Forsaking Home (The Survivalist Series) (21 page)

Jeff looked around. “Damn, the only thing you threw away is the head.”

“We can’t afford to waste anything right now. Can you find something to cover the bucket of meat with? I’m going to go throw this to the hogs,” Thad said as he picked up the bucket of guts.

Jeff nodded and headed for the cabin as Thad moved off toward the pigpen. When he got to the pen he went to turn off the solar hot wire, but it was already off. Curious, he rounded the corner with cautious steps. He was surprised to find Lee Ann sitting in the pen, holding a piglet on her lap. She held a pistol in her other hand, and was staring at it.

“Hey, girl, what’cha doing out here?”

She looked up, startled, and dropped the piglet, quickly raising the pistol toward Thad. “Don’t come near me!”

Thad set the bucket down and raised his hands. “Whoa, whoa, I’m not coming any closer. I’m right here. What’re you doing with that pistol?”

Lee Ann was shaking, still pointing the pistol. “You can’t stop me! Leave me alone!”

“You’re right, I can’t stop you, but you can’t make me leave either.” Thad lowered his hands and slowly knelt down. “I’m gonna sit down here.”

“No! Just leave. Leave me alone!”

“No, I’m not going to leave you alone. I can’t stop you from doing whatever you’re gonna do, but you’re going to listen to me in the meantime,” Thad said as he sat down.

Lee Ann kept the pistol on him, but said nothing. Tears ran down her face. For a long time, it was quiet, save for the sound of Lee Ann sniffling.

Thad cleared his throat. “I know you’re upset, and I understand—”

Lee Ann cut him off. “How can you understand? What do you know?” She practically spit the words at him.

“Little girl, I know more than you can imagine. Your dad told me you were upset, that you think life as you knew it is gone.” He paused for a moment. “You don’t see any reason to keep going, do you?”

“Why should I? No one cares. Everything is gone forever.”

“You think no one cares? You know how much your momma and daddy talk about you?”

She didn’t say anything, so Thad continued. “You don’t think I can relate? Let me tell you how I can, and how I do. Did you know I had a wife and young son?”

She didn’t say anything but lowered the gun into her lap.

“You know why they aren’t here with me?” Lee Ann slowly shook her head. “’Cause they’re dead.” Thad let that sink in for a minute. “They were killed by some government men. Some sick, sick men killed my beautiful wife and my son, my baby.” Now tears began to roll down Thad’s face. “I had to dig them out of the house. I found them together, holding on to one another. I had to dig a grave for them. I buried them like I found them: holding each other.”

Thad paused to regain his composure as Lee Ann started to cry even harder.

“After that happened, I was thinking the same thing that you are now: that my life was over, that there was no sense in going on. I wanted to end it.” Thad paused again.

After a long silence, Lee Ann wiped her nose and asked in a quiet voice, “Why didn’t you?”

“Because of them. Because I knew deep down that they wouldn’t want me to. I live for them even though they are dead. You think your life is over, but it’s just the silly little things from the Before you’re thinking of—cell phones, the Internet. You’re right, those things are not worth living for.” The last part got her attention, and she looked up at Thad. “It’s your momma and daddy, your sisters—that’s what you have to live for. You have any idea what your daddy went through to get home? I mean, really?”

Lee Ann gave a little shrug. Thad continued, “You know he almost died, that he was shot in the head?” She looked stunned. “There was nothing in this world that could’ve kept your daddy from getting back to you. He talked about you girls and your momma. He loves you more than you know.”

She started to sob. “But it’s so different now. I want to go to school, I want my friends back.”

“And it will all come back. The world didn’t end, it”—Thad looked for the right words—“it’s just on pause. Everything is still here. It’ll get fixed.”

Wiping her nose again, she replied, “That’s what Dad says.”

“Of course he does, and he’s right. Now think about it for a minute: you do what you’re thinking about doing and you’ll never see it. How do you think your parents would feel if you did this? How do you think it would affect them? What about your sisters? You really think no one would care, no one would miss you?” Thad paused again, letting the words sink in, then added, “I know I would.” Lee Ann looked up at him. “Little Tony and Anita are gone, but I’m here with you and your family now. And you, all of you,
are
my family now.”

Lee Ann laid the pistol on the ground and picked at the grass. “Tony and Anita . . . those were their names?” she asked, looking up. Thad nodded.

They sat quietly for some time, neither one saying anything. Thad would sit there all day if it came to it—he was determined to get her back to the cabins safely. After some more time Lee Ann asked, “Do you really think it will all come back?”

“I do.”

She reached and picked up one of the piglets that had finished nursing. It squealed in complaint, causing the momma pig to look up. Lee Ann sighed. “I just want to go home.”

