by M. C. Allen
“Dale, get to it. I’m off to find my trigger wires.” With that, I took off running down the road as the kids ran to load up in the Hummer. Melanie followed me and asked me a question.
“Do you need company out there?”
I shrugged. “I could always use another set of eyes and a trigger puller.” This was a lean operation. Most of our people were out of the fight and loading up to run. The last generator was being loaded up and Barbara brought out the huge metal pot with our next meal. She would take her cooking on the road for now.
“Where are the rest of your shooters?”
“We are it. The kids will light them up with the .50 while I set off the explosives. Kofi will pick off as many as he can, and we will draw fire at our positions.”
Melanie looked at me like I was crazy. “There isn’t going to be anyone else fighting?”
“Nope, we are killing as many of them as we can, then we leave. If these jokers know where we are, they will send a bigger force that we have no way to stop. This is our shot to break free in the confusion.”
“So this is really going to suck?”
“Yup, Joseph has orders to get my kids to safety if I bite it. You sure you want to do this?”
“David, I was ready for you to kill me not too long ago. You wanted my life to have meaning, so here I am.”
“Shit girl. I thought I was fatalistic.” We made our way to the hole I had dug days ago. It was a fighting position that had several wooden pegs driven into the ground along the forward edge. Each peg had a strand of wire attached that led down to the road. I had mined the road at different points. One spot was in the middle of the switchback created by the downed trees. That would be my first detonation.
“Melanie, you are going to need to move over to the right about twenty or thirty yards. I dug another hole over there. I left an ammo can at the bottom filled with loaded magazines. Once I set off the explosive, you are going to shoot anyone outside of a vehicle or standing at a gun position on top. Once you start shooting, someone will start shooting back. You have to stay in the fight and don’t give up. It will be a temptation to hide in the hole and let the battle go on without you. Suppress that urge and fight, Melanie. This is your day.”
With that, I turned to my task. She would either fight, die, or turn coward. It was her decision to make. I didn’t feel any guilt. Melanie would need to choose how she would go on from here. Or not.
The truck on sentry came flying back down the road with Jordan behind the wheel and Angel clutching the 240 in the bed of the truck. Joseph must have already come back and I just missed it. I hoped he had taken the observer with him. Was it Ashley or Pam? I didn’t have the time to keep track of everyone at this point. I needed to continue the act. I keyed the scavenged radio.
“They just pulled their sentry vehicle back. They must have seen you coming. They are going back to try and block the road with it at the ambush spot. I can see them pulling back. There is no way out for them!”
“Good job, Jessup. We will take care of the rest.” The voice sounded irritated that I was stating the obvious. I’ve got something that will irritate you.
The engines sounded bigger than standard military Hummers. Crap, they brought something heavy for the assault. Timing would be critical. I had to set off the largest explosive when the vehicle entered the switchback and the suspension had it already leaning to their left. The rest of the convoy would be stuck in the kill zone.
They brought an MRAP. Perfect. It was designed to resist explosives, but had a tendency to flip over on rough roads. This was about to get rough. I kept my head down and pulled the first peg on my left out of the dirt and waited for the right moment.
I counted seven vehicles. The leading armored vehicle was the MRAP. The rest were hummers or regular trucks. The open bed trucks were loaded with uniformed troops. Their camouflage looked a little strange. It wasn’t desert tan or woodland pattern, so something else I was unfamiliar with. This was going to get messy quickly. The MRAP entered the switchback without slowing down. I could see the body rolling as the suspension fought the lateral acceleration of the turn. I pulled when the roll was at the extreme and ducked. The resulting explosion was impressive, and the MRAP flipped onto its side with the roof pointed partially toward Alex’s position.
She wasted no time blasting away at the troops struggling to escape through the gunner’s position. The original gunner had been thrown free and ended up under the vehicle. I reached for the peg on the far right and pulled. The door to this ambush swung shut as the road behind the last vehicle was cratered with another forty-pound charge.
I grabbed the next peg and repeated the process. The last vehicle loaded with troops flew into the air and burst into flames. Bodies went pin wheeling like rag dolls. Melanie burned through her magazine with short bursts, aiming at the gunners who were blasting away at the sides of the road. I pulled the peg to the extreme right and the Hummer stuck behind the MRAP took a direct hit to the driver’s side. Three vehicles were down for good. The other four were trying to back around the vehicle behind it. Chaos ensued. Good.
I had three charges left down there. I stayed my hand and waited for the next victim to line up with it before pulling the wire. The second Hummer flipped and started burning. Two charges left. The fire to the west was building and the troops on the ground noticed it. To escape the fire, they rushed across the road and into the ditch to the east. My side of the road. Alex had a perfect line down that ditch, and she started churning the bodies into hamburger. It they had body armor, they would be too damaged to salvage after being hit with that round.
Melanie had changed magazines several times and kept up her rate of fire. She was catching a lot of incoming from the dismounted troops, but she didn’t stop. Kofi was busy picking off anyone trying to get the heavy weapons on top of the vehicles into the fight. So far, he had kept them out of this fight. Time to clear out the dismounted troops.
