We could have used them earlier today.
Tammy was finding it hard not to be bitter as she walked through the gate and into the complex.
The first building beyond the guard tower appeared to be the headquarters.
A grizzled old man was standing in front of the building. The man wore a perpetual frown on his lined face. The soldier stepped up to this man and saluted.
“Sir. Here are the refugees, as requested.”
“Thank you, son.” The old man said, not unkindly. “Give us a minute.”
Without question, the soldier saluted and retreated to a moderate distance away.
Tammy noticed that Mike, BB and Abi all stood at attention. Breanne looked unimpressed. Steve looked scared.
“At ease.” Mike and his crew shifted to a more comfortable position.
“My name is Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Shaw. Welcome to our FOB. ... Sorry, that’s ‘forward operating base’. I’m the senior officer at this outfit, acting as the CO, or commanding officer. Mostly because anybody senior to me has either died already or is hiding somewhere.” A small flash of irritation crossed the Lieutenant Colonel’s face.
“Anyway, we’ll get all of you squared away. We can use you dittyboppers.” He stated, nodding his head at Mike’s threesome. “Got a mission in the morning. Might make you regret leaving Kilo two-six. You will be briefed shortly.” He regarded Breanne and matched her frown. “You civilians will be put up in one of the spare tents. We got a lot of spare tents now.”
Tammy was impressed that Shaw knew all about them already. She guessed that the marines had called ahead with the lo-down.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant Colonel Shaw. Is your mission tomorrow to head back to the safe zone to rescue the people there?” Tammy could not suppress the reporter in her.
Shaw gave her a flat stare. “That’s all. I know you may have some questions. Please relay these through my aide.” Was his reply.
That must be code for don’t ask questions – they won’t get answered... Tammy guessed.
Shaw had waved the soldier over. Tammy couldn’t help herself though.
“But, what about those people? There must be hundreds of people, alive, trapped in the safe zone! Shouldn’t you mount a rescue mission?”
Shaw was not amused.
“Listen, miss. This isn’t the same world that we lived in a few days ago. There will be a new Order. People are going to need to accept that. Without question.”
Tammy was shocked and appalled. She felt her color rising and was about to argue when the aide stepped in front of her, facing Shaw.
“Please get these folks situated.” He pointed at Mike and his crew. “Row A, tent four.” Then he pointed at the civilians “Row C, tent nine. Dismissed.”
Shaw stared at Tammy without uttering another word. His face showed no emotion.
The aide took charge. “Please follow me. We will drop off the comms crew first.” Once again, he immediately started walking, not waiting to see if anybody would follow.
Tammy hesitated a moment. She wanted to challenge the officer. But he was already looking towards the gate. When she followed his gaze, she saw the helicopter crew. She started to follow the rest of her group, which had already departed, but first she waved at Frankie. The marine grinned and waved back. The marines stopped in front of Shaw and saluted.
As Tammy walked away, she swore that she heard one of the marines address Shaw as ‘Captain’.
Maybe marines and army have different ranks? She wondered, then quickly forgot about it as she followed the rest of her group.
The communications team was deposited without much ceremony. There was already another officer present, waiting to brief them.
The soldier led them back down the aisle of tents to the main area, and from there into a second aisle. There were several soldiers standing around. Tammy felt a bit self conscious as some of the men were gawking at her. She even heard a few low whistles.
They stopped in front of a tent.
“This is you. I advise you to only leave the tent for urgent business. Latrines are at the end of this aisle, but I advise you to use the bedpans that you will find inside.”
Without another word, he turned and walked away.
Steve and Breanne crept slightly closer to Tammy, clearly not feeling at ease. The tent in front of them was a rather daunting blocky looking structure.
“WELCOME TO OUR ESTABLISHMENT!” All three jerked, startled by the sound.
A Latino soldier approached them from the next tent over.
“We have plenty of empty rooms at our fine hotel this evening.” He spread his arms out, presenting the camp behind him, and continued the motion with a flamboyant wave towards the tent in front of them.
He walked past the threesome and up to the tent entrance. “These fine-looking structures are called DRASH. Any of you know what that means?”
He continued before anybody could respond. “DRASH stands for ‘deployable rapid assembly shelter’. It takes no time to set up, and keeps troops sheltered in any climate. Now that’s what I call tax dollars well-spent!” He flashed another grin.
He reached up and started opening the door of the structure. “Here, let me get this for you.” He said as he industriously undid the door ties and opened the zipper.
“We can do it ourselves; you know.” Breanne was clearly uncomfortable by the forward nature of the soldier.
He took a step to the side, his hands raised in a gesture of appeasement. “Ok. Ok. I was just trying to be a good neighbor. I figured that you could use a friendly face after dealing with that Rupert.” He waved in the direction the aide had gone.
Tammy took a step forward. “It’s ok Breanne.” She turned to the soldier. “Thank you,” She looked at his name tag. “Garcia.”
Garcia smiled and nodded. He took another step to the side to show that he meant no harm. Then his smile faltered for a
