Tyranny in the Homeland (3 page)

Field Marshall Anderson had been chosen by the President to get revenge for the Mobile debacle. He was the Field Marshall for Tennessee and was one of his favorites. He knew that he would do anything he told him to do. Killing was no problem for Anderson who had been Black Ops who turned to selling his services to the highest bidder before TSHTF. He had him wipe out several groups of 2
nd
Amendment protesters in Iowa and Texas two years ago to slow that movement down. He hated guns; however, he made good use of them to further his agenda.

Anderson arrived just after dark the night before to observe the attack on Decatur. He brought his wife and teenage sons to watch the attack. They needed to see the victory and go back and tell their friends about the experience. He even had several reporters along to broadcast the major success in his new Southern Campaign.

“Dad, why did we have to get up so early? The sun won’t be up for hours.”

“Major, take my wife and kids over by the cannons so they can experience the barrage.”

“Sir, the noise will be deafening.”

“I know. I won’t be able to hear the whining.”

“Sir, shelling will start on your command.”

“General, begin firing.”

“Commence firing.”

The firing began with cannons exploding and large fragments tearing through the crew and onlookers. Men and women were killed instantly. A three-foot long section of a barrel cut through the Field Marshall’s family and sliced them to pieces. His oldest son was screaming in pain with the lower half of his body several yards away. Anderson was hit by several small pieces of shrapnel, but had no major injuries. He watched the horrifying scene play out as his men rushed to tend to the wounded while others inspected the rest of the cannons for sabotage.

“General! General! Get your ass over here now. I want whoever did this to pay.”

Anderson held his wife’s lifeless body and wept. He vowed vengeance on the bastards who killed his family and made him look like a fool.

“Sir, we will perform a full investigation ASAP. Do you want to stop the attack and start the investigation now?”

“General, continue the attack and then start the investigation. I will have my personal security group begin gathering evidence while you conduct the attack. Dismissed!”

The shelling of Decatur began and continued for several hours. Then the Apaches began strafing the city along with five A-10 Warthogs.

“Cheetah, this is Ice Man. There are civilians and children down there. We are pulling out. We won’t kill any more of them. This is a massacre. Command lied.”

“Ice Man, confirmed on the civilians.”

“Command, this is Cheetah. There are women and children on target. Request permission to stop the attack. I repeat, request permission to stop the attack.”

“This is General Black. Permission denied. Continue the attack. That is an order. If you disobey, you will be court martialed and shot.”

***

“Captain, the attack is well under way. The city is in ruins and now Apaches and A10s are beginning to strafe the city.”

“Permission given to shoot down the attacking aircraft. It won’t be much help, but maybe it will save some lives.”

“Sir, the aircraft broke off during the first run. They went on open channel and questioned their orders. Their commanding officer has ordered them to continue even though they report civilians at the target. They have refused to fire on innocent civilians.”

The Navy F-18s bore down on the aircraft attacking the city when at the last minute they heard, “The attackers have ceased firing on the city and are moving away from the city. Do not fire on them unless they make any hostile moves.”

“Open up communications with them and see if they want to join us.”

***

Jim and Scott crawled to the top of the roof and peered over the crest to see Decatur in ruins. The sun was just starting to rise over the tree line and there was enough light to make out the soldiers coming across the bridge.

“Bob, we are in place and it’s very bad. The city is in ruins and the enemy is only a few minutes from crossing the bridge. I made contact with the Rangers and we can slow them down, but we are outnumbered twenty to one and they can shell the hell out of us.”

“Scott, their aircraft have deserted them and our birds are inbound as we speak. Button down and watch the fireworks. The F-18s will take out the artillery and as many troops on the north side of the river, but you have to hold the troops out until re-enforcements arrive.”

“We’ll do our best. My guess is that there are still several thousand people left in the town.”

“Jim, we will drive fast around the southeast side of town and hit the enemy as they come off the bridge.”

“I’m in. Let’s send these bastards to hell or the USA which ever they run into first.”

Suddenly there were multiple explosions on the far side of the river, then the earth shook and the sky erupted as the F-18s passed over to attack the DHS. Several Apaches strafed the men on the bridges and the convoy behind them. Humvees and trucks exploded and men jumped off the bridge to escape the withering fire.

“That should even the playing field. Kill the rest of the bastards,” said the Apache flight leader on their last pass.

“Thanks for the weeding out. We can handle the rest of the bastards. We may not even leave any for the Rangers and Seals.”

“Don’t be too cocky, there are a couple hundred more running at you and we are low on fuel and have to bug out. You have a chance now, but it’s not a good chance.”

“Roger that, while we have been watching the Decatur bridge, the SOBs are trying an end around and will be coming across the Highway 65 bridge and will try to come in behind you. Fall back to Highway 67 and ambush them as they get off 65. Better yet, get there ASAP and shoot the bastards on the bridge in the middle of the river.”

“Oh shit, we are on the way.”

“Bob, any chance of air support at the Highway 65 Bridge?”

“Son, you are SOL. I heard the conversation, it will take an hour for the Apaches to get back to your position and by then they will be on top of you. Try to keep them bunched up on the east side of town and we will wipe them out, but you have to entertain them for the next hour.”

Scott’s team rushed over to the Highway 65 and 67 intersection only to find the enemy already turning off 65 onto Highway 67 towards town. They quickly set up an ambush.

