by Robert Boren
“Good enough to fight,” Major Hobbs said. “I’ll take half the men in back….I know the terrain back there. Alright?”
“Go for it,” he said. “I’ll get us set up in the front.”
“Let’s go,” Major Hobbs said. He picked out 12 men, and they headed towards the back gate, with Frank and Lucy, Jerry, Earl, and Jackson following them. Jerry had one of the captured AK-47s and pockets full of ammo.
“You want one of these, Frank?” he asked.
“I’ll stick with the Winchester for now,” Frank said. “I need to stop by my coach and get the handgun and the belt and holster, though. That’s where my ammo is.”
“How about you two?” Jerry asked, looking at Earl and Jackson.
“I’m going to grab my hunting rifle again,” Earl said. “I’ll pick it up on the way.”
“Same here,” said Jackson. “I’d like to get checked out on the Ak-47s for next time, though.”
“That reminds me,” Frank said. “We need to pass along what the Majors told us when you guys were scouting for camera positions earlier.”
“Maybe that ought to wait, Frank,” Major Hobbs said.
“I’ll give them the nutshell edition,” Frank said. He looked over at the two of them. “The war is going to expand, and the army is stretched too thin. Citizens like us are going to have to take an active part in the fight, because we’ve got a bunch of Islamist fighters coming over the northern border.”
“I knew it,” Earl said. “I’m sick to death of these pajama wearing low-lifes. I’m not going down without a fight. Let’s go get ‘um.”
“Count me in too,” Jackson said.
“Good,” Frank said. “We’ll fill you in on the details after we get past this mess.”
“If we get past this mess,” Jerry said.
“Oh, we will,” Major Hobbs said.
Earl and Jackson split off to go get their guns out of their coaches, and rejoined the group in a flash, before the larger group could get to the back gate. Frank got into his coach and got his handgun and his belt and holster, and ran back to the group. They filed through the gate quietly, and headed for the blind.
“I’ll sneak up close enough so I don’t have to yell,” Frank said. “The Sheriff knows my voice.” He trotted ahead, followed by Lucy. The rest of the group kept coming at a slower rate.
“Sheriff, it’s Frank,” he said.
“I hear you,” the Sheriff said. “What’s up?”
“We’re about to have company. Keep your eyes open. I have Major Hobbs and twelve of his men with me, and four of our guys.”
“Wonderful,” the Sheriff said sarcastically. “We’ll watch for them.”
The rest of the men caught up to Frank.
“We’d better not clump together like this,” Major Hobbs said.
“Yeah,” Jerry said. “Let’s get into the same pattern we were in this morning. A group to the right, a group up the middle, and a group on the left. Let’s sweep down towards the parking area. Maybe we can catch these creeps on the way in, and blow them to hell.”
“I hear trucks, Frank,” the Sheriff said.
“Uh Oh,” Frank said. Lucy growled, but she wasn’t focusing on any one area. Her nose was working. She could smell somebody coming.
“Here they come,” the Sheriff said. “They’re about 200 yards out, but I can hit them.” They heard a bolt action rifle cock. Then a loud shot. “Got the first one. The others dived into the bushes. They think I can’t see them.” He laughed, and shot again.
“Nice shooting, uncle,” the Deputy said. Another shot rang out.
“That’s three, but they are too deep in the cover now,” the Sheriff said. “I can’t see any of them.”
“Let’s screw up their vehicles,” Major Hobbs said. “Private, bring that mortar up here.”
“Yes sir,” said the private. He brought the mortar over and set it up, about thirty yards away from the trees that the blind was in.
“Alright, I’m going to guestimate the coordinates,” Major Hobbs said. He talked quietly to the private, and made adjustments. “Good, let one go.”
The private dropped a projectile into the mortar, and there was a roar, then a loud explosion.
“What was that?” the Sheriff asked.
“Mortar,” Frank said.
“Excellent,” the Sheriff said. “He was a little too far out. Have him bring it in about sixty yards.”
