Avenging Home

AVENGING HOME

A. AMERICAN

Avenging Home

Copyright © 2016 by Angery American Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.

Second Edition: February 2016

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of Angery American Enterprises Inc.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

Prologue

M
el sat by Taylor’s side until Doc finally said we could take her home. Three long days spent away from home. But she was home now. With the loss of Jeff, something I still hadn’t completely processed yet, it looked like we were in for a dark period. We knew the DHS was once again out there. That they’d managed to escape from their transport was very concerning. I had not voiced my concerns on the topic to anyone. I was worried things were not going our way and we could be in for some hard times. But we had enough to deal with.

The bombing delayed having the medical staff come take a look Tyler and Brandy. We wanted to get the kids out of the house if we could, but couldn’t run the risk if they were sick. There was plenty to do yet. Cecil needed help getting the crops into the ground at the new farm. There were the prisoners to be dealt with; and to take that task out of my hands, we needed to find a judge.

With so much to do, our days became busy. Everyone pitched in and worked hard but it seemed as if there just weren’t enough hours in the day. And we had yet to take the fight back to DHS. I wasn’t content to sit around and wait for them to come to us. I wanted to strike first. Sarge tempered my thoughts, however, insisting we needed to take a cautious approach. We simply couldn’t afford any more losses. And on that point, I agreed with him.

Author’s Note

I
want to take a moment to thank you, the reader, for hanging in there so long. It’s been a long ride to get here and I cannot thank you enough for sticking with me. Some of you have expressed your desire to see a satisfying ending to the series. As much as you’ve enjoyed it, for some, it’s time to move on. I can appreciate that. So if you’re one of those readers, Avenging Home is the end of the line for you. There is a satisfying end to this addition to The Survivalist series. For the rest of you, well, you’ll see.

I want to acknowledge my editor, Mike, for all his hard work. I know Enforcing Home had some issues. Those however were not his fault. They were mine alone. This time though, there’s been a massive effort to ensure an error free read for you guys. Thank you Mike for all your hard work and undying support and encouragement.

I also want to take a moment and thank a group of you that have been following this adventure since Going Home was being written online. Those were wild days and more fun than I can really explain. It was an amazing experience to post new pieces of the book each night and follow the discussions online the next day. Not to mention your unceasing, persistent and damn near nagging desire to see it published. If it wasn’t for you guys I would never have published Going Home and we certainly wouldn’t be here today with Avenging Home. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Now, if you’re one of those readers that want more of The Survivalist and are among the many that ask how many more books will be in the series, the answer is, I don’t know. But after reading Avenging Home I think you’ll get an idea of what’s about to happen and just how long it could take to explain it all. I hope you enjoy this work. I’ve put a lot into it.

Chapter 1

T
had wiped sweat from his brow as he cranked the wheel of the tractor around to make another pass. The ground was hard and it was taking time to break it. It took long hard days in the scorching Florida summer heat to bush hog the field. Then the hard work started. Thad looked over at Cecil in the seat of his tractor. He was looking back over his shoulder at the cloud of dust kicked up by the disc. Cecil looked over and smiled, taking off his hat in salute. Thad smiled and nodded back.

The field was a mass of gray mounds and clumps of upturned grass. Long-legged Sandhill Cranes and Egrets with their wispy white feathers worked the field picking bugs and grubs from the freshly turned earth. It had been a banner few days for the birds, and more and more had come to join the buffet. When the field was being cut, the birds followed the tractors closely to snap up the countless grasshoppers fleeing from the machines.

Taking a break, Thad stopped his tractor under a large oak on the edge of the field and climbed off. He looked at Perez and shook his head. “I ain’t keeping you awake, am I?”

Ian laughed. “Not hardly. Takes a lot more than that rattle trap to wake him up.”

Perez replied by adjusting his hat. “Keep it down, would ya?”

Thad filled a cup from the water keg and took a long drink. He winced and shook his head. “Damn that’s cold.” Smiling, he added, “Gives me a brain freeze and makes my teeth hurt.”

