Beginning of the New Beginning Vol 3

by W. Joe Taylor

  A man came running out who was all wet on his front, followed by another guy. Bill shot at their legs, knocking both men down, and the third guy appeared from behind the door and sprayed bullets in every direction. Bill shot him in the center of mass, and he fell over.

  “I need backup on this side now!”

  Charity, Bo, and Phillip came into view with their rifles ready. Bill hopped up and dashed towards the three downed men. The first two were moving, but the one still holding the door open with his prone body was not. Charity ran up and kicked the rifles out of reach of the men lying there while the other two pointed their rifles at the men from the bathroom.

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  “We have more targets moving towards us from the rest area on the other side of the freeway. Engaging now,” D said.

  Bill heard several gunshots fire off from the direction of the RVs. Sasha, Jane, and Anne were helping D eliminate the new threat.

  He reached down and grabbed the arm of the second guy who had come out of the bathroom the last time and dragged him to his feet. Bo squatted down by the first guy and confirmed he was already dead from the ricocheted shot. Phillip verified that the guy still in the doorway was also deceased. Bill pulled the guy over to the Humvees and threw him against the hood. The gunfire ceased, and D confirmed there was no more movement coming from the rest area on the other side of the freeway.

  “Copy. I need any available people to go and make sure that they stay dead. And bring the other vehicles over here,” Bill replied.

  Cootch walked up and punched the guy square in the jaw.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you people?”

  The guy just stood there. Bill could tell he could barely see in the darkness that and his eyes were flitting around.

  “Shane, I need you to bring a lantern so we can ask this asshole some questions.”

  He appeared a minute later, and everyone flipped their NVGs up. A few other people also showed up with lanterns and lit up the area around the Humvees.

  They guy was bleeding pretty good from his knee, and the pain was written all over his face. Since he still wasn’t talking, Bill kicked him in the good knee, and he fell over. Then Bill kicked him in the ribs. The guy coughed a couple of times.

  “You are all going to die a slow and painful death.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  The man was silent again. Bill looked over at Cootch and noticed for the first time his side was wet.

  “Cootch, man, are you bleeding?”

  “It’s just a graze. One of them sons of bitches got me.”

  “Let’s have a look at it.”

  Cootch lifted up his shirt, and the wound was only a couple of inches long across the surface.

  “Ok, just make sure we get it cleaned up when we’re done here,” said Q

  “There is more where that came from,” said the guy lying on the ground.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Cootch. “You better start talking now, motherfucker, or it’s going to get a lot worse for you. Guys, pick him up and put him on the hood. Tie him down so that his feet are on roof and his head is hanging over the front.” Then he turned to Bo. “I need a towel and a bucket of water.”

  By the time the guy was tied in place, Bo had returned. The prisoner tried to fight them, but he was too week. Bill had put a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding after his knee was higher than his heart.

  “Last chance, buddy. Start talking,” said Cootch.

  “Go to hell, you fucking losers.”

  “Whelp, I’ve always wanted to do this. Let’s see if it really works,” replied Cootch.

  Bill and Q held the towel over the guy’s head, and Cootch slowly poured water on it. The prisoner turned his head side to side and gasped for air under the towel. Bill held up his hand, and Q let go. Bill wrapped the towel around the prisoner’s head so the two ends crossed behind his head, and then he handed one end back to Q. When Cootch poured more water on the towel, the prisoner was unable turn his head this time. When the bucket was empty, Cootch handed it to Bo and asked for a refill. This process was repeated three times before the prisoner started thrashing wildly and screaming into the towel.

  “Take it off, guys. I think he is ready to talk,” said Cootch.

  “Ok, ok. Listen, you are the RV people, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are all going to die a slow and miserable death.”

  “Why?”

  “People are looking for you.”

  “Who?”

  “People.”

