Authors: A. American
“Interesting,” Ted whispered.
“At least it’s passive,” Mike replied.
“I think we found them. Let’s back out, move across the road and try to get around them.”
Mike replied by giving Ted a slight squeeze on his shoulder, and then fell back. Ted followed him, and they slowly made their way back through the trees before crossing the road after a brief security pause. As they came abreast of the two men, they paused once again. Ted paid attention to their behavior. They stayed quiet and still for the most part.
“They have a little discipline,” Ted said.
“Yeah; but they think they’re safe in the dark though. They squirm around a little,” Mike added.
“Not as safe as they think they are.”
“Want me to take ‘em out?” Mike asked with a grin.
Ted looked at him, his face glowing green in the NVG, shaking his head he replied, “Not yet Dexter. Come on; let’s move out and see what’s behind them.”
This section of Demco road was dirt, the pavement giving way to the ever-present sugar sand of north central Florida. Mike and Ted were moving down the north side of the road when Mike grabbed Ted’s shoulder again. Ted immediately stopped and glanced back. Mike gave him the
I see
signal, and pointed down to the road surface. Ted looked down to see numerous footprints in the sand, coming from a trail on the opposite side of the road. The tracks turned down the road heading east, the way they’d just come. Ted nodded and moved out, going about thirty yards before taking a knee on the side of the road.
“Let’s parallel it and see where it goes,” Ted said. Mike nodded, and they quickly crossed the road, one at a time.
It didn’t take long for them to come to a compound with considerable activity. In the center of the property was a large home with a screened-in pool. And there was another home beside it, obviously part of the same group. Scattered around these two structures were a number of RVs and travel trailers, as well as tents of all sorts. Fires, small and large, burned throughout the property. Around each of these were varying numbers of people.
“Can you imagine what that pool looks like?” Mike wondered aloud.
“Pay attention shit head,” Ted popped back.
“Don’t worry, I’m getting a head count.”
Along with the houses, trailers and tents were a couple of large outbuildings. Ted was looking intently at a large barn behind the larger of the two houses. It was well lit, the low rumble of a generator coming from it.
“That barn is full of ATVs and shit,” Ted said.
“Yeah, see that fuel tank?” Mike replied.
Ted nodded and made a mark on the sketchpad resting on his knee. They continued to map the compound as well as count the people there, combatants, potential combatants and non-combatants. Everything they saw was marked out, livestock, potential fuel and water stores, everything. After about an hour, Ted twirled his finger in the air. Mike nodded, and the two moved out. Ted checked his watch as they moved;
almost midnight
he thought.
As they approached the sentry post, Ted moved off into a hide where they could both see the people on sentry and the trail they used to move to it. They had been in the hide for nearly an hour when two people appeared from the trail, walking down the road towards the sentries. The guys watched as the relief took place. Little was said between them, the relief taking place quickly. Once the relieved pair was on the trail to the compound, Mike and Ted slipped out of the hide and made their way back to the house where Jeff was waiting. As the house came into sight, Ted keyed the mic on his radio, “Coming in.”
After a short pause, Jeff replied, “Come on in.”
Ted looked at Mike. “Shit,” Mike said.
“Switch to the bravo channel,” Ted said as he pulled his radio from his vest. Once they’d changed the frequencies on their radios Ted said, “They’re going to be expecting us to come from this side; let’s move around to the rear of the house.”
“Why can’t anything ever be easy?” Mike moaned as they moved out.
They watched the house carefully as they moved, seeing no signs of life. Once at the rear of the house they took a knee. “Alright, you stay here; I’m going to move around to the other side. I’ll let you know when I’m in place; then we’ll move on them.”
Mike nodded and Ted moved out. As Ted made his way around the far side of the house, Mike watched closely for any movement in the house. Just as before, there was no sign anyone was there. Ted moved quickly; and in no time Mike heard Ted whispering in his ear. “Two in the garage; I can see Jeff sitting on the floor.”
