Surviving Home

by A. American

  Mark pulled a bag from the bed of the Mule and handed everyone a radio. There were also three body bags lying there. “Where did you get these?” I asked him.

  “The sheriff’s office had some stuff that still worked.” After he handed them out, we did a quick radio check. I climbed into the Mule and we pulled though the barricade.

  I said, “Head up toward the Pittman Center and take that trail just past it, to the left. Baptist Lake is back there.” He was focused on the road ahead and seemed a little tense. I asked, “Has old Pat been that big a pain in the ass the whole time? I mean, she’s always been a pain, but that seemed a little over-the-top.”

  “Yeah, she’s been trying to coordinate everyone to work together. She tells everyone what to do. She wants us all to throw everything in a big pile to share,” he said.

  “She must be about out of food, then.”

  Mark looked over at me and said, “That’s what I think too.”

  I pointed out the trail shortly after we passed the visitor center in Pitman. We all turned off the road onto the trail. It didn’t take long to get back to the lake. Winters were rather dry around there, and there weren’t any real wet places to negotiate. We came at the lake from the north side, and the bodies I had seen were on the south side. I told Mark about where they were and pointed in the general direction. He stopped the Mule and waved the others forward. Reggie, Rick and Danny all came up alongside.

  “Rick, you and Danny go around that side. Reggie, you follow us around this side. Keep an eye out, and when you get down there, no one go running off toward the area. Let’s see if we can find anything that might tell us who’s doing this. We don’t have a forensic team, but let’s see if there’s anything that might help us.”

  Everyone nodded and we all headed off. Reggie was trailing behind us and Mark wasn’t going very fast. I glanced over my shoulder at Reggie and he just looked pissed. Looking over at Mark, I said, “Good idea having him follow behind you; he looks like he’s ready to kill someone right now.”

  “That’s why he’s back there. I wanted him to go slow, otherwise he would have hauled ass down there, and if there was anything that might help he’d probably fuck it up. I sure hope this isn’t his niece,” Mark said.

  It didn’t take long to make our way around the little lake. The water was low and a large part of the bottom was exposed. As we neared the area where I’d found the bodies, I told Mark, and he stopped the Mule as Reggie came up beside us. “Why are we stopping?” Reggie asked.

  “They were right over there,” I answered him, pointing off toward the near side of the lake where three or four buzzards were taking to the air.

  Reggie squinted his eyes and looked out over the dry lake bed. Rick and Danny had come out of the tree line a couple hundred yards to our left and stopped. We all dismounted and walked toward the bottom end of the little lake. There wasn’t anything that said Body over here! and I couldn’t really remember exactly where they were, but it wasn’t a large area to search. Just a minute later, Rick found a femur. It was lying in the dirt alone, no other bones around it. Out of habit more than anything else probably, Rick took a business card from his pocket, folded it in half and set the little paper tent on the ground beside the bone.

  From where we were standing, two lumps were clearly visible.

  A few moments later we were standing over what was left of the two bodies I had found just a couple days back. The one that had looked the worse for wear that day was now nothing more than bones held together by connective tissue. The one that had appeared to be freshly dumped was in pretty bad shape now; the various critters that feed on carrion had been hard at work. We stood in a semicircle around the bodies. Mark and Rick looked at the ground and the surrounding area for any sort of clue as to who had dumped them.

  Reggie just stood there staring at the body with the matted blonde hair. Finally he looked over at Mark and said, “I want to check her and see if it’s Christine.”

  Mark looked over at him and frowned. “From the condition of the body, how are you going to tell?”

  “Looks like most of the back side is still there. She has a tattoo on her lower back, kind of a tribal thing with a butterfly in the middle. I want to know, now,” Reggie said it with a finality that Mark couldn’t argue with.

