Stolen Liberty: Behind the Curtain

by Thomas A. Watson

  Springing up, Randy sprinted over the four lanes feeling like eyes were everywhere, watching him. Running into the trees, he planted his right foot and skidded to a stop. That was one thing he had lost, there was no pivot on his prosthetic foot.

  Moving through the bushes and around trees, Randy came to a fence wrapped around a backyard of a nice house. Not seeing movement, he grabbed his PTT box. “Clear,” he said, then let the box go.

  When he reached the tree line, he saw Kristi and Tabitha running over. When they broke through the bushes, Randy caught Tabitha before she ran face first into a tree trunk, because she wasn’t wearing NVGs.

  Startled with feeling an arm grab her, Tabitha pushed away while opening her mouth and Randy slapped a hand over it. “You scream, and it will be the last sound you make before reaching the Pearly Gates,” he growled in her face.

  Relaxing, Tabitha nodded and Randy let her go. He turned to see Ryan sprinting across. “He can hit the tree,” Randy mumbled, but Kristi stopped Ryan before he plowed into the tree.

  When Robbie and Clark ran over, Randy moved back to the fence and jumped over it. Looking to the next backyard, he moved his gaze around and then lifted his AR up to look around with the thermal. All the houses he could see were dark and looked intact.

  After climbing two more fences, Randy held up his hand for everyone to stop and stepped back. “Book, we are moving through the front yards. I don’t want someone turning an ankle jumping fences,” he said in a low voice.

  “Yeah, I was worried about that over the last one,” Charlie admitted. “I haven’t seen or heard anything from this neighborhood since we’ve been here.”

  Giving a nod, Randy moved up beside the house they were behind and looked around. Solar landscaping lights across the road looked like flares in his NVG. Taking a breath, he eased out and moved across the yards.

  Keeping a steady pace, Randy moved across the yards and crossed a street. Staying as close to the houses as he could, he kept lifting his rifle up to scan with the thermal. Before reaching the next street, gunfire sounded to his front. Knowing it was only a few hundred yards away, he slowed the pace.

  When the gunfire stayed to the south not moving, Randy picked up the pace, moving quickly across a road into some trees and slowed while looking at the swollen creek below. Seeing a worn muddy path running beside the small creek, he moved on it and followed the creek as it twisted through the neighborhood.

  Seeing the creek running under the next road, he studied the square culvert the creek flowed through. Moving to the creek, he waded under the road and heard the others moving in, following.

  Ahead of them the gunfire stopped, and Randy was very happy he’d taken the low road.

  Moving to the bank when he came out from under the road, Randy turned to Charlie and gave a hand signal for him to hang back, giving himself a ten-yard lead. Seeing Charlie nod, Randy turned and moved ahead, still watching for the shooters.

  From the sound, he knew three were semi AKs and a bunch of pistols, but there were a few in the barrage that sounded like big bore hunting rifles. Seeing the creek go under another road ahead, Randy stayed on the bank.

  Over the rain, Randy heard laughter ahead and slowed before moving up the bank and easing through the trees. Across the road in the yard of a large house, he saw five men kicking someone on the ground. Lifting his AR, he sighted in on the one not really participating in the beatdown.

  When the reticle held true, he squeezed the trigger and watched the figure fold over when the round slammed into his chest. Moving his aim as the other four turned to watch their buddy drop, he squeezed the trigger rapidly, dropping another as the rest realized what was happening.

  They ran across the yard with one turning around to aim an AK in his direction and Randy squeezed the trigger, dropping him after the guy had squeezed off two shots. Swinging his aim, he shot the last two in their backs before they rounded the house.

  Watching the figure the group had been beating struggle up, Randy kept his AR pointed that way while he grabbed his PTT. “Contact to the right of creek, five down. One they were beating is heading back toward house,” he called in a low voice.

  “Copy, staying low,” Charlie said, and Randy moved back to the creek, going under the road.

  As the others came out from under the road, a few could hear the moans of those in the yard above the rain. None really cared which group was in the wrong, only that Randy had taken out the bigger threat.

