“I don’t want to,” Casey whined in a soft voice.
Looking down at her, Nathan shook his head. “Don’t make me feed you like I did Emma. You will eat something. The water is nonnegotiable.”
Casey lowered her eyes. “Okay,” she mumbled. Nathan got down on his knees and kissed both on the head and gave each a small hug, careful not to hurt them. Once both were drinking, he got up and headed over to the saddles. The horses were milling about in the stalls. Jasmine had let them eat and drink all day, hobbled outside.
Seeing Nathan digging in the pack saddles, John came over, and Nathan told him what he wanted. John picked up the stuff and headed over to Lonny. Nathan moved on to his messenger bag and pack, changing out the batteries and memory card in his camera. Jasmine came up beside him. “What do you have John doing?”
“Putting up the small tent and covering it with the tarp we use to shelter under. I have to have light to talk to Lonny. I can’t be scary if he can’t see me,” Nathan said.
“You’re going to talk to him tonight?” she asked.
“Probably all night,” Nathan said, draining a water bottle.
Jasmine shook her head. “Why?”
“I should’ve talked to those first two longer, but Lonny knows so much I have to talk to him. He was a deputy director; he has the Dark Titan policies on his computer. From him I learned if we get twenty more miles northwest, we are outside of the government ground forces. He has locations of gang movements and the radio call signs for them,” Nathan said, and Jasmine held up her hand for Nathan to stop.
“Okay, he’s important. What the hell was he doing out here?” she asked.
Nathan shook his head and looked away. “He wanted to see how the ‘web’ units operated. They set out like a spider’s web, using the M-U, killing those they can, or reporting them after their shift is over and someone else takes over watch. You can’t use a radio near the damn thing. Trust me, I think we almost broke one.”
“So he wanted to see how many were killed?” Jasmine asked with tense lips.
“Yeah, and he even shot some yesterday,” Nathan said.
“He’s a fucking piece of shit murdering asshole,” Jasmine growled.
Nathan nodded. “Yes he is.”
“You’re still going to let him go?” Jasmine asked smiling.
“I gave my word,” Nathan said.
Jasmine calmed down and looked to the girls. “Casey peed blood an hour ago.”
“I figured as much. Amanda refuses to take a deep breath,” Nathan said.
“She has broken ribs. It hurts,” Jasmine said.
“I’m sure it does, but she is going to get pneumonia if she doesn’t,” Nathan said.
Looking up at Nathan, Jasmine wiped a tear from her eye. “When are we leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning. There is a reservoir ten miles from here. It’s at seven thousand feet but has some trees and green grass around it. We will move the girls up in the buggies as the rest of you follow on horses. We will wait there until they are ready to move,” Nathan said.
“How long are you guessing?” Jasmine asked.
Nathan looked off. “Three to five days if it goes well. A month if it doesn’t.”
“If it comes to that, you will take them in a buggy and we will follow behind,” Jasmine said.
Nathan turned to Jasmine with tears in his eyes. “I didn’t protect them. They counted on me to protect them and I didn’t.”
Jasmine stepped back. “Nathan, you’ve done everything you could. Because of you, they’re alive. You made them wear the vests, and you charged the shooter before he could get any more of us.”
Nathan heard the words but didn’t believe them. “Have someone awake at all times watching the M-U. I’ll be with Lonny.”
Watching Nathan walk away, Jasmine was speechless. She watched Nathan tell Lonny to crawl in the tent and give Lonny a MRE and bottle of water. Nathan followed him inside. Jasmine saw the tent start to glow green as Nathan broke a chemlight, and then John covered the tent, smothering the light.
John looked around the tent and didn’t see light anywhere and walked over to Jasmine. In the waning light he could see shock on Jasmine’s face. “What is it, Jasmine?”
Jasmine just stared at the lump that was the tent Nathan was in. “He blames himself.”
Shaking his head, John sighed. “Figures.” Jasmine slowly turned her head till she was looking at John. “You didn’t hear what he was yelling as he ran up the side of the hill, shooting?”
“He was just yelling and screaming,” Jasmine said.
“No he wasn’t,” John said. “He was screaming, ‘You won’t take my family.’”
