“Yeah I finally got it the way I wanted it!” said John. He was showing off his newly lifted Jeep Cherokee in the church parking lot. Chase, Kurt, and Nic were there checking it out before church started.

“It is huge, how much lift is that?” asked Kurt.

“It’s only six and a half inches; it cost a lot, but it was worth it,” said John.

“How much have you invested in it now?” Chase asked.

John replied, “Just over four thousand,” “We are all going on the trails after church.”

“What trail are we going on?” Nic asked.

“The ones by the pumas mines,” John said.

John’s dad walked out from church and told them to come inside for the sermon, and that they could look at it after church.

“Please turn to Psalms 23” Pastor Paul said to the church. John , who was barely awake, much less keeping his friends inline, was brought to attention by the sirens coming from outside.

“I think those are police sirens,” said Nic.

“No those are ambulance sirens,” Chase said.

“Pay attention guys, I don’t want to get in trouble,” said John More sirens were sounding off, and they kept on.

Kurt said, “There has to be something big going on.”

“There was probably just a bad wreck, just ignore it,” John said.

“What time is it?” Chase asked.

“It is--”

“Everyone go home, gather as many of your belongings as you can, and get to safety. Hurry! We are being invaded!” the police officer yelled.

A panic started to brew, some screams filled the air at shock of the new, but mostly disbelief was the tone of the church.

To quiet everyone, the pastor yelled, “Everyone sit down, and you officer, you need to tell us some more information.”

Everyone obeyed and sat down, the officer began to fill them in on the terror on the horizon. “We don’t know which kind of terrorist group it is yet, but we can only guess that it is Al Qaeda or Taliban,” said the officer, and he continued, “We just got the call, and we know that most of them came up through Mexico. No one told us if Mexico helped them or not, but we know that they have to be coming our way, It is Los Alamos. Also they invaded through Cuba to Florida, and I’m sure they came air born. Now everyone get your stuff and evacuate before it’s too late.”

That is when everyone freaked out; it hit them when they got the story in full detail. Everyone rushed out of the doors, trying to get. Panic was at its highest level, and some people were screaming, like it was the end of the world. Once outside, John, Nic, Kurt, and Chase ran for the Jeep and out of nowhere a loud “BOOM” exploded through the air. Before they got to the Jeep, John’s dad told them to meet at Kurt’s house, from there John’s house, and then to the mountains!

John said, “We should have some time, if the terrorists have even made it up here yet, they probably confronted the Lab’s guards and the police.”

Everyone shook there head, but no one said a thing; all of them wanted too, but there was just too many thoughts in their head.

“Geese! My dad is driving so fast in his truck. Kurt do you think your dad has all of you guns ready and everything packed,” John said.

“If he heard the news already, then yeah, and he probably has the camper attached to the Land Rover by now,” Kurt said.

“Nic, Chase, have you guys got a hold of your parents yet?” John asked.

“No,” said Nic.

“Same,” said Chase.

“Ok, we are here,” said John.

Everyone got out of the Jeep, and Kurt ran over to his parents. His two brothers and two sisters were there too. Everyone exchanged information, and then John’s dad got real serious. “How many guns do you have, and do you have plenty of ammo?” asked John’s dad.

“I have two rifles, a .22 and a Springfield 30 ot 6, I also have a 12 gauge. I have plenty of ammo, I would say around a 1000 rounds, but most of that is .22 bullets for just messing around,” Kurt’s dad said, “What about you?” Gary said, Kurt’s dad.

“We have 17 guns total, and you don’t have to worry about ammo,” Frank said, John’s dad.

They left from there right away to John’s house.

“Everyone go inside and get all the food and supplies you can find. We packed Gary’s Camper slap full, but that isn’t enough. Gary go look in my shed and get the tools we would need. John come with me,” Frank said. John and Frank went to go get the guns and ammo.

An hour passed and Frank’s truck bed was completely fool, and so was John’s Jeep.

“Now where are we going?” asked Nic.

Frank replied, “I figured the mountains, but we will listen to the U.S. government first.”

They all got back into their cars and headed towards town.

With a 9mm in his pocket, and a his double barreled shot gun between him and Nic, John began to scream in anger, “ Who do they think they are, we should of just nuked them a long time ago!”

“How do you even know that it is those terrorist from Afghanistan, just calm down,” Chase said.

“Is everyone still behind us?” asked John.

“Yeah,” said Nic.

“What is that?” said Kurt.

“It looks like a truck rigged with a machine gun in the back of it, don’t you guys think so,” said John.

As soon as he said that, it began to shoot at them. John slammed on brakes, and began to honk on his horn to signal everyone else. AS he was turning, he returned fire from about 50 yards with the 9mm.

“Nic get that shot gun ready, Kurt get your rifle ready and tell Chase how to shoot his too,” John said.

John and everyone else began accelerating faster and faster, pushing there vehicles to get away from the terrorists.

“Are they coming after us!” screamed John.

“Of course they are you idiot. Do you think they would just let us go,” Kurt screamed with sarcasm.

“Well all ya’ll start shooting at them,” John said angrily.

“I’ll call our parents, and tell them to head towards the pumas mines,” Kurt said.

Gun shots were being fired in both directions. John and Kurt’s parents started pulling away because John couldn’t take his corners tight because of the height of lift on it. Firing the whole time, they finally made it to the entrance to Randia, and they went around a turn and Kurt’s parents and John’s parents were turned around and out of the car with guns pointed at them, as they passed they pulled off to the side of the road. Kurt, John, Chase, and Nic jumped out of the Cherokee, with guns blazing, and running toward everyone else. The truck with the terrorist just came around the corner, and everyone unloaded on them. The truck was demolished with ammo, and all the tires were shot out which caused them to flip ferociously into the ditch on the side of the road. Frank and Gary went to investigate, and the dead men inside the truck were in fact Al Qaeda or Taliban terrorists.

Kurt and John followed their dads to see the terrorist. Kurt and John immediately had the same thought run through there heads, “I hope we get all of them.” Frank, Gary, Kurt, and John all walked back to their trucks. Everyone gathered around, and Frank began to talk. “So this is my plan: We will gather up all of our equipment and try to share it equally. Each mature person will have a rifle, a short range weapon, and a knife. Once we separate all of our stuff, we will head off on the east trail from the pumas mines. It is heavily wooded, and surrounded by big boulders and lots of cover. Also it is a compact trail that tanks would not be able to fit through, only four wheel drive vehicles can make it through and fit properly. There is a creek running through most of it, and there are plenty of mule deer and other wild life to eat. Now does anyone think that there is a better plan?” Right away Gary spoke “I agree with you, and my family will come with you.”

