Rise (35 page)

I was on guard duty outside, walking around in the cold, listening to the wind, and wishing I was still tucked in nice and warm in bed with Jess. I had my rifle over my shoulder, and the Browning was in my right hand, silenced. I had been walking a slow circle around the house for an hour, and hadn’t seen anything but some deer across the field, a family of six of them. A few birds were up and about at this time, right on dawn, and I was expecting that Darren or Jess would be out with me in a few minutes with some hot coffee or something. I walked around to a point where I was out of sight of the house, behind the garage, and was looking up into the trees when a man stood up out of the ditch beside me. Before I could even blink he swung a rifle at me, and caught me in the stomach with the stock end. I doubled over and fell, and he stepped on the Browning, pinning it to the ground with my fingers. I started to struggle, but by this time he had the rifle turned around and was pointing it at my head. I stopped struggling.

He was wearing winter camouflage, all white and brown, military style boots, and a face mask with a full hood. I could see his eyes, but the rest was covered. His rifle was the same as mine, military issue. There were no rank badges or name tags that I could see, and I got a very cold feeling in my gut. A few moments passed, and I saw another man, similarly dressed and armed, approach through the trees. He took my weapons, and the two of them stepped back and motioned for me to stand. Expecting to be shot at any second, I stood up. They walked me into the trees, and motioned me to sit down on a log, and then one of them tied some rope around my wrists while the other covered me with his rifle. A third man, shorter than the first two but also dressed in winter camo and carrying a shotgun, appeared out of the woods, and he and the first one went off a short way and had a whispered conversation. This left me to look over #2. He was about my height and weight, though I couldn’t see his face behind the mask. His gear looked well used, and his boots were just about done. His clothes looked like they had seen some repairs, and he was fairly dirty. Not filthy, but dirty. The gun was in good condition though, and he had extra clips easily at hand, as well as a very big knife, handle down, on his chest. The feeling in my guts was stronger than ever.

They came back, and the first one squatted down near me. He was so close I could smell him, like unwashed body, sweat, and cigarettes. He leaned in close and asked me how many were inside the house.

I told him that there were five, they were well armed, and were not likely to take their shit. I asked him who they were, but he told me to shut my fuckin’ mouth. He sounded like a bad action movie villain.

I tried to reason with him, but he smacked me in the face with his fist then, and I stopped talking as I went over backwards. Great, a bunch of fucking thugs had caught me. I got really scared for us then. The last thing we needed here was
people
shooting at other people.

They pulled me up and sat me on the log again, and I contemplated kicking the first guy in the nuts. It would be an easy shot from here. The way he was squatting there made me think he wasn’t military, but probably some asshole raider like the bastards that had torn up Westlock after the rise. The happy thought forming in my head right then was that my friends would notice I was gone before long, and then come looking for me. These three would really be no match for Eric and Kim and Jessica, especially if Jess had a line on them and was pissed off.

He asked what kind of supplies we had in the house. I didn’t reply. I just stared at him while blood from my lip ran down my chin. My silence pissed him off. He drew the knife and waved it at me. Amateur. Honestly, though, I was more worried he’d accidentally stick me with it than intentionally.

He said that if I told him what we had, no one would get killed. I spit blood and saliva in the snow, but otherwise just stared at him. He still tried though, I gotta give him that. He said they wouldn’t hurt anyone if I told him, and asked if we had any food, ammo or women. I guess something in my eyes must have shown, because he smiled at me, and looked up at his fellows.

I showed him then why it was a bad idea to tie my hands in front of me. I kicked him with a pointed boot, square in the testicles. There wasn’t a lot of power behind it, but he curled up and groaned. His buddies looked like stunned deer as I jumped up and ran for the house. I heard a shot behind me, and threw myself down, thanking God they were idiots who didn’t think about giving away their position. I rolled up, and just as the second one appeared between the trees I started running again, trying to weave as much as I could. Again there was a shot from behind, and a tree beside me took the bullet, spraying bark and splintered wood. I ran, and when I got to the garage I dove around the corner yelling loudly. I ran headlong into Darren, and we both went down. Behind him, Eric was coming up, and Jess was with him. They looked surprised to see me, unarmed and tied. I yelled at them to get down, and they dropped to the ground. #2 came around the corner, and raised his gun, but Eric was far faster. A semi-auto burst caught #2 in the chest, and he fell backwards like he’d been kicked by a horse. We stayed down in case any more came around the corner, and Darren grabbed my wrists and untied me.