“Shit,” Jasmine mumbled, turning around and heading over to the girls.
Feeling something tap his leg, John looked down to see Emma with her stuffed dog, holding out her arms to be picked up. John picked her up and looked back over at Jasmine talking to the girls. “I hope they get Nathan straightened out,” he said, then looked at Emma.
Emma just babbled at him. “I hope you said they will,” John said, carrying Emma over beside the buggies so he could watch the M-U.
It was midnight when Nathan climbed out of the two-man tent to use the bathroom. He hadn’t let Lonny do so and it was stinking inside. He walked over to find Natalie watching the M-U. “See anything?”
Natalie turned to him, smiling. “Not on this, but I saw some deer outside and they didn’t show up on the screen.”
“Only humans and primates will show up. They found out each species emits its own EMF,” Nathan said.
“Casey and Amanda will be okay. They just need rest,” Natalie assured him.
“I know,” Nathan lied, looking away. He walked outside and used the bathroom, then came back in. Passing Natalie, he hugged her, then headed back to the tent. When Nathan climbed inside, Natalie turned back to the screen.
Closing her eyes, Natalie said the first prayer she had uttered since her mom died.
Chapter 20
Day 54
The group was awake as the sun started coming up. Hearing the tent move, they all looked over to see Nathan climb out, holding a big notebook and a small one. Raising his arms, Nathan stretched, then put his camera in his pocket.
Everyone was sitting around Amanda and Casey eating as Nathan came over. “How are you two doing?”
“I fucking hurt,” Amanda snapped.
Nathan blinked his eyes at the comment but held his tongue. “You will get better.”
“Oh, I know I will, so I can kick you in the leg. What the fuck are you thinking ‘you caused this?’ That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard!” Amanda yelled.
Nathan ignored the tone and cut his eyes at Jasmine, who had a harsh look on her face. “I’m responsible for you, all of you, and I failed.”
Amanda sucked in a deep breath, grimacing. “Bullshit, motherfucker! You said yourself you’re not superman! You have done everything you can, asshole! Shit happens!”
Keeping his temper in check, Nathan rolled his head on his neck. “Amanda, volume. I doubt you would feel this way if Casey had died or you were hurt worse.”
“You’re fucking right I wouldn’t. I would be over there cutting that cocksucker’s liver out eating it in front of him!” she bellowed. “They did this, you didn’t, so drop it, fuckwad!”
“That’s enough!” Nathan bellowed back.
Amanda blinked, swearing she was blown back by the volume. “About time you said something,” she said, grinning.
Nathan just stared at her with a flat look. Then slowly he started to smile. “Firecracker, you need to watch your mouth. I can take the hint.”
“Hint, my ass,” John said, standing up.
Shaking his head at John, Nathan looked back to Amanda. “Okay, but I do feel some responsibility. I’m sorry. I love you guys.”
“And we love you,” Casey said. “But you didn’t hurt us and you thinking that is bullshit.”
Nathan
looked at Amanda with a scowl. Words like that didn’t need to come out of little mouths. “Amanda, you need to limit your vocabulary.”
“Humph.” Amanda snorted and grabbed her chest. “The night you had a headache I learned words I didn’t even know existed. I’m certain you can’t combine some of them, but you managed it.”
Closing his eyes, Nathan wanted to lie down. “Amanda, I don’t want my little girls taking like that.”
“I don’t want you feeling responsible. Feeling bad for us hurting is okay, but not feeling responsible,” Amanda said.
Nathan opened his eyes. “Point taken.” He made Ares scoot over so he could sit between the girls. Jasmine handed Nathan a plate and Emma climbed in his lap as Nathan launched a ‘plane.’ As he fed Emma, Nathan told the group what they would be doing that day.
After breakfast, Nathan headed to his pack, putting the camera and notebooks away. He looked over at the piles of clothes they had taken off the three agents. Nathan picked up the ballistic vests and threw them in the gunner’s seat of his buggy. Then Nathan moved the M-U to the gunner’s seat, clearing out the passenger seat.
There wasn’t much room in the buggies with all the equipment they had gotten from the house and strapped on them. Heading to the horses, Nathan helped saddle them. Nathan reluctantly turned the M-U off and carefully packed it on the horses. Seeing some leather reins hanging on the wall, Nathan cut them off. He filled an old metal bucket with water and dropped the leather straps in.
