by Eric Vall
“Don’t worry about me,” he said as he walked towards the treeline. “I’m sure I’ve got the easy job.”
“Yep,” I chuckled at him, and then I turned to the fierce women standing in front of me.
“Are we, like, ready to go?” Tara asked as she bounced on her heels, and I guessed our run in with the Guard the other day had her more than ready for some more action.
“Would you like to know what we’re doing first?” I chuckled.
“It’s a scouting mission,” Anna said with a shrug.
I raised an eyebrow at them both. “It looks like you all have this covered then,” I laughed.
“Oh stop,” Paige said as she slapped me on the stomach. “We’re just excited is all.”
“That’s good,” I said, “but keep your wits about you. Follow me through the trees and break when I give you the signal.”
“Where do you want us to go?” the bookish brunette asked.
“Look for spots with good cover as we make our way over there, when I give the signal you’ll run to one of those spots and setup to fire. Bailey, I want you to look for somewhere up high so you can be our sniper. If anyone tries to get close to one of us you take them down.”
She nodded and pulled her rifle a bit closer to her side.
“Tara, you find a place closer to me,” I said.
“Gladly,” she said with a wink.
Anna rolled her eyes. “Even on our way into possible danger, Tara is still thinking about sex,” she laughed.
“I can’t help it,” she pouted. “It’s just so hot when Tav gets all commanding.”
“Okay ladies, let’s focus,” I laughed. “Tara you’re by me because you’re the best with a knife, and if I need help to take out some guys in the trees, I’ll need you close by.”
“Got it.” Tara nodded, and her smile disappeared.
“Follow me,” I said as I crept into the trees.
I made sure to take us wide enough up into the hilly forest so that we would see anyone hiding in the treeline waiting for an ambush by the road. It was only about half a mile until we reached the roadblock, and I knew my girls would make quick work of the trek. The hillside was unforgiving though, and at one point Paige slipped down the steep hill and sent a few rocks tumbling. Anna started to move toward her, but I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her. All the girls looked at me and grew silent. I listened for a moment, and when I could still hear the voices of the men carrying on, I gestured to Paige to pick herself up.
She made her way back to the group slowly and quietly. I saw Bailey grab her hand and squeeze it as she reentered the group.
Paige looked at me and blushed. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
I smiled at her and gave her the okay sign with my fingers.
We continued on, and I could barely hear the girls walking behind me. It seemed Paige’s fall had put them on edge and they were all being more careful about how they walked.
As we got closer to the roadblock, the voices of the men grew louder.
I did a scan of the treeline and when I was sure there was no one near us I crouched low, and my girls followed suit.
In the ten minutes it had taken us to get from the truck to our current position, the men had collected themselves and were now arguing about what to do about the truck.
I looked over at the girls and saw them all scanning the men with their eyes. Each of their beautiful faces looked stern in the shadow of the trees, and already I was proud of their ability to take in their surroundings.
“We should be going after them!” a scruffy brown haired guy in a green button down yelled at another while he pointed his whole arm in the direction of our truck. I could make out a silver pistol on his hip as he came through the line of cars and a small hunting knife that hung just below it.
“The fuck we should,” another sandy haired man scoffed with a thick French Canadian accent. I didn’t see a pistol on this one, but I did notice the large machete that covered his thigh as it hung down from a paracord harness. “Give it up already. You wanna get killed by the National Guard? We’re in America now you dumbass. Those fuckers don’t mess around.”
It seemed this was an ongoing argument, and from the sound of it they had no idea we had just snuck up behind them.
“Well we can’t just sit here and wait for the National Guard to come back and kill us,” the first guy said.
“Who says we’re waiting that long?” another of the men retorted. This one had a long beard and a baseball cap on that hid his eyes in shadow, as he walked out I could see a sawed-off shotgun in his right hand. “We’ll just wait here for some non-military people to come through, then we’ll take their shit, dump their bodies, and move out.”
“Maybe if we’re lucky we can get some entertainment in before we kill em, eh?” the sandy haired man asked as he punched his buddy in the arm.
That comment got my blood boiling. If I had any doubts about killing these assholes before, they were long gone now. Thieving and raping wouldn’t be tolerated around here, not while I was around. I thought of Jenny and forced myself to take a cool breath. I needed a level head, but this National Guard shit had me worked up already.
I looked over at my girls and noticed the looks on their faces had changed. No longer were they scanning the men for threats. Anna’s jaw was clenched, and her long red braid moved slightly as she shook her head. Bailey had a tight grip on her rifle, and her grey-blue eyes were wide over her tightly pursed lips. Tara’s usual pouty lips were pulled back in a sort of sneer, and I could see her right hand laid on the knife at her hip, ready to spring into action. I could see Paige’s chest moving up and down at a fast pace, and with each breath her grip on her shotgun grew tighter.
I took a deep breath and assessed the situation once more. Once I was sure I had a full count of the men and their weapons, I turned to my girls and motioned for them to move in closer.
“Okay,” I whispered once they were in a tight formation around me. “What are we dealing with Anna?”
