The Broken and the Dead

The next morning I was ripped from my slumber by such a high pitched scream that its source could only be Lucy. Wearing only my ‘tighty-whiteys’ and carrying my M16 I ran into the crowded hallway, everyone seemed just as confused as I. Lots of cries like “what happened?” and “who is on watch?” just merged into one great mumble. Rico came down from the roof and the Lieutenant from downstairs watch. They seemed just as shocked as the rest of us. In ones and twos the group first peered into the bath then they silently stepped away. When I got there with Elaine right behind me I saw Mom Driscol holding Lucy and Mrs. Livingston kneeling next to her, gently stroking her hair. They were telling her that it would be okay and that they were going to take her downstairs and get her something to eat.

That was when I saw Mrs. Franks, she was lying face up in the bottom of the tub. Water lapped at the edge and quite a bit was on the floor. She was fully dressed and was wearing a fancy black dress I had not seen before. Her knees were bent, together and leaning against the side of the tub. The wet dress must have been a long one because it went over her knees and back down her legs and it floated around her calves. I heard Elaine gasp behind me and they ushered Lucy out of the room. I wanted to run out of there myself but the corpse held me there as if it wanted to tell me something. Her blond hair now streaked with grey floated around her face making a slowly evolving picture frame. Her eyes were open and just for a moment I thought she blinked and I stepped back, the strangest thing of all; she was smiling. Darnell put his hand on my shoulder and said softly

“J-dude why don’t you get dressed and head on downstairs, Rico and I can take care of things.”

I nodded, turned and walked quickly out of the room.

Continued, Scout Mission

Long before Lucy found Mrs. Franks the Assault Team, or as Rico liked to call them, The A-Team, were back on the road. They had gone through one town at day break and found no survivors and the remains they found were in a terrible state, the SSgt. speculated that the people may have been evacuated early on and these few were just the ones who decided to stay. They searched a grocery but found very little except rotten meat and decayed fruits and vegetables. They had a little more luck at a Five & Dime where they found an untouched fishing rod display and several dozen spools of varying strength line and a rack of assorted lures. The small things were put into a big white plastic bucket and the rods and reels were bundled together with some Velcro self-adhesive packing straps they found. They came in a 50 yard roll, were cut to length and were reusable; pretty cool really.

By nine A.M. they were on the outskirts of another small town that was nestled in a small valley and lay alongside of a river. The watched from high up on a nearby hill, there was movement of the Z sort down below. Janey christened the groups of four Zs to be Quads, and there were two quads working their way from either end of the town intending to meet in the middle. They were systematic; street by street, building by building they entered them three at a time with one Z waiting in the street. It looked as if this town too was empty when a shotgun blast rang out from one of the houses, it was followed by a scream, the Z in the street watched until a moment later the Z that had entered the building reappeared, and it seemed no worse for wear. “Shit” the Staff Sergeant muttered as he handed the binoculars to OMT, he then whispered “center of town, north side of the square, roof of the post office.” “I see them.” OMT answered, “I count three, two kids and either a young man or older teen with a hunting rifle.” he said. Barnes said there were two more at least, a man with a hand gun and a woman who might have been carrying a baby.

“Shit” Janey added.

OMT handed her the binoculars.

“Now what Tucker?”

The Sergeant asked. There was a pause before he said

“A new plan Vince, a new plan.”

The A-team had no idea how many people were actually in the post office and the two quads were closing too quickly anyway to just pull up and honk the horn. That leaves two options; leave or wipe out the quads.

“We need a trap, we need them where we want them” OMT said.

“How about there? “ Vince said.

He pointed to a long narrow alley that ran between a two story, windowless ware house and a parking lot with a 10’ tall, chain link fence topped with concertina wire on the other.

“We put a claymore at one end, Janey up on the roof of the building, I lead them down the alley, once clear Mr. Mine knocks them down, Janey pops up on the roof shooting down, Tucker you come out from behind those oil drums in the lot with your Thompson, if there is anything left I pick them off from the Humvee.” Vince described.

“Hmmmm” Janey said, “How do Mr. Tucker and I not get found out? The Zs haven’t searched there yet?”

“We will have to get in place after they pass.” OMT said as if thinking aloud.

