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“Colonel Thomas,” says the pilot. “We are closing in on the target.”
“Good,” Colonel Thomas replies. “How far out are we?”
“We are about two clicks out, sir.”
“Okay,” Colonel Thomas says as he looks out the window. There are several military vehicles on the road below the helicopter that he is in. “Have we heard from the squad I sent to the college to get the other suspect?”
“No, sir. We haven’t been able to get in touch with them since they last checked in about thirty minutes ago.”
“Have someone keep trying to reach them. I need to know if they have the suspect or not.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Pilot,” Colonel Thomas orders. “Arm the missiles. I want to make sure we wipe out these terrorists. I have intel that says the leader and the chemicals for the virus are in a building in the back of the compound with guards on top.”
“Missiles armed.”
“Good. Now bring this bird down to twenty feet off the deck, so they don’t see us coming too soon.”
The helicopter descends closer to the ground. The Colonel looks through some binoculars and sees more of his troops coming up the road from the other side so that they trap the terrorists from all sides. The soldiers in the vehicles below the helicopter ready their weapons. A 50-caliber machine gun is loaded and readied for the attack from on top of one of the trucks. There is a platoon of soldiers walking along the right side of the road near the vehicles. The lead soldier motions for the platoon to head to the right away from the vehicles so that they can come in from the front. The platoon double times off to the right about a hundred yards and then turns towards the compound.
“All units,” the Colonel says over the radio. “Attack!”
The troops start racing towards the train yard, firing their weapons. A couple soldiers have rocket launchers that they fire at the entrance gate as well as some of the front buildings. The helicopter rises into the air to get a better shot of the building where the terrorist leader and virus are supposed to be.
“We are under attack!” exclaims Marcus. “Sound the alarms! Protect the lab!”
AoL soldiers begin firing back at the military troops. Some AoL soldiers run to trucks and Jeeps and drive out to attack the military troops. The front gate blows up by a rocket launched by one of the military soldiers. AoL soldiers jump to avoid the explosion. Some AoL soldiers are running towards the fence and ducking behind walls, shooting around corners at the military.
“You guys,” yells Marcus. “Get to the lab and defend it. Shoot anyone that isn’t one of us that tries to get near it.”
Four soldiers run off, rifles at the ready, towards the lab building. Once there, they position themselves around the exterior of the building. Marcus grabs a couple of soldiers and runs into a building near the front gate and up the stairs. He goes to a room with a window facing the front gate that has a 50-caliber machine gun. Marcus tells the soldiers to man the 50-caliber gun and take aim at the approaching troops and starts firing. Military soldiers start falling from being shot or jumping to take cover out of the way of the shooting. Near the front gate, several AoL soldiers have taken position behind a truck and are returning fire at the military.
Cleopatra runs out of the main building with the control room, firing her pistol towards the front of the building facing the field where some military soldiers have worked their way into the train yard compound. Anthony is close behind her, stopping occasionally to shoot his machine gun at the military soldiers. Cleopatra runs for towards the lab. An occasional military soldier gets past the main building, and AoL soldiers exchange gunfire with them.
As Cleopatra and Anthony approach the lab, they see the guards surrounding the building are firing at military from all sides. The AoL guards on the roof are shooting at military soldiers as well. Cleopatra runs into the lab building. Anthony stops and looks towards the game building where he sees Dean, Alex, and Danny running away from the chow hall and in the direction of the roundhouse. Anthony sees Cleopatra make it into the lab building and then goes after Dean, Alex, and Danny to see where they are going.
“Fire missiles at that building,” Colonel Thomas orders as he points to the building with the AoL soldiers on top.
“We have troops near that building, sir,” says the gunner.
“I said fire! We need to take that building down before they release the virus.”
“Yes sir,” says the gunner. “Missiles away.”
Two missiles leave the black cylinders under each wing and target the lab building. The missiles strike near the front door of the building on the first floor. There is a large explosion.
“Fire again!” says Colonel Thomas.
“Missiles away.”
Two more missiles fire from the helicopter and hit the building with a larger explosion. These must’ve hit the lab. The guards on the top of the building are knocked off their feet. They get up and jump off the building. The building starts to collapse to the ground.
Anthony hears the first explosion and looks back to see the lab building being struck with missiles. He turns and starts to run towards the building when the second set of missiles hit the building, knocking Anthony to the ground. Anthony gets up angrily and looks back towards the direction that Dean and his sons ran. Anthony gets up and chases after them.
Dean, Alex and Danny duck and turn after hearing the first explosion. Looking at the lab as the second set of missiles hit the building, Dean sees Anthony near the game building. Anthony starts running in the direction of them. Dean pulls up Alex and gives him a little push to get him moving.
“Go,” exclaims Dean. “We need to get out of here before this place comes down on us.”
“Let’s get to the roundhouse,” Danny yells over the sounds of gunfire.
“No,” Dean interrupts. “Anthony is following us. We will head to the officers’ barracks and then split up. You two will then head to the roundhouse and get that fence opened up while I take care of Anthony.”
