War Zone: Homefront

by Thomas A. Watson

  “Call her back,” Nathan told Amanda. Amanda had to say it twice, but Athena let go. “Love on her, but not extravagantly,” Nathan told Amanda when she called Athena back.

  “John, tell Apollo to attack, just like you do Ares,” Nathan said.

  Pulling his hand back, John fought not to let it join his left hand still on his crotch. “Apollo, time to work,” John said, and Apollo jumped up, looking ahead.

  “Wow,” Nathan mumbled when John told Apollo to attack and he took off.

  John watched in shock, even letting his left hand fall to his side. “He listened,” John said in awe as Apollo latched on the man’s left arm and yanked it from him cradling his manhood.

  “Jasmine, Natalie, come work with Ares. Casey, since Athena listens to you, join Amanda,” Nathan said.

  When he called Apollo back, John dropped down loving on Apollo, even wrapping his arms around Apollo’s neck. “That boy’s braver than me,” Rusty admitted with no shame.

  For fifteen minutes they sent the dogs down one at a time, and the man still hadn’t acknowledged any other bite. To prove the point to John, Nathan had Amanda and Jasmine try to get Apollo to attack, but he wouldn’t. Apollo would only follow basic commands. When John sent Apollo down the fourth time, Apollo latched on the man’s right arm, pulling it out from between the man’s legs. “That’s it, get him, Apollo!” John cheered, and Apollo got hostile with the thrashing of his head.

  “John, when you cheer Apollo, just like Ares, that increases his ferocity,” Nathan said, and Apollo ripped the man’s right bicep off. That was enough to overshadow the pain from his groin and the man howled, grabbing the wound. “John, call break,” Nathan said quickly.

  “Apollo, break!” John shouted as Apollo dropped the hunk of meat, about to go in again. “Apollo, heel up,” John said, and Apollo ran back in bouncing leaps. When he reached John, John dropped down hugging Apollo tight.

  “Amanda, send Athena down before he bleeds out,” Nathan sighed, then shouted out, “pussy!” at the moaning prisoner. “My dog tried to let you rape his mouth like you did with those women, asshole!”

  Athena bounded down after Amanda told her and latched on, but the man only gave out weak moans as the blood poured from his arm. When Amanda called Athena back, Nathan pulled the sprinkler over by the bowls and let the dogs get soaked while they lapped up water.

  Taking off his vest, backpack, weapons, and helmet, Nathan joined the dogs under the sprinkler. “Bill, you and Rusty will drive the truck and trailer. I’m thinking Tim and Aiden can drive the side by sides,” Nathan suggested.

  “Sounds good,” Bill nodded, glancing up to see the sun would be setting soon. “Want us to haul ass to the north logging road, then pull down to the south ATV trail?”

  Nodding, “Yeah, we’ll go back the way we came. Shouldn’t be there much sooner than you,” Nathan said.

  “Nathan, those don’t look like your side by sides. They look more like dune buggies,” Jasmine said.

  “They’re Razors,” Nathan told her. “One’s a two seater and the other is a quad seat. They just don’t have the bed on the back you can shove a ton of shit in.”

  After fifteen minutes, Nathan sent the kids and dogs back, but had Rusty haul over the prisoner while he soaked under the sprinkler. Talking about alternate routes with Tim and Bill for almost ten minutes, Nathan froze to hear Amanda shout, “Ares, frank and beans!”

  “Damn it, Amanda!” Nathan bellowed, jumping up. He turned just in time to see Ares attack. The man was no fool and had seen what that was, and was more than willing to sacrifice his hands to save the frank and beans. “Amanda, call break,” Nathan shouted, running over.

  Ares knocked the man down and bit the man’s face. This caused the man to lose his focus and remove his hands, and Ares let go and lunged down. When the man let out an ear-splitting scream, Nathan slowed his run letting out a groan. “Ares, break!” Amanda shouted, slapping her leg.

  “It doesn’t work after he locks on!” Nathan shouted at her. “I swear, he thinks it’s funny the way they scream when he does that!”

  “I don’t think it’s funny,” Rusty commented.

  “Ares has done that before?” Jasmine asked, watching Nathan glare at Amanda as he stormed past her.

