Ray Gorham - Daunting Days of Winter

“Well,” said the man at the opposite barricade, “be sure and keep your head down. It’d be a shame for Rose to miss out on her wedding night.”

Sean bit his lower lip and smiled, but Kyle could see more than a hint of fear on his face. “I’ll do what I have to do,” he called back. “Let’s all of us do what we need to do to go home today.”

A murmur of agreement rolled along the line as men readied themselves for the unknown foe. Kyle saw movement across the river on the freeway, and Sean lifted his binoculars to get a better view. “What do you see?” Kyle asked.

Sean studied the vehicle a little longer before lowering his glasses. “It’s either really good news, or really bad news. We’ll know in a few minutes. There’s a military vehicle in the lead, an M1117 Guardian. I drove one in Iraq. It’s an armored vehicle on wheels, essentially a tank without tracks. They don’t come with a big crew, but they don’t need it. That thing, with three preschoolers who know how to use it, can take us out. The ammo we’re shooting is just going to bounce off it.”

“Can’t we shoot out the tires?” one of the men asked.

Sean shook his head. “It can run for miles on flats, so that won’t slow it down at all.” He paused a second and raised his voice. “I need a couple of people under the bridge with grenades. Any volunteers?” Sean looked around to see a couple of nervous hands raised in the air. “Put your hand down, David. I’m not sending you.”

“I don’t have a family,” David protested as Kyle spun to look at him, shaking his head.

“You have a mother who’s been through a lot, and that’s enough,” Sean replied. “No one doubts your courage, but you’re not doing it.” Sean pointed behind David. “Ty, you sure you’re up for this?”

Kyle heard his friend speak up as he approached Sean. “Luther took my place last time. I’ll do what I need to do to keep my family safe.”

“Okay, then you’ll go, plus Anthony over there.” Sean indicated another man with his hand raised. “I want the rest of you to quickly move that dump truck. Get it the rest of the way across the road, then push some of these cars up beside it. Lets give them four or five layers to get through. We can at least stop them for a minute or two, give Ty and Anthony a chance at crippling them.” Sean huddled with the two volunteers, instructing them on how to most effectively use the grenades against the armored vehicle, while the other men rolled the roadblocks into position.

With forty pairs of hands and the vehicles pre-staged, it only took a couple of minutes to have the bridge from the freeway blocked six vehicles deep. With the exception of Ty and Anthony, now concealed under the bridge, the militia members were safely back behind their barricades when the first of the military vehicles rolled to a stop on the north side of the river.

“What do you think, David?” Kyle asked his son as they watched thick exhaust billow from the rear of the lead vehicle. “These good guys or bad guys?”

David’s hands shook as he handled his weapon. “I hope they’re good guys, but I don’t know. It says US ARMY on the side, so maybe that’s a good thing.”

“Hope so. But if I was a bad guy, I’d put that on there, too.” Kyle looked at Sean, who was standing and watching the situation. “Can we shoot out the windshield?”

Sean shook his head slowly. “Just be wasting our ammo if we tried. The thing’s built for combat zones. Hope our friends under the bridge are on target if they come in hot. Really wish we had some ammo for Rusty’s 50 caliber. That would get their attention.”

No one emerged from the Guardian, and after idling for thirty seconds, it kicked back into gear and slowly approached the bridge.

“Everyone down low!” Sean ordered. “That machine has some pretty powerful weapons. If they’re pointed at you, you’d better be as low as you can get.”

The men collectively drew in their breath as the wheels of the machine rolled onto the bridge. Every man in the company waited, searching for any vulnerability in the machine. Kyle spotted what appeared to be bullet dings in the side door, but with the distance separating them, he couldn’t be sure.

Compared to the usual quiet of the community, the dull roar of the vehicle’s engine was eerie and threatening, like the growl of some ancient demon that was to be fought off by villagers with their sticks and stones. “I don’t want anyone shooting until there’s something to shoot at, understand?!” Sean looked to both barricades as he shouted his orders. Only a few people still stood. The rest were hidden behind felled trees, boulders, and whatever other cover had been built into the barricades over the past months.

The men, visibly scared of the approaching threat, murmured their assent. Everyone waited and watched, an overpowering sense of dread settling on them as the sand-colored vehicle rolled slowly forward.

“Tell Mom I love her, if I don’t make it. And Emma. And Spencer too.”

Kyle could see David’s eyes glistening and wondered why his own weren’t as well. “You can tell them yourself, David. We’ve come through too much to have this be the end. We’ll just be careful and smart, right?”

David nodded stiffly, his hands and arms shaking as he leaned against the thick tree in front of him.

“Do you know how much I love you? How proud I am to be your father?” Kyle slid over and wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulder. “Dads don’t tell their kids that often enough, especially as they get older. I want you to remember that, though, no matter what happens today. You understand?”

David nodded. “I do. But thanks for saying it. I’m proud to have you as my dad, too.” David looked at Kyle and smiled, then glanced back at the road. “They’ve stopped,” he said, motioning with his head towards the military vehicle.

Kyle slid back to his spot along the barricade and aimed his rifle at the vehicle, which had stopped a hundred feet from the tangle of vehicles pushed together in anticipation of its arrival.

“It’s retreating!” someone shouted from the far barricade as the vehicle revved and began to move backwards, its wheels turning and angling the door away from the blockade.

The men let out a suppressed cheer, then the vehicle stopped at a forty-five degree angle to the road. The engine shut down and everything became deathly silent. Even the birds and breeze were still.

After ten seconds of complete silence, the groaning of metal on metal was heard. “I think they’re opening a hatch,” Kyle whispered to David as they strained to see what was happening just a stone’s throw away. A door squeaked on its hinges as it swung open, then banged with a dull thud against the side of the vehicle.

“No one fire!” Sean shouted. “Let’s see what’s happening here.”

A pair of boots hit the ground and moved to the front of the vehicle, where a soldier in full combat gear paused, then came forward carrying a US flag on a six-foot pole. He approached the bridge slowly and formally with the flag aloft, then stopped halfway between his vehicle and the blockade of cars on the south side of the bridge and waited expectantly.

“Kyle. Craig,” Sean shouted. “Come with me out to meet this guy.” Sean moved from behind the barricade towards the cluster of cars.

Kyle slung his rifle over his shoulder, climbed over the top of the barricade and moved towards the bridge, as did Sean’s brother, Craig, from the far barricade.

“Be careful, Dad,” David whispered as Kyle descended the bank. “I love you, too, you know.”

Kyle turned and smiled at his son, then ran ahead and climbed onto the closest car, carefully stepping across the hoods of the vehicles to where Sean was waiting on the bridge, jumping down from the back of a white pickup a step ahead of Craig.