Mark Tufo - 'Til Death Do Us Part

“Any ideas?” Azile asked as she manhandled the now dead truck to the side of the road.

“We could wait for a good Samaritan,” I told her.

She looked over, trying to ascertain if I was serious, then she smiled. “What about Triple-A?”

“That’s the spirit, let’s get armed up.”

“I hate what this world’s become,” she said as she pushed rounds into her magazines. “I’m more than likely going to need these today,” she said, rattling her rounds, “than this.” She pulled a pen out of her pocket.

“That’s a nice pen.”

“You want it?”

“Sure.”

“At least someone will use it.” She handed it over.

I spent a few more moments taking a look at it before I stuck it in the middle of my rolled up journal, once again wrapping my thoughts and words in a plastic bag and securing it with a rubber band. My present life necessitated this action, I’d lost more than one journal to blood and gore.

“Shit.” Azile shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up and down the roadway.

“Keep a look out, I’m going to ditch this stuff.” Odds were, a family in desperate need of rifles and food was not going to stumble across this truck. The sure bet was a renegade band of some sort of desperados, and with God’s innate sense of humor I could almost guarantee that these would be used against me.

“Just light the damn truck on fire,” Azile said as I was about halfway through emptying the rig.

That did seem way easier, and the groove I was wearing in the ground as I hauled the stuff to the tree line was getting pretty noticeable anyway. “This royally sucks,” I told Azile as I strategically placed the ammunition, my beautiful M-240 and a crate of M-16’s in the back of the truck.

“You say something?” Azile asked peeking her head from around a tree.

I motioned her with a frantic hand waving to hide. I pulled the pin on the grenade I was holding, tossed it into the rear of the truck, and ran. I had just made it to the large tree Azile was hiding behind when the grenade blew; it was a millisecond later when the concussion from the explosion of the grenade and ammunition struck.

Heat from the fire was causing rounds to cook off and randomly fire in all directions.

“Didn’t really think this out, did you?” Azile asked.

“I rarely do.”

It was a lot like waiting for microwave popcorn to finish. There were hundreds of ‘pops’ from the majority of the rounds, then they began to decrease until it was down to the occasional release. This batch, though, we didn’t care if it burned completely. We waited a full ten minutes after the final explosion before we ventured forth. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I noticed bark missing on the tree we had been using for cover, but it still came as a shock to see so much damage to our ‘protector.’

“Thank you,” I told it as I placed my hand against its trunk. I’m glad it wasn’t an Ent; it would have kicked our ass. (Lord of the Rings reference).

I cautiously walked back to the smoking destroyed ruins of Horatio’s truck dismayed to see my M-240 twisted and destroyed.

“You need a minute?” Azile asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll be alright,” I sniffed.

“Now?”

“Now we walk at least for a little while. That blast is going to attract some attention.” I had no idea how prophetic my words were going to be, and from what quarter we were going to receive help. Some shit just can’t be made up.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The Start of the End - Maine

It was twilight and Travis was walking on the raised deck for his shift of guard duty. Nobody had seen much more than a wayward raccoon in days. His eyes were scanning the horizon but not focusing on anything other than how the early evening air had a bite to it. He felt it long before he saw it; the pressure treated boards under his feet were vibrating, at first so subtly he thought he might be having a muscle spasm. That changed when he watched the small deck table start to move from the thrum. The movement was quickly transferred into the house.

Ron ran up to the railing. “I guess it’s time,” he said, heading in as quickly as he had come out.

Travis was still trying to process the information when the majority of the Talbot compound residents came outside.

“Ron, we can’t…the entire system isn’t ready,” Mad Jack was pleading.

“No real choice,” Ron said.

“What is it?” Perla asked, her eyes wide.

“Has anyone seen Erin?” Tracy asked. “I checked the entire house and the garden, she wouldn’t have left the grounds would she?”

Tony was coming from the rear of the house. He looked up at everyone on the deck. “Back gate was open.”

The words were foreboding to Tracy. She had known how distraught Erin had been over Paul’s passing but she didn’t think she would do anything quite that foolish as to leave the security of the compound.

“We have to go look for her,” she begged. No one heard her with a half a dozen conversations going on. “Ron,” she grabbed his forearm, “I think Erin has left, we need to find her.”

“She’s as thick as her husband. Not to fret it’s Darwinism at work,” Deneaux said.

“Ron, I’ve got to find her,” Tracy said with alarm.

“Absolutely not. We have no idea what’s coming, but it’s not good. Erin put herself at risk I will not put others out there also. Besides once we arm our defenses getting back will be near impossible.”

Tracy ran over the deck to the backyard to see if Erin was still in shouting distance.

“Grab the ammo,” Tony said to Travis. “Station it every ten feet along the deck.”

“Ammo is a last resort, dad,” Ron stressed.

“Hurry up then,” Tony told Travis with a smile. The defenses they had built looked formidable, but every fortress was pregnable.

Travis turned and headed back in. He noticed Justin in the shadows of the darkened living room. His lips were moving but no words were emanating forth. “Justin?” Travis asked nervously.

“She’s fucking back, brother.” Justin shivered. Travis walked over cautiously to his brother. “Relax, I can see the concern on your face. I haven’t gone to the dark side yet.”

“No?” Travis asked. “How long have you known they were coming?” he asked before going to fulfill his grandfather’s orders.

Justin was caught off guard. Long enough , he thought.

Tracy was frantically calling out Erin’s name. The only thing answering back was the chirp of crickets that were beginning to still with the approach of multiple diesel engines.

***

Erin heard the ragged screams calling her name, but the peace the woods offered her pulled too deeply. That and the half bottle of valiums she had taken were all she wanted in life as she laid her head back down on the exposed tree root. Her breaths were shallow and her thoughts fogged over. “Paul?” she mumbled in question. “I’ve missed you so much.” She sobbed with relief.

Not this way, Erin , her husband said with a sad smile. It was too late; Erin’s heart slowed further and then stopped. Her eyes shot open, frozen in surprise at her final resting spot.

***

“How much time do we have?” Gary asked, looking out the small road that led to the house.

“Well, they’re on the access road for sure,” Ron replied.

“So within three miles,” Gary said aloud.

“Too close, brother. I know what you’re thinking.”

Gary was done thinking; he was heading for the front gate. Ron had dug out a pit in the middle of the access road; it was seven feet deep, twelve feet across, and the width of the road across about ten feet. They had built a makeshift bridge over the gap so that they could get in and out when needed. The aluminum structure was held in place with heavy metal rods which, if removed, would cause the bridge to collapse once anything of substantial weight bore down on it. The idea being that the defenses around the house were stout but would have great difficulty holding up to a tank or in this case tractor trailers ramming at full steam.