The Fall Of America: Fatal Encounters Part 18

Tom had moved to the top of the tank, dropped two grenades down the hatch, heard a loud clang-clang, and jumped to the ground where he started running. He was still running, almost beside John, when the grenades exploded and a flash of blinding reddish-white light shot straight up, out of the open hatch.

Moving to the group, Tom screamed, "Deeper, into the woods now, before the fuel and ammo blow on the tank!"

They moved about fifty feet when they heard a loud explosion, quickly followed by a series of secondary explosions. A second loud blast sounded, and looking over his shoulder, John saw the turret spinning high into the air. Then, it grew quiet, except for the crackling flames of the fires.

"Let's move, and take the long way back to the cellar!" John ordered.

Dolly and Sally were both alive and laying on blankets under a large oak. The sun was bright, the winds gentle, and the temperature was close to seventy. Neither of the injured were back to normal yet, nonetheless, they'd grown no worst either. Both were breathing better and Sally's mind was much clearer.

Sandra sat on an old stump and said, "They'll get stronger over time, but right now they're lucky to be above ground, both of them."

"When do you think they'll be able to move?" Tom asked.

"Why?" John asked and then added, "Are you thinking what I've been thinking?"

Tom nodded and replied, "Probably; we need to move. We've staged two attacks from here and I'd feel better if we moved on."

Sandra said, "They're able to move today, as long as we keep the pace slow. Keep a close watch on both of them, in case they try to meander from the path. While their bodies are in fair to good shape, their minds are still unable to concentrate for long periods."

"Okay, we'll move further south and find a place to hole up for while. We'll take what supplies we can on the first trip, but come back for the rest later." John replied and started stacking things against the wall nearest the entrance. "Dolly will be on a leash, so she'll stay with me."

"Any priority on what supplies and gear goes first?" Margie asked.

"Guns, ammunition, chemical/biological gear, explosives, and first aid items first. Then food and comfort items." John said, and then picked up an ammunition can.

"Let's move, and I want Sandra on point and Joshua on drag."

Tom moved to his side and said, "Once we get in place and settled, I need Sandra to look at a tooth that's bothering me."

"Is the gum inflamed?"

"Nope, but it hurts like a sonofab.i.t.c.h and I think it needs to come out."

"She'll take a look at it in an hour or so. Can you wait that long?"

Tom gave a low chuckle and replied, "Sure, it's been bothering me for a month, off and on, so another hour is nothing."

"Let's kill the chatter until we find a new place."

Joshua neared and said, "Tom, take my place on drag for a couple of minutes. I need to talk with John."

Tom moved back and then Joshua said, "I used to hunt, oh maybe five miles south of here and we had a rough log cabin we used. Now, it ain't much, but the last time I was there the roof didn't leak, unless it rained. Want to check it out? Has four beds made into the walls, a wood stove, and an outhouse."

"Take the point and get us there. Have Sandra drop back with the rest of us."

He nodded and moved forward.

A little over an hour later, the group watched the cabin as Joshua and Tom moved forward to check the place out. John was sure if Joshua hadn't pointed at the place, they would have walked right by. Brush was thick all around and long gra.s.ses grew on the cabin roof. Three windows were seen, but shutters were closed on all three.

Tom waved them in and Joshua opened the plywood door to the building. He then moved inside, where he opened all the shutters to allow fresh air to circulate. Dust covered an old wooden picnic table and cobwebs were in the corners of each wall. An old newspaper and some beer cans, remains of a better time, littered the floor. As Joshua turned to walk out, a mouse ran by him and in a zip was out the door. He grinned.

It only took Tom and Joshua a couple of hours to return to the cellar and remove the remainder of their gear and supplies. They'd all pitched in while the two were gone and cleaned the cabin. John noticed a layer of dirt on the roof and decided to ask Joshua about it when they returned. Finally, as they placed the last box on a bunk bed, he asked, "Joshua, why the dirt on the roof?"

"My brother read in some western fiction book that in the old days settlers covered their cedar shingles with dirt, to keep the risk of fire down from chimney sparks, so we did the same. I had no idea it'd end up growing gra.s.s."

"Well, it makes sense, because dirt would also protect them if Indians tried to burn them out, too." Tom said, and then continued, "Sandra, can you look at a tooth of mine?"

"Sure, but step outside in the sunlight."

They left and few minutes later, she returned for her medical bag and said, "I have to do an extraction, so I need one of you guys to help me."

Joshua smiled and said, "Not so fast. My daddy and I used to keep a quart of whiskey right about here." He said and then lifted a wooden slate on the floor. He smiled, pulled out a bottle and said, "Brand new, too; ain't never been opened. Give Tom a snort of this before you start to work on him and he'll be easier to deal with." He handed the bottle to Sandra.