“What should we do if any of these soldiers try to stop us?” Alex asks.
“Do what you have to do,” Dean says. “Just get to those bikes.”
The three Robertsons turn a bit and run towards the officers’ barracks. A military soldier comes out from between a couple of buildings and aims his rifle at Alex. Danny tackles the soldier and stabs him in the chest with his knife. Danny gets up and runs to catch up with Alex and Dean. Dean gets to the door of the barracks first and opens it, as Alex and then Danny run inside. Dean runs in behind them and closes the door. He finds a board near the door and barricades the door closed. Alex and Danny run to the back end of the barracks and look out a window. They see several AoL soldiers and military soldiers fighting and shooting at each other.
“The back is no good,” Alex says. “We’ll have to go out a side window.”
“Go!” yells Dean. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Danny and Alex grab a footlocker and use it to break through a window. They set the footlocker down and use it to climb out of the window one at a time. Dean hears pounding on the front door. It must be Anthony. Dean runs to the shattered window and climbs out, just as Anthony starts shooting at the front door. Once outside the window, Danny, Alex, and Dean run behind the next building and towards the roundhouse.
Two AoL soldiers come around the corner of the building and run into Alex and Danny. The soldiers grab them by the arms. Alex circles his arms around the soldiers and chops down breaking the soldier’s hold. Alex then palm thrusts the soldier in the face, dropping the soldier to his knees. Danny kicks the soldier holding him in the left knee, causing the soldier to release him. Danny than strikes the soldier on the side of his head with a couple of elbow blows knocking the soldier out. Dean catches up with them and the three continue to run towards the roundhouse. They must dodge gunfire and grenades being thrown from both the AoL and the military.
Anthony finally breaks through the door of the officers’ barracks and enters the building. He sees a window with shattered glass and runs to the window. He looks out and doesn’t see Dean, Alex nor Danny. There are several AoL and military soldiers fighting behind the barracks. Anthony jumps out the window and starts shooting at the military soldiers. After the soldiers are dead, Anthony tells the AoL soldiers to find a man with two young men. He tells them that they are traitors. The AoL soldiers pick up their rifles and take off searching for the traitors.
Anthony runs behind the buildings looking around for the Robertsons. He sees Dean round the far corner of the roundhouse, so Anthony runs towards the building. He motions for a soldier to go through the roundhouse and another to circle around the far side of the building. He creeps along the side of the building that he saw Dean go until he gets to the back corner. He peeks around the corner and sees the soldier come around the other side, but no sign of the Robertsons.
“Where did they go?” Anthony asks the soldier. Just then, the soldier who cut through the roundhouse appears. “Did you see them?”
The soldier who came around the corner replies, “no sir. Nothing this way.”
The other soldier replies, “I didn’t see them either.”
“They have to be around here someplace. They couldn’t have just vanished. You two check out the building thoroughly.”
The two soldiers go back into the roundhouse and start searching. One goes to the right and the other to the left. They each check behind boxes and around the sides of the locomotive. Once they get back to the front, they turn and head towards the locomotive. One stays on the ground pointing his rifle at the locomotive while the other soldier climbs on it and starts to search the train for any sign of the traitors.
“Nothing sir,” says the soldier on the train to Anthony.
“Where did they go?” Anthony asks frustrated. “Go check the next building and see if they got around us and are in there.”
“Yes sir,” replies both soldiers.
Anthony starts looking around on the ground for any sign that Dean, Alex, and Danny may have left. As he looks near the fence, he finds a chain link on the ground. Anthony picks it up and examines it. He looks at the fence and sees that a section is slightly pushed forward. Anthony pushes the fence aside and ducks through it. He looks down the hill behind it and sees the Robertsons running at the bottom of the hill towards the train tracks. Anthony lifts his rifle and takes aim on Dean. He fires a shot, hitting Dean in the left side of his back.
“You’re hit,” Danny yells.
“Dad,” Alex says. “Are you okay?”
“Keep going,” Dean says holding his left side. “Get to the bikes and head to your uncle’s.”
Danny and Alex continue running to the train tracks and across them. They run to warehouse building and enter through the open door. Dean, bleeding from the gunshot, limps across the train tracks and into the warehouse. The sound of motorcycles is heard in the warehouse. Danny races out of the warehouse door on his motorcycle, followed by Alex and then Dean. Another gunshot is heard and the bullet strikes the ground near Alex’s motorcycle as he exits the warehouse.
“Dammit,” Alex yells.
“Hurry up,” Danny shouts. “Let’s get out of here.”
They race between two of the warehouse buildings and head towards the dirt road leading to the main road. Once they get to the main road, they race down the road away from the train yard. Alex tries to look at the side of his motorcycle as he rides to see if there is any serious damage from the gunshot. Danny slows down and pulls up next to Dean.
“Are you okay?” Danny asks.
“I’ll be okay,” Dean replies. “Keep an eye on the road in case any of the military pops up. We want to avoid as many people as we can.”
