“Very good. Finally you!” the sergeant pointed at Bill, “Why are we showing you this?”
Bill thought for a moment, then said “Because you don't want to die and you don't want us to die. Following orders saves lives.”
The sergeant laughed, “What's your name corporal?”
“Bill Carson.”
“Mike, you got a thinker in this one, watch him close! Following orders is paramount to success. You might not always understand why you are ordered to do what you have to do, but you need to do it. When the situation changes, becomes more challenging than expected, we have to change with it, sometimes quickly. There were mistakes made here, first and worst, were the men running away, if that could have been stopped this would just be more news footage of our success. Second was a lack of flexibility of the commander in charge to pull back his troops and re-group or, yes, retreat. We lost forty men out there and these are men we needed too, men who should have followed orders, so that hurts even more. Do you know what happened to the first man who ran away?”
The squad shook their heads, but all of them felt a tightening in their stomachs.
“He was executed as an example to the other men in his squad. His weapon failed him and he failed his squad by not being able to clear a simple jam. And forty men died. Make that forty-one. We are not here to make your lives miserable, we are here to teach you to operate your rifles, follow orders and stay alive. Why are we doing this now corporal Carson?”
“There has been some grumbling in the ranks lately. Complaints about food and training.”
“And the legality of our drafting you to serve. There have also been squads that haven't been pulling their weight, using various members to get out of their share of the duties assigned to them and we can't have that. Everyone needs to do their best, not just the younger, more fit for duty squads. Your group has more than its share of old men, but you are not the only ones suffering with old soldiers. We have seven more days of training and I plan to use them to their fullest. You will go out and fight the enemy, you will beat them and you will return home to your lives as quickly as you make it happen. There are no more activities planned for the evening, your squad needs to think about what I have said and get some extra sack time. Carson, come with us outside.”
Bill rose to his feet and followed the group out. Sergeant Wilkes stepped up to him, “Bill you need to stop supporting the sluggishness in your squad. The others have noticed it and half the complaints we have been getting have been about the favoritism shown to your boys. I am telling you this just as it was told to me by the other sergeants. The Lieutenant is not involved in this little house cleaning exercise and he will not be, do you understand? I will do my part and lead by example, but we will hold our own with the others for the next week.”
“I understand.”
“Good, because chances are you are going to be in charge of this squad when you follow Lieutenant Jenkins to the front. Half of us sergeants are staying here to train, then we will go with the next group, my name is already up for the next training period and unless you screw up you will be promoted at the end of the week. Those men don't need a friend, they need someone to tell them what to do when things get tough. Someone to tell them the right thing to do. Be thinking about a replacement corporal and have his name to me by the end of the week.”
“Sergeant?” Bill asked as Wilkes turned to move on towards the next tent.
“Yes?”
“I already have a name.”
“Good. I like that you were at least on the ball enough to think that far ahead, who?”
“Ruben Olson.”
“He is one of the sources of the problems, not to mention old enough to be your grandfather.”
“It doesn't matter the other men don't give him a hard time and he is smart, even if he isn't fast.”
“He is a weasel too. Do you know his service record?”
Bill shook his head, “No, but that doesn't matter, he gets results.”
“Two purple hearts, a few war ribbons, combat infantry badge and you know what rank he was when he quit his military career?”
“Let me guess, a sergeant?”
Wilkes laughed, “Hardly, he made it up twice and got busted down twice too, he mustered out a corporal.”
“Good then he has job experience.”
This brought another laugh from Wilkes, who called over his shoulder as he ducked into the next tent, “I will think about. Get some rest corporal.”
“Good night sergeant.”
Chapter 13
The farmhouse was well kept and the lawn looked to have been mowed in the last three or four days. The place was locked up and the people were gone, there were no signs of a fight or zombies anywhere. Surrounded by trees at the edges of the wide cornfields they could not even see the town that was less than a mile away over a small part of the North Platte river. This was a good thing. The sun was going down and Tom checked the house before going to the rocks near one side of the sidewalk. He was looking around, and eventually spied something the others did not see. Bending over he picked up a rock and reached underneath it to grab a small black box which opened easily to reveal an ordinary key.
“C'mon!” Tom called to the others waving them up onto the large wrap-around porch, “We can get in now.”
“Geez Tom, how many people are there in your family?” asked Stewart.
“Five kids, all spread out. I am the youngest. No one lives here except my mom and dad.”
“I am surprised they kept the place, it is huge.”
“Well the fields are here. Plus it comes in handy during the holidays. My brothers are in Lincoln and Laramie, one of my sisters lives in town here and the other is in Cheyenne, this is kind of a central meeting place. My mom loves it when all the kids and grand kids show up. The place is crowded then and things were worse when we only had two bathrooms. My dad put in a third one in the basement, so now we have one on each floor.”
Stewart nodded, trying not to let her eyes glaze over from getting too much unasked for information, “Well that does sound better. So we should be able to sleep here then?”
“More than enough room, there are four bedrooms upstairs and the master bedroom on the main floor. I would rather we didn't sleep in my mom and dad's room. There are two sets of bunk beds in the basement too, with the rec-room., but they are not in a room of their own or anything.” Tom unlocked and swung open the front door, the power was still on, but the air inside was only marginally cooler than the July heat outside the house. “Whew, it is hot, maybe you guys will want to stay out here while I get the air conditioning going?”
“Sure.” said Max, “I will take the kids over to the tire swing. Amelia why don't you come with me as an extra set of eyes?” Amelia agreed, but only after she took the girls to the bathroom.
Max and the boys went over to the swing and took turns watering the lilac bush close by. Kenny and Seth didn't seem to have any rules against peeing outside and had even more fun on the swing. Cory even took a break from his video games to take a turn, then Kenny discovered that the swing could be wound up tight one way and would then unwind when someone got into it. All the boys had to take turns getting spun around, liberally assisted by Kenny. Max stood between the house and the boys, so he could watch them play and keep an eye on the distant tree line by the river. If any zombies showed up, he was certain they would come from that direction. The girls rushed by him yelling for a turn so fast that he brought his shotgun up before he knew it.
“Scared you huh?” came Amelia's voice behind him.
“Yeah. I am jumpy. Too many zombies in that town.”
“I know. I am afraid we are too close, they could get out here in less than an hour, just following us on the road.”