  Mark and Rick pulled black nitrile gloves from their pockets and put them on. Kneeling down, they turned the body over. While the animals hadn’t been able to get at the back side of the body, the insects certainly had, but there was still enough of a tattoo visible to make it out. Reggie reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a photo. It was of a blonde girl, probably eighteen or nineteen, with her shirt pulled up over her fresh tattoo. She was looking back over her shoulder at whoever took the picture with a huge smile on her face, her perfectly white teeth shining in the flash of the camera.

  Reggie looked at the picture, then at the body, then at the photo. He handed the picture to Mark. “It’s her. I have to take her home to her momma.”

  Mark took the photo and looked at it. He shook his head, looking at the once-beautiful young girl in the picture. Standing up, he handed it back to Reggie and walked over to the Mule and grabbed the body bags. “I don’t see much here that would help us. We’ll take the bindings and I’ll make a sketch of these tire tracks; maybe they’ll be handy later.”

  We spent about an hour collecting all the bodies. One of them was pretty scattered, and we tried to make sure we found all the bones, though I know we didn’t. When we were done we loaded two bags into the Mule. Reggie insisted on taking the one with Christine in it on his four-wheeler. He laid the bag across the rear rack and strapped it with a couple of bungee cords. With the bodies loaded, we all climbed back on the various machines and headed back toward home.

  • • •

  When we came to our road, the four of us pulled off but Reggie kept going toward Altoona. He didn’t say anything as he passed. We pulled up to the barricade, where Lance and Jeremy were sitting. Rick went up to Lance and put his hand out. Lance dropped the cuffs into it. Rick put them on his belt then looked back at Lance. “The key too.” Lance gave a sly little smile and reached into his pocket and pulled out the key, handing it over as well.

  “Did she give you any trouble?” Mark asked

  “She was pissed. She cussed you for all you’re worth, but no, she didn’t give me any trouble. She told me I would regret it and that you had no right to lock her up like a dog,” Lance said.

  I stepped out of the Mule and went over to Danny’s Polaris and climbed on. “Drop me off at the house,” I said as my ass landed on the seat.

  Danny pulled up to the front of the house. After I climbed off, he asked if I could come down to his place later and see if I could come up with some ideas to get some power going. We shook and I went up to the porch where Mel was sitting with a cup of coffee. She waved at Danny as he pulled off.

  “Where’d you go? I saw all the four-wheelers go by—what’s up?” she asked.

  I told her about the bodies. It upset her, the thought of some sick bastard running around doing something like that, at a time like this. She also worried for our girls, and I assured her that they weren’t going anywhere without us, except down to Danny and Bobbie’s house. There was only one way onto our street and we had decent security, so I wasn’t worried about them walking down the road.

  Mel asked if I wanted a cup of coffee, and I said I would love one. She went inside and came back with another cup and hers refilled. We sat on the bench drinking our coffee when the door opened and Little Bit came out. She was dragging a giant tawny-colored teddy bear, Peanut Butter. She looked so cute in her little footie PJs. Rubbing her eyes, she came over and climbed up in my lap and laid her head on the bear. It was wonderful beyond words to have that little girl in my lap, just to be sitting here with Mel and knowing all my girls were safe. After a moment she raised h
er little head and looked over the edge of my cup. “Can I have some coffee, Daddy? Can you move this?”

  She was pointing at the AR lying my lap. I pulled the sling over my head and set the rifle aside. “Sure, baby,” I said as she took the cup with her little hands.

  She took a sip and hummed with pleasure. She looked up with a big smile. “It’s good. Can I have the rest of it?”

  This was the eternal question from her: can I have more? It didn’t matter what it was, anything she had some of, she wanted the rest of. Maybe it came from having two older sisters, being the smallest: get what you can get, when you can get it. “Of course, drink it up. When you’re done, go get dressed.”

  “Okay,” she said and raised the cup again.

  We sat on the porch and Little Bit finished her coffee. I tousled her long blonde hair, making her giggle. She finally finished her coffee and climbed off my lap and headed back for the house, the bear trailing behind her. Mel looked over at me and said, “You let her drink that, she’s your problem for the rest of the day.”

