Original Work The Unwelcome Sign

@Tywin.. welcome. Stick around, the Darwin Festival is coming to a town near you, at a time unknown, although I know you won't get your wish... because there are those of us who give the award, and those who receive...
@Zen... See... now you're draggin' 'em in from the weeds...
(that, is good writing my friend.)
@chelloveck... sorry, I gotta ask(and don't want to throw Zen's thread off too much, but), what is GOTs?

 

I'm sure there are a lot more than 5 readers, I've told a few friends to check us out. I'm not sure they have joined SurvivalMonkey yet.

 

I'm reading and enjoying it immensely. Just held off from cluttering the thread.

 

Back in March, I said this is one the best I've read on any forum. Since then, it's only gotten better. I check at least once a day for a new chapter - usually more often.

Please do keep it up. It is REALLY well done. Thank you for the effort

 

The same here; it's the first thing I do whenever I sit down at the 'puter!

 

I started reading this before 8 last night...

after two hours sleep I made it to here

No question about it, riveting,

More please

 

GOT = Game of Thrones.

May all of you have a solemn and introspective Independence Day, contemplating what it took for a small minority, estimated at 3% of the population, to put everything on the line, wealth, family, property, health, to declare a revolution, to fight against the strongest world power, in the name of Independence.
What were their motivations? What did they sacrifice? What did they gain? What did they give us? And what have we done with it?

 

Happy Independence Day sir, and, et al.
"What have we done with it?"
We overthrew an aristocracy of royals, only to replace it with an aristocracy of money?
We laid down upon the altar of Liberty, and took a nap?
We abandoned our first commission; Eternal Vigilance?
We would rather listen to the "sweet words on the tongue, like honey", that now "turn bitter in the belly."

Didn't want to derail your thread sir, but I'm not feeling very kind towards centralized governments right now, since, the pervasive corruption in the VA has now affected me personally... Like I said; Kill 'em all, and let God sort them out. Most people don't know, this was said by a Catholic bishop back when they purged 'The Heretics', that as far as I'm concerned is a moral justification for whatever karma comes to the VA/IRS/NSA/DOJ/ ... but, it is we who pay the price.

God bless us every one.
The III,
we are everywhere.
...
Piper,
The Heretic

 

An interesting new question -- should they accept outsiders?

The pros and cons require thought...

 

I chk this page every chance I get, I've enjoyed the story immensely, please don't stop, I might be 1 of the 5 readers but I'm with you till the end & then I'll be reading your next story just as avidly as this one, keep up the good work!!

 

I hate creating profiles on forums but had to so I could beg for MOAR!!!

 

I edit this thread to welcome Edit. er.. huh?

 

