Chapter 17 Deputy

I am currently talking with the Sheriff, Doc and a few deputies, a few people are gathered as well, including Julie and Cindy. Cindy after receiving Julie's heal was much better and able to move around now, but still a little weak in the knees, they were arm in arm like sisters.

News of Julie's heals had spread when the 8 patients the Doc had, were all healed of their wound by Julie and got up almost as if nothing had happened to them. The Doc at first completely amazed and overwhelmed by seeing this then grumbled about being out of a job.

In total 112 people including us were here at the School in the Cafeteria. The Sheriff had 11 deputies with him. Out of the 30 he had brought with him, 19 had been killed by the Stalkers. Others had similar stories about how they came with entire families to lose members to the Stalkers, while running for their lives towards the school. A Few families came away unscathed, they were the lucky ones.

We were gathered to discuss living arrangements, as having everyone in the Cafeteria was wasting the space and facilities the school had to offer, but as was pointed out, creatures appearing out of thin air was possible and safety in numbers trumped all else.

I also provided my thoughts on the matter that it could be that each day brought forth a new spawn of creatures and it may be at the roughly the same time each day, however how to pin point the spawns eluded me.

We discussed how to divy up the work force, security, sanitation (house cleaning), repairs, cooking, and various other tasks.

“So of the remaining 96 people who else has military experience, Rick?” I ask the Sheriff, I included myself, Julie, Cindy and Doc in the security force. I chose Doc, because if someone got hurt he could attend them right away, I was going to have him drink a potion to initiate him soon anyways, having two healers is even better, provided he can get the healer profession. Hope he can handle pain I muse. After drinking the potion I would turn over the med kit to him as he could probably use it better than me anyways, it made sense. And it was one thing less for me to think about.

The Sheriff scratches the back of his neck, he always does that when not sure and has to think about things, “Not quite sure to be honest, I say we get a list and have everyone write down name and occupation and we can go by that”. He suggests.

I nod, “ok we can let one of your deputies handle that”.

I then take Julie, Cindy the Sheriff, and 2 Deputies with me and we head out to check out the school. I have my goggles on to check for Stalkers. I have since received my AR-15 back from the Sheriff which I now hold in my hands.

“In the three days you all have been here have any creatures spawned suddenly in the cafeteria?” I ask of Rick.

“Hmmm no, nothing of that weirdness has happened.”, He replies.

“That happened at the station tho,” replied one of the deputies, Eric Fouts, He was a well muscled black guy, bald by choice, good features, well mannered, about 5”10' about 27 years of age. “ Damn light appeared in the squad room. We were all typing reports or answering calls, when a big ass ugly wolf appeared. It tore thru the squad room in seconds. It was a massacre. Then it chased one guys out of the station. We were able to close the doors and barricade them after. Poor sap never had a chance, it caught him. Never been so scared in my life.” he finishes his story.

“Yeah I took what was left there and brought them here after we geared up.” Rick continues at that point.” We had been receiving an overwhelming amount of calls about monsters, then the phones went dead. But when it appeared in the Police Station, I decided to get to the shelter where all the people would be gathering after hearing on the radio the emergency broadcasts going out.”

He sighs,” I brought 30 men and women with me, and 19 got killed by those invisible creatures.”

“Your Radios still work?” I ask curiously.

“Yeah but we did not bring any chargers with us, did not think about that”. Sheriff replies embarrassed.

“I guess we will need to make a trip back to the Station then right Sheriff? Have you heard or reached any of your other deputies on the radio?” I ask some more.

“We did 2 days ago, but lost contact with them, not been able to reach them since. Not sure of their radios died because they left them on or worse.” Sheriff says somewhat concerned..

The other deputy was a Hispanic female, Gechina Cortez, 22 new to the force, had strong features, black hair pulled into a pony tails, not overly cute, probably because of no makeup and the stress getting to her. She was 5 ft 4' but had an air of confidence in herself. She was the silent type rarely spoke if at all, simply to give one word responses or less to questions.

