Storm Front

by Thomas A. Watson

  As she spoke, Dallas’s face softened and he turned his eyes to meet hers. “You’re awful wise to be so young,” he said and finally smiled.

  “I’m not that young,” Michelle said, leaning up.

  “All my kids are older than you, little one,” Dallas said, grabbing her hand. “I was wrong, and it won’t happen again.”

  Michelle squeezed his hand. “Dallas, will you make sure these other men understand? The resources I use on one really sick person can treat twenty minor illnesses. They can be macho, but let me know,” Michelle almost begged.

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure and if they don’t listen, I’ll strip them down every day like Nellie did,” he chuckled.

  Stepping back, “Nellie really did it?” Michelle asked.

  “Yep,” Dallas said as Nellie came out carrying the stuff. Michelle pulled a table over and started setting up. “I can wait,” Dallas said.

  “I might need you in there when I work on my husband,” Michelle said, drawing up lidocaine.

  “Your husband doesn’t know the meaning of fear,” Dallas said as she numbed the wound.

  “No, he does and that’s the problem. He charges in to prove he’s not afraid,” Michelle said and went to work. Halfway through, she heard a diesel engine pulling in and glanced back. Seeing a class A RV pulling in, Michelle did a double take.

  “Curtis and each of the others have one of those,” Nellie said as the big RV pulled over to the side of the house under the oak trees. “Rick and Nikki are going to stay here, so she can help us get everyone better. They are putting one more here and the other two at Hank’s for Dallas’s family.”

  “Huh?” Michelle said, going back to sewing.

  Dallas cleared his throat. “Nelson told me how to set up my farm to look like it was attacked. Only a few of us will stay there, guarding it for a week. Nelson’s sure by then, they will have photos and see the farm looks abandoned,” Dallas said.

  “My husband can think of stuff that still shocks me,” Michelle said, finishing up. “Don’t go far, in case I need you for Nelson. I’ve worn Scott out.”

  “Nah,” Dallas said, lowering his arm. “Nobody is going to bed until you do.”

  Not even addressing that, Michelle moved over and lifted the bandage on Curtis’s shoulder. “Nellie, Nikki can do this, but it does need stitches so don’t let him leave,” Michelle said, grabbing her coffee. Taking a deep breath, Michelle drained her cup and walked back inside.

  Walking over, she saw Ashley asleep on the other table. Grabbing the stuff she needed, Michelle moved over and touched Nelson lightly. “Baby,” she said softly and Nelson cracked his eyes open.

  “Hey, hot stuff,” he said grinning and Michelle saw him wince.

  Taking a deep breath, Michelle examined his body again, making sure she hadn’t missed anything the first time. “Where does it hurt the worst?” she asked, grabbing the portable ultrasound.

  Thinking about it for several minutes, “Um, can’t tell. Just laying here, the pain is equal,” he said.

  “Well, give me a list,” Michelle said, turning on the ultrasound.

  “Right side of my chest to the center of my chest. My back between my shoulder blades down to under my ribs on the right side. The left side of my stomach. Both my thighs, left calf, and my left arm,” he said. “And if you want to get technical, my head is killing me.”

  Squirting the ultrasound gel on his chest, “Want pain meds before I start?” she asked, grabbing the probe.

  “I’ll wait till you’re done,” he said as she put the probe on his chest. Nelson grimaced as Michelle moved the probe around and studied the screen. Keeping her face calm, Michelle moved to his abdomen and studied the screen as she moved the probe around.

  “I need you to pee,” Michelle said, putting the ultrasound down. She walked over and opened one of the bins, pulling out a plastic urinal.

  “I don’t really have to, babe,” Nelson said as he fought not to grimace.

  Bending down, Michelle pulled out a package, “Fine, I’ll cath you,” she said, moving back to the table.

  “Hey, hold on there,” Nelson said, trying to move and the pain almost made him pass out.

  Hearing the screen door open, Michelle grinned at seeing Dallas walk in. “Babe, either you give it, or I’ll take it,” she said, looking at Nelson.

  “You can’t take it if I don’t have it,” Nelson grunted.

