The Reversion (Stonemont Book 1)

by Steven Smith

  "He doesn't. We're different that way. I can hold a grudge until hell freezes twice, but to Jerry every day is a new day with no baggage from the past. In some ways that's good, but in other ways it can be dangerous."

  Christian nodded. "Yeah, it can."

  "Anyway, I called the paper's office to thank him for that night and compliment his story. He wasn't in, but I left a message and he called me back. I don't know what made me do it but I invited him out for coffee and he accepted. We became friends, and after about a year we were inseparable."

  Christian grinned. "I bet you two were an odd couple."

  Carol waved her hand. "Oh lordy, we were. We'd go places, me in jeans, boots and a halter top and him in a polo shirt, plaid shorts and flip flops. People would look at us, trying to figure us out. His family seemed stilted and overly controlled to me, while my family seemed like a John Wayne movie to him. But in time we got used to each other and we could see the values in each way."

  Christian started to say something when Naomi came over to the table. "Supper will be ready in about half an hour. You want me to go find Jerry?"

  Christian stood up. "I'll go find him. What should I do with my cup?"

  "Leave it," said Carol. "Around here, those who fight get waited on."

  Christian smiled and nodded. "Just like home."

  The sun was low when Christian exited the barn and the shadows were getting longer by the minute. He took a moment to orient himself, then entered the trees. He knew the scouts were at their positions, but he didn't expect to see them since that was their job, to be there but not be seen. After several minutes of walking carefully through the woods he found a high spot to sit down with his back to a tree and watch.

  It only took a few minutes before he saw Jerry moving from one spot to another. Getting to his feet, he quietly walked toward the man, stepping behind a tree before he called to him in case Jerry spun around and shot before thinking. "Hey Jerry," he said quietly.

  Jerry started to turn around and bring his shotgun up, then quickly realized that the voice had said his name and sounded friendly.

  Christian stepped out from behind the tree and walked to Jerry's position. "See anything?"

  Jerry shook his head. "No, nothing but some squirrels."

  "Well, if you saw squirrels that means you're doing pretty well. They're skittish in the woods and any noise will spook them."

  Jerry looked at him skeptically. "How did you find me, then?"

  "I sat down and waited to see movement."

  Jerry nodded. "Yeah, Naomi warned me about that. First to move first to die, right?"

  Christian smiled. "Sometimes." He nodded at Jerry's shotgun. "What have you got?"

  Jerry held up the shotgun as if he was still trying to figure that out himself. "Shotgun. Twelve-gauge. I know how to load it, how to point it and how to pull the trigger. Beyond that, you've got me."

  Christian chuckled softly. "Well, that will do the job. Do you have a rifle?"

  Jerry shook his head. "None to speak of. We have a .22, but even I know that's not enough for this situation."

  They stood there for a few minutes in silence, watching the woods get darker. Finally, Jerry spoke.

  "Naomi has been teaching us some stuff, but I know I have a long way to go. I'm just not naturally a combative person. In fact, Carol's more of a natural fighter that I am. I was always taught that fighting meant you had already lost the argument. Now things have changed. A lot."

  Christian looked at him. "You're familiar with Neville Chamberlain, I assume."

  Jerry nodded. "Oh yeah, 'peace in our time'."

  "How many millions of people do you think died because he thought he could talk to Hitler?"

  Jerry was quiet for a minute, not wanting to admit the answer. "Millions," he said quietly.

  "How many innocent people?"

  Another short pause, then, "Millions."

  Christian nodded. "There are evil people in the world, Jerry, and other people who act good during good times but will revert to a more animalistic nature when the veneer of civilization cracks or wears off. It isn't an argument you win or lose, it's life and death, and those who don't recognize that don't last long." He looked out into the woods. "If more people had recognized the evil of Hitler sooner, and been willing and able to fight him sooner, millions of lives might have been saved." He looked back at Jerry. "Do you think you're mentally ready to fight now when it's necessary?"

