"Terra Mortis II" - Chapter 20

Terra Mortis II: The Gathering

Chapter 20

By Dwayne MacInnes

It was very early the next morning when the entire rebel camp headed for the town. No one said anything as they hiked along the road in the predawn darkness. Brady figured they would be at the town just before daybreak. That should give everyone enough time to get into position for the attack.

Nori walked next to Brady as they worked their way down the road.

"Well, it looks like I'll have to watch both Lisa and Nathan," Brady joked half-heartedly.

"I don't like this, Brady," Nori confided in an unusually somber tone.

"It's just pre-attack jitters. You'll be fine. Remember I've seen you in action."

"It's not that. I have a bad feeling about this," Nori said quickly and then she jogged up ahead to talk to the other captains.

The small army set themselves up without a hitch. Brady watched Nori position her groups inside of the town through his field glasses.

"She definitely knows her stuff," Brady thought with pride.

The Misfits had formed themselves on top of a steep hill outside of the only road in and out of town. There were some trees for protection and Brady smiled inwardly as he noticed that all his Misfits had situated themselves perfectly and without much noise.

Lisa and Nathan on the other hand were as loud as herd of elephants and as clumsy as drunken monkeys. Brady had to keep telling them to keep their heads low or they may reveal their position to the enemy. Both would just glare at Brady for a minute before they would finally do as they were told.

The sun was just beginning to rise over the mountains behind them when they heard the sound of motorcycles in the distance. The noise of the small engines seemed odd to Brady's ears after a year of not hearing anything more than the engine of their old Dodge truck. Brady could feel the excitement build in anticipation of the ambush. He wasn't alone.

Nathan stood up and before Brady could yell at him to get down the rebel leader began to run towards the town.

Lisa then shouted after him, "No, what are you doing?"

"How can I hide up here? I need to be with my troops in their moment of glory," Nathan shouted over his shoulder.

Lisa just stood there watching Nathan run towards the town. The color was drained from her face as Brady reached up and pulled her back down to the ground.

"Dammit," Brady hissed. "Are you trying to let them know we are here?"

Lisa flinched and buried her face in her hands as she began to sob silently.

Brady didn't have time for a hysterical girl. He raised his field glasses to his eyes and scanned the road toward the rumble of the bikes. The lead elements of the Horde could be seen racing down the road toward the town.

Swinging his glasses toward the town, Brady noticed that Nathan had already concealed himself.

"Thank God for that," Brady thought.

The Misfits remained in their positions as the twenty or so bikes sped past them and sped into town. There was a lone U-Haul truck following behind. This was obviously how they planned to transport their take back to their base of operation.

Brady no longer noticed Lisa's sobbing as he watched the Horde enter the town and begin to dismount. After everyone was off his or her bikes and the driver out of the truck, Brady watched as Nathan stood up from behind an abandoned red car. They were too far away to hear what Nathan was saying. "Probably something like surrender or die," Brady thought.

Soon afterwards, gunfire started to breakout. Most of the bikers dropped as the different rebel groups unleashed their weapons unto the exposed Horde. Brady started to smile. "It would soon be over. No more than ten minutes work," he mused.

That's when Brady heard another noise. A noise he had only heard in old war movies, the squeak and whine of steel on steel clattering down a concrete road.

"Cap, look over there," Sergeant Miller called out.

Brady brought his field glasses to bear in the direction Miller pointed. But he would have seen it even without them. The distinctive olive drab green half-track with a white star on the hood and four .50 caliber machineguns on a carriage on the back was racing down the road.

"Jennings," Brady yelled. "Get to that town and warn everyone to get out."

The boy shot off like a bullet without further encouragement. Brady turned to the rest of his Misfits.

"OK, this is where we earn our keep. We have to buy the other groups some time in order for them to pull out," Brady ordered.

With that, Brady raised his M-16 to his shoulder and squeezed off a round. The rest of the group followed suit. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the half-track's armor. Nevertheless, it had the effect that Brady desired -- it stopped.

"Everybody get down!" Brady shouted.

The Misfits all hit the dirt without a second thought as the gun carriage started strafing the hillside blindly looking for the raiders. Fortunately, the M-2s were aimed too low. Splinters from shattered trees flew through the air along with the churned up clods of dirt.

"Sergeant, get the group out of here. I'll try to hold them off," Brady yelled.

"Sir, you..." Miller began to protest.

"Do it!"

Lisa then raised herself up and started down the steep hill towards the half-track. The gunner in the carriage tried to shoot her but he could not depress the guns fast enough. Brady took careful aim at the gunner through the open site on his assault rifle. Brady didn't notice Cooper and Akira next to him who where firing on the half-track to draw its attention away from Lisa.

The carriage raised the four M-2s toward the source of the bullets and started to spray forth its leaden death. Again, trees were being shattered and splinters flew through the air. If a .50 caliber shell hit Brady, he knew he would be turned into hamburger. However, he kept taking careful aim. He'd have only one shot and it would have to count.

Time slowed down as dirt spewed around him filling his nostrils with the smell of freshly turned soil. He didn't notice the short-lived scream of Akira as a round from one of the M-2s tore through his torso. Brady peered down the site onto the man behind the guns. He slowly squeezed the trigger and barely heard the ‘pop' of his round as he fired the M-16. Brady watched the man slump forward as his shot found its mark a split second before something slammed into his left shoulder spinning him around and knocking him to the ground. Before he lost consciousness Brady felt a burning sensation begin to spread through his left shoulder.