The Guardians (8 page)

"About Isaac Murphy," Daryl said.  "I don't know what's goin' on up there myself.  I rode up there about a month ago to see if he needed anything and the place looked like a dump compared to how I remember it last.  There was a bunch of crumpled up beer cans laying around the front porch and cigarette butts everywhere.  From what I remember, Isaac didn't drink or smoke.  Did he?"

"No, he sure as hell didn't," replied Ollie.  "I don't like the sound of that."

"We never got close enough to see anything like that when we were up there last week," added Jason.  "We didn't even get past the gate on the driveway before he... or someone, popped a shot off at us."

"Well that doesn't sound like him at all.  Something is up.  I'll follow you fella's up there with you if you don't mind," Daryl replied with concern.

"The more the merrier," Ollie said.  "Let's get movin', the days a wastin'," said Ollie as he fired up the tractor.  "Hop on boys," he said.

Evan and Jason hopped on the Bush Hog and with a jerk, Ollie let out on the clutch and the tractor lunged forward from pulling out in fourth gear.  Ollie was tired of talking about it and was bound and determined to get up there and see what was going on for himself.  Daryl Moses mounted his horse and followed along behind.  After twenty minutes or so, they arrived just short of the Murphy place.  Ollie shut down the tractor and let Daryl catch up.  Once they were joined up, Ollie said, "So how do you boys want to handle this?"

Jason spoke up and said, "I've got the high powered scope, so let me sneak around to the side of the property and glass the place.  Once I'm in position where I can see what's going on, I'll radio Evan on his hand held.  Then as you proceed up the driveway, if we get to that point, I'll also be able to cover you if anything fishy is going on."

Daryl then added, "I can get up around back in a hurry with Ben here," as he referred to his horse.  "That way I can cover things from the back end, just in case.  I've got a set of binoculars in my possibles bag.  If all is well and you guys make contact and it's all good, I'll come on down.  If not, I can either assist from there, or create a diversion for your retreat."

"Well, that about covers everything then," Evan said.  "Ollie can drive the tractor, which like he said, hopefully will make him recognizable to Isaac, and I'll ride shotgun for him.  Daryl, you and Jason get moving.  We will wait here until Jason gives us the signal."

"Roger that!" said Jason as he slung his Remington over his shoulder and headed off into the woods. 

"Stay safe," replied Daryl as he disappeared into the woods on the back of his trusty horse Ben.

As Jason made his way around the side of the home, he paused occasionally to glass the area with his powerful Nightforce scope.  The home was in a terrible state of repair.  It appeared to be completely neglected, with litter and beer cans strewn about around the entrances, just as Daryl had said.  At this point however, he had still not seen any signs of possible occupants.  He crept on through the woods taking up a vantage point that would give him the best overall view that covered both the front and back entrances to the house, as he was directly off to the side.  Just as he began to glass the property, he saw someone come out of the back door.  It was a young white male with a mullet style haircut, probably in his late twenties.  He took the last draw off of a cigarette and tossed it into the back yard, followed by a beer can.  He then turned and went back into the house.  Jason pulled his hand held radio out of its pouch and whispered to Evan.  "Ev... you there?"

"Yep," Evan replied.  "We've got movement.  A white male in his late twenties.  Looks pretty trashy.  Also seems to be the source of at least some of the beer cans.  Is there anyone that may be with Isaac that fits that description?"

Evan turned to Ollie and having heard the transmission from Jason Ollie said, "Not that I am aware of.  Distant family perhaps, but there wasn't anyone living with him prior to the collapse."

"Well, I guess we need to confront him or them somehow," Evan suggested. "We need to get a dialog going to find out if Isaac is with them or not."

"Just how do you propose we do that?" Ollie asked.

"I guess I just have to walk up there and ask.  They may be legitimately here so we can't just attack the place.  And if they see me sneaking up on them, they will have every right to deal with me as an attacker, just as I would deal with them if they approached my house in such a way," Evan said.