I pulled one of the pegs left and screamed at Melanie to get down. I hesitated before yanking the wire. This one was set up, not as an exploding device, but at a massive shotgun loaded with lots of metal. Anyone close to the muzzle was vaporized. There was a hesitation in the firing as screams ripped through the air. I set the little cannon to rip through the road at crotch to ankle level. There was no escaping it, even for those lying on the ground.
The wind whipped up the fire to the west, and it started encroaching on the kill zone. The idiots in the ditch on my side were chopped up and fertilizing the roadside. I had one bomb left but no target. I left it alone and pulled my M-14 to my shoulder, looking for targets. There were still people holed up in their vehicles, waiting for the shooting to stop before coming out.
Time was running out for them. The fire was heating things up, and people panicked. As they bolted for safety, it was a race to see what would kill them first. Kofi, Alex, and Melanie had this zone covered. Anyone in the vehicles had a choice. Burn or die. Go ahead and take your time. We just waited.
I got bored and called out over the radio, “Oh, my God! They have explosives. I never saw that. Is there anyone still alive? Don’t leave me here!”
The same voice as before screamed over the radio. “You lying piece of shit! You set us up! Who the hell are you? Jessup would never have the balls to do this!”
“I’m the guy who is giving you the option to surrender and live. I’ll call a cease-fire and let you leave with whoever you have left over there. Leave your weapons behind. We don’t really need them, but we don’t want you to come back and try this again anytime soon. I need time to bury all of your dead.” I let him think I was staying permanently. Come on, dude. It was getting hot out there.
The voice came back over the radio. “How do we know you won’t just shoot us dead?”
“Easy, I have more devices set up and ready to kill all of you. I want someone to send the message back to your leaders that we want to be left alone in peace. Your survivors can tell the story and convin
ce them that we are too much trouble to take on.”
Hurry up.
It took one of the disabled trucks starting to burn and for ammunition to pop and cook off that led to the surrender of the enemy force. I instructed them all to assemble north of the fire and to wait for my instructions there. They were told to stack their weapons and vests but to keep their food and water.
I ran to the kids and told them of the change of plans. Kofi came over and got his instructions. He took over the .50, but Dale kept the driving position. I sent Regina back to tell Joseph my changes. I didn’t want her to be there for what came next. Melanie stayed in her hole and watched for stragglers.
The remaining troops all followed my orders. I’m sure they had personal weapons on them, but they stacked their rifles and vests. Dale drove the Hummer into the field to the east of the assembled troops and waited on the other side of the fence. Kofi manned the gun while Alex walked with me and surveyed the enemy. I shared my plan after Regina left.
Dale didn’t laugh this time. “You are not feeling very friendly today, are you, Mr. Metcalf?”
“Nope. This isn’t some Western where the bad guys honor their word. They will just come back and try to kill us all. This will ensure that these guys never come for us again.”
When I marched to the lined up troops, I threw off an air of military pride and honor. I turned and saluted the assembled men. Three of the troops drew themselves to attention and returned the salute out of habit. Too bad I couldn’t separate them out and do a proper interrogation. Time was too short for that. The former military guys might be useful, but the other twelve just sulked. I sighed and pointed up the road to the north.
“You are free to go as long as you agree not to come back and try to do this again.”
The look of surprise on their faces told me everything I needed to know. They thought I was stupidly going to let them go. I wasn’t in a charitable mood as I stepped to the right. Alex followed my lead, and together we aimed our weapons at the men and fired. Kofi started on his left. We started on the right. I dropped the empty magazine and inserted another. Alex followed suit a second later. It was done. I could hear trucks pulling into the battlefield down the road and orders being given. We were going to strip every weapon off those vehicles that we could and try to save that one Hummer before it burned.
Alex surveyed the fallen enemy and asked, “Are we going to try to strip their uniforms too?” I shook my head.
“We might get some useful boots, but the shirts and jackets are ruined. Just look for extra weapons and food in the cargo pockets of their trousers. Damn .50 does some damage.”
We were lucky. Dale took the Hummer back and pulled the trees out of the way so we could drive any functional vehicle out of the path of the inferno. The MRAP was useless, but we unloaded everything we could from the back. We carefully dug up our one remaining roadside bomb and disarmed it.
I had only modified the plan. We were still leaving, but I wanted Mr. Messner to know that we came bearing gifts. We had a lot to share. I didn’t even know until later that we had taken a grenade launcher with a nice load of ammunition to feed it. We had so many M4s that each truck carried extras in the cab. We were flush with ammunition and weapons. The fuel would get us there, and we could scavenge along the way. Food was fine for now. We would get tired of corn though.
When we finally reached the roadblock later that day, I took out my map and pointed the destination out to Joseph. We took a minute and shuffled the vehicles around where I now had the lead, and he was pulling the rear with the second armored Hummer.
