Reaching the crest, Nelson held onto a tree as he controlled his breathing, after following Dallas up at a fast jog. “He needs to understand his legs are longer,” Nelson mumbled between pants. “One of his steps is two of ours.”
Letting the tree go, Nelson followed Dallas off the crest and saw a small step just under the ridge. Looking out, he could see the house three hundred yards away and the school four hundred yards away. Inside the school, he could see light coming from a few windows.
Grabbing his hydration tube, Nelson sucked down several mouthfuls of water as Gerald and Dallas looked out over the area with thermal binoculars. He glanced back and his jaw fell open as the drinking tube fell from his hand. Not only did Curtis have thermal binoculars, but so did Kenny, Rick, and Justin. “You each bought a pair?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, in case one breaks. We only have two thermal spotting scopes though,” Curtis said sounding like an apology as he moved the binoculars. “I lased the furthest target on the roof and got four hundred twenty-six meters. The crowd on the other side of the school stretches out to five hundred and seventy-one meters.”
“Yeah, with a six-mile-an-hour wind at a forty-five-degree angle, so three quarters value,” Justin said and the others nodded, setting their ARs down.
Gerald lowered his binoculars and glanced back at the four. “Fuckers are better than me and I went through sniper school,” he mumbled, lifting the binoculars back up. “Dallas, set up and when you’re ready, we’ll take off so you can cover us,” Gerald said.
Lowering his binoculars, Dallas pointed at the plateau, “Set up, but remember your spacing, because I’m sure they will shoot back at some point.”
Gerald moved over, handing Nelson his thermal binoculars. “Only see two guards by the swimming pool, drinking from a bottle,” he said as Nelson lifted the binoculars.
“I can guarantee you that’s not Kool-Aid they’re drinking,” Nelson said, seeing the two sitting in the dark and there were several empty bottles around them. Seeing something bulky over each man’s left eye glowing white, Nelson didn’t even groan seeing the two were wearing NVGs. Moving his field of view around the house and not finding anything else, Nelson moved over to the school.
“Never knew bikers were into thrash metal,” he said, able to hear the music clearly now with no problem.
“Pfft,” Gerald huffed. “Sounds like a cat in a blender.”
On the other side of the school, Nelson could see some of the parking lot and it had a bunch of people in it. He couldn’t see the base of the bonfire, but he could damn sure see the top as it leapt above the school. “Scott and them are going to have their work cut out for them,” Nelson said, moving his field of view around.
“That’s why they have M60s,” Gerald said as Nelson handed the binoculars back.
As Gerald put them up, Bernard moved over to Nelson. “Nelson, look at their guns,” Bernard said and Nelson turned as Kenny and Rick pulled their rifles out of their padded gun carriers on their backpacks.
“Mamma Mia,” Nelson sighed as Rick pulled out a 408 Cheytac, Curtis unpacked the M107 .50, and Kenny pulled out his 338 Barrett MRAD tactical sniper rifle. The three extended bipods and started setting their rifles up, turning on thermal scopes, screwing on suppressors, and laying out extra magazines. “Talk about heavy artillery.”
Gerald turned and saw the spectacle as Justin pulled out a thermal spotting scope. Justin spread out a mat, then set the spotting scope on a tripod as Kenny got on one side and Curtis and Rick laid down on Justin’s right. “I feel cheap,” Gerald said, pushing his AR under his arm.
“Those guns look expensive,” Bernard said, shaking his head.
“The cheapest one with nothing on it is eight grand,” Gerald mumbled.
Waving his hand out, “With the shit they have on those guns, we could’ve bought another farm,” Nelson grunted, watching the four set up. When Bernard saw the bullets for the rifles, he gave a shiver.
“If we get attacked by tanks, I’m positive they can take them out,” Bernard nodded.
They turned to watch Tony, Grant, and their wives get set up with the M14s Nelson had given them. Dallas moved over, “We’re set up,” he said with a grin.
Gerald shook his head, breaking the trance, “I’m shooting those guns,” he mumbled and then turned to Bernard. “I’ll signal you with the laser,” Gerald said.
Looking down at Zeus, “Zeus, stay with Bernard,” Nelson commanded and Zeus sat down beside Bernard. “Don’t tell Gavin. I’ll take Zeus back after we clear the house and you come down,” Nelson said, walking away.
