by W. R. Benton
"Understood, but we all live with ghosts from our wars, huh?"
Tom grunted in reply.
Then, walking toward the downed man, he replied, "Well, it beats the other options."
Sandra walked to my side and said, "I cleaned my wound, but I'll be down with a fever by tonight. I've taken something for pain, infection, and fever only gunshot wounds always produce febricity."
"Speak English."
"I did," and she gave me the smile I love so much. "Febricity means feverishness, fever, or pyrexia."
Meeting her eyes, so she could feel the love I have for her, I said, "Well, I learned two new words today, febricity and pyrexia. Not that I'll ever use them again in this lifetime."
"Stick with me, baby, and I'll teach you a bunch of new things. Now, let me look at our new patient and see what needs to be done."
Less than an hour later the big man's injury was clean, bandaged and had a solid wrapping on it. I refused to allow him antibiotics, because I wanted to save them for our use only.
"When do you think he'll come around?"
Sandra said, "Hard to say. He hit the wall pretty hard and some wounds shut the body down a while, but I'd guess in less than an hour. His collar bone has been shattered and there is a lot of trauma to the tissue in his shoulder."
"Let me know immediately when he comes around, okay?"
Sandra nodded, but didn't reply.
I moved away from the group, sat on a bale of hay and pulled out my sheath knife. I didn't carry a huge knife, just a normal hunting knife with a good 440C stainless blade. I'd found a 440C blade took an edge quickly and didn't dull as fast as some other blades. Pulling a whetstone from the small pouch on the sheath, I began to touch up the edge. For what I had in mind, I would need my knife as sharp as a razor. A few minutes later, when I glanced up, the other three were watching me. For some reason, I suddenly felt like a convicted killer. To hell with them, I need answers and this sonofabitch has them, I thought.
CHAPTER 5
A little less than an hour later I was alone in the barn and the "Hulk" was wide awake and complaining of pain. As soon as the man started coming around, the others suddenly had things to do. Now, I didn't like what I was going to do, but I knew doing it wouldn't cost me a second of missed sleep. We live in rough times, and I figured to do what was needed to stay alive. If we don't put a stop to this, we'll never have any peace around here, I thought as I pulled my knife and knelt beside the man.
Grabbing his long greasy hair, I pulled his head back and asked, "Do you want to live or die?"
"Hurt me, ya bastard, and Patton will skin all of ya alive. He's got power and gold."
I laughed and replied, "He may just end up doing that, but you'll be long dead before that happens. What's your name?"
"Hanks, William Hanks, and Patton is my uncle. Don't underestimate the man, he's a killer."
I gave an insane laugh and replied, "Well, it's not your day at all, because so am I. See, I get anxious when I've not killed anyone in a week or so. Let me see, not good, because I ain't killed nobody in almost two weeks."
Looking right into my eyes Hanks said, "Ya won't hurt me, because ya know what'll happen to ya if ya do."
I need to show him I'm serious, I thought and then brought my knife up close to his eyes. He must have figured I was going to cut his throat, but with a flash I brought the sharp blade down, severing his left ear. He screamed and his feet kicked violently at the floor.
Blood poured from his injury and now that I had his attention, I said, "I have some questions and you'll answer em."
"Go to " He started to say.
But, my blade moved rapidly once more and his other ear fell to the concrete floor of my barn. Again he screamed and after a few minutes he began to whimper like an injured animal.
I raised my knife again, but he was stubborn and spit in my face. I made no effort to wipe it off, but remove his nose with another swift sweep of my sharp blade. He screamed once again.
The strange thing is, I wasn't angry with the man at all. I felt no emotions, except a little respect for his grit and determination to stay silent. He was an unwavering man, I'll give him that much, only not too smart. He knows information I need desperately and I'll have it, one way or the other.
"Now, we can keep this up for hours, if you like. I'll take your fingers off one at a time, then your toes, and at that point, I'll remove your pants and we'll get real personal."
