Unknown enemy, p.13
Unknown Enemy, page 13
part #1 of Broken Earth Series
"Goddamn it, can’t we catch a break?"
Jack climbed out of the open window and sat on the ledge as he took aim. He fired off several shots, but they pinged right off the armour.
"To hell with you." He took hold of the trigger of the grenade launcher slung under his carbine. He took careful aim, knowing he had one shot. As he began to squeeze the trigger, a smile stretched out across his face. It felt good to get some payback. The shell burst out from the launcher and ignited right under a front wheel of the lead vehicle pursuing them. The high explosive charge burst out and blew off a wheel, but it also sent the front of the vehicle up into the air. It flipped and tumbled into a wild spin, crashing into a tree at the side of the road.
"Yeah!" Donny yelled excitedly.
But a gun system rose out from the top of the other vehicle and opened fire.
"Hell, no!"
Max took evasive action and veered sharply back and forth. Jack was nearly thrown clear through the window. He lost hold of his weapon, but the sling caught it as he grabbed for the doorframe, narrowly holding on as he was thrown about. A pulse soared past his head, and he felt the heat singing his hair. He righted himself, lifting his rifle to reload as he saw Payne rise up through the sunroof of the other vehicle. Jack smiled and shook his head, realising he could have done the same.
"Son of a bitch!" He watched Payne take aim with his Milkor. He fired one shell in restraint this time. It blew on impact of what had to be the windshield, though the vehicle was the same texture all over. The charge blew a gaping hole through the front of the vehicle before it turned sharply and flipped. It rolled over and over eight times until smashing to a standstill, a crumpled wreck in the middle of the road. Payne looked back to him with a smile. He looked incredibly proud with himself.
"Glad I brought the old girl to the party!" he yelled.
Ross smiled as he nodded in agreement.
"Bet your ass," he whispered and climbed back inside the cab.
"That was some bad ass shit, woo!" Donny shouted happily.
Ross was still smiling. The truth was, this is what he lived for. He never felt more alive than at times like this. For all the unknown and hundreds of questions they had right now, that was the most normal things had been for him in days, a straight up gunfight. But as the adrenaline started to leave his body, he was left with the grim reality of their situation. They were all alone.
Chapter 6
"Your brother, is he still as crazy as he ever was?" Lee asked as they rolled on through a quiet country road.
For a few moments they’d been able to forget all of the horrible things they had seen. It felt like any normal cruise out into the middle of nowhere on a lazy weekend. But this wasn't the weekend, and it wasn't any ordinary trip.
"He's not crazy. He just..."
"Just what? Thinks the world is out to get him?" Foster laughed.
"It’s not so funny anymore though, is it?" Emma snapped.
Foster was silenced by her words.
"Come on, he didn't know of any of this was going to happen. He couldn't have."
"That's why they call them preppers. They don't prepare for something, they prepare for anything."
"You’re with him on this? He's a gun nut that hangs out in some creepy cabin in the woods."
"Yep, a cabin full of guns, ammunition, and food. Everything we need to survive. Doesn't sound so dumb anymore, does it?"
"He’s still a freak," he muttered.
"No, she's right. We just got our asses kicked. You saw what happened back there. The whole town was getting nailed. Those deputies that went out there?"
"That was brutal."
"Yeah, and what do you think would have happened to us if it wasn't for Emma?"
"I dunno. I didn't see any kids being shot. It looked like they were rounding them up."
"For what? To put 'em up against the wall and shoot them probably."
"I didn't see any of that."
"Whatever it was, it can't be good. Whoever these assholes are, they killed Sam, remember that." Emma began to weep.
It had truly dawned on her, the fact that he must surely be dead. Until now there could have been so many explanations for what had happened to him. But she thought back. She ran the events over in her head.
"You said they weren't shooting anyone that didn't have a gun or try and fight back?"
"That's right," replied Foster.
"Bullshit, you don't know that," snapped Lee.
"That's what I saw. Those deputies, the shooting started when they went forward with guns in hand. They saw a threat, and they acted on it."
"And us?"
"Nobody was firing at us until she showed up and blew two of them away with that cannon."
"So you'd rather have been left there to be their prisoner. To do with as they please, is that right?" There was anger in her voice.
He tried to find the words to reply, but she was fuming, and wasn't willing to wait any longer.
"We can stop this car and let you out any time you like. You can walk back to town, and be at the mercy of whatever those things are, is that what you want?"
"No, no, that's not it. I'm sorry," he pleaded, seeing how furious she was.
"I risked my life to saved your butts. I didn't ask for any thanks, but I can do without your attitude, you hear me?"
Lee was glaring at him. He looked almost as furious as she did.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?"
"Sorry for what? Being as asshat?"
"Yes, for that."
"She's not messing around here, Foster."
"I get it, I'm sorry. I really am. I don't want to be left out here, or back at school. I'm sorry. I'm a little overwhelmed by it all, okay?"
"Aren't we all?" Emma answered him.
They all fell silent as they reflected on it all. Emma was still angry with him, but she didn't have any energy left to fight him. She just wanted some help, and some company.
