The Resistance: Book 5 of the After The Event Series (14 page)

Ben

              Ben had never been more afraid in his life.

              Their Humvee sat atop a hill and before them was the might of the Chinese Army. In the far distance were rows and rows of helicopters, Humvees and drones. Ben looked over the area with his binoculars and saw hundreds of Chinese soldiers walking about or working on the nearby military equipment. They were horribly outgunned.

              “Dear God,” Dex said. “There have to be thousands of them down there. I’m counting a dozen drones, sixty helos and a shit ton of Humvees.”

              “I got another row of helos on the southside,” Vick said in awe.

              “Enough gawking.” Reaper started to slowly pull away. “We have somewhere to be.”

              They all sat back in the cramped Humvee as it drove quickly down the road. Ben noticed his mouth was hanging open so he closed it. If they were successful every piece of machinery down there would be useless pieces of metal.

              “ETA?” Crimson asked.

              “Less than a minute,” Reaper yelled over the sound of the wind whipping through the open Humvee.

              Ben saw a sign for the school approaching and just behind it was another Humvee driving straight toward them.

              “Shit,” Reaper said. “Things are about to get interesting.” He turned quickly to the right and picked up speed. After a few moments the other Humvee turned down the same road. “They’re suspicious; give them another reason to be.”

              He slowed down, and as the Humvee approached they fired. The front windshield of the enemy Humvee exploded into broken shards of glass and the Humvee veered off into a house.

              “Should we stop and make sure they’re all KIA?” Dex asked.

              “Negative, that was loud enough there are going to be plenty of others to come and investigate. We need to get to the school before they do,” Reaper said, stepping on the gas.

              They pulled up to the school and a partially burnt US Humvee sat in the middle of the school yard, the ground all around it blackened. Before anyone could say anything an unearthly scream came from the heavens and the ground twenty yards from them erupted into fire. The impact of the blast sent the Humvee swerving to the left before Reaper managed to regain control.

              “They know we’re here,” Vick screamed.

              Reaper pulled the Humvee up next to the school and as soon as they stopped everyone jumped out and headed inside.

              “Vick, you all find the EMP; we’ll hold them off as long as we can,” Reaper yelled. “Everyone else head deeper inside the school; we’re about to get hit by another Screamer.”

              Ben ran down the dark, empty hallways as fast as his legs would take him, until the second blast knocked him off his feet. He slammed into a nearby locker and rolled onto his back. Part of the ceiling near him collapsed, partially blocking off the hallway and sending a wave of dust in each direction.

              Reaper got back on his feet and waved away the dust. “Watt, Dex, put down the last of the explosives on the hallway toward the entrance. Rig it to be tripped. I want them moving slow when they enter this place.”

              Ben could make out the sounds of helicopters getting louder by the second. “What about the rest of us?” he asked.

              “You and Ty see if you can block off the rear entrance. I don’t want them coming up from behind.”

              Ben took off down the hallway, dodging the debris scattered all throughout the floor. He turned a corner and could see the light from the rear doors just as the school was hit with a third missile. The ceiling caved in all around them and as Ben fell to the floor he felt the ceiling fall on top of him, turning the world dark. Minutes could have passed, or it was possible it was just seconds, but when his eyes opened he caught several rays of sunshine streaming in from the collapsed ceiling. He pushed a large chunk of ceiling off of him and felt a warm stream of blood running from his head to his face. He wiped it away, ignoring the pain, and pushed the rest of his body out from under the debris. A few yards from him Ty was slowly doing the same. A large, bleeding gash ran down Ty’s right leg and he seemed to be in a daze but he was still alive.

              “You still able to fight?” Ben asked.

              Ty slowly nodded.

              Ben looked down the hallway toward the rear. There was a small opening that would allow one, maybe two, people to squeeze through. “You cover that opening; anyone tries to squeeze through, you take them out.”

              Ty nodded again and pointed his rifle toward the opening.

              A smaller explosion came from the front, followed by gunfire. Ben stumbled onto his feet and ran back toward Reaper. He caught sight of the man and Dex huddled behind some debris with their rifles pointed toward the front of the school, which was obscured by a cloud of dust from the recent explosion. Ben dove behind the same debris next to the men.

              “Where is Watt?” Ben asked just before the hallway was filled with more gunfire.

              Reaper returned fire in small bursts and Ben heard a scream and several shouts in Chinese. Ben’s eye caught something laying on the ground a few yards away and he recognized the body. Watt was sprawled out on the floor, a puddle of blood surrounding him.

              More gunfire from the front and as Reaper began to return fire, he was hit and thrown onto his back. Dex yelled and began to return fire. Ben crawled over to Reaper and saw the man reaching up toward his chest. His shirt began to turn red. Ben applied pressure to the wound.

              “Don’t,” Reaper choked out. “I can handle this.” He grabbed Ben by the shirt and pulled him close. “You go find Vick and make sure they fire off that EMP. Don’t you let these fuckers win. You’re always acting like you’re some damn hero.” Reaper coughed and blood came up. “Well, here’s your damn chance.” He pushed Ben to the side and crawled over to Dex and pushed the man to the side. “Fall back, I’ve got this.”

              Ben slid one of his magazines to Reaper and then crawled down the hallway to safety. Dex followed. They made their way down the hallway and Ben caught sight of Ty, still focused on the opening in the rear.

              “Any contacts?” Ben asked.

              “No,” Ty yelled out.

              “Hold fast, we’re going to help find the EMP.”

