Roland: Reluctant Paladin
Page 37
He warred with the desire to be on the radio, demanding to know how everyone was doing. As an operator, he had hated that kind of elbow jogging. He had to trust the people he’d placed in defensive positions. If they needed his help, they would call.
But in the meantime, he had to be patient. And patient wasn’t something Roland did all that well.
-
BD made it to where his men on the east side of the school were returning fire with the defenders on that side of the building, almost being shot by one of his own men in the process.
“Sorry, Boss,” the man apologized, “Didn’t know you were coming.”
“Radio got busted,” BD shrugged. “What’s the situation?” he asked the team leader, a short, thick man with a shaved head who went by the moniker, ‘Cube’.
“We lost Chains, and Bobber is down, but we got his bleedin’ stopped,” Cube’s answer was short, and just a little insolent. “Had no idea they had explosives.” His voice held an accusatory tone.
“Told you they used mines on us,” BD reminded him. “Warned you they could have more.”
“This wasn’t no Claymores,” Cube shook his head. “Smells like an ANFO bomb. ‘Bout wiped out the west side, I think.”
“They’re still shooting,” BD commented. “Draws heat off of us. So are the front guys. We’re goin’ inside,” he added, drawing his pistol.
“How we get inside?” Cube demanded to know.
“We’re going right over the top of them,” BD told him. “But not here.” He quickly outlined his plan. Cube nodded.
“We can do that,” he agreed. “Tee, Roy, you stay with me. Keep up a hot fire on ’em. Rest of you are with the Boss.”
BD led the remaining five men around to the right.
-
Jim Edwards didn’t like being alone in his new position, but it did seem that Mack had gotten it wrong. There was no one in his line of sight, at least not at the moment.
Edwards had never been shot at before, nor had he ever had to fight for his very survival. To say he was scared would be like saying the economic collapse had been a mild recession.
He tightened the grip on his rifle, then realized how sweaty his hands were. Not wanting to have the rifle slip from his hands, he laid the rifle on the floor in front of him, hastily wiping his hands on his shirt. Satisfied they were dry again, he found his rifle and looked back up, out the window in front of him.
-
BD shot the man through the window, right between the eyes. Even as the defender fell to the floor BD was scrambling through the window, followed by the five men from Cube’s team.
“Time for some payback,” he told them, and heard growls of agreement.
“Leave ’em,” BD ordered as the men behind him started toward the other two defenders. “Cube’s got them pinned down. If they try to follow, then he and the others’ll take care of ’em. Let’s go.”
BD was grateful for the heavy hammering of fire from the defenders, since it masked any noise he and his men might have made. He needed to get inside, deep inside, the school. When he did, he and his men would simply start shooting. Together they could clean out this nest once and for all.
After that, it was just clean-up.
-
Jennifer Kingston was a doctor. She’d taken an oath.
She was also a woman with common sense and a strong survival instinct. Her oath, now, was to people she could care for. Like these people. People who had risked an attack just like this one to help others. Other people they had no obligation to, didn’t even know.
She and Melissa were crouched in the infirmary, waiting out of the way until they were needed.
It was pointless to think they wouldn’t be, she knew, but hoped for it just the same. It didn’t cost her anything after all, and she had nothing else to do at the moment.
Outside the door she saw movement. She started to stand up and go to the door, but Melissa stopped her by taking her arm. Jennifer turned to look at her, about to demand to know what she thought she was doing, but Melissa shook her head frantically and made a shushing motion, then indicated they should stay hidden.
James’ last minute instructions were to do just that. He had told her that if anyone needed the doctor and nurse team, they would call out.
No one had called out.
Suddenly the curtain over the doorway was shoved aside, and an all too familiar face looked inside. Melissa bit her lip to keep from crying out at the sudden appearance of BD, while keeping her grip on Kingston’s arm. The young doctor was about to protest until she saw the absolute fear in Melissa’s eyes.
Finally realizing what had happened, her own eyes widened, and she sank down, further out of sight. The two held their breath for what seemed like hours as the leader of their attackers scanned the room, then withdrew.
Both carefully took a breath, and Jennifer reached for her radio.
Melissa drew the small pistol James had given her and pointed it toward the door.
-
“Roland, they’re inside!” Kingston’s urgent call was heard all over the school. Maria quickly slapped her hand to the radio on her hip, muffling the sound. Roland turned to look down the hallway that led to the infirmary.
James almost left his position, but caught himself. Mack realized at once that Jim Edwards was probably dead. Susan Powers simply turned and ran inside the school. She knew that James could handle this.
-
Deena had stood up slightly in the kitchen, trying to see out the doorway.
“Deena, get down!” Maria hissed, “We must stay hidden. Wait for them to come to...” She never got the chance to finish.
“Look out!” Terri cried, running to push Deena down as a strange man looked inside the kitchen door and fired.
Maria raised up, braced her arms on the table, and shot the man through the chest with a three-round burst from her rifle. She heard Deena grunt in pain as she hit the floor but resisted the urge to check on her, knowing that others might enter any second.
