The third of the three cars that were still on the tracks near the back had what they needed.  Crates upon crates, each with two rounds suspended on wood rails inside and packed with foam.    One of the guys backed the box truck up as close as they could to the train car and they formed a line to pass the crates down.  Sam took the front of the line, carefully lifting each crate so that others didn’t fall.   They loaded sixty crates into the box truck before he declared that moving any more of them could be dangerous.  That was fine with Allistor.  More than a hundred rounds of 105mm badassery meant that the Warren could hold its own against pretty much anything.

A search of the other cars turned up a few crates of M16’s and ammo, two large crates each containing a dozen antipersonnel mines, and about a thousand MREs.   They also found more than a hundred sets of desert BDUs in various sizes.  Allistor insisted they take these as well.  If they didn’t fit the survivors, he was sure Lilly could make good use of the durable fabric.

The setting sun took away their light, so they abandoned their search and hopped in the trucks.  Allistor was a little nervous as he pulled away in the box truck loaded with giant bullets full of explosives.  But once his pulse-rate normalized, he began to fantasize about shooting titans in the face.  He imagined George and Sam in one of the Humvees comparing notes on firing the big guns.  Having never been in the military, he bowed to their experience.

Back at the Stronghold, the survivors all gathered around, eyes wide as the two cannons rolled down the street.  The Humvee that Sam was driving turned halfway around so that the gun behind it was pointed southward.   The two old men got out of the truck laughing.

Allistor approached, pretty sure he knew what they were planning.  When he asked, George held up a binder.  “This here manual says the gun has a range of about eight miles.  Evan’s base is just about ten miles in that direction.” He pointed in the same direction as the Howitzer.  “Me and Sam had a chat on the way back.  We figure we should test fire this bad boy before we hit the road.  I mean, to make sure it’s okay.”

The moment he stopped talking, half a dozen men and every single kid in hearing range volunteered to help.  Chuckling to himself, Allistor left them to it.  He could learn how to fire the things later.  He wanted to spend some quality time with Amanda.