“I had you on the table 29 minutes after you were shot, but it was still touch and go. You lost a lot of blood.”
“You operated?” Amanda asked the general.
“Yes I did dear,” she answered. “We played hell keeping Chopper calm. Robert said he kept licking your face and barking on the drive back here.
“Robert, could you excuse us a moment? Girl talk.”
“No problem, ma’am,” DeBusk told her. He squeezed Amanda’s big toe. “I am so happy to see you awake, Amanda. We can’t wait to have you back.” He left the room so the general and Amanda could have some privacy.
She closed the door behind him and pulled up a chair. There was sadness in the old woman’s eyes. Taking her hand, the general held it warmly. “I haven’t told you much about my family, Amanda.
“Oh you know I was married, but I never told you what happened.
“Curtis divorced me when I made lieutenant colonel and was assigned to a hospital in Wuerzburg Germany. He wanted to settle down and hang up a shingle and be husband and wife doctors, curing the sick in some small town somewhere and live out our lives.
“I wanted to continue with the Army, so we went our separate ways. What hurt the most was I only got to see our daughter a few times a year. I loved her, and when we divorced, she was 17 and understood.
“We talked often, but I missed her wedding because I was in Iraq. I missed the birth of both her sons because I was on assignment in Afghanistan. I missed a lot of her life because of the choices I made.
“I was here, doing a study for the Secretary of the Army when the end came for my daughter and her family and I missed that too.
When you came along, I think I saw a lot of her in you…you are confident, funny, thoughtful, considerate, headstrong, smart and love dogs, just like she was.
“When they brought you in, the only doctor we have here is a pediatrician. I was a surgeon before moving to administration. He didn’t feel qualified, but the bullet had to be removed. I wasn’t going to let you go without fighting with everything I could. You’re a crutch for me. You’re a surrogate daughter and a trusted friend. Without you, all of us here are diminished.”
Tears were falling down the general’s face. There was even some coming from Amanda. She hadn’t realized how close she and the general had become.
Impulsively, Amanda reached over and hugged the general.
* * *
Jerry’s clan had taken two fatalities. Nick and the Padre were both killed in the battle against Cheryl’s platoon. A funeral pyre was raised for them that afternoon. There was no rejoicing in the victory over the soldiers, but there were many tears for their fallen friends.
There were four dead soldiers in the HUMVEE Tim had shot up. The 147 rounds he used did a lot of damage and Danny hooked a chain to the vehicle and hauled it five miles down the road buried it as it was in 25-foot-deep hole he dug.
He covered the hole with boulders and clay. If zombies came for the bodies, he hoped they’d never be able to get at them.
The soldier who had his legs crushed by the HUMVEE and a .50 caliber machine gun fall on his head died before Kayla or Monica could get to him. His body was burned with a pile of wood from the barn. The driver of the first vehicle in the first element was wounded and treated before being incarcerated.
The driver of Cheryl’s HUMVEE would never be able to fully use his right hand again, and he lost his right eye, but Kayla saved his life.
The vigilante in the back seat was the sixth fatality of the attackers and his body was burned with the dead soldier from the first HUMVEE.
Tony and Danny set up a fenced-in area around a pair of tents and electrified it. A single guard watched the prisoners until they were picked up by the military.
Maybe the greatest insult was the “guard” was one of the teenagers, some as young as 13 years old and some of them were girls. While guarding the prisoners they played with remote controlled helicopters and airplanes, jumped rope, played soccer and rode quads around the field in which the prisoners were being held.
The prisoners were jealous of the freedoms the kids had and the simple joys they were allowed.
They wondered why they had stupidly followed Cheryl instead of doing what they knew to have been right. Cheryl became a pariah and the other prisoners had to be reminded to leave her alone or face more charges.
Col. Hammond sent a school bus to Jerry’s farm to take the prisoners off their hands. The soldiers would be tried by military court. Hammond hadn’t insisted on taking the prisoners.
If Jerry had wanted to summarily execute the soldiers, there was nothing anyone could have done, but Hammond did suggest turning them over for military trial. “Maybe the United States isn’t what it used to be,” Col. Hammond told Jerry by radio, “but we are still a nation with laws and by God, we’ll give them a fair trial.”
The barn and garage were heavily damaged and the farm’s four newer SUVs had been shot up to where they were useless. Jerry’s Ford F-350 had also been shot up. There were bullet holes along the bed and in the doors, the passenger windows were shot out and three of its six tires were flat, but when Jerry turned the key, the old girl started up with a belch of black smoke.
Of the four wounded from the farm, Danny and Cleve were superficially injured. Both suffered shrapnel wounds from M-2 rounds that tore up the ground in front of and around their bunker. Both required minor surgery to remove shrapnel. Kayla allowed Monica to stitch them up as practice.
Buff had part of his ear shot off and stone fragments had to be removed from his left eye by the doctor.
