by Robert Boren
“There used to be a lot of chain and several padlocks in the workshop,” Hilda said. “Let’s check that out before we leave.”
Gabe nodded, and the two left the clubhouse, walking further back. There was litter all over the grounds, and dead grass, with weeds starting to take over.
“Nice barn,” Gabe said. “Looks like you got swamp coolers in here.”
“Yeah,” Hilda said, looking around. “This isn’t damaged much. I’m surprised. General Walker was using this as a headquarters. Those men loved the swamp coolers, that’s for sure. It gets hot here.”
“I’ll bet,” Gabe said. “The workshop in here?”
“No, it’s in a separate building, behind. Let’s go.”
They walked towards a side door and went out into a small yard. The workshop was off toward the right, door hanging open.
“Uh oh,” Gabe said.
“That’s where the video equipment was,” Hilda said. “I knew they’d be in there.” She walked cautiously up the steps, going to a cabinet in the back. She pulled open the top drawer and took out the chain and locks. “Good, still here.”
“The video stuff is still there, too,” Gabe said. “Probably be easy to get it going again.”
“Hopefully,” Hilda said, looking around. “The axe is gone.” She shot a disturbed glance at Gabe, and he put his arm around her shoulder.
“C’mon, let’s finish and get out of here,” he said.
Hilda nodded, and they walked out towards the back of the park. “Want to see the famous deer blind?” she asked, a faint grin on her face.
“Sure, why not,” Gabe said. They made the walk back to the rear of the park, through the rows of RV spaces. “Nice back here.”
“Yes. We had a lot of repeat business,” Hilda said.
“This place will live again,” Gabe said. “Just you wait.”
“There’s the back gate,” she said, pointing. It was hanging open, but the chain and padlock were still there, hanging on the fence. They walked through, into the thick woods.
“Wow, this is beautiful,” Gabe said.
“Well, it was,” she said. “Look at the bullet holes in the tree trunks.”
“I saw the fight on video,” Gabe said. “Wonder if the tank is still there?”
“Good question,” she said. “There’s the deer blind. Looks a little worse for the wear.” She pointed up in the tree. The walls were ripped apart by bullets, and the ladder was gone.
“Don’t think I’m climbing up there,” Gabe said. “Where was the tank?”
“Down here,” Hilda said, walking along a path that went downhill and crossed a small creek. About twenty yards up there was a clearing, where the parking area was. The ruined tank was right in the middle, and behind it were several ruined troop transport trucks, then another tank further back on the road, its big gun pointing right at them. The tracks were blown up, and there was black soot around the openings.
“Wonder who picked up the bodies?” Gabe asked.
“Army, probably,” Hilda said. “Seen enough?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here. I’m getting a bad vibe from this place.”
“Me too.”
They locked the back gate after they re-entered the park, and stopped by the workshop to pick up the chain and locks on the way up front. Gabe pulled his SUV through the gate and trotted back to help Hilda lock up. Then they were off.
“What are you and Charlie going to do?” Gabe asked. “After the war, that is. He’s got a park too, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, his place is by the Grand Canyon,” Hilda said. “I suppose we’ll sell one of them and work the other.”
“You look sad about that.”
“Yeah, my parents started this place, and Charlie’s parents started his place. Hard to walk away from either of them.”
“Maybe you won’t have to,” Gabe said.
“How?”
“Well, I know a young man, about to start a family, who might like a job running an RV Park,” Gabe said. “Might be a win-win situation.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Hilda said. “But there’s so much disturbing stuff here.”
“You own that land in the back?” Gabe asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“I’d leave it as is, and turn it into a tourist attraction. Same with that scaffolding.”
“Isn’t that a little grisly?” Hilda asked.
“Make it a shrine, like the Alamo,” Gabe said. “General Walker and Major Hobbs were heroes, and so were their men.”
“So was the doc,” she said. “Interesting idea.”
***
The class C rig was finally gaining speed. They had just slogged through Springfield’s rather surprising rush hour.
Howard saw the second off-ramp coming up. “That it?”
“Yeah, Howie, take that one, and follow the highway back about two miles.”
“She going to look like a full victim?”
“Yeah, Howie, she’s full,” Scott said, snickering. “Thanks mainly to Bailey’s encouragement.”
“Somebody mention my name?” Bailey asked as she walked out of the bedroom.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact. We’re about to dump the body. I’ll show you how we do our markers.”
“Good,” she said.
Kerry looked down at her from the bunk and smiled, looking relieved.
“What’s the matter?” she asked him.
“I was afraid you were dead, like the dumb bitch,” he said. “I was scared for you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine, honey,” she said, reaching up to pet his forearm. “Thanks for being concerned.”
He smiled at her as she sat on the steps into the cab. “You guys taught him to refer to victims as dumb bitch?” She whispered, giggling.
“That’s my fault,” Scott said. “I used that description for the girl that stabbed me back at the farm. It kinda stuck.”
“What was her name?” Bailey asked.
“You just heard it,” Scott said.
