Bug Out! Part 4: Mortars and Motorhomes (10 page)

“A couple of you guys want to help me get the bodies off the roof?” Jeb asked. Charlie and Jackson and Jerry nodded, and they took off towards the buildings.

Frank picked up the microphone on the radio as Jane walked over.

“Major Hobbs? Come in.”

There was a few seconds of silence. Then a click.

“Hobbs here. Frank?”

“Yep. Anything going on there?”

“No, it’s been quiet. We heard the gunfire from town. Everybody alright?”

“Earl got hit, but not bad. The Sheriff is in bad shape, and so is the Deputy. The Deputy is on the way to the hospital now, and then they’ll be picking up the Sheriff.”

“How about Simmons?”

“Jasmine and Jane took care of that creep. Jeb took out his snipers up on the roofs with his bow and arrow. We might have a problem, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Lewis is out. He was here in the morning. He took off towards the south with about ten men before we got here.”

“Who told you that?”

“The Sheriff. Obviously they aren’t planning to hit the RV Park, at least for now, or you would have seen them already.”

“Do you know what they were driving, Frank? The drone is still in the air.”

“I’ll ask the Sheriff and get back to you.”

“Okay, talk to you soon. Out.”

Frank got out of the squad car and shut the door. Jane hugged him.

“You okay?” Frank asked. “Does it bother you killing Simmons?”

“That doesn’t bother me a bit,” Jane said. “That creep didn’t deserve to live. It bothers me what they did to the Sheriff. And I keep seeing you getting shot again and again in my mind.”

“I’m sorry I tried to stop you from coming,” Frank said.

“Don’t worry about that, Frank,” she said. “I understand. It’s alright.”

“Let’s go see if the Sheriff can tell us what Lewis was driving,” Frank said. They went back across the street to the Sheriff. The doc was kneeling by him, trying to make him comfortable.

“Sheriff, can you talk?” Frank asked. His eyes opened up slightly, and his head turned towards Frank.

“Not too much, Frank. He’s pretty weak,” the Doc said.

“Just one question,” Frank said. “Did you see what Lewis and his men were driving when they left?”

The Sheriff nodded yes, and smiled.

“Class C,” he croaked.

“Motorhome?” Frank asked.

The Sheriff nodded.

“Perfect, thanks, Sheriff. I’m going to go radio the Major….the drone is still in the air. Maybe they can find him.”

The Sheriff smiled at Frank and nodded.

Frank trotted back across the street to the squad car and got on the radio.

“Major Hobbs?”

“I’m here Frank. What did you find out?”

“Lewis and his men left in a Class C motorhome.”

“Class C – that’s the kind with the cab in the front, right?”

“Yep.”

“Well, I doubt if there are many of those out and about. I’ll get the drone headed down south, and see if the CO will put some choppers in the air to look as well. Thanks Frank.”

“Welcome, Major. Watch the front gate. They might try to use that motorhome as a Trojan horse.”

“We’ll watch for it. Out.”

Jeb and Charlie and Jerry and Jackson came walking around from the back of the building, carrying several rifles and some boxes of ammo.

“They had some nice stuff,” Jeb said. “Looks new. We ought to go over to the sporting goods store. I’ll bet they just stole them from there.”

“You’re probably right,” Frank said. How far away is it?”

“About four blocks down Main Street. I’ll load them in the back of the SUV and take a ride over there, after the Sheriff has been picked up.”

“Good,” Frank said. Just as he was saying that the ambulance drove past them and pulled back into the park. The paramedics jumped out of the car and pulled the gurney out of the back. They got the Sheriff loaded and into the back in seconds. The ambulance took off, and the Doctor walked across the road to his car, with Earl following him.

“Frank, I’m needed at the hospital, and I’ll take Earl so I can make sure his wound is alright. You guys can come pick him up in about an hour….or I can bring him back to the RV Park.”

“Alright, Doc, we’ll play it by ear. Be careful.”

The Doctor nodded, and both men got into his car. They took off.

“Where are the bodies?” asked Jane.

“In the Library, just inside the double doors,” Jerry said. “Didn’t want any kids to run into them in the street.”

“You took the weapons off of them, I trust,” Frank said.

“A couple of them had pistols,” Jeb said. “And you already know about the hunting rifles.”

“Wonder if there is a coroner here that can come get the bodies?”

