Without Law 5

by Eric Vall

  For a moment the area filled with the sounds of gunfire as all six of us unloaded into the truck bed. Holes tore through the canvas top and punctured the thin metal around the sides, and once we all emptied our magazines, the area went quiet again.

  “You think he’s dead?” Paige whispered to me.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” I replied as I swapped magazines.

  With another thirty rounds ready to fire I stood up and headed forward. I kept my weapon trained on the back of the truck as I emerged from the woods.

  Tara and Paige were not far behind me, and it didn’t take long for Anna and her team to emerge as well.

  I gave them all a small smile and then circled around slowly until I reached the back of the truck. Anna stood next to me while Tara stood off to one side and clutched the back flap. I gave the platinum blonde a nod, and she ripped it to the side, revealing the shredded interior.

  There was no movement. The Guardsman inside was face down in a pool of his own blood. Holes riddled almost every area of his body.

  “It’s over,” Anna sighed as she pulled her gun up into a more relaxed position.

  “You all did well,” I said as I turned to address the group. “Is everyone okay?”

  “I don’t think any of us got hit,” Paige said as she did a quick inspection of the team.

  “I know I’m good,” Tara said.

  “Same,” Anna added.

  “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Rolly said.

  “No, but I’m pretty sure I heard a bullet pass right past my head,” Bailey said.

  “They would have had to get lucky to hit any of us,” I said.

  “That grenade might have done some damage though,” Anna said.

  “It might have, yeah, but you guys didn’t let that happen,” I said.

  “Pretty sure it was Bailey who made that shot,” Tara said as she smiled at her blonde friend.

  “Well I didn’t want him to throw it,” the blonde hippie said with a shrug.

  “That grenade really tore up the truck though,” Rolly said as he pointed to a spot on the truck that was all twisted metal and shrapnel.

  “Good thing we don’t need it,” I said.

  “Do we want to at least move it off the road?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah, see if it’ll run,” I said. “If it does then just drive it off onto the shoulder.”

  “Man, we have to push it if it doesn’t turn on don’t we?” Tara asked.

  “I mean, it’s either that or we ram it outta the way with our own truck,” Paige said.

  “Is that an option?” Bailey asked as she looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

  “Let’s just see if it turns on first,” I chuckled.

  Anna ran over and hopped into the driver's seat. The keys must have been left in the ignition because a moment later the engine chugged, turned over, and then roared to life.

  “Yay, we don’t have to push it!” Tara exclaimed.

  “That means we can get to work cleaning up our mess,” I said.

  “Already on it,” Paige said. She was already busy stripping one of the soldiers of his guns, ammo, and gear.

  “Good, we don’t need to burn these guys, but let’s at least drag them off the road,” I instructed. “Once we’re done here, we’ll head back up the road a little and head back to the outpost. We’ll use the rest of the day to make sure nothing changes and sort out any little details.”

  Everyone got to work picking over the bodies of the men on the road. I headed for the truck and climbed into the back. It was dark and the floor was sticky with the quickly drying blood of the last dead Guardsman.

  I knelt down beside the dead man, rolled him over, and started to take all of his gear. He had an M9 pistol holstered on his thigh along with a couple extra magazines. This one had carried a different rifle than the others though. I picked up the long rifle and let out a low whistle. It was a long black rifle with a large scope affixed to the top. It was an Mk 14 EBR with detachable twenty-round magazine.

  I hadn’t seen a rifle like this since my time overseas. They were pretty good guns, and would come in handy for doing any sort of long range shooting. The larger 7.62x51mm NATO round it fired could easily outrange any of our 5.56 caliber rifles, and would give us a clear advantage if we ever got into a real large engagement. It would make a great defensive weapon when set up on one of the rooftops back at the school too. If we got through this with our lives our little campus home was going to be better defended than even this National Guard outpost. I grabbed the three spare magazines from the dead guy's vest and did a quick search of the truck.