-
BD heard the shooting, and shook his head. So much for surprise. He had sent three men up the far hallway, taking the other two with him. In between the two hallways lay the cafeteria, though he wasn’t aware of it. He directed the two men following him to keep watch and approached the doorway, intending to see what had happened.
-
Susan saw the three men as she entered the hallway from the gym lobby. Without pausing, she flicked the selector switch on her AK to ‘auto’, something Vaughan had stressed she should never do save in times of dire trouble.
To her, this was dire trouble.
The two men covering BD never knew what hit them, as a veritable storm of bullets filled the hallway. The hit ratio was low, two striking the front man, and three the follower, the rest blasting concrete and paint chips off the walls, ripping up floor tiles, and shredding ceiling tiles.
But the hallway was clear.
Almost.
BD peered out of the cafeteria door, and saw his two men down. He turned to look down the hallway, and saw...
“Well, looky what we got here,” he sneered, “If it ain’t out very own lit--”
He never finished the sentence. Susan was on him by then, empty rifle discarded. A tomahawk in one hand, combat knife in the other, she hit BD like a hurricane.
-
Maria heard the commotion outside the other doorway, but couldn’t spare a glance that way. In front of her, she heard Deena grunting with effort.
“Terri, get off me!” she hissed, “We’ve got. . .Terri? Terri!”
No response.
“Terri!” Deena screeched, “Maria, we need the doctor! Terri’s hurt! I think. . .oh my God, she’s been shot!”
Maria didn’t respond. Nor did she take her eyes off the doorway. She moved her hand to make an adjustment to her rifle and then simply waited. Her patience was rewarded three seconds later as two men ripped the double doors open and ran into the room.
-
Roland found her like that, following Deena's screams as she tried to wake her friend Terri.
Roland ordered Fiona Hughes to bring Jennifer and Melissa to the kitchen and called Angie as well.
Firing had slowed outside he noted, and he called Vaughan.
-
“We’ve hit them hard, sir,” Vaughan informed him. “I think they’re pulling back. I… on second thought, there’s not really any organization to it. I think we may have broken them.”
“Keep hitting them until they’re out of sight,” Roland ordered. “Ralph, can you hear me?”
“Yes, sir, Mister Roland!” the teen’s voice answered at once.
“Call Turnbow’s people, tell them what happened. This bunch may head their way as they leave out.”
“On it!”
Roland released his radio, looking down at Maria. He carefully reached out and took her rifle in his hands.
The motion jarred her from her trance and she looked up at him, eyes almost wild.
“Ro... Roland I...”
“You did just fine,” Roland soothed. He lay the empty rifle down on the table and helped Maria to her feet, then held her steady as she wobbled.
“I…it was so fast,” she told him, her voice eerily calm. “There was no time to think! I just...”
“You did what had to be done,” Roland told her, turning her face to where he could look into her eyes. “You did exactly what you had to do, Maria. I think it’s all over now,” he added.
And then Maria folded, the last of her calm gone. She simply folded into him, crying her eyes out.
Angie ran into the room, sliding down to her knees where Deena was still trying to get Terri to respond. Ignoring the screaming teen, she assessed Terri quickly and efficiently, then sat back on her heels. Looking up, she saw Roland looking at her, and shook her head slowly.
Roland closed his eyes. He had lost another child.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The sun was well into the sky before the area was officially cleared. The surviving civilians simply sat still, shocked and exhausted by the events of the morning. None had ever been through anything quite like it. Their minds would be a long time processing what had happened here today.
The soldiers among them had been through it. They fell into an old, well-used routine. Gallows humor, cleaning and clearing equipment, returning to battery. Actions that could be done literally blindfolded. Familiar actions. Comforting actions.
Looking out over the body-strewn yard, Tom Mackey had walked outside to make sure that all the dead bodies were actually dead bodies. James exchanged a look with Susan, and they soon joined him.
James had gotten a look at what was left of BD before Susan had grabbed a tablecloth and covered him with it. She looked at him, eyes still a little wild, as if daring him to comment. James had simply nodded once, firmly. That seemed to reassure the woman and she relaxed after that.
James did make a note to speak to Roland about it. Susan had done a real number on BD. She might bear watching for a day or two. Or more.
Maria was too busy comforting Deena to assess her own feelings. It would come later, in Roland’s arms, as she cried herself to sleep. She had killed three men, on top of everything else, today.
Deena was beside herself with grief, knowing that her friend, the girl she called ‘soul sister’, had died saving her. Saving her from a stupid act that Deena had known better than to do. As far as Deena was concerned, she might as well have shot Terri herself.
Roland watched the grim detail of Tom, James, and Susan going through the bodies. Anything of use was stripped from them, carried back to the school for later inventory.
Roland had done his own grisly inventory after the shooting ended. The bill had been high, this time. Very high.
Jim Edwards. Marie Hilliard. Cathy Larkin. All gone. Gone with Terri. Sweet, lovable, always Chipper, Terri. Nor had they heard from Rich and Glenda, yet.
