Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

Before they had time to run Roger fired the first round into the militia man striking the man through his left eye. His patrol cap came off along with some bits of brain matter. The second man rolled over a couple of times and then fired at Haliday. Haliday fired rapidly with the remaining four rounds in his rifle.

He struck the militia man’s rifle in the upper receiver, rendering it useless and managed to hit the man in the ass as well, but it was not bad enough to render the man neutral. The man was struggling with something that Haliday couldn’t see. Haliday wasn’t going to wait; his location and deception had been discovered.

Haliday drew his pistol and initiated slow sustained fire as he rose up and then moved for cover deeper into the woods. Haliday heard shots and ducked down. He crawled over to where he had set his AR. He slung his M24 on his back and grabbed the AR. He heard rounds striking the trees around him. He called for help and tried to explain his location so he wasn’t hit by friendly fire.

Kayla, Linda, Alan and Nancy were trying to cover the woods. It was dark and the militia was well protected by the trees and lack of light. The militia had the advantage here. They were using this advantage to keep the women in their fighting positions. The militia in the woods, over at the neighbors’ and the other house across the street all started to fire at once.

Kevin, Diana and Dawn returned fire as best they could. Dirt was flying all around them and they kept having to duck debris as the militia fire searched them out. The neighbor had pretty much filled the militia in on everything they needed to know. Kevin was convinced she used to walk the property when Haliday wasn’t up here. Who knows what she actually knew.

The people in the woods crept closer yet. Alan was searching for a target frantically. He didn’t want to fire until he had acquired a target in order to avoid them being able to pinpoint his location. Kayla, Linda and Nancy would fire three round bursts and duck. They were starting to lose ground.

The militia member by the empty neighbor’s house continued to fire. All of a sudden two cans of smoke were tossed toward David, Lisa and Mark. Alan swung his rifle that direction. It was dark and the smoke clouded the area heavily. He scanned back and forth over a distance almost 50 yards wide.

Kevin yelled over to Diana to hit the west corner of the house. He told Dawn to do the same thing. As soon as they saw a muzzle flash, they each burned through their magazines. The man hiding behind the corner of the house was shredded. With almost 70 rounds striking within a 7X7 foot area and piercing the vinyl siding and insulation, it was almost like a Claymore had gone off. He was struck almost eight times by 5.56 armor piercing rounds.

Randy, Sarah, Mike and Blake fired toward the activity in the woods near Haliday. Haliday started crawling like crazy to get deeper into the woods. The militia man firing on him now had more than just Haliday to worry about. Haliday was managing to use that edge and gained some more ground. He rolled over and popped a smoke grenade in the 37mm and fired it toward him. He popped one more and fired it behind him.

Inside the house they could hear the stray rounds hitting the cabin. Rich had everyone hiding low so the armored lower half would keep them safe. He sent Bobby and Matthew downstairs to stay and told them to send Karen up. He called Bev over. “The woods are a big problem. We need to see about helping them out.”

One of the side windows had been broken out. He grabbed a broom and knocked the glass out. He tossed a folded wool blanket over the broken glass on the floor. Karen came up the stairs, “What do you need me to do?”

“You and Bev go open that window. You’ll have to fire into the woods. I’ll use this window.”

Alan caught movement toward his left. The first man appeared through the smoke with the second man appearing about 25 feet to the right of the first one. These guys were heading straight for Mark and Lisa’s positions. They were within 50 feet and rushing as fast as they could and firing blindly.

Alan opened up on the second man who was actually closer to him. Mark fired on him as well and then spun to fire at the first man who was almost on top of Lisa’s position. Lisa had been reloading her rifle and couldn’t aim it in time. David had raised himself to one knee so he could fire on the man.

The man continued forward and he stepped on one of the foot traps. The three inch spike pierced his heel and went deep inside his ankle. He tried to shake the spike strip off and he stumbled and started to trip. The rubber sole of his boot kept it in place. David hit him once and the guy half fell into Lisa’s hole. His momentum had overcome his ability to stop and control his fire as well. She couldn’t get out and felt the man struggling. Now he was struggling to free himself from the hole.

Haliday called Mike and told him to fire into the smoke only. Randy, Sarah, Blake and Mike did as they were told. The militia man hugged the ground and took cover. Haliday crawled another 20 feet and then shot up and ran into the woods. He angled himself and headed northwest. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. That was very close, he thought.

Haliday had a problem now. He was literally behind enemy lines. He took a moment to gather his wits. He surveyed the scene from his location. He saw the firefight between the woods and the house. He had no idea if anyone had gotten injured or killed or what the count was on the militia side either. He had about a second to make a decision.

As David had fired on the man, the last militia member by the empty house fired toward David. David was partially in the haze of the dissipating smoke now and the militia member saw this. David took a hit to his thigh. He laid down prone and dragged himself back to his landscape wall for cover.

Mark fired on the struggling man in Lisa’s hole and the man went limp. “Lisa, are you ok?” Lisa answered back that she was ok. “I’ll try to help you,” he said.

“No, don’t move. I think they got David. You might get hit too. I’ll be ok, I can handle this.” The dead man was about 210 pounds and halfway in her hole. She struggled. but was able to get his body out of the hole.

The militia on the south side of the property was still firing, but not as heavily as before. David was wrapping a bandage around his thigh. He tied it snuggly. He couldn’t crawl back to the house; he would expose himself doing so. He would ride it out and provide as much support as he could.

Kevin, Diana and Dawn kept them at bay. It was now pretty much a stalemate on this end. The east was so wide open that the militia didn’t dare try to use it. Early on, they learned that lesson with their casualties and the Jeep. The north side was still a problem, but the biggest problem was the woods on the west side of the house.

Mark, Kayla, Alan and Nancy needed help. Mark called in to Alan. “Alan, can you get up into the crow’s nest?”

Alan said “Ya, I’ll let you know when I get up there. You want me to use the .308?”

“No,” Mark said, “Take the AR and as much ammo as you can.”

“Ok, I’m on my way.” Alan made his way to the crow’s nest.

Haliday made his decision. He would try to get to the west to help. He started slowly working his way there. He called Mark and told him his plan. Mark told him it would work with only the right execution.

“Listen, Mark,” he said, “it’s going to be your call, on your command. I won’t be close enough to tell when it’s time.”

“I’ll have Randy, Sarah and Blake cover the north. Maybe Mike can get over there.”

“Rob, this is Roger.”

“Go ahead, Roger.”

“Look Rob, we’re deep in this. We have casualties on both sides and we are getting ready to get hammered with a big offensive. How you guys doing?”