“Yeah. It’s almost too cold,” Ian replied.

Smiling, Thad replied, “No it ain’t. I can take the pain.”

Cecil pulled up and shut his machine down. Thad refilled the cup and handed it to him as he walked up. Cecil drained it in one long gulp. “Thanks, Thad. That sure is good.”

Thad looked out across the field dotted with the occasional pine tree. “What do you think?”

Cecil took his hat off and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “I think it’s hotter than hell full of lawyers.” He looked out across the field and added, “I think we need to make one more pass. That ground is pretty hard. Probably never been tilled before. We need to break it good and deep to give the crops the best chance we can.”

Thad looked up at the sun. It was past its apex and beginning its descent. But there was still plenty of time. He looked at blue drum strapped to the top of his disc. “I’m glad we added the weight; we’d never got this broke up if we hadn’t.”

“Soon as I saw your disc rolling on the grass, I knew we’d have to do something. I’ve always liked using the barrels. Makes it easy to add or remove weight,” Cecil replied.

The two men grabbed another quick drink of water and mounted their respective tractors. Cecil led the way and Thad fell in behind him, offset to catch new ground. They worked the entire field in this formation in an ever-tightening ring. The two men wound around the scattered trees, turning the thick layer of needles into the earth.

Thad looked back as he passed one of the large long leaf pines. The soil was darker here, the constant addition of fallen needles creating mulch around the base of the tree. But this soil would be acidic as a result and would either have to be dealt with or planted accordingly. They worked into early evening to take advantage of the cooler temps as the sun dipped towards the horizon. When Cecil raised his disc and headed towards the tree line where their security detail sought cover from the scorching day, Thad raised his disc and followed the older man. He was happy the day was over. He was hot, dirty, thirsty and tired.

Perez was sitting on the hood of the Hummer smoking as they pulled up. Cecil got off his machine and stretched his back. Bending forwards and back, he let out a couple of moans.

“How you feeling?” Perez asked.

“Old,” Cecil replied. Stepping over and leaning on the hood of the truck, he held out his hand. “Give me one of them things.”

Perez cocked his head to the side. “You don’t want one of these; they’re bad for you.”

“At my age everything’s bad for you,” Cecil replied, gesturing with his hand for a smoke.

Perez smiled and handed one over. “You wanna start a tab?”

Thad leaned against the truck and looked at Jamie sitting in the driver’s seat. Her foot was propped up on the door and her hat was pulled down over her eyes. Thad smiled and asked, “You ready to go home?”

Jamie sat up, straightening her hat. “Pfft, if we were going home and not to that damn armory.” She looked up at him. “How much longer until you guys are done?”

Thad looked out across the field. “I think we’re done with the tractors. Just need to get some bodies out here and try to rake as much of the grass out as possible.”

Cecil pushed the brim of his hat up and spit from between his teeth. “And that is going to be a bear of a job. But if we don’t, it’ll be nearly impossible to keep up with later.”

Perez laughed. “You really think you’re going to get them town folks out here in this sun to rake this shit?”

“If they wanna eat, they’re going to have to.” He looked at Perez. “You don’t work, you don’t eat.”

Ian laughed. “Shit, Perez. You’re going to be one hungry beaner.”

Perez leaned back on the hood. “I’m in the Army, Ian. Remember? I do more before five AM than most people do all day.”

Ian laughed. “Yeah, you’re an army of one alright.”

Taking a drag from his smoke, Perez replied, “And don’t you forget it either.”

Cecil straightened up. “If y’all are done jacking yer jaws, let’s head to town.”

Jamie quickly started the Hummer and slammed her door shut. Ian looked down from his perch in the turret. “You in a hurry there, sweet cheeks?”

Jamie drew her knife from its sheath and pushed the spine of the blade up between Ian’s legs. “You call me that again, and I’ll cut your nuts off like a hog.”