"N ... no m ... more, please.", the man finally managed to get out though his pain.
With his ears and nose missing, the man presented a hideous appearance. Blood flowed freely down his face and neck, but I made no effort to stop the bleeding.
I placed the tip of my knife against his crotch and said, "I'll ask the questions and you'll answer me. You lie to me or hesitate, and you'll have to squat to pee from then on. Do you fully understand me?"
"Yes, I understand. B... but please, no more cuttin'."
A puddle of urine began to form under the man and I knew he was one scared puppy, and now he'd tell me all I needed to know.
"Tell me everything you know about Patton, you sonofabitch! I want to know exactly where he's at, how many men he has, what kinds of arms they have, and his routine for the guards. You answer me truthfully and I'll let you live, I give you my word. You lie to me and I'll kill you eventually." I pushed my knife blade forward just a bit and knew he could feel the tip of the knife against his genitals.
In less than 10 minutes I had all I needed to know about Patton and his men. The problem now was, Hanks just wouldn't shut up. I let him ramble as I moved to our medical supplies and returned with what I needed to treat his injuries. I gave him no pain medication, but did wrap his ears and nose with gauze.
Finally, I raised his right foot and removed the boot. His once white sock was brown from constant wear. Removing the sock, I placed it in his lap and pulled my knife once again. Holding the foot tightly in my left hand, I severed his Achilles tendon, knowing he'd not be able to move fast ever again. He screamed and after a few minutes I picked up the gauze and wrapped his new injury as well as I could.
I rolled him over and cut the rope binding his wrists together. I then said, "Hanks, I'm going to help you about a 100 yards from this barn. Only before I do that, there is something I want you to fully understand. You attacked our women and by rights I should kill you for that, except I'm a man of my word. If I ever see you again, I'll kill you on sight. Do you understand me?"
"With my tendon cut like this how do you expect me to move?"
I pulled the pistol he'd once owned, pulled the hammer back with a loud click, and said, "Oh, you'll move, or I'll kill you where you lay. Now, which is it?"
Lowering his head he mumbled, "Help me up."
It took me a long time to escort the man a 100 yards, but I wanted him out of our hair and yet not able to warn Patton we were coming for him. The gauze on his head, shoulder and tendon was blood soaked, only I didn't honestly care if the man lived or died. I only promised him I'd not kill him. If he bled to death, well, that wasn't my problem was it?
*****
When I returned, everyone was in the barn and Sue was mopping blood up from the floor. While no one said anything, I could feel a tenseness hanging heavy in the air.
"Did you dump the body?" Sandra asked.
"There wasn't a body, because I didn't kill the man."
"But, we heard him screaming."
"I cut him up a bit, but he'll live."
Sue gazed into my eyes and said, "Cut him up a bit? I found his nose and ears on the floor. You're a damned animal, do you know that? A real coldblooded sonofabitch."
"I never said he was pretty. Look, he was tough, so I had to turn mean to get what I needed from him, alright? As for being an animal, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure we all survive!"
"You scarred that man for life!" Sue shot back.
Feeling my anger growing, I said bluntly, "He's an animal and to be
honest, I should have just killed the bastard, because that's what he'd do after raping you or Sandra! The only reason I didn't was he provided me the information I wanted."
Tom raised his hand with the palm open toward his wife and while she was about to speak, she didn't say anything.
"What'd you learn?" Tom asked.
"We can take the place, but it won't be easy." I felt my blood pressure drop knowing Tom had his wife's big progressive mouth under control.
Tom shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I didn't expect it to be easy."
I paused a few seconds to gather my thoughts and then said, "Gather around, my children, and I will tell you a tale of the wicked man named Patton."
*****
It was late, near two in the morning, as we watched the house that Patton used for his headquarters. He ran a large group of men, well over a hundred, but most were always out on missions foraging for food, fuel, or women, leaving fewer than ten men at the house on most any given night. I hoped this night the majority of his men were gone, or we'd end up as dead as the Christmas goose.
