Cities on Fire

by A J Newman

  She whispered, “Walt, cover me. I’m going around the display case. Shoot him when he sees me and turns.”

  “Be careful.”

  Jo crawled below the line of sight to the far end of the display case to a position ten feet past the robber who held the owner as a human shield. She slowly rose to an upright stance while keeping the perp in her gun’s sights. The man caught a glimpse of her before she could fire and moved the hostage to block her shot.

  “Shoot bitch, and you’ll kill the old man.”

  The not so bright criminal forgot that he had turned away from her partner and exposed his side. Walt was twenty feet from the man and decided to go for a body shot. He breathed out, slowly squeezed the trigger with the tip of his finger, and he shot the man in the left arm with the first shot and the side of his chest with the second shot.

  Jo took a step forward to make sure the perp wasn’t a threat when she heard, “Jo,” and then the thunderous sound of several gunshots filled the small room. She felt two extremely painful impacts to her chest. As she fell to the floor, she fired back at the perp who had remained hidden behind a gun safe. One of her bullets hit him in the left eye and blew a large chunk of his skull onto the wall of the gun shop.

  The perp got off a wild shot at Walt before Jo shot him and grazed Walt on his left arm below the shoulder. It hurt like hell and Walt held pressure on it while he called in that a policeman was down. He no sooner keyed the mic than he heard their backup arrive. Several policemen came into the shop with guns drawn, searched the back room, and secured the crime scene.

  He ran over to Jo and checked to see if she was still alive. She was groggy but still breathing. She was alive because both slugs had hit her body armor.

  Two EMTs rushed in, and Walt sent them to Jo first to make sure she was okay. They checked her out, loaded her into the Ambulance along with Walt, and headed to the hospital.

  The Lead EMT said, “Thank God the bullets struck her vest. Either one would have probably killed her. Now let me look at your scratch.”

  The Ambulance arrived at the hospital, and Jo was rushed to the emergency room to check for any serious damage. She started to wake up as they wheeled her through the hallway and asked for her husband.

  One of the nurses asked, “How do we find your husband?”

  Jo’s voice was weak, but she said, “He works here in Emergency. He’s Bill Karr.”

  Bill heard her voice and ran to her side yelling, “That’s my wife. What happened? Has she been shot?”

  Walt was being examined in the next room. He shoved the Doctor away, walked into the room, and said, “Bill, her body armor stopped both slugs. We stopped a robbery in progress, and one of the bastards was hiding when we thought all of the perps had been accounted for. He shot both of us, but Jo killed him and ended his miserable life.”

  “Thanks, Walt,” Bill replied.

  “Mr. Long, get back in your room and let the Doctor stitch you up. Bill, you need to go to the waiting room. You know you shouldn’t stay here while we work on your wife.”

  Bill was holding Jo’s hand when she said, “How big was the truck that hit me? My chest hurts. Damn it hurts. Is Walt okay?”

  “Yes dear. Your partner only has a minor wound to his arm, and you are going to be back on your feet in a few days.”

  “Damn this hurts.”

  The nurse inserted an IV and said, “It won’t hurt much longer,” as she injected pain medicine into the IV port.

  “Bill go! We’re taking her to X-ray and then the Doctors will check her out. The body armor took most of the force. We just need to make sure she doesn’t have any cracked ribs or soft tissue damage.”

  “I know, but she’s my wife.”

  “Bill, go sit in the waiting room. Now!

  Bob was pissed when his hardheaded liberal son wouldn’t listen, so he dialed his daughter-in-law’s cell phone number. The phone rang, but Jo didn’t answer. He tried a couple of times then decided to call their home number. The phone rang a couple of times, and then he heard, “Hello, this is the Karr residence. May I ask who is calling this late at night?”

  “Missy, this is Papaw. Please put your mom on the phone.”

  “Papaw, I want to talk with you.”

  “Darling, I’ll talk with you later. I’m in a hurry. Please put your mom on the phone.”

  “Mom is at work.”

  “Please get Will. Hurry. Please.

  “Yes, Papaw.”

