Chapter 12

It was in the dead of night, about three hours before dawn, when the Hopewell war party approached the Paleo women's camp. The group consisted of Mark and Kara, fifty Hopewell warriors, and five of the escaped Paleo women. Mark and Kara saw no need to split up, and expected the upcoming battle to be fought entirely with the pistols. The Hopewell warriors were there as a reserve force. Mark and Kara had all of their remaining ammunition with them. When the party got to within 200 yards of the camp, they stopped and Kara surveyed through the binoculars. She whispered her observations to Mark.

"Look at all the bonfires! I guess they're burning up their wood supply before breaking camp. This will make our job quite a bit easier. Somehow I didn't think they'd adapt to the pistols. They had a demonstration yesterday of how deadly they are, yet the guards are just standing by the campfires, all lit up... Oh no!"

"What?"

"The Paleo woman Sur warned me that her tribe would do group punishment for the escape yesterday. There are over twenty women staked out to the ground... They must be dead... Oh Shit! Mark, their wombs weren't just opened, they've been cut out! And there's something else..." Kara focused the binoculars and was silent for a moment. Then Mark heard her give a soft crying gasp, and Kara fell to the ground and silently cried. There was no sound, but Mark put his hand on her shoulder and felt the sobs racking her body.

"Kara... What?"

"All the little red lumps by the wombs Mark... The wombs weren't just opened, they were cleaned out... All these women were pregnant!"

No words seemed appropriate. Mark just kept his hand resting on Kara's body and looked up at the night sky. The stars were brilliant, filling the night dome with strange and unfamiliar constellations. After a few moments Mark felt Kara rise, and he blinked and rubbed away his own tears on his arm. Kara took out the night scope and surveyed the darkness. "There! There's a spot about 75 yards from the camp with a clear field of fire. It's just what we need. Mark, let's go with Plan-A. I'm the better long-range shot. I'll target with the regular scope with the campfire light, you scan closer in with the night-scope for any Paleo trying to engage us."

A short time later the team had moved into position. Kara and Mark were both surveying the camp with their scopes, Mark waiting for Kara to begin firing. Kara identified about twenty guards clearly visible around the campfires. She lined up an easy shot, targeting the heart of a warrior 80 yards distant, and calmly squeezed the trigger.

Mark started firing rapidly as soon as Kara fired. Kara fired five additional shots, feeling sure she was dead on target with all but perhaps one. She stopped when she realized there were no more easy targets near the campfires. "Well, it's about time they learned," she thought to herself. She noticed Mark still firing rapidly by her side, and then he paused to insert a fresh clip into his Glock. He returned to his rapid fire.

"Mark, are we being infiltrated?"

"Not yet," said Mark, who spoke as he continued his rapid fire. "It's just that there are so many easy targets in the dark shadows of the camp. The warriors have come out of the tents and are standing around looking confused and not knowing what to do. They don't even realize they're in danger. They don't even see their comrades falling. This is almost too easy." Mark popped out his empty magazine, inserted his third clip and returned to firing.

In the middle of Mark's fourth clip the Paleo finally tried to organize a counter-offensive. Seeing the continued flash of Mark's gun in the distance, the remaining group of about thirty male youths and warriors tried to charge Mark's position. Kara fired nine shots and thought she had nine clean hits as the charging group crossed the lighted areas of the campfires. But by the time she reloaded there no more targets visible to her, and she just scanned the area ahead of her. Their plan was for the Hopewell warriors to turn on the flashlights if Mark saw the Paleo close within 25 yards. But Mark was hesitant to give the signal. It was so easy for him to pick off the Paleo warriors in the dark blackness that he didn't want to change the situation. The last Paleo got within 30 yards before Mark shot him dead. Mark wasn't sure how many rounds were in his Glock, but he knew it wasn't many.

" * One * still * left * " Pakua sang quietly as Mark reloaded with a fresh magazine.

" * Thanks * for * counting * " Mark replied. Pakua gave a distinctive Hopewell grunt, one Mark had come to realize was the English equivalent of "don't mention it."

The night seemed very quiet after all the shooting. Mark kept scanning with the night- scope, but could find no more targets. "Kara, how was your shooting?"

"Almost too easy. I fired one full clip. I think 14 dead-on hits and 1 probable."

"I'm feeling the same. Fired 5 clips, at most five non-lethal shots, everything else dead- on. I think we've just taken out at least 85 Paleo. And the way they were moving, I think at least a third of them were already wounded from this morning. They're dedicated fighters, I'll give them that."

"Mark, they're dedicated monsters. Don't forget the pregnant women. Have no compunction about shooting them down."

"I didn't forget... I'll never forget..."

"Mark... Sorry. Really, forgive me. I'm still upset..."

"Me too. Forget it. Let's just get the job done. What do you think? Are we ready for phase two?"

Kara thought for a moment. "See anything?"

"Nope. Nothing is moving outside the tents."

"Then let's go to phase two." Kara sang a single note, and the Hopewell turned on all five flashlights that Kara and Mark had brought from Earth, illuminating the campsite. It was a signal for Sur and the four other Paleo women with them to begin calling out an offer of sanctuary for the Paleo women and girls, also offering sanctuary for any boy who had not yet brutalized the women. The calling went on for about a minute without effect, and then suddenly one tent erupted to the sounds of shouts and screams. The other tents quickly followed, and the loud din of bedlam filled the air. As part of the plan, the Hopewell did not interfere, allowing the Paleo women and girls to fight this part of the battle.