by Eric Vall
“Hey!” I yelled out in my best assertive voice.
“D-don’t shoot,” they said. “I’m from the fort.”
“Oh,” I said, and I lowered my pistol and walked out to greet the man. “Sorry about that. If you pull into this driveway, we can get you settled.”
“Thanks,” the small man said, and gestured for the driver to pull in. He was tall, stick thin, balding, and wore small, silver framed glasses that made his eyes look larger than they were.
I nodded to my girls, and they put their weapons down.
“I’m sorry we startled you,” I said as I walked over to the guy to stick my hand out. “I don’t think we met, I’m Tav.”
“Hi, Tav,” he said at length, and he took my hand. “I’m Conner.”
“What?” Tara burst out a laugh behind me.
“Um, I said my name is Conner,” the man repeated awkwardly, his hand still in mine.
Tara laughed once more, but this time the other girls joined in.
“I’m sorry,” the man said. “Is something funny?”
“My first name is Connor,” I explained with a smile.
“Ah,” the man said. “I see.”
“It’s not as funny as they’re making it out to be,” I said, and I turned to look back at the giggling girls.
“Okay, good,” the man whispered. “I thought it was just me.”
“Good to meet you, Conner,” I said sincerely. “We have a fire going over here, and we can fix up some dinner if you all are hungry.”
“Oh, uh, thank you,” Conner stuttered. “That would be great.”
After the civilians parked the jeeps, we gathered some supplies to make dinner for everyone, and Tara even grabbed some stuff to make a nice dessert. The sun dipped further behind the horizon as we all piled around the fire and set to work.
Soon the other civilians came out from the refinery, and we found a few more logs to put around the fire pit so everyone had a place to sit. It was a large group, but nobody seemed very talkative.
“I’m Tav,” I introduced myself after a few minutes of awkward silence. “I don’t think we met at the fort, but you might have met someone from my team. This is Anna, Bailey, Tara, and Paige,” I said with a gesture at each girl.
The civilians nodded, and a couple raised a hand in a small wave, but mostly nobody said anything.
“So how was the drive down here?” Paige asked.
“It was fine,” an older, brown haired woman said, and I realized she was the woman I had made eye contact with the first night when I had seen the civilians eating soup and bread. “Uneventful.”
“Oh,” Paige said. “And what’s your name?”
“I’m Renee,” the woman said softly.
“I hope the trip wasn’t too long or tedious for you all,” I said with a tender smile. The group looked exhausted and worn out, but I wasn’t sure they hadn’t looked like that before they had left the fort. “Tara should have dinner ready shortly.”
“Yup,” the platinum blonde agreed, and she pulled out some candy bars from her backpack. “In the meantime, we do have some snacks.”
She must have got them when we were in Fort George, which meant she had been holding onto them this whole time. I had to chuckle at her diligence to keep her chocolate to herself.
“How did you wind up with Brody?” I asked nonchalantly.
“Most of us found our way there after everything went to hell,” Renee said. “A lot of us that lived around here had stayed together, and we picked up a few other people as well, but it was almost winter time, and we knew we didn’t have enough supplies to make it through.”
“So you found him while you were out looking for supplies?” I clarified.
“Right,” she said with a nod. “He offered us a place to stay and said that as long as we worked everything would be taken care of. He said he could protect us through winter.”
“And what about when the Canadians came down?” Anna asked, and she leaned in seriously. “Did you know people were coming?”
“Not exactly,” Renee said. “But we knew that the groups that came through were getting to be more frequent. It’s a good thing we did go to the fort, because otherwise we wouldn’t have made it.”
Her voice became low and sad with those last words, and she looked down to the snacks in her lap. I looked around the fire to see that everyone seemed to match her posture, and it seemed they all felt that Brody had saved their lives.
“Well, however the case,” I said. “We’re glad you’re here.”
“Yeah,” Bailey added with a soft smile. “It’s always nice to see good people survive instead of the bad ones.”
Renee didn’t say anything, but I saw her give Bailey a smile in return, and the other civilians seemed a bit more at ease then as they ate their snacks.
“How do you like living at the fort?” I asked.
Nobody said anything for several seconds, and then Renee shrugged and made eye contact with me.
“It could be better,” she said. “But Brody saved our lives. We owe him everything.”
“It’s hard to complain when you’d otherwise be dead,” Conner, the man we had met earlier, added.
I wanted to push the subject further, but I also didn’t want the civilians to feel too uncomfortable. I could see on their faces that they weren’t happy at the fort, but at that moment there was nothing I could do short of storming the place and taking out Brody, but the civilians also hadn’t told me anything truly repugnant about the guy. I had my suspicions, but no solid evidence or testimonials to go on. And besides, they were at least partly thankful for him, so it's entirely possible they wouldn’t want to go it alone without him, even if that option was on the table.
“Dinner’s ready,” Tara announced, and I could practically hear the hungry stomachs of the civilians.
Tara passed out bowls of the stew she had prepared, and we all dug in. Of course, the platinum blonde made sure the civilians got plenty, and I smiled at her generosity.
