The Travis Theory Original Posted Sept 5 2010 By Remmy Meggs
This is a fictional story of boys and teens growing up and as such, is a work of total fiction. Any resemblance to real people, dead or alive, is purely coincidental. By reading this story, you agree that you are at or above legal age in your location, and you are not breaking the laws of your country. I own all copyrights to this/ these files or stories and they may not be posted on USENET or any other site without my express permission.
If the laws in your country make it illegal to or read fantasy stories about minors, or if you are under of age of eighteen or have someone in your presence under the age of eighteen, you must leave this site immediately. This site may cover gay issues, extreme violence and sexual situations.
Copyright © 2012 Remmy Meggs I reserve all rights. You may not upload this file to any site or reprint it in any media format.
For those that are interested, I write Action/Adventure stories with a strong boy hero growing up in different situations. Since I base my writing on the future or history as I know it, then as far as the story goes, it is indisputable. Remember my stories are in the future, or they fall into the historical fantasy genres.
The Travis Theory By Remmy Meggs
CH26
I guess Travis wore me out. When I woke up it was past noon. I went to the bathroom then came out and put my shorts on. During the day, it was still nice out with a lot of sun. At night however, the temperature would drop 20 to 30 degrees, most of the time you would just need a light jacket, but there were times when it was nice just to stay inside at home.
Today was a sunny day. I put on my shoes and walked out into the hallway. Hearing nothing, I checked the rooms for anyone upstairs. I thought it odd Travis would be gone, but it was Saturday and he was probably off playing with Chase. I did wonder why he was so much more active in the morning than most people were, but of course, it was afternoon... hmm. We played until the water in the shower became cold, then we fell asleep, well at least I did. The last I remembered was Travis snuggled up to me, and dad said he would see us after work.
I went down the stairs and checked the dining room, living room, and kitchen. I looked on the refrigerator for a note, and then I heard the unmistakable scream of Travis. I ran out the front door and scanned the area. Not seeing anything, I ran to the back of the house. There were the guys tickling Travis on the ground, they had a small fire lit, and they had rolled boulders big enough to sit on around the fire.
Travis screamed again sending pain to my ears. "Stop it!" I yelled.
Everyone looked up at me. Joey stopped tickling Travis and Travis quickly stood up, and brushed himself off. Joey yelped, "We were only playing. It's not like we hurt him!"
I knew they were playing; it was the scream that got to me. "First if you weren't playing he would have beat you up and I am not upset; I just couldn't take the screaming, I thought someone was ripping his skin off, or worse." I went around and sat on one of the boulders, "Where did you guys get these?"
"Down at the quarry." Tristan explained, "It took all of us and some two by sixes to get them here. That's what we were doing while you slept half the day."
Justin grinned, "You missed breakfast too. Your dad said you can have some cereal. He made up a fresh quart of that condensed milk. Tristan and I were helping so we could learn to do it."
"Chase and I helped too!" Travis yelped.
"Well they watched. You have to put just the right amount of water in or it will taste nasty." Joey explained.
I looked at them, "You guys left the base and went to the quarry?"
Tristan frowned, "The quarry is less than a hundred yards away. Hell, the guards could see us from the towers. That one guard even said we could go to get them as long as we stayed where he could see us!"
I had thought of that same thing before, but to get out and get to our original homes to get our things.
Getting out of the gate was really not a problem. I was stopped by the idea we would have no protection and it was several miles away. To get there we would have to go through all of the Phoenix Metro area from the west side to the east side. There could be gangs at every corner waiting for anyone to step into their trap. But if the guys were able to get in and out that easy, then all I needed to do was get them some guns and teach them how to use them. I knew a Sergeant that was really big on guns and what they did and what they were. He would be my best guess at helping the others learn to shoot, and get them their own rifles and pistols.
Justin and Tristan were staring at me when I looked up, "What is it?" I asked.
"You are too quiet. What's wrong?" Tristan asked.
"Just thinking." I answered.
Justin smirked, "You have been doing too much thinking!"
Then suddenly they were all on top of me tickling. My screaming did not stop them. When they finally wore out, and I was black and blue and my shorts were wet. They lay against the rocks and left me to recuperate.
When I had rested enough I dragged myself up on my feet and ran to the house to change my wet shorts... after a quick shower of course. I put a clean pair of shorts on, picked up a water pail, filled it with water, and went around the house and threw it on them before they knew it was coming. They screamed like little girls. The water was ice cold, and on a hot day, it was enough to give an old person a heart attack. Yet they survived, again, screaming like little girls. Since they could barely move themselves, I was safe, but with all the screaming, laughing and giggling we had a good afternoon.
The following week an election was held, because I was not present, and the guys had shut up about the election and me, someone older than my dad got the Mayor's office. Of course, I heard about it the entire week. They were unhappy about it and made sure I was going to suffer for backing out on what they had planned.
Dad drove the SUV over to the hospital again, because Mattie was getting out that day. We had another surprise... David, Declan, Benito and Greyson, were also getting out, and an hour later, we were back at the house with the entire group and Declan's mother.
We had a festive party in honor of the four of them. Declan latched onto Joey, Benito and Greyson went together and Tristan had David back again. Justin and Chase helped with refreshments and something that looked like cake but not very tasty. It seems the country was running out of sugar. Still we had a good time.
Declan's mom was acting edgy as she watched him and Joey. I got a strange feeling watching Declan's mom looking at the scene. I am sure she was about ready to explode, although neither of the boys were doing anything but sitting next to each other. Well maybe too close for her. I am guessing dad saw the same thing. Suddenly he stood up, grabbed her arm gently, and took her outside. We all looked at each other, and we knew in our hearts what was being said. Regardless, Chase went out the side door to eavesdrop.
During the quiet, I saw Justin wiping his eyes. I asked, "What's wrong Justin?"
"It's nothing Stevie." He replied.
Tristan stood up and hugged Justin, "You need to tell us Justin."
"Chase is too little to be thinking about sex... well at least so far, but all of you have someone, I don't and sometimes it hurts inside." He blurted out.
"You want to screw my little brother?" Joey yelled as he stood up.
Justin frowned, "Not at all! I just meant he is too little to have someone... gosh you know what I mean, it sure wasn't about me and him doing anything."
