John O'Brien - Sanctuary

With the dawning of a new day, we all relax. We toss our goggles in the Humvee and I gather Robert, Lynn, and Brian and we begin removing the bodies from the hall, kitchen area, and front door. I wouldn’t worry about clearing the apartment but it’s impossible to get out without stepping over and on them. I want to at least clear a route out. We toss them over the front balcony railing into the front entryways of the apartments below. Brian heaves a few times as he and Lynn cart several night runners that have been ripped open by rounds hitting them and tumbling, creating a mess. Blood and fleshy bits of night runners, some of the flesh still having hair attached, covers the tiled floor as we make our way down to the last layer of bodies. We slip a few times on the slick floor carrying the bodies out. The entry way below fills with corpses as we toss body after body over the railing.

I look up at the shattered door of the apartment above us as Robert and I throw the last body over. I think about going up to investigate, as the sun peeks over the apartment building across from us, but decide not to as there is really nothing to be gained by going in there. With a sigh, I head back inside with Robert.

“Pack up anything you want to bring but try and keep it to the essentials,” I tell Brian, Kelly, and Jessica.

“Make sure you keep them on track if you don’t mind,” I ask Lynn. “I’m going outside for a breath of fresh air.”

“Will do,” she responds.

I head outside after we wash up and sit on a curb behind the Humvee away from the bodies and the smell. The sun is shedding its light on the parking lot over the buildings. I sit on the hard concrete feeling exhausted. With my M-4 resting between my legs and the sour scent of my own body odor assaulting my nose, I ponder the previous night. I feel like I unnecessarily put my loved ones at risk yet again. I feel like I make mistake after mistake and know I can’t afford to keep doing that. The mistakes I feel I made were bringing my kids down even though I thought I needed them to bring a 130 back. I don’t know if that was from an earnest need or just a desire to have a plane nearby. There was also a selfish part of me that wanted them close but if that were indeed true, I would have brought Nic too.

I relive the night going over where my mistakes were and where I could have done better or done things differently. The only thing I come up with is that I should have been more forceful quieting Brian. Not shooting him as that would have made noise and is perhaps too extreme. However, his being unconscious would have kept him quiet. I resolve not to let anyone else put my loved ones in harm’s way in that manner again; or in any manner for that matter. Robert walks out and joins me, sitting by my side.

“That guy is a real jerk,” he says.

“Yeah, I should have done something about it before it got to the point it did,” I reply.

“There was nothing you could have done.”

“I could have sent him to dreamland,” I state.

Robert chuckles, “Yeah, there’s always that option.”

“Do I smell as bad as you?” I ask smiling.

“Worse,” he replies with an answering smile.

“You did a great job in there. Thanks for watching my back,” I say.

“That was some scary shit,” he says. I notice a change in him. He is no longer shaking or referring to his being terrified but more relating to the event rather than himself. His confidence is increasing.

“You are not shitting with that. I thought we were done for a couple of times. Thanks again for watching my back.”

“I did too and no worries,” he says looking at the ground. Our silence continues for a few moments as we each relive portions of our experiences. Lynn walks out a short time later and joins us.

“It was all I could do to keep from laughing when you told that guy off,” she says to Robert.

“What? Oh, yeah that,” he says with a shy smile forming on his face once again.

“What’s that about?” I ask.

“He told that guy, Brian, to shut the fuck up in the middle of our firefight,” she answers.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Well, it was when you decided to take flying lessons with a night runner on top of you. You went sailing past the door and Brian said ‘holy shit’ or something like that. Robert looks at him and tells him to shut the fuck up. I almost lost it. If I wasn’t so worried about you and what was going on, I would have busted a gut.”

“Really? You did that?” I ask Robert.

“Yeah, kinda. I guess so,” he answers.

“Too funny,” I say as we all chuckle.

“Brian is terrified you are going to shoot him,” Lynn says after our chuckles subside.

“I’m still on the fence on that one,” I say.

“I’m going to check on Bri,” Robert says after a bit.

“Okay. We need to go pretty soon,” I say as he gets up and heads inside.

I look over at Lynn and smile. “Take a walk with me?” I ask once Robert gets out of earshot.

“Mmmm hmmm,” she answers returning my smile.

Carrying our weapons casually but still alert, we stroll down the lot. We find a place behind a parked van out of sight.

“As much as I hate to say this, Jack, we’ll have to make this quick,” Lynn says.

“I know,” I say. “Being quick will be no problem at all.”

“We’re going to have to find some privacy for a much longer time,” I say a short time later as pick up our M-4’s.

“Yes we are,” she replies. We walk back to the apartment complex hand in hand.

Brian, Kelly, and Jessica finish packing their bags. It looks like they packed the entire apartment. “This is packing the essentials?” I ask eyeing the vast amount of baggage. Not that I would have done much different I guess. Kelly merely shrugs a response as we throw the gear in the back of the Humvee. The interior is packed as we climb in. I have Robert drive once again and we pull out of the apartments with the sun climbing into another warm, clear day.

The drive to the airport is conducted mostly in silence with our only real conversation being which road and exit to take. We arrive at the open gates of the Air Force National Guard Base and drive to the flightline. F-15’s sit in rows in the center of the tarmac with others parked in large, open hangars. Off to the side on the edge of the ramp, two C-130’s sit side-by-side. We pull up behind them and exit.

Opening the crew door of one, I check that the inside is clear. The interior has a musty aroma mixed with the smell of oil, jet fuel, and the ground in odors of years of use. I walk into the cockpit and turn on the battery. The gyros begin spooling up and the total fuel gauge reads about three-quarters full. There aren’t any external fuel tanks installed on this one so their tanks read empty. The fighter squadrons have the 130’s to carry their gear for their deployments and exercises. Satisfied that all is in order and this one appears in good shape, I walk to the rear and drop the ramp.

“Do you want us to carry the gear inside?” Robert asks after I relate that this one seems to be in working order.

“No, we’ll just drive the Humvee in and tie it down,” I answer. We edge the vehicle in and secure it to the cargo floor.

“This one should be almost identical to the other one,” I say to Bri and Robert as we take our familiar seats.

“Okay, Dad,” Bri says adjusting her straps.

Lynn straps in at the nav seat while the others find seats on the bunk adjacent to the rear bulkhead. I find a checklist sitting on the throttle quadrant as we proceed through the checklists in a familiar fashion. Brian, Kelly, and Jessica look decidedly anxious as they watch Bri handle the fuel and electrical systems. They glance nervously from her to Robert sitting in the co-pilot seat as we run through the start-up procedures like old hands. The engines come to life as we start one after another; the throaty roar saturates the cockpit. We don’t have helmets so the sound fills our ears in full force. We’ll have to shout to one another as we don’t have mics or headsets either. We taxi out and take off into the noon sun and turn north staying down low and follow I-5 northbound. As we turn to the north, leaving the dead city behind us, my thoughts go out to those who remained at Cabela’s and wonder how they are doing.