“I love this country and its people. I love what we stand for.”
The President’s eyes welled up once more.
“It has been an honour and the greatest of privileges, to serve you. God bless you all.”
With a slight nod from the President, the feed ended.
The group stood in somber silence. Shelley saw that several people were openly weeping. Some other folks were spontaneously hugging each other – people that had only met a day earlier were bonded by a strong emotional tie to their commander-in-chief.
ABOUT AN HOUR LATER, everybody was back in the cafeteria. Sarah, Rosa, Nancy and Shelley served up a breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, Canadian ham, bacon, toast, and hash browns.
John and Mel were eating their breakfast when Jack walked up and asked to join them.
“Of course, Jack. Take a seat.” Mel was quick to invite the family friend.
Jack sat down and smiled broadly at John. He took a bite of his breakfast, his eyes still on John. John noticed. Not one to beat around the bush, he asked the boy if there was something on his mind. Jack’s eyes got big, color rising to his cheeks.
Oh shit. Looks like I have a fan. John couldn’t help but feel mildly amused.
“Well... It’s just that I saw you out there. And you were like...” The young man put down his fork and ran his fingers across his bangs, pulling his wispy blonde hair away from his forehead. John waited patiently for the boy to continue.
“You were so professional. Like you knew exactly what to do!” John smiled at the compliment.
With a slight shake of his head, John replied. “I’m no professional. Haven’t been one for a long time. Jack, did your dad never tell you about my history?”
The young man considered for a moment before replying. “Yeah, he said you were in the army. But the way you moved...”
“That’s nothing special. Most army training includes squad tactics. That was just some movements and simple communications.” John could see that this wasn’t going to be enough, so he continued.
“I used to be in the Rangers. The 75th Ranger Regiment – Regimental Reconnaissance Company to be exact. I was what they call an ‘operator’.”
“Wow...” Jack’s eyes were like saucers.
John grinned. “Hey that’s nothing. Mel here was in Special Operations Command.”
Jack just looked back and forth between John and Mel. “Cool!” Was all he could say.
“That was years ago, Jack.” Mel chimed in. The threesome ate a few bites of their breakfasts in silence before Jack again looked up with another question.
“I saw that when you were moving, you walked slowly but your head moved fast!”
“Yeah. That’s called having your head on a swivel. Your eyes and ears are your best tools out there, so you move slowly and deliberately, but you have to always be scanning for threats.”
The rest of breakfast was filled with questions. Jack was soaking up information like a sponge. Eventually, Craig rescued the couple by asking for volunteers to help inventory the supplies.
A few people stayed behind to clean up after breakfast. The rest of the group helped with the sorting and tallying of the supply drop. A couple of hours later, everything was accounted for.
THE ITEMS IN THE SUPPLY drop included three full pallets of MREs, which added up to almost 10,000 meals. Sarah had provided an accounting of the school’s food supplies as well. They would have enough food to last them for several months. One of the pallets also contained food related items, such as utensils, can openers, scrubbers, and portable stoves with fuel pellets.
The group had plenty of water, including one tank in the gym and another four outside. Of course, the taps were still working as well. Somebody raised the idea of collecting more water, but there were no barrels or anything suitable to collect the water in.
One pallet contained medical items, including several boxes of medicine. Shelley had quickly organized these. According to her, the group wouldn’t be suffering any headaches for a while. There were even a couple of cases of feminine hygiene products, along with wet napkins, hand sanitizer, soap, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a bunch of other hygiene products. There was even a case of condoms, which got awkward laughs from a few folks.
Joe took charge of the medical equipment. His findings included first aid and surgical equipment, including a ‘state of the art portable MRI machine’, as he called it.
The pallet with weapons included a military radio, a set of four in-the-ear communication devices and a set of half a dozen walkie-talkies. Or rather High Capacity Line of Sight Radios, as the box advertised.
“We should get that radio set up as soon as possible. There might be all kinds of information out there.” Joe suggested once he heard about the radio.
“Yeah, I think you’re right, Joe. Maybe we can catch an update from Matheson and the guys.” John chimed in.
“I used to be a hobby ham radio operator. This rig is a bit different, but I think I can figure it out...” Joe added.
“Jack can help you.” Craig offered. “He’s got a fair bit of experience with technology – right son?” Jack nodded enthusiastically. He had been in the electronics technology club at high school for two years and had taken an MIT elective class as part of his grade 12 curriculum.
“Count me in. I was a Communications and Transportation Expert for her royal majesty’s army.” Emily said with a self-depreciating smile. “It was a shite job, but at least I learned how to drive a bus and use a radio without cocking it up. Much.” She grinned.
Joe smiled. “Sounds good. Let’s get started as soon as we’re done here.”
John and Bill continued looking through the pallet and found multi-tools, knives, a couple of machetes, candles, headlamps, flashlights, a crank power charger, fire starters and a bunch of batteries. As for weapons, there were eighteen pistols, six rifles,