  “No sweat. I have a lot to do today; she can follow along,” I said and stood up. “I’m going to go out to the shop and check out the solar system and go through a few things.”

  “All right, I’m going to clean up the kitchen.”

  I headed out to the shop and was checking out the batteries, looking for any corrosion on the terminals, when I heard a high-pitched voice call, “Daddy?”

  “In here.”

  Little Bit came through the door. “What’cha doin’?”

  “Just checking a few things,” I told her.

  She helped me as I went over the batteries, cables and inverter. Then I went through the food stored there. It still looked like a lot of food, but when you thought of the fact that there was no way to run to the store, it wasn’t. I was standing there looking over the stores when Little Bit asked, “What’s wrong, Daddy?”

  “Nothing, just looking at all the food we have.” I chose the words carefully so as not to let her think I was worried; this wasn’t her problem and her little mind didn’t need to be troubled with it.

  “Yeah, we have a lot, don’t we?” she said.

  “We have some.” I looked down at her, she turned to look up at me. “But don’t tell anyone about it, okay?” I said as I patted her head.

  She leaned her head against my side, turning her face into me. “I won’t. Someone might try and steal it. If anyone tries and steal it, I’ll shoot them with my BB gun,” she said.

  “Don’t go trying to shoot anyone. If you see anyone, you tell me,” I told her.

  “Okay, can I go get my BB gun?” she asked.

  “Sure, just be careful with it.” She was on her way before I even finished saying it.

  After she was gone I pulled the twenty-millimeter ammo cans out from under the shelves and did a quick inventory of the ammo. I had about forty-seven hundred rounds for the AR and 1250 for the .45s. There were also close to a thousand rounds of .22, 110 30-30 rounds and fifty twelve-gauge shells mixed between 00 buck and slugs, both high brass. I felt pretty good about the count. It wasn’t an unlimited supply, but it was a substantial stockpile.

  About then Little Bit came through the door with her Red Ryder in one hand, a length of 550 cord in the other. She said, “Daddy, can you put this rope on my gun so I can wear it like you do yours?”

  I smiled at her and took a moment to fashion a sling for her little rifle. She stood there with a smile on her face, then put the sling over her shoulder when I was done and ran out of the shop. Going back inside, I found Taylor and Lee Ann awake. Lee Ann was standing in the kitchen looking in the fridge. “I’m hungry,” she announced. “I want some eggs.”

  She took the bowl that had the fresh eggs in it from the fridge. “Dad, can you light the stove for me? I can’t do it.”

  “Sure,” I replied. I lit the stove and adjusted the knob for a low flame. She took a ten-inch skillet down and set it on the stove. I told her that was too big and I replaced it with an eight-inch. I showed her how to pour a little oil in the pan and keep the eggs moving so they wouldn’t stick. Like any teenager, she told me, “I know,” so I left her to her breakfast, telling her to clean up after herself and making sure she knew how to shut the stove off.

  In short order there was a small argument over what she and her sister thought they should make. I was in the bathroom when I heard the sliding glass door open and close. As I was coming back out of my room, Taylor came through the door again with a can of Red Feather cheddar cheese in her hand.

  “What are you doing with that?” I asked her.

  “I’m going to make a cheese omelet,” she replied as she reached for a can opener.

  I took the can from the counter. “You do not just go get what you want out of the shop. You have to ask before you get anything. We have to be careful with what we have. We only have twelve cans of this; you can’t just use it for yourself. Do you two understand?”

  Taylor looked dejected. “Yes, I just wanted something different.”

  Lee Ann was nodding her head. “I didn’t want the cheese anyway,” she said.

  I put the can back on a shelf in the kitchen and went to find Mel. We needed to talk about the food situation.

