by P. A. Glaspy
The day we had hoped wouldn’t come was here. We’d lost one of our people. Someone with whom we had shared a meal and a laugh. Someone who we had worked alongside to make our new home better and safer. But it wasn’t safe enough. We knew that now. Now that it was too late for Pete.
Bill was enraged. He stood up, screamed, “YOU ASSHOLES ARE DEAD!” and started firing his Henry Big Boy rifle as fast as he could in anger. The murderers (yes, I could call them that, because that was most assuredly how I thought of them now) dove into the tree line and returned fire. Mike and Russ were trying to get Bill under control, but he shook them off and kept firing. It didn’t look like he was really aiming at anyone in particular, just firing repeatedly in their vicinity. He spent all 10 rounds and stopped to reload. He didn’t take cover. He stood there in the open from the chest up. Mike grabbed him around the waist.
“Bill, get DOWN before you get SHOT!” As Mike was dragging him to the ground, one of the bullets from the gang glanced off the tractor hood and ricocheted into Bill’s eye. His other eye went wide, then dull as the life left his body.
“NOOOOO!!!! NOT ANOTHER ONE!!!!” I didn’t even realize I was screaming. I ran and knelt down beside Bill, picked his head up and laid it in my lap. I was crying hysterically. Russ tried to pull me away, to get to me to safety, but I wouldn’t leave. I looked from Bill to Pete, back and forth, trying to figure out what I could do to help them.
We had planned for all kinds of medical emergencies. We had prepped supplies, taken classes, read instructional books. Weren’t we ready for a situation like this? The cold hard truth was no, we absolutely weren’t. We had gotten lucky when our people got into it with the scavengers. None of ours were hurt bad, not that a gunshot wound is ever good, but none of them were life threatening. In the span of just a few minutes two lives had been lost.
I didn’t know how we were going to tell Sara and Ryan their loved ones were gone. It turned out we would only have to tell Sara. As I was trying to figure out what to say, Ryan and Bob ran up. Ryan stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me on the ground with his brother’s head in my lap, covered in his blood. His normally happy-go-lucky demeanor turned dark with pain and rage. He dropped down beside me and lightly touched Bill’s head. He didn’t have to ask – he knew his brother was gone. He leaned down and said something in Bill’s ear which none of us could hear. Without saying a word to anyone, he stood up, unslung his .30-06 deer rifle from his back, and laid it across the tractor hood. Ironically, he was in almost the exact spot the ricocheted bullet had come from that had hit Bill. He looked through the scope to the tree line, found a head attached to a body with a long gun, and pulled the trigger.
He didn’t know if the one he shot was the person who had killed his brother. He didn’t care. As the victim went down, Ryan turned and looked over his shoulder to the body of his lifelong best friend. With silent tears running down his face, he tenderly replied, “I got one for ya, bubba.”
****
As they were walking toward the tractor, Alan was extremely cocky. “You see him go down? That’s what happens to people that fuck with me. You don’t show me respect, you’re dead to me. Literally.”
Rich was trailing Alan, putting more and more distance between them. “Man, you shouldn’t have done that. We still don’t know how many people they have in there. We don’t know where they all are. This is going to get bad, real bad, and probably real fast. They could come swarmin’ out of there with 30 people any second. We should go while we still can.”
“Go? You mean away? The only place we’re going is right through that spot the dead guy cleared out so nice for us. This is a sign, my man. They just happen to be cuttin’ a new entrance when we just happened to be checking the place out? It’s meant to be. Besides, if they had 30 people, why was he out here alone, with no backup? I bet they barely have enough to keep the place goin’. C’mon, I want to get a look inside, see what they’re protectin’ so hard.”
Steve was keeping pace with Alan. “Al, Rich is right. Just cuz we can’t see anybody don’t mean they ain’t in there. We need to hightail it out of here, come back later when we get more guys. I thought that was the plan, to get more guys.”
