And Trev’s dad, who hopped down from the cab of the second truck behind his brother-in-law and, seeing Trev approaching, made a beeline for him hot on Lewis’s heels. Jane, Lucas, and Ed stayed back watching the trucks and talking with the Marines, and after Trev exchanged backslapping hugs with his cousin and dad they gravitated in that direction, talking the entire time. Once they reached the trucks he hugged his uncle and shook Ed’s hand, and was surprised when Jane offered a handshake too.
The first minute or so of the reunion was a confused babble of questions and snippets of news, along with exclamations of surprise. The big surprise on the new arrivals’ end was hearing that Fred Vernon was in camp, along with their stolen truck. The big surprise on Trev’s end was the three trucks the group had arrived in, although he was content to do a bit of catching up before asking about them. He let Matt’s dad know that his son was patrolling to the south, and offered to walk out there with him to say hello.
Finally, though, Trev stepped back and looked past everyone at the vehicles. “Where on Earth did you get three blockhead trucks?”
“Five, actually,” Lewis said, leaning back against the hood. “Two of these, and half the supplies, are a gift, while we’ll drive back in the third. We figured it was only fair we do an even split between you guys down here and the town. Consider it a contribution to put you in a bit better position… I imagine you can use all the help you can get.”
“I won’t argue that.” Trev stepped over to lean against the truck next to him. “Didn’t answer my question, though.”
His cousin clapped him on the shoulder. “The convoy that moved into Aspen Hill set up an outpost at the shelter. Eighty or so troops and eight trucks to man sentry positions, patrols, and permanent strategic emplacements north and west of town.” His mouth tightened. “They would’ve been literally sleeping in our beds if we hadn’t taken them with us.”
Trev could imagine Lewis’s blood boiling at that. “You attacked them?”
“A raid just before dawn this morning.” Lewis paused to greet Rick and the rest of Trev’s squad, who’d also broken away from the training grounds to come and say hello.
They all wanted to hear about the raid, too, so his cousin quickly described the morning’s attack. How they’d snuck into the shelter through the escape tunnel and taken out everyone inside, then gone on to steal the trucks and what supplies they could while firebombing the other buildings.
“We probably took out fifty or so blockheads in all, and came away with a good haul of supplies,” he finished. “We’re stronger and they’re weaker for it.”
Rick and a growing crowd of onlookers, including Marines and other volunteer groups, had been following every word, and at that the younger man whistled through his teeth while shaking his head. “Leave it to you to do the impossible every time, man,” he said. “How many people did you bring with you?”
“Fourteen. But judging by how it went we might’ve been able to pull it off with just me, Jane, Tam, Carl, my dad, and Martin.”
“The blockheads in the shelter,” Trev said quietly. “You…”
“Took care of them,” his cousin replied with a slight grimace. “The most dangerous and least pleasant part of the plan, but it went off without a hitch.”
While he was talking Davis emerged from the command tent and came over. Lucas went to meet him, and after giving a quick summary of the raid he formally donated the two trucks carrying supplies to the sergeant.
After he was done Davis shook his head. “Incredible. Knew I should’ve tried harder to recruit you back when I had the chance. And your boy too, by the sounds of it.”
Lewis went over to join them. “We’ve got plenty to do up near Aspen Hill,” he replied, then introduced himself as leader of the townspeople’s defenders.
“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” the sergeant said, shaking his hand firmly. “I’ve heard a bit around camp and from Williams about your town fighting off some well armed raiders.” He chuckled. “I know your people need you, but if it ever gets boring up there you’re more than welcome to join us here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Lewis turned towards the trucks. “We made a list of the supplies we brought, if you want to go through it with us.”
“Right.” But before following the taller man Davis turned to the crowd of onlookers. “Now I know not all of you are off duty at the moment. I get why you’d be interested in watching some much needed supplies come in, not to mention hearing about our side thrashing the blockheads, but that can’t get in the way of your duties.”
There were some groans of disappointment, and the sergeant abruptly grinned. “Dinner’s in a couple hours, ladies and gentlemen. What do you say we make a proper celebration of it then?” The groans turned to cheers as Davis glanced back at Lewis and Lucas. “If you folks want to join us we’ll give you a hero’s welcome.”
Trev was worried they would refuse, and he didn’t blame them considering the things they had to worry about at home. So he was happy when Lucas nodded. “Sure. That would give us a chance to touch base with friends and family here.”
“Glad to hear it.” The sergeant abruptly raised his voice. “Until then, back to work everyone!”
The crowd scattered to their various duties, or to whatever they’d been doing in their free time. Trev had Alice take Ed south to visit Matt, radioing ahead to let his friend know his dad was on the way. By that time Lewis had gone over the supplies with Davis, including enough food to put a dent in the camp’s hunger problems, two dozen AK-47s, a dozen MP-443 Grach pistols, and plenty of magazines and ammunition for both. More than satisfied with the haul, the sergeant got his Marines to work securing the trucks and unloading everything.
With their part of things done Trev figured they should get back to work, too. He led his dad, Lewis, Lucas, Jane, and the squad back towards the training grounds.
“If you want to give us a hand with the training I’d appreciate it,” he told his family. “We were splitting the duty with Matt’s squad, but with him back out there it’s on our shoulders.” He gave his cousin a lopsided smile. “Maybe you can tell me if I’m doing something wrong.”
“You seemed to have a handle on it when you were training your squad of volunteers before heading out here,” Lewis said. “But I’m happy to help out.” The others nodded their agreement, even Jane.
Trev grinned. “And while you’re at it you can tell us news from home. Especially how the blockheads responded to your raid. They did respond, right?”
His dad nodded grimly. “In a big way. Just about everyone who went on the raid decided to head back to the refuge and get some sleep, but I wasn’t tired. I stayed to watch the canyon with the Mayor and her defenders and saw their response firsthand. All the way through the morning and afternoon, right up until these guys finally woke up and invited me along to share the spoils.” He nudged Lewis with his elbow.
Lewis shrugged. “He’s been filling us in too, but we didn’t have time to hear everything. Let’s get started with training and we’ll discuss it while we work, like you suggested.”
“Sure.” Trev spent the next few minutes focused on getting everyone back to doing dry fire drills, in this case ones involving ducking out from behind cover. Once the recruits were hard at work his squad and their visitors could step back and keep an eye on their specific groups while his dad described his morning and afternoon watching to see how the blockheads reacted to the attack.