by Dave Renol
Sara gave Carl an odd look as we passed them in the hallway. When we reached the living room she whispered to me “Why does Carl look like he’s trying to take a dump on your floor?”
I giggled, “I think he’s trying to send something to Mark. Ever since he heard our mental comments, he’s been obsessed with figuring it out.”
“I can’t blame him,” she wistfully replied. Turning back to the task at hand she studied the string paths for several minutes, often getting down on the floor and putting her eye right next to a hole.
“No, no, no … this one goes here, and that one goes there.” She finally said, pointing out my error.
Nodding, I quickly moved the offending strings to the new locations and took the measurements again. Once I was finished, Sara took her own measurements and checked them against mine.
“Looks perfect now,” she said happily. “I’ll need to do some figuring with these now. Do you have a calculator?”
“I’ll find something for you.”
As Sara made her way back to the garage, I tried to think of where my old pocket calculator would be. Rather than waste time, I decided that the laptop would probably be best, especially since the garage was so dark. I set it up for her and then stepped back to the hallway door so as to not disturb her.
For the next hour she worked on her calculations, occasionally mumbling about stuff like ‘wind speed’ or ‘inclination’. I wasn’t quite sure if she was getting anywhere, but at least she was doing something. I felt a bit useless, and I had to admit to myself that I didn’t like the feeling. Sara was searching for our assailants, Carl learned how to use one of our abilities, and Mark figured out how to keep watch efficiently. All I did was make some food and play with a ball of string.
“Think girl, think,” I mumbled to myself. Suddenly it hit me. About six months ago, a truck driver took a wrong turn and ended up at my dead end road. While he was trying to turn his rig around, he took out two sections of my fence as he backed into the driveway. He never stopped after he did the damage, but I saw what he did and managed to snap a pic of his truck with my phone camera before he drove away. The sheriff who came out to investigate my complaint sent the pic from my phone to his as evidence. His number should still be in my phones memory!
The phone service was out, but if I queued up a text message then it might go through whenever Sid turned it on to send us something. Excited, I quickly grabbed my phone and began thumbing through my history. Yes, it was still there. I composed my thoughts for a moment and began typing.
911 SOMEONE SHOOTING AT US NEED HELP ASAP
I added my name and address to the message and sent it. Thinking for a moment, I queued up another one to let him know that phone service was sporadic. Feeling better, I went to tell the others what I did. The boys thought it was a brilliant idea. They talked about it enthusiastically for a whole five minutes before going back to their telepathy discussion.
Bored with their discussion that was going nowhere, I went to see if Sara needed anything else. She seemed to be concentrating on her scope fully now so I quietly sat and waited, not wanting to disturb her. About fifteen minutes later, she sat back, rubbed her eyes and jotted down some notes on the laptop.
“I think I’ve identified and located two separate firing positions,” she began. “I can also make a pretty good guess on some of what we’re facing now too.”
“One sec,” I said. “Mark, Sara has some new information that you two should probably hear.”
“Coming, dear.”
They came into the garage, Mark grabbing a couple of my old lawn chairs off the shelf for them. He never offered me one, but I didn’t want to interrupt things. Once they settled, Sara began.
“Ok, here’s what I know and what I can guess. First off, I’ve located two firing positions. They’re far enough apart that I doubt that Sid is going back and forth, so there’s at least two teams out there. The sniper positions at each are based around a short horizontal log, with minimal proper camouflage, which tells me that Sid isn’t at either position and neither is any ranger.”
She took a swig of her coffee, grimacing at the taste before continuing. “With the two positions set up to a standard below what Sid would accept, then that means that he’s at a third location and giving orders through someone else. In other words, he’s telling someone what, and leaving the how up to them. To me, that most likely means that there’s at least one squad of troops split into two fire teams and probably getting their orders through a staff sergeant.”
“What did he do, bring in the whole damned army?” Carl asked.
“No, not the whole army,” Sara snorted. “But we’re looking at a minimum of nine people split up between four positions.”
“Four?” Mark queried. “You only mentioned three spots.”
“He’s got someone at the cell tower controlling it. I didn’t think that I had to mention that one since it’s obvious that he’s controlling the signal. I suppose it’s possible that his command post is set up there, but I doubt it. It’s too far away from the action, so to speak.”
“That’s some pretty impressive deduction, Sherlock. Scary too, if there’s really that many people out there after us,” Carl commented.
“That’s just the minimum actually. I pegged two fire teams on the same hillside, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more. Anyone with half a brain wouldn’t put all their forces on just one side of us if they have a choice, so it’s highly probable that there are other teams in position on the other side of us. That would be either troops split off from the two fire teams, or a second squad which would bring our assailants strength up to seventeen.”
“Wow,” I said in awe. “Could he really have brought so many people against us?”
“Yes, I’m afraid that he really could have. Now, everyone stay away from the windows and doors for a while. It’ll be dawn soon, and we’re about due for another round of attacks. Only this time, I think I’ll get a little payback. Nobody shoots at me and gets away with it.”
