by A. American
“It’ll all come back someday. It may take a long time, but it will come back.”
“No, it won’t. It’s all gone, and it’ll never be back,” she said in a soft voice.
This is what I was afraid of: she thought the life she knew was gone forever. It was gone for now, but to dwell on that fact could eat you alive. I hoped someday everything would come back, and, of course, I didn’t know whether it would. But I wanted to express a hopeful opinion. Being stuck in a mind-set like Lee Ann’s would only bring more trouble.
“Hey, I haven’t told anyone yet, but I saw a satellite the other night when I was out sitting by the fire.” I paused. “You know, if there’s still satellites, then everything isn’t gone. Maybe it’s just around here that people are experiencing this. Maybe there are places where things are normal.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter, we couldn’t get there anyway.”
I rubbed her head again. “I know it sucks and I know you think life is over, but it isn’t, I promise you that.”
In a robotic voice, she replied, “I want to go to sleep.”
I lay there looking at the back of her head, then leaned over and kissed her. “Okay, I love you, know that. And it will be all right.”
I got up and walked toward the door. We’d taken to keeping all the guns by the door, because it was easier to pick them up as you left. I paused by Lee Ann’s H&K and picked it up. As I came back to the fire, Mel was sitting in a chair.
“What’s going on?” she asked as I laid the H&K on the table.
Sitting down I told her, “She’s depressed. I’m worried about her.”
She pointed at the weapon. “Why’d you bring that out?”
“I don’t want her to be left alone with a gun.”
Danny looked up from the fire. “Whoa. It’s that bad, you think?”
Mel looked at him, then back to me. “What? She’s not going to do anything like that.” It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anything else.
“Well, I don’t want to give her an opportunity,” I said as I kicked at a log.
“If you’re that worried, you better keep an eye on her, Morg,” Thad said.
“I think so too. She has been acting a little weird, withdrawn,” Bobbie said.
“What’s the matter with Lee Ann?” Little Bit asked.
I looked at her and smiled. “She’s just sad.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine.”
“She isn’t talking to me either,” Taylor said.
“I think everyone just needs to help keep an eye on her,” Danny said.
At dinner, Lee Ann didn’t come out, despite Mel and me both trying to get her out of bed. It reinforced our fears. The rest of us sat around the tables in the light of a lamp and had our dinner, but conversation was slow and Mel and I were both clearly distracted.
After dinner, we cleaned up and sat around the fire a bit longer. Danny was antsy after sitting around so much and offered to take the first watch. I lay down but had trouble falling asleep, my mind busy thinking about how to deal with Lee Ann.
Danny woke me up around midnight and I went out to the fire as usual. I’d been out there for a couple of hours when a sound caught my ears. After so much time without man-made noises, I was acutely aware when they were present. This one was certainly an engine. I listened to it for a while until I was able to determine that it was getting closer. In fact, it sounded as if it was heading straight for our little camp. I jumped up and ran over to Thad and Jeff’s cabin, knocking on the side.
“Hey, get up! Someone’s heading this way.”
I heard them both scuffing around, and Jeff yelled out, “We’re coming!”
I ran over to Danny’s cabin and did the same thing, then headed back to my cabin.
I opened the door and stuck my head in. “Mel, wake up.”
“What is it?” she asked as she sat up.
“There’s a vehicle headed this way. Get your weapons and be ready just in case. Stay here unless you hear me call for you.”
“All right,” she said as everyone, Lee Ann included, woke up.
As I ran up to the guys I asked, “Do you guys hear it?”
“Yeah, we hear it,” Jeff said.
“Sounds like it’s going to come right down the road there,” Danny said.
“Let’s take up some positions where we can see them if they come in here,” Thad said.
“Good idea. Let’s break up in pairs,” I said.
“Me and Jeff will go out by where the driveway cuts off the road,” Thad said.
“All right, Danny, let’s go behind the chicken coop.”
