Disclaimer: No I don't own Red Dawn. If I did Matt and Erica would've totally hooked up in the 1984 version.
Love Is A Battlefield
The Wolverines arrived in the nearest town by mid afternoon. They tied up their horses in the outskirts. They walked into the police station, the sheriff didn't find stragglers out of the ordinary.
He was a bit husky, with a large peppered mustache, he resembled the "Rough Rider" himself. He greeted them with a handshake, "I'm Sheriff Wayne, Jim Wayne."
Jed gave him a nod, "I'm Jed, Jed Eckert. This is Erica Mason, and Danny Bates."
The sheriff's eyes widened, "Jed? Jed Eckert?! Holy smokes! It's an honor to meet you! All of you! Why we've heard of you, the Wolverines! That militia group, what are you a bunch of kids, right? Is this all of you? There's no one else?"
Erica nudged Jed, "Colonel was right, people have heard of us."
Danny cut in, "We're not all that's left, Matt's still back in the Occupied Territory."
Erica quickly added, "He was wounded, so my grandfather is bringing him over later tonight."
The sheriff sat on the bench pulling Erica to sit with him, "He was wounded? What happened?"
Jed answered, "Well, this is war sir, we originally had eight. We lasted months, and we got the aid of a stranded air force pilot, Colonel. Our numbers slowly dropped as time went on. First Aardvark, Colonel…then Daryl…and Toni…finally Robert.."
Erica's eyes watered, "Matt's Jed's brother. He almost died last night."
She finally let her tears fall as the sheriff patted her comfortingly. "What happened? Why'd he get shot?"
She wiped her eyes, "Well, Jed and Matt wanted Danny and I to escape to Free America. So they came up with a suicide plan, I confronted them, and they agreed to let us help them out."
The sheriff looked up at Jed with concern, "What were you boys going to do?"
Jed leaned against the wall, "We were going to distract the soldiers, the usual destruction of their equipment and men. We both knew the risk, we knew we probably wouldn't live to see Free America again."
Erica turned to Jed with a glare, "Why would you guys want to leave without us?! After everything! Matt was willing to just follow your lead, not giving it a second thought! You knew we could help and we could all get out!"
Danny rubbed Erica's shoulders, "Calm down! Matt's alive! We're all alive!"
Erica turned to Danny her eyes were puffy and red, "As far as you know! We left my grandparents and Matt behind! The Commies could have found them and we don't even know!"
The sheriff turned Erica to face him, "Now miss, I've fought in 'Nam, and I lost some friends back there. It wasn't easy, but I moved on from the aggression. Now is Matt your boyfriend?"
Erica blushed red, "No!"
Jed chuckled, "I wouldn't say no…but I wouldn't say yes."
The sheriff gave her a knowing smile, "Listen, you kids have been through a lot, and you've done a lot. You're an inspiration for Free America! I'll have living quarters set up for you and you relatives as soon as possible. Feel free to explore our town."
They thanked the sheriff and shook hands, before walking out of the station. Erica immediately headed back to the outskirts. Jed grabbed her arm, "Where you goin'?"
She pointed, "I'm going to wait for them."
Danny started to pull her back, "They said to give them until nightfall, they'll be here soon."
Erica shrugged him off, "I'm fine, I'm going to wait for them."
Jed and Danny exchanged glances, "Sure. We'll back with something to eat okay?"
She nodded, staring back up at the mountains as the sun began to lower.
Mason was starting to get tired behind the wheel, and his wife looked him over worriedly. Matt rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Mr. Mason, I can handle driving for a few hours. You need to sleep."
His wife nodded, "The boy's right Jack, give it a rest."
Mason nodded, "You sure son? We don't want you straining that shoulder."
Matt gave him a half smile, "Don't worry about it. I don't expect to be doing some off-road driving."
Mason smiled back, "Alright, give me a second."
Within five minutes, Mason was sitting in the back resting and Matt was driving. Matt heard a heavy yawn from the back, looking through the rearview mirror back at Mason, he asked, "When was the last time you slept?"
Mason stretched, "Well you kids stopped by after midnight…I've been up all day…I'd say maybe more than twenty-four hours ago?"
His wife scolded him, "Jack!"
