The Beginning of the End (22 page)

“It makes no
difference to me. You have to scan the area with the scope looking
for any movement. We need to know how many there are, what building
they’re using, and what kind of weapons they have.”

“Got it!” I watched
as Chevy started panning the rifle back and forth.

“I see someone!”

“What already?” I
whispered. “What’s he have for a weapon?”

I waited for Chevy to
answer.

“Looks like he has a
big knife on the back of his belt. That’s all I can see.”

“Well, what’s he
doing out there?” I asked.

Chevy followed the male
with the scope, “I’m not sure. Looks like he’s holding his
nose, and there’s blood all over his face. Now he’s kicking the
side of the building. It almost looks like he’s throwing a temper
tantrum.”

“What? Move over, let
me see!” I looked through the scope. He was right. It looked like
he was pissed off about something. Without taking my bead off the
male I said, “That’s not one of our guys.”

“What do you mean?”
Chevy asked.

“I mean, I don’t
think he was one of the guys in the Humvee.” I kept watching
through the scope as the male ran out of steam and stopped kicking
the building. Another male walked out and I immediately recognized
him, “It’s them! It’s our buddy in the wife beater.” Chevy
nudged me over again, moving for the scope, “Let me see!”

The barrel of the rifle
moved back and forth as he tracked the males, “I can’t see his
face. Come on buddy. Why don’t you turn so I can see your f- .
That’s him! Want me to take them out now?” Chevy stammered. “No!”
I snapped, maybe a little too loud. “We don’t know how many there
are in that building. Plus that fifty-cal would go through both those
guys, the building, and my mom if she’s in the line of fire. I
can’t take that chance.” Chevy responded with silence. “Let’s
hang out here and wait for that Humvee to leave again. At least two
of those guys have to go out, that will give us a little better odds.
Once they leave, we’ll go in for a little recon mission of our
own.”

October 12th 12:30pm

Sophie, out of tears
now, made her way to her feet. She stood over Bob one last time, “I’m
sorry.” She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the man she fell
in love with, lying dead on the floor where any of those things could
get to him. She bent over and took hold of his hand. She rubbed his
already cold fingers. Sophie leaned back, still gripping Bob’s
hand. A good tug and he moved, dragging him into the clinic examining
room, “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Sophie found some
towels and wet them in the sink. She wiped away the blood from Bob’s
wounds. She closed up the large gash on his neck with the suture kit
she had found earlier. She cut off his shirt and washed the blood off
his chest and took a minute to caress her lover’s skin. Sophie
created her own private ritual and finished by wrapping Bob’s
corpse in white sheets. She had seen so much death in the past few
days, but none of it had affected her like Bob’s. With the ritual
complete, Sophie searched the out building where she found a shovel.
Digging Bob’s grave would be the final step in her grieving
process. It was tiresome work, after a few hours, she had dug what
she thought was a fairly decent grave. Sophie dragged Bob’s body
outside next to the grave. He lay there while Sophie said a prayer.
With a last kiss on his lips, she rolled him into the hole. She
thought to herself, the only thing worse than digging a grave for a
loved one, would have to be covering their body with dirt.

Once the job was
complete, Sophie rolled a single large stone onto the head of the
grave. The only marker on his final resting place would be the name
badge she had taken from his shirt. She set it on top of the stone
and walked away. It said, “Aiken.”

Sophie wandered back
inside the clinic where she collapsed on the floor of the lobby. She
had given up. Lying on the floor, she thought about Bob and the
future they would have had together in a different world. What would
he think of her now, loathing in self-pity, wishing she had the
courage to end her own life? What would he say to her? She knew
exactly what he’d say, “Sophie, get your ass off that floor and
start moving. You may have lost me, but think of how many people you
could prevent from going through the same thing you did!” He was
right. Sophie climbed her way off the floor and looked out the lobby
window towards the jeep. She made her way out of the clinic, and over
to the jeep. Through the vehicle window, she could see the cardboard
box sitting on the seat. She opened the door and rubbed her dirt
covered fingers across the top of the box, reaching in and pulling
out an intravenous bag filled with red fluid. She thought of Bob
again, “You have the key. Go to Atlanta and fix this mess!”
Sophie put the bag back in the box and turned, looking to the side of
the clinic where Bob’s final resting place was, “Okay, Bob!”
Sophie declared, giving him the plan out loud, “I’ll get the
EMapp to Atlanta. I’ll make myself eat to get my strength up. I’ll
sleep tonight and leave tomorrow morning.” Sophie reached back in
the vehicle and pulled out the M4, “And I promise you, nothing will
stop me!”