“Eight guys,” she said. “I saw two with pistols and one with a shotgun.”
“Good,” I said. “Paige, how many had knives?”
“Um, five,” she said, but the way her voice raised an octave almost made it sound like a question.
“Right,” I nodded to her. “What about the others?” I motioned to Bailey.
“Well, if they are packing, their weapons aren’t easily visible,” she said.
“Right,” Paige agreed. “And even if they have them, if we strike first they won’t get a chance to get to them.”
“Anything else,” I asked with a grin. The girls were getting good at this.
“Uh, it seems like they’re not from around here. Maybe from Canada,” Bailey added.
“Yeah, and they’re, like, filthy,” Tara chimed in. “They’ve probably been doing this shit for a while.”
I nodded in agreement, then turned to Anna once more.
“Alright red, we have our info, now what’s our plan?” I smiled at her.
I saw her eyes get wide for a split second, but she didn’t hesitate.
“Tara and Tav will stay here, closest to the treeline,” she said, her voice still low, but full of authority. “Bailey, you head up to the left and get a good vantage point for that rifle. Paige, I want you on the right side of Tav, and I’ll fall back between Tara and Bailey.”
The girls all nodded, and I smiled at the redhead. With every opportunity I gave her she was proving herself to be a confident and decisive leader.
“You heard her, ladies,” I began. “Move out and stay low.”
The girls began toward their chosen positions, but I stopped Anna with a hand on her wrist. She looked back at me, and a few loose strands of red hair fell from behind her ear.
“Good job,” I said with a smile.
She blushed for a second, then gave me a smile and a nod before heading after Bailey.
I waited for my girls to get into position, then I
lined up my shot. The men had relaxed at this point and made themselves busy with some cigarettes.
I let out a slow breath and pulled the trigger.
Chapter 2
The sandy-haired guy went down in a spray of blood as brains and gore landed on the guy behind him. Before he could even scream the guy standing next to him with the sawed off went down. I could tell from the angle which his head splattered out that it was Bailey’s doing.
Damn that girl was a fine shot.
“What the fu--” the brown-haired guy started to scream, but before he was even finished, I heard a loud bang from my right, and Paige took him down with a blow to the chest. I took down one more, and then I decided to let my girls handle the rest. This would be good practice for the coming fight.
I heard Tara’s pistol go off near me and watched one of the men stagger and clutch his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding. I heard fire from Bailey’s direction, but it wasn’t her rifle so it had to be Anna. The guy went down with a large hole in his chest, and the asshole behind him screamed as he looked down at a bloody leg. A split second later there was another shot, and I watched blood spray from his head. Then his body crumpled to the ground behind his friend.
The firing lasted less than two minutes, and the girls had got all but one guy. He had managed to crawl toward the treeline, and he was headed right for Tara. I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow, but she shook her platinum blonde head and grinned at me.
The guy headed towards her had a large knife on his hip, but it wasn’t drawn. He was in an already dirty white T-shirt that grew filthier as he crawled through the forest. Once he realized the firing had stopped, he clawed his way to his feet and started to run. He turned back every few seconds to look at his dead buddies on the pavement.
What a dumbass. This guy must have known nothing about guns if he was stupid enough to run right toward the noise.
Tara crouched down on all fours, stuck her perfect ass in the air, and waited for the asshole to get in her killzone. He was headed directly towards her cover, and as soon as he stepped into her line of sight she sprung up, jumped onto his back, positioned her knife at the far side of his throat, and pulled it across. He went down so fast I could barely see the torrent of blood that came from his neck. Then Tara landed with an audible thud on top of him, and then she gave me a quick wink through the trees.
I made my way over to her to find her wiping her knife on his white shirt. The fresh blood stood out even among all the other dirt on the white shirt. She smiled at me, stood up, and wiped the sweat off her brow.
“Did you see that?” she squealed as she sheathed her knife. Her eyes were wide and her breathing was slightly heavy, but she looked pretty satisfied with herself.
“You did good,” I said.
“Hearing those fuckers talking about raping women really got my blood boiling,” she explained as she clenched her fists.
I nodded. “I thought the same.”
“When I saw this guy running up here, I figured, why waste a bullet?” She shrugged.
“It is pretty sexy watching you put those knife skills to good use,” I chuckled.
“Maybe later I’ll show you some more cool tricks,” she laughed.
“I’d be down to let you be the teacher for once,” I said with a grin.
I looked up into the forest to see Anna and Bailey making their way down the hill together. They were smiling, and I saw Bailey grow red as Anna gave her a playful punch in the arm.
“Nice shot on that guy with the shotgun,” I called out to Bailey.
“That’s what I was just telling her,” Anna said with a wide smile.
Bailey blushed. “How’d you know that was me?” the sweet hippie asked as they stopped in front of Tara and me.
“It went right through his eye,” I said with a grin.
“Yeah,” Anna said, “we’re all pretty good shots, but we all know you’re the best.”
Bailey blushed harder. “Thanks guys, I was just trying to help.”
“You did great,” I told her.
“Are we talking about that badass shot Bailey took,” Paige said as she made her way to the rest of the group.
