Dark Days Rough Roads (47 page)

The woods
to the west was getting fairly full with militia members as they shifted people
to this area. This was the most vulnerable side of the house. Kayla, Linda and
Nancy had their work cut out for them. It was very dark and they couldn’t make
out anybody. They saw an occasional muzzle flash, but nothing in the same spot
twice. Alan couldn’t find anyone either. He called Roger and told him the
problem.

Karen had
Elizabeth and Theresa down in the basement of the house along with the cats and
mutant dog. Her job was strictly to keep them as safe as possible. She had a
pistol and five magazines with her. If they called on her, she could respond if
she needed to. She was also ready to usher them to a vehicle in case of a bug
out situation..

Rich had
Matthew and Bobby ready to douse any fires in the house. Bev was ready with
first aid supplies for whoever could make it back to the house. Trying to use
the house as their sole cover wasn’t exactly tactically sound, but it had been
set up for a strong defense. They did have a few more tricks ready though. When
the time came, they could use them.

The Jeep
from the rescue had stalled out, and was now just sitting there in reverse in the
ditch. The militia men decided to make their way toward their sniper. They
called him so he could cover their retreat. Haliday heard the static and picked
out a few words, hide, cover and retreat. He clicked the transmit button, but
didn’t speak. All the militia men heard back was crackling.

They
headed out at a crawl toward Haliday. Haliday could not see them well, but knew
they were heading his way. He shot over their heads and toward a safe zone. He
fired almost 10 rounds providing “cover” for them. Randy, Sarah and Blake had
returned fire toward him. Haliday called, “Mike, tell them to stop. It’s me.
I’m not firing at them.” Mike called over to Blake and told him to pass the
word. They couldn’t quite reach him but he didn’t care. Now that they stopped,
it really appeared that he was safely covering the militia.

They
understood now, but they didn’t know any better when they had fired. They now
focused on other militia firing toward them. The two men from the Jeep kept up
their retreat. The men were about 150 yards away from Roger now. They just kept
coming. Haliday watched them carefully. Come and get your cheese you rats, he
was thinking.

Lisa
called over to Mark about the two people by the empty house, “I think they’re
coming over the road.” Mark was scanning back and forth. Lisa told Mark, “By
the ditch. By the ditch.” One of the militia got up and sprinted toward the
ditch. He dove down into it under a hail of gunfire. He raised his rifle and
fired while the other person ran to the ditch as well.

There was
one more militia at this house now who moved in to that location and who helped
provide cover. He started to fire and the woods on the west side lit up at the
same time. The two militia men were able to make it across the street into the
ditch during the diversion. They were now closer to the house and a mere 100
feet from Lisa and Mark. The two militia lay in the ditch waiting to make their
move.

*****

Rob
looked over at Brad. “Brad, we need to get into this compound. We need to get
through that fence.”

Brad
said, “I agree, but it’s not like we can just plow our way in there.”

“Actually
we can,” said Rob, “over by the brick and block company is an old front loader,
let’s go see if it runs.” They took off to check it out.

The
militia had them outgunned as far as type of rifle, but neither had an edge.
The townspeople would fire a shot or two from their rifles and the militia
response was usually 2 or 3 rounds or a short burst if they had a full auto
rifle. Few more than half had converted their rifles to full auto. For a group
that was breaking many laws, it was surprising they didn’t all have full autos.

Word had
spread that the sniper had been taken out and some of the guys now sought
higher ground. A few used tree stands, but had them on the back sides of the
trees in order to use the tree as cover. A couple hit the closer rooftops in
hopes of being able to get a better line of sight.

A few of
the guys got bored and they commenced to shoot out every piece of glass they
could on the admin building, regardless of the windows being boarded up. The
upper windows weren’t boarded up and they shot these out as well. Heat rises
and they would either get colder or use more of their energy heating the place.

Rob and
Brad made it to the brick company. They climbed up on the old front loader and
climbed up in the cab. They searched for a key but couldn’t find it. Rob went
over to the office and tried the door, but it was locked. He went around and
tried the back door, but it too was locked. Brad said, “Now what?” Rob picked
up a brick and broke the window out of the back door. They went inside to look
for the key.

Hanging
on a wall by the shop door was a bunch of keys. Rob looked at the tags and
found one that said loader. He grabbed it and they went back outside to the
front loader. He climbed back up into the cab and put the key in the ignition
and turned the switch. The engine cranked, but very slowly.

Brad
called up to him and told him the batteries must be low. They went back into
the shop and looked around. They couldn’t find any jumper cables or anything.
Brad grabbed a fire ax and walked over to a piece of conduit and chopped at it.
He followed it along the base of the wall about 10 feet and then swung again.
He had Rob hold the pipe and he pulled the wire out. Homemade jumper cables.

They
connected them to the battery of the four wheeler and then the batteries on the
front loader. Rob climbed up into the cab once again and tried. The motor
turned over, but still didn’t start. Brad revved the engine on the four wheeler
and Rob tried to start it. The engine finally caught and a plume of black smoke
came out of the muffler. Brad gave Rob a thumbs up and then took the wires off
the batteries.

Over toward
the southwest corner of the airport, one of the militia called for a status
check. He was told everyone was in position defending the compound. He asked
how the other group was doing and he was told that they didn’t know yet. The
only information they had exchanged so far was that they were engaged in
firefights.

This was
a younger man in his early twenties. His parents had volunteered to go on the
assault mission and he was asked to stay. Now he was wondering if he should
have gone on the mission too. He started to get antsy and moved back and forth.
It had been a few hours now and his mind wandered. The HQ asked if anyone
needed any ammo. One guy asked for something to drink and HQ told them critical
runs only would be made.

