Mark shook his head and said, “I don’t know,” then looked into the back of the truck, “but we’re going to find out.”
Reggie and I took our prisoner over to the stocks and deposited him in them. He had an idea and disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust on his four-wheeler, returning shortly after with a five-gallon bucket strapped to the back. He brought out a logging chain and a couple of padlocks. We used the chain to wrap around the guy’s waist and chain him to the 4x4 posts. Even if he got his head and neck out, he wasn’t going anywhere. The strangest part of the entire thing was the fact that our new captive never said word, never offered any resistance. It was like he was resigned to his fate and just went along with the plan.
Jeff was at the gate to Danny’s when I pulled up. He was carrying the old SKS he had bought for a song from a guy he worked with. He opened the gate and I pulled through, stopping beside him. “You really need to start carrying that peasant rifle of yours,” I said.
“I got your peasant right here,” he said with a grin. “From now on I’ll have it with me. How were things at your place?”
“Two guys were trying to axe their way into the shop, but they ran off when we showed up. Thad stayed behind to keep an eye on things.”
“Sounds like we’ve been under surveillance.”
“I was thinking the same thing. We need to get together with everyone and work out some better security. They knew not to come in the front door and the back door was wide-ass open.”
Jeff said he would keep an eye out on the front of the house.
Danny was behind the house where the two had been killed by the steps. By the time I got there he already had drug them out to his shop to get them away from the house where the girls couldn’t see them. He had a hose in his hand washing the blood off the steps when he saw me.
“We need to get the two from out front,” he said as he ran the hose back and forth on the steps.
“How bad are they burned?”
He looked sideways at me. “Bad enough.”
The two men were in pretty rough shape. Whatever they had used for fuel in those bottles had burned hot and long. The front yard smelled of burned cotton, plastic and rubber. Added to this was the sickly sweet smell of burned flesh and the rank odor of charred hair. One of them had been wearing some sort of a synthetic jacket and it had melted to his skin and hardened into hunks of plastic in surreal forms. Their skin was mottled black and gray, with pink and white showing where blisters had formed and ruptured or where the heat simply split them open like an overcooked hot dog.
We used Danny’s four-wheeler to drag them to the back. The ATV they had been on had suffered bad damage to all the plastic body sections. The seat was gone, two of the tires had burned pretty bad and most of the wiring was scorched. It would be useless except as parts. Danny was inspecting it, then looked up to where the one that we shot the two riders off of had stopped when it ran into the fence.
“Hey man, these are all the same model. The colors are different on these two, but they’re the same.”
I looked over to the one tangled in the fence, then at the other one. Even with the fire damage on the one in front of us it was obvious they were the same. I said, “That’s weird. Maybe they hit a dealer or something and stole all of them.”
“Maybe, but there isn’t a dealer anywhere around here. They would have had to come from Leesburg or Ocala, or farther,” Danny said.
“I guess you’re right, but now I have a four-wheeler. I’m going to go get that one,” I said, and pointed over to the fence.
As I started to walk away Danny called out, “How much gas do you have at your place?”
I said, “I have a drum with some, don’t know for sure, but with this many new machines around we’re going to need more. Maybe tomorrow we should go up to the Kangaroo and see if we can trade for some gas.”
Danny said, “Sounds good to me. You take that machine, we’ll give this one to Jeff and Thad, and I’ll keep the burned one for spare parts. It’s got the same motor that mine has.”
The four-wheeler was still in gear and running sitting against the fence. I saw some blood on the seat. Swinging the light back across the pasture towards the house, I didn’t see a body. I sure thought we had shot the guy off the thing as he was trying to run. I drove it towards the house. There was a body there. Back at Danny’s, we talked about the bodies and agreed to deal with them in the morning. We went inside to check on everyone.
The girls were all a little scared and Little Bit was crying. The fire had scared Mel and Bobbie. They asked what was going on and we told them that the best we could figure some raiders had hit the neighborhood.
“What about our house?” Mel asked.
“Two guys were trying to break into the shop,” I said.
“Did they get in?” Mel asked, worried.
“No, Thad and me got there before they could. He’s down there now.”
Danny said he wanted to take a quick ride around the neighborhood. The girls were all against that idea. Taylor and Lee Ann were scared and didn’t want us to leave. I assured them Jeff was out front and no one would get in without some trouble from him. This did little to reassure them, but Danny and I went out and got our ATVs, heading for the gate. We told Jeff what we were going to do. He didn’t have a problem staying to keep watch. Danny told him about the other ATV, that he and Thad could take it. “Thanks. It’ll be nice to have something to get around here on,” Jeff said.
There were still a bunch of people out, running here and there, shouting, crying. The houses that had been hit were still burning, casting orange light on nearby houses and creating dancing demons in the trees. We found Mark sitting in his Mule in the road down from Danny’s with a group of people around him. He was being bombarded with questions, requests and accusations. He sat there staring into the flames of the house, taking no notice of the verbal assault.
We pulled alongside him, the crowd parting as we did. “What do you think?” I asked Mark as we eased to a stop.