              They took off in the only other direction Vick and Crimson could have gone. Ben looked into the gymnasium and saw that the majority of the roof had caved in and the clear blue sky poured in through the gap. On the far side of the gym Crimson, Vick and Chavez were attempting to push a 5x5 platform with a six foot tall missile sitting atop it across the room.

              “That’s it,” Dex said.

              The sound of helicopters came from the opening in the roof and Ben crossed the distance with his rifle pointed in the air but didn’t spot anything.

              “It’s good to go; we just need to get it into the opening,” Vick yelled.

              They all got behind the platform and began to push it across the gym floor. The metal screeched across the wooden gym floor but inch by inch it got closer and closer to the opening in the roof. Ben continued to push and looked up to see a helicopter pop into view.

              “Helo,” he screamed as he dove to the side and came up firing.

              The helicopter let loose and the wooden floors around them turned into splinters. Crimson started to dive to the side but he watched a bullet connect, sending her sprawling backwards. Ben fired again and saw a barrage connect with the soldier manning the gun. The soldier let out a scream and fell from the helo and landed somewhere farther down the roof. The helicopter veered away.

              “We only have a few before we have more company,” Ben screamed as he changed magazines and brought his gun back toward the roof.

              Crimson pushed herself back up; she placed her hand on the wound on her left shoulder, applying pressure.

              “Crimson, can you aim?” Ben asked.

              The woman grabbed her rifle and sat the butt against her chest. “I can fire.”

              She would only be able to fire a few short bursts before she had to reset but it was better than nothing. “Let’s push. Crimson, cover us.”

              They went back to pushing the platform, inch by inch, foot by foot. When they were only a few feet away the sound of a helicopter intensified and Crimson fired. Ben rolled away from the platform and aimed into the air. The front of the helo was facing him and he emptied his clip into the front. He saw the windshield crack and the helicopter swerve to the left, causing the gunner to miss wildly.

              “Hurry,” Ben yelled as he returned to the platform.

              They pushed again until it was directly under the opening. Vick ran to the front of the platform and begin to type something into the keypad in the front. The rest of them held their guns in the air, waiting for the inevitable return of the helicopters.

              “Firing in five,” Vick yelled as he turned and ran from the platform.

              Ben and Dex looked at each other and joined the man. As they ran the missile shot up into the air and out of the opening. In its place appeared a helicopter. They ran to the far side as the helicopter was joined by a second and both fired into the gym. Bullets hit all around Ben and a piece of the wooden floor shot up into his face, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground, his gun skidding off to the side. Ben rolled as fast as he could away from the sound of the pounding bullets and heard the others returning fire. He finally hit against a wall and looked up. He saw one of the helicopters turn to the side and saw the gunner looking right at him. The gunner turned his weapon toward Ben just as a bright light shot through the sky. The sound of the running helicopters suddenly stopped and for a few seconds they hovered in place and then they both dove forward. The first veered off to the side while the second came crashing back down toward them. Ben got to his feet just as it crashed through the last of the gymnasium roof and smashed through the far wall, bursting into a ball of flames. Ben caught sight of another helicopter spinning in circles as he veered over the opening of the roof, and soon the sound of falling objects filled their ears.

              Ben grabbed his gun. “We’ve got a couple of minutes before they recover, let’s use them.”

              He ran out of the nearly demolished gym into the dark hallway. Sitting there was Ty, who looked back at him.

              “Was that it?”

              Ben didn’t stop running but nodded his head. “Is the rear clear?”

              “No one has tried to get through yet.”

              “Then head through.”

              Ty pushed through the opening, followed by the others. Ben went through last and as he approached the rear exit he saw everyone standing there staring. Before he could yell he walked out and saw what they were all looking at. The football field was before them and nearly a dozen helicopters laid on the ground as nothing more than balls of burning wreckage.

              Ben shook off the shock. “Move.”

              They cut through the football field and through the nearby residences. They pushed their bodies to the breaking point, until they were barely moving faster than a walk. Only when they couldn’t go any farther did they finally stop and collapse under a grove of trees near a dilapidated old house. Ben fell to his back, gasping for breath, and saw dozens of plumes of smoke rising in the sky far off in the distance.  The sound of helicopters had stopped, the sound of vehicles had stopped, and the only sound was the tired group of soldiers fighting for each breath.

              Ben looked around and saw Dex, Crimson, Ty, Vick and Chavez sitting there. They were the only ones that had made it. Watt, Reaper and the other two soldiers they had rescued were gone.

              “Crimson, how bad is it?” Ben asked.

              The woman had already wrapped a piece of clothing around the wound and while it was red with blood it appeared to have stopped the bleeding. “It’ll need to be looked at but I have a few hours.”

              “Any other injuries?” Ben asked.

              “Nothing life-threatening,” Vick said, laying his head in the grass.

              “Reaper?” Dex asked.

              Ben shook his head. Dex looked down and took in a deep breath and let it wash over and past him.

              “There should be a supply depot a few miles northwest of here,” Vick said, getting to his knees. “We can resupply and rest there.”

              “So we did it?” Ty asked, smiling. “The EMP worked?”

              “The dozens of falling helicopters didn’t give it away?” Crimson said, returning the smile.

              Ben stood up and checked the magazine on his gun. He checked the rest of his equipment and checked his body for wounds. He felt dozens of different aches and pains but nothing serious. He ran his hand through his hair and it was hard with dried blood, but it was dry so the wound had stopped bleeding. He stared up at the rising plumes of smoke, too tired to smile.