“I think that we should try to keep as many of our guns with us and as many as your guns with you” said Frank. “So Gary how many guns did you have again?” asked Frank. Gary responded “We have two rifles and a shotgun. I will keep my Springfield, Kurt will have the shotgun, and my wife will hold on to our .22.” “Well then you only need a few guns, and your daughter Caitlyn will need one too. So I will carry my .280 and my 12 gauge, my son will carry his .270 and his 20 gauge shotgun, my wife will carry my .270 and her .38 special. As for the boys, Nic you can carry John’s .223 and my .357 magnum, and Chase you can carry John’s .22 and the 9mm. Caitlyn can carry my Henry .22, and Frank you can carry my .45. I will hold on to my ol’ 30-30 pistol” said Frank enforcedly. With all the guns sorted out, Frank quickly went over the guns that he loaned to Chase and Caitlyn. Then John went to his Jeep, Kurt grabbed shotgun, and Chase and Nic piled in the back with the guns in between them. Frank and his wife got in their truck, which was fully loaded with food and supplies in the back. Gary and his wife and four kids got in their Discovery. John took the lead on the trail, with his father at the rear.

As night fell John pulled his Jeep behind a huge bolder that was leaning against a huge rock wall. There was enough room for all three of the vehicles to pull in side by side. There was just enough room behind the trucks to set up a little camp site. After they parked, Frank, Gary, and the boys went out to search for wood. They pulled in three logs to sit on, and they put them in a U shape facing the entrance. After that they made a big fire pit, with rocks around it. As it got darker by the second, all the boys worked hard to cover up the entrance because it faced the trail. They threw fallen trees and bushes in the entrance until you couldn’t see through it. The exit was left open for a quick get away, if it was necessary.

“John start a fire so we can see, it is getting cold too so hurry up” commanded Frank. Once the fire was started, Stephanie, Frank’s wife, and Janet, Gary’s wife, began to cook some beans and other canned foods. Also they had plenty of jerky. When everyone began eat, Frank began to speak the words of truth “Now every one listen up. This meal, and the meals to come for the next couple days, will probably be the best we will have. That is a fact. I am thinking we got 3 weeks worth of food, at max a month. And I don’t know how long I can live on caned food. We are not going to be able to eat as comfortably as normal. We have to start hunting tomorrow, and each bullet counts. Ammo is our life line, and we can not miss any deer or humans. That is another thing that we need to address. Now I know that I won’t blink, and neither will John. I am sure Garry and Kurt will be fine too.—“We are” Gary confirmed.—The rest of you need to get it through your head that if you don’t pull that trigger first, if you hesitate or if you are scared, then they will kill you!” Frank exclaimed.
After dinner all the guys began to set up the tents around the fire. They made sure the sleeping bags, pillows, and the guns were in the tents.

“We’re going to have two guns to every tent” said Frank. “We’ll need to have a lookout throughout the night. I will start it off and we will take two hour intervals, then I’ll get you Gary and you can get Kurt” said Frank. Frank said with a smile looking at Kurt, “Be sure to wake up John after your two hours, and I’ll relieve you John.”

“So which guns will we carry while keeping an eye out?” John asked.

“I was thinking my semi-auto shotgun, and my .45 would be the best choice” Frank answered. “What do you think Gary?”

“Out of our choices, yeah I think so too.” Gary replied

“Speaking of shotguns, that reminds me we need to take the plugs out of them tomorrow so they will hold more shells.” Frank said “Gary do you think we should saw off any of them. We are out in the woods so I don’t know if it would be as effective”

Gary replied, “Maybe that double-barreled shotgun of your son’s, not all the way though; I don’t think any of the others should though.”

“All right lets hit the sack” said Frank
As the night went by it was very quiet. Frank’s turn had no excitement except for a noisy possum looking for some food. When Frank woke Gary, Gary’s turn was about the same. Right about the time Gary was getting in Kurt’s tent to wake him up; Gary heard a faint noise in the distance.

“Dad, do you hear that?” asked Kurt.
“Yes” whispered Gary. “Let’s go get the boys, stay behind me.” Gary commanded

“Give me the .45” said Kurt
They walked over to John and Frank’s tent and woke them up. All four of them thought the sound was a single truck coming down the Randia road.

“I’ll go get Chase and Nic up” said John
When John returned with Nic and Chase they started to talk about the plan.

“What should we do?” “These guys are military, they are trained to kill” Chase said with agony

“They could be U.S. soldiers too” said Nic

“We will be able to tell by what kind of vehicle they show up in.” said Gary “Now if they are our enemies we need a plan of attack, and we need one fast” commanded Gary.

“Well our cover is good, especially at night, so they probably won’t notice.” Frank said. “I still think we should have some guys right up front though because it is only just brush, and we can’t let them in with the ladies.” “So I think you, Kurt and Chase should stay up front and peer through the wholes” said Frank directed at Gary. “Nic and John will stand at the back on the side of the boulder facing the trail, and I will be across the trail facing down it also” said Frank.

“That sounds like a good plan to me” said Gary

John replied “That sounds good dad, but I had an idea also.” “So if it is the terrorist, I was thinking we could get my Jeep out just enough for the lights to be facing down the trail, and when they got close enough I could shine the crap out of them with all the lights that I have mounted on my Jeep.” “I mean I got like eight lights total, they wouldn’t be able to see.” John said.

“That is a great idea, we would see them perfectly, and we would shoot them down so fast they wouldn’t know what hit them.” Frank said. “What do you guys think?” Frank asked.

All agreed on the plan so John jumped in his jeep and set it up perfectly by where he and Nic would be. They waited and prayed that the truck in the distance was American. It was not a Humvee however, or any American military looking type of vehicle. As the lights of the enemy truck got closer, John got ready to flip his switches. When the truck got about 40 yards away John turned the lights on. For an instance everyone saw a red truck with scowling men in it---“boom boom boom!” three shotgun shots in a row pored out at the truck. The crack of gun shots erupted at the truck and finally a return from the truck. “Tttdtttd” groups of machine gun blasts returned fire, but most seemed to be in the direction of the air. The terrorist soldiers were falling to the ground with there hands on the trigger. Only two men made it out of the truck, but were shot down behind the doors. The whole encounter lasted for only a minute, and when it was done Frank ran to the truck, gun ready, and checked for survivors. There was none, and Frank grabbed the radio to listen if there had been any communication. Thankfully it was silent.

“Is everyone ok” Frank yelled!

“Yeah” everyone returned.

“All right, everyone meet around the camp fire” Frank commanded.

