The day after: An apocalyptic morning (138 page)

              The plinking of bullets against the logs that they were using for cover picked up in intensity as more of the squads below reacted to the attack. Paula's team all knew that those platoons behind and forward of the squad that had been attacked were now rushing at top speed towards the rear of the hill, trying to cut them off as they retreated. It was something that they had never even come close to doing yet but still they tried every time.

              It was as Hector turned to begin his own trip down the hill that the seemingly impossible happened. A 5.56 millimeter bullet, fired randomly and without even really being properly aimed by a squad sergeant down below, just happened to pass perfectly through the same eight inch gap that Hector had just fired through. Hector was, at that moment, on his hands and knees facing downhill, just starting to crawl out of the danger zone. The bullet struck his left buttock, moving parallel to his torso. It chewed through the muscle tissue with ease, glanced off the curvature of his pelvis, chipping a large bone segment off, and then drilled through his left kidney before exiting in a spray of blood from his lower back.

              "Ahh fuck!" Hector screamed, falling forward as he felt an intense burning pain spreading through his lower body. "I'm hit! I'm hit!"

              "Hector!" Leanette, his wife, screamed, instantly abandoning her own egress and crawling over to him.

              "Goddammit!" Paula yelled, turning and taking a quick look at the damage. She saw a small blood stain on his butt and a larger one on his back. "Hector can you move?"

              "Fuckin' aye!" he yelled, continuing to crawl down the hill, Leanette pulling him by the arms. Above them the bullets continued to slam into the hill and pass overhead. With Leanette and Doris' help, they managed to get him lower down on the hill so that he could try to stand. Here is where real trouble struck. He tried to stand to make the run to the chopper but his left leg would not support him. Searing, unbelievable pain went shooting through his pelvis as soon as he put weight on that side.

              "Leanette, get on the side of him!" Paula ordered. "Come on, we need to get out of here!"

              Leanette got on his left side and allowed him to put his weight on her. Together, they began to move down the hill, heading for the helicopter a quarter mile away around the base of the next hill. Unfortunately, they were not moving very fast.

              "Faster Goddammit, faster!" Paula screamed, firing a burst at a group of Auburnites that were just appearing on the left flank. Though they were still well over three hundred yards away, her fire served its purpose. They all dove to the ground.

              Doris grabbed Hector's other side and helped pull him along, thus increasing the speed of their retreat. Paula trotted behind, constantly checking the rear for more militia troops. She pulled out her radio and keyed it up. "Skip, Jack," she said into it, abandoning the code for the moment, "Hector's been wounded by return fire. We're slowed down a little. Be ready to launch the second we get there!"

              "Copy," said Jack's remarkably calm voice.

              Another group of militia came rushing around from the right side of the hill. They were less than 250 yards away. Paula sent them diving to the ground with another burst of her weapon. She cursed herself for going forward with the attack when the support elements had been so close. "Faster!" she intoned to her team.

              They managed to gain a little ground but just as they got to the base of the hill they had to go around, bullets began to whiz in from their pursuers. They were poorly aimed shots - that was true - and most of them were well off to the left or well over their heads, but a few went by close enough for the team to hear their passage. Paula fired a few more bursts, falling a little behind her team members.

              Her fire was not as effective this time since all of the militia was now proned out on the ground, having the advantage of a low profile. They ignored her ineffective bursts and continued to fire and eventually, just as Hector and his supporters reached the turn around the hill, one of the bullets found its mark. It was a .30 caliber bullet from a hunting rifle and it hit Leanette squarely in the center of her back. It drilled through her spine, snapping it and the spinal nerves that it protected, neatly in two. From there it was diverted slightly to the left and upward where it tore the side of her descending aorta, punctured her left lung, and finally left her body just below her left breast. She dropped instantly to the ground, dragging Hector and Doris down with her.

              Hector screamed in pain at the sudden impact upon his wounded pelvis. Doris gave a startled squeal as the air was blasted out of her lungs by the impact against the ground. Leanette made no noise at all; she simply fell, already feeling dizziness from blood loss and shortness of breath from her lung injury. But that was not the worst. Below her belly button, she felt nothing at all.

              Paula, seeing that another one of her squad had been hit, fired the rest of her clip at their attackers and then rushed over to see how bad it was. She saw the bloodstain spreading across Leanette's back and she feared the worst, thoughts of Dale's injuries coming immediately to mind. She knelt down next to her team members, right in front of Hector and Leanette, ignoring the bullets that were still passing all around them.

              "Come on," she intoned, pulling her magazine free and dropping it to the ground. "Doris, help Hector, I'll help Leanette."

              "Come on, Len," Hector, panting with exertion, pain, and now worry, told his wife. "Let's go! We gotta get the fuck out of here!"

              Leanette's face was already pale and sweaty, her breathing ragged, obviously each inspiration causing pain. "No," she said. "I'm done for. Leave me here. Get Hecky out!"

              "Stop talking like that!" Paula yelled at her as a few bullets passed alarmingly close. "We'll have you in El Dorado Hills with the doc in fifteen minutes. Now let's go!"

              "I can't move," Leanette said, the words coming between breaths. "Everything from the stomach down is numb. I can't move my legs and I... I can't breathe."

              "Len," Hector cried at her. "The doc will fix you up. Come on!"

              "Nothing to fix up," she panted. "I'm done for. Now go! Don't get killed here with me."

              "Leanette," Doris said, tears on her face. "You can't..."

