The gun went off.
Ojo collapsed on top of her.
His breathing was shallow and raspy, as Josie felt warm blood soaking her shirt.
Ojo was bleeding out and he coughed up even more blood all over Josie’s face.
She felt his body getting lighter as another figure bent over her. It was Jon.
He and his friend grasped Ojo and lifted him off of her. They sat down beside Josie.
The three of them looked at Ojo for what seemed like a long time as he continued to bleed out and cough violently.
Then, his body went still and his coughs abruptly stopped.
At long last, Ojo was dead.
Silence filled the forest beyond them.
Chapter 42
“We need to make a plan and soon, because Alex’s not doing so hot.” Jon spoke quickly and quietly, cautious of any unwanted guests in the nearby woods.
The group had rehydrated and eaten to prepare for the journey ahead. Forty-five minutes later, they were finally planning their next moves.
“The infirmary has insulin. I saw it when I visited Roy and Ben. We will have to go back for it and for both of them.”
Josie was exhausted. The fight with Ojo had left her emotionally and physically drained. Dave and Jon both felt the same. They had hiked all day and knew the coming night didn’t promise any rest.
“Okay. Josie, you know the layout. Can you get us in and out?” Dave’s eyes seemed doubtful.
“Well, they started building defenses around the town.” She picked up a stick and cleared away leaves to trace a large rectangle in the dirt. “The infirmary is here. Main street runs through the town. There are tents and buildings all along main street.”
She traced small dots for the buildings and a big X marked the infirmary.
“The perimeter has some trenches, foxholes, and bunkers built along it. They are also building a wall on this side.” Josie pointed and drew as she talked. “But . . . I did see one section across from the infirmary that has an opening. No wall, no trenches, but I’m guessing there will be guards posted at each exposed area.”
“Well, at least we aren’t going in blind,” Jon sighed. “What do you think, Dave?”
“I think we better high tail it if we want to make it by nightfall. We need to scout it out at dusk to see how many guys they have patrolling at night. I know we risk being seen, but we have the element of surprise. We wiped out their entire scouting party, so they won’t really know what happened to them until they send someone out tomorrow. We’ve got their trucks and weapons, too. So . . . let’s get going.”
Dave stood up, grabbed his pack and AR-15, and started walking. Josie and Jon followed. The walk back to the cars wasn’t long. They stopped to grab weapons off the fallen along the way. Now, each of them had an AR-15 and an assortment of handguns with more hardware in the vehicles stolen from Nero. The long gun lockers in the back of the truck housed several rifles, flash bombs, grenades, hand guns, and ammunition. The stockpile would go a long way if they had to fight Nero’s militia again.
They took both vehicles, the old Ford F150 and Jeep, Josie and Jon in one car and Dave in the other. The sun started setting over a crimson sky as they neared the main road into Nero’s town. They pulled the trucks off to the side of the road to hide them as deep in the underbrush as possible. Luckily, Nero’s crew was well equipped with large tarps to help conceal the trucks. Once the trucks were adequately camouflaged, the trio stayed just inside the tree line as they hiked into town.
The sky dimmed to a dull bluish-grey as they crept close to the perimeter, watching as the night guard took its place guarding exposed areas of the perimeter. Dave timed them for the first hour before feeling confident that the guard along their path of entry passed every ten minutes. Once the sky was completely dark except for a sprinkle of stars and a half moon, the three shadows glided across the open expanse between the tree line and the perimeter. Ten minutes to get across and through the exposed side of the camp.
They made it in five and crept behind one of the buildings. Ducking down in the shadows as they waited for the night guard to pass. Five minutes ticked by slowly until they heard shuffling footsteps winding back towards them. Jon hugged the side of the building, drawing nearer and nearer to the front until the guard slowly appeared. He snuck behind him, his knife unsheathed. The guard was helpless as Jon covered his mouth and jammed the knife deep into his neck, just below his jaw. He dragged the body quietly behind the building where Josie and Dave waited.
They moved up as one unit, clinging to the side of the building. It was one of the old markets with wooden booths set up within. It was open and impractical for boarding. They watched as the nurse closed the infirmary door across the street. She headed off to the left, towards the saloon, the bottom floor had been converted into a mess hall. Laughter and chatter echoed from the open doorway, and lantern light spilled out into the street.
As soon as the nurse cleared the threshold of the saloon, they darted across the street and behind the infirmary. The hum of the generator offered a little bit of sound cover. Josie had grabbed one of the shirts off the dead men in the woods. She now used it to wrap up her hand completely and break the glass of the back window. She reached up with her free hand and unlocked the latch. Jon held the window open as Josie scrambled through, careful to not step on the broken glass. She ran over to Roy and Ben. They were still restrained to their beds. Josie freed them and hurriedly hugged both of them before running to the front door to unlock it for Jon and Dave. But before she could reach the door, the handle turned. The nurse walked in, looking down at something, preoccupied and unaware of Josie standing frozen in front of her. As the nurse glanced up and realization dawned on her face, Josie lifted the butt of her rifle and struck her in the temple. The nurse went down quickly, unmoving. Jon and Dave rushed into the cabin. Roy sat up slowly as Jon came to his side, offering his shoulder to lean on. Josie ran to the refrigerated unit and stuffed her bag with all of the insulin she could find, breaking open cold packs from the cabinets and lining the edges of her pack with them.
