High Lonesome
John and the Girls

Book Seven in the Long lonely series

By

TJ Reeder

April 08, 2013

All rights reserved

Ever been trying to sleep and some troublesome bug just won’t leave you be? And it’s too big to ignore and too small to shoot? Well my nap is again being spoiled by the insistent sound that goes kinda like, THWOK - THWOK- THWOK, followed by “I beat you!” “Did not!!” “Yes I did!!” “No you didn’t!” “BULLSHIT!!” “Stop cussing! It sound like shit!”

Got the picture? It’s like this every damn day when we ain’t moving. I will never forgive myself for following the smell of wood smoke and the sound of an axe splitting wood.

I swear these two can always find something to spend time trying to outdo each other at and it usually involves something that will ruin my nap. Now here they come wanting me to declare a winner, right, like deciding which rattler to pet. I’m the loser regardless. “John”.. “No”.. “John!” “NO!” “If you don’t you will be sorry.” “If I do I will be sorry longer then if I don’t.” “Don’t bet on it buddy!” Now both are pulling my arms. So like the manly man I am I rise to face my end. It’s like being allowed to pick out the rifles the firing squad will use to shoot you.

We walk, arm and arm (only because I’ll try to escape) to the target they were shooting at, in the middle was four cedar arrow shafts, two with white and black fletching and two with Black and White fletching. Don’t ask, I didn’t have a thing to do with it but they know whose is whose. I don’t, they look the same to me.

I call it a draw, didn’t work. So I resort to whining, not working. So I squatted down which I can do now days thanks to Charley and his happy weed as I call it.

I look closer and I just can’t see any difference, none, nada. I finally said “Do as you will with me but I call a draw now stop playing and feed me.” I walk away while they squint at the shafts and finally decide they are tied so what do I know and why did they want my opinion, by the time I got back to my nap pad I was at fault for everything. “Shit.” “Stop cussing!”

It’s like living in a pillow case with a pair of cute darling rabid squirrels. No matter what I’m so screwed, which thought brings the comment that “Don’t count on it buster.” I don’t know what Charlie’s Mother teaches them but…I hear “Don’t go there” “Shit.” “Stop cussing.”

I lay down and pretend to sleep. And get dog piled which includes Walker who loves this game, he don’t care where he steps. Life in the nut house. But I love it and them and Walker if he will stop standing on my jewels. They got that message loud and clear and dragged the big bastard off me.

They put away their bows and quivers and set about fixing dinner which was always a riot. After dinner we cleaned up camp and after the meal settled we piled into the hot pool we had located in this new area. I keep thinking why leave here but the nights are getting a chill to them and we all know what’s coming.

I guess the bows need explaining so I’ll back track a month or two. We spent two weeks at the last camp before we decided to move on. We looked at the maps and decided to head due east because we hadn’t been there. We spent several days just loafing along not in a hurry and when possible we rode side by side and talked about everything under the sun.

There is something magical about riding a good mount up high, the clink of a shoe on stone, the squeak of the saddle leather, the roller on the bits that the riding stock had in their mouths, never was real sure what it was for but they love rolling it so maybe that’s what it’s for, keeps ‘em from getting bored.

Anyway we were just poking along when we all heard a sound from a ways off. It was the sound of an axe splitting wood, so figuring this far up and back in there wouldn’t be a gang for sure. Maybe! We headed that way.

We rode till we smelled smoke and then a bit further until we were really close to the sound, then The Horse with no name let out a “HEY!! Here we are” sound and the axe stopped so with nothing else for it I told the girls to lay back and I’d ease on in, which got me a “Fat chance bud.” They mind real well.

We soon rode out on a well-used trail and headed on toward where the sound came from. After a bit we saw a log cabin ahead of us in a clearing with a log barn and a corral with a horse and two mules who right away started talking to our bunch. Then we heard a voice from the side that said “Well a man with two women and a pack train of good looking mules can’t be too bad!” And out of the trees stepped a Mountain Man, Not a man who lives in the mountains, I mean a real Mountain Man, like 1825 fur trapping, Blackfoot fighting by god Mountain Man holding a rifle that looked like it came out here with Jed Smith or John Johnston. He also looked old enough to have bought the rifle new before heading to Beaver country.

I looked at him for a moment and said “Well if you ain’t gonna shoot one of us I guess we should introduce ourselves. Before I could he said “John Long Walker and his wives Sandy and May also known as Wyatt and Doc.”

Well I could only laugh and say “Guilty.” He walked over and offered his hand and said “I’m Longbow Daniels but my friends just call me Seth.”

He said “Follow me on in” and walked away with a loose gait that belied his years. We followed him right to his corral where he said “Ok boys come on out” and two young lads about fifteen stepped out of the barn and they weren’t holding Hawkins rifles, they had lever guns that had pretty big holes in the ends. They both had long black hair and high cheek bones and were a darker tan then their dad.

We stepped down and he said “Follow me, the boys will water your stock and slip the bits so they can eat a bite.” In the cabin we met his wife who looked to be from one of the local tribes and was very pretty, we introduced ourselves to her, her name was Clare and she spoke like a school teacher which we found out she was before moving to the mountains with Seth. She poured coffee and offered some lunch which got the girls chattering and off they went with her.

I said “Ok Seth how did you know who we are?” He laughed and said “Well hell everybody in these mountains has heard about you and them two hellions but also we ride down to where our old truck is hidden and drive into places where we can get some supplies, such as they are. But some stuff is starting to move coming in from the west coast.”

Now that surprised the hell outta me! And I said so, he just nodded and said “Well it ain’t been going on too long and it’s a bit spotty but it’s coming. Coffee, sugar and such, seems somebody got a small ship working and they load up whatever they can buy or trade for then sell it or trade it to folks along the coast who bring it in to the area. They are partial to gold and silver but will take furs.”

I was really blown away at this news but happy to hear it. We stopped talking to have big bowls of Elk stew made with home grown veggies. It was awesome.

Clare and the girls were getting along like old friends and the boys just listened and smiled at their mom, who was very happy to have female company.

The cabin and barn were USFS built to house trail crews and rangers who rode the back country before the event that is. Seth said he knew about it because he worked out of here building trails and when the SHTF he simply loaded up his family in their old truck and headed for the high lonesome and didn’t move for a year. But after scouting things out they took a trip out to a small local town where they were known and welcome. After that they went in when they had too, but not often. That was where they heard the stories about us and while some sounded a bit tall he was willing to believe it.

May asked him about his handle of “Longbow” so he sent one of the boys to fetch something and he brought back a buckskin covered bundle out of which Seth pulled a beautiful long bow which he strung and handed to May who stood and tried to draw it. She got about two inches and gave up and Seth said she done good for a smallish person. He placed a shaft onto the shelf and nocked and drew it fully back to the broad head which made his wife shake a spoon at him and declare if he shot one more arrow in the house she was gonna hammer his head with a skillet.

He eased the bow down and winked at me and nodded at a shaft buried into a log near the ceiling, he said “I slip one time and she never gets over it.” She smacked him with the spoon while the boys smiled at their folks.

May said “Where did you get that?” He smiled and said “Well darlin I made it.” May lit up like a light bulb and said “Do you make them for other people?” He said “Well yeah, but most folks want them rattle contraptions that pass for a bow these days.” May said “I don’t, I want one like this! Will you make me one?” By now the other one was there trying to pull the bow and gave up saying “I want one!” May said “I asked first!” I said “Ladies!” That got a glare.

Seth laughed real big and said “Y’all step in here” and headed for the door the lad had got the bow from. Inside was a very nice workshop and the walls were full of bows in all stages of finish. He looked at May and Sandy then reached up to the top of a rack and got down two bows and wiped the dust off them. He found strings and strung both with ease then found leather arm and finger guards and a dozen shafts and said “Let’s go!”

Out the back door of the shop was his archery range with targets at ranges from 10 yards to 45 yards. They were full size 3D targets. After helping them get the leather protection on he guided them while they knocked their first shaft and with May going first shooting at the 10 yard deer target she let fly and made a chest shot! Seth looked at her and said “You been here before huh.” She smiled and said “Yep, I shot in college on the school team but it was with compound bows and I never liked them.”

She stepped aside and Sandy followed Seth’s directions and let fly missing the deer, well I saw her jaw bulge and she grabbed another arrow and missed, finally Seth said “Ok little lady you ready to listen?” She nodded so he walked her thru the whole process of smooth draw, look down the shaft and let go. He explained that stick bow shooting was referred to as Primitive because there was no sights or other whizbang gadgets on the bow. It is a learned thing, instinctive shooting that only comes from a lot of practice. And also that as a rule if a person could shoot a more powerful compound bow then they could shoot a stick bow, generally speaking. He also said that every archer had their own limit which they would learn thru practice. He said his limit was 45 yards, beyond that and he relayed on stalking skills that also had to be learned.

He pointed out that the bows they were shooting now were lighter pull weight then they could handle in say a couple of weeks and that the lighter the bow the less killing power it had which would result in wounded game getting away and that was something a real bow hunter would avoid like death.

We left them working at it which they didn’t stop until their fingers were so sore they couldn’t pull the string back anymore. Seth said that would change over time too.

We settled back and worked out a deal with him for two bows and a huge batch of shafts and a lot of practice points and a few dozen broad heads. He told them to take the two bows and arrows and work at it and to come back in two weeks, he told us where the nearest hot springs were and with thanks we headed for them.

So now for 13 days I’ve lived with the “THWOK” sound, I hear it in my sleep, that or the arguing over who is getting best fastest. The next day is the 14th day so we left camp and with the pack string headed to Seths place which was only a mile or so. When we got there his wife came out and grabbed the girls right away and off they went to the kitchen to do whatever they do in there, but it smelled good! I went into the work shop just as Seth was wiping down the two new bows and they were beautiful! On the top of each were tied small feathers which I knew was a form of wind gauge.

The bows were the same size and weight and only different due to the wood used. He strung them and laid them on his work bench and we joined the girls for lunch. The boys had hiked down the trail to visit a ranch family a few miles away who had daughters, ahh love thy name is “Youth.” I got a look for that one.

After lunch we all trooped into the shop and he pointed to the bows which they both ohhed and ahhed over then slowly each picked up one and held it then pulled it back with some effort. Then they switched bows and did it again, and smiled, they had the one that wanted them, or as they most likely believed, the one the bow wanted to be with. Horse pucky I say and got glared at.

Out the door and after they had their leathers on each nocked a shaft and let fly at the 30 yard target and both hit right where it should be hit! Well I had been watching them like 23 hours a day for two weeks so I wasn’t surprised but Seth was, big time. He said he never seen anybody improve like Sandy had since May had a big head start more or less.

When they bent over to pull their shafts May’s bear claw necklace fell out of her shirt causing Seth to say “WOW!!” May went over so he could get a better look so Sandy took hers out and that led to having to tell the story right there. Seth said he was filled with envy because he had never had a chance with a big mountain Grizzly. I told him he could have my next encounter.

He explained that the bows were a heavier draw then the practice bows they had worked with and either would put a shaft thru an Elk if it didn’t hit a big bone. He was really into their dedication and dragged out a trunk from under the work bench and opened it and took out several quivers, handmade from stiff Elk hide and covered with beautiful bead work. It was obvious Clare had done the bead work from the look of pride on her face.

Seth told them to pick the one they wanted which took a while but in the end they each had the one they wanted. He then placed a dozen shafts in them one set with two black feathers and the nock feather was white, the other set was two white and one black. Now I got it.

Well they were bouncing and both hugged Seth then me then Clare who was laughing at their antics like they were kids and if anything they were the same age as she was. But they were just like puppies. I had to admit Sandy was more so now that May was with us, both turned and smiled at me. I’m lost, and I’ll give them whatever they want. When it was all settled they had their bows and quivers and a hundred cedar shafts each. Seth showed them how to mount the target heads as well as the broad heads.

I paid Seth in junk silver coins which the folks he was dealing with took willingly. Gold was too hard to break down value wise. We took leave of Seth and his wife and headed back out on the road to wherever.

It’s been about two or three weeks since we left Seth’s place and they are still spending time each day training with the bows and it finally dawned on me this was taking the place of training with their pistols because they could shoot the bows and not tell the world we were around. I’m slow at times, like between day break and dark.

Now I made sure we stopped early enough for them to get in an hour or so of practice or maybe play depending on how you looked at it. I will admit they have gotten damn good with these things and I’m waiting for them to decide to get a deer with their “new” weapons.

I knew we were going to need to be dropping lower then we were simply because of the coming cold and snow, not this month but the nights are getting cold. I had been studying the maps and located a hot spring, if I was right, so we drifted that way for a couple of days and sure enough found it after a search and it wasn’t developed so we spent a day digging and hauling rocks and mud mixed with grass and finally had a pool big enough to hold us in comfort. And all that digging and rock hauling made me really need it. I was sore.

The third day we were there the girls wanted to go hunting with their new toy’s so I said “Cool, wake me when you return so we can dig out some dinner.” They jeered at me as a non-believer and off they went. Being in camp alone with the wind in the trees I just laid down for a nap and woke up to Walker growling like he really meant it. I laid there listening and finally heard a squeak of leather and rolled to my feet cussing the fact my rifle was thirty feet away and I was looking at three men who looked like they thought I was a sheep and they was wolves. I was pissed, first at getting caught sleeping like a fool, pissed at Walker for not picking them up sooner and even more pissed that I left my rifle out of reach. They just sat looking at me so I said “Well what can I do for y’all?”

The youngest one laughed a nasty laugh and said “Well I’d say the real question is what are we gonna do to you?” Well I had an idea I could take two of them but one had a rifle laying across his thighs pointing right at me. I’m pretty good but not that good.

I repeated myself and asked what they wanted and the smart mouthed one said “Well mostly everything you have plus where are them women we saw with you four days ago?” I smiled and said “Well I’d say they are looking right at you this minute.” I had decided that I was gonna go for it and the rifle guy was first.

I guess something in my eyes gave me away because before I could move he said “Screw this talking shit” and raised the rifle and grew a feathered shaft in his chest, right thru the heart. The mouthy kid was clawing for a pistol when he got a shaft too. The third one spun his horse and was heading out fast when he got hit by two arrows but kept riding. I never heard a “THWOK,” must be the difference in the target.

