The Lambda Resistance - Outpost Keating I: Patrol
Ty turned on the shortwave radio and looked at his watch. It would still be another 45 minutes. He tuned the radio and took out a pad and pencil. He was expecting the same transmission from Outpost Candi: NO ACTIVITY TO REPORT. That's all it had been everyday for the past 7 months. Ty wasn't complaining. Just getting by day-to-day at their outpost was hard enough as it was without the Combine to worry about.
Outpost Keating was a simple base tucked away deep in the forest. It was small, only about a dozen members of the Lambda Resistance resided there. And it was primitive. It had to be. They hunted for their food with bow and arrow, knowing the sound of a gun would attract unwanted attention. They could only drink by collecting rainwater. For some reason, the streams and creeks had dried up years ago. They were responsible for hiding and sheltering members of the Lambda Resistance on the move, but even that activity had slowed to a crawl in recent months. The Combine didn't know they existed and Ty wanted to keep it that way.
With 31 minutes left until the scheduled daily broadcast, the radio came to life and a transmission played over the station.
"KAPPA EPSILON ALPHA. 4 16 28 12 37 9 16…"
Ty frantically scribbled down the numbers as the robotic voice spoke them. When the transmission ended, he pulled out his copy of Of Mice and Men and deciphered the message.
"PATROL SPOTTED APPRX 38.176502, -79.802517. MOVING SE. REPORT ACTIVITY. APPROACH W CAUTION."
"Shit," Ty muttered to himself. That was about 8 miles northeast of Keating. He assured himself he shouldn't worry, that this patrol wasn't looking for them, just looking. Still, they posed a threat to the network of local Resistance outposts and had to be observed and, if needed, eliminated.
Ty walked outside and spotted Tripp, one of the younger guys at Keating, whittling away at a stick. Ty would have preferred to take one of the more experienced scouts to accompany him, but they all had their jobs to do to keep Keating running.
"Tripp, Candi's reporting a Combine patrol 'bout 8 miles from here. I need you to come with me. Gear up," Ty said.
Tripp's glazed expression disappeared from his face and he seemed to forget what he was just doing. "Are you serious?" he asked.
"If I was serious I'd be cursing your ass right now, now fucking get ready these bastards ain't standin' still," Ty answered.
"We bringing guns?"
"No, I was thinkin' we'd give surrendering a try. Get your fucking gun."
They departed Keating and traversed through the forest scattered with oak and poplar trees. Ty and Tripp were walking in tandem, separated but within sight of each other. The soft ground padded their footsteps but they walked slow anyhow. They communicated with hand signals, inquiring whether the other had seen any sign, any footsteps, or heard any noise. They weren't navigating for the spot they expected to find the patrol, but were instead trying to sneak up on them from the rear. All they needed was a sign.
Almost four hours after they left, Tripp signaled for Ty to come over. He had found several different footprints. From the tracks, the patrol looked to be about three guys and they were sticking pretty close to one another. Ty felt unease. A group is easily spotted. Why would these patrolmen put themselves at such an unnecessary risk?
Ty whispered, "We follow these tracks carefully, like there's a horde of hungry antlions waiting at their end. You stay on this side of the prints and I'll go to th'other. Now draw your gun but don't fire unless you got to. Okay?"
"Roger." Tripp nodded his head. Ty saw the serious look on his young face and that brought him some comfort. They followed the footprints, spotting more along the way.
Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. They both stopped when they heard the distant echo of a beep. They looked at each other, nodded, and continued on. As they approached the patrol, the beeps got louder and they could discern talking. A lot of it. Ty had never heard of Combine soldiers chatting so much like this. When they came up on the patrol Ty immediately recognized those glowing blue eyes and saw their uniforms were filthy. He signaled for Tripp to cut away from the soldiers and come back around wide. Ty wanted to hear what they had to say and so cupped his ear as he followed them.
"Why do you suspect that?" said one soldier.
"We've been walking for almost two weeks. If they were serious about this, they would have given us more details. They're confirming our loyalty, that we'll obey orders without question or hesitation," said another.
"The two are not exclusive. If the Resistors' location was known with certainty, they would have sent us precisely there. More likely, they harbor suspicions of their general location, and hope we will return with more information," said the first.
"If collecting information was their end, they would have used aircraft to survey the ar..."
Ty heard a dull thud on the opposite side of the soldiers. Oh, fuck you Tripp, he thought to himself. He saw one soldier turn his head without stopping. As he was looking for the source of the noise the soldier stubbed his boot on a tree root, fell over and dropped his MP7. The soldier-less gun fired. Ty's ears were ringing as he stared at the soldiers. The soldiers were staring at the gun, then at each other. Ty imagined Tripp was probably staring at the puddle of piss forming below him. Nobody moved. Ty could hear his heart beating out of his chest. Finally one of the two standing soldiers spoke up.
"Get up. What happened?" he asked.
"I heard something, go check over there."
The soldier raised his gun and walked slowly toward the brush. Ty raised his gun and pointed it at the soldier. He waited for his reaction with his finger on the trigger. The soldier ripped aside the foliage and stood there for a minute. Then he turned back.
"The area is clear. What you heard was an animal. It fled. When your gun fired you announced our location. We need to move."
"Roger."
The soldiers collected themselves then continued on their southeasterly path while Ty waited, hunkered down. When they could no longer be heard, Ty stood up and walked carefully over to where he heard Tripp. He didn't see him until a pssst came from behind an old oak tree about 15 feet away. Ty walked over.
"What the fuck was that shit?" said Ty, yelling in a whispered voice.
"I tripped, and when that Combine's gun went off I booked it for this tree."
"You tripped?"
"I thought he shot at me so I ran for cover."
"Tripp, you tripped?!"
"I didn't know what else to do."
Ty stood there a moment with his mouth agape. Finally he said, "We need to get back to Keating before the sun goes down. I ain't gonna let you live this down, you know that right?"
Tripp sighed. "Roger."
