“Sarge, you won’t believe what’s in there, what they did to them.”
“Who? What are you talking about? Get out of my way, I want to see what’s in the storeroom.”
“Yes, Sarge, but I hope you have a strong stomach.”
Sergeant Mays slowly entered the storeroom, he paused to look around and make sure he saw everything in the large room. What he saw turned his stomach. There were two naked soldiers, he knew they were soldiers because their dog tags were still around their necks. The bodies were hanging on large polished meat hooks and they’d been butchered like cattle; someone had cut their arms and legs off. Their stomachs had been cut open; their organs removed. Their faces were frozen in pain and shock. They’d been cut apart while still alive. Mays’ began to shake. He covered his mouth with his hand, exiting the room he said, “Cut them down, put them in body bags and handle them as heroes. I want to know where the rest of the men and women from this base are! I want to know who did this to them. I want to know where they are. Finish searching the base then get the thermal sensors working and let’s find these assholes.”
Mays continued searching the FOB, he kept seeing his worst nightmares. They strung them up like meat. They cut them up like cattle. Someone is eating them! We’re looking for cannibals! Cannibals in the twenty-first century. I can’t believe it. Why didn’t they leave for the south when they could? Why didn’t they ask the staff here to move them. It was one of the main reasons for the FOBs. How could anyone sneak into the FOB and kill everyone in the base? Surely someone would see that something unusual was happening. I don’t understand how this happened.
A private ran through the base screaming, “Sarge! Sarge!”
“I’m in the armory or what was the armory. What’s up?”
“We found tracks! Do you want us to follow them?”
“NO! No one leaves the FOB, no one. I’m coming. Show me what you found. Don’t touch anything either.”
Mays pulled the charging handle of his M4 back to check there was a live round in the chamber. He then followed the private to the rear of the FOB. He tried to jog through the snow, but he realized running through snow was harder than through sand. Sand compressed and usually never reached up to one’s thighs or waist. He ended up pushing the snow away as he waded through the deep snow to where a group of soldiers were guarding something, all had their weapons held at the ready. “Make way, make way.”
Staff Sergeant Wilson nodded towards Mays, “Sarge, we found tracks.”
“What kind of tracks?”
“Look!”
Mays saw tracks which showed the drag indentations of the back of heels. There were boot prints on either side of the drag marks. Mays handed his M4 to the staff sergeant, he knelt down to look closer at the tracks. “If you look closely, there was more than one person dragged here. The other interesting mark is whomever was dragged wasn’t wearing boots. The marks are to narrow. These were naked heels. I bet whoever struck the base took their boots and I bet their uniforms. I want a patrol led by the staff sergeant to follow these tracks. Walk to the side of them, do not destroy the tracks, I’m sure the Colonel will want to see them as will the MPs. I want information, do not engage in a firefight unless you hear our people under duress or being tortured. Do you understand? Information first.”
Mays watched the patrol move into the blowing snow, dressed in their dirty white camo outer layer arctic uniforms they quickly disappeared from view. Mays wished he had a radio. He grabbed a private, “Take someone with you and bring the Colonel back here. Take one of the vehicles with a ‘ma duce’ on it. Make sure you have plenty of ammo and flares.”
“Flares? Will they do any good in this wind?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll most likely see the light reflect off of the bottom of the clouds. Whatever happens, do not get captured. Hear me, do not get captured. Remember the image of the two hanging in the motor pool like cut up beef. If you don’t want to end up like that, don’t stop for anyone or anything until you reach the convoy.”
“Yes, First Sergeant.”
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Jon and Erin had been placed in the rear of a crowded Bradley, Ariden and Trinity were placed with other kids in a trailer pulled by MRAP. Frank was in the rear of a MRAP. Ron and his sister remained in the medical trailer under close watch, but neither had opened their eyes yet.
The convoy slowed when the lead tank saw a small figure on their thermal sights, the tank commander told the driver, “Slow down, I have a thermal reading. It’s small, maybe a child. If it is, we can’t leave it out here, he or she will die.”
“What about the convoy and the Colonel?”
“I’ll sound the horn, so he knows we’re going to stop.”
“The tank slowed until it pulled up close to a small what they guessed was a teen, wrapped in an oversize army arctic coat. “I wonder where they got that coat from, I thought only the troops operating out here had been issued the new arctic outerwear. Be careful. Make sure everyone has their sidearms at the ready.”
The tank commander pulled himself out of the turret, he held a portable loudspeaker, “Hello, can you hear me?”
“I need help, can you follow me to help my mommy?”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s sick. I don’t want her to die. Please hurry.”
“Why don’t you climb