  “Will! It’s Papaw. Come to the phone.”

  Bob could hear Missy yelling for Will, and then Will answered the phone.

  “Hey, Papaw, are you watching the news? We stayed up late to see the war. The shit is about to hit the fan.”

  “Will, this is going to get bad real quick. I tried to talk your hardheaded dad into coming down to the farm before it gets real bad, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I’m tryin’ to reach your mom.”

  “Papaw, mom is at work and won’t be home until in the morning. I’ll let her know to call you.”

  Bob thought for a few seconds and said, “Son, we’ll be at war or attacked sometime in the next few days. If anything happens you know to come down to the farm. Don’t you?”

  “Papaw, I still have the Bugout bags you gave us for Christmas, and I have added a few things to them. When Mom and Dad get home, I’ll try to convince Dad to take us down to the farm.”

  “Will, remember there is a map to the farm that keeps you off the main highways on your way here in all of the Bugout bags. Use that route if things get bad. I think we will be hit with several EMP bombs first then all out warfare.”

  “I’ll make sure all of our bags are ready and do my best with Dad.”

  “Son, I love you and Missy and Jake. I wish I were there to bring you down here, but that is your Dad’s shot to call. Remember what I taught you and stay safe. Let me talk to Missy and Jake.

  “Bill we’re taking your wife to her room. She’ll be as good as new in a few weeks. She has severe bruising where the bullets struck the vest. She’ll be a little drowsy after the pain medicine takes effect, but you can talk to her now. We’ll keep her overnight and should release her by noon tomorrow.”

  “Thanks so much for caring for her. I don’t know what I’d do if something bad happened to her.”

  Walt overheard the conversation and chimed in with, “Bill something bad did happen to her. A perp shot me and shot her twice in the chest. She would be dead now if not for the body armor. I would be dead if she didn't kill the scumbag that was robbing the gun store. We killed or wounded four criminals that our liberal judges keep releasing from jail.”

  “Walt, I don’t want to argue politics. I need to go to my wife’s side.”

  Bill walked away and went to Jo’s room. He walked into the room, and his wife was talking with the Captain of her precinct.

  “Hello Bill, I’m sorry that Jo had to go through this. Walt’s and her quick action saved the owner’s life and rid the world of some dangerous people.”

  Bill glared at the Captain and replied, “Tell that to the dead men’s mothers, wives, and children. Killing people isn’t always the solution.”

  Jo replied, “That was uncalled for. Apologize to the Captain.”

  The Captain was red in the face as he said, “Jo, I’ll leave now. Stay home the rest of the week and check in with me after the review board clears the shooting. Thank God, those assholes didn’t kill you. Goodbye Mr. Karr.”

  “Honey I was so….”

  “Bill what the hell is wrong with you. Those men killed a man in the store, shot Walt, and tried to kill me, and you spout that liberal bullshit to my Captain. Get the hell out of my room until you promise to apologize to my Captain.”

  “Honey I was so scared that you might not make it. I’ll tell him I’m sorry for yelling at him but not for what I said.”

  “So you’d rather see them alive and me dead.”

  “No, I want the guns off the street and out of everyone’s hands.
Then there wouldn’t be all this killing and Cops wouldn’t have to execute so many people.”

  “I can’t believe you actually think that outlawing guns would stop criminals from having guns. You are a special kind of stupid. I married an idiot.”

  “Jo…”

  “Don’t Jo me. How are the kids doing? I don’t want them worried about me.”

  “I haven’t told them anything. They should be sleeping now. I didn’t want to call them until I knew how you were doing.”

  “Bill, please go home and stay with the kids. Now that you have been notified that I was shot they will release my name to the news. I don’t want them hearing their mom was shot on the news.”

  “I’m staying with you besides they’ll sleep in until late since it’s Friday night. Call your mom to come up and stay with them. She’s only a half hour away.”

  “Okay. I’ll call Mom while you call Will.”

  “Okay, I’ll call Will.

  “Mom, yes it’s me, Jo.”

  “Are you okay? Josephine, do you know the two policemen who were shot?”

