HADRON Dark Matter

by Stephen Arseneault

  Chapter 6

  _______________________

  Johnny glared at his phone. “Mace, yours up? Mine lost signal in the middle of all that.”

  Mace pulled it from his pocket. “Nope. Says 'No Service'.”

  Johnny nodded. “You have a different carrier. Looks like they're all down.”

  Jane wrapped a cloth and a belt around Dirk's injured leg. “We should get him to a hospital when we can.”

  Johnny sat on the arm of the couch. “Without a phone I can't call Don. And I don't know that I feel safe driving out there.”

  Dirk replied, “Other than a numb pain, I'm OK. I can wait until dawn if you have anything that will take the edge off.”

  Jane asked, “Any allergies?”

  Dirk shook his head. “No.”

  Johnny stood. “I'll get it.”

  As Johnny walked toward a cabinet in the kitchen, he continued to talk. “Had a tooth extracted last year. This will make you feel a bit loopy, but it will definitely take off the edge.”

  Johnny returned with a pill and a glass of water. The pain pill was downed and their attentions turned toward the dead assailants.

  Jane said, “What do we do with this crap after we drag it out of the house?”

  Johnny looked at Mace.

  “We take 'em to the curb for trash collection. You have a wheelbarrow?”

  Johnny replied, “Better. Drag these two out the back door. I'll meet you there.”

  As Mace pulled the second body from inside the house, he heard a small engine start up. Johnny emerged from the garage on a four-wheeler with a small trailer in tow.

  “Load 'em up.”

  Mace hoisted the first body, dropping him onto the trailer with a thud and a clang. As the fifth carcass was stacked on top, Johnny started to pull away.

  Mace yelled, “You need a hand offloading?”

  Johnny looked over his shoulder. “Nope. Tilt trailer. They should slide right off.”

  The four wheeler screeched to a halt as Jane stepped in his way. “Take him with you. Those other two might still be out there.”

  Johnny nodded. “Good point. Mace, you heard the lady. Bring your party popper with you.”

  Ten minutes later the four-wheeler was stowed. They returned to the house. Jane had a bucket out, mopping blood from the floor.

  Johnny cracked: “A woman's work is never done.”

  Jane stopped. “All the bodies moved?”

  Mace nodded.

  She gestured toward the stairs. “Might as well tell the others to come on down.”

  Johnny looked over the displays of his four still-functioning cameras. “I've got number two aimed right at the gate and the alert turned on. If anyone moves out there, we'll at least have a brief warning.”

  As Mace walked toward the stairs, he stopped and turned. “I have to say: the both of you sure were calm during that whole fight. Most of the men I fought alongside weren't as poised after their first few times out. Including me.”

  Jane frowned. “My insides are like spaghetti right now. Give me a little time to think about what just happened and I'm sure I'll be in a panic.”

  Johnny shook his head. “My hearts hammering at a thousand beats a minute.”

  Jane pushed the mop once and stopped. “Was it anything like this when you were overseas?”

  Mace sighed. “Sometimes for weeks on end. When we finally had a day for rest, we went nuts with nothing to do. Take a soldier off the line, with all that adrenaline pumping, and put him in a box of a room with nothing to occupy his mind and he's likely to explode. I saw that a number of times.”

  Jane asked, “That why you got out of the service?”

  Mace took a deep breath. “No. It's a long story though. I'll tell you later.”

  Mace stopped at the bottom of the stairs, yelling up: “Tres, you can bring 'em down if you want!”

  Tres yelled back: “Cowboy! Be right there!”

  Mace walked back into the den. “Any spare cameras we can remount?”

  Johnny nodded. “I have a couple in the garage. We can do that if you don't mind holding a ladder.”

  Mace laughed. “You can stand on my shoulders if that's what it takes.”

  The two headed for the garage. “How're your bruises?”

  Johnny flinched as he pulled back on his right shoulder. “The first two, I can feel 'em, but they aren't painful. That last one I took right in the ribs, though... hurts like all get-out.”

  “You did two tours, right? Never got hit?”

  Mace laughed. “Hang on, I'll show you when we get in the garage.”

  The former Special Forces Ranger loosened the catches on his vest, pulled it over his head and laid it on a table before removing his shirt. “Shoulder was first. Passed through. A week off the line and I was itching to get back out there. These two were second. This one was another all the way through. His brother nicked my liver. Thirty-six days in a bed due to an infection.”

  Mace turned to show his back. “Graze of the right shoulder was next. Followed by this meat sticker just above the kidney.”

  Johnny pulled back. “Bayonet?”