              "I'm dying," she said frantically. "I know it. I can feel it. Now go! Please?"

              "Len, I'm not gonna leave you here," Hector said, tears on his face as well. "I can't leave you here!"

              "You have to," she said. "Take care of Maria."

              "No, Leanette!" Hector cried. "No!"

              "They'll capture you," Doris told her. "God only knows what..."

              "They won't... won't... capture me," she said, each word becoming increasingly difficult. "Leave me my pistol. I'll... I'll hold them off for you. I'm done for. Now go!"

              "Len..." Hector started.

              "Get her weapon," Paula, making one of the most agonizing decisions of her life, told her team. "Leave her the pistol."

              "What the hell are you talking about?" Hector demanded.

              Two bullets slammed into the ground less than four feet from them, kicking up mud that sprayed in the air. The militia was moving forward once again, advancing upon them. Soon they would be in range to accurately hit their targets.

              "We can't help her," Paula said. "Can't you see that? We don't have any other choice. Now let's go!"

              "Listen... to... her," Leanette said, blood now running from her mouth. "Please, Hecky. Get away from here. I... know... what I'm... doing."

              "Oh God," he cried, bending down and kissing her face. "I love you, Lenny. I'll always love you."

              "I... know," she said, kissing him back, leaving bloody lip marks on his face. "And I love... you. Now go."

              They went. They stripped Leanette of her rifle but left the .45 caliber pistol. Paula took it out of its holster and put it in her hand. "Don't let them get close," she said, her tears falling on her friend's face.

              "I won't."

              With only a few looks back, the three members continued their trip to the helicopter, Paula and Doris helping to hold up the injured Hector. Thirty seconds after leaving Leanette in the mud, they made it to the backside of the hill and were dragging themselves towards the waiting helicopter.

              Leanette lay on the ground, breathing raggedly, the pain in her chest increasing with each breath she took. The dizziness too continued to worsen as her lifeblood leaked out of her main artery into her abdominal cavity. The .45 was gripped tightly in her right hand, which she kept curled beneath her. She feigned death, watching as the militia platoon advanced towards her, their weapons out before them, most of them pointed at her.

              "Please," she whispered to herself. "Just a few more seconds."

              Either through random chance or answered prayers, she was granted that extra few seconds. The front elements of the militia continued to close with her, walking carefully instead of running, allowing precious time for the rest of the team to reach the safety of the helicopter. Just as they closed to within pistol range of her, she heard the gratifying sound, faint though clearly audible, of the turbine engine winding up to takeoff speed. The sound grew and then faded as the helicopter flew away.

              "Thank you," she breathed, watching the two closest members of the militia through her partially opened eye. "Oh my Lord, I thank thee. Please forgive my sins in the name of Jesus, amen."

              With her final prayer articulated, she used the last of her energy to roll her upper body up onto her side, leaving her useless legs to lie in place. Her hand shot out and leveled the pistol on the closest of the men. He was close enough for her to see his eyes, which just had time to widen in surprise before she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet right into his chest. She shifted her aim to the next closest, firing again and striking this unfortunate in the knee.

              Two seconds later the rest of the platoon opened up on her with a variety of automatic, semi-automatic, and single shot weapons. More than thirty bullets slammed into her, obliterating her consciousness in an instant.

              "Where the hell is Leanette?" Skip yelled as Hector was thrown into the helicopter, Doris and Paula following him inside.

              "She's done for," Paula said, tears still running down her face. "We had to leave her."

              "Shit," Skip said. "Is she dead?"

              "She will be," she told him. "There was no choice, Skip. No choice. Now get us out of here. They're right fucking behind us!"

              He lifted off, spinning the helicopter to the southwest and putting on the speed, keeping low and passing between another group of hills before gaining altitude. Doris opened up a first-aid pack that Paul had prepared and began to pull bandages and tape out. Paula helped her, leaving Skip in the dark about what had happened because she didn't put on her headset right away.

              "Jack," Skip said, "call Christine on the radio and tell her to abort her mission and hunker down. We'll be back to pick her up later."

              "Right," Jack said, his mind somewhat shocked, his eyes unable to drag themselves away from the blood running down Hector's back or the tears running down his companions' face. He keyed up his radio. "Mother bird to hatchling one, do you copy?"

              "Hatchling one here," Christine said a moment later. "Go ahead."

              "Abort your mission and hold in place. I repeat, let the wolves pass and hold in place. We will be unable to extract you. Hatchling two has taken casualties and we need to fly to the MASH unit."

              There was a long pause, long enough so that Jack was forced to ask his sister if she had copied him.

              "I copy," she said in a slow voice. "What are the extent of the casualties?"

              Jack looked at Skip, quietly questioning whether he should provide this information to them. Skip, a believer in the truth, nodded.

              "Leanette is dead," Jack said, his voice breaking a little. "Hector is wounded. We'll get back to you as soon as we can."

              Christine's voice was audibly upset when she answered. "I copy that, mother bird. We're holding in place."

              Skip brought them up to an altitude of five thousand feet and accelerated up to 110 knots, as fast as the helicopter could go. He glanced back every minute or so to check on the status of Hector, who, although he was now bandaged up, was very pale and seemed to be flirting with unconsciousness. Paula had finally donned her headset and she was able to tearfully tell Skip the story of what had happened. It was quite obvious, listening to her, that she blamed herself for what had happened.

              "Paula," he said, firmly, "this is not your fault. You did the best you could."