by R. P. Wolff
“Yes, mother,” Sheri said, “he certainly is not. May he rot in hell.”
Sheri startled Zelda, but she was pleased with the lady’s support.
The TV switched to a standing Lance Hampton, in army fatigues, surrounded by an entourage of resistance leaders, standing behind a table. They looked to be in a tent, with papers, probably maps, spread out across the table.
Zelda exhaled. She hoped that he would address her radio broadcast.
Hello Americans. I am President Hampton. For those of you who haven’t heard, Zelda Mater is dead.
“I am not dead!” Zelda yelled again. Colin gently touched her arm to console her.
I have good news to report. We have taken over all the military bases in Texas. All the way from El Paso to Dallas. We have won. As you can tell, the former Mater government has no communications throughout the country. They have no way of communicating with themselves. They are in disarray without their Mother.
We are the new government, and I am only the acting President. Soon, we will have formal elections to choose a President as well as all other congressional and local government offices.
I am sad to report, though, that there has been some undue violence occurring. Some Establishees are doing unauthorized acts of beating Mater policemen and in some cases, some select few have publicly hung Mater policemen. We are better than this. We are the United States of America now—not an anarchy. This activity must stop immediately. For the Mater policemen or other Maters who harmed United States citizens, we will arrest them, and they will get a fair trial.
Colin pointed to the TV. “Isn’t that Victor Cook? Your dad’s lead Secret Service agent.”
Zelda frowned and nodded. He was the culprit who had exposed her, Zelda figured.
The following footage shows some of the bases and schools that we have captured. We are holding the Mater soldiers who survived as prisoners at these bases as shields for any potential counterattacks. If Maters bomb the bases, they will just be killing their own people.
The TV screen switched to showing various bases with Christian crosses displayed and Establishees patrolling the perimeters.
“Shit,” Colin whispered to Zelda, “they have taken over the bases. I wonder if they really have overtaken all the bases in Texas. That seems farfetched.”
Zelda shivered. Every day that went by made her look weaker. “Hopefully, that guard you sent out can get word of our location, so they can pick us up.”
Colin raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think he’s going to get through without being discovered. He should head back here.”
“I hope not,” Zelda said. “What if he’s followed or gets captured. They will torture him into telling our location.”
“You’re right. We should probably move to another house, so there’s no chance he could compromise our location.”
“Yeah, but then we would have no way of someone rescuing us,” Zelda said.
“Yes, we’re in a difficult situation,” Colin said. “If we stay, we potentially expose ourselves to the resistance. If we leave, we lose our only hope of rescue.”
Zelda had an idea. “How about this? Let’s move across the street to one of these houses.” Zelda pointed out the window. “We’ll ask Sheri which neighbor we could trust. Then, we just watch out from the other house. If our guy leads the resistance to the house, we’ll just either stay at the house or make an exit. What do you think?”
“Great idea. It’s a win, win. We can still be rescued, but we will dodge any potential attack on us.”
Chapter 45
Right after Lance’s TV presentation, the Mater counterattack commenced. The Maters flew thirty fighter jets towards Dallas, but the Establishment met them with an equal number of jets. Both sides lost an equal number of jets. The Mater focus was on the NASJRB. The fighter jets bombarded the bases with machine gun fire coupled with bombs. The NASJRB countered with air defense missiles and machine guns of their own. The Establishment suffered numerous casualties, but there were more Mater prisoners that died than the Establishment forces.
The aircraft battles only lasted for about thirty minutes before the Mater forces retreated, probably to refuel and re-arm the planes for future attacks.
After about fifteen minutes, another set of Mater fighter jets emerged. This second round caught the Establishment off guard. Their fighter jets didn’t reengage quickly enough, and the Establishment suffered more casualties but so did the Mater prisoners.
Lance and General Cook had already left the NASJRB well before the attack because they were on the hunt for Zelda. Lance had pre-recorded his brief speech. The Mater driving the SUV that infiltrated the radio station did not go to any house. Instead, he parked in a mall parking lot and slept for the night. General Cook instructed all Establishment police to leave the SUV alone. They would see if the guy would go to a house today. If not, then they would arrest him and interrogate him to get him to reveal Zelda’s location. If he had the tape of her radio broadcast, then he should know where Zelda was located.
After about another thirty minutes, the second round of fighter jets retreated again. This time the Establishment forces wouldn’t let their guard down. They reloaded and had their jets ready for another attack.
Sure enough, they were right. The Mater jets emerged again, but the Establishment jets were ready for them and shot down one Mater jet after another. The ground to air missiles bombarded many Mater jets as well. Not one of the Mater’s third round of attacks landed any Establishment casualties. Only about five Mater jets were able to retreat—the Establishment shot down the rest. Some of the Mater pilots had ejected from their planes before the planes crashed. The Establishment was searching for these soon-to-be prisoners of war.
Still, there were no Mater ground forces, but the Establishment was ready for them. They expected that the ground forces and new fighter jet attacks would be forthcoming.
◆◆◆
Lance and General Cook waited in a parked black SUV with a white cross spray painted on the hood about a mile away from the white SUV, that was parked in an empty mall parking lot.