The girls came out of the brush and checked the two and pulled out their shafts from behind as both had gone thru. I was still standing there looking stupid and feeling old. Sandy came to me and said “John they had you cold and you were gonna take it to them, and you would have done a damn good job of it, we just happened to be close to camp and heard them talking so stop feeling down on yourself.” May came over and hugged me and said “Yeah what she said.” Then she said “Ain’t it just the way it goes, we go to get meat with our new toys and the first thing we kill is skunks!” I swear these two are like the black plague. But they are right. And thank god for it because my ass was cooked.

While they used a mule to drag the two well away from camp I saddled Buck and headed after the third one who just had to be laying down the trail a ways, but all I found was some blood and an arrow. I took it back with me and let them figure out whose it was. Now we had a dilemma, stay or go? The girls voted to go and inside of an hour we were riding out of there. They had removed the weapons from the two dead men but other then that left them lay.

We rode all day and stopped to fix dinner then headed out and made more time. By dark we had found a place to double back and set up a camp away from the trail in a gully with a bit of water trickling down it. I headed out and closed in on our trail but it was full dark so I headed back. We spent a fireless night and were awake and loaded before there was even a gray place to the east. I headed back towards the trail and watched it for a good while before returning to camp where we studied the map.

I wasn’t sure why we were running but it seemed like the smart thing to do. We made a lot of miles that day and the next three before we stopped to rest after doubling back and doing every trick I ever read in the westerns I used to read. But a pack string like ours leaves a big trail and if we were being followed we would be found.

The last day we crossed a shallow but wide creek and rode down it a ways then headed back up then we left the creek in several places only to return to it in a different place. Then following the advice of every old Marine I served with “Head for the high ground.”

We lucked out by hitting a small trail and heading up it we came to a large clearing where the trail crossed right thru the middle and thru a gap in a rock wall. Behind the wall the trail dropped down into a deep canyon with heavy timber. We stopped right there on the canyon side of the gap and set up our camp.

The girls headed down the trail while I watched the back trail and asked myself why we were running; we had seen nobody, not even a ribbon of smoke anyplace. But I just knew we were being trailed so right here we would wait and let them bring it. If they were even out there.

One thing for sure anybody coming at us across that big meadow was in a big hurt. And we had the best fighting positions a body could ask for. And we needed to rest the stock and ourselves. So here we stand.

The girls returned and said the trail was a good one and went thru places that we could roll rocks down and block it for a good while. I explained the plan and they got to fixing dinner over as smokeless a fire as possible. I wasn’t worried about dealing with whoever came at us because we had things with us that would make a huge difference in any fight. I was most worried about being headed off by people who knew this area whereas we don’t but we have topographic maps so we can pick our way thru rough country where they will be forced to follow.

We stayed in this camp for three days and got plenty of rest, we rotated the night watch but with Walker there the watcher could cat nap. Walker had picked up our moods and stress and was hyper vigilant. I think he feels guilty that they rode right in on us. I sure as hell do.

On the third night Walker let out a low rumble that even I heard from the bedroll and I was up in a flash along with May who had just come to bed. We joined Sandy who was watching the clearing with the night vision gear we had picked up in the air base which was much better then the one I had way back when.

She whispered that three riders were sitting on horses in the clearing but didn’t seem to know about the gap in the rock wall. One thing I had done was fill it with brush that I cut and replaced daily making it look like a big bush growing out of the rock wall. Now at night they couldn’t see even the bush. I looked thru the glass as did May who said they were heading back out of the clearing. Right then I took the night glass and eased out thru the gap and around the edge of the clearing and followed them, I could hear them ahead of me and knew they were heading back to a small brook about a half mile away, and sure enough there was their camp with about a dozen men sitting around a small fire.

One of the three walked to a man sitting alone and said something to him, most likely that our trail went into the meadow.

I couldn’t get closer and really didn’t need to so I headed back and told the girls to saddle up awhile I packed the mules, in an hour with their help we were loaded up, they took the mules down the trail to a clearing with water and using a picket line tied them. May stayed there while Sandy came back to join me.

My idea was to face them right here to hear what they had to say and hopefully stop this crazy shit but I knew it wasn’t gonna work. One person could hold here for a long time but would eventually get flanked. I told Sandy what was going to happen and what I wanted her to do and she nodded with no arguments. I love these women, they are better at this Marine shit then some of the clowns I served with.

At last daylight came and with it a pair of scouts looking to follow the trail which would be all over the entire meadow since we had allowed the stock to graze there. Then after a bit a few more men rode out into the clearing followed shortly by a man on a beautiful horse who I figured just had to be the boss man. When they were all in the clearing there was a dozen of them. The scouts were riding all over the meadow and slowly working toward the brush filled gap. And finally one of them looked closer and then pulled a limb and the gap was exposed. The man who pulled the bush out got a real sick look on his face so I said quietly “Just sit real still and you might see tomorrows sun up.” And he froze. I asked why we were being chased and he said we had murdered his boss’s son and another man and wounded a third. Talking to him wasn’t going to cut it so I told him to call his boss over to where he was.

He yelled out and asked the man to come see this and of course he brought the entire bunch. When he was as close as I wanted him to get I said “That’s far enough.” He jerked his head up and all his men reached for weapons. I let the bolt slam shut on the AR10 and said “Let’s talk, we can fight later.”

The boss man looked up at the rocks and said “Mister there is nothing to talk about, you murdered my son and you’re gonna hang.” I could only shake my head and say “Well your son and his two friends rode into my camp, and made it plain that not only were they gonna kill me but were planning to take all my gear plus the two ladies traveling with me. So murder, armed robbery and kidnapping plus I would assume rape is ok with you as long as it’s your kid doing it?” He was glaring up at the rocks trying to locate me and said “You murdered my son!! Why makes no difference, he’s dead and your gonna die too.”

I could see no sense in talking further so I said “Fine, get on out of here before one of these fools following you decides to play hero for the boss.” The man next to him who had to be his forman said “Boss, we are in a bad spot, we can’t go forward and we are fish in a bowl.”

The old man glared at him and said “Brad if you’re gonna punk out on me then get on out of here, your fired.” The man named Brad just looked sadly at the old man and then up at where I was and shook his head and said “You’re making a mistake boss this ain’t some pilgrim we been chasing and we know there are at least three of them looking at us over gun barrels right now.”

The old man looked at him and said “Brad I fired you and you’re still here talking like a coward now go before I shoot you myself.” Brad turned his horse and rode away across and out of the meadow. I saw a couple of others look at each other and turn and ride away too. Well we were down to nine and hadn’t fired a shot. Talking does work but it wasn’t over yet, and wasn’t gonna be it looked like, so I tried talking some more. I told him the entire story of what happened and why it had ended the way it had, He actually looked up at the area where I was and said “Mister, I don’t care if my son raped your women, killed your dog, stole everything you have in this world, he was still worth more then you ever will be and you will pay. I gave up, and said “So the murdering little loudmouthed bastard could do as he wished and his stupid self-centered old man would let him do it simply because of who you are?”

Well he almost blew a vein. While he was trying to get the breath to yell I told his men that they could all die right here or head out and leave the crazy old son of a bitch to die like the fool he was.

He at last freed up his pistol and started firing at the rocks but had no chance to hit us. I figured about one more shot and Sandy would lose her hold on her temper and simply shoot the fool.

His men turned and rode away as quick as they could, leaving him alone fumbling to get a new magazine in his gun, but he dropped the gun and then threw the magazine at the rocks. I felt almost sorry for him but not much. He sat there for a bit then turned away and said as he went, “It ain’t over, I know who you are and I’ll send people to hunt you down and kill you, I’ll put a bounty on your head so big every gun thug in the country will come for you.”

I was tempted to just shoot him and put him out of his misery. I had a feeling I’d regret not doing it. We mounted up and headed out but Sandy said “Wait” and bailed off her horse and went thru the gap and was back in a second smiling. We met up with May and lit a shuck out of there.

Later that evening I remembered to ask Sandy why she went back thru the gap before we rode away, she smiled real big and from her saddle bag pulled a cloth wrapped object. I knew without looking it was a gun, it was the pistol dropped by the old man. I knew without looking it had to be another 1911 and it was. And not just any 1911, this one was a big hand cannon made by STI. It was called "The Perfect 10”, a 10 mm, long slide 6" barrel, holding 14 rounds of hard shooting ass kickers. It was done up with hard chrome and every bell and whistle one can hang on the frame, new retail had to have been close to $3000.00 and the old bastard had just ridden off and left it. She even found the magazine for it which was of course empty. I asked her what she was going to do with it because it was big, hell even in my hand it was a hand full. She just smiled that "I got bling smile" she gets when she scores a new toy. Her answer was of course that she didn't have one so therefore, needed one! She also had a evil little smile when she said “Yanno, this thing would fit Bear Jackson's huge cookie crushers!” And there in lay the truth. Bear had something she wanted and this was the prize to pry it out of his paws. Poor bear. She did say she needed a box of ammo so she could shoot it and of course May chimed in with WE need to shoot it. I know one thing for sure, neither will like it. If they kept it the damn thing would end up on the cabin wall alongside Old man Jones 45-70.

Two weeks later with more miles and switch back behind us then we could count we headed to a small town listed on the map as Rocky Point with a pre event population of 450 people. We rode into the town shortly after mid-morning and headed for the general store that every town seemed to have cropping up lately. Inside we found an older couple who smiled and asked what they could do for us. Sandy and May had a list they had worked up and they got what there was of it. After paying with junk silver we headed for the local café.

Inside we found a clean place with good smells and settled in to eat; the waitress told us what was on the menu for the day which was stew and fresh hot bread and butter. We ordered and ate then ordered again then had pie with it. We were just finishing up when three men walked in with badges on who came right to our table and asked if the mules were ours. I said “Yep they are, why?” He said there was a flier going around describing us and our livestock as wanted for murder and a reward for ‘Dead.’”

Well I knew I should have shot that old bastard but hind sight is always 20-20 vision. I asked them if they were there to collect on the reward and the speaker laughed and said “Hell no, we knew the little bastard y’all rid the country of and nobody will miss the twerp, but his old man has a lot of gold and some folks just ain’t picky about minor details like right and wrong.” I thanked him and said we were heading out right away, I paid the girl and tipped her and leave we did.

We headed back up into the higher country and made camp to talk about it. May was all for tracking the old asshole down and just shooting him. I said “Hold that thought.” We were faced with being forced to avoid places we would like to rest up in and being on the run wasn’t my idea of how our vacation should go. We had some coffee and batted ideas around until Sandy said “Fuck it, let’s just head right to that old bastards roost and say here it is come get it!” Between her and Doc I swear they would charge hell for the fun of rubbing it in Lucifer’s face.

We camped out in a nice little nook in a valley with a great stream running thru it and feasted on Brookies till I had to make them stop fishing. They don’t do anything half way. But the longer we sat there the madder I was getting so finally I said “What do y’all want to do about this bounty stuff?” They were packing up the camp before I got done asking. We headed out and made a bee line for the town nearest to where we thought this asshole had his place.

After a week of moving right along I figured it was a town named Pineville so that’s where we headed. When we got near the place I had to force the issue about them laying back while I went in on my own. It was a nice clean little town, it had some lookouts posted and other then waving me in they never said a word. I headed right for the local office of the town government such as it was; the sign said “Saloon, town hall, Church and any other thing we need it for.” I liked it! So tying Buck up I walked in and saw it was a clean quiet place with a few bottles of bar whisky as it was called. The bartender was friendly but could only smile when I ask for JW, so I went out and got a bottle from the saddle bags and took it in and poured both of us a drink, he did have some cold beer so that made a good chaser.

His name was Tome Lane and he had been here all his life. After another drink I asked him what the story was on the bounty I was hearing about. He made a face and said it was some outsider who had built a big stone house more like a fort up in the hills to the east and had moved in just before the EMP. He seemed to have prepared very well since it seemed like he had everything a person could want.

I said “Well hell maybe he knew something ahead of time.” That got his attention and a thoughtful look. He said the man’s son had got his ass killed trying to rob the wrong people and the old man was bound and determined to get revenge.

I asked who it was he was after but he didn’t know except there was an Indian involved because the two dead ones were killed with arrows and the one who got away had one thru his back that just missed a lung. I did ask where he got the information and was told the old man’s foreman had refused to get involved in murder so the old man fired him and he passed the word on his way out of the area.

I said it sounded like nobody had much sympathy for the man and he said nope but the kind of folks who would kill folks for a bounty don’t care about right or wrong. I heard the sound of several horses walking in the street and heard them stop, and sure as God made little green apples here come the troublesome twins.

Well the bartender took a double take and busted out laughing and said “Well you got me!” He offered the girls whatever they wanted but they said water was fine. I capped the bottle and gave it to him and took another cold beer then headed for a table in the corner close to a window where I told them the news. They said “Well let’s just wait right here in town and see what happens.”

The bartender said the motel had rooms as did the old town hotel which also served meals so that’s where we headed. The stock went into the hotel corral and barn where an old colored man ran things; he looked the stock over and said “Fine animals, very fine!” And he promised to take good care of them, I handed him a 20 dollar gold cartwheel and said “Let me know when this runs out.” He said “You know half the trash in the country is looking for y’all, right?” I said “Yeah, but thanks.” He promised he would let us know if anybody came around.

Walker listened to Sandy telling him to stay and guard the stock and told him the old black man was ok, His name was Charles and Walker seemed to agree he was ok.

We got two rooms right across the hall from each other, one looking at the barn and corral and the other out at Main Street and the saloon. I figured when it came it would be from two fronts and we held the high ground and both sides.

We hauled the packs with the hardware upstairs and set out our main weapons as well as body armor. We had just about anybody out gunned but shit happens. All we could do was wait and watch and hope none of the locals got hurt when it happened.

Well after a few days I was starting to wonder if we was wasting our time when old Charles came up and said a couple of strangers was snooping around the barn and Walker warned them off, but they looked like they would shoot a dog as fast as anything else.

I decided right then that I was moving down to the barn at night and see what I could catch. Well of course that didn’t work because they were going where I went so back to the barn with our gear we went. Well we could clean up in the rooms and even nap so we kept them.

