The bullet hit the ATV’s hood, went trough the dash, the middle seat, out the back window and kept going. Dave and Julia quickly joined Ruth and I hugging the ground.
“What was that?” Julia asked.
“A bullet, but I didn’t hear a rifle shot, did anyone else?” Dave answered.
A round of ‘no’ answers came out. That meant the shooter was a long way away since we didn’t hear the rifle report. Dave crawled over to the ATV and looked it over. “I think it’s still drivable, just damage to some plastic and the dash, nothing serious. I’m going to move it down the ridge some,” he said crawling over to the driver’s door.
The second bullet hit high on the windshield, starring it, and going through the ceiling. Dave immediately jumped in, started the thing, and backed it down the ridge out of the line of fire from the valley. We heard the third bullet go over as Dave stopped the machine, got out and down flat on the ground.
“It’s a fifty at least judging by the circumference of the hole,” Dave said. “Keep your heads down. This shooter is good if he’s so far away we can’t hear the rifle report. Wish we’d brought one of our fifties to fight back with.”
“Just so happens,” I said with a smile. “I brought mine in case we ran into any bears, but this situation is just what the doctor ordered for it.”
“That was my first thought was this shooter is from the doc,” Ruth mused.
“Might be,” Dave said to her. “Where’s your fifty?” he asked me.
“In my truck, I’ll get it,” and jumped up running to my truck, I got the rifle and the ammo can with extra rounds and looking at Dave asked him, “Where do you think we ought to set up?”
“Look over to the left - how about that rocky outcropping to the left of those trees. We would be able to see the hill from there also,” Dave said pointing.
I crawled over to the rocks and looked over the lip. One could indeed see for quite a long way. “It’s fine,” I said. “Come on over and help me set up.”
Dave got his binos and crawled over with me and together we set the fifty up and loaded the magazine. I peeked over the lip of the outcropping and brought my binoculars up. If it had been a fifty, then they had to be within four-thousand yards. I’d read somewhere the rifles could reach out that far under certain conditions. Those conditions certainly didn’t hold true for today as it was a cooler day, humidity up compared to what we usually had and the light breeze we had was around five miles per hour out of the northwest. If this shooter was down in Centennial, then he or she was talented.
I could see the warehouse building and the old store, the museum and many of the burned-out homes. I couldn’t see anyone moving. Dave was looking through his binos and said, “Look out by the bridge, left side of the road, this side of the river.”
I swung my binos just a hair and after a moment found the spot, he was describing to me. Sure enough, I saw a black Humvee. “You see the shooter?” I asked him.
“Not yet, but I’ll keep looking,” he answered with a grin.
“You guys see anything yet?” Ruth asked.
Dave was quick to say, “Lots, but nothing interesting yet. We see a black hummer, but no people yet.”
“I think I’ll shoot their hummer just to get back at them,” I said with confidence. “I bet I can hit it. From here, I’d say it’s about three-thousand yards, maybe less. You see that line that goes across the river?”
Dave took a second then said, “Yep, got it, why?”
“That’ll be my aim point. You keep watching the hummer and hopefully you’ll see where my round hits and we can adjust my fire from that.”
“Okay, mister sniper guy, just let me get some earplugs in first before you light that thing up,” he begged.
“Yeah, I guess that is a good idea,” and lay back to put mine in. We warned the girls, too, and with everyone ready I chambered a round into the big gun and then pulled it in to my shoulder, tightly. I sighted through the scope, found my target, moved the scope up until I saw the line, took a deep breath or two then said, “Firing.”
I took another breath and letting it out slowly, concentrated on the squeeze and let the rifle surprise me with the recoil. The bullet was on its way. I figured it would take two seconds for the bullet to hit and was able to get the scope back on the hummer with no trouble.
Dave said, excitedly, “You hit about twenty-five yards this side and about thirty yards to the right. I can’t believe that. Wow, you’ll probably hit real close next shot.”
“Firing,” I said again after adjusting my aim point and again concentrated on the squeeze. The left rear tire of the hummer exploded from a direct hit.
“Man, great shot!” Dave exclaimed. “You just killed the hummer. The left rear wheel just exploded when the bullet hit it. Great shot, man! I can’t believe you did that.”
Julia said, “He hit their car…from here?”
Dave threw back over his shoulder, “You bet your sweet bippy, lady. Just blew off the left rear tire.”
The next bullet came our way and hit the rocky outcropping below us. We heard the zip and loud smack as the heavy bullet struck the rocks below. Dave and I ducked.
“Did you see where that came from?” I asked, looking at him.
“No, I was looking back at Julia, sorry,” he apologized.
“No problem. Let’s try to find them. Now that I know how high to aim, I bet I can get their attention.”
“Dude, you already got their attention with that shot you just made.”
I scanned the area around the hummer looking for the shooter. Another bullet went over us, hearing only the cracking of the wind as the thing went by. I yelled back to the girls for them to stay down.
Dave then yelled, “Got ‘em. There are two of them and they’re this side of the hummer, about fifty yards to the left and about a hundred yards this side. See that little…I don’t know what it is…a cover or something?”
