by A. American
He shook his head, “There was no shooting, I handled it quietly.”
“With that?” I asked, pointing to the knife.
He quickly drew what turned out to be a Kukri and held it up. “No. I was actually taking a shit when they showed up. I had my etool out to dig a cat hole, so I cleaved his head in half with it.”
“With an etool?” I asked.
He dropped his pack and pulled a short shovel out. It had a wooden handle and a small spade head. I recognized it as a Spetsnaz shovel. “Yeah, they have a lot more uses than digging.” He twirled the tool in his hand, “I dig with it, chop and cut; hell, I’ve even cooked on it.” He looked up, “makes a hell of a frying pan in a pinch.”
“What’s your name?” Danny asked.
He rose to his feet, and with a powerful swing, slammed the etool into the top log of the barricade, where it sank a full two inches into the pine.
“Name’s Dalton. What’s yours?”
“I’m Danny; this is Morgan.”
“Ah, Captain Morgan. I’ve sailed with him in the past. He took me to places I don’t remember on adventures I can’t recall.” He paused for a moment in deep thought. “Come to think of it, those weren’t very good times.” He looked up and smiled, “And that’s why I don’t drink anymore.”
Danny and I both glanced at one another. I, for one, had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Danny just shrugged.
“I guess none of us drinks much anymore,” I replied.
“I quit long ago. Wasn’t good for me, or anyone around me for that matter.”
“What’s your plan?” I asked.
Dalton looked around. “You guys keep a constant guard up here, right?”
I nodded, “Yeah.”
“Would you mind if I crashed up here for the night? I really need some good sleep.”
I certainly wasn’t expecting that; I figured he might ask for food or something, not to sleep. I looked to Danny, and he was obviously just as perplexed as I was.
“As I’m sure you can relate, that seems a little strange,” I replied.
He nodded. “I know, but I think I can close my eyes here. There are two of you, and you haven’t tried anything yet.” He looked me over for a minute, then pointed. “What’s with the stars?”
“it’s a long story, but I’m kind of the Sheriff around here.”
Dalton smiled, “That’s even better then. If you’re the law, then I know I can trust you.”
“The question is; can we trust you?” Danny said.
Dalton cocked his head to the side. “I’m going to be asleep. If anyone is vulnerable, it’s me.”
“Or you could be part of a group we’re having issues with,” I fired back.
It had suddenly come to me that he could be one of Billy’s boys sent to gather some Intel. Or maybe to try and get on the inside and cause some trouble.
“You mean that group that was back over there?” Dalton asked, pointing to the southwest.
“What do you mean, was?” I asked.
“Just that, was. They moved.”
“Is that who you bumped into?” Danny asked.
Dalton nodded, “Yeah, they moved out into pasture land over there. They’re holed up back in a little swamp. They got a lot of people, vehicles and dogs. Dogs are a problem, see. They can smell and see you before you do them. Hard to deal with dogs, but there are ways.”
“I’m going to lay it out for you; we have no way of knowing who you are. You could be part of that group, and that would be a problem.”
Dalton removed his Boonie hat and scratched at his head, “I can see your conundrum. How about I give you guys my weapons? I want to sleep right here; not looking to go into your neighborhood.”
I thought about it for a minute and looked at Danny, “What do you think?”
“If he’s unarmed, I don’t see an issue with it.”
Looking back at Dalton, I said, “Alright. If you’re willing to do that, you can crash here.”
“Smashing!” Dalton shouted. “Where do you want me to put my gear? I just need to get my sleeping gear out.”
“Go ahead and get that; then we’ll secure your stuff.”
Dalton removed a bivy bag and a poncho liner from his pack, and tucked his water bottle under his arm. “This is all I need.”
“Just leave your stuff right there. You can sack out over here,” I said, pointing to a spot under the brush on the side of the road.
Dalton laid his sleeping gear out and quickly got in the bag. Without saying anything else, he disappeared into the bag, pulling the poncho liner up to cover his face. Danny and I moved up to the barricade and set Dalton’s gear off to the side. He’d laid his pistol on the top log, so I dropped it into his pack and zipped it up. Danny picked up the AK and removed the magazine, then ejected the chambered round. Once the weapon was secure, he placed it on the pack. In quiet voices we talked about our guest.
“What do you make of him?” I asked.
Danny half shook his head, “Hard to tell; seems a little weird to me.”
Glancing back at the sack, I said, “He’s definitely different.”
About an hour later, Thad and Mike showed up to relieve us. We shared the story of our visitor, pointing out his sleeping form. Danny showed them where his gear was stashed.
“Well you certainly don’t see that every day,” Mike said.
Thad was looking at the bag, “You trust him?”
I shrugged, “He hasn’t done anything, and he gave up his weapons.”
Mike wrinkled his nose, “He been snoring like that long?”
I chuckled, “Yeah, almost as soon as the sound of the zipper stopped that racket started.”
“He shore sounds like he needed some sleep,” Thad added.
Looking at Mike, I said, “He also said Billy’s group has moved, at least I assume it’s Billy’s.”
