by A. American
Chapter 31
Sarge was stacking gear, sorting out what he wanted to take and what he felt they could do without for now. Mike, Ted and Doc were going through their gear, distributing the extra ammo they had received as well as some of the other trash. They now had two vehicles. One looked sort of like a Raptor UTV, only armored and with seats for four. The second one was larger and could hold seven men. Sarge had decided to use the larger of the two as his. It had some rather interesting goodies onboard and Faggione had taken great delight in demonstrating its capabilities to him.
The buggy had a telescoping mast that held a thermal and conventional camera. There was an LCD display mounted in the cockpit that could be viewed from either of the front seats. Each entry point of the vehicle had a weapon mount, and there was also one on top. The gunner stood on a platform behind the roll cage. It had a cargo area that was being filled with packs, bags and assorted gear. Fuel was going to be the biggest concern. To address this issue, Faggione provided a trailer. The sides of the trailer were armored with a double layer of thin steel. The plates were armor-grade steel and the two layers meant that even if a round penetrated the outer layer, it would just bounce around inside the void. At least that was the theory.
The trailer would be packed with fuel cans and any additional gear that wouldn’t fit in the two buggies. Their mission was pretty simple: find places where the feds were in numbers and report back so that appropriate actions could be taken against them. Beyond that, the orders were real simple: persecute any target of opportunity.
Sarge had gone to the quartermaster with a list of what he wanted. The colonel had told him that if he needed anything to let him know, and Sarge could have done that, but old habits died hard. Instead, he kept the folks in supply busy trying to find impossible items while the guys cut a fence and went to work. They had driven both buggies straight there from the motor pool and helped themselves to what they needed.
Sarge was berating a corporal when Ted wheeled around to the open bay door of the old Quonset hut. Seeing Ted, Sarge looked at the bewildered corporal and said, “Never mind, you’re useless as tits on a boar!” and stomped off to the buggy. Climbing in, he looked over at Ted, who just smiled and started to move forward. Sarge put a boot up on the dash of the machine and said, “Good.”
Mike and Doc were already back at the barracks when Ted and Sarge returned. Mike was leaning in the doorway, and as Sarge stepped out he said, “You’ve got mail.”
• • •
I sat there absentmindedly watching the little lights blink. Looking over at the door, it was obvious that something would have to be done about it tomorrow, but right now I just really didn’t care. I should have felt good about feeding those people, but I didn’t, both because it took food out the mouths of my own family and because I knew it wouldn’t help in the end. Just like all the people who had gone before them, they were going to end up in the forest and starve. And who knew what horrible things might happen to them before then.
I headed back into the house. Mel was sitting on the couch reading a book to Little Bit. Her sisters were lying on the floor in front of the fireplace reading books as well. I took off my coat and hung it on the hooks by the door. Mel looked up at me and smiled, and Little Bit craned her head around and smiled too. That did a lot to mend my mood.
I flopped down in my chair and put my feet up on the ottoman. It was quiet and the fire was nice. I sat there staring into the fire while Mel finished reading Where the Sidewalk Ends. When she was done we all sat in the quiet for a bit. Little Bit fell asleep and Mel motioned for me. I picked her up and carried her to her room. She snuggled against me and I dropped my face into her hair. It smelled like it always did, a scent that is hard to describe but could only be that of a little girl.
I laid her in her bed and pulled the quilt up over her. Back in the living room, Lee Ann and Taylor were talking to Mel. We sat there for little while chatting. Mainly they were telling us about the books they were reading. I sat there looking at them as they talked. They seemed so normal, so out of touch with what was going on. But I was glad—glad they weren’t sitting around worrying all the time. For now anyway they could enjoy their youth.
Mel announced it was bedtime and surprisingly the girls didn’t complain. Lee Ann rolled over and stretched, yawning. They got up and came over to my chair, where I had planted myself after putting Little Bit to bed. Each of them gave me a hug, then Mel, saying good night. As they headed for their rooms, Lee Ann said, “Dad, can you come say good night?”
“I just did.”
“No, I mean in my room?”
I smiled at her and for a brief second wondered how much longer she would do that. “Of course. I always do.” I sat for another minute and then went to say good night to the girls.
Mel was in our room getting undressed when I came in. She was leaning over kicking her jeans off and I walked up and slapped her on the butt. She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled. Then I realized my rifle was leaning by the front door.
“I gotta get my rifle,” I said as I opened the door.
“Hurry up,” I looked back to see Mel patting the bed.
I went out and picked up my rifle and made the rounds to make sure all the doors were locked then headed for the bedroom. The lamp on my side of the bed was still on when I came back in and Mel was peeking out from under the covers at me; all I could see were her eyes. I leaned the rifle against the wall beside the bed and started to undress.
“Take off your utility belt, Batman.”
“Batman?”
“Look at all the crap you carry around.”
“I got your Batman right here.”
I climbed under the comforter and reached over and turned off the light, then rolled over.
“Oh, Batman,” Mel said, and I couldn’t help it and started to giggle. Mel was soon giggling too.