His gaze never shifted. “Looks like we were hit by raiders.”
“What are you going to do about it!” someone from the crowd shouted.
Still looking into the flames, Mark said, “Just what do you think I can do about it?”
“You’re the police, you’re supposed to protect us!” came the shouted reply.
Mark turned to the crowd, and his face was expressionless. “You fucking people deserve to die.”
Everyone, including Danny and I, was speechless. Mark started his Mule and pulled away into the dark. I looked at Danny and he just shrugged. The crowd started to talk amongst themselves. When they started to look towards us, I started up my ATV and drove off to where we had left Reggie. He was still there at the stocks, sitting on the five-gallon bucket he had brought the chain in. As we pulled up and shut off the machines, I heard him say, “Then piss your fucking pants, asshole.”
I looked at him with a little curiosity. “He’s bitchin’ he’s gotta piss,” he said with a jerk of his head.
I looked over at the guy. He didn’t look particularly comfortable but wasn’t showing any signs of stress yet. I asked Reggie if he wanted to be relieved. He said Dan told him he would do it later and he was good for now. We told him we’d get with him tomorrow, there would be some bodies to bury. Reggie said he would bring his tractor to make it easier.
Jeff was still at Danny’s gate. He hadn’t seen anyone or anything, but was getting a little chilly and he asked for something hot to drink. Danny told him to come on back to the house. With all of us there again there wasn’t any reason for him to hang out. We went back to the house and I told Mel I didn’t want to leave our place empty. If she wanted to stay with the girls she could, but I had to go back.
Danny, Jeff and I talked about it and came
up with a plan. Jeff would stay there with them and I would go home and ask Thad to stay over at the house. Like Jeff said, there really wasn’t anything at their house that they were too worried about. After a round of kisses for the girls and a good night grope with Mel, I headed out for the house. Most of the people that had been in the road had gone home. I saw Mark’s Mule at his place as I went by and some lights on inside, and I worried about what had happened earlier.
Passing Reggie, I waved and was turning into my gate a moment later. As I pulled in, Thad’s bulk stepped out of the Azaleas with his shotgun half-raised, lowering it when he realized it was me. I pulled the Polaris around behind the house and parked it. Thad came up as I was inspecting the hole in the door.
“We’ll figure a way to patch that up tomorrow,” he said.
I nodded as I threw a piece of styrofoam on the ground. “Yeah, we’ll look at it tomorrow after we get all the bodies buried.”
“How many?”
“Too fucking many,” I said. “Probably seven people from the neighborhood, and maybe that many of the raiders.”
I told him of our plan for the night and asked if he would stay. He agreed and we headed inside. The fire was almost burned out, but a handful of pine needles and a hunk of fatwood started it right back up. I was laying in a log when Thad asked where the dogs were.
“Probably ran off when the shooting started. They’re both scared of guns or fireworks, anything loud.”
“I hope they come back. It’s good to have ‘em around.”
The next morning the dogs were on the porch. Thad and I climbed on the ATV and headed down to the stocks without eating breakfast. Pulling out onto the road in the early morning cool, I was shocked to see the stocks were empty.
“What is it?” Thad asked over my shoulder.
“No one’s here. Where’s the prisoner?”
I turned and headed for Reggie’s. After a couple of knocks, he came to the door, .45 in hand, wearing long johns. “Where’s the prisoner?” I asked as a greeting.
Reggie rubbed his head, then scratched at his beard. “Hell, I don’t know. Mark relieved me last night.”
“Well, get your shit together and come down to Danny’s house. We have two to bury there.”
He acknowledged me by waving a hand as he shut the door. When we pulled in at Mark’s house, I knew something was up. The gate was open, the Mule was there, but the Scout was gone. I told Thad to take a look around as I went up to the front door and knocked. After a couple of knocks the door cracked open and Mark’s wife peered out.
“What do you want, Morgan?”
“Is Mark here?”
“No, he’s gone out.” She looked back over her shoulder, then back at me.
“Everything alright?”
“Yeah, it’s just early. I don’t know what he’s doing.”
Mark’s dog, a big black mutt of some kind, was raising hell behind her. The dog rushed the door, knocking it open a few more inches. I was looking down at the dog and saw bags packed and sitting by the door. “Did he take that prisoner with him?”
“I told you I don’t know, I’ve got things to do, good bye.” She shut the door in my face.
I went to the ATV where Thad was waiting. I asked him if he had seen anything. He hadn’t, and told him what had just happened. We headed for Danny’s and found Jeff and Danny sitting on the front porch. Danny was drinking a cup of tea and Jeff some coffee. They greeted us by raising their cups.
“Got any more coffee?” Thad asked.
“On the stove in there, cups are over the sink,” Danny said.
“Something’s going on with Mark,” I said. “We have to talk.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Colonel Fawcet followed Sarge into the barracks they had been assigned to. They had enjoyed a leisurely lunch, and though the menu was far from fine dining, it was certainly better than what most people were eating these days. The old two-story building was probably from the forties but was in decent repair and enjoyed the benefit of heat from the base’s central boiler.
