by Jeremy Lock
“Are you ok? You look like you’re sick.” James asked with concern.
“Yeah, I’m not feeling so well.” She replied without much conviction.
“I’m sorry. I’m heating up some water. Would you like some coffee or tea?”
“Tea thanks.” Miranda replied as she lay back down.
James was surprised at how cold she had been to him but figured she must really not feel well; although she had shown no signs of being sick the day before. He returned with her tea, which she took without response, and he made himself a cup of coffee.
“I shot a deer this morning, so we will have some fresh stew tonight.” James said.
“That’s good.” Was the meek reply.
“I’m going to butcher up the deer tomorrow, but we are going to have to smoke some of it and I’m thinking about trading some of it with Sean and Jason for some vegetables. I also think we should try to find some fishing tackle and see if there are fish in the pond here. It will be a nice change.”
“Ok” was her reply.
James got the impression that she was angry about something, but had no clue what that could be.
“Are you mad at me or something?” James asked
“No” was her reply.
“Then what’s wrong?” James asked.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Miranda replied.
James was now frustrated and confused. He was a man who spoke his mind and liked things clear and concise, attacking problems headlong. People who stewed on their problems and kept them in drove him crazy. James decided to give her space and figure out whatever was bothering her. He headed outside to cut and split more firewood and take out a little stress at the same time.
Chapter 83
Sean, Jeff and Teddy left after lunch in the pickup. The single bench seat was tight, especially with everyone as armed as they were but it was only a 15 minute drive and they would tolerate it. They brought some venison to share with the Walters along with some hygiene products and hoped that the Walters might have something else they might be interested in trading.
They pulled down the long driveway of the farm and looked for signs of trouble. Nothing seemed out of place so they slowly crawled down the drive until they reached the house. Sean killed the engine and all three exited the truck with Sean hailing the house. A moment later Bill and Helen came to the porch and greeting were exchanged and Teddy was introduced to the Walters. After a few handshakes and hugs they all got to work. Helen went to cooking up the venison they had been given. Teddy and Bill went to the barn where Teddy gave the milking cow a physical. Sean and Jeff headed out to the field and started rolling the large hay bales to the trailer. They pulled the trailer as close as they could and slowly but surely they were able to get them loaded. After about an hour Bill and Teddy joined the boys and gave them a hand. They were able to load the bales side by side in the trailer and they would be able to squeeze 6 on the trailer. Getting two more in the pickup bed was possible but was going to take a lot more effort.
They decided to take a break and warm up in the house for a while. They were all cold and a warm drink sounded great at the moment. Inside they all enjoyed a nice cup of coffee with fresh milk. It was a luxury they hadn't enjoyed since they had left NJ several days before and they all savored it. After they were all warm Jeff decided it was time to get back outside to work. No one wanted to, but the work needed to be done so they could get home before dark. As they headed back out onto the porch Sean froze. Everyone turned to look at him.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jeff.
Sean held his hand up silently asking for them to wait.
Jeff looked at him with a confused stare but then he heard it too.
“Motorcycles.” Jeff pronounced.
“Get inside!” Bill nearly shouted clearly agitated.
“What do they want?” asked Jeff.
“Whatever they can steal. These bastards stole my cows and killed my horses. I have almost nothing left.” Bill said the anger in his voice clear.
