“Hurry, we need to stop them before they enter the farm’s compound,” he said.
The marauders have not ceased firing at this point.However, the sequence of shots had significantly slowed down. Chris instructed his other militia friends to get into position. They quickly crawled towards one of the ground floor rooms. He specifically instructed them to not fire any shots until they get into position. Or else, it will become difficult for them to make their way the attic.
Meanwhile, Chris called Anthony and Aaron’s attention. “Follow me,” he told them.
Each of them carried their own weapons, all handguns. Chris’ militia friends handled the rifles. They were determined to fight violence with violence. The marauders had become increasingly violent with each passing day.They had to fight tooth-and-nail if they were to survive.
Chris made sure to provide weapons for the women, in case they had to defend for themselves, too. Justin volunteered to get a gun but Mary protested it.
Grandpa also volunteered to help them fight off the marauders. But Aaron told him to stay back.
“Dad, you have to stay here. It is way too dangerous,” he said. When he saw the disappointed look on his father’s face, he tried to appease him saying, “You need to stay here with mom. It is important that you keep her safe.”
Grandpa no longer protested but insisted that he be allowed to carry a gun. Aaron gave in.
The marauders had temporarily stopped shooting. Chris, together with Anthony and Aaron, made most of this opportunity.They quickly but carefully crawled on the ground. Chris pointed for them to go up the attic. This is where Aaron, Grandpa, and Justin hid during the initial break-in. It provided a great vantage point for them when firing the shots without detection.
The two militia men were stationed in the ground floor bedroom.They hid behind the cabinets in order to keep from being hit by the bullets.
A few of the marauders were starting to make their way into the gate.The rest held their position and were about to reload their guns. Chris thought this was the best time to return shot. He wanted to stop them before theycan get into the house. By that time, it will be difficult to apprehend them as they could be outnumbered.
P-taff! P-taff! P-taff!
The marauders were startled when they heard gun shots headed their way from inside the farm house. One of the guys who climbed up the gate and entered the farm compound got hit on the leg. He grimaced in pain.He used his hands to cover the bleeding wound.
Another one who entered the gate tried to help his friend. But before he can even get to him, he was shot on his hand. He was shrieking in pain.
Pht! Pht!
Chris and the rest continued to rain gun shots on them. It was the marauders’ turn to panic. From the looks of it, they did not expect that the people within the farm house would fire back.In fact, they never thought that the farm folks were armed at all.
Big Dave insisted that they stick it out. He told his men to keep shooting. But they were quickly running out of bullets. Meanwhile, a lot of their men were hit and some were dead, their bodies lain on the ground.
One of the men was yelling for them to back out and retreat.“Keep shooting!” Big Dave instructed firmly. “We won’t back down!”
The men hesitantly returned to their post.With more members of the marauders going down, the remaining men were getting all the more scared for their life.
“Big Dave, what are we going to do?” one of them cried out for help.
“Shoot them! Until there’s none of them left!” Big Dave stubbornly responded.
Aaron and Anthony pulled out their semi-automatic pistols one more time. Chris had just reloaded his .44 magnum and joined in on the shooting spree.
Dakka! Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!
Pht! Pht! Pht!
Tzing! Tzing! Tzing!
Bullets were coming in from various directions. A few shots landed on the ground. Chris and Aaron swapped places trying to shoot at the enemies.One of them would duck while the other fired and vice versa. The constant movement, according to Chris, will help keep them from getting hit.Anthony and Aaron were getting more and more confident with Chris’ guidance.
A few of the marauders had dropped to the ground. They were unable to come to the aid of their injured companions. They knew it would be suicide to attempt to do so.
In the midst of the chaos, a sheriff’s patrol car was speeding towards the farm house. It was Benjamin, together with Sheriff Taylor, the colonel, and Walter. They just got back from the meeting from the neighboring farm. They could hear the gun shots from afar and it made the sheriff drive even faster. Benjamin felt highly agitated on his seat; he looked like he was ready to jump off the sheriff’s patrol car at any moment.
Upon seeing the sheriff’s vehicle, Big Dave looked around him. There were only four of them left, including him. His son was nowhere in sight.But he realized that they were already outnumbered. At that point, he decided it was time to concede. They had to give up the fight.
“Stop!” he yelled. The men paused to wait for his command.
“Time to retreat!” he commanded. Two men who were with him just rolled their eyes as they looked at each other.
“Go! Go!” he commanded them to move quickly.
After quickly dropping their guns,they headed towards a nearby shrub to keep from being seen.This prompted Chris and his men to cease shooting. They observed for a few minutes. When another minute passed, Aaron looked visibly impatient.
