Authors: J. Richardson
The
whole family at times, worked on the house next door for over two
weeks. Each day they built a fire in the fireplace. In warm clothes,
with the back door open, they wore their masks when working inside.
Removing dead vermin and what appeared to be the remains of a possum
and cleaning everything with bleach, burning some things in a pile in
the back. The windows, except for some in the very back were boarded
up. The yard became one with Jack and Beth's yard and fencing was put
up, much of it found at the back boundary of the church. Barb wire
was harder to locate, they took some up from old fencing deep in the
woods.
Finally,
by the end of the third week the compound encompassed two brick
houses, with a huge long yard area. The new house was clean and
smelled livable. The moving in, and re-locating was complete.
Supplies had been stored in new places, creating a little breathing
room and the maintenance shop had expanded to occupy Jack's big
garage. It was hard work, but all were pleased with the results. Big
Dog and Little Dog, sprinted excitedly from one end of the combined
yards to next, the children not far behind them. The unoccupied
little trailer was moved to the far corner of the new yard. Of
course, this was a much larger area to keep secure, it was decided
that three guards would have to work on each four hour shift, new
schedules were made. Now everyone could take possession of their new
spaces.
The
evening of the day that everything was finished, Lee and Lynn asked
everyone to gather before dinner. To each other, they repeated their
own words of love and commitment. Dane said, “And we pronounce
you, man and wife.” Everyone applauded. Tonight, Lee and Lynn
would also take possession of their new space and start their new
partnership.
The
compound, their lifeboat had grown to resemble more of a Noah's Ark.
And they would all soon be awash in the floods of trouble.
The
first wave came as a spell of very cold winter weather. There was an
ice storm, with some snow flurries. The temperatures dropped to below
freezing and stayed for two more days. This made guard duty and all
chores pretty miserable to accomplish. Jack and Beth had a very steep
driveway, when it was iced, no vehicle went up or down. The War Wagon
was going nowhere. They went through nearly all of their firewood,
trying to keep the two houses just tolerable. The young children
slept in front of the fireplaces.
After
a couple of days, the temps did rise above freezing and the ice
melted. A trip to find more firewood was imperative. Jack, Dane and
Eric were in the War Wagon. Jason drove the mower, with the small
trailer behind. They moved along, in front of the compound and around
the corner to the break in the fence. They could access the church
back lot and go across to the woods. They had a chainsaw, it began to
buzz, cutting into small trees. Dane had a hatchet and was knocking
off limbs, Eric and Jason were loading wood. In a lull, when the
chainsaw was just idling, there was the sound of motorcycles in the
church lot behind them. They were deep in the woods, not visible.
They killed the chainsaw and moved back towards the edge of the
woods, on foot.
On
the other side of some Sunday School buildings, across the paved
church lot, a small caravan rumbled along. This was not a happy
circus caravan. There were only a couple of old motorcycles, but
there were a couple of riding mowers, a four wheeler and an old truck
that seemed to be on it's very last leg. The riders were a rough
group, dirty and torn clothes, scraggly beards and long greasy hair.
Jack could see plenty of guns. They moved directly towards the back
fence perimeter of the compound. Wave two of trouble was roaring
towards them.
The
four men moved as fast as they could in the cover of the rumbling
motors, back to the War Wagon to get more guns and ammo. Before they
reached them and could return to the church lot, they heard shots
being fired, they ran back towards the trouble. The thugs had fired
at the fence, they were confident, not attempting any stealth. Jack
and the others moved as low as they could, up behind the Sunday
School buildings. One of the invaders yelled at the fence, “Hey,
in there, we have come to deal a little!”
“
F---king
A!” yelled
another
and shot
a
rifle into the air.
From
behind the buildings, Jack saw a small hatch open in the fence and an
AR muzzle poked out. A shot blazed out from the muzzle. Lee's loud
voice floated over the fence. “You get the Hell out of here. We
have nothing to deal with you about.” After the first encounter
with intruders way back in the summer, the men built some hatches in
the fence to fire out of. Another shot rang out, from another hatch
and one of the men fell from his mower.
“
Dam-mit
to Hell,” shouted
the
man on the lead motorcycle and several of the riders started
shooting
at
the fence. There was a yelp of pain from behind the fence. Another
hatch opened
in
the fence and two more riders went
down.
One motorcycle slammed
to
the ground, another mower was riderless. Jack, Jason, Eric and Dane
moved
out
from behind the buildings and towards the partially disabled group of
thugs,
they
were shooting as they moved. The motorcycle spun
around
and tried
to
run over Dane. He stumbled
back
but got
off
a shot, hitting the back tire of the cycle. The cycle went
sliding
across the paved lot, the rider rolled
off.
Jason shot
him
just as he rose
to
his knees. The truck came
screeching
up and the man on the four wheeler jumped
in
the back. It made
a
wide circle and shuddered, coughing and smoking, left
the
lot. As the truck swirled
by
them, Jack saw
a
young girl sitting in the truck seat right next to the driver, she
threw
up
her middle finger at them. Eric shot
out
a back tire, they kept
on
gyrating along.