As we split up the dogs started barking, announcing that whatever it was was a lot closer now. They ran toward the road, tails up.
“What do you think it is?” I asked Danny as I looked for lights.
“Sounds like a four-wheeler or something.”
“That’s what I thought. And whoever it is, is riding blacked out. There’s no lights.”
“Yeah, I’m trying to get my eyes,” Danny said as his head bobbed and weaved, looking through the brush and trees.
As the sound grew closer, I tensed up, my carbine at low ready. I had my thumb on the safety, ready to flip it off and start shooting. We both had lights mounted to our rifles. They used the CR123 batteries, so we seldom used them, as there were no replacements.
“It just turned off the road,” Danny said as he gripped his rifle a little tighter.
I looked through the NVGs and could see a large UTV pulling in.
As it pulled in past my cabin, I nudged Danny and we both stepped out, turning on the lights and illuminating the buggy. At the same moment, Thad and Jeff jumped out.
“Stop right there!” Danny shouted.
I followed. “Show me your hands! Hands up, all of you!”
A light way brighter than the ones on our rifles lit up on the buggy. “Morgan, it’s us,” a voice called out.
I shielded my eyes and could see Ted standing up in the rear of the buggy. “Holy shit, man! You guys scared the shit out of us.”
The buggy shut down and they started getting out as we gathered around it.
“Yeah, looks like you guys were ready,” Mike said.
“Almost, I didn’t see Ted up there! He would’ve cut us in half,” I said.
“No, he wouldn’t have. Ole Thad was about to blast him with that scatter gun of his,” Jeff said.
Ted turned to look at Thad. “I’m hurt.”
Thad smiled. “Not as bad as you woulda been.”
Ted and Mike both laughed. Danny peered into the back of the buggy. “What’s with them? Are they DHS?” he asked, pointing, shock apparent on his face.
“Oh, they’re a surprise for the old man,” Ted said.
“Let’s get ’em out,” Mike said to Jamie and Perez.
They pulled three people out. I was surprised to see one of them was a woman. She was trying to mumble through the tape over her mouth. The two men stood there looking around, then looked at each other with a quick glance. Suddenly they bolted for the trees. With their hands cuffed behind their backs they weren’t exactly making a graceful escape.
The one in the lead almost made it to the tree line. Jeff was closest to them and he swung his AK like a bat, clipping the guy in the back of the head. It was a perfect hit, knocking the guy unconscious. He fell like a sack of bricks. The second one was caught by Mike, who grabbed the guy’s cuffed hands from behind. His feet went out from under him and he crashed to the ground as well.
“Nice try, boys, nice try,” Mike said as he rolled the one he had ahold of onto his stomach. Ted had forced the woman to the ground too, in case she tried to make a run for it. She was still running her mouth through th
e tape.
Ted leaned down and pulled the tape back. “What the hell do you want?”
“You dumbasses have no idea the trouble you’re—” She was cut off when Ted slapped the tape back onto her mouth. He was laughing and said, “No, you have no idea who you’re messing with and what sort of trouble you’re in! I suggest you shut up.”
I pointed at the woman. “What happened to her?”
Ian grinned and pointed at Jamie. “That happened to her.”
“Yeah, she took a swing at Jamie, so Jamie delivered a beautiful head butt back to her,” Mike added.
Jamie looked down at the woman as she glared up at her. “Bitch hit me. Bit off more than you could chew, didn’t ya?”
This started another muffled tirade through the tape.
Another motorized sound drifted up through the night. Mike smiled. “Looks like the party is about to start.”
“Is that Sarge?” Danny asked.
“Yeah, he’s on the way in.”
Mel and the girls came out, standing by the door of the cabin with Bobbie. Mel called me over.
“What’s going on?”
“They’re done with their little sneak and peek, and picked up some prisoners.”
She looked at them, eyebrows raised. “A woman?”
“Yeah, she’s got a lot to say too.”
