Storm Front

by Thomas A. Watson

  Letting out a breath, Michelle gave a small smile of thanks. “We need the stuff inside, but we can’t stay long. I need to get them back where I can go over them and the others that were wounded.”

  “How long?” Dallas asked nodding.

  Thinking for a few minutes and then looking at her watch. “It’ll be 0400 in two hours. I need to be home by 0430,” she said.

  “I’ll have everyone home by 0400,” Dallas said and then walked away.

  Hearing roaring motorcycle engines, Michelle checked her AR, then moved over to the building with Sean following. They soon saw headlights speeding toward them in the distance. “Where is a deer in the road when you need one?” Sean sighed, checking his rifle.

  Michelle watched the lights coming fast and figured they were close to triple digits. “That’s a sharp turn,” she said, hearing the engines barely slow a mile from the turn and Zeus let out a low growl. Then, like a magic hand stopped them, the bikes reached a spot in the road and sped off into the ditch.

  In less than two seconds, twenty-seven bikes crashed. “What the hell did Bernard do?” Michelle cried out.

  Hearing movement above her, Michelle looked up and saw Curtis poke his head over the roof and look down at her, grinning. “They strung something across the road that didn’t break. I saw four heads get chopped off,” he said chuckling. “The others were jerked off their bikes.”

  As Curtis crawled back, Michelle glanced back at Sean. “Told you he sounded confident,” she said.

  Sean nodded as Dallas came over the radio. “Tony, Grant, get two box trucks here to this door now,” he barked over the radio. “Bernard, your area secure?”

  “We’re good here,” Bernard called back.

  “I need you and your team in the school. I need you to oversee this loading operation,” Dallas said. “Curtis, your team has our cover now.”

  “Moving to you, coming in the north door,” Bernard answered.

  Waiting to make sure the radio was clear, Michelle pressed her PTT. “Enterprise, this is away team. I need medical bay prepped for casualties,” she called out.

  A few seconds later, “Medical bay being prepped and awaiting arrival, away team,” Nancy called back in a trembling voice.

  Knowing it would drive those at home insane not knowing, Michelle pressed her PTT. “All away team accounted for and mobile, but have casualties,” she called out, letting Nancy know that nobody was dead, but had some hurt bad.

  “Copy, away team,” Nancy called back, sounding relieved.

  Letting the PTT go, Michelle looked at Sean, one of the ones she wanted to lay down, but he wouldn’t. “Where’s my husband?” she asked about another one she wanted to stay still.

  “Talking to the wounded with Amber,” Sean said.

  Looking at Sean in shock, “Really?” Michelle asked. When Sean nodded, Michelle looked off smiling. “I’ll take that,” she said, seeing two large box trucks pull into the parking lot. Driving over the bodies, the trucks backed up to the door behind them.

  When Sean struggled to stand to go help load, Michelle grabbed his arm. “Sean, the snipers can’t cover these bodies, so stay with me in case some are faking. We can’t have one jump up and shoot the loading team,” she told him as Zeus leaned his head over, feeling Michelle’s anxiety. Letting Sean’s arm go, Michelle petted Zeus’s blood-matted fur.

  Giving a weary but thankful nod, Sean sat back down. When one truck was loaded, Grant moved it out of the way and pulled the last one up to the door. “Coming in,” Dallas called over the radio.

  “I got you,” Curtis called back.

  Hearing an engine, Michelle saw the Flyers drive around the building to park in front of the box trucks. Dallas climbed out of the driver’s seat of one and Tony climbed out of the other. Michelle saw Gerald climb out of the passenger seat of the one Dallas had been driving.

  Seeing the scowl on Gerald’s face, Michelle couldn’t help but grin as he stormed over and looked down at Sean. “Did you know he was going to do that?” Gerald all but shouted at Sean.

  Rolling his head, Sean blinked his eyes slowly. “Huh?” he grunted.

  “Your father threw me over his shoulder and ran back to get the Flyers!” Gerald shouted and Sean just stared at Gerald as his head wobbled on his shoulders.

  “Gerald, shut the fuck up,” Michelle snapped, turning around and grabbing Sean’s head, holding his eyelid open while pulling out her flashlight. Turning it on, she flicked the beam in Sean’s eyes. Seeing his pupils respond sluggishly, Michelle sucked in a breath as Dallas walked up.

