Without Law 19
Author: Vall, Eric
Date: 2021-04-30

Eric Vall

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Chapter 1

I looked out to the sea around me. The sun reflected on the water and cast a beautiful white glare that was wonderfully blinding.

A ways out, I could see land, and I knew we were nearly to our destination. If someone had told me three years ago I’d be on my way to Savannah, Georgia to assist the American forces in putting an end to a North Korean invasion, I’d have said they were off their rocker. But, here I was.

My team and I had managed to secure numerous weapons and ammunition to help with the cause, and we’d brought it all down for the rest of the American troops to use as they needed.

I wanted to make sure we didn’t show up empty-handed, and we definitely weren’t. We had plasma weapons the NK troops had designed and implemented, but they probably hadn’t expected us to steal. Plus, we had plenty of our own military grade weapons, and just recently, we’d managed to take possession of a NK MiG.

Moreover, we’d brought a couple hundred men ready and willing to fight in this war, along with a Korean translator. Granted, some of the men were civilians, but they could handle themselves just as well as any other soldier. After all, I’d trained them myself. The rest of the group was made up of trained Navy sailors with a few SEALs mixed in the bunch.

I wasn’t sure what kind of state our boys were in, but we were here to help however they needed us. We’d already managed to take out the NK troops that were in Norfolk, and the ones from Boston on their way south. But, we also had intel there were at least thirty-thousand NK soldiers in this area, and there was no telling how many of our own were left.

America was a super power, but we hadn’t been prepared for the EMP the NKs had sent out almost two years ago, and we certainly hadn’t been prepared for the plasma weapons they brought with them. I didn’t expect anything like that to be implemented for years to come, but the NKs must have been working on them for some time. We’d been a target of theirs for a while, after all.

“Hey,” Bailey greeted me as she made her way over to the railing of the ship where I stood. “Looks like we’re almost there.”

The beautiful blonde hippie girl was absolutely stunning, and the bright sun reflecting off her blonde hair made her even more so. She had mysterious blue-gray eyes, a delicate, upturned nose, soft pink lips, and shoulder length honey blonde hair. She wore a pair of ripped up skinny jeans, her infamous dark green Chuck Taylors, a long sleeve skin-tight gray shirt, and her hip holster with her plasma gun at the ready.

Bailey had the softest demeanor of all the girls, so it was difficult to believe she was our resident deadeye, but her sniping skills were incredible. The blonde shot a grenade mid-air once, and that was a marksmanship feat I’d never seen accomplished even in all my years in the service.

“We should dock in a half hour or so,” I agreed.

“Thank God,” Anna, my redheaded second in command said as she walked over and hung the top half of her body over the railing.

The gorgeous redhead didn’t do well on the water. She had terrible motion sickness, and no matter what we did, she never seemed to get over it, at least not for any length of time. Part of me was surprised she didn’t want to ride with the rest of our group in the Jeeps, but I knew she wanted to be with the girls and me. We’d been together on every mission we’d been on, so thinking of separating for that length of time was difficult.

I liked to have my girls close by. Not only so I could make sure they were always protected, but also because they were incredible on the battlefield, and together, we always won.

I was glad she was here with us, and I knew she’d get over her sickness as soon as we docked.

Anna used to be an aspiring olympic athlete, and her body certainly showed that. She was thin, muscular, and incredibly toned. She was the strongest of the girls both physically and mentally when it came to battle strategies. That was just one of the many reasons she was my second in command. Anna could handle anything I threw her way, on top of being strikingly beautiful.

Her long red hair was pulled back into a thick braid that hung to her waist, like usual, and she had on a pair of dark blue athletic shorts that showed off her sculpted ass and thighs, black sneakers, and a black jogging hoodie that didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. Her bright emerald green eyes sat above a sprinkling of adorable freckles and pillow soft red lips.

She was beautiful, but at the moment, I was concerned she was going to throw up for the hundredth time on this short boat ride.

Anna wasn’t the only one I was worried about tossing their cookies, though. Tara, the beautiful platinum-blonde was carrying my child, and she had been getting terrible morning sickness for a couple of weeks already. In fact, I’d just left her in the bathroom since she’d yelled at me to go away while she threw up for the second time this morning.

The platinum-blonde was incredibly stunning, but she was also hard headed and bossy, and I loved her all the more for it. Tara was the most blunt of all the girls, and she wasn’t afraid to tell anybody what she thought of them. It was something I greatly admired about her, though it had gotten her into hot water a couple of times before. Still, her give no fucks attitude was part of the reason she’d been able to survive with the other girls before I’d come along.

It was hard to think these women had made it, basically on their own, for an entire winter without any food reserves, water, or power.

Of course, Rolly, our seventy something year old groundskeeper at the college they attended, had been with them, too. I knew the old man had done what he could, but the group certainly hadn’t been doing well before I arrived. I’d immediately gotten them water and food, though, and I’d even been able to convince Bailey, who was still vegan at the time, to eat meat since she desperately needed the protein.

I smiled as I thought about the old man and how he must be doing on campus. I left him in charge when we started the journey south, and I missed the old sonofabitch.

Rolly had become like family, as had his new wife, and really all the civilians we’d taken in over the last year and a half. Once I trained the girls, we’d made it our mission to save anybody we saw in danger or being abused, and there were far too many in a short amount of time. We had just over fifty people on campus before we left, which was not as small a number as it sounded.

Luckily, we had a pretty good setup at Piper College. We had running water, plenty of food stocked up, hunting grounds, and a stream for fishing. Really, we were probably one of the most self-sufficient places in America right now with the mess the EMP had caused, and I was happy to take in whatever civilians needed our help.

Some had stayed behind with Rolly and his wife Betty, but others had chosen to come with us and fight for their country. Of course, they weren’t classically trained, but I’d trained them myself, and I was confident enough in their abilities to put them in battle.

One person who hadn’t come, though, was my beautiful Kimmy. The dark skinned woman had a young boy named Anthony, who I considered my own, and who she didn’t want to leave. I completely understood her reasoning, and while she was an expert at putting electronics back together and an asset to the team, I wouldn’t ever want to put her or Anthony in danger. That didn’t stop me from missing her, though.

“It’s so pretty out right now,” Paige said, and I turned to see her and Tara headed right toward us.

“It’s nice.” I smiled.

The brunette was our navigator and expert in just about anything one could think of. She was pre-med before the EMP hit, and she’d made sure to watch Marla, a civilian who lived with us and also happened to be a licensed nurse practitioner, closely so she could learn all she was able to. She was no surgeon, but she was able to do first aid on small, and even more severe cuts and injuries.

On top of being pre-med, she was also like an encyclopedia of knowledge. Paige had some sort of information on just about everything, and we’d often relied on her strange knowledge base in times of peril.

Today, the beautiful brunette wore a pair of black leggings, hiking boots, and a dark gray Piper College hoodie. Her long chestnut brown hair hung to her waist in huge, sexy waves, and her black, thick-rimmed glasses sat atop her small, dainty nose. Her dark brown eyes shone with the reflection of the sun as she looked at me and smiled.

“It’s hard to think anything is nice after you just vomited your brains out,” Tara said dryly, and she glared out at the ocean.

Even just after being sick, the platinum-blonde looked like a supermodel. Her striking, nearly white hair hung down past her shoulders to her middle back, and her light blue eyes were surrounded by a flurry of thick, dark lashes. I still had no idea when she had time to apply mascara and lip gloss, but she was rarely caught without it, though she looked beautiful either way.

Tara wore a pair of high waisted denim shorts, a black tank top that showed off her ample cleavage, and her hiking boots. The platinum-blonde had been getting quite warm since finding out she was pregnant, so I wasn’t surprised to see she wore the least clothes out of all the girls.

I wasn’t mad about it, either. Tara’s hourglass figure and toned arms and legs looked gorgeous in the light of the early afternoon sun, and I couldn’t help but stare at her for a moment to take in every last detail of how she looked right then. She was the mother of my child, and just that knowledge made her appear all the more attractive to me.

“The ginger not helping?” Bailey asked with a frown.

“Not anymore.” Tara shook her head. “But I’m getting really tired of this, so it better start helping again soon.”

“Maybe don’t eat any today, then try again tomorrow,” Bailey suggested.

“I’ll do that.” Tara nodded. “Not that we’ll have much time to eat ginger after we land.”

“Dock,” Paige corrected.

“What?” Tara asked.

“It’s not called landing, it’s called docking,” Paige explained. “Landing is for a plane.”

“You’re really going to correct a pregnant lady?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, you don’t look pregnant yet.” Paige shrugged.

“Uh, rude!” Tara laughed, and her mouth fell open before she reached over to playfully smack Paige on the arm.

“Isn’t that a compliment?” Anna asked. “She’s saying you don’t have a big belly. Not yet, anyway.”

“Yeah, but just because I don’t look pregnant doesn’t mean I’m not pregnant,” the platinum-blonde sniffed. “And if I have to suffer through morning sickness and fatigue, you better treat me like I’m pregnant, dammit.”

“Fair enough,” Paige chuckled, and she reached down to rub Tara’s belly.

“What are you doing?” Tara laughed. “You can’t feel anything yet.”

“You said treat you like you’re pregnant,” Paige teased with a grin.

“Oh, my god, get out of here.” Tara shook her head and lightly pushed Paige away.

I couldn’t help but smile as the girls talked about Tara’s pregnancy. I’d always wanted kids, but I never felt I’d found the right person, not until I found the girls at least. They were all incredible, and I would be lucky to have any children with any of them, but I was glad Tara was the first.

The platinum-blonde had shown incredible growth in the time I’d known her, and it was a joy to watch her go from someone who felt they were incapable of anything, to someone who knew they were capable of everything.

I knew Tara was as proud of herself as I was of her, and I was incredibly excited to be taking this new journey with her. I knew she’d make an incredible mother, and I couldn't’ wait to see how perfect our child was. She had said she wanted a little boy, but I didn’t care either way. As long as the baby was healthy and happy, I’d be happy to have it, whatever it might be.

Of course, as soon as I found out she was pregnant, I tried to forbid her from fighting, but she was stubborn, and there was no arguing with Tara. That just meant I would need to do whatever I could to protect her, but I also knew I could count on the other girls to do that, too. As much as they playfully bickered, it was clear they all loved each other.

I reached over and placed my hand on Tara’s belly, then I kissed the top of her head.

“Hey, how come he gets to touch your belly?” Paige joked.

“Is that really a question?” Tara countered with a laugh.

“Oh, so I guess being your sister-wife isn’t enough, huh,” Paige chuckled.

“You did not just call yourself my sister-wife,” Tara said, and she gave Paige a serious look.

“What?” Paige asked. “You didn’t like that show?”

“Nobody liked that show,” Tara said.

“I did.” Paige shrugged. “It was really entertaining. Their dynamic was so strange, but somehow it worked.”

“What’s this show, now?” Anna asked, but she didn’t lift her head up from where it hung over the railing.

“It’s a show about this guy who has a bunch of wives,” Bailey explained.

“They’re polygamists,” Paige added with a nod.

“And you two like this show?” Anna asked, and she turned her head just enough so we could see her raised red eyebrows.

“It’s better than it sounds,” Bailey said.

“Oh, Bails, not you, too,” Tara laughed.

“Guilty pleasure,” Bailey assured her with a grin. “There was so much drama.”

As the girls chatted, our ship navigated up the Savannah River. I had my hand on the plasma gun on my hip just in case we came into any trouble.

There were also civilians manning the larger weapons on deck in case we needed them. The plasma weapons the NK troops had created for their deck were incredible. The smaller guns we had could burn a hole right through someone’s chest easily, but the larger weapons, they could take out a car if they wanted to. They were huge, and the plasma was so volatile just a few drops could cause quite a large explosion.

It wasn’t long before we reached the Savannah port authority, and we pulled our boat into one of the open docks. There were more boats left in the area than I would’ve figured, but then again, anybody who was able to sail probably took whatever boat they could find in the harbor that worked to try and escape from the aftermath of the EMP. I knew many of the modern boats wouldn’t be able to operate after the EMP, but the older boats should have no real issue with it.

Once we docked, I took a quick scan of the area but didn’t see anything right off the bat. I grabbed my walkie-talkie and pulled it up to my mouth.

“Hammer?” I asked. “Hammer, come in.”

A few seconds went by, but I didn’t hear anything back.

“Maybe they’re out of range,” Paige suggested.

“They were in for a longer trip than we were.” Anna nodded.

“You’re probably right,” I said. “We’ll wait for them to arrive before we head out.”

“What should we do in the meantime?” Bailey asked.

“I think we should probably scout the area for a little bit,” I decided.

“Alright,” Tara said. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“Mostly signs the North Korean troops have been here,” I told her.

“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “We already got a lot of weapons and supplies, we don’t really need to get more of those. But it would be good to know if the North Koreans have been in the area.”

“They had to have been, right?” Bailey asked.

“They most likely were at some point.” I nodded. “But I want to see if there are any fresh signs of them.”

“We’re ready whenever you are,” Anna said.

“You just want to get off the boat,” Paige chuckled.

“You’re damn right I do,” Anna laughed. “I’m so sick of this damn thing.”

“Literally,” Paige snickered.

“We’ve been on it for less than a day,” Tara laughed.

“And that’s a half a day too long,” Anna said.

“What about the rest of the civilians?” Bailey asked. “Should we have them stay here?”

“That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. “I don’t want to send them out if they don’t need to go.”

“It would probably be better to have a smaller group, anyway,” Bailey said with a smile.

“I’m sure you’re right,” I agreed. “Everybody grab your weapons and meet me on the dock in five minutes. I’m going to go tell Minji what we’re doing.”

“Sounds good,” Anna said. “I’ll be there in two.”

I chuckled and shook my head at the redhead, and then I walked up to the command tower where Minji and the other maritime pilots were.

“Hey,” I said as I entered the room.

“Hey,” Minji greeted me with a smile.

The beautiful South Korean wore a pair of dark blue navy camo pants and a gray T-shirt, but even in the simple outfit she was absolutely gorgeous. She had a long thin nose, soft, full lips, and almond shaped dark brown eyes. Her long, nearly black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and she leaned over the command center as if she’d been there the whole time, even though she hadn’t been a maritime pilot before this.

She picked it up quickly, though, and we were lucky enough to have a few other experienced pilots still left with the Navy when we arrived.

“The girls and I are going to go do a scan of the area,” I informed her. “We tried to contact Hammer, but there was no answer. I think he’s still out of range.”

“Okay,” Minji agreed. “Do you want any assistance?”

“No.” I shook my head. “We can handle it, that’s not a problem. I’d rather have you stay and watch the ship and supplies.”

“Good point.” Minji nodded. “The ship is pretty well-stocked.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it, but I want to check the area and see if there are any signs that North Korean troops have been around here lately.”

“I didn’t get a good look,” Minji said. “But I did notice it didn’t look like there was anybody on land while we navigated the river.”

“I didn’t see anybody, either,” I agreed.

“I’m sure all the citizens have fled by now,” Minji said.

“I hope you’re right.” I let out a deep breath and pushed my hand through my hair, then I turned back to Minji. “Radio us if Hammer shows up, or if you need anything. We won’t be out long.”

“Sounds good,” Minji said. “We should get heading inland as soon as Hammer and the rest of the group arrives.”

“We will,” I assured her. “It’s early afternoon already, so we don't have a whole lot of daylight left. I’d rather do something while we wait for Hammer to arrive, though. And it will be good to know what’s in the area since we’ll have to leave the ship here.”

“Of course.” Minji nodded.

“Alright.” I smiled. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Be careful,” she said, and she bit her lip, blushed, and looked down.

The beautiful korean woman and I had a fling about a week ago, and she’d been embarrassed ever since. I knew she still wanted me, though, and there was no reason for her to be embarrassed about anything. The girls certainly didn’t mind, and as long as they were okay with it, I didn’t see a reason for it to feel wrong.

But, we had to work together, and Minji hadn’t known me long. She struck me as a shy person, and I thought she was just embarrassed at how sudden our lovemaking session had been. I’d welcome another, though, I was only waiting for her to get more comfortable and make the first move.

I walked back down to the deck, then I found the girls on the dock. They were all geared up and ready to go. They had bulletproof vests on, even though those wouldn’t help against a plasma attack. There was no telling what was out here, though, if anything, and it was always better to be safe than sorry.

“We brought your vest, too,” Anna told me as I walked up.

“I figured you would.” I smiled and took the Kevlar. “Thank you.”

“So, where to first?” Paige asked.

“Let’s check the surrounding area,” I said. “I don’t want to go too far. We just need to see if there are any NK troops in the area.”

“Right.” The brunette nodded and led us down the dock and toward a small building up a hill to our right. “This way.”

As we walked around the area, I noticed Savannah looked ransacked, but not destroyed. It didn’t appear to have gone through the same turmoil the north had.

Between the Canadian rush to get down south, the national guard traipsing around like they owned the place, and the NK troops heading south, too, the North had been hit hard, and there were entire cities that were nearly leveled.

Savannah wasn’t like that, though. The city was still mostly intact, though a little dirty and worse for wear. I saw some windows busted out of storefronts, as well as a few vehicles, but that was really it. There wasn’t a huge amount of garbage on the ground, nor an ungodly amount of dead bodies like some other places we’d gone.

“Looks like the locals fled pretty quickly,” I said as we looked around.

“It looks like it.” Paige nodded. “Seems as though they took all the supplies, then they hopped on their boats and left.”

“Would boats even work after the EMP?” Bailey asked, and her blonde eyebrows pinched together.

“As long as they’re not mostly electric,” I said. “But, honestly, any boat that’s light enough could be turned into a sailboat with the right supplies.”

“I guess I hadn’t thought about that,” the blonde said, and she cocked her head to the side curiously.

“I bet a bunch of people had sail boats, too,” Tara added. “Rich people always have sailboats, even if they don’t know how to use them.”

“Did your dad have a sailboat?” Paige asked.

“Mhm.” Tara nodded. “And I never saw him take it out once.”

“Oh, wow,” Anna snorted. “You and your rich people stories.”

“Hey, those rich people stories have come in handy a time or two,” Tara reminded her.

“I’ll give you that,” the redhead conceded with a laugh.

“I don’t see any signs of NK troops,” Paige noted as we continued to walk through the Savannah streets.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Tara blurted suddenly, and she ripped off her tank top to reveal a sports bra underneath. The platinum-blonde panted for a second and fanned herself with her hand.

It was incredible what a change in climate we’d entered into. Coming from Vermont, then Massachusetts, down to Virginia, and now to Georgia, the air felt sticky and warm instead of cool and fresh like I’d gotten used to. It reminded me of training, though, and I couldn’t help but smile as fond memories of my time in the service came rushing back.

Even just being down south for a few moments and walking around, I already found myself quite warm, and there was a small amount of sweat on my shirt collar, so I couldn’t imagine what my poor pregnant woman was feeling.

“Are you alright?” I asked the platinum-blonde.

“I’m okay,” she said with a shake of her head. “Sorry.”

“Geez, you’ve just got to be naked all the time, don’t you?” Anna teased.

“I’m hot as balls!” Tara fired back, and she threw her head back so I could see the sheen of sweat that covered her entire body. “Is nobody else as hot as I am right now?”

“I guess not,” I chuckled. “I’m warm, but definitely not that hot.”

“You’re pregnant,” Bailey reminded her with a laugh. “Of course, you’re going to be hotter than everyone else. Your blood volume increases like crazy while you’re pregnant.”

“What?” Tara asked. “Are you telling me I have more blood now? What the hell? I figured the little gremlin in my stomach would be sucking it all up.”

“Well… they do,” Paige laughed. “Hence why you need more.”

“Oh, right.” Tara pursed her lips.

“Oh, and that’s also where the pregnancy ‘glow’ comes from,” Paige added. “The extra blood gives you a kind of rosyness.”

“Hm.” Tara nodded. “I’ve heard this pregnancy glow is supposed to be pretty cool. Hopefully it will be worth all the vomiting.”

“Our baby will be worth all the vomiting,” I laughed. “And you’ll look gorgeous no matter what.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Tara rolled her eyes. “You have to say that because I’m carrying your child.”

“I technically don’t have to say anything,” I told her. “And if I say it, I mean it.”

“We know.” She rolled her eyes again, but then she flashed me a smile that quickly turned into a grimace. “Can we keep going, already? I’m sweltering here.”

“Oh, of course,” Paige said, and she continued to lead us through the streets.

“Haven’t you been to the south before?” Bailey asked.

“Tons of times,” Tara said. “But even when I came in the summer, I don’t remember it being this fucking hot.”

“It’s fall,” Anna reminded her. “I’m sure it’s a lot cooler now than when you came in the summer.”

“Probably,” Tara agreed. “It has to be all this extra blood, then. Have you guys never been to the south?”

“I came down for a cross country nationals,” Anna said.

“I’ve never been.” Paige shook her head.

“Me, either,” Bailey agreed.

“How are you guys not hot as hell, then?” Tara asked.

“Eh, it’s warm.” Paige shrugged. “But it’s not that bad.”

“I like it.” Bailey smiled. “I’m always so cold, it feels good out here.”

“Okay, fuck you,” Tara said with a point at Bailey.

“Sorry,” the blonde chuckled.

“What about you, Tav?” Anna asked me with a grin. “How’s it feel to be back? You did your training in Georgia, right?”

“I did.” I smiled and nodded. “I guess I hadn’t even noticed, it just feels like I never left.”

A voice came through my walkie, then, and I grabbed it off my hip to listen.

“Tav, come in,” Minji’s voice rang through the small speaker.

“Tav here,” I said as I held the button down. “What’s going on?”

“Hammer and his crew have arrived,” she explained.

“Oh, thank god,” Tara groaned.

“We’ll be right there,” I said into the walkie.

“See you soon,” Minji agreed.

Paige led us back to the ship, and on the roundabout walk, I took in the small details of the nearby area. I still didn’t see any signs there were NK troops near here, nor that they’d ever been in the area. The place was too intact, and I didn’t see a single burn mark that looked like it’d come from a plasma weapon. It was almost strange to think the NK troops hadn’t been here, it seemed they’d infested everywhere else.

Before we made it back to the ship, I saw Hammer and the whole convoy parked near the Savannah port authority.

“Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes,” I chuckled as we walked up to the SEAL.

“I could say the same about you,” he joked and reached out his hand to grab mine. “It’s good to see you.”

“You guys know it’s only been, like, a day, right?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Never know what can go wrong during times of war,” Hammer said. “Arriving at a new place is a victory in itself.”

“I’ll second that,” I agreed. “I’m glad you all made it safely.”

“You, too.” Hammer nodded, then he pursed his lips. “Were you all scoping out the area?”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“See any NK soldiers?” he inquired.

“None.” I shook my head. “I didn’t even see any signs they’ve been here.”

“Really?” he asked, and he jerked back slightly with surprise.

“What about you?” I asked, now suspicious of his long road trip. “Did you all come across any troops?”

“No soldiers.” He shook his head. “But there were some signs they’d been there. Dead bodies, plasma blasts, a few leveled buildings here and there.”

“Yeah, that definitely sounds like our NK friends.” My eyebrows pinched together with disdain.

“Like I said, I didn't see any soldiers, though,” he reiterated. “They’ve probably moved on by now.”

“Even so, we should be particularly careful on our trip inland,” Anna said.

“I couldn’t agree more,” I told her.

“Everything’s gassed up and ready to go when you are,” Hammer told me.

“Thanks.” I clapped the guy on the back. “Let me go inform everyone on the ship.”

“We’ll wait for you here.” Hammer nodded.

“Put a couple guys on a nearby roof,” I told him. “I didn’t see any signs of NK troops, but that doesn’t mean nobody’s here. Better safe than sorry.”

“Good call, Captain ranger.” Hammer nodded and called a couple of his SEALs over to him as the girls and I walked back down to the dock.

I let the crew know it was time to leave, and everyone except Pike, Smith, and a couple civilians went to their rooms to gather their belongings. Pike and Smith were trained maritime pilots, and if anybody was able to navigate this ship around, it was them. They were also a couple of Hammer’s men, so I knew they were trustworthy.

I didn’t want to simply leave the ship unattended. Besides, we didn’t have room to carry all of the supplies we had on board, so someone needed to watch them until we could get back to collect what we had to leave behind.

We took what we could and packed it into the jeeps, along with our small personal bags.

By the time everything was packed and ready to go, it was mid-afternoon, and I knew we only had a few more hours of daylight left before nightfall hit us. Still, I didn’t want to wait to get to our boys. There was no telling what kind of trouble they were in, and if I still had daylight, I was damn sure going to use it.

The girls and I hopped into one of the jeeps, and I had to admit, it felt good to be in the driver’s seat again. The ride down had been smooth sailing on the ship, but it wasn’t the same as driving myself.

There was something about being in the jeep with the girls that simply felt right.

Anna climbed in the passenger seat, where she always sat, and put her foot on the dashboard. The redhead rolled down the window and a small breeze gently pushed her flyaway strands of hair around her face.

Bailey, Tara, and Paige all climbed into the back.

Tara was right behind me, so she could see me in the rearview mirror, of course. Bailey was in the middle, as always, because she was too nice to demand a window seat every now and then, and Paige sat behind Anna with her map on her lap.

I waved to Hammer, pressed on the gas, and pulled us out onto the road. I breathed in deep as the southern air hit my face, and I couldn’t help but smile to be on the road again.

The ship ride down hadn’t taken too long, but I was eager to get to the American troops. The NK troops my team and I had taken out up to that point were nothing compared to what our boys down south were up against.

The entirety of the NK army was down here, according to the cowardly soldier who’d given up his brothers. And if there were thirty-thousand troops like he said, I had no idea how many of ours were left.

The main unit of the NK army was bound to have some crazy weapons, and even though our boys this far East had to have known about their arrival, I wasn’t sure how they could prepare to combat such powerful weapons.

Even now, I’d made sure to stock up on plasma weapons since I felt it was best to fight fire with fire in this situation. The weapons they’d created were simply too powerful, and if we tried to use regular weapons against them, we’d lose in a heartbeat.

The windows were all down as we drove East along the main strip. The American soldiers would be somewhere near the Appalachian foothills, so we had a little bit of a drive to get there.

The sun was high in the sky, and it reflected on the road ahead of us as we drove.

It had only been a half hour when suddenly, I heard something.

“What is that?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed.

“It sounds almost like voices,” Anna said, and she leaned toward the dash. “Or static.”

“I don’t hear anything.” Tara shrugged.

“Maybe it’s the radio,” Paige jokingly suggested.

“Could it be?” Anna asked, and she reached for the dial.

“No, I was kiddi--” Paige’s words were cut short as Anna turned up the dial on the radio, and a man’s voice came through the speakers of the jeep.

“Holy shit,” Tara breathed, and in the rearview mirror I saw her eyes grow wide.

The voice was staticky, but then Anna fiddled with the dial and it suddenly became crystal clear.

“Is that…” Bailey trailed off.

“North Korean.” I nodded.

That could mean only one thing: we were in enemy territory.

Chapter 2

“How the hell is this even happening?” Anna asked.

“Right,” Tara said. “I thought radios didn’t work?”

“We have walkies that work,” Paige pointed out.

“Right, but those aren’t, like, the car radio,” Tara countered.

“But they work from a radio frequency,” Paige explained.

“Paige is right,” I agreed. “There must be troops nearby, and they’re using this frequency to communicate.”

“Well, shit, what are they saying?” Anna pushed.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head and reached for my walkie. “Minji, come in.”

“I’m here,” the North Korean woman said over the speaker. “Is something wrong?”

“What station is this?” I asked Anna.

The redhead leaned down to look at the dash in a panic. “Uhhh, 97.3!”

“Tune your radio to 97.3,” I said into the microphone. “We’ve come across an enemy line of communication.”

“Fuck, um, okay, hold on,” Minji stuttered, and I heard her fumbling with something. A second later, I could hear the same broadcast in the background of her vehicle. “Okay, I got it.”

“I need your translation skills, Minj,” I said.

“Did he just call her Minj?” Tara whispered from the backseat, but I just flashed her a glare in the rearview mirror, and she sat back and pressed her lips together.

The voice on the radio kept talking, and after a moment, Minji came back on the walkie.

“Okay,” she said. “It sounds like there’s a smaller foot troop outside of Augusta. They’re on their way to Atlanta to meet up with another troop for a pincer attack on our men.”

“Shit,” I cursed and pressed the button again. “Did they say how far outside of Augusta?”

“About an hour,” Minji said.

“Paige,” I said, and I looked at the brunette in the rearview. “How fast can you get us to Augusta?”

“Uh.” Paige’s eyes went wide for a second, but then she pulled out her map and looked it over. “It’s cutting it close, but if we hurry we can get there in less than an hour.”

“Get us there,” I told her, and I pressed the button on the walkie again. “There’s been a change of plans, Minji. Tell Hammer we’re headed to Augusta.”

“I’m with you, Brother,” Hammer said into the radio.

“Try and keep up.” I smiled and hooked the walkie back on my hip, then I pressed down hard on the gas and hooked a right when Paige told me to.

“I can’t believe we were able to hear that,” Anna said after a couple of minutes. “What fucking luck.”

“We were lucky it was a close enough frequency to the one we were on already.” Paige nodded.

“I didn’t even know our radio was on a frequency.” Tara shook her head. “I’ve never even heard it.”

“Well, there was never much point to use it,” I chuckled. “But it must have still been turned up a little bit.”

“It’s a good thing we did hear them, though,” Bailey added with a frown. “They were on their way to attack our troops.”

“I know,” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “We’ve got to take them out before they meet up with the Atlanta group they're headed to.”

“Right.” Paige nodded. “Especially since we have no way of warning the American troops, not unless we happen to stumble on their frequency, too.”

“Somehow, I doubt that,” I scoffed. It was lucky enough we’d been close enough to one used frequency to be able to find it, but two? There was no way.

Still, if we could get to Augusta and take these assholes out, it wouldn’t be an issue. We could find the rest of the American troops after that.

Not only would we be showing up with plenty of weapons for them to use, but we’d also intercepted an attack on them at a moment’s notice. It wasn’t much, but it was a show of loyalty, and they had to trust us at that point.

I’d make sure to try and find something to indicate I was telling the truth, too.

After all, some of these assholes had a difficult time talking nicely when we first met. Even Hammer had been on edge when our paths had crossed.

I’d grown to like the SEAL a lot, but it wasn’t until I’d announced myself as a Ranger that he’d really started to respect me, and for some reason, that really irked me.

I shouldn’t have to identify my military MOS in order to get treated with respect, especially not when I showed up with weapons, men, and supplies to help with the cause.

Still, that was how it was, and to some degree, I understood. But then again, these men hadn’t seen civilians fight like I had.

I’d personally trained all the civilians I’d brought from campus, and they were as good as any other soldier around. They had all the knowledge required to be out in the field, and because of our fiasco with the Canadians last winter, they even had experience in battle. It was limited experience, sure, but it was far more than the average citizen had. And I trusted my team to follow my directions, which was all that was necessary to stay alive out here.

Not only that, but without an oath or any sort of obligation, these citizens offered to risk their lives for their country. That was something I couldn’t even say for all soldiers. I knew for a fact plenty of our boys had fled once shit went south, and while I understood it was too much for them, that only made me that much more appreciative of my civilians and everything they’d done.

“Turn right here,” Paige said, and I screeched around the corner and hit the gas harder after we made it onto the new road.

I didn’t like to drive so crazy with my pregnant woman in the car, but I was being as safe as I possibly could, and we didn’t have a lot of time. We needed the element of surprise in this situation, otherwise there was no point in trying. We didn’t know nearly enough about how large the troop was, or what weapons they had on them, to be able to risk going head to head.

In my rearview mirror, I watched Hammer take the corner hard, too. The part of our crew carrying the MiG and all the supplies was getting lost behind us, but there were plenty of signs to get them to Augusta at this point, and they had walkies to keep in contact with us if they needed them.

I understood they wouldn’t be able to go as fast as the jeeps could in this situation, but I also couldn’t send them ahead without us. We needed to find the American troops together. There was no way a bunch of civilians with plasma weapons would be greeted well.

“You know, I kind of like crazy driving Tav,” Anna said as we screeched around another corner.

“Is that right?” I chuckled.

“Yeah.” The redhead smiled. “It’s pretty sexy.”

“She’s totally right,” Tara agreed.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I winked at the redhead next to me.

“Don’t go too crazy,” Paige reminded me. “Hammer and the rest of the group need to be able to keep up.”

“Hammer’s doing just fine,” Anna said. “Besides, the guys with the MiG aren’t going to be able to keep up regardless.”

“Good point.” Paige pursed her lips. “Should we radio and tell them to stop somewhere nearby so they don’t show up right when the NKs do?”

“Hm.” I thought for a moment, then I grabbed the radio off my hip and passed it over to Anna. “Call and let them know we’re going to get there first, they should keep moving, but wait for our signal before they get to our location.”

“Right.” Anna nodded then looked back at Paige. “Where are we headed, exactly?”

“The Augusta National Golf Course seems like our best bet to intercept them,” Paige said. “Tell the others to wait at Hillcrest National Park.”

“Sorry, did you say Augusta National Golf Course?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, why?” Paige asked.

“Oh, my god,” Anna chuckled. “I’ve always wanted to go there. The Masters tournament is there every year.”

“You like golf?” Tara scoffed. “Aren’t you, like, a snowboarder or something?”

“Skier,” Anna answered dryly. “But, yes, I like golf. And I was only mostly a skier, I played other sports, too.”

“So, we’re considering golf a sport now?” Tara snickered.

“Golf is a sport.” Anna glared.

“Sure, it is.” Tara nodded sarcastically.

“Fuck you,” Anna laughed. “It is a sport!”

“Anna, the message,” I reminded her.

“Right, sorry,” the redhead apologized, bit her lip, and pushed the walkie button. “Ben, Johnny, come in.”

A few seconds passed, then the doomsday preppers answered, and Anna relayed the message. Johnny was the leader of their small group, and Ben was a retired Air Force pilot we were lucky enough to have on our team. He was the only one who’d be able to fly the MiG we’d commandeered, unless the American forces had some pilots left, too. But I wasn’t going to count on that. And the more useful we were when we showed up, the more respect we’d get off the bat, which wasn’t a bad thing considering I had a pregnant woman and wanted to get this war out of my hair as quickly as possible.

I looked up at the sun as we drove. We had a few hours until night hit, so we needed to make the most of this time. It had already been about forty minutes, but we’d just made it into Augusta, so at least we were finished with the main part of our journey.

Paige directed me to the golf course, but when we arrived, there wasn’t a golf course at all. In its place was a huge, overgrown jungle that looked like it held tigers, boa constrictors, and any other sort of rainforest animal one could think of. The entire course had been overrun by nature, which was good for us since it gave us more cover, but I could tell Anna was slightly disappointed.

The redhead would never say as much, not since we were in the middle of a mission, but her face fell when we approached the course, and I heard her let out a small sigh at how overgrown it was.

I pulled the jeep into the parking lot of the golf club, found a spot, and hopped out. Our vehicles wouldn’t be seen from the main road, so all we had to do was find a good place to hide and then we’d be all set.

Hammer pulled up after us, and the SEAL hopped out of the jeep and walked over to the girls and I.

“So, what’s the plan here?” he asked

“We need to find somewhere to set up,” I told him. “Once we find a place we can attack from, then all we have to do is wait. I am going to send out some scouts to see if they can spot the North Korean troops ahead, though.”

“Good call,” Hammer agreed.

“Pick a couple of your men to send ahead,” I instructed him with a nod.

“You got it.” The SEAL grinned.

“It looks like the area is overgrown enough we can set up just about anywhere,” Paige said as she looked around.

“You’re right.” I nodded. “It shouldn’t be difficult to find a spot.”

The girls and I wandered the area while the rest of the group gathered up the weapons we needed from the trailers. I had them pull all the Gustaf recoilless rifles, the mortars, and anything else they thought might be of use. We also had some larger plasma weapons, but those were dangerous when it came to taking out North Korean troops that also had plasma weapons. The plasma wasn’t incredibly volatile as it could only be ignited by other plasma or possibly an electrical current. We hadn’t been able to fully test that theory, so if we struck one of their weapons with one of our plasma blasts it would cause a massive explosion.

That was one reason why I’d made a point to gather plenty of traditional ammunition along with the numerous plasma weapons my team had collected over the past couple of months. The plasma weapons were powerful, but they were dangerous, and I had to protect my girls and my team above all else.

We didn’t get to walk the actual golf course, only the area around it, but I made a mental note to bring Anna back there one day. Hell, with the current state of things, I was pretty sure we’d be able to take it for ourselves if we really wanted to.

The redhead didn’t seem to mind, though, she was all business at the moment. We called it her “Major mode”, and it never disappointed. She walked around with her eyes narrowed on her surroundings as she surveyed the area for the best possible spot for us to set up.

The grass was so thick in the area it didn’t take us long to find the spot we wanted, and I had the girls get down so I could see if I was able to spot them from the road.

“Are you ready?” Tara asked.

“I’m ready,” I chuckled. “Are you all in place?”

“We’re here,” Anna called out.

“Can you see us?” Paige asked.

I scanned the area closely, but the grass was incredibly tall, and between that and the shrubs and trees that had overtaken the area, I couldn’t see anything but foliage.

“Not at all,” I yelled back.

“Hell, yeah,” Anna said, and she stood up out of the grass. “Now all we have to do is get set up. How much time do we have?”

“Judging from the sun,” I said as I looked up at the sky. “Less than fifteen minutes.”

“I can do it in ten,” the redhead assured me with a cocky smile.

“I’ll leave you to it, then.” I winked at my second in command. “I’m going to find Hammer and see where his men are at.”

I walked back to the parking lot while the rest of the Navy sailors and civilians brought the weapons over to the girls.

Hammer stood next to his jeep with his walkie in his hand, but as I walked up, he hooked it back onto his hip.

“Any update?” I asked.

“Ben and the others will be here in about five minutes,” he informed me.

“Good,” I agreed. “And the NK troops?”

“They’re a good fifteen minutes out according to my men,” Hammer said. “But they’re on course to run right into our trap.”

“Perfect.” I grinned.

Hammer and I made our way over to where the girls had set up our attack position. I sent the SEAL across the street while I crouched down near the girls and readied my weapons. I had my standard issue M9 on me, as well as my plasma weapon, and my H&K MP5, but the girls had also set up a couple of M30 Mortars and Gustaf recoilless rifles.

I saw the larger plasma weapons were set up as well. They were attached to the top of the jeeps, which was hidden behind some trees near the road. I could see the vehicle, but I knew it wouldn’t be visible from the road, and the NK troops were in for a big surprise whenever they came through here.

“Great job,” I told the girls.

“Told you we could handle it.” Anna smiled.

“I never had a doubt,” I chuckled and pulled the walkie off my hip. “Come in, is everyone in their places?”

“Roger that,” Hammer’s voice replied.

“All set,” Ben, the ex air force pilot, answered.

“Us, too,” Jeff, one of my most trusted civilians, responded.

The girls and I laid in the grass and watched the road for signs on the North Korean troops. They were on their way to us according to Hammer’s men, and I didn’t expect them to be wrong. The SEALs knew what they were doing, we just had to wait for the NK troops to arrive. It was always difficult to wait, though, that was one of the worst parts of war.

Waiting was my least favorite part of battle, and it was probably the one that lasted the longest. Most people didn’t realize how long the waiting was and how short firefights were. Typically they didn’t last any longer than 10 minutes or so because the weapons were so deadly, and I’d spent many an hour, day, or week sitting in one spot in the wilderness just so my squad could ambush an enemy with a dozen second shootout.

The plasma weapons were even deadlier than normal firearms, and while I was always careful when using traditional ammunition, it was even more important to be careful with the plasma weapons.

Since they created an instant burn, there was no way to heal somebody from a blast. If one of my teammates was hit by one of those weapons, it would be disastrous. There was no doubt in my mind whoever got burned wouldn’t make it out of the situation alive. There were just too many variables, and we didn’t have anybody with the skills necessary, or the tools necessary to deal with an injury of that caliber.

A gunshot wound would be devastating as well, but at least there was the potential for a bullet to go clean through the muscle, or get lodged somewhere it could be easily pulled out and stitched up. There was no such potential when it came to the plasma weapons. They were incredibly deadly, and one single shot would take a full grown man down in a heartbeat.

I’d seen the bodies of victims who’d taken one shot in the chest and that had been the end of it.

I wasn’t going to let that happen to any of my men, not a chance. All these people were here putting their lives on the line for their country, and I refused to let these NK bastards take a single one of them out.

Part of me wondered why this had all happened in the first place. North Korea had been an issue for a long time, but nothing like this. And it was my understanding they’d managed to take over most of China and all of Japan before they made their way to us. This invasion had been planned for a long time, but it seemed totally unnecessary to me. I was sure it was all about ego, as most wars are, but either way, it had become my job to make sure my team won.

“So, Anna,” Tara whispered after we’d been laying in the grass for a few minutes. “How are you feeling about your precious golf course?”

“That’s just cruel,” the redhead fired back with a glare. “You know this place is overgrown as hell.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tara laughed.

“I think it looks nice.” Bailey smiled and glanced around. “It’s almost like a nature park or something.”

“I’m sure it will be restored to its former glory one day,” Anna sighed. “Then I’ll bring you all out here and whoop your asses in golf.”

“You can try.” Tara shrugged.

“I’ll get you out here if I have to drag you by your precious little feet,” the redhead threatened playfully.

“That won’t be necessary,” Tara said. “I’ll come willingly. What I meant was, you can try to beat me.”

“You don’t even like golf,” Anna scoffed. “What makes you think you’d be able to hold your own against me? Do you even know how it works?”

“Do I know how golf works?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow. “You hit the ball into the hole. How difficult is that to understand?”

“Ugh, this is exactly what I’m talking about.” Anna rolled her eyes. “You don’t stand a chance against me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Tara said with a sweet smile. “My dad did take me to the country club with him just about every weekend I was home.”

“Going to the country club and playing golf there are two totally different things,” Anna laughed.

“Oh, I know,” Tara chuckled. “But I am sweet and adorable--”

“Definitely aren’t,” Anna interrupted.

“And my dad liked to hustle his business friends,” Tara continued without skipping a beat. “I was his secret weapon.”

“What are you saying?” the redhead asked. “You used to play golf with your dad?”

“All the time,” Tara said. “I always hated it, buuuuut he’d let me order a couple of drinks, and we’d go to dinner afterward and celebrate our victory and his new business deal.”

“I figured that was a myth,” Paige murmured. “You know, men making important business decisions over golf. That just seems so… wrong.”

“Oh, it’s definitely not a myth.” Tara shook her head. “You know what they say, all the real work gets done on the green.”

“Who even are you,” Anna whispered, and she shook her head as she looked at the platinum-blonde with complete bafflement.

“Get to know me.” Tara winked. “I’m pretty amazing.”

While the girls whispered amongst themselves, I watched the road. I didn’t see anything, but after a few minutes, I heard something.

“Shhh,” I whispered to the girls, and I held my hand up to quiet them.

“Are they here?” Tara asked, and she looked forward and held out the H&K Mark 23 she’d gotten from the supplies the Navy sailors had.

“I hear something,” I said, and everything seemed to go utterly quiet.

A light humming sound filled the air, and I knew it was our NK friends, so I readied my weapon and waited for them to make their way to us.

The girls had all gone into serious mode as well, and I glanced over to see each of them with their weapons in their hands and determined looks on their faces.

Anna had one of the Gustaf recoilless rifles set up in front of her, but she also had her M9 on her hip.

Paige had her AA-12 shotgun, Tara had her H&K Mark 23, and Bailey had her Barrett sniper rifle.

The blonde’s weapon packed a mean punch, and I knew anybody who dared to get in her line of sight was in for a world of hurt. The Barrett she had was originally designed for use against other military vehicles, like aircraft and tanks, and the huge .50 cal bullets could take out anything in their path.

I’d seen Bailey take down a jeep with one hit to the front end of it. The vehicle skidded to a halt and nearly flipped over in the process. Not to mention, she was a hell of a shot, so anybody who needed to be taken down quickly, she was our girl.

The sounds continued for several minutes, then suddenly the NK convoy came into view.

It was a small group, there were six smaller vehicles rigged with plasma weapons on top of them marching in two neat lines down the road. I didn’t see any foot soldiers on the ground like they usually had, they were all in the vehicles, but I anticipated the vehicles were most likely full, which meant four or five men in each one.

At the end of the small convoy was a larger vehicle I’d never seen before. It almost looked like a tank, and there was a huge tanker full of plasma liquid on the back end of it, a massive barrel for a gun at the front end of it, and above the body of the vehicle was a single person seat intended for the shooter.

It seemed like poor design considering what the NKs had been able to come up with so far, but I could tell the gun itself was incredibly powerful. The device was also clearly meant to be used from quite a distance, so there wouldn’t be a real need to block off the shooter if it was used as intended.

I waited and waited until the NKs got close enough. It seemed to take forever, and also no time at all at once, but as soon as they were within range, I held up my H&K MP5, let out a blast, and took out one of the drivers’ with several shots to the head. The vehicle revved hard, then it lurched forward before taking a hard left and nearly running into the trees.

I adjusted my sight to take out the man in the passenger seat, but by then it was a total frenzy, and someone else caught him before I had the chance to.

My group always waited for me to take the first shot, but once I took mine, that meant it was go-time for the rest of the group, and they didn’t waste a second.

Before I could even blink, I heard shots all around me, and I watched two more vehicles skid out of control.

One of the vehicles crashed into the one ahead of it, and it was then the NK troops realized they were truly under attack. I heard a man call out something in Korean, then the windows of the vehicles rolled down so the soldiers could shoot.

They never made it that far, though, not with my team and I waiting.

I caught one of the soldiers right in the forearm, and he let out a terrible screech, dropped his plasma gun, and grabbed onto his arm with his other hand. Blood dripped down his elbow and the side of the vehicle, landing on the ground before he managed to pull his mangled limb back into the car.

