Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn (26 page)

Seeing a small clearing ahead, Nelson saw Ronald look off to the right. When Nelson reached the clearing, he looked and saw three tents glowing with heat in his goggles but didn’t see any people. Just as fast as they came up on the camp, it was behind them.

“Creek,” Gerald called out, and Nelson saw Ronald slowing.

As he slowed, Nelson saw Ronald drive down on the trail into the creek. Nelson shook his head as he started down into the creek. “It’s not even two feet deep,” he said, driving through the creek and out the other side. “I’ve rode in this thing in five feet of water.”

Glancing at his watch, Nelson was starting to not like the combo goggle as he turned down the thermal again. Looking again at his watch, he saw they had been riding for almost three hours. “Better than convoying,” he mumbled, scanning the forest around him.

The trail slowly started to widen as they drove on, turning back into a small dirt road. Suddenly, the trees fell away on Nelson’s right, exposing a field. On the other side of the field, he saw a house, but like the others, it was dark.

Looking ahead, Nelson saw Gerald turn on a larger dirt road heading south. When Nelson turned, he sped to catch up and heard Zeus growling behind him. Glancing back, Nelson saw a pack of dogs chasing him. What unnerved him was they weren’t barking and were gaining.

Spinning around, Nelson reached over, grabbing the throttle with his left hand as he raised his rifle with his right. Not able to see where he was aiming, he dropped his rifle, turning on the laser as Zeus let out a louder growl at the pack chasing them.

Raising his rifle, Nelson guided his laser to the closest dog, flipping the selector switch and squeezing the trigger until he saw the dog drop with a yelp. When the dog he shot hit the dirt, the pack started barking.

Guiding his laser to the next dog, Nelson started squeezing until he hit it then moved to the next one. “Nelson, where are those dogs at?” Gerald asked over the radio.

Knowing if he let go of the throttle, the pack would be on him in seconds, Nelson elected for Gerald to use the Force to find out. Shooting three more dogs in quick succession, Nelson watched the pack slow to a stop.

Letting go of the throttle, Nelson dropped his magazine and slammed in another as he raised his AR to his shoulder. “Bad dogs,” he said, swinging the laser to his first target. Snapping off two shots, he watched it drop and moved his laser as the pack started moving toward him, seeing he was stopped.

In fifteen seconds, Nelson had eleven more pack members heading for the big dog bone in the sky. The pack broke under the assault running across the field. Dropping his empty magazine, Nelson kept sending dogs to Heaven until they were two hundred yards away.

Seeing only three make the tree line past the field, Nelson changed magazines and tossed his empties in his dump bag on his left side. Turning around, he grabbed his squawk box. “Had a pack that wanted a ride and couldn’t talk. Only three escaped,” he called out.

“You need to call out contacts so we can deal with them,” Gerald snapped. “I know you can think, so do it.”

“Hey, bitch, they weren’t barking,” Nelson snapped back. “Zeus growling is the only reason I turned around right then and saw them thirty yards behind me.”

“You are watching behind us, right? That is your sector to watch, numb nuts.”

Not liking to be addressed as a green troop, Nelson worked to control his temper and breathing before he pressed his squawk box. “Motherfucker, I’ve done this shit before also. Yes, I have been watching behind us and around us, but I can only look so many places and drive, cock munch.”

Ahead of him, Nelson saw Gerald slam on his brakes and jump off his ATV. Nelson unclipped his AR and sped up, reaching Gerald as Ronald did. Nelson jumped off and laid his AR on the seat. “You have a chip on your shoulder, boy,” Gerald said, taking his helmet off.

Unsnapping his helmet, Nelson slowly took it off. “I’m not one of your trained green troops, bitch. Accuse me of not doing my job, and I’ll bend you over your ride and fuck you so hard you’ll get pregnant.”

Gerald shook his hands out, lowering his stance as Ronald jumped off his ATV. “Guys, now is not the time.”

“I’m in charge, Nelson, and you will report contacts so we can deal with them,” Gerald said, ignoring Ronald.

Setting his helmet on his ATV, Nelson rolled his head, popping his neck as he glared at Gerald. “Gerald, I’m sorry, but I’m going to hurt you, and it’s going to be bad,” Nelson said, narrowing his eyes. “We can do the attack after we take you back for Michelle to fix your broken bones and punctured lungs. She won’t be able to do much for the internal bleeding.”

Seeing no fear and only confidence in Nelson’s face, Gerald paused, moving closer. “You’re living in a dream world.”