I glanced at Dolly and Skillet, but both were stretched out beside me and unmoving.
The house wasn't anything fancy, just an old farm house with a stretched barbed wire fence around it. I noticed a bunkhouse out back, but no light was seen. Only one light burned and it appeared to be in the living room of the main house. Since no one had electrical power these days, it was either an oil lamp or a lantern.
Tom, who'd led a lot of ranger recon patrols in Iraq, would move in, check the place out and then return to brief us on what he found. We'd agreed that only one of us should go, so we'd not leave the women without an experienced fighter if things turned to shit. It brought back memories when I looked over at Tom and his face and hands were all camouflaged with burnt cork. We had a few bottles of wine left, so we'd shared a bottle for lunch, and Tom saved the cork to blacken his skin. Once he'd finished, all three of us applied blotches of black on all exposed skin.
From the light of the moon, Tom held his right hand up, with all fingers extended, then opened and closed the hand three times. He then pointed to his eyes with his index and middle finger. His meaning was clear, he wanted fifteen minutes to check the place out and then return. I looked at my watch and patted him on the back. Slowly he moved forward and in a matter of seconds he'd disappeared into the darkness.
As I waited, I didn't really expect gunfire, but if things turned rough, he'd find us willing to back him up as much as possible. The second hand of my watch seemed to move slower than usual, but it'd done that many times when on combat patrols.
Less than ten minutes later, Tom materialized from the darkness and knelt beside me, catching his breath. He nodded a few times and then motioned for us to follow him. Instead of moving toward Patton, he moved away.
Finally, after about a half mile, he stopped.
Giving me a goofy grin, he said, "I counted only ten men, but I have no idea if others are in some of the rooms of the main house."
"Should we go tonight?"
Nodding, he replied, "He can't know we are on to him, so surprise will work in our favor. I figure if there are more men sleeping in the place, we'll be inside and shooting before most of them clear their heads."
Sue asked, "You'll kill sleeping men?"
Tom chuckled and said, "Yes, when we're outnumbered by more than two to one, I surely will."
A silence followed, then finally Sue said, "It doesn't seem... right. Isn't there some other way?"
I knew she had started to say fair, but knew better, because she wanted to survive as much as the rest of us. While I didn't care to kill sleeping men, I'd do anything to protect us, and I started to state that, except my interrogation of Hanks proved it already.
Tom asked as he turned to me, "How do you want to do this?" Completely ignoring his wife's question. I figured he thought like I did, we'd tried talk before and it'd not worked. Now it was time to kick some serious ass.
"I think the best way would be for Sandra and Sue to cover us outside while you and I go right through the front door. Did you see a guard?"
"Actually, there are two. One walking around, while another was sitting on the steps to the front door.
"You take out the walker, then I'll take the man on the steps." I said and then turning to the women I added, "you two will remain outside the fence for fifteen minutes after we leave and then enter the barnyard. If anyone approaches from the road or the bunkhouse, shoot to kill."
Sandra said, "That's the only way I can shoot at night holding a 12 gauge shotgun."
Tom asked, "And, where will the dogs be?"
"They'll stay with me, until I enter the place, then I'll let them loose."
"You know something?" Sandra asked.
"What's that?"
"I almost feel sorry for those men."
*****
Tom and I made our way safely to the fence and while I knew we'd not been seen, my heart was pounding in my chest. All it took was a small noise or something to go wrong and the shit would hit the stump. I pulled the bottom of the fence up so Tom could slide under it and he held it up for me, and finally the dogs. Once on the inside, we both pulled our knives, and I motioned for the dogs to come with me. As I moved toward the front steps, I remained in the shadows as much as possible, because I had no clear location of the walking guard. I moved slowly along the dark side of the house, and when I peeked around the corner my guard had his chin resting on his chest. I motioned for the dogs to stay and both sat in the darkness.
