The Fall of America: Premonition of Death (24 page)

Minutes past and then a truck neared, obviously to pick up the men still nailing signs to oak trees.

Willy whispered, "Now!"

We ran forward as a group and Russians began to fall with our first shots. The driver slipped his vehicle in gear and gunned the gas pedal, but before he'd gone five feet his windshield exploded into thousands of small pieces of flying glass and his head fell limply forward, resting on the steering wheel. The back glass of the truck was spattered with blood and brains. In minutes it was over, but Tom had taken one man alive, and the man was terrified. The prisoner was as ugly as sin, with a huge nose and a round face. His hair was cropped to his scalp and he looked like a half-wit to me.

The Russian was on his knees with the barrel of Tom's M16 against his neck, as Willy neared.

Willy slapped the Russian hard on the right side of his face and began speaking to him in his native tongue. The man mumbled something a few seconds later and lowered his head.

Willy said, "This piece of shit, a senior sergeant, had the idea to burn the forty prisoners in an old barn. He wanted to save ammo. He was under orders to kill these folks, but no one told him how to do the job."

"Good God!" Sandra said.

The smell of burnt flesh was rough on me, and I fought a strong urge to gag or puke. I heard someone behind me puking, but didn't turn. I can usually take the smell of a burned bodies, but forty is a bit much even for my stomach.

"I speak little the English." The Russian said.

"Do you believe in God? Do you pray?" Willy asked.

"Да, Русская Православная Церковь, I Christian, yes."

"You have one minute to pray and then right after that, you'll be standing in front of God and can continue your prayer in person." Then, turning to Tom, Willy said, "Get me a gas can from the truck."

Tom hesitated and asked, "Are you going to do what I think you are?"

"Tom, I gave you an order, now get the damned gas can and do it now!"

"Willy, think! Do you want to live with this act the rest of your life? Good God, you can't do this!"

"Get the damned gas can or I'll get the sonofabitch myself!"

Cursing, Tom made his way to the truck, removed a can of gas and returned.

While Tom was fetching the can, Willy had secured the prisoners hands and feet using plastic ties. Taking the can from Tom, Willy poured gas on the prisoner and said, "Everyone move back."

"No! Please! No fire! Нет! Пожалуйста! Нет огонь! " The Russian NCO screamed.

Sandra moved toward him and softly said, "Willy, don't do this, it's inhumane. You'll not be able to live with yourself if you do this."

Willy responded brusquely, "Get the hell away from me, and move back like I told you to do! This bastard just burned a group of American people alive, American people! Payback is a sumbitch."

When Willy removed a pack of matches from his pocket the Russian's eyes grew huge, and he screamed and continued to beg in Russian. Willy, his heart made cold by the smell of burnt American bodies, struck a match and dropped it on the prisoner. Instantly, a loud
woof
was heard and the man was engulf in a ball of almost invisible flame.

Screams came instantly as the man twisted and jerked to escape his blanket of flames, but to no avail. After a few minutes, I saw the plastic ties separate and the man's body began to twitch violently as his central nervous system shutdown. The sweet scent of burnt flesh grew stronger, and I leaned to the right and puked. I think it was more from the drawn up black body than from the smell.

Willy had not watched the mans grotesque death, instead he'd gathered gear from the dead and the truck, placing it all near the woods. Then, he'd gone to each body, poured gas on the remains and ignited them. One must have been playing possum, because a piercing scream was heard for a few minutes, but I didn't dare turn to watch. I fell to my knees and gagged. Moving to the truck, Willy poured the remainder of the gas on the driver and the seat. He then threw a match inside, moved to the first man he'd burned, and placed an ace of spades in the mouth of the still smoking hot corpse.

"Brute force is all Russian troops understand. From now on, we'll treat them as they treat us. Now, gather up the gear near the trail and let's return to the base camp. John, you're on point and Tom, you're got drag. These Russian sonsofbitches want to play rough, well by God two can play that game."

CHAPTER 25

W
eeks turned into months and each day we were out looking for Russians or their allies, and killing small groups of men. During the same time, we found thousands of dead Americans and while most were shot or hanged, a few died horrible deaths. We left no Russian alive, not a single one, and each leader we killed had the ace of spades in his mouth.

Finally, one afternoon, Colonel Parker called us into his office and said, "The Russians have agreed to release thirty Americans in exchange for the general and colonel. I have agreed, but they'll be super pissed when they get them back. Under no circumstances are our prisoners to be released before the Russians release our people. We will release them at the same time, or the deal is off." He then sat on the corner of his desk.

