Thad’s head dropped onto the steering wheel. He bounced it a couple of times, finally letting it rest on the wheel and shook it from side to side.
Sarge made coffee and told the guys to get some rack time. The guys went about digging out their sleep gear. Since they probably weren’t going to be here long they only took out what they needed: sleeping bags and mats and some MREs for chow. They didn’t talk much. They were on the wrong end of the game now; they were in E&E mode and none of them liked it. Sarge went over to the radios and checked the settings on the Green Gear, the military crypto radios, then picked up his carbine with his free hand and took his coffee outside.
He went outside and flipped his NVGs down. He took a sip of his coffee and scanned the area around the little shack. He walked around the building, returning to the door and set his cup down beside it before walking off towards the nearby tree line. He made a circuit around the edge of the clearing and finally picked a spot off the southwest corner and sat down under a big live oak. If any trouble was coming, it would probably come from the west or the south, so it was a good spot to keep an eye out.
Inside, Mike unrolled his bag on his mat. He thought he heard something and stopped to listen. Hearing it again, he walked over to the tailgate of the truck where the radios were set up and picked up the headset and put the speaker to his ear. After a brief pause, the transmission crackled through: “Clementine to Swamp Rat.”
“Go for Swamp Rat,” Mike replied. Ted looked up and Mike gave him a nod with his chin.
“Swamp Rat, you need to rendezvous with Stump Knocker two point five clicks north of your current location at 0500, how copy?”
“Roger that, rendezvous with Stump Knocker at 0500 two point five clicks north of current, wilco.”
“Clementine out.”
Mike set the headset down and looked over at Ted. “Who’s Stump Knocker?” Ted asked.
“Don’t know. I’m gonna go get the old man.”
Mike slung his carbine, picked up his NVGs and turned them on and headed for the door. He put them on as he stepped through the door and dropped them down. He stood there for a moment as the green gloom began to form into a recognizable picture. Once they were warmed up, he walked out from the building looking for Sarge. He saw him when Sarge stood up, the motion caught Mike’s eye and started towards him. They met at the back of the building. “What’s up?” Sarge asked.
“Clementine called and wants us to meet up with an element called Stump Knocker at 0500 tomorrow.”
Sarge looked down at the ground, scuffing the brown grass with the toe of his boot. “What’cha think?”
“I think we need to be there early and see who comes a callin’,” Mike replied as he rubbed his jaw.
Sarge looked at him for a minute. “How’s the head?”
“Still sore, but getting better.”
“Alright, you wanna go? You up to it?”
“Yeah, I’m good. You going?” Mike asked.
“What the fuck do you think?”
Mike laughed softly. “When you wanna leave?”
Sarge looked at his watch. “It’s 2330 now; let’s pack our shit and head out now. We can catch a little sleep once we get there.”
The two of them headed back inside where Ted was sitting beside the radios on the tailgate. As they came in, he looked up and smiled. “What’s the plan?”
Sarge told him that he and Mike were going to head out now and be in position when Stump Knocker showed up. He wanted him and Doc to stay behind and keep an eye on things. They would take the Green Gear with them and the handheld radio. If they needed to, they could communicate over that. Ted nodded and Sarge and Mike went about getting their packs ready. With all the noise, Doc sat up and said, “What the fuck, man, I’m trying to sleep.”
“You’ll have plenty of time when you’re dead,” Sarge replied over his shoulder as he dug around in the bed of the truck.
Sarge was on point. They moved slowly and deliberately, stopping often to look around and listen. They were in position a little before 0300 and found a spot between two big palm trees where Sarge set up the Minimi. Mike moved off about twenty yards to Sarge’s right behind the trunk of a huge sand pine. They could see each other from their positions and went over a few hand signals. Once in position, they each reapplied camo paint to their faces and added camo in the form of vegetation to their immediate fronts as well their sixes.
The two men tried to get comfortable and fought the urge to sleep. It was quiet and still in the predawn and all they could hear was the ringing in their ears. As the dawn came closer, Sarge stared out into the trees, not really focusing on anything in particular, just watching for movement. It didn’t take long for him to pick up what looked like three men moving through the trees across the small clearing. After a few more seconds of looking, he was sure he could see three, though there surely would be more.
Sarge looked at Mike and held up three fingers. Mike nodded and went back to scanning his section. As the three men approached the small clearing, they veered off to the north and kept walking, disappearing from view. After a couple minutes of their passing, two more men came into view; these would the rear security element. These two men moved through the little clearing extremely slowly. With them out in the open, Sarge was able to get a good look at them and their gear. These two were wearing the same multicam that they were. They were carrying M4’s and wearing sidearms in drop-leg holsters.
They paused in the clearing and spoke in a very low whisper. After a brief pause they split up. One of them continued in the same direction the previous group had gone and the other continued out the other side of the clearing and disappeared into the darkness. Sarge checked his watch: 0434. It had to be them. He would stay in position for a while, then he would contact them on the radio. After the men moved through, the woods fell silent once again. The sky was changing colors, going from the deep black of night to the cobalt of early morning.
