Joe shot awake with unsteady breaths, he glared around the room and saw Mary s at staring him dumbfounded, "Are you okay?" She asked resting her arm on the Center of his back.
"It's Bruce, I feel guilty for not trying to find him," Joe sputtered, patting his neck realizing that everything is still intact.
"We'll find him tomorrow morning I swear," She said reassuring Joe.
"Shouldn't it be our top priority to find him instead of delivering the Rye's firstborn?"
"It is, but Nick is one of your best mates, C'mon you can't tell me little Carmina is cute?"
"She is. But I have to find Bruce and Faith Seed is still down in the Henbane, waiting for us." Joe said, feeling tears form in his eyes, without thinking Joe tilted his head back and rocked his eyes side to side, making the tears roll, it was a habit Joe had from childhood to hide his tears. He blinked and quickly wiped his eyes. "Y'know Faith's been putting more effort than anyone in finding Bruce, that's embarrassing on my end."
"No, it's not, you're keeping a vow, a promise you gave Nick when you guys met," If you didn't follow through then you'd be a liar.
"It's been a damn month since he disappeared, Nick's only called us two days ago, we've had 28 days to find him," Joe's voice cracked.
"Calm, down we'll find him I swear," Mary inched closer to Joe.
"If he's dead?"
"He won't be."
"He could be."
"Joe, what happened to staying positive?"
"I'm thinking straight, I'm thinking logically,"
"No, you're not."
"Yeah, and I suppose you forgot about the weak state of the prison currently, especially after the attack only a few days ago," Joe snapped running his fingers down his abdomen where a large bullet wound remained.
"We've fortified it, members have been coming by repairing and aiding," Mary wrapped her arms around Joe, but he pushed her away gently.
"For all we know, Jacob will bring one of his juiced-up men to pummel everyone, don't you remember how resistant that prick was?"
"Yes, and we know how to kill it, shoot the head."
"If its weak spots somewhere else then?"
"Then we'd find it I swear,"
"Yet, we can't find Bruce," Joe stood and walked out of the room. They were living inside the Rye's home, Nick and Kim were both inside their room with their newborn, Joe had the temptation, to just leave back to the Henbane, but he knew Mary was right, he did promise Nick that he'd be there once his child was born, but now out of all times was just a pain in Joe's backside. With Bruce's not-so-mysterious disappearance, Joe wanted to find out where Jacob left him captive.
Joe was outside, breathing in the cool air that stabbed his lungs. The Rye airstrip was illuminated by the full moon's bright rays. It was beautiful but Joe knew he couldn't bask in the view for long before he had to do something productive. Joe recalled that the Whitetail's bunker was raided, and only five people survived the massacre, 'could be the roided Peggie's or maybe Bruce?' Joe thought out loud. The recent prison attacks are just a hassle, there were many casualties, and Dr Lindsey wants more supplies due to the injured, Falls end wasn't affected by the raids surprisingly, but that could be to bait the resistance members into one place before an all-out attack, now that would suck for everyone.
Joe's thoughts were cut short when he heard the door behind him close, "Not now Mary," Joe sighed.
"Oh, shut up Joe," Nick said mimicking Mary's voice.
Joe turned around forcing a smile, "My bad," Joe whispered, "I thought you were asleep."
"Was, until I overheard your little argument with Mary,"
Joe felt his face burn with guilt, "If it were different circumstances I wouldn't be complaining about being here," Joe stammered.
"I know," Nick smiled, "I'm happy you're here and for that, I'll help you find Bruce," Nick said leading Joe to the large hangar, with a press of a button the hangar door screeched as it lifted, Joe could see there was something big behind those doors, once the door was halfway drawn he could see two big engines of two separate and significant aircraft. Once the door was fully open Joe's jaw hung low, the white beam of the moon bounced off the shimmering metal of the aircraft, it was two P-47s, they both wore the traditional silver finish and had the matte black finish in front of the cockpit, the wings both had the same design, with the invasion stripes. Black and white stripes where the browning machine guns were mounted. The only difference between the two was the nose. The one on the right had a black and white checkered finish while the one on the left had a black and yellow checkered finish.
"Nick, how'd you get two P-47s?" Joe spoke, eyes glued on the two aircraft.
"We'll my father fought in the second war and his given aircraft was the trusty Jug, and once the war ended and propeller-driven engines were less used my pops brought one home. The second one was stolen from the Peggies, but it was run down so I had to tune it to fine condition."
"Nick this is sick, so what about 'Carmina?'
"Yeah she's still going to be used but she doesn't have the speed, and the distance to be able to travel throughout the county, not to mention it can't carry many bombs," Nick replied, walking into the hangar Joe followed closely behind like a kid in a toy store.
"So what are we going to do with them?" Joe questioned again.
"I've already loaded them up with four 500lbs bombs, we're going to bomb the Peggie air strips today, I've found out where they reside. So once they've been dealt with, the resistance will be the only people with air superiority."
"I like that plan but how does one fly a jug?"
"Just follow my lead," Nick said climbing into the aircraft on the right. Joe followed and jumped into the second one. "Okay, so first set the gas selector on main," Nick radioed Joe. Once he got the thumbs up Nick continued, "Now set trim tabs on take-off position and make sure flaps are up, " Joe followed closely and then once again gave Nick a thumbs up, "Make sure intercoolers are checked before opened, turbo closed, crank the throttle to half to three-quarters of an inch, prop leaver pulled forward, mix the control in idle cut-off. Generator switch on, prop control switch on automatic, turn mags off, battery off and engage flight instruments," Joe was struggling to keep up with Nick's commands, Joe felt bad for the men who had to fly war birds during the war. "Now open your cowl flaps. radio off and unlock your tail wheel. Okay that was just your clockwise check, so you're now familiar with the instruments," Nick spoke, "Now let's take to the sky so follow along. Joe sighed. "Mags on full, battery on and now prime with two strokes, and once you're done that hold your energizer for fifteen seconds until you hear it whine, once it's on let it go and turn the radio on." Nick was already taxiing out onto the runway, before he increased his throttle, "I forgot to mention, you can now increase your throttle to taxi out, you can treat it like you would any other aircraft except this one is a bit tanky." Nick said before disappearing from the airstrip.
Joe managed to taxi the massive aircraft outside, he turned it to the left and then took a deep breath in, he then pushed the throttle lever to the max, and felt the jug push forward and up. Joe was finally in the sky with the flying jug. It wasn't maneuverable compared to the other aircraft he's flown but he heard from the media that the P-47 at high speeds can be very maneuverable. Well unless it's turning. Joe managed to climb to Nick's altitude, but Nick was at least 1km away from Joe, "So Nick where are the airfields?"
"There's two, one in Jacob's region and the other is the Seed airfield, you remember the place where you got Carmina back from? So yeah we're heading for the Seed Airstrip for now we should arrive in like 8 minutes."
