The Jared Chronicles | Book 4 | The Devil's Bastion, page 36
part #4 of The Jared Chronicles Series
“No, but I lit a fire by the soldiers so he and John would know where they were,” Devon explained, continuing the rocking motion.
Shannon leaned back against the cabin wall, exhaling through her nose, her eyes a roiling procellous set of orbs. “We need to pull everyone together in case something happens,” Shannon finally announced, her eyes continuing to flash like a stormy night’s sky.
Within minutes, Margie, Calvin, Raul and Cody had been summoned and were all in Shannon’s cabin, listening to what Devon had to report. Cody sat broodingly on the side of a bed, listening, his head tilted slightly downward, staring at Shannon from hooded eyes as she relayed what Devon had told her.
“Maybe we should pull back up the road, get the horses and that car, and just pull back some until John and Jared get this thing sorted out,” Calvin suggested in a gravelly voice.
“We can’t leave. John said to stay put,” Margie snapped.
“Okay, everyone relax. Things change, and John may not even know about the twelve soldiers out there,” Shannon said, trying to deescalate the conversation.
“He knows,” Devon murmured.
“How can you know that?” Calvin fired.
“The fire,” Devon answered, looking up for once and giving Calvin a questioning look.
“We need to prep the horses in case they try to cross the bridge,” Shannon interjected, trying desperately to find some reasonable middle ground that wouldn’t end up getting them all killed if things here at the cabins went to hell in a hand basket.
“Why don’t we just go out there and kill ’em all?” came a low youthful voice filled with a disturbing level of hate.
Everyone turned to see Cody getting to his feet, rifle in hand, a look on his face so dark his mother gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
Cody’s lip was held in a sneer as he continued. “I can hit them from four or five hundred yards with this rifle. Stephani, Devon, Raul, and Carlos could go out there and probably kill half of ’em in the first few shots,” Cody snarled.
“You’re not going anywhere, Cody,” Margie cried.
Cody slowly turned to his mother, his face softening marginally. “Mom, they killed Dad. I’m going to kill as many of them as I can, and you don’t get to say a thing about it. I’m a man now. The day they killed Dad; I became the man of the house.”
Margie stepped to her son, grabbing him by the shoulders. “No, you can’t go out there and end up like your father. I couldn’t take it.” She sobbed.
Cody stood rigid in his mother’s embrace for several seconds before he turned to Devon. “Can you show me where they are?”
Devon gave Cody a curt nod, telling him he could not only show him, he’d participate in Cody’s quest to avenge his father’s death.
“No, no, no,” Shannon blurted out. “You two are not going out there and getting yourselves killed. I won’t stand for it.”
Cody shot Shannon a wicked smile. “Wanna come with?”
“No—no one is going or coming with,” Shannon chastised.
Cody pulled away from his mother and squared up on Shannon. “If my own mother doesn’t have a say, you don’t either. I’m going, and I’ll go alone if I have to. I’m through running from these people. My dad wasn’t a runner, and neither am I.”
“Oh my God,” Shannon snorted in exasperation, realizing Devon was now on his feet alongside Cody in their little coming-of-age push to wage war on the murderers of Cody’s father. “Okay, listen, guys,” Shannon said, her voice lower and absent the emotion of a few seconds prior. “Be smart about this, like John would be. Let’s hear your plan, and we can all talk about how to make it better.”
Cody gave Shannon a shrug before speaking. “Devon is going to show me where these guys are, and I’m going to shoot as many as I can before I have to take off. Then I’m going to find them again and do the same until they’re all dead.”
“By yourself?” Shannon scoffed.
“If I have to,” Cody replied evenly.
The look on Cody’s face frightened Shannon more than she felt a teenage boy should be able to. There was no doubt Cody had taken his father’s death hard, but Shannon was a stranger to what was transpiring with Cody now. Cody’s change was something movies were made of, not reality. Shannon’s dilemma was what to push for. Should she send Cody and Devon off alone to possibly be gunned down by a superior number of heavily armed soldiers, or should she enlist the help of Stephani and the others to help the two teens? The latter could result in their community being cut in half if things didn’t go well.
