Dark Days | Book 2 | Retribution

by Davis, James

  “Oh shit!” he said before darting back into the barn and slamming the door closed.

  “Diaz! Take us over the Stanton's farm. I want to give these bastards a little taste of what’s to come.” Sharp shouted into his headset. Diaz nodded and then glanced out of his window at the ground to get an idea of how far he had to go before they got to the Stanton farm. He would take his time and accidently fly way out of the way to get there so the people at the farm heard them coming ahead of time. That’s what Jim would have wanted him to do if he was still around. Sharp turned back to the machine gunner and shouted.

  “Hey Stan! If there is a single person outside at this place we’re about to fly over, I want you to light their sorry asses up! Do you understand me?” Stan shot him a thumbs up and went back to watching their flank.

  “I can’t find the damn place!” Diaz shouted into his headset. Sharp just shook his head and glared at him with a disgusted look on his face.

  “Clearly you’re too damn stupid to be flying me around. Just get us to Fort Alvis and then get your ass out of my sight!” Diaz didn’t say a word or even look at him. Sharp would have him killed as soon as they landed if he said any smartass comments.

  The aviation GPS was set for Fort Alvis, so Diaz wasn’t able to fly around pretending that he couldn’t find it. He wished they would have ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. If they had he would have left Sharp lying on the ground bleeding out.

  His time will come. One way or another Sharp will be dead soon! Diaz thought to himself as the chopper closed in on the secure airspace surrounding Fort Alvis.

  Jeff brought his Remington 700 up and peered out through the scope. Randy had spotted a large doe about a hundred yards away and pointed it out to his brother. Jeff set the sights right behind the deer's front shoulder and slowly let out his breath. Just before he sucked in another breath, he gently squeezed the trigger.

  He watched as the bullet slammed into the deer’s side, sending a shower of hair and blood through the air. The deer jumped several feet into the air after the round passed though it and took off through the forest.

  “You missed that shot didn’t you! Ray Charles could have killed that damn deer!” Randy said.

  “Man, shut your stupid ass up. Did you not see that hair and blood fly up in the air before it took off?” Jeff asked.

  “Let’s just go find the blood trail.” They walked down to where he shot the deer and found lumps of hair and drops of blood laying all around the area. They followed the trail through a thicket of trees and then lost it. The blood was just gone.

  “You must have just grazed it or something.” Randy said.

  “No way, I saw the bullet hit. Just keep looking around, we’ll find it.” Jeff replied. They searched for a half an hour, before Randy found where the trail picked up. “That thing must have jumped close to a hundred feet!” Jeff said when he saw how far the new trail was from the old one.

  They passed through a thick area of bushes and stumbled out onto a gravel road. On the other side of the road they could see the deer lying dead next to a large pine tree, but what had their attention was a massive warehouse behind a chain link fence. They walked right past the deer and stopped just inside the treeline in case anyone was watching.

  They spotted a big lot full of Wal-Mart semi-trailers and the sight of this got them both jumping up and down with excitement. They had stumbled upon a Wal-Mart distribution center and there were dozens of trucks backed in to the docks all the way down the front side of the warehouse.

  “Looks abandoned.” Randy said.

  “I sure hope like hell it is!” Jeff replied with a chuckle.

  “Let’s skin that deer out and watch this place for a while. We damn sure don’t want to walk up on a bunch of hostiles and get killed.” Randy said as he turned to walk back toward the deer. Jeff stayed at the fence for a few more seconds before turning and following Randy. They each pulled out a fixed blade hunting knife and went to work skinning the deer.

  When they finished with the deer, Jeff started digging a hole to build a dakota fire pit next to a large tree. It would keep the smoke from wafting through the air and giving away their location. Randy pulled a foldable grill grate out of his pack and set it up over the fire. They laid a few pieces of the deer on the grill and sat back watching the warehouse for any sign of someone being there. Jeff looked up through the tree line as the wind gently rustled the leaves off of the tree limbs. He watched as the fall colored leaves as they floated lazily to the ground around them.

