"We've got a search team going through the mall right now, making sure it's still all clear," Michael answered.
"How long they been down there?"
"About twenty minutes now, they headed down as soon as it was light out. They're checking all the entrances, the doorways to the garage, the sewers, everything. Said if we heard gunfire or they weren't back in an hours time we should take off." Michael turned to Cowboy then, his attention directed towards the rifle in the soldier's hands. "Shouldn't we have some kind of weapons too?"
"Once we find out if we're gonna need to make a hasty retreat from here or not we'll worry about getting weapons for your people," Cowboy told him. He was only half listening to Michael and the others, focusing instead on the door to the stairwell, his M4 rifle grasped firmly.
"Why didn't you go down there with her?" CJ asked him.
"She took five troops with her, didn't want me along," he replied, barely sparing CJ a glance. "Said if the worst happened we'd be a lot better off having the majority of our pilots on the roof to get these birds in the air." He nodded his head towards the Blackhawks at his back.
Kenneth and Henry caught the last bit of his response as they came closer to the small group they had formed. Both men were armed, Kenneth having talked his brother into providing him with a 12 gauge shotgun similar to the one he'd been carrying when he'd first arrived at the mall. Henry had a M16A2 rifle slung on his shoulder. "So how many of your people can pilot these things?" Kenneth called out. His brother answered.
"Cowboy, Masters and myself," he stated the obvious since they'd been the ones to pilot the helicopters away from Gull Island. "Briggs, Steele and Marshall all can too."
Looking around at the others gathered on the rooftop, CJ realized that of the six pilots that Henry had just listed Briggs was the only one who'd gone down below. "So if she can pilot, why'd she go down there?" he asked. "Couldn't she have sent someone else?"
"Guess she likes to prove that she isn't the kind of leader who sends her men in somewhere she wouldn't go herself," Cowboy drawled out, still watching the door.
"So how long do you figure we'll be staying here then?" Michael asked, hastily adding, "If everything is all clear down there, I mean."
"Probably not more than two days," Henry replied.
"Unless the weather turns," Cowboy added, pointing towards some dark clouds building up on the horizon. "We're not going to want to be out flying somewhere with no place to land if it starts storming." The others nodded their agreement.
By the edge of the roof, Fran and Ana stood together, looking down at the parking lot as they spoke. "I just wish we could stay here," Fran was saying, "we're safe here, safer than we've been anywhere else at least." Absently she rubbed her slightly protruding belly, giving Ana the impression that here fear was more about her baby than anything.
"I'm sure we'll be able to find another place like this that'll be just as safe. We'll be able to set up house and wait this all out," Ana tried to reassure her.
"But what about the baby? Who's going to deliver it?" queried Fran in a near whisper, her fear evident.
"Fran, I'm a nurse. I've assisted with dozens of births, it'll be okay." Ana mentally crossed her fingers over that little white lie. She worked in the emergency room at the hospital no where near labor and delivery. But she'd studied the basics in nursing school, and she used to talk shop with some the labor and delivery nurses when they were all on break together, so she was fairly confident she could handle anything.
"But what if there's a problem? Something we're not prepared for..." Fran continued to fret, nervously pulling out a cigarette. She was still smoking the odd cigarette, usually when she put a lot of thought into what the future could bring, it was something Ana had lectured her about more than a few times when they'd been at the research lab.
"We'll get through it Fran, you're just going to have to trust me on that. But if you really are worried about complications, maybe you should lay off the cigarettes completely. They're not good for the baby you know," chided Ana with her 'Doctor knows best' voice. She almost smiled at the memory of how she and Cora used to take breaks together at the hospital, using just such a voice to mock the Doctors on duty that had pissed them off the most that day.
Fran rolled her eyes, but tucked the cigarette back into the package anyway. "Haven't I asked you enough times to lay off about the that?"
"Nope. Remember, I'm the closest thing to a doctor that we have left around here, so it's up to me to nag." Ana and Fran both smiled at each other than.
The door to the stairwell swung open then, Sanchez walked through, rifle slung over his shoulder. "All clear below," he said. "Briggs wants everyone down there." He turned and retreated down the stairs once more.
"So who declared little miss queen bee was in charge?" Steve asked loudly.
"She's kept your ass alive so far hasn't she?" Walker asked as he walked towards the stairwell door, not bothering to wait for an answer.
Steve laughed and called out towards the soldier's retreating back, "You say that like it's a bad thing." The rest of the group ignored him, clearly used to his outbursts by now, and followed Walker down the stairs. After a few moments longer, Steve gave up and headed below himself, muttering about redheads all the way down.