Lastly and almost in a detached way, Shannon wondered if she should go out with the teen boys and help cut away a cancer that had plagued them since nearly the beginning of their plight. Everyone in the room was now staring at Shannon, who was fighting her way through all the turmoil of making a decision that could not only result in her own death, but the death of others as well. Then there was Essie to think about. Hadn’t she lambasted Jared in the past for running off to engage in dangerous adventures, and now, here she was contemplating accompanying these two rash young males into the lion’s den.
“Oh, for fucking crying out loud.” Shannon groaned before immediately clapping her hand over her mouth and turning to Essie. “Don’t you ever say that, Ess, and I’m sorry for the slip.”
The happiest person in the room after hearing Shannon swear was Calvin. He’d been admonished so many times by the former schoolteacher he’d lost count, and here she was dropping the nuke of all swear words. What a glorious day this was, thought Calvin as he silently thanked the good lord for allowing him to live long enough to enjoy this moment.
Shannon recovered quickly, taking on an air of authority. “Okay, it’s clear you are going, and no one can stop you, so let’s come up with more people to go and a better plan than that nonsense you came up with.”
Devon and Cody exchanged puzzled looks as they waited for Shannon to continue.
“Steph and I will come, along with Raul and Carlos; that’s six on twelve. If Devon can get us into a position to shoot these guys, maybe we can make it a fair fight as far as the numbers are concerned,” Shannon declared, searching the faces of everyone in the cabin for either feedback or suggestions. When none came, Shannon knew she’d reestablished some likeness of control as an adult. “Calvin and Margie will take Essie and Salvador along with the car and all the horses up the road a safe distance away from here,” Shannon said, turning to face Essie. “You, young lady, will be locked, loaded, and will shoot anyone who tries to harm any of you.”
Essie’s little face scrunched as her brows furrowed in childlike determination as Shannon turned to Calvin.
“Take Raul and get the horses ready while I go and let Steph and Carlos know the change in plans—and take Crank.” Shannon was about to leave, but stopped and stared at Devon’s little rifle. “You will carry a real rifle, Devon.”
Shannon didn’t wait for an answer, pushing past the group on her way to the cabin’s door. Shannon carried her own rifle as she stepped off the porch, pivoted, and headed toward the OP above the bridge. The group used a small game trail to cut up the side of the hill toward the OP, and today, Shannon skirted the hill using the tiny game trail as she closed on the OP. When Shannon was within earshot of the OP, she called out to Steph, who stood and waved her in, a perplexed look etched on her face.
“What’s up?” Stephani asked, her eyes narrowing as she read Shannon’s no-nonsense body language.
“Devon found twelve soldiers out in the hills,” Shannon said, gesturing to the east. “Cody and Devon are dead set on going after these guys, and I couldn’t let them go alone, so here I am asking you two to come with us—Raul is coming as well,” Shannon added almost as an afterthought.
“What about everyone else?” Stephani asked, concern replacing her curiosity.
“Calvin and Margie are taking the kids, horses, and car up the road out of harm’s way. The rest are going with us,” Shannon explained.
“I’m in,” Stephani announced abruptly, climbing out of the OP, ready to accompany Shannon back down to the cabins.
Shannon grinned at Stephani’s eagerness. “When you hear the VW start, come down, and we can move out.”
Stephani nodded, then turned to Carlos and backhanded him on the shoulder. “You in?”
Carlos bobbed his head. “Yes,” he responded in his heavily accented English.
Chapter 31
Jared and John moved through the hills, sweating and breathing hard under the added weight of the soldiers’ equipment. Their movement would have been slow anyway based solely on the presence of Josh in the area, but their current load out made sure they didn’t get careless. Jared had grown accustomed to wearing heavy gear such as body armor and backpacks, but the weight he was under today was beyond the normal burden he’d grown accustomed to.
