Militia

Militia

By Justin Russell

Prologue

In the year
2024, many people throughout the world still considered America to be a powerhouse nation. Our military was still mighty, but spread thinly between many wars. Our dollar had not been strong in many years, yet still the Federal Reserve printed more, and Americans spent it as if it was still the all mighty dollar.

America had an ever growing crime rate, but assured its citizens that it was just a phase, while the cities expanded their police forces. As the gangs grew, with the police units, the prisons grew in size and number. Deadly shoot outs in the streets of our cities scared citizens while simultaneously assuring them that the gangs were being eliminated by attrition.

Our nation’s jobs began disappearing in greater numbers continuing the trend that began in the early 2000’s. As usual our politicians assured us that they had a plan to stimulate the economy and bring jobs back to a generation accustomed to a high unemployment rate. We trusted our elected officials to remedy the nation’s joblessness as each new election brought with it new promises.

In the year 2025, everything as we knew it began to change. First to save our tax dollars our government started to pull our young men and women out of its many wars, and disband entire units as soon as they arrived on American soil. Within one year our military had been broken down to only a few National Guard units left to defend our home soil. Most of our veterans returned home unable to find jobs, and quickly became homeless and starving.

With what was left of our jobs being farmed out to foreign countries like China and Mexico so that the rich could get richer, and protect themselves from what lay ahead, most Americans became jobless. Many resorted to crime in order to feed their families, while many more found themselves with no place to live and no food to eat. Abandoned factories became makeshift homeless shelters and most stores were emptied by looters trying to get what food was left to survive off of.

In order to pay off our enormous national debt owed to China, and various Middle Eastern nations, our government resorted to laying off what they considered “non essential” federal employees to include almost all FBI agents. Even our Central Intelligence Agency that had held so much power for so many years was cut back to only the higher echelon of senior members, most of who were kept due to foreign alliances. Federal prisons were unable to be manned or afforded and became empty, most former staff fleeing in fear as some of the most dangerous criminals in history had nothing to stop their escapes. It didn’t take long before all prisons became eerie ghost towns with fencing.

States were left without any federal money coming in and were forced to fire their police forces and the cities and townships quickly followed suit. With police forces eliminated, gang violence spread without boundaries soon ravaging rural and suburban areas. What Americans were left in these areas either went into hiding or were killed defending themselves. To deal with the gangs, our president ordered what was left of the volunteer National Guard units (who were now serving for food and shelter) to seize all personal weapons, and to eliminate anyone with gang affiliation. This gang war quickly spread to every street in America, and many gangs chose to burn their strongholds to the ground rather than lose to remaining US forces. In the end the gang violence was eliminated mostly due to lack of food and the inability to acquire more ammunition.

In the beginning of 2026, the President of the United States formally passed a bill making anybody currently residing within the nation’s borders a legal citizen. As part of the bill what was left of our government began issuing a national identification card and fingerprinting all of its citizens. Checkpoints were set up and any Americans that refused to comply with the new identification card were taken and never heard from again.

By the summer of 2026, with the gangs gone, and our citizens weaponless, the National Guard was disbanded completely. Our government had become completely bankrupt and was still in a very high and inflated debt to the Chinese government. On February first 2027, the Chinese president officially announced to the world that China had taken ownership of the United States of America.

With the Chinese government now in control of our country, our people weaponless and hungry, and our military disbanded, the Chinese military was able to move in and take over. These soldiers seemed to take control of our once powerful nation over night. Many of our own already corrupt politicians and military leaders were kept in positions of authority, answering only to the Chinese government. They were only pawns in this new game but were allowed to maintain their wealth and upper class lifestyles by following orders and selling out their own countrymen.

When the year 2027 came to an end, all of the states had been forced to close their borders. A passport system was put in place and required for all interstate travel. The Chinese army began manning and expanding the checkpoints. Passengers of all vehicles had to show their passports, national identification cards, and have their fingerprints scanned at each checkpoint. Vehicles were thoroughly searched and any person caught trying to smuggle goods or people were executed on the side of the road along with all of their passengers. To limit travel further, all airports were taken over by the new government, and the United States air space was made a no fly zone.

The Chinese began to seize all land that contained natural resources. All telephone and internet communications were initially monitored and later shut down completely. Americans were now unable to communicate with loved ones in other parts of the country. Televisions and radio stations began airing illegal broadcast about the Chinese takeover of this country and others throughout the world. It wasn’t long before these broadcasts were illuminated by the new government and Americans were left with nothing but silence and propaganda in place of news.

By the year 2029, slave labor camps had been constructed for the majority of Americans who were now homeless. At first these camps had been voluntary with most people entering happily just to be fed and given shelter from the elements. Camps soon began growing in size and number all throughout the country. Our people, so broken down that they would conform to any treatment no matter how harsh, filled the camps far past their livable capacity. Before long these camps were made mandatory. Fences with razor wire were put in place by the very people they were meant to confine, and guard towers sprung up from the ground to be manned by armed Chinese guards day and night.