I stopped at Mr. Charles' house on the way back down hill. There were a couple of people working in the garden, which looked better than I'd ever seen it before.
Which is saying something.
I greeted the workers and was told Charles was inside. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a handsome older woman.
“Good afternoon. I stopped by to see Mr. Charles. Can he see visitors?”
“Oh Mr. Zed! Come in, come in! Charles will be so happy to see you!. The woman held the door open and stepped aside to let me in.
“Thank you, Miss....? I held out my hand and smiled, the warmth of the welcome melting away some of dark cloud over my head. She took my proffered paw with her own firm, dry hand.
“Lettsome. But please call me Nelly.”
“Thank you Miss Nelly, pleasure to meet you.
“Charles is in the kitchen.” She led and I followed. The house, while neat before, was immaculate. Little touches here and there spoke of a woman's hand. The smell of fresh baked bread reached me before I made it to the kitchen. Entering I found Mr. Charles seated at the kitchen table. He set down the piece of bread he was eating and stood to greet me. I couldn't keep the smile from my face, partly glad that he was well, and was doing well for himself, but mostly from the incongruous sight of him standing there in his pajamas with a belt over his head and shoulder, with his holstered revolver in it.
“Expecting trouble?” We shook hands, clasping each other's forearms with the other hand, one hand not being enough to express our pleasure at seeing each other.
Nelly moved smoothly past us and set back to work on the cooking she'd interrupted to answer the door.
“Onliest way I can get her to keep her hands to herself!” he winked and nodded his head Nelly's way. She responded by snapping him with the dish towel in her hand.
“Ow!See! She's ornery to boot!”
“Looks like self defense from where I'm standing.”
“And why is Mr. Zed still standing? I swear, you haven't got any manners, making a guest stand like that! She graced me with a smile that lit up the whole kitchen and shut off any retort Charles might have had.
I sat, as did my host, while Nelly puttered around, content now that everything was in it's proper order.
“So how you feeling?
“Well enough, mostly. Other than some pain when I move certain ways.”
“Good. Glad to hear that. What's the Doc say?”
“He stops in twice a day to check in, and poke and prod and listen and smell. He seems satisfied. Says I can move around some and in a week or two I can start doing some light work.”
After seeing that we were taken care off, with something to eat and drink, Nelly left us alone. She said she needed to go see the laundry woman, but she was being polite and giving us some room to talk.
“So.” I gave Charles a long look. “What's the story? How'd you luck into a good woman like Ms. Lettsome looking after you?”
It was hard to tell behind his dark complexion, but I believe there was a blush hiding there. He stammered a time or two before managing, “We've know each other for years and years. Her husband died a few years back. She's been taking care of me since I got kicked out of the clinic.”
“Is THAT when she started taking care of you?
“We're just good friends”
“Sure you are.” I could help teasing him, enjoying his discomfort. “But seriously, I'm glad you have someone looking after you. And it looks like the garden is doing well.”
“Yeah, Sadie and the garden folk have been a big help. Put a bit more of my land to work and I hate to say it, but taking better care of it than I was. They're going to put me out of a job.”
“Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about that. Just be glad someone's available to help.”
“Oh, I am, Zed, I am.”
We spent some time going over the situation with the gang bangers, including an accounting of Jake's and my mission to take out Threeballz. And I had to hear, again, that it wasn't my fault that Jacob got hurt. I was starting to believe it, but still felt awful about it.
It's like when you have to put down a pet, or make the decision to take a long suffering family member off of life support. You know it's the right thing, the best thing to do, but it still hurts. Bad.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Me?”
“Yeah you. Us. What are you going to have us do about the gang threat?”
“I'm not sure there is a threat anymore.” He just raised an eyebrow, that comment not even worthy of debate. “I don't know. We could go after them again, or wait for them here. Both have good points and bad. I need to think about it and talk it over with the rest of the group.”
