Jon Smith

by Richard Proctor

“I didn’t expect her to shoot at us first. I got a bit rattled.” said the Commando.

  “Yea and then the fellow ran up and he was armed as well. In fact he looked a lot like our target.”

  “No shit Sherlock, it was obviously our target, Mr. JS.” said the Sergeant.

  “Do you think he followed us?”

  “No, we stopped enough to make sure. I bet he got the girl and took her to patch her up. Well let’s see, we shot a girl and killed two old people. Not a very noble day of work for a trained specialist and two Spetsnaz leftovers.” said the Sergeant.

  “Well if our target is as easy to deal with as that old guy then this will be like shooting fish in a barrel.” said the other Commando.

  “We shall see tomorrow because we have to complete the mission before we can get the hell out of this cold damp wood. God I hate the outdoors.” said the Sergeant.

  The two Commandos were sitting on a log having removed their packs. The Sergeant was standing having done the same. As he turned to look out in the woods the sound of two muffled shots rang out all at once. He turned to look the other direction and saw his two men collapse and fall face forward. He reached to grab his weapon when he heard a third shot and felt the sting of the bullet. Collapsing to the ground the Sergeant fell back and grabbed his mid section as the bullet had hit him in the upper hip and shattered it. He tried to stand up but with the shattered hip he was unable to do so.

  Jon took careful aim as he listened to the conversation the Commandos where having. As he listened he had to maintain calm because he was growing into a rage. When he saw the one man turn he felt this to be the best time to take them out. Jon carefully aimed at the first man’s back and squeezed the trigger. Without taking any time to look he sighted the second and took a clear shot. Jon then sighted in the third man and fired his rifle. Taking pause for a moment he saw that he had been effective as all three men were down. Since he didn’t know if they had all been killed he felt it best to get up and approach them quickly before any could possibly re-arm and get a good firing position.

  Jon sprinted the ten yards and stopped to look at his handy work. He could see that his first two targets had been hit squarely in the back and seemed to be dead. Then looking at the third man Jon knew that he was only wounded and noted that the man was trying to reach his rifle. Jon walked over and picked up the rifle and set it away from the wounded man. Jon returned to the dead men and turned them over to make sure they were in fact killed. Looking at their faces and the blood that had come out of their mouths he felt certain they were dead. As Jon turned toward the wounded man he contemplated on what exactly he should do.

  The wounded Sergeant looked at Jon and grimaced in pain.

  “Well I am wounded and need medical attention.”

  “You are wounded but I am not certain you need help.” said Jon.

  “What do you mean? You have killed my men and wounded me, now it is time for you to help me.”

  “Just like you helped the Johnson’s or like you were going to help my daughter after you shot her.”

  The Sergeant looked at the man in front of him and at once recognized him as their target.

  “So you are Mr. JS”

  “That would be Jon Smith, yes I am.”

  “Well the Order was right in the plans they gave me.”

  “And those orders were to kill me?”

  “That’s right.”

  Jon shook his head and laughed.

  “Do your superiors think that if I were dead that the people that live here would simply give up and succumb? No they would fight on as I am not the reason that they withstand your putrid World Order.”

  The Sergeant looked at Jon and then smirked.

  “Well just looking at you savages I don’t really understand what the government has to fear or why we waste time with you. You are all too ignorant to understand the movement.”

  Jon simply smiled at the last comment as he was about done with this discussion.

  “So what are you going to do with me?”

  Jon had the coldest look in his eyes as his rage had gone to a point of utter animalistic action. What Jon was going to do would be considered in-human but even a civilized man when pushed to a point reverts to a cruel animal. Jon reached into his pack and pulled out his rope. He then grabbed the Sergeant and tied his hands together. The man was unable to resist as he had weakened due to loss of blood.

  Jon then removed the man’s ammunition belt, his coat and lastly his boots and socks. Looking up he saw a strong tree branch and threw the other end of the rope over the branch. Then leaning over he picked the Sergeant up over the shoulder and hoisted him. As Jon hoisted the man he tightened the rope until the Sergeants arms were straight above his head. Jon took the rest of the rope and tied it around another tree, the effect being that the Sergeant was now dangling about two feet off the ground.

  “So you plan on leaving me like this. You are a savage and I wish I had cut your daughter’s throat.”

  Jon looked at the man with a cold stair.

  “It is almost April and these woods are alive with wolves, coyotes and bears. I feel certain that you will provide a good meal for them. Or maybe you will bleed out and be dead within a few hours. Or then again it looks like the sky is clearing so I would imagine that the temperature will drop to single digits tonight and you will just freeze. In all cases you will be nothing but bones when next I come here. Oh and I will leave your friends with you as I am certain they will be good company.”

  The Sergeant spit in Jon’s direction but he was not close enough to hit the target.

  “Uh, I would save that if I were you or you will get pretty thirsty.”

