by Eric Vall
“Are they right?” Tara asked as we started to drop the plasma onto the road.
“About what?” I asked.
“That you chose me for your team because I’m pregnant,” the platinum-blonde said.
“Partly.” I smiled. “But I also just like to have you close to me.”
“Mhm.” Tara shook her head. “I don’t want any special treatment, you know.”
“You always want special treatment,” I teased.
“Fair point,” Tara laughed. “But I mean it, I don’t want you to treat me any different just because I’ve got your bun in my oven.”
“I love when you say that,” I chuckled and shook my head. “But I understand.”
“Good,” the platinum-blonde said, and she tilted her plasma pod so liquid fell onto the pavement. “Because I know it’s going to get even worse once my belly is giant.”
“You’re probably right,” I told her. “And I’ll try my best to not treat you any differently, but you also need to understand that it is different now. You’re pregnant with our child, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even more than before.”
“I know.” Tara smiled and nodded. “And I love you for it.”
“I love you, too,” I told her. “Oh, speaking of me not treating you differently.”
“What?” Tara asked, and she narrowed her eyes on me.
“Don’t scream stop in the car anymore,” I told her with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeaaahh,” she said, and she bit her lip. “I probably could’ve gone about that a little bit better. But I wasn’t sure I’d make it another second if you didn’t stop.”
“I get it,” I chuckled. “You just panicked me for a second.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” she said, and her lip started to quiver, and she looked down.
“Tara,” I said, and my eyebrows pulled together. “Are you okay?”
“I’m just really sorry,” the platinum-blonde said, and she looked up at me with tears running down her cheeks.
“It’s okay,” I said, and I rushed over to her and wrapped her in my arms. “Don’t be upset.”
“I’m just… really sorry,” Tara sobbed, and she pulled in ragged breaths against my chest.
I tightened my arms around her, but I was trying not to laugh the whole time. I knew it was just her hormones, but she had no reason to be so upset, and I couldn’t help but find it ridiculous.
“Are you laughing at me?” Tara asked.
“Noooo,” I said, but when I looked down at her pitiful face, with mascara running down her cheeks, I had to stifle another laugh.
“You’re so mean!” Tara cried, and she smacked my chest, but then she started to laugh. “Why am I crying?”
“Because you’re just really sorry,” I told her with a grin.
“Shut up,” she laughed, and she leaned her head against my chest for a second. “Okay. I think I’m alright now.”
“Good,” I chuckled. “Because we need to get this done.”
“You all aren’t done?” Anna asked, and I turned around to see the redhead climbing over the concrete barrier with Paige and Bailey right behind her.
“We had a bit of a delay,” I said.
“Does it have anything to do with the black smears on Tara’s face?” Anna teased.
“You just wait until you’re pregnant and crying about random things,” Tara said. “I’m never going to let you live it down.”
“Maybe.” Anna said. “But I won’t let you live it down first.”
“Alright,” I said. “Girls, help us get this done.”
“On it,” the redhead agreed, and the girls all spread out and started to carefully place drops of plasma liquid along the road.
There wasn’t much I could do to stop Tara’s hormones from raging out of control, but we still needed to work quickly. There was only a couple hours left until dark, and we needed to get this road blown long before that.
The girls and I worked quickly to get the plasma liquid on the bridge, then after that was done, we headed back to the jeep.
“How far away do we need to be?” Anna asked as we crawled back into the vehicle.
“As far as possible,” I answered. “As long as Bailey can still get a shot, that’s as close as we can get, and even then we’ll need to hurry away once she takes it.”
“You should let Minji and Hammer know that we’re about to blow it,” Paige reminded me.
“Good idea.” I nodded and pulled the walkie up to my lips. “Hammer, Minji, come in.”
“Here,” Minji responded almost immediately.
“What’s going on?” Hammer asked after a few seconds.
“We’re about to blow the interstate,” I explained. “We just wanted to warn you about the blast.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Hammer said. “We should be done in less than an hour.”
“Good,” I agreed. “Get back to the attack point ASAP.”
“Roger that,” Hammer said. “Over and out.”
“Minji,” I said. “You still there?”
“I’m here,” the Korean woman replied.
“If the NK troops radio about the blast I want you to tell them it must be the American resistance,” I instructed.
“Got it,” she replied.
“We’ll be back over there soon,” I added. “Over and out.”
“See you soon,” Minji replied, and I hung the walkie back on my hip.
“Are we ready?” Anna asked. The redhead had one foot on the dash, and she leaned back in her seat and looked out the window.
“As ready as we can be,” I told her.
“Bailey?” the redhead asked.
“I’m ready,” our resident sniper answered, and I glanced in my rearview to see that she already had her window rolled down, and she was leaning partially out of it with her plasma gun at the ready.
“Let me get a little bit further away,” I said, and I turned the jeep on and pulled forward.
Once we were as far as we could get away from the blast zone, I stopped the jeep but didn’t put it in park. We needed to be able to get away as fast as possible, so I kept one foot on the break and the other hovered right above the gas so I could switch the two at a second’s notice.
