by Dave Bowman
"We’re not abandoning you," Liz said.
“We can do this,” Jessa said, lowering her voice.
“Absolutely,” Charlie whispered.
Jessa followed Liz and Trina outside, ready to split off to go to their respective places. Nick turned inside, locking the front door and pushing a couch in front of it. The heavy oak bookcase blocked off most of the window. It wasn’t enough, but it would have to do.
Charlie stationed himself at the window. The light was low beyond the portion of the open window pane. The moon had not yet risen, still hidden behind the mountains in the distance, but the faint glow of the just-past-full moon spilling over the ridge cast the property in a dim light.
In the bedroom, Nick moved a heavy bureau in front of the only window, then he climbed the ladder to the loft, shutting and locking the small door behind him.
Trying to calm his pounding heart, he looked through the night vision scope. The sound of the voices was still distant.
He prayed his nephew, Bethany, and Mia would be out of harm’s way. Pulling on an ear muff to protect his hearing from shooting in the small, enclosed space, he took a deep breath. He had the Remington on the tripod, and, if he needed them, his AR-15 and Glock beside him.
His chest drew tight as he saw the first few men come up from the road, approaching the cabin through the woods. They snuck up through the woods on both sides of the driveway, then split up to surround the house. He wanted to take them out right away, but they were still too far to get a good shot.
He counted at least twelve men creeping up the property. His heart pounded. There would be little room for error. Everyone was depending on him. He fought back doubt and steadied his breath.
Jessa and Liz watched as Trina climbed the old deer stand, then they spread out in the woods to the southeast and east. Both women used the natural downward slope of the land to their advantage. Jessa lay down on her belly, prone behind her rifle. Liz crouched out of sight behind a tree.
Liz felt the breath knocked out of her as she heard the unmistakable sound of people walking from the road toward the house.
Her eyes had adjusted to the dark, and she could make out several men sneaking around the back side of the house. Nick's intuition had been correct – the invaders surrounded the house but did not venture into the woods.
Just fifty feet away, Liz focused on a man standing guard near the rear corner of the house. Her finger rested on the trigger guard, itching to move it and pull the trigger. Time seemed to stand still as she waited for Nick to fire first.
Jessa kept her gun trained on a squat man stationed near the tool shed. She, too, waited for Nick to begin.
Up in the loft, Nick could see at least seven men spread out along the front of the cabin. They stood with rifles raised and communicated silently with hand signals. When one man stepped forward to charge the door, Nick set him in his sight.
He exhaled and squeezed the trigger back.
Sound exploded in the small room and rang out into the dark night below.
He missed, and the man made a run for the door and out of Nick's range. He swiveled the gun to the next man, who was also running for the door, and pulled the trigger again. This time, the man fell backward into the dirt. Nick moved the rifle, looking for his next target.
Pandemonium had broken out below, with the men running to duck for cover and shooting toward the house.
Liz fired at the man on the corner. She missed, and she watched with horror as he swung around and aimed in her direction.
She fired again, this time hitting him in the chest. He stumbled a few steps, then fell down.
She searched around her, looking for her next target in the confusion. Shots were being fired in every direction. The noise and fear overwhelmed her, but she willed herself to keep calm and focus.
Jessa shot twice at her target, taking the man down.
She saw a flash of movement as another man ran to take cover behind the tool shed. She kept her eye on the area, waiting for him to emerge.
A moment later, he popped up firing at her. One bullet narrowly missed her, and she aimed at him, squeezing the trigger over and over. She heard a grunt, then the sound of him collapsing into the dirt.
She had taken two men down, and Liz one more, but how many more were out there?
The glass where Charlie was stationed had shattered quickly. As it was one of the few windows in the cabin, Charlie knew it was a major target.
He ducked down as window shards shattered everywhere, then raised his rifle once more to shoot into the yard. He struggled to see in the darkness and confusion, but he kept shooting in the direction where the men were hiding. On the other wall – and out of Charlie's range – someone was trying to kick the door in.
Nick had taken down another man, and another. But the invaders had quickly begun to shoot in his direction. So far, the glass hadn't broken.
He strained using the night vision scope to see into the trees below. Everyone had taken cover, and he couldn’t get a good sight on any of the invaders at the moment, though there were several firing at him.
Below the loft in the bedroom, someone had smashed the window. He heard the bureau being rocked back and forth as someone tried to push it out of the way. They were trying to climb inside.
Liz could hear shooting to her left, where Trina was waiting in the deer stand. She hoped that meant that another invader had fallen. She saw a man moving stealthily along the side of the house, headed toward the window where Charlie was stationed.
Just before he rounded the corner, Liz gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger. This time, she killed him on the first shot, and she watched as he staggered to the ground.
It had been quiet in Jessa’s corner for a few moments. The attackers had shifted their efforts toward trying to get inside the cabin. She heard someone kicking at the front door, and another person trying to push their way inside the bedroom window.