“You will have to follow the quad and set up once they move on.” Vince said.

“So we are supposed to silently follow a group of super human-hunters? Do I have that right?”

Janey asked. The two men looked at each other for a moment then almost as one they said

“Yeah, that’s about right.”

“Just checking.” Janey said.

Vince smiled, “Out fucking standing.” he said.

OMT and Janey armed themselves, OMT took the claymore in its bandolier, and a back with a Colt .45 model 1911 in it along with the spare mag for the Thompson and two for the Colt. Janey had her M4 and two spare thirty round magazines.

“Alright” Vince said, “When you are in place and set up, Janey you signal me with this mirror, no radios just in case, okay?”

Janey took the mirror and nodded.

“Let’s go then.” OMT said.

The old man and the girl started off down the road towards the little town with the Marine nervously watching them with the binoculars.

Continued, Frank’s Family Lodge

Rico and Deputy Weir dug a grave up on the hill for Mrs. Franks next to her husband’s. Everyone came to say goodbye, even Lucy who seemed to have recovered from her early morning shock. She had a death grip with one hand on Ronald Bear with one arm and on Elaine’s right leg with the other. The Deputy had returned to the lodge to take over-watch for Kyle and his sister so they could come up with the rest of us. As I looked around the circle around the grave I noticed a few things: 1) Elaine had really done a great job with Lucy since Mom was killed, 2) except for OMT who didn’t really count, Mrs. Driscol was the last adult from our original group, and 3) I saw that Mrs. Driscol was sobbing uncontrollably, Lucy was in shock, and everyone else seemed sad, I felt nothing. I wasn’t sad or upset, I didn’t mind being there but it was more like I was watching a pre-school soccer game. It was there but it didn’t matter if there were any goals or not. So what if Mrs. Franks decided to check out? At least she got to pick the time and manner of her death, that was more than most of us would get.

Mr. Livingston read two things from the bible, first was the one about everything having a season but the second one I had never heard before, it was something about how we should not fear evil men because they would dry up and blow away. I liked that, I liked the idea that evil men, the evil monsters, would not last forever. It dawned on me that maybe, just maybe Mr. Livingston was right and that someday the Zs would dry up and blow away. The trick was to stay alive long enough until that happened.

I started to turn and walk away when Mrs. Livingston’s wrinkled hand grabbed my shoulder,

“Just a minute boy, we are going to sing now.”

I looked up at her and she seemed rather sure of her announcement so I stayed and sing we did.

“Shall We Gather at the River”

We sang softly, barely audibly really but I even knew most of the words. When that was over everyone started back to the house except for Rico and Kyle who stayed behind to fill the grave in, the hill seemed longer going down than it did going up. I was walking off to one side from the others when I saw that Mrs. Livingston was veering on an intercept course towards me.

“Just a minute Johnny,” Mrs. Livingston said, “can I speak with you a minute.”

“Sure” I said and I stopped to face her.

She wrapped a lacey shawl around herself, she looked over at her husband who was walking next to Lucy and holding the little girls hand. She smiled a sad smile and looked back to me.

“Johnny, do you know anything about those cars over there?”

She nodded with her head into the forest. I looked in the direction she indicated and I could just make out the cars that OMT had hidden there. I squinted like I was trying to make them out, “Hmmm, well I’ll be.” I said.

“No, maybe the Franks kept old vehicles back there.”

“Humph” Mrs. Livingston said and we started to walk back to the lodge together.

After a moment she said

“One of those cars looks like one that belonged to Janae’s boyfriend.”

I started to protest but I couldn’t so I just said

“Really? Which one?” “I don’t know what kind it is but its silver.” she said.

I turned and looked again,

“Yep, there is a silver one in there but I can’t tell what it is either.”

I looked back at her “I am sure there are lots of silver cars in the world.”

She looked at me over her wire framed glasses.

“Yes, Johnny, I guess there are.” she said.

I smiled at her once more and turned and started back to the lodge. I felt her watching me; I could feel her eyes burning holes in the back of my head. I tried not to appear nervous, or hurried, but my stomach was full of butterflies. I don’t know which was worse, that I was covering for OMT or that my role and Janey’s role in what happened may be revealed. I feared what might happen to the kind old lady if she found out that her daughter had been murdered.

