Without Law 7

by Eric Vall

  “He was taking over for the scout here,” I told her. “So I had to take him out.”

  “They sent him here to kidnap one of us, didn’t they?” Tara asked dryly.

  “Yes,” I said with a nod.

  “I hope you stabbed him in the dick,” the platinum blonde replied.

  “As a matter of fact, I did,” I laughed.

  “Wait, seriously?” Bailey asked with wide eyes.

  “Well, I think so,” I said with a shrug. “He was facing away from me, and I wasn’t about to unzip his pants, so I kind of guessed where it would be.”

  “I think it’s hot as hell when you talk like that,” Tara moaned as she licked her lips.

  “Alright,” Rolly said, and he rolled his eyes. “Don’t you all have more people to kill?”

  “You’re just trying to get rid of us so we don’t make sexy jokes,” Anna chuckled.

  “Absolutely,” the old man laughed. “But we kinda need the job done as well.”

  “We’re on it,” Bailey said happily.

  “Everybody go get your bags,” Anna commanded, and all the girls took off toward the dorm building.

  “Will you be alright here alone?” I asked Rolly.

  “Oh, sure,” the old man said. “There’s nobody in the woods now at least.”

  “That’s true,” I said.

  “And besides,” Rolly gestured down to Winchester who wagged his tail at us, “I’m not alone.”

  “Right,” I said, then I looked at him seriously. “Stay on the roof, and I want you on guard. I’m confident I got all the scouts, but just in case.”

  “I understand,” the old man said, and he clapped me on the shoulder. “I know you’d do anything to protect those girls, but be safe out there.”

  “I’d do anything to protect you too,” I told him with a smile. “You’re all family now.”

  “Let’s keep it that way,” Rolly said. “Bring all of you back safe.”

  “Aye aye captain,” I chuckled.

  “That’s my line,” the old man laughed.

  I headed to grab my own bag which included the lighter fluid I would need to start a fire in one of the old cars, as well as my other 9mm and my trusty rifle.

  I met the girls out front and took in the sight of them, I always enjoyed seeing them totally kitted out.

  Paige had on a black t-shirt under her kevlar, a pair of black hiking boots, and some jeans. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and she was strapped with a hunting knife, a sidearm, and her trusty shotgun.

  Tara looked sleek in black skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a long sleeve black turtleneck. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a few stray strands hung down around her face. She carried her Ruger on her hip, two daggers attached to the back of her belt, and an AK over her shoulder.

  Anna, ever the sporty one, wore tennis shoes, long black running pants, and a dark gray jogging sweater under her kevlar. Her long red hair was in its usual braid down her back, and she too had an AK, a side arm at her hip, and a large machete hanging from the other hip, along with a smaller knife beside it.

  My sweet Bailey wore dark brown shorts, brown hiking boots, and a light gray sweater under her kevlar, but the sleeves were pushed up to her elbows, and she had on a pair of leather fingerless gloves. She carried a hunting knife with her as well, and her side piece, but most importantly she had her sniper rifle and extra ammo to go with.

  All my girls looked badass as hell, and I was ready to take out some targets with them.

  “Girls,” I said. “You’re looking lovely as ever.”

  “Why thank you,” Tara purred.

  “I want the dad,” Anna said seriously.

  “That’s my target,” I said, and I shook my head. “He’s the ringleader.”

  “You took my target, so I’m taking yours,” Anna said, and something about the way she said it made me feel like the discussion was over.

  “Alright then,” I laughed. “You can have him.”

  “Fuck yes.” Anna grinned at me. “Thanks.”

  “Not sure I had a choice,” I chuckled. “But you’re welcome.”

  “You definitely didn’t have a choice,” the redhead said with a wink.

  “Are we still going to go through Briar’s place?” Paige asked.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” I said. “I know the way from here now, and I don’t want to approach from the same direction again.”

  “Well, alright then,” Anna said in her best commanding voice. “What are we waiting for?”