The girls continued to fire, too, and the NK troops had only managed to get a couple shots off at that point, though it wasn’t for lack of trying.

I saw one of the large plasma guns on top of one of the vehicles light up, so I immediately took out the driver of the vehicle so he couldn’t push the buttons on the dash that would fire the massive weapon.

It took one shot to break the windshield, and one more to go through the driver’s skull. He fell forward onto the steering wheel, and the soldier in the passenger seat looked over at him with his mouth agape as he held his plasma weapon at the ready.

I adjusted my sight, but before I could take out the passenger, Bailey beat me to it. The man’s head exploded into a red mist sprinkled with brain chunks that hit the remaining portion of the windshield in a huge, almost comical splattering of blood.

I glanced over to Bailey and smiled, but the blonde was all business, and she took aim and fired another shot.

I repositioned my own sight, but then a lone soldier caught my eye. The man had clearly snuck out of one of the smaller vehicles, and he was heading toward the larger vehicle in the back.

“Fuck,” I cursed.

He was headed for the shooter's seat on the weapon, and he had coverage, too. These NK troops weren’t as stupid as I’d originally thought, they were strategically firing down the center between the vehicles so the soldier could get to the large weapon unscathed.

“Bailey!” I yelled over the firepower. “Eleven o’clock, there’s a man trying to get to the shooter’s chair of that weapon. Take him out!”

“I see him!” the blonde yelled back as she adjusted her Barrett.

Just then, we came under heavy fire as the NK troops that were left crouched behind the doors of their vehicles and shot through the open windows. They were clearly trying to salvage the situation, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. These assholes were going down, and that was all there was to it.

“I can’t get a shot off,” Bailey said as she tried to adjust her weapon amidst the flurry of blue flashes from the plasma guns.

“Hold on,” Paige said, and she aimed her Atchisson shotgun and laid down some cover fire for us. I doubted any of her shells could connect at that range, but the AA-12 sounded like a demon spitting curses against the heavens, and most of the NK dived for cover.

Bailey raised her head up to get the shot while the rest of us took aim and fired at the men behind the vehicle doors, but it was too late.

The soldier made it to the weapon, and the strange coil at the end of the gun barrel lit up bright blue as the plasma charged in preparation for fire.

“Get down!” I yelled at my team.

This was about to get a lot messier.

Chapter 3

The plasma weapon let out a monstrous blast that hit the trees right behind us. Branches and pine needles fell all around us, and I kept my hands over the back of my head to protect myself from all the debris that was coming down.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Bailey told me just before another blast hit.

“It’s not your fault.” I shook my head. “We need to take him out, though. I’ll figure out a way to give you the opportunity, just take it when you can.”

“I’m on it.” The blonde nodded and narrowed her eyes with determination.

I glanced around for a second as more pine needles fell on top of us. We wouldn’t last long at this rate, and I was surprised a tree hadn’t fallen down yet. I figured the only reason it hadn’t was because the soldier hadn’t hit it dead on because he’d just aimed in that general direction and caught a bunch of branches.

Still, they clearly knew the area where we were located, and I didn’t like that one bit. They weren’t after the civilians across the street, either. Probably because a lot of the kill shots had come from the girls and me. These NKs might be assholes, but they weren’t stupid, and they could obviously tell where a shot came from.

We needed to take the guy on that weapon out, and fast. If he accidentally hit one of our plasma- carrying jeeps, the explosion would kill us and the NK troops in a spectacular purple fireball.

I let out a deep breath as I looked around me and thought, then my eyes landed on the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle in front of me.

“You.” I grinned and grabbed the recoilless rifle. “I’m counting on you today, buddy.”

I quickly made sure the weapon was loaded, then I aimed for the large vehicle the man was sitting on.

“I’ll hit the vehicle,” I told Bailey. “Take the shot if anything moves afterward somehow.”

The soldier fired another blast in our direction, and I could swear the earth shook underneath us.

“Ready when you are,” the blonde told me as she looked through her sight once more.

The soldier had begun to fire across the street, too, and the shooter's chair swiveled around using some strange levers. His movement was enough to throw Bailey off, though, and on top of that, the NK soldiers still alive were trying their best to finish us off.

Little did they know, they hadn’t managed to take out any of us, and yet we’d taken half of them out already. They seemed to be holding onto faith they’d win, but they were in for a rude awakening.

“Let’s do this,” I breathed and I aimed the Gustaf amidst the debris that fell from above us.

A white streak of smoke filled the air as the shell tore out of the weapon with extreme speed and accuracy.

I hit my mark, which was good, since that smoke damn sure gave away our hiding spot.

That didn’t matter, though, the NK soldiers were too busy trying to shield themselves from the impact of the blast. The Gustaf hit the bottom part of the larger vehicle, and it caused a huge explosion. Black smoke billowed up as the vehicle caught fire and was thrown on its side. The soldier on top of it was now just part of the pile of burning wreckage.

It seemed my team had taken out the rest of the soldiers hiding behind the vehicles while Bailey and I worked on the guy shooting the larger weapon. I’d broken the plasma tank on the back of the vehicle, but as long as nobody fired a plasma shot at it, we’d be safe.

The only reason the Gustaf was able to take him out was because I knew it wouldn’t ignite the plasma liquid.

Just then, I saw something move inside the tank-like vehicle I’d just hit with the Gustaf rifle.

“It looks clear,” Tara started to say, but I held my hand up to stop her. “What is it?”

“There’s somebody in that larger vehicle,” I explained.

“What?” Anna asked, and her eyes narrowed on the tank. “No way.”

More movement caught my eye, and I realized there were at least two men inside the cabin of the vehicle.

“What the fuck,” Paige whispered.

“Right,” I agreed.

“How are they even alive after that impact?” Tara asked.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. The vehicle was clearly immobilized, it wasn’t going anywhere, but it also didn’t look like the front windshield had broken, so I had to assume the weapon was made with warfare in mind and was able to withstand quite the beating and still keep the men inside safe.

I yanked my walkie from my hip and pulled it to my mouth.

“Hammer, Minji, come in,” I said in a low voice.

“We’re here,” Hammer replied a few seconds later. “It looks like we’re clear.”

“Not quite,” I told him.

“You see someone?” he asked quickly.

“There’s men inside the large vehicle at the back,” I explained.

“How?” he asked, and I could hear the bewilderment in his voice.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “He’s probably hurt real bad.”

“Well, I doubt they can go anywhere,” Hammer said.

“You’re right.” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “I don’t think they can actually leave, but the glass seems to be incredibly strong, I’m not sure how much it will take to get through it.”

“Shit, the Gustaf didn’t break that windshield?” Hammer asked.

“Afraid not,” I said.

“Well, we better get them to come out of there,” he told me.

“I was thinking the same thing,” I agreed. “Minji, we could use your help with that.”

“What do you want me to do?” the NK woman asked.

“Tell them we have them surrounded, and that we know their vehicle doesn’t work,” I said. “They can either come out now and possibly live, or we can get through that glass and give them a long, painful death, it’s their choice.”

“Uh, alright,” Minji said. “Give me just a moment.”

“Speak loudly,” I told her. “I’m not sure how well they can hear after all the gunfire.”

“Right,” she breathed.

A few seconds passed, then Minji’s voice rang out in Korean.

I watched the men in the large vehicle, and it was clear they were able to hear her. They narrowed their eyes as they looked around and thought about their options.

I wasn’t feeling patient, though, so I aimed my H&K MP5 at their windshield and fired off two shots.

The glass didn’t shatter by any means, but it was already weak from the blast a few moments ago, and a small crack fanned out from where my bullet made impact.

“Tell them they have thirty seconds until the next shot,” I said into the radio. “That glass is tough, but I have plenty of ammunition.”

Minji didn’t respond to me. Instead, I heard her beautiful, bell-like voice ring out once more in her native tongue.

The men inside the tank-like vehicle looked at one another again, then they scurried out, but before they could get far, I had my MP5 aimed, and I was headed right for them.

“Get the fuck on the ground!” I shouted, and I heard Minji translate for me from the other side of the street.

“You heard him,” Anna said, and I glanced to my left to see she and Paige were right behind me.

A quick glance to the right revealed Tara and Bailey were on my other side.

The NK soldiers took one look at us, then they dropped to the asphalt and laid face down with their arms out so we could see their hands.

I walked over and took the plasma guns from their waist holsters so they wouldn’t even be tempted to try and use them, then I frisked them for other weapons before I stood them up and put them in a line near the larger vehicle.

Minji and Hammer walked up to us then, and I nodded to the two of them.

I didn’t have to say anything, they already knew the drill, so I just took a step toward the soldiers and looked them over carefully.

There were three of them, and while they had some blackness on them from the explosion, they weren’t nearly as dirty as I would have expected. The vehicle had done an excellent job of keeping them safe, and I cringed to think how many more of those tank-like vehicles the NK troops had down here.

That was the first time my team had encountered one of them, and I was more than impressed with its power and its ability to keep the passengers out of harm's way even after a direct hit from a Gustav. They wouldn’t be easy to defeat, especially not if there were several all in one area, but it was lucky the shooter's seat was on the top. If we could take that soldier out, we’d at least have a fighting chance.

I paced back and forth for a moment as I took in the men in front of me.

I could smell fear on them, and I had a gut feeling they’d tell me whatever I wanted to know in an effort to save their own lives.

“You,” I said, and I stopped and pointed at the man in the middle.

His eyes went wide, and he pointed to himself as Minji translated.

“Your squadron here,” I said with a gesture to all the dead soldiers around us. “You were heading somewhere, tell me where. And I’ll know if you’re lying.”

The man’s fearful brown eyes flashed over to Minji as she translated, but I kept my gaze on him. He didn’t know I already knew where they were headed, so I would know if he was lying.

Even still, I wanted to gauge his reaction. There were certain tells when someone was lying, and I watched this asshole closely to see if I could spot any of them.

He hadn’t spoken yet, but his forehead grew sweaty, and his eyes bounced back and forth between Minji and I. He was most definitely nervous, now it was time to see if he was a liar, too.

“Where were you headed,” I repeated, but it was less of a question and more of a demand. I wasn’t going to wait around all day for these assholes to tell me what they were doing, I was going to get my information, then I’d be on my way.

The man took a shaky breath, then he looked at Minji and spoke softly.

“No.” I eyed him carefully. “Look at me when you’re speaking.”

Minji translated for me, and the man took another shaky breath as his brown eyes met mine. I was obviously the more intimidating person here, and he was already on edge, but I wanted to see his eyes when he spoke. I wanted to see if he was trying to pull one over on me.

“He says they were headed to a spot just outside of Atlanta,” Minji translated as the man spoke in a quiet voice and tried to avoid eye contact with me.

“And where might that spot be?” I asked.

“He says it’s a place called Freedom Park,” Minji said.

“Isn’t that ironic,” Tara snorted, and I glanced back to raise an eyebrow at her. The platinum-blonde immediately straightened up and went back to serious mode.

“And what exactly were their orders?” I asked and crossed my arms over my chest as I looked down at the short man in front of me.

“The troops outside of Atlanta were to wait for them,” Minji said. “They’ve had unsuccessful raids on the American troops before, so they were going to send in a smaller unit to try to get the job done.”

“I see.” I nodded, looked around, yanked my MP5 from my hip, and unloaded a round into the guy’s head.

He fell against the vehicle as blood splattered around him and dripped down from the hole in his forehead.

The two soldiers next to him cringed away from their dying friend, and one actually started to sob.

I was in no mood for that, though, and I already had all the information I needed, so I put a bullet in the guy to my right. When I turned to the soldier on my left, however, he got down on his knees, and even though I couldn’t speak Korean, it was clear he was begging for his life.

I thought about all the mayhem the NKs had caused, how they’d attacked us unprovoked and killed citizens without a care as to the laws of war, or those of human decency.

Drool spilled out of the soldier’s open mouth as he pitifully begged for mercy, but I just pulled the trigger and turned back to my team.

“Damn,” Hammer chuckled. “You're more ruthless than I thought.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult,” I said.

“Definitely a compliment,” Hammer said, and he sneered at the dead man behind me. “It pisses me off when they beg for their lives. All I can think of is how many American citizens begged for their lives only to be killed in cold blood. At least there was a reason for his death. Some of what I’ve seen… well, I just can’t rationalize any of it.”

“Yeah.” Bailey nodded, and I saw her chest rise and fall heavily. I knew she was thinking about the young girl we’d seen a while ago.

We’d come across an entire family who’d been killed by the NK troops. From the burn marks on their chests, there was no denying it was them, and those assholes had left the family to rot on the side of the road. The worst part was the young girl who couldn’t have been more than four or five years old.

I didn’t care if they were following orders or not, killing a child was something only a monster could do, and Hammer was right, it took a lot of audacity for these bastards to beg for their own lives after they’d taken so many.

I wasn’t a man who killed for the hell of it, I killed to protect myself, my family, and my country. These assholes had no excuse for what they’d done, and as far as I was concerned, every last one of them deserved to pay for the crimes of their military.

I glanced over to Tara and I couldn’t help the tightness that immediately took over my chest. That beautiful woman was one of the reasons I’d grown so cold recently.

I couldn’t allow anything to go wrong. I had no room for errors or misjudgments, not with Tara pregnant with my child.

And even though the platinum-blonde was still more than capable of taking care of herself in battle, I would do everything within my power to make sure she didn’t have to lift a finger, even though she insisted on participating regardless.

“Alright,” I said with a clap and looked up at the sun. “If we leave now, we should be able to make it to Atlanta before nightfall.”

“Right.” Paige nodded.

“Everyone be careful,” I said. “Let’s go.”

“Should we go through the vehicles?” Bailey asked. “See if there are any orders we can find?”

“Hm.” I pursed my lips. “We still need to gather the weapons and get them back on the trailer. Why don’t we go through the vehicles and let the civilians put everything away?”

“Good idea.” Anna nodded. “I don’t want to be here any longer than necessary, and we only have three or four hours until it gets dark.”

“Right,” I agreed. “We’ll kill two birds with one stone.”

“What?” the redhead asked.

“Kill two birds with one stone,” I repeated. “It’s a common phrase.”

“Yeah, it means to accomplish two things at the same time,” Paige explained.

“I get what it means,” Anna said, and she looked down. “I just always thought it was something else.”

“Oh, here we go again,” Tara chuckled.

Anna never seemed to know what common phrases actually were, it was as if she’d heard them once as a kid and stuck with what she thought her parents said.

“What did you think it was?” Bailey pushed.

“I don’t want to say.” The redhead blushed. “It’s stupid.”

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Tara snickered. “Come on, you have to tell us.”

“Pllleaaaasseee,” Paige added with a grin.

“Oh, alright.” Anna threw her head back and rolled her eyes. “I thought it was cook two buns with one stove.”

“What?” Paige asked.

Tara didn’t say anything, she just doubled over in laughter to the point where she was nearly hyperventilating.

“I mean, I can kind of see how you might have thought that,” Bailey said, but her strained smile told me she was trying very hard to stifle a laugh.

“Do you, Bailey, do you?” Anna asked, and she put her hand on her hip and glared at the blonde.

“Okay, no, I don’t,” Bailey chuckled. “I’m sorry, Anna.”

“Whatever.” The redhead shrugged. “I’m used to it at this point.”

“You really should be,” Tara laughed and wiped a tear from her eye as she stood up.

“It’s not that funny,” Minji said with an amused smile.

“Believe me, it is,” Tara said.

“She’s right,” Anna sighed and shrugged. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this.”

“I see,” Minji chuckled. “You all will have to tell me about it sometime.”

“Deal,” Tara chimed in. “I’m always down to tell those stories.”

“Of course, you are.” Anna rolled her eyes and walked toward one of the vehicles to start going through it. “Come on, if you’re going to laugh at me at least work while you do it.”

“Fair enough.” Tara grinned and bounded over toward one of the smaller vehicles nearby, but after a couple of steps she stopped abruptly and put her hand over her mouth.

The platinum-blonde ran over to the side of the road and threw up with incredible volume, and I couldn’t help but cringe slightly at the sound.

“Geez.” Bailey frowned. “I hope she’s okay, that must feel awful.”

“Serves her right if you ask me.” Anna crossed her arms and cocked her hip out the side as she watched her platinum-blonde friend lose her lunch.

“You’re gross,” Paige chuckled. “Stop watching her.”

“Yeah, it is pretty gross.” Anna smiled. “But it somehow makes me feel better.”

The girls all dispersed then and started to search the vehicles, but I made my way over to Tara and waited until she finished before I approached her and gently laid my hand on her shoulder.

“Ugh, will this never end,” she groaned as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

“It will,” I assured her, and I spun her around so I could smile at her. “And you look beautiful.”

“I look terrible,” she pouted, and even freshly after vomiting, she was stunning. Her hair reflected the yellow of the sun, and her pouty lips looked incredibly kissable, though I would hold off on that for the moment.

Instead, I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she sighed, and she wrapped her arms around my waist and held onto me. “Just a little pukey.”

“That was obvious,” I chuckled and kissed the top of her blonde head once more.

“Okay,” she said, and she pulled away from me and gave her whole body a quick shake. “Let’s do this.”

“I’d tell you you could sit this one out, but I’m afraid you’ll smack me if I do,” I said.

“Damn right.” She flashed me a toothy grin, then she headed toward one of the vehicles. “Come on.”

I shook my head and helped her to go through one of the smaller NK vehicles. There was nothing of true value inside, save for the plasma weapons, so we grabbed those. Otherwise, I found a lighter and several cartons of cigarettes, which was pretty normal for the NKs. They were never lacking when it came to smokes, and I felt my face pull into a grimace as I took in the ever present scent of the cigarettes.

“Oh, hey,” Tara said, and she held out a piece of paper splattered in blood. “Think you could use this?”

The paper wasn’t official, and the notes looked to be handwritten, but there was no harm in seeing what it said.

“Hey, Minji,” I called out to the beautiful Korean woman.

“What’s up?” she asked as she made her way over to me.

“Take a look at this, will you,” I said, and I handed her the paper.

“Sure,” she agreed, but her nose wrinkled slightly at the bloody stationary.

“What’s it say?” Tara asked as she walked around the vehicle toward us.

“It’s notes about the mission.” Minji’s eyebrows pinched together, and she brought the paper closer to her face. “Their handwriting is messy as hell, but it says Freedom Park, and there’s some directions on how to get there. It seems the soldier was telling the truth.”

“I knew he was.” I nodded. “He didn’t care about his squadron anymore, he only cared about himself, and he thought we might let him go if he told us the truth.”

“Should we keep it?” Tara asked, and she looked at the paper and pursed her lips. “It’s a little icky.”

“It’s just some blood,” I chuckled. “As long as you don’t touch it with an open wound, you’ll be fine. But yeah, we’re going to take it with us. It will be good to show our fellow Americans what we just intercepted.”

“Okay.” Tara wrinkled her nose. “But you have to hold onto it.”

“Deal,” I laughed and took the note back from Minji.

The girls and I finished searching the vehicles, and by the time we were done the civilians had put away all of our weapons and ammunition.

Finally, it was time to get back on the road.

At this rate, we’d reach Freedom Park a little bit before dark, but there was no turning back now. Besides, I really didn’t want to set up camp anywhere around here, not with how many people we had in our group and how prevalent the NK presence was in this area. That was a recipe for disaster.

We all loaded up into the jeeps again, and I took Paige’s directions and pulled onto the highway. I kept a good pace, but I made sure not to go too fast since I wanted Ben and the MiG he was hauling to be able to keep up this time.

“So, how many American soldiers do you think are left?” Anna asked after we’d been driving for a while.

“There’s no telling.” I shook my head.

“The soldier in Yorktown said there were thirty-thousand NK troops,” Paige reminded us. “But I suppose the Americans could have taken some of them out, too, right?”

“It’s possible.” I nodded. “I’m not sure how likely, but it’s possible. I would imagine there are less of our men left than there are of the NK troops.”

“Well, they’ve managed to stop the NK soldiers from spreading even more at this point,” Tara said. “So, maybe there’s more of them than you think.”

“I hope there is.” I smiled.

I didn’t want to bring the girls’ spirits down, but I didn’t think we were about to find a large amount of soldiers waiting for us to simply bring supplies and kick some NK ass. I had a feeling this was going to be a lot more complicated than that.

The NK army seemed to have new weapons all the time. I’d never seen that larger vehicle we took out before, and I could only imagine they had more of them, along with other surprise weapons ready to fire at all of our heads.

Our boys had managed to hold the Appalachian foothills, that was clear, but I didn’t know how much longer they could hold out. The NKs were bastards, but they weren’t stupid, and I’d seen firsthand what they were capable of.

We just had to wait and see what we were working with, and that anticipation didn’t make the drive go any faster. It seemed like forever until we made it to the outskirts of Atlanta, and the sun sunk low in the sky. Everything was cast in a light orange glow from the impending dusk, and while it was beautiful, it was also eerie as hell.

Even the outskirts of Atlanta were trashed like a preschool before Christmas break. There were broken down vehicles, trash, plenty of overgrown foliage, and bodies littered the streets in all different stages of decomposition.

If the city limits looked like this, I could only imagine how the actual city looked. Atlanta was massive, and I was sure the EMP strike had set everyone on edge quickly, and if they hadn’t fled after that, the NK invasion had probably sent everyone running for the hills. And that meant citizens would be looking for anything they could get their hands on that might help them travel. I could only imagine the fights that ensued over supplies and food.

The only redeeming factor was the amount of NK soldiers I saw dead along the streets. Our boys were definitely in the area, and it looked like they’d managed to take out more than one squadron.

“Turn right here,” Paige instructed me, and I slowed down and pulled onto an older-looking road surrounded by trees.

“Is this it?” Anna asked, and she moved her head side to side to scan the area.

“Yeah, we’re here,” Paige said. “The actual parking lot is up a ways, though, so we should be able to sneak up on the other NK troops that are here.”

“Good call,” I told her.

“Uh, we might want to backpedal on that,” Anna said, and she pointed ahead of us.

“Shit,” I breathed.

Just around the corner were four smaller vehicles and another larger APC just like the one we’d taken out in Augusta.

I quickly pulled the jeep to the side of the road, parked it, and pulled out my MP5.

I took aim at the driver’s seat of one of the vehicles, but the soldier was slumped against the seat, and the windshield was cracked from where a bullet had already gone through it.

“Um, what the fuck is happening?” Tara whispered.

“We’re not the first to arrive,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Paige asked, and I saw her brown eyes widen in my rearview mirror. “Who else is here?”

“That’s the million dollar question,” I said, and I licked my lips and looked around.

We definitely weren’t alone.

Chapter 4

“Who do you think it is?” Tara asked. “I mean, they killed the NKs, so they’ve got to be on our side, right?”

“I would hope so.” I nodded. “My gut says it’s our boys that are here, but if they just took out these assholes, they might be on edge. We need to treat the situation very carefully.”

“You don’t think they’d try to shoot us, do you?” Paige asked, and her mouth fell open slightly.

“I think they would if they thought we were a threat,” I said.

“We are showing up to their meeting place,” Anna said. “I can see how that might come off a little worrisome.”

“Well, shit,” Paige cursed, and she sat back in the seat. “So, what do we do?”

“Do you think they’ve spotted us, yet?” Bailey asked.

“I don’t think so.” I shook my head. “We haven’t gone around the corner yet, and if they were here waiting for the other troops to arrive, I don’t think they’d hide anywhere we’d be able to easily spot them, either.”

“Right, they’re probably somewhere on the other side of the NK troops they already took out.” Anna nodded. “That way they had something between them and the other troops on their way.”

“Exactly,” I agreed.

“If they haven’t spotted us, then don’t we kind of have all the power here?” Tara asked.

“What do you mean?” Bailey asked.

“We can either reveal ourselves, or we can try to make contact.” Tara shrugged. “But we can’t sit here and wait for them to spot us.”

“Tara’s right,” I agreed. “It’s best to act quickly.”

“I say you try and call out to them,” Bailey suggested.

“You always want to call out to people,” Tara chuckled. “But this time, I’m with you.”

“I think that’s best,” I said, and I pulled my walkie from my hip. “Hammer, come in.”

“Right behind you,” the SEAL answered almost immediately.

“The NK troops are already dead,” I told him.

“No shit,” he said. “You think our boys are here?”

“I think so.” I nodded. “I’m going to try and make contact.”

“Roger that,” he agreed. “I’m here to back you up if you need it.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and hung the walkie back on my hip.

“What do you need us to do?” Anna asked.

“Bailey, you got your Barrett set up?” I asked.

“Right here,” the blonde said, and she groaned as she pulled the large gun up from the floorboard of the backseat. “I keep it together when we travel now. After everything with the MiGs and all.”

“Yeah, and it’s a real inconvenience,” Tara said with a small glare.

“Just trying to protect you and your unborn child,” Bailey said, and she cocked her head to the side and smiled.

“Damn, Bailey’s got attitude today,” the platinum-blonde laughed. “I like it.”

“Okay, I want you to set up here,” I told Bailey. “Just keep a lookout for anyone. I don’t think you’ll need to use your weapon, and it will be a last resort if you do, but if someone is about to fire on us you let me know, and I’ll give you the signal.”

“Right.” The blonde nodded and set the Barrett across the center console so she could look through its sight and keep an eye on the area.

I nodded to the girls, then I opened my door and stepped out.

“Hello!” I called. “My name is Tav. Are you all part of the American resistance?”

The sound of crickets filled the air, but nobody replied to my question.

“Try something else,” Paige whispered.

“Hello!” I yelled louder this time. “Is anybody here?”

Once again, nothing.

“Tell them who you are,” Anna suggested.

I shook my head at the idea, but I knew she was right. If I wanted to get their attention, I had to give them something to pay attention to.

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,” I bellowed. “My name is Connor Tavish, I served with the 3rd Battalion 75th Rangers out of Fort Benning, Georgia. I’ve seen battle in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sierra Leone. Currently, I’m leading the Vermont Militia, and I’ve brought troops to assist you in the fight against the NKs. Now, do I have your attention yet, gentlemen?”

I looked over at the girls, and they all had eyes as big as saucers as they looked me up and down.

“Get it, Tav,” Tara said, and she smiled and winked at me.

“Damn, that was… commanding,” Anna said, and she bit her lip and scanned the length of my body with hungry eyes.

I smiled and shook my head, but then I turned back to where the NK troops were dead in their vehicles. I still didn’t see any of the Americans, but after a few seconds, someone called back to me.

“You say you’re leading the Vermont Militia,” a man with a thick Georgia accent yelled. “So, what are you doin’ all the way down here?”

I didn’t like the skepticism in his voice, but I also wasn’t going to try and argue with him. These guys had obviously been through a lot, and I didn’t want to make anything worse. It was up to me to treat the situation delicately.

“Bailey, find a good vantage point,” I said in a low voice.

“What?” the blonde asked, and she looked up from her scope with pinched together eyebrows.

“He’s right,” Anna said, and she looked at me and shook her head. “They don’t sound like they’re on board.”

“I don’t think they are,” I agreed. “And it’s up to us to get them there. However, I’m not sure how clearly they’re thinking at the moment. They’ve been through a lot, and I’m sure some of these men are pretty salty. I’m not going to push our luck here. I don’t want to attack them, but I’m sure they have snipers already set up, and if they try anything, we need to take them out.”

“Okay.” Bailey nodded and crawled out of the car.

“Be discreet,” I told her.

“Always.” She flashed me a small smile before she wandered into the trees next to the jeep.

I didn’t have time to get a walkie from Hammer for her, I needed to respond to our boys quickly, and besides, I trusted Bailey completely. The sniper wasn’t only a great shot, she was a kind person, and I knew she wouldn’t kill unless she felt she had to.

“My team and I traveled all the way down here to assist you,” I called out. “We’re only offering our help.”

“And why would you do that?” he countered.

“As a Ranger, I can’t sit back and let my country be overrun by enemy troops,” I said. “And as an American citizen, I refuse to sit idly by while my homeland is invaded by assholes.”

“Fair enough,” the man called out. “But I’m still not sure I can trust anything you say.”

“Why don’t we meet out in the open?” I suggested. “I’m sure you’re on the other side of the NK troops. I’m guessing you were waiting for the crew headed down from Augusta.”

Silence.

I turned to smile at Anna, and the redhead flashed me a toothy grin. This guy hadn’t expected that.

“How do you know about that?” he asked after a few seconds.

“We intercepted them,” I explained. “You don’t have to worry about them anymore. And I see you’ve already taken out the troops they were going to meet, so why don’t the two of us just go ahead and meet face to face. You don’t have to believe me when you can’t see me, but I assure you, I’m not lying, and I’m willing to let you see that for yourself.”

More silence.

“Geez, what’s with this guy?” Tara whispered. “You’d think they would want all the help they could get.”

“Like Tav said, they’ve been through a lot,” Paige repeated. “You can’t blame them for being skeptical.”

“Actually, I can, and I am,” Tara said. “This is getting tiresome. They need to--”

“Okay,” the man’s voice called. “We’ll meet face to face. Just one man from each side, though.”

“Sexist,” Tara muttered.

“Deal,” I agreed. “Let’s walk out at the same time.”

“Alright, Ranger,” the man called. “But you should know, I have snipers in the area if you try anything funny.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” I said, but I wasn’t about to reveal the fact that I had a sniper as well, one who was probably ten times as good as any of his. Not yet, at least.

“Ready when you are, Ranger,” the voice called out.

As irritated as I was that announcing my military status was the only way to even get a response out of this guy, I had to remind myself that it wasn’t personal. I most definitely took extra precautions with my team, so I’d expect him to do the same.

“Ready,” I hollered. “Walking now.”

“I’m with ya,” he hollered back.

I made my way around the corner toward the NK vehicles in the area, and I discreetly looked around until my eyes landed on the man headed right for me. He came out of the woods on the other side of the vehicles, and it was clear he was all business.

The man was about my size, with salt and pepper hair, a hard set jaw, and a crooked nose. He wore a dark-gray T-shirt and a pair of army camo pants with standard issue boots. I noticed he hadn’t removed the pistol from his hip, but that was no matter, because I hadn’t removed mine, either. After all, there’d been no discussion about bringing weapons to the table.

The man’s eyes caught mine as we walked, and I could tell by how stiff his body was that he was ready for me to attack at any moment. He was on edge, and I didn’t want to make it worse, so I relaxed my gait some and gave him a quick nod.

Knowing Bailey had my back gave me a sense of comfort as I walked toward the dead NK soldiers and the large Army man. Judging from his looks, he was at least a Sergeant, but probably an even higher rank. It was impossible to tell without a uniform to go off of, but he was clearly in charge if he was the one out here meeting me.

The man hadn’t relaxed the entire time we walked, but soon enough we were nearly to the NK vehicles, and I nodded once more and extended a greeting.

“Sir,” I said. Just because he wasn’t respectful didn’t mean I couldn’t be.

“Master Sergeant Wilson,” he told me, and he lifted his chin slightly as he looked me up and down before his eyes landed on my shaggy, grown out hair. “You sure you’re a military man?”

“I guess I could’ve just dreamed all those tours to Iraq and Afghanistan,” I joked.

The guy didn’t crack even the barest smile as he looked at me.

“You say you intercepted the group from Augusta,” he said, and he narrowed his eyes on me.

“We did.” I nodded and held up my hands for a second. “I’m going to reach into my back pocket.”

I slowly pulled the note from my pocket and handed it to him.

“What the fuck is this?” he asked as his thick silver eyebrows pulled together as he unfolded the bloody paper.

“It’s notes we found on one of the soldiers,” I explained. “My translator assures me it’s directions on how to get here.”

“You have a translator, too, huh?” he asked, and he shoved his bottom jaw to the side as he looked over the paper.

“I do,” I agreed. “As I’m sure you do. Have them read it over if you’d like, I assure you my translation is accurate.”

“I believe you,” he said, and he hit the paper against his hand a couple times. “And I don’t need a translator.”

He folded the note up and put it in his pocket.

“Good to know.” I nodded.

He was quiet for a moment as he shoved his tongue into the side of his cheek and looked me up and down with cool blue eyes.

“Ranger, huh?” he asked, and his demeanor changed completely. He was obviously more calm. His shoulders were less tense, and though he leaned back slightly to look me up and down, it wasn’t with as much scrutiny as it had been before, it was more curiosity now.

“That’s right,. Connor Tavish.” I held out my hand for him to shake. “But everyone calls me Tav.”

“Tav.” He grabbed my hand and gave a good shake. “I like that.”

“Thank you,” I chuckled.

“No, thank you,” he said, and he sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Sorry about all the bullshit. We can’t be too careful, though, you know.”

“I understand,” I assured him.

“I want to thank you for intercepting that troop,” he said with a nod. “That was unnecessarily brave of you.”

“We were simply doing our job,” I told him. “We came all this way to help however we can.”

“I see that now.” He sucked in breath through the side of his mouth, then he spat on the ground next to us. “About how many men you got?”

“A few hundred,” I said.

“Mmm, that’s more than I figured,” he said, and his eyebrows pinched together as he looked out to the woods.

“We have our own supplies,” I told him.

“Good.” He spat again. “It’s safest if you come back to base camp with us. I’ll pull around. You follow my troop.”

“Will do.” I nodded and shook his hand again.

The Sergeant and I went our separate ways, and as soon as I rounded the corner by the girls, they were there, waiting for me.

“Well?” Anna asked. “What happened?”

“Yeah, we couldn’t see anything,” Tara said. “Stupid trees.

“Bailey, you can come out now,” I called to the sniper.

“Coming!” she yelled back.

“I take it the talk went well, then?” Paige asked with a grin.

“Neither one of us got shot.” I shrugged.

“Well, thank god for that,” Tara laughed. “I’m already an unwed mother, I can’t be an unwed mother and have a baby daddy with a gunshot wound.”

“Baby daddy?” Anna laughed.

“What else would you call him?” Tara asked.

“Not that.” Anna smiled and shook her head.

“We’re going to follow him back to his base camp,” I said to steer the conversation back on track.

“Did he take you more seriously once he saw you in person?” Anna asked.

“How could he not?” Tara countered, and she gestured up and down my body. “I mean, look at him. Two-hundred pounds of pure muscle and sexiness. He’s, like, the badass guy who shows up to save the day at the end of a movie.”

“The guy just sounded kind of dickish,” Anna said.

“He’s just trying to protect his troops,” I told her. “But he’s invited us to camp, so we’re on the right track.”

“I just hope these guys put you in charge as fast as the Captain did in Yorktown,” Tara said, and she looked up and to the side. “I admire him for being able to recognize he sucked at his job.”

“Tara!” Paige hissed.

“What?” the platinum-blonde asked with a shrug. “It’s true.”

“Being true and being nice are two different things,” Bailey said as she walked out of the woods.

“Yeah, yeah.” Tara rolled her eyes. “I’m mean, I know.”

“And that’s why we love you,” Bailey told her with a playful smile.

“It better be,” the platinum-blonde laughed. “‘Cause I don’t think I could be nice for any length of time.”

“We know,” Anna said.

“Let’s get in the jeep,” I said as Tara shot the redhead a glare. “The Sergeant could pull around any second. We need to be ready to follow him.”

“Soooo, since the Captain put you in charge, does that mean you’re this guy’s boss?” Tara asked as we climbed back into our vehicle.

“Technically, a Captain outranks a Sergeant,” Paige said matter of factly.

“That’s true, though the Captain was in the navy, and this is the Army,” I agreed. “But shit’s crazy now. I’m not sure who outranks who at the moment, but we just arrived here, so best behaviors please, ladies.”

“If we must,” Tara said, and she flashed me a pearly white smile.

“You must,” I chuckled.

I started up the jeep and waited for the Sergeant to pull around. After a moment, I heard the sound of engines, and several old M809 military utility trucks made their way around the corner. The vehicles were ancient, and I couldn’t help but bark out a laugh.

“Jesus,” Anna breathed.

“Those look like the trucks you see in Vietnam movies,” Paige said.

“I don’t doubt it,” I chuckled.

“Those things are that old?” Tara asked, and her face scrunched up.

“Afraid so,” I said.

“They probably couldn’t find anything else.” Anna shook her head.

“I’m betting you’re right,” I agreed. “I’m sure most of their weapons and transportation weren’t intended to be used after an EMP, they had to make do just like we did.”

“Besides,” Bailey said. “As long as it gets them from point A to point B, it doesn’t matter too much.”

“Yeah, they look like they could definitely haul quite a lot, too,” Anna added.

“Hey, as long as they get the job done, who cares, right.” Paige shrugged.

“I guess,” Tara said. “But they’re still ugly.”

“Nobody said they were pretty,” Anna chuckled.

“Fair point,” the platinum-blonde said with a smile.

I waited until the last M809 passed by, then I pulled the jeep onto the road and followed the small convoy.

“Did they say where their base is?” Anna asked.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Hm…” Paige said, and she pulled out her map and laid it across her lap. “There’s a few places we could be headed.”

“Keep an eye on the roads so we know where we’re at,” I told her.

“I’m on it,” she agreed.

It was quiet as the girls and I followed the small American convoy down the deserted road. The sun had dipped behind the hills, so the sky was lit up with bright oranges, yellows, pinks, and purples.

“Oh, I think I know where we’re headed,” Paige said after a few minutes of driving.

“Where?” Bailey asked.

“Stone mountain,” the brunette answered.

“Hm.” I nodded. “That seems right.”

Sure enough, I saw a couple of signs showing Stone Mountain to be in the direction we were headed. We didn’t go right up to the mountain like I had anticipated, though. Instead, the convoy steered to the left, and somehow we wound up surrounded by woods on either side.

Eventually, we turned down a dirt driveway that led to several large warehouses nestled among the trees.

I saw a small parking lot when we entered and followed the convoy over to the gravel and parked next to them.

The rest of my team pulled in behind me, and they managed to find places to park their own vehicles, even though the area wasn’t large by any means.

Once we were all parked, I hopped out and walked over to the Sergeant’s vehicle.

The man climbed out of the tall M809 cab and raised an eyebrow at the girls and I.

“I thought you said you brought soldiers,” he said.

“Who do you--” Tara started, but I held my hand up to quiet her.

“This is my team,” I said, and I gestured to the rest of my crew climbing out of their vehicles. “I brought plenty of men, but this is my personal team, and I assure you, they’re well-trained.”

“I’m assuming you say that because you trained them yourself,” he said, and he cocked a half smile. “Well, alright, let’s get you all in to meet the General.”

“Great,” I said. “Where can my crew set up?”

“Anywhere around here is good,” he said. “Some of the boys have fire pits out back. They can find a spot back there if they want.”

“I’ll let them know,” I said, and I turned around and found Hammer. I gestured for the SEAL to come over to us, and once he was in earshot, I let him know where to go.

After that, I followed the Sergeant toward the building closest to us, but just before we made it inside, a siren went off.

I recognized the sound immediately, it was an old air raid siren.

“Sergeant,” I said as he picked up the pace to get inside. “What the hell is going on?”

“You’re a Ranger,” he said as he opened the door and ushered us in. “You should know what that sound means.”

“Tav,” Anna said, and she looked at me with round green eyes.

“Come on!” the Sergeant called, and he led us to a door on the left. “Down here!”

“What the fuck is going on?” Tara asked as we scurried down some old metal steps into a supply room slash basement type area.

“It’s an air raid siren,” I said.

“Air raid?” Bailey asked. “Like, we’re about to be bombed?”

“Holy shit,” Tara groaned. “We literally just got here.”

“Don’t worry,” the Sergeant said as a few more soldiers came down the steps to join us. “It should be fine.”

“Ummm, you seem pretty nonchalant about this, Sarg,” Tara said, and I closed my eyes at her use of the word ‘Sarg’. “Does this happen often?”

“All too frequently,” the man said, and I was surprised he took the nickname in stride.

“You get bombed frequently?” Bailey squeaked, and she looked at me with blue eyes filled with horror.

“Not exactly,” the Sergeant said. “The NKs know we’re in this area, but they don’t know where exactly, so every now and then they try to use their artillery or MiGs to bomb the area.”

“And they’ve never got you?” Anna asked, and her red eyebrows pulled together.

“We have --” the sergeant was interrupted by a loud blast above us, then another, and another.

The ground shook, and it seemed the entire building rattled with the impact of whatever the hell was happening above us.

“I thought you said they never got you,” Paige said as she put her hands above her head to shield herself from falling dust and dirt.

“Just our luck.” Tara shielded herself and rolled her eyes. “We arrive on the day the NK troops bomb the shit out of this place”

“Don’t worry,” one of the soldiers in the basement with us said. “They bomb the area from time to time, but like the Sergeant said, they’ve never hit us.”

“Are they using MiGs?” I asked.

“They do sometimes.” The Sergeant nodded. “They also have these huge weapons. They kind of look like that howitzer you brought with you, but I’ve never seen anything like them. ‘Cept these damn things have those plasma weapons rigged to ‘em. They can shoot from miles off.”

“Shit,” Anna breathed.

“I wonder if it’s that same vehicle we saw in Augusta,” Paige said, and she looked at me with pinched together eyebrows.

“Big tank lookin’ thing with a seat for the shooter on top?” the Sergeant asked.

“Yeah!” Paige exclaimed, but just then another blast sounded, then another, and another.

We were under heavy fire, but I could tell the shots weren’t hitting us directly. If they had, we’d be in much deeper shit than we were.

“If they don’t know where you’re at, why are they shooting over here?” Bailey shouted amidst the blasts.

“They know we’re in the area,” the Sergeant repeated. “So they just use those damn plasma guns and lay down shit in the general area in the hopes of getting us. Or maybe they know exactly where we’re at, and they just like toying with us.”

“One day they will end up hitting you,” Anna said seriously.

“Yup.” The sergeant pressed his tongue against his cheek. “Which is why we’ve got to get these bastards taken care of quickly. I don’t know how much longer we’ll last like this.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything else. The blasts continued for a few more minutes, and I looked around the small room and thought about our best course of action.

I needed to talk to whoever was in charge, first off, and figure out what exactly was going on here. I couldn’t make any sort of plan until I knew what they knew. Only then would I be able to formulate anything useful.

Looking around the room, the soldiers seemed incredibly resigned to what was going on, and I felt both sorry for them, and also a strange drive to protect them. They weren’t my men, but they were about to be. I didn’t care who was above me, I wouldn’t allow these men to continue to go through this.

These soldiers were probably anxious beyond belief, and why wouldn’t they be? Living in constant fear wasn’t living at all, and while I understood this was war, there had to be something we could do about these bombings.

Hell, if we had to, my team and I would figure out a way to take out those vehicles and the weapons on them. I certainly didn’t want to stay here with random bombings all the time, and I most definitley didn’t want my pregnant woman here with this going on.

I closed my eyes and shook my head slightly.

The commanding officer and I had plenty to discuss, but taking care of these bombings was number one on my list.

After a few minutes, everything went quiet, and a few minutes after that, the Sergeant stood up.

“Looks like it’s clear,” he said. “We’ll get you over to see the General.”

“Does this General have a name?” Tara asked.

“General Miguel Lopez,” the Sergeant said.

“Oh, my god, like J-Lo,” Tara said, and she smiled and looked around at the other girls. “Right?”

“No.” Anna closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.

“Yeah, not the time,” Paige said, but she put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Well, that’s the only Lopez I know.” Tara shrugged.

“Right,” Sergeant Wilson looked over at me with pinched together silver eyebrows. “And you’re sure they’re well-trained?”

“In military maneuvers, yes,” I said with a small, apologetic smile. “But military etiquette didn’t seem very important at the time.”

“I see.” He nodded, then shook his head and cracked a smile. “Well, you all managed to take out the troops heading toward us from Augusta, so regardless of your girls’ manners, I’d say you’ve earned a meeting with the General.”

“I’d hope so,” Tara muttered.

“I like your fire, little lady,” Sergeant Wilson laughed and led us up the stairs. “Come on.”

The tall, silver haired man led us down a dimly lit hallway and into a large room with an oval table in the middle surrounded by fold up chairs. There was a white board at the front of the room, and in the far back seat, an older man sat with his elbow on the table as he read over some documents.

“General Lopez,” Wilson said as we entered the room. “May we come in, sir?”

Part of me was astounded to hear him be so formal when everything around us seemed to have crumbled, but I figured maintaining some sort of order probably helped everyone feel a little more in control of the situation.

“Come in, come in,” Lopez said, but then he lifted his head up and saw us. His dark eyebrows pulled together, and he quickly glanced to his Sergeant for answers.

“Sir, this is Connor Tavish of the 75th Rangers,” Wilson introduced me. “He’s leading the Vermont Militia and he and his group have come to aid in our efforts.”

“Leading the Vermont Militia?” Lopez asked, and he leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at me. “How did you manage that, Ranger?”

“Long story, sir,” I chuckled and stepped forward. “My crew and I have traveled a long way to be here, though, and we’re prepared to do whatever we can to help.”

“Well, if Wilson vouches for you, I’m sure you’re on our side,” he sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Unfortunately, at the moment I’m not sure what you all can do that hasn’t been done already.”

“Sir?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed on the man as I focused on his body language and words.

The General seemed competent, his dark eyes were sharp, and he had a calm, but powerful, demeanor about him. He was older, at least in his sixties, with dark hair that had started going gray around the temples. He had a thick moustache and some mean five o’clock shadow.

“We’re at a stalemate right now, Tavish,” he said, and I realized I hadn’t corrected Sergeant Wilson when he’d introduced me by my full name. It always made me cringe just slightly, though. I didn’t feel like a Connor or a Tavish, I liked Tav.

“You can call me Tav, sir,” I said, and I stepped up to the table. “I’d like to know everything that’s going on so I can assist with formulating a plan. I’ve brought weapons and supplies, as well as some SEALs, and my well-trained team behind me.”

The General leaned to the side to look at the four beautiful, tiny women behind me, then he looked back at me, shrugged, and shook his head.

“I’m assuming you all were here for the shelling just a moment ago,” he said.

“We were,” I acknowledged.

“Right.” He nodded and let out a deep breath before he looked at me with serious dark-brown eyes. “Well, those were the larger vehicles the NK bastards have managed to create.” He sighed. “I’m sure you know all about the plasma and all that shit, but the weapons on those are mean, and they can fire from a good distance, so there’s not much we can do to stop them when we’re here and they’re where they are.”

