“He knows when I’m sad,” Mary said softly.
“They all do. Diesel though…” I let my words trail off.
“He’s still healing up. When Raider got hurt, he slept a lot more. Diesel got hurt worse, but he’s a tough one. He just needs extra food and to sleep for a while.”
“Grandma showed me how to wash their ouchie spots,” Mary said, sounding a lot like the little girl she was.
Having a mother like Emily had probably made the little girl grow up fast, and a lot of times I took for granted how mature she seemed to be. She really wasn’t though. She was a little girl who missed her mother.
“Your momma will be back when she’s ready,” Grandma told her, “and you’ve been a big help to me.”
“So, you don’t mind if I stay now that my momma’s gone?” she asked suddenly, sitting up.
Jessica winced as the little girl repositioned herself, but snaked her left hand around her waist to make sure she didn’t tumble off.
“Not at all,” Grandma said. “If your mother hadn’t said she was going to come back for you, why I might have kept you for myself.”
Mary gave her a sly smile and then sat back again.
“How about you go on in and find a book to read? We’ll be in shortly,” I told Mary.
She looked at me, then Grandma stood up and held her hand out. Mary slid off Jessica’s lap and took my grandma’s hand.
“Grandma, can you come back?” I asked her.
“You sure you don’t need some alone time?” she said with a grin.
“No, just want to talk without little ears!” I told her, grinning back.
I waited until they were both in the house. I saw Grandma go to the stove and then pot on a pot of water to heat. I heard her murmur something about cocoa.
“So, what happened with Young?” I asked Jessica.
“He’s one of those tight assess who gets into the military so he can boss others around. As soon as Donovan started working on McKinney’s leg, he turns on me and points to all the guns and says we need to drop them or we’re all going to be treated like we’ve committed treason.”
“He really has a hard on about us having guns,” I said. “I wonder why?”
“Like I said, he’s one of ‘those guys’,” she said, making air quotes. “Nobody should have guns but the select folks. Guys and gals like him. Nobody else should be armed.”
“Sounds like he rubbed you the wrong way,” I sighed. “So what made him get physical?”
“He said he didn’t care who outranked who, we would disarm and turn over communications to his men. We’d be taken back to wherever the population is concentrated right now for our protection… blah blah blah.”
“Blah, blah, blah; is that official military terminology?”
“Shush,” she said, pushing me gently.
“So, he had other ideas than what his actual orders were?”
“Pretty much,” Jessica said. “Sounds like his men were sick of him too.”
“Higgins hinted as much,” I agreed. “Overall, what are your thoughts?”
“Let’s get Mom and the guys out here. Isn’t that why you wanted Mary to go inside?”
I sighed and nodded.
“I’ll go get them, you keep your ankle propped.”
I had been looking at my swollen and bruised knuckles, but nodded. She got up and headed to the barn. “Diesel, follow,” I said sharply.
The big dog shook and looked up at me. “I said follow your mom!” I said pointing.
Diesel let out a chuff of acknowledgement and got to his feet and ran to follow. Yaeger would be inside the barn with Linda. Raider walked to me, looking at me. I met his eyes and lowered my face to his muzzle, taking both sides in my hands.
“You’re a good boy. Again and again you’ve proven to me that you’re one of my best friends. You know that?” I finished and scratched his ears.
He moaned, turning his head to the side, rubbing his face on my leg, his tail making swishing sounds.
“We going to be having company again?” Grandma asked from the doorway.
“I think so. I think they’re probably eating their first hot meal in a while.”
“I’ll go get some glasses and a bottle. I’ll be right back.”
“Grandma,” I said pushing Raider back gently, “I can get—”
“You rest your ankle up. You’ve taken too many chances lately and you’re getting banged up again.”
“Grandma—”
“Don’t you fuss at me Wes, I’ll thump ya a good ‘un!”
I grinned and sat back. I didn’t understand everything that was going on, but for now, life was good. Spider had backed off and hadn’t been coming at us from all directions lately. We’d figured out why our transmissions couldn’t get out, and it seemed that the government was around, albeit only a few of them. I think we could even plead our case somewhere down the road that we’d done what we had to do to survive. It would be enough. It had to be.
7
Like had happened dozens of times since the homestead had grown, shrunk and grown some more, a small gathering happened at the porch. All six men, including McKinney, were seated on the deck, the stairs or leaning against the railings. They were accompanied by Les, Curt, Sheriff Jackson, Linda, Grandma, Jessica and me. Donovan had dug in his backpack and had given me a cold pack. I’d wrapped that around my ankle, letting the cold do its work. The soldiers were eating smoked ham and beans off of tin plates they’d brought. We were digging in with plates from the house.
Everyone was eating heartily, even Young, who looked at me warily out of the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut. I’d stripped the ghillie suit off and had left it on my pack to my left, my rifle to my right. I was wearing the 1911, though I’d stripped the silencer off of it in case I needed to draw quickly. The fact wasn’t lost on Jessica who had nodded when she noticed my preparations. She also wore her sidearm, with her rifle on her right, leaned close by as well.
“How’s Mary?” I asked Grandma.