“Is everyone ok, did anyone get hit?” Frank asked franticly.
“No one was hit in here,” replied Gary.
“Nic and John are you ok?” Frank asked.
“I am fine, but I think my Jeep may have taken a couple of bullets. It better still run,” John said.
“I am ok too,” Nic said quietly.
Everyone talked amongst themselves. Making sure that everyone is ok, physically and mentally. Frank and Gary’s wife were worrying over the boys. They didn’t know how killing would affect them.
“If any of you boys want to talk about what happened, you can talk to me,” said Frank’s wife.
“They will be fine, they are strong. Now John come with me to that truck” said Frank.
While walking outside John asked, “What are we going to do with the bodies?”
“We are going to take them out of here and go the opposite way from camp for at lest ten miles” Frank said.
“So it looks like they got attacked down there?” asked John
“Exactly” said Frank.
“So dad are we keeping their weapons? Can I use one of their AK’s” asked John?
“I guess so, but Gary and I get first pick,” answered Frank.
John and Frank looked through the truck for weapons and supplies. Then they looked through the men’s packs. After they got all of their weapons and supplies, they loaded up the men in the back of the truck.
“Dad, I don’t think I like this. Like killing them really wasn’t bad at all, but moving around there dead bodies is weird,” John said.
“Listen here son you may not like what I have to say, but you are just going to have to suck it up. Times are hard, and they are going to get harder. You are going to have to grow and be a man. You have to be the leader of your friends, you cannot be weak. If something bothers you, don’t you show it to anybody but me. We can talk about things later on in private, just like now” Frank said
“Ok dad” John answered.
“Now lets take these guns back to camp” Frank said.
After they went back to camp to regroup, a lot of the boys tried to get some sleep. The women stayed up and began to start breakfast and got the water ready for coffee. Frank got in the enemy truck, while Gary followed him in his Land Rover. After they drove for about 15 miles in the opposite direction, they dumped the truck into the woods.
“All right lets go” said Gary,
“Once we get back and eat, I think we should head deeper into the woods. Like more towards the Santa Fe National forest” Frank said.
“Ok, the further we go the harder it will be for them to find us” Gary replied.
After they got back to camp they ate breakfast, and they ate well. They figured they deserved after last night. They had eggs, bacon, and grits. Then everyone packed up their supplies, and threw into the back of all the trucks. They had to see if the Jeep was going to run too. John put in the key, and it cranked up first try.
“Hey!” Frank said
“What do you expect, it is a Jeep” John said while smiling.
“All right everyone go back to camp, we got to talk about some stuff” Gary yelled.
Once they got to camp Gary began to talk “Alright guys last night isn’t going be the only time that will happen. It will most likely happen again, and we will need to do the same thing” Gary said.
“Except for this time we won’t have to fight with .22s” Frank said while smiling.
“That’s right, this time we have four AK’s and four automatic pistols” Gary said.
“We only have a limited supply of ammo for these new rifles, so we have to make every shot count.” Frank said.
“All right lets get out of here” Gary said.
Gary’s Family, other than Kurt, jumped into their discovery, all the boys jumped got into John’s Jeep, and Frank and Stephanie got in their truck.
As John got into the drivers seat he told Nic “Nic I told you that I was going to take you off roading, and I was going to let you drive. Well by God I’m no liar, so get over here it is your turn to drive. The rest of you guys can too.”
“Thanks John, we might as well have some fun you know” Nic said.
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Taking the Jeep through the trail over rocks and logs and all kinds of difficult obstacles really took the edge off. As they were going down a trail a really sharp turn came up. A dried out creek bed laid on the other side of the turn that was below the trail. When the guys saw this they stopped because it was such a good place to hide. John, Nic, Kurt, and Chase got out of the Jeep to look at their new camp.
“Why did ya’ll stop?” Frank asked.
John answered, “Because this is the perfect place to camp, look at it. It is around a really sharp turn and down from the trail. No one would be able to see us.”
“And if we heard some people coming we could climb that hill of the mountain. It is right over us and we could snipe down the trail easily,” Kurt added.
John walked back up to the trail and got in his Jeep. He led Frank and Gary down into the creek. They parked their trucks at an angle towards the trail for a quick escape if they needed it.
“Yeah this is perfect, not only could we use that hill for defense, but now we have a long shooting lane for deer or whatever,” Gary said.
“Lets just clear these rocks up so we can lay our tents on sand, not rocks” Frank said.
“Do you want us to go get wood for fire?” Chase asked.
“Yeah you boys go gather up a bunch of wood, and when you get back make a fire pit for the fire,” Frank said.
“Lets head out guys,” John said.
While they were in the woods, “Man what I would do to have my girlfriend out here” Kurt said

John said while laughing, “Kurt you are whipped for sure if that is what you are thinking about now. I mean we have only been shot at twice now and you are thinking about girls,” John said.

“You know what we have not done while we were out here?” Nic asked.

“What?” they asked.

“We haven’t tried using our phones to call people. We don’t know what’s going on out there,” Nic said.

“Yeah, we haven’t. Once we get back to camp we can start calling people.” Kurt said.
Once all of the boys got all the firewood, they headed back to camp. They sat the wood down into a pile and began to set up camp for the second time. They made the fire pit with plenty of rocks around it. Then they set up the tents around the fire pit. Once that was done they got Gary and Frank to help them move some bigger boulders around the fire to sit on. Once camp was completely set up it was time for dinner.
“All right now everyone come around for dinner. Let the boys go first they have been working hard all day ling,” said John’s mom.
“I am starving, what is for dinner?” Nic asked.
“Please say it isn’t beans again!” Chase said.
“It isn’t, and ya’ll quit whining, we are having canned chilly” Kurt’s mom
“That’s better than what we have had,” Chase said.
“You know dad, everyone is getting tired of this canned food. We need to get a deer.” John said.
“Alright. I’ll wake you guys up tomorrow morning to go” Frank said.
“So all of us were thinking about calling people. In all the excitement I don’t think anyone realized that we have phones” Kurt said.
“I have tried a couple of times, but have had no luck. I think Stephanie has been able to though.” Kurt’s mom said, signaling to John’s mom.
“Mom who did you talk to?” John asked
“I talked to my side of the family, and your dad has talked to Grandmother.” John’s mom said.
“Well why didn’t you guys tell me? Is everyone ok?”