Continued, Scout Mission

The Sergeant watched OMT and Janey move behind the quad of Zs, staying one street back it seemed as if hours had passed by the time the Zs had moved on from the alley way and warehouse that was going to be the sight of their ambush. First OMT and Janey disappeared into the warehouse, the Sergeants stress level went up tenfold and it didn’t go back down until he saw them appear on the roof 10 minutes later. Once Janey was in place OMT disappeared into the building only to quickly reappear in the alleyway. OMT knelt and took the bandoleer off of his shoulder and assembled the claymore, he thanked God that at least this hadn’t changed in 35 years. He chuckled at “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY”, he said it was the most important three words in the vocabulary of the infantryman. He threaded most of the detonation fuse through the fence then connected what was left to the mine. He moved to the far end of the alleyway and opened the gate to enter the parking lot opposite the warehouse. Once OMT rearranged a few shipping crates he took a mirror from his vest pocket and flashed a signal towards the Sergeant but it wasn’t necessary, the Sergeant had already started up the Humvee and turned it around to follow the hairpin drive that lead into town.

The Sergeant kept the Humvee at right around 25 and the damn Z’s bit the bait big time, the first quad ran on either side of the Humvee their wrist claws cutting deep gouges in the doors and fenders. He sped a little as he approached the 2nd quad that had broken off their house to house search and were heading straight towards the stocky marine. He reached inside his blouse and grabbing the chain he wore there he held a crucifix to his lips and stomped on the accelerator.

OMT had already inserted the blasting cap plug so all he had to do was flip the safety off and squeeze the trigger by the time the Humvee glanced off the chain link fence and slid around the corner into the alley; the Humvee kept its speed until the last moment when the Sergeant slammed on the brakes and the Humvee slid sideways to block the far end of the alley. The Sergeant grabbed his M4 and tumbled out of the driver’s side door to take position sighting over the hood. The Zs followed the Humvee into the alley, their claws clattering on the asphalt and the metal fence ringing as one bounced off of it. The last burst of speed had put them a few seconds behind, when the first two Zs were nearly to the mine when the deafening blast obscured everything as one and a half pounds of C4 and the hundreds of shotgun pellets tore 5 of the Zs to pieces. As the dust settled it was Janey who first opened fire from the roof her fire was joined by .308 from the Sergeant. Several rounds made contact on the advancing Zs but they did not stop, one vaulted the hood and slammed into the Sergeant, they both disappeared behind the Humvee. Impossibly the two remaining Zs began to scale the sheer brick towards Janey. OMT took several steps towards the fence and opened up with the Thompson. The heavy .45 rounds tore into one of the Z’s and it tumbled off the wall nearly decapitated. The other Z on the wall reached the top but just as it started to leap at the quickly retreating Janey, the Thompson took off its right leg at the knee. The creature let out an unbelievable screech and it tumbled onto the roof out of sight.

The Z reappeared from behind the Humvee and it sprinted towards OMT, it clambered over the chain link fence without missing a step, OMT missed with three rounds before it hopped up onto a nearby crate next to OMT, the creature’s wrist spike snapped into place and with a slashing motion it tore the Thompson from OMT’s grasp. OMT rolled with the motion and out of the immediate range of the monstrous weapon. As OMT rolled onto his butt he was able to pull one of his revolvers, the first round missed but the second one devastated the creature’s right shoulder. It snarled in rage at the old man as it attempted to close once more, it straddled OMT and he clinched himself tight against the monster with his right arm, pinning the creatures left, OMT’s left hand pressed upwards on the bottom of the creature’s jaw stretching its neck upwards.

They slid along the asphalt, OMT trying to keep away from the rear claw and the snapping jaws, the creature trying to separate from the far heavier but much less powerful old man so it could deal a killing blow. OMT screamed as he felt his left shoulder begin to give, an old injury failing him once more and the creatures frog-like mouth and strange eyes that glowed yellow, tilted closer and closer to him. Suddenly there was a rifle report and the creature leaned heavily onto the old man who rolled its corpse off to one side. He looked up and saw Janey on the roof across the alley, they stared at each other for a moment then she lowered her rifle and he waved in appreciation to her. The young woman had just saved his life with perfect shot to the back of the creatures head from at least 50 yards.