John laughed and asked, "You don't have a couple more of those around here, do you?"

"One more," he said, "but it's hidden in the rafters of the outhouse, or was. Let me go check."

When Joshua walked outside, Tom was sitting on a stump sipping a canteen cup of whiskey. He grinned at him and said, "Good Kentucky bourbon, it was the best in the world."

"Was is the key word." Joshua said.

"Drink that up. As soon as that cup is gone, I'll pull the tooth."

As he neared the outhouse, a copperhead snake slithered off the trail, where he'd been sunning himself, and moved into the bushes. Opening the door to the small building, Joshua expected to see another snake, but was not prepared for what he did see. He blinked rapidly a few times and then looked again. Sitting on the seat, but fully dressed, was a woman holding a pistol in her right hand, while in her left she held a baby about three years old.

"Good, yer an American. Iffen you'd been wearin' a Russian uniform I'd have sent ya to h.e.l.l, mister." She spoke with narrow eyes and Joshua believed every word.

"Listen, I won't hurt you any." Right then, Tom screamed and he knew it wouldn't help matters.

"Y'all torturin' Russians in there?"

Joshua gave a dry laugh, which he didn't feel at all, and replied, "No, one of our men is having a bad tooth pulled."

"I counted six of y'all, so is that all of ya?"

"Yep, six. Do you have a name?"

"Mollie, and the baby is Ruben. Do ya have any food, mister?"

"I'm Joshua and if you're hungry, come with me into the cabin and we'll feed you. We're a mixed group of men and women."

"I saw that."

"Come, and you can eat." He said and then added, "Let me get something, before we go." Joshua reached to the rafters and removed the bottle of whiskey. He then walked for the cabin.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the woman following him with the baby riding on her hip, and thought, this woman has seen some rough times and I have no doubt, if I'd been a Russian, she would have killed me.

They pa.s.sed Tom, who ignored them, and Sandra who smiled at Mollie. Entering first, he said, "I found Mollie and her baby, Ruben, hiding in the outhouse."

"Lawdy," said Sally, "that's a stinky place to hide."

"She thought we were Russians."

"Mollie," John asked, "have the Russians been around here?"

"I got here yesterday and I ain't seen n.o.body, but y'all. A week or so back, they attacked our group, killed us all, except fer me and Ruben. I've been scared to death and prayin' hard some Americans would find me."

"You're safe now; well, as safe as it gets anymore." John replied.

Margie handed Mollie a Russian ration and said, "I know you're hungry, so dig in."

Opening the container, she began feeding the baby first. She glanced at Margie and said, "Thank ya fer the food. Little Ruben was beside himself with hunger."

"You must be hungry, too." John said.

"I always feed my boy first. There is plenty of food here, so I'll eat after Ruben."

"Mollie," John asked, "where is your husband?"

"Franklin was caught when we hit a convoy, oh, mayhap six months back. The d.a.m.ned Russians put him and twenty hostages in an old church, soaked it with gasoline and burned them to death. It's not a pretty nor good way to die, sir."

"No 'sir', because I'm just John, okay?"

"That's fine, iffen that's the way ya want it, because it doesn't matter much to me anymore. My only goal is to keep me and Ruben alive until this war stops."

Sandra and Tom entered and sat on different bunk beds. Blood was seen on Tom's chin, but he said nothing. Sandra said, "Pulled a molar, so he'll start feeling better in a few hours. The whiskey helped him, and he's feeling little pain right now."

"Joshua, I want you on guard outside. It wouldn't pay for all of us to be caught in here."

Joshua stood, picked up his weapon, and moved to the door.

"If you see or hear anything, let us know. The Russians are looking for us, so they'll come, eventually."

The man nodded and walked out.

Once outside, he leaned back against an old pine and scanned the area as he let his mind drift from one thought to another. His father had been forced to kill his mother, when the fall came, because she could no longer get her medications. Mother had always been sickly and as far back as he could remember, she'd been in and out of the hospital. Toward the end, she had stage four cancer and was in some serious pain. In less then three weeks her prescription medications were gone and his father had turned to giving her whiskey from his liquor supply. A month later, the alcohol now gone, he had nothing for her pain. He'd walked into her bedroom one night and shot her in the head with a 12 gauge shotgun.

His father quit eating and he wasn't in the best of health to start with, so within a month he'd died. His last words to Joshua where, "I didn't kill your mother out of hate, son, but love. I should have died with her that day. I would have too, but I don't think suicides enter the kingdom of Heaven. G.o.d has forgiven me for killing her."