“Yeah,” Tara said. “Bailey’s trying to show us all up again so she can impress Tav,” she snickered.
The petite blonde blushed harder and looked at the ground. I reached out and touched her shoulder.
“You really are a fine marksman,” I grinned at her.
“Seems like it’s working,” Anna said with a wry smile.
“Whatev,” Tara said. “I’ll just impress Tav with my knife skills.” She looked at me and wriggled her eyebrows.
Anna laughed and gave Tara a playful push. “You are pretty good with that thing though,” she said. “I saw you take that guy down, it was pretty badass.”
“Fucker had it coming,” Tara said with a smile.
“Yeah he did,” Paige chimed in.
“You all did very well,” I laughed. “Really, I am impressed with all of you.”
“Anna did a good job with directions,” Bailey said as she smiled at her redheaded friend.
Anna beamed at her friends compliment. “Thanks,” she said.
“Alright, let’s go move these bodies and cars,” I said with a clap of my hands.
“Ugh,” Tara groaned. “I think I liked it better when Anna was giving orders.”
“That’s only because I let Anna lead the fun part of the day,” I chuckled. “Soon enough she’ll be giving this order too.” I smiled at the beautiful redhead.
“I call driver then,” Tara hollered as she started off down the hill.
“Not if I get to it first,” Anna said as she took off in a sprint and easily passed her platinum blonde companion.
“Hey,” Tara called out as she picked up the pace. “No fair, I already called it!”
I chuckled as Paige, Bailey and I made our way after the other two.
Once we had made it to the roadblock, I sent Anna down the road to get Rolly and the truck.
“Does this mean I get to be the driver?” Tara asked with a smile.
“I’m pretty sure you lost the race,” I chuckled.
Tara made a face at me and huffed. “Fine,” she said. “But I’m taking that machete.”
“Fair enough,” I laughed.
Anna returned quickly with Rolly and the truck while Tara, Paige, Bailey, and I looted the dead men.
“How’d it go, old timer,” I asked him with a clap on the shoulder as he walked toward me.
“Not much action on my end,” he said with a laugh. “You and the girls took care of it before anyone could make it anywhere near the truck.”
“Does this mean you’re gonna actually let me throw one of these grenades next time?” Tara teased as she gestured to the small green oval that hung from her kevlar vest.
“I think you’ve earned that,” I said with a smile. “Now let’s finish this cleanup, we have one more stop to make before we get to the outpost and I don’t want to waste any more time.”
We didn’t find much on the dead guys besides the three guns and a few spare magazines and bullets, but we made quick work of the bodies and cars and were back on the road in less than ten minutes heading towards the Millers.
I was proud of my girls’ efforts today, but at this rate we would have many more battles ahead of us. I didn’t like that more thugs were moving into our territory. We would have to figure out a more sustainable long-term plan to keep these guys out of our territory.
I sighed as I stared at the road ahead of me.
“You okay?” Anna asked me with a frown as we headed down the road.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Just frustrated that we had to do that. We seem to keep running into more trouble.”
“Desperation can drive people to do crazy things,” Rolly said.
“I know, but I was hoping this whole situation might drive people together,” I explained. “Instead it seems to be tearing us ap
art and bringing out the worst in people.”
“Not in everyone,” Anna said with a small smile. “You got us and the farmers around us.”
“That’s true,” Rolly said. “Though we have met far more folks who want to kill us and take our stuff.”
“Yeah, but we’re working on that,” Anna said. “Who knows, maybe this area will become a harbor for actual good and honest people.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” I said. “Though I would want them to be able to take care of themselves like Betty, Briar, and the Millers. Call me selfish, but I want to spend most of my time with my own team.”
“I’m pretty sure all us girls are okay with that,” Anna said.
“I mean, after Betty, you guys are my favorite people,” Rolly added.
“Glad to see we’re still in the running,” Anna joked.
“You guys are tough to replace,” Rolly said with a grin.
“Yeah, but Betty seems to be doing a good job,” I chuckled.
He shook his head and laughed.
We weaved our way along the curvy mountain roads as we headed in the direction of the Miller’s farm. Once we got close, I sat up and kept a keen eye on the treeline. I didn’t know exactly where the turn off was but I figured if I paid attention I could find it since there was no rain.
“I don’t remember exactly where I am supposed to turn,” I admitted to the others. “Help me keep an eye on the road.”
“Got it,” Anna said. “Been trying to keep my eyes open anyway.”
“Not sure how much help I’ll be, but I can holler if I notice something,” Rolly said.
A couple minutes went by and the three of us noticed nothing, but I slowed down as I spied a small break in the trees.
“I think this is it,” I said.
“We’ll be able to know for sure soon enough, won’t we?” Rolly asked.
“Guess that’s true,” I said with a nod. Then I turned the truck down a narrow gravel path.
“Hold on,” I shouted back to the girls in the back. “Things are going to get bumpy.”
Even in the front seat the road was rough, but a few minutes later things evened out, we came out of the treeline, and found ourselves in front of the Miller’s farmstead.