Miracles
Page 27
“Shouldn’t we be worried about dogs?”
“No, there’re still a lot of bodies around. I’m sure by now, dogs aren’t eating the dead in cities because of the rats, but in a few more months, the bodies outside of the cities will be gone.”
Trying not to shiver, “How will we know?” she asked.
“We’ll see packs following people on the game cameras,” he answered.
How he thought of those things was way over Wendy’s head, but she took it as gospel.
A few minutes later Arthur knelt at the tree line and Wendy saw the farmhouse sixty yards away. It didn’t take intelligence to know the house was occupied, she could see light from several windows. “One will always be on gun while the other on steel,” he breathed out.
“I want to go first. You’ve already been hunting a lot,” Wendy told him, and Arthur just nodded.
Easing up, Wendy followed him to the house, keeping her AR low but ready to engage the house. Stopping below a window, Arthur eased up and had to flip his NVG up because candles were burning inside. He saw two men asleep in recliners holding guns and some people bound hand and foot on the floor. Knowing he couldn’t enter here, he just moved on.
Checking several windows and finding prisoners and gang members in all, Arthur was starting to get pissed. Coming to the last corner after rounding the house, he eased up to see it was a kitchen and he didn’t see anyone in it. By the back door, he did see beer cans stacked up just like bitch had said. Turning to Wendy, he undid his AR from the one point sling to turn it into a real sling and shoved it on his back. Pulling out his 1911, he threaded a suppressor on. When he saw Wendy copy him, he turned to the dogs and motioned for them to lay.
Tucking the pistol under his arm, he pulled his knife out and moved it along the window undoing the locks. Putting his knife away, he pushed the window up slowly while cringing at the wood rubbing but unless someone was in the room, they wouldn’t hear it.
With the window open, Arthur got on one knee and pointed at his thigh for Wendy to use as a step to get inside. When she nodded, he tapped the barrel of her rifle across her back and at the window to remind her not to bang it when she crawled in. Seeing Wendy just roll her eye without the monocular, Arthur didn’t worry about it.
Easing up, Wendy put her foot on Arthur’s thigh and crawled in slowly just like he’d taught her. Only able to use her left hand, since the right was filled with her XD, was a new challenge, but Wendy had an excellent teacher. Pulling her legs in she kept low, aiming at the only entrance from the house to the kitchen as Arthur climbed in, and she was really happy he’d made more noise than she’d done, with his clothes rubbing against the window seal.
When he was in Arthur gave a nod, and Wendy put her pistol away and pulled out her knife. Looking at the eight-inch blade almost made her giddy. With so much light from candles, they flipped up the monoculars and Wendy let Arthur take the lead but she followed, ready to pull her pistol just in case. The light wasn’t bright by any means, just enough to screw up the NVGs.
The first room they came to looked like a den, Wendy thought, seeing a man asleep on a cot. A woman, little girl, and little boy were asleep on the floor. All were naked with their hands bound behind their backs. Watching Arthur move so he could aim into the next room to cover, Wendy eased over to the sleeping man.
Rearing her arm back, Wendy swung her arm forward hard as she clamped a hand over the man’s mouth. Her blade pierced at the man’s ear while her hand covered his mouth, and drove into his skull with a crunch. The eyes flashed open and he yelled against her hand, startling the shit out of her.
Gripping the knife hard, she twisted it and jiggled it around to ‘scramble the egg’ as Arthur put it.
As soon as she did that, the man’s arms fell down and all movement stopped, but his eyes remained open and they weren’t dilated yet. Taking that as he wasn’t dead yet, Wendy leaned over to smile in his face and got to watch the light leave his eyes.
Pulling the knife out slowly, Wendy did give a shiver at the soft slurping sound it made. Wiping the blade off on the sheet the man was using, she turned around with a grin to point to the next room. Arthur pointed at the woman and kids, then motioned to wake them up so they would remain quiet.
Understanding what Arthur wanted to do very clearly, Wendy raised her left hand to the woman and kids and flipped them off. Then flipped the next room off.
