Forsaking Home (The Survivalist Series) (24 page)

“I’m not into committing suicide yet,” Franco said as Thad untied his hand.

“You ain’t got to worry about me an’ ole Walt,” Andy said.

“You three sit in these chairs,” I said, arranging three chairs with their backs to the creek. “Andy, you and Walt sit over here.” I pointed to two chairs close to the picnic table.

“Why, so you can keep yer eye on us?”

Jeff walked around them and sat facing them across the fire with his AK in his lap. I sat down beside him and started thinking about the hog we were going to slaughter.

“What were you guys going to do with that hog if you got it? Do you know how to butcher one?” I asked.

“We’d have found a way,” Brian said.

“Have you ever butchered anything, anything at all?”

“We’ve caught some fish,” Julie said.

“A fish is a far cry from a hog,” Thad said.

“Yeah, well, if you’re hungry you’ll do anything.”

“I can butcher a hog. Like I said before, they do their part and I do mine,” Andy said smugly.

“Doubtful. I don’t know what’s worse, the thought that you guys were going to steal one of our hogs or the fact that you would have wasted so much of it,” Danny said.

Franco looked up. “Somehow it’s a waste if we eat it, but it’s not if you do?”

“It’s our hog, so yes. And we know what to do with one, so nothing will go to waste.”

“See, that’s what I mean. No one wants to help.
It’s our hog
. See how you think?”

“It’s only yours if you can hang on to it.” Andy smiled. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

“Something that belongs to us is ours, not yours to steal. Sure, you could ask for it, but we aren’t obligated to give you a damn thing.” The statement had pissed me off, so I continued, “Franco, how much charity did you do before? How much did you give away while you spent your daddy’s money at that expensive-ass school? I bet I know. Not a fucking cent. It’s funny how fast people want to share in what others have when they have nothing. Unlike you, we do believe in charity. But it’s got to benefit those who deserve it.”

“Doesn’t do us any good,” Brian muttered.

“So, you’re pissed at us for looking out for ourselves when you’re doing—trying to do—the same thing. You’re worried about you and that’s okay. We’re worried about us, and somehow in your screwed-up mind it’s wrong of us?” Danny asked.

“You people are fucked in the head,” Jeff added. He always had a way with words.

“Their opinion isn’t worth shit. They’re gone tomorrow.” I paused to look at them. “Be glad you’re leaving here. I could just as easily shoot you.”

“Yeah, big man with a gun. Is that how you solve your problems, shoot them?” Brian said.

“Like you said, it’s about survival.”

Andy sat back in his chair. “He wouldn’t shoot anyone. He ain’t got it in him.”

I looked at Andy. “An’ I suppose you have? You think you’re some kind of badass? It’s just big talk in front of your friends here. First, you’re full of shit. Second, you don’t know a damn thing about me.”

Andy didn’t respond. They didn’t have anything else to say, so we all sat around the fire watching the flames. As the sky began to lighten I got up and went to the cabin. Inside, Mel and Bobbie were asleep. I tiptoed around the girls and gave Mel a shake. “Hey.”

She sat up quickly, looking around the cabin. “What, what is it?”

“Nothing, I’m going to go take these people and get rid of them.”

She looked shocked. “What do you mean, get rid of them?”

“I’m taking them up into the forest and dropping their asses off. They’ll have a hard time finding their way back.”

She nodded. “Oh.”

“I’m going to wake up the girls. They need to keep an eye on things here. Three of us have to go.”

She nodded and I gently shook Taylor and Lee Ann to wake them. “Hey, you two, you need to get up.”

Taylor sat up. “What’s going on?”

“I need you two to help keep an eye on things. Get dressed, get your guns, and come out.”

Lee Ann rolled over. “Dad, where’s my gun?”

I paused. Ever since Thad had spoken with her, her spirits were brightened. I did trust her with it again, I decided. “I’ll get it. Now hurry up. Jeff is staying with you guys.”

I got Lee Ann’s H&K and set it by the door, then went back out to the fire pit.

“Let’s get them tied up and into the wagon,” I said.

“You don’t need to tie us up. We’re not going to do anything,” Julie said.

Andy held his hands up. “You ain’t no better’n us.”

I looked at Julie blankly as I picked up a length of rope. “Get up.”

Reluctantly, she held her hands out. “Behind your back,” I said.

“Oh, come on, this is ridiculous!” Brian said as he jumped up.

Jeff raised the AK and flipped the safety off with a loud click. “I suggest you shut the fuck up and sit down. We’ll decide what’s ridiculous.”

