Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

“We’re coming up from the rear, ‘you copy?’ we have two bikes and the Jeep. Do not fire on us.” Haliday told everyone on the radio to pass the word. Do not fire on the vehicles behind the trucks, they are good guys. Concentrate your fire on the sides. The tree line lit up again on the militia and the militia fired back.

Straight up behind them roared two motorcycles and the Jeep. Blake was on his bike and Alan on the KLR. They both went for the cover of the van and took up their positions and fired toward the advancing militia from the rear. The first two people to go down were the two guys in the back of the pickup truck.

The driver didn’t know where the rounds had come from. He gunned it and took off for one of the emplacements. His goal now was to get out of the open and into the emplacements occupied by Haliday’s group. They didn’t want to remain targeted any longer. The truck bounced violently across the open field as it increased speed.

He plowed into the emplacement crushing one of the men underneath the pickup and the sand bags. The other man had jumped out of the way. The driver got out and fired on the man. Rob was one position over and saw what happened. Rob fired and dropped the man and then got back down. They were taking heavy fire from the deuce now.

One of the militia in the deuce looked back and his eyes widened with horror. There was this Jeep right behind them with two guys at the roll bar firing into the back of the deuce. The Jeep was only 50 yards behind them. Mike was driving and Kevin and Randy had AR’s blazing away. They went through three magazines each in a matter of about a minute.

Mike hit the brakes and swung left, then stopped. They now had Alan and Blake by the van and Mike, Randy and Kevin by the Jeep, and both groups were behind the militia deuce. The fire was concentrated on the deuce. The deuce slowed and the driver gunned the engine trying to get it to move faster. The two front tires and a couple of the rear tires were flat.

One of the men jumped down and raised the tailgate up. They wanted to protect the men in the back from more fire and they were basically like fish in a barrel. Blake took aim as the man was climbing up and hit the man three times in the back. One of the guys in the back of the deuce had tried to help lift the guy in and one of the snipers took him out with a head shot. The man just hung over the tailgate of the deuce with the other man lying on the ground.

Mark got up and headed along the east side and stopped. He popped some tear gas into the 37mm launcher and put three rounds close to the deuce. The men inside were scrambling to put on gas masks. Mark fired into the tank of the deuce multiple times and watched the fuel drain out. He was about to launch a flare when he saw a couple of white flags waving.

He called Haliday on the radio. “I punctured the tank after I fired some tear gas over there, I was about to launch some flares when I saw two white flags. They want to surrender. What do you think?”

Haliday said, “Let them.” Haliday called out a ceasefire. It took about 15 minutes but eventually all of the firing stopped.

Haliday called over to Mike. “How far away from them are you?” he asked.

Mike said, “About 50 or 60 yards. What do you want me to do?”

Haliday asked him, “Can you hear them. Can you talk to them?”

“Hold on,” Mike said, “I’ll check.” Mike yelled over to the deuce. “Can you hear me?”

Someone answered back, “Ya, we can hear you. We want to surrender.”

Mike told Haliday and asked him what to do next. Haliday told him to repeat what he was saying. Mike did just that. “You are fully surrounded with snipers and gunmen. Do as you are told and no harm will come to you. If you fire we will fire back on everyone. Do you understand?” The reply was yes.

Mike continued. “Driver, get out first and walk to the rear of the truck. Keep your hands held high.” The driver got out and did as he was told. “Gunner, you’re next.” The gunner complied as well. “Now open the tailgate of the truck.” The driver and gunner opened the tailgate. Inside was a mix of dead, wounded, and men who had given up on the fight.

Haliday told Mark, Blake, Alan, Randy and Kevin to keep their weapons trained on them. Mike spoke again. “One by one exit the back of the truck. You must remove everyone including the dead and injured. We want you 50 feet from the back of the truck.” The militia carried out the orders.

Haliday and Chuck moved in from behind slowly with rifles ready. They approached the deuce and checked the cab with a mirror, then moved toward the back and checked the bed, which was empty except for some weapons and gear. Haliday took over from here. “I want all of you not injured to move forward 10 yards and stop.”

The men moved forward and Haliday called Blake and Mike over. Haliday told them to check the dead and injured for any weapons of any type. “Take everything off them.” After they did this, they tossed everything in the back of the deuce. Haliday told the other men to spread out 10 feet, lay down, cross their legs, and place their hands on the backs of their heads.

Each one was searched and all of their gear was removed from them. Haliday had them all bound up. He called and asked if any of the nurses or doctors was available. One of the doctors came by and had another man with him. “Who’s that?” Haliday asked.

The doctor answered, “He’s from the fire department. He’s a paramedic.”

Haliday told them both thank you. “Can you take a look and let me know how the rest are?”

“Sure thing,” they said. They did a quick triage of the men.

Sixteen militia members had assaulted them. Five were still alive, seven were dead and four wounded. The doctor said that of the wounded, two more would die within hours. The other two were taken to the makeshift hospital under guard. Haliday asked the militia who was in charge. One of the men said he was.

Haliday walked over to him, “It’s time to end this thing now. You have women and children in there. You have women and children waiting for you guys out there, and many of them are not going to see their family members alive again. If we continue, it’s going to be a lot more. You ready to help end this?”

The man looked around at his fellow militia, the dead on the ground and the two dying men. “Yes, let’s end it.”

Haliday called Blake over to him. Blake walked up and they stepped aside. Haliday looked at him, “Who’s idea was that?”

Blake hesitated a bit. “Well, we heard how things were going and we got our stuff ready, we headed this way and hung out about halfway between here and the house. When I heard you call in the deuce I told them we needed to go now and we all headed this way.”

Haliday said, “Good job kid. You saved a lot of lives here. That made all the difference.”

They walked over to the militia men and Haliday called a few guys in to transport the prisoners. He looked over the leader and said, “Pick one more man to negotiate and then call in to the compound and tell them to send out two people. They’ll be safe, and if it doesn’t work out I’ll return them.” He cut the man’s hands loose and looked around. “Brad, you stay with me.” He then called in and spoke to the HQ.

Haliday listened to the conversation. “You guys in there don’t understand. These people just handed us our asses. We have 5 out 16 of us left, you hear that? Five of us. Our wives and kids aren’t coming anywhere near this place. Hell, if they are smart they left already. You understand what’s happening out here? Do you guys understand what will happen in there?”

The man continued, “Listen, they control the south end of the compound and that includes the food. You can’t get anyone in or out of the main gate because they have that under their control as well. It’s just a matter of time before they continue to march forward and then push everyone into the HQ building, where they’ll probably burn it down. Negotiating a ceasefire is the best we can get.”