Dawn of Destruction

by Ronald Williams

  Shortly afterwards, she was passed by two men heading for the motor pool at a dead run.

  She had to think fast. It wasn’t going to take long for them to notice all of the flat tires.

  Bruce and Marcus couldn’t just stick around waiting to be discovered in the only two vehicles that could drive – they’d need to get out of there.

  Her chances of rendezvousing with them at the motor pool were not good at all, so she resorted to the contingency plan – meet the trucks at the main office.

  * * *

  “Things just got hot,” Robert said, as the sound of gunfire came from outside.

  They’d covered about half of the first floor of the building, and hadn’t found Thomas yet.

  Fortunately, they hadn’t run into any of the Compound’s people, either.

  Randall realized that was very likely to change, when he heard a door down the hall open up.

  He, Robert, and Jane tried to back into the last room they’d checked, but it was too far away.

  In the dim light of two small LED lamps, one at either end of the hallway, they saw three men step into the hallway, turn, and look right at them.

  The men were armed, but by the time they realized what they were looking at, the rescue team was already firing.

  Robert and Randall each got five rounds downrange with their handguns. With the stronger recoil on her .30-30, Jane got just one shot off.

  By the time she got her sight picture back, all of the targets were either down or back in the room they had come from.

  There was the sound of footsteps up on the second floor, running down the hallway away from them. Company was on its way.

  They’d passed a stairway at the door they came in. It was reasonable to assume there was another one at the far end of the building.

  “You all might want to give up if you don’t want your buddy here to get it,” came a voice from down the hallway.

  Randall swore. It was clear to him now where Thomas was, but it also looked like the rescue was going to fail.

  Robert, in the process of reloading his .357, didn’t let that deter him.

  Seeing Robert reloading his weapon made Randall remember to reload his. His hands shaking vigorously, he managed to eject the magazine from his Colt .45 and insert a fresh one. He picked up the old magazine and stuffed it away in one of his pockets. Magazines were now a precious commodity and even in the heat of the moment he knew it would be unwise to leave any behind.

  “Cover the end of the hallway,” Robert whispered to Jane, then looked at Randall and indicated the right side of the hallway. “Stay out of her line.”

  Robert started slowly walking down the hallway, back to the wall.

  Randall followed.

  “Step out unarmed and we let you walk! You hurt our man, we hurt you!” Robert called out.

  The footsteps upstairs were no longer audible.

  “There’s more of us than of you,” came the voice from down the hall.

  “I’ll still have plenty of time to kill you!” Robert shouted, still sidestepping down the hallway.

  “Not likely.” The statement was punctuated by the sound of a single round going off from the room.

  Robert and Randall gave up their attempts at stealth and ran the last dozen steps to the doorway.

  Behind them, Jane’s Winchester fired.

  Randall glanced left and saw somebody ducking back around a corner at the end of the hallway.

  He left Robert to deal with the man who’d just shot his brother, taking up a position to back up Jane if anybody else showed around the corner.

  He thought he heard a woman’s voice say something from the room, then he heard Robert say, “Thank God, Claire!”

  Randall really wanted to look into the room, but another target appeared.

  He and Jane both fired at it.

  One of them scored a hit, judging by the sudden sounds of pain that came from the end of the hall.

  Randall heard glass breaking in the room Robert was in, followed by his cousin yelling, “On me!”

  Randall signaled for Jane to move up.

  While she ran, he exchanged a few rounds with somebody who popped around the corner at the end of the hallway.

  Jane tapped him on the shoulder, and said, “Switch.”

  Randall let Jane take over covering the end of the hallway, and stepped into the room. Robert was taking Thomas over to the window of the room.

  Claire was outside, splitting her attention between Robert and shooting at the Compound’s men with her borrowed Glock.

  One of the Compound men was lying still in the middle of the room, blood pooling from his head.

  Randall heard a truck come up to the building and skid to a halt. Jane fired two more rounds down the hallway.

  Thomas was barely able to stand, but was doing his best. Randall came up and helped Robert lift him through the window.

  Marcus was there, and with Claire covering him got Thomas into the bed of a pickup. A second truck skidded to a halt.

  “Let’s go!” Bruce shouted.

  “Jane!” Robert shouted, pointing at the window.

  Jane didn’t need to be told twice. She went straight for the window and climbed through it.

  Robert and Randall followed, rifle rounds from inside the building punching through the wall.

  While they ran for the bed of Bruce’s truck, Marcus sped away with Thomas, Claire, and Jane.

  It must have taken only fifteen seconds to clear the Compound, but to Randall, it felt like forever, as bullets cracked through the air above him or shattered the Hi-Lux’s windows.

