Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) A. American (read after .txt) 📖

“What the hell are you doing?” Ted practically shouted.

Without moving the weapon from his head, Dalton replied. “He said it was open season on anyone left standing after the strike.”

“There’s another strike inbound. You need to stop that shit.”

The rifle barked again, and Dalton replied, “This is just confusing them even more. They’re already more befuddled than a twelve-year-old boy in a whore house. They can’t tell where the shots are coming from.”

Swamp Rat, weapons inbound. You’ve got about twelve seconds.

Roger that, Bone. Thank you.

The Russian and Cuban troops that survived the initial strike were trying to get their shit together. They hadn’t yet wrapped their heads around just what happened and, as a result, were out in the open trying to aid the wounded and recover equipment. Because of this, when the next flight of weapons streaked in, there was nothing they could do, and they fell like blades of grass before the scythe.

Good bombs, Bone Two. Good bombs.

Copy that, Swamp Rat. Good luck.

Swamp Rat Two, Swamp Rat one. Maintain your current position. We’re coming in with the green machine to clean up.

Copy that. Standing by.

Mel sat on the edge of the bed and woke me up. I rolled over and looked at her. “Sorry to wake you up, but Linus is here and wants to talk to you.”

Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and tried to get my head together. I was groggy. “How long have I been asleep?”

“You slept all night. I was going to let you sleep until you woke up as you had requested, but he just showed up.”

Swinging my legs out of the bed, I pulled on a pair of pants, not bothering to put on any drawers. Pulling a shirt on as I walked out of the bedroom, I found Sarge standing in the living room.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“We need to roll. The bombers hit the commies. We’re going to take our tank down there and make sure there’s no one left alive.” The old man looked at Mel when he made the last statement.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“Looks like we smoked their asses. But we need to go in on the ground and make sure. The guys are still there. Dalton is plinking at a couple he’s seen moving around. But we’ll go in with the big green machine and wipe out what’s left.”

I nodded. “Alright Let me get my boots on and grab my kit.”

I picked up my boots and sat on the couch. Mel came out of the bedroom and handed me a pair of socks. “Thanks, babe.” After getting dressed and collecting my gear, I took Mel’s hand.

“I’ll be back when we’re done. This shouldn’t be a big deal. The bombers have already smashed them.”

She leaned in and kissed me. “If this is what we have to do to live peacefully, then go do it. Just be careful.”

“I won’t let him get hurt, Mel.” Sarge said.

The look on her face said she didn’t believe him. But neither of them said anything about it. As I headed for the door, Little Bit ran up and handed me a large travel mug. “Here, daddy; here’s some tea for you.”

Taking the cup, I rubbed her head and said, “Thank you, sweetie; this is just what I needed.”

The tank wasn’t parked in the yard. It was too big to get through the gate and sat on the street out front idling. Behind it sat an MRAP and I could see Thad behind the wheel.

“Who’s driving that thing?” I asked, pointing at the tank.

“Jamie. She has to drive everything, or she gets pissed. Ian’s in there too and I’ll be on the gun. You’re going to ride with Thad and man the turret in the truck. Perez and Aric are there as well. We’re going to set up on the overpass where we can look down onto the target. Anything that moves will get hit. You look for personnel and I’ll handle vehicles.”

“Works for me,” I replied as I broke away to head to the truck.

I went to the back and climbed in. Thad turned and looked back at me, that typical smile spread across his face. “Mornin’, Sheriff.”

“You ready to go mop these assholes up?” I asked.

The smile faded, “Let’s get it over with.” As he spoke, the tank in front of us lurched and began to roll. Thad turned and put the big truck in gear and we followed it out onto highway nineteen.

Jamie had the pedal to the metal and it was all the truck could do to keep up with her. I was surprised at just how fast the big green machine could go.

“Damn, Thad. She’s going to leave us in the dust.”

Thad was coaxing every bit he could manage out of the big truck. “Naw, she ain’t getting away.”

We flew past the market in Altoona and were soon approaching the one in Umatilla. Unlike Altoona, I actually had a chance to look out here and saw quite a crowd. The people stopped what they were doing and pointed as we passed them at nearly sixty miles an hour.

Ted’s voice crackled over the radio. Swamp Rat one, there are a couple pieces of armor starting to move around. We’ve stopped taking pot shots at them until you arrive.

Roger that, Sarge replied. Just stay out of sight until we get there. Tell Dalton to lay off that Springfield for now. He’ll get plenty of chances later.

“You ready for this?” Aric asked.

With a shrug, I replied, “It needs to be done. I want to be able to sleep at night.”

Dalton had already laid the rifle aside. He knew what was coming and didn’t want their position discovered before the real firepower arrived. In the meantime, he busied himself by sharpening his kukri. Mike was lying beside him and lowered the binoculars he was looking through.

“What the hell are you going to do with that?” Mike asked.

Dalton shrugged, “No sense in wasting