  “Yes Mom, it was my partner and me. We are okay. My body armor stopped the bullets, and Walt only got a scratch.”

  “Oh, my God. Are you really okay?”

  “Yes, Mom. Can you go stay with the kids until I am released tomorrow?”

  “I thought you were okay.”

  “I just have some bruising. They are keeping me until tomorrow as a safety precaution.”

  “I’m a nurse, and that could mean a lot of things and several are bad.”

  “Mom, Bill is here and he agrees with what we were told. I’ll be home tomorrow and take a week off then go back to work. Bill is calling Will now to make sure they don’t hear it first on the news.”

  “How is Bill handling the situation?”

  “Not well. He thinks Walt and I executed some poor misdirected family men.”

  “Darling, I will keep my comments to myself. I’m not a conservative at all, but you know Bill is full of liberal crap. You knew it when you were dating him. Your Dad didn’t like him, and I can barely have a conversation with him. I’ll stay with the kids. I’ll gather some things and leave now.”

  “Thanks, Mom. I’m getting a little drowsy. I’ll try to call the kids later.”

  “Will this is Dad.”

  “Dad I know who you are. Have you been watching the news? Dad, the Russians have invaded the Balkan countries and are racing into Poland. We are at war. Please come home and let’s go to Papaws.”

  “Son I need you to focus on what I am going to tell you. Your Mom is in the hospital, and she is okay. She only has some bruises. She is fine. I just wanted to make sure you all know she wasn’t hurt in the robbery.”

  “What robbery? I’ve had the TV on FOX news and haven’t seen the local news.”

  “Your Mom and partner broke up a robbery and were shot at by the robbers. Her body armor stopped the bullets. I need you to be calm when I ask you to get your brother and sister on the phone, and your Grandma is coming to stay with you tonight until we get home after lunch tomorrow.”

  “Wow, mom got shot. I’ll bring Missy and Jake to see Mom.”

  “No. Let them sleep. She is sleeping, and it’s not really a big deal. She has some pain, but we are just keeping her here overnight as a precaution per our rules.”

  “Dad, Missy, and I are awake and watching FOX News. Jake is asleep in his room. I’ll tell Missy and let Jake sleep.”

  “Your Grandma should be there in an hour or so to take care of you until we get home.”

  Jane arrived at her daughter’s home on the east side of Louisville, parked the car, and walked toward the front door, rang the doorbell, and Will came to the door and gave her a hug.

  “Grandma, I’m glad to see you. Missy is taking this hard. She is worried about Mom. Thanks for comin’.”

  “Take me to her and place my bag in the guest room. Where’s Jake?”

  “He’s up in his room asleep.”

  Missy was glad to see her Grandma and was soon calmed down and talking rationally. Will went back to the family room and saw a breaking news report had just started.

  “FOX News has just learned that German and US main battle tanks are engaged in a desperate fight to stop the Russian tanks from rolling across Poland. British and French warplanes have joined the German and US aircraft in another major fight for air superiority over Polish skies.”

  “Frank we have video from a Polish student. Roll the footage. This was shot a few miles east of Warsaw.”

  The short video played for a few seconds and then went blank.

  “Viewers the video was poor quality; however, you saw a German tank explode and Apache helicopters firing missiles at Russian tanks in the distance. Early reports confirm that Russia has fifty armored divisions attacking all along the western border of the Common Market countries. President Barren ordered the US forces to retreat and stand down, but the US Command has not complied with the order and has bombed several Russian military bases. I have unconfirmed word that hundreds of cruise missiles have been fired at Russia and that the US Air Defense has shot most of the Russian missiles out of the air.”

  “Brett, my Pentagon source just told me that our military has joined Japan, Korea, India, and Israel in major attacks against the Chinese and Russian forces. This is the start of World War III. The President is not in control of our military.”

  “Frank, I don’t know who is in charge, but anyone could do a better job than President Warren.”

  “Joan, have any nuclear bombs been deployed yet?”

  “No, but I expect this at any minute. Viewers while we don’t have any word from Homeland Defense, I expect them or the President to address the nation at any moment.”

