The Fall of America: Premonition of Death (15 page)

Looking puzzled, she asked, "What's that?"

"Shit happens. Now, draw your blood from Adrik and try to save Alisa's life. I've forgotten about the Russian already."

*****

I sat on an oak log someone had pulled in to use as a sofa and opened my MRE. I was hungry and tired. I'd just taken the first bite of something that was suppose to be an omelet, when I noticed Sandra approaching me.

When in front of me she asked, "Honey, I know you're tired and so am I, but can you help us remove Alisa's leg?"

I gave a dry chuckle and replied, "Well, the sight of blood doesn't bother me, but I'm afraid my medical experience may be a bit low. I was trained in combat first aid and can keep anyone, but the most severely wounded, alive long enough to get to a doctor. I think I'm lacking in the skills you need."

"I'll be doing the actual surgery, but I need someone to hand me the tools as I work. Besides Willy, who will assist, and Tom, who'll be there too, you're the only one I know that can help."

"Hell, I thought we had a doctor or nurse practitioner here?"

"Had, is the key word now. Top sent the nurse off to help some men who'd been severely injured in an ambush."

"Baby, you know I'll help if I can." I placed my meal by my foot and started to stand, when she said, "I knew you would, because that's the kind of man I married. But, sit back down, she's still in what we'd call pre-op. We have to give her something to put her out, shave the skin around the amputation spot, and some other things. Right now, I just need an answer."

"How long do I have to eat?"

She gave a dry chuckle and said, "You have about ten minutes. Willy is getting her ready now and from the way you veterans eat, I suspect you can eat and still have eight minutes to relax. As soon as you finish the meal, come join us." I watched as she turned and walked toward the small group assembled around Alisa.

Well, she was wrong, I finished the entree and side-dish in three minutes. I stood, wiped the dirt from my hands, and thought,
Lord, let Alisa live. She's a good woman and deserves better than what we're about to do to her. However, thy will be done.

CHAPTER 16

T
o be honest, Alisa looked more dead than alive when I neared the table. Her skin was pale and the medication they'd given her must have been working, because she was completely out of this world.

"How much blood did you take from the Russian?" I asked.

"Three, pints and that's all we have for this surgery. We had to use your blood earlier today." Sandra replied and then continued, "Now, wash your hands well with soap and water, then pour a little alcohol on them. We'll start in a few minutes."

I was fascinated by the surgery, but was lost most of the time, because Sandra would ask for this or that tool and I had no understanding of why she needed it. Things went well, until Sandra pushed the sharp bone cutting blade of the bone-saw across Alisa's leg.

An earsplitting scream filled the cave and Sandra yelled to be heard, "Willy, more morphine!"

Alisa attempted to move from the crates we were using as an operating table, and her body flailed in all directions. She made the most inhuman babbling sounds and screams as pain radiated through her body. Sandra quickly pulled the saw away and backed from her patient.

Willy swung into action and in just a little time Alisa fell back, with no sounds from her at all.

"Is she dead?" I asked.

"No, not even close. It's the morphine. It's good shit for surgery and lays a person low in no time." Willy said, and then winked at me.

Sandra returned to the leg and added, "It used to be sold in a diluted form called laudanum over the counter of most general stores. The difference in laudanum is it had a heavy dose of alcohol mixed with it as well."

"Sounds too dangerous to offer over the counter," I said, and watched her grasp the saw firmly with both hands.

"Big addiction problem in the late 1800's, especially following the War of Union Aggression. The north had all the drugs, except for what the south could smuggle or steal and as a result, the addiction problem was bigger in the north. Read your history, honey, and you'll learn laudanum and opium were as popular in the days of the cowboy as beer is today." Sandra said and then ordered, "Hold her down, Willy, this leg must come off now."

A few minutes later the leg fell to the floor of the cave with a dull
thud
. Alisa hadn't moved again, and I felt she'd been blessed. I knew the shock alone of Sandra cutting the bone could easily kill.

"John, hold the loose flap of skin up as I use stitches to close the flap over the raw end."

As I held the skin in place, I asked, "What's the odds of infection, if she survives the surgery?"

"Well, she's got a better than average chance of survival, really. We'll use some triple antibiotic ointment on the injury, give her the rest of the blood, and hopefully in a few days she'll be fine. But, even in a hospital like we had before the fall, there were no guarantees."

"How's the Russian?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "He was unconscious the last time I checked. He'd already lost a lot of blood, and we took too damned much from him. I'm not sure if he'll make it or not."