“What do you think is happening?” Aaron curiously asked. His heart still raced. He did not want to be too complacent.
Chris motioned for them to stay quiet. He was monitoring the marauders’ activity outside.He returned to his hiding spot. Then, they heard the sound of a vehicle stopping.
Anthony and Aaron looked at each other with nervous stares. Chris was still keeping an eye out for any threats from the outside. Aaron was determined to do what Chris told him to do. He was willing to stay there for as long as possible until Chris said it was safe to go out.
Then, he yelled out to his friends who were on the ground floor, asking for any information.
“It’s the sheriff!” yelled one of them. Chris peeked through a crack in the wall. At that moment, he saw Benjamin stepping out of the sheriff’s vehicle, looking like a chicken with his head cut off.
“Mary?!” he frantically cried out for his family as he bulldozed his way inside the gate. He was devastated by the scene of destruction at the farm house. There were a couple of wounded men on the farm yard. They were still alive but both were visibly in tremendous amount of pain. The house was nearly wrecked by bullet holes. This made his heart beat pump faster.
“Ben!” yelled Aaron as he looked out from the attic.
“What happened?” he asked, crying.
“Find them in the kitchen. I’ll meet you there,” he told Benjamin. Without a blink, Benjamin rushed to the kitchen. A worried Walter trailed behind him.
Sheriff Taylor and Colonel Caesar examined the dead bodies on the ground. They also apprehended the two wounded men on the yard.
“We’ll get you some medical attention in a while,” colonel said. “Oh boy, you were looking for trouble and you sure got it!” he remarked. The sheriff could only shake his head at the sight.
At the kitchen, Benjamin hugged Mary and his kids upon seeing they were alive and safe. Walter also met his wife with a tight embrace. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” Victoria reassured him. But Walter broke down with tears. He could not even get himself to say anything as his emotions overwhelmed him.
“Michelle?” Aaron asked as he was entering the kitchen. Anthony and Chris looked on behind him.
“We’re okay,” she said.
“The kids?” he worriedly asked.
“No need to worry. They’re just rattled but we’re fine nonetheless,” she said while checking on their kids.
Colonel Caesar broke up the scene when he entered into the kitchen with Sheriff Taylor. “I see we have a
couple of wounded men and a few dead bodies,” he said.
Chris turned around to speak on behalf of the group, “Colonel, we did what we have to do for our own safety. Remember when Sheriff and his crew were ambushed?” he said as he turned to face the sheriff. “This time, they were ballsy enough toambush the farm house. We got lucky that the circumstances fell in our favor. It would have been a completely different story if no one were left behind to defend,” Chris defended.
Aaron and Grandpa nodded to agree with Chris.
“I understand, Chris. But we need to find a way to dispose all those dead bodies,” the colonel said.
“We’ll figure that out. We can transport them with my truck,” Grandpa Taylor volunteered.
“And what about the wounded?” the colonel asked.
“We can use them to gather information. Maybe hold them as hostages?” Walter suggested.
“Looks like we have plenty of things to talk about for the rest of the night,” Benjamin said.
They just looked at each other in awe. Meanwhile, Benjamin hugged her family closer. He knew they were lucky enough to survive that and no one was left with a serious injury.
Meanwhile, Big Dave and of his surviving companions were crowded behind the large shrub from across the farm house. They used it to shield themselves from the view of the shooters. They stayed there for a while until they deemed it was safe to step out and escape.
“What are we to do now, Big Dave?” asked one with an impatient and challenging tone to his voice.
Big Dave looked over his shoulder. He looked surprised and scared at the same time. The men fell silent for a while. They looked at each other, searching for answers. But no one was willing to give it.
“I suggest we go back to the others.We need to re-group,” he finally said.
“Re-group?”
“How can we leave these bodies behind?” chimed in another.
“Shut up!” scoffed one. “I’m still talking here,” he added. The other looked away.
“As I was saying, what do you mean by re-group?” his demeanor showed his lack of patience. He demanded an answer from Big Dave.
“We’ll figure it out later. We’ve lost plenty of our folks,” Big Dave responded.
“I can see that,” said one of the marauders.
“Come on! Let’s get out of here before they finish us all off,” said another while trying to keep the situation calm. The group then broke off into the woods and found their way to their parked vehicle about half a mile away.
***
Chapter 27 – Cleaning House
The group contemplated on what they need to do to restore the farm house. This is a must if they intend to stay in the farm to ensure it is safe enough for them. The colonel, together with the sheriff and Chris’ militia friends, cleaned up the yard. There were several empty bullet cases that were scattered all over. They also washed off the blood stains on the ground. Those were coming from the dead bodies, as well as the two wounded men who entered the farm house gate.