“What are they going to do with them?” Taylor asked.
“Sarge is on his way to get them.”
Moments later, the boat came around the bend in the river and glided up to the bank. Sarge hopped off before it even stopped and came stomping up the hill. Mike and Ted were standing there smiling like the cats that ate the canary. Sarge stopped in front of the three prisoners, his hands on his hips.
“I said bring me one,” he barked, shaking his head.
“Ah hell, we figured three would give you three times as much fun,” Ted said.
Sarge shook his head. “Fuckin’ overachievers.”
Mike was leaning against the buggy. “You ungrateful ole prick!” he said with a smile.
Sarge smiled. “Let’s get ’em loaded up. One of you will come back with me, then we’ll send the boat back for the rest of you.”
They led their captives down to the boat, the woman still being difficult. As Sarge was getting her into the boat he looked at her. “Don’t worry, missy, you’ll have plenty of time to talk.” She stopped her mumbling for a moment, then, with her brows furrowed, she started with renewed vigor. Sarge laughed and pushed her into the boat. The other two were loaded up and Mike jumped in with them.
Mike waved at Ted with a big grin. “See you guys later.”
As the boat pulled away, we drifted back to the fire pit. Danny tossed a couple more logs on the fire. Thad brought out the pot with our dinner leftovers and set it on the fire. Mel and the girls came out and sat by the fire too. All the activity ensured no one was going to sleep anytime soon.
“Y’all hungry? We got a little left here,” Thad said.
“Hell yeah. Anything is better than those MREs,” Perez said.
“How was the camping trip?” Jeff asked.
“It was an interesting time,” Ian said.
“So how’d you guys end up with them?” I asked.
Ted pointed at Jamie. “She did it, did a damn fine job too.”
“I don’t know about all that,” Jamie said, waving her hand dismissively.
Ian cackled. “You should have seen her tackle that broad.”
“Ooh, catfight!” Jeff said. Jamie shot him a look.
There wasn’t much of the rice and squirrel left, but each of them managed to scrape together a bowl. Perez was munching away when he asked, “What kind of meat is this?”
“It’s squirrel!” Little Bit shouted.
Jamie looked at her bowl, picking at the meat. “Really? I’d have never guessed.”
“Thad is a magician with meat in all forms,” Danny said.
“Apparently so! It’s really good,” Jamie said as she scraped the last few grains of rice from her bowl. After she was done, Jamie stood up from the table. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beat. I’m going to sack out until they come for us.”
“Go to our cabin, you can use it,” Jeff said as he stood up.
Jamie eyed him with suspicion. Jeff held up his hands. “I won’t be in there, I’ll be out here. Promise.”
Jamie looked around at everyone. “Well, all right, thanks.” She went to the buggy and dragged her pack out, taking it to the cabin with her.
“Any of you guys want to get some sleep?” I asked.
They all shook their heads. “Nah, I want to sit by the fire and warm up,” Ian said. The rest of the guys nodded their heads in agreement, so we spent the rest of the night sitting out by the fire. There wasn’t much talk. We just sat watching the flames dance.
Mel woke me up just before dawn. I’d fallen asleep in my chair. I looked around. Thad was still there tending the fire. I was wet from the dew and felt cruddy.
“Why don’t you go in and get some sleep?” Mel asked.
“Nah, I’ll wait. How many eggs do we have?”
“A bunch. They are really starting to lay now. Why? You want to make breakfast?”
“Yeah, I’m going to make some tortillas and scramble up some eggs. Maybe throw in a little pork.”
“I’ll make the eggs if you want to do the tortillas,” Thad offered.
“Deal,” I said.
Thad whipped up the eggs using some of the rendered fat and diced pork. I mixed up the tortilla batter and rolled it into balls, then pressed them out. Using a hot skillet with just a little oil in it I quickly cooked them, turning out about two dozen. Thad had used the big Dutch oven and it was about half-full of fluffy eggs. My mouth watered at the thought of the breakfast burritos. When we set them out, everyone jumped up to make theirs. Even Lee Ann was eager to have some.