“Really? We were just talking about taking another look at them. I was worried they would bug out.”
“We’ll talk to him tomorrow. I think he knows where they are.”
Danny stretched, “You ready to go? I’m tired.”
“Yeah man, let’s go.”
Mike looked back at Dalton, “Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on him.”
“It’s all good. See you guys later,” Danny said as he climbed up behind me on the ATV.
Danny dropped me off at my place then headed home. Meat Head came running out of the darkness barking, until he realized it was me. He came up and nuzzled my hand, so I patted him on the head. I didn’t see Drake; a black dog at night is kinda hard to see. I realized he was there when I tripped over him. Turning on the light on my weapon, I saw him raise his head; he didn’t even bother getting up.
“Sorry Drake,” I said as he laid his head down.
Little Girl was lying on the porch; she never bothered to get up either. I looked down at her, “Lot of good you are.” Her tail thumped the porch in reply.
Going in, I took my gear off and headed for bed. I was tired.
Chapter 8
I woke up before Mel or the girls. The house was quiet; I was still getting used to the silence. It actually bothered me. As a product of the modern age, I wasn’t accustomed to it. It had taken months for me to be able to go to sleep without the white noise of a fan in the room. Not to mention having tinnitus didn’t help; my ears rang constantly. Trying to keep quiet, I dressed and slipped out to the kitchen in bare feet. I poured myself a glass of tea and sat on the couch to put my socks on.
Outside, a heavy dew settled on everything, driving the dogs to the porch. I found them there sprawled out when I went out to put my boots on. They seemed even lazier, if that were possible. Drake lifted his head to look at me, while Meat Head an
d Little Girl just raised their eyes a bit at the sound of the door.
“Look at you lazy asses,” I said, pulling the leg of my pants over the boots. “You guys are worthless.”
They replied by drumming their tails on the porch, and it brought a smile to my face. If only my life were so easy. Crossing the fence to Danny’s, the light breeze that had picked up, brought the undeniable odor of decomposition to my nose. I walked over to the chicken feeder and checked it out. I had not done that since it was installed. The ground below it was alive with maggots, and checking inside revealed many more.
More for fun than anything else, I went to the coop and released the birds. There were many eggs in the laying boxes, but I left them for Little Bit to gather. It was one of her chores to check for eggs. The birds ran in the direction of the feeder. I guess they knew where their breakfast was. I watched and laughed to myself as they made short work of the grubs on the ground. The chickens had no idea where the grubs came from, that the source was hanging just over their heads.
I was about to climb onto one of the four wheelers to go to the barricade, but decided to walk. It was still cool out, and we really needed to be conserving our gas. Passing Tyler’s house, I stopped and waited for Doc, who was coming down their drive.
“What’s the verdict on Edy?” I asked.
“She’s definitely sick.”
“Damn.”
Doc stopped, “But it gets worse; so are Tyler and Brandy.”
I was stunned, “What? Mel didn’t say anything about them.”
“They’re trying to hide it, but both of them have fevers. Sweat was beading up on their foreheads and both were coughing. They said it was allergies, but I know better.”
This wasn’t good. The last thing I wanted was for anyone here to come down with a cold, let alone TB.
“There isn’t much we can do for them, is there?” I asked.
Doc shook his head. “No, some people beat it.” He paused and looked me in the eye, “but most don’t.”
I nodded, “Kinda what I figured.”
Doc looked around, “Where are you headed?”
“Up to the barricade; we’ve got a guest up there.”
Doc raised his eyebrows, “Really, who?”
I shrugged, “Don’t really know much about him, except his name’s Dalton. He showed up last night and asked if he could sleep up at the barricade; said he was tired.”
“Sounds a little shady to me.”
“That’s what we thought. But he gave up his weapons and crawled into his sleeping bag and went to sleep.”
“Well, let’s go check him out,” Doc said as he headed up the road.
I looked at the bunker project as we passed it. We’d be back to work on that today once everyone was up and going. Sarge was of the opinion that it was really needed, or would be. We stopped for a moment and talked about it. Doc said they were trained on constructing such emplacements since sandbags weren’t always available. I asked if they would be sufficient, “As long as they don’t have rocket launchers.”
I looked down at the earth and log structure, “Great.”
Doc slapped me on the back, “Don’t worry, they don’t have that kind of shit.”
“I sure as hell hope not.”
When we got to the barricade, Sarge was there with Ian and Jamie. Thad and Mike were still there as well. I could see Dalton was still in his bag, and Sarge was eyeing him with suspicion. As I walked up, he pointed to Dalton’s prone form. “What the hell’s the idea of this?”
I shrugged, “He didn’t seem like he was a threat.” I looked over, “Hell; he’s still asleep.”
“No I’m not,” Dalton said as he sat up, pulling the poncho liner from his face.
“Well, good mornin’ Sunshine,” Sarge said with a smile.
