A moment later they saw the mini gun on top of the LAV in front of them open fire. Frank said, “Look at that, it looks like a line of flame being fired.”
“Why? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Tracer bullets. It looks like Star Wars doesn’t it?”
“Are we the Empire or the Resistance?”
Frank hummed the ‘Imperial March’ from Star Wars, “I think we’re the Empire. We’re dressed in white…”
“So are they.”
“Yeah I hadn’t considered that. I guess we’re the good guys.”
“Good.”
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General Spivey shook his head while reviewing the small amount of intel they had on the Satanic Church and its leader who he had and let go. I blew that one. I should have kept him and taken him with us…but then his followers, of which I’m sure there are many, would have followed us and attacked us. I was charged with protecting the civilians and moving my people to the next FOB. How did that asshole destroy our FOB? Our orders were, if something had happened to the FOB, we were to proceed to the next base, which we did. I wish we knew how many people he had and what kind of weapons. I hope we have enough people to carry out my mission. How many people could that satanic asshole have recruited? How many stayed behind? How are they surviving. No, I don’t think I want to know the answer to that question. I saw what they were doing in that cave. They really are evil.
@@@@@
President Lanoha reviewed the latest data and he looked around the conference table at his closest advisors. “Are you kidding me? Cannibalism? Really? We’re in the twenty-first century and they’re eating people? What in the hell is going on and why can’t we stop it? Is the report that they captured and killed, and ate, ATE, God damn it, ATE everyone in one of our FOBs? We set those bases up to help people. How the hell did this happen? Don’t we have guards at these bases?”
The Secretary of Defense replied, “Mr. President, we don’t know what happened. We received the report from General Spivey when he arrived at the Scranton FOB.”
“Thank God some of the fiber cables survived or we wouldn’t have any information. Did the general accept his new orders and is he returning to find and destroy these satanic assholes?”
“Yes, sir. He’s on his way back north.”
“Excellent.”
The AG asked, “Sir, based on the First Amendment, don’t these people have the right to have their own religion?”
“Praying to Satan isn’t a religion…”
“Sir, it is and the courts have accepted Satanic religions as legitimate. They’ve even allowed statues of Satan to be put up…”
“How in God’s name does anyone know what Satan looks like? I don’t care what the courts may have said, I won’t accept Satanic religions. I definitely won’t accept cannibalism. What other resources do we have to send to root these criminals out and end this before it spreads across the country and causes us more problems.”
The Secretary of Defense checked his tablet, “We have the First Marine Battalion which has four squads of Marine Force Recons. They should be able to locate and root out the cannibals.”
The AG shook his head, “Sir, I strongly suggest you reconsider and not go forward with this. I don’t agree with their religion, but under the Constitution as the country’s AG, I have to defend their right to practice it.”
“I see, is that your final word on the issue?”
Nodding, “Yes, sir.”
“Then I will accept your resignation. Thank you for your years of service.”
“I didn’t resign…”
“Funny, I know I heard you offer your resignation and I just accepted it. The Secret Service guards will escort you out of the facility.”
“Mr. President, I urge you not to break their First Amendment rights. If you do this, where will it end?”
“It ends when these people are destroyed. I don’t think the founders had satanic religions and cannibalism in mind when they wrote the Amendment so I’m helping them out. I will miss you.”
When the door closed, the President shook his head, “Send the Marines. How can you get them there quickly?”
“We have the trains which can take them to Roanoke. From there they’ll have to drive north.”
“What vehicles do they have?”
“The Marines got rid of their tanks back in 2020, so all they have is LAVs. All have been up-armored and up-armed. Most have 30mm auto cannons and the new 6.5mm mini guns.”
“Send them, they are to report to General Spivey. Have a runner take the message to the good General so he knows help is coming.”
“Yes, sir.”
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Trinity asked, “What’s the four horns mean?”
Frank checked a small list taped to the dashboard, “Means we’re going to be stopping to refuel.”
Trinity cracked her window, “Shit…”
Ariden shook her head, “Watch your mouth. That’s a bad word.”
“Quiet little one.” Trinity looked at Frank, “How are we going to do this?”
“We’ll stop and I’ll pour the gas we have in the fuel cans. We were told not to turn off the engine. We can’t remain standing still too long or our tires will develop flat spots. Remember when we started and the SUV vibrated. It was because the tires had flat spotted which means the tires developed flat spots where they were sitting in the cold.”
“Do you need help?”
“Can you climb in the back and push the cans to the back? Also put the heater on high and push the fan to its highest settings because, once I open the back, the wind is going to blow in here and freeze us.”
The convoy stopped. Trinity climbed over the seats and