“Roger that; I’ll hit the back door,” Mike replied.
“I’ll take these two; when you hear my shots, go in.”
Mike started to move towards the house in a low crouch. He wasn’t very thrilled with the idea of entering the house alone. Someone to open doors to make the entries faster and more dynamic would be much better; but they had to do this, now. As Mike came up to the rear of the house, he heard the muffled report of Ted’s suppressed rifle, two shots in rapid succession. Mike quickly jerked the door open and moved through it. As he came into the kitchen, a figure rounded the corner.
The muzzle of Mike’s weapon hit the person in the chest; and at the same instant, Mike pulled the trigger. With the muzzle in contact with the man, all the gas from the shot followed behind the bullet, entering his chest and causing a massive wound.
“Shit!” Mike muttered; and then he proceeded around the corner.
He moved through the house, finding no one else. Keying his radio, he said, “Clear.”
“Police the body,” Ted replied.
Mike moved back to the lifeless form lying on the kitchen floor. The wall was splattered with blood and tissue. He didn’t bother checking the upper body, as it was a disgusting mess. Giving the pockets a quick pat, he removed a pistol from a holster on right hip, and magazine from the left front pocket. Rolling the body over, he removed an AK mag from one of the back pockets. Picking up the rifle that the corpse still gripped, he moved to the garage.
“What’d he have on him?” Ted asked.
“Couple of weapons,” Mike replied.
“No radio?” Mike shook his head, “Good, I was afraid he had one; these two didn’t,” Ted said. Motioning to the two bodies on the floor with the muzzle of his weapon, “let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Where’s Jeff?”
“In the buggy; they roughed him up, but he’ll be alright.”
“I’m sorry, guys. I never heard them coming,” Jeff said from the buggy, holding his battered head.
“Don’t sweat it man; at least you let us know something was up,” Ted replied.
“I never would have thought about it.” Jeff nodded his head, “you guys are good.”
“That’s why we went over the challenge/reply with you.” Mike kicked one of the bodies on the floor. “This is the reason.”
Before leaving, Jeff and the guys had gone over the procedure for their return. They would call him on the radio and let him know they were coming in. If there were a problem, and he wasn’t alone, he was to reply with
come on in.
On the other hand, if it were clear, he would reply with,
all clear.
It was a simple system that would sound innocuous to anyone hearing it.
They quickly headed home. Ted was still worried those guys might have somehow managed to get a message out. Jeff sat in the passenger seat, not saying anything. He held his bloody face in his hands, letting his head bob against the rail. Ted looked over at him. It was obvious he was hurt; but it looked like he was mostly ashamed about what had happened.
Chapter 4
I
woke up feeling hot and sticky, a slight sweat covering me. Kicking off the blanket, I got up and looked at Mel. She was covered only in a sheet.
Good idea
I thought; time to go with only the sheet now. Scratching my head, I stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the shower before leaving a foamy piss in the bowl and my drawers in front of it. Finding my way back to the shower, I stepped in and let out a yelp. The water was cold as shit, but refreshing. Washing quickly, I grabbed fresh clothes and dressed. In the new world I wore my clothes for several days. Clean clothes were a luxury.
Wandering out to the kitchen, I opened the small fridge and grabbed the half gallon Mason pitcher that held the elixir that made life worth living, sweet tea. And my life was quickly coming to an end. We had plenty of sugar still, but the tea bags were running low. I limited myself to one glass a day, first thing in the morning; and I loved it. Tipping the Mason jar up, I let the magical liquid fall into the back of my mouth, and closed my eyes. I savored it for a moment, holding it there.
Wine ain’t got shit on this,
I thought as I finally swallowed it.
I sipped the tea as I got my gear together. Since I was the only one up, I took the opportunity to clean my weapons. They’d gotten pretty wet the night before, and now was a good a time as any. Mel came out half way through the cleaning of my carbine. Seeing it disemboweled on her dining table wasn’t the best good morning I could have offered.
