Storm Front

by Thomas A. Watson

  A grin split Matt’s face. “Okay, you asked for it,” he mumbled, stomping on the accelerator.

  Ahead, they saw the person that had ridden up to the house on the bike. The person turned around and saw the buggy barreling down on him, jumped off the bike and ran through the ditch. As he was crawling over the fence, the buggy sped past and Nelson waved at the figure as he yelled. “We are kicking something’s ass!”

  The man froze as the buggy sped past and he saw the US and Gadsden flags waving in the air. Raising his hand up in a fist, the man yelled back as Nelson turned back around. Keeping his speed at fifty miles an hour, Matt jerked the steering wheel and tapped the brakes as the road turned at a ninety degree turn.

  Hanging onto the GAU, Nelson felt the rear of the buggy shake sideways, throwing up a fountain of dirt as the front stayed aiming down the road. “Now, you’re driving!” Nelson screamed as the buggy straightened out.

  Houses dotted the side of the road, but most looked empty as they shot down the road. “Occupied house on the right,” Nelson called over the intercom.

  Glancing to his right as they shot past, Gerald saw several people running out of the house with guns only to stop in the front yard. They all raised their rifles over their heads, cheering as the buggy shot past. “Glad we hung the flags up,” Gerald mumbled, marking the map.

  Riding the back roads for more than an hour, they spotted sixteen houses with people in them as they headed to Mountain View. More than one of the houses looked like it had four or five families living in it. None of the people that saw them engaged them, and Gerald was happy to see that everyone they saw was armed.

  Slowing down, Matt pulled off the road into the trees. Guiding the Flyer into a large overgrown thicket, Matt shut the buggy down. “Have to say, that was fun,” Matt said, glancing over at Gerald.

  “Yes, it was,” Gerald said, making notes on the map.

  Seeing that Gerald was writing numbers on the map, “You counted the people we spotted?” Matt asked.

  “Yep, and just at a quick glance, that was over two hundred easy,” Gerald said, folding the map up as Nelson climbed off over them.

  Staring hard at Gerald, Matt narrowed his eyes. “You had a reason for advertising, didn’t you?” Matt asked.

  “Better believe it,” Gerald said getting out. “These people have seen fighters here and if the feds come, they’ll be more apt to just shoot them on sight.”

  “Whoa,” Matt said, trying to get out fast, but his large frame prevented that. When he was finally out, Matt walked over to Gerald and grabbed his arm. “If they do that, the feds will just shoot back.”

  “Matt, they can die on their feet or on their backs. If they die on their feet, they are likely to take some bad guys with them,” Gerald said. “Is it a dirty trick? Yes. But people have to see that when push comes to shove, you just shoot.”

  Before Matt could answer, full automatic gunfire sounded in the distance, making the three dive for cover. “That was fucking close,” Matt said, raising his head up.

  “Just over a mile,” Nelson said as the gunfire continued and several other weapons joined in.

  Getting up, Gerald checked his gear. “Let’s go see who’s being naughty,” he said and moved off out of the thicket into the trees.

  Reaching the tree line, a pasture opened up in front of them. Gunfire roared to their front as Gerald scanned ahead with his thermal. “That’s a fifty with several M4s,” Nelson said, getting on one knee. “I can’t tell what the others are.”

  “Civilian rifles,” Gerald said, lowering his rifle. “Sounds like they don’t like what someone is doing.”

  “So, you want to go or me?” Nelson asked.

  Gerald turned and saw the serious look on Nelson’s face. “And just what do you propose?” Gerald asked.

  “Oh, I’m going to see what’s going on. That’s big shit shooting and this is too close to the farm,” Nelson said. “That is coming from Mountain View.”

  Off in the distance, they could hear the thump of a helicopter coming. Cocking his head, Gerald turned it right and left till he found it was coming from the north, behind them. “Nelson, it sounds like reinforcements are coming in and I really don’t want to get in a pitched battle when the other side has air assets,” Gerald said.

  “I just want to see who’s doing what. We can’t let them set up close to us again,” Nelson said, cocking his head. “That’s not a Blackhawk or an Apache.”

  “No, it’s not,” Gerald said as the chopper came closer and flew right over them. They looked up out over the field as a massive chopper flew out over the field and banked to the east. “Holy Momma Mia, that’s a Hind!” Gerald gasped.