OMT painfully got to his feet and recovered his weapons; he made his way to the gate in the chain link and walked over to the Humvee. The Sergeant’s body lay just beyond, he was nearly disemboweled and his intestines lay strung across the street; his cold dead eyes staring upwards into the sky. He recovered a blanket and wrapped the Sergeant in it before heading to check on Janey. As if on cue, Janey limped out of the warehouse, she was dragging her right leg and had a pained expression on her face, OMT rushed to her and carried Janey to the passenger seat of the Humvee; he started to look at her wounds. Her jeans were soaked in blood, when he started to remove her boots she asked

“What are you doing?”

Her voice shaky and worried.

“I need to get these jeans off of you, you need a tourniquet at least” he answered.

“I’ll be fine” she protested.

She weakly tried to push him away; he ignored her and got her belt undone started to pull them away then decided that was stupid and used a bowie knife to cut her jeans away. She was wearing pretty black panties but if he noticed he didn’t let on. She had a gash on the inside of her thigh going from very near the groin to nearly her knee, he looked up at her and she was looking deathly pale. He took her belt and wrapped it around her thigh as high as he could get it and tied it off. She moaned in response and then muttered

“I don’t feel too well.”

His hands kept working on her, he had grabbed a military issue field surgery med kit from the back seat and was tearing it open when he said quietly

“I know honey, I know.”

There was a syringe of morphine in the kit, he bit the plastic cover and pulled the needle clear, and he raised it up and taped it gently then pressed the air from it. He then began to inject her near the top of the deep slash in her flesh. She moaned and he looked up at her and said

“Janey, I’m sorry, this is going to hurt but it has to be done.”

She nodded and lay flat on the seat. She had faith in OMT but he had very little in himself, he really was only vaguely aware of what he should do, find the bleeding bit and sew it up; then sew up the rest of the thigh. That was about the limit of his medical plan and he had never done it before. His hands were trembling and he felt nauseous. He took a small paper envelope from the kit and tore it open with his teeth, there was a threaded suture inside it and he grasped it firmly and he leaned back to look at the long slash in her leg, she was bleeding most profusely high on the inside of her thigh. He muttered a quick prayer then loosened the belt, the flesh reopened and he could see the blood spray caused by each beat of her heart.

“Dear God, get the hell out of the way” a man’s voice sounded out behind him. OMT turned to see a small group of people standing right behind him; he guessed they were the ones from the roof of the post office. The elderly man who had spoken to him was small and thin, balding and wore small wire frame glasses, but he took the suture from OMT’s trembling hand with confidence.

“If you have more of these, get them and hand me that hemostat!” he ordered.

OMT first handed him the clamp then gathered the small suture packets.

“Wilson, come help hold the young lady will you?” he said.

A heavy set man in his mid-thirties handed his hunting rifle to a woman who was standing next to him before circling around to the driver’s side of the Humvee and climbing in he rested Janey’s head in his lap, then he held her shoulders. Janey began to scream as the old man first inserted the arterial clamp and then began to suture the bleeder. Janey passed out a moment later probably more from blood loss and shock than pain, her body going limp in the Wilson’s grasp.

“She’s lucky, if the cut had been transverse it would have severed this artery.” the older man quietly explained. “SUTURE!” he commanded.

OMT handed him another one of the pre-threaded, curved needles.

“Do you have any plasma? Ringers? Anything?” the old man asked.

“No sir” OMT answered.

“What is her blood type?” the old guy demanded with more than a hint of irritation.

“No idea.” OMT said. “What are you?” he asked.

“A-positive” OMT answered quietly.

The old man shook his head and tried to wake Janey, to ask her, but only got a breathy moan in response.

“Damn it!” the old guy muttered, “Carol, go back to the post office and fetch my bag and bring Mrs. Hall with you, she is O-negative.”

The woman holding the hunting rifle ran off towards the post office, Wilson held on, the old man stitched and Tucker stood nearby trying not to throw up.

