Avenging Home (28 page)

Looking up towards the pool, I could see everyone looking at me. My family, nearly all the people in this world I now cared about, were looking at me. The man on the ground was no longer suffering. I looked around and saw others. Some had fear on their faces. Some, while still alive were too far gone to care either way. I walked a few paces to a woman lying face up. The sun shone brightly on her cheek. Her eyes were closed and she gasped for breath. Raising the pistol again, I squeezed the trigger.

When I looked up again, my family was no longer by the pool. They’d fanned out and were moving across the field. The occasional pop of a pistol or rifle told me what they were doing. We’d started this. And we would end this. The thoughts of no quarter were gone from my mind. Now all I could think about was ending the suffering for these poor souls as fast as I could. Hate is a powerful thing. That is until you come face to face with it. But I guess there are different kinds of hate. I surely didn’t feel any remorse for Billy. He deserved exactly what he got. Actually, if I could have, I would have taken more time with him. He got off easy.

We stopped at Billy’s body. Sarge looked down at him. “Damn, Morgan.”

“Shit happens.”

“We caught these assholes completely by surprise,” Sarge said and pointed at the body. “Look at him. He’s in his drawers and no shoes.”

“The other ones, over there,” I jerked my head back towards the body of the young girl, “they didn’t have any shoes either.”

“Surprise, speed and violence of action.”

I looked around at the bodies scattered across the grassy fields surrounding the camp. I saw Aric walking up behind a man trying to crawl away. He casually walked up to the man, hearing the foot falls, he rolled over on his back and held his hands up. Aric looked down at him and raised his pistol, firing pointblank into the man’s face. “I think we achieved it,” I said.

Sarge grunted. “Looks like everyone is getting it out of their system.”

Looking around, I saw Thad. He was still by the pool with Lee Ann. I was happy to see her still there and not out participating in what was happening. The words “no quarter” came to mind. I remembered saying them; and at the time this was the very sort of thing I was thinking about. Leaving none of these people alive. But the actual of act of doing so was quite different. There’s the romance and the reality. And the reality never lives up to the romance.

Thad was looking at the ground. As I got closer, he looked up at me. I smiled and asked if he were alright.

Without looking around, he said, “I can’t do that Morgan.”

I grabbed his shoulder. “I don’t blame you, buddy.”

He pointed towards a group of the cabins sitting under a hammock of beautiful oaks. “We need to go through all these buildings.”

Nodding, I replied, “Yeah. You wanna go check them out?”

Thad stood up and stretched. “That I can do.”

“Come on then. Let’s get it over with.”

Lee Ann was sitting on a lounge chair. She looked up and asked, “You want me to go?”

“Yeah, come on. You can be back-up,” I said with a smile.

It was a hard thing, really. Taking your teenage daughter with you to clear buildings. But this was the new reality. This is the way it is now. It was a sobering thought that brought Little Bit to mind. She’d have to grow up fast. There wouldn’t be years of video games and riding bikes with friends. Hell, there were few friends now. Jace and Edie would be it for her for some time. Thankfully though, she at least did have them, and they had her.

We went to the first cabin. The door was open. Stopping shy of it, I told Lee Ann to stay outside and keep her eyes open. Thad and I would handle whatever happened inside, she needed to be our eyes for what was happening outside.

I started for the door and Thad pulled me back. “I’ll go first. You got them girls to worry about. Ain’t no one worrying about me.”

I smiled and looked him in the eye. “If you want to go first, you can. But don’t think no one is worrying about you, brother. I am.” Pointing at Lee Ann, I said, “they are and so is everyone else.” Then I smiled and added, “So is Mary.”

That broad smile spread across his face and he said, “Morgan, you a mess.” Then he got serious. “Follow me.”

The first three cabins were empty. The fourth wasn’t. I went through the door first this time, making Thad alternate the task with me. The cabins were about twenty feet by twenty feet. They were nice little cabins. The Elk’s had done a fine job on them. Inside were several sets of bunk beds, a small table and a bathroom. Each cabin would hold twelve people.

Throwing the door open, I stepped in, sweeping the Mossberg to the right while Thad came in behind me and went to the left. The cabin was empty and I moved to the bathroom. Snatching the door open, a woman screamed and there was a sharp crack. I ducked to my right and dropped to my knees as drywall dust fell down on me. The woman was right in front of me and still screaming. I reached out and grabbed the barrel of the .22 revolver she clutched in her right hand and twisted it, yanking it from her grip. There were two small kids in the bathtub; they too were screaming and crying.