  “I know what it is, what the fuck is it doing here?” Nelson snapped, staring as the large Russian chopper leveled out of its turn and eased over a hilltop a mile away. The stubby wings on each side looked evil as the chopper turned and dipped its nose. “This isn’t Red Dawn.”

  The cannon under the nose opened up in a steady thump. “We are leaving,” Matt said. “That thing looks like a house.”

  Much of the gunfire past the hill had died down when a rocket shot from one of the pods under the wings and an explosion sounded on the other side of the hilltop. “Shit, as if I would stay around with that in the air,” Matt said. Suddenly the chopper banked hard, trying to dive behind the hilltop with flares shooting out from the back and Nelson moved to lie prone when an explosion erupted from the chopper.

  The banking dive turned into a spiraling death corkscrew as the massive chopper spun wildly and smoke and flames billowed from the rotors. As the chopper hit the ground a mile away, they all felt the Earth shudder under them. Before anyone could speak, a jet streaked overhead silently.

  A split second later, thunder hit them as the sonic boom followed. “That fucker is moving,” Nelson said, shaking his head. Even with the hunter’s aid in his ear shutting off, his ear was ringing. “He couldn’t have been more than five hundred feet off the deck.”

  Looking over at the now roaring fire at the crash site, “I’m not bitching,” Gerald said.

  “I’m going to peek,” Nelson said, getting to his feet as the gunfire picked back up. Before the two could argue, Nelson took off across the field.

  Watching Nelson in a full sprint, “That boy can fucking run,” Gerald said as Nelson reached the trees on the opposite side of the field six hundred yards away.

  Diving into the woods, Nelson glanced around for movement. Slowly getting to his knees, he eased up and moved deeper into the trees. Reaching a steep incline, Nelson stopped. Gunfire was still coming from the other side of the hill, but Nelson wanted to make sure none was close to him.

  Satisfied, he climbed up the very steep hill. Reaching the crest, Nelson crouched down and moved along a ridge. In small breaks in the trees, he could see the town of Mountain View. Gripping his AR tight, he moved up next to a tree and saw that the hill almost had a vertical drop below him.

  Looking out, Nelson saw a Stryker to his left roll up next to a building, and the fifty caliber on the turret opened fire at a building down the road. Just as the Stryker stopped, he saw a group of camo-clad figures run up and flank the Stryker.

  The figures dove behind whatever cover they could, then came up shooting. To the front of the Stryker, Nelson saw people hiding behind buildings and in ditches close to trees, lean out to shoot at the group advancing toward them down the highway.

  Just making a quick count, Nelson figured it was over a hundred people trying to hold off a Stryker with a platoon of troops. Watching shots ping off the Stryker, Nelson watched two Hummers pull up beside the Stryker. Both had fifty calibers and opened up down the road.

  “Not fair,” Nelson said as one of the gunners jerked when a bullet took his head off. “Well, that works,” Nelson said as the body dropped down inside. Gunfire behind the soldiers made Nelson jerk his head to see a few civilians pop out behind the troops and open fire.

  Two troops went d
own as the Stryker’s turret spun around and opened up. One of the civilians disappeared in a mist as the others dove for cover, but not before hitting three troops. Pulling out his binoculars, Nelson looked down the road where the troops had come from. He saw another Stryker, but a semi-truck had hit it, flipping it over and shoving it across a parking lot into a building and was buried into the underside.

  The parking lot looked like a collection point where the troops had come from. Moving his binoculars, Nelson heard another jet roar past. Dropping his arm, Nelson put his binoculars up and retraced his steps.

  Running back across the field, he dropped down in front of Gerald and Matt, gasping. “Well?” Gerald said and Nelson held up a hand as he gasped for air.

  When he could breathe, “About fifty troops, and civilians are engaging them. Troops have a Stryker and two Hummers, all with fifty calibers. Another Stryker was taken out by a semi-truck. Civilians outnumber the troops, but the Stryker is gaining the troop's fire superiority. The civilians will put a hurt on them but eventually, they will have to break off.”

  “Show me,” Gerald said, scraping the leaves away until he reached dirt. Grabbing a stick, Nelson drew out the attack as he had seen it. “Damn, I hate to leave them,” Gerald mumbled.

