Things had gone from bad to worse and there wasn’t much time to make decisions, other than what they knew needed to be done. The group consisted of four men, two of them non-combatants. While they knew what to do when it came to shooting, they wouldn’t know what to do when it came to pulling the trigger. The other two had training, while one’s was limited, he made up for it with knowledge and not freezing under pressure. The final member of the crew had been a cop and had had training, as well as time in the boy scouts.

“Bob, get going with everyone,” yelled Kel. His family was in the car, crying and begging for him to get in the car too. They didn’t know how serious the situation was. His wife knew and knew not to argue at this point. “Get them to the farm. Make sure Tony is following you. And make sure John takes care of everyone.”

There was a silent nod from his best friend. He knew what was going on and stuck out his arm. Kel took his forearm in his hand, as Bob grabbed his forearm. This was the way things had been done with the crew since Kel’s father had passed. “I’ll see you when you get there.”

“You know it. Get going.” Kel hit the roof of the car with his hand, as his wife leaned out the car to kiss him. “I love you hunny.”

“I love you too. Come back to us please.” Tears were forming in her eyes.

“I will.” Kel nodded and Bob started driving away from the house in his Lincoln Navigator, as Tony rolled up and said to Kel, “See you there.”

“You know it.” He watched the two cars drive away and never noticed where John had ended up. He thought he was all alone, and decided to go back into the house and get the gear he had put aside for this very scenario. By the time he got to the basement he smelled the stench of a cigarette burning, and wondered why had someone lit a cigarette in his home. He turned the corner towards his little man cave only to find John there.

“Did you really think you were going to do this by yourself?” came from John, as he threw Kel’s chest protector to him. The older man took a pull on his cigarette and put a shit-eating grin on.

Kel slipped it on, and made sure the straps were tight. The body armor was rated level 3, so most bullets would be stopped except for some larger calibers. “Well, I had hoped that you were going to go with them so that at least one of us could keep some sense of order out there. Pass me one of those will you?”

“It’ll be fine. Besides. We aren’t dying here.” John gave Kel a cigarette and lighter.

“A whole army is heading this way, and you don’t think we are dying?” Kel lit the cigarette and took a long pull from it, and subsequently coughed, as it was his first cigarette he’d ever taken a hit from. If John could smile any wider, he would have but he only chuckled a little bit.

“Nope. But we are taking a few of them with us if we do.” John holstered his pistol on his thigh and grabbed the AR-15 that he built, complete with a suppressor on the end of it. Kel’s was similar but had a few extras on it, including a light and rail system that went over top of his own suppressor. Kel put on his battle belt with his pistol holster, pistol magazines, an extra AR magazine, and his trusty Gerber Strongarm knife. He racked a round in his Smith and Wesson .40 caliber pistol and holstered it as well.

“So what’s the plan then John? Run like hell into the mountains?” The two of them walking up the stairs and back outside to overlook the hillside that Kel owned, and the direction the enemy was coming from.

“Still got the truck?”