by AJ Newman
Karen’s arm snapped to her side. “You’re that asshole General. Why didn’t you tell me? You lying son of a bitch,” she said as she walked away.
Maria and Jan had walked up while I spoke. Karen stormed past them. Maria said, “So, John, nothing’s changed. You still piss off women better than anyone else I know.”
The General ran after Karen while the others’ jaws dropped.
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Chapter 22
The Walker farm - Walter Hill, Tennessee
Missy and Chrissy saw their mom walking in their direction and screamed in delight as they jumped on her. They didn’t notice the General behind her. I could see him go to the barn when the girls mobbed their mom. He stood patiently, waiting for his chance to talk with her. Charlie had watched the General run behind the woman and shook his head as I walked up behind him. “Charlie, the General has fallen for our Karen. She’s the one I’d hoped to introduce you to when she was rescued.”
Charlie replied, “Since I don’t want my throat slit in the middle of the night, you’d better introduce me to one of your other ladies. As a matter of fact, who’s the lady in the pasture practicing with the bow?”
I scanned the pasture and saw Kira, placing arrow after arrow in the bullseye. “That’s Kira. She’s a bit young for you. She joined us a couple of months ago and was on her high school archery team. She’s never been married and isn’t attached at the moment.”
Charlie said, “Who’s the lady who just joined her?”
“That’s Marge. She’s more your age and a divorced cop from somewhere north of here. She’s not attached either. Hell, eighty percent of our women aren’t attached.”
I saw Mom walking toward Kira and saw Charlie watching her with a grin on his face. “Oh, hell, no. You know that’s Jan, my mom. She’s closer to your age but would never be interested in you.”
Charlie said, “Maybe, maybe not.”
I punched him on the arm and saw the walkie-talkie on his belt. “Y’all got any more walkie-talkies? We really need a couple.”
“Damn, I meant to give you half a dozen of them last trip. Here, take this one, and I’ll get another from one of the men.”
I left Charlie standing by the barn lusting after our women and felt he was just yanking my chain about Mom. I stayed near Karen’s trailer to make sure John didn’t bother her. John saw me and came to me. “Jason, I know we’ve never been friends, but I genuinely want…hell…I need your group to join us. Together, we can make this area safe again for people like Karen and her kids.”
I was skeptical. “And you get to be our king and rule over the peasants?”
John looked down at his feet. “That was my intention when I left the FEMA camp with over two hundred soldiers. I lost half to the raiders when I didn’t prepare my men for war. The next ones left because I was a bully and a jerk to them. Soldiers like Miller and Charlie helped me realize I was in over my head and needed help. I’ve spent the last several months trying to make up for my mistakes. I really do need you and your people. My men can fight and protect the area with some of the local groups’ help, but we can’t farm and guard the area fulltime. We need an entire community of farmers, storekeepers, and soldiers.”
John seemed to have changed. I needed time to process this new information about John, so I changed the subject. “I see you like Karen. She must like you too to be so mad at you. What’s the scoop?”
John filled me in on what had happened and how brave Karen had been. He told me she’d saved his ass several times, and how he’d grown close to her, and she to him. John ended with, “I had just started to tell her who I was when you jumped out of the bushes and screwed up me telling her.”
I saw the sorrow in his eyes and said, “I’ll get Karen to talk with you once she visits with her daughters and calms down.”
“Thanks, Jason, that’s all I ask. I need to get back to my headquarters before there’s a coup, and I get replaced.”
I said, “John, we’re joining your group, and you’d better keep your word.”
John said, “I promise I’ll keep my word. I know that might not carry much weight now, but it will over time.”
I said, “We’ll see.”
“Can we take the wooden slingshot with us, so my guys can use it to help us make more like it?”
“Of course,” I replied.
John walked away and motioned for Charlie to join him. Several of the soldiers joined them in two Humvees, and they left. As soon as they were gone, Karen opened the door and yelled at me to come to her. She hugged me and sat down on the small porch. “Jason, I’m glad to be back. It was terrible. If we hadn’t escaped from the gang…well, I don’t know, but I can imagine my fate.”
I went out on a limb to say, “John filled me in on some of your exploits. He said you were a hero and saved his life several times.”
“I guess he told you about me having my hand on his ass for several hours.”
My face got hot. “Do what? No, why would he make you hold your hand on his ass?”
Karen laughed. “No, he was shot in the butt, and I had to keep the pressure on his wounds. He kidded me about getting fresh with him.”
I said, “You like him, don’t you?”
“I did until I found out he’d lied to me.”
I asked, “What did he lie about?”
“He didn’t tell me he was the asshole General. That’s one, and I’ll think of another in a minute. The gall of him to get me liking him and then turn out to be the damned General.”
I could tell she was about to cry and pulled her in my arms. “Karen, John isn’t the man Maria and I knew back in the Army. He really likes you, and it’s killing him that you’re mad at him. Could you at least talk with him when he comes back?”
“Maybe.”
I said, “Thanks.” Changing the subject, I said, “What’s Bobby’s story? Do you feel comfortable with him around the girls?”