Sean quickly directed everyone to windows in order to cover the driveway. Helen and Teddy hid in the kitchen, which provided the most cover of any room and they could easily move into the basement if it became necessary. Teddy was an amazing Doctor and a great person, but under fire was not where she shined. Most of the group guessed that she could not make the jump from saving lives to taking them and no one blamed her. She had her Glock 26 with her and Helen had the home 12 ga shotgun. Bill took Teddy’s AR15. He had used an M16 during his time in the Marine Corp and used it in combat in Vietnam. Sean and Jeff also carried their AR-15’s and they all had ten 30 round magazines. Sean’s FN SCAR was still in the pick-up and he kicked himself for not having it. The extra firepower would have been nice. Sean watched 8 bikers pull onto the driveway and slowly head in their direction. Jeff was surprised to see the bikes out on the snow covered road, but without any other running vehicles he figured they had to learn had to ride in it or walk. Sean processed the scene. 8 bikers, all clearly armed, clearly looking to steal and probably kill anyone who got in their way. He wondered how many women they had raped. He mind stopped there. After rescuing Cassidy and seeing the fear and terror she had endured and was still coping with, his mind was steeled. He wouldn’t wait and see what these men wanted, he wouldn’t wait until they shot first; he was going to kill these men without warning. There was no one to report them to, no police, no judge, and no prisons. It was now good men against evil men. Sean thought about the tattoo on his right shoulder. It was one of his favorite sayings and was the reason he was able to justify his actions that he had done overseas fighting for his country. All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. The quote was attributed to Edmund Burke although that was somewhat disputed. Sean didn’t care about the originality of the quote, its message was clear, and now it meant more than ever.
Sean sighted in on the closest biker, around 100 yds. away, and pulled the trigger on his rifle. The shot startled both Bill and Jeff. They had not expected Sean to just start firing without any aggressive action from the gang. Sean fired a second shot and dropped another biker before they got into action. The bikers abandoned their motorcycles and looked for cover. There was a ditch on either side of the driveway and it gave the bikers reasonable cover as they began to return fire back at the house. The bikers were armed with mainly pistols and sawed off shotguns and at this range the weapons were not very effective. Sean methodically fired his rifle only when a clear shot was available. Jeff and Bill both fired slightly more freely and missed a few times before a successful shot was made. After only a few minutes of fighting the bikers were already attempting to retreat. This was the moment Sean was waiting for. As they stood and attempted to flee Sean took them down one by one with accurately placed headshots. Five minutes after the firing started it was all over. Sean ordered Jeff to keep an over watch while he went to check the bodies. Jeff watched Sean approach the first body, lying in the driveway, with a clearly fatal bullet hole in his forehead. This was the first man Sean had fired on and the man had not even drawn a weapon. Sean kicked the man over onto his back and then began searching him. A moment later Sean pulled out a handgun which he immediately checked for operation and then dropped the clip to assure there was ammunition. Sean then reloaded the clip, drew the slide back and released it forward charging the weapon. Sean then slung his AR-15 across his back and used the newly acquired pistol to check the rest of the bodies. Jeff watched in shock as Sean methodically fired a single round into the head of any man who already did not have an apparent fatal head wound. Four rounds later Sean collected weapons from the men and came back to the farmhouse. Jeff went to the porch and met him.
“What the fuck are you doing out there?” Jeff asked Sean with a look of horror on his face.
‘What do you mean?” asked Sean coldly.
“You just started shooting these men! They hadn't done anything yet!” Jeff shrieked.
“So what? Do
I have to wait until someone else dies before we can start shooting?! You knew as well as I did, that these guys were coming here to at least steal from the Walters. They’ve done it before. Why should they have to tolerate that?! They got what was coming to them. They made a choice to be evil and act like animals. I am not going to sit around and wait for someone else to die in order to protect a group of animals that have probably killed dozens of people. It’s not going to happen!” Sean retorted.
“But you can’t just start shooting people! What makes us any better than them?!” Jeff screamed.
“Are you fucking serious?! What makes us better than them?! How many women have you raped?! How many people have you stolen from at the point of a gun?! This is no longer the civilized world of a couple weeks ago Jeff! This is the fucking wild west! There is no law! Its good vs. evil and we all have a gun! We just did this whole community a favor!” Sean spat back.
All Jeff could do is shake his head. He couldn’t just start killing people.
“You really don’t fucking get it! How many people have to die before you wake up! Animals like these are the ones that killed Mark! He was our friend and they killed him for no other reason but to steal from us! And you don’t even want to know what they did to Cassidy! That girl wakes up every night crying and screaming over what animals like these men did! I’m not going to give men like that a moment longer on this world to hurt anyone else. You know as well as I do that these men were coming here to steal from these poor defenseless people! Wake up Jeff! There are no cops, courts and jails to punish these men. Its men like you and me who are all that is left to protect the innocent!” Sean said and stared back at Jeff.