October 13th 8:15pm

Tommy was sitting on
top of the Humvee, eating a candy bar, when Cowboy came over. “What
are you doing up there?” Tommy lifted a finger, asking Cowboy to
hang on while he chewed his food, “I’m taking a lunch break
before I finish.”

“Before you finish
what?” Cowboy asked. “Didn’t Luther tell you? I’m fixing a
hole in the fuel tank.”

“No, Luther didn’t
tell me anything about it. Does Kane know?”

“Oh, no! Luther said
he’d kick his ass if he found out about this. And after seeing that
girl kick him square in the nuts, he’s probably right.” Tommy
snickered. Cowboy looked under the Humvee and examined the small
puddle of diesel that had formed, “How long until you’re done. We
need to do a patrol.” Tommy shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m
almost done now. Five or ten minutes, I guess.” Cowboy turned,
walking away, and yelled back, “Get on it. We're leaving in ten
minutes!”

Cowboy made his way to
Kane’s office. He was in there, and Cowboy noticed that his eyes
were starting to blacken. The blood was gone, but Kane was supporting
an ice pack against his nose. “It looks bad, Boss!” Kane set down
the pack and leaned back in his chair, “Yeah, that fucking bitch
got me good. What do you need?”

“I’m just letting
you know. We're heading out on patrol in a few minutes. I’m taking
Luther and Tommy with me, if that’s okay with you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.
Before you go, tell me again, who was that bitch with?” Cowboy took
a quick breath, “Just a couple of guys. They were kids really.
Maybe nineteen or twenty. Harmless.” Kane reached behind him on the
counter, grabbed Chevy’s MP9, and laid it on the desk in front of
him, “Does that look harmless to you? Where the hell do stupid kids
get a weapon like that? This is high end shit!” Cowboy picked the
gun up, looked it over, and set it back on the desk, “I don’t
know, Boss. There’re still thousands of people running around out
there. They could have got if off some dead soldiers. I really don’t
have the answer.” Kane picked up the MP9 and pointed it at Cowboy’s
head, “We’ve got their friend locked up in the other room. For
all we know, it’s one of those punk’s girlfriend. I want you to
go out there, find them, and kill them. The last thing I need is
someone sneaking in here, trying to cut my throat when I’m sleeping
because they miss their girlfriend.” Kane set the gun back on the
table while Cowboy could feel a bead of sweat running out from
underneath his hat, “Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll find them, and
I’ll kill’em myself!” Kane gave an accepting nod, “Now get
out of my office and find those guys!”

Cowboy left the office
without saying another word. He didn’t like being yelled at, and he
especially didn’t like having a gun pointed at his face. He
hollered on his way to the Humvee, “Luther! Tommy! Arm up! We’re
leaving in five.”

October 13th 8:20pm

Chevy rolled off the
fifty-caliber’s scope and onto his back, “Dude, this sucks so
much. I’m freezing, and these rocks are killing me. Let’s just go
check it out. There can’t be that many guys in there, we would have
seen them by now.” Chevy was right. I was freezing too, and how
long could they just sit in that building. Before we found them, they
were on every street. Now they didn’t want to go anywhere. The
sound of loud squeaking caught my attention. I heard what sounded
like the huge diesel engine of the Humvee starting up. We watched for
any movement coming from inside the building.

Wife Beater was the
first to expose himself. He walked out of the garage door with what
looked like my AR-15 slung across his shoulder. With an exaggerated
wave, he yelled, “Come on. It's all clear!”

We watched as the
Humvee backed out of the building. The driver hopped out and dropped
down to his hands and knees, looking at something under the Humvee
with a flashlight. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I bet he was
looking at the leak, “Chevy, that’s definitely the crew we’re
looking for.” I couldn’t see inside of the garage. For all I
knew, there could have been twenty guys with guns standing just
inside the door. It’d be a chance we would have to take. The guy on
the ground got back on his feet and in the driver seat. There was a
new guy standing in the turret, and I was sure I could make out a
cowboy hat on the guy in the passenger seat. The Humvee drove away,
and Wife Beater walked back inside the garage. The silence gave way
to the high pitch squeaks of the lowering garage door. “What do you
think?” I asked Chevy.