  Jon took the coats of all three men and laid them on top of each other in the snow. On these he laid their rifles, side arms, grenades, ammunition, and their packs. In the packs he set all of their head set radios. Pulling the coats around the bundle he then tied a rope with several loops and secured the load. Jon then turned toward the Sergeant and gave him a half mocking salute and then began his trek back through the woods.

  As Jon walked he thought about if he had become too cruel in this. Leaving that man in that state was cruel but did not the soldiers of the Order deserve this? They had tried to kill him, Amanda, and had killed the Johnson’s. No this was just. He pulled the bundle behind him as best he could but the trek out was arduous at best. When the path was blocked he put the bundle on his shoulders and carried it as far as he could or until the snow became clear again. He had hiked in several miles and this hike out would take quite a while.

  JT’s Jeep pulled up into the driveway of Jon Smith and JT jumped out and ran up to the front door. He knocked on the door and after a minute, hearing no answer, he felt certain Jon was not there. He examined the tracks around the house and concluded that Jon had already gone out hunting the Commandos about an hour and one half ago. JT went back to his Jeep and retrieved his pack and his AR 15. He jammed a full magazine in and cocked a shell into the breech. He then took up the same trail that Jon had.

  JT carefully followed the footprints never being sure when he would come upon Jon or the Commandos. After about twenty minutes into the track he heard something some twenty yards ahead. Not being sure what it was he knelt down behind a downed tree and took aim in the general direction. He strained to look in the woods trying to make out exactly what was coming toward him. A minute later it was very clear that it was Jon. JT did not want to alarm him as Jon had no idea anyone else was in the woods and might shoot before he figured everything out. JT yelled out at Jon.

  “Jon, what goes?”

  Jon stopped and raised his rifle.

  “Who is it?” as Jon knelt down on the snow.

  “JT Jon, JT, I have come to help you.”

  Jon recognized the voice and at once stood up and lowered his rifle.

  “Well come
on out, I aint going to shoot you.”

  JT stood up and walked toward Jon. He looked at the bundle Jon was dragging and smiled.

  “Did you leave any hunting for me?”

  Jon laughed and at the same time thought of the Sergeant dangling in the tree.

  “Nope, I took care of all three of them. You know JT, I would think you military guys would have been a bit better, being bested by a civilian.”

  JT laughed.

  “It has been a while since the military and I can bet they aren’t as well trained as when I was there. You need some help with that bundle?”

  “Yep I could use it.” said Jon.

  “What’s in it?”

  Oh, their coats, rifles, side arms, packs, grenades, and their radios.” said Jon.

  “Radios, well that might come in some use. Well let’s get it all back to the house.”

  Jon and JT took the bundle and started the trek back toward the house. In about twenty minutes they were on the front porch and JT was undoing the bundle for further inspection.

  “Rifles, ammo, grenades, this will all be very helpful.” said JT.

  Jon was going through the packs when he came upon a packet that contained papers and what looked to be a map. Spreading the map out it was clearly an aerial shot of the valley and highlighted all of the houses. His house was marked with an X and had been marked, JS primary target.

  “Well Jon, it was clear that they were sent here to kill you. What I don’t get is why they killed the Johnson’s. Well we will never know I guess.” said JT.

  Jon was taking a look at one of the radios and flipped on the power switch. A moment later the radio crackled to life and a call came out.

  “X-ray wolf this is X-ray base over. X-ray wolf this is X-ray base, what is your status over.”

  Jon looked at the radio and picked it up.

  “Sergeant Riggs this is Major Jeffers, what is your status?”

  Jon’s face became livid as he started to raise the microphone to him.

  “I will give him their status.” said Jon.

  JT reached up and stopped Jon’s hand.

  “As much as I know that you want to respond don’t”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they have no idea what has happened and they have no idea that we now have a means of monitoring all of their radio transmissions.”

  The reality of this concept hit Jon and he smiled.

  “You are right.”

  The call stopped and JT took the radio from Jon.

  “Let’s go down about three clicks here and see if we can pick up their chatter.”

  JT adjusted the frequency and shortly came upon another transmission; a transmission which would prove to be most valuable.

  “Governor I cannot raise the commando patrol.”

  “What do you think has happened, did they get the target?”

  “I can’t be certain, our last report had them approaching the target but we have heard nothing since then.”

  “Well Major, something has happened to them and we can now assume that the mission has failed.”

  “Should we send another Governor Tarl?”

  “No, no need as the major push is a few weeks away. Yes it will not be long before the tax man cometh on his day.”

  “Correct sir. Out.

  Jon and JT looked at each other and smiled.

  “Well they have told us when they plan on moving against us.” said JT

  “April 15, the bastards, well we will be ready.” said Jon.

  “We still have a lot to do before then so we better get to work.” said JT.

  Jon looked toward the top of his drive as he saw his truck pull in. Chris was at the wheel and was bringing back the family. The truck pulled up and stopped and Chris got out. Jon and JT went down to the truck to help the girls out. Jon then noticed that Nathan was in the back of the truck as the young man jumped out and went to the passenger door.

  “Sir I will get Amanda and take her into the house, if it is ok with you?”

