Without Law 19, page 13
“I’m Mark,” a short, stocky light-brown haired guy said with a hard nod.
“And I’m Brian,” the last man said. He was tall, too, but he had wavy blond hair that hung around his face and ears and made him look incredibly young.
“Good to meet you all,” I said. “And I hope you’re excited to get back out there.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Brian laughed. “We’ve been ready since day one.”
“The General was smart to keep you out of trouble up until now,” I said. “But I can understand it might have been a bit boring.”
“We just want to do our part.” Mark smiled.
“Good to hear.” I smiled back at him. “The jeeps are all packed with weapons and supplies, so all you need are your personal belongings. I’d like to leave in twenty.”
“Done.” Jess nodded and looked around at the men. “Let’s go grab our bags.”
Everyone dispersed, and Ben clapped me on the shoulder as he walked by with a huge grin on his face. I knew the pilot was ready for some action, and it was good to know the people on my team were as excited as I was to get this going.
I didn’t sense any hesitation from any of them, and that gave me even more confidence. Especially since I didn’t particularly like working with teams I didn’t know well, but the pilots seemed like they were a close knit group, and I was sure that team mentality would come in handy.
Once I talked to everyone else, I made my way over to my own camp, but the girls already had everything under control. They had put out the fire and grabbed all our bags by the time I got there, and I looked around to see them already over by the jeeps.
“Took you long enough,” Anna teased as I walked over.
“Hardly,” I laughed. “Thanks for being so prompt.”
“Of course.” The redhead smiled.
“Is everyone ready?” I asked with a clap.
All the groups were gathered around, and they all nodded and cheered, so I took that as a yes.
“Let’s go,” I said, and I hopped in the jeep, turned it on, and pulled forward.
“Wait!” a man’s voice called, and I looked over to see Tara’s father rushing toward us.
“Oh, my goooood,” Tara groaned, and she slid down in her seat. “It’s like preschool all over again.”
Her father made it to our vehicle, and he was audibly out of breath, but he tapped on Tara’s window until she let it down.
“Dad,” the platinum-blonde said with a glare as she leaned out the glass. “What are you doing?”
“I didn’t get to say bye,” he panted.
“We’ll be back in a couple of days, calm down,” she said.
Her father didn’t respond, he just reached in and pulled her to him. Tara was stiff at first, but then she loosened up and hugged him back.
“Be safe, pumpkin,” he said.
“I will, Dad,” she said. “Now, let go. We have to leave.”
“Alright, alright,” he said, and he leaned back then looked at me. “Keep her safe, Tav.”
“I will, sir,” I assured him.
“Bye, baby,” Pete said, and he kissed Tara’s forehead and backed up so I could pull off.
Tara waved to her father, but then she leaned back and groaned once more.
“He’s so ridiculous,” she said.
“He loves you so much,” Paige chuckled. “It’s cute.”
“Yeah, but he’s so embarrassing,” Tara laughed.
“I didn’t think you could be embarrassed.” Anna smirked.
“Clearly that’s not true,” Tara said dryly.
I shook my head and smiled at her playful frustration with her father, then I pressed on the gas and pulled out of the area with the warehouses and onto the pavement.
Hammer’s jeep was right behind me, and the pilot’s jeep behind that. Everyone was a little bit cramped with all the supplies and people, but we were making it work, and they both kept up with me as I followed the directions Paige had given me earlier to get us to the bike trail.
It wasn’t long before we pulled through the suburbs of Atlanta and onto the Silver Comet Trail.
The bike trail was paved, and it looked virtually untouched even after everything the world had been through. Part of me was surprised to see it so incredibly nice after all this time, but I figured it probably wasn’t something most people knew about.
And those that did know probably would have only used it to get from one place to another. The trail was over sixty miles long, and Paige said it connected to other trails as well.
I couldn’t believe I’d never thought to use bike trials to get around. There had to be plenty of them around, especially in areas like this, and as we drove, I realized the place was not only immaculate, with no debris or trash around, but there were no signs of anyone having been there at all.
The trail was only really wide enough for one vehicle, but Hammer and the pilots followed close behind me as I went as fast as I felt comfortable on the unfamiliar trail.
The trip shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours, so I paid close attention to the trail in front of me while the girls chatted.
“It’s so pretty out here,” Bailey said.
“It is really nice,” Anna agreed. “I bet this place was buzzing with people in the summer.”
“I don’t know, isn’t it, like, super hot down here in the summer?” Tara asked.
“It’s pretty warm year round.” Paige nodded. “But I would bet it’s pretty sweltering in the summer.”
“Yeah, no thank you.” The platinum-blonde wrinkled her nose. “No way would I be out hiking in the middle of summer down here.”
“Sounds like someone isn’t liking her trip to the south,” Anna snickered.
“Someone is hot as hell all the time,” Tara said. “I didn’t even sleep with a blanket last night because I was so frickin hot. I swear the south didn’t used to be like this. That EMP fucked something up.”
