"The Scout" - Chapter 36 (Final)

The Scout

Chapter 36 (Final)

By Dwayne MacInnes

Scott lifted his head. He must have blacked out for a short while after his collision with the upturned buggy. First, Scott looked over to Sam. The boy sat hunched forward unmoving in his seat. Scott frantically shook the eleven-year-old boy.

Sam shook his head and removed his helmet. The boy looked over at Scott and smiled. Scott was relieved. Then the scout remembered the events that let up to his crash.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed the scout when his memory returned. Scott looked out his cracked windshield and saw the burning wreckage of a large vehicle. Smoke filled the air with its acrid tang.

"I can't believe you did that," Sam said staring out the windshield.

Scott felt like screaming at his son that he did not have anything to do with the death of the Armadillo. Then he saw it. The burning vehicle was not the Armadillo but the M60 Patton.

"That's not possible..." he started to say when another loud explosion rocked the town. Scott tried to reverse the Charger but it was stuck fast with the wreckage of the buggy.

"Stay here," Scott ordered Sam as he climbed out of the Charger. The burning of the tank, wrecked vehicles and the western part of Valley City illuminated the night sky. Scott peered around and to his surprised further down the road sat the burning carcass of the other M60 tank.

The Sea Island green Cougar pulled up to the Charger and stopped. Doug and Weston jumped out to stand next to Scott.

"Can you believe it?" Doug exclaimed. "It would have been nice to have some A-10 Warthogs, but three helicopters will suffice in a pinch."

Scott then realized that above the cries of the wounded and the crackling fires the thump-thump of chopper blades filled the night air. He looked up to see three silhouettes hovering above in the deep blue sky.

"Looks like a couple of Cobras and an Apache up there," Weston said, glaring into the sky.

"Boy, those wasters sure took off after their tank went up," Doug added.

Scott felt tired, very tired as the adrenaline of the day's fighting suddenly left him. The scout sat back down into his car leaving the door open.

"Do we know how many survivors?" Scott asked.

"Well, in case you are wondering, me and the girls are all right," the booming voice of Mad Momma McGee said as the large woman and her crew walked up.

The occasional rattling of machinegun fire continued off in the distant night air. More survivors started to approach the Charger. It looked like more people survived than Scott had figured. The battle was so long and terrible he was surprised anyone lived.

"The bank?" Scott feebly asked.

"Its fine," Julia replied. "Looks like your plan worked after all. The cargo is safe."

Scott weakly nodded and smiled.

"What are your orders?" Julia asked.

Scott ran his hand over his head. "Well, first we need to start gathering the wounded. We will also need to make sure these fires don't spread. Finally, we need to find as many surviving Anarchists before the civvies do. I'm afraid that they may feel compelled to exact their own justice."

"Why shouldn't we let them do that?" Julia asked with burning hatred.

"Because they are now part of the United States and they need to follow its laws," a man stepping out of the shadows said.

"Cut it a little fine didn't you, Mac," Scott said.

"Hey, I thought I heard the request for a cavalry over the radio and the cavalry always arrives in the final reel." The man said as he stepped further into the firelight.

"General MacKenzie!" Julia exclaimed. "We heard Fort Billings was abandoned."

"It was," the general explained. "We had top secret orders to capture Sturgis. I'm sorry Scott but we couldn't even let you know. If any of your convoy fell into the wrong hands before we were ready the game would be up.

"As it turned out Fort Meade and much of Sturgis was unoccupied by unfriendlies. I guess they were more interested in your little party.

"So after securing Sturgis I felt maybe we could lend a hand out here. Sorry, we couldn't get here sooner."

Scott laughed, "Better late than never."

Scott's expression finally turned serious, "What about Van Dyke and the missile he was excavating.

The general smiled, "We have both in custody. By the carnage out there I think we don't have to worry too much about the wasters in this neck of the woods."

The occasional shot still echoed in the distant night. "My boys are still mopping up after your operation. The corpsmen are already going amongst the wounded," the general added.

"You didn't happen to find Taylor did you?" Scott asked.

"If you want to search the many corpses out there be my guess; however, we did not capture anyone yet claiming to be him. I have a feeling he was in one of those tanks." The general paused for a minute and looked towards the growing crowd of people.

"Once again, welcome back to the United States of America," General MacKenzie said.

Doug, Weston, and the citizens of Valley City all rent the air with their loud rejoicing. The convoy personnel all joined in on the back slapping and laughing. Shortly afterwards, it started with one person, and then another, which grew until everyone was singing the 'Star Spangle Banner'.