Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  “Yeah, I know we cut it tight, but I figured they needed the food at the dam more than we did.”

  “True. Aside from the trip from Adin to Pilot Rock, we’ve eaten better than most I suspect. Rachael and I went on light rations to make sure Lexi got a full load, maybe we should have the adults tighten their belts again a little?”

  “I don’t think it’ll make any difference. If we were talking about a month, maybe, but we don’t have enough to last that long no matter what. A day or two running on empty won’t hurt anyone. Tell the guys we’re down to one meal a day between us. We’ll keep the rest for the kids and the women.”

  “Okay by me,” Jack nodded. “Just didn’t want it to be a surprise.”

  Miguel slapped him on the shoulder, “Roger that. Surprises suck.”

  It took only twenty minutes to pack up the kitchen, switch horses and continue on. As they moved into more forested and rougher terrain, Miguel had them spread out. Doug was spending more time just on the edge of visibility, often disappearing around a corner, or over a rise. Most rises he approached from off the road where possible. He would often stop and scramble on foot up the steep slope and scan the road ahead before bringing his horse over the rise.

  Rachael had taken the lead of the pack horses and remounts while Allan moved ahead to keep Doug in sight. The Rangers wanted to extend their point lookout and still be in sight of the main group. The Garretts, Rachael, and Miguel rode in a group. Lexi had dropped back to ride with Jack. He passed the time telling Lexi and Sara about the little community.

  Miguel dropped back toward Jack’s trailing position and signaled him to hold up.

  “What’s up?”

  “I don’t much care for this terrain. Too many places where we can’t really get off the road in a hurry. And, I don’t much care for the implications of the intelligence we’ve gotten from Lt. Green and Ross.”

  “You think we’re heading into ambush territory?”

  “We’re already in ambush territory. Doug’s been stressed out for the past eight miles. I wish we could put out a better flank. We’d be slowing down too much, riding through the trees. Better to move as fast as we can. Maybe without the snow…”

  Jack considered the situation for a moment. “Bunching up seems like a bad idea.”

  “Affirmative. The problem is, all our options suck. Right now, I’d rather we were on foot. But we’re not, and we can’t cut the horses loose.”

  “The animals should provide some cover.”

  “More likely to be the source of a whole lot of panic.”

  “Something’s bugging you isn’t it?”

  “It’s bugging Doug too. He’s holding at the next ridge. I think he and I are going to do a little scouting. This is kind of a lousy place to camp but—“

  Hoover’s head tracked to the right, and the deep growl pulled Miguel and Jack’s attention.

  Miguel snapped, “Get down, find cover. Now!” Hoover was already on the move when the first shot missed Miguel by inches.

  The crack of the bullet caused Jack’s horse to startle and rear up. A second shot hit the horse’s neck, right where Jack had been a half second ago. Jack’s horse rolled sideways, and he attempted to kick free but couldn’t. The horse landed on his leg, pinning it. Another shot and Lexi screamed. Her horse reared, and the two girls slid off the back. Lexi grabbed Sara and pulled her flat.

  Miguel tugged on the reins and spun Snowy in place, then charged up the embankment toward the shooters.

  When Rachael heard the shot and the scream, she slid down off Angel and grabbed her rifle. She shouted to Nicole. “Get off the road, now. Hide!”

  Lexi rolled over, reached out and tugged on Sara’s sleeve. “Follow me.” The pain in her calf was screaming for attention. She crawled across the snow toward Jack, leaving a long trail of blood.

  Rachael turned and spotted Dusty. She grabbed the dog’s collar and said as calmly as she could, “Guard Lexi,” and pointed. Dusty took off toward Lexi and Jack. Rachael could only hope the dog understood. Either way, she had to move now.

  Hoover had already charged ahead of Miguel and was barreling toward the closest threat. Dusty cleared the herd of remounts and sprinted toward Lexi. She was within twenty yards when she spotted Hoover and decided that best way to protect the pack was to end the threat. The big dog veered to left and charged toward the embankment.

  Lexi and Sara had reached Jack. Lexi’s horse Panda had taken off up the opposite hill and headed into the woods.

