Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) by A. American (best business books of all time .TXT) 📗

little fucked up.” A couple of shots rang out not far from us and I looked over to see Jamie standing over a prone body. She was calmly changing magazines in her rifle, taking the time to put the spent one in a dump pouch on her belt.

Looking down at the hawk again, I said, “I guess you’re right.” And I wiped the bloody weapon on my pants before tucking it back into my belt and drawing my Springfield.

For the rest of the day, I used my pistol. There’s a kind of disconnect when using a handgun for the task. With the hawk, it’s personal. You have to get close and use physical force to drive the blade into the man. And it often took more than one blow. Not that I cared at the moment. But Sarge’s words pulled me back from the brink. Another advantage to using the pistol, it sped up the process and I was able to move much faster, and it didn’t require nearly the same amount of energy.

By early evening, the shooting had died down. The sun was dipping towards the horizon, but the fires provided plenty of light, though the smoke did obscure it, adding to the surreal scene. I was tired, bone tired, in a weary kind of way. Stopping to lean against a burned-out car, Thad walked up beside me.

I looked at him and asked, “How are you holding up, buddy?”

“It needed to be done. I didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t hate it. It was just something that needed to happen.”

I nodded, “That’s a good way to look at it. I think I’ll use it.”

“I’m worried about you,” Thad said softly and shook his head. “We’re all angry, but this,” he pointed at me and the horror covering me, “this isn’t healthy. You going to be alright?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I was caught up in it for a minute. But Dalton and Sarge pulled me back from the brink, I guess you could say.”

“Good. But I’m going to keep an eye on you. You’re my friend, Morgan and I’m worried about you.”

“Thank you, Thad,” I said and offered my hand. He looked at it, hesitating. Then I looked at it. There was blood all over it, so I wiped it on my pants and offered it again. This time, he smiled and took it as I asked, “Better?”

“Much better.”

Sarge, Ted, Mike and Dalton wandered over to us. Sarge looked around at the carnage that surrounded us. “Looks like it’s done. I think this is finally over.”

“There’s a shit load of material we need to recover here,” Dalton said.

“I’m not fucking with it today. It’s getting late and I’m tired,” I said.

Aric, Ian and Jamie walked up. “What are we going to do with all this shit lying around?” Jamie asked. “There’s a mountain of hardware here.”

“I guess we’ll come back tomorrow and collect it all. There’s shit here we don’t have any need for. But we should at least secure it so no one else gets their hands on it,” Sarge replied.

“We hope we have no need for it,” Dalton said.

“Indeed,” Thad added.

Sarge nodded and said, “Alright then, let’s head back to the ranch. We’ll come back tomorrow with some manpower and trucks to haul all this out of here.”

“We can’t just leave all this here overnight. Someone needs to stay behind and make sure no one tries to sneak in and take any of it,” Jamie replied.

“Any volunteers?” The old man asked.

“We’ll stay,” Ian said. “With all the racket that’s gone on here tonight, I doubt anyone will come in. Just leave us all the water and MREs you have. Ammo too, just in case.”

“I’ll stay too. Perez is going to stay as well,” Aric added.

I laughed, “He’s busy picking through the bodies for smokes, isn’t he?”

Aric nodded with a smile. Jamie took a pack of Russian smokes from her pocket and lit one. “They’ve got a lot of them.”

Sarge nodded. “Alright. We’ll be back in the morning. You guys just hold the fort until we get back.”

“I’m staying too,” Dalton said. “I think there are still a couple of guys sneaking around out there, and I want to find them.”

“There are a couple of cases of MREs in the truck. I’ll go grab you one,” Thad said.

“I’ll help you,” I added. “There’s a jug of water in the back as well. And ammo.”

Thad and I walked off towards where we had left the truck. It was sitting with the rear door open, just as we had left it. I grabbed a Jerry can of water and sling-bag full of mags and hung it over my shoulder. Thad grabbed the case of meals and we started back towards the group.

“I hope this is the end of it,” I said as I adjusted the strap of the bag on my shoulder.

“I pray to God it is too, Morgan. It just seems to be a never-ending nightmare.”

I certainly understood what he meant. “Me too. I just want to try and get things back to normal. To improve life a little.” I held the carbine up and added, “I’m tired of having to use this. I wish I could put it down and never pick it up again.”

With his free hand, Thad reached over and patted my back. “That day will come. We’re getting closer to it. This, as bad as it seems, is a big step in that direction.”

I looked around at the burning, smoking ruins. “You know, you’re right. This really should be the end of major issues. I mean, what else could there be? You know, on this level.”

Thad’s smile wasn’t there this time. But he wasn’t particularly distraught either. “All we can do is keep going. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. I learned that a long time ago.”

I knew what he meant, what he was talking about. But I wasn’t about to bring it up. “You’re right, buddy. What’s the alternative? Sit down and wait to