Without Law 4

by Eric Vall

  “Yeah, it wasn’t fun getting shot at by these guys,” Tara said.

  “You didn’t get hurt though,” Anna said.

  “No, but they got closer a lot more often,” Tara explained.

  “Thankfully we had decent cover,” I said. “We were able to wound a couple of the guys and drag them into an empty farmhouse for interrogation.”

  “These guys told us everything,” Tara said.

  “The way things are being run now doesn’t inspire much loyalty in its troops,” I said. “Once we got what we needed to know we made sure they couldn’t follow, took one of their trucks, and headed off down the road.”

  “So how many guys were at the farm?” Paige asked.

  “Eight,” Tara said.

  “Shit, you guys made it sound easy,” Anna said.

  “It wasn’t as easy as it sounds,” I said.

  “So what happened once you guys caught up with the rest of them?” Bailey asked.

  “I acted as a distraction so Tav could find a place to shoot from,” Tara said.

  “She did a good job, and I was able to get into the woods,” I said. “There were thirteen guys still with the convoy, and they were well armed. The minute we started to take them down they went into action. It was a lot more difficult than fighting the bikers. I couldn’t stay in any one place too long.”

  “I bet the grenades didn’t help,” Bailey said.

  “You’re right they didn’t,” I chuckled. “Tara came in to help though, and we managed to get them to start running.”

  “Wow, I wouldn’t expect that from guys with military training...” Anna said.

  “Me too,” Tara said. “These guys barely even resisted whenever we interrogated them.”

  “All we did was threaten to shoot them, and they started to spill their guts,” I said. “Another sign of low morale.”

  “Well I feel better about this whole outpost siege thing,” Paige said.

  “Yeah, what else did you learn about that place?” Anna asked.

  “Don’t worry about the outpost today,” I said. “The convoy isn’t expected back for another couple of days, so we have a bit of time. This is a big undertaking, and if we rush into things we are bound to get ourselves killed. We’ll get on it first thing in the morning, but right now let’s all relax. Don’t let our little story fool you, though. These guys are not to be taken lightly, and I don’t want anyone getting cocky.”

  “Well, looks like the bacon’s just about ready,” Bailey said. “You guys want to start fixing yourselves sandwiches?”

  We all grabbed a plate and piled heaps of lettuce, and large slices of tomato on the large whole grain bread. A little Miracle whip and crispy bacon topped off each sandwich, and for a moment we all fell silent as we enjoyed the simple meal.

  We burned through the bacon quickly, but even after it was gone most of us made another sandwich of just vegetables.

  “This bread is soooooo good,” Bailey moaned.

  “Betty sure knows how to bake,” Anna agreed.

  “I think you found yourself a keeper there, Rolly,” I said.

  “Do you think if you sweet talk her you can get us more bread?” Tara asked.

  “I think we could probably just ask, but I’m happy to sweet talk her if you think that’ll help,” Rolly chucked.

  “I don’t think it would hurt,” I said with a grin. “Though I’m guessing they’ll feel they owe us for a while.”

  “Oh yeah, we did sorta save her granddaughter,” Tara said.

  “So what you’re saying is that we can get more bread, right?” Paige asked.

  “If we want more, we’ll trade for it,” I said. “We’re not going to take advantage of Betty’s family.”

  “I know it’s the right thing to do, but this bread is so good that I kinda wish we could,” Anna joked.

  “We’ll have to see if she can give us any pointers on making our own,” Bailey said.

  “Yeah, if we ever get a moment to ourselves again,” Tara said.

  “We’ll get there,” I said.

  “It does feel like we haven't got a lot of time to ourselves lately,” Paige said.

  “Things aren’t like they were when Tav first arrived, that’s for sure,” Rolly agreed.

  “Violent groups of assholes aside, things are better,” Anna said.

  “That’s true,” Paige replied.

  “Once we get the National Guard cleared out things should quiet down for a while,” I said. “We know people are coming this way now that the bikers are gone, but we know that not everyone left is a maniac.”