“Hey babe,” I said with a smile.
She folded her arms, leaning against the door to our room, “What do you think you’re doing on my table?”
I held the bolt carrier of my AR up, “Looks like I’m cleaning my rifle.”
“You have a workbench for that out in your shop,” she replied with no sense of humor.
“Sorry babe. I was up early, and it was quiet.” Looking down at the disassembled weapon, I added, “it’s kind of like therapy.”
She passed me going into the kitchen; “You need to keep the therapy to your shop.”
I quickly reassembled the carbine and packed my kit as Mel lit the kerosene stove. “You going to be here for breakfast?” Mel asked.
Wiping the table with the handkerchief I kept in my cleaning kit, I smiled and replied, “That would be great.”
“The girls would appreciate it.”
Leaning the rifle against the wall, I asked, “Would you?”
Mel set a pan over the flame and looked up, “I know you’re busy.”
Walking over, I wrapped my arms around her, “I’m never too busy for you.”
In reply, she reached back and rubbed my face. Her lack of words spoke more to me in that moment than anything she could have said. I fussed around the kitchen with her, grinding coffee for her in the small hand grinder; she preferred coffee in the morning. It was a secret I’d kept from everyone. I’d found a small bag of some froo froo artisanal coffee in the house with the guy that shot himself and brought it home to Mel. After mixing some of the last flour and water, I set the tortilla skillet on a burner and lit it. As the skillet heated, I headed for the girls’ rooms.
Opening Taylor’s door, I looked at her for a moment. It was always funny to me to see her sleeping; she always appeared to have been blasted into whatever position she was in. I sat on her bed and gave her a nudge, “Hey kiddo, wake up.” She rolled over and looked up at me through squinted eyes. “You coming out for breakfast?”
She sat up, “Sure, I’m hungry.”
“Get dressed; I’ll get your sisters.”
Going into Lee Ann and Little Bit’s room, I grabbed the blanket covering Little Bit and jerked it off. “Rise and shine sleepy head!” She immediately curled into a ball. I did the same thing to Lee Ann, and she performed the same roly-poly routine as her sister. It brought back memories of my dad waking me up as a kid, or when he would come into the bathroom when I was taking a shower and toss ice water over the top of shower curtain. I grinned; these girls have it easy. I grabbed Lee Ann by the big toe and started to pull her out of bed. She kicked my hand with her other foot, and then looked up.
“Quit!” Seeing me, she apologized.
I smiled, “It’s OK, come on; we’re going to have breakfast.”
Little Bit got up, rubbing her eyes and wandered out to the kitchen. Taylor was out there when I got to the kitchen; and Lee Ann came out right behind me. The girls helped, rolling the balls for the tortillas; and I pressed them out. A minute on the grill and they were ready. Our breakfast was simple, scrambled eggs wrapped in tortillas. It was nice sitting at the table with the girls and Mel, talking, laughing, just being together.
Taylor looked better today, actually smiling and laughing a little. It was good to see her bouncing back from it. Lee Ann was her normal self. It appeared to have had little effect on her, which was good, but could also be bad. Maybe it was because she didn’t know for certain, unlike her sister, that she’d actually killed someone. Taylor knew. She’d looked the man in his eyes as she shot him, hard for anyone to deal with.
When breakfast was done I gave everyone a hug and strapped on my gear. Kind of a surreal version of the old days, getting ready for work; except now I put on a pistol and sling a carbine over my shoulder. Saying bye, I went out the door.
“Mornin’,” Sarge said as I stepped out on the porch. I jumped at the sound of his voice and spun around.
“You scared the shit outta me! How long have you been out here?”
“A while, I saw you having breakfast with the girls and figured I’d let you be.” He looked up at me and smiled, “you needed it.” The dogs were at his feet and he was scratching Drake on the head.
