Free Prepper's Crucible - Volume Six: The End by Bobby Andrews Page A

to
town, and went to the cave to get Cory to address them. He stopped as he
started to enter the cave when he heard Cory and Kate talking. He stepped to the
side of the cave entrance and listened.
    “Kate,” Cory said, “we’re going into battle tonight
for our future, and I want you in my future. I get the fact that you are
grieving over Don, but I am doing the same with Julie and the kids. Do you
really want to live the rest of your life without loving anyone?”
    “It’s too soon, Cory. Let’s go fight the battle and
come back safe. At some point, we can talk about things. But right now, keep
your head in the fight or you might lose it.”
    Eric backed away from the cave entrance and walked
back to where the fighters stood waiting. Later, Cory joined them and walked
through the crowd, shaking hands and chatting with the assembled group.
    “We good to go?” Cory asked
Eric.
    “Yes.”
    “So everybody knows the plan?”
    “We got it.”
    “I’m going along. I can’t miss this.”
    “Not a good idea.”
    “No matter, I’m going.” Cory got into the nearest
ATV, rested his M-16 against his thigh, and waited for the group to leave. Eric
got in, waved his hand in a circle over his head, and then pointed down the
trail toward town. The group of vehicles moved out. They moved through the
forest in a long column of captured Humvees, ATVs, and a few captured trucks.
No attempt at stealth was taken , and they turned onto
Williamson Valley Road with headlights blazing and quickly moved up to a high
rate of speed. They turned toward the downtown plaza where the last Mexican
outpost in town still operated and split into four columns, with each parking a
block behind the square at every compass point.
    Cory directed his group to the north side of the
square, where his shooters took up positions behind a brick church. His two SAW
gunners deployed to either side of the building, and his sappers kicked the
door in and moved through the building to the front side, where they opened the
windows and rested their carbines on the windowsills. As Cory entered the
church, men rushed by him and pounded up the stairs to the second floor of the
building. Cory examined the building more carefully. It was rectangular and
parallel to the surrounding buildings.
    On the south side of the square, the same scenario
played out, with SAW gunners and sappers occupying the old Prescott Brewing
Company building and the bank building on the corner. Again, men moved to the second
floors of the buildings.
    On the east and west side of the court house, the
longer sides of the building, Cory ordered the .50s to be deployed in the old
Palace Saloon and the abandoned hotel four doors down the street on the other
side of the plaza. Both were also brick buildings and offered good cover. On
those two sides, the difference was that they placed the .50s, in both
locations, on both the ground floors and the roof.
    “Is everyone in place?” Cory asked Eric.
    “We’re good to go.”
    Cory went to a window and donned his NVGs. He
scanned the plaza and noted that no guards were in the streets. The court house was surrounded by razor wire, but the outposts
weren’t manned. Cory scanned the building and saw there were crew-served
automatic weapons at most of the windows on the building. He took the NVGs off
and sat down with his back to the exterior wall. He again got up and looked at
the building the Mexicans occupied and noted there were no lights on in the
building. They were obviously ready for the attack.
    “Crap,” he said, sitting down again.
    “What?” Eric asked.
    “They knew we were coming long before we got here.
No lights on, sentry posts abandoned, and crew-served
automatic weapons at almost every window. This is going to get nasty before it’s over, and we’re going to lose a lot of men and women.
The plan we made to assault across one side and overwhelm
them might not work. Whoever decided to leave them here left them