  Watching Nelson for a few minutes and he never looked at her, Michelle stepped up to the bed with a scowl. “How much blood was in your urine?” she growled.

  “Not much,” Nelson groaned.

  “I need help cathing him,” Michelle called out and Nelson heard people coming.

  “Give me the damn jug,” he said, holding out his hand. “Don’t shove that water hose up my pee pee.”

  Seeing Nelson wasn’t moving, “Nelson,” Michelle said, holding up the catheter.

  “I’ll piss out of the palm of my hand, if you don’t shove that in my pecker,” Nelson cried out, laying back. Seeing Nelson grimace while trying to move the jug, Michelle stepped over and helped him.

  Cutting his eyes around the room, “It’s kind of hard to go with a crowd, Mr. Happy gets stage fright,” he said and Michelle gave him a bland look.

  “They can watch you piss in a jug or get a catheter, your choice,” she said flatly.

  Closing his eyes, Nelson relaxed and Michelle reached up, quickly wiping her eyes dry. Putting her mean face back on, she looked up at Nelson’s face and saw his eyes were still closed. When she heard him using the urinal, Michelle sighed more than Nelson did because she hadn’t wanted to cath him, but she would’ve.

  Never looking away from Nelson’s face, she could tell it was hurting. When he was done, Michelle took a deep breath and held up the plastic jug. From across the living room, Dallas gasped, “Holy shit.”

  There was no yellow tint at all in the jug. Turning away, Michelle put the jug down and dug in the med box, trying not to cry. She could wear her nurse face with the others, but not Nelson. Knowing how much pain she was going to put him through made Michelle want to puke. It took everything she had to not drop down crying, looking at his busted-up body. Drawing up meds in syringes, Michelle brushed her eyes dry and moved back to Nelson. Seeing he had his eyes closed, Michelle relaxed.

  “I’m going to give you some medicine, babe,” she said, hooking the first syringe to his IV.

  “I’m sorry,” Nelson mumbled. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

  Reaching up, Michelle caressed his cheek. “Mamma bear always worries about papa bear,” she said, hooking the next syringe up. Seeing Nelson drift off with the sedation, Michelle hooked him to the monitor and went to work. Every twitch or moan that Nelson let out as she worked, tears would rain down, but Michelle never stopped.

  An hour in, Nikki and Wilma came over to help. When they were done with Nelson, Scott came in with Grant and carried Nelson to his cabin. They all moved to Ashley and Michelle drained her knee, then they all went to work again.

  It was 1000 when Kim carried Ashley to her cabin, putting her in bed with Matt.

  When Kim had carried Ashley out, Kathleen moved over and picked up Michelle, putting her on the exam table and everyone went to work on Michelle. As the others cleaned the wounds, Nikki came along to sew them up.

  In this family: care, protection, and love were given by all.

  Chapter 22

  Twenty days later, Gerald was sitting on the back deck with several others after breakfast. “Bernard, I’m telling you, you would’ve had to see it to believe it. Nelson charged into that second room after we dropped one coming out. Up the hall more were coming out, so I couldn’t help and the others were tied up in clearing a packed room. What’s Nelson do? He charges his ass right inside with no backup,” Gerald said, shaking his head. “Reckless or not, if those in that room had come out, our attack would’ve stopped right there. They would’ve overrun us.”

  Ronald gav
e a curt laugh, “What about Nelson’s crazy ass attacking them through their own holes in the walls?”

  “No shit,” Sean said and Gerald saw Bernard and several others with a confused look.

  “They had cut holes in the walls of every room on the east side or our right side during the attack. Only a few rooms were set up like that on the left. I’ve seen it done before,” Gerald said. “When you’re attacked, you can just move to a different room and come out behind your attacker.”

  Bernard gave a shiver and then took a sip of coffee. “I’m still amazed those in the parking lot didn’t get involved until you tossed out grenades,” Bernard said.

  “Again, that was Nelson. At the time, I didn’t want to do it,” Gerald said. “But now after studying the attack, that saved our ass. When y’all opened up, you saved our asses. Dallas said they shot almost thirty climbing out the windows on the left side and the roof, trying to let those in the parking lot know the shit was in the wind.”