"Who will handle this exchange?" Willy asked.

"I'll go with your group and we'll handle the exchange. Additionally, Kate is bringing five of her snipers to keep the Russians honest. See, I don't trust them, and in war they are cruel and vicious as a people. You can be sure, if they try to screw us over, Mother Russia will be short a few soldiers come morning."

I'd been thinking about the colonel's comment about the Russians being pissed to get their people back, so I asked, "I don't understand how getting the general and colonel will piss off the Russians."

"John, I'm not a cruel man by nature, and actually I considered myself a liberal until the fall of this great nation. However, I lost everything within a year of the fall, including most of my family. I turned mean. I turned junkyard dog mean and I give as good as I get."

"Colonel, no disrespect, only you're not making much sense to me."

Parker gave a dry laugh and said, "No, I guess I'm not. See, each time the Russians killed a large group of Americans, a body part was removed from the general. When the general ran out of parts, I move to the colonel."

"And, sir, what kind of shape are the two men in now?"

"Sergeant Leeds, bring the prisoners in, please?"

The man who usually guarded our briefings left and returned a few minutes later leading two men by dog leashes attached to ropes around their necks. Both had canvas hoods over their heads.

"Gentlemen and ladies, meet General Sidorov and Colonel Alexandrov of the Russian Army." Parker removed the hoods.

Both men had been horribly mutilated and neither had a nose, ears, lips, or eyes.
Good God, what have we done? The Russians can't allow this to go unpunished!
I thought, and fought off a twist of fear in my gut.

Parker waited a few minutes for the brutality of what he'd ordered to sink in and then said, "In addition to what you see, both men are blind, their eardrums have been ruptured, and their tongues have been torn out. The Russian's will be madder than wet hornets in a mason jar when we return these two men in this condition. In addition, I think the colonel only has two fingers left, the others were all removed. Of course, no anesthesia was used at any point. As Willy said to me, 'We must reduce ourselves to the level of our enemy, and I have. We must become as brutal and vicious as our enemy. Once the prisoner exchange is completed, we'll break up into small groups of perhaps a squad and go into hiding."

Willy, who I'd expected to smile, shook his head and said, "They'll come after us hard now, colonel. They can't allow this to go unpunished."

"They will be looking for a large group, not almost a thousand small groups. We will hide, but we will not stop fighting. Each group will organize random terrorist attacks, as well as hit and run strikes against our enemy. They will be the famous Russian bear alright, except fighting thousands of hunting dogs attacking at the same time. It's a fight they cannot win. Now, get your troops ready. We leave in an hour."

*****

I crouched behind some brush and looked the group of Russians waiting in a large field over closely. I saw no armored vehicles, but a group of about fifty men standing and one was obviously in charge, by the yelling he was doing. I don't speak Russian, but an ass chewing is the same in any mans army. The formation came to attention and then lined up properly. A group of about thirty poorly dressed people were sitting in dirt in front of the soldiers with their hands on their heads. A machine gun had the group covered. Dolly didn't make a sound, but watched the group closely, her ears standing up.

Tom and Sandra had moved off to our right to cover the meeting with an old 50-caliber machine gun we'd taken from the earlier attack on the base. Tom would be the gunner, as Sandra provided assistance with ammo. Kate and her crew had scattered to the winds as soon as we'd arrived, each wanting to work alone. I had Parker on my left and Willy to my right, the prisoners behind us and on a leash held by the colonel.

At exactly 1300, Parker whispered, "Okay, I'll move forward with the prisoners, but once the Russians see me, I'll stop. At all costs, we must free those Americans."

Parker stood, pulled the leash, then walked into the clearing. The Russian's became quiet and the colonel stopped.

Long minutes passed until I heard a voice call out in good American English, "Bring the two forward. We will meet you half way. Once we meet, the exchange will take place. I have told your people to walk to the woods, so tell ours the same."

"I don't speak Russian, so you tell 'em yourself, you sonofabitch!"

I heard the Russian laugh and then he yelled in his native tongue. I knew he was wasting his breath, because neither the general or colonel heard a word. "Now, Yankee, bring your men to me."

"I ain't a Yankee, I'm a Southerner. We're a bit different, or don't ya know?" The colonel was speaking as he moved toward the center of the field.