  “Well, if you wouldn’t have booby trapped them, I wouldn’t have needed you,” Dallas said, stopping beside Gerald.

  Michelle jumped up and turned to Dallas. “I need Sean home, like now!” she shouted.

  “Load up!” Dallas shouted.

  “No, now!” Michelle yelled, looking around. “Scott, Grant, here!” They ran over and she pointed at Sean. “Be very careful with his head and keep him upright, but get him in one of the Flyers. We are leaving now!”

  They moved over, picking Sean up in a two-man carry and when Sean didn’t complain, they both worried. As they carried him to the Flyer, Michelle grabbed Dallas’s vest. “You better bring my husband home, so I can fix him,” she growled and then took off running for the Flyer.

  “Zeus!” she yelled, climbing in the driver’s seat. When Scott and Grant put Sean in, they looked at Michelle as Zeus jumped in the back. “Get the fuck in, I can’t unload him!” she screeched. They both jumped on the Flyer and Michelle took off as they climbed inside.

  “Jacob!” Dallas shouted.

  Running over, Jacob skidded to a halt. “Yeah, Paw?”

  “Go get Nelson and put him in the passenger seat of that buggy,” Dallas said and Jacob took off.

  “What do you need us to do?” Curtis asked, running up with his crew carrying their sniper rifles.

  “Son, the enemy has wounded. Can you shoot them so they can’t tell anyone about us?” Dallas asked, watching each one’s face.

  A grin split Curtis’s face as he slung the massive rifle and pulled a large pistol out. “Thank you so much,” Curtis almost giggled. As he walked past Dallas the other three followed, pulling out their own pistols.

  “Will you put me the fuck down!” Nelson screamed and Dallas saw Jacob carrying Nelson in his arms like they’d just been married. Seeing the others closing the box trucks, Dallas moved to the Flyer.

  “Nelson, I told him to!” Dallas shouted.

  “I can walk! I’m not an invalid!” Nelson shouted back.

  Leaning forward and reaching under his vest, Dallas grabbed his belt and yanked it out. “Do I need to come over there?” Dallas asked, holding the belt up and Nelson tried to climb on Jacob’s head to put distance between himself and Dallas.

  “No, sir,” Nelson said and Dallas turned to the school, yelling at everyone to load up and team leaders to check their people. “My God, did you see how long that belt was?” Nelson gasped as Jacob put him in the Flyer. “He could hit me on the other side of the county.”

  Jacob nodded. “Don’t run because he’s faster than he looks,” he said, moving to the driver’s seat. After everyone piled on and in vehicles, Jacob pulled out.

  ***

  After hitting triple digits, Michelle pulled into the front yard and saw a throng of people waiting on the porch. She jumped out. “Don’t fucking yell or excite him,” she shouted, turning to Scott. “Can you and Grant carry him like you did at the school, keeping his head upright?”

  “No problem,” Scott said, climbing out.

  Running to the front porch, “Bring him in the living room!” she shouted and everyone parted, letting her pass. “Gavin!” she shouted, walking inside.

  “Here, Mom,” he said, running up behind her.

  Not stopping, Michelle moved into the kitchen. “Gavin, get Zeus and only you, take him to the basement. I need you to go to the secret place and bring momma one of her red boxes,�
�� Michelle said, stripping off her gear and dropping it on the floor.

  Nellie walked in the kitchen and saw the dressing on Michelle’s shoulder and her face covered in blood. “What do you need?” Nellie asked.

  “You have both exam tables in the living room?” Michelle asked, taking her helmet off. Nellie nodded as Michelle started scrubbing. “Big pans of warm water. Tell them to put him on one of the stretchers and get him cleaned up.”

  Dianna came in wiping her eyes with Rick’s wife, Nikki following her. “What can I do?” Dianna asked.

  “Tell everyone to leave him alone and stay outside. I don’t know if he has a skull fracture or a concussion and I still haven’t examined him. You will stay with me because he will listen to you,” Michelle said, dunking her head under the faucet. “Start stripping him and I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Dianna left and Nikki came over. “I’m a nurse, too. What can I do?”

  Grabbing the soap, Michelle lathered her hair up. “Need to read what people wrote down,” Michelle mumbled, rinsing her hair.

