Militia (7 page)

Second and third platoon had made it inside and were already shooting the Chinese bodies that first platoon had shot, ensuring that they were not playing dead or merely wounded and searching their bodies for anything useful. Groups of soldiers with little left to search of the Chinese guards lifeless corpses started trying to gather all of the prisoners onto one side of the camp to separate them from what battle was left and simultaneously reassuring them that they were free and would be fed and treated for medical problems as soon as the camp had been systematically searched and eliminated of all threats.

When the battle was over Mike ordered first and second platoons to search all buildings and stack up any weapons, ammo, and equipment they could find while third platoon gave aid to the prisoners who had mostly calmed down and were waiting in a group as they had been requested to do. While first and second platoons searched for any hiding Chinese guards, who if left living would be able to retell the tale of what Mike and his soldiers had done tonight, Mike went with third platoon and helped to care for the most injured of the prisoners. For the next hour Mike could hear the occasional sound of gunfire letting him know that another guard had been found.

It was very apparent that the Chinese had modeled not only the camps but also their policies with their prisoners after the World War II German concentration camps. The prisoners were crammed into small living spaces men, women, and children alike with nowhere to go to the bathroom other than on themselves. They appeared to have been starving for quite some time and had withered down to loose skin hanging over once unseen bones. They were also marked by use of hand tattoos. There was a pit in the middle of the camp full of dead bodies that had been covered with lime to reduce the smell but the lime did little to prevent the putrid smell of decaying flesh. The entire place stunk of death and rot. It both saddened and angered the men of the militia to see their people treated in such a way.

While the prisoners ate what food was found stockpiled for the guards and what Mike’s men could spare of their own they were counted and given any medical attention the militia was able to give. By day break it was clear that there were over two thousand Americans that had been kept prisoner behind these walls. There were still children and elderly among the prisoners but Mike didn’t have to ask why there seemed to be so few of them, he had already seen the bodies. The youngest and oldest of the prisoners would have been the first to die from intense labor and brutal malnutrition. The pit was full of children including babies mixed in with men and women, who were probably their grandparents, leaving a noticeable generation gap in the death toll. The majority of Mike’s age group that lay dead in that pile were women. Mike had to assume many of them had been executed as a way of convincing the men of the group to cooperate with the guards commands or as a means of punishment. Mike thanked God that they had not waited longer or chosen to leave the town of Middle and feared that his parents had found a similar fate to these people back in Pennsylvania.

The stockpile of confiscated weapons had grown far past Mike’s expectation. The guards were armed to the teeth. Each of the three towers had at least one good sniper rifle, a light machinegun, and an entire rack of assault rifles as well as an entire shelf of ammunition for the various weapons. They also found portable radios that could be used to communicate with each other which would come in handy for the militia over the coming months.

Inside the barracks there was a large armory that contained at hundreds of assault rifles, mostly AK-47s, fifty or so machineguns, a couple hundred hand guns, and much more ammunition than the militia could possibly carry. There was a dozen or so light rocket launchers, and claymore mines. The guards were obviously armed for a fight but had apparently not felt the need to be prepared for one. With over a nearly a hundred Chinese guards and personnel in the camp Mike was happy that none of them had been felt the need to be ready for any attack from outside of the camps walls.

A separate pile was also filling up quickly, night vision goggles; radios, spare uniforms, and even some maps were now in the possession of the Middle Militia. There would be plenty here to arm and equip as many recruits as the militia would be able to acquire today. For now though, Mike knew, the food and medicine found stockpiled for now deceased guards would be the most important find for these hungry and broken down group of people.

Mike had his men assemble the prisoners outside of the guard’s large barracks where he climbed up onto the roof to address them while they continued to be handed food and have their medical needs looked after by the militia’s third platoon.

