Early on the morning of the third day after Lieutenant Busbys' return, there was a knock on the door.

"It's open." Maria called.

The door opened, and Major Ferguson and Lieutenant Busby stepped in.

"Good morning Ma'am. I hope we aren't disturbing anyone."

"Not at all, Major, Lieutenant. I assume you want to speak with Bob."

"If it's not a bother, Ma'am."

"Major, the only bother around here is you. You know my name, use it. When you call me 'Ma'am' you make me feel like an old woman. At my age, that's not a good idea."

"I'm sorry, Ma... Maria. I meant no offense."

"None taken Major. You've never been married, have you?"

"No, I haven't, Maria. I never found a woman that could put up with me."

"I find that hard to believe. I think you just weren't looking."

"Maybe so, Maria, maybe so."

"Maybe what?" Bob asked as he entered the room.

"Oh, I was just nagging the Major about finding a wife." Maria said.

"I think I'm going to stay out of this one. Morning Major, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"

"Morning, Sir. I'm sorry it has taken this long, but we have a report about the Lieutenants' patrol for you."

"Good. I've been waiting for it. So, what's the story?"

"Mostly good news. The Doctor, Kathy, has gone through all of the usual chest thumping, say ah, turn your head and cough, kind of thing on all of the people the Lieutenant brought in, and they all seem to be in good health. The worst thing was treating the wounds on the wrists and ankles of the women from their chains. Other than that, everything looks O.K. physically. Also, everyone of them claims faith in The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We've checked them on that, and they all really are Christians.

"That's good to hear. How about the men? Are they willing to help out around here, and are all of them willing to accept the situation as it is?"

"Sir, they are so happy to be here, they'd accept a dirt sandwich at this point."

"Well we'll have to keep an eye on them for awhile. We don't need someone making trouble like we've had recently."

"Funny you should mention that. Lieutenant Busby has news of our old friend, Mr. MacPherson. Lieutenant."

Busby Looked at the floor, and then put his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a pistol.

"Sir, do you recognize this?" He handed the weapon to Bob.

Looking it over carefully, Bob noticed the grip of the pistol had the letters GM carved into it.

"Didn't this belong to MacPherson?" He asked.

"I believe so, Sir. It is hard to say. There wasn't much left when we found it."

"You're losing me Lieutenant."

"Well, Sir, we'd been out about ten days when we found what was left of some people. The animals didn't leave much, just some bones, and what they couldn't eat. That was near one of the bodies. The slide was locked open. The magazines we found were all empty. I don't know what happened, but he didn't go down without a fight."

"Well, we know he wasn't a coward. Stupid, maybe, but not a coward. So what else can you tell me about what is happening out there?"

"Sir, I think it is best if I start at the beginning. As you know, we left here to patrol to the east, looking for anyone that might cause us trouble. During the first eleven days, we came across eight groups of men headed for Fort Carson, and the front. Each time, we laid an ambush for them and let them walk into it. Once we had them stopped, we did as the Major had suggested. We told them that we were on patrol, looking for Christians. Then we would separate them, and question them individually. Most of them denied both The Lord, and Christianity right off the top. In some cases it seemed like each man was trying to out blaspheme the one before him. Once in a while, we'd find a man or two who wouldn't actually deny Christ, but wouldn't admit to being Christians themselves."

"That seems reasonable, given the circumstances. Are you certain they didn't deny Him?"

"Yes Sir. That was one thing we were very careful about."

"Not to offend you lieutenant, but how did you do that?"

"No offense taken, Sir. Basically I gave them no where to go. They had to declare for The Lord, or against Him. I told them I wanted a simple answer to a simple question. 'Are you a Christian?', either answer yes, or answer no. If they gave any other answer, I'd shoot them on the spot."

"Isn't that rather harsh, Lieutenant?" Maria asked.

"I don't think so Maria. We have reached the point in history where either you are on The Lords' side, or you're against Him. It is time to take a stand. That is what I made them do."

"Lieutenant, what happened to the ones who took a stand against?" Bob wanted to know.

Busbys' face took on a hard look. "They are still out there on the prairie. Feeding the scavengers."

"You killed them?" Maria gasped.

"Maria, you have to understand something. If you leave a known enemy behind you, an enemy who has sworn to kill you, then you are going to die. At a time and place of his choosing. I'm not going to expose my men, this town, or myself to such an unacceptable risk."

"I suppose you're right. It just seems so cold blooded. I mean you didn't give them a chance, did you?"