Frank looked back at the Major.
“I heard him, Frank,” he said. “You hear that private?”
“Yes sir,” he said. He made the adjustment, and dropped another mortar round into the tube. There was an explosion, and then three other loud blasts.”
“Yahooooo!” shouted the Sheriff. “You hit at least a couple of vehicles. Nice shooting.”
“Alright, private, nice job,” the Major said. “Keep hitting them. Vary it front, back, left, and right by about twenty yards. Let’s screw that parking area up good.”
“Yes sir,” he said, and proceeded.
“Hey, Frank,” the Sheriff said. “I see some guys running this way. Black outfits. Probably some of those Islamic pansies. I can get a couple, but we need a few guys down by the creek.” He fired once, then fired again. “Two down, but that’s all I can see.”
“I’m going,” Jerry said. “Time to try out this AK.” He trotted over to the creek, and laid down behind a high spot on the bank.
A mortar round roared as Jerry got himself set.
Frank followed Jerry with Lucy. He got behind a tree next to the creek, and peered around. He couldn’t see anybody. Then Lucy growled, and looked at a clump of bushes. Frank saw movement, and fired a shot with the Winchester. A fighter rolled out, holding his side, and Jerry hit him with three shots from the AK. Just then another fighter jumped up and started running towards Jerry. He yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he charged, his gun in his hands.
“Oh, please,” Jerry said, laughing, as he pulled the trigger, sending the fighter flying to the ground. “These guys are idiots, Frank.”
Another mortar round fired off. There were more secondary explosions.
“Sounds like the Private hit pay dirt again,” Jerry said, laughing.
“Watch your left flank, Jerry!” Frank yelled. He fired the Winchester at the running man, but missed. The fighter was running too fast. Then there was another blast…a big one, and the fighter flew to the ground.
“Take that, cretin,” shouted Earl. He worked the bolt of his rifle to chamber another round.
“That’s two I owe you now, Earl,” Jerry shouted. Then he saw another out of the corner of his eye. He fired with the AK again, stopping him dead. Then there was silence.
Frank moved cautiously over to where Jerry was, Lucy by his side.
“Somebody has to go over to the parking area and clean things up.”
“I’ll take care of that, Frank,” said a voice from behind him. It was Major Hobbs. He pulled out the field radio.
“Private, stop the mortar rounds now, we’re going in.”
“Will do, Major,” the voice said over the scratchy sound of the radio.
“Alright, men, let’s go in in groups of two. Fan out wide to catch any stragglers. If you can capture a couple of them, go for it, but don’t put yourself at risk.”
The soldiers spread and slowly moved forward, jumping over the creek and seeking some cover as soon as they got to the other side.
“What should we do?” Frank asked Jerry.
A few rifle shots came from the parking lot area.
“Sit tight for a few minutes,” Jerry said.
Two rifle shots came the front of the park.
“They are trying to get into the front,” Jerry said. “Those weren’t military rounds. Those are big bore hunting rifles.”
“Charlie and Jeb,” Frank said. “They’re on the roof of the store with their hunting rifles.
The sound of small arms fire from the front of the park filled the air.
“That’s military,” Jerry said. “I hope it’s mostly our guys.”
There were more large bore rifle shots. Then a mortar round went off, and there was a loud secondary explosion. Then more small arms fire, and more big bore rifle shots.
“Some heavy action going on up there – hope Jasmine and Rosie stay in the clubhouse…..” Jerry said. Another mortar round stopped his conversation.
“Hey, guys,” Captain Hobbs shouted from across the creek. “We’re clear. You can come on back. Wait until you see what we found.”
“Let’s go,” Jerry said. Frank nodded, and they both got up cautiously and headed for the parking area.
“Sounds like the action in the front has stopped,” Frank said.
“Yeah, that could be good or bad.”
“Wow, look at those trucks,” Frank said. “Those are US Army vehicles.”