A few minutes before 0500, Sarge reached over and turned the radio on. In a low whisper he called his contact element.
“Swamp Rat to Stump Knocker.” He waited and repeated the call.
“Go for Stump Knocker,” came the hushed reply.
“What’s your ETA?”
“Stump Knocker is on station.”
“How many in your lead element?” Sarge whispered in the mic.
There was a pause, then, “Three.”
“How many in your security element?”
Another pause. “Two.”
“Roger that, retrace your route in. We’ll identify ourselves when you reach us. Leave your security element out.”
“Roger that, Swamp Rat, Stump Knocker’s inbound.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
I came through the door with an armload of wood, leaving the big garden cart out front. The fire in the fireplace was down to a bed of coals and I added some of the smaller limbs I’d collected to them. Jeff was sitting on a stool in the kitchen and Mel was leaning against the counter.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked.
“Biscuits and gravy,” she replied.
“Sounds good to me. How you feeling?” I asked, looking at Jeff.
Rubbing his throat, he said, “Better, thanks.”
We sat and talked while the biscuits in the little oven browned. Jeff was from Phoenix and had been the supervisor of an IT department. He worked for a company that did contract work for the federal government. It was a good job and paid well, but it kept him inside more than he wanted. He enjoyed shooting the Mosin he had left on his scooter. He had modified it and told me, “It’s no peasant’s Mosin.”
I asked if he wouldn’t mind helping me on a little project I was working on.
“Not a problem, man,” he said.
Taylor and Lee Ann came trooping in thro
ugh the sliding glass door. They stopped when they saw Jeff and stared at him. He smiled at them and said, “Hi.” They just stood there, Taylor slowly closing the door behind them. After I let them know it was okay, they said hello in return and lightened up a bit. They wanted to know what was for dinner and bopped around the kitchen pestering Mel.
Mel told them to go get Ashley and bring her out for dinner and to make sure they all washed their hands. They ran off and I asked Jeff if he would like to get cleaned up and showed him to the bathroom in our bedroom. As he was stepping into the bathroom, he looked at me and asked, “I assume my Glock is in safe hands?”
I let out a little laugh. “Yeah, sorry about that, but Mel insisted I get it. With three girls in the house she’s pretty protective. You can’t be too careful these days.”
“If I hadn’t been so tired, I wouldn’t have come in here. Like you said, you can’t trust anyone these days. But after my little near-death experience I was kinda wore out.”
“Did you see a white light?” I asked with a smile.
“Nope, but I did see the face of my ex wife. Her head was bouncing up and down and her mouth was going a mile a minute, just like the last time I saw her. Now I’m scared of where I was headed,” he said.
I had to laugh. “Come out when you’re ready. the water works here so do what you need to,” I said.
The girls were all at the table and there was some jockeying going on as to who would sit beside me. Mel was setting out plates with a couple of biscuits each and big ladle of sausage gravy. The stocks in the freezer were starting to run low, but we had decided to use them up so that if anything were to happen, that food wouldn’t go to waste. Jeff came out and took the empty seat. He was between Little Bit and Taylor. Little Ash had never met a stranger and immediately asked, “What’s your name?”
He told her then she asked, “Were you the man asleep on the couch?”
He laughed and nodded his head. We talked a little while we ate, nothing serious, but the girls peppered him with questions and he politely answered them, never showing any irritation with their constant probing. Then I made a huge mistake. I was telling Mel about the video he had on his iPad and as soon as I said that little four-letter word, all three of the girls looked up at him, just staring. Jeff’s eyes darted around the table from girl to girl. Finally, he asked, “What?”
Taylor, with a forkful of sausage gravy dripping onto her plate, said, “You have an iPad that works?”
“Yeah, but there’s no Internet or anything, so you can’t do much with it.”
Little Bit looked up with wide eyes. “Does it have Angry Birds?” she shouted.
“Yeah, it does.”
“Oh, can I play it please please please?”
“It’s not here right now. It’s on my motorcycle.” Looking up at me he said, “Which I would like to go get.”
I told him we could after dinner and he promised to let Little Bit play Angry Birds, at which she giggled with delight. The other girls wanted to know if had any music on it that they could listen to. He said he would be happy to let them look at what he had. They told him they had MP3 players, but not much in the way of new music.
As we were finishing dinner, Mel surprised everyone by bringing a peach cobbler to the table to a chorus of cheers. She told us not to cheer until we tried it. Everyone got a big scoop, pretty much finishing off the pan, and we were all more than impressed with it. Jeff was particularly happy. He said, “This is great. It’s been a long time since I had a meal this good.”
Mel said, “I think your hunger is clouding your judgment.”
The girls and I all piped up about the same time, voicing our approval. Once dinner was done the two older girls took care of the dishes and Jeff and I headed for the door. Little Bit was clamoring to come with us, but it was dark out and I had a pretty strict rule about them not going out after dark. She persisted, but finally got the point. I put my vest on and slipped the sling to my carbine over my head. Jeff looked at me. “My Glock?”