  “The music was really that loud?” Wilma asked and watched Gerald, Ronald, and Sean shiver.

  Reaching over, Gerald held her hand. “Wilma, none of those guys had suppressors and you could barely hear the gunshots. One time, I yelled at the top of my lungs and I was right behind Sean and he never moved,” Gerald said.

  “We hear music that loud again, we bug out,” Ronald said.

  “But they would’ve heard you,” Wilma said.

  “More importantly, we would’ve heard them,” Gerald said with a grin. “Without that music, I’m certain we could’ve taken out that entire building without those outside knowing. I really don’t think we would’ve had so many wounded either.”

  “Tim counted ninety-eight bodies inside,” Bernard said.

  Letting Wilma’s hand go, Gerald leaned back in his chair. “Shit, after watching my group charge that house using knives, I have no doubt,” Gerald said.

  Stepping out of his cabin, Nelson took a deep breath, only feeling a mild pain at the very end. Letting it out, Nelson sighed with relief. Today was the first day he could move without wincing. When he’d stopped pissing blood on the third day, Nelson wanted to throw a party.

  The first seven days he could barely remember because Michelle would grab a syringe and knock him out, then take care of him. After a week of sitting in the recliner in the small living room, Michelle let him literally walk outside, look around, and then led him back inside to the bed.

  At first, Nelson was ecstatic. He was tired of that damn recliner. The first time he rolled on his side, the joy of lying in a bed ended.

  On the tenth day, Michelle let Nelson come to the house to eat. Those short walks hurt like hell and Nelson wanted to skip supper but didn’t want to worry Michelle, so he put on a brave face and walked over for supper. When they got back to the cabin, Michelle shoved pills down his throat and Nelson woke up with a drool ring on his pillow.

  It was twelve days after the attack that Nikki and Rick drove the RV back to Curtis’s. Nikki still came over in the afternoon to help Michelle.

  No matter how hard Nelson tried to put a brave face on, Michelle always knew when he was hurting. Nelson wasn’t doing it to be macho, he could see how tired Michelle was and wanted her to quit worrying about him.

  The day Nikki headed back home, Nelson tried a new tactic. He would tell Michelle when something felt wrong or the pain increased. That was the day Michelle quit hovering over him. Finally happy because he didn’t feel like a burden to Michelle anymore, Nelson had watched her go to sleep before he had that night. For two hours, Nelson had just watched her sleep.

  It seemed Sean never learned that lesson. On the third day, he wanted to come downstairs and Dianna calmly walked out of the room and came back carrying a baseball bat. Dallas was downstairs and heard the yelling and dashed upstairs to find Dianna standing over Sean with a bat, threatening to break his legs if he got up.

  To Sean’s horror, Dallas walked over grabbed his ankles and told Dianna to break Sean’s legs below the knee.

  Of those wounded, Nelson was the last to be let out of the house. Using crutches, Michelle let them move around on the third day. Nelson was surprised they’d found crutches for Ashley, but later found out Lucy had used them when she’d broken her ankle, when she was nine.

  Looking over at the deck, Nelson knew it would take more time before the group was back to fighting condition. After two weeks, Dallas and his family headed back to the farm, but along with Hank’s and Curtis’s groups, patrolled around them. The only ones from the farm patrolling were Sean’s oldest boys, Blake and Cody.

  Letting his AR hang under his arm, Nelson walked over to the deck. The others became quiet, watching him walk over and could tell the damaged muscles in his legs hurt with each step. Walking up the steps slowly, Nelson stopped on the deck and noticed everyone looking at him.

  “What?” Nelson asked.

  “Did you escape?” Gerald asked with a serious face.

  “No,” Nelson scoffed, moving to a chair and sitting down slowly.

  Watching Nelson sit down, “Where’s Michelle?” Gerald asked.

  “Asleep,” Nelson said with a sigh, leaning back and relaxing his legs. “I hung up dark blankets over all the windows last night.”

  Standing up, Gerald pointed back to Nelson’s cabin. “You get your ass back in there until she wakes up,” he snapped.

