by Wilson, Cal
“Oh, OK.”
“You knew Kirk, right?” Wallace asked Kathy, as he resumed eating.
“Well, yes,” Kathy said. “We used to go out.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Wallace said in between bites of beans, rice and fish. “Everyone here seems to have liked him.”
“Not everyone really knew him. Peter and I were probably his closest friends here.”
Mary asked Wallace, “Wallace, have you picked out a place to set down for the night? I noticed you have a pup tent tied to your backpack.”
“Yeah, I figured on that patch of ground right over there,” Wallace pointed nearby a big tent.
“That’s my tent,” Kathy said. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
“In fact, I think I should start setting up,” Wallace finished his meal and looked for somewhere to put his empty bowl and spork.
“I can take that,” Mary said. “We also have some filtered water over there.” Mary pointed to the other side of the campfire, near a cluster of people talking.
“Thanks Mary. I think I’ll go get some water then set up for the night.” Wallace handed his bowl to Mary and walked away.
Kathy watched Wallace as he walked away. “I sure love a man in uniform,” she said to Mary.
“That’s not exactly a uniform.”
“Close enough.”
Wallace approached the crowd near the water filter, met and shook hands with a few of the people there, and drank a cup of water. He then retuned next to Kathy’s tent and began unpacking and setting up his tent for the night.
****
CHAPTER 17
The very first rays of the sun began to light up the otherwise dark sky. David, resigned to going through the night without any sleep, sat in a chair on the front deck of his and Gloria’s cottage, north and uphill from the main part of the camp. David was still in shock from what he had seen the day before. After some attempts at sleeping, he gave up and sat on a chair on the front deck of his cottage, looking at the stars in the sky and south into the camp downhill.
Jesse, Mary and Melissa were deep in sleep in their cottage, to the west. Jesse heard the walkie-talkie near his bed. “They’re back! Jesse, wake up! Get up, Jesse! Here they come!”
Startled and still asleep, Jesse reached for the walkie-talkie, but he could not find it in the dark. He fumbled some more for it. He heard the “womp womp” sound of an approaching helicopter.
“The helicopter’s here!” warned the person on the walkie-talkie.
Jesse found the walkie-talkie. “Bill, what do you see?” he asked. The helicopter sound grew louder.
“It’s a helicopter and it’s coming your way! Coming to the camp!”
“Oh no!” Mary said, wide awake. “Melissa, wake up!” She said to Melissa, nearby. “Get your 22!” Melissa rolled over and rubbed her eyes, then looked around. “Mel, wake up!” Mary yelled at Melissa.
Jesse put his feet into his tennis shoes and put on his bathrobe. He grabbed a nearby shotgun and put the walkie-talkie into his bathrobe pocket. “It’s coming!” he said to Mary. Jesse was still just waking up. He opened the cabin door and watched a helicopter to the south, flying low and approaching the camp. “Maybe you and Melissa can get ready to at shoot this thing!” Jesse yelled as he left the cabin.
Up the hill to the north of the main camp, David pushed open the door of his cabin. “Honey, hand me the FN-FAL! Quick!”
“What?” Gloria asked, still asleep. The helicopter was now directly over the camp.
“My long rifle,” David spoke loudly, over the sound of the helicopter. “I think it is over there, between the bed and the wall. Hurry -- hand it to me!”
“OK, here!” Gloria handed David a long rifle as she looked out the front of their cabin and saw the helicopter right above the camp.
“I think those are the guys who killed Kirk. They got a helicopter.” David looked back at the helicopter, hovering above the trees of the camp.
The wind from the helicopter blew dirt and lawn chairs everywhere. A couple of the tents fell over from the wind.
Back at their family’s cabin, Mary yelled at Melissa. “Hurry up! Get the 22 and get out here!”
“I’m coming!” Melissa insisted, still half-asleep.
Jesse ran downhill, closer to the area and tripped over something in the dark.
Someone in the helicopter turned on a spotlight and shined it on the cabins and tents below. A large door on the right side of the helicopter slid open, and an arm reached out, holding a pistol. Several shots rang out.
“Now they’re shooting at us,” David said to himself. He took careful aim with his rifle and began shooting in slow, measured shots at the side of the helicopter. Sparks lit up on the side of the helicopter. Gloria brought out a box of bullets and put them on the front deck at David’s feet.
The large door on the other side of the helicopter slid open, and another hand holding a pistol poked out and started firing down below. Now pistols from both sides of the helicopter were shooting downward.
Wallace emerged from his pup-tent, wearing an undershirt and boxer shorts. He looked up, then reached for his rifle.
The spotlight scanned the cabins and tents below, as the people inside the helicopter kept shooting downward. Screams and yelling could be heard throughout the camp.
Jesse pointed his shotgun towards the helicopter. A “click” could be heard. The safety was still on. Jesse looked at the shotgun and slid the safety button forward. He aimed again and shot at the helicopter, producing a loud “boom!” Sparks lit up the front of the helicopter. Glass could be heard crashing in the front of the helicopter.