“I never was much one for waiting.”
“You have to wait for your crop to come up.”
“If I wait to plant the seed and tend the soil, there ain't going to be no crop.”
“Point. So you vote for taking the fight to them?”
“I'm not a general, but I think I'd rather the fight be there, than here.”
“I understand. I'll keep it in mind.”
We chatted for a few more minutes, then I took my leave. Ms. Lettsome had impeccable timing, I was able to hold the door for her as she carried a neatly tied bundle of laundry into the house.
“I'd rather fight them there, than here” Stan echoed what Mr. Charles had said an hour earlier. We were gathered around Jacob's living room for our evening meeting. Stan looked around to see if anyone agreed with him.
“That makes sense to me. Keep them away from here.” Wilford nodded his agreement with his friend's statement. Daniels continued, “taking the fight to them will keep our people here safe.”
“History shows that the defender has a three to one advantage over an attacking force. Something we need to consider.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” Wil pressed Mr. Johnson for details.
“A defender has a number of advantages, picking and knowing the terrain, making improvements to it, staying put behind cover, not having to move. The attacker has to expose himself across the ground the defender has picked.”
“Mr. Johnson is right. We were always taught in the military that it would take three attackers to take out one defender. We figured one attacker would die, one would be wounded, and the third would take the position.”
“We can't handle that number of casualties.” Denise had everyone's attention. “We're stretched thin dealing with what we have. Mr. Charles, then Jacob, and even Zed's arm wound. All of that takes from our very limited resources. We can't take care of a bunch more injured people.”
“The idea is to turn the defenders into attackers. That is, if we go that way.”
“How do we do that Zed?” Stan asked the question for everyone.
“We feint with an attack, then fall back into a preselected ambush point, hoping to draw out the defenders to leave their defenses and pursue into the ambush.”
“Perfect! Let's do that then. It's the best of both worlds, we fight them away from here, but in ground of our choosing.” a number of the group nodded at Stan's enthusiastic statement.
“Simple enough to set up an 'L' shape ambush. I've got some experience with them.”
“And I'll bet you had Claymores, squad automatics, and at least one heavy machine gun or command detonated mine.” I rained on Lavell's parade. “I'm not totally against the idea, but we've put a lot of work into our defenses here. There is just so much that can go wrong with the ambush idea. What if they don't fall for it? What if the ambush fails? We're some distance away from our medical facilities. So I'm leaning on staying here.”
“What about the Frenchies?”
“What about them? You think we should get them to help? They have less training than we do. Then add in mixing two different groups and you have even more places where things can go wrong.”
“No. No, I meant, aren't we leaving them hanging?”
“How so?”
“Well, we went and stirred things up with the gang, and then left. Now the Frenchies are between us and them. Doesn't seem fair to do to them.”
“FAIR? How is anything fair?” I stood and pointed at the door down the hall, angry at the use of a guilt trip, something that hadn't worked on me even in normal times. “I've got a severely wounded young man who put his life on the line to help get rid of the threat against all of us good people. Those gangbangers would have been going after the Frenchies at one point or another. Jacob and I killed their leader, cut their numbers down substantially, and the Frenchies received a bunch of serious weapons as a result, and we've committed to giving them training. No. we aren't “leaving them hanging”, we've put them in a better position than they were before.” I paced the length of the room trying to work off some of the energy I'd worked up.
“I get why you want to do this, and there are several good reasons, but I just don't see how we can pull it off. It would require reconnaisance..”
“Remember my MOS?” Lavell interupted
