The Blue Ridge Resistance
Page 22
“Just get your ass over here,” Evan said softly from a washed-out ravine.
Jason and Kyle crept over to Evan’s voice, and to their surprise, found Evan, Quentin, and four other Blue Ridge Militia members hiding in the ravine. “It’s about time you got here,” Evan said, thankful his friend had made it. “You guys are armed now, great,” he said, noticing their rifles.
“Yeah, the guys that had these didn’t need’em anymore,” answered Jason. “So what’s the plan?”
Quentin spoke up and said, “We’ve got to hike a few miles north until we cross a road. Then straight over the next hill from the road is where our ride should be waiting. Are you all good to go for the hump with those bare feet?”
“Hell, yeah, let’s get out of here,” answered Jason.
Quentin then looked down at Evan’s tan, suede boots and said, “Damn, man, you’ve got blood soaking through your boots.”
Evan replied with a grimace on his face, “Yeah, it’s starting to really suck… beats being dead though. Let’s move. The longer I sit here, the more it hurts.”
Quentin looked around and once he was sure everyone was ready, he said, “Lead the way, Matt,” to the senior militia member on the scene.
Matt then gave the order, “Q, you and the civilians hang in the middle, and I’ll take point with Spears. Jacob and Fletcher, you bring up the rear. Once we get moving, no stopping unless forced to. We’re in the home stretch.”
Everyone nodded in the affirmative and off they went. The group kept a loose tactical bound as they worked their way through the woods. It was still very quiet—almost creepy quiet with all of the animals being hunkered down and silent after the hail storm of bullets that had ripped through the forest. As they neared the road, Jason, Quentin, and Kyle were all feeling the effects of the day’s events on their bare feet. Quentin said, “Thank God. There’s the road. We’re almost there.”
As they approached the road, Matt surveyed the area and determined that the road seemed to be clear. Matt stepped up onto the road, looked both ways, and as he turned around to give the signal for the group to advance, a shot rang out from the woods behind them and the top of Matt’s skull shattered, sending blood and brain matter spraying onto the road. His body dropped like a rag doll as Quentin yelled, “Move! Move! Move! Across the road and into the ditch!”
Jacob and Fletcher spun around and laid down a suppressing fire to their rear, while the rest of the group hustled across the road and into the large drainage ditch on the far side. They had approximately one hundred yards of cleared pasture to cross to get into the woods leading up the hill towards their rally point. Knowing that would be a suicide run, Quentin decided the best thing to do was take cover and fight.
Evan, Jason, and Quentin began firing from across the road, creating an opportunity for Jacob and Fletcher to dash across and join them. “I was sick of running anyway,” said Quentin in a pissed off voice. “If I’m gonna die today, it’s gonna be fighting, not by getting shot in the back while I run away like a coward.”
Evan and Jason looked at each other and gave a mutually understood nod, and then refocused on the threat across the road.
Evan looked at the three surviving militiamen who were there to rescue Quentin and them and said, “Gentlemen, thank you for this. Thank you for coming. Thank you for everything you’ve done to resist this encroachment into our land and our freedoms.”
They each just nodded and got their eyes back on target across the road. They could hear a man shouting out orders in plain English, followed by a translator reissuing them in Russian. Clinching the pistol grip of his rifle, Quentin said, “That son of a bitch traitor is here.” His brow tightened from the rage he felt deep inside. “Bring it, mother fucker!” he yelled towards the trees, where the enemy took cover, while they formed up for an offensive.
Kyle spun around and began to look into the sky frantically as he heard the horrific SWOOP, SWOOP, SWOOP of a helicopter’s main rotor. In a panicked voice, he said, “It’s back! Holy shit, it’s back! That damned helicopter is back!”
From around the corner, following the road, a helicopter roared onto the scene, opening fire with its machine gun. Evan, Jason, and the others covered their heads in anticipation of a barrage of hot lead being rained down upon them, only to realize—it was an Apache. The AH-64 Apache attack helicopter emptied its 30mm M230 chain gun into the tree line, annihilating the enemy soldiers. Chunks of bark and wood debris filled the air as trees were shredded by the powerful high-speed gun. As an un-survivable hell was unleashed on the invaders, Evan and the others could barely believe their eyes. What was certain defeat merely seconds before was now an overwhelming victory.
As the Apache ceased fire and circled the area overhead, a voice called out from the hill to which they were headed, “Hot damn, that was some good shit!”
The men turned around and looked up at the hill to see a dozen members of the Blue Ridge Militia emerge from the trees and begin to walk across the field towards them, securing the scene. “Sorry it took so long, fellas, but the Apache wasn’t easy to come by on such short notice.”
Quentin hugged the man and said, “Brian, you have no idea how good it is to see you guys.”
“I’ll bet,” he replied. “Sorry it took so long. We had a lot of details to get worked out, and our resources were scattered across the region. We had to pull it all together to make this happen. We’re not set up for full-scale assaults. We’ve just been the eyes and ears until now.”
“No problem, man. Is that the Apache from the Morrisville guard base you were talking about?”
“Yep,” Brian replied. “It took some wheeling and dealing, but this bird and its crew are gonna be helping us out around here for a little while.”