While the others talked, dad and Declan's mom drove off in the SUV. Deep in my stomach, I knew exactly what Justin meant. I had been fighting my own battle for a long time. Everyone, especially Travis wanted me to be the leader. That I could do and actually liked it in a way, but dad always said to lead by example, and that was much harder to do than what the other guys thought it was.
My problem did not have anything to do with that. It had to do with Travis, and things I had heard people say. I looked at Travis' hand in mine, how big his hands and feet were compared to mine. How well he thought and planned things out. I thought about how big he had grown in the last few months compared to me. Actually, everyone had, including Tristan. Although you could tell Joey had grown in his pants a little, Tristan, Justin and David were huge, and Travis was bigger than me now in that department.
I knew that although we had fun times, and I loved to cuddle with him, that he was changing. He was looking at guys more now... I mean every cute guy that came by, especially ones bigger than me. I knew he wanted a kind of sex that I had dreamed about but just didn't feel right about doing. I already knew in a one on one relationship with another guy, I was not going to be the leader, I even doubted if I could be the leader if I was with a girl.
I also had a feeling that Travis was happy, but was looking for someone that could make him happier. For some reason it did not bother me. As far as Justin being right about Chase, he wasn't. Chase was now as old as Travis was, when Travis had latched onto me. Around the others and me, it would not be long before he became active, if he was not already.
Joey, Declan, and I sat around the fire. Everyone else had gone off playing for the day. Declan was nibbling on Justin's thigh and stopped, "Don't you guys think it's odd that Justin is the cutest one in class and he never partnered with anyone? He didn't even have a single best friend."
"I thought you guys said I was the cutest one in class!" I looked up wide-eyed.
Joey looked down at Declan, "I thought I was the cutest one!"
Declan always the quick thinker came back with, "Well Joey you are the cutest of all or I wouldn't be with you right? And Stevie you and Tristan both look like you could be twins... so you are both cute and both taken, I meant that Justin is the cutest kid in class with no one else."
"Does he squirm that well all the time, Joey?" I laughed.
"Usually he is better than that." Joey smiled and hugged Declan's neck.
"Travis said, in Justin's head we were all his best friends. That's why he would get hurt so much if even one of us didn't show up for his parties." I smiled.
"That makes sense I guess." Joey agreed.
"Don't you like sex?" Declan asked me.
"I guess so, I want to play with it as much as anyone... well almost anyone else I know. I do love the cuddling though. I just..."
"You just want it to mean something, like it does with Joey and me." Declan smiled.
I looked back up at their smiles, which made me grin as well, "Yes, I want it to mean something. You have to want it as much as the other person does. I just never felt like that with Travis, but what little we do is really good." I explained.
"Then there is Mattie who has a crush on some sixteen-year-old soldier. I think he likes the uniforms." Declan giggled.
We laughed, "I am sure he does, I hope the kid knows Mattie is a boy before he gets his pants off." Joey lost it in laughter.
The three of us went out walking, somewhat looking for Travis and Chase
Joey stopped us and put his finger to his mouth. We quietly started looking around. We could hear little Chase whispering and giggling and sounding devious, "They don't know we are here!"
Joey stood up and pulled us back away from the direction we were headed, "I really don't want to know what they are up to, so you guys go ahead of me." He whispered.
I took the lead and followed their voices. Out in the desert there is not much undergrowth, very little else growing, and no grass at all. As we went down the slope quietly, I could see small branch-trees with leaves, which meant there was a water source nearby. Staying away from the cactus, my eyes found the two of them on a blanket eating a pretend lunch. Travis was pretending quite well to Chase's amusement.
Then I saw the others, five boys that had to be fifteen or sixteen years old watching Travis and Chase. I turned to Joey and whispered, "They are having a picnic is all."
Justin started to shout and I pulled him to the ground, "Shhh Joey, there are at least five older guys down there watching them. They could hurt them or us, so we have to see what happens and plan this out. "
I could see Declan shaking, "Declan," I whispered, "You do not have to do anything. But if Travis is confronted, the first thing he will do is tell Chase to run. He will block anyone that goes after Chase. Once Chase starts running, you grab him and go get some soldiers, bring them back here. Got that?"
He nodded, although his face was a pasty white from fear. I turned to Joey, "As soon as Travis tells Chase to run, we go in and fight with everything we have..." I hesitated, "Joey... This is not a game anymore. You fight to kill."
"Declan got about fifty feet over to the left, that would be the closest escape route for Chase, you be waiting for him there. Remember Travis will try to stop the one going after Chase. That does not mean he will get him, so do your best to get out of there fast." I instructed. Declan nodded and quietly got into his position.
I turned back to Joey, "I am pretty sure Travis will do what I think he will. If he doesn't I will move down there fast, you will need to be behind me and scream like crazy, we have to scare the crap out of those guys and hit them before they realize its only two of us."
"I am going to kill Travis when this is over, you know." Joey fumed.
I patted him on the shoulder, "Let's get them both safe before we kill either of them."
Then we heard Chase say "Shit Travis!"
I could see Travis stand up and I saw him pull Chase to his feet. I could only see the shoes of the other boys. "Well we have a couple little fagots." One boy said.
Travis fired back, "Whatever you said or not, ass hole, we haven't done anything wrong, so get out of here before someone gets hurt."
The boy spoke again, "Well if you like being out here alone with another boy so much, you have to be a queer... so you can suck all of us, that's fair. If you do a good job then we won't fuck your hot little butts, and we know you have no one to tell about it so you won't be telling on us."
Travis did not even move. Joey leaned into me, "You are enjoying this!"
"Huh?" What a strange thing to say." I frowned and kept my attention on Travis and Chase.
"Stevie you have a boner and you are talking about killing those guys, now how strange is that?" Joey growled low.
"How strange is it that Travis and Chase are about to get raped and you notice my boner?" I retorted.
He shut up and I listened carefully to the boys talking, "I am not sucking that big dirty thing." Travis said, "So just put it away." He paused, "Or any of you for that matter, just put them back in your pants."
One of them grabbed Travis' short hair, "You can watch while your little boyfriend sucks one of us and I'll fuck his little behind with my big dick and split him in half! How do you like that?"
"Why isn't Travis doing something?" Joey asked.