“This is so good,” Jamie said. “Thanks, guys.”
“Yeah, Dad, thanks,” said Taylor.
Everyone else nodded appreciatively, expressing thanks between bites.
At about eight, we heard the boat coming up the river. Thad looked into the pot—there was just enough for one more burrito. He rolled up the last of the eggs and set it back in the oven to keep warm. We all sat facing the river and watched as the boat glided to a stop at the river’s edge. Mike hopped out and came up to the group.
He stood there with his hands on his hips, looking at everyone. “Look at this bunch of frickin’ nuts.”
“Well, good morning to you too, Sunshine,” Ted said as he stuffed the last bite of burrito in his mouth.”
“Oh, that’s nice, rub it in, dickhead,” Mike said, then looked over and saw the girls. Looking at Mel, he mouthed a silent sorry.
“What, you hungry? Don’t they make breakfast over there?” Thad asked.
“Not like this!” Perez barked.
“No, I didn’t eat that sh—stuff this morning,” Mike replied, looking at Mel. She couldn’t help but smile at him.
Thad lifted the lid from the Dutch oven and handed Mike the burrito. Mike flashed a huge smile. Taking a bite he held it up. “Thanks, man. I miss the food here.”
“Miss the food here?” I asked. “We don’t have too much to brag about.”
“I know, but you still manage to make something that tastes good with what you don’t have. Believe me, you don’t want to eat the stuff they serve down the river.” He shoved the rest in his mouth.
Ted stood up. “Well, as great as this was, I think we need to be getting back. Let’s get everything loaded up.” He looked at Mike. “What’s the old man doing with those poor souls?”
Mike grinned. “Oh, he let ’em stew all night. He’s going to question them today. Wait till you hear his plan.” Mike started to laugh
. “You’re going to love it.”
“Really, do tell,” Ted said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Mike wagged a finger at him. “No, no, you’ll have to wait. I want him to tell you. It’s priceless.”
“All right then, let’s get our stuff.” Ted turned to Thad. “Thanks for breakfast, I appreciate it.” Then he looked at Mel. “Thanks, Mel.”
Jamie, Perez, and Ian thanked us all as well. They quickly loaded their gear into the boat. Danny, Jeff, Thad, and I went to see them off.
I waved at them. “Come back when you can’t stay so long.”
Ted gave me the finger, getting a laugh out of everyone.
“Yeah, bring some groceries back when you come,” Thad said.
“Sure, we’ll swing by Publix,” Ian said as the boat began to back away from the bank.
We laughed and waved. But in the back of my head, I wondered if things would always be so happy. Sarge’s plan to invade was going to happen soon, and even though I didn’t know too many details, the sheer size of the operation told me it was going to be dangerous. We could only hope that they all stayed safe.
Chapter 15
The three prisoners sat on the ground, hands tied behind their backs. Sarge sat on a bucket in front of them, staring at each in turn. The woman’s face was covered in blood that ran from her nose down to her shirt. Both of her eyes were now black from the head butt Jamie had delivered. Her hat was gone now and her red hair hung down over her face in strings. She looked, in a word, miserable.
Sarge stared at her, then looked at the tag on her shirt.
“All right, there, Singer, I’m going to remove the tape from your mouth so we can talk,” Sarge said as he pulled it off with a satisfying rip.
Once the tape was removed it left a clean rectangle on her face, giving her a comical look. Singer blew some hair out of her face, then looked at Sarge. “Do you know who you’re fucking with?”
Sarge looked up at the people gathered behind him. “Do we know who we’re fucking with?”
Mike and Ted laughed, and Ian had a big smile on his face. Sheffield and Livingston both were expressionless. Jamie had a sly grin on her face, remembering the sound Singer’s nose made when she crushed it.
