The Revolution Begins (Molon Labe) (4 page)

The government had already labeled each of us as criminals and enemies of the state.  In the process, all of our financial assets would be frozen, and our families were to be gath
ered up and held in camps. The president had issued executive orders providing for extreme powers to be held by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  Among these powers was the creation of concentration camps to be utilized in times of civil unrest. The government tended to keep close tabs on the whereabouts of its trained warriors, and now they planned to use the information against us.

The information spread like wildfire through our ranks and under the very real threat of mass desertion, Captain John issued a one week leave for all soldiers with families.  We had one week to evacuate our families to secure locations. 

Chapter 10

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as property. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside … Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."
Thomas Paine

Neil and I agreed to head first to my home, and then his.  My wife would not be easily convinced to leave her home, but the alternative was unacceptable.

We came into Seneca under cover of darkness.  We had traveled f
or most of the day.  Our SUV had enough space to cover our rifles and gear.  We had gone light on gear since the possibility of checkpoints was very real.  I was in the middle of telling a joke when we rounded the corner and my street came in to view.  There were two black Chevy Suburbans parked in front of my house.  Two armed guards were standing by the vehicles.  No others were in sight.  That meant they were in my house. Neil was already loading the rifles and affixing our silencers.  We stopped around the corner and got out on foot. We crept between the houses and stopped in the alley between my house and my neighbor’s. 

With two quick head shots, the vehicle guards were down.  Two more shots flattened tires on each
of the vehicles.  From the second floor window I could hear my wife screaming at the intruders.  Two shots were fired. 

The house was dark.  The intruders had obviously cut the power before go
ing in.  Neil and I donned our night vision goggles and quietly entered the house from the basement.  A quick sweep showed that the basement was empty. At the top of the steps I slowly opened the door that led into my kitchen. Upon entering the room I was faced with a soldier rooting through my pantry.  With Neil watching my back, I put two silenced shots through his head.  One down.

We went from the kitchen to the dining room which was empty.  The dining room led to the living room where
I found my three children, gagged and blindfolded.  They were being guarded by two soldiers.  One was paying too much attention to my fourteen year old daughter. 

I signaled to Neil that we would take coordinated simultaneous head shots. Neil took a position on the far target while I aimed in at the earhole of the pervert’s he
ad. Two shots produced two floor thuds and a nasty new red and pink paint scheme in my living room.  Neil stayed with my still blindfolded and gagged children as I began to scale the steps to my master bedroom.

The entire time we had been c
learing my house we could hear panicked screaming from my wife upstairs. It was bothersome to me, but it served to cover any noise we made while moving. Two gunshots had rung out before we entered.  She was calling out to the kids and I could hear the broken English of a soldier probably from a Slavic country issuing orders and cursing at her.  As I peeked over the top of the steps I could see a soldier slumped against the wall opposite the doorway to my bedroom.  It was evident from the lack of a lower jaw and a large hole in the throat that he had been shot trying to enter the room.  Three soldiers were stacked on the door.  Two of the soldiers had their backs to me, and a third on the far side, was facing me.

A head shot to the far target got the attention of his comrades.  They turned to face me and I put three shots into the closest with my SIG
.357.  The remaining soldier made the mistake of stepping back around the corner of the door for cover.  He got seven shots to his right side from my wife’s 9mm as a reward.  Two shots from my Sig finished his time on earth.

I called out to her.
“Mary, it’s me, Chris.  Don’t shoot me, the bad guys are dead.  It’s OK; I’m coming in the room.  It’s just me.”

Before I could round the corner to the room she was rushing out the door and into my arms so
bbing.  I led her downstairs where the sight of our children caused her emotions to break free.  We led the kids away from the carnage before removing their blindfolds.  It was an emotional reunion.  Mary had believed the children were dead.  I believed the bad guys had shot her. Other than some scratches on the kids from the rough handling invaders, no one was injured.

Mary had begun sleeping with the 9mm within
reach for a week, but never thought she might actually have to use it.  She knew something was wrong when her TV and alarm clock went out together.  She had picked up the gun and begun walking towards the kid’s rooms when she saw the heads of the bad guys coming up the stairs.  She backed into the corner hidden from view by the bed.  She waited until she saw the first guy’s body and then fired twice, surprising herself when the gun recoiled.  Her two shots had instantly stopped her would be attacker and halted the other three. She had no choice but to stay there while she heard first the screams of the kids, and then silence.

Neil began a sweep of the house, gathering up all of the weapons and supplies the bad guys had brought wit
h them.  We gathered all of my war supplies and loaded them into our vehicles.  After searching for anything of value in the bad guy’s Suburbans, we spray painted “MOLAN LABE” on the doors and left the vehicles completely incapacitated.  When we were leaving, we could see neighbors who had been afraid to help, coming out of their homes to investigate the carnage.

Prior to that night, Mary had been against my involvement with the militia.  She had insisted that I was chasing conspiracies and that the government would never turn on its own people.  That all changed when the government had sent out a fire team to take her and our children from our home.  She was even more enraged with the government when I told her that government plan for her and the children was a concentration camp. 
We were lucky to have arrived when we did.  A few more minutes and the children would have been motherless and I would have been widowed. We had to move fast to help Neil’s family.

