Reggie was splitting some wood by the smoker when I pulled up. He tossed a piece of wood in the firebox as I walked up. “How’s the pig lookin’”
Reggie closed the door on the firebox and said, “Ready about any time really. What time you wanna eat?”
“Let’s get everyone together around noon.”
Reggie wiped his hands on his pants. “Sounds good to me.”
“I just wanted to drop by and see how you were doin’. I’m going to go up to the barricade for a while. Jeff and Thad were out there all night.”
“Any trouble?”
“Nah, there’s just a lot of people moving by lately. Looks like they have a camp set up out at the range, or maybe folks are still thinking they can make it in the woods.”
“No way in hell I’m going to a damn camp.”
“Me neither, brother, me neither.”
Danny showed up at the barricade about ten. I was sitting on the Polaris watching a group of six people walk by. He parked beside me and we sat there talking about the people. The one thing that really caught our eye was that none of the people we saw go by had any kind of visible weapons. We theorized that they had turned them over to the feds in order to get into the camp, though it seemed cruel to make people walk to a refugee camp without protection. Anything could happen to them, and we knew it probably would.
About half an hour after Danny showed up, we heard a vehicle coming down the road from the north. We sat there listening to it approach, and then a tan Humvee came into view. There was a gunner in the turret, and when he saw us he swung the weapon around and said something to the driver. The truck stopped and sat there for a moment. Neither of us moved, mainly because looking down the business of the SAW scared the shit out of us. The thought of jumping for cover and giving them the green light to open up on us was another reason. If we didn’t act like a threat, maybe they wouldn’t treat us like one.
Three men got out of the truck. The driver and gunner stayed. They looked around the area for minute then walked towards us. Danny leaned over and said, “What do you think they want?”
“Don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”
I raised a hand and waved. “Morning.”
The guy in the lead nodded, then stopped and inspected the barricade before speaking.
“You guys live here?”
“Yep,” Danny replied.
The man looked around, then back at the logs, putting a hand on the top cross beam and shaking it. “Looks pretty sturdy.”
“Just keepin’ honest people honest,” I replied.
He looked back at us, from Danny to me, one of those awkward silences. Danny and I just sat there, and finally he spoke. “Some of the people walking down the road say they are being robbed by men on the road here.”
“Not around here, we haven’t seen anything like that,” Danny said.
“That’s not what I heard.”
His statement caught us both by surprise. “Heard from who?” Danny asked.
The man looked over his shoulder at someone in the Humvee. We were shocked when we saw who stepped out of it.
Mark approached the barricade, wearing the same uniform as the man before us.
“Morgan, Danny,” Mark said with a nod.
We were both speechless for a moment. Before either of said a word, the other man continued. “Mark, you said there was some raiding going on around?”
“Yeah, there were a couple of raids.”
The man looked back to us. “So you haven’t see anything like that?”
I looked at Mark. “Dude, what the fuck? You went to the camp, took up with these guys?”
“Don’t look so surprised. We talked about this; people want to be told what to do, and I simply went along with that line of thought. Now they come to us and we tell ‘em what to do.”
“You know how fucked that sounds?” Danny asked.
Mark looked at him. “Why? We’re just giving them what they want, someone to feed ‘em , tell ‘em when and where to work.”
The other man cut in. “Though they don’t really like that part,” he said with a grin.
Mark continued, “Like you said many times, things are different now. There’s no more free ride, you gotta work for your keep now.”
“So, what—people come to the camp and you guys push them around?” I asked.
Mark shifted his feet. He had a look on his face like he smelled shit. “We’re not pushing anyone around, but you have to work.”
“And what about us?” Danny asked.
“What about you?” The other man said.
“What about those of us that don’t want to go along with,” I paused for a moment looking for the proper word, “your program?”
“You will eventually, you can’t last forever.”
I looked at Mark. “I think you know better than that.”
The other man smiled. “You may not like the taste of the medicine, but sometimes you just gotta hold your nose and swallow.”
“I’ve never been much of one for doctors or medicine. We’ll just take care of ourselves.”
“You have that option for now, but the day is coming. We’ve got shit to do. I’ll be seeing you around,” Mark said as he turned to leave.
“Not in your camp,” Danny said.
Mark stopped and looked back, and the other man let out a slight laugh, shook his head and headed for the truck. Mark turned and followed him.
We stood there and watched the truck as it drove away. Danny asked if I thought Dan had gone with Mark and we agreed he must have. They had both disappeared the same day. We talked about whether or not the Sheriff was in on it too. There was no way to know, but we had to try and find out. From the way those guys had been acting, we had start thinking about bugging out, somewhere they didn’t know about. The alternative was to sit there and wait for them to show up, and that damn sure wasn’t going to happen. The discussion continued as we headed for Reggie’s. We needed to talk this over with everyone.
