Avenging Home

by Angery American

  “You can call me sir,” Sarge spat.

  With a snigger, Hyatt replied, “That’s quaint. You strike me as a military man. Am I to assume you are a subordinate in the local National Guard unit here in Eustis?”

  “You can assume what you want. But I am not. I am a First Sergeant in the 101st Airborne.”

  “Ah, the highest enlisted rank one can achieve,” Hyatt replied. “That makes you subordinate to Captain Sheffield and his lieutenant Livingston.”

  “There you go with your dumbass assumptions again. I am not subordinate to the Captain. And First Sergeant is not the highest enlisted rank. Dumbass.”

  Stopping the fan, Hyatt asked, “Then who do you answer to?”

  Feeling a little weird saying it, I replied, “Me.”

  Surprised, Hyatt began to fan himself again and said, “Now that is indeed strange. Seems to me to be a violation of several laws that a noncommissioned officer of the United States Army be subordinate to a self-appointed functionary such as a Sheriff.”

  “Look here, Porky. Morgan is the Sheriff, and he works directly with me in a joint effort with the Army to maintain security and provide as much aid as possible to the people here.”

  Hearing his superior referred to as Porky, Albert stepped forward. “I told you once to watch how you speak—“ Sarge cut him off when he drew his 1911 and thumbed the safety off.

  “Move one more inch and I’ll turn your head into a fucking canoe.”

  The other man behind Hyatt drew a pistol as well, which sent all of us into action. Additional people came out of the building, all armed and pointing weapons at us. We were likewise staring down the barrel of our weapons. I shouted for them to lower their weapons. It was starting to look like the OK Corral.

  Hyatt sat smugly in his chair, still fanning himself. Smiling, he said, “You see now you are not the only one with a force.”

  Dalton stepped forward and kicked the footrest of the barber’s chair, spinning it around. He quickly drew the big Kukri blade and grabbed Hyatt under the chin and pulled his head back. Laying the blade on Hyatt’s neck, he said, “You boys lay those weapons down or I’ll liberate his head from his shoulders.”

  Hyatt squirmed in the chair and cried out in a shrill voice. “Do as he says! Do as he says!”

  The men looked at one another, Albert nodded to them and they laid their weapons on the ground. With a jerk of his head, Dalton said, “Now back up.” When the men stepped back from their weapons, Dalton looked at Shane. “Get their weapons.”

  Hyatt was still squirming, kicking his pudgy legs in fright. “Gentlemen! Gentlemen, let’s not be rash!”

  Dalton sheathed the blade and slapped Hyatt’s bulky head, knocking his hat off. “Shut up, fat boy.”

  After Dalton released him and stepped back, Hyatt looked at Albert and pointed. “My hat please.”

  Albert picked the hat up and handed it to him. As Hyatt wedged it back on, Albert swiveled the chair back around. His face was red and he was now sweating profusely. Albert picked the paper fan up and handed it to Hyatt as well. Fanning himself furiously, Hyatt said, “There is no need for violence! This is totally unacceptable! Totally unacceptable! I will have to report this aggression to Captain Sheffield so that he may deal with you people accordingly.” Pointing at Dalton, he said, “I demand this brute be arrested!”

  Dalton smiled and snatched the Kukri from its sheath again. Hyatt let out a squeal and Dalton and Sarge both started to laugh as Dalton sheathed the blade. Hyatt patted his chest and fanned himself.

  “I think we’re done here,” I said.

  “I assure you sir, this is far from over!” Hyatt screeched back.

  Sarge looked at Albert and pointed at Hyatt. “Earlier, you deferred your comment to Porky here. I’m curious if defer your dinner to him as well. I mean look at this roly-poly. How the hell can you be this fat in today’s world?”

  “I have a thyroid condition sir! It is not proper to disparage one’s medical conditions,” Hyatt complained.

  Sarge laughed. “Shit. Only problem you got is that damn hole under your nose. You’re obviously cramming too much into it.”

  “And there’s a lot of shit coming out of it as well,” Dalton added.