“Got it, but I don’t see them,” I said. “Did they run or something?”
“No, they’re down behind the thing. Just shoot it and maybe the bullet will go through and hit one of them.”
“Okay, I’ll try that. Call corrections for me.”
“On it,” he said.
I went through my shooting ritual again and concentrated on the squeeze.
“High, not much, straight on; drop your aim point just a bit and let ‘er loose again.”
“Okay, Firing,” I said and squeezing, felt the recoil.
“Hit! Wood splinters flew. I don’t see them, however. Give it another round.”
“Firing,” I answered and let the fifth-round fly.
“Hit! Got one this time ‘cause blood and stuff went everywhere. The other one is running to the east, heading for the hummer.”
“Aiming at the hummer again,” I said after loading another magazine. “Firing,” and let ‘er rip.
“Hit the hummer, just behind the driver’s door, good shot.”
I changed my aim point just a bit and said, “Where is the other guy?”
“Just moved behind the right rear…I see the right rear passenger door open now, maybe he’s in the back seat.”
“Firing,” and squeezed. That was my seventh round and my shoulder wouldn’t take too much more of the pounding from the heavy weapon.
But Dave saved the day when he basically yelled, “Hit! All the windows in the hummer just turned red so whoever was in there is dead.”
“Man, my shoulder is killing me,” I complained as I rolled over. I was glad the confrontation was over. I climbed up to my knees and stood up, swinging my right arm in slow circles to get some circulation going.
Dave stood up and looking at me said, “You okay?”
“Shoulder will be sore for a few days, but I’ll live. Let’s go down there and check ‘em out.”
“What if there’s more of ‘em?”
“I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Julia: Ruth, will you drop the trailer on my
truck so we can go down there and check them out? We’ll look and see if there is another vehicle or more of them.”
Dave and I took a closer look at everything near the hummer and all-around Centennial. We didn’t see a thing.
Julia came over and said, “Trailers off and we’re ready to go.”
“We’re?” Dave questioned.
“You didn’t think you were going by yourself, did you?” she said to him with decisiveness. “Get a grip, deputy.” She turned and went to the truck and Ruth handed her an M4. Both charged their weapons and got in the back seats – the windows were already down.
“I think we’ve lost this battle, brother, let’s go,” I said, picking up the fifty and the ammo can with the spare mags.
I handed the rifle to Ruth who held on to it in the back seat, got in the driver’s seat and started it. It took nearly a half-hour to reach the site and along the way, we didn’t see another soul. I pulled into a dirt road that was just west of where I’d hit the first guy. The ladies stood watch at the truck with Ruth with her M4 and Julia with her .308.
Dave and I had our M4s ready for action and we crept towards what remained of the little doghouse-sized structure. It was a pump cover, we learned. The bullet had passed through the pump and hit the guy in the chest right at the diaphragm. It was not something I want to describe. Suffice it to say, the guy was very dead. Dave shot the head with his M4 so it wouldn’t become a Z. Dave picked up his fifty-caliber rifle and mags, and we continued to the hummer.
At the hummer, Dave looked at me and shook his head. Neither of us wanted to look inside. I moved around the rear of the vehicle and looked. It was a woman. I took a deep breath wondering why they had shot at us with no warning. It felt as if this was the new normal thing to do now days – shoot first, look later.
She had a photo ID clasped to her shirt, so I leaned in and pulled it. “Darlene Bennett,” I read aloud.
“Who’s that?” Dave asked.
“This woman I killed,” I said.
“Oh, Lord, that was a woman in there?” he asked sadly.
“Yes, I killed a woman.”
“Doug, she was trying to kill us, brother. We had no choice. Does that badge say where she was from?”
“Exential Chemistry it says, I never heard of it. You?” I asked back.
“No, what is Exential; I’ve never heard a word like that.”
“Neither has anyone else,” I said.
“It say where they’re from?”
“Nope. Says she was a biochemical engineer. Guess that was a waste of money.”
Dave broke down laughing and said, “I can’t believe you said that.”
“I have no sympathy for them, man, they tried to kill us. That includes you and your wife, Dave, so I don’t care about them. It’s that kind of world now. If anyone shoots at me, I’m shooting back - to kill - no more mister nice guy. If these people were from where the doc worked, then I say its war.”
“I’m with you and I’m sure the girls are too. Still, it was funny. I guess all the money we spent on college went to waste. Thinking back, it probably would have been better to learn outdoor skills – like you. Your family taught you right, what with your knowledge of the outdoors and all.”
“Okay…,” I said, wondering why Dave was getting nostalgic on me suddenly. “I’m going to open the back and see if there is anything useful in here.”
Dave asked while I was opening the hummer’s rear hatch, “Did you see one of those name badges on the other guy?”
“Come to think of it, no, I didn’t,” I said, perplexed. “Go back and take a look.”
In the back of the hummer, I found a can of fifty caliber rounds – they would come in handy – a few maps with writing on them, two rolls of black duct tape, and a few loose tools lying around. I took the rounds, tape and maps and put them in the truck.
