The Dragons of Men (The Sons of Liberty Book 2) (19 page)

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sure he was—”

“Well look what we’ve got here.”

Judah spun toward the deep and unfamiliar voice, his hand quickly reaching for his rifle. Instead, he grabbed a fistful of air. His eyes darted to where he had set the rifle down on the ground ten feet away, though it might as well have been a mile out of reach. Two uniformed men held their guns up—flashlights off and faces indistinguishable in the darkness. Judah grabbed Alexandra and shoved her behind him, holding his knife up between him and the armed men.

“You two kids are about as quiet as a boulder crashing down a mountain,” the stranger said. “Well, come on now, we’re not here to cause trouble unless you’re looking for it. Keep your hands where I can see them and get on your knees while we search you.”

“Don’t come any closer!” Judah shouted as they began to back up, his voice hoarse and his breath unusually shaky.

“Now son, I want you to set that knife down and tell me what you love birds are doing here at this base.”

“I said…stay…away!” Judah’s breath came in uneven gulps, his lungs constricting with asthma as they began to thirst for air. He struggled to breathe, holding the blade out in front of him as his hand shook.

“A knife? At a gun fight?” the man said with a grin. “Boy, you have a lot of learning to do and not a lot of time to get it done. Bag ‘em.”

Hands grabbed Judah from behind, quickly twisting his arm and causing him to drop the knife with a cry. Alexandra screamed as well, the man behind them holding her by her hair and shoving them both to the ground. Judah tried to scream, but there was virtually nothing in his lungs. He began to gasp for air—looking over at Alexandra, horrified. He tried to force his muscles to move, but he felt like he was swimming with lead gloves under water. The man finished zip-tying Alexandra’s hands and began to tie Judah.

“He can’t breathe!” Alexandra shouted, tears falling from her eyes as she tried to kick the man.

Her big, stunning, terrified eyes,
Judah thought.

“Please….” Judah strained to pull in even a tenth of the air he needed.

“What a shame,” the man said as he knelt down in front of Judah. “The Imperium could have used a young man like you.” The man shook his head before hauling Judah up and turning to the black-clad soldier next to him. “Contact the others. They should still be outside with the drone. Tell them to search the nearby area for—”

A silvery object flashed inches from Judah’s head, passing with a slight breeze that ruffled his hair and thudding behind him. The man who had been tying Judah’s hands slumped forward onto Judah’s back with a grunt, blood pouring from his pierced eye socket and onto the tiled floor.

The man who had been talking barely had time to glance over before Eric leapt from the shadows, his hand moving in a blur as he sliced cleanly through the stunned soldier’s neck with a black machete. Eric rose in one fluid motion and sheathed the long, bloodied blade in the final man’s chin, yanking it free as the man began to collapse with a spurt of crimson. He knelt down before Judah and Alexandra, a gloved hand covering her mouth and the other holding the deadly edge up before his mouth like a finger, silencing them both.

“Stay quiet,” Eric whispered. “There’s at least twelve more next door and they have a weaponized FOD.” Alexandra’s eyes went wide, though she nodded her head quietly. Eric looked at Judah—his eyes concerned as he wheezed. Eric glanced back over his shoulder as Sarah came sprinting into view as quietly as she could.

“Judah,” she said, running forward as she pulled something from her pocket. She stuck the digital inhaler in his mouth and pressed the button on the top. Cool mist filled his lungs, immediately opening up the constricted airways. He drank in the soothing, invigorating bliss—happy to breathe again.

“I’m so sorry,” Alexandra said. “I shouldn’t have left.”

“Now’s not the time to be sorry,” Eric said, grabbing Judah’s rifle and handing it back to him. “Those men were outside just a few hundred feet away. We were quiet, but if they heard a thing then they’ll be here any moment.”

“Are you okay?” Sarah asked, her eyes searching Judah’s.

“I’m fine,” he whispered, his breath smoothing out. “We can—”

“Hey Sergeant, you guys okay?”

