Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

He also had made some coffee at the police station and handed out some granola bars along with pitchers of Tang. It was a meager meal, but still hit the spot. He put a few bags of chocolate candy on the tables for some more sugar. Haliday talked with Rob a bit. “You guys are getting one hell of a bill for my consultancy fee here.” Rob asked him if he took cash. “Oh, now you have jokes, huh, Rob?”

Haliday and Mark had their radios with them and they had brought two extra handhelds for Rob and Brad. They had five mobile units from the vehicles they had acquired and they placed one at each corner of the perimeter of the compound. From there they should be able to coordinate the assault.

Everyone had made it in and Haliday did another quick count. They had gained about 10 more members. The doctor approached and introduced another doctor and three nurses. They had gathered as many medical supplies as they could, and had an area prepared for medical treatment in the conference room of the police station. Anyone wounded they planned to put in an office next to the police station for now.

“Move them out Rob.” Haliday and Mark went and got ready as well. Haliday had his faithful old Armalite AR180 with him. He chose it over a short barreled AR15 because of the folding stock and usefulness in close quarters. Chuck had his own entry weapon of choice which was an MP5. After the initial assault, they would meet up with their teams and start the building clearing.

Everyone had gotten into position. The daytime assault was a big risk, but they took it because it would help level the field. No night vision goggles, or night vision scopes, plain sight, easy to discern friendly from foe, and the daytime conditions would allow the hunters with their scoped rifles to maximize their ability.

The militia compound was ready for the attack. As soon as they had seen the attack mounting, they had sounded their alarm and everyone was in position. They sat there and waited. Haliday’s group sat there and waited. He called them on the ham. “We are going to give you the opportunity to surrender.”

The response came quickly. “Negative. Disband and go home.”

Roger called them again and explained it all to them. “Listen, this is how it is. You can surrender and we can go from there. If not it’s going to be ugly for both sides. You have women and children in there who don’t deserve this. It’s the best option for everyone involved, so let’s work this out.”

A one word response came. “Negative.”

Haliday mumbled to himself. “What was that song from that stupid movie Small Soldiers . Some Spice Girls song; wish I had that right now.” I’ll tell you want what, what I really really want . “Oh great,” he said, “I’m going to die with that stupid song in my head.”

Mark looked at him, “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t want to know,” he replied.

One more try. Haliday said, “Listen. A lot has happened, a lot will happen and we don’t need to go down that road. Anyone who wants to give up and go home can do so now. We’ll give you one hour to decide. After that we may take action. Don’t be stupid. Listen to us. Come on guys. No one wants to die today.”

All he heard was “Screw you.”

“Ok,” he said, “One hour. Time has started.”

Haliday had told everyone to expect what came next. The militia started firing on the group’s positions in order to try and gain an edge during the assault. They fired a lot of rounds into the barricades, toward the tree line and everywhere else. The group didn’t fire a single shot back. Not a single person even got hit as they maintained cover.

Haliday had what he wanted, the proof that the militia would not make a deal and firing first meant just that. They gave them a chance and they refused it. Haliday had a few guys fire a couple of rounds toward the compound, but not at anyone in particular. This drew another barrage of fire from the militia. He clicked the radio. “Forty-five minutes left.”

Time was counting down; the militia was persistent in not giving up. Haliday gave them one last warning. “You have five minutes left. Last chance to get out now for anyone wanting to leave to get out now. Come on out with your hands empty, no questions asked and we will take care of you and get you to safety.” He waited the five minutes and switched the channel to his own. “Game on folks. Good luck. Godspeed. Fire when you have a target.”

Haliday had made sure they didn’t have a sniper on the roof of the admin building. This would have been the first man to go. They learned their lesson the hard way by taking hits on that position. He searched the property with his spotting scope and had everyone else looking as well. They had to make sure they didn’t have one hidden. Haliday was convinced no one in the compound had higher ground.

Haliday loaded an armor piercing round into the Barrett he had liberated and fired on his first target. This was the lock on the door of the building that held prisoners. He saw that they had another lock and hasp on the door and he fired on that one too. He waited patiently, but no one came out. They would check this building out as soon as they could. There was some return fire from the militia, but nothing to worry about. They couldn’t reach his position.

From over on the north end of the compound came 30 shots from four different men. These were all concentrated on the militia’s prized deuce, or actually its tires. They flattened as many as they could, rendering the up-armored pig useless. All they had to rely on now was the regular complement of vehicles that they had.

The militia took aim and returned fire. They fired almost 200 rounds toward the men in a matter of seconds. As far as firepower was concerned, they had the advantage over the townspeople. They didn’t have the amount of concealment, however, so many of the rounds were wasted with only an occasional hit.

Haliday took aim at target number three. He hated to do it, but he had to. He zeroed in on the front tire of their fuel truck and flattened it. He shifted his aim slightly and flattened the other front tire. Both the fuel truck and deuce were now out of commission. He started to hear some sporadic gunfire from all sides of the airport.

As he searched out some more targets he gave the order to start the tires on fire. They had some small balloons of gas placed in them and the guys tossed some road flares into them. The thick black smoke started to fill the air in those areas as the tires burned. Nobody was sure how long they would burn but anything helped at this point.

One of the guys throwing the flares took a round to the shoulder. This was only the first of many casualties to come. The men around him fired into the compound and allowed him the chance to get to safety so he could be treated. They had one man and a woman nurse dedicated to picking up the injured with a four wheeler. They’d be busy today.

Haliday scanned the south end of the compound. The stacks of bricks they were able to get in place were still there. The front loader was still sitting where it had stalled out. Haliday called Rob. “Rob, get some people over to the west breach and see if you can get that front loader started. Get some people into those brick emplacements.” Rob told him that the front loader stalled out.

Roger asked him what happened. Rob told him it had overheated. “Well, try it anyway. If it didn’t seize it may start. You can use it to at least get some guys into those positions.” Rob made the arrangements and got everyone in place. He gave a command and the whole south end started popping as five guys ran to the loader. The militia positions were quiet as they held their heads down.

The group made it to the loader and sure enough it started. The guys just jumped on and the guy driving it went straight to the brick emplacements where he dropped off two guys at each one. He turned around and headed back toward the west breach and almost made it before the engine seized up. The radiator had taken hits the last time and it had stalled out, but this time it was dead for sure with the seized engine. The driver jumped down and used it as cover.