I Took a Walk Episode Nine Army

Earning this bonus could cost Jimmy his life

As Jimmy closed on the town, a convoy of military trucks came up the road that by now was just a dozen yards to his right.

He stopped and waited.

The trucks pulled to a stop.

Soldiers exited the trucks, pointed weapons at him, and stayed their distance.

Jimmy put up his hand and walked toward the lead jeep.

They didn’t shoot.

He found he was still more than five yards higher than them when he got there. Looking at the nearby town, he saw only second floors at the same level as he. He pointed at one that appeared to be a school.

A man began giving orders, and guns were lowered.

Jimmy took that as consent and began a slow walk in that direction.

As he moved toward it, he became convinced it was the side of a school. He could see part of a football field beyond one edge of it. A sizable crowd stood around looking up at him, but the army had a corridor below him clear.

Closer to the building still, Jimmy saw men in uniform inside a second-floor window staring out at him. That was the one he approached.

He saw fear hit when he walked through the glass and window frame.

Flashes lit the room, and he turned to see a man with an M-15 pointed at him, wide-eyed with fear.

Someone yanked the gun from his hands and looked to be yelling at him. The yelling man turned back to Jimmy and he read “Major Pine” on his shirt.

Seeing the blackboard gave Jimmy an idea. Moving slowly, he went toward it.

Everyone was staring at his legs, and he stopped and looked down.

The floor hit him at mid-calf.

He resumed walking toward the blackboard. There, he pointed at a piece of chalk and at the major.

That man picked it up.

Jimmy traced a C on the blackboard.

Major Pine wrote C on the board.

So far, so good, he was getting a message across.

He traced an A, and that was written next to the C. It took time, but he got C A L L D E L M A R as all one word written on the board. Jimmy moved toward where it was written and the Major backed off.

He covered DELMAR with his hand, leaving the word call. Then he covered CALL, leaving Delmar uncovered.

They got excited. They got his message.

The major started writing.

Are you from Delmar labs?

Jimmy nodded, then realizing that would be hard to see, made a small bow.

What happened?

Jimmy pointed to the call message.

Major Pine pulled out his phone, then picked up the chalk without making a call.

Who do I ask for?

They repeated the chalkboard exercise again for Eastland.

Major Pine made the call.

While he was doing that one of his men set up several laptops on the desks there, and another brought in a big typing poster of a keyboard.

From the typing class?

In a short time, Eastland’s face appeared on one of the laptops and he and the major had a long conversation.

Jimmy interrupted them and went to the poster and began pointing.

The soldier nearest started typing what he pointed out.

BRING THE MACHINE HERE

The Major and Eastland got into a heated argument.

In time, the soldier that had been typing pointed to his own screen and backed away from it.

That man moved back and Jimmy moved to see it.

The machine cannot be moved. Any change in its location at all will cut you off from getting back. You must return here before your power is gone.

Damn.

Jimmy moved back to the poster and started pointing.

I NEED A TOP GRAPH MAP

The major yelled something and soon not only did the topographical map arrive, but a classroom flatbed projector. They projected the map onto the board over the major’s writing.