That night went well as did the next; we spent time visiting folks in town and spending money and in general being nice folks. Everybody knew who we were and what was going on and seemed to see it as entertainment like a soap opera.

I guess I could understand that. But I hope they stayed low when it started. The only “lawman” in town was a night watchman who wandered around with a shotgun, we asked him to avoid the hotel area at night and he laughed and said “My mama didn’t raise a fool.”

The third day after we moved to the stable we were having breakfast in the hotel restaurant when a pickup rolled into town with a bunch of men in it who were obviously strangers since they were looking around like they hadn’t been here before. I counted seven, fair odds, all were armed with a typical collection of weapons. After looking around they headed for the hotel and as planned the girls split up and one went behind the counter and one went into the woman’s rest room.

I hadn’t wanted to have the ball open here but there it was, several of them split off heading in opposite directions while three headed into the hotel. One walked to the counter and started demanding information on who was staying here, Sandy was behind the desk and said “I’m sorry but that kind of information is not passed out.”

The man grabbed for the directory but was too slow as Sandy removed it from the counter. The fool tried to slap her of all things. But she was faster then him and made him miss. The two by the door were dividing their attention between me and the fool at the counter. When he started around the counter I said “Don’t” that stopped him, he glared at me and asked me to say it again so I did. Jeeze this was sounding like a grade D Saturday afternoon movie of my youth, shit I could have written the dialogue. He headed right for me and asked why I was butting into his business so I told him the lady was my wife and that was it.

While he tried to understand that May walked out of the bathroom and headed for the table, he said “Who’s this?” I said “My wife.” His eyes got big and he said “Shit!” as he tried to make it but he wasn’t in the same league with us. My 45 was in my left hand so I left him for May and took his buddies at the door who had woke up and were reaching too.

May got hers with her little 380 that he never saw, Sandy got one with her 1911 and I think I may have hit one left handed by the door but Sandy just hosed both of them. I couldn’t hear again, I swear this shit is gonna deafen me. “Don’t cuss.”

Sandy went back behind the counter while May and I headed for better cover, I headed for the back door and May got behind the bar off the lobby.

It didn’t take long for the other four to head for the hotel, two by the front and two by the back. I had a shotgun sitting by the door so I was set when they charged around the corner and ran right into it. They never got off a shot, I felt bad for maybe half a nano second. They came to murder us for money and died with empty pockets, tough shit.

I had heard the boom of May’s shotgun and the bark of Sandy’s 45 and when I got there it was over, seven people dead and gone in three minutes.

This was crazy and it was just starting. We piled their weapons in back of the lobby desk and found the truck keys on the one May got first. I went to the truck and pulled it up to the front door and between us we started dragging them out. Then Charles showed up and several of the other towns folks who helped pile them in the truck. I said “Whoever hauls them out and dumps them in a gully way out of town can have the truck. Charles grabbed the keys and jumped in the truck laughing and was gone! Guess he wanted wheels.

I went in to see the lady who owns the hotel and to offer payment for any damage; she was behind the counter and waved off any offer of pay but asked if she could pick out a gun or two. I gave her all of them. She said I was good for business! It’s good to be considered an asset.

Charles was back in an hour and tried to hand me a small bag of coins, silver and gold, he had taken off the bodies. I said “Keep it.” He said I was good for business, I laughed.

Later that night the doubts hit again, I was so tired of this shit, yet we seemed to attract trouble like a magnet attracts filings. We were three normal nice people who made friends wherever we went yet we seemed to be killing some asshole or other daily and we weren’t hunting trouble.

Knowing me as they do the girls knew where my head was and waited for me to think it out. I finally said, “You know, when we are in the canyon at the lake we don’t have trouble but as soon as we try to just travel around we seem to piss off people.” The girls had learned to let me get it out before beating me up.

Surprising me they both agreed but neither had any thoughts on how to change things. Trouble always came at us; we never went looking for it. Well sure, we did when we went after the cannibals and maybe another time or two, but that was different then this shit. I was really regretting not finishing this mess when we had the chance. One bitter old man with a spoiled out of control kid was now responsible for how much death before it was over.

The solution might be to just go after him but if nobody knew he was dead the bounty hunters would keep coming. No, we needed to get him into town where it could be ended in public so word would get out. And there the plan was born. We had just had a fight and really who knew we won outside the townies? I went to see Charles for advice and information on this old man. Charles said nobody in the town really knew who he was or where he came from just that his kid had been a worthless waste of sperm that should have been buried long ago, like 5 seconds after he was born. I asked Charles how one could get word to the old man that we were dead and the killers wanted the bounty.

He said he would think about it and get back to me. I rejoined the girls who were ready to spend the night in our room in the hotel so we did. I told them what Charles said and it seemed funny nobody knew the old guys name.

The next morning Charles joined us for breakfast and said he would get a message to the old man’s compound and we would see what happened. He said if the old man brought all his men it might get nasty but the townspeople were behind us and we could expect some help, maybe not a lot but some. Charles of course said he would be there. I really liked this old man, he was a good troop!

Charles sent word that we were dead but we took all but two of the bounty hunters with us and they were wounded so he needed to bring them their loot. Whoever went out there returned and said the old man was coming and wanted to see our dead bodies before he paid a dime.

The next day we were ready, all armored up, girls loaded for bear with their sub guns. I stuck with my AR10 with a shotgun over my back and with my 45’s I felt like I weighed 400 pounds. One of the girls giggled and with a stage whisper said “Felt that way last night too” both laughed loudly. I hate ‘em! “Do not” came the usual answer.

Just before noon Charles’ lookout sent word they were coming, several truck loads. We had decided to stop them in the middle of town and no talking, just hose them. But at the last minute I decided that maybe just taking the boss off the board might stop the game, no pay no work.

I waited till they were right in front of the hotel and I stepped out from behind a pickup, I had left the AR10 behind the truck.

When they stopped I realized they had no idea who I was, they hadn’t seen me so the old man got out surrounded with his people. He asked who I was and I said “Well, let me ask your men a question. How many of you liked the old man’s kid enough to die right here, right now for him? How many of you really give a shit about this old bastard? You all stay for the pay or the shelter? Is the food that good? From what the townspeople say the punk was a just waste of sperm.” Well I had him so confused he was still trying to understand me. I looked each of his men in the eye and said, “I’m the one who killed the kid, and if y’all wanna die for him then let’s dance, but if not get in the trucks and head out of here.”

I saw them all looking around and knew they were looking at rifle barrels pointed at them, of course most had nobody behind them but they didn’t know that. The old man got it at last and started shaking so hard I thought he was gonna fall down, then he started screaming “Kill Him!!!” But nobody moved and then a few headed for the trucks then a few more until he was alone in the street. I saw May walking out of the Hotel with the 300 blackout in her hand; she walked right up to him and looked closer and said “Doctor Raddly? No wonder we never knew what happened to you! You slimy bastard, you helped do all this shit to the world then slipped out to your prepared place to wait it out? My brother died because of you and your friend’s plans.”

Well I was stunned, Sandy had joined us and looked at me, we both shrugged. He was looking at May and suddenly recognized her and screamed out that she was a traitor and had ruined everything! As he reached inside his coat May raised the 300 and just hosed him, when it went click she looked at him and then spit on him then walked into the hotel with Sandy close behind her.

I needed a drink. I headed for the saloon. Charles joined me as did several others, one handed me my AR10 I had forgotten. What a turn of events. Everybody wanted to know what that was all about so I told them what I knew and what I thought but left it at that. After a while the girls joined us, May had been crying, for her brother no doubt. She even took a drink from my glass and forced it down; mostly the girls weren’t drinkers except in private with just the three of us and then usually wine. But the whiskey brought color back to her face.

She looked at me and said “Raddly was in bed with the people behind the events that led up to the weapons being used, but he disappeared two days before they went off. Now I know why, the bastard.”

It was over, but surely not in the way I thought it would end. Charles said the word was going out over short wave right now that it was done and the reward was rescinded due to the timely death of the man offering the reward.

Now that this latest mess was settled I was really thinking about going back to the canyon or Texas and retiring. I knew the day I found the EMP had hit and then found the poor man in the ditch only hours after it that shit was gonna roll out of control but I had no idea it would be like this. Had we always been a people willing to do anything but held back by the thin screen called law? Was the world full of Murderers, Rapist, Slavers, Scum of all kinds that we lived with but never saw? One would think by now that they would be pretty well thinned out. Yet it seemed like every other day we were in the middle of a gun fight or heading to one or and I thank our lucky stars “finishing” one.

I can’t understand it, the most famous of the old time gun fighters never got involved in crap like this, oh sure some Marshall in a cow town may have had a run in or two, but look at the most famous shoot out of all time, the “OK Corral” what, three dead and a couple wounded. John Wesley Hardin killed 20 or so men but took as many years to do it, hell the girls between them have out done Hardin in two years’ time total and make Wyatt Earp look like a limp dick piker. Doc Holliday was a different story so we won’t go there.

I’m really beside myself with this. Don’t get me wrong, I believe 100% in defending oneself. I believe a person who tries to take from others by force gets what they deserve but spread a lot of pain and suffering until they get it. But how does this affect our problem with it? And why do we seem to attract trouble? If I knew a shrink I might ask them but I don’t. I wish Charley was here, he would have thoughts on it.

We were free to move on and that’s what we did, we paid our hotel bill and stable bill, got what we could of supplies and lit a shuck out of there. I had no idea where we would go next but for now we are heading “up.” Up is always good, take the high ground. We didn’t push it but we didn’t stop to smell the wild flowers either. Just before dark we stopped at a small stream in a clearing where the stock could graze, fixed dinner and just collapsed by the fire depending on Walker to stay alert, as I watch him sleeping by the fire.

I never realized how much being hunted takes out of a person, the eternal vigilance and only dozing not sleeping. Even the lay up in town wasn’t restful. Maybe I was getting too old for this crap. Sandy and May both snuggled close and Sandy said “John, stop thinking so much, we don’t hunt trouble, yes it finds us, but then, think how many people we may have saved by being there. Not everybody has the skills you taught us and not everybody is cut out for this life but for me and May we wouldn’t be anyplace else in the world.”

May kissed my cheek and said “You know she’s right John, look at the good instead of the bad, everywhere we go we have helped people, even if it’s just buying supplies we are bringing new money into small communities just surviving like everybody else, we aren’t bad people.”

My wives are the smartest two people on this old earth, both have an insight that is hard to believe and they are two of the funniest, happy loving people I’ve ever known. I’m blessed. Both of them said “Yes you are.” “Stop it” I said. They laughed and scooted closer if that was possible.

I don’t know why or where these thoughts are coming from but I wish they would stop, doubts at the wrong time could cause hurt to one of my ladies and that would tear the heart out of me. So ok, I’ll stop doing it, they are right we have never done anything to cause a fight and in fact have run away from it until we couldn’t run any longer. So there, glad that’s settled, “Us too!” Came the thought, “Stop it!” “No!” Giggles. Actually I believe most of this stuff playing in my head is of my own doing and not really them; laughter. Sigh.

We stayed in this camp the next day to decide where we were going next plus to see if anybody was interested in our trail. While relaxing we read the maps like a book, Of course we were all looking for the little mark that indicates hot springs, yes we are addicted to these thing but why not? We did locate a few within a couple of days ride so come morning we were up early and on the road, we did a loop every few miles to watch our back trail but saw nothing. Yet.

We found the first spring and it wasn’t worth bothering with, too much sulfur and stunk so bad we smelled it a mile away. Own to the next one which being on the other side of the ridge might be better. It was and we didn’t even have to improve it since it was an old Elk hunting camp. The hunters must have used this camp for many years because it was really improved. Even had fire wood stacked.

We set up camp and after putting the stock out to graze we hit nature’s hot tub and it was heaven, over to one side was the outlet where we soaped down and got clean with the soap flowing out right away. Nice. With morning we looked the area over and while it was nice we decided to move on.

Two weeks later we were due west of Jackson Hole and were turning south, we decided freezing our asses off wasn’t the way to go. There are thousands of square miles of beautiful desert country we can explore in more comfort.

And winter was snapping at our heels for sure, we didn’t have to urge the stock into stepping it out, they weren’t slowing down a bit, days passed into weeks, as we dropped lower and lower the land was opening up letting us make better time, I figured we could make it to Rock Springs and winter there if we had to, or rest up before the push home. Margo and Harry had become friends when we rolled east to look into what was going on there.

We started early and rode late, stopping to camp where we found water at days end. We had water bags we filled in case we had to make a dry camp which we did once or twice. But it worked out because we watered at every trickle we found. It was funny how we suddenly couldn’t wait to get back to the low country which really ain’t that low. I guess events that happened just made us want to get back to the canyon lands where we had found more peace then any place and right now we were looking forward to just standing down for a change. But this trip was awesome and we had a blast.

We rode into Rock Springs just minutes it seemed ahead of a bad storm; Margo and Harry were blown away when we popped in out of the gloom. The stock was put away in record time and they offered us a bed at their home, we accepted with no arguments. We woke to find a foot of snow on the ground and still falling, we had just made it. We headed to the nearest place to get breakfast dragging a protesting Harry and Margo along.

Before we left the house I opened a pack I had kept closed since we left Harv and the canyon dwellers when they rolled out heading south for the Canyon lands. I called the girls into the bedroom after we had showered and dressed.

They wear their necklaces all the time and when they came into the room both were wearing form fitting black jeans and matching tops. I handed each a rolled up bundle to open which of course excited them just because. They worked thru the knots as fast as they could which was how I made sure they didn’t sneak a peek before I was ready to give them their new goodies.

They managed to get them open at the same time and rolled the bundles open and went quiet, for once I had got them! They were just stunned. They looked at me then the gifts then put them on. Harv’s family member who did the bear skin and the necklaces had made two beautiful winter coats from his wolf skins, he had lined them with Hudson bay wool trade blankets and when the hood was pulled up the wolfs head was the crown of the hood. They were beautiful, both hoods were trimmed with Ermine fur and they reached almost to the girls knees.

