Night of the Crane | By @WendyyWolfe

11. Solo

James pushed his way through the rabble, his focus on the roof of the panel truck ahead, as the surrounding crush of people and their conversations became just a low anxious hum in his ears.

Just as he neared his objective the crowd parted, leaving him alone in the small space between the panel truck and his former Staff Sargeant, Roddy RamRod Reese who was smiling like the cat who ate the canary.

Instantly, James saluted, out of respect and maybe a little fear.

"At ease," the Sargeant waved and stepped forward with his hand out stretched.

James held out his hand which the Sargeant took firmly looking James in the eye. Then he hugged him and put him away from himself to look at his former recruit.

"No more formalities."

James nodded with a half grin. "Now why am I not surprised to see you here, Sarge?"

"Maybe because we've been scouring the whole damn county to find you? Where the hell you been? We went to Fort Payne, figuring we'd see you there. They said you never reported for duty. So, I sent a scout team here and, nothin'. I figured I better high tail it over and find you myself. I found your boss lady, though," he said with a raised brow.

James stiffened just slightly but that telltale reaction wasn't lost on the Sargeant.

"Ahhh, I hate to be the one to tell you, but we had to obliterate that bitch," he said rubbing the back of his neck.

James remained expressionless.

"Anyway, James Solomon, welcome to POPs."

James turned around and stood back. So that's what all this is. He nodded slowly as the realization took root in his mind.

"POPs, huh. That short for people's organized paramilitary?"

Roddy nodded thoughtfully. He placed a hand on James' shoulder.

"That's what it means, absolutely. We can't just lay down Solomon, or hide like roaches," he said as he pulled James off to the side. "Which is why we were driven to find you."

He faced James with an intense stare.

Two men.

Two sets of ice blue eyes.

One older and wiser. The other guarded and harboring a silent pain only someone who had intimate knowledge of him could know.

"The people gotta have hope and nobody wants to say it out loud but we got a shit storm load of trouble here. Fort Payne sent buses to all the command centers to pick up women and children but they're being picked off like rabbits in an open field. I need all the help I can get. I need you Solomon. I need the, James Solo Solomon, former Army Ranger and special forces platoon lieutenant. And I need him now."

James took a long, deep breath.

In through the nose and out through the mouth. He closed his eyes even knowing this wasn't going away. He opened them and turned his head to see three bedraggled figures standing at the edge of the crowd looking at him.

Macallan, Lacy and Dylan.

Oh, excuse me, four bedraggled figures, he thought.

An inward groan escaped his lips as Krisslyn emerged tripping from the crowd to push herself in next to Lacy.

Sargeant Reese looked over at the four and looked back at James. "I take it they're with you?"

James swallowed. His answer barely audible. "Yeahhhh, I'm afraid so.."

The Sargeant waved them over and made them to stand behind him. They looked at James quizzically but his face was stoic and unreadable. The other two soldiers joined them and after a short talk one of them the Sargeant called Dingo, blew a whistle until he had the attentions of most of the people.

A nervous murmur remained even as Sargeant Reese began to speak, a discourse which would be lost to James's own inner dialog of excuses he used to convince himself he wanted nothing to do with this operation. He wanted nothing more than to slip away, unseen and forgotten about and to find his forested cabin in Mentone and do the very thing his Uncle, the Sargeant, insisted they could not do. Hide.

But even his memories would not be his today as James was jolted from the reminiscing and wishing, from a blood curdling scream and utter chaos erupting the smoke filled skies above as terror and panic erupted below.

A sound so ominous it drove people to their knees cringing in sheer mental anguish. A droning blast of metallic scraping, screeching, assaulting everything in it's vicinity.

None could withstand the deafening tone as it filled the atmosphere but somehow, some way, Sargeant Reese and his two men whipped into action grabbing James and ushering him, Macallan, Lacy, Dylan and Krisslyn into the back of the panel truck as the one known as Dingo instructed the people through a bullhorn to load up into the existing vehicles even as he rushed as many as he could into the panel truck. That was when James noticed the firing plugs they wore in their ears.

Lacy and Krisslyn both fell to their knees and vomited, crying between enormous gulps of air and slammed their hands to their ears. The truck took off and jerked everyone sideways in the forward thrust. Lacy and Krisslyn were thrown into the soupy puddles of their own puke as Macallan and Dylan grabbed the ropes holding the tarp tied to the truck and hung on for dear life.

Macallan watched out the back as the several vehicles that had been present now crammed with people slowly followed them and those who had no room to fit ran along side the small convoy. As the cavernous, lurching pitch of the truck they were in leveled out Macallan reached down and caressed Lacy's head. She looked up at him in agony and reached for his arm with both hands. He gripped her elbow and pulled her up to him wrapping her slight body into his and held on to her. She grasped the rope near his other hand and steadied herself and then, she kicked Dylan in the shin. He looked at her like she was insane.

"DYLAN, you stupid fuck! Help my cousin up! Help Kriz PLEASE," she shouted.

Anger marred her fair skinned face and she reared back her leg to kick him again.

"OKAY, OKAY damn! HEY Kriz! Take my hand!"

Krisslyn didn't respond.

Lacy screamed her name and struggled against Macallan to free herself because something was terribly wrong with Kriz.