by T J Reeder
We stood by the horses waiting and I used the time to check cinches and tie downs on the mules. We were getting pretty damn good at loading up in the dark and getting it right the first time. I did find a long coiled wire and it took a moment to realize that Kid had climbed that tall tree in the dark to retrieve the antenna and wire. I was blown away and stopped and hugged her and told her she shouldn’t have taken the risk. She just shrugged and said, “May was gonna do it,” but she figured she already had and was smaller, so she just did it. Love this kid, plus she may have just saved our lives.
After it was light, Sandy got out the forest service topo map of the area and we figured we knew where we were. The trails fit the map and according to the map we were heading down off the mountain right at where we started (more or less). I figured if it were me I wouldn’t expect to find me back were I started (if that makes sense), so we decided to keep on.
It was getting late in the day when way off behind us we heard a shot, followed by two more spaced apart. I had to believe it meant they had found our trail and would be coming like a runaway train. Sandy finally said she needed to talk to me so we stopped and gathered around while she went to digging thru her and May’s ‘special pack’- the one they hide their secrets in. And bless her nasty pointed head she handed me something I would never have expected in a million years. It was a Claymore mine! There is no end to the shit these two have dragged home, but I never knew they had Claymores.
Even after all this time, I have to admit they can still amaze me. Beth was watching my face and said, “This is a good thing?” I had to laugh and said, “Well, good for us, bad for them!”
She said, “Then it’s a really good thing. What does it do?” Sandy said, “Really? I mean, Really? You don’t know what that is?” Beth smiled and said, “No love, but I’ll bet it’s something that goes bang and draws blood, right?”
Sandy started laughing followed by May- my two sweet warm beautiful dangerous wives. They live for this shit. When they aren’t playing with the kids or stealing whatever I’m trying to enjoy eating they are blowing shit up, or looking for something to blow shit up with, or looking for some shit to blow up. In general they live for blowing shit up or shooting it up or burning it up. God, they are so cute.
Beth was laughing at them now as they argued about where to place the damn mine to get ‘Maximum Destruction Capability’ which is the military way of putting it. They cut it to “Kill the most fuckers it can.” I’m glad they are on my side. That thought got both turning to smile (it’s always amazing they don’t have fangs when they smile). One of the scary things is when they get in this mode, little Sam stops whatever she’s doing and watches them like a hawk. I worry about her. Beth just kisses me and says it will be OK.
Finally, after several minutes of listening to them argue Kid said, “If you two would read the field manuals I give you and learn from them you’d know that the best place to put it is back there where we rode out into that small clearing, because (as we did) they will stop and the rear will spread out around the front riders so they can all hear what’s going on. Then they will send a scout out a ways ahead to read the trail. We set the mine (or mines) at the clearing where we get maximum spread, using their scout to hit the tripwire.”
Kid was right, but I waited for it to soak in and watched them work it around so one could say “Well yeah, we knew that, we were just making sure,” at which point Kid will laugh at them, then run for Beth. Even running for our lives they are the same. It’s a fun game until it’s not fun anymore.
Finally Kid took the mine and said, “Come on” and the three walked back up the trail. Beth and I just hugged and smiled while I hoped to hell they knew enough to read the part where it says ‘this side to the enemy’. I was pretty sure Kid would.
After a while they were back, and we headed out making real good time. Once in a while I thought I heard faint sounds behind us but being damn near deaf it was unlikely.
About an hour later I did hear the blast of that mine going off because it shook the whole area (or seemed too). The blast and the echoes covered the screams I was sure followed it. One regret I had was all the horses being harmed. They hadn’t signed on for this war, but it was the way it’s always been.
There was no way these people could keep taking these kinds of hits, but hate and god knows what was driving them on. Evil has no bounds and these people were as evil as it gets. I still couldn’t believe the bad luck that brought us into their town. Talk about stepping into shit!
We made it down off the mountain and came out on another Forest Service road. The map showed it climbing higher than we had been and I wasn’t going for that, so we headed down. The problem was they could know where the road went as well as us. We were making good time for sure, but I was worried about an ambush so I moved out and got about half a mile ahead of the girls, all but Sandy of course; she hung back a ways but kept me in sight. May was hanging back a couple hundred yards behind Beth and the pack train. Beth had both kids on her saddle.
We had been on the road about an hour when I heard a vehicle coming pretty fast. I turned off the road, got Buck under cover and headed back on foot with the M-16 in SAW mode. Sandy had disappeared as well. If they got by me she would stop them with the bloop gun.
It seemed to take forever for the truck to come around a curve and it was full of men with guns, looking for us no doubt. When they were almost up to me I opened up and sprayed the cab real good, then the bed. They were packed in so tight they couldn’t move. The truck turned and hit the bank and went right over and down into the canyon below. It was going end over end tossing bodies every which way.