Brad and
Rob didn’t know if the fuel gauge worked or not so they found a can and transferred
some diesel from the large 500 gallon fuel tank to the loader. When they had it
filled, Rob went over and picked up a pallet of bricks. The company had taken
the bucket off and had been using large pallet forks. Brad placed a loose board
on top of the forks behind the pallet of bricks.

Rob
headed for the south end of the airport. When they got toward the fence line he
paused and Brad ducked over to the woods, where two more guys were waiting. He
asked them if they were ok with taking a ride and entering the compound. Both
agreed and they all ran back toward the loader. Rob plowed over the fence where
it was hanging low from being clipped. He got as close as he could.

The
militia was firing on the loader. Rob knew that as soon as he put the pallet of
bricks down he would have to take off. Brad jumped up next to the cab and he
lowered the pallet and backed off. The two guys behind the pallet and Brad all
fired as Rob retreated. A few rounds hit the cab but no one got hit. The two
guys that stayed with the bricks started hollowing out a small area of the
pallet. They piled up the ones they removed and placed them on the sides of the
pallet to widen their protection.

Rob and
Brad went to the brick company and picked up another pallet of bricks. Rob told
Brad to meet him near the west side of the airport with the four wheeler. Rob
drove the bricks through the gap in the fence again and headed toward the west
fence. As soon as he dropped the load he drove toward the west fence line. Even
with cover fire, the loader was taking hits. It started to slow down and Rob
headed straight for the west fence.

The
loader stalled out as he rammed through one of the poles and barely made it
across the fence. It had overheated and shut down. The cooling system was
toasted. They had two men inside the perimeter, two positions of cover and two
breaches of the fence now. They would need to get more people in. If they could
control at least the south side, they could start chipping away at them more
heavily.

At the
southwest corner was the younger militia guy. He had helped provide fire toward
Rob. The breaches got him to thinking some more. This was serious and they had
run into some real opposition. He kept wondering about his parents. He asked
the HQ to call for an update. He was told no, there was too much going on. He
was thinking something was wrong. Fifteen minutes later, he called for
ammunition and told them he was low and used a lot during the last breach.

Rob had
made it to Brad and they met up with a few guys in the woods who had taken out
the gunner earlier. They sat there and watched the deuce come creeping up. The
deuce stopped by the guy who had called in for ammo. Rob and the guys watched
closely. The deuc’es armored side was facing them. They spread out and tried to
get a better look.

The guy
was arguing with the driver, he wanted to go back to the admin building and was
told that he could not. He pushed his way past the driver and told the driver
to stay there in his place. The driver reached out and grabbed him trying to
tell him he had to stay. The guy pushed him off and he stumbled from behind the
deuce where he was met with multiple rounds.

The guy
watched the driver die and he panicked himself. He got behind the wheel of the
deuce and tried to take off. He wasn’t used to the clutch and it was hard for
him. The townspeople opened up on the back of the deuce. The guy jammed it in
gear and took off. He drove right over to the admin building and climbed out.
He took several rounds from Rob’s men across the street. In his haste he left
the area between the deuce and the admin building wide open and that’s where he
was. Rob’s group had now started taking a toll, but not fast enough.

Rob
called Haliday. Haliday told him he was busy, he needed a few minutes. He would
have to call him back. He told him to hold on for a few minutes if possible.
Rob let it go at that, he knew Haliday was deep in a fight. Haliday waited
where he was. Just a few more moments was all he needed. Just a few more
moments.

Haliday
was watching carefully. He heard the militia’s radio crackle again. He just
laid there and watched. The two approaching men stopped and dropped. Haliday
knew it was their sniper they were calling and the lack of an answer a second
time clued them in to a problem. They were at a loss as to what to do. They
thought they were moving toward safety.

Before
they had time to run Roger fired the first round into the militia man striking
the man through his left eye. His patrol cap came off along with some bits of
brain matter. The second man rolled over a couple of times and then fired at
Haliday. Haliday fired rapidly with the remaining four rounds in his rifle.

He struck
the militia man’s rifle in the upper receiver, rendering it useless and managed
to hit the man in the ass as well, but it was not bad enough to render the man
neutral. The man was struggling with something that Haliday couldn’t see.
Haliday wasn’t going to wait; his location and deception had been discovered.

Haliday
drew his pistol and initiated slow sustained fire as he rose up and then moved
for cover deeper into the woods. Haliday heard shots and ducked down. He
crawled over to where he had set his AR. He slung his M24 on his back and
grabbed the AR. He heard rounds striking the trees around him. He called for help
and tried to explain his location so he wasn’t hit by friendly fire.

Kayla,
Linda, Alan and Nancy were trying to cover the woods. It was dark and the
militia was well protected by the trees and lack of light. The militia had the
advantage here. They were using this advantage to keep the women in their
fighting positions. The militia in the woods, over at the neighbors’ and the
other house across the street all started to fire at once.

Kevin,
Diana and Dawn returned fire as best they could. Dirt was flying all around
them and they kept having to duck debris as the militia fire searched them out.
The neighbor had pretty much filled the militia in on everything they needed to
know. Kevin was convinced she used to walk the property when Haliday wasn’t up here.
Who knows what she actually knew.

The
people in the woods crept closer yet. Alan was searching for a target
frantically. He didn’t want to fire until he had acquired a target in order to
avoid them being able to pinpoint his location. Kayla, Linda and Nancy would
fire three round bursts and duck. They were starting to lose ground.

The
militia member by the empty neighbor’s house continued to fire. All of a sudden
two cans of smoke were tossed toward David, Lisa and Mark. Alan swung his rifle
that direction. It was dark and the smoke clouded the area heavily. He scanned
back and forth over a distance almost 50 yards wide.