Chapter 14

My position turned out to be a broken air-conditioning device. It was a box like affair many years out of date, and half ripped away. I was able to move some of the insulation out of the way and laid my blanket down and folded it over. Then taking some insulation I spread it back over the blanket. After making a good gun port through the front of the damaged box, I then crawled in through the folded blanket. I knew I was well concealed and would be hard to spot. My only concern was that someone might this position too. I had no doubt that I could handle that situation.

I could look around and tell that my position could only be seen from two places. One was clear across town at the old train station. It had a tall feature sticking up, that looked completely in tact. The other was one of the churches, that still had a bell tower. Both sites were way out of position to view the street in front of the theater. So I didn’t give them much thought, other than it would be a hell of a long shot to my position.

The moon light faded and I became aware that we had cloud cover again. The wind picked up and the night blacken, soon rain drops were splatting against my exposed face. The rain grew harder and the wind swept across the roof with sheets of water. Pulling the cover over my face, I settled back deeper in my nest. It took a while, but soon I could feel the wetness growing over my back and down my legs. The rain was soaking through. It was cold, but nothing I couldn’t stand. I used my goggles on the street below but only saw puddles of spreading rain water. The hours passed slowly, to help my waiting, I pulled my pack around and fumbled for my sack of broken cookie crumbs. I really didn’t like eating them this way, as the next thing I would need is a drink of water. I was bored and tired of waiting, with nothing ever happening.

I heard a click and then another click on my ear piece. That meant trouble. The cookies were shoved back into my pack and I wiped the rain from my face, and goggles. Inching forward, I could look around the broken edge of my box and see the Hard Ware Store. I couldn’t see any movement there, and Whispered in my radio. “M...” I spoke just the initial, we weren’t to use full names. We were somewhat positive our frequency wasn’t being picked up, but it was a precaution from revealing too much about ourselves. I heard a single click and then I said the initial N, and a moment later another single click. That meant the two clicks came from Bill. I didn’t know where he was at, but there was something happening near him.

Shelly “mes listening in the bunker, realized that something was up and asked, Bill if he was secure. A single click came in reply. I waited in agonizing moments for Shelly to ask the next question. ADo you have motion?” “ single click again. Okay this was getting serious. AIs it coming?” She was going down a list of questions, trying to pick out the ones particular to the situation. Now there came two clicks. We knew it wasn’t coming at him. The next question, is it going, was also two clicks. Now going back over what had been said and sent, the object was moving, but not at him or going away. Shelly took too long asking the next question and so I whispered the next one. “Is the motion sideways?” Another single click.

Not knowing Bill position, it didn’t give us an exact location, but we knew now, there was movement towards the theater. I figured Bill would be somewhere along the route to the Theater. So I assumed the movement was in that direction. My next question was better. “How many?” I heard four single clicks.

I was in a good position, and could see right down the street. Yet I didn’t see any movement. The rain had been coming down hard, and the night goggles had to be wiped clean of distorting rain drops.

I pulled my blanket further over my head, to block out the rain, and focused my vision down the long street. Nothing was moving up the middle, but then I saw something along the west side of the street. I was looking for four of them, but I couldn’t count them. There was certainly more than one, but that was all I could tell from here.

I heard two more clicks, and assumed it was Bill. “Do you have more movement?” I asked, and got one click in reply. Okay, I thought. Could we have two groups. I asked “ Is it a different movement?” “nd another single click. AHow many?” The reply was another four clicks. Now we knew there was two groups. Through a series of questions and clicks, Bill told us that the two groups were moving up the street one on each side. He wanted to whisper, but couldn’t because they were strung out, and one might hear him. Of course most of this I deduced from the questions. The problem was, were we asking the right questions.

I saw the figures moving up the sides of the street now. The rain was abating, and vision was clearing. Two figures stopped and moved into a building beside the theater. The others that I could see moved into the other buildings around the gathering spot. Soon they were hidden out of sight. I waited a few minutes to make sure nothing more was going to happen and then radioed back to Shelly.

Shelly had been listening to it all and had the same information. I told her to inform Violet what had developed so far and went back to watching the streets and the buildings. I knew the buildings they were in, and was watching the obvious places where they might take up sniping positions. The night wore on, and there was nothing more. I was pleased that Bill had withheld his desire to kill them all, because Violet would have blamed us for starting it all.

The rest of the night, was wet and cold. My legs were wet and the water continued to soak through long after the rain quit. The material I had over my blanket was soggy with rain, and it was running down through my blanket in a stream. It wasn’t that bad, but it bothered me. I was not comfortable.