Day 19, Continued, Frank’s Family Lodge

I had eaten a quiet lunch by myself on the roof, my turn for sentry duty; I smirked when I remembered the first night when OMT had asked me and Billy to guard the armory. Less than a month had gone by and the Johnny who walked back and forth in front of his gun collection was long gone. I had killed and seen more death than I ever wanted to see. I had stared into the bloody remains of a monster, fought them face to face and executed them. I tried to remember what it was like, before this all happened, tried to remember the way I thought, the way I looked at things; I felt sadness wash over me when I realized that those memories were gone. I still remembered events and people and places and games that Billy and I used to play but how I thought, how I reacted, and those things were drifting away like wisps of smoke and were just as solid.

I stared down the from the circle drive down to the tree line, all was quiet, even the wind had ceased. It was so quiet I heard the squeak of the back porch screen door and its gentle slam as someone stepped out back. I lifted the binoculars and peered as far into the distance as I could. I remembered in science class how Ms. Darby had said that when we looked at the stars we were looking back in time, that the light had taken so long to get to us that some of the stars and the planets circling around them didn’t even exist anymore; I wondered if the same thing was true from here to the farthest I could see with the binoculars, maybe there at some faraway place, I could see the world before.

A few moments later I heard the back door slam again and I walked to the back of the roof top patio to look into the back yard. I could just make out Mrs. Livingston, she was just entering the woods and in pursuit I saw Darnell Livingston. I squeezed my eyes shut because I felt dizzy and nauseous, our sins would soon be brought to light and Mrs. Livingston’s heart would be broken. I watched with the binoculars for a moment; I could see her has she ran one hand over the silver car and she brought the other in a fist to her mouth. I couldn’t watch anymore and turned my back to the scene.

I waited and imagined what was happening; she would be standing there trying to convince herself that the car did not belong to her daughter’s boyfriend. Darnell would walk up and ask her what she was doing in the woods and then he too would recognize the car, perhaps even the other cars that OMT had hidden back there. Then they would find the bodies, they were only covered with branches and leaves, OMT had wanted to burn them but things had kept him away from that task. The smell, they would certainly detect it, the smell would leave them to the mass grave. We had left them all there to rot without even a layer of dirt to protect them from the animals who certainly feasted upon them.

And there it was; the long anticipated wail of grief, Mrs. Livingston had found her daughter’s remains. I could feel Mrs. Livingston’s sorrow; I could hear the loss of a future, the shattering of hope, the death of a dream. I vomited all over my shoes.

Continued, the Post Office

Once Janey was stabilized and the worst of the bleeding was stopped they pulled the Humvee around to the back of the post office. They unloaded her and carried her into the sorting room where the old man continued to work on her. They did a transfusion as the bleeding became more and more under control. OMT was given some water and was profusely thanked for the rescue by the post office survivors. The old man was a retired physician named Walt Carter and along with Evan Moore, the local post master, made up the leadership team for survivors. However, instead of ten, there were more than forty survivors in the two story building; they had gathered here from four nearby villages. The 47 individuals were all that were left of the 4,874 original inhabitants of the little West Virginia towns. They were actually pretty well organized but were low on both weapons and ammunition.

When OMT observed that there was an abundance of women and children Dr. Carter said that they had lost twelve men who had gone out on a supply mission two days before, they had been caught in a nearby town by the two quads that they had just fought. The only survivor of the mission, was bleeding badly when he came stumbling back to the post office. He had died of the infection before realizing he had led the eight monsters right back to his people.

OMT, Carter, and Moore discussed how the monsters had broken into two teams and entered the town from either end in order to trap the survivors. OMT told them about the humming circle and then showed them the photos of his rather crude autopsy. He told them that he thought they could give some weapons but there was no way they had room for all of them at the lodge. He thought they could set up radio communications between the two outposts and perhaps support each other with supplies and firepower if necessary. OMT voiced his opinion that for now we had to survive and to achieve that the groups of survivors had to be able to hide at every opportunity, run if possible, and fight when necessary. But he also thought that fighter teams, much like the sergeant, Janey and himself could travel and try to intercept the quads in order to mess up their search patterns. Carter and Moore and the people who were listening to the conversation were struck dumb by so many revelations including OMTs report of the demise of the US Military. He did not tell them that his view was only shared by Lieutenant Klein. OMT ended the discussion by saying he had to report via radio back to the lodge; “to your Lt. Klein?” Moore asked, “Naw, 5 year old” OMT said as he headed down the stairs to the Humvee.