"You're wrong, Maria. When we first stopped these convoys, they had a chance to declare for or against. If it was against, in order to keep our cover, we'd let them go. It was only the suspected Christians that we questioned further. By the time we were done, there wasn't any doubt that we were Christians. We couldn't let them go, only to have them send others after us."

Bob interrupted the exchange. "What about the women? How did you happen across them?"

Busby looked disgusted. "Sir, have you ever seen those wagons they used in the old west, to transport prisoners?"

"Yes. Well at least pictures of them. They were iron cages on wheels, with nothing overhead, except bars."

"That's it. Except they had put a canvas cover over the tops of these wagons. There were two of them, with eight men. One each driving the wagon, two out front, two bringing up the rear, and an outrider on each side. Sir, I take no pleasure in killing. In this case, however, I'm glad we did what we did. Not only were the women locked inside those cages, they were shackled together. They couldn't get to the water barrel, and had to depend on the men to give them a drink. Gave a whole new meaning to the expression,'hell on wheels'. Sir, we never gave them a chance. They rode into the ambush, and we shot them. Two rounds per man."

Busby shook his head at the memory, and continued.

"Sir, I have to tell you, what happened next was just so unreal. Once we made sure all the men were down, we found the keys. We unlocked the cages, and tied the door open, then unshackled the women. They thought we were some sort of bandit gang and we were going to do who knows what to them. They were all praying, and reciting psalms, and you name it. They couldn't believe that they were being freed. It wasn't until we started to move, with the chains off, and the doors open that they began to settle down."

"I'm sure I already know, but tell me. Where were they taking them?"

"Because they were Christian, and had the misfortune of being attractive, they were on their way to the front, to provide rest and relaxation to the men there. That was the only purpose in their lives anymore. They were told, if they didn't satisfy the men, they wouldn't have any other reason to be allowed to live. To prove it to them, just before hey left, one of them was taken from the group, and told to preform certain acts to please the head man in the convoy. When she refused, she was shot on the spot."

"What have we become?" bob said to himself.

"Sir whatever once was America, is no more. I could understand it, if the men had been Chinese, but these were American men. It makes me ashamed."

"Major. Obviously, we have large numbers of men wandering around out there. What are your thoughts on keeping them away from here?"

"Sir, Busby has already done something about it. They backtracked those convoys, and put up a sign warning of a pass, blocked by a landslide, at a fork in the road. So, everyone is being diverted to the eastern road. That should keep them at least another forty or fifty miles from us. But I think it would be wise to continue to patrol out there, just in case."

"I agree. Very well, I leave that in you hands. When is the next patrol going to be ready to go?"

"They left yesterday."

"Good. Now what is being done for the new arrivals?"

"Kathy thought it would be a good idea to just let them get to know us. Talk with some of the people around here, that sort of thing."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Is there anyone talking to them now?"

"Kathy thought the sight of a pregnant woman and her husband would be the quickest way to show them we intend no harm, so Alex and Mike are with them right now."

"O.K. I hope they don't have any problems."

---

The community center had been changed once again. Now it was a makeshift dormitory for the newest arrivals. Alex and Mike, who was starting to show her pregnancy, sat speaking with them.

"So, how did you two meet?" One of the women asked Alex and Michelle.

"Truthfully, the first time I laid eyes on my lovely bride, she had a shotgun in my back, and was threatening to shoot great big holes in me."

"What!"

"Alex! You were about to shoot my mother."

"Say what?"

"That was because she was going to shoot my father."

"What the...Wait a minute. Are you two serious?"

Alex and Mike burst into laughter. After regaining control of themselves, they explained the strange circumstances of their first encounter.

"So, obviously, it all worked out in the end."

"Not without a few bruises, I have to say."

"Now, Alex. I apologized about that."

"I know, Sweetheart, but my arm was still in a sling for the rest of the week."

"O.K. Hold it. What is this all about?"

Alex smiled. "That was my fault really. You may have noticed a shortage of grocery stores around here. We've had to rely on The Lord to provide. Mike and I went out to find editable wild plants, which are pretty abundant around here. While we were out there, I put my arm around her waist. Next thing I knew, I waas face down in the dirt, and Mike was trying to fit my left elbow into my right ear. Not a good fit, I must say."

The woman looked at Alex. "Are you sure it's safe to sleep around her?"

"Oh, it's O.K. She has promised as long as I'm a good boy she won't beat me up any more."

Mike slapped him on the arm. "Alex. Be nice or Momma will spank."

"Yes Dear."

At this they both began to laugh again. It wasn't long before chuckles were running through the group as they witnessed the cheerful playfulness of the young couple. Before long, they were all begining to feel, if not at home, at least safe and welcome.


BW, Vietnam Vet