Free Invasion by G. Allen Mercer

These were the people that set off an EMP over the U.S.  These were the people that nuked Atlanta.  These were the people that killed her parents and… This is for Elizabeth, she kept repeating in her head.
    The truck exploded, sending a fireball into the sky.  The light brush and small trees along the side of the road did nothing to protect the soldiers.  They were cut down with the violence of the high caliber rifle, and the person that fired it.
    “I think that’s good!” Ian yelled into his microphone.
    Mary stopped shooting.  Her breathing was rapid and her hands were sweating.  She released the handles of the gun and let it hang on the post.  Ian set the helicopter down in the field and jumped out with his pistol drawn. Mary slid open the door on the other side of the helicopter.
    Bob was ready; he had the boys running towards Ian before Ian could make it to them. 
    “Zack, take the front, the rest of you in the back,” Bob yelled over the sound of the helicopter.  He was carrying the body of the slain Boy Scout.
    Ian kept an alert eye on the woods around the truck, looking for movement, but there wasn’t any. 
    “I think I dropped two in the field,” Bob yelled as he ran past Ian and dove in the back. “I’m not a hundred percent about the second one, though.”
    Ian scanned the field and the pipes one more time; he didn’t see anything.  He then jumped into the helo and rotated the throttle.  Once he was off the ground, he aggressively nosed the helicopter forward.  They were heavier, and it took longer for them to build up speed, but after a few hundred feet of gaining speed, Ian pitched the bird up towards the top of the ridge.  Mary re-engaged the gun and kept it pointed towards anything that might be moving.  She squeezed off a few more rounds at the general area, whether it was helpful or not.
    “Violet, we’re all in the bird and coming in hot.  I’ll need you once I land.  Over.”
    Ian looked back, but couldn’t see Bob directly behind him. “You okay?” he yelled.
    “I will be,” Bob tried to yell back.
    Mary pivoted around to look at Bob.  Between them were the two living Scouts and the one that Bob was cradling.  “He’s been shot, Ian,” she said.
    Bob looked pale.
    Mary slid the gunner door shut.  “Let me hold him,” she demanded, holding her arms out to take the lifeless Boy Scout. 
    “No, I’ve got him,” Bob countered; he wasn’t putting the boy down until he could let him rest in peace.
    “Violet, this is Ian, Bob has a gunshot wound…where?” he asked, tilting his head back.
    “Left abdomen,” Bob said.
    “Left abdomen,” Ian relayed.  “As soon as we land, I’ve got to go help the others.  Meet us when I touch down in 60 seconds.  Over”
    “Ian, this Violet.  Roger that, over.”
    “Bulls-eye to Momma B, what’s your status?  Over”
     
    Leah and Grace were laying down suppression fire at as many soldiers as they could. The truck was parked directly in front of the communications equipment providing it as much protection as possible. Most of the soldiers had stayed behind the guardrail, or the truck, waiting for the mortar tube to be deployed.  Obviously, charging a hill, when their enemy had the high ground advantage was not something they wanted to do.
    Leah heard the call from her husband and looked over at Joshua.  He was wrapping the cord around the tower’s leg, and then around the grenades.
    “Give me a minute.  Over,” she said, and then firing a few more round.
    “Joshua, are you ready?” Grace asked.  “I only have one more clip left,” she admitted.
    “Yeah, I’m ready,” he said.  He threaded the last piece of cord and then started walking back towards the back of the tank with the cord running through his hand. 
    “You can’t pull that from ten feet away,” Leah said, she wasn’t about to let him put himself in danger like that.
    “I’m not,” he said.  “Will your dog sit by the grenades and