That's our situation as it stands now, five years after the Event. We're trying real hard and, although we aren't hanging on by just a thread, it wouldn't take much to push us over the edge. One disaster, one disagreement that gets out of hand and the group could come apart. The old Kentucky motto, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ has never been truer than right now. And it's my job, my responsibility—to keep us united—to keep us alive.
Chapter 4
Days Like Today
Today was one of those days that I dread. It started out as a beautiful spring day. No clouds, the birds singing, the flowers blooming. The kind of day you live for after a long, cold winter. It went downhill, rapidly, from there.
Jim Holley had organized a foraging party and they had a shopping list that included food, bottled water, meds, and toys for the kids along with building materials we needed to improve our compound. I call it a compound for lack of a better term. It's a large, two story warehouse that was used by Food Lion as a distribution center for their grocery chain. It has a chain link fence topped with razor wire and encloses an area of about ten acres. We've made some improvements to the gate and added watch towers around the perimeter. All in all, it's fairly secure.
I hadn't been out of the compound in a while, so I volunteered to lead the days foraging party. We have several box trucks and a flatbed truck that we use to haul the supplies we pick up, and we took two gun trucks and ten security guys with us. We had trouble as soon as we left the gate. One of the box trucks had engine problems and we waited while it was repaired. That took two hours and I thought about cancelling the run but we needed the material. The driver finally got the truck fixed and we drove the three miles to exit 238 off Interstate 40. A big outlet mall, Lowe's and Home Depot are located there and would be a good place to start. We could go from there if needed.
Of course, we ran into Stinkies. Some we could bypass but others had to be dealt with. The security guys did their job and we were never in any real danger. We moved from store to store picking up the needed items and it took the better part of the day to fill the shopping list that Jim had given me that morning. We were on our way back to compound when things went to shit.
We cruised north on Castle Heights Avenue about five miles from our compound on Sparta Pike. I always insist on going back by a different route to reduce the chance of an ambush. In case a Road Gang had observed us leaving and thought we might be a soft target as we returned.
I rode in the front passenger seat of the lead gun truck and scanned the right side of the road for trouble. We were nearing the intersection of Castle Heights and Cumberland Street when the gunner standing in the turret yelled for us to stop. I asked why and he said he thought he saw something down the embankment beside the road. I wanted a better description and he said he wasn't sure but thought we should check it out. I said okay and radioed the security detail to dismount. The gunners stayed in their vehicles and covered us and the convoy with the turret mounted machine guns. Some of the drivers and helpers from the other trucks had gotten out and were asking what the holdup was when someone yelled they could see a car turned over in the ditch at the bottom of the embankment. I told everyone to get back in their vehicles; we'd check it out and then get going again. It had gotten late and I didn't want to be stopped here for long.
I could see the vehicle and it looked familiar. It looked like one of the vehicles we'd had at the compound. Jeff Filbert, one of the security guys stood next to me. "That looks like the car Mike and Nancy were driving when they disappeared the other day," he said.
It hit me then, he’s right, and that's why it looked familiar to me. Mike and Nancy Dillard were two of the nicest people you could meet. Nancy was a nurse and worked with Doc Groves in our Aid Station. Mike was a former insurance salesman and, while sales was not an occupation much in need now, Mike had a lot of skills. He helped out in several areas. He was a skilled carpenter and knew quite a bit about machinery.
They had lost their only child, a boy of seven named Ricky, shortly after the Event. Being a part of our group had saved their lives. They had something to keep them busy and their minds off Ricky. They poured all their energy into helping out at the compound. They had gone out on the last foraging party, gotten separated, and never came back. We had looked for them but had no luck. That was six days ago.
I had three men and two women in the security detail and I told them we'd go slowly in case a nasty surprise waited around the car. I had no idea how nasty a surprise waited for us. We spread out and eased over the embankment down toward the car, weapons up and ready. The car wasn't completely upside down. The roof had come down on part of a retaining wall for a culvert, causing the passenger side to stick up. From our angle, the raised portion blocked our view of the embankment and ditch on the other side.
As we neared the car, we split into two, three-person elements. I took the high-side with two others and Don Caparelli, a former Deputy Sheriff from Monroe, Louisiana and the security team leader, took the low side with the other two. We lost sight of each other as we started around the vehicle. I heard some yelling, then two quick shots. I called to Don to ask what’s going on and he yelled back they’d found Mike. He’d become a Stinky and had come at Don and his two people when they cleared the front of the car. This was disheartening news; I'd hoped to find them both alive and well. I knew it was a long shot after six days though.
I turned my attention back to my area of responsibility and finished clearing the rear of the car. I noticed the two security people with me were both frozen in place and staring at something in the grass about twenty yards away. I started forward and, as I got closer, I recognized Nancy. I stopped beside her body and just stood there looking. I tried to remain detached the way an investigator should but this was a woman I knew and called friend. Don walked up and stood beside me. After a few seconds he said one word. "Damn."
"Yeah," I replied. One of the guys on the detail leaned over to vomit and both the girls with us had tears running down their faces. I knew how they felt. I wanted to cry too.