Meanwhile, Wallace, almost directly below the helicopter, pointed his rifle at the helicopter and shot several single shots.
Kathy emerged from her tent, dressed in sweatpants and a dark green t-shirt. She pointed her pistol up at the helicopter.
Wallace looked at his rifle and pushed a nob in front of the trigger in order to make the rifle fully automatic. He called out to Kathy, “Shoot at the back of it!” he yelled at Kathy and pointed. “Shoot at the back!”
Kathy shot several times at the back of the helicopter. The spotlight moved to Kathy and fully illuminated her. More shots were heard. Pockets of dirt jumped from the ground around her. Kathy stood totally still as she shot several more bullets towards the back of the helicopter.
Back at their cabin, Mary continued to direct Melissa as Melissa went to one knee of the front deck and aimed her rifle at the helicopter. The two of them seemed too calm and methodical for the pandemonium surrounding them. “You’re shaking, dear,” Mary told her. “Stop shaking. Just stay calm, take aim, and squeeze the trigger.”
“I’m not shaking!” Melissa answered defiantly, and then shot at the helicopter. A single spark lit up at the front rotor blade of the helicopter.
“Good!” Mary yelled. “Now fire again.”
“I got it,” Melissa snapped back at Mary. Melissa slid the bolt back on her rifle and reloaded the rifle with another bullet. She then squeezed the trigger and shot at the helicopter. This time she missed, sending the bullet somewhere down into the valley below.
“That’s OK, try again,” Mary instructed Melissa. Melissa moved her rifle’s bolt back and replaced the empty shell with a new bullet.
A few feet away, Jesse pulled the slide of his shotgun back, reloading it. He then aimed and shot his shotgun a second time at the helicopter, producing another loud “boom!’ and lighting up the front of the helicopter with sparks.
The people inside the helicopter continued shooting down into the camp.
To the north, David shot several more shots into the side of the helicopter, half of the shots causing sparks on the side of the helicopter, while a few found their targets inside. The shooter on the side of the helicopter nearest David stopped shooting. David pulled the trigger and heard a “click,” indicating he had run out of bullets.
David leaned down to get the box of bullets he had nea
r his feet, and he saw Gloria come out of the front door of the cottage with a pistol pointed at the helicopter. She looked very unsure holding the pistol, but she shot the pistol at the helicopter and then let out a short scream and dropped the pistol.
Melissa moved the rifle’s bolt back and forth, loading another bullet into the chamber of her 22 rifle. She shot at the helicopter again. A spark could be seen near the front of the helicopter. “That’s good, dear,” Mary encouraged Melissa. “Try to stop shaking and keep shooting.”
“I’m not shaking,” Melissa snapped back at Mary, she slid back the bolt of her gun, ejecting an empty shell.
Kathy again shot at the helicopter from directly below, and then Wallace pointed his gun at the helicopter and shot a full automatic burst of bullets at it. Multiple sparks could be seen from the front to the rear it. The spotlight went dark. The helicopter made a “wrr” hydraulic sound that could be heard above the sounds of the blades. The helicopter lifted and started turning around, first slowly, then more rapidly round and round. The helicopter elevated even further, and started to spin out of control.
Wallace shot two more bursts of bullets into the helicopter, and laughed out loud. Kathy stopped shooting and looked at Wallace, who continued to laugh out loud, and shot another burst of bullets into the helicopter. His laughter was now louder than the sound of the helicopter, which was pulling away and upward.
“A little 5-5-6 for you there, scumbag!” he yelled into the sky, then laughed some more. “Oh, this is beautiful, man!”
The helicopter spun more as it peaked in the sky, totally out of control. It slowly descended in the direction of the observation post to the south. The helicopter drifted further down, then dropped. It made a loud “crash” sound as it landed. A single flash of fire could be seen against the backdrop of the still mostly-dark sky.
“Jesse, the helicopter just crashed!” Bill could be heard yelling into the walkie-talkie. “I think it crashed near the Mormon camp!”
“Kathy,” Wallace yelled. “Nice shooting there, soldier! Let’s go kill some survivors! Grab an extra magazine and let’s go!” Wallace put on his pants and boots and quickly tightened his boots with a long nylon strap with velcro, named TacLace, and wrapped it around his boots. “This is great!” he shouted. “We’re going to hunt some scumbags!”
Kathy walked into her tent and emerged with another magazine, then walked to Wallace. She trembled. “You think that …?” She couldn’t finish her question.
Wallace put on his shirt and grabbed his gun, and said to Kathy, “Let’s go!” He started jogging on the road towards the observation post. He stopped and looked back at Kathy. “Come on!” Kathy followed.
A few groans and cries could be heard in the camp. Jesse put down his shotgun and held his hand next to his ear. He snapped his finger a couple times. “I can’t hear,” he announced to himself. He then looked around to see if anyone had been shot. “Someone go get Lois!” he yelled.
