Sheepdog-31

Guiscard anticipated that, somehow, someone amongst these guys would have the means to shoot him down. What he did not anticipate is exactly what it was; one pair of these guys carried a big box in the backseat of a car, and they fled behind some concealment. Out from that car they took the box, and out of that box they took a man-portable missile launcher. While the fight raged on nearby, they loaded the launcher and took aim at Guiscard; they fired, and to Guiscard’s merit he defeated the first attempt by exploited the superior turning ability of his craft.

The second attempt, now at a further range due to Guiscard seeing that a threat he could not easily deal with was at hand, took much more effort to do. They knew that Ken and his allies on the ground now looked for them, so they had to race against the inevitable to shoot down the plane before they got found. They managed to get that second missile off, and then got blasted into hamburger by a pair of militiamen armed with shotguns. As for Guiscard, he again managed to avoid getting shot down, but this time the missile’s warhead exploded a bit too close and damaged his attack plane; he flew for home- the enemy got their wish.

Not yet conceding defeat, the gangsters—now broken completely—scattered and went wild in a mad flight-forward. Some got gunned down by defending homeowners, some by the militia, but more than enough eschewed further home invasions altogether. However, one of the more tech-savvy of the bunch hooked up with one of the more crook-savvy, and together figured out that their original target was not the one that they needed. The two hid long enough to hook into the Internet and trace traffic flows in the county; they figured out that Reginald’s the man coordinating the action, and doing so from home- a location now known.

Not for long, however, as soon after those two got the coordinates to the others Ken came upon them and ambushed them from above. He made short work of them, and then—noticing what they did—warned the militia and the Sheriff, which meant warning Reginald, and then immediately made for Reginald and Kathy’s home. Fortunately, Ken knew how to get there on foot as that was a direct route. Unfortunately, it was still faster to haul ass there on a bike or in a car.

Ken broke out of the brush into the clear backyard to hear screaming and gunfire within the house. Without thought, he burst through the back door and pummeled the man to death that stood just inside that room. Taking the man’s rifle, he saw a handful of others rushing for the front door; Ken fired upon and shot them down without thought. He now heard more screaming from upstairs, and the trodding of feet above, and just as he ran to climb those stairs himself gunfire from above ripped down through the ceiling and impacted the floor and walls where he just stood.

Upstairs he engaged two more men that briefly pinned him down before they both had to pause to reload, whereupon he rushed them and emptied the remainder of his weapon’s magazine into them; he dropped the empty rifle and picked up a pistol off one of the now-dead gunmen, and then ran into the children’s room. There he found Reginald dead—blasted apart by a shotgun—as well as the corpse of their son. Kathy sat slumped against a wall, mortally wounded, shot multiple times in the stomach. Out the window Ken saw a handful of men scrambling into a SUV with their daughter wriggling, now a hostage.

Ken fired upon the vehicle until the magazine went dry, but could not stop them, and then he threw down the empty weapon in frustration. He could do nothing for Reginald or the son, but before he ran after the daughter Kathy looked over at him. She smiled. She nodded. Then Ken ran, weeping.