  Standing up, Michelle saw Nikki holding a towel. “We have more rolling in. There’s a black bag in there, start an IV on Sean,” Michelle said and Nikki took off. Barely drying her hair, Michelle dried off her hands and took a deep breath. “You can do this,” she said confidently.

  Walking into the living room, she saw Scott and Grant helping Dianna strip Sean down. Michelle let out a gasp and ran over, grabbing the head of the exam table and raising it up to forty-five degrees. “His head has to stay above his heart,” she said, moving to the bag.

  Grabbing stuff, she stopped and looked around the living room. Everything was shoved to one wall with the other exam table in the middle of the floor. Spinning around, she looked at the den. “Nellie, get the chairs out of the den, but leave the table. Send people to my house and bring my kitchen table and put it in there. Lay blankets on both tables and push the recliner and couch out. We need more places to work on people,” Michelle barked and moved over to Sean.

  As she looked in Sean’s left ear, Nikki shouted out. “IV in!”

  “Shit,” Michelle said, seeing the eardrum ruptured and some blood in the canal. “It may have been the music,” she said, confusing everyone. “Hang saline, one liter, wide open,” Michelle said, shining a light in Sean’s eye.

  “I can see,” he slurred.

  “Sean!” Michelle snapped and looked in his other eye, seeing his pupils still sluggish.

  “Here, Mom,” Gavin said, running in and holding a large, red plastic fishing box.

  “Thank you, baby,” Michelle said, examining Sean. “Gavin, I need you and you alone to take Zeus outside and wash him. Check him for any wounds. He won’t bite you but someone else, he might. When he’s clean, come back and tell me,” she said, looking at the large gash on Sean’s chest.

  Gavin didn’t say anything and took off running as Michelle shook her head, looking at the large bruise on Sean’s chest. “Nikki, can you get me some vitals?” Michelle asked, closing her eyes to think.

  Nellie came in carrying a large pan of water and saw Michelle thinking. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  “I know where it’s at,” Michelle said, opening her eyes. “Nellie, send someone to my basement. Far back wall on the right, you will see black bins with SUG written on them. They are heavy, so send strong people.”

  “We’ll get them,” Scott said, tapping Grant as the other boys carried Michelle’s table into the den.

  When Nikki told her the vitals, Michelle groaned. “Sean, after I get you better, I’m kicking your ass! When I tell you not to move I mean, don’t fucking walk around!” Michelle snapped.

  “I’ll hold him down for you,” Dianna said with tears on her cheeks.

  “Dianna, I need you to start washing him down, so I can see just what we are working with,” Michelle said, looking at Nellie picking up a washcloth. “Dianna, I need Nellie getting ready for the others, who do you want to help?”

  “I can do it,” Nikki offered.

  “No, we have six more wounded coming in,” Michelle said.

  “Kathleen,” Dianna said, turning to leave.

  “I’ll get her,” Nellie said, moving to the front door.

  “She’s here?” Michelle said, moving to the red box.

  “All of us are here,” Dianna said, grabbing the rag and starting to wash Sean down.

  As Kathleen came in with Nellie behind her, Michelle pulled out several vials of medicine. “Nellie, I need Matt on the other exam table. I need Nelson on the den table and Ronald on my table. Get something to cover the recliner and put Gerald there,” Michelle said, drawing up medicine in a syringe. “You got all that?”

  “I got it,” Nellie nodded as Michelle hooked the syringe up to Sean’s IV.

  Michelle slowly lifted her eyes up, looking at Nellie. “After you’ve done that, I want you to strip every son of a bitch that was on that assault down to underwear and check them for wounds. This macho shit is chapping my ass,” Michelle growled.

  “Don’t you worry, baby,” Nellie said and left.

  As Scott and Grant carried in the huge bins, Wilma moved over to Michelle. “Michelle, it’s been a while, but I was an EMT,” she said softly.

  “I can work with that,” Michelle said and started giving Nikki and Wilma the plan.

  Chapter 21

  Jacob pulled into the front yard along with the ATVs as the box trucks were pulled into Bernard’s and Hank’s barns. Looking at the mass of people on the porch, Nelson forgot about his pain for a brief second. Every bump they’d hit had almost made him pass out.

  He glanced over to see Curtis jump off his four-wheeler as his wife and kids charged him. “Nelson,” Dallas said, standing beside the Flyer. “What were you thinking to fool them about my farm?”

