as they ransacked the barn. Their weapons ranged from AK-47s to crossbows and everything in between. There was no way of knowing if they all had the ammunition and skill to effectively deploy their weapons, but Jedidiah had stayed alive long enough to learn that handling everyone like an expert killer would lessen his chances of being taken by surprise.
Just then, shots began to sound. Everyone in the barn scattered for cover as what sounded like a squad of men began shooting at them. Though momentarily confused at this latest development, Jedidiah immediately recognized this as an opportunity to locate the children. Crouching low, he began to make his way around the side of the barn until he could see the cabin. Through the ricocheting rounds and yells of the bandits he began to make sense of what had happened. Apparently, the family had a cache of ammunition hidden inside their home that the raiders had not discovered, and as the heat from the fire grew, the rounds began to discharge. Judging by their actions, most of them had not figured this out and thought they were under fire from the tree line. Some shot aimlessly into the dark while others hid. The men closest to the burning house, however, knew exactly what had happened and simply laid down behind a small stand of trees a little further away from the cabin. They dragged the now half-naked girl with them and left the two boys to fend for themselves. As soon as the boys saw that their captors had abandoned them, they ran into the dark. The brothers looked to be pre-teen and as they disappeared into the forest, Jedidiah turned his attention to the girl. Being dragged by one arm, it was obvious to Jedidiah that she was unconscious. He assumed that she had been knocked out while struggling to get free from the men who were raping her. The discharging rounds of the burning cabin coupled with the length of open ground he would have to clear to get to the stand of trees forced Jedidiah to backtrack around the backside of the barn and come up from behind. As he rounded the corner where he had just hidden the dead woman’s body, he prepared himself for another confrontation in case someone had stumbled onto her while trying to find cover. But, thankfully, he encountered no one. He had a small window of opportunity to recover the girl and did not want to waste time with anyone else.
Nearing the other end of the barn, he stopped short of the corner. He knew that the stand of trees would be just beyond it and wanted to see exactly what he was up against before committing himself to action. Using the corner of the barn to maximize his concealment, he peered carefully around it into the trees. Given the circumstances, he couldn’t ask for better positioning. At only twenty or so yards away, he was behind and to the left of the two men and the girl. The men were on their stomachs, while the girl, still appearing unconscious, was on her back.
Well, Father…, he prayed, I don’t guess it’s gonna get any better than this.
Just then, one of the men began to climb on top of the unresponsive girl. His intentions were obvious. At that, Jedidiah broke cover and began to move toward the trees at a deliberate and steady pace. He brought up his M4 from the low ready and placed its front sight post on the back of the man’s head. Squeezing the trigger, he sent the round home. Before the man’s body had fallen limp onto the girl, he sent a second round under the other man’s left arm and into his heart. Neither man knew what hit him.
This last action left Jedidiah exposed to the front side of the barn and vulnerable. He instinctively pivoted to his left, rifle at the ready, to scan this danger area he had not yet cleared and, as he did, he locked eyes with another man who froze with shock at what he had just witnessed. The man attempted to raise his weapon, but Jedidiah cut him down with two shots to the chest. Just as smoothly and quickly as he turned to clear the front side of the barn, he withdrew to find the girl.
Ammunition was still cracking off from the house fire as he made his way to her and pulled off the dead man’s body. Planning to toss the little girl over his left shoulder, he saw that her face was covered in thick dark blood. At first glance, Jedidiah assumed it was a combination of the blood from the man who had been shot above her along with some of her own blood when she was struck unconscious. But the flickering light of the burning cabin revealed that she had been shot in the back of the head. The exit wound had caused severe disfigurement to her face. There was no way to know at what point she had been fatally shot. Whether it had been done by one of the men or by one of the rounds discharging in the fire, Jedidiah could not tell. He could only hope that the men had not violated her until after she was dead, but he suspected she had been raped before and after.
With a seamless transition of attention, he looked up to where he last saw the two boys running into the woods just a few minutes earlier. He wondered if they were just inside the tree line not knowing what to do next, or if they had kept on running. Whichever it was, he felt compelled to find them. This was a wild and unforgiving land, and he knew their chances of survival were not good. Jedidiah looked down at the girl one last time and folded the torn pieces of her blouse back over her bare chest. Still holding his rifle ready with his right hand, he placed his left on her heart, fighting the urge to kill the rest of the raiding party. Below the thick firming blood on her chest, he felt a small solid object. As he picked it up through the pooling blood, he could see it was a small wooden cross secured to her neck by an old shoe lace.
His breath gave way to a passing quiver as he heard the Lord speak to him, Jedidiah, even in this, I AM sovereign. Though it did not put his righteous anger to rest, he knew he had to look to the boys. He, however, was in the middle of the homestead, surrounded by the unknowing raiders and trying not to be shot by the indiscriminate rounds still going off. But even so, with great care and respect, Jedidiah took time to remove the necklace from around her neck. He figured she’d want her little brothers to have it rather than it being found and used as barter by those who murdered her family.
Quickly, he looked to the two dead men. It was now muscle memory to thoroughly search the dead for useful items and Jedidiah did this without fail when the situation allowed. Normally, he would consider every item found on the dead, including articles of clothing. He didn’t have the time for that now and focused on weapons and ammunition. He rolled the man he had shot through the heart over on his back. He carried a worn-out SKS in which Jedidiah wasn’t interested. Furthermore, he only had six rounds of ammunition which differed from the .223 rounds Jedidiah needed. Satisfied the man offered little he could use, Jedidiah rolled him back over and out of the way. Turning toward the other man, he grew hopeful when he saw a Remington pump action shotgun lying in the dirt beside the body. As he picked up the gun, however, he could see that the magazine tube was severely damaged rendering this once very capable weapon into a single-shot shotgun. Tossing the damaged weapon down, he made one more quick assessment of his surroundings and decided it best that he should make for the closest tree line, approximately thirty yards directly to his right. Standing to his feet, he ran for the trees, still suppressing his desire to engage the remaining murderers.
About two thirds of the way there, he felt a hot sting on his left lower leg. Feeling no effect on his ability to run, he never broke stride and seconds later he was safe and at home in the dark of the forest. Several yards into the thicket, he stopped under an opening in the canopy to survey his wound by the light of the moon. He figured it wasn’t serious, but could not risk continuing without confirming it. Jedidiah understood the power of the human body while under the influence of adrenaline, and he knew that, though it felt superficial, it could actually be much more serious. He could feel the blood trickling down as he knelt to roll up his pant leg. There, just on the inside of his calf, was the grazing gunshot wound, and as he suspected, it was not serious. It was certainly not serious enough to require immediate attention. He pulled his pant leg back down and began his movement back around to where he had first left the forest to pick up his pack.
After relocating it, he started toward the opposite side of the property where he’d last seen the boys enter the trees. He felt much more in control now that he was back in his element. Circling the cleared property from inside the tree line, Jedidiah kept a constant eye on what was going on within the clearing. The discharging ammunition within the fire was thinning out now, and the bandits were beginning to come out of their hiding places. He wondered what their reaction would be when they found the bodies he left in his wake. They may not even care. Nevertheless, he wanted
