Avenging Home (15 page)

I went outside and tripped over the dogs lying on the porch. It never ceased to amaze me that they found it necessary to lie right in front of the door. There’s a whole porch there, but inevitably one of them would be right in front of the door! Meathead looked up at me when the door hit his belly. He didn’t move though. Instead, he simply dropped his head back onto the deck. So I used the door to scoot him out of the way.

At my neighbor’s house was the trailer I planned on using for the generator. I went out and started the old Suburban. As it belched smoke, I gave it a minute to wake up. The pause also gave me a minute to think about my old neighbors and what happened to them. I know they went to the camp, but I didn’t see them there. It was odd that after the camp was abandoned, no one came back. What happened to them? Where else would they have gone?

I pulled out onto the road and drove towards my old house near the end of the road. As I passed the bunker, I stopped for a minute and talked with Dalton and Danny, telling them what I was doing. Aftera bit of small talk, I continued down the road. It was kind of odd to be driving around in the dark. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done it.

As I came to the house, I pulled through the open gate and drove towards the garage that sat off to the side. Turning the truck around, I backed up to the trailer and got out. The trailer had sat for a long time, so I inspected the tires carefully. They were in very good shape, probably fairly new. Continuing the inspection, I heard a thud and looked up. The sound came from the house. I squatted down behind the trailer and waited. I heard a shuffling sound and the floor creak, but nothing more. Someone was in there.

I went to the truck and got my carbine and slowly moved towards the back of the house. Another thud, louder this time, confirmed someone was in the house. I picked up my pace and made it to the back door and found it standing open. Now I wished I had my NVG with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t and would have to rely on the light on the carbine. I always hated the thought of trying to clear a house. Especially at night with a light. It always seemed to me that turning one of these things on was turning on a
shoot here
light.

Standing off to the side of the open door, my pulse began to pick up - I could hear it in my ears. I cautiously stepped up onto the concrete steps. Each subsequent step took considerable effort, I was scared to death. But eventually I was in the threshold of the door, staring into the inky blackness of the house’s interior. I had the carbine up to my shoulder and waited, listening.

Hearing a bump to the right, I turned and started to walk through the kitchen. There was a stinks to high heaven, water your eyes stink. I couldn’t quite place it. As I took one slow step after another, my foot met some resistance. I placed weight on my right foot and stepped into something soft that felt as though it was mashing out either side under my step. I looked down but couldn’t see anything. But whatever it was, it was substantial. With my head still looking down, there was a sudden noise in front of me. Instinctively, I hit the switch for the light on my rifle.

The intense LED light filled the kitchen and stunned my eyes. But the presence of a huge black bear a mere couple of feet from me in the confines of the kitchen shocked me.
Shit!
I shouted and tried to back pedal to get some space between me and the bruin. But my right foot slipped on whatever I was standing in, and I fell back, landing hard on my ass.

For his part, the bear let out a loud growl, groan or some kind of unholy sound. How my bowels didn’t let go, I have no idea. But as soon as my ass landed on the floor, I started shooting while trying to scramble away from the beast. The blast and concussion from the weapon was deafening. Being on the floor between the cabinets in the kitchen, there was no place for the muzzle blast to go except through my head it seemed.

I kept firing as I tried to gain some purchase on the floor. But it was as if I only had one foot to work with, because the right one simply found no traction. To my great fortune, it must have been the first or second round that killed the bear. That didn’t stop me from shooting, however, as I continued to fire round after round. Once my senses returned to me, I stopped shooting. Smoke lingered in the beam of my light, and the smell of burnt powder hung heavy, mixing with the existing stench.

As I was getting to my feet, there was a crash behind me. I spun to see Dalton coming through the door. His face was wild and he was breathing hard. His AK was at his shoulder and he was scanning the house.

“What the hell’s going on!” He shouted.

Giving him a little wave, “It’s ok.”

Weapon still shouldered, he asked, “What are you shooting at?”

I turned sideways and pointed to the opposite end of the kitchen. “That.”

There was more noise outside, and Mike burst through the door with Doc right behind him.

“What the hell’s going on in here?” Doc asked, looking around.

Dalton laughed. “Ole Morg got himself a bear!”

“No shit? A bear?” Mike asked and leaned in to see.

Doc looked at me. “You alright?”

