by Eric Vall
“Are the ATVs gassed up?” I asked as I slipped on my own pants.
“Yes,” Rolly said quickly. “I filled up everything yesterday when you were gone.”
“Good man,” I said and pointed to him before I slipped my shirt on.
“Are we going the same route as we went with the bikers?” Paige asked, and she slipped her shoes on and tied her hair into a messy bun.
“Yes,” I said, and I looked around. “Bailey, where are you?”
“I’m ready,” the blonde hippie said, and I saw her come from my old door room with her rifle and a vest on.
“Good job,” I told her, then I turned to everyone else. “Grab your weapons and vests and meet me outside in thirty seconds.”
“On it,” Paige said, and she moved to retrieve her weapon as well.
“Should I go back on guard duty?” Rolly asked.
“Yes,” I nodded. “If anyone gets up here you take them out, just make sure it’s not one of us.”
“You got it boss,” the old man gave me a hard nod and headed up the stairs.
“I’m with you,” Anna said, and I looked to see that she was already kitted out.
“Me too,” Bailey said, and for having woken up about one minute earlier, she looked damn ready for a fight.
“Alright,” I nodded, and I headed toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“Last time we took the motorcycle too,” Anna said once we were outside.
“Do you think it will be too loud?” Bailey asked.
“Yes,” I nodded. “We’ll squeeze on the ATVs.”
“Bailey should ride with you,” Anna said. “The other girls can ride with me.”
“Okay,” I nodded, and Bailey and I hopped on the ATV, and just then the other girls burst out of the building looking like an action movie.
“Over here,” Anna whistled, and she waved the girls to her, they didn’t hesitate, they hopped on behind Anna and I felt Bailey cling tighter to my stomach as the all-terrain vehicle lurched forward.
Even though we hadn’t used the trails since we took out the bikers, Anna and I expertly navigated through the trees, and I led us both to the woods on one side of the road, unlike before when we came at the bikers from both sides. We needed to assess the situation first and see what we were dealing with.
I parked the ATV, shut it off quickly, and gathered my team around me with one motion of my hand.
“Good job on getting up so quickly,” I told the girls, and I really was proud of how well they had dealt with the situation thus far. “We need to assess the threat.”
“Right,” Anna nodded.
“Where do you want us?” Paige asked.
“Stay close,” I told the group. “But make sure you can see what we’re dealing with.”
“Okay,” Tara nodded. “I have my Rugar.”
“Good,” I smiled. “But let’s assess the situation first, if they turn back and go back downhill we’ll let them go, but if they head toward campus, we’ll have to take them out.”
“Got it,” Bailey nodded.
“Bailey,” I said. “Get a good vantage point, if we need to take them out quickly, I want you to have a shot lined up.”
“Should we wait for you to shoot or just go for it once they start to head up the road?” Tara asked.
“Wait for my signal,” I told her, and I looked at each of them in the eyes. “Let’s do this.”
We parted ways and headed into the woods, but I had a sight on each of my girls, they had followed orders and stayed close, except for Bailey, I looked back and saw her expertly climb a tree to get a good angle.
It was a clear night with a bright moon, and when I looked out to the road, I counted ten men, each more haggard looking than the last. They had grown out beards, shaggy hair, and several of them smoked rolled cigarettes. They were also strapped to the nines, they each had at least one pistol on their hip or chest, and some of them had two, I counted three men with hunting rifles, and a couple with semi-automatic assault rifles.
“I’m starving,” one of the men said to the others, he had a long black beard, and smoke billowed through his fingers from his homemade cigarette.
“We gotta find somewhere tonight,” a shaggy red haired man said.
“In the meantime,” a blonde-haired man said, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask, took a long drink, and passed it to the next guy.
“This tastes like shit,” black beard said after he took a long swig.
“Yup,” the blonde guy grinned. “But it’s all we got right now.”
“Well, what the fuck is it?” the redhead asked, and he took a pull off the flask.
“Schnapps,” the blonde guy said. “It’s all that’s left in the stores by now.”
“Bet there will be more down south,” black beard said, and I thought maybe they would move along, and we wouldn’t need to take them out.
“I saw signs for a college a while back,” another guy said. “But I don’t see no damn college.”
“Well, maybe it’s up the hill,” the red-haired guy said.
Shit. If they started toward campus, I’d have to kill them. I raised my rifle and aimed it at black beard.
“Worth a shot,” another guy shrugged, and he lit a rolled-up cigarette.
I watched as the men carried on for a moment more, they drank from the flask and finished their cigarettes, then they threw them on the ground and twisted them with their toes.
I kept my scope on black beard and waited until they took ten steps toward the hill, I figured I would give them one last opportunity to just leave, but they took that eleventh step, and I pulled the trigger.
Black beard went down in a spray of blood, and before I had a chance to adjust my target, Bailey took down the red-haired guy in a spray of blood and brains that splattered all over the pavement.
“What the fuck!” one of the men yelled, and they all started to run for cover.
My team picked off six men all together, but four of them managed to get into the woods nearby.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“They’re in the woods,” Tara whispered, and I saw her creeping toward me.
“Yes,” I nodded.