Then his mind shifted to his wife and kids. He'd gone off to work one day, right after the fall, and when he returned, they were gone. He'd found no bodies, no blood, and no signs of a fight. Even now, he had no idea what had happened. He suspected his wife was taken for sport, but his missing kids, well, they had him stumped. A feeling of grief struck him hard, but he put his family out of his mind and remembered other things.

Tom exited the cabin, walked to Joshua and said, "We need to place a few mines and tripwires rigged to claymores around this place."

CHAPTER 18.

Colonel Izhutin sat in his office sipping vodka with Colonel Zheglov, as they discussed the prisoners that were rounded up within the last two hours. It was late in the day, after 15 hundred, but darkness would not come for about two more hours.

Izhutin asked, "We rounded up three thousand for you. Is that enough or do you spend the night and collect more tomorrow?"

"These are enough, and my trucks will be full on the return trip. If possible, Anton, collect another two thousand during the coming week."

"Do you have enough food and shelter for so many people?"

Laughing, Zheglov replied, "No, of course not, but we do have a large fenced in area we can place them. We feed them little, surely not enough to live on, and provide them with nothing else. But our workers have started building barracks for them and we will have a limited supply system in place for their support within a month. I think by the end of the month, they will be taking in about a thousand calories a day."

"Are they to work?"

"Some will, once we sort through all of them and determine their skills, if any. However, that is a long time down the road-perhaps a year or more. Have the tracks for the train been repaired between here and Vicksburg? If so, perhaps you can send me additional prisoners using trains."

"Yes, the tracks are serviceable and trains have been using it, but not frequently. Each train has a company of infantry to act as security. At times the rails have been loosened or completely removed, so we have to move slowly. However, I think if we shackle a few prisoners to the front of the engine on the trains, maybe the partisans will leave the tracks alone." Colonel Izhutin replied and then asked, "More drink, my friend?"

"No, no I've had enough already." Standing, Zheglov added, "Thank you for the help. I am sure Colonel Vetrov will wonder where I have been able to round up so many people. As for shackling prisoners on a train, h.e.l.l, give it a try."

Grinning over the top of his vodka gla.s.s, Colonel Izhutin asked, "Oh, and what will you tell him?" He then downed the remainder of his drink.

"I will simply ask if it matters. They will make him happy and right now he's the most important man in this region, bar none."

Extending his hand, Izhutin said, "Have a safe trip and call me if you need anything else. It is always an honor to help an old friend. Now, I have a.s.signed extra trucks to help you transport your prisoners, but they must return tomorrow to pick up those we cannot transport today. You and I together do not have enough trucks to move all of them at once."

Shaking hands, Zheglov thought, bulls.h.i.t, you will remember this and when you need something from me, you will bring this up. Because that is how life works, my friend. Finally he said, "We will take all we can now and pick up the others later."

Zheglov walked from the office, called out to the senior sergeant and said, "Get the prisoners loaded, because we need to get moving. I do not want to be caught on the main highway after darkness."

They were a little less than half way back to the base at Edwards when the sun went down. Zheglov noticed the sergeant riding in the front of his staff car flipped the safety off his weapon. The man then donned NVG's so he could see in the darkness.

"Sergeant, radio all drivers to be alert and for their guards to prepare for an ambush. While I do not think we will be attacked, there is always a chance."

"Prepare for ambush, sir? How do you want that done?"

"Just as you have, safeties off and NVG's on their heads. I want everyone awake and alert for danger. I have discovered it pays to always expect the worst."

An hour later, the motorcyclist riding point never felt the wire stretched across the road that struck him in the neck and decapitated him. As his severed head rolled into a ditch, his motorcycle fell to its side and began to send sparks high into the air as metal struck concrete. A second or two later the bike flipped high into the air and landed in the median of the highway.

Machine-gun bullets walked the length of the convoy and then back again. Grenade launchers gave their familiar thump, as 40 mm grenades were sent into targets. Trucks exploded, sending pieces of metal, tires, and prisoners high into the air, along with the drivers and guards.

"Faster, move faster, we must ride out of the ambush zone! Sergeant, radio my message now." Zheglov yelled, and then pulled his pistol.

Suddenly the driver of the staff car took a bullet to his head, spraying blood and brains on Zheglov, and the car went out of control. The sergeant attempted to control the car's direction with the steering wheel, but the dead man's foot had the accelerator to the floor. The car slipped around trucks and entered the pa.s.sing lane. The sight of a staff car moving alone, brought more partisan fire on the vehicle, and the sergeant screamed and then slumped.

The car ran off the road, struck a ditch in the median and then flipped three times. It was during the second flip, when Zheglov was ejected and landed in the gra.s.s, unconscious. The car then lay still as dust filled the air. A minute later, fire was seen near the engine and flames grew quickly. The injured sergeant, his leg caught in the wreckage screamed for help.