  Chapter 2

  After a long day, Thad was sitting in his chair in front of a low fire in the fireplace. Anita was putting little Tony to bed. Thad looked across the room at his mother who sat in an old rocking chair, her hands folded in her lap. She had a smile on her face and was looking at Thad.

  “What you smilin’ at, Momma?” Thad asked.

  “You, baby. You know how proud I am of you, you know how much I love you?” Then she slowly started to rock her chair.

  Thad sat there looking back at her with a grin on his face. “I know. You gave me a lot of love over the years.”

  “I’ve always been proud of you. You is a good man, and don’t let anyone ever tell you different,” she said as she rocked.

  “I tried to make you proud. It was important to me. You okay?”

  “Oh, I’m fine. You came home,” his mother replied and smiled.

  She started to rise from the chair and Thad came over and helped her up. She said she was tired and ready for bed. Thad helped her down the hall, carrying a candle to light the way. He helped her onto the edge of her bed, where she pulled down the linens and made ready to get in. Thad set the candle on the nightstand, and his mother asked him to hand her her Bible.

  “You gonna be able to read with just this candle, Momma?” Thad asked.

  “No, baby, I’m not gonna read. I just wants it by me is all.”

  Thad handed her the Bible and she swung her legs up and onto the bed. Thad helped her get the blankets arranged. After pulling the covers up, Thad leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. She placed her hands on either side of his face. “You a good man. I love you. You came home. You came home to me. And to Anita and Tony,” she said with a smile.

  Thad took her hands in his and squeezed them tight. “I love you too, Momma. And I have all I need now with you, Anita and Tony. If I didn’t have anything else in the world, that’s all that I would need.”

  She smiled at him. “Good night, son,” she said.

  She still had a smile on her face as Thad closed the door. He went out to the living room where Anita was sitting on the sofa. He sat down beside her.

  “Momma seem like she actin’ a little weird to you?” he asked.

  “She sat on the porch looking down the road, waiting for you. She said all along that you would come home. She knew it. I knew it too, but she was so damn certain. She just seems so happy now, like she’s finished something,” Anita said.

  Thad sat there for a minute thinking, but he said nothing more. He put his arm around Anita and pulled her close. She laid her head on his shoulder. They sat there a
little longer before Thad got up and put two large logs on the fire before going to bed.

  Thad woke before the sun came up, as was his habit now, and dressed as quietly as he could. Anita stretched and sat up, sliding her feet into her slippers and reaching for her robe. They exchanged good mornings and a quick kiss as Thad headed for the living room. The fire was all but dead. There was just a slight glow coming from what was left of the bottom of one of the big logs he had put on before bed. Piling on some pine needles, he blew them into a flame and then added a small piece of lighter wood and some small sticks to get the fire going again. Giving the renewed flame time to take, he added some larger sticks. Satisfied the fire would sustain itself, he headed for the back door.

  Thad pulled his coat on as he opened the door and stepped out; the cold seemed to wrap itself around him, and he quickly zipped up the coat. He walked out to the old barn to relieve himself. He had instituted this as a new rule in the house: he and little Tony would urinate outside. Hauling water into the house to flush the toilets was getting old. Little Tony thought it was fun to pee outside, and on those first times when he stood beside his father as they both did it, he would giggle and laugh. Thad couldn’t help but laugh too, at the little boy finding humor in something as simple as peeing on the ground.

  As he was answering the morning call he arched his shoulders against the cold. Going back inside, he found Anita at work in the kitchen on breakfast.

  “Where’s Momma?” he asked as he took off his coat.

  “She ain’t up yet.”

  Thad hung his coat on the hook by the door and headed down the hall. Opening his mother’s door, he found her still in bed. He stood there for a minute looking at her, thinking she was asleep, but a strange feeling came over him. He went up to her and looked closer. She had her Bible on her chest with her arms crossed over it. She looked peaceful, too peaceful. Thad reached down and took her hand. It was cold, and when he felt her neck, it too was cold.