The entire compound was under heavy fire now. Mark saw movement very close and called everyone. “Now, now, now!” Alan grabbed a metal spoon and slowly dragged it across a wooden board with terminals on the top. The terminals were connected to a large 12 volt battery wired to Haliday’s favorite rocket engine igniters. Throughout the west side of the woods, the trees lit up brightly.
The flares were originally parachute flares and were stripped down, altered and set in the trees. Burn time was about 45-55 seconds. Haliday had installed two sets of them and these couldn’t be shot and extinguished. Ten locations spaced along the wood line. They would constantly burn bright white until they burned out. This was the last of the tricks Haliday had in his bag.
As soon as Haliday heard Mark tell Alan to ignite the flares he started launching his 37mm rounds. These were CS tear gas shells and would cause some serious discomfort to people running for cover and trying to save themselves. He had seven and he launched all seven of them in about 30 seconds. He took off toward the west wood area to see if he could now help repel the militia.
The militia stopped in their tracks. They were not only completely illuminated now, but they could not see the house or fighting positions very well. They had no sooner started to back off or take cover when the tear gas shells started to land around them. They started a hasty retreat to get out of the light and out of the tear gas.
Everyone in Haliday’s group on this side of the house lit them up. Alan up in the crow’s nest started to fire down into the woods. He kept his eyes on the first flare that went off. As soon as this one burned out he would ignite the second set. This was going to give them about a minute and a half or more of light to even out the odds.
Inside the house, Rich fired a 12 gauge shotgun full of double aught buck into the retreating militia line. He pumped seven rounds as fast as he could moving from left to right. He dropped down and started reloading the shotgun to fire again. Over by the other window Bev and Karen were firing 22lr’s but had plenty of magazines and kept the rounds flying. They started at opposite ends and worked toward the middle and then back again. The group on the ground could hear the shots flying over their heads and they were firing as well.
Lisa, Mark, Kayla and Linda all kept firing at the militia. If they saw someone dive to the ground or behind a tree they would concentrate their aim on that location. The first flare sputtered out and Alan dropped down and started the second set. Everyone else continued the heavy sustained fire.
When the militia had moved forward they didn’t expect the flares and barrage of gunfire. As they retreated from this they incurred the heaviest losses yet. They had eight members here that had been advancing. Out of the eight, only three had escaped unharmed. Two were injured and three3 were dead. This devastated their ranks.
One man had stopped to aim at a flare that he thought he could shoot and put out. A couple of shots and it didn’t go out, however Mark had put a couple of five rounds bursts in that direction and this was the first casualty. Another member had moved laterally not knowing more flares were being ignited and Rich had hit him with the shotgun twice.
Off toward the other side, Karen and Bev had gotten lucky with the 22lr’s and hit a woman in the back of her neck as she retreated. She laid there paralyzed, unable to do anything. One of the other members reached down to grab her and Alan had fired his bursts into him. The carnage in such a short period of time was horrific.
The rest of the injured suffered arm, leg and torso hits, but were able to continue out of the area. The tear gas had them coughing with tears and snot running down their faces. They either didn’t don masks or plainly didn’t have any. As the flares all died out so did the firing from the militia. The militia were now just trying to get the hell out of there and handle their injured and dead. During this, however, the south end of the property and north end had their own battles they had endured.
The militia assault on the west side of the house had actually placed all of the militia into action. On the south side, David, Mike, Kevin, Diana and Dawn were firing on one militia member still by the empty neighbor’s house and also across the street at the nosy neighbors. There was militia located there as well. Diana was having a real hard time and had to stop. Her arm was too weak now and she could not load the rifle anymore. She had a pistol and saved it in case of any closer activity.
The shots went back and forth between them and the militia, but there was no rush, no forward movement toward the Haliday house, just sustaining fire to keep everyone pinned down. The dirt and shrubs around them were torn to pieces now. If it hadn’t been for the fighting positions set up to provide cover and take the inbound rounds, it would have been far worse than it was.
On the north end, Randy, Sarah and Blake only had a couple of people to contend with. They were firing at a sustained rate to keep the militia in place. There was no advancement being made and neither side was hitting anything with accuracy. This only lasted a couple of minutes. The man Haliday hit in the ass had made his way to his friend’s location. The militia fire was constant enough to keep everyone in place so they could not help out on the west.
Haliday’s group at the south side thought they had seen someone sneaking up to the road and the ditches. They fired over to that location, but couldn’t tell if anyone was there or not. They too were only being fired on in order to keep them busy. It was just a ruse to keep everyone away from the west, but it worked. The firing died down almost to a complete stop. Everyone was now waiting. They were not sure what to expect. They prepared themselves for another rush.
Almost on cue, the militia started firing methodically again around the entire perimeter. It sounded much different though, Mark listened to their firing and thought it was a ploy and called Haliday. Mark explained his thoughts to Haliday, “What do you think Roger?”
“I’m with you, Mark,” he answered. “Pass the word, very light fire to let them know we are still dug in here. We’ll let them do it.”
They both knew now that the militia was firing to keep them in check while they pulled out of the area. They wouldn’t pursue the militia. They didn’t have the troop strength to leave the house guarded and track down the escaping militia. They wanted to, but had to maintain their positions at the house.
The militia was still firing, but only received a few shots in return. They used this time to gather their wounded and retreat. They were leaving their dead where they had fallen. Nobody knew this though. Had Mark or Roger known, they would have continued to assault the group. This went against everything they had ever learned and that had been ingrained in them during their time in the military.
Haliday had not been able to get in the fight and do anything. It had happened so quickly he didn’t have time to get there. Now he had moved in closer and watched as the militia continued the retreat. He didn’t engage for one reason. He was far outnumbered and still behind their lines. He would wait it out and that’s exactly what he did. He called everyone and told them to cease fire unless they were being attacked. The militia was out of effective range now.
The group sat there at the ready. It was a surreal scene. Light smoke drifted in some areas, muted light from clouds and a small sliver of moon, dark bodies moving in the night dragging people away. A group of very unique people were scattered about the property waiting for another fight.