  Mace shook his head. “Kid with an assault knife. Probably seventeen or eighteen. Jammed it right between two back plates on my vest. I spun and caught him with my rifle butt before he could go too deep.”

  “Killing a kid. That's gotta be tough.”

  “He lived. Rest of my team dragged him out to the street and gave him a nasty beating, though. War ain't a pretty thing. Sometimes those who've been led down the wrong path have no problem with killing, thinking it's justified for whatever lame reason. We did everything we could to bring everyone out alive, but it didn't always work out that way.”

  Mace pointed to his left thigh. “Shrapnel from an RPG in here. They didn't get it all and I have a hard time going through the detector at the airport because of it. Another graze on this thigh. Took another round through the meat of the left calf. And last but not least, I'm missing the tip of a toe on this foot.”

  Johnny frowned. “What happened there?”

  Mace chuckled. “Drunk at a card game. Stepped hard on a piece of broken bottle with my bare feet. Sliced it right off.”

  “They couldn't sew it back on?”

  “Not after my bunkmate stomped on it trying to be funny. After that... well, we had a local dog for a pet. That little guy pounced on it and ran off. I'm sure he enjoyed the snack.”

  Johnny tried to contain his laughter. “A dog ate your toe?”

  Mace nodded as he smirked. “I did get a purple heart for it.”

  Johnny crossed his arms. “Huh, didn't know you got a purple heart.”

  Mace sighed. “Five of 'em. The last two, and the toe, I told them to take back.”

  Johnny shook his head. “Now I know why you got out. You're defective. You're full of holes and missing parts.”

  Jane walked up behind them. “Man's got his shirt off. Should I go get some dollars? Or just leave you two alone?”

  Johnny pointed at Mace's shoulder. “The man's been shot more than that lot we just dragged out to the street. Four holes, two grazes, shrapnel from an RPG, and a dog ate his toe.”

  Jane looked-on in amazement. “Seriously? You took all that while you were in?”

  Mace nodded before pulling down his cheek to expose the lower left side of his jaw. “Lost a tooth in a fistfight. They put in a post and a new one.”

  Jane shook her head. “Wow. I guess I don't have to ask why you left now.”

  Mace pulled his shirt back over his head. “Wasn't that. I lost my best friend to an ambush. We thought we had cleared a house. Last two coming out into the street were maybe eight and ten.”

  “Kids?”

  “Not sure where he got it, but the younger one had a 9mm hidden in a stuffed animal he was carrying. I should have checked it. They came out of one my rooms. Anyway, long story short, Thomas, my buddy, took a slug that should have been mine. I was due to re-up in two week
s. Decided it was time to come home.”

  “Can't blame yourself.” Johnny put his hand on Mace's shoulder. “Wasn't your doing. I had a life-alterer too, but not anything near that level.”

  For the next few minutes Mace stood with his arms crossed, listening to Johnny as he gave a repeat of his college mishap while Jane watched for intruders from the garage door.

  “Like I said, not to the same level...”

  Jane said, “Why don't we get back inside... see if the TV has any news.”

  Mace pulled out his phone, stopping in the drive. “Signal's back up. I'll give 911 a call about what to expect when they come this way.”

  Jane and Johnny continued inside.

  After a lengthy talk with a dispatcher, Mace was forwarded to a police captain. He explained their first encounter, the episode with Dontell, and the big shootout that followed. He finished by telling the captain about the stack of bodies at the end of the drive.

  “So the two individuals that remained, they left?”

  Mace replied, “Yes, sir. We're prepared if they decide to come back, but it's probably advisable that you send someone to collect the dead. If anyone else were to come across that stack... they might be a bit stressed by it.”

  The captain sighed. “They're dead, Mr. Hardy. They aren't going anywhere. And as far as anyone coming across them, well, let's just say we have bigger fish to fry right now. The looters have been out in force tonight. We're hearing gunfire all over town and without comms we don't know if it's good guys or bad guys. This whole town has gone nuts. Hospitals are filling up.”

  Mace finished the conversation. “I've taken enough of your time, Captain. We'll be here whenever you can get someone out. And thank you for all you guys are doing. You'll have our full support when you get here.”

  Mace walked into the Tretcher home and down the hall to Johnny's den. The view of the security cameras had been moved to the top right corner of the screen. A local newscaster filled the rest of the display.

  “The Virginia National Guard has been called up in Norfolk and over in Richmond. The known problem areas here in town are in Ghent and Estabrook. It seems the lawless have converged on Lafayette tonight.”