Howard shook his head, chuckling. “Scotty, you’re a prince among men.” He looked over at Bailey. “Her name was Amanda, and I was sorry to be rid of her so soon. She was very enjoyable.”
“Yeah, well she didn’t stick a knife in you,” Scott said. Both men laughed.
“What happened to her?” Bailey asked.
“I strangled her and left her in a good spot, with markings, of course,” Howard said.
“Oh.”
“Wanna see pictures?” Scott asked. “They’re still on a text message that Howie sent to me.”
“You sent them in a text message?”
“It was a peace offering,” Howard said. He glanced over as Scott handed his phone to her.
“She was pretty,” Bailey said. “More pretty than me.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I think you look better,” Howard said. “At least she finally enjoyed part of our time together, in spite of herself.”
“Was she like me? Did the game excite her?”
“No, but the stress made her go kinda crazy,” Howard said. “I was going to take her back home and drop her off alive, but I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Yeah, you two seem to let the passion take over,” Bailey said. “I’m getting excited again.”
“Save it, we’ve got a dump to do,” Scott said. “There’s the place, Howie.”
They parked under a stand of trees, in a turnout on the two lane black-top. Scott and Howard went in the back and lifted the naked girl out, carrying her to the side of the road, hidden by underbrush. Bailey followed them over, a wicked grin on her face. She watched as they arranged her.
“Here’s the important part,” Scott said, pulling out his pocket knife. He turned back to the body and worked. Bailey looked like she was going to swoon.
Kerry walked out of the coach and approached slowly. Howard caught him out of the corner of his eye.
“Look out, here comes Kerry,” Howard sai
d.
“Let him,” Scott said. “He’s going to have to get used to this sooner or later.”
He walked over and watched silently, then covered his mouth and ran behind the motor home, retching.
“He’s not quite ready yet,” Scott said.
“With that reaction, I doubt he will ever be ready,” Howard said. “Didn’t you notice how he was afraid to be in the basement back at the farm?”
Scott looked at him as he got up, wiping the blade of his knife on a tissue and tossing it away. He closed the knife and put it back in his pocket. “I get your point, Howie. He doesn’t have the drive. Maybe I can instill it over time.”
Howard looked over at Bailey. “How does this make you feel?”
She looked at him, her face red, fire in her eyes from watching the process, not ready to speak.
“You okay?” Scott asked her. He shot a knowing glance over at Howard, who nodded back at him. Bailey noticed, and her face changed, terror rising. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
Howard and Scott looked at each other and laughed.
“Are you kidding me?” Howard asked. “You’ve passed the final test. Sweetie, you’re one of us. Can’t fake the reaction you just had.”
“Correction,” Scott said. “You can’t fake the reaction and fool us.”
“Fair enough,” Howard said. “Now, tell us how this makes you feel.”
She got an aroused look on her face, turning red, trembling. “Lustful. Wanton. Excited.” She approached them. “Do we have to take off right away?”
“Oh, before too long,” Howard said. “Why?”
“We need to spend some time in the back together,” she said, shuddering, running her hands from her sides up to her breasts. “C’mon.”
***
The General entered the clubhouse and walked over to Frank and Jerry.
“The vaccine distribution set up?” Frank asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I had a long discussion with our scientists. Even if the enemy has an unusual strain of small pox virus, the vaccine will have an effect. Assuming it’s really related to small pox, they won’t get a pandemic going here.”
“We need to find the highest ranking people who are still alive, and try to capture them,” Jerry said. “It’s likely at least one of them will talk if they know where the stash is.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” General Hogan said. “Our people are on it now. The beauty of this is that they can’t hide themselves easily.”
Frank fired up the long-range detail app on the PC, and filtered for rank level two, then zoomed out to show the entire continental US, Canada, and Alaska. Jerry noticed what he was doing and rolled his chair next to him. General Hogan looked over their shoulders.
“Well, no level twos show up here,” Frank said. “Let’s try level three.” He made the change. Two showed up. One in Washington DC, and one at Capitol Reef.
“The one at Capitol Reef is probably dead,” General Hogan said. “We have troops going over that whole park with a fine-toothed comb. They haven’t found any survivors.”
“I’ll zero in to see exactly where this one is,” Frank said. He zoomed in as far as he could. The body was outside of the main cavern that the enemy was using.
“He’s dead,” Jerry said. “There’s a huge pile of bodies there.”
“Yeah,” General Hogan said. “Check the one in DC.”
Frank zoomed back out, and then went over to the eastern seaboard, zooming down towards the icon. He got it to a building.
“That’s the federal holding facility,” General Hogan said, smiling. “We have him in custody. What’s his name?”
Frank turned on the name feature. “Jeffery Atkins,” he said. “Never heard of him.”
“I have,” General Hogan said. “Was Army Intelligence. Never liked that guy. Always had a chip on his shoulder.”
“So what now?” Jerry asked.
“I think we should check for level fours, as long as I have this up.” He made the adjustment and zoomed back out again.
“Wow, only five,” Jerry said. “And three of them are in Capitol Reef, on that body pile. Can’t believe we only have two left.”