  There was not much else in there, but I did find two ammo crates. One of them was full of loaded thirty round magazines for the M4s, and the other held a few hundred loose rounds for the Mk 14. One benefit to fighting these guys was how much ammo we got out of it. The scavenged magazines fit nicely into all of our M4 and AR-15 rifles without trouble and that meant it was much easier for us to stay equipped.

  I emerged from the back of the truck and made my way towards the girls. They had already managed to move the dead guys off the road and they appeared to be busy loading the loot into our truck.

  “Find anything good?” Anna asked as she noticed me heading her way.

  “Yeah, I think I found a new gun for Bailey,” I said.

  “Really?” Bailey asked with an excited grin. “I thought what I had was already doing a good job.”

  “Oh it is, but I think you’ll like this,” I said as I handed her the Mk 14.

  “It’s certainly heavier than my other gun,” the hippie said as she looked it over. She shouldered it, aimed at the top of the trees, looked through the scope, and let out a small gasp. “This magnification is wonderful.”

  “See, I knew you’d like it,” I said as I crossed my arms over my chest. “It shoots a bigger round than you’re used to, but the weapon is made to handle the recoil very well.”

  “So how’s it better than what she was using?” Paige asked. “I mean, aside from the bigger bullet.”

  “It’s set up for long range shooting, and can hit targets at greater distances, especially with that scope. The fact that it has a fire selector doesn’t hurt either. That means that in a pinch she could lay down a bit of suppression. Though you only get twenty round magazines so going auto will burn through your prepared ammo quick.”

  I set the ammo cans down on the back of the truck and popped open the one with the spare 7.52x51mm in it. “This is all you have right now, so I’d make your shots count.”

  “Oh, I will,” Bailey assured me as she continued to scan the area through her new gun. “I can’t wait to see how it shoots.”

  “You won’t have to wait long,” I said.

  “We’re like what, nine or ten hours away from this assault, right?” Rolly asked.

  “Shit, is it really that soon?” Anna asked with a frown.

  “I’m afraid so,” I confirmed.

  All the girls stood there for a moment as the reality of the situation seemed to sink in.

  “We can’t turn back now,” Paige said quietly.

  “Taking out these guys did sort of commit us to the assault,” I said.

  “Just this little fight was intense,” Anna said. “I know it was only ten guys, but they were still way better armed that the bikers, and when that guy pulled a grenade I panicked for half a second.”

  “Yeah, now we have to deal with at least four times the amount of guys,” Bailey said.

  “These guys didn’t even really get the chance to fire back either,” Tara said. “Trust me when I tell you that, like, they’ll get a lot closer than those bikers did.”

  “That’s really comforting,” Paige groaned.

  “Hey, it’s going to be alright,” I said as I stepped in between them all. “You guys have been training to take care of problems, and now it’s just time to put that training to the test.”

  “I thought we already did that with the bikers a
nd the wild animals,” Anna said.

  “Yeah, haven't we been tested enough?” Bailey asked.

  “Until things go back to normal, I think we’re going to be tested on a fairly regular basis,” Rolly said.

  “What if the world is never normal again?” Paige asked.

  “Then we will keep training,” I said. “As long as we stick together we’ll get through this and whatever else comes our way.”

  “You’re right,” Anna said. She let out a slow breath and nodded. “We’re stronger than we think. I mean, we just took out ten guys like it was nothing.”

  “That’s true,” Paige said.

  “When you think about it, this isn’t really that much crazier than taking down a whole gang of bikers,” Bailey mused.

  “I mean, these guys are better armed, but yeah, I get your point,” Paige replied.

  “See, we’ll be fine,” Tara said with a smile.

  “This is far more dangerous,” I said. “We have done some crazy stuff in the past, but I don’t want anyone here to believe that somehow this is going to be on the same level as defending our home from bikers. If you don’t take this seriously or treat it as the threat it is then we will all lose and possibly die.”