The buttons were made from Elk horn and polished to a high shine. The hugs that followed were well worth the cost which was to be paid when we meet up again. I’ve seldom managed to surprise the girls but the bear skin rug and the coats did for sure. When we met Harry and Margo in their living room they were blown away at the coats, they hadn’t seen the necklaces yet so the entire display was awesome!

I looked at them and thought “I done good!” and heard “Oh yes you did!” in my inner ear I guess. We made quite an entrance at the local café and the girls, who always attract attention, really over did it this time. They had every eye in the place on them. Harry made the introductions and reminded the folks that we were the ones who dropped off all the supplies that helped them out plus the weapons that brought a round of smiles and a lot of handshakes.

While we were eating the girls hung their coats on their chairs allowing everybody to see the bear claw necklaces which drew a lot of attention plus too much from a table next to us. I was watching the looks and could see something was sticking in their craw, but I wasn’t gonna worry about it. We had a good breakfast with Harry and Margo who wanted to know all about our trip, the bear story really got them going.

That was when one of the women at the next table spoke up and said “So, you intrude in the bear’s area and just have to kill it. How crude!!

I looked at her for a moment before saying “Well I guess I could have let the bear kill us, would that make it all better for you?” Her reply made me laugh out loud; she said “Well if you had stayed out of the bear’s home it wouldn’t have tried to defend itself.” Margo, seeing the looks the woman was getting from the girls stepped in and said that if the whole bear wolf thing offended her to leave. But she wasn’t having it, she said “Oh so if the mighty man is intruding in my home he will kill me and make a rug out of me?”

I was doing my best to avoid this when one of the men with her said I would play hell doing that while he was around. Well shit, here we go again; I’m really ready for the canyon lands. Of course Sandy and May weren’t gonna keep quiet. Sandy said “Well what if I make you go away would that be better for us all? The woman was the main issue here; the man was just trying to fill a role he felt he needed to play. May spoke up and said “Look we have spent the last several months riding all over the mountains and are heading home now and we really don’t need any more shit out of a bunch of bark munching tree huggers!”

I stood up and said “lets go guys, we don’t need this crap from a bunch of dip shits who never had to kill the meat they eat thinking it comes in a package.” I was turning away when the other man at the table said “Well old man don’t run away yet, I’m just getting started” and jumped to his feet and found himself looking down a really big hole. He never saw Sandy move she just grew the gun in her hand

As he was back peddling he fell over his chair which brought loud laughter from the other folks in the place. From the floor he was yelling he was gonna sue us causing even more laughter. The other people at the table were frozen in place. I stepped over and offered him a hand up and got him seated in his chair, then I told him that was the only time I ever saw Sandy pull that gun and not kill the reason for pulling it and it would be smart to not say anything more.

May said “Y’all ain’t from around here are you?” Margo said “nope they dragged ass in here a week ago from California or some such place and have been a pain in the ass ever since, this is just their latest thing to bitch about.” I asked how they managed to get this far alive. Harry said they were part of a convoy of people who came thru and plainly left them behind, I could see why. I asked where they thought they were going and the man in the chair said they had friends in Chicago who would help them. I was tempted to tell them about Chicago but decided Rock Springs would be better off if they kept going. At that moment Harry told them that as soon as the storm was over they were leaving. They had not a clue that the world had changed. I wondered how they could not know.

I was proud of Sandy for not shooting the loud mouth because it would have ruined breakfast. I can respect the fact somebody may not want to kill animals for food or whatever but to sit in a café bitching about those who do while filling your face with meat others killed, dressed out and cooked is plain stupid, but nobody ever accused such people of being rational. I was just surprised to see it still lingering around. And I saw it as a sign that as things settled down and became safer these kinds of fools would crawl out of the woodwork. I could see a very rough road ahead of them. It’s a new world out here and their old ways just won’t cut it.

We headed to the stable to check on Buck and the gang. They were warm and dry and fed, life was good from their point of view. We spent a couple of hours brushing them down, checking hooves, looking for rub spots from the pack saddles or cuts from rocks, all were in good shape but all needed new shoes bad. The stable guy said he would get the local Farrier to take care of it. I told him to let us know as I wanted to be there, anybody can say they can shoe a mule or horse but I want to see it not hear it.

After we returned to Harry and Margo’s home we told them we really appreciated the bed but we were going to move into the local hotel where we could get a king sized bed, but also we felt that the scene this morning might put them in a bad spot with some folks so it would be best to just be folks moving thru. They understood the need for more sleeping room but said they weren’t worried about what the few fools might think.

Harry drove us and our personal packs to the hotel and introduced us to the owners who were happy to have us and they had a nice room with a king sized bed and never blinked that there was three of us.

The storm blew itself out in two days and took three more to melt the snow as early storms do. The stock was in good shape and all had new shoes so it was time to go. We made our manners to Harry and Margo and the few folks we had gotten to know and on a chilly morning we rode out heading south.

We left Rock Springs and made a beeline for Moab Utah, about 330 miles or around 6 hours driving, cross country on horseback it’s shorter but a lot longer. We have had 10 mile days and 20 mile days depending on the lay of the land. We stayed low where it was flatter and made good time, not loitering along and twenty days later we hit highway 70 and felt the weather changing, still cold but not like the high country although it’s still high here.

Several days later we hit the great little town where had stayed a week or so. We rode right to the stable behind the motel and sure ‘nuff there was Jack and Jill cleaning stalls. Those two kids were workers and were thrilled to see us again. After unloading the critters and storing the stuff in the locked tack room the girls left to get us a room while I rubbed down the stock. The kids offered to do it but I needed some relaxing time, before I was done they were back so I took Jacks offer to finish the job while we headed to Ma’s café.

Again we were greeted like long lost old friends. Ma bulled out of the kitchen and got swarmed by the troublesome two, when he got free he shook my hand and said how good it was to see us. He winked and said he had a new price on his menu, it went by the pound, food pounds that is. I laughed right out while the girls started pushing him around all the while calling him cheap and a slim ball. Ma was laughing and gave up and said “fine, no food by the pound!” Having won a great victory they plopped down while Ma headed for the stove. The young lady who worked for him brought us coffee smiling all the way. She said the girls made Ma smile for the first time since his wife died of the flu that hit while we were far to the north. We were shocked to say the least, we had never met her but still we really liked Ma.

He returned with a big serving tray that sagged as he walked to the table. He had learned the last time and put a huge stack of hot cakes between “them” with a smaller one for me. I swear the ham slice was an inch thick and as big as a cars steering wheel. I waited while they whipped out their switch blades and had their way with the ham. I took the bite around the bone and just shook my head, Ma headed right back to the kitchen and returned with a whole slice of ham for me and put a dozen eggs on the table. Hot biscuits and honey rounded it out. Ma sat down and watched while “they” wreaked havoc on the table full of food. I filled my plate and put my arm around it leaving them the rest. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t cut my arm to get to my plate but then again…

After it was gone down to I think they licked the plates, they sat back and May asked what was for lunch! Ma just leaned forward and banged his head on the table. The other folks in the place were looking at the girls like they might attack any minute for their food; I assured them they were safe but to not make sudden moves. That got a good laugh.

Sheriff Ben came in and joined us, said he heard there was some wild critters trying to eat Ma’s place out of business and had he known who or maybe what it was he woulda brought his wife coz she didn’t believe him when he told her about them.

They laughed at him then Sandy reminded Ma he hadn’t answered May’s question about lunch. He just shook his head and said he was gonna kill a cow and cook the whole thing! May said “good but you don’t have to cook it.” Now everybody was laughing.

Ma left for a minute and returned with Ben’s breakfast which got their attention but Ben was not to be messed with, he wrapped an arm around his plate and said he would bite the first one to reach. Both said “Oh!!” “Promise?” Ben turned red, and gave each a biscuit. They asked him to dip them in his egg yolk, he just pushed them the platter. Ma went back to the kitchen.

I told Ben I’d pay for his breakfast if he would wait till I got them out of there before he got it…again. I should be embarrassed at their antics but I’m not, they are cute, fun, and if they didn’t get enough to eat they may start looking at the small kids or dogs or cats. That got a nasty sound and threats for later.

When I got up the next morning I was alone, no shower buddy, no hair brushing, nada I felt abandoned, not a nice feeling, so after a quick shower I headed out to the barn first and was only half way there when I heard “THWOK.”THWOK.”THWOK.” I could only shake my head but there they were with Jack and Jill showing them their new toys. I was hoping they didn’t tell the kids about the first use they put to the gear. Well they were busy so I figured I’d head over to Ma’s for coffee and made it two whole steps when I heard Sandy say “Freeze Bud!” May followed with “Unless you wanna explain an arrow in the butt to the local Doc!” Well the twins were laughing while they put away the gear with promises to teach them to shoot when we got back.

Ma’s was fairly empty so we got our favorite table and the young girl brought our coffee and pointed to the menu on the wall, it read “ Breakfast” that was it. I said “Well I’ll try the breakfast,” she smiled and said “good choice” the walking food pits ordered the same but I asked her to tell Ma it was for them. I figured he would have to run a wheelbarrow out which I thought was funny but others didn’t it seems. I was both hugged and kissed and elbowed. It was worth it. I was feeling left out with the whole bow thing, I should have gotten one for myself. Oh well, months late and four mountain ranges short, maybe someday. Sandy said “See.” May said “When will you ever listen to us?” I ignored them.

Ma came thru the door with a big tray, and I swear he was staggering with it. His young helper followed with another tray. I said “this is getting to be ridiculous!” Then Ben walked in with a smirk and sat down and said “I figured if I got here right at serving time I might get to keep my food. They smiled at him and May said “Careful buddy boy, you might catch a fork in the wrist.”

Well it worked, Ben got to eat a full plate, I got most of mine, and several locals just watched in awe. Ma joined us for a cup since he was caught up, Sandy asked the young lady if there was any pie left from yesterday and she ran to the kitchen and brought back a whole apple pie! Ma said he was learning and had made extra. Sad I say, so very sad, these tiny women should weigh 200 pounds each but I swear they never gain an ounce. I will say this for them, they settled for cutting the pie into four pieces and giving Ben and me one. I ate mine fast. I got a look but I got to keep the pie too. Taking the hint Ben did the same, Sandy said “Yawls sorry.” May offered “Yep, just plain sorry.” We smiled. Ben was catching on alright and after another cup of coffee he looked at me and said “I need to walk this off.” I got the hint and headed out with him, the girls decided to help clean up with the young lady. I looked at them with a thought of “Run Jack!!” Both turned and smiled at me. Poor Jack.

We walked up toward the stable and after a bit Ben said there was some short wave traffic about a reward for me and the girls, dead. I told him about the events that caused that and that it had been rescinded because the old man was dead. Ben thought about that a bit and said “Well I’ll put that out from here and maybe that will help but yawl keep an eye on yer back trail.”

I told him we had been doing that ever since the crap started. He asked if the girls really took out three would be killers with arrows? I could only say “yep.” We talked a while longer and I could see he was not done so I asked him what was going on, he said there was rumors of a pretty large, for lack of a better word “Army” of scum bags rolling across the country raiding and in general just killing people. He said all he had heard was they looked like former military mixed with biker trash and it was all “White” but that didn’t matter since they were raiding everybody regardless of race.

I asked him where they were as of the latest reports, he said headed this way but were in the Vegas area where pickings seemed to have been pretty good. But they were rolling right down the main highways and picking off the small towns along the way. I looked off toward the mountains we had been in and wondered where we could go to escape this shit. The answer was no place, we couldn’t turn our back on this anymore then we did the other times we helped people out.

We sat in the shade of the barn and worked thru it until I had all he had but he promised to start probing for more information right away. I was faced with should we head for the canyon to get ready or stay and have the troops come to us, that made way more sense plus we could find some wheels and do some scouting although they were a long ways from us. I needed to talk to the girls so Ben headed off to start getting info and I gathered the girls up.

We held a war council in the room where I explained it to them. Now most women would say something like “Why is this our responsibility?” My women asked when we were leaving to scout them out. First we needed wheels, reliable wheels. Plus something was bothering me and I couldn’t put a finger on it. May leaned over and said “I think the people in that last town, the ones from California, were advanced scouts for this outfit.” Sandy jumped right in with, “Yeah, that would explain why somebody looking for refuge would be so obnoxious as to be sent packing after a week! Just think how much could be learned in a week! And if the group they belonged to left some people at every place they wanted to raid, it would make sense! Leave them then go on dropping spies off at every town then head back picking them up along the way.”

My ladies were spooky sharp and I was glad they were on my side. They smiled and hugged me. Ok we had it figured out. Maybe. But I was sure they had nailed it. Now the way to find out would be to head out on the highway and stop in every place and ask if they had some people who just didn’t fit in and were sent packing. Next stop was Bens to see about some good wheels that would get us there and back.

Ben took us to see a man who owned a pickup that ran and was very reliable being as usual a diesel. He agreed to loan it to use after hearing the story. Back at the motel we put together out bug out bags and our assault gear, we were hauling a lot of ammo and body armor plus our freeze dried food and one tent, by the next morning we rolled out after breakfast, Ben was there and pissed that he wasn’t going but he understood. Ma had fixed us some road food that might get us a good ways down the road, or not. We were just rolling and stopping to talk to people. The truck had a 100 gallon tank in the back plus two 55 gallon drums filled and with a hand pump so we had about 250 gallons counting the stock fuel tank. We told Ben we’d shoot for a four day trip, but he would see us when he saw us. I also gave him the radio freq.‘s for the Fort and Canyon and asked him to tell them to stand by for action.

We rolled out about two hours after sun up and headed back to I 70 then due west at a good pace. But I slowed down and finally pulled over and asked a question we all should have asked. “If” the people at Rock Springs were scouts, why were they so far north of our location? There was no way they were going to try anything in or around Salt Lake City, or even close to it. So the only thing I could think was “If” the ones we met were really scouts and not a figment of our imagination, and if they weren’t going near SLC, then they had to be coming North to I-70 then East then North again to I-80 and that brings the question of “Why? Why not just take 70 East if that was their plan?”

