She smiled and everyone piled into the Humvees. Greg whispered to Clary as they climbed into the tank. “You are going to let me pull the trigger on one of those shots, right? I want to stick one of those shells right up their asses.”
Clary smiled patting him on the shoulder. “You be my guest. I only hope that by the time that we’re in there we still have some people to use the forty cal. gun on. When those bombs go off they’ll be getting off easy. The blast for that is going to decimate them.”
The Humvees went ahead driving with lights off in the dusk of day. They took their time keeping the engines from screaming like they were capable of. They each took a separate route communicating while setting up with radios around the base. The dead that were near were taken out with the silenced high-power rifles. The Humvees parked at surrounding houses and the teens took turns climbing atop of the roofs. The guns would be near their limits for firing distances but more than likely the teens would be safe where they were. The sniper rifles were set on bipods and Shaun knew without fear that his and the others with those guns would be just stretching its legs at the distance he was at.
Shaun, McQuaig, and Aslin all hit their radios one after another. There would be sunlight up for another hour but the direction that Shaun was sitting in they would have a hell of a time seeing him. Ellie looked at the sunset and said, “You know it’s a shame we have to ruin this beautiful evening with more bloodshed.”
Shaun stared at her for a moment before she winked. “You know I had you…for a minute, maybe two, but I did have you.”
Shaun said, “You aren’t ever getting rid of me, Ellie. Aliyah, are you ready to rock?”
She held up the machine gun set to full auto and showed a full blanket laid out on the roof with fifteen magazines sitting on it. “Yeah, I'm ready. I just hope that this plan works. There’s so much going on, I don’t want to get shot because we aren’t prepared like we should be.”
Ellie said, “We’ll be okay, Aliyah, you just need to have a little faith. Do you know why we’re on the roof instead of the ground?”
She shook her head no, and said “Why?”
“Because think about the three groups firing, what direction are we firing at besides at each other?”
“Down, I guess.”
Shaun cut in, “We can’t shoot each other if we aren’t firing directly across from each other. These guys won’t ever know what hit them.”
Aslin squawked over the radio. “Christ, are you guys ready or aren’t you? Clary is only going to be able to sit still for so long before he gets antsy and just starts bombing the absolute shit out of them.”
McQuaig said, “We’re ready and able.”
Shaun said, “You better be ready, Aslin, because we are also.”
Aslin said, “Yeah, I'm a go, let's get some retribution for our loved ones.”
Clary said, “So, it sounds like you guys have your little pea shooters ready to go? Is it okay if Greg and I head in? The dead are all over the men on the back and they look like drunks at happy hour with the blood. They’re fighting one another to see who can get the small amounts of dribble that are coming out of it. The only way they’re leaving is if they get shot, or see something more appetizing to go after. The meals they ate weren’t something that took very long. The only upside of that truck would have been if we could have had a bit more speed, not that this thing is slow, but I think we could have sped up a lot easier.”
Greg hit his radio, “Shaun, make sure you don’t blink, brother, because I'm going to send these things at them just as quick as Clary is going to let me pull the trigger. There’s going to be some serious shit going down here in a few minutes.”
Clary held straight on his path going through backyards and straight for the small housing compound. He broke through backyard fences until he came out and he had a straight line towards the houses. When he saw the men sprinting for the gates armed with everything they had he knew that it was time. Clary sent the first shot towards them with a smile like he hadn’t had since his mother had placed a fresh apple pie in front of him and advised it was all his.
Chapter 26
Cade hated his men every so often. When he couldn’t get answers for something that seemed so obvious he was more than willing to put them out of their misery, to save himself some. He ran to the armory they had put together, it looked like an outhouse compared to what Clary had on base. He ran to the fence when he saw the tank and the dead and the blood trailing from behind it. He looked to his men as they were all taking their places ready to stand and fight a war he knew they wouldn’t have an opportunity to win.
Cade jumped down off the makeshift scaffolding tower they were using for anything or anyone they didn’t want to come their way. He looked over his shoulder as he sprinted, pumping his arms for everything he had. Cade was not ex-military but had seen more than enough movies to get the general idea of what horrible things that tank was capable of.