  “Yeah, we even met a few more decent people,” Tara said.

  “Right, there was that nurse,” Bailey said.

  “Her name’s Marla,” I said. “She has a husband named Justin and two kids: Frank and Mitch.”

  “Are they farmers too?” Rolly asked.

  “Yep, they are,” I said with a nod. “We should be able to trade with them and the other farmer, Briar.”

  “Sounds like we’re starting to make some good connections,” Anna said.

  “It’s just sad that it took a kidnapping to do it,” Bailey said.

  “At least we took care of that,” Tara said. “We managed to get Jenny away from those guys before they could even do anything to her.”

  “Nice job,” Paige said.

  “Well, I think lunchtime is over,” I said as I pushed myself to my feet. “You guys get all our normal chores done today?”

  “Not yet,” Anna said.

  “We hung a bunch of laundry this morning instead,” Bailey explained. “We wanted to take advantage of the morning sun.”

  “Alright, then let’s check the traps real quick then meet up in the courtyard,” I ordered. “We just got a shit ton of ammo, and I figure we could all use some time on the range.”

  “Hell yeah,” Bailey cheered and pumped her fist.

  “She’s been talking about shooting since you left with Tara,” Paige said.

  “Oh yeah, how’d that trip go?” Anna asked. “Yesterday got so messy that I forgot to ask.”

  “It was amazing,” Tara sighed. “I wish we could have stayed up there forever.”

  “It’s a really nice place,” Anna said with a nod.

  “I can’t wait until I get to go up there,” Paige said.

  “Me too,” Bailey said.

  “You guys are going to love it,” Tara assured them.

  “Maybe once the outpost is gone, I’ll be able to take another one of you up there,” I said. “Right now though I need Tara and Anna to check the traps. Rolly, I want you up on the school watching for trouble.”

  Rolly nodded, adjusted his gun, and headed for the dorm building.

  “We’ll be back soon,” Anna said.

  “Yeah, don’t have too much fun without us,” Tara added.

  The two girls then sprinted off towards the woods.

  I didn’t expect them to be gone long. Everyone was getting to know the routes so well that it was faster every day.

  “What about us?” Paige asked as she wrapped an arm around Bailey’s shoulder.

  “You two are going to help me set up the shooting range,” I said. “Where did you guys move the guns that were in the truck?”

  “Everything is in the cafeteria,” Bailey said. “We weren’t sure what all you wanted in the armory.”

  “Cool, let’s go grab some ammo and set up some targets,” I said.

  We made our way into the building and started to load up on 5.56 ammo.

  I grabbed a couple M4A1s for the girls to use instead of their usual rifles just so we could mix up the guns we were all using, and then I grabbed the SAW since I figured teaching the girls how to handle it might be a good idea.

  “Don’t forget to grab ear plugs,” I said. “

  The three of us made our way back outside and over towards the shooting range.

  “What sorta targets do you want?” Anna asked after she dropped an armful of ammo onto on
e of the benches.

  “We’re going to be using the moving target again,” I said.

  “Probably a good call,” Bailey said. “I’ll take care of it.” She rushed out and started to set up the simple rig Rolly had made for us.

  Our moving target rig was one of the things I wanted to improve on, but it seemed that it, along with our water filtration system, would have to wait for now.

  “What happened to your rifle?” Paige asked as she started to set out ammo at all the stations.

  “Yesterday's weather was not kind to it,” I said as I looked at the dirt encrusted gun.

  “Yikes,”

  “Thankfully all it needs is a good cleaning,” I said. Then I set a carbine out at each of the stations and then took a seat with my own rifle. Once it was disassembled I scrubbed it down, removed all the bits of dirt and debris, oiled it, and put it back together.

  I was really starting to get attached to this rifle. Everything about it was a cut above the weaponry I was used to using, and it had not let me down yet, and I doubted there was anything out there that would replace it for me.

  About the time I finished Tara and Anna joined us.