Reggie had put up a folding table beside the barn and Mel and Bobbie had set the food they made out on that. We had brought a stack of paper plates and plastic spoons and forks for everyone. I asked Reggie if I could invite John, his wife and Rene, and he said that was fine. Rene and the girls were over looking at the pigs in the pen. The women were all fussing over the table while the guys and I were trying to get the pig out of the smoker without dropping it on the ground.
Danny pulled a couple of sawhorses out of Reggie’s shop and set them up. Then, with a pair of welding gloves and the help of a prybar, we got the whole grate out of the smoker and set it on the horses. We all brought camp chairs with us and set them up around a fire pit Reggie had dug near the smoker. We sat around the fire eating plates of tender pork, mac n’ cheese, baked beans and a big pot of green beans. Danny had even made some okra, much to Thad’s delight.
I tossed my plate in the fire when I finished and sat sipping on some tea. The girls were all talking and laughing. Rene was looking better, but was still thin. Her and the girls looked like typical girls at the moment. Reggie was telling some kind of BS story to Jeff and Thad, who were both laughing. I stood up and walked over to the smoker. There was still a big stack of wood there and I leaned over and picked up a couple of pieces.
I didn’t hear it, or maybe I did, but I was hit in the chest. I heard screams, then the shooting, lots of shooting. I couldn’t breathe. I was flat on my back on the ground and I couldn’t get any air. I looked over to the fire pit. Little Bit was on the ground, Taylor on top of her. Her eyes were full of tears, her mouth open. Was she screaming, was it her? Her little eyes locked with mine and she reached out. I couldn’t hear her, but I could tell she was screaming “daddy.”
Looking past her, I saw Mel
and Lee Ann on the ground, trying to hide under a damn plastic folding table. She had her hands over her ears and she was looking at me. I reached out, but she was so far away. Finally, a breath, just a wisp of air. God it hurt. I rolled on my side. I could see Danny firing, I could hear the crack of the bullets, then something louder, not as fast, but steady. I was laying on my AR. I tried to pull it around, but I still couldn’t take a full breath.
Like a turtle on its back, I rolled around trying to free the AR. The shouts and screams became louder and I finally managed to pull the rifle out from under me. I saw Danny firing towards the back of Reggie’s property into the woods. Lying on my side, I started to shoot in that direction, shooting under the smoker. I couldn’t see anything, didn’t see anything, just started throwing lead into the woods. The mag in the rifle ran dry quick.
I tried to pull a mag from the vest, but it wouldn’t budge so I went to another pocket and pulled one out. In the time it took me to reload, the firing died down. Suddenly, Little Bit was at my side, shaking me and screaming.
“Get up, Daddy, get up!”
Taylor was there too. Tears were streaming down her face leaving little trails of mud. I reached out and pulled them down behind the smoker and croaked out, “Stay here, I’m gonna check on your mom and sister.” Taylor wrapped her arms around her little sister. She said, “Are you okay, Dad? Were you shot?”
I cracked a little smile. “I don’t know what happened, but I think I’m alright, are you two okay?”
They nodded back at me. I reached out and smoothed Taylor’s hair, then Little Bit’s. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t go! Daddy, stay here!” Little Bit cried.
“We’ll be okay, you just stay put,” I said, then started to crawl over to where Mel and Lee Ann were. They had managed to move around the side of the barn and they were lying on the ground with their backs against the wall. Danny was standing beside them looking around the corner towards the woods. Lee Ann was holding her calf, both hands tightly wrapped around it. My heart sank when I saw the blood that ran between her fingers.
When she saw me crawling towards her she cried out, “Daddy! Help me!”
Mel had a rag and was trying to get her to move her hands so she could wrap it around her leg. When she cried out, Danny looked back over his shoulder at them. Seeing what was going on, he immediately dropped down to his knees and pulled a dressing out of a pouch on the vest he wore. All I could see was my daughter, but behind me someone was still screaming, a woman. No, a woman and a man, but I needed to get to Lee Ann.
She was crying and so was Mel. Mel was about to panic. “Oh my god, she’s been shot! She’s been shot!”
Danny was trying to get a bandage on the wound and calm Mel down at the same time. When I finally made it to them, I tried to calm Mel. I told her to sit beside Lee Ann and hold on to her.
“It’s alright kiddo, you’re gonna be okay,” I said as I helped Danny slide the leg of her jeans up. In our current situation, cutting up a good pair of pants was out of the question unless it was life or death.
“It hurts so bad, am I going to die?”
“You’re not going to die, just sit tight,” Danny said.
With the pants pulled up we could see the wound. There was an entry and exit on her right calf, behind the bone. It was bleeding, but not profusely. The one dressing was big enough to wrap around her little calf. Danny tied it off and the pressure of the dressing slowed the bleeding. Danny told me to stay with them, and that he was going to check on everyone else.