Eric asked what the hell was going on, and was scanning the trees as he did so. I told him I thought it was raiders as far as I could tell. I reached back and grabbed #2’s boot, pulling him towards me. Once he was close enough I grabbed his rifle, and aimed it back the way I had come from. Nobody showed themselves, so I motioned everyone back and we retreated carefully into the house.

Once inside we left the door open and Darren stayed put just inside to guard it. He went to close it when we came in, but I stopped him. I wanted an exit. Staying put with an unknown number of hostiles outside was pretty much suicide. The radio that had range to reach Cold Lake was outside in the SUV, and we needed to call in right away.

Amid the clamor of questions, and my less than informative responses I told them the details of what happened out in the woods. To their credit, nobody panicked. Honestly we had been through enough with the undead sieges, constant running, and just surviving day to day that we had very little panic left in us. So now it was raiders. We knew they were out there. We’d seen the aftermath of a raider visit in Westlock, and I suspected it was raiders that had looted Wainright. I know some groups had been found by Army units, and driven farther south of us. The Army SOP for raiders was to treat them as looters. If they fired on the military though, or messed with salvage teams, all bets were off. The Army had tracked down two raider bands so far that had fired on our people, and destroyed them completely.

None of this helped us now. While I was explaining to everyone what had happened, Eric and Jess were checking the view outside from all the windows. Jess had assembled her sniper rifle, and was loading as she checked the view out the master bedroom windows. I started grabbing the gear with Kim, throwing it all together in our packs, and Darren kept watching the door. Five minutes later we were all ready to go, and we had decided to make a try for the vehicles and the radios. We had our short range sets on our clothing, but they were only good for six or seven kilometers. Less in these hills, probably.

I told them I’d be the one running first, to draw fire if there were raiders already outside. Then Darren, Jess, Kim, Mandy and Eric last. I went to the open door, and chanced a quick look outside. It seemed clear. I could see the vehicles in the snow, a clear line back to the road, the tracks in the driveway and the brush on the side of the overgrown lawn. No sign of the raiders, but that could change.
No time like the present,
I remember thinking. I ran for it.

I made it fifteen feet, basically down the steps, onto the stepping stones, and halfway to the cars when dirt at my feet leapt up and splattered me. Where the shot came from I have no idea, because at that point I threw myself flat behind a water barrel. I heard shooting from the house, it sounded like either Darren or Eric. Probably firing at whoever was shooting at me. I leapt up and ran again, heading for the nearest SUV. I grabbed the door handle while trying to keep myself as low as possible, while bullets
pinged
off the hood and shattered the windows. I dimly heard Eric yelling at me, and when I looked back he waved his hands to indicate direction of hostiles. One at nine o’clock from him, two at eleven o’clock, and another at twelve o’clock. I stuck my head up for a second to check that, and nearly had it shot off. I crouched back down, and thought about what I should do. The jeep was covering me, but it was taking a pounding, and I didn’t like my chances if the shooter at twelve o’clock moved around to the lawn across the driveway. Anyone there would have a clear line on me, and I’m sure whoever it was knew that. Opening the door to get at the radio would be a risk, since I’d then have less armour between my precious body and any incoming rounds. Figuring I had no other option, I thought
Aw, to hell with it,
wrenched open the door and reached in for the radio.

