by A. American
“Not me. If I don’t sleep a wink it was worth it,” I said. After finishing our coffee, Mel and I were ready for bed. Jeff and Thad said they were going to hang out a little longer.
“Someone wake me up when I need to take watch,” I said as we turned to head for the cabin.
Everyone said their good nights and we left. After so long without caffeine, I was really feeling it. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to sleep. To my surprise, Mel passed out right away. I grabbed the NVGs and carried them back to Danny, then came back to the cabin. It was nice to just lie there. I could hear the guys talking out at the fire, their voices were faint and seemed to drift on the wind. I closed my eyes, trying to clear my mind, and eventually drifted off.
At the sound of a shot, I was confused. Did I hear that or was it a dream? The follow-up shots told me it wasn’t a dream. I jumped to my feet as rifle fire filled the air.
“What’s going on?” Mel asked as she sat up. Fear was in her eyes. “Where’s Tay?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know. You got your pistol?”
She leaned over and picked it up. “Yeah.”
“Let me see what’s going on,” I said.
Little Bit got out of her bag and came running over to Mel. I was stuffing my feet into my boots when there was a long, subdued burst, like something ripping. I ran out the door with my carbine in my hands to see brass flying out of Taylor’s H&K. It spun through the air twinkling in the moonlight before bouncing off the aluminum table.
She held the trigger for the entire magazine. When the weapon stopped firing, she looked at it, unsure of why it had stopped. Danny was still firing upriver. I ran and looked toward the river, searching for the muzzle flashes of the incoming fire. But the river was dark.
When Danny stopped firing I ran to him. “What is it? What happened?”
He pointed down the bank. I followed his arm and could see a small flame from the flare.
“The flares went off. Someone was running across the river.”
“Did they shoot?” I asked.
“No, but when I heard them hit the river I started shooting.”
“Did you hit any of them?”
“I didn’t hear anyone yell.”
Taylor came over with the H&K slung over her shoulder. I looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Full auto, huh?”
“I didn’t mean to. It was an accident,” she said.
“Well, make sure it doesn’t happen again. Go on and go to bed,” I told her.
She turned to leave, looking a little hurt and embarrassed.
“Hey,” I called out. She turned to look at me. “It was fun, though, wasn’t it?”
A big smile spread over her face and she nodded.
“Good night, kiddo.”
“Night, Dad.”
Jeff and Thad came up together. Thad clutched the old coach gun hanging from one hand.
“What the hell happened?” Jeff asked, looking around.
“Someone tripped the flare,” Danny said, nodding upriver.
“We’ll have to try and figure out where these people are coming from,” I replied. “I don’t want any more late-night shoot-outs.”
We all nodded in agreement. The guys and I discussed the matter a bit further, and then I was overwhelmed with exhaustion.
“Guys, I gotta hit the hay. Jeff, mind taking over for Danny? You look wiped, man.”
“Too much excitement for me,” Danny said. “I’m going to bed too.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll watch out for your asses. Thad, want to keep me company?”
Thad nodded. “Can’t promise there’s gonna be any coffee left by the time you two wake up for breakfast,” he said, looking over at me and Danny with a grin.
“Hey! Don’t you go wastin’ my coffee!” Danny said, punching him in the shoulder.
“Night, fellas,” I called out, heading back to the cabin.
• • •
Once everyone was awake, we ate a quick breakfast of boiled eggs and smoked fish while discussing today’s activity: working on the tables. We all headed off to a stand of cane just downriver. Everyone worked together, the girls included, to cut and drag the canes back. We piled them up by the tables and trimmed them. To tie it all together, we used a roll of twisted rope I’d brought.
It was great to have everyone working together, chattering as they did. The smell of smoke from the fire, the warm sun, and the clear morning made for a great day. Lee Ann and Little Bit sat in chairs by the fire and trimmed the small shoots from the canes, putting them in a pile. We collected these and bundled three or four together and used them as posts. The corners were made from four canes lashed together and buried about a foot in the ground.
