The Guardians (37 page)

As Evan and Jason reache
d the Suburban, Jason came running out of the house with an ammo can, two AR-15's and his Remington.  Evan and Luke both grabbed an AR and the three men got in the Suburban.  Evan fired it up and tore off down the driveway to get to their fellow homesteaders before it was too late. 

Evan drove like a madman.  He was desperate to prevent one more innocent life from being taken from their community.  He slid sid
eways around every turn barely hanging on to the road.  After a few miles, Evan said, "The Smith's homestead is just up ahead.  We'll find a place to ditch the truck and then jog in on foot to take up a position once we figure out what's going on.  As they rounded the next corner, a freshly cut tree was down in the road.  Evan slammed on the breaks and brought the big SUV to a screatching hault.  He looked up into the rear view mirror and saw several men step out into the road, armed with a mix of weapons.  He yelled, "Trap!" ducked down below the dash, threw the truck in reverse and floored it backing the large SUV directly into the oncoming fire of the enemy guns at full speed. 

Three of the four gunmen dove out of the way
and were narrowly missed, but one unlucky attacker was crushed by the large SUV.  Not being able to see where he was going, the Suburban slipped off the edge of the road and down the embankment, rolling over on its top, ten feet down below.

"Move! Move! Move!" yelled Evan as he,
Jason, and Luke scurried out of the windows and disappeared into the woods. 

As they ran, they could hear gunfire riping into the Suburban behind them.  After running about fifty yards, Jason dove behind a log and covered the area behind them.  Evan and Luke both peeled off into a position of cover as well.  Evan gave Luke hand signals to cover their back, while he and Jason remain
ed focused on their pursuers.  After a moment, the shooting ended.  Jason, Evan, and Luke remained in position, ready to engage their attackers, but they never came.  Evan moved over to Jason's position to put together a plan.

"What the hell?" Evan said.

"If they were after us, they wouldn't have stopped so easily," added Jason.

"Let's give it a few more minutes and then move on if we don't see or hear anything
else," Evan replied.

Meanwhile, back on the Homefront, Nate and Peggy were taking a leisurely walk through the woods.  They had become nearly
inseparable over the past week as they both felt a connection right away. It only made sense of course.  He was his mother's son, and she was quite fond of Peggy as well.  They were just making small talk when Peggy reached down and took Nate's hand.  He looked up at her and smiled.  He couldn't believe the turn of luck his life was taking.

Just then, he heard a cracking branch behind him.  He turned to look back just in time to see the butt of a rifle about to connect with his face when everything went dark.

After another ten minutes of not seeing or hearing anything, Jason said, "Something doesn't make sense.  That downed tree was planned to stop anyone who may be coming to help the Smiths.  Why wouldn't they pursue us when they realized we got away, if they were going through all that trouble?"

"Do you hear that?" Evan said.

"What?" replied Jason.

"Nothing, no gunfire off in the distance.  We are close enough to Lloyd's place to hear shots being fired if it was still going on," Explained Evan.

"Do you think they've already taken the place?"

"Could be...or this entire thing was a diversion to pull us away from the Homefront," Evan said.

"Son of a bitch," said Jason.  "Well, there is only one way to find out.  Let's get to the Smith place right now!"

Evan and Jason both got up and began to jog through the woods, giving Luke the signal to follow. They ran the next mile to the Smith
's homestead to find the siege of the home to be over.  Exhausted, they ran up to the tree line, stopping just short of exposing themselves and yelled to the house, "Lloyd, are you OK?"

"Yea, we are fine," Lloyd yelled from the inside.

"Where are they?" yelled Evan.

"We don't know, they just quit shooting and left," Lloyd replied.

"We've been had," Evan said to Jason and Luke.  He then ran out of the woods towards the house and yelled, "We are taking your ATV's, we've gotta go."

Lloyd just replied, "Oh OK," as Evan didn't have time to explain.

Lloyd had two ATV's in his shed.  "Jason, you take the Honda.  Luke, hop on the Polaris with me.  We'll cut through the mountains to get there.  We can't trust the roads right now," Evan said as they climbed aboard the ATV's and fired them up.

They rode through the woods as fast as they could go, dodging trees and low branches along the way.  They connected onto an ATV trail that Evan was familiar with that would get them part of the way there.  The rest would be pure cross-country  Evan's mind raced at a million miles per hour as to what may be going on back at home.  He could not believe
they fell for such a ruse if what he feared may be happening was true.

Back at the Homefront, Sarah, who was standing watch upstairs, had seen some armed men milling around the tree
line through the spotting scope.  She immediately alerted Greg who ran and grabbed a rifle and joined her.  "Where's your Dad?" she asked.

"He's looking for Peggy and Nate.  They went out for a walk this morning
before and we haven't seen them since."

It was just then that a shot was fired on the house, followed by another and another.  "Where's Jake?" she asked as she heard him running up the stairs towards the observation post.  As he topped the stairs
, she looked at Jake and said, "Make sure all of the kids are in the basement with Molly.  Make sure they are locked down."

Without saying a word, he nodded and ran back down
the stairs to do as she asked.

Griff was still out trying to find Nate and Peggy.  They had went on their walk earlier that morning before the events at the Smith place where known, and they did not have a radio with them at the time.  He jogged through the woods on the trails that most people frequented, to no avail.  He heard the crack of a gunshot off in the distance towards the
house.  He came immediately to a stop, and just listened.  He heard another, and then another.  "Damn it!" He said aloud as he reversed course and began to sprint back to the house.

Griff entered the old bar
n by the tree line, where he could hopefully get a good look at what was going on before he made the run to the house out in the open.  He removed his radio from his pocket and said, "Sarah, report."