“And you will be able to soon. There’s things happening right now that will probably let you go home. I know your mom and dad want to take you back to your old neighborhood when things settle down.”

She rubbed the piglet for a minute. “They’re going to be mad at me.”

“Baby girl, the last thing they are going to be is mad.” Thad looked at her intensely. “But I’ll make you a promise.” Lee Ann looked up. “This will be our secret. You get to feeling better, don’t try this foolishness again, and I won’t say nuthin’.”

Again they sat in silence, then the tears returned to trace paths down her cheeks. “I don’t want to do it, Thad. I want to live. I just get so sad.”

“You need to stop sittin’ around thinking about it. There’s lots to do. Get involved! That’s why I always like to keep busy . . . it keeps the sadness away.” He smiled.

Setting the piglet down, Lee Ann sat up straight and wiped her face. She let out a loud breath and stood up. Thad rose as well. Lee Ann looked at the pistol, then at Thad. “You want me to leave it here?”

“No, let me have it.”

She bent over and picked up the pistol. When he took it, he grabbed her hand in his.

“Thank you, Lee Ann. You’re savin’ me too,” he said and smiled. Lee Ann began to cry again and wrapped her arms around his big waist. Thad bent down a bit and picked her up, giving her a hug.

“If you ever need to talk to someone, I’m here. You come to me anytime,” Thad said as he set her down.

For the first time in a long time, Lee Ann smiled. She reached out and took his hand. “Thanks, Thad.”

They walked back to the cabins like that, hand in hand.

S
heffield and Livingston milled about the command center, coffee cups in hand. Sarge was getting his people into place, relieving the DHS personnel. Tabor and his deputy were outside giving orders to their people to assemble. After he was done assigning his men and had checked the situation with Tabor’s team, Sarge hopped in the Hummer and drove up to the gate, trying not to spill his coffee. As he pulled up to it, a couple of the Guardsmen waved at him.

“Everything all right?” Sarge called out.

One of the Guardsmen gave him a thumbs-up. Satisfied that was taken care of, he turned back toward the camp to check on Ted and Mike.

He found them sitting inside the camp’s comm shack. Ted had a headset on, listening to the traffic on the DHS net. Ian was standing outside, making sure no one tried to come in.

“Where are the DHS boys?” Sarge asked.

“We sent them to get their weapons,” Mike said.

“They didn’t get anything out, did they?”

Ted shook his head. “Not that we know of. Hell, they were relieved for the help. Gave us their call sign and everything. They bought it. I’m more worried about the civilians. They know something is up, and some of them are causing some trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Ted tossed a handheld radio to Sarge. “Listen in. They’re asking questions and some of the DHS boys are gettin’ rough with ’em.”

Sarge nodded. “I will, Mike. You stay here. Ted, you come with me.”

Sarge and Ted left in the Hummer, leaving Mike and Ian to watch the store.

They rode to one of the mess halls, where the security personnel were being grouped. Several of the Guardsmen were playing the part of armorers, taking in the weapons that were being checked against an equipment list by one of the DHS supervisors. After the weapons were turned in, they were taken to an empty tent to be disassembled, out of the view of the DHS crew. What they were really doing was removing the firing pins from the weapons to render them all inoperable. Jamie, Doc, and Perez were at the head of the line, taking the weapons in.

Sarge dropped Ted off there, instructing him to call him on their secure radio when all had been disarmed. He then headed back to the command center. Sheffield and Livingston were sitting at a conference table with Tabor and Ed.

When Sarge came through the door, Sheffield asked, “How’s it going, First Sergeant?”

Sarge smiled. “Good, good, they’ve almost got all your people together.” Then he looked at Tabor. “Who do you have that you trust to do the interviews?”

Tabor looked at Ed and asked, “What do you think?”

Ed rubbed his temples and replied, “Right now the only people I trust are sitting in this room.”

Tabor and Ed didn’t see the look Sheffield and Livingston shared. Sarge smiled to himself. “Well, we don’t know your people, but I’ve got a couple of intel folks who will help you two.”

Tabor nodded. “I appreciate it. We’ll take any help you can offer.”

“I’ll get them rounded up. As soon as your folks are disarmed we’ll start bringing in a few at a time. Let them wait out there and you can talk to them one at a time.”

“Who’s going to handle detentions?” Ed asked.

“I’ll have a couple of my guys here for security,” Livingston said. He was really starting to warm up to the part he was playing.

“What do y’all do with the detainees brought in here?” Sarge asked.

“We have first contact with refugees. We bring them in and process them into the system, then they are moved on to other facilities based on their skills and the needs of those facilities,” Tabor said.

