by A. American
I followed Doc outside. I shut the door as we went out. “What’s up?”
“He’s not going to make it. It’s just a matter of time. All I can do is try and make him comfortable, sort of,” Doc said.
“What do you mean ‘sort of’?”
“I don’t have enough pain-killers to keep him sedated till he goes. I’m going to leave them enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“Morgan, you see how they’re living. He hasn’t been out of that chair in a long time. When was the last time you were here?”
“It’s been a few days, I guess. I just got busy and forgot about him, honestly.” I felt bad. I was the one that should have been checking on him, and I knew no one else would.
“It’s not your fault, Morg. You’re one man and can only do so much. These people are simply waiting for the end to come. That old man is going to die and then she will, one way or another.”
“You’re going to give them an out, that’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. If you can take her in, then do it. But if you can’t . . . He’s not gonna make it, and maybe they’d like to go together.”
We went back in the house and Doc talked to Howard and his wife as he took out a small hard box. He took out a small vial of morphine and showed them how to use it. Doc used an alcohol wipe to clean Howard’s leg, stabbed the small needle in and squeezed the light amber liquid in. Howard immediately went to sleep. Doc left the small bottle and a couple of syringes with her, stressing to her how much was too much, making sure she understood it.
Doc redressed the wound, using some of the Kotex pads from a box beside the chair. I assumed he didn’t want to waste good dressings on the old man. Every decision we made anymore was a kind of triage. Once the leg was wrapped, Doc pulled some MREs out of his pack and left them with her. I asked about her water situation and told her that I would bring some over. We left the house, closing the door behind us. I didn’t have much to say and told Doc I would see him later. I wanted to go home. He nodded his head and we parted ways, me going through the hole I had cut in the fence and he out through Howard’s gate.
Taylor was sitting on the porch playing on Jeff’s iPad as I came up to the porch. She smiled as I stepped up on the porch. I took off my rifle and laid it on the handrail, took off the vest and dropped it on the floor. She was sitting on the bench with her feet up. She sat up a bit and I sat down and she laid her head in my lap. I sat there rubbing her hair while she played some kind of game on the tablet and I looked out across the yard. It looked so normal. After a bit, she asked, “You all right?”
“Yeah, kiddo, I’m good, just wanted to hang out with you for a bit. It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Yeah, you’re gone a lot. Is everything okay?”
“So long as we’re together, it is, don’t you think?”
Mel came out on the porch and smiled when she saw me sitting there with Taylor. “Well, look at you two. You want some lunch?”
“I’d love some, if you two will eat with me.”
“Lee Ann and Ashley are at the table,” Mel said.
“Well, come on, kiddo, let’s eat,” I said to Taylor.
We went in and had lunch as a family. Mel had made a black bean soup from some of the freeze-dried stuff we had. Black beans, onion, green pepper, carrots and some spices of some kind—a simple dish, but it was damn good. I talked with the girls, told jokes and tried to pretend that it was any normal day and they had just come home from school. When we finished lunch, the girls cleaned the table off and worked together to wash the dishes. I went into the living room and sat on the couch. Mel brought me a glass of tea and we sat for a while, just sitting.
It didn’t last long, though. Meathead started barking and a knock on the door soon followed. Thad was at the door with his big smile when I opened it.
“What smells so good?” he said.
“Black bean soup, you want some?” Mel asked.
Thad smiled and patted his belly. “I don’t turn down good groceries, ma’am,” he said.
“I don’t know how good it is, but I’ll get you a bowl.”
“Don’t let her fool you, it is good,” I said as I waved him in.
“Thank you, Miss Mel. Can you put it in a cup so I can take it with? We need to go.”
“Sure,” she said.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Sarge wants to get this done,” Thad said.
Mel walked up with one of those oversized coffee-cup-bowl things and handed it to Thad. “Get what done?”
I told her, “We’re gonna take care of the guy who shot Lee Ann. Don’t wait up, okay?”
Mel nodded and said, “Good. Just be careful.”
I kissed her and followed Thad out.
When we got to Reggie’s, he, Danny, Jeff and Sarge’s guys were waiting.
“Now that yer all here, let’s get down to business,” Sarge said. “I know you fellas have had a couple of scrapes up to this point, but things are about to go to a whole new level and if any of you want out, just say the word. No one will think any less of you.”
“No disrespect meant, but we don’t need the speech,” Danny said. I’d known him for a long time, but his determination there showed a different side of him.
“All righty, then. Ted, Mike and Reggie are going to hit the rest of these douche bags at their place and take them out. The rest of us are going to take out this trash, leave them where their DHS buddies are sure to find them,” Sarge said.
“How are we going to do that?” I asked.
“I figured we’d take ’em down toward the range and leave ’em in the road. That way their patrols would find ’em,” Sarge said.
“How are we going to take ’em out? If we just shoot at ’em, they’ll be all over us,” Reggie said.
Sarge looked over at Reggie. “That’s a good question and shows yer thinkin’. Mike and Ted are going to use suppressed weapons when they hit those guys. You’ll be outside to take out any runners.”
Reggie stood up from the table. “I can take care of myself. I can go in there with ’em.”
