Nate was wrong; Mister McKay was even less willing to negotiate than Whittaker was. It may have had something to do with the fact I had killed his old boss and then the tower guards had to kill him and his security men again when they came back as Stinkies. We offered McKay the opportunity to retrieve the bodies but they were left lying outside the gate. He declined to meet with me and sent a message saying the only acceptable outcome would be for us to pack up and leave. He would ensure our safe passage out of the valley. Nice guy. We, of course, declined.
The situation deteriorated and the next two weeks were spent sniping at each other. They were hoping the siege would break us. We have lost three more security people and have killed several of theirs. It's even more a battle of wills now to see who is the most stubborn. Kat still bet on me but each time one of our people was wounded I wondered if this was the right choice. After all we had made it this far and we had built The Dell into our home. I knew we could do it again if we had too, that was if they let us leave unharmed. That was a pipe dream. There was only one way they would let us leave and that was dead, really dead.
On March thirtieth, McKay sent word that we had until 8 a.m. the following morning to surrender the compound or they planned a full assault. I talked the situation over with Jim, Dave, and Camille. Dave and Camille both gave the same advice and for the first time Jim was in complete agreement with them. Dave wanted to attack them while they were still preparing their attack on us. His view was the best defense is a good offense. We didn't have a choice so I told Dave to make the preparations.
At 4:30 a.m. on the thirty-first, the entire security detachment was lined up at the gate. We had made the move blacked out and a few people at a time to keep from alerting the observers we knew watched us. We had moved some of our non-security folks to fill in inside the compound. It wouldn't matter that there were no experienced people left inside because if we lost this fight it was over for us anyway. We were going all in with this option and to survive we had to succeed.
An MRAP with its 50 cal. heavy machine gun was in the lead. Behind it came one of the seven ton flame trucks, then two of the Humvee’s, the other seven ton truck, the third Humvee, and last the second MRAP. Once outside the gate, we would spread out abreast and charge across the intervening distance to the enemy positions. I wanted to roll out at 5 a.m. and the last thirty minutes dragged by like eternity. Finally, the time to go arrived and the nerves I had been feeling disappeared. That's the way it had always been for me. I might be scared or nervous during the planning and the wait for an operation to start. But once the operation kicked off all those feelings went away and it was all business.
I would direct the attack from the lead MRAP and when the time came I signaled the gate guards to open the gate. I wanted to hit them fast and hard and push them away before they had time to organize and react. I told my driver to go and he hit the gas hard. I reminded everyone over the radio to keep up and we rolled out of the compound. As soon as we cleared the serpentine the vehicles behind mine started to spread out on either side. Once everyone had taken their place we sped up and charged across the field.
I wanted to hold fire as long as we could in order to maintain surprise. That meant that McKay's people would get the chance to fire first. We made it about two hundred yards from the cut through the hills before the enemy woke up to our presence. When they became aware of us they didn't hesitate. We were taking fire from dozens of positions. Our gunners had been instructed to fire at the muzzle flashes and they zeroed in on the enemy positions with precision. As our rate of fire increased the inbound fire decreased. We were having an effect and the enemy positions were being silenced.
Once we were closer and the flame weapons came to bear they had an immediate effect. The soldiers in front of us broke and began to retreat through the cut. My plan was to pursue them as long as we could maintain contact. I wanted to hurt them and hurt them badly.
As we reached the cut our vehicles had to converge back into trail formation. This didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped and we lost contact briefly. My constant yelling on the radio to keep up finally worked and we were able to reengage. The narrow portion of the road was only about three hundred yards long and was a perfect place to set up an ambush. I wanted to get through that area quick as possible even if it meant we bypassed some of the enemy. We could always mop up after the main force was broken.
My vehicle exited the narrows and we were back in the open. I told my driver to slow down so the other vehicles could re-take their places abreast of my vehicle. About a mile down the road there was an old farm house on the right side. I could see lights around this house and suspected they were using it as a command post. That would be our primary target. All of the retreating soldiers were headed toward it and we pursued them relentlessly. So far the attack had gone nearly flawless. We had taken some hits but none had disabled a vehicle and we had no casualties yet. I kept hoping this would work.
We rolled forward at about ten miles an hour so it took us several minutes to reach the farm house. As we came in range we engaged the vehicles parked around the old house. Some were trying to get under way, others were being loaded. We showed no mercy and fired at anything and everything. McKay's people were taking heavy casualties and their response fell apart as they tried to get away from our overwhelming fire.
I sent the flame trucks forward and told them to burn the house. It was quickly accomplished and the house was an inferno within minutes. The gun trucks continued to engage the opposing vehicles and personnel. The remaining enemy tried to scatter and evade away from us. The Humvee’s were the most maneuverable and I told them to hunt down and kill any of those trying to escape. My vehicle and the flame trucks stayed at the farm house to ensure no one escaped.
I hoped Dr. Dumont was in the house when we engaged it. I was sure if she survived our attack she would eventually come back to haunt us again. The house was now completely engulfed. Anyone still inside was surely dead. I directed the men operating the flame weapons to burn the vehicles and they directed the gouts of flame at them.
I took a radio call from Dave in one of the gun trucks and he told me that the soldiers he had been pursuing had made it into the trees and he was breaking off. I asked how many had escaped and he responded that about twenty had gotten away from them. That was more than I had hoped but there wasn't much we could do about it now. I knew we had killed a large number and we were momentarily safe from the expected morning attack. They might be able to regroup but I doubted they would have the numbers to be able to force the issue with us.
I told Dave to let them go and rejoin us at the house. He told me he would and I ordered our vehicles to back away so we could observe for any of the enemy that remained. We stopped about three hundred yards away and continued to hunt for survivors. As I watched, the house fell in on itself and the flames shot hundreds of feet into the air. No one could live in there and the firing had dwindled to nothing. Less than an hour after the attack started it was finished.
I kept everyone ready for a counter attack for another half hour but nothing happened. At around 6:30 a.m., I called the operation complete and we headed back to The Dell. We came through the cut back into the valley and for the first time I felt a sense of relief. Maybe it was over. If we had successfully broken the siege we would be safe for a while.
The rest of the day was spent in anticipation of a counter attack that never came. That evening when I went home to our little cottage Kat met me at the door. She asked how things had gone and I told her I thought there was a good chance we had beat them. She smiled. "I told you that you were the most stubborn." I laughed and she hugged me. We stood like that for several minutes and it felt good to be in her arms again without the worry of an impending attack. I felt as if a weight had been lifted.
The next several days were just more of the same. Waiting for an assault that didn't come and hoping it never would. After a week of this, I finally decided that it was time for us to get ba
ck to our regular schedule. On April eighth, we sent a foraging party out with a large security detail. When they returned they told me about run in’s with Stinkies that had been part of McKay's group. There had been no other sign of our enemy. Whatever had happened to the survivors of our attack, they were no longer around the Dell.
It was finally over. I couldn't believe how lucky we had been. After all the worries, all the fear, we had beaten Dr. Dumont and her mercenaries. We had overcome fear, death, and despair. We had risen to meet every challenge and our confidence was high but I was still unsure of the continued success of The Dell. One thing I was sure of, we would continue to struggle; to fight and we, the human race would go on.
Now it’s time to see what comes next.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STEPHEN WOODS is a retired US Army Special Forces soldier and a former police narcotics detective. Stephen currently works as a Police Advisor to the US Army in Afghanistan. An avid zombie fan, We Go On is his first book.
We Go On (THE DELL) Page 25