Chapter 11

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
Richard Henry Lee
American Statesman, 1788

Neil’s family consisted of a remarried and once again divorced ex-wife and a ten year old daughter.  They only lived an hour from my house.  We couldn’t afford to waste time.  As much as I needed to comfort my family, I needed to help Neil with his. The lives of my family had been saved in large part due to Neil’s help in my house.

We parked two blocks away from the house Andrea (his ex) and Haley (his daughter) were living in.  As we came through the back yards, we could see that the house had already been breached. Rounding the corner to check the front, we saw a soldier carrying the limp body of a small girl to a Suburban.
Neil fired first at the soldier carrying his daughter. The soldier went down. The two vehicle guards looked our way drawing their MP5’s in the process. Just as they were looking, I threw a flash bang grenade.  They were instantly blinded and disoriented.  I quickly followed up with a smoke grenade.  Using the smoke screen we advanced with Neil scooping up his daughter and me double-tapping each of the guards.

Neil carried Haley behind a Suburban to check her vitals.
She was breathing but completely knocked out.  It looked like the bad guys had tranquilized her.  Knowing Andrea, I was hoping they had done the same to her.  Just as that thought came to my head, we began taking fire from the second floor of the house.  The smoke screen was clearing and our position of cover was attracting bullets.  I had one more smoke grenade and used it to conceal our retreat. We made it across the street and into the neighbor’s back yard.

Neil stayed with his daughter as I flanked the vehicles, confident that the bad guys would be coming out to them.  I set up with my Panther Long Range 308.  I waited until five bodies were
clear of the front door before shooting the point man and the rear security.  One of the soldiers had Andrea.  She had been hand cuffed in the front and in his haste to take cover from the incoming fire, her captor let go of her.  She turned on him with all the rage of a momma grizzly.  She was vicious as she began attacking him with the steel hand cuffs. I could see her striking him as I engaged the remaining soldier shooting wildly in my direction. Just as I turned my scope to check on Andrea (who had been blocking any shot I could take on her captor) I heard a shot ring out. I watched as Andrea fell forward and covered the body of the soldier she had been pummeling. In his hand was a semi-automatic pistol.  As he pushed her dead weight off of him he stood up only to fall lifeless from a shot I never heard.  Neil advanced forward firing his silenced pistol until it ran dry. He dropped the pistol and gathered Andrea into his arms.

Neil had never given up on Andrea.
Everyone who knew him accepted that as the truth. As he held her, she looked into his eyes and said, “I knew you would come.”

She smiled as she took her last breath and Neil watched her eyes become lifeless as tears streamed from his own.
He held her close as he sobbed and said softly, “I always loved you.”  My heart ached for his loss. 

Silently I went to Ha
ley and held her until Neil regained his composure. We took Andrea’s body and the supplies from the bad guys and left with Haley to rejoin Mary and the kids.

Chapter 12

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"
Patrick Henry
American Patriot

We took our families to an old friend of mine who was also a retired doctor. He took us in gladly and checked each of the children and Mary.  Haley was still out, but was starting to stir. It choked me up to think about the task Neil now faced in telling Haley about her mom. I was grateful beyond words that I had been spared that.

Doc Williams was a trusted
friend and had known me since I was in diapers.  I asked him to take in my family and care for them while I was fighting for our freedom.  He was honored to have the duty and I knew that he would do everything in his power to keep them safe.  He and his wife Jill lived on a thousand acre farm that had several hunting cabins that the family could use. The farm was stocked with plenty of water and multiple water sources. They also had canned vegetables and wild game meat.  It was a blessing that I’m happy we had at our disposal.

I spoke with Mary
and we agreed that despite the Spartan living, it would be safest for the children. Mary had been a social worker, and felt a strong pull to help children. It came as no surprise to me that she insisted on keeping Haley and watching over her while we were gone.  She asked me several times to stay, but understood now more than ever the need for our fight. 

Our six days together was spent bonding and mourning.  We mourned with Neil and Haley as we buried Andrea.
We all hurt together.  We would heal together as well.  We spent quality time on our knees thanking God for saving our families and asking for strength to persevere through the trials that were sure to come.

Neil, Eric (my oldest son) and I spent three mornings bow hunting and brin
ging in four deer that would be used to supplement the supply of meat for the now expanded family that Doc Williams had to feed.  I spent much needed time with the love of my life, and Neil spent more time with Haley than he had been allowed in six years.  We hated for it to end, but needed to return to base. 

We said our goodbyes and our promises to return.
I entrusted Eric with the safety of the family and after teaching him how to use the silenced MP-5 we had gathered from the bad guys, I had confidence he would do his best.  My daughter Anne had recently lost her mind and decided to be a vegetarian.  I laughed at that and told her she could grow her own food. My youngest, Wade, was upset that I wouldn’t be there to play with him, but a promise to bring back a toy got me a giant hug and a kiss on the cheek.  It was tearful goodbye, but knowing our families were safe, we would be more effective in the fight.  We had a job to do and it was time to get back to it.

We spent the two hour trip back to base taking notes about troop
presence and watching the moods of the locals. It was interesting to see that most of the locals tried to avoid the UN troops.  I wondered what it would take for them to switch over to active defiance.