  Jerry nodded. "Yes."

  "Good. Then the rest is just training and experience." He looked back toward the barn. "Naomi says supper’s about ready. Let's go eat."

  The scouts had rotated while he was gone, and the team that had taken the first watch was now in the barn getting ready to eat. Naomi and Elizabeth were putting bowls of ham and beans on the table, along with a platter of cornbread. Logan was pestering the new group of scouts with the same questions he had asked the old group, and Carol was trying to shoo him away. The scouts were grinning and one patted Logan on the shoulder, promising to answer all his questions after supper. After a few minutes, they were all seated around the table.

  Carol folded her hands and closed her eyes, followed by the others. "Lord, we thank you for this food and for your continued blessings and protection. Watch over these men who have come here to help us, and sustain us all in these difficult times. Guide us in all that we do, and if fighting needs to be done, make our hearts strong, our eyes sharp and our aim true. In Jesus' name, Amen."

  "Amen," said the rest in unison.

  26

  Morning brought a slow, steady rain that tapped a rhythm on the barn roof, making it hard to wake up. Still, the smell of fresh coffee and hot biscuits broke through Christian's haze and a drip of rain hitting him on the forehead made him open his eyes to see Naomi looking down at him.

  "Good morning." she said. "Late sleeper, huh?"

  Christian made a noise between a growl and a groan as he threw off the top of the sleeping bag and rolled to his feet. Waking up to her looking down at him was getting irritating. "I'm nocturnal."

  Naomi smiled. "From the way you were snoring, you seemed more endothermal."

  Christian paused while putting on his tactical vest. It was bad enough to wake up from a good sleep to see someone standing over you, let alone using words you didn't know the meaning of. "What the hel.., uh heck, does that mean?"

  "An endotherm is an animal that hibernates. I was starting to think I was going to have to hold this cup of coffee till spring."

  He looked at the cup in her hand. "For me?"

  Her smile seemed to balance on the edge of a laugh as she held the cup out to him. "Unless bears don't like coffee when they wake up."

  He tried to retain his morning scowl, but her smile, her friendly teasing and the cup of coffee cracked through his irritation and forced a smile to his face. He took the cup from her. "Thanks."

  She nodded. "Anything to stop that snoring." She turned away and took a couple of steps, then stopped and turned to look back at him. "Just kidding."

  The scouts who had been inside were waking, rolling their beds and sitting down at the table, filling their plates with oatmeal, biscuits and sliced ham while Elizabeth filled steaming cups of coffee for each of them. Carol was making sure everyone had enough food, Logan was asking all of the scouts questions and Naomi was putting on her gun belt, slinging her rifle over her shoulder and putting on a poncho. As Christian sat down at the table, he saw her walk out the door into the rain.

  "What are we doing today, Christian?" one of the scouts asked.

  Christian took a sip of coffee. There wasn't really a lot to do until the meeting at the school the next day, and a rainy day would be good for some more scouting. "You guys scout north and east a bit. The rain will be keeping most people inside and will give you some concealment. See if you can get to the outermost edges of the neighborhoods and see what you find. I'm going to stay here and see what I can do to help."

  The scout n
odded and smiled. "Staying close to the biscuits. I don't blame you."

  Christian smiled. "You’re reading my mind."

  They took half an hour for breakfast, enjoying the good food, coffee and pleasant conversation of Carol and the kids. When all the bowls and platters were empty, the scouts got to their feet, donned their equipment and ponchos and headed out the door with a wave. As they left, Naomi came back in, shedding her wet poncho at the door and walking to the table.

  "It looks like this is going to last all day. I was going to work with Jerry on some stuff today. Want to help?"

  Christian nodded. "Sure. What kind of stuff?"

  "Basic outdoor stuff. He's just getting started."

  "You ready now?"

  "When you are."

