Dear Diary, It's The Apocalypse

Chapter 9: Mission Inevitable

        Sergeant Peter would be with his men in a room in which they tried communicating with the Untamed using the solar-powered Ham radio that they had managed to fix. "Is anyone out there? Please... We only want to talk." One of the Sergeant's men would talk through the radio.

        They'd wait for a few seconds, only to hear complete silence. No one had tried to communicate back since the last few hours they were there. They even kept taking shifts when it came to communicating with them since the past twenty-two hours. Sergeant Peter requested that they'd all assemble in the same room where the Amateur radio was for the remaining two hours, though. They even mentioned their call sign already, but alas, no one paid attention to it from the other side of the line.

        "Sarge, it's no use..." the one on the radio would say and look up to him with a look of hopelessness. The Sergeant would shake his head and head over to the radio and being the stubborn man that he is, he would try to communicate with Blackwood's group once again despite all the failed attempts they had.

        "If anyone of you is hearing this, listen very carefully. We have a proposition for you, and it looks like it would be favorable for the rest of you." He'd say. No one would respond, and he'd look at the people who he was with, and they seem to be very worried. He'd sigh and speak up again. "It's more of a trade off. We get something that we want, and you get something back. As easy as that." He spoke up again. No answer.

        "I take it that you must be running low on goods, am I correct? Well, we're here to fix that for you—unless you'd rather enjoy eating what's left of your rotten meals." The Sergeant would sound convincing as he waited for someone to respond. Eventually, someone would respond.

        "I'm listening." A familiar, deep, male voice would answer from the transceiver, leaving the other soldiers in the room shocked. He didn't even bother to indicate their call sign.

        "It's the man himself..." a soldier behind Sergeant Peter would whisper, referring to the leader of the Untamed whom is no other than Michael Blackwood whose voice he had just recognized. Sergeant Peter would make a gesture as he looked at the soldiers behind him, indicating that they should lower their voices. They'd do as they're told and the Sergeant would respond back to Michael.

        "Good. We can give you mounts of goods that can keep your stomachs bloated for months—on one condition." The Sergeant said sternly, feeling a wash of relief showering over his body the moment he heard someone finally respond to their calls. He hid the fact that he was feeling that, though.

        The person, who they guessed was Michael Blackwood himself, would respond. "And that is...?" he'd trail off, listening intently which slightly caught the Sergeant by surprise.

        "You give us firearms and ammo in return." he'd respond with no hesitation. He just wanted to get the job done and over with. The people on the other line seemed to be hesitant about the whole ordeal, though. There would be a moment of silence for a while, until his voice was finally heard through the transceiver.

"Just how many are we talking about here?"

        "Depends on just how much you're willing to give." The Sergeant replied, sounding like the true professional that he is. He'd wait for a response which took awfully long. Five minutes strolled around, leaving the other soldiers who were with him rather impatient due to the wait. It was mostly due to the anxiety that was feeding on them while they were waiting in the room with absolute silence.

        "Did they sign off without us knowing?" a soldier behind him would whisper, looking a little irritated. "Patience." Sergeant Peter would scold him before looking back at the radio to wait.