Jeff just stood there looking at his feet. He knew Sean was right, but it wasn’t that easy of a jump for him to make. He’d seen what men like these could do during his time working in the City but there were always cops and a judicial system to deal with these animals. It was a big jump to take the law into your own hands and deliver justice and Sean was saying. But then again he had killed people. He had killed the gang bangers who tried to mug him. He had killed the men at the gun shop who had tried to kill him. He had also killed several men when the house in NJ was stormed. Killing was becoming far more common and far less difficult for him to deal with. Maybe that was scaring him. He had killed at least two of the men here today and it hadn't bothered him a bit. It was getting too easy to kill someone and move on, that’s what truly bothered him.
“Alright, we need to get out of here though. Someone is going to come back and check on these guys when they don’t come back. Let’s gather what we can, get the Walters packed and get out of here.” Jeff stated.
“I’ll check out the bikers and deal with the bikes and bodies. Go inside and get the Walters ready to go.” Sean said as he headed back to the driveway.
Sean gathered all the useful items from the bikers’ bodies and placed everything in a box. Sean used the pickup to haul the bodies out of the driveway and back behind the barn. Next he drained the fuel from all the bikes and put most of it into the pickup. He saved a few gallons which he used to burn the bodies of the bikers which he immediately lit on fire. Next he pushed the bikes into the barn and covered them all with a large tarp. It wouldn’t hide them if someone was really looking but hopefully it would buy them some time. Sean next unloaded two of the bales of hay from the trailer and hooked it back up to the trailer and pulled up to the barn. He hopped out of the truck and headed inside. He needed Bill’s help. He found Bill in the living room looking at old family photos.
“Bill.” Sean stated.
“You know my family has had the farm for four generations.” Bill stated as he looked at the old black and white picture. “It’s hard to just pick up and leave.”
“I understand, but they will come back, and they will be out for revenge.” Sean replied.
“I know. It’s the right move, it just not easy. Can you make me a promise?”
“What’s that Bill?”
If something happens to me an Helen will you take care of my farm?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you, but yeah we will keep an eye on it.”
“Just knowing that makes me feel better.” Bill stated with some relief.
“I hear ya. Can you help me load the cow up on the trailer?” Sean asked.
“Yeah.” Bill said as he put down the photo and headed outside.
They loaded up the cow and used a couple old boards to raise the sides of the trailer to keep the cow in. They all headed back inside and loaded up the pickup with the most essential items first; food, hygiene products, weapons and jewelry. They limited the sentimental items to one box, that’s all they had room for. With everything loaded they started heading back just before sundown. Sean had considered burning down the barn to hide the bikes and any other evidence but it was close to the house and Sean held out hope that the Walter’s would be able to return one day.
Chapter 84
James spent the day setting up a smoke house just outside the cabin. It was pretty much a teepee that had made using straight sticks tied together at the top. He used a few more sticks to create a place to hang the meat while it smoked. He found a hickory tree and cut it into short lengths which he split to the size of kindling and then soaked in a bucket of water. Using one of the tarps he wrapped the entire smoke house with the exception of a small area on top where the smoke could escape and an area where new wood could be added and oxygen could be let in at the bottom. Satisfied he spent the rest of his day splitting firewood and tending the stew he started earlier. Miranda still ignored him and it appeared that he had spent a lot of time crying. He had attempted to approach her about it a few more times but every time he was blown off. He was just about sick and tired of it. He knew there was something between them, it was clear to someone even as ignorant to relationships as him. He had absolutely no clue what had changed. He was ready to move on, to open up to her and at the exact same time she completely shut down. He was so frustrated he wanted to scream, but he didn’t. He decided that it was a sign. Maybe it wasn’t his time to move on, maybe he was destined to live the rest of his life alone. He had come to grips with it once before and he could do so again. He just wished she had never reopened the terrible cut once again. They went to bed in silence and so turned another chapter in this new and crazy world.
