by A J Newman
The duct tape burned slow enough to allow them to be a block away when the burning tape burned up to the tape holding the jar. The tape burned through, fell to the floor spilling its contents on the floor, and the liquid spread to cover a large portion of the floor. The vapor from the gas rose a few feet to the flame and ignited with a large explosive force blowing the windows out in a shower of glass. The house erupted in flames and was totally engulfed in a few minutes. The bodies were burned beyond recognition, but the whole town knew who the mysterious woman’s body was by the end of the week.
“Let’s go home and get some sleep before the next mission, “Will said as they climbed into the old VW.
“Another dead thug another dollar,” replied Oren.
“I’m tired and want to sleep in my own bed tonight,” added Maddie, who then said, “I’ll bet we have some sleepless nights coming up pretty soon.”
Bob and Joan waited up for Will’s team to get back home after dropping Oren off at his house.
“Son, how did it go?”
“Both are dead, and we heard the Mayor and his mistress both admit that they knew there was a scam going on with the fake DHS. The Mayor planned to double cross the DHS officer and become the leader of the new territory.”
“Well, get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day. Maddie, Missy, and your Mom are joining Ben’s team on the assault on the fake DHS troops while you join Jack taking out two of the spies. Harold and I will lead teams to kill the other four. Good night.”
***
The next morning the hit teams went out to find the spies. Harold walked right up to the first spy with a piece of paper in his hand and said, “I’m here; give me your report.”
The man looked a bit confused until Shorty stuck his pistol in the man’s back and said, “Reach for the sky.”
The man tried to draw his gun, but Zeb had his AR already aimed at the man and shot him in the shoulder from 50 feet. The man spun backward and hit the ground bleeding out before they could question him. Harold searched his body while Shorty and Zeb searched the cabin he was hiding in during his stay in Hartsville.
They found several maps of the area and a list of people to watch. Bob and Jim Dickerson’s names were at the top of the list.
Harold took his team on over to Lebanon and encountered much the same scenario when he confronted the man. The only difference was that Harold raised his pistol first, but the man still tried to kill Harold, and again Zeb shot the man. This time Zeb got fancy and hit the man on the upper arm, and they were able to place a tourniquet on him and saved his life.
The spy refused to talk until Shorty placed the pointy end of his hunting knife into the man’s arm and wiggled it around for a few seconds.
“I don’t know anything; I was sent here to get information on the people on the list in my shirt pocket. Three of us were working with a DHS Agent named Al who was based in Lebanon, and the other three were working with another DSH agent located in Carthage.”
“How soon will they attack this area?”
“Attack? We are coming here to help you.”
Harold asked a few more questions, got what he wanted and cut the man’s throat. Harold reported to Ben and Bob about the extra DHS agent, and Jim Dickson sent a team over to find, question and kill the bastard.
Jack’s team found their targets, questioned them, and then quickly dispatched them before heading back home that evening.
Bob’s team was the only one that met any real resistance. The first spy was happy to give up and spill the beans until the knife headed to his throat. He was quite pissed off that he did what was asked of him and still got the knife. The second man knew instantly something was wrong because he had worked with his contact several times before.
He drew as soon as Bob walked up, began shooting his 9mm at Bob, and jumped behind a tractor. He hit Bob on the left calf, saw Joan sneaking up on him, and shot her in the right hip knocking her down. Tony charged the man with his AR blazing away and got the guy with a lucky shot to the head. Tony wasn’t hit by any bullets but slipped and fell into the tractor during his heroic charge. He saved Joan’s life by distracting the spy from finishing her off.
Joan applied pressure to her wound and crawled over to check on Tony and Bob. Bob had a flesh wound and applied pressure to both holes in his calf before crawling over to Joan.
“Babe, are you okay?”
“I got a groove on my hip, but I think I’ll live. The bleeding has stopped. What about you,” she said as she lifted Tony’s head onto her lap.
“I took one in my calf. The bleeding has stopped, but I’ll need Bill and the Doc to patch me up. What about Tony?”
“He saved my life, killed this asshole, and then slipped and fell into the tractor. He hit his head on the way down and knocked himself out. He’s got a big bump, but I don’t see any severe damage.”
“Bullshit, my head is pounding. There must be a significant dent in it.”
Bob replied, “There is a major dent in the tractor. That farmer will want you to get it fixed. We need to get the hell out of here before he catches us.”
“Screw you, Bob. I hurt too much to laugh.”
***
Ben met with Jim and Jo an hour before the attack on the DHS troops was to begin. He had a map of the area northeast of Carthage laid out on the hood of a pickup and said, “My troops will come up from the west side of Highway 263 while Jim’s hide along the north side of Highway 85 just north of the 263 junctions. They should cut and run toward you, and you will begin firing at will as soon as you see them. Jim, remember to let them get even with you, so you’ll be shooting toward the east, so you don’t kill my men coming from the south.
Jo, I want your snipers placed on the south side of this ridge so you will have a good view of their Humvees. Kill anyone who tries to man those machine guns. We can take them on and defeat them, but we’ll lose a lot fewer men if you deny them access to the machine guns.