“You turning on that wolf tail?” Dallas asked and Gerald shook his head.
“Not yet because the other side has night vision,” Gerald said as he moved down the slope. Nelson clipped his drinking tube back to his vest, after he stepped on it, then followed Gerald down. Michelle, Sean, Ashley, Ronald, and with Matt bringing up the rear, followed them down.
Stopping at the tree line, Gerald turned to see Nelson pulling out his XDM and threading a suppressor on. “Guess that leaves me on cover then,” Gerald said, ejecting his magazine from his AR. Pulling a magazine from his cargo pocket and depositing the one he’d taken out of his AR, Gerald slipped the new magazine in and then pulled the charging handle, racking to eject the round in the chamber.
Glancing back at Sean, Gerald saw a confused look on his face. Leaning close, “These are subsonic rounds,” Gerald whispered and Sean nodded. Gerald was almost sure he could talk normally and not be heard with the music blaring from the school, but didn’t want to take the chance.
The guards sitting by the swimming pool were facing west but if one turned their head, they would see them. “I hope those are NVGs and not thermals,” Gerald whispered, bringing his AR to his shoulder.
“Thank you for giving me something else to worry about,” Nelson hissed, lifting his pistol up. Before stepping out of the trees, Nelson reached down to his left leg and pulled an eight-inch knife from a sheath. Holding the blade reversed to face away from him, Nelson rested his right wrist and aimed the XD with his left.
Gerald gave a startle as Nelson moved east further up the tree line before crouch-walking out into the field. Looking ahead, Gerald grinned at seeing that Nelson had put a small cluster of small hedges between them and the guards. The others had stayed back in the trees to aim at the guards and the house while the two crept across the field.
Nelson had never felt like two hundred yards was a long way, until he’d stepped out of the trees. Fighting the urge to move fast, Nelson kept a slow, steady, and silent pace across the grassy field. When they were forty yards from the guards, a door opened at the house with music blaring into the night as a light shone out, Nelson dove down, hitting the ground hard.
“Did you assholes take the last bottle of Crown?” a voice bellowed from the house. Slowly, Nelson raised his head above the knee-high grass and saw a man standing at the house, shining a huge flashlight at the guards by the pool. Nelson’s blood ran cold as a tiny voice screamed inside the house.
“Damn it, Nuke! Turn that light off! You shut off my goggles!” a voice shouted.
“You want to suck my dick?!” Nuke shouted and Nelson saw Nuke storming off the cement driveway toward the two guards.
One of the guards stood up, taking his goggles off and Nelson saw the NVG was a PVS-7. “You can bitch talk the pledges, but keep yanking my chain and we will settle up,” the man said. Nuke wasn’t a small man, but the guard standing up was just a little bigger. Nelson figured since Nuke turned off the flashlight, he didn’t want what the big guard was selling.
“Goon, did you or Slinky take the last bottle of Crown?” Nuke shouted, stopping a long ten yards away from the guards.
“We ain’t drinking that nasty shit with all the good stuff here,” Goon laughed. “I saw a bottle in that room you tied that new girl up in,” Goon said, sitting back down.
“Oh,” Nuke said, turning around and heading back t
o the house.
Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, Nelson laid his head down on the ground for a few seconds. As the rush of adrenaline subsided, Nelson eased up on his knee and could hear the guards talking. Keeping his aim on the two, Nelson glanced back at the house and saw a light bobbing around inside. Figuring Nuke was looking for his bottle of Crown with his flashlight, Nelson eased up to his feet and moved forward.
Moving into the yard, the grass only reached above their ankles. Stopping at the hedges, Nelson knelt back down and looked at the house. Inside he could hear the muffled music, but he could also hear several voices cheering as a female screamed.
Turning to Gerald, Nelson held out his pistol and looked down at his knife. With Gerald’s left eye behind his monocular, Nelson saw Gerald’s right eye widen in shock, realizing what Nelson meant. Gerald shook his head and Nelson forced the pistol in Gerald’s chest.
Letting his AR hang under his arm, Gerald grabbed the pistol and nodded with a sigh as Nelson stood up, moving the knife to his right hand and crept around the hedge with Gerald raising the pistol up to aim at Goon, the bigger of the two.