Chapter 12
After the civilians had arrived, we spent the previous evening going over various knife skills, and once I was satisfied with the girls’ muscle memory, I sent them to bed and stayed up to go over every last detail of our plan. The civilians had retired early. I knew they were exhausted, and Tara’s dinner had obviously comforted them enough to lull them to sleep.
Anna and I had taken watch that night, and I woke up and found the redhead stoking the fire.
“Hey,” I said. It was still early, at least an hour before dawn, but I couldn’t sleep any longer.
“Hey,” my second in command greeted me. “You want some coffee?”
“I’d love some,” I said.
“I just made a pot,” she said and then poured me a cup. “Don’t tell Tara.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I said, and I took a drink of the dark liquid. Anna had done a good job; the coffee was rich and delicious.
I looked up to the stars and thought about the day ahead. It would be a tough one, like it always was. No matter how many times I went into battle, I always knew there was the risk that somebody wouldn’t make it out alive. And even though I knew my girls were more than capable, it still scared me to put them into danger. I couldn’t handle it if something were to happen to one of them. These girls had become my life, and I would protect them at all costs.
“You can go back to bed,” I said. “There’s at least an hour before sunrise.”
“Nah,” Anna answered, and she took another sip of coffee. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I can hardly ever sleep the night before a fight.”
“We’ll be fine,” I assured her.
“I know,” she said. “But there’s always a chance something can go wrong.”
“Yes, there is,” I said with a small nod. “But that’s why we prepare.”
“Right,” the redhead said, and she gave me a small smile. “Are you ready for today?”
“I’m always ready,” I c
huckled.
“Of course you are,” she said with a smile and an eye roll.
“It never gets easier,” I said seriously. “You just do your best, know that you’re prepared, and try to get the job done.”
“That makes sense,” the redhead agreed with a nod. “I think sometimes we think that you’re superhuman or something. It’s easy to forget that you get nervous, too.”
“I try not to show it,” I said. “And I wouldn’t exactly call it nervous, but I definitely am always concerned for all you girls’ safety.”
“We know that,” Anna said. “We get concerned about you, too.”
“I can handle myself,” I said with a small smile.
“We know that,” the redhead laughed. “But we can handle ourselves, too. That doesn’t really matter when you care about someone, though. You’re still going to worry about them. I worry about you and all the other girls.”
“You’re right,” I contended. “It doesn’t really matter how capable someone is when you care about them, but we’re going to do the same thing today that we always do. We’re going to get in, get those bastards, and get out.”
“Hell yeah, we are,” Anna said with a grin.
I sat with the redhead a while longer while we drank our coffee, then I decided it was time to wake up the other girls. It was just before dawn, and while the men hadn’t left until well into sunrise the day before, I didn’t want to take any chances. We needed to get up and get moving.
“Girls,” I said as I entered the tent. “Time to wake up.”
“Okay,” Bailey said with a large stretch.
Paige sat up, yawned, and put on her glasses.
Tara didn’t move a muscle.
“Tara,” I said and then shook her shoulder.
“I heard you,” the platinum blonde grumbled. “I just thought you might go away if I ignored you.”
“Not a chance,” I chuckled. “Now get up. We have coffee waiting. I didn’t make it, don’t worry.”
“Alright,” Tara sighed, and she sat up. “I’m up, I’m up.”
“Thanks,” I said, and I kissed each of the girls on the forehead, then returned to Anna by the fire.
“How’d that go?” the redhead laughed.
“About as well as I had expected,” I admitted.
“Coffee?” Paige asked as she came out of the tent.
“I second that,” Bailey added with a smile.
“Here you are,” Anna said as she poured each of them a cup.
Tara came out a moment later, and she got her cup of coffee as well, then we all sat quietly for a moment while I let the girls get some caffeine in them.
I reached into my pack and pulled out some power bars we had found at the resort and passed one to each of the girls. They ate their breakfast and drank their coffee, and when I felt Tara’s morning attitude was gone, I addressed the group.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s go over our plan.”
“We wait for the scouting team,” Paige said through a mouthful of chocolate power bar.
“I’ll pop one of their tires,” Bailey added. “And we’ll take them out.”
“Correct,” I agreed.
“Then we head to the refinery,” Anna said. “We’ll take out the guards quietly, then the captain guy.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Then we’ll wait for the other guys to come out to change shifts,” Tara said.
“Right,” I agreed.
“And plan B,” Anna said with a grin. “Is if they don’t come out, then we get in there with our knives and fuck them up.”
“Yes,” I said. “That is plan B.”
The girls were obviously excited to use their knife skills, but I didn’t want them in hand to hand combat unless it was absolutely necessary. That was far more dangerous, especially with the men they were up against. Not only were these guys in good shape, but they were on drugs, and that gave anyone an unfair advantage.
“Does everyone know their positions?” I asked.
“Anna and I are on the left side of the building,” Paige said.
“And Tara and I are on the right,” Bailey added.
“Yes,” I agreed. “And I’ll be around back. Once your guards are taken out you meet by the trees.”
“Yup,” Anna said.
