Into the Apocalypse

by William Dunaway

  I thought about all the people that were either murdered by Billy and Thatcher, under the direct orders of Orville and those they didn’t kill, how many starved to death? I thought of all those that we had to kill, defending ourselves from his orchestrated attack and how many of them would’ve been killed by Orville, Avery or his sons if they refused to be a part of it.

  How many people have been killed or had their lives ruined by the four of them is the distant past?

  I looked around the kitchen and noticed that each room, including the kitchen, had the old wall mounted wall heaters. They were solid and attached to the piping coming out of the floor.

  I spoke up, “Listen, we have to move all of this food out as soon as Tag comes back with the trailer so let’s secure them to these heaters. That way no one has to watch over them, and we can all pitch in.”

  Mo nodded his head yes and grabbed Orville who instantly started fighting. I could hear him trying to cuss at us even with the tape over his mouth.

  Mo pulled his handgun and pointed it at Orville’s crotch, “You either cooperate, or I’m going to shoot you right in the balls.”

  Even to a man that probably knows that he’s going to die one way or the other, the idea of being shot in the crotch is just fearful.

  Orville then started cooperating. He moved him over to one of the heaters, and I threw Mo another zip cuff. He put the cuff around the main pipe and zipped it tight onto Orville's wrists.

  Avery didn’t put up a struggle at all. I don’t know if he suspected anything, but he believed that he wasn’t going to be hung and that’s all that mattered to him. Or so he thought. I had Mo re-tape his mouth with duct tape, and then he cuffed him the very same way to a separate heater that was on the other side of the room.

  I walked over to Mo and whispered, “As soon as we get all the food out of here and we check the rooms for anything else that can be used, I want the bodies of the elderly couple brought in and placed right in front of both of them, so that they can see and smell them.”

  Mo looked at me with an indescribable look on his face. He didn’t have a clue what I had planned, but he knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  When Tag arrived with the jeep and trailer, we started loading the few guns they had plus all the food in the house and the storm shelter. There was enough that it pretty well filled the 8’x 10’ trailer. When we loaded the last of everything, I walked over, crossed the fence and picked up my bug-out-bag.

  As I was walking back, I saw Mo talking to Wit who got an astonished look on his face. He looked at me with the same look and then nodded his head yes. He pulled a couple of pair of medical gloves out of the small pack that he always carried and walked over to Red and handed him a pair of the gloves while telling him what they had to do.

  They both walked over to the shed and opened the door. Since Wit knew what to expect, he warned Red to hold his breath, then he went in first and took the tarp off the bodies. Red tried not to look directly at them while grabbing the tarp and wrapping the man in it. They carried him into the house where they took off the tarp and laid him right in front of Orville, where, unless he kept his eyes closed, he couldn’t help but see him. When the two of them walked out of the house, Red immediately started vomiting and Wit, even though gagging, resisted it enough to fight it off.

  They returned to the shed and did the same thing with the elderly woman, except this time they laid her in front of Avery. As soon as they came back out, I told them to all stay outside and to get ready to go.

  While I was walking back in the house, I could hear the guys speculating on what I was doing, but no one questioned me. They double checked the load then climbed into the jeep.

  When I made it upstairs I grabbed the oil lamps that they had and took them down to the kitchen. When I looked at Orville and Avery, I could hear them choking and could see their cheeks were bulging, probably full of vomit. The smell of the elderly couple was dreadful. I even had the urge to vomit, but I fought it off easier than I normally could’ve, as I was working out of pure vengeance. I then walked into the living room where one other oil lamp was sitting.

  I took the top off of each oil lamp and poured it on and around the body of the elderly woman. I then grabbed the next one and did the same with the man. I took the third one and poured the oil on the floor from the base of the stove to the bodies and then over to both Avery and Orville.

  Both were trying to talk and panicking while trying to break free. I walked over to Avery, stooped down and said, “I’m going to keep my word, you’re not going to hang.”

  I moved over to Orville and squatted right in front of him. I stared at him for a minute, “Carmen wouldn’t approve, and I’m sure I’ll pay a price for this, but this is for your crimes against all the people that died because of you…..this is for what you did to Carmen.”

  I ripped the tape off of Orville’s mouth and did the same to Avery. Both started screaming that I couldn’t do this and I heard Orville yell, “Who the hell is Carmen? I don’t know any Carmen!”

  Both of them started begged for me to let them go. Soon though, Avery started cursing me with every foul word he could think of.

  I walked over to the table, looked back at them and smiled. I picked up the final oil lamp that was sitting on the kitchen table, but this time I left the top on it. I walked over to the stove and turned on the burner to high and set the lamp on top of the burner.

  As I was walking out, I stopped and looked at Avery, “You’re going to wish we hung you,” and I walked out the door.

  When I got into the passenger seat, a couple of the guys asked me what I did. I didn’t say anything. Tag then asked what we were doing. I told him to wait, and I sat there and listened. We could hear both Orville and Avery yelling non-stop but soon, I heard what I was waiting for, a loud popping sound, which was the lantern exploding due to the heat and pressure. Quickly, I heard both Orville and Avery screaming at the top of their lungs, then I heard the screams turn from fear to pain. All of us looked back into the house where we could see a flame engulfing the kitchen area.