  Everyone went quiet and looked at their feet.

  “That was kind of a buzzkill,” Anna muttered.

  I let out a small sigh and walked over to the athletic redhead. I gently cupped her chin and pulled her head up so she could meet my gaze

  “Listen, I don’t say these things to scare or upset you,” I started. “I just need you to know what you’re getting into.” I eyed the rest of my team. “I think all of you are exceptionally skilled, capable, and badass. That doesn’t mean I want you walking into this like nothing can go wrong. We need to stay sharp, focused, and ready to adapt at a moments notice. None of us can afford to grow overly confident or complacent with our skills.”

  “He’s right,” Rolly agreed. “The moment we think we have this in the bag is the moment we slip up and make some dumb mistake.”

  “You’re right,” Anna sighed. She smiled and shook her head. “You’re always right, Tav.”

  “Not always,” I chuckled.

  “Well, your track record is pretty good so far,” Bailey said.

  “You certainly haven't steered us wrong,” Rolly added.

  “I just hope I never do,” I said. “Now come on, darkness is going to come before you know it, and we need to be sure that we’re ready.”

  We finished putting everything in the truck, loaded up, and headed back down the road.

  A couple minutes later I pulled up to where we had been parked before and got out. While I waited for my team to do the same I took a sip of water and looked into the trees. I wished that there was a way I could use the forest to my advantage, but we couldn’t do much but take pot shots, and those tower guns would shred us the moment they noticed our muzzle flashes.

  I let out a sigh and shook my head.

  “You okay?” Rolly asked as he walked up behind me.

  “Yeah, just thinking about some stuff,” I said.

  “Based on that sigh I’d say it wasn’t anything good,” the handyman said.

  “I just wish we had more options,” I said. “Our plan is limited, and if it doesn’t work, then just trying to get to safety is going to be difficult.”

  “We’ll find a way,” Rolly said as he clapped me on the shoulder. “What other choice do we have?”

  He was right, there weren’t any other choices. Not unless we wanted to sit this one out altogether. I had already decided we couldn’t do that though. My conscience wouldn’t allow me to walk away when so many innocent people were living in such awful conditions. Taking these guys out was the only decent thing we could do.

  “We’re ready to go,” Anna said from behind me.

  I turned and gave her a nod. “Good.”

  “Should we hide our truck before we go?” Paige asked.

  “Not this time,” I said. “With their numbers down like they are I don’t think The Colonel will risk sending anyone else out until he gets some of his troops back.”

  “What if more Canadians or other wanderers head this way?” Tara asked.

  “Yeah, we don’t want someone to run off with all of our stuff,” Paige said. “We have enough guns and ammo to arm a small militia.”

  “More importantly, we have water, food, and bedding in there,” Bailey said.

  They had a point. If a random group came through the woods and came across this truck, they would have all they needed to terrorize the local farmers. It might even make the roads more dangerous to travel. Plus, I didn’t really want to lose our big truck.

  “Alright, let’s cover this thing up again,” I said as I picked up one of the nearby branches. “Let’s make it quick though, I want us in place and ready to strike as soon as possible.”

  “Got it,” Tara said as she grinned at me. “We’ll make it a quickie.”

  “Man, I’d love a quickie right now,” Paige muttered.

  “Another day,” I said as I smiled at the messy haired brunette.

  “I’ll hold you to that,” Paige purred.

  “You better save some for the rest of us,” Anna said as she elbowed Paige gently in the ribs.

  “I’ll try, but I promise nothing,” Paige replied.

  “Then I better come along to make sure I get a turn,” The redhead said as she looked at me and grinned. She gave me a wink as she laid a couple branches over the truck in the start of another camouflage covering.

  “Okay, I’m officially jealous,” Tara said.

  “I’m good for a little while,” Bailey said with a satisfied smirk.

  “That doesn’t help me feel any less jealous,” Tara pouted.