I pulled myself up so I was sitting beside Lee Ann and wrapped my arms around her. Mel was on the other side of her and laid her head on my arm. I tried to comfort them both, telling them it was going to be alright. They both sat there crying. We sat there for a few minutes, then Danny came back with Taylor and Little Bit. They both sat down against the wall with us, and now there were four of them sitting there crying and scared.
Danny caught my eye and nodded for me to follow him. I told the girls I would be back shortly and followed Danny around the barn. Reggie was sitting in one of the camp chairs, leaning forward with his head down. He had his hands together in front of him. A steady rivulet of blood ran from them, pooling on the ground in front of his boots.
He looked up at us we approached, and through clenched teeth he said, “They shot my fuckin’ finger off, the bastards blew it off!”
My eyes went from his eyes to his hands and he opened them. The ring finger on his left hand was gone, and the pinky looked like it had been skinned. He quickly gripped it in his right, squeezing. I pulled a bandage out of my vest and tore it open. He took it and laid the mangled hand into it, then squeezed it.
Thad was by the table, kneeling down. I looked over and saw a body on the ground in front of him. It was Rene. I walked over just as he was raising her head off the dirt, sliding a folded coat under it, then gently laying it back down. Her eyes were open, glazed a little, but she was awake. I looked her over and didn’t see any blood. Thad looked at John and his wife and said, “Just stay with her, keep her awake. I think she’s in shock, so don’t let her go to sleep.” John nodded and held one of her hands as he knelt beside her.
When he stood I asked what had happened to her. He said he didn’t know, that he had just found her on the ground unconscious. Knowing how malnourished she was, we guessed she must have gone into shock and passed out. Maybe too much food at one time all of a sudden, then the shooting and adrenaline rush was just too much for her. At least we hoped this is all it was.
“What the hell happened to you?” Thad asked.
I looked down at my chest, patting it with my left hand. “Don’t know, guess I was hit.”
Danny stepped in front of me. “I guess so,” he said and reached out and grabbed one of the mags in my vest and pulled on it. He had to really yank to get it out.
The side of the magazine was caved in and split. He held it up for us to see. He ran his thumb across the dent in it. His thumb fit in it. “That was a big round.”
I took the magazine from him and looked at it, “Yeah, must have been a pistol round, maybe a .45. I think a rifle round would have went through it.”
“An’ through you,” Thad said.
Jeff came trotting back up. “They went that way,” he said, pointing off to the east. “You wanna go after ‘em?”
I looked off to the east. “No, I need to go get the doc for Lee Ann and Reggie.”
“I’ll go, you stay here with them,” Danny said.
“I’ll go with you,” Thad said.
“Thanks guys,” I said.
Jeff stayed with me. He tried to help Reggie, who really didn’t want any. I went and checked on Lee Ann. The bleeding had stopped. There was just the two little holes, one in and one out. Looking at them, I started to think about it. Whatever hit her was low velocity. If it had been a high velocity round, the damage would have been much worse. Then I thought about that magazine; it was probably the same kind of round. After making sure Lee Ann was okay, I went over to the smoker and started looking around.
I found the bullet under the woodpile. I had to dig all the way to the bottom of the stack looking for it. It was a full metal jacket 9mm or .38. My guess was 9mm. I rolled the projectile between my fingers looking at it. Jeff came up and said he wanted to go look for the guys. I told him we should wait and we began to discuss the whole situation, who it could have been and why. The possibilities there were numerous.
Jeff said he was going to go out to the tree line and keep an eye out in case anyone came back. He was also going to look for anything they might have left behind. I told him to be careful and went over to check on John and Rene. She was still lying on the ground, but looked a lot better now. John was a mess though; he looked like he was about to fall apart. I pulled him off to the side and a
sked if he was okay.
“We can’t take this anymore, Morgan. I mean, all we were doing was having a cookout and someone starts shooting? Look at my daughter, look at yours.”
“I know, but what are you going to do? We just have to learn to be more careful, I guess.”
He stood there for a moment, looking off into the distance. “My wife wants us to leave.”
I looked at him like he was nuts. “And go where? Where do you think you will be safer?”
He looked back at me, his face blank. “The camp.”
“You gotta be shittin’ me. You think that will be better?”
“We don’t have any food. I have a shotgun but that’s it. Look at all the guns you guys have and people still just attacked you.”
“I don’t see being herded into a camp as a good thing. I’ll take my chances here, hell anywhere but there.”
He said, “That’s the decision you have to make for your family. I’ve made mine. Thanks for what you’ve done for us, I really appreciate it.” He stuck his hand out and I shook it, then he turned and walked away. I watched him walk back to his family. He and his wife helped Rene to her feet and they moved toward home. Rene stopped by Taylor and knelt down beside her. They hugged and there were more tears. Rene stood up, wiped tears from her face and started to walk off, her mom’s hand in her left hand and John’s in her right. When they got to the gate, she turned and smiled at Taylor and then they were gone. I went back to Lee Ann. She was watching John’s family go.
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