by Blake Brown
"They left guards at your camp and they're sending a team back tomorrow before dawn to take the rest of your shit. Even if your friends are still alive, they won't be soon. Two men can't stand up against a whole militia, and I can't do anything either. I'm sorry." Connor replied.
"Can you at least give my little sister more food?" Jason entered the tent just as the teenage girl voiced the question.
"Yeah, sure." Connor reached into a small sack on the ground and pulled out a piece of jerky. The beaten and bruised woman saw Jason enter, and kicked Connor’s leg to warn him. Connor turned, jumping slightly when he saw the other man.
"Riley sent me to take over for you." Jason said as he gauged the room.
"Alright." Connor took a bite out of the jerky, attempting to cover up what he was really doing just moments before. He then grabbed the small sack, standing up and exiting the tent.
Jason stared at the women for a moment as they all tried to hide their looks of guilt. After a few moments of the awkward silence, he exited the tent to follow Connor. He scanned the camp to make sure Riley and Peterson weren't following or watching him, and then ran up behind the younger man. "Hey, Connor." He whispered as he approached.
Connor turned quickly, dropping the sack of food and grabbing Jason. He slammed him up against a tree and brandished the knife he now held. "You didn't see shit, alright mother fucker? If you even think about saying anything, I'll fucking gut you." He poked the tip of the blade into Jason’s belly.
"Relax, I'm on your side." Jason said with his hands raised, showing no resistance.
"I'm on my own side. Nobody's here with me." Connor pushed Jason up against the tree even harder for a second, and then let him go, beginning to walk away.
"That's not true, you seem to be on the side of those women in there. You're feeding them, aren't you?" Jason said. Connor kept walking so Jason called out again. "I'm breaking them out of here with or without you. I figured you'd want in."
Connor stopped and stood still for a few moments before turning around and walking back towards Jason. "That's fucking suicide, you're going to get yourself and them killed." He pointed at Jason and then the tent, his whole body extremely tensed. He turned to walk away again.
"Dying's better than being a fucking slave to these assholes, and I'm sure they'd rather die than be repeatedly raped and beaten, because that's what’s going to happen. What already has happened to one of them." Jason reasoned. Connor stopped for a few seconds as he thought about what Jason had just said, and then continued to walk away. "What if that was your mom or sister in that tent?"
Connor turned and rushed Jason again, this time grabbing his throat and pushing his face into Jason’s own. "Don't you ever talk about my fucking mother or sister, you got that?"
"McGowan’s dead, they just killed him right in front of me. If you're so afraid of dying that you won't help those girl’s, then you're just a fool and a coward. Our only chance of living is getting the fuck out of here. Several armed people trying to escape have a hell of a better chance than one or two." Jason choked out through the younger man’s tight grip on his throat.
Connor released him and took a step back, processing the words. "You call a fucking small knife armed?" He asked rhetorically, pointing to where the knife now rested in his waistband.
"I know where they keep a shit ton of weapons."
"Oh yeah, and how are you going to get them?" Connor asked with a slight chuckle.
"There's only one guard, I'll take him out quietly just before dawn, when there's not many people moving around camp. Then I'll come arm you and the girls and we can sneak out. Hopefully we won't have to even fire a shot." Jason said.
"And what if Riley comes back to get one of the girls for his sick fucking games again tonight? Or Peterson? Or one of his other boys huh? You think about that?" Connor asked the obvious.
"No way, Riley's still up and drinking from last night, he's going to crash hard later today and be practically comatose for a long ass time. As far as Peterson or the other soldiers coming by, there's no way Riley will let that happen until he's had his fill of them. You think he's the type of man to take sloppy seconds from a subordinate? I don't." Jason replied rationally.
Connor thought for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "You know we're going to die if we go through with this right?"
"Probably." Jason replied honestly.
"Fuck it, I'm in. My momma didn't raise me to be a coward." Connor said with conviction.