  “Viewers, be prepared to run to your basements or bomb shelters. ICBMs could be launched any minute.”

  The phone rang, and it was Papaw Bob on the phone.

  “Papaw, the shit has hit the fan. Mom is in the hospital, and Grandma is staying with us.”

  “Where is your Dad? What happened?”

  “He’s at the hospital with Mom. She was shot, but her vest stopped the bullets. She will be okay. I don’t know what to do. I think we should be with you on the farm, but I don’t want to leave without Mom and Dad.”

  “Son, do you have a car at the house?”

  “Yes, my Explorer, and Grandma’s Buick.”

  “Let me speak to Jane.”

  “I’ll get her.”

  “Grandma! Papaw wants you on the phone.”

  “Bob, how are you doing?”

  “Jane, I’m okay, and I’m sorry to hear about Jo’s situation, but she is a tough woman and will be fine. Jane, do you know what is happening in Europe?”

  “Yes, and it is scaring the crap out of me. What do you think we need to do?”

  “I tried to talk my hardheaded son into bringing the kids down here, and he laughed at me. Jane, nuclear-tipped missiles will be exchanged by both sides in the next few days. You need to load up the kids and bring them down here now. Will knows what to pack, but the key is to bring food, guns, and ammo. I have a river nearby, so water is not a worry. Will knows the way. I’ll call Bill, and you call Jo. We must convince them to check her out of the hospital and get their asses down here ASAP.”

  Is it really that bad? It’s 2:30 in the morning. Oh my, the kids are still up.”

  “Yes, it is that bad.”

  “I’ll have Will start loading up his Explorer while I call Jo. We will call you when we hit the Tennessee border.”

  “Jane, Will knows the family Bugout plan. Ask him to go over it with you on the way. Make sure you have plenty of food, weapons, and water in the truck for the trip. I’ll try to catch Bill again. Good luck.”

  “Mom, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

  “Darling, listen. Bill told me you are okay. The USA is at war with Russia and China. I’m taking the kids down to Tennessee to stay at Bob’s home until this is o
ver or the world ends. Tell your stupid husband to check you out of the hospital and go to Tennessee right now. Jo this is the big one your father always warned us about.”

  “Mom, are you sure?”

  “Yes, turn the news on while you get dressed. The USA is in a land war with Russia in Europe. We have bombed Russian military and have shot down over a hundred of their planes and destroyed about 200 of their tanks. We’re leaving in an hour. Goodbye. We’ll see you at Bob’s house. I love you.”

  “Bye Mom I love you too.”

  “Nurse, get my husband in here now,” Jo demanded as the pain medicine kicked in. Her words were now being slurred, and she was drowsy as Bill entered her room.

  “Bill, we need. Oh shiiiit. Weee nee…. Bob….” She said as she slumped over in a deep sleep. The trauma along with the pain medication finally took their toll, and she was out for the night.

  The phone went to voice mail for the fourth time, and Bob said, “Damn it Bill answer my call. Get Jo and come on down. Nukes will be flying soon. The kids are on their way down.”

  Bill was surprised to see Walt still in the waiting room as he passed by on his way back to Jo’s room. Walt looked up and said, “Bill, how is she doing?”

  “Walt, I know you are concerned, but you can go home now. She is in good hands. I thought that you would be in a bomb shelter somewhere with this new war going on today.”

  “Bill, quite frankly I should be out of Louisville and somewhere much safer, but Jo is my partner, and I can’t leave her. You should be taking your wife and kids to your Dad’s farm before the shit hits the fan.”

  “You’re just as bad as my Dad with this end of the world as we know it crap. The President will do something tonight to appease the Russians, and this will blow over. It always does.”

  “Sticking your head in the sand won’t make this go away. The Russians are losing now that all of Europe and the USA have bombed all of their airbases and our A10s and Apaches have blown their tanks into burning hulks. They won’t give up. They will nuke us, and we will nuke them. Everyone loses in the end. Get your ass out of town before the riots start and the grid goes down.”