Parchman
listento him and follow him and being stuck on the underground base for so longsubjugated to the ramblings of President Mathers and his cronies wasunbearable for him. The world was out there for the taking and wagingwar was the only world he knew.He looked around at his men. Tents set up in such military precision hefelt a warmth inside that someone only feels when they know they are incharge and on the verge of a significant and historic victory. Thecommunity were a distant memory to him now and of absolutely noconcern to him. In his head he planned to grow his army of mercenaries toaround as close to a thousand as possible and then he would be ready.
He gloated in the thought of the prison crumbling and the imminent deathof the prisoners. He had the resources to recruit and once inside the prisonhe had the power to maintain the life he was more accustomed to as aleader.
‘Lieutenant, have we identified where the surviving soldiers are?’ he saidto his second in command, a wicked looking man.
‘Our recon team have identified thirty of them in Carswell. No families. Heavily weaponized from what we can tell. You want us to go in loud orsilent,’ said the Lieutenant clearly itching for conflict.
‘We need to show a display of force, but we also need these men on ourside quickly. Get every man ready and all vehicles prepped. We need themto know we have food. We need them to know that we are military, andwe need them to trust us. You havegot two hours,’ said the General.
‘Sir, yes sir,’ he replied.
Outside Carswell the jeeps and lorries pulled up two hundred yards fromthe Air Force base and held their formation. A solitary man stood outsidethe front of the building armed only with a machine gun.
‘Let me speak to him,’ said the General. ‘He won’t shoot me. He knowswho I am. Get the men armed and into position and bring some of thosecrates of food out to the forecourt.’
The Commander General started walking towards the man, his hands outin front of him in a display of surrender. ‘You know who I am?’ he said.
‘Yes Sir, I know who you are. What I don’t know is what you want,’ saidthe man, looking behind him to the building.
‘It’s very simple Corporal,’ said the General identifying his rank from hisarmy fatigues. ‘We need help and we have the means to pay generouslyfor that help. We’re going into war and we need men, good men, like youand your group to join us’.
‘And if we refuse?’ said the man.
‘Absolutely no obligation Corporal. My men and I simply walk away, withour food of course.’
‘Food?’ said the man.
‘Yes, we have enough supplies for months. We have too much you mightsay. It would be a shame not to share it.’
The man waved at the building and slowly around twenty-five men, allcarrying weapons, joined the man in front of the Commander General.
‘And if we let you leave but keep the food for ourselves?’ the man smiled.
The General let his head drop and he let out a small laugh to himself. Heturned to his own men whose weapons were now drawn and aimed at theircounterparts. ‘That’s not an option I’m afraid,’ he said and in one motionpulled his handgun and shot the man in the head.
As the man’s body dropped to the ground the rest of the men in front ofthe dead Corporal started panicking and shouting. The General laughedand looked back at the rest of his men. ‘Stand down,’ he shouted, both tohis men and to the men in front of him. ‘Now seriously, you can’t tell mehe was your leader? Howin Hell’s name have you stayed alive so long?’he chuckled.
Another man started shouting above the noise‘Guns down. Guns down.’The remaining men slowly started to lower their guns and the noise dieddown.
‘And you are?’ said the General.
‘Captain Hernandez,’ said the man.
‘I think you mean Major Hernandez?’ said the General. ‘Now you seemlike a man who knows how to lead. A man who wants to dowhat’s bestfor his men and this great country. Am I right?’
‘Sir, these men have seen the horrors of what this new world has to offer.I speak on behalf of everyone here that we do not want to dielike him,’said Hernandez pointing to the dead Corporal. ‘What is it you can offer usCommander General Roderick?’
‘Food, water, but more than that, family. We’re building an army bigenough to take back what we deserve. We need food to survive, yes, butyou and I both need our brothers at arms to survive. That man by your sidewho is always going to have your back. Am I right Major?’
‘Sir, yes sir,’ replied the newly promoted Major Hernandez.
‘Good, good. Now come meet your brothers,’ smiled the General.
The men walked towards the General’s group of militia and within secondsthey were embracing, slapping each other on the back and sharing stories. Of course no-one mentioned the government base or the coup which sawthem try to overturn the President. The Commander General knew that ifanyone fell out of line then they would suffer the same fate as the deceasedCorporal.
The men shared out the food supplies and the new soldiers all ate well thatnight for the first time in many years. A new and bigger camp was builtoutside of the Air Force Base incorporating their new counterparts and thearmy started its ascent.
The Commander General took his army through Fort Worth and on toDallas, sometimes collecting one or two soldiers at a time and occasionallycoming across factions as large as Major Hernandez’s. Each time theincentive was food, but more than that, belonging. Being part of somethingthat existed before all this happened. Selling brotherhood and family to men who