Continued, Frank’s Family Lodge

I had finally got myself under control and made my way downstairs; I found Lucy on the radio talking or rather giving instructions to Old Man Tucker. Elaine was sitting next to her and was laughing finding the conversation hilarious; Lt. Klein was sitting on a nearby couch waiting her turn. Lucy was telling OMT that Ronald had taken over his ’garb dooby’ while he was gone; she held Ronald Bear out in front of her and marched him back and forth in front of the radio handset just so there would be no mistake. Lucy seemed satisfied that OMT had kept his word and made radio contact as per the agreement and was willing to turn the handset over to Lt. Klein and after doing so scampered away in that special way that only five year old girls can do. Elaine started to follow her but I grabbed her arm, I knew the Livingston’s would be coming in from the back any moment and I had to let her know what had happened.

No one had known that the girl OMT had executed was Janae Livingston except for me and OMT. I knew this was going to blow up in our faces big time and we had to be ready. Lt. Klein trust the handset away from her just moments after getting it from Lucy, a high pitched sound, it oscillated and hummed. I knew it right away, I had heard it before.

“What the hell is that?” Lt. Klein asked.

I looked at her and said “it’s the monsters, they are in a humming circle and we can hear them on the radio.”

Continued, the Post Office

Old Man Tucker stared at the handset on the radio in the Humvee. He shook his head and looked over at Dr. Carter who was standing nearby.

“Something is wrong.” OMT said, “Listen to this.”

He held the handset up so Carter could hear it.

“What on God’s green Earth is that?” Carter asked.

Old Man Tucker said “I’m not sure but I have my suspicions, look I hate to leave Janey with you like this but I think we had better head back to the lodge.”

The older man shook his head

“Look, don’t even think about it, your team saved our hides and I will do everything I can for her, I promise.”

Old Man Tucker nodded then held out his hand to Dr. Carter,

“Thanks doc, I will come back as soon as I can and I’ll bring a radio if I can so your group and ours can stay in contact.”

Dr. Carter took Tuckers hand and shook it firmly,

“Just be careful, that young lady in there doesn’t need to feel abandoned you know.”

OMT turned and climbed into the Humvee and started it up, shutting the door he pulled away, did a quick U-turn and headed back out of town towards the highway and to the lodge.

The Old Man pushed the Humvee to its limit, he tried to reach the lodge on the radio but the static continued. The sun was setting low on the horizon when he pulled onto the hidden drive, gravel was flung to either side of the Humvee as it fishtailed up the drive. One of the MRAPs was parked right in front of the steps. The Humvee slid to a stop and OMT climbed out and started around the front of the Humvee. He looked up as a crowd exited the lodge to stand on the front porch.

“What happened? Is everything okay?” he asked.

I followed the others out the door, Mr. Livingston was standing with his arms around his wife; her eyes red, her cheeks tear streaked, she was holding a white kerchief to her mouth as if she were trying to keep her screams from exploding. OMT looked confused but his expression instantly changed to one of agony as Darnell stepped out from behind the MRAP with a length of 2x4 in his hands and swinging it like a bat brought it across OMT’s lower back. OMT crumpled like a sack of rocks, he was stunned for a moment before he tried to get to his hands and knees; Darnell waited until he did then he kicked OMT in the ribs hard. OMT let out an “oomph” as he fell onto his side; Darnell tried to kick him a second time but OMT wrapped his arms around the younger man’s foot catching it. He twisted it viciously and Darnell started to fall but the younger man was far faster than his older counterpart and he stayed with the motion and ended up kneeling on OMT. He held the 2x4 in his left hand and he began to pummel OMT with his right hand. OMT tried to cover and did manage to block some of the blows but many landed and a cut opened over his left eye and his nose was clearly broken.

“You bastard! You fucking bastard!” Darnell screamed “You murderer!”

OMT was losing consciousness and couldn’t protect himself, Darnell stood up and taking the board again he tried to bash OMT’s head in but OMT managed to roll just enough so that it hit his left shoulder instead. That’s when Lucy came out onto the porch and screamed at what was going on; Lucy prompted Lt. Klein to step in.