“One of them is in DC,” General Hogan said. “Looks like the same facility as Atkins. Ashely Davidson. Don’t recognize the name.”
“Wonder if that’s a man or a woman?” Frank asked.
“Good question,” he said. “What about the other one?”
Frank checked it and zoomed in. “Denver, in that building there.”
“That’s the morgue,” General Hogan said. “Been there.”
“Hey, something we aren’t thinking about,” Jerry said. “Why don’t you look at Mexico?”
General Hogan and Frank looked at each other.
“Shit, you’re right,” General Hogan said.
“Setting back to level one, and focusing on Mexico and the northern half of South America,” Frank said.
“Ah, so we can pick up Venezuela,” General Hogan said. “Good.”
“No level one hits,” Frank said. “Changing to level two.”
“None of those either,” Jerry said.
“Going to level three,” Frank said.
“Whoa,” General Hogan said. “Five.”
“Three in Mexico City,” Jerry said. “Probably captured. Two along the border with Texas.”
“I’ll zero in on the Mexico City location,” Frank said. “Looks like they’re all within about twenty yards of each other. Names are Ricardo Salazar, Hector Rodriguez, and Juan Carlo Lopez.”
“All in one building, a block south of the Capitol,” General Hogan said. “Just a sec.”
General Hogan took his phone out of his pocket and walked away.
“While he’s on the phone, why don’t you check the guys by the border?”
“Yeah,” Frank said, zooming in on them. “Both in a small village, a little south of Big Bend National Park.”
“Here comes the General,” Jerry said.
“That building in Mexico City is a holding area for prisoners,” General Hogan said, smiling. “Army Intelligence is going to have a chat with them about the virus.”
“Know anything about this village, south of Big Bend National Park?”
General Hogan focused on the screen, his eyes squinting, and his brow furrowed. “That’s not an area we’ve operated in. Those two are loose. I’ll make another call.”
“How about the ones in DC?” Jerry asked.
“I called that into the FBI. They’re on it. Keep your fingers crossed.”
Chapter 16 – The New Normal?
Mary bent over Saladin’s body, the drop light held by Kurt.
“He can’t get much deader than this,” Mary said, standing up. “What will you do with him?”
“We’ll wrap him up tight and put him in the walk-in freezer, for now,” Charlie said.
She chuckled. “That might gross a few people out.”
“I know,” Charlie said. “It won’t be for long.”
Jackson came in with a box of hefty bags and a couple rolls of gorilla tape. He got to work with Charlie and Kurt, while the Sheriff held up the light.
“Yeah, make him nice and tight,” he said.
“What’s next?” Mary asked.
“After we get the crispy critter stuffed into the freezer, we just keep our eyes open, and wait for our friends to get back,” Charlie said. “I heard from Hilda about an hour ago.”
“How’s she doing?” the Sheriff asked.
“She and Gabe took a drive out to her RV Park. I think it shook her up a little, but she’ll be okay.”
“That was risky,” the Sheriff said.
“The enemy isn’t there anymore,” Charlie said. “She’s back at the hospital now. No problems around there so far.”
“I’ll give Earl a call,” Jackson said. “After we finish this. Think he’s wrapped up good enough?”
“Yeah,” Kurt said. “Let’s put him
right next to the hams.” Mary looked at him and rolled her eyes.
The men carefully picked up the body and carried it to the kitchen trap door. It was a struggle getting him up the stairs without ripping the plastic, but they did it, and set him on the floor in the back of the freezer. Mary brought in some more plastic sheeting and laid it over him.
“Want him to be cozy?” Kurt asked.
“No, I don’t want him to be so visible,” she said. “Might not gross the others out so much.”
***
Rosie was sitting in the ICU next to Jeb’s bedside when the doctor came in. Jeb was asleep.
“Hi, Rosie,” the doctor said. “He been asleep for a while?”
“Yes, he sleep for over hour,” Rosie said. “Vitals looking good.”
“I’m glad you’re here, with your nursing experience. We’re going to do the surgery first thing in the morning, as long as he’s still stable.”
“What chances?” she asked.
“I’d put them up at about 70% now, judging by how he’s been for the last twenty four hours,” the doctor said. “He’s a fighter.”
“Yes,” Rosie said.
“You comfortable enough to get some shut eye there? That chair reclines, you know.”
“Yes, I doze on and off. I stay here if I can. Keep watch.”
“I don’t see any reason why not,” he said. “When he wakes up, buzz the nurse and they’ll come get me. I want to talk with him.”
“Okay, I do,” Rosie said.
She sat quietly after the doctor left, and the nurse came in.
“You’re friends are out in the hallway,” she said. “I’ll let Hilda come in for a minute.”
“Thank you,” Rosie said.
The nurse gestured to Hilda, and she came in.
“Hi, Rosie,” Hilda said. “How are things going?”
“Jeb sleeps,” Rosie said. “Doctor says surgery tomorrow, better chances than before.”
“That’s great!” Hilda said.
“You leave now?”
“Yes, Earl is ready to go. I just wanted to see if you needed anything before we left.”
“I good,” Rosie said. “Staff very good here, very nice.”