Chapter 44

"It's too quiet out here, David. I don't like it", Brie whispered.

"Me either. Something's not right."

Brie spotted something in the distance, so she held up the hold sign that the military uses. David froze and scanned the horizon for anything as Brie sighted down her scope and looked for the disturbance. She fired and a man sized figure fell to the ground. David was on the radio. "Red alert, all hands, red, alert, red alert".

Everyone spilled out of the house from the different exits to their predesignated spot. It was time to defend the house.

Nicole and Tina were in charge of getting the children to the panic room.

Brie climbed up in the tree that she and David were going to snipe from, then took his rifle so that he could climb in as well. They had taken the long range defense. Kill them while they were far enough away to make a difference. Dan, Mike, John, and Kristen were the base defense. They protect the house at all cost.

David and Brie were picking the men off one by one. No one was getting close enough to this house to hurt anyone as far as either of them were concerned. They'd even decided to make it a game. Who could pick off the most assholes before the night was through. "17, 18, ooh, 19 and 20", Brie laughed as she kept popping off rounds like they were firecrackers.

"How did you get 19 and 20?" David asked, not looking at her and still firing his weapon.

"Two birds, one stone, baby." She kept firing, keeping count in her head. A few slipped past them, but were soon eradicated by the rest of the small army of the Disturbed Family.

"David, Brie, save some for the rest of us, damn it", Mike complained over the radio, laughing.

"How about you just start shooting, Mikey", David said with a chuckle.

"Can do." Everyone was shooting their gun. David covered Brie as she reloaded and Brie did the same for him. For a rag tag group such as themselves, they were more a well oiled machine and a clunky junker.  Everyone knew what they were doing and kept in mind their one objective... keep their families safe.

"After this is over, I'm going to have a nice long talk with the General about getting real troops out here to watch the house. This is ridiculous", David said as he shot on more of the intruders.

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About forty- five minutes later, there was not more movement from any of the trees. They sat for another fifteen minutes, watching for any sign that there was someone that didn't belong there nearby. Nothing. Silence. David hit the radio. "Any movement?"

"Not a sound", Dan said.

"Nothing", John said.

"Ok, let's carefully move back to the house and regroup in the kitchen. I'm freezing and I'd like to warm up. What about the rest of you?"

"Let's move. You and Brie go first. John and Kristen can follow you, Dan and I will bring up the rear", Mike said.

"I'll go first, so that I can help you down if you should need it", David said.

Brie nodded in agreement. "It's been too many years since I was in a tree stand. My legs are a little numb."

David jumped out of the tree after handing Brie his rifle. "Hand me the rifles." She did. He leaned them against the tree then held his arms out to her. "Jump carefully."

She slid out of the tree and fell gracefully to the ground. "I need help to stand."

David helped her stand and they moved into that house, still on alert.

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Everybody was finally in. Tina and Nicole emerged from the panic room with the kids and set them all in the living room to watch a movie while the adults talked about what was going on.

"What the fuck happened?" Nicole demanded.

"I spotted a man in the distance so I shot his ass. It was him or me. Once I had him in my cross hairs, he'd started bringing up his weapon. He had to die."

"How many were there and is anyone hurt?" Tina asked.

"We lost count of how many there were but I don't think anyone got hurt", David said after taking a sip of coffee.

"What are we going to do?" Dan asked.

"The four of us are going to give the General a call and tell him what happened", David said.

"From the scuttlebutt I hear", Mike began, "the General is the new head of the agency."

"Good, better him than us", John said.

"Remember the cause", David said. "Keep that in the for front of your thoughts. I made the mistake of letting it slip my mind and had to be reminded. Keep what we're doing in the forefront of you mind and don't let the Establishment take your hope. We may not be leading the army, but we're inspiring the troops."