“We also sort out those who may pose a problem,” Ed added.

Sarge cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“You know, the sort who resist going along with the program,” Tabor said.

“One of our primary missions is to identify those that are deemed a threat to the resurrection of the state. Many of these are the old survivalist types: Constitutionalists, libertarians, gun owners, anarchists, basically anyone that would resist the power of the federal government,” Ed said.

“We have a country to rebuild. Everyone needs to be on the same page,” Tabor said.

Sheffield and Livingston sat stunned from what they heard. These types of things had been rumored, but to hear it from the mouths of those tasked with doing it was something else entirely.

“Makes sense to me,” Sarge said as he sipped his coffee.

“Glad we’re on the same page. Most people have a hard time hearing that, but it’s necessary if we’re to bring this country back.”

Ted’s voice crackled in Sarge’s ear telling him that all the security people were now contained in the mess hall. Sarge replied with a terse “Roger that,” and stood up. “It looks like all of your people are in place. I’m going to go over and check on the detention facility so when we get these rogues identified, we can move them there.”

Tabor nodded. “We only have two people on staff at detention. There are four prisoners in there right now,” Ed said, then looked at Tabor. “That reminds me. We have that execution scheduled for this afternoon.”

“Execution?” Sheffield asked.

“Yeah, we have three women in there who worked together to poison one of our people. One of them claimed he raped her, but instead of reporting it to us, they killed him. Since he isn’t around to ask, we have to go on what we know: the three of them killed him,” Tabor said.

“Plus, it’s a pretty good message to the rest of the CIs here,” Ed said.

“CI, what’s that?” Sheffield asked.

“Civilian internees,” Sarge said.

Tabor and Ed both looked up. “You been through training?” Tabor asked.

“Yes, I have. I know FM 3-39.40. Before my first deployment to Iraq, my command sent me. It was interesting,” Sarge said with a smile.

“We sure could use someone with some experience like yours. You’d be a big help around here,” Tabor said.

“We’ll have to see what our mission is after this one is done,” Sarge said.

“Well, you’re welcome here, with open arms,” Ed said with a smile.

Sarge smiled back. “I’ll keep it in mind.” He jumped in the Hummer and headed over to pick up Ted so they could see these prisoners.

 • • • 

Aric stopped with his hand on the door to the detention center and took a deep breath. He’d put on his body armor, just to be prepared, and run his head through the plan once more. But he could never have prepared himself for the scene he was met with when he opened the door. He threw the door open to see a bare ass, the owner of which was bent over, pulling his pants down. Two slender naked legs were on either side of him.

“Aric, shut the door, man!” Cortez shouted. He was holding a woman by the arms. It took Aric a moment to recognize who it was. Fred looked back at him with pleading eyes. Aric stepped forward, letting the door shut. In a flash, he drew his Glock and shot Hamner in the side of the head. He dropped like a stone.

“What the fuck!” Cortez shouted, letting go of Fred.

Fred jumped from the desk and grabbed a chair sitting in front of it, raising it quickly and smashing it over Cortez’s head. The blow knocked him to the ground as the chair shattered. Still naked, Fred dropped on top of him and started beating his head in with a chair leg. Aric stood and watched. He’d wanted to do just what she was doing now, but he wasn’t about to try and stop her.

The entire time she shouted unintelligibly, swinging the chair leg again and again. When it was obvious Cortez was dead, Aric finally moved to pull her off, grabbing her under her arms and dragging her away from him. She fought him, clawing and kicking at the body.

When Aric finally managed to pull her off, she collapsed into sobs. Covered in blood, she went limp in his arms and cried. Aric looked around for something to clean her off with and picked up the smock she’d been wearing. He wiped blood from her face and neck as tears rolled down her face. Aric wanted to say something but didn’t have the words.

After cleaning her off, Fred pushed her hair from her face and got dressed. She looked at Aric. “Quick, let’s find the keys so we can let the rest out.”

“Are you all right?”

Fred was in shock, but functional for the moment. “Yeah, let’s find those keys,” she said, grabbing his hand. Fred inched forward, her body obviously in pain. “Keys, can we find the keys?”

“Fred! Fred, what’s going on?” Jess shouted.

“I’m coming to get you, hang on!!”

Aric ran toward the door and flipped the light switch. Fred let out a cry.

“My eyes, oh my God! The light hurts, turn it off, turn it off!” Fred cried.

Aric flipped the lights off then fumbled though his pockets for his flashlight. Flashlight in hand, he ran back to Fred. “Are you all right?”

Fred was hunched over. “The light hurts so bad.” Tears were running down her face.

“I’m so sorry, Fred, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that,” Aric said.