“Nuke better watch out,” Goon chuckled, pulling out a cigarette as Nelson moved up behind Goon and Gerald moved his aim to Slinky. Grabbing Goon by the forehead, Nelson yanked his head back, dragging the blade hard across Goon’s throat in a fast slash and nearly decapitating him.
Hearing the gurgling and the pulsating blood shoot from Goon to splatter on the ground, Slinky turned as Nelson drove his knife under Slinky’s chin. Slinky brought his hands up to grab Nelson’s arm and pulled in a breath to yell, but the knife stabbed into his throat and buried into his spine. The yell came out as a gurgling hiss as panic flooded Slinky when he tried to breathe as blood filled his lungs. Trying to push Nelson away, Slinky struggled to breathe as Nelson turned the knife sideways and pulled it through Slinky’s throat.
When Slinky fell out of the chair, Nelson shoved his knife into Slinky’s back, hitting the right kidney. Bright lights filled Slinky’s vision as the pain froze his body. Yanking his knife out, Nelson turned to see Goon’s body had slid out of the chair and blood was barely pulsating as the heart had run out of blood to pump.
“What the fuck?” Gerald croaked out, moving up next to Nelson.
Pointing at the house, “There are more than two inside,” Nelson growled, breathing hard. “And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what they are doing.”
Reaching up to his monocular and looking at the hillside, Gerald flashed the IR light on his monocular, signaling Michelle and the group to move up. “Going hands on is dangerous and returns some of the edge to their favor,” Gerald said, seeing the group jogging across the field. Gerald handed Nelson his pistol back and moved his AR off his back.
Not saying anything as he took the pistol and shoved it in his vest, Nelson headed for the house. Knowing he would have to fight Nelson, Gerald waited for Michelle. Turning to the house and dropping to one knee, Gerald let out a gasp at seeing Nelson open the door and slip inside. “I’m going to kick his ass,” Gerald snarled, pushing up and trotting to the house.
When he reached the side door, the laughter and screams inside could still be heard over the loud music. “What the hell is Nelson doing?” Michelle whispered, coming up behind Gerald.
“Pissing me the fuck off,” Gerald snapped and then saw Nelson creeping backwards to the door. Raising his rifle, Gerald covered Nelson as he backed out and turned around to the group.
They could all see him trembling in rage. “Matt, Sean, there are two standing in the living room cheering on number three. Number three is on top of a little girl tied to the coffee table. He’s mine. Ashley, cover the stairs while Ronald and Gerald clear the first floor. Michelle, you are going to have to take care of the little girl till we have the first floor secured,” Nelson told them in a quivering voice. Michelle nodded as a little girl screamed inside and two men started chanting cheers.
As Matt reached for his pistol, Nelson leaned over and caught his hand. “Are you a pussy and need a pistol?” Nelson growled. “Use cold steel!”
Narrowing his eyes, Matt nodded and pulled his knife out and Sean moved his rifle to his back before pulling out his knife. Seeing they were ready, Nelson spun around and marched inside with Matt and Sean following close behind.
Walking into the living room that was lit up with a dozen burning candles, Matt fought the urge to puke as rage flooded his body and the image seared into his mind forever. As Nelson walked around the man on the left who was chanting a cheer, Matt walked up behind the man, wrapping a massive arm around his throat.
The man grabbed the arm that was choking him and Matt leaned back, lifting the man’s feet off the floor and then drove his knife in the struggling man’s back. Kicking back wildly, the man froze as the knife sliced into his kidney and Matt started twisting the blade.
Walking up behind the man on the right, Sean bent down to wrap his arm around the man in a chokehold and then stood back up. As the man struggled, Sean started stabbing him in the back repeatedly. “Cheer now, motherfucker,” Sean whispered in the man’s ear as he struggled to breathe and get away, kicking wildly at Sean’s legs.
Calmly walking to the coffee table, Nelson grabbed a handful of the man’s hair and drove his knife in the rapist’s throat. The small girl stopped screaming as Nelson yanked the man off her, tossing him on the floor. Yanking his knife out, Nelson put a knee in the man’s chest and started driving his knife into the man’s stomach and chest.
