A Bad Start...

(Source)

The little hamlet of Dirksen's Corner was in flames.

The new peacekeepers had been in place for three weeks and a day, things had been calm until three days before Dirksen's Corner burned. On that day a teenager had spit on one of the peacekeeper APCs. One of the soldiers near that vehicle, who spoke very little English, remonstrated with the youth, who promptly extended a middle finger in that soldier's direction and suggested that he "go f**k himself." The Chinese soldier understood that particular phrase.

After a beating right there in the street, the youth was taken to the Chinese compound and held in a small building just inside the wire that the Chinese were using as a jail. During the night which followed, a band of locals broke the young man out of the jail, in the process they had killed one of the Chinese sentries.

Three days later, before sunrise, a full company of Chinese infantry mounted in APCs surrounded the hamlet and opened fire on the small settlement. Some of the residents actually returned fire using whatever firearms they had to hand. Seven Chinese soldiers were wounded, two were killed outright. All thirty-three inhabitants of Dirksen's Corner were killed.

The Chinese had gone house to house, killing anyone they found - regardless of age - then setting each of the buildings alight. When the last soldier had climbed back aboard the APCs, nothing was left of the hamlet.

Nothing.

"How is he Doc?" Jack Bishop asked Mike Henderson, who wasn't an actual doctor but had served as a Corpsman with the Marines during his time in the Navy.

"Cuppla busted ribs, lots of bruises on his torso, but I think he'll be okay. Right Bobby?" Henderson ruffled the kid's hair as he said that.

Bobby Leftwich groaned as he sat up. "Yeah, those bastards really worked me over. Assholes."

Jack looked at the young man and said, "You're gonna have to lay low for a while son. You got any place you can go that's out of the way?"

"Well, I'd need to go home and get my Ma. Then maybe we could head over to..."

At that moment Theo Weiss came into the room, in a very big hurry. "The f**cking Reds attacked Dirksen's Corner, burned it to the ground." That's when he noticed Bobby, he knew that Bobby was from Dirksen's Corner.

Bobby looked at Theo and asked, "What about the folks that lived there? Did the Commies arrest them?"

Theo put a hand on Bobby's shoulder, "I'm sorry Bobby, they're all dead, was your mother at home this morning?"

Bobby nodded as tears began to stream down his cheeks. He was an orphan now.

Jack and Billy were headed back to Billy's place. It was time to head into the mountains, they'd collect Ida and Billy's Jeep and head up to Jack's to make further plans.

Jack broke the silence, "Your hound, good hunter?"

"She's a good dog Jack, but she's no hunter, more of a watch dog."

"She doesn't bark that much, how can she be a..."

"Sadie will come find me or Ida, she'll let us know if there's anything suspicious going on. She's a real good dog."

"She have any special diet?"

"Nah, she'll eat damned near anything, though she's pretty partial to Purina Dog Chow."

"Good to know, Bart loves that stuff. Do you want to bring Sadie with you?"

"Absolutely, I'd no more leave her behind than I'd leave Ida behind." Billy seemed a little irked that Jack would ask such a thing.

"It's alright Billy, I didn't mean nothing by that, Sadie will be an asset up there. Ya know we're going to have to hunker down for a while, then start fighting back. Let the bastards relax until the winter comes, then we'll start making life miserable for them."

Billy nodded, looking out the window of Jack's truck as they rolled down the road. Winter wasn't that far off, but would folks wait that long?

"Staff Sarn't Sager!" Major Mo Morrison called from his office at the Guard Armory. The sergeant poked his head in a minute later.

"Sir?"

"Yeah, this is Captain... What did you say your name was again?"

"Zhou."

"Right, Captain Zhou here wants to see our records, particularly those dealing with weapons and ammunition."

"That's a lot of paperwork. Sir." SSgt. Sager addressed the Chinese officer directly. "Can you and your driver handle it, that little car you've got won't do it."

The Captain smiled and said, "You needn't worry sergeant, I can have a full company..."

Captain Zhou's smile froze in place as he felt the sharp blade of the Major's knife slide into his back. He died quietly, Morrison lowered the corpse to the floor. He looked at Sager expectantly.

"Driver's dead, Gleason killed him. We put the car with the body in it in Garage C. Shall we drag this bastard out there as well?"

"Nah, let him rot right here. Is everything ready?"

"Yessir, vehicles are all loaded, we've got seventy-eight men, all fully equipped. We'd have more but a lot of the guys and gals are on vacation, what with the school break and all."

"Let's mount up and beat feet before the Commies figure out that they're missing this asshole." Morrison said, nodding at the corpse on the floor of his office.

"Damned good thing the State Adjutant General gave us a heads up." Sager remarked.

"Yup, damned good thing. I hate to say it though, he'll probably be executed by these Red bastards. Unless he's got a fast car and a good plan."

"Hey, he survived the third Gulf War and that scrape in North Africa. I'm sure the old man'll come through, he's one tough hombre."

"I'm still gonna pray for the man."

"Pray for us all, Major. I am."