by Steven Bird
“Where’s Ed?” Nate asked, fearing for his friend.
“He’s keeping a lookout upstairs. Here,” Henry said, handing Nate a crutch. “Can you use this to get around?”
“Yeah. Yeah, no problem,” Nate replied, still confused, but understanding of the urgency of the situation and the need to simply comply and ask questions later.
As Meredith donned her backpack and handed Henry his, he took her by the hand. “Come on. We’ve got to get the hell out of here and right now,” he said as he nearly pulled her up the steps.
Nate struggled with the crutch to the top of the stairs, where Ed was waiting with a hand out, pulling him up the last few steps with one hard tug. Stepping over the bodies of two UN soldiers, Ed said, “This way. Follow him.” He handed Nate one of the downed soldier’s rifles while he carried the other over his shoulder via the sling. Nate slung the rifle on his back, positioned his crutch, and followed Ed’s direction.
Leading them out of the house, Henry looked around, listened, and then said, “This way. Let’s go this way to get the hell away from here.”
As they proceeded through the yard of the abandoned house next door, Nate looked back and noticed a UN-marked Humvee sitting in front of the home. “Hey, what about their truck?” he asked.
“No way, they’ll spot us too easily,” Henry replied.
“No... I mean how about we move it to another house. It may stall them while they look for their comrades inside the wrong house—giving us more time and distance.”
Looking back at Nate, Henry said,” Damn good idea.”
“I’m on it. Go with them, Nate. I’ll catch up,” Ed said as he ran back toward the Humvee. Climbing inside, Ed looked around for anything of use. He found a load-bearing magazine vest containing four fully loaded AK-74 magazines, a flashlight, and a handheld radio. Outstanding, he thought as he started the truck and began driving it across the street, behind the next block of houses. Grabbing the found items, Ed donned the vest, pocketed the light and magazines, and left the Hummer running with the lights on, pointing at the front door of one of the homes. He wanted whoever came looking for the two soldiers to find the Humvee right away, leading them into the decoy house.
Running back toward the location where he had last seen the others. Ed couldn’t help but frantically scan the sky as well as his surroundings on the ground, expecting more pursuers at any moment. “Ed,” he heard from behind an overgrown line of shrubbery on a neighboring street. He immediately altered his course for the sound and saw Nate stand, waving to him from around the side, near the ground.
Reaching the others, Ed ducked behind the shrubs and said, “I got us a few extra items.”
“Great. What?” asked Henry.
“Ammo, a light, and a radio.”
“Outstanding,” Henry replied. “Let’s get some more distance and then lie low. We can use the radio to listen in to any possible activity in the area. It would obviously pose a threat for us to transmit in any way, but if they are on the same frequency, we should be able to tell if they are getting close from the chatter and signal strength alone, even if we can’t tell what the Commies are saying. But for now, let’s just get the hell out of here.”
~~~~
After several hours of trekking through the suburban area in the dark, the group, now consisting of Henry, Meredith, Ed, and Nate, came to the edge of an old abandoned lawn mower dealership with an overgrown field on the other side of the road in front of them. “I hate to keep being the boat anchor, but I need a break,” Nate said, becoming sore from the use of the crutch to which he was not accustomed.
“Oh, it’s not just you, son. My old bones need to call it a night. I don’t think I can keep going, either,” added Meredith, agreeing with Nate.
“I think we’ve gotten far enough away for now,” said Henry as he looked around.
Ed noticed Henry attempting to look off into the brush of the field in the darkness. “I’ll go check it out. You all stay put,” he said as he slipped off into the night.
Returning after only about ten minutes, Ed said, “There is a tree line on the other side of this field. There is a small creek with a little bit of running water. It looks like this used to be farmed, and they left the trees around the creek. On the other side, there is maybe another ten feet of trees and then what appears to be what was once a farmer’s field. It looks clear to me. It’s a reasonable place to get some water and wash up, as well as take a nap. I’ll get the first watch while you all catch some rest.”