“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Paige laughed.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Tara said.
“I mean, true.” Paige nodded. “I don’t know for sure. But I’d say I’m about 99.99% sure that’s not how it works.”
“Well, I’ll take that .01%,” Tara said. “Because something happened down here. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Okay, Voodoo mama joojoo,” Paige chuckled.
“It’s always been this hot,” Anna laughed. “You’re just pregnant as hell.”
“At least you’re not huge yet.” Paige smiled. “I bet it’d be way worse then.”
“Gee, thanks.” Tara glared at her brunette friend. “I’m gonna remember this when it’s all your turn to have Tav’s baby. I might even start messing with your pills right now.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Anna laughed.
“Yeah, you are right,” Tara purred, and I saw her wiggle her eyebrows, “but maybe I already did.”
“Oh, my god,” Paige laughed.
“Just kidding,” Tara snickered. “Or… am I?”
“So, how long until we get there?” Bailey asked.
“It should only be a couple of hours,” I said. “If that.”
“Umm, what’s that?” Tara asked, and I immediately looked forward and hit my brakes.
A huge tree was strewn across the road, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I realized this could be an ambush.
“Shit,” I breathed as my eyes darted around the area, and my hand instinctively moved toward the MP5 on my hip. “We might have company.”
Chapter 9
If we’d been seen by any of the NK troops, they could have gotten ahead of us and set this up.
I held my breath as I looked around and carefully pulled my MP5 from its sling.
“What do you mean we might have company?” Tara whispered.
“You think it’s a trap?” Anna asked, and she pulled her weapon as well as she looked around skeptically.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But it looks like it could be.”
“Shit,” Paige cursed. “What do we do?”
“Hold on.” I held up my hand to quiet everyone as I looked around.
I didn’t see signs anybody had been there, and while the tree was perfectly strewn across the road, upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a natural break, probably from a storm, rather than a purposeful break by anyone.
I was ready for anything to happen, but after a few moments nothing did.
“I think we’re okay,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Anna asked.
“If they were here, they would’ve attacked by now,” I said. “Besides, I think that tree came down on its own.”
“Good,” Paige sighed. “I was going to be mad if they were on this trail.”
“I think you were right,” I told her. “I doubt anybody has thought to use this.”
“It certainly looks abandoned.” Bailey nodded.
“Okay, so it’s not an ambush,” Anna said. “That’s good, but we still have a huge fucking tree in the road.”
“Yeah, and we can’t exactly go around it.” Paige bit her lip as she looked around. “It’s all trees along the path.”
“Right,” I agreed. “We’re going to have to move it somehow.”
“That thing is monstrous,” Tara said. “Do you think we can even lift it?”
“I don’t know, we managed to get those sky sweepers off the ground.” Anna shrugged.
“Yeah, like two inches!” Tara scoffed. “We need to move this thing a lot farther if we’re going to get by it.”
“Tara’s right,” I sighed. “I think our best bet is to try and use one of the jeeps.”
“Do we have rope or something to attach to it?” Paige asked.
“We always have rope,” I chuckled. “But in this case I think it’s best if we use some ratchet straps. I made sure I put some in our supplies.”
“Nice.” Paige smiled and turned around to search the back of the jeep. “I’m sure I can-- here they are!”
“Great.” I grabbed the straps she held out and hopped out of the jeep.
“You got a plan yet?” Hammer called with a grin.
“Right here,” I said, and I held up the ratchet straps.
“Nice.” He hopped out of the vehicle and made his way over to me. “You back up, I’ll steer you and strap her in.”
“Thanks,” I said, and I tossed him the straps.
I climbed back into the jeep and carefully turned it around so I could back up to the huge tree blocking our path.
Hammer waved his arm for me to come on back, and after I was close enough, he stopped me and spent a few minutes putting the straps on before he stepped out of the way and waved me forward.
I pressed the gas slowly, but nothing happened.
“Um, we’re not moving it,” Tara said.
“Do you think it’s too heavy?” Anna asked.
“Nothing’s too heavy,” Paige said. “Not if you have the right system to move it, and this should totally work.”
“Well, it’s not--” Tara started, but just then I mashed on the gas even harder, and we lurched forward.
“Hold on!” I called.
I managed to correct the steering wheel after our momentum thrust us forward much too quickly, and I hit my brakes and pulled as far to the side of the road as possible.
“Little bit of a late warning, Tav.” Tara glared at me from the back seat.
“Sorry.” I smiled.
“It looks like it’s out of the way enough,” Bailey said as she looked behind us.
Hammer ran over and undid the straps, then he hopped back in his jeep and continued to follow us down the bike trail.
The trail was wide enough for the jeeps to fit, but it was windy, and I found myself constantly slowing down in effort to make sure I didn’t take a corner too quickly.
We’d been driving for a while when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
“What the fuck was that?” Anna asked.
“You saw it, too?” I questioned.