"I'll let the girls know and pretend like I'm being a good little boy all day, you get some rest and come take over for me tonight. I'll be there with the weapons just before dawn. All of you need to be ready." Jason said as he slapped the younger man's shoulder.
"We'll be ready, doubt I'll get much sleep though seeing as how I know I'm going to die tomorrow. You even know how to use those guns they got old man?"
"I was a gun runner for over twenty years, I think I can handle it." Jason responded with an excited smile.
***
Lawson awoke from his deep unconsciousness to a wave of cold water hitting him in the face and drenching his body. He looked around, his vision blurry, his head aching tremendously. He felt a wave of extreme panic, but he wasn't sure why. He was in the woods, there was a running creek to his right, and a horse and people in front of him. I'm tied to a fucking tree. One of the people was close to him and talking to him, but the words were muffled in his half-conscious state. The man reached out and slapped him, snapping him back into the moment. "You hear me?" The man said.
"What the hell is this? You better let me go before my unit finds me." Lawson replied with a nervous bluff.
"Oh, we can handle them. Me and my friends here have killed about a dozen of them in the past twenty-four hours." The man said, throwing his thumb back to point at the others by the horse.
Lawson realized he recognized one of the men, his mangled face now stitched up though still horrific to look at. The injured man was caring for a bullet wound on one of the others while a big, Nordic looking man was caring for a teenage boy with one arm. "Doesn't look like you came out of that fight whole, who are you?" Lawson prodded.
"I'm Bryce, you attacked my group, killed one of us, and took another four of us. I want them back, and you’re going to help me get them." The man said as he leaned in close, the look on his face sending a chill through Lawson.
"Look, ya'll better just be on your way. Your friends are Riley's pets now, trying to save them is suicide." Lawson tried to reason. "Just let me go alright?"
Bryce brought the heel of his boot down onto the side of Lawson's right knee with all his weight, shattering the cartilage that held the cap in place and displacing it, the cap now taking a horrible, deformed position on the side of the socket. Lawson screamed in the worst agony he'd ever felt, and tears rushed down his face as he stared at his mangled knee in horror. Bryce wrapped his hand around Lawson's mouth and leaned in close. "Does it look like I give a fuck what your opinion is? Where are they?"
Bryce uncovered Lawson's mouth. "If I tell you, Peterson will fucking torture and kill me. Please just let me go!" He cried out in a pained panic.
"I'm already torturing you, and if you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll kill you too. I'd worry about the immediate threat buddy." Bryce pulled out a knife and hit Lawson in the nose with the butt of the handle, smearing the now bloody and broken thing across his face.
"Please, stop!" Lawson begged, the words sounding like he had a stuffy cold from the broken nose. He spit out the blood that was now running down into his mouth as he spoke.
"I don't have time to play games with you! Where are they!?" Bryce screamed into his face, his voice deepening and sounding almost demonic to the concussed Lawson.
"Please, I was just following orders, I don't want to die!" Lawson cried.
Bryce thrust down with the b
lade of his knife, plunging it into Lawson’s calf muscle, the blade scraping against his shin bone. Bryce twisted the knife back and forth a few times as Lawson screamed, opening a wide hole in the man’s leg as he tore the calf muscle away from the bone. Bryce then pulled the blade down, the sharpened steel easily sliding through Lawson’s flesh and partially detached muscle. Lawson's whole body thrashed in agony. "I'll tell you! Stop and I'll tell you!" He screamed.
Bryce stopped cutting the defenseless man, letting go of his knife and leaving it sticking out of Lawson's leg. "Where?"
"They're at a camp in the woods, about a few miles down Foresthill road after you cross the main bridge. You turn onto Pinetree road and take it down to a small parking area in the woods, you should see some of our vehicles. There's a hiking path there that takes you straight to the camp, you can't miss it." Lawson barked out through tearful sobs.