Jared slipped, fell, climbed to his feet, walked, slipped again, and so it went. John was only doing marginally better, as he also had taken a couple of falls. The steep California countryside with its green grasses was difficult enough with no cargo strapped to one’s back, but laden with three times their normal gear, the two men struggled mightily. As night closed around them, John steered the duo to a rocky outcropping high on a hill to the east of the road leading to the reservoir.
“We gotta lose this gear, man.” John gasped as he wriggled out of his pack’s straps.
“Hide it for later?” Jared suggested in the form of a question.
“Yeah, we can stash it and come back when this all blows over. We’ll take as much ammo as we can and two radios with all the extra batteries. We’ll keep ’em off unless something happens and we get separated,” John went on.
Over the next few minutes, John set up two radios, making sure to change the frequencies on both units. He showed Jared how to turn the radio on and how to adjust the frequencies. Next John used a ballpoint pen to write down two alternate frequencies in case Josh somehow happened on their net, which John highly doubted would happen. John designated the two alternate channels A and B. If they were in need of a change, John could call out the phonetic alpha or bravo, and Jared would have the corresponding frequency already written down.
When they completed the job of setting up the two radios along with stowing the extra batteries, both men packed all the soldiers’ magazines in either pouches or inside their packs. The rifles along with the rest of the soldiers’ gear was shoved under some brush where they could retrieve it at a later time. John made a note on his map of the cache’s general location, then set about getting some food in his system. Both men drank and ate a very meager dinner with their rifles laid across their laps like TV trays from the 1960s.
Dinner was eaten in quiet contemplation of what was to come in the following day or days, but when they finished, John stood.
“I’m gonna leave a piss; then I think we should sleep here tonight. It’s far enough from where Josh thinks we are that I don’t figure there will be any trouble.”
Jared nodded, too tired to give a verbal agreement. He’d pushed himself in the past, but these hills and the absence of any flat walking surface coupled with the heavy load had effectively kicked his butt. Jared felt he could have toppled to his right or left and been asleep in less time than it would take John to relieve himself. He fought the urge to lie down as John moved a short distance away to take care of his business. When John returned, Jared was still sitting cross-legged on the ground, rifle resting on his legs.
“You good?” John asked with a chuckle.
Jared turned a tired face upward. “Yeah, I just gotta take a piss, but I’m too tired to get up.”
“Leave, leave a piss, man. No one takes a piss anywhere unless you drove one of those trucks that sucked porta potties clean,” John corrected.
Jared snorted weakly, rolling over to his hands and knees before standing upright. “I’ll be back.”
Both Jared and John agreed that sleep was badly needed, and the area they were in wasn’t in the kill zone, so they both slept hidden amongst the rocks at the top of the hill where the only worry John had was a mountain lion happening on them. The wind picked up in the night, causing both men to sleep fitfully, waking every time the brush thrashed about in a gust. As was the norm with sleepless nights, both Jared and John fell into a deep sleep an hour before the sun rose in the east.
If they weren’t in the middle of a sniper duel, John felt he would have laid his head back down and returned to the wonderful sleep land the day’s light had interrupted. With great regret, John shimmied out of his sleeping bag and hefted his rifle sling onto a shoulder. He was fully clothed, including his shoes, as he stood, stretched, and took a look around the countryside using his binoculars.
John was no longer wearing the BDUs he’d worn as a soldier, instead opting for a more civilian look. During one of his foraging expeditions, John had dumped the military clothing that quite frankly had begun to fall apart. John had replaced the uniform with several pairs of hiking trousers, some T-shirts and a couple of flannel tops. John retained his Crye Loft jacket, which was still in good condition and could be worn all winter in Northern California.
Jared poked his head out of his own sleeping bag, squinting as the light assaulted his sensitive eyes. Seeing John standing with the binoculars pressed to his face, Jared also crawled out of his sleeping bag. He’d slept in the same condition John had, rifle clutched to his chest and wearing his clothes and shoes.