  “By all means please.” As Jon saw that this pleased Amanda.

  Nathan reached in and picked Amanda up in his arms and proceeded to carry her into the house. Once in the house he placed her on the sofa and sat beside her.

  “Nathan happened to come by Doc’s and of course volunteered to help.” said Chris.

  “He is a polite and good young man.” said Catherine as she slid out of the truck seat.

  Jon took her arm and helped her up the stairs.

  “Let me sit out on the rocking chair a moment and rest.”

  She looked at her husband with a relief.

  “Well I am glad JT got here to help you. Well what happened as I see you are still alive.”

  “Oh I didn’t get here before he had already taken care of the issue as you can see.” said JT.

  Catherine looked at the collected pile of materiel from the Commando’s and then looked at her husband.

  “You hunted them down and killed them?”

  Jon stopped a moment, he then answered.

  “Yep, I sure did.”

  “Well I guess I should be relieved not to have those jackals roaming our woods shooting at us. But Jon this thing is getting serious.”

  “Getting serious? My dear it has been serious since the first group of Urban pukes came into our valley. Now we have killers being sent to hurt my family. Do you understand that these assassins were sent here with orders to kill me?”

  Catherine anxiously looked at her husband and then JT.

  “Is this true, has the Order gone to this level.

  “Yes ma’am, we checked out their orders and maps, they were sent here to kill Jon.” said JT.

  “Well I guess it is going to get worse.” said Catherine.

  “What did Doc say about Amanda, is she going to be ok?”

  “Yes, she will be fine. It will take her a few months before she is fully on her feet but luckily there was not extensive damage.”

  The thought of what had happened to Amanda and the Johnson’s burned back into Jon and he had fire in his eyes. He thought about the Sergeant he left hanging in the tree and had no regrets.

  “Bastards, those three Commandos have got what they deserved.”

  A couple of weeks later a trip in the woods to the area would have yielded three groups of cleanly picked bones that would have been three Commandos.

  “Do you think that there are more of them?’ asked Catherine.

  “No but that brings up a good point, JT, let Doc, Mort, and Riley know what happened and get word to all the valley folk to be on the lookout. In fact no one should be out alone. Everybody should have another and both carrying a rifle.”

  “Yea, that sounds good, I will let them know.” said JT.

  “Now I better be going as we have work to do. Let me take all these things as I don’t want you tempted by those radios Jon.”

  “Well at least leave me with a couple of those grenades.”

  “Ok but don’t blow your self up.”

  With that JT took the equipment to his Jeep and headed down the valley. He would make several stops along the way to let Doc in on what had happened and to get Mort and Riley busy with plans for patrolling for more Commandos just in case more were sent.

  Catherine and Jon sat on the front porch, looking out over the snow covered ground and thinking.

  “Jon, is this ever going to end? Even if you are able to stop this next attack, they will only send another.”

  “Yes, you are probably right and that leaves us a few choices. We can give up, we can stay and fight, or we can go somewhere else where they will leave us alone. The world is a big place and I would think that we could find a piece of ground that we would be left alone.”

  “Well, I know you and I hav
e learned about the other valley folk and you all are not about to give up. So you will either stay and fight or leave.”

  Jon looked at his wife and shook his head in the affirmative.

  “Jon, I am tired and cold, can you help me in so I can lie down?”

  “Yes ma’am, yes ma’am I can.”

  Chapter 17

  April the 3rd was going to dawn cloudy and cool. The spring weather in the mountains was marked by thawing snow but also moisture laden skies. Jon had woken early as he had been doing the past few days. His sleep was brief and full of dreams and waking as his mind was raging with thoughts of what had happened and what was going to happen. He sat out back finishing a cup of coffee as the first light opened up across the sky. He walked back into the house and quietly stepped past Chris and Amanda’s rooms. Setting the coffee cup on the kitchen counter he turned to walk into the den when a sound caught his ear. He stopped, listened, and then became alarmed. He rushed to his and Catherine’s bedroom to find her laboring for breath. Her eyes were closed but she was breathing roughly and irregularly.

  Jon grabbed her hand and looked at her face. She was gaunt and pale and her breath had a raspy sound. He ran from the room toward the radio and quickly powered it up.

  “Doc, Doc, come in.”

  A few moments later the radio chirped back.

  “Doc here, what’s up Jon?”

  “Can you get up here quick, its Catherine? She isn’t breathing well.”

  “I will get there as quick as I can. Out.”

  The noise woke both Amanda and Chris up and they came out of their rooms.

  “Dad, what is going on?” asked Chris.

  “It’s your mom, she is having trouble breathing. Doc is on the way.”

  Jon went back into the bedroom and sat beside Catherine and held her hand. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

  “Jon.”

  “Just relax honey, Doc is on his way.”

  “Jon, I think this is gong to be it.”

  “What do you mean? You probably are just suffering from a cold.”

  Catherine squeezed his hand. She felt best to let happen what would happen.

  Fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the door. Jon opened the door and let Doc in.