Free The Fall of America: Fatal Encounters (Book 2) by W.R. Benton Page A

a slight hill, they ran across the road. Covering their tracks was fairly easy, since it was mainly long grasses, so once the job was done John said, “Follow me.  Dead west.”
    The convoy got John thinking about mining roads, snipers, and all kinds of things they could do to piss the Russians off. Once we reach our location, that's what we'll start doing.  If we can find small camps of the bastards, we can use Kate to take out a few of the officers. Maybe stretch some wire across the roads to knock some bikers on their asses or decapitate one or two.  Lay some mines on dirt roads and some Claymores beside the macadam ones. We can stir the pot well, with just a few of us , he thought.
    An hour before dark they'd seen no sign of the others and John was growing concerned. He'd checked the map over and over again, but was on the right path. By his guess, they should have met the others two hours back. Leaning close to Joshua, he said, “Move into the deep brush and we'll spend the night back-to-back, in the trees, for safety. Once in place, place a Claymore toward our trail, another in the opposite direction and lay out two grenades. We'll eat one-at-a-time after that and then sleep. One of us will be awake at all times.”
    “Understood.”
    It was about fifteen minutes before the two men were situated and moving into the trees.  Finding a small clearing, well camouflaged by trees and brush, the two men sat back-to-back. Joshua was eating when John heard a noise.  He flipped the safety on his weapon to off.
    Joshua dropped his meal and whispered, “Sound like jeans rubbing jeans.”
    Both men could hear brush being moved and the sound of feet moving over the forest floor.
    “Clear your target.”  John whispered, unsure if Joshua heard him or not.
    Sobs were heard and then someone asked, “Why?  Why did they do that to us?”
    Sounds like a kid , John thought, but he waited to call out. He could hear someone sniffling and crying. Finally, hoping it was a child, John asked, “We are near, and friends. Are you alone?”
    “W . . . who are you?”  The voice was thick with fear.
    “Americans, and you?”
    “The Russians killed my family.”
    “What is your name?  I'm John, and the man with me is Joshua.”
    “I'm Aaron Hart.”
    “Are you hungry, Aaron?”
    “No; my family is dead.  I heard them shoot them after I ran.”
    “Aaron, can you be brave for me? I need you to move straight ahead for about twenty feet.  Once there stop and I'll come to you.”
    “Y . . . you won't hurt me, will you?”
    “No, son, we're your friends.  I think you need friends right now, don't you?”
    “I'm walkin' toward you mister, but I don't trust you.”
    “That's good, it means you're a smart lad. I see you now, so I'm going to stand.”
    John stood, moved to the boy and squatted.  He asked, “How old are you Aaron?”
    “I'm fourteen.  Why is your face green and black?”
    “I'm an American soldier, I guess.”
    “What am I goin' to do now?  I don't have a home or family.”
    “John, look to the South.” Joshua said from the darkness.
    A flickering light that grew in size was seen, and pulsed and moved like a living thing. All knew it was Aaron's home and his family was dead.
    “What now, John?  Do we check the house in the morning?”
    John gave the idea some thought, but said, “No, we have to meet the others. Aaron, are you hungry?”
    “Not really, but I was before the Russians came to visit us.”
    Placing his hand on the young boy's shoulder, John said, “Come with me and you can sit with us.  I have some food, so if you get hungry later let me know, okay?”
    “Uh-huh.”  Aaron replied as he followed John.
    After a few minutes, John said, “To hell with it, we'll check the house out tomorrow. I doubt we'll find any survivors, but it's possible and Aaron here, he needs to know what happened to his family.”

CHAPTER 6
    M ajor Abdulov used the radio to contact the Russian base camp and