Nancy was tied spread eagle to four stakes pounded in to the ground. She was naked and it was obvious she had been raped. A knife had been used to cut her stomach, breasts, and thighs. Decomposition made it hard to tell any other injuries except for the bullet wound to the head. I was thankful that, after all she had been through, at least she had been spared the indignity of being turned into a Stinky like her husband, Mike. "Funny thing, Mike had a rope tied around his leg. The other end was tied to the car," Don said.
I just nodded. I didn't trust my voice yet. Don's radio blared with a call from the gunner in the rear Humvee. "Stinkies coming up behind us," the gunner said.
Don asked how far and the reply was about a mile. I told the others to cut Mike and Nancy loose, we were taking them back with us. I wasn't going to leave them here. That's when I heard a racing truck engine and the machine gun on the lead truck opened fire.
We immediately ran back up the embankment and got to the top just in time to see a customized four-wheel drive pickup skid sideways and flip into the intersection about fifty yards ahead of us. As I got to the Humvee, the gunner pointed toward Elmwood Drive. "They came from that side road. Passenger stuck a rifle out the window and I opened up on them," heI said.
I told him to keep us covered, then waved the rest forward to check the pickup. Don reminded me of the Stinkies coming up behind and I nodded but kept moving forward.
The wrecked vehicle rested on its passenger side, the driver’s side front wheel still spinning, and I could hear the engine ticking as it cooled. I could also hear moaning coming from somewhere at the front of the vehicle. I looked through the rear window as I got closer and observed that our gunner had aimed well. The front windshield was stitched with holes and the driver was dead with a bullet hole in the center of his face. There was no one else in the truck. We moved on to the front.
A young man, boy really, lay on the pavement with one leg twis
ted at an unnatural angle up behind him. Both arms appeared to be badly broken and he bled from several cuts on his face, neck, and chest. He wore jeans and a ragged t-shirt and had a large knife strapped to his belt but something else he wore caught my attention. Around his neck was a fine gold chain with a locket attached. The initial ‘N’ was engraved on the front. The kid moaned and asked for help but I couldn't hear any of it. All of my attention was on that locket.
You see, I knew that locket. I'd seen it almost every day for the past year and a half. Ever since Mike and Nancy had joined our group. She never took it off because it held a picture of her seven year old son, Ricky. She had shown it to me on several occasions, so I knew that locket.
The moaning had gotten louder behind us and I knew the Stinkies were getting close. I told Don to get the rest of the crew back to the vehicles and get them moving. I'd jump in as they passed. He looked at me a few moments, the question unasked, but I could see it in his eyes.
"Now," I told him.
He nodded then ordered everyone back to the vehicles.
I knelt beside the young man lying in the road and grasped his chin. I turned his head to look me in the eyes and I asked him about the locket. He pleaded saying he was hurt. He asked me to help him and I told him there wasn’t anything I could do for him. I reached down and removed the locket from around his neck. Then, I told him what was coming up the road. He begged me not to leave him. When I stood, he begged me to shoot him. The lead truck stopped beside us and I turned and walked toward it.
"You can't leave me for those things. Please shoot me. Don't let them eat me!" the boy pleaded.
I climbed in the truck and shut the door. I didn't say a word, just pointed straight ahead through the windshield. The driver nodded and we headed home, the rest of the convoy following us. The chain and locket burned where it rested in my pocket—a reminder that I had let two more of my people down. I hadn't protected them, kept them alive.
I don't remember the drive back to the compound. All I could think about was Nancy's naked and brutalized body. I knew there would be hell to pay when we got back because of the kid I'd left lying in the road. That was one of our laws; never leave a living human to the Stinkies unless it would cost more lives to prevent it. I just couldn't bring myself to regret leaving him. After all, it was him and his buddy that tortured and brutalized Mike and Nancy. He deserved what he got.
I was right; there’d be hell to pay. Kat and I had one of the offices on the second floor of the warehouse as a room. I went there as soon as we returned to the compound. She knew something was wrong and, like any good wife, asked what it was. I told her about Mike and Nancy, how Mike had died. How he'd been shot and left to turn into one of those things. How Nancy was tortured and what we had done to the men responsible. What I'd done.
We had pushed the office desk against one wall to give us more room and I sat down at it. I pulled the locket from my pocket and laid it on the desk. Kat stood beside my chair and ran her finger over the engraved initial in the front.
"Ricky," she quietly said, but I knew her thoughts were about another boy, another son. Alex, our son.
I don't know how long we stayed like that, her standing beside me, one hand on my shoulder, the other stroking the locket. There was a commotion down the hall, raised voices, and I heard footsteps coming toward our room. Dave Hoskins, Jim Holley, and about ten to twelve others stopped at our door. The door was open and Dave and Jim came inside. The rest stayed in the hall but bunched up around the opening so they could see. Apparently, they had been arguing and both still looked upset.
Jim started. "I understand you found Mike and Nancy's bodies today?"
"Yes," I replied.
I could tell Dave had something to say but he waited and let Jim continue.
"I also understand that the security team engaged a pickup with two men in it?" Jim asked.
"That's right. Your point is?" I was already pissed off and the way they barged in hadn’t helped my attitude. Now I had the feeling of being interrogated.