Initially we wanted to make a peaked roof, but after some back-and-forth, we decided it was too difficult and settled on a pitched roof. We worked all day to get the frame up, and, satisfied with our work, we decided that tomorrow we would put the plastic on.
Once we finished for the day, I sat by the fire, cutting a piece of cane with my knife. Suddenly, I had an idea of another way to pass the time. I grabbed a full-length piece and began to split one end, cutting it into eight sections. Then I found a stick slightly larger in diameter and whittled it into a cone shape. I forced it down inside the cane, which spread the sections nicely. I then sharpened the ends of the sections.
“Aren’t you tired of working?” Danny joked. “What is that, a gig?”
“Yup. I’m thinking of trying to get some frogs tonight.”
“Oh, hell yeah! Let me make one too.”
Soon everyone was sitting around the fire making their own spears—well, almost everyone. Mel and Bobbie made it clear they weren’t going to be gigging any frogs and Thad said he’d be happy to cook them, but he wasn’t one for boats. Lee Ann also opted out, and just sat by the fire, looking unenthused.
“Hey, kiddo, you want to go with us later?” I asked her.
She didn’t look up from her slouched position in the chair. All she did was shake her head.
“You all right?”
She nodded and stood up. “I’m going to go lie down.” I watched her as she walked back to the cabin. Her shoulders were sagging and she looked miserable.
I frowned. Something was definitely up.
Even after the gigs were done, there was still a lot of the afternoon left. The warm day was energizing, and I didn’t want to just sit around.
Looking at Taylor, I asked, “You wanna go for a walk?”
She smiled and nodded, and Little Bit said she wanted to go as well. “Let me go get your sister and we’ll head out.”
Lee Ann was lying in her sleeping bag. I kicked her feet. “Hey, let’s go for a walk.”
Her reply came back muffled. “I don’t want to.”
“Yeah, you do. Get up. Let’s take a walk.” She didn’t respond, so I grabbed the bottom of her sleeping bag and pulled it up, half dumping her out of the bag.
“Dad! Leave me alone!”
“No, get up. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. We’re going for a walk.”
She tried to pull the bag around herself.
“All right, I’ll get a bucket of water. You’re coming out of that bag one way or another,” I said and turned for the door.
“All right, jeez! I’ll get up.” She got up and put on her shoes in silence.
I waited for her by the door. She came past me and thumped down the steps, sitting on the last one. I called for the other two girls and they came running up. Mel also walked over. “What are you guys up to?”
“We’re going for a little stroll. Wanna come?” I asked.
“Sure.”
We started up the trail that led to the dirt road. I was holding Mel’s hand while Little Bit ran ahead with Taylor. Lee Ann was behind us, shoulders slumped
and looking at the ground. I laughed as Taylor tried to pull palmetto hearts out for Little Bit. It never failed that if we walked in the woods she’d want one of these treats.
Mel shielded her eyes with her hand, looking up at the sun. “It’s really nice out today.”
“It is. It’s so weird that it’s always so quiet here,” I replied.
“Not around camp.”
I laughed. “Guess you’re right.”
We walked for some time through the sugar sand, listening to grasshoppers as they took to the wing at our advance. Taylor and Little Bit stayed out in front of us, leaving a trail of nibbled palmetto shoots in their wake. I looked back at Lee Ann and tugged on Mel’s hand. We slowed, allowing her to catch up to us. As she came up I wrapped my arm around her.
“Hey, buster, how you feelin’?” I asked. She shrugged.
We continued walking in silence. After a bit I said, “You know what happened with Ash wasn’t your fault, don’t you?”
She didn’t reply immediately. Finally she said, “Taylor said it is. She says it’s all my fault.”
“But it’s not. I’ll talk to her, but you shouldn’t blame yourself.” She nodded.