As if on cue, I felt bullets hit the shield in the office, bringing it down. There wasn’t enough glass left to break in that window. “Shots in the office,” I reported.
“Hit in the master bedroom also. I’m rebuilding the shield as we speak,” Mark summarized.
With all of us avoiding the rooms taking fire, I had planned to just abandon the shields. After thinking about it for a moment, I started rebuilding the shield so that things would appear to be the same in case anyone was paying attention. With the attack over, we reconvened in the garage to discuss things.
“I thought you said that you were gonna get some payback?” Carl asked.
“Soon,” she replied. “I managed to spot the snipers at both positions that time. By the time of the next attack it’ll be light enough out that I can use my regular rifle scope. I’ll bet ya twenty bucks that I can hit both bastards the next time they poke their noses out.”
“How about a kiss instead,” Carl quipped.
“Please no. A heaving stomach is bad for accuracy.”
“So now we wait?” I asked.
“Now we wait,” she confirmed. “Then we fight back.”
Chapter 19
Mark: Escalation
I’ll admit that I was fairly nervous about Sara’s pronouncement of payback. It was true that these people were shooting at us, but so far, nobody was seriously hurt. What Sara was contemplating was murder, plain and simple. I had no doubt that she was capable of living up to her promise that whatever she aimed for, she would hit.
The wait was killing me. Carl was no help either, as he was still trying to figure out how to repeat his telepathy trick. Other than that brief time during the night he was unsuccessful in receiving any sends from me, and he still couldn’t figure out how to send on his own. I really wanted to figure it out, but it would have to wait until we had calmer circumstances in which to investigate.
Sara warned us that at some point, Sid would change up h
is attack schedule. It would help to keep us unnerved and more likely to give up. It was getting close to the next four hour mark now, so the predicted increase wasn’t likely to start for a while. Unlike us, the bastard was probably enjoying a good night’s sleep.
“Movement at the first sniper position,” Sara called out. “Everyone stay under cover and get ready.”
The three of us huddled in the hallway waiting for the attack to commence. I started to build a proto-shield to replace the one that would inevitably go down, but was interrupted by a loud bang from the garage. Sara had fired first. A mere second later and a second shot rang in my ears as she fired again. A pause of a few seconds and then a third, and finally a fourth shot.
“I tagged three of them for sure, but I think I missed the last one,” She crowed.
“Jesus, you killed three of them?” Carl asked in disbelief. Turning to me he added, “Remind me never to piss her off, eh.”
“With a known target area at optimum range, perfect lighting, and no wind to speak of, it was child’s play.”
“I must admit though, that the second target at the first position was a spot of luck. When I hit the sniper there, his partner stuck up his head like an idiot and gave me a target too tempting to resist. Anyway, leave me be for a minute, I’m trying to watch for anyone else.”
“If she’s taken out the snipers, then maybe we can make a run for it,” Carl opined. “We clear the barricade from the door and make a beeline for your truck. We all pile in, stay low, and drive like hell to the police station.”
“What if he booby trapped the truck?” Sara responded. “What if he mined the road? Or what if he he’s waiting around the first corner with a rocket launcher? No, we can’t get out that way safely. If we absolutely have to make a run for it we’ll need to head for the forest. Even that has significant danger involved. Now shut up and stop distracting me.”
Another shot echoed through the garage followed immediately by a curse from Sara. “I missed. I sure wish I had my full kit here so I could set one of you up as a spotter.”
We all lapsed into silence in order to stop distracting her. As we stood around waiting, all kinds of nasty scenarios played through my mind. Would Sid stop playing games and retaliate seriously? Maybe he would lead his people in a full on assault at us. Sara might have escalated the situation into something far worse for us.
I looked at my watch and saw that only twenty five minutes had passed; it felt like a couple of hours. The beep of a new text message interrupted my thoughts. We all gathered around Sara who was pulling it up.
YOU FUCKING BITCH YOU KILLED AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
SURRENDER OR DIE
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES
“Mark, make sure that you have the area fully covered in case they try charging us,” she ordered. “Get ready for hell and get under cover.”
“What about you?” Carl asked in a tremulous voice. “If he unleashes hell, then you’ll need to take cover with us.”
“Go play with a hockey stick or something you idiot; I know what I’m doing. Now leave me alone and get to cover, all of you!” Turning back to her rifle, she quickly popped in a fresh magazine and resumed her watch.
Poor Carl, I thought. The others are picking up my habit of teasing him about being Canadian. Laughing, it eased the tension enough that we were all able to gather in the hallway again with a modicum of sanity. Once settled, I turned my thoughts toward scanning our perimeter. I wasn’t sure what Sid might do, but I knew that whatever it was, we needed to know what was coming.
After confirming that there was nothing out of the ordinary in range of my probe, I relaxed into just keeping the generic watch up. Suddenly, I felt a twinge at the upper edge of my bubble. Focusing instantly, I recognized that it was non-living and tried to shout out a warning, but was too late. A deafening crash shook the house.
“That was a shell,” Sara screamed. “They had the wrong range and missed the house, but don’t count on them missing again. If one of those hits us, we’re toast!”