I ignored it and kept on. “and taking pretty much every able bodied person here on the mission. Our numbers are almost equal, so we'd need everyone here to have any hope of pulling off a successful ambush. These people would be away from home for more than a full day, if everything went well, leaving our homes unguarded. We'd have to provide all the support for keeping two dozen people in the field.”
It seemed like I was starting to get my point through to them.
“As much as I want to take the fight to them, I don't see how we can. I'd like for us to be at the point where we could mount this type of operation, but we don't have the resources needed to have a group of people dedicated strictly to military matters, and that's what it would take.”
While the group understood the points I was making, you could see that they were disappointed. Time to do something about that.
“That doesn't mean we just sit here and wait for them to come to us.”
Stan perked up. “But you said we can't go after them. What else can we do?”
“We need to help the Frenchies. They need our support. Training to start. But we can also shore up their numbers with some of our own people. And we can look at ways we can harass any attackers before they make it this far. Make sense?”
“Meen wahn wait for deh gang banger dem, meh sohn, yah check?”
Lyle rolled his eyes as everyone broke up at Juice's St Thomian colloquialism.
He sucked his teeth and came back with “shupps, why yuh duz always be ackin' so stoopid? Yoh disgustin'. Whine yoh ack normal, no?”
The over acted local accents and the interplay between our two resident clowns broke the mood.
“yoon haf ta wait, meh sohn.” That about tapped out my ability to speak like a local. “You can be in the first group to go help the Frenchies. Pack your bag, you can leave in the morning.
“Wha? For true?” Juice looked at me to see if I was joking. I wasn't.
Lyle laughed at Juice's predicament, having unknowingly volunteering himself for a long walk and an overnight away from home.
“Lavell, we're already doing patrols. Lets make this a part of that. One patrol can go out in the morning, work with the Frenchies for the day, and the next day get relieved by the next patrol. How's that work?”
“Makes sense, we're only down a few people at a time, and they are in a good place to help us, keeping the gang bangers away from us. I'll set up a roster.”
“Cool. We shouldn't impose on the Frenchies. Make sure our people bring their own food and shelter.”
“The Frenchies won't put us up?” Bad enough the time away from home, Juice wasn't looking forward to camping out.
“They may, but let's not count on it.”
“I like it!” We all turned to Mr. Johnson, who'd been quiet for a while. “It does everything Zed says to help our security, but it also helps cement our alliance with them. Should offer us some opportunities for trade and sharing information.”
“All good points. Glad you agree.” I smiled at Mr. Johnson to let him know I appreciated the support. “Lavell, pick the people that go out tomorrow, and let them know so they can be ready. Wil, Daniels, get a radio and antenna set up, and decide which one of you is going to go along with the patrol. When you get there, set it up so we have radio comms. I'll write a letter to George to explain what's going on. I think they'll go for it, but if not, just turn around and come back and we'll think of something else.”
“How do you want to handle training them?”
“Carefully.” I grinned at Lavell. “Come up with some recommendations, based on what we've learned here. Do you have any of your people that you think could pass on the training you've given them?”
Lavell didn't hesitate. “Sure. A couple actually. I'll put them on separate patrols so they can balance the training between them.”
“Give them a curriculum to follow.”
“Will do. It will also be good for them to show it to others, cement the learning.”
“Absolutely. Qui docet, discet. Juice, spend some time with them on weapon skills. Muzzle awareness, sight picture, trigger pull, manual of arms, basic maintenance, you know the drill.”
“Yeah Zed, no problem. I'll bring a couple airsoft guns with me.”
“Good man. Ok. Good. I don't know about you all, but I feel better now that we have a direction to move in.” That received a round of nods and words of agreement. The group was tired and ready for the meeting to be over.
“Thanks people. I appreciate all the input.”
I adjourned the meeting, glad that I was finally able to put my throbbing arm over my head to try to ease the pain that I'd been trying to ignore for the past couple of hours. Night time is always worse for injuries.