Thad was standing over me, staring down the barrel of his AK. Without looking down at me, he asked, “You alright?”

The woman was still screaming as I started to get to my feet. Needless to say, I was a little irritated. I screamed back at her. “Shut up! No one’s going to hurt you.”

She reached out for the children who immediately fell into her arms. “Please don’t kill me! Please don’t kill my babies!”

I stepped out of the doorway and Thad leaned in. “Come on, ma’am. Ain’t no one going to hurt you. You need to calm down. You’re scaring them young’uns.”

Thad’s calm voice had an effect on her. Still sniveling, she looked up, her face wet with tears. But Thad was patient and motioned with his hand. She slowly got to her feet, clutching the crying children close to her. She shrank from his hand as though his mere touch would somehow infect her. Sensing the woman’s feelings, Thad stepped back, making way for her to get through the door. She came out nervously.

I stepped out the cabin door and nodded for Lee Ann. “Go in there and try to get her to come out.”

She stepped around me and looked at the woman. Kneeling down to be on the level of the children, she smiled. “Come on. Let’s walk over to the pool.”

The woman looked at Thad, then at me. Looking back at Lee Ann, she nodded and headed for the door. I stepped further away from the door, giving them room. As they came out, Lee Ann looked over at me. I gave her a slight nod and motioned with my chin in the direction of the pool. She nodded and guided them towards it.

Thad came out. He was watching them as they walked away. After a moment, he asked, “What do we do with them?”

“I don’t know what we do with them. I’m sure we’ve killed whoever they depended on.”

“Maybe we should just take them to town.”

I let out a long breath and shook my head slightly. “And have someone inside our wire that hates us.” I pointed at the little boy. “So he can grow up hating us, all the while plotting ways to kill us.”

Thad looked at me. “But what do we do with them?”

“I don’t know. Right now we have to finish this. That will come later.”

Thad and I continued to search the cabins. We found bodies, several bodies. The damage the Apaches caused was stunning. We passed one cabin that had taken a direct hit from one of the many Hell Fire rockets. It was gone. There was part of a slab and some pipes sticking out of the ground, and that was it. Several cabins around it were severely damaged. The ones to either side were open shells. The sides closest to the blast were gone, an entire side of the cabin, just gone.

As we found wounded men, I shot them. Every one. The words “no quarter” ringing in my ears with every report of my carbine, pistol or shotgun. It was never a question when we found them. I never asked Thad to partake. He was there with me, covering me, looking out for me. But I delivered the coup de grâce. We piled weapons as we found them, just to make it easier to come back for them. We found other women and kids. Some together, some alone. Each time, we would direct them towards the pool.

Lee Ann returned and helped collect weapons. She said some of the Guardsmen were there now, bringing other women and kids to the pool as well. As we found lone children, she would take the small crying kids by the hand and lead them to the pool. I was relieved to know there was someone there keeping an eye on them. There were weapons lying everywhere. It wouldn’t be hard for some woman or maybe a teenage kid to pick up a weapon and extract some quick revenge. Doc was there as well treating the many wounded. We found a number of kids and adults with wounds.

Thad and I finished searching the two groups of cabins, and walked back towards the center of the camp. There was still gunfire being exchanged at the large building in the center of the camp. It was sporadic but would flare up in intense exchanges from time to time. We found Sarge and Livingston together coordinating the assault on the building.

“We cleared the cabins,” I said as we walked up.

Sarge spun around. “Find anything?”

“Some women and kids,” Thad replied.

Sarge wiped grit and soot from his face. Spitting in the dust, he asked, “Any combatants?”

I looked down at my feet. “None that are alive now.”

As we stood there, I dropped the mag from my carbine and looked at it. There were rounds in it, but it felt light, so I replaced it with a fresh one. I gave it a tap and a tug to make sure it was in, and tucked the other one into the dump pouch on my belt.

Thad pointed at the large gymnasium. “What’s going on here?”

Livingston took his helmet off and ran his hands through his hair. “The last bunch of them is holed up in there. We’re trying to root them out.”

Sarge chuckled. “I keep telling them to burn the bastards out. You set that place on fire and they’ll come out. They’ll come out real quick.”

“We’re trying not to destroy this place,” Livingston sighed.

Holding his arms out, Sarge spun around. “Have you looked around this fucking place?”

