“You think they know we’re here?” Titus asked while slinging his pouch strap over his head and helping Kim with hers.
“For now we’ll proceed on that assumption,” John answered, picking up an M-1 and slinging a law and pouch. “However, we don’t start shooting until we’re sure they’re not just here to have a picnic on our beach and leave.”
“They had better make it a quick picnic,” Nan said, slamming a clip into an M-16 with the butt of her hand, chambering a round, and slinging it over her shoulder. “I don’t like anyone shooting in front of my home!” She slung her pouch over the same shoulder.
Nan’s old attitudes had changed. She had never cared for guns before they came to the island and always tried to avoid violence. She preferred to live her life taking care of the children; showing them love, kindness, and respect; teaching them to be peaceful and caring. She still felt that way…but, ever since Kendra and Shannon’s death; ever since that horrible fear had gripped her; the fear of helplessness, the fear of people coming to Eden to hurt her children, she had changed…evolved. Nan never wanted to experience that helpless feeling again; never wanted her husband and friends to risk their lives without her by their side; never wanted to see the fear on the faces of her children as they clung to each other…waiting…waiting…waiting for the Old World evil to envelope them. Yes, she had changed. She recognized the need to be prepared; to be ready for anything or anybody who might come to their island; prepared to defend it at all cost. She had always been prepared to die for the children, but now…she was ready to kill for them too. Nan loaded another M-16, chambered a round and tucked it comfortably under her right arm.
The others felt the same way. Even though Tim blamed himself for his wife’s death; for not having the foresight to have acted sooner…he wasn’t alone. They all shared that same feeling of guilt, like a family for a loved one. And so…they had trained.
Nan trained hard; as hard as any of them. John had run them through numerous mock exercises, contemplating every possible situation he could imagine: air assaults, multiple landings, frontal attack…attack by land from the south. They discussed attacks by small groups all the way up to full scale assaults. They discussed firing positions, distance evaluation, and tactical maneuvers…then went out and practiced…and practiced some more. Nan would envision an enemy in her sights, male or female, it didn’t matter; she had to be prepared for both and she couldn’t hesitate. “Hesitation will get you and the rest of us killed!” John would shout at them. “We have an advantage, we know the terrain and there’s no confusion on who the enemy is.” Yes, if they had to fight, she knew who the enemy was; anyone who wasn’t an Edenite. And she was fully capable in her mind to kill an enemy for the survival of their blessed land.
They all were and they were not caught off guard this time. They were ready!
“Set up for a frontal beach assault,” John said, positioning his old Navy cap backwards on his head while the women tied their hair back.
Nan and Tim, take the right flank. Kim, Titus, you’ll provide heavy firepower in the middle.
“Got ya!” Titus said, as he and Kim grabbed two M-16’s apiece.
“Ed and I will be on the left. Remember what we practiced and make every shot count,” he emphasized. “Ready!”
They raised their guns into the air and in one unified shout they proclaimed their sacred mission.
“For the Children!”
Leaving their surplus ammo and grenades on the table, they systematically jogged out of the command post and down the north trail; Eden’s elite special force of six, to take up their predesignated positions, in the woods, two hundred feet from the beach.
|