“Yes, your Sergeant explained that,” I said.

“But, the NKs also have MiGs they send over from time to time,” he said. “Now, we have anti-aircraft missiles, so we’re able to take them out no problem, but that means--”

“Whenever you leave, they’re ready and waiting,” I finished with a sigh.

“Right.” He nodded. “They can’t get to us with their MiGs since we can take them down, but I can’t send my men out without severe casualties.”

“The Sergeant’s group went out today,” Paige piped up, and when I turned to look at her, her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth. “Sorry.”

“That’s quite alright,” the General said. “You’re right, they did go out, but that was only because we found some correspondence a while back about the meeting at Freedom Park. Any sort of direct contact, and my men are gone in a matter of seconds. Covert is the only way we’ve managed to make anything work.”

“I’m guessing the NKs have taken over the area,” I said.

“And then some,” he scoffed and shook his head. “These sonsabitches are giving me a run for my money.”

“I think my team and I can be of some assistance,” I said.

“How’s that?” Lopez asked, and he leaned back and looked at me curiously.

“I think the first thing we need to focus on is taking out those larger vehicles with the plasma weapons on top,” I said. “If the NKs don’t have those, they won’t be able to come after you since you have the anti aircraft missiles.”

“Short of a damn howitzer, I’m not sure how you’re going to take those things out,” Lopez said.

“Good thing we have one, then.” I cocked a half smile.

“No shit,” he chuckled, put his hands behind his head, and leaned back in the seat. “We may just have a deal, then.”

“I hope so,” I said.

“Tell you what,” he said. “We’re having a round table after dark, why don’t you and your team join us?”

“We’d be honored,” I told him.

“We can go over all the intel then,” he said. “And, you said you have supplies, correct?”

“We do.” I nodded.

“If I could get a list of those, that’d be great,” he said. “Doesn’t have to be exact, just--”

“Here you go,” Paige said, and she pulled a couple sheets of paper out of her backpack and walked them over to the General. “It’s all right here.”

“Oh, uh, thank you, young lady,” Lopez said as he took the papers and raised an eyebrow at me.

I just smiled in return. Most men underestimated the girls, though the General had invited them to the round table, so I wouldn’t exactly put him in that category. Still, he was clearly surprised to get a full manifest of all the supplies we brought in a matter of seconds.

Or maybe he was shocked with how large the list was, I wasn’t sure which.

“How many men do you have?” he asked.

“A few hundred,” I told him.

“We’ve got nearly ten-thousand here,” he told me, and he looked down at the paper.

The General thumbed through the list, then he got to the last page and his eyes went wide as he looked up at me. “This is accurate?”

“Updated before we left Yorktown,” Paige confirmed. “So there could be a little bit of ammunition missing, but it won’t be much. I’ll make sure to do a full tally first thing in the morning.”

“You have a MiG?” Lopez tapped his index finger on the sheet of paper on the table.

“That’s right,” I agreed.

“A working MiG?” he clarified.

“Yes,” I said. “It works just fine, and we even have a pilot to fly it.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the General said, and he pursed his lips, looked down, and shook his head. “You all did come prepared, didn’t you?”

“We tried, sir,” I said with a smile.

“Looks like you more than succeeded,” he said. “My team has been at this for some time, and we haven’t managed to commandeer a MiG yet.”

“Dumb luck on our part,” I told him.

“I’m sure there was some skill involved,” he chuckled.

“I mean, we did shoot the howitzer at the thing.” Anna shrugged. “I’d say dumb luck is pretty spot on.”

“Skill, dumb luck, whatever the hell it was, you got it,” Lopez said, and he stood up and shook my hand. “Welcome to the team, Tav.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said as I grabbed his hand and gave it a quick shake.

“And you said these women are your team?” he asked as he looked around me.

“That’s right,” I agreed, and I gestured to the girls. “Anna, Paige, Tara, and Bailey.”

“Good to meet you all,” he said, and he reached out to shake their hands as well.

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride watching the General shake the girls’ hands. He was treating them with the utmost respect, and I appreciated the hell out of him for it. The girls deserved that, and more. They’d proven themselves time and again, but they always had to do it again with new people. Luckily, the General seemed to take my word about their skills.

“Alright,” General Lopez told me after he finished introducing himself to the girls. “I’ll let you get outside and get your camp set up. Wilson here will come get you when it’s time for the meeting.”

“I appreciate that, sir.” I nodded and followed Wilson back out the door.

He led us down the long hallway, and it was almost eerily quiet until I heard a male voice behind me, and I turned around to see three more men headed toward the room we’d just come out of.

There was a tall, skinny, dark haired man with glasses and pants that were way too short on him, a young soldier with deep-green eyes and vibrant red hair, and a tall older man with white hair, dark-brown eyes, and a commanding presence.

The older gentleman stood in the middle of the other two, and he held his hands out to mimic some sort of mechanical work as he spoke.

They were deep in conversation, and they didn’t seem to notice us, but I got a good look at them since I figured I’d be seeing them at the roundtable later on. With how nonchalantly they headed toward the General’s office, it seemed they were probably well acquainted with the man in charge.

“...telling you, it won’t take more than a couple of days,” the older man said, and now that he was closer, I could hear his deep voice clearly.

“Tara?” Anna asked, and I looked over to see the platinum-blonde had paused.

“Tara, come on, what are you doing?” Paige asked as we all stopped.

Tara stood in the hallway, turned toward the men, and her platinum-blonde eyebrows were pinched together as she stared at them.

“Daddy?” she whispered.

Chapter 5

“Did she just say ‘daddy’?” Anna asked, and she looked at me with round green eyes.

“I…” I shook my head and looked back to Tara, who still stared at the men in the hallway. “Tara? What’s going on?”

“Daddy!” the platinum-blonde screamed, and she ran down the hallway and jumped on the old man in the middle of the group.

I half-expected the guy to push her off and say she was crazy, but he shouted right before he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

The platinum-blonde had her arms wrapped around the man’s neck, and her legs wrapped around his waist as if she were a small child, and he’d just gotten home from work.

The look on the man’s face is what really drove it home for me, though. He had his eyes squeezed shut, and his teeth were bared so he could pull ragged breaths through them as he held back tears, and I knew that had to be her father.

“Whoa.” Anna said, and she cocked her hip out and shook her head. “Wasn’t expecting that.”

“I have to admit, I thought he was going to push her away,” Paige whispered. “I mean… like I thought maybe he just looked like her dad or something, but this seems legit.”

“I had the same thought,” I whispered. “But I’ll deny it if you tell Tara.”

“Let’s just both agree to not tell her,” Paige chuckled softly.

“Oh, my god, Daddy, I can’t believe you’re here!” Tara squealed as the man set her back on the floor.

“Me?” he laughed, and he reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I can’t believe you’re here, pumpkin.”

“Pumpkin?” Anna snickered.

“Well, I knew we’d find each other,” Tara said. “But I thought you’d come get me way before now. What the hell, old man?”

“I sent a group to retrieve you from campus,” he told her. “We had no way of communicating with them, and when they didn’t come back, I thought… oh, it doesn’t matter, you’re here.” He pulled her into his arms again. “It’s so good to see you, pumpkin.”

“It’s good to see, too, Dad.” Tara sighed and leaned into her father.

I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face as I watched my sweet Tara reunite with her father. As much as she’d always spoken about him and how she knew he was out there looking for her, I was never sure they’d actually find one another, or that he was even still alive. I had hoped he might be, but I didn’t expect to see him here of all places.

“Oh, Daddy, come meet my friends,” Tara giggled, and she grabbed the man by the hand and pulled him over to us.

“Friends?” he asked, and he looked at us with pinched together eyebrows of confusion. “You made friends in the apocalypse? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Duh,” Tara laughed. “I could make friends anywhere. But these are girls I went to school with.”

“Oh, I see.” He nodded and extended his hand toward Anna. “It’s good to meet you. I’m glad you’re here safe. It must have been awful out there for you.”

“We’ve managed,” Anna chuckled, and she reached out to shake the man’s hand. “I’m Anna.”

“Pete Vincennes” the man said with a nod. “Pleasure.”

“Paige,” the brunette introduced herself as she grabbed his hand.

“Bailey,” the blonde said quietly, and she reached out and shook Pete’s hand. “Tara’s told us a lot about you.”

“All good things, I hope,” he laughed.

“Oh, speaking of that,” Anna said, and she raised a red eyebrow at Tara. “What’s your father doing on a covert military base if he’s ‘not a big deal’, as you put it?”

“Oh, pumpkin.” Pete shook his head. “Were you telling people I fix phone lines again?”

“I don’t know what you do.” Tara shrugged. “What am I supposed to tell them if they ask?”

“Not that,” he laughed and turned to the girls. “I went to school for mechanical engineering, but before Tara was born, I got into the management side of things and eventually became the Chief Technical Officer at a fiber optic company. Then I started my own company and did military contract work.”

“So, you definitely don’t fix phone lines, huh?” Anna joked.

“Definitely not,” he chuckled. “Though I could if I needed to.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Bailey pointed out.

“Tara said you had friends in the military,” Anna added. “Did they pick you up after the EMP hit?”

“Not exactly.” He shook his head. “I’ve worked with the military for years on top secret communications projects, so after shit hit the fan, I was brought down here to help with getting things up and running after the blast.”

“You’ve been down here the whole time?” Tara asked.

“Most of it.” Pete nodded. “Now, it’s my turn. How did you girls get down here? You’re a long way from Piper.”

“Tav brought us,” Tara said, and she gestured to me. “Sorry, I guess I forgot to introduce you two.”

“Tav?” Pete asked with a raised eyebrow as he reached for my hand.

“Connor Tavish,” I explained. “But everyone calls me Tav.”

“You're a civilian?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“Ranger,” I told him as I gripped his hand and gave it a good shake.

“Ranger.” His eyes widened, and he nodded. “It’s good to know my daughter was in good hands on the way down here. If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s a Ranger.”

“Glad you feel that way, sir,” I chuckled.

“So, what, you, uh, stumbled across these girls at the college?” he asked, but he didn’t pause for an answer. “I tell you, they must have been scared half to death, and probably freezing, too. You’re a good man for bringing them down here with you, and I’ll make sure you’re rewarded for your effort when this is all over. And in the meantime, we’ll find a nice safe spot to set the girls up.”

“Um, actually, we’re here to help with the fight,” Tara said.

Pete looked at his daughter, and his eyebrows pulled together, then he leaned back and pointed at her with a laugh.

“Ahhh, you almost got me there, pumpkin,” he chuckled. “That was a good one.”

“I’m serious,” the platinum-blonde told him, and there was no hesitation or humor in her voice. “We’ve all fought hard to get here, and we’re here to fight.”

“What are you saying?” Pete asked as his brow furrowed even harder.

“I’m, like, a total badass now.” Tara smiled and gestured to me. “After he found us, Tav trained us so we knew how to use weapons and stuff. It turns out I’m pretty good with them.”

“It’s true, sir,” I said. “Tara’s very skilled in hand to hand combat.”

“I-- what?” Pete asked as he looked at me, then back at his daughter.

“Boy, she doesn’t waste any time, does she,” Anna muttered.

“Oh, and I’m pregnant. It’s Tav’s, obviously. Look at how hot he is.” Tara grinned at her father as I tried not to cringe.

“Not a second,” Paige whispered back.

“Preg-- Pregnant!” Pete shouted.

“You’re gonna be a grandfather,” Tara told him. “Isn’t that great?”

“A grandfather,” he said, and he shook his head and pulled her in for another hug. “My God, honey. Don’t worry about a thing, we’re going to take care of you and the baby. That’s all that matters. Who did you say the father was? My mind kind of went blank for a second there.”

“Ohh, Dad,” Tara laughed against his chest and pointed to me. “It’s Tav’s.”

“Tav?” he asked, and I got the sense he’d already forgotten who I was. Not that I blamed him, there was a lot going on.

“Tav,” Tara repeated. “He’s literally right there.”

“Oh, Tav!” Pete said as his eyes caught mine. He was smiling at first, but then his eyes narrowed to slits. “You got my daughter pregnant when you were escorting her to safety?”

“Oh, my god, Dad,” Tara said, and she lightly pushed him away. “I already told you. He didn’t escort us here, we came together. And besides, you two are totally going to like each other. Now, we’re going to go help the rest of our crew set up camp, but we’ll see you later at the discussion thingy, and we can talk afterward.”

“Discussion thingy?” Pete asked, and his white eyebrows pulled together. “You mean the roundtable in the war room?”

“Yeah, the meeting with the General guy who has the same name as J-Lo,” Tara said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We have to teach all you old farts how to kill the asshole North Koreans.”

“How do you even know about that?” he asked. “You can’t come to that, it’s authorized personnel only.”

“We are authorized.” Tara rolled her eyes and smiled. “I’m a badass now, remember?”

“Right.” Pete nodded, but he looked at his daughter like she’d just sprouted another head.

“We’ll see you later, Daddy,” Tara said, and she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m sure you’ve got stuff to do.”

The platinum-blonde waved to her father, then she grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway to where Wilson was waiting for us.

“You know, I thought you looked familiar when I saw you,” Wilson chuckled as he led us down the hall. “Your pops has a picture of you in his room.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.” Tara smiled.

I turned around and saw her father standing in the middle of the hallway, totally dumbfounded. He looked back to the man in the glasses and gestured at his daughter, but his coworker only shrugged like he had no idea what just happened, either.

As much as I feared Tara’s father might hate my guts for getting her pregnant, I had to smile at her candor with him. She didn’t seem afraid to tell him a single thing, and I admired her for it. She also wasn’t afraid to put him in his place when it came to telling her who she was.

I was incredibly proud of Tara for not allowing her father to treat her like she was just an ordinary civilian. She might not be an enlisted soldier, but she had all the skills of one, if not more.

It would make sense that Pete would assume his daughter was the same person she was when he last saw her, but it’d been nearly two years, and a lot had happened during that time. Tara had grown exponentially as a person, and as a soldier. She was, like she said, a total badass, and she deserved the same respect he would give to any other soldier.

“Sooooo, what the hell was that?” Anna asked as soon as we made it out of the building.

“What do you mean?” Tara asked. “If you’re talking about how my dad said he sent people to come and get me, I totally told you so, and I’ll kindly take your apology for doubting me.”

“Um, yeah, not that,” the redhead laughed. “I was referring to you blurting out your pregnancy.”

“So?” Tara asked, and she cocked her head to the side. “I figured he’d want to know.”

“Yeah, but you probably could’ve eased him into it,” Paige chuckled.

“Eh, he’s tough, I’m sure he can handle it.” Tara grinned.

“Tav?” Anna asked with a raised red eyebrow. “How are you feeling about this?”

“It’s not my decision.” I shrugged. “Tara wanted to tell her father, and I support whatever she wants to do.”

“Thank you, Tav,” the platinum-blonde sniffed. “This is why I chose you to be the father of my child.”

“I mean, did you choose him, though?” Anna asked. “I mean, it’s not like you were trying to get pregnant, right?”

“Well, no.” Tara pouted and looked to the side. “But, I totally planned on having his baby after we finished this war, it just happened a little sooner than I thought.”

“Uhh, no,” Anna snickered. “Didn’t you say that you couldn’t imagine being pregnant?”

“Oh, come on,” Tara laughed. “All of us want to have Tav’s babies after this war. I’m totally right.”

Hearing her say that, and watching my girlfriends all give me blushing glances afterward, nearly gave me an erection right then, but I reminded myself we still had plenty to do tonight.

Darkness had fallen by then, though, and the civilians had set up several fires to see by as they put up the tents.

I knew it wasn’t as late as it seemed, but fall was nearly here, and the sunset was much earlier in the day than it was in the summer.

“Ladies,” I said to interrupt their conversation. “We need to finish setting up camp.”

“Right.” Anna nodded.

The girls and I made our way over to the trailer that housed all the supplies we’d brought, and we found a tent and a nice secluded area to set it up.

Paige and I worked on the tent while Bailey and Tara made a ring of rocks for our fire pit and Anna found some wood. It wasn’t long until they had a roaring fire going and the tent was completely set up.

I was about to suggest we find something to make for dinner, but just then, I heard several male voices, and I looked over to the road to see a group of ten or fifteen men coming down the driveway.

General Lopez said he couldn’t send out troops for head to head combat without severe casualties, but having troops sneak around was another story. These soldiers probably didn’t come into direct contact with the NK soldiers, either. They were most likely setting up booby traps or sniping NK soldiers from a distance.

That was probably why they were so filthy. They seemed like they’d been out in the woods for a while.

“Damn, those guys look like they’ve been through it,” Anna said as the girls crowded around to see what I was looking at.

“Probably out doing some guerilla style warfare,” I said.

“I thought the General said he couldn’t send troops out without casualties.” Bailey frowned.

“Right.” I nodded. “He’s probably trying to use guerilla warfare to prevent as many casualties as he can by having them keep their distance.”

“Hm.” Anna looked around. “I guess that would make sense. He said they had ten-thousand soldiers, but I definitely don’t see that many out here.”

“They must be all spread out.” Paige nodded.

“We should bring that up with the General,” Anna said. “I want to know exactly what they’ve been doing.”

“Agreed.” I nodded. “Once we know that, we can adjust their plan and try and put an end to this damn thing already.”

“Getting tired of fighting?” Anna chuckled.

“No.” I shook my head. “Just tired of assholes thinking they can invade my country.”

“Aren’t we all,” the redhead sighed, then she looked around. “I’m going to go grab our stuff out of the jeep. I’ll be right back.”

“Here, let me help,” Bailey offered.

“Yeah, I’ll come, too,” Paige said. “It’s a lot of stuff.”

“Thanks,” Anna said as the three of them walked over to where we parked the jeep.

“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” Tara asked sincerely once we were alone.

“Never,” I chuckled and kissed her forehead. “A heads up would have been nice, but I’ll live.”

“Sorry.” She smiled and leaned up to kiss me. “He doesn’t seem like he even believes me, though.”

“Oh, I think he believes you’re pregnant,” I laughed.

“I know.” She waved her hand. “I meant he doesn’t believe I’m a badass. It makes me so mad. He still sees me as his helpless little daughter like I used to be.”

“Tara.” I smiled. “We’ve only been here a few minutes, give him some time. I’m sure he’ll see how much you’ve grown.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed. “I guess I just forgot that’s how he used to talk to me. I can’t believe I was okay with it.”

“You were a different person then,” I told her with a smile.

“And I’m pregnant as fuck now,” she huffed. “And I’m all emotional and shit. I need a distraction.”

“It’s perfectly okay to be emotional,” I laughed. “You just saw your dad for the first time in nearly two years. Anybody would be emotional.”

“You’re right,” she said, and she looked up at me with a devilish grin. “I still need a distraction, though.”

“You--” I started.

“Oh, shush,” she growled, and she grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the woods behind our tent.

As soon as we were out of the firelight, Tara spun around, wrapped her arms around my neck, and pressed her perfectly plump lips against mine.

“Mmm,” she moaned as she slid her hands up to tangle her fingers in my hair. “I feel it’s been forever. I need your cock so bad.”

“Damn, it’s sexy when you say things like that,” I mumbled against her mouth, then I grabbed the back of her neck and held her in place as I kissed her deeply.

Tara sighed into my mouth, and I felt her body relax against mine. Her perfectly hourglass shape was pressed into me, and I could feel her ample breasts and her hip bones.

“Oh, god, yes,” she panted as I kissed along her jawline to her ear so I could nibble on her earlobe. “Fuck, I want you so bad, Tav.”

“Mmm, I like it when you say that,” I whispered. “Say it again.”

“I want you so bad,” she breathed as I slid my hand down her stomach to the top of her shorts.

Tara gripped onto my shoulders as I licked and kissed her neck and slowly undid the zipper of her denim shorts.

“Let’s see how bad you really want me,” I growled as I slid my hand down the front of her pants and into her panties.

Before I even got to her pussy, I could feel her wetness. She was drenched for me, and the feel of it made me groan deeply and close my eyes as I worked my fingers lower and lower.

I slid my index finger between her folds and found her opening wet and ready for me.

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” I breathed.

“I told you I wanted you,” she growled and gripped my shoulders even harder. “Fuck me, Tav, please, I need your cock.”

I cocked a half smile at her request. I’d only just got started, and I wasn’t about to let her off that easily.

I slid one finger inside of her, and she dug her nails into my shoulders and tensed with pleasure, then I slid another finger into her wet pussy, and this time she tossed her head back, and her plump lips parted as she drew in a ragged breath.

“Fuuuuuck,” she moaned.

“You like that, don’t you?” I whispered into her ear as I worked my fingers in and out of her dripping wet pussy.

“Oh, so much,” she panted as I fucked her harder with my fingers.

Tara held onto my shoulders for dear life as her knees gave out, but I wrapped one arm around her waist to hold her steady while I continued to pleasure her with my fingers.

“Ohhhh… myyyy… gooooood,” Tara moaned, and she released her full weight onto me as her body tensed up and she came on my fingers.

Her pussy squeezed and spasmed on me, and my cock twitched in anticipation of what it was about to feel.

The platinum-blonde looked gorgeous in the moonlight. Her head was thrown back with pleasure, her eyes were shut softly, and her mouth hung open as her jaw trembled ever so slightly. Her long hair hung down from her ponytail, and it looked almost silver in the moonlight. The sheen of sweat that covered her accentuated her perfectly-shaped collar bone, and I leaned down and kissed it while she rode out the waves of her pleasure.

Tara’s body went limp against me after her orgasm stopped, but I didn’t want to wait any longer. I needed to be inside of her right then, so I quickly moved us over to a nearby tree, spun her around so her ass was facing me, and yanked her shorts down to her ankles.

The lacy black thong she was wearing only served to turn me on even more, and I fought the urge to rip it off of her just so I could get to her sweet pussy that much faster.

Instead, I pulled the thong to the side and bent her over so she gripped the tree in front of her.

“Oh, fuck, yes,” Tara panted, and she looked back at me and bit her lip as she spread her legs wide. “Give me your cock, Tav.”

Her request sent a heat through my body, and I quickly undid my pants so my erection sprung free, then I stepped up to her and pressed my tip against her slick entrance.

“God damn you’re fucking wet,” I growled as I slid my length up and down her dripping wet and already swollen pussy lips.

“Mmm, you’ll slide right in,” she panted. “Fuck me, please, Tav. I want you so bad.”

“Get ready.” I grabbed onto Tara’s hips and then  carefully and slowly slid my cock inside of her inch by inch.

“Ohhh, fuck, yesss.” She arched her back and took in short, ragged breaths as she opened up to accept every last bit of me.

“God, Tara, you’re so tight,” I moaned as I held myself against her so my cock was as deep as it could possibly go.

“You feel soooo good,” she groaned, and she arched her back so her ass was lifted up even more.

I reached down, grabbed two handfuls of her perfect ass, then I pulled out and slammed back into her hard.

“Oh, fuck,” she gasped. “Yeeesss, fuck me hard, Tav. You know how I want it.”

“You want it hard, huh,” I growled, and I reared my hand back and then brought it down on her ass cheek so it made a satisfying slapping sound.

“Again,” she begged, and she arched her ass up for me. “I’ve been soooo bad.”

I pulled my hand back and slapped her ass again so a light red mark appeared, but I couldn’t contain myself any longer, and I grabbed onto her hips and slammed in and out of her as hard as I could.

My cock bottomed out in her tunnel, but Tara only gasped for more, so I slammed into her over and over again as her velvet walls tightened around me in anticipation of another climax.

“Ohhh, gooood,” she moaned. “Don’t stop, I’m going to c-cooommme!”

Tara’s pussy squeezed and spasmed on my cock as she was overcome with yet another orgasm, and the feel of her coming was too much, so I pulled back and slammed into her one last time.

My balls tensed and my cock pulsated as I climaxed inside of her. My hot come sprayed into her already fertalized womb, and I let out a guttural growl as I claimed her once more with my sperm.

My vision went black as I rode out the waves of my pleasure and allowed Tara’s sweet pussy to milk me for all I was worth.

Once I’d finished, I slowly pulled out of her and watched my cream drip down her swollen pussy lips.

“Mmmm, I needed that,” Tara said, and she pulled up her shorts and turned around to lean against the tree.

“Let me help you.” I smiled and walked over to zip up her pants.

“Hm, it’s not every day you’re putting me into my pants,” Tara said with a cocky half smile. “Most days you’re taking me out of them.”

“And I’ll continue to do that, too,” I chuckled.

“I look forward to it,” she said, and she licked her lips.

“You’re insatiable,” I joked.

“I am.” She nodded. “But we should probably get back, I bet the meeting will be soon.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” I said. “Let’s go.”

Tara tried to step away from the tree, but her legs were shaky, and she nearly stumbled, so I quickly grabbed her by the waist to steady her.

“Are you okay?” I asked, and my eyebrows pinched together with concern.

“I’m fine,” she muttered as she looked down at her feet. “Stupid pregnant feet.”

“I don’t think your pregnancy has anything to do with it.” I pressed my lips together to stifle a laugh.

“Well, I’m sure it’s not helping,” she grumbled as she tried to navigate through the twigs and roots on the ground.

I knew better than to argue, so I just shook my head and held onto her waist as we made our way out of the trees.

“There you two are,” Paige said as we broke the tree line.

“We were getting worried.” Bailey frowned.

“Not me.” Anna raised her hand. “I said you were probably just making another baby.”

“And I said that’s not how it works,” Paige laughed.

“Let’s hope not.” Tara smiled. “Or I’m going to be hanging quintuplets after how many times Tav has pumped his baby batter in me.”

“Jesus,” Anna groaned as she covered her face with her palm.

“Save some for us, sweetie,” Paige chuckled.

“Oh, he’s still got plenty for you, babe,” Tara laughed, and then she stuck her tongue out at the brunette beauty. “We’ve all gotta get knocked up after this war, right?”

“She just never stops,” Anna groaned again.

Anna, Bailey, and Paige had the camp set up nicely. They’d found some stumps and logs to put around the fire so we had places to sit, and they’d also brought a small box of supplies over, as well as a pot for cooking. With how many people we had, and only a fire to cook on, it made more sense for everyone to cook for themselves, though I was sure Tara would offer now and then.

It was a large undertaking to feed so many people, though, and I didn’t want her to strain herself in any way.

“It looks great,” I told the girls as Tara and I sat down.

“Thanks.” Anna smiled. “We thought it felt pretty homey.”

“It certainly does,” I told her.

“Oh, that makes me miss home.” Bailey smiled softly and stared into the fire.

“If you miss home why are you smiling?” Tara laughed.

“Well, I miss everyone, but it’s kind of bittersweet, too, you know,” the blonde explained.

“No, I don’t know.” Tara shook her head.

“I miss them now, but I know that once we finish the war here, they’ll be safe for good, so missing them for a little while is worth it.” Bailey smiled and stoked the fire.

“Huh, I hadn’t thought about it like that.” Anna nodded. “You’re right. It’s definitely worth it. Though, I miss baby Anthony. I bet he’s going to be giant by the next time we see him.”

“He does grow super fast,” Paige chuckled. “It seemed like he was a baby one minute, and now he’s like a real tiny human.”

“He’s always been a real tiny human,” Bailey laughed.

“I mean, yeah, but you know what I mean,” Paige huffed.

“I do.” Bailey smiled. “They grow quickly.”

“They better,” Tara said. “I’m not changing diapers forever.”

“I mean, you still have to do that for a couple years,” Bailey said.

“What?” Tara scoffed. “A couple of years? I can’t potty train when he’s, like, a few months?”

“Ummmm, no,” Bailey laughed.

“Oh, Tav,” Paige said, and she pulled out her maps from her bag and laid them on the stump next to her. “I looked at where we’re at on the map so we could prepare for the roundtable.”

“Good call.” I nodded and walked over to look at where she’d marked.

“So, if we’re here,” she said with a point. “The NK troops are most likely to the south of us.”

“I think that’s probably right,” I agreed.

“But there’s a good amount of forest around,” Paige said. “We should be able to take them out once we know where they’re at.”

“I love that we show up and are like ‘hey, that thing you’ve been trying to do for weeks, or months now, yeah, we’ll do it,’” Anna laughed.

“I mean, but it works most of the time,” Tara said.

“Yeah, but it’s still kind of funny.” Anna shrugged.

“Most men don’t have the training or teamwork skills you all do,” I said. “And a lot of the time people start looking at a problem from only one angle when they’ve been faced with it for a long time.”

“That’s true.” Anna nodded.

“Besides, we don’t have a plan yet,” Paige pointed out. “Once we know where the NK troops are, then we’ll really be able to figure out what we should do.”

“Right.” I nodded.

“Hey!” a man’s voice called out, and I looked up from the map to see a group of soldiers headed to us. They were my age, maybe younger, and they all wore standard issue boots, camo pants, and filthy, no longer white T-shirts.

“Yeah?” I asked as I stood up.

“Can we check out the MiG you brought?” the guy in the front asked with a grin. He had a southern accent, short brown hair, a nice smile, and a slightly crooked nose I could only imagine resulted from a bar fight gone wrong.

“Sure,” I chuckled and gestured to the plane that was parked to our right behind all the camps we’d set up.

“Thanks, man,” the guy said, and he stopped to talk to me while his buddies walked over to the MiG and checked it out. “That thing flies, yeah?”

“It does.” I nodded.

“We’ve got a couple of pilots who’ve been going stir crazy around here.” He shook his head. “I’m sure they’d love to get in that thing.”

“We have one of our own, too,” I told him.

“No kidding?” he laughed. “You all really did show up with everything.”

“Is that what they’re saying?” I joked.

“Pretty much.” He grinned and looked around. “You showed up with men, plasma, and what appears to be enough food to last a year.”

“We’re lucky to have a farm back home,” I told him.

“No shit.” He nodded. “Once this is all over I think I’d like to find a farm somewhere. I used to dream about traveling and seeing the world, but shit, I feel like I’ve seen enough right now.”

“I know the feeling.” I smiled at the young man and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I bet,” he said. “Word is you’re a Ranger.”

“That’s right,” I agreed. “But, honestly, we’re all just Americans trying to take our country back now.”

“That’s what all the important people say, am I right?” he chuckled and elbowed my arm.

“Tav,” Sergeant Wilson’s voice rang through the air, and I looked over to see him headed straight toward us.

“Sergeant,” I said with a nod.

“We’re ready for you,” he told me, and he looked at all the girls, too. “Follow me.”

“See ya later, Ranger.” The young man smiled and walked over to where his buddies were talking to Ben about the MiG.

“Tav, come on,” Tara said, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me with them.

As we walked, I couldn’t help but think about what that young soldier had said. I never liked to think of myself as better than anyone, or above them in any way, but he was right, I was headed to this meeting, and he wasn’t.

I reminded myself there was a reason for that. Not everyone was meant to be in a position of power, and I’d experienced firsthand how detrimental it could be to everyone if the wrong person was in charge.

The soldier clearly wasn’t upset by it, though, and I got the sense he felt like he could trust me. I wouldn’t let him, or anyone else, down. I was here to do what I could to put an end to this damn war, and that was what I was going to do, no matter what it took.

I followed Sergeant Wilson toward the same warehouse we went to earlier, but just as we crossed the dirt driveway, a familiar sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Instinctively, I looked to the sky, and a split second later a NK MiG appeared just above us.

We couldn’t seem to catch a break today.

Chapter 6

“Get inside!” Wilson called, but just then I heard another voice call out, and the familiar sound of an anti-aircraft gun rang through the yard.

The rocket went straight toward the NK MiG, but the plane was able to avoid the missile and disappeared into the darkness.

“Okay, what the actual fuck,” Tara said, and she threw her arms up in the air with exasperation.

“Right,” Anna mumbled. “I’m starting to think we should’ve just let these guys handle it. What the hell is happening here?”

“You girls aren’t used to flyovers, eh,” Sergeant Wilson chuckled, and he opened the door to the building and ushered us in.

“Not exactly,” Bailey admitted. “We usually take care of anyone bad in our area pretty quickly.”

“Well, hopefully you’ll figure out a way to do that here, too,” Wilson said, and he led us down the hallway toward the war room again.

“So, I’m guessing that’s pretty common around here, too?” Paige asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “They come by from time to time, but we’re always ready for them.”

“I noticed that,” I said. “I’m guessing you have guys posted near those AA’s 24/7.”

“That’s right,” Wilson agreed. “It’s the only way we can be right now. This is all enemy territory, and they’re just waiting for us to slip up.”

“So you’re splitting up into small groups to try and slowly dismantle the NK troops,” I guessed.

“That’s our current strategy,” he acknowledged. “But it’s slow moving. I think they’re trying to funnel us into one large area, and as soon as they can get us there, their firepower would make quick work of us.”

“That makes sense,” Anna said. “They’ve got the MiGs and those huge weapons, if they had all of us in one place, we’d be sitting ducks.”

“They have air superiority.” I nodded. “But if we could get on level footing with them, we could easily take them out.”

“How do you figure that?” Wilson asked, and he turned around slightly.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but these guys rely on their superior firepower,” I said. “They’re not the greatest shots, and I have yet to see a single one with a standard issue weapon, they only use the plasma stuff.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty much like storm troopers,” Paige laughed.

“Right,” Anna chuckled.

“True.” The Sergeant pressed his tongue against this cheek.

“We brought plasma with us,” I explained. “So, we’re already on even ground there, but these assholes are smart enough to know if they tried to shoot at one of the plasma tanks, the explosion would take out their troops, too.”

“I’d hope so.” He shook his head. “This fucking blue shit is driving me insane.”

“But we also have traditional artillery,” Paige said.

“Exactly,” I agreed. “And that being the case, we have the upperhand, at least to some degree.”

“But they still have a big advantage over us in the air,” Bailey chimed in.

“Which is exactly why that’s the first thing we need to take,” I said. “We can work on those larger vehicles they have, but if they have the MiGs, it won’t matter. We need to take the air back if we’re going to win this.”

“You know, I knew I liked you.” Wilson turned to me and smiled before he opened the door to the war room. “Bring that same attitude in here, will ya.”

“You got it.” I clapped the man on the shoulder and walked inside.

It felt good to be back where the action was, and I realized in that moment that I actually missed my time in the military. I guess I didn’t have to miss it any longer, though. I was back in it, whether I liked it or not.

As we walked in the room, I took a quick look around to see who else was there.

Tara’s father and the man with the glasses from earlier sat in the far left corner. The General was all the way in the back, and he paced back and forth against the wall as he waited to get the meeting started.

There was also a short asian man, a tall, stocky soldier who looked like he was probably special ops, and an older man wearing a flannel and jeans.

Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t the only one looking at who else was in the room. Everyone was staring at the girls and I with a sense of curiosity, but I ignored them and led my women to some open seats at the table.

Once we were seated, the General stepped up to the table and gestured over to us.

“I’m sure you’ve all noticed our newest additions,” he said. “This is Tav, he’s an ex-Ranger who led the Vermont militia down here to assist us in this war.”

I nodded to the men around, but Tara’s father simply leaned back in his chair and regarded me coolly. I wasn’t sure where we stood, but his daughter was having my baby, and if he didn’t like me because of that, it was his problem as far as I was concerned.

Still, I’d make a point to talk to him later and see if I could set things straight. Tara had sprung the pregnancy news on him fairly quickly, and I couldn’t blame him for feeling uncomfortable. He hadn’t seen his daughter in nearly two years, and she showed up pregnant and talking about how good she was at hand to hand combat. I’d be a little unnerved, too, if that was my daughter.

I smiled at the thought of a daughter but quickly shook that thought out of my head and focused on the General.

“So, to catch Tav up to speed, let’s go over what’s gone on this week,” he said.

“We’ve still got ten platoons spread out,” the man in the flannel shirt said. “The first showed up tonight, the rest will follow in the next couple of days, then we’ll send out the other groups to take up their posts.”

“Right.” The General nodded and looked at me. “I told you before we can’t send any troops out without casualties.”

“I understand, sir,” I assured him. “Head to head wasn’t working, so you’ve decided to go with the long con.”

“Long con, I like that.” He smiled. “That’s right. We’ve been trying to dismantle them as best we can, but they’re spread out, too. Our country is great, but she’s huge, which is both a good thing and a bad thing for us.”

“Right,” Anna said. “Because it’s harder to find them to dismantle them, but it also makes it more difficult for them to keep their troops all supplied.”

“Exactly.” The General’s eyebrows pulled together slightly as he regarded Anna.

“The supply lines have to be pretty long,” Paige said. “Do you have troops set up along them? I’m sure they’re using the same supply routes, or maybe alternating ones.”

“Yeah, have you done any reconnaissance on their movements?” Anna asked.

“We have,” he answered.

“Before we discuss all that, I have a question,” Bailey said, and she raised her hand slightly.

“What’s that?” the General asked.

“Sergeant Wilson told us the NKs come by with their MiGs every so often,” she said. “And we saw one of your men fire on them, but it didn’t hit them.”

“I thought I heard another one of those damn things,” the General sighed.

“My question is, how well stocked are you on those anti aircraft shells?” Bailey asked.

“Only enough for a couple more months,” General Lopez said seriously. “And that’s if they keep coming irregularly like they have been. If they attacked all at once, we wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Hm, do you think they’re just trying to get you to waste your ammo?” Bailey asked, and she cocked her head to the side. “Because they didn’t try to shoot.”

“I think they might be.” He nodded. “My guess is they’re trying to wait until we’re all here to strike.”

“I’m sure they realize that the traditional ammunition will deplete far faster than their plasma ammo, too,” Paige added.

“So, if you’re trying to dismantle them unit by unit, that’s going to take a lot of time,” Anna said. “And if you only have enough ammunition to keep the MiGs at bay for a couple of months max, then that’s too long.”

“Right,” Tara said. “If they can hold off for any length of time, it won’t matter if you’re all together or not, as soon as they realize you’re out of ammunition, they’ll bomb the entire place.”

“Yeah, they know the ground troops you have out would run out of supplies without this place here eventually,” Anna agreed. “So, I’m betting this is their real target.”

“I would say so.” Bailey nodded. “They can handle the smaller troops since they have superior fire power there, but if they don’t have this place, they know you’ll be able to keep up the fight.”

“Ladies,” I said, and I gestured to the General who stared at them unmoving as they spoke. “I think the General has something to add here.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Paige said, and she turned to smile at the man. “What else were you going to say?’

“Ahem,” he cleared his throat and shook his head slightly. “Right, well, I think everything you’ve said is spot on. I believe they’re trying to get us all in one area so they can take us out at once. They want a head to head fight because they think they’d win.”

I expected someone else to chime in, but it was quiet for a few seconds, and I realized everyone was staring at my team.

“If I may,” I said. “I think our best course of action right now is to gain air superiority.”

“I think you’re correct there,” the General agreed. “The problem is, how do we do it.”

“Where’s their airfield?” Tara asked. “If we know where it is, I’m sure we can figure out a way to take the MiGs out.”

“What about the MiG you brought?” the guy in the plaid shirt asked. “Is there maybe a way we could use it to covertly attack.”

“Hm, that’s not a bad suggestion.” I pursed my lips. “But, it puts my pilot in far too much danger, and I’m not willing to do that. We need to be smart about this, I try to keep a zero casualty goal.”

“Zero casualties?” Tara’s father asked. “That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think. You’re bound to lose a few men in a fight like this.”

“It’s worked so far.” Anna shrugged.

“You haven’t lost a single man?” the General asked, and his thick, dark eyebrows pulled together.

“I’m proud to say I haven’t,” I answered, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tara’s father shake his head in awe.

“We’ve never had a single person die,” Tara added. “And we’ve been on a bunch of missions like this before. Maybe not against this amount of people, but it’s, like, the same concept.”

“Sir,” I began as I looked at the general. “If we can find out where their airfield is, I have every bit of confidence in my team that we’ll be able to gain air superiority and win this war. I know you said you have enough shells to last another couple of months, but I’d like to end this long before that.”

“As would I.” General Lopez nodded and walked around the table to the white board at the front of the room. He flipped it around to reveal a map of the surrounding area. “We have a couple of men who speak Korean, thankfully, and they’ve been able to translate any orders we’ve come across.”

“So, the majority of the NK troops are in Douglassville?” Paige asked as she leaned forward in her seat to get a better look at the map.

“Yes, that’s what the circle here indicates.” The general pointed to the map. “That’s where they keep most of their larger weapons and the majority of their men, however, that’s not where their airfield is.”

“Smart,” Anna said.

“Smart?” Pete asked from across the room.

“Oh, well, I just mean it’s smart of them to keep their MiGs away from their other weapons,” the redhead explained with a shrug. “If they had them in the same place, they’d be a way easier target. Now, we’ll have to take them out in two gos instead of just one.”

“Right.” He nodded slowly and looked at her like he’d looked at Tara earlier, like she had two heads.

“The NK troops are our enemies, and they’re assholes, but they’re not stupid,” the General agreed. “It’s a smart plan, but it also puts us at a disadvantage.”

“Do you know where their air support is?” Tara asked.

“Birmingham.” The General pointed to the map.

“Shit,” Paige breathed, and she crossed her arms and leaned back. “And I’m guessing they have troops set up on every main road to get there.”

“Every last one of them.” He nodded. “They don’t exactly have all the smaller roads blocked off as far as we can tell, but they’ve got every road on the state line blocked off right there so nobody can get from Georgia to Alabama. We’re the last of the resistance, and while they might be trying to get us to waste our ammo, I think more than that, they’re getting desperate.”

“Desperate how?” Bailey asked.

“Right now, we’ve managed to cut off the supply lines from the west coast to the east coast,” he explained. “As well as the gulf of mexico. But if we fall, they’ll be able to easily unite those supply lines, and that will make it even easier for them to take over the last bit of our country. Right now, we’re all that stands in the way of the United States being a dictatorship under that Kim sonofabitch.”

“So, you think the men on this side of the supply line are running low?” Anna asked.

“I think it’s likely.” He nodded. “The MiGs you saw earlier have been coming around more and more, and they’ve been putting together small scale attacks like the one your team intercepted earlier today. I’m afraid this is coming to a head whether we like it or not, and we need to be prepared when it does.”

“Sounds like we need to get ahead of it before it does,” Tara said.

“I think that’s right,” he agreed.

“So, we take the MiGs and those tank looking things they have,” the platinum-blonde said. “Easy peasy.”

“Easy p--” Pete cut himself off and shook his head with astonishment. He clearly didn’t know how to feel about his daughter’s newfound confidence in the war room.

“If we take those out, the NK troops don’t stand a chance against us,” I said.

“They still outnumber us three to one,” the General reminded me.

“I’ll take those odds,” I told him with a grin.

“I’ll take ‘em, too,” he chuckled.

“Well, once they’re out of their MiGs and their huge plasma weapons, we’ll be on even footing,” Paige said. “But we’ll actually have the upperhand because, like Tav said earlier, they don’t have any traditional artillery like we do.”

“That’s right.” General Lopez nodded.

“There’s still the issue of taking them, though,” the guy in the plaid shirt said, and he raised a dark eyebrow at us.

“We’ll handle that,” I said, and the girls all nodded.

“But how are you going to get there?” he asked. “They’ve got troops blocking every road on the state line. There’s no way you’ll be able to sneak by them.”

“We won’t have to,” Paige said.

“Of course, you will.” He shook his head. “There’s no other way over there.”

“That’s not true,” the brunette said, and she stood up, walked over to the map, and drew a line with her finger from our current position to Birmingham. “There’s a bicycle trail that will lead us right around. It’s called ‘The Silver Comet trail.’ It won’t lead us directly to Birmingham, but it will take us across the border, and after that there won’t be nearly as many troops around so we should be able to get over to Birmingham pretty easily.”

“A bike trail,” the man’s eyes narrowed first and then widened to saucers. “Shit, I didn’t even think about that.”

“Most people don’t.” Paige nodded. “Which is why I’m sure the NKs didn’t consider it, either. I don’t think we’ll run into any troops if we take that route.”

“Well, hot damn,” Sergeant Wilson laughed, and he kicked his feet up onto the table and leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head. “It sounds like we’ve got the makings of a plan.”

“I’d say so.” The General grinned.

“One of your men was talking to me outside just a little while ago,” I said. “And he mentioned there are some pilots here?”

“That’s right,” Lopez agreed. “I’ve got a few guys who are Air Force Special Reconnaissance. They’ve been itching to do something, but without a plane, they haven’t been able to put their skills to good use.”

“They must be pretty good at sneaking behind enemy lines, then,” I said.

“They’re not half bad,” he laughed. “You want them to tag along with you? What’s your plan here, Tavish?”

“Well, sir,” I started. “I have one pilot already familiar with the NK MiGs, and I have a MiG here the other pilots can use to get to know the controls. My thought is this, we can steal their air support and use it for our own.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Paige said, and she leaned forward with excitement. “We can bring the Air Force guys, and they can fly the MiGs back here.”

“That’s right,” I agreed. “Though maybe not here here. It’s kind of cramped as it is.”

“Right, right.” Paige nodded.

“Where are they going to land?” the General asked.

“Here,” Paige said, and she pointed at the map. “There’s an airport not too far from here.”

“It’s about twenty minutes.” He nodded. “That would work.”

“We can leave you guys with some flares to lay out on the runway,” the brunette continued. “In case they’re coming back in the dark they can radio in, and the ground crew can light them.”

“Good idea,” I agreed.

“I’m sure they’ve got more MiGs than we’ve got pilots,” the General said. “What’s your plan to take out the remaining planes?”

“Same as it was before.” I grinned. “Fuck them up beyond repair.”

“I like where you’re going with this.” He smiled. “But I’m going to need to know the details before I approve this plan.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded. “Right off hand, I’d say we have some Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles that can do some serious damage. Once we get to their airfield, we’ll covertly take out the men on patrol, then the pilots can hop into the MiGs and get them going. As soon as they’re headed down the runway, the girls and I will fire at the remaining MiGs and take them out.”