  Hyatt looked at Dalton but said nothing. Looking at Sarge, he said, “What sort of barbaric town is this? If this how you treat people of my deference, I can only imagine how the common people here are treated.”

  Sarge wagged a finger at Hyatt. “You sure are hung up on yourself, aren’t you? You think you’re hot shit, don’t you?”

  Indignantly, Hyatt replied, “We all have our place in the world, sir!” Sarge laughed uproariously.

  “I can assure you one thing. Your place is not as our judge,” I said. Looking at Shane, I said, “Lock their weapons up at the PD for now.”

  “You can’t take our weapons!” Albert shouted.

  Now I laughed. “Oh but I can. You see, we have weapons and you don’t. Therefore, you can’t stop me.” Taking hold of the star on my vest I angled it out. “Plus, I’m the Sheriff. It’s my job to keep the peace. And I have a feeling you booger eaters will be trouble if you have weapons.”

  Finally, Hyatt got out of the chair, with much effort. He protested vigorously. “No sir, you will not take those weapons! These men provide me security and I will not be left vulnerable!”

  “You’re not. Shane and Sean are here to provide security in town. You waddle in here and start demanding deference. We don’t know you from Adam. We need a judge for sure, but your first concern was how much you’d get paid. Service to your community is just that, a service. It should be a burden. You’re exactly what was wrong with this country in the Before. I will not let you infect us with that kind of bullshit again.”

  Hyatt huffed, “Infect you? You, sir need to understand the need for the rule of law! People need order to live by. You can’t have people, such as yourself, deciding what is right and wrong.”

  Sarge snorted. “Oh, we need people like you deciding for us?”

  “You need educated people that can appreciate the need for the greater good.”

  “Then I suggest you move on and find a place where people can’t think for themselves. We’re good here,” I said.

  “Come on, Morgan. We got better shit to do,” Sarge said.

  “What about our weapons?” Albert asked.

  “You can come to the PD in a couple of days. We’ll talk about it then,” Shane said.

  We left as they protested, but we ignored them. Albert and the other men ran out into the road behind us as I drove away.

  “Shane, don’t you recommend any assholes like that again or I’ll smack the taste out of your mouth,” Sarge said.

  Shane was shaking his head. “I’m sorry. He wasn’t like that when I talked to him. He seemed like a smart guy and was nice enough.”

  “He was eager though,” Sean said.

  “We need someone from here. A local,” I said.

  “I thought an outsider might be better as they wouldn’t have any prejudices either way,” Shane said.

  We dropped Shane and Sean off at the PD and headed back to the armory to find Mike and Ted.

  Jess looked at the letters in front of her, then at the board. She picked up a letter and started to lay it down. Thinking better of it, she stopped and replaced in on the stand.

  “Aww, come on already!” Jamie shouted.

  Waving her hands on either side of her head, Jess shouted. “It’s my turn! Just wait a minute!”

  Jamie’s head rocked back onto the sofa. “Wake me up when it’s my turn.”

  There was a knock at the door and Doc stepped in. Jamie opened her eyes and looked up. “Oh great, nurse Ratchet is here.”

  Doc smiled, “Looks like you’re
getting back to your old pleasant self.”

  “Hi Ronnie,” Jess said with a wave and a smile. Fred looked at her with a devilish grin.

  “Hey Jess, Fred,” Doc said. Fred waved. Doc looked at Jamie. “Alright. You know the drill.”

  Jamie let out a loud breath as she pulled her shirt up. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

  Doc knelt down beside her. “Come on, it ain’t that bad.”

  “I’m just ready to get out of this house. I’m losing my mind sitting here.”

  Doc removed the dressing and examined the wound. “Well you’re in luck then. We don’t need to dress this anymore. It’s closed up nicely, so you can move around. Just take it easy for a few more days.”

  Jamie sat up quickly. “Great!” She grabbed her boots and started to pull them on. When she leaned over, she winced.

  Doc shook his head. “I told you to take it easy.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she replied as she slipped her feet into her boots without tying them.