She had to do something. She had to move to where she could get a shot at the men trying to force their way inside. But when she left her strategic position, she would be much more vulnerable.
She didn’t know how many men were around the corner on the front side of the house. What if she left the cover of the tool shed and found herself staring down the barrels of five guns?
Terror gripped her.
But she had to do something. Charlie was right – if she hadn’t come to Colorado, none of this would be happening. The people she cared about had risked their lives to come look for her. She would never be able to live with herself if anything happened to them. It was time for her to risk her own life for them.
Still in her prone position, her eyes darted around. The tool shed was just a few yards away, and it looked to be clear.
She picked up her rifle, and stayed low to the ground as she crawled to the rear side of the shed and toward the far corner. She kneeled on the ground and readied her gun.
If she could just get around to the other side of the shed, she would have a good shot at the men at the door. But there could be someone on the side of the shed, or in the trees nearby. If she made a sudden movement, she could draw the attention of all the enemy shooters.
She took a deep breath. On the count of three.
One, two, three!
She popped her head around the corner, her gun raised. An enormous man with a dark beard spun around to face her.
She shot first.
The force of the bullet at close range threw his body to the ground behind him. She stared at him for a moment, just long enough to make sure he was no longer a threat.
A tiny movement in the woods to her right made her head snap up. Before she could shoot at the new target, a shotgun blast rang out into the night.
36
From his nest, Nick spotted a man move as he pivoted to shoot near the tool shed.
Jessa was down there!
Nick aimed and fired, taking the guy down in one shot.
Had he been too late?
Had the man shot Jessa? Nick held his breath as he looked through the scope.
A moment later, shots rang out from near the tool shed, aiming at the men near the front door.
His heart sped up. She was alive, but she was taking too many risks – she didn’t have enough cover.
He scanned the area below once more, but this time, there was no one else in his range.
It didn’t matter, anyway. Below, in the bedroom, the bureau came crashing to the floor. The sound of what was left of the window being broken made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
With shaking hands, he reloaded the Remington, then took it from the tripod. He opened the loft door and looked below just as a man was hoisting his body over the windowsill.
With no time to waste swinging the rifle around, Nick grabbed his Glock and aimed at the man. He shot twice, and the man fell to his knees, then face forward onto the floor.
Charlie heard the shots in the bedroom as he tried to keep the guys back from the front part of the cabin. He turned in horror to see the door finally be kicked in. A towering man charged in.
Before Charlie could turn his rifle toward him, a deafening sound filled the living room and Charlie was knocked onto his back. He lay on the floor as blood from his wounded shoulder poured out.
The last thing he saw was the man headed for the bedroom.
Everything was quiet for a moment after the shot inside the living room. After the deafening sounds of multiple guns being fired at once, the silence was a shock.
Jessa feared the worst. She inched forward and looked around the front yard. She saw nothing.
She made a run for it, part of her almost expecting to be shot down before she made it to the door. She ducked inside and looked frantically around. There was even less light in the interior of the cabin, but finally her eyes fell on Charlie’s dark figure, bleeding on the kitchen floor.
At first she thought he was dead. But as she bent down closer to his face, she heard his breathing.
Thank God.
For a moment she froze. She wanted desperately to stop Charlie’s bleeding, but she knew she had to clear the room of any threat first. Before she could even spin around, someone grabbed her.
She tried to twist free, but he had her trapped. He ripped the rifle out of her arms and covered her mouth with his hand.
“Looky what we have here,” he muttered, his breath hot in her ear. “You’re just who I was looking for.”
He started to drag her toward the front door, but another shot in the bedroom made him hesitate.
She tried to use his pause to her advantage. She struggled to get free, but he regained control. She kicked at him, but he twisted out of the way. They were nearing the doorway.
This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be taken captive by these horrible men.
“Let her go.”
Jessa strained to see Nick standing in the hallway. She could just make out his rifle aimed at the man holding her.
“You’re not going to hurt her.”
The man drew a pistol and pressed its barrel against her head. Jessa flinched.
“I’ll shoot her right now,” the man hissed. “So don’t think about trying anything. Put your weapon on the ground. Then march right back into the bedroom.”
Nick could see everything with his night vision scope. A movement in the corner caught his attention.
Charlie’s eyes were opening and closing from his place on the floor. He was flitting in and out of consciousness.
Now, he opened his eyes wide to see what was unfolding at his side. He drew a hunting knife from his pocket and quietly opened it. He flashed his eyes at Nick.
“Whatever you say,” Nick said as he carefully lowered the rifle to the floor. “Just don’t hurt her.”
The man laughed, then began to pull her toward the door.
Charlie gathered his strength and took a deep breath. He forced his arm to swing out in an arc and stabbed the man in his leg.
As the man’s grip on Jessa loosened, she dropped to the floor and crawled out of the way just as Nick drew his Glock and fired at the man. The round hit him in the chest.