  “Who?” Cootch asked again. When there was no response for a good thirty seconds, the towel went back on, and more water was applied. This time, after the bucket was empty, Cootch karate-chopped the prisoner’s bad knee. The prisoner screamed in pain. As he was trying to suck in more air though the wet towel, Cootch poured more water on it. The prisoner started thrashing wildly again, but this time, Cootch kept slowly pouring water on him. Finally, Cootch had the other two remove the towel, and he looked down at the guy inquisitively. The prisoner coughed up water and threw up before he began to speak.

  “GM sent me! We were supposed to wait until you went by and follow you. We were going to ambush you tonight. You weren’t supposed to stop here. Why did you stop here? Why?” he said as he began to sob.

  “How did GM find out? Was he listening to the radio?”

  “No. He. He. He. He. Got H-Harvey to tell h-h-h-him.”

  “How?”

  Cootch gave the guy a few seconds to catch his breath, but when he instructed the towel to be put back on, the guy started to speak again.

  “Vinny came back and somehow learned that Harvey was trying to contact you. I was there when Vinny told GM. Something happened at the dam. Them bastards from Billings killed one of my best friends. At least, that is what Vinny said.”

  “What dam?”

  “Vinny, Dave, and Charles took two of the Billings guys to a dam somewhere to turn the power back on. But I don’t know what dam. I swear.”

  “Did they?”

  “Did they what? Turn the power on? Yea. It’s great. I had the first hot shower I’ve had in weeks. Just before we left to come out here.”

  “What was your plan to ambush us?”

  The prisoner looked at everyone gathered around and started to cry again. He just shook his head back and forth.

  “Guys, towel.”

  “NO! I’ll tell you. If you look in the Humvees, you will see. We were going to wait till you were all asleep and then blow you up. GM will be waiting for us to report directly to him.”

  “Rocket-propelled grenades,” said Mike. “It’s just like the ones we have. So, that means they also hit up an armory or two.”

  “Well, I think we need to give them a taste of their own medicine, then,” said Q

  “You’ll kill everybody,” said the prisoner. “Once GM got Harvey to talk, he sent out others to round everyone up. He’s keeping them all captive.”

  “Where?”

  “The jail.”

  “You’re lying. GM wouldn’t use a jail again,” said Mike.

  “No, I’m serious. That’s what he said you would say.”

  Cootch looked at Bill and Q and gave them a nod. The towel was wrapped around the prisoner’s head again, and Cootch poured another couple of gallons on it. The towel was removed, and the prisoner sucked in a lungful air.

  “He’s got all of them at the theater of the college.”

  “Fuck, he’s doing shows again, isn’t he?” asked Mike.

  “Tonight was his first since we got here. He needed to show these insolent bastards not to fuck with him. Mike, please, don’t let these guys kill me.”

  “Sorry, man, you made your choice weeks ago. And you chose… poorly.”

  “Who’s at the jail?” asked Cootch.

  “Nobody.”

  “Towel!”

  “NO! What I meant was nobody you know. It’s a couple of our guys,
staged there to kill you if you went there.”

  Cootch reached over and hit the prisoner’s bad knee again.

  “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” the prisoner screamed.

  “You need to stop lying to us. We have other ways of making you talk. I will literally drown you next time. Have you ever been drowned before? The panic you have felt being waterboarded is minimal compared to the real thing. Now. If you want to die a peaceful death, stop fucking around.”

  “I don’t want my other friends to die.”

  “You should have thought about that before you came here. Your ‘friends’ have no idea who they are fucking with. Anything else we should know?”

  “I don’t. I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

  “Well, buddy, just to make sure, were going to keep you around for a little while,” said Cootch.

  Then he nodded for everyone to follow him over to the RVs. Bill jogged over to his 4Runner and grabbed the atlas they’d marked the route to the farm in and then met up with everyone in Behemoth. It was crowded in there—all but the four people on watch were there. Bill laid the atlas open on the table in front of Cootch, Q, Mike, and Papaw.

  “Do we trust him?” asked Q.