  “How’d it go?” Bailey asked.

  “Nothing today,” Anna said.

  “We tossed some more bait on the lines though,” Tara said.

  “Good,” I said. “Tara, I want you to switch with Rolly on guard duty. He needs the practice more than you do right now.”

  She frowned, but then nodded and headed off.

  “Aw, how come she can’t shoot with us?” Bailey asked.

  “She was with me yesterday,” I said. “She got her range time in against live targets,” I explained. “Rolly hasn’t gotten to shoot nearly as much as the rest of us, and I want him ready.”

  “He’s gonna come with us then?” Paige asked.

  “I think so,” I said with a nod. “Now take a seat and grab a gun. We’re going to fire thirty rounds each. You’re going to load up three magazine with two rounds each. After you have all fired all three magazines, I’ll reset the target, give you guys enough time to reset for another round, and do it all again. Focus on hitting the target and reloading quickly without watching your hands.”

  The girls nodded and busied themselves loading up their magazines.

  I appointed myself target mover and made sure it was moving nicely from where I stood well off to the side.

  Rolly joined us, I filled him in on the drill, and the team got to work.

  As I watched them, it became very clear that they were improving. They weren’t missing a lot even when I threw in small complications like variable speed and stopping at random. Rolly and Paige still struggled a little when it came to the reload. It made sense though since Rolly had not practiced as much and since Paige prefered to use her shotgun. Still the M4s, and AR rifles were the most common weapon we had so knowing how to use them was important.

  “Alright, one more thing before we call it,” I said as I walked over to my team. “We’re going to go over how to work the SAW.”

  “Sweet, can I go first?” Anna asked.

  “Sure,” I said with a nod. Then I cleared one of the lanes and set the larger machine gun in it. I grabbed one of the prepared belts ammo boxes and set it next to it. “Take a seat.” I motioned to the lane.

  “How do I load this thing?” Anna asked after she took a seat.

  “Start by making sure your safety is on,” I said.

  Anna looked around for a moment, located the safety, switched it on, then nodded.

  “Good, now grab that piece sticking out the right side,” I instructed. “That’s the cocking handle. Pull that back until you feel it lock into place. Next you want to open up the cover. To do that find the latches towards the back of the body. There’s one on each side of the gun. Push them both in, and the top should pop giving you access to the firing section where you’ll feed the belt.”

  Anna fumbled around for a moment, but we had worked with various guns enough lately that she was able to find the latches and open up the machine gun.

  “Good, now take that box there and put it in place on the bottom of the gun,” I said. “You’ll notice that there is a clip on the gun that the magazine box attaches too. Once you have it in place, you are going to pull out some of the belt so you can actually load the gun.”

  There was a satisfying click as she slid the three hundred round box into place. The redhead then pulled out some of the ammo and held it aloft.

  “Now that you have some of the ammo out you are going to lay it on the feed tray,” I said. “That’s the area you revealed by opening the cover. On the left side you’ll notice a spot where a round will sit next to, that’s called the cartridge stop. Put the first round there and then make sure the other rounds are lined up in the grooves.”

  “Alright, that was easy enough,” Anna said after she laid the ammo in place.

  “Now hold it in place and start to close the cover. Once you get it down enough to hold your rounds in place remove your fingers from harm's way and slam the cover closed,” I said with a smile. “That’ll lock everything into place.”

  “That’s it then?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” I said with a nod.

  “That wasn’t nearly as complicated as I thought it would be,” Bailey said.

  “Yeah, that’s just a little more complicated than reloading one of our rifles,” Rolly added.

  “You just have to make sure you line up your belt right,” I said. “It’s really easy to mess that part up in the heat of battle if you have not practiced it before.”

  “I can see that,” Paige said. “Mechanically it’s simple, but it’s still a few more steps than we’re used to.”

  “Especially if you are going from one box to the next,” I said. “Then you have to clear the links before you can put a new belt in.”

