John O'Brien - Conspiracy

Greg thanks him and offers for the survivors here to join theirs in the northwest. They’d have to make their own way or wait until the C-130 is available to transport them.

“I appreciate the offer, but we have it pretty well here. We’ve managed to adapt and I’m not sure some of the others could tolerate a move of that magnitude mentally. It’s comfortable here and we can make a go of it. It’s as safe as we can make it and…well, it’s home.”

Greg gets that reasoning. Comfort and a feeling of safety are vital to long-term survival. They’ve passed the most pressing survival issues of shelter, sustenance, and safety. There is still the stress of the potential marauders but that would be true anywhere. They have that up north but the stresses there are greater and seemingly every day. Perhaps they should find a place like this and move.

Thoughts for that later , Greg thinks, finishing his meal.

“Seeing the day is getting on, I doubt you’ll make it to your destination before dark. You are welcome to stay here with us,” James says. “You’ll have to stay the night somewhere and we’d welcome the company.”

Greg heads outside to talk over the offer with the team and they agree it would be nice to sleep on real beds and have another hot meal. He knew they wouldn’t turn that offer down.

What soldier says no to a hot, home-cooked meal? Greg thinks, returning and thanking James for his offer.

The team spends the afternoon helping mend the fences they obliterated on their run through the fields. In the evening, they sit in the restaurant with the townspeople engaging in whatever conversation arises. The late afternoon glow spreads across the parking lot outside. Greg feels nervous tension come over him as he looks through the glass to the ending day outside. The people make no move to finish their evening and relocate to a more secure location. It feels odd to be sitting in such an indefensible place with the time of the night runners quickly descending. The anxiety building inside is almost suffocating. He notices the other team members apprehensively glancing outside. The later the day gets, the more their glances are directed to the windows and farther back in the building. Yet, the din of conversation and laughter inside never changes.

It’s at this point that Greg fully realizes the stress of what they’ve all been through and continue to carry on a day-to-day basis. Night and darkness will always be a source of fear for as long as he walks this earth — at least when outside of the compound. He recognizes the comfortable feeling the residents here have. They have the same back at Cabela’s, but an underlying current of tension doesn’t allow them the same comfort these people seem to have. He wonders if they will ever be able to achieve something like this and envies these people their ability to relax.

Night closes in. The shrieks Greg has become accustomed to when the darkness falls near population centers don’t materialize. That doesn’t ease his anxiety though. Eventually, the people of the town begin departing for home. The normalcy of what used to be everyday life has now become the unreal nature…something that doesn’t seem right anymore.

After the restaurant has almost emptied, Greg and his team bid their farewells. James has set them up in several rooms in the hotel. Although still anxious about the nighttime and night runners, Greg asks for rooms on the lower floor. That is so they can make a quick exit to the Stryker. The atmosphere with the survivors is relaxed, but he sets a watch nonetheless. Those on watch will stay in the Stryker. He trusts the folks they’ve come into contact with but, with the world the way it is, that trust only extends so far. He noted that James set them up in the hotel rather than inviting them into their homes. James is only extending his trust so far as well, and Greg is sure that James has set someone to watch them. It’s possible that James feels like the Stryker is a two-sided coin. On one side, having it parked on the northern end, where they have been harassed previously by bandits, is a security to the town but, on the other side, it also represents a threat to the community.

Greg takes the first watch with another team member. Looking over the dark countryside, he reflects on the world. It’s not really that much different than what he’s been accustomed. His parents were killed when he was young, and he was sent to his grandmother to be raised. Life was as normal as any other child. They weren’t rich but his grandmother worked to provide for him. Not having the money to go to college, he was able to get an Army scholarship and rode that through his four years at the university. He graduated with his degree and an Army commission. After that, he opted for the Ranger path and has been deployed for the most part since his training. He’s used to being away from home and surrounded by enemies so this new world he finds himself in isn’t entirely different. The only change is that the enemy is on his home soil. And those that he protects have been significantly reduced in numbers.

Looking over the darkened town, he’s glad to know that some have a greater chance of seeing this through. It gives hope that they’ll find the soldiers’ families and, on a larger scale, for the continued existence of humankind. The people in this town are thinking in the long-term and seem to have it handled providing marauders don’t get to them. As far as bandits go, they won’t last too long in this world because of their mentality. Their take-what-you-can-when-you-want attitude is a very short-term way of thinking and that’s how long they usually last: short-term.

There’s a peace here that Greg can’t quite get secure with. He’s become used to that underlying tension. That’s not a bad thing, but it can’t be sustained. He’ll have to talk with Jack when he sees him next. At the very least, these people have given him something to strive for and the knowledge that it can be done.

Dawn arrives without a single scream to wake him. He folded into the comfort of the sheets and fell instantly asleep following his watch. Feeling like he could sleep the entire day away, he rises and performs his ablutions. Walking into the parking lot with the sun having just crested the eastern horizon, the metal hull of the Stryker is bathed in the early morning rays. After the comfort of the bed, he’s loathe to climb back into the cramped quarters which will more than likely be their only home for some time to come.

James pulls in with his pickup shortly thereafter and greets Greg and his team. Off in the distance, Greg hears other vehicles driving through the streets of the city. The town had a day off with their arrival but is now back at whatever tasks they have. Greg is eager to be off but will miss this place. He won’t forget the peaceful feeling but doubts he will ever see these people again. It’s like those at Mountain Home. To the people he meets, he and the team are just a quick interruption in their quest for survival — something that will be told in stories around the table for a couple of weeks and then forgotten.

He and James exchange some small talk and they are soon on their way. They follow the truck through the northern gate and turn left onto a dirt road. They turn again and come to a narrow dirt causeway between two sloughs. The sloughs give way to swampy areas that would be next to impossible to cross with a motorized vehicle. James negotiates an almost invisible pathway through. They wind this way and that until arriving at the river. Sand and stunted trees line the banks. James guides them to a narrow part of the river and they ford. Staying near a hill, they come across another dirt road. Following it, they soon intersect the highway north of the fallen bridges. James pulls to halt on the side of the road. Greg has the Stryker pull behind and the two meet on the grit-covered shoulder.