I only load twenty-seven rounds in my magazines and the last three are tracer rounds so I know I’ve come to the end. I quickly inserted another mag and waited. There was no return fire or any more rockets for the time being. I eased my rifle back out and then my head and looked around.
I waited. It was too quiet. I wondered what they were thinking of doing when I heard rocks falling to my left. They were climbing and someone had slipped and dislodged a few stones that rolled down the hillside. I grabbed the grenade bag and took out several. I pulled the pins on the first two then gave them a toss over the lip of the hill. Both went off a few seconds later and I could hear someone screaming. Score another one or two for the home team. Yes!
I unpinned two more grenades, threw them over the lip to my right, grabbed two more and threw them down the front of the hill. It was reassuring to hear the explosions although I didn’t hear any more screaming. However, now they knew we had grenades and could only guess at what other tricks we had up our sleeves.
The explosion caught Jack off guard, and he jumped…so did the last guy guarding the vehicles. Jack saw him and quickly aimed and fired his rifle hitting the man high in the chest, just below the neck. He dropped, grabbing his throat, and attempting to crawl to cover. Jack was quicker, however and racked another round into his weapon and fired. The man didn’t move any more.
Jack reloaded and ran down to the trucks. There were no more men in the vehicles, so he slashed the tires on the drivers side of each, rendering them useless for the time being. No one would escape using these. He turned and began to cautiously move towards the sound of gunfire coming from Dave and Julia’s home. What he didn’t know was there were three more vehicles in front of their house.
Dan and Jeff were in good positions on either side of the bridge. They had plenty of cover and Dan had given the green light to shoot so as soon as he got comfortable, he took careful aim, waited for either us or them to fire, and fired one round from his M4. One of the three men behind the garage dropped and moved no more. The other two ran to the front of the garage thinking the shot had come from the mountain. Jeff smiled and fired his second shot and another of the three dropped to the ground. The third man stood up looking at his friend dying on the ground then looked up just in time to see a flash from the bridge. It was the last thing he saw as Jeff’s bullet entered the man’s head just under his nose and exited the backside of his skull, taking most of his brain with it.
Dan looked over and gave Jeff a thumb up.
They still had tricks as well as I heard a kind of thumping noise, then quickly another. I ducked down into the hatch and covered my head and a few seconds later two grenade-like explosions went off near my hatch cover. No more than the dust settled from them then I heard two more thumps. I quickly closed the hatch and climbed down the ladder – they had forties!
I saw Ruth climbing up hers, as two more explosions went off above my head and dust came down. Then I heard Ruth’s .308 go off. I smiled and went over to her hatch and asked, “Get one?”
“I think so. He had a little short tube-looking thing, like Jeff’s thumper that I think he was shooting those little grenades from.”
Another grenade went off above her hole about then, so she climbed back down. “That was a thumper like the one we found at the base that Jeff liked so much. I think we’ll need to keep them guessing on which hatch we come out of. I’m going to get the 240 Bravo out and hose the whole area. That should give them something to think about,” I said to her.
“I’ll go throw some grenades out of my side when you open up just to be sure they’re not climbing up the west side.”
“OK, give me a minute to get the 240 cranking. Once you hear it, throw four or five out.”
She smiled and gave me another kiss and said, “I’ll be happy to do just that. You be careful.”
I nodded and turned to get the weapon and a few belts of ammo. Before I went up, I linked two belts together, giving myself five hundred rounds to spray. I set the belt in the weapon, charging it then climbed up the hatch. I unlocked the hatch cover and slowly opened it a crack and listened. I couldn’t hear any more of the thumping sounds, so I opened the hatch all the way and brought the 240 out. I sighted on the first truck I’d hit with the fifty and cut loose with a long burst into the back end, then moved the barrel from it to the other truck. I moved the barrel putting a long burst through the door to the house then around the porch and front steps. Wood chips were flying everywhere. I began to see tracers so knew the first belt was about finished. I still had around two hundred-fifty rounds left when I heard Ruth’s grenades going off to the west and immediately heard screaming.
I couldn’t help but smile again. I swung the 240 Bravo over to cover the northwest corner of the house to see if I could see anyone going back that way. I saw movement in the Aspen trees and squeezed the trigger giving a long burst into that area. I could see the bullets hitting the ground and sending splinters off the trees and wood benches we had out there. I didn’t see anyone, however.
Dave and Julia were running into trouble. The bad guys had found the entrance to their underground and a shoot out had ensued. Julia had gone to the northern escape tunnel that came out at the bus stop and had found a group of them gathered behind one of their trucks. She had her M4, and putting it on the three-burst setting, cut loose on them and decimated the group, killing three and wounding two.
Dave was using his 240 to hold back the attackers in the house and they in turn attempted to silence him using the same kind of bazooka thing on him one had used on us. That had started another fire. He and Julia would be safe, as the old man had built in a firewall between the underground and the house. All Dave did was move back, shut, and lock the protective door. He then ran back to where Julia was and brought the 240 Bravo up to fight. Together they fired into the house and the trucks they could see, rendering them useless. He also fired into the surrounding shrubbery.
