by Clayborn, JJ
“I wish it were, Ranger.”
Tuesday, November 18th
James’ convoy sped through the forest for the next hour. They tried everything they could to stay to the southern edge of the forest. Every now and then the tail end of the convoy would come under attack by a couple of robots. The cars would sometimes repel the attack long enough to get away. Other times the cars would be forced off the road and would crash, or the robots would incapacitate the car. As much as James wanted to stop and help them, he knew that they had no choice but to keep going. They were no match for the robots in a fight. This only added to the guilt that he already felt.
As soon as the convoy cleared the forest all traces of the robot attackers vanished. By the time they crossed over the Little Tallahatchie River the convoy stowed their weapons.
James popped open the map on his phone and studied the layout. “Turn east onto I-22,” James said, pointing right as they approached the city. He pointed at a sign up ahead. “Pull into that Pilot Station there.”
What was left of the convoy, a little more than half of the vehicles, rumbled to a stop in the large parking lot. Everyone gathered around James as he unfolded a large paper map on the hood of a truck so that people could see. He held the map down and tapped it. “Going to the middle of the city is suicide. They have the numbers, we can’t let them surround us.”
“What about Colonel Ryan?” Mary asked.
James wondered the same thing. “We don’t know when he’s coming. We have to be prepared to make a stand and fight a delaying action until the cavalry arrives.”
“Where?” asked Elvin.
“Well, the 2nd Battalion will likely split their forces in some kind of pincher move and try to out flank us. We need to be prepared for that. But I think the main bulk of their forces will come up highway 15,” James said, drawing his finger along the road on the map.
Elvin nodded to himself as he thought it over. “So we block off the intersection of I-22 and Highway 15?”
James shook his head. “No. Having the high ground from the overpasses would be helpful, but that leaves us vulnerable.” James pointed to another area on the map. We need to go south on 15 just a bit, a little over a mile out. Set up a fighting force on the north banks of King Creek.”
“Won’t that leave us more exposed?” One of the other fighters asked.
James nodded. “Yes. But we can use the vehicles and the trees for cover. We’re not trying to fight them head on, just slow them down. Taking out the bridge on 15 at King Creek will keep them from advancing into the city and stop them from using Central Ave and 215 to flank us.”
“Okay,” Elvin said. “I can see that, but what about the rest of their troops? Surely they aren’t going to hit us with a frontal assault.”
“Well, I don’t think they’ll expect us to fight back like this, so that will give us some advantage. We can use a detonator to blow the bridge as they cross. That should stop most of their troops and take a few with them.” James pointed at the map some more. “Then we take out this other bridge further north on King’s Creek, here. And these bridges on Highway 22 over Kings Creek, here.”
“Are we going to take out all of the bridges over King’s Creek?” A different resistance fighter asked.
James nodded. “Yes. Including the crossing on 178 and 348. But that still leaves a hole here where the railroad passes over,” James said, pointing at the map. “I’m hoping they don’t think of that.”
“Will we have enough explosives?” Another fighter asked.
“We can improvise some. The police chief here in New Albany is an old fishing buddy of mine. He has some dynamite that we can borrow for the smaller bridges. We’ll use the military charges on the bigger bridges.” James shifted the map to the west. “And if we take out this bridge here on 86, and this one on 87, that will stop them from crossing those rivers.” He pointed to a different part of the map. “Then we set up a couple of rear guards to monitor the situation in these areas, and we should be pretty well covered.”
Elvin shook his head. “I don’t know, Ranger. These guys are Special Forces. They’ll find a way past that.”
James frowned and nodded. “I know they will. All I’m trying to do is buy us another hour or two until Colonel Ryan can get here.” He turned and looked at the crowd. Of the 250 that had come to the sheriff’s station only a little over 100 were left.
The next hour was a flurry of activity. James split the groups up into six-person fireteams. Teams one and two were to take out the bridges on 86 and 87 respectively. Team 3 would take out the bridge on 113. Team 4 and 5 would take out both bridges for I-22. Teams 6 and 7 would take out the bridges on 178 and 348 respectively. Of the 70 people that remained, 55 of them would head south on 15 to take out that bridge and fight the delaying action. The other 15, which included James, would scatter through the city as snipers and lookouts.
James, Elvin, and Mary dug in at the Pilot station and set up a command post to coordinate things. Dr. Kosnick had managed to survive so far and continued to make sure the robot prisoner could not transmit.
For 30 minutes where was a flurry of activity. The different groups quickly set about their tasks and scattered through the city. Charges were set on the bridges and the teams hid nearby, watching, waiting. The main force on highway 15 hid their cars out of sight so as not to give anything away.
And then it was silent. Nothing moved. No cars drove down the roads. No birds chirped, nor dogs barked. The silence and stillness were unnerving to everyone. People paced and fidgeted as their anxiety spiked.
Just when the nervous energy had peaked, James’ radio crackled to life. “Contact, contact, contact!” James was about to ask for more details, but the other voice read his mind. “Group Alpha. Enemy sighted on 15, closing on the bridge. ETA 3.”
“Stand by,” James Acknowledged. “Wait for them to start crossing the bridge before you blow it.”