As had become my custom, I woke up about five thirty in the morning. Pulling on a pair of flannel PJ pants, I picked up the XD and headed for the kitchen to start the coffee. Once the coffee was brewing on the stove, I looked out the sliding glass door at the shop; it was just like I’d left it. I went out on the front porch. It was cold out, and clear. It was too dark yet to see anything so I just stood there listening. It was just as quiet as it was still.
Back inside I dressed quietly, putting on a tac vest and holster for the pistol, then slinging the AR. By the time I got back to the kitchen, the coffee was bubbling in the pot. I poured it into a stainless steel bottle and wrapped it in a dishtowel then dropped it in a cargo pocket. There was still about a cup left in the pot, so I took an insulated travel mug from the cabinet and poured it in, then added some powdered creamer and sugar in and headed for the door.
The seat on the ATV was cold. Meathead and Little Girl came running up as I started it up. They ran behind me as I went out the gate. Thad and Jeff were standing around the burn barrel trying to keep warm. They looked up as I arrived and that big smile was on Thad’s face as I walked up to them.
“Coffee?” I asked as I pulled the bottle out of my pocket.
“Damn straight,” Jeff said, snatching the bottle from my hand. He quickly poured himself and Thad a cup.
We stood around the fire drinking our coffee. The road was empty and I asked them how the foot traffic had been overnight. They said it had tapered off around ten and had completely stopped by midnight. There were no more incidents with people walking by and Jeff said he thought the best thing we could do was not to man the barricade, to pull the security farther back and make it appear the place was empty.
“Pull it back to where?” I asked.
“Back there, where you guys put them stocks. It would cut down on the amount of real estate we’re trying to secure,” Thad replied.
I looked down the road. “That would put my house on this side of it.”
They just stood
there sipping their coffee for a moment, then Jeff said, “You could move to another house. There are some empty ones back there.”
I didn’t hesitate. “No way, not yet at least. That would be hard on my family and I’m not ready to do that to them. I mean, I’ve got power, water, a whole setup. You guys know how busy we’ve been. When would I find the time to redo all that?”
“It may come to that,” Thad said.
“Not yet,” I fired back.
When the coffee was finished I suggested that they go get some sleep. Reggie would have that pig ready later in the day, and I knew they would want to be there for that. It wasn’t a hard sell; they saddled up and headed down the road. I stayed there for a little while, leaning over the log barricade, thinking about what they’d said. It was still early and there weren’t any people out on the road so I decided to ride over to Reggie’s and see how the pig was doing. No one else had showed up to stand watch yet, but I didn’t have the patience to wait and probably be disappointed. I knew that that kind of “fuck it” attitude was dangerous, but I gave in to it because I knew I’d be back in less than an hour.
Reggie was splitting some wood by the smoker when I pulled up. He tossed a piece of wood in the firebox as I walked up. “How’s the pig lookin’?”
Reggie closed the door on the firebox and said, “Ready about any time, really. What time you wanna eat?”
“Let’s get everyone together around noon.”
Reggie wiped his hands on his pants. “Sounds good to me.”
“I just wanted to drop by and see how you were doin’. I’m going to go up to the barricade for a while. Jeff and Thad were out there all night.”
“Any trouble?”
“Nah, there’s just a lot of people moving by lately. Looks like they have a camp set up out at the range, or maybe folks are still thinking they can make it in the woods.”
“No way in hell I’m going to a damn camp.”
“Me neither, brother; me neither.”
Danny showed up at the barricade about ten. I was sitting on the Polaris watching a group of six people walk by. He parked beside me and we sat there talking about the people. The one thing that really caught our eye was that none of the people we saw go by had any kind of visible weapons. We theorized that they had turned them over to the feds in order to get into the camp, though it seemed cruel to make people walk to a refugee camp without protection. Anything could happen to them, and we knew it probably would.
About half an hour after Danny showed up, we heard a vehicle coming down the road from the north. We sat there listening to it approach, and then a tan Humvee came into view. There was a gunner in the turret, and when he saw us he swung the weapon around and said something to the driver. The truck stopped and sat there for a moment. Neither of us moved, mainly because looking down the business end of the SAW scared the shit out of us. The thought of jumping for cover and giving them the green light to open up on us was another reason. If we didn’t act like a threat, maybe they wouldn’t treat us like one.
Three men got out of the truck. The driver and gunner stayed. They looked around the area for minute then walked toward us. Danny leaned over and said, “What do you think they want?”
“Don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”
I raised a hand and waved. “Morning.”
The guy in the lead nodded, then stopped and inspected the barricade before speaking.
“You guys live here?”
“Yep,” Danny replied.
The man looked around, then back at the logs, putting a hand on the top crossbeam and shaking it. “Looks pretty sturdy.”
“Just keepin’ honest people honest,” I replied.
He looked back at us, from Danny to me, in one of those awkward silences. Danny and I just sat there, and finally he spoke. “Some of the people walking down the road say they are being robbed by men on the road here.”
“Not around here; we haven’t seen anything like that,” Danny said.
“That’s not what I heard.”
