by Robert Boren
“Alright, we’ll do that,” Frank said. They all went down the stairs.
“You two might want to stop by your rigs and get weapons,” Jerry said to Jackson and Earl.
“Way ahead of you, buddy,” Earl said grimly. Jackson nodded.
The men got to the Sheriff, who was pulling the shotgun off of its holder in the patrol car.
“Good, you brought the dog,” the Sheriff said as he closed the car door. He looked at Jackson and Earl. “You two got rifles?”
“Yep, we’re going to get them now,” Earl said. They trotted off to their coaches, which were next to each other. Both came out with bolt action hunting rifles. Earl was emptying a box of ammo into his hands and stuffing rounds into his shirt pockets.
“There’s Jeb’s rig, I’ll go over,” Frank said. He went over and knocked on the door.
“It’s open,” Jeb said. Frank pushed the door open. Jeb was getting dressed.
“Heard the gunfire, huh?” asked Frank.
“Yep, figured you needed me.”
“Could you go up on the roof of the store and help Hilda and Jane while we’re in the back? We can’t raise the Deputy that’s in the blind.”
“Sure, I’ll do that,” he said. “And I have a whole box of .270 rounds with me this time.”
“Excellent. See you in a little while.”
Frank rejoined the men.
“He going?” asked Jerry.
“Yeah, he already was getting dressed when I got there. He heard the gunfire.”
“I’m going to call Jasmine and tell her to stay in the clubhouse. Our rig is too close to the back.” He pulled out his phone and dialed as they were walking.
“Jasmine?”
“Where are you?”
“On my way back to the blind. We lost contact with the Deputy up there.”
“Who’s with you?”
“Frank, the Sheriff, Charlie, Jackson, and Earl.”
“Good. Be careful back there.”
“Will do. You and Rosie stay in the clubhouse, OK?”
“Sure, no problem,” she said.
“Alright, talk to you later,” he said. “Love you.”
“Love you too, honey. Don’t get shot.”
Jerry put his phone back in his pocket.
“Happy Hour might be a little late tonight,” Frank said. “Hope Rosie takes it OK.” Jerry, the Sheriff, and Charlie all cracked up. Earl and Jackson gave them a quizzical look.
“My mother-in-law,” Jerry said to them. “She likes to party.”
“Oh,” Earl said.
“What are you guys packing?” asked Jerry.
“I’ve got an old Remington bolt action 30-06,” Earl said.
“Mine’s a .270 Winchester bolt,” Jackson said.
“Good stuff,” Jerry said. “Guess I’m low man again with this damn .30 Carbine.”
“There’s the gate, let’s cut the chatter,” the Sheriff said. The men hushed up and crept forward, slipping through the gate. Frank took off Lucy’s leash and hung it on the fence. In another 20 yards they saw the blind. They made their way as quietly as they could. They could barely see the trees that the blind was in. Lucy started to growl. The men hit the dirt and crawled up behind some bushes. They couldn’t see the blind yet, only higher up on the trees.
“Split up,” Jerry whispered. “Two over there, two on the other side, two in the middle.”
They fanned out and continued to move forward. Frank and Jerry were in the center, with the Sheriff and Charlie to the left and Earl and Jackson to the right.
A low growl, and Lucy stopped walking. Frank could just see the blind now. There was a man dressed in black climbing the ladder. Frank got a bead on him with the Winchester and fired. The man flew off the ladder. Frank moved the lever to reload the Winchester. Then several shots came their way. They hit the dirt. Lucy looked over to the left. Frank and Jerry both saw a man dressed in black get up and start running towards them. Both Frank and Jerry got him in their sights, but before they could shoot his head exploded.
“Charlie, I’ll bet,” Frank whispered. “The sheriff just has a scatter gun. That was a big rifle round.”
They went forward a little further, and Lucy growled again. She looked towards some bushes by the trees opposite of the blind. Frank saw movement again. He aimed and fired. He saw another man roll out of the bushes and then get up to run. This man had a camo suit on. He got about three steps before he got shot square in the back, hard enough to throw him forward. Frank and Jerry looked over, and saw Earl work the bolt on his 30-06 to chamber another round. Then there was silence, for a few minutes. All of the men were afraid to get up, so they watched and listened. Lucy was quiet. Then the Sheriff shouted.