“Understood.”
What followed seemed like an hour. Then the radio crackled to life again. “Contact! The bridge on 15 is blown. We managed to take a couple of their cars with it.” Piercing gunfire sounded intermittently through the transmission. “Some of the force is digging in on the other side of the bank and firing on our position.” A loud explosion sounded over the radio. “We will keep them engaged as long as possible. Be advised, some units turned around. Likely finding another way around.”
James was quick to respond and started drawing frantically on his map, making big circles with red pencil. “Understood Alpha, good luck. Stay safe.” James paced back and forth beside the truck.
Mary tried to calm him. “You need to keep a level head, James. They’re counting on you.”
“I know, I just hate being here, away from everything when I should be out front,” James said. “I feel so helpless when there’s nothing I can do. These men are my responsibility.”
Elvin shook his head. “You’re the most experienced person we have. We need you here, to organize everything. This is the best place you to be.”
“I got them into this mess in the first place,” James said.
Mary scrunched her face in exasperation. “Did you?”
James nodded.
“You sent a message to the alien robots and told them to come on down?” Mary challenged.
James frowned. “Well, no.”
“No, no you didn’t. You may have been the one who discovered what was happening, but none of this is your fault. If you hadn’t stumbled across it we might all be dead already.”
James didn’t say anything but his mood lightened a little. He smiled briefly at Mary before looking back at the map. “How long since first report?”
Elvin checked his watch. “Five minutes.”
“They’ll be probing another entry point soon,” James observed. Two minutes later the radio crackled to life. “Team 1, Contact! Bridge is blown. Took a car with it. They’ve retreated and are circling around. Maybe three cars. We hear a helo,
but we can’t see it.”
“That can’t be all of them,” James thought aloud. He pushed the button on the radio. Panic set in for a moment. “Is the helo behind you?”
A moment of agonizing silence, and then the radio crackled to life. “Negative. Helo is south of the river somewhere.”
James relaxed and pushed the button. “Well done Team One. Circle back around and report here for redirection.”
“Team One, acknowledged.”
James marked his map and made more notes. “If they hit 86, they’ll probably try 87 any…”
The radio crackled. “Team 2, Contact! We blew the bridge. The cars are circling back south again. I count three cars. They sent foot soldiers across the bridge first. We took it out, but didn’t get any of the vehicles. There was a helo, but it seems to have left.”
“The helo was south of the river?”
“Affirmative. We couldn’t see it though.”
“Understood Team 2, well done. Follow Owen Rd to Central and reinforce Group Alpha.” James updated his map and waited. He didn’t have to wait long though.
“Contact, Team 7!” The sound gunfire erupted through the speakers. “Soldiers have…” The radio fell silent.
James waited for a moment, but no sound ever came. “Fuck!” he shouted as he slammed his fist down onto the hood of the truck. He saw Elvin giving him a curious look. James shook his head. “Somehow they’ve breached the perimeter to the Northeast. Team 7 is gone.”
Just then the radio crackled to life. “Team 2, under fire! Ambush from the tree line at…” The message cut out as quickly as it began.
James quickly examined the map. He looked along the path that he assigned to Team 2. His heart sank for a moment and then the panic set it. “They’re on this side of the river. They’re closing us in a pincher.” He pointed to the Northeast. “At least one unit has crossed up there and taken out Team 7.” He whirled around to the Southeast and pointed. “And another unit has crossed and taken out Team 2.”
“What? How’d they manage to get across?” Elvin asked, nervously.
James shook his head and pointed to the map. “Tanglefoot Trail. It’s a hiking path with a bridge across the river. I didn’t even see it, but they certainly did. I’m guessing the group north crossed the rail tracks.”
Shouting burst over the radio. “Team 6, under attack! Repeat Team 6….” The transmission cut out just as quickly as it started.
James updated the map. “They’re going to be able to secure the bridge at 178 and cut across. We’ll be flanked from both sides. We need to pull back.”
“To where?” Elvin asked. “Where can we run that they won’t find us? They’ve managed to hit us at every turn. Frankly, there’s not too many of us left.”
James frowned. “I know. But I want to keep the few that we do have around.”
The radio interrupted him. “Team 3, reporting. We have enemy movement on the East side of the river. They’re not driving across the bridge. They’re sending men into the water. It looks like they are trying to defuse the bombs we planted. Please advise.”
James shook his head. “This is lost.” He pushed the button. “All available units return to base. Say again, everyone get your butts back here; we’re going to make a run for it.”
Elvin started the cars just as Team 1 rounded the bend in the road. They quickly jumped in to get the remaining vehicles prepped. Teams 3 and 4 arrived from the east at about the same time and also prepared to leave. James had them set up an overwatch on the freeway overpass to keep an eye out for the troops that had snuck around the north side.
The radio burst to life again. “Alpha taking fire!”
“How’d they get to you so quickly?” James asked them.
“There’s a helo. A Blackhawk, I think. The door gunner is giving us hell.”
Just then a missile flew over James’ location, heading south. A second later the radio came back on. “Helo is down! Whatever you did, you took him out!”