  Once they got through the gate, the walls that kept the inhabitants inside safe also hindered their ability to fire at the fleeing trucks.

  Behind him, Randall could see two sets of headlights following them from down the main road of the Compound…

  Chapter Eight

  Dirt Road Outside The Compound - Night

  Randall reloaded his Colt 1911 .45 in the passenger seat of the old Toyota Hi-Lux truck as Bruce pressed down on the gas pedal and they sped down the dirt road. Robert was in the car with them.

  Marcus, Jane, and Claire were in the other Hi-Lux ahead of them with Thomas.

  While the rescue of Thomas itself had been miraculously successful, they were hardly out of the danger yet.

  Behind them were two sets of headlights from other vehicles coming fast for them. Every few seconds a gunshot would ring out from the leading vehicle and either strike their car or WHIZ past them or overhead.

  “Hang on!” yelled Bruce as another bullet whizzed right over them again.

  Though the dirt road was bumpy and filled with turns, Bruce never touched the brakes. They had to evade the Compound’s men quickly, or else they would catch up and there would no doubt be a large shootout that wouldn’t end well for either side.

  Randall had seen that Thomas had been severely beaten and bleeding and his fingers broken when they had rescued him, and he feared more for his brother’s life and well-being than he did the Compound’s men who were after them now.

  The Compound’s men were slowly catching up. Right when Bruce would swing the Hi-Lux around a curve in the road, the headlights of the leading enemy vehicle would only be a second or two behind, followed by the second vehicle soon after.

  These guys aren’t going to give up, Randall thought.

  Suddenly, Bruce slammed the breaks and the Hi-Lux came to a screeching halt.

  Randall looked up to see why: the Hi-Lux in front of them had also come to a sudden stop because of a fallen tree that blocked half the road. Marcus, Jane, and Claire were piling out with their rifles, ready to make a stand.

  “Tree’s in the way!” yelled Marcus. “Get your guns out and fight!”

  “Out, out!” screamed Bruce as he quickly put the truck into park and hopped out, with Randall and Robert following him out shortly afterwards.

  Randall and Robert quickly retrieved their rifles, an M1A and AR-1
5 respectively, while everyone else lined up with guns aimed at the two pairs of headlights coming right for them…

  * * *

  Gale Butler was driving the leading Chevy Blazer chasing after the rescue party, his Ruger Mini-14 carbine on his lap.

  There were four other men in the Blazer with him, plus four more in the Ford Bronco trying to keep up behind them.

  As soon as the Compound had been attacked and Gale had seen the raiding party escaping in the stolen Hi-Lux’s with Thomas, he made no hesitation in climbing into one of the Blazers and firing it up to go after them.

  He didn’t need to call out for more men, as they simply piled into the car with him while he was gunning it down the main street of the Compound to engage the rescuers in pursuit. When another man had tried to climb in with no more available seats, Gale simply shouted at him to fire up another vehicle and follow them.

  Gale had launched the pursuit after Thomas’ rescuers largely on instinct and in the heat of the moment. He had no plan and only now he wanted to see to it that Thomas and all of the members of his rescue party would be dead in a hail of bullets. Beating Thomas and dislocating his fingers wasn’t good enough for Gale despite the sick satisfaction it had given him in watching it happen.

  It was to Gale’s surprise when both of the Hi-Lux’s came to a rapid stop. Finally, there would be a fight and these people would pay for their invasion of the Compound and the death of his brother.

  “Slam the breaks and turn around!” the man riding shotgun yelled at Gale.

  “No, we take them on!” Gale screamed back. “They’re not getting away with this! Ready your weapons!”

  The members of the rescue party were now piling out of the two trucks with rifles. Gale was still speeding towards them with his foot pressed hard on the gas. They were less than a hundred yards away and he was closing in fast.

  “They’ve got the drop on us!” another man in the backseat said. “Turn the damn car around or we’re all gonna take a lot of bullets!”

  “No!” Gale yelled.

  The man riding shotgun drew a pistol and held it to Gale’s head.

  “Turn the damn car around now! I won’t say it again!”

  Both of Gale’s feet immediately slammed on the brakes, not because of the gun that was being held to his head, but because he could see the rescue party members taking aim at them.

  The men arguing with him were right: the rescue party had gotten the drop on them.

  * * *

  Marcus fired first, squeezing off two quick shots with his AR right after Gale slammed the breaks in the lead vehicle.

  The rest of the group soon opened fire as well, the bright muzzle flashes illuminating each of their faces in the darkness: Marcus, Robert, and Claire each squeezed off shots with their ARs, Randall pumped heavy .308 rounds downrange with his M1A, Jane racked and fired her Winchester .30-30 as fast as she could, and Bruce’s .45 blasted away!