"All American's are Yankee's."

"Not true, Ivan, not true at all. See, we fought a war years ago and the Yankee's won that one, but they ain't even here for this one yet! Right now you're fighting the best of the South and we're a mean bunch. Hell, one redneck could beat the shit out of any five of your men."

Our group of civilians were on their feet moving toward us, and I noticed a single Russian Officer bringing up the rear. He was making small talk with Parker as they walked toward each other.

The Russian shrugged and replied, "Who cares who is who in America? This is our land now!"

Parker laughed and then said, "You are here, but you do not control the land! You do not control the people! But, take a good look at our land, Ivan, because we'll bury you here."

"Your people are like sheep, we gather them to butcher."

"The Ace of Spades has butchered a few Russians too, haven't we comrade?"

"Oh, so you are leading that group of animals? I am surprised, because you remind me of a school teacher I had in the second grade. He was full of shit too."

They were less than ten feet apart, and I could plainly see deep anger in the Russian's eyes.

"Most Russians are full of shit, so I guess you mean the two of you. See, we Americans kick the shit out of folks,
and
we do what we say we will do, always. Now, here is your general and colonel." He handed the leash to the Russian.

The Russian smiled and said something to the general, but he received no answer. He then turned and addressed the colonel, again no reply.

He'd just began to untie the rope around the general's neck when Colonel Parker yelled, "Run folks, make for the trees!" Then, he either did the dumbest or bravest thing I've ever seen, he remained standing within ten feet of the three Russians, unarmed.

Pulling the bag from the general's head, the Russian gave a loud gasp, his eyes grew large and he yelled something. The machine gun opened up on our group, but most were safely in the woods.

"Lay down, get down low!" I screamed.

I heard two shots and the machine gunner, as well as his assistant, were kicked back and down, where they remained unmoving. The man in the middle of the field, pulled the bag from the general's head, threw it to the ground and them pulled a pistol from the small of his back. Three of our snipers fired a single round each and all three Russians fell dead or dying. I'd actually seen the general's head explode as he was struck.

I heard Tom open up with his machine gun and the
'tat-tat-tat'
sound demonstrated good fire discipline. His bursts were short, but deadly on the enemy.

"Run, Colonel!" Willy yelled.

As the man ran toward us, I could see he was laughing as if it had all been one big joke.

However, at that exact moment, two Russian Ka-52 helicopters slipped up from the trees and made a run toward us. I saw rockets fired toward Sandra and Tom as well as a pair sent toward us. The first rocket fired at us exploded well behind us, while the second hit right behind the colonel. I grinned when I realized they'd missed Tom as well, because I could still hear him firing. I glanced back at the field, and Colonel Parker was gone; all that remained was a smoking boot and an ace of spades was moving over the ground like a wind-blown leaf in the fall.

"Pull back, disperse and regroup back at camp!" Willy screamed to be heard as the choppers passed overhead. He then blew a whistle three times, our signal to withdraw.

As I turned to leave, I saw a rocket hit almost exactly where Tom and Sandra were positioned, but there was nothing I could do, except pray they both lived. Each of us took a few surviving civilians under our wing to lead back, but Willy shot those too badly injured to travel. He was crossing himself and crying as he pulled the trigger, again and again.

I had three women, one child near ten, and four men in my group. I said, "We move fast and you do exactly as I say. I'm not a babysitter, so if you cannot keep up, I'll leave you. Understand?"

"Do you have any weapons you can share?" one of the men asked.

I handed him the colonel's rifle, one of my pistols, and said, "Give the pistol to another man. Now, let's move, people. We'll not stop until we reach safety."

I'd moved the group forward about a hundred yards, when Dolly growled and I saw Kate nearing from my right. She gave me her usual warm smile, I grinned in return, and she said, "I'll join you for the walk back. All of the snipers have joined different groups. I have Anita bringing up our rear and I'll take point."

"Move us fast and continuous. The bad guys are livid right now and looking for blood. Did you see if Tom or Sandra survived the rockets?"

She lowered her head and replied, "John, I don't really know, but from where I was in the trees it didn't look good. I saw the gun fly in the air, but that in itself means little."

"Please God, keep my Sandra alive for me. I love her, and she's all I have left of my old life. This I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen," I muttered under my breath, as I felt tears running down my cheeks.

"What's that?" Kate asked.

"A prayer, Kate, just a prayer."