When he reached the snowbank, he saw the blood stains and small feet, the upper body was shredded. I bet one or more of the shells exploded right over him. Gary checked the boots, small, I bet a teen, where the hell did teens get shoulder fired missiles? Why did they attack us? Gary looked at the rifle, which was close to the body, US M16A4. US military magazines and ammo. US military BDU pants. Where are the others? Ah, someone dragged wounded away from the rear of what was the snow bank they’d dug an igloo where they watched the road. I wonder how many poor souls trying to escape the glaciers they killed.
Gary searched the area; he followed the tracks where at least one body or wounded had been dragged. He saw the trail led to an exit ramp where there were tracks of a truck using chains. He decided it wouldn’t be safe to follow the tracks on foot, so he returned to the Bradley. “Guys, the person we killed was a teen, top third of their body was shredded. I found tracks. Someone had dragged at least one body or wounded to an exit ramp where they were put on a truck with chains. I saw the chains leading away from the freeway.
The sergeant nodded, “I wish our damn radios worked. I’d like to tell the Colonel what you found.”
Gary nodded, “Are you going to turn around or wait here for them to catch up to us?”
“If those who shot us are a threat, I don’t want them to trap us here. I’m going to reverse course and tell the Colonel. What do you think?”
“Good idea, I have no idea what we’re facing, whatever it is, I don’t like it. Who would attack an armored vehicle with an M16? The only thing that comes to mind is they wanted us to stop so a larger force could hit us and take over the Bradley. If there are a lot of them, they might have set IEDs along the road ahead of the exit ramp. How’s the IED search equipment on board?”
“Aren’t any. This vehicle was never shipped overseas. It got upgraded here and was in reserve in case it was needed over there. We don’t have the IED package installed.”
“How good is this armor against an IED?”
“I have no idea, how large of an IED?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay, let’s go see the Colonel and ask him to replace us with one of the upgraded scout vehicles.”
“I like that idea. I like any idea that gives us better protection. How many people stayed behind?”
“I don’t know the number, we’d heard it could have been more than thirty million.”
“Thirty damn million people decided not to be relocated? Why? Why would they decide to stay after all the scientists explained what was going to happen and how long it might last?”
“I guess many thought the storm would blow over or it wouldn’t be as bad as the government said and many didn’t want to lose their homes. Whatever the reason, once we leave, they’re screwed unless they have a way to make it below the freeze line because we’re the last unit to be sent south.”
Chapter 20
Colonel Spivey listened to Gary and the Bradley crew. “Kids armed with RPGs? Why would they attack us? Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to send one of the tanks supported by three Bradley’s and two special forces squads, I’m send the special forces because they have experience helping many types of populations, they don’t look like normal soldiers hence I’m hoping the people will listen to them. This was supposed to be so simple, sit in the base and assist those who want to travel south until we get the order to move south ourselves. Nowhere in the intel report did it mention kids with RPGs and roaming gangs on snowmobiles.”
First Lieutenant “Doc” Landers nodded after he heard his orders. While Doc took his two squads, dressed in arctic camo followed the trail of tracks, the convoy stopped. Thermal sights scanned the area around them to make sure they weren’t jumped. Every hour crews swept the fresh snow off the tops of the vehicles. Erin looked around, “What’s happening? Why are we stopped here? How long will we be here?”
“Honey, I have no idea. The convoy stopped so we wait until it moves again, maybe there’s another hole in the road or they found something interesting.” Jon was thinking threat but didn’t want to say it. He glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Trinity had her head on Frank’s shoulder. A soldier knocked on his window. “Mr. Coats, we’re going to be here for a while, here are some MREs, best we can do right now.”
“Any idea how long we’ll be here?”
“Sorry no. The Colonel sent a couple of teams out to investigate something. That’s all I know.”
“Thanks.”
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Doc pointed towards a series of igloos. All had a glow from the inside which meant there were fires burning inside of them. He whispered to his second in command. “I wonder who taught them how to build igloos? I wonder how many of them there are. I don’t see any sentries or guard positions.”
“Spread out, we have enough people that two can check each igloo, try not to destroy them.”
The teams slowly and silently moved through the deep snow until two of each team was standing next to the igloos’ openings. When the second hand on their