The flight was rather quiet, the only thing Joe did hear was the P-47's loud engine growling as it ran, the cockpit was quite spacious, especially for Joe who had a rather small frame. He peered over to his right to see a river running through the dense vegetation, the sun was finally starting to rise blessing the folk with its bright rays, Joe was cut out of his thoughts when his radio buzzed, "The airfield is 500 meters away from me, I'm going down for a bombing run, you stay there and keep an eye for any chosen." Once the radio died Joe saw Nick dive down for the airfield, Joe obeyed Nick's command and tilted the aircraft slightly to the right so he could get a bigger view of the ground, there were four Peggie aircraft taking off, by the time Nick would drop his bombs they'd already be in the skies, so Joe also started to descend, but keeping enough altitude to have the high ground. Joe eyed the last chosen to take off, and once he was on the plane's six he sprayed a barrage of shots at the left wing, and all too soon the wing snapped off causing the Peggie to plummet to the ground, blowing up.
Nick dropped two bombs on the ranch, and the other two on the hangar doors, four load explosions followed as Nick pulled out of his strafe. Nick managed to gain some altitude but he was being tailed by three Peggie planes. "Joe, I need backup, now!" Nick ordered as his plane was being peppered up by the Peggie closest to him, the other two fired but were out of range so they disengaged.
"Roger that." Joe already had the altitude advantage compared to the Peggies, "Nick use your turbo to get them to climb higher," Joe requested as he approached the Peggies. Nick obliged and was nearly at a higher altitude than Joe, he realized that one Peggie took the bait and climbed after Nick, not realizing the threat he was in. So Joe lined himself up for a strafing run, the Peggie stalled meaning it was lingering in the sky as easy prey and in quick succession Joe sprayed the Peggie aircraft cutting its tail off.
"Nice," Nick shouted, "I'm going for a strafing run," Nick said before diving down to see two Peggie aircraft that remained, Nick went for a head one with one of the Peggies. It was an unfair competition, as Nick sprayed three bursts of eight browning machine guns compared to the two machine guns the Peggie fired. Nick pulled out of the engagement, and heard his bullets hit true and the Peggie zoomed past in a flaming ball, "That's the third one out."
"Dibs the last one," Joe shouted as he engaged the Peggie who was trying to escape the wrath of the Jug, but it was too slow and Joe managed to kill the pilot, causing the plane to flail downwards blowing up.
"Beautiful," Nick complimented, "Joe I have to head back to the airstrip, they hit my fuel tank I don't want to risk running out of fuel even if it's self-sealing, so can you go to the whitetails by yourself?"
"Head back, I'll deal with it myself I've got a whole load of fuel and 2,500 shots still left," Joe responded.
"Okay, head to the airfield near the F.A.N.G Center, the Peggies managed to gain control over it again and are currently fortifying it," Nick said breaking off.
"Roger that," Joe replied pulling out his GPS and locating the F.A.N.G Center, '1 hour away, not too bad,' he muttered to himself.
The flight there was peaceful, the sun was finally high in the sky, and there were no planes in the sky with Joe, either he was flying higher than everyone or no one dared to fly in the current situation everyone was in. He was surprised the Peggies weren't after him after the destruction of the Seed ranch, Jacob and Joseph should be pissed right now and sending in a whole squadron of aircraft but Joe's seen none and he's glad about it. Joe finally crossed the borders into Jacob's region. Joe hadn't seen Jacob and his 'methods,' Joe did walk around the region to bask in the view. When he and Bruce would go on afternoon hunts, with their pet wolf. Woolfie. As Joe called him.
Eventually after the long flight Joe could see the F.A.N.G Center in sight, according to Nick the airbase should be around the general area, so he slowly descended so he could view the area more clearly, he saw a building that resembled a hangar, so Joe decided to move that way.
"Nick I think I found the airfield,"
"Good, destroy it and return here as soon as possible I'll have to brief you on tonight's plan," Nick replied joyously.
"Okay, I'll be two hours at least,"
"That's fine as long as you're back before sundown,"
"Got it," Joe said pocketing his walkie-talkie.
Joe was 100 meters from the airfield and Joe could see a singular helicopter in the middle of the runway, it was ascending slowly, he also saw nine Peggie aircraft. Joe went in for a dive so he could drop his four bombs on the hangar, once he was close enough he pulled the lever and dropped all four bombs, he immediately pulled up and began side-climbing, Joe heard the bombs go off, and the destruction that followed, he saw the roof of the hangar cave in and collapse, the nine aircraft were now taking to the air, none were harmed, if they were it would be minor or mediocre. Once Joe had enough altitude he turned the aircraft towards the Peggie aircrafts, without the 2,000lbs bomb load the aircraft seemed to be more agile.
Joe began to line up a shot with the last aircraft to take off, it was the same aircraft from before so it was easy prey, but Joe made sure not to underestimate them. Once Joe was close enough he fired two bursts at the right wing, in the second burst the wing snapped off from the middle causing the aircraft to spiral out of control.
With eight remaining Joe regained altitude he knew the P-47 lacked at low altitudes, Joe could see four aircraft In front of him but the rest were nowhere in sight, which worried Joe, if they dived on him he'd be as good as dead. Joe kept climbing until he was above the four visible aircraft, he looked around the bubble canopy and saw another aircraft, which had a gunner at the back. Joe got under the aircraft since the gunner won't be able to shoot back, Joe lined up a shot slightly In front of the engine, Joe then fired a long burst which inevitably engulfed the enemy fighter in flames. Joe was expecting the pilot to move out of the way. But they never did. Allowing an easy kill, Joe kept an eye on the aircraft in case the pilot knew the trick on how to put out the fire, but once the fire spread enough and cut off the wing Joe understood that the pilot wasn't skilled enough and was probably going to die, as harsh as it sounded. It was reality.
Joe disengaged the flaming ball that once was a plane and began to eye the four aircraft from earlier, Joe could probably take two out in one go if he was quick enough. So he followed through with his plan, the Peggies thought they'd be safe in numbers but Joe was going to prove them wrong, so he dived down slowly, speed wasn't an issue the Pratt and Whitney engine was far superior to that the Peggies used, so Joe used it to his advantage when disengaging from the enemies. Joe was now 1.0 km away from his target he was aware that the browning machine guns had good range but he wanted to remain 500 meters from his target to ensure he didn't waste precious ammo. Within five seconds Joe reached his desired distance and fired two bursts on the first aircraft, they tried to doge but Joe managed to cut the tail off before they could react. The three other aircraft broke off one went for a dive the second to the right and the third to the left, Joe followed the one that turned to the right since it'd lead back to the airstrip, Joe was at least 600 meters away and decided to take his chances and shoot, to his dismay he missed by a meter. The now angered Joe increased his throttle to WEP, with the extra speed generated he started to lower the distance, once he was 400 meters away he sprayed at least 200 shots on the fuselage, once again splitting the aircraft in half.