"Makes sense, I guess," Ollie said.  "Sounds stupid as all hell, but makes sense."

"Jason, do you see Daryl anywhere?" asked Evan over the radio.

"Negative," replied Jason.

"Well, I'm gonna make contact.  I'll keep my radio on with my earpiece in and try and hide it under my hat with the wire around the back of my neck.  Keep me informed and do whatever you have to do," said Evan as he got his gear ready.  He folded the stock on his VZ and slung it over his back to where it would not be readily visible from the front.  He also arranged his radio and ear piece in such a way to hide its presence the best he could.  "Well, here goes," he said.

Evan stood up, walked around the corner, and proceeded up the driveway in plain view.  He got to the front gate and stopped just short.  He put his hands together and yelled, "Hello there!  Is Isaac Murphy home?"

The front door to the house opened to the inside with the screen door still closed, masking the view to the inside of the house.  A gruff voice yelled.  "He's not here right now, go away!"

"We are friends of his; we need to talk to him.  We have some stuff to give him," Evan yelled back. 

"Whatever you have to give him, leave it at the gate and we will come down to get it and give it to him later," the man from within the house yelled.

"Ev....someone is coming out the back door," said Jason over the radio.  "It's a threat!  He's got an AK!"

"On my command Jason," Evan said.

"Roger," he replied.

"Tell your guy around back to drop his gun or he gets smoked!" Evan yelled.  "The place is surrounded.  We are here for Isaac; we are not leaving without him.  You can cooperate, or..."

"Or what?" the man yelled with tension in his voice.

"Or we will treat you like you are a threat to Isaac." Evan relied.  "We don't tolerate people who are a threat to our friends."

"Get your sorry ass off of this property, it's mine now and that's just the way it's gonna be!" the man inside the house yelled in an agitated and threatening tone.

"You're leaving us no choice now," Evan replied.  "We would rather not have to look for Isaac by force, but if you insist, that's how it will be."

Just then, a gun shot rang out of the house through the screen door directed at Evan.  He dove to the ground to take cover and yelled, "Waste'm,"  to Jason over the radio.

As soon as the word rolled off of Evan's tongue Jason squeezed the trigger and let an open tip .300 Win Mag fly.  It instantly smashed into the man carrying the AK.  It hit the man directly in his chest, blowing out of his back.  The man fell limp to the ground like a rag doll.  Evan dropped to the ground while swinging his VZ into firing position.  He laid just behind a fence post, getting partial cover while he extended his stock.

"Any other movement?" Evan queried Jason. 

Before Jason could answer, a barrage of gunfire came out of the front of the house from the door and from two of the windows.  Two of the shooters seemed to be focused on Evan's location, while the other made wild random shots in Jason's direction.  Bullets danced all around Evan.  His cover was not adequate to repel this level of fire for long.  Luckily for him, it was not very focused or disciplined.  He could not help but think about how this had not played out very well on his end.  Jason attempted to lay down a suppressing fire shooting blindly towards the windows of the house.  He could not get a view of any of the shooters, so he assumed they were further back in the room, firing from a distance.  This was smart he thought, as he would otherwise be able to pick them off easily.

The next thing Evan heard was the sound of the old Massey Ferguson's diesel engine as it came chugging up the hill.  He looked to see Ollie backing up the driveway with the Bush Hog deck flipped up like a shield.  He must have taken the top link lose and just stood the sucker up and secured it standing on end somehow, he thought.  The steel deck and the plywood that he had put over top of it seemed to be providing enough ballistic protection from the small arms fire as the occupants of the house had now directed their fire at Ollie and the tractor.

Ollie backed the Bush Hog deck all the way up to the fence and Evan scooted over behind it to take cover.  "Brilliant!" Evan exclaimed. 

"Do you start this much trouble everywhere you go?" asked Ollie. 

"Lately it seems," replied Evan. 