Using his left hand to explain that if they woke up and saw the man was dead, they might scream. Nodding, Wendy pointed at his gun and then at the woman and kids, gesturing that if that happened, to just shoot them.
Gritting his teeth Arthur motioned if that happened, Wendy wouldn’t get to stab anymore. Finally relenting, Wendy nodded but pointed at Arthur and then the woman, telling him to wake them up. Arthur only understood why when Wendy pulled her pistol and aimed into the next room, waiting on him. She was going to be the one to kill them if they made noise.
Praying they didn’t make noise because there wasn’t a doubt Wendy would shoot them if she wouldn’t be able to stab anymore, Arthur knelt next to the woman and covered her mouth. When he felt the woman move, he breathed.
“We are here to kill the gang. After we’re done you can leave, but if you wake them up there will be shooting, and I’m not promising you or the other prisoners will live through it. Wake the kids and tell them to act like you’re all asleep till we get you, understand?”
The woman was staring at his face with wide eyes as he waited for her to nod. Then he noticed, she wasn’t staring at his face, she was staring at his fedora. “My dogs are outside, that’s why you can’t leave now,” he offered, and the woman finally nodded in shock.
Slowly taking his hand off her mouth, he cut her loose and then the kids. Getting up, he saw Wendy motioning for him to hurry up as she covered the living room.
Two men were still in the recliners asleep and now, Arthur could see there were four naked and tied-up bodies on the floor asleep. Pulling his pistol out, Arthur didn’t think any of the girls were old enough to buy cigarettes.
With her knife again in her right hand, Wendy crept up on the closest while rearing her arm back. This time, her knife pierced the skull before her hand reached the mouth and an “Umf,” escaped the man’s lips before her hand covered it. In one motion she twisted the knife, and the man never even raised his arms up.
Glancing up, she saw one of the prisoners on the floor stir slightly, but the goon in chair number two was snoring softly. Pulling her knife out and wiping it on the dead man’s shirt, she slinked over to the next goon. Now having a rhythm, Wendy punched his timecard much faster, and the only sound was her knife punching his skull.
Seeing Arthur motion to the bodies on the floor, Wendy just gave an irritated nod before putting her knife away and pulling her pistol out to cover the two doorways into the living room.
Taking a knife off the first dead man, Arthur moved back and told the woman to wake the ones in the living room and let them know to act asleep, then he gave her the knife. With his pistol still in his right hand, he motioned to Wendy that there were five more bad guys and six more prisoners.
Putting her pistol away, Wendy just flipped him off, letting him know she could count.
Taking the first entrance from the living room, they found it led to a dining room, and that led to the laundry room. Easing back to the living room, Arthur eased down the hall and Wendy fought to remain calm and move slowly.
There were three doorways off the hall, and they knew from looking in outside that all were bedrooms. Entering the first, it looked like a kid’s room, but Wendy never registered that as she eased past Arthur toward the man sleeping in the small bed and a young girl asleep beside him. Her hands were tied together and then tied to one of the bedposts.
Having a feeling about what was about to happen, Arthur moved around the bed as Wendy plunged her knife into the side of the man’s skull. The man’s body shook and the girl started to stir. Reaching ove
r, Arthur rapped her across the head with his pistol, knocking her cold before she woke up.
“If the goddamn bed hadn’t been so little, she wouldn’t have woken up,” Wendy whispered, pulling her knife out.
“It’s a kid’s bed,” Arthur pointed out.
Looking down at the body, “It’s a dead man’s bed now,” Wendy smirked, motioning Arthur toward the door.
Moving to the next room, they found two men and two girls. Thankfully, only one girl was in the bed with them. Even with the bed being bigger, the girl woke up only to be knocked out by Arthur’s 1911. Stepping over to the other girl sleeping and tied-up on the floor, Arthur eased back out to the hall and headed to the last room.
There, they found the last two bad guys and the rest of the prisoners. Wendy motioned for Arthur to get to the other side of the bed and cover the man, then dragged a finger across her throat before pointing at the sleeping man closest to her.