“My name is Mike Hoffman. I am the Commander of the Pennsylvania Middle Militia. For the last couple of years my men and I have been building a home for our friends and families who followed us in the mountains of Montana. We are on a mission to free this nation like we have freed all of you.” Mike paused and allowed the freed prisoners to cheer and raise their spirits. “This country belongs to all of us. Our government was set up to work for us and was never given permission to turn our nation over to a foreign government. Therefore it is still ours and it will always be ours! As long as we, the true people of this nation, still have breath in our lungs this country will never truly belong to the Chinese. You are free American citizens once again and if you would like to leave and make a new home for yourselves as our families have you are more than welcome to do so. We will give you what weapons we can spare and what food is left from this camp to start your lives with but if you want to join us and fight alongside us we will welcome you with open arms. This militia started off as ordinary men and women from a small middle class town. We have trained hard and am now able to operate as a military unit and if you choose to come with us you will also be trained and integrated into our ranks.”

Before Mike could continue the large crowd began to cheer at the top of their lungs. Mike smiled to his countrymen and felt good seeing their reaction to their new freedom. “For those of you who want to fight my men will begin recording your information and breaking you down into the proper elements. Once you are all armed and equipped as well as trained we will continue our journey to free more camps like this one. I need you to get amongst yourselves and determine someone to represent you as your leadership and have him, or her, meet me back here in one hour.”

Mike climbed down off of the roof as the group broke back into cheers of thanks and cries for battle. Tom’s platoon was put in charge of recruiting the new members (as they were the ones who had worked closest to them since the camp was taken) and ordered to record their names, ages, and any military experience they had. The platoon leaders came with Mike to the side of the barracks to wait for the group’s chosen representative. Soon a tall, thin man, who was balding slightly and appeared to be somewhere in his mid forties approached Mike and his platoon leaders.

“My name is Gunnery Sergeant Tim Strong,” the man began, “I was an infantry man in the Marine Corps until we were disbanded just a few years ago. I have seen battle in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran in my nearly twenty years of service. I am forty two years young and have been chosen by my peers to be here.”

“Sounds like you’re the right man for the job,” said Mike, “I was an Army Ranger with three tours in Afghanistan before my unit was also disbanded. These are my platoon leaders Steve Gilson, Mark Gilson, and Tom Scott. They have been training under me since we formed this group back in Pennsylvania and have proven to be fast learning, highly dedicated, and motivated leaders. With your experience I am confident to be able to put you in charge of a large element of your own men with you answering only to myself, if that is acceptable to you.”

Tim saluted Mike and Mike returned his salute. “Sir, it will be an honor to join your militia and to serve with you. I have been somewhat of a leader behind the scenes in this camp since we became trapped here. I know the names and most of the stories from everyone in this camp and I can tell you that these are good people, some of which have already had some military training. There are many of us who will want to join in the fight. These fuckers have got some Marine style payback coming for this shit.”

“We are proud to have you with us Gunny,” Mike said, “Your men are going to need time to recover before we can move though. I’ll have my men give you a list of the new recruits that will be under your command as soon as it is ready so that you can brief them and start organizing them as you see fit. While they are recovering I’ll need you and your select leadership to be training with my guys so that we can have all of our troops on the same sheet of music.”

Tim saluted once again and left to go help with the recruiting efforts. Mike looked at his platoon leaders who appeared to be as impressed with Tim Strong as he himself was.

“Damn, Mike, we sure got lucky running into that guy huh?” Steve said, “Shit almost twenty years in the Marine Corps infantry and combat in three countries. I was hoping that some of these guys were soldiers but I didn’t actually think we would find such an experienced veteran.”

Mike couldn’t have agreed more. An hour later one of Tom’s squad leaders returned with the list of new soldiers.

“Mike you won’t believe this shit but you now have over five hundred new men, many of them veterans,” said the young squad leader.

Mike took the list. “Well I’ll be damned. Looks like we just got ourselves a couple more companies to work with and I’m gonna have to promote some of you. We have just been given better odds heading into Washington.”

“Shit Mike,” Steve said, “While you’re promoting us you just better hope that Tim guy doesn’t steal your job and make himself a General.”