  Jack was struggling to free his leg. The pain was minor, with most of the impact from the fall blunted by the soft snow. Unfortunately, there was not enough give in it to lever himself out from under the horse. He finally twisted around enough to lie down behind the dead horse, “Lexi, stay low, but try to get my rifle.”

  Lexi popped up just enough to clear the horse with her Mk-16 and snapped off two short bursts, then ducked back down. Additional sounds of shooting came from Miguel’s direction, who’d charged into the trees and started shooting as soon as he’d cleared the saddle. Jack hoped that Miguel had gotten there fast enough to pin down their flank.

  A flash of motion caught Jack’s attention. He turned to see Dusty charging up the slope into the trees. Another flash of motion pulled his eyes back to the right. A man swinging a rifle toward their location, attracted by Lexi’s shooting. Dusty hit the man at a full run and barreled him over. Jack lost sight of both the dog and the man, but screams were coming from the man buried under 165pounds of very protective dog.

  Lexi popped back up and scanned the hillside, she swung back to the right and let off another three-round burst. “Got him.” She sounded calm as she dropped back behind the cover provided by the horse’s rump. Sara curled up between Lexi and Jack keeping as low as she could. Jack shook the girl’s shoulder. “Sara.”

  Sara looked up, tears running down her face.

  “Can you grab my rifle I can’t reach it.”

  She looked at Jack, eyes wide, tears streaking down her cheeks, her mittened hands held tightly over her ears. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it and simply nodded, but didn’t move.

  Lexi shifted position. “Sara, when I start shooting, grab Jack’s rifle, it’ll be okay.”

  Sara nodded again. Lexi paused for a moment, then popped up and fired two single shots, dropping a man in green camo. Scanning left, Lexi spotted her mom working her way along the bottom of the slope. Lexi’s rifle tracked back in the direction her mom would go but didn’t spot anyone else. She kept firing, aiming at the trees near to where the other man had shown himself.

  Sara leaned forward over the horse, spotted the rifle in the scabbard and pulled it free. Lexi popped off a couple more shots and then ducked in time to avoid the returning fire. Whoever was shooting at them wasn’t aiming. The shots were striking the trees behind them and well up the twenty-foot embankment. Sara handed the rifle to Jack and then without a word dug at the snow under the horse. Lexi twisted around to give her more room to work and winced at the pain in her leg.

  Jack propped himself up enough to lay the rifle across the horse’s neck and have a view of the trees, his legs aching from the strain of twisting himself into a shooting position. He spotted Rachael as she followed in Dusty’s wake right toward the shooting. He shouted but was drowned out by the battle going on between Miguel and the ambushers. There was another break in the shooting and Jack shouted again.

  Rachael’s head snapped around, and she spotted them all hiding behind the dead horse. She was torn between running to Jack and continuing to confront the threat to her family. She looked at Jack and waved then pointed toward the rise in the direction she’d been heading. Jack pointed to his eyes then pointed back the way she’d come. Rachael turned to see Allan, Ross, and Doug charging toward her on horseback. She turned back to the hill in front of her and moved to find cover behind a tree. The three men charged up the slope and dismounted. Rachael leaned around the tree and quickly fired five shots up high,
hoping to keep the attackers ducking for cover.

  Rachael looked back toward Jack and spotted Lexi as she popped up from behind the dead horse to fire. Terrified her daughter would be a target, she fired six more rounds to pull attention back in her direction. She looked back toward Lexi and could only see her rifle peeking over one end of the dead horse. Lexi was well hidden, which did nothing to relieve the near panic she was feeling.

  Jack scanned the tree line looking for movement. The ambushers must know they had a problem. Miguel had them pinned from the east, Rachael and now Doug, Allan, and Ross were spreading out from the southwest. Jack spotted a man in woodland camo moving from tree to tree toward Miguel’s likely position. He put the dot of the front sight on the man’s back and squeezed. The man spun and fell. The boom of his big bore 45-70 sounded much louder and less sharp than the smaller 5.56 rounds. He wasn’t the only person shooting a large caliber, someone up there was using something big, but he hadn’t heard it since his horse went down.