Agreeing with Ed’s suggestion, they all made their way across the field in the darkness. Reaching the other side, Ed flicked the flashlight on momentarily to show the others the terrain they would be working their way down to get to the creek below. After slipping into the trees, they had to creep down a slight incline to the creek. Henry started down, holding Meredith’s hand, leading her safely to the bottom. Ed stood watch while Nate started into the woods.
“Damn it!” Nate yelled as he hit the ground, having had his crutch slip out from underneath him on the slick grass-covered slope.
Ed shone the light to see what was wrong; Nate was on the ground, covering his eyes. “I’m fine. Turn it off,” said Nate in a frustrated voice.
“Oh, sorry, man,” Ed replied. He then went to Nate’s side and offered him a hand.
Brushing him away, Nate replied, “I’ve got it. I’m fine. I still can’t believe those bastards took my leg. I felt nearly one hundred percent with it. But now... back to being the boat anchor.”
“Oh, stop it,” Ed said, dismissing Nate’s negativity.
Once they all settled in at the side of the creek, they washed up and Ed and Nate both began to drink water directly from the small stream with the cupped palms of their hands.
Henry pulled two plastic tubes from his and Meredith’s packs, handed one to her, and they both leaned over and began to drink, sipping water through the tubes.
“What’s that?” asked Nate.
“LifeStraws,” Henry replied.
Ed and Nate both just looked at him, trying to get a better idea of what he had with the limited moonlight in the confines of the trees.
“It’s a water filter and a straw combined,” Henry explained. “They're really great. We tested them after we bought them, but this is the first time we’ve had to use them for real. Back at the house, we just used a filtration pitcher and purification tablets.”
“This is much better,” Meredith added. “Those tablets make the water taste horrible to me. Would you like to try?” she said, gesturing toward Ed and Nate with her LifeStraw.
“No, thanks,” Ed replied. “My body is accustomed to drinking straight out of the creek. It hasn’t killed me yet.”
“Yet,” Henry replied with a chuckle.
“By the way, Henry,” Ed said, removing the old cowboy holster and Colt Peacemaker. “Now that I’ve got this AK, I’ll give you this back before something happens to it. I’d hate for you to part with another heirloom.”
Reaching out to take it, Henry said, “Thanks. Yes... I imagine what few things we have are all we are gonna have from here on out. We can’t go back to the house now. They’ll be crawling all over that neighborhood.” Looking at Meredith, he said, “But at least I finally got her out of there. I don’t know where we will end up, but I was getting tired of the love of my life living like a rat in a hole.”
Meredith smiled. “I’d prefer to be referred to as a mouse, my dear. Besides, I was very thankful for that hole. It kept us alive. But the house was just a house. Nothing was ever going to be the same there again, anyway. I’m happy as long as I’m with you. This will just be our new beginning.”
They shared a sweet and gentle kiss, seeming to get lost in each other’s eyes, and in that moment. Ed took the opportunity to give them some privacy and began to work his way back to the edge of the field, facing the road for his watch. He looked up at the bright, full moon and wondered how everyone back at the Homefront was doing. Having
no family of his own, they were all he had in the world. Nate had become like his brother, and getting Nate safely home to Peggy and Zack had become his number-one priority in what was now his life.
As Nate got comfortable, he looked at Henry and said, “Thanks for the crutch. I’d have had an impossible time without it. Where did you get it?”
“One of the other gentlemen in the neighborhood came across it a while back. We had put it back with some other healthcare items in the event one of us needed it someday. When Ed and I were on our way back, we picked it up.”
Meredith interrupted the casual conversation and steered them back toward a more serious note by saying, “So what happened out there tonight? And don’t give me your sugarcoated B.S. that you usually tell me. I’ve always wondered what was going on, and I have a feeling our visitors tonight weren’t random.”