Hannah’s neck was so badly bruised by Cheryl, she had trouble breathing for a few days because of swelling. She would also have bruises for weeks afterward. Kellie sat with her little helper every waking minute she was under Dr. Kayla’s care.
While she was recovering, she was invited, along with her mom Tia, Buff, her brother John and the twins, to sleep in the shelter. Even better, the little girl got to sleep in Jerry and Kellie’s room until a new home for them could be found. It was their motorhome that had been wrecked by Cheryl’s driver.
Cheryl couldn’t believe Randy was still alive. She tried to evoke sympathy and said things like “I cried when I thought I hurt you” and “Please, sweetheart, don’t do this to me again.” Randy didn’t believe a word she said and enjoyed binding her hands. He’d found the leg irons and collar she’d worn and laughed in her face when she pleaded for him not to put them on her again.
She was still wearing the leg irons when the Military Policemen from Ft. Benjamin Harrison picked her up with the other soldiers. He conveniently forgot to give the military policemen a key to the leg irons when she was taken away.
As he was getting the prisoners out of their enclosure, Cheryl was begging him to let her free, offering him anything and everything. She did it when Cindy was standing behind Randy and the teen who had been kicked in the back in the cellar while protecting a baby and the younger kids, socked Cheryl hard enough to draw blood on her knuckles and knocking Cheryl to the ground with blood coming from both her pouty lips.
“Get some respect for yourself,” Cindy said to her, standing over the woman who had caused so much death and destruction. “Act like a woman, not like a whore.” The soldiers loading the prisoners applauded the young lady. Cindy blushed.
Randy waved as the bus carrying Cheryl and the other soldier/prisoners pulled out of the driveway.
He was glad she was now out of his life for good.
* * *
Jerry started farming again with Kellie’s help. Kellie ran the household with Jerry’s help. They were able to provide a safe haven for people of peace moving from one area of the country to another. Their farm would grow with real houses that Jerry and others would build. Word spread about how the farm had survived and he became known as a protector of freedom and the ideals on which the United States had been built.
Col. Hammond rotated a platoon of soldiers to care for the m
ilitary equipment, but placed the platoon leader under Jerry’s authority, giving him what he called a battlefield commission to Lieutenant Colonel and called the citizen soldiers on the farm “The 1st Alabama.”
The colonel also came to the farm so he could meet Jerry and so they could drive to the gulf coast with Juan and Randy to do some fishing on the catamaran Jerry and his friends had used to rescue the astronauts. It was their vacation from their communities before harvesting season started.
Randy and Cindy made a cute couple and eventually shared a motorhome. They had become friends when Randy found out she loved video games and could regularly defeat him in sports games. He was better at war games and when the day’s work was complete, Jerry could hear the sound of their video games coming from their motorhome along with their laughs and taunts and insults.
She was also the impetus for Randy taking part in the work out program of the astronauts, remarking one day about the “gorgeous abs on Buff.”
Monica and Eddie shacked up and would become parents.
When telling everyone about the pregnancy Eddie said “I didn’t like what she said about her machine gun over the radio, so I machine gunned her until she was pregnant.”
Monica punched him and Randy just hung his head at his friend’s sense of humor.
About the only one who didn’t realize how close Eddie and Monica two had become was Jerry. When he remarked to Kellie that he’d seen Eddie take Monica’s hand weeks earlier, Kellie closed her eyes and shook her head, much like Randy. “I’ve known she’s had the hots for him since I got here.”
Tia and Buff had a big family and were the first to get a modular home onto the property and on a basement. Tia had her two children and the twins, but they also took in two more young children whose parents had died. The leader of a reservation in west Texas had heard there was a “family farm” near Birmingham and escorted the children there as a better environment than what he could offer.
After one house was placed on the farm, others were always looking for a modular home that could be used until a few contractors came along.
Cleve adopted five children and their two mothers who survived a zombie attack that killed the dads, brothers and husbands. He’d never had children before, but the kids needed him, so he was there. He was able to share with them his adventures as a spaceman, but it was being a parent he found more satisfying than anything in his life.
Josh, Katie, Marissa and baby Adam found out they too would be having another mouth to feed. Katie, being 42 years old, had given up believing she’d ever have a child, but as late summer turned to fall, her morning sickness was apparent to everyone. Secrets were very hard to keep in their community.
Josh had made a bit of a name for himself as a butcher, bringing back a job title that had almost gone out of use. His knowledge couldn’t be lost so he taught classes to others who came to their community and to some who came just to visit.
Tony set up a help network with other camps. Maybe the internet was gone, but people had knowledge they could share with others. He, Tim, Natalie and Karen became a thing and the four laughed and cried and played and worked together, setting up antennas and connecting people from different camps.
No one on the property even questioned or judged the arrangement. As long as they were happy, no one cared.
