The rest of the survivors made their way into the valley where the Gotoro army waited for the attack. They stood anxiously beside their tanks and weapons, or hiding in trenches and behind man-made walls. They covered a vast, circular area of the valley in an attempt to catch the Shadow People, no matter which direction they came from.
“Well, if it isn’t the valley people,” one of the soldiers said, approaching them.
“The valley people?” Alex said. “We’re not hippies.”
The man laughed forcefully. “What are you doing out here? There’s an army of Shadow Brutes on their way here.”
Gil rested his rifle against his shoulder. “Well, we’re not just here to watch, now.”
The soldier looked Gil up and down with a skeptical expression. His eyes moved over the rest of the group and he smirked. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Hey,” Sebastian said. “We don’t have to help.”
“This is our valley,” Marlon said. “We’ve been protecting it, and ourselves, long before you folk got here.”
The man before them shrugged. “You should know our orders are to protect the valley, not the nut jobs that live there. No one’s going to protect you from whatever may happen.”
“Like he said,” John muttered. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“We don’t sit back and hide,” Lewis said. “So put us to use.”
The man looked them over once more. “I suspect the crazy old guys can handle their weapons,” he said, giving them a nod. “As for the rest of you...”
“I’ve played my share of Call of Duty,” Alex said. “I had the top kill ratio on my team, Dogs of War.”
The man nodded and rolled his eyes. “Good, because this is exactly like Call of Duty.”
“We are all capable of hitting our targets,” Gil said, his voice hard as he grew irritated with the arrogant soldier.
“Fine,” the soldier said. “It doesn’t look like you’ll be leaving us alone, anyway. Dog of War, since you’re so capable, why don’t you take the front line?”
Alex swallowed. “I mean, I’m not that good.”
The soldier smiled at him. “I suspect you’ll get pretty good then.” He turned to the rest of them. “If you can really hold your own, I could use some help on the cliffs. Who can handle an M39 EMR?”
They stared at him blankly.
The soldier sighed. “I need snipers.” His gaze settled on Shane. “You’re up. Bring Blondie, too. You guys look the toughest.” He turned to the older men in the group. “Sorry, fellas. I won’t deal with brittle shoulders.”
“What makes you think we’ll go with you?” Shane muttered.
“Because that’s how the army works, boys. Get moving.”
Shane and Sam made their way up to the cliffs as instructed. Sam muttered the entire way up.
“He’s not even anyone important,” Sam said. “Who is he to think he can boss us around?”
“Quit bitching,” Shane growled.
“No. I’m going to complain about the fact that this guy thinks we’re nothing but meat.”
“We are,” Shane hissed. “They don’t give a rats ass about us.”
“Fuck them.” Sam spat at the ground. “Fuck every last one of ‘em.”
The soldier caught up to them quickly, pushing passed them and leading them the rest of the way to his hideout in the trees.
“Pick your poison and don’t fuck up,” he said simply as he squatted on his legs next to his rifle. He watched Sam as he inspected the rifle. “Trigger’s over there, Blondie,” he pointed out.
“Sam,” Sam said in a huff. “It’s Sam.”
“I don’t care what your name is, Blondie.”
“You know,” Shane said to Sam. “I’m sure no one would even notice if he went missing.”
“He’s got a point,” the soldier said as he peered through the sight on his weapon. “I’m just another body to Michaels.”
Sam watched the soldier carefully. “Michaels runs this pathetic army?”
The soldier ignored him as he adjusted the weapon. “Better get ready. Those brutes’ll be here any minute. Try to keep up, hm?”
“We can’t all be trained soldiers,” Sam muttered.
The soldier leaned back on his hands, his palms against the pine needled forest floor. “That we can’t,” he said. “I was never involved in the military before the invasion. But when times get tough, they’ll take any pathetic body who offers themselves. They teach you how to handle an AR and throw you into battle. That’s it.”
“And you just do whatever the hell they say?” Sam asked.