“What about the plasma?” the man with the glasses in the corner asked. “Don’t you have plasma weapons.”

“We do.” I nodded. “But the MiGs are equipped with them, too, so it would be dangerous to shoot at them with the plasma since it ignites itself, and we could get caught in the explosion.”

“Yep,” Anna added. “The recoilless rifles are our best bet. But we also have some grenade launchers, and Bailey has her Barrett, so no matter what, we’ll be able to take them down.”

“And you said you have some SEALs with you?” he asked.

“That’s right,” I agreed.

“I only have five pilots,” he said. “With yours, that’s six. I’d feel better sending a little bit larger of a group over there. You think they’d mind tagging along?”

“Not at all.” I shook my head. “I think that’s a great idea.”

“So, the SEALs will escort your team and the pilots to the airfield in Birmingham,” the General recapped. “While the pilots take off in the MiGs, the remaining members of the team will take out the rest of the MiGs.”

“Correct.” I nodded.

“And how long do you think this will take you?” he asked.

“Well, we’re going to have to use the bike trail,” I said. “But I’m betting it’s wide enough for a vehicle, and if so, only a couple of days.”

“A couple of days.” He shook his head and smiled. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Tavish.”

“I didn’t realize I was negotiating one, sir,” I laughed.

“And you and your crew are willing to undergo this mission?” he clarified as he glanced back and forth from me to the girls.

“Absolutely,” I said, and the girls nodded.

“This will be easy,” Tara added.

“Alright,” Tara’s father roared, and he stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but my daughter isn’t going anywhere near this war!”

Tara turned to me with eyes filled with horror.

This might not be as easy as she thought.

Chapter 7

“You’ve got to be insane to volunteer for something like this,” Pete continued, and he shook his head and paced back and forth. “This is absolute madness. You’re not trained for this. Where’s my little girl? What the hell happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me,” Tara scoffed. “And I am so trained. I’m probably more trained than you are. I’ve fought plenty of times.”

“You’re pregnant!” he yelled, and I could tell immediately that was the reason he was so incredibly upset.

I had to admit, I didn’t like her fighting pregnant, either, but she was integral to the team, and I wasn’t about to let anything happen to her. Pete didn’t know that, though, not yet.

“I’ll be careful, Dad, I promise, I--” Tara started, but Pete cut her off.

“There’s no way.” Her father shook his head vehemently. “I will not allow it, young lady, do you hear me?”

“Dad--” Tara tried again.

“Not another word on this,” he commanded. “You’re not going anywhere I can’t see you. I absolutely forbid it.”

Tara opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out, and she looked over at me with tears in her eyes. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her that upset, and it seemed her father speaking to her like a child had sent her back to that mentality.

I knew it was an instinctive response, and I didn’t blame her for it at all. She was also pregnant and emotional as hell.

Still, I didn’t care if it was her father or not, nobody was going to talk to my woman like that, not with me around.

“Mr. Vincennes, this is uncalled for,” I said as I set my jaw and stood up.

“Who are you to tell me how to speak to my dau--” he started, but I cut him off.

“Your daughter is an incredible soldier, and she’s not the same person she was before the EMP hit,” I told him. “I’ve personally watched her grow exponentially as an individual and a warrior. She’s intelligent, the best stealth ops girl I’ve got, and she’s fierce as hell. And, not to be rude here, sir, but you’re an engineer, and something tells me you’ve never seen the likes of battle.”

Wilson barely stifled a laugh at that, and the rest of the group looked away at my comment.

“I’ve personally gone into battle with your daughter, and I can tell you without hesitation that she’s the only person I’d want to do a stealth operation with,” I continued. “She’s killed more enemy men than most of the soldiers I’ve met, and she’s risked her life countless times for her country. I think you should consider that before you speak to her, and maybe next time you’ll find it in yourself to be a little more respectful.”

Pete stared at me with his mouth slightly agape, but the General was quick to intercept.

“Alright, alright,” Lopez said. “You all can work this out later.”

“Yes, sir.” I turned to the General and nodded. “My team and I will be ready to go in the morning, and we’ll leave as soon as the pilots feel comfortable with the controls.”

“That sounds fine,” the General said. “Now, everybody get the hell out of here and cool off.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said, and I grabbed Tara’s hand and pulled her toward the door with me.

The girls all followed closely behind, and once we were out in the hallway, I stopped and took a deep breath.

“Damn, Tav.” Anna grinned. “Good job in there.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Tara said quietly. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“I do,” the redhead laughed. “That’s your dad. I’d go quiet if my dad yelled at me in front of a bunch of people, too.”

“He just cares,” I said.

“I know,” Tara scoffed. “But you’re right, that was uncalled for.”

“It was,” I told her.

Her father came out in the hallway then, but Tara turned away.

“I don’t think I can talk to him right now,” she whispered.

“Go,” I told her. “I’m going to stay for a minute.”

Tara nodded, and Bailey grabbed her arm, flashed me a quick smile, and led her down the hallway.

“Tara-” Pete started as he walked toward his daughter.

“She just needs a minute,” I told him as I stepped into his path. “But I would like to apologize for my outburst in there, Mr. Vincennes.”

“You would?” he asked, and his white eyebrows pinched together.

“Of course.” I nodded. “I know you only care about your daughter, and you want what’s best for her. Truth be told, I’m not the biggest fan of her going into battle pregnant, either, but you know Tara, she’s nothing if not stubborn.”

“Good to know some things haven’t changed.” He shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “I suppose I owe her an apology. I don’t know what I was thinking, I shouldn’t have yelled at her in front of everyone like that.”

“I think she’d appreciate an apology.” I smiled. “I’m sure she’s going to make something good for dinner tonight, too. Why don’t you come over in a little while and join us. That will give her some time to cool off.”

“I’ll come find her in a while.” He nodded, then his eyes narrowed and he looked at me seriously. “Sorry, did you just say my daughter was going to cook?”

“Yeah,” I laughed. “You’d be surprised what she can do now.”

“Right,” he mumbled, and he looked down at the ground.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said, and I smiled and walked down the hallway.

I still got the sense the man didn’t care for me much, which made sense considering the first real thing he’d found out about me was that I’d impregnated his daughter, but I refused to let that bother me. I knew I’d win him over eventually, and I’d put up with him not liking me at the moment if, at the very least, Tara got an apology out of it.

She really didn’t deserve to be humiliated like that, and I appreciated the man admitting he’d done wrong. Even so, that was a matter he’d have to take up with Tara.

I found Hammer and let him know the plan so he could pass it on to his SEALs, then I found Ben, who quickly agreed and said “finally, a chance to really fly.”

After everyone was aware of the plan, I made my way out to our camp and found the girls all around the fire. Tara was muttering to herself and angrily opening cans and putting them in a pot.

“What’s she doing?” I whispered as I came up behind where Anna, Bailey, and Paige sat across the fire from their platinum-blonde friend.

“Angry cooking?” Anna joked.

“She’s pretty upset.” Bailey frowned.

“We tried to comfort her, but she’s… a little scary,” Paige said.

Tara muttered louder and forcefully pulled the lid off one of the cans.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I chuckled, and I walked over and put my hands on hers to stop her. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Sorry,” she sighed, and she took a deep breath and looked up at me. “That was just really upsetting.”

“I understand,” I told her.

“Yeah, I know that’s your dad and all,” Anna said. “But that was kind of a dick move calling you out in front of everyone like that.”

“Right!” Tara threw her hand up in the air and cocked her head to the side.

“Has he always been so overprotective?” Bailey asked with a frown.

“Yeah, he’s always been a hardass.” Tara rolled her eyes. “He just can’t believe I’m a badass now.”

“Maybe it’s because you keep saying you’re a badass,” Anna chuckled.

“I am.” Tara blinked at the redhead with a straight face.

“I know you are,” Anna assured her. “But most people who are badasses don’t actually say they’re badasses.”

“Oh, yeah, I see what you’re saying.” Paige nodded. “Like you wouldn’t catch Bruce Lee saying he’s a badass.”

“Or Robert DeNiro,” Anna agreed.

“Ehhhh, I wouldn’t really say DeNiro is a badass,” Paige said, and she scrunched up her mouth in thought.

“Um, he’s a total badass,” the redhead scoffed. “Haven’t you ever seen The Untouchables?”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that one!” Paige exclaimed. “That’s where he--”

“And Ronin?” Anna interrupted.

“Oh, yeah!” Paige gasped. “That movie was amazing! Okay, he’s a bad—”

“Okay, what’s your guys’ point here?” Tara asked, and she glared at the two of them.

“The point is that badasses don’t have to say they’re badasses,” Anna explained.

“Soooo, I can’t say I’m a badass now, even though I am?” Tara asked, and her platinum-blonde eyebrows pinched together.

“I mean, think about it, did Tav ever once say he was a badass?” Paige asked.

“Holy shit,” Tara said, and she shook her head. “You’re right. He just was a badass.”

“Yeah,” Anna said. “It’s hard to believe someone when they say they’re a badass, it’s easier if you can just see it. Saying you're a badass is kind of lame, it makes it seem like you’re probably not as badass as you think you are.”

“Real G’s move in silence like lasagna,” Paige added, though I didn’t get the reference at all.

“Totally get it now.” Tara nodded. “Like how Elle Woods would never say she’s pretty, everybody just knows it. I’ve been doing it all wrong.”

“Umm, sure,” Anna chuckled.

“But, then how do I prove I’m a badass?” she asked.

“I’m not sure you can.” Bailey pursed her lips. “At least not that quickly. You might just have to wait for him to see what you can do.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” Tara huffed, and she poured another can of what looked like tomatoes into the pot and then set it on the flames.

“It’s alright.” Bailey smiled. “We know you’re a badass at least.”

“Thanks, Bails,” Tara sighed. “This is why you’re the favorite.”

“Hey!” Paige laughed.

“Yeah, what are we, chopped liver?” Anna joked.

“Relax, I didn’t mean she’s my favorite.” Tara rolled her eyes. “I was saying that’s why she’s everyone’s favorite.”

“Eh, fair enough.” Anna shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Paige agreed.

“Wait, I’m the favorite?” Bailey asked, and she smiled wide as her cheeks flushed with color.

“Oh, like you didn’t know.” Tara glared at her playfully.

“I didn’t,” the blonde laughed.

“Which is why you’re the favorite,” the platinum-blonde said. “You’re not cocky enough to think you’re the favorite. See? I’m getting this now.”

The girls continued to chat while I went to the tent to grab some jackets for them. It was getting chilly outside, and even though we were by the fire, I didn’t want them getting cold.

By the time I found each of them a jacket and made my way back out to the fire, I could smell Tara’s dinner.

“Mmm, that smells delicious,” I told her as I handed her the jacket.

“Thanks.” She smiled and took the coat. “I’m hot as hell still, though.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re pregnant, right?” I joked.

“Ha, ha.” Tara glared at me and then looked down at her belly. “This is your fault, you know.”

“I’ll take that any day,” I laughed and kissed the top of her head.

I handed the girls their jackets, but as I walked back to my seat, I saw Tara’s father headed over to us.

“Oh, I think I forgot to mention I invited your dad to dinner,” I whispered.

“Uh, you think?” Tara asked with a glare.

“He’s here to apologize.” I smiled.

“He better be,” she mumbled, then she looked up at her father. “Hi, Daddy.”

“Hi, pumpkin,” he said and looked around awkwardly for a second.

“Please, have a seat,” I told him, and I gestured to the makeshift bench on the other side of Tara.

“I was actually hoping I could speak to my daughter in private,” he said.

“No.” Tara shook her head. “Whatever you’ve got to say to me you say it in front of these sexy bitches. No offense, Tav.”

“None taken,” I chuckled.

“Well, alright,” Pete sighed and looked at his daughter. “I’m sorry for yelling at you in front of everyone. That was wrong, and I apologize.”

“Aaaand?” Tara asked.

“And what?” he asked, and his brow furrowed with confusion.

“And you’re sorry for what you said, not just how you said it,” Tara explained.

“Now that, I won’t apologize for,” he said, and he lifted his chin slightly. “You are still my daughter, no matter how much you’ve… changed over these last couple of years. And it’s still my job to look out for you and protect you, especially now that you’re carrying my grandbaby around.”

“Okay, you are right.” Tara shrugged. “You don’t have to apologize, but I’m not a kid anymore, and I’m going to do what I want. And besides, I don’t need you to protect me anymore, I can do that myself now, thanks to Tav.”

“I don’t like this,” he said, and he walked over and sat down next to his daughter.

“I understand,” Tara said, and she looked at him and softened her face as she reached out to touch his hand. “And I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine.”

“You’ve really been fighting all this time?” he asked, and his mouth pulled into a deep frown.

“Since last spring,” Tara corrected. “And don’t look so sad about it. I like fighting.”

“You like fighting?” he laughed and shook his head. “Last time I saw you, you asked me to peel an orange for you because you didn’t want to get your hands, and I quote, ‘icky’.”

“And I stand by that,” Tara chuckled. “But I do like fighting. I’m really good at it. I feel like I actually found my purpose in life.”

“And you girls have been fighting with her?” he asked as he looked over at Paige, Anna, and Bailey.

“We have.” Anna nodded.

“Your daughter’s really good.” Paige smiled. “Like Tav said earlier, she’s the best covert person we have. We call her our ninja.”

“So you have special skills now, eh?” he asked with a smile.

“Duh,” Tara joked. “We all do.”

“All of you?” Pete’s eyebrows pinched together as he looked over at me. “How’d you manage to train all of them in a different category?”

“I didn’t,” I told him. “I gave them basic training, they each just showed natural skills in different areas.”

“So, what are the skills, if you don’t mind my asking?” he asked as he looked back to the girls.

“Tara’s covert, obviously,” Anna announced.

“And you?” Pete asked.

“Anna is my second in command,” I said. “She’s got a great head for military maneuvers and battle strategy.”

“That makes sense based on what I heard in the war room.” He nodded.

“Paige is an expert navigator,” I said. “And she’s also our on site medic.”

“Medic?” Pete asked. “Aren’t you a bit young for that?”

“Well, yes.” The brunette smiled. “But I was pre-med before the EMP hit, and I’ve kept up my reading and studied under Marla, our nurse back on campus.”

“You all were still living on campus?” he asked, and he turned back to Tara. “My group really never got to you?”

“No.” Tara shook her head. “We’ve had people try to come to campus, but never anybody good. They probably got killed by some assholes in the area before they got to me.”

“I’m so sorry, pumpkin,” he sighed. “I feel like I let you down.”

“Don’t worry about it, Dad,” Tara said with a shrug. “It’s nice to know you tried like I knew you would.”

He smiled and squeezed his daughter’s hand, then he looked to Bailey.

“Oh, I didn’t hear what you do on this team,” he said.

“I’m the sniper,” Bailey said quietly.

“Sorry.” He shook his head. “Did you say sniper?”

“Yeah.” Bailey bit her lip.

“She shot a grenade in mid-air one time,” Tara told him.

“I’m sorry,” Pete chuckled. “I don’t mean to look so dumbfounded, you’re just so… tiny.”

“It’s okay.” Bailey shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

“You should see her with her Barrett,” Paige laughed.

“The… Barret… rifle?” His mouth hung open. “That’s probably longer than you are tall!”

“Tav helps me carry it sometimes,” Bailey giggled. “But I love shooting it.”

“You are all amazing.” He gestured around the fire. “You’re just college girls, you shouldn’t have to be involved in this. And to have gained such skills, it’s… impressive, but it also makes me sad.”

“Ugh, Dad, you’re such a downer,” Tara groaned.

“I’m sorry, pumpkin.” He frowned. “I just don’t like you being out here like this. It’s not your responsibility.”

“It’s my country.” Tara shrugged. “And I’d like to keep it that way.”

Tara’s father seemed to be bringing out his softer side now that he had a few minutes to actually talk with his daughter, and I got the sense Tara had him wrapped around her little finger before all this.

I knew the two of them were close, but it was still wonderful to see them together. I wasn’t sure they’d ever see each other again, or even if he was alive, and I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face as they fell right back into step with one another.

“Well, however this has worked out,” Pete said, and he smiled at his daughter. “And whoever you are now, you’re still my daughter, and I love you and I’m happy you’re here.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Tara leaned over and kissed her dad on the cheek.

“Also, something smells absolutely delicious,” he said as he lightly sniffed the air.

“That would be your daughter’s cooking,” Paige explained.

“Tav mentioned you cook now,” he said, and he raised a white eyebrow at Tara. “When did that happen?”

“When nobody else could,” Tara laughed.

“Nobody else can cook?” he chuckled.

“Ehhh, I can cook like one thing.” Anna shrugged.

“I’m not very good, either,” Paige admitted.

“I can grow food.” Bailey smiled, then she frowned. “But cooking is more difficult.”

“And you, Tav?” Pete asked.

“You know a military man, sir,” I said. “I cook first to eat, not to enjoy.”

“Right you are.” He nodded and shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s the way it is down here, too. Most of these men have no idea what the hell they’re doing in the kitchen.”

“I’m not surprised,” Tara chuckled. “I’ll have to cook for you guys sometime.”

“I’m still astounded you just figured out how to cook,” he said. “Your grandmother would have been proud.”

“Well, actually, she’s kind of how I learned,” Tara said.

“You never cooked with her,” Pete said, and his brow furrowed.

“Yeah, but I watched her all the time.” Tara shrugged. “When I needed to cook, it just kind of came back. I remember the spices and stuff she used and how she used to season things.”

“I’m glad that stuck with you,” he said. “And it does smell good.”

“It’s going to taste even better.” She smiled and picked up the oven mit to take the soup off the flames. “It’s done. Let’s dish it up.”

“I hate to seem so eager, but yes please.” Pete grinned. “Like I said, the meals around here are… less than adequate.”

“So, you’re where Tara gets her high expectations from,” Anna joked.

“Afraid so,” Pete chuckled. “I always did want big things for her. But maybe I didn’t let her accomplish them on her own enough. It seems being without me for a while and faced with some adversity has really helped her grow.”

“Hey, I did stuff on my own!” Tara scoffed.

“Honey, I got you a laundry service for college.” Pete shook his head. “You know the other girls did their own laundry, right?”

“I needed that time to study.” Tara smiled and batted her lashes at her father.

“Sure, that’s why you consistently got B’s and C’s,” he said, and he cocked his head to the side.

“I’m pretty sure that says more about you as a parent than it does about me as a daughter,” Tara countered.

“I’m just happy to see she’s as mean to you as she is to us,” Anna chuckled.

“Oh, she’s always been like that,” Pete said. “She was the leader of the group, and if someone didn’t like it, they were no longer part of the group. It made it a bit lonely for her growing up, I have to say.”

“I wasn’t lonely.” Tara shrugged. “I had friends, but I liked my alone time.”

“Yeah, even now, she sleeps away from everyone else,” Paige said. “She can’t even share a dang blanket.”

“I like my space.” Tara shrugged again. “Sue me.”

“That one girl tried, remember?” Pete chuckled.

“What?” Anna asked, and she looked at Tara with wide eyes. “Someone tried to sue you? For what?”

“Oh, my god, that was so stupid.” Tara rolled her eyes. “This chick Lexi said I caused her emotional distress by getting the same Lexus as hers. But it wasn’t even the same, mine was a totally different color, and she was just mad because her boyfriend liked me.”

“You can sue someone over that?” Bailey asked, and her blonde eyebrows pinched together.

“Unfortunately, when you have money, you can sue anyone you’d like.” Pete shook his head. “The case was dropped, but it was a whole to do, and honestly, I found the whole thing quite ridiculous.”

“Because it was!” Tara scoffed.

“So somehow this girl had a lawyer good enough to figure out how to sue you over that.” Anna shook her head. “The things rich people have.”

“Tara was fortunate enough to grow up the way she did,” Pete said with a nod.

“You say that like you didn’t grow up rich,” Anna said.

“Far from it,” Pete chuckled. “My mother was a Polish immigrant, and we had very little money growing up.”

“I guess I never realized that.” Tara frowned.

“Well, once I started to make my own money, I bought Gram her house and took care of her, of course,” he said. “But she never had anything like that before, and it was hard for her to even accept it.”

“Huh,” Tara said. “Is that why she knew how to cook so well?”

“I’m sure that was part of it,” Pete agreed. “We often couldn’t afford birthday cakes, and we never went out to restaurants, so Gram did her best to cook for us.”

“That’s so sad,” Tara said, and she nearly teared up.

“Jesus, Tara,” Anna laughed. “Emotional much?”

“I’m pregnant as hell, okay!” the platinum-blonde squealed, and she wiped her eyes.

“How about we just dish up some dinner?” I suggested, and I reached for the bowls and started to dish them up.

“Your mother was the same way when she was pregnant with you,” Pete said, and he looked at his daughter fondly. “She was a damn roller coaster.”

“I already feel like one,” Tara sighed.

“And you’re absolutely sure you want to try and fight in this condition?” Pete asked.

“Ugh, yes, Dad,” Tara scoffed. “I told you, I’m really good at this.”

“Alright.” He shrugged.

“I am!” Tara protested.

“If you say so, pumpkin.” Pete nodded almost condescendingly.

“Alright, old man,” Tara said, and she glared at him and stood up. “Come on.”

“Come on where?” he laughed.

“We’re gonna scrap,” she said.

“Ohhhhh, no, we’re not,” he laughed.

“Yes we are,” Tara said, then she flashed him a grin. “Unless you’re too scared of getting your butt kicked.”

“Oh, now it’s on.” Pete stood up. “But don’t feel bad when I beat you. I’ll make sure to take it easy on you since you’re pregnant.”

“Um, should we be letting them do this?” Anna asked me as Tara led her father to an open area near our camp.

“I don’t see why not.” I shrugged. “Paige said she can do everything she did before she was pregnant. And besides, these hormones seem to have her wanting to fight. I’m just glad it’s not me.”

“Right,” Paige chuckled. “First Minji, and now her dad.”

“My money’s on the old guy,” Anna said.

“Nah, Tara’s got this,” Bailey laughed.

“Hey, we can hear you,” Tara said, and she glared at us.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Paige snickered.

Tara turned to her father and took a fighting stance. She shifted her body slightly to the side, planted her feet, bent her knees, and raised her hands up in a defensive position.

“Come at me,” the platinum-blonde told her father.

“And you’re sure you can handle this?” Pete asked, but Tara just made chicken noises in response, so he shrugged and took a fighting stance of his own.

Pete clearly underestimated his daughter, because his first move was to try and swat her hands down so he could go in for the pretend face shot.

Tara was quick, though, and she followed his movements so she knew exactly what he was going to do. She countered beautifully by yanking one hand downard, then bringing it back up in an arc so it was on top of the hand he used to try and swat her arms down. With her other hand, she gripped his wrist, then spun around so her back was to him. If she’d been actually fighting, she would have had him on his back just then.

“And bam,” Tara said. “I could have just flipped you over me so easily.”

“Flipped me over you?” he laughed. “You’re not strong enough for that. I’m twice your size.”

“It’s not about strength,” Tara said. “It’s getting you at the right angle and using your own momentum against you.”

“I’m gonna call that one point for Tara,” Anna said.

“Alright, alright.” Pete narrowed his eyes. “Beginners luck, now you come at me.”

“You got it, old man.” Tara said as she took her stance again. “Get ready.”

“Oh, I’m ready.” He lowered himself into his fighting stance once more, and this time I could tell there was a little more ferocity in him. It seemed the competitive spirit ran in the family.

Tara barely gave him a second to breathe before she swung at him.

Pete leaned back to dodge her palm, but that was part of her plan, and as soon as he was off balance, she swung out her leg and caught his ankle.

The older man’s eyes went wide as his feet were swept out from under him and he fell flat on his ass.

“Another point for Tara.” Anna grinned.

“Are you alright, Mr. Vincennes?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” he said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

“Sorry.” Tara smiled. “I didn’t hurt you there, did I?”

“I think I’ll live,” he chuckled, then he looked at her seriously. “That was better than I ever imagined, though. I didn’t think I’d ever see you in a fight, let alone winning one.”

“So you admit I won?” Tara teased.

“Yes, pumpkin, you won,” Pete laughed, and he pulled his daughter in for a hug.

“Good,” Tara said. “I guess you can have some dinner now.”

“You weren’t going to feed me if I won?” he asked.

“I might not have.” Tara shrugged.

“You’re just as cruel as ever,” Pete chuckled.

The platinum-blonde grinned at her father, then the two of them made their way back to their seats, and they took the bowls I passed to them.

The food had cooled off by then, and I picked up a spoonful and put it in my mouth.

The dish was spiced with cumin, paprika, and some other seasonings I wasn’t sure about. There were tomatoes, onions, chicken, beans, and corn, and I quickly chewed, swallowed, and took another spoonful. The meal was delicious, and I was glad Tara’s father would get to experience it for himself.

“Oh, goodness,” Pete said, and he closed his eyes and savored the bite he’d just taken. “This is amazing.”

“I just kind of threw it together,” Tara told him. “Tav didn’t tell me you were coming or I might have made something better. Then again, I might have made something worse since I was still mad at you, so it’s probably best I didn’t know.”

“Then I guess I should thank Tav,” Pete chuckled. “Because this is delicious.”

“I mean, you could thank me instead,” Tara said with a raised eyebrow. “I cooked after all.”

“Right, thank you, pumpkin.” He smiled and took another bite.

Pete ate slowly, and he seemed to chew every bite for an especially long time.

“Dad,” Tara laughed after a minute. “There’s plenty, stop being so weird about it.”

“It’s not the amount,” Pete explained. “It’s just been so long since I’ve had a good home cooked meal.”

“I really will have to cook for everyone here soon,” Tara mumbled. “If they’re as starved for good food as you are, it’s no wonder you guys haven’t won yet.”

Pete nearly spat out his food laughing, and I couldn't help but join in. Tara wasn’t exactly wrong, I bet a good meal would get all the soldiers feeling just right, and it might spark a little more fire in them after nonstop battle for months and months.

After dinner was over, the girls all chatted with Tara’s father while I sat back and observed everything. I might not be his favorite person, but he seemed to be warming up to me, and I was happy to see he and Tara were back on good terms.

Pete was funny, though, and he appeased Anna’s request for embarrassing childhood stories ten times over. He had the girls roaring with laughter, and Tara was bright red with embarrassment.

I half expected her to try and fight him again over his embarrassing her, but she took it pretty well, and she even joined in with the laughter.

After a while, though, Pete stood up and gave Tara a hug.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.

“You might want to come over early,” Tara told him. “We’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Right.” He nodded, then looked at me. “Tav, I was wondering if I might have a word with you before I leave?”

“Of course,” I agreed.

“Privately,” he clarified, and his dark brown eyes were serious as they landed on mine.

Well, shit. Maybe he didn’t like me as much as I thought he did.

Chapter 8

“Tav, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Tara said with an eye roll, and she turned to her father. “Dad, stop trying to talk to everyone in private.”

“It’s alright.” I smiled at the platinum-blonde then turned to her father. “I’ll follow you.”

“Thank you,” he said and led me toward the main building.

Tara shook her head, and while I appreciated her sticking up for me, I didn’t need her to do that, especially not with her father. The man didn’t strike me as the kind of man who wanted to talk about nothing, and I knew it would be best if I simply went with him and heard what he had to say since it was clearly important to him.

I followed the man to the building, and he leaned up against the cold metal and stared at me.

“Look,” he said, and his eyes narrowed as he cocked his head to the side. “I like you. You seem like a nice man.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” I told him.

“And Tara seems incredibly grown up,” he added. “And I can’t help but feel you’re partly to blame for that.”

“It was mostly her.” I smiled. “I just gave her the tools to do it.”

“Humble, too.” He nodded. “Like I said, I like you, but that’s still my baby girl over there, and it’s my job as her father to threaten any man who wants to be with her.”

“I understand.” I smiled and nodded.

He didn’t seem to be actually threatening me, he was more saying it was his job to do it, whether he liked me or not, and I could respect that. Like he said, that was his baby girl, and I’d do the same for my own daughter.

“So, with that being said,” Pete continued, and his dark brown eyes landed on mine. “If you hurt her, I’ll stab you in the dick.”

My eyes went wide at his words, and I couldn’t help but think how this whole stabbing people in the dick thing ran in the family.

“I understand, sir,” I chuckled and shook my head.

“You find this funny, do you?” he asked, but a smile played at the corner of his lips.

“Sir, I assure you, I would never do anything to harm your daughter,” I said. “She means the absolute world to me, and she is fully protected under my care.”

“Good to know.” He nodded.

“But I find your specific threat a little funny,” I admitted.

“I don’t think any of her other boyfriends have found being threatened with a dick stabbing funny,” he laughed.

“It’s not the threat itself,” I told him. “It’s the fact that I’ve seen your daughter stab at least two men in the dick. Both times she told everyone she was going to do it before she did it.”

“She what?” he asked, and his eyes went wide.

“To be fair, they were rapists, or killers, or both,” I told him.

“Dear god.” He put his face in his hand and started to laugh. “I’m afraid this is all my fault.”

“Sir?” I asked.

“I used to tell her I’d stab her boyfriends in the dick if they messed with her,” he sighed and shrugged. “I guess it rubbed off on her.”

“I see,” I chuckled.

“It’s still amazing to me to think she’s able to fight, especially alongside a Ranger.” He shook his head. “You’ve trained her well.”

“I think so, too.” I smiled.

“I still don’t think she should be in the field, though,” he added.

“Honestly, sir,” I said. “I don’t, either. I don’t like her being out there in the condition she’s in, but I’m sure you know your daughter better than anyone, and you know how stubborn she can be.”

“Hard headed as hell, that one,” he chuckled. “I know she won’t listen to anyone, even me. However, if she’s going out there with you, it’s your job to keep her safe. I don’t want a single hair on her pretty blonde head touched, you hear me?”

“I do,” I assured him. “I’ll be looking out for her the whole time.”

“Good.” He nodded and shook his head.

“She’ll be just fine.” I smiled. “She’s been in plenty of battles before, and she can hold her own. But, I’ll be right next to her the whole time, so please try not to worry about her too much. I promise I’ll bring her back safe. Like I said earlier, I haven’t lost a single man yet, and I don’t plan on starting now.”

“I do like you,” he told me sincerely after a small pause. “My daughter has grown up since she’s met you, and she’s confident and able to take care of herself. I can tell it means a lot to her, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for her.”

“It’s been my pleasure,” I said.

“You seem like a hell of a soldier,” he said. “And your ideas in the war room were well thought out. I think this plan of yours could actually work, then we can finish this war for good and finally go home.”

“I’d like that, sir,” I said.

“Mmm.” He nodded. “One of the other soldiers mentioned you all have a farm at home? I thought you were staying on campus still.”

“We are,” I told him. “But you’ve seen Piper, it’s surrounded by small towns and farms. We were lucky enough to have some of the farmers still around. We brought them to the college with us since we have running water and electricity, but during spring through fall, we plant and harvest on the farm.”

“That’s incredible.” His eyes narrowed on me. “I’m impressed with everything you all have managed to accomplish.”

“It wasn’t always easy,” I said. “But it worked out well.”

“Well, I’d love to see what you’ve done once this is all over,” he said.

“I’d like that, sir.” I smiled. “And I’m sure Tara would, too.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, Ranger.” He clapped me on the shoulder and stepped around me to open the door.

“Goodnight, sir,” I said and then headed back to the fire where the girls were.

They were quiet as I walked over and sat down, but as soon as my butt hit the makeshift bench, they all leaned in and started asking questions at once.

“Hey, hey,” I chuckled. “One at a time.”

“What’d he say?” Tara asked.

“He threatened to stab me in the dick,” I said.

“I fucking knew it!” Anna laughed.

“Dammit,” Tara sighed. “I was hoping he really liked you.”

“Oh, he does,” I assured her. “He basically said he had to threaten me, even though he liked me.”

“That makes sense.” Bailey smiled. “Even if he likes you as a person, that doesn’t matter when it comes to Tara. I think it’s sweet how much he loves her.”

“It is sweet,” Paige agreed.

“Yeah, I knew they’d like each other.” Tara grinned.

“Hold on, I said he liked me,” I joked. “I didn’t say I liked him.”

“Oh, whatev.” Tara rolled her eyes and waved her hand at me. “You totally love him. You kinda have to, he’s the grandfather of your child.”

“True,” I laughed.

It was late then, and I decided it was time for us to get some sleep, so I added some extra wood to the fire so it would burn through the night, then we all slipped into the tent and curled up for bed.

I woke well before dawn and stoked the fire, then I found some oatmeal and got it going, along with some spices and some canned strawberries to add flavor.

I also laid out everything to make coffee, but I didn’t dare try and brew it myself. Tara was a stickler about who made the coffee, and even though she’d drank what I made before without realizing it, I knew if she came out and saw me making the coffee she’d give me hell for it.

So, I stirred the oatmeal instead and watched as other civilians sleepily crawled out of their tents, waved to me, and started their own breakfasts.

“Hey,” Bailey said softly as she climbed out of the tent and walked over to me. “I smelled the oatmeal.”

“Smells good, I hope,” I chuckled.

“Definitely,” she said, and she shivered slightly and took her seat by the fire.

The blonde had a large hoodie on, and she pulled it over her hands so only her thumbs stuck out. She also had a beanie on, but it didn’t fully cover her ears, so I reached over and adjusted it so she’d be warmer.

“Thanks.” She smiled at me and looked around. “Did you make coffee yet?”

“No.” I shook my head and laughed. “I was scared.”

“Scared?” she asked, then realization dawned on her face. “Oh, right. Say no more.”

I handed the blonde the coffee grounds, then I pulled the pot of water off the flames for her. Even if I couldn’t brew the coffee, I could at least boil water for it.

“Thanks,” Bailey said, and she poured the grounds in and grabbed a spoon to give them a quick stir.

It was still dark out, but the sunrise was coming soon. The sky had lightened a bit above the horizon so it was now a dark blue instead of the black it was before.

“Mmm, something smells good,” Paige said as she crawled out of our tent.

Anna was right behind her, but the redhead didn’t wait for Tara, instead, she zipped up the tent behind her.

“Tara still sleeping?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Anna nodded. “We figured we’d let her sleep as long as she can.”

“Good idea.” I smiled.

“At least until the coffee’s ready,” Paige said.

“Even better idea,” I chuckled.

“It’ll be ready in just a few minutes,” Bailey said.

While we waited for the coffee to brew, I looked around the camp, and after a few minutes, I saw a group of five people make their way out from behind the warehouse.

There were four men and one woman, and immediately I could tell they were the pilots. They each had huge smiles on their faces, and it was obvious they were excited to finally be part of the action.

Whereas the Captain in Yorktown had squandered the SEALs he had and used them only for menial tasks, the General here was being smart and saving the pilots for when they were really needed. They were technically Air Force Special Reconnaissance, so they were Recon first and pilots second, but I’d known a few pilots in my day, and they always said there was nothing better than flying, so I figured it was the same for this group, too.

I watched as they made their way over to the MiG we had parked near camp, and Ben came out to greet them. The six of them circled around the MiG and chatted, and I smiled and thought this plan just might work.

I wouldn’t have endorsed it if I thought it wouldn’t, but there was always the off chance something could go wrong. My team was prepared for whatever came our way, though, and we would have the SEALs with us, as well as Minji so she could translate if necessary.

“Here,” Bailey said, and she handed me a cup of coffee.

“Thanks,” I told her as I took the mug of dark liquid and took a long pull.

The tent unzipped behind me, and I turned around to see Tara glaring as she crawled out.

“Are you alright?” I asked with a laugh.

“I’m fine.” She continued to glare as she walked over and sat next to me.

Bailey didn’t say a word, she just leaned over and handed the platinum-blonde her cup.

Tara took the mug, took a sip, closed her eyes, and smiled.

“Mmm, this is good,” she sighed.

“Glad you like it,” Bailey chuckled.

Once we all had our coffee, we took a few minutes to drink and relax, then I dished up breakfast. It didn’t take long for us to eat, then it was officially time to get ready for the day.

I followed the girls into the tent and threw on the outfit I had laid out the day before, along with all my weapons, then I grabbed my go bag and headed over to our jeep.

Hammer was already over there, and the SEAL and I filled the backs of the vehicles with Gustaf rifles and shells, as well as some grenade launchers, extra plasma and regular pistols, food, water, and supplies for an overnight trip.

We also filled up some gas cans and made sure everything was fueled up. Between the SEALs, the pilots, and my team, we needed three vehicles, and while I didn’t plan on us being gone long, it was best to be prepared for anything.

“That’s all of it,” Hammer said as he closed the back of the last jeep.

“Great.” I nodded. “As soon as the pilots are ready, we’re ready to go.”

“Let’s hope that’s soon,” he said, and he looked up at the sky which was now lit with bright purples, pinks, and oranges.

“I’ll go talk to them,” I said.

“I’ll gather everyone up and make sure they’re ready,” Hammer offered.

“Thanks.” I smiled at the SEAL and walked over to the MiG where the pilots were all gathered around.

The door to the plane was open, and the female pilot was inside touching various buttons while the men all hung around right outside the door and pointed and chatted.

“Hey,” I greeted them.

“Tav.” Ben smiled. “Come to see if we’re ready?”

“You know me so well,” I joked.

Ben looked up to the female pilot. She was short, maybe 5’5”, with chin-length blonde hair and bangs.

“Jess, you ready?” Ben asked.

“Ready as I'll ever be.” The woman grinned. “I work better on the fly anyway.”

“Good to know,” I chuckled and held my hand up. “I’m Tav. I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

“Jess,” the woman said with a nod.

“Andy,” a tall, thin dark haired man with gray eyes said.

“Jeremy,” another dark haired man said, except his was down to his shoulders instead of in a neat buzz cut like his buddy’s.

“I’m Mark,” a short, stocky light-brown haired guy said with a hard nod.

“And I’m Brian,” the last man said. He was tall, too, but he had wavy blond hair that hung around his face and ears and made him look incredibly young.

“Good to meet you all,” I said. “And I hope you’re excited to get back out there.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Brian laughed. “We’ve been ready since day one.”

“The General was smart to keep you out of trouble up until now,” I said. “But I can understand it might have been a bit boring.”

“We just want to do our part.” Mark smiled.

“Good to hear.” I smiled back at him. “The jeeps are all packed with weapons and supplies, so all you need are your personal belongings. I’d like to leave in twenty.”

“Done.” Jess nodded and looked around at the men. “Let’s go grab our bags.”

Everyone dispersed, and Ben clapped me on the shoulder as he walked by with a huge grin on his face. I knew the pilot was ready for some action, and it was good to know the people on my team were as excited as I was to get this going.

I didn’t sense any hesitation from any of them, and that gave me even more confidence. Especially since I didn’t particularly like working with teams I didn’t know well, but the pilots seemed like they were a close knit group, and I was sure that team mentality would come in handy.

Once I talked to everyone else, I made my way over to my own camp, but the girls already had everything under control. They had put out the fire and grabbed all our bags by the time I got there, and I looked around to see them already over by the jeeps.

“Took you long enough,” Anna teased as I walked over.

“Hardly,” I laughed. “Thanks for being so prompt.”

“Of course.” The redhead smiled.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked with a clap.

All the groups were gathered around, and they all nodded and cheered, so I took that as a yes.

“Let’s go,” I said, and I hopped in the jeep, turned it on, and pulled forward.

“Wait!” a man’s voice called, and I looked over to see Tara’s father rushing toward us.

“Oh, my goooood,” Tara groaned, and she slid down in her seat. “It’s like preschool all over again.”

Her father made it to our vehicle, and he was audibly out of breath, but he tapped on Tara’s window until she let it down.

“Dad,” the platinum-blonde said with a glare as she leaned out the glass. “What are you doing?”

“I didn’t get to say bye,” he panted.

“We’ll be back in a couple of days, calm down,” she said.

Her father didn’t respond, he just reached in and pulled her to him. Tara was stiff at first, but then she loosened up and hugged him back.

“Be safe, pumpkin,” he said.

“I will, Dad,” she said. “Now, let go. We have to leave.”

“Alright, alright,” he said, and he leaned back then looked at me. “Keep her safe, Tav.”

“I will, sir,” I assured him.

“Bye, baby,” Pete said, and he kissed Tara’s forehead and backed up so I could pull off.

Tara waved to her father, but then she leaned back and groaned once more.

“He’s so ridiculous,” she said.

“He loves you so much,” Paige chuckled. “It’s cute.”

“Yeah, but he’s so embarrassing,” Tara laughed.

“I didn’t think you could be embarrassed.” Anna smirked.

“Clearly that’s not true,” Tara said dryly.

I shook my head and smiled at her playful frustration with her father, then I pressed on the gas and pulled out of the area with the warehouses and onto the pavement.

Hammer’s jeep was right behind me, and the pilot’s jeep behind that. Everyone was a little bit cramped with all the supplies and people, but we were making it work, and they both kept up with me as I followed the directions Paige had given me earlier to get us to the bike trail.

It wasn’t long before we pulled through the suburbs of Atlanta and onto the Silver Comet Trail.

The bike trail was paved, and it looked virtually untouched even after everything the world had been through. Part of me was surprised to see it so incredibly nice after all this time, but I figured it probably wasn’t something most people knew about.

And those that did know probably would have only used it to get from one place to another. The trail was over sixty miles long, and Paige said it connected to other trails as well.

I couldn’t believe I’d never thought to use bike trials to get around. There had to be plenty of them around, especially in areas like this, and as we drove, I realized the place was not only immaculate, with no debris or trash around, but there were no signs of anyone having been there at all.

The trail was only really wide enough for one vehicle, but Hammer and the pilots followed close behind me as I went as fast as I felt comfortable on the unfamiliar trail.

The trip shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours, so I paid close attention to the trail in front of me while the girls chatted.

“It’s so pretty out here,” Bailey said.

“It is really nice,” Anna agreed. “I bet this place was buzzing with people in the summer.”

“I don’t know, isn’t it, like, super hot down here in the summer?” Tara asked.

“It’s pretty warm year round.” Paige nodded. “But I would bet it’s pretty sweltering in the summer.”

“Yeah, no thank you.” The platinum-blonde wrinkled her nose. “No way would I be out hiking in the middle of summer down here.”

“Sounds like someone isn’t liking her trip to the south,” Anna snickered.

“Someone is hot as hell all the time,” Tara said. “I didn’t even sleep with a blanket last night because I was so frickin hot. I swear the south didn’t used to be like this. That EMP fucked something up.”

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Paige laughed.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Tara said.

“I mean, true.” Paige nodded. “I don’t know for sure. But I’d say I’m about 99.99% sure that’s not how it works.”

“Well, I’ll take that .01%,” Tara said. “Because something happened down here. I can feel it in my bones.”

“Okay, Voodoo mama joojoo,” Paige chuckled.

“It’s always been this hot,” Anna laughed. “You’re just pregnant as hell.”

“At least you’re not huge yet.” Paige smiled. “I bet it’d be way worse then.”

“Gee, thanks.” Tara glared at her brunette friend. “I’m gonna remember this when it’s all your turn to have Tav’s baby. I might even start messing with your pills right now.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Anna laughed.

“Yeah, you are right,” Tara purred, and I saw her wiggle her eyebrows, “but maybe I already did.”

“Oh, my god,” Paige laughed.

“Just kidding,” Tara snickered. “Or… am I?”

“So, how long until we get there?” Bailey asked.

“It should only be a couple of hours,” I said. “If that.”

“Umm, what’s that?” Tara asked, and I immediately looked forward and hit my brakes.

A huge tree was strewn across the road, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I realized this could be an ambush.

“Shit,” I breathed as my eyes darted around the area, and my hand instinctively moved toward the MP5 on my hip. “We might have company.”

Chapter 9

If we’d been seen by any of the NK troops, they could have gotten ahead of us and set this up.

I held my breath as I looked around and carefully pulled my MP5 from its sling.

“What do you mean we might have company?” Tara whispered.

“You think it’s a trap?” Anna asked, and she pulled her weapon as well as she looked around skeptically.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But it looks like it could be.”

“Shit,” Paige cursed. “What do we do?”

“Hold on.” I held up my hand to quiet everyone as I looked around.

I didn’t see signs anybody had been there, and while the tree was perfectly strewn across the road, upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a natural break, probably from a storm, rather than a purposeful break by anyone.

I was ready for anything to happen, but after a few moments nothing did.

“I think we’re okay,” I said.

“Are you sure?” Anna asked.

“If they were here, they would’ve attacked by now,” I said. “Besides, I think that tree came down on its own.”

“Good,” Paige sighed. “I was going to be mad if they were on this trail.”

“I think you were right,” I told her. “I doubt anybody has thought to use this.”

“It certainly looks abandoned.” Bailey nodded.

“Okay, so it’s not an ambush,” Anna said. “That’s good, but we still have a huge fucking tree in the road.”

“Yeah, and we can’t exactly go around it.” Paige bit her lip as she looked around. “It’s all trees along the path.”

“Right,” I agreed. “We’re going to have to move it somehow.”

“That thing is monstrous,” Tara said. “Do you think we can even lift it?”

“I don’t know, we managed to get those sky sweepers off the ground.” Anna shrugged.

“Yeah, like two inches!” Tara scoffed. “We need to move this thing a lot farther if we’re going to get by it.”

“Tara’s right,” I sighed. “I think our best bet is to try and use one of the jeeps.”

“Do we have rope or something to attach to it?” Paige asked.

“We always have rope,” I chuckled. “But in this case I think it’s best if we use some ratchet straps. I made sure I put some in our supplies.”

“Nice.” Paige smiled and turned around to search the back of the jeep. “I’m sure I can-- here they are!”

“Great.” I grabbed the straps she held out and hopped out of the jeep.

“You got a plan yet?” Hammer called with a grin.

“Right here,” I said, and I held up the ratchet straps.

“Nice.” He hopped out of the vehicle and made his way over to me. “You back up, I’ll steer you and strap her in.”

“Thanks,” I said, and I tossed him the straps.

I climbed back into the jeep and carefully turned it around so I could back up to the huge tree blocking our path.