Kayla drained all the fluids from her helicopter and built a shelter for it. She wanted it ready to use, but didn’t know how to maintain it any more than what the instruction book told her. If she couldn’t fly that Apache no one would. She continued training Monica and Sara to be medical technicians, even after she met a refugee from Arkansas who was a veterinarian.
Word eventually spread that she was an M.D. and others came to the Saunders farm to learn and take the knowledge back to other camps.
Jamal stayed with the Saunders farm, learning to drive from Danny, but Sade left with the Army men.
Three more pieces of slate were erected in the Saunders’ “cemetery” -- Nick’s, The Padre’s and Keith’s. No one would forget their sacrifice as long as Jerry and his son owned the farm.
* * *
There was a soft knock at the door to Amanda’s hospital room. She and the general composed themselves and wiped their faces free of tears before the general said “Come in.”
It was Maj. Solomon, the general’s exec. “Sorry to intrude, ma’am, but the colonel in charge of the Ft. Benjamin Harrison camp just called on the short wave. He was passing on some information about what he called ‘renegade soldiers.’ It seems these soldiers sent by Maj. Smith in Kentucky attacked a camp in Alabama and were repelled by some farmers using Strykers and helicopters.
“When he told me the name of the farm, I asked him to do some checking and I think Amanda will want to hear this,” the major said then pulled out a sheet of notepaper before continuing. “The farm that was attacked was the Saunders Farm.”
He then looked up at Amanda whose eyes were as wide as they could grow. “Jerry Saunders, his son Randy, friend Eddie, wife Kellie and a dozen others are alive and well and now under the protection of the United States Army.”
Amanda cried tears of happiness.
* * *
A warm breeze rolled across them as Jerry and Kellie lay in a hammock he’d put up near the shelter hatch. They were looking at the new house being built at the base of the furthest hill. It had been another busy day for both of them, but Kellie was still recovering so they took it easy this afternoon.
Jerry asked Kellie if she wanted him to build her a real home in which to live. She kissed him and told him that this shelter would always be her home and she didn’t ever want to live anywhere else.
Molly, Kellie’s loyal mutt, barked once when Randy came bouncing through the hatch with Cindy in tow. He had a ridiculous grin on his face, but not for the reason Jerry presumed. Monica and Eddie came through the hatch too.
The four of them were grinning and Jerry assumed they had some stupid idea they were going to pitch. He hoped it was better than their idea of bringing in rocket launchers and howitzers.
Randy pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and held it up so his dad could see it, but not read it. “Tony just gave me this. It was relayed through Col. Hammond in Indiana.”
Randy read aloud from the paper as Cindy held his other hand. She was crying and smiling at the same time. Jerry had thought the girl to be a typical cheerleader-type, but had found out over the past few weeks she was an accomplished pianist and singer, and for whatever reason, was thoroughly taken with Randy.
“Maj. Gen. Angela Parker, commanding general, 1st Mid-America Defense Force, sends her respects and salutations to Col. Russ Hammond, commander, 1st Great Lakes Defense Protectorate and to Lt. Col. Jerry Saunders, commander of the 1st Alabama.
“General Parker extends an invitation to Col. Hammond and his officers and to Lt. Col Saunders, his family and officers to visit and consult at Ft. Carson at their earliest convenience to establish a better working relationship between military units of the United States of America.” Randy looked up from the paper he was reading and looked at his dad.
Jerry had been only half listening. The military rank he’d been given and the farm’s military designation had done nothing for him.
Sure, it was nice having real soldiers who knew how to maintain the Strykers, help in the field and share the struggles of keeping the farm growing, but as a military unit, it was a bit of a stretch. He didn’t think of himself as a soldier, rather just a farmer like he’d always been.
Randy thought his dad was probably already thinking that Cleve or Buff might be talked into going to Colorado because they were former military, although both had “retired” from active duty to become full-time dads.
The next sentence in the dispatch changed Jerry’s mind about sending anyone else. “She also advises that she has a soldier in her command named Sergeant Amanda Saunders.”
Jerry and Kellie were shocked and looked at Randy in stunned silenc
e.
Jerry, remembering his prayer from so many months earlier, slowly looked from his son’s smiling face to the clouded sky above him and sent a silent “thanks.”
About the Authors
Terry Stenzelbarton is the author of four novels. He spent 16 years in the military as a photojournalist, newspaper editor, combat engineer and military policeman.
As a civilian, he has been a sports editor, photographer, traveling salesman, carpenter, computer expert, grave digger and Director of Marketing & Advertising, Information Technology and Software.
Jordan Stenzelbarton is the co-author of two novels. He’s an avid gamer, tennis player, reader and volunteer for his church.
Table of Contents
Superior firepower
Copyright 2013, Terry and Jordan Stenzelbarton
Hell Revisited
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the write...
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About the Authors
Hell happened (Book 2): Hell Revisited Page 27