He ducked behind a house and looked back at the fence line. Travis was sitting there looking through a scope and ignorant to the fact that Cade had left them there on their own. The men started firing one after another at the tank. It would have done just as much damage as a slingshot firing pieces of bread.
Clary brought the long gun into view aiming it directly for the fence, and when the men went to jump down everything that they knew was jumbled together in a collage of blood, steel fencing, and guts. Travis was screaming to the others. He tried to get up but could not. He tried to listen for the other men but this was impossible because all he could hear was the after effects of ringing that was worse than every rock concert he’d ever been to in his life put together.
Travis looked around, dismayed at what happened, blinded by debris and dust still hanging in the air. When it finally settled he looked up seeing a section of the metal fence pinning him to the ground. It had turned into what resembled more of a pitch fork stuck through his gut and pinning him to the ground. When he tried to move his legs he couldn’t feel them and he began to panic. The shock was more than he could handle and he wasn’t coming to terms with it as he screamed for help which fell upon deaf ears of those too busy shooting or scared to look away.
As the first parts of dust faded he saw the hole that was now in place of where he had been standing. The giant tank jumped a second and third time. The fence that was what kept the dead out, was no longer. Clary drove the tank full speed ahead towards the property. Greg was on the inside aiming as he’d been shown and sending a rain of hellfire towards the men's bunks, kitchens, and anything he could get in his sights. Greg said, “Holy hell in a hand basket, this is awesome. There isn’t going to be anything left!”
Clary stopped just short of entering the fence giving him a chance to continue the destruction. “Don’t let off on that gun. You fire until there ain’t nothing to fire at. We aren’t losing anyone else today…those fuckers all fry!”
Greg didn’t need to be told and never slowed down. He thought that he had found himself a new love at this point. Shaun watched the men trying to make a break for it towards the opposite end of the fence line and began picking them off one by one. Each time he took too long sliding the bolt back to eject, he would see two more bodies fall. He knew that Aslin and McQuaig could not have been better back up on the job. Ellie and Aliyah were going through bursts of massive amounts of their ammo. He thought for a moment he would have felt sorry for these guys had they not been so deserving of what they were getting.
He had only seen one man escape and knew not who he was. He tried to get him back in his sights but it was too late. They watched, not letting up, as the dead made their way into the compound. Travis screamed for mercy reaching for his gun ready to take himself out but it was a foot out of reach. He had tears streaming steadily as the dead made their way to him. The cooked flesh from the multiple blasts was more than enough to get their mouths salivating with temptation. They ran to Travis ripping the metal fencing from its place and tearing him into pieces. His cries for help became a bloody muffled scream as his head separated from his torso. The fear in his eyes followed him into death as one of the Turned sprinted off with their prizes while still looking for more.
Aslin screamed into his radio, “Clary, Clary, you two let up for a minute. I want to see what’s left. You guys took everything down so fast that I don’t know if we got everyone.”
Clary who had a front row seat to the action said, “Are you fucking kidding me, did we get everyone? Of course we got everyone, there’s no way in hell that anyone could possibly be left out there!”
Aslin said, “Then you won’t be offended if you wait a minute before pulling that trigger again. I promise if we see anyone or anything still moving you have my humble appreciation, and permission, to fuck them up.”
The team sat there for a minute to catch their breath. The adrenaline dump from the short fire fight felt like it would last for hours. Shaun never removed his eye from the scope. He looked around systematically watching what was happening. He did not fire at the dead but instead used them to track the living. They walked near the houses and when they found a smell that was to their liking ripped the fencing down and dove in. He hit his radio, “Clary, watch the dead, they’re finding the cowards trying to hide from us.”
Clary came back and said, “I don’t know if you can call someone a coward for being inside of a safe zone, or as safe as they can get, when there is a fucking tank coming their way, Shaun.”
Shaun couldn’t disagree with him but said nothing about it. “Well, go ahead and fire one off into that house. Drop the house on his ass, would you?”
Clary responded with a shot. It hit the house dead on, exploding the hell out of it and sending pieces of it in every direction. When the dust settled again the dead were moving to other homes. After twenty minutes of this they were confident that there was nothing left to worry about. Clary had done a lap with the tank following the dead. Once they realized that there was no one else to take out was when the team started picking off the dead.