The women and the kids were visibly shaken from the onslaught. Benjamin decided to have a talk with Aaron, Grandpa Taylor and Walter.
“I wanted to speak to you both,” Benjamin said, addressing both Grandpa Taylor and Aaron. “I know that you have the final say on what to do with the farm. This is your family’s farm house. But we have to think if it’s still safe enough for all of us, our families,” Benjamin said as he looked out to the open space.
“I’ve been thinking about that Ben,” Grandpa Taylor said. “But where do we go from here?”
Benjamin paused. He did not know either. He was deep in thought trying to find other means of how they can get safety if they get out of the farm house.
“Do you really think they will muster the courage to go back,after they had been completely defeated?” Aaron asked.
“You’ll never know,” Benjamin shrugged as he said this.
“I think our focus, at least for now, is to fix this place up. We want to make sure it is safe for everyone until we can find somewhere else safer,” Walter added.
Meanwhile, a few kilometers from the farm house, Big Dave and his surviving group of men just got into his truck. Big Dave struggled to crawl into the driver’s seat. He was exhausted from the trek. But it was their safest bet. They could not risk driving the truck close to the farm house, if they wanted to get out of their alive.
“How are we going to explain it to them?” one of them asked Big Dave. He neither spoke nor made any move.He acted like he did not hear the question at all.
“Big Dave, you got to let us know what you’re thinking,” demanded another. He was becoming increasingly impatient.
“To be honest, I don’t really know,” said Big Davein an aggravated voice. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“But how can we convince the others to fight with us? Look at how we ended up here,” he probed even further.
This prompted Big Dave to abruptly step on the brake pedal. The men sitting in the back seat flung themselves forward with such a sudden jolt of motion.
“Will you quit it?!” Big Dave finally burst in anger.He turned to face the man who had been bugging him with questions since the firing between two parties had ceased. “My son is out there somewhere!He might be dead - I don’t know! Will you stop making it sound like I don’t give a damn?!”
Big Dave’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. His eyes and face turned reddish. Sweat rolled down the sides of his face.
The men sulked back into their seats and they turned quiet.
After a couple minutes of silence, Big Dave broke it up by saying, “I know I made a fatal mistake. I made a decision based on insubstantial information.” He admitted as he continued to drive farther away from the farm. “I should have tried to be more patient with this.”
One of the men smiled at this admission. He seemed glad that Big Dave finally owned up to his mistakes. Big Dave continued to drive towards the base.
The Taylor family, along with the other refugees,worked together in cleaning up the farm house. Several kinds of debris had flown all over the place during the shooting. The windows in the front of the house were completely shattered.
“We need to have this fixed immediately. It’s going to be too dangerous, especially during night,” Grandpa said as he examined the devastation at the farm house.
“I’ll go get some carpentry supplies so we can at least cover this up temporarily,” he said while pointing to the shattered windows. Then, he went off towards the garage to get the supplies they need.
Chris’ militia friends got to work on thecommunication system.They were trying to use the radio to reach the Millington Naval Station.But they were having trouble getting the communicationsystem working again.
“Something’s wrong,” said one of the militia men.
“What do you mean ‘something’s wrong’?” asked the colonel. They had gathered around him trying to get some information on the matter.
“The radio is showing it has capacity to pick up a signal. However, when I try to connect, there is some odd interference going on. The signal might below but it has the ability to connect.But any attempt to communicate is disrupted by some form of interference in the signal,” he explained with a confused look in his face.
They all look stunned. Walter turned around, as if an idea just hit him.
He ran towards the two injured men who were part of the marauders' group. Benjamin had earlier treated their wounds. It was also based on Walter’s suggestion because he wanted to interrogate them about the opposing side.
They made sure to tie them up with rope so they do not attempt to escape. They were both tied at the side of the farm house where everyone can see them. A furious Walter went to question them.
“Do you know anything about this?” Walter asked. “Do you?!”
Both men looked surprised. “About what?” said one of them.
“Don’t play dumb with m
e! Have you been interfering with our radio system?!” he yelled to their faces.
They denied Walter’s accusations. “No, we know nothing about that!” said one of them.
“What about you?” Walter asked as he turned to the other marauder to question.
He vigorously shook his head in response. “No sir, believe me,” he pleaded.
Walter examined both men eye to eye. He paced back and forth before them. He was determined to get the information he needed.
The Second Amendment: A Novel On Surviving The Coming Collapse Page 16