“No, you are. In a set battle, you might be able to take me, but in a physical fight, I’m going to hurt you bad,” Nelson said with an evil grin. “Let me show you,” he said, slowly moving closer.

Gerald adjusted his stance, stepping back as Nelson moved closer, and Ronald jumped between them holding a hand to each of them. “As fun as this would be to watch, guys, we have shit we have to do for our family,” he said.

“Oh, it won’t take long,” Nelson said, angling around Ronald. “I’m going to break his legs and arms; then, we can take him home and come back.”

Keeping his stance, Gerald shuffled his feet, moving back, not liking how confident Nelson was. He knew Nelson was tough and knew several styles of martial arts, but Nelson had always seemed intimidated by him. Gerald was in charge in the field, and not following procedures could get them killed. This was how he showed his troops he was in charge.

“Motherfucker, I can outrun your old ass, so backing up is only a waste of fucking energy,” Nelson said, slowly getting closer. “This ass whooping is coming for you, so you can take it now or run away till I catch you and take it tired.”

Letting out a long breath, Ronald moved his AR to his back and stepped in front of Nelson. “Nelson, here and now isn’t really the time to beat the shit out of Gerald.”

“You think he can whoop my ass,” Gerald snapped.

Looking over his shoulder, Ronald nodded. “Without a doubt in my mind,” he said, looking back at Nelson. “And I’ll tell you another thing; I know I won’t be able to stop him or pull his ass off of you until he wants to stop whooping your ass.” Gerald dropped his hands to his side in stunned belief, staring at the back of Ronald’s head.

Seeing that Gerald wasn’t in an attack stance, Nelson looked in Ronald’s eyes. “You need to move,” Nelson told him.

“He was wrong, Nelson,” Ronald said. “But if you beat his ass, you’re going to have to beat me down, and I won’t fight back. I’ll just keep getting up and getting between you and Gerald.”

“That motherfucker said I wasn’t doing my job in the field,” Nelson hissed. “The last motherfucker that said that got both legs broken.”

Ronald held up his hands. “I understand, but we have something to do. When we get back, you can whoop his ass, and I won’t interfere.”

“Nelson, we have to have one chief,” Gerald said, and Nelson leaned over, looking past Ronald. Seeing the anger on Nelson’s face, Gerald’s body gave a startle. “You didn’t let us know you were engaged.”

Nelson attempted to step around Ronald, but he moved with him. “Gerald, when Zeus growled, the pack was only thirty yards behind me and closing fast. If I would’ve called, they would’ve caught me, and Zeus would’ve had to jump off. If I would’ve sped up and called out, I would’ve passed Ronald before alerting y’all, and they would’ve got him before he knew what the fuck was going on. Be fucking damned if I let a team member get hurt because I didn’t attack. Following SOP (standard operating procedure) for a unit in combat, I should’ve called out, but we were attacked by animals, not humans.”

Gerald listened as Nelson talked, and Nelson tried to get around Ronald without hurting him. “You’re right, Nelson,” Gerald said, letting out a breath. “I was wrong.”

Hearing that, Ronald relaxed, thinking Nelson would stop, but Nelson got around him and advanced on Gerald. Spinning around, Ronald attempted to grab Nelson in a bear hug. “That’s not getting between us and fighting back,” Nelson said, making Ronald stop. “I don’t want to break your legs, but I damn sure will if you fight back.”

“Gerald, you are on your own,” Ronald said, stepping back and dropping his arms.

Gerald lifted his chin, keeping his hands by his side. “I’m not going to fight back.”

“Bitch, that only works for fuckers who haven’t said I was acting like a bag of smashed assholes. You just won’t be tired taking this ass whoopin’.” Gerald never saw it coming. One second, he was standing looking at Nelson, and suddenly, his face exploded in pain, and he flew back, hitting the ground hard. Duke jumped down beside him, growling at Nelson.

Zeus jumped off and moved beside Nelson, growling at Duke. “Zeus, sit. I can kill one dog with my bare hands. It’s when a pack is trying to take me down I get nervous.”

“Duke, mount and stay,” Gerald said, blinking his eyes to try and focus them. Duke turned and jumped back on Gerald’s ATV. “You’re right, Nelson, I earned this,” Gerald said, getting back to his feet. As Gerald stood up, Ronald moved quickly in front of him. “Move, Ronald, he’s right. I earned this.”

“I’m just thinking this isn’t the time or place to take your medicine,” Ronald said, glancing around. “Let’s at least get to where we’re going. It’s a little more secluded.”

