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a little at the reminder, since I’d actually looted it off the body of a highway bandit I’d killed.
    “Any idea where it came from, sir?” the captain asked politely.
    “No, Sir. They are all dead. All of them we ran into, anyway. I did get to question one severely wounded bandit briefly, but unfortunately the question just didn’t come up. By the way, you can pick up the rifle from the armory here on base. I checked it in when we arrived.”
    Which I did… after removing the scope, magazine, and sling. Those were all things I could use and they wouldn’t miss. Yes, stowed in the footlocker that was chained to the foot of my bunk with the heaviest chain and padlock I could scrounge up.
    That caused the sergeant to wrinkle his brow.
    “What did you ask him, son?”
    “If he had any more of his buddies waiting up ahead to spring an ambush. We were very worried about that possibility at the time. They’d already tried to take our traveling companions earlier, which were an injured man, his wife, and their six month old daughter. Amy here is good, but we hadn’t had a chance to cover what to do in the event of an ambush.”
    “And what would that be?” the sergeant asked, following up.
    “Either get out of the kill-box immediately or counterattack with everything you got and try to overrun the attackers. Or so I’ve been taught.”
    “Who was your instructor?” Captain Vanderpool chimed in at that.
    “Nick Keller, former staff sergeant; did twelve years in the Army. He now heads up the security at his family’s farm. Nick taught me a lot while we were there.”
    “And how did you collect this information?” Halloran asked, still curious.
    “Stan and I agreed to give him medical help if he answered our questions. The man was very eager but he died of his wounds before we were finished.”
    “Gentlemen,” Colonel Hotchkins carefully interrupted, “Let’s all grab some seats and we can continue sharing information. I’m sure Lori and Summer want to hear about conditions back home.”
    From the look shared between the captain and the sergeant, the girls were not going to like what was said.
    First, though, as soon as we were seated, Captain Vanderpool asked that I give a brief description of my route and observations as I traveled through Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. The colonel already had most of this, and I indicated as such as I gave a five minute summary of the trip. What it boiled down to was anarchy, starvation, murder, some rioting in the streets of Chicago, and that about covered everything.
    Vanderpool was looking for more, it seemed.
    “I understand you reported instances of… what could be described as official oppression at one of the camps. Is that correct?”
    “I don’t know what else to call it. Rape tents were what we called them—the prisoners called them, I mean.”
    I saw the two officers glance apprehensively at the ladies present, but none of them batted an eye. They’d already heard the story. Lori looked back at them, hard.
    “What? You expect me to be scandalized by what Luke said? That was where I was headed, that same type of treatment anyway, when Luke and his friends saved us. A group of thugs bought me from another group of thugs in exchange for food. Can you say it is any better back home, sir?”
    Vanderpool looked down. His dark skin protected him from blushing at the girl’s blunt statement, but Halloran was not so lucky.
    “No, ma’am,” the captain agreed. “I’m sure every kind of indecency is occurring in Oklahoma City even as we speak. The Guard is spread too thin to do more than try to keep the city’s streets clear of bodies. If attacked, they have standing orders to respond with overwhelming firepower, but otherwise we… well, there’s not much we can do. Food is hard to come by, and the city water system has been down for months. I’m sure McAlester is in much the same shape. They’ve only got an understrength company there, and Captain