Lance’s stomach growled. It was around 9:30 a.m. He had only eaten a banana for breakfast. General Cook informed him of the morning’s counterattacks.
“Well, we took a beating,” the General said, “but they took more of a beating.” He looked down momentarily. “We lost at least two hundred guys, though, but the Maters lost about five hundred. They were prisoners held at the bases who were the recipients of some of the Mater bombs.”
“Is the battle still going on?” Lance asked.
“No, they’ve retreated for now, and my guys think that the Maters are done for the day. Nevertheless, they are on guard for another attack.”
Lance scratched his head. He worried whether the Establishment could withstand multiple Mater attacks. The Maters had the whole nationwide arsenal at their disposal. He had his doubts about the staying power of the Establishment.
The General said, “The next twenty-four hours is crucial. If we can stop their initial attacks, they will have to regroup before they attack again. They will realize that they just can’t come in here and overtake us so easily. They will need to plan for a longer battle.”
“We have to get the Mother and show her dead body to the world,” Lance said. “Maybe they will back off if their precious Mother is dead.”
General Cook sighed. “Maybe, it might do the opposite and incite the Maters to seek revenge.”
“How long do you want to wait for this Mater guy?” Lance asked, while pointing in the direction of the man sleeping in a parked SUV.
“Well, he has to drive somewhere. If he doesn’t lead us to Zelda today, we will pull him over and interrogate him.”
Lance’s cell phone buzzed. It was an unrecognized number, and only a few people knew the number. The only person who had called him was General Cook and a corporal who indirectly reported to the General. He was hesitant to answer but decided that he shoul
d.
He shrugged and looked at the General. “Maybe I should take this.”
The General shrugged too.
Lance answered, “Hello.”
“Lance, is that you?” the female voice said over a static reception.
“Who’s this?” Lance replied without identifying himself.
“Lance, it’s me, Penny.”
Lance gulped. “Oh the Gods.”
“I’m so glad to hear your voice,” Penny whimpered.
“I’m so glad to hear your voice,” Lance repeated. “How are you?” Lance’s heart raced.
“I’m … horrible, but … how’s Becca doing? Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s okay, but she has a concussion. It’s a long story. There’s a boy. I don’t know if you remember Austin.”
“Yes, I remember Austin. He’s the boy with the disheveled black hair. What about him?”
“There was a hand grenade. … He jumped on her to protect her. He died. Poor boy. And … um … she has a major concussion, but she’s going to be okay. She’s in the hospital, and I have guards guarding her.”
“Oh the Gods. I’m so glad to hear that,” Penny sniffled.
Lance had so many questions for her. “But how are you?” Lance asked. “Where are you?”
Penny started crying. “You don’t know what the hell happened. I was in New York City. They captured me. They branded me with a C. I look awful. They raped me. Lance, they raped me for the last year and a half. It was horrible.”
Lance gasped and his eyes watered. He wanted her back now. “I’m so sorry, honey. Where are you now?”
She continued to whimper, “I finally escaped to the Establishment. They’re holding me. The Maters wanted to kill me because of what you’re doing. Lance, get me out of here! Please, I can’t take it anymore.”
Lance started weeping. “I will get you out of there, but I failed you. I failed Becca. I am so sorry. I’m horrible. I should have taken care of both of you, but I didn’t.”
“Stop it,” she scolded him. “You did the best you could. Just get us out. Get me out of here.”
Lance turned to the General who was pretending not to eavesdrop. “General, how do I get my wife out of New York?”
The General sighed and shrugged. “Ask her what’s going on there?”
“Honey, what’s going on up there?”
Lance put her on the speakerphone.
“There’s just about a civil war. It’s chaos. The Mater are just killing random branded people, but the Establishment is killing Maters. It’s horrible. There’s no government. I was lucky to escape. The Establishment sought me out; otherwise, I would probably be dead.”
Lance pleaded with the General. “General Cook, we have to get her out of there.”
He raised his hands in defeat. “Hey, I’m sorry, but we are getting bombarded right now. We’re in a middle of a war here. We must fight them off first. We’ll get her as soon as we can.”
“Lance, please,” Penny said. “Please get me.”
“Honey, I love you. I miss you. I love both you and Becca. I promise you that I will rescue you.”
“I love you too, but get me out of here,” she shrieked.
“Stay tight. We’ll get you.”
Lance disconnected the line and was fuming. He turned towards the General. “General, I’m going to kill the Mother of all the fucking Gods myself. She has caused so much harm to my family.”
Chapter 46
Captain Rex White, a Marine veteran who did five tours in Iraq and six in Afghanistan, oversaw Operation Recover, the secret mission to extract the Mother of all the Gods and bring her back to safety. His team consisted of two Navy Seals, one Army special force solider, and two other Marines. Rex, having the highest rank, was in charge.
They had made a lot of progress and were hopeful to extract the Mother soon.
Captain White changed the initial plan which was for them to drive in from Oklahoma. He thought that was a horrible plan for multiple reasons with the most obvious being that it would take too long. His plan was to parachute into a remote area that was not too far from the mansion where the Mother’s last known location was.
