by J. B. Craig
“Nice Treasure, Amigo!” Pete and Angel high-fived. Then looked towards the direction of the fresh grave.
Pete said, “Thank you for your service to the country, and to our community, Sir!” The two scavengers carried everything to the Jeep. Angel popped the hood and did mechanic stuff. Then he got behind the wheel, whispered a prayer while looking up, and turned the key. The Jeep turned over almost immediately and started running. The gas gage read full.
“Jackpot!”, Pete yelled, and high-fived Angel. “Now, how do we get it all home? I assume we take the jeep, so we can load it up with the food, gold and guns, right?”
“Yeah, Amigo. Can you drive the jeep?”
“Shit, Angel, I can drive a fire truck!”
“Bueno. okay, you drive the Jeep. Keep the Tommy gun loaded. Here’s the safety. It’s full auto. We have to get this back to the community. We can eat a few weeks in winter with this, longer if we mix it with our normal food. I think maybe we tie the 4-wheeler to the bumper, and I lead the way on my bike.”
“But, if I stop, what happens to the 4-wheeler?”
“We tie it close, and put something… like some pillows from the house in between, and don’t stop too fast, Si?”
“Comprendo, Angel. I’ll get the pillows, you tie it up.” Pete ran into the house and got some firm pillows. It only took two pulls in the kitchen to find a universal “junk drawer”, in which he found some duct tape. He ran out to the Jeep and wrapped the tape around the pillows and bumper, just as Angel was pulling the 4-wheeler up. He bumped it up against the pillows, then cinched it to the bumper from both handlebars and the front steering column with paracord. “Now I put it in neutral, and we hope for the best, Si? Jeep beats 4-wheeler, so we don’t die trying to save this Honda, okay?”
“I got it, Amigo. You lead, I follow, don’t stop too fast.”
“Si, Bueno.” The men rode away from the orchard. Pete mentally noted the location, because all those fruit and nut trees would be good in a few weeks or months.
As it went from dusk to deep black, they drove back towards home with headlights blazing because it was a new moon. The trip back to the bridge in Tappahannock was uneventful... until they were about 100 yards from the turn to the bridge. Angel was slowing his bike down for the turn, and flew off the back of his bike just before Pete heard the shot. The bike skidded ahead of Angel, who crawled forward, and tried to hide behind the metal of the Harley as rounds pounded into it every three or four seconds. Pete figured at that rate, it was a hunting rifle, so he sped up then braked quickly, swerving around Angel in the slide. He may have turned the wheel sharply as he listened to the 4-wheeler break loose of the ropes and roll down the road about 20 feet, handlebars and wheels spinning as it spun off plastic and metal. He thought to himself that there was no time for that. The jeep was blocking Angel from where Pete thought the shot came from, based on the direction Angel flew off the bike.
Pete jumped out of the Jeep as a bullet punched into the fender. He picked up Angel, who was not a large man, and threw him in the back of the jeep, which was level with the gate, since the boxes of food were under him. There was a pause in the shooting, presumably as the shooter reloaded. At the grunt of pain from Angel, Pete apologized with “Lo Siento, Amigo” Pete ducked behind the fender as another round hit the roll-bar of the jeep and ricocheted into Angel’s bicep. Angel cursed in very colorful Spanish. Pete Lifted the Tommy gun off the passenger seat, and “sprayed and prayed” with about 50 rounds of automatic .45 punching into the storefront about a block away. Angel let out a few choicer curse words, as his ears bore the brunt of the noise from the Tommy Gun, and a few smoking-hot shells landed on his bare skin.
Pete jumped back into the jeep, raced to the turn and sped to the roadblock on the bridge. He flashed his lights and waved, with his Tommy gun in air in the T-shaped “I’m a friend” signal that they seemed to be using around here. When he got close, he slowed down. Flashlights were in his face, and the guys recognized him from this morning, despite his driving a jeep instead of a 4-wheeler. They moved the barricade aside, and he sped to the other side of the bridge and into the McDonalds parking lot.