The kid stood there for a moment, glaring at us, before giving in. Thad then came jogging over. “Hey, don’t forget these,” he said, holding up a few bandannas.

“You’re going to blindfold us?” Brian asked.

“Yeah, I’m not going to make it easy on you to find your way back.”

“Are you kidding me?! What are you afraid of?” Franco said.

“I know what he’s afraid of,” Andy said. “You ain’t putting that on me.”

I smiled. “This isn’t for me, it’s for you. It’s this or a plastic bag, which do you want?”

“How is blindfolding us good for us?” Julie asked.

With a straight face I said, “Because if you were to find your way back we’d have to kill you.”

As we shoved them into the vehicles, I surveyed the scene around us. Fog was forming in pockets, appearing like a cloud clinging to the ground. The vapor swirled around our legs, giving everything the look of a low-grade horror movie. I guess, in some ways, this situation was like a horror movie. I could only hope we had a happy ending.

D
oc and Mike were standing in front of the infirmary when Ted skidded to a stop. They quickly opened Sarge’s door and helped him out. The women in the back got out as well and started trying to drag Aric out. Doc looked at Aric. “Who the hell is that?”

“That’s the fucker who shot me,” Sarge said as he threw an arm over Doc’s shoulder.

“You two get him inside. I’ll help the girls get him,” Ted said.

Mike and Doc helped get him inside, where the infirmary staff was waiting for him. A woman in scrubs pointed to a stretcher on wheels. “Get him up on here.”

“Ted, can I borrow your sunglasses?” Jess asked. “We need to get Mary out, but the light hurts my eyes.”

“I’ll get her, then we’ll see if we can find you guys something.”

Ted pulled Mary out of the truck. He was surprised how light she was, it was like picking up a child. Jess had pulled another stretcher over by the door. He laid Mary out and Jess slowly wheeled her inside.

Before getting him on the table, Mike took Sarge’s weapon while Doc and Ted helped him get his body armor off. A woman in scrubs began cutting his pants off.

“Don’t cut my belt!” Sarge shouted as he started trying to get it off.

Mike slapped his hands away. “I’ll get it.”

Sarge laid his head back, a thin smile on his face. “You’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, old man.”

Once the belt was off, the woman finished cutting the pants and removed the dressing.

Doc inspected the wound. “It didn’t exit. It’s still in there.”

“We need to probe the wound and see if we can find the bullet,” the woman replied.

“What’ve you got for pain?” Doc asked.

“We’ve got ketamine,” the woman said as she pulled over a cart with several drawers in it.

“I don’t need that shit,” Sarge protested.

“Let’s get a line started on him,” Doc said as he tied a thick rubber band around Sarge’s arm.

Once the IV was started, they injected the ketamine, which had the effect of making Sarge talkative. They probed the wound and succeeded in finding the bullet, extracting it one piece at a time, as he babbled on about completely random stuff. It wasn’t long before they were bandaging him back up. Another small bag was connected to the IV line, which contained kanamycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Once Sarge was resting, Mike and Ted walked over to the nurse and Doc. “How is he?” Mike asked.

“He was lucky. The bullet hit his prosthetic implant,” the woman said.

“His what?” Mike asked.

“His artificial hip,” Doc said. “He’s had an artificial hip replacement.”

Mike looked down at Sarge. “No shit, I didn’t know he’d had that done.”

“Me neither. What’s the prognosis?” Ted asked.

“We’ve got him on an antibiotic. The wound wasn’t that bad, so he should heal up fine,” Doc said.

“How long is he going to be laid up? He’s not going to be happy to be out of the action,” Mike said.

“It all depends on him. Some people heal faster than others,” the nurse said.

“He’ll heal fast. He’s too damn mean to be laid up long.” Mike laughed.

“Well, he needs to rest right now. He’s lost some blood. He’ll probably be down for a week or two,” the nurse said.

Ted and Mike nodded and left the room. They made their way to the next one, where two attendants were working on Aric.

“How is he?” Ted asked.

“His arm has a lot of trauma. The bullet blew open the back of his bicep. It’s going to take a long time to heal. The best thing for him is a delayed closure. We debrided the wound and left it open. It’ll need to be cleaned and rebandaged every day,” one of the attendants said.

“He’s lucky that’s all that happened to him,” Ted said, then glanced at Fred.

Jess was sitting in a chair beside Mary, watching the goings on from across the hall. With Mary still passed out, Jess decided it would be okay to leave for a moment. She walked up beside Mike, who was still looking at Aric with suspicion.

“He let us out. He was helping us,” she said, gently touching his shoulder.