  Jack scanned the hillside again. Rachael was behind a tree. She’d moved closer to the cut made by the heavy equipment when they notched the ridgeline to build the road. He couldn’t see Doug or Allan but caught the sight of a muzzle flash followed by the sound of short bursts of automatic fire. It sounded like 7.62, which had to be Doug. He could also hear a couple smaller rifles which had to be Allan and Ross.

  Jack twisted harder, and his leg came free. Sara had managed to dig him out. As he wrenched his leg from under the horse, he could finally get a good view of the entire battlefield. At the moment there was no sound except the ringing in his ears. Once he was positive there were no immediate threats, he turned to check on the two young girls. Sara curled up in the depression she’d made while digging Jack free, her fingers tucked against her ears. Lexi was focused on the area in front of her mom.

  “Lexi.”

  Then louder, “Lexi!”

  “Yeah?” she was shouting, trying to overcome the temporary hearing loss of repeated gunfire.

  “Get lower and cover more to your right. Allan has your mom covered, Doug and Ross are moving forward. I’ve lost track of Hoover and Dusty, and I’ve got only a vague idea of where Miguel is. Can you see anything?”

  Lexi glanced at Jack then shifted her position so she could lay out in the snow with her rifle covering their right flank. Jack noticed the smear of blood and followed the trail to her leg.

  “Oh Jesus, you’re hit!”

  “Yeah, it hurts like crazy. My foot’s going numb… I think… I think Panda might be dead too.”

  “How bad, can you tell?”

  “What?”

  “How bad?” he shouted, pointing at her leg.

  “I don’t know, it just hurts.”

  “Shit. Sara!” Jack shook the girl’s shoulder getting her attention.

  Sara pulled her fingers from her ears. “Yes, sir?”

  Jack laid back and pulled open his chest pack. He pulled out the multi-tool and flipped open the blade, then handed it to Sara. “Take this and cut Lexi’s pant leg enough to get a good look at the wound. We need to know if it’s still bleeding, and how bad it is.”

  Sara nodded, took the knife and then twisted herself around until she could work on Lexi’s jeans.

  Jack shifted again, sacrificing cover to give the girls more room and to give himself a better view. He scanned the hillside again looking for motion and found nothing.

  “Lexi, I’ll go get your mom. I’ll take up her spot and send her back. Sara, take this.” He handed the girl a large sterile pad from his chest pack. “Put pressure on the wound. If you have to, cut that in half to cover the whole thing. We’re just trying to control the bleeding at this point. Lexi, I know this sucks but keep us covered and stay sharp!”

  Jack rose to a low crouch and tried to move, but the snow was too deep. He considered crawling but decided speed would be better. He stood and scurried forward. Pins and needles bit into his leg as the blood started flowing again, but he kept moving. Rachael spotted him, then returned to watching. No shots had been fired in what seemed like an hour but less than a minute had passed.

  “Hey,” said Jack as he slipped in behind a tree next to her.

  “Hey yourself, did we get them all?”

  “Don’t know, I’ll leave that up to Doug and Miguel. Lexi is okay, but she needs help.”

  Rachael looked at Jack, eyes going wide.

  “She got hit in the calf. It’s shallow, but still bleeding. Sara has a gauze pad on it and is keeping pressure.”

  Rachael stood.

  “Hang on a sec. I’ll move forward a bit, keep your focus. Once I’m in position, then you move. There’s a first aid kit in my saddlebag it—Shit.”

  “What?”

  “It’s under the horse. Damn—okay, where’s your horse?”

  Rachael turned to scan the road behind her. “Um, there by the side of the road,” she said pointing.

  “Crap.” Jack pulled off his chest pack and handed it to her. “There’s an Israeli bandage and some other stuff in there. It’ll do until this is over. Run like hell, and get behind cover before you do anything else. Your motion will attract attention.”

  Rachael moved then she turned back and grabbed Jacks shirt and kissed him hard. “Don’t you dare get shot!”

  As Rachael moved down the slope toward her daughter, Jack continued to scan the area where the ambushers were, hoping none of them had slipped past. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of white and swung the rifle to track it. It took only a moment to realize it was one of the dogs and whichever one it was, it was stalking someone. He scanned along what he estimated was the dog’s path and couldn’t spot anyone. When he reached the edge of the cut, he scanned the area again. Nothing, then the flash of white was moving, and Jack heard the scream. Dog and man collided in a flurry of violence. Jack charged forward praying that the commotion would cover his movement.