As we head down the halls, we are headed to the main office, sadly none of the teachers or administration have made it to the school, would have made things a little easier for us, I think, as we head there for keys. The Sheriff has a master key the the main doors, but that is about it.

We check each class room to clear as we go,military style. Julie and Cindy stay to the rear, I take the lead each time. After clearing the first hall, we arrive at the cross section, left to the offices, right to the gym, and outdoor swimming pool areas, straight ahead takes us to the stairs leading up to the second floor which also holds the library and computer room. We take the left passage and clear those classroom as well. Getting to the end of the hall we come to the big double doors that lead to the main office.

The office doors are locked. I look to the Sheriff, he shrugs “We will have to break in”

"Leave it to me", I say, not gonna fuck up this time, no over kill.

I take out my Energy Gun, and aim is at an angle downward and shoot the lock, leaving a gaping hole in its place. I look and the battery is showing half full.

“That thing sure is handy” Rick the sheriff admires..

“It is, isn't it”, I smile back.

We open the doors carefully and check out the room, Principle, Vice Principle, and the Records room are all locked. We really have no need to enter those for now. On the wall hangs the key cabinet, of course it is locked. I force it open,with my bare hands, as it is pretty flimsy, at least to me it is. The Sheriff just shakes his head looking at the bent open door then at me with a look of disbelief.

You know Scott, if I was not here to witness everything, anyone who told me about you would be locked up in the loony bin and I would have thrown away the key.” The Sheriff says with an amused sigh.

Heh guess I overdid it again, really need to get used to this stuff I mused to myself From his perspective I must be some kind of freak

We gather all the keys up and head back to the cafeteria. As we get back there are multiple lines at one of the tables, people are signing their names and occupations on the paper provided.

“So what do we want to do first?” he sheriff asks.

hmm the Sheriff has been deferring to me a lot lately, is he just scared of me or does he really value my leadership abilities? Go with the flow I guess....

“I think first priority is to take stock of weapons and ammo we have. Then secure more food.” I answer.

He nods. We take inventory of what the Deputies have and come up with a list

12 .40 Smith and Wesson Automatic Cartridge

31 Clips of ammo left

4 Model M&P10 .308

6 Clips of ammo left

3 Remington 870

22 rounds left

All are wearing protective helmets, pads and armor form their riot gear

Not much to be honest. I then take the Sheriff and the 2 deputies, along with Julie and Cindy to the nearest class room. I close the door.

“Ok lets clear all the desks and chairs to the window” I instruct.

Confused the 2 deputies and the Sheriff still comply, Julie Cindy and I assist. Once we make room, I begin to recall all the boxes and crates from my inventory. The Class room is about the same size as the Secure room in the Sports warehouse we raided.

As the Classroom begins to fill up the Sheriff astounded and also concerned,” Uhh Scott where did you get all this stuff?”

“I commandeered it from the Sports Warehouse.” I reply after pausing from my inventory.

“That's technically stealing Scott” The Sheriff says with slight remorse.

Eh? He is accusing me of stealing? Really now?

“And if you were in my place? What would you have done?” I ask

Well being the Sheriff, I would have commandeered the stuff myself for the good of the people” He replies.

I smile at him, but say nothing.

“Aww Jeeze, come here Scott”, The Sheriff sighs resigned.

I walk over to him with a questioning look.

“Raise you right hand!”, He says with authority.

I do so.

“Repeat after me, I, state your name, do swear that, I will well and truly serve our sovereign country and state, as a Deputy without favor or affection, malice or ill will, until I am legally discharged, that I will see and cause our community's peace to be kept and preserved and that I will prevent to the best of my power all offenses against that peace and that while I continue to be a Deputy, I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully and according to the law, so help me god.” the Sheriff recites.