Thinking about that, Nelson straightened up out of his fighting stance and glanced around. “That’s just further I have to carry his ass back after I beat the shit out of him.”

“I’ll wait till Michelle comes,” Gerald said, shaking his head, wanting the stars to leave his vision. “You don’t have to take me back.”

“Okay,” Nelson said, spinning around and walking back to his ATV. “Zeus, get up.” Zeus ran past him, jumping on the ATV.

“Nelson, you’re in charge,” Gerald said, grabbing his helmet.

Nelson spun around, and Gerald dropped his helmet, waiting on the punch. “I don’t want to be an M-FIC (motherfucker in charge). I have enough shit on my plate, but to say I’m eating ass when I’m on my game is bullshit. That’s your job, bitch; I already have enough. I’m not doing yours as well.”

Gerald’s jaw fell open as Nelson turned around and walked off. Ronald moved over in front of him. “Gerald, just get your ass on the wheeler, and let’s get the hell out of here,” Ronald said in a low voice.

Seeing Gerald nod, Ronald ran to his ATV and saw Nelson already buckling his helmet on. “Why wasn’t that fucker in with me?” Ronald mumbled, climbing on.

It didn’t take long before they were off again, riding in the same order. Ronald settled in his seat and grinned. “Shit, if they fight each other like that, I almost feel sorry for who fucks with us.”

Chapter Twelve

After five hours of riding, Gerald pulled off a small dirt road at a campground beside the Current River ten miles south of Van Buren. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful, with no more dogs and they saw a few more houses. Only one other they passed was occupied. Unlike the other house on the small farm, that house was nestled back into the woods.

Ronald slowed, easing up beside Gerald’s ATV as he looked out at the water white capping across the river. Looking ahead of the water, he saw the river expand out to a flat surface before it widened out in the shallow rapids.

Seeing Ronald pull up beside him, Gerald climbed off his ATV. “Duke, stay,” he said, taking off his helmet. His left cheek was swollen from Nelson’s hit. Removing his gloves, Gerald winced as he ran his fingertips over his cheek, and he felt the swelling all the way up to his left eye. “That boy hits like a mule,” he mumbled and turned to see Nelson pull up.

Gerald took off his AR and tactical vest, placing it on his ATV. “Let’s get this over with, Nelson,” he said when Nelson turned off his ATV.

Nelson gave a nod and climbed off. “Zeus, stay,” he said, taking his gear off.

Taking a deep breath, Ronald jumped off his ATV. “Nelson, can’t you settle up later? Shit, his eye is almost swollen shut now. An ass whoopin’ four days from now is still an ass whoopin’. This is going to go a lot easier if we have three scouting instead of two.”

Taking off his gloves, Nelson looked up at Ronald, thinking about it, then nodded. “Gerald, you want it now or when we get back?” Nelson asked, looking over at him.

“Your call; I was wrong,” Gerald said, lifting his chin.

Putting his gloves back on, Nelson turned back to his gear. “We’ll settle up when we get back then.”

“You tell me the time and place,” Gerald said, putting his gear back on.

Ronald let out a sigh of relief. “Okay guys, who’s going to check the river?”

“Gerald and I will,” Nelson said, grabbing his rifle. “Keep an eye and ear out.”

Like true warriors, the two put differences aside and eased out into the river. The current wasn’t fast enough to sweep them off their feet, but it was pretty strong. They had to plant a foot down, testing the ground before moving so they didn’t get their feet swept out from under them.

Ronald kept glancing around as he watched the two spread apart, testing the shallow rapids. The river was just under three hundred yards wide here, and Ronald only saw them drop down to their chests in the water a few times.

After an hour, the two moved out on the opposite bank, talking and pointing at different spots of the rapids. They moved to the middle of the rapids then walked side by side out into the river, angling upstream to cross it. When they reached the bank on this side, Ronald was guessing the deepest spot they crossed was four feet deep.

Seeing them heading back, Ronald dug out some food Nellie had sent with them and laid it out on the front rack of his ATV. “The FLYERS can cross that without trouble as long as the driver doesn’t panic,” he heard Gerald say in a soft voice as they walked up.

“The damn things are going to be loaded heavy, so they better not panic,” Nelson said as Ronald turned around to face them. “I don’t even get to shoot the GAU first.”

“Got food out that Nellie sent,” Ronald said.

Gerald nodded as he pulled a bigger radio off his ATV. “Let me call in and tell them we can ford,” he said, turning on the radio. “Party’s on and setting up orgy,” he called over the radio.