“What else is bothering you, hon? You don’t seem yourself,” Mel said. Lee Ann answered with her ever-present shrug, but Mel pressed on. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
“No. I’m just tired of being here. I want to see my friends, I want to go home, I’m just tired.”
“Cheer up, it’s not the end of the world. We’re still here. Besides, we may be going home sooner than you know it,” I said.
I’d hoped the thought of going home soon would cheer her up, but it appeared to have little effect. At the crest of the small rise in the road, I called the other girls back, telling them we needed to head home. Lee Ann immediately spun on her heels and headed back for the house, not waiting for the rest of us.
Chapter 12
After dinner, Danny, Jeff, me, Taylor, and Little Bit went out on the river with our gigs in hand. I wished we had a spotlight, but all we had were our flashlights. They proved to be sufficient if not ideal. We took opposite sides of the creek, moving slowly and shining the water’s edge. Taylor was holding the light for me as I poled down the bank, scanning slowly. On the opposite bank, Jeff held the light for Danny. Danny was standing up in the bow of the boat as they glided along.
“Got one!” I called out as I speared a frog. Little Bit giggled.
Danny looked over and smiled, holding his spear. I pulled the frog off and dropped it in a bucket with three others. I had just turned back to spear at another when there was a thundering boom, followed by a scream and a splash. I immediately turned to see Danny in the water. Jeff was flailing around in the boat, then he began firing his AK into the trees.
“Little Bit, get down, lie down!” I shouted as I sat down and grabbed a paddle. “Taylor, paddle over there! Danny! Danny!”
There was another boom and I heard the shot as they peppered the aluminum canoe. This time though, I saw the muzzle flash. Picking up my AR, I began to fire in that direction. Danny’s head popped out of the water, and he held on to the side of the canoe. As we got closer I took up my paddle again and steered toward Danny. We hit a small sandbar and ground to a stop. Suddenly all the shooting stopped, and I heard Jeff yell, “Shit!” I looked up to see Jeff changing mags frantically.
“Taylor, shoot into the trees, no full auto!”
She nodded and picked up her H&K and started to fire, the suppressor making a spitting sound. Little Bit was lying in the bottom of the boat, wailing. Throwing the sling of my rifle around my neck, I jumped into the water just as Jeff started to fire again. I grabbed Danny under his arms and lifted him up, trying to push him into the boat. He was obviously in pain.
“Get back to the cabin!” I shouted at Jeff. He nodded and grabbed his paddle and began to back-paddle toward the camp.
I shoved our canoe off the bar and climbed in. “Taylor, you paddle, paddle fast!” I said, then started firing into the trees again. There was no more return fire and after a few minutes, I started paddling too. It was only then that I noticed Taylor’s arms were shaking. “Good job, Tay, good job,” I said.
When we got to the camp Danny was already out of the boat, bent over at the waist. Thad and Jeff were on either side of him, helping him walk. I grabbed Little Bit and set her out as Mel ran up.
“What happened?” Mel asked, on the verge of tears. “Where was all that shooting from?”
“Someone started shooting. Danny’s been hit,” I said as I ran off. “Watch the girls.”
Danny was sitting in a chair by the fire, Bobbie beside him, looking nervous and holding a flashlight. Thad and Jeff were pulling his shirt off when I ran up. His left side was covered in little red spots, some bleeding, some like welts. They extended from just under his arm to his hip. It was strange to see where his belt had stopped the shot, leaving a strip of untouched flesh.
“You’re lucky, Danny. Looks like it was just bird shot,” Thad said as he dabbed at one of the bleeding spots.
Jeff held up two fingers, a small bead pinched between them. “Nope, looks like number four.”
“I don’t know about lucky, it burns like hell,” Danny said through gritted teeth.
Using flashlights, we went over Danny’s wounds. There were a few that looked like they may have actually penetrated into him. They weren’t life-threatening by any means, but they would have to be checked carefully so we could prevent infection. That was the last thing we needed.