Ian squirmed away from the blade. “Easy woman!” Thad laughed and headed back towards his tractor, shaking his head.

Jamie followed the two tractors for the short ride back to town. Being far too valuable, the tractors were brought back to town every night. Security had yet to be established at the farm, so nothing could be left there yet. Cecil waved over his shoulder as he passed the armory on his way home. Thad turned into the parking lot and shut the old machine down. Jamie parked the Hummer and got out and asked Thad if he were hungry.

Replying with his signature smile, “Yes ma’am.”

She looked over her shoulder at the hall. “If you want to hang out here, I’ll grab you some chow. Unless you want to go in there.”

“I’d appreciate it, Jamie. Don’t really feel like going in there.”

Scrunching her face, Jamie replied, “Me neither. Smells like feet and ass in there.” She looked at the building and some of the soldiers coming out and added, “sweaty balls.”

Ian was pulling his gear from the truck and cackled.

Thad laughed heartily. “Miss Jamie!”

She gave him a deadpan look and nodded at the building. “Go in there and tell me I’m wrong.”

“I’ll take your word for it that it smells like a locker room, Miss Jamie,” He said as he tried to put a more appropriate name to the discussion. Thad was still a very polite man and easily embarrassed by such talk around women, let alone from one.

“Come on, Thad. Let’s go grab us a spot to sleep while she gets us some grub,” Ian said.

Jamie shouted over her shoulder. “I ain’t getting you shit, sweet cheeks!”

“Awe come on. I was just kidding!” Ian called back.

Jamie gave him the finger over her shoulder. “I’m not, asshole!”

Ian, Perez and Thad found themselves an unoccupied truck to take up residence in for the night. It was certainly better than staying in the main hall or one of the tents with everyone else. Of course, if it came to that, they would. But given the opportunity, it was always preferable to be away from the masses. After stowing their gear in the truck, Perez said he’d go find Jamie and let her know where they were.

Thad looked at the truck. “Tell you what, if we’re all going to be here for the night, I’m going to sleep under the truck and give you guys more room in here.”

“Sounds like a good idea. “I might join you down there tonight.”

Jamie and Perez showed up with an armload of MREs. Jamie tossed one to Thad, and Perez gave one to Ian. Ian looked at the bag and scrunched his nose. “Ah man, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“This is it for tonight,” Jamie replied as she climbed up into the truck to claim her spot.

Thad looked at the brown bag in his hand. “I wish we were home. Whatever they’re having has to be better than this.”

“Look on the bright side, we get to go home tomorrow,” Ian said as he tore his bag open.

I stood in the door of Taylor’s room watching Mel. She wouldn’t leave Taylor’s side and took her job as head nurse seriously. Taylor was awake now and getting better daily. She had no recollection of the bombing beyond being in town. I was happy about that, as the entire scene had been horrible. Little Bit also saw it as her duty to nurse her sister, and probably pestered her more than she would have liked. But Taylor never complained, and actually tried to make her little sister feel as though she were important.

Mel hadn’t blamed me for what took place. At least she’d never said as much to me. Even though, I couldn’t help but feel responsible. After all, I’d allowed them to go to town. But did that really make it my fault? In a normal world, these girls would be coming and going as they pleased. And was it the right thing to do to try and keep them cooped up out here? In the end, it was really a matter of physics. Time and space came together at that time, at that place.

Nonetheless, I still felt a level of responsibility that I would never shake. For every time I looked at my beautiful daughter, there would be reminders staring back at me. Thankfully, she didn’t have many wounds to her face. But there were some, and they were profound. Taylor knew her face had been scarred, but she didn’t know to what extent. Mel and I had discussed the matter and agreed not to let her have the mirror she requested daily. Telling her instead, that when she was strong enough to get up and go to the bathroom, she could see for herself.

Taylor saw me and smiled. “Morning, Dad.”

Holding up my hand, “Morning kiddo. How are you feeling today?”

