Chapter 13: Upon This Rock...
DE healed slowly, going out on patrol through the woods as often as possible. No one had figured out who their attackers had been, and no one went
looking. Things were calm but tense. However, TheDemonHunter had still approved the additional squads topside, moving more of the command section up
there. Lysergic was now in command, with eight squads of five under him. Deus led two, and Springer had been promoted to Lead Sergeant for the other
pair. Four more squads of five remained on-call, to be led by John Bull. All squads were directed by Lysergic from the house proper. Ranger, Saucerat,
Gothique and RANT were the individual squad sergeants for �active� squads. Radios had been handed out to them.
DE walked through the woods with Gothique�s squad. Sauce�s squad was circling around the perimeter from the other direction, heading towards the gate
like them. DE found it invigorating to be in the great outdoors, even more so with Gothique. Her personality lit up rooms in his mind - she was
charmed, beautiful, funny dark...everything he wanted. He talked quietly with her as they walked. He carried his shotgun in a sling and his sword,
leaving his pistol behind. The holster hurt too much for obvious reasons.
He smiled and laughed gently at her jokes, and she blushed and laughed at his compliments. They got along great. Sometimes, when he wished that she
wasn�t SR�s girl. He banished the thoughts fairly quickly, though. As they walked, they heard footsteps crunching on the gravel of the road. Deus
smiled a little to himself and backed away from Gothique a little, advancing about three paces. Suddenly, his radio squawked to life.
�Deus, Lysergic �ere. We got militia comin� down the road waving white flags. They�re armed, and the ball�s in your court.�
�#!�
Deus clumsily swung the shotgun off his shoulder, trying to aim as everyone else scrambled for cover. No shots came, however. The people on the road
simply stopped.
�Hey, in the bushes! We come in peace.�
Eight men soon on the road, weapons still over their shoulders. Deus�s men advanced slowly out of the bushes, expecting trickery.
�My name is Lieutenant Evan Jones, and I�m here from the Adirondac Militia Group, 5th company. We heard about this base after a bunch of shot-up
locals headed our way. Said you #ed them up. We�d like to speak to your leader.�
�Dude, they came and shot at us first.�
�Yeah, they said that too. Desperate people. That�s not what we�re here about.�
Deus and his squad disarmed the militiamen, �escorting� them back to the compound. Most seemed ragged but tough folks, who looked tired bu otherwise
healthy. By the time they arrive at the house, TDH was already there, waiting alongside Lysergic and the guns of Springer�s two squads of men. The
respective leaders shook hands, and the militiamen were escorted inside.
Two hours later, they emerged. DE and his soldiers were lounging around, half expecting an attack and half expecting to fall asleep. The militiamen,
grim-faced, walked off into the night.
�Guys, girls, come here. Look at this,� TheDemonHunter called out. The blurry-eyed ATSers walked in from the porch, and sat down around the living
room.
�Turn on the TV.�
�But we haven�t been getting anything but static for weeks!�
�Just do it.�
Deus shrugged and turned on the TV. Several commercials blared across the screen before a face appeared. A clean cut young man with glasses and a dark
suit sat behind a large, wooden desk.
�Tired? Sick? Envirocorp will help. We�re a part of the New World order, here to promote peace and harmony. Now for the news.�
�After the outbreaks of anthrax, Spanish Flu and dozens of other viruses, Envirocorp along with Federated-Boeing and other members of the new
Corporate Council stepped in. We are sorry to report that almost seventy percent of Congress is either dead or in critical condition under our care.
The President is dead, and the remainder of the Senate and Congress have backed the efforts of the American Corporate Council to regain order and
control the outbreaks...�
Everyone in the room stared at the television in shocked silence. The meaning dawned on them, shocked them into silence until Gothique spoke.
�They...they did it? They released this on the world?�
� Word is they released nothing. Yes, the CDC was incinerated. However, nothing escaped and the building had been evacuated. Small outbreaks were
planned in slums and other areas of �little economic interest� The nukes landed in mostly uninhabited areas and on the facilities of other
corporations. It was all a clever sham. They �removed� everyone at the top. Just look at the corporations left standing.�
�Haliburton, Fed-Boeing... these are all Freemason controlled, aren�t they?�
�How do we know, TDH?�
�Why are none of us sick? How come almost everyone made it here? How come the big businesses just happen to have the cure ready?�
People cursed and exchanged glances of horror around the room.
�How do we know for sure?�
�Look at the evidence. Anyways, our new allies as well as Genya have managed to make the same claim. Britain is undergoing a similar crisis.�
�Wait a second, what about the interment camps?�
�That, I�m going to check out myself. I�m leaving Lysergic in charge here for awhile while I check it out alone. If I�m not back in three days, he�s
now in charge. Orders are to start building defences. Lysergic has the specs. Everyone, full out on this. Good luck.�
Shocking! What new craziness awaits our heroes? Tune in next time for... oh, I give up. get the Rocky adn Bullwinkle guy.
DE
[Edited on 8-2-2004 by DeusEx]