“Okay,” I told Bailey, and I caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
Bailey nodded and adjusted herself out the window. “I’m ready.”
“It might take more than one shot,” I said. “It took me more than one at the other bridge earlier.”
“It won’t,” Bailey assured me. “I know exactly where I need to shoot.”
“Okay.” I nodded. The blonde was our resident sniper, and she was the best shot we had. If she said it would only take her one shot, then I trusted her. “Whenever you’re ready.”
I prepared myself to switch my feet, and I held my breath as I waited for Bailey to take the shot. My heart rate accelerated, and my body was tense as hell with anticipation.
“Ready,” Bailey said, and I saw a flash of blue out of my side mirror.
My right foot slammed on the gas as I released my left one from the brake. The jeep lurched forward and accelerated quickly as the sound of the explosion behind us rang through the air.
Our vehicle was hit with the force of the impact, and it skidded to the side for a split second and nearly hit the concrete barricade on the side of the road before I corrected the wheel and pushed even harder on the gas.
Concrete bits and debris rained down like a summer storm and hit the windshield, and I instinctively ducked my head, even though it was protected by the roof of the jeep.
A quick glance in my rearview mirror showed a huge cloud of blue and gray dust where the interstate used to be. The road had crumbled just like the bridge near the attack point, and I could see where it now ended abruptly instead of continuing on to the cloverleaf. There was no way anybody would be able to get by the destruction we’d just caused. Concrete bits wer
e still falling on the jeep, and the road behind us continued to crumble as I slammed the gas hard and rushed us down the interstate back toward Colonial Parkway.
“Jesus,” Anna said, but I could barely hear her since my ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion.
“That was crazy,” Paige yelled.
“I thought the jeep was going off the road for a second,” Anna chuckled, and she looked over at me. “Good catch back there.”
“I try.” I grinned.
The jeep had been struck hard with the force of the explosion, but I’d managed to adjust the wheel and maneuver us back into a straight line. The explosion had only lasted a minute tops, but it had been intense. Luckily, it was over now, so I turned down Colonial Parkway and followed it down to our attack position.
Once we arrived, I pulled the jeep back behind a group of trees so it was concealed from the road and the air, then I hopped out and looked up at the sky. The sun was just barely beginning to set, which meant we maybe had two full hours until the NK troops arrived, if that. It was more than I’d anticipated having after we’d finished blowing the interstate, but with the way we’d had to create the explosion, it hadn’t taken as long as I’d planned for.
That was good for us, though, because it meant I had enough time to train some of the civilians to work the M51 so the girls and I could be free to move about wherever we were needed.
I didn’t want us bogged down in one place. This was such a spur of the moment plan that I wanted to make sure we were able to go wherever we were needed in case any of the civilians needed help.
“Anna, Tara, Bailey,” I said. “I want you to make sure the sandbags are well set up.”
“Okay,” my second in command nodded.
“And Bailey,” I added. “Make sure you have a good vantage point and get your Barrett set up.”
“I’m on it,” the blonde sniper said, and she slung the huge gun over her shoulder with a grunt.
“Are you sure you don’t want help with that?” Anna asked.
“I got it.” Bailey smiled and leaned forward slightly from the weight of the weapon.
“You’re absolutely ridiculous, you know that?” the redhead asked with a laugh.
“It’s my gun,” Bailey protested. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Whatever.” Anna shook her head and smiled. “Come on.”
“What are we doing?” Paige asked as the other girls walked away.
“We’re going to instruct a few of the civilians on how to use the Skysweeper,” I explained.
“Oh, perfect.” Paige nodded. “Who are you thinking?”
“I was considering Johnny and James,” I said.
“You think two is enough?” the brunette asked.
“Maybe we should have three or four,” I agreed.
“Normally, I’d say Jeff or Ben,” Paige said. “But they’re working the howitzer right now.”
“Yeah.” I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes as I looked around at the civilians in the area. I needed to pick from them, and I needed to find a few of them who I trusted to operate such a large weapon.
Of course, I trusted all of my civilians to be on the field with me, I’d trained them myself, after all. However, operating a large piece of equipment like this required a little bit more effort than just being on the battlefield.
While the weapon did most of the work itself, whoever was operating it needed to be able to calculate the perfect time to strike, as well as keep their cool under pressure. Not to mention the fact that this would be something new for them, which meant whoever was operating it would have even more of a reason to panic when shit hit the fan.
I needed to make sure whoever was in charge of the Skysweeper was capable of doing the job.
“How about Donna?” Paige asked.
“Hm.” I thought for a moment. Donna was a counselor before the apocalypse, and she’d always proven herself to be great under pressure. She was a good choice. “I think she’d do well.”
“So we have Johnny, James, and Donna,” Paige said. “Do we want one more person?”
“How about Joe?” I asked.
Joe was the civilian who’d taken a bullet the winter before, and even when that had happened, he’d managed to keep his cool.
