Avenging Home (7 page)

At the same moment, Mike finally found the release and the weapon came free. Both he and the man he struggled with fell back away from one another. Mike drew his pistol as he fell and fired when his ass hit the ground. Thad swung the old shotgun around, holding it at arm’s length, and pulled the second trigger, sending a load of number four buck into the man’s chest, along with the hail of .45 rounds Mike was raining into the man.

Thad dropped the shotgun and drew his pistol, spinning around and looking for more targets. Ted and Sarge were back to back doing the same. Six bodies were on the ground around them. Mike got to his feet and picked up his carbine.

“Anybody hit?” Sarge asked.

Everyone patted themselves and replied in the negative. In the light from Ted’s carbine, Thad said, “Ted, your head’s bleeding.”

Ted reached up and felt the warm wetness on the side of his head. Sarge grabbed his chin, turning Ted’s head to the side. “You’re alright. Shot the top of your ear off.” He patted Ted’s shoulder. “You’re one lucky son of a bitch.”

Ted was pawing at his ear. “What do you mean, shot it off? Is it gone?”

“Hell yeah, it’s gone. Come on. We’ll worry about that later,” Sarge said as he started towards Tyler’s place.

Ted searched the ground with his light. “We’ve got to find it!”

“For what? Not like we can put it back on. What are you going to do? Make a damn necklace out of it?” Sarge shot back.

Ted was in mild shock. “Fuck that! It’s my ear!”

Sarge grabbed Ted by his plate carrier. “Get yer head outta yer ass! This shit ain’t over, and you know there’s no medicine in a gun fight! We’ll tend to your grape when this shit’s over. Now get yer ass in gear!”

Mike ran past Ted and slapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, Teddy. Let’s get these fuckers!”

Ted looked down at the men on the ground. “Shot my ear off, you sons of bitches!” And he proceeded to stomp one of the bodies in the face. Ted looked up with a wild expression, let out a scream, and then took off after Mike.

Thad picked up the coach gun and broke the action open. The two spent shells ejected and he dropped in two more. Sarge looked at him. “You OK, Thad?”

Thad nodded and was about to reply when there was an explosion from the back of the neighborhood. Sarge looked in the direction of the sound and said, “That’s Dalton’s IED. Let’s go take a look.” Thad nodded, and they moved down the road in the direction of the explosion.

Mel looked around the house. “Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?”

Taylor was on the floor searching frantically. “Where’s my gun? I can’t find my gun!”

“I think we’re alright,” Jess said.

Mel looked at Lee Ann. “Go check on Ashley. They’re in the bathroom.” Lee Ann nodded as she methodically removed the magazine from her H&K and placed a fresh one in. She pulled the bolt back slightly and checked to make sure it was chambered, and walked to the bathroom.

“Aww shit,” Jamie said. She was lying on the floor in front of the door looking at her blood-covered hand.

“Oh God, Jamie’s hurt!” Fred yelled.

They rushed to her side. “Are you OK? Where is it?” Jess asked.

Mel looked around. “We need to blow these lights out. Taylor, can you take care of that for us?”

Taylor was getting to her feet, having found her weapon on the floor under pillows from the sofa. She began extinguishing the candles and lanterns. Fred reached over and took one oil lamp from the top of a bookshelf and brought it over beside Jamie.

“Let me see it,” she said as she moved Jamie’s hand.

“Son of a bitch! I really liked this dress! First time I wear dress, and I get fuckin’ shot!” Jamie shouted.

Miss Kay came out of the hallway, tripping over the piles of pillows on the floor. “Who’s hurt?”

“Jess, get my vest. There’s a blowout kit on it,” Jamie said.

Mel could hear Little Bit crying in the bathroom. She looked at Fred. “I have to go check on Ashley.” Fred nodded and Mel left.

Little Bit and Mary were in the bathtub. Mary had her arms wrapped around the small girl as they both cried. Mel knelt down beside the tub. “Are you OK?” She asked as Little Bit reached out and wrapped her arms around her mother. Mel then looked at Mary. “Are you alright?”

Mary wiped tears from her face and sniffled. “Guess I’m not very brave.”

Mel put her hand on Mary’s. “You’re as brave as any of us.” Mel smiled and Mary smiled back.

“Can you help me out of here?” Mary asked as she tried to extract herself from the tub.

Mel picked up Little Bit and offered a hand to Mary and helped pull her from the tub.

Doc pulled the Gustav over and prepared it to fire. He peeked up over the side of the bunker. “I can’t really see the damn thing. I’m just going to aim below the muzzle flashes!” He shouldered the weapon while crouching, then stood up enough for the weapon to clear the side of the bunker. I was standing beside him when he shouted. “Back blast, clear!” Dalton grabbed me and jerked me to the ground as Doc fired. Inside the bunker, the blast and concussion were intense. My ears rang, and the small space was choked with dust. I didn’t hear the resulting explosion, and could barely breathe.

Doc dropped the weapon and stumbled towards the rear exit. Dalton pushed me out the doorway before coming out himself. He looked around for a moment then stuck his head back in. He reappeared, dragging Danny by the leg. We were all covered in dust and dirt. It was in our eyes, our ears and mouths. I was blinking trying to get the dust out of my eyes and pulled a canteen from the vest and started to wash them out.

Dalton grabbed the canteen from me and poured water on his face as well. Danny was complaining about his eyes, so Dalton knelt down and pulled Danny’s hands from his face. “Don’t rub your eyes. You’ll just make it worse.” He began pouring water on Danny’s face, “Blink. Blink your eyes.”

“I can’t.”

Dalton lifted one of his eyelids and poured water directly into the eye.

Doc was coughing up dust as well and trying to clear his eyes.

