Final Seconds

The man, and I will remember him until I die, could have been the guy who ran the local grocery or even served you a burger in a diner, he had dark hair, bright blue eyes and greasy hair. He showed many scars on his face and arms, and probably was once a auto mechanic. His grin never made it to his eyes as he leveled the Russian automatic rifle on me. His smile grew wide as he thought about what was going to happen to me and was probably thinking of how much he was going to enjoy this, now that laws were passé’. That was the last thought he had. One moment I was searching for a way out of this and nearly shitting myself, the next minute I am covered in hair, skin, bits of brain and I think a few teeth.

I was still standing there thinking I was just fantasizing about that and was already dead when the man’s body thumped to the floor with a wet thud, splashing gore on my pants and boots. This brought me out of my stupor and I nearly brained Jake with my useless rifle when he stuck his head in the door.

‘Damn you look like shit.’ He smiled. I just shook my head, dislodging the gore, which I will not think about, and dropped my rifle on the floor to get my glasses to clean them. The rifle discharged when it hit the floor scaring the shit out of both of us. Yeah, I was stupid for doing that. I just shook my head and slid down the wall, slightly shaking as my adrenaline started to fade.

John was standing over me with my rifle in his hand when I looked back up.

‘What they hell were you doing talking to that asshole?’ I got up and brushed more gore off my left shoulder. (How much crap can come from one human head exploding, anyway?)

‘My AR jammed; I talked to him to buy some time to get out of being killed.’

‘So what did you come up with?’

‘I had nothing.’ I said and walked out taking my rifle. Near death makes you see things strangely.

We gathered again in the hallway, now full of holes and bloody bodies, and figured we might as well head to the stadium. From the gunfire coming from outside, our side and theirs was engaged in battle near the stadium. We raced through the building as fast as we felt safe, back though hallways and some assorted classrooms. We stopped near the back of the building and looked through the broken windows that looked over a parking lot and then the Alumni stadium. Men were gathered near the base of the building behind cards and a few trucks that were left in the lot. Our guys were firing from the edge of Eastern bypass or they hunkered down in the southern parking lot returning fire. One of our trucks burst into flame as an RPG fired from the Alumni building took it in the side.

‘Shit, we can’t take that for long.’ John said as we watched another RPG flash out and thankfully miss an APC. The RPG was answered by the .50 caliber machine gun from the APC, tearing away at the walls and the cars.

‘What now Kemo Sabe?’ John asked as he checked his pockets, finding his last full magazine.

I had only maybe 29 or so rounds left in my rifle. If it worked when I needed it too. Jake was taking aim from this vantage point and taking out stragglers near the Alumni Building. Albert joined in and even the girls started picking off people with their crossbows. They were good, now I knew who was going to teach the new bow class if we get back in one piece.

‘Anyone got any extra mags? I’m empty. John is down to his last one.’ Sam was using an old M16, and had a hunting rifle, so he handed over his last four mags. I gave two to John.

‘No full auto. We need to conserve.’ I joked as he shoved the mags, one in each vest pocket. I did the same. He suddenly knew what I was going to do.

‘I know, I know, you really hate me. Come one, let’s go. Please guys, give us all the cover you can, okay?’

Everyone affirmed. Then John and I carefully entered the back lot. By now the bad guys had figured they were taking fire from the Combs building and started firing back. Unfortunately we were the only idiots exposed.

We made it to a parked car and hid behind it as we listened to bullets rip into it and sometimes rip through it. We were each hiding behind a wheel but knew that would not last long. Suddenly the air above us was filled with lead as Jake and company traded fire. I motioned with my thumb, telling John it was time to find a new hiding place. Between the place we were and the corner of the Alumni building was a water tower and a lot of open ground. Shit.  We leaned over the car and took quick aim at the moving targets hiding at the corner and laying prone on the ground. I know I hit at least two bandits and I think John got three before we were both hit.

Being hit by a bullet, even with a modern Kevlar vest, STILL HURTS LIKE HELL. Luckily we both fell behind the car when we went down.  I took a shot in the stomach area, after the bullet had travelled through the car to hit me. John took one in the left shoulder and was bleeding. I crawled to him and took a quick look at him. The bullet came through the weak area of the vest with just enough force to break the skin, and go in about a quarter inch.

‘Shit this hurts.’ He said holding his probably already numb shoulder. I smiled and laughed in the gunfire, ‘I told you, but nooo, you need to feel it to understand it.’  I looked up toward the Combs building and gave them a thumbs up, so they knew were cool. I recovered John’s rifle and gave it back to him. He tried to hold it and fumbled it out of his hands.

