The Fall of America: Premonition of Death (23 page)

The gunner attempted to turn the gun, but he and I knew he didn't have the time. His ammo man, who'd been the last to see us, pulled his pistol and fired. Bullets zipped by the side of my head, but none struck home. The gunner, now frightened, ran from his sandbagged position, so I released Dolly from her leash.

Tom fired once and the ammo man fell, but he raised from the sandbags a second later with a grenade in hand. I instantly flipped my weapon to automatic and stitched him the length of his body with lead thread, starting at his crotch. He fell back, as Tom and I went to ground. A hollow boom sounded and when I glanced up, smoke fill the air over the position.

A deathly silence filled the early morning air. Not a sound, except the moans of the wounded and cries of the dying were heard. I heard no gunshots, no explosions, and it surprised me.

It was then that Tom nudged me and pointed behind us, as he said, "Damn!" A group of maybe a thousand people were running toward us and all were armed.

CHAPTER 24

S
haking my head and hoping Sandra knew I loved her, I prepared mentally to take as many with me as possible when I died. Just as I was about to release a stream of lead into the crowd, I saw armbands on them, and I realized they were our troops! Dolly suddenly appeared by my side and I heard her low warning growl. I reached down and scratched her bloody head.

I looked behind us, and Colonel Parker and what remained of his group were moving forward. I wasn't sure of the cost of this place in lives, but the surrounding area had many down and most were not moving.

Parker reached us first, congratulated us on wiping out the machine gun and then said, "This group nearing us is from up north, around the Tennessee line. Good people."

Suddenly the two groups blended into one, and folks were laughing and shouting to the point I grew concerned about the noise. I was about to turn away and start helping the injured, when Parker approached with another man and said, "John and Tom, meet Colonel Frank Hanks. He's the commander of this group."

Hanks smiled and said, "Sorry about our holdup, but we ran into two tanks and it took some work to take 'em out. They were just inside the fence line, behind the hangers."

"Top!" Parker yelled.

"Sir!"

"Form details and search for our wounded. Have other details remove everything from this place we can use, and I mean anything."

"What of the enemy wounded, sir?

"These assholes left no wounded of ours when they started this mess, so no prisoners."

"I'm sorry sir, but that doesn't answer my question."

"Kill 'em! By God, is that plain enough, Top Sergeant?"

"Yes sir, as you ordered."

"Sir, do you have other need of Tom or myself?" I asked, worried about our group at the small white house. During the battle we'd separated and I was concerned about Sandra. While I'd left them with the Russian POW's, that didn't reduce my fear level by much.

"No, that'll be all. Gather your group and move back to our base camp. Make sure it's secure, and then have one of the men I left there return to let me know."

"Yes, sir." I replied, and then began to look for my wife.

The battlefield was cluttered with dropped weapons, bodies of both sides, blood, and damage to almost everything standing. I neared the small white building, or what remained of it, and found the two women sitting on the ground. The two officers were still there, but the General had a new bullet hole in his left arm. Willy, who I lost somehow in all the confusion, was squatted beside the Russian colonel and talking with him.

Sandra ran to me and threw her arms around my neck. She kissed my dirty cheek and said, "So much noise and confusion, I thought you'd been killed."

"Close a couple of times, but I'm safe. When you get a chance look Tom over, he got burned by a bullet."

"I love you." She said, and then moved toward Tom.

Dolly, who was sitting beside me gave a warning growl and when I looked at the prisoners, the general was removing something from his pocket.

"Stop!" I yelled, and his hand froze in place. My shotgun was ready to fire.

"Willy, tell him to remove his hand slowly and when I see it, it'd better be empty or he's a dead sonofabitch!"

An exchange of words took place and then Willy said, "He was getting a cigarette and lighter. He will remove his hand when you nod."

"I want his hand empty, understand?"

"I told him that much. He knows the rules."

I nodded and he removed his hand empty.

"Willy, Colonel Parker said no prisoners." Tom said as he moved toward me.

"He'll want to keep these two, I promise. The general is in charge of all Russian troops in the United States and the other is his executive officer, or so he claims. Personally, I think the colonel is the base commander here."

Tom grinned and said, "Well, it's your ass, but don't be surprised if Parker shoots 'em both when you take 'em to the base camp."