“That’s right, Sammy.”
“Don’t call me Sammy,” Sam hissed.
The soldier turned to Shane. “You should have warned me he was a whiner.”
Shane smirked as he got onto his belly, peering down his own sight. “You didn’t ask.”
The radio on his hip buzzed with static as a voice broke through. “Eagle Eye Seven, this is Mark One, what’s your fix?”
“In position, Mark One. At the ready.” He turned to Sam and smirked. “His name’s Mark.”
“Copy, Eagle Eye. Stand by.”
“Eagle Eye?” Sam rolled his eyes.
“Code name for snipers, you nit-wit,” he hissed.
“And yet, Mark is Mark,” Shane muttered.
“Mark is an idiot that should have been shot ages ago.”
“Someone has Mark issues.” Sam smirked at Shane.
They turned quickly as a chilling hissing filled the air. In the darkness, they could just barely see the glowing eyes of the Shadow People. Tiny spots of light dotted the valley as soldiers ran to their positions.
“Heads up,” the soldier said. “It’s show time.”
Shane watched through the sight as the Shadow People, just glowing eyes in the night, quickly made their way into the valley. As they neared, he cocked the rifle and took aim.
Barrels flashed on the ground as the soldiers ran towards their enemy. Before he knew it, the valley had erupted into sounds of war. Beside him, Eagle made his first shot.
“Gotcha,” he whispered into his gun. He cocked the rifle and made another shot. “I’m going for three,” he said to them. “Try to keep up.”
Shane aimed between a pair of green eyes. He pulled the trigger and the weapon fired, recoiling into his shoulder. The eyes disappeared instantly.
“Keep shooting like that and we’ll make a soldier outta ya.”
“I’ll pass,” Shane muttered as he searched out his next target.
They continued in this manner for some time. Shane quickly lost track of the night as he picked out brute after brute. It wasn’t until he heard Sam shouting that he was pulled out of his trance of aiming and firing. He turned to Sam as he stood and pointed through the trees, towards town.
“Wassa matter, Lassie?” the soldier muttered. “Timmy fall down the well?”
“They got through,” Sam said. “They’re heading towards the tunnel.”
Shane jumped up from his rifle and pulled his gun out of his pocket. “C’mon,” he muttered.
“Don’t get killed, now,” the soldier called after them.
Sam and Shane sprinted through the forest, sliding down the dead leaves as they made their way off the cliff and into the valley. Barrel blasts ignited the walls of the tunnel as someone fended off the brutes. They raised their guns as they ran down the road. Flashlights darted off the walls as the creatures hissed loudly. A flare ignited and was tossed into the tunnel, causing the Shadow People to scatter and scream.
Abigail stood in front of Alex, who clutched at his shoulder on the ground. Her arms were still raised, gripping a gun tightly as Shadow Brutes lay motionless on the ground just yards away. Shane and Sam ducked as the brutes flew out of the tunnel, but they quickly doubled back, just out of the safety of the light, heading towards them once more.
More shots fired as Sebastian, Marlon, and Gil stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the flare, back to back.
“Not on my watch,” Marlon muttered as he raised his sword at an oncoming brute. He swung viciously as the creature attacked, throwing his body against it.
Shane stepped over the shadow corpses as he made his way to Alex, holding out a hand and pulling him to his feet. “That’s no way to get out of being a father,” he muttered.
“I’d die before something happens to Haley or my child,” Alex hissed. “No damn brute is getting passed me.”
“Funny,” Shane said with a smirk. “Looks like Abby was the one saving your ass.”
“I’m still in the positive,” Alex said, pushing passed him and shoving a clip into his gun. “Gotta keep that K-to-D up.”
This weekend at @wendellaugust1923 in #ohioamishcountry on #us62 between #berlinohio and #winesburgohio (at Ohio Amish Country) https://www.instagram.com/p/By5oTWDAVLt/?igshid=y1vdki4p1d4u
