by Eric Vall
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind seeing the others again,” Tara agreed. “Plus we need Paige to take care of your arm.”
“I wouldn’t be against that,” I said.
“You’re a lot less cuddly when you’re covered in blood,” Tara teased.
“Well we don’t want that,” I chuckled. “Come on.”
Tara and I joined Justin and Jenny in the light of the lamp. The tired looking man had an almost crazed smile on his face as he looked at us.
“How did you guys pull this off?” he asked.
“With a bit of planning and a whole lotta luck,” I said.
“They got them all too,” Jenny said. “Well, at least the ones with the convoy.”
“Wait, there’s more of those soldiers around?” Justin frowned.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to worry about that,” I said. “My team and I will take care of them.”
“Hopefully it’s more than just the two of you,” Justin said.
“It is,” I assured him with a nod. “Like I said, don’t worry about that though. You should be safe here now.”
“We even got your stuff back,” Tara said. “You guys can go right back to how things were this morning before the National Guard pulled up.
“If you want, we can even leave you a truck,” I offered. “There’s only about half a tank of gas left in any of them, but at least they run.”
“You’d really do that for us?” Justin asked.
“They really would,” Jenny said.
“Your generosity is overwhelming,” Justin said.
“If ever there was a time to be kind and generous, it’s now,” I said.
“I wish that was a more common sentiment,” Justin said.
“Me too,” Jenny muttered.
“Not to be rude, but could we get your stuff unloaded so we can continue on tonight?” Tara asked. “Tav and I have been up for far too long, and we need to get Jenny back to her family.”
“Of course, sorry,” Justin replied.
We led him to the truck and showed him the livestock we had recovered. He was able to pick out his cows without even seeing the brand and took a dozen of the chickens.
The cows still seemed to be heavily sedated but the four of us managed to get the beasts up long enough to lead them out to the pasture before they laid down and fell back asleep.
Next the four of us went to Tara’s truck and started to go through the packaged food and household goods. It seemed that most of the stuff in there had been taken from Justin and his family. The soldiers had really taken a shine to their high quality bedding and overabundance of toilet paper.
“Kids are sleeping,” Justin said as we sorted through the items. “If you all wouldn’t mind being quiet on your way--”
“No problem,” I said.
“Yeah, I am pretty good at being quiet,” Tara said with a smirk.
We’ll all grabbed a bundle of items and snuck into the house behind Justin. He let us through the hall and back to the sitting room where Tara and I had talked with his family earlier.
“Just put everything in here,” he whispered. “We can sort it all out later.”
We worked in silence to return the stolen goods to the Miller’s home. About halfway through I heard a small cough and turned to see one of the two boys rub his eyes and stare at me.
Justin hurried to the boy’s side, took a knee, and ran a hand through his thick black hair. “Hey buddy, everything's okay, you can go back to sleep.”
A minute later Marla rushed into the room. She grabbed her son and hefted him into her arms.
“Sorry if I woke you,” I said.
“I was already up,” Marla said with a gentle smile. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“You too,” I said. “We brought your stuff back.”
“I can see that,” she replied. “What about Jenny, were you able to save her too?”
“They saved her and took out the entire convoy,” Justin said.
“Seriously?” Marla asked as her eyes went wide. “That’s amazing.”
“That’s what I said,” Justin agreed.
“It went better than I thought it would,” I said.
“You got hurt though,” Marla started with a frown as she looked down at my arm. “You should really take care of that before it gets infected.”
I looked down at the bloodly area, let out a sigh, and shook my head. “There’s not much I can do about it until I get back to my team.”
“Let me help you,” Marla said.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t look that bad, and I have a girl back at base who can patch me up,” I said.
“Please just let me do this,” Marla said as she handed her child off to Justin. “There’s not much I can do to say thank you, but I can do this. Plus I’m a nurse. Or at least I was until the world shut down. Sit tight, I’m going to go grab my first aid kit.” Then the woman took the light and rushed off. She came back a minute later with as small white box. There was a red cross on the front, and the words FIRST AID were painted in large block letters on almost every side.
“Tale a seat,” Marla said as she nodded towards the couch.
“You sure you wouldn’t rather I sit somewhere else?” I asked. “I don’t want to bleed on your furniture.”
“We have a cover on it,” she said.
“Plus, we have two young boys,” Justin said with a smile. “You can’t do much more damage than they do.”
“Alright,” I chuckled as I took a seat. As my body sank into the comfy couch the day caught up with me. Marla took a seat in front of me, and all I could think about was how nice it would be too close my eyes and drift off to sleep. I could feel my eyelids grow heavy as the soft cushions supported me.
“Don’t fall asleep on me,” Marla teased as she pulled on a pair of blue latex gloves.
“I’m trying,” I said with a small smile. “Can you guys let Tara and Jenny know what’s going on?”
“Yeah, I’ll let them know,” Justin said. “Give me a shout if you guys need anything in here.”
“Thanks, Honey,” Marla said.