  Christian enjoyed watching how Naomi moved through the forest and explained things to Jerry, and, pulling drag, he waited until they stopped for a short break before he spoke. “Jerry, you're doing pretty well. One thing; don't step over logs. If there's a snake curled up on the other side it could nail you. Step on top of the log and then a couple feet past it when you step off, unless it looks like it might give way under your weight. Same thing with rocks."

  Jerry nodded. "She told me that. I was afraid I would slip on that big one I stepped over because it was wet."

  Christian looked at him, not saying anything.

  "Got it," nodded Jerry, realizing his mistake. "Step on logs and rocks, not over."

  "If you slip and twist an ankle or bust your butt, we can fix you up and you can hobble along,” continued Christian. “If a copperhead or rattler gets you, you're in a world of hurt. You may or may not die, but we'll have to help you make it out and that takes all three of us off first string."

  Jerry nodded again. "Got it."

  "Any particular direction you want to head?" Naomi asked.

  Christian looked around. "Anything close by that you know of?"

  Naomi pointed to the northeast. "There's some development about a mile that way."

  Christian nodded. "Good enough. Lead on."

  It took another hour for them to reach the edge of the woods on the crest of a hill overlooking a sprawling residential neighborhood. The houses were big, with three and four car garages, situated on large lots that at one time had probably been expensively landscaped. Now, grass and weeds were high. Some houses looked in good shape, as if their owners might step out of them at any moment. Others had burned to the ground. Most were in some sort of disarray, curtains blowing through broken windows, front and garage doors open, clothing, toys and personal items strewn across yards and tangled in bushes and trees. Cars sat at odd angles in driveways and streets. Nowhere did they see movement.

  "My god," said Jerry.

  Christian took a small pair of binoculars out of his pack and began a slow visual sweep of the neighborhood.

  "See anything?" Naomi whispered.

  "Nothing but a big mess."

  "Should we go take a look?"

  Christian shook his head. "Let's have a little patience training first. Sometimes, when you rush into something, you can't rush right back out again if you need to. We'll watch for a bit."

  Naomi bit her lip. "You discovered my one imperfection."

  Christian smiled but kept his eyes to the binoculars. "Only one, huh?"

  "And I'm missing half of my little toe on my right foot."

  Christian took the binoculars away from his eyes and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

  "One summer when I was little we had a bad rat problem in the barn. Not enough dogs and cats I guess. Anyway, my dad put out a bunch of rat traps. One day I was out at the barn and was curious how sensitive the traps were, so I touched the bait with my little toe." She paused for a moment. "They're very sensitive."

  Christian stared at her, trying to figure out if she was kidding. "What happened next?"

  "I ran to the house screaming. Momma patched me up and then went and reset the trap. She couldn't find the rest of my toe."

  Christian continued to stare at her. "Rat ate it, huh?"

  Naomi's face went blank, then a look of nauseated understanding took over as her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, my gosh!"

  "You alright?"

  "I ... I never thought of that. Oh, my gosh!"

  Christian put the binoculars back to his eyes and tried to suppress a smile.

  "Oh, my gosh..."

  "You're not going to puke, are you?"

  After a minute of silence, he turned to see her staring intently off to their right. "What is it?"

  She squinted, as if trying to see better. "I thought I saw something moving over there." She seemed to have forgotten about her toe and was pointing to the outskirts of the development.

  Christian shifted the binoculars to the direction Naomi was pointing and watched. After a couple of minutes, a figure moved quickly from one house to another, followed closely by two others. Several minutes later three more figures moved from the first house to the second. After a few more minutes, three of the figures moved from the second house to a third, again followed by the other three a couple of minutes later.

  "They're our guys," he said, still watching.

  "Your scouts?"

  "Uh huh."

  "Should we go down with them?" asked Jerry.