Joe pulled up and once again tried to gain the altitude advantage, Joe was too focused on that one target that he didn't realize the helicopter shooting at him, the P-47 was far faster than the helicopter allowing Joe to maneuver overhead the helicopter before diving down and shooting at the rotor, with 50 shots the helicopter was set ablaze and began spinning out of control. Joe now had to worry about the five other aircraft that remained. Joe saw the two aircraft from earlier, they were flying in formation, Joe knew what he had to do. So he started his descent, He realized one began to turn while the other flew straight, Joe knew they were baiting him into a dogfight, but Joe knew his aircraft could outrun their aircraft, so he stayed true to his plan and tailed the plane that flew straight, the plane that cut off formation was now on Joe's tail but Joe knew they posed no threat since they wasted their energy on turning. Once he was 300 meters away from his target he fired two short bursts on the right wing, the first burst missed as the plane slightly began turning but the second burst hit true, it missed the wings but instead, hit the canopy killing the pilot inside, the plane twirled out of control and plummeted to the ground, the plane that was tailing Joe was shooting at him, from a distance of 1km.
Joe felt bad so he once again increased throttle to WEP and climbed up, once he was 3kms away he turned to face the Peggie aircraft, Joe knew a head-on wouldn't be good so he disengaged and gained altitude, the Peggie aircraft started to disengage towards the airfield Joe was surprised that they had no Anti air, or Peggie trucks with the 50. Cal machine guns. It would have been smart to defend themselves from air raids, they did add fences around the whole unit, so that was something.
Joe decided to take down the last visible foe before he climbed high up. Joe was about a kilometer away from his target, and the Peggie was unaware of the ever-growing threat behind them, within three seconds Joe was 500 meters away from his target and in quick succession he peppered the left wing, causing the flaps and aileron to snap off and eventually the whole left wing snapped off too, causing the plane to twirl gracefully towards the ground. Joe took this as his chance to gain altitude.
The climb was quiet, too quiet, Joe was looking all around but saw nothing, heard nothing except the sound of his engine. Joe did a barrel roll to ensure no one was under him. As he did he saw the ground and the black smoke of the destroyed aircraft, he felt bad for destroying the birds but he had a mission in hand and when he was back in an upright position he sighed. He peered down at his fuel meter and saw it was at 60% enough for the flight back and just a little bit to engage in a dogfight. He then glared at his ammunition, 900 shots left. Joe felt his heart sink, there were still three planes left, and it would take him about 100 shots per plane, but he didn't trust his aim, he'd waste 400 shots on one guy. Joe knew how persistent he was, and he knew that he'd waste all his shots for that one plane. So he made a promise to himself that he would waste no more than 100 shots per plane unless he required additional shots, he wanted to keep at least 200 shots in the chamber when he returned to Falls End mainly for defensive reasons.
Joe was cruising over the airfield keeping a close eye on his fuel, it was about midday since the sun was directly overhead Joe. He was about to radio Nick that he was coming back when he heard a jet engine. He peered around the cockpit and saw an F-86 Sabre, it was tailing him. It was 700 meters away from Joe when it started to spray lead. Joe was quick to react he did a barrel roll and began to dive, even though Joe was fast to react he heard loud clangs of bullets thundering the plane's belly. Joe looked back and saw the Sabre was still on his tail, but he instantly knew the pilot was inexperienced, mainly because they were spraying a barrage of shots that most likely would miss, secondly because of the plane's speed and that alone will set shots off to the side and one must factor in the crosswinds since it impacts where the bullets go. Third, the guns will jam if they are shot for a long period, and the Sabre pilot did just that.
The enemy pilot stopped shooting and decided to disengage, this worried Joe since the F-86 could climb much faster and outrun Joe's piston aircraft, not to mention that the Sabre had afterburners. Joe decided to experiment, if the Peggie pilot was inexperienced then they'd struggle with the G-forces, Joe didn't have that issue since he was trained in fast jet piloting. But Joe knew one thing and that was the F-86 had fragile wings so if he could get a direct hit they'd snap off.
Once the F-86 engaged Joe decided to lower his throttle to zero before going in for a dive, either A, the Sabre will fly too fast allowing Joe to shoot the wings, or B, the Sabre pilot would pass out due to the G-forces, both will help Joe in this battle. As Joe dived the F-86 followed close behind, this time they aimed before spraying Joe. A few bullets hit the fuselage and the rest were pounding against the canopy, Joe hoped that the thick glass was enough to keep the bullets at bay but it was fruitless. As a bullet penetrated the canopy and struck Joe on his left thigh, he flinched, pain causing his left foot to press on the rudder peddle, causing his plane to tilt to the right. The Sabre took its chance and shot a short burst at the P-47's tail, the left horizontal stabilizer snapped off, making the plane jolt.
Even after the massive damage the flying jug still remained in the air, and as Joe suspected the F-86's pilot indeed didn't have good G tolerance. The Saber was flying in a linear path, Joe wanted to line up a shot but knew that the bullets won't reach their target. So he decided to lower his altitude, it seemed wrong to do since the P-47 lacked at lower altitudes but if the Saber dived after him one last time the pilot would pass out and plummet to the ground.
Joe saw the F-86 pilot come back to reality, they did half a roll and glared down at Joe, the pilot then did a semi-dive after Joe. Now Joe had two options either go in for a head-on or dive down again, a head-on will be risky since the P-47's engine was exposed but so was the Sabre's, Joe knew he'd have a better survivability rate due to the heavy reinforcements of the jug, but its flight performance would be hindered, making it difficult to deal with the final two planes. Option two would be difficult too, Joe would be shot at and his plane had seen better days, he assumed the Peggie pilot was weary with dives at this point, but option two would be the best of the two. So Joe dived down, and the F-86 followed close behind, as soon as the Sabre was 1km away Joe pulled up and then in quick succession pulled back down, he did so, to make his opposition pull up making them experience minor G-forces, the Peggie pilot began to shoot at Joe, some shots managed to hit but did little to no damage. They were now at a 750-meter gap, Joe was about 2400 feet in the air and decided that was enough. So he increased his throttle to War Emergency Power and pulled up, he took half breaths to counteract the G-forces he experienced, - he assumed he hit 6-7G -. Once Joe successfully pulled up he glared back and saw the Sabre pull up too but the sheer speed the aircraft had built up led to its demise, the jet fighter belly flopped hard on the ground exploding on impact.
Joe was wheezing as he began to climb back up, experiencing 6G without a G suit or gas mask was difficult, when Joe flew the F-35 he wore both and even then he struggled to withstand high G. Joe was looking around the airplane, the left wing was riddled with bullets that hadn't penetrated that deep, but the right-wing had deep gun wounds where the wing was attached. Joe glared back to see the canopy riddled with bullet holes. The tail had it the worst, the left horizontal stabilizer was shot off and the rudder was fairly dinged up. Joe then eyed his bullet wound, he reached over and inspected it, the bullet travelled all the way through, and also managed to create a big hole in his thigh, it made sense the Sabre used 50. Cal ammunition but since most of the energy was absorbed by the canopy Joe's leg was still intact. Joe decided he should at least patch up the wound, so he took off his jacket and tied it tightly around the gun wound, he could clean it up later it didn't bother him too much, or maybe it was the adrenaline flowing through his body.