“We got more guys! Dumb and Dumber over there – that’s two more guys. How many more do you think we need?”
Rich replied under his breath, “A lot more.”
Al was turning to give Rich a mouthful when the shots started. They all dove for the tree line, a couple of near misses for Al and Steve in the front. Al crouched down, swearing.
“Son of a bitch! There IS someone else out there. And the assholes are shooting at us!” Al and Steve returned fire from the cover of the trees. After a minute or so, the shooting from the tractor stopped. Al turned to his crew and found Rich on the ground holding the side of his head, blood running down his arm. With all the gunfire, they hadn’t heard him screaming until it stopped.
“Oh My God, he shot my ear off! Oh My God, Oh My God! Al, Steve, help me, I’m dyin’!”
Jay stood up with his .22 rifle in hand and yelled from about 20 feet away. “What did you expect?? You killed one of their people! You’re crazy, man! Clay, we need to go – this psycho fucker is going to get us killed!”
Alan had started to stand to have it out with Jay when he heard the bullet go by. He watched as it hit Jay in the center of his forehead. His head snapped back as the blood sprayed over his brother below him. He crumpled to the ground beside Clay, who stared at his brother’s lifeless body. He reached out to touch Jay’s arm, shaking him, trying in vain to bring him back.
“Jay? Jay?!? Jay!!!” He turned on Alan. “You stupid sonofabitch! Look what you did! They killed my brother because of you!! This is all your fault!!!” Clay reached for Jay’s rifle. As he was bringing it to bear on Alan, he saw Alan had done the same to him. Alan spoke softly, but with a voice full of malice.
“You want your momma to bury both of her idiot sons today? Don’t be stupid, boy. Put that rifle down, before I put you down.”
Clay stared at Alan, wanting more than anything to put a bullet between his eyes, a wound to match Jay’s, but the mention of his mother stopped him. He couldn’t leave her alone. She needed him to take care of her, make sure she had stuff to eat. She wasn’t well enough to be out scavenging. No, he couldn’t take the chance that Alan would follow through on his threat. He lowered the rifle, looked down at his brother, then up at Alan.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve got my momma to take care of. What now?”
Alan smirked at him. “Now, you carry your brother home so you can bury him where your momma can say goodbye. We’re outta here.”
Clay looked incredulous. “I can’t carry him by myself! I need you guys to help me. I can go get the truck and bring it here…”
Alan was shaking his head and turning away. “Nah, we gotta go, before those assholes get here. We’re two men down now. We’re gonna need more guys before we head through that hole over there.”
He motioned to the cleared spot, then reached down to pull Steve to his feet. “C’mon, Van Gogh. Let’s go wrap that ugly head of yours up. By the way, you’re riding in the back of the truck. No way you’re gettin’ in front to bleed all over my upholstery.”
The three men headed back the way they had come. Alan had left his truck parked at the Thompson house. Clay stood there with his brother’s body, unsure of what to do next. The sound of the tractor starting kicked him into motion, and he took off across the yard, heading for the field that would take him back to the Dotson place via the shortest route. Alan had been adamant they ride in his truck there, probably to keep the Glass brothers from taking off and leaving them. Now, Alan was leaving him to find his own way back.
As he headed back to retrieve his truck, a thought dawned on him. The people at the Warren farm might come out to investigate, to see if they did any damage. What if they take Jay? What would I tell Momma? There was nothing else to be done, though. He couldn’t carry him al
one, and his truck was a couple of miles away. He’d have to take the chance.
He picked up his pace. He needed to get his truck, get back to Jay without being seen, and get his brother’s body loaded up to take home. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get that middle part done – the not being seen – but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
As he headed further across the field, he heard another truck, not Alan’s. He turned and squatted down in the tall grass to see who it was. The truck stopped at the gate to the farm. When the door opened, he almost peed on himself.
The sheriff was here.