  “Yeah, on a drug raid,” Bill said, trying to grin at the memory, but just couldn’t. “It’s not like Nathan can let it be known he has a dog that’s trained to take out the cock and balls. To be honest, Nathan probably would use it more, but Ares thinks when he grabs the frank and beans, they belong to him.”

  Reaching Ares, Nathan stood over the man while Ares would give occasional shakes of his head, making the man scream. No matter how still the man stayed, Ares wouldn’t stop the thrashes. “Ares, break,” Nathan said softly, and Ares looked up at him with his mouth locked on the man. “You fucking bite me when I pull you off, I’ll kick your ass and chop up your woobie,” Nathan threatened.

  When Nathan reached down, Ares let out a growl at him and shook his head side to side violently for a second, making the man howl in pain. For a brief second, Nathan was tempted to just let Ares hang on until he got tired, but the command to release had been given. Taking a deep breath, Nathan dove down.

  Fighting Ares loose, Nathan tried to shove him back, but Ares snapped at his hand and then lunged back down, locking again on the man’s crotch.

  “Okay, now I’m terrified of Ares,” Tom moaned.

  Cursing at Ares, Amanda, and the world, Nathan fought Ares off two more times, only to have him latch back on. “Will you keep your dick covered?!” Nathan yelled at the screaming man.

  Beyond pissed-off, “Apollo, time to work!” Nathan shouted, and Ares stopped thrashing his head suddenly.

  “Uh-oh,” Jasmine gasped, seeing Apollo bound away from John to Nathan. Undoubtedly, Ares knew Apollo was coming and didn’t want any because he let go and jumped out of Nathan’s arms, sitting down before Apollo reached them. “Ares is scared of his daddy.”

  Yanking his knife out, Nathan spun around and stabbed the screaming prisoner in the back of the head. The scream cut off and he yanked the knife out, glaring at Ares. Sitting across from Nathan with his tongue hanging out as he panted, like he hadn’t done anything wrong, Ares’ eyes glanced at Apollo just beside Nathan, then focused back on Nathan.

  Getting his breathing under control, Nathan sheathed his knife and stood up. “If you would’ve listened, just this once, I would’ve let you latch back on and stayed there till it snowed!” Nathan shouted at Ares. He glanced down to see Apollo standing rigid, staring at Ares. “Apollo, sit,” he said softly, and Apollo sat down.

  “I’m sorry!” Amanda called out, running over and saw Nathan had gotten his ass kicked by Ares. Athena may not have known how to fight Nathan, but Ares did. His face had several claw marks, and there was another bite on his left arm and one on his right forearm. “I just wanted to see if he would do it,” Amanda admitted in a mumble.

  “Oh, Ares will do that attack for anyone. It took months to make him stop it after I used it once during a raid!” Nathan shouted as he got up. Seeing Amanda drop her head looking at her boots, Nathan gave a sigh and moved over, hugging her.

  “Just promise me you won’t tell him that again,” Nathan offered.

  “I promise,” Amanda squeaked out between sobs.

  Letting Amanda go, Nathan walked over and shot the other prisoners, and told Amanda to get the leg shackles. Pulling out a large magic marker, Nathan made a sign on a large piece of cardboard. Then everyone gathered around the truck looking at the map, but the adventures weren’t done for the day.

  When everyone heard the unmistakable buzz of a rattlesnake, they took off running in whatever direction they were facing. More than one screamed out obscenities as they ran, and two who weren’t girls let out very young, girl-like screams. Glancing back as he pushed his legs, John saw Ares bouncing back as a snake struck at him. When the snake pulled back, Ares darted in to grab the snake almost
at the tip of its tail. Leaning forward, John pushed his legs harder while Ares started beating the snake off his rattle.

  Wondering who’d screamed like little girls when he stopped twenty yards away, Nathan turned around to see the snake was fully extended as Ares thrashed his head about, smashing the snake into the ground with loud slaps. “I’m afraid one day, I’m going to shoot that damn dog,” Nathan mumbled as Ares let the snake go.

  Shaking his head, Nathan followed the arc of the long black shadow up through the clear twilight sky. When the snake landed not five feet from him, Nathan ran over to the snake laid out straight as an arrow and put his boot behind the head. Lowering his AR, he blew the head off as Ares grabbed the body just before the rattle, picking the beat down right back up.

  Nathan turned to Jasmine. “See? That’s why I know Ares thinks screams are funny, because the first time he did that I jumped into the Colorado River, and you see who he just threw it at,” Nathan told her.