"Ev....another threat just came out the back door, he went around the other side of the house though.  I can't see him.  Be careful, he may be coming to flank you and Ollie," Jason said over the radio.

"Let's get a move on," Evan said. 

Ollie slipped the tractor into gear and began to creep forward as they looked over to see a man preparing to fire directly at Ollie.  Evan swung his VZ around to fire on the assailant, but before Evan could get the gun into position, he heard a shot ring out and he saw a flash of light from the muzzle of the man's rifle.  Everything went quiet and his heart seemed to pause as he feared the worst.  Did the man just fire upon Ollie, Evan thought in the slow motion of his mind?  As Evan finally got his aim on the man and began to pull the trigger the assailant fell forward, dead on the ground.  There he saw Daryl off in the woods, with a cloud of smoke still in the air from his black powder loaded .45-70.  The gunshot he had heard was Daryl's, Ollie was fine, and the tractor began to lunge forward.  Evan hopped up on the running board of the tractor alongside Ollie and got back on the radio to Jason.

"Report!" he said.

"Accounting for the guy on the flank, I have only seen one location for muzzle flash from the house,"

"Good, keep'em occupied for a moment while I get Ollie out of here.  I'll get back to you in a sec."

"Roger that," replied Jason as he began to maintain a steady fire on the front of the house, varying his point of aim from window to window and then back to the door."

Reaching the bottom of the hill and rounding the corner for cover, Evan said, "Great work Ollie!  Now stay here.  I'll be right back."  Evan then ran up the hill through the woods towards where they had seen Daryl. 

Daryl saw him coming and broke cover to get his attention.  He then ducked back down behind some brush and Evan joined him. "Damn good shooting!" said Evan.

"Thank God I made it down the hill in time," Daryl replied.  "I saw that guy come around back and around the side where Jason couldn't get a shot at him.  I knew if he got to you there would be trouble."

"Did you see anyone else from back there?" Evan asked.

"I was just counting gunshots, and based on that we are down to one shooter that I know of." he replied.

"Good.  Lead me back up the way you came down and let's get in position behind the house.  You can cover me as I make my way to the back door.  I'll have Jason unleash hell on the front to keep the shooter's attention, while I try and make entry from the back."

"Will do," Daryl replied.

The two men then worked their way back up the hill.  They climbed through the woods to get uphill and above the back of the house.  "I can cover you from here," Daryl said.  "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"No sense in both of us taking the chance on getting killed.  Besides, if he gets past me, you can stop him as he runs out the back door," Evan said as he patted Daryl on the back and then headed down into the back yard.  The back door had apparently been left open as the other man hastily vacated the house.  He sliced the pie around the door with the muzzle of his VZ58 in line with his field of view.  The kitchen looked clear, so he slipped into the house.  There was so much trash strewn around it was hard to move without making noise.  Once he made his way across the kitchen to get a view into the living room, he saw a grungy looking fellow in his early thirties with a Ruger Mini 14.  He raised his VZ and said, "Drop it!  Now!"

"Don't shoot man!  Don't shoot!  We were just defending ourselves!  Don't shoot!" the man said as he cowered in the corner with his hands in the air.

"Where are the others?" demanded Evan.

"They all bailed.  I'm the last one here.  I swear."

"Where is Isaac?" Evan demanded again.

"He's out hunting.  He is letting us stay here for a while," the man replied.

"Where is his wife, did she go hunting with him like she normally does?" asked Evan.

"Yea man, they both went.  They've been gone a couple days."

"Wrong answer!" Evan said as he cracked the steel side folding stock against the man's head knocking him unconscious.  He took some zip ties from his vest pocket and secured the man's hands behind his back. 

"J.....shooter is secured.  Move in and help me secure the place," Evan said over the radio.

"Roger that!  On my way," Jason responded.

"Within a few minutes, Jason and Daryl both entered the house via the kitchen to find Evan standing over the unconscious man with his VZ pointed at his head.