CHAPTER 26
We loaded Pete’s and Bill’s bodies onto the scoop attached to the tractor. Ryan wanted to carry his brother himself, but we were able to convince him this would get them back the quickest. We were all in shock, but Ryan was falling into a black abyss right before our eyes. It was there in his face, in his demeanor, and seemed to be enveloping his heart and soul. He and Bill had been close growing up, despite the four-year age gap, but when their parents died in a freak car accident, 20-year-old Bill took over raising his 16-year-old brother. Bill made sure he finished school, taught him a good work ethic, and showed him, through his own actions, how to be a good man. Neither had ever married, though there had been some close calls. Ryan fell in love easily; Bill, much more cautious, was always looking for the right woman. At 32, he still hadn’t found her. Now he never would.
Mike watched the remaining marauders slink off to wherever they came from through his minis, desperate to finish them off, but not wanting to take the chance we might lose any more of our people. No matter. He’d seen them, and confirmed their identity with Russ. The shitheels from the Callens, and the Glass brothers – at least one of them. He was surprised at the Glass boys being a part of this. He knew they’d show their faces again, but he figured it to be in more of a pain-in-the-ass way, with us firing shots over their heads to run them off, not this. He vowed to himself to find them and make them pay for what they had done.
Bob drove the tractor and the rest of us followed behind, with Russ walking in front taking point and Mike at the rear watching for any more trouble. Matt and I were holding each other, sobbing uncontrollably. He had not seen a person die before, much less someone he knew. It was all I could do to hold myself together for his sake. I kept thinking about Sara and Tony. They didn’t know yet that Pete was gone. I tried to put myself in Sara’s place and went into another hysterical rage inside. If it had been Russ, I would have wanted to die, too. But I wouldn’t be able to just quit, like my heart would want to do. I had a son who would need a parent, especially if he only had one left. Sara would have to do that now, not quit; she’d have to be there for her son. Which meant we’d have to be there for her, to make sure she kept going.
As we were coming to the rise where the new fence had been going up, we saw Monroe and Brian hurrying toward us, followed by Nick. When they saw the bodies in the scoop, I could see their eyes quickly doing a roll call to see who was missing. They knew if Bob was driving, Pete was hurt bad or dead. Nick broke into a dead run for his brother and Matt met him on the way. For two kids who could fight like feral cats, they also knew the chances were pretty good that they were all they had left for family – blood family anyway. They hugged each other fiercely and walked on with their arms around each other.
Monroe and Brian reached the tractor and saw Pete and Bill. They looked at each of us one by one, then Brian finally spoke. “What happened??”
We told them what we had seen and heard and what had happened after we got there. Monroe was beside himself. “Who was it?? Did you see them?? Did you finish them???”
Mike and Russ filled them in who the perpetrators were. “I think we took one of them down. It looked like they left a body out there. We can go find out for sure, but we need to take care of this first.” Mike gestured to the scoop, and Monroe nodded grimly.
“You’re right. We’ll take care of them. Don’t dare think we won’t. But we’ve got some mourning and grieving to handle first. We don’t need to go after them all emotional and out of control. We need to find them, plan it out, then take ‘em out.”
I’d never heard Monroe talk that before. He was such a fun-loving guy, always giving people a hard time, then laughing at his own jokes or digs. This was a different side I hadn’t yet seen. But then again, we were all about to see another side of ourselves and each other. Death had touched us; we were not immune.
We went on to the house and Bob parked the tractor under the trees. We stood there a moment before I asked, “How do we do this? We need to tell Sara before she sees Pete. What do we do about the kids? Do we let them see this? Dead bodies?” My voice broke at those last two words, because I still couldn’t handle the thought that two of our people were gone.
Surprisingly, Brian offered a suggestion, and a good one at that. “Call for Kate and Sara. Tell the rest to wait. Sara won’t get hysterical if Kate comes at the same time, since she’ll think Pete is hurt and that’s why we need Kate. Let Sara deal with it by herself first. She doesn’t need to have to worry about Tony right this second.”