From where they were, the bad guys would be seen so could not try to flank them. There were clear firing lanes to either side of their position. Dave was reloading the 240 with another belt of ammo when a familiar voice rang out, “Dave…Julia…stop firing, would you?”
“That’s the Doc!” Dave said then, “I knew there was something fishy about that guy.” He looked at Julia and asked her, “Why do you think he’s doing this?”
“No clue, babe,” she answered.
“Dave…are you there, lad?” the Doc asked.
“I knew something wasn’t right about you,” Dave answered.
“I would like to discuss a truce with you if you don’t mind.”
“Why did you attack us?” Julia yelled.
“Ah, Julia, my dear are you hurt?”
“None of your business, old man!” she yelled back.
“Dave…Julia, come now, let’s have a truce and talk about this, shall we?”
“Why should we trust you now?” Dave yelled out.
The bullet creased Dave’s left shoulder, just above the clavicle. He dropped into the hatchway hurting and bleeding, using language he hadn’t spoken since his high school days. Julia closed and locked the hatch then followed him down. She rushed to Dave’s side, placed her hand over the wound and applied direct pressure to slow the bleeding. He grunted and winced, then sucking in air through his gritted teeth, tried to flex his arm.
“Man, that hurts, and what’s with the burning?” Dave moaned.
Julia answered, “The friction from the bullet traveling so fast actually burns as it goes through. I read that in a medical journal. Come on, let me help you up so we can go and get this dressed and bandaged.”
It was a small struggle for Dave to get up, but once up he moved to the aid room under his own power. Julia cleaned the wound with a Betadine solution then placed several non-stick dressings on top to help control the bleeding. She then bandaged the shoulder as best she could.
“This will be sore for a while, you know?” she told him.
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p; “Yeah, but we’ve got a fight on our hands so no time to slow down,” he answered. “Come on, let’s do this.” He headed back towards the bus stop hatch. They had heard several small explosions since leaving the hatch and Dave placed the back of his hand on the hatch to see if it was hot from fire. He looked at Julia and said, “It’s not hot. I’ll open it slowly and take a peek. But first, let’s pray.”
They bowed their heads together and held hands then prayed for help and protection. When Dave said Amen, he climbed the hatchway, unlocked it, and slowly opened it a crack. The little bus shelter was demolished, but he still had firing lanes open for the 240. He could see several of the bad guys including the Doc, huddled together, and talking it over. One of them was using a short-barreled looking thing to point towards what was left of the shelter. From the look of it, it was a thumper; a 40-millimeter grenade launcher like the one Jeff liked so much.
He whispered down to Julia, “I have targets, hand up the 240, quickly.” She lifted the weapon up to him and he indicated he wanted another belt, which she joined to the one already in the firearm. Again, he slowly cracked the hatch and looked out. Not seeing any change in the situation, he brought the 240 up, setting it on its bipod and aimed at the group, purposely placing the aiming point on the Doc’s chest, and slowly squeezed the trigger.
The first three rounds stitched across the Doc’s chest and the following rounds continued into the group dropping several. A few attempted to scramble away, but Dave was on them quickly and the whole group was down in just a few seconds. After the noise, the quiet was suddenly oppressive. He scanned the area watching for signs of movement and saw none. Using his right arm, he finally lifted the hatch cover all the way and looked around. Seeing no one, he lifted to get a better view. His last vision was of Julia below, tugging on his trouser leg. She had had a smile on her face.
I continued firing my 240 and Ruth was shooting her M4. I didn’t see any movement, and no one had been returning fire at us for quite some time. I ceased firing and kept watch. Ruth did the same. I saw her throw another grenade to the west, so I followed suit to the east and to the front. I didn’t hear any more screaming so I figured the attackers had learned their lesson and wouldn’t be climbing up the ridge anymore.
Julia tapped me on the leg and said, “Soups up, come on down.”
I closed and locked the hatch and followed her into the kitchen. The coffee was splendid, and the cheese and crackers hit the spot. We were standing there sipping our coffee when bullets began hitting the kitchen window.
“Good thing you put in that thick glass,” Ruth said.
“Yeah, but it won’t last long so let’s get out of here before it fails,” I told her. We went back out into the hall closing the door behind us and putting Sam and the little one in the storage room. We stood there leaning against the wall sipping our coffee and munching on cheese and crackers and could hear small explosions outside, near both hatches.
“Let’s let that die down before we go back up,” I said.
“All we have is time on our hands,” Ruth said. “They’re the ones that have to do all the guesswork.”
“Well, we have some guesswork ahead of us, you know?”
“Yes, I suppose so, but we still have the advantage.”
It got quiet, so I motioned for her to give me a kiss. We embraced, kissing, then went to our positions. I was slowly cracking my hatch when the noise of a huge explosion to the east hit my ears. I looked that way and could see a black, white, and gray smoke column coming from Dave and Julia’s direction. I looked back towards Ruth and she had a concerned look on her face. I, too, was worried for our friends.
Julia knelt next to Dave’s body. The tears were streaming down her face and dripping onto him. He lay there on his left side, face down, staring into nothingness. He had a small hole just under his right ear, and from it, a small trickle of blood had begun to coagulate.