His statement caught us both by surprise. “Heard from who?” Danny asked.
The man looked over his shoulder at someone in the Humvee. We were shocked when we saw who stepped out of it.
Mark approached the barricade, wearing the same uniform as the man before us.
“Morgan, Danny,” Mark said with a nod.
We were both speechless for a moment. Before either of said a word, the other man continued. “Mark, you said there was some raiding going on around?”
“Yeah, there were a couple of raids.”
The man looked back to us. “So you haven’t see anything like that?”
I looked at Mark. “Dude, what the fuck? You went to the camp, took up with these guys?”
“Don’t look so surprised. We talked about this; people want to be told what to do, and I simply went along with that line of thought. Now they come to us and we tell ’em what to do.”
“You know how fucked that sounds?” Danny asked.
Mark looked at him. “Why? We’re just giving them what they want, someone to feed ’em, tell ’em when and where to work.”
The other man cut in. “Though they don’t really like that part,” he said with a grin.
Mark continued, “Like you said many times, things are different now. There’s no more free ride; you gotta work for your keep now.”
“So, what—people come to the camp and you guys push them around?” I asked.
Mark shifted his feet. He had a look on his face like he smelled shit. “We’re not pushing anyone around, but you have to work.”
“And what about us?” Danny asked.
“What about you?” The other man said.
“What about those of us who don’t want to go along with”—I paused for a moment looking for the proper word—“your program?”
“You will eventually; you can’t last forever.”
I looked at Mark. “I think you know better than that.”
The other man smiled. “You may not like the taste of the medicine, but sometimes you just gotta hold your nose and swallow.”
“I’ve never been much of one for doctors or medicine. We’ll just take care of ourselves.”
“You have that option for now, but the day is coming. We’ve got shit to do. I’ll be seeing you around,” Mark said as he turned to leave.
“Not in your camp,” Danny said.
Mark stopped and looked back, and the other man let out a slight laugh, shook his head and headed for the truck. Mark turned and followed him.
We stood there and watched the truck as it drove away. Danny asked if I thought Rick had gone with Mark and we agreed he must have. They had both disappeared the same day. We talked about whether or not the sheriff was in on it too. There was no way to know, but we had to try and find out. From the way those guys had been acting, we had start thinking about bugging out, somewhere they didn’t know about. The alternative was to sit there and wait for them to show up, and that damn sure wasn’t going to happen. The discussion continued as we headed for Reggie’s. We needed to talk this over with everyone.
Reggie had put up a folding table beside the barn and Mel and Bobbie had set the food they made out on that. We had brought a stack of paper plates and plastic spoons and forks for everyone. I asked Reggie if I could invite John, his wife and Rene, and he said that was fine. Rene and the girls were over looking at the pigs in the pen. The women were all fussing over the table while the guys and I were trying to get the pig out of the smoker without dropping it on the ground.
Danny pulled a couple of sawhorses out of Reggie’s shop and set them up. Then, with a pair of welding gloves and the help of a prybar, we got the whole grate out of the smoker and set it on the horses. We all brought camp chairs with us and set them up around a fire pit Reggie had dug near th
e smoker. We sat around the fire eating plates of tender pork, mac ’n’ cheese, baked beans and a big pot of green beans. Danny had even made some okra, much to Thad’s delight.
I tossed my plate in the fire when I finished and sat sipping on some tea. The girls were all talking and laughing. Rene was looking better but was still thin. They looked like typical girls at the moment. Reggie was telling some kind of BS story to Jeff and Thad, who were both laughing. I stood up and walked over to the smoker. There was still a big stack of wood there and I leaned over and picked up a couple of pieces.
I didn’t hear it, or maybe I did, but I was hit in the chest. I heard screams, then the shooting, lots of shooting. I couldn’t breathe. I was flat on my back on the ground and I couldn’t get any air. I looked over to the fire pit. Little Bit was on the ground, Taylor on top of her. Her eyes were full of tears, her mouth open. Was she screaming? Was it her? Her little eyes locked with mine and she reached out. I couldn’t hear her, but I could tell she was screaming, “Daddy.”
Looking past her, I saw Mel and Lee Ann on the ground, trying to hide under a damn plastic folding table. She had her hands over her ears, and she was looking at me. I reached out, but they were so far away. Finally a breath, just a wisp of air. God, it hurt. I rolled on my side. I could see Danny firing, I could hear the crack of the bullets, then something louder, not as fast, but steady. I was laying on my AR. I tried to pull it around, but I still couldn’t take a full breath.
Like a turtle on its back, I rolled around trying to free the AR. The shouts and screams became louder and I finally managed to pull the rifle out from under me. I saw Danny firing toward the back of Reggie’s property into the woods. Lying on my side, I started to shoot in that direction, shooting under the smoker. I couldn’t see anything, didn’t see anything, just started throwing lead into the woods. The mag in the rifle ran dry quickly.
I tried to pull a mag from the vest, but it wouldn’t budge, so I went to another pocket and pulled one out. In the time it took me to reload, the firing died down. Suddenly Little Bit was at my side, shaking me and screaming.