“Good” Gina said.
We ate there in the room, Tucker said he was going on the roof and that we should all stay there. But he returned only moments after he left.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“No, just dropping these off.” he answered.
He leaned two M-4s and two bandoleers on the chair in the corner. I nodded thanks and he waved as he headed upstairs for guard duty. We ate, even if we had to trick the girls into eating, then we cried and we held each other in turn. Finally hours later Gina and Lucy fell asleep again. As we lay there, Karen looking at me, her eyes red from tears. She looked at the girls to make sure that they were asleep.
“Johnny, what if we are alone? What are we going to do?”
I looked at her and then reached over and took her hand in mine.
“We will do whatever we have to do.” I said.
“Even if we have to be mom and dad to these little girls.” I added.
“Even if we have to be mom and dad.” Karen repeated.
Day 27
I awoke early but the day seemed clear and bright already. I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could, walked around to the other side and gently woke Karen, I didn’t want her to wake up and just find me gone. I cringed when I saw her, her right eye and cheek were terribly bruised, she saw me starring and whispered that it was the shotgun, it had slammed her pretty hard when it jumped out of her hands. I nodded, grabbed a bandoleer and went out in the hall. The bodies were gone but there was still a lot of blood everywhere. I went up the stairs and found Tucker sitting in a chair, binoculars in hand, scanning the horizon. I walked over to him and he quietly asked
“How is everyone?”
I looked at him and said
“Like shit.”
In response he said “Figured.”
I stood there a minute then asked the question that didn’t need to be asked
“No sign of the others?”
He sighed then said “Nope, but it’s still early, we figured they wouldn’t be back before 10.”
I scanned the yard below us, the bus was there and several bikes were lined up alongside it, the others were burned or damaged in some other way and were dragged off to the side by the tree line. I saw bodies covered in blood stained sheets lined up in the yard, “Are those bikers?” I asked. He sighed and lowered the binoculars said,
“No, that’s our people, everyone but Mr. Livingston.”
He nodded to where Mr. Livingston lay, wrapped in his own white shroud.
“I was afraid I would drop him, though maybe you would help me later John.” He said.
I nodded then looked at the bodies lined up side by side. Mrs. King, Mrs. Hardy, Jordan’s little body between her mother and probably the body of Mrs. Boudreaux, Mrs. Livingston, and Mr. Lowe on the end.
“Who is one the other end?” I asked.
“The boy from the front of the bus, he was alive when I got to him, but he didn’t even last long enough for me to get him down.” Tucker said.
“His name was David” I said then added “He was kind of a dick.”
Tucker didn’t look at me when he said “Well, he’s a dead dick now.”
I stared at them, at the bodies of my friends. Seven, no eight counting David from the Post Office. They had killed eight of ours. I felt sick.
“Where are the bikers?” I asked.
“Trash pile” he said, “I’ll burn them tonight so the smoke won’t show.”
“How many?” I asked.
“How many what?” he asked.
“Bikers numb nuts” I snapped.
He looked at me, “Forty one” he said.
Forty one, forty one assholes who wanted to take what wasn’t theirs, forty one dirt bags who hurt and killed little girls and old ladies. I tried to count the deaths in my mind but it didn’t add up.
“Are you sure? I thought it was more like 30 or 35.” I said.
“Yeah, I’m sure, I carried every single damn one to the pile last night.”
He paused then added “Then I pissed on them.”
I almost laughed at that but then felt it was probably a good idea and if I got a chance I would do it myself. Hopefully it would grease their way to Hell.
“What took you so long to help us?”
I asked suddenly realizing that he hadn’t joined the fight right away. He kept the binoculars to his eyes and on the horizon.
“There were six that went around back, I had to take them out first.”
“Really?” I asked. “Yeah, 5 dudes and a blond chick.”
He was quiet a moment longer then added “Like I said, forty one.”
“How did you kill six?” I asked. “
Propane tanks, when they got near them I punched a hole in it with the 45-70, they froze and with a second round they blew up.”
He was silent for a minute. “A propane tank killed them like that?”
I asked. “Not all the way” he answered.
I decided I really didn’t want to know what that meant and 41 it was. I forced Tucker to go downstairs and get some sleep, I would keep watch for the others or anything else. He thanked me and then promised to check on the girls. He rose slowly, painfully and headed towards the stairs. I saw blood on the back of the chair where he had been sitting.
Later that morning Karen brought the girls up to the roof. Both were traumatized but clearly Gina was in worse shape. Gina was between Lucy and Karen, and would not release her grip on their hands for any reason. Karen called me over and we sat the girls at one of the umbrella tables,
“Mr. Tucker is working in the kitchen, he asked us to not go in there right now.”
Karen said, her eyes wide with dismay. At least five people had died in there including Mrs. Boudreaux and Mrs. King, it had to be a slaughter house. I was actually grateful he was doing that, no kid should have to see carnage like that. Tucker made lunch and brought it to the rooftop garden. It was chili. Pickles, saltines and some of those well preserved fruit pies that every quickie mart in the nation seemed to carry. Tucker let everyone pick their pie first but he seemed relieved to see that the one left over was apple, he crumbled it into his chili. What a weird dude.
We all stayed on the roof for most of the afternoon, when Karen asked about the bus.
“It was fitted out with beds along one wall, a couch was bolted on the other. There were boxes everywhere but most only had some kind of liquor in them.” he answered.