  “Well, that still doesn’t sound so bad,” Anna said.

  “It’s not, but it’s another step before you can fire again,” I said.

  “I guess I can see how that would slow you down,” Bailey said.

  “Well, do I get to shoot this beast?” Anna asked with a barely contained grin.

  “Of course,” I said with a nod. “Everyone put your earplugs in and then, Anna, you are clear to fire.”

  Everyone shoved their plugs in and gave the Anna a thumbs up when they were ready.

  Anna switched the safety on, snugged the butt of the gun into her shoulder, aimed down the sights, and pulled the trigger. A large smile spread across her face as she started to spray bullets downrange. Each shot threw dirt from the backstop into the air as she obliterated the entire area in front of her. She fired for half a minute before letting off the trigger and throwing her hands into the air. “That was awesome!”

  “I wanna try!” Paige exclaimed as she rushed over to the bench.

  The rest of the team took their turn on the SAW and each one of them burned through a couple dozen rounds in a few seconds and got up with a big smile on their face.

  “It’s fun, but I think I prefer my rifle,” Bailey said. “I don’t feel like I can really hit much with that thing.”

  “It can be deadly if you manage to get someone with this, but yeah it’s more useful as a means of suppressing the enemy,” I explained.

  “Seems like that could be a good thing to have,” Rolly said.

  “They are also particularly useful when set up defensively,” I said. “We’ll take it with us on our outpost raid, but after that I think I want to set it up on the rooftop where we have been keeping watch.”

  “Would be nice to have a dedicated defensive gun,” Paige said.

  “Yeah, especially one with this much oomph,” Anna said.

  “We’ll just have to practice with it a little more,” I said. “You also need to learn to break it down and load the belts.”

  “That sounds both kinda fun and super tedious,” Bailey said.

  “It’s not much wors
e than anything else you guys have done,” I said. “Alright, unload the thing and let’s call it a day. Sun's starting to go down, and I’m thinking that it might be best if we head to bed early tonight.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Paige said. “You need the extra sleep to help you heal.”

  “We also have lots to do tomorrow,” I said.

  “Well, if you guys want, I can go start dinner,” Bailey said. “I’ve kinda had the itch to cook lately.”

  “Be my guest,” I said. “The rest of us can stow the guns and meet you at the fire.”

  “Should we grab Tara?” Anna asked.

  “We’ll give her a shout once the guns are put away,” I said.

  The group busied themselves cleanup while Bailey went off to start dinner. A few minutes later, once we had collected our spent brass, we grabbed all the gear and took it all to the dorm building.

  I didn’t see any reason to take it all the way upstairs since a lot of it would be needed in the morning anyway.

  “I’ll grab Tara if you guys want to head outside,” Anna said.

  “Wanna grab some alcohol on your way out?” Paige asked.

  “Of course,” Anna said with a nod.

  Anna headed for the roof, and the rest of us went outside to join Bailey. The air was already thick with the smell of cooking meats, and we arrived to find the thin blonde humming to herself while she stirred a large pot sitting over the fire. A pan of meat sizzled next to it, and she already had bowls close by.

  “Whatcha cooking?” Paige asked.

  “Making a soup,” Bailey said. “I took some of the fresh veggies, some eggs, and some of that ramen you guys got to make a sorta noodle broth.”

  “You didn’t use those flavor packets, did you?” Rolly asked.

  “No,” Bailey chuckled. “I knew I could add enough flavor without them. Once the meat is cooked a little more, I’m going to add it into the soup too.”

  “Well, it smells delicious,” I said.

  “Yeah, and soup sounds pretty damn good,” Paige added.

  “Where’s everyone else?” Bailey asked.

  “Grabbing booze,” I said.

  “Good call,” she replied.

  I let out a sigh and smiled as I settled onto the wooden bench. It felt nice to be home again, even if it was only for a day. Getting to come back here reminded me of why we needed to fight. Our little slice of peace was a wonderful thing and something worth defending even if it meant possible injury and death.