Lifting her head up, the little girl saw the other two men being stabbed. Staring wide-eyed at the brutality that the three men who had hurt her were receiving, a small smile appeared on her bloody face as a woman moved beside her.
“Don’t yell out or more will come and we can’t rescue the others,” Michelle said with tears running down her face. Cutting the girl’s bonds, Michelle knew the girl wasn’t even ten years old. With her bonds cut, the girl sat up and watched Nelson, Matt, and Sean plunge their knives over and over again into the three men.
“Baby, are there anymore downstairs?” Michelle asked, touching the girl’s bare shoulder and the girl jumped. “Sorry, baby, but we have to move fast before more bad guys come.”
Lifting her arm, the girl pointed down a hallway, “Momma,” she said in a dry raspy voice. Letting his rifle hang, Ronald pulled his knife and moved down the hallway.
“Baby, is she alone?” Michelle asked and the girl nodded.
“Punk ass bitch,” Nelson spat, standing up over what was left of the man he had pulled off the girl. Hearing two thumps, Nelson turned to see Matt and Sean standing over the others.
Ronald soon came down the hall with his arm over a nude woman’s shoulders. The woman gave a small cry seeing the little girl and ran over, scooping her up. “Ma'am, I’m sorry, but are there anymore of the gang upstairs?” Michelle asked in a low voice.
Hugging her daughter tight, the woman nodded. “Yes, three,” she whimpered. As Michelle turned to leave, the woman reached out and grabbed her. “At the end of the hall is a bedroom with the windows boarded up. They keep the rest of us there,” she said tearfully.
As a scream sounded upstairs, Michelle looked up at the ceiling. “Not for long,” she grumbled, heading for the stairs.
“Hold on, we have to finish clearing the first floor,” Gerald snapped, moving down the hallway.
Putting his knife away, Ronald followed. “I so better get some of this,” he mumbled, raising his rifle to his shoulder.
“Ma’am?” Michelle said and the woman looked at her. “We are going to try to free those in the school, so stay here because we have snipers outside and you stand a good chance of being hit,” Michelle said and relief flooded the woman’s face. “If you hear helicopters or someone runs past yelling to leave, head south. We can only cover you so long, understand?” Michelle said very slowly and the woman nodded.
“When we get to those upstairs, you
have to tell them to stay inside. Once we take the school, I’ll come back and get you,” Michelle said and the woman nodded again.
Seeing Ronald and Gerald return, Michelle moved over to Nelson. “Give me that fucking knife before I shoot your ass,” she snarled at him.
Handing the knife over, “Babe, let me go first,” Nelson said.
As another scream sounded out, followed by an evil laugh. Michelle cut her eyes up. “That fucker is mine,” she said calmly.
Nelson eased up the stairs and disappeared. They soon saw him creep back down, gritting his teeth. “Ronald, straight down the hall. Door to the right, a man is sleeping,” Nelson said and then turned to Gerald. “The door on the left has a man watching a movie on a portable DVD player, you want him?”
“Sure,” Gerald said, shrugging his shoulders and heading upstairs with Ronald.
Nelson turned to Matt and Sean. “Go up the stairs and turn back. You’ll see a door open with candlelight, there’s only one man. Pull him off and hold him down for Michelle. I can’t because I’d kill him,” Nelson said.
As Matt and Sean headed upstairs, Ashley let her AR hang and pulled out a spring-assisted knife, flipping it open. “Michelle, I’m getting some of this,” Ashley said in a trembling voice with tears running down her face.
“I don’t care,” Michelle said, walking past her up the stairs.
When Matt stepped into the room, he understood what Nelson had meant, seeing the man hunched over a younger girl. Walking over, Matt grabbed the man by the neck and lifted him off the bed. The child stopped midscream after feeling the man leave and opened her eyes. She saw a big man holding Nuke up by his throat as a giant entered the room and punched Nuke so hard in the side that he flew out of Matt’s hands.
“Hold his fucking legs,” Sean growled, grabbing the man’s arms and pulling him to the end of the bed. Matt rested his knees on the man’s thighs as Michelle and Ashley walked in the room. As Sean stood on the man’s arms, holding him splayed out. Michelle knelt on the right side and Ashley the left.
Storm Front Page 18