He groaned, grasping at his wounds as his shirt bloomed dark. He stumbled, then fell to a heap in the doorway.
“Charlie!” Jessa cried, rushing to his side.
She clicked on her flashlight and grabbed a clean dish towel from the counter. The wound was deep, in his upper shoulder. He had lost so much blood already, and her hands shook as she applied pressure.
Nick fumbled in his backpack for his first aid kit. The adrenaline was coursing through his veins.
Liz ran up to the door, almost tripping on the dead man. She gasped when she saw Charlie.
“Is it all clear out there?” Nick asked.
Liz nodded. “Yeah.”
“Help Jessa stop the bleeding,” Nick said to her as he pressed the kit in her hands. “I’m going out to check on the others.”
With the Remington once again in his grasp, Nick could survey the scene outside. Keeping to the shadows, he scanned the area. Several of the attackers lay dead in the front yard. He remained alert, looking, listening for any anything.
Matt, Bethany, and Mia waited in their spot behind a towering pine tree deep in the woods. They had spent a tense half-hour, or so it seemed. They had no idea how much time had passed. Gunfire had echoed around the mountains almost relentlessly for quite a while. Then gradually it had died down. Now, it had been several minutes without any shots fired.
“Is silence a good sign or a bad sign?” Bethany whispered. It was the first time any of them had spoken.
“I don’t know,” Matt answered. He wished he had been fighting with the others. At least then, he wouldn’t have this horrible uncertainty. What would he do if Nick and the others got killed? Where would the three of them, now huddled in the dark forest, go from here?
“I think we should wait here,” Mia whispered. “Someone will come look for us when everything’s clear.”
The moon was getting closer to the ridge and throwing a bit more light into the forest.
A rustling of leaves some distance from them made Matt’s heart pound. They all froze, waiting for several long moments.
The noise began again. They held their breath, hoping it was just an animal. But the noise continued, and it became clear that something was approaching them.
It couldn’t be Nick, Matt thought. Nick would call for them, make his presence known.
“I knew I saw somebody running off in the woods back here,” a man’s voice said.
Matt’s eyes fell on a wiry man with hollowed out eyes emerging from the shadows. Suddenly, he stood before them.
He grinned and revealed a mouthful of rotting teeth.
“So this is where they sent the pregnant lady and the kids. You’re coming with me. I won’t have to go back empty-handed to Bobby after all.”
The man approached and reached out toward Bethany. Matt raised his shotgun from where he had been holding it out of sight. A look of horror crossed the man’s face. He was surprised that someone as young as Matt would be armed.
The man moved to raise his pistol, but he was too late. Matt had already squeezed the trigger.
The man’s eyes went round as he stared at Matt just before stumbling to his knees and falling over.
Bethany pulled Mia against her, shielding her from the gruesome scene.
Matt started to panic. What if there were more men coming? What if his uncle had been shot, along with the others?
“We’ve got to run farther into the woods!” he said.
A distant voice rang through the woods, striking fear into Matt’s heart. “They’re coming!” He whispered. “Run!”
“Wait!” Mia said. “It’s Nick!”
She took off running in the direction of the voice. Matt paused to listen more closely.
“Matthew! Mia, Bethany!” Nick called. “It’s all clear!”
Matt and Bethany looked at each
other, smiles spreading across their faces. Then they left their hiding place, heading in the direction of Nick’s voice.
37
Charlie’s wound wouldn’t stop bleeding with pressure, to Jessa’s and Liz’s despair. The dish towel had soaked through, and the gauze from Nick’s first aid kit was already becoming saturated with blood.
“I need you to take over,” Jessa said. Liz kneeled over Charlie and continued to apply direct pressure to the wound.
Jessa stood up in a daze, her heart pounding as she rummaged through cabinets in the kitchen. Sweeping her flashlight’s beam through the bathroom, she found a bin of first aid supplies, bringing it back to Charlie’s side.
“Has it slowed down any?” Jessica asked.
“No, I can’t get it to stop!” Liz answered frantically.
As a last resort, Jessa’s shaking hands tore open a package of an emergency hemostatic agent – granules that would quickly form a clot in the laceration. She poured it in the wound.
She then packed the hole with gauze and applied pressure to the wound with additional clean gauze for several minutes.
Finally, Jessa exhaled in relief. “I think it’s clotting now.”
The blood had stopped seeping out of the hole, and they could work on treating his shock. They wrapped blankets around him and lifted his feet.
Trina walked in the front door to see Jessa checking Charlie’s pulse while Liz held a flashlight.
Jessa looked up at her pale face. “Are you okay?”
Trina nodded, staring at the gaping wound. After a moment of stunned silence, she sprang to action, helping the two women keep Charlie warm and attend to his wound.
By the time Nick and the others had returned, Charlie was doing a bit better – conscious, but still woozy.
“You’re going to be okay, Charlie,” Jessa said. “You’re doing just fine.”