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll call Doc to get down here and look you over,” I said.
“Let’s get you into bed,” Bobbie said, helping him get up.
“Bobbie, you want someone to stay with you?” Thad asked.
“No thanks, Thad, we’ll be all right. I got it from here.” She headed off toward their cabin as the rest of us made our way toward the fire pit.
“What the hell happened?” Thad asked.
“He was standing up and someone in the trees took a shot,” Jeff said.
“I heard the shot, then heard him scream and hit the water all at the same time,” I said.
“Did you ever see them?” Thad asked.
“No, I just started shooting, hoping to make them duck,” Jeff said.
“I saw the muzzle flash from the second shot and fired at it, for what good it did,” I said.
“Yeah, that second one almost got me.”
“You were pretty lucky,” I said.
“Yeah, if it had been any higher it’d have got me too,” Jeff said. “Let’s go look at the boat and see where it was hit.”
As the beam of the flashlight swept the length of the boat, the light illuminated the spots of raw metal where the shot had raked the side.
“Wonder why they did it,” Thad said.
“I’ll bet it was whoever he shot at last night. They probably came for some payback,” I said.
Thad nodded. “Could be.” Then he reached in for the bucket sitting in the bottom of the boat. “No sense in wasting these.”
“You’re right. I’ve some in my boat too. I’ll get them,” I said.
I dumped my frogs into the other bucket and Thad carried them up to the fire. Mel and the girls were gone. I told the guys I’d take over on the watch. I needed some time to think.
The fire was burning low, so I added a couple of pieces to it. While I was up, I made my way over to the bags of Danny’s hotel loot. I rifled through one and picked out a bag of Earl Grey, deciding to make myself a cup.
It was cool and quiet. The cloudless sky above was full of brilliant stars, too many to count. Looking through the NVGs, even more appeared. I continued staring at them when something caught my eye. A small light traced a line across the sky. I’d seen this very thing countless times in the Before, now I was str
uck by it. A small satellite drifting across the sky above me. I wondered what kind it was, whether it worked or if it was just slowly making its way back down to earth.
Turning off the NVGs, I thought about the satellite for a minute. The fact that it was still up there was very reassuring. Maybe things weren’t as bad as we thought. Maybe there were more working systems out there. Or, worse, maybe this whole situation was an illusion. That was a horrible thought—to think that someone would let people suffer when something could be done about it. But right now, right here, I guessed it didn’t really matter.
Sometime just before dawn Jeff wandered up. I smiled. “You my relief?”
He yawned as he sat down, leaning his AK on one of the other chairs. “Yep. When you going to call Doc?”
“Right now,” I said, getting up. “Be right back.” I went to where the radio was stored. After checking our codebook, I set the frequency and made the call.
“Stump Knocker, Walker.” I repeated the call and waited.
After a moment there was a reply. “Go for Stump Knocker.” But it wasn’t Sarge’s voice.
“Is the old man around?” I asked.
“Hold,” came the terse reply.
I waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Sarge’s gravelly voice came over the radio.
“Go for Stump Knocker.”
“Can you get that witch doctor down here this morning?”
After a brief pause he replied, “Roger that, what’s the SITREP?”
I thought about how to reply. “Brief contact last night, one GSW.”
“How serious?”
“Serious enough that I’m calling you.”
“Roger that, we’re on our way. Stump Knocker out.”
I laid the handset down and crept out of the cabin back to the fire. Jeff looked at me expectantly. “They coming down here?”
“Mmhmm. Sarge said they were on their way, so I imagine they’ll be here soon.”
“Hey,” Jeff said as he jumped up, “let’s surprise the old man with a cup of coffee.” He pulled out a couple of coffee packets, then filled the pot and set it on the fire.
We sat around the fire shooting the shit until we heard the sound of the outboard downriver. Jeff grabbed a cup and filled it with the steaming brew and we walked down to the river.