Hammer waved his arm for me to come on back, and after I was close enough, he stopped me and spent a few minutes putting the straps on before he stepped out of the way and waved me forward.

I pressed the gas slowly, but nothing happened.

“Um, we’re not moving it,” Tara said.

“Do you think it’s too heavy?” Anna asked.

“Nothing’s too heavy,” Paige said. “Not if you have the right system to move it, and this should totally work.”

“Well, it’s not--” Tara started, but just then I mashed on the gas even harder, and we lurched forward.

“Hold on!” I called.

I managed to correct the steering wheel after our momentum thrust us forward much too quickly, and I hit my brakes and pulled as far to the side of the road as possible.

“Little bit of a late warning, Tav.” Tara glared at me from the back seat.

“Sorry.” I smiled.

“It looks like it’s out of the way enough,” Bailey said as she looked behind us.

Hammer ran over and undid the straps, then he hopped back in his jeep and continued to follow us down the bike trail.

The trail was wide enough for the jeeps to fit, but it was windy, and I found myself constantly slowing down in effort to make sure I didn’t take a corner too quickly.

We’d been driving for a while when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

“What the fuck was that?” Anna asked.

“You saw it, too?” I questioned.

“I don’t know what I saw,” she said. “But it looked like--”

A flash of blue through the trees on our left made me hit my breaks, and Anna looked at me with wide green eyes.

“I thought there wouldn’t be anyone out here,” Bailey whispered.

“I don’t think there is,” I said. “But Paige, how close is the trail to the road right here?”

“Let me see,” she said, and she pulled out her map and quickly looked it over. “Less than a quarter mile it looks like.”

“And it looks like there’s definitely NK soldiers over there,” Tara said.

“What should we do?” Bailey asked.

“Do you think they heard us?” Anna pushed.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, and another flash of blue lit up the sky. “But we can’t risk it if they have.”

I shut the jeep off and hopped out.

“I saw it, too,” Hammer said as he hopped out of the jeep behind us. “What’s your call here, boss?”

“I don’t know if they heard us or not,” I said. “But I want to check out the situation.”

“Sounds good,” Hammer agreed. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“Stay here and keep everyone quiet,” I told him. “The girls and I will check it out and be right back.”

“Roger that.” He nodded and walked back to Ben’s jeep at the end of the convoy so he could relay the message.

“You ready?” I asked the girls.

“Ready.” Anna nodded. The redhead had her hand on her M9 on her hip and a determined look on her pretty face.

“Yup,” Paige agreed, and she bit her lip and looked out into the woods, clearly concerned she’d made a mistake of some kind.

“I’m ready,” Bailey said with a small nod. The blonde had her Barrett slung over her shoulder, and she leaned to one side to counter the weight of the massive rifle.

“Let’s do this,” Tara said, and the platinum-blonde cocked her hip out to the side and put her hand on her silenced Ruger on her hip.

“Follow me,” I told them and carefully made my way through the trees.

The forest was overgrown with foliage, and it was so dense around our feet it was nearly impossible to get through without making a noise, but I tried my hardest to clear out a path for myself and the girls behind me.

Another flash of blue light shot through the air, and my eyebrows pulled together as I wondered what in the hell they were doing. It seemed unlike the NK soldiers to fire off plasma shots for no reason, especially with how volatile the stuff was. But if they’d heard us, I had to assume they’d be firing in our general direction, not up into the air.

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they’d be firing toward the sky when there didn’t appear to be anything around. The U.S. army didn’t even have planes, so I knew it couldn’t be that.

I supposed it could be some sort of signal to their planes, but they had communication devices, so it seemed unlikely that was the case.

Blue light flashed above us once more.

“What the hell are they doing?” Tara whispered behind me.

“I have no idea,” I whispered back. “I’ve been trying to figure that out.”

“Do you think they have planes in the area?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But I don’t think so. I haven’t heard anything.”

“Me, either,” the redhead said, and I could hear the confusion in her voice. “This is crazy.”

I held my fist up to quiet the girls as we made our way to the tree line, and once we were close enough, I crouched down to get a look at what we were dealing with.

There was a highway maybe twenty feet in front of us, with only a few trees and some foliage between. I didn’t see any NK vehicles yet, but I saw another flash of blue light, then I heard what sounded like someone laughing.

What the hell was going on?

I gestured for the girls to be quiet and follow me, and I lowered myself to the ground and low crawled forward until I was just behind the line of trees closest to the road.

I had a much better view of the road then, and I was able to see the highway was surrounded by trees on either side. We clearly weren’t in a city, this was a back road. There wasn’t much around aside from the road itself, a knocked over speed limit sign a ways down, and an extremely faded McDonalds bag on the side of the road that had probably been there long before the EMP hit. There were also a few faded beer cans and candy wrappers littered along the highway.

I didn’t see any NK vehicles, but in the middle of the road were two soldiers sitting cross legged facing each other.

Anna turned to face me, and her confused green eyes caught mine. The redhead shook her head and shrugged, and I shrugged right back. I had no idea what the hell was happening, either, but there had to be something going on for these two to be out here.

I did another quick scan of the area, but I still didn’t see anything that would indicate these men were on patrol here. Not unless they were foot soldiers, and if that was the case, we’d have to be close to one of their bases, and I didn’t like the sounds of that whatsoever.

The two men had been chatting, then suddenly, they started to stare at each other with a strange intensity. Neither of them moved or blinked until one of them grabbed a plasma gun off the pavement and held it up to the sky.

The man fired off a shot of blue plasma, and the second man jumped slightly.

The man with the weapon laughed and pulled a flask out of his jacket pocket and handed it to his friend.

They were playing a game.

These two must not have been on duty right then, because after seeing the flask and watching their odd game of chicken for a few minutes longer, it was clear they were both highly intoxicated.

“They’re drunk,” I whispered to Anna.

“What do we do?” the redhead asked.

“If they did see us, they’re not going to remember,” Bailey pointed out.

“Yeah, but they also look like they’re just being dumbasses,” Tara added. “We should just kill them and make it look like they did it themselves.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” I nodded.

Another blue light flashed in the sky, followed by a laughing fit and another guzzle of whatever they had in that flask.

Whatever it was, it had to be strong to have both of them feeling good. I didn’t speak Korean, but even I could tell they were slurring their words, and their languid movements were a dead giveaway that they were intoxicated.

If we killed them, there was the potential that would come back to bite us, especially if some of the NK troops figured out there were enemy soldiers in the area. We could try to make it look like there’d been some sort of drunken accident, but there was no guarantee the other soldiers would believe that.

There was always the option to let them live, though I wasn’t partial to that, either. At the moment, though, I figured that was our best bet.

As much as I didn’t want to leave these assholes here, we didn’t really have a choice if we wanted to get over to Birmingham without drawing any attention whatsoever.

The two men clearly hadn’t seen or heard us yet, so it didn’t matter if they were left alive since they’d have no story to tell about seeing some American troops out in the woods.

“I think it’s best if we leave them,” I whispered. “Come on.”

“Alright.” Anna nodded.

I turned to make our way back to the jeeps, but just as I stood up, I heard something behind us.

The flask the NK soldiers had hit a tree and fell to the ground, and a second later, one of the soldiers appeared. He laughed and yelled at his buddy in Korean, then he bent down to pick up the metal flask, but as he did, he saw our feet.

The man stopped with his hand just above the flask, and he looked up and locked eyes with me.

“Well, shit,” Anna breathed.

“Guess leaving them alive is out of the question now,” I sighed.

“Pity.” Tara grinned.

The man left the flask as he stumbled backward and shouted to his friend.

Before he could get too many words out, though, I yanked my M9 from my holster and landed a shot right in the back of his head.

Blood sprayed out of his head as the bullet went straight through his skull and out the front, and he tumbled forward ungracefully and landed with his face just barely on the asphalt.

“Fuck,” Anna cursed, and she took off toward the road.

“We’ve got to get his friend,” I said as I followed her.

The redhead and I stepped over the dead man and stopped in the middle of the road.

I surveyed the area with my MP5 at the ready, but I didn’t see the sonofabitch anywhere.

“He couldn’t have gotten far,” Paige said as she joined us.

“It’s all just woods and roads,” Bailey added.

“Yeah, but we don’t know where his camp is,” I said. “He could be running through the trees right now back toward his base camp.”

“And if he gets there and says he saw American soldiers this far west, our whole plan is going to be thrown off,” Anna said. “The Birmingham soldiers would be hella on edge if they found that out.”

“To be fair, he’s drunk as fuck.” Tara shrugged. “I doubt anybody would believe him.”

“That’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” I said.

“So, what’s our plan?” Anna asked.

“Fuck, if we had Minji we could have her call out to him,” Paige said.

“Right,” I sighed and narrowed my eyes as I looked more closely at our surroundings.

There was forest on either side of the road, and I knew firsthand how thick the brush was through there. There was no way the soldier was actually running through there without us hearing him, and that meant he was hiding somewhere.

I knew he was armed, though, and that made him dangerous, so I had to play this carefully. If I scared him too bad, he could shoot, and if I didn’t know exactly where he was, it could get bad.

“Hey,” I called out as I started to walk down the middle of the road.

“What are you doing?” Anna whispered.

“There’s no guarantee he can’t speak English,” I said. “Even just a little bit.”

“I guess you’re right.” The redhead nodded as she followed closely behind me.

“And even if he can’t, he can at least read body language,” I said, and I raised my voice and waved my arm toward myself. “Come out here or we’ll have to hurt you.”

“Come out here or we’ll have to hurt you?” Anna asked, and I could hear the confusion in her voice even though I couldn’t see it.

My eyes were focused on the foliage on the side of the street. There had to be some indication of where this bastard had gone, and I was going to find it.

“Yeah, that’s not very menacing,” Tara whispered.

“Maybe not, but it’s straightforward,” I said. “Non native speakers are more likely to understand simple phrases.”

“He’s right.” Paige nodded.

“Come out,” I repeated with another wave of my hand.

“Do you think he’s even still here?” Paige asked in a low voice.

“He’s here,” I said as I continued to look around the area.

Finally, my eyes landed on a broken tree branch near the side of the road. It was just a little ways down from where the NK soldiers had been sitting in the road, and I knew it had to be him.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my heart rate accelerated as I took a step toward the broken branch. My gut told me this had to be the right area, and I wasn’t about to let this asshole get away, especially not after seeing us take out his little buddy. We were damn sure not going to allow him to take that knowledge back to his NK buddies, wherever they might be.

“Come out!” I yelled, and this time my voice was utterly serious and my weapon was held at the ready.

I took another step toward the tree line, and off to the right I saw a plasma gun in the ditch.

“Paige,” I whispered. “Does the dead guy have a plasma gun on him?”

“Uhhh, hold on,” she whispered, and I heard her take a few steps back the way we’d come. “Yes, he does.”

That meant this sonofabitch wasn’t armed at all. His gun must have fallen off his hip while he was running.

“I’m going in,” I said, and I grabbed my tanto blade from my other hip and held it above my MP5 much like how a police officer would hold their flashlight.

“What?” Anna asked. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we could try to smoke him out somehow,” Paige offered.

“Fuck that,” I whispered. “We need to get this sonofabitch now and get back on the road. We’ve already wasted enough time here.”

“Be careful,” Bailey said softly.

“Always.” I nodded and took a step toward the tree line.

I moved carefully and kept my weapons at the ready, but I hadn’t gotten five steps into the trees when the NK soldier jumped out from behind a large bald cypress and tried to run further into the brush.

The foliage was thick, though, and he didn’t get very far. It was clear he was in a panic, and he stumbled over a vine, picked himself up, and tried to climb over several small bushes all at once.

I immediately assessed the situation and found he wasn’t armed at all. We were close range, but there was a lot of foliage for him to hide behind to block my shot, so instead, I holstered my M9 and flipped my tanto blade in my hand so it was primed for slicing.

The guy looked back at me with panicked brown eyes as he tried to stay out of my sight and navigate the foliage at the same time. It wasn’t working, though, and the next time he turned to look ahead of him, I leaped forward and landed just behind him.

The soldier spun toward me just as I brought my knife up, and the blade made contact with his chest, so I dug it in deeper as I pulled it all the way across his body to his other shoulder.

“Ahhh!” he screamed in pain and tried to push me away, but I was a lot bigger than he was.

Even in his drunken state, he could clearly feel the pain of the knife, because his grasp on my hands was weak as he tried to pry the knife out of them.

He wasn’t in any position to try and escape, though. I had him pinned against some dense foliage, and I’d already made a mean slice across his chest. This fucker wasn’t going anywhere.

Blood dripped down from his open wound, and his head flipped back and forth as he tried to push himself away from me.

I was growing tired of his drunken escape plan, so I fought against his grip and lifted my knife up to the soft spot under his chin.

His eyes grew wide as he comprehended what was happening, and he started to say something in Korean, and even though I couldn’t understand the words, I knew he was begging for his life.

I didn’t care, though. This sonofabitch had taken plenty of lives from American citizens, and it was time for him to pay.

He pulled down on my hand with all his might in an attempt to stop me from getting the blade into his throat, but I had far more muscle mass than he did. I gritted my teeth and yanked up as hard as I could and my blade sunk deep into his throat.

The man’s eyes went wide for a second, and his hands went limp on mine, so I yanked the knife from his throat and watched as blood poured down his chest to the thick foliage underneath us.

The life quickly drained from his cold brown eyes, and his body went still on top of the blood soaked dirt.

I leaned down and wiped my knife on his uniform, then I turned around to head back out to the girls but found them to be only ten feet away waiting for me.

“Fuck, is it wrong of me to say that was kind of hot?” Paige asked as she gave me a heated look and bit her bottom lip.

“I mean, yes,” Anna said. “But it was, so I guess I’m just as fucked up as you are.”

“It was so… carnal,” the platinum-blonde said, and she licked her lips and looked me up and down.

“You know, I can’t even remember what it was like when you were all innocent and didn’t know how to fight,” I laughed.

“Me, either, honestly.” Tara shrugged and continued to eye fuck me.

“Yeah, and I’m not mad about it, either,” Anna added.

“So, what should we do with these bodies?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah.” Paige nodded as she looked at the dead soldier behind me. “We don’t want to leave them around to be found.”

“I’m not sure anybody’s going to miss these two drunken assholes,” Anna scoffed and rolled her eyes. “But you’re right, we should probably dispose of the bodies.”

“Tav?” Hammer’s voice called out, and we all walked out of the tree line to see him make his way to the road with his weapon raised.

“Hey,” I said. “We’re over here.”

“Everything alright?” he asked. “I heard a shot, and well.”

He kicked the dead guy near his feet and shrugged.

“Yeah, we’re okay.” I nodded. “Thanks.”

“How many of them were there?” he asked. “I only heard the one shot.”

“Only two,” Bailey said.

“But they saw us, so we had to get rid of them,” Paige added.

“Right.” Hammer nodded. “I’m guessing you’re all done. Anything I can do to help with cleanup?”

“We were just trying to decide how we should dispose of them,” I said.

“Fire would probably be too noticeable,” Hammer said. “Especially since their crew must be nearby.”

“I was thinking that as well,” I agreed.

“Why can’t we just hide them in the woods?” Bailey asked. “Their bodies won’t last long out here, right?”

“That’s a good point,” Paige said. “There’s also plenty of wildlife around here.”

“What if their troop comes looking for them, though?” Anna pushed.

“Do you think they’re going to take the time to scour the forest?” Paige asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Fair point.” I nodded. “We should split them up, though, that way if they find one they won’t find both. We’ll be done with this mission before they’re found, though. We’ll make sure of that.”

“Alright,” Anna said, and she looked at Hammer, Paige, and Bailey. “You guys take that guy, we’ll handle this one.”

“Yes, sir,” Hammer chuckled.

“That’s right.” Anna grinned playfully and popped a finger gun at the SEAL.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” I laughed.

“Yeah, I do.” She smiled and rubbed her hands together. “Now, let’s hide a body.”

“You know, I always thought I’d have to hide a body at some point in my life,” Tara said as we walked over to the dead soldier and lifted him up. “I just didn’t think it’d be like this.”

“How did you think it would be?” Anna laughed.

“I figured one of my friends would, like, accidentally kill their boyfriend or something,” she said with a half shrug.

“You seem pretty nonchalant about that,” the redhead remarked.

“My friends didn’t have the greatest taste in men,” Tara said dryly.

“And in this hypothetical scenario of yours, they call you to help them with this dead body?” I asked.

“Uh!” the platinum-blonde scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” I said as we walked the guy back to a heavily overgrown area of the woods. “You’re just super tiny. I would think they might want to call a friend with a little bit more muscle, that’s all.”

“Hey, I’ve got plenty of muscle.” She glared at me.

“Yeah, now you do,” I chuckled.

“I guess I was pretty thin when you met me,” Tara laughed.

“Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t call you to help me move a body,” Anna said. “At least not before all this went down.”

“Whatev.” Tara rolled her eyes.

“To be fair, I wouldn’t call Paige or Bailey, either,” Anna added. “You all are teeny tiny cute girls.”

“Oddly, that makes me feel better,” Tara said, and she cocked her head to the side.

“Good,” the redhead laughed.

Once we were far enough into the brush, I nodded to the girls, and we set the guy down behind a large group of bushes.

“Should we cover him up?” Tara asked.

“I’m going to push him under the bushes,” I said. “Scoot some pine needles and stuff this way.”

“Oh, I see.” Tara nodded and used her hiking boot to push some of the plant litter toward me.

After the guy was snuggly tucked as far underneath the bushes as I could get him, I pushed the plant matter against him and fanned some out around it so it looked more natural.

My hope was that a large animal would find him and make quick work of him, but in case that didn’t happen, I wanted to get him as hidden as possible in case the NK soldiers did decide to comb the area looking for their missing buddies.

“Looks good,” Anna said as I stood up and admired my handiwork.

“I think so.” I nodded. “Let’s get going.”

“Yeah, we’ve already lost, what, half an hour?” Anna asked.

“Probably about that,” I agreed. “We’re making good time, though, so it will be alright.”

We got out to the road and found Paige, Bailey, and Hammer standing in the middle of it chatting.

“You all done?” Hammer asked.

“Done,” I agreed. “Let’s get this show back on the road.”

“Sounds good,” the SEAL said. “And, uh, listen, I know you asked me to stay at the jeeps with everyone, so I hope you’re not upset that I abandoned my post, I just heard the shot and didn’t think, I just sprung into action.”

“It’s alright,” I told him with a clap on the shoulder. “The girls and I can handle ourselves, but it’s nice to know we’ve got backup.”

“Always.” He grinned.

The girls, Hammer, and I headed back to the jeeps and found everyone gathered around waiting.

We didn’t have time to explain everything, though, so I just told everyone to load up, and we started down the bike path once more.

It seemed like the trip went by even faster then, and we made it to Jacksonville, Alabama before noon, but unfortunately, that was as far as the bicycle trail went. It got us past the roads that crossed the Alabama and Georgia border, though, and that was our main goal since that was where the NK had troops set up.

After we made it to Alabama, we followed Paige’s directions and took all back roads to get to a small part of the city called Roebuck that was close to the airport.

At that point, I knew we ran the risk of running into NK troops, even if it was a small risk, but it was the only way we would be able to get there quickly. Besides, there were too many of us and it would take far too long to try and walk from Jacksonville to Birmingham.

At least it was still daylight out, so we had a good eye line on everything around us, and the area wasn’t particularly hilly, so we were able to see a good distance in front of us at all times.

The outskirts of Birmingham was made up of a lot of smaller towns, and as we went through them, I was surprised to see just how trashed they were. There were broken down vehicles all over in random fields, though I wasn’t sure if they’d been there before the EMP hit or not. Some of them certainly looked like they had been. I saw some late 60s and 50s model cars, and each was more rusted than the last.

A few old farm houses sat a ways off the road, and they were quite pretty and reminded me of Betty’s home, but then there were places that looked more like shacks than homes.

Part of me suspected there might still be some survivors around here. It felt like the kind of place people who hunted and fished a lot lived. It also felt like most of the people around here probably had at least one weapon.

I saw several highway speed limit signs with bullet holes in them. It was probably the work of some drunken assholes just out raising hell, but it was still somewhat unnerving.

“Geez, this place is creepy,” Tara said as we drove.

“Yeah, it’s not great,” I agreed.

“Bad vibes all through here,” Anna chuckled, but her eyes were serious as she looked out the window.

“Does anyone else feel like somebody could just show up at any minute?” Paige asked. “Something tells me we’re not alone in this part of the woods.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I agreed. “I’m sure the people who live out here have managed just fine on their own.”

“You think?” Tara asked.

“It doesn’t even really look like the NKs have come through here,” Paige pointed out.

“Hm, it probably wasn’t really on their radar.” Anna nodded. “Most of these… houses are still standing.”

“I like that you stumbled on houses,” I laughed. “I had the same thought. Some of these are basically shacks.”

“This looks like it was probably the kind of place where those cannibals came from.” Bailey shuddered.

“It does,” I agreed.

I kept my eyes peeled as we drove through these small towns, but not just for NK soldiers, for citizens as well, and when we finally got closer to the city, I breathed a sigh of relief to be out of the woods.

That relief was immediately washed away by dread as soon as I saw the city. As we entered the suburbs of Birmingham, my jaw nearly dropped at how leveled the place was.

A lot of the buildings were reduced to rubble, and the street was littered with dust and dead, decomposing bodies.

There was no question as to what happened, either. All the bodies had distinctive burn wounds that indicated it was the NKs who’d done it.

My blood boiled as I took in the sight of what once was a thriving city now reduced to dust and decay. I’d seen plenty of cities destroyed, but this was by far the worst, and I shook my head as I pulled into a storage unit area and parked the jeep between the rows of containers.

“Jesus,” Anna breathed after I shut the jeep off.

“It’s awful out there.” Paige shook her head.

“Ugh, it makes me so mad,” Tara said, and she narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. “This has gone too far.”

“Do you think that’s what all the west coast looks like?” Bailey asked quietly.

“It might be,” I said with a shake of my head. “But right now, we’ve got to focus on the task at hand.”

“Right.” Paige nodded. “The airport isn’t that far away, we should be able to walk over there from here.”

“Good,” I agreed, and I hopped out of the vehicle and walked over to where Hammer and the rest of the group were gathered around. “How’s everyone doing over here?”

“A little pissed,” Jess, the female pilot said. “But other than that, I’m alright, I guess.”

“Good to know,” I chuckled. “I know seeing our country like this isn’t easy, but we’re going to do whatever it takes to take it back.”

“Fuck, yeah, we are.” Ben grinned.

“Paige says we’re close enough to the airport we can get there easily from here,” I said. “But first, let’s open up some of these storage units and pull the jeeps in. I don’t want to leave them out in the open since the NKs have MiGs flying around.”

“Good idea,” Hammer said as he looked around. “I’m surprised more of them aren’t broken into.”

“I bet most people didn’t think to check these,” Anna said. “If they had one they either came and got what they needed out of it, or they left it behind.”

“Yeah, and they don’t seem easy to break into,” Paige said. “At least not without some heavy duty bolt cutters.”

“That’s fair.” Hammer nodded.

“We don’t need bolt cutters, though.” Anna grinned, and she pulled her plasma gun from her hip and shot the lock on one of the nearby storage units.

“Good shot,” Paige said, and she walked over and tried to lift the roll up door, but instead she grunted under the weight of it and gave up after a few seconds. “Jesus, it’s stuck.”

“Here,” Hammer said, and he gestured to me. “Come on, Tav, give me a hand.”

“You got it,” I laughed, and Hammer and I walked over to the door and gripped the bottom. “One, two, three.”

The SEAL and I yanked up with all our strength, but even with our combined muscle, it took a good few seconds before the metal broke out of place and slid up with a terrible creaking sound.

“Maybe that’s why they’re not broken into,” Tara said.

“Yeah, not being opened for a while definitely eroded them into place,” Paige said, and she wrinkled her nose as she looked at the storage unit.

Unfortunately, once the unit was open, we found it to be jam packed with the most random shit I’d ever seen. There was a foosball table, a cabinet filled with fine china, some sort of antique doll collection that gave me the absolute creeps, and tons and tons of boxes with various labels.

“What the fuck is this?” Hammer asked with a shake of his head.

“I bet that unit’s worth like two grand,” Tara said.

“What?” I asked.

“Haven’t you ever seen that show?” the platinum-blonde asked. “The one where people go to storage units and buy them when people stop paying on them?”

“It’s pretty good,” Paige added. “They auction the units off and people sell the stuff they find inside.”

“Yeah, but they’re not allowed to look inside before they buy it,” Tara said with a nod.

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t seen that.” I shook my head and pushed a hand through my hair as I tried not to laugh at how ridiculous the girls were.

“You know, sometimes I think it’s good people don’t have TV anymore,” Hammer whispered to me.

“I heard that,” Tara scoffed.

“Aaaalllright,” Hammer said with a clap. “Onto the next.”

Tara glared at the SEAL, but she pulled out her plasma weapon and shot another lock off one of the units.

“There,” the platinum-blonde said, and she cocked her hip to the side and gave him a sarcastic smile. “Now you guys gotta get it open.”

“Your woman’s feisty,” Hammer chuckled as we walked over to the unit.

“That’s how I like ‘em,” I laughed and winked at the SEAL.

“Good to know.” He grinned as he leaned down to grab the rolling door.

Tara’s plan backfired on her since this door was a lot easier to open than the last one, and I saw the platinum-blonde cross her arms and huff as Hammer and I lifted the door fully.

This unit was less full, but there was still a decent amount of shit inside. There was an old red leather couch that looked like it was from the late eighties, some hippie style tapestries with weed and the Jamaican flag colors on them, along with some boxes labeled ‘Charlie’s stuff’, and finally, a small stuffed raccoon that sat in the corner all on its own.

“Okay, is it me or is this creepier than the last one?” Hammer asked.

“Definitely creepier,” I chuckled. “But at least a vehicle can fit in this one.”

“Fair enough.” He nodded. “Now we just need two more like this.”

“Let’s get it.” I smiled and shot the lock on the next storage unit over.

It was only early afternoon by that point, so we still had plenty of time to get things done today, and I’d rather spend the extra few minutes to get our vehicles hidden than have them be seen by a MiG flying overhead.

While I wasn’t sure one of the pilots would notice us, I didn’t want to take that chance, and there really weren’t a lot of great places to hide three jeeps and sixteen people in the city, so this was our best bet.

Finally, we managed to find three storage units cleared out enough for us to pull into.

“We call dibs on one of them without the raccoon,” Tara said once I’d announced we had three.

“Hey, no fair,” Jess laughed. “I don’t want the raccoon.”

“Me, either!” Minji chuckled.

“Honestly, I don’t think anybody wants the raccoon,” Hammer said, and he looked into the storage unit. “That thing is creepy.”

“Get rid of it,” Tara said. “Then nobody has to have it.”

“What am I supposed to do with it?” Hammer asked.

“I don’t know, throw it in one of the other storage units,” the platinum-blonde suggested.

“Alright.” He nodded. “I’ll get rid of it, but only because I don’t want to sleep by that thing, either.”

“Oh, we’re still not taking that unit.” Tara shook her head. “That thing was in there far too long. And not to play the pregnant card, but, I meaaannnn.”

Tara gestured down to her stomach and shrugged.

“You’re awful,” Minji chuckled. “But fine, we’ll take that unit. I’m sure the SEALs don’t mind.”

“Speak for yourself,” Hammer joked.

The SEAL went into the unit and retrieved the stuffed little raccoon and walked him over to one of the other units we weren’t using, then he promptly threw him inside, closed the door, and brushed his hands off.

“Who stuffs a raccoon anyway?” Tara asked.

“Yeah, isn’t stuffing things for, like, larger animals?” Paige asked. “Usually it’s for trophy kills like huge deer and things like that.”

“I mean, you can get anything stuffed.” I shrugged. “The taxidermist doesn’t care.”

“Poor little raccoon.” Bailey frowned.

“It would be you who’d sympathize with that gross little thing,” Tara said, and she turned to glare at Bailey, then point at the unit the raccoon had just been thrown in. “You know that thing would try to eat you if it were alive, right?”

“No it wouldn’t,” Bailey laughed.

“I mean, she’s kinda got a point.” Anna shrugged. “You haven’t had the best experiences with wild animals.”

“That’s not my fault,” Bailey scoffed. “Wrong place at the wrong time is all.”

“Sure, sure.” Tara nodded unconvincingly.

“You’re so mean,” Bailey chuckled. “Raccoons are adorable. They’re little trash pandas.”

“They’re little rabies pandas is what they are,” Tara said.

“I’m with Bailey,” Minji said with a shrug. “I think they’re pretty cute.”

“Definitely not cute.” Hammer wrinkled his nose as he walked up to us and wiped his hands on his pants. “Are we ready to go?”

“It looks like it,” I said, and I turned to Paige. “Do you have our route mapped out?”

“I do.” The brunette nodded. “But I mapped it out using the map I have, which isn’t going to allot for all the broken down buildings and stuff. But we’re going to mostly be in the trees by the airport, so it shouldn’t make too much of a difference.”

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s pull the jeeps in, then everyone gather your supplies and we’ll follow Paige over there.”

The group nodded, and I hopped in the jeep and pulled it into one of the storage units we’d found. It was just large enough to fit, and once it was in, I opened the tailgate so the girls and I could grab our bags.

“There’s a lot of storage units around here,” Anna said as we gathered up everything. “You think we’ll be able to find them pretty easily?”

“Hm.” I pursed my lips. “You’re right, if we need to leave quickly, it might be difficult to find them fast enough. We should mark them somehow so we know which ones are which.”

“What should we use?” Paige asked.

“Oh, I think I saw some paint in one of the units,” Bailey said, she ran over to one of the other units we opened, then returned with a small can of dark green paint.

“Nice,” I told her. “Let’s not make it too obvious, just do a line just past the edge of the door.”

“On it.” The blonde waited for me to close the door, then she marked ours before she moved on to Hammer and the pilots’ doors while I closed the rest of the ones we’d opened.

We were pretty close to the airport, and just in case some of the NK troops patrolled over this way, I didn’t want them to come back and see a bunch of doors open. That would be suspicious in and of itself.

A small green line was a lot easier to write off, and after Bailey was done, I gathered the team up and gave them the rundown of how things were going to be. I’d only worked with the SEALs up until now, and I wanted to make sure there was absolutely no confusion with the pilots.

“Alright,” I said with a small clap. “Everyone stay close while we’re walking.”

“Right.” Jess nodded.

“And if we get into trouble and have to hide,” I said. “Even if you have a shot, don’t take it unless I shoot first.”

“You shooting is our signal to shoot, then?” Jess clarified.

“That’s right,” I agreed. “We have to be careful while we’re here. We absolutely cannot give away our presence before we attack.”

“Which means, if we do run into anybody, our best bet is to hide as long as they haven’t seen us.” Minji nodded.

“Yes,” I said. “If we take out any of the men in this area, it could easily clue in the rest of the troops to the fact that they have a fox in the henhouse. We don’t want that at all.”

“Are we attacking tonight?” Jess asked.

“We’ll see,” I told her. “Since it’s still early, I’d like to do some reconnaissance today and see what we’re working with. I imagine they don’t have a lot of men around here, probably only a few troops to protect the planes.”

“I can’t imagine they’d need much aside from that,” Minji said with a shake of her head. “This place is absolutely destroyed. I doubt there’s a single survivor left.”

“I know.” I nodded. “It looks like they only left a few smaller parts of the city intact , but we’ll worry about rebuilding the city later, right now, we just have to take it back.”

“You’re right,” Minji said.

“Everyone has their go bag and some water?” I asked, and the group nodded. “Alright, follow Paige.”

“This way.” Paige smiled and made her way out of the storage unit area and onto the road beyond.

We were all cautious as we walked along the street. I could feel the tension of the group, and it matched my own. There could be NK troops anywhere around here, and I made sure I had my weapon ready to go at all times.

Once we were out actually walking through the city, a small section though it was, I realized just how incredibly awful it was up close.

When we drove in, I didn’t stop to look at anything in particular, but now, I couldn’t help but take in the sights and smells all around me. The street was covered with rubble and trash, and every now and then I saw a decaying body. The buildings that were still standing had plenty of markings to show the NK troops had been here. There were burn marks from their plasma weapons all over, and I shook my head at the thought of how many innocent people died here.

We were nearing the small section of trees near the airport when suddenly, a crunching sound made me spin around.

Tara’s wide open eyes caught mine, and I looked down at her foot.

“What the fuck did I just step on?” she asked, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath instead of looking down.

“Ummm,” Anna said as she crouched down near the platinum-blonde’s foot. “This is just a wild guess, but I’m going to say a skull.”

“A skull?” Tara asked, and she flung herself backward and nearly took out Minji in the process.

On the ground in front of her was a small pile of shattered bones, and as I looked at the pieces, I could clearly see an eye socket.

“I think Anna’s right.” I nodded.

“I stepped on a fucking skull?” Tara asked, and her whole body shivered. “Jesus Christ. This place is awful.”

“Aww, I feel bad for them.” Bailey frowned.

“Don’t feel bad for them, they’re dead,” Tara scoffed. “Feel bad for me, I’m the one who stepped on it.”

“You’re terrible.” Bailey smiled and shook her head.

“I thought bones were supposed to be, like, super tough,” Tara said. “How the hell did I break this one?”

“How’d you step on it in the first place?” Anna countered. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Uh, I was a little busy looking out for NK assholes, thank you very much.” Tara glared at her redheaded friend.

“Whoever this was has probably been here for quite some time,” Paige said as she crouched down and used a stick to push around the bones. “My guess is they were weathered and it cracked more easily than they usually would have. It also doesn’t look like the entire skull is here, so there was probably only half of it to begin with. I’m betting it splintered from where it had already split when you stepped on it.”

“Well, shit,” Tara sighed. “I do feel kind of bad.”

“How long do you think this person was here?” Bailey asked. “I thought it took a long time for someone to become a skeleton.”

“Not necessarily.” Paige shook her head. “Depending on the environment, sometimes it only takes weeks.”

“Weeks?” the blonde asked, and her jaw dropped. “You mean this person could have been here just a few weeks ago.”

“In this case, I highly doubt it,” Paige said. “Like I said, this isn’t even a full skull, and it’s been quite weathered. They probably were bones before winter hit.”

“I’d think that would be right.” Minji nodded. “Especially since the humidity would speed up the process a bit.”

“I guess I didn’t think about the environment having a role in it,” Bailey said, and she bit her lip.

“It certainly does,” Hammer said. “Just ask Tav. He’s done tours overseas, I’m sure he’s seen how fast bodies skeletonize over there because of the heat.”

“It’s true,” I agreed, but I shook my head all the same.

Hammer was right, I’d seen what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq, but thinking about the same thing happening at home made me sick to my stomach. Bailey kept saying ‘person’ in reference to the skeleton, and that in itself made my gut wrench because she was absolutely right. This skeleton used to be a person, and they’d died for no real reason.

This war was bullshit, and it reminded me of why no wars had been fought on American soil in so long. We were a super power, and nobody dared come after us on our own turf. Usually, we stepped in to help others if anything.

However, not having war at home had made most citizens completely oblivious to what we went through when we were fighting. I’d met plenty of people who didn’t seem to understand what it was like, they just said war was bad, and we shouldn’t be in it to begin with. They’d thank me for my service, but their ignorance put a sour taste in my mouth that I couldn’t seem to shake for days afterward.

I put my life on the line for my country and its citizens, but a lot of people didn’t see it that way. This war had brought everything to our home, though, and I knew every survivor after this was over would feel differently than they used to.

This war would forever change us as a country.

If we survived.

“What should we do with it?” Bailey asked.

“What do you mean, what should we do?” Tara asked. “We leave it.”

“That just seems so cruel.” Bailey frowned.

“I’m sorry, Bails,” I said with a small smile. “Right now we have other things to worry about.”

“You're right,” she sighed.

“All of these bodies will get buried or cremated at some point,” Hammer assured her. “We’ll make sure of it.”

“Thanks.” She gave him a half smile.

“Come on,” I said. “We’re too exposed here, let’s get into the woods.”

“They’re right up here,” Paige said as she led the way forward.

We rounded a corner, and I saw the trees ahead of us, but as soon as we started to cross the street, a familiar sound rang through the air. I knew instinctively there was a MiG in the area, and it was clear from the rest of the city, they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot.

“Run!” I yelled, and I took off toward the tree line.

Chapter 10

The noise from the plane was so loud I couldn’t even hear my feet hitting the pavement, I could only feel the impact as I ran.

I glanced around to make sure everyone was with me, and I saw them all running as fast as they possibly could toward the trees.

The MiG was close, though. The sound of its engine was getting closer and closer, and as soon as I was within range of the trees, I leaped forward and dove into the brush.

I lifted my head up just in time to see the rest of my team dive into the trees as the MiG flew just overhead.

We were clearly close to the aircraft’s landing point because it was low to the ground, and there was no way it wouldn’t have seen us if we’d been on the street.

I leaned back against the tree that was next to me for a minute as I tried to catch my breath.

“Fuck,” Anna cursed after a few seconds, and I could hear her ragged breaths as she spoke. “That was too close for comfort.”

“These fucking planes are driving me crazy,” Paige said with a shake of her head. “I almost broke a damn ankle jumping in here.”

“At least you didn’t land on a stick,” Bailey chuckled and pulled a broken twig out from under her butt.

“You okay?” Paige asked, and her brunette eyebrows pulled together with concern.

“I think I’ll live.” Bailey smiled.

“Everyone else alright?” I asked.

“Fine,” Jess said. “Good thing you heard that MiG when you did or we would’ve been fucking vaporized.”

I nodded but couldn’t bring myself to respond. Jess was right, we would’ve been absolutely vaporized, turned into basically nothing but dust. The NK troops had proven they didn’t care about anything other than winning this war, not even the Geneva convention or basic human decency. They were only after one thing, and that was taking our country, nothing else mattered to them.

I knew they wouldn’t hesitate at all to take us out in that instance, and if I hadn’t heard the MiG coming, we may not have had time to get to safety before they flew overhead.

Sneaking behind enemy lines wasn’t for the faint of heart, especially with aircraft involved. As careful as we were to conceal our presence on the ground, it didn’t matter if we were spotted from above.

“We’ve got to be real close,” Hammer said. “That thing was flying low.”

“We are,” Paige agreed. “It’s just through the trees, then we’ll be able to see the airport. We might have to walk around a bit to find where exactly they’re at, though.”

“Yeah.” Anna said. “I doubt they’re taking up the whole of the airport. Probably more like one or two terminals, some hangers, and the control tower.”

“I would think so.” I nodded. “But it depends on how many MiGs they have.”

“How many were you thinking?” Bailey asked.

“I’m guessing ten to twenty,” I told her.

“For some reason I was thinking a lot more,” she said.

“I doubt it.” I shook my head. “Remember, they had to get all these planes over here, and even if they started out with several hundred, they’ve been through a lot by this point, and I doubt they have too many left.”

“That’s a good point,” Anna said. “Ten to twenty would make it a lot easier on us as well.”

“Yeah, less for us to sabotage.” Paige nodded, then she stood up and brushed herself off.

“Alright,” I said as I stood up, too. “Let’s get going. Nobody make a peep.”

“Got it,” Minji said with a hard nod.

I gestured to Paige, and the brunette led us through the trees.

It always amazed me how there was always just a small bit of forest left inside of cities. Most of the natural habitat was destroyed, obviously, but if someone was looking for a little bit of nature, they could usually find it.

It made sense it was by the airport as well, since houses and shops had to be a certain distance away from them anyways. It also shielded the happenings of the airport from people on the freeway or in their homes.

It wasn’t much forest, maybe a quarter mile from one end to the other, and the same across, from what I saw on the map. But, it was nice, and just the smell of the pine trees calmed me down a little bit.

I made sure to keep a good eye on my feet as we walked so I didn’t step on any pinecones or easily broken twigs. I didn’t think any NK soldiers would be posted too close to the forest’s edge, but there was no guarantee of that, and I didn’t want to raise any suspicion by being unnecessarily loud just in case one of the patrol soldiers was able to hear us.

It was eerily quiet as we walked through the trees, and I looked around to see everyone paying careful attention to where they stepped. I hadn’t worked with the pilots before, but I was impressed with their attention to detail, and I appreciated them following orders without question.

As much as I didn’t like to be the man in charge bossing everyone around, I was in charge of this mission, and I needed it to go well.

If all went according to plan, this was the first of two steps to completely dismantle the NK army and be able to take them on head to head.

I was ready for whatever these assholes had to throw at me, and it was good to know I had a good team backing me.

After a few minutes, I heard voices, but they sounded far off even from where we were at.

I tapped Paige on the shoulder in front of me to stop her, then held up my hand for everyone else to stop, too.

Once everyone was still, I gestured for them to stay put.

Anna pinched her eyebrows together at me, but I just shook my head and turned toward the edge of the forest where we’d been headed.

I knew the redhead didn’t want me going alone, but it was safer to have only one person get the scoop on what we were dealing with before we sent everyone else in.

My lone footsteps seemed incredibly loud as I walked through the trees toward the brighter light that shone through the branches. I thought I was close to the edge, and just through the trees, I could see a large white building I knew had to be the airport.

I crouched down and crawled the rest of the way to the tree line and looked out.

The airport was huge, and as I looked around, I heard the voices once more. They came from my right, and as I looked further down, I saw the MiGs all lined up in a neat row at what looked like the terminal over from the one I was at.

This area didn’t give me a direct line of sight on everything, but I could see at least ten MiGs parked on the tarmac, as well as some soldiers moseying around.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my travel-sized binoculars to get a better look, then I surveyed the area and saw there were patrols on the roof of the airport, as well as a few posted near the planes. It didn’t look like there were many, just like I had suspected. They didn’t think they needed nearly as many men here since this was out of enemy territory.

I smiled when I realized they weren’t going to have any idea what hit them.

I carefully crawled back into the trees, then stood up and made my way back to where the rest of the group waited for me.

“What did you see?” Anna whispered as I approached.

“We’re definitely in the right place,” I said. “But they’re set up further down.”

“Can we get there and still be hidden?” Tara asked.

“It looks like it.” I nodded.

“How many planes did you see?” Bailey asked.

“At least ten,” I told her. “But I don’t think I could see their entire camp.”

“Patrols?” Anna asked.

“A few guys on the roof, and some set up near the MiGs,” I explained. “It seems they’re pretty lax around here.”

“They probably feel safe enough to be,” Hammer said. “I bet these assholes haven’t been attacked once out here.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” I nodded. “Our boys haven’t been able to get over here at all, and the citizens who were here didn’t stand a chance against these bastards.”

“So, we’re going down there to check it out?” Paige asked. “Should we all go?”

“Hm.” I thought for a moment. “It might be best if we don’t all go down there at once.”

“Right, we don’t want to get spotted,” Hammer agreed.

“We’ll all go that direction, but we’ll branch off,” I decided. “Let’s just stick with the groups from the jeeps.”

“Sounds good,” Hammer said.

“Actually,” I said. “One small change. Minji, you’re with us.”

“Okay,” the beautiful Korean woman said with a small smile.

“We may need you to translate, and we’ll be the ones closest to the NK base,” I said, and I looked at Hammer and Ben. “SEALs will split off first, then pilots.”

“Roger that.” The SEAL nodded.

“I know each group has a radio on them,” I said. “But I don’t want it used at all unless it’s life or death.”

“Of course,” Ben agreed.

“Alright everyone,” I said. “Turn off your radios, then get in your groups and follow me.”

The girls all lined up behind Paige and I, then the pilots, and the SEALs after that.

I carefully led us through the brush, making sure to stay far enough back from the tree line that we wouldn’t possibly be seen by any of the men on patrol, and once we got a good distance down the line, I gestured back to Hammer, and he and the SEALs split off and headed toward the tree line.

Another ways down, I gestured to Ben, and he led the pilots to the tree line.

Minji and the girls continued to follow me, and after a few more minutes, I started to head to the airport. Once I was able to see the building through the trees, I lowered myself to the ground and crawled forward.

Luckily, the trees in that area were fairly large, so it was easy enough to hide behind them as we got to the tree line. Once we were there, I peered out from behind the tree to see how close we were to their base.

The last MiG in the line was only a hundred or so yards away from where we were at, which meant there was still a good amount of space between us and the building, but it also meant we were extremely close to their camp.

There was always a risk involved with getting this close to an enemy camp for reconnaissance, however, it was often a risk that paid off with an extremely valuable reward.

Now that we were closer, I could see there was another group of MiGs lined up behind the ones I’d seen earlier, which made for thirteen in total. There was also a large tanker of plasma liquid and several of the small vehicles set up near the building.

The tanker could pose a problem if we used our plasma weapons, but I had already guessed there would be something like that near the aircraft for refueling.

There were also more men patrolling this area, and it was clear this was where their camp was as well.

Through the large windows of the airport, I saw several soldiers moving around, so I knew they’d made their camp inside. That was smart, since it kept them inside and out of the rain or cold, but it also meant they were away from their planes while they slept.

My guess was the majority of the men in the area went inside at night while a few guys were left on guard duty. So, all we had to do was wait for that to happen, and once it did, we could take out the guards, get the Gustafs’ set up along with any other weapons we decided to use, and get the pilots into position.

Once the pilots were in the aircraft, they would take off, and as soon as their planes were far enough away, we’d start shooting at the remaining planes in the area.

There were six pilots and thirteen planes altogether, so that left us with seven planes to sabotage. Luckily, we had a good number of people with us, and we’d brought enough artillery for a small army.

I looked up at the sky to see it was already mid-afternoon, and I decided we’d spend the rest of the day doing reconnaissance. I didn’t want to take any chances with this plan, everything had to be absolutely perfect for us to pull this off.

If we were a second too late shooting the planes, one of the NK pilots could make it over to one and take off, and then we wouldn’t stand a chance. This had to be covert, and it had to be done with extreme precision.

From our position, we could hear some of the NK soldiers talking, and I looked over to Paige, and as soon as I had her attention I pretended I was writing something down.

