Nuclear War Club: Seven high school students are in detention when Nuclear War explodes.Game on, they are on their own.

by Triarii, Colt

  “They want Liu bad,” Zeke explained, pointing to the multiple, grimy fingerprints on her photos.

  “We need full teams both attacking and staying here, so this should work. We may get attacked as soon as they leave,” Liu said.

  “Ashley?” David asked.

  “Fine, ” Ashley replied.

  “Doron?” David asked.

  “I approve, provided its agreed that if there is a camp, we do not attack. We just stand off and let Karen use the sniper rifle,” Doron answered, looking directly at Zeke.

  “That’s why sniper rifles were invented, to reach out and touch someone, behind cover,” Doron stressed.

  Zeke replied, “I understand, I will have Doron and Karen’s back. No attacks on my own if they have a group.”

  “You need a turnaround point. How about one hour hiking. If you lose the trail, or you don’t find them in an hour you turn around,” David suggested. “That’s a good idea,” said Doron, taking David’s watch.

  Karen checked her rifle and scope, chambering and ejecting three rounds. She put a 9 in her boot holster, put six rifle clips in her backpack, three grenades, two 9 clips, two canteens full of water, coffee packs she could either use as intended, or put the pocket her mouth like chewing tobacco, caffeine pills, an extra pair of socks, and a Ziploc bag of raisins. David silently handed her three of his treasured Snickers bars and an extra grenade. She filled the dog bowl with water and K-Bar quickly lapped it up.

  David watched Karen kneel down to Samuel’s eye level.

  “Samuel, me and K-Bar will be gone for a while,” Karen said.

  Samuel didn’t say anything, he just looked afraid, and grabbed her hand.

  “David, Liu, and Ashley will take care of you while we are gone,” Karen said, smiling and pointing.

  David watched Liu squat down as Samuel grabbed her hand. Karen waived goodbye near the top of the hill, as K-Bar scouted ahead.

  80.

  The dense tree canopy filtered the sunlight into a green, yellowish haze. Streaks of sunlight beamed though canopy gaps like bright skylights. Karen followed the rocky creek bed, careful to stay off the trail. Her Dad always told her when tracking, or being tracked, to stay off the trail unless you have no other option. The creek soon veered into two forks. They followed the right hand fork and saw multiple sets of boot prints that had splattered mud over the rocks.

  The mud prints led to a game trail. Karen motioned to her right, and Zeke and Doron walked over to the right side of the trail. Karen signaled, and K-Bar went down the trail about 15 meters, with no alarm, then waited. Zeke then went ahead on the left, staying off the trail to minimize his tracks.

  Karen noticed this game trail had been heavily traveled recently. There were a lot of boot prints made by people who didn’t care about covering their tracks. Many more boot prints than the four ambushers they had shot.

  She looked at Doron, then pointed to the tracks with her left hand, raised two fingers, then made a circle with her thumb and fingers, signaling twenty people. She slowed her pace, pausing frequently to listen, scanning for any sound or movement. She noticed K-Bar was more cautious, hyper alert, in combat mode. Karen knew they need to avoid a firefight, they were outnumbered. Taking the trail was a calculated risk of hasty ambush, but they needed to move quickly.

  These tracks were fresh, water was still seeping into some of the boot prints from the rain soaked soil. Her heart raced, nothing triggered an adrenaline dump like knowing you could be walking in to an ambush. She remembered David had started leaving Zeke and Liu behind in hasty ambush sites on their motorcycles when they drove, to catch anyone pursuing them. He had learned that from Sarge.

  The trail ascended steadily until Karen could tell they were near the ridge of the mountain by the wind, and the shorter bushes that grew near the top. The trail narrowed and turned sharply left just ahead.

  Karen motioned, and K-Bar stalked ahead, crouching low. Doron slid his binoculars off, and stared up the mountain while lying on his stomach. Karen scoped the trail, then watched Zeke shut his eyes and try to focus all his thought on sounds and smells.

  Zeke suddenly threw his fist down and pointed just off the ridge on the other side of the mountain. Karen tensed her grip on the sniper rifle, she heard low pitched, muffled, male voices as the wind died down. Seeing nothing, she quickly wiped off the sweat that was stinging her eyes.