Karen said, “He seems to be a good boy, and I like him. We’ll keep an eye on him. I’ve asked the girls not to get too close to him until we know more about him. Billie will add him into the farming group and see what he’s made of.”
I filled Kat and Mom in on what had happened to John and Karen and let them know John and Karen had grown fond of each other. Mom said, “Honey, if you think John has changed, please help him and Karen get together. Being lonely these days is a horrible thing. Everyone needs someone to love and care for.”
I hadn’t thought of my mom needing anyone besides my dad but realized even your parents can be lonely. “Mom, this world is really screwed up and won’t get back to normal any time soon. If you meet someone you like, go for it. Everyone needs someone, and you’re no exception. Dad would want you to move on with your life.”
Mom gave me a hug and said, “Thanks for the talk, son,” and left the room to go tend to her gardens.
Kat said, “That was very good of you to release her from any guilt. Mom needs to find a good man like I did.”
Well, I did my duty with the mushy stuff, and now back to the fighting, killing, and surviving stuff.
MMax and I went out to the barn and found Father James testing the new slingshot. This one looked similar, but it was constructed from steel with everything welded solidly together. The trailer winch had been replaced with a motorized winch. The jugs or other projectiles were placed on a long slide that kept the projectile from falling out of the pocket. It also yielded more accuracy by ensuring a consistent pull back. The bombs were fed down to the sling and leather pocket by a rack that could hold six jugs or a dozen pipe bombs. There was a scale scribed into a long piece of angle iron with labels for the various distances. The frame was welded to a landscaping trailer with a steel bed. The slingshot was at the back end of the sixteen-foot trailer to give plenty of room to draw the pocket back for more distance.
I didn’t understand the layout. “Why is the fork at the end of the trailer instead of the middle?”
Father James
replied, “We were only getting seven hundred feet with an eight-pound bomb. There was a toy on the market that could launch a water balloon nine hundred feet many years ago. We lengthened the main rubber tubes and added two more lengths to the longer bands at half-length and three-quarter length. We think the short, powerful bands will help accelerate the jugs faster and give us more distance. We can also crank the sucker back almost twelve feet now, so just that should add distance. Just pray the rubbers don’t break.”
I quipped, “I always pray my rubbers don’t break.”
I said it with a straight face, and it sailed over his head. The rest of the crew, including Missy, almost choked at my misdirected joke. I was happy that Mom wasn’t around to smack me on the back of the head.
Billie said, “Father, let’s move along and try this magnificent rock chucker. Please show us what it will do.”
Father James said, “Mark and Missy will do the honors. Please set it up with a mixture of jugs and pipe bombs and let her rip.”
Mark turned the slingshot to the right about fifteen degrees and said, “This is as far as we can swing the slingshot. We’ll move the trailer to aim more to the left or right. Do you see that 2038 Cadillac Escalade about a thousand yards out?”
Mark loaded and aimed the slingshot while Missy held the button down to draw the pocket containing the water-filled jug back. She stopped at about two-thirds of the possible travel and yelled, “Ready!”
Mark yelled, “Fire!” and pulled the lanyard releasing the jug to fly downrange. The trailer bucked a bit, and the jug whooshed through the air and hit within ten feet of the SUV.
Before the jug hit, they had loaded and fired another jug and a pipe bomb before ceasing fire. The jug sailed over the SUV by twenty feet, but the pipe bomb smashed the window and stopped inside the car. I was amazed at the accuracy of the different projectiles.
“How did you adjust so quickly for the two different bombs?”
Mark beamed, “Missy and I have shot the darn thing a hundred times, and have used the data to make an extra scale for the pipe bombs and overlaid it on the jug scale. The jug scale is in red print, and the pipe bomb scale is in white print for the distance and elevation.”
I looked over to the barn and saw our truck pulling another slingshot to the testing range. "How many of these have you made?
Father James said, “Two for us, and Sergeant Miller gets the next two. Then we stop and gather more raw materials while you …err…field-test these death machines. After you give feedback, we’ll make updates and improvements to them. We’re also making several small mortars that can lob the same projectiles one hundred to three hundred feet. This’ll allow you to lob bombs over buildings and other obstacles. Mark has a project to make a slingshot mortar that would save gunpowder. Don’t know if either will work, but they’re worth a try.”
While I checked out our fledgling weapons factory, Mom, Kira, and Kat prepared a feast to welcome Karen back. I asked the sergeant in charge of the troops stationed with us to contact Miller and invite him, Charlie, and the General to our celebration. He radioed their headquarters and told me that all of them were tied up in meetings.
I hoped John survived any coup attempt because the devil you know is usually better than the one you don’t. About an hour later, the sergeant ran up to me and said they had to leave and didn’t know when they’d be back. I knew the shit had to be hitting the fan for Miller to pull them back and wished them well. I joined the feast in honor of Karen and forgot about the General, coups, and the apocalypse for a couple of hours. Homemade wine flowed, and Kat and I went for a walk in the moonlight.
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Chapter 23
Smyrna Golf Course Club House - Smyrna, Tennessee
John Long jumped out of the Humvee, ignoring the pain and returned the salute from Staff Sergeant Miller and Major Tidwell. “Where’s Colonel Griggs?”