Joe glared back at his fuel and saw it was at 45% either he down the last two aircraft or return to base. Joe decided on option one, he still had 900 shots since he never took any shots at the Sabre, Joe was cruising at an altitude of 4,000 meters when he saw two planes directly In front of him, he activated his turbo and climbed to 5,000 meters, once he got close enough he saw the Peggie symbol on both planes and then he saw a flash of orange light before a barrage of bullets flew towards him. Some hit the nose of the aircraft but Joe dived down so he could quickly gain speed, for a quick boom and zoom, he was 600 meters away from the closest target, so he lined up a shot at the canopy, the back gunner tried to shoot Joe's engine, but failed. In one long burst, Joe managed to kill both the gunner and pilot. The plane twirled out of the sky.
Joe was unaware that the second plane had disappeared, he tried to locate it until he heard bullets thunder against his right wing he peered up and saw the Peggie aircraft dive down onto him, 'this guy's smart' Joe thought trying to shake off his attacker, it was unsuccessful as he heard a loud snap and he glared over at the right wing to see that the right flap was torn right off, "That's going to be a hassle," he thought out loud. The Peggie aircraft was now directly behind him, still firing bursts at the right wing. Whoever this pilot was they deserved to fly the Sabre, not whoever that other guy was. But Joe was happy he wasn't the Sabre pilot because Joe would be very much dead right now.
Joe in a haste did a barrel roll to avoid being shot, it didn't really work, so Joe decided to gain some altitude, his engine was far superior to his opponents but he knew not to underestimate this one. Joe was climbing and the Peggie followed still shooting short bursts at Joe's tail, The Jug was finally reaching a point where it was really difficult to fly, mainly because the right flap was missing and the left horizontal stabilizer was broken too.
The Peggie decided to break off and dive down, Joe knew not to follow, he had to keep altitude and strike at the perfect moment if he initiated a turn fight, or any sort of dog fight his right wing would snap clean off, and Joe didn't want to risk it, so he stalked his prey like a, eagle, and once he found a clear opportunity he was going to boom and zoom, Joe quickly glared at his fuel, and he nearly choked, 30% he had to leave soon otherwise his engine would shut down there definitely was a leak somewhere but Joe didn't have the time to ponder, if he wanted to return home he had to do something and fast, he decided that he could take down the last Peggie, and then climb as high as he could so if he ran dry he could glide the rest of the way home.
Joe kept a close eye on his opposition, they had a gunner at the back so if Joe did engage, the pilot would be aware Joe had two ways to go Boom and Zoom, or break off and somehow get under the aircraft that way neither the pilot or gunner would be aware of Joe. But Joe decided to play it safe, boom and Zoom would be the only method that would work, the other option was too risky and Joe didn't have the time or fuel to take risks. The sun was slowly setting, so Joe wanted to head back as soon as possible, if night fell he'd miss the briefing with Nick.
So Joe still stalked his prey and then he saw it. Saw his opportunity to strike, the white Peggie plane decided to, climb ever so slightly, if Joe dived down now he'd be able to kill and use the energy to zoom back to decent altitude, so Joe slowly began his descent, he knew that the Peggie aircraft was going to be going about 300km/h which meant they had no way to outrun Joe. Using this to his advantage Joe lined up a shot at the tail, the gunner began to spray at Joe and then the pilot began to dive, but Joe had enough momentum, that once he was 800 meters away he began to fire a long continuous burst until he ran out of ammo or the Peggie was engulfed in flames.
The opposing pilot attempted to fly out of the way, but was too slow, and was peppered up by bullets, but even in death his body didn't find peace, the rest of the lead thundered down on the engine causing it to catch aflame as the aircraft slowly descended to the pits of hell.
Joe fisted the air, he was finally done, he'd finally get to go back. He looked down at his GPS and saw that it was still alive, he marked the Rye airstrip and began his climb. Joe unpocketed his walkie-talkie and contacted Nick.
"It's done, the airfield is destroyed and the chosen are never to be chosen again, okay that's a bad joke," Joe gabbed peering down at his fuel 10%.
"Beautiful," Nick laughed, "okay come back home we're setting up for tonight."
"Roger that." Joe responded pocketing the walkie-talkie, Joe began to miss Mary, and he felt regretful of his outburst she didn't do anything to deserve that. Joe would kill to feel her embrace, well he did kill twelvish people, thirteen maybe but the crash wasn't fully his fault. Joe wasn't bothered to do the math he just wanted to hold Mary in his arms and take a little break from it all.
Joe was slightly panicking now, his fuel was nearly out and he had to fly an hour out, he trusted the jug but he was sure there was a leak in the fuel tank. Joe sighed and continued his climb. Once he was 12, 200 meters up he straightened the plane and increased his throttle, 'might as well use fuel for speed' Joe thought as he quickly glanced at the fuel gauge, 5% remaining.
Joe started to relax when he heard the faint rain drops tap against his canopy, he smiled at the view, the small droplets formed as one and ran down the canopy. It was nearing sundown so the sky was pink and gold, while the clouds became pink fairy floss, it was a sight to behold even if Joe was low on fuel.
With the last few drops of fuel, Joe used WEP, it lasted for a solid minute and then the engine sputtered and died, the propellers were still spinning but they slowed down ever so slightly. Joe quickly glanced at his GPS 15 minutes away, from his current altitude of 12,000 meters Joe should reach his target.
Joe would dive every now and then so the jug would have some speed and not stall, he wanted to get back quick.
After what felt like 7 hours Joe could see The Rye's airfield in the distance at least 500 meters away Joe was currently flying 2,500 meters in the air he was very stingy with his altitude he would only dive if needed. As Joe lowered the aircraft he saw a massive silver aircraft, it had the USAAF insignia, quad engines and a glass front. Joe presumed it was a bomber but the model he was unsure about.
Once Joe lined up with the airfield he activated flaps. Well one of the flaps. Once he was under 300km/h he dropped the gears and waited for them to fully retract, once they did, Joe went for a touchdown the aircraft bounced a slight bit causing Joe's thigh to burn up. Once the gears were rolling Joe activated the breaks and pressed on the peddle to turn the rudder right to left, in an attempt to slow the aircraft, once the P-47 came to a halt, Joe opened the canopy to be met with the light droplets of the rain, his legs were now stinging like crazy, he quickly closed the canopy and he limped down from the cockpit. Joe found the hidden foothold and tried to climb down without slipping. It was difficult with the rain making the smooth metal more slippery and Joe's damn leg. Halfway down Joe lost his grip and fell, he was close to face-planting but he saved himself by landing on his feet. Both feet. The one on the left was dying. Joe fell onto his knees as he fought the urge not to scream. Once he saw A figure approaching he immediately jumped to his feet regaining his posture.