Most Americans, now trapped by their own labor, were now too weak and their spirits too broken to attempt escape. Those that did find the will to try were either killed during the escape or hunted down and publicly tortured in front of the other prisoners. Within the camps, prisoners were now forced to wear uniforms closely resembling those worn by the inhabitants of the world war two German concentration camps complete with tattoos marking them as prisoners.

The Chinese American Police (C.A.P.) began hunting down all Americans that did not come to the camps willingly, killing any that chose to fight back. The United States that once was now didn’t even exist. By the year 2030, the American population had dwindled down from over seven hundred million to little more than twenty million. Over ninety percent of the survivors had already become prisoners of the labor camps and were dying off quickly.

There were however, a couple million Americans that managed to avoid being taken prisoner. Most of them did so by hiding in the rough terrain of the Rocky Mountains in areas that was considered inhospitable. Some small militias were formed amongst these small groups of people that were spread out and hiding in their once great nation. These militias were poorly armed and had little leadership. Most of the men, women, and children making up these groups were too scared and too poorly trained to actually put up a fight. The Chinese government knew about these small groups and decided to let them hide until they turned themselves in, froze, or starved to death. The Chinese thought they had nothing to worry about from these small militias, but one of these small armies was different, one of these militias was Mike’s Militia!

Chapter One

T
he year was
2024, Sergeant Mike Hoffman marched along his patrol route as he had done many times in many different mountain ranges in the war torn country of Afghanistan. These mountains though were the most unforgiving terrain he had seen in his three tours with the Army’s Fifth Ranger Battalion. Near the peak of any given mountain, Mike could see for miles, yet for miles all he could see were more mountains. Under different circumstances Mike assumed that he might have found the view beautiful if not breathtaking, but there was nothing in these mountains that Mike ever wanted to see again.

The swirling winds ripped at him and his team, pushing and pulling them, trying to knock them off of their feet as they continued to their objective. By now Mike was accustomed to the pain of a seventy pound rucksack, and the unsure footing of mountainous terrain. He could not count the miles he had walked in this harsh country nor would he have any desire to know their totals.

Only twenty one years old, Mike had grown tough over his three grueling combat tours. His superiors took notice as well and promoted him, in his youth, to the rank of Sergeant. As a Sergeant, Mike was placed in charge of five junior Rangers. Mike felt about these soldiers as if they were his younger brothers (though a couple was actually older than he was) and he would be willing to give his life for any one of them. Three of these men were combat rookies but had proven themselves enough to be part of this special operations assignment, while his other two Rangers were hardened veterans like himself.

Specialist Woods and Specialist Burns were two guys that Mike was extremely thankful for. Both of them had come up through the junior ranks with Mike and had each shared their covering fire for him more than once. Either one of these experienced Rangers could have been promoted in place of Mike himself and both worked hard to make his first assignment as a leader as easy as possible. All of his men, regardless of combat experience, were motivated, highly trained, and incredibly brave. He had a good team. Mike trusted each of them with his life and in return they trusted him with theirs.

“Mike,” Woods said coming up on his side as Mike stopped to evaluate the coming terrain, “what are ya seeing sarge?”

One of the things that Mike enjoyed the most about being in a smaller special operations style unit was the fact that his guys could be comfortable using his first name. “I don’t know Jim,” Mike responded, “We should have found something by now. It just doesn’t feel right.”

“I know whatcha mean man. We shoulda come up on someone by now according to the intel we were given, but it feels like shit is gonna hit the fan.”

Mikes unit was one of the few still operating in this region of Afghanistan. Their mission was to recon this area for a suspected enemy camp that had been seen by one of their reconnaissance planes. Remaining Taliban forces had been using rugged sections of the country like this one to hide out and regroup, and Mike’s unit was there to illuminate them. The only problem was that they should have reached their objective by now, but there was still no trace of there ever being a camp in this area.

“Jim, grab one of the new guys, I don’t care which one, and get to the top of that rock just ahead of us. It should be high enough to look down on any of the closer areas, get a look and let me know what you find so I can make the call to the rear. Make sure the new guy doesn’t silhouette himself too much and get your asses back here as fast as possible. If there ain’t shit out there I’ll try to get us pulled out.”

Mike watched as Jim Woods motioned to the newest member of the team, Private Eric Roberts, and together the two of them ran up to the peak as Mike and the other three soldiers kept their eyes and ears open, ready to come up and provide cover if necessary. Soon Jim and Eric were close to the top; both men got down on their stomachs, and began to crawl up the rest of the way. Eric pulled out a set of binoculars and handed them to Woods. Mike could just barely see Woods put them to his face and only seconds later saw the cloud of red come out from the back of his head as an enemy sniper claimed a head shot.

Private Roberts did the smart thing and got himself back on the safe side of the mountain as Mike and his team went running up to his position. Running at full speed was dangerous and tiring in this kind of rock but the team knew that they had to get to the young ranger. The first one to the top was Mike himself, and he got down next to Roberts making sure not to expose himself to the sniper.

“Roberts what did you see?” Mike barked.