 

One by maybe de oder ones gets de sam idea?

 

The auto spell check modified my original name but I really liked what it changed it to so I left it alone.

 

Any one interested in some MOAR?

The next few days was a flurry of activity. Our training patrols were a big hit with the Frenchies who appreciated the support. Having some serious weaponry boosted their moral. Receiving training pushed their level of confidence.
And never underestimate the power of confidence. It's often the deciding factor. Whether in a job interview, a date, or a battle, confidence will get you places you normally wouldn't get to.
The training was split into work with the weapons and small unit tactics. An couple of hours each day was spent on the basics. And no matter how advanced you might think you are, there is no getting around the need for a solid grounding in the basics.
The whole point of shooting is to put a bullet into a target. To do that, two things have to happen: the firearm must be indexed to the target and it must discharge. You may be a hard charging, knees in the breeze, airborne ranger, but you still have to aim and work the trigger, just like everyone else.
Advanced is being able to do the basics even though your leg is on fire.
After a couple hours of weapons drills, the training would move on to small unit tactics. This was heavy on fire and maneuver, immediate action drills, and working in and around the defensive positions.
We worked on our own organization and ended up with two dozen people that were well armed and on their way to being well trained. We split those twenty four people into four fire teams of six each, headed up by Stan, Juice, Lavell, and Lyle.
One team went out each day and patrolled to the western Frenchie road block at Four Corners and spent the day training.
With the arrival of our team, four of them would take over security duties while the people they covered for engaged in the training. Lavell had gotten together with George the first day and together they set up a training schedule so all of the Frenchie security forces could cycle through the training. It would take a while, as they had more people available than we did.
They also had a larger area to draw from, which was good, but that also meant a larger area to protect.
We were hoping for a corps of fifty or sixty to start, expanding with a lower level of training for a wider group of around two hundred or so, as we went on.
If we needed a large force of that size, we'd salt our experienced and better trained people through the units of the irregulars to stiffen them up.
This wasn't anything new. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Lavell and I were using the model put forth by our Special Operations A Teams. Anyone who'd studied the Vietnam war would immediately recognize what we were doing.
Our teams were benefiting from this as well. While it was a lot of work for them, between the foot patrol and then either pulling sentry duty or training, the Frenchies treated them well.
Our people were billeted in the homes of our guests and well taken care of. They ate well and slept well. They were also looked up to. Without any prodding from me, our teams made themselves as uniform as they could, clothes and equipment wise. The pride was evident in the way they carried themselves.
And true to the saying 'Qui docet, discet', as they trained the Frenchies, they themselves became more and more proficient. Their own skills were continuously honed and their ability to teach those skills to others grew rapidly as well.
Our own people looked up to them also. In an upward spiral of self fulfilling prophecy, as they became more skilled, they became more confident, leading to them carrying themselves with pride. The people they dealt with reacted to this positively and reinforced it.
It didn't hurt that our teams came back with delicacies like fresh seafood and goat. As teams went out, community members would press trade items on them, asking them to try to barter for this or that needed or wanted item.
One of the first things Lavell did was scout out a location for forward observation posts, some distance out from the road blocks. These not only served as safe places to give early warning, but also ambush/fighting positions.
Lavell's idea was to have two people man them. If any hostiles came into view, they would take them under fire. This might be enough to stop them. If not, it would slow them down and alert the road block of trouble.
In siting them Lavell looked for a place up hill from the road it overlooked, with as long a sight line as possible. Rocks or other ballistic protection was in place but more importantly, a escape route was in place.
The OP team wasn't to engage in a drawn out gun battle. Before they took fire they were to leave, having done their job.
The path away from the OP had several booby traps in place, to slow any possible following forces. They would then make their way back to the road block. People that weren't involved in other work were put to cutting trails through the bush to make the escape quick and easy.
Another fighting position was established that would enable the OP team to rake any attackers from the flank, if the assaulters made it to the roadblock.
It took a bit of planning, and a lot more sweat and effort, but these OP s were definite force multipliers.
Which made me think.
Things were shaping up well on our eastern side. But the western approach was wide open, as far as we knew. Lavell took a patrol out that way a couple of miles, as far as he dared. He made it almost down to town and didn't want to chance going any closer to the population center with his small force.
He didn't see anything useful to us. More empty houses along the road. Whether really empty or the occupants were just playing possum he couldn't tell. Unfortunately there wasn't a community that had the gumption to set up their own road block and control the flow of people. No group that we could ally ourselves to for mutual support.
I didn't want our first indication of a problem be when it showed up at our upper chicane. So I took a page from Lavell's book and set up a couple of OP s. While I couldn't do much in the way of physical labor, I lead I crew of workers up the road to site and build the positions. Because we didn't have any other depth in defense, I sited two different locations. The first was set up about a quarter mile down the road from the turn off to our neighborhood. It was built on the model of Lavell's, with good long sight lines, and solid firing points with rocks built up to give protection from incoming fire. Nearby plants were transplanted to provide living camouflage.
The escape route had the same booby traps as the others, pits and trip wires, and lead to the area of the second, closer, OP.
This was sited about an eighth of a mile from our neighborhood and consisted of two positions that were set up to provide supporting fire for each other. Only one would be manned, the idea being that the two people from the first OP would retreat to the empty emplacement at this position.
Four people in good fighting positions could put a hurting on an attacking force. They could put up a bit more of a fight, but if the attackers dismounted, they were to abandon their posts long before the possibility of being out flanked. We needed them to make it back to the chicane where we would mount a much stronger resistance.
I realized the problem would be getting the people manning these Ops to leave them quickly enough. The temptation would be strong to keep pouring fire into the enemy. I made it very clear to each team, every day when they went out, that they needed to get back to us.
I very much wanted to do some force on force scenario training to drive home the point, but just didn't have the time or people to devote to it. While all of the above activity was happening, we still had all the day to day work to do. We had enough people, barely, to keep up the gardening other other jobs that needed to be done, but nothing extra.