  Jess looked up from the Scrabble game. “You wanna go for a walk?”

  “I want to go find Perez and get a cigarette.”

  “I’ll leave you ladies to it,” Doc said as he headed for the door.

  “See you later,” Jess said.

  Doc turned around at the door. He smiled, and with a nod, waved back. As soon as he shut the door, Jamie looked at Jess and said, “You’re pathetic.”

  Fred jumped up. “You know he likes you. Why don’t you just talk to him?”

  Jess shrugged. “I did talk to him.”

  Jamie scoffed. “Pffft, whatever.” She walked over to Jess and got right beside her. Running the back of her hand down Jess’s arm, she used a sultry voice to say, “Hi Ronnie.”

  Jess pulled away from her. “Get away from me,” she said with a laugh. The comment got a laugh out of Fred as well.

  “That’s talking to him, Jess,” Jamie said as she picked up her carbine. Looking over her shoulder, she added, “When you have clothes on anyway.”

  Jess blushed. “Oh stop it!”

  “Come on Jess. Let’s go look for those spices Kay wants,” Fred said as she grabbed her rifle from a rack by the door.

  Thad had built a ready rack and put it by the front door. Everyone quickly transitioned into using it. It was easy and convenient to place your weapon on it when coming in. It was also quicker than searching the house for where you happened to set it down last when you were leaving the house. These were little changes that nobody thought much of now. Guns were a part of life, a tool. And like any tool, they needed to be cared for properly.

  Jess went into the kitchen and grabbed a basket and picked up her carbine as she went through the door.

  “Let’s go get Mary. She needs to get out of the house too,” Jess said.

  “That sounds good. We need a girl’s day,” Fred said.

  “I don’t know. The last girl’s night didn’t end so well for me,” Jamie said.

  Fred snorted. “I guess you’re right about that.”

  They walked towards Danny’s house. Mary was there helping Kay. On their way, they stopped by the bunker where Aric and Perez were on duty. Fred ran over to Aric and gave him a hug and kiss. Jamie went over to Perez who was lying on top of the bunker with his hat over his eyes. Slapping him on the arm, she said. “Hey poppie, give me a smoke.”

  Perez lifted the hat and smiled. “Hey chica.” He sat up and swiveled his legs off the side. Taking a pack from his pocket, he shook one out and offered it to her. Jamie took the smoke and Perez lit it for her. Tilting her head back, she took a long drag, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

  “That is so good. Thanks Perez,” she said.

  When Perez was young, he suffered from bad acne. It left his face pock-marked. The combination of that and the dark skin that ran in his family, resulted in a lot of trash talk from other kids when he was in school. But the kids learned quickly that Perez was no pushover. He didn’t take shit off anyone, and was quick to throw knuckles. While he won most of his fights, he took his fair share of abuse. The end result was the cartilage in his nose was nearly destroyed, and when he smiled, his nose appeared to flatten across his already wide face. To mess with his nieces, he would take his finger and push his nose flat against his cheek. They would squeal and run from him.

  Perez smiled at Jamie and his silly-putty nose spread across his face. “Those things are bad for you.”

  Jamie smiled and blew him a kiss. “You know you love me.”

  Perez laughed and lit another cigarette. “Like the pain in the ass little sister I never had.”

  “But always wanted,” Jamie replied with a smile as she batted her eyes.

  The girls hung out for a bit while Jamie finished her smoke, then walked on down to Danny’s house. Bobbie, Mel, Kay and Mary were in the kitchen grinding meat. Fred looked into the tub of ground meat and said, “Looks good!”

  Kay smiled. “We’re having hamburgers for dinner.”

  “Bear burgers!” Little Bit shouted.

  “Sounds good to me,” Fred said.

  “Mary, we’re going to look for spices. Do you want to come?” Jess asked.

  Mary was using a pusher to force meat down into the grinder. She smiled and laid it down. “I’d love to.”

  Lee Ann was sitting on the sofa thumbing through an old magazine. She dropped it onto the cushion and jumped up. “I want to come too.”

