Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

“Nothing to eat in that hole?” he asked.

“I forgot that, I guess I do, I think maybe, I can eat it.” She didn’t really make any sense. He put his hand on her shoulder to ask her again if she was ok. He pulled his hand back and it was wet with blood.

“Mark, get your ass over here,” Roger said. Mark came running with Blake. “She’s hit or something. Get her in the house.” Mark lifted up Lisa and quickly ran to the house. He ran inside and yelled for some help. Roger told Blake to get down and stay here. Blake asked if he could move the body of the militia man.

“Ya, go ahead,” Roger said.

Blake went to grab the body and yanked his hand back. “Damn, I cut my finger,” he said.

Roger said, “Don’t move Blake.”

Haliday grabbed his flashlight and took a chance and turned it on. “Damn it,” he said. He reached over and grabbed the foot trap that was still stuck in the dead mans body. He tossed it toward the front of the hole. “You gonna live Blake?” he asked.

Blake said, “Ya, just a small cut.”

“Grab your first aid kit and clean it out now. Put a band aid on it. I’ll be right back.”

Haliday ran into the house. They had Lisa on the floor and on her stomach. Haliday dropped down and pulled out his knife. Get her jacket off. After they took her jacket off, Haliday cut her shirt open. He looked at Mark, “No offense man,” he cut her bra away and they all looked at the wound. Haliday barked out some orders.

When the man half fell into her fighting position, the spike strip caught her in the back. She thought it was just him falling on her. After she got him out of the hole, she thought the pain was just a torn muscle or something. One of the spikes had caught her on her shoulder blade and hit a vein.

Bev and Karen put some gloves on; they grabbed a large syringe and irrigated the gash. They opened a sponge with antiseptic agent on it and scrubbed the whole area. Bev used some quickclot on it and waited. The blood stopped oozing out. She put a bandage on it and taped it up. Haliday said, “Put her by the wood burner and cover her up.”

He looked at Mark, “I’m sorry man, I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t either. I don’t think she knew herself,” Mark said. “She’s supposed to eat every few hours too. I think we just got caught up in everything.”

“Mark, you stay in here, I got the outside covered.” Mark started to follow Haliday outside. Haliday turned around; “Get the hell back in there.”

“Roger, she’s in good hands, we might still have problems.”

He looked at Mark again, “Get in there. You come out before I tell you to and I’ll shoot you my damn self.” Mark went back in the house and over by Lisa.

Haliday did a check of everyone. They were all sitting tight and waiting. No one knew what to expect or if they should expect anything. Haliday made sure he talked to them individually as people, keeping things as personal as possible. He had to make sure they hung on to their humanity. They’d fight their own demons over time, but he knew how to help them with that. Start now and it would help in the long run.

“Hey Blake, just think, two weeks ago you were asking people if they wanted fries with their order.”

Blake’s response was quick; “You mean pick up or delivery?”

Haliday thought, good, he has that contact with the past. “Of course I did Blake, get used to my screwing with you on a regular basis, pizza boy.”

“Hey Kayla?”

“Ya Dad?”

“You mind running out to Starbucks for me?”

“Oh, you’re a riot Dad, but I am craving some coffee.”

Roger spoke to everyone, “Go ahead and bust open those thermoses. Crack open the hand warmers too. I’ll see if I can’t order up some hot food, but stay alert. Weapons checks too and let me know if you need ammo.”

Mark was sitting next to Lisa holding her hand. She was very weak, but doing fairly well. The past couple of days they had had little food, expended a lot of energy travelling, and the stress from the assault and everything else combined with the injury had worn her down. She looked up at him. “I’m fine honey, I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said.

She said, “Go help the others. I’ll be fine.”

Mark called out to Haliday. “Anything going on out there?”

Haliday told him, “No, just some cold hungry troops.”

Mark said, “Lisa is doing great. She wanted me to help out. You mind?”

Roger thought about it a second. “Sure, come on out. I’ll see about getting these guys some hot drinks and food.”

“I have an idea as well,” Mark replied. Mark went and put a stack of wool blankets over by the wood burner.

Mark went outside and relieved Roger who went inside to check on everyone inside. He walked over to David who was being worked on by Rich and Bev. Bev had managed to flush his wound and get everything cleaned out. She even managed to get the bullet out which had stuck in his bone.

She packed it and bandaged it. Haliday was thinking he might need to pay that doctor a visit or at least get the nurse over here as soon as he could. He had pain killers and antibiotics and some other meds stashed for occasions like this, but he had limited medical knowledge. He had taken some first responder training and that was it.

Karen had put some water on to boil so she could make some hot coffee and cocoa for everyone and she had started a big pot of stew. She left the meat out so that Dawn, Diana and she could have some as well. Haliday could hear Diana telling her to make sure she left it meatless; she was actually a full blown vegan. They’d add the meat afterwards. Freeze dried beef cooked up fast.

He walked over to Diana. “How bad is it?” he asked.

Karen walked over and said, “It went through and broke her collar bone. We got it cleaned up and she’ll be fine.”

Haliday reached into his cargo pocket and fished around. He pulled his hand out and offered it to Diana. “You’re an ass,” she said. He chuckled, took a big bite of jerky and then blew his breath in her face. “You’re disgusting,” she offered.

He grabbed a milk crate and put the pot of stew inside. He stuffed some rolls and plastic spoons and bowls on the side. He carried it outside along with an empty one and made his rounds dishing out the meal and a couple of words of encouragement and thanks. He collected the thermoses and took drink orders. After his rounds, he went back inside and set to filling the orders.

He filled half the thermoses with coffee and half with hot cocoa. He grabbed an armful of the blankets which were nice and toasty now and delivered them outside. After making sure everyone was good to go, he went back over to Mark. “What do you think, Mark?”

“It’s your call, Roger. We have about two hours until dawn.”

Roger told him they would be waiting it out until then. He did have a little thing he needed to take care of. He went in the house and changed out his gear load. It was light, just a very few items he would need, and he would only be gone no more than 30 minutes he hoped. Rich asked him, “Where you going Roger?”

“I’m going to pay the neighbor a visit.”

After he walked back outside, he touched base with Mark. Mark looked at him, “Where you going?”

“I’m going across the street for some tea and biscuits. I’ll be back very soon. Take charge here and make sure they don’t shoot me on my way back in.”

Mark promised, “Won’t happen.” Haliday took off and made his way across the street.

He went around to the back and made his way to the porch. He stopped and listened. He didn’t really hear anything. He pulled out a small telescoping mirror and raised it up and glanced through the window. He didn’t see anything, just a couple small candles glowing. He slowly reached up and twisted the handle of the door and it opened.