  “Yeah,” Paige added. “Let’s kick some inbred hillbilly sicko ass.”

  “I’m ready,” Bailey said.

  “I’m gonna stab somebody in the dick,” Tara said with a wicked grin, and I was slightly terrified.

  “Jesus,” Anna said, and she looked at the platinum blonde with wide eyes.

  “What?” Tara asked defensively. “Tav got to do it.”

  “That’s different,” Paige said, and she raised a brow at the blonde.

  “How is that different?” Tara scoffed.

  “Maybe because he has a dick,” Anna said.

  “Whatev,” Tara said with a shrug. “I’m doing it, and you bitches can’t stop me.”

  “Tara has total permission to stab someone in the dick if necessary,” I laughed.

  “Thank you,” Tara said, then she stuck her tongue out at the other girls and pranced ahead.

  “You know if you keep encouraging her one day that’ll be your dick, and she’ll try to pass it off as kinky,” Anna whispered to me with a raised eyebrow.

  “Don’t give me that bad juju,” I chuckled at the redhead.

  “You do it to yourself,” she said, and we both laughed.

  I jogged ahead of the girls and led the way toward the hillbillies’ camp. Three of their men were already dead, and they didn’t even know it, soon it would be all of them, and this little horror movie would be over.

  I took a deep breath as I walked. The smell of rain was more faint than it had been earlier, the mud was nearly dry, and the trees no longer sprinkled down on me. It had become a typical grey New England late fall day, and that made me think of a line from a movie, the one the Native American guy said before they went into battle. It was a good day to die.

  It was, it was a good day for hillbillies to die. And I’d make sure that they did.

  Chapter 12

  None of the girls chatted as we walked, and it was about an hour hike to the hillbillies’ hideout. Every so often I looked back to see how they were doing, and each time they held the same expression of determination as they had at the start of the day.

  The forest was quiet, the only sounds were the occasional birds chirping, and the soft footsteps of the girls behind me. I looked through the trees at the bright blue sky of the day and took a large breath of fresh air. We were close now, and I wanted to go over the plan once more with the girls before we put it in motion.

  “Everybody huddle up,” I said, then I crouched down, and the girls all crouched around me.

  “We going over the plan?” Paige asked.

  “Yes,” I said with a nod. “So what’s our first step?”

  “Get into position,” Tara said confidently.

  “Good,” I said, and I smiled at the platinum blonde. “And next?”

  “You’ll light one of the cars out there on fire,” Paige said.

  “Right.” I nodded. “Then what?”

  “We wait for them to come out and put the fire out,” Anna said. “And that’s when we make our move.”

  “But remember to look out for Briar,” Bailey said.

  “Yes,” I said, and I smiled at the blonde. “Does everyone remember their target and their station?”

  “Absolutely,” Tara said.

  “Good,” I said. “I have full confidence in you.”

  “This isn’t our first rodeo,” Anna said with a wink. “We got this.”

  “I know,” I told her. “
But just because you’ve done dangerous things before doesn’t mean that it takes away the danger of the next dangerous thing.”

  “Okay, you just said danger like five times,” Tara said. “What are you getting at exactly?”

  “Just because you’ve done something before doesn’t mean it will go the same way as last time,” I clarified with a chuckle.

  “Oh,” the platinum blonde said. “Yeah, we know.”

  “You should know best of all,” Anna told her. “You got shot last time.”

  “Yeah, that sucked,” Tara groaned. “Not doing that again.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” I said. “I know you all are confident in your abilities, and you should be. But don’t get cocky out there, that’s when you get hurt.”

  “Okay,” Paige said with a nod.

  “We’ll be careful,” Bailey said, and she gave me a soft smile.

  “I know you will,” I said, then I grinned at all my girls. “Now, is everybody ready?”

  “Fuck yeah,” Tara said, and she grinned back at me.

  “Let’s kick some hillbilly ass,” Anna said.

  “Alright then,” I said. “Everybody head to your positions and be careful of boobytraps. I’ll set the car on fire in ten minutes.”