"I guess you didn't have to medicate him, huh?"

"Huh-uh, he passed out from blood loss."

"It'd be an easy death."

At that point she smiled at me and said, "I can finish this alone. Go wash your hands and then get some sleep; you look rough."

"I'll do that, if you'll lay beside me in a few minutes."

"Oh, don't worry about that, because my ass is draggin' from being up all night. Only, this had to be done now and not later, or Alisa would have died."

I leaned forward, kissed her on the cheek and then made my way to the washbasin.

*****

The next morning both Adrik and Alisa were still among the living, but I didn't think the Russian would be with us much longer. I sat in the dirt of the cave and shared part of an MRE with Dolly. As she ate, I scratched her ears absentmindedly. I did a whole lot of thinking about nothing the hour before, simply allowing my mind to jump from subject to subject without attempting to control it. My mind jumped from making love to Sandra, to the last time I'd seen my father, and then to a circus I'd seen as a small child. I enjoy my nonsense thinking because after doing it for an hour or two, I always felt refreshed.

Top walked over and sat beside me, placing his coffee cup on the ground.

"What's on your mind, Top, or is this a social call?"

He smiled and replied, "Absolutely nothing is on my mind right now. Actually, it's been a good day, so far."

Suddenly interested, I asked, "And why is today going so well?"

"Just got off the radio with G2 intelligence, and the American POW you brought in is singing like a robin these days."

"Does he know much?"

Top nodded and said, "He's full of more shit than a Thanksgiving turkey. The problem now, or so they tell me, is he won't shut up."

"How'd they get him to sing?"

Top laughed loud and hard, but after a few minutes he said, "They had one of our men who'd been sentenced to death for being a spy. He was guilty as hell and admitted it, so we had to make an example of him. They held off the execution until the new man arrived. After your POW had been there a few hours, playing Mister Hard-ass and refusing to answer any questions, they brought the condemned man out, forced him to kneel, and then shot him in the back of the neck. He fell right next to the POW's foot. G2 said he hasn't stopped talking since the execution."

I grew sober and then asked, "What will they eventually do with him? I mean, we don't have a POW camp or even a way to house prisoners."

"I honestly don't know and don't want to know. I suspect they'll kill him, once they milk all they can out of him. We don't have the manpower to watch POW's or even a prison."

"I'd suspect that's exactly what they'll do, so we can expect the same if we get captured, or so I guess."

"I think you're correct with that guess. Anyway, he informed G2 the Russians are here only as advisers, and the large convoy you spotted was taking them to various units. They usually work in two men teams, totally different than our Green Berets."

"Did he have any idea why the Russians are supporting this one group?"

Top cleared his throat and replied, "Yep, because they're the biggest unit in the states right now, with close to 10,000 men and women."

"We can't take on that many folks!"

"Relax a bit, son, because they ain't all in Mississippi. They're scattered all over the country and from what we were told their communications system is terrible. The Russians have been supplying the units with helicopter, parachute drops and even LAPES."

"LAPES? Isn't that where a C-130 flies a few feet of the ground, a parachute opens behind the cargo, the load then flies into the slipstream as the chute catches in the wind? The parachute drags the contents of a pallet or two down rollers inside the aircraft and then to the ground."

"That's pretty much how it works, but it raises a hell of a lot of dust."

I shrugged and said, "Hell, if it works, it's worth the risk of dusk. But, how will all of this impact us as a unit?"

"It won't impact us any time soon, because their units are too scattered."

"Anything on the Chinese? I can't imagine them not getting involved, too."

"The POW said they're here, too, which is the main reason the Russians sent advisers. Both are attempting to get a piece of the American pie."

"Top, if the Chinese get serious, we'll be in a world of hurt. Hell, there must be a zillion of them."

"Son, the problem with the Chinese is they can't support or supply too many troops here, and even after all the deaths over the last few years, our population will fight the Chinese hard. If America has a common enemy, it's communism, or it was until our last president came into power."

"He claimed he was a liberal."

"He was and still is, if he's alive. The man changed laws to fit his needs, totally ignored our Constitution, increased mandatory immunizations, raised gas prices, which led to higher food prices, had chips implanted in some folks, tried his luck at gun control, kept all the minorities pissed at each other, and even made it illegal to show support to any Christian faith. He spent more money on his many cars than he did on meals for our troops or helping veterans. After his sexual affair with his male staff member broke open, all of us could understand his pushing so hard for gay rights."

