“I see.” Grimes glanced down at his overflowing desk. “I’m dealing with hundreds of thousands of people in this area. With all the fires I have to personally put out, let alone the reports from my subordinates on countless others, I barely have time to sleep and see to personal hygiene. And that’s usually either/or. I can’t make a day of it to check up on a few hundred people when I’ve already delegated responsibility for them to a subordinate.”
Ed couldn’t fail here. “Lives are at stake,” he said quietly. “If not you then at least send someone you trust to be objective.”
The senior officer sighed. “Thank you for coming. I’ll make sure you have food and a place to sleep for now. Whatever I can do to help you, it has to take a backseat to more pressing problems. It might be a few days.”
That seemed like an encouraging answer to Ed, but he could see the others didn’t share his relief. “We might not have a few days,” Lucas warned. “We can’t wait around lost in the shuffle when anything might be happening back home.”
Grimes rapped his knuckles on his desk, a sign of his growing impatience. “There are radio operators in camp you can get in touch with. If you get word of a disaster back home I’d be willing to give you a second hearing, otherwise you’ll have to wait your turn. You’re not the only one facing disasters and with lives at stake.” He stood, a clear dismissal.
Ben opened his mouth to protest further, but Ed quickly cut in. “Thank you for your time, Colonel. We know you’ll do whatever you can.” Catching the refugee leader’s arm, he started for the exit as the rest of the group reluctantly followed behind.
They might wait around for days until they were completely forgotten, unable to get another meeting and finally forced to return home in failure. But antagonizing the one person who might be willing to help them wasn’t going to improve the situation any. At this point they just had to stick around and hope Grimes was as fair as he seemed.
In the waiting room the colonel’s aide arranged for a handy soldier to escort them to a spot in a nearby barracks tent that had a few billets open. Before taking Carrie on to where the female soldiers were quartered their escort gave them a quick rundown on meal times and camp protocol, as well as inviting them to explore the refugee camp if they found the military camp’s movement restrictions too confining.
Carrie promised to rejoin them once her sleeping situation was arranged, and in the meantime they saw to finding an out of the way spot to park the mule where they could be sure it wouldn’t be messed with. Once that was done there wasn’t much else on the agenda.
“So what do we do now?” Ben grumbled, staring at the busy camp in dissatisfaction. Ed shared his feelings, considering how much there was to do back home.
Surprisingly, Lucas didn’t. His old friend grinned and stretched slightly. “Well since we have time to burn, I could remind you we are in the center of commerce and civilization for what remains of the US of A. Now’s a good time to make connections, locate traders, and put together deals that might benefit the town.”
“We don’t have anything to trade,” Ed pointed out. “All we’ve got with us is the mule, a bit of diesel, and our weapons and gear.”
“Depending on how things go with Colonel Grimes we might end up wanting to sell the mule and hitch a ride back with the military,” Lucas replied. “It’s not going to do us much good with not even enough fuel to get home. As for not having anything to trade…” he shrugged. “We’ve got things to trade back home, everything from scavenged items to valuables and nonessentials we can afford to lose. We might even be able to arrange future deals, like I plan to do for my son if I can find a source of reloading materials.”
Ben was nodding thoughtfully. “We do represent the town. I suppose finding trade opportunities is a better way to spend our time than sitting on these cots twiddling our thumbs.”
Ed hesitated, then nodded as well. This was a good opportunity to do more for Aspen Hill than just wait for a response from Grimes. Assuming they still had a town to come home to by the time the colonel got around to doing something. “Agreed. Although we need to keep someone here at all times who knows where everyone’s going to be, in case Colonel Grimes calls us in.”
“Good thinking.” Lucas clapped him on the shoulder, grin widening. “You volunteering to take first shift?”
Blast, he’d walked into that. “I guess,” he agreed glumly, settling down on his cot.
Oh well, he wouldn’t have even known where to begin searching through a refugee camp for people to trade with, or how to arrange deals if he found someone. Lucas had a better head for logistics, Ben had more experience with refugee camps as well as more knowledge of the town’s situation as a leader, and Scott had decades of experience as a business owner. And as a trained soldier Carrie would be more useful to have along in case of trouble.
On the plus side, at least he had something to do.
Chauncey relayed the word about the group sent to talk to the military.
Trev didn’t like the idea of days of delay when Rogers might decide to try something at any moment. Even if Grimes eventually decided to act in their favor, it wouldn’t mean much if a tragedy had already taken place.
His mood wasn’t improved by the fact that in spite of doing all he could to prepare for when-or if-the major returned, once that was done it was hard to get to the more normal work. Especially since he wasn’t sleeping well thanks to worry and, well, Deb.
The brown-haired woman’s fragile mental state had taken a turn for the worse with the fear that the town might come under attack. The idea that her safe refuge might not be so safe had had her waking him up for the last two nights to sit with her for reassurance.
That had given him more incentive to get back to building his room now that the barn was finished, so her visits wouldn’t risk bothering his family in their attempts to sleep. So far he thought Deb had managed to get his attention without disturbing anyone else, at least not too much, but it was still an awkward situation.
He’d barely been paying attention to the date, so it was a surprise while doing the morning chores when Matt came around and asked him to help coordinate the commemoration.
“Of what?” he asked, setting down the length of fence he’d been moving.
His friend gave him an odd look. “The Gulf refineries attack. It’s been a year. I thought we should have a small ceremony in memory of our lost friends and loved ones, maybe fly the flag to show that the United States of America still lives on.”
Only a year. It felt like it’d been so much longer, to the point where how he’d lived before was a fading memory. Trev nodded soberly. “All right. Between my work seeing to the town’s defenses I’ll go around to the defenders and see who wants to pitch in.”
“Good. I think we should have it in the field just north of town, closer to the road. The animals haven’t been at the grass there as much, and it’s close enough to the stream to be green. We can set up a small stage with packing crates or something, trot out the sound system for some appropriate music, mix up the usual powdered drinks, maybe try to put together some decorations. Think we can manage that by this evening?”
Trev shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Although as a rule it’s usually good to start preparing a few days in advance, mostly to let people know it’s happening.”
Matt grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, actually you’re not the only one who forgot. We’ve had a lot on our plate lately, and since this is the first year we can’t really call it a tradition.”
“Gotcha.” Trev glanced over his friend’s shoulder and saw Deb approaching from her cabin, looking as exhausted as he felt. “We’ll get started after chores.”