The Young Fighters

CHAPTER 12

The noon sun rose up high as Leah and her guards stood by along the edge of town where they'd first come in contact with Joel's men. Andy waited alongside his truck viewing the time on his watch. For him, it was like counting down for a big moment in history to occur. Ryan remained in his hunting stand whilst scanning the horizon with a pair of binoculars. Caden and the other Village Elders stood all huddled up together. Leah had emotions of tension consuming her from the moment she was driving down to her current location. Next to them were Jackson, Wyatt, Ellie, and the two newest members of the Georgetown Militia: Conner and Owen.

"Come in, Brooklyn," called out Andy on his walkie talkie radio, "This is The Big Chief, what's up in your area? Over!" His hands started to grow cold in the summer's nice warmth. Not even so much as a simple breeze came about the whole day, and he was filled with edgy sentiment while waiting.

"This is Brooklyn, coming in. I haven't seen anything here, I've also radioed in Carter, he too said that there was no activity where he's at. Over!"

Conner was dressed the best way he could be suited for the militia. A simple green woodland army coat and jeans. For his weapon, he was assigned a simple Savage 7.62, bolt action rile with no scope attached to the top. Only five bullets could be stored in his weapon, and to his luck he knew a few things about firing a gun. Problem was, he hadn't fired one in some time. Yet, he managed to convince Caden that he had some experience with firearms. At this point, Caden didn't care who enlisted for the Georgetown Militia, they just needed to know how a gun works and if they could hit the target without any sort of dilemma.

Next to him was Owen; the young man was carrying with him a twelve gauge Mossberg 590 pump action shotgun. The black gun looked to him like something he'd seen in an action film that his parents wouldn't let him watch, yet it looked as if it were made for him. The metal heat shield grabbed his eye the moment he laid eyes on upon the gun. Another attribute that Owen didn't notice at first was that this weapon would have a bayonet attached to the end, to his surprise, the gun store did have one available.

Jackson stood next to the Elders and chatted briefly with them with a low toned voice that could have been low enough to be considered whispering. Most of his conversation was focused towards Leah's safety. Even the young girl felt the same way as to what could happen if the negotiation went wrong.

"Are you scared?" Evan asked Leah,

"I don't wanna say I'm scared or terrified," She could feel butterflies in her stomach. "I'm just a little unease right now." She paused for a moment and shook her head. "Who am I kidding? I'm scared, but I don't want to be." Andy stood nearly ten yards away from Leah, but he could still pick up on what she was saying, and he too felt what she was going through.

"Do you still wanna make the journey?" Caden asked, "We can always tell them that we're not interested in speaking to them."

"What do we tell them then?"

"I could always tell them that we feel as though we are better off being independent and working alone in a quiet community as the one we're currently in." Caden's mind began to rush quickly as he continued. "I still have the feeling that they know we have Michael Davis in town. Marcus probably knew I was lying when I told him we didn't see him. They might try to bring us harm because of my story." Caden ran his hand through his hair to slick it back and he observed how several hairs stuck to his palm. Never in his life had he recalled something like that happening. It must have been from all the stress.

"Is Michael still under Will's care?" Leah's heart sank into her chest that moment, she hadn't even thought a whole lot about the little guy in the past few hours. She was thinking about her life and how it might be at risk.