I looked myself up and down. “Yeah, I guess so.”

He pointed to my leg. “What’s on your leg? Is that blood?”

I pointed the light at the floor and looked at my leg. Dalton stepped in and inspected it. Running his finger across my pants, he brought it up to his nose. “No, that’d be bear shit.” Then he wiped it back on my pants.

“Oh thanks,” I said.

The floor was covered in bear scat. That soft pile I stepped in was now spread all over the kitchen floor, and me.

Mike pinched his nose. “Damn, you stink!”

“What the hell are you doing over here?” Doc asked.

I told them I was getting the trailer to put the generator on when I heard a bump inside. I thought it was a person and went to investigate.

“And found a bear,” Doc said. I nodded.

“Hey, Morg. Next time, just step over the pile of bear poop. Don’t roll around in it.” Mike said.

Dalton laughed. “Gotta say, I ain’t never seen it done like that before.”

“You guys can kiss my ass,” I said.

“Let’s drag this thing out of here,” Dalton said.

We got to work and pulled the beast out the back door. Sarge was there with Ted and Thad when we got it out to the concrete slab behind the house.

“Hot damn, boys!” Sarge shouted. “That’s one fine looking bear.”

“I’m surprised there’s any left,” Doc said. “I figured they’d be hunted out by now.”

Sarge nodded. “Me too. But we got us one now.” He looked at me and said, “Nice work.” Then wrinkled his nose and looked me over. “Why are you covered in bear shit?”

“He was rolling around in it in there,” Mike said. I gave him the finger and he smiled.

Looking at Sarge, I said, “I’ll see your gator and raise you one bear.”

Sarge smiled. “Hell of a job, son. Let’s get this thing out of here. We got some butchering to do.”

Thad was standing off to the side not saying much. I stepped over to him. “What’da think?”

His arms were crossed over his chest as he inspected the bear. After a moment, he said, “I think you white people is crazy for messin’ with these wild animals.”

I started to laugh. “That’s pretty good, Thad.”

He smiled. “But now that it’s dead, I’ll deal with it.”

I went with Mike and got the trailer connected to the truck and backed it over closer to the bear. We picked it up and loaded it onto the trailer and headed towards Danny’s house. Mike and Ted went to relieve Danny so he could come to the house and help with the butchering. Thad and Dalton rode with me.

Looking at Thad, I said, “You know you have to go with me this morning.”

“Yeah, I know. I’d like to work on that bear, but we got work to do.”

“Don’t fret, lads. I’ll skin the beast!” Dalton shouted from the back seat.

Thad looked over his shoulder. “Take good care of that hide.”

“But of course! I’ll make me a furry kilt of it!”

I started to laugh. “Now there’s an image I don’t need in my mind.”

Laughing, Thad added, “I know, right!”

After unloading the bear at Danny’s, we left him and Dalton. Thad went to get the tractor while I got the truck back out onto the road. Sarge took forever, but finally came out of the house carrying a plastic shopping bag.

“What the hell were you doing?” I asked as he climbed in beside me.

He held the bag up. “Getting Mario some lizard meat.”

With a smirk, I replied, “You were just making time with Miss Kay.”

“Just shut up and drive!”

Smiling, I pulled off. I made a quick pit stop at the house to change my pants. I stunk to high heaven and wasn’t about to spend all day covered in bear shit. We met up with Thad on the road and headed out towards town. As we passed the road to the house Ian shared with Perez and Jamie, I saw Perez slumped against a fence post. Rolling up, I asked, “Well, look who’s still alive.”

Perez took a drag on a cigarette and started to hack and cough while giving me the finger. Once he finally got it under control, he looked up with watering eyes and asked, “You headed to town?”

“Yeah, we’re on our way there now.”

Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, he said, “Good, I’m going too.”

Sarge looked at him. “You look like shit. I think you should stay here.”

“Tough shit, Top. I’m going to check on Jamie.” Perez replied as he climbed in the backseat. Once in the back of the truck, Perez slumped over and almost immediately fell asleep.

I had to keep an eye on Thad on the tractor to make sure I didn’t leave him. I was glancing back at Thad when I heard Sarge ask, “What’s that?”

I looked down the road past the bullet holes in my windshield - I still hadn’t forgiven Danny for that. And I saw something lying in the road. As we got a little closer, I said, “Looks like a person.”

