When she was finished she sat on the trunk and opened the bottle of water taking a long drink. The coolness of it trickling down her throat did feel good. So much had happened and now here she was on the verge of heading into the Cape and only time would tell what she would run into once she got into the city.
Alden drove for three hours as Tonto laid in the back of the club cab. There was only static on the radio as it scanned through the channels. Occasionally it would pick up a Civil Service Announcement telling people to “stay in their homes and remain calm.” Alden smiled and spoke to the radio, “okay Uncle Sam, whatever you say
..
.
f
ucking assholes.”
Reaching over he turned it off. Tonto sat up a
nd jumped into the front seat, h
is tail swatting Alden in the face. “Damn it dog
,
get over on your side of the truck and sit the fuck down.”
Tonto sat as Alden reached over and rubbed him behind his ears. Tonto turned and looked out the window then over to Alden. A small whimper came out of him. Looking over Alden smiled,
“
Yeah Buddy I think you right
,
I need to take a break too.”
Slowing down he had kept his eyes out for deadheads. He pulled into a scenic overlook. Stopping the truck he looked around. The
re was a
m
ountain to his right
,
the road in front and behind was clear. As far as he could tell the only way to get to
them
without
him seeing them wa
s up this cliff and
he didn’t
think even a deadhead would try to climb that.
Alden relieved himself over the cliff as Tonto found several rocks to mark. Walking back to the truck he opened the cooler and pulled out a small can of Dinty Moore stew. Opening it he pulled out the small can of Sterno and the little stove. It took only a few
minutes
and the stew was starting to simmer. As it cooked he retrieved Tonto’s bowls and filled one with dog food and the other with water. Setting the water bowl down Tonto lapped at it furiously the slowed and looked up at him. “Yeah buddy don’t worry I haven’t forgot about you.”
Putting on a heavy work glove he covered the Sterno and took the Can off the stove stirring it and pouring some of the juice onto Tonto’s food. The
n
set his dog
’s
bowl down.
Reaching back in the truck he pulled an old blanket canteen from the floor,
he sat down next to his dog,
reaching in his front pocket he took out a Swiss army knife. Flipping out the spoon tool he began to stir and eat. The sky was cloudy with patches of deep blue above his head. The air smelled of cedar and pine trees, looking off across the wide open expanse in front of him he thought of the beauty it held. The whole world in front of him calm serene and peaceful. The tops of the tree
s swaying in the breeze below; t
he sun shining it rays in beams through open areas of the clouds. The
sunrays coming down almost like water falls
from
the skies. He sighed as he
ate;
Tonto finished his food and went to roaming. Marking more rocks he hadn’t hit. Alden laughed at him, “Damn boy you’d think you want all the other animals to think you’d own the whole mountain.”
Finishing his meal he got up, poured water over the spoon and wiped it off with a paper towel
, packing
everything back in the truck.
Stepping away he snapped his fingers. Tonto stopped and turned to him and Alden pointed to his own feet. Tonto trotted over to him. “Let
’
s take a hike I need to stretch my legs but you need to stay right with me. I don’t expect any trouble but then again, I didn’t expect there to be any trouble over there in Pakistan the night I went for a short walk.
”
His mind wander
ed
back a few years
,
as he remembered when some foolish terrorists had targeted him for a kidnapping. He walked less than 3 clicks from their camp when two jumped out from behind some rocks. They had the hood on him before he knew it. But blinding him and not binding him was their first mistake. Alden bent over as they pulled the hood on making them believe he was scared, when in fact he was pulling the 14inch survival knife from
its
leg sheath. As they jerked him up he swung fast
;
even blinded he knew from the blood on
h
is hands he had caught the first across his throat. Alden turned and spun grabbing the second man
’
s arm twisting it he pulled him to the ground and stabbed him in what he thought was his back.
His free hand pulled the hood off just in time to see the sandals of the other three terrorists coming to the aide of their comrade. Alden rolled to his right
barely noticing
that it wasn’t the man’s back but rather his face Alden had repeatedly stabbed. As the three approached he grabbed a hand full of sand and threw it the face of the closet one, then jumping to his feet he round kicked the second and drove the knife directly into the chest of the third.
Alden grabbed the first and with
one
quick move snapped his neck. The last one
lay
on the ground trying to pull out a pistol
; he
was struggling to
breathe
from where the Alden had hit his chest. The bright red blood coming
from
his lips told Alden he had smashed a couple of ribs. Alden Kicked him square on his jaw hearing the sickening crunch as it broke into several pieces and the terrorists head snapped back. Alden’s final move was a simple stomp on the man’s throat crushing his windpipe.
The sound of rocks tumbling brought him back to the present. Alden had realized he’d walked out of sight of the truck and Tonto had turned back that way and was growling. Alden pulled the 45 from it’s holster and started to move swiftly but quietly back to the truck. It took about ten minutes but as they came back around the mountain he could see what Tonto had heard and smelled. Deadheads, trying to climb over the top of the cliff, But they were causing their own problems clawing over each other they seemed to disappear then climb back up again. Each
one pulling the other back down,
Alden laughed at this site, “
Look
at them dumb asses, good thing they can’t think or act as a team.”