Joe tried his best not to limp so he'd drag his left leg, every time he took a step. He still looked crippled but, less crippled.
The figure that was approaching began running towards him, Joe thought they were going to stab him or something until the light from the P-47 illuminated the figure's face it was Mary, Joe felt his face beam with excitement as he started running, or he thought that's what he was doing.
Mary jumped into Joe's arms her legs wrapped around his waist, Joe used all his might to not tumble or to wince from the impact. Joe then gave Mary the biggest bear hug he's given to anyone. Joe didn't realize it at first but his cold body instantly warmed up after her embrace, it made him squeeze her tighter as if they were exchanging thermal energy.
"I'm sorry," Joe broke the silence.
"Sorry for what?" Mary said slightly inching her head back to glare at Joe in confusion.
"For shouting at you in the morning," Joe frowned remembering the argument.
"You had the right to be mad," Mary answered.
"Yeah, but not at you," Joe sunk his head on her shoulder. Mary didn't reply, she remained in the embrace. They both did as they felt the light rain tap them. But it didn't bother them, not in the slightest.
Well, Joe did feel sadness, not because of the little argument, but the fact that Joe would witness his mother run up and embrace his father when he returned from his station. Just like Mary.
I heard a cargo plane fly above us, my mother and my older brother, Steven, had just arrived at the military airfield, father was finally coming home from Afghanistan. Being only eight I had no clue why he'd go to Afghanistan, I knew enough to know there was some sort of war but that was all, my brother was only five years older so he was in high school, and there they would talk about the ongoing war, Steven would usually tell me what he learnt in school, especially in history, he knew I loved history, especially Modern History. War was something that I enjoyed, I mean it's not good in the current moment but it makes a good book, one of my favorite's was about the Red Baron, I forgot the title but it was about the experiences Manfred Von Richthofen faced through the First War, it was one of the reasons I enjoyed aircraft, and secondly my father is in the RAAF so that was something that inspired me into avionics.
The hot Australian sun scorched my tan skin, thankfully I applied sunscreen. We walked into the building that lead to the airstrip, the door flung open, my mother was ecstatic, my brother was too but he managed to keep his energy down low. I was hyper too, I downed a full energy drink and was eating lots and lots of candy that Steven bought from the store a day before. We embraced the cool air for a fat minute before we went back outside to the airstrip, there we saw the big cargo plane with the back door opening up, soldiers spilled out green uniforms, and green hats, they lingered at the lip of the door, they were doing some sort of briefing, I tried to find father but every face was a blur or taller people were crowding up in front of me I was annoyed until Steven boosted me into his shoulders, now I had a better view of the world, I could see some other planes fly by or land, some neat Jets and also another cargo plane.
After what felt like an hour the men finally started to make their way towards us, I pulled out my binoculars and glared at every single soldier, I didn't stop until I saw him. It took me a couple of minutes until I saw Mother dash towards a man, it took me a second to realize it was him, Dad now wore a buzz cut and his face had a band aid on it. I watched as Mum jumped onto him and sat on his chest I don't know the words to describe the scene but she was holding onto him like a Koala hanging on a tree branch. She ran her finger through the band aid, and Steven started to run towards them, the sudden movement shocked me and my balls as they smacked against Stevens's neck.
By the time we were next to Dad, Mother jumped off him, and I too jumped off Stevens's back. It was a family reunion, I had many questions to ask him, what planes he flew, where he flew, if he fought anyone if he used machine guns or rockets, maybe even bombs my mind was filled with questions and I wasn't able to word them out correctly so I just kept quiet as I approached him. His eyes were different they were more dilated, and his face was a lot more skinny. But that didn't stop me from jumping into his arms, he lifted me and swung me around, I missed Dad. But now I want to ask him the questions, so I did.
"Dad, what planes did you fly?" I stuttered.
"Well son, I flew the F/A 18 Super Hornet," He replied pointing at one of the jets taxiing into a hangar, it was a cool jet, it was navy blue in colour, and had this huge bomb-looking thing at the bottom of the fuselage, and I saw a few other F/A 18's with the bomb things too, but they had them on the wings as well.
"Dad, what are those big bomb thingies on the planes?"
"Those aren't bombs," He laughed, "They're external fuel tanks so the plane can fly in long-distance missions,"
This discovery was like a scientific breakthrough, "So can they drop those tanks,"
"Yes, manually but dropping them filled with fuel is a waste and I haven't done it because the commanders going to kill me,"
"Interesting," I smiled wide as I was finally grounded, "So Dad did you do any shooting? or bombing? or dogfighting?"
He stared at me blankly as if he was rendering on what to say he eventually spoke, "I'd say so, many innocent died because of the bomb raids, and many bad guys were killed with rockets,"
I wanted to ask more questions until Steven butted in and dragged me away from Dad, I struggled but was unable to break away from his grip, I was annoyed. Very annoyed. But when I saw Mum and Dad just talking and laughing I gave up my struggles and decided to walk with Steven to the car, he had the keys so we could just sit there and wait for the elders to arrive.
Joe snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Mary sneeze, he sighed when he realized the rain was pouring down harder, and he wondered if he closed the P-47's canopy, after a long battle with his mind he remembered that he did, so he started walking back to Nick's hangar. Joe was limping and Mary was still hanging onto him, the extra weight nearly caused Joe to collapse. Mary eventually realized the limp and she jumped off Joe she inspected Joe's body and her eyes narrowed when she saw his jacket tied around his left thigh.
"Joe, what happened to your leg?" Mary said gesturing to his left thigh.
"Nothing it's a good luck thing I do it before every flight," Joe lied.
"I know you're lying Joe, you're limping,"
"What? No, I just walk like this after hitting high G forces," His pants was on fire.
"Joe, can you not lie?" Mary spoke sternly.
"Okay, okay geez, can we at least get to some cover before you get sick,"
"I'm fine," Mary spoke drowsily.
"You sneezed I heard you,"
"We all do," Mary defended herself.
"Yeah, but your sniffling right now," Joe smirked
"No, I'm not," Mary tried to cover up her sniffle.
"There you go, you just sniffled," He pointed
"I didn't hear it,"
"Now whose pant's is on fire?"
"Shut up," Mary said getting under Joe's armpit to help him take the pressure off his left leg, Joe winced at the sudden movement, now that it was pitch black outside, Joe had no clue where to walk, Mary did guide him towards a tall light pole, and there to the right was the hangar, Joe could finally see the bomber up close the light from the lamp posts were enough to illuminate the whole plane it was similar to the P-47's fuselage but it was a bomber, quad engines and a crap ton of gunner pods, Joe assumed it was a B-17 or something amongst those lines.
