Free The Liddy Scenario by Jerry D. Young Page B

don’t have any firearms..”
    Julie Anne shook her head.
    “Well, don’t worry. We have some loaners on hand.”
    “Thank you, Toby,” Julie Anne said and then turned and left.
    After a month of daily practice Toby declared her ready to defend herself. She immediately asked, “Can I go on the sentry duty rotation?”
    Toby whistled softly and then drew in a breath. “Julie Anne, that is a huge responsibility. You don’t just have to know how to shoot, but when. You learned that in a personal defensive situation, but sentry duty is rather different. You are usually dealing with people for a while before gunplay enters into it, if it does at all.
    “Are you sure you’re up to supporting the Farm’s values, responsibilities, and goals? I have a feeling they aren’t quite the same as your personal values.”
    “In the past… I never could have done it, I know. But I’ve learned things the last few months. About myself and about the world out there.” Julie Anne made a vague gesture to include everything outside the Farm.
    “Okay,” Toby said after a long hesitation. “I’ll put you with someone with experience.”
    “Brody?” asked Julie Anne.
    “No. It will be one of the other women who pulls sentry duty. Probably Angela, she’s experienced and patient with newbies. She’ll give you some more training in the specifics of sentry duty.”
    Julie Anne nodded. Angela was one of the women with a family at the Farm. Her and her husband both did sentry duty and farm work.
    “I’ll have her contact you when she’s ready to take you under her wing. It could be a few days before we change the schedule.”
    “Okay. Thank you, Toby.”
    Pleased with the situation, Julie Anne threw herself into the kitchen work as she waited for Angela to contact her.
    Ranger noticed the new energy Julie Anne had and asked her about it after supper a couple of days later.
    “Toby taught me to shoot, and how to defend myself. Angela is going to teach me how to do sentry duty. I feel better about being here and doing my part.”
    “Not everyone has to pull sentry duty,” Ranger said. “Very few of the women do.”
    “I know. But I want to do this. Brody, and you, especially, probably have saved my life two or three times. I want to be able to do that for myself, and perhaps help save someone else if it becomes necessary.”
    “Good for you. There was a time when I wondered… But you’ve come through this with flying colors.”
    “I suppose I doubted myself, too. And I still feel bad about not helping out in the city more.”
    “I think you did well beyond the call of duty.”
    “Maybe. But you and Brody didn’t have that call at all, and yet you did help.”
    Ranger made light of it. “Yeah. That’s just us. Good Samaritans.”
    Julie Anne smiled slightly. “I suppose so. I need to get back to the kitchen. A large pile of dishes awaits me.”
    Ranger watched her walk away, lost in thought. Ranger wondered if she was thinking of him, or Brody.
    Another month passed and Julie Anne was comfortable standing sentry duty. It would be some time before she was allowed on the roving patrols, though. That was another training scenario entirely.
    Angela had become a good friend and mentor. Julie Anne spent some of her free time at Angela’s helping to take care of the three children in the family. Something else she’d never done before. She found she liked be-ing around the children and asked to be reassigned from kitchen duty to child care.
    There was no problem with it, and Julie Anne became a teacher, using home schooling materials that were at the Farm, in addition to her sentry duties.
    Her first encounter with outsiders went fairly well, considering. Angela and Julie Anne saw the three men walking along the county road. All three carried hunting rifles and had revolvers on their hips.
    “I’ll cover,” Angela whispered and shifted position just enough to be able to watch what was happening, but be out of the men’s