I could feel my hands
tremble as the adrenaline coursed its way through my veins, “I
think we go now!” he said. “Yeah, let’s go. Leave the
fifty-caliber, we’ll go in with pistols. That thing will only slow
us down, and it’s no good at close range. Pistols out, stay low,
and quiet.” We made our way down the rocks and into the open field,
which separated us from the building. The grass field hadn’t been
cut since the fair in July, the long weeds gave us good cover. About
ten yards from the building, we dropped to our bellies and crawled
in, staying next to each other. I pointed up, “There’s a small
window next to that garbage can. Stay here, and I’ll take a look
inside.” I belly crawled closer to the window. The light shining
through made me feel even more exposed. I looked back at Chevy, and
he gave me a thumbs up. I got within arm’s reach of the building
and quietly worked my way up, so I could steal a peek in the window.
The inside of the building was wide open, except for a few rooms and
an office. The rooms all had their doors closed, so I couldn’t see
inside them. The office door was wide open, and I could see a guy
sitting there holding something on his face. I squatted down, looked
backward at Chevy, and held up one finger. I turned back to the
window and there was someone standing there. I dropped to the ground.
My heart was pounding, and I felt fear coursing through my body. I
looked to Chevy for help. He was looking at the window and had his
hand out, and palm up. Chevy laid there like he was frozen in time.
After what seemed like an eternity, he threw me an okay sign. I
looked back up at the window and couldn’t see anyone. I worked up
the courage to look in again. Now at the inside door, closest to me,
I saw a man standing there. He had the door to the room open. It was
Wife Beater, and he was wearing my two gun rig! That son of a bitch.
I moved to the other side of the window, hoping it would give me a
little better view into the room. I still couldn’t see anyone else.
Without taking my eyes off Wife Beater, I held up two fingers to
Chevy. There were at least two guys we’d have to fight. I watched
Wife Beater. He looked agitated, and was yelling at someone in the
room. I could only make out bits of what he was saying. “Doggies!
Shoot you! Bitches!” That’s what I wanted to hear. Who else could
it be? It had to be Sidara, and hopefully my mom too? I watched as
Wife Beater held up his gun and pretended to shoot whoever was in the
room. After another minute, he lost interest, locked the door, and
walked away through one of the other doors. I lowered myself and
crawled back to Chevy. I pointed to an area about thirty yards away,
where we could talk without being heard. We crawled over to a clear
area and Chevy asked, “What did you see?”

“I saw two guys. One
at the desk in an office, and the other was standing in a doorway
yelling at someone. The guy in the doorway was Wife Beater, and he
was wearing my Glocks. Chevy, he was yelling at someone. I heard him
say bitches!” Chevy nodded, “It’s got to be them, Ty! What’s
the plan?”

“We head back to the
truck and arm up. Then we’re gonna kill those fuckers!”

October 13th 9:45pm

Seven hours later,
Luther was sick of driving, “Are we gonna be out here all night
again?” Cowboy, not in the mood to listen to any of Luther’s crap
said, “The sooner you find me those two kids from yesterday, the
sooner you can go home and go to bed.”

“Why do you want them
so bad?”

“Because Kane wants
them dead!”

Tommy jumped down from
the turret and asked, “Who wants them dead?”

“Cowboy said Kane
wants us to kill those kids from yesterday.” Luther paused before
he spoke again, “They weren’t doin anything wrong, man! Let’s
just tell him they're dead. He’ll never know.” Cowboy pushed his
hat back on his head, “Okay Luther, so we go home and lie to Kane.
You tell him we smoked those kids. Then, maybe the next night we’re
sittin’ down to eat dinner and those dumb-ass kids come bursting
through the door, guns a blazing! What the heck do you think Kane is
gonna do to you then? Let’s put it in perspective. He almost shot
you in the face yesterday, because you cut the bindings off that
girl's feet. He was gonna kill you because he got kicked in the
balls. Imagine if he got shot and lived? I think I’ll take my
chances with those kids.” Luther said nothing. He just stared
straight ahead driving the Humvee. Tommy leaned in between the front
seats, “So where are we going to find them?”