Julia was a gutsy lady and knew she was in trouble. She took a deep breath and, wiping her tears away on her sleeve, stood and looked up into the hatch. The 240 had wedged in the hatchway so she climbed up and freed it and used the barrel to open the hatch.
She was about to give up and just lift and begin shooting when she heard another engine, this time leaving the place. She quickly lifted the 240 out of the hole and looked to the west in time to see a black hummer speeding out of the gate, away from their home. She kept low and quickly looked all around. She left the 240 on the debris of the bus stop then closed and locked the hatch.
Luckily, for her she did so as a few seconds after she had climbed back down next to Dave’s body, a huge explosion threw her to the concrete, stunning her. She lay there next to Dave and let the blackness of unconsciousness take hold.
I saw Ruth throw another grenade to the front and quickly duck down into the hatchway. The explosion brought another scream, so I followed suit and threw several out of my hole to the front and to the east. Ducking down after throwing the fourth grenade, the explosions were almost music to my ears. I lifted back up out of the hatch to take a quick look around and could see no movement.
I looked over towards Dave and Julia’s place and could still see the smoke rising. I prayed they were not hurt but felt in the pit of my stomach that would not be the case. If they were dead, I hoped it was quick and they didn’t suffer.
Ruth whistled then bringing me out of my reverie. I looked at her and she pointed to her ear, then towards the road. A few moments later, through the ringing in my ears, I could hear an engine and could tell there was only one.
I watched the main road and finally saw an olive drab and black camouflaged hummer turn into our lane and speed up the hill. It pulled in front of the garage so I couldn’t see it. I prepared several grenades and checked the 240, which had an almost full belt, and waited.
I looked at Ruth and she shrugged her shoulders. She had brought out her AR-10, and I could see several grenades next to her position so knew she was ready.
Suddenly we could hear yelling and I could just make out that someone down below was calling out to the other attackers to gather. We waited, watching, and saw several men dodge from cover to cover heading into the front of the garage. I held up my hand to Ruth, signaling not to fire.
We watched, waited, and listened for what seemed like quite a while, when we heard the engine on the hummer fire back up. The horn blared out two short and one long blast and we could see several more men running towards the vehicle. We watched as they threw a bunch of grenades onto the front porch and through the doorway of the house.
Ruth and I both ducked down as the explosions began, tearing up the front of the house, the kitchen and front room and starting a fire near the front door. It wouldn’t take long for the house to become an inferno. There was nothing Ruth and I could do but standby and watch the place burn.
We could hear the hummer tearing down the hill and I watched as it sped down our lane. I brought my 240 to bear and as they were about to reach the bridge, I heard at least two M4s open up on the moving vehicle. I could see rounds hitting the windshield and all over the front end. The hummer took a sudden hard right and left the lane at a high rate of speed. It landed in the southern flat, smacking the ground with a bone-crunching, metal rending sound and flipped onto the passenger side. The M4s continued pouring fire into the hummer even after it settled. Whoever was shooting had expended at least two magazines each into the vehicle.
Ruth and I waited, watching, for about fifteen minutes and with no further shooting or explosions, I asked, “You think they’re dead?”
“Looks that way,” she answered. “Anything we can do for the house?”
“Not really, babe. I’m going to climb down the west side and take a look after I throw a few more grenades. You throw a few to the west and front,” I said and after throwing another six grenades, went back down the hatch. She and Sam and the little one joined me as I put on a vest loaded with M4 magazines, extra nine-millimeter mags, and six grenades.
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br /> “Not taking any chances, I see,” Ruth commented.
“Not on your life, lady,” I said bending down and giving the dogs a scratch behind their ears.
“I’ll stay up here and cover you with my .308. Before you go out, let’s throw a bunch of grenades around again just to be sure.”
“That sounds just fine to me. You go up the east side and I’ll go west,” I said, then embraced her giving her a kiss. “I hope Dave and Julia are OK.”
“Me too - be careful out there and move slowly,” she said turning me to go and giving me a slap on the backside.
Jeff was first to react when the hummer came barreling down the lane after someone honked the horn. They heard several grenade blasts, most likely to cover their retreat to the hummer. As it neared the bridge, Jeff opened up on the rig, concentrating his fire on the windshield.
Dan joined in concentrating his fire on the front grill and right-front tire, blowing it and causing the vehicle to veer suddenly to the right and over the embankment into the south side flat area. As it went over, Dan unloaded the rest of his magazine through the floorboards.
By then, Jeff had reloaded and continued to pour fire into the rig. Dan inserted another magazine and emptied it into the beast as well. Once his mag went dry, he reloaded and waited as had Jeff. No one moved in the vehicle. They cautiously approached the bullet-riddled hummer, lying on the passenger side, and looking inside, knew the five men inside were dead.
Ruth and I went up the hatchways and began throwing grenades to the east and west and down the front of the mountain again. I’m sure glad we had those things. As soon as the last one went off, I jumped out of the hatchway and sprinted over to the western lip, diving onto my chest to look over the side. Ruth had climbed out also and taken up a prone position to the front, looking over the lip down into the front yard.
I'm Tired of Zombies | Book 2 | Full Scale War Page 33