"Yea, this isn't new to me. Mad dog kept us all in a state of emergency. This is a piece of cake."
"Good. It looks like this is going to be a long night. Do you think you could talk someone into making some coffee?
"No problem."
She left and I crawled to the dresser and grabbed the water and plate and scooted back to the window. After checking to make sure it was still clear, I ate the sandwich and drank half a bottle of water. Then I got sleepy. I got up and walked the kinks out staying out of the line of fire then crept back over to the window and scanned the area again. I found the guy that had fallen onto the RV and saw that he was moving.
Mason you'd better watch that guy that fell on the RV. He's moving and he might get too close.
Okay, I'm on it.
Where's that coffee?
Just then I heard a psst from the door way and noticed Alice with a large travel mug of coffee.
"Keep it coming. Looks like a long night."
"No problem. Just whistle when you need more."
"Gotcha! Thanks."
Bang! A bullet hit the doorjamb near Alice's arm.
"You missed asshole." she shouted, then winked at me and disappeared from view. Not much scares her it seems. Which is good cause the other guys needed someone like her.
I'm ok guys. That was aimed at Alice and he missed. Looks like a long night ahead and coffee is coming.
BOOM!!
A rain of rocks caused me to duck my head even though they weren't close. I sighed and scanned the area again. Yep, a long night indeed.
Chapter 15
I awoke with a start. I'd fallen asleep again. Quickly, I scanned the area then yelled at Mason.
What's going on Mason?
I fell asleep.
OOPS! Woke him up.
Damn, JD, you startled me. Duke is trying to fix the feed from your side. When he gets it, he'll let you know so you can come down. You want me to send someone up to spell you?
Hell no, I'm ok. I didn't mean to wake you but you'd been quiet for too long. Tell Duke I can wait for him to fix it. No problem.
I wasn't asleep, brat. I love it when you get so brave. Makes my little heart flutter.
Shaking my head, I went into the bathroom to splash cold water in my face and try to wake up. It was nearly 3 am, and that's the time I have problems staying awake. If I keep fighting it, I'll be ok around 4 am. But 3 am is a sleepy time for me. I discovered my coffee had gotten cold. I can't tolerate cold coffee, although, I know a lot of people that drink it iced. Yuk. It has to be hot for me. I drank it down anyway because I needed the caffeine, then shuddered from head to toe.
I'd just sat back down when a red dot lit up the poor deer picture on the wall opposite. He'd been hit once already and looked pitiful enough, so I hoped he didn't get hit again. I followed the dot with my eyes as it searched for me. I should have been scared but I was more interested than anything. What was this guy thinking? The dot stopped on the deer again and I tensed, waiting for the shot but it didn't come. It blinked out, instead, then about five seconds later blinked back on again. Ah, I see. He thought I'd move when he shut off the laser and then he could catch me. I blew a raspberry at the window.
Hello! You still awake down there. I've got a sniper red dotting your deer again. What me to take him out?
Just a minute, JD, I think we have this camera finally working right. Yea, it's ok, why don't you slip down here, and we'll keep each other company.
On my way. I slipped out the door and like a fool left my hand on the doorjamb when the sniper let loose. It felt like a hot poker had pierced my hand. I grabbed it and went downstairs dripping blood the whole way.
Ask Joe to meet me at the clinic. I've been hit.
A commotion like you ain't never heard commenced. Lacy flew out of her room and Mason out of Dukes' Domain. I was practically carried to the clinic, complaining all the way. Joe grabbed me and proceeded to torture me while Mason yelled at me and Lacy cried. Geez! It's just my hand, for Pete's sake.
"Oh for heavens sake, it's just my hand. Take it easy. Lacy, get out and take coffee upstairs."
"Don't tell me what to do, you just got shot, JD. Shot!"
"I know. Dammit Joe, take it easy.
"Let him do his job, if you'd been paying more attention..."
"Don't you start, Meat head, I was doing just fine till you decided I could come out and play. Ouch! Shit Joe, what are you doing?"
"Look," he said, backing off and putting his hands on his hips, "if you want to be able to use that hand again, I get to do my job without all this damned bickering. Mason, get out. I can't take it. Leave. Now!"
Mason squinted his eyes at me and stomped out of the room. I squinted back until I saw Joe and then I decided to cooperate. This man can really inflict pain when he works. I smiled sweetly at him, lay back and shut up. Lacy glared at me too then left to do a coffee run.
By the time he decided he'd done his worst, I was in tears. He nailed me with pain killers and just before I went to sleep I heard Mason come in and tell him that he'd taken out the sniper. How did he do that with one arm, I wondered and then was out.
My hand hurt. Joe tells me it should. I had at least two bones broken not to mention a large hole it it. He had it wrapped up and taped to my chest because every time I put it below my heart it throbbed like hell. I was ok with it taped to my left boob. Just as long as he quit checking it Leave it alone is my motto. It'll heal in due time. Still, every time he looked in my direction, my heart sped up and I glared at him. He thought it was funny but he should have been afraid, very afraid.
I was sitting in Dukes Domain watching the monitors with Mason and Duke. Half our crew was asleep because they would take the night shift. Until the Dirty Dozen at the gate gave up and left, we had to keep watch. They weren't doing much at the moment that we could see. They were having a meeting in the back of a large army truck. The star insignia of the army still visible on the door. It had a tarp over the cargo area and that was where the meeting was taking place. The truck was a good choice to use because you it would operated on just about any type of fuel...diesel fuel, kerosene, heating oil or gas, but if you use gas you have to have a quart of clean motor oil per 15 gallons so you "properly lubricate the injector pump", so says Howard.