“Enough! Livingston! Stand down!” she ordered.

“Not yet! Not until he is dead!” he yelled back.

Darnell kicked Tucker repeatedly, when his face was visible Darnell’s fist continued to smash at it. When Tucker’s face was barely recognizable as one, Darnell stood up, straddling the nearly unconscious old man, he raised it over his head in both hands, preparing to split Tuckers head like a grape.

The Lieutenant stepped forward and grabbed the 2x4 with one hand stopping Darnell from using it again, at least not unless he was willing to fight Klein first. For just a moment it looked as if Darnell was indeed willing to do just that but just as Deputy Weir started to head towards the conflict, it was Darnell’s mother who intervened.

“Darnell that is enough.”

She stepped down off the porch and headed towards her son, she placed a settling hand on his shoulder and the change was nearly instantaneous. She looked down at OMT who lay bleeding in the dirt but said nothing to him. She twined an arm with Darnell’s and led him towards the lodge. Deputy Weir knelt next to OMT,

“You okay Tucker?” he asked.

OMT just moaned in response. Weir then took a pair of handcuffs from his duty belt and pulled OMT’s arms behind him and snapped the cuffs on.

“Sorry about this Tucker.”

Weir said in a barely audible voice as he took the Colts from his belt and the fighting knife from its sheath on his right thigh.

Rico and Weir brought OMT in and set him on the floor, leaning against the stairs going to the 2nd floor, they released one cuff and pulled his arms so that his wrists went between two of the balustrades each and then cuffed him in that position. Emotions were high and everyone seemed upset except for Deputy Weir who just seemed sad. It was dark when the debate began, at first everyone was involved but Darnell got upset that Lucy was there and he demanded that all the kids be banished from the room.

I said “That’s not fair! We are involved as much as anyone else!”

Darnell laughed “You see? Look I don’t care how Tucker ran things; it’s time for the big kids to take over.”

Mrs. Driscol came over to me and said “Johnny, why don’t you and Karen take Lucy upstairs? Okay?”

Darnell quickly added “Kyle you and Elaine go too.”

Kyle started to comply but Elaine stood her ground “

Screw you Darnell, who are you to decide who stays and who goes? We have fought just as hard, lost just as much as anyone and probably more than most, I say we stay.”

Elaine gave the death stare that she apparently had inherited from Mom but this just made Darnell even angrier.

“Shut the fuck up bitch, now do as I say!”

It looked like he was going to slap Elaine, Mrs. Driscol stepped between them

“Darnell! Stop it!”

Darnell’s’ father agreed,

“Darnell, calm down son, we have serious things to discuss and you trying to bully that young lady isn’t going to help at all.”

Mrs. Driscol put her hand on his arm but he jerked it away, his face was clouded with anger and he stomped away to stand near the fireplace.

I spoke to Karen, “will you please go ahead and take Lucy upstairs? I’ll come get you if anything is being decided. I promise.”

She nodded then took Lucy by the hand that was not clutching Ronald Bear tightly to her face, Karen’s brother Kyle came to stand next to me as Karen and Lucy left the room. As Lucy and Karen passed by OMT, Lucy knelt next to him and gently touched his face; there was blood covering half of his face from the cut over one eye and the other was swollen so badly it was completely shut. Lucy whispered to him.

“Mr. Tucker, please don’t cry, it will be okay. I don’t believe you did what they said you did.”

Tucker was awake and he heard what Lucy had said but his answer was gravelly and hoarse, barely audible.

“Lucy, please, no matter what, I want you to stay in your room okay? You and Ronald Bear, promise me?”

Lucy looked confused because he didn’t deny the murders he was accused of; it was Karen who leaned over and said

“Don’t worry Mr. Tucker, we will, won’t we Luce?”

Karen took Lucy’s hand once more and together they went up the stairs to Lucy’s room.

In the great room, Darnell was pacing about,

“I don’t understand what we are doing here? I say I just drag the son-of-a-bitch out in the hard and put one between his eyes!”

Lt. Klein said “Not gonna happen before we know the whole story Corporal.”