  “Roger that,” Anna said. “Paige, you’re near me, I’ll drop you off at your station.”

  “Okay,” the brunette said, and she stood up and followed Anna.

  “We’re on this side,” Tara told Bailey.

  “I can find my own way,” Bailey said.

  “I know,” Tara said. “I was just going to say right side rules.”

  “Right side rules,” Bailey said, and she smiled back at her friend, then they high fived and walked toward their stations.

  I watched the girls for a moment to make sure they got to their stations okay, then I maneuvered through some poorly constructed booby traps over to where the junkyard was. I surveyed the vehicles that were out there and spotted an old chevy minivan with busted out windows and decided that would be my target.

  I scanned the house and saw that JoGene was on guard duty, and Briar still sat tied up to the chair in the front yard. The old farmer looked like he had lost some weight, and he appeared to be unconscious, but every so often he would twitch, which meant he was still alive. His face had some dried blood on it, and his white shirt was stained with red under his overalls. This only served to fuel my anger for these assholes. I had no tolerance for people who beat on the elderly.

  Since Anna had taken the dad as her new target, I supposed JoGene was mine. That left Tara with Blondie, Bailey with Ma, and Paige with the sister. I’d take out JoGene quickly and keep an eye out for any other targets that might appear. Lord knew how many people were in that damn house, though it looked barely big enough for one.

  I listened closely for a moment and realized that there was some arguing going on inside the house. It grew louder, and I thought I heard a dish break at one point. It was almost time for me to set the van on fire, so I scoped out JoGene once more to see how closely he was keeping watch.

  To nobody’s surprise, the brown-haired young man was barely paying attention. He sat with an AK next to him, but he was more interested in what looked like a CD player from the early two thousands. I realized he had headphones in, though I doubted that they worked. Nonetheless, these people were resourceful, and we had to be careful to avoid any surprises.

  I snuck out from the tree line and made my way to the minivan, then I pulled out the lighter fluid and squirted it inside, covering the seats with it. I checked once more on JoGene, but he hadn’t moved, so I lit a match, tossed it in and quickly ran back to my vantage point at the tree line.

  The van went up in a blaze of soccer mom glory, and I readied my rifle as I waited for JoGene to catch wind of the fire.

  Come on, you stupid sonofabitch.

  A solid minute passed without him noticing, and I shook my head as I waited. This guy was so preoccupied with a damn CD player that he didn’t even notice a fire that was less than a hundred yards away from him.

  “JoGene!” Daddy yelled as he threw open the door to the small hut.

  “What?” JoGene yelled back, then he looked around and pointed. “Fire! There’s a fire!”

  “No shit!” Daddy screamed. “You were supposed to be on watch duty! What the hell were you doin’?”

  “I was usin’ my disc player,” the brown haired man answered.

  “Well, get your ass down here and help us put this out!” Daddy hollered.

  Shit, I was hoping JoGene would stay in the tower so I could take him out first.

  “Ma!” Daddy yelled. “Get everybody out here, we got another fire in the yard!”

  Another fire? Had they had others? What the fuck was causing random fires in their junkyard? Whatever the case, I was glad that this was not an unusual occurrence; that only helped to conceal our presence.

  “Those damn boys musta left a cigarette in there again!” Ma yelled, and she rushed as fast as her overweight body would let her toward the fire with a towel in hand.

  “Dammit woman, we need water!” Daddy yelled.

  “I got water!” the sister said, and she came rushing out with a five-gallon bucket that she sloshed all over.

  “Well don’t wait around!” Daddy hollered. “Get your asses over there, go, go, go!”

  The small group rushed over to the fire, including JoGene, and he argued with his mother about cigarettes while he did.

  “Jeffrey Joy!” Daddy called. “Boy, get your ass out here!”

  “I’m comin’,” Blondie called, and he appeared in the door frame with another five-gallon bucket of water.

  I had noticed that none of them had a gun on them, but Daddy did have a knife, and there were plenty of things that could be used as a weapon lying around.