At first, her eyebrows pinched together with confusion, but then a second later, she nodded and slowly reached into her bag to quietly retrieve a pen and paper.

I pointed to Minji, and Paige handed her the paper, then pointed to me.

Minji looked at me and nodded, and I knew the Korean woman knew exactly what I wanted.

I waited a while and let her take notes, but we’d already been there for well over an hour, and I figured at least part of us could use a break, so I pulled Anna over to me to whisper in her ear.

“Take Bailey and Tara and half of the other groups for a break,” I told her. “Get some water and food. We’re going to be here a while.”

“What about everyone else?” the redhead whispered back.

“We’ll go once you get back,” I said. “Don’t go too far, and be careful. I trust you.”

Anna nodded, then elbowed Tara and Bailey. The three of them crawled back into the trees, and I vaguely heard them get up and walk away.

While the rest of the group took a break, Minji continued to take notes whenever the NK men spoke, and Paige and I kept a watchful eye on the going ons of the area.

So far there hadn’t been a shift change, but that wasn’t surprising considering the length of time we’d been there and the time of day. It was already mid-afternoon when we arrived, and my guess was they wouldn’t trade shifts until sometime later this evening.

While we watched, I thought about the city of Birmingham and how torn apart it was. I could barely believe this was my country anymore, it reminded me far too much of when I’d been at war overseas.

It was one of those things, I never thought I’d see war in my own country, that was for other countries. I’d always thought America was past that. Soldiers fought day in and day out to make sure our homeland was safe, and I hated to think that was all in vain.

I supposed we were lucky this hadn’t happened sooner, but if I was going to win this, I couldn’t think about the negatives, I had to think about what I was fighting for.

My mind flashed to Tara and the baby she was carrying, then to Paige, Bailey, Anna, Kimmy, and Anthony. I wanted nothing more than to protect them and our home, and I’d do whatever it took to make sure the world was safe for my child.

I thought about Pete then, and how concerned he was for Tara. I understood him a little better in that moment as I promised myself I wouldn’t ever let my child have to worry about their safety.

He was a good father, and I was proud to have him as my father-in-law.

Even if he had threatened to stab me in the dick.

The smell of cigarettes wafted over to us as a group of soldiers walked over to the planes and lit up.

My nose wrinkled at the smell, and I couldn’t help but feel like these assholes needed to figure out a better way to blow off steam. Then the men walked right in front of us as they circled around the planes and chatted, and I figured they were in a pretty good mood since they were laughing so much.

They stopped near the last plane and smoked a few cigarettes, and I was on edge the whole time. We were too close to retreat without making a sound or being noticed, but we were also much too close for comfort.

These assholes were maybe a hundred feet from us, and I didn’t like having them that close.

My weapon was ready if I needed it, but I just held my breath as I continued to peer out from behind my tree and watch them. My team and I were all hidden just behind the tree line, and we were in dark clothes, so I knew we’d blend in well, but there was always the off chance someone would make a sound, or these assholes would look over at just the right second. I’d seen it happen overseas, and I knew it could happen here.

After a few minutes, though, they lit up another cigarette and wandered back toward the airport building.

I let out a sigh of relief and shook my head. This whole operation was risky as hell, but it would be worth it as soon as we had those MiGs.

About ten minutes later, Anna, Tara, and Bailey returned, and they looked refreshed and ready to continue, so I nodded to Minji and Paige, and the three of us retreated back into the trees.

We carefully made our way back the way we’d come, and once we were near where the pilots had branched off, I told Minji and Paige to wait for me while I retrieved them. Then I did the same for the SEALs.

It didn’t take me but a few minutes to find Hammer and the rest of the boys, and I crawled up to them and gestured for them to follow me.

I didn’t say anything else until we were out of the trees, across the street, and back at the storage units.

“What’s going on?” Hammer asked once I stopped moving and grabbed some water from my bag.

“I just thought we could use a break,” I explained. “The rest of the group just got back from one.”

“Good call.” He nodded. “I was getting hungry out there.”

“I figured as much,” I chuckled.

“So, what do we know so far?” Rivers, a short, stocky SEAL, asked.

“I don’t know if you can see it from your position, but they have a plasma tanker,” I said.

“How big?” Hammer asked.

“It’s about the size of one of the smaller ones we have on the ship,” Paige said. “But it’s only about halfway full.”

“That’s still a good bit of fuel.” The SEAL pursed his lips.

“Yeah, it’s quite a lot,” I agreed. “We’ll have to be careful if we use our plasma weapons.”

“It will only ignite if we hit it,” Paige added. “But that would be a huge explosion.”

“Maybe we can use that to our advantage,” Minji suggested.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “It will be difficult to get that shot without hurting anybody in the process.”

“We’re going to be a good ways back in order to fire the Gustafs, right?” Minji asked.

“That’s right,” I agreed.

“Then, maybe we can shoot the tanker so it explodes, then the liquid will ooze out and we can fire off a plasma blast to ignite it,” she explained.

“That is a virtually surefire way to make sure we take out every last soldier here.” Paige nodded.

“Hm,” I mused. “I’ll think about it.”

Paige was right, that was one way to get every last soldier here with minimal effort. It was also extremely dangerous.

If we weren’t out of blast range, it would be bad for all of us, and I wasn’t sure how we were going to get that shot and be far enough away at the same time. There was no guarantee that would work, and it could put us in more danger than anything.

I’d have to weigh my options carefully here.

For the moment, though, I shut off my thoughts about the reconnaissance and instead focused on giving myself a break and getting something to eat and drink.

I knew it was better to mentally relax for a minute than to try and concern myself with every little detail. All work and no play was when mistakes got made.

Regardless of what anyone said, I knew firsthand how important it was to give myself a break every now and then.

We’d been doing reconnaissance for a couple hours at that point, and I needed a few minutes to think about something other than the NKs.

I guzzled down an entire bottle of water, then I pulled out some of Betty’s homemade crackers and a can of baked beans.

It wasn’t the greatest meal on earth, but it would work for the moment, so I opened the can and used my crackers to pick up the beans and scoop them into my mouth.

It wasn’t bad, and I quickly ate half the bag of crackers, then slowed down my pace once I had quenched my initial hunger.

Everyone was quiet as we ate, but after a little while Paige broke the silence.

“So, Minji,” the brunette said. “What were the NK soldiers saying?”

“Oh, I wrote it all down,” Minji said. “At least, anything that sounded important. There wasn’t much of that, though.”

“What do you mean?” Paige asked.

“Mostly they were talking about stupid things.” She waved her hand dismissively. “The guys were being perverts, and some of them were talking about what they’d like to eat right then.”

“Huh.” Hammer shook his head. “Am I the only one who finds their nonchalant attitude irritating as hell?”

“Definitely not my favorite,” Rivers muttered.

“After everything they’ve done, they could at least have the decency to seem somewhat upset about it,” Hammer said. “I know men who followed orders, and it FUBARed them. They had anxiety and depression and all sorts of shit after having to take a life. They just weren’t cut out for the service, but to be so … normal after everything they’ve done. I just don’t understand it.”

“I don’t, either.” I shook my head. “My troops were never like that. We kept our spirits up as much as we could, but really, shit was somber and there was no way around that. Even when we took out an enemy troop, we’d hear about civilian casualties caused by the other side trying to get to us, and it would fuck me up every time. I can’t comprehend their mentality here, it’s just plain cold.”

“I’ve seen plenty of battle, but I’ve never seen an enemy this fucking heartless,” Rivers added in a low voice. “All the children, the citizens who did nothing to deserve this. Fuck, man. These sonsabitches have no heart. No heart. Fuck North Korea, man. Fuck those assholes.”

We were all quiet for a moment as we soaked in each others’ words, then I turned to Minji to try and get us back on track. The situation was bad enough on its own, I didn’t need everyone thinking about it, too. If they got caught up in their own feelings it would be more difficult for them to focus on the task at hand, so the best thing to do was draw attention to the mission over everything else.

“Did they say anything important?” I asked.

“A couple of them talked about making a supply run to Douglasville,” Minji said.

“That’s great!” Paige said, and she looked over at me and smiled.

“It is?” Minji asked, and her dark-brown eyebrows pulled together.

“Definitely.” Paige nodded.

“If they need to make a supply run to Douglasville, that means nobody will get there,” I said. “The General already said he thinks the men over there are getting desperate since it’s been difficult for them to get supplies. If we cut off their supplies completely, they’re going to be fucked.”

“They may even turn against each other before we can get to them.” Hammer grinned.

“Wouldn’t that be something,” I laughed.

“You got a plan for tonight, yet?” Hammer asked, and he took another drink of water.

“Not quite,” I said. “I have a basic plan, but not all the details like I want.”

“I’m guessing we’re on reconnaissance duty until then?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You’d be guessing right,” I told him with a smile. “I know you guys are badass SEALs and all and you don’t normally do your own reconnaissance, but I’m gonna need you to step it up.”

“Is that right?” Hammer laughed.

“That’s right,” I joked.

“I think we can manage, right, boys?” he chuckled, and the crew laughed and played along.

Even if it was just for a minute, it was nice to not focus on the NKs. I knew we were here for a mission, but seeing the city so incredibly destroyed, and then watching those assholes for a couple of hours already, it had me in a piss poor mood, and I needed a little comic relief.

I was just glad the SEALs were all such good sports about a little playing around. They knew they’d been shit at reconnaissance when I’d first met them, and I appreciated their willingness to laugh about it.

I had to explain to the girls that SEALs often didn’t do reconnaissance of their own, they received orders, got a run down of the area, and went in head first. Recon wasn’t exactly their specialty.

“Oh, there was one other thing,” Minji said as she looked at her notes.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“They said something about refuelling the planes when they got back,” she informed me.

“Shit,” Hammer cursed. “That means they’ve got men in the air right now.”

“Right,” I sighed. “At the very least we’ll have to make sure to wait until they get back. We need every last MiG here if this is going to work.”

“Did they say how many needed to return?” Paige asked.

“No.” Minji shook her head. “Only that they were waiting for them to get back.”

“That means they should be back tonight at least,” Paige said.

“I would think so,” I agreed. “I’m betting before dark, too. I doubt they want to be out in the middle of the night.”

“You think they’re over in Atlanta harassing our men?” River asked with a sneer.

“There’s a good possibility of that,” I said. “I wish our walkies reached that far, but I’m sure they’re fine. They can handle themselves.”

“Definitely seemed like they could,” Hammer agreed.

“The general’s pretty wise,” Brian, one of the pilots, said. “He’s taken care of us up to this point, and I have faith he’ll continue to do so.”

“Just out of curiosity,” Paige said softly. “How many men have you all lost?”

“Hm.” Brian took a deep breath and thought for a moment. “Since the beginning, I can’t be sure. But since we moved to that secluded warehouse, we’ve only lost three men, and all of them were due to injuries out in the field.”

“Those plasma wounds are nearly impossible to heal.” Jess shook her head. “They’re not like normal burns, it appears to be far more corrosive than that.”

“Any loss is a great loss,” I said. “But the General has done a great job maintaining his troops, and I’m happy to be serving under him.”

“Under him, but over everyone else,” Brian joked. “I can’t wait to hear the story of how a Ranger managed to become leader of the entire Vermont militia.”

“It’s not all that great, I assure you,” I laughed.

“Don’t let his humble ass fool you,” Ben chuckled. “It’s better than he’s letting on.”

“I bet it is.” Brian grinned. “Once this is all over, we’d all like to hear it.”

“Get those planes home, and I’ll tell you over a cup of homemade vodka,” I told him, and I lifted my water cup in a mock salute. “Sound good?”

“You guys have alcohol?” Brian asked, and his eyes widened to saucers.

“You don’t?” Ben asked. “Damn, I would’ve offered you all a drink if I’d have known.”

“I think dawn is a bit early for that,” I chuckled.

“Good point,” the pilot said. “But I’ll make sure you guys get some sake when we get back.”

“Sake and vodka?” Brian asked. “And a MiG. You guys literally brought everything.”

“We try to make sure we’re prepared,” I said with a wink.

Everyone shared a good laugh while we finished our meals, and once we were done, we packed our bags up and got ready to head back to the woods to finish up our reconnaissance.

“It looks like we’re going to be here a while,” I told everyone as I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Stay hydrated, stay quiet, and keep your eyes peeled.”

“Once the other planes land, then we can actually make a plan, yeah?” Paige asked.

“I think so.” I nodded. “Night is going to be our best bet, but we need to see how well-guarded they are. If they’re pretty lax and we’re confident we can take out the guards without being seen, then we’ll go tonight, but if we have any sort of doubt, we’ll hold off and continue reconnaissance so we can find the perfect moment to strike.”

“Alright,” the brunette agreed. “I have a drawing of where everyone’s located and where they’re patrolling.”

“Good job,” I told her. “I thought I saw you marking something down over there.”

“Yeah, after you had me give Minji some paper, I figured I should be taking notes, too,” she explained. “But since I couldn't take notes on conversations, I figured the next best thing would be to take notes on their movements.”

“Smart.” I smiled at the brunette.

“Thanks,” she breathed, and she bit her lip, turned red, and looked down.

“It’s going to be late afternoon soon,” I said. “We only have a couple hours until dark, so let’s get this done.”

The group all nodded, and we started toward the road.

“Wait,” Paige said. “I forgot something in the jeep. Go on without me, I’ll be right back.”

“You’re going to need help to open the door,” I said, and I looked to the rest of the group. “Can you all find your way back?”

“We got this.” Hammer nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” I told him, and I hurried back to where Paige stood in front of the door to one of the storage units.

I helped the brunette open the door, then she opened the trunk of the jeep and looked around.

“What did you leave?” I asked, and my eyebrows pinched together.

“I forgot my birth control,” she said quietly. “Sorry, I know it’s not super important, but--”

“I’d say it’s pretty important,” I chuckled. “I don’t mind, it’s only a few minutes. Besides, I’m sure shift change isn’t for a while. Everyone else can handle it for now.”

“Thanks.” She smiled at me as she retrieved the little pill from a small bag.

“Why don’t you carry it with you?” I asked.

“Normally I do,” she said. “But Bailey forgot hers, and she borrowed mine today, and I totally forgot I didn’t take mine until just now.”

For some reason, hearing her talk about her birth control was kind of turning me on, and I couldn’t help but think about her naked.

My eyes instinctively moved to Paige’s perfect ass as she bent over the back of the jeep to put the small bag back where it was before.

I couldn’t help myself, though, so I stepped up behind her and gently placed my hands on her hips.

“Oh,” Paige gasped, and she stood up straight.

She looked up at me, and her slender neck was exposed, so I leaned down and kissed it gently.

“Oooohhh,” she sighed, and she relaxed into me, then she bit her lip and spun around to put her hands on my chest. “We don’t have time for this, we’re supposed to be-”

“Doing whatever I say?” I asked with a cocky grin.

“Well, yes,” she chuckled, but her voice was husky with desire, which only made her sound that much sexier.

“So, why don’t you do what I say?” I whispered as I leaned down and kissed her neck again.

“Fuuuck,” she moaned, and she threw her head back as I nibbled on her collarbone. “That feels so good.”

Paige’s hands gripped my sides then worked their way up to my shoulders so she could hold onto me as her knees nearly buckled underneath her.

I scooped her up and set her on the edge of the jeep so her back was pressed up against the supplies in the trunk. She didn’t seem to notice, though, she just threw her head back and let out a low moan as I worked my way down to her chest.

I ran my hands up her thighs, then I gripped the bottom of her T-shirt and yanked it over her head to reveal a dark-blue bra underneath. Her small, but perky, breasts were pushed up by the undergarment, and I kissed my way down to her exposed cleavage.

“Taaaavvv,” she moaned, and she wrapped her legs around my waist as she gripped my shoulders even tighter. “I want you soooo bad.”

“Mmm, I can tell,” I chuckled huskily against her flesh, then I reached back and unsnapped her bra to reveal her soft, supple breasts.

I kissed my way over to her taut pink nipple and pulled it into my mouth so she gasped and dug her nails into my shoulders.

I licked and sucked on her until she was writhing beneath me with anticipation, then I made my way over to her other breast as my hand slowly moved down her flat stomach to the waistband of her jeans.

“Oh, God,” Paige panted as I slipped my hand into her pants.

My cock twitched with arousal at the feel of how wet she was for me, and I slipped two fingers in her already soaking wet pussy.

“You’re so fucking wet,” I growled as I pushed my fingers in and out of her ever so slowly.

“I want you,” she groaned, and she threw her head back and lifted her hips to meet the strokes of my fingers. “I want your cock, please, Tav. I want you to cum in me.”

“I like when you beg for it,” I whispered in her ear as I continued to fuck her with my fingers, then I pulled her earlobe between my teeth to give it a little bite.

“Mmmm, please,” she moaned even louder, and she reached down and grabbed my cock through my jeans. “Please give it to me. Pleaseeeee.”

“Fuck,” I growled, and I felt my heart rate spike as my cock throbbed with desire.

“I need you,” she panted, and she pulled herself away from me and slid down onto her knees in front of me.

Paige looked up at me and bit her lip as she slowly undid my shorts and my erection sprung free right in front of her.

“God, I always forget how big you are,” she whispered as she marveled at my cock, then slowly licked me from base to tip.

I reached out and grabbed onto the jeep to steady myself as she took me deep into her mouth and all the way into her throat.

“Damn,” I groaned, and I reached back and grabbed onto her bun to hold her steady as I slid my cock in and out of her hungry mouth.

Paige held onto my hips as I thrust into her warm throat, and I looked down at her half naked form. Her perfect breasts bounced each time I pushed my cock between her lips, and she looked up at me with huge dark-brown eyes filled with hunger.

“Fuck, you’re so sexy with my cock in your mouth,” I growled.

“Mmmm, come for me,” she begged as she pulled away and stroked me with her hand. “Come in my mouth, Tav. I want to drink it all down.”

I was going to protest, but Paige pulled me back into her throat and this time she took me all the way in until her face was pressed up against my abdomen, and I couldn’t contain myself.

I gripped the jeep and her hair hard as I was overcome with pleasure. My vision went black, and I threw my head back as my cock pulsated inside Paige’s mouth and spayed down into her stomach over and over again.

Once I finished, I slowly released Paige’s hair, and she pulled back and tore in a few ragged breaths before she slid her pants down and leaned back against the jeep again.

“God, that was so fucking hot,” she groaned, and she grabbed my shirt and pulled me to her. “I need your cock, now.”

Paige reached down and guided me into her slick pussy, and I gasped as my sensitive cock was engulfed by her sweet slit. The brunette didn’t waste any time, though, and as soon as I entered her, she gripped my shoulders and arched her back as she was overcome with pleasure.

“Fuuuuuck,” she moaned, and she threw her head back as her pussy spasmed on my already sensitive cock. “Ohhhh, Gooooooddd…”

Paige coming as soon as I filled her was so hot that I didn’t want to stop right there. I wanted her to come for me again, so I reached out and pulled each of her nipples between my fingers and gave them a good squeeze.

The brunette let out a loud moan, and she threw her head back even further as I pulled on her nipples. Once she finished riding out the waves of her pleasure, I slowly slid my cock out of her only to thrust it in again.

“Fuck,” she gasped, and she looked at me and bit her lip.

Paige’s brown eyes locked on mine as I slid in and out slowly at first, then with increasing intensity. She pushed her hand up under my shirt and raked her nails down my chest, and I pulled on her taut pink nipples even harder in response.

Paige’s pussy was even wetter after her orgasm, and I thrust in and out of her easily. My cock throbbed as I filled her over and over again, and after a few minutes, I couldn’t contain my desire any longer, so I slammed into her hard.

“Oh, God, I’m gonna come again,” she breathed, and her mouth opened wide as she threw her head back with pleasure.

I bottomed out against her womb, and her pussy twitched and spasmed on my cock, which was enough to make me come yet again.

As her pussy spasmed around me with pleasure, I climaxed and filled her sopping wet tunnel with my sperm. My intensity was doubled since this was my second orgasm, and I held myself in place as her twitching pussy milked every last drop out of my spasming balls.

“Fuuuuck,” I groaned after I finished riding out the waves of pleasure.

“Jesus,” Paige panted, and I looked down at her naked form and smiled.

Her nipples were still taut, and they were slightly red from me pinching them. Her lips were extra plump from her wrapping them around my cock, and her hair was an absolute mess.

Strands of her dark hair flared out from her messy bun, which was barely still intact, and her chest rose and fell heavily as she caught her breath.

I slowly pulled myself out of her and watched as my come dripped out of her swollen pussy lips.

“Here,” I said, and I reached down, picked up her clothes, and set them on the back of the jeep next to her.

“Thanks.” She smiled, stretched, and lazily opened her eyes. “I think I needed that.”

“Me, too,” I chuckled as I pulled my pants back up.

“This mission is already wearing me out,” she said. “I don’t like it. I think it’s the emotional part of seeing everything destroyed. I do feel a little refreshed now, so thank you for that.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and winked, then looked at her seriously. “Are you going to be alright?”

“Of course.” Paige waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just hard to see how torn up everywhere is. And this area is even worse than some of the other places we’ve been. It’s just sad to think it used to be a thriving community and now it’s reduced to basically nothing.”

“I understand.” I nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “We’re going to make it right.”

“I know.” She smiled and pulled her shirt on. “That’s the only thing that makes this worth it.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” I told her. “We should probably be getting back to the others, though. I’m sure they’re wondering where we’re at.”

“Probably,” Paige agreed, and she stood up and pulled on her pants.

I smiled as I watched her finish getting dressed, and when she saw me looking at her, she blushed, bit her lip to hide a smile, and looked away.

That was one thing I loved about Paige. She was fierce and intelligent, but also incredibly shy at times, and it made her all the more endearing.

Paige was the first of the girls to come to my bed, and I hadn’t been nearly as surprised by that fact as the rest of the girls. I knew from the moment I saw her there was a wildness about her that was sexy and inviting. The rest of the girls seemed to think she’d be too shy for something like that, but Paige was smart. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t afraid to go after it.

I noticed her bun nearly falling out, and I reached out and pulled down her hair.

“Hey!” she laughed. “What was that for?”

“You needed to fix it anyways,” I said as I watched her mane of chestnut locks fall down around her shoulders and nearly to her waist.

“Oh, yeah, it was probably all messed up, huh,” she chuckled and took the hair tie I held out to her. “Thanks.”

It only took Paige a few seconds to put her hair back up, and once that was done, she grabbed her bag and turned to me with a grin.

“Ready?” she asked.

“You seem to be in a chipper mood,” I teased as I led her out of the storage unit.

“I can’t imagine why,” the brunette chuckled.

“Hm, maybe it’s all the dick you’ve been getting,” I joked.

“Looks like I’m not the only one in a good mood,” she laughed, and her eyes went wide at my joke.

“Too far?” I laughed along with her.

“You’re starting to sound like Tara,” she teased. “One of you has to be the responsible parent.”

“I’ll try my best.” I grinned and winked at her.

Paige was right, I was in a much better mood than I had been earlier. Seeing the city in rubble wasn’t only weighing on her, and this had been a much needed distraction from the craziness all around us.

“Tav…” she cleared her throat as we walked.

“Yeah?”

“Sooo… Tara was kinda teasing a bit about the whole thing with all of us having your babies, but… umm… what were you thinking about after this was all over?”

“What do you want?” I asked as I reached to hold her hand, and then I pulled her to stop walking so we could look at each other.

“I mean…” she sighed and blushed a bit as she looked at the ground. “I’m on the pill. I know she was just fucking around about tampering with them, but… is that… okay?”

“Paige,” I began as I took a deep breath. “I want to have a baby with you. If that’s what you want.”

“I do,” the shy brunette whispered as she looked up at me. “I… yeah… I never thought I’d find someone, but I’m like… kinda jealous of Tara right now. Not all the puking and stuff, but yeah… I am glad you want one with me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I chuckled as I pulled her into a tight hug. “You are brilliant, caring, clever, badass, and beautiful. I love everything about you, and I can’t wait to see what our kids look like and how wonderful of a mother you’ll be.”

Paige pressed her face into my chest and didn’t say anything for a few moments, but when we finally broke our hug, I saw that her eyes were watering.

“I love you, Conner Tavish,” she whispered as she dabbed at her eyes. “I can’t wait to win this war and start a family with you, and Tara, and Anna, and Bailey. Oh! And Kimmy! Maybe Minji? Wow. I’m just… thank you for accepting me and loving me so much. You are the man of my dreams, and I never thought I could be this happy.”

I kissed her then, and we lost each other in our passion for a few moments. Finally, she’d composed herself, and we started the quick trip to the woods near the airport, but as we rounded the corner that led to the road, I heard a dull hum.

Paige stepped out toward the road, and I instinctively reached out and grabbed the brunette by the backpack.

“He--” she started to say, but I pulled her close to my chest, put my hand over her mouth, and ducked down behind the storage building just as a patrol vehicle passed us on the street.

Paige looked at me with wide eyes, but I just held her in place and shook my head.

I just hoped they hadn't seen us.

Chapter 11

I held my breath as the vehicle slowly passed by us.

There were only three men inside that I could see, the driver, the passenger, and a man with his head out of the sunroof. But that didn’t mean there weren’t more in the back. It was a nice day and the front seat men had their windows down, so I figured the back seat men would have the same if there was anybody back there.

Regardless, though, it didn’t matter if there were three of them, or thirty of them. We couldn’t be seen at all, or it could blow our entire operation.

The soldier looking out the sunroof had a plasma weapon in his hand as he scanned the area slowly, and I watched for any sort of sign to show me he’d seen where I was. His eyes were narrowed, so he was definitely looking, but after a moment, his body relaxed some, and he leaned forward with his elbows on the top of the vehicle.

I was acutely aware of Paige’s body pressed against mine. I could feel her shallow breaths on my hand, and I knew she was as nervous as I was in that moment.

The vehicle seemed to take forever to make its way down the street, and only once it was completely out of sight was I able to release Paige from my grasp and draw in a deep breath.

“Fuck,” Paige whispered. “Do you think he heard us?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “It looked like he was looking for something at first.”

“I thought so, too.” She nodded. “But then he relaxed, so even if he heard us, he definitely didn’t see us.”

“We’ve got to be careful in this area,” I said. “I didn’t expect to see any patrols out here, and their presence is going to make this more complicated than I thought it would.”

“Are you sure they were patrolling?” Paige asked. “I mean, I know they were going slowly through here, but maybe they were on their way back from somewhere.”

“That’s possible, too.” I nodded. “We can see if Minji heard anything when we get over to them.”

“Right,” Paige agreed, and she followed me as I ran across the road and over to the small forest near the airport.

Paige and I had only been in the woods for a moment when the familiar sound of a MiG filled the air, and I looked up to see one fly just overhead toward the airport.

“That must be the plane the NK troops were talking about earlier,” Paige whispered.

“You’re probably right,” I said, but just then another plane flew over us.

“Fuck, how many do you think they have?” she asked as she bit her lip.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “But however many there are, we’ve got to take them all out. We can’t leave them anything usable.”

“Right,” the brunette said with a nod. “Let’s go.”

Paige and I carefully made our way through the forest and up to the area where the rest of the girls were stationed. We walked through the trees until we were close enough to them, then we low crawled the rest of the way.

Anna looked over and nodded at me, and Tara caught my eye before nodding to Paige then wiggling her eyebrows at me.

I smiled and shook my head at the platinum-blonde. Her ability to tell when someone just had sex was eerily accurate.

Once I was settled in, I surveyed the area and found the two planes that had just arrived. They were parked near us at the end of the row of planes, and the vehicle we’d seen was parked with the others while the group of soldiers chatted with the ones who’d already been there.

I watched as a different group of soldiers loaded up into one of the vehicles, waved goodbye to their fellow soldiers, and took off.

I looked over to Minji, and she nodded in return, so I figured she knew what the hell was going on. My best guess was that it was the patrol group Paige and I had seen earlier, and they were returning from their rounds to switch out with the next group.

My main question was where the hell were they patrolling, and I just hoped Minji had been able to find that out for us.

While we continued to watch the men, I thought about what Minji had said earlier about the fuel tank filled with plasma and how we could blow it up to take out the soldiers. While it wasn’t a terrible plan, it wasn’t great, either. It definitely put our crew in danger, and I wasn’t sure I could think of any way to get us out of the blast zone with as much plasma liquid as was in the tanker.

Then again, maybe we didn’t have to blow the tanker, we could just blow it up.

We were going to be using the M3 recoilless rifles to take out the planes anyways, and I was sure Bailey could make that shot with her Barrett and crack the tanker.

It wouldn’t matter to us whether or not the area was covered with plasma, not if we were using our recoilless rifles, but it would matter to the NK troops. If we covered their area with a huge amount of fuel, there’s no way they’d dare to shoot back. They knew how volatile the plasma was, and they knew if one single person hit it with one of the plasma rays, they’d all be toast.

Even a good soldier wouldn’t risk their life, and the lives of their entire crew, like that. At that point, it was better to let the enemy win than to blow up the entire airport with one wrong move.

We were already going to take out the men on patrol, but they still outnumbered us two to one, so there’d be a decent amount of soldiers left. However, if we took out their planes, their fuel, and their vehicles, they’d have no way to leave to get more of anything, and they’d virtually be fucked. And that was if we got into trouble and had to leave them alive.

They might be able to call for help, but at that point they were just a few extra bodies we’d have to take out when the final battle came. And this way, our team was put in the least amount of danger possible.

I settled into my spot behind the tree and continued to watch the men in front of me. They mosied around as if they were untouchable here, and I understood why. There was nothing around for miles and miles. They didn’t even have to worry about any civilians in this area since they’d taken them all out already. And even if they hadn’t gotten them all, the ones left had fled, if they were smart at least.

The men on the roof, and the ones posted near the tanker of fuel were stoic as they did their jobs, but even they joined in every now and then to talk to the soldiers gathered around the vehicles chatting.

After a while, one of them built a fire in a premade pit they had on the runway, and they started cooking something that smelled absolutely rancid. I didn’t know if it was because of what was in it, or if they just didn’t know how to cook, or what, but it smelled awful, and I wrinkled my nose as the scent wafted over to us.

After the soldier had finished cooking, they called out loudly, and soon enough, most of them lined up to get their bowls.

This was a perfect opportunity to get a full tally of their men, and as they lined up to get their food, I counted each and every one of them.

There were thirty-six soldiers, which meant we were definitely outnumbered two to one, a little bit more even. It didn’t matter, though. These assholes thought they were safe here, and that sense of security was going to make this even easier.

As we watched the group, the sun sunk low on the horizon. They hadn’t changed patterns in hours, and I wanted to give my crew a break before nightfall since that’s when we’d likely strike. Besides, we needed to go over the plan and make all the final details, so I tapped Paige on the shoulder and motioned behind us.

In turn, the brunette tapped Minji on the shoulder, and it continued on down the line until all the girls nodded at me, and I carefully led us back through the trees.

Silently, we made our way through the forest, and once we were near where the pilots were, I gestured for Anna to go find them. We waited quietly, and after a few moments, the redhead returned with the pilots trailing behind her.

Anna retrieved the SEALs as well, and once we were all together again, I led us through the trees until we came to the road.

Once we were there, I surveyed the area before I waved the group forward, and we all rushed over to the storage complex we parked the jeeps at.

When we got to the parking lot of the storage complex, I let everyone take off their bags and stretch for a minute before I addressed them all.

“Alright,” I said once everyone seemed a bit more relaxed. “I feel confident we can attack tonight. How’s everyone else feel? Is there anyone who isn’t feeling confident.”

The group all looked around at each other, but nobody said anything.

“Good,” I chuckled.

“I’m guessing you’ve got a plan now?” Hammer asked with a lopsided grin.

“That’s right.” I nodded. “Minji had brought up shooting the plasma tanker earlier, and I said I’d consider it.”

“What did you decide?” the Korean woman asked with a hopeful smile.

“We are going to shoot it,” I explained. “But not in the way you were thinking.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, and her dark eyebrows pulled together.

“We aren’t going to shoot it with one of our plasma guns,” I said. “And we aren’t going to save it for last.”

“Then why shoot it at all?” Minji asked.

“Because if there’s plasma fluid everywhere, the NKs will be hesitant to use their weapons.” Paige grinned. “One stray shot and KABOOM!”

“Bingo.” I smiled and pointed at the brunette.

“Oh, fuck,” Anna breathed, and her eyes went round as saucers. “I didn’t even think about that. That’s a good idea.”

“I’m confident it will work,” I said. “And it’s going to keep us a lot safer than igniting the plasma tanker would have.”

“Okay, so we’re going to spill the tanker so those motherfuckers can’t fire back.” Anna smiled. “What else you got?”

“Well, that was the really good thing,” I laughed. “But there is more to the plan.”

“Let’s hear it,” Paige pushed, and she leaned forward slightly as she stared at me.

“We’ll wait until it’s nice and dark out,” I said. “There was a shift change about an hour ago, which means those guys should be the ones on watch all night. If we give it a few hours, they should be nice and bored by then, which means they’re probably not going to be paying the greatest attention to anything.”

“So, we’re going to take them out first?” Bailey asked.

“Yes, they’re our first priority,” I said. “Once we take them out, we’ll cover the pilots as they make their way to the planes. It’s imperative that you all start up at the same time.”

“We can’t all get off the runway at once.” Brian frowned.

“Why not?” Paige asked. “There’s like a million runways around here, right?”

“Yeah, can’t you just gun it over to one?” Tara asked.

“I guess that’s true.” Brian nodded. “Seems a bit riskier, though.”

“I think it’s our best bet,” I said. “We have to get you all out of here fast. If they spot you and start to run out, there’s a chance one of them could make it past us over to the plane, and if that’s the case, we’re all fucked.”

“I hadn’t thought about that.” Jess frowned, too.

“It’s okay,” I assured her. It’s going to work out if you all just follow my plan exactly. There’s no room for error here.”

“No pressure, though, right?” Anna chuckled

“Actually, there’s a lot of pressure.” I smiled. “We need to take down these assholes tonight. Once we take them down, we can move on to the rest of their troops in Douglasville, and after that, the whole of the army, or whatever is left of it at least.”

“Hopefully there won’t be much left once we take out some of these assholes with the MiGs.” Ben grinned.

“I’m with you,” I chuckled. “But they still outnumber us, we have to remember that.”

“Right.” Paige nodded. “So, what’s the rest of our plan?”

“We’re going to work on the planes as soon as the pilots start to take off,” I said. “Everyone is going to need to have a shot at the planes. There’s fifteen now that the other two planes have arrived, so we should be able to line up a shot and still have a couple of people ready to take out anybody who comes running out of the building.”

“I nominate Bailey for that,” Tara said with a point at the blonde.

“I’ll gladly take that job.” Bailey smiled.

“We know you will,” I laughed. “And I think that’s a great idea. We'll have Bailey ready to take out the soldiers as soon as they come out of the building.”

“What about the tanker?” Anna asked. “Doesn’t Bailey need to take it out first?”

“She can shoot it while the rest of us start shooting the planes,” I said. “Then she can focus on whoever tries to come out of the building.”

“There might be one other thing we need Bailey for even before that,” Paige said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“There’s two guards on the roof,” the brunette explained. “We need to take them out before we take out any of the other guards.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “But we also will have to be quiet about it.”

“What about the plasma guns?” Tara asked. “They’re silent.”

“Yeah, but they give off a blue light.” Paige pursed her lips. “It’s not exactly inconspicuous.”

“I guess not,” Tara sighed. “I have my silenced Ruger.”

“I think that’s our best bet,” I said.

“I don’t know that I’m comfortable making that shot, though,” Tara said. “Bailey should do it.”

“Are you sure?” Bailey asked. “I usually use a long gun versus a handgun.”

“Yeah, but we’ve all seen what you can do with either,” Tara said with a roll of her eyes, and she pulled her Ruger off her hip and handed it to Bailey. “The job is yours.”

“Okay.” Bailey nodded. “So, I’ll take those guys out as the very first thing.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “We have a few other silenced weapons as well, so Hammer, Anna, Rivers, and myself can take out the other guards at the same time.”

“Alright,” Tara said. “And we have the pilots ready to run, I’m guessing.”

“That’s right.” I nodded. “As soon as the patrols are down, the pilots make their way to the planes as quickly as possible, start them up, and get them down the runway.”

“You think we can get them down fast enough?” Jess asked, and she looked at me and nervously bit her lip.

“I think you’re going to have to,” I told her with a nod. “We’re all counting on you. You got this.”

“Right,” she said, and her face hardened into a look of determination.

“As soon as you all are out of the way, we’ll start shooting at the remaining planes,” I said. “Bailey will take out the tanker as soon as we start shooting the planes, then she can focus on whoever tries to come out of the building, but at that point, we’ll already have won.”

“Well, this doesn’t sound too difficult,” Tara chuckled.

“Not too bad.” I winked. “Oh, there is one more thing, though.”

“What’s that?” Anna asked.

“We also need to take out their vehicles,” I said. “They’re parked near the building, so it shouldn’t be too difficult, but I don’t want those assholes being able to go anywhere.”

“Good call.” The redhead nodded.

“What about the guys who left earlier?” Bailey asked.

“Right, the patrols,” I said, and I looked at Minji. “Paige and I saw the group that arrived on our way back to our recon spot.”

“Yeah, then the other group left,” Paige added.

“Do you know where they were headed?” I asked.

“I didn’t recognize the town name,” Minji said. “But they said they were on ‘border patrol’, so I’m pretty sure that was one of the groups who has been keeping an eye on an area of the state line.”

“If that’s the case, the other group should be long gone by now,” I said.

“One less thing to worry about,” Paige said.

“Right,” I agreed, and I looked around at my group. “Everybody know the plan?”

“Got it.” Hammer grinned and crossed his arms.

“Perfect,” I said. “Now, everyone should grab something to eat and get some water. Make sure it’s nothing too heavy since we don’t want to be weighed down later. And nothing warm, either. We can’t risk making a fire right now.”

“Well, shit,” Hammer joked. “If I’d have known there wouldn’t be hot food, I’d have never agreed to this.”

“You’ll have to do your research next time,” I chuckled.

While everyone got out cans of food to eat, I looked around at my group and couldn’t help but feel proud. I’d found some great men and women to serve with, and part of me couldn’t believe that some of them weren’t even military.

My girls were some of the strongest soldiers I’d ever seen, and it was amazing to think only a couple of years ago, they had no idea how to even fire a weapon, let alone plan an entire attack.

I was fortunate to have found the SEALs as well. I liked Hammer, he was like the military buddy I never had, and he was quickly growing on me. I was considering making him third in command at some point, but I hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. I wanted this war over before I had to appoint anybody else to any other position.

I only knew Ben from the pilot crew, but I was proud to call him a friend and fellow military brother. He’d already sacrificed so much for his country. Hell, he’d given a leg, and now he had a metal prosthetic, but that hadn’t stopped him from volunteering for this war. He hadn't even hesitated, he’d jumped at the opportunity to fight for his country, and he was one of the soldiers I knew understood the cost of that fight.

The rest of the pilots were impressive, too, and I knew each of them was ready to get back into battle.

It was amazing to me to think all these people had come together to defend their country when so many who’d taken an oath to protect it had fled at the first sight of trouble.

We may be all that was left of the resistance, but we were one hell of a force to be reckoned with, and I couldn’t wait to see this crew in action.

The sun continued to dip below the horizon as we ate, and after a while it was nearly completely dark out.

Without the city lights, though, the moon and stars were plenty to see by, and I stared up at them as I replayed the plan in my head.

“You know, I never even knew that bike trail existed until you took us down there,” Hammer said after a while. “It’s amazing the things you learn in the apocalypse.”

“Is it?” I chuckled.

“Hell, yeah,” he laughed. “Before this, I didn’t know you could eat possums, either.”

“Ew.” Tara blanched.

“Ricky on his whole ‘let’s eat possums’ kick again?” Brian asked with a sideways smile.

“What?” Anna asked with an amused grin.

“He’s one of the soldiers back at camp,” Brian explained. “He’s caught like five possums now and he tries to cook them for everybody, but nobody wants to eat them.”

“Possums aren’t bad,” I said.

“What the fuck,” Tara said, and her eyes went wide. “You’ve eaten possums?”

“A few.” I nodded. “I used to camp sometimes on R&R, and I’d only bring my knife, gun, and a sleeping bag. I’d eat whatever I could find.”

“That’s not camping,” Tara said, and she raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s some Survivorman type shit.”

“What do you think I was doing in the woods before I met you guys?” I chuckled.

“Do you even know what Survivorman is?” Paige laughed.

“It’s some stupid show where a guy goes out in the wild and tries to survive, duh,” Tara scoffed.

“She’s never seen it,” Anna chuckled.

“Nope,” Paige agreed with a laugh.

“Oh, and you guys have?” the platinum-blonde asked, and she put her hand on her hip and glared at them.

“Just a couple of times.” Paige shrugged. “But I’m just surprised you even knew the premise.”

“I did watch TV, you know,” Tara said with a roll of her eyes.

“Okay, but wait,” Brian said, and he held up his hands and looked at me. “You’ve really eaten possum?”

“Yeah.” I nodded and shrugged. “They’re really not as gross as everyone thinks they are.”

“Aren’t they riddled with parasites?” Jess asked.

“Actually, they don’t usually have any worse parasites than your dog would,” Paige rattled off. “And they don’t typically have rabies, either. That’s a common misconception.”

“How do you know this shit?” Tara asked, and she cocked her head to the side as she looked at her friend.

“I did a report about them in fifth grade,” the brunette replied.

“Fifth grade!” Tara chuckled. “How the fuck do you remember that? I can barely remember graduating high school.”

“That’s because she didn’t,” Anna fake whispered, and Paige snickered along.

“Oh, shut up.” Tara glared playfully at the redhead.

“That is impressive,” Bailey said with a smile.

“I only remember because I thought they were really cute,” Paige explained.

“Gross,” Tara said, and she pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose.

“I’m with blondie on that one.” Hammer pointed to Tara and nodded. “Those things are far from cute.”

“They’re totally cute,” Paige countered. “Especially when they carry their babies.”

“It is kind of cute,” I agreed.

“You can’t say they’re cute,” Tara laughed. “You eat them.”

“I eat cows, too.” I shrugged. “But I think they’re cute.”

“I’m done with this conversation,” Tara chuckled. “You all are going to make me throw up.”

I smiled and shook my head at the girls’ antics, then I leaned back against the door of the storage unit and looked around while they continued to chat.

After a while, it was time to head down to the airport, so we gathered up all the recoilless rifles we'd brought, as well as plenty of extra shells, silenced pistols, and a couple of grenade launchers just in case.

I made sure everyone left their plasma weapons in the jeeps. I didn’t want even the slightest possibility of a mix-up on our hands. I also made sure only the SEALs and my team had the recoilless rifles, that way nobody had to carry extra ones back when the pilots inevitably left us.

I had Ben take his walkie talkie, but that was it. The pilots all only had the clothes on their backs and their weapons of choice. I didn’t want them weighed down with anything unnecessary since they needed to move quickly. All I needed them to focus on was getting to those planes, then getting back to our base camp in one piece.

Once everyone was ready, we started toward the forest and carefully made our way through the trees. The branches above us were dense, so it was difficult to see the ground below us, and we moved incredibly slowly in an effort to avoid making any sort of noise, which was more difficult than usual with the added fifty pounds each of us was carrying.

Still, we managed to get to the place the girls and I had been earlier, and everyone scattered out along the tree line and started to get their weapons prepared to shoot.

I set up my Gustaf so it was loaded and ready to go, then I laid my MP5 out right in front of me and picked up the silenced pistol so it was the first thing I had in my hand.

Once I had my sights on one of the men on guard duty near the tanker, I glanced around the rest of my group.

Hammer’s eye caught mine, and the SEAL nodded to show he was ready.

The pilots were all off to one side of us, and I could see Ben’s eyes glisten as he stared straight ahead at the MiGs, ready to run for it as soon as he got the chance.

Last, I looked to Bailey.

The blonde adjusted her scope slightly, then she took a deep breath, and her blue-gray eyes landed on mine before she gave a hard nod.

We were all ready.

Now, it was time for the fun to begin.

Chapter 12

I nodded back to Bailey, and the blonde looked out her sight, and I heard the soft sound of her silenced pistol followed by a small thud as her target fell to the floor of the roof.

I quickly took my shot as well, and the man near the tanker went down with a bullet to the dome.

Anna’s target hit the ground just a split second after mine, and I looked over to Hammer and Rivers’ targets just in time to see them fall forward onto the pavement.

Bailey already had her second target eliminated by that time, too, and as soon as the last shot was fired, the pilots tore out of the tree line like they were runners at a starting line.

Ben ran to the plane closest to us, and the pilot agily hopped up and opened the canopy, even with his metal leg.

The rest of the pilots took the planes in the first row, and once everyone was in their plane, I pressed the button on my walkie.

“Now, Ben, go, go, go!” I breathed, and a second later the engine of his plane roared to life.

I didn’t have time to focus on the rest of the pilots, instead, I readied my Gustaf and waited.

I had the shot, and as soon as the pilots were far enough away, I was going to take it.

Through the window of the airport, I saw a light appear. It was small at first, then it grew larger as it moved closer to the window.

I realized it was a candle held by a soldier, and he pointed at the tarmac.

“Shit,” I breathed. There was no sense in being quiet now. “Everybody get ready! Bailey, blow the tanker!”

“On it!” the blonde called, and she pulled the trigger of her barrett.

The sound of the massive rifle filled the air, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Bailey already had her sights locked on her target before I even told her to pull the trigger.

The .50 cal bullet hit the glass of the tanker with a loud plink sound, but, incredibly, it didn’t crack. They probably had crazy armored glass on them, but more than that, it could have been the shape of the tanker since it was rounded.

“Fuck,” Bailey cursed, and she immediately let off another round.

Her second shot hit precisely where the first one did, and the glass cracked. The huge lesion was enough to start a small leak, but nothing like what we needed.

Everything was happening at once, and for a second, I wasn’t sure where to look.

The pilots had the MiGs going, and they were heading down the tarmac.