We waited for the MRAP, we waited for our friends, to no avail but at six Tucker tried his antenna thingy and he seemed excited,
“Okay they seem confused, almost in a panic and our target group isn’t broadcasting at all.” he announced.
“That’s a good thing isn’t it Mr. Tucker?” Karen asked.
“Yes Karen, it’s a very good thing.” he answered.
But I could tell he was worried about our people not returning on time.
Later we left Karen and the girls on watch and I waited by the dead while Tucker drove a pick up down from the field where we parked everything. We carried Mr. Livingston down the stairs and out to the truck. We loaded the rest of our dead and drove them up to the hill where the Franks, their cousin and Janae Livingston were buried. We didn’t bury them though, neither Tucker nor myself wanted to be away from the others for long even though Karen was alert and was never without her rifle anymore. We decided to stay on the roof that night, there was running water and even a toilet in a little bathroom so Tucker and I carried up sleeping bags and pillows for everyone. I took first watch while Tucker went down and torched the bodies of the bikers where they lay in the deep gully we used for refuse. The steep sides of the gully hid the light and the darkness hid the smoke but nothing could hide the smell of our burning enemies. As I watched Tucker head back to the lodge I thought about that smell. What it meant, that there were dead down there, dead bastards and to my shock I realized I liked the idea that at that very moment their eyes were bursting and their fat was dripping on the ground, they deserved it. All of them from the Big Man to Fat Guy to Skinny Woman who helped Lucy, they were nothing but shit now and I was happy about that.
Karen, Tucker and I took turns on over watch. Each of us staying up a while with our replacement until we were sure they were all together and alert. The night was quiet except for the crickets and the sobs from Gina and Lucy as they slept and dreamed of horror and loss. The last time I woke him I could tell that Tucker was fading, he was pale and had trouble standing without leaning on something. There was a pile of bloody bandages and several empty squeeze tubes of triple antibiotic that explained his weakness. He didn’t ask for help and I didn’t offer it.
Day 28
When the sun forced me to open my eyes they felt like they were full of sand.
“About time.” Tucker said.
He was sitting in the shade of one of the umbrellas and was drinking water from a 2 liter soda bottle.
“You look like crap old man.” I said.
He snorted, “Well, I feel worse.” He said.
I found that pretty funny and I chuckled quietly. I looked over to Lucy and Gina, they were splayed out on a pallet of blankets, sleeping in the shade of another umbrella. A desk top oscillating fan was keeping them cool. Thank God for solar panels I thought.
“I thought it was supposed to be fall?” I said, not really asking the question.
“Yeah, seems more like the fourth of July than almost October” Tucker agreed.
We sat and watched the girls sleep, every once in a while one of them would groan or cry out, my heart wept for them. It wasn’t fair, we struggle, bleed and die fighting the monsters but people still have time to inflict even more pain on one another. Tucker was forcing fluids and his hands were trembling. He looked like he was going to doze off so I kicked his foot.
“Hey, wake up jarhead.” I said with a bit of sarcasm.
He laughed and adjusted himself a little.
“I was more teacher than soldier you know.” He said with a bit of slur in his voice.
I nearly called him a liar but I settled for “Bullshit.” He laughed again
“No, really I was only in the Corps for few years I taught high school math, physics, and biology for 15 years, and low level calculus and comp science for more than twenty.”
“I thought you were a hot shot special forces or something.”
I said a small smile on my face.
“Who me? Why would you think that?”
His words were slow, he was taking a breath between each one, damn hard to understand. Tucker was dying.
“Hey!” I kicked his boot again, “stay awake killer.”
He shook his head and took another drink of water. He looked at me, “I’m sorry John, I don’t think I have much...”
“Screw you Tucker.” I said interrupting him.
“You made a promise you jerk, and I’ll be damned if you are going to get out of it so easily.”
I half laughed, I must be channeling my mother or something.
“I can’t, I’m so tired.” he said.
“Damn it! I said, I got up and shoved him back up into a sitting position.
“What?” he rumbled.
“There are monsters out there Tucker.”
I sat next to him and kept him from falling over.
“Monsters in black armor and monsters that look like us, you, God damn it, are our monster.”
I shook him again,
“Our monster and we need you and you don’t get to die, not yet.”
He nodded “okay, okay” he said.
I had to keep him talking. “Tell me about your kids Tucker, tell me about your kids.” I said.
He nodded and smiled “Great kids, love them so much” he was interrupted by a coughing fit but then he continued, “Smart and strong, each so unique, but so...”
He started to doze off again so I shook him awake and he seemed to pick up mid-sentence,
“…wanted my life to mean something, something for them.”
“You are an ass” I said, “You had it all and when your wife got fed up with your crap and left, you buried yourself away and waited to die.”
He harrumphed but didn’t disagree. I was running out of things to keep him going, it shocked me that he was so broken, broken inside and out and for a long time before the crap hit the fan, but the truth was we needed him.
Suddenly Karen cried out,
“They’re coming! They’re coming!” I looked at her and she was jumping up and down, she was waving her arms at them but suddenly she stopped.
“What?” I asked.
I scrambled up to stand next to her. Only the MRAP was slowly creeping up the drive and it was a wreck. There was no sign of the Humvee. Smoke was billowing from under the hood and it looked like it had been beaten with an ugly stick. No one was at the machine gun mount and big chunks of armor had been peeled away, the massive gashes revealed its’ interior.
“Oh my God” Karen said and she darted down the stairs, I followed her. I was relieved to see that Tucker was crawling over to wake the girls.
What a schmuck
I thought as I hit the stairs.