Ben was still weak and any movement made him dizzy and disconcerted. Dave and Josie propped him up, one on each side. They all made their way as quietly as possible to the front door. Every step was a small victory. It wouldn’t be long before someone noticed the guard missing or the nurse woke up and screamed an alarm. Roy and Ben slowly made their way with the help of the others. Crossing the street would be tricky with Ben. Josie scouted ahead, making sure the street was clear before Dave and Jon carried Ben across. Jon turned back to help Roy, and just as the group cleared the gap in the exposed perimeter, the nurses’ screams rang through the crisp night air. The group silently melted into the woods beyond.
Chapter 43
The group moved as quickly as possible back to the vehicles. They could hear the camp teeming with life, awake and humming with an intense focus. Nero wouldn’t let them escape, and if he caught them, he wouldn’t let them live this time. Jon and Dave ran ahead, uncovered the trucks, and beat it back to the rest of the group. To hell with hiding. They had already been exposed. They loaded the injured men into the vehicles and peeled down the road and back towards the city.
“What the hell do we do now?” Josie’s voice was quivering, her whole body shaking with exhaustion and fear.
“We are going to have to make a stand. We can’t outrun them. They will find us, which means, they will find Alex. It’s time to fight. We have the advantage. We will set up in the woods and let them come to us. Jon?” Roy looked at him for confirmation.
“Roy’s right,” Jon looked toward Josie. “Get on the walkie to Dave and tell him to stop at the site of the wreck. Tell him we are going to go out into the woods and take them from there.”
Josie confirmed with Dave, and they parked just behind him in the same spot they’d retrieved the vehicles from earlier that day.
“Okay, unload all the weapons you can carry! All the ammo you can
find! Stuff it into your packs, your pockets. Take the keys to the vehicles. We are going to need them if we get out of this. Ben, we are going to have to set you up close by and hide you. Grab all the ammunition and weapons Josie can give you.” Jon barked orders at everyone, and they listened, intent on survival.
“Roy, you can walk, even if you can’t walk fast. You and Josie, get a head start. Dave, you and I are going to find a place to hide Ben. We will follow you to the east, Roy. Just go east, and we will catch up and set our plan.” Jon grasped Roy’s hand. “Be safe.”
Josie and Roy started walking towards the trees. Roy’s leg felt stiff and slightly painful, but he knew he had to soldier through. Alex needed them.
Dave and Jon hefted Ben up, wrapping his arms around their shoulders on each side. They dragged him into the tree line, pulling him into the underbrush behind two large boulders and covered him with one of the tarps from the car and some dry brush and leaves. Ben held tightly to an AR-15 with one hand, two handguns protruded from the back of his pants, and in the other hand he held a flash bomb. His pockets were filled with extra ammo. His body was soaked in perspiration from the journey, but he was ready to die fighting.
Jon and Dave jogged east to catch up with Josie and Roy. They just reached them when they saw headlights coming from the road in the distance.
“Okay, it’s game time. Nice cover you found.” He motioned to several fallen trees, a large boulder, and the thick forest cover a couple of yards to the left. “Dave, you and I go that way into that copse of trees. Josie and Roy, you guys behind the boulder. Stay together.”
They all dispersed, setting up their weapons and blending into the cover of the forest at night. Their eyes had time to adjust, but Nero’s men would be coming in blindly. The lights beyond the woods blinked out, and silence cloaked the darkness. They waited. Five minutes stretched out into an eternity. Slowly, the forest came back to life. An owl hooted in the distance, the loud chirrup of the crickets began to sing. Nature was unaware of the coming battle.
Jon and Dave hid behind the trees, hands gripping their AR-15s tightly. Waiting. Roy and Josie sat with their backs against the boulder. Listening intently. Hoping for the tell-tale sign of a snapping twig or crunching leaves. They didn’t have to wait long. Footsteps resounded through the silence. It sounded like an army had fallen among the dead leaves.
Roy and Josie peaked out from either side of the boulder. Josie held up her hand. Two men. Roy help up his. Five.
“On my count.” His whisper tickled her ear.
He held up his fingers . . . one . . . two . . . three. They lit up the night. The orange glow of gunfire sparking their muzzles and giving away their position. Two men fell. Five men fell. They hadn’t known what was coming.
Josie and Roy ducked back behind the boulder. Roy prayed that Jon and Dave could be the moving targets to keep Nero’s men from bearing down and overtaking him and Josie now that their position was compromised.