Mike turned around. “Holy shit! I didn’t see you. Where’d you come from?” He wrapped her up in a hug.

Jess wrapped her arms around him as well. “We were in the detention center. Aric helped us get out.”

Mike nodded thoughtfully, reserving his judgment. The two of them then spent a few minutes catching up. Jess was glad for the company.

Kay walked into the building a few minutes later, eager to check on Aric and Mary. On her way to Aric’s bed, she stopped by Sarge’s bed, looking down at the old man, who was now asleep. Ted walked up beside her. “He’s a good man.”

“Friend of yours?” Kay asked.

Ted laughed. “I don’t know if that’s the right word, but he’d do anything for me and I would for him. I’ve trusted him with my life more times than I can count.”

Kay smiled. After a moment, she walked over to where Aric was lying. Fred was still by his side. “How is he?” she asked her.

Fred was holding his good hand. “They say he’ll be all right, but he’s going to need a lot of care.”

Kay looked at the IV tube in his arm and the two bags hanging over him. Like Sarge, he was on an IV antibiotic and oxygen.

“I hope so. I really like this boy. He’s not like the others here. He’s kind,” Kay said.

Fred looked over and smiled. “He is, isn’t he?” Kay smiled back and put her arm around Fred’s shoulders.

“We’ll take care of him,” Kay said.

With Fred’s head on her shoulder, Kay quietly asked, “Who are these guys?”

Fred straightened up. “I don’t know for sure, but Jess is friendly with them. I think they’re the ones who helped her get home.”

Kay gave a knowing nod.

Once Aric was stable, the staff turned their attention to Mary. The ladies gathered around as she was examined.

“Is she going to be all right?” Jess asked.

The nurse stepped back. “I don’t see anything wrong with her, to be frank. I mean, she’s dehydrated and her blood pressure is a little low, but other than that I don’t see anything physically wrong with her. I’ll start an IV to get some fluids in her and put her on some oxygen.”

Jess looked down at Mary, running a hand over her forehead. “Come on, Mary, wake up.”

Kay tugged on the nurse’s sleeve. When she looked over, Kay whispered, “These two need to be checked out too,” pointing to Jess and Fred.

The nurse smiled at Jess. “Why don’t you sit down here so I can check you out.”

She performed quick exams on both Fred and Jess.

“What happened to you girls?”

“We’ve been locked in the detention center,” Jess said.

“How long?” another one of the attendants asked, clearly alarmed.

“We don’t know, because we were in the dark the whole time. But it was definitely a long time, more than a few days. They barely fed us and we had no water. It was really bad,” Jess said, shuddering.

“Is that why you’re squinting? Does the light bother you?”

“Yes, it does, a lot,” Fred said.

“I think we have something that will help that,” one of the attendants said as he walked off.

Once they were alone, Kay asked, “Jess, who are these guys?” pointing at Mike and Ted.

She smiled. “The one on the stretcher is Sarge, that one’s Mike, and the other guy is Ted. They helped us out on our way home.”

“Us?” Kay asked.

“Yeah, remember me telling you about Morgan and Thad?”

Kay nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“So these guys helped the group of us out,” Fred said, looking at Ted and Mike.

Kay leaned in. “What are they doing here?”

In a whisper, Jess replied, “They took over the camp.”

Surprised, Kay asked, “Just the three of them?”

Jess laughed. “No, there’s more of them. Remember the other guys back at the jail? The ones with the army uniforms? They are all part of it, from what Mike told me.”

“Oh wow. I wonder how many of them there are.”

“Enough, I hope,” Fred said.

Sheffield and Livingston came through the door, walking straight to Sarge’s bed.

“How is he?” Livingston asked.

“He’ll live, just gonna be out of action for a little,” Ted said.

“We’re getting ready to make an announcement to the camp, to let them know we’re here now. Some of the civilians are getting a little antsy. For now we’re keeping the DHS people where they are. Shortly, though, we’re going to move them to a more secure place, probably that detention area back there,” Sheffield said.

“Good idea. Anything going on out there?” Mike asked.

“Not yet, but if we don’t get some info out to them soon, things could go to shit,” Livingston said.

As if on cue, a sudden outburst of gunfire erupted, leading Mike, Ted, Sheffield, and Livingston to run for the door. Mike called into his mic, “What’s going on? What’s all the shooting about?”

“Captain, you and the lieutenant drive. Mike, get in the turret!” Ted shouted as he climbed up into the turret of the other Hummer.

The tempo of the shooting picked up. Ted keyed his mic. “Where’s the shooting coming from?”

“By the armory. There’s four or five people back there!”
a voice replied.