“Terry, you up there?”
“Yeah, Sheriff, but I’m scared,” he shouted, sounding ashamed. “I couldn’t bring myself to fire.”
“You aren’t hit?” asked Jerry.
“No,” he said.
“Alright,” the Sheriff said. “I’m coming up. Sit tight, and keep your eyes open.”
“Sure that’s a good idea, Sheriff?” asked Jerry. “You might make a really good target. If they get a bead on you, we aren’t giving up to save you.”
“Yeah, don’t, because they’ll just kill us all anyway,” he said. “I have to go up. That’s my nephew.”
“Understand,” Jerry said.
There was a rustle, and the Sheriff emerged from the bushes, crouching, and tried to make his way to the ladder. Then a shot went off. It missed, and the Sheriff hit the dirt. Frank saw where the shot came from and pointed over at it, then looked at Jerry, who smiled and aimed the .30 carbine in that direction. He flutter-triggered it, causing about 10 rounds from the 30 round magazine to fire in rapid succession. Somebody cried out, and rolled into sight. Earl nailed him with the 30-06.
“Another militia guy,” said Charlie, who could see him lying in the dirt.
The Sheriff got up again, and made his way to the ladder. He climbed up like his life depended on it, and jumped in.
“He okay?” called Frank.
“Yeah, just shook up. I’m going to take a good look around with my field glasses. If I see anything, I’ll use clock speak, with 12 O’clock high being right out the front door of the blind.”
“Good idea,” said Jerry. “That scattergun won’t do much up there unless the bad guy is really close.”
“Nothing between 9 O’clock and 12 O’clock that I can see. Not that much cover over there.”
“Good.”
“Lots of cover between 12 O’clock and 3 O’clock. Can’t see in there very well.”
Charlie scurried over to where Frank and Jerry were.
“I’m going over to the parking area. If there’s a vehicle there, I’ll knife the tires.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jerry said. “Damn good idea.”
“I’ll keep watch here with the police dog,” Frank said. “Better sneak by Earl and Jackson, though, so they don’t take a shot at you.”
“Yeah, it’s on the way anyhow,” Charlie said. They snuck over there.
“Earl and Jackson, heads up,” Charlie said. “We’re coming over.”
“Come ahead,” Jackson said.
“We’re going to go see if there’s a vehicle in the parking area, and if there is, we’re going to slash the tires.”
“Good plan. We’ll cover you,” Earl said.
“Thanks, guys,” Charlie said. He and Jerry crept slowly forward, following the creek. They made it to the crossover in minutes, and soon they were moving slowly down the pathway to the parking area. An old pickup truck sat in the parking lot.
Jerry touched Charlie’s back. He turned, and Jerry got close and whispered.
“Look, I see feet behind the back side of that truck bed,” Jerry said.
“Wow,” Charlie said. “Good eyes. I see him now.”
“I’ll go around the right and see if I can get the drop on him,” Jerry said. He slowly moved over.
Then there was the sound of a rifle cocking.
“Hold it right there, friends,” said a voice from behind some bushes.
Chapter 6 – Body Disposal
“Drop the guns,” the man behind them said. Jerry and Charlie looked at each other. They both put their guns down in front of them.
“Now, turn around real slow,” the man said. “Keep your hands where I can see them.” The two men slowly turned around.
Jerry looked the man over. Total redneck, old guy. He’s not going to be fast enough if I do something, he thought to himself. Then he saw some movement in the bushes. Earl.
“Hey, Jimmy, come on out,” the redneck said. “I’ve got these guys under control.”
“Why,” came a voice from behind them, by the truck. It sounded like it came from a scared teenager.
“You’ve got to make your first kill sometime,” he said. “No walking away from it this time. Get over here, boy.”
“No,” the voice said.