  He rounded a tree and saw Hoover, teeth clamped on the man’s arm. Every time the man tried to swing the big knife in his other hand, Hoover jerked him off balance. Jack smashed the barrel of the rifle down on the man’s wrist just as he lunged toward the dog. The man screamed as the knife fell from his limp fingers. Jack pivoted and swung the barrel into the bridge of his nose forcing him to stagger back. The barrel was now pointed at the man’s head, less than a foot away. Jack tightened his grip with the stock against his hip and pulled the trigger. The assailant’s head snapped back, and the body collapsed to the ground. The shot had removed most of the back of his skull. Hoover gave the arm one more vicious tug and then dropped it and stepped to Jack’s side. Jack fell to his knees and hugged Hoover tight.

  “Good boy,” he whispered.

  A moment later Jack heard shouting from deeper in the trees. It took a moment to find the spot. Dusty was crouched down next to Miguel, who had two men on their knees, hands on their heads. Jack stood and headed toward the commotion. Hoover was moving at a slow lope and covered the ground in seconds. Jack moved with a bit more caution.

  “Jack.”

  He jumped at the unexpected voice. “Fuck!”

  Doug chuckled, “Sorry dude, I thought you saw me.”

  “Apparently not.” Jack shook himself and took a deep breath. His heart was pounding, and his hands were trembling. “We got them all?”

  “Yeah, I was following Hoover, trying to spot the guy he was tracking, the guy you just dropped. You really put the hurt on that bastard.”

  “Yeah, well the son of a bitch was trying to hurt my dog.”

  “Everyone okay?”

  “Shit.” Jack stopped. “No, Lexi got hit, Rachael is with her.”

  “Oh fuck.”

  “Leg wound. It didn’t keep her from taking out at least one, maybe two.”

  “No shit?”

  “No shit.” Jack looked over to see Allan and Ross approaching.

  “Look you guys,” said Doug, “we’ve got this, Ross you should head on back to check on Nicole, l
et her know you’re okay.”

  Ross looked up then nodded. He turned and jogged off toward the horses.

  Jack called after him, “Sara’s fine, she’s with Lexi and Rachael.”

  Ross turned and smiled, “Thanks.”

  Doug reached out and touched Jack’s arm. “Allan, why don’t you go round up the horses and see if anyone is missing.”

  “Sure.” Allan jogged off after Ross.

  When they were gone, Doug turned to Jack. “I don’t know if you want to be here for this. We’ll interrogate these assholes and then we’re going to shoot them.”

  Jack looked at Doug, then the two men, then back at Doug. “Fuck ‘em, one of them shot my little girl, do what you need to. I gotta check on Lexi.”

  “Affirmative. We’ll be here awhile, move up the road a bit, you’ll see a wide spot in the road. Stop there and set up camp, we’re not going any further today.”

  Jack nodded. “Roger that. Take your time with those….” He trailed off not finding a word to fit how he felt. Jack headed back to the road to check on his family.

  48

  REGROUPING

  Jack stumbled down the ridge onto the road. The adrenalin was wearing off, and the effects were noticeable. He stopped to scan the area, trying to get his head back in the game. Allan had collected the horses and was walking them up the road toward the spot Doug had picked out for the camp. Ross was sitting on the snow, his daughter in his lap, wrapped up in his arms. Nicole was sitting nearby, Andy’s head buried in the crook of her neck. Jack shivered, his mind thinking about what that family had been through in only a couple of days.

  “Jack, can you give me a hand moving her?” asked Rachael.

  Jack nodded as he headed over to his dead horse and his new family. “Yeah. How is it, Lexi?”

  “It hurts, but not as much as I thought it would.”

  “The wound channel is relatively shallow. I think there’s a little muscle damage, so using it is going to hurt for a while. It’s clean, and we’ve got the bleeding under control. It doesn’t look like there was much blood loss. It’s going to leave a scar though.”