In a panic, I turned my full focus on the direction from which it came. Another twinge penetrated the edge of the bubble. “Incoming!” I shouted. Before I could try and block it, I felt it shoot down and away from us.
“I can feel your field and when the bomb came in, I pushed it away,” Linda sent to me.
Infinitely relieved I sent back, “I love you!”
“I know, and don’t you ever forget it. I love you too, but let’s not get distracted.”
Feeling better, I smiled and turned back to my task. Linda deflected seven more shots in short order before the barrage abruptly stopped. “Keep your guard up hon; he may be trying to psyche us out.”
“I ain’t going anywhere,” she sent back with a feeling of strong resolve.
Time passed slowly. I felt that Sid realized his bombs were useless and he wouldn’t be wasting any more until he could do so with a better chance of slipping them past our guard. Even so, I was reluctant to lower my defenses. Feeling the size of the crater that the first bomb left in the driveway, it didn’t take much imagination to picture what would happen to us if one landed on the house.
My ears were still ringing from the first explosion so I almost missed the telltale beep that announced a new text message. Carl hopped up to see what it said, allowing Linda and I to maintain our vigilance. Before he could get started, Sara appeared in our hallway holding up her phone.
VERY CLEVER BITCH. IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
MAKE YOUR PEACE WITH GOD
Linda suddenly jumped and pulled her phone out as well. “I got one too. Carl, check it for me please.” She slid her phone in his general direction.
Carl tapped on it briefly and then read out loud to us:
YOU ARE SAFE. MILITARY IS PRACTICING IN THE HILLS. NOBODY IS SHOOTING AT YOU.
“That’s a reply to the text message you sent to the sheriff,” Carl reported. “It appears that Sid had the foresight to warn the locals before starting world war three with us. I believe that we can forget about having the cavalry rush in to save the day for us.”
“In my opinion, that’s a good thing,” Sara remarked. “That was a mortar attack that he launched at us. If some hick sheriff drives up, Sid will blow him to hell and gone. With that kind of firepower backing Sid up, we’ll need an attack chopper, not a ticket book. Not only that, but they have their mortar position outside of my range, so I have no way of threatening them at all.”
“What do you think we should we do?” I asked.
“I think that we need to get out of here. He can keep dropping shells on us until one makes it through, and one is all it will take. Once out, we’ll have several options. We can go defensive and hide out until he gives up. Option two would be to go offensive and take out the mortar position. A third option would be to make a run for town.”
“We could even split up and do a combination of different things.”
“True, but two would most likely be the practical limit. Mobility will be our biggest advantage out there, and you and Linda are the ones who can keep us moving fast and silent.”
“Ok, so we’re sitting ducks in here, but you already mentioned that if we try and leave, he might obliterate us. How do we get out safely?”
“What if we tested our escape with a dummy or something?” Linda asked.
“That’s an exceptionally good idea,” Sara approved. “We could stuff some of our clothes and sew it together to resemble one of us and see if it gets shot up or not.”
“When it comes time for us to bolt, we could also sail out with several decoys,” I added.
“This is getting better and better. We might even have a chance to survive this. Carl, you’re on dummy duty. Mark and Linda, you two keep up the defense. I’m going to see if I can spot anyone out there. We’ll test out the waters with the first dummy, and if it goes well then we get the hell out of here. Agreed?”
We all nodded our acceptance. It was time for flight.
&nbs
p; Chapter 20
Linda: Flight
I wasn’t completely sure that running away was our best option, but that could just be me not wanting to abandon my home. It was probably our best chance of survival, but the thought of going out there where I could be shot or blown up scared me beyond words. Then again, if I slipped up for a second at the wrong time, we would get blown up in here just as easily.
Carl was proving to be quite resourceful in the dummy building endeavor. A hoodie sweatshirt, two golf gloves, pants and a pair of sneakers were packed with stuffing from my trashed living room sofa. He used wire coat hangers to give the thing some internal support and once sewn together, it was surprisingly lifelike. He even taped on a pair of sunglasses. Carl was always a guy who paid attention to details.
Once he had assembled the first one and learned what worked best, he put together four more in short order. Now we just needed to agree on a plan. Mark wanted to just get out and lay low for a while. He wasn’t opposed to the other options; he just didn’t want to be rushed into anything.
Carl was fully in for the ‘get the hell out of dodge’ plan and wanted to head straight for town. He reasoned that it made no sense for us to deal with this alone, and we should let the proper authorities take care of things. I think he might have been even more scared than I was, but at least he had a logical reason for his opinion.
Sara wanted to go on the offensive and take Sid out. Her argument was that without Sid, his support would crumble. She was also under the impression that if we ran for help, then our secret would be out and Sid would win. I wondered if revenge might be affecting her judgment, though.
I was on the fence. Hiding or going to the city seemed safer to me than attacking, but part of me agreed with Sara. The bastard trashed my house with his bullets and totaled my car with his bomb. There was no way I wanted Sid to emerge victorious from this. Sara wasn’t the only one who would like to get a little payback.