“Four got away,” Anna said, and I saw her coming up right behind Anna.
“A little help here,” Bailey whispered, and I turned to see her trying to climb down the tree.
“I got you,” Paige said from the other side of me, and I saw her make her way to Bailey, grab her rifle from her, and wait for her to jump down before returning it.
“What’s the plan?” Paige asked once we were all in a group once more.
“These guys have guns,” I said. “And we no longer have the element of surprise.”
“What about Bailey?” Tara asked.
“What about me?” Bailey asked, and her blonde brows pulled together in confusion.
“If you can get a good eye on them, you might be able to take them down,” I told the blonde hippie.
“I can try,” she nodded.
Just then a spray of bullets came from the woods, and I pulled my girls down before I realized the guy was shooting blind, he was in the right general area, but with us hidden in the trees, it was obvious he didn’t have a sight on us.
“We should move,” Anna said amidst the gunfire.
“Bailey, get to a vantage point,” I commanded. “Anna, you’re with her.”
“On it,” Anna nodded, and she pulled Bailey up and took off through the woods that led to the campus.
“Paige and Tara,” I said. “You’re with me, we’ll try to surprise them from behind.”
“Let’s go,” Tara said with a grin, and we all took off toward the back of the houses.
My three-man team made our way to the tree line a ways down from where the men had entered.
“I don’t see them,” I whispered.
“Smarter than I thought,” Paige said, and she lifted her eyebrows in a half-amused sort of way.
“What do we do
?” Tara asked.
I pulled a grenade out of my vest and grinned at the girls.
“Good idea,” Paige nodded.
I unpinned the grenade and threw it into the woods as far as I could near where the men had gone in.
I waited until I heard the men yell out, then I smiled to myself. There was something about hearing a grown man scream that got me excited for the fight.
After a moment the men came out of the woods screaming and running, and before I could stop her Tara ran out into the street after them with guns blazing.
I took down one of the men, and Tara caught another in the shoulder, but before I could get a kill shot, he fired back at the platinum blonde, and she took a round to the vest.
“Fuck!” Tara yelled, and she clutched her chest, but before I could respond I saw the last guy come out of the woods behind Paige.
“Paige!” I shouted. “Hit the deck!”
The brunette ducked, and the man fumbled for a split second since he had lost his target, but in that split second, I took the shot and he went down in a spray of blood.
I heard the crack of Bailey’s gun as she took down the last two guys with headshots, their lifeless bodies fell on top of their friends, and the concrete became a pool of leaky blood that oozed from their corpses.
“Are you okay?” I asked Paige first, and I helped her to her feet.
“I’m fine,” the brunette nodded, and she pushed her glasses up further on her nose.
“I’ve been hit,” Tara breathed, but she said in the way that someone in an action comedy would say it, and it was hard not to laugh.
“Oh, my God,” Paige rushed to the platinum blonde and started to inspect her. “Where is the wound?”
“It’s in my vest,” Tara groaned. “Oh, fuck, am I going to die?”
“I don’t see any blood,” Paige noted, and she removed Tara’s vest to find there was no bullet wound.
“Trust me,” Tara said, and she clutched her right breast. “I’ve been hit.”
“He caught her in the vest,” I said, and I crouched down next to the blonde and the brunette.
“Well, it looks like the vest did its job,” Paige commented. “There’s no penetration that I can see.”
“That’s… what she said,” Tara breathed, and she sucked in a sharp breath as she tried to laugh at her own joke.
“Oh, my God,” Paige chuckled.
“Let me look at it,” I said, and I pulled out a lighter from my pants and inspected the area. “You were definitely hit.”
“Looks like some bruising is starting to form,” Paige noted.
“It fucking hurts,” Tara groaned.
“Yes,” I smiled. “It’s not a pleasant experience. Next time you need to stay behind cover. Don’t forget all of our training.”
“Well fuck,” Tara breathed. “I just really wanted to kill them. Sorry. I guess I went all Rambo.”
“Beverly Hills Rambo,” Paige snickered.
“Hey,” Tara laughed and then groaned, “at least I did it with style.”
“Come on,” I smiled softly at the platinum blonde, and pulled her against me and held some of her weight as we walked back up the road.
“Tav!” I heard Anna call out.
“In here!” I shouted. “We’re coming out now.”
“Is everyone okay?” Bailey asked.
“Yes,” I said, and Tara said “no” at the same time.
“Um… is it yes or no?” Anna asked, and she made her way to the door to see us holding Tara.
“We’re fine,” Paige told the redhead.
“What about Tara?” Bailey asked.
“She got shot in the vest,” I said.
“But the vest protected her, right?” Bailey asked with wide eyes as she looked at the dramatized version of Tara that Paige and I were holding up.
“Yes,” I told the blonde hippie. “But it still hurts.”
“It hurts like a bitch!” Tara exclaimed.
“Are you sure she’s okay?” Anna asked, and she looked at me with awkward concern.
“No,” Tara scoffed. “I almost died. Tav is going to have to rub my breasts until I feel better. Maybe with his mouth. Maybe on my nipples too, just to be safe.”