Pointing at his ear that it would make noise, Arthur watched Wendy gesture wildly that she didn’t give a fuck. These were the last two and she was cutting their throats. Giving her a grin as he winked, Arthur moved over to the other side of the bed.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Wendy whispered, reaching out with her right hand. Slicing down hard and dragging her knife back, Wendy felt her blade hit the man’s spine as his eyes shot open and blood sprayed out like a fountain. The man sat up gurgling with both hands grasping his throat, watching his blood spray across the room.
Standing on the other side of the bed getting soaked, Arthur waited for Wendy to stab again and just kill the man but she just held her knife ready, watching the human fountain. Even when the other man started to stir, she didn’t just kill the man as his mouth opened and closed, trying to get air into his lungs as they filled with blood. Finally, the man started thrashing about as he drowned in his own blood and that woke his partner up.
“You move, I shoot your dick,” Arthur said when the man’s eyes opened. Like the woman, the man was staring at Arthur’s hat, not his face, as he laid frozen in bed while his partner finally collapsed back with his body giving small jerks.
All the girls and one boy on the floor woke up from the blood covering them. “The first one down there that moves will die, so just stay there,” Arthur called out in a normal voice, never taking his eyes or aim off the last man.
“That was so fucking cool,” Wendy cheered out, stepping up on the bed over the dead body. Dropping down, she drove her knife into the last man’s chest and yanked it out as Arthur pulled his gun back so the man couldn’t grab it.
As the man grabbed the bleeding hole in his chest, his lung collapsed and he couldn’t breathe. “Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t like it when someone’s being mean to you?” Wendy teased and then lashed out, slicing the man’s throat open. It wasn’t as deep as the other one, but it still sprayed blood out. Because she’d cut her side deeper, blood pulsed out of the man’s neck to hit Wendy in the chest. “I finally get to say, I was in a bloodbath,” Wendy told the dying man, and he even stopped gasping for air just for a second to gaze at her in shock.
When the man finally stopped thrashing, Wendy turned to see the girls and boy on their feet, staring at the dead bodies with grins. “I’m sorry the Caravan Man had to talk mean to you, but it’s our date night and he promised me I would get to kill some cock-sucking assholes,” she told them with a smile.
The kids’ eyes shifted from the dead bodies to Wendy and they all gave a startle, seeing she was covered in blood. “It’s okay, ma’am,” one of the little girls said.
Holding out his hand to Wendy, “Is date night over?” she moaned.
“No, have to leave some signs,” Arthur laughed and Wendy just huffed, taking his hand and jumping off the bed. Gathering up the other prisoners, he led everyone to the living room.
“You can all get up now,” he said, and the others levitated from the floor. “You can go now. I suggest you take what you can from here before you take off. My suggestion, don’t get caught again.”
They all looked at Arthur who was bloody and then turned to Wendy, who literally had blood dripping from her clothes. Not one of the rescued prisoners even entertained the idea of asking to go with the Caravan Man.
“Do you have any place to go?” Arthur asked, and they shook their heads. “We can’t take you in, but if you will work and help defend the group, I’ll send you to some that can take you in.”
The woman stepped up, “We’ll help,” she said, and almost wanted to tell the Caravan Man they wouldn’t have joined up with him anyway if he offered as she stared at Wendy.
“Take the dogs and get the truck,” Arthur said, moving over to the door and kicking the beer cans away.
“There’s one outside!” one of the little boys cried out.
Wendy busted out laughing as she wiped blood off her face but only smeared it. “That one is my bitch that I’m going to toy with,” she laughed, then turned to Arthur. “I don’t need the dogs to come with me.”
“I know,” Arthur nodded. “But take them anyway.”
About to argue, ‘Remember the ants’, reverberated through Wendy’s mind. “I’ll take the dogs,” she said, heading for the door.
When she walked out, Arthur noticed all of the prisoners gave a sigh of relief. “It’s our date night,” he said grinning, making the woman nearly faint. “I like taking my wife out on these little jaunts, so she can have some fun.”
