Desperate Times 2 Gun Control

by Nicholas Antinozzi

  “Global warming?”

  “I don’t know. Who cares? I’ll take it.”

  “Me too,” said Wart. “They’re going to be okay, aren’t they?”

  “Of course they are,” Jimmy said, wishing he felt any conviction behind those words. Bill had looked obscenely white under the gas lights of the porch, and Jimmy had never seen a man lose as much blood as Ken had. Doc said that a main artery had been severed in his leg.

  “Both of them are tough,” Wart said, studying Jimmy in the darkness.

  Jimmy nodded. He could feel the tears behind his eyes, and he fought them off. He wanted to be strong. He felt that it was the best way that he could help both of his injured friends. People would be looking to him for strength.

  “My old man was tough,” Wart continued. “Back home, nobody ever dared to mess with him. He was one of those quiet guys who came back from the war, and you could see it in his eyes. Something wasn’t right. Do you know what I mean? People were scared of him, but he wouldn’t have hurt a fly. He just had that look. Do you think that we’ll be like that when this is all over? I never killed anyone until tonight. I feel pretty bad about it.”

  Jimmy turned and looked at Wart. Tears were falling down his sallow cheeks, and he brushed at them angrily. “Hey,” said Jimmy, “they would’ve killed you if you hadn’t killed them first. They deserved what they got.”

  “Did they? They were just trying to survive.”

  “They could have asked for our help. They could have planned ahead. They shouldn’t have attacked us.”

  Wart rubbed his eyes again and he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “it’s still pretty shitty. I don’t know, man. What the hell have we become? I killed a lot of people tonight, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to sleep again. I feel pretty damn terrible about it.”

  “I know how you feel. We all do. You have to put it behind you; it’s the only way. Think of it this way Wart, we were only defending our home, our right to survive. People have been doing that for thousands of years. We were defending Ken and Patty; this is their home.”

  Wart thought about this and nodded his head. “You’re right, man. That’s exactly what we were doing, wasn’t it? Ken had better not die on us. He lost a lot of blood. I don’t know, man. He didn’t look good.”

  “He’s going to be fine, and so is Bill,” Jimmy said. He was more than happy to change the subject, even if it was something he didn’t want to think about.

  Wart nodded. “We’re going to have to whittle Bill a wooden leg. That’s going to be a bitch.”

  “Let’s just pray that Doc can save him. We can worry about that when the time comes.”

  “Oh, I’m praying all right. I’m praying like I’ve never prayed in all my life.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  They stood there in silence for a long time. The breeze rattled the long pine branches, and an owl hooted from somewhere far away. Jimmy swiped a tear from his cheek, hoping that Wart hadn’t seen it fall.

  “I’ve got to go, man,” Wart said. “That stew goes right through me.”

  Jimmy nodded. “I’ll be here.”

  Jimmy began to pace back and forth after Wart wandered off to the cold confines of the outhouse. He walked halfway up the concrete stairs, thought better of it and returned to his post at the gate. Suddenly the door to the porch opened up, and Julie appeared on the deck above him.

  “Jimmy?” Julie called. “Are you guys down there?”

  Jimmy waved up at her from the darkness below. “I’m here,” he said, his stomach suddenly in knots. “How’s it going in there?”

  “Get up here,” Julie said. “Hurry!”

  The tears fell in streams before Jimmy made it halfway up the steps. Something was wrong—he was sure of it. He felt as if he was running in slow motion, as if his legs were made of concrete and that he’d never make it inside the porch. Julie waited for him just inside the front door. She opened it for him and he hesitantly stepped inside. Doc stood there, his face grim.

  “How are they?” Jimmy asked, running a burned wrist across his wet eyes.

  “They’ve both lost a lot of blood,” Doc whispered, stepping close. “Our main worry now is that there isn’t an infection. But for now, I’d say that both men are out of the woods.”

  Jimmy moved past Doc and caught sight of both men as they lay sleeping in the beds. The sheets were bloody, and both looked extremely pale, but Jimmy could see that each of them still drew breath. His heart soared, and he turned back and gave Doc a bear hug.