James shook his head and looked around. “That wasn’t me, Alpha.” The sound of a helicopter from the North carried on the wind, followed shortly by machine gun fire. James looked north and then snatched a pair of binoculars. “It’s an Apache gunship from the 101st,” he reported. He grinned at Elvin and Mary. “The cavalry is here.”
The tattered remains of Alpha Group rolled into camp and piled into cars. They drove north through town on Highway 15 until the gunship hovered in front of them blocking their path. The pilot was signaling something with his hands.
James shook his head and shrugged.
The pilot knocked on the side of his helmet, and then he made the motion of a telephone call and help up 1 finger, and then 5 fingers. He kept repeating this.
Elvin said. “I think he wants us to switch over to channel 15 on the radio.”
James flipped with the switch. “This is Ranger Hutchinson.”
“Eagle Assault Four, well met Ranger. I am instructed to direct you and your company to the East Bank of the Little Tallahatchie River by way of North Street. We will secure this area. Acknowledge.”
“Acknowledged,” James said, trying his best to mimic the professionalism of the pilot over the radio.
The Apache floated up out of their way just as three more Apaches showed up on site and began a circling patrol of the area.
James led his convoy to the edge of the river, listening to the Apache pilots. He couldn’t follow their mission lingo very well, but he understood that they were taking small arms and rocket fire from the south and had to pull back. He also heard that several large helicopters were landing near where Team 2 had been killed and were unloading enemy troops on this side of the river.
A rumble sounded faintly on the wind. It grew louder with each passing moment. Before long it was deafening. Dozens of helicopters of all sizes approached from the North. Some of them had jeeps, Humvees, and other vehicles slung underneath them. Most of them began landing on the north side of the river, in a large grassy field. A few blackhawks touched down in a crop field just east of James’s location.
The door to one of the choppers sprang open and a tall man with short-cropped greying hair crouched low and walked confidently toward James.
James got out and met the man beside the road and shook his hand. “You must be Colonel Ryan.”
“And you must be Ranger Hutchinson,” the man said returning a firm handshake.
“You showed up just in time, Colonel, we were about to get hammered.”
The Colonel nodded. “We do that.” He looked at the battered cars and the weary people inside them. “These are your resistance forces?”
James frowned. “What’s left of them, anyway.”
The Colonel nodded knowingly. “I’m truly sorry for your loss.” He allowed a moment of silence and the continued. “You said you captured one of the aliens.”
“That’s right,” James confirmed.
Col Ryan cut right to the chase. “I really hate to ask this, but I need to see it.”
James hesitated. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Colonel Ryan stood a little taller. “This isn’t a request. I’ve disobeyed an order not to get involved. I’ve placed my men in danger, and under my orders, we’ve shot down a United States helicopter, which is treason. I need to know that this is real.”
James stood silently for a moment, then waived his arm behind him. “I understand; this way, Colonel.” He led the Colonel over the heavy metal truck and opened the back, before ushering Colonel Ryan inside.
“I don’t see it,” Ryan said. “If this is some kind of joke…”
James climbed in and closed the door behind him. “Relax Colonel, we have to take precautions.” James pointed to the heavy bomb blanket on the floor. “It’s under this. We keep it under here so that…”
Colonel Ryan threw the blanket back and stared. A metal skeleton lay on the floor in the fetal position, arms and legs damaged. Some sort of fluid had leaked all over t
he robot near the joints. The robot was still and powered off. It appeared to be a lifeless hunk of metal that resembled a skeleton. Suddenly the eyes lit up, the head snapped around to face the Colonel and the robot started flailing about on the floor.
James quickly threw the bomb blanket back over the robot. “Dammit! We keep it covered up for a reason!” He whirled about to face the Colonel. “These damn robots can communicate with each other wirelessly. We’ve managed to damage the structure to the point where we could capture it, but we are pretty sure that it’s still transmitting. The blanket was to dampen the transmission.”
“I see.” Colonel Ryan stared absentmindedly at the blanket for a few moments then he turned to the door. “We need to keep that robot protected and get it to the lab for further study.”
There was a loud rap on the door of the truck.
James opened the door and a sergeant was standing there, waiting for the Colonel. He didn’t even wait for the Colonel to acknowledge him before he spewed out the status report. “All birds are down on standby, forward team has secured contact points A and B, Air combat is on patrol. Forward units of the 20th SFG have landed and are forming up about 4 miles Southwest of here.”
“Very well, have scouts keep an eye on the enemy formation,” Ryan said as he climbed out of the truck.
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied as he quickly walked off.
The Colonel started to climb out of the truck, but stopped midway through the door. He turned to face James, looking him in the eye. “Never in all of my years in the military have I seen anything like that. To be perfectly honest, I came down here because I believed you were telling the truth. But a part of me hoped that I was wrong.” He stared at the blanket. “Now that I see it… “ He looked back at James. “How do we defeat them? You’ve survived their attacks. What’s their weakness?”
James shrugged and shook his head. “I have no idea. I only barely survived, and mostly by sheer dumb luck. None of our small arms have proven very effective at stopping them. Unloading several bullets into their heads seems to work, if you have something strong enough to get through the metal plating, or you manage to get off a lucky shot at just the right angle.”