Bud stopped in his tracks, trying to make sense of what was happening when Owen started yelling for him to come outside. Bud did as Owen said, and noticed that the other generator was still running and seemed even louder than it had only moments ago.

Racing outside he saw four vehicles rushing toward them out of the darkness, Owen was pointing up, and Bud's blood ran cold. The sound he'd been hearing wasn't another generator, it was coming from the helo which was hovering just in front of his group. Even in the darkness, Bud could make out the deadly rockets and massive cannon pointed directly at him. He dived to the ground and noticed that the four Humvees had formed a half circle, preventing them from advancing any further.

When he looked at the rest of the raiding party on the ground, he could see at least a dozen bright red dots of light moving back and forth over them. He assumed these must be from laser scopes mounted on the rifles of troops, waiting unseen out in the darkness.

Bud could just make out a man standing in the back of the nearest Humvee, manning the mounted machine gun. He was wearing a helmet and wore a bizarre set of goggles which gave him a bug-like appearance.

Bud had never seen anything like it, but he'd heard about bizarre goggles that allowed the wearer to see in the dark as clearly as if it was daylight. It meant that he could see one of them, but they could see him and his entire team.

Until these last two revelations crossed Bud's mind, the option of fighting had been on the table. Now it was run, and hopefully not get shot in the back – or surrender.

Bud had come to the conclusion that retreating would be the best option when suddenly, one of his men who lay four feet away jumped up and opened fire on the helo with a shotgun. The other raiders hurriedly got to their feet, some running for the gate and others beginning to shoot. Bud turned to run, knowing there was no way they could win this fight.

He'd taken little more than a couple of steps when he glanced back over his shoulder and saw flames shooting from the helo's cannon. Something smashed into him at waist level and he was thrown in the air before crashing back onto the ground. The sounds of weapon fire quickly came to a halt.

Bud was surprised by how little pain he experienced. He twisted his head to one side and realized all the raiders near him were down, several clearly dead. Owen lay twenty feet away, alive but wounded.

Lying next to Bud's head was a severed leg. It took him a minute to recognize the boot, and he vomited when he realized the leg he was staring at was his own.