"The gay issue meant nothing to me and I didn't care if they were recognized or not. I still feel that way. My Bible tells me it's a sin to live such a lifestyle, but God will judge them, not me. I'm not gay, so what others do behind closed doors doesn't impact me at all," I said, and honestly meant my words.

"You're right, God will judge, but we've always had gays around us and I know I've served with many without knowing. If I'd known, it wouldn't have made any difference to me because I evaluate people on job performance, not sexual orientation."

"How'd all that racial stuff hit you? I mean, since you're a black man."

Top laughed and then said, "Personally, I've never let the liberal media guide my thinking or my actions. Especially just before the fall, when some of media kept the racial shit stirred up every time there was a killing of a person of any color. See, they rarely reported when a Hispanic person killed a white, or if a black killed a black, or if they did, race never came out. I knew all of the facts were not being told in anything they reported. I may be a member of the black race, but I think for myself."

"And, professionally? Did it bother you?"

"Lawdy no, son. The army never tolerated racists, no matter their color, during the time I served, but they had a problem with it in the years past. By the time I'd entered, we were all seen as 'green' and of no particular race by the army. I learned as a young kid that some black folks can be racists as well, so it ain't just a white man's problem. See, I think racism is taught in families and that family can be of any color."

"What straw on our governments back caused the final collapse, or do you have any idea? I've given it a lot of thought, but can't pinpoint one particular issue or act."

Top stretched his legs out in the dirt in front of him, thought for a minute or two, and then said, "I think when we granted the right for millions of illegal aliens, or undocumented aliens as the politically correct liberals used to say, to stay in the country, we committed economic suicide as a nation. Many of those we allowed to stay had no jobs, few had skills that were needed, some were out and out criminals, and our unemployment rate was already over fifteen percent. We already had more folks on government assistance than we had working, so how could the people working support such a financial burden? That led to the government borrowing all kinds of money, knowing they couldn't pay it back and couldn't even make the first payment on the loan. Hell, we were still sending foreign aid to countries and should have stopped that to pay our loans or help our own people. To this day, I don't understand how we, the American people, could have been so stupid. Our leader led us right down the path, and openly, but very few challenged him."

"Well, it's all water under the bridge now, with survival on everyone's mind."

"Yep, it's a done deal, but I seriously doubt you and I will ever see this country back as we remember it."

"Let's say we do come together as one people, what kind of government do you think we'll have?"

"It all depends on the political thoughts of the man or woman who is able to unify us as one again. I pray nightly that our Constitution will be re-instated, our rights protected, and states are given more power individually than the Federal government. A big federal government caused our fall, as sure as I sit here talking with you."

I chuckled and then said, "The kind of government you're describing is exactly what the Confederate States of America wanted and the real reason for the Civil War."

"I'll not discuss old Southern politics with you, but I do know the war wasn't fought to free the black man. I think the Yankee's fought to keep the South in the Union and that was the only reason for most of them. Lincoln simply tacked the Emancipation Proclamation on the wall once he saw he'd win the war. Slavery had always been a thorn in the side of our country and I guess he thought it was an excellent time to put the issue to bed, and it was. But, the slave issue was pretty much over by the war, except for the actual freeing the folks."

"How do you figure that? Hell, thousands of black folks were still slaving away every day from dawn to dusk in all kinds of weather. And, no plantation owner wanted to lose his property." I was confused by his statement.

Top smiled and said, "The invention of the cotton gin spelled the end to slavery. See, it could do more work in a day than a whole bunch of slaves could do in a week. Plus, with slaves costing between five-hundred and a thousand dollars or more a head, they would soon be rendered too expensive. Compared to the new cotton gin, or one of the many illegal copies, slaves were no longer cost effective. The owners could cut the costs of running a plantation a great deal using a gin, because slaves required housing, food, clothing, and other items just to live. Other machines were to come that reduced the need for excessive manpower to run any plantation."

"You mean the war was fought for nothing? All those men lost their lives, on both sides, for a lost cause?"

"No, they didn't die for a lost cause, no matter which side they were on. The right of a state to leave the Union had to be established, especially since the only state that had any real legal right to leave the Union was Texas. When accepted into the Union, Texas made it clear they wanted the option of leaving if need be or things didn't work out."

"I'll be damned, I didn't know this." I was amazed by Top's intelligence of history.

Top shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Our school teachers, before the fall, did as well as they could, but they were limited by what they could and couldn't teach. If it wasn't on the lesson plan, they weren't allowed to expand on the lesson. Most of us in America grew up learning incorrect American history, and often our history was written by those who'd never been to the place they were writing about or even alive at the time."