  Soon one of the screams stopped, then the other, as the house started bellowing out thick smoke. All the guys looked at me with almost horror on their faces.

  “ Let's go!” I yelled.

  Tag, being stunned, sat there momentarily and shook his head as though he was trying to wake himself up. He reached down and started the Jeep, and we drove away.

  No one said a thing the entire trip except when we drove through Pine City. At that point, without looking at anyone in particular, I said, “ I want to give most of this food to the remaining people in Pine City but let's go home first.”

  When we got home, both Kim and Mia came out to greet us. Kim threw her arms around me, “Don’t ever do anything like this again.”

  I just smiled, “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

  “Did you take care of those bastards?”

  Red chuckled, “Oh, he took care of them alright. Let’s just say we will never have to worry about Orville Lebowski or Avery ever again.” He then looked to the north of Pine City, which caused us all to look and you could see the large tower of smoke.

  Kim looked at me with a funny look but didn’t ask any questions. She just hugged me once again and hung on for a good minute. Then Mia came up and gave me a big hug, and we all went inside.

  Later, I went down and talked to Jake and told him about the girls and how we got Orville and Avery. I didn’t go into the details, as I wasn’t sure how Jake would’ve reacted. Jake agreed to take in the girls as we didn’t have room for them but mainly because Jake and his family had lots of experience working with troubled and abused teens. Brandy agreed to visit the girls often and check up on them.

  We gave Jake his choice of the food that Orville and his crew had stored up, and then after giving our neighbors and friends what they needed, we took the remaining up to Pine City. To them, it was like the best Christmas they had ever experienced.

 
Later, when I went in to lay down, Kim came in and talked to me as she could tell that something was bothering me.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m just tired from not getting any sleep last night.”

  “Are you sure you’re not bothered by what you did to those bastards?”

  I laid there for a moment and turned to her, “No. I don’t have a problem with eliminating them or even by how I did it. They deserved a hellish death. The world is better off without them. Some will say that I didn’t have the right to be judge, jury, and executioner but I know as long as they were alive they were a threat to us and everyone else.

  What bothers me is not what I did but what was in my heart when I did it. Sure, I was protecting all of us and eliminating a major threat and making them pay for their crimes. But……., my intent was also driven by pure hate and revenge. I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to die slowly remembering everyone they hurt and killed. As I said, I wanted them to have a slow hellish death. That’s the part that bothers me, the hate that was inside of me.”

  She rubbed my back for a while and said, “I know that has to bother you and I know why. That kind of hate isn’t a natural part of you. But I think part of it is, you’re worried that you’re going to be held accountable for that hatred you had in your heart. Not by man but by God. Maybe you will, but by eliminating them, you did the right thing. You did what it took to protect us and anyone that may have come in contact with them. As far as what God thinks, talk to him, pray to him, open yourself up to him. That’s all you can do. Your overall intention was to eliminate the threat and make them pay for their crimes. The bottom line is, you got rid of the threat.”

  I gave her a kiss, “I’ll be alright. I just need some sleep and try to let go of the recent past.”

  She then changed her tone, “But don’t ever go off on your own that way. I understand that if Mike hadn't been in the right spot, you probably wouldn’t be here with me right now.” She then slapped me hard on my butt, “I’m completely serious. Don’t pull this stuff ever again. I need you to be here with me.”

  Chapter Eight

  The next few weeks were very peaceful and productive. Compared to many, we had it good. Yes, we lost one that we loved, but she died like a soldier and a hero. We’ve had to face the death of one of our own. The guys and I’ve seen it before. Maybe not quite the same but we have to look at it the same way. We’ll always have her in our memories, but it is time to stop mourning and prepare for whatever is next in our lives.

  We had heard what sounded like several ATVs driving around the area, but for the most part, they always seemed to be at a distance, and it was usually to our east. Obviously, those that were still alive had figured out that the older vehicles would run, just as long as they didn’t have electronic components.

  The quiet behavior of the guys on the ride home from taking care of Orville and Avery bothered me. I was really starting to wonder if maybe they thought I went too far as I know many would’ve. I had talked to them the next day, but they assured me that they didn’t think twice about it and felt Orville Lebowski, and Avery got exactly what they deserved.

  Tag stated what he was thinking about was all the lives that ended because of Lebowski and Mo and Red stated they were thinking about the poor little girls.

  Wit had no problem with how I did it, but I know in the back of his mind he thought that if we would’ve killed them earlier on the day they came out to the farm, many may not have died. I know I still had those thoughts occasionally. But I realized if things hadn't gone down as they did, we wouldn’t have known about Cadence and Beverly, and they’d still be being abused by Harold Wesley.

  Who knows for sure why things happen the way they do. Many times it’s because of our stupid decisions, but sometimes things go down the way they're supposed to.