"Because it is a group against him, he is probably ready to cry, but he has to make the first move so I know what to do. Once they touch Chase, I am betting he goes nuts." I explained but I was starting to doubt what Travis would do.
"Okay I'll do it, but you have to let him go home!" Travis yelled.
"No, we will let go of him once you have done us all and made it feel good." The unseen boy said.
Joey moved closer to me, "He isn't really going to suck him is he?"
I didn't answer. My heart was beating fast. How was I supposed to know what Travis would do? I saw Joey's arm out of the corner of my eye, it was moist so I looked at his face. His nose had sweat beads on it. I wiped my nose off and his, then turned back to listen.
"Oh that's it! Get it all warmed up! Up and down, yes that's it... Guys he is good at this, a natural we are going to have a lot of fun!" The unseen boy said.
"Run Chase!" Travis screamed.
Then another scream, a blood curdling, horrific scream, came from the unseen boy. I ran down to confront the others and saw Chase run up the hill right where I expected him to go. Joey, right behind me came up to fight. They all had their dicks out, but one of them was holding his, his eyes were wide as blood poured out of it. Joey and I went after the other three and one ran up following Chase. We beat two of them and Joey ran after Chase. I turned and looked at Travis who was wiping the blood off his mouth. He was standing over the bleeding boy bashing the boy's head with his feet. I was breathing hard, "And you wonder why I was so scared to let you suck me!"
Travis was crying but started a strange laugh as tears came out of his eyes when I said that. The boy with half a dick was still screaming. I stood him up and I smacked him upside the head, "You better walk to the hospital!
Maybe they can sew it back together before you bleed to death!" I turned to the three on the ground, "Get up and walk up the hill in front of us, you will have to answer to the Army for this."
Travis did not bite the boy's dick in half, but he took a bite big enough to bleed profusely. We walked up the hill and met up with Declan, Chase, and Joey. Chase ran to Travis. Declan was shaking and standing near Joey, "I didn't think I hit him that hard." Declan whimpered.
Joey was checking out the older boy, "He will live; you just knocked the crap out of him!"
"He deserved worse." Chase yelped.
Travis held Chase and looked at us, "Thanks guys. If I would have known you were there I wouldn't have got so drastic." Travis and Chase ran to me and started hugging me, letting tears flow. What I wondered is why he went so far when he could have easily beat the five of them himself, but I said nothing about it.
Joey laughed, "We were waiting for you to tell Chase to run. We didn't think you would bite off someone's dick!"
"I didn't bite it completely off but I thought about it." Travis growled at the boys, "I wanted them to get horrified and back off, which is what they did."
We were surprised and proud of Declan. He was one that did not do well at Karate, and we always thought of him as a wimp, but instead of running with Chase, he stood his ground and took the older boy down, and down hard. The older boy would have both eyes black and blue and be hurting for days. We wished we could have seen it. We did our best to build Declan's ego, to let him know how proud we were.
We started back to the hospital, the one boy used his hands to put a tourniquet on his dick, but it still bled, and his face became ashen. I pushed the older boys ahead of me and got them to the hospital. Travis and Chase stayed next to me, and every couple of minutes I hugged them both and told them how great they were and how they acted so fast.
Dad made us fill out a bunch of papers. Then the Military police made us fill out a bunch of papers as witnesses. We were assured the boys would not be shot, but they didn't guarantee anything else. Dad told us the one boy would be all right, but he would have major scars and think twice before he let anyone else near his penis. Actually, I was going to think really hard about having Travis near mine... jeez!
There was something in the back of my mind that was festering. I knew something was bothering me, eating at me but I kept pushing it aside. I just was not sure what it was, maybe it was many things. I kept thinking of Travis, he so afraid to go that far. Yet, he did have a plan and to him it was sound. Scare the hell out of the boys, then attack. If I would have been just a moment quicker, that would not have happened, the shame was mine for not taking care of him.
The word would spread and every boy and soldier would hear about it. That was the good part. The bad part is no one would want their dick sucked. I laughed to myself. Pity the poor boy that is being sucked, and their friend sneezes, instant decapitation of their wiener. It sent shivers up my spine, so I decided to share that with everyone else. I made plenty of people shudder with that story. Chomp and it is all gone.
Travis was humiliated over the whole thing and upset. He and Chase hung with Joey, Declan and me over the next few days. The kids that caught them were not from the airbase or Tent-City, which gave dad the ammunition to keep the patrols out looking for more survivors. I also doubled the guards at the gates and the guard towers. If we were not moving so soon, I would expect them to put barbed wire fences up with claymore mines, but they did not.
The four boys got ninety days of hard labor which meant they were going to do heavy work around the camp with an armed guard with them, mostly cleaning latrines. The one that was bit received a year at hard labor. It was then I found out that the people that were not shot by firing squad usually received thirty days to a year hard labor for whatever they had done.
That did not satisfy me for some reason. I don't think I would have been satisfied if that boy lost his complete dick. He did not deserve to live, at least as far as I and others were concerned. How many others had he hurt doing the same thing?
That is when Billy and his gang turned up. Although we never saw them come in, or realized they had been in the hospital for a while. They were in orange clothes that said prisoner on the back. We walked past one of the labor gangs and Travis stopped us and pointed Billy out. He had grown a lot taller and his face and body were much thinner but he was well.
The guard gave us a warning, "Don't get too close boys; these guys are not very nice."
Billy looked up at me. A smile of recognition came to his face, then the tears started to flow and he grabbed me and hugged me. Joey held off the guard telling him we were safe. Nothing else was said for a long time. Billy finally said, "It's terrible on the outside, more than I could ever explain. I thought all of you were dead. When we saw the soldiers and the red crosses we came out, but when we did, others saw the soldiers too. Shawn and Alex were killed in the crossfire."
"It's okay now, and you are safe. Just be good and I'll do what I can." I told him.
I didn't know Shawn or Alex, but they must have been in Billy's group. The guard came over to me, "This is a nice reunion. I am happy you found another friend, but Steve, they have work to do, and you need to be on your way."
I nodded and pushed Billy back, "I'll check on you when we are allowed." I did wonder what they had done, if anything really to be put on hard labor. I would find out though, I promised myself that.
