by Eric Vall
The man moved to point his weapon at me, but Tara drove a knife into his crotch and tore it down through his leg before he could pull the trigger. He gasped, but was silenced a moment later as Tara cut his throat. Then his twitching body fell on the barn floor, and Tara rushed over to me.
“Are you okay?” The blonde asked me.
“I’m good,” I said.
“What do we do now?” Tara asked.
I walked over to the front door and peeked through the gaps between the wood. The three remaining Guardsmen were still out by the house chatting with one another.
“Those guys outside by the house don’t look like they have heard the fight,” I whispered. “Get back to the loft, and I’ll take cover by the door down here and see if we can’t take these guys alive.”
“We only need one of them alive, right?” Tara asked as she pulled up her rifle and headed for the stairs.
“Yeah, but try to wound them if you can,” I said. “We don’t know how chatty these guys are.”
“Fine,” Tara groaned. Then she disappeared back up to the loft once more.
I kept an eye on the guys outside and waited for her to get into her spot. Then I readied my rifle and took up a position just inside the door so I could swing out and support my blonde companion.
“When you’re ready, take the first shot,” I quietly called up to her.
Tara didn’t say anything to confirm she heard me but a moment later I heard the crack of her rifle ring out through the enclosed space.
Her first shot landed, and the man staggered backwards, but the two guys frantically looked as they scrambled to find cover.
I leaned out to line up my first shot.
“Don’t forget about their armor,” I shouted up to Tara.
“Yeah, thank you, I remember that now,” she replied. “I haven't had to deal with that before.”
The guys weren’t even sure where Tara’s shot had come from, so I closed one eye and let out a slow breath as I steadied myself and put the sight right on the shoulder of the closest target. I squeezed the trigger and watched as a plume of red shot into the air, and the man fell to the ground screaming.
“Nice shot!” Tara yelled.
Only one of the soldiers was in a position to fire back, and I could tell by his erratic movements that he was panicked. He leaned out from behind the tree he had hid behind and sprayed the barn with gunfire. There was no consistency as to where the shots were landing, and none of them came close to hitting the mark.
The sound of Tara’s rifle filled the barn again as she took another shot at the man she had hit previously. I watched the soldier fall, but he didn’t take a bullet to the shoulder. Instead part of his head exploded in a spray of chunky gore.
“Woops! I was trying to hit his shoulder,” Tara groaned.
“I suppose we haven't really been able to practice shooting at this range,” I said as I pulled the trigger.
The chatter of gunfire stopped abruptly as the last soldier’s knee was torn apart. He dropped to the ground and joined his friend in screaming.
“Is that it?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, we got these guys,” I said.
“Man, I hope the rest of them go down this easy,” she said as she descended towards me.
“That’s probably wishful thinking,” I said. “Come on, let’s go see who’s going to talk.”
Tara was just about to throw open the front door and head out when I stopped her.
“Careful, let’s make sure it’s safe out there,” I said.
Tara took a step back and nodded.
“Alright, we’re coming out,” I yelled. “Drop your weapons and put your hands where I can see them. If you guys cooperate, then you won’t have to die.”
“O-okay,” I heard one of them shout. Then two pair of hands
popped out from behind cover.
“Stand up,” I ordered.
The guy with the shoulder injury walked out from behind over, but the other one stayed put.
“I can’t,” the second guy said. “You shot me in the fucking knee.”
I sighed and shook my head. If we didn’t need these guys alive, I would have ended them right then and there. It would have been far less risky than crossing an open field towards two men I knew were still armed.
“Come on,” I said to Tara.
We left the barn and marched out towards the wounded men.
“Keep your rifle ready, I still don’t trust these guys not to try something,” I said.
“Got it,” Tara said with a nod.
As if on cue the guy with the blown out knee reached down, pulled his pistol and started to fire wildly in our direction.
“Take cover!” I yelled as the first bullets flew by.
Tara and I flattened ourselves against the ground as bullets flew in our direction. Thankfully the man was firing blind and didn’t come anywhere close to hitting us.
“Damnit!” Tara shouted. “I wish we didn’t have to keep these guys alive.”
“Just wait until he has to reload, and then I’ll rush him,” I said. “We’re close enough that we should be able to get him before he can get a fresh magazine in.”
“I’ll follow your lead,” she said.
A couple seconds later the guys stopped shooting.
“Go now,” I yelled as I pushed myself up to my feet and charged forward.
I closed the distance between me and the injured soldier in seconds and drove my knee into the side of his head. There was a loud thud, and he slumped over and dropped his gun into his lap.
Tara leapt over the cover a moment later. “Looks like I missed all the fun.”
“There wasn’t much to be done,” I said.
“Is he dead?” she asked.
I dropped to a knee and pressed two fingers against his throat. “Heart’s still beating. I just knocked him unconscious. Disarm him and tie him up. I’ll go take care of the other one.”
“Got it,” Tara said.
I sprinted off towards where I had last seen the first guy I injured, and I came around a large tree to find him leaned against it.