Morning came with the sun warming the wet earth. Spots where the sun lit, was steaming. It rose up to hang suspended in the street. The air was full of it and hid most of the street from view. I had put my goggles away before dawn. I did it slowly so that my soggy cover wouldn’t jiggle and give me away. Now I was scanning my scope from roof top to roof top. Window to window. I spotted a couple of positions, that I knew almost certain, someone was there. I didn’t know exactly where Bill was, but I knew he was down the street on the other side of the theater. My two positions I’d spotted neither one was him. They were doing the same thing we were, only we got here first.

Whispering into my radio, I told Shelly to do a roll call. She responded by asking M to check in. We heard a click, then N to check in, another click. Finally B to check in, and a final click. Okay, we were all here and awake. I figured we were all wet, maybe not Bill if he had good sense to get in a building without a leaking roof.

At nine o’clock Violet came on the radio and said she was leaving the Bunker. We let Bill answer first. He clicked once, and a moment later, another click, and another pause before a click. I waited about the same interval and sent my click. Violet knew we heard her and that she was coming. I asked Shelly in a whisper if she had reported to Violet what we’d seen during the night, and Violet answered for her.

“Yes she did, and what has taken place is nothing more than what you’ve done. They are just making sure they have some security for their people too.” The meeting was still on.

Taking the route that I had discussed with Violet yesterday, she would have come to the Theater, from the north. To my horror, she was coming on a straight line from the bank. She had thrown the secret of our location away. I could see Dave and Donna each carrying folding chairs. Nicole and Greg were packing a couple of leg folding tables. Again to my horror I saw that Anna was with them. Our main medical person and Violet had her in harm’s way. She was a loss we could not risk.

For some reason she had the three girls I had helped escape from those people. Each one was bringing a chair or carrying something with a towel over it. The last person bringing up the rear, was our main teacher Tyler Page. Seeing our teacher, I was relieved that Violet didn’t bring all the girls with her too. With so many being pregnant she may have thought better of it. Not wanting to give the wrong impression of what Bunker life is like.

The tables and chairs had been set up, by the time I saw the Fallout shelter people coming. Marla whispered the news of their arrival to the rest of us. They came from the direction that I surmised they would. They too had to be thinking of an ambush waiting along the obvious route. There was no other reason to go along way around just to come from another direction. That different route, was confirmation I’d been right.

Violet and the members of the party were sitting at the table. A punch bowel and what looked like cookies laid out before them. It gave the look of an afternoon tea party, waiting for the guests to arrive.

The group that arrived, had five men and two women. They didn’t bring anything, nothing to sit on or any type of gift. It didn’t surprise me, as I knew they probably didn’t have enough as it was. I recognized two of the men, one was Dewy Pratt, now that I knew who he was, I could easily pick him out. The other man, had been there the night I found them beating Marla and Bill. I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if Marla or Bill either one had started shooting. I wouldn’t have blamed them at all.

Words were being said, but we were too far away to hear clearly. I could hear some of the tone, and it didn’t sound like anyone was fawning over the other. Watching the body language said more. I saw the three girls, the Charmers sisters take a step back from the table. They weren’t sitting down, having gotten up from the chairs across from Violet when the Shelter group arrived. I surmised that they were making room for the other leaders to sit and discuss details. No one took the empty seats, but remained standing. Violet stayed seated and I could see her hand gestures for them to sit down with her. The voices went back and forth, only one person speaking at a time. The pitch an volume rose, and some arm waving on the others part sounded quite angry.

Bills voice came over the radio, saying if it all goes to hell, he’s taking out the one waving his arms. I heard Marla reply that she would take out the Man next to his right. That was the guy I remembered seeing before. Nora spoke up saying she had a bead on a second story window. I told them I was sighting on one in a third story window. I also told them we had to wait until something happened, or we would never convince Violet otherwise.

I saw the Charmer girls all take another step back and then one of the women from the shelter, went up to the table and threw the platter of cookies at Violet. My radio came to life as Bill asked is that good enough. “No,” I said, “Tossing Cookies don’t count. Violet has to be convinced.”

The next thing that happened was Greg moved up to stand beside Violets chair. Then two of the men rushed him, and the fight was on. Dave started for the Dewy Pratt, the man waving his arms, but he suddenly twisted and fell. The sound of the shot reached our ears shortly after I said fire! Into the radio.

I fired at my suspected target on the third story, and I saw a clump of material drop from sight. I was surprised that my rifle didn’t make that big a noise, it was the first time I ever used a silencer. They really work. I saw that my other target on a second floor was still there. Nora must have been aiming at a different target. A slight adjustment, and that target too was gone. The people in the street were all falling to the ground. Some looked to be intentionally seeking cover, while others were jerking sideways and landing without breaking their fall.