  “Gerald, she took me off house restriction two days ago,” Nelson said and looked at everyone’s faces and noticed looks of irritation. “She said I could,” Nelson cried out, looking around at everyone.

  Moving his arm, Gerald pointed at Nelson. “Michelle comes out pissed, I’m breaking your toes with a hammer,” Gerald growled.

  Giving a sigh, “You think I would be out here if I knew it would make her mad?” Nelson said. “I gave up trying to fool her. Fuck being a Jedi, I want her power. She knows when I’m hiding something.”

  Slowly, Gerald sat down as Bernard reached over, patting Nelson’s arm. “Then you have learned a valuable lesson,” he chuckled. “I don’t think we ever fool them.”

  Looking back at the cabin, “I just didn’t want her to worry about me. She had too much going on and I couldn’t even help,” Nelson mumbled.

  “That’s why there are others here, Nelson,” Wilma said, reaching over and grabbing Gerald’s hand. “But if Michelle comes out mad, I’m getting the hammer for Gerald.”

  Nelson turned back to look at Gerald. “You better control your woman,” Nelson snapped. “I already have one that threatens me with bodily harm at least once a day.”

  Wilma’s eyes grew wide as Gerald squeezed her hand, returning Nelson’s glare. “You never controlled yours when Michelle threatened me,” Gerald snapped.

  “Bernard, need a third party referee,” Nelson said, turning to Bernard. “Did Gerald not earn those threats?”

  Nodding with a grin, “I’m siding with Nelson. You earned every one from what I heard,” Bernard chuckled, looking at Gerald.

  “Well, I got one now, so back off,” Gerald huffed. “For three days, Wilma woke me up at night to check vital signs and change dressings. I asked her to quit one time,” Gerald cried out, throwing up his hand. “Just one time, and Wilma walks out and comes back in with Nancy and both of them were cracking their knuckles.”

  “I didn’t think I could take him by myself,” Wilma said smiling and everyone laughed.

  Looking around, then back at Gerald, “Where’s Devin?” he asked.

  “I’m glad you brought it up,” Gerald said as Wilma and Sean groaned. “You need to have a talk with Lucy. I get to have time with my bubble warrior,” Gerald snapped.

  “Uh-uh,” Nelson said, shaking his head. “Michelle wants to adopt Lucy because she’s taken care of Olivia and Devin for the last two weeks. You have a problem with how Lucy is taking care of the kids, you talk to Michelle.”

  Leaning over and staring at Nelson hard, “When is she getting up?” Gerald asked.

  “When she doe
s,” Nelson answered before turning to Sean. “What can I do for you and Lucy to repay y’all?” he asked.

  “I’m on light duty for another two weeks. Ask me that again and in two weeks, I’ll bounce you like a basketball,” Sean said, leaning back in his chair. “Kim tried helping Lucy that first day and whoa, Dianna told me those two tore into each other.”

  “Yeah, Nellie made me break them up,” Bernard cried out. “They weren’t fighting like girls, they were fighting like men. Lucy may be smaller, but Kim better be glad I broke them up.”

  Giving a curt laugh, “The only one of her brothers Lucy hasn’t beaten up is Blake,” Sean said.

  “Lucy is a sweetheart,” Nelson said.

  Nodding, “Yes, she is, until you piss her off,” Sean said. “She’s just like her momma.”

  “Your head still hurt?” Nelson asked.

  Sean looked over at Nelson with a bland expression. “Only when I hear music,” Sean said and Ronald and Gerald groaned. “Yesterday, the boys had a radio on down in their room and I wanted to puke.”

  “You know why that music was so loud?” Nelson asked and the others all locked him in their gaze. “There were two other gangs there. They were joining together to hit military units and gather weapons to secure their own area. Seems they knew about the eavesdropping techniques the NSA uses. They were using the music to cover their meeting. That first room that we thought was a captive area,” he stopped as Gerald interrupted.

  “All that was in there was a long table and chairs,” Gerald said.

  “I know, but they sound proofed that room and didn’t allow cellphones in it. That’s why they kept that room locked. The meeting ended an hour before we hit, but they left the music playing to torture the captives and of course, party,” Nelson said.