I let the girls finish their breakfast, then I set out some power bars for the civilians when they woke up, along with a couple bottles of water, and headed to the tent to gear up. We hadn’t worn our vests and helmets for most of the excursion, but today was an exception, and I had them get kitted out to the brim.
Paige wore her hair pulled back in a low ponytail to accomodate for her helmet, a deep green T-shirt and tight black skinny jeans with her hiking boots. She had her pistol on one hip, her buck knife on the other, and her shotgun slung over her left shoulder.
Anna wore black athletic pants with a black tank top under her vest, sneakers, and her long red hair was pulled back in its usual braid under her helmet. She had her pistol strapped under her arm, her knife strapped to her thigh, and her rifle over her shoulder.
Bailey wore dark blue shorts, hiking boots, and a black shirt under her kevlar. She had her hair pulled back into a low ponytail, but her bangs hung around her face. The sweetness of her expression was a strange contrast against the M14 she had on one shoulder, and the Barrett M82 she had on the other. She had her knife and pistol on her hip as well, but they seemed like an afterthought with all the firepower she had.
Tara wore a new pair of black skinny jeans with rips all up the front, her old hiking boots, a black tank top, and her long platinum blonde hair back in a low ponytail under her helmet. She had a rifle on one shoulder, her Ruger on her hip, and her knife on her other hip.
Each of the girls looked as badass as I knew they were, and I had to give them a smile as I inspected their handiwork.
“Looks good,” I said with a grin.
“Thanks,” Tara responded with a wink. “You don’t look too bad yourself.
“We all ready?” I asked with a clap.
“Let’s go,” Anna said.
I led the girls down the long driveway and to a patch of trees near Hwy 4. If Paige was correct, and I thought she was, then the scouting team would come right by there within the next hour.
All we had to do was wait.
The sun had broken the horizon at that time, and the birds had awoken for the day. They chirped in the trees above us and set a strangely soft tone for the kind of morning we were about to have.
We had warned the civilians the night before that it would be a loud morning, I just hoped we didn’t startle them too much. I didn’t need anyone to scream and give away our location.
We all settled onto the ground with our rifles ready and watched as Bailey played with her scope. Our shooting practice on the boat had shown that Brody had already sighted the weapon in, but it was sighted for a closer range than this, and I knew she was adjusting for the long shot she would have to make. She was careful and methodical as she checked every few seconds to make sure she was on point.
“You like your new gun?” Anna asked the blonde.
“It’s great,” Bailey responded with a grin.
“You’ll have to let us practice with it some more,” Tara said.
“You totally can,” the blonde said.
“How about we do that once we get home?” I suggested. “It is a good idea for you all to know how to use everyone’s weapons in case there’s ever a need for it, but you all shot this one already.”
“Yeah, but it’s so fun,” Paige said. “That’s why you had us try out all the weapons we had when you first trained us, so that we’d know how to use everything. I miss doing that.”
“I had almost forgotten about that,” I chuckled. “It seems so long ago now.”
“It was over a year ago,” Anna said.
“It doesn’t feel like that long,” I said. “But somehow it feels longer, too.”
“I get it,” T
ara said. “It seems like I can’t even remember a time when you weren’t with us.”
“Probably because we were so hungry our minds made us forget,” Paige laughed.
“I hope not,” I said with a frown.
“We weren’t doing great,” Anna said. “But she’s kidding. We weren’t starving.”
“Speak for yourself,” the brunette said.
“Yeah, but you’re always hungry,” the redhead chuckled. “It’s not my fault I couldn’t feed your insane appetite.”
“I’ll give you that,” Paige laughed.
We waited for a while as we listened to the birds above us. I had just started to think that maybe we had been wrong in our assumption that they were going to head north once more when I heard the roar of an engine from down the road.
“Alright,” I said. “It’s time, get ready.”
Everyone set their eyes on their scopes, and I pulled out my binoculars to get a view on the jeep. There were six more guys inside, but different guys than the day before, and they were about a mile and a half away.
They were going at least seventy miles per hour down the road at the rate they moved, and I was concerned that Bailey wouldn’t be able to nail a shot, but I took a breath, calmed myself, and stuck my eye in my scope.
As the men approached, Bailey’s new Barrett went off with a loud crack that echoed like thunder, and the front passenger tire of the jeep exploded. The man behind the wheel tried to keep control, but the vehicle skidded to a halt on the asphalt with a terrible sound as the wheel hub hit the pavement and sent sparks flying through the air.
The men scrambled to pull their rifles around, but it was clear they weren’t sure where the shot had come from.
I quickly lined up my scope on the man in the passenger's seat and pulled the trigger. The guy went down with a shot through the neck, and the driver behind him cried out in pain as he looked down at his injured shoulder.
Before I had the chance to set my sights on the driver, Anna beat me to it. She got him with a shot to the temple, and he fell face first onto the horn so it let out a loud, constant wail.
The four guys in the back hopped out and tried to hide behind the jeep, but Tara got one in the chest before he made it, and Bailey took three successive shots at the jeep to get the remaining men. Her weapon was easily powerful enough to tear through the vehicle frame, and I watched under the car as the men dropped one by one.