I saw the truck and the trailer. The freezers had been moved into a shed and the generator was outside, with the gas cans piled around it. I didn’t see any people and that scared me more than anything. I hadn’t thought through the tactical situation. I leaned against the tree, putting myself into a Marine’s mindset. The situation was that we wanted our freezers back, along with the canned goods, the truck, trailer and generator. We wanted all of our stuff back. We didn’t have to break down the door and go after it right at that moment. As long as whoever it was ran the generator, the meat would stay frozen. We had time to study them and learn what we were up against. That alone helped me to calm down.
I waited and watched. Floyd was getting restless, but we had no choice but to blend with the trees and watch in silence.
A single man left the cabin and walked straight to the generator. He pushed the off button and it readily shut down. Silence returned. I kept a hand firmly embedded in Floyd’s neck fur, to keep him from bolting. The man wore blue jeans and a ratty t-shirt. He carried a pistol at his waist, and in one hand, twirled a baton that looked like a club. To take him on alone, I’d have to shoot him. The question I asked myself was, Am I angry enough to do that?
I was furious at what this man had done, but the resolution was not far off. I watched as he walked around and then went back inside. I’d go get Toby, then when Ben and Aeryn returned, we’d go up the hill together. We’d surround the place and wait for the man to come out again, then we’d take him by surprise. If he attempted to draw his pistol, one of us would put him down. That made the most sense to me as my bet was on him surrendering when confronted with overwhelming numbers and firepower. But how could we keep him from returning and stealing from us again?
I didn’t have to have all the answers, just enough of a plan to further our conversation. I backed slowly down the hill, making sure to keep trees between me and the cabin. I turned toward the bottom and walked quickly out of the brush. I saw the flash of the arrow, but couldn’t move before it struck home. The tip drove through my upper leg and stuck in the bone. I grunted and went down, writhing in pain, trying not to howl like a baboon in heat. Floyd bounced around looking for an enemy, but only Toby ran across the road to me.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Nagy!” the young man whined.
“Put your neck in here so I can choke you to death!” I held out my hand as I reached for his throat. There was a brief struggle, but I ran out of energy in a hurry. My leg throbbed. The broadhead had expanded when it hit, just like a hunting arrow is supposed to, but at least it wasn’t deep. “Go get my pack and bring it here,” I told him through gritted teeth.
He ran across the road as I tried to relax, but the pain was incredible. It was shooting from my leg directly into my brain.
Toby returned and mumbled a long stream of apologies, and it all sounded like whining.
“Toby!” I said through gritted teeth. My jaw was starting to ache from my clenching it so tightly. “I need you to stop talking, because, well, it’s really hard to like you right now and I need you to cut this arrow out, then stitch me up. You got that?”
He paled and looked like he was going to be sick. If only Charles had been home.
“Use the skinning knife to cut where the blades expanded to give them a way out without ripping any more of my leg.” I guided Toby with where he needed to make small incisions. His hand was shaking worse than mine. “Take a break, Toby.” He pulled back and took a deep breath.
“What do you like about Aeryn?” I asked, feeling very tired. The wound wasn’t bleeding much. It was a clean entry with only the very tip of the arrow sticking in the bone. I hoped the waves of pain would stop once the arrow was removed. But to do that, Toby needed to make a couple cuts without fainting.
“She’s incredible. Of course, she’s beautiful, but so strong and smart. She understands all this.” He waved his arms trying to show the entirety of the golden heart of Alaska. “She is so good with people. It takes her two seconds to solve any problem. She knows what people need and helps them to see it for themselves. She is amazing.” Toby’s hand no longer shook. The look on his face said it all. He worshipped my daughter.
“Okay. I like you again. Now, let’s make a couple small cuts so we can put that arrow back in your quiver where it belongs,” I encouraged him. He studied the wound, used a sleeve to wipe off the blood, then made a cut that a surgeon would have been proud of. Then a second, one hundred eighty degrees from the first. He gripped the arrow and slowly worked the tip back and forth.