‘You’re done big boy. Here,’ I gave him my 9mm and cocked it, ‘Keep any sneaky assholes from getting the drop on me, okay.’ I then leaned him up against the wheel again. I took his rifle, charged it and went back to my wheel. I had my rifle reloaded and John’s rifle ready if I ran dry and couldn’t change the mags quickly. That’s when all hell broke loose.

From the south behind our guys, the warlord’s forces arrived. I guess the bandits here radioed for help. I could see old trucks and some Humvees coming across the fields bearing down on our guys shooting. I leaned down and flattened along the ground, my stomach complaining. I sighted in and started firing. Our forces were vastly outnumbered. I then realized what I was seeing was maybe just us from the Deport and a few others. What happened is that the Warlord (more on this asshole later) and his forces all in a wedge came down upon our APCs and the few Humvees we had. Thinking we were this small in number they became over confident. Suddenly the rest of our forces in hiding and not firing hit them from the flanks and from behind. It was over in a few minutes. We captured a small group of bandits and the warlord himself. We then started mopping up and going about releasing the prisoners. About this time Zak was once again drawn to the scent of blood and the noise of battle.

We radioed the Blue Grass Ammo Depot and they would have the still standing gates open and would lead us to some place safe.  The trip took about ten minutes. 

 

Blue Grass Armory Depot, access road.

 

We hooked up the BGAD people and we lead back some dirt roads that paralleled some rail road tracks until we came to a fenced in area that was not burnt or blown full of holes. Once inside they shut the gates and all of us dismounted and took a rest. We retrieved our 6X6’s from 52 and got them to the BGAD and started unloading food, feeding the prisoners, treating wounds and then finally relaxing.

The prisoners were very grateful and the Richmond Regulars were reunited with some of their families. 

We figure that with the Warlord with us, and a conservative guess of 90% of his forces gone, the rest would flee or even get eaten. Good. And I hope Zak gets heartburn. We spent the next day helping the sick, injured and imprisoned get better or as best we could. Reports are the dead heads came back with a vengeance and are occupying the stadium and campus en masse, leaving town somewhat empty. The scouts reported seeing ‘normals’ moving about town but were too far away to make contact.  The guys in the Blue Grass Army Depot, no longer fearing bandits or raiders made a ‘pact’ with the Richmond Regulars’ that they would take on people and help out each other out with supplies, food, etc. Basically becoming a much larger armed group that could better protect themselves. We traded our food supplies and other items they needed and replaced them in our trucks with ammo and guns. We also picked up a healthy supply of medicines. We helped get them prepared for any more bandits or a large group of Zak as best we could and then started saying our goodbyes.

Ashley was not coming with me, he and Ben had found a home here and they were going to help. Odessa would not be happy, but told him my cell phone still worked and to call his sister in a day or two after I broke the news to her. He promised me he would and we left it at that.  We finished our loading, and mounted up for our trip back home. Minus some very good people, of them I knew only a handful really well. Katy was lost when the truck blew up in the parking lot of Alumni Stadium. They were using the truck as cover and a mobile hospital. I will miss her greatly; she was a good friend and basically kept me alive during my sickness. We started out with 76 people in our convoy, we were down to 52. All totaled our side lost a combined 146 people.

Here are the people in no particular order; I do not give out last names on purpose, sorry. If you believe you know them contact me through the other channels. Those with stars are related. Some people we only knew by a nickname.

Katy W.

William J.*

James J.*

Richard K.

Benny S.

Owen D.

Mason R.*

Rick R.*

‘Hal’ Gene J.

Greg O.

Luis S.*

Jose S.*

Robert P.

Mitchell L.

‘Skeet’

‘Winchester’

Maryellen G.

Kenny K.

‘Shelly’

Greyson Alexander  N.

Gill V.

Sonny R.

Quintin E.

Karrie D.

With heavy hearts we turn our way west toward home, but we did fill our ranks with some new people.  The four students that saved John and my bacon decided they had had enough of Richmond, came with us. We left the warlord, a despised World History teacher and the ones that surrendered to the not-so-tender mercies of the Richmond Regulars. They were hanging from the barbed wire tops of the fences near the entrance of the Blue Grass Army Depot as we left. We had no hand in that as we were there by invite and we thought the people that suffered the most should decide their fate. Let’s just say I was quite satisfied.  Little did I know my days were going to get longer.