by Eric Walters
I knew the bridge had been wired with explosives—they’d made the explosives from ingredients found in garages and under sinks—but I’d had no idea it would be that powerful, it didn’t seem even remotely possible. It was my mother’s idea…my mother…in the force of the explosion she’d been pushed out of my mind. Where was she?
At that instant two figures on the grass struggled to their feet. It was her and the other man!
Then I realized that everything was silent. No gunfire, no shouting—nothing. Had the force of the blast blown out my eardrums? On unsteady feet my mother and the other man were running straight toward us. I was relieved when I heard the sound of their feet against the pavement, and then people around me starting to yell. Then the gunfire began again.
Staying low they scampered along the path and into the field, jumping and landing in a heap almost right at my feet. They were panting, gasping, and wide-eyed, looks of terror on their faces.
“Is everybody all right?” my mother asked. Her voice was strained. She was trying to sound calm, but sounded scared instead.
People nodded, or said they were fine. They sat there, struggling to catch their breath, to regain themselves.
“The—the bridge!” I stammered.
“I think we used too much explosive,” Garth said.
“Better too much than not enough,” my mother said.
“Are we safe now?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“But they’re all dead. They’re gone,” one of the men said.
“The men who were on the bridge are dead. More people are coming over the channel, and the back gate is under attack.”
“It is?” I gasped.
“Our guards radioed that they need more support but there’s nobody to send.”
“Maybe the explosion will scare people, make them decide to retreat, to leave,” Garth said.
“They’re still firing so they’re still coming. We haven’t stopped them. They’re still at the channel and at our back door. I don’t know if they’re trying to land at the beach. We’ve got to slow them down.”
“What are we going to do now?” Garth asked.
“Garth, you and Emma have to get to Ethan,” she said.
I knew what she meant. We were going to head for the woods. She didn’t believe we could stop them. The fight wasn’t over but we’d already lost. The best we could hope for was to slow them down. She wanted us to get to a spot we could escape from, because we were going to be overwhelmed and overrun.
“What about you?” I asked.
“And the rest of us?” one of the other men asked.
“We’re going to put up some fire. Our people, our families, need us to do that.”
I heard how she emphasized the word “families.”
“We’re going to stop them, right here.”
“And if we can’t?” one of the men asked.
“Then we’ll retreat into the houses as well,” she added. “Garth, Emma, you go, and the rest of you follow me.”
She got to her feet, still hunched over so she was hidden by the crops. That was the cue for everybody else to do the same. We all followed behind as she led us to the end of the row. Now it was time for Garth and me to head toward the houses while the others made their way to the channel.
“Come on!” my mother yelled.
She ran, and after a brief second of hesitation the three ran after her—toward the gunfire and the armed men.
“Now us,” Garth said. “Are you ready?”
“How could anybody ever be ready for this?”
“Give me your hand,” he said. We linked hands. “Let’s go.”
We jumped up and started running. I had to fight the urge to look over my shoulder, but there was no point. I wouldn’t be able to see anything—not even the bullet that might strike me down. That thought gave me more speed. We kept running down the path even after we’d made the cover of the first houses. Still panting, from both the run and the fear, we slowed to a trot and then a fast walk, finally stopping in front of our house. We’d made it. At least this far.
“Go inside and make sure your brother is okay,” Garth said.
“Where are you going?”
“To the back gate. I need to help. We need to slow them down there as well.”
Before I could argue he was gone, running along the path. I started up the walkway, but before I could get to the cottage the door flew open and Ethan and Willow came running out.
Ethan threw his arms around me. “Mom?” he asked.
“She’s at the channel. She’s going to meet us. Who’s inside?”
“My mother, of course,” Willow said. “Jess and little Olivia, Julian, Paula, and Jim just got here. Chris was here a few minutes ago.”
“Where did she go?”
“She went to the beach to help.”
“Let’s head in and get ready to leave as soon as—”
My words were cut off by the sound of gunfire and a woman screaming in terror. Her cry cut through me like a knife.
30
“Ethan, get inside and get everybody ready to go!” I ordered.
“Shouldn’t we all go inside?” Ethan asked.
“I’ve got to provide some protection,” I explained.
“And I’m not going anywhere without you,” Willow said.
I wasn’t going to argue. I was scared, and I really didn’t want to be alone.
“Ethan, tell Jim to scout the way through the backyard to make sure it’s clear.”
He nodded and ran back into the house as more shots rang out.
“That sounded pretty close,” Willow said.
I led Willow away from the house to the edge of the path. I looked out one way and then the other. I couldn’t see anybody, but the gunfire continued. It was very close and it was coming from the direction of the back gate.
All at once people appeared on the path running toward us. I recognized them, and was about to call out, but then there was more gunfire and some of them fell to the ground—they’d been hit!
The rest of the group scurried forward, and there was more gunfire, and more bodies fell to the ground. The final few ran off the path and up toward the houses, taking shelter.