Billy wiped his face and watched us walk away. I heard the guard get gruff,
"I don't know how you know such fine boys, but you get your ass back to work before you end up back in the hospital, I am tired of your bullshit."
We walked to the mess hall to eat, instead of going home, and sat with the soldiers. Most were too tired to talk, and the massive room was mostly quiet with a few whispers once in a while. Several came over to Travis and patted him on the back saying things like `you did the right thing', `you should have bit it completely off', `you should have just killed him.' Well it was easy to know what they were talking about, but the more things were said, the more Travis sulked. Everyone knew the atrocities that were forced on him, even though he was triumphant in the outcome, it still did not make him feel any better knowing that people actually knew it was him.
Travis would not leave my side at all at this point. Of course neither would Chase. They needed help and there was nowhere to turn, I could only talk to him and ask them how they felt. That really was not doing them much good. Dad talked to the both of them as well, but still there was no progress. Travis was in a dark place, and Chase was not far behind.
Two weeks had gone by since Travis' ordeal. At night, he stayed snuggled to me. His thoughts of sex had left him, at least for the present time. He just wanted to be held. A few times nightmares woke him up. At one point he told me, "The boy deserved a lot more than I gave him Stevie, it's not that, it's what they were going to do to us."
Of course, I told him there is no sense to bullying anyone, but that did not seem to help. So on those nights, I would hold him and let him cry himself back to sleep, in my arms. Travis also felt guilty about what he did. He was constantly asking people if he had done the right thing. Luckily, most of them thought the boy should have got worse treatment.
What we did not know at the time is that the punishment of hard labor for the boys was much worse than we could ever have imagined. Because they were involved in a sex crime, they themselves were being abused and beaten on a regular basis. If they did not perform, then food would be kept away from them. The boy who almost lost his penis received most of the horrible attention, but the others were right behind him.
The next time I saw the five of them, I did not recognize them at all, the brutality had been so horrible. Of course, I would not have felt sorry for them for what they had done. This made me wonder, what Billy had done. They surrendered, and that meant amnesty, so why was he doing hard labor?
With Travis and Chase next to me, I grabbed Mac and let him see Billy. I asked Mac to find out what Billy had been charged with. Mac was hesitant,
"Stevie, I, and my men are in training. I have a great responsibility, what does it matter what Billy and his gang did?"
I whined until he agreed to at least check into it. Mac was being overworked. He had a couple of officers that had been in the service before, but most were new, as he was, and they were all going through basic training and advanced training at the same time. The officers that were already in the service led the entire thing, with Mac as the instructor for combat, a special kind of combat that no one had seen before. Well, at least none of us that grew up watching war movies.
So even though Mac was a Colonel, he had to go through the same basic training as the rest. He was completely worn out, even with his muscles and stamina to finish a job. That was something he trained for all of his life, he just never planned on it being military orientated.
At the same time, he saw the change in Travis, and that worried him maybe even more than it worried me. Mac told me Travis was yelling at him one day, and asked him how he would feel about a foreign dick in his mouth and then trying to bite it in two. Although, all of us could imagine that, none of could imagine the trauma he went through for what he did.
Things were not as dark as they seemed to be. If you were to look around Tent-City, it was almost vacant. There were maybe twelve families, well actually one family, three couples and the rest were alone. The base Commanding General, which was different from my dad, was excited about moving out. He had a new post he wanted to get to, and everything at this base was taking his time away from that post.
Then something extraordinary happened. The sirens went off, there were a few gunshots, and everyone that was left started heading for fences. The site we saw was unimaginable. There was a herd of cattle grazing as they came into view, but deer were close by them, and several wild dogs, not wolves or coyotes, were on the hunt deciding what animal to bring down.
A patrol was ordered to follow them and keep radio contact. An hour later several helicopters arrived, refueled, and took off. They were heading for the herd of animals that had not wondered far off, except for the dogs that were still within hearing distance. The guys and I ran back to the fence and watched. At first, we thought the helicopters were killing the animals, but when there was no movement at all, the helicopters started landing.
Cages were brought out and the medical helicopters on the base took off and landed near the others. They used some medium equipment to load the cattle. Men picked up the dogs, and others dragged the deer. They were all put in cages. There were not thousands of animals, but at least twenty deer, one hundred cows and maybe ten wild dogs.
We saw dad looking at the excitement with binoculars and we ran a distance to see what he knew. Men were cheering. They mistakenly thought they were going to have fresh meat. Dad explained that the animals would be taken to a safe place and bred to create more food in the near future so that many would eat. Several men heard him and asked for the location, but dad did not know, or he was not saying. All he told them is that we were trying to create herds to recreate some form of food source.
That did not sound too appetizing, when you consider he did not say meat. I imagined mom's tofu with beef stock flavoring. Still everyone was excited. It had been a long time since any of us had seen any type of animal at all.
The next day there was even a bigger surprise. A rifle shot went off at the front gate. Then several others from around the front perimeter shot rifles. Officer's vehicles from all over the base, and hundreds of soldiers scurried to the area. Some kept the rest of us at bay, even when I tried to pull rank on them. All my new family got was, "Sorry Kiddo, not this time, we have no idea what is going on!"
Dad's SUV headed for the gate and Justin flagged him down. He motioned for us to hurry up, and we ran as fast as we could and jumped in. Travis stuck his tongue out for good measure at the guards, who of course were too far away to see it. Dad drove quickly, but safely to the front gate. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people there, all outsiders, all from the pits of hell. Many were being carried on backs and stretchers. Others dragged themselves along. At least two hundred were injured badly. These were the people that thought they could re-create civilization on their own without help.
Male and female nurses came running through with clipboards and paperwork. Dad had them hand out clipboards to us so there would be more helpers. I quickly explained to the others guys what needed to be done; dad even had two soldiers next to us and the nurses to be sure of our safety.
People starting forming lines and soldiers were yelling out orders to them so there would be some organization. Dad was yelling over a loudspeaker to have all the wounded to the far left, and the sick to the right of them. All others had to be in the middle and all the children with parents had to be in the middle to the near far right, and the children that did not have parents had to be on the far right. That would be me. The six lanes next to me were the other guys taking care of families.
Some of the people were in the wrong lanes and the soldiers moved them as fast as they could. Groups of people were moved by soldiers and taken to the annex so they could shower. As always, there would be someone to hand out clothing and bedding.