After they parachuted in, he planned on capturing a small resistance force and use the resistance group’s vehicle. He and his team would disguise themselves with army fatigues that the resistance forces were using based on Lance’s Hampton’s videos. Amateurs, thought Captain White, for revealing their uniforms when it was unknown to anyone outside of Texas. Next, they had to brand themselves, or make it looked like they were previously branded. That was no problem with a little special makeup and other camouflage materials that they had at their disposal. Captain White had “J” for Jewish for himself; others mixed it up with mostly “Cs” for Catholics and two “Bs” for Baptists. The makeup was very convincing from a distance but wouldn’t pass upon close inspection, but they planned to achieve their goals before possible detection.
Like most plans, it didn’t work out as he planned. Their plan was to parachute at 0300 into Brook Hollow Golf Club, which was a couple miles west of Zelda’s last known location. They expected that the golf course wouldn’t have any activity considering that there was war going on, and the place should provide open spaces surrounded by ample tree cover.
The plane dropped the men at over thirty thousand feet. The experienced soldiers maneuvered themselves to the target location at the scheduled time only to see a ton of activity. From the sky it looked like a military operation. They had to use their alternative plan. They were able to communicate among themselves with their special independent two-way radio system. Captain White directed them to the south tip of Love Field, a large airport that was just northeast of the golf course.
It was not a great alternative because they could be equally vulnerable because the airport would have radar systems. Nevertheless, they had to take a chance. They all landed safely and within fifty yards of each other. They quickly rolled up their parachutes and discarded them to the side.
A siren blazed shortly thereafter. The infidels must have discovered them.
The special forces sprinted down the main street. They spread out with about ten yards separating each man. On the right was a closed Chick-Fil-A with an empty parking lot, but just up ahead appeared to be a one-story warehouse that also had an empty parking lot. Captain White could hear a vehicle in the distance behind him. As they passed the Chick-Fil-A, the Captain saw a potential hiding spot at the end of the warehouse, where there were trees and big electrical boxes.
“Hey,” he yelled, “over there.” He pointed to the end of the warehouse. All six of them sprinted to their hiding spot. Once they were safely behind, Captain White peeked out and saw what looked like a LUV slowly coming down Cedar Springs. He pulled out his small night-time binoculars and studied the vehicle more closely.
There was a driver, a person standing holding the attached machine gun surveying the area, and two other men pointing their rifles and surveying the area.
Captain White turned to his men and whispered, speaking quickly, “Okay, there’s an LUV with a shooter, a driver, and two other guys. I don’t think they know we’re here.” The vehicle was only about a hundred yards away, and Captain White stopped speaking and instead started using hand signals. He pointed for one guy to go up to the roof. He instructed another guy to also go on the roof but to run to the other end of the warehouse, come down and possibly flank the LUV. It would be a long run as the warehouse was about a block long. The man scurried up the rolled-up ladder that the previous guy had secured to the top. The other men spread out as best as they could, but they only had limited room. They waited.
There were streetlights, but it was dark by the warehouse that Captain White could now see was an abandoned warehouse. There was a huge electrical box from the utility company that was big enough for someone to easily hide behind, but it was too far away from their spot and could expose someone. Captain White decided not to have someone hide be
hind it.
The LUV had a searchlight beaming, searching the buildings for any activity. There was no other traffic in the early morning hours. The stupid Establishment forces were about to pass them up. Captain White thought quickly and picked up a nearby empty beer can and threw it about fifteen yards back towards the airport.
That worked. The LUV stopped, put the vehicle in reverse, and slowly backed up to where the sound of the landing beer can. White and his men had their weapons ready and aimed, but they waited for the driver to put the vehicle in park.
The LUV shooter and the other two men pointed their weapons aggressively towards the sound of the beer can. Then, the driver made the deadly mistake of putting the car into park. They needed the vehicle to be in park, so after they shot them, the vehicle wouldn’t speed away and crash somewhere. They needed the vehicle for transportation.
Shortly after the driver put the car in park, the special forces ambushed the Establishment forces. The combination of the person on the roof and other men, who were all sharpshooters, took out all the enemy forces within seconds of each other.
Captain White and his men sprinted to the wounded soldiers. Their goal was to leave at least one of them alive to question them. The main shooter was the pre-arranged designated survivor. The special forces hurriedly shot the driver and other two guys again to make sure they were dead. The shooter was still alive because they could hear him moan in pain.
The men dragged the dead men behind the electrical box and stacked them on top of each other. They took all their communications and weapons. This whole process took only a few minutes. They gathered their equipment including the pulled-up ladders, jumped on the LUV, and sped away. They laid the wounded driver in the back on the floor as he screamed in pain.
They sped up about a half of a mile to an empty parking lot of a strip mall. They turned the vehicle around facing the street and parked the LUV. Captain White had one of his men operate the LUV’s massive machine gun spanning the street for any resistance. They turned their attention to their wounded enemy. They needed information of the Mother’s whereabouts.