Escaping Home (20 page)

W
e sat around the picnic tables in the glow of tiki torches. While we didn't need to keep skeeters away, the light they offered was nice. Mel was at the end of the long table, scooping the stew into bowls and passing them down the line. Sarge took the bowl from Doc as he passed it, sticking two fingers in the stew when he did and handing it to Mike.

“Oh, that's nice, real nice, Sarge,” Mike said, taking the bowl.

Sarge grinned. “Sorry about that, princess.” He flicked the soup on his fingers at him.

We chatted around the table as Mel and Bobbie were peppered with compliments on the stew. It was amazing what they could do with a little of this and that.

“Hey, guys, I got something we need to talk about,” Sarge said from his end of the table.

Everyone quieted down. “I guess everyone knows now we came across a National Guard unit from Eustis.” While Sarge was busy talking, Mike stuck his fingers in Sarge's bowl. Little Bit saw him do it and giggled.

“We're going to start working with them. We're going to take the fight to the feds soon.” Sarge paused and looked at Little Bit. She covered her mouth, still looking at Mike. Sarge looked over at Mike, but he snatched his fingers from the bowl before the old man saw. Mike shrugged his shoulders. Sarge shook his head and went back to talking. Once he turned his head, Mike jammed his fingers back into the soup.

Cutting his eyes back toward Mike, Sarge continued, “
Anyway
, we're going to be gone from here a lot.”

“What's that mean for us?” Danny asked.

“Not much, really. I think you guys are safe here now.” Sarge picked up his spoon and stuck it in his bowl, hitting Mike's fingers. Sarge looked over at him.

Mike slowly pulled his fingers out. “Oh, sorry, were you gonna eat that?”

“I
am
gonna eat that, numb nuts! You're lucky it's good or you'd be wearing it!”

Little Bit was holding her sides laughing. Mike smiled and winked at her.

“You gonna need any help?” Jeff asked.

Sarge looked at him. “Naw, not right now anyway. It'd be better if you were here, but believe me, if I get to where I do, you'll know.”

Thad spoke up, “I don't mean you no disrespect, Sarge, but I don't want no part of playin' army with you boys. I've had enough.”

“None taken, Thad. Honestly I don't want y'all involved at all. You've got plenty to do here, and I think we've got enough help for what we're going to do.”

Mel looked at me, sending signals with her eyes. I knew what she was thinking.

“I'm with Thad, Sarge. If you need me, let me know. Just do me a favor and don't need me.”

“Morg, you're the last guy I'd ask for help.”

The comment took me aback. “What? Do I smell funny?”

“Yeah, and your momma dresses you funny,” Danny quipped, causing the girls to all start laughing.

“You do smell funny, and you do dress funny with them Crocs you wear, but it ain't that. You've got these girls to look after and that's the most important thing there is.”

“I have to agree,” Mel said with a nod.

“We're leaving early in the morning, taking the boat up the creek to meet with the Guard unit, so we'll be gone most of the day tomorrow,” Ted said.

“You said that unit's from Eustis?” I asked. Sarge nodded. “You guys gonna be doing any shootin' an lootin' tomorrow?”

“Don't plan on it. We're just arranging a care package for them.”

“Care if I ride along then? I have a friend who might be with them.”

Mel looked at him. “You
just
said you didn't want to run around playing soldier.”

“I'm not. I think Vance may be up there and I want to see.”

She didn't look a hundred percent convinced but relented. “Whatever, just don't be gone all day.”

“We're leaving early, so be ready,” Sarge said.

We cleaned up after dinner, a process with a few more steps than it had had in our past life. While we ate, a washtub of water was left on the fire to heat. Each person was responsible for cleaning their own dish, dunking it into the hot water and scrubbing with a sponge with some of the precious dish soap left. It was then rinsed in a five-gallon bucket of previously boiled water and dried. This kept down the possibility of illness and kept the camp clean.

Danny came up to me as I was dumping the tub. “You definitely going with them tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I want to go see if Vance is there.”

Thad walked up while we were talking. “You going tomorrow, Danny?”

“No, I'm gonna stay here. Got some things I want to work on.”

“Me too, I want to get the pigs fenced in on the river. Can you give me a hand with it?”

Danny glanced over at the small wire pen the pigs were in. “Yeah. It's a good idea. We really need to move them.”

“When I get back I'll lend a hand too. One of these days, we'll have to put one of those porkers in Thad's smoker.”

“Just say the word! I wish we would have brought Reggie's smoker with us, woulda been nice,” Thad said.