Roy looked to his left. A shadow shifted from behind a tree.
“Josie, DOWN!!!”
They both went down to the ground just as gunfire tore chunks out of the boulder above their heads.
Jon stepped out from behind his tree and took out the two men shooting at Ben and Josie.
“Fall back,” he yelled, as more gunfire erupted behind them. “I’ll cover you!”
Josie braced Roy to stand, and they hobbled quickly into the copse of trees as Jon shot cover fire around them.
Another shadow fell and didn’t get up. Roy and Josie positioned themselves just to the left of Jon. Gunfire erupted from the frontal assault. By the muzzle flashes, Roy counted nine more men. He knew Nero couldn’t possibly spare more for this expedition after seeing the size of the camp and the number of soldiers he had.
A quick burst of gunfire exploded behind them. Roy looked over, expecting to see Dave, but something was wrong. The gunfire wasn’t aimed out in front of them. It had gone off to the side, near Jon. Roy looked to where Jon had stood previously, but he only saw a figure crumpled up and lying close to one of the trees. A shadow walked into view, the gun trained on Roy and Josie. As he stepped closer, his voice echoed into the night air.
“I’ve got them!” He yelled. “Stand down! Hello, Roy and Josie. It’s interesting that you are finally together again. It would seem poetic that you get to die in each other’s arms. Josie, you asked why I didn’t kill you and your husband after you killed so many of my men? Roy, you don’t remember me, do you? Your second tour. Private Mason. I was just an innocent eighteen year old kid.”
Realization dawned on Roy’s face.
Mason continued, “I remember. Every night, you would pull out your picture of Josie and your daughter Alex. Every night, I would listen to you talk about getting home to see them. One day, we were out in the field and a little boy, a local, had asked me to play ball with him and his friends. He was leading me down into a field, holding my hand. I was young and naïve. I believed in humanity and decency then. You were behind us. Just as I was about to step foot into that field. A shot rang out from behind me. The boy ran, and lying dead in the grass was a man with a gun, ready to kill me. You saved me, and I tried all this time to save you and your family. Yes, you would have to be my soldier, abide by my rules. But, I tried to save you, and your pride was too much to let go. And now, I’m sorry, but I don’t give third chances. I have to kill you.”
The morning light was just turning the edges of night grey as he lifted his gun, aiming at Roy’s head, but before he could pull the trigger, the quick rapport of gunfire shook his body. Blood blossomed from an open wound on his chest, and he crumpled to the ground in front of Josie and Roy. He opened his mouth as he tried to speak, but no sound came out. He fell over dead in front of them.
Dave’s voice ricocheted through the forest.
“Your friend Nero is dead! This group has killed at least twenty of your men in the past several days! I suggest you run back home and leave us be!”
The forest resounded with more gunfire from Dave’s AR-15. Roy and Josie peered from behind the boulder to see shadows running through the forest, back towards the road. Dave walked over to Jon’s body, kneeling down to close his eyes. The group sat a while, waiting to make sure the forest was clear. The morning dawned beautiful around them as they finally made their way back to Ben and the road. Dave carried Jon’s body over his shoulder.
Ben was untouched where they had left him. They hoisted him up and laid him across the back of the Jeep. Jon’s body was rolled up in the tarp in the bed of the truck. Josie and Roy followed Dave in the Jeep all the way to his house. As the sun lit up the sky around them, the two cars pulled up in front of Ruth and Dave’s house.
Dave got out of the car to meet Roy and Josie.
“It’s not much, but you are welcome here. After what we all went through together, I can’t turn you away. Please stay.”
Roy and Josie smiled sadly, shaking their heads in gratitude.
Alex and Ruth peered cautiously from the windows before bursting out into drive. Josie and Roy scooped Alex into their arms as Dave and Ruth gathered each other in a long, slow kiss.
-------------------------------------
The group gathered around the makeshift burial site. Alex had insisted that she carve Jon’s name into the wooden sign that hung on the cross above his grave. Ruth’s voice sang soft and low.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost
But now am found
Was blind but now
I see.
They each placed wildflowers over the grave, and Alex spoke the eulogy.
“Jon was good and brave and kind. He saved me. He saved all of us. And I am going to miss him. Thank you, Jon, for being one of the best men, for being our friend.”
The group said their silent goodbyes and headed back into the house.
THE END
Eternal Darkness
> Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter One
The Woods of North Idaho - 22 Days After The EMP
Randall Parker peered through the Leupold scope of his Springfield .308 rifle at a small whitetail doe grazing on the opposite side of the ridge.
It was the first deer, the first large animal of any kind, that he had seen since the EMP because the forests had become infested with hunters desperate for food who had made the once thriving deer population a rare species.
Randall was twenty six years old, six foot two, and dressed in wool hunting camouflage pants and coat over a fleece jacket and hiking boots. His black backpack, his bug out bag, was moderately heavy and filled with survival items.
Dawn of Destruction Page 26