Now the tricky part. I must have three to five survivors to interrogate. Can you help me do that? I don’t care if they are wounded as long as they can talk. Hell if they all throw down their weapons we’ll take them alive so we can gain some intel on the main group.”
Jo replied, “We’ll do our job. They won’t get to the Humvees.
Jim said, “We’ll hold the line and ambush the bastards when you drive them our way.”
“Maddie set up over there beside Oren. Ted, you and Sally, set up on the left end of the ridge and Sue come with me to the right end. Remember we hold our fire until we hear the Major fire the first shot. When you hear the shot, shoot any enemy target but concentrate on men trying to man the Humvees. Got it? Okay, now line up your first target and be ready to squeeze the trigger when you hear the shot.”
They were approximately a hundred yards from the Humvees and Jo was surprised the group didn’t have any perimeter guards out in the woods. They had several guards along the road on both ends of their camp. Jo’s team was anxious to get on with the battle and get it over with as soon as possible. The suspense was nerve racking.
There was a shot coming from their left, everyone pulled their trigger simultaneously, and four men and two women dropped to the ground. Several men ran to Humvees, but they were cut to the ground by Jo’s snipers.
Gunfire erupted east of their position, and the few remaining DHS troops ran north for their lives. Jo kept her people guarding the Humvees. No one in the group was injured. Jo used her scope to count the bodies and saw they had killed or wounded fourteen men and two women. Jo, Ted, and Sally walked down to the wounded, took their arms, and secured them to trees while they treated their wounds. The man had been hit in the shoulder just above his body armor, and the woman had been hit twice in the chest, but her body armor stopped the bullets even if she had been knocked on her ass.
Jo kept the other three on guard as they gathered all of the weapons, body armor that wasn’t shot full of holes, and all documents from the bodies. She had all of the
items placed in her new Humvee. She figured the Horseshoe should get at least one of the vehicles. She also moved half the ammo from the other two vehicles to her Humvee.
A few minutes later one of the Major’s men waved as he approached and yelled, “Don’t shoot. The Major wants you to know that we have been successful. All but five are dead, and we are questioning them now. You can go back to your homes, and we’ll take it from here.”
Jo replied, “That’s great news, and we’ll leave now for home. Tell the Major we kept one of the Humvees. Oh, what do we do with these two?”
The soldier turned and shot each one in the head and then said, “Not a problem. We were giving one to you and Jim’s group and keeping the other one.”
The soldier turned and left to rejoin his unit when Maddie said, “He killed them in cold blood, and who the fuck is the Major to tell us that we can keep one of the three Humvees that we captured?”
Jo replied, “Play nice. Team, we don’t have a prison or spare food for these criminals. Let’s take our new toys home and check on our families.”
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Chapter 17
Day 162 – Crispy Critters
Bob and Jack were very pleased that they now possessed a Humvee with twin .556 SAWs. They had seen Ben’s team use them effectively several times to stop hordes of walkers and a biker gang. They quickly met and passed on the details of each operation and went to their homes.
The family spent the day before licking their wounds, digging out bullets, and applying bandages. Bob had been wounded before, so it was no big deal except they were light on painkillers, so he only took some aspirin to dull the pain. Joan’s wound on her hip wasn’t serious but hurt like hell. Bill gave her two hydrocodone tablets and rubbed some antibiotic cream on the wound. Bob and Joan excused themselves and went to Bob’s room for the rest of the day.
The family was sitting on the deck sipping some sweet tea after supper when Bob and Joan hobbled out to the deck followed by Missy who said, “Joan do we call you Mamaw or Grandma?”
Bob said, “What?”
“I saw you two coming out of your bedroom and just assumed we have a new Grandma.”
“Damn, you are getting to be a bigger smartass than your brother.”
“Joan jumped in and said, “First, Bob and I are together. Second, no one could replace your Grandma. Fourth, I love Bob. Fifth, call me Joan.”
Bob looked over at Matt, who had his arms wrapped around Missy and said, “Damn, boy, you are around here pawing on my Grand Daughter all the time. Has Jo given you her sex talk?”
“Papaw, Matt doesn’t need a sex talk.”
“This is the one that says if you have sex with her daughter she’s going to shoot his ass,” Bob laughed and took a drink.
Bill replied, “Pop, Matt, and I had that talk a while back. He promised to be a good boy until they get married next month.”
They were all drinking beer or whiskey except Joan to celebrate Missy’s engagement because the hydrocodones made her a bit sleepy, so she stuck to the tea while Bob sweetened his tea with some moonshine. They were swapping war stories when there were several loud explosions that shook the earth and rattled windows and dishes. Bob pointed to the east and said, “Those sounded like nuclear bombs have been detonated about twenty miles from here. Who the fuck would blow up farmland between Carthage and Cookeville?”
Joan pointed at the skyline and said, “Look, a large black cloud is rising in the east.”
“Damn, that’s not any mushroom cloud from an A-Bomb. Look at that sucker roll as it goes up to the sky. Shit, there are two different ones that are joining together.”
“What could have caused that,” asked Joan.