“We could always go get it,” Danny said with a sly grin.

“You think that's safe to try, going back there?” Thad asked.

“Only one way to find out. I say let's do it,” Jeff said as he walked up.

“If you guys go, someone has to stay here. I'm not going and at least one of you has to stay,” I said.

“I want to go check on the house, so I'd go,” Danny said.

“Thad, what about you?” Jeff asked.

“Naw, I'll stay here with Morg.”

“If y'all get back early enough tomorrow, we'll go. If not, then the next day,” Danny said.

“Sounds like a plan. Take a look at my place too. I'm gonna turn in. You know that old fart is gonna be up at the crack of dawn,” I said.

“You wish. I bet you see dawn's crack from the seat of that boat,” Jeff laughed.

We broke up, everyone heading for their cabins. Inside Mel was trying to get the girls settled down for bed, but she was running into a problem. The teenagers weren't used to being told to go to bed at eight at night.

“It's too early!” Taylor said dramatically, falling onto her mattress.

“There's nothing else to do and we can't burn these lanterns all night, so get some rest. You'll be up early.”

“Why do I have to get up early? I want to sleep in,” Lee Ann whined, pulling a blanket up.

Mel threw her hands up. “One doesn't want to sleep, the other wants to sleep in! I can't win.”

“I want to go to sleep, Mommy. I'm tired.” Little Bit said, yawning.

After they all settled down, we said good night to the girls. Mel asked me to go sit on the steps with her. I turned the kerosene lantern down as low as I could and followed her outside.

As I sat down, I asked, “What's up?”

She took my hand. “Nothing. Just feels like I never see you anymore.”

We looked out across the river. “I know, there's so much going on. I don't think I was ever this busy when all I had to do was work, but it sure seemed like it at the time.”

“I know. We used to say if we only had more time things would be better. Now all we have is time.”

I squeezed her hand. “Look at the bright side: no bills.”

“I'll take the bills, if this is the trade-off.”

I laughed. “Yeah, me too. Bring on the bills!”

“I'm tired, can we go to bed?”

“Sure thing. I am too. Let's go.” She stood up and stepped down a step, putting us face-to-face, and I wrapped my arms around her.

“As long as everyone is okay, it's all okay,” I said and kissed her.

She wrapped her arms around my neck. “It's all okay.”

A
knock at the door woke me up a few hours later. It was pitch-black in the cabin and I fumbled for the flashlight I keep under my pillow, not to mention the .45.

“Who is it?” I hissed, trying not to wake the girls.

“Come on, Puddin'. Daylight's a-burnin',” Sarge replied, not at all quietly.

I stumbled to the door and opened it. “Daylight? What frickin' daylight? What time is it?”

Sarge was already walking off, and over his shoulder he replied, “Time to go, chop chop.”

“Who was that?” Mel asked, half-awake.

“It's Sarge. He's ready to go.” At the same time I heard the outboard on the boat start.

“So early? Why so early?”

“You know how old people are: they don't sleep late,” I said as I tried to dress in the dark.

“Be careful.”

“I will. You know those guys bring enough guns to fight a war.”

She yawned and replied, “That's what I'm worried about.”

Grabbing all my gear I hit the door, trying not to make too much noise.

Down at the boat, I found Sarge, Ted and Mike. “Where's Doc?”

“He's staying here,” Ted said as he climbed in.

“Yeah, ole Doc needs his beauty rest,” Mike added as he jumped on.

“Get in, Morg, and I'll push us off,” Sarge said. I climbed in and he pushed the boat out into the black water and climbed on.

The saying
It's darkest before the dawn
certainly applied this morning. Ted had to have his NVGs on to navigate the river. We cruised slowly, not moving much faster than the current. Mike and Sarge were also wearing their night vision, scanning the banks. I pulled mine out of my pack and held them up to my face. I wasn't worried about keeping watch, per se, just looking around. I heard Sarge mumbling and looked back. He had his hand in the shape of a gun, pointing at the riverbank.

“Soon enough, you big lizard. Bang,” he said, flipping his thumb like the hammer of a gun.

As the sky began to lighten, we took off the electronics. Sarge picked up his radio and made a call.

“White Four Delta, Stump Knocker.”

There was an immediate reply:
“Go for White Four Delta.”

“We're inbound your AO. ETA about twenty mikes.”

“Roger that, twenty mikes.”

Sarge set the radio down. “Eager bunch, aren't they?”

“Can you blame 'em? Been on their own all this time with no support,” Ted said.

