Refraction | Part 1 | Darwin's Steroids
28) A Quiet Moment With Chuck
I admit I am a bit rough around the edges, maybe I ain’t the most highly educated guy you’ll ever meet. But I am no fucking dummy, and I know how to get the job done. I was an Army brat, so I been around a little bit. I have Kung Fu, some Wushu, and even a little of La Savate. My old man taught me how to shoot and handle ballistic weapons, some field first aid, and even a little martial strategy. He had grown up during the war years, so he was pretty much obsessed with survival and self-defense. I’ll also admit to having kind of a bad temper, which wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t so big. Most guys get mad they punch a hole in the wall, I punch the wall down. At least I don’t get all berserker like some cats. I’m not lusty for blood or anything like that, I don’t go looking for trouble. Some people tend to think I’m out of control when I get pissed off, because I’ve done some serious damage. But it ain’t like that. I’m really a pretty nice guy, I just happen to be able to do more damage than your average man, so it just seems like I’m flipping my lid sometimes. I’m just a finisher, that’s all.
Anyway my old man’s propensity for paranoia rubbed off all over me. I’ve kept up my training, I review my skills, and most of all I prepare. There’s a place in the woods that my mentor and drinking buddy, Hump, EBITC, and I built a few years back, when it looked like worldwide aggression was mounting up again. It is well stocked and hidden away. That’s where I planned to head, after I finished up my business in the desert. See, I know I’m being pursued. People who send assassins with a bunch of slick-shit military gear after you rarely give up the hunt, and what I need to do is cover the trail. There’s about a one in a million chance they didn’t pick up my radio signal, so I’m gonna wait. I leave now, I’m one man alone, leading these fuckers who tried to kill me right into my sanctuary. I wait for them here, maybe I can obfuscate my escape route after I murder whoever shows up to get me.
I spend a few hours getting my shit squared away. I stock weapons and ammo from the silo in various positions that happen to provide enfilade, or are along my route of retrograde movement. I figure I can keep falling back and drawing them in, once they’re in the silo, they’ll have to separate to find me, and I can deal with groups of two or three instead of having a fire fight with the whole platoon. The silo has a pretty decent weapons cache. There are two ancient tripod mount IR machine guns, which should come in handy, and a shit load of anti personnel mines, which will, at the very least throw some confusion into the mix. I plant a few mines, set some booby traps, then grab a bite from the stores in the silo and settle into my primary position.
I don’t have long to wait.
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