“I’m not saying you can’t, but this is how this kind of operation is done. Someone has to be outside to take out anyone who gets past the first team. These guys have experience in this business; when was the last time you kicked in a door?”
“Since never. I got you,” Reggie said.
“What about us?” I said.
“I’m coming along with you guys. We’ll get the prisoners tied up and load ’em into to my buggy. Danny, I want you to drive it. Morgan, you and Thad ride ATVs, one in front and one behind, got it?”
“What about me?” Jeff asked.
Sarge said, “How good are you with that peasant rifle?”
Jeff didn’t blink. “This isn’t your average peasant rifle.”
“I bet it ain’t. You’re with us,” Sarge said as he turned away. “Reggie, we need some rags. You got any?”
Reggie nodded and headed for the house. Sarge went to the door on the barn and opened it. “Thad, Morgan, come in here and help me take these guys down.”
We loaded the militia men into the Hyena. Ted was finished with Jeff’s instructions and Sarge called for everyone to load up. Reggie got into the rear third seat of the buggy Mike and Ted were talking while Thad and I got on our ATVs. Danny climbed in behind the wheel of the Hyena and Sarge gave a couple of last-minute orders to Mike and Ted. They were to take up a position south of where we were going to drop the four men and wait for us. Mike nodded his head and drove away in the fading light of evening.
We took a trail out the back of the neighborhood with me in the lead. Mike followed along for a while until he got to the point where he would break off and head for their target. Since I was out front I didn’t see them break off the trail,
but the two clicks in the headset Sarge had given me followed by a one-click reply from Sarge told me they were leaving us. We still had a ways to go to get to the spot we had decided on.
Mike stopped on the thick edge of a swamp. The three of them took a few minutes to cover the buggy with a camo net before taking a knee and going over the plan one last time. Ted scratched out a rough layout of the little clump of trailers, detailing how he and Mike would enter, go through them one at a time and then exit the area. He stuck a stick in the soft dirt to show where Reggie was to position himself and gave him instructions on who to engage and how to engage them. Women were off the list unless they were armed and posed an immediate threat. Any women he and Mike encountered would not be harmed unless they had to, and they hoped not to find any.
When the instructions were done, Mike handed Reggie a night-vision monocular, helped him get it on and showed him how to use it. Then Mike handed him one of the captured MP5s. He said, “I put an IR laser on this; here’s the switch.” Mike turned the weapon on its side to show him. “It’ll show up nice and bright in the goggle, but no one else will be able to see it. You’ve got your radio. If you see anyone coming, let us know. If you see anyone running, take them out, got it?”
Reggie nodded and Ted said, “When we’re in position we’ll let you know. You reply with one key of the mic, then we’ll move in. You ready for this?” Reggie nodded his head and turned to move off into the darkness. Mike and Ted were immediately on the move, heading the opposite direction from Reggie’s line of travel.
Reggie moved carefully through the woods, like he would if he was deer hunting. He felt like he was moving too slow, but he knew that going quickly and being quiet didn’t go together, and he forced himself to take his time. He could hear voices coming from the clump of trailers, and he knew if he made any noise they might hear him too. It was still early, but without electric lights, most people went to bed soon after the sun set. He made it to his assigned position and once there he understood why the guys had chosen it: it was the logical escape route from the trailers, almost a funnel out of the place.
Mike and Ted slipped silently around the edge of the group of trailers. Occasionally they caught glimpses of a fire burning out in the center of the park, but they couldn’t tell if anyone was out there. The occasional voice drifted through the trees, but overall it was quiet. They made it to the corner of the first trailer, where they would start the clearing operation, and took up a prone position behind a long-dead pine tree. Ted keyed his mic. “In position, gonna wait a bit.” A single click answered him.
Chapter 37
As we approached Highway 445 on the trail, I slowed to see if there was anyone around. Stopping a good fifty yards off the road, I called back to Sarge to tell him we had arrived and I was taking a look. He told me to be careful, and I eased up to the edge of the forest to take a look. I knelt down and listened to the black night, looking both ways, then listened again. Not hearing anything, I called back and told them it was clear and to come up, then climbed back up on the Polaris to wait for them.
It didn’t take long for them to show up. Sarge waved me forward and I quickly crossed the road, pushing the Polaris wide open so as not to expose myself for long. The Hyena and Thad both crossed without incident and we were soon heading down an old power line right-of-way.
• • •
Ted looked at his watch then up at the sky, it was black as pitch. He tapped Mike on the shoulder and pointed toward the house. Mike nodded and the two men stood up. Ted keyed the mic and said, “Moving.” A single click answered him.
Ted stepped up to the first trailer and gripped the knob. Mike nodded at him and he slowly turned it. It wasn’t locked and they went in. Ted went left and Mike went right.
Ted moved down a small hall. The first door he came to was a bathroom, and he quickly pushed the door shut as the smell coming out of it assaulted his nose. The second door was a bedroom. There was a small bed there with a body lying under some blankets. From the size of the figure and rest of the room’s contents, he concluded it was a child, a little girl. He quietly shut the door and moved to the last room. Ted looked in and saw a form on the bed, a woman. He shut the door and went back to the front door.
