Chapter 10

{Major Mike Murphy’s thoughts}

I was not sure what to make of LTG David Braxton at least he was Special Operations and had common sense. His plan was simple, and the three other Generals were fully capable of getting it done.

I know that taking care of Dr. Wither so he can finish his studies on the mutant situation and report back to LTG Braxton was very important. We still don’t know why they are dying and if it will start on us next. Still a twelve-man team is not as much as I would like but at least I have a command of sort and my own air-support be it one helicopter.

Once things are better organized and General Braxton feels more in control, I hope he will reopen the base.

The next morning our drive to the ranch house Al and the others were at was uneventful and relaxing. I made sure we stayed alert and continued to watch our sectors after all the moment you drop your guard you could end up dead.

I know Al had described the place but until you see it for yourself you really can’t picture it anywhere close to how beautiful it is.

We pulled up and were just getting out when a jeep came driving up.

As we all took aim, I saw Al in the front passenger seat and called everyone to stand down, saying they were friends.

A big guy came out of the house followed by two teenage boys and four girls. Al got out of the jeep as Emily exploded out the back and ran to her father.

Suddenly Al turned drawing his pistols looking in the direction we had just come from. Everyone did the same without thinking about it. Two trucks with several guys in back were driving up at a fast speed. The two trucks skid to a stop left front bumper to right front bumper providing some cover for the men.

Al ran and jumped between the trucks shooting as he went. Everyone fired including the guys from the trucks. Two of the guys survived the initial fire fight but only one had a slight chance of living. The other guy was way past dead, and it was amazing that he was alive.

Al took two minor wounds one on his left forearm which passed between the bones missing anything vital and the other hitting his left thigh just above his knee he was lucky it missed bone.

We did not fare much better but most of our hits were to people wearing body armor. Daryl was shot high on his right chest just under his collarbone which ended up being our worst injury.

{Al’s thoughts}

We were just about halfway back to the ranch house and I could feel or sense Major Murphy’s group right in front of us. Mike was deep in thought. I really couldn’t tell what he was thinking about however, I could feel him deeply concentrating on something. Earl was definitely thinking about Emily he missed her! One of the Soldiers was bored but was seriously watching his sector ‘he did not want to be surprised by mutants again’ several others were also watching their sectors and actively concentrating on the terrain one noted a coyote another was looking at a falcon on a bare tree branch. But what really caught my attention was the guys that were watching Mike’s convoy.

Who was watching Mike’s convoy? I told Tia to step on it and everyone to get ready for a fight because Mike’s group was being followed. All the girls looked at me like I was crazy except for Tammy she had been around me the longest and knew there was something different about me. Crazy or not the girls all checked their weapons as I checked Tia’s for her after checking mine.

We skidded to a stop right behind Mike’s convoy and as we got out, I sensed or felt them driving up! I turned to see two trucks slide into a wedge front bumpers almost touching and the guys riding in back of both trucks jumping behind the trucks for cover as they aimed their weapons at us.

I drew my pistols running for their trucks and used a front bumper to help me jump and flip over the hood of both trucks landing behind or kind of beside all the bad guys. I was shooting as I twisted in the air and everyone started shooting after that. There were eleven of them and I had shot seven of them before I took a round in the forearm. It knocked the pistol out of my hand. The second round that hit my leg knocked me off my feet as I shot two more. But I think they might have already been shot. Before I had a chance to bounce Laura and Emily were next to me. Emily was checking my leg and Laura had my head on her leg, she had done a baseball slide under me as I bounced. Her other leg was bent and slid next to the arm I had been shot in causing it to lay over her thigh so she could check it out. I still don’t know how she did it?