Loud reports were sounding from the near buildings, while our rifles with their silencers were hardly noticeable. I could see a slight burst of flame as the other snipers fired from cover. I just zeroed in on those and squeezed the trigger. Suddenly the firing stopped. It wasn’t over, we just ran out of targets. There had to be at least three maybe more snipers left that moved in during the night. The street around the table was a jumble of bodies. Violet was laying next to the table as was Greg and Donna. The Charmers sisters were nowhere to be seen. I think they must have been running back to the Bunker. Anna was there, but moving towards Greg. She looked okay, I didn’t see a blood trail. Dave was laying still, up against the side walk. Tyler Page was sprawled on the ground behind Violet. I could see a large red spot on her front. The five men and two women from the others, were also on the ground. None of them moving, but I sure wanted to put a round into each of them.

“I think there’s more. We didn’t get them all.” Bill whispered in the radio. “Any one have a target?”

“I see movement in the door way, building left of the theater.” Marla said.

“Take it out, it’s not one of ours.” Bill urged.

“Where are the three girls?” Nora wondered. I told her they were headed back the bunker.

A suddenly splat was heard in the door way, and something went spinning out onto the sidewalk. Looking through my scope, I saw an arm laying there. Someone was hurt pretty bad. A moment later, Bill came on the radio, talking loud. I see two figure running south on the next street over. They’ve had enough.

“With those two running, that accounts for all of them.” Nora hoped.

“Can’t be sure.” I cautioned. “We might not have seen all of them last night.”

“What do we do now.” Marla was asking for instructions as well as questioning our next move.

“Everyone hold their place, I’m going down to look things over.” I told them, and then said to Shelly. “Get everyone you can together and bring some stretchers. We’re going to need help getting our wounded back to the Bunker.”

“How many are hurt?” Shelly’s voice was quaking with emotion.

“Don’t know yet. Could be five maybe more.” I spoke on the go. Leaving the lump of wet grey material I headed back down inside the building. I still carried my rifle, but left the rest of my gear there, except the radio and my revolver.

I moved from one bit of cover to the next, expecting someone to take a shot at me. I hoped Nora was right and the rest of them had skedaddled. The first thing I did when reaching the scene, was make sure the bad guys were dead. I wasn’t sure about a couple of them, so I shot them each twice more. I saw Violet flinch at the gunshot, and knew that she was alive. Greg seemed to be bleeding only from some lumps on his head. Anna was taking care of that. I asked her if she was okay, she nodded and said she thought so. Moving over to Donna I put a hand on her and could feel her shaking. I didn’t see any blood, but couldn’t be sure.

“Donna, are you hurt?” I turned her over and could see dirt from the street pressed into her face. She was shaking violently now, her eyes not focusing. I asked her again, and she looked around herself, and said she didn’t think so. I left her and went on to check out Tyler Page. She wasn’t breathing as far as I could tell. A check of her pulse, was weak. I got Anna’s attention and she came over to render aid.

Dave was gone. I knew it from the way he fell, that the shot was fatal. There was nothing I could do for him. Going back to Tyler, Anna was blowing air into her lungs, giving her mouth to mouth resuscitation. I checked her pulse again and it seemed stronger. I couldn’t see her wound, but the blood was still spreading on her blouse. Donna recovering from her shock, was on her knees trying to help. Donnas face was pale white, but she was giving aid.

I checked Violet out thoroughly. I couldn’t find any wounds, but a large swelling bruise on the side of her head. I learned later that she had been kicked hard when Greg was fighting with the two men. Bill saw it all, as he put one round into each man attacking Greg. I wasn’t satisfied until I checked Violet completely to make sure she was okay, other than the huge knot on the side of her head. That was serious enough, and I realized it could be life threaten. I felt relief to see that she wasn’t ripped apart by a snipers bullet.

Help got there with five stretchers, and we loaded both the dead and wounded on them. The girls were shocked at seeing the dead bodies, but forged ahead and loaded Dave’s lifeless body on one. Violet and Greg were next, even though Greg was coming around, we still made him lay down on the stretcher. Tyler was the one that brought out the tears from the girls. She had been special to all of them and they loved her.

When the girls started back to the Bunker with our injured and dead, I called in the others. Bill showed up first and then Nora. Marla came a while later having gone and picked up my things from my position. Next we went into the buildings and riffled the bodies of the dead snipers. We gathered their rifles and whatever else they had. The ones in the street had a couple of pistols tucked away, and we took those too. The bodies we pulled out into the street beside the others. Tomorrow we would find a place to stick them, if it was possible. We couldn’t be sure of our safety at street level yet.

The shuttle was back waiting for us when we finally arrived at the Bank entrance. Mandy and Fred were both operating it. Nothing wrong with that, and it helped to get things done quicker. By now anyone that came into the bank could see all the foot traffic we left on the floor. The lift certainly had signs of our comings and goings. It wouldn’t take much for anyone seeing it, to put two and two together. Maybe today we had taken care of the problem. Some had escaped, but they had lost the battle, if not the war. In the ensuing days of our fight, I intended on wiping out all the remaining hostile’s in that fallout shelter.