"The Scout" - Chapter 31

The Scout

Chapter 31

By Dwayne MacInnes

When the sun finally rose above the eastern horizon, the two sides were able to get a good look at each other. The Anarchists found Valley City a veritable fortress. Only a couple of bridges remained intact. The ones leading to the western part of town where the convoy took refuge still stood. The wasters were hesitant to send in their heavy vehicles. They had already expended nearly all of their tanks and APCs. They knew the convoy would have deployed more mines and the wasters were none to keen on discovering where they were.

The convoy on the other hand found themselves bottled in. Wasters on bikes and buggies sped back and forth along the highway, the back roads, and the open fields around the town. Fortunately, the wasters held their two M60 Pattons back for fear of losing them to the recoilless rifles and landmines that guarded the town.

Both sides withheld their fire as the day wore on. Scott called a meeting with the various convoy and escort leaders. They met inside an old fast food restaurant.

"Looks like we are under siege," Scott announced to the gathered group.

"We have enough stores to last us for some time," Ed, one of the convoy drivers, chimed in. "We even have a good store of ammunition. It's the manpower that concerns me."

"Maybe we should see if any of the locals will want to join our posse," Wrangler offered. Scott nearly broke into a laugh when the gangly man stepped out of his armored truck the previous night. The scout never noticed him before and he could not understand why. The man wore a cowboy hat, a western vest, chaps, and cowboy boots in the same Holstein print that matched his outlandish truck. It was a good thing Wrangler was busy cussing over the fact one of the horns on his Texas Longhorn mount broke off during the brief combat.

"How many locals have we evacuated to this side of town?" Scott asked Julia.

"A little over a hundred -- most are women and children," the large woman replied.

"Right, see how many men and women will be willing to defend their town," Scott continued.

"Do you think they were setting up an ambush with those tanks last night?" a short squat escort driver named Willy asked.

"I can only surmise two things: one is that they were setting a trap for us. However, I doubt that is the case. The second is a thought I really do not want to dwell on," Scott said.

Julia scorned hard at Scott, "Would you be willing to share that thought?"

"Just before we left Billings, I received word that the Anarchists were sending out forces to Minneapolis. The goal was to unite the local warlords and then try to conquer St Paul. My fear is if those tanks are here, then St Paul is already gone."

Silence hung over the group for several minutes before Willy broke the silence. "So we cannot expect any help from the east to lift this siege. Does General

MacKenzie know of this and is he going to send us some relief?"

Scott looked around the group again, "I'm going to level with you and this cannot leave this room. General MacKenzie knows the situation in the Twin Cities very well. However, before we left he had received orders to abandon Fort Billings."

The silence a few moments before suddenly broke into a raucous chaos of yelling. The various leaders started shouting and asking questions simultaneously. It took the hollering of Mad Momma's booming voice to restore order.

"Then we are as good as dead," Willy said before the menacing scowl on Julia's face forced him to swallow any further complaints.

Scott paced back and forth for a while before he turned back to the group.

"The radio tower is still intact and the Wrecking Crew owns a portable generator. With any luck we can send out an S.O.S."

"That is a long shot at best," Willy retorted. "The atmospherics don't allow us to send messages long distance."

"I know it is a long shot, but it is still a shot. Do any of you have any better suggestions?" Scott asked.

"Well, good buddy," Wrangler finally put in with a smirk on his face, "we cannot very well leave our Fort Apache here. Neither can we just stay here and wait for the cavalry to arrive. We need to get a message out somehow. I figure the radio is the best option for now. If things start to get really hairy maybe one of those scoot jockeys could race for the border with a personal appeal for help."

The leadership group finally broke up after they hammered out a few more details. Julia found that almost every man, woman, and many of the children were willing to join forces to defend their town. She did not know how many would stay once the shooting commenced but for now she gathered them in work details helping the convoy reinforce their fortifications.

The defenders attached the portable generator to the old radio station. Fortunately, the group boasted several electricians and in a short time, the station was transmitting an S.O.S. to the outside world. No one knew if anyone was even receiving it.

Scott surveyed the enemy forces gathered on the west side of town. The Anarchists still held the tanks and the APCs back. However, the one thing the Anarchists did not lack was people. Hundreds of vehicles from the ubiquitous buggy and motorcycle to the old sedan and pickup truck zoomed back and forth in front of the fortifications.

The sun was at its zenith when the Anarchists finally unleashed an assault on the West Main Street defenses. The wasters poured vehicle after vehicle towards the fortifications. The landmines hidden under the crumbled surface of the road destroyed the initial onrush of vehicles. The machineguns in the fire pits and on top of the trailers mowed down the survivors. The defenders continued to fire even when the noise of a loud rumble heading towards them echoed through the air.

"It's the tanks," one of the civilians screamed. Many of the civilians placed in the defenses on this side of the town started to abandon their posts and run as the thunder of steel treads loomed ever closer.