“Yes, there is,” Charlie said. “I’ve already called them.”

“Good,” Frank said. “You wanted to go to the gun shop, right?” Maybe we should go over there now.”

“Frank, I think we should gather up those gun registration records from the Sheriff’s station,” Jane said. “We don’t want those falling into the wrong hands.”

“Good idea,” Frank said.

“Listen,” Jeb said.

The sound of a chopper was approaching quickly.

“Take cover,” Charlie said. “We don’t know who that is.”

The chopper can into sight. It was the chopper that had taken Officer Simmons away. There was the sound of machine gun fire.

Machine gun fire filled the air.

“Get into the Sheriff’s station,” Charlie cried. The all ran for it, and slipped into the door and back away from the windows. Except Jeb.

“Where’s Jeb?” asked Jerry?

The machine gun fire was all over the place. It was like somebody was just shooting wild, not trying to hit anything in particular.

“Whoever is manning that chopper has no idea what they are doing,” Jackson said. “They should have tagged a couple of us.”

Then there was a big bore rifle blast. Then another.

“Jeb,” Frank said, rushing off towards the window. He looked out, and saw the chopper starting to reel over to one side, out of control. Jeb rushed in the door.

“Get down, we don’t know where that thing is going to crash,” he shouted.

“What did you do?”

“I took out the pilot and copilot with this rifle. It’s got a nice scope.”

They could hear the chopper’s blades slowing down, then they could hear the sound of impacts as the rotors hit the street. Then there was a loud crashing sound…breaking fiberglass and metal. The engine stopped. There was silence.

“We’d better get out there,” Jeb said. “That didn’t land hard enough to kill everybody inside. Somebody was in the back trying to fire that machine gun.”

Jeb and Jerry and Jasmine slipped out the door cautiously. Jane was checking her M-16, and Frank his Winchester. They went out, and were followed by Jackson and Charlie. They saw the chopper laying on its side, smoke coming out of the engine compartment. One of the pilots was hanging out of the broken front window. They saw Jerry and Jasmine run out towards the wreckage, trying to avoid any openings in the fuselage. Jeb got behind a car on the street, where he had a good vantage point of the wreckage, including the side window with the broken machine gun barrel sticking out. He brought the rifle up and looked through the scope, ready to fire.

“Let’s go over there to the other side,” Frank said. “Then we can stop anybody that comes out.”

“I’ll follow you,” Jerry said. “Better let me shoot, though. It would be nice to take somebody alive from this one. That .44 mag will shred them. They might live through it if I shoot them.”

“I’m going over next to Jerry,” Jackson said.

“Me too,” Charlie said. They ran over in a crouch and got next to him.

Frank nodded. They ran down the street, and around the back of the wreckage. They found a cement trash can holder and got behind it, and aimed their rifles at the wreckage.

“Jerry’s going in,” Frank said.

Jerry got to the opening and looked in. Then he signaled Jackson and Jasmine to come over. The gathered around. Jerry put down his AK-47 and grabbed something. He pulled, and a body came sliding out. Charlie dropped his weapon and leaped over to give him a hand. The person wasn’t conscious, but he didn’t look dead either. Jasmine held her M-16 on the man while Jerry frisked him. Jackson looked around the wreckage for more people, and then went up front to check out the pilot and copilot. Jerry got finished searching the person, and then turned and gave the thumbs up sign.

“Let’s go,” Frank said. He and Jane ran over.

“He’s still breathing,” Jerry said as they all gathered around and looked down at him.

“Geez, he’s only a kid,” Jane said.

“Pilots?” Frank asked.

“Deader than a doornail,” Jackson said. He looked over at Jeb. “How did you manage to tag them both in the forehead while they were in a moving chopper?”

“Damn good scope on this rifle,” Jeb said. “And this rifle is smooth as silk. I think I’ll try to make a deal with the gun shop when we go over there. I want to keep this sucker. It’s better than my rifle. Weatherby….top shelf.”

“I have one of those at home,” Frank said. “Didn’t want to bring it. I was afraid we’d get the guns taken away from us. That’s a $2000 dollar rifle, at least.”

“Hey, let’s focus, folks,” Charlie said. “Let’s get the Doc over here to look at this kid. I’ll call him.”

“Yes, you do that,” Jane said.