From the back of the one large open room they could hear arguing. Sarge headed back towards the latrine with the colonel in tow. Coming around the corner, Sarge found Mike and Ted standing in front of a shower, wrapped in towels.
“I’m next dammit!” Mike shouted at Ted.
Sarge stopped in the door of the shower room, his hands resting on his hips.
“Fuck you, I called it after Ronnie,” Ted fired back.
“You two fucksticks done?” Sarge shouted over the sound of a running shower.
Ted and Mike both spun to see Sarge, then the colonel. As soon as they saw the Colonel they both snapped to attention and asluted, Ted’s towel fell to the floor as he did. Sarge stood there shaking his head, “Mike, you know damn well it’s Teddy’s turn to sleep on top. You two hurry up and get your makeup on.”
Both of them held the salute and Sarge looked over his shoulder to Colonel Fawcet. “You wanna release these two?”
Fawcet offered a slight alute. “As you were, gentlemen,” he said, then quickly added, “strike that, I think at ease would be more appropriate, at least until the First Sergeant and I clear out.”
Mike and Ted both dropped their salutes .
“Colonel, you know he’s just kidding—” Mike started to say.
Colonel Fawcet raised his hands in mock surrender, shaking his head as he backed out the door.
“Aw, come on, Sarge, tell him yer just bullshittin’!” Mike called out.
“On the bottom, Mikey, on the bottom,” Sarge said as he turned to follow Fawcet out the door.
“That’s fucked up, Sarge!” Mike shouted.
Fawcet headed for the door, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. “I needed that. Everyone has been so damn uptight, it’s nice to see someone normal enough to mess around with.”
“Colonel, I wouldn’t call us normal, but those are some good men back there. We’ll get to work pretty soon and do the best we can,” Sarge replied.
Fawcet paused at the door and turned to Sarge. “Linus, you need anything let me know. Things are kind of limited right now, but I’ll do what I can for you.” Fawcet stuck his hand out.
Sarge gripped his hand. “You just give me what you promised and we’ll come up with the rest.” The two men shook and Fawcet headed for the door.
“Good luck, First Sergeant.”
Mel and Bobby had a large pot of oatmeal prepared for breakfast. The girls weren’t real happy about that though. They wanted to know why we couldn’t have scrambled eggs or something. Mel explained to them that we needed to start mixing things up a little, and that we couldn’t always eat what they wanted.
I took the girls aside to explain things to them. “Listen up, ladies. We’ve had it pretty good at our house, and lots of people don’t have it half so good. And when you make a face at Bobbie’s oatmeal, how is she supposed to feel about that? She’s gonna feel bad because Danny and Bobbie don’t have enough to share with us. If they had eggs and waffles and ice cream, do you think they wouldn’t give you some? I’m not mad, but you need to understand the new polite: if someone offers you food, you say thank you like it’s your favorite thing. You get me?”
They looked embarrassed enough and said, “Yes, Daddy,” so I let them go eat.
Danny, Thad and Jeff had no issues with oatmeal and were quickly doctoring bowls of the hot goop with honey, raisins and powdered milk. I like a little pinch of salt with mine and quickly made up a bowl of my own.
Little Bit saw me add the salt and climbed up on a stool at the bar beside me, peering over the edge of the bowl. “You wanna bite?” I asked.
She scrunched her face up, “I guess.”
I scooped out a spoonful and held it out to her. She blew
on it for a second then took a little bite. Her face lit up and I smiled at her. “Want some?” She nodded her head. I slid my bowl over to her and told her to eat it, that I would get another for myself. Lee Ann and Taylor were eating and showed no sign of disappointment.
While we ate, we discussed the events of the previous night, what we needed to get done and trying to come up with a plan. Burying the bodies was the first priority. Getting some gas would be our next priority. We agreed that we would load gas cans on the four wheelers and go down to the Kangaroo to see if we could make a trade. Once breakfast was done, we headed out to get to work.
Danny and Jeff went out to the shop where we had left the two bodies. They were going to drag them out to the woods where we were going to bury them. Thad went over into the neighbor’s yard to drag the body there back over to the woods behind Danny’s where we would bury them as well. In the meantime, I went to look for Reggie and his tractor.
I found Reggie at one of the houses that had burned the night before. He was wading through the wreckage of the house, trying to drag one of the three bodies out. There was a small audience gathered watching him. They were leaning on the fence in front of the house, just watching. Meanwhile, Reggie was standing knee deep in ashes trying to wrench a burned corpse from what remained of the house.
I stopped as I came through the gate, and I was pissed. “Why don’t some of you go help him?” I shouted to the gawkers.
With no more effort than a cat uses to look up as someone enters a room, one of them turned his head slightly and said, “They ain’t our problem.”
“Well they damn sure aren’t his either. He isn’t related to anyone here!”
“He’s got the tractor, I ain’t got a tractor.” The gawker turned his attention back to Reggie, resting his chin on his forearms.
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