Quentin looked up, saw the Apache circle once more, and then it headed off in the direction of the farmhouse. “Where are they going now?”
“They’re gonna clean the rest of the mess at the farmhouse and provide cover while we look for casualties and other survivors. Let’s get you guys out of here and we can go over the rest of the details later. We’ll take care of everything here.”
Chapter 37: Friendships through Fire
Evan opened his eyes and stretched, looking around the tent, hoping it wasn’t just a dream. Jason was already up and going over some of the maps he had gotten from the militia guys when they arrived. Evan and Jason had accompanied Quentin to a mobile militia base at an undisclosed location, deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They had been there for two days and received medical attention, food, lodging, boots, and clothing. They also spent many hours being debriefed on what they had seen and learned along the way. Evan and Jason kept the AK-74s they had recovered during the escape and ensuing battle. They planned on holding on to them as reminders of what still may come their way, as well as tools to make their way home to their families as soon as they were healed up and ready to go.
“Nice to see you up, old man,” Jason said as Evan sat up on his cot.
“Man, it feels good to get a good night’s sleep after all we we’ve gone through.”
“Yeah, it does. How are your feet?”
Looking under the bandage wrap on his feet, Evan replied, “I may never ball room dance again, but these ol’ feet will always be ready to get me home. Some loose fitting boots and a bunch of gauze, and I’ll be fine. You got everything figured out over there?”
“Like you said, good enough. We need to get moving. If Nate and Ed, or even Charlie and Jimmy didn’t make it back, we’ll need to get hot on their trail tracking them down. We can’t relax yet.”
“Agreed,” replied Evan as he joined Jason looking at the chart.
As Evan and Jason sat in their tent, going over their plans, they heard Quentin say, “Knock knock,” from outside the door.
“Come on in, man,” Jason replied.
“How are you boys feeling?”
“Good enough,” replied Evan.
“Good enough for what?”
“Good enough to be getting on our way soon.”
Quentin scratched his chin and said, “Are you sure I can’t talk you two into staying on with us? Kyle has decided to join us. Watching you two in action, I take it this wasn’t your first rodeo and we could definitely use guys that work well together, like yourselves. You clearly see the need.”
“We’ve been through some… stuff… that’s for sure,” Evan replied. “And we do see the need, but we’ve got families and children back home. We also need to get back there to make sure the others from our group made it back safely. We started out with six; we sent two back early to help a young girl we stumbled across along the way. The other two were captured with us, and we haven’t seen them since. Once we get home, if all of them haven’t made it back, we’ll be back out here to find them, and we will look you up for sure. But even if you don’t see us back out here, rest assured, we will be keeping up the fight back in our neck of the woods. If you guys find yourselves in East Tennessee in a bind, or you just need a place to stay and resupply, send word to Del Rio, and we’ll come running with everything we’ve got.”
**The End**
A Note from the Author
I just wanted to personally thank each and every one of you who have purchased and read The New Homefront series. These three books have been a labor of love and a great experience for me both personally and professionally. As I continue to develop the story and characters, I try to put in place the feelings and experiences that the average American might have in such a situation. I feel that although this exact scenario is merely one of myriad things that could happen to our great society, we all need to have the mindset that nothing in this world is certain, and nothing is guaranteed. Having the proper mindset during the onset of a world-changing situation, could mean the difference between our survival, and our demise.
I would also like to personally thank everyone that has provided me with support and encouragement along the way, as well as the readers of Volumes 1 and 2 that provided online reviews and email feedback, which I used to help improve the reader’s experience and the quality of Volume 3. Please follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/homefrontbooks and Twitter at @stevencbird. If you have specific questions or feedback please send me an email to scbird@homefrontbooks.com.
Respectfully,
Steven C. Bird
Table of Contents
Disclaimer
Dedication
Continued from - The Guardians: The New Homefront, Volume 2
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Taming of the Ewes
Chapter 2: The New Life
Chapter 3: Meeting of the Minds
Chapter 4: The Burden of Blessings
Chapter 5: Facing Reality
Chapter 6: The Unexpected Visitor
Chapter 7: News from the North
Chapter 8: Prepping for the Move
Chapter 9: A Community Venture
Chapter 10: Getting Underway
Chapter 11: Keeping Watch
Chapter 12: Beyond Del Rio
Chapter 13: The Mounted Patrol
Chapter 14: Pressing On
Chapter 15: Daryl’s Dilemma
Chapter 16: Rabbit Stew
Chapter 17: Helping Hands
Chapter 18: Return of the Guardians
Chapter 19: Moving On
Chapter 20: Living in Hell
Chapter 21: The Spider’s Web
Chapter 22: Killing the Spider
Chapter 23: Intensive Care
Chapter 24: A Fork in the Road
Chapter 25: Rendering Honors
Chapter 26: Keeping Watch
Chapter 27: The Encounter
Chapter 28: Rude Awakenings
Chapter 29: An Unbearable Loss
Chapter 30: The New Reality
Chapter 31: Insurgents
Chapter 32: A Tragedy Fulfilled
Chapter 33: Reprisals
Chapter 34: A Helping Heart
Chapter 35: Farmageddon
Chapter 36: The Pursuit
Chapter 37: Friendships through Fire
A Note from the Author