Henry looked down at the ground, took a deep breath, and said, “The boys and I knew they would be looking for Ed and Nate. We knew it would be an opportunity to catch them off guard and send a little payback their way. We used Ed as a guinea pig. He put his orange jumpsuit on for us, and when the initial patrol rolled into town, he caught their attention and started a chase. They were so focused on him, they didn’t even know we were there. On our way back—”
“So you killed them,” she said with an icy stare.
“Yes. Yes, we killed them. In our defense though, they were trying to kill Ed, not capture him. He took one of them out with the Colt hidden inside of his jumpsuit. Anyway, afterward, we worked our way back to the rally point—”
“The what?”
“A house on Fourth that we were using to meet up away from anyone’s actual residence. Anyway, we worked our way back there, being careful to make sure we weren’t being followed. Ed changed out of his jumpsuit, we grabbed the crutch, and just as we started to leave, we saw another Humvee go by one street over, heading in the direction of our house. Ed and I went straight there, while the others went back to their homes just in case any of us had been seen leaving our own residences, or in case someone had tipped them off to where we might be. I have a feeling some son of a bitch around here rolled over on us. They seemed pretty intent on searching our house with a fine-toothed comb.
“As Ed and I arrived, we heard the shooting begin. I almost died of a heart attack right there on the spot. If anything had happened to you...” Henry paused to maintain his composure. “Anyway, we rushed straight in. The bastards didn’t hear us running through the house because of their own irresponsible gunfire. We dropped them both on the spot and that’s when I came running down to the basement.”
“How long has this little neighborhood war of yours been going on?” she asked.
“War? There hasn’t been a war. Oh, no, nothing like that. The boys and I just had to take care of things every once in a while. Tonight, I’ll admit, we took things a little too far. Our overzealous attitude has brought those foreign bastards down on our homes. Before that, we just did what we had to do to keep the looters and criminals away.”
“So you killed others before this? When you were out supposedly searching for supplies, you were out killing anyone you didn’t want in our neighborhood.”
Henry stared at the ground then raised his head, looked her in the eye, and said, “I did what had to be done. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
Meredith took a deep breath and placed her hand on his. “I know you’re a good man, Henry. I trust your judgment. Please don’t ever doubt that. Just, please, please don’t hide anything from me ever again. I’m not a child. I don’t need or want you to shelter me from what’s really going on around us. Promise me.”
Henry smiled and said, “I promise, my love. Never again.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Immanent Threat
Back on the Homefront, several days had passed since Charlie and Jason had gotten the encrypted radio relays set up and connected to the HiveNet network. Jason had been the point man in regards to network communications. He dutifully monitored the radio a safe distance from the Homefront and the other homesteads each day at his assigned time. Each day, he had received a routine update of light activity in the area. Jason would respond in kind and then return to his hectic daily life, trying to keep up with all of the things that made the homesteads function as a quaint and civil little society. Additionally, the moves to the new properties for the Jones and Vandergriff families had been put on hold, given the outcome of the supply run and the current security situation.
After the days of relative calm, as Jason listened in at his assigned monitor time, he received a slightly different message than usual. “Fox Three Two... Fox Three Two. Fox Three One. JADAM. JADAM. Fox Three One. JADAM. JADAM.”
Jason’s heart skipped a beat as he realized JADAM was their call for Joint Area Distress Message, meaning something was underway that was affecting all of their area of concern. Gathering his thoughts, he replied, “Fox Three Two Copies.”
“Confirm.”
Jason then replied with the day’s confirmation code to let the sender know it was indeed him on the other end of the transmission. “Kilo Echo November Oscar.”
“Fast movers over Fox Three. Report contact.”
Fast movers? Jason thought, wracking his brain to try and remember all of the lingo he had been so diligently studying. Unable to carry a notepad with any such radio coding and lingo on it for security reasons, he had to rely on memory alone, and this was still all new to him. Damn, that’s an aircraft. I think. “Copy all and WILCO. Contact negative at this time.”