The world narrowed to a pinpoint as the blood pounded in my ears. I gasped as the pain overwhelmed me. My last thoughts were of a poem I’d written a long time before, of pain and loss.
The Marines – we join to show what we’re made of
Do more with less, harder, faster, better
Protect the freedoms of those who would spit on us
Sacrifice by being away
Being there so you don’t have to
Returning to an empty home
Time and again, but we’re Marines
And overseas we go, to a new, exotic place
Finally our bodies fail us and we retire
The accomplishments of a lifetime quickly forgotten
Friends made are left behind. They go their own way
The heart and soul of the warrior become buried
In the deeds and tasks of the day to day
After the dust has settled and we’ve moved on
For us, memories, the sparkle in your eyes,
That last hug and kiss goodbye
We search a lifetime for what we once had
Before giving our all for honor and glory
No peace without war
No peace for the warrior
HUNTING A FELLOW HUMAN
When I opened my eyes, Aeryn was looking at me, concern furrowing her brow.
“Your boyfriend tried to kill me,” I said with my best smile, but the words were hard to get out. The pain rolled across my body in waves. She still punched me in the arm. I continued, gasping each word, “Hey, I’m convalescing, so take it easy on me. It’s okay. I still like him. If I didn’t, Floyd would have eaten him by now. Where’s Ben?”
“Up the driveway, checking out the cabin. If the people up there discovered us, he would be in a position to stop them,” she said. I understood.
My head was swimming, but when I was able to focus, I could only see a bandage tied around the wound. “Stitched?”
“All stitched, Mr. Nagy. I’m really sorry about that. Is there anything I can do?” he pleaded, probably for Aeryn’s benefit.
I couldn’t let it go. “Maybe for starters, you don’t shoot the good guys?” Aeryn put her face in her hand and sighed. “Aeryn, if I didn’t give him a hard time, then you would know I didn’t like him. I need some water, and then let’s get this over with. I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight.” The pain was less, but I was miserable. I hoped that Colleen had something that would help.
After I drank a full canteen, Aeryn removed the blood-soaked bandage. It stuck to the wound and pulled a little, but when it was off, I saw the delicate work that Toby had done. I admired the tight stitches, wondering how long I’d been out. “That’s some good work, my man,” I mumbled. My head felt thick. Floyd laid by my side, sharing my pain. Aeryn put a new bandage on, tying it tightly around the wound, then helped me up.
Stars exploded before my eyes once again when I put weight on the injured leg. Once the fire passed, I forced myself to put more weight on it. The pain was less with each trial. That was my old technique from the Marine Corps. If the pain doesn’t make you pass out, drive it as high as it will go until the nerves dull. That was my personal theory and it worked for me, whether it was true or not.
I still appreciated being able to put an arm over Aeryn’s shoulder. “Toby,
go up there and get Ben. When he’s back, we’ll decide what we’re going to do, and we’ll do it. How long has it been since he turned off the generator?”
Toby shrugged.
The fact that Aeryn and Ben were with us suggested it had been at least two and a half hours. “No, wait,” I told Toby as he turned to go uphill. “After the generator starts, give it a few minutes and then go get Ben. He let it run for only thirty minutes last time. That’s how long we’ll have to get into position for when he comes back outside to shut it off.” I already had the plan. It was simple and relied on three people converging on the man, surrounding him, getting him to surrender, then cleaning out the nest.
I motioned Aeryn to trade me the pistol for the rifle. As I adjusted the shoulder holster to fit, she took my rifle. She’d fired it often enough to know how it worked. She checked the chamber, saw the round, reseated it, and made sure the safety was on. She slung it over one shoulder as I settled my .45 under my left arm.
Then we waited.
When the generator hummed to life, we counted down the minutes before Toby made his way up the hill, only to run into Ben descending toward us.
He reported the same things that I’d seen, only one man armed with a pistol. He spent most of his time in his cabin, but Ben had also watched him work a small garden to the side of the shed, behind where the generator was running.