The rain was now thundering down on the two, they moved as fast as they could towards cover, and they eventually went inside the Rye's home. It was extremely cozy inside the lot, Joe took a seat on the staircase, while Mary left to get medical supplies, Joe decided to roll up his pants but the ankle cuffs bunched up on his knee which meant Joe would have to pull down his pants to expose his wound. It was kind of embarrassing but he wasn't bothered moving anywhere else, so he untied the jacket and threw it on the stair railings, he then rolled down his pants halfway to expose the wound.
The sheer size of the wound made Joe bite down on his lower lip, the diameter was at least, 25 mm, Joe didn't have any gauze to clean up the wound, but the jacket did nothing except absorb most of the blood, the wound was still slightly bleeding and it still hurt like hell.
Mary eventually walked in with a green bag with a white plus sign in the middle, Kim Rye followed close behind, and once they saw the wound they collectively gasped, it didn't help Joe's pain at all. Mary took out a gauze and Kim handed her a beer bottle, Mary poured a small amount of alcohol on the gauze and began to clean around the wound, Joe tried to remain stoic but whenever Mary got too close to the bullet hole, Joe would wince, or curse under his breath.
Once Mary was done cleaning the wound Nick entered the house, he was drenched from the rain and he didn't wear his aviators.
"Joe, what happened?" He asked scurrying over to Joe.
"They have freaking jets Nick, JETS!" Joe exaggerated, "And their F-86 shot my leg."
"You took it down?"
"Yeah, well kind of, I just got the pilot to kamikaze the ground,"
"Well done, and err, sorry for not covering your six," Nick said regretfully.
"It's fine you had to tend to that B-17 outside,"
"B-29 actually,"
"How'd you get it?"
"Remember how I said I had a surprise for you well, the B-29 was supplied from another state, from one of my uncles who's currently working on the B-29 as we speak, he's currently checking if the instruments are all working," Nick answered ecstatically. "Also Joe we've sent out multiple scout planes over the borders of Faith, Jacob and John's region to see if there are any hidden airfields, and one scout in the Whitetails found an airfield loaded with fourth-gen jets, F-86s, Mig-15, and a few F-104's."
"We're out - Ouch" Joe looked down to see Mary applying a clean bandage tightly over his wound,
"Sorry," She said giving a weak smile.
"Anyway as I was saying we're outmatched when it comes to technology but we have better pilots, the chosen have only a few good pilots and most fly prop."
Nick was in thought for a long moment before he spoke, "Okay, so tonight at 12:00 Am we're going to bomb Jacob's mansion,"
"Why?"
"Because I've heard over resistance radio that he's still alive so if we demolish that building it'd surely tick him off possibly releasing some of his jets, and then we strike, we take down a handful of them jets before we go for a massive bomb raid at the airstrip."
"How about a few of the resistance members go out to Jacob's mansion scout out any captured resistance members, and then we get the B-29 to flatten the mansion?"
"Okay, that makes sense, fine we will set for the skies tomorrow at midnight, I'll tell my cousin, uncle and also the Sheriff."
"Sheriff Whitehorse is here?"
"Yeah, I forgot to mention, he's at the hangar waiting for you but I'll tell him you're a cripple."
"Okay, Nick I'll meet you tomorrow morning, I need to get out of these clothes," Joe said as Mary picked up the dirty gauze, and left the room with Kim.
"Yeah, meet me back tomorrow at 12:00 PM, only if you're able to, get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow," Nick said leaving the house once again.
Joe decided it was time to get out of his soaked, and bloodied clothes, he used the railing as support as he bounced up the steps with only his right foot, he was halfway up when his right leg was about to lock, but Joe somehow managed to persevere towards the guest bedroom. It would have been smart to lay on the couch but Joe didn't want to wait for Mary to get him dry clothes.
Once Joe entered the room he opened his duffle bag on the bed. He pulled out black briefs, a brown long-sleeve shirt, black trackies and a brown woolen jacket. Joe sat down to change the top half. In under a minute Joe had his shirt and jacket on. 'Now comes the hard part' Joe thought struggling to pull off his cargo pants, after a dreadful minute they were off, and Joe stood and took off his pink boxers. Joe in haste threw on his new black briefs and sat down to pull on his trackies. Once he was clothed, he sighed and imagined how many more times he would struggle to put on clothes. Joe found his towel and dried out his medium-length curls.
Mary walked in about five minutes later, her nose was red and she was still wearing her wet clothes, Joe looked at her in concern, he stood up far too fast nearly causing him to tumble, once Joe had his balance back he limped towards Mary, he grasped her shoulders tightly.
"Thanks for the patch-up," Joe smiled slightly, "But now it's my turn to patch you up,"
"How?" Mary replied sniffling.
"I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate,"
"You can't even walk," Mary joked.
"Do you underestimate the power of Joe?"
"No, I just don't want your leg to heal slower than it should, the resistance needs good pilots,"
"Oh, you saying I'm a good pilot?" Joe smirked.
"No, you're okay, I've seen better," Mary mocked.
"Rude," Joe said limping to the door, "Any who, change your clothes you're drenched, I'm going to indulge in hot coco making."
Joe could see Mary was going to stop him, so he quickly closed the door behind him. He knew that he shouldn't be walking right now especially if he wanted to take part in future missions, but Joe really wanted to calm his nerves, and he did that usually by cooking or flying, but in his current condition, he was unable to do both. Technically. Joe was laser-focused on making some hot coco so he tried to push away the pain on his leg.
His first challenge was the stairs down to the kitchen, if Joe fell he'd tumble all the way down, so Joe sat down and scooted down each separate step he slowly made his way down and once he did, he used the wall as support as he limped his way to the kitchen. Joe stared at the propeller near the doorway that lead to the kitchen. Kim was washing the dishes inside the kitchen and she stared at Joe for a minute before she gave him a concerned look.
"Why are you down here? Shouldn't you be resting now?"
"You could say that but, uhm. I wanted to make some hot chocolate, you want some?" Joe shrugged.
"Go take a seat I'll make it for you," She replied pointing towards the couch.
"Yeah, but I want to make it 'Joe's' way, you feel me?"
"Well, you can try 'Kim's' way today,"
"Oh, please can I make hot coco for everyone," Joe pleaded. "I promise I'll be good."
Kim glared at Joe for a long minute, "Fine, but I'm stationing you in one spot so you don't move as much."
"See Kim that's why you're a legend."
"Yeah yeah, stand by the toaster and tell me what you need,"
Joe obliged and within a minute he was at the counter fiddling with the toaster. "So I need some chocolate syrup, cocoa powder, sugar and marshmallows. Oh and also hot water."
"How many mugs do you want,"
"For everyone. So like seven right"
"Okay," Kim said before opening the cabinet and pulling out four mugs holding them by the handle, she dropped them next to Joe and went back to get the other three mugs. Joe lined up the mugs in a line, and once he got his ingredients he began his work.
"Oh sorry Kim may I get a table spoon?"