Pulling some plastic ties from his pocket, Willy tossed them to Tom and said, "Secure their hands behind their backs."

"Parker also ordered us to return to the base camp and send one of his men back if all was secure," I said.

"Saddle up, we've a walk to take. Tom, you stay with the prisoners and Kate, you pull drag. John, I want you walking point. Sandra, if one of these Russians makes a break for it, use your shotgun and blow 'em in two. See, I suspect they both speak English, but neither will admit they can."

I saw both Russians blink rapidly, and knew they understood Willy's orders.

As Kate walked by me, she smiled and then winked. Only this time, I simply grinned back. I was happy to be alive, my wife had survived and my last dog was still healthy. I was on top of the world.

The walk back was uneventful, the birds were singing and the weather was perfect. I was in no rush and carefully scanned the countryside, but it remained safe. As we neared our base camp, a female voice ordered, "Stop!"

I raised my left fist and we stopped.

"Who are you?

"We're a group returning from Colonel Parker and we have two Russian prisoners. My commander is Captain Willy Williams."

A thin woman of middle-age stepped from the woods with a shotgun in her hands and said, "Follow me."

I saw no one until we neared the barn and then a man, also way past his prime, walked from the open door. He was unarmed.

"Hey, Thomas!" Willy yelled, and the serious look on the old man's face quick vanished.

"Willy! How'd the attack go?"

"We won, but the cost was high. I have no idea of the number of wounded and dead, but more than we needed. Look, I have two prisoners, can I turn them over to you?"

Thomas pulled a long pig-sticker with a wide blade and said, "Sure, I'll take care of 'em."

Willy chuckled and said, "Keep these two alive. I know for a fact, Colonel Parker will want to talk with both of 'em. Now, if they try to escape, kill 'em. Best way to do that would be to turn the dogs loose after 'em. Hell, them dogs ain't killed nobody in over a week. I know they're hungry and a little Russian food would do 'em good."

When I met Willy's eyes, he winked, but I saw the general give an involuntary quiver and he glanced at the colonel.

*****

Colonel Parker and the rest didn't get in until early the next morning. They'd spent the night in the woods and from listening to the survivors talk, they'd just saved the world. Little did they know our war to regain our nation hadn't even started yet, and that it would soon turn bloody.

They'd returned with ten horses and all the warriors loaded down with something. They'd taken what they could and destroyed the rest. We now had cases of ammo, grenades, mines, flares, and a mountain of food. Unlike our MRE's, the camp had been eating fresh food, and I looked forward to a nice thick steak this night. And, it would be beef and not venison.

Our team gathered in the colonel's office as he said, "Our casualties were light, considering we were attacking a base camp, and ten percent is acceptable. I'd feared well over forty-five percent, only your group made the difference. That machine gun you took out killed most of our folks, but thank God you did what needed done. As a result of your actions, Willy, you're now a lieutenant colonel and the others of your team are promoted two ranks. All your medical personnel with college degrees are lieutenants as well."

I turned, found Sandra and grinned, because I'd now be sleeping with an officer and me a newly promoted E-7. I was proud of her, but realized no money came with our promotions, just more responsibilities.

Turning to Kate, Parker said, "Kate, according to our newest lieutenant colonel, you did an outstanding job, so consider yourself the commander of our sniper unit, lieutenant."

Kate gave a loud unladylike horselaugh and then said, "Sir, we have no sniper unit."

"No, we don't, but you'll see we will soon have one, right? We'll talk more about this in the coming days."

"Sir," Top said, "I hope you realize the Russians will stop at nothing to find their general."

"I thought of that already." Parker said, and then added as he shook his head, "There will likely be killings or hostage taking in an effort to have us return him."

"What'll we do if they start shooting folks as reprisals?" I asked, knowing full well they would do it.

"We kill 'em back. For every American they kill or take hostage, we will kill ten of them. See, that's the main reason Kate is starting a sniper group. I intend to keep them fully employed."

"Lawdy, sir." Willy said and continued with, "How are the American people, what's left of us anyway, going to react?"

"Colonel, it doesn't matter. Once our people get mad enough, they'll join us by the thousands. Like you, I don't want anyone to die, but it can't be helped. There ain't no way in hell I'm returning a Russian General and Base Commander, not alive anyway. As a colonel, Willy, start looking at the big picture and not the small shit."