"How much longer are we gonna let them play their game?" I asked.
"Not much longer", mumbled Duke, "they're down about half of their crew. Some were bitten and were put down pretty quick. We've taken out the rest when they decided to storm the place while you were napping." He looked over his shoulder at me and grinned. I help up my bandaged hand in a salute to him. It wasn't a one-finger salute but I got my point across. He just laughed and went back to looking at the monitor.
"We have a plan or do you want to wait till Christmas and serve them poisoned turkey?"
"Now, JD, you're being nasty again. Are you in pain?" asked Joe.
I refused to be baited by the likes of him. He was an amateur at baiting so I ignored him. Suddenly everyone in the room tensed and I watched the monitor to see what the hell they were doing now. A man stepped out with a grenade launcher aimed at the lodge.
"Randy you have a go." Mason said into a mike he had pinned to his shirt.
I couldn't hear the shot but when the man dropped to the ground, I was startled anyway. The canvas on the truck behind him was splattered with blood and people began to fall out the rear onto the ground, then rolled under the truck. Several men began to fire in the direction they thought the shot had been fired from, throwing round after round in Randy's direction.
Shit,
Randy thought,
they've killed the damned tree. I'm ok though.
"He's okay," I told the others.
Stay put, you got the guy. Good job.
About then another man jumped up with another grenade launcher aimed at us. Damn how many of those things do they have?
"Go for it James," Mason whispered into the mike.
Another shot rang out from a different direction, hitting the man in the shoulder, sending him to the ground. Again, the group killed the trees from the direction of the shot.
"I'm good," James whispered.
"What are they doing out there?" I asked, having missed the meeting while I 'napped'.
"We have several people out there in the trees keeping an eye on them. When I give the word, they shoot and change positions as soon as possible. They've been quiet for so long, we knew they were working up to a big push, so we put out a safety net. It won't be long now, we're just waiting for the right time to send them on their way."
"When will that be?"
"After those volley of shots it shouldn't be long now."
We waited for over two hours for the 'right time'. Four times, we had to shoot one of their men, four times they shot up the forest. If they kept it up, walkers would descend on them like rain. The road behind them were littered with bodies as it was so I hoped they gave up soon. The mess they'd leave behind would be a lousy way to spend a day.
Sarah brought us lunch. She said walkers were falling off the cliff behind us again. Lacy and George were finishing them off while the guys slept. There weren't many but enough to keep them from resting. I was wiping my mouth with a napkin when I noticed something on one of the monitors.
Pointing, I asked, "What's that?"
Everyone looked at me and I realized the expression I had used was the one Mandy likes to use when things were about to get nasty. I shrugged and turned back to the monitors. Duke brought the monitor in question up on the main 52 inch monitor and we saw the 'that' in question was a herd of walkers headed towards the Dirty Dozen's position. "That is the 'right time'. I want absolute silence here."
Clearing his throat he opened the mike. "May I have your attention please? Hello!.... Ladies!.... Shut the hell up and listen." That did it. They shut up and turned in circles looking for the speakers. There were several speakers so they didn't know where the voice was coming from. "We have appreciated your attempt to gain access to our home. It's been an interesting diversion from our otherwise boring existence but it really must end. Since you have shown such perseverance and initiative we have decided to reward you by showing you some mercy. Here it is: There is a herd of about 30 walkers coming up the road behind you."
They all started to get uneasy. Some started to edge towards the large truck, one picked up the grenade launcher and looked down the road.
"Don't believe them, they're just lying to get rid of us. We can still take them." The leader yelled.
"I really don't care if you believe me or not. It will just be more entertainment for us. If you haven't noticed, we have done fine while half of your people are dead, most of them killed by walkers. We're safe, secure, well fed and are equipped to stay that way for over six months. You are not. We are sleeping and showering and you are not. We don't care about you, but we have decided to give you this one warning. You have about 15 minutes before you have a real problem on your hands. I wouldn't go on up the hill, it leads to a cliff. If you're going to leave, do it now. It was so nice of you to visit but I think the next time we won't be able to offer you our fine hospitality. We will kill you on sight. Have a nice day."
The guy with the grenade launcher was so nervous that he shot it off making the rest of the team duck under the truck again. I guess they were waiting for us to shoot him like the others. The leader grabbed the launcher from him and hit him with it then turned to see people jumping in and on trucks preparing to leave.
"You can't leave. We are hours away from taking the lodge. If you leave, everyone will have died for nothing. Get back here. That's an order. You'll be held in contempt if you leave."
"I think you mean they are committing treason if they disobey an order." One of the men said, "It's over. Stay or go, but I'm leaving." The truck started to leave when the leader stood in front of the truck.
"I order you to stand down." He said with his hands on his hips.
"I will shoot you if you don't move. We quit fighting them and started fighting walkers yesterday. They've won. Now step aside or I'll run you over."
After several seconds the truck started to move. The leader stepped to one side, then jumped on the side board when the truck moved passed him. I hated to say it but if he planned to ride down the mountain that way the walkers would pick him off pretty quickly. Soon only dust was visible on the road.
We stumbled to the door and stepped out on the porch. We could hear the sound of guns and large military weapons move down the mountain towards the road. The sound slowly died down to nothing and the dust disappeared. I sat in the rocker and waited and when I heard the first bird I knew it was over.
Randy, James, Brandon and Alice the seamstress came walking down the road, looking tired and dirty their guns slung over their shoulders. Smiles spread across their faces as they staggered back to the lodge where they were given a hero's welcome with cold water and sandwiches. They sat on the porch and laughed and talked about their experiences while I watched and wondered about the mild mannered seamstress with the machine gun.