  “Leave them, my ass,” Nelson said, dropping the stick. “We are going to hit that Stryker. Without that, the civilians will win. They don’t have anti-armor.”

  “Charging into a gunfight you weren’t invited to is beyond dangerous,” Matt said, looking at the sketch in the dirt. “What were you thinking, Nelson?”

  “Drive up to the highway here,” he pointed in the dirt. “That’s over a mile away. We have two Javelins. Let’s use one on that Stryker.”

  Nodding, Gerald looked up. “I’m game.”

  “You two get me shot and I’ll kick your ass,” Matt sighed, turning around and heading back to the Flyer. “Doing shit on the fly always ends in trouble.”

  “Bullshit,” Nelson snapped. “I’ve planned many hot nights with Michelle and less than ten percent ends in a good time. Damn near every hot night I’ve had with her was spontaneous.”

  Stopping as they reached the Flyer, “Damn, you’re right. Same thing with me and Ashley,” Matt said nodding. “Spontaneity seems to work the best.”

  “Boys, can we go and you two can figure out your love lives later?” Gerald said, climbing in.

  Climbing up on the roof behind the GAU, “Old man,” Nelson snapped, pulling the Javelin strapped on the roof off.

  “Hey, like a true Jedi, I didn’t enter into a relationship,” Gerald chuckled as Matt backed out.

  Turning on the display, Nelson knocked the end caps off. “Hey, I’m just smart. I married a female Jedi. Without lovin’, I would join the dark side,” Nelson said as Matt pulled out onto the dirt road.

  Chapter 4

  Holding the Javelin on his shoulder with his right hand, Nelson held onto the GAU as Matt sped down the road. Glancing down, he saw Gerald looking ahead with the thermal binoculars. “Hope this isn’t a mistake,” Nelson grinned, leaning over and putting his eye on the eyepiece of the Javelin to look at the world in the thermal sight.

  In the fields they were speeding past, Nelson saw cows and on the right at the base of the hill, the burning chopper. The road turned away from the hill and Nelson held on as Matt picked up speed on the dirt road.

  “Bodies in the yard at that house on the left,” Gerald said over the intercom.

  With his field of view much narrower than Gerald’s, Nelson rotated and saw the house they were closing on fast. In the yard were six bodies. “Holy shit,” Nelson gasped, seeing that two of the bodies were smaller than Gavin.

  “Nelson, you got the Javelin on?” Gerald asked.

  “No, I’m back here reading a book,” Nelson popped off. “Yes, Gerald. I’m ready.”

  “Smart ass,” Gerald mumbled, watching the road ahead. The gunshots were very loud now. “Matt is pulling out and pointing east, so you can shoot and we can haul ass home,” Gerald said over the intercom.

  “Bullshit!” Nelson shouted and Gerald didn’t need the intercom to hear it. “We will point the front of this buggy at what I’m going to shoot at. Our guns don’t point out the back. If they see us, I really want you to shoot at them till I get back in.”

  Nodding, “Okay, but don’t take your time. The Javelin is ‘fire and forget’,” Gerald said, seeing the highway coming up.

  When Nelson didn’t answer, Gerald glanced back to see Nelson looking through the sight. Turning back around, “Matt, when we hit the highway, turn right and keep heading to Mountain View until I say stop,” Gerald said.

  “Here we go,” Matt said, tapping the brakes before cranking the steering wheel hard right, throwing up dirt until the tires hit the pavement of the highway. Still holding the thermal binoculars to his eyes, Gerald grabbed the SAW machine gun mounted on a swing arm on his door, swiveling it ahead.

  The trees lining the side of the road sped past and Nelson had to hold onto the GAU as the wind tried to pull him out. Unable to let go to key his intercom, Nelson took his eye off the Javelin and glanced around. “Damn buggy can move,” he mumbled, figuring they were well over seventy now.

  Speeding around a long curve, Nelson put his eye back to the unit, looking out over the small rolling hills in the fields on their right. Turning to his left, he saw a burnt down home in the trees but quickly lost sight of it.

  Moving his aim to the front, Nelson saw a large building coming up on their left but didn’t see any hot spots of bodies. “Matt, start to slow down,” Gerald called out.