One of the things I'd been dreading since the beginning finally happened mid week. One of the guards from the upper chicane called down to our command center. Daniels came to find me.
“We've got an issue.”
“What's up?”
There's a family at the road block. They want to come in. The guards are holding them right now, but they want to know what to do.”
“Tell them I'll be up as fast as I can.”
The exertion of walking up the hill really set my arm to aching. The Doc had given me some pills for it, but I tried to use them only at night so I could sleep through the night. Walking up hill with one arm on top of your head is awkward, but helped to relieve the throbbing somewhat. I put it down before I came into sight of the chicane, wanting to keep up appearances.
As I approached I saw five people. A man and a woman and three children ranging in age from five to ten years old. They were arguing with the guard who was standing firm against their tirade. He was keeping his cool despite the in your face attitude of the visitors. I made a mental note to let the guard know that I noticed his good work.
I was dismayed that these people had made it so far. They must have come from the east, missing the morning patrol. I sincerely hoped that the Ops to the west hadn't let them by. I made a second mental note.
The arguing stopped when the people saw me approach. I started with my usual, “Good Morning”
“Are you in charge here?”
Oh boy. It was going to go like that, huh?
“What can I do for you?”
“You can tell this idiot to stand aside and let us by!”
“First, the man is not an idiot. As a matter of fact, I was just telling myself that I needed to thank him for doing a great job. He's been keeping his cool while two people have been abusing him.”
The guard stood a little straighter and quickly wiped the smirk off of his face.
“We were not abusing him! He was preventing us from going where we wanted!”
“And second, why should we let you by? I don't recognize you.” I turned to the guard, “Do you know these people?”
“No sir”
“So it doesn't appear that you live here, so what's your business here?”
“We heard this is a safe place and that you have food. We ran out days ago, and there are all sorts of bad things going on!” The woman shuddered as she finished.
“And you think you can just come in here?”
“It's a free country! We can go wherever we want to! You can't stop us!”
“Are you stupid, or just haven't been paying attention? Things are a bit different now. I believe you've noticed, I think that's why you're here. We very well can stop you from coming in here.”
“You have no right!” The woman shouted indignantly.
“We have every right. We live here. There are people out there that want what little we have. If you want to come in here, it's because we invite you in. And right now, with the attitude you are displaying, I don't see much to recommend you to such an invitation.”
I could see the color in the man and woman's faces get redder and redder, reminding me of something I'd seen on Saturday morning cartoons. I was expecting to see a picture of a thermometer blowing it's top.
While they were angry, they were also at a temporary loss for words. I stood there, letting them stew. I'd said my piece. After a few moments, while I could see the color return to normal, the man tried again, this time a bit more reasonably.
“It's dangerous out there. I need to take care of my family, surely you can understand that.”
I nodded sympathetically. “I do understand, and that's why I'm being nice. I know you are under some pressure.”
“So you'll let us in?”
“I didn't say that. Only that I realize the position you find yourself in. We are in much the same situation.”
“No YOUR NOT!” The woman couldn't help herself. “You're all safe with your guns and your guards and your roadblocks. We don't have any of that!”
“We have those things, because we though ahead and planned for it. Well some of it. I have to admit that I've made a number of mistakes and miscalculations. One of which was having a plan to deal with refugees and asylum seekers.”
“We're not REFUGEES!” The man grabbed his wife's arm and pulled her back. She'd stepped forward aggressively. He seemed to have some grasp of the situation at least.
“I feel for you, truly I do. Especially for your children, who are baring the brunt of your failure to adequately plan for their future.” I regretted saying it as soon as I had. Not because it wasn't true, but because it didn't help. The man just barely managed to stop his wife from trying to slap me.
“I apologize, that was uncalled for. I didn't need to say that. The bottom line here is that everyone is in a bad position, some worse than others. We're trying to take care of other people, that's what humans do. But our resources are limited. We can't help everyone. We might be able to spare some food for the children.”
“Come on honey, let's go.” The husband guided his wife around and turned to leave.
“Hold on. I said we'd give you some food. At least take that.” I told the guard to run down to Jacobs and have Sadie put together some food for these people.
They stopped and turned back, the children glum, the wife mad and the husband defeated.
“Do you folks live nearby?”
“About a mile away.”
“To the west?” hoping I get a negative answer.
“No, to the east, near the convenience store.” Good. They hadn't gotten past the OP s.
“We have patrols going through there twice a day.”
“Yeah, we've seen them. That's what made us think to come here.”
“That should be helping with the crime, isn't it?”
“Yes, pretty much. We haven't seen any of the gang bangers for a while. Now it's just neighbors stealing from each other. People are getting desperate.”
“Ok, I get it. Listen. Hold out as best you can. As we get more settled here, we will be in a better place to help others. Don't give up.”
We stood and chatted while we waited for the food. I asked what they both did, looking to see if they'd be useful. She'd done book keeping from home, and he was an office manager. He was an avid spearfisherman, which surprised me.
“Why aren't you getting fish to feed your family?”
“I'm afraid to leave them alone. And my speargun is our only weapon.”
I didn't see any sign of it. “Where is it? You didn't leave it at home I hope.”
“I put it in the bushes up the road. I didn't want to appear to be a threat or worse, you someone take it from me.”
“There maybe something we can work out. Maybe day care for your kids while you fish and we might be able to find something for your wife. In exchange for some fish, of course.” I smiled and managed to get a grin from him. She was still smoldering, but easing off to a simmer.
We talked a few more minutes, the tension easing as the realization that they had a life line tossed to them kindled hope. I noticed the children's attention drawn to something behind me, so I turned to look.
The guard was returning in much more of a hurry than a sack of food should warrant. He arrived out of breath and we had to wait, the family curious, and me, worried.
“Zed,” The guard managed to pant, “Zed, there's a couple of boats in the cove down below!”

 

A'h…the pirates come by sea…we shall see!

 

One if by land and two if by SEA!
Oops...

(Great work Zen... keep up the twists and turns... just like real life.

 

Hmmmm! Fishing boats? Military boats? Civil authority boats? Pretenders in boats? How much can this old heart take…how much indeed? Boats from the mainland with news and survivors perhaps? ;-)

 

I like Mr Gilberts take from above, things are going to get real interesting real quick. " Great Story Zed"