Bugging Out
minutes it took me, traveling cautiously, planning every step, trying to avoid a stumbling mishap in the dark, until I finally reached the forward slope where the landscape opened in front of me. Where before there had been just flashes bulging beyond the crest of the hill, now there were sharp white flares, muzzles of weapons spitting fire. A dozen or more on the east, firing west, and less than half that to the west returning fire, the diminishing rate from the right indicating who was taking heavier casualties.
    But who the hell were they? Either side?
    Confident that I was concealed by both night and the forest, whose supple limbs and green foliage had begun to dry and droop, I advanced further, and faster, skirting the road heading south, close enough to be seen were anyone looking. None were, I was certain. Anyone who might be in the vicinity, a doubtful proposition at best, would be focused on the battle raging just to the south. Still, I wished I’d grabbed the AR fitted with the night vision scope, which would have given me a bit more ability for stand-off observation. As it was, I had to get closer if I wanted to discern the who and what of what was happening.
    BAM! BAM BAM BAM!
    Without warning the fire shifted, less than half a mile south now, rounds from the battle splintering trees above and around me. I hit the dirt and rolled behind the stout trunk of a pine as the errant shots peppered the area. There was no chance that I was being targeted. My position was simply in the background as the firefight moved, the smaller force maneuvering for position, or attempting to flee.
    I rolled carefully to peer past the tree and brought my AR to bear. Not to join the fray, but to use its optics for observation. The simple 4 power scope, with its illuminated reticle and wide field of vision didn’t bring much additional clarity. But it brought enough as the fire suddenly died.
    Lights came on as I looked through my tactical scope. Distant beams sweeping the landscape. Small. Like handheld flashlights, or similar affixed to weapons. The narrow cones of brightness they spread revealed nothing about those who wielded them, but made clear why the fire had stopped.
    Body after body was lit up. Members of the vanquished force, it had to be. Men, or women, crouched near each and stripped the fallen of weapons and supplies, then used long knives to cut across the throat of each. A silent coup de grace . No need to waste a bullet should one near death need to be dispatched. What I was witness to was quiet and quick. Intimately brutal. And telling.
    Sides had been chosen in some conflict, I knew. Over what, I didn’t. Food, most likely, though, understanding the nature of man, that could have been secondary to many things. Land. Water. Power. Or simple control.
    It was hardly a month since the Red Signal and already humanity was devolving into tribes. Or new tribes, I should say. We’d always separated ourselves, by border, race, religion. Even when we’d attempted to erase those divisions, ghosts of them remained. Finding old fault lines, or creating new ones, was well within our capacity.
    For a while I lay still and observed, trying to glean as much information from what I could see. Gathering intelligence, I supposed it was, though whether I was collecting such on friend or foe I could not tell. I did know, though, that until I possessed some certainty as to the victors’ motives, I wanted to steer well clear of them.
    After fifteen minutes of watching, the majority of their lights went dark, just a few remaining as they moved south, lost in the night as they traveled toward Whitefish. Whether that was their destination, or just a point on the map to be transited on their way to wherever they were going, I could only surmise. I was simply glad they were gone.
    I rose and made my way back to my refuge. At the front door I paused, hearing something beyond. A familiar sound.
    Beeping.
    Quickly I entered and went straight for

Similar Books

A Just Deception

Adrienne Giordano

Razor Girl

Marianne Mancusi

Haunted

Tamara Thorne

A Cowboy Unmatched

Karen Witemeyer

Minder

Viola Grace

The One That Got Away

C. Kelly Robinson

Space Station Crisis: Star Challengers Book 2

Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, June Scobee Rodgers