Hell Released (Hell Happened Book 3) (23 page)

He knew if the people here had survived, others in other parts of the U.S. had survived and gave him hope that some day they might make contact with others, but the static on the radio made him feel alone. In the darkness of his room, the silence of the house, Russ sighed heavily.

In the morning he’d have to make some very difficult decisions, maybe some of the hardest of his life, but he’d be making them with other people around him and he wouldn’t be alone. It was different before he knew there were other people, when he was living in the house his wife and he had purchased. Then he was waiting to die like everyone else. Now he believed he was going to live and the thought of being alone again, or for their little community to be alone in the world, brought heaviness to his mood.

He was running through the AM band again, hoping to hear anything bounced off the atmosphere from somewhere in the world when there was a knock at his door.

“Russ? Still awake?”

Russ sat up and turned on his light. “Sure Lisa, what can I do for you?”

“Don’t ask loaded questions to a lonely lady at your bedroom door,” she said with that elfish smile she liked to favor him with.

Russ didn’t know how to respond so he turned off the radio. “What’s bothering you, Lisa?”

She took his statement as an invitation and came into his room and sat down at the foot of his bed. “I don’t know, Russ. I was in my room reading in that big bed and I was missing my husband so much. My husband was my best friend and more than just a guy I loved and promised to cherish forever, I liked him. He was unique and he was quirky and he smoked too much, but by the Grace of God, he was a man I loved.”

Russ watched her face. Tears fell from her dark green eyes and her hands wrung in an effort to bleed off energy.

Russ didn’t know how to help her. His wife had always been so strong and able to muddle through the separations because of duty and she wouldn’t’ve ever said anything about Russ like Lisa was saying about her late husband.

Russ watched Lisa. Her head was bowed and silent tears fell.

Just on the hope he was doing the right thing, He pulled the covers down and patted the pillow beside him. She climbed into bed and Russ turned off the light. There was nothing sexual with her hugging him. Russ knew it was just a way for Lisa to reaffirm there was someone else alive who cared for her.

“Thanks, Russ. You’re a good guy,” she said as they got comfortable in the twin bed.

“Thanks, Lisa. You’re okay yourself,” he told her as she rearranged a pillow on his arm.

The room grew quiet for a few minutes. Lisa kept re-adjusting how she was laying until finally she told him. “We’re going to have to switch sides. I can’t sleep on this side of you.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. You’re on the wrong side of me too.”

In the darkness, instead of climbing out of bed and moving to the other side, Lisa climbed over his body. Russ was careful with his hands to guide the woman crawling over him in the darkness. She smelled good and felt good. Even at 62, the feel of a woman this close, wearing nothing but a nightgown, was enough to stir primal feelings. He was fortunate she moved quickly across his body.

They got comfortable and Russ admitted, it felt good to have her warm body against his and now on the correct side.

“Don’t piss me off tomorrow, and maybe I’ll let you sleep in my room tomorrow night. The bed is bigger.”

“I’ll do my best to avoid pissing you off,” he said, just above a whisper. “Good night.” She tapped three fingers on his side to acknowledge him and the two of them fell asleep together.

That was the extent of their interaction the rest of the night except for the occasional “sorry” when one accidently pulled to hard on the covers. Lisa was up first, minutes before the clock turned over to 6 a.m. Russ waited until she left for her own room before getting out of bed. They’d held each other through the night and he was sure each of them dreamed of long times passed. He didn’t want to have to face her with an awkward situation after such a pleasant night of rest.

He showered and put on a clean uniform. It was new like the others Lisa had found. He ran a quick brush over his boots to knock the dust off and went downstairs. He must have been much faster than Lisa because he had coffee made, eggs in a frying pan and toast popping out of the toaster by the time she came down stairs.

It was an awkward meeting so Russ pushed passed it with “How do you like your eggs, ma’am.”

“Busted yolk between buttered toast,” she replied, pouring coffee.

“They’ll be ready in three minutes,” he said, breaking the yolks on her eggs and putting the cover over the frying pan and started buttering her toast.

“Is this something you usually do,” she waved a hand at the breakfast meal, “or only after a night of sleeping with a strange woman?” she asked. She had moved over to the table.

“No ma’am. I once made breakfast for my whole staff after we spent a night hiding in a dumpster in Botswana. I think it helps keep everything in perspective that no matter what happens, a good breakfast is the best way to improve morale after night of fear.”

There was a pause while Russ loaded up the plates and walked them over to the table. “I wasn’t afraid last night, Russ. Okay, maybe a little. I was feeling more like we had all these great plans that were almost destroyed because we were just hoping that no more bad could happen.

“Now we know it can and we have to be more careful.”

Russ nodded, his mouth full of food. When he swallowed he said “that’s an excellent point I would like you to bring up at the morning meeting.”

“Oh you bet your striped boxers I will.” Russ could hear the impishness return in her comment.

“How did you know I was wearing striped boxers?” he asked, knowing she had probably checked to make sure he had clean clothes and that included his undershorts, but by giving her an opening for her flirtatious side, allowed the woman to be who she was.

“I peeked before you woke up,” she said and he knew without looking she would be looking innocent and pious if he chose to look.

“Uh huh,” he said and finished his breakfast. The two washed the dishes making small talk and avoided discussing any community business. Russ, like Lisa, wanted to keep this house they were living in as free of the troubles of the outside world as best they could.

Russ was wiping off the counters and looking in the refrigerator to see what foods they had in stock when he noticed some of his neighbors were already heading over to the armory. He called to Lisa who was upstairs doing something and she was already coming down the stairs. She had his field jacket with her so he went around turning off any lights and took his field jacket from her. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” she returned with a smile and made sure it looked good. “Can’t have the commander looking like JSTRB.”