“Yeah.” The brunette nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“Alright,” I agreed. “That’s four. I think they’ll do well.”
I called the small group of people over and explained that I wanted them to work the M51 during the attack.
“Are you sure?” Donna asked. “Shouldn’t someone with more experience work it?”
“None of us have experience with this thing,” I chuckled. “The girls and I fired it once so we could make sure it worked, but other than that, I’ve never used one of these before.”
“Oh.” The dark-haired woman’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “Alright. I’m up for it. What do we need to do?”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” I smiled. Donna hadn’t disappointed.
“It’s not too hard,” Paige said, and she walked us over to the control panel of the Skysweeper. “The weapon does most of the work for you, all you really have to do is time it right.”
“It will do the aiming?” Joe asked.
“That’s right,” I agreed. “You’ll just need to make sure it’s loaded and hit the firing button.”
“That’s it?” Johnny asked. “It seems like anybody could work this thing.”
“They could.” I nodded. “But I need people who won’t fail under pressure, the firing of this is going to be the catalyst that starts the entire fight.”
“Right,” James, the dark-skinned man with dreadlocks, said with a nod. “We have to take out the MiGs before anything else. Otherwise, we’re toast.”
“Right,” I agreed.
“And not the good kind, am I right,” Paige laughed, then she looked around, but nobody else was laughing. “Oops. My bad.”
The brunette looked down, and she flushed slightly with embarrassment over her poorly-timed joke, but I couldn’t help but crack a small smile in response.
“Alright,” I continued. “I already went over this with Jeff and Ben since they’re working the howitzer, but like I already said, nobody else can fire until you do.”
“Unless there’s no MiG in the air,” Johnny said.
“That’s right,” I agreed. “I doubt that will happen, but that’s technically right.”
“What else?” James asked.
“You can’t fire until after all of the NK troops cross the first bridge,” I explained. “Otherwise the ones who aren’t across will see what’s going on, and they’ll be able to escape far more easily.”
“Don’t fire until all the troops are across the bridge,” Donna repeated with a nod.
“That’s right,” I agreed.
“How many shells do we have?” Joe asked. “And can we load more than one at a time.”
“Good questions,” I told him. I knew there was a reason I’d picked Joe for this job. “You absolutely can load more than one at a time. And we have a buncha shells for this girl.”
“That should be more than enough, right?” James asked. “You said they only have three MiGs left?”
“That’s right,” I agreed. “But you also need to remember that you’re going up against skilled pilots, so they could outmaneuver you once they realize they’re under fire. The weapon will do most of the work for you, but you need to time your shots well.”
“We got this.” Donna nodded, and her eyes narrowed slightly with determination.
“We can’t let the MiGs get too close to us, either,” I reminded them.
“I don’t think any of us wants that,” Johnny laughed, then his face grew more serious as he looked at me. “Thank you for giving us this task. We won’t let you down.”
“Yeah,” Donna agreed. “We know you and the girls need to be on the front lines calling the shots. We’ll handle this, don’t
worry.”
“I appreciate that.” I smiled at the dark-haired woman. “I have confidence in you all.”
“Alright,” Paige said. “Let me show you how to load this thing now.”
I nodded to Paige, then I headed over to where the other girls were. The brunette was more than capable of showing the civilians how to load the weapon, and I wanted to make sure everything else was going smoothly.
As I walked across the open area toward Anna, Tara, and Bailey, I looked up at the sun. It had moved a few inches in the sky, and I held up my palm. There was about a hand and a half left until the sun disappeared behind the horizon and night hit, which was approximately an hour and a half.
That wasn’t much time at all in the grand scheme of things, but then I thought about all we’d managed to accomplish since we’d got that call this morning.
The girls and I had retrieved an ancient, but working, M51 skysweeper from the Norfolk Air Force Base, we’d blown up one small section of bridge, plus an entire section of interstate. On top of that, the civilians had put together plenty of cover for us, the howitzer was set up and ready to go, and we had the ship in the water waiting to take action.
All in all, I didn’t think it was a bad effort for the amount of time we’d had to put it together. Usually the girls and I would spend a few days on a plan like this, doing reconnaissance of the area, perfectly planning out every detail, and probably building our own cover. We barely had time to plan out the attack for today, let alone execute it, but somehow we’d managed.
I had to attribute at least part of that to my team and Hammer’s SEALs. This was a large group to get to work together so well on such short notice, but they’d all been skilled and confident enough to be able to pull off their part of the plan without extremely detailed instructions. We’d given them the general task of setting up cover and getting the howitzer ready to go, and they’d managed to do both.
I was always proud of my team, but today made me feel even more pride in them and what they’d accomplished.
“How’s things going over here?” I asked as I walked up to the girls.
“The cover all seems well-done,” Anna told me.
“And I found a place for my Barrett,” Bailey said, and she pointed about twenty feet away where another cover was set up. From where I stood, I could just barely see the butt end of her .50 cal weapon sticking out from behind the sandbags.