Even after what she had been through and seen, the woman was numb. “Thank you for having your date night here,” she managed to get out in a trembling voice. “Um, can you tell me where to go so we can leave, like now?”
Knowing she wanted to leave before Wendy returned, Arthur gave her directions and told them to ask for Albert, and tell him the Caravan Man had sent them. He never helped nor was asked to when the group gathered clothes, weapons, and food, shoving them in one of the pickups out front and were soon gone.
Driving back up Wendy laughed out, seeing two of the men hanging from the porch with a sign that read “You can’t hide from me even out here in the sticks, The Caravan Man.”
Jumping out of the Blazer, Wendy ran over to help Arthur drag one of the bodies out. “I’ll wash your Blazer,” she said, grabbing the feet.
“I can do it,” he laughed, throwing the body on the hood.
“Nah, I want to see if I can clean up without leaving a trace,” Wendy said.
“Don’t have to worry about the cops, hon,” Arthur chuckled.
“Didn’t you tell me ‘practice makes perfect’?”
Heading back to the house, “Yes, I did,” he said, still chuckling.
“Did I do okay?”
Stopping he turned and took off his fedora, “You did great,” he grinned.
Jumping up and down, “When’s the next date night?” she cheered out.
“Well, if you promise we can use Iron, I might be tempted to visit another house,” Arthur offered.
Stopping her cheering, Wendy glanced at her watch. “Babe, we won’t get any sleep if we do that.”
“You scared to stay out all night on date night?” he challenged.
“No,” she grinned. “You know that one area of the lake is deep enough to swim in, how about we go skinny dippin’ and do some freak nasty when we get home.”
Giving a nod, “Wouldn’t be date night without some freak nasty,” Arthur grinned.
Chapter Twenty
Nobody irritates like Family
Hearing a tap on his door, Joseph sat up fast to run for it before it woke up Nicole, but he looked over and saw she was already awake and crawling around her crib. “Sorry, I was scared to sleep with you on my chest like Dad,” he yawned, getting up.
Nicole just giggled and pulled up on the crib until she was standing. Moving over to the crib, he picked her up and felt her diaper was soaked. “Dad is right, you’re so cute you have to be breaking some kind of law,” he laughed, and stepped over opening the door.
“Joseph, they’re still not home!” Shawn cried out, and looked to be near tears.
Stepping back and blinking, “Who are we talking about?”
“Momma and Pops!”
Glancing at his watch and blinking his eyes more to clear his vision, “It’s only five, Shawn. Work doesn’t start till seven today,” Joseph mumbled, then turned around to see Jo Ann and Sally asleep on a pallet on the floor at the foot of his bed. At ten they were still up, and Nicole wouldn’t go to sleep even for Vicki, so he’d just brought them all to his room and told them when Mom and Dad got home, he would carry them down.
“Aren’t you worried? They went out to shoot up bad guys! What if they got hurt? We need to look for them!”
Reaching out and putting a hand on Shawn’s shoulder, “First, you need to chill,” Joseph said. “You’ll get a lot of the little ones upset.”
Seeing Shawn calm down, Joseph got panicked and spun around. “Where the hell is Robin?” he gasped, looking around the twins and only seeing Noah.
“Joseph,” Shawn said, walking over and pointing. “She’s in your bed.”
Moving Nicole to his side, he dove onto the bed. “Oh, fuck, did I roll on her?” he cried out, shaking her. “I’ve never slept with kids! I was terrified I would roll on them!”
“Joseph, you really don’t want to wake Robin up like that,” Shawn advised while Joseph continued shaking her. Not hard, but kind of rough. “I’m not kidding, she doesn’t like gettin’ woke up,” Shawn added, trying to hint for Joseph to leave Robin the hell alone.
When Robin sat up, Joseph nearly passed out in relief. Then Robin, true to form, informed Joseph and everyone else, she didn’t like getting woken up. Picking up Robin and putting her on his other hip, he gave a wince when she kicked him with her cowboy boots. “It’s okay, Robin, I was worried I might have rolled over on you. I didn’t want you to sleep in my bed, that’s why I made a pallet,” Joseph explained as Robin wailed.