We were basing a lot on the “thought” that the Rock Springs people were in fact actually scouts, now I was confused and the girls were burning brain cells working it thru. We needed some solid intel so we decided to just follow thru with our plan and if we were right we would know pretty soon or so I hoped. We stopped at several small towns and talked to the local people in charge and found out nothing so we kept on moving. May brought up the fact that the places we stopped were so small as to not have enough ability to stop a large force but also they had nothing much to attract a raid. But maybe anything beat nothing.

We spent the first two days stopping and talking to anybody who would talk to us, a lot of the smaller places had road blocks and let nobody in but we were able to find that nobody had stopped off and stayed. But a couple of them had seen a small convoy of vehicles with a lot of people passing thru and asking to buy supplies and in one case wanting to leave a young couple for a few days while the wife got over some female issues. They were turned away. This sounded like our bunch.

We made it to St. George Utah before hitting the jackpot, they were set up to allow some commerce but restricted visitors to one area where they could stay over at a motel and shop in the few stores there, We headed for the cafes where we talked to the wait staff and bingo, found what we were looking for, A couple who stayed a week asking to be allowed to move into the city, when that didn’t work they spent every day just walking around looking at everything.

The guy we got the most out of was the deputy Sheriff for this small area, he was an older gent named William Potter who after a while asked me if I had spent time in “The Land of Bad Things?” I said “Yeah.” He asked if I ever heard of the locals who worked on a fire base or outpost being spotted walking funny, I say “Yep” to that also, he nodded and said, “Step counters, measuring the area by paces. “I knew exactly what he meant, Victor Charles used to use threats to kill a whole village to get several people who worked on a base to map out the area, they would pace off the areas they were allowed into and later it would be fitted together like a puzzle. It then allowed the commander of the coming attack to lay out a damn near perfect map of where each bunker was, where the ammo dumps were from a certain point, usually the observation tower. They could then rain down mortar fire damn precise!

The deputy said what he observed was the couple doing the same kind of walking and looking. And one day they just loaded up and left. He said they turned toward Vegas.

I could not believe that there was a force out there with the ability to attack and overrun St. George; it wasn’t some small settlement just making it. The LDS folks being prepared for damn near anything had clamped a lid on the whole damn state from the minute the lights went out. To them prepared meant “Prepared” it was a way of life not a hobby. Now for sure the area that allowed visitors in could be overrun but the main city had to be damn well covered and protected. But if they could bust thru in one place and had the fire power to hammer the defenses they could cause a great deal of damage and harm a lot of good people. St George was only a couple of hours away from Vegas.

The Deputy also said there had been a complete stop in traffic out of Vegas for over two weeks and now that we were here asking questions he was noticing it as suspicious

Well we now knew something was gonna happen and I believed it was gonna be soon. He said SLC had resources but it would be too hard for them to come to help with any speed.

I asked if they had any decent communications set up, he said for sure and we followed him to his office where we found a man sitting at a radio of some kind and that was the extent of my knowledge on radios.

I took a few minutes to think and then asked if there were any Navajo peoples living here. He said sure because a lot of them joined the LDS church, He said he could have one there real fast that spoke the language. I asked if he was sure the man could talk the talk. He smiled and said well “she” can and I know that for a fact. He walked to a door and went thru it only to return in a moment with a middle aged Navajo woman who was introduced as the wife of the deputy, we all laughed at that one.

Sandy and May spoke a greeting to her which made her eyes widen and for her to start rattling off at high speed, Sandy slowly explained the limits on her speech abilities. I heard her say Charlie’s name and the lady became very excited, then thankfully switched to English and said she knew of Charley and his mother who she called “Old Woman” as if it were her name. It’s a damn small world for sure. After explaining why we needed her she was all for it and happy to help out because her grandfather had been a code talker in WW2, smaller world even more! I sat down and took my time writing out what I needed transmitted to The Fort using the frequency used by all our main outposts. I kept it simple and as short as possible; by the time I was done the comm man had made contact with the Fort. The lady took over and rattled off something, then there was a longer comment and one returned. The deputy said she was giving her pedigree so to speak, meaning who she was born to, which clan, and the person on the other end did the same. Sort of “Hi my name is Bill Smith, I was born to the Oklahoma clan and the Texas clan, meaning if a wedding was to be planed everybody knew the blood lines were far apart. That made sense to me of a people living close in an attempt to avoid close blood ties that could cause health issues in the kids. Or so I thought.

Anyway she got to the reason for the contact and as they talked she would translate to us. Although her husband was able to understand a good bit of it, Sandy just shrugged meaning she was lost as it was too fast and complex for her. I can’t even say hello although I think it sounds something like “Yatahea” but I’m not sure.

The upshot was that the Fort with their much better comm equipment had been monitoring radio traffic that had a distinct military flavor to it but they were speaking in some kind of code that meant nothing to anybody at the fort.

Both sides signed off with the call back time set for one hour. We went to the café for lunch with the deputy whose name was Wilfred and his wife whose name was Marylyn.

At lunch she and the girls talked slowly on her part and they were laughing at the misq’s. I think Marylyn had really missed having her own people to talk to. Well that was gonna change damn soon if the plan could be brought together.

We got back just in time to hear the call coming in. After all the radio talk was done Marylyn took the mike over and went to talking to the other end but it sounded like a different person to my ear. He asked if I was there and was told “yes,” he then asked something and Marylyn translated for me, the upshot was that they had made contact with Charley and the canyon and passed the word. Charley said his group would be rolling by sundown; same for the canyon, the Fort would wait for them to get close then join up. I told them to bring the kitchen sink, Marylyn looked at me real funny then smiled as she got it but she had trouble translating it so she just used that one word out loud. It was funny to hear.

It’s so funny to look at a map and see it’s only about eight hours from Shiprock to St George, yet with all the stalled vehicles and trees down who knows how long it might take but I figured three days tops so we had a lot to get done before the troops arrived. It was going to involve heading almost into the lion’s den but I figured we had as much experience as most anybody we might encounter.

So off we went right down the I-25 South just like a Sunday drive. And we saw….nothing, nada, no signs of a army nor even a Boy Scout troop. So on we went seeing no traffic heading north, none going south, we were alone on the planet. We followed the road thru curving canyons and at last broke out onto flat country and scattered houses and finally the town of Littlefield. We turned off to check it out and approached it slowly, nothing was moving except dust in the wind, some dogs running around but no people. No signs of a reason why they weren’t there. We had seen this before but usually with remains of people laying amid expended ammo cases and shot up buildings. This place looked like it had been sucked dry in a flash.

Now I was getting worried and Walker was acting funny so I stopped by a building and leaving the girls I went to the door and opened it. It looked like a tornado went thru it with desks overturned, papers everywhere, and on the carpet what had to be dried blood stains. There was a lot of blood in several places but the place wasn’t shot to bits, it was like somebody walked in and simply shot people where they sat!

I walked outside and closed the door then told the girls what I saw, there was nothing for it but to move on but I really wasn’t up for it. I was really spooked and then to make it worse Walker let out the worst low gut growl I ever heard him make, that had both girls falling out of the truck and behind the doors with guns up. I let Walker out and he tore around the building at a run barking and raising hell so I took off around the other way, and found him standing on a man’s chest all teeth showing and that growl rolling. The man was shaking so hard I thought he was gonna pass out. I called Walker to back off but he ignored me then Sandy spoke from behind me and he did back up very reluctantly. I looked at the man who was very dirty and gaunt looking and looked to be on his last legs. I asked May to bring some water and a couple of candy bars which she did, I told the man to stand up and got him to the shade beside the building where I handed him the bottle of water, he fooled me by not trying to gulp it down in one go, he sipped it slowly and held it before swallowing it. I opened a candy bar and he took small bites washing it down with sips of water. Sandy asked if I remembered when I found her. I did, she had gulped the water and several candy bars and tossed them almost immediately. This man was smart about it.

At last he said “I know you’re not with them or I’d be dead.” I motioned him to keep talking and he told a tale of the small town being hit one day by Army people who just rounded them up and killed any who resisted. They loaded everybody into trucks and rolled out heading south towards Vegas, this he had seen from a distant hill. He had been taking his morning walk with his dog in the desert country and returned to an empty town, he searched but found nothing but the same blood stains I found except he found them fresh. He raced for his home and found the door open and the place empty, his gun safe was gone, the whole damn safe, the gun he kept under the mattress was gone too, he said he was scared to death and ran from house to house finding food on the tables from breakfast, people just gone, he searched for weapons and found nothing, not even a sharp knife. He went to a friend’s house where he found blood stains in several places and bullet holes in the walls.

His friend had put up a fight; all his guns were gone too along with the safe they were in. These people were under some control for sure, somebody was in charge and it showed. I had no doubt we could find a body dump if we looked but that wasn’t on our agenda.

The man, Jason Robbinson said he would like to come with us but I asked him to remain in the area and out of sight and we would pick him up on the way back. He didn’t like it but that was the way it was, I wasn’t going into a bad situation with a stranger behind us.

We rolled out and moved along a fair pace and stopped frequently to scan the area ahead and it was good we did. We were stopped when we saw a dark spot coming at us from a ways off, when they dropped into a dip we left the road and got out of sight in a low spot then we bailed out and laid down on the crest with our rifles ready.

They came tooling along like they had nothing to worry about; it looked like four men in a crew cab truck. We watched them roll on down the road and we scrambled to the top of the next rise and plopped down in time to see them suddenly brake to a stop and get out, they moved off the road; they were flanking us! They had to have seen the tracks where we turned off. They weren’t real good at their job so I assumed they had been dealing with just ordinary people trying to get to some place better then where they were.

In fact two were carrying cut down shotguns, great if you were in a fire fight in a phone booth. One carried a bolt gun and one had a AR type weapon, those two were first. I dropped back below the hill and quickly screwed the can on the 308, the girls both had their suppressed sub guns so we needed to let them get close. The way they were closing in pretty well cinched it, the AR guy was further out looking to gain some high ground and he was my first shot. When they were within 45 yards of us I took the AR man out with a head shot at about 100 yards, they heard the sound of the supersonic round and were standing looking around when the girls cut their legs out from under them. While they were flopping around we rushed in and disarmed them. They were a sorry looking lot for sure and I was hoping we hadn’t ambushed some poor folks just trying to sneak up on somebody to maybe offer them something to eat or maybe a few cold beers. I wasn’t inclined to think the latter. After we had their hardware and patted them down we used plastic ties to restrain them. The girls kinda got the bleeding stopped so I asked them why they were attacking us, only one answered but said “Fuck you” so I shot him in the head with the suppressed 22 ruger. It may seem harsh but these assholes were going to do it to us plus god knows how much misery they had already spread. I asked again and one said they were part of a big army in Las Vegas and they were looking for prisoners that they could collect a bounty on. Younger females being worth the most but anybody who could work was worth something.

I asked why and was told slave labor and the women had other uses. I was wondering why he was talking so easy when I heard Walker do his low growl. In a second we were on the ground and out of sight, Sandy got Walker into a low spot with her while I made it to a small rise. May had gone completely out of sight. We waited and shortly I saw movement off to my right. It was a man low crawling from bush to bush; I waited and shortly saw three more moving in on us from different directions.

I had clear shots at all of them but wanted to wait a bit so the girls could spot them, I also knew the girls would wait for me to open the ball unless one stepped on top of one of them, and think of the devil etc etc. I heard the 300 blackout quietly pop off to my left and saw one of the people drop, the one I saw first heard nothing, the guy closest to the dead one did but wasn’t sure what he heard, it was really the action working more then the round going off, I figured screw it and dropped the one I was watching. Sandy opened up and stitched the one nearest her spot and May got the forth one. We stayed in place just in case and waited for thirty minutes, when nobody else showed up May eased up onto the high spot we had first used and after a bit made a hand sign that it was all clear.

But to be sure Sandy let Walker go and May got him to come up to her, when he saw the vehicle the others had left a quarter mile away he was off to check it out and was back shortly and flopped in the shade of a bush, I guess that was his all clear.

All the newest gunnies were dead as was one of the two we left alive, the one who was talking had died and the other one wasn’t gonna talk since he was in shock.

Shit, all this crap and all we knew was a bunch of slavers were in Vegas. And I guess we knew that already anyway. Eight more dead and for what? We loaded their weapons and stripped anything they had on them for later inspection and got our ride back on the road, we decided to take their wheels just to confuse the issue.

We headed back to pick up Jason who was shocked to actually see that we had come back for him; he also identified one of the trucks as having belonged to his friend and the AR as belonging to the same man. We put the extra truck in an empty garage, loaded all the guns in the second one and told Jason to follow us. We headed back to St. George where we told it like it was and said we needed to mount a blocking force in a place to keep the enemy penned in until my people could get here.

One place to set it up was in a winding canyon we had driven thru but I had another idea for that and wanted to avoid attracting attention to it. We finally just really beefed up the off ramps and hauled a lot of junk cars down the ramps and formed a solid block that would be hard to breach. I wanted them to see that and think that was it.

I suggested they mount a lookout someplace a couple of miles out and up high and a good ways away from the highway to spy on the spy’s. I figured it would be a while before they made a move depending if anybody actually missed the dirt bags we took out. Hell maybe they were the people who were supposed to watch the city.

I didn’t have a plan outside hopefully finishing this latest problem once and for all, even if we had to chase them right into Vegas itself. And that made me head for the maps again. I wanted to have a blocking force south of Vegas to stop the rats when they ran if they did but it was just not logistically possible in the time we had. Also I didn’t know the exact extent of the enemy’s control of Vegas since it was a really sprawled out place and I couldn’t see a bunch of raiders having that kind of manpower.

After I thought about it a bit I decided we would be the over watch outside the city. I trust us more then others and because we really weren’t comfortable with so many people and we like the privacy and open country.

We found the perfect place after following a dirt road a couple of miles then cut across country and up a steep hill and into a pocket where we would be out of sight and could have a small fire at night to make our coffee.

Once we were settled in we took a sand colored tarp and put it on low poles with plenty of tie downs then sprinkled sand over it and some local bush on it, with the bushes in front of the thing we could lay under it or sit up and see the road in comfort. The girls brought our bed roll and put it under the cover and we were home! With a nice pair of binoculars and a spotting scope we could see the road very well so I figured it was maybe no more then half a mile away. The girls and Walker would hear any vehicle traffic, I never would of course.

