Resistance: A Prepper's War (8 page)

Chase walked over to Samantha whose head was nodding up and down as she faded in and out of consciousness. He put the tip of his barrel under her chin and raised it so he could look at her eyes. “It’s a shame you won’t be able to see your daughter die.” Spit flew from his face as his face turned blood red as he clinched his teeth together. “It looks like that honor will fall to your brother.”

Jim tried to open the pocket up and get his blade out, but the weight of his leg was keeping him from being able to open it and he couldn’t move his leg without exposing what he was doing. His fingers fumbled to get the knife out as he saw Chase get back up and Samantha’s head go limp on her neck and not come back up.

Chase turned his attention back to Jim whose fingers almost had hold of the blade. “You’ve failed again, Jim,” Chase said as he walked closer to him. “You failed to save your country. You failed to save your brother-in-law from himself. You failed to save your friends. You failed to save your sister,” Chase said as he knelt down and was eye to eye with Jim, “And now you’ve failed to save your niece.”

Jim was frantically grabbing at the blade and was working it up his fingertips. Chase put the pistol to Jim’s forehead and pressed the barrel down hard. “Do you think I should hurt her before I kill her?” he asked. “Or should I make it quick and painless.

The blade was slowly moving up his hand as Chase pressed the gun further into his skull. Jim could feel Chase’s hot breath on his face and then he had it. In one swift motion he lifted his leg and brought the blade right into the side of Chase’s neck.

“Fuck you,” Jim replied as blood spurted from Chase’s neck. Jim dug the blade in deeper and Chase gasped and coughed up blood and then finally collapsed.

Jim got up holding his right shoulder and hobbled over to his sister to check her pulse. When he leaned down to pressed his fingers on her neck he felt a slight beat. She was still alive. Jim whipped around and went into the room to look for Annie and saw her curled up in the corner. Jim’s whole body shook as he saw the little girl look up at him and run towards him. He knelt down and scooped her up.

“I love you,” he whispered in her ear.

“I love you too,” she responded.

He lowered her back down and then told her to stay right next to his leg and that he had to take care of her mom. The two hobbled out to the hallway and Jim scooped up his sister with all the strength he could muster and threw her over his shoulder.

“Coyle,” Jim yelled into the radio. “I’ve got the girls. What’s your six?”

Coyle placed the last charge on the wall and clicked his radio on. “All set, Jim,” he yelled and took off back towards the desert to meet Twink at the chopper.

“Twink,” Jim said as he walked down the hallway, checking the corners for anymore guards “Get the chopper and meet us on the roof.”

Dozens of empty shells surrounded Twink as he got up with his rifle. “Roger that.”

“Brett, meet us at the flight deck,” Jim said. He waited for a response, but nothing came. “Brett, do you copy?” Jim waited a bit longer. “Brett?”

Twink stopped running when he didn’t hear Brett respond. Then Jim’s voice was in his ear again, “Twink, we need that chopper now. Like ten minutes ago now.” Twink snapped out of his daze and started sprinting towards the chopper, “Copy. Inbound in three minutes.”

Jim managed to make it to the stairwell and each flight of stairs he climbed shot daggers into his shoulder, but he kept moving. Annie stayed right at his side step by step.

They made it onto the flight deck and saw the chopper heading towards them. When Twink landed, Coyle ran out to help with Samantha. Jim rushed for the medical bag and grabbed as much gauze as he could to staunch the bleeding.  He strapped Annie in and then told Twink to get them to the nearest medical base.

Twink complied and got on the radio letting the hospital know that they had a priority one coming in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Once they were airborne and clear of the plant Jim looked back up at Twink. “Blow it!” Jim ordered.

Twink squeezed the trigger on the detonator and a fiery blast lit up the night sky behind them. The VX gas went up in flames and then entombed under tons of concrete and rock.

Jim’s arm was in a sling as he sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Annie was on the floor playing with Tigs, oblivious to the stares that they were getting. A hospital wasn’t the typical place to see a cat, but Coyle had convinced the nurse that Tigs was a therapy cat, then disappeared into the break room with said nurse.

The doctor came out with blood on his scrubs and smiled at Jim and Annie. “She’s gonna be fine,” he said.

“Can we talk to her?” Jim asked.

“She’s sleeping right now, but you can go and see her,” he responded.

Samantha was hooked up to a few machines and was sound asleep on her bed. Annie climbed in bed with her and curled up right next to her side. Jim walked over and put his hand on his sister’s forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

Samantha was finally discharged from the hospital a week later and was told that she could go home as long as she didn’t do any heavy lifting. She and Annie stayed with Jim at his home in San Diego.

Jim never thought he’d see that house again let alone that he’d have his sister and niece’s laughter filling it.

Brett’s funeral happened a few days later after Samantha was released. He received full military honors for his service and was also awarded the Navy Cross. Jim, Samantha, Annie, Twink, and Coyle all attended the service together.

Once it was over, Twink headed back to his post in Arizona and Coyle decided to take a little furlough since Jim still couldn’t get back to his marine mechanics business with his arm in a sling.

“We can talk about my raise when I get back,” Coyle smirked.

When they got back from the funeral and Jim pulled his truck into the driveway, there was a car parked on the street in front of his house. Jim opened the glove box and pulled his pistol out. His shoulder was still in a sling, but he was pretty good with his left arm. “Stay in the truck,” Jim ordered.

When he got to the front door he saw that it was cracked open. He slowly pulled the door open and went in pistol first. A man in the chair in his living room put his hands in the air. “Don’t shoot,” he said.

Jim flicked on the light and saw Captain Terry Streak, Fleet Commander of the San Diego Naval base.

A smile spread across both men’s faces as the captain walked over and they embraced each other in a hug. Jim leaned out the door and waved for the girls to come in.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t even know you were alive!” Jim exclaimed happily.

“Yeah, well after the attacks on the base five months ago I was in a coma for about a month,” he said. “I just got out of rehab a few days ago. I’ll start command duty again in a couple of weeks after they catch me up on what I’ve missed.”

Jim placed his hand over the captain’s shoulder and smiled. “It’s good to see you, Terry, but what are you doing here? I’m not in any shape to fix any of your boats right now.”

Jim had seen the look the Captain was giving him right now before. It was when General Locke asked him to come back and work missions for the military.

“No,” Jim said flatly.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say!” the captain replied.

“I’ve given enough service to my country for a dozen soldiers. I’m out,” Jim said sternly.

The girls both looked at the men and Samantha said they’d be in the backyard with Tigs.

Terry walked up to him and nodded his head. “I know, Jim, but what you’ve been able to do has been incredible. I’m just here on behalf of the Defense Department as a messenger. I’m not here to have you sign any papers. They do want you back though. They’re willing to meet whatever demands you want.”

After a moment of silence Terry said, “Just think about it. You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

When Captain Streak left, Jim wandered toward the back of the house and stopped at the screen door. Annie was chasing butterflies and Tigs was chasing after her. Samantha was sitting in a chair in the grass, laughing as her daughter strolled around the backyard with her net. The sun was shining outside and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Jim wasn’t sure how long this would last, but with the view he was looking at right now he didn’t want to fill his mind with ‘what ifs.’ Streak could wait.

* This is a stand alone novel that can be enjoyed without reading the other books in the series- The best selling first book is available here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J39NO9S