  “I guess you’ll just have to come along too,” Paige said.

  “I don’t know, could Tav handle three of us all at once?” Anna asked in a teasing tone.

  “Pretty sure I could manage,” I said with a grin.

  “You guys are just too much for me sometimes,” Rolly said. “There’s only so much innuendo an old man like me can take you know.”

  “Sorry Rolly,” I chuckled. “I guess sometimes we just get a little carried away.”

  “Sometimes?” the old man blanched. “The second anyone around here says anything vaguely sexual you lot go to town.”

  “You can’t blame us for wanting to have some fun,” Tara huffed.

  “Not blaming anyone,” Rolly laughed. “I’m simply saying I don’t need to hear about it.”

  “Only one he wants to hear this stuff from is Betty,” Paige teased.

  Rolly opened his mouth to speak but only stammered and went bright red.

  “Aw come on, be nice,” Bailey said.

  “Sorry, I was just trying to be funny,” Paige said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “It’s alright,” Rolly managed to say. “I should really just be used to all this by now.”

  “I’m kinda surprised you aren’t,” Tara said.

  “Well it wasn’t really an issue until Tav showed up,” Anna said.

  “At least not with anyone but Tara,” Paige added.

  “Hey, I kept my dirty talk to girls’ ears only,” Tara said.

  “Mostly,” Rolly grumbled.

  “That’s enough,” I said with a smile. “We had our fun, now we need to focus up again.”

  “You’re right, sorry,” Anna said.

  Everyone went quiet and focused their efforts on finishing the camouflage covering for the truck. Anna worked to obscure the front windows with dirt again. Paige and Rolly were stuffing leaves and foliage between the branches, and Paige helped Tara in putting the last of the branches in place.

  “If I’m lucky, he’ll spank me for this later,” I heard Paige whisper to Tara.

  “Think if I’m bad enough he’ll do that to me?” Tara replied.

  “Probably, he seems to enjoy it enough,” the geeky brunette said with a lopsi
ded grin.

  I rolled my eyes as the two girls giggled and continued to work.

  A few minutes later, we finished the task, and the truck blended into the forest once more.

  “Nice job team, now let’s get moving,” I ordered as I marched off into the woods once more.

  My team readied their weapons and marched into the trees behind me. With each step the laughs and good mood of the road faded, and before long there was not a single one of us with a smile on our faces.

  Bailey and Rolly looked the most nervous. Their eyes darted around, and they seemed to flinch at every natural sound in the surrounding woods.

  Paige and Tara put on a strong face, but I could still see the unease that they tried to hide, and they kept closer to me than they usually did while hiking.

  Anna looked the most prepared out of all the girls. She wore a determined grimace and gripped her weapon tightly. She eyed her surroundings as well but her eyes didn’t flicker around quickly. Instead they slowly scanned the area for threats as she tried to stay aware.

  For a moment I worried that perhaps I had been too harsh earlier. They had been doing a good job of pumping themselves up until I said something. I scoffed at myself and looked around at my team. They had needed to hear the truth. I couldn’t let the fact that I was leading beautiful women affect my judgement. They needed to be held to the same high standards expected of my men in the rangers if they had any hope of making it through this new world alive.

  “Let’s pick up the pace,” I ordered. “We have work to do.”

  Chapter 7

  “Alright, let’s go over the plan another time,” I said as we all continued our trek through the woods. “Once it starts getting dark, we’ll split into our two teams. Anna will lead her team around to the other side of the outpost so that we can strike both sides at the same time. My team will take care of the patrol with the dog while the rest of you take out the guys on the opposite side.”

  “Did we figure out some sort of signal to let us attack at the same time?” Anna asked.

  “Well, assuming the patrol teams move at roughly the same speed you’ll want to wait until they are in the middle of the fence line on your side before you spring into action,” I said. “Without a radio system that’s our best course of action. Any visual or audible signal would only draw attention to us.”