“And with all those civilians to take care of too,” Mike said. “What kind of loot did you get them?”

“Whatever I could. Some ammo, food and medical stuff.”

“Like Christmas morning,” Ted said.

Mike started to laugh. “What a fucked-up Christmas: MREs and ammo.”

Ted chuckled. “What would you expect from Sarge-a Claus?”

“If I'm Sarge-a Claus, then you idiots are my elves,” Sarge said, then chuckled. “Now,
that's
funny!”

“You see 'em?” Ted asked, pointing downstream.

“I got 'em. Looks like our boys,” Sarge replied.

Ted eased the boat toward the bank and killed the engine. As the bow ground into the sand, Sarge leaned back and yelled out, “Let me guess, the Girl Scouts were busy, so they sent you.”

Shane shook his head. “Yeah, but you know one marine is better than a division of Girl Scouts. Besides we got a better motto than the army: if you can't be one of the best, be one of the rest.”

“Doubt that,” Sarge said as he stepped off the boat.” You sea-goin' bellhops ain't got Thin Mints.”

“Where's the captain?”

“He's over at the LZ. Hop in and we'll ride over there.”

We climbed into the Hummer, since there were five of us we were a seat short. To make room Mike climbed up into the turret. Shane leaned back, looking up at Mike. “You all right up there?”

Mike gave him a thumbs-up. “Hell yeah, brings back fond memories.”

Sarge thumped Shane on the shoulder. “You know, a dog likes to stick his head out the window.”

Mike slapped the top of the truck. “Woof, woof!”

Shane shook his head and headed down the road. Captain Sheffield was sitting in another Hummer when we pulled up, and was out in a flash. Sarge got out and looked at the area chosen for the LZ. I looked at everyone we passed but didn't see Vance.

Sarge reached for Sheffield's hand. “Looks like y'all been doing a little landscaping.”

Sheffield shook his hand. “A little. It wasn't too bad.” He looked up into the rapidly brightening sky. “Heard from your bird yet?”

Sarge looked at his watch. Quarter till six. Almost on cue, Ted tapped him on the shoulder. “Got the bird on the horn,” Ted said, handing him a handset.

“Blackbird six, Stump Knocker.”

“Go for Stump Knocker.”

“We're ten mikes out, approach is from the north.”

“Roger that, Blackbird. LZ's ready.” Sarge gave the handset back and smiled at Sheffield. “Right on time.”

Sheffield looked anxiously at the sky, bouncing on his heels. “Calm down, Captain; they'll make it. There ain't no one out here gonna shoot 'em down.”

Sheffield looked at him. “First Sergeant, you have no idea how long we've been waiting on help. Just knowing it's coming is incredible. I didn't sleep a wink last night.”

The sound of the birds arrived before we saw them. Two Black Hawks approached, one behind the other. The second one in line had something slung below it.

“Pop smoke!” Sarge called out.

After a few seconds, purple smoke began to billow up from the road. The LZ was on the road leading to the boat ramp, both sides of it having been cleared of trees and brush. I stayed by the truck, knowing there was a real dust storm coming. Mike stayed in the turret, keeping an eye on the surrounding brush.

“Stump Knocker, I mark purple smoke.”

“Roger that, Blackbird, purple smoke on the LZ.”

The first Blackhawk flew over the LZ, banking hard. The second one came in and flared over the end of the LZ, slowly lowering the slung load to the ground. The loadmaster hung out the side of the bird, and as soon as the load was on the ground, he cut the sling and the helicopter began to climb up. As it was pulling away, the other one made a final approach and landed.

As soon as it settled on its wheels, the load master jumped out, waving for Sheffield's men, who quickly ran toward the machine. The loadmaster was throwing boxes out. Sheffield's men, some civilians, grabbed boxes, cases and bags before running out from under the turning rotors. In less time than you'd think, the load was off. As soon as the loadmaster climbed back on, the pilot applied power and in a cloud of dust the big machine lifted off.

As the unloading was under way, another voice came over the radio.

“Draco One-One, is that you down there, Stump Knocker?”

Ted listened to the call and smiled, handing the handset to Sarge.

“Go for Stump Knocker.”

“Hey, Stump Knocker, Draco One-One. You boys get around, don'tcha?”

“Roger that, Draco,” Sarge answered, looking around. “Where you boys hiding?”

“We're, ah, loitering over to the east, watching this trash run.”

Sarge looked to the east but couldn't see the Apache. “We appreciate the help, and these boys here damn sure do.”

“No worries, Stump Knocker, just a milk run. Give us a call when you got something for us to shoot at.”

