they’d manage to move through the town and were now approaching the marina.
Long sets of wooden docks with small boats in all states of disrepair greeted them. Some were sunk in the water all the way the rails, their taut ropes still tied to cleats on the docks. In some places, larger boats had dropped below the surface and taken bits of the wooded pier structure with them. Jacob moved quicker now, mimicking the movements of James and Rogers ahead as they ran crouched down on the tips of their toes and stopping only briefly to look at their surroundings.
Soon they were deep into the marina, near a U-shaped fork in the wooden docks. James stepped near the edge of the dock and reached out at a filthy canvas tarp, covered in mildew and mold. He tugged at the edge and fought the fabric until it moved. Rogers stepped forward and assisted the bearded solder; together they removed the heavy tarp, revealing a dark