“Jasmine and John,” Nathan called out. They came over. “Show me where you’re going?” They pulled out their maps and pointed at the location. “Good. Now stay in a trot and keep an eye out. If you run into trouble, open up with everything and just run.” They both nodded, folding their maps up.
Walking over to the tent, Nathan started getting mad. “Lonny, get out here or I’m not taking you back to the house.” Slowly Lonny crawled out. He was tired from lack of sleep and his legs were red above the wounds. Leaving the two-man tent and grabbing Lonny under the arms, Nathan carried him to his buggy, putting him on the hood. “I’m dropping the girls off first, and you can’t see where we’re going,” Nathan said, tying a bag over his head.
Smiling, Nathan walked over to the bucket and pulled out the soaked leather straps. Using the wet leather, Nathan spread Lonny on the hood of his buggy and tied his wrists tightly together, then tied him to the buggy. Feeling he was about to be let go, Lonny kept quiet.
Seeing the others ready, Nathan walked over to Amanda and gently picked her up and carried her to the other buggy, placing her in the passenger seat. Tom climbed in the driver’s seat. After putting Casey in his buggy, Nathan looked over at Tom. “Avoid bumps and stay behind me.”
Tom nodded, and Nathan climbed in his buggy and looked at Jasmine. “We’ll be waiting.”
“We won’t be long,” she assured him.
Backing out, Nathan and Tom slowly pulled away from the barn, heading up the road. Nathan looked over at Casey, who was closing her eyes against the pain. Avoiding most bumps, they crawled over rough areas in the road and continued up into the mountains.
Thirty minutes later, Nathan pulled off the road to a stand of trees around a small lake. Getting out, he spread out some blankets, then placed the girls on them in the shade as he and Tom started to set up the big tent under the trees.
They had the tent up and the girls inside when the others trotted over. Camp was set up relatively fast. John and Tom set up the M-U under the tarp shelter they had set up. Then everyone unloaded the buggies, setting the equipment to the side. Nathan dug through it for a few minutes, pulling out some stuff, then threw it in his buggy.
“John, keep the area secured. Jasmine, take care of the girls. Natalie, get the horses taken care of. Tom and I will be back in a few hours,” Nathan said, climbing in his buggy.
The two sped off down the mountain. Without having to go slowly they reached the barn in ten minutes. As they sped past, Nathan was tempted to burn it down, but kept going. Before they reached the house, Nathan stopped at a cattle crossing. Getting out, he untied Lonny from the buggy and pulled him off the buggy with the straps tied to his wrists. Lonny hit the ground hard.
“Damn it, that hurt!” he gasped. “You didn’t have to do that.” Nathan didn’t respond as he dragged Lonny over to one of the metal posts beside the cattle guard. Stretching Lonny’s arms out, Nathan tied him to the post. “Can you loosen my wrist up? I can’t feel my fingers.”
Nathan laughed. “That’s because the leather is drying out. Don’t worry, by this afternoon you won’t be tied to the fence anymore. Granted, the leather will be totally dried out then and will cut your hands off at the wrists. But I kept my promise, I let you go.”
“You son of a bitch!” Lonny yelled.
Pulling out his knife, Nathan looked at Tom. “Get in your buggy and don’t watch.” Tom ran back to his buggy as Nathan yanked the hood off Lonny. “You bad-mouth me and kill your fellow citizens, men, women and children. I could’ve just tortured you but I didn’t.” Grabbing Lonny by hair, Nathan eased the tip of the knife under his left eye.
“No!” Lonny screamed, and closed his eyes, like that would help. Nathan slowly pushed the tip of the knife through the eyelid. Lonny tried to pull away but Nathan held him tightly. Seeing clear liquid leak out of the eyelid, Nathan stood up.
“Any other words you want to say to me?” Nathan asked.
Lonny cried, “I hope you die.”
“I will one day,” Nathan said, leaning back down, grabbing Lonny’s hair, and repeating the process on the right eye. Lonny really tried fighting this time but only sped the process up. Nathan wiped his blade off and put it up. “When the coyotes come tonight you won’t even be able to see them. They will eat you alive,” Nathan said as he walked back to the buggy. “Have a good day.” Nathan drove off.