I grabbed the handset and pulled it towards me, then reached up with my other hand to stick the key in the ignition of the Jeep. Behind me, I could hear Eric yelling something to Darren, and more shooting. Bullets kept
pinging
off the metal around me, but thankfully nothing struck me. I turned the key while trying to keep my head as low as I could, and then reached for the radio power switch. Once it was on, and I saw the dim red light glowing, I closed the microphone switch and started yelling for help from Cold Lake. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but it got attention fast. Within ten seconds I was talking to a Corporal Chen, who asked me the details. I happily supplied them, and then Darren yelled a warning at me. I looked up to just see the back of a man scrambling across the driveway into cover on the far side. From there he’d have a clear shot at me if I stayed where I was. I dropped the radio, swung my rifle around and fired a short three round burst into where I’d seen him go last, and then ran like hell back towards the house. As I was running something that felt like a baseball thrown by Andre the Giant hit the back of my left calf. I crashed to the ground, and when I tried to get up searing pain dropped me again. I looked down and saw that a bullet had gone through my calf at a point just halfway between ankle and knee. I could see blood flowing out the entry and exit points. It didn’t even hurt now, but I knew it was trouble. I clamped my hands over the wounds to staunch the blood flowing, and turned to look at the others. Darren was shooting at someone, and I heard the distinct and unmistakable sound of Jess’ rifle firing single shots. I heard four shots, and then silence. The shooters had stopped, and with the quiet my leg started to hurt. It hurt
a lot!

Eric and Darren were there suddenly, and then Jess. Kim walked past us with her pistol out, and I watched her cautiously approach the brush where the raiders had been hiding. Eric was talking to me, but I couldn’t focus on him. All my attention seemed to be limited to Kim and the bushes she was approaching. I remember being dimly aware of Eric and Jess examining the wound, and cutting away my trouser leg and pushing bandages and antiseptics onto the wounds, but it was Kim I could see clearly. She walked to where I thought the shooters had been, and I saw her looking down at something in the snow. She took a step forward and raised her Browning, and shot once more. Then she walked along to the next shooters, the two I had seen behind a fallen tree, and did the same thing again. She walked across the driveway, and looked at the last one, and she bent down and touched something I couldn’t see. Then she stood and came back again, a look of concern on her face.

Somehow, they had stood me up. I don’t remember standing, and my vision was going grey at the edges. Eric shone a light in my eyes, and I heard him say that I was going into shock. His voice was hollow, like he was far away. They took me inside then, and I recall dim chunks of conversation that came to me in flashes.
I heard Kim tell Jessica that two of them had been still alive. Eric said that I was still bleeding, but I wasn’t sure who he was talking to. Darren said that we should be watching for more of them, and then Eric told Kim to check the vehicles to see if they would start, and that they were going to have to get me to the hospital. Darren reported that the radio had taken a slug right through it and was fucked.

I never completely lost awareness, though it went grey for a little bit, and I had trouble focusing on things. I was cold, and they put blankets on me. When I was able to focus again, my leg was numb, I could feel the morphine creeping through me, and there was a clean white bandage on my lower leg. Jess never moved from my side, though she had her rifle in hand, and she looked very pissed.

Both vehicles had multiple flat tires, shattered windows, and more bullet holes than I wanted to think about. Eric took over, and he said we were leaving, vehicles or no vehicles. Since both vehicles were too damaged to drive now, we’d walk back to the abandoned SUV we’d seen and try that. He told Kim to grab a gas can and lug it along. It was several hours away now, with me limping and partially stoned. Darren grabbed a ski pole from the basement of the house for me to use as a makeshift crutch.

Eric figured we had about half an hour or less to get clear of the area. We didn’t know where the raiders were based out here, but the shooting would surely have brought more of them, and they could even now be coming to look for us. Putting weight on my leg was painful, but numbed by the morphine I could stand it. We walked, me limping and supported by the ski pole and Jess, and Kim, Eric and Darren spread out around us. Mandy looked scared, but held up well. She hadn’t had the training the rest of us had, but she put on her brave face and walked along with us. We left easily followed footprints in the snow, so tried to walk in the tire tracks we had left there when we arrived. Not that it mattered, as only a completely blind tracker would miss us.