Avenging Home (30 page)

I ate until I was positively stuffed. But I wasn’t done. I pulled the pot over and looked into it. There was a little stew still in the bottom, so I tore a chunk of bread from the small loaf on the table and used it to sop up the stew. The girls laughed at me as I hovered over the pot.

“Geez Dad, how can you eat anymore?” Taylor asked.

Smacking my lips, I said, “Waste not, want not!”

“Just lick it baby,” Mel said and got the girls to laughing.

I looked down into the pot. “I can’t. My head won’t fit in there.” This caused them to laugh even harder. Leaning back in my chair I patted my stomach. “I am stuffed. I’m going to lay on the couch like broccoli.”

Little Bit jumped out of her chair. “Can we watch a movie? I want everyone to watch a movie together!”

Mel took her hand. “Sweetie, Daddy is tired. Maybe tomorrow.”

She was dejected and a pout spread across her face. I smiled and looked at Mel. “Actually I would love to watch a movie.”

Mel looked at her. “What do you want to watch?”

Little Bit smiled and bounced up and down. “Goonies, let’s watch the Goonies!”

“Oh yeah, that’s so cool. I haven’t seen that in a long time!” Taylor said.

Lee Ann stood up. “I’m going to take a shower and put on my pajamas and get comfy!” She took off, scooting her feet across the floor.

Little Bit ran to the living room and got the movie and laptop out, setting it up on the coffee table. Mel told me to go sit down and asked Taylor to help her with the dinner dishes. I went and fell into the sofa, putting my feet up on the table and spreading my arms out. I was tired.

We waited for Lee Ann to start the movie. Once everyone was there, Mel brought me another glass of tea and we started the movie. I couldn’t have been happier sprawled out on the sofa like I was, with Mel on one side and Little Bit on the other. Lee Ann was sitting on the floor with her head against my leg and Taylor was curled up on the love seat.

I looked over at her, all I could see was her head poking out of the blanket she’d wrapped up in. She wrinkled her nose and smiled a childish smile. A smile spread across my face, and I reached out with my foot and wagged it at her. She pushed it away and wiggled deeper into her blanket. Looking around again, I felt so good. Gone were the thoughts from earlier. Maybe this was what would keep those thoughts away. Maybe keeping this close to me would keep those demons away. Like the guardians at the gates to my soul. I ran my hands through Mel and Little Bit’s hair, my guardians.

Chapter 10

I
woke up and looked around. I was confused and it took me a minute to figure out where I was. Pushing the blanket off, I stood up and stretched. Mel must have covered me and left me on the sofa last night. Shuffling into the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of tea and looked out the window over the sink. It was a bright, clear morning and looked as though it were going to be a good day. A perfect day to get what I had in mind started.

Going into the bedroom, I sat on the edge of the bed. Mel opened her eyes and smiled. “How’d you sleep?” She asked.

“Good. I need to go to town this morning. You want to go?”

She stretched. “Yeah. Can the girls come?”

“Of course.”

She sat up. “Ok, let me get dressed.”

I slapped her ass. “Hurry up, woman. I’ll go wake up the girls.”

I went and woke the girls. They were all excited about the prospect of a trip to town, especially Little Bit and Taylor. Taylor had been cooped up for some time now and was more than ready to get out. She bounded out of bed, having to catch herself, and she quickly started getting ready. As I walked out of her room, I said, “Tell Mom I’m going over to Danny’s for a minute.”

She was pulling clothes from her dresser and inspecting them. Those that didn’t pass muster were tossed aside. “Okay,” she replied.

I left the house and found the dogs in their usual place, sprawled out across the porch. I stepped over them and headed for Danny’s house. Passing through the fence, an incredible aroma met me, and my mouth instantly started to water. Danny was sitting on the porch with his arm in a sling. Little Jace was in a rocker beside him eating a fat biscuit.

“How’s the shoulder?” I asked as I stepped up on the porch.

He looked down at it. “Doc wants me to go to town so the clinic can get whatever is in there out.”

“I’m about to head that way with Mel and the girls. You want to go?”

“Nah, you guys go ahead. I’ll wait for Doc. But go in there and get you a biscuit. Miss Kay made some magic this morning.”

I laughed. “It sure as hell smells like it!”

“You think it smells good. Wait till you taste it.” Danny looked at Jace. “Pretty good aren’t they?”

The little boy held the biscuit in front of his face as he chewed. “Mmmhmm,” was all he muttered.

I laughed. “Well let me get in there and get some for us!”

Inside, Bobby, Mary and Kay were building more biscuits. Bobby was cutting them open and Mary buttered them. Kay finished them by laying a fat round of sausage on and closing them up. The ladies looked up when I came in, and all three gasped. Little Edie was sitting at the table eating her own biscuit.

“Morgan dear! What happened to you?” Kay shouted as she wiped her hands on a dish towel.

Smiling, I said, “Just the nature of the business.” I started to make the old joke about,
you should see the other guy,
but decided better of it.