  As Nelson explained and slowly climbed out of the Flyer, Jana and the kids hugged Curtis tight. Even though, Curtis was only a few years younger than Nelson, with his short blonde hair and childlike face, he looked much younger. Feeling Curtis crying, Jana looked up at him.

  “Baby, don’t feel bad. Those men needed to die,” Jana said softly.

  “Feel bad?” Curtis barked, backing up. “Jana, I want to kill more of them. They… You don’t understand…. the babies…,” Curtis stuttered, trying to put the evil he’d witnessed into words. “They weren’t even kids, they were babies like Cody and Katie,” he cried out, snatching his kids up in his arms as tears flowed down his cheeks. “They… They r….” he faltered. “I watched them and I want to find the rest.”

  Jana and the others who hadn’t gone stared at Curtis, not really wanting to know what the team saw. Moving over and wrapping her arms around him, “I’m here, Curtis,” she said softly.

  “They were babies!” Curtis cried out.

  Struggling to stand up, Nelson pushed past Dallas, limping over to Curtis and his family. Seeing Nelson’s appearance, Jana let out a gasp, letting Curtis go. Curtis turned and saw Nelson coming over and put his kids down.

  Stopping beside Curtis, Nelson reached up to hold Curtis’s head. “You don’t feel bad for the ones we couldn’t save. We can’t save everyone and we won’t even try. We will try to save some but more importantly, we will fight those that live to rule people like cattle. Don’t feel guilty about what we could’ve done. Feel proud of what we did and use that to get better,” Nelson said, staring into Curtis’s eyes.

  Hearing the words, Curtis nodded. “I’ll fight,” he said, still crying.

  “And I’ll stand with you, as will everyone here. We can’t save the world, but we can make a difference here,” Nelson said. Feeling dizzy, Nelson dropped his hands to Curtis’s shoulders. “Whoa,” he said, blinking his eyes.

  “Curtis, hug your kids and wife because that’s what we are fighting for,” Nelson said, feeling very light-headed.

  Scott walked off the porch and pushed through the crowd. Scooping Nelson up in his arms, Scott headed for the house. “I can walk,” Nel
son snapped, but wasn’t so sure he could.

  Dallas walked over with his belt in his hand. “Never mind,” Nelson said.

  He looked back and saw Grant carrying Ronald, and Jacob and Tony carrying Matt. “I feel like a bitch,” Nelson mumbled as Scott carried him through the crowd.

  Chuckling, “You may want to tone that down because your wife is very tired of macho shit,” Scott said.

  “Nah, I just need some rest,” Nelson said and Scott looked at Nelson’s body.

  “You need some work done on you first,” Scott said as people held the door open.

  As everyone was carried in, Nellie stood like a traffic cop directing traffic. Wilma and Cara came over and stripped Nelson down. Looking ahead, he saw Cara’s husband, Glen, and Hank’s wife, Judy, stripping Ronald on what looked like the kitchen table from the cabin.

  Nelson groaned as they pulled his vest off and both gasped, seeing the blood-soaked shirt. Wilma left and Haley, Jacob’s wife came over and helped Cara with Nelson. Looking into the living room, he saw Michelle sewing something up on Sean who looked passed out. “What did she give Sean?” Nelson asked as they cut his shirt off.

  “Something for the brain swelling,” Cara said, kicking his vest in the corner.

  Not liking the sound of that, Nelson saw Ashley on the couch and two women stripping her down. That’s when he saw Wilma, working on Gerald with Kathleen. As Cara cut his pants off, Nelson cleared his throat and spoke softly. “Is Wilma sweet on ole Gerald?” he asked and Cara blushed because Nelson had spoken louder than he realized because his ears still felt full of cotton.

  “You hush,” Cara said, cutting her eyes up and saw Wilma blushing but thankfully, Gerald didn’t hear Nelson because to Gerald, Nelson had spoken softly.

  Taking a deep breath, Michelle looked up at everyone working on someone. “Scott!” she called out and Scott stuck his head in from the kitchen. “Sorry I always call you, but send someone to my cabin. Bring one of the recliners over here and put it in Sean’s room. He will be sleeping in it for the next week.”

  Nodding, Scott walked outside and grabbed one of the kids to help him. “Wilma, have you got a list of the injuries on those inside?” Michelle asked, putting a dressing over the wound on Sean’s side that she’d stitched up.