Then I saw them. Five or six men, dressed in dark clothing and carrying rifles. As they walked they stopped and shot toward houses and people I couldn’t see. They passed by a body on the ground and one of them fired a bullet into it!
“We have to run,” Willow whispered.
“You go and get Julian and Jim,” I said. “I’m staying.” I pulled out the pistol.
“There’s too many of them. They’ll kill you…they’ll kill us all!”
“Just go and get them, have them come here. I need help. I can’t do it alone.”
Willow, on all fours, crawled up the path and into the house. I was now alone, watching as the men moved down the path toward me. Flopping onto my belly, I hid behind the stone wall that edged the property. The men were visible and I was completely hidden. They wouldn’t see me until they were practically on top of me, until after the first shot was fired. I could keep myself invisible until the second shot if the first was done right.
I put the pistol down on a rock beside me ready to use. With my hands now free, I pulled the crossbow off my shoulder and loaded in a bolt. Carefully I steadied it on the top of the wall and took aim at the chest of the man who was in the lead. I had to fight the urge to fire immediately. They were half a dozen houses away—well within my range, but I couldn’t afford to miss. The first man had to be struck, had to be killed.
I heard a rustling and looked to the side. Jim, then Julian, Paula, and Willow appeared. Each was armed—a rifle, a pistol, and two crossbows.
“I’ve got the man in the middle,” I whispered.
“Paula, take the man on the far left, Julian the man on the far right. Willow, take aim at the man to the left of the leader,” Jim ordered.
Wordlessly they simply propped th
eir weapons against the wall.
The men were still coming. They were whooping and firing their guns. Two men broke away and ran up the path toward the Reynolds’ house. Had they seen us, or somebody else?
“Now,” Jim said.
There was an explosion of gunfire, the releasing of the bolts, and three of the men were hit! One of them slumped to the ground, a second clutched his chest, a third—my man—screamed in pain, dropped his rifle, and grabbed his arm where the bolt was lodged. He then turned and started running. The fourth jumped off to the side and took shelter behind a pillar.
I grabbed my pistol as the other two came back into view, almost running onto the path before stopping and taking cover. One of them started firing in our direction. We all ducked as we heard bullets slamming into the stone wall that we were hiding behind. The men had semi-automatic weapons and they were sending out a hailstorm of fire against us. We looked over at each other as the shooting intensified. I pictured them coming toward us, keeping us pinned down and unable to return fire, getting closer and closer until they finally flanked us, firing and killing and—and then it stopped. There was still gunfire but it was in the distance.
Carefully, slowly, I peeked over the wall. There were three people on the path, and to my relief I saw that they were Garth, Ian, and Willow’s dad…and there were three bodies on the path a few cottages down. It was those men—were they dead?
“It’s all right,” I said to everybody as I got to my feet.
The others followed, hesitantly, still wisely sheltering themselves partially behind the wall. As they passed the bodies of the men, Garth and Ian reached down and took their rifles, slinging them onto their shoulders. They were both already holding semi-automatic weapons that I knew we didn’t have. They had to have taken those from somebody else they’d killed.
I leaped over the wall and ran toward them. Willow did the same, running and throwing himself into his father’s arms, practically knocking him over.
“You got them,” I said.
“There was no choice,” Willow’s father said. “They were between me and my family.”
“It looks like you got some others,” Ian said, gesturing back.
“There were four. We got three of them.”
“But there are so many others,” Garth said.
“How many?” Jim asked.
“I don’t know. They’ve overrun the back gate and most of them are moving along the shore toward the beach,” Ian said.
“These few headed up into the houses. I think we have all of them now,” Garth added. “They’re better armed, and they were killing everybody they passed.”
“Maybe we should just surrender,” Paula said.
“You don’t understand,” Garth said. “They’re not letting people surrender. I saw them fire on people with their arms up. I saw people that I know get, well…they’re gone.”
Nobody spoke. Nobody knew what to say. I knew I didn’t.
“Here, take one of these,” Ian said. He pulled an assault rifle off his back and handed it to me. A second was handed to Jim and a third to Paula.
“These are military issue,” I said.
“They’re all armed, and many of them have automatic or semi-automatic weapons.”
“We’d better get going,” Jim said. “It won’t be long until they’re here.”
“It won’t be,” Garth said. “And that’s why I have to go back. I have to slow them down.”
“One person isn’t going to slow anybody that much,” Ian said. “But two might make a difference. I’m going with you.”
“No you’re not. You have a baby,” Garth said.
“And that’s why I’m going. You can’t stop me.”
“Or me,” Jim said. “Three of us could pin them onto the beach.”
“Until they come up from behind you through the houses,” I said. “That’s why two should be on the beach and two on the path leading from the back gate in case more are coming in through the houses.”
“There’s only three of us,” Garth said.
“I guess that makes me number four,” Willow’s dad said.