Sarge laughed. “You're first on my list, Draco.”

Sheffield was going through the piles of material just delivered as more of his men and the civilians came out to assist in moving it all. I walked over to Sarge, who was off the radio and talking to Ted.

“Damn, that's a lot of shit,” I said.

“Yeah, they got more than I thought they would.”

“Why don't you call in a delivery for us?”

Sarge pointed at the scattered boxes. “Some of that's ours. We need to get in there and find 'em.”

Sarge started walking toward the supplies and I followed. “How in the hell do we know what's ours?”

He pointed to a box with orange paint sprayed on it. “They're marked. Let's get in there and find ours.”

Together me, Sarge and Ted and waded into the stack looking for anything with orange paint, pulling it out and stacking it off to the side. Sarge spoke to Sheffield about the marked boxes, and Sheffield passed the info along to those who were sorting. I was dragging a wood crate over to the pile when someone dropped a case of MREs on our stack. I looked up and was face-to-face with none other than Vance.

“Hey, man, what's up!”

He was just as stunned as I was and thrust his hand out. “Dude, how you doin'?”

“Good as it gets, I guess.”

Vance looked around. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

I pointed at Sarge. “I'm with him.”

Vance looked over at the old man. “No shit, how'd you get tied up with the Hundred and First?”

I laughed, “I don't know what you've been told, but there's only four of them; it ain't the whole Hundred and First.”

Vance looked back at the supplies. “I don't care if he's a one-man band; he got us all that. We haven't been able to get shit.”

“Yeah, he's pretty handy to have around, saved my ass a couple of times already.”

“You just keep turning up, first at the sheriff's office, now here. But it's great to see you.”

“I'm like a bad penny, man. Can't get rid of me. How're JT and the kids?”

“We're all good. It's been hard but everyone's all right. How are you guys doing?”

“We're good. We had to leave the house, though. That's been kinda rough.”

“No shit! Where are you guys staying?”

“At some cabins on the river here.”

He looked toward the river, which was out of sight. “There's cabins on the river?”

“Yeah, three of them. Us, these clowns and my buddy Danny and his wife are there.”

“I remember him. That's good he's with you guys.”

“We got work to do, Morg. Get his number and call him,” Sarge said, dropping a case on the pile.

Vance raised his eyebrows. “He's a real charmer.”

I had to laugh. “You have no idea.”

Vance and I both went back to work. It didn't take long with so many people helping, and soon we had found all of our boxes. I looked at the pile—while not enormous, it was far more than we could move on the boat.

“How in the hell are we going to move all this?” I asked Sarge.

“We'll take what we can and leave the rest for another trip.”

I shook my head. “How much damn ammo do you need?”

“No such thing as too much ammo. It's like too much money—never heard of it,” Mike said from the turret.

I looked back at the pile and shook my head. While we were sorting out what to take this trip, Sheffield walked up.

“All right, Sarge, you delivered, now what's this going to cost me?”

Sarge turned and leaned on the truck smiling. “Well, now, Captain, that almost hurt my feelings. What sort of man do you think I am?”

Sheffield smiled. “Feelings? You ain't got no feelings.”

“Don't worry about it, Captain, we'll work it out later. I just wanted to get you guys some help.”

“We damn sure needed it.” Sheffield's expression grew serious “And believe me, we're on the right side of this fight. I'm ready to make someone pay.”

“And pay they will,” Sarge said.

“What's the plan, then?” Sheffield asked.

“We're going to start a recon of the FEMA camp soon; you'll need to be involved in that for sure. It's going to be a tough nut to crack.”

“How many men do they have there, any idea?”

“Nothing firm; we only looked at it once and it was brief.”

“I guess we'll know soon enough.”

“Indeed we will. We're going to load our stuff up and head out. I've got other things I need to attend to.”

Sheffield stuck his hand out. “Sarge, I can't say thank you enough. We really do appreciate it.”

“Don't worry about it. Glad to help,” he replied, shaking hands.

We all got in Shane's truck and drove back to the ramp. After we loaded all we could fit, Sarge asked Shane to store the rest somewhere until we came back to get it. We said our good-byes and were back on the river before we knew it.

The boat was cramped with all the supplies, but it was a nice kind of cramped. You might even say that the security of knowing we had these supplies that made the trip all the more comfortable. Even though I messed with Sarge about all the ammo, I knew how important it was to have on hand. The sun was blazing in the sky for the return trip, and I sat back in my seat with my feet up on the ammo cans, enjoying the ride.