This was not going to be as easy as it may have sounded. Some of the adults were already claiming a child was theirs with no papers. Some were claiming marriage with no papers, and some were illegal aliens from many countries, they could not speak English. The different languages were put into groups until we could get translators; those that did not have documents were put in another group. Children and adults with some sort of paperwork entered unhampered. Then I saw soldiers outside the gate, patting down people for guns and knives. I did not care for that, but I understood it, at first I did not think it necessary that they patted down the boys and girls, but then I remembered that half the time I was wearing a gun, so it made sense... sort of.
The three barbers came down and started shaving everyone's head, including women and girls. I did not see it at the time but I would hear about it before bed. It was something they did not do before, and they also had dusted everyone for bugs, and shots were given to many. Once again, the hospital filled up and triage was set up so the other two doctors could begin work. Dad stayed with us to make sure processing went smoothly.
A few of the newcomer adults became violent or abusive, and even though I hated the violence, the soldiers put them down quick, and the men or women were marked with a marker on the neck so the military knew who they were when they came out of the shower. Once they were set up in Tent-City and ID tags issued, they were taken to the mess hall to eat.
I heard Justin yell, "Stop it Claire, and just answer the questions! No, stop it! You are going to give me some girl disease. "
I looked over toward them and saw one of the girls in our class hugging on Justin and the guards trying to pull her off him. One of the guards yelled at her, as he pulled on her jacket, "Get away from him Miss, you are holding up the line."
Then I saw her father, worn and haggard pleading with her to leave Justin alone, he was busy. Finally two of the soldiers broke her grip on him. She was crying, almost in hysterics at seeing a classmate. I yelled over to the soldiers, "Gentle now, they have been through a lot!"
One of the soldiers turned to me frowning, but he nodded he understood. They were pushed along to an older nurse who would see to them. Justin turned to me and yelled, "Do I get hazardous duty pay?"
Four hours later, I had processed over 600 kids and I could not stand anymore. The soldiers brought all of us small desks and chairs to sit at. The showers would be running out of hot water soon. Over 13,000 people had been processed or set to the side for investigation. Those out of the showers and in new clothes were set up in Tent-City as soon as we could get them there.
We knew the standard set up, but never had we imagined so many people at one time. At the rate we were going it could take days to get everyone processed. At midnight, Travis fell asleep his line of people was stalled. A Captain, one of the doctors, came out with replacements that had just come on duty, "Colonel, take your family home for the night, I have enough replacements to take over."
We slept hard, and we were terribly late. Travis was still cuddled next to me. I looked at the little clock on his nightstand; it was 12:20 pm. I jumped out of bed and ran into dad's room to wake him up, but he had already left. I ran down the hall waking everyone but Mattie and Chase. Then I ran downstairs to leave the two of them a note.
Then I ran back upstairs to make sure everyone was moving and took a shower. I came out of the shower and saw Travis still asleep, so I left him that way. I put on my fatigues, and military work outfit, but I wore them with khaki walking shorts, and strapped on my gun belt, and then put on my hat. Dad had always taught me never pull a gun unless you are going to use it period. And if you pull it on a human you better have a good excuse to pull the trigger, and to make sure you kill them.
This was the first time I was afraid enough to do just that. The other guys put their fatigues on as well, and we walked to the hospital. Soldiers yelled out to us and we stopped to talk with them. During the night, two firefights broke out. Several men in a truck were ordered to get out and get in line with the other people. The soldiers would then push the truck in the ditch to have a clear view of the people. The men shot the corporal in the head, then trying to hit the other soldiers nearby, they ended up shooting several civilians. Other civilians ran for cover, and then the officer of the day shot a grenade into the truck killing the men involved. I looked toward the front gate and saw smoke still rising.
Then for other soldiers, one of which was my friend who was always battle ready, pulled us to the side and had the other guys try on gun belts until they found some that fit. I was impatient because I wanted to get to the front gate but one of the corporals said that all personal, civilian or military had to be armed, there were thousands at the gate.
The sergeant was explaining to the others how to use the pistols, telling them if they became afraid of someone to pull the gun, if that didn't stop the people, they were to start shooting regardless and take cover, men would come and help anyone.
Another Private said that while he was at the southern fence an armed man tried coming over it. When they did he ordered him to halt. They raised automatic weapons toward him. He almost shit himself. He was the only one at the fence, and there were ten guns pointed at him while two others were cutting the fence so they could get through.
He opened fire on the men. Six were wounded and three of them ran off. Helicopters went into the air and killed those four. "Boys, many of these gangs think we have something we won't give of our own free will, or they think they can storm us and take over. We are not going to let that happen. You will be dealing with people close up, they shouldn't have any weapons, but that doesn't mean the front gate found everything." The Sergeant said, "Now get on your way, the lot of ya, beware of the older ones, the next time don't let them live, we have to get rid of the trash."
We got to dad's office and opened the door and walked in. he wasn't there. The secretary was walking down the hall, "Boys," He said, "Your father is with the base commander. Many things happened last night, and he may be awhile. He wants you all to find Colonel Brody and take his company into Tent-City and remove all the children... all of the children... to another part of the base, where they can still see their parents but are away from the adults."
I looked at him, "It won't help if the older kids are with the younger kids. We have to separate them too."
He tilted his head, "Your dad thought you may say something like that, so Colonel Brody is willing to listen as long as you don't go overboard, we are running out of supplies."
"You mean fences and wood I hope?" I asked.
"Yes, and we are about out of tent space as well." He said, "You boys need to be on your way, those kids are going to need help."
I turned and looked at the other guys, "So many good things have happened in the last few days. We are lucky to be a part of it, and see it all."
They all looked at me as if I was crazy, but I was serious, and maybe someday they could see the same thing. Instead of going to the front gate, we looked for Mac. He was not hard to find. He was standing outside the gates of Tent-City with two platoons of men and a Captain.
He frowned upon seeing us, "Did all of you sleep all day?" He shook his head and pointed to the gates. "Your dad said to build another Tent-City next to this one. We are to move all the children to the new area that the rest of my company has been fencing in all morning. Do any of you have other ideas?"
Tristan spoke, "After what has happened, Stevie came up with a problem we have to take care of right away."