Sandy rode out and trotted up to me, checking me for holes. I just shook my head at her. She laughed and said, “Well, you’re getting better at not getting shot, huh Magnet Ass?” I’m the so-called leader of the biggest force for good in the free world and where’s the respect? She did hug and kiss me. Beth and the rest rode up with May looking over the edge. She smiled and said, “Sweet!” then came over to check me over and I got hugged and kissed again. This war fighting stuff could get a guy laid if it keeps up.
All three sighed and shook their heads. Kid said, “Sex. Is that all you men think about?” Sandy said, “Don’t knock it till you…oops! Shit. Forget that!” which got us all to laughing. But we needed to get moving and did.
According to the map we were heading right for an old Forest Service base camp where they set up for fighting fires. It was the best we could hope for, a clear field of fire and hopefully some decent cover.
So far we had held our own; hell, more than our own- we were kicking their asses. The only thing I can figure is that by coming in on horse back we caught them off guard and they didn’t have time to set up their usual welcoming committee, (whatever that might have been) but I could well imagine.
I wondered how many poor bastards had wandered in and stayed for dinner, literally for dinner. Also I’m simply amazed that out of the entire country how did we wander into the mess? The odds of that have to be beyond calculation. Now, to get out alive.
We rode into the big clearing and found the old forest service camp; it had a very sturdy cabin and barn and a pitcher pump for watering the stock. The barn and cabin were made from big squared logs and stonework.
I wondered how it was that nobody had come here after the event? It was a perfect place to hide from the whole world. But for now it was our security blanket. We first unloaded the packsaddles on the porch of the cabin, then turned the stock into the corral and pumped water into the trough. The barn and cabin were both padlocked but that wasn’t a hold up. The barn was solid and very well built and would be easy to fight from, the cabin was attached to the barn with a winter door going right in to the cabin- easy for feeding in really bad weather.
We got all our gear inside and unpacked it, weapons and ammo were checked; we had a lot! Bless the girls. We had food enough for quite a while and this was going to be over before the food
was gone. These assholes had no idea exactly what kind of creature they had latched on to but the finding out was gonna get them killed.
Sandy had another 20 rounds for the bloop gun, and all but five were frags. Another five were flares! There was still 10 hand grenades and a lot of ammo. She unrolled two blanket rolls and produced two take-down Model 12 shotguns, both older than her; short barrels with fifty rounds of control flight buckshot (the only way to go with short shottys) because they hold a tight pattern even without a choke. She even had some slugs. Why? I have no idea but god, I love her! May was unloading a second pack with more ammo and bless her too, she produced four more claymores!
These ladies had packed for an extended war and I was surprised, so I asked why. They said before we left, Old Woman had sent a message saying to pack for trouble. So they did. I asked why I wasn’t told, and they said because I would have either laughed or cancelled the trip and Beth needed it really bad. I looked at Beth and asked if she knew all this. She said no, but was glad we came and had no regrets. She also had heard what these bastards do and wanted to clean them out once and for all. I wondered if that was possible; I thought we had already done that.
Kid asked me to help set up the radio gear so we could maybe talk to somebody. I headed out with her while the girls figured out what to put in the barn and where to put it. Beth had put our sleeping bedrolls on the bare mattresses on the floor against a well-sheltered wall and put the kids on the bed, then joined the girls. Kid climbed up on the corral and then onto the roof of the barn shed, then up on the top. She attached the antenna to an old weather vane and tossed the wire thru the hay loft door. She came down, smiled and jumped from the shed roof for me to catch her. I sat her down and explained I was old and not used to exerting myself. She laughed- no respect.
We were in pretty good shape as far as firepower and food, we just had to make every shot count. Plus, they had to cross a couple hundred yards to get to us. My 308 was going to earn its way for sure. With the winter door we could move around very well to face threats as they came (which would be from every direction I was sure).
Well, they knew we were here and we knew it, so why not use the wood range to make some dinner? Beth got that going while we moved ammo and guns here and there. It was late in the afternoon before we saw any sign of them- their scout rode into the clearing and about crapped his pants turning his horse to get out of sight. I was caught without my rifle so he made it. The best part was that Walker let us know he was there, now we had an alarm.
After dark I put the dogs outside as an early warning system. I had the girls resting at their fighting posts while I drifted back and forth thru the place and at times eased outside using the night vision. Once Molly rumbled and was looking at something. I put the glasses on it and saw a coyote slinking away. I told her she was a good girl, and she stayed on the porch of the cabin while Walker went with me.
I may at times seem like I don’t much care for Walker, but in truth I love the big nitwit. He saved mine and Beth’s lives back about the time Beth knew she was pregnant. I’ll always have a place for him. But I like giving him shit, he even seems to have forgiven me for punching his lights out over the snapping at May deal. I think having Sandy kick him outside for the night away from JC was the part he hated the most. Big ox.
Right about the darkest time of the night, just before the dawn, Walker alerted to something from the end of the barn away from the cabin. I headed up to the loft and found the girls wide-awake. I looked out the loft door with the glasses and spotted a small group of people moving in a cluster (I assume so they could stay together). I whispered for Sandy to bring the bloop gun and handed her the glasses. She studied their location and whispered, “Piece of cake.”