He's asleep, I thought and moved toward him cautiously, expecting his head to come up any second. Don't wake up now, or I'll have to pull my pistol.
Once up close, I threw my left hand over his mouth and pushed my knife into his back near his kidneys as hard as I could. His eyes flew open, he gave a loud grunt, and then started thrashing. I struggled hard to keep him in position. Three more times I drove my blade deep into his back, until finally he grew limp. I then cut his throat.
I placed the man beside the steps and called the dogs with a soft blow of my lips. When they neared the blood, it caused both to give low warning growls.
From the darkness a black form moved toward the steps, but I recognized the walk way before I saw it was Tom. He nodded, which answered my unspoken question; the walking guard was no longer a threat. We'd agreed earlier to just walk into the place like we owned it, figuring it would not raise any suspicions and we'd be taken for guards.
We entered and I was surprised no one was in the living room. I'd half expected to find a man sitting at a desk doing paperwork and drinking coffee. An old kerosene lamp was burning in the middle of a kitchen table. Once the room was checked, I released both dogs and they sat at my feet.
Tom pulled two Molotov Cocktails from his backpack. He handed one to me and since I wore my old military battle dress uniform, I slipped my bottle into the left cargo pocket on the trousers. I hope the women have entered the barnyard because it's about to turn real hot in this place, I thought as I moved toward the hallway.
Skillet followed slightly in front of me, but Dolly remained at my side as I moved toward the door on the right. I opened the first door and Dolly entered the room, only to come back out. It was empty.
Dolly suddenly growled and a door down the hall opened. I placed my left hand on Dolly's head. In the moonlight from the curtain-less windows I could see a rail thin man and he scratching his crotch as he approached. I moved into the shadows and prayed the dogs wouldn't growl or make a noise, but Tom walked up to the thin man and asked, "Who's to take my shift now?"
Raising his head for the first time, the man looked as if he was going to say something, only before he could speak, Tom cracked him alongside of his head with the barrel of his shotgun. He fell with a loud thud.
"Joe?" A voiced called from the room the man had just left, "Ya okay out there? I thought I heard ya fall or somethin'. Joe?"
We moved quickly to the door and ju
st as I was about enter, the loud report of a shotgun was heard outside. It was immediately followed by two more loud blasts. Tom blocked my way with his arm and then I saw his lighter spark and the resulting flame. I watched as he lit the Molotov Cocktail and waited a second to make sure it was burning well.
From inside the room, I heard a voice say, "It's likely it's a couple of the guys comin' back in. They're about half drunk most of the time."
"Get up and get dressed! We have no idea what's going on. I heard gunshots." A different voice replied.
At that point I kicked the door open and Tom threw the fire bomb into the center of the floor. There was a sudden flash of light, followed by yells and screams, and then we started shooting.
Our targets were outlined clearly by the burning gas and in less than two minutes, it was all over.
Skillet gave a growl and then a bark. When I turned to look at him, he and Dolly were running full speed down the hallway. I heard a shot, a scream, and finally after a couple of long seconds another shot.
Tom and I followed and when we entered the living room, the dogs were not to be seen.
"Upstairs!" Tom yelled.
I could now hear a struggle taking place, but I didn't run up those steps. I love my animals, but to rush into the unknown would just get me killed and not help them in the end. Tom and I took the steps two-at-a-time and nearing the top, I peeked over to see a large man rolling on the floor with both dogs nipping at him. A candle glowed on the night table and a woman lay in the bed watching, her fear obvious. She was naked.
"Call the dogs off, it's Patton." Tom said, but held his shotgun at the ready.
"Dolly! Skillet! Come!" I called and they rushed to my side.
Patton sat up, his face covered in blood, his left arm mangled and his recognition of us was immediate, "You, is it? I'll have you skinned alive for this!"
Tom started to lower his weapon, but I said, "Wait, Tom. Patton, you sent a man after us and he attacked our women."