“Fuck you,” he spat as he saw me. The man tried to go for his pistol, but I planted my foot in his chest.
“I don’t want to kill you, but if you try anything I won’t hesitate to finish what I started,” I sneered.
The man stared at me for a moment with a grimace, but then he sighed and relaxed. “Fine.”
“Good,” I said as I pulled my foot off him. Then I reached down and helped the guy to his feet. “Is that house over there empty?”
“There’s nothing but dust and old furniture in there,” the wounded soldier said.
“Perfect,” I said, “we’re going to go in there, patch up that wound, and have a little chat.”
“What if I don’t feel like talking?” the guy muttered.
“Then I’ll put a bullet in your brain,” I said.
“Alright, I guess I’ll talk,” he said.
“Tara, how’s it going over there?” I yelled to my companion.
“Got this guy tied up, but he’s bleeding pretty badly,” she replied. “I don’t know how long he’s going to survive.”
“Bring him to the house,” I ordered. “We’ll stop the bleeding and see if we can’t wake him up.”
“I can’t lift this guy,” Tara said.
“Then drag him,” I said.
Tara looked at me for a moment, shrugged, and then started to drag the unconscious man towards the farmhouse.
Once we got inside I set my prisoner down on a wooden kitchen chair and pulled some rope from my backpack. After I tied him up I pulled out what few remaining medical supplies I had and did the bare minimum required to stop the bleeding.
Tara joined me as I finished taking care of the first guy. Her prisoner was still unconscious and he left a blood trail along the carpeted floor as she pulled him over to me.
“Are we really going to stop the bleeding?” Tara asked as she p
ropped the man up in a chair.
“Yeah, he’s no good to us dead,” I said. “You tie him to the chair, and I’ll take care of his wounds.”
“Fine,” Tara muttered.
A few minutes later the second guy was tied up in a similar fashion to the first, and he had a large bandage wrapped around his knee. However, he had already lost a lot of blood, and the dusty grey carpet underneath him was stained a deep red.
“What do we do now?” Tara asked as she looked at our two prisoners.
The first one had his head down and refused to look at us. Once in a while he would glance over at his buddy and then quickly direct his gaze back at the floor.
“Have any water on you?” I asked my platinum haired teammate.
Tara nodded and handed me a half full water bottle.
I popped the top and sprayed a bit of it on the face of the man with the wounded knee. He groaned, pulled open his eyes and looked up at us.
“Where am I?” he muttered weakly.
“We’re in that little farmhouse,” his buddy replied.
“What’re we doing back here?” the first guy asked.
I pulled up a chair and took a seat in front of both of the men. Then I pulled out my pistol and placed it on my lap. “Gentlemen, my friend and I have a few questions for you.”
“Fuck you, we’re not telling you shit,” the first guy spat.
Tara stood behind me and leaned on one of my shoulders. “We’re running out of time and patience, so I would suggest playing along if you want to live.”
Both men fell silent, shared a glance, and then hung their heads. It was clear these two cared more about living than they did their fellow soldiers.
“Alright, what do you want to know?”
Chapter 10
I sat there with my arms crossed over my chest as I stared at the two wounded National Guard soldiers. They were a disgrace to their uniform and the country they had signed up to protect. I was happy that they were going to tell us shit, but the fact that they were so willing to give up their fellow soldiers left a bad taste in my mouth. I never would have given up my team no matter what someone threatened to do to me.
“Where’s the rest of your caravan?” Tara asked.
“This is it,” the pudgy guy said.
“Bullshit,” I said. “We know that you’ve already hit up three farms and taken at least a dozen head of cattle, a few chickens, and as much food as you can carry. You can’t fit that much shit in those two trucks out front.”
Tara growled and pulled out her pistol and pointed the weapon at the wounded man. “I warned you that I’m getting impatient. Lie to us again, and I will pull the trigger.”
“Alright, I get it, sorry,” the man said. His eyes were fixed on the gun only inches from his face. He swallowed hard and looked past the gun at me. “The rest of the convoy is waiting for us on the main road at the end of the driveway to this farm. They didn’t want to risk getting the full trucks stuck in the mud so they just sent a small group of us to check this place out. Since there are only a couple more farms we want to check out they decided to hang out until we got back.”
“How long is this driveway, is there any chance they heard the fight we just had?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” the second guy said. “The driveways like three miles.”
“How many men are left in the convoy?” I asked.
“Twelve,” the second guy said quietly. “All armed with M4A1 carbines, M9s sidearms and one guy is packing an M249 with a few thousand rounds of ammo.”
“They won’t be as easy to take down as we were,” the first guy said. “Our CO keeps us on our toes.”
“We might have managed to stay alive if he had come with us,” the other soldier chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess that hardass was just trying to keep us alive after all,” the first replied with a grin.
“We’re getting off topic.” I thought it was a bit weird they were laughing about their CO, but that might have been an inside joke. “How many more trucks do you have in this convoy?”
“Another four trucks,” the first guy said. “They’re all full to the brim with all the stuff we took today.”