Frank said while laughing, “Are you kidding me John? It is Georgia, they got more guns than an army from a small country.” Frank said.
“So the south isn’t having any troubles, where is Grandmother?”
“Not at all, they are just under Marshall Law. Grandmother is with Burt and Mary, but they are at her house.” Frank said.
“What about Mamaw and Papaw? Where are they?” John asked.
“Everybody in my family is either at your uncle Hank’s or your Aunt Jan’s,” said John’s mom.
“So do you guys know how our country is doing?” Kurt asked
“Are some parts doing better than others?” Nic asked.
“Pretty much all of the South and the East coast is just fine. Of course Texas is fine, although they did try to invade through there, Texas’ National Guard and Texas citizens shut them down.” Frank said.
“Ok” everyone said, listening intensively.
“Where are country is hurting is the west cost, and more of the western region past Texas. What happened was they invaded through Mexico, no one knows if Mexico is helping them, but why else would they let them through. It’s not like they didn’t know they were there. They haven’t taken over any region, I don’t think, but they are putting up a fight.” Frank said.
Chase asked “Well what about New Mexico?”
“That was one of the main places they came up through, we might be the worst state off. I’m sure that any moment now there should be a wave of our troops coming. You know they have to be worried about the lab.” Frank said.
“So that is where all the guards and police are at right?” Chase asked.
“Probably” Frank answered.
“Alright, enough of this serious talk, lets finish up dinner and go to bed” Gary said.
“Gary and I will wake you boys up in the morning to go hunting” Frank said.
At about five in the morning Gary and Frank woke up, and got breakfast going. Once it was ready they woke up the boys. While eating Frank told the boys who was hunting with who, and where they would be at. Frank figured the more spread up they were, the better they would do. So Frank would be by him self walking the woods to left of there camp. Nic and John would be up on the hill that overhung there camp, and looked down the trail. Gary, Kurt, and Chase would be down the opposite way of the trail from Nic and John. They all took off to go hunt and wished each other good luck. If they heard a shot they couldn’t shoot a dear if it walked out. Everyone had to come back to camp, and see if the person who took a shot hit the deer because they had no way storing more than one deer.
Nic and John climbed up the hill, and lied down on their stomachs, waiting for any deer to walk out.

“I think we got it the best,” John said

“Why?” Nic asked.

”Cause we have the best vantage point, and we can see so far. That has to be a couple hundred yards before that trail turns off.” John said.

“So am I going to shoot or what?” Nic asked

“Its not like we are starving or anything so if one walks out close I’ll let you shoot at it, but if its far off then I’ll take the shot”

“Once we take a break in the afternoon, we should dress up our hunting spot a bit” Nic said.

“Yeah that way we don’t have to lay on our stomach the whole time” John said.
John and Nic sat there for an hour and half waiting for a deer to pop out, but not one deer showed. John took a swig of his water and when he looked out an eight point mule deer stood just out of the woods eating grass next to the trail.

“Look” John whispered.

“Where?” Nic asked

“About a hundred and fifty yards out, to left and just outside of the woods. Be a little more quiet,” John said.

“Oh, I see it. Is that too far for me?” Nic asked

“Yeah, but lets wait a minute. He is hardly out of the woods, and we don’t know if he’ll walk out. If he gets closer I’ll let you shoot him,” John said.

“Ok,” Nic said.

“If he comes in close enough for you take a deep breath and calm down. When you shoot you don’t pull the trigger, you squeeze it. Wait for him to get broad side, and you put your cross hairs right next to his arm pit, right through the heart.” John told Nic.

“Ok, I hope it comes in closer!” Nic said excitedly

“Ok, we’ll see, be quiet, I’m not going to let this big buck get away,” John said.
The deer stayed off to the left side of the trail. He moved up and down next to the trail, grazing on the grass. The deer turned towards the woods as if he was going to run off, but it rubbed its antlers against the tree. The small amount of velvet left on his antlers was being rubbed off. He turned around again and headed up the trail. It stopped in the middle of the trail and put its head down again to eat grass and berries on the ground.
POW! The gun sounded, and the deer stumbled almost dropping to the ground, but made it to the woods.

“You got em’ John!” said Nic

“Yeah, lets wait a minute, and wait for everyone else before we go for the deer.” said John.
They waited for a moment before they heard a noise in the distance. They set up on their butts and looked into the distance. They heard the grumble of an engine in the distance. They saw little bits of dirt clouding up in the distance.

“Get ready Nic, lets lay down. Aim for their chest at first, and about when they get to where I killed that deer, aim for the head,” said John

“Lets see who it is first, then we will shoot,” Nic said
Peering through the scope of John’s rifle, the cloud of dirt drew closer, finally an old school Jeep CJ-7 showed up around the bend. John turned his scope up all the way so he could get a better view of who was in the distance. A familiar man, that he had scene before, was driving and in the passenger’s seat was his friend, and fellow team mate, David.

“Look, its David,” said John

“Really?” Nic asked

“Yeah, lets stand up and flag them down,” John said.
John and Nic stood up to flag David and his dad down. Once they stood up the Jeep slammed on the brakes, and they stopped with both doors open with rifles pointing straight at Nic and John.

“Oh hey Dave, Its John and Nic,” said John

“Hey Dave,” Nic said.

“John, what are you doing out here?” Dave asked.

“Probably the same reason you guys are out here. Come on over here, we just had shot a deer when you guys showed up so you will be having a good dinner tonight,” said John.
Dave and his dad drove up to the camp. They talked with the women, and John and Nic until everyone else came back. John and Nic went and received the deer and brought it back to camp.
Once they got back John’s dad began to talk to them, “Well this will be the first time you boys will clean a deer. Gut it first, and then skin it. Hurry, everyone else wants to eat,”

Just when the sun started to come down Nic and John finished, they handed the rest of the deer over to Frank so he could cut the meet out that they would eat for dinner. Nic and John walked up the hill that overhung their camp and began building it up. They were trying to make it more bunker like, like a ground blind, but defensive too. The built a semi-circle out of big rocks and small boulders that covered the entire top of the hill. They stacked the rocks up to almost four feet high and stopped.

“I think that’s good enough for today,” said John

“Yeah I’m tired, you know what we should do?” said Nic

“What?” asked John.

“Well the next time it rains, or if we could find a creek or something, we should stucco it up. You know like pueblos, and it will look more like apart of the hill I think,” said Nic.

“Yeah lets do that, we will go look for a creek tomorrow in my jeep,” said John.

“Well lets go eat, I am starving,” said Nic

Nic and John walked back down the hill back to camp.

“Well I figured we would eat the best first since we are going to either have to smoke the rest of this meat or pour salt on it to preserve it. This meal is going to be the best one so eat as much as you can,” said Frank

“Did you cook the back strap and tenderloin?” John asked.

“Sure did, along with deer burgers,” said Frank

“All I’m going to eat is the tenderloin and the back strap, it is better than beef,” said John.

For the first ten minutes everyone was just quiet. This was the first good meal they had since being out on the run. Once everyone let the flavor sit in, they were eating more of it or talking about how good it was. For sides they had cream corn and baked beans with sweet tea to drink. Everyone was so full that as soon as they hit the sack, they were asleep.