Major Tidwell replied, “Sir, when he saw you in the Humvee, he spoke to his men, and they left heading toward Nashville.”
John had a puzzled look. “I know he’s not my biggest supporter, but has he gone AWOL?”
Sergeant Miller interrupted. “Sir, I just learned that he had been working with the raiders and was responsible for giving them information that led to the attack on you and the squad guarding you.”
John asked, “How did you find out about this information?”
Miller said, “One of my trusted men came to me and said that Griggs tried to get the men to revolt and make him their new leader. My guy captured Captain Beasley and brought him to me an hour ago. It took some persuasion, but he finally broke and gave us Griggs’s plan. Apparently, Griggs had been with the raiders all along and just stayed with us to smuggle arms and ammunition to them.”
John slammed his fist on the doorway. “Damn, this complicates things. Did he know about Walker’s slingshot?”
Tidwell replied, “Honestly, we don’t know.”
Charlie had been in the background. “General, I don’t see how they could since we purposefully kept the men guarding the slingshot away from the rest of the troops.”
Miller said, “But our troops on the ground who had been in the fight with the gang saw firebombs rain hell on the gang. Are any of them missing?”
John said, “I want the answer to that question now. Charlie, you need to take a couple of squads to the Walker compound now to help protect them, in case Griggs tries to steal the weapon.”
Tidwell said, “But you brought the slingshot weapon back here. If they know about it, won’t they attack us to get it or destroy it?”
John said, “They don’t know it’s here. That’s what I’m afraid of now, and they think the Walker clan has the weapon.”
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Chapter 24
The Walker farm - Walter Hill, Tennessee
Kat and I left the party to walk in the moonlight. I steered her toward our guard posts, so I could make sure John’s and our guards were performing their duties. We checked the western and northern guards, and all was going as it should. We steered east and then south along the hillside below Syd’s home. We were challenged by Mark about halfway back to the house. “Jason, I saw some lights dancing on the trees up the hill over there.”
He pointed in the direction of Syd’s home. “I swear I heard some voices, but it’s been quiet for about ten minutes. I was just going to head to the house to alert the rest of you.”
“Mark, stay here and be ready to go for help if you hear any gunfire, or we’re not back in half an hour.”
Kat and I walked in the direction Mark pointed. We tried not to make too much noise and must have done a good job because we heard a man talking to someone. “So, the General is back, but he was wounded, and Walker’s joining the General’s team. You have to get closer to Walker to get more info. Screw him if you have to get him talking.”
Then Syd said, “He hates me and that bitch Kat would cut my throat if I tried to make love to him.”
“Griggs will cut my throat if I don’t come back with more information. You had sex with him sometime to have had his son.”
“Mitch, Jay isn’t his son. Jay belongs to his brother Michael. I lied to make sure the bastard would take me into his camp.”
“Does the boy know who his father is?”
“No, we never wanted to have anything to do with those white trash people again. I just had sex with Michael to get even with Jason for leaving me.”
The man said, “So, you can’t get any more information for me?”
Syd replied, “Baby, I love you and want to go with you tonight. Jay can stay with the Walkers. It will be just…what are you doing with the knife? No, don’t!”
Syd screamed, and we charged into the clearing. The man had his boot on Syd’s chest and pulled his knife from her breast.
“Drop the knife or die,” I said.
The man whirled around to confront me, and I kicked the knife from his hand. He went for his gun, and a blast from behind me took off
half his head. Kat stepped forward. “Sorry, I didn’t want him to kill Jay’s father.”
I looked at her and was very confused. “You just heard that I’m not his father.”
Kat came to me and wrapped her arms around me. “Look ding-a-ling, poor Jay never had a father, and now he thinks you’re his father. His worthless mother is dead. The boy is your blood. You must claim him and make him ours. He deserves a good home.”
I squeezed her and said, “Kat, this is why I love you. I didn’t want to lie to the boy. The truth could ruin his life. Jay is my son, and you’re his new mom.”
Kat cautioned, “Lay low on the new mom thing until he’s ready. I’ll mother him as much as he’ll let me. Now let’s figure out how to make this traitorous whore a hero to her son. ”
“Do what?”
“Now, I know you’re a ding-a-ling. What are you going to do? Walk up and say your mom had her throat slit after screwing our enemy and giving away our secrets?” Kat said.
“I get it. The boy should have fond memories of the bitch.”
Kat hit me on the chest, “Practice what I’m saying. My son and his hero mom. Not the boy and the bitch.”
I knew she was right, and I already liked the boy in spite of who his mom was. We trekked down the hill to Mark and said, “Go get about six people to help carry a body down from the hillside. We were attacked, and Syd shot the man and saved our lives. Syd was killed during the fight, along with the attacker. Don’t let Jay find out. I want to tell him myself.”
We practiced our story until the others showed up. I sent John’s guards back to their posts, and we placed Syd’s body on a stretcher and headed home. I told the concocted story along the way.
Michelle whispered to me. “Brother, the attacker didn’t have his shoes or underwear on, and Syd’s panties are back there on the ground. Do you want to tell me the real story about the bitch?”
