No Easy Hope - 01 (41 page)

We all nodded in agreement and got in the truck. Stan rode up front with Steve, and I climbed in the back with Cody. I took an SKS rifle from the man that I killed and gave it to Robert, admonishing him not to shoot it unless he had no other choice. I wanted him to be able to defend himself, but I did not want the sound of gunfire giving away our position.

It took us fifteen minutes to drive within a mile of the farmhouse where the others were hiding. Steve hid the truck in a clearing, and we proceeded ahead on foot. Robert moved with the soft, quiet tread of an experienced hunter as he led us to the edge of a tree line that bordered the farm. The place must have been nice, once. A big white two-story colonial sat on the edge of a wide field of grass that swayed gently in the afternoon breeze. It was nestled in a small valley between two large hills. The fields extended for a dozen or so acres around the farmhouse, surrounded by dense forest. There was a dilapidated red barn about a hundred yards away. A thick chain and padlock held the double doors shut. We stopped halfway up a hill where the fields ended, maybe two hundred yards from the barn. Our position gave us a clear view of the house and everything around it. There was definitely someone home. An SUV and a large pickup truck sat in the driveway, and through my binoculars, I could make out movement through the windows.

“What do you say, Steve? How do you want to do this?” I asked.

He stared intently at the farmhouse for a moment before responding. “We wait for nightfall. Until then, we spread out and stay out of sight. Once the sun goes down, we can use the grass for cover to get close to them. Sooner or later, they’ll go to sleep, and that’s when we hit them.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Robert, you okay man?”

He clenched his swollen jaw and practically hummed with tension.

“They have my sister down there.” He said.

“Look, I know you want to get her back, but we won’t be doing her any good if we get ourselves killed.” I replied. “They outnumber us, but we have the element of surprise. Steve was a Green Beret, he knows what he is doing.”

Robert looked at me for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. I owe you guys for helping me, so we do this your way.”

“Everybody spread out.” Steve said. “I want twenty yard intervals. Stay low, stay quiet, keep your eyes peeled. Cody, watch our backs for undead. Use the Sig if necessary. Everybody clear?”

We all agreed and fell back into the cover of the forest as we fanned out across the hill. Once I was in a good hiding spot, I dug a protein bar out of a cargo pocket and took my time eating it. I was tired and hungry, and I wanted very badly to be anywhere but where I was. I thought of Stacy’s warm, comfortable bed and sighed. With luck, I could sleep there tomorrow night, instead of hunkered down in the dirt trying not to think about an imminent firefight. My mind turned back to the ambush at the gas station.

I had killed a man.

Granted, the bastard probably deserved to die, but I was the one who had done the job. I understood, then, what Gabriel meant when he talked about what it felt like to pull the trigger on someone. The guilt and the uncertainty. Did shooting that man make me a murderer? I thought about it for a while, and eventually just shook my head. What difference did it make? The entire country was dead. Maybe even the entire world. The only thing left to do was survive, and try to help other people along the way. Even if that meant dealing with people like the evil bastards down in the valley below.

Soon, the sun would go down. Soon, there would be a reckoning.

Chapter 15

The Thin Veneer of Civilization

We waited.

The sun went down.

“Stay alert.” Steve told us over the radio. “Hold positions. I’m going to recon the house. Maintain radio silence until I say otherwise. Out.”

Great. More waiting.
I thought.

But there was nothing for it, so I waited. The pale blue night sky faded to full black as the stars wheeled overhead. The temperature dropped, and I did my best not to shiver in the chill autumn air. Two more hours passed. I must have dozed off at some point, because the radio woke me up.

“All positions, radio check.”

“Loud and clear.” I whispered.

“Where the hell have you been?” Cody asked.

“Ditto.” Stan said.

 “Listen up, and hold the fucking questions. There are people being held captive in the barn. At least three women and one man, maybe more. Don’t let any shots go toward the barn if you can help it. There were two sentries on patrol, but I already took care of them. The rest are in the house. I’ve got the back covered, and I want you four to approach from the front of the house. Spread out ten yards apart in a skirmish line. I’m going to set fire to the house on this side, and try to flush them out to you. Stay low until they come out. Kill anything carrying a gun, and take the rest prisoner if you can. I don’t know for certain if there are any hostages in the house, so don’t shoot the place up. Everybody clear?”

We gave affirmatives, and I slowly eased up from my hide. I took a moment to stretch and check my weapons, then began working my way toward the farm house in a low crouch. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and I could see well enough by moonlight to watch my step. I managed not to break any twigs or trip on anything loud until I reached the tree line. I low crawled slowly through the tall grass the way Gabriel once taught me on a hunting trip in Kentucky. If I moved quietly enough to fool a buck, I could probably do the same to a person. It took me nearly half an hour to reach the edge of the field. The grass in front of me was shorter, and I had a clear view of the house and the barn. I could hear the faint sounds of rustling grass as Cody moved into position on my right. I couldn’t tell where Stan and Robert were.

“Status?” Steve asked.

I keyed my radio. “In position, over.”

“Ready to go.” Cody said.

“Been waiting for you guys.” Stan said. “Robert is with me. Cody, I’m twenty yards to your right, over.”

“I’m going to start the fireworks.” Steve said. “Be ready.”