The stranger’s voice echoed from the front of the building, causing Judah and the others to duck down behind an upright shelf next to the main corridor. Eric cursed, raising his weapon as Judah did the same.

“Get ready to run,” Eric whispered, glancing at Sarah. “Take Alexandra and—”

“Freeze!”

Bullets cracked the air above them and struck the shelves to their left. Eric let loose a blind volley of his own around the corner—the thunder from their guns booming through the building. Judah was vaguely aware of Sarah and Alexandra as they screamed—diving behind a fallen shelf, sinking into the shadows on the floor.

“Sarah!” Eric shouted when the others stopped firing at them. “Get ready to—”

Eric’s voice was completely drowned out by the rapid hail of bullets that came next, raining sparks and debris down on them as they backed away. A FOD—retrofitted with three small automatic weapons underneath—lowered itself through the gaping hole in the ceiling fifty feet away, casting moving shadows across the wall as it entered the building. Multiple voices filled the large room as more men poured in, shouting as they demanded Eric and Judah to surrender.

“Stop!” Eric shouted, repeating himself twice in an effort to break their shouts. “We have kids back here!”

“Throw your weapons down and come out with your hands up!”

“Okay!” Eric shouted, unholstering his pistol and throwing it to the floor in beside of him. He grabbed two of the dead men’s weapons and tossed them out on the floor as well.

“Now come out with your hands up or we’ll send in the drone.”

Eric looked over at Judah and Sarah anxiously. “There’s no way we’re letting them take us. I’ll lay down covering fire. You three get ready to run.” Eric stood up and approached the center aisle. He paused next to the aisle, taking a deep breath before shouting. “Alright, we’re coming—”

Before Eric could raise his weapon, a squall of hissing, cracking, and popping filled Judah’s ears as the room seemed to explode with a rapid barrage of bullets. Judah dove onto Alexandra and shut his eyes, covering her body with his own and anticipating the pain of searing metal ripping his flesh to shreds as they both screamed. More gunfire quickly followed as the shrieking of the strangers at the front of the store struggled with the rumbling thunder overhead for dominance over the nearly unbearable decibels.

And just as soon as it had begun, the firing ceased, followed by the whirling sound of something crashing to the floor.

Judah slowly sat up, glancing down at Alexandra underneath him. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him, stunned. “Are you alright?” he whispered. She glanced down at her body before nodding her head. Judah glanced over at his mom and Eric—both of them just as dazed as Eric pushed himself up from atop Sarah. Eric rose to a crouch, glancing around and grabbing the gun he had dropped in the mayhem before holding up a cautioning finger to them, urging them to remain quiet. He held his rifle ready and motioned for Judah to do the same. Fifteen seconds of an astonishingly powerful silence followed before a quiet, nearly laughably meek voice called out from the front of the store.

“Hello?” The voice was not anyone from their group, and Eric motioned for them to stay quiet. “Is anyone alive? I saw you two kids enter earlier.” The voice paused again before speaking ecstatically. “I don’t know if they’re still in here. Fall in on me at the Base Exchange and check your fire. Those kids didn’t look Imperium.”

“Copy,” a voice replied over a radio. “Did it work?”

“You bet your ass it did.”

Eric’s eyes narrowed as he quickly peeked around the shelf, pulling his head back with a curse.

“You!” the voice cried out. “It’s okay. It’s safe now. They’re all dead. You can come out now.”

“Who are you?” Judah bellowed before Eric shot him an angry glance.

“We’re United States military,” the voice shouted back.

“Bullshit!” Eric shouted. “What outfit?”

“Seventy-Fifth Ranger Regiment out of Fort Benning,” the unknown man shouted back.

“How many of you are there?” Eric asked.

“Just me and three others,” the man shouted back. “It’s okay, I got them all. My Rangers will be here in a few moments and I’m not armed. You can see for yourself.”

Eric peeked around the corner twice before taking another deep breath, stepping into the center aisle, and aiming at the stranger.

“Whoa!” the man shouted. “Come on, put the gun down; I said I’m not armed!”