Miles to the north, the smoke from our fire was growing. It had finally jumped the road, and was roaring away, consuming everything in its path. It reminded me of the firestorm that roared across the city. Hopefully, the weather would change and the life-giving rains would cleanse the land. The crops would not survive this growing season without irrigation or more precipitation. That was one reason to head further east into the part of Texas that has a better climate. An added bonus would be a friendly family with the skills and equipment to help us stay alive a little longer.
As planned, we turned on our radios and began to broadcast all sorts of misinformation.
“Joseph, we are heading down to the highway and heading straight on to Louisiana. Ft. Polk may still be holding out. If we get separated, bring any stragglers there.”
“Will do. Keep the pace slow, or we might lose some people. These trucks are pretty shot up.”
It was complete bullshit. We needed to fill the air with all sorts of confusion if someone was listening in. The Hummers had decent radio sets, but we had pulled the GPS trackers and left them off for now. We were not heading to Louisiana, and our trucks were all in good working order. The deuce was sporting some light armor and a pair of newly acquired 240s. The grenade launcher was packed away for the moment. The MK19 was a beast that I, for one, was not familiar with. Once we found the Messner family, I was sure Sam would have an idea how to maintain it.
Kofi was back on the .50 and I took the driver’s seat again. Dale was in his now accustomed spot behind me, with Regina in the passenger seat next to me and Alex behind her. Melanie was driving my old pickup directly behind us with Angel riding shotgun. Who knew? They might strike up a friendship.
We had hours of sunlight left, so we continued south, then east. As usual, it was Dale who broke the silence that had settled on our small group.
“So, besides running away again, what’s the real plan?”
I thought for a second; they might as well have the whole story. “We are going to become locusts for a while. We’ll strip the land before us, taking everything we can scavenge or salvage. Our priority is farm equipment that runs and seed for the next growing season.”
Alex asked, “Are we going to be farmers now?”
“Not exactly. Where we are going there should be some nice farmland, but the last time I saw it, they were using it to grow hay. We’ll need to plow and cultivate that land if we are going to grow enough food to become sustainable.”
Regina piped in, “Don’t we have plenty of food now? We also have a lot of corn from the harvest.”
“That’s just to get us through the winter. We can’t show up empty-handed and expect to be accepted with open arms,” Dale disagreed.
“We’re bringing guns, ammo, and all sorts of supplies. Why would anyone turn us away?”
I sighed and turned the wheel to avoid a stalled car on the road. “Because we can’t eat the bullets. The same reason I regretted taking all of you guys in. No offense.”
Regina chuckled and half turned to Alex. “See? I told you he never really wanted us around.”
“Mr. Metcalf did want us with him,” Dale jumped in. Then he added, “He just didn’t know it at the time.”
“Fine. I would have died in Arlington without you there to keep me going. There, are you all happy now? You saved poor old Mr. Metcalf.” I deadpanned the delivery like a sad old man.
I continued, “Now that we have that out of the way, keep your eyes open for signs of farms that may be active. We are not going to steal equipment, but if we can touch base with some of the locals, we will have an easier time finding what we need. Oh, and we need a few towable travel trailers.” I said it loud enough that Kofi could hear over the engine and the road noise.
He had a question from the armored ring mount. “Why do we need travel trailers? We going camping again?”
“Not camping. We will need shelter soon, and we can load them with supplies and not be too worried about it all getting wet when it rains.” The sky was mostly clear, but I saw clouds starting to build. At least there were more clouds than in the last few months. The rain would be welcomed, but our supplies in the trucks would get soaked. I scanned the road and looked for any leads.
This went on the rest of the day. We were creeping along and taking our time. Near sunset, we found a promising area that looked to be recently used, but the farm was currently
vacant. The barn out back had two tractors that were old enough to have survived the pulse, but they were both empty of fuel. The overhead fuel tank next to the barn was also empty. With some tools and a few gallons of diesel, we had the medium-sized tractors running. Further searching led to a trailer large enough for one tractor and some spare room for a disc plow.
I wanted to find the owners and ask them for the loan, but the house was cleared out without any indication where they had gone. Bullet holes near the front door and boarded up windows told part of the story. Once the diesel ran dry, the owners had taken all they could carry and simply left. They had held off a small group of looters, but without the tractors running, they had no reason to stay.
We overnighted, and the next day we expanded our search area. Joseph found a farm nearby with a trailer we could use for the other tractor plus some additional implements. He also found a small amount of corn for planting along with hundreds of pounds of fertilizer.
We were loading everything we could to come with us, even the empty fueling station. It was gravity fed, and once we had more diesel, it would be worth having. Inside of the stripped house, I found an honest-to-goodness phone book and cheered my lucky fortunes. Dale looked at me with a curious expression.
“Are you having a seizure, Mr. Metcalf?”
“No, I found a phonebook.”
“Ah, so?”
“Under ‘farm’ they list three feed stores in the area. Do you know what you can find at feed stores?”
“Feed?”
“Yes, Dale. Feed. You can also find seed and more fertilizer as well as herbicides and pesticides.”
“We really are going to be farmers, aren’t we?” Dale sounded sad.
“What? Did you think we would always be homeless raider killers?” I chuckled at the idea of us becoming land pirates. I would need a parrot and an eye patch.