I repeat word for word the oath. Satisfied, the Sheriff says, Welcome to the force Deputy Smith!” and then pats me on the back,” now you can go commandeer everything legally!” he exclaims,” and less paperwork for me” he whispers quietly shaking his head.

Paperwork? THAT got you upset and deputized me in this time of crisis I cringe to myself

We take stock of everything we have here, it takes quite a while it was a big load.

4 Crates of AR-15 5 each

2 Crates of AK-47 10 each with 32 maxs in each box

1 Crate of M870 Express Tactical (6 in crate)

3 Barret 82A1 50 Cal (Each were single packed)

1 Crate of Remington Model 597

1 Crate of Savage Mrk II GXP

22 cases of various ammo (we had lots of ammo)

1 Case of Bushnell Equinox Z night vision Optics

Various Handguns, Scopes, Binoculars, Laser sights, Optics, Mags and the list went on

We had a decent sized cache for now. The Sheriff was impressed as were the 2 deputies who eyed, the AR's longingly. Did not think Cortez was a gun fanatic. We decided to issue each of the deputies an AR with 5 extra mags and ammo. Cortez grins from ear to ear saying "Gracias", while receiving her new AR, and promptly retrieves a scope, laser sight and hand grip, looking very happy. Not too shabby she can smile, cute I think to myself. I feel a pinch in my waist and see Julie and Cindy both looking at me with a look, crap must not stare like that! Not single anymore.....gonna take some getting used to, what was the rule? Look but do not touch? Man I guess looking is out too....

We take one of the Barret 82A1 50 Cal's with us as well and some ammo. We also issue each of he Deputies the night vision optics. We gather extra ammo for the M870's, the .40 Smith an Wesson's and the Model M&P10 .38's to distribute. Then I look over the rest of the cache and nod. We leave the classroom and as I lock the door,"Sheriff feel free to distribute the cache as you see fit" I say handing him the key.

"Mighty generous of you Deputy Scott. To be honest I was not sure if you were going to lay claim to the rest or not, you doing this has eased my mind greatly," he says looking visibly relieved.

Huh? Still not sure of me? Well I guess I am intimidating to him and the others, taking out those creatures with ease, futuristic weapons, bending that key safe like it was nothing, plus I have Julie and Cindy who both can use magic.

"We are all in this together Sheriff, all for one and one for all type deal right?" I say to him reassuringly choosing my words carefully.

He nods then says with a sigh," To be honest Scott, I really am not cut out for this. If this were a normal emergency, I have all the memos, plans, how to's and what not all ready, but this is totally different. There is no plan for this, no contingency whatsoever. Until you showed up, we were just living minute by minute wondering when those creatures would have us for a snack. But at the same time I am scared of you too, what are you?" He lets loose, it all comes out now," and if you exist, are there others like you, especially those with ill will? How do we stop them. You know Scott, you opened a whole new can of worms just by showing up."

"I can not shake the feeling that this is not only the beginning of a nightmare, and that we have not even touched upon what is to come yet." The Sheriff confides.

"Yeah man, looking at you, I feel irrelevant and small, like I am useless. It is not a good feeling you know?" Foutz chimes in." you wasted those creatures like it was nothing, strode into the place full of confidence dragging them behind you like they were nothing, after we went thru hell just getting away from them." He continues", I do not know man, but if you can do only half of what I think you can do, it really scares the hell out of me thinking others can do worse."

I nod understanding what was just said,"Then we will have to adapt and get stronger ourselves right?" I look at each of them and relax," accepting reality is the first step to adapting, now we need to make a choice and move forward."

All nod with approval and we continue towards the Cafeteria. As we arrive, we find the list has been completed. Deputy Cortez and Foutz call the other deputies over and begin handing out AR's, spare ammo and night vision. The Sheriff has the 50 cal.

Moral is going up in the place. I look over the list and see we have several people who are home builders, i.e. Dry wall, roofing, framing and so on. This is great. I look to the Sheriff .“how about a road trip?” I grin.