“What in God’s name is JTR whatever you said?” he asked opening the door to a brisk Indiana spring morning.

“No, JSTRB. It’s what my husband used to call the enlisted men on his staff when they came in looking less than proper military. It stands for ‘Joe Shit the Rag Bag.’ He used to be real big on military decorum and how to wear a uniform.”

“Well then, I’ll do my best to make sure I always look my best when in uniform.”

Russ and Lisa walked with Deputy Doug, Fred and Sgt. Bare to the armory. The three of them had taken up residence together. It wasn’t any of Russ’ business why they chose that arrangement, but he thought it an unusual trio. Doug and Erica both saluted the former colonel and he returned their salutes smartly. Fred slapped his chest three or four times and breathed in deeply before saying “It’s gonna be a good day.”

Lisa warmly wished them all a good morning.

They walked down the middle of the road, the five of them. Fred was sharing some of his stories of what he’d find in cars that came into the shop where he worked for 11 years. Erica and Doug were laughing because for being a minimum-wage earning oil changer, he had a knack for telling stories that were interesting and entertaining and often outrageously funny.

Fred hit the highlight of his story just as they were walking up to the front door. “…and I shit you not, ladies and gentlemen, the guy could not understand why I couldn’t put plastic bags of drugs inside the oil filter so he could get them across the border.

“No matter how many times I told him, he still tried it and two weeks later he was busted in his busted down car. The cops found the drugs in the oil filter.”

The entire group laughed at his tale. Whether it was true or not, they didn’t care. It was funny enough to sound true. Captain Eldred was opening the door for them even as Doug was reaching for it.

“Morning everyone,” the cherubic little man said to them. “And there’s Jennie and her group coming now,” he said indicating the three who hadn’t showed up, including Jennie the farmer and Todd the computer expert. “Coffee’s on in the conference room. It’ll start warming up in here soon enough. Pvt. Lucien got the generator started and furnaces going straight away. He’s a pretty smart kid.”

At 8 a.m. everyone was in the conference room, seated and with their morning drink of choice. All but Lisa and Russ were armed with an M16 or M4 rifle. Russ carried Colt Python .357 in a shoulder holster that Doug had found. Lisa carried a small .38 caliber in a similar holster.

“Welcome everyone. Let’s get down to business because I know we have a lot of work to get done today.

“Yesterday we salvaged enough fuel to keep our houses, the armory and the big freezers in the commissary running for several hundred days. Eventually, next year probably, we’ll have to design and install some type of power system that is sustainable without having access to oil.

“This morning, I’ll finish running power to the commissary,” Russ told them, standing up to his white board to fill out their current projects with details. “I’m going to need a hand from Bob,” he added, nodding in the direction of the vending machine repairman.

“While you get that running, we’ll finish transporting the non-perishables to the store house at the end of the cul-de-sac,” Lisa told him.

Todd told the group every house would be fully set up with computers by the end of the day and the main server was already installed and running. He was going to bring in at least four more for information storage. He’d printed instructions on using and accessing the server.

Sgt. Bare said she’d found the radio equipment she’d need to set up a decent transmitter, but was going to need an antenna moved to the area. Hilario asked for Devon’s help to find drilling equipment for long-term water for the community. Russ said the three should work together today, focusing on getting Bare’s project up and running.

When everyone was sure of what projects they’d all be working on, some of the people started getting up to attend to their jobs. Before they could Russ raised his hand to get their attention.

“One more thing,” he said, “I’d like to make sure everyone who feels comfortable with it, carry one of the M16s or M4s Deputy Doug cleaned and prepared yesterday. Keep them ready. We found out last night, that not everyone who comes here is going to be peaceful.” This was the point he wanted Lisa to bring up, but since people looked like they were getting ready to leave, Russ wanted to make his point as well as address their other concern.

“We have two prisoners right now and we have to think of how we are going to deal with people like them….”

“Um, colonel,” Sgt. Bare interrupted him, her smooth, gentle voice playing contrast with the firm deep baritone of Russ’. “We had us a little pow wow among us enlisted and those living with us, which is everyone, but you, the captain and Lisa, while you were locking up those two guys last night. Some of us thought you were taking them somewhere to kill them.

“When the captain came back last night, I went to his house and when he told us you two locked them up, some of us were surprised.” She favored both the Marine Lance Corporal and Fred and two others with glances.

“We came to an agreement that we’re going to follow what you say and assume that it is right and in our best interests,” the young NCO said with conviction. “Look at us. We’re none of us near as old or as experienced as you are and none of us has the experience with martial law or anything like that.

“But we do know we’ve only been with you for a few days and we’re living in houses with power and had a barbecue. No disrespect to the captain because he’s just a few years older than most people at the table and did a good job with less, but we’re all agreed that we’ll back you in what you decide to do with them.

“We think you have some good ideas and if we’re going to restart the United States of America, we’re going to do it right here at Ft. Benjamin Harrison. You don’t need to explain everything to us because we’re all adults, and some things we just haven’t experienced or learned in life yet. The captain made you the commander and we agree, all of us, that we’re better off today than we were two days ago and whatever you decide to do with the prisoners is cool with us.”

She’d finished what she’d wanted to say and sat back down. The people around the table nodded, or just looked between Russ and the female Army sergeant.

“Honestly, I haven’t made a decision on what to do with them yet. What I want to do is keep them interred and give them enough food for three small meals a day. They aren’t working so they don’t need the calories.