Dalton took in the group as he scratched his head, “Damn, did it rain last night? You guys multiply faster than Gremlins.” He extracted himself from the bag and stood up, stretching and groaning. “That’s the best damn sleep I’ve had in forever, thanks.”
“Not a problem,” I replied.
I did a round of introductions, Sarge shook his hand and gave a quick nod. Once everyone knew who everyone was, I told Sarge what Dalton had said about Billy’s group. Sarge listened then asked, “You know where they are now?”
Dalton was filling his water bottle and replied, “Yeah, they’re out there in ranch land, holed up in a big swamp.” He took a long drink from the bottle, “It’s like they’re expecting a fight.”
“They should be, sooner or later,” Sarge snorted.
“You had a run-in with them?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, part of the reason I came up here. I’ve been living out there for weeks. It was good for a while, plenty to eat, plenty of water and no one around. Then they moved in and started sending out patrols. I ran into one of the patrols. Actually, they ran into me.”
“What happened?” Sarge asked.
Dalton shrugged, “I split one of ‘ems head open and got away. I’m not much for the whole group dynamic. I prefer to work alone.”
“Hard way to live; man’s gotta sleep at some point,” Sarge replied.
“Which is why I’m here. I didn’t say it was the best way to be, just the way it is.”
“Could you show us where they are?” Mike asked.
Dalton nodded, “Sure, I don’t think they’re going anywhere.”
“Alright, we’ll discuss this later. Let’s go get some breakfast,” Sarge said.
Dalton perked up, “Breakfast?”
“Yeah, come on; we’ll feed you too,” I said.
He clapped his hands, “Alright!”
“But you’ll have to work for it. We have a little project we’re working on that you can help with,” Sarge added.
“Fine by me; I’m not scared of hard work.”
Mike chuckled. “Neither is the old man; he’ll lie down and go sound asleep right beside it.”
Sarge looked at Dalton. “Ignore him; he was kicked in the head by a mule when he was young.”
“Yeah, he was trying to milk it!” Ian shouted.
Dalton laughed. “I like you guys; you’re my kind of people.”
I picked up his pack and rifle and handed them to him. “Here, take these with you.” Dalton nodded and slung one over each shoulder. I wasn’t worried about him at this point. Besides, there were more of us than him.
Ian and Jamie were there to relieve Mike and Thad, so they walked with us. As we passed the bunker, Dalton asked if it was the project Sarge mentioned. We stopped for a moment to show him what we were doing, and told him why.
“Can’t say I blame you. Looks pretty sturdy. I only had one run-in with them; but I watched them for quite some time,” Dalton said.
“What was your impression?” Mike asked.
Dalton thought about the question for a minute, “They’re a pretty big group with a lot of shit. They’ve got dogs that, from what I can see, are there for no purpose other than as an alarm system. But they move like a hoard with little discipline. They seem to think they’re safe simply because of their numbers.”
“Would you take ‘em on?” Sarge asked.
Dalton smiled. It was a sadistic look. “I could take them all on if I were so inclined and wanted to devote some time to it. I like to hunt men. One at a time they would fall, quietly and when they didn’t suspect it.”
Mike laughed a movie-bad-guy laugh, “I like this guy!”
Dalton smiled and contorted his face into a hilarious bad-guy display, “I like you too.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down to emphasize it.
Mike laughed uproariously. Sarge shook his head, “Just what I fuckin’ need.” And he started down the road towards Danny’s house.
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br /> I turned into my driveway to check on Mel and the girls, letting the rest of the group continue to Danny’s. The dogs came trotting up and followed me to the house. Opening the front door, I called out, “Hello!”
Taylor came around the corner rubbing her head with a towel, “Mom’s at Bobbie’s house.”
I stepped in, “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to take a shower. The water’s cold,” she said with a smile.
“But it feels good doesn’t it?” I smiled back.
She smiled, “Yeah.”
“You coming over for breakfast?”
She nodded, “Yeah; soon as I get dressed, I’ll be over.”
I nodded and started to leave but turned back, “How are you feeling? I know a lot has happened lately, how are you doing?”
She looked at me. “I’m good, Dad. Doc talked to me; he’s really nice. I did what I had to do, and I’m good with that now. It’s not what I wanted to do, and I don’t want to have to do it again; but I will if I have to.” She paused for a moment, and I could see she was looking for the right words. “It’s just so different now. I was thinking about college before, or maybe about getting a job. Now I have to think about hunting, taking care of my sisters and defending them.” She leaned against the wall, “But I actually like it.
“We’re all together now; you don’t have to go to work anymore. Now we concentrate on the things that matter. I mean, I wish this hadn’t happened, but I’m good with it now. I’m happy.”
I smiled and walked over and wrapped my arms around her, “You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”
She hugged me tightly, “I love you Dad.”
I kissed the top of her head, “I love you too. Hurry up and get you some breakfast.”
I left her to get dressed, and headed outside. The dogs once again followed me as I walked towards Danny’s. I was uplifted though; that little talk with Taylor really affected me. To know she was going to be alright, that her head was in the right place; it lifted a weight from me.