  “I want a clause in the marriage. If he throws a snake on me I can kill him, and you won’t leave me,” Jasmine offered.

  Giving her a nod, Nathan headed to the horses while Ares thrashed about, getting the dead snake off his rattle. When they left, Jasmine grinned at the sign nailed to the house.

  Cannibals, Murderers, Rapists

  Death to all

  THE POSSE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The group made camp at midnight, just eight miles from the compound. Before dawn, Nathan rode ahead to let the compound know they were returning with rides. It may have only been eight miles, but they were all traveled by ATV trail, and it took three hours to drive the truck and trailer into the valley.

  It was near noon and Nathan was out in the shop beside his cabin with his kids, the posse, and the little posse, working on the five ATVs and two Razors. On the porch, Jasmine was with the wives, setting up sandwiches for the group. Glancing over at the right side of the house, Jasmine saw three of the four-wheelers were broken down. “What are the shiny pieces of metal for?” Jasmine asked as Nathan walked closer to the porch.

  “Just sheet metal to enclose the engine in a shroud,” Nathan answered, picking up Emma. “The white board they put on first is insulation board. When we get finished, these won’t be much louder than the Warthogs.”

  Giving an impressed nod, “That’s all good, but we, and I mean the kids and I, aren’t going out on ATVs till we learn how to drive them,” Jasmine told him again.

  Crossing his eyes and putting on a goofy face, “DUuuuh,” Nathan sang out.

  “You already have bandages on both forearms and right hand. You want one on your head after I thump a knot on it?” Jasmine asked, crossing her arms.

  “Found ‘em,” Sherry said, coming out holding two shoe boxes. When she spotted Jasmine at the side of the porch, Sherry’s step faltered, feeling the frigid air between them. “What’s the problem?”

  Turning to Sherry with a smile, “Nothing,” Jasmine answered.

  Giving a soft chuckle, Sherry moved to the side of the porch as Nathan came over, shifting Emma to his right arm as his left dug in his front pocket. “Here,” Nathan sighed, passing over the rattle. “I really thought you’d forgotten those.”

  “Like we would,” Sherry huffed, opening the top shoe box and Jasmine’s eyes got huge to see it was filled with rattlesnake rattles of different sizes. “Sorry, full one,” Sherry mumbled, putting the other one on top and opening it.

  Seeing the other box was halfway full, “Ares is only two and a half. How the hell can he kill that many rattlesnakes? There aren’t that many around here!” Jasmine cried.

  “Please,” Nathan scoffed, stepping over and tossing the newest one in. “He’s only killed maybe ten or fifteen in Idaho. Ares has been to Texas four times, and I’ll kiss your ass if he didn’t kill thirty the last time.” When Jasmine whipped her head to look at him in shock, “Shit, in Arizona, he killed twenty-three in one day. Felt like I was dodging gunfire.”

  Turning back to the shoebox before Sherry closed it, “Nathan, I’m not kidding, Ares throws a rattlesnake on me, I’m going ‘Amanda’ on his ass cranking the gat,” Jasmine assured him.

  Setting the shoeboxes down, Sherry nodded. “Told Nathan the same damn thing.”

  “Has Ares ever tossed one at anyone else?” Jasmine asked timidly.

  “Shit, yeah. Why do you think Bill didn’t stop running till he was halfway up that mountain?” Nathan told her, turning around. “Hey, Bill!” he called out.

  Bent over one of the ATVs helping John and Robin, so nobody else would, Bill turned to Nathan wearing a huge grin. “Yeah?”

  “Does Ares throw rattlesnakes on you?!” Nathan shouted, and Jasmine watched the grin fall off and Bill’s hand dropped to the pistol on his hip. Bill turned around scanning for Ares and spotted him beside a tree with Apollo and Athena, just watching the group.

  “Yeah, and if he does it again, I’m running his ass over!” Bill shouted, staring hard at Ares.

  “Bill,” Janice laughed, coming over. “Remember the last time, you jumped in a car? You climbed into the truck in Oklahoma and Ares brought the snake in the cab?”

  A shiver ran up and down Bill’s spine making him dance in a circle, and Jasmine couldn’t help but chuckle. “You left the door open!” he screamed at his wife.