“I guess you are fine, then,” Anna groaned as she rolled her eyes.
“I’m sure she is,” I chuckled, then I set Tara down on the front step and turned to Bailey. “Good shot with those two.”
“Thanks,” the small blonde girl grinned.
“Wait here,” I said, and I quickly jogged to the ATV and grabbed some rope out of the compartment on the back, then I returned to the group.
“What’s that for?” Anna asked.
“We need to put up a warning,” I said somberly.
“What do you mean a warning?” Bailey asked, and her head cocked to the side.
“We can’t have people stumbling through here,” I told the girls. “We need to scare people off.”
“So, what are you going to do?” Paige asked.
“We’re going to hang the bodies,” I said, and I looked at the girls, expecting a protest of some kind. Admittedly, I didn’t like it either, but we needed people to know that this area was not to be fucked with.
“String the fucks up,” Tara said, and she sucked in another hard breath and clutched at her breast.
“Well, alright then,” I smiled.
“Don’t you think that’s a bit morbid?” Bailey asked, and her face pulled into one of revulsion.
“It’s not ideal,” I acknowledged. “But we can’t have people thinking that they can come around here.”
“Will it really deter them?” Anna asked.
“There’s a real possibility,” I nodded. “I would rather not fuck with somebody who’s willing to string up dead bodies.”
“That makes us look like the bad guys, though,” Bailey protested.
“It does,” I said. “But if we have to play the bad guy in order to protect ourselves, I’ll gladly do it.”
“Fuck them!” Tara exclaimed again.
“Damn, you are pissed about getting shot, aren’t you?” Anna asked with a wry smile.
“It’s fucking painful,” Tara said.
“You know I got shot in the arm, right?” Anna chuckled.
“And it hurt, didn’t it?” Tara glared.
“It did,” Anna smiled. “But at least your huge tits helped protect you.”
“Now it’s bruised though,” Tara pouted.
“And Tav is going to lick you later, so stop whining,” the redhead sighed.
“Can we get back to the subject, here?” Bailey asked, and she looked to the other girls. “Do you really think we should string up dead bodies?”
“I know it’s gross,” Anna shrugged. “But we have to deter people somehow, before more people come through and try the same thing.”
“Until we can get this place blocked off, I’ll do whatever we have to in order to stay safe,” Paige said in a soft voice.
“I guess you’re right,” Bailey nodded, then she turned to me. “I’ll help.”
“It’s okay,” Anna smiled at the blonde. “I’ll help him, you get Tara back home and look her over.”
“Right,” Tara nodded jokingly. “I could use some medical attention here.”
“We’ll get you a glass of wine,” Paige rolled her eyes. “Will that help?”
“That would help very much,” Tara sniffled, and Bailey and Paige helped her up while Anna and I walked over to string up the first body.
The process took us about a minute or two, but most of that was trying to find the correct tree branch to hang it from.
“You know,” Anna said, and she looked the dead body up and down in the dim light of the early dawn. “I kinda like it.”
“You would,” I chuckled.
“What do you mean?” the redhead laughed.
“You love horror movies,” I smirked. “It makes sense that you would like the morbid shit.”
; “That’s true,” Anna grinned. “I do love horror movies, and this reminds me of the movie Sinister.”
“I never saw it,” I shook my head, and worked on the next guy.
“Movies are the only reason I wish we still had power,” Anna sighed, and she helped me with the rope.
“Maybe one day we can get it back,” I smiled softly at the redhead.
“I doubt it,” she said. “But I’m okay with that.”
“Wars don’t last forever,” I said, though I wasn’t sure about this one that was allegedly going on now with North Korea.
“No,” she smiled back at me. “But they do seem to last a long time.”
“They do,” I nodded.
“I’m okay with where I am now,” the redhead said. “And who I’m with.”
“Me too,” I smiled.
Anna and I finished stringing up the men, and we returned to the campus to find Rolly, Tara, and Paige sitting by the fire.
“Where’s Bailey?” I asked.
“She’s on guard duty,” Paige told me.
“How are you feeling?” Anna asked Tara.
“Better,” Tara said, and she lifted a cup of red wine and took a drink.
“I’ll go grab more rope,” Anna said, and she headed toward Rolly’s toolshed.
“More rope?” Paige asked.
“Yes,” I nodded. “We ran out when we were hanging the men.”
“The girls told me about that,” Rolly said. “A bit morbid, but whatever gets the job done.”
“Ready,” Anna said, and she returned with the supplies.
“Let’s go, then,” I smiled at the redhead.
We hopped on the ATV and headed back down to the bodies in the road, and we piled two on the back of the ATV to move a bit further down the street, but just as we finished loading the bodies, I heard voices that I didn’t recognize coming from the way the other men had just arrived.
“Shh,” I told Anna, and I pulled us behind the ATV.
“I heard them,” Anna nodded, and she crouched beside me.
“We need to check it out,” I told her.
“Right,” the redhead said.
“Let’s get to the woods,” I whispered, and I ran across the road with Anna behind me.
“If they see our ATV we’re fucked,” Anna said after we made it safely to a vantage point in the forest.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Hopefully they’ll pass by.”