We agreed that was the way to go. Monroe offered to go get them, so Millie would know he was okay as well. He went to the back door of the house while we waited outside. What I know was just a minute or so seemed like an hour. Brian offered to go to the front and get the rest of our people. Yes, it would leave the gate unmanned, but we needed to be together at this moment. He looked to Mike for confirmation. A quick nod from our head of security sent him off at a run.
When Monroe came back with Sara and Kate in tow, Kate had a bag with her to treat any immediate injuries she could, since she didn’t know what she would be dealing with when she got out there. She knew as soon as she saw our faces her services would not be required. I watched as the tears started to form in her eyes.
Sara had no idea what was going on and hurried toward us. When she saw the bodies in the scoop, she stopped in her tracks, looking around feverishly for Pete. She raised a trembling hand to her mouth and started slowly shaking her head. Her knees began to buckle and Kate grabbed her to support her. Monroe was at her other side in an instant and did the same. They held her up and helped her continue toward us. She had to do it. She had to see him. She had to deal with it, now. We didn’t have the luxury of time in dealing with death anymore. Dead bodies with no embalming would start to decay almost immediately, and no one wants or needs to actually see that happen to a loved one. Since their deaths were caused by trauma, and not disease, there was little to no risk of us contracting anything from them, but we did have to be careful where we buried them, so that the bodies didn’t come into contact with any of our water sources. And we needed to bury them pretty quick. It was heating up with summer coming on.
Sara was crying so hard she couldn’t speak. She fell to her knees beside her husband, leaning on his body with great heaving sobs. She raised her head and released a wail so full of pain it cut me to the core. I joined her in her grief and Russ had to support me to keep me from collapsing as well. This just couldn’t be happening. And yet it was.
We waited for her to get through her initial shock. No one was going to rush her. We were on her schedule for the moment. After about five minutes, she looked up at Mike. In a voice consumed with pain, she spoke. “Did you kill the piece of shit who murdered my husband?”
Mike knelt beside her. “Not yet. We wanted to get him back to you as quick as we could. But I will. Count on it.”
She nodded to him without saying anything else. She looked back at Pete and leaned over and kissed his cold lips. There was blood on his face from the neck wound. She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and tried to wipe it off.
“I can’t let Tony see him like this. I need to clean him up. I need some water…something…”
Kate stepped up and pulled some alcohol wipes out of her bag. “Here Sara. Use these. I’ll help you.”
Working together, they got h
is face mostly clear of the blood. She looked at his shirt, seeing more blood from the other gunshot wounds.
“Can we change his shirt? Or cover him up with something? I really don’t want Tony’s last memories of his father to be this.” She gestured to her husband’s body, and her voice caught at the end. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and looked at me. “Anne, is there a spare sheet we can cover him with? Surely you understand; you wouldn’t want Rusty to see Russ like this.”
Just when I thought I had gotten control of myself, she said that to me. The thing I had been thinking since we found Pete. I lost it again. After a moment, I got myself composed enough to get out, “Of course, Sara. We wouldn’t bury them without covering them with something. We’ve got extra sheets in one of the trailers.”
“I’ll get them. I know where they are.” Bob took off at a jog toward the shed.
Brian came back with Marietta, Sean, Lee and Jim. I had forgotten Jim was on duty, having added the Dotsons to the security rotation immediately. Jim hurried over to us, specifically to speak to Monroe. Brian had told them what happened, so he was not surprised at the bodies, but it shook him up when he actually saw them.
“Monroe, I know this is a bad time but Sheriff Burns is at the gate. Said he was sorry he was late, that he was supposed to stop by this morning to get your answer on the extra fields but he got held up in town. Wanted to know if you could talk now.”
“Well, I think now is a damn fine time to talk to the sheriff. We can tell him all about the lawlessness runnin’ rampant out here in the county from thievin’, murderin’ pieces of shit. Let’s go, Jim. Russ, you come with us.”