Walking over he waited till one of them put his head over the edge then Alden gave it a swift boot to the face and watched as it fell backwards and tumbled down the mountain. There were four total and he repeated it for each one. Looking at Tonto as he motioned him to get in the truck he laughed, “You know what’s sad
,
boy. If they don’t break their stupid
heads open
on the way down, the only thing they’ll be able to do is crawl, if that.
”
Getting back in he looked to Tonto, “Ya know boy, a warning bark might have been nice a little sooner. I just thank the Goddess and Gods that the rocks came down and your ears perked up.”
Rubbing Tonto’s head the dog just shook and then jumped into the
cab
laying down on his blanket. As Alden drove down the mountain the road switched back several times. At the first
switchback
on the side were two of the deadheads Alden had kicked off the cliff. They were struggling to even move. On
e was trying to push with its
broken feet
, its
legs turned completely around in a grotesque fashion. Slowing down and stopping to watch Alden cocked the 45 and got out, walking around the front of the truck. The deadhead with the broken legs raised it’s head snarling and drooling, it had only a couple of teeth left in it’s bloody
,
smashed mouth. Alden pulled his combat knife out and stabbed the deadhead ri
ght into the base of his skull.
Turning he watched as the other attempted to move towards Alden
,
his left arm was a mass of torn flesh and bone it dragged along his side. His legs were not any better than his partners, a
twisted and broken mass of shit.
Placing his foot on the back of the deadhead he gave him the same treatment as his brother. Walking back to his truck Tonto was growling but not looking toward Alden but rather out the other way.
Moving slowly Alden snapped his fingers, Tonto turned and Alden made a lay down motion with his hand. Tonto
obeyed but was still growling; a
s he reached the truck he saw what had upset Tonto.
There was a
small band of people walking up the mountain road carrying a small cart. The man in front
waved and yelled, “HELLLLOOOO”
Alden moved his fingers to his lips in a shushing motion and moved cautiously towards the
group with h
is hand held tight to the 45.
The man spoke again only quieter, “
H
ey
,
no need for that friend
,
we
’
re all healthy except for Warren and he just got a broken ankle.”
“That’s fine,” Alden replied, “But I’ll decide when I put this weapon away.”
He stopped in front of them about 20 feet away. There were seven total, the bigmouth in front, a middle aged woman with torn blue jeans her belly hanging over them showing that she was two sizes too big for the jeans. Her shirt was a grey
,
sweaty
,
dirty mess with holes and tears around the sleeves and neck. Her hair was matted and knotted and she had bruises on her face. She kept looking to the ground
. Two more men were behind her, b
oth wore gold crosses around their necks that hung down on their semi clean white shirts. One held a bible the other a small brown box type case
.
The man’s fingers kept nervously flipping at the latch on the case. Two little kids
,
one boy and one girl both no more than 10 or 12 years old, were pulling the cart that the man was laying in.
Alden smiled at the lady, “Ma’am why don’t you just take a seat on that there rock
,
you look like you could use a break. You two kids I want you to go join her.”
The bigmouth’s expression changed as did the man’s in the cart. The two white shirts started heading over to the where the woman was, “Naw” Alden said
,
“this here is my little tea party, you two need to just stay right where you are and sit down there in the middle of the road,”
Winking at the little girl. He walked to the cart, “Okay mister how about you pull your hands out from under that blanket real
,
real slow.”
The man’s eyes widened as he shook his head, “really mister I ain’t got nuthin under here and my arms are
..
err
..
are broke.”
Alden’s nice demeanor changed immediately his voice went to almost a whisper, “Then you should have no fucking problem when my dog comes over here and pulls that blanket off with his teeth.”
All four men looked to the truck where Tonto had gotten out and moved silently toward the group. He started growling and the hairs were up on his entire back. Alden grabbed the blanket and snatched it off the man’s legs. The bigmouth reached for his belt as Tonto lunged and took him down quickly. The man with the case flipped the latch but that’s as far as he got the 45 roared as Alden pulled the trigger. The second man tried to get up but to no avail he was shot in the knee as Alden yelled, “NOW YOU ALL JUST STAY FUCKING PUT
!
THIS GAME IS OVER!”
Turning to the man in the wagon he saw that indeed his ankle was broken. What was more
,
his hands
weren’t broken but
had been tied.
Tonto had bigmouth by the throat the man just laid there whimpering, the second man was rolling back and forth screaming in pain. The children huddled up against the woman the little boy crying, “
Why
is this happening again.”
Alden looked at the man, “You wanna tell me what I walked into?”
The man hung his head
,
I am,
or
was the pastor of little
Baptist
church down the road a ways. These men came by asking for food and water. Being
true
Christians we couldn’t refuse, they seemed nice enough
,
even kept praising Jesus name. I never even saw them hit me with a hammer on my leg. Then they, they
….. THE
SONS OF BITCHES TOOK MY WIFE.”
With those words he tried to get up. Alden placed his hand on the man’s
shoulder;
he turned and pulled the trigger once more the man by the case fell over. Alden looked to Tonto and nodded. It was over in second as he snapped the man’s neck with his jaws. Alden looked to the kids as he put his weapon away and cut the ropes off the man’s hands. Walking over he put his hand out to the woman. “Ma’am, my apologies for all this
bloodshed
, I never wished for the kids to see it but I
didn’t see I had any other
choice.”