  The further south they went, more gunshots sounded nearby around them. By the time Randy led them under Governors Highway, it sounded like a full-scale war was taking place around them. Occasionally, they would hear the whine of bullets over their heads or hitting a tree that lined the lip of the creek.

  Reaching where the creek ran under Lincoln Highway, Randy groaned, looking at the culvert running under the highway as a body floated past. “We aren’t crossing that road,” Charlie told him, leaning to Randy’s ear. “I don’t know what’s going on around here, but we aren’t getting in it.”

  Nodding, Randy eased into the creek and was thankful the culvert was only half full, but the water was moving. Stepping in, he reached up and turned on the IR light on his monocular to give him extra light. Seeing a body floating rapidly toward him, he pushed it out of the way and moved through the culvert.

  Before coming out, he reached up to turn off the IR light. Continuing on, Randy soon reached where the creek followed out from a neighborhood ahead. There were no trees and the creek flowed in a concrete ditch only a foot deep.

  Moving to his right, Randy saw a trucking depot with an empty parking lot. Across the street, he saw a shopping center with hundreds of people running out of the stores with armloads of merchandise.

  Feeling Charlie move up beside him, “Book, we have to risk that neighborhood, then try to cross the road,” Randy said.

  “I’ve only seen it on TV, but it’s more sickening in real life,” Charlie spat, watching people ransack the stores. “Agreed. We don’t have the ammo to plow a road.”

  Moving back into the trees, “Tell the others to watch their spacing,” Randy said, moving toward the neighborhood. Stopping before the trees fell away, “Book, some of these houses are occupied,” Randy called over the radio.

  “Which has fewer, the spring sale across the street or the houses?” Charlie called back.

  “I’m going to have to keep us in the road here. I see people in the windows with guns.”

  “Shadow, I hear them hitting that truck depot, go!” Charlie snapped, and Randy took off in a jog.

  Coming out of the trees, Randy saw a man hiding in the bushes aim toward him, and Randy lifted his hand for the man to hold. The man saw the others and lowered his rifle, seeing the smaller form of kids in the group. “Watch out for cars, they are riding through the area and shooting people,” the man called out.

  “They just hit that trucking depot back there, so watch out,” Randy told the man as he ran past, and the man gave him a wave. Staying in between two roads that ran into the neighborhood, Randy kept scanning and seeing several people armed and outside. Many trained their weapons toward the group but accepted the adage; you don’t shoot at me, I won’t shoot at you.

  When the roads turned east, Randy left them to take a small side street heading west. Half a block away, he saw a blacked-out car with the stereo blaring. Seeing weapons poking out when the car turned toward him, “Contact front,” Randy barked, lifting his AR up.

  Randy raked the front windshield with bullets as the car turned and Charlie moved beside him, shooting. A flash went off under the hood as Charlie concentrated on the engine, then moved his aim up to see the destroyed windshield.

  Around them a torrent of gunshots sounded, making both drop down to the road and roll away. They looked up to see people in the houses pouring lead into the car and one person fell out of the car window. Charlie’s mouth fell open, watching the body get hit over fifty times.

  Seconds afte
r it had started, the torrent of gunfire stopped. “Glad we weren’t in a car,” Charlie said, getting up on his knees.

  “You from over on Tower Ave?!” a voice called out when Randy got up, staring at the flaming car.

  “No, trying to get the hell out of this city!” Randy shouted back and saw people running up to the smoking car.

  “You better hurry then, because I know of two more cars in the area shooting anyone outside,” a man said, walking past them to the smoking car.

  Without looking back, Randy broke into a jog running past the man. When Kristi passed the middle-aged man, he tilted his head to her, “Ma’am.”

  Feeling her heart beating hard, Kristi smiled as people started pulling the bodies out of the car and grabbing the weapons. Despite the rain pouring down, the fire under the hood of the car started getting bigger as she passed.

  “Let it burn right here!” a woman shouted and before Kristi reached the end of the block, she looked back and saw everyone gone.

  Keeping them in the middle of the street, so homeowners wouldn’t shoot at them, Randy turned onto another street and further into the neighborhood, another torrent of gunfire sounded. “Talk about a neighborhood watch,” he mumbled.