Now, in relative safety, Pete grabbed his medic bag and climbed into the back of the Jeep to check out Angel. Leo and another man ran over to help. He didn’t bother with introductions, but they guy was good.. Pete put him to work on Angel’s bicep. Pete focused on the more grievous wound. Angel was hit in the shoulder, but it was bleeding bright red, meaning an artery hit. Luckily, he’d seen a similar wound in Kelly several weeks ago. His bicep would be dealt with by Leo. “Hey Amigo. This is going to suck. You gotta man up now, okay, I don’t have time for any pain killers. If you bleed to death, Gunny will kick my ass for having to work double-shifts!”
Angel laughed. “If I die, she’ll kick my ass too. Do it.”
Pete gave Angel a grim smile, and gently probed around in the shoulder wound with forceps by the light of his army flashlight until he found the artery, and clamped it off above the bleeding, leaving the hemostat sticking out of the hole in Angel’s shoulder. Somewhere in there, Angel passed out without even whimpering. He then wrapped the whole thing, entry and exit wound with more gauze.
“You are one tough son of a bitch, Angel.” Pete looked at Leo wrapping the bicep wound.
“The ricochet didn’t go through, but no major arteries or veins were hit – infection could be an issue, but it can wait.”, Leo said as his man helped with the pressure dressing on it. At the same time, Pete padded the forceps in Angels shoulder as best he could, stabilizing it with tape and Leo’s help. Then, Leo patted Pete on the shoulder, and said “We have a medic, but no surgeon. Go home. Godspeed.”. Pete sped away for the 20-minute drive to Rock Harbor. He would need Doc for this one, arterial surgery like this was not taught in EMT School, and he only assisted last time.
As Pete approached the road to Rock Harbor, he got on the radio. “Um, dudes, I mean Sheepdogs, this is, um, whatever! ‘Night Rock 2’. I have a wounded Angel, and I need Doc right away in the infirmary. Approaching outbuilding now. He flashed his headlights, and looked at the barn with Bill, the sniper, in it. Bill was standing in the hayloft door, with his rifle over his head in the T, and his other hand waving Pete along in a “hurry up” gesture. Pete approached the wrecked Army Truck and turned the jeep down the mined woods path. It was risky, but he had to get Angel to the infirmary. He had to go slow and used the headlights to look for the white stones, bobbing and weaving to miss the mines. Because they were in-path from the stones, he aimed at the stones on the outside, hoping to miss them or drive over the ones in the middle. He weaved back and forth, taking tree limb slaps to his face as the windshield took the brunt of the damage. He saw a few ropes pop and fly up when the front of the jeep presumably hit snare traps. He knocked off both of the Jeep’s mirrors and scraped the hell out of the side of the jeep, but made it through, then drove to entrance to the berm. Doc was waiting there, and waved him to the community center, running behind him. Kim and Maria were waiting there to help.
40. Angel’s Surgery
Maria was relieved to see Pete driving the beat-up jeep through the Berm. By the light of the citronella torches, only lit for emergencies, she saw how wide his eyes were. Doc ran up behind the jeep and looked in the back.
“What do we have, Pete?”
“Dude, Angel took one to his shoulder, but he’s hit in the artery. I don’t know how bad the artery is cut, but he was spurting bright red, so I got it clamped off. I’ve done stuff like this before, but then we always delivered them to a hospital. I never did surgery like he needs! Dude, we gotta save him!”
Esteban and Gunny showed up, as they were clearly monitoring the radios. The big guy said, “What you need?”
Doc said “First - Pete! Calm the fuck down. You did the hard work already. You and I can fix this. Go get scrubbed up. Este, you and Gunny move Angel to the Operating table… gently.” Then he rattled off Spanish that both Gunny and Este
nodded to. Este picked Angel out of the Jeep bed, and Gunny stabilized the hemostat that was clamping the artery closed.
Maria followed behind them all, and as Doc was scrubbing, she asked him what he needed.