“Okay,” Danny says. “Let’s hop over to 285 and take that over to Uncle Nick’s”
“Yeah,” Alex says. “Less chance the military will be on the highway looking for us.”
Danny, Alex, and Dean turn off the road and onto I-285 and head north. Dean starts to slow down as the pain increases on his side. Danny looks back and sees Dean slowing down. He motions to Alex that they need to pull over and check on their dad. Danny, Alex, and Dean pull their motorcycles over to the side of the highway. Alex gets off his motorcycle first and runs back to Dean.
“Dad. Are you okay?”
“I’ll be okay,” Dean responds. “We need to get to your uncle’s place. He’ll know what to do.”
“But dad,” Danny says. “You’re losing a lot of blood. You’re falling behind as well, and it’s about twenty minutes until we get there. Can you make it?”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
Alex takes off his knapsack and grabs out the first aid kit. He opens it and pulls out some gauze pads and hands them to Danny. He also pulls out a packet of a blood clotting powder. He moves Dean’s hand out of the way, opens his shirt and sees the wound. There is an entry wound in his lower back near his kidney area and an exit wound on the front side. Alex pours the blood clotting powder on the wound, back, and front. Dean grimaces in pain, but the bleeding slows and the stops. Danny puts some gauze on the back wound and some on the front wound while Alex tapes them down.
“There,” Alex says. “That should stop the bleeding until we get to Uncle Nick’s and he can stitch you up.”
“Thanks,” Dean says. “We need to get moving again. Get on your bikes and let’s go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to rest a minute, dad,” Danny asks.
“No time,” Dean replies. “I’ll be okay now.”
Alex puts the first aid kit back in his knapsack and gets back on his motorcycle. Danny gets on him as well and the three merge back into traffic and head down the highway, heading towards I-75 and Nick’s house. Danny follows Dean, so he can keep an eye on him in case he starts to slow down. Alex sends a text message to Nick saying that they are on their way to his house and that Dean is hurt.
They head north on I-75 and take the Dobbins Air Base exit and turn towards Nick’s house. After a couple of turns, they pull into Nick’s driveway and pull up at the back of his house. They park their motorcycles and get off. Dean leans against his bike as a Dodge truck pulls into the driveway and parks. Nick gets out of the driver side and runs around the truck and to Dean.
“Are you guys okay?” Nick asks.
“Dad got shot,” Alex says. “It went in his back and looks like it came out on the front. We got blood clot powder and gauze pads on it now.”
“A through and through,” Nick says. “If that’s the case, that is good, as long as the bullet didn’t hit any organs.” Nick looks closer at the bandaging the Alex and Danny did. “Did you two get hit?”
“No,” Danny says. “Alex almost caught one coming out of the warehouse, but it missed him.”
“Yeah,” Alex says. “I almost forgot I need to check my bike and make sure it is okay.” Alex goes back to his motorcycle and takes a closer look at it.
“Let’s get him inside so I can take a closer look at your dad,” Nick says. Nick and Danny help Dean upstairs and into the house.
“Do you know?” Dean asks. “Did we get them?”
“Be quiet and let us help you,” Nick says.
“I need to know,” Dean pleads. “Did our plan work?”
Nick and Danny lay Dean down on the couch. Danny goes to the bathroom and grabs the first aid kit and some towels. Nick goes into the kitchen and opens the fridge and grabs a couple bottles of water and returns to the living room and the couch. He opens one bottle and gives it to Dean. Dean takes a sip. Alex comes in the house and checks on Dean. Dean says he’ll be okay. Danny returns with the first aid kit and some towels.
“So, what happened?” Nick asks.
“Well,” Alex says. “I’m guessing the military got our fake message because they showed up while we were at the train yard. All hell broke loose and we had to make a run for it. Anthony, one of the second in commands saw us and chased us. We were almost safe when he saw us again and shot dad and almost hit me.”
“Yeah,” Danny continues. “Before we got out, we saw the lab get blown to bits by some missiles fired by a helicopter.”
“Well,” Nick says. “Before you texted me, a report came across the network that Colonel Thomas and his troops were attacking a terrorist base and were fired upon. He reported destroying the suspected lab and killing the leader of the terrorists. He said there were a lot of casualties on both sides, but that his troops have taken control of the terrorist base. I don’t know much more than that as I had to get back here.”
“Well, hopefully, the heads of the AoL are dead.”
“I’ll check after I get your dad patched up,” Nick says. “Now, Dean, let’s take a look at this and see what I can do to fix you up.”
Nick opens Dean’s shirt and slowly removes the gauze pads. He pours a little water on the front wound to wash the blood off so he can take a closer look at the wound. It is an exit wound. A couple stitches should be all it needs to close the front up. Nick leans Dean on his side so he can take a closer look at the wound in the back. As he leans him up, Nick notices some heavy bruising starting on Dean’s side. Could be bullet shrapnel or internal damage. Nick removes the gauze pad and sees the entry wound, but there seems to be some excess bruising.
“Oh no,” Nick says. “We’ve got a problem.”