Ted slapped the roof of the truck. “Go, go, go!”

As they bounced along, the radio filled with chatter. The Guardsmen were already trying to maneuver on the shooters. Ian’s voice came over the radio just as a SAW opened up.

“Ted, come in from the south, there’s cross fire on the east side!”

“Roger that! Captain, you get that?” Ted said into his radio.

He was answered by the truck swerving, forcing him to grab the SAW for support.
I guess so
, he thought as he righted himself in the turret. Livingston was behind them and followed the maneuver.

As they rounded the corner of the motor pool, the armory came into view. Ted could see three people on the side of the building, using it for cover. Slapping the top of the truck, he shouted, “Stop!” Sheffield locked up the brakes and the truck slid in the sand. Before it stopped, Ted went to work with the SAW. Soon, Mike’s SAW was ripping away as well. Three figures besides the building were caught in the open, two of them went down immediately. The third ran around the corner of the connex. As soon as he cleared the corner, Ted watched him fall, cut down by fire from the Guardsmen.

“We’ve got two down on this side. Move up and clear the armory!” Ted called into his radio.

He could hear Ian shouting orders. Soon a line of Guardsmen with weapons shouldered appeared, moving toward the building. Again Ted beat on the roof of the truck, yelling, “Move up, move up!” Sheffield eased the truck forward. Ted kept the SAW to his shoulder as he bobbed around in the turret. Mike was likewise covering the building. The Guardsmen moved slowly toward the open door. Ted didn’t like what he was seeing.

“Ian, stop them, we need to put some gas in there! Don’t let them just walk through that fatal funnel!” Ted yelled. He was referring to the term used for a place that an assaulting force is made to enter one at a time with no idea what’s on the other side.

Ted dropped out of the turret and grabbed his carbine. “Mike, stay here and provide cover.”

Without raising his head from the SAW, Mike replied, “Roger!”

Sheffield and Livingston got out of their trucks and followed Ted as he moved toward the armory, running from one point of cover to the next. Ian came at the open door and launched a tear gas round from an M320 through it. When the round went off, white smoke began to pour out of the door.

“Ian, coming to you from your right,” Ted said into his radio.

Ian flashed a thumbs-up in response. Ted ran toward him, keeping his weapon trained on the open door as he passed in front of it. Sheffield and Livingston were hot on his heels. Ted slid in the sand beside Ian. “We need to clear that thing.”

“You got a gas mask?”

“No, let’s just wait the gas out. Wish we had some flash bangs.”

Ian smiled and held up two small black canisters. “We have these.” He handed them to Ted.

Ted smiled. “Oh yeah, this will get their attention,” he said, looking at the sting ball, a small grenade with a rubber base filled with weighted rubber balls. In the tight confines of the connex, its effects would be overwhelming to anyone inside. “Soon as that gas settles a bit, we’ll put these two in at the same time.”

Everyone waited outside while the tear gas dissipated. Ted called Mike and told him to come over. When he got there they went over their entry. It would be Ted, Mike, and Ian going in while Sheffield, Livingston, and their men provided security.

“We’ll toss one of these”—Ted smiled as he held up the sting ball—“this little gem.”

“Oh nice, I’ll take point going in,” Mike said.

They maneuvered themselves around to the side of the box. Mike was in the lead, with his weapon up, and Ted was behind him, a grenade in each hand. He tapped Mike on the shoulder with the base of the bang sting ball. Mike nodded and Ted tossed them in.

The bang from the sting ball was not very loud, but the sound of the rubber balls bouncing around inside made it clear that anyone in there was going to have a bad day. As soon as the grenades detonated, Mike, Ted, and Ian entered the building. They cleared it quickly. Ted then looked down and noticed a hatch in the floor.

“Got any more of those stingers?” Ted whispered to Ian.

Ian reached into his vest and pulled another one out, handing it to Ted.

“Ian, lift the lid a little and I’ll drop it in. Slam it shut quick and don’t stand in front of it,” Ted said. Ian nodded.

“Soon as it goes off, snatch the door open and I’ll drop in,” Mike said.

“You sure?” Ted asked.

“Someone’s got to go in there. It’d be best to drop in right after it goes off.”

“You’re right. I just hate the thought of it,” Ted said.

Ted pulled the pin on the grenade and nodded at Ian. Ian reached down and grabbed the handle, then looked up at Ted and started to tick off his fingers while mouthing the words,
One, two, three.
On three, he raised the door and Ted dropped the device through it. Ian slammed the lid down and it went off. As soon as it detonated, Ian snatched the door open again and Mike dropped through the hole.