“She’s reading to Raider. Both of them are curled up on the couch.”
“She won’t be awake much longer then,” Jessica said.
“No. I think worrying about her mom was eating at her. I did a lot of good you two telling her that Emily is ok. Put her worries at ease.”
“Emily?” Monty asked.
“The little girl’s mother,” Linda said, “the one who was watching you boys at the farm down the road.”
“We didn’t see nobody there,” Raines said quietly.
“Because she didn’t want to be seen,” Jess replied. “She’s not a soldier, but she’s had a hard life. Wouldn’t surprise me that there’s more to that gal than what shows on the surface.”
“Wes…” Young said, “we’re going to have to talk about—”
“You can talk, doesn’t mean anything more than that,” I interrupted. “Sorry I sucker punched you, but I’m not sorry you took the beating. Jessica is pregnant with my child.”
The six men looked at their plates and kept eating.
“How long has it been since you boys have had a proper drink?” Grandma asked suddenly.
“You mean alcohol?” McKinney asked, looking up.
“I got no ice, but I can manage a wicked hard lemonade,” Grandma said dropping me a wink.
“This is true,” I told the group.
“I’d like a taste,” Monty said suddenly, “if’n it’s no trouble, ma’am.”
“No trouble at all. Be right back.”
She went in the house and came back out with a pitcher of lemonade and one of the half gallon carboys of clear, unaged shine. She handed that over Jessica to me. I took it, grinning, and spun the top. Jessica made a snorting sound and I held it out to her.
“I can’t have that. The baby!”
“But you don’t mind if I have a little bit?” I asked her.
“As long as you don’t drink the whole jug.”
Everyone watched as we
snarked, and a grin threatened to overtake Higgins face as we went back and forth about the incident for a few moments. Grandma poured drinks into cups and tin mugs. I took a sip of the shine and passed it on to the sheriff. He took a quick smell, then put it to his lips and got a good chug of it in, then passed it off to Curt. It went counter clockwise while everyone got their cups filled from Grandma, and by the time she poured one for me, the jug had come to rest in Jessica’s hands.
“Now a toast!” Grandma held up her cup. “To friends, both alive and dead. May we become as close as family, may our eyes shine with God’s true light, and may our enemies die of syphilis, gonorrhea, and leprosy on their naughty bits!” Grandma grabbed the jug from Jessica, and took a huge swig.
“Cheers,” I said, laughing at the expression on everyone’s faces, and drank deep.
We didn’t talk too much at first, but the alcohol flowed, and everyone relaxed a bit. Marshall had come up to ask Sheriff Jackson something and I held up the jug, “Go share that around the campfire, would you?”
“Can I have a drink of it first?” Marshall asked.
“Sure, you’re a man. Just don’t be a stupid one like me, and get standing up, falling down drunk like I did that one time,” I said feeling tipsy, remembering Jess’ admonishments earlier.
“Oh no way. Nobody can drink like that and live. At least, that’s what most folks say. That and you’re just about immortal or something.”
“I’m wha—”
“Go on,” Linda told him, “there’ll be lots of thirsty men and women around the fire. They could use this right away.”
We all waited as he went, and a small sound of excitement went up around the fire as Marshall walked over. He took a small sip from the jug and passed it on, and his new lady friend stood, putting her arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“Just about immortal?” Young asked me, finally meeting my gaze.
I was about to answer, when Linda beat me to the punch. “He’s been shot multiple times, had his skull cracked open, sprained ankle, still gets dizzy spells from the closed head injury. Has been in more firefights and walked away mostly unscathed more than most soldiers I’ve ever worked with, yet here he is.”
“And his legend grows,” Jess said, waving her hands in the air.
I made a rude sound, and being the mature individual I was, and the leader of this shrinking band of survivors, I flipped her the bird. Sheriff Jackson snorted, and Jess’ eyes lit up.
“He got the drop on me,” McKinney said, “and you know I’m no slouch when I’m sneaking. They could have put me down, but they didn’t. I know they were all suspicious for a time, but from what I’ve heard from others, he’s got a right to be.”
“How’s that?” Donovan asked.
“We’ve had people right here in camp informing on us to Spider’s KGR,” I answered, not liking everyone talking about me like I wasn’t there.
“That’s the Killion dude?” Raines asked.
“Yeah. He had informers and people working inside our own camp, the state police, and we believe even the military and DHS. We don’t think the government forces are working with him… just that he’s got some people within their organizations. He’s got a pretty sophisticated intelligence apparatus.”
“You said you could take on armor when we first radioed in,” Higgins said. “That true?”
“Yes,” I said, not wanting to lose control of the situation. “You see what we’ve got here,” I indicated our own APC as well as the burnt out husk that had been towed to the property, “we took it from him.”
Young whistled. “I know you probably think I’m the world’s biggest asshole—”
“You are,” Monty interjected.
“I… Dammit Monty—”
“Man speaks the truth,” Raines said, “but normally you aren’t a bad dude, and you’re a decent team leader.”
“What I’m trying to say…” Young took a deep breath and then put a hand to his swollen face, wincing like a headache was taking hold, “we… our unit, had no intelligence that things were this bad. We had no idea. I shouldn’t have gone off the way I did.”