"My point is that you left one of those men out there. Alive!"
Kat felt me tense, I was ready to jump in Jim's face and tell him about the man I'd left out there. She squeezed my shoulder, a sign not to lose my temper. Dave took this opportunity to add his opinion. "This is such bullshit. Scott did the right thing. The guy was all broke up and we don't have the medical facilities to treat those kinds of injuries. Besides, look what he did to Nancy!"
Jim turned on Dave. "You don't know that! We'll never know that now because he left him out there!" Jim said, pointing at me. The crowd at the door had become restless and I could hear more and more comments. Some agreed with Dave, others with Jim. I could see some pushing and shoving going on. I needed to get a handle on the situation before it evolved further into chaos.
"You need to mind your own business and leave the security issues to me and Scott,” Dave said.
Jim poked his finger in Dave chest. "If it was left up to you two assholes, you'd just shoot everybody."
I heard Kat suck in a breath. Even the crowd in the hall quieted down some at this comment.
I slowly stood up and looked at both of them. "You two done now?" They turned and looked at me but didn't say anything. "I asked you a fucking question. I expect an answer," I yelled.
Before either of them could speak, I looked at the door. "All of you. Knock this shit off and get back to whatever you were doing," I commanded.
Jim and Dave turned and started to leave. "Oh no. Not you two. You two stay!" I said. They both stood there, heads down as Kat walked past them and shut the door. I sat back down and let the time drag out. Just watching them. It was obvious it made them uncomfortable.
Finally, Dave spoke up. "I'm sorry, we should have…”
"Shut up Dave,” I interrupted. "Number one; I will not have my two assistants arguing in front of the group." I looked at Jim. "Jim, if you disagree with my decisions you can quit. You are free to take your family and leave the compound anytime."
The startled look on his face told the answer to my ultimatum. "I can't take my family out there alone. You said we could always come to you with concerns, voice our opinions," he said.
"That's right, in private. We never argue in front of the group. In front of the group we present a unified front." I paused and shook my head. “We discuss issues in private and decide on a course of action and then we all support that course."
"But … but what if I don't agree?" Jim asked.
"We've been through this. The majority decides a course and I have the final say. You don't always have to agree with the decision; you just have to support it in front of the group," I answered.
His face screwed up. "But this was wrong. It goes against our rules and you have no proof they were responsible. I have a duty to oppose a decision if I think it's wrong," he blurted.
I was on my feet in an instant. I grabbed the necklace off the desk and threw it at him. He caught it and looked at it. "That's Nancy's. That's all the proof I need. I took it from around the neck of the man you are so worried about," I said.
"H-he could have taken it off her after she was dead," Jim stammered.
I exploded. I was right in Jim's face and he leaned back to get some space. I started yelling. "You weren't there. You didn't see what they did to her. I did. You called her and Mike your friends. That son of a bitch had her locket with her son’s picture in it around his neck. He deserved what he got." I stepped back from him and tried to calm down.
I turned and walked back to the desk then faced him again. "Jim, it was my decision. I'm not asking you to like it. I'm telling you, you can either support me in front of the group or you can't. If you can't you are free to quit but I'm in charge here and if you stay, you are going to do what the fuck you are told."
I let that sink in for a moment before I continued. "There are people out there that live on the misery of others. They were shit before the Event and they are still shit. Nothi
ng changed for them except fewer consequences. Every decision can't be made by committee. Some have to be made in the heat of the moment and that's what I did this morning." I took a couple of deep breaths. "Jim, I'm asking. Can you continue to support me and keep our discussions in private?"
He thought a moment before he answered. "Yes, I'll support you. You've gotten us this far but I have to able to voice my opinion. I can't help it, I think this was wrong. The rules apply to all of us, including you."
I sat down in the chair by the desk. I thought about how I wanted to respond when Kat spoke. "Jim, you're right the rules apply to all of us but all the rules don't apply all the time. That's what we call extenuating circumstances. So if you break a rule but there's a valid reason, then you really didn't break the rule."
Jim looked thoughtful a moment. "You think this was the right decision?"
Kat answered without hesitation. "I can't imagine what went through everyone's mind out there. Seeing a friend, seeing Nancy and Mike like that, yes, I think it was the right decision."
I couldn't have been prouder of her.
Jim looked at her. "And you aren't just saying that because he's your husband?"
I wanted to punch him then.
"No, that’s my real opinion … as a lawyer."
Jim nodded his head. "Okay, I'll keep my mouth shut. Can I go now?"
I nodded and he headed for the door.
Just as he reached for the knob I said, "Oh, Jim." He turned to look at me. "If you ever call me an asshole again, I'll cut you up in little pieces and hand feed you to the Stinkies."
He turned and headed out the door fast. I think he believed me.
Dave still stood in the center of our room. I looked at him and he had a big smile on his face. "Why’re you smiling?" I asked.
"Jim is such a pussy. You needed to...” he started.
I cut him off. "Shut up Dave."
He stopped and looked at me. "It's not like I'm pleased with you either. You're my number two. You’re in charge of security and everything else when I'm not around. You know better."
We Go On (THE DELL) Page 4