McQuaig came over the radio, “I think we’re done here. I don’t think that there is going to be a lot of use in us going and trying to get any supplies, what do you say?”
Aslin said, “No way in hell, if we go down there it's only going to be a waste of time. They don’t have anything that we can use at this point. I’m perfectly fine too because I don’t want anything from these bastards, not that they would be able to do anything about it if we did take it.”
Shaun was still watching his scope and thinking that if they would have done this before they decided to try and get more people that there would be more living right now. None from their group he thought but that was something that he was perfectly capable of dealing with.
Chapter
27
They rode back to the base silent and victorious because they had gotten retribution for those they loved. The adrenaline dump had started wearing off and everyone was quiet as they absorbed what had just gone down. When they pulled onto the base Lou saw the lights and at first wondered if something had gone horribly wrong. He could not have been more pleased to know that the man who sent the killers of his daughters was now dead. Clary pulled the tank up followed by the Humvees. They had made lap after lap in the dark clearing out the dead and making sure that there was no one trying to hide from them. Shaun pulled to a stop, got out and when they had all disembarked they all cheered in victory.
Shaun said, “We shoot first if we aren’t sure. If someone gives us reason to fight, then we will drop their homes on them over and over again.”
Greg climbed out of the tank leaning in to give the long gun a kiss, but stopped when he saw the smoke coming out of it realizing how hot it was going to be and stopped. The taste of gun powder still filled his mouth.
Clary whispered, “Before you climbed out and acted like you were going to kiss that barrel you kind of looked like a badass. That moment has since passed, now you look like a tool…do kids still say tool?”
“No, nowadays they’d just say I look like an asshat, or an asshole, or-”
“Yeah, I get it, Greg, thanks. I think tool sounds a little less rude.”
Greg shrugged, “Are you kidding me? I’m the son of a cop and a product of public schools; I can take just about anything. Just don’t forget that I can dish it out too. Thanks again for letting me ride along in that tank with you, it was eye opening. I’d love to learn how to drive one of those. Maybe you should teach Aslin how to do that, too. I figure it can go through anything and the more things he can hit, the better the chances are he will be able to make it back safely.”
Aslin walked across the grounds. “Hey, I heard you, Greg. There is nothing wrong with my driving. If you want to start bringing up old memories, I remember someone being the reason that we have one lesser Humvee on base.”
Greg said, “Yeah, but didn’t you get trained by like a driver instructor in school, and then on the farm you grew up on, and the Navy? How many teachers does it…”
“Greg, did I ever show you any of those moves that will literally make you shit yourself upon being implemented?”
Greg clapped Aslin on the shoulder. “No, no you didn’t but don’t worry I’m sure if we both know how to drive one of these we’re going to have all kinds of extra cars and Hummers sitting around for use.”
Greg smiled, ducking down and hopping out of his reach quickly. Clary climbed up on the tank and yelled, “We were lucky tonight. If we would have been ready this afternoon there would have been less loss. If we wouldn’t have made people quit carrying openly on base, then outsiders would have seen us as a bigger threat. I take full blame for that, it won’t happen again, I assure you. You carry it everywhere, you sleep with it and you are ready to kill whoever is ignorant enough to enter these gates. If anyone has an issue with that, you know where the gates are, we need to rebuild, we need to secure everything and we need to fight. There aren’t any options that we can afford to waste here. We will find people who are going to want what we have. They will be looking out for themselves only. Those people are fine but they’d better not fuck with us because I will drop hell upon them, I assure you.”
Aliyah raised her hand and Clary nodded. “If we aren’t looking out for ourselves then what is our long term goal here, sir?
“We are here to give back the land to those who still have a beating heart in their chest. We’re going to take care of the dead. We’re going to use Fox’s idea for the blood, we will start as soon, and I mean as soon as we are back to a secure facility. There will be at least two of you on the gates until we don’t think that there are any threats out there leftover from today. I’m up for celebrating tonight but we still don’t know what we’re looking at as far as survivors from their group. They could have been hiding where nothing and no one could find them. We will have to be extra careful because we know that there is going to be retaliation for the beating that we put on them today, if anyone made it.”