  With bullets either whizzing past them or slamming into the vehicle, Gale kept his head low as he quickly put the Blazer into reverse and slammed the gas pedal.

  Wheels spinning in the dirt, the Blazer began going in reverse as fast as it could, nearly hitting the Bronco behind them before it too spun into reverse.

  Two bullets smashed through the windshield and struck the man who had pointed the pistol at Gale in the chest, splattering blood over the glass.

  “Faster, faster!” another man in the rear seat yelled, ducking from the incoming fire.

  “Stay low!” another screamed over the shooting.

  More bullets smashed through the windshield and into the car or zipped right over it, but Gale and the rest of the men in the car kept their heads and shoulders low.

  Finally, Gale managed to swing the Blazer in reverse around the corner to evade the incoming fire.

  “Get out of the car, we try again! This time on foot through the trees where there’s cover!” said Gale, opening the door.

  “Are you crazy?! We just nearly got killed!” said one of the men.

  “Mike did get killed!” said another of the men, referencing the dead man in the shotgun seat.

  The Bronco didn’t even stick around. Its driver swung the car around and took off back down the road, headed for the safety of the Compound.

  It was a useless cause, Gale could see. His men were not prepared to fight. The best thing they could do at this point was head back to the Compound, meet up with this father, and decide what to do from there once daylight had hit.

  Without a word, Gale slammed the door shut, turned the Blazer around, and followed the retreating Bronco.

  The Parkers were still shooting even after both the Blazer and the Bronco had disappeared behind the corner.

  “They’re pulling back!” Robert yelled over the gunfire. “Hold fire, don’t waste ammo!”

  The group ceased firing as both of the enemy vehicles disappeared around the corner. They waited for a few moments to make sure that the vehicles didn’t return again before lowering their weapons.

  “Is everybody alright?!” asked Bruce, swapping mags in his 1911.

  Everyone confirmed that they were indeed fine and not hit.

  Randall ran straight for the first Hi-Lux to find Thomas laying in the back. His face was beaten, bloodied, and barely recognizable, and his fingers each twisted.

  Though weak, Thomas was still conscious. He was strong and he was a fighter. Randall knew he would make it even if the recovery period would be long and painful.

  Thomas managed to get out two words to Randall: “Thank you.”

  Randall smiled and wanted to pat him on the shoulder, but didn’t for fear that it would exacerbate Thomas’ pain.

  “Let’s get this stupid log out of the way!” barked Marcus, running over to it while trying to sling his AR-15 over his shoulder. “Randall help me out with it!”

  “Claire, Jane, keep an eye out for more vehicles!” ordered Robert, as he and Bruce ran over to assist Marcus and Randall with moving the log.

  Chapter Nine

  Eventually, the group managed to move the fallen log and climb back into the trucks.

  They made their way back to the lake cabin at Priest Lake but were extremely careful about the route they took just in case they were to be followed.

  As they were on a dirt road in the middle of the woods, they didn’t come across anybody else walking on the road, to Randall’s relief. The very fact that they had two trucks that were still working after the EMP attack meant that they were now extremely wealthy people. The overwhelming majority of vehicles were in no working condition at all, and only the older vehicles without computerized systems were still running.

  The only thing was, Randall knew those kinds of vehicles were now rare…very rare. If they came across anybody desperate for a working car, there would be a fight.

  The group saw no indication that they were being followed. No headlights through the trees or down the road in front of them or behind them. Everyone blew a big sigh of relief.

  Dawn was breaking out and the sun shining over the north Idaho mountains when they finally made it back to the lake cabin.

  Barry, Christine, Angela, and Susan were waiting for them.

  Marcus and Robert got out first and quickly carried Thomas into the cabin.

  “Jane, keep an eye out for enemies,” Robert ordered Jane when she tried to lend a hand.

  Her older brother of twelve years yelling orders at her was something that Jane didn’t exactly enjoy, but she understood the direness of the situation. Her trusty old lever action hadn’t left her hands all night, and she didn’t suspect that it would for the rest of the day either if she was to be the designated watchman of the group.

  Thomas was taken into the one of the bedrooms and laid on the bed. He was tended to by Christine, Susan, and Angela while the rest of the group met with Barry in the dining room to explain what had happened.

  “We’ve been up all night waiting for you,” said Barry, solemnly. “And
we may be up for many more nights after this one. We’ve all got a target on our backs now. This is life-and-death, you all understand this, right?”

  Everyone nodded.

  At 78 years of age, Barry’s wisdom and experience made him the de facto patriarch of the family. Everyone who ever knew Barry had always held him in high regard, and his family members were no exception.