Firestorm: Walking in the Rain Book 5 Read online

  As I waited for them to gather, I sat and tried to clean the blood off of me with some dried grass. I didn’t want to get more on my clothes, but at this point, I don’t know why I even bothered.

  I directed a question at Joseph. “Do you believe I am here to help, or do you think I’m a complete monster and should move on?” I needed to know where we stood. I had just, for the lack of better words, tortured one man using mainly psychological techniques, then executed both captives with my own hands.

  I’m by nature reluctant to kill other people unless it can be avoided, and I can justify it in my own mind when I recall everything Devin had unapologetically accounted. Maybe I should have stabbed them both in the kidney. It is said to be an excruciatingly painful way to go and avoids so much blood shooting everywhere.

  Joseph answered me honestly. “I’m surprised, mainly, that you are so calm about it. You didn’t even look angry when you sliced them open. I swear you looked more peaceful then than you do now.” Joseph was looking at my body language to see how I would respond to that observation.

  “I never think about what I’m doing when the time comes. I probably come across as an insane killer, but really, I’m at peace with my decisions. If I have to take someone out, I do it with a clear conscience or I don’t do it at all. If they are a threat to my children, they have to die. They are all I have left. This wasn’t the plan.” I watched as the kids came toward us. Kofi and Regina had collected my gear for me, and Regina was even carrying my water bladder.

  “What happened to change your original plan?” asked Joseph.

  I sighed, not wanting to get into it just yet. I would talk about it later, but for now, I merely nodded at the kids. “It changed as soon as they started showing up on my doorstep. Let me talk with them right now. You might want to talk things over with your camp and see about redistribution of weapons. See if you can get some of the lame and lazy to help out more. You could also float the idea of us staying here and get a feel for your people. If they don’t want us around, we can just move on, now that we have some water.”

  Joseph looked a little pensive. “Sure thing. Um, about food … we have some to share, but it’s not a lot. When you’re ready, we usually eat by the covered picnic tables.” He pointed to the tables under some shade trees.

  “That’s fine. When we get a chance, I’ll share with your people some food sources that are right around here that I saw on patrol and some food we found a few miles back.” I took my gear that was offered by Kofi, and saw that Alex was looking at me with a pissed off expression. Her face was red, and I could see that she was near tears. I knew better than to try to give her a hug; she looked about as huggable as an upset porcupine. I played it safe and simply asked, “What’s wrong, Alex?”

  Dale looked away and cleared his throat a little. Oh crap, I’d done something wrong. If Dale was without words, I was in deep shit for some reason.

  Alex let me have it. “You said you would always wear your vest when you went out on patrol! Why did you leave it here? What were you doing? You don’t even know these people, but you would risk your life for a bunch of … of morons!” She was almost to the fire engine scream now. Nothing to do but take my lumps from her. I had taken off the vest so I could move faster in the woods, but that was not going to solve this.

  I reached over, got my plate carrier, and cinched it into place over my chest and my back. The steel plates were cheaper than the ceramic plates, but heavy. On a teaching salary, I sometimes had to balance price over weight. I would have loved to afford the top-of-the-line Level IV body armor, but this is all I could swing at the time. It was one of my last major purchases before the pulse wiped everything out. I never got a chance to buy the second set in a smaller size. For her.

  Damn it, push that back down. Now is not the time to lose your shit in front of the kids. I could tell my face had gone red and my eyes were teary. That got Alex to relent a little. I finally was able to croak out a sincere apology. They knew I had to take risks at times to protect them, but next time I’d better remember my plate carrier. I waited until I could compose myself. The thought of my wife was still something that I was not ready to confront. I tried not to think about it, but little things brought the memories back. I tried to not only calm Alex down, but let them know why I did things sometimes.

  “You all know that I will do anything for you. I’m not suicidal; at least in my mind, I’m not actively looking for a way out. If we can find somewhere safe, then I think we can all relax a little. Our guests are providing supper for us so we can take a break from cooking tonight. Do ya’ll want to talk about what just happened out there?”