“Will bring lube. Sex toys being put up,” Nancy called back.

Ronald laughed as Gerald turned off the radio. “Think they could’ve located that?”

Looking at the radio, Gerald pressed a button, and chatter came over the radio. “Not with all the other HAM operators on. That was less than a two-second transmission and wasn’t repeated—takes more than that to triangulate. If Nancy can get the transmit antenna up, we won’t have to worry.”

Nelson looked up with a mouth full of food. “Dude, that’s like months down the line,” he muffled.

“No, you gave her the idea to do it without all the work of putting up cable. She’s going to use the phone and video cable already up on telephone poles. She said she can just cut the lines that feed other houses from our farm to where she sets up the antenna. That way, she has cable to the site and doesn’t have to lay it out and can put it much further away,” Gerald said, grabbing some food.

“How far is she thinking?” Nelson asked, finally swallowing his food.

“Six miles, but they will have to prep eighteen miles of phone poles.”

“Damn, we were only going a mile away,” Nelson mumbled, shoving food in his mouth and tossing some at Zeus, who caught it out of the air.

Gerald grinned. “They started after we left.”

“Huh,” Nelson said, looking up.

“That’s what Nancy meant with ‘sex toys being put up.’ She was going to talk to the group after we left to see if they wanted to do it,” Gerald said.

“They are leaving the farm when three of the fighters are gone?” Nelson asked with a scowl.

“Nelson, they will be fine. Nancy wanted a way to call out to teams in the field. Her little acoustic radar program can pick up aircraft just over fifty miles away. It will only take four or five people, and I told her if they did it, Hank had to supply half of them.”

“Gerald, Hank didn’t like the fact we told him he had to supply two people for this attack,” Nelson grumbled, tossing Zeus more food.

Brushing his hands off, Gerald put his gloves back on. “He either helps or I’ll deep six his ass,” he said.

“Fair enough,” Nelson chuckled. “Ready to move to base camp?”

“Yeah then we can lay out who goes where.”

Nelson climbed on his ATV, adjusting his AR across his chest as Ronald tossed the wrappings of their food in bags. “How big of a lead you want, Gerald?”

“Let’s slinky,” he said, looking at his map. “I’ll ride up a mile, set up, and call back.”

Grabbing his map and turning down the thermal on his goggle, Nelson glanced at his watch. “Brother, we’re going to be coming in at daylight by the time we reach base camp.”

“I know, but like you said, we had to check the ford area, and I’m glad we did. The bottom changed a lot from last year.”

“How about a mile lead for you, and we keep speed at fifteen. If you see something, call out, and if needed, we can be to you in sixty seconds or less,” Nelson said, studying the map.

Thinking it over, Gerald nodded. “Okay but I’ll stop at each turn off till you close up.”

“Dude, I can read a map,” Nelson popped off.

Holding up his hand, Gerald nodded. “I know, Nelson, but I want to make sure we all stay close in case we have to boogie out. Intersections of roads are great ambush spots.”

“Okay, when we get to the road, we’ll give you a four-minute head start.”

Gerald just nodded, starting up his four-wheeler. As they followed him back to the dirt road, Nelson eased behind Ronald. When Gerald turned right, heading north on the road, Nelson stopped beside Ronald, glancing at his watch.

“Four minutes?” Ronald said as Gerald moved away from them with no sound.

“At fifteen miles an hour, it takes you four minutes to go one mile.”

The sounds of insects drowned out what little noise the running ATVs made. “You good with our group taking the same route we did to get here with that group camping near the road?” Ronald asked, glancing around.

“They had bikes, so I don’t consider them a threat, and they don’t know when or even if someone else will use that trail.”

Glancing at his watch, Nelson readjusted his thermal setting on his goggle. “Alright, pull out, and keep it at fifteen,” he said, and Ronald pulled out and throttled up until the needle stayed at fifteen then started scanning around.

It was an hour later, still in a forest and on a dirt road, that they pulled close to Gerald, who was sitting on a small, dirt driveway that pulled off the right side of the road. Giving them a nod, Gerald eased down the driveway for a hundred yards, stopped, and got off his ATV, patting his leg for Duke to follow. On the satellite map, it showed a house a quarter of a mile down the driveway. They were two miles south of Van Buren as the crow flies.

