by Crane, J. J.
Walking back to the first car wedge, I saw June running toward me, her eyes filled with tears.
“Curtis?” I asked, my heart sinking.
“No,” June said, her body began to tremble. “Betty.”
“Oh my God,” I said. “Does Ted know… Samantha?”
“They do,” she choked out. “How’s Curtis?”
“Stabilizing,” June said. “In pain. Doc is with him. Thinks the bullet went in and out, missing anything vital.”
We embraced and held each other tight. “Will this madness ever end?” she asked.
“I think it’s over now,” I cooed as reassuringly as I could. Standing with June tight in my arms I heard Maya scream ‘DAD!’
Turning, I saw Maya trembling and pointing. I looked and spotted one of the prisoners from Pam’s house holding Sue, pointing a gun at her head.
“I’m getting out of here,” the big man who earlier mouthed off to Jason, said. His eyes darted all around looking to make sure no one was behind him or creeping up on his sides. “Anyone tries anything, and the girl dies.”
Sue had a petrified unblinking stare etched in her face, looking at us as if from a million helpless miles away.
“We have the keys to the truck,” Curtis said. “Let her go, and I’ll give you the keys.”
“Nice try,” the man said. “You think none of us had a spare set?”
“Come on,” I pleaded. “Let the girl go. I promise you can go unharmed.”
The man laughed as he brought Sue tighter into him. “Do you take me for a fool? This kid is my ticket out of here.” He continued to look around, slowly shuffling his way along the shoulder. “If I feel generous, maybe I’ll let her go up the road when I am well on my way home.”
I began to raise my rifle.
“Don’t even think it,” the man barked as he quickly picked Sue up to cover his torso. “Now, put down the rifle. If by the count of five it isn’t on the ground, she dies.”
He didn’t make it to two before my rifle lay on the road.
“Smart move,” the man said, loosening his grip on Sue.
A blast erupted. I dropped to the ground out of instinct. When I looked up, the man was dead, his head half missing. I couldn’t figure out what happened as Sue ran past me and into Emma’s arms.
Still leaning against the car, Emma loosely held a pistol in her hand. “She would have been good as dead if he kept her,” she whispered.
Sue kneeled next to Emma and touched her face.
“Sue, honey,” Emma said softly. “Why did you leave the house? I asked you to stay there… hidden.”
“I did,” Sue said. “Then the noise stopped, and I came looking for you.”
Emma smiled. She reached up and touched Sue’s cheek. “Hold me,” she whispered. “Hold me tight, so I can feel what love is like one last time.”
Sue tucked herself into Emma, wrapping her little bony arms around her. She squeezed Emma whispering something softly into her ear.
I could see Emma genuinely smile, relaxing into the little girl’s embrace. A moment later, Emma’s body slumped, her arm falling away from Sue’s back.
Sue began to sob. “Not you.”
Before I could think of what to do, June went over and carefully lifted Sue away from Emma’s body. “Come with me, sweetheart,” June said. “We have to let her rest in peace now. She knows that you love her. She will always know.”
The entire conflict lasted shy of an hour.
Of our attackers, we found thirty-eight bodies, nine wounded (including the six captured), the rest, dead. Our prisoners said three maybe four people got away. Pleading for their lives, they had no issue with revealing their purpose. Their leader, Ed James, dead in the woods, was a cousin of Lasker’s. He wanted to exact revenge for thwarting Lasker and his plans. It was their intention to secure as much of the territory east of Hartford, Connecticut as possible and create their own mini-kingdom. They felt they had the numbers, the supplies, and armament to make it happen.
The attacking force came well stocked. Every man came with at least five magazines of ammunition. However, they did not plan on the resistance they met. One of the prisoners said the mission sank when they couldn’t swarm the houses in a timely fashion. They didn’t expect two road barricades or the fortifications in the woods. The car of men who came from the south was to secure the rear and put down any resistance. Another prisoner said when our second and third heavy return fire pinned them down; many panicked and began wasting ammo.
For the enemy, the battle morphed into a series of improvised moves. Their leader, Ed James didn’t realize we held an arsenal of weapons or ammunition, let alone the ability to organize ourselves into a fighting unit. After several attempts to contact the guys back at the truck to prepare for a retreat, he knew something happened, and the tide had turned. It was then that James called for one last push. If they couldn’t overrun us, then he’d go down in a blaze of glory. I
shook my head in amazement at this revelation.
For us, we lost Betty, Dave, Bo (took a chest shot), Linda, Pam, Max, Beth, Jenny, Jason, and Emma.
In the wake of tears and tending to our wounded and dead, many of us had forgotten about the president’s address. Some wondered aloud if it was even worth listening to. Ted would have none of it.
“We didn’t fight this fight to let it go to waste,” Ted railed. “My wife would have demanded we listen. What’s the worth of sacrifice if we don’t stand through for what we believe in. We just finished off one evil, that corruption of the soul called absolute power. To not listen would be an insult to my… Betty…” Choking back tears, Ted looked at the group of people he stood before. “I’m hooking up the radio, and I’m cranking that thing, so everyone can hear what the president has to say. I want to know what’s in store before I have to break out a shovel and start digging graves.”
Shortly before noon, the neighborhood gathered outside our house. Nothing but the crackle of static emanated from the speaker Ted pushed up against the second story window. We looked at it as if it were a sacred relic to be worshiped.
The crackle in the static suddenly faded, and a voice said the president would speak shortly.
“It’s a new day brother,” Ted said as he put his hand on my shoulder and stood so the sun could beat down on our face.
His words never rang truer. “Yes, it is,” I said. But, a sense of dread overcame me. I wondered how much more blood would spill in the future? I wondered if we would ever experience any sense of normalcy or was what we just experienced, the new normal?
I felt June snuggle into my embrace. Curtis stood to my
other side, a large bandage taped to his side. He smiled when our eyes connected. Maya leaned into June.
I looked at June. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, her eyes painted with tiny
red rivulets from being so bloodshot. “We’ll get through this,
right?”
I nodded. “You bet we will.” As much as I wanted to believe that, I knew we had a long way to go. My thoughts turned again as I stared at the speaker in the window. I could not help but feel we were at the beginning of our journey. I had no idea what was happening out in the world. I wondered if we would have more of these wild west scenarios? How many people would I have to bury in the future? I hoped none, but as I looked around at our gathered community, I felt deep down that some of us would meet ends never imagined just a short time ago.
A voice then came through the speaker to distract my train of thought. “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.”
My fellow Americans, a microscopic plague was thrust upon this great nation and upon the world. Yet, I speak to you today from the Oval Office to inform you, I am here, many members of Congress and the Joint Chiefs are here and ready to lead, as we begin this rebuilding process. On this day, Patriot’s Day, we honor our forefathers, who created a new nation. They had a vision for how people should gove
rn themselves. They did not know what perils would lay ahead or troubles they would encounter. They only knew that through faith, a belief in their cause, that this new idea would bring forth a better way for all peoples to exist.
So now, I say to you Americans that are listening…on this Patriot’s
Day, all of us, together, this is the first day of a new world and a new journey to make great once more, the country we call, The United States of America…
The End