"What are you going to do with these people, General?" Emil asked.
"Leave them alone," Ben told him. "I left you and your bunch alone, didn"t I?"
"Yeah, but we never turned down any help you offered. I had more sense than that. What"s gonna happen when these people get really sick and need attention?"
"I don"t know, Emil. All I can say is that they"ve chosen their life-style and they"re welcome to it. We"ve offered them help, they"ve turned it down, and that"s the end of the story as far as I"m concerned. As long as they pose no threat to us, they"re free to do as they d.a.m.n well please."
"I tried to talk to some of them," Emil said.
"Tried to tell them I been where they are. Tried to tell them that sooner or later they"re gonna need our help, and they"re gonna be told to go sit on a candlestick. They said they didn"t care and to leave them alone." He shrugged his shoulders. "What can you do?"
"Nothing," Ben said, knowing that Thermopolis was listening and a pretty good debate was sure to come out of this. "You all know that the government-back when there was a government-tried to take care of all the people; even the people who refused to step into the mainstream of society.
I thought it was a mistake then, I think so now. I have no patience with people who chose totally different alternate life-styles and then when something goes wrong, expect the central government to help them.
p.i.s.s on them!"
The push southward was slow going, for the Rebels checked out every town and every building. They cut off the main highways and traveled the backroads to roads" end. They missed nothing in their searches and they collected everything that might be of use. They offered help to anyone who would take it, but the help was not free, not without strings attached. You want help? You join us. You don"t want to join us, you"re on your own, pal.
"You"re setting up a form of government,"
Thermopolis finally geared up for debate, "that doesn"t leave the people any choice."
Ben poured them both coffee and waited.
"You"re setting up a G.o.dd.a.m.ned monarchy!"
"I most certainly am not"
"You"re the absolute ruler. What the h.e.l.l else do you call it?"
"The people rule, Therm. You"re trying to split hairs. I"m asking for a little cooperation in return for help and protection, that"s all. You"re a fifty-year-old man with a pony tail, for Christ sake. Have I asked you to cut your hair? No, I have not and never will. You"re just as much an individual now as the day we first met."
"King Raines," Thermopolis said with a smile.
"You"re a fraud, Therm."
"Oh?"
"You just don"t like comor profess not to like comany form of authority. But you can"t have organization without it. And you know it."
"If I"m a fraud, you"re a walking contradiction, Raines."
"Sure. I admit it."
"Hardheaded, obstinate, stubborn, die-for-the-flag, and all that c.r.a.p."
"To a degree. But then, so are you. If you weren"t, you wouldn"t be here with me."
"I"ll certainly argue that!"
"You would argue anything, Therm. Anytime, anywhere, and with anybody."
"I"d certainly argue that!"
Both men looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.
The Rebels had entered the center of the state -- Ben in Florence along the coast, Ike and Cecil approaching Eugene, Georgi and West cleaning out Prairie City, and Five and Six Battalions roaming along Highway 26 comwhen communications received a frantic call and patched it through to Corrie.
"A group of survivors in Roseburg, sir,"
Corrie said. "They"re under heavy attack by the outlaws and crud we"ve been pushing ahead of us."
Ben quickly opened a map case and found Roseburg. "It"s about a hundred miles from here.
Ask them how many they are and how many they esti- mate they"re facing."
"Two hundred and fifty of them and probably fifteen hundred to two thousand outlaws. They have creepies mixed in with them."
"Ike"s going to have his hands full in Eugene.
h.e.l.l, we"re just about as close as he is.
Tanks out now, Corrie. Main battle tanks and Dusters. We"ll catch up with them along the way. You get cracking on that. I"ll find Dan. I would send the bikers to spearhead but the citizens would probably think they were with the outlaws."
Dan had heard the frantic call for help and antic.i.p.ated what Ben would do. He was forming his Scouts when Ben found him.
The tanks were already ga.s.sing up for the run, huge tanker trucks pulled alongside. Over the rumble of tanks and the shouted commands of crew chiefs, Ben said, "Spearhead, Dan. Take Buddy and his Rat Team with you. I"ll pull out in about an hour with Tina and her bunch."
"That"s ten-four, General. See you in Roseburg."
Tina had jogged up. "Get your teams together.
We"ll be pulling out in about an hour."
She nodded and ran off, shouting for Ham, her second-in-command.
Ben spotted Thermopolis and waved him over.
"You"re in command of the bikers and Emil"s bunch.
Push on to Coos Bay and stay north of the city.
It"s occupied by creepies."
"Command! To h.e.l.l with you, Raines!"
