The Rescue by Everette Morgan

Tomorrow’s Past: The Rescue
Episode 2
    Chapter 1
    Marcus cleaned up the dirty dishes and went into the bedroom to change.  Quickly, he changed into his full camouflage gear, even down to applying camouflage face paint.  From under his bed, he pulled out his spotting scope.  The last time Marcus had used the spotting scope was when some of his chickens had wandered out of the canopy and several were killed and eaten.  He should have had Jocelyn stop them with the canopy but he had let it slip his mind.  Mad at himself, Marcus had tracked down the coyotes that did it and eliminated them. Maybe not so much out of necessity but more than likely it was for revenge.  He took the scope outside and loaded it onto his four-wheeler and strapped it down to the back rack, careful to make sure that it was cushioned against any vibration.  He went back into the house grabbed his ZF7 sniper rifle and some ammunition.  He grabbed his backpack and filled it with some supplies and one of the meals he had scavenged and loaded them onto the four-wheeler also. 
    This week had been nerve wracking.  He could do without all these problems.  The close call with the saber-tooth had scared him enough that he was seriously reconsidering what chances he was willing to take in this lonely world.  He had been a split second away from being lunch for an overgrown eating machine.  It had almost scared him enough to decide that he wouldn’t leave the canopy unless it was completely and absolutely necessary.  With everything that he had in place under the canopy, he had enough to sustain him for a lifetime and there really wasn’t any cause to leave.  Sure, finding the food was a bonus, but after thinking about it some more, even killing the saber-tooth wasn’t absolutely necessary.  After mulling this over for a while, he finally decided that just because he was afraid of being eaten, he shouldn’t be afraid to live.  Although he was basically a hermit already, becoming a total hermit wouldn’t enhance his life any… and now… with whatever was coming through the valley, there was even more incentive. 
    After he finished loading up everything he needed he went back into the house.  Sitting back on the couch, he tapped his foot nervously.  As he watched the screen, he was growing more and more impatient; he thought that whatever had triggered the sensor would never actually make it past it. Maybe it had veered off the road and went another way. If it hadn’t, it must have slowed to a crawl.  There was probably some kind of obstruction on the highway.  Finally, some vehicles came into view.  It was two military M35 transports.  The first vehicle had the standard green canvas cover and Marcus could only guess that it was probably carrying passengers. The second vehicle had a short canvas top that was covering some sort of cage.  The trucks were painted the old standard military issue green.  The only difference was that the doors had a crude skull and crossbones painted on them.  Marcus recognized the emblem immediately.  They were with a group called the Jackals.
     

Chapter 2
    Within a year or so after the virus, certain groups began to emerge.  It seemed that some people who survived couldn’t handle the dire situation and went totally stark-raving mad.  Some congregated and started little towns or villages and stayed together to try and remain safe.  In his travels, Marcus had seen some of this but most of his information came from monitoring the radio frequencies.  Other people took another darker path.  There were loners out there like Marcus but most didn’t make it.  Then there were the thieves, bandits, and cutthroats that traveled in bands killing, stealing, and destroying everything.  He had even heard several reports of slave camps and military style compounds that were involved in every kind of mayhem possible. 
    The trucks that rolled by his camera were some of those.  Although he usually didn’t