Keeping an easy pace, Gerald eased down the driveway, which was lined with thick trees. Seeing an opening in the forest ahead, Gerald slowed and eased into the woods, continuing toward the house. Stopping at the tree line, Gerald studied the house and noticed stuff strewn across the front yard, and the front door was open.

“Duke, search,” he whispered then pointed to the house.

Duke slunk out of the trees toward the house, and Gerald saw Duke’s body relax as he got close. Trotting in the front door, Duke moved around the house then came back out and ran to Gerald. When Duke stopped beside him, looking up with his tongue hanging out, Gerald reached down and patted his head. “Good boy.”

Running back, Gerald nodded at them as Duke jumped on the ATV, and he climbed on, easing down the driveway. They pulled the ATVs behind the house into the woods then grabbed packs and went inside the house.

The inside was destroyed, and when they saw a gun safe that was busted open, Ronald shook his head. “Reclamation patrol has been here.”

“Could’ve been someone just looking for supplies,” Nelson said, moving out of the living room.

“If that’s the case, they are moving by vehicle to carry this much,” he said, waving at the big gun safe.

Gerald walked around the kitchen looking at the empty cabinets and the littered floor. “Shit, they could at least respect other people’s stuff. They don’t have to destroy everything,” he said, looking at the broken plates and glasses on the floor.

“Why?” Nelson said, moving up beside him. “They don’t plan on anyone ever living here again.”

“Thought you said it was someone looking for supplies?”

“False hope,” Nelson sighed, shaking his head. “We load vehicles from abandoned houses, and we don’t destroy like this. They were looking for hidden stuff.”

“Come on,” Gerald said, joining Ronald in the living room, who was looking at a family portrait he picked up off the floor.

“Guys, this shit is FUBAR big time,” he said, tossing the picture on the floor since all the furniture was destroyed. “We got a long war ahead of us.”

“Not going to argue that,” Gerald said, looking at them. “You guys want to catch a few winks or move to primary OP (observation post)?”

“I’m for going to the OP,” Nelson said. “The more we observe, the more we can destroy.”

“I’m with Nelson,” Ronald said. “Let’s get this shit done and kill these fuckers.”

Walking out the back, they grabbed nets and covered up the ATVs. Ronald watched Nelson and Gerald pull out small cloth bags and remove ghillie suits. “I take it I’ll be the one staying in the OP,” Ronald said, watching them pull the suits on.

“Yeah,” Nelson said. “Didn’t get around to making you one with everything going on.”

Ronald gave a low chuckle. “With everything this group has done for me and mine, it’s not like I’m hurt.”

“I’ll take point,” Nelson said, pulling on his hood. Ronald looked at Nelson’s ghillie suit and was very impressed as the sun broke the horizon.

Grabbing several bags, Ronald passed one to each of them. “Nelson, that doesn’t look like any ghillie suit I’ve ever seen,” Ronald said as Nelson put a ghillie cover over his backpack and AR.

“I took a hunting 3D suit and added to it,” Nelson said, putting on his large rucksack, which had a rifle case mounted to it, and grabbed the tote bag Ronald had passed out. Seeing the others ready, Nelson turned and eased through the woods with Zeus beside him.

“You take the middle, Ronald,” Gerald said when the trees almost blocked sight of Nelson. “I’ll bring up the rear.”

Gripping his rifle, Ronald nodded and followed Nelson. He soon found if he wasn’t keeping a close eye on Nelson, he would lose sight of him. The ghillie suit broke him up so well if Nelson stopped and Ronald wasn’t watching, he couldn’t find him until Nelson moved.

Moving slowly for thirty minutes, Nelson eased up to the tree line, where a paved road split the forest. Off in the distance, he heard a diesel engine. Moving out of the tree line, Nelson looked down the road to confirm where he was. Satisfied, he trotted across, back into the forest.

Once the others crossed, Nelson continued, slowly easing up a ridge until he saw a break in the trees where the road he was heading for was. Hearing a diesel engine approaching, Nelson eased down on one knee. It was coming from the west and heading toward town. Glancing at his watch, Nelson saw it was almost 8 a.m.

Knowing that sound anywhere, Nelson waited as the Humvee crept closer. From the sound, he knew it wasn’t going more than twenty-five miles per hour. Looking left, he soon saw the shape of the Humvee creeping down the road with a soldier in the cupola manning what looked like M240.

Nelson could see four other troops riding in the seats. All the windows were down, and rifle barrels were poking out the windows. As they slowly drove down the road, Nelson noticed they were all scanning their areas.  Zeus sat down beside him, panting as he watched the Humvee through the trees.