“Which is why we reacted the way we did,” I told him. “Disarming would be suicide, so would going into a large metropolitan city center with no resources. We don’t want to move, we just want to live in peace and try to stop the KGR from snatching people.”
“How many he got?” McKinney asked.
“Two or three hundred by now, including conscripts. Fighting men, that is. I can’t guess at the number of slaves. He’s started… trading them,” Linda said simply.
“Trading them for what? And who?” Young asked the area.
Sheriff Jackson cleared his throat, then downed his cup of Grandma’s special lemonade before speaking.
“He’s killing the men too old or sick to fight or work. The old women are being used in domestic capacities. Women of childbearing age…” He grimaced and went on, “and sometimes younger girls and boys are used… But the rest? They fight, they farm, or they’re f—”
“You don’t have to say it,” Grandma said softly.
“I don’t know if I can, ma’am,” Sheriff said, choking up.
“Kids…” Monty said softly, his voice thick.
Everyone turned to him, the near albino had been mostly silent through all of this.
“No one knew how bad this was. This is no longer a private military doing work for the government or anybody else who wants to hire a mercenary army. These KGRs have become—”
“Monstrosities. Locusts on the world. Mankind. Preying on the weak and innocent,” I said, cutting him off.
“As much of an asshole as you think I am,” Young said, wincing as he sipped the sweet nectar of the stilling gods through his cracked lips, “I think Killion takes the cake.”
“They have to be stopped,” Monty said simply.
The six man team lead by Higgins, supporting Young, were given spots to put their bedrolls down in the barn. When they settled down uneasily, Linda told me that the inhabitants inside gave them a wide birth, many of them still shooting Young with a baleful eye. We’d come back to the porch. Grandma had gone in to put Mary down and hadn’t come back out. Yaeger, Diesel and Raider were all laid out on the porch, snoozing. The rest of our core group gathered in the moonlight.
“What do you think?” I asked Linda, once everyone had gotten comfortable, chairs pulled up on and around the porch.
“They seem to be on the up and up, but what Jessica said earlier about Young… I think she was more right than she could realize. He’s one of those who thinks only the elite should be armed, that the government is going to take care of everybody. It’s… I’ve served with men and women like him as well. They can be good soldiers, but without command structure and chain of command, they tend to take their orders almost too literally.”
“But he’s going to be a pain in the ass,” I said aloud for anyone who would listen.
“That boy sure does bother me,” Curt said, looking over at Margie who had joined us for one of the first times in a while.
“Young sure didn’t win any friends when he went after Jessica like that. What you did… it was brutal, but it got the point across. I hate to agree with the sheriff here, but I don’t think anything else would’ve worked.” Margie looked embarrassed when speaking aloud at the meeting, but I appreciated it.
“The real question is, can we trust him?” Jessica asked.
“I think the term is, ‘wait and see’?” Sheriff Jackson said.
“I still think Linda and Jay should go through with their plan,” I said simply. “Let the six man team go do what they said they were going to do, look for the jamming equipment and try to get through to their base. Jay and Linda can follow behind them, and see if they’re doing what they claim to be. That way if anything happens, they won’t even see us coming. Then again, they’ll make pretty good cannon fodder if the KGR tries to pull something cute.”
/> “You seem to like using that term,” Jessica said, a note of amusement in her voice.
“At least it isn’t us getting banged up and shot up all the time. If they had been around for any of the fire fights, they might have a better understanding on why we don’t and won’t disarm. Even if we’re breaking the law,” I told them.
“It’d be suicide for them to make us try at this point. It sounds like all the government resources are spread too thin anyway. Once they get intel that a private army of almost battalion strength is running around the backwoods of Arkansas, raping and pillaging, they will have to get involved,” Linda said.
“If they even want to get involved,” I said softly, my hand dropping to Raider’s head, scratching his ears.
“What do you mean?” Linda asked.
“Think about it, Mom,” Jessica said. “They may not want or be able to take on something like the KGR without leaving themselves bare in other areas. Besides, we’re talking about mostly National Guard assets. The call up, I imagine they have active duty—”
“Young is active duty I thought?” Sheriff Jackson interrupted.
“I meant, Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coasties…” Linda said answered him.
“Oh…” Sheriff Jackson said quietly, then took a long pull from his coffee cup.
I was pretty sure it had last been used to get a toot of moonshine. I’m pretty sure it also was on the low side of Grandma’s lemonade.
“It’s hard to tell what they’re going to do. That’s why we want to trust but verify,” I said, feeling the warm glow of the shine warming my insides.
“I like your idea, for what it’s worth,” Linda said. “I was going to suggest something like it anyway.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Margie said quietly. “How do we know that one or all of those boys aren’t working with Spider? I mean, you said it earlier, he’s infiltrated some organizations, but not all of them. Maybe he arranged things so these guys found us?”
“Yeah, what I don’t get, is why McKinney was hid in so close. He could have radioed his boys, but I don’t think he got a chance before the pups got to him and I chicken winged him.”
Still Surviving (Book 5): Dark Secrets: Page 5