“Morning, sunshine.” John chuckled softly. “Pretty shitty sleep last night, eh?”
Jared worked the paste he felt in his mouth, wishing he could take a hot shower, brush his teeth, and drink a cup of hot coffee. “Yeah, the wind,” Jared answered incompletely.
The meal Jared tried never missing, and he missed a lot of meals, was breakfast. His undernourished body always woke racked with pangs of hunger. If he ate breakfast, Jared could oftentimes go until dinner without anything more than water. With the day that lay ahead of him, Jared tore into his pack, looking for a high-calorie meal. The days of backpacking meals taken from sporting outlets were gone. Now he ate dried meats, granola or power bars and, if he were lucky, a handful of trail mix or some salted peanuts. When they’d abandoned the gardens at the ranch, food became even more scarce, with fresh food gone completely from Jared’s diet.
The canned goods Jared had enjoyed during the first six or seven months after the solar flare were nearly depleted. Carnegie’s incessant badgering interfered with Jared and his friends establishing anything resembling a sustainable food source. There was no other choice than to remove Carnegie and his influence from the region if Jared wanted to survive the next few months. Starvation was never a thing he’d considered would be one of the many hazards capable of his undoing, but here he was tasked with the welfare of Shannon and Essie, and they were running out of food.
Jared sat munching on a piece of dried venison as John dropped down next to him, satisfied they were the only humans in the immediate vicinity.
“We should have moved everyone farther south,” John said, stating the obvious.
Jared moved his chin slightly in agreement. Hindsight had been a real pain in the neck before the solar flare, but afterward, Jared considered it the most aggravating thing in his life. Not one time in his life before the solar flare had Jared returned to either family or friends after a short trip and thrown himself into their arms the way everyone did nowadays. When he wasn’t with Shannon and Essie, Jared always worried about their safety, regretting a myriad of decisions and actions Jared felt he should have either taken or omitted before leaving them.
It took Jared and John fifteen minutes to eat and pack their gear in preparation to begin the hunt of their lives. No idle chitchat accompanied the meal or the packing session that followed. John pulled on his pack, as did Jared, and off they went downhill in a westerly direction. John made sure they spent most of their trip hidden in draws, ravines and any other terrain feature they could exploit to their advantage.
When John found himself confronted with an open area, he and Jared slithered through the grass on their bellies like two strange-looking, kitted-out snakes. It was these crawls through the grass that proved the most difficult and time consuming. John kept them heading west, wanting to come into the reservoir’s proximity on its northern end. John planned on working his way south along the eastern shore, guessing Josh would be operating in the southern area of the reservoir in an attempt to either clip John himself or one of John’s group.
There were no boats since John and Jared had taken them all to the southern end of the reservoir and then disabled them all. The only other way to the west side of the reservoir was by walking around to the north, which would place Josh on a collision course with John and Jared, or across the bridge. John was banking on Josh doing some light recon after the fire, which would have kept him in the southern portion of the regional park.
When Jared and John came upon the road leading to the Del Valle Regional Park, they crossed with great care, making sure they did so close to a bend in the road so they could only be observed by someone on the straight portion of the road. Safely across the road, Jared and John moved quietly into the hills on the west side of the road, found a suitable spot to lay up, then took some time to drink and go over their next move.
John had them both switch the radios on in the event they were contacted or suddenly came upon Josh and were compelled to split up. Crossing the road and heading back into the regional park was like passing over some invisible demarcation line for both men. The tension instantly rose several notches, and even their physical posture changed after the crossing. Whereas before, Jared and John appeared akin to two hikers, now there was no doubt what these two were up to.
In the wake of a short break to take on some water, John lay on his belly, examining the land to the south. He needed an advantage, something that John could exploit to his and Jared’s benefit that Josh didn’t have. While his eyes probed the rolling terrain, his mind churned in an effort to discover a hidden glitch he and Jared could profit from.