“You hungry? I think there’s a little left,” I said.
He waved me off, “Nah, leave it for them girls.”
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your smiling face this morning?”
“The boys found them guys last night,” Sarge replied, a more serious tone in his voice.
“And?”
“And it’s going to be a tough nut to crack. These guys found Jeff while Ted and Mikey were out sneaking around the woods.”
I stopped and looked at him. Fearing the worst, I asked, “And?”
“They roughed him up pretty good, but they got dealt with; three more ole Billy Boy can add to the tally.”
Relieved, I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “That’s gonna piss him off even more.”
“That’s what I figure.”
“I guess we need to come up with a plan today.”
“We’ll work on it later. Right now we’ve got to go to town; the Captain wants to see us,” Sarge said as he stood up. The dogs followed us out to the Hummer. Sarge opened the door to the Hummer, “hop in.” Meathead immediately jumped in, taking up the passenger seat.
“What the hell does he want? We’ve got enough shit going on,” I replied. Then I looked at the dog, “get your ass out of there.” I opened the door and waited, Meathead just stared back at me.
“Let him be; he wants to go for a ride to.”
Sarge started the truck and headed towards the gate. “Guess we’re about to find out what ole Sheffield wants. Let’s go get Thad and Danny; I want the guys to stay here. Between them and Ian’s crew they should be able to keep this place secure while we’re gone.”
I shrugged, “Guess it won’t hurt much to get out; I wanted to go to the store on the corner anyway today.”
At Danny’s house Thad and Danny hopped in with us, and I climbed up into the turret, thinking it would be a nicer ride. Danny offered to take the position, but I told him I wanted to. He could ride with Meathead.
“How are the girls?” Thad shouted.
I ducked my head down inside the truck. “Good; better than I would have thought really.”
Thad smiled, “That’s good news; I was worried about Taylor.”
When I stood back up I saw Doc walking down the road, his ever-present backpack slung over his shoulder, and his weapon hanging from its sling. Sarge stopped beside him.
“Hop in with us Doc; we’re going to town,” Sarge said.
“Sounds good to me; got nothing else to do right now,” Doc said as he climbed in beside Thad.
Doc looked at Meathead, “Damn that mutt stinks. Don’t you ever give him a bath?”
Poking my head back inside I smiled, “Nope. Even if I did he’d still smell like death.”
At the barricade Sarge stopped again; Ian and Jamie were there. “Mornin’ Gyrene,” Sarge said to Ian.
“Semper Fi,” Ian replied with a smile.
“Keep your eyes open; that bunch of shit heads will probably be sniffin’ around,” Sarge said.
“We got this,” Jamie replied.
Sarge smiled at her, “I know you do.” Looking back at Ian, he said, “the guys are going to be doing roving patrols around the back door and a few other places.”
Ian nodded. “Yeah, we’re in contact with them; they’re staying in touch on the radio.”
Sarge nodded, “Good enough.”
Ian looked up at me with one eye squinted. “You know how to run that thing?”
I patted the SAW; “I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
Pointing at the muzzle, Jamie said, “Keep that pointed at the bad guys.”
“I tried.” I swiveled the weapon over the roof of the truck, “but it won’t go down far enough to get to Sarge.”
Jamie laughed. I thought I was out of his reach, until that the ball on the top of that damn walking stick hit me in the thigh. Luckily for me, it just off the mark the old man was aiming for. “You point a gun at me in a dream, and you better wake up and apologize,” Sarge barked.
I ducked down. “I’m sorry,” then acted like I was thinking, “sorry, sorry, sorry.”
Thad erupted in laughter, then added, “Me too, I’m sorry.”
Everyone caught on and before long it was one continuous chorus of
sorry
bombarding the old man between the laughter from all directions. Sarge looked around, “Keep it up you bunch of smart asses; keep it up.” He paused for a moment, then added, “you can kiss my ass!” Stomping on the gas, the truck lurched forward. I was laughing so hard I had to catch myself. Thad slapped my leg, and I could hear him still chuckling.