  “Well, he seemed to be telling the truth as far as I can tell,” said Cootch.

  “I agree,” said Mike.

  “OK, we are here. I propose…we backtrack, take this little-ass road up here and stage out of this Pompey Pillar place. They probably have lookouts waiting for them guys to come back to town. And if they don’t by a set time, they will send people to the ranch we are supposed to stay at and find out what happened to them or us.”

  “I agree,” said Papaw. “I think we should hide the bodies and take the Humvees with us.”

  “What about the blood?” Shaun asked.

  “If someone does come out this far, they won’t know if it’s ours or theirs. Let’s get the bodies together real quick and light them on fire in the middle of the parking lot,” Papaw replied.

  “Cootch, what did you want to do about the prisoner?” asked Bill.

  “I’m going to leave him right where he is while we drive up to Pompey Pillar. Let him think about anything else he should tell us.”

  “Cool. Let’s get a move on. I’m starting to get tired and want a few hours of shuteye before tomorrow,” said Bill.

  Then next morning, when Bill looked at the calendar he’d put up a few days ago, he muttered to himself, “ZP15. Fucking shit on a stick. We should have been in Washington days ago.” Then he walked out of his camper and saw the prisoner had been moved a few feet from where he had been shot in the head last night. Something had come along and eaten some of his flesh. Bill walked over to investigate further and concluded it was coyotes based on the footprints left in the dirt. He turned around to see Dennis watching him.

  “You sleep ok?”

  “Not really, I’m nervous as hell about what we do next.”

  “That’s understandable. But you’re going to do what you always do. Go out there and kick ass.”

  “Thanks, Dennis.”

  “Yea, man.”

  Bill walked back to his camper to look over his equipment before they headed out to stage a rescue. He made sure his Sig 556 was clean and oiled, his pistols were all serviced, and all his magazines were full. He put on his old desert uniform pants and black Doc Martin boots. When everything was in place and ready to go, he stepped back out to meet the others.

  Q and Cootch were similarly dressed and going over the inventory of everything they had loaded into the four Humvees that they’d acquired last night. In addition to what the minions had brought with them, the arsenal was quite impressive.

  “We ready to go?” asked Bill.

  “Just about. Let’s round up everyone that’s going and go over the plan one more time,” replied Cootch.

  “Here is the seating arrangement for today’s activities,” said Bill.

  “Humvee 1 is Bill, Charity, Kathrin, and Shaun.

  “Humvee 2 is Cootch, Phillip, Tanya, and Sasha.

  “Humvee 3 is Q, D, Bo, and Jane.

  “Humvee 4 is Mike, Shannon, Shane, and Anne.

  “Call signs will be H1, H2, and so forth. Each rig has a military frequency radio, but only use it in an emergency. GM’s minions probably have at least one, and they will be monitoring it. We have to assume they went looking for us and will be ready. Any questions?”

  Chapter 7. Battle of Billings. Daytime.

  The Humvees rolled down Highway 312 so they could avoid the interstate. Halfway there, Bill looked to his left, and something caught his attention.

  “Hey, look! It’s the Museum of Irrigated Agriculture History. We so have to check that out on the way back.”

  “Ooooh. I’m so looking forward to it,” replied Charity as sarcastically as she could.

  They dropped into town from the north side via Billings Heights and headed to the jail first. They stopped three blocks away, parked at a do-it-yourself storage facility, and then walked the rest of the way.

  They cut across a field with a row of trees between them and the jail. Bill pulled out his wire cutters and cut an opening in the fence large enough to fit a person through.

  “Aren’t you going to close it off like last time?” asked Phillip.

  “Naw, not this time. I wouldn’t expect there to be a lot of people here, only a few to set a trap for us.”

  “And we’re going to walk right into it?”

  “Yup,” Bill replied as he scanned the building with binoculars.

  “I don’t see anything. Let’s head over to that door and see if we can enter,” he finally said, pointing to a door that was on the shaded side of the building.