  “We’ve got to change their sheets,” Doc said. “We’re going to need your help. Where’s Wart? We could use him, too.”

  Jimmy was just opening his mouth when the peace was suddenly broken by the roar of another explosion. Jimmy gasped and held his hands to his ears. “Wart!” he cried.

  “Oh, my God,” Julie moaned. “What the hell is he doing out there?”

  “Those g

  oddamn hand grenades,” exclaimed Doc. “Come on, let’s get out there!”

  Chapter 38

  There was no saving their new friend. Wart’s small frame had been torn to pieces by the blast, and Doc said that he’d probably been dead before he knew what hit him. Jimmy suspected that it hadn’t been an accident, but he couldn’t bring himself to share his suspicions with the others. If Wart had found that he couldn’t live with his guilt, that was his business. He was gone, and there was no bringing him back.

  Jimmy spent most of the night manning the wall, but the rest of that night was quiet. The others took turns sleeping, but none of them slept for more than a few hours. Dawn arrived in a thick fog as the temperature continued to rise to somewhere into the forties. The air had once again grown still, and the only sounds came from the squirrels and the unseen birds around them. Jimmy took it upon himself to creep around the backyard where he meticulously searched out and removed the few remaining tripwires. He then gathered up the unexploded grenades and stored them in the shed. Death was everywhere, and Jimmy vomited twice as he worked.

  Jimmy went inside after he had finished and sat down at the kitchen table. Patty was there, wearing a brave face as she poured him a cup of coffee in his favorite cup.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, taking a seat across from him in the quiet kitchen.

  Jimmy nodded. “I’m fine. How are the guys doing?”

  Patty smiled. “Ken has been awake all morning, and he’s driving Doc crazy. He wants to get out of bed and get to work. Can you believe it?”

  “That sounds like Ken.”

  “Bill is out of it, but Doc says that he’s doing fine. He has him pretty doped up. I feel so bad for him. How is he going to get around on one leg?”

  “We’ll figure something out. He’s lucky to be alive.”

  “We’re lucky to have him, even if he can be a huge pain in the ass.”

  “Patty!”

  “Did I say that? Please, don’t tell anyone, but you know what I mean. He saved Ken’s life last night. I’ll never forget that.”

  “I don’t think Bill will ever let any of us forget that,” Jimmy said, smiling for the first time of the day.

  Patty began to speak, but tears suddenly filled her eyes. She took off her glasses and began to sob into her spotted hands. Jimmy got up and went to her. He got on his knees and wrapped his arms around her and began to cry himself. Neither said a single word, and they remained like that for what seemed like a very long time.

  The fog had begun to lift when Jimmy returned to the gruesome scene in the backyard. He carefully made another sweep for hidden tripwires, and once he was satisfied he set about the awful task of gathering up the dead. There were so many, at least twenty in his estimation, although it was impossible to be sure. Some, like Wart, had been blown to pieces. Jimmy soon discovered that many of the bodies had one thing in common—a single bullet wound between their eyes. Jimmy wondered who was responsible for those, but he found that he really didn’t want to know.


  He heard the back door slap shut, and he saw Julie and Doc. They waited at the picnic table with grim expressions as he walked over to join them.

  “You’re going to have to burn the bodies,” Doc said, surveying the scene. “We’re still a good month away from getting the frost out of the ground. You’re going to have to build a big fire and keep it burning as hot as you can. It’s probably going to take you all day. I’m sorry, Jimmy. I’ve got my hands full in the house; otherwise, I’d help you.”

  “We know, Doc,” said Julie. “I’ll help him.”

  Doc nodded. “Thanks, Julie. This isn’t a job that I’d wish on anyone. I’ll leave you with some advice: throw them on one at a time and walk away. Wait at least twenty minutes before you check on them. Don’t think about what you’re doing, just do it. And remember, you want that fire to be as hot as possible.”

  Jimmy lit up a cigarette, and they stood there as Doc returned to the house. “I can do this,” Jimmy said. “Why don’t you go back in the house and keep Patty away from the window.”