Dave came sauntering up and said, “No name badge and nothing in his pockets either. I think he was the shooter. Don’t know what the woman was doing here.”
“Woman…that was a woman in the hummer?” questioned Julia.
We both nodded our heads and I handed the woman’s identification card to Julia.
“Why were they shooting at us?” Ruth questioned.
“We’ll never know,” Dave, answered. “We’ve been thinking about that also. Her card is one similar to the US military ID, called a Common Access Card. It has a magnetic strip and a computer chip. High tech stuff for use in today’s world if you ask me. It makes me wonder even more if they were with the doc’s outfit in Wellington.”
“What kind of things are they used for?” Ruth asked.
“Access to secure areas, access to computers and secure offices, phone access…all kinds of things,” Dave explained.
“I think we should go looking for the doc’s place and figure out what they’re doing,” Julia said aloud. “I wish we could figure out why they want to kill us.”
“That is a good question,” I said. “It would be nice to know. The only thing I can think of when we spoke with him was his comment on how fortunate I was to have built my home in the valley. Remember he said the valley was a natural protection from all kinds of threat – even nuclear?”
“Yeah, I do remember that,” Julia said. “I remember, too, how interested he was in how we survived. I’m thinking not showing him the underground facilities we have was in our favor. I don’t think he believed we lived through the horde just from being quiet and the fence we put up.”
“He did look skeptical when we talked about that, didn’t he,” I said. “It makes me wonder, too, if these two were the ones that cut your fence.”
“I think we should prepare for war,” Dave said, jumping into the conversation. “We need to beef up our defensive materials and areas. Improve our deterrent positions, like your place, Doug; we could place more rock on the north and south sides of your lane. I need to do that at our place, too. Things like that.”
“You think the threat is that real?” Ruth asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I do; at least we should be prudent and prepare just in case,” Dave answered her. “We need to find us a loader like Doug’s, my lady.”
“What other defenses do you suggest?” I asked him.
“I think we should finish the logging and cutting, then have a big dinner tonight and have a round table to discuss it, put on paper our ideas and make a supply listing,” Dave said. We all nodded our heads and went back up the mountain.
The ATV, holed, but the damage not too significant, was still worth its weight in gold. We could live with a hole in the dashboard and front windscreen. Together we continued our cutting and stacking. By three in the afternoon, we had at least five cords worth of timber loaded in each trailer and headed to our respective homes. Dave and Julia said they would wash up and come over to our place for dinner. We had decided to have steaks and baked potatoes and salad, and I’d pop a new bottle of eighteen-year old scotch.
As soon as Ruth and I got home, we parked the rig near the spot where I did most of the cutting and splitting. Inside the house, I ran up the stairs to shower and change.
Ruth came in a few minutes later and said she would take a soaking bath. I gave her a kiss and went in the bedroom to dress, putting on jeans another flannel work shirt and my moccasins. I ran downstairs and poured myself a healthy tumbler of scotch and started the fire then went outside, setting up the grill, firing it up. I got all the weapons out of the truck for cleaning and took them to the armory.
I stood on the porch for a while looking over the front of my place and thought about what Dave had said about beefing up the defenses. My only real fear was if they found out about the Underground, the only danger for it would come from above the place. I strolled over to the northern end of the porch and looked up the mountain. How could I improve it up there to protect the Underground better? That was a good question. I went back inside and sat in front of the fire, sipping the scotch, and thinking about the mountain.
Needless to say, the steaks were good that night. The company was great and the scotch…well, made everything better. We talked about both our homes, the underground facilities and how to improve our defense of all four places. Dave and Julia’s place would take the most work. The only thing they had now was fencing…and the underground facility. Dave decided they wouldn’t worry about the small home to the east of theirs, as it would be too much to defend.
I decided to beef up the road I built up the east side of the Centennial Ridge, which is the mountain the Underground is located upon, north of the main house. I would attempt to make it difficult to see, adding more trees and boulders to camouflage the trail. It came out at the top of the ridge then down to just above the eastern portal. I’d built the route so I could get supplies and equipment up there to build the complex. Then, it didn’t matter if one could see it from the main road. Now, however, with an obvious threat to our very survival, all precautions we could take to protect our homes and ourselves should take precedence.
The trail was about fourteen-hundred yards in length and at its widest, twenty feet. There were two turns; one a switchback at the peak, and about two-hundred fifty yards down it was a ninety-degree right-hand turn, which ended twenty-five yards later.
We’d been working on these improvements, both at our place and Dave and Julia’s, and had done well. We’d work at their home for a day or two, then back to our place. We had some good times, much more than the bad. The worst thing that happened was a boulder got away from me on the road project, rolled down the trail and hit Dave’s truck on the right-rear quarter panel, taking out the taillight assembly. Oops.
The first snow had hit, dusting us with four inches, not enough to get us excited and beautiful to see. The animals loved it. I did too. I love snow and when it does, I always feel as though God is painting the earth, and it’s always different. His artwork is so special, reminding me of a verse in Psalm 139, verse fourteen, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” I believe everything He’s made has been made fearfully and wonderfully.
I'm Tired of Zombies | Book 2 | Full Scale War Page 8