  They all crept towards the building as silently as possible. Bill, Q, and Mike stood ready to shoot as Cootch worked his magic on the lock. Cootch pulled the door open slightly, and as soon as he did, an alarm went off.

  “Fuck it. Get in now!” he said.

  Bill went in around the door jamb and followed the wall all the way to the right of the door. He looked around at the large room. They had entered the gymnasium, and the lights were off. The dim light from the cloudy day streaming in through the skylights did little to illuminate the whole space. At the opposite side of the gym were the closed doors that led to the main part of the jail. Once Cootch got the door closed, the alarm silenced.

  “Goddamnit. With the power back on, everything is functional again,” he said.

  Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. Then one person shushed another. All sixteen rifles from the RV people were pointed at the door. Bill could hear the heavy breathing of those next to him. It matched his own. Cootch motioned for everyone to spread out. Bill moved slowly, making sure to step down with the outside of his boot and roll it the rest of the way down as he moved as quietly as he could along the back wall. His eyes never left the closed doors as he waited with bated breath for them to open. From Bill’s peripheral vision, he saw Cootch and Q moving along the opposite wall towards the doors.

  The latch clicked, and everyone in the gym froze again. The door opened slowly, and whispering could be heard. After a moment of heated whispering, the door closed again. Cootch crept up to the door and listened between the space where the two doors met. After a several minutes, he slowly pushed on the crash bar, making sure the lock did not click this time, and peered down the hallway. He gave the thumbs up and opened the door the rest of the way. Mike and Q were the first through, and they took a knee at opposite sides of the hall, with the butt stocks of their guns firmly placed in their shoulder pockets, and sighted down their barrels.

  At the end of this short hallway was another set of double doors made of steel and reinforced glass. Everyone stacked up on the east wall. Bill and Cootch raised their heads until they could see out the windows. The next hall was clear. Bill opened the door and took a knee, sighting down his barrel, holding the door open with his left shoulder until everyone had passed though. Bill qui
etly closed the door behind him. Cootch motioned for Q and D to move to the next door on the left side of the hall, and for Mike and Shaun to go to the door on the right.

  Kathrin and Shane were instructed to stay by the doors they’d just passed through and watch their six. Bill moved forward and looked through a set of windows on the left side of the hallway. They revealed a two-story common area lined with rows of cells all around. Everything appeared to be empty. The remaining team moved forward to the next set of doors in the hallway.

  As Bill looked through them, he could see the visitor area to the right and the visitor admitting area to the left. At the end were metal detectors and a guard booth next to them. Sitting in a chair facing towards the open doors of the main entrance was a man with a rocket launcher. Beyond that, Bill could see the street they would have driven down had they not known these guys were here. Bill and Cootch squatted back down and leaned towards each other.

  “What do you want to do?” asked Bill.

  “Shoot him.”

  “That’s it?”

  “We have to start somewhere.”

  “Hold my beer.”

  “Fuck, that sounds so good right now.”

  “Doesn’t it?”

  “Yes. What is it, like eight in the morning?”

  “Don’t act like we haven’t started drinking this early before.”

  “True. Ok, let’s get this party started.”

  Bill pushed the door open slowly, bringing his rifle to bear on the back of the man’s head. He exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The instant he saw the bullet impact, he dove back inside the door, pulling it with him. The last thing he saw before the door closed was the RPG point up and fire shoot out the back as the man’s body went rigid. Bill covered his neck with his hands. The blast blew the door closed the rest of the way, and everyone’s ears were ringing. Q radioed back to the other two to let them know what had happened so they wouldn’t come running up.

  They remained still for a ten count, and then Bill and Cootch looked through the window again. The room was filled with smoke and dust, so they crouched back down and gave it a couple of minutes to clear.

  The man and chair had disappeared, and there was a large hole in the ceiling to the floor above. A body fell through the hole and landed in a heap on the floor.