Fred wiped her face. “Let’s get them out.”

“What happened to the guards?” Calvin hollered, clutching his ribs in pain.

“They’re dead,” Fred said.

Calvin, Shane, and Jess all started to ask questions, frantically pleading for Aric and Fred to get them out, quickly. Shane and Jess were both at their doors, the thought of getting out almost too much to take. Aric found the keys on Cortez’s belt and removed them. Fred quickly took them and the small flashlight and ran to Jess’s cell, freeing her. Jess jumped out and wrapped Fred in a bear hug, eyes closed. She couldn’t look in the direction of the entry—the light streaming through the open door burned her eyes.

“Come on, let’s check on Mary,” Fred said as she pulled away.

They ran to the last cell and opened the door. Mary was lying on the floor, motionless. They fell to their knees and turned her over, she didn’t respond.

“Is she dead?” Fred asked.

Jess felt for a pulse. “She has a pulse. Let’s get her out of here.”

“Aric, come help us!” Fred called out.

“Let me out of this damn cell!” Shane screamed, banging on the door.

Aric ran into the cell and picked up the limp Mary, carrying her out to the desk, where there was only a small amount of light. After setting her down, he took the keys and went to the door. Sticking his head out, he saw Kay and waved at her to come. Ducking back in, Aric went to the cell where Shane was still shouting and kicking the door.

When the door swung open, Shane wasn’t expecting what he saw. In the faint light coming through the entry door stood a DHS member in full uniform. . . . He froze, unsure of what to do next.

“It’s all right, man, come on out,” Aric said.

Shane stuck his head out of his cell and looked toward the entry, where he saw Jess and Fred kneeling over Mary. Taking a second glance at Aric, he slid out between him and the door, pressing himself flat so they didn’t touch.

Shane pointed to Calvin’s cell. “Open that one and help me get him out.”

Aric quickly opened the door and Shane hobbled in, kneeling down beside his dad.

“Hey, old dude, how are you?”

“If they’d broken one more, it’d be just like I like it,” Calvin said, forcing a smile as Shane and Aric helped him up.

“Can you move?”

“Depends, are we getting the hell out of here?”

Shane shook his head. “I don’t know, come on.” He helped his father to his feet and out of the cell. They stepped out into the corridor as Aric ran back to where the girls were.

Down the hall, Kay came through the door and immediately stopped. Before her were the bodies of Cortez and Hamner. Jess and Fred were kneeling beside Mary. Kay ran toward them and dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around Jess.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you girls!” she cried into Jess’s hair.

Jess was surprised by the sudden appearance of Kay. “What are you doing here?” She looked at Aric. “And what is he doing here? What the hell is going on?”

Fred looked at Jess. “I told you he was a good guy.”

“He’s getting you out. We’re gonna make a run for it,” Kay said.

Jess and Fred both looked at her, but neither said anything. Fred turned back to Mary and gently slapped the side of her face. “Mary, wake up, wake up, it’s okay now, wake up.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Kay asked.

“It wasn’t easy in here. We were kept in the dark the whole time. . . . They would shine bright lights in our faces and play music really loud for a long time,” Jess said, sounding frantic.

“Oh,” was all she could say in reply. She then quickly looked at Aric, “We need to get out of here. Now.”

 • • • 

Sarge drove across the camp keeping an eye out for anyone in a DHS uniform. All he saw were Guardsmen in ACU digital, which was reassuring.

“These DHS idiots are out of their fucking minds,” Sarge said.

Ted had his arm propped on the edge of the door. “Yeah, how so?”

Sarge looked over. “What they’re doing here is fucking nuts. They’re sorting people and using them for labor, and they also have categories of people they are segregating, basically saying they are undesirables.”

Ted looked over with raised eyebrows. “Really? That’s kind of crazy. What are they doing with them?”

As Sarge pulled up in front of the detention center, he shut the truck down. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”

Ted looked over as he opened his door. “Good idea. There’s something suspicious going on here.”

They walked to the door, Sarge in the lead. He stopped and asked, “You remember those speeches the president made before the election, about transforming the country?”

“You think it has something to do with the Oval Office? He can’t be reelected, though, so why do this, if he’s the one behind it?”

“Maybe he likes the furniture in the White House and doesn’t want to leave,” Sarge said as he grabbed the doorknob.

What lay behind the door was totally confusing. Two cold bodies lay on the floor, one of which had its pants around its ankles. There were four women off to one side, one lying on the ground with the other three kneeling beside her. Sarge took the scene in in an instant, he also saw the other man in a DHS uniform, staring at Sarge with a look akin to someone who just saw an alien or Sasquatch.