They all congregated in the food court, like they'd done so many times before. Briggs spoke as soon as everyone had assembled, looking towards the civilians who had grouped together as she did. "Nice little weapons cache you folks had here. Our arms situation is definitely not as weak as I thought it was coming in here." She held a model G3/SG1 Heckler und Koch semi-automatic rifle, that had once been a prized possession of Andy's, in her hands. "Our first order of business is going to be making sure that everyone is outfitted with a weapon of some kind." She directed a look towards where Nicole, Monica, and Glen were seated. "And don't worry, before we leave here you will know how to use them, plenty of targets outside to practice on. Secondly, I'm going to put together a duty roster, everyone is going to have a job either gathering up equipment that we're going to need and helping to get it loaded up on the birds or pulling watch on the roof. Understood?"
"Cowboy said we'd only be here a couple days," Michael called out, "Are you sure that that is going to be enough time to do all that?"
"Plenty. I'm also going to be taking a team over to Ft. Pastor, see if the dead have cleared out enough yet. We may be able to scavenge some supplies there too."
"Are you insane?" Steve called out. "I mean, to me and I'm sure every other sane individual here it kinda sounds like you have a death wish sweetie. And I don't do manual labor, that's for the blue collar types like your boyfriend," he sneered.
"Steve, shut the fuck up!" demanded CJ.
"What's the matter CJ? Don't like me saying the truth?" Steve goaded him.
Before CJ could say anymore, the sound of a rifle shot echoed through the mall, drawing everyone's attention once again to Briggs. "Are we finished kids? Henry, your in charge of getting the weapons assigned. Steele, put together and assign the duty roster, I want guards on the roof at all times until we're ready to pull out. Preferably I'd like to see the supplies ready to load by the time I get back. Cowboy, Sanchez, Cook, Jones, Walker, Evans let's go take a look at the Fort." She turned on her heel, slinging the rifle over her shoulder and walked out followed by her team.
"Wait, they're not really serious about going out there are they?" Michael asked Henry.
"Looks to me like they are."
"But why? We've got plenty of supplies here," Michael stammered. CJ voiced his agreement.
"She wants to snag another helicopter, try to score some medical supplies, things that we don't have ready access to here. I wouldn't be surprised if she's trying to find some kind of satellite link-up to see if she can contact her old boss, if he's still alive that is."
"What do we need another helicopter for? We've already go three of them." CJ said.
Michael cut in then. "Forget about the helicopter CJ, what do you mean contacting her old boss? Who the hell do you people work for?"
"We're employed by the government, that's all you need to know. As for the additional helicopter, we have 24 people to haul around already, plus equipment. If we want to try and search out more survivors we're going to need it."
"You're being awful vague there Henry, exactly who in the government do you work for and what about Briggs and the others?" Michael pressed. "And don't give me any 'need to know' bullshit either. I want the truth."
"You ever see that movie the Bourne Identity?" Henry asked him, smiling slightly.
"Yea, why?"
"That's the kind of shit Briggs and Cowboy have been doing for years now, at least I'm pretty sure it is." Henry responded.
"You're a bunch of assassins?" Michael scoffed.
"Not myself personally, like I said, that's more Briggs and Cowboy's line of work," Henry said, "I'm more of the spy satellite, computer hacking kind of guy. Same with Steele."
"What about the others?" CJ asked, confused.
"We're kind of a mixture,CIA, NSA, Special Operations, all that good shit. Some of us are in deeper than others, like I wouldn't bet my life that you'd ever find a goverment agency with Briggs or Cowboy lited on the payroll."
"I don't get it, why would the government pull a bunch of people like that in for something like this?" Michael asked.
"You're better off not understanding. Except for maybe Briggsor Cowboy I seriously doubt any of us know the real reasoning behind it all. Now, let's go check out those weapons Briggs was talking about, get you all geared up. We can grab a few hours on the roof doing some practice shooting."
"I want to know more about this Henry, I think we have a right," stated Michael.
"Agreed. But I can't tell you anything more than I know. Let's take care of the weapons training first, we'll worry about getting the facts after the others get back," Henry reasoned.
After pulling a variety of weapons out of the cache they'd put together from Andy's store,
they spent the next few hours on the roof making sure everyone could handle a firearm. Glen, Monica, Fran, Nicole and Ana were the only ones who had no experience at all with guns of any sort. Steve and Terry could passably handle a pistol, but weren't very handy with rifles. With a little bit of practice and tutelage from Michael, Ana proved to be a natural with the 9mm Beretta pistol she was given. Fran excelled with the M4 rifle that Peter was coaching her on. Glen could passably handle a pistol by the time they were finished as well, courtesy of Steele's efforts. As far as Monica and Nicole went, everyone was just content that they had an understanding which end of the weapon the bullets came out of. When it came time to call it quits for lunch, there were a couple dozen of the zombies down in the parking lot that had been taken down with headshots.