“Darlin’, you have to get Pete calmed down. I need his hands to be steady. He’s a good medic, but being shot at, and the adrenaline with the ride he had to make are messing him up. You got that?”
“I’m on it, Doc.”
Maria walked into the kitchen, where Pete was scrubbing in the other gravity-fed sink using bleach with the rainwater coming from the cistern on the roof. “Hey Pete. Is that a new pistol on your belt, or are you just glad to see me?” After Pete smiled, and said it was his new pistol, Maria said “Look at me.”
Pete turned around, shaking his hands in the air, sprinkling Maria’s jeans and blue shirt with bleach and water. When he saw her look down, he said, “Sorry Captain.”
Maria walked up to Pete, grabbed his cheeks in her hands, and said, “Fuck that nonsense. They’re just clothes. You need to get your head straight.” She paused and looked into Pete’s eyes. “You’re a stainless steel, badass life-saving hero. You go help Doc, and when you’re done, and Angel is recovering, I’m going to ravage your body all morning long.” Then, she pulled his face to hers, and kissed him deeply. She could feel his heartbeat racing as he responded to her. “Keep your hands to yourself, they’re sterile. Now, if you thought saving Angel was pressure, then you don’t know what my expectations are for later. This surgery is nothing. Calm down and save your energy, because you’ll need it, hero.”
Pete swallowed the lump in his throat, and visibly calmed down. “Yes, Captain. We got this. You better be here later.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, my man.”
“That’s a first, Maria.”
“There’s a first time for everything. Now go do the job that we both know you can do, okay?” she looked deeply into his eyes, still holding his cheeks.
He took two breaths and his countenance changed. He smiled, then shrugged. “Piece of cake, darlin’.” Then he kissed her and went into the improvised operating room with a smile on his face. Before the door closed, Maria heard Doc say, “Look at you, Pete. You look like a stone-cold savior. What did she say to you?”
Pete replied with, “That’s between us, Doc. Let’s do this!”
About 90 minutes later, Doc walked out of the sterile room that they had set up in a large closet of the community center. He looked defeated. Maria looked at him sadly.
“It’s cool, Maria. He made it. The artery was nicked, but not sheared in half. We had to patch the hole. I’m just beat. Pete can get you up to speed. I’m going to get a few hours of sack time before my day shift starts.” He paused for a few seconds, then looked at her. “He’s good with his hands. I mean really good, but he’s better with you having his back. Spend some time with Pete, he kept it together until we were done, then he lost it a little.”
“I’m on it, Doc, thanks!” Maria hugged doc, and kissed him on his long beard and bandana, now freed from the sanitary mask that he was wearing.
Maria walked into the surgery room, and saw Pete sitting on a chair
41. Pete’s Reward
Before dawn, Kim showed up and insisted that she had Angel covered and shooed both Pete and Maria from the community center. Upon leaving, they saw Gunny and Esteban talking by the guard post. Maria approached Gunny and said, “Hey Gunny, where’s a woman to take a man needing a reward for his bravery? I can’t take Pete back to my Dad’s. It’s too weird.”
Gunny smiled knowingly, while Este said “Whaaaaaaat? You go, Pete!”
Gunny pointed to a house on the right side of the circle. “That one is still vacant, and has a nice view of the sunrise from the master suite. After saving Angel, I declare that you two need a day off. We’ll see you at dinner. Feel free to grab some breakfast to go. I heard Ethyl was making her Caliente Frittatas today. It’s fresh egg day, and you don’t want to miss that! We only get eggs once a week because we’re trying to reconstitute the flock.”
Pete smiled at the offer of fresh eggs, and what would come after, and followed Maria to the kitchen, where her Dad was waiting. He looked worried for his daughter, but just as much for Pete, too. “I heard you did good, Kid. Not only will Angel be okay, but that food you brought back has Ethyl all excited. One of those plastic buckets had freeze dried berries in it!”
Pete said “Thanks, Sir.” A handful of people in the community center, including Maria shouted, “He’s not a Sir, he works for a living!”