  Reaching the exit to the neighborhood, Randy slowed and looked north to the shopping center and could see a ton of people in the road beside the center. Turning left, Randy crossed Governors Highway and moved to the grassy shoulder.

  Everyone kept the jog Randy had set and ran through the dark rainy night. In a subdivision on their right, they could see two houses burning, but on the left, they heard gunfire from another subdivision.

  When she looked ahead and saw Randy move into trees, Kristi sighed. “Contact rear,” Robbie snapped, and she heard the thump of Robbie’s suppressed shots. With Tabitha holding her shoulder, Kristi made sure the kids kept running as Cody’s rifle joined.

  She saw Charlie kneeling and aiming past her. When she entered the woods, she heard Charlie open up and turned to look up the street. A group of people were charging out of the subdivision they’d passed. Several were shooting, but Robbie, Cody, and Charlie were mowing them down.

  She watched Robbie peel off, running past Cody and tapping his shoulder. “Get your ass in here,” Randy barked, yanking Kristi into the woods. “Check the kids, we are moving.”

  Randy watched Cody running and tapping Charlie who was just aiming down the road covered in bodies. Many were rolling around and even through rain and distance, Randy could hear them crying out in pain. Pushing the cries out of his mind, Randy moved back into the woods when Robbie reached him.

  “Shadow, hold up, I need to reload,” Robbie said as Cody and Charlie came into the woods.

  “What the hell did you say to them, Blaster?” Charlie asked, dropping to one knee and pulling a box of ammo off the side of his rucksack.

  “I didn’t say shit. I saw one just watching us and when we were a hundred yards away, he yelled out and they just poured out of that subdivision like water,” Robbie replied, thumbing ammo into his empty magazines. “When I saw several raising weapons up, sorry, I had to turn on the heat.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for,” Randy said, reloading his magazines. “They made the choice to take a dirt nap.”

  Shoving his reloaded magazines back in his magazine pouches across his chest, Charlie glanced over at Robbie. “Blaster, you up?”

  Tapping the back of the two magazines he’d used, Robbie nodded. “Ready to get back on the clock, Book,” Robbie said, putting the magazines back in his vest pouches.

  “The Babyface is ready,” Cody looked over, grinning.

  “Shadow, lead on,” Charlie said, standing up.

  Moving past Kristi, Randy saw Clark trying to put on a brave face. “It’s all good, lil’ man,” Randy grinned, walking by. With the adrenaline coursing through them, nobody felt the chill from the rain when they fell in behind Randy.

  With a steady pace, Randy led them through the stand of trees and Kristi was shocked when they crossed a railroad track. “Is this a subway line?” Emily asked with a worried tone.

  “No, baby. It’s just regular train tracks,” Kristi answered, feeling Tabitha still holding her shoulder and crying softly. Glancing back, she saw Ryan was holding Tabitha’s hand and Chase had a hold of Ryan’s belt. “Asshole,” Kristi mumbled under her breath.

  “Clark, let Chase hold onto your backpack,” Kristi told him, and Clark moved back and pried Chase’s hand off Ryan’s belt.

  “Hold on here,” Clark told him, putting Chase’s right hand on a loop from his backpack.

  “Thank you,” Chase said. Even with the rain and NVG monocular, Clark could see Chase’s tears running down his face.

  Turning away, Clark moved back in line. “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here,” Clark said, trying to convince himself as much as Chase.

  Coming down from the tracks, Kristi saw a wooded field. “I hate drainage ponds,” she sighed, seeing the reflection of the standing water in the field. Watching Randy wade in, she was glad it wasn’t over his knees; and it wasn’t covered with floating bodies.

  Moving through the water, gunfire sounded all around them, but Randy was concentrating on the gunfire directly ahead. Seeing trees ahead, Randy veered course, moving to them.

  Pausing at a road, Randy held up his hand in a fist for everyone to stop. Easing away from the group and up to the road, Randy froze when a group of people ran up the road. Seeing a mother carrying a toddler and glancing back, Randy dropped to his stomach and crawled up. As the group ran east toward Governors Highway, Randy scanned west, seeing a group of thugs chasing the people.