  “Better get that meat off of there before it's like shoe leather.” Randy said pulling Jeff from his daze. He leaned forward and moved the cooked hunks of meat to a piece of cardboard before laying a few more hunks on the grate.

  “Damn that’s good!” Jeff said, as he finished the first bite of meat. Randy quickly sank his teeth greedily into his own chunk of deer and let out a groan of culinary pleasure.

  “You weren't lying!” Randy replied through a mouthful of the deer. They sat there munching down until they were both full. Jeff tossed the scraps off to the side before grabbing a bottle of water from his pack to wash off the grilling grate.

  “We haven’t seen a single person or any movement over there this whole time. I think it’s safe to go in.” Jeff said. Randy nodded his agreement and started to speak but was cut off by a deep ominous growl.

  “Do not make any sudden movements!” Jeff whispered.

  “How many are back there?” Randy asked through gritted teeth. He was just waiting for the canines to sink into his flesh as he watched for his brother’s response.

  “Too damn many!” Jeff replied as he slowly reached down to grab one of the dismembered deer legs. He brought the leg up and tossed it as hard as he could without seeming threatening to the pack of dogs. The alpha watched the leg fly through the air and land in the dirt about twenty feet away. Several of the other dogs started to turn and chase the leg but the alpha let out a terrifying bark followed by a deep throaty growl that seemed to come up from the pits of hell.

  Randy started to panic. Beads of sweat popped up on his forehead and his entire body began to tremble with fear.

  “Randy, bro, you have to calm yourself down or they are going to swarm us. I think they want the deer meat. You need to try and slowly get out from between them and that meat.” Jeff said as he eased his hand down toward his rifle. The alpha let out a growling bark and lunged forward a couple of feet as Jeff’s hand touched the rifle. Randy closed his eyes and tried to make his peace with God before he made his first move.

  Randy slowly eased his way farther and farther away from the pack of dogs and surprisingly they didn’t attack him and Jeff. Once they had both stepped far enough away, the pack of dogs lunged for the deer carcass. The alpha fought his way through his pack making sure none of them touched the meat before he did. The big Doberman was ferocious in his onslaught and within seconds had the rest of his pack submitting to him.

  The big dog eyed Jeff and Randy while he gorged himself on the bloody meat. They were both too scared to move an inch as the large carnivore watched them. After a few minutes of this, the big dog’s gut was drooping low to the ground and he moved away slowly to lie down.

  As soon as the alpha was finished, the rest of the pack charged in and began ripping and tearing at the meat and at each other. Jeff and Randy had seen enough and walked backward to the fence with their rifles aimed at the dogs. They took turns watching the dogs as the other hopped over the fence and were soon on their way across the open field to the warehouse.

  They walked past the row of trucks that were backed in at the docks and stopped at a regular door they would take them inside. Jeff stepped up to the door and grabbed the handle. He gave it a twist but it didn’t budge.

  “Shit! It’s locked.” He said, stepping back to look for another door. That’s alright, I have the master key.” Randy said with a huge smile on his face as he held up his rifle.

  “You think it's a
good idea to shoot that right now? Might attract every bad guy in a ten-mile radius.” Jeff replied.

  “Surely we would have spotted them already. My guess is if there were bad guys around here those dogs had them for dinner already.” Randy said with a smile as he aimed his rifle at the window and fired. The glass shattered and covered the ground around them. They stood there for a few minutes just listening to their surroundings. Once satisfied they unlocked the door and stepped inside.

  “Get your headlamp out.” Jeff said, as he knelt down and started digging through his pack until he found his own. The white light was blinding when they first turned them on and they had to stand there blinking for a few seconds to get rid of the spots they were seeing.

  Their lights lit up a long hallway that stopped at a blue door and they both started toward it. The door opened with ease this time and the two stepped through and started looking around. The inside was massive. There was floor to ceiling shelves all over that were packed full of pallets wrapped in plastic. They made their way deeper inside and found the staging area for the truck drivers. The entire length of the wall had dock doors and behind each door was tons of pallets stacked and waiting to be loaded on the trucks. They each went to the stacks and started tearing open the plastic.