  Karen looked frantically to see if they had set up any trail guards at the top of the ridge, like David always did. But K-Bar was there, and was crouching silently, so there were no guards. They were close enough that she could smell beer, cigarette smoke, and very poor hygiene. The wind shifted, bringing smoke from their campfire.

  Karen calculated they were about five yards below the ridge. Some taller bushes extended off to the right above the bald bedrock at the top of the mountain. Zeke took out a mirror from his backpack and attached it to the outside of his barrel with the metal hose clamps. He slipped his M-16 behind his shoulders and crawled up the bald rock to the bushes, motioning for Karen to face up, and Doron to face down, the mountain.

  Karen tried to calm her breathing as she reached the top of the ridge. The voices were louder now, but the words were indistinct. She was cut by the thorny green bushes at the top, bleeding from her arms and face. She made sure she did not disturb any rocks or make any noise.

  She slowly moved her head behind a rock, and looked down the other side of the mountain. About twenty yards below the ridge was a flat circular grassy area about thirty five yards in diameter, not level but angled down, sheltered on two sides by jagged cliffs. There were seven tents carefully placed in the woods with a camo tarp above. Probably to hide the tents from aircraft, she thought.

  She saw two large fires with six or seven cooking pots on rocks, so there were at least twenty to thirty people, she estimated. There were three trails leading from the grassy area into very thick woods.

  Karen saw a slow spring trickling water from the side of the cliff into a shallow pool which drained across the flat area and down the trail. She counted twelve men and three women. No kids. They all seemed to be in their twenties to thirties. They were dressed like the ambushers, not greens.

  She heard crying and tried to focus just below the edge of the grass, but the blood and sweat blurred her vision.

  She ducked her head, and wiped her eyes again, then moved back to focus on the sobbing.

  Four people were tied up under a tree with a filthy red rag duct taped in their mouth. She could not get a good look. Two men sat nearby on a log laughing, sharpening a knife and drinking beer. Everyone was armed with a rifle and a pistol, except the prisoners.

  She crawled back down to Doron and Zeke, and they huddled close together facing the rock overhang.

  “I saw at least fifteen, all armed. They have four prisoners tied up,” Karen said.

  “Let me look,” said Zeke.

  “Why?” whispered Doron explosively, “Let’s get out of here!”

  “We may run into them later,” said Zeke, already crawling past Karen.

  “Give me the binoculars,” commanded Karen.

  “Set up Doron’s Death master aimed here, and here,” she gestured.

  “Then you can go back and update David,” she finished.

  Zeke looked at Doron. Karen wondered if she had fouled up, she realized she had, in essence, just called him a coward.

  “No, I am the spotter.” said Doron angrily. Doron slung around an AK 47 and set up the Death master at the middle of the camp, as indicated by Karen.

  “Give Zeke the M16 and the second Death master,” said Karen.

  “I want reinforcing fire here,” Karen showed Zeke where the trail turned.

  “Do not activate the Death master on the trail until we shoot and scoot,” Karen said slowly, making sure Zeke understood.

  “I will be there, and I don’t want any Deathmasters cooking off while I am downrange,” Karen whispered.

  “I will climb on t
he cliff across the trail to provide fire support if you have to run and set the Deathmaster to cover your exit,” Zeke said, moving down the trail.

  “Focus on the prisoners,” Karen whispered directly into Doron’s ear.

  “Four prisoners, one male adult, one female adult, two kids about ten or eleven,” Doron whispered.

  Karen scoped them carefully, she could get a chest shot of the guards but a head shot would be at the edge of her range, even with the scope.

  “I am scanning the rest, they all have automatic weapons, shotguns, and pistols. We have wind shear from the mountain, see the limbs moving in different directions?” asked Doron.

  “Okay,” said Karen.

  “Wind gusting from the right five to ten meters before the target,” Doron reported. Karen calculated no head shots with the wind distance and elevation differential.

  “Do the trails lead to the prisoners?” asked Karen.

  “Karen, they are not our problem. Maybe the prisoners are the bad guys. None of our business!” whispered Doron frantically. Karen did not respond, but signaled for K-Bar to stay, then calmly began to crawl forward to the top of the ridge.