The NK soldiers were rushing out of the airport ready to fight, and my team was holding steady as we waited for the pilots to get the MiGs far enough away so we could blast the rest of those planes to bits.

Bailey was nothing if not accurate, though, and the blonde didn’t hesitate before she fired off another round that hit exactly where the first two had.

Third time was the charm, and the crack down the center of the tanker split completely, and the glass fell down to the pavement and shattered into a million tiny pieces as the blue liquid flooded the area.

The NK soldiers stopped dead in their tracks as the substance washed over their feet, and I saw the horror on their faces as they realized they were out of options.

I glanced down the tarmac to see the first MiG take off, then I smiled to myself and fired my Gustaf at the MiG closest to the airport.

The NK soldiers were thrown back against the building from the impact of the blast, and the entire wing of the plane was nearly torn off. Smoke rose from the area as little bits of debris rained down, but that was only the beginning.

My team was barely a split second behind me, and as soon as the NK troops started to recover from the first blast, a second one threw them back down again, then another, and another. The MiGs in front of us were becoming nothing more than pieces of useless metal as the Gustafs tore them apart so they were completely unusable.

I spent the next several seconds reloading and saw one brave NK soldier tried to run out of the airport over to the vehicles parked nearby, but I saw him, and I quickly took aim and fired the Gustaf right at the parked military vehicles.

The man was thrown into the air as the blast overtook him and sent pieces of the vehicles flying everywhere.

After I reloaded again and reset the sight picture, I fired the Gustaf again, just for the hell of it, and the vehicle parked farthest from us, which was still partially intact, exploded with a massive flame that shot outward toward where the NK soldier still laid on the ground.

The rest of the NK troops were trying to make their way back inside the building, but Bailey had her Barrett lined up, and before I could even say anything, she started shooting.

The blonde got two with dome shots before a Gustaf sounded and a massive impact blasted the area where the NK soldiers were against the building.

They didn’t even have time to duck before they were taken out, and I saw a few pieces of bodies fly off to the side after the impact.

I quickly scanned the area, but I didn’t see anyone else. We’d managed to take them all out in one fell swoop, and since they were gone, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to do a quick look around their camp.

I wanted to radio Ben in the air, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to hear me. The pilots were probably already halfway to Atlanta by now, and it was dark as hell out anyway, so there was no sense in us driving back tonight. We’d make our way there first thing in the morning, but right now, I wanted to look around a bit.

“Alright,” I called out so everyone could hear. “Change of plans, let’s clear this place.”

“Roger that,” Hammer said. “We’re right behind you.”

“Bailey, stay here,” I told the blonde. “If you see anybody, take care of them.”

“I’m on it,” the sniper assured me.

I grabbed my MP5, stood up, and rushed into the fray we’d just created. The MiGs were still smoking, and there were body parts all over the ground, but I didn’t see a single live soldier among them.

We cleared outside first, then made our way inside the terminal where the soldiers were staying. They had it set up like barracks, with sleeping bags on the floor in neat lines, and a few boxes of supplies off to the side of the room.

There were a few rooms off the main one, though, so we made sure to check them as well, and once I was sure the area was clear, I called it out for my team.

“Clear here, too,” Anna called back.

“And here,” Hammer replied.

“Uh, guys, you should see this,” Paige said.

“What is it?” I asked as I rushed over to where the brunette stood in front of a doorway.

The door led to one of those fancy lounges where the first class or business people could stay while they waited for their flight, but when I looked inside, all I saw were boxes of supplies.

“Shit,” Tara breathed as she came up right behind me.

“Good thing we checked here,” Anna said.

“It makes sense they’d have a bunch of supplies here,” Paige said. “They were probably going to bring some of them to the Douglasville troops.”

“I think you’re right.” I nodded, then turned to smile at the brunette. “But, they’re ours now.”

“I still can’t believe those assholes went down so easily,” Tara said. “They didn’t even try to fight back.”

“Once they realized there was plasma on the ground, they didn’t really have a choice,” Anna laughed. “If they shot at us and missed, they’d be dead.”

“That’s what they get for opting to use only one kind of weapon.” Paige shrugged.

“We’ll load this up first thing in the morning,” I decided. “For now, let’s head over to the jeeps and get a fire going.”

“I like the sound of that,” Paige said. “I’m freezing.”

We all made our way back to the storage units, and I quickly gathered some materials to get a campfire started. I knew everyone had to be chilly with how cold of a night it was. They all had on jackets, but it was still fall, and the nights could get downright frigid.

Once the fire was going, I kicked my feet out to warm them near the flames, then I heard the sound of a can opener next to me, and I looked over to see Tara opening a can of something.

“Hungry?” I chuckled.

“Always,” she said, and she poured the can into a large pot. “I assume everyone else might like a hot meal, too?”

“Warm meal in the middle of the night after we just took out some NK assholes?” Hammer asked with a grin. “Sign me up.”

“Perfect.” Tara opened another can and poured it into the pot.

“I’ve got something better than a warm meal,” Anna said, and she stood up and walked over to the jeep to dig in the trunk. She returned a moment later with a large mason jar full of what I recognized as Renee’s homemade vodka.

“Ayyyeee!” Paige laughed. “Yes, please.”

“You’re sneaking alcohol on trips with us now?” I teased.

“Hey, someone’s got to.” Anna smiled and shrugged.

“I couldn’t be more proud,” Tara teased, and she mockingly wiped a tear from her eye.

The platinum-blonde was known for sneaking alcohol into her go bag, even when my instructions were to only bring the necessities. However, since she was currently pregnant, she couldn’t have liquor, so it seemed Anna had taken over being the bad kid for the next few months.

“I’d scold you if I wasn’t so happy you brought it,” I chuckled.

“I thought you might feel that way,” the redhead said. “I only brought it for when we were celebrating, anyway.”

“Good idea,” I told her and took the bottle when she handed it to me so I could take a swig.

The vodka was harsh, but it went down smooth and it warmed my belly nicely, so I took another quick swig and passed it to Bailey on my right.

The blonde took a sip, then handed it to Hammer.

Tara got the food on the fire, and after a little while I could smell the delicious aroma of it cooking. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until the smell hit my nostrils, but I also had a few swigs of vodka by that point.

The girls all chatted while the food cooked, and once it was done, I took the bowl Tara dished up for me and ate it quickly. The warmth of the food and the alcohol was nice in my stomach, and I laid back with my feet outstretched toward the fire and stared up at the stars.

The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to the dawn breaching the horizon, and I looked around to see the rest of the group had fallen asleep around the fire as well.

I figured I’d let them sleep for a little while longer, it’d been a long night after all, so I rolled up my sleeping bag and put it into the back of the jeep along with the rest of the supplies.

I knew there wasn’t a lot of room in the backs of the jeeps with our weapons and everyone’s things, but we were now down six people, so I figured I’d have Anna drive the pilots’ jeep back to our base camp so we could pile it up with supplies.

“Hey,” the redhead said, and she sat up and looked at me. “Time to go?”

“I was going to go get started on loading the supplies,” I said. “I figured I’d let you all sleep a while longer.”

“I’m up,” Bailey said, and the blonde smiled and sat up from her sleeping bag.

“Me, too,” Paige agreed.

“I’m not,” Tara mumbled, and she flipped over so she was facing away from us.

“We’re up, too,” Hammer yawned and stretched as he and the SEALs crawled out of their sleeping bags and stood up.

“Tar, why don’t you ride with us?” Bailey asked. “You can sleep in the jeep while we load up the supplies.”

“Ughhh,” Tara groaned, and she sat up and glared at us. “I really thought I’d adjust to being a morning person after a while, but I just can’t. My body hates it, and I hate it, and I wish you bitches would just go back to bed. But I’m not a slacker, so I’m up now, and I’m going to help. But I’m gonna need a damn protein bar first.”

“Deal,” I chuckled and grabbed a few of Betty’s homemade protein bars out of the trunk and tossed them to everyone.

“Thanks,” Tara said through a mouthful of food as she walked over to me and put her sleeping bag in the trunk. “Now, let’s roll.”

I shook my head at the platinum-blonde, then we all piled into the jeeps and made our way to the airport.

It was one thing to see the massacre in the dark last night, but to see it in the daylight made it all the more real. The planes were blown to bits, and there were pieces of them everywhere. Wings were completely ripped off, the cockpits of some were exposed where the Gustafs had blown holes right through them, and not a single one of them was able to be made operational again.

What was better than the planes being utterly destroyed, though, was the dismembered and scattered body parts of the NK soldiers that were littered on the ground. I usually didn’t take such happiness out of seeing something so gruesome, but when I thought about the city all around us and what these assholes had done to it, I couldn’t help but feel justified in the taking of their lives. They were literal human scum, and I was glad they were no longer on this earth.

The airport building had taken some damage in the fray as well, and there were some chunks blown out of the side of it from where the Gustaf hit, or where some of the plane parts had made contact when they’d exploded.

I pulled us around to the other side of the area where there wasn’t as much plasma liquid on the ground, then I parked the jeep near the entrance of the building and hopped out.

“What about the plasma on the ground?” Paige asked.

“What about it?” Tara countered.

“Well, we got some on us last night,” the brunette said. “And we’re bound to get a little bit on us while we’re loading the supplies. I mean, it's all over the ground. And it’s super volatile. The more I reflect on it, with all the drawbacks it’s kind of a shitty substance to use as a weapon.”

“Can we wash it off?” Anna asked.

“I bet we can,” the brunette said. “From our shoes at least. I just don’t want any accidents if we use our plasma weapons again.”

“I understand,” I told her. “We’ll all rinse our shoes off before we leave, but I think we’ll be alright. We aren’t going to need our plasma weapons at the moment, and we’ll make sure we do a good cleaning of them once we get back to base camp.”

“Alright.” Paige nodded.

We loaded as many of the supply boxes as we could into the jeep Anna was driving back to base, but in the daylight, there seemed to be even more boxes than there had been last night.

There were definitely too many for us to fit all in the one jeep.

“We have some ratchet straps,” Paige said as we squeezed some boxes into Anna’s jeep and pressed the door closed against the fullness of the cabin.

“Right.” I smiled. “We can tie some to the roof.”

“Good idea,” Bailey told the brunette.

“There’s no sense in wasting them.” Paige shrugged. “If we don’t take them, who else is going to?”

“Maybe they’ll feed your precious possum family,” Tara joked.

“They probably would,” Paige chuckled.

“I swear to god if you try and domesticate one of those things I’m done,” Tara said. “I’m not living with a huge rat.”

“They’re not rats,” Paige laughed.

I grabbed the ratchet straps from our jeep, and we fit what we could on the top of it, but there were still at least a hundred boxes of supplies left in the airport lounge.

“What should we do with the rest?” Anna asked as we stood and looked at what we were unable to take with us.

“We could send someone back for them, right?” Tara asked.

“Maybe.” I pursed my lips. “I’m not sure I’d want to send anyone back over here, at least not yet.”

“We could destroy them,” Anna said. “But that seems so wasteful.”

“It does.” I nodded.

“If NK troops come over here, they’ll find them, though,” Paige pointed out. “We can’t just leave them here.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “We don’t want to give them supplies on a silver platter.”

“So, what’s our best bet here?” Hammer asked, and he walked over to one of the boxes, cut the tape with his pocket knife, grabbed an MRE type bag of food, opened it, and started eating.

“I guess that’s one way to get rid of it,” Bailey laughed.

“It can’t hurt,” I chuckled and shrugged.

“Dope,” Tara said, and she walked over and rifled through the box as well.

“It might be wasteful to burn the food,” I said. “But right now I think it’s our best option. We have plenty of supplies. What we need to focus on is taking out the rest of the NK troops, and that means burning their supplies if we have to. We don’t want anybody else getting their hands on these.”

“I think so, too.” Hammer nodded. “Let’s do it.”

We moved the boxes out to the tarmac so we wouldn’t set the building on fire, then I poured some of the gasoline we’d brought onto the large stack.

The boxes of food went up with a woosh sound, and the flames were easily ten feet high. We’d made sure we were as far away from anything flammable as possible, though. The last thing we wanted to do was start a forest fire.

Granted, most of Birmingham had already been destroyed, but that didn’t mean we had to destroy it further, especially since it was fall and everything was dry as hell out.

Any trees left in the area would go up quickly, and since there were no fire fighters or resources to stop a fire on a large scale, it was in everyone’s best interest for us to not start one in the first place.

Once the supplies were well burned, we used some of our water to put out the fire and rinse the plasma off our shoes, then we loaded up into the jeeps and headed back toward base camp.

As we drove through the city back toward Jacksonville, I was incredibly proud of what we’d done. Everyone on my team had done exactly what they were supposed to do, and I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome. We took out the entire NK troop there, and all of their weapons and vehicles in a matter of minutes, and while it almost seemed easy, it was immaculate planning and execution that really pulled the job off.

The General seemed astounded I hadn’t lost any men up until now, but that wasn’t sheer luck, it was extremely careful planning on my part. I never wanted to lose any of my soldiers, and I wasn’t going to if I could help it. And I almost always could.

Aside from an ambush attack, there was always a way to formulate a plan that gave the least amount of danger possible for my team, and that’s what I tried to do. If we could avoid putting ourselves in the fray, we would.

I hadn’t lost a man yet, and I wasn’t about to start, not even with the men who served under the General. They were all my men now as far as I was concerned, and I wasn’t going to endorse any plan that put them at risk.

The General was already impressed with what my team and I had brought to the table, and I knew he’d be impressed with the outcome of this mission, too, so I had no doubt I’d be welcome in that war room anytime from now on.

It only took us about an hour to get to Jacksonville, and once we were there, we hopped on the bike trail and made our way toward Atlanta. Even though we’d taken out the crew in Birmingham, there were still soldiers stationed at all the roads crossing the state line, and the bike trail was still our safest bet.

Once we were back on the trail, I rolled down my window and let the breeze hit my face. I wasn’t sure what it was, but the girls were quiet most of the way home, so it was a nice, relaxing ride. It almost felt like we hadn’t just seen the remnants of a destroyed city. The bike trail was untouched and peaceful.

We got back into Atlanta around noon, and Paige navigated us to the mountain once more.

We turned down the gravel driveway, and before we could even see the warehouse, I heard the sound of people yelling.

“What’s going on?” Paige asked from the passenger seat, and she looked around and squinted.

“You’ve never been greeted with cheers before, have you?” Tara laughed.

“Is that what’s going on?” Bailey asked, and I saw her eyes widen in the rearview mirror.

“See for yourself,” Tara said, and she pointed forward.

A few seconds later, we rounded the corner to the warehouse, and the cheers grew even louder. Sure enough, Tara was right. The civilians, soldiers, pilots, and everybody else was gathered around the sides of the driveway clapping and hollering.

I couldn’t help the huge smile that came over my face when I saw our warm welcoming, and I laughed and waved to Ben as he fist pumped in the air and cheered like he was at a rock concert.

“Oh, my gosh,” Bailey laughed. “This is great.”

“I know, right,” Paige chuckled. “I wasn’t expecting all this.”

“It kind of makes sense.” Tara grinned. “We showed up, gave them a hell of a plan, accomplished said plan, and also got them MiGs. We pretty much just saved the fucking day.”

“I think you mean the country,” Paige said with a half smile.

“That, too,” Tara laughed.

I parked the jeep and hopped out, only to have the General walk right over to me and pull me into a tight hug.

“You did it, you sonofabitch,” he laughed and patted me hard on the back.

“We did it,” I told him as I pulled away, and I gestured to my team. “And I had no doubt we would.”

“Where’d they park the MiGs?” Paige asked as she looked around.

“They’re at the Lenora airport,” the General explained. “It’s only about fifteen minutes from here.”

“Oh, right.” Paige nodded. “Good call.”

“Now that we have those MiGs, we might actually be able to win this war.” He grinned and clapped me on the shoulder.

“I’m glad you think so, sir,” I said.

“I’d like to discuss it with you, actually,” he said. “We need to figure out our next move.”

“Pumpkin!” Tara’s dad called, and I turned to see him rush toward us.

“Daaaad,” Tara groaned, and she looked down and pulled into herself with embarrassment. “Oh, my god.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, and he pulled her close to him and let out a deep breath. “I was worried sick.”

“It wasn’t even really a fight,” Tara scoffed and lightly pushed him away. “They didn’t even fight back.”

“They couldn’t,” Anna laughed as she joined the group.

“Oh, yes, the pilots told us about the plasma.” The General nodded. “Smart man, Tavish.”

“Just Tav sir, please,” I chuckled.

“I’ll call you whatever the hell you want after today,” he laughed.

“Good.” I smiled. “I’m ready to discuss our next moves whenever you are, sir.”

“Let’s go right now,” the General said. “No sense in wasting time.”

I nodded and followed the General. As he walked, he called out to the men who were in the war room before, and they all followed us as we made our way inside. The girls were right behind me, too, and once we were in the room, all eyes narrowed in on us.

“So,” Wilson said, and he grinned and leaned back in his chair. “What plan you got for us this time?”

I hadn’t expressly thought about a plan at that point, but I wasn’t going to let them down when they were looking at me so expectantly.

“We just took their planes,” I said. “Word of that is bound to travel fast.”

“Right,” Wilson agreed. “Which means we need to act faster.”

“That’s right.” I nodded. I think we should attack soon. Tomorrow, even.”

“Why not today?” Paige asked.

“Today?” the General asked.

“That’s not a bad idea,” I agreed. “The more time we give the NK troops in between our attacks, the more time they have to figure out our plan and prepare. If they find out we took the MiGs, they’re going to know we’re headed right for them.”

“At this point, they still might not know we have them,” Tara pointed out. “And if that’s the case, we should be able to fly over there and attack without them even being suspicious of us.”

“Right,” Tara’s father agreed. “They’ll think we're on their side.”

“At first, at least,” the platinum-blonde chuckled.

“As soon as the pilots feel ready to go, I think we should leave,” I said with a decisive nod. “The sooner we attack, the better.”

“I’ll defer to you on this one, Tav,” the General said, and something about the way he said my name still made it sound far too formal for my liking.

“Thank you, sir.” I smiled.

“What about the rest of us?” Bailey asked. “Shouldn’t we do something, too?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Paige said, and she walked up to the white board in the front of the room and spun it around so she could see the map.

The brunette looked over the area for a few minutes, then she walked over to her seat, pulled out a smaller map from her bag, and looked it over.

“What did you find?” Anna asked. “Is there someplace we can set up camp?”

“I think so.” Paige nodded, and she pointed to the map on the table in front of her. “If we go to this ridge here, we should be able to see down below. It’s not the tallest mountain ever, I’m not even sure I’d call it a mountain, but it should work for our purposes.”

“Perfect,” I said. “We can set up there. It looks like it’s a decent ways from the action, but we should still be able to shoot if we need to.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” The brunette nodded.

“Alright,” the general said. “It seems like it’s settled, then.”

“I suppose so.” I nodded. “We should be able to get going here soon, we just need to offload the jeeps.’

“Once that’s done, we can pick up the planes and head on over there,” Wilson said, and he stood up and grinned. “I gotta say, I’m ready to see this.”

“Do you think we can take out all the troops?” Bailey asked.

“Not all of them.” I shook my head. “Some of them are still posted at the border, and I’m sure there are a few other, smaller troops around, but taking out the majority of the men in Douglasville will give us a strong lead in this whole mess.”

“If we can take them out, these damn strikes with those huge weapons of theirs should stop, too,” the General said.

“Right,” I agreed. “It won’t be the final battle, but we’re getting close.”

“Let’s get this done, then.” He clapped and stood up. “Like you said, the longer we wait, the more time they have to prepare. And I don’t want to give them any more time than they’ve already had.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’ll go speak to the pilots right now.”

“I’ll speak to everyone,” he told me. “Just get your team ready to go.”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded and led the girls back out to the hallway.

“So, we need to offload the jeeps and make sure all the weapons are loaded with plenty of ammunition to spare,” Paige said as we walked. “Douglasville is only about half an hour away, so it shouldn’t take us too long to get over there. I think we can be there in an hour if we hurry everything up.”

“Then that’s what we’ll shoot for,” I told her as we made our way back outside.

The General was right behind us, and he called everyone over to him so he could give them a rundown of the plan while the girls and I started offloading the jeeps.

We’d only managed to unload a few boxes when a group of guerilla warfare soldiers made their way into camp. They were all dirty as hell, and they looked like they’d been in the forest for days.

“General,” one of them said as they looked around at everyone standing around. “We have news.”

“News?” Lopez asked, and his dark eyebrows furrowed together as he walked over to the group.

“It’s in Korean,” the man said, and he pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket.

“Minji,” I said, and I gestured for the Korean woman to follow me.

“This looks official,” the General said as he opened up the folded paper.

“We were able to take out a small group of NK soldiers traveling through the road you had us posted by,” the young man explained, and he wiped sweat from his brow. “These were on their commanding officer. We weren’t sure what they said, but the seal looks important.”

“It definitely seems to be.” Lopez nodded and squinted at the page.

“If I may,” Minji said with a small smile, and she held out her hand.

“Of course, of course,” the General said, and he handed her the paper.

“Oh, wow,” Minji breathed as she looked at the page.

“What?” Tara asked. “What is it?”

“Well, the seal,” Minji said, and she pointed to the red circle with some lettering in it on the top of the page. “It’s to indicate these orders are classified.”

“Who are they to?” I asked.

“More importantly, what do they say?” Tara added.

“Let me see.” Minji held up the page and looked it over again, and this time her eyes grew wider as her breaths grew more shallow, and her face turned white as a sheet.

“Minji.” Bailey frowned. “Are you alright?”

“I…” the Korean woman stuttered, and her dark-brown eyes locked on mine.

“What does it say?” Anna pushed.

“These were meant to be delivered to The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Minji said.

“Who’s that?” Tara asked, and she looked around quickly.

“The big boss,” the General said, and I was slightly taken aback by his juvenile explanation.

“Oh, right, right,” Tara said, and she looked back to Minji who was still paler than a ghost. “What the hell do they say, Minj?”

“They…” she started, then her dark eyebrows pulled together as she shook her head with bewilderment. “They say the plasma technology was found, not created.”

Chapter 13

“What the hell do you mean found?” Tara asked, and her = eyes locked on mine as her platinum-blonde eyebrows pulled together.

“I’m with Tara,” Anna said with a nod at her friend. “What the hell do you mean found?”

“Where?” Paige asked.

“Hold on, they found this shit?” Hammer asked with a gesture at the plasma gun on his hip.

“It seems so.” I nodded. “We thought it was something they’d been making for years.”

“How could they have just found it?” Tara asked.

“Yeah,” Bailey agreed, and a worry line appeared on her forehead as her brow furrowed. “It’s not a natural substance.”

“Hmmm,” Paige said, and she pursed her lips and looked at Minji. “Does it say anything else?”

“From the dates listed, it looks like it was found in a cave in the northern part of North Korea a couple of years before their attack on the United States,” she explained.

“That’s not very long.” Bailey frowned.

“It also says they secured South Korean, China, and Japan during the first six months of the first EMP salvo,” Minji added, and she bit her lip with concern. “I… I have a lot of family in South Korea. I’m not surprised by this news, but it…”

“What does this mean?” Anna asked.

“They found some sort of alien substance and figured out how to reproduce it,” the General suggested.

“Or they mined it,” Paige said.

“This doesn’t expressly say,”Minji sighed as she looked over the paper again.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Tara said, and she held up her hands. “Nobody said anything about alien shit.”

“As if this wasn’t already enough of a sci-fi movie,” Anna scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Alien here simply means foreign,” the General explained, but then he shook his head and looked down. “Though at this point, I’m not ruling anything out.”

“This is crazy,” Tara said.

“Tav, you were right,” Bailey said with sudden realization, and she looked at me with wide eyes.

“Right about what?” I asked.

“China and Japan,” Paige said, and she nodded at Bailey. “He was right.”

“Yeah, you said they probably took them out first,” Bailey added.

“It’s not something I’m exactly happy to be right about,” I said and let out a deep breath. “But at least this way we know what they’ve done so far.”

“That doesn’t tell us what their plan is now, though,” Anna said.

“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “But it gives us a good indication as to what their overall goal is.”

“What?” Bailey asked.

“World domination.” Tara shrugged.

“What?” the blonde asked, and she looked at Tara like she was crazy.

“As ridiculous as that explanation sounds,” the General sighed. “I believe it’s accurate. North Korea is the only country dumb enough to find alien technology and then use it to try and take over the world… and maybe succeed through sheer bullheaded tenacity. If China had found this, or Russia, or fuck, any other country, they would have figured out how to use the substance to dominate the world energy trade instead of going to war.”

“Well, shit,” Paige breathed.

“They started with Japan and China, then moved over to us,” I said. “They’ll head to the UK next if we don’t stop them.”

“Why wouldn’t they go after the UK first?” Tara asked.

“Yeah, and how come we didn’t know they took over China?” Paige asked. “It seems like that would have been world news.”

“They probably figured out some way to hide it,” the General said.

“Right.” I nodded. “And they came after us first because they know how dangerous the U.S. is. We’re the world’s greatest superpower. If you want to take over the world, you’ve got to take us down first.”

“That makes sense,” Anna said. “We’ve got a huge military.”

“The largest military in the world,” Paige said. “And nukes.”

“Yeah, I think a lot of people forget how large we are,” Bailey said. “The United States is massive. Can’t the entire UK fit inside Texas?”

“And then some,” I said. “Texas is about three sizes larger than the UK.”

“Fuck,” Anna said with a shake of her head. “No wonder they’re not concerned about taking the UK yet, it’s going to be cake for them. Especially after we’re gone, they won’t have anybody to come to their aid then.”

“Exactly,” I said. “They knew the U.S. wouldn’t hesitate to jump in for our allies, and there’s no way they’d stand a chance against us, not on a level playing field. They had to try and take out any advantages we had with the EMP and launch an ambush attack. That’s the only reason they got as far as they did.”

“So, we’re not just the only thing standing in the way of them taking over the UK,” Paige said. “We’re pretty much the only thing standing in the way of them taking over the entire world.”

“That’s right.” I nodded.

“And right now that’s exactly what we have to do,” the General said, and he took the note from Minji, folded it back up, and put it in his jacket pocket. “We’ve got to take out those bastards before they figure out we have their MiGs. We can figure everything else out afterward.”

“The General is right,” I said with a nod. “We should finish getting ready.”

Everyone nodded and got back to work, but it was clear there was a new weight piled onto the group. We all worked quietly to unload the jeeps, then reload them with plenty of artillery in case we needed it. With the amount of MiGs we had, I didn’t think it would be an issue, I doubted we would need to intervene. However, I wasn’t going to show up empty-handed, that was for sure.

It didn’t take us long to get everything offloaded and reloaded, and once the jeeps were ready, I made my way inside to find the General in the war room.

The door was open, and he sat at the desk with his head in his hand as he looked at the paper the boys had brought back just earlier.

“Sir?” I asked and then rapped on the door. “Everything’s ready to go.”

“Oh, Tav,” he said, looked up, and then let out a deep breath. “Good, good. I presume you’re taking your team and the SEALs again?”

“That’s correct, sir.” I nodded. “I don’t see a reason to take everyone. We’re backup at this point.”

“Right,” he agreed. “Best not to put our men in danger unnecessarily.”

“Yeah,” I said and then looked at the General closely. He was clearly upset, but I wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Sir, if you don’t mind my asking, are you alright?”

“Observant, this one,” he joked and leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “In all my years of service, I’ve never seen orders like this. This whole situation is absolutely crazy to me. It’s unimaginable, and I never thought I’d be here leading the fight against it. I just can’t fathom that this is happening.”

“I completely understand, sir.” I nodded. “This is strange to me as well. But if it’s any consolation, I think you’re doing a great job.”

“Thanks.” He smiled. “Not as good as you, though.”

“You’ve managed to keep the NK troops at bay and keep our men alive,” I said seriously. “That’s no small feat. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Thank you, son,” he said, licked his lips, and then picked up the paper only to hold it out and shake it at me. “Can you believe this shit? They found that damn plasma liquid in a fucking cave. Had it been any other country, there probably wouldn’t have been a war.”

“Like you said, it would have been a trade war if China or Russia found it,” I said. “It’s hard to imagine how it could have been worse, but that scenario might have ended up more tragic for our people twenty or thirty years from now.”

“I suppose we make the best of it we can.” The General stood up, folded the paper back up, and slipped it in his pocket. “I’d like to tag along if that’s alright with you.”

“Oh, of course, sir.” I shook my head with surprise.

It wasn’t often the man in charge asked to accompany someone on a mission, and I was honestly surprised to hear him do so. He was the leader of this whole operation, and while putting himself in danger wasn’t the smartest thing to do, I understood where he was coming from.

He’d been here giving orders for a long time, and he needed a taste of the action. He needed to know this was happening and the war would be over soon enough. I wasn’t going to stand in his way of that, not when I needed it myself.

The General and I made our way back outside and found the girls, SEALs, and pilots all gathered around the jeeps.

I didn’t say a word, instead, I just nodded to my crew and hopped in the jeep. Everyone dispersed quietly and got into their own vehicles, and I pulled out onto the main road with the SEALs behind me.

The pilots trailed off as they made their way to the airport, so it was just the SEALs and the General and Sergeant Wilson in their old military truck behind us as we made the drive to the overlook spot Paige had picked out for us.

“Sooooo, are we going to talk about how the General is tagging along?” Paige asked.

“If you want,” I chuckled.

“I thought that was weird, too,” Anna said. “Why did he decide to come?”

“I think he just wants to see these assholes go down,” I said.

“Yeah, if I stayed inside giving orders all the time, I’d want to get out, too,” Tara said.

“Fair enough.” Anna nodded.

“I think everyone was upset about those orders the soldiers found, too,” Bailey added.

“Definitely,” Paige agreed. “You could feel how tense it was after that.”

“Hopefully our victory today will ease some of that,” I said.

“I don’t know.” Anna pursed her lips. “It’s pretty crazy that happened in the first place. Like, what the fuck is going on?”

“So, I know the General said that, like, he didn’t actually mean the stuff was alien, but…” Tara held her hands up and shrugged.

“No way,” Anna scoffed. “Are you actually implying that aliens left that fucking blue shit here? You believe in aliens?”

“I believe in ghosts, so why not aliens, too?” the platinum-blonde asked.

“Oh, fuck, you’re one of those people.” Anna rolled her eyes.

“You’re not?” Tara asked, and her platinum-blonde eyebrows pulled together. “You watch horror movies for fun, for fucks sake.”

“Yeah, because I know they’re fake,” the redhead laughed. “It’s all scripted.”

“What about the ones based on true stories?” Paige countered.

“Those are definitely creepier,” Anna agreed. “But they’re also about shit done by people. I know there are serial killers and shit out there. Humans are monsters.”

“They’re not all about people,” Bailey said. “What about A Haunting in Connecticut?”

“Yeah, that one was about ghost stuff,” Tara said.

“You watched it?” Bailey asked, and her eyes widened with surprise.

“Well, no, but I saw the preview.” Tara shrugged.

“It’s stupid,” Anna chuckled. “You can’t actually tell me you believe in aliens and spirits and all that bullshit, can you?”

“I just did,” Tara scoffed. “And after everything we’ve been through, and finding those orders, you’re honestly going to tell me you don’t think it’s the least bit possible?”

“I…” Anna stumbled and shrugged. “I guess it could be, but I don’t see that happening. It was probably just some undiscovered element that they came across and figured out how to use for warfare.”

“That’s more likely to you than aliens?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow. “Really?”

“I don’t understand how that seems so crazy to you,” Anna laughed. “Paige? You’re with me, right?”

“Sorry, no.” The brunette shook her head.

“What?” Anna asked, and she spun around and looked at the dark-haired girl. “You’re basically a scientist or some shit, how are you on her side?”

“There’s a lot of stuff that we can’t explain.” Paige shrugged. “What about the pyramids and stuff?”

“Um, people made them?” Anna said with a shake of her head. “You can’t be serious. Tav?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I can’t say that anything is for sure anymore.”

“This is crazy,” Anna said. “The stuff has to be natural, it just hadn’t been found yet.”

“Maybe,” Tara said, and Anna rolled her eyes at the platinum-blonde.

“You’re ridiculous,” Anna muttered, and she put her foot up on the dash and stared out the windshield.

I chuckled and shook my head, but as funny as the two of them were, I couldn’t take either of their sides, because right then, I wasn’t sure what to think. I knew the General hadn’t been honestly implying there were aliens and that they left the plasma in that cave, but honestly, at this point, I couldn’t say for sure they hadn’t.

This entire situation was crazy as hell, and there was no certainty with anything anymore. I could only hope we could find some more orders that gave us some insight into what the hell was going on, but I figured that was probably a tall order, so I wasn’t banking on it.

Besides, when we attacked today, we weren’t going to leave much to go through, so unless we were able to retrieve some information from one of the smaller troops around, we weren’t getting anything else.

I shook the thought out of my head and focused on the road in front of me. The drive to Douglasville wasn’t far, but it felt like forever, and I pressed down harder on the gas as we made our way down the roads Paige had mapped out for us.

We were in a fairly wooded area, but as we drove, something started to not feel right to me. There was a corner just ahead, and I slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road.

“What’s wrong?” Paige asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said, but just then, I heard someone call out in Korean, and one of their military vehicles rounded the corner so we were face to face with several soldiers.

It was a small patrol unit, but it was more than I wanted to deal with at the moment. There were at least four men, but most likely five of them altogether. One stood with the top half of his body sticking out of the sun roof of the vehicle, like always, and he shouted something in Korean as he pointed to us and reached for the plasma gun on his hip. There was also the driver, someone in the passenger’s seat, and a man in the back seat with a cigarette hanging out the window. I guessed there was probably another man on the other side I couldn’t see, too.

“Well, shit,” Paige breathed.

“I’m on it,” Bailey said, and she pulled her Barrett up off the floorboard.

If these guys got a shot off, though, they could fuck up our entire jeep, or worse.

“We need cover fire for Bailey, now!” I shouted, and I yanked my M9 from my hip and started to shoot out my window.

Anna pulled her pistol and leaned out the passenger window to join me while Bailey got her .50 cal set up.

“I got the Gustaf,” Tara said, and I heard her rummage in the trunk.

“Are you crazy?” Anna asked as she popped off another round at the NK soldiers so they ducked behind their dashboard in an attempt to shield themselves from our bullets. “We’re way too close for that.”

“Well, fuck, we gotta do something,” the platinum-blonde said.

“Cover me,” Bailey said, and she reached over and leaned out the back passenger window so she could take aim at the vehicle.

The blonde sniper took a shot at the small plasma tanks on the top of the vehicle, and they both busted after a few rounds so plasma liquid leaked down and dripped into the vehicle through the open windows.

One of the men said something, and he lifted his head just high enough for me to take the shot.

Blood and brain matter splattered against the passenger seat, and his head disappeared just as quickly as it had popped up.

“Good going, Bails,” Anna said with a grin. “Now they can’t fire back.”

“Right,” Bailey agreed.

“Apparently, they can still hide, though,” Paige said.

Everything was still as the girls and I ceased fire. We weren’t in any danger anymore, and part of me wondered why I hadn’t thought to do this sooner. As long as we used our traditional artillery, there was nothing they could do if we spilled plasma liquid all over them.

I’d yet to see one of these bastards attempt any sort of suicide bombing. Every one of them we’d interrogated had broken down and begged for their lives, so I didn’t think they were about to shoot and blow up their entire vehicle. They were going to try and get out of this if they could.

“What do we do?” Bailey asked.

“Should we just wait for them to pop their heads up again?” Tara asked. “I mean, that seemed to work for Tav.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s the best idea,” I said, but I didn’t take my eyes off the vehicle.

“We need to lure them out, then,” Anna said.

“Grab my radio and get Minji on the line,” I said.

“Right.” Paige nodded and retrieved the walkie from my hip. “Hammer, come in.”

“We’re right behind you,” the SEAL said instantly. “We can’t get a shot off with you in front of us.”

“It’s alright,” Paige explained. “We took out the plasma tanks on top of their vehicle. They’re hidden inside, though, we need Minji to translate.”

“I’m here,” the Korean woman said quickly. “What do you need me to do?”

“Call out to them,” I instructed. “Tell them we know about where they got the plasma and if they cooperate we won’t kill them.”

“Alright,” Minji agreed, and a second later I heard her yell something in Korean as she translated my message.

The men in the vehicle didn’t respond at first, but after a few minutes, one of them held their hands up, and I told Minji to have them step out of the vehicle.

Something about this didn’t feel right, though, so I didn’t get out of the jeep just yet.

As they stepped out, I realized the man in the passenger’s seat had on a different uniform than the other three. He was clearly an officer, but something about his demeanor felt off to me.

“Nobody move,” I said when Anna reached for her door handle.

“What’s going on?” the redhead asked, but just then the driver reached for the plasma gun on his hip.

I was ready for him, though, and I quickly pulled the trigger of my M9 and watched as he went down with a shot to the head. His plasma gun flew out of his hand and skidded on the asphalt as his body fell backward with a loud thud.

I wasn’t going to give any of these other assholes the chance to follow in their leader’s footsteps, though, so I quickly adjusted my gun and took out the man behind him as well.

Before I could move over to the two on the passenger’s side, Anna fired twice, and they fell to the ground along with the rest of their troop. Only one was a dome shot, though, the other bullet hit the guy in the neck, and he gripped his throat as blood spurted between his fingers and he fell to his knees.

“Should we kill him?” Bailey asked as the man writhed around in pain.

“We’ve already wasted enough bullets on these assholes,” Anna said, and I turned to cock a half smile at the redhead.

“I’m sorry,” Paige said after a minute. “I didn’t think we’d see any patrols on this road.”

“You couldn’t have known that for sure,” I said. “There’s always the possibility of running into the enemy when you’re in their territory. Which is why we’re always prepared for it. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Paige nodded, but she still bit her lip and looked out the windshield at the dead assholes in front of us.

“Should we search them?” Bailey asked.

“Very quickly.” I nodded. “We need to get to the lookout.”

“Right,” Paige agreed, and she opened the door and hopped out of the jeep.

Hammer and the SEALs made their way over to us while we looked through the vehicle.

It only took a few minutes to search the men and the transport unit. There wasn’t much to find, only some cigarettes and NK MRE’s. We grabbed their plasma weapons, tossed them in the back of the jeep, and took off down the road toward the lookout.

“Do you think us taking those guys out is going to affect our attack on the rest of them?” Bailey asked as we drove. “I mean, do you think they’ll notice they’re gone and catch on?’

“I doubt it.” I shook my head. “Not that quickly, at least.”

“I was hoping we were going to find some more orders on them,” Anna said.

“I was, too,” I agreed. “But it was incredibly lucky the soldiers found the ones they did.”

“Right,” Paige said. “But the one dude was clearly an officer. I was hoping he would have something.”

“Oh, he did,” I said.

“What do you mean?” the brunette asked, and her brown eyebrows pulled together. “Did you find something on him?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “But he obviously knew something about what was going on.”

“You think?” Anna asked, and she uncrossed her arms and looked at me.

“Otherwise why would he have tried to kill all of us, including his team?” I pointed out.

“Right.” The redhead nodded. “That was weird. None of them have ever tried that before.”

“No, they haven’t.” I shook my head. “Us bringing up the plasma struck a nerve. He knew something, and he damn sure wasn’t going to share it with us.”

“Fuck,” Tara cursed. “You should have just injured him, then we could have tortured him and gotten some information.”

“If he was willing to die to keep the secret, I don’t think he would have told us even if we tortured him,” Anna chuckled.

“I could’ve made him crack,” Tara said, and she narrowed her eyes in a menacing fashion.

“It sounds like you just want to torture someone,” Paige said.

“Is that so wrong?” Tara asked.

“I mean… kinda,” Paige laughed.

“Nah, fuck those guys,” Tara said. “They deserve a swift stab in the dick.”

“Is that how you were planning on torturing him?” Anna asked.

“Maybe.” Tara shrugged.

“You need some new ideas.” Paige shook her head.

“He wouldn’t last long if you did that,” Bailey giggled.

“Yeah, but it’d make me feel better.” The platinum-blonde grinned.

“I thought my family had problems.” Anna shook her head. “But there’s something going on with yours. This stabbing people in the dick thing is starting to get scary.”

“I second that,” I laughed.

“Oh, whatev,” Tara chuckled. “You can’t tell me that guy didn’t deserve to be stabbed in the dick.”

“Oh, he absolutely did,” I said. “But maybe leave the torture to someone who doesn’t care for it as much.”

“Why would I do that?” Tara asked. “They wouldn’t even have as much fun as I would.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“You know you sound like a psychopath, right?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, I can see how you’d say that.” Tara nodded. “I think it’s these pregnancy hormones. I just feel like raging.”

“Right, right, the hormones.” Anna nodded and turned back around to face the road.

“It is!” Tara protested. “I wasn’t always this way.”

“Mhm, sure,” Anna said, and Tara rolled her eyes in response.

I followed Paige’s directions, and after a while, we made our way up a hill and to the top of a cliff that looked like it was probably where all the teenagers went to makeout.

I parked the jeep a decent ways back from the edge, then we all got out and carefully made our way to the ledge. There was a concrete barrier around the perimeter of the cliff so nobody could drive or fall off, and I crouched down and looked out to the city below.

The entire area was on display, and I felt my breath catch in my chest as I looked around at the massive amount of NK troops below.

The city was a wasteland, much like Birmingham, and it was clear they’d used the same tactics here as they had in the other cities. These bastards didn’t care about any sort of human decency, and in that moment I had to wonder if their goal was to stop us from standing in their way of attacking the rest of the world, or if they just wanted to get rid of us once and for all.

From the crumbled buildings, destroyed homes, and complete chaos down below, it looked more like genocide was their goal more than anything else.

I couldn’t imagine the number of men, women, and children who’d been killed just so these assholes could set up their base camp here. So many innocent lives stolen, and for what? So they could try and become the world’s greatest super power.

Fucking assholes.

It made me sick to think about, and it made me even sicker to look down and see the utter destruction they’d caused in the city.

I’d often heard people say nobody’s innocent, and while that’s true, these people didn’t deserve to die. Most civilians I knew, and most military soldiers as well, were just average people. Sure, they'd made a few mistakes in their lifetimes, but they weren’t total garbage human beings. They weren’t killers or rapists or people who abused the elderly or children. They were just regular people trying to make it day by day, and they certainly didn’t deserve death.

“Fuck,” Anna breathed, and she shook her head as we looked down at what was left of the city.

“They’ve destroyed everything,” Bailey whispered. “Even if we stop them, how are we supposed to rebuild all this?”

“Maybe we don’t,” the General said, and he took a deep breath. “We don’t rebuild. We start anew.”

“I think you’re right.” I nodded. “There’s no way we can try and be what we used to be, we’ll have to be something completely different once this is all over with.”

I watched the NK soldiers below as they milled about completing their daily tasks. A quick tally of their vehicles showed they had at least fifty of them right there, along with at least ten of the larger vehicles we’d seen on the way to Atlanta. They had to be using those vehicles to bombard our base camp from time to time, and if any of their weapons were going to be a problem here, it would be them.

Luckily, there was nobody on them at the moment, but that didn’t mean the soldiers weren’t going to try and jump on them at the first sign of trouble. I certainly would.

As I peered over the concrete, I was astounded to see the NK soldier we’d interrogated back in Yorktown hadn’t been lying, not that I’d expected him to be, but it was still incredible to see how many men they had below.

Granted, I didn’t think it was the full thirty-thousand like he’d said, but there were a good amount of soldiers here, and I figured it was at least half of the soldiers they had.

There were probably a decent amount of them scattered about the area on patrol or other missions to try and take out more U.S. cities, but the amount of soldiers we had here was nothing to sneeze at.

That meant more work for the MiGs and the pilots, but it also meant a huge payoff.

This wasn’t going to be the end of the war, but it would certainly be a battle to remember.

“Bailey,” I said. “Let’s get set up so we’re aimed at those larger vehicles. I don’t think we’ll be needed, but if we are, I want us to be ready.”

“Of course,” Bailey agreed, and she headed back to the jeep.

“You think they’re going to be a problem?” Anna asked.

“I can’t say for sure.” I shook my head. “With the MiGs, it shouldn’t be difficult to bomb this whole place in a matter of minutes, but if anything is going to cause trouble, it’ll be those babies right there.”

Anna nodded, then she sighed as she continued to stare at the camp the NK soldiers had made below.

“It makes me so mad to see them living in the skeleton of the city they destroyed,” she huffed. “It’s just so… wrong.”

“It’s certainly not what I’d like to see, either,” I said, and I reached over and touched her arm. “We’re doing what we can to make this right, and that’s all we can do.”

“I know.” She nodded. “It’s just hard to see.”

“I understand.” I smiled softly at the redhead, then pulled her to me so I could kiss the top of her head.

“The MiGs should be here any minute,” she said, and she looked up at me with a newfound grin. “Let’s make these asshholes pay.”

“Let’s.” I grinned back.

I retrieved my personal sniper rifle from the jeep, then set it up next to Bailey’s Barrett. My Daniel Defense AR 10 wasn’t nearly as fancy as Bailey’s Barrett, but the Navy soldiers had it in their arsenal, and I’d snagged it for myself for just such occasions.

Once our weapons were set up, we all gathered behind the concrete barrier and looked out to the soldiers below.

The NK troops continued to mill about. Some lined up to get food, others sat at tables playing card games, a few walked around the perimeter of the camp on patrol, some cleaned the vehicles or put together plasma weapons, and others prepared to leave on patrol while others came back from their rounds.

I had to admit, the place seemed to function well, and while we watched, I scanned the tents to see if I could find one that screamed General Chief of Staff. That sonofabitch was on my shit list, and I could only hope we’d take him out in this raid.

It wouldn’t dismantle all the soldiers left since the next leading officer would step up, but it would certainly put a damper on their morale, and it might cause some inner conflict between the soldiers as well.

After all, if we took out enough of them, there was no guarantee there’d be any officers left to take charge, then they’d have to figure out who was next in line for themselves.