They moved on to the next trailer, and this one had lights on inside. Mike gripped the knob, looked back at Ted, got the nod and opened the door with a jerk. The door entered into the living room and the kitchen was visible off to the right. Sitting in a recliner was an older man, hunched over a TV tray, eating something. When the door opened he looked up, but never made a sound; a 230-grain, .45-cal ball from Ted’s pistol crashed into his forehead, snapping his head back and splattering gore all over the wall. The suppressor on the pistol made a dull coughing noise and no more. The only other person they found was an old woman still asleep in the back bedroom. They left her as they found her.
• • •
After crossing the road we made our way through the thick sand under the power lines. We had to pull off the right-of-way when it turned to the west, crossing over the highway, and the many forest trails became our new route. I had been on many of them during hunting season or just riding around the woods and knew which ones to take to keep heading in our intended direction of travel. We wound our way along for some time, then Sarge called for a halt. I stopped and he pulled up to me. He had a map out lying in his lap. Thad rolled up behind him and walked over to us.
“I don’t want to get any closer. We’re close enough. They’ll find ’em here.” Sarge paused and said to Thad, “You an’ Morgan ease out to the road and see if anyone’s out there. Take a minute and look an’ listen. We ain’t in a hurry.”
We moved off toward the road, making our way through the small sand pines and thick sand. It reminded me of my walk through the forest north of there to get home. The same green gloom filled my goggles as it had then.
We stayed just inside the tree line looking and listening for several minutes, not seeing or hearing anything. Finally Thad made a noise and I looked over in his direction. He jutted a thumb over his shoulder and I stood, half crouched and backed away from the road.
Danny, Jeff and Sarge had the four men out standing in a line.
“See anything?” Sarge asked.
“Nope, looks clear,” I said.
“Let’s get this done, then,” Sarge said, then reached into the passenger floorboard of his buggy, took something large and flat and tucked it under his arm. “All right, ladies, hands on the shoulders of the man in front of you. Give me any shit an’ you’ll regret it.” To emphasize his point, he drew his Taser, pulled the cartridge off the end and hit the trigger. The loud snapping and popping made the men jump, and they immediately raised their arms, groping at the air, looking like zombies in a bad B movie. When they were all lined up, we started out into the brush again.
When the four men felt the road under their feet, they were visibly relieved. Sarge turned and looked at us kind of expectantly. I just looked back at him. Not getting the reaction he was expecting, he held his arm out and waved it at the four men.
“Well? I can’t do it. Has to be one of you,” Sarge said.
I wanted to ask why. I don’t know if it was genuine curiosity or a subconscious stalling tactic on my part, but I didn’t get the chance. A loud pop and a flash of light caught me by surprise from my right. I ducked and looked just in time to see Goat fall back onto the pavement. Jeff was standing in front of the falling man, his suppressed Glock in his right hand. The other three men jumped at the shot and Jeff shot Marv next. Avery and Ned started to run blindly down the road into the night. Avery tripped and fell and it took two shots for Ned to go down. Jeff walked toward the fat man as he rolled around trying to get up. Jeff shot him in the top of his head and he fell over. Continuing past him to where Ned lay, he fired a round into his head as well.
Jeff calmly changed the mag in his pistol before rehol
stering it in the shoulder rig under his coat. Seeing everyone looking at him, he said, “What?” He nodded at me, and I knew my speech earlier had hit home.
Sarge said, “You’re a weird little fucker, aren’t ya?”
“Yeah, but in a good way,” Jeff said.
Sarge smiled and shook his head. “All right, drag ’em all to one spot.”
We worked together to drag the bodies together. Sarge wanted them all in a sitting position, leaning on one another with their legs out like an X. Once they were all positioned, Sarge took out what was tucked under his arm. It was a big piece of cardboard. He unfolded it and painted in large letters it read LOOTERS AND MURDERS WORKING FOR THE DHS. We didn’t linger once the job was done; no high fives or shit talking. It was a quiet and somber walk back to our rides.
• • •
“Where are all these guys? There were more here earlier,” Ted whispered to Mike as he shut the door to the trailer.
“I don’t know. Where’s that fire we saw on the way in?”
Ted shrugged, then pointed around the corner. Mike nodded and they started around the small trailer. As soon as they rounded the corner, they found the rest of them. They were sitting around the fire pit. One of them was standing and looking in their direction.
Mike raised his pistol and fired at the standing man. Two rounds and he was down. The other three scrambled for their weapons. Mike engaged a second as Ted drew down on the two other targets. After a moment of rapid firing, they changed the magazines in their pistols. There was one trailer left and they quickly searched it. There was nothing inside except a mess; the place was filthy.
The two quickly made their way back to the fire, policed up the fallen weapons and exited out the rear of the little complex. As they moved toward the tree line, Mike keyed his radio. “Coming out,” he called to Reggie, who replied with a single click. Reggie fell in behind them and the three made their way toward the trail Sarge and the others would be coming back on. Picking out a spot on the side of the trail, they took up positions and waited.