The parking lot came fully into view. There were three army troop transport trucks. All were destroyed, and one of them still had a full load of soldiers when it was hit. There were mangled bodies of Islamist fighters all over the place.
“Look at that!” Jerry said, pointing.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Frank as Major Hobbs was walking up.
“Sure is. That’s a real live M-1 Battle Tank. The guys manning it must have had the hatch open and been outside. Everybody around it is dead.”
“Is the tank damaged?” asked Jerry.
“Naw, those small field mortars won’t take out an M-1 unless they get a real lucky hit. I have my guys checking it out now.”
“So how did these cretins get all of this US Army equipment?” asked Frank.
“These probably came from one of the bases that was overrun in New Mexico a few days ago,” the Major said. “We’re lucky that we hit that full transport truck with the mortar. There were another twelve men in the back. And they had two RPGs and a mortar, too.”
“Any of it salvageable?” Frank asked.
“The mortar might be, but we don’t have the time to mess with it,” he said.
“We do,” Jerry said, and he winked at Frank.
“Help yourself,” Major Hobbs said. “Might have to clean it a little bit. It’s a bloody mess.”
“Anybody alive?” asked Frank.
“Nope,” the Major said. “There were a few wounded men back there, but they tried to fire at us so we took them out. I’ll bet we have a few who are trying to get away as we speak. Jerry, want to help us track them?”
“Hell, yes,” Jerry said.
“Alright, go over there and help Private Bates. He’s a good man, and knows some tracking as well.”
“Alright, see you later, gentlemen.”
Frank and Major Hobbs surveyed the scene as the privates slowly went through everything, stacking up weapons and ammo close to where the trail came over the creek.
“You’ve got more weapons,” the Major said.
“You aren’t taking them?”
“No, we’ve got plenty of small arms and ammo, and of course the ammo for these AKs isn’t the same as ours. You guys should keep this stuff, and start moving away from the hunting rifles as soon you can.”
“Oh, I don’t know, this Winchester hasn’t let me down yet,” Frank said.
“I know, but it will. Those were never designed for the military. If you get some dirt in that action, it’s going to jamb. It takes a while to reload those relics, too. Slipping a fresh magazine into an AK-47 is a lot better when you are in a fire fight.”
“Yeah, probably a good point, I guess,” Frank said.
“You guys have been extremely lucky in every one of these battles so far, Frank.”
“I know.”
“Good, because you need to prepare yourself. Some of you folks are going to get killed. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I understand that,” Frank said. “If you guys weren’t with us on this occasion, we’d probably still be in the heat of a very bad fight. That mortar helped a lot.”
“They were going to get that tank’s gun pointed at the park and start firing,” the Major said. “That would have been it, and your small arms fire wouldn’t have made a stitch of difference.”
“We need to bottle up this area back here.”
“Yes,” the Major said. “I have some suggestions.”
“Shoot,” Frank said.
“After you get the bodies cleaned out of here, I’d use something to move the hulks of those trucks into the driveway over there. The trees around this place are going to make it really tough to get anything through if the driveway is blocked.”
“Go on.”
“Then back the tank up into this end of the parking lot, and point the gun right down the driveway. Have somebody man that sucker 24-7.”
“You aren’t taking the tank with you?”
“No, I can’t use it,” the Major said. “You guys just got yourself an expensive piece of hardware. I’ll get you manuals as soon as I can, but we can probably have Lieutenant James check some of your folks out. He used to work with those.”
“Have you been in contact with Major Darcy?”
“Not yet, trying to get him on the radio.”
“Uh Oh, I hope everything is alright up there.”
“If they lost, we’d still be hearing gunshots as the cretins execute all of the people in the park. Don’t know if the battle is over yet, but we haven’t lost.”
“You noticed the big difference about this attack, didn’t you, Major?” Frank asked.
“What?”
“No militia men.”
The Major looked him in the eye, and had a worried expression.
Chapter 11 – Dead Soldiers
“You’re right,” Major Hobbs said. “I haven’t seen any militia men anywhere back here. Only Islamist fighters. Even in the truck that we hit with the mortar round.”