  “Find anything good?” Jeff shouted over his shoulder as he tore open another pallet.

  “Not yet. Just T.V.’s and clothes mostly. Randy replied before tearing into another pallet. Seeing the logo for Xbox, he stopped cutting through the plastic and turned around to see the inside of a dark trailer. He walked inside and found it halfway loaded with different types of canned goods, soda and water.

  “Jackpot!” Randy screamed before rushing forward and tearing open a pallet full of Coca-Cola. He cracked open one of the cans and took a long deep drink. He gasped as the carbonation burned all the way down to his gut. He had forgotten it had been close to a year since he last drank any type of soda. He let out a loud belch and waited for Jeff, but instead he heard Jeff scream.

  “Hell yeah!” Randy took off out of the trailer and found Jeff standing in another trailer only a few doors down from his. He looked inside and saw Jeff holding a fifth of Jack Daniels with a huge grin on his face like he was the spokesman for the famous whisky.

  “What’d you find?” Jeff asked.

  “Your perfect match!” Randy replied, holding up the can of soda.

  “We have to figure out a way to get these trailers back to the farm. Let’s go out front and see if these two have a truck that runs attached to them.” Randy nodded and followed Jeff outside.

  “What docks did you say they were?” Jeff asked as they made their way down the line of semis.

  “Dock 9 and Dock 13.” Randy replied. They stopped in front of an old black long nose Peterbilt.

  “I think this one is old enough to still run.” Jeff said, as he pulled on the door handle. They both climbed inside the truck and found it to be immaculate. Whoever had owned the truck kept it extra clean and shiny.

  “Do you know how to drive one of these?” Randy asked as he grabbed the shifter and wiggled it around.

  “Sure don’t, but I’m about to figure it out.” Jeff replied with a grin. Randy shook his head.

  “Let’s just go back to the farm and get Clay. We know that he can drive it.” Randy said as he watched Jeff continue to search the truck for keys. He reached over and pulled down the visor over Jeff’s head, allowing the truck’s keys to fall down into Jeff’s lap.

  “Are you serious? This shit is happening entirely too easy. No way everything has been this simple. First the deer, then the dogs, now this warehouse full of food along with a truck and trailer to haul said food home with. No, this is way too easy.” Jeff said as he glanced around, suddenly getting paranoid.

  “Chill out, we’re just finally catching a break.” Randy said, as he locked eyes with his brother. Jeff seemed to calm down as he stuck the key in the ignition. He gave it a twist and the truck didn’t do anything. Jeff smacked the steering wheel with both hands.

  “See! I told you!” He shouted.

  “Push in the clutch first dum-dum.” Randy said with a chuckle. Jeff did as he said and then tried the key again. The truck turned over a few times and then roared to life, the whine of the turbos filling the cab as he pushed the throttle a few times.

  “Hell yes!” They both screamed, drumming their hands on the dash in excitement. Jeff hit the throttle a few more times, laughing like a ten-year-old boy each time the turbos whined. He gazed down at the different gauges on the dash and could only recognize a couple of them. The biggest one being the fuel gauge that read full. He watched as a pair of gauges steadily raised higher and higher until they finally stopped close to 190 psi.

  “That has to be the airbrake gauges.” Jeff reasoned. After watching the gauges for a few minutes and studying the buttons and switches on the dash he felt pretty good about driving it back home.

  “Well come on Snowman, get this bad boy moving!” Randy said in a mocking tone. Jeff pushed in the clutch and put the truck in gear. He looked over at his brother as he slowly let out on the clutch.

  “Breaker, breaker 1- 9, that's a big 10-4 Bandit!” Jeff replied in his best Jerry Reed voice. He eased out on the clutch and the truck began to roll forward away from the dock.

  “Wait. Back it up. We need to go back inside and load this trailer as full as we can.” Randy said. Jeff brought the truck to a stop and stared out the windshield for a long minute.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Jeff replied. He looked down at the shift pattern diagram and found reverse. He put the truck in gear and backed it right into the dock, way too hard. The trailer slammed into the dock hard enough to rattle their teeth loose.