Bryce pulled the knife out of Lawson’s leg and he screamed as the pain intensified for a moment. Looking down at his destroyed limb, Lawson cried, almost loosing consciousness. Bryce walked around the tree and cut the rope that bound Lawson to it. He then circled back in front of Lawson and pulled a map and pencil out of his back, jean pocket, holding it out to the young soldier. "Mark our route on the map."
Lawson did as instructed and handed the map back to his deranged captor. "It's there, I swear to god." Lawson’s words started to slow, and his head drifted lazily to the side.
"I believe you." Bryce responded calmly.
"Then please, let me go!" Lawson begged. So much blood was pouring from his leg, now pooling in a large puddle underneath him, the warm and spreading liquid wetting his pants where they touched the ground.
Bryce turned, looking at the unconscious and one armed, teenage boy for a moment. "I'm not that good of a guy, and you all need to pay for what you've done." Bryce turned and thrust out with the knife, sinking it into Lawson's unsuspecting chest. Lawson looked down at the blade sticking out of him in horror, and then up to the eyes of the man that had just murdered him. Everything turned to nothingness around him.
CHAPTER 20
After the interrogation, Bryce shared everything he had found out with the group, most of which they already overheard, and they came up with a plan. They decided, with some silent protest from Alejandro, that Bryce and Byark would head out right away and attack the camp at their first opportunity. "You're going to take on their entire militia with just the two of you?" Vincent asked.
"We don't have much of a choice, you three are all too injured to fight and even if you could, we only have two means of silent attack and catching them off guard. Byark’s bow and my rifle. Hopefully we'll be able to take most of them out before they even know what's going on." Alejandro painfully and angrily shook his head, starting to walk away. "Wait." Bryce said, getting him to turn back. Bryce grabbed the two rifles that he had taken off the soldiers at their cabin and handed them out to Alejandro and Vincent. "You two need to keep Matt safe, he lost his arm for this group. Look out for each other and keep taking care of each other’s wounds. We'll be back as soon as we can."
"We'll be alright, you just try not to get yourselves killed. Especially you handsome." Vincent said, winking at Byark and causing the big man to chuckle.
"Oh and watch Grunt for me too. After yesterday I don't much feel like putting him in the line of fire again." Bryce added, scratching the dog’s head and telling him to stay. Grunt let out a low whine as his two favorite people took off, possibly never to be seen again.
***
Bryce and Byark made their way back to the cabin, stealthily stalking the perimeter for a while before deciding it was safe to enter the grounds. They wasted no time, running for the GMC and getting the hell out of their once home and now death trap.
As they got close to the turn off for Pinetree road, they pulled off into an outlet that led to a mountain side hiking trail and parked the truck. They continued the rest of the way on foot, staying concealed in the tree line and following the dirt path that was Pinetree road. After a little while, they came upon the small parking area where multiple Humvee’s and a large military truck were parked. They continued their advance through the woods, following the hiking path that the soldier described from a safe distance. Eventually they came upon a huge clearing with dozens of canvas tents set up and dozens of soldiers littering the grounds. They hiked deeper into the woods and up to the crest of a large hill to take up position and survey the camp. "Get comfortable, we'll spend the day trying to get sightlines on the girls. If we can spot them, then we'll sneak in at night and try to break them out. If not, we'll attack just before dawn, when most of them will still be asleep and there won't be as much traffic around the camp. We'll take out as many of those fuckers as we can before they know were here." Bryce said, placing his pack on the ground to load and inspect his weapons.
"Sounds good to me, I can't wait to wet my axe." Byark said, clapping Bryce on the shoulder.
"How many arrows you got left?" Bryce asked, trying to see how many soldiers they could take out quietly.
"Just eight, how's your ammunition?" Byark asked in return.
"I've got a handful of shells for the shotgun, almost two full magazines for the pistol, and luckily I found a half full box of rounds for the .22 back at the cabin that the soldiers left behind, so ammo's no real issue. The only problem is that even with the suppressor, the rifle still isn't exactly quiet. After a few shots we'll have made ourselves known. If we have to attack, it's better if you use your arrows to get as many as you can before I join in." Bryce responded, looking at his laid-out weapons.