“No, that makes you number five. I’m the fourth,” I said. “Willow and Paula and Julian, go back and get people ready to go.”
“I need to go with you too,” Willow said.
“You promised my mother and me that you’d take care of Ethan,” I said.
“And you need to be there for your mother,” his father added.
Willow hesitated, and then threw his arms around his father and they hugged. He released his father and then hugged me! Before I could say anything he ran off toward the house.
“Let’s go,” Garth said. “Anybody we come across who is alone and without weapons we’ll send back here. People on our side who we find who have weapons will come with us.”
We started walking back toward the beach. I kept my eyes straight ahead, deliberately not looking back.
“Ian and Jim, I want you to take the path leading from the back gate,” Garth said.
“Yes, sir,” Ian said.
“And take these,” Garth said.
He pulled open a green canvas bag. I hadn’t even noticed it. He pulled out two clips of ammunition and handed them to Ian.
“That’s all you get. Fire until you’re almost out, and then run.”
“We’ll be the two fastest men in the world,” Jim said. They hurried off down an alley.
As we continued toward the beach we ran into three of our men, rifles in hand, retreating. People started to materialize from out of the cottages. We sent those that were unarmed toward Willow’s house, while we convinced the three men to join us. We were now six. Six against how many?
More people saw us pass and came running out of their houses. It was mostly older people, women with children, and none of them had any weapons. They were a combination of bewildered, confused, and terrified. We didn’t have time to explain much—we simply sent them toward Willow’s house.
We came up to the last of the houses and Garth had us fan out. Two of the men went to the left while Willow’s dad and the other man went to the right. Garth and I headed straight forward. Hunched over for cover, we came up to a low stone wall that separated the garden of the last house from the open beach. I peeked through a gap in the stones and was shocked by what I saw.
There were bodies littering the sand. I was too far away to recognize individuals but they were all dressed in our sandy-colored Marine uniforms—costumes they’d been wearing to fool the outside world. In the end, nobody had been fooled.
What lay beyond that was more frightening. There, less than twenty yards away, by our outer wall, men in dark clothing were massing. There were already two or three dozen. All of them were armed, many with assault weapons. More were coming up from the beach, through the gate and gaps in the wall. They’d probably come along the shore from the back gate, partially hidden by the wall that was meant to protect us. They weren’t simply running toward the houses. They were gathering in force to launch their attack. It wouldn’t be long. Soon they’d be coming right toward us.
I had my crossbow and a sheath of bolts on my back. My mother’s pistol was back in the holster and I held an assault rifle. I’d never even held an assault rifle before but I was familiar with it because it was standard military issue. I was surprised by how light it was. Somehow I’d expected it to be heavier.
Garth opened up the canvas bag again and pulled out three clips of ammo. “This is all we have. It’s not going to be enough. I think there are more of them than we have bullets for. We’re outnumbered sixty to six.”
“There are more than sixty of them,” I said.
“You go to those two,” he indicated the two men who had been sent to the left, “and tell them not to fire until we do. I’ll go to where the other two guys are.”
I nodded. I slumped down on the bank behind a big rock just before reaching them and gestured for them to come in my direction. They seemed reluctant b
ut finally moved over.
“You’re Tom and Ryan, right?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Tom answered. “Where’s your mother?”
“At the channel. She’s trying to pin them down there.”
“I didn’t know they’d attacked there as well,” Ryan said.
“There and at the bridge. We blew the bridge up. The explosion killed a lot of them.”
They both looked shocked and scared.
“She’ll stop them at the channel,” I said. “Don’t worry about our backs.”
They nodded, but neither looked reassured or any less scared. That was a sign of sanity.
“And we’re going to pin them here. Don’t fire until Garth fires, and get ready to run when we start to retreat. Understand?”
They nodded, but didn’t look confident. Why should they be?
There were already many more of the invaders gathered there than we’d seen just a few minutes before. How many of them could I hit with a spray from the rifle? How many bullets were in a clip? How many bullets were still in this clip?
It was then that I realized that I hadn’t taken any of the other clips with me. And neither of these guys had an assault rifle. They were both single-shot rifles—.22-caliber. They’d be able to get off a shot or two at most before we drew fire and had to duck and flee for our lives.
“Are you scared?” I asked them.
“Terrified,” Tom said, and Ryan nodded.
“Me too, but we can’t let that stop us. You both need to target a specific person. Aim right at the chest.”
“I’ve never actually shot at somebody,” Ryan said.
“Don’t think of it as a person. It’s just a target.”
“Targets don’t shoot back.”
“If you hit the target it won’t be able to shoot back,” I said.
“No. But the rest of the targets will still be shooting,” Ryan said.
“If we hit a few of them they might be too busy ducking to fire. We just might force them to retreat back to the outer wall. That will give us a chance to retreat. Remember, we’re not trying to stop them, just slow them down enough to buy time for people to get away.”