Everyone started giggling when I looked at Tristan, and then turned back to Mac, "We have to keep the kids under six with their parents. And I think the six to twelve or thirteen year olds together, and the kids 14 to 16 together. That way they are safer."
Mac looked at me as if I had turned into a space alien, "So we are going to separate brothers and sisters because of age differences?"
Tristan tapped my shoulder, "You can't do that!"
I frowned and looked at the group. "The girls are separated anyway unless..." Mattie, Chase, and Travis ran up to us. All three were glaring at me. I tried to ignore it and continued, "Unless they still have a parent, then if they have brothers they are put in a house. The other girls are using the dorm type things with a couple of women to look after them."
"So it's okay if we separate all of you if your dad wasn't alive?" Mac asked.
"We are not exactly brothers." I said without thinking.
Mac smirked, "Look at Joey and Chase and tell them that!"
Well, I looked, but let's face it... neither one wanted to be near the other most of the time. It was true that Joey would protect Chase no matter what, beyond that they were distant. But Chase spoke up, "You can't separate brothers, it is not right to do something like that."
"Okay," I answered. "Justin would you go get the clipboards that dad said he would have ready, in his office." I turned to Mac, "When he gets back we can go in with your men in four groups, and start the separation."
Mac put Tristan with Lieutenant Kelsey. Two platoons would be outside the fence with treats and `extras' and lead groups to the proper places. We would take out the families with girls first, then the rest of the girls. Then we would work with boys and their families. Once those two groups were sorted, we would work with the individual boys and brothers.
Justin returned handing out the clipboards to each of us and we walked up to the entrance of Tent-City. That is when we saw all the shaved heads. Lieutenant Kelsey saw the looks on our faces and explained, "When you deal with that many people, you shave their heads, and sometimes other parts, have them shower, then spray them will a powered bug powder so bugs do not get carried from one person to another. Then they get dressed. It really is common gentlemen."
I sighed as the gates opened and two platoons of men walked in ahead of us. We went with Mac to the Podium. Dad thought we had to be there to show the kids everything was going to be all right and no one would hurt them. That would make sense, kids helping other kids, instead of the brute force of the military making demands.
Mac called for girls with brothers or sisters and at least one parent to come out for housing. Of course, for housing that meant ID cards. I looked over at the ID building and they were packed from the deluge of people. We waited a few minutes and no one came forward. Mac looked at me, "You try, maybe they will listen to you."
Mac pushed the microphone down to where I could reach it. I took a deep breath, "Hi everyone! Some of you might remember me!"
I heard someone yell my name from the back of the assembly. Justin piped up, "That's Claire don't let her get near you!"
I smiled, "Several thousand men will be coming into this camp over the next few days. We want all the girls and their families to be safe. To do that, we need to move the girls and their families to base housing. This is to protect the girls, too much can happen in here that we can't control."
Suddenly men and women started pushing their children and teens toward the gate, where a platoon was waiting for them, "Do not be afraid of any of the soldier in blue, they are here specifically to protect the children at any cost." I said to alleviate their fears.
From what I could see as they came by the podium, there were ten boys for each girl, and there were more men alive as parents than there were women. It seemed to take forever. I watched the other guys asking the questions, and if they thought the answers were fishy, those people were separated from the rest. Once they finished, about an hour later, Mac had several men walk those people to the girls housing on the other side of the base.
Then I called out for the girls with brothers or sisters alive, with no parents. There were many more of them than I expected. I stopped counting at one hundred and fifty boy and girls. Some of them had identification which made things much easier for the guys to process. Like before, the people would ask the guys what was going on, what to do next, and what would happen to them. This made things take longer than it should have taken.
The people were taken to the quartermaster for bedding and more clothing. At the girls housing there were women standing ready to get the families situated, and explain that they may have other children put in their charge. It was explained how they would get their food, how they would go shopping at the PX, and then be given a small house with enough bedrooms for those in the family. They even told them where they hid the towels, something we were never told.
The area was fenced in as a community, but guards were posted to keep people from getting in and causing harm. They were also told that they were free to leave any time after they had the proper ID. If they left the compound without the ID, they may not be able to get back in without a long wait and thousands of questions. They were also told if they had a problem to see the on duty officer who was in a trailer at gate of the girl's community.
When Tristan gave me the go ahead, I called for all the girls left to come forward. There were at least thirty of them. Several waved and winked at me. Something Travis didn't miss. I could tell because he became much louder than the others when he was asking them questions. I was sure he was going to say HE IS MINE, but if he did, I did not hear it.
It did not take as long for that group and I called out for boys with at least one parent alive. Now there were many coming forward. I turned to Mac, "The guys are going to need chairs and tables, and it is taking way too long."
Mac had several men go to the quartermaster to get them then turned to me, "I have been watching the refugee gate, and they are coming in faster than we can get them out. We will stop for lunch and come back, but at 5 pm, we are going to stop. They will be safe overnight."
After last night I didn't need to be told a second time. Although our job was exciting and we got to meet almost everyone, it was also tiring, and faces became a blur. To those we interviewed, we became the focus of heroes saving them. This would soon become apparent, in many ways.
As the others were processing the families, I looked out to hundreds of boys that were alone. I pulled on Mac's shirt, "Mac, look at them. They are lost."
"There isn't much we can do about it Stevie." He said patting my shoulder.
"We can go talk to them. Come on." I got off the podium and Mac followed me.
When we came down the boys gathered around us, asking hundreds of questions. Most of all were we going to kill them or cook them. Then some told of the horror stories to make them believe we would do that.
An eight year old... well actually since everyone was bald; I was guessing at the ages by height, grabbed Mac and started hugging him. Mac picked the boy up and told him everything would be alright. I was shaking hands and getting hugs myself as we walked and talked to make sure everyone realized we were friendly. Some asked about my pistol, and Mac told them that very few boys on the base were allowed to have them, and usually we did not wear them.
Of course then came the questions of how many people have you killed, how fast can I fire, and have I shot any kids. Mostly I laughed, but explained that even though I probably could shoot someone, the pistol had not been out of the holster since I got it, except for target practice, and I used girls, especially those from my school. That made everyone laugh, they knew I was not serious... which led to more hugs and handshakes.
