The Young Fighters

CHAPTER 19

The name's Snake." The squad leader identified himself as his team and Jackson's pressed onward into the town. "With me is Liger, Splinter, Blade, Blaze, Wolf, and Charlie." Each one of them was a member of Snake's guerilla force. All of them started off as local air soft and paintball players who over the past few months became molded into hardened fighters lead by a seventeen year old who wanted to get involved in army special forces. Only problem was the Great Disappearance cut short his dream.

Liger (age seventeen) carried with him a military styled rifle that was taken from the local police station. Splinter (age sixteen) was armed with a Remington bolt action rifle that had a scope attached to the top. Blaze was another sniper that worked alongside him (age sixteen) and the only female in the force. Blade was another ground pounder (age sixteen) armed with a semiautomatic rifle. Wolf (age seventeen) and Charlie (age sixteen) were also serving as regular soldiers carrying whatever kind of military style weapons that could be rummaged from the old remnants of the police station. Almost all their supplies came from the old station.

After quick introductions, Snake radioed the squad to inform them of who they found. The group headed for their hideout, located at an old house next to the town's church. To Jackson and the gang it looked like a regular old brick house with a white wooden patio and some windows, but to the guerrillas the home reminded them of the Appomattox court house where Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee brought the civil war to an end.

The interior was intact and collecting dust. It sort of reminded the outlanders of a spooky ghost house. Inside the dining room sat a large wooden table with an old white cloth resting atop and a green rug beneath the table. The guerilla members moved the counter and carpet revealing a door on the floor. Snake pounded a metal hinge against it in what made them think of Morse.

TAP! TAP! TAP! Pause THUMP! TAP! TAP! THUMP! Pause. THUMP! Pause. TAP! THUMP! (OPEN)

Snake looked up at the new comers. "We couldn't think up a password." thinking Jackson and his buddies knew Morse Code. A loud clank came from below the door and opened up was another teenager dressed in a cameo coat with his face bare of any paint.

"Are these the guys you found?" He asked,

"They are." Snake replied.

"Can they be trusted?" Jackson looked at Connor and Owen thinking what would happen if they couldn't be. Death maybe?

"Their enemies are our enemies." Snake said with shear poise. They all began to enter inside of the door in the floor as they stepped along a series of wooden steps that creaked when stepped upon. Inside where a few other soldiers hanging out in what could have been a regular chill zone. All complete with a desk with a large crudely drawn map, some foldable chairs, a computer, guns and ammo, medical kits, sleeping bags with pillows, a portable DVD player, and a ping pong table in the corner.

"Is this where you all live?" Connor inquired.

"This place?" Snake replied, "No," he shook his head, "this is just our base. The only time we ever really live is if we come under attack and need a place to say and hide."

"You've been attacked by Joel's army before?"

"Occasionally we'll spot a few of his guys coming around here trying to find us. But they never succeed in capturing us or the town."

"Why does Joel want your town?" Owen asked. Suddenly everyone looked at him and he got the impression that he offended them. "No offense, it's a nice place."

"It's not that, it's one of our own guys." Snake looked over at one of his fellow fighters. "Liger over there used to be a member of Joel's military. When he left, squads were hot on his trail until he found us. Before he came here, none of us were fully prepared for war until they showed up. We had a few shoot outs and that would lead to more of them. So we got prepared by setting traps and patrols. We started relying on guerilla warfare to hold Joel back and so far it's been successful."