We spent the first day just relaxing and talking while keeping an eye on the road. We talked a lot about the fact we had been in so much shit and had escaped without a scratch so far (yeah, I got shot in the ass so bite me.) All we could believe was we were lucky, we would have maybe been toast if Walker hadn’t reminded us of security. I will admit we have some good skill sets, and we work together very well and that counts also, but over all we were well ahead of the game I think because we are observant, we are aware of who is around us. But I think the main thing is that people under estimate us. They see two “cute chicks” and an old man and they never seem to notice that watching me isn’t in their best interest. Most people will watch the male figuring he will be the one to deal with, “Wrong!” Like the dipshit Higgins who tried to sneak shoot me, he in his mode of “male superiority” dismissed the woman as not a problem, bad mistakes, man!

So I guess the answer is we work as a team, we watch everybody, everything, we don’t disregard anything as unimportant until we know for a fact it is. We watch each other’s six and we never sit with our backs to doors or windows. One of us always is in position to see anybody coming thru a door, and the other two are watching the door watcher. I think we read each other’s eyes and subtle body movements like they are open books.

The upshot is so far we have won, one day we may not, I hate to think about losing either one of them. They snuggled closer and Sandy said “You won’t” and May said, “You’re stuck with us for a long time.”…Witches. But lovely witches. That got smiles and cheek kisses. Finally we left one watching and two napping and Walker on guard. The day passed slowly, the night was beautiful with a gazillion stars for us to watch after we moved the bed out from under the cover. We slept like logs knowing Walker was on duty, yeah right, sleeping on our feet. But an ant couldn’t walk past without him knowing.

Just before day break Sandy woke me saying Walker had alerted and was looking at the highway, we crawled under the tarp and watched a vehicle dropping off several people wearing camo BDU’s that was just like ours, after the vehicle left they headed out in our direction but more toward the city.

They set up an observation post on a hill north of us and closer to town. We spent the day watching the watchers who had set up a camp behind their hill. There was four of them and after watching them move to their OP and how they set up I came to the conclusion they were either former military or had been well trained by somebody who was military.

They pulled back to their camp at dark and didn’t build a fire, nor did we. We spent another night like the one before and at first light watched them getting back into their OP nest. Watching them was as boring as watching paint dry but had to be done.

Finally just at dusk they packed up and headed back toward the highway where the same truck met them and headed south. What they saw was a good barricade with several men manning it. I could only assume the attack was coming soon.

We headed back to town and found that Joe and Willy had arrived and left their equipment a few miles back in the mountains and Charley and his people were moving with the Fort Navajo group which had the lowboys with the tracks. They should be in during the night.

I was feeling the push for time. At daybreak I took the girls and Joe and Willy on a recon so I could look the canyon over with them. It had several really good choke points where we could bottle them up and finish them off.

We drove all the way thru to Littlefield and stopped. After looking the area over I felt we could leave a heavy blocking force in the town with vehicles in garages and when the enemy passed by our people could pull out and follow them into the canyon and road block them in.

We have a couple of six-by’s that we put sand bags in the back and mounted in several MG’s. One of them along with a few HV’s with guns should be able to hold them, that and some grenade launchers. Willy wanted the blocking job so it was his, we needed to get moving so we could get the vehicles in place and wipe out signs of their passing, all in the dark.

We found the right place on a tight curve in the canyon. With tracks at each end and a couple in the middle I figured we could chop them to bits, Joe and Willy also had a surprise, they had taken a couple of six-by’s and made them into rolling mortar carriers. I know nothing about mortars except they are heavy to carry and are great if you are on the outgoing side but suck if you’re on the incoming side, anyway, these were awesome because they could park at each end of the ambush and just blow the shit out of the whole area. I liked it! It would also give Willy extra help on the back end.

We got back in time to greet Charley who smiled and slowly shook his head and said “When will you leave me alone to sit in the shade and think?” I laughed and said “Never! You eat this shit up!” He asked what we had going so I held a meeting and explained the whole thing, I admitted I knew little about these folks except they seemed to be a mix of trash and former military and were involved in the same old shit of slavery and selling girls.

I explained the ambush point and said if we worked it right these shitheads wouldn’t be able to do us much damage if any at all because we held the high ground and would have them bottled up. I wanted all our people dug in and nobody closer then a couple hundred yards. With the fire power we have and the experience I hoped we would do it with no losses. We moved out with a couple of hours or so of good light left and rolled into our ambush point.

We rolled on in with Willy and helped them get set up out of sight. The girls and I helped them clean up any traces of our arrival. We then headed back to the main site. As we drove into the kill zone things were looking great, the tracks were hull down behind small humps that left just the main gun and the co-axle gun exposed but between the turret armor and the sand bags being piled on I figured they were as safe as could be. The riflemen were further back from the road where they could give excellent cover for the tracks. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel, between the 25 mil guns and the m-60 pigs we had the whole area covered. Joe had put people up above on the other side of the road where the ground was very steep; they were there to toss hand grenades down on people hiding behind vehicles. A very good idea!

By midnight we were set and the work on removing traces of our activities was done. Everybody used heat tabs to heat some chow and settled in for a wait, maybe a long wait. I really had no way of knowing when they would come. We had a comm unit on the top of the hill with a direct line to Willy and his bunch. They would be our early warning. All in all we spent three days laying there in that damn canyon waiting to the point I was ready to just roll into Vegas with all guns blazing. Then Willy called to say several scout vehicles were coming and we had time for last minute checking to see that nobody had left something exposed, nobody had. This was as good a unit as any commander could ever ask for.

We heard them coming before we saw them and every one of the people in the two trucks were covered, if one had made any move to alert the others they were all dead. But they kept rolling; I counted about 10 people jammed into each truck all armed to the teeth but no supplies we could see. They rolled on while the comm man notified the city about their coming. I had no idea what they were there for since it was way too many for a scouting party then Joe said they were probably going to infiltrate in close to the road block and take it under fire when the time came. It might have worked but now it wouldn’t. We had people waiting for them and I doubted anybody would get away.

Night came and we waited because we all felt this was the night they would come in preparation for a dawn attack only they weren’t gonna make it.

My fighting place was in a nice deep hole the girls had worked on while I was running back and forth like a hound crapping peach seeds. They put a cover over it and camoed it, all the bennies of home, well maybe not but it kept the sun off. We all took cat naps while waiting, the comm unit on the hill would give us plenty of warning. I will admit I was worried about Willy and his unit, they were heavy on fire power but low on personnel but Willy and his gang knew what they were doing and anybody trying to take them was dead, they just hadn’t found it out yet.

Just around 0200 the comm outpost called in to say there was a long string of lights coming at us, ETA approx. one hour. We got everybody awake and reminded everybody to stay low and use single aimed fire.

Tension grew with each minute while I ripped myself for all the things I hadn’t thought of, Sandy put her arm around me and said “Chill slick, you done good.” May scooted over and said “John you have done everything possible and giving over some control to Willy and Joe was smart, they are good at this stuff too. Charley and his troops will handle any who get thru this phase of the fight. It’s fine.”

One smart thing we did was roll a large boulder down onto the roadway to make the lead unit have to stop which would cause the rest to close up more then they should.

And then with a roar of engines they were here. The first truck thru was a six-by full of people, followed by several more, the first truck came to the boulder and stopped and a voice was heard ordering the troops to dismount and move the fkn rock. In the meantime the whole convoy closed up bumper to bumper just as advertised.

But we had trouble! Right in front of us was three trucks with tracks mounted on them just as we haul ours, and the turrets allowed the crew to fight from the trailer just fine. It also changed the point of contact because they had to be dealt with first “If” they were manned. I made contact with our track gunners and told them to be locked on them when the shooting started and if one even moved an inch to hose it. If we could take them without shooting them up I’d be a happy camper.

The radio clicked and Charley said the ones who went thru first were laid up and ready to hit the people at the road block so it was a free fore zone as far as he was concerned. I told him the dance was starting and I sighted in on the man who was yelling up at the boulder but not helping. I dropped him and that opened the ballgame. I kept my eyes on the tracks and at first nothing happened, then the middle one fired up and the turret was moving toward us, I said “Light it up” and our 25’s did just that. It stopped running and sat there smoking.

Meantime the enemy troops were piling out and hitting the ditch on the cliff side of the road. It turned into a sniper match and we had them there because of our cover and because we used aimed, controlled fire power right out of the US Marine training manuals. They were dropping as fast as they put their heads up. I waved at the people above them and that was the killer, grenades were dropped from above and they never stood a chance.

Several stood up to surrender but we weren’t taking prisoners today. But it’s easier to deal with that when they are a couple hundred yards away and not standing right in front of you. We didn’t know who they were but we knew what they were. So it was no quarter, they were laying down a high rate of fire but they weren’t hitting anything simply because we were above them and to even aim up at us they had to almost kneel to shoot, and they had a short life span.

I could hear heavy gun fire back toward Willy’s people but couldn’t see how many had not made the curve before it started. I had all the faith in the world in Willy but that didn’t stop the worry. All I could do was wait and not bother him with radio chatter like some bird sitting in a chopper at 10 K ft. trying to guide each and every man on the ground, seen it, been there, didn’t participate, radios kept breaking.

An hour after the last shot was fired some of the troops started cleaning up, nobody was gonna get killed by a wounded actor. It was a nasty job but it had to be done. They used 10-22 rifles with 25 round mags. One round did the trick but two really nailed it.

I know it seems like we killed a lot of people on very flimsy evidence but I never for a second felt we were wrong.

At last Willy’s voice came over the radio saying all clear and no runners made it. He also said he thought he got the “Head Rat.” I told him when the cleanup crew called all clear I’d head back that way. Thirty minutes later the all clear was given and the real cleanup started. All weapons were gathered, and loaded in any trucks that would run; these were moved out to the city. Charley called and said his scouts had taken a couple of the enemy alive and they were babbling as fast as they could. He was coming to meet me.

After the weapons were collected, the trucks with the tracks were driven out. The two people in the track that got fired up were tossed out for the cleanup crew, and washed out with cans of water and bleach right there. All vehicles that would run were driven and were towing the ones that wouldn’t run. When the area was clear we started phase two. Charley arrived leading to a command meeting with every hand there. Charley spoke about what the two prisoners were telling. He said the main Dog wasn’t here, that he waited until later to come in.

So we were going into his den and drag him out kicking and screaming, but he also had as many as five hundred shooters in there with him. We also learned he had been held back from taking anything outside the strip due to the people refusing to give up. His tracks didn’t scare them and he lost three to homemade road side bombs. But the people weren’t pushing him to move on. I guess they figured he would when he ran thru the supplies he got there.

The two prisoners were brought to me and after looking them over I told them they had one chance to live and that was to get us into the area where their boss hid out. But I wanted every tiny bit of info they had.

Charley had his lads take them away and dig thru their heads, then somebody else did it again and again, when the data was all correlated it showed they were both telling the truth with some small differences probably because they weren’t privy to the same intel.

With no further delays we rolled out, HV’s in front with the big six-by gun truck in the lead. The track haulers were spaced out thru the convoy; never would we make the same mistake they had.

Willy and his bunch fell in line as we passed them; the girls and I were in a HV three behind the gun truck. That was as close as I was allowed to get. Friends? Bah!! The girls were looking smug but I was driving and I was in charge of this HV and I would drive it wherever I wanted to. May leaned over the seat behind me and wrapped her arms around me and said “Try it bubba.” Sandy laughed, the other passenger, Mister Charley himself just shook his head and sighed. I ignored them all.

With the information we had from the two prisoners we stopped just outside the area we were going to hit and unloaded the tracks, we had thought to bring the captured tracks but I wasn’t willing to risk people in equipment we hadn’t maintained ourselves. We started forward with the tracks leading. The big gun truck was following with HV’s spread out behind it, six-by personnel haulers were back a good ways and the mortar trucks were in front of them.

We started taking fire within a half hour, scattered at first but getting heavier. The middle track opened fire and lit up a track hidden in an alley, when it started rolling out it rolled right in front of the gun and the alert gunner hosed him. The track started burning then blew up. People were running everywhere and the gun truck started doing its thing. People were falling by the dozen.

We started taking heavy fire from a pair of MA deuces so we stopped while the tracks dealt with them. Then several explosions hit right where they were, the nortar trucks were dead on! I have no idea where they got the guys manning the tubes but they were damn good! Among the best I ever saw. The 82 MM mortar is an awesome weapon and mounted and mobile made it even better, shoot and boogie.

My comm man called me and said he was getting some strange contacts, I told him to answer them. He called back with the news it was the people surrounding the other side of the strip asking us to watch the mortar rounds when we started getting thru the center of the strip. I laughed and said tell them to pull back further because we intend to finish this shit head since they wouldn’t.

He said they replied 10-4; he laughed when he told me that. Maybe I was being hard on them but so far I had seen nothing from these people other then they had some armor that impressed me. I think the locals had settled into a leave us alone and we leave you alone. Not a good attitude! Because sooner or later that snake will whip back and sink its fangs in you.

We kept pushing forward and had taken a few causalities, mostly minor wounds from bullets fragments, then one of our HV’s got hit by a track 25 and it was trashed in a second. Our tracks lit it up big time, the medics rushed forward with a track blocking incoming fire so they could work but it was soon obvious they could do nothing.

That really hit home after so much fighting to take four KIA’s in a heartbeat. The medics got back in their ambulance and back behind the trucks. Our tracks really lit it up, they were hauling ass shooting into anything that might hold a track, the enemy ground pounder’s had hauled ass and weren’t slowing down.

I called our people to a halt and when I had everybody on the comm I told them to torch the whole place, I figured there was nothing here worth saving since gambling was done these days by just getting out of bed. Soon it was a raging inferno, we backed up and split around the strip and simply shot the rats running from the fire. I was pissed I hadn’t done this sooner; the HV team might still be alive. Both girls laid a hand on me and soon I felt better…. “Witches.” I heard a laugh and “Are not” more giggling.

Comm called and said the locals wanted to know why we were burning the strip. I told him to tell them we were exterminating the rats. He came back and said they were very unhappy; I had him patch them thru to me. I said “This is John Walker who am I talking to?” A woman answered me and without answering my question said, “Oh great, we’ve heard of you and your crew of killers!” I laughed and said “conversation over” and told the comm man to break it down and to not talk to them again.

