Across the street by an empty house Kayla saw some movement and called it out. Mark, David and Lisa along with Kayla kept an eye out over there. The angle was difficult for Kayla and she was trying to keep an eye on the woods. She yelled over to Mark and told him they needed help on the west side wood line.
Mark called Alan, who went over to the other side of the house and opened that portal. His cheek was still stinging like crazy. He eyed the woods and looked for the militia. They had really started shooting down the strobes now. Only a couple of them had NVG’s but even that gave them an advantage. The depth perception and detail lacked severely because they were early generation one NVG’s so they were mostly for movement or observation.
Mark called out more movement by the empty house Kayla had pointed out and confirmed it was militia. He fired single shots in that direction. Lisa and David waited as he did this. As soon as they saw the first flash they opened up on that location. They each fired around 15 rounds. Around 15 feet away from that area, another militia member returned fire, emptying a full clip toward them. There were at least two militia members by this house.
The woods to the west was getting fairly full with militia members as they shifted people to this area. This was the most vulnerable side of the house. Kayla, Linda and Nancy had their work cut out for them. It was very dark and they couldn’t make out anybody. They saw an occasional muzzle flash, but nothing in the same spot twice. Alan couldn’t find anyone either. He called Roger and told him the problem.
Karen had Elizabeth and Theresa down in the basement of the house along with the cats and mutant dog. Her job was strictly to keep them as safe as possible. She had a pistol and five magazines with her. If they called on her, she could respond if she needed to. She was also ready to usher them to a vehicle in case of a bug out situation..
Rich had Matthew and Bobby ready to douse any fires in the house. Bev was ready with first aid supplies for whoever could make it back to the house. Trying to use the house as their sole cover wasn’t exactly tactically sound, but it had been set up for a strong defense. They did have a few more tricks ready though. When the time came, they could use them.
The Jeep from the rescue had stalled out, and was now just sitting there in reverse in the ditch. The militia men decided to make their way toward their sniper. They called him so he could cover their retreat. Haliday heard the static and picked out a few words, hide, cover and retreat. He clicked the transmit button, but didn’t speak. All the militia men heard back was crackling.
They headed out at a crawl toward Haliday. Haliday could not see them well, but knew they were heading his way. He shot over their heads and toward a safe zone. He fired almost 10 rounds providing “cover” for them. Randy, Sarah and Blake had returned fire toward him. Haliday called, “Mike, tell them to stop. It’s me. I’m not firing at them.” Mike called over to Blake and told him to pass the word. They couldn’t quite reach him but he didn’t care. Now that they stopped, it really appeared that he was safely covering the militia.
They understood now, but they didn’t know any better when they had fired. They now focused on other militia firing toward them. The two men from the Jeep kept up their retreat. The men were about 150 yards away from Roger now. They just kept coming. Haliday watched them carefully. Come and get your cheese you rats, he was thinking.
Lisa called over to Mark about the two people by the empty house, “I think they’re coming over the road.” Mark was scanning back and forth. Lisa told Mark, “By the ditch. By the ditch.” One of the militia got up and sprinted toward the ditch. He dove down into it under a hail of gunfire. He raised his rifle and fired while the other person ran to the ditch as well.
There was one more militia at this house now who moved in to that location and who helped provide cover. He started to fire and the woods on the west side lit up at the same time. The two militia men were able to make it across the street into the ditch during the diversion. They were now closer to the house and a mere 100 feet from Lisa and Mark. The two militia lay in the ditch waiting to make their move.
Rob looked over at Brad. “Brad, we need to get into this compound. We need to get through that fence.”
Brad said, “I agree, but it’s not like we can just plow our way in there.”
“Actually we can,” said Rob, “over by the brick and block company is an old front loader, let’s go see if it runs.” They took off to check it out.
The militia had them outgunned as far as type of rifle, but neither had an edge. The townspeople would fire a shot or two from their rifles and the militia response was usually 2 or 3 rounds or a short burst if they had a full auto rifle. Few more than half had converted their rifles to full auto. For a group that was breaking many laws, it was surprising they didn’t all have full autos.
Word had spread that the sniper had been taken out and some of the guys now sought higher ground. A few used tree stands, but had them on the back sides of the trees in order to use the tree as cover. A couple hit the closer rooftops in hopes of being able to get a better line of sight.
A few of the guys got bored and they commenced to shoot out every piece of glass they could on the admin building, regardless of the windows being boarded up. The upper windows weren’t boarded up and they shot these out as well. Heat rises and they would either get colder or use more of their energy heating the place.
Rob and Brad made it to the brick company. They climbed up on the old front loader and climbed up in the cab. They searched for a key but couldn’t find it. Rob went over to the office and tried the door, but it was locked. He went around and tried the back door, but it too was locked. Brad said, “Now what?” Rob picked up a brick and broke the window out of the back door. They went inside to look for the key.
Hanging on a wall by the shop door was a bunch of keys. Rob looked at the tags and found one that said loader. He grabbed it and they went back outside to the front loader. He climbed back up into the cab and put the key in the ignition and turned the switch. The engine cranked, but very slowly.
Brad called up to him and told him the batteries must be low. They went back into the shop and looked around. They couldn’t find any jumper cables or anything. Brad grabbed a fire ax and walked over to a piece of conduit and chopped at it. He followed it along the base of the wall about 10 feet and then swung again. He had Rob hold the pipe and he pulled the wire out. Homemade jumper cables.
They connected them to the battery of the four wheeler and then the batteries on the front loader. Rob climbed up into the cab once again and tried. The motor turned over, but still didn’t start. Brad revved the engine on the four wheeler and Rob tried to start it. The engine finally caught and a plume of black smoke came out of the muffler. Brad gave Rob a thumbs up and then took the wires off the batteries.
Over toward the southwest corner of the airport, one of the militia called for a status check. He was told everyone was in position defending the compound. He asked how the other group was doing and he was told that they didn’t know yet. The only information they had exchanged so far was that they were engaged in firefights.
This was a younger man in his early twenties. His parents had volunteered to go on the assault mission and he was asked to stay. Now he was wondering if he should have gone on the mission too. He started to get antsy and moved back and forth. It had been a few hours now and his mind wandered. The HQ asked if anyone needed any ammo. One guy asked for something to drink and HQ told them critical runs only would be made.
Brad and Rob didn’t know if the fuel gauge worked or not so they found a can and transferred some diesel from the large 500 gallon fuel tank to the loader. When they had it filled, Rob went over and picked up a pallet of bricks. The company had taken the bucket off and had been using large pallet forks. Brad placed a loose board on top of the forks behind the pallet of bricks.