  Feeling the buggy slow, Nelson loosened the death grip he’d had on the GAU with his left hand. With the wind not roaring now and shutting his hunter’s ear off, Nelson had no trouble hearing the gun battle ahead.

  “Keep us at thirty and be ready to haul ass off this highway,” Gerald said as they passed the building.

  Up ahead, Nelson could see the remains of the roadblock that once crossed both lanes, but had been knocked aside. Now, Nelson could see that the troops had set up in a movie theater parking lot and a very large manufacturing building sat next to it, where the semi had rammed the other Stryker up into the building.

  “Got ‘em,” Nelson called out when they were at the roadblock. Almost a mile down the road, he could see the Stryker sitting in the westbound lanes of the highway and shooting into houses on the left side. The Hummers were about a hundred yards behind the Stryker, firing in the same area.

  When Matt stopped, Nelson jumped out and sat down on the highway, bracing the Javelin on his shoulder as he tapped the arm switch. “On the way,” Nelson said when the box highlighted the Stryker with a lock. Selecting ‘air’, so the warhead would drop down on the Stryker, Nelson squeezed the trigger and felt the rocket launch. Unlike the movies, rocket launchers weren’t slow and relaxing. They were fast and violent.

  No sooner had he pulled the trigger, then Nelson jumped up with the Javelin and climbed back onto the Flyer as a ‘Boom’ sounded. Climbing behind the GAU, Nelson looked ahead just in time to see secondary explosions rocking the Stryker.

  Putting the Javelin on the roof behind him, Nelson grinned and grabbed the GAU with both hands. “I’m in,” he called over the intercom. “Firing on the Hummers.”

  “What?” Gerald asked, taking his eyes off the thermal binoculars to look up and see the three barrels of the GAU starting to spin up.

  A very loud and lazy ‘burrrrrr’ sounded as Nelson squeezed off a long burst and Gerald whipped his head around, looking back through the binoculars to see the bullets impact just short of the Hummers. ‘Burrrrr’, sounded again as Nelson adjusted his aim, and now Gerald could see movement as the gunners in the Hummers turned to the new threat, but Nelson had the range now.

  Holding the trigger, a long thumping ‘burrrrr’ sounded as the GAU spit fifty caliber bullets at twenty-five per second at the Hummers. Knowing each bullet was a massive half inch in diameter, Gerald wat
ched the bullets rain down on the first one and ricochet off for a few heartbeats before starting to punch through. The gunner standing out of the top just vanished in the thermal binoculars.

  Never letting go, Nelson moved the stream over to the next Hummer and Gerald watched from almost a mile away as it met the same fate as its companion had. The GAU suddenly fell silent. “Matt, pull back. I’m out,” Nelson shouted over the intercom and Matt stomped on the gas, jerking the steering wheel.

  As they were turning around, Gerald saw civilians charging the troops that were behind cover. Without the Stryker and Hummers, the troops couldn’t keep up the rain of lead, but the civilians could through the sheer number of shooters.

  After Matt turned around using the median, Gerald glanced back and saw Nelson loading the ready box. “You dumped two thousand rounds?” Gerald called out.

  “We don’t get points for saving ammo,” Nelson said, feeding the belt up the delinker. “Besides, that was fun as hell!”

  “Matt, slow down and pull off the road until lover boy gets reloaded,” Gerald said. Tapping the brakes, Matt pulled into the ditch as he slowed, then pulled the Flyer perpendicular to the highway and backed up in the trees. “Man, I can tell you was a cop.”

  “Yep. But now if people see me, they might shoot,” Matt said, glancing around. “My heart stopped, seeing the bullets ricocheting off that first Hummer.”

  “Me, too,” Gerald nodded, looking around. “It was up armored, but that’s only designed to stop ten 12.7 mm rounds; what the Ruskies use, like our Ma Deuce. But when you have a gunner raining down a thousand, all you can do is die,” he said and glanced up to see Nelson strapping down the empty ammo cans. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m not throwing these things away,” Nelson scoffed. “You had to look hard for metal fifty cal cans before this.”

  Shaking his head, “You reload the Javelin?” Gerald asked.

  “Not yet,” Nelson said, lifting the Javelin and unlocking the tube from the sight housing. Tossing the tube away, Nelson reached back to unclip another tube and grunted, moving it over and attaching the housing to it. Making sure the unit was turned off, he strapped it down.