“I don’t know Sarge, all I saw was more mountains and then I felt Jim go limp next to me.”

“Fuck, ok let’s get Jim’s body down from here and get the hell out fast. Grab his ammo and grenades and make sure you have a full magazine in that weapon.”

They carried Jim down, being careful not to give the sniper an easy target as Mike yelled for his radio operator. Specialist Burns ran to him without a word and held out the radio’s hand mic. Mike kept walking quickly with Burns matching his stride as he attempted to get a hold of his base camp.

“Scorpion Three Five this is Mountain Hawk One over,” Mike waited for a few seconds for a response, “Scorpion Three Five this is Mountain Hawk One, come in, over.” Mike handed the radio’s hand mic back to Burns. “Fuck, I’m not reaching them Tom,” Mike said, “We are gonna have to do this on foot, brother. Keep trying base camp every few minutes and let me know if you get anything. Until then lets put some distance on this son of a bitch.”

Mike took off at a careful run and his team followed. There was no way that these men were going to leave Wood’s body for a Taliban propaganda video and Roberts, without needing to be told took to carrying his fellow ranger on the first leg of their escape. Once the team had moved close to one hundred yards Mike ran up beside Roberts and without slowing the pace transferred Woods from his private’s shoulder onto his own. After carrying Woods for another hundred or so yards Burns came up beside Mike and took his turn hauling his dead friend. The team continued to leap frog the extra weight like this every hundred yards or as soon as the man currently carrying Woods began to slow.

Even in this harsh terrain, and with the painful burden of a couple hundred pounds to pull, these rangers made it quickly through the mountains. At all times either Mike himself or Burns led the way as they had more experience with the terrain and did their best to find the easiest routes while still having as much cover as possible from the sniper. It wasn’t long before exhaustion began to set in. As they breathed faster and deeper, the men drew in freezing cold, thin mountain air. Their legs at first hurt, then became numb, and were by now beginning to feel as if they were made of rubber bands. Mike knew that they would have to find a safe place to rest.

The pace slowed, not out of desire but rather out of the physical limits of even the most fit soldiers in the world. They continued at a rapidly slowing pace until Mike saw what he was looking for.

“There…get into…that…cave,” Mike yelled as loud as he could through uncontrollably fast breaths.

The cave was small but it was on the backside of thick rock and faced away from the snipers position. He knew that they would only be able to stay long enough to catch their breath. As much as Mike would have liked to believe that his team had either put a good amount of distance between them and the sniper or that maybe the sniper had noticed their retreat and not bothered to follow, he knew that neither scenario was likely. Mike had watched children outrun trained soldiers in these mountains and would not be surprised if the sniper had even gained ground on them. On top of that there was no doubt in his mind that even if the sniper was not in pursuit there was definitely going to be somebody chasing them down. The soldiers of the Taliban do not just quit when faced with their enemy. These are men, women, and children who are so deeply devout in their religious faith that none of them fear death. No, Mike knew that his team had to keep moving.

Mike led his team into the shallow cave and told Burns to keep trying the radio while they rested. Even in this cold he could feel his entire body become fully drenched in sweat as soon as he stopped moving. Looking around at his soldiers he could see the exhaustion in all of their eyes. This was going to be difficult but this was why not everybody had the desire or ability for this kind of assignment. It would take more willpower and mental strength than it would physical to get out of this situation. That was what set these men apart from everyone else; when the physical is gone out of your body and it seems as if all hope is gone only a few people in the world are able to find a way to keep going. Mike was looking at those people now.

He looked to Burns and was given a shrug in return as his senior man tried in vain to reach their unit on the radio. Without wasting his breath Mike picked Woods back up onto his shoulder and set off out of the cave at a pace close to full speed. He didn’t have to look back to know that his team was right behind him.

As they ran Mike waited for the sound of gunfire. Not that he wanted to hear it but in some way he felt that it would be better to hear it and know how far away the Taliban was than to wait for it. Just as the teams pace once again began to slow they heard the one sound that each of them dreaded the most…mortar fire! Mike could feel the impact of the nearest rounds and knew that it wouldn’t be long before they were landing right on top of them, he ran to the nearest mountain face that was away from the enemy and was fortunate enough to find another cave only partway up the mountain.

They each found energy that is only there for dire emergencies and made a sprint for the cave. This one was deeper that the last but not by much. They climbed as far into the cave as they could and got down on their knees, forcing their heads to the ground almost like their attackers would be doing in just a few hours for their next prayer.

Mike heard Burns continuing to try the radio with no luck. There was not going to be any way to get a transmission out while in this cave. Mike grabbed the radio from Burns and gave him a stern yet knowing glare. Burns simply nodded his acknowledgement and put his head back to the floor of the cave. Feeling like he was just about to enter into a one sided game of Russian roulette; Mike pushed his fear away and made his way out of the cave. He continued to walk around in circles while talking into the radio but after a few minutes of hearing nothing back and witnessing the continued close mortar blast Mike decided to head back into the cave. Just as he turned a flash of light and surging head blinded him and he could feel himself flying through the air.