“Get the vehicles off the road and set the IEDs in place. We make our stand here.”

“Scott, I’ll place a couple of snipers on the hill up there and two .50 cal. BMGs behind that fallen tree.”

“Jim, have your team set up as many Claymores as you can before they get to us. Take out as many as you can before they overrun us.”

“Men, we will stick it to them and make it hurt. Then we fall back to the next position that Meg has set up closer to town and stick it to them again. We can do this a couple of times and perhaps the cavalry will be here before we run out of surprises for these SOBs.

“Hold your fire. Hold. Hold. Commence firing! Jim, wait until the Hummers get to the trap and blow the Claymores.”

“Will do!”

The lead Humvee passed the tree, Jim turned the crank handle and fifteen Claymores exploded at once sending seven hundred 1/8 inch steel balls per Claymore shooting to the enemy. It was a steel curtain of death. Anyone not hiding behind something was mowed down. The Humvees were riddled with holes and their windows shattered.

“Fire in the hole.”

At the command, the IED’s were set off with devastating destruction. Humvees and men were thrown into the air and most of the enemy was killed outright. The remainder were crippled ,with many losing limbs.

“Fall back to Meg’s position,” Scott yelled.

Scott sent two men to spy on the enemy while the rest fell back to regroup and ambush the DHS again.

***

The ambush scared the hell out of the DHS General and he sent a small team to make sure the rebels had left before bringing up his main force.

“Those assholes killed thirty men and destroyed three Humvees. Captain, take your group south and flank the bastards. They will ambush us again if we do not beat them to the punch. Major, split the main force and send half your men on foot across country and flank their north side. Send the rest up the middle and draw their fire so the flankers can wipe them out.”

***

“Two groups split off the main group, with one going south the other north. Looks like they are setting a trap.”

“Bob, can the Rangers give us some help?”

“Sorry, but they are on the other side of Decatur. I will send half of them now, but they may get there too late. The roads are blown to bits and they can walk there faster than driving.”

“Thanks, we will find a way to slow the DHS down until they get here.”

“Jim, place the rest of the IEDs behind us as we retreat to town. We just have to stay ahead of the jaws of their trap while slowing the DHS down and not get us all killed. Nothing Gus and Dad haven’t done a million times.”

“What’s it that Gus says in situations like this?”

"I wonder if this is how Custer felt when all those Indians were charging across the plains at Little Big Horn.”

“He shit his pants; that’s what he did. I don’t know what he thought, but he soiled his drawers.”

Meg broke out laughing and replied, “Maybe because he didn’t have any women fighting with him. Women wouldn’t be so cocky as to try to stand up to them. Let’s ditch the vehicles, break up into three or four teams, hit the main group and run like hell. Then hit the next group. Guerilla tactics! ”

“Meg, great idea! You, Jim and I will divide the team and begin harassing them. Do some damage, slow them down and then disappear. Don’t get in a firefight or get trapped. Jim, hit the main body just after the IED’s go off and kill as many as possible before running. Let them get almost to our Humvees then blow them all up. I’ll hit the northern group. Meg, break off and try to hit the southern group. Always fall back towards town. Good luck.”

Jim’s attack was devastating to the General's main group. The blast destroyed his vehicle. He received several shrapnel wounds and his driver was killed. Jim’s snipers harassed them for a few minutes and then they all fell back a half mile and set up another ambush at a choke point.               Jim was the only one wounded. A stray round glanced off a boulder and caught him in the right leg above the knee. The bullet had spent most of its energy hitting the boulder so it only penetrated about half inch. Jim dug it out and kept pressure on the wound until most of the bleeding stopped. He applied some of that stuff from his FA kit that stopped the bleeding and was good to go. His leg hurt like hell, but he had to man up and lead his team.

Meg’s team had pushed hard to get in place and still catch the enemy by surprise. They had set up in a supermarket parking lot using an abandoned tractor-trailer and several cars. Meg’s scout came back in and warned them that the DHS was just a couple of minutes behind him. They got in place and waited for a few minutes, but Meg knew something was wrong. Before they could decide what to do, they were under sniper attack from the roof of the supermarket. Two men and a woman fighter were killed in a few seconds. Two more men were wounded and could not fight. Meg and Imelda were the only ones left alive that could fight and they were pinned down under the trailer.

“Bob, how about some help? I have dead and wounded and we are pinned down at the supermarket on 3
rd
and Montgomery.”

“Hold on; the Rangers are just a mile or so away from you. They can hear your gunfire and are fighting their way through the group that has you pinned down."

Imelda could see several DHS sneaking around the parked cars trying to circle back behind her. She picked them off one at a time until all three were dead. She reloaded and saw that she had only two mags with 30 rounds each.

“Meg, I’m almost out of ammo; cover me while I strip the ammo off these bastards.”

“Okay, I’ll have to do the same when you get done. Hurry up!”

Imelda crawled out from under the trailer, being careful to keep a low profile. She got to the first dead DHS man and found five magazines for her M4 and three for her 9mm. She filled her ammo pockets and then stuffed the remainder in her shirt. She did this four times before she could not carry any more ammo. She was picking up an extra M4 when a shot rang out and hit her in her right chest just below the armhole of her Kevlar vest. It was a crushing blow and would have killed her if it hadn’t hit one of the magazines first. She thought that she had been hit and might die until she got back under the trailer and checked her chest out.