  When one raised a rifle, Randy’s NVG flared when the thug fired a shot. “Dying time,” Randy said, pushing up to one knee and pulling his AR to his shoulder. Centering on the shooter, Randy squeezed the trigger and watched the thug fold over, letting out a cry he heard eighty yards away.

  While Randy moved to the next target, he heard a suppressed shot beside him and watched a thug’s head mist out. The other six stopped, looking at their two partners and Randy dropped two in quick succession. “Five oh!” one yelled, raising his weapon down the road, only to have his head disappear.

  The last three took off away from them, but didn’t make it ten yards before getting hit in the back. Keeping his rifle to his shoulder, Randy glanced back and saw the group reach the highway and head south. “Good luck,” Randy mumbled, getting up.

  Putting a full magazine in, Randy put the partial on his chest rig. When Charlie squeezed his shoulder, Randy moved across the road. Seeing a subdivision to the west that the group of people had run out of, Randy saw several houses burning with a lot of gunfire sounding from it.

  Waiting for the others, Randy eased up and knelt down. Hearing the sound of full auto fire to his front, Randy dove to the ground. Not hearing rounds streaking overhead, Randy lifted his head up as the fire continued. “That’s a Ma Deuce,” Cody said behind him.

  “With several M4s and at least one SAW,” Robbie whispered.

  Feeling Charlie crawl up beside him, Randy kept his face turned to the gunfire as it started to slacken off. “Hold here and let me see what’s going on,” Randy told him, and Charlie grabbed his arm.

  “Don’t get in shit unless called for,” Charlie reminded him.

  “I don’t argue with the Ma Deuce,” Randy scoffed, walking away while hunched over.

  Charlie rolled on his side, giving hand signals to Cody and Robbie. Cody and Robbie moved to form a triangle around the others as the gunfire to the south slackened off, but the gunfire to the west picked up. Hearing bullets whizzing overhead, everyone laid in the mud under the trees.

  Crawling up beside Charlie, “The gunfire to our west in that subdivision is changing,” Kristi said in a low voice.

  “Yeah, before it was just civilian weapons. Now military grade weapons have entered the picture,” Charlie told her, but never looked over while his eyes scanned left and right.

&
nbsp; Before Kristi could ask another question, they heard big diesel engines rolling down Governors Highway heading north, and a man’s voice came over a loudspeaker. “Move to the parking area ahead at the corner of Governor and Sauk now. Any person not heading there will be viewed as hostile and will be engaged. Drop all weapons and proceed there now.”

  Charlie knew that vehicle was barely a hundred yards away and was about to move toward the group that had just passed them when automatic fire filled the air. He heard screams from Governors Highway and everyone laid their heads down, but the bullets weren’t flying over them.

  “Drop all weapons now and move!” the voice bellowed over the loudspeaker. “We will not tell you again!”

  “Shit, we couldn’t get away with that in Afghanistan and they are doing it here in our own country?” Robbie gasped.

  One engine stayed while others rolled up Governors Highway and they heard a loudspeaker in the subdivision to the west make the same demands, but with more gunfire. Praying nobody would run into the woods to escape, Charlie started getting worried, hearing more gunfire to the north.

  It was almost a half an hour later when Randy came back panting and dropped down beside Charlie. “We are so fucked,” Randy mumbled, and Charlie motioned Robbie and Cody back up to them. Keeping their weapons aimed out, they listened to Randy’s report.

  “We have stumbled into a company-sized element rounding up people to the north. They are using a large parking lot to our southeast near the subway to hold them. At least a platoon-sized element is moving through the subdivision to our west, but they are just hosing people down. I saw another platoon-sized element heading up Governors to that shopping center and they just started shooting into the crowd before they’d even rolled up on the scene,” Randy told them.

  “How about we pull back and move west through that wooded area?” Charlie asked.

  “And go where? There is nothing but big ass stores with big ass parking lots. I chose this route because there was some cover,” Randy snapped. “Book, they shot that mom that passed us carrying the toddler. She was running to them for protection and they cut her down.”