At least I’m not alone now, and that feels good.
"This is it." She pulled off onto a track. It was a dirt road that was very lightly used. So much so you'd barely realise it led to any kind of home unless you knew what you were looking for.
"He really lives out here, your brother?"
"He has done for years, Lee. He came and built the place by himself."
"A safe place?"
She glared at him.
"I'm not kidding around, just asking."
"Yeah. He always said if you want somewhere safe, it needed to be away from where people go, and only with people who care enough to fend for themselves. I know it sounds nuts. I thought so for a while, too, but he's got a point. With all the dreadful things that happen in the world, he's got his own little paradise out here."
"Isolated, in the middle of nowhere?"
"He's not isolated. He's got a truck, Internet access, and radios. He's not out of touch with the world. He's just doing things his own way."
"And he's well armed?"
"You bet. Enough guns in this place to arm half the town, and probably enough ammunition to take on an army."
"Good, looks like we'll be needing it," said Lee.
She sighed in agreement. It was a horrifying prospect.
"You aren't exactly shy around guns, are you?"
"My brother, he taught me plenty. I come up here sometimes."
"We gonna hunker down here, right? We aren't gonna go in Rambo style and try and fight? We're football players, not Marines," said Foster.
"I don't know what we're gonna do. But we need somewhere safe to think this through," replied Emma.
"Someone has to be coming for us, right? I mean, this is like, some kind of invasion? Where is the Army, the National Guard?"
"It'll take a few days for them to reach us, Foster, if they can."
"How do you know?"
"Because the nearest base is miles away, and they don't exactly sit there in their tanks ready to wage war."
"Who taught you all of this?"
"I told you, my brother. Knowing response times is important if you want to know what could happen in the event of a major incident or crisis."
"And which is this?"
"I wish I knew, Lee. My brother planned for everything he could, but I’m not sure he would or could have ever seen this coming. Whatever this is."
"What do you think it is?" Foster asked.
"It's an attack. I don't know by who, but we can't be the only ones being hit."
"Why not?"
"Because what technologically advanced army would attack Wood Point in isolation?"
He grunted and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I know that."
"Shut up, Foster, you really are full of shit," Lee shouted at him.
"Oh, come on. I'm a joker, not a goddamn Army general."
"Yeah, well, I figured this out."
"Because you've got a brother that's been planning for the apocalypse. Forgive the rest of us for thinking we were safe living in the most powerful nation on Earth. I mean, come on. We've got aircraft carriers, battleships..."
"Battleships? Really, where have you been these last two decades?"
"You know what I mean, Emma. We have armies and nukes, who the hell would attack us?"
"Someone powerful enough to do it, and smart enough to do so before we realised it was possible," replied Lee.
Emma nodded along in agreement as she took the bend, and the view opened up in front of them.
"Oh, no," she gasped, looking at the debris scattered all around the area.
"What is this?" Lee asked.
"It’s Miles' bunker."
"Bunker?" Foster repeated what she’d said.
She hit the brakes, and they slid to a halt on the soft ground. She turned the engine off and stepped out towards the rubble. She staggered forward in disbelief as she cupped her open mouth. The others didn't know what to expect or what it had looked like before. They had no idea there used to be a liveable cabin there. It had been blown to pieces. That’s when she spotted Miles' truck and rushed over to see how trashed it was.
"These his only wheels?"
"I think so, Lee," she stammered. He looked over the breach in the bunker wall, though it was partly covered where the shack had collapsed over it. Foster had stepped up to the area and was looking at the thickness of the walls.
"You weren't kidding about this bunker. What did it get hit by, an RPG?"
"Foster," Lee said angrily.
He quickly shut up, realising how insensitive he was being.
"Miles?"
No response came.
"Miles! Miles!"
She shouted again even louder. She dropped down onto her knees and began to cry, and they didn't think any less of her for it. It was hard to imagine that he could have survived whatever had happened there, and they both knew he was the only family she really cared about, and that cared for her.
"Miles!"
She screamed once more at the top of her lungs. It was a visceral and desperate cry. But she fell silent, waiting for a response, and yet none came. Lee knelt down in front of her as she collapsed to the ground.
"I'm sorry. I really am so sorry." He put a hand on her shoulder. He still had the shotgun in the other hand, the stock resting on the ground.
"They did this to him. Whatever those assholes are that took Sam and attacked our town, this was their doing," she said angrily.
"Emma?"
A voice cried out in the distance. She leapt up in surprise, but Lee shouldered the shotgun and looked around for a target.
"Emma!" the voice yelled again.
"It's okay. It's okay!"
She spotted Miles hobbling out from some trees, and Martin Burns was close behind. She ran full speed into her brother's arms, so much so the wind was taken out of him, and he groaned in pain from his injury.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She backed away, "Oh, my God, you're hurt."
"I'm okay, really."
She looked past to her teacher.
"What are you doing here?"
"I went looking for Sam. Sorry to say I didn't find him, but I did find your brother along the way, and a whole load of trouble."
"No shit," replied Foster.