The fire raged unchecked, and it would burn for days, the shooters inside had quit trying to leave where we could see them meaning they would soon run right into the folks on the other side. I hope they were ready. But there couldn’t be many left. I knew they had lost two tracks and assumed they had more, if so they were hauling ass in the other direction. Comm called me back and said there was another call from a different person, a man. I told him to patch it thru while the girls called me a chauvinist pig, I laughed. I might pay later but I laughed now.

The man said his name was Clint Flint. I laughed out loud and he answered laughing and said “Yeah Johnny Walker is pretty cool too!” I already liked this man. He said his group wasn’t involved with the woman we spoke to and he asked what his people could do to help. I told him the enemy was on the run and anybody coming at them was a target. He asked about prisoners and I said “You can feed ‘em and house ‘em” if you want to keep ‘em.” He said “Got it.”

We simply followed the flames and met no more resistance, now I was really sick over the HV team. Charley placed his hand on my shoulder and said something in his language and I swear almost instantly I felt the weight leave my chest. I just sat there and didn’t move, when he removed his hand I felt at peace. I knew the men had died but I also knew they went into this with eyes wide open and they didn’t blame me.

With night fall we went to 100 percent alert with every gun up. Thru the night there were explosions inside the fire, I figured there must be thousands of cars with fuel in them and god knows what else. We did move back a good bit and were able to a degree use the night vision gear. With morning we went to 25 percent alert. People crashed where they were. The rest of use moved in close and looked for targets. None appeared.

Around midday Clint called to say they were getting runners and none were making it, I warned him about the tracks, if any remained, we took three and killed two. He said he thought that was all they had. I asked him if he had ever seen the leader of this bunch of rats, he said he had from a distance and he was a big black man who carried himself with military bearing.

I had to wonder how somebody with military training and back ground could be reduced to doing the things they were doing. I guess it takes all kinds. Clint said he had somebody waving a white cloth and he was going to let them come out, shortly he called back to say it was a large group of women and girls mixed with a few young boys, they had been prisoners and the guards on the building they were held in had let them go and led them out to where Flints people were. He said the ones who freed them never came out.

Charley suddenly laughed and said “Johnny Long Walker, the man who burned Las Vegas to the ground.”

The girls burst out laughing and WTF I smiled, it was a nice title! I had never cared for the place. I’d been here maybe eight times in 50 years and had spent maybe $50.00 playing the machines, the last time I was there I think I won $75.00 so I quit while I was ahead. I did shoot in a couple of matches there back in the 90’s the old SOF match and had a great time. But that had nada to do with the Strip. I was amazed watching the place just falling down. It was turning into a pile of rubble that IMHO looked better then it had before.

So far nobody had seen the leader of this bunch of trash, and I was thinking he made his escape alone by preplanning as most rats do, always having several ways out. I didn’t know if it was worth trying to hunt him down but figured it was out of the question.

We watched the place burn for days but saw no more people trying to escape, Flint said there were a few runners on their side but he didn’t think any made it but he also had no night vision gear so I’d say a lot of them made it out, hell if I could they could and I knew I could. The snakes back was broken but the head could still bite so I really would like to have finished this guy.

I finally had the sense to ask Charley if the two POW’s who were talking before were still able to talk, he said “Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of them? I must be getting forgetful hanging around you old people” the girls liked that one, I flipped him off. He was on the radio the next second rattling off something, got a reply then signed off. He said the two were on their way.

When they arrived they wore blindfolds and gags and had not been together since capture, I took one away in my HV and asked him to tell me everything he knew about their leader. He said all he knew was that he was a black man, tall and well-built and a former military officer or so the word was. I asked when he had joined the bunch; he said about a month before they came here. He said he had no excuses for being with them but it was better then being alone in the new world. I asked why he didn’t join some community. He said he did but got bored with working gardens and standing guard duty.

I asked where the bossman was from, he said he had heard the LA area but really didn’t know because he kept to himself with his few trusted officers. He said those had all been black too.

After I was done with him I had the same conversation with the other one who was able to provide the man’s name but it was some Moslem sounding street name which can be changed like ones shirt.

He also knew from overheard conversations that the man had a special place where nobody but his trusted staff was allowed. He said he had heard it was a big house with a wall around it and a guard force of very loyal troops and was located near Barstow California. That was where the US Marine Supply Depot was located. If he had taken that place he had access to about everything one could want to wage war with but I had doubts he had done that. Regardless I wasn’t gonna chase this asshole all over the Mojave Desert. If he could he would pop up again someplace and we would get another chance at him.

It was time to go home, the girls were making jokes about the great time I showed them in LV, and how everything that happened there stayed there “In ashes!” laugh laugh…Or how I showed them a “hot time in LV” more laughs, they were working overtime. I think Charley was even quietly chuckling. I told them they were as funny as a dose of clap which set them to clapping their hands in time with each other and saying “clap, clap, clap… Charley told me to just shut up and they would get bored and maybe go to sleep. Funny thing is he was right, in five minutes they were sound asleep. I looked at him and asked what he slipped into their water. He smiled. I wondered.

Driving back thru the canyon reminded me we had the sad duty of burying our people who died. We had lost a total of six people, four in the HV and two who were hit by rifle fire from a sniper who was taken out by a HV mg gunner, too late for them. The good folks of St George offered their cemetery but so far we had always buried our friends on high ground so that’s what we did. We picked a hill out a ways from the city and there we laid them to rest.

As had become out way, everybody took part in the grave digging. We laid them together in one grave, comrades thru time. The mechanics used their equipment to make a marker out of polished stainless steel with the names in raised weld and the words “Freedom is never free” We then took turns burying them, with rocks on the top and the steel rod of the cross pounded deep into the earth.

We stood silent for several minutes saying our private goodbyes and slowly in ones and twos we left them there with our love and we would hold them in our memory.

I was saddened that I really hadn’t known them personally but that was just not an option. It was enough that they were a part of us and would remain so until the last of us were gone in our own time. It makes me sad to think in a hundred years somebody will say “Wonder who these people were” and nobody will know.

But surprise! When we returned to the city the local deputy Wilfred and his wife Marylyn said the locals had asked if they could build a monument at the grave site detailing who and why they were buried there and they would build a stone wall around it. We thought that was a wonderful thing and said so.

Marylyn and Charley were in deep conversation and I could see she was enjoying talking to him. Wilfred looked at me and suddenly said “John, you think there is anything in your settlement an old busted down lawman could do to survive.” I told him we would make a place for them and the canyon would be an ideal place because a lot of the Navajo lived there in the area and it was close to Shiprock.

He walked over to his wife and greeted Charley in Navajo and told his wife to start packing because they were moving to the Canyon near Shiprock. She threw her arms around him and started crying with joy.

Charley was smiling as big as I had ever seen him do, was a good end to a sad day. Marylyn was going home to the red rock canyons of her birth. Wilfred was going into a whole new part of his life and both were happy. And if they could garden and he could fish and maybe hunt a bit they would find a happiness they had never known. He said they had that part down pat!

A few days later we were ready to head home. Wilfred and Marylyn were packed in short order with all the help we had and trucks to haul their things. These folks were prepared! I think it took one truck just to haul all their canning stuff and canned foods and a ton of empty jars. I love these folks; they are what we all should have been “Prepared!”

Wilfred had a truck of his own that he was driving and I could see a few sour faces of people who resented them not so much for leaving but taking all of their stores, even among good people there are always a lot that resent others for almost nothing.

Then it was head slapping time! I said “Shit!!” they said “Stop cussing!” I said “We forgot Buck and the gang plus the guy’s truck we borrowed,” they said “SHIT!” With a big smile I said “Stop cussing”! They said “Shut up! How could you forget our family?” I think I was gonna say “Hey WE forgot them” but they both said “Shut up” before I could get a word out. I really hate them! “Do Not!” Stop it! “NO” (giggling). I told Charley what was going on and he looked at me so sad and said “How could you forget your family?”

They piped up with “Yeah! Heartless!” I simply tucked my tail and slinked away. I had the thought of how peaceful it would be if I just took off in the truck and returned it by myself and then enjoyed a quiet ride back to the canyon.

When I got to the truck they were leaning on it with disgusted looks and glaring at the same time. “What now?” I asked. Both just climbed into the truck so I did too. It was a chilly ride thru the desert. Even Walker was glaring at me. Finally I said “So, where yawl wanna stop for dinner?” That worked, food is one thing that will break thru their pouts. “We don’t pout” I heard “Fine, whatever.” We decided to just drop the hammer and get back to the family. We really miss them even if “we” forgot them in all the excitement; after all it’s not every day you get to burn down Las Vegas! That made them laugh and the freeze was over and the fun started. They are like puppies, puppies with really sharp teeth!

We pulled into the motel tired and starving, but showers came first then food, or so I thought, we showered …pause…showered again then went to dinner where we found Ben and half the town waiting for us, Ma brought out our dinner before we could sit down, everybody was polite and let us eat before telling the story.

The first question was from Ma, he asked if the girls really burned Las Vegas to the ground. I let them answer. Sandy spoke of the loss of our track crew and the decision to just burn them out but that we only burned the strip and maybe a few blocks around it. Ma said “Good! I always hated that place.” Ben asked for us to just tell it as it happened and for everybody to hold their questions. I let the girls tell it because folks like them better then me and they have a way of telling a story that I can’t compete with.

I mean how many ways is there to tell the story about my getting shot? Yet Sandy has told a dozen different versions of it and all of them leave the listeners with tears’ rolling down their faces, and not tears of sympathy for yours truly, that’s for sure.

They took turns telling it and made the canyon ambush sound like Custers Last Stand, and the burning of the strip sounded like the burning of Rome. They do have a way of telling stories. The entire place was so quiet you coulda heard the proverbial pin drop. When they were done there was even applause. I think for them not the story.

After the folks drifted off I looked for Ma’s helper for some more coffee, seeing it he went for the pot, I asked where his helper was. Glaring at the troublesome twins he said she seemed to have found some reason to hang out at the motel stables a lot. “They” started laughing and high fiving, Ma asked if I had ever thought about selling them but he retracted it pretty quick. The girls took off for the stables to check on the stock, yeah right.

Ma sat with me and asked about the lake settlement project and the plans for it, I told him I had not a clue what or how it was gonna go but that May’s people who were all one kind of an engineer or another seemed to think it was mostly just a job of diverting some power lines or stringing new ones using available resources and that from there on it was adlib as we go. I asked if he was interested in moving. He said he might because the place just wasn’t the same without his wife Jane. I told him all about the canyon home and that while it was getting full up there was almost 2000 miles of shore line with canyons everywhere and open areas that looked over the lake.

I left him thinking and went looking for the match makers who were once again shooting their bows with an audience made up of the twins and each had a friend with them. I could see the seeds the girls planted with Ma’s helper had taken! When she saw me she said “OH!! I gotta get to work! Ma will be angry” which caused us all to laugh, like Ma could ever be angry at her. I had the thought that if Ma decided to up root the café just might have a new owner, not a bad gig, motel, stables and café! These kids were all workers and I could see the future right here.

Leaving the girls I went off to do what I do best, I took a nap and woke up to the usual tangle of arms and legs, but for once they weren’t buttering me up for something I would say no to. Naps are gifts from a higher power; they are made so wonderful that you almost have to feel guilty over taking them. Almost.

When we woke up it was late afternoon and the first thing I heard was their tummies growling, I said “you ate half a cow this morning how in the hell could you be hungry, they just laid there limp, “from hunger” they said. I said fine lets go eat.

Not now they said “we have other plans,” I reminded them we had already made love earlier, they reminded me so what, I reminded them I was old, they proved I’m not so old. Tired? Yes. Shaky? Yep! But old? Not so much!!

We made it to Ma’s just in time to still get breakfast, Ma having gotten smart filled the table for them then brought me mine. Ben came in and just sat and watched, he asked if I’d had them on short rations, they said I starved them the whole time we were gone plus watching cities burn down made them hungry. He was impressed. Ma joined us while his helper removed the dishes as they were emptied figuring they wouldn’t bite the girl.

I was surprised when Ma mentioned maybe moving to Ben, Ben wasn’t surprised at all. He said he had always liked the Lake area himself and had planned to retire there and spend his days fishing. I asked him why he wasn’t doing that, he said well the world ended and he just settled in and forgot about it. He started asking a lot of questions about the lake settlement, I told him what I could, he looked at Ma and said he was gonna talk to his wife and see what she thought.

I was kind of blown away at how acceptable a lot of folks were to the idea of just up and moving on but I guess in unsettled times people wanted to be with others who think along the same lines. Speaking for myself I had to admit I loved the desert more then most any place I ever spent time and it was awesome riding country, so much to see if you could get away from the roads.

After the girls were done eating Ma out of house and home, again, and asking what was for supper they helped the young lady with the dishes then the three of them went to the stable, Ma said you know I feel like I’m losing the daughter I never had, We had never asked about the girl even her name, at least I hadn’t, I’m sure the girls knew all about her. Ma said her name was Alma and she lived with her grandparents, her folks had been on an anniversary cruise when the EMP hit and never made it back, he was her uncle a couple times removed and had been best man at her folks wedding, so he helped take care of her and her grandparents who were getting on a bit.

He also said he was glad the girls had gotten her interested in as he put it “The stable” and laughed. I told him that if the town wasn’t careful it would wake up and find it was owned by the twins and Alma and the hard working unpaid stable hand who was courting Jill. He laughed and said yeah, everybody in town was talking about that.

I was conflicted on hanging around here or heading out for the canyon. I decided I’d let the girls be my barometer on that one, when they got bored they would let me know. I really enjoyed the place and figured we would be hated by all if we took Ma and Ben away, but oh well, been hated before.

Being bored myself I decided to saddle Buck and take a ride before he got so fat he waddled, while I was saddling him the girls showed up asking what I was doing and why I didn’t say anything to them, I asked why they showed up when they did, they said to find out why I was going riding without them. “Ta-da! There’s your answer” I said, “You knew what I was doing and why I was doing it and you came, what’s to tell you?” You already knew. Well for once I had them, they just looked at me. May said “He’s getting smart huh?” Sandy said “Yeah, maybe too smart for his own good. We need to do something about this!” So off they went to saddle their horses, both came back ready to go and I wasn’t surprised to see both had their rifles in the scabbards.