  I know Alex and Dale were out of the loop since I had them out watching the rest of the perimeter, but I’ve found that we do better if we come together at least once a day to talk about things. Therapy for the end of civilization. I should hang out a shingle and advertise group sessions. People can pay me in food or bullets.

  Actually, I would prefer some food right now, or at least something to fill my stomach. I reached for one of my plastic water bottles that Regina had refilled before being interrupted by the creepers in the woods. I took a long drink and passed it over to Alex as a peace offering. We weren’t shy about eating or drinking after each other. We didn’t have a lot of boundaries. Just one big, happy, dysfunctional family.

  “Kofi, since you had the best view of all of us, why don’t you start from the beginning?” I let him retell the story from the beginning up until he was called back to meet with me. It was pretty much what I expected. He did add that at one point, he saw a deer trying to make its way down to the water, but all of the activity out there had obviously spooked it. He also added that the takedown of Devin with a butt stroke to the head looked awesome from his vantage point.

  “Well, it wasn’t a butt stroke, but a smash to the head. I used the flat metal on the bottom part of my M-14 for that so I didn’t crack the stock. A butt stroke is when I swing the point of the butt upwards. I was afraid the blow would break his jaw and he wouldn’t be able to talk. As it was, I almost scrambled his brains with my half-speed smash.” I never wasted an opportunity to teach them something new about combat. “Don’t try that with an AR unless you like picking up the pieces, I hear that can turn a decent rifle into a broken mess.”

  Alex looked at me for a second, so I added, “The metal butt plate on your AK can do that, but it’s a lighter weapon, so use more force to get similar results. You know Newton’s second law. Force equals mass times acceleration?”

  They all got a laugh out of that one. Dale jumped in, “Seriously, you have said that so many times, and I never understood what you were talking about until now. It takes the end of days for me to understand basic physics.” Dale was the right age to have been one of my students if he had attended my school. They obviously did not do a great job with Sir Isaac Newton’s principles at his junior high.

  I chuckled at that before adding, “Well, you know I try to give you the best education for your tax dollars.” I tried to keep it light and not say, “The tax dollars your parents paid for you.” That would open old wounds right now.

  “Regina, anything you saw that you would like to add?” I looked over to her. She usually had a lot to say but was quieter than usual.

  “Do you think these people will let us stay here?” She looked over at the camp, where I’m sure a similar meeting was taking place to decide our next few days. She could use some social time with new people, but I needed to see if it was safe first.

  “I don’t know yet. We have a limited water supply right now and their food supply must be pretty low. We at least had my stash at my house to keep us going. I don’t know how much they had on hand in the beginning, and I don’t think they have many industrious people willing to help. We will get a better understanding of where we stand when we eat. Oh, if it’s really bad, try not to complain. That would be poor taste, even if the food sucks.”

  Dale went next, but since he
was a bit isolated during the actions outside of the perimeter, he only had insights about the camp itself.

  “There are some good people here. Some are working their tails off trying to keep them all fed and get clean water. Two of the guys, the ones sitting in car seats didn’t bother to move, even with all of the activity going on. I didn’t catch a lot of names, but the person who seems to have the most influence on others is Barbara. She was everywhere. People look up to her. If she has a problem with us, we won’t be here long. I didn’t get to talk with her since I’m just a kid, but I did talk to some of the other kids here. Man, are they clueless.”

  “What do you mean, exactly?” I asked.

  “They think help is coming, and they just need to wait for it to arrive. They don’t know what we know.”

  In a way, that was hopeful. Maybe there are some pockets of civilization hanging on where children don’t have to learn to kill at such an early age. I kept Regina out of the fights. I let her hunt for small animals along the way, but I’m not willing to throw away what childhood she has left for expediency. Not yet.