She nodded and threw him a tablespoon, Joe then put two tablespoons of sugar and one and a half tablespoon of cocoa powder into each cup. He then poured two tablespoons of chocolate syrup. As Joe finished the kettle began to whistle loudly, and Kim took the jug and poured the water into the mugs, and somehow the kettle managed to have enough water to fill up all six mugs. Joe began to stir and dropped in a handful of marshmallows in each cup.
"Done," Joe smirked at Kim. "See I'm not that crippled."
"Well done Joe you did it," Kim replied sarcastically, "Okay I'll go and call everyone over for hot coco."
Joe nodded and stood there for a moment thinking if he should move or if he should carry the drinks the the living room. He picked the latter and grabbed two mugs he was about to hop over to the living room until he realized he would spill the drink, so he put the cups where they were and walked towards the living room in defeat.
A minute later Mary came down, "Took you a while," Joe said feeling ecstatic and desiring to hug her, but he pushed those desires down.
"Had a warm shower," She replied her red nose faded.
"That explains why you're looking hot right now," Joe grinned
"Thanks," Mary laughed sitting next to Joe.
"Guess what I made the hot cocoa with the help of Kim,"
"Really? Where?"
"By the toaster," Joe said pointing behind, "I was going to carry it myself but like y'know, I didn't want to spill it."
Mary got up and brought back two she handed one to Joe and left the other on the coffee table, she went back with two more and placed them too on the table, she brought back two more and then had a final leg getting hers. Once she did she sat back next to Joe pressing up against his shoulders.
"So what did you put in it?" Mary asked taking a long sip.
"You know the basic hot coco stuff, a good amount of sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, hot water, and a handful of marshmallows oh and don't forget a sprinkle of love," Joe said with a wide grin.
"So Joe how'd that guy get you?" Mary asked leaning in.
"Well, it was somewhat my fault, I got a tad bit too cocky in my capabilities, and he got on my tail, got dinged up and one bullet broke through the canopy and hit my leg, I honestly got lucky that that bullet only hit my leg, I think I had glass shrapnel hit my neck and head since I got a bit of stinging there now. But anyways when I got shot I pressed on the left rudder pedal, and that got my plane to tilt to the right causing him to thunder me with more bullets don't think any were critical other than the possible fuel leak." Joe chugged half the coca, he should have added chocolate drizzle or flaked chocolate.
"So how'd you down him?" Mary asked gripping her mug tightly.
"Okay, so essentially right off the bat I knew he was inexperienced. How did I know? you may think, well it was his flight abilities. When I first went for a mini dive the guy blacked out for a few seconds, and the maneuver we pulled wouldn't generate much G even for a jet fighter." Joe took sipping his cocoa and ate some of the marshmallows.
"What's a G?"
"A G-force is essentially gravity force, so currently we are in one G. Earth's gravity. But in a jet or roller coaster, we got through a lot of sharp turns and at high speeds and that's why you feel heavy-headed because the G is making your head heavy, I think it doubles each G you pull. But anyways back to this Saber guy, once I saw he had low G tolerance I was like 'damn I can make him pass out and crash,' so with this plan in mind I dive down. He follows. I pull up about a thousand-ish feet from the ground, and he pulls up like a second and a half later, but his speed was too much and he pancaked. I think it was a matter of situational awareness, and also the speed he was going at. So I didn't face too much G-force since I was in a slower plane, and also because I have G tolerance from being an F-35 pilot before I came here." Joe downed the last of his cocoa."
"Since when were you a jet pilot?" Mary asked tilting her head to the right.
"I swear I've told you before, but yeah. I worked as a fast jet pilot for a couple of years but then Bruce and I took the job of junior deputy or rook, whatever. So yeah that's how I've ended here, pretty eventful not going to lie, I've made friends, flown war birds, and met the love of my life. What more can I ask for?" Joe said with a small smile. "So Mary tell me more something I've never heard about you?" Joe leant into Mary this time.
"Uhm, I'm pretty sure I've told you about the events before you guys came... You know after killing my brother and all."
"You've told me bits and pieces every now and then, not the full thing."
"Oh, well my brother was a part of Eden's gate, he was drugged or something I don't remember, but I was being forced into the project with him. They tattooed our skins and 'cleansed' us. I know you know about my allergy to the chemicals to tattoos so when I had a reaction I was taken up to the medical, where Kim gave birth. They removed the tattoo and it's not fully gone just faded you'd have to focus on the spot to identify it. But back to the story. I escaped the project but my brother never did he became loyal to them fuckers. Killed pop's, and after that happed me and this hunter both went to find him we eventually did and eliminated him, but unfortunately the hunter's been missing for years not, poor bastards probably dead."
"I'm, sorry that you had to go through that," Joe frowned glaring down at the coca remaining at the bottom of his cup.
"You don't have to apologies you've done nothing wrong," Mary said resting her head on Joe's shoulder.
They sat there for a moment absorbing the warmth created between the two. The silence was broken once they heard the Sheriff's voice and Nick's laughter. The front door opened and in came Nick, Sheriff, Kim and two strangers that Joe assumed were Nick's relatives.
The younger male wore a black truckers mustache, and wore a Hope county Cougars cap, he was fair skinned, built similar to Nick and he also wore a black leather jacket with black jeans. The older male on the other hand was bald but wore a grey beard, his eyes brown with rectangular glasses over them. He wore a brown hunting jacket and brown hunting pants.
Mary raised her head and got out of her seat to greet everyone. Joe stayed seated.
"I would get up to shake yall's hands but my legs seen better days," Joe said in a joking tone.
"Yeah, Nick told us about your injury," the elder man spoke with a rugged voice.
"Oh, that explains why you guys took a while,"
"You could say that I guess, Nick didn't tell us what went down so why don't you tell us?"
"Alright gather around then," Joe said with a slight smirk. "we begin.."
Somewhere in the whitetails.
"Abe, you hear about the huge dog fight nearby the fang center?"
"Nah, I did hear gunshots in the evening but that was about it, probably from some resistance fighters and Peggie's."
"Were they rifle shots or heavy machine guns?"
"Sounded like a 50. Cal machine gun," Abraham said glaring into the campfire.
"See could be from the dogfight from earlier," George said grinning.
"Or it could be from resistance fighters on the machine guns attached to the back of a Ute." Abe snapped back.
"Nah, you clearly haven't heard the radio lately, reports from Holland valley and Whitetail mountain said they spotted two warbirds, but one left back in Holland while the second came up here for a bombing run on the Peggie occupied airstrip, alongside a ton of fighters, lately more resistance fighters have been doing aerial reconnaissance. Rumor has it that the Deputy was responsible for the raids alongside Nick Rye, but it's all speculated."
"Hm, could be the Deputy I heard one of them was in the Air Force so it could explain why they went solo and came out victorious."
"That would explain a lot, the Dep should definitely go up in the air more often, he alone has more skill than any pilot in Hope County, except Nick Rye."