“Oh yeah, hang on,” I said and headed for the bedroom. When I handed it over, I said, “Sorry about that.”
“No worries, I’ve got it back.” He looked over at Mel who had took up a spot on the end of the sofa closest to the fire. “Thanks for dinner, it was great.”
“You’re welcome, we were glad to have you.”
We walked out the drive heading to the road and chatted as we went. I asked what his plans were and again he said he didn’t really have any. I asked if he would be interested in hanging out here for a while and he said he’d think about it.
“Why do you want me to stay?” Jeff asked.
“Well, to be honest, I’m not the most popular guy around here. I have one solid friend that I can count on and a couple of others that are alright, but that’s it.”
He looked at me with a sideways glance and asked why that was. I went on to explain my trip home to him, the whole thing, and what had happened after I got there. I told him about Pat and her kin. He looked at me with raised eyebrows and said, “Little harsh don’t ya think?”
“I have a wife and three daughters. They’re my first priority and there’s no way I can keep my eyes open twenty-four seven. Would you turn your back on someone that you knew was coming after you?”
We reached the gate and I glanced over at him. He had his head down and his hands in his pockets. I said, “I can tell from the look on your face you’ve already had to make that decision.”
He nodded his head without saying anything. We turned up the road and headed for the barricade. It was cold out and there was a low layer of clouds; it looked like rain was coming, and I hate rain when it’s cold out. Reggie was at the barricade with my neighbor. They had a fire in the burn barrel and were standing over it when we walked up.
“Hey, Morg, who’s your friend?” Reggie asked.
I made the introductions and we all stood around the fire warming our hands. Reggie asked about the scooter. “That’s a nice ride. What year is it?”
Jeff looked over at the old scooter with pride. “It’s a 1960 Panhead Duo Glide. She’s all original too, even the paint.”
“Damn, that must of cost a pretty penny.” Reggie was shaking his head as he stared into the fire.
“Yeah, but what the hell, the thirty I spent on it wouldn’t be worth shit now anyway.”
We all nodded in agreement and I asked what had happened to the bodies of the raiders. Reggie said that Mark and Dan had loaded them up and hauled them off, but he didn’t know what they did with them. We stayed there with them for a little while just shooting the shit, nothing too deep, then Jeff said he wanted to get his bike somewhere safe. I told Reggie I would see him later. I still wasn’t really talking to my neighbor Tom, so I walked with Jeff over to the bike. He asked where he could put it and I told him to take it to my house. I said he could crash on the couch tonight and if he was interested in staying we could find him a permanent place later.
“The thought of sleeping in front of that fire sure sounds nice,” Jeff said as he swung a leg over the old Harley.
“One thing though, you gotta keep it going all night.”
Jeff smiled. “No such thing as a free ride anymore, huh?”
I kicked his front tire. “Just this one.”
He laughed and started the old scooter. The pipes on the damn thing were incredibly loud. Jeff rode off towards the house. At first he went slow so I could walk alongside him, but that beast was so loud I told him to just get it to the house and park it.
It was completely dark by then, and with the cloud cover there wasn’t any moonlight coming through. The only light out now was from the headlight on Jeff’s bike. It cast a cone of light that lit up the trees above and on both sides of the road, like he was riding a tunnel of light down the road. Jeff turned off int
o the drive and headed towards the house. I was still a little ways away when I heard a woman scream.
The scream came from past my house, and I strained to look out into the dark. Then there was another scream and what sounded like several people yelling. I started to jog towards the commotion, and a light appeared, dull and yellow, two houses down from mine. As I got closer, I could hear two men yelling and saw someone run out of the yard and down the road, heading into the neighborhood, but the yelling continued.
As I walked through the open gate I could see two figures holding another on the ground. The one on the ground struggled a bit and was met with a hard blow from the bigger of the two on top of him. From where I was, it sounded like someone slapping a steak against the fridge. the figure on the ground let a howl of pain and went limp. Then I heard a man say, “That’s what ya get, thief!”
Walking up to them, I hit the button on my flashlight and lit the group up. There was a woman standing to the side. She had on fuzzy slippers and some sort of flannel PJ’s, all wrapped up in a thick robe. She had one arm wrapped around her chest and the other hand over her mouth. On the ground was a young guy, somewhere between sixteen and eighteen. His right eye was already starting to swell and blood ran thick and slow from his nose, a string of it hanging from his face where it reached for the grass.
On top of him was a heavyset man in grey sweatpants and a black sweatshirt. He outweighed the kid he was on by better than a hundred pounds. He was one of those guys that had no neck, not muscled, but fat. He had those rolls of meat on the back of his head where it met his shoulders, and even in the cold he was sweating. With him was what looked like his son, who looked just as corn fed as his old man. When the light hit him, the kid on the ground started to beg for help. “They’re trying to kill me!” he shouted.
Boss Hog looked over his shoulder at me, having to turn his upper body to get his head far enough around to see me. “He’s a fucking thief! He was stealing our chickens. We done lost three, now I know wur they went.”
Surviving Home Page 23