  “Thank you, Dale. That is good to know. Joseph may be in charge of their security, but Barbara is in charge of the actual camp. Remember to smile. Maybe that will help her decision.” I finally looked at Alex. She had stayed with Pamela the whole time and must have seen me kill those two guys. I tried to be slick and do it away from Regina, only to expose Alex to more horrors. Make a mental note: don’t off the bad guys in front of the children. That should be in a parenting guide somewhere that I never got a chance to read.

  “Okay, Alex, let me have it. I deserve it.”

  Instead of continuing her earlier “ass chewing,” she pointed out that we should have moved Pamela to her position since she had a scoped rifle that had better range and accuracy, or traded jobs with Dale since her AK was better at laying down a large amount of fire. Even if it was less accurate, her seventy-five-round drums could go longer without reloading. She had three of them fully loaded.

  “Well darn, Alex, I should have thought of that.” I thought for a second and added, “How would you have felt about mingling with a bunch of unknown people though? I mean, your points are all valid. I just thought being around people who were not us would be stressful for you.” I could tell she was troubled with the thought that I had made a decision for the group, and had taken in her phobia as a part of my plan. She finally nodded and agreed with me. Alex did not do well with strangers yet but was willing to try if we could all be there with her.

  I went last, telling them the ugly truths we had gotten out of Devin, and how Burt had tried to lie to me, only to get a tooth broken off for his troubles.

  Kofi laughed. “You only pulled a tooth? The way he was carrying on, I thought you were taking fingernails off.”

  “I did tell him to scream, or I was going to start really causing him pain. Devin bought it, and that’s all that really matters. With the addition of the three rifles we took off of them, we can better arm Joseph’s group. I have a feeling that we will have to take care of these guys. They are set up far enough away from the interstate that they haven’t been detected by larger groups. These cannibals only attack small groups and try to capture what they can to bring back. As I discovered today, it’s easier to lead someone walking than to drag a body.”

  “How far away are they from us right now?” asked Regina.

  “According to Devin, they are about five miles up this creek. Unless we take them out, they will keep hitting this camp, and if we want any kind of peace, they will need to be dealt with.” I let that sink in.

  Kofi asked the question even I was wondering. “What if we just move on? Why can’t we just fill up on the water we need and find someplace else?”

  “I don’t know if there is someplace else. It’s taken us so long just to get this far that my friend’s farm may be overrun by now by the same type of monsters we’re facing here.” I hated to admit it, but Kofi had a valid point. If we didn’t see a change of heart soon by most of the people here, we might just have to leave. We had done it once before. It would be sad, but we had no time for people who wouldn’t fight for their own lives.

  “Let’s get cleaned up and ready for supper. We don’t have much of a moon tonight, but we should be fine with just our eyes. I’ll take the last watch. Kofi, you have been looking through that scope for hours, so your eyes will need a break. Dale can you and Alex take first watch? I’ll talk with Joseph, but I intend on staying close to where Kofi and Regina set up overlooking the water. Kofi and Regina can take the second, and I’ll finish up with the last watch.”

  We tried to break up sentry duty into four-hour time periods, but I make the last watch the longest. I want to be up and alert around two in the morning until the sun comes up. That is when someone who has a plan normally will attack. Historically, this has proven out over hundreds of years of warfare. First light is a favorite time for raiders too. I’ve seen them attack our lines in the city several times, and being up on my rifle had broken advances and saved lives.

  The last time there were just too many. I stopped who I could. When I felt that the time was right, I ran to my house and got out just in time. Kofi and Dale had two of the radios at the time. When I made the call, they were the only ones who could fall back without being cut down. I had Regina with her brother and Alex with Dale. They were all I could save then.

  “If nothing else, supper should be interesting.” I laughed at my own comment. Nobody else did though.