Willy thought for a moment and then asked, "As a colonel, does that mean I can't lead my team in the field?"

Parker grinned and replied, "Of course you can still lead your team. However, once and if, we regain control of our country again, you'll be a real colonel with back pay coming."

"Hell, by then I might be a general!"

We all laughed, except Parker. He gave us a serious look and said, "By God, you very well might be. This is going to be the roughest war in the history of our nation. Most of us will likely not be alive when we gain our freedom, but you can be damned sure of one thing."

"What's that, sir?" Tom asked.

"We
will
win this war, no matter how many of us die or are captured. We will drive the enemy from our soil! We are Americans!"

The roomed echoed with cries of Airborne, Hooaahh, and Rangers lead the way!

*****

A week later the atrocities started. We were out on patrol and edging through the woods, when I heard a loud voice scream an order, only it wasn't in English. Willy stopped and cocked his head the right to hear better.

He motioned for us to move forward with him to the brush that lined the road. I counted forty Russians moving around on the road and a five American men standing on the back of a flatbed truck. I kept Dolly at my side and as I waited, I scratched her ears.

As I watched, ropes were thrown over a huge oak limb right above the bed of the truck. Nooses were quickly tied and placed over five necks. The long end of the ropes were secured to the tree trunk.

A Russian officer pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and in heavily accented English read that these five were the first of thousands who would die until their POW's were returned. Finished, he folded the paper, stuck it in his coat pocket and said, "You have 2 minutes to pray to your God."

Heads bowed, but the oldest of the condemned men looked to the sky and began to sing. He was quickly joined by the others.

"Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
Oh, say! does that "

The officer looked pissed as he nodded, and a sergeant banged hard on the truck door. The driver goosed the truck and the singing stopped instantly as all four hit the end of the ropes. I heard their necks snap from where I was. The bodies twisted and turned as the ropes unwound.

Willy had not been watching and when the Russians neared our dead to joke and look, he elbowed me and handed the clackers of two Claymore mines to me. I nodded, still shocked by the deaths and patriotism I'd just witnessed.

I exploded both mines and when I looked up at the road, all the Russians were on the ground and a few were screaming. "Attack! Take no prisoners!" Willy yelled as he moved forward.

I came off the ground, spotted the driver of the truck sneaking toward the woods and placed a solid hit in the middle of his back. Moving forward, I shot into anyone I suspected was still alive.

Sandra discovered one young man hiding under a truck, but Tom squatted, smiled, and said in English, "Son, this just ain't your day." He pointed his rifle at the Russian.

Dolly had moved to Tom's side and was giving a low threatening growl.

The Russian was still smiling when the bullet from Tom's gun struck him just a little above the left eye, blowing the back of his head away and spattering the underside of the truck with blood and gore. The dead man was still smiling, his unseeing eyes open, as I turned and walked toward Willy.

"We need to move, and now," I stated.

"Let's move, people! Before you leave, take all weapons, ammo or anything we might need." Then, taking out a deck of cards he'd always carried, he placed the ace of spades into the blood-filled mouth of the dead Russian officer.

Seeing me looking at him, he said, "My dad was with a unit in Vietnam that did this to those they killed, so the enemy would know which unit did the nasty deed."

"I guess we have a new business card, huh?"

"Yep, and when we get back, let's all start drawing them on cardboard. Each ambush we complete, we'll leave a card in the mouth of the senior member. They'll soon start to fear us."

*****

Colonel Parker sent us back out almost immediately and what we discovered was not good. Tom had been walking point when he froze and raise a fist. I knelt on the trail, knowing the sides of trails were often booby trapped. I looked forward, but all I could see was the smoking remains of some large building that had recently burned to the ground. Suddenly the smell of burned human flesh filled my nose and I noticed a thin cloud of smoke overhead.

Willy passed me as he quickly moved forward to see what Tom had found.

I noticed Willy and Tom talking, but heard nothing. A few minutes later, Willy returned and said, "The Russians must have burned a few folks alive in a building, because it's still smoking. They are putting up signs warning others that more deaths will happen, unless the general and colonel are returned immediately. The signs say more Americans will burn unless their demands are met. I make out five Russians, so lock and load."