So it was that that a little under two months after setting out from Rio Verde, the force was within sight of Barreiras. The mayor of Barreiras road out on horseback to meet the force, and plead that they go around the city or turn back, or do something so as not to incur the wrath of demons, as any cities captured by demons, liberated, and then recaptured had to endure. But this time the general was adamant that the force go straight for Barreiras, a large city still intact despite the bands of demons around it. As the force approached the city, demonic resistance increased, but again it was nothing they couldn't handle, and there were few casualties.
Just outside the outskirts of Barreiras, the platoon met an old man, who stood in the distance and shouted at Chuck and his comrades.
"Vá embora! Deixe! O sentimento de impotência é o seu melhor amigo!" he said.
They kept coming and he repeated those three things, changing only their order. As they approached, he seemed to get more and more heated.
"Ignore him and keep walking," said Sergeant Albert Smith, and Chuck did as he was told.
The old man grew enraged. He picked up a glass bottle by the side of the road, smashed it open with a rock, and swung it in the direction of the group violently.
"Whoa," said Sergeant Smith. "Halt. Does anyone here know Portuguese?"
"I do," said Private Kade.
"Tell him we are friends and liberators," said Sergeant Smith.
Private Kade approached the old man like a cowboy approaching a startled horse.
"Calma, companheiro. Chegamos a sua cidade como amigos e libertadores," said Kade.
"Meu sentimento de desamparo é o meu único amigo," responded the man.
"Deixe-nos passar, veterano. Nós temos armas, e não será interrompido," said Kade.
"Devo parar. Você traz apenas destruição," the man responded.
"Largue a garrafa," said Kade.
"Não," said the man resolutely. Chuck Horner didn't understand Portuguese, but it was obvious that the man was obstinate.
"Largue a garrafa!" repeated Kade more forcefully.
"Nunca!" shouted the man.
Kade turned toward Sergeant Smith. "He won't drop the bottle, sir."
"Disarm him," said Sergeant Smith.
Kade was a rather large man, and he let his machine gun down and let it dangle on its strap behind him so he had both hands free. He grabbed at the old man, and the old man lunged, poking Kade in the chest. The sharp bottle connected with Kade's chest, doing no damage to the durable, flexible fabric protecting Kade. Kade karate chopped the bottle out of the old man's hand and it clattered on the stones in the dirt. The man made a fist to strike Kade, but Chuck came and grabbed the man, and Private Isaac Knowles assisted and restrained the man as well.
"Você traz apenas destruição," said the man again.
"Take him to the military police," said Sergeant Smith, and Chuck, Isaac, and Kade took the old man to the back where the military police could restrain him and prevent him from harming anyone. Then all three jogged back to rejoin the march and entered the city.
Barreiras was a city that had certainly seen better days. To be sure, it wasn't the moon-like desolation remaining where most American cities stood, or the wholly abandoned towns and cities that the army had walked through many times before. But it was a city in decay and decline. Chuck busied himself counting broken windows, and found that there was only maybe one house out of 15 that didn't have some form of major damage done to it. Barreiras used to be a city of about 100,000 people. It was still inhabited, and Brazilians peered out at the army from doorways and windows, but Chuck guessed it must now have a population close to 20,000.
Chuck walked close to Sergeant Smith.
"So, what's the deal? What are we doing in this city when we've bypassed so many others before?"
"Supply base," said Sergeant Smith. "We have the logistics to get the rest of the way to Borborema, but we're now about 2,300 kilometers from Curitiba. Everything for the whole journey needed to be packed, since sending more shipments once we got too far from the clusters of Tesla towers would be too risky. In short, taking this city is about having enough supplies to get back again. We can make it to Borborema with all the supplies we're carrying and shipping, but unless we want it to be a one way trip, or God forbid, see half of the army die, freeing up supplies for the other half, Barreiras is our ticket home. In addition, sometimes groups of bandits will join the demons to defend a city that we want to liberate, in hopes of driving us off. If we capture the city and capture any potential bandits, we won't have to worry about being attacked from the rear by misguided rebels."
Chuck nodded. "How long are we staying here?"
"About five days," said Sergeant Smith. "We'll make a defensive line north, northeast, and east of the city, get things settled here, and then move out. In the meantime, there are plenty of abandoned houses to sleep in and citizens we might persuade to help us, so for a few days a lot of people might not have to sleep in tents for a while."
Chuck nodded again. "Thanks for the heads up," he said.
"No problem," said Sergeant Smith. "That's at least one nice thing about fighting inhuman demons. You really don't have to worry about spies. Not exactly because we can't understand each other, mind you, but since they're so primitive in the art of war, even if demons knew our plans they don't really have a tendency for the advanced combat maneuvers required to take advantage of those plans."
Chuck had never really thought of that. He was reminded of his conversation months before with Jonathan Jones about how humans were dynamic and the demons were stagnant and eternal. He missed Jonathan, and wished he was here. Chuck thanked Albert Smith and resumed counting broken windows.