“Are you okay?” Mary asked.

I waved her off. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Smiling, I moved to lighten the mood. “What’s for breakfast? Something smells so good!”

“We made some sausage biscuits this morning,” Bobby said.

“Buttermilk biscuits!” Kay added cheerfully.

“Sounds good to me. We’re headed to town this morning. Can I get five to go?”

Kay smiled brightly. “Of course you can! Let me get you something to put them in.”

She grabbed a plastic grocery sack and placed the five sandwiches inside and handed it to me.

“What are you going to town for?” Mary asked.

I shrugged. “Just need to check on a couple of things.” I had a plan, but didn’t want to share it just yet.

“Will you be home in time for supper?” Kay said as I headed for the door.

I waved over my shoulder. “We will.”

Danny was cleaning Jace’s face when I went outside. I smiled at him. Danny surely would make a good dad. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Danny nodded. “Yeah. We’ll be in town later.”

As I walked off the porch, Thad, Aric and the girls came through the gate. I waved at them as I headed through the fence to the house. The dogs smelled the food in the bag as I came up on the porch and sat up, ears erect and expectant looks on their faces. But this wasn’t for them. Inside, everyone was dressed and ready to go. I passed out breakfast as we headed outside to the truck.

“Oh wow, this is so good!” Lee Ann said as she pushed crumbs into her mouth.

“Look at the size of this thing!” Little Bit shouted, looking at hers.

Taking a big bite of mine, I said, “Big and good. Good and big!”

We rolled past the bunker, and for the first time in a long time, no one was there. Not that there were no threats now, but they were considerably less than they were yesterday. We’d get back to security, but for now everyone needed a break, some down time. Passing Altoona, I noticed the market was busy. I’m sure some of those people had an idea what happened yesterday, we certainly made enough noise. But they were carrying on as though it were a normal day.

And I guess it was. After all, that was the whole point of doing what we did. We took out the DHS so everyone could live a normal life and not have to worry about being sniped or blown to hell at the market. So it was a normal day, and I was glad to have it. Because here we were riding down the road together as a family. Like any family headed to town. While it wasn’t the old normal, maybe this could be the new normal. And that would be good enough for me.

When we passed the power plant, I noticed a couple of Hummers there, the engineers were back to work. Maybe tomorrow I would come up and offer a hand. It would be incredible if we could get the plant running again. But as with all things today, that would only be the start of the work. There would be days of work to get the power out to anyone.

I drove straight to the police department. I wanted to meet with Shane and see if he could help me set something up. Pulling up, I told Mel I needed to go inside. She said that she and the girls would go to the market on the lake. When she told me that, I looked back at Taylor in the mirror. Her last trip to the market wasn’t good. I expected to hear her protest or for there to be some kind of trauma on her face. But she was smiling and looked eager.

Smiling, I looked at Mel. “You guys have fun. You have your pistol, right?”

Mel patted her side. “Yep. And the girls have their guns too.”

Both Lee Ann and Taylor lifted their H&Ks up and nodded. Little Bit was the only one unarmed, and made sure she let everyone know about it. She wasn’t too happy about the fact either. Turning in my seat, I said, “Kiddo, you’re not old enough yet. But soon. And don’t rush it. It’ll come fast enough on its own, trust me.”

She opened the door and jumped out. “Come on! Let’s go look!”

Mel leaned over and kissed me. “When you’re done, come find us over there.”

“Will do.”

I found Shane in the PD. He was standing in front of a large wipe-board with Cecil. The two were talking about the planted fields and manpower. When I came into the room, the two looked at me with smiles. But they quickly faded.

“Damn, Morgan. What the hell happened to you?” Cecil asked.

I shrugged. “Shit happens.”

Shane hopped up on a table, letting his feet dangle. “I hear it went pretty good. You guys wiped them out.”

I nodded. “We did. They’re gone. All of them.”

Cecil crossed his arms. “Almost all of them. They brought some back with ‘em.”

“Where’d they put those women and children?” I asked.

“We’ve got them in the old town hall. Sean is over there now,” Shane said.

Leaning against the wall, I asked, “What’s the plan for them?”

Shane leaned back on his hands. “Sheffield met with them last night and told them all they were free to leave.”

“How’d that go?” I asked.

Cecil snorted. “Just as you’d imagine. Where the hell are they going to go? That’s what they asked. And in reality, they’re right. Where the hell are they supposed to go?”

I nodded. “That is the problem. But what were we supposed to do with them? Shoot them? There’s some things that simply cannot be.”

Cecil rubbed the gray whiskers on his chin. “And now we have people in our midst that resent us and will wish us all dead.”

Letting out a long sigh, I replied, “Well, in a perfect world there would be perfect solutions.”

Shane jumped off the table. “This ain’t no perfect world.”

“Exactly,” I replied.

“So what brings you to town?” Cecil asked.

Looking at Shane, I said, “I came looking for you. I need your help with something.”

“Anything. You name it.”