Matt furrowed his brows, concentrating on the road, he apologized, "Uh, well I'm sorry for keeping you up Mr. Mason."
Mason smiled, "It's Jack son, and I told you not to worry about it. We're safe now. And you've got a girl waiting for you…"
He slowly dozed off, and the cab was filled with his soft snores. Matt smiled at Mrs. Mason, "Ma'am, you can sleep too."
She shook her head with a smile, "One old bat snoring is enough."
Matt laughed, staring at her through the rear view mirror, but his laugh got caught in his throat as he sped up. Something caught his eye in the mirror, and made the trip more urgent.
Mrs. Mason looked at his eyes with concern, "Mattie? What's wrong?"
Matt growled, "We're being followed."
The radio crackled a bit before a voice came through speaking Russian, "This is base."
"This is the search-and-destroy squad reporting." the soldier responded in Russian.
"Report."
"We came across a home, near the outskirts, farmland. No vehicles, no animals, no people. There were however, medical waste and a damaged shirt."
"Insurgents?"
"We have reason to believe those who lived here at least aided the insurgents."
"Any leads to their whereabouts?"
"Not yet, but we will soon. SAD squad out."
"Base out."
The soldier put down the radio and returned to the leader.
"Base wants to know their whereabouts."
The leader pointed to the grassland surrounding the house, there were slightly distinguishable tire tracks in the grass, "There, is our best clue."
He called the other two, ordering them in Russian to enter the vehicle and follow the tracks. The four got into the car, and sped over the trail. They followed them and slowed down after a few hours. Ahead about two hundred meters, was a truck. An adolescent and an elderly man were switching positions in the vehicle.
The leader spat, "How dare that rodent wear that camouflage! He is a Wolverine!"
He glared at the soldier driving, "Well?! Step on it!" the soldier quickly obeyed, as the leader cursed in Russian. They crept up on the truck, they were about one hundred fifty meters away when the truck started speeding away.
The leader growled, "Damn Yankee."
Erica watched the sun disappear behind the mountains, and was greeted with a blanket wrapped around her shoulder and a burger.
Jed smiled at her and sat down, "You've been sitting here a long time. You're going to catch a cold."
Erica laughed as she ate, "Jed, we've slept through worse conditions than this."
Jed laughed, "True."
They sat in silence watching the trees, for any sign.
"So…you really care about Matt don't you?"
Erica swallowed and blushed, "You know I do, why do you keep asking?"
Jed gave her a cheeky grin, "I'm just nosy. So how long has this been going on?"
She returned his grin, "How long 'what' has been going on?"
Jed snorted, "Oh don't play dumb. When? Was it that night you two had that whole challenge thing?"
Erica narrowed her eyes to slits, her face was hot and she chewed slowly, "I guess you could say that."
He threw his head back and laughed, "Oh Matt, what did he do? Kiss? Make out?"
She punched him in the arm, "Shut up! He didn't do anything!"
He continued laughing, "But he offered didn't he?"
Erica sat back in defeat, "Yes…"
He got serious, "Okay, if you liked him. Why didn't you two get together? Like what was that thing with Colonel?"
Erica rolled her eyes, "You are just full of questions aren't you?"
He held his hands up in defense, "Hey! I told you I was nosy!"
She sighed, "If you must know, I used the Colonel to distract myself from Matt, which by the way it worked out pretty well."
Jed agreed, "Yeah, too well. I was convinced you hated Matt, even he was convinced. He talked to me one night, just ranting."
She raised a brow, her interest piqued, "Really? What did he say?"
Jed shrugged, his grin back, "Now look who's nosy."
"Learned from the best."
"Well it's probably nothing he hasn't told you already."
She shook him, "Oh come on!"
Jed laid on his back, closing his eyes as he tried to remember, "Well he was pacing back and forth. And he just kept going on and on, 'What the hell! I swear! I swear she liked me! Maybe for like a split second! But then she suddenly likes some old guy who drops from the sky! What the hell! Aren't I good enough? I mean I know I started off wrong with that dishes thing…but I improved a little, right Jed?' I just gave him the big brother support, and never spoke of it again."
Erica looked up at the mountains, she let out a weak laugh, "Heh, yeah…"
Mason woke up startled, "Geez boy! Don't you know how to drive?!"