Pete and Greg both laughed. Pete said, “Thanks, Mr. Greg. I’m glad I was able to help. Sorry about messing up the Jeep.”
“Son, it’s a Jeep, if the wheels still turn, it’s not messed up. Nice job navigating the minefield, but you pointed out something that we have to be prepared for. Luckily, you were a friendly. You kids go tell Ethyl that you want your breakfast to go and go get some sleep. We’ll see you at dinner. Greg walked to a table and sat next to Jennifer, who waved at Maria, and winked.”
“You two lovebirds go get some rest. You both look rode hard and put away wet.” Then Jen guffawed, making those around her smile even more broadly.
“Not yet, Jennifer.” Maria said, and winked back. Maria’s dad had to cough and pretend that he didn’t hear what she said.
42. Shift Change Briefing
Greg was sitting in the community center enjoying dinner with Jen and the rest of the usual suspects around the big leadership table. Pete and Maria were conspicuously absent from the early dinner shift. Greg hoped they’d be getting a late dinner, as he didn’t want to give Pete a demerit for missing his shift this soon into his stay.
He asked, “Hey Gunny, I know you sent Pete to bed after the surgery. Did you excuse his night shift?”
“Nope, I told them to be at dinner. I’ll send a runner for them.” She looked up, “Disregard… there they are.” Pete and Maria walked into the mess hall, and up to the line to get their plates. After filling their plates, the couple walked over to a few seats at the table next to the leadership team, smiled and nodded at everyone, and dug into their food while listening to the shift change brief.”
Greg looked over at his daughter and smiled, smiling broader at her radiant return-smile and said, “Okay, let’s get started. Angel woke up and briefed me a bit on what happened last night. He was a little fuzzy after getting shot. Care to fill us in, Pete?”
Pete explained the mad dash across the bridge, signaling the Tappahannock allies, putting forceps on the artery and driving home in a flash. He noted that Angel was shot by a hunting rifle, adding “Probably a bolt-action .30-06 or something similar. I used to hunt with them, it sounded about right, although I’ve never been on the pointy end of one before. It was a through-and-through wound, so I didn’t have a round to examine. The ricochet round was pretty pulverized when we took it out and looked like a fragment of the original bullet.” Pete continued by explaining how the city across the river was said to be a fortress, and that an unhealthy stalemate had occurred. He admitted that he didn’t know the disposition of enemy forces, but Gunny noted that if they were shooting at a prize like a working jeep full of supplies with a hunting rifle, they probably were either thinly spread, off causing a ruckus, or low on ammo. Either way the Harbor folks probably had plenty of time before the bad guys in Tappahannock were going to cause trouble.
Pete nodded, adding, “I agree, Gunny. Based on how close the jeep and home of the recently deceased was to town, if he could hold them off on his own, they either weren’t looking that way, or were so weak that they could be held off by a couple of well-trained defenders.”
Greg nodded. “Okay, folks. Night shift, you’re on duty. Pete, check with Doc. He says Angel wanted to talk to you. Day shift, go rest up, play, or whatever. Nice job, everyone.”
Various meeting members went in different directions. Pete took the time to kiss Maria, then looked at her dad apologetically. Her dad s
hook his head, and said to Pete, “Son, just don’t hurt her.”
Este overheard Greg and laughed his “Heh-heh-heh” belly laugh. “Don’t worry, Jefe… He’s way too afraid to hurt your Hija. Leilani would skin him.”
Pete smiled and looked around Este, to see Leilani in the kitchen sharpening a butcher knife. She pointed it at Pete and said. “Never. Pete’s a good boy.” Pete was unsure whether he should thank her or run, so beat a hasty, but controlled retreat towards the medical area of the community center.
43. A Worried Dad
Greg walked back to house with Jen and Annie, swinging the little girl in big circles. He caught Maria’s eye, and she smiled. He knew she was remembering all the times he swung his daughter in a circle in the backyard. The dogs would get all worked up and bark at the fringes, and Maria’s mom would yell from the pool that he was “going to dislocate that child’s shoulders… Then I’m going to have to call Family Services.”