  Julie shook her head. “No, this has to be done. Let’s get started on that fire. I just want to get this over with.”

  Jimmy moved close to Julie and wrapped his arms around her. They stood there like that for a moment, and this time Jimmy shed no tears. He felt nothing except his love for Julie and the exhaustion creeping up on him.

  They built a fire out of the split and seasoned oak that Ken had stacked behind the shed. They didn’t toss on their first body until there was a good bed of coals at the bottom of the fire. They wouldn’t finish the job until the sun had nearly set. Both agreed that the hardest part was the overpowering smell of roasting flesh. Jimmy kept adding logs to the fire until well past dark.

  They slept that night in the little room upstairs, both smelling of sweat and wood-smoke, both falling fast asleep as their heads hit their pillows.

  They slept until past nine, and Jimmy woke up feeling stiff but well rested. Patty served them a breakfast of pancakes and hot coffee, and they talked about their plans for the day. Paula walked in looking timid as a church mouse and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was just turning to leave the room when Julie stopped her.

  “Not so fast,” Julie said, pointing to an empty chair at the table. “I want to talk to you.”

  “You can have him,” Paula said, flipping her blonde hair out of her eyes. “I don’t care what he does anymore.”

  Julie stared at Jimmy for a moment, and Jimmy caught the hint of a smile in her eyes. “Thanks,” she said. But that’s not what I want to talk about. Go on and sit down. This is going to take a while.”

  Paula carefully set her cup down on the table, slowly slid the wooden chair back and sat down. She looked confused, but more than that, Paula looked frightened. “You can’t throw me out,” she said. “I already talked to Ken. This wasn’t my fault.”

  “Who said we were going to throw you out?” asked Julie.

  “Nobody did. I just wanted you guys to know that none of this was my idea.”

  Patty sat down at the last empty chair. She sat back and crossed her arms, looking directly at Paula. “Can the act, honey. What we want to know is what happened out there—all of it. What happened when you left here, and how in the hell you and Glen ended back on our doorstep. Don’t you dare lie to us. I can smell a liar from a mile away. If I think that you’re trying to sell us a load of crap, I’ll show you to the gate. I don’t care what Ken may have said, I make the rules here, sister. Don’t you ever forget that.”

  Jimmy and Julie exchanged smiles and nodded their heads.

  “That’s right,” said Jimmy. “We want the whole truth, Paula. Don’t leave anything out.”

  “Fine,” Paula said. “I don’t have anything to hide. Like I said, none of this was my idea.”

  “Nobody said that it was,” Julie said, softening her voice.

  “Well, when we left here and got to Ely, the National Guard was waiting for us. I suppose you guys know all about that. Those bastards lied to us. Well, we were all separated, me and Carl, Glen and his wife. They even took Jenkins away from his family. We got away and did what we had to do. That’s how we ended up together. Where else were we supposed to go? We decided to come here. Can I go now? Doc needs me out on the porch.”

  Patty smiled. “I’m going to give you one last chance to give us the whole story. Do you understand me? If I’m not satisfied with it, I’m going to grab a handful of that pretty blonde hair of yours and I’m going to drag you outside the gate. Do you want to be eaten by wolves?”

  Jimmy smiled; he couldn’t help himself. Paula’s eyes grew wide, and she looked back and forth at them. Jimmy wondered what he’d ever seen in her.

  “Okay,” Paula said. “So, the three of us were loaded in the back of this big green pickup truck. There were a bunch of us back there, but only three of us from our group. We had to stop twice because the truck kept overheating, and we got separated from the rest of the trucks. We were only twenty miles from Duluth. That’s how it happened.”

  “That’s how what happened?” asked Jimmy.

  “The driver and the guards were shot dead on the side of the road. Then we were rescued by some guys we didn’t even know, and we went and stayed out in these ratty-old cabins out in the woods with them. We were there until around Christmas—that was when they all got killed. The three of us—Glen, Jenkins, and me—we heard the shooting, and we hid in this shed. That was when things got crazy. This young soldier, he couldn’t have been more than eighteen, opened the door and looked right at us. He then closed the door and shouted out that it was all clear. Can you believe it? He looked right at us.”