His wife looked out the back window terrified, Mason followed her gaze, and gasped.
"Sorry Mr. Mason. But we've got company."
Mason locked eyes with Matt in the mirror, "Listen son, we can't outrun them."
Matt nodded, "I know. I just want to get us in a safer position to shoot."
Mason smirked, "I can help you with that." he opened the back window and pulled Matt's rifle from the bed of the truck.
His wife gasped, "Jack! Be careful!"
Matt answered, "Don't worry Mrs. Mason. I'm going to park the truck there." he nodded to a nearby area protected by small trees. "Hold on!" he swerved the truck.
He jumped out of the truck, ushering the couple to the protected side. Mason handed him the rifle, and Matt motioned them to duck. He aimed and fired at the vehicle's tires. They popped and Matt nearly crumpled in pain from the kickback on his wound. But the car continued to approach.
Matt sucked his pain up and aimed for the driver seat. He had a direct hit and the car swerved down the side of the mountain. Matt dropped the rifle, and held his wound.
"Mr. Mason," he croaked. Mason looked at Matt worriedly, "Jack, son. It's Jack."
Matt smiled, "Jack, is there a grenade here that I can finish them off with?"
Mason scavenged through an ammo box, he retrieved one, handing it Matt, "Make it count."
Matt nodded, and walked to the edge of the mountain, the soldiers were still in the car, trying to free their wounded driver from his seat. Matt pulled the pin and tossed it to their car. He ran back to the truck and ducked.
There was a loud explosion and terrified screams, they watched a plume of black smoke erupt from below. Matt opened the driver side door once more, but Mrs. Mason put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll drive."
Matt smiled, "Thanks." still gripping his wound he got in the back of the cab. Mason returned the rifle to the bed, turning to his wife, "He's a tough kid."
He patted on Matt's window, "Don't worry son, once we get there I'll get you new bandages."
Matt nodded, "Thanks Jack."
Mrs. Mason got in the front seat, her husband in the adjacent passenger seat, and they continued their passage to Free America.
Danny ran to them, "Hey guys! The sheriff told me to find you, he's got us a place to stay."
Jed stood up and held a hand out for Erica, "You coming?"
She stole one more glance to the mountains and nodded, "Yeah." she took his hand, and followed them to the sheriff. He stood outside a decent white home. It had a small porch and a dim porch light. Erica looked up, it was two stories and had an attic. She approached it cautiously. From here she could still keep an eye on the mountains. She estimated that is was about eight-thirty.
"They should be here really soon…" she thought.
The sheriff opened the door, "There's a bathroom upstairs, two bedrooms upstairs, but you can convert the living room to accommodate you friends that are arriving soon. There's a kitchen in the back. If you need anything let me know."
Danny asked, "Do you have any pillows?"
The sheriff chuckled, "There should be some. Check the upstairs. You have a good night."
Jed nodded and closed the door as Erica gave him a weak wave. Danny headed upstairs, and Jed was about to follow, "Erica?"
She turned, "Hmm?"
"You coming?" he asked.
Erica shook her head, "No. I'm going to wait on the porch."
Jed went upstairs, "Okay."
Erica walked outside and sat on the porch. She sat there for about thirty more minutes when she saw the familiar headlights of her grandfather's truck. She beamed and waved. Tossing the blanket aside, as the truck parked in front of the house.
She ran to Matt, who was slowly getting out of the back. She squeezed him tight, "Matt!" he returned her hug with his left arm, but released her.
"Sorry we're late sweetheart," her grandfather said, "Russians followed us, Matt took care of them though." he winked at Matt, who smiled.
Erica stared at Matt with concern, he looked at her, "What?"
She watched him, then she noticed him wince, and his left hand reached up to his wound. Her eyes widened, and dragged him inside, she called out, "Grandpa get the bandages!"
Mason shook his head with a smile, "She gets that from you." his wife rolled her eyes and got the bandages, following Erica and Matt inside.
A/N: Okay so awkward encounter with Russians...Matt saves the day! Erica and Matt reunited. They have a place to stay and stuff...sorry if anyone seems OOC...I'm kind of just going in the 'I wish they...' story mode. Stay tuned for the next chapter!