  Christian hesitated before answering. Jerry's question, even his readiness to ask a question that suggested a course of action, combined with his earlier excuse concerning the log, irritated him. Jerry needed to be watching, listening and learning, not excusing his mistakes and making suggestions. Still, Christian felt he was trying. "No. They know what they're doing. We'll provide over-watch, even though they don't know we're here. Going down there would only complicate things for them and remove whatever tactical advantage we can provide them from a backup position. We'll move down a bit, though."

  "I just thought it would be better if we joined up with them," said Jerry. "You know, strength in numbers and all."

  Christian counted to about four and turned to Jerry, but it was Naomi who spoke. "This is a new world, Jerry. It's not like the one you knew. These guys know what they're doing. Watch, listen and learn."

  "I just thought ..."

  "Jerry!" she hissed, her eyes drilling into him.

  Christian studied the slope below them. There was very little cover and not much more concealment, but he saw where they might be able to get about a hundred yards closer, which would put them about two hundred yards from the scouts and still a bit elevated above them. He turned to Naomi. "Follow me. We're going to take up a position behind those two small evergreens." He looked at Jerry. "You stay here."

  Christian started moving down the slope, not seeing the sharp warning look Naomi gave Jerry. Within a minute, he was behind two small pine trees, looking through the sparse lower branches at the houses the scouts were in. Naomi joined him ten seconds later.

  Christian handed her the binoculars. "Keep an eye on our guys and the right side." He then brought his rifle up and started scanning the left side with the ACOG on his rifle.

  Several minutes went by before Naomi whispered, "Our guys just went to the next house."

  "Okay." He thought he had seen something in a window a block over from the scouts. He kept watching, thinking about the neighborhood. Six months ago, it was one of the prime places to live. Mothers would have been standing in driveways chatting and holding babies while watching their older children kicking soccer balls and driving battery operated cars around the cul-de-sacs. Fathers would come home from their offices at dinnertime and the rest of the evening would be idyllic suburban life until it all started over again the next morning. Now, it looked like a modern ghost town without the tumbleweeds. "Scout one to scout patrol," he whispered into his headset.

  There was no response. The radios they had were pretty good for open area communications, but they were civilian consumer grade and didn't do well if line-of-sight was compromised. He tried again. "Scout one to scout patrol." Still, there w
as no response.

  He looked at Naomi. "I think I saw movement in a window on the next block. I have to get closer to the team so I can let them know." He looked at the two hundred yards of open field between their position and the first houses. "You stay here in case I get my ass in a crack."

  "I'll go with you."

  He looked at her. She looked like she was worried and trying not to look like it. "No."

  "Why not?"

  "Because I need you to cover me."

  "What if you get shot?"

  "It'll hurt like hell." He pointed to the house where he thought he had seen movement. "See that big beige house on the next block with the open window on the second floor?"

  She gave him a half-glare for his flippant remark, then looked through the binoculars. “They're all big and they're all beige.”

  “The big beige one with lighter beige trim with an open window under the peak. You can see it between the big beige houses in front of it.”

  "Oh, yeah, that one."

  "Watch that window. If someone shoots at me from there, or anywhere, shoot at them and give me cover. But don't expose yourself. If I'm down, let the scouts come get me when they can."

  She looked back at him and nodded. "Okay. You know I'm going to be ticked at you if you get yourself shot again."

  Christian chuckled. "Okay, if it will make you feel better, but I'll try not to let that happen." With that, he rose to his feet and took off.

  It took him almost a minute to make the hundred and fifty yards to a depression he found and jumped into to call the team again. The uneven terrain had made his run jerky enough to keep anyone from getting a good shot at him and he started to call Naomi to see if she had seen any movement at the window, then remembered she didn't have a radio. "Scout one to scout patrol," he whispered into his mic.

  "Go ahead scout one," came the whispered reply.

  "I'm out back of the house you're about to get to. Have you seen any movement in the area?"

  "Negative, one. There are some dead bodies, but the only thing moving is us."

  "I think we have someone at a second-floor window on the next block. When you get to the next house, let me in the back door."