The next morning John and Nic woke up and went straight to John’s Cherokee. They grabbed two big ol’ buckets to fill with water if they could find a creek. John brought two of the AK’s from the soldiers that they had taken them from just in case they ran into trouble. They began to go down the gravel road away from their camp, Aspen trees and big pine trees flying by in the wind as they went. The sun was out and it was the perfect temperature. A couple of miles down the trail they notice a turn of that was overgrown, but could not stop John’s jeep in anyway.

“Turn in there John, let’s see what is down this way,” said Nic

“Ok, I wander what is back here,” said John

They drove into the over grown path that was completely weeded out. The path went are around a bend and had five boulders blocking the path. John crawled over the boulders in his Jeep and proceeded on. The path went up hill slightly and went around another corner that ran into a clearing

“We will have to remember this, it would be a good spot to hunt,” said John

The clearing stopped and path kept on a little way further and stopped at a good size creek. The creek looked to be almost three yards wide. John and Nic got out of the Jeep and looked up and down the creek. The creek went down a ways both up and down, but then it disappeared after turns in the creek

“I wander where this creek comes from?” said John.

“It probably branches off of a river or something. Maybe its this mountain’s own little river from snow fall and rain over the years,” Nic said.

“I wander if there is any fish in this creek, if it is branched from a river of some sort than there should be fish in here,” John said

“Don’t you have polls in the Jeep,” Nic said.

“You know what, I think I do. Maybe we can catch some trout,” John said.

John and Nic ran back to the Jeep. They grabbed both of the buckets, two poles and a tackle line. John sat up both of the polls while Nic filled up the buckets with water.

“Don’t fill one of the buckets up all the way,” John said.

“Why?” Nic asked.

“Because if we catch any fish, we will need to through them into one of the buckets of water to keep them alive,” said John.

Nic and John sat there fishing for about 15 minutes until John got a bite.

“Ho! I got a bite!” John exclaimed. He ripped the poll back so that the hook would rip into the fish. He reeled the fish in quickly, and then let off. Then he reeled it in some more, pulled on the line and reeled the fish in even more. He let it off for a second and the reeled it in completely.

“Well I would say that is a good sized trout,” John said

“Yeah its pretty big,” Nic said

“You know I don’t know much about trout or any kind of fish out here. I am use to large mouth bass, catfish, and brim,” John said

“Fish are all the same to me,” Nic said

They went back to fishing again and about ten minutes later Nic caught one.

“I got one John, I got one!” Nic exclaimed.

“Rip on the poll, make sure you get the hook deep in em’!” John yelled.

Nic tried to follow John’s process of fishing down to the last detail. He messed up a bit here and there, and nearly lost him a couple of times. Finally Nic reeled it in.

“Well your trout looked pretty good until now, mine is way bigger,” Nic said while laughing.

“You wish, now I’m just saying based on how you nearly let him go. Have you ever fished before?” John asked

“I have gone a couple of times, but I have never fish much,” Nic said.

“Well you will get better,” John said.

John and Nic kept on fishing until the heat of the day started in. That is when the fish stopped biting. They caught nine fish total. Most of them were trout, and two of them they did not know what it was. It was just past noon when they started back to camp. They went back across the clearing and down the trail and over the boulders. Once they got back to camp and got out of John’s Jeep, everyone looked at them. They pulled out the two buckets of water.

“Look what we brought back,” John said.

Nic and John both pulled out their biggest fish from the bucket to brag about.

“Hey, Hey where did you guys get those?” Frank asked.

“There is a trail up the way, you have to go over some boulders and through a field and there is this creek,” said Nic.

“Yeah it is a great fishing spot. That clearing that you have to go through seems to be a good spot to hunt also,” said John.

“Well you guys are going to have to show us where that is,” Frank said while motioning to Gary and the rest of the boys.

“We should all go fishing tomorrow,” said Kurt.

“It would defiantly keep everyone’s mind off of the current war happening,” said John’s Mom.

“All right let’s do it. I’m pretty sure that my Jeep will be the only thing that can get us there though,” John said.

“That’s alright, we will go as far as we can and walk the rest of the way,” said Frank.

“Can you boys help me get the camper off the back of the land rover. I don’t want that on there for just a short trip,” Gary said.

John and Nic handed over the fish to John’s Mom and Kurt’s mom, and then they followed Gary, and Chase and Kurt, and Dave. They unhitched Gary’s camper and sat it down closer to the fir pit. Once they finished, John and Nic took the buckets of water from John’s mom to take to there fort.

“Hey Dave, you wanna help fix up Nic and I’s fort up there at the top of the hill,” John said.

“Sure,” Dave said

Dave, John, and Nic walked up to there soon to be fort.

“So what are we going to do first?” Dave asked.

“Well John and I figured that we would kinda pueblo stile our fort, you know like stucco these rocks,” Nic said.

“So that’s why you guys have so much water?” Dave asked.

“Yup, I’ll be right back, I’m going to go get a shovel.

“Dave help me take these two sections of rock out,” Nic pointed to two different spots in the wall. “We are going to put two small pine trees in those holes, and put a roof over this thing,” Nic continued.

“Ok, I see where you guys are going with this,” Dave said and began to take out rocks.

John came back with an axe and a shovel, “Got what we need, I’ll cut down two small pine trees while you guys are doing that,” John said.

John walked up the mountain side and picked out two trees. He began cutting them down one at a time. Once he finished, he dragged the two pine trees down the mountain side back to the fort. Dave and Nic were done with pulling out the rocks and began digging down into those spots so John could put the trees in.

“Ok, so I cut six big branches off of the two trees to set up the pattern. What we will do is have the two biggest branch running back from the two trees, to the very back corners of the fort. Then we will run another branch on top of those two branches from tree to tree. Then will do the same thing, but in the back from corner to corner. Then the next two biggest branches will run diagonal from left tree to right corner, and right tree to left corner. We will put all kinds of cover on the roof, and cover the complete right side, but leave the left side open so we can see to the left,” John instructed. “Do you guys get it?” he asked.

“I do,” said Nic

“Same here,” said Dave.

“Lets set up everything first, and then stucco everything together so it is stronger,” Nic said.

“Don’t you guys think we should put a post in the middle to hold the roof up better?” Dave asked

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m going to go get Kurt and Chase so we can finish this faster,” John said as he ran down the hill to Kurt and Chase. There he explained the hole plan to them, and they went back up the hill, and everyone followed the plan exactly. By the time the whole skeleton of the fort was finished, the fish was ready and it was time for lunch.

“Alright boys Janet, Kurt’s mom, and I cooked up all the fish and some more deer meat,” said John’s mom.

“Sounds great Mrs. Stephens,” Dave said to John’s mom.

John, Nic, Dave, Kurt, and Chase were served first. Then Frank, Gary, and Doug, Dave’s dad, were served. The women and children followed, to a total of 15 people being fed.