  As Blondie struggled to move the bucket, I saw Tara in her position to the right of the house, she was crouched low, and she held her fixed blade buck knife with her right hand and was ready to stab.

  Just as I thought Tara was about to pounce I heard Bailey’s rifle crack, and Ma went down midway through flinging the towel over the flames in the van. Her large frame made an audible thud as it hit the ground, and I saw blood splatter across JoGene and the sister who proceeded to scream in terror.

  “Ma!” Daddy yelled. “We’re under attack! Get your guns now!”

  “They killed Ma!” the sister wailed, and she bent down by her mother. “Come out here you sonsabitches! Show your faces!”

  “I said get your damn gun!” Daddy yelled as he ran toward the house.

  He was too slow, and Anna ran over to the orange GM, sprinted up the backend to the cab, and leaped down on him from behind. The large man screeched and spun around, trying to fling her off.

  I got JoGene in my scope and took the first open shot I had. The skinny brown haired man went down with a shot between the eyes, but he was off balance from trying to pour water on the fire, and he fell forward so the top half of his body went through the van window. I watched as the flames licked his face and started to burn his scraggly brown hair.

  “Bailey,” I shouted, and I looked around for the pretty blonde.

  “Up here,” she called, and I saw her sitting in a tree with her rifle aimed at the house.

  “Don’t let anybody out of that place!” I yelled.

  “On it!” the blonde hollered, and I turned my attention to Anna and Daddy.

  The man was moving around too much for me to get a clear shot, but he had managed to fling Anna off his back, and the two were facing off, circling each other with their knives drawn.

  “Anna, you need help!” I yelled.

  “Nope!” the redhead yelled back, but her eyes never left her target.

  I wasn’t happy with Anna’s actions, but I wasn’t going to call her out now, instead I would cover her and everyone else, so I scanned the area and saw that Paige had made her way out of the tree line. The brunette fired of
f her shotgun at the sister who was running for the house, and the scrawny blonde girl went down with a shot to the side.

  “You bitch!” the sister screamed as blood poured out of her side.

  “Fuck you.” Paige walked toward the blonde girl and fired off another shotgun shell into her head.

  The girl didn’t stand an inkling of a chance. Her head was damn near blown clean off, and her blood and brains sprayed out in a mess behind her.

  Just then I saw Blondie drop the bucket and try to run, but Tara was waiting for her chance, and she didn’t hesitate. The platinum blonde took a shot at him with her pistol and caught him in the stomach, the boy went down, and Tara ran full speed toward him.

  “Please! Don’t kill me!” the man begged.

  “Nope,” Tara scoffed, and then she pulled out her buck knife and stabbed him right in the crotch.

  “You crazy bitch!” Blondie screeched, and he clutched his private area.

  Tara ripped the blade out and blood started to pool heavily and stain his pants, then she stood up and flipped her knife in her hand so she held the blade downward in her fist. She jabbed the knife into the man’s eye, then she ripped it out and wiped the blood off on her pants.

  I had to admit my dick hurt just watching her stab that asshole, not that I didn’t think he deserved it.

  Everybody’s target was eliminated but Anna’s. Daddy was not giving up and the two were still facing off with one another. I could see that Daddy was bleeding from the thigh and shoulder, but I didn’t see any blood on Anna.

  I didn’t like that she was still locked in with this guy, but the fight had only begun maybe a half minute prior when I started the fire in the van. I assumed she chose not to use her gun because she wanted a challenge, but I didn’t like it either way, so I lined up my shot and waited until I had a clear moment.

  Through my scope I saw the man lurch forward in an attempt to stab Anna, but the redhead dodged it and shoved his head further down with her hand before thrusting her knife under his arm and into his ribs. The old fat man went down with a groan, and Anna flipped her head up and blew a few strands of hair from in front of her eyes.

  Before I could scan to make sure we were clear a guy I hadn’t seen yet burst through the front door with an AK, he was quick on the trigger, and the gun burst with continuous fire.