Most of the survivors were injured to some degree, though thankfully, not badly. James had a bullet crease along his left arm. Mack had chips of concrete embedded along the right side of his face from a near miss. Jesse had a bruised shoulder from the SAW, and a nasty cut below his left eye from a ricochet. Susan Powers had several cuts, scrapes and bruises from her battle with BD. Fiona Richards had a flesh wound in her right leg. Vaughan a sprained ankle, gotten when he had moved across the graveled roof to assist James. Tom Mackey had a bruised and bleeding face from a shower of that same gravel thrown into his face by a close call shot from the attackers.
It seemed like a sick joke to say they were lucky, but Roland knew that they had been. If not for the presence of so many steady people and Ralph’s handiwork, things could have gone much, much worse.
The building had taken a good bit of damage as well. Many windows were broken and the brick exterior would never look right again. What the attackers lacked in skill and brains they had tried very hard to make up for in sheer volume of fire. There would be a lot of work to do.
Roland sighed. So much loss, and so much still to do. It never ended.
He wondered if it ever would.
-
“Well, soldier boy, I think you’ll live,” Jennifer Kingston tried to be upbeat, but it was hard. Her own brush with the invaders, topped with so many injured, to say nothing of those for whom she could do nothing, had left her mentally and emotionally exhausted.
“I’ve had worse,” Jesse said simply. Adrenaline was still pumping through him, and he was careful to hold himself in check. He really liked the lady doctor.
“I’m sure you have,” Jennifer nodded, her left hand absently tracing a scar down the left side of Jesse’s abdomen.
“Ah, that was a long time ago,” he said ruefully, “Misspent youth and all that.”
“And the one on your leg?” she asked.
“Iraq,” Jesse said simply, shrugging. “The one on my shoulder was Afghanistan,” he added,
“Ambush.”
“Such a rough life,” she said softly, her hand caressing his shoulder.
“Ain’t been that bad,” Jesse shrugged, “Only one I had,” He managed to grin.
“Well, I got work to do, and I guess you do too,” Jennifer said, almost reluctant to take her hand back. She did finally, and Jesse shrugged back into his shirt.
“Yeah, no rest for the wicked.”
“No wickedness here, soldier,” she shook her head. “All of you, fighting to. . .no, no wickedness,” she finished softly. “Come see me later?”
“It’s a promise,” Jesse nodded. On impulse, he leaned down to kiss her cheek. He was surprised when his lips met hers, Jennifer having turned her head at the last second.
“Later,” she said again, then turned to her work. Jesse left, shaking his head.
-
“Sir,” Turnbow’s runner was teary-eyed.
“Yeah?” Roland asked.
“Sir, we sent out a patrol after your message, to try and get a handle on the rest. We. . .well, sir, we found your bus. It…it was shot full o’ holes, and been burned. There was. . .was two bodies inside,” the young man’s eyes were misty.
“I see,” Roland felt a heavy hand settle on him.
“They fought, sir,” the man went on, “We found five dead bikers around the bus, and another in
the door. They. . .they went hard.”
“Thanks, son,” Roland nodded. “Can you take us to it? We need to do right by ’em.”
“Yes, sir. S’why the Reverend sent me. Allowed you’d want to do it y'all’s selves.”
“Give us a minute.”
-
It was near sunset when the survivors gathered outside. Fresh graves had been dug near Cassandra’s.
“Lord, we don’t know why this happened,” Jesse said softly
, his voice carrying. “We don’t know why our friends had to die like this, at the hands of criminals.” Deena was sobbing, supported on one side by Maria, and the other by Melissa Andrews.
“We do know that these were good people, Lord,” Jesse went on, “We know that because when things were hard, when things were dangerous, they didn’t shirk their duty to their fellow men. They worked, they fought, and they died beside us, for the right.”
“We ask, Oh Lord, that they inherit their place with You, where You’ll keep them against that day when we can all see each other once more. We ask, too, Oh Lord, that You keep the rest of us in Your protected care, against that day. Forgive us, Oh Lord, when we sin, that we shall see that day.
Amen.”
“Amen,” the assembled group repeated. Slowly the bodies were lowered into the ground.
Several stepped forward to drop flowers or mementos into the graves. Deena softly dropped Terri’s diary, along with her favorite hair ribbon into her friend’s grave. Suddenly she turned and ran away, crying all the while. Maria looked at Roland for a second, then went after her, Melissa following.
The task done, James, ever present and loyal James, used the backhoe to finish the job. In twos and threes, the men and women of the school trooped back inside.
Roland walked around the school, silently looking for something he might have done different.
Something that might have made a difference in the body count.
Something that would justify the guilt he was feeling.
By dark, he still hadn’t found it.
-
The night was still. No one had spoken much during the evening meal, whether from exhaustion, shock, or a combination of the two. There just didn’t seem to be anything to say.
Every one of the old crew missed Terri terribly. Deena was the worst, of course, acting as if she had lost a part of herself. And, maybe she had.
Tom and James were on watch, and Melissa had fixed the two of them a tray, carrying their supper to them, then eating her own with James as he stood watch at the front. The young couple sat in silence. Even alone, no one had anything to say.