They heard a knocking coming from the distance. They all looked over to see Joey at the window. He was banging on the window and Shaun was pretty sure of what was going to happen before it did. He tried to fight the smile creeping over his face when he saw the glistening of the bat come over Joey’s shoulder smashing into the window. It shattered quickly, falling into the bushes below. He screamed, “Sorry about your window, Lou! You guys all came back; you guys okay?”
Shaun yelled that they were all okay and Joey screamed in excitement from the window trying to keep away from the uneven jagged shards sticking out of the frame. Aslin said, “Well, if he’s going to be in the hospital for a few days I think maybe we ought to have a few kids bunk in there. He isn’t going to want to stay there by himself. That kid keeps an eye on everyone while they sleep; they don't know what kind of watch dog they got going for them.”
Clary yelled, “Hey, Joey, do you mind if some of us bunk with you tonight? We don’t want to stay in the bunkhouse if we don’t have to.”
Joey said, “Yeah, come on, there’s room for everyone in here. But we need to fix this window before we go to bed. There are all kinds of sounds at night, and I don’t want to hear none of them. They got coyotes around here somewhere and they creep me out.”
The crew went in for a pick of MRE’s for dinner. They’d been out for too long that day and had their fill of the stresses of the environment around them. They were thankful to be alive and exhausted after the adrenaline dump. Shaun looked at the small group, thinking how it was bigger than they’d started with almost a year ago but that the worst thing was that they would have no easier day tomorrow when it came time to bury those they’d lost.
Ellie noticed how quiet he was, “You okay, Shaun, you’ve got a weird look on your face, probably ought to stop because you look creepy.”
Shaun winked, shaking himself out of it. “Nah, I’m okay, it’s just the day catching up with me and my adrenaline is finally trying to settle down. This MRE tastes like shit.”
“Isn’t much worse than Aslin’s cooking, is it?”
Aslin growled in mock dismay, “I heard that, damn it. I hear everything. It looks like I'll be in charge of the stove again after today anyways. You guys feel free to hop right alongside me. We can’t eat MRE’s forever, at least it would be stupid to while we still have all this food frozen in here.”
“I’m going to go make myself a bunk near the front door. You kids get to sleep; it is going to be a helluva long day tomorrow. Hopefully after we bury we can rebuild and start building happier memories again. This was a painful lesson but a good one.”
Shaun looked at him questioningly unsure what to ask, “Sorry, how was this a good lesson?”
“Good probably was not the best term. What I meant was…are you going to trust a stranger right away? Are you still going to assume that all life is precious if they haven’t earned it?”
“No way in hell will I be trusting anyone if it isn't earned, and I mean that wholeheartedly.” Shaun said. “My dad told me the same thing, and while we didn’t agree on many things that is one thing I couldn’t be more confident of, now.”
*****
Ellie took Shaun by the hand and led him to the bunk next to Joey’s, stripping off their fatigue jackets and each of them set their rifle on the side of the bed with their pistol belts hanging from it. Joey sat smiling, signing sinner with his hands. “You guys don’t go kissing all night or I’m gonna have to tell Aslin or Clary.”
Ellie said, “I don’t think Hot Lips has a chance tonight. It looks like Aslin and Clary are out for the count though. Last time I passed him he was out cold, just down the hall on a cot by the front door. He gave Clary the night off and Lou was in the break room, I’m not sure how he is doing though. I would say bad if I had to guess.”
Shaun said, “It is expected though. Look at what he lost and then with the exception of Clary and Joey there was no one to save.”
Ellie said, “Try to turn it off and sleep, Shaun. Like Aslin said earlier, tomorrow is going to suck, getting a few hours of sleep isn’t going to hurt anything.”
*****
The next day
They spent most of the day taking turns between mending the hole in the fence, as well as fortifying the front entrance. There had been ample supplies for fixing it already on base in the storage warehouse but the tasks were not easy ones with the limited hands available to complete the labor intensive jobs.
When there were no worries that if someone came to them they’d be able to walk in without so much as making a noise they began digging graves for the deceased. Aslin and Greg had gone to the Johnston Funeral Home and taken their delivery truck packing it with as many as coffins as they could fit. Lou had put Karen and Teresa together in one so that they would not need to be alone forever. Patrick had his neck bandaged properly and cleaned. The rest were laid in the caskets and they had spent the rest of the day lowering the dead to their eternal resting places.