  “Jesus Christ, Jeff! What are you doing?” Randy shouted as the truck continued to rock back and forth.

  “Sorry. To be fair, it didn’t look that close in the mirrors.” Jeff said with a sheepish look on his face. Randy shook his head and started to laugh.

  “The Bandit would have fired your ass for pulling a stunt like that.” Randy said as they climbed out of the truck. They were walking back toward the door when the far-off sound of a chopper caught their attention.

  “Hurry up get inside!” Jeff said, as he pushed Randy to pick up the pace. When they got to the door they stopped and glanced around to find the chopper but it was still just a faint noise that sounded as if it were moving away from them.

  “Wait, I don’t think it’s coming here.” Jeff said. Randy pulled the door open and looked back at Jeff.

  “Good. Now let’s finish loading this trailer and get the hell out of here before they show up here!”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Got a chopper getting close to the farm.” Dub said as he closed the barn door. Clay and Hank eased over to the door and opened it halfway. Seeing nothing, Clay stepped out further and looked all around the farm. He couldn’t see or hear the chopper anywhere.

  “You sure you’re not just hearing shit, old man?” Clay said, desperately trying to pull the words back before they came out of his mouth. He squeezed his eyes closed, expecting to get smacked at any moment, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced around the room, but Dub was nowhere in sight. He looked back outside to see Dub standing by the fence with a pair of binoculars looking at the surrounding sky.

  “Looks like you got lucky this time.” Hank said, patting Clay on the shoulder. Clay chuckled.

  “I guess so.” They watched Dub walk back toward the barn, and once he passed them, he stopped and said.

  “That’s one,” and smacked Clay upside the head.

  “Still think I got a hearing problem you little shit?” Dub said, as he raised his hand to give Clay another whack if he gave him any lip.

  “Alright, alright! Jesus!” Clay said as he ducked down and covered his head with his hands and arms. Hank was standing to the right of Clay howling with laughter as he watched Dub walk deeper into the barn. T
hey followed him in and sat down at a table.

  “How’s Betty doing? Those meds help her any?” Clay asked. Dub sighed and put his foot up on a chair and leaned forward, resting his forearms across his thigh.

  “I don’t think so. To be honest, I don’t think it's helping any of these sick people.” Dub replied. Clay tried to say something else but he started to cough. Dub and Hank could hear the fluid in his lungs each time he coughed.

  “Maybe you should go lay down. That cough is getting worse.” Hank said as he held his shirt up over his mouth and nose.

  “We can’t afford for me to be sick right now.” Clay said.

  “Boy, go lay your stupid ass down! We damn sure can’t afford to have you walking around getting the rest of us sick too!” Dub replied in a harsh tone.

  “I’ll have Bailey check me out. If she says it's just a cold then I’m not staying in bed.” Clay fired back, as he pointed a finger at both men.

  “She’s cute when she gets mad ain’t she, Hank?” Dub said with a chuckle. Hank laughed.

  “Yeah, she is.” Clay glared at both men before turning and walking off toward the bunker.

  “I think you hurt her feelings.”

  “She’ll get over it.” Dub replied with a chuckle.

  “I’m going to check on Karen and the kids. I’ll be back in a bit.” Hank said as he started toward the door. The chilly fall wind blew dead dry leaves across the yard in front of Hank as he walked toward the house. The sky was a gray ominous color, and there were no birds chirping or animals rustling the leaves around him as he walked. He climbed the stairs to the house and stopped at the door so he could slide on his mask before he stepped inside. He found Karen and the kids in one of the upstairs bedrooms, away from everyone.

  “Hey babe, how ya feeling?” Hank asked with a smile. Karen was lying on the bed reading one of the medical books that had been brought in from a scavenging trip. The kids were on the floor playing with their toys and having their own little conversation. Hank watched the two children for a long minute and was amazed at the level of smarts these kids had. Children were not nearly this smart at that age when he was a kid.