  “Can I come?” Little Bit asked.

  Mel looked at Jess, and while she didn’t indicate anything either way, Mel could tell the girls wanted to get away and talk. She told Little Bit to stay with her. She was at the bar where the meat was being prepared kneeling on top of a bar stool. Picking up a piece of meat and dropping it into the top of the grinder, she said, “I never get to go anywhere.”

  Mel took over the duty of pushing the meat into the grinder and smiled at her. “You need to help me get these hamburgers done.”

  Little Bit’s attitude changed and she smiled. “I can’t wait! I want a hamburger now!”

  Kay was beside her cutting the bear into chunks and dropping them into a large tub. She bumped Little Bit with her hip. When Little Bit looked up, Kay winked. “I want one too.” Getting a happy, childish smile from the little girl.

  Fred looked out the kitchen at Danny, who was down at the pond with the kids. They had a small net and a jar, and were catching tadpoles and minnows. She nodded in his direction. “He seems to be a natural with the little ones.”

  Bobbie looked out the window. “He’s always wanted kids. They make him happy.”

  “He’s had plenty of practice over the years,” Mel said.

  Bobbie looked at Little Bit. “Having the girls around was always special to him. He loves you guys a lot.”

  Little Bit smiled as she picked up a chunk of bear meat. “I love Danny too. He’s my other daddy.”

  Bobbie took a deep breath and said, “What about me?” And pretended to cry.

  Looking bashful, Little Bit replied, “I love you too, Bobbie!”

  “Uncle Danny is more fun though, huh?”

  Little Bit didn’t know how to reply, so Mel helped her. “Danny does fun things outside and Bobbie does fun things inside, huh?”

  “Yeah! We always do crafts together and puzzles.” Little Bit’s eyes went wide. “We should do a puzzle!”

  “Maybe later. We have to finish this first,” Bobbie said.

  Little Bit looked out the window. “Can I go outside with them?”

  Mel nodded. “Of course. Have fun.”

  Little Bit jumped off the stool and headed for the door. “Wash your hands!” Bobbie shouted.

  The girls got another basket and left the house. They chattered as they walked east from Danny’s hous
e to start their search. In the back of the neighborhood the houses were sparse and located on one side of the road for the most part. Jess, Mary and Lee Ann went towards a large log home while Fred and Jamie went to a smaller home next to it.

  As they were crossing the yard, Jess looked at Mary. “Looks like you and Thad are getting really close.”

  Mary blushed a little. “He’s a nice man.”

  “I like him too. Thad’s really helped me. He’s like an uncle to me,” Lee Ann said.

  “He thinks a lot of you too. We talked about you guys a lot,” Mary said. Looking at Jess, she said, “He told me all about your trip home.” She laughed, “He said you drove Morgan nuts.”

  Jess laughed. “In my defense, Morgan did his fair share of ‘driving’.”

  “What was it like? You guys walking home?” Lee Ann asked.

  Jess’s mind drifted back in time. There were plenty of fond memories on the trip. But they were tempered with some horrors. She looked at Lee Ann. “Your Dad showing up saved me.” She laughed. “He didn’t want me to go with him, but I wouldn’t give up. I was in a bad place and things were going to get worse for me. But he finally gave in, and I followed him.”

  The girls walked up on the porch and sat down on the edge with their feet dangling over the side. Lee Ann laid her H&K across her lap and looked at Jess. “He didn’t want you to walk with him? Was he mean?”

  “No. He wasn’t mean. He was just so focused on getting home to you guys. He thought I would be a distraction or slow him down. That’s all it really was.”

  “Then you guys met Thad,” Lee Ann said.

  Jess laughed. “Yeah. Then we met Thad. I wasn’t happy about Thad at first, but Morgan liked him right away. Which was weird because we’d just had a conversation about not trusting anyone, and he brings the black Incredible Hulk along. I was scared of him.”

  Mary snickered. “Thad said you were afraid of him.”

  Jess looked at her. “Did he say anything? I mean, did it hurt his feelings?”