While everyone began to eat, John thought to strike up a conversation.

“So Dave, where were you guys before ya’ll came down this trail?” John asked.

“We were deep in the pumas mines,” Dave answered and stopped to take a bite of meat. “We were there a couple of days, before we figured it was to open and there wasn’t enough coverage from the air,” Dave said.

“How long have ya’ll be out on the run?” John asked

“Just a couple of days,” Dave’s dad answered. “The police force was instructed to help the lab security from the terrorist,” he said with a smirk. “Really we were the only ones doing anything. The lab’s security was locked up inside, we were there to keep the terrorists away as long as possible. Once we got down to only a couple of men, I knew it was time to retreat,” Dave’s dad said.

“So Doug what happened?” Frank asked.

“Well were one of there main focus’ because of our Nuclear arms up here, plus the capabilities of making them here. They learned from Japan, they figured if we started nuking there home, they wouldn’t be able to last long; so they cut the head off of our nuclear head quarters. Pretty much all of New Mexico was taken, we still have a little bit of our National Guard fighting, but that surprise attack really neutralized New Mexico’s military,” Doug said

“Ok” we all acknowledged.

“So as far as I know Mexico helped them get into the States, probably for a pay off. So they came on land and in the air from Mexico, and attacked the Border States. Right away they controlled the southern parts of the Border States. In California they kept on pushing, three quarters of it is under enemy control. They really focused on California, New Mexico, and Texas. They had half of Texas the last I heard, but with all of Texas’ ranchers and gun owners plus their state military, the terrorists were being pushed back. Also since California and New Mexico were completely under enemy control, they could attack Nevada and Arizona from three sides. So overall the terrorists have three quarters of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and half of Texas. Now all of that happened in the first two weeks, since then nothing has changed, there are just battle states. We have been in it over month now, we will last, they won’t,” said Doug.

“What about the rest of the country? The last we heard they tried to attack the South, but failed,” Gary said.

“That is exactly right, it was a complete and utterly failure. The South’s citizens, gangsters, police departments, and Military were ready for them, and they couldn’t do anything. The surprise attack is why they did so well at first, they are good with those sucker punches, but when they stand up and fight us, we make them kiss it. Another thing they did was surprise attack Guantanamo Bay, we never got full word what happened, but I bet they took it without any reinforcements being there. That helped them, getting there head men out,” Doug said.

“We’ll get them, it’s only a matter of time,” said Doug.

Once everyone finished with lunch, the boys went back up the hill to finish their fort off.

“We only got a couple of hours of light left so let’s finish up this fort,” John said.

“This thing is going to be so dope once we get done with this,” said Kurt.

“Yeah once this is all over with, we will have to play paintball over here. King of the hill would be perfect,” Chase said.

John began to dig a hole in the ground so he could poor water into it to make the mud that would goon the rocks. He made the hole about five feet wide, five feet long, and two feet deep. Once it was done he dumped one bucket of water in it, and put the other to the side. He let it sit there for a couple of minutes until they started use the dirt that he already dug out. They stuck in to the hole of water and made the dirt into mud. They did the outside of the fort first, and when they almost finished that, they ran out of dirt.

By the time that happened the dirt underneath the water got soaked, and it got really muddy. They finished stuccoing the front of the rock, and began to do the top of the rocks. Once that was finished, they made real sure that it was thick enough all the way around and evenly and that the mud was sticking to the tree and the branches really well. Then they stuccoed the inside of the fort. On the inside they made sure they stuccoed the tree and branches to the rocks first, so that they whole fort would be secure. Then they finished the inside. Overall it looked great, the outside of the fort was almost three inches thick with mud all the way around, and on all the places that the trees and branches connected to the rocks. On the inside it was about two inches thick. Once the boy’s thoroughly expected the fort, they grabbed some drinks that John and Kurt’s mom brought and sat back and looked at there master piece as the sun went down.

“That is one first class fort right there,” John said and took a sip of his drink.

“Yup, I can’t believe that we actually made that,” Nic said and sighed.

“Shoot, people would pay for stuff like that,” Kurt said with a grin.

“Yeah it’s awesome,” Chase said.

“It will look even better tomorrow when the mud dries,” Dave said

“I don’t know about you guys, but I want to sleep out here tonight,” John said.

“Yeah let’s go get our sleeping bags,” Nic said.

The boys ran down the hill got their sleeping bags and pillows and went back up to the fort to get set up for the night. “This is perfect, I could live out here all the time,” John said.

“Yeah this is great, especially with that view,” Kurt said and they all looked out to the Sun Set and watch it come down.

“Let’s hit the sack so we can go fishing tomorrow,” said Dave.

“All right,” they all said.

“I’m going to call my cousin and I’ll hit the sack after word,” John said. John crawled out from the fort and walked out to the edge of the hill and sat down. He took his phone out of his pocket and took a picture of the fort and sent it to his cousin. He waited a moment for a response from his cousin until his phone rang. He picked up his phone and sat it next to his ear and voice began to come through the earpiece.

“What in the heck is that, and why have you had your phone turned off. I’ve been trying to call you for weeks,” said John’s cousin

“I tried saving my battery, we are in quite in a predicament. I’m using it for emergencies, and well my battery is dieing anyway so I decided to call you,” said John

“Ok, so what is going on out there, are you guys safe?” John’s cousin asked.

“Shoot Cody, you know them terrorist ain’t got nothing on an ol’ country boy like me,” John said while laughing.

“Yeah, yeah, have you actually had to fight them?” Cody asked.

“Yes, we have twice, but we got the upper hand both times and nobody got hurt. Let’s not talk about that though. What do you think of our fort though, it’s awesome, isn’t it,” John said with glee.

“Yeah, it looks great. How long did it take?” Cody asked.

“Two days of work, we used a bunch of rocks, two trees, branches, lots and lots of leaves and bushes for cover, and mud for stuccoing it,” John explained.

“Yeah I was wandering how ya’ll did that,” Cody said.

“So how are ya’ll sitten’ out there?” John asked.

“Good, it’s like nothing even happened for us. The west is what got it bad, ‘course you already know that. I wouldn’t worry too much; it’s only a matter of time before we take them all out. We completely blockaded Mexico, and started bombing the crap out of them. They won’t be able to do much for much longer,” Cody said.

“Well they are getting supplies from central and south America I would guess right?” John asked.

“Nope, we packed Battleships all the way down the Panama Canal; those ships were loaded with bombs, missals, and troops. We are hitting Mexico from every angle. Plus we warned the Middle East that if they did not take action soon, we would start bombing them profusely,” Cody said.

“Good, I hope we do,” John said

“Yeah it’s kinda scary though, ‘cause if we start bombing them like there is no tomorrow, it could turn into another world war,” Cody said.