  “I’m sure there are some good ones out there,” said Patty. “Keep going.”

  “Well, we couldn’t stay there. So the three of us decided to see if you guys would take us back in. We had no place else to go. The rest of it was like in that movie Wizard of Oz. We just kept on meeting people on our way back here, and they kept on following us along the way. That was insane, but it was all Glen’s idea. He didn’t think you’d let us stay with you. Gradually he built up this army of followers, and he had Jenkins as his right-hand man. They made this place out to sound like you had enough food and weapons to support a thousand people. Of course people followed us. People are stupid, and they all pledged themselves to the cause.”

  “The cause?” asked Julie. “What was that?”

  “To move in here and take over.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us that when you and Glen showed up in the first place?” asked Patty, removing her glasses and cleaning them furiously with the edge of the tablecloth. “You had plenty of chances to tell us.”

  “Glen said that he’d kill me, that he’d kill all of you. You heard him; he wanted to let everyone live. He didn’t want a war. That was a last resort.”

  “He sure wanted me dead,” said Jimmy.

  “I know,” agreed Paula. “And I’m glad that Doc killed him. I’m glad that they’re all gone. They were a rough bunch.”

  “Paula?” asked Doc, as he quietly stepped into the kitchen. “What’s going on in here?”

  Paula quickly stood up and joined Doc at the doorway. She slipped an arm around Doc’s waist, and his long arm fell around her slender shoulder. They stood there like that for a moment, looking defiant and unashamed. Jimmy and Julie exchanged a look of pure shock.

  “What?” asked Doc. “We’re both single.”

  Patty turned away. “Nobody said anything, did they?”

  “Come on, dear,” Doc said. “We have patients to attend to.”

  “I’ll do whatever you ask me to,” said Paula, but looking directly at Jimmy.

  Julie snorted with laughter which caused Doc to take Paula by the arm

  , and they quickly left the kitchen.

  Chapter 39

  The sun made a rare appearance around one that afternoon. The melt continued as a warm breeze blew in from out of the south. Jimmy had talked to Ken twi
ce, and on his second visit Ken had asked him to check outside the gate for abandoned weapons. The last battle had seriously depleted their supply of ammunition, and they needed to salvage what they could.

  “Just be careful,” Ken had said. “Some of them could still be out there.”

  Jimmy doubted that there were, but he promised to be careful just the same. He and Julie walked the perimeter of the wall on the walkway, listening to the wind in the trees. Jimmy saw no sign of Rita’s body, which he was thankful for.

  “Come on,” said Julie. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Jimmy snubbed out his cigarette against the wall and jammed the filter between two of the logs. They climbed down the ladder and working together, they slid the lock out of its cradle. The heavy door groaned as they pushed it open. Julie carried Ken’s Browning .308 slung over her shoulder, and Jimmy pulled Patty’s old garden cart along behind them. They found their first weapons a moment later.

  The blood-stained snowpack betrayed the savagery that had taken place outside the gate. There seemed to be rifles and shotguns as far as the eye could see. They wordlessly gathered them up, some thirty in all, and brought them inside the wall where they were brushed off and stood on their butts. The handguns and ammo they found were placed inside the garden cart which trundled along in a lop-sided gait on a pair of mismatched wheels. They would empty the cart twice before heading into the woods to walk the outside perimeter. Jimmy pulled the cart into the woods but soon found that it would be all but impossible to pull it out once it held any weight. The snow here was over a foot deep, and walking was difficult. The white forest floor was littered with red paw prints and torn scraps of clothing, but other than that, there was very little left of those who had died inside the woods.

  They followed the outside of the wall and began tossing their scattered findings over the top to the other side. The weapons were mostly inexpensive hunting rifles and shotguns, but every now and again one of them would uncover a hidden treasure. Despite their lack of knowledge about firearms, there was no mistaking the pride and craftsmanship that went into building these sleek weapons.