Nathan Jones - First Winter

“A hand you refused to extend to the refugees Major Rogers tried to send your way,” the colonel pointed out.

“Forced handouts aren’t good for anyone involved,” Scott said, obviously trying to keep his temper. “Taking from one group at gunpoint to give to another who’ve done nothing to earn it, with zero expectations placed on them to do anything improve their situation, is going to destroy any system sooner or later.”

Lucas cut in smoothly. “As I said, you have to lift yourself up first before you can be of any help to someone else. Our town is still struggling to lift ourselves, and any help we can spare has to go to those who are worst off in our own community. Rogers wants to chuck a boulder on our backs and sit back to watch it crush us.”

Grimes leaned back again, staring at the ceiling as he considered. “So, basically, your town is barely on the verge of making it, and according to you Major Rogers put you in a position where instead you’d fail. At which point you’d be in just as bad a position as the refugees he wanted you to help, and in need of aid yourselves. Which helps no one.”

The Aspen Hill representatives nodded their agreement of his assessment. “I was originally part of a group of refugees that came to Aspen Hill,” Ben said. “I understand the situation very well from both sides of it. And with that perspective I have to ask: wouldn’t you rather have a town that’s able to fend for itself and survive the winter and whatever comes next, without needing help from you?”

Grimes closed his eyes. “28 wounded and crippled veterans?” he verified.

“And 31 people from the refugee camp, including families,” Lucas confirmed. “An influx of newcomers that that makes up a comparatively small but significant percentage of the town’s total population. It’s already a tremendous strain on our infrastructure, even though we were careful to ensure that the people we accepted in could be of use to the town. Rogers might not like the fact that we picked the best people available, but there was no other way we could reasonably do it.”

The colonel abruptly turned to Ed, making him jump slightly in surprise. “You’ve been quiet since you got here,” he snapped. “Let’s hear it from you.”

Swallowing, Ed nodded gamely, although he could’ve done without being put on the spot like this. “My friends have explained the situation clearly and honestly,” he said, glad his voice came out steady. “I don’t have much to add, aside from a simple request. If you can’t decide who’s correct in this dispute then come and look at the situation with your own eyes. We’re in the right and we’ve told the honest truth, so we can invite you to our town with complete confidence.”

“I see.” Grimes glanced down at his overflowing desk. “I’m dealing with hundreds of thousands of people in this area. With all the fires I have to personally put out, let alone the reports from my subordinates on countless others, I barely have time to sleep and see to personal hygiene. And that’s usually either/or. I can’t make a day of it to check up on a few hundred people when I’ve already delegated responsibility for them to a subordinate.”

Ed couldn’t fail here. “Lives are at stake,” he said quietly. “If not you then at least send someone you trust to be objective.”

The senior officer sighed. “Thank you for coming. I’ll make sure you have food and a place to sleep for now. Whatever I can do to help you, it has to take a backseat to more pressing problems. It might be a few days.”

That seemed like an encouraging answer to Ed, but he could see the others didn’t share his relief. “We might not have a few days,” Lucas warned. “We can’t wait around lost in the shuffle when anything might be happening back home.”

Grimes rapped his knuckles on his desk, a sign of his growing impatience. “There are radio operators in camp you can get in touch with. If you get word of a disaster back home I’d be willing to give you a second hearing, otherwise you’ll have to wait your turn. You’re not the only one facing disasters and with lives at stake.” He stood, a clear dismissal.

Ben opened his mouth to protest further, but Ed quickly cut in. “Thank you for your time, Colonel. We know you’ll do whatever you can.” Catching the refugee leader’s arm, he started for the exit as the rest of the group reluctantly followed behind.

They might wait around for days until they were completely forgotten, unable to get another meeting and finally forced to return home in failure. But antagonizing the one person who might be willing to help them wasn’t going to improve the situation any. At this point they just had to stick around and hope Grimes was as fair as he seemed.

In the waiting room the colonel’s aide arranged for a handy soldier to escort them to a spot in a nearby barracks tent that had a few billets open. Before taking Carrie on to where the female soldiers were quartered their escort gave them a quick rundown on meal times and camp protocol, as well as inviting them to explore the refugee camp if they found the military camp’s movement restrictions too confining.

Carrie promised to rejoin them once her sleeping situation was arranged, and in the meantime they saw to finding an out of the way spot to park the mule where they could be sure it wouldn’t be messed with. Once that was done there wasn’t much else on the agenda.

“So what do we do now?” Ben grumbled, staring at the busy camp in dissatisfaction. Ed shared his feelings, considering how much there was to do back home.

Surprisingly, Lucas didn’t. His old friend grinned and stretched slightly. “Well since we have time to burn, I could remind you we are in the center of commerce and civilization for what remains of the US of A. Now’s a good time to make connections, locate traders, and put together deals that might benefit the town.”

“We don’t have anything to trade,” Ed pointed out. “All we’ve got with us is the mule, a bit of diesel, and our weapons and gear.”

“Depending on how things go with Colonel Grimes we might end up wanting to sell the mule and hitch a ride back with the military,” Lucas replied. “It’s not going to do us much good with not even enough fuel to get home. As for not having anything to trade…” he shrugged. “We’ve got things to trade back home, everything from scavenged items to valuables and nonessentials we can afford to lose. We might even be able to arrange future deals, like I plan to do for my son if I can find a source of reloading materials.”

Ben was nodding thoughtfully. “We do represent the town. I suppose finding trade opportunities is a better way to spend our time than sitting on these cots twiddling our thumbs.”

Ed hesitated, then nodded as well. This was a good opportunity to do more for Aspen Hill than just wait for a response from Grimes. Assuming they still had a town to come home to by the time the colonel got around to doing something. “Agreed. Although we need to keep someone here at all times who knows where everyone’s going to be, in case Colonel Grimes calls us in.”

“Good thinking.” Lucas clapped him on the shoulder, grin widening. “You volunteering to take first shift?”

Blast, he’d walked into that. “I guess,” he agreed glumly, settling down on his cot.

Oh well, he wouldn’t have even known where to begin searching through a refugee camp for people to trade with, or how to arrange deals if he found someone. Lucas had a better head for logistics, Ben had more experience with refugee camps as well as more knowledge of the town’s situation as a leader, and Scott had decades of experience as a business owner. And as a trained soldier Carrie would be more useful to have along in case of trouble.