This time I had remembered to bring a tactical light and a bipod, both of which I had mounted on my HK’s quad rail. I extended the bipod and sighted in on the door. Lying in the prone position would make my shots more accurate, but I would have less room to maneuver for running targets. I looked over to Cody’s position, and he had come up to one knee with his weight on his back leg in a seated firing stance. Two crashes from the other side of the house echoed out into the still night. Bright yellow light seared the night sky as the roof burst into flame. Black smoke roiled up into the air, illuminated in reds and oranges by the flames beneath. Less than a minute later, a tall man with a rifle clenched in his fist ripped open the front door and stumbled out, bent over and coughing. Smoke rolled out the front door behind him. I let him get halfway down the steps on the front porch before I hit him with a double tap center of mass. He clutched his chest and pitched forward onto the ground. He dropped his rifle, and it clattered down the steps next to him. Several more men poured out behind him. The two in the lead tripped over their cohort’s dead body and fell down the porch. The ones behind them leaped over the tangled pile of bodies and spread out, brandishing weapons.

“Don’t move!” Stan shouted. “You’re under arrest!”

The men responded by lifting their weapons and firing in his general direction. The three of us with suppressed rifles opened up and began cutting the gunmen down. I heard Robert’s SKS roar as he sent hot lead at the men who had abducted his sister. Three of them curled up on the ground with their hands over their heads shouting for us not to shoot them. I counted five dead, and the three soon-to-be prisoners. That left one asshole unaccounted for.

“Anyone left in the house, come out with your hands up!” Stan shouted.

After a few seconds, a short, rotund man with a bald head and a short beard crawled out of the house on all fours. I kept my rifle trained on him while Stan shouted instructions to him. In a few moments, we had all four of our prisoners lined up facing the house kneeling in the dirt with their hands clasped on top of their heads.

“Steve, how you doing? Over.” I said over the radio.

“I’m clearing the house, be out in a minute.” He responded.

I thought about going in to help him, but decided against it. The flames on the roof were spreading rapidly. The fire consuming the house grew steadily brighter, casting an angry ring of writhing shadows around it. A tense minute went by before Steve radioed to us again.

“I’m coming out. I have a victim with me, check your fire.”

Steve emerged from the smoke filled doorway. He half carried and half dragged a young woman with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Cuts and bruises covered her bare legs and feet where they were visible. She wept and clung tightly to Steve as he brought her over to us and sat her down on the lawn. Steve knelt down beside the distraught girl and put an arm around her shoulders.

“Listen, you’re safe now.” He said in a gentle voice. “No one else is going to hurt you. These men are here to help you. I have to go and check on the others in the barn. Do you know if there is a guard in there?”

“No, I don’t think so.” The girl said between sobs. “Please stay with me, don’t leave me alone.”

The girl clutched Steve’s arm and looked at him with desperate, terrified eyes. I walked over to them and kneeled down in front of her.

“Hey, my name is Eric. I’m going to stay with you, okay? Steve here has to go help the others.”

Steve gave me a grateful nod, and stood up from beside the girl. I sat down beside her and pulled her close, keeping my free hand on my rifle. Steve motioned to Stan and Robert, and the three of them set off toward the barn. Cody covered our prisoners while I tried to console the poor frightened girl. She shivered under my arm as I held her. I could feel her petite, frail little bones against the skin of her shoulders. She had bruises around both of her eyes and a split lower lip. A cold anger began to burn inside me as I stared at the prisoners who captured her. They looked terrified, and they were right to be. Wide, bloodshot eyes gaped at me in the firelight. The fat one was the first to speak up.

“Listen, man, I didn’t touch her. I didn’t touch any of them, okay? I’m only with these guys because-

“Shut up.” I told him.

“Look I’m telling you-

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I yelled, coming up to one knee and leveling my rifle at him. Cody took a step forward and swung the toe of his boot into the bastard’s kidney. He emitted a choked hiss and clutched his back.

“Hands up, fucker.” Cody said, nudging the man in the back of the head with his rifle. He grimaced in pain as he complied.

The girl beside me moaned in fear and curled up into a little ball, hands clutching the blanket around her. I sat back down and put an arm around her. I spent a few minutes saying soft, comforting words to her and holding her close. She relaxed a bit and laid her head on my shoulders as she cried into my bush jacket. It was not long before Steve returned with the other hostages. Robert carried a woman who I assumed to be his sister in his arms. He gently laid her on the ground and knelt down beside her. She had long brown hair, and her face was bruised and bloody. Robert had wrapped a bloody sheet around her naked, battered body.

The other victims could walk under their own power, barely. There were three women and one man. All four of them bore scores of bruises and small lacerations. One of the women sobbed silently and clutched her arm to her side. As badly as the women had been used, the man was the worst off. Sharp cheekbones jutted out over gaunt hollows above his jaw. He had several large hematomas on his forehead beneath lank, matted hair. A broken nose angled down the middle of his face in three directions, and one of his eyes had completely swelled shut. He looked monstrous in the light of the burning house. My throat tightened, and I looked away.

“What are you going to do with us?” The woman with the broken arm asked. Her voice shook, and her eyes were fearful. It made me want to cry for her. Steve tried to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but she flinched and cringed away. Steve held his hand up and took a step away.