We did try to answer their questions the best we could. They were more at ease, and we definitely made friends. Mac explained what would happen, how they would be split into age groups and be living in Quonset huts. They would have their own guards at each hut, to protect them and know each guard by name. On top of that, they would have a Sergeant for each Quonset hut to look out after their needs. He told them about how they had their own mess hall, but would be allowed at the military mess hall as well, after they got their ID cards of course.
Travis came running up to us, "Stevie, we wondered if we could take a break before getting the rest of the guys."
Mac looked at his watch, "It's already after five, Steve." Mac looked at the incoming refugees, then turned to Travis, "Let's finish this group off so they can have a good meal, then you boys can go home. Tent-City will be packed again by morning, and there is no sense for these boys to stay another night outside, because all of you over slept."
By 7 pm we were finished, and soldiers led the boys off into two groups. I looked at them leaving as the guards closed the gates, "Well did I do it right?" Travis hugged me, "We knew you would. That last group was happier than the first groups were. It probably had something to do with you guy's talking to them, but I should have been asked if it was okay first."
I thought about that for a minute, "Exactly who told you that you could go near the fence and have a picnic?"
He shrugged, as we walked, "No one?"
"I think you should have asked Mac or me if you could go. That wouldn't have happened. As far as me asking you if I can do things, let's see, who is the boss?"
I could hear his mind clicking, "That's not fair. You are only the boss when you want to be the boss! And you always ask me what I want to do because you are too lazy to come up with ideas. And if I say I want to do something you only agree cause you don't want to think... hmmm, see you are only the boss when you want to be, you have to be the boss all the time."
Mac grinned, "He has got you there Stevie, and you have to be the boss all the time, not just when it suits you." Then magically the others agreed.
"Well, still I shouldn't have to ask permission when you apparently have no idea what I am doing or when I am doing it." Justin and Joey at least applauded me, but I heard giggles behind me. I ignored them.
When we walked by the gate there were still people as far as you could see. The new recordings must have started playing, and they were working. Dad told us that not everyone was going to come in, many had captives and were not going to jail for crimes they committed, and even though we promised amnesty once people started pointing fingers the military would have to do something.
We ate a quiet dinner, and afterwards we sat in the living room and watched the day's announcements until they started repeating. Rested and fed, we went outside and started the fire. We sat quietly for a very long time. We were all snuggled together and Benito was trying to stay awake with Greyson's help.
"We had it bad. We had it real bad." Benito said out of nowhere.
We turned our attention to him, "Travis had Mac, Stevie had his dad. The rest of us were on our own. We had it bad." He looked at the dirt, "Then yesterday when we were processing I realized we didn't have it bad. We were the lucky ones." He stood up and straightened his shorts, "It must be horrible out there."
Joey looked up, "Mac and Dad are watching us."
We turned to see them come toward us, "We don't mean to interfere with your time, but could we join you for a little while?" Dad asked.
Sure Justin grinned, "That way I can flirt with Mac!"
We could not tell if Mac blushed, but we knew he did. Mac only liked men with big dongs or women with big boo...boos. Regardless it made everyone laugh. Dad looked up at us, "How are you guys holding out with the processing. Mac said it is not a job for boys your age."
We turned to Mac staring at him. Mac groaned, "Most of the officers do not want their kids at the gate or Tent-City. They are saying that too many bad things are going on out there."
Everyone looked at me. I spoke quietly but without hesitation, "All of us have buried our mothers or fathers or both, some buried them by themselves. We have seen people starve, and those dying we couldn't help. We may not have seen what was in the body bags, but we know it was horrible. We may not have gone through what those kids did that are coming in, but we can help them, and so can the others."
It was quiet for a few minutes, then dad asked again, "That is fine, but how are you boys holding up?"
Travis shifted and I looked at him. He hesitated but spoke, "I think Mattie and Chase and I should help in the pre-school rooms. The older kids are not showing any respect because of how young we are. Several times the Sergeant came over and told them not to get smart with me."
Mattie and Chase nodded their heads. Chase was not actually doing processing but he was next to Travis while Travis was trying to help. Dad smiled, "We can arrange that easy enough. What about you others, we have a lot of things we can do other than processing."
Declan, Benito and Greyson looked at me, then at dad. "We were talking earlier and we go out there and see things that make us want to cry and if we do those in line will think something is wrong. Stevie may be younger than us, but he is stronger and smarter, and most of all he is a leader. Joey and Tristan and Justin would only stop if Stevie stopped, we feel that way too, but we don't want to upset anyone either. They are just so bad off and there is nothing we can do fast enough to help them."
Joey cringed, "I don't like you being where I can't see you, but maybe you guys can work in the hospital if you want. There are plenty of guards..."
"I wanted to work in the quarter master's office or the commissary but they said I had to be in the Army." Greyson hinted.
"Well that is not going to happen until you are at least 18." Dad grinned.
"It's 16 now." Justin corrected.
"Well either way, you're my boys now and I said 18." Dad said firmly, then added, "But all of you can dress in fatigues, and I can get someone to put your name and job title on the back of the jackets so you look official. That might get you more respect when you are working, at least more than you get wearing shorts and t-shirts."
We were 11 to 13 of course we were ecstatic to look like soldiers. Greyson smiled and looked at me. It was apparent he liked the uniforms and wanted to dress as I did sometimes, but he didn't have to have permission to that. I had no idea why I got that smile from him. Dad stood up, "So the four oldest will continue, the youngest will work in the preschool, and the middle ones will work in the hospital?"
"Ya dad, but shouldn't Justin, Tristan and Joey have guns too?" I asked.
Mac spoke up, "I don't even want you to have a gun. First, you know how to use it, but that doesn't mean someone couldn't slip it out of your holster and take it. Second, would you actually shoot someone if need be? If you did not and others thought you were going to, you could be killed. I don't want you with a gun out there."
I did not get upset, I really did not like the gun, and it was more like wearing fancy jewelry. I nodded, "I'll stop wearing it, but we have to get something to lock it up in."
Dad seemed surprised, probably because it was his idea that I wear it. But Mac was right, someone could get it away from me and hurt others, and if I did pull it, would I actually use it? I doubted it.
Mac wanted Travis to come home that night and Travis went into a fit. Mac finally gave up and went home, giving Travis a hug first. We all headed for bed. I took my shower, and rubbed myself until I was dazed, then climbed into bed.