“Oh, shit, you’ve got to be kidding me,” the redneck said with an exasperated tone. “Alright. You two, get down on your knees.”
Jerry and Charlie looked at each other. Jerry cracked a slight smile, and then made his eyes point over past the redneck. Charlie nodded, and they kneeled down. Then Earl’s rifle went off. The redneck fell to the ground, his gun flying off to the side. Charlie dived for it, then turned and shot the younger man dead. Jerry looked at him with disbelief.
“Why’d you do that?” he asked. “That was just a kid, and he was afraid to kill us.”
“Use your head, Jerry,” Charlie said. “We don’t have a place to keep prisoners, and this kid was going to try to get back to his group. No way am I letting him leave.”
Jerry just shook his head.
“We’re at war, Jerry. Think about it.”
Earl came walking over, rubbing his shoulder where the rifle butt was.
“Damn, forgot how hard this damn thing kicks,” he said.
“Nice shot,” Jerry said.
“I had to wait until you guys were down,” Earl said. “This 30-06 might have gone through this creep and hit you. I was afraid he was going to shoot you as you stood.”
“I saw you in the bushes,” Jerry said. “I was trying to figure out a way to hit the dirt and not have that old coot shoot either of us.”
“Charlie shot the kid?” Earl asked.
“Yep,” Charlie said. “Jerry is a little mad about that.” Earl looked over at Jerry.
“We’re at war with these folks, Jerry. C’mon. I would’ve shot him too.”
“He’s not as young as you’re thinking, either. This kid is in his twenties….look at him,” Charlie said, standing over the body.
“Ok, I get it, guys,” Jerry said.
“I’ll knife the tires,” Charlie said.
“Wait!” Jerry said. “Let’s take a look first. We might want to drive this thing into the park. We might be able to use it.”
“Good point. Let’s see what’s inside,” Earl said.
“You recognize this truck, Earl?” asked Jerry.
“Naw, they probably stole it from somebody.”
“That SUV is still here too…..actually we ought to look for more tread tracks back here. How do we know this is the only vehicle?”
“Yeah, Jerry, I was thinking the same thing,” Charlie said. “Let’s take a real careful look.”
The three men moved around the parking lot looking for any tracks that looked fresh. They didn’t see anything other than the tracks from the pickup truck.
Alright, let’s see what’s inside these,” Jerry said. He opened the door of the SUV.
“Are the keys in the SUV?” asked Charlie.
“No,” Jerry said.
“The keys are in the pickup, so we can just drive it back. We’ll need to disable that one.”
“Knife the tires?” Jerry asked.
“No, I wouldn’t do that. Let’s yank the coil wire or something like that. Something we can fix.”
“Gotcha,” Jerry said. “Whoa, there’s a bunch of supplies in the back of this SUV.”
“Really,” Earl said. “What?”
“Canned food, guns and ammo, beer, bottled water, and smokes,” Jerry said. “Shoot, I wish we had keys for this thing, so we could drive it to the park too.”
“Heads up!” shouted Jackson as he walked out of the woods towards them.
“Everything cleaned up back there?” asked Charlie.
“Yeah, looks like,” he said. “The Sheriff is keeping watch while Frank is walking around with the dog looking for anybody who might be hiding. And by the way, I know why those folks were here, I think.”
“Why is that?” asked Charlie.
“They were picking up their dead. They have six bodies piled up right over there,” he said, pointing over to the right. “There’s a pile of guns, ammo, and other stuff next to them.”
“Check for car keys to this SUV,” Jerry said.
“Will do,” Jackson said. “May have to go through some pockets….one of the guys we shot today might have them.”
“So they were going to cart off their dead,” Charlie said. “We ought to finish that job. Load the dead guys into the back of the truck and dump them somewhere. If we don’t, it’s going to start smelling real bad back here.”
“Good point,” Jerry said.
“I’ll back the truck over by them,” Charlie said. He got in and fired it up, then moved it over to where Jackson pointed. He got out and helped Jackson load the bodies into the truck bed. Earl came over and helped. They had all six bodies in the truck, and then they started going through the pile of stuff. There were six handguns, and five long guns with ammo. No keys for the SUV.