“Toby, go to the right, swing wide and come in behind the shed. Ben, you have the hardest job. Go to the left and come in behind the cabin. Your approach could be the most visible, unless you work your way farther around. Aeryn will go straight up here, following my and Ben’s footsteps. Get yourself into a good position. You’ll have the second best view. Floyd and I are walking straight up the driveway as soon as we hear Ben’s shot. That’s right. I think yelling will only make him draw his pistol. Put a round into the dirt at his feet. As soon as that happens, I need all of you to yell “Freeze” at the same time. Hopefully, I can get there within seconds after that. Everyone be ready to fire. If he gets his pistol out, we’ll need to end him, no hesitation. Understand?” They all nodded.
I waved them away and each headed out. Toby was loud in the brush as Ben melted into the trees. I expected the generator would mask the sound of their approach. Aeryn waited behind.
“How are you going to make it up that hill?” she asked skeptically.
“Floyd and I will be fine,” I said. “Now go, take your time, but get into position. I don’t want you to shoot him, but you’ll have the best shot. You’ll also be the most protected. If I wasn’t hurt, you wouldn’t be up there at all. If I can’t protect my little girl, what kind of father am I? But that question doesn’t matter now, does it? You’re sixteen, but you’re all grown up, aren’t you? All I can do is hope that you make the right decisions moving forward. It’s time where I have to let you go, let you go and watch you make me proud.” I waved her away, but the tears were running down her face. She leaned over Floyd to give me a hug. I held her tightly to me before she pulled back, mouth set as she turned and headed into the woods.
“We better go, too, Floyd. That hill isn’t going to climb itself.” I picked up the first thing I found to use as a walking stick. I broke off the smaller branches and leaned on it to make sure it wouldn’t break. Satisfied, I hobbled toward the driveway and started the climb upward, striving to be at the last bend before Ben fired his warning shot.
I was halfway there when the shot came. I heard three clear voices yell to “Freeze!” then the sound of two more shots.
I dropped the stick and ran. My leg threatened to buckle on the first step as a bolt of pain shot through my body. I yelled and kept trying to run. With a limping gait I made it up the hill and straight into the parking area in front of the cabin. The others were nowhere to be seen, but the man was still standing, his pistol on the ground in front of him.
I slowed to a walk, wishing that I had my walking stick. I kept my .45 trained on him as I moved forward, ensuring that I stayed out of Ben and Aeryn’s lines of fire. I stopped when I was still twenty feet away.
“Ben! Check the cabin, please. Aeryn, to me. Toby, you put that bow down, please. Shut off the generator and come get this pistol.” The others emerged from their hiding spots. “Let’s get a good look at you.”
The man turned to face me. He looked familiar, but much older. “What the hell? You left two years ago!” I exclaimed, knowing him as Ivan Rogoff, one of those who immigrated to Alaska in the first wave after the UN recognition. He’d lasted with us for almost seven years, but the other Russians never accepted him. He hadn’t found a partner. There were more men than women and when he attacked one of the Denali survivors, she defended herself well and battered him with a length of pipe. We banished him, dropping him off far to the north along the Steese Highway, expecting that he’d die from exposure. It was as humane as we could be since we had no time or ability to jail someone.
We’d have to rethink that. Floyd growled at the man, sensing my anger.
The man didn’t respond, but the hatred in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. There would be no coexisting with such a man. He looked sideways as Toby approached. I stepped around to keep Toby out of my line of fire.
Do it, I begged him in my own mind. I clicked the safety off and lowered the barrel to aim at the man’s mid-section. Toby stopped a full pace away from the pistol and slowly leaned down, stretching an arm as far as he could reach. Ivan yelled and lunged. My bullet hit him in the small of his back, but the round that Aeryn fired from the 45/70 at a range of ten feet blew the man’s chest across the front of the shed behind him. His body flopped on the ground as Toby stared at it wide-eyed.