Travis took his shower and dried off. He then climbed into bed and cuddled next to me, "It's alright if you play with it like that. I just don't want to do anything but you have permission now. I don't know if I will ever want to do anything again."
I put my arm around him and pulled him close. I am glad he gave me permission to play with myself... NOT. It was actually irritating to think he believed everything I did was at his command. I fell asleep quickly, before the electrical storm hit.
In the southwest, it does not rain much. We have several days of high winds, sometimes reaching 80 miles per hour; funny thing is that we never made the headlines over it. A small town in some state could have an 80 mile an hour wind for 30 minutes and make front-page news. Ours could last for days and because of the sand, it could strip the paint off a car, or anything else, including skin. Yet because it was not a major storm, we were left out of the news.
What we did have were electrical storms. Major ones, with so much lighting and death associated with them, it looked as though it were daylight during the event. The ground would shake, older houses had fallen in, and they caused hundreds of fires a year.
That was our normal weather. Sometimes there would be rain, or hail, associated with it, but not normally. This would be one of those nights. Outside, it would sound like a complete war was occurring with the thunder claps, and they would shake the ground. I do not know when the storm started because I was asleep. I guess I was the only one that slept through it. When I woke up Mattie, Chase, Benito and Greyson were in bed with Travis and I. Joey, Tristan, Justin and Declan were wrapped around the bed on the floor. I sat up and looked around at the nine other naked bodies in the room. It was beyond me why they were all naked. I sat up in bed, threw my legs over the edge, stood and carefully made my way between them and went to the bathroom. Dad was in the hallway when I came out, "Where is everyone?" He asked.
I said nothing and pulled him by the arm to my bedroom where I opened the door. He smiled and shook his head, "It is a bad storm, and it must have scared the hell out of them."
"What storm?" I asked.
He grinned, "You slept through one of the worst electrical storms of the century?"
"I must have." I frowned. "I guess I should let them sleep. Dad did you notice Travis sleeping late? We haven't done exercises or gone through our karate practice."
Dad looked at me, "You have to do them on your own, not look to him for guidance. Get dressed and get to work, they are expecting you at processing, the others will come when they wake up." He brushed my hair and left the house.
I dressed and went downstairs and ate breakfast. Then I went to refugee processing. There were more adults than the previous days, and they were getting rowdy. Mac came over, "Where are the others?
"Asleep, they will come later." I answered. "It looks like we might have problems."
Mac grabbed my shoulders and turned me to him, "Stevie we are out of space. There is nowhere to put anyone else. The Commanding General has some ideas, but they are going to be slow."
"He can send them to that secret base, use the helicopters, and the trucks." I suggested.
"He already started that while we slept, in the middle of the thunderstorm, of course they had to wait for it to pass before the helicopters could get in the air." Mac smiled, "Any other ideas?"
"Yes, let's see the General." We walked to headquarters, and passed by the guards who saluted Mac.
We sat outside the General's office for a little time, and then several officers' came out. The General followed them and they were laughing. The General saw me sitting there, and told the officers to wait a minute. He smiled at me, "Your name sure gets around a lot Steve. So what brings you to see me?"
I stood up with Mac and saluted, "The refugee's sir."
"I see. I am doing everything I can." The general brushed my hair with his hand.
"My idea is pretty drastic sir, but it would work." I threw out.
He looked at me for a minute, "Okay you are well respected and have never done anything to make me doubt you... so far at least. Let's hear your idea."
We followed him back into his office, and the officers followed us. I looked at the map on the wall closely, and then turned to them, "First of all the adults are getting out of hand, we are going to have a revolt and a lot of people are going to get killed." I bit my lip.
The General nodded, "That's how we see it. We are going to prepare for just that Steve. We were going to ask that your dad keep you boys at home for a few days."
I looked at the map and pointed, "I'm not as good as Travis with numbers, but based on the helicopters coming in and out of here, there are two possible places for them to be going. One is in Nebraska, which is where I think the big helicopters are going. The other place is New Mexico, but they return to fast to come back from Fort hood or Fort Bliss. Besides the trucks are gone about three times longer, so that pretty well puts them at White Sands."
I looked at the officer's faces. Their faces were blank, not giving me a clue whether I was right or wrong. The General didn't smile, "Go on Steve, we have a lot of things to do."
"Like I said they need something to do, and we don't have anything. It would take about ten to fifteen days to walk from here to there, at eight hours a day. We keep the women and children here, and have the trucks take them through the mountains; we take the men on the expressway. The tents can be moved by truck to have them set up when we arrive each night, food can be served for three meals and they can stay ahead of us each day."
"Why not take the men through the mountains, and the children on the freeway?" Colonel Martin asked.
The General answered, "Because we could lose sight of them if they wanted to turn on us."
"My idea can move thousands of able bodied men, and their sons and daughters my age... I think. We don't have the supplies to keep them very long here. People will start getting sick and dying, and I wish someone would say something because I am as scared as hell!" I started shaking.
The General smiled, "Sit down Steve. You keep saying we, as if you would be involved in it."
I sat and started to regain a little self-confidence, "If we are going to abandon the airbase like you want, and keep people alive like I want, then my dad and half of Macs... Colonel Brody's men, go with another company of men with us. The other half would go over the mountains with the kids. The little girls and boys and even their parents would go by helicopter."
"I like your idea Steve, although we had already thought of that. I want to point out that I want all of these people to live too, you are not the only one who is worried, we all are." The General said.
The other officers mumbled something or nodded they agreed. "What I do like, is how you organized it. That part we didn't figure out. Your way of moving everyone is faster and safer." The General said as he turned to the other officers.
"It will take more like thirty days or more to move that many people on the highway. We have enough food for maybe a week. We will have to airdrop them food and hope we can get it to them. It won't be easy to find that much. We will have to rely on Hood and Bliss for help." Martinez said.
Dad came into the room and saluted the General, and then he took a seat. He looked around the room and saw me. He looked quizzically at me but the General explained my presence. They went over the plan and how best to implement it. I listened carefully; I wanted to know how it all worked together.
I was surprised when they said that we boys should go up in a `copter to see exactly what we were dealing with. I knew the guys would like that and I could hardly wait to tell them.
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