Now I will admit I wondered fleetingly about why they had bed rolls tied on the saddle, but I really didn’t think it over, I found out why later in a nice little bowl of a meadow while the stock grazed. I’m old, but getting younger every day. Maybe.

When we returned to the stable all the young folks were there, the boys asking about the ride and the girls looking at the bed rolls and smiling real big. I hoped the girls were having motherly talks with them. Hay lofts have a reputation well deserved!

We stayed for a total of 10 days and rode every day, there was even some rain that blew thru for part of the time and turned the area green and the wild flowers did their thing, they usually only last a day or so but for a while the mountains look like a colored carpet, mother nature at her best. At last we knew it was time to head out so we loaded up one morning and had a last breakfast with Ma and Ben who had decided to take a ride up to the canyon area and look it over. We were looking forward to hosting them.

The girls spent some time with Jill and Alma, I assumed a birds and bees talk but I had a feeling these kids were smart enough to keep their priorities in line. And with that we rode out heading home to the canyon, more or less. We weren’t looking at a time clock or any clock cos time really didn’t mean much, it was either be up time or be in bed time and well I forget feeding time! I laughed, they glared.

We had Charlie’s map with water holes marked and decided to take a different route back. I know I needed time to decompress, things happened too fast, one minute we were just minding our own business and the next we were burning down part of a city and burying six of our friends. Life had changed so much in the last few years that nothing was simple anymore if it ever was. Regardless I needed down time away from the world.

We found one of Charlie’s water holes with a good flow into and out of a deep clear hole with graze all around since the rain came. In dry country you never camp right on the water simply because it deprives the wild life of water, but in this case there was plenty of places for animals to drink both above and below us so we camped right at the deep hole. And it was cold!! But we got clean and felt much better, a good hot dinner and early to bed.

If you have never spent the night in the desert with no man made light anywhere around then you haven’t seen stars, one can spend an hour just looking at the equivalent of a six inch square and be amazed at the number of stars. It’s one of life’s truly beautiful things. And it’s free! No dish needed, no monthly bill to pay and the stars didn’t go out when the lights did.

The next beautiful thing is watching the sun come up in the desert. If you just sit still it will astound you at the life all around you where it looks like nothing can live. I guess I’m a hopeless romantic but I see beauty everywhere I look, right now I’m watching God’s most beautiful work of art standing knee deep in the pool trying to keep from screaming at the cold!! They are so cute but I best get up and build the fire or I’ll pay later. Nice view anyway.

We wandered all over the place for three weeks, just riding and looking but even here in the desert it was getting pretty cold so we decided to head for home. It’s always warmer in the canyon, why I don’t know since cold air settles in the low spots, may have something to do with the red rock absorbing the suns warmth, same in the summer when you can fry an egg on it or so it seems.

Do you ever have voices in your head? I do, lots. Here’s a sample. “You know what would be so cool?”
“What”
Silence………
“Well?!”
“Well what?”
“What would be so cool?”
“What?”
“Yes, what?”
“What what?”
“Shit”
“Stop cussing it sounds like shit”
“Yeah right miss potty mouth”
“So?”
“So what”?
“So what would be So Cool”?
“Oh”
“Oh what”
“Oh, right, I forgot”
“Forgot what?”
“Would be so cool”
“Shit”! I hate you!”
“Do not”
“I could”
“Not!”

Get the point? Ever have that problem? No? Wanna know why you never have that problem? Because you don’t live in a pillow case with two rabid baby Badgers. Nope, I have the lock down on that.

“John?”
“What?”
“Who you thinking at?”
“I’m asleep, stop getting into my dreams.” “John?”
“WHAT?!”
“You were talking out loud.”
“Shit.”
“Stop cussing.”
“John?”
“What?”
“We’re hungry.”
“So? Go chase some small creature down and kill it and eat it.”………’ “OUCH!!!”
“John?”
“What?”
“Where you going?”
“I’m gonna get up and feed you two before you hurt me, or kill me and eat me.” “Giggling…Who say’s we would kill you first?” See, voices in my head, all the time, day and night. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

“John?”
“What?”
“Where you going?”
“To feed you, you said you were hungry” “Giggling again, Poor John, who said we wanted food?” “Oh”

Sometimes the voices are pretty nice mostly, kinda, sometimes not so but always entertaining.

We were riding side by side with the pack string loose behind us munching pretty much everything that didn’t have sharp pointy stuff on it. We love our mules, they really are family and each has its own personality, just like people, they respond well to kindness but will remember a harsh word or deed for twenty years while they wait for you to forget for just a second. Then watch out.

May suddenly sat up straighter in the saddle and said “Hey! Know what would be cool?” I seemed to remember this conversation but kept my mouth shut, earning me a beautiful smile and a kiss even tho she had to climb damn near all the way up on Buck. Sandy on the other hand wasn’t about to be quiet and said “Hey we went thru this crap before day light and you forgot what it was.”

May flashed a bright smile at Sandy and said “Well I remember now!” “So speak up” say’s Sandy.
“No I think I won’t because you were snotty at me.” “Was not!”
“Was too!”
“Enough!” says I. Which surprising me all to hell and back worked, both looked at me in something akin to shock for maybe 2.2 nano seconds before they started poking my ribs and telling me I could be in big trouble if I wasn’t careful. I said “I’ll be in trouble regardless of being careful.” Which both agreed with.

It took another hour to get to the bottom of what would be so cool. May says with a straight face that we should go to the Canyon, spend a while then take a HV with loads of fire power and a trailer full of ammo and spare parts and go have some excitement. Now I shit you not, this was what her cool idea was. Sandy was all for it and already planning what hardware she could pack along.

I finally got a chance to say “We spent the entire summer riding to Montana, we got involved in a war up there and had to shoot up half the countryside, then we headed home and had to detour to burn Vegas to the ground and wipe out a army of bad guys. And you’re bored? Really?” I mean “REALLY! REALLY!?”

May looked at me like I spoke in tongues and continued the big cool plan with her sister in destruction. Most women would be talking about nails and hair and dresses. My two ladies were talking about how many guns they could pack in a trailer and ammo of course and maybe we needed to find a bigger trailer! I think you can see where this is going right?

Finally I was asked my opinion, I wondered why they wanted my opinion because it wouldn’t matter right? Well “Yes” they both agreed it wouldn’t but it made them feel better asking me. Now if you can unravel their logic please explain it to me.

I have no idea what it is that drives them, maybe it’s some latent gene from so many eons of suppression so now that they have more guns then God and are both faster then chain lighting and never have a second of remorse when they drop some shit head. So…. maybe it’s just payback time. I’m glad they are on my side. “Smiles and hugs”

Sandy “See I knew he would come around.” May “There was never any doubt silly! He was never gonna let us just take off without him.” Me “Let you?” I laugh HA-HA - FKN- HA, I never had a choice, never for a second. If I had balked I would have woke up three days out of the canyon and cuffed to the roll bar in the HV, so who are they shitting?

I did try one more time and finally May turned to me with tears in her eyes and said “John that son of a bitch in Vegas killed god knows how many people and got away with it but he screwed the pooch when he killed our people. And we know he’s in the Barstow area and I’m going to get his black or green or white or spotted ass. Makes no never mind what color he is, he will look good all grayed out and laying out to be converted into buzzard shit!

So I hauled her over into my lap and wondered if I was getting played as is normal with them but Sandy was wiping her eyes and I knew she felt the same way.

So I said “Well fine, lets go kill the bastard,” now it’s all hugs and kisses and promises of good things to come! I asked if that meant a full nights sleep. I never know when to shut up.

So now we had a plan more or less, a destination, sorta, and a purpose. That was for sure. The rest of it would fall into place when the time was right.

And someplace to the West of us some asshole didn’t have a clue what was coming his way. He would know when we got there but he would not know when we left because he was gonna be dead, not because I say it but because “They” say it and I know that makes it so.

I asked them if they were ready to head home and put the plan into action, they were so we are.

I was thinking it would be about five days to the canyon but that strung out to ten. One of the mules threw a shoe which hung up in a rock and snapped off a part of the hoof, he was ok but wouldn’t be able to be shod for a good while until the hoof grew out. Mules have hard hooves and as a rule can get along just fine without shoes so I removed the other three and let him run barefooted. We split his load up with the others which wasn’t a burden since our supplies were getting low. We put the stuff like the tents and bed rolls on him and he was fine but we took it slower for a day or two.

Then Walker came in on three feet and looking for sympathy which he got way too much of in my opinion, which was grounds to discuss current sleeping arrangements all while the big sissy smiled. I hate him. “Do not!” I now shut up. “Smart man”

I will give the mutt his due he had cut the hell out of his right front foot. I had some of that stinky black crap that’s good for cuts and after washing the cut and looking close for anything that might be in it I put the stinky stuff on and wrapped the foot real good. While he was playing it for all the sympathy he could I found some leather and in about an hour had a bootie for him which would be on in the morning when we pulled out. By evening the leather was almost worn out so I fell back on an old Marine trick, I used duct tape. That lasted most of the next day so I just put another layer over it, I figured by the time we got home his foot would be as big as the roll of tape, I laughed and they glared.

All this did slow us down but they used the time to work up their idea of a supply list for the coming invasion of California.

I would describe it like this. “One HV with Pig, extra pig in trailer, 50,00 rounds of belted ammo. Fifty extra assorted weapons with another 50 K ammo for them. Then our American Express weapons we never leave home without. A few cans of fuel, a few cans of beans and we were ready to go.

I’m glad I’m the adult in this cluster fk coz somebody best be! I believe we might trade some ammo space for more food and fuel. But I’ll do it quietly. “Just try it buddy boy!” “Why do I bother?” “We ask that a lot too.” “Shit.” “Stop cussing.” You see? Life in a pillow case with cute rabid baby badgers.

We had a surprise today. We were riding along enjoying the sun as it washed the cold of the high desert away when we heard a sound not heard anymore, it took a moment to recognize the sound of an airplane off in the distance, I moved us close to a overhang and into shadows, careful is not a waste of time.

It became obvious the plane was flying a search pattern and shortly it was in sight. Sandy had the glasses out and after a long look said “It’s our plane!!” I took a long look and said “Well yeah it looks like it! It has 2 wings and a spinnie thingie on the front.” She didn’t laugh. As it came closer on every pass it did become obvious it was our plane, our “Air Force.” We rode out into the open and were spotted right away; it banked toward us and flew overhead. I could see somebody looking down at us and a hand waving.

       When it flew back over as slow as it could go a message tube with a high glow yellow streamer flew out the window. Sandy took off to recover it and returned with it. Inside was a note that said. “Chopper coming soon stay here.” It was signed by Willy Bean. When the bird flew back over we all waved, the wings waggled and it flew away.
       We looked around a bit and found a wash with graze in it and turned the stock out to eat while we sat in the shade of the overhang. Walker stayed with the stock; he was turning into a wonderful addition to the family. I mean he always was but he was so smart he picked out jobs for himself to do that relieved one of us.

       We spent several minutes talking about what it could be but gave that up and just settled into a restful silence. It was three hours later that we heard the chopper coming.

As soon as we heard the chopper May went to the livestock to keep them settled, not that we expected any problems but best to be safe.

As soon as the bird was down and the rotors slowed a bit the door opened and Willy and Joe jumped out and were running stooped over headed for us. After the howdy’s and hand shaking and hugs from the girls we retreated to the shade and sat down to hear the news. Ralph finished walking around the bird like he was looking for bullet holes then joined us.

       Willy made a ‘you first’ motion to Joe who said “Guess what!” I hate this game so I refused to play, but Sandy and May started off with wide eyed wild assed guesses that went from not likely to fkn never gonna happen and after a while Joe waved his hands and said “Shut up and let me tell you.” He’s better at the game then me. He said “You ain’t never gonna guess what anyway!!” Sandy slugged him on the shoulder and he got back on track.
       The news was Ta-Da!! The Asshole from Vegas had surfaced and our radio geeks snared him like a fish and knew right where he was!! I turned and looked at May and then Sandy and asked “How did ya’ll know?” They both just looked smug and then I had to explain to the guys what was going on.
       Willy said “You three were planning on heading out with one HV to find this guy?” I shrugged and pointed at “them.” Joe just nodded in understanding. Willy said “Have you ever just once said not only no but HELL NO!!??” I laughed out loud along with Ralph; Joe kept quiet while they stared at Willy. He finally held his hands up and said “Pardon the hell out of me!! What was I thinking?” Now we all laughed, Willy is such a coward!

       I just sat back and made a come on motion so they got back on track and told the story.

       “The comm geeks had set up a tower on a high hill with a damn near straight shot to the west, then they started monitoring a scanner that grabbed every signal that popped up and after a week they hit the jackpot. They were getting clear transmissions from a powerful base station and from conversations in the clear soon knew they had located the leader of the gang in Vegas. That was the up side, the down side was he was recruiting as fast as he could and was openly saying he was coming for us!”

       I sat there for a bit and decided that this was good news, we knew he was coming, we knew where he was and we knew this area, he on the other hand was out of his element, even if he had fought in the Middle East his experience there wasn’t gonna do a lot of good here in this desert, this would become a rifleman’s war and one thing we had was riflemen, everybody in our “army” was first and foremost a rifleman and all were well versed at long range shooting and even if you have armor sooner or later those men in the armor have to come out and when they do a single rifle shot from 300 yards out will put the fear in them. No, this piece of garbage wasn’t gonna do well here.
       But we did have a problem in that as he rolled along he would be adding other trash to his gang and causing a lot of trouble to innocents just trying to survive. We would have to find a way to deal with this problem because we couldn’t just sit back and let him roll over people while looking for us.
       We spent a couple of hours brainstorming it and decided we had time to figure it out and get it right before he got here.
       We were only two days riding time out of the canyon area and if we pushed it we could make it sooner. Walker was doing ok with his foot and the mule was fine with the light load so we told them to head back and start working up an inventory of supplies on hand including the vast pile of stuