Eden's Hammer - By Lloyd Tackitt Page 0,64

the women’s position behind them. After the explosions, there was a scattering of shots, then silence again. Adrian raised his voice, “Stand. The women followed us out of the village, and that gunfire is coming from their position.” Signaling to ten of the men with him, he said, “You men come with me; the rest come up behind us slowly in a wide line. We have to close in carefully, or the women may start firing at us.”

Adrian told Bollinger, “Stretch the rest of them out and bring them on; look out for the raiders—they may still be between us and the women. We’re going to move fast.” Adrian then told his small team, “Follow me and don’t get ahead of me!” He turned and began swiftly running toward the women.

He rapidly gained on his men, running faster than any of them could. As Adrian began to close in on the women, he saw bodies strewn on the ground in front of the group. The bodies were mangled and ripped apart. He slowed and waved his arms, wanting the women to see him clearly. As he got closer, Linda yelled out “Come on, we see you.” Adrian picked up his pace and joined her. Without wasting time, he asked, “Did any escape?”

“A bunch of raiders came right at us that must have gotten around you. We hit them, mostly with Matt’s cannons, but a handful of them disappeared into those trees.” She pointed to a tree line in the distance.

“Casualties?”

“None—well, maybe some hearing loss from those cannons. Damn things are loud. No, they barely returned fire. Getting hit with those chains at close range with no warning rocked them back hard.”

“Why did you leave the village?” Adrian asked.

“Remember when you told me I had to act autonomously? It was my decision, and I stand by it.”

Adrian replied. “Turned out to be a good one. Could have been a disaster, but you did well.”

Adrian’s men arrived as he finished talking and heard what she said. Adrian said, “Linda, the rest of the men will be coming up soon. Send a runner to Bollinger and tell him where the raiders disappeared. Tell him to send his fastest men to cut them off in case they are heading towards the village. Tell those men to be damn careful who they shoot at, because we’re going to have men spread out all over the place to try and locate Rex.” Adrian quickly checked the bodies; he didn’t think Rex’s would be among them, and it wasn’t.” He counted sixteen bodies.

Adrian told his men, “We’re going to head west into those trees and see if they’re still there, the other men will be getting between them and the village. Come on, let’s roll.” He led the men at a slightly slower pace, since they had just sprinted half a mile across broken country and wouldn’t be able to maintain his own pace. Adrian was cursing with almost every step, “Son of a bitch, son of a bitch, son of a bitch.”

MARCH 28, LATE AFTERNOON

Adrian eventually sent his group out as runners to bring everyone back to the village. Rex and the men with him had disappeared; there was no indication where they went. Adrian waited while everyone trickled back into the village. Bollinger reported, “We lost six men, and fourteen were wounded. Of the wounded, three are critical and may not make it. We, plus the women, killed all but four of the raiders. For all intents and purposes the raiders are done. There’s no sign yet of the snipers, but I’ve got men out searching for them. We’ve retrieved all of our fallen. They’ll be prepared for burial tomorrow. All of the wounded are in the hospital being worked on. The raiders’ bodies are where they fell, and we stripped them of weapons and ammo. Do we plan to do anything with their bodies?”

Adrian replied, “No, we leave them there. They can feed the buzzards; it’s the best use they ever had.”

“Adrian,” Bollinger said with a sudden gravity, “Clif was killed. Took a bullet through his throat.”

Adrian stood stock still, his falling face giving away his pain at the news. “Aw, fuck!” he suddenly shouted. Goddamn that Rex to a burning fucking hell! Adrian walked away from everyone, his fists clenched. He stopped when he was out of earshot. For a long five minutes, he stood with his back turned. His shoulders were hunched, moving up and down. It was obvious he was crying,