  “No shit,” Janice snapped. “I see Ares with a six-foot rattlesnake in his mouth coming right at me, and I knew I didn’t have enough time to close the door.”

  “You didn’t have to let him in! You could’ve shut the door when you took off! But no, you shut the fucking door after he jumps in with my ass!”

  “He wasn’t outside with me, and you’re a big boy,” Janice nodded.

  “You’re a vet!”

  Shaking her head, “That snake was past my help and was really pissed,” Janice countered. “I’m just glad you didn’t jump in a vehicle again the next time.”

  “Tim had the keys and the door wouldn’t open!” Bill spat at her, then turned to Nathan. “You think it’s funny?!”

  “Bitch, you don’t see me fuckin’ smiling!” Nathan shot back with a grim face. “If I hadn’t been training the dogs for so long, I would’ve outrun your ass over that ridge. I told you the first time not to scream so loud.”

  Utter shock filled Bill’s face. “Nathan, we were on a hike. I just took my backpack off to take a dump and a four-foot rattlesnake lands on my shoulder, almost wrapping around my neck. What the fuck does any sane person do when that happens?”

  Shivering, “Scream like a bitch and run like hell,” Jasmine stated.

  Waving his hand out to Jasmine, “See? She understands,” Bill said.

  Having a thought, “What did Ares do with the snake after he jumped in the truck with you?” Jasmine asked.

  “BEAT THE SPAWN OF HELL OFF THE RATTLE!” Bill screamed, and Jasmine noticed Robin fall to the ground behind her dad, laughing so hard she was holding her stomach.

  “I did pay to have your truck cleaned professionally. You didn’t have to trade it in,” Nathan chimed in.

  “I still had to drive us home with piss and shit all over my driver’s side and floorboard! And I never wanted to be on the inside of that truck again!”

  Trying not to laugh, “Bill, we were all trying to open the door to get you out, but you locked them,” Rusty said, climbing out from under another four-wheeler.

  Spinning around and almost stepping on his daughter, “Oh, motherfucker, let’s see how well you can think when a fucking dog’s beating a rattlesnake to death inside the cab of your truck!” Bill bellowed. Looking down at Robin rolling on the ground laughing, “What the hell are you laughing so hard for? We had to look around for you for half an hour!”

  Not answering, Robin just laughed harder rolling on the ground, and Bill just gave her a sneer as Rusty stepped over her. “You had your gun, Bill. You could’ve shot Ares, the snake, or yourself,” Rusty offered.

  Lifting his gaze up to Rusty’s face,
“What part of ‘you can’t think when a rattlesnake is being beat to death in your cab’ don’t you understand?” Bill almost growled.

  Janice held onto Jasmine to keep from falling down while she laughed. “Nathan,” Jasmine said calmly. “Ares does that to me, I’m shooting you in the leg after I kill him.”

  Turning to Jasmine, “Hey, bitch there has only had three snakes dropped on his ass!” Nathan spat, waving his arm toward Bill. “That fucker’s hit me with over a hundred last year alone.”

  “He’s your fucking dog!” Bill screamed, and all those working on the four-wheelers hit the ground laughing. In disgust, Bill turned, looking around him at everyone rolling around laughing. “I’m putting a rattlesnake in each one of your beds before the end of summer,” Bill growled, and the laughter stopped almost instantly.

  “Oh, Bill,” Jasmine sang out and he turned to her. “I wasn’t laughing about it, so you do that to me, I’m giving Ares a special attack command,” she warned, and Bill’s hands covered his manhood. “I’ll bandage Nathan after he pulls Ares off.”

  Seeing Jasmine really wasn’t laughing, “My apologies,” Bill nodded.

  “It was funny,” Janice said, wiping her eyes.

  “Not saying it wasn’t,” Jasmine shivered. “But, Janice, I’ve seen Nathan fight and kill against impossible odds and never lose his cool. Just the thought of him panicking, I know I would die on the spot if the same happened to me.”

  “Then don’t ever scream,” Janice warned. “I swear, Ares thinks it’s funny as hell. I’ve never seen a dog that smart. Ares got bit three times when he jumped in the truck with that snake, so he knows better. I’m telling you, he thinks it’s funny hearing people scream.”

  Nodding, “Oh, on that I have no doubt. Especially after watching Nathan fight to get Ares off after the attack Amanda ordered,” Jasmine confessed. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Ares not obey Nathan.”