“Normally I’d say a large gasoline or oil tank exploded. Son of a bitch. I’ll bet it was an air-fuel bomb.”
Bob got on the radio and called for Ben who responded, “I’ll bet you are calling about our little explosion east of here.”
“Damn Skippy. What the fuck was that and was anyone hurt?”
“Those explosions were three homemade air fuel bombs dropped from Army transport aircraft. We caught the enemy by surprise and wiped them out in a single minute. There are over 500 of the assholes who became crispy critters before they could fire a shot.”
“Do what? I thought we had several weeks before they would get here and the Army would beat them here by a week.”
“I’m sorry for misleading you, but there never was any large Army force freed up to help us in the fight. Until a week ago, I was secretly making plans for all of us to bug out to another location. I finally found a Colonel in Georgia, who had planes, fuel, and some brilliant near do well engineers and demolition folks who made the bombs. I couldn’t tell you because we couldn’t let the plans leak out. I trust you but we also trusted Greg, and you see what happened there.”
“You used us as bait!”
“Well… “
“Son of a bitch. You had us stir the assholes up and head this way just to make sure they would attempt to roll right over us without proper tactical procedures.”
“Yes that about sums it up, but remember we wiped them out and they can’t hurt your family, and you get to stay at the Horseshoe.”
“You tortured those men in front of the ones who escaped to send a message back to the main force. Shit, you even let them escape, didn’t you?
“Well, yes. We had to make sure they felt over confident and would roll toward you thinking it would be a piece of cake. They left themselves open to a mass slaughter, and it worked. Our plan was so good that the General used the same tactics on the main group and several of the splinter groups. We wiped out over 5,000 of the enemy in the last twenty-four hours.”
“You would have sacrificed my family to succeed.”
“No, we knew we could kill 90 percent of them, or I would have told you to get the hell out of dodge. Look I understand that you want to whip my ass right now but think this through and then look me in the eye and tell me you would have done differently. We fried all of the fake DHS and the threat is over.”
“You mean until the next dictator comes along.”
“No, we are rebuilding our armed forces, and with some help from our communities we will station troops with each community and build a force large enough to destroy these dictators before they can get a foothold.”
Bob laid the walkie-talkie down and said, “I guess you heard what I said so I’ll fill you in on what the Major told me.”
The family was both pissed at the Army and excited to be free of the looming menace at the same time as they continued to watch the black cloud grow for an hour and then slowly dissipate over the next several hours. The cloud had disappeared as the sun went down and Bob had calmed down a bit. He hadn’t threatened to kick the Major’s ass for about an hour and was drinking a bit more beer than normal as they reflected on their lives since the shit hit the fan.
Bob walked back out onto the deck later that night and said, “We have some big decisions to make in the next week or so because I don’t know if we can defend the Horseshoe against those big organized groups. By being successful, we have placed a target on our backs for one dictator or another to try and take what’s ours.”
Bill replied, “Can’t we move on west or south and start over once the crops are in and we could take plenty of food and seeds with us to start over?”
“Pop, won’t there be other dictators, gangs, and assholes trying to take our stuff anywhere we go?”
“Jo, I think you nailed it. Eighty percent of the people in the civilized world have died off by now, and the O’Bergs of the world think they can be the king of a small country. I don’t think leaving is the answer. I have changed my mind and believe we should grow larger, get better military hardware, and align ourselves with the new US Military forces that Ben’s team is a part of.”
“So we will keep fighting forever,” asked Joan?
“No hon, not forever, but for a while longer,” Bob replied, and th
en added, “We have to train every member of our community in the skills necessary to fight and survive so that we are so strong that nobody wants to mess with us. Let the Wraiths run free to eliminate the criminals and have an army large enough to be feared by the evil and needed by the good people. We should farm every inch of the land so we can be generous with our friends and trade with our neighbors. We will help anyone who wants to live in peace how to get vehicles, power plants, and solar heating working in their communities. We will be a force for good.”
“Papaw that was quite a speech you just gave; now where do we sign up for this brave new world. Maddie and I are expecting a son in about six or seven months, and I want him, or her, to grow up and not worry about survival or fighting all of the time. Let’s get the trash taken out before the next generation grows up and has to deal with the mess.”
The End
Thanks for reading my novel and please don’t forget to give it a great review on Amazon.
AJ Newman
Don’t stop now! Continue to the next page for a sneak peek at “The Day America Died – New Beginnings.”
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Chapter 1
The End is Near
Somalia
She was soaking wet, and the temperature was still over 105 degrees as the sun went down on the coast of Somalia. The flies were more than annoying as they took turns biting any exposed flesh. One fly bit the back of her neck, which stung fiercely, but she remained frozen lest she gives away her position.
Her training had been tough and put her through miserable conditions; however, those damn flies were pure torture. She watched as the missile launcher with its missile was loaded into the 53-foot overseas shipping container. The scientists and team fitting the missile into the container worked for days to get the top to open far enough for the missile to be launched. Davi took many photos and left without being detected. It took her hours to crawl along the sand dunes back to her motorcycle and safety. She opened the saddlebag, retrieved some antibiotic salve, and applied it to the bites.