"Men in the tree
line with rifles.  Shots fired but not sure from where," she responded.

Why just take a couple random shots at the house, he thought?  Perhaps to get us to hunker down while they got more men in position?  Or perhaps they are ranging and sighting in?  Testing our response?  Thoughts swirled around in his head as he tried to get his head wrapped around the situation.  It was then that the reality had sunk in with Griff that he had left the house without a rifle in the haste to find Nate and Peggy.  He was armed only with a sidearm, while
facing an enemy at long range.

As Evan, Jason, and Luke neared the house, they slid to a stop on Lloyd's ATV's just out of hearing range.  As soon as they dismounted
, they started a sprint for the home.  As they neared the tree line, they stopped for a moment to listen and observe.

They were within thirty yards of the old barn when they heard Griff shout, "Enemy in the opposite tree
line, not sure of intentions.  They can reach you from there."

"Who's in the house?" Evan yelled in response.

"Just the boys and the women.  Nate and Peggy are unnaccounted for," Griff replied.

"Damn it!" Evan said aloud in frustration.

Just then a barrage a bullets began to impact all around them and their position.  Evan, Jason, and Luke each hunkered down behind a tree for cover.

"H
ow many shooters?" Evan asked.

"At least six or seven that I saw," replied Jason.

"They've got a fix on us.  If there are others, they will eventually flank us here.  We need to make a move and soon," said Evan.

"Agreed," replied Jason.

"Griff, can you get to Ollie's tractor?" Evan shouted.

"Yea, probably," he replied.

"Good, crank it up and send it across the field, and then radio the house to open the back door," said Evan.

Evan then looked at Jason and Luke and said, "Hopefully the movement of the tractor will draw their attention long enough f
or us to make a sprint for it.

"Will do," answered Griff.

The gunshots subsided momentarily.  They waited for just a few moments and heard the old Massey Ferguson tractor start up.  They watched for it to make their move. As they tractor came out of the barn under it's own power, they noticed a man in the driver's seat, they quickly realized what it was and Jason said, "Well, it looks like Griff found a good use for that old scarecrow."

As the tractor and it's straw-filled driver began to draw fire, Evan, Jason, and Luke made a run for the house.  As they ran, they saw the back door of the house swing open just in time to sprint inside as the barrage of bullets again focused o
n them, rather than the tractor that had now been disabled by the gunfire.

Molly ran up to Evan and gave him a big hug as Jason just said, "Sarah?"

"Upstairs," replied Molly as Jason ran up the stairs to check on his wife.

"Is anyone hurt?" Evan asked.

"Not in here, the kids are all in the basement with the other women, Rachel too," Molly said as she looked at Luke to reassure him.  "Griff couldn't find Nate and Peggy though.  Oh God I hope they are OK."

"Do we have any idea what these guys want?  Evan asked.

"Not a clue," she replied.

Nate awoke to find himself lying flat on his back.  He spit blood out of his mouth and tried to sit up.  A terrible headache and dizziness forced him to lay back down as the world began to spin around him.  It took him a moment to regain his bearings and realize what had happened.  He immediately sat bag up and frantically looked around for Peggy
, but she was not there.  He climbed to his feet, stumbling a bit a first, and then began to look around for clues.  He could hear gunshots off in the distance towards the house, but could see signs of a struggle and trampled vegetation going in the other direction.

He made a quick assessment and realized that other than a possible concussion, a busted lip and a few loose teeth
, he was probably OK.  All he had on him for a weapon was his knife.  He had left his pistol in the house.  He had been a bit distracted by his feelings for Peggy and had violated one of his own rules of never going out unarmed.

Gathering his composure, he began to follow the trail of disturbed vegetation and footprints
, that whoever had jumped him and took Peggy had left behind. After a few moments, he heard a muffled struggle up ahead, and in a small clearing he could see three men, one of them standing with his back turned to him, another looking down at the ground smiling and laughing, and the third was down on the ground just out of view due to the surrounding brush.

Nate silently slipped h
is knife out of its sheath and crept a little closer.  To his horror, he saw Peggy on the ground, bound and gagged, with her shirt torn open while the man kneeling down was trying to get her pants off as she struggled.  The men were so distracted by their act, Nate was able to slip up close behind, and as soon as he was within range, he lunged forward grabbing the man facing away from him by his long hair, pulling his neck back and instantly sliced his throat wide open.

As soon as the man began to go limp,
the other man standing across from him pulled a shotgun into firing position as Nate shoved his dying cohort towards him, absorbing a direct blast from the shotgun and spilling the man's guts on the ground.  Nate continued to push the man into the shooter, blocking the use of the shotgun while he stabbed him repeatedly in the chest.

Nate then quickly turned to see the man that was on top of Peggy, scrambling to reach his gun that he had left leaning against a tree.  Nate leapt onto the man, stabbing him in the back, over and over again like a man demon possessed, until there
was not one more sign of life.

Covered with blood splatters all over his hands and face, Nate crawled over to
Peggy, just hugged her, and held her tight.  After a moment, he regained his composure and helped her get herself back together.  "We've got to help the others now," he said.

"Yes, yes, of course," she said as she found herself lost in his eyes.

Back at the house, Evan and Jason quickly put together a defensive strategy, utilizing Linda and Judy in defensive positions, while Molly and Rachel stayed with the kids in the basement.  They put Jake downstairs to guard the outer basement door; Linda was on a window on the upper floor overlooking the rear side of the house facing east, Judy on a window facing north, Greg a window facing west towards the main body of the attackers, and Sarah facing south, towards the main driveway.  Evan, Jason and Luke would move between the windows to meet the changing threats that a battle, which seemed inevitable, would surely bring.