“Keep your hands where I can see them!” Eric shouted.

Judah rose as Eric began moving down the main aisle toward the stranger.

“Stay put,” Judah said to the girls. “I’ll be right back.” Judah stepped out into the aisle with his rifle raised before his mother had a chance to argue. As he did so, his jaw nearly dropped.

The front of the store had become a bloodbath. Even with nothing but the low light that came from the moon, Eric’s flashlight, and the sparks that danced from the smoldering wreckage of the drone, Judah could see dark stains splattered on the walls and white floor. Thirteen men lay dead on the ground, and a frail-looking man with a glowing screen attached to his forearm stood in the middle of the carnage, holding his empty hands before him to show he was not holding anything.

“It’s okay,” the man said as Eric slowly approached. “We were here for them.”

“Who are you?” Eric demanded. “You don’t look Army.”

The man nodded his head. “My friends are, but I’m not.”

“Then who are you?”

“I’d like to think of myself as the innovator,” the man replied. “Someone who’s trying to figure out how to best fight the madness sweeping this country.”

“Where are your friends?” Eric asked. Judah shifted his gun uneasily as he scanned the base outside for a sign of the men the stranger was talking about.

“They’re watching out for any Imperium soldiers that might have escaped,” the man replied. “Now if you’ll lower that gun and let me radio them, I can tell them to come here with their guns down.”

Eric nodded, though he didn’t lower the gun as the man radioed his men, telling them to approach with their weapons down. Eric turned to Judah and spoke quietly. “Keep your eyes open.”

Judah nodded, though he couldn’t help but scan the dead men strewn about again. He couldn’t figure out how this one man had managed to kill them all so quickly. “What did you do to them?” Judah finally asked.

“To them, nothing,” the man replied with a laugh, looking around him like an artist happy with the finished product. He tapped a few buttons on a screen attached to his forearm and looked at them victoriously. “Hell, I wasn’t even sure it’d work. I mean, I knew I’d eventually get it—every lock eventually cracks when I’m hammering away at it—but you never really know for certain until you try, am I right?”

Three men decked out in military gear approached the front of the store, holding their hands up.

“Now let me see some ID,” Eric said. The three soldiers tossed Eric their identification cards and began introducing themselves one by one. Eric glanced down at them before nodding. “Rangers, huh?”

“Yes sir,” the oldest soldier replied.

“Well, it’s good to see some American troops again,” Eric said, looking around at the motionless black-clad soldiers. “And whatever you just did, you have my thanks.”

The meek man with the glowing screen on his wrist smiled and approached, gripping Eric’s hand and shaking it before moving to Judah to do the same. “I say any attempt to kill those treasonous assholes is time well spent. The name’s Trey Webster.”

“I’m just Eric,” Eric said with a nod of his head, “And this here is Judah.”

“Nice to meet you both, just Eric and Judah,” Trey said with a grin as he shook Judah’s hand. The oldest of the three Rangers—a Lieutenant named Collin Rue—introduced himself and the other soldiers. As they spoke with Eric about their military background, Judah focused on the man who had been talking at first. He was a strange man, completely out of place with the Rangers. After the three soldiers and Eric finished greeting one another, Trey spoke up again. “We’ve been waiting for this group ever since the base was bombed.”

“You knew they’d come?”

Trey nodded his head. “The Imperium has been bombing every base this side of Birmingham. Each time it’s been the same. They move in fast with fighters and low-level bombers, take the base out while losing a couple of their birds, and wait for a few days to move in with small teams to search the base for anyone that survived and didn’t decide to run. Lucky for you my pet project finally worked. Now am I to believe this kid here was the one bellowing like a girl, or is there someone else hiding back there?”

Eric looked back toward the rear aisle and shouted for the girls to come out. Sarah and Alexandra slowly emerged, their eyes wide as they surveyed the carnage.

“My God,” Sarah said. “What did you do?”

“What I do best,” Trey said, flashing a conniving grin before introducing himself to the girls.