“Did you hit it?” I asked, trying to blink the crap from my own eyes.

“I think so. They aren’t shooting anymore.”

“We need to go check on Tyler and Brandy,” I said.

Dalton handed me the canteen. “Here, keep trying to wash his eyes out. I’ll go.”

All the while, AC/DC still blared from the small radio. The song was just over five minutes long and it was only now coming to an end. That five minutes seemed like an eternity.

There was a sudden burst of gunfire. I looked over the top of the bunker to see a burning hulk at the end of the road. What appeared to be one rifle was firing up there somewhere, but I couldn’t tell where.

“Someone is still up there,” I said.

Doc looked over. “I don’t think they’re shooting at us though.”

I strained to see where the sporadic gunfire was coming from, but couldn’t find it. I slid back down beside Danny. “How are your eyes doing?”

Danny shook his head, blinking hard. “They’re getting better.”

Lee Ann came running up. “Dad, you need to come home. Jamie is hurt.”

Looking over while still wiping the crust from his eyes, Doc asked, “Did she get shot?”

Lee Ann nodded as Doc and I were both getting to our feet. We took off running as fast as we could. Hanging with these military guys and a young, healthy teenager made me feel like shit. While I was in better shape now than before the Day, I still couldn’t stick with them. Doc left me in his wake.

As I came up on the porch, Jamie was laid out in front of the door. The dress that was so pretty before was now covered in blood and pulled up onto her chest. Doc was looking at a dressing covering a wound in her abdomen.

“Did it exit?” Doc asked.

“I don’t know,” Jamie replied.

“We didn’t even look,” Jess said.

“I’m gonna roll you over and take a look. It’s going to hurt.” Jamie gritted her teeth and nodded. Doc gave instructions to Jess and Fred on how to roll her onto her side. Working together, they gently rolled her to her side. Jamie let out a yelp, and Doc quickly ran a hand along her back and looked. It was smeared with blood.

“Looks like it went through. We need to get another dressing on it,” Doc said as he started digging through his bag. Finding the bandage, he and the girls applied another dressing to the exit.

“I’m starting to get cold,” Jamie said.

“I know. Just hang in there for another minute and we’ll get you fixed up,” Doc quickly said. Looking at Fred, he said, “Get some blankets.”

Fred gabbed blankets from the girls’ beds and brought them back. They wrapped Jamie up and moved her into the living room. Doc took a space blanket from his bag and unfolded it, laying it out on the sofa. Then he had the girls help him get Jamie laid out on it. They elevated her feet with some pillows, and she started to feel a little better. Doc then started an IV, giving her a precious supply of fluid.

“We need to get to town,” Doc said.

“There’s no way we can go tonight,” I said.

“Will she be alright until morning?” Jess asked.

“I can hear you,” Jaimie moaned.

“Yeah. She can make it until morning, but we need to leave as early as possible.”

Seeing that Jamie was taken care of, I went to Mel. She was sitting on the edge of Little Bit’s bed with her. A faint glow from the lantern in the living room barely lit the space. I sat down on the side of the bed and wrapped my arm around them.

“You guys alright?” I asked.

Mel nodded. “Yeah. We’re fine. She’s just scared.

Little Bit peaked at me. “They came into the house.”

I was thunderstruck. “What?”

“They came in through the sliding glass door. Didn’t you see it?” Mel asked.

I leapt to me feet. “Hell no, I didn’t see it!”

Mel grabbed my arm. “They’re dead.”

I looked at her. “They? How many?”

She held up three fingers but said nothing. I looked out the door, then back to her. “I’ll go check on it.”

As I was walking out of the bedroom, I heard Sarge’s voice in the living room. Glancing in, I saw him and Thad, and went the other way into the kitchen. There were two bodies on the kitchen floor and another lying just outside the shattered glass door. They were dead alright, and the floor was covered in blood.

I grabbed one of the bodies by the feet and dragged it out onto the back porch. As I dropped the legs onto the deck, Thad came through the door with the second one.

“Thanks, man,” I said.

Thad nodded. “No problem. There’s six more on the road down by Danny’s house.”

“Six? Holy shit.”

Thad smiled. “There’s more out back where Dalton set up his little trap. Whatever he put out there, it sure worked. There’s pieces of them hanging in the trees. They’re splattered all over the place.”

Doing some quick math, I said, “So somewhere between twelve and fifteen of theirs are dead.”

“And only one wounded on our side,” Thad said.

“We just got lucky is all. It can’t last forever.”

“Come on, Morg. We’re doing pretty good. We’re holding our own.”

“What happened with the six down the road?” I asked.

“We came running out the gate at Danny’s and ran slap into them. Mike and Ted crashed into them and they all went flailing to the ground. Me and Sarge got to work on them, and we killed ‘em all.”

Nodding, I noted again. “We’re lucky.”

Thad gripped my shoulder. “I’ll take lucky any day, Morgan.”

Seeing just how lucky we’d been really weighed on me. Shaking my head, I said, “But what if our luck runs out. We’ve got to fix this once and for all. If this keeps going, luck isn’t going to cut it.”

We went back in the house. Mel had put Little Bit to bed. Mel said she was upset because she didn’t have her blanket. It was on Jamie at the moment. She finally settled down when Mel gave her one of my poncho liners. As we were talking, Dalton stuck his head in the door and nodded for me to follow him.

Once outside, I saw he had a grim look. “What is it?”

He pointed to the bench on my porch. I looked and saw Jace and Edie sitting there. It took a moment for it to sink in. But looking in the direction of their house, I could see the fire that still raged there.

“Is there any chance?” I asked. His reply was a slow shaking of his head. I looked at Thad. “Still think we’re lucky?”