“We still need to pick up the other six bodies, but we might want to dump these ones first,” Jackson said. “It’s going to be hard to lift the other bodies on top of these.”
“I’ll call Hilda and ask her if there’s a canyon nearby that we can dump them,” Charlie said. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed her number.
“Hilda?”
“Yes, Charlie. What’s been going on back there?”
“We killed another six bad guys. We’ve got twelve bodies to get rid of now. Is there a canyon close by that we can dump them in? They are going to stink pretty soon.”
“Yes, get on that road back there, but go south instead of north. There are some switchbacks there as the road climbs into the hills. You can dump the bodies off of the cliff next to the big turnout.”
“Alright. Is that the way to get back to the front of the RV Park?”
“Yes, basically. There’s a spur off of that road, right before it widens into two lanes on each side. It goes off to the right. That will bring you into the side entrance to the front parking lot.”
“Alright, then we’ll dump the bodies there. I’ll call you before we head back. We are going to bring the pickup truck to the park, and the SUV too if we can find the keys. It’s full of supplies.”
“Alright. Be careful. I take it nobody got wounded this time.”
“Nope, everybody is fine. Talk to you soon.” Charlie put the phone back in his pocket.
“Hey, found the SUV keys,” Jerry said. “The redneck that was going to shoot us had them in his pocket.”
“Excellent,” Charlie said. “Hilda told me where to go to dump the bodies. Who wants to go with me? I’m going to take the first load.”
“I’ll go,” Earl said.
“Me too,” Jackson said.
“Alright, I’ll go check out the bodies of the other guys. May need help dragging them, though.”
“We can probably get the truck back in there if we’re careful,” Charlie said has he got behind the wheel. Earl and Jackson got into the cab next to him, and he drove out onto the road.
Jerry took the keys and got into the SUV. He cranked it, and the engine fired up.
“Excellent,” he said to himself. He shut it back off, and then g
ot out. Frank came walking up with Lucy by his side.
“It’s clear back there, and the Sheriff is keeping watch up in the blind. What’s going on here?”
“Body disposal, mainly,” Jerry said. “There were six from the first fire fight. We think this second group of guys were here to pick up bodies, but I think they were also coming back to get this SUV. It’s full of supplies.”
“Really,” Frank said. “So I take it Charlie took off with Earl and Jackson to get rid of the first load?”
“Yep. Want to help me go through the bodies of the new guys?”
“Sure. Might be something worth keeping.”
“Yeah, not a lot of stuff on them, but the old guy there had the keys to the SUV in his pocket.”
“That other one looks kind of young,” Frank said, looking at the body laying over to the left.
“Yeah, I was a little pissed at Charlie for shooting him, but he convinced me that it was a good idea.”
“So the kid didn’t have a gun pointed at you guys?”
“Oh, he did, but the old guy wanted him to kill Charlie and me. The kid didn’t want to, so the old guy had us get down on our knees. Earl nailed him at that point, but then Charlie grabbed his gun and shot the kid.”
“Why?”
“He said we aren’t set up to handle a prisoner, and we can’t trust him to be free around here.”
“You know, that does make a little sense,” Frank said. “I probably would have just tied his hands and held him for the Major, but then we don’t know if the Major is coming back here. I’m a little worried, because it’s been a while.”
“I know, that’s what got me cooled down about it. Charlie’s a careful guy. Can’t blame him for that. Anyway, let’s go check out the bodies back in the woods. Should be four of them by my count. Maybe we can drag them to a place that the pickup can get close to.”
“Alright,” Frank said. “I’d take the keys out of that SUV just in case.”
“Good idea,” Jerry said. He walked over to it, opened the door, grabbed the keys, and locked it.
“We need to shout out to the Sheriff when we get back there,” Frank said. “So we don’t get blasted with that scattergun.”
Jerry nodded. They got back into the woods and over the creek.
“Sheriff, heads up,” Frank shouted. “Jerry and I are coming back.”