Burns would never have accepted that sort of language from any of his students on any other day, but he was too curious to waste time scolding the young man.
"What are you saying? What’s going on?"
"All out war, the town is under attack!"
Burns looked concerned, although not wholly surprised.
"This doesn't shock you?"
"No, because they've had their fair share of this same shit," replied Lee perceptively.
"I went looking for Sam. What I found instead was this young man fighting for his life. Fighting against some, I don't know what. Some robot or machine-like thing."
"Well, what happened?"
"I blew it to hell," replied Miles.
"Blew it, with what?" Foster asked.
"Dynamite, what do you think, dummy? What do you think did that?" He pointed to the wreckage of his bunker.
"You did this?"
"I didn't have a choice, Emma. Right after you left, there was something out in the woods, someone trespassing, or so I thought. I don't really ever see folk out here, not at night, except the odd few school kids trying to be smart. They soon scare easy, but not this bastard. No, he came right at me with fire and brimstone. Blew my windows out, breached my bunker. I nailed the son of a bitch with a few dozen rounds, but he wouldn't go down."
"So what, you brought the whole building down on your heads?" Lee asked.
"It was that or die, so yeah."
The Tucker twins strode into sight. Miles took a step back and had to give them a second look up and down.
"Well, damn, there's your heavy lifters right there," he said with a smile.
"These boys got us out of a spot when we needed," replied Lee.
"Twice," added Foster.
"Nice truck." Miles looked at the huge vehicle towering behind his mom's car.
"You said this happened after I left, so where have you been all this time?"
"Running from the other two that came after me. They were smaller and lighter than the beast that did this. The first one I must have got a lucky hit on with the rifle, and the other one, well, Mr Burns here gave me a hand with it."
"We headed back for my truck to get back to town, but it was wasted. Someone had but a hole right through the hood. It was shot," added Martin.
"So you came back here, why?"
"Because this is where the guns are."
"In there? You blew it to hell?" Lee pointed to the burnt-out husk of his bunker.
"You keep all your eggs in one basket, do you?" He smiled as he headed over to a flat area twenty metres out from the bunker. He knelt down and put his hand to the ground, feeling back and forth across until he found something. He pulled up and back. A patch of the ground made to match the terrain around it. He pulled back a ground sheet to reveal a trap door going down below.
"Any other day I'd say you were nuts," said Foster.
"And today?"
"I could kiss you."
"I'll settle for a hand here." He stepped down the stairs into a dark cellar. He passed up one end of a large wooden crate. Foster took it, but it was too much by himself. Lem helped him and hauled it out onto the flat. Jam and Lee took the next few cases as Emma prised opened the first. They ferried box after box up until finally he came back up to join them. Emma cranked the lid off with a crowbar she had been tossed.
"You really did prepare for a war, didn't you?"
"Bet your ass I did, Lee. You may not want it, but it's coming to you. It always is. None of us can ever say when, but it’s coming all right. So who do you want to be when that time comes? The chump with nothing in his hands but his dick, or the guy with an AK47, and enough rounds to kill every son of a bitch that's coming for you?" he asked as he lifted out a pristine condition Kalashnikov.
"If you want peace, prepare for war," said Martin.
"Damn right." Miles passed one to Lem. "Here you go, big guy. I take it you can handle one of these?"
Lem was smiling like a small boy, but he clearly knew his guns well enough.
"Where do you get all this stuff?" Foster asked in amazement.
"Anywhere, everywhere. This stock of bad boys came right out of a former Soviet stock house in the Ukraine."
"Military issue?" Lee asked.
"Bet your ass."
"Not exactly legal then?"
"Boy, tell me the enemy gives a shit about your laws. The only law that matters is survival. That’s our job now, Foster. It's our only job," he said, passing a rifle to him.
"Do any of you lads even know how to shoot?"
"You kidding me?"
"I mean really, Lee. These aren't your dad's shotgun," he said, gesturing towards the gun he was still carrying.
He propped the shotgun against the crate and took one of the rifles. Drew back the bolt, checked the breech, loaded a magazine, and chambered a round like he'd done it a hundred times.
"Care to tell me where you learnt to use one of these?" Miles threw him one.
"Vegas baby," replied Lee with a smile.
The rest of them nodded along.
"You, too, Foster?"
"The whole team. We put five thousands rounds down that range, you better believe it."
Martin shook his head as he checked over his own weapon.
"What, you think we aren't up to this?"
"I know you aren't, Lee. You can fire some guns sure, but there's a lot more to being a fighter than pulling a trigger."
"Yeah? Then show us."
Martin laughed. "If I had a few weeks or months, sure."
"We haven't got that kind of time. The town hasn't," said Lem.
"The town? We aren't going back to the town. Hell, no."
"Then what are we doing here?" demanded Jam.
"Getting the tools to survive. We can't take back the town, just us here."
"We can now." Foster held up his rifle.
"No, we don't go looking for a fight. We'd be digging our own graves. We have to stay away. We have to stay alive, and it's my job to make sure of it."
"You're our teacher, nothing more."