I holstered my pistol and looked at Aeryn as she calmly cycled the lever action. She picked up the spent casing and put it in her pocket. I grabbed her by the shoulders to look into her eyes. “He needed to go. He hated us all and women most of all. He needed to die,” she said, her voice shaking slightly.
“Yes, he did. I’m sorry that we had to mete out that justice, but if not us, then who? We can’t have him showing back up. We can’t…” I sympathized with her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first man I’d killed and they were right. It did get easier, but this was Aeryn’s first. What a horrible rite of passage that I just put her through. “Toby, you’re up,” I told the young man, who had yet to grab the pistol from the ground. As he approached, I grabbed him by the shirt. “You take care of her!” I growled in his face. He nodded and then took Aeryn in his arms where she finally broke down and cried.
The rage seized me. The fury flowed through my veins. I picked up the pistol, a nine millimeter, and dropped the magazine. It had two rounds in it and one in the chamber. I wasn’t a fan of the caliber. I put the magazine back in, clicked it off safe, and aimed at the dead man’s head. I seethed for more retribution, but there would be none. I put it back on safe and removed the man’s belt with holster. I put the pistol in and threw the set-up over my shoulder. I limped to the generator and shut it down.
Ben came out of the cabin, carrying a couple boxes of ammunition for the pistol and one jar of canned beans. In the shed was everything else that had been taken. A furniture dolly was there, too, making it possible for one man to drag the freezers. He’d been alone when he was banished, and he was still alone.
Ben dragged the body out of the way as we started the truck, hooked up the trailer, and backed it up to the shed.
Toby held Aeryn gently while Floyd licked her hand. I limped to her and took the rifle, putting it into the front seat of the truck. We waited until Toby and Aeryn were ready, and they helped Ben slide the freezers into place, strapping them with tie-downs that had been in the shed. We put the generator and all the gas into the truck bed, tying it down with rope. I took the wheel and the others climbed in.
Aeryn and Toby looked back at the body, unceremoniously dumped at the side of the shed. “Shouldn’t
we do something?” Toby asked.
I had finally calmed enough that I could look at it dispassionately. As much as I wanted to leave his body for the ravens, it wasn’t the right thing to do, for our own souls if not his. I put the truck in park and turned the engine off. I hung my head and sighed. I felt Ben’s hand on my shoulder.
“We’ll take care of it,” the older man said and they got out, found a shovel and an axe and got to work digging a grave not far from the parking pad. I hobbled into the shed and found a broom handle to use as a walking stick. I joined them at the side of the shallow grave, before Toby and Ben each took one of Ivan’s arms, dragging him across the grand and dropping him into the hole. Toby quickly covered him up. Aeryn’s jaw was set. I didn’t know if she had reconciled herself, or if she had retreated into denial.
First thing on the agenda when we returned was to go see Colleen. All of us.
Ben said a few words in his native Athabascan. I was hard-pressed to find anything to say, but Aeryn looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“Although he didn’t fit with our ideals in the Community, he was a human being, and we pray that Ivan Rogoff finds peace in the afterlife. Everyone deserves to find peace,” I said, looking at my own hands, then to each of the others around the grave. “May we reach inside of ourselves and find ways to help people so this never happens again.” I nodded and limped back to the truck. The others joined me, but for some reason, Floyd climbed in the front.
“Hey, why isn’t he back there with you?” I asked Aeryn, but when I turned to look at her, she had her back to me as she straddled Toby’s lap and kissed him with a great deal of passion. I had to change the angle of the rearview mirror as I couldn’t watch. “You’re better off up here, Floyd,” I conceded to Ben’s laughter. I took it easy down the driveway and along the road until I came to Ben’s quad.
“Time to put the old girl back up for the next emergency, Ben. She did the trick for us.” He agreed. I expected one of the two in the back seat would join him, but things were getting intense. “Oh, jeez!” I exclaimed, shielding my eyes. “We’ll follow you, Ben.”
Fury (End Times Alaska Book 4) Page 6