Kathy and Wallace ran down the road towards the observation post. Wallace laughed out loud again, loud enough so that everyone heard. “Just takin’ out the trash, folks! Takin’ out the trash!” He then laughed out loud again as he and Kathy ran behind a hill on their way towards the downed helicopter.
****
CHAPTER 18
Kathy kept up with Wallace as he ran towards the observation post. “They’re probably injured, so we’ll just finish them off,” Wallace shouted to her.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“How many bullets do you still have there?” Wallace asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you probably have enough.” The two of them slowed to a walk as they approached the observation post.
The area got lighter as the sun inched into the horizon, illuminating the area near the observation post. Bill climbed out of the observation post and onto the road behind. He was a stocky, fair-skinned guy with light reddish, brown hair, dressed in tan cargo pants and a dark green shirt.
Bill approached Wallace and Kathy as they jogged towards him.
“Bill, where did the chopper go?” Kathy asked, her voice trembling.
“It landed right over there,” Bill answered, pointing up the road towards the Mormon camp. Light smoke emerged from an area beyond the camp property, up the road. The area nearby the helicopter was rockier than the surrounding area, and there were no trees but lots of brush nearby.
“Wait here,” Wallace gestured to Kathy. He carefully peeked around the hill towards the helicopter. In the morning light he saw the helicopter on its left side, with the tail end pointing down the road towards the observation post. A curled rotor blade pointing straight up. The pilot, motionless, laid half-way out of the windshield on the front, almost touching the ground. The pilot was a tall, fair-skinned man with gray hair and a tan shirt. He looked like a fit man in his 60’s. A stream of blood emerged from his neck and dripped onto the ground off of his head.
A sound of electrical sparks emanated from inside the helicopter. A middle-eastern man wearing dark green clothing stood on one of the armrests inside and poked his head outside the helicopter’s right door, still wide open. He rubbed his head and looked out onto the road both towards the observation post and also behind him, further up the road towards the Mormon camp.
Wallace looked back at Bill and Kathy. “Kathy, it looks like there’s at least one survivor. Maybe more inside. I don’t know. Here’s what we need to do: take a shot at the helicopter there, about once every thirty seconds.”
Kathy mumbled, “Well, I guess …”
Wallace got closer to Kathy. “Are you OK to do this?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can try.” Bill stood next to Kathy, looking at Wallace, then Kathy.
“You can do this, Kathy. Don’t be nervous.” Wallace smiled.
“I’ll go get my 22,” Bill said, and ran back towards the observation post.
Wallace put his hand under Kathy’s chin, and lifted her head slightly. She looked into his eyes. “Don’t be nervous, Kathy,” he said. Wallace had a helpful expression, surprisingly calm considering the circumstances. “You’ll have time to be nervous later.”
Kathy tried to smile. Wallace backed away, wrapped his rifle strap around his left arm and headed into some brush behind a hill, so that he could re-emerge onto the road on the other side of the downed helicopter. He looked back at Kathy. “Remember, shoot at the helicopter once about every thirty seconds. Just a single shot.”
Kathy looked around the hillside, towards the helicopter. She saw the man looking out from the helicopter, looking back at her. She lifted her gun and took a shot at him, missing him but hitting the bottom of the helicopter. The man ducked back into the helicopter, using its floor as a wall. Kathy hid back behind the hillside.
Wallace pushed some branches aside and made his way through the brush. Hearing the gunshot, he whispered to himself, “What a gal!”
The man inside the helicopter stood up and pointed a machine in Kathy’s direction. He fired four shots.
Kathy stood behind the hill, shaking slightly. She heard a few electrical sparks, then no more sounds from the helicopter.
Kathy waited a little longer, then looked around the hill and saw the helicopter. She raised her pistol again and fired another shot at the helicopter, then hid back behind the hill. The man in the helicopter stood up and fired two single shots back at Kathy, then stopped to look. He then fired another shot in Kathy’s direction.
Bill returned to Kathy’s location, holding his rifle. He whispered to Kathy, “Any luck? Did you hit the guy?”
“Nope. He must be injured or something because he’s just staying there, not moving. Just shooting back at me.” Kathy paused. “Listen to me, talking about shooting at a guy and being shot back.”
“How much ammo do you have?” Bill asked.
“I don’t know,” Kathy answered. Kathy was still shaking.
“Kathy, let me take a shot at the guy,” Bill said
as he looked around the hill at the helicopter. He pointed his rifle at the helicopter and shot at it. Bill then ducked back behind the hill.
The man in the helicopter poked his head out of the helicopter and fired three more shots towards Bill and Kathy. While he was shooting, Wallace emerged from the hillside behind the man and shot him with a quick burst from his AR-15. “Oldest trick in the book!” he yelled as the man fell, lifeless, back inside the helicopter.
Wallace retreated back into the brush, watching for anyone else in the helicopter.
Kathy looked around the hill again, and walked out onto the road, closer to the helicopter.