“I don’t know what I saw,” she said. “But it looked like--”
A flash of blue through the trees on our left made me hit my breaks, and Anna looked at me with wide green eyes.
“I thought there wouldn’t be anyone out here,” Bailey whispered.
“I don’t think there is,” I said. “But Paige, how close is the trail to the road right here?”
“Let me see,” she said, and she pulled out her map and quickly looked it over. “Less than a quarter mile it looks like.”
“And it looks like there’s definitely NK soldiers over there,” Tara said.
“What should we do?” Bailey asked.
“Do you think they heard us?” Anna pushed.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head, and another flash of blue lit up the sky. “But we can’t risk it if they have.”
I shut the jeep off and hopped out.
“I saw it, too,” Hammer said as he hopped out of the jeep behind us. “What’s your call here, boss?”
“I don’t know if they heard us or not,” I said. “But I want to check out the situation.”
“Sounds good,” Hammer agreed. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“Stay here and keep everyone quiet,” I told him. “The girls and I will check it out and be right back.”
“Roger that.” He nodded and walked back to Ben’s jeep at the end of the convoy so he could relay the message.
“You ready?” I asked the girls.
“Ready.” Anna nodded. The redhead had her hand on her M9 on her hip and a determined look on her pretty face.
“Yup,” Paige agreed, and she bit her lip and looked out into the woods, clearly concerned she’d made a mistake of some kind.
“I’m ready,” Bailey said with a small nod. The blonde had her Barrett slung over her shoulder, and she leaned to one side to counter the weight of the massive rifle.
“Let’s do this,” Tara said, and the platinum-blonde cocked her hip out to the side and put her hand on her silenced Ruger on her hip.
“Follow me,” I told them and carefully made my way through the trees.
The forest was overgrown with foliage, and it was so dense around our feet it was nearly impossible to get through without making a noise, but I tried my hardest to clear out a path for myself and the girls behind me.
Another flash of blue light shot through the air, and my eyebrows pulled together as I wondered what in the hell they were doing. It seemed unlike the NK soldiers to fire off plasma shots for no reason, especially with how volatile the stuff was. But if they’d heard us, I had to assume they’d be firing in our general direction, not up into the air.
I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they’d be firing toward the sky when there didn’t appear to be anything around. The U.S. army didn’t even have planes, so I knew it couldn’t be that.
I supposed it could be some sort of signal to their planes, but they had communication devices, so it seemed unlikely that was the case.
Blue light flashed above us once more.
“What the hell are they doing?” Tara whispered behind me.
“I have no idea,” I whispered back. “I’ve been trying to figure that out.”
“Do you think they have planes in the area?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But I don’t think so. I haven’t heard anything.”
“Me, either,” the redhead said, and I could hear the confusion in her voice. “This is crazy.”
I held my fist up to quiet the girls as we made our way to the tree line, and once we were close enough, I crouched down to get a look at what we were dealing with.
There was a highway maybe twenty feet in front of us, with only a few trees and some foliage between. I didn’t see any NK vehicles yet, but I saw another flash of blue light, then I heard what sounded like someone laughing.
What the hell was going on?
I gestured for the girls to be quiet and follow me, and I lowered myself to the ground and low crawled forward until I was just behind the line of trees closest to the road.
I had a much better view of the road then, and I was able to see the highway was surrounded by trees on either side. We clearly weren’t in a city, this was a back road. There wasn’t much around aside from the road itself, a knocked over speed limit sign a ways down, and an extremely faded McDonalds bag on the side of the road that had probably been there long before the EMP hit. There were also a few faded beer cans and candy wrappers littered along the highway.
I didn’t see any NK vehicles, but in the middle of the road were two soldiers sitting cross legged facing each other.
Anna turned to face me, and her confused green eyes caught mine. The redhead shook her head and shrugged, and I shrugged right back. I had no idea what the hell was happening, either, but there had to be something going on for these two to be out here.
I did another quick scan of the area, but I still didn’t see anything that would indicate these men were on patrol here. Not unless they were foot soldiers, and if that was the case, we’d have to be close to one of their bases, and I didn’t like the sounds of that whatsoever.
The two men had been chatting, then suddenly, they started to stare at each other with a strange intensity. Neither of them moved or blinked until one of them grabbed a plasma gun off the pavement and held it up to the sky.
The man fired off a shot of blue plasma, and the second man jumped slightly.
The man with the weapon laughed and pulled a flask out of his jacket pocket and handed it to his friend.
They were playing a game.
These two must not have been on duty right then, because after seeing the flask and watching their odd game of chicken for a few minutes longer, it was clear they were both highly intoxicated.
“They’re drunk,” I whispered to Anna.
“What do we do?” the redhead asked.
“If they did see us, they’re not going to remember,” Bailey pointed out.
“Yeah, but they also look like they’re just being dumbasses,” Tara added. “We should just kill them and make it look like they did it themselves.”