“Yeah it’s just like dang Red Dawn, you remember seeing that movie?” John asked while laughing.

“Yeah except this time its “Brown Dawn”,” Cody said while laughing. Both he and John broke out into a loud laugh.

“Yeah sand brown,” John said while laughing a little harder.

“Well you guys be careful out there, keep your head down if you have to,” Cody said.

“Don’t even worry,” John said.

“All right, I’ll talk to you later,” Cody said.

“I love you man”

“I love you too”

“Bye”

“Bye”

John walked back to the fort and crawled into it and into his sleeping bag.

“Why were you laughing?” Nic asked.

“Cause my cousin said this is just like that movie “Red Dawn,” except this time its “Brown Dawn”,” John said and began to laugh again, and once everyone else got it they joined in with laughter. After that they slowly went to sleep.

John woke up slightly with the sound of engines in the distance. In the deepest part of his sleep, it kept him from focusing so he rolled over and went back into his slumber. As the noise got closer he woke up again, half asleep until the lights in the distance flickered in and out of the trees; touching his face and the fort occasionally as they moved. That was the wake up call for John. Adrenaline and endorphins rushed through his body. The slight breeze in the air touched his naked back and chilled his cold sweat that was running down his spine. He froze there only for an instant, but it felt like an eternity while the thoughts of evil and scary things ran through his mind. After that instant he rushed to stand up and David was the next to get up.

“O, Crap!” Dave whispered fearfully.

“Everyone get up,” John said just loud enough to take everyone out of their dreams, and walked over them kicking them and nudging them to wake them up. “There is someone coming, and I’m guessing that they aren’t friendly. Dave run down to camp and wake up everyone. Get the guys up here,” John commanded.

John reached for his rifle and got sat up in his new fort. He was set up to snipe right at the end of the trail. “Kurt grab that other rifle and get sat up with me for now. Grab to cases of .270 bullets,” John said with vigilance.

By the time Kurt and John got sat up Frank, Gary, Doug were up in the fort. Doug carried his M1 and his M4 for Dave and he to use.

“Now, John, Nic, I will stay sat up here and snipe right here in this front opening in the fort. Doug, you and Dave go up about fifty yards from the fort and get about seven yards in the woods; same for you Gary and Kurt, but stay about twenty yards back from Doug and Dave,” Frank instructed and pause only a second to continue on, “Chase, you are going to stay down with the women and children, carry my semi auto-shot gun. It holds five shells now,” Frank handed chase the shotgun and a box of shells, and continued on again, “Keep them safe, now go on. Now when we killed those last terrorist they had four grenades. Here is the plan, you guys are going to wait for them to get right up on you and time it for their convoy to run over four grenades,” Frank looked out the fort for inspection, “It looks like three or four sets of lights, so we have to get those grenades just right. Once they explode, open fire on them like you just unleashed hell on them. Then start falling back quickly so that you are twenty yards from the fort at most. All the while, John, Nic, and I will snipe them as soon as the grenades explode. They won’t know what to do. You guys head out now, we don’t have much time. Carry plenty of ammo and grab secondary weapons,” Doug and Dave sprinted out of the fort and down the trail about fifty yards on either side of the road. Kurt and Frank almost left until Frank stopped them. “Gary, Kurt, take these, you’ll need them,” Frank said as he handed over the two AK’s with four clips each.

“Thanks, we will get them,” Gary said.

“Kurt take my shot gun, Dad just sawed it off a couple days ago. If they get close to you use it,” John said while he grinned.

Gary and Kurt ran down the trail about thirty yards and one went on either side of it. “Its late Nic, our shots will be off so aim for the chest,” John said.

“Ok, if there is four cars, won’t there probably be more of them than us?” John asked.

“Possibly, but don’t think about that. Just focus on what we got to do, and don’t let one slip through you cross hairs,” John said.

“If they have a gunner, we have to get him. So if there is one, focus on him until we get him,” Frank commanded.

“What happens if they get to us?” John asked.

“We drop or rifles and charge in, we got two shotguns and one more AK,” Frank said.

All three of them sat there and were silent waiting on the inevitable that lied just ahead of them. Five minutes passed and the first car came around the corner. It came all the way around the corner, and another one followed it. Two more followed those two, and when they got about 100 yards away Frank said, “Get ready for whatever.”

The four trucks and SUV’s started coming down the trail. John, Frank, and Nic waited in the fort trying to anticipate when the explosions would occur. Every yard closer to the fort, the suspense grew higher. It was hard for them to wait and not shoot. Just before the trucks came into the red zone, Doug, Dave, Gary, and Kurt threw their grenades. A few moments later an incredible sound erupted in the air, at first it was it was a sonic boom and fire screamed up into the air with a hiss following it. Then the backlash of it all sat in.

The timing of the grenade throws was perfect. The first two trucks got right past them when they exploded. The main blast took out the back two trucks. One flying off the trail to the right and one flying off to the left. The third closest truck’s back end flew up in the air with its front wheels touching, and when they came crashing back down again the truck tipped over on to its side. The lead truck slammed on brakes, four doors opened, and five men piled out of it. Bursts of machine gun fire then inflicted on the lead truck. For a good 30 seconds that happened, and then Doug, Dave, Kurt, and Gary fell back just like the plan. This whole time Frank, John, and Nic fired at will, mainly at the surviving men from the back of the convoy that were now crawling out of the recked trucks.

What was left of the enemy now regrouped at the main truck. One of the men got into the truck and began backing up slowly as three other men backed up behind the doors, firing at where they thought Doug, Gary, and everyone else could be. In the processes of backing up John shot the driver straight through the windshield and right into his chest. The three men that were left fell back into the wreckage, but two were shot before they could get there. When the last man realized he was alone, he began to sprint down the trail in retreat. He was shot down by Frank before he could escape.

“I think we got all of them. Go inspect the wreckage, we will watch over you guys,” Frank yelled.

Gary, Kurt, Doug, and Dave moved up the trail on the right side, right behind the tree line. They moved slowly and cautiously, at arms reach, trying to keep anything bad from happening.

In all the madness that just occurred, no one even noticed the ambush that was happening behind them. Nic was the first to here gun shots from behind the fort.

“They are behind us!” Nic screamed.

“O crap! Everyone get back here!” Frank screamed so that Doug, Gary, Dave, and Kurt would here.

“Chase is down there by himself, I have to help him!” John exclaimed.

John ran and got the last remaining AK. He grabbed three clips and the .45 too. John sprinted down the hill and put the AK at his shoulder, ready for anything to happen. Nic started to get up when Frank yelled, “Stay here and snipe. Watch over those guys until they get here, I’ll go down. Once they get here, turn back around and snipe. Be careful at what you shoot, there is women and children down there!”