"Shut up and listen. The North Bay/coos Bayst Charleston area is crawling with creepies. Set up your defenses anyway you like; just be alive when I get back."
"Command, my a.s.s! I"m not taking . . ."
Ben waved Leadfoot over while Thermopolis was still sputtering. Emil joined them while Ben was explaining to the biker who was in command.
Emil promptly drew himself to attention and saluted Thermopolis.
"Will you stop that!" Therm shouted. "At your service, my captain," Emil said.
"I"m not your d.a.m.n captain!"
"Suits me, General," Leadfoot said. "All my bunch likes and respects Therm. We"ll take his orders. Whatever he says, goes with us."
"I"ll get you for this, Ben Raines,"
Thermopolis said. "I promise you that. I"ll put a chipmunk in your PortaPotty."
"Reports are really getting frantic, General," Cor-rie said from the second seat in the wagon. "The crud is knocking on the town door pretty hard."
Ben checked his watch. "Dan should be just about there.
He"ll take off some of the pressure. Get him on the horn, please, Corrie." He picked up his mic and waited.
"Go, Eagle," came Dan"s voice.
"Dan, I"m going to cut off One-thirty-eight just up ahead and take this secondary road. That"ll put you coming straight down from the north and me coming in from the west."
"That"s ten-four, General. I have the town in visual now. Attacking."
Cooper antic.i.p.ated Ben"s next question. "Thirty minutes away from the town, General." "And kindly get us there in one piece, Cooper,"
Jersey requested.
"Never fear, my dear, Cooper is here," Coop told her.
Even Ben had to join in the groans after that.
Beth was reading an old tourist"s guidebook to Southern Oregon. "I wonder what happened to all the animals at this Wildlife Safari thing outside of the town? It was one of those places where the ani- mals wandered around free."
"Hopefully they made it out and are alive and breeding," Ben said. "There have been unconfirmed reports of cheetahs in this area."
"Then some of them made it out," Beth said. "This place was where they bred the cheetah. Gee, wouldn"t it be nice to see one?"
Jersey looked at her. "Only from a distance," she muttered.
"Jerre was really into saving the animals and all of that type of. . . ." Beth trailed that off into an uncomfortable silence.
"Yes, she was, Beth," Ben said. "And you don"t have to be uncomfortable speaking about her in my presence. That"s one way of insuring that she will never be forgotten. As long as one person remembers her, she"ll never be forgotten."
"That"s beautiful," Jersey said.
"Unfortunately, it"s not terribly original. I don"t remember who said it."
"Colonel Gray reporting the outlaws have been strengthened, sir. Much larger force than originally thought."
"How much larger?"
"Colonel Gray reports facing several thousand outlaws and creepies."
"Kick it in the a.s.s and get us there p.r.o.nto, Coop," Ben said.
"Oh, Lord!" Jersey moaned as Cooper put the pedal to the metal and grinned as the big wagon surged forward.
Ben and his command roared through the burned-out remains of Umpqua and a few miles later could see the smoke rising from the besieged town of Rose-burg.
"Order the column to pull over and wait for the tanks to arrive," Ben ordered. "Order one weapons" platoon up to join us. We"re going in."
Ben led the platoon into the outskirts of town and surprised a knot of crud who were huddled around and manning a machine gun. A round from a rocket launcher took out the machine gun nest and the Rebels had a toehold.
"Get whoever is in charge on the horn, Corrie.
Tell them where we are and that we"re friendly."
"Tom Martin says to tell you G.o.d bless, General," Corrie said. "They"re just about out of ammo."
"Tell them to hang tough. We"ve got a toehold."
"Would you look at that watermelon patch over there,"
Coop said. "Don"t they look good?"
A rocket from the enemy side exploded the building next to them before Jersey could wisecrack about Cooper"s love for watermelon.
"Tanks are here," Corrie said.
Main battle tank up to our location, please,"
Ben said. "Spread the Dusters out in a line and tell them the enemy has rocket launcher capabilities."
"Martin says all his people are grouped in the downtown area, General. Everyone outside that area is the enemy."
"That makes it easier," Ben said as the big tank clanked up. "House to house, people. Let"s go."
The Rebels worked their way up the block, darting from house to house. Cooper tossed a grenade through a window of a frame house then sprayed the interior with .223 rounds. A man staggered out onto the front porch, bleeding from a dozen shrapnel wounds and several bullet wounds.
He expelled his last breath cursing Ben Raines then toppled off the porch, dead.
"Dan reporting they"ve taken some prisoners,"
Corrie yelled over the bang and confusion of combat.