Charlie got on his cellphone and dialed.

“Doc?” he asked.

“Yeah, this Charlie?”

“Yep. Did you hear the chopper?”

“Sure did.”

“It was the one that Officer Simmons escaped from. The pilots both bought it, but there was a kid in the back manning the .50 cal. He’s still alive. Can you come over?”

“Sure, be there as soon as I can, and I’ll send the paramedics now.”

“How are the rest of our people?” Charlie asked.

“Earl’s fine. He won’t be out of action for more than a day or two. The Sheriff is going to make it too. He just needed an IV to get him hydrated again. The Deputy is in bad shape, though.”

“Is he going to make it?”

“Probably, but he’s going to be in ICU for a few days. I’m sure Simmons thought he was dead.”

“Well, get the paramedics out. At least some of us will hang out until you get here.”

Will do, Charlie.”

Charlie put his phone back in his pocket.

“The doc is going to call the paramedics first,” Charlie said. “He’ll follow along later.”

Everybody looked at him and nodded. The paramedics drove back over in just a couple of minutes. They pulled up next to the wreckage and ran over with their bags.

“Was he thrown out of the chopper?” asked one of the paramedics.

“No, but he probably rattled around inside quite a bit,” Jeb said, laughing.

“You think this is funny?” the paramedic asked.

“He’s the enemy,” Jeb said. “I shot the pilot and co-pilot, and that’s what brought down the chopper. This kid was firing that .50 cal at us before I made it crash.”

“Oh,” the paramedic said sheepishly. “So why didn’t you just shoot him?”

“We need information,” Charlie said.

The paramedic nodded, and got to work.

The Doctor got there in a couple of minutes, and trotted over to the wreckage. He looked at the boy, who was now on the gurney, ready to load in the ambulance.

“Concussion,” the Doctor said. “He’ll probably be alright, but he needs to go to the hospital.”

“Is there a jail ward there?” asked Charlie. “We don’t want this kid getting up and walking away. He’s an enemy combatant.”

“Well, kind of. We have a room that locks from the outside. We could put him in there.”

“He might be dangerous,” Jerry said. “We should cuff him to the bed. I saw a pair of cuffs in the Sheriff’s station. I’ll go get them.”

The Doctor nodded. Jerry took off running, and was back in a minute. He cuffed the kid to the gurney, and handed the keys to the paramedic.

“Alright, we’re off,” the Doctor said. The ambulance took off down the road, with the doctor behind it.

“Now what?” asked Frank.

“Let’s go gather up those gun registration forms,” Jane said.

Frank nodded, and they went back into the Sheriff’s station.

“I’ll call the coroner about those two deputies in the jail,” Charlie said. He fished his cellphone out of his pocket and walked away as he dialed.

Jeb looked at Jackson. “Let’s take these rifles back to the Sporting Goods store,” he said. “I put the guns in the back.”

Jackson nodded, and the two of them got into the SUV and drove off. Charlie and Jasmine and Jerry walked into the Sheriff’s station.

“Coroner’s on the way,” Charlie said. “Wonder if these guys have family in town?”

“Probably,” Jasmine said. “So sad.”

“I’m going to mop up this blood,” Jerry said. “I saw a mop and bucket in the back.”

Jane and Frank walked out of the back with a file storage box.

“This is all of the gun registration files,” Jane said. “What should we do with them?”

“Burn them,” Jerry said.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Frank said. “Let’s do it.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” Jane asked.

“Who cares?” Jerry asked.

“We could take them down to the Sporting Goods store,” Jane said.

“That’s probably the first place that the enemy looked for them,” Jerry said. “And I’ll bet the folks who run that store are all dead.”

“I’m afraid of that too,” Charlie said. “Burn em.”

“Alright,” Jane said.

“There’s a 55 gallon drum behind this building,” Frank said. “Let’s use that.”

Frank carried the box around and dumped it into the drum. Charlie pulled out a book of matches and started one of the papers, and then dropped it in. The paper caught, and soon there was a big flame extending a foot out of the drum. Jane stood by and watched, and then walked next to Frank and put her arm around his waist.

“I guess it’s for the best,” she said. “Look, here comes Jeb and Jackson.” She pointed to the SUV slowly driving up to them. They pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the SUV.

“What’s that?” asked Jeb.

“Gun registration records,” Charlie said.