Jack
remembered the cry of pain from behind the fence and was filled with
dread. “Jason, you and Eric go get the wagon and the mower and
get them back in the garage. We will unload the wood and come back
and move these bodies. Dane and I are going to check on everybody
inside. Jack and Dane jogged back to the garage door, checked to be
sure no one was nearby and rapped out the entry code. One of the
boys, Matt pulled up the door. “Who got hurt?” asked
Jack.
Matt
answered, “It's Tate, Poppa. He is bleeding a lot. We put him
in the living room.”
Jack
hurried to the house. Tate was laid out on the common room floor, on
some sheets that were soaked with blood. Beth was trying to clean off
a wound in his side, Kat, sobbing but trying to help. She was
beginning her nurse training, when things went bad, so she had some
basic first aid knowledge. Jack had emergency training with the fire
department and knew a little more,
if I can remember a damn bit of
the s---.
He looked around and saw a ring of worried and upset
faces, little BJ among them, he sobbed and looked with horror at his
daddy on the floor.
Jack
took charge, “Mindy, you and Michelle take BJ and find the
little girls. You go in the other room and keep them busy. It's okay,
Tate is going to be fine.” Michelle reached down and lifted BJ
and they went to find Nicky and Brook. “Kat, you are going to
have to pull yourself together, I need your help.”
Beth
said, “I have already put some water on the cooker to boil. I
brought all of our first aid supplies here. I have tried to clean up
the wound. It is here in his side, he is in a lot of pain and I am
afraid to move him much.” Tate moaned and he seemed to be
pretty much in shock.
“
Good
girl.” Jack removed
the
red soaked towel and sees a bullet hole still oozing out Tate's
blood. He lifted
him
as gently as he could. Tate cried
out.
Jack is relieved to see an exit hole. The bullet went through the
fleshy tissue, next to Tate's ribs. It might have nicked a rib,
hopefully had
not
hit any vital organs. “Kat, go see if that water is
boiling...go girl, I think he is going to be fine.
”
“
But,
Poppa, there is so much blood,” sobs Kat.
Jack
said again, “The bullet went all the way through and that is
good. Just go get the water Kat.” He used the supplies to
disinfect and bind up Tate's wound. They chose some of the pain
medication and antibiotics and got them down him. Jack was not sure
that these were exactly the right meds but it should help. Lee, who
had remained watch at the back fence, came in and he and a couple of
the boys got Tate into he and Kat's bedroom and onto the bed. He
already seemed a little more eased. “If we can keep him from
getting an infection, he will be good. He is going to be sore as
hell, though. You have to be responsible for keeping that dressing
clean” said Jack and gave Kat a hug.
“
I
can do that,”
she
managed
a
small smile. “Thanks, Poppa”.
Jack
went to the living room, where Beth and the other girls had rolled up
the soiled sheets and were scrubbing up. He sat down, exhausted, in a
chair.
God, I could have handled all of this a lot better, twenty
years ago.
He was thankful they had avoided being sick over the
last few months. Maybe because they had made their small fortress and
kept it as clean and squared away as possible. Infection and disease
was much more of an enemy than any evil monsters, out there. He let
himself hope that Tate would be well.
The
gore was cleaned away. Jack was resting, Beth fixed him a cup of
coffee with a shot of bourbon in it and the two of them sat in front
of the fire. The others unloaded the firewood and then insisted that
they could go dispose of the
rubbish
in the church parking
lot. The far side of the church had become a graveyard of sorts and
they added the four bodies. It seemed that fresh meat becomes food
for the many animals that run wild everywhere now. Only bones
remained of the bodies that got deposited there, months before. One
of the boys, rode the four wheeler and they pushed the motorcycle
into the garage. They had acquired three more guns, the man that
escaped must have managed to scoop up the fourth. They now would have
two four wheelers, the mower and a motorcycle...if they could find a
tire...added to the War Wagon, in their transportation options.
The
short day quickly stretched into the dark. Jack and Beth had spent
the last hours, sitting by the fire and checking on Tate. They were
weary. The new and necessary physical activity had actually been good
for them but the burden of concern for their family was a heavy
weight that took it toll on their hearts. The others continued the
daily routine. The soiled sheets soaked in a tub of water, they
couldn't afford to throw away things these days. The children played,
sitting on the floor behind Jack and Beth. The girls planned and
prepared the evening meal, the watches were started. In the
after
,
this had nearly became a typical day.
February
remained cold but no more icy weather. March was windy like the norm,
many days were warm and tiny specks of green showed on the trees and
ground. Tate was young and he had healed well. Thanks to some quick
care and antibiotics there had been no sign of infection. He liked to
show off his scars to the family. Two of the youngest, Brook and BJ
came down with fever, sore throat and bad coughs. The family, were
all very concerned because any serious illness could be dangerous.
There was no clinic on the corner to get care. On the book shelf in
the common living room, there were several old medical books that
belonged to Beth's mother, who had been a nurse. There was also a
thick home remedy book and Beth had pages of material that she had
printed out,
before,
that
detailed
the
antibiotics and the best use of each. These books had
been
invaluable tools. Big Dog and Little Dog lay
faithfully
beside the little one's cots while they were so ill.
Some
children's aspirin and tiny doses of the correct antibiotics, after
about three days the little ones were
running
around again.
Much
to the relief of all.