Mike laughed. “Well Steve it’s good to finally have some experienced leadership around here.” Mike said jokingly.

Mike, Tom, Steve, Mark, and Tim spent the rest of the afternoon breaking the list down. The men with the most combat experience were placed as platoon, squad, and team leaders, while the rest were filled into those teams by Tim’s recommendations. Mike broke his scouts off of each platoon to make a platoon of scouts and snipers attached to his own company. The original members of the Middle Militia were now Alpha company and out of the new volunteers Mike formed Bravo and Charlie companies. This covered a total of about three hundred soldiers and would make up first battalion. The remaining three hundred or so recruits would be parts of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie companies in second battalion and Tim Strong was put in charge of this battalion while Mike would lead first battalion.

Steve recommended a young scout sniper from his section to lead the first battalion scout platoon. Rick Ryan was barely twenty years old and had joined the militia when it was first formed at the age of seventeen. He was quite possibly the most natural sniper Mike had ever seen and had taken out guards at the first checkpoint and the tower the night before. Rick was very responsible for his age and was a sponge for knowledge. His sense of direction was as accurate as his shooting and he was quickly being looked to as a leader by his peers. Mike agreed with Steve that this kid was the man for the job and decided that Rick would take charge of the scouts. Mike sent for Rick, who came running to him immediately to find out what Mike needed.

“Rick Ryan, it’s been brought to my attention by your platoon leader that you are just the man I am looking for.” Rick stared at Mike puzzled. “With all of these new recruits I was able to take all of the scouts and make an actual scout platoon and we have decided that you will be leading that section.”

“Mike, sir, I’m not sure I’m all that qualified to be a platoon leader,” Rick said, “I’m the youngest of the group by a few years.”

“Oh, save your humble bullshit for someone who cares kid,” said Steve, “I’ve seen you training your fellow scouts, working with the other snipers to improve their shooting and awareness while still drawing a better sector sketch than even Mike himself can do. You are a natural leader and you know it. There isn’t a man here, save for Mike, who knows as much about scouts and snipers as you do.”

“That’s right kid it’s not optional. I’m ordering you to take this promotion. Start getting your platoon together and fill them in on the new changes. Organize your squads as you see fit and help them pick out good weapons and equipment from the piles. I won’t let anyone have at the new stuff until you’re done so make it quick so we can get the fuck out of here,” Mike ordered.

Rick nodded and ran off to gather his scouts and find the weapons and equipment he wanted for them.

“I gotta say, Steve, that kid of yours is sure motivated.” Mike said. “Ok guys, each of you have now been placed in charge of a company in first battalion. Steve you will take Alpha, Mark Bravo, and Tom you have Charlie. Sorry Steve but I want Rick with his scouts and snipers to report straight to me so it looks like you just screwed yourself out of your best soldier.” Steve just shook his head and laughed.

“Fill out your leadership with who you see fit of your squad leaders by making the best of them platoon leaders and have them pick their new squad and team leaders. We will integrate the new recruits evenly between each section so that our guys can train them up faster before leaving them alone to train within their battalion.”

Before they could move out and set up a training and recovery site off of the main roads Mike felt that a funeral was needed for the dead Americans who had been thrown into a pile of lime covered rot. The newly freed prisoners would have the rest of the night and tomorrow to bury their loved ones while the Middle Militia guarded the camp. Once the death pit was emptied of lost American lives the dead Chinese guard could take their places in the pit.

Over the next day many of Mike’s men wept with the grieving survivors as they were finally able to say goodbye to their loved ones. It was obvious that these people had been living with the pain of their losses for some time without the ability to grieve properly. The true nature of America’s current situation could be seen on the hollow faces and tears of people who Mike had only just met but were born to be his brothers and sisters. While people searched through the pit for their loved ones, paying no attention to the decay or the smell, Mike and his militia assisted by digging graves as fast as they could. All graves were dug outside of the camps wall so that while they may have lost their lives inside of this horrible place, they would not be laid to rest in it.