“We’ve all been through a lot lately. I want to do something to cheer folks up.”

“What are you thinking?” Cecil asked.

“Well, you remember the old first Friday events we used to have downtown?” He nodded. “I was thinking of something like that. Maybe in the park on the lake. I thought it would be fun to string some lights up and see if we could get a band or some folks with instruments into the band shell. Play some music, dance, just let it all go for a while.”

Cecil pointed at me. “That’s a hell of an idea. I think folks could really use something like that. Just a good ole time.”

Shane rubbed his hands. “Yeah! Sean is part of a bluegrass band. All those guys are still here in town. I’m sure they’d love to get together for some pickin’.”

“Only thing we’d be missing was some food.” Cecil said.

“I’ll see what I can do about that,” I replied.

“I know where there’s some lights. I know what you’re talking about, those strings of lights the city would drape through the trees. We can use the generator to power them and the amps and stuff for the band,” Shane said.

“How long do you think it would take to set up?” I asked.

Shane shrugged. “A couple of days I guess.”

“Today is Wednesday. Let’s plan on having our party on Saturday,” I said.

Cecil smiled. “That would be perfect.”

Looking at Shane, I said, “You get the lights up and talk to Sean and see if they’ll play. I’ll see what I can do about food.”

Cecil was smiling from ear to ear. “This’ll be a hoot.”

Shane looked excited as well. “Yeah. I think this will be great!”

“Let’s see if we can get this put together. I think the community could really use it. I’ll see you guys later.”

With a wave, I left the guys and walked towards the armory. I found Sheffield in his office in front of a stack of hand-written paperwork. I guess some people just couldn’t let the old ways go.

He looked up as I walked in and shook his head. “Damn. You look worse today than you did yesterday.”

“Your hair looks like shit too,” I replied with a laugh.

Sheffield leaned back in his chair. “What can I do for you?”

Without being offered, I sat down. “I’m planning a little party at the park. We’re going to string some lights and bring in a bluegrass band to play. I think the town could use a night of fun.”

Sheffield’s eyebrows went up. “That’s a good idea. I think everyone could use something like that. Sounds like you’ve got things pretty well planned out.”

I held up a finger. “Almost.”

Cocking his head to the side, he asked, “What?”

“Food.”

His eyes narrowed. “What about it?”

“We should have something to offer. It doesn’t have to be much, but something.”

Sheffield looked up at the ceiling. The wheels were turning. “We have a lot of flour. We could make bread.”

That got my wheels turning. “Get me a couple sacks of that flour. I’ve got an idea. I’ll bring the food.”

He looked at quizzically. “What are you going to bring?”

“It’s a secret.” Without another word, I left his office.

As I walked back towards the park, I thought about what it would take to pull off what I was thinking. But if I could, it would be epic, and make for one hell of a party. Hearing a diesel engine, I looked up to see Mike behind the wheel of an MRAP. It stopped and he hopped out. The rear door opened and Sarge, Doc, Thad and Danny got out.

They walked out towards one of the small garden plots planted in town. The chain gang was there working and they stopped and looked up. The two Guardsmen watching them prodded them back to work, which they reluctantly did while keeping their eyes on the approaching group.

I walked over to where they were. “What’s going on?” I asked.

Sarge rocked on his heels. “It’s time to finish this thing.”

Confused, I asked, “What?”

“The DHS. It’s time to finish it,” Sarge said.

Mike and Thad walked passed us as I said, “We did yesterday. It’s already finished.”

Hearing a shot behind me, I jumped and spun around. Thad was standing over a body. He looked back at me and said, “Now it’s done.”

The other two men on the chain gang cowered in terror thinking they would be next. I walked over and looked down at the man partially responsible for my daughter’s injuries and the deaths of others. Lee Ann killed the other one. It brought back memories of beating the man. Thad was right, it was done now. I knew it would ultimately come to this. Some people just need killing, and this was damn sure one.

Looking at the two Guardsmen, I said, “Guess you can take him off the chain. Have these two bury him somewhere.”

Dave and Robert stared down at the body for a moment. Then Dave looked up with relief on his face. Looking into his eyes, I said, “Don’t get too comfortable.” His attitude changed and he looked away. I could imagine the weight he lived under. He’d killed someone, someone that certainly didn’t deserve what he’d done. And while he’d expressed remorse, that wasn’t enough. In the end, his fate would be the same. And I’m sure he knew it.

Looking at Sarge, I said. “I’m going to the market. Mel and the girls are over there.”

“What’s this project you’re working on?”

I explained the idea of the party to him. He smiled and nodded. “That sounds like a hell of an idea.”

Thad asked, “What about food? It ain’t a party without food.”

Grinning, I moved in close to him. “I have an idea for that that I think everyone will like.”

He smiled. “A party sounds nice to me.”

Sarge slapped me on the back. “Come on, we’ll walk to the park with you.”

“Mel and them girls out shopping?” Thad asked.

With a laugh, I replied, “Who knows what they’re up to.”