“Did you contact Major Darcy yet?” asked Frank.
“No, and that’s worrisome,” he said. “Feel like sneaking up there with me?”
“I was going either way. Jane is up there.” Frank said.
“Alright, I’ll let my privates know. You want to take anybody else?”
“I’d say Jerry, but he’s tracking right now. Probably a good idea to keep him on that.”
“OK,” Major Hobbs said. He trotted over to where his men were going through the wreckage of the trucks, and let them know he would be gone for a few minutes. He rejoined Frank, and they walked towards the gate.
“Sheriff, we are going up front for a few minutes,” Frank said as they went by the blind.
“Who?”
“Just Major Hobbs and I. If there aren’t big problems, we’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out. I’d leave that mortar there and sighted in on that parking lot just in case a second wave comes in here.”
“Will do,” Major Hobbs said. He went over to the private manning the mortar and told him to sit tight for now.
They walked through the gate. Everything looked normal, but nobody was walking around. It was like everybody took off and left the park empty.
“I’ll sneak up to the clubhouse,” Frank said.
“Alright, I’m going over by where the Humvees are parked.”
Frank made his way to the clubhouse, and peered into one of the windows. Jane was sitting in there, next to Rosie and Jasmine and Chester. The doc was working on somebody up towards the front of the room with one of the paramedics, but he couldn’t see who. He went around to the door. Jane saw him and ran over to him, hugging him tightly.
“Oh, Frank, I’m so glad you’re okay.” She kissed him and continued to hug him tightly. Jasmine came running over.
“Where’s Jerry?” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“He’s fine, don’t worry. We won in the back. He’s helping one of the privates back there track anybody who might have escaped.”
“Thank God,” she said. Rosie and Chester came hobbling over.
“Jerry alright?” Rosie asked.
“He’s fine, mom,” Jasmine said, smiling.
“Oh, crap, is that Hilda on the table?” Frank said.
“Yes, she got hit pretty badly,” Jane said. “Doc said he thinks she will make it, but it’s going to be touch and go for a little while.”
“What happened up here?” Frank asked.
“It was horrible,” Jane said. “The Islamist fighters came driving up the road towards us. Jeb and Charlie saw them, and took out the folks driving the front truck. They shot out the tires too. It bottled up the road, and the other trucks behind it couldn’t get past it. It looked like we were going to take them all, when about half of Major Darcy’s men turned. They shot him. Then they shot Hilda. The remaining good privates took them out.”
“How is Major Darcy?” Frank asked.
“He’s dead,” Jane said.
“Oh, crap. Anybody else get hit?”
“No,” Jane said.
“Jeb and Charlie saved our butts,” Chester said. Those first shots at that truck were about 300 yards out. Took the cretins completely by surprise.”
“Don’t mess with rednecks,” Frank said. The door opened, and Major Hobbs rushed in. He had tears on his face and a look of anger and resolve.
“We’ve only got six men left out there,” Major Hobbs said. “I’m assuming you heard what happened to Major Darcy.”
“Yes, Major. I’m so sorry,” Frank said.
“Well, the only good news is that we know the remaining privates are real army. Between your two redneck friends and the roof of that store and what was left of Darcy’s men, they were able to stop the enemy.”
“How did they stop them out on the road?” Frank asked.
“Your friends took out that first truck, and it bottled up the street. Major Darcy was working with his gunner to get the mortar set up when he got shot by the plants. Then a battle went on between the remaining good privates and the bad guys. That was over pretty fast, but we lost another two good men.”
“So after that, they got the mortar set up, I suspect.”
“Yes, they did, and they blasted the two trucks that were behind the first one. They shot most of the Islamists as they jumped out and tried to run. A few of them got away, though. I’ve got four of the remaining privates chasing them down now. These ‘fighters’ were so flustered that they didn’t even try to attack the campground. The Islamists talk a good game, but they ain’t worth much against real men.”