  “Two trails behind the prisoners, no other guards in sight,” Doron relayed calmly.

  “I am going to climb around this ridge and come up behind the prisoners,” Karen said.

  “Doron, you do not need to come, I will be fine. You stay here, or go back. I have to at least look and see if I can help,” said Karen, crawling back down the bedrock.

  Zeke looked over and Karen motioned she was circling around, then gestured like she was looking through binoculars, assuring Zeke she was just looking. Karen stalked under the ridge very slowly, pleasantly surprised that Doron followed.

  “Arm the Deathmaster!” Karen whispered. She signaled K-Bar to follow her. Doron twisted the crank. They heard the sobbing grow louder. The moaning seemed to please the guards who were sharpening their knives.

  Suddenly a short man with a beer belly came up the other trail and told the guards “Save the woman, waste the rest. Knives only, no gunshots. Then bury them, we will be here a couple of days. We lost three patrols this morning to gunfire, so be sure there is no screaming” he said.

  “Karen we are outnumbered!” Doron said. Karen detected abject fear in his voice, close to panic.

  “We can do this, Doron. I realize the danger. Promise-it’s a shoot and scoot,” Karen said trying to control her fear.

  The Deathmaster went off right in the middle of the tents. Karen shot the beer belly twice in the chest, splattering him all over the startled guards holding their knives. K-Bar lunged, and mangled his shooting arm.

  The male adult hostage was bleeding from the mouth as he kicked the kids away, into the woods. The female adult hostage hopped after them into the bushes. Karen swung left, then right, with two chest shots for the guards. People all over the grassy area grabbed their guns and cautiously hid, trying to find out how to rush the Deathmaster.

  Karen saw them pointing to the Deathmaster when two more rounds went off. Karen and Doron both ran down to the prisoners. K-Bar was not growling, just attacking and mangling everyone armed a gun in a vicious bloodlust. Doron took his knife and freed the adult male hostage, then handed him his 9 and the knife. The second and third Deathmasters cooked off, and everyone dove.

  Karen shot twice at close range, not scoped, at two men rushing them while shooting. Karen saw K-Bar bite his neck, severing an artery. Blood splattered all over K-Bar.

  Three more rounds went off from the Deathmaster. Doron raised his shotgun and fired twice blindly at the tents and the grassy area, and must have hit someone from the screams and blood. Doron grabbed Karen’s 9 and gave it to the woman.

  “Out!” shouted Karen. Doron pointed for the man and the woman to get back on the trail. Three men grouped to rush them when Zeke opened up on full auto, drilled all three in the back, and two more behind the ledge.

  “We are surrounded!” shouted one of the women near the tent.

  “Throw your guns down, on your knees, hands above your head,” Karen yelled. The woman hesitated, twisted towards Karen with her gun in her hand. Karen quickly shot her in the head.

  Karen promptly shot two more in the head, as K-Bar attacked them. Zeke closed and caught two more in the chest, as suddenly all the visible survivors threw their guns down, fell to their knees, and raised their hands.

  “In the middle with your hands up!” Doron shouted.

  “On your knees,” Karen commanded.

  Five men and two women held up their hands in the middle of the grassy area. K-Bar, for the first time, started viciously barking at the prisoners, not mauling them, probably some remnant from his police dog training, Karen thought. Zeke had now circled around the ridge and began checking each tent. Suddenly Doron dropped to the ground, as he heard rapid fire.

  Karen looked up, and saw the male and female prisoners had rushed the seven in the middle and executed every single one of her prisoners.

  K Bar fell, whimpering loudly. Blood seeped through his fur. K Bar tried to stand but collapsed in a bloody heap. From the angle, Karen knew the freed hostages had shot K-Bar in the hind legs while executing the prisoners.

  Zeke screamed “K-Bar has been shot!”

  “Leave K Bar. Now!” Karen ordered Zeke.

  But Zeke had already grabbed K Bar and threw him over his shoulders, with two legs on each side of his neck. Blood squirted all over Zeke.

  Everyone rounded the curve before round one of the Deathmaster covered their retreat. They paused at the bottom of the hill, searching for the truck.

  “K Bar!” Karen cried, as she wrapped his upper back leg, near his tail.