"That's arguable, what if it was actually Nick who flew to the Whitetails while the Deputy returned to base."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense, anyways I think the rabbits are ready." George said grabbing a rabbit on a stick that was over the fire.
"Looks good," Abe said grabbing his rabbit.
"Lets hope they taste as good as they look."
George cut off a leg and tore into it, "I like the meat but I knew we should have bought the salt and pepper with us, also we should have extracted all the meat instead off just gutting it."
"Maybe, but we came here to eat only what we catch, tomorrow we can find vegetables or seasonings, I don't know but just enjoy the meal."
The two sat in silence devouring their well earnt game, their day wasn't great since they scared away a deer, and when they found a second deer they shot it on the leg, Abe tried to get the killing shot but missed, the deer ran to safety. They tried to track it but they ran into Peggies and hid. In the end their traps managed to catch two rabbits. Which now reside in their stomachs.
"Alright Abe I'm gonna hit the hay now," George said sipping on his canteen before heading into his tent.
"Okay, I'll see you early morning we're going caribou hunting tomorrow." Abraham, sat staring at the fire as he sucked out the last meat of the rabbits thigh. He tossed the bone into the fire until he heard movement from the trees behind him, he quickly grabbed his 45/70 and aimed at where he heard the noise.
"Whose there," He shouted. Abe glared into George's tent to see his light come on and his tent door open.
"What's all the ruckus about," He said annoyed.
"I think someone's back in the trees, I heard movement."
"Could be anything, probably just a deer or caribou."
"I know but we should be cautious if that's a bear we're dead."
"Fine I'll go grab my rifle you go grab the flash lights."
Both in haste grabbed their equipment and sneaked down towards the trees. George scanned the area with his flashlight with no sign of anything. Until a shadow emerged from the forest. Their hands were up in surrender. But both Abe and George aimed down their sights at the emerging figure. Abe flashed a light towards the figure and saw a figure who was well built and had a masculine build, he had a bow on his back alongside a quiver, the man wore a brown hood with fur on the shoulders and brown pants, but what made the figure strange and creepy was it wore a white mask.
Abe walked towards the man, "Throw the bow on the floor, right now otherwise we'll have to rearrange your brains."
The figure obliged and threw their bow towards Abe. George slowly followed and picked up the bow.
"Why do you come here," Abe said slightly scared.
"I came to hunt," The figure spoke, it was muffled but clear enough to make out.
"What, do you want to hunt alongside us?" George spoke.
"Yes, I'm great with my bow, I managed to take down fifty Peggies today, with just basic arrows."
"Impressive," Both Abe and George said. "Well you're going to have to prove it to us tomorrow we're going caribou hunting."
"Great, caribous taste great," The figure said happily, "But can I get my bow back now that's a gift from my brother."
"Okay fine but tell us your name," George asked cautiously.
"My names Brick," He replied hesitantly.
"Well Brick how do you look?" Abe asked curiously.
"Well I can't do that, you guys would run away if you saw my face. Bear attack. Slashed my face, took a million stiches to make my face look decent. I guess," Brick responded taking two steps forward.
"Fine, but I still don't trust you," Abe replied still aiming at Brick head.
"That's fine I'll earn it tomorrow by showing you boys how to really hunt."
George scoffed, "As if, we'll catch more game your puny bow can't compete with a .45 caliber shot."
"It's on then," Brick said picking up his bow and drawing out and arrow.
"Hey, you put that down now!" Abe shouted, but Brick drew the string back.
Both Abe and George shot at Brick's head, blood spluttered out but Brick disappeared into mist, confused they both began looking around the area. Abe and George stood back to back trying to find their attacker. But he disappeared into mist. Was the bliss officially distributed to the white tails. Or was this just a hallucination. Both men felt fear, but in order to survive they started to walk back to their tents, rifle in hand the barrel searching for it's prey.
Both men took a seat on the logs near the camp fire, Abe put in some fire wood to keep the fire going, while George walked back and fourth frantically searching.
A loud growl was heard from the trees again, but the men went prone behind the logs and aimed down to find where the noise came from. They waited a minute until they heard another growl this one was louder, and another growl whatever it is it's getting closer. After what felt like an hour they saw a pack of wolves charge them. Both men shot at the wolves only to see them disappear into mist. The men kept shooting incase the wolves could still kill them. Until Abe heard George scream. He turned his head towards George only to see an arrow sticking out the back of his head. Abe screamed, and began to run. He saw no point in killing the wolves, and whoever shot him wouldn't be able to shoot him if he's hiding in dense vegetation.
Abe ran and ran, the thought of his best friend being dead terrified him, it felt like he lost a family member, Abe wanted to fight back but he was in a position where he had no way to win. If he would make it back to the militia he could have backup enough man power to devastate whoever tried to ambush him.
Abraham's thoughts were cut short when he heard a loud growl, not the same as the wolves it sounded bigger and angry, before Abe could find the source a Grizzly bear struck him to the floor, Abraham's rifle disappeared, but he tried to push the bear off but there was no point, the bear sunk it's teeth into Abe's left thigh tearing off the flesh and devouring it, Abe tried to run but the bears mass managed to hold him down. All Abraham could do was scream in agony as the bear slowly ate his tender flesh.
Until it stopped, the weight was lifted off when he saw Brick crouched over him staring directly at him, the wolves and the bear glared down at him with hunger in their eyes.
"You said your 45/70 was enough to kill more than an arrow, you friend certainly learnt that was false information,"
"Fuck you," Abe shouted and spat on Bricks mask.
Angered Brick threw a powerful punch dead center Abe's face. "You wanted to see me, so I'll show you. Its not like you'll be able to tell anyone," Brick laughed, he pulled down his hood and gently took off the white mask.
Abrahams jaw dropped, "Deputy?"
Bruce smirked, "Yeah it's me, we spotted you hunting, saw how you lost your deer when you ran into the Peggies, well I saw you two. And well I don't like others in my woods, so. I exterminate them. Like your buddy. What was his name? George was it," Bruce let out a slight giggle. "Anyways, I have to bounce, I'll let the wolves deal with you. C'mon Cheeseburger, you can eat his friend instead." Bruce said walking away with the bear. As soon as they went out of sight the wolves began to bite down on Abe's flesh tearing away chunks of him, Abe began screaming, he tried to push the wolves off him, but was overwhelmed by the pack. One wolf eventually put Abe out of his misery by tearing out his throat. Abe laid there bleeding out. The hunter became the hunted...
Dudes note - This chapter took half a year to finish. And I'm sorry, I guess I aimed for perfection when I know damn well it's practically impossible. But since this chapter had dogfights and all that I started geeking out and began to research everything, the startup for the P-47 was actually from an old WW2 advert for pilots who would fly the P-47. Also the hot chocolate recipe was taken from the web but unfortunately I lost the link to the website. Also I have one thing to say. This chapter had multiple pathways, and I kind of want to do an alternative version where the Peggies are practically dominating Montana, and the resistance submit. It's not fully thought out but what do you guys think?