“Fox Three Three and Three Five both report soft contact. Go hot air.”
“Wilco,” Jason replied.
“Fox Three One out.”
“Fox Three Two out,” Jason replied, signing off. Damn it! he thought as he began to jog through the woods for home, scanning the sky as he went.
As he neared the Homefront, Jason ran toward the most recent tree stand on the outer perimeter that he knew to be occupied by a watch stander. “Greg!” he shouted as he approached the stand.
“Yeah? What’s up?” Greg shouted from the tree.
Pausing to catch his breath, Jason said, “Eyes up! There may be aircraft in the area. If they spot you, just hang tight. Don’t leave the tree. You’re just a deer hunter in a stand. No radio calls while it’s in the area. Got it?”
“Um... yeah. I guess. What’s going on, Jason?” Greg asked, unsure of the extent of the situation.
“It may be something, or it may be nothing. Either way, step up your game and keep OPSEC and COMSEC at the top of your priority list. Travel smart and communicate smart. Someone has an interest in the area, and we want them to think we are just simple mountain folk. Got it?
“Yeah. I’ve got it,” Greg replied.
Jason then turned and continued his jog back to the Homefront. Over the next hill, he could see the house off in the distance as he heard the dreaded sound of the thump, thump, thump of helicopter rotors. Without even looking up, he knew it to be the sound of a Hind. He had learned to fear that sound, and from his Army days, knew it wasn’t a Blackhawk or other helicopter types in the U.S. Army’s inventory. The Hind, to him, had a unique sound that he would not soon forget. Halting his movement, Jason stepped up next to a tree, sharing its form as the ominous beast flew overhead toward the house, followed closely by a second Hind.
A flight of two? They must mean business, he thought as stress surged through his body. Sarah and his children, as well as the others, were in that house. From the deeds he had personally witnessed the UN soldiers do, he was not confident that this was merely a routine flyover patrol.
~~~~
After placing her eggs in the basket to carry back into the house, Molly started to step out of the chicken coop as she heard the helicopters approaching in the distance. The girls! She dropped her basket, cracking the eggs, and ran for the house, not knowing what was about to happen. Swinging the back door open wildly, Molly yelled, “Everybody in the basement! N
ow! In the basement!”
Peggy ran into the room carrying little Zack and said, “What? What’s going on?”
Molly replied frantically and in broken thought, “I don’t know. Helicopters. Where’s Evan, Griff, and Jason?”
Seeing the fear in Molly’s face, Peggy replied, “Jason went to do his thing, Evan’s taking a nap—I think he’s a little tipsy from his meds—and Griff is—”
“I’m right here!” Griff said, running into the room. “What’s going on?”
Before Molly could answer, they all heard the sound of the helicopter rotors fly over the top of the house at near rooftop level. They ran to the window only to see both of them arc around as if to make another pass over the house.
“Downstairs!” she yelled, not knowing if they were going to open fire on the house. After Evan and Jason’s experiences with them up to this point, she knew it was smart to expect the worst.
Griff looked at Molly. “You go and get Evan. Peggy, get Zack downstairs like she said. Judy is watching Lilly and Sammy. I’ll round up the rest and meet you all down there.”
Running into their bedroom, Molly ran over to Evan, who was still sound asleep, and began vigorously shaking him, yelling, “Evan! Wake up! Wake up!”
“What the...?”
“Just get up!”
“What’s going on? How long was I out?”
“There are big helicopters circling the house. Everyone is going down to the basement.”
Snapping to his senses, Evan threw his legs out of the bed, put his pants on, and ran barefoot across the room, stopping to grab his VZ-58 and magazine-laden load-bearing vest.
As he and Molly joined the others in the basement, Lilly and Sammy ran from Judy’s care to the open arms of their parents crying and saying, “Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!” They were too young to understand what was going on, but they knew the adults were worried and anxious about something.
“It’s okay, girls. It’s okay,” he said, trying to calm them.