She pushed herself up on her pillows. “Better. I’m feeling better. I’m actually really hungry.”

Mel quickly rose. “You want me to get you something?”

“Do we have anything?” Taylor asked.

Mel smiled. “I’m sure I can come up with something.”

“I’ve got to get out to the bunker. I’ll check on you later,” I said as I headed towards the door.

Lee Ann was in the living room putting her shoes on. I stopped in front of her. “Where are you headed?”

Without looking up, she replied, “Over to Jess’s.”

I was more worried about her than I was Taylor. Since the bombing, she, Jess and Fred had become thick as thieves. They were always together and generally discussing their mutual burgeoning hate. They wanted vengeance; and I was afraid that when the time came, I wouldn’t be able to prevent them from taking part. I wanted it too, more than anyone. I too had a hate burning inside. But I did my best to temper it and not let it show, because I didn’t want to fan the flames that were threatening to consume those girls.

“What are you guys up to today?” I asked.

She shrugged as she finished her last knot and stood up. “I don’t know. Probably just hang out until we have to take our turn at the bunker.”

I stepped over and wrapped my arm around her. “Alright, keep your eyes open.”

She didn’t smile. She didn’t frown. She stared back blankly and replied, “I hope they do come.”

This was what I feared. I pulled her in tight. “Baby girl, be careful what you wish for. Things are hard enough now. Let’s not go wishing for more to deal with.”

To placate me, she smiled. “I know, Dad. I’m just kinda sayin’.”

I went to the kitchen and found Mel scrambling a couple of eggs. She had the very last can of Red Feather cheese sitting on the counter, its top already pulled open. I picked the can up, looked at it, then lifted it up to smell the cheddar inside.

“Ah, that smells good.”

Mel took the can from me. “It’s for Taylor.”

Smiling, I replied, “I know. I wouldn’t eat it if you offered it to me. Let her enjoy it. She was always looking for a reason to open that can anyway.”

She didn’t look up from the eggs she was stirring around in the pan, so I grabbed her hand. “You okay?”

Mel looked up and smiled. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

Nodding and returning to the eggs in the pan, she replied. “Yeah, what are you doing today?”

“I have to go on guard duty and meet with Sarge later today.”

“You going anywhere?”

“No, I’ll be here all day.”

She smiled again. “Good, then I’ll see you later.”

Before I left the kitchen, Little Bit wandered in. “What’s that smell?” She asked, craning her neck to see into the pan.

Mel smiled at her. “Scrambled eggs with cheese. You want some?”

She bounced up and down. “With cheese? Yes, I want some! Where did we get cheese? I love cheese!”

“Let me fix a plate for Taylor, and you take it to her; then come back and I’ll have a plate for you on the table.”

Little Bit held her hands out. With wide eyes, she licked her lips when Mel handed her the plate and she sniffed the yellow pile.

“Go on now. Take that to your sister. Here’s a fork too.”

I patted Mel on the ass and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later, baby.”

She smiled and winked, then asked if I wanted a glass of tea.

“What kind of question is that?” I replied.

She took a red Solo cup and filled it with tea. The girls were still going through the houses in the neighborhood and bringing things home, and these came in pretty handy. As she handed me the cup, I smiled. “Thanks, babe.”

She smiled. “I gotta take care of you.”

“And you do a fine job of it,” I replied, and gave her a kiss before collecting my gear.

In the living room, I grabbed my Florida atlas. I’d gone through my topo maps, but didn’t have one that covered the area where the Elk’s Camp was located. Sarge asked for a map, and this was the best I could do. Tucking the book under my arm, I left the house. It was really warm out, even though the sun was barely up.
Ugh, it’s going to be a hot one.
Looking up, I could see the large puffy nimbus clouds that predicted rain at some point today.

Our location in Florida was interesting. We were almost equidistant from the east and west coasts. That meant that the sea breeze from either side collided right over us; and in the heat of the afternoon, usually brought some pretty strong thunderstorms. And today looked as though it would live up to it.