  A second newscaster joined in. “That's right, Gina. We have reports of looting, home invasions, and buildings burning from Kensington to Estabrook. There have been at least two fatalities reported. If you are somehow watching from your home, be safe, lock the doors and stay inside. We have reports of gunfire coming from across the city. Please keep safe tonight.” The second newscaster turned. “Gina, I understand we have word from Washington?”

  Gina faced the camera. “That's right, Dave. We've been told to expect a news conference from Homeland Security at any moment. We'll be switching to that, live, when the feed becomes available.”

  Tres said, “I just got a text from my brother. He said the blackouts have spread throughout Pennsylvania. And now South Carolina and Florida and over to Louisiana have also been hit. He said their phone reception has been going in and out, getting worse. Probably won't have it for long.”

  Johnny sighed as he sat. “This is getting real ugly. We're supposed to be civilized during something like this.”

  Vanessa replied, “How could it get worse?”

  Johnny shook his head. “We live in an 'everything now' society. What happens when our food stocks run out? Heck, Dirk said they're already making runs on the grocery stores, and we're just a couple days into this thing. If it goes on much longer, what do you think happens when people need to feed their families?”

  Vanessa got a worried look. “I don't know. The government should be able to take care of that.”

  Mace nodded. “They will, but it'll take them a week to get any kind of supply lines up and running and order restored. After that, if it stays this widespread, I doubt they can feed everyone for more than a month. And if they lack communications too, we're all in trouble.”

  Tres said, “If this goes for a month, we're not in trouble... we're doomed.”

  Mace leaned back on the leather couch, crossing his arms. “I'm betting these two have some dry goods stashed around here somewhere.”

  Jane sat beside him with a wet cloth. “Let me clean up that face. Then I'm putting a patch on that graze.”

  Johnny replied to Mace, “We do. Enough to last Jane and me about five weeks. Divide that by seven with everyone here and it'll be gone in a week.”

  Mace returned a sarcastic look. “We can always stretch that out with your fishing every day. Am I right?”

  Jane laughed.

  Johnny shook his head. “I hope it doesn't come to that. I love sitting out there on the boat, but I never have had a lot of luck reeling much in. We'd probably do better just crabbing off the dock.”

  Tres said, “Looks like I lost connection to my brother. Anyone have anybody out west?”

  Mace nodded. “My mother, but I haven't been able to connect.”

  Vanessa replied, “I have a sister in San Diego. I'll give her another try.”

  After dialing the number, Vanessa made a scrunched up face. “It went right to a busy signal. She has call waiting, it should still be ringing. She still has a house line. I'll try that.”

  Vanessa's expression turned to one of worry. “Same thing.”

  Donna pulled her phone from her purse. “I have family in Montana.”

  After dialing several numbers, Donna frowned. “They're all the same. Instant busy signal.”

  Tres said, “It could still just be us. Maybe our calls aren't getting out.”

  Vanessa propped her chin on the palm of her hand as her elbow rested on the arm of the couch. “I shoulda just stayed in San Diego.”

  Tres asked, “What brought you out here?”

  “Navy boyfriend.” Vanessa sighed. “An officer, but not much of a gentleman. He had a temper and I put up with it too long.”

  “He was violent?”

  “And then some.”

  She pulled up the right side of her shirt, exposing several of her ribs. “This scar, he kicked me. Broke a rib and pushed it through the skin.”

  Johnny winced. “I don't understand that kind of mind.”

  Vanessa smirked. “It's not my first time around that block. Boyfriend before him gave me a bloody lip once, and a black eye another time. I used to think it must be me driving them to it.”

  “No cause for that.” Johnny shook his head. “And I can tell you, I've seen nothing out of you that would elicit that kind of reaction from any real man.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out... eventually. Stepdad was an alcoholic and he and my mom would brawl all the time. She dished out as much as she took, though, so I grew up seeing it as normal. I've got it figured out now. And that boyfriend I came out here with... dishonorably discharged. That's when I came to my senses.”

  Vanessa looked over at Tres. “Don't be giving me those puppy-dog eyes. I'm fine. I've moved on.”

  Jane asked a question. “So, Mace, any girlfriends we don't know about?”

  Mace shook his head slowly as he smiled. “Not at the moment. You have anyone in mind?”

  Johnny leaned forward. “Hey now, you keep your hands off my wife.”

  Mace laughed. “I wouldn't dream of touching her... at least not while you're still alive.”

  Johnny returned a sarcastic scowl.

  The banter continued for most of an hour before Jane showed Donna and little Dee to their room for the night. Johnny popped the top on a Mangrove Dark as he offered everyone else a drink. Mace declined, choosing to lean back on the couch with his eyes shut. His mind raced as memories from his time in the service played themselves out for the thousandth time.