Frank followed John, sprinting down the hill with pump action 12 gauge, pointing straight out and ready to kill.

“Chase! Chase! Where are you?” John yelled. John came around a tent and saw two guys with guns heading towards the camper. John opened fire on them, and struck both of them down dead under ten seconds. He turned around and there was Frank, just pulling the trigger of his shot gun on two other men coming from behind John. John and Frank checked both of those men to see if they were dead, and then moved on.

“Over here!” Chase’s voice sounded faint, like it struggled.

John and Frank moved towards the voice. “Ppokoow,” a rifle round sounded from the rear of them, and then a body dropped to the left of them. Then Gary, Kurt, Doug, and Dave sprinted towards Frank and John, coming to their right in help of stopping the surprise attack. As they moved forward they noticed four more trucks, and that’s when a fire fight broke out.

Most of the enemy men stayed out their trucks, waiting for everyone to come across their shooting lane. Once they showed, the enemy opened up fire; Doug scrambled to the left and hit the dirt next to John and Frank. They hid behind their logs and boulders that were circled around the camp fire. Gary, Kurt, and Dave ran to the right, over the trail. Gary stopped and laid down in the ditch next to the trail, poking out just enough to shoot at the insurgents. Dave and Kurt retired into the woods next to the trail and moved forward to the trucks. They stopped and opened fire on the enemy convoy. This allowed John, Frank, and Doug to lift their head and shoot at the terrorists. Doug got up and sprinted to another boulder in the camp site, closer to the terrorists, and shot at them even more. Nic could not see the convoy from the fort so he ran down the hill on to the trail. He ran towards the action until he got a glimpse of what was ahead of him. Then he crouched until he had a perfect view of the convoy; he then laid down right on top of the trail, half and half with the ditch. He laid out in full sniper position, and began peckering away on the terrorists. This really helped, and when they were getting it from four spots, the terrorists were overwhelmed and got pushed back until they were defeated.

Once enemy fire stopped, Kurt ran out to Chase. He was diagonal from Kurt and was about twenty yards away. “Chase!” Kurt yelled as he sprinted out to him.

Chase laid there with blood coming out of his mid section slowly, but surely. Kurt got close to him right when Chase started to talk, “It—it hurts, so bad.”

“What happened?” Kurt said franticly, “We need help over here, in a hurry,” Kurt screamed!

“They came out of nowhere,” Chase said weakly

Everyone else kneeled down next to them. Then Kurt’s mom showed up with a wet rag, water, and a towel. “Two people go look for a first aid in those trucks!” Gary commanded.

“I think we may have one in the camper,” Janet said.

“Oh my God! It hurts like crazy,” Chase screamed in agony with a small amount of blood coming out of his mouth every time he talked.

“Just be quiet buddy, it’ll be alright,” Kurt said kindly, but with false hope in the back of his mind. Kurt reached out to give a hand to Chase; Chase gladly accepted it to squeeze on for pain relief. Janet rushed back over with a first aid kit in her hand. Gary took the flash light and stood back and shined it on Chase’s wound. Janet got prepped while Stephanie doctored him up the best she could. She laid the cool wet rag on his forehead, and whipped away the excess blood from his stomach and then applied pressure. Frank walked over with a plank of wood and a bottle of whiskey in his hands. “Drink this, it will help the pain. Once we start on you, bite this wood for relief,” Frank said trying to help the best he could.

“All right Stephanie, take the pressure off when I say. Now Chase this is going to hurt at first and I’ll be honest with you, it’s not going to get better. So be ready,” Janet said as sweetly as she could.

Stephanie took the towel off his wound, and then Janet started pouring water all over his stomach, and in his bullet wounds so she could see better. There were three bullet holes, and Janet got the tweezers out. Chase saw this and took a big gulp of the whiskey, trying to fade out the pain to come.

“Stephanie, I’m going to look for the bullets. Can you open the holes wider so I can see better,” Janet said seriously,

“Sure. Let’s do our best,” Stephanie said uneasily.

When Stephanie opened the bullet wounds Chase cried out in agony, “Ahhh, ughhh.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Kurt said with tears rolling down his cheeks. All he could do is hold his best friends hand as tightly as possible, and pray to God for mercy on Chase. Janet pulled out the first two bullets, and chase was half way done with the bottle of whiskey, and was almost biting all the way through the wood. As she was searching, she noticed an exit womb.

“There isn’t another bullet. It passed all the way through,” she said quietly, “Ok Chase, we are almost done. This will be the worst part, but it is almost done,” Janet said sweetly. Janet poured hydrogen peroxide into his bullet wombs. She wanted to make sure it was completely clean before she sowed them up. She dumped the hydrogen peroxide on him again, and then they rapped him up into two towels all the way around his midsection, and tied it tight to try and stop the bleeding. Once the needle and fishing line was ready, Janet began to sow Chase up. That is when chase started to slip in and out of consciousness. All of what he went through was almost humanly unbearable with out pain killers.
Once she finished they rapped him back up in the two towels, and tied them together even tighter this time. They needed to stop the bleeding or he would hemorrhage to death.

“Pick him up, and take him over to the fire pit. Some one get a fire going. Get some blankets too. Let’s keep him warm,” Stephanie said.

Kurt and Chase laid down next to the fire and talked all about the good times they had, All the way from kindergarten right down to the previous year. The rest of the men went out to both of the wreckages of the enemy convoy. They made sure everyone was dead and that the fires were out. Tonight was such a tragedy that they figured that they could figure everything out tomorrow. Chase and Kurt sat out there all night long just talking, and chase would take an occasional sip of the whiskey to keep the pain away.

The next morning Kurt woke up next to his best friend, and he was stone cold and dead. Kurt got up, walked down the trail a ways and just looked off into the horizon for a couple of minutes. He just sat there, in some sort of a daze of disbelief it seemed. After a while he just collapsed there and screamed bloody murder for a moment. He then cried a little bit and his parents walked over to him and comforted him. They walked into the camper, and they stayed in there all day to keep Kurt company.

Meanwhile, John a Nic got into the Cherokee, Dave in the CJ, and Frank in the Dodge Ram, they had to move all the wreckage the best they could. The trucks that were still drivable, they drove them off even further than the first time the took trucks off. Only two trucks were completely trashed, and those were the ones that got hit with the full blast of the grenades. John hooked them up with the winch and pulled them off into the woods one at a time. Once they finished with that, they drove all over the place to try to throw anyone off that was trying to track them. Everyone decided to go to the creek for the next camp site. That was only about three and half miles down the trail from their camp now so they drove even further down the trail to throw people off. They went down other side trails multiple times to try and make it look like they went that way. Once Frank was satisfied they went to the trail that led to the creek.