  “They had surrendered!” Karen said angrily, crouching in a sniper position.

  “So did our people, who they butchered!” screamed the woman.

  Doron grabbed, and restrained, the enraged Karen. K-Bar barred his bloody teeth, and lunged at Doron, but only three legs functioned. K-Bar scooted towards Doron with his three good legs.

  Karen suddenly realized K-Bar would kill Doron for threatening her.

  “Its OK K Bar,” Karen said, touching Doron’s arm.

  “Karen, we weren’t there, and we don’t know what they did to her,” Doron said softly.

  “Let it go, ” Doron finished.

  Zeke agreed, quietly saying, “Stuff happens. It was justice.”

  Karen calmed down, trying to catch her breath, gathered the hostages and ran down the trail. Zeke and Doron quickly closed the rear.

  “There is another part of the gang, about thirty more,” the woman hostage said.

  “They went out on a kill and thrill mission, a euphemism for a kill and rape raid. We heard our guards complain they could not go,” she finished.

  81.

  Great, thought Doron, thirty more armed gang members out there. Thirty more ways to die by ambush. They ran down the mountain and everyone but Zeke was out of breath as they approached the creek.

  “We have about a mile and a half to go,” Karen said to the woman, who was carrying the small girl on her back.

  Doron noticed blood seeping from them man’s mouth.

  “What happened?” Doron asked.

  “I think my jaw and a couple of teeth are smashed.” Doron gave him a bandana to put in his mouth.

  Suddenly they saw Ashley driving the pickup truck towards them with David and Liu standing in the truck bed with rifles ready. Everyone climbed in the truck.

  “They were about to be executed,” Doron told David. “So we attacked.”

  “How many?” asked David.

  “We attacked twenty, she says there are another thirty nearby,” said Doron.

  “What about K-Bar?” Karen demanded.

  “Bleeding slowed, didn’t hit any arteries. Can’t feel any broken bones. Shot right through his left rear,” Liu said.

  No one said anything while they sped away, slinging the loose gravel.

  ________


  “Doron’s Deathmaster rocks,” Karen told David. “It covered our retreat.” David nodded.

  “But a gang of fifty! That’s much bigger than Sarge’s Airborne Unit,” David said.

  Ashley drove slowly, swerved, and stopped behind the ridge. David, Liu, and Zeke jumped out to get their motorcycles.

  “My name is Karen Phelps. I am married to David, the man I was talking to,” said Karen to the woman, offering her hand.

  Doron saw the woman’s lingering glance at Karen’s finger, which had no wedding ring. Neither woman said anything, but the questioning, disbelieving, glance seemed to throw down the gauntlet. This could be interesting to watch, Doron thought.

  “My name is Chloe O’Hara, this is my husband Mike, and our kids Cheryl and Brad,” she said, twisting her wedding ring with her thumb.

  For the first time, Doron looked at Chloe carefully. She seemed to be in her late 30s, deeply tanned skin, blond hair cut short, and deep blue eyes. She moved with the effortless ease of an athlete, very physically fit, maybe a runner or hiker. Her face and arms were deep black and blue, she had been beaten all over.

  Mike had light blond hair which was balding, rimless glasses framed his green eyes, and he had a slight beer belly paunch. His face had been smashed and was swelling. Mike seemed older, maybe 40s. His arm muscles seemed overdeveloped, he probably lifted weights, but his legs were weak. The kids seemed about ten or eleven, and stared vacantly into the distance.

  “What happened?” asked Karen.

  “We were moving to San Diego, because Mike got a transfer. He is a Petroleum Engineer,” Chloe explained.

  “Our SUV suddenly died on the Interstate in the middle of the desert. Then two nukes went off. Mike said later the SUV died because of the EMP effect,” Chloe explained. Karen nodded.

  “Some nukes were specifically for an EMP effect,” Chloe added.

  “Then a US Military unit came by, they let us ride in a truck. They had a fallout bunker and we stayed there about three weeks. They had plenty of those delicious army meals in a bag- MREs. When we left with them, our column was attacked by this gang with some type of rocket or bomb which blew up the big truck, then they attacked our smaller Humvee. The soldiers hid us in a ditch, and the firefight was brutal,” Chloe said.