"Let's hope we spot the women before dawn. Sneaking in is probably our best option at this point." Byark said as he pulled out a wet stone and began sharpening the blade of his axe.
"Agreed." Bryce said, mentally preparing for the battle to come.
***
Jason waited until just before five in the morning, leaving his tent and making his way to the tent that had been deemed armory B. Better known as the barely stocked and barely guarded storage area for civilian weaponry. Rain began to fall from the clouds above, which was odd for the end of spring and early summer, causing his boots to slide through the fresh mud underneath him and making it much harder to keep quiet. As he neared the back of the tent; he was caught off guard by the sight of over a dozen soldiers, some of his fellow inmates, and a few civilians marching through the camp. His boots made a squelching noise as he hastily moved to cover behind the tent and watched the large group move out of camp and towards the hiking trail. If they stay gone long enough that'll be a big advantage for us, but if they come back in the middle of our escape, we're dead for sure.
He waited for a few minutes after the soldiers were gone and then circled around the tent. He scanned the camp for a moment to make sure that no one had eyes on him. Realizing he was in the clear, he peeked through the crack in the tent’s opening, seeing the solitary guard standing there with his back turned to the entrance, sipping from a flask. Jason quietly pulled open the canvas and stepped in before rushing forward and wrapping his arm around the man's neck. As Jason’s elbow pit wrapped around the man's throat, he interlocked his arms, bringing his other forearm up to his wrist and then wrapping his palm around to grip the back of the man's skull, pushing his head forward into the pit of his elbow to increase the speed and severity of the choke. His arms coiled around the soldier like an anaconda and he took him to the ground quickly. As Jason had hoped and suspected, the soldier panicked and clawed at Jason’s arms to try and break free instead of trying to use his gun or knife to defend himself. The man went unconscious in a matter of seconds from the extreme pressure cutting off his airway and blood flow to his brain, and Jason held the choke for twice as long as he needed too, making sure to kill the soldier. "Sorry pal, can't risk you waking up and sounding the alarm before we're out of here." Jason said with genuine sympathy as he let the man go and his ow
n heartbeat began to settle.
He stood and rushed forward, grabbing a bag from the corner of the room. His adrenaline fueled his actions while his mind warned him to get away from the crime scene as quickly as possible. He slung the soldier’s M4 over his shoulder, pulled out his sidearm and stuffed it into the back of his waistband, and then attached the soldier’s sheathed KA-BAR to his belt, fully arming himself. He started loading weapons into the duffel bag he held from metal shelves in the tent, grabbing a few handguns, a shotgun, a semi auto rifle, a few knives, and a machete before sneaking out of the tent and rushing towards the tent where the women were being held, forgetting to grab any spare ammunition in his haste.
As he moved through the camp, he started hearing loud claps that his mind associated with the fire of suppressed weapons, a sound he knew quite well. He looked up to the sky as the rain began to fall harder. Probably just some thunder.
***
"Privates Lawson and Hendricks, be advised that reinforcements are in bound, check your fire. Hospital team, be advised that reinforcements are in route to your location for clean-up and securing efforts." Bryce switched off the handheld radio that he had gotten from the hospital, worried that someone might hear them even from this distance. The two of them then turned their gaze back to the camp, seeing a large force moving out.
"This is our chance. It's been eighteen hours and we haven't seen them, that must be a third of their forces leaving right now. We have to attack, we can't waste this opportunity." Byark whispered, more loudly than Bryce would have liked to be heard over the pouring rain.
"You're right, line up a shot." Bryce watched the unit disappear into the woods and then positioned himself to be ready to open up with the rifle as soon as he had too.
Byark smiled and raised his bow, scanning the camp and the guards that patrolled it. "Got one." He said, lining up an unsuspecting and solitary soldier in his sights.
"I'm ready when you are." Bryce said, and after a few moments of expertly controlled breathing, Byark loosed the arrow. The fight was on.