Tom followed Nathan to the house a mile ahead but didn’t look at Lonny as they passed. When they stopped, Nathan climbed out of his buggy. “Tom, go to the barn and see if they have feed for the horses. Load up what you can on the buggy.” Tom jumped in his buggy and drove over to the barn. Nathan reached in and turned on the M-U in the gunner’s seat.
After he put in the code it slowly came to life. Nathan could see Tom moving around and midway out he spotted the red dot of Lonny. Seeing nothing else on the screen, Nathan went inside to gather food. After putting the food in the buggy, Nathan walked around the yard till he found where a really big helicopter had landed, dropping Lonny and his group off. Looking around, he saw it was the best closest place to set down near the house.
Heading to his buggy, Nathan pulled out the bundles he took from the equipment from Lonny. With bags stacked on his buggy and tied down, Tom drove over to find Nathan reading a pamphlet. Getting out, Tom walked over. “What are you reading?”
“How to set up a claymore,” Nathan said.
Interested, Tom moved closer. “You just found that?”
Nathan laughed. “No, the government always put manuals with gear. Not truly detailed, but they give you the nuts and bolts of how to do it.”
“Claymore mine like on video games?” Tom asked. Nathan reached down and passed a gray-green, curved brick to Tom. Looking at it Tom saw “Front toward Enemy” in raised letters. “And you’re going to set this up after reading a pamphlet?”
“Yep,” Nathan said without looking up.
With his face breaking into a grin, Tom looked at Nathan. “Can I help?”
“If you want to, but I will arm them,” Nathan said, putting the pamphlet down.
They set the claymores around the landing area and were done in an hour. Nathan wasn’t going to tell Tom, but when he pulled the pins to arm the claymores he wanted to wet his pants. Nathan circled the house one last time and stopped to look at the dead bodies in the back yard. “They are dead, and you should be able to see some of their friends die,” Nathan mumbled.
On the patio he noticed several folding chairs and a
folding card table. Figuring they could use them, he grabbed them. Seeing Nathan grabbing the chairs and table, Tom ran over and helped. They moved around the barn area, letting all the animals go. After Nathan turned off the M-U, they left.
As he neared Lonny, who was moaning, Nathan noticed a coyote pacing back and forth fifty yards away. “Lonny, how is life treating you?” Nathan asked.
“Fuck you!” Lonny screamed.
Nathan climbed out of his buggy. “Tom, don’t look.” He pulled out his knife and cut the tourniquets off Lonny’s legs. As the blood tried to push into the infected legs Lonny screamed at the pain. Grabbing Lonny’s right ear, Nathan sliced it off, sending blood down Lonny’s chest. Nathan tossed the ear toward the coyote, who walked forward, sniffing it.
“Lonny!” Nathan snapped over his screaming, and Lonny quieted down. “It can always get worse. Your yelling has brought in some coyotes. I would try to be a little quieter if I were you. You only have to make it till morning for the chopper.”
Tilting his head back, turning toward Nathan’s voice, blood and fluids streaking down his cheeks from his eyes, Lonny asked, “I’m that close to the house?”
“Yes, I told you I would let you go. If you had been more polite you would be able to see. I didn’t put you in the house because the buggies aren’t there, and your friends might cap ya by mistake,” Nathan lied, seeing the coyote snatch up the ear Nathan tossed over.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t do anything else,” Lonny begged.
“You did that, not me. I gave you the rules to the game and you broke them, so you had to be punished,” Nathan said. “I have to say, I saw the picture of your family in your wallet. Your wife is pretty, and so are your son and daughter. I think one day I’ll have to pay a visit.”
Lonny’s face twitched as he ground his teeth. “Please don’t. They aren’t a part of what I did.”
“Well Lonny, you do understand the rules after all,” Nathan laughed, walking back to his buggy. “Don’t yell out, a coyote is just off to your left. If you yell out, it will bring more. Even if this one starts eating you, it won’t get much, maybe a lower leg. A pack will have you gone before sunset. Just my advice.”
Dark Titan Journey: Finally Home Page 30