I looked around. Smoke was rising from several places. The air was heavy with it. The early hour and the fact that humidity drops lower to the ground as the sun comes up was holding the smoke low to the ground. The acrid odor of plastic, wood, fuel and the general smell of structural fires filled the air. Then there was the disturbing sickly sweet smell of cooking meat. The Polynesians called humans long pig. And it was that thought, more of a mental image of the smell of cooking pork that came to mind.

As I pondered that, Ted and Mike walked up. Ted looked at Sarge. “Why aren’t we burning these fuckers yet?”

Sarge jabbed his thumb at Livingston. “Ask him.”

Ted looked at Livingston and took a thermite grenade from his vest. Flipping it in his hand, he asked, “How many men have you lost on these ridiculous assaults?”

Livingston shook his head. “We’ve had four wounded. Six KIA.”

“One or two of these and this shit is over,” Ted said.

Sarge looked at Livingston. “Why don’t you just let us do what we do?”

Livingston fiddled with the suspension rig of his helmet. After settling it onto his head, he looked at Sarge and sniffed loudly. “Fuck it. Do whatever you want.” He abruptly spun on his heels and walked way.

Ted looked at Sarge, and Sarge nodded. Turning to Mike, Ted tossed him one of the thermite grenades. Mike smiled. “Let’s burn this shit to the ground.”

Sarge looked at me and Thad. “You two go with them and lay down covering fire. Let’s get this bar-b-que kicked off.”

Mike clapped his hands and rubbed them together. Smiling like a devil, he said, “Give me a minute. Let me get a couple of things.”

Sarge shook his head. “Well hurry the hell up!”

Looking at me, Mike said, “Come Morgan, give me a hand.” Looking at Ted, he said, “Find me some duct tape.”

I followed him as he ran back towards where the trucks were parked. He ran up to one of the DHS vehicles and unlatched a fuel can from a rack mounted on its side. I was looking at the truck that burned and a large patch of blackened, scorched ground. Pointing at it, I asked, “What was that?”

Mike stuck his head around the side of the truck. “Oh, that was a fuel bladder. When I hit that truck, it ruptured and burned.”

“Shame. We could have used the fuel.”

Pointing at the building, Mike said, “Run over there and grab that ladder.”

I grabbed the extension ladder he was pointing at and hefted it up onto my shoulder. With these items in hand, we headed back towards the gym. Getting back to Sarge and Ted, Mike asked, “You ready?”

Ted nodded. “Yeah, let’s roast these fuckers.”

We made our way around to the back of the building. Ted put up a hand and we stopped. Just down the wall was a metal door hanging only from the bottom hinge. The door was riddled with holes and gashes from countless rounds. There were entrance and exit holes on either side. Mike motioned for me to put the ladder down. Ted was watching the door and Thad was watching the way we’d come from. I pulled the rope and raised the ladder up to reach the roof, expecting with every bang of the dogs on the rungs to start taking fire. While I did that, Mike took the tape from Ted and taped the thermite grenade to the side of the fuel can, carefully wrapping it so as not to interfere with the grenade’s spoon.

Mike pushed his carbine around to his back and mounted the ladder and started to climb. It bounced and banged against the roof as he did. I gripped both sides and placed a boot against both rubber feet of the ladder. It didn’t take him long to get to the roof. He quickly disappeared from view, and my heart pounded. We had no idea what was happening up there, not that it was likely anyone else was up there with Mike.

After a moment, he reappeared and hurriedly mounted the ladder. He came sliding down it like a fireman with one foot on either side. When he was about half way down, I heard a pop followed by a loud hiss from inside the building. When Mike’s feet hit the ground, another sound came from the building, along with a bright orange flash. The sound was like a large sail being unfurled. Thick black smoke immediately began to billow from the open door. We backed away from it, keeping our eyes and weapons on it as we did so.

It wasn’t long before we heard gunfire around the front of the building. I guess they were making a run for the front door. But we waited, our time would surely come. And I was right. It didn’t take long for two men to come crawling out of the suffocating smoke. We immediately shot them down.

There was more shooting out front; and the flames grew too intense for us to remain behind the gym. Thad backed away, holding a hand in front of his face. “Damn that’s hot.”

Mike stood there with his hands tucked into his vest. “Imagine being in there.”

A figure suddenly burst through the screen of smoke. His left side was on fire and he flailed about in agony, screaming. Mike quickly raised his carbine, but Ted reached out and pushed it back down.