A War Away

Chapter 10: Declaration

Another week passes without problems. The date is December 17,1939. Each day is a day closer to completing our many projects. Emilia comes to and from her home every few days to give me something, sometimes a bar of chocolate or a tub of bacon. I try to tell her to stop because of the risky path  she must traverse, but she insists on doing it. So much for that... Construction has gone over smoothly and some army personnel have started setting the foundation for what they call "Camp Hill 181" after a nearby peak the army has set up a radio station on.

Numbers of army personnel have been increasing in the past week, it seems they are serious about placing a large military base here. Aside from people, food and war material like weapons and equipment have been brought steadily to Babag through a temporary road lined with barbed wire and guard posts. From the school it looks like a new city is forming down below, our grounds dwarfed by the sheer amount of people and equipment coming in.

Thinking about the safety of our small community I decide to enlist several army soldiers to blast open the doors of the nearby concrete bunker, which has been proving troublesome to open. Several minutes after dispatching a messenger seeking aid, a demolition crew makes their way up. They are heavily armed with explosive charges and single flamethrower. I tell them that I simply want to open the bunker not destroy it completely, they decide to use a single explosive charge to do the job. Following a few minutes of preparation they start a timer and run for cover behind some rocks. Sure enough after 10 seconds it explodes blasting a hole through the steel door.

The men leave and I think them, after they leave I gather a few seasoned cave explorers and begin a sweep of the inside, most of it is still intact save for a few collapsed sections of tunnel. It is surprisingly well preserved aside from plenty of dust and spiders, inside many firearms and explosives are found by me and the cave explorers. We come out with maybe 20 or so guns of varying type and caliber ranging from little pistols to a .50 caliber machinegun. I tell come to the forming village a few meters below the school and call for a meeting with all able bodied men and women.

People come pouring inside the still under repair classroom building, there I tell them about the firearms found inside the bunker, most of them sit dumbfounded as most of them have never seen a gun let alone fired one. Personally, I have little experience with guns and the like as my father always prohibited me from having one. My friend Manuel though, he had plenty of guns to spare and we would go to shooting ranges in Manila to take our minds off our studies. I was taught how to load and fire a gun, in addition I was taught how to do some basic maintenance and other necessary skills.

There is a problem though, the army would certainly be looking for these guns as soon as they learn that an old bunker of theirs had been discovered. My mind is conflicted between keeping these for ourselves and the community should a worst case scenario erupt or hand them over to the army where they could be properly cared for. I ask the people and most are in favor of keeping them with conditions. After several minutes of deliberation they decided we should store them inside the basement of the classroom building until further notice. After placing the weapons in the small basement cellar I assign someone to guard them in case someone tries to steal them. 

The morning has been full of action and reaction, so much to think about so little time. I think to myself on the porch of my dorm room, two people wearing muddy white pants and brown tuxedo's, both have their face covered with a mask similar to how Emilia came. I walk down to greet them and they remove their face mask, it is Albert and Manuel. They look tired and beaten, as they probably made the trip here in short notice judging by their clothes. I usher them to get into the dorm rooms as bystanders watch. 

I hand both of them a towel and water "What in the world happened and why are you two together?" I asked confused at their sudden arrival, Albert is certainly the type to do something like this, but not Manuel he always plans ahead.