She crossed her arms across her chest. Darnell stared at the older woman and said

“You saw the bodies, you saw what he did to my sister!” then after a moment he added “And where is Staff Sergeant Barnes? And Janey? Did you happen to not notice that Tucker returned alone? Shit, he probably killed them too!”

He waved his arms in frustration.

“I don’t know where they are Corporal and neither do you since you decided to so vigorously apprehend Tucker!” Lt. Klein said.

Her voice revealed that she had doubts as well.

“What do you say Mom?”

Darnell asked his mother who was sitting with her head in her hands. She looked up at her son, tall and handsome, but filled with fury and hate and after a moment she said

“I say my daughter is dead and nothing is going to bring her back.”

Mr. Livingston gently patted his wife’s shoulder before he had his say

“Darnell, you know as well as I that Janae was running with a rough crowd, maybe ...”

Darnell cut him off “Maybe what Dad? Maybe he had a reason to strangle her with her hands tied behind her back with a piece of clothes line?”

Mrs. Driscol spoke softly but firmly,

“We didn’t know she was your daughter, all I know is that the group she was with had beaten and abused Mr. and Mrs. Franks and killed a relative of theirs.”

Darnell looked aghast, “Says who? Who saw all this happen, huh? This alleged abuse you are accusing my sister of?”

Mrs. Driscol responded “Mrs. Franks told me, and the things she said were...”

“Were what?” Darnell yelled back. “Where are they now? Why did they only tell you?”

It was Elaine who surprised everyone.

“Because they are dead Darnell, dead. When we got here Mr. Franks never spoke a word after they were rescued and I saw the bruises and the cuts on Mrs. Franks.”

“Bullshit! Rescued my ass! You have already accepted that the black folks were the aggressors here or you wouldn’t have stated it like that!”

His words had cut Mrs. Driscol deeply and I could see that, but she didn’t back down.

“Mr. Franks committed suicide the same day you arrived, don’t you find that suspicious? I knew him for over 8 years and I can tell you he was broken, devastated. I don’t know what happened exactly but yes, I believe Mrs. Frank’s story. Those people, and your sister was one of them, had done terrible things here before Tucker stopped them!”

Darnell started across the room towards her, his fists tight, he was so angry that it took Rico and Weir to keep him from attacking Mrs. Driscol. Lt. Klein stood in the middle of the room and said

“Alright, alright. I don’t think we should do anything tonight. Let’s all try and get some rest and maybe we can come to some intelligent decisions in the morning?”

No one objected, not even Darnell but that may have been because he was so furious.

“Okay then, I have watch on the roof at 10, after me Rico, and Deputy Weir I know you had it earlier today but would you please take another shift till morning?”

The quiet police officer nodded.

“Great.” Klein said “We will move Tucker to the roof so whoever is on watch can keep an eye on him too, is that acceptable?”

She was looking around the room but was clearly speaking to the Livingstons. Mr. Livingston seemed to answer for his family with just a sad nod.

Lt. Klein checked her side arm then with Deputy Weir took their prisoner up to the rooftop where he was handcuffed once more, this time to the huge wooden housing that I had hidden in so long ago. Klein got some water from the kitchen and tried to clean up OMT, as she knelt by him, gently daubing the damp cloth on his face she asked.

“Tucker, where is Barnes?”

“Dead.” Tucker answered in a voice that sounded like he was trying to swallow a mouth full of minnows, he turned away and spat out a large glob of bloody mucus. He was pressing on his own teeth with his tongue, he had already found one broken and another quite loose.

“What about Janey? Is she dead too?” Klein asked.

“No, well, she wasn’t when I left her. She is with a band of survivors about 25 miles from here. They were under attack and we intervened, we took out two quads but Barnes was killed and Janey was hurt pretty badly. Luckily the group has a Doctor and he stitched her up.”

Klein was upset at the loss of her fellow marine, one she had known for quite some time, but she controlled her emotions and she said

“Tucker, listen to me. The Livingstons want you dead, well Darnell does and probably his parents too. Did you do what they said? Did you strangle that girl?”

Tucker turned away his silence was his answer. Klein waited a full minute before she gave him some water to drink then she stood and walked to the wooden wall on the edge of the roof top garden. She began her guard duty in silence.