  We did have one bittersweet day. While on patrol, Red and Wit were checking out some of the back roads when suddenly a small dog ran out of the weeds trying to chase the motorcycles and Red hit the dog before he could even react. Thank goodness it killed the dog instantly but Red loved dogs, and it actually brought tears to his eyes.

  It happened right in front of a home, so they carried the dog up to the house to let the owners know. To Red and really any decent person, when you hit someone's dog, and you think you know who owns it, you let that person know and not just keep driving.

  He carried the dog to the front door and laid it on the ground out of sight, so it wouldn’t be the first thing the owners saw. He knocked on the door but there was no answer, so he walked around to the back of the house to see if anyone was in the backyard but there was no one around. He decided to leave a note telling the owners how sorry he was. He opened the storm door to leave the note between the door and the door frame, and he noticed the main wood door was open slightly. He decided to drop the note inside the house, and as his nose got closer to the opening, he smelled a familiar odor. The smell of death.

  They both looked through the front windows, and they could see two bodies. They decided to check it out, so out of past experience, they covered they noses with neckerchiefs that they wore for going down dusty roads, and what they discovered was as gruesome as the dead bodies of the elderly couple that we found in the shed where Lebowski was. The stench was unbearable. There was a slender woman that was probably around 40 sitting in a chair with an empty vial of insulin on the end table. Laying on the sofa was a man who had obviously committed suicide using a shotgun.

  What we suspect is, the woman apparently had diabetes and died because she ran out of insulin. Then the man, not wanting to live without his wife, shot himself by placing the shotgun’s barrel onto his chest and pulled the trigger. We’ll never know for sure, but one piece of evidence that we did find was a grave about 4 feet deep that had been dug in the backyard, probably by the husband. Maybe he dug it and then became so overwhelmed he decided to kill himself.

  Wit called us on the radio, and we went down to help with the bodies. The house was on an isolated gravel road, and apparently, it was on a private drive even though it was extremely difficult to tell.

  Mike checked out the body of the man. Red pointed out a long stainless steel forked skew that people use for roasting hot dogs or Smores at a campfire.

  “I wonder what in the hell he had this out for? Did he think about stabbing himself at first?” Red asked.

  Mike replied, “No, I’ve seen this before. Since he shot himself in the chest, it would be almost impossible with that length of a shotgun for him to reach the trigger, so he probably used the skew to reach down and push the trigger.”

  “Why would anyone want to shoot themselves in the heart?” I asked.

  “Well think about it. With a shotgun, it is basically going to blow your whole heart apart.”

  “Yeah but your chest and heart nerves send the pain signals to the brain and no telling how long it actually takes for your body to die, even with your heart blown away completely. It may only be seconds, but to the mind, it could seem like forever.”

  We buried the couple together, along with their dog, in the grave that was dug and then placed several large rocks on top of it to discourage animals from digging it up. We checked for neighbors but the closest house was about a mile away, and it seemed abandoned.

  As cold-blooded as it may seem, I had the guys check for anything that we could use. Then in a pole barn that was used as a garage, we found a mother load of treasure. Obviously, the man worked for NGA Oil and delivered propane, as there was a propane truck sitting in the garage. We checked the gauge which was luckily not electronic, and it was ¾ of the way full. Then, one more large nugget that we found was a propane generator that the man had connected to the house. I had always wanted to buy a propane generator, but since I already had three other generators, I could never justify it.

  The truck didn't run of course but using the jeep and a log chain; we pulled it back to the farm. Before we could use it to fill the tank, Jake a
nd Red would have to perform some of their magic to figure out a way to pump it out, but it was still a Godsend.

  Sometimes you feel bad finding treasures like this when it is associated with some other person’s death, but they were dead. There was nothing we could do about that and if we didn’t take it, someone else would, so we learned to accept the blessing, however tragic the circumstances around it were.

  When we got home, Paul and I switched out the generators using the lines that the man had set up from his propane tank. Now we could run the generator for longer periods and not have to worry about using gasoline. The propane generator would only work for the lights, fridge, and freezers as it was only 3500 watts but we could still use the gas generator for the few times that we wanted to use the hot water heater and now even for the clothes dryer periodically when winter comes.

  ****

  About a week after the incident, we woke to what was going to be a very happy day, especially for one of us.

  I was cuddling with Kim in bed as I love the feel of her body against mine in the morning. It actually made me feel secure, and it still amazes me how after all these years it still turned me on a bit as well. But I had known for a long time not to try for any fooling around in the morning, or I would be in for a big disappointment. I was a morning person when it came to sex but not Kim as she more of a night time person. Sometimes she would give me a pleasant surprise in the morning or the middle of the day even, but that was very rare. Most of the time, if we were going to fool around, it’d be at night. She loved cuddling against me in the morning, and when I would start rubbing on her back, she made sounds like we were making love but I had learned not to try too often, or I was just going to end up frustrated.

  After laying there a good extra thirty minutes, she finally announced that she needed to get up and fix breakfast. Of course, I hung on and protested and told her to let the others do it but my vote was vetoed.