“Including the girl?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, including the girl,” the second guy said with a nod.
“You assholes better not have touched her,” Tara said through gritted teeth.
“We wish we could, we don’t get to have any fun while we’re in the field,” the second guy said. “At least not until we make camp. Once we do, we have to wait for the CO to have his fun before he tosses her to the rest of us.”
“Enough,” I snapped as I tried to force down my anger. “Why’d you start picking on these farmers now? It’s been months since the EMP hit so why wait?”
“It was those fucking bikers,” the first guy said. “Every time we’d try to move up this direction they would pick a fight with us. The guys in charge didn’t want to waste resources on them, so we stayed put.”
“Yeah, but then a few days ago our scouts came back and said that the way was clear,” the other one said. “So we packed up some trucks and set up an outpost out here.”
“Fuck,” I muttered. This was an inevitable effect of taking out the bikers and opening up the roads, but I had hoped it wouldn’t be so immediate. “Tell me about this outpost of yours. How many guys are there?”
“Around sixty soldiers,” the first guy said.
“Is that how many are waiting for you?” I asked.
“No, there's about forty guys left at the outpost,” the same guy replied.
“Twenty four of us went out with this caravan,” the other one said.
“And all of you are National Guard?” I asked. “No marines or army guys?”
“Nope, we never got the reinforcements we were promised,” the second one said. “Things went to shit real fast, and we were left all by ourselves to clean it up.”
“Well it seems you’ve, like, done a pretty poor job so far,” Tara said. She glared at the wounded soldiers, and I could see the anger behind her narrowed eyes.
“What do you guys have for armor or air support?” I asked.
“None of that shits working anymore,” the first guy said. “These trucks are pretty much the only thing with an engine that runs, and we have most of them out here with us to pick up supplies.”
“What about weapons?” I asked. “Anything heavy?”
“We have some 50 cals,” the other one said. “We don’t have a lot of them but we decided to bring a couple of them along in case the bikers were just lying low for a while.”
“How many rounds of ammo do those have?” I asked.
“I don’t know, maybe four thousand rounds between the two,” the guy said with a shrug.
“Assaulting our outpost would be a bad idea though,” the other guy said. “We’ve cleared everything in fifty yards around the place, and we have fortifications and watchtowers set up. You guys wouldn’t be able to get close without being noticed.”
“Plus, you’d be severely outgunned,” the other one said.
“That didn’t stop us today,” Tara pointed out, but I raised my hand a bit, and she cleared her throat.
We didn’t need to give these guys any more information.
“How many civilians do you have there?” I asked.
“Why would we bring civilians?” the first guy asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me, asshole,” I growled. “Why would the soldiers do all the work when they have a perfectly serviceable slave force to do it for them?”
The two men looked at each other and frowned.
“Okay, yeah we are using the civvies as a labor force,” the second one sighed. “But it's only fair since we protect them and supply them with food and water.”
“You guys make me fucking sick,” Tara seethed.
“Yeah, that’s some pretty weak justification, boys,” I said. “I’d guess that those civilian slaves would agree with u
s, and I bet they’d gladly help us if we decided to attack your outpost. How many are there?”
“Fifty,” the first guy said. “Mostly dudes, but we brought along some ladies too. We don’t use them for manual labor though.”
“I still think that trying to attack us would be a bad idea,” the second guy chuckled.
“Go ahead though, your death won’t bother me,” the first guy added.
“Just as your deaths won’t bother us,” I said, and their faces paled.
“Why are you guys even doing this?” The first guy asked.
“Because you came into our territory, stole from our neighbors, and kidnapped an innocent girl,” Tara hissed. “Shit like that doesn’t go unpunished here.”
“Look, we’re just following orders,” the first soldier said. “If we don’t, then we get shot, the President declared martial--”
“Bullshit,” I responded. “You could have gone AWOL.”
“Now’s not a good time to stir the pot,” the second one added. “If we try to leave, then they’ll just hunt us down and hang us as an example to the others.”
“That stopped being a valid excuse the moment you decided to kidnap, enslave, and rape women,” I said.
“Yeah, your little sob story won’t work here,” Tara added.
“Well you guys better get ready for a fight then, because if you do somehow manage to take out the convoy they’ll send troops to come look for us,” the second guy said.
“Yeah, the rest of our guys will make sure you pay for what you did to us,” the first guy spat. “Us soldiers share a special bond.”
I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. It was short and harsh, and the two wounded guys in front of me raised a curious eyebrow.
“What’s so funny?” the first one asked.
“I was a soldier,” I said. “I was a US Army Ranger, and I served three tours. Me and the guys I fought with had a special bond. I never would have sold them out for a chance at my life.”
“You don’t understand,” the second one whined. “Things are different now.”
“No they’re not,” I said as I stood. “You were called on to protect the people of this country in this time of trouble, and instead you became honorless thugs who pick on those you swore an oath to defend. You fuckers make me sick. You don’t deserve to wear that uniform or to call yourselves US soldiers.”