“Sure is. Let’s stop and check him out.”

I stopped short of the body and we got out. I looked back at Thad and waved him forward. He pulled the tractor around the truck as I walked over to the body.

“Somebody did a hell of a number on his head,” Sarge said.

“Yeah, I used to joke about striking someone repeatedly about the head and neck. Shit. Someone did it to this poor guy,” I said.

Thad shut the tractor down and pronounced, “Damn! He took one hell of an ass whoopin.”

Sarge rolled the body over on its back. The man’s face was severely beaten. So bad, the nose sat at an extreme angle. Both eye sockets were probably shattered from the looks of them. His jaw also appeared to be broken.

“This was personal,” Sarge said.

“That, or whoever did it just enjoyed it,” Thad said.

Sarge looked around. The road was covered in blood. Bloody footprints were in a large circular area around the body. “Looks like it was a hell of a fight.”

“He ain’t got no shoes,” Thad said.

The man’s bare feet were rather clean compared to the soiled clothes he wore. Someone relieved him of his footwear. It was a stark image, to imagine this man being beaten to death over a pair of shoes. It harkened back to the days when inner city kids would jack one another up over a pair of whatever was
the
sneaker of the day. But this wasn’t done over envy or some sense of fashion. This was more than likely done for need. Someone didn’t have shoes, or theirs weren’t in as good a condition, and they decided to take this guy’s.

Sarge looked at me. “What do you want to do with him?”

“Let’s get him out of the road and we’ll pick him up on the way back I guess.”

“Just put him in the bucket. I’ll bury him out at the farm,” Thad said.

We agreed that was the best idea, and Sarge and I hefted the body into the bucket when Thad pulled it over. I couldn’t just leave the man there. While I knew nothing about him, it was the proper thing to do. We got back in the truck and headed for Mario’s.

Looking over at Sarge, I said, “Wonder what Mario’s going to think with us pulling up with this corpse in the bucket.”

Sarge laughed. “Well, I told him we’d bring him some meat today.”

“Oh, that’s just wrong.”

We stopped at the gate and I honked the horn and waited. After a couple of minutes, I hit the horn again. Not long after, I saw a side by side come out from behind the warehouse. Mario stopped at the gate and opened it. I pulled through and watched in the mirror as Thad came through with the tractor. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw him crane his neck to look in the bucket. The feet sticking out the side of the bucket gave no doubt what was in it.

I saw him say something to Thad and point at the bucket. Thad shrugged and replied as he rolled through the gate. Once Mario secured the gate, he walked up.

“What the hell is that?” He asked, pointing at the feet sticking out of the bucket.

Before I could reply, Sarge leaned forward. “Told you I’d bring you some meat today!”

Mario pointed at the tractor. “That don’t look like a gator to me.”

Sarge started to laugh and slapped the dash of the truck. I shook my head. “Just ignore him. We found him on the road. Couldn’t just leave him there.”

With a quick shake of his head, Mario replied, “You ain’t leaving him here either.”

Waving him off, I said, “No, no. I just need to get the generator on the trailer. We’ll deal with him later.”

“Alright then. Follow me, I’ve got the backhoe over at the generator. Shouldn’t be too hard to load it up.”

We followed him around the warehouse to a small lean-to structure. The generator was out from under the structure, Mario having used the backhoe to pull it out. Once he was off the ATV, I asked him where he wanted me, and pulled the truck in as he indicated.

Sarge got out and walked around the generator, looking it over. “You sure this thing’s gonna run?”

Mario smiled. “Hell yeah.” Stepping up to it, he flipped one switch and then another. The generator rumbled to life, coughing thick black smoke for an instant before settling into a loud rumble. “She’s great!” Mario shouted over the roar of the machine. Since it was just sitting on the ground, it vibrated furiously.

Sarge gave him the
kill it
signal, and Mario shut it off. “Have you checked the output?” Sarge asked.

Mario nodded. “Yeah, it’s about 487 volts.”

“That’s good enough,” I said.

“Let’s get this contraption loaded up then,” Sarge barked.

Mario explained his plan. He would lift the front of the generator up with a chain connected to the bucket of the backhoe. Then I was to back the trailer under it and he would set it down and move to the back of the generator and using the bucket again, lift it from the bottom and push it up and onto the trailer. Sounded pretty easy.