We rode down to the little store and Sarge wheeled into the parking lot. Business was picking up and there were a number of people set up offering an assortment of things for trade. When Sarge stopped, I climbed out and slung my carbine, heading straight to one of the tables. It was filled with jars of honey and candles of assorted diameters.
“Hey Mario, Shelly; good to see you guys,” I said, extending my hand. Mario gripped it and smiled.
“Good to see you too,” he replied with a firm shake.
Shelly came around the table and gave me a hug. “It’s good to see you too.”
The rest of the guys came up, and I introduced everyone. Thad picked up one of the jars on the table, “That’s some fine looking honey.”
“Yeah, Mario runs D&J Apiary, a pretty big operation back in the day,” I said.
“Still is,” Shelly replied with a smile.
“I guess so; your staff wasn’t much affected by all this,” Sarge said.
“We lost a bunch, only because we couldn’t get to them; but we’ve still got quite a bit,” Mario answered.
“How’s business?” Danny asked.
“Good, we’ve got plenty to trade,” Mario replied.
“We’ll take some,” Sarge said, sliding four jars across the table.
“You guys can have them; it’s good to see Morgan, and to meet you fellas,” Mario said.
Sarge reached into his pocket; “I appreciate it, but we’ll pay.” He held out a silver eagle, “this be enough?”
Mario smiled, “If you insist,” he said as he took the coin.
Sarge smiled, “I do. Thank you for the trade; this’ll be a real nice treat for everyone.”
Mario pocketed the coin, then reached out and tapped the star on my chest. “What’s that all about; I see you guys are all wearing them.”
“Eh, I was kind of made a Sheriff,” I replied.
“Made?” Mario asked.
I waved him off, “It’s a long story.”
“Why aren’t you guys wearing one?” Shelly asked Sarge.
“Cause we’re not part of it. We’re still in the Army, so we can’t be civilian law enforcement,” He stabbed a thumb in my direction, “I work for him.”
Thad laughed and I snorted, “Yeah, fat chance.”
“Are you really a Sheriff?” Shelly asked.
“As real as they get now-a-days; why you need something?” I asked.
Shelly looked at Mario, “Well, maybe. I was going to handle it; but if you’re the law,” he trailed off, “I don’t like having anyone deal with my problems.”
“You know me; I’ll help you in any way I can. What’s up?”
Mario nodded his head, “You’ll see here in a minute, ‘cause here it comes.”
We all turned to see two men walking down the row of tables. At each they’d stop and talk to who was there; and at a couple, take something from the table before moving on to the next.
“What’s that about?” Danny asked.
“They say it’s to pay for their protection, that they protect the traders here; so they should be paid for their service,” Shelly replied.
Looking at Mario, I asked, “Have you seen any trouble around here?”
“The only trouble we have is them; they want honey.” He turned and looked at the Kawasaki Mule sitting behind him; “and of course they want that.”
“They want candles too; actually, they want everything. They take from everyone around here,” Shelly added.
“Fuck them,” Sarge snorted.
“That’s what I said,” Mario replied. “They haven’t tried too hard yet, only because I’ve got just as many guns as they do.”
I looked at Mario wide-eyed, “They got that many?” And smiled.
Mario smiled in return, “Here anyway.”
The two men approached the table, looking us over as they did. We all moved to make room for them just so we could hear what they had to say.
“Mario, you have ours ready for us?” The taller of the two asked.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told you last time, fuck off.”
“And we told you last time that wasn’t going to work for long,” the man replied. He waved his arm out behind him, “everyone else here pays; you have to too.”
“And why is that?” I asked.
He looked at me, “This don’t concern you none; mind your own business.”
When Thad was serious his voice took an even deeper baritone, “It is our business.”
“Unless you plan to pay for your honey, do like the man said; fuck off,” Sarge said.