I took back the glasses and watched as she dropped a round right behind them and followed with another that was short but got some running away from the first blast. As near as I could tell, all of them were down but some were moving and calling for help. I watched the tree line but saw nothing moving.
Beth and Kid were in the cabin with the other pair of glasses and shortly Kid came slipping in and said there was another bunch on their side who seemed to think they hadn’t been spotted. Sandy slipped away and followed Kid while I watched the far tree line. Shortly I heard the blooping sound followed by a bang and then yelling.
I headed down and out the big door so I could see the sides where we had no windows. I saw some people slipping fast back into the timber; it had been a three-sided assault and it failed.
Morning came and I could see bodies laying out where Sandy had dropped the rounds. A couple of them were trying to crawl to the trees and I let them suffer. If it looked like they might make it I’d shoot them but for now it was a waste of ammo.
Beth fixed a good breakfast out of pancakes and canned bacon and powdered butter. It was awesome! I hopped the smell of the bacon was reaching the scumbags out in the timber but figured it was the wrong kind of meat for them.
Kid came in from the barn, smiled big and said she had made contact with the scouts who were getting closer, but she didn’t have the words in Navajo to tell them where we were. It looked like some help might arrive but we couldn’t count on it.
I knew this was going to have to end and expected something from them but I never expected what happened. It was a full out cavalry charge across the open ground. I had just got back to the loft window when they came out of the woods at a run. It really wasn’t a bad move for them since if they could close with us their numbers would win the day and it looked like there was fifty of them at least. I scoped them but couldn’t find the scar-faced dude so I took one out in front: He seemed eager so I took him.
Then the one next in line and so on. Sandy and May were accounting for some as well, and I could hear Kid and Beth shooting so it was an all-out push. I left the 308, grabbed the SAW, headed down and stepped thru the big doors and shooting short bursts I was emptying saddles. Then I headed to the other end and into the house and helped them out. It didn’t take them long to realize this wasn’t working and they turned tail and took off. There was a bunch of empty horses running around out there.
Never in my life would I have ever believed that in a few short months’ time I’d be hunting down more slavers, repelling pirates and then be facing a charge by mounted Cannibals! Too much! The times they did change and as the old Chinese dude said, we were living in interesting times.
They settled down to shooting at the barn and house and were killing the windows but the old big logs were stopping the bullets. Beth and Kid were staying down and the babies were in a pantry surrounded by solid walls. All in all we were doing fine. I had no idea what to expect next from these turds but if they stayed stupid they were gonna run out of warm bodies.
We passed the rest of the day quietly and all got sleep. I knew they had to be cooking something up, but what? I had no idea. Kid was in contact with the scout teams; there was two of them and they were hauling ass.
With the dawn of a new day they came up with their next plan. We heard the sound of vehicles coming and there was only one way they could come so I took the 308 and the SAW with both 100 round drums and got set up. The first truck rolled into the clearing at speed.
I shot the driver thru the head, thru the windshield. He crashed, tossing people everywhere. The next one swerved and almost rolled, causing me to miss. By then he was very close, so Sandy opened up with the SAW and cut them to ribbons.
She had loaded it with SS109 green tips, which have a nasty little steel dart inside that cuts thru soft steel and they worked as advertised- on people too. The next vehicle never made it into the clearing. She chopped them to bits, too. She was good with the damn thing.
I heard May open up in the barn and took off that way. She had several trying to move in while we were distracted. Between us we took care of them. So far we had to have killed damn near a hundred of these fuckers, and wounded a lot more.
Where were they coming from? How many
could they possibly support in that town? It was quiet the rest of the day except for one who seemed to think he was a sniper and kept popping off rounds at us. It was ruining my nap so I got Kid to looking for him- young eyes, ya know.
It took her about an hour before she spotted him. He was lying behind a tree, but had most of his upper body exposed. She pointed and pointed but I just couldn’t see him. Finally in frustration she laid down behind the rifle, got comfortable and waited for his next shot. He shot, she shot, and I saw him then- he jumped and fell back in a pile.
Two hundred yards with a rifle she never shot before. I could make good money selling her to the Marines! She smiled at me and said, “Try it, bud.” Damn witches. She scooted over close, laid there a bit and said, “It’s different when you’re watching them up close thru the scope, isn’t it?” I pulled her to me and held her for a while; she didn’t cry like Sandy did the first time, life must have really been hard before we found her. I never asked and never will. I think she talks to Beth about it.
I kissed her on the head and said, “Is there any peanut butter left?” She laughed and said, “Yep, and some hotcakes too” and she was off at a trot. She was back in about ten minutes with a stack of pancake/peanut butter sandwiches with powdered sugar. And ‘you know who’ showed up, but they brought hot coffee so it was a trade off. A picnic, in the middle of a war. Why not?
