Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

A quick glance in my rearview mirror showed a huge cloud of blue and gray dust where the interstate used to be. The road had crumbled just like the bridge near the attack point, and I could see where it now ended abruptly instead of continuing on to the cloverleaf. There was no way anybody would be able to get by the destruction we’d just caused. Concrete bits were still falling on the jeep, and the road behind us continued to crumble as I slammed the gas hard and rushed us down the interstate back toward Colonial Parkway.

“Jesus,” Anna said, but I could barely hear her since my ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion.

“That was crazy,” Paige yelled.

“I thought the jeep was going off the road for a second,” Anna chuckled, and she looked over at me. “Good catch back there.”

“I try.” I grinned.

The jeep had been struck hard with the force of the explosion, but I’d managed to adjust the wheel and maneuver us back into a straight line. The explosion had only lasted a minute tops, but it had been intense. Luckily, it was over now, so I turned down Colonial Parkway and followed it down to our attack position.

Once we arrived, I pulled the jeep back behind a group of trees so it was concealed from the road and the air, then I hopped out and looked up at the sky. The sun was just barely beginning to set, which meant we maybe had two full hours until the NK troops arrived, if that. It was more than I’d anticipated having after we’d finished blowing the interstate, but with the way we’d had to create the explosion, it hadn’t taken as long as I’d planned for.

That was good for us, though, because it meant I had enough time to train some of the civilians to work the M51 so the girls and I could be free to move about wherever we were needed.

I didn’t want us bogged down in one place. This was such a spur of the moment plan that I wanted to make sure we were able to go wherever we were needed in case any of the civilians needed help.

“Anna, Tara, Bailey,” I said. “I want you to make sure the sandbags are well set up.”

“Okay,” my second in command nodded.

“And Bailey,” I added. “Make sure you have a good vantage point and get your Barrett set up.”

“I’m on it,” the blonde sniper said, and she slung the huge gun over her shoulder with a grunt.

“Are you sure you don’t want help with that?” Anna asked.

“I got it.” Bailey smiled and leaned forward slightly from the weight of the weapon.

“You’re absolutely ridiculous, you know that?” the redhead asked with a laugh.

“It’s my gun,” Bailey protested. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Whatever.” Anna shook her head and smiled. “Come on.”

“What are we doing?” Paige asked as the other girls walked away.

“We’re going to instruct a few of the civilians on how to use the Skysweeper,” I explained.

“Oh, perfect.” Paige nodded. “Who are you thinking?”

“I was considering Johnny and James,” I said.

“You think two is enough?” the brunette asked.

“Maybe we should have three or four,” I agreed.

“Normally, I’d say Jeff or Ben,” Paige said. “But they’re working the howitzer right now.”

“Yeah.” I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes as I looked around at the civilians in the area. I needed to pick from them, and I needed to find a few of them who I trusted to operate such a large weapon.

Of course, I trusted all of my civilians to be on the field with me, I’d trained them myself, after all. However, operating a large piece of equipment like this required a little bit more effort than just being on the battlefield.

While the weapon did most of the work itself, whoever was operating it needed to be able to calculate the perfect time to strike, as well as keep their cool under pressure. Not to mention the fact that this would be something new for them, which meant whoever was operating it would have even more of a reason to panic when shit hit the fan.

I needed to make sure whoever was in charge of the Skysweeper was capable of doing the job.

“How about Donna?” Paige asked.

“Hm.” I thought for a moment. Donna was a counselor before the apocalypse, and she’d always proven herself to be great under pressure. She was a good choice. “I think she’d do well.”

“So we have Johnny, James, and Donna,” Paige said. “Do we want one more person?”

“How about Joe?” I asked.

Joe was the civilian who’d taken a bullet the winter before, and even when that had happened, he’d managed to keep his cool.

“Yeah.” The brunette nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Alright,” I agreed. “That’s four. I think they’ll do well.”

I called the small group of people over and explained that I wanted them to work the M51 during the attack.

“Are you sure?” Donna asked. “Shouldn’t someone with more experience work it?”

“None of us have experience with this thing,” I chuckled. “The girls and I fired it once so we could make sure it worked, but other than that, I’ve never used one of these before.”

“Oh.” The dark-haired woman’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “Alright. I’m up for it. What do we need to do?”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” I smiled. Donna hadn’t disappointed.

“It’s not too hard,” Paige said, and she walked us over to the control panel of the Skysweeper. “The weapon does most of the work for you, all you really have to do is time it right.”

“It will do the aiming?” Joe asked.

“That’s right,” I agreed. “You’ll just need to make sure it’s loaded and hit the firing