Finally, I spotted a tent that was larger than all the rest. It was in the middle of the camp, and while there were no other indicators that it belonged to whoever was in charge, I knew it did. Something about its placement made me think it was meant to be protected by the entire camp, which made it the likeliest place for their most superior officer.

I had yet to see this guy, though, and I hadn’t even been aware of his presence in the states until the soldiers came back with those orders. Him being here demonstrated just how serious they were about winning this war. They weren't willing to leave it up to their Generals or high ranking service men and women, instead, they’d brought in the big guns.

My gut told me it was this asshole who was in charge of planning all their attacks, too.

“What are you looking at?” Anna asked from my left.

“Where I think their command HQ is,” I told her.

“You think that big tent in the middle is their HQ?” she asked.

“I would think so.” I nodded.

“Well, let’s hope Ben chooses to bomb there first.” The redhead grinned.

We continued to crouch down and watch the NK troops, but after a few minutes, the familiar sound of the MiGs filled the air. This time, though, I didn’t feel the same panic that I usually did when I heard one of those planes. Now, a smile came over my face because I knew it was my boys, and they were here to fight.

“Here we go,” Anna said, and she turned to smile at me.

“Here we go.” I smiled back and looked out over the cliff to watch the planes fly toward the camp.

As soon as they came into view, my heart rate spiked, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.

Ben was in the front, I could tell because his plane had a little bit of a darker tinge than the other planes from where we’d fired the howitzer right by it.

As they flew overhead, some of the men below looked up to see what was going on. A lot of them seemed to ignore the planes, but as Ben made his way to the other side of the camp, more and more of the group started to notice.

The pilot’s strategy was sound, and I was thoroughly impressed. He was trying to get everyone in position before the strike.

He went to the far end of the camp while the rest of the pilots fanned out on the sides. One plane even came right over us as they all did a small loop, then went back toward the camp.

I held my breath as they got right to the border of the camp.

This was it.

Ben was the first to fire, and the pilot let loose a massive plasma blast that covered half the area with a cloud of black smoke from the explosion.

As soon as the blast went off, I heard yells from below, and I could see the NK soldiers on the other end of the camp start to scatter and run for cover. It was futile, though, because Jess’ plane was right above them, and she unloaded another blast on them.

All of their plasma weapons were encased in the heavy impact glass that had taken Bailey several shots to get through, so there were no chain reactions, it was just the initial blast from the plane.

That was plenty, though, and as everyone ran for cover, I took a terrible delight in how they squirmed below. I couldn’t help but think of all the innocent lives they’d taken and how them being attacked with their own weapons was just incredibly fitting.

Another blast sounded, then another, and another until below the cliff was just a huge ring of black smoke from the total destruction the MiGs had caused.

Our plan had worked, they hadn’t realized they were enemy planes, so they hadn’t even thought to prepare for a fight. We’d ambushed them using their own MiGs, and I had to chuckle slightly at the irony of it all.

“Are you laughing?” Anna asked, but she had a huge grin on her face.

“I guess so.” I smiled.

“Tav!” Bailey shouted, and immediately I knew something was wrong.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I instinctively leaned into my rifle to aim.

“There're soldiers headed toward the vehicles with the huge plasma weapons,” Bailey said, and her voice was high-pitched with panic. “There’s still a few intact, we can’t let them get to them.”

I glanced at the planes to see they were scattered around the area, but none of them were expressly near where the vehicles were.

“Shit,” I breathed.

I put my eye in my sight and scanned the area Bailey pointed out. Sure enough, I saw a few soldiers crouched behind one of the overturned vehicles. They popped their heads up every few seconds, though, so they weren’t difficult to find.

One of them looked around, then ran toward the seated shooter vehicles.

I adjusted my aim and pulled the trigger.

Chapter 14

The sonofabitch went down with a shot to the back. He was running so quickly, and I was at such a distance, it was more difficult to get a dome shot than I was used to.

Apparently, it wasn’t that difficult, though, because Bailey managed to get one as the second guy tried to make a break for it in the other direction.

I surveyed the area carefully, but just then another blast sounded and the valley was filled with black smoke once more.

“I can’t see anything,” Bailey said.

“I can’t, either,” I sighed but kept my eyes focused on the area.

I didn’t know how many men were behind that turned over vehicle for sure, but we needed to take every last one of them out.

As the smoke cleared, I saw one guy climbing into the shooter's seat of one of the vehicles. He wasn’t quite in there yet, so I took aim and fired.

The first shot hit him in the shoulder, and his hand slipped from the arm of the shooter's chair as blood rushed down the length of his arm to hit the ground.

That wasn’t going to stop this bastard, though. Instead, he tried to pull himself up with his other arm, and he nearly succeeded, but I was faster than he was.

My second bullet caught him right in the back of the neck, and it must have hit his spinal cord, because his whole body jerked before it went completely limp and he fell backward onto the ground behind him.

Bailey’s guy was already in the shooter’s chair, and he got a couple of sprays of plasma off as he twisted the chair back and forth in an effort to avoid our shots.

It was working, too.

Bailey didn’t take a shot unless she had it, and the blonde had her eyes narrowed in on the guy, but she hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. I knew she was waiting for the perfect opportunity, and I wasn’t going to push her. She needed to get it done quickly, but rushing her was only going to make matters worse.

The man used the moving shooter's chair to his advantage, and he easily spun it back and forth and around so he was a harder target to hit. While he moved it around, he also let off blasts at the MiGs in the air. Our pilots managed to avoid them, but he was trying his hardest to hit them, and I held my breath as I watched Bailey work.

The blonde’s chest rose and fell steadily, then suddenly, she let out a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

Her Barrett sounded off with a loud pop, and I don’t know how she managed it, but her bullet split the man’s head in two just as he spun back around toward us.

“Fuck, yeah, Bails!” Tara cheered.

“Oh, shit,” Anna breathed. “It’s not over.”

“I definitely got him,” Bailey said, but then she looked back over the cliff and let out an audible gasp.

The man was certainly dead, he barely even had a head on top of his shoulders anymore, but he’d fallen directly against the firing mechanism, so the plasma blasted continuously into the air.

The asshole had somehow also managed to fall against the mechanism that controlled the shooter's chair, which in turn controlled the aim of the blast.

His dead body was flung from side to side as the chair malfunctioned and the weapon shot off a massive blast that darted every which way in the air.

“Fuck,” I cursed.

“I can hit him again,” Bailey said. “But I don’t know if it’s going to work.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Paige yelled, and I looked out to see the blast headed straight for Ben’s MiG.

The stream of blue light skittered back and forth, but it was practically following Ben, and he had no way to avoid it in the air since its pattern was completely unpredictable.

The pilot was smart, though, and he was skilled at his craft.

Ben spun the plane onto its side to avoid a close blast, then he yanked it up into the air, and, taking it completely upside down, made an arc in the sky so he came out on the other side of the vehicle.

The pilot let off a huge blast, and the light of the weapon died out as the machine was vaporized and its plasma tank detonated. The detonation was as bright as the sun, and I had to shield my eyes, but when the blast subsided without causing any more chain reactions, all that remained was a huge crater.

After that weapon was taken out, the rest of the pilots gave the area one final blow out where each of them blasted beneath them with an incredible amount of fire power.

The planes started to slowly retreat then, and I waited and watched as the smoke below us cleared.

Where there used to be tents and camps set up, now there was absolutely nothing. The army base camp below us now looked like a scene from a science fiction movie on another planet. Complete areas had been vaporized by the plasma attached to the MiGs, and other areas had only a few poles left standing where huge tents had been.

I didn’t see a single living thing down there, though I figured there would be a few survivors who’d managed to get away in time.

It was a huge camp, after all, and if a couple of men had managed to retreat during the fray, all the better for them. It only meant they lived to die another day.

We may not have won this war yet, but we were on our way to doing just that, and these assholes had underestimated us for the last time.

My country was going to be free again if it was the last thing I did.

“Holy shit,” Tara breathed.

“I know, right.” Paige nodded. “That must have been exactly how they took out all the other cities they destroyed. Nobody there even stood a chance.”

“At least now they got a taste of their own medicine,” Anna said.

“They deserve that and more,” I sneered.

As much as I felt I had to kill, it certainly wasn’t my favorite thing to do. There was nothing pleasant about taking a life, and if I started to feel like there was, I’d be concerned for myself. However, I consistently felt completely justified in killing these assholes.

There was a difference between being a good soldier and being a complete piece of human trash. I understood that good soldiers followed orders, but this was too much.

If another group had attacked and spared citizens and followed code, I might think twice about ambush attacking them instead of giving them the opportunity to surrender. With these assholes, though, they deserved the most ugly, terrifying deaths I could think of.

And in my opinion, that applied to every last one of them. I didn’t care if they were just a foot solider, a male or female soldier, a general, or the leader of the whole fucking army, they all deserved the same torturous deaths.

None of them had walked away from what their government had decided was right here, and that was guilty enough for me.

“Tav, you sonofabitch!” the General shouted, and he laughed and ran over to clap me on the shoulder. “You fucking did it.”

“The war isn’t over quite yet, sir,” I chuckled.

“The war could have just begun for all I fucking care right now,” he said. “With you on my team, I know we’re going to win this.”

“Good to know you have such confidence in me, sir,” I laughed.

“Oh, stop being humble, son.” He grinned and yanked me to my feet. “Take a little credit.”

“He’s right,” Anna said, and she smiled and stood up next to me. “I think celebratory drinks are in order.”

“I’d say so!” the General chuckled. “I’ve been saving a few bottles of whiskey for just such an occasion.”

“No need, sir,” Paige told him. “We have plenty for everyone.”

“Especially now that Tara can’t drink,” Anna snickered.

“Bitch,” Tara mumbled playfully, and she glared at the redhead.

“Ahhh, the party girl before the baby, eh?” the General asked with a smile. “My wife was the same way. Don’t worry, you’ll be a wonderful mom. All the best moms I know survive on wine and leftover lunchables. I swore that was all my wife ate the entire time our children were in preschool.”

“Hey, if it involves wine, I’ll take it.” Tara grinned.

“Well, today doesn’t involve wine,” Anna told her. “Only vodka, and none for pregnant Tara.”

“You are so gonna pay for all this when you’re pregnant.” Tara scowled.

“Would it make you feel better if I promised you a back rub?” the redhead asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You would do that?” Tara asked, and her eyes went wide.

“No.” Anna rolled her eyes, then smiled. “Yeeees, I’ll rub your back. I pick on you, but you know I love your pregnant butt.”

“I love you, too,” Tara said, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Oh  my fucking god,” Anna laughed. “Stop it! Stop it right now or no back rub.”

“I can’t help it,” Tara sobbed. “It was a beautiful moment. I love you all so much.”

“Awwww!” Bailey smiled. “So sweet!”

“Don’t encourage her, Bails,” Anna chuckled and pointed at the blonde.

“Are they always this chipper after they wipe out an entire army of men?” the General whispered so only I could hear.

“Honestly, I’d be worried if they weren’t,” I told him, then I grinned and turned back to the girls. “Alright, let’s get back home.”

“Uh, yes, please,” Hammer said. “I heard a mention of vodka.”

“I’d take some of that, too,” Sergeant Wilson said with a smile, and he raised his hand in the air as if he were volunteering.

“Vodka all around!” Anna chuckled, and she held her hand up and walked toward the jeep as if she’d just made a medieval declaration.

We all piled into the jeeps once more, and on our way home, I could feel the positive energy the girls were giving off. As much as the news about the plasma being found and not created had thrown everyone for a loop, our victory had done exactly what I’d hoped it would: brought everyone’s spirits back up.

At the moment, we had no way of verifying the information we’d found about the liquid, and until this was over and some of our boys went over to NK and did some digging, I doubted we’d know the whole truth. So, for the moment, I wasn’t going to focus on it.

All I wanted to do was sit back and have a couple of drinks with my women. We didn’t have to worry about air raids, or blasts from those huge vehicles anymore, and I thought that was plenty of cause for celebration.

The General also seemed incredibly happy with our work, and I felt like he could use a few minutes of downtime. The man had been running himself ragged trying to keep the remaining men of the U.S. troops alive and still in this war, and I had to commend him for his efforts. He was a hell of a General, and I was happy to be working under him.

As much as I’d liked the Captain in Yorktown as an individual, he wasn’t much in the way of military leaders, and it was nice to finally find a superior officer I felt I could respect.

“So, are we going to go over there tomorrow and see if we can find anything left?” Tara asked as we drove.

“I don’t know.” Paige pursed her lips. “I doubt there’s much there. You saw the place. It’s all been pretty much vaporized.”

“True.” Tara shrugged. “I just figured it couldn’t hurt.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “It’s not a bad idea. We’ll check it out tomorrow and see if there’s anything useful left. Besides, I am itching to see the General of the Joint Chief of Staff’s tent.”

“It looked pretty destroyed,” Paige laughed.

“Yup.” I grinned. “And I want to relish in that fact. And also poke around a bit just in case there’s something there.”

“Better to look and not find than to need and not have looked.” Paige shrugged.

“You just made that up,” Anna said.

“I did,” Paige laughed.

“I knew that wasn’t the right phrase,” the redhead said.

“For once,” Tara snickered.

“Keep talking and there will be no backrub for you.” Anna glared.

“You can’t offer it and then hold it over my head,” Tara scoffed.

“Ehhh, okay, fine, I guess,” Anna rolled her eyes playfully.

“Can I participate in this back rubbing party?” I asked with a grin.

“Oooh, yes, please,” Tara purred.

“Gross, I’m not participating in pregnant sex,” Anna joked.

“You know, it’s a very common fetish,” Paige said matter of factly.

“Okay, usually I don’t question how you know things, but how on earth would you know that?” Anna asked with a raised red eyebrow.

“I read it one time,” Paige said, but she turned bright red and looked down.

“Hmm, a common fetish, eh,” Tara said. “So, I’ll be, like, extra hot when I’m pregnant?”

“To some people,” Paige said.

“Tav, am I extra hot to you?” the platinum-blonde asked, and in my rearview mirror I saw her bat her eyelashes at me.

“Always.” I grinned.

“Tav’s definitely in a good mood,” Anna chuckled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I laughed.

“You’re not normally very flirtatious out in the open,” the redhead explained. “You get pretty flirty when you’re in a good mood, though.”

“Oh, I’m just so predictable to you girls, am I?” I chuckled.

“I meaaaan, a little,” Tara said.

“Hey!” I protested.

“Like, even if I hadn’t seen you all day, I’d know what you were wearing,” the platinum-blonde elaborated.

“Totally,” Paige agreed with a nod.

“You know this is the apocalypse, right?” I asked. “I only have so many clothes.”

“I picked you out a bunch of clothes from the mall when we went shopping,” Tara said. “And you never wear them.”

“Oooooh, their first fight,” Anna whispered, and she and Paige snickered.

“You girls are ridiculous,” I laughed, and I pressed on the gas a little bit harder as we made our way back to our temporary home.

It was only afternoon by then, so we still had a few hours until dark to celebrate, and since the roads were clear like they always were now, I rolled the window down and pressed on the gas.

When we pulled back into the driveway of the warehouses, we were met with blank faces as everyone stood up from their seats and waited to see what we were going to say.

Before I even stepped out of the jeep, everyone was already gathering around in anticipation.

I opened my door to get out and greet everyone, but just then I heard the General’s voice.

“Drinks on Tav!” he called out, and I had to laugh.

“Wait, does that mean you got them?” the young soldier I’d met a couple nights before asked with a grin.

“We got ‘em,” I chuckled. “It’s not the end of the fight, but it’s a good start to the end.”

“Well, fuck, yeah!” he yelled.

“Oh, there’s the pilots,” Paige said, and I turned to see them heading up the driveway.

“There’s our real heroes of the day,” I said with a point.

Everyone started clapping and cheering for the pilots as they pulled their jeep up and parked next to ours.

Ben smiled and looked down with embarrassment as his face turned red, but he and the other pilots deserved just as warm of a welcome as we’d gotten earlier that day.

“Now, let’s celebrate,” the General said, and everyone quieted down to listen to him. “We haven’t won this war yet, but we’re ten steps closer than we were before Tav and his crew here arrived. They’ve come and saved our asses. The whole country’s ass really, and I think today’s victory warrants a celebration.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said as everyone started to cheer.

“Alright, and since I can’t drink, I’m cooking,” Tara announced. “It sounds like you guys could use a good meal around here, anyways.”

“Awww, look, she’s already becoming a mom,” Anna laughed.

“I’ll be the mom around here if it means cooking some good food for everyone,” Tara said with a smile. “I think they all deserve that.”

“Thanks, Tara,” Bailey said. “That’s really sweet of you.”

“Now you look like a dick,” Tara whispered to Anna, and the redhead’s eyes went wide as she realized she’d been had.

“Ooooh, I’m so going to get you for that,” Anna laughed.

“You can start by helping me get some supplies for dinner,” Tara said.

“Fine, but only because I have to grab the vodka anyways,” the redhead said.

While the girls gathered the alcohol and stuff for dinner, I leaned back against the jeep and soaked in the sight of everyone milling around happily.

When we’d arrived just a few days ago, this whole area had been covered in a dark cloud of despair. I didn’t think the General knew what his next move was going to be, let alone how he was going to win this war, but he’d trusted us enough to let us come up with a plan and follow it through, and whether it was a calculated move on his part, or a flip decision, he’d made the right one.

Our superior officer walked around and chatted with his soldiers, and I watched as he clapped some of them on the back and let out a raucous laugh.

I shook my head at his clear happiness, then went and found the girls near the trailer.

“How’s it going over here?” I asked with a grin. “I’m getting thirsty.”

“I forgot how many of these bottles Renee gave us,” Anna said. “We’re going to need a few of them, though. It’ll be easier if everyone just comes over here.”

“Alright.” I nodded and hopped up on the trailer. “If you want to claim your free Tav drink, line up this way!”

I smiled and hopped down as the crowd started to rush over to us with cups ready to be filled.

“Good call,” Anna laughed.

“I have good ideas every now and then.” I shrugged, and then I grabbed two cups and filled them up.

I took a drink of one of them, then made my way over to where the General stood with a group of his soldiers.

“Sir,” I said as I handed him the cup.

“Well, now,” he said, and he sniffed the cup and his eyes grew wide. “Whew. This must be homemade, eh?”

“Only the best,” I chuckled.

“Cheers,” he said, and he clinked his cup against mine.

The General and I took drinks at the same time, but instead of swallowing his easily, the older man started to cough from the burn of the alcohol, and he reached out and put his hand on my shoulder to steady himself.

“Are you alright, sir?” I laughed as I held him upright.

“I’m afraid it’s … been a while since I’ve had a drink,” he said through coughs.

“Take it easy, sir,” I chuckled. “This stuff has to be a hundred proof, if not more.”

“I’ll remember that next time I try to take that large of a swig,” he said. “I used to be able to drink whiskey straight, and savor it even, but a couple of years without the sauce will take you back to your teenage years.”

“Alright, sir.” I stifled a laugh. “Just drink slowly, there’s plenty to go around.”

“Thank you, son,” he said, and he grinned lazily at me and clapped me on the shoulder.

It seemed the alcohol was already having an effect on our superior officer, and I hoped I wasn't the only one who found it mildly amusing.

The General continued to talk to his soldiers while I took another swig of Renee’s homemade vodka and let the fire of it fill my belly.

I couldn’t even try to wipe the smile off my face if I wanted to. I felt good, and I didn’t want to hide it.

I never imagined I’d do all the things I had over the past two years, but here I was.

I’d gotten out of the service, spent a year in the woods on my own, and came out to a completely changed world. When I went into those woods, I’d never anticipated the world would change so drastically during that short time, or that my life would change so radically afterward, but I was glad it had.

I now had five beautiful women who loved me, I was a step-father to one’s child, about to have my own baby with another, and as soon as this war was over, I planned on having even more. I had a strange but wonderful family, and I couldn’t imagine my life without any of them.

I also had a great support system with everyone back on campus and at the fort, and while it had taken a lot to build up our community, it was large and thriving. Not only was Tara pregnant, but Jenny was pregnant as well, and Kimmy already had baby anthony. We were setting the foundation for a new generation, and I was so proud and excited to be a part of something so incredible.

The United States would never be the same after this war, but we would rebuild and grow from here, and that was all we could do at the moment.

I wandered over to the fire and found Tara opening can after can of vegetables and pouring them into the largest pot we had.

“Do you need any help?” I asked.

“Sure.” She nodded at the pile of cans still sitting next to her. “Otherwise, this might take a while.”

I smiled, took another drink, and started to open cans and pour them into the pot.

“What are you making?” I asked. Even though it wasn’t cooking, the mixture of vegetables and meat already smelled delicious.

“Some smoked venison stew,” she said with a small shrug. “It’s easy and delicious, and I can make a huge pot, so I figured that was my best bet.”

“Good call,” I chuckled as I poured another can of potatoes into the stew.

“Are you enjoying your vodka?” the platinum-blonde asked.

“Not in the slightest,” I said with a playful grin.

“Good,” she chuckled. “I’d hate to think of it being enjoyed without me.”

“You know it loves you best,” I told her.

“It better,” she laughed.

I took another drink of the heinous smelling homemade booze and looked around the area. Everyone was clumped together chatting and laughing and having the best time I’d seen since I arrived here, and I couldn’t help but think this was exactly what this crew needed.

These men had been in battle for so long, and that alone took a toll on someone, but on top of that, they’d been eating terrible food, bombarded with constant air strikes, and I didn’t think they’d had a single day to relax since this all started. They deserved to chill out and have a little bit of fun for once, and I’d make sure I was sober enough to handle whatever came along.

The General caught my eye, and he was nearly doubled over while he laughed and flailed his arm out to playfully hit Wilson in the stomach. I definitely needed to make sure somebody here was sober, because it was clear the General couldn’t handle his liquor.

We only had a couple of hours left until the sun went down, and the sky was cast in beautiful oranges and pinks and purples of the twilight. They were absolutely gorgeous through the trees, and I looked up at them as I continued to drink my vodka and relax.

I sat by Tara for a while longer and basked in the smell of the wonderful dinner she was making, but eventually my cup was dry, and I excused myself to get another drink.

“Tav,” Anna said, and the redhead bounded over to me as I walked toward the trailer where the booze was.

“Hey.” I smiled and caught my second in command as she tripped over a rock and fell into my arms.

“Ooops,” she giggled. I hadn’t realized before, but Bailey was right behind her, and the redhead nearly pulled her down as well.

“Hey!” the blonde laughed.

“Sorry,” Anna said, and she turned back to me and poked my nose with her finger. “We need to talk to you.”

“Alright,” I said, amused by their clear intoxication. “Is everything alright?”

“Mmmm, maybe, maybe not,” Anna slurred. “But we need to talk to you to find out.”

“Is that right?” I asked with a laugh.

“It’s what I said,” she told me, and she licked her plump red lips.

“Alright,” I chuckled. “What is it you want to talk to me about?”

“You’ll have to wait and see,” the redhead said, and she lifted her chin and smiled.

“What am I waiting for?” I asked.

“This,” she giggled, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the tree line.

Bailey grabbed my other hand, and I allowed the two of them to lead me into the woods.

Once we were a good way from camp, I noticed one of our blankets on the ground, and Anna spun toward me and yanked her shirt off. Her toned stomach was exposed, and her small perky breasts filled out her black sports bra nicely.

The redhead then pulled her long hair out of its ponytail so it fell down around her shoulders to her waist.

“Is this what I was waiting for?” I asked as my cock grew rock hard at the sight of her.

“Mmm, I don’t know, is it?” she purred, and she sauntered over to me and started to kiss my neck.

“Hey,” Bailey laughed, and she ran over to us. “Don’t have all the fun without me.”

“You better get over here, then,” Anna chuckled and pulled the blonde closer to us.

“With pleasure,” Bailey said, and from her loose demeanor, I could tell she was as intoxicated as Anna was.

The two of them were cute, pulling me into the woods to seduce me after a couple of drinks, and I was more than happy to oblige their tipsy request, so I leaned down and pulled off Bailey’s shirt while Anna continued to nibble at my neck and collar bone.

Unlike her redheaded friend, Bailey wasn’t wearing anything under her shirt, and her perfect pink nipples were already hard and on full display.

The blonde was feeling frisky, though, and instead of being shy like usual, she grabbed my hand and placed it on her breast, then she tossed her head back and sucked in a breath at the feel of my skin on hers.

The girls were all over me, and I didn’t know where to begin, so I yanked off Anna’s sports bra, too, then I gripped the redhead’s hair and pulled her head back so I could kiss down her long, slender neck.

“Mmmm, fuck, yes,” Anna moaned and she gripped my cock hard through my jeans.

“Damn,” I breathed.

“I think you’re overdressed,” Bailey giggled, and she grabbed the bottom of my shirt and pulled it up.

Before the garment made it over my head, though, I heard a familiar voice call out.

“Tav?” Minji asked, and a second later she appeared a few feet away. “Oh… my.”

The Korean woman clearly hadn’t been expecting this, and honestly, I hadn’t been expecting her  either, so I wasn’t quite sure what to do right then. Minji turned bright red, and her eyes went as round as saucers as she looked away and fiddled with her hands.

“Uhhh, Tara said you wanted to see me,” she mumbled. “But I’m starting to think that was just a joke.”

“Knowing Tara, it probably wasn’t,” Bailey laughed.

“She must have known we were coming out here,” Anna slurred, and she looked at Minji. “Do you need an orgasm, too?”

“Oh, I…” Minji stuttered and she turned bright red again with embarrassment.

“That sounds like a yes,” Anna chuckled and waved her arm. “Come on over and join us.”

“Yeah, we don’t bite,” Bailey giggled drunkenly.

“Not unless you want us to,” Anna added with a lopsided grin.

“I-- are you sure?” she asked.

“Of course,” Bailey said with a shrug. “We don’t mind sharing. As long as it’s okay with Tav.”

“Yeah, you think you’re up for the extra work?” Anna teased.

“I think I can manage.” I grinned.

“Okay,” Minji said, and she bit her lip and slowly walked over to us.

It had been a couple of weeks since Minji and I had sex, and I figured she was just as hungry for it as the other girls were, she just hadn’t felt comfortable enough to ask. We’d only had sex the one time, after all, and she’d seemed a little embarassed by her eagerness back then. I found it incredibly sexy, but I knew she felt a little out of control, so it was understandable she’d be a little uncomfortable.

I was quite happy to see her joining us now, though. The Korean woman was sexy as hell, and as she walked closer to us, I could see the desire in her dark-brown eyes.

She looked me up and down and licked her lips, and I watched her hips sway gently back and forth with each step. Even in her Navy issued pants and white T-shirt, she looked sexy as hell, and I wanted her right then.

“Mmm, now you both are overdressed,” Bailey said, and she pulled my shirt over my head, then turned to Minji. “May I?”

“Mhm.” Minji nodded and held her arms up so Bailey could pull her shirt off.

Underneath her shirt, Minji wore a plain white bra that Bailey quickly unhooked so her full breasts bounced slightly and settled against her chest.

“Much better,” Bailey decided, and she tossed the white shirt and bra onto the ground.

“I don’t know where to begin,” I chuckled throatily as I looked at all three of the beautiful topless women in front of me.

Anna’s red hair hung down all around her shoulders and waist, and her beautiful pale skin was a lovely contrast to the deep red color of her long locks. Her green eyes were full of desire as they locked on mine, and she pulled her full bottom loop between her teeth for a second so when she released it there were little white spots from how hard she’d bit down.

Bailey’s shoulder-length blonde hair was somehow already a mess, but it only made her look that much sexier, and her lids were heavy over her gray-blue eyes as she looked me up and down. Her chest rose and fell quickly with anticipation, and she instinctively ran her hands down her hips to her thighs, then repeated the motion over and over again.

Minji’s black hair hung down to her full breasts, and she looked at me with hungry dark eyes. Her pale skin looked incredible in the light orange glow of the twilight, and I couldn’t help but sweep my eyes over her and think about the last time I’d seen her naked and dripping wet for me.

“Let us start for you, then,” Anna said, and pulled me over to the blanket she and Bailey had laid out, then she raked her nails down my abs as she lowered herself onto her knees in front of me.

“Ohhh, yes,” Bailey moaned, and she and Minji crouched down in front of me as well.

Anna made quick work of my zipper, and my erection easily sprung free so she could wrap her hands around it.

“Fuck,” I groaned as I watched the redhead grip my cock.

She looked up at me with shining green eyes as she slowly licked around the tip of me until I could barely stand it any longer. Then she quickly took the length of me into her mouth and down her throat, and I instinctively gripped her hair in response to the intensity of the pleasure I felt.

“Fuck, you’re so big,” she gasped as she slid my cock out of her mouth.

Bailey gripped onto me next, and Minji joined in so the two of them each took one side of my cock to lick from base to tip.

The sight of the two of them with their mouths around me was almost too much to bear, and I had to grit my teeth and breath deeply to maintain my cool while I watched them work on my cock.

Bailey pulled away to fix her hair, and Minji quickly took over.

The Korean woman locked her dark brown eyes on mine, then she pulled the tip of my cock into her mouth and slowly worked her way down. She moved so incredibly slowly I could barely catch my breath because of how intense it felt, and when she ultimately took the entirety of my cock into her mouth, I let out a deep moan of relief to finally feel myself down her entire throat.

“Fuuuuck,” I groaned as my fingers tangled in her dark hair.

The Korean woman held her lips against my abdomen for a moment, then she slowly released me with a little gasp of pleasure.

Seeing her like that was too much, and I couldn’t control myself any longer, so I grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, then I yanked my pants the rest of the way down and got down onto my knees behind her.

Minji still had on her navy camo pants, but I quickly reached around and undid the buttons, then I yanked them, and her white G-string down as well.

I leaned back to get a good view of her ass, and I could see her sweet pussy lips were already glistening and begging for me. She was soaked, and I slid my fingers along her slit to feel her wetness.

“Fuck, you’re so wet for me,” I growled.

“I want your cock soooo bad,” she panted, and she turned around and looked at me, then spread her legs even wider.

“Mmmm, you heard her,” Anna said, and she leaned over Minji and slid her fingers down to her glistening wet pussy. “She said she wants your cock, so you better give it to her.”

Anna slipped two fingers into Minji, who let out a low moan and arched her back in response. Then the redhead smiled and bit her lip as I watched her finger fuck her dark-haired friend.

After Anna pushed her fingers in and out of Minji’s pussy a few times, she slowly pulled them out, then brought them up to her mouth. She licked them leisurely, then pulled them between her plump lips to suck off every last bit of Minji’s sweet pussy juices.

“Fuck, you’re sexy,” I moaned.

“You better give her your cock, Tav,” Anna repeated, and she batted her eyelashes at me. “I don’t know how much longer she can take.”

Minji’s legs shook with anticipation, and I glanced forward to see Bailey was under her, and Minji had her lips pressed against the blonde’s bare chest.

“Take your pants off,” I commanded Anna.

“Oh, you want to see how wet I am for you, too?” she asked, and she licked her lips as she slowly slid her pants down so all she had on was a pair of dark blue boy short panties.

“Take them off,” I groaned as I pressed my cock up against Minji’s slit.

“Mmm, yes, sir,” Anna chuckled, and she slid her panties off, then leaned back on the blanket and spread her legs wide so I could see how sopping wet her tight little pussy was for me.

“Fuck,” I moaned, and I slid my cock into Minji’s tight tunnel as I watched Anna’s hand work its way down her flat stomach to her wet pussy.

The redhead slid two fingers inside of herself and threw her head back with pleasure as I watched and fucked Minji at the same time.

The Korean woman moaned as I slammed into her, and I looked up to see Bailey still underneath her.

“Bailey, take your pants off,” I growled. Usually, I let the girls be in charge, but I was feeling demanding at the moment, and they didn’t seem to mind.

Instead of Bailey undoing her pants, though, Minji reached down and slid them off of her, then, without my prompting, she started to kiss up the blonde’s leg.

“Ooooh, goooooood,” Bailey moaned, and she threw her head back as her perky breasts bounced slightly with her heavy breaths.

“God damn,” I growled, and I gripped Minji’s hips hard and slammed into her over and over as she pressed her face into Bailey’s wet pussy.

Minji’s moans were muffled against Bailey’s pussy, but suddenly, her body stiffened slightly, so I kept thrusting into her as hard as I could, and after a few seconds, I felt her pussy grip my cock and begin to spasm as her knees gave out underneath her.

I held her hips in place as she came on my cock, and I threw my head back and relished in the feel of her spasming tunnel.

After she rode out the waves of her pleasure, I slipped my cock out of her swollen pussy lips and gently let her fall to the ground as she heaved in ragged breaths.

“Yeah, she definitely needed that,” Anna chuckled sexily, and I grabbed the redhead by the back of her neck and pulled her to me to capture her mouth with mine.

I pushed her back onto the blanket so I was on top of her, and without breaking our kiss, I reached down and slid my cock inside of her in one smooth motion.

“Oh, fuck,” she gasped as she tore her lips from mine and dug her nails into my shoulders. “You feel so fucking good.”

“Not as good as you,” I growled as I slid in and out agonizingly slowly.

Minji was strewn out on the blanket sucking in ragged breaths after her intense pleasure, so I reached over and pulled Bailey to me.

The blonde happily obliged, and she leaned in and kissed me softly as I slid my hand down her stomach to her sweet slit. She was already wet from desire and Minji’s mouth, and I slid two fingers inside of her easily.

I continued to push in and out of Anna with my cock as I pushed in and out of Bailey with my fingers. Each of them moaned in turn, and after a few minutes, Bailey’s breaths quickened and she threw her head back with pleasure.

“Ooooh,” she moaned, and she sucked in a breath. “I’m going to coooommmeee…”

Bailey’s pussy spasmed on my fingers as her head fell back and her full lips parted. Her small pink nipples were taut, and her long, elegant neck was on display in the orange glow of the twilight as she continued to ride out her orgasm on my fingers.

“Mmm, I like when you make them come,” Anna said, and she bit her lip then lifted her hips up and down to grind on my cock.

The feel of her velvet walls wrapped around me was intensely wonderful, and I threw my head back and just let her grind against me for a minute.

Anna was having none of it, though, and she quickly wrapped her legs around my hips and flipped me over onto my back.

“Ohhh, fuck yesss,” Anna groaned, and she put both her hands on my chest and lifted her ass up to slam it down onto my cock.

The redhead’s mouth fell open as she bounced up and down on my cock, and Bailey came up behind her to reach around and cup her small, perky breasts with both hands.

The blonde kissed down Anna’s neck as she pinched her nipples between her thumbs and forefingers, and after a minute, I felt Anna’s pace slow down just slightly.

“Ohhh  fuuuuuuck,” she moaned, and she tossed her head back onto Bailey’s shoulder as she was overcome with utter pleasure.

Anna slammed into me until I bottomed out against her cervix, then she held her hips in place as her pussy squeezed and spasmed on my cock. The redhead looked absolutely stunning as she came on me, and I watched the waves of pleasure roll over her face as her lips parted into a smile, and she ground her hips against me just slightly.

“Fuck, you’re so sexy,” I growled as I held onto her hips and worked them foward and back.

“Mmmm, god, that was good,” the redhead breathed after a second, and she laid her head gently on Bailey’s shoulder.

Anna turned to smile at Bailey, and the blonde leaned down and kissed her gently, then pulled her bottom lip between her teeth to nibble on it a little bit.

“I think it’s your turn, now,” Anna said, and she slowly lifted herself off of me.

“I think Anna’s right,” I said, and I grabbed Bailey and flipped her over onto her back.

The blonde let out a little squeal of excitement that quickly turned into a moan as I slid my cock into her.

“Goooood,” she groaned as she gripped my biceps.

I hooked my elbows under Bailey’s knees to push them forward, then I pushed into her as deep as I possibly could until I completely bottomed out against her womb.

“Oh, fuck,” the blonde gasped. “That’s so deep.”

“You’re so fucking tight,” I moaned as I slid in and out of her slowly.

“Fuuuck, go harder,” she moaned. “Please, Tav, I want your cock so bad.”

I wasn’t going to disappoint on that one, so I slammed into the blonde as hard as I could, and she gripped onto my shoulders and dug her nails into my flesh.

Her small, perky breasts bounced with each thrust, and I leaned down to pull one of them into my mouth and give it a little bite.

“Ohhhhh, yesss,” Bailey groaned, and she dug her nails into my shoulders even harder, then she tossed her head back and let out a low moan as her body stiffened and she came on my cock.

“Mmmm, give us your come, Tav,” Minji said, and she crawled over and sat up on her knees with her legs spread wide so I could see her still glistening pussy.

“Oh, god, yes,” Anna groaned, and she followed suit so the two of them were laid out in front of me with round eyes begging for my hot seed.

“Come on us,” Bailey added as she finished riding out the waves of her pleasure.

Their request was too much to bear, so I slipped my cock out of Bailey and stood up so I was above Anna and Minji.

Bailey joined in a second later, and I allowed myself to climax as all three of them leaned in to let me spray my hot come on their chests.

My vision went black, and I threw my head back as I was completely overcome with pleasure at the sight of the three women on their knees in front of me. My balls tensed and my cock pulsated as I spilled my seed all over them, and once I was done, I took a few steps back and grabbed the nearest tree to steady myself.

“Fuck,” I gasped, and I picked up my pants and put them on as I walked over to the girls.

The three women were all a heap of naked body parts sprawled out on the blanket, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of them.

“You all look sexy as hell,” I chuckled.

Minji was in the middle, and she laid on her back with her full breasts and swollen pussy on display. Anna was on her right, and the redhead had her leg strewn across Minji’s stomach so I got a great view of her perfect ass. Bailey was on the left, and she had both arms up over her head and her toes pointed as her chest lifted into the air while she stretched lazily, smacked her lips, and smiled at me.

“Mmm, that was nice,” Bailey yawned. “Now I’m sleepy.”

“You can’t be tired yet,” Anna chuckled. “We’re celebrating.”

“Somehow, I think that was enough of a celebration,” Minji laughed.

“Ehhh, we do that all the time.” Anna grinned.

“Oh.” Minji’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize this was a regular occurrence.”

“Definitely.” The redhead nodded.

“That’s probably why Tara sent you into the woods in the first place,” Bailey added. “She must have seen us pull Tav in here, and I guess she figured you needed some pleasure, too.”

“I can see that,” Minji chuckled and turned a bit red.

“Yeah, you’re a little uptight, aren’t you?” Anna teased. “Outside of the bedroom at least.”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call this a bedroom,” Minji joked.

“It’s close enough.” The redhead shrugged.

“Either way, you’re welcome to join us any time,” Bailey told her with a soft smile. “Like we said before, we don’t mind sharing.”

“That much is apparent,” Minji said, and she looked at the three of us. “You know, I never thought I’d be comfortable sharing, but you all make it seem so incredibly normal.”

“We know where we stand with Tav,” Anna explained. “We’re not worried if someone else needs him, too.”

“I think that’s very big of you,” Minji said.

“More like very big of him,” the redhead laughed.

“Oh, my god,” Bailey giggled, and I was reminded of how intoxicated the two of them still were. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Tara’s not here, so someone has to make sex jokes.” Anna grinned.

“That’s fair,” Bailey agreed.

“Right, I might have to have a word with her,” Minji laughed. “As much as I enjoyed this, she could have given me a heads up.”

“That’s just Tara,” Anna said. “She’d do it again, too, even if you talked to her.”

“She’s very much a proponent of getting orgasms and not feeling embarrassed about it,” Bailey explained.

“I mean, that doesn’t seem like a bad thing.” I smiled and shrugged.

“It’s not.” Bailey smiled back at me. “It’s something I really like about her.”

“I guess I should say thank you, then,” Minji chuckled.

“I bet she’d appreciate that,” Bailey laughed.

The girls stood up and got dressed, then I gathered up the blanket and led them back to camp. We found Tara and Paige sitting near the fire, and as we got closer to the girls, I could smell the dinner Tara had going in the pot. The scent made my mouth water, and I realized then just how hungry I was.

“That smells so good,” Anna said.

“Thanks,” Tara said, and she looked up, smiled at us, and batted her eyes innocently. “Did you four have fun?”

“I think you know we did,” I chuckled.

“I know.” She smiled so big her eyes closed.

“I guess I should thank you for tricking me,” Minji said, and she put her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at the platinum-blonde.

“You guess, or you’re thanking me?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow of her own. “Because I don’t want your thanks unless you had a good time. Did you have a good time, Minji, did you?”

“You know I did.” The Korean woman rolled her eyes and mumbled. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” Tara said, and she cupped her hand to her ear. “What was that?”

“Thank you!” Minji shouted obnoxiously, and we all laughed at the ridiculous outburst.

“That’s more like it,” Tara laughed.

“How did you even know we were there?” Bailey asked.

“I saw you guys steal the blanket,” the platinum-blonde chuckled and pointed to the blanket I was still holding. “Nobody takes a blanket out into the woods for no reason.”

“Man, you’re good.” Bailey shook her head. “We were so quiet.”

“You were tipsy as hell and giggling the whole time,” Tara snickered. “You weren’t quiet in the least.”

“Yeah, that checks out.” Anna grinned. “Speaking of tipsy. I’ve nearly lost my buzz.”

“Good sex will do that to you,” Tara said with a nod.

“Does anybody else need a refill?” the redhead asked.

“Yes, please,” Bailey said, and she passed Anna her glass.

“And me,” Minji said.

“Me, too,” Paige agreed. “But I’ll help you carry them.”

“I hate to tack on here,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” Anna laughed. “We got you. It’s the least we can do after all the work you put in just now.”

“Thanks,” I called with a grin, and I deposited our blanket back in the tent, then made my way out to the fire to sit down with the rest of the girls.

Tara stirred the food in the pot, and her nearly white hair glowed a sort of soft yellow with the evening sun. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and I thought about her with a huge pregnant belly and how cute she would be.

Bailey had her feet extended out toward the flames, and the blonde’s hair was an absolute mess from our lovemaking, but I loved it. She looked utterly adorable, and I leaned over and kissed the top of her head so she smiled without opening her eyes as she relaxed a little more and sighed.

Minji was on the other side of me, and the Korean woman locked eyes with me as I turned to admire her. Her long black hair hung down around her shoulders and breasts, and her full lips were plumped from our romp in the woods. She was stunning, and I placed my hand overtop of hers and gave it a small squeeze.

She was new to the group, but the girls seemed to have accepted her well, and while I wasn’t sure where she stood on being in this weird relationship we shared, she was welcome to join if she wanted to. Hell, I wanted her to. She was sexy, smart, and she didn’t take Tara’s shit, which I absolutely loved. Besides, after this was all over, she’d probably need somewhere to go, and I planned on inviting her back to campus with us to stay.

There was something about the quiet demure woman that I found attractive and mysterious as hell, and I wanted to know more about her and give her everything she needed.

And if she wanted my baby like my other lovers, then I’d give her as many as she wanted.

Soon, Anna and Paige returned with our drinks, and I took another swig of the hard vodka and let it slide down my throat to ignite a fire in my belly.

The smell of Tara’s stew was making me hungry, though, and I was about to ask when it would be ready when I heard someone yell.

“What was that?” I asked, and I immediately sat up straight and looked around.

“What do you mean?” Paige asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Bailey asked, and she looked around.

“I heard someone yell,” I said, and I looked around again.

The sound rang out once more, and a second later I saw a small group of guerrilla warfare soldiers run down the driveway toward everyone.

“General!” the young man in the front yelled.

General Lopez might have been a little bit tipsy last time I saw him, but it seemed he sobered up quickly, because as soon as he heard his name being called with such distress, he turned around and hastily walked toward the end of the driveway.

I quickly made my way over to the General as well, and everyone else gathered around, too.

“What the hell’s going on?” General Lopez asked me.

“I have no idea, sir,” I said as the young man reached us.

“General,” he said, and he doubled over and put his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath from running so hard.

“What is it, son?” General Lopez asked, and he leaned down and looked at the young man with concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong? Has someone been injured?”

“No, sir,” he breathed and shook his head.

“What’s wrong?” I asked seriously, and the kid turned to me.

“We were out scouting, and we took one of the radios you guys brought,” he explained. “While we were walking, we were tuning into different channels, and we came across one in Korean.”

“Yeah,” a dark-haired soldier behind him said as he and the rest of the small group came to halt. “I’m not extremely fluent, but I was able to make out what they were saying.”

“What was it?” Minji asked, and her dark eyebrows pulled together.

“They know about the attack in Douglasville,” the man in front explained. “They’re sending out messages to all the other troops in the area to go on the offensive.”

“The offensive?” Anna asked.

“I mean, I’d be offended, too, if someone stole my planes and killed my men with them.” Tara shrugged.

The young soldier just looked at Tara with utter confusion.

“No, they’re not offended,” Paige explained. “They’re going on the offensive. Like offense and defense.”

“Which means?” Tara asked.

“They’re getting ready to attack,” Anna said grimly.

“Right,” the young man breathed, and he finally stood up straight. “They’re planning a full scale attack on us.”

“When will they arrive?” General Lopez asked.

“I don’t know, sir.” The soldier shook his head. “They only said for everyone to get ready.”

“If that’s the case, they could be here literally any minute,” Paige said, and she looked at me with dark-brown eyes full of panic.

“Well, Tav,” Lopez said, and he turned to me. “I hope you have a plan for this, too. Because we’re going to need one.”

“We do have one advantage here, sir,” I said.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“We know their next move.” I grinned.

“Right.” Anna smiled and nodded. “We know they’re coming for us. Now we can prepare. We’re one step ahead of them.”

“Yes, we are,” I agreed. “And now it’s time to end this. Once and for all.”

I smiled as I looked around at my group. The NK army may be coming for us, but we’d be ready. Those motherfuckers weren’t going to know what hit them, and I’d make damn sure this was the last battle of this war.

I was done fighting, now it was time to win.

End of book 19

End Notes

Thank you for reading Without Law 19. I’ll start working on book 20 as soon as this book has 100 reviews. So please leave a nice review here.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Eric Vall