  CHAPTER

  FIVE

  Supper was an adventure. I was expecting something like this based on Dale’s observations. Funnily enough, Barbara was not our strongest or most vocal critic. One of the corpulent lounge lizards who had sat out the entire incident with the raiders and the subsequent burial was angry at us for some reason.

  “What the hell were you thinking, killing them? We could have talked to them and come to an understanding. There is plenty of water for all of us. Now you are telling me we have to go and wipe out the whole camp? With what? Your ‘child soldiers’ are no match for real fighters. You just got lucky.” His face was getting redder as he spoke.

  Maybe if we’re really lucky, he’ll stroke out so we don’t have to deal with his mouth, I thought. William Pogozelski looked like a man who loved to drink back before, based on the broken blood vessels on his nose. He also didn’t look like he would be too troubled missing a few meals. I bet the cannibals would love to taste his pickled liver. Okay, that line of thought made me want to laugh, which would only make the situation worse.

  He liked getting his way but didn’t bother working for it. Even his debating skills were based on volume and bluster. I wanted to drive my knife into the base of his throat and watch the life drain from his eyes. Not now. The kids needed someone levelheaded. We needed a few days to recover. Some water and some food would help us heal up. Time to dance with this moron. Even if I didn’t convince him, I needed to get enough of Joseph’s group to side with me.

  “I’m sorry that you feel that stopping the cannibals from coming to your current home and possibly dragging off another victim was the wrong decision. I talked to the two men, and only one was forthcoming with information. The other was hiding the fact that he personally came to your camp while you slept, killed two members of your group, and dragged their bodies back to their abattoir. They eat people. Do you think you can reason with people who think human flesh is fine to eat? I don’t even know the names of your campmates, but I feel for them. They were innocents taken by these monsters.” Okay, that was a little overdone, but I used to have a gift for being persuasive.

  William still would not let it go. “You never consulted with us about your actions. You unilaterally decided to kill them without asking us what we wanted done! We should have a voice in these things. This is still a democracy! We should be heard!” Come on stroke out, you mouth breathing waste of space. There were several people nodding along with him. These were not th
e individuals who had helped prepare the food, fetch the water, or according to Dale, do much of anything.

  We hadn’t even eaten yet, and he was already on the warpath. He must have felt that the status quo was about to be upended, and several people were nervous that they might have to start helping out. When I shook William’s hand, I noticed an absence of calluses. He was soft and insulated from the work around him.

  “Mr. Pogozelski, can we pause this debate until my kids have had a chance to eat? I think we can pick up where we left off in just a bit.” That got him to back down a little. He did grumble a bit, but it bought some time for people on my side to lobby the lazy wastes of life that were nodding along with Mr. P.

  Supper was some type of soup or stew—too thick to be a soup and lacking enough substance for me to classify it as a proper stew. I hoped we didn’t get sick from it, but everyone else was digging in. It was more like spooning it in. The vegetables were limp and the meat was gristly. At least they were smart enough to add bones to the pot to get the fatty marrow out. I couldn’t help but wonder about the source of the meat. I didn’t want to be rude and ask, but we did just kill three guys who liked the “forbidden meat.”

  My kids each brought their own metal cups for the meal. I bought them years ago, when I got the canteens. They had little metal handles, and I remember a time when I had to eat, shave, and take a sponge bath from one. Not all at once. I made sure I did it in the correct order and cleaned it out before eating from it.

  We ate slowly. They were taking my cues and realized that I wanted to draw this out. I took time to drink between each bite. I needed to hydrate, and this also served to delay the continuing debate.

  We were gathered around the two covered picnic tables. My group was not actually at the tables, just sitting on the ground nearby in a small cluster. There was low muttering from one of the tables as the debate went on. When we finally finished our tiny portion of food, we were still hungry, so we poured water in our cups and sluiced out every bit we could. We didn’t have much to offer the meal this evening, but I had some ideas. I hoped Barbara was receptive to a little light bribery, because I was about to increase their food supply greatly. If she would listen to me.