I gave Justin a thumbs up, which he returned before he took his kid and left the area.
Marla flicked on a flashlight and set it down so that it shone on my wounded arm. Then she cut open my shirt around the wound and peeled it back from the area.
I winced and watched as she revealed bloody skin.
“This is pretty ugly, but I think you’ll be okay once we clean it up,” Marla said with a frown. She set down the scissors and pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a clean bandage. “Let’s clean this up and see exactly what we’re looking at. How’s the pain, you want some ibuprofen or something?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
Marla nodded and leaned in close. She started to dab the area around the cut and wash away the layers of dried blood.
I winced a little at the sharp sting of the alcohol as she dabbed at my wound.
Tara rushed into the room and came up behind Marla. “How’s he doing?”
“I think he’ll be fine once we clean the wound,” Marla said without looking away from her work. “Thankfully this isn’t a very deep cut. What caused it?”
“Grenade shrapnel,” I said. “It just grazed me.”
“Really?” Marla asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, I saw the explosion,” Tara said. “I didn’t realize it was that close to you though, Tav.”
“They tossed it close, but I was able to toss it away before it exploded,” I explained.
“I’m glad you got away with just a scratch,” Tara said.
“Me too,” I chuckled.
“Still bet it didn’t feel nice,” Tara said as she crouched down and looked at my arm. “At least we have a chance to get it cleaned out. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“It’s really the least I could do,” Marla said as she continued to clean the area. She applied a little too much pressure on my arm ne
ar the wound, and it started to bleed again.
“Tara, grab one of those bandages and apply pressure to the wound,” the woman ordered.
Tara nodded and did as she was told. As she pressed the soft white bandage, I winced a little.
“I’m sorry,” Tara said. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“I know, it’s okay,” I said with a small smile. The pain was more annoying than anything, and I really just wanted to be done with this and on my way.
Marla pulled out a couple sterile cleaning pads, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and some antibiotic ointment. She also pulled out a spool of sterile packed thread, and a package of sealed needles.
“You have to sew him up, don’t you?” Tara asked as she eyed the equipment.
“There’s a good chance he needs a couple stitches, yes,” Marla said. “Alright, let’s see if the bleeding has slowed. Pull back the bandage.”
Tara followed her instructions and peeled back just enough to reveal a corner of a two inch long jagged tear. The bleeding had slowed significantly, but it hadn’t stopped.
“Good, pull off the bandage and help me clean the area again,” Marla instructed. She handed Tara a cleaning pad and the bottle of alcohol. “Wet the pad with this and gently try to remove all the blood from around the injury.
I sat there and didn’t say a word as the two ladies gently dabbed at my exposed bicep. They removed any trace of gore and grime, and a few minutes later they had the entire area cleaned.
“Yeah, I need to stitch this up for sure,” she said. “You’re going to have to be a little careful for the next few days though. Too much flexing, and you’ll tear these stitches out for sure.”
“Aw, but I like to watch him lift weights,” Tara said.
“I’ll bet you’d enjoy it less if every time he did it he started to bleed out of one arm,” Marla said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be as good as new in no time,” I said.
“That’s the goal,” Marla said as she changed her gloves. Then she pulled out a clean needle and some sterile thread.
“Is this going to hurt?” Tara asked as she eyed the sharp point of the silver needle.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Marla said. “I don’t have any antithestic to numb the area.”
“It’s okay, I’m sure I've felt worse,” I said.
“Ready?” Marla asked.
“Yeah, let’s get it done,” I said with a nod.
I sat there and stared forward as Marla started to stitch me up. The pain was annoying, but I hadn’t been lying to Tara when I told her I had felt worse. Plus, not getting this taken care of would only lead to more pain in the future.
Jenny came in right as Marla was finishing up.
“How’s it going?” Tara asked.
“Justin and I got everything moved into two trucks,” Jenny said. “We’re ready to go whenever you guys are.”
“I think we’re almost finished here,” I said.
“I’ll be done in a couple minutes,” Marla said as she remained focused on my arm.
“No rush,” Jenny said.
Marla tugged her last stitch through and tied it off. Then she pulled out a small pair of medical scissors and snipped off the extra.
“Thanks, Doc,” I said with a smile.
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “Now that we don’t have access to as much clean water and soap, infection is a real concern. You’re going to want to want to do all you can to keep it clean. ” She reached into her first aid kit and pulled out a small orange bottle. “These are antibiotics. I would recommend taking one a day for the next couple days just to make sure nothing sets in.”
“Keep those ones,” I said. “We have our own supply of them back at home.”
“At least take one tonight,” Marla insisted as she poured one out and handed it to me.
I popped the pill into my mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed it.
“We could have gotten you some water,” Tara said with a grimace.
“It’s okay,” I said. I stood up and looked at my arm. There was still a tender red spot around the wound, but it felt better and looked nicer than it had a half an hour ago. I turned to Marla and gave her a large smile. “Thank you. This’ll make the rest of my night a lot easier.”
“I hope you stop to sleep at some point,” Marla said as she started to clean and pack away her tools.
“I will once we are done returning everything,” I said.
“Well, if you can try to take it easy for a couple days,” she said.
“I’ll try,” I lied. I didn’t have a choice but to make a move on that outpost, and the sooner, the better. The element of surprise would be our main ally in this fight.
“So are we good?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” I said. With a smile, I turned my attention to her and Jenny. “Let’s go visit Briar.”
The girls rushed for the door, and I followed after.
Justin and Marla followed us outside and waved at us from the doorway as we started to load up. The girls took one truck leaving me alone in the other.
I was just about to head out when I remembered just how badly Briar had been hurt when we left him. At first I had just planned to bring Paige up to take care of him, but it would be awhile before I could make that happen. I stuck my head out the window. “You know, if you’re up for it, I might be able to use your skills more Marla.”
“What do you need?” The woman asked.
“Briar needs someone to extract a bullet and patch him up,” I said. “I know it’s late, but if you’d be willing to come with us I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”
Marla and Justin had a brief conversation with each other before the blonde woman looked at me and nodded. “I’ll go grab my stuff.”
As I waited for her, I just hoped that what Tara and I had done for Briar earlier had been enough to keep him alive.
Chapter 13
I followed the taillights of the truck in front of me as we drove along the dark path from the road to Briar’s farm, and Marla sat beside me with the first aid kit in her lap. Justin had been more than happy to watch the kids so that she could come with us. We didn’t talk much during the trip on account of how tired both of us were.
It started to rain again on the trip over to Brair’s farm, and I found myself, once again, glad that Jenny could guide us. Navigating dark and wet roads was easy enough, but none of the paths up to these farms were obvious enough to find without knowing where to look.
We pulled up outside the farmhouse and turned off the trucks. The rainy night was almost pitch black, but thankfully there were enough flashlights to go around. The house still looked in bad shape, but a piece of plywood had been put up to act as a makeshift door, and there were boards throw over the broken windows.
“Looks like Briar’s been busy,” Tara said as she walked over to me.
“I hope that’s a good thing,” I replied.
“If he’s been shot, he shouldn’t be doing anything this strenuous,” Marla said.
“Well, let’s go make sure he’s okay and bring back his stuff,” I said.
“I’m going to help Jenny unload Briar’s animals,” Tara said. “She’s eager to get back to her family.”
“I can’t blame her,” I said. “We’ll keep our time here short. I just wanted to make sure he’s okay and get that bullet out of him.”
“Of course,” Tara said with a nod. “We’ll come find you guys when we get done putting things back.”
“Have fun,” Marla said.
“Yeah, you too,” Tara replied before she jogged off.
“Briar, it’s Tav,” I yelled out as I knocked on the plywood door. “We took care of the convoy and brought back your animals.”
There was no response.
“I don’t like this,” Marla said as she looked at me and frowned. “We should just go inside.”
“Wait a second,” I said. “We don’t want to get shot.” I moved to the closest window and, wi
th the help of my flashlight, tried to look through the gaps between the boards. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see anything of note. “Briar, if you’re in there, I’m coming inside. Don’t shoot me, okay?” I made my way back to the door and pushed my way inside.
It was oppressively dark inside, and my flashlight didn’t feel bright enough as I took a look around. All the furniture inside had been shifted to form barricades between the different rooms. Briar had clearly not felt safe after the National Guard attacked him.
“It looks like no one’s here,” Marla whispered and came in behind me.
“He has to be here,” I said. “There’s nowhere else for him to go.”
“What if we split up?” Marla asked. “This place isn’t very big, and if something goes wrong, I can just yell for you.”
“Let’s not risk it,” I said. If it had been any of my girls, I wouldn’t have had a problem with the idea, but Marla wasn’t trained like they were. The only reason I brought her into a possibly dangerous situation like this in the first place was because she had skills that we needed.
I slipped over the couch and into the dining room area. That’s where I found Briar. He was lying on the ground with his gun by this side. He wasn’t conscious and the bandage on his shoulder was soaked red with blood.
Marla let out a gasp, rushed to his side, and put her fingers on his neck.
“He’s got a pulse. Thank God.” She immediately pulled on a pair of latex gloves and got to work unpacking her supplies.
“What can I do to help?” I asked.
“Keep that light trained on us and keep it steady,” she said.
I nodded and crouched down beside her.
“He’s breathing is steady at least,” Marla said as she pulled off the bloody bandage. The area around the hole was covered in a mixture of dried blood and t-shirt fuzz.
“This looks a bit worse than my bit of shrapnel,” I said.
“It’s a lot worse,” Marla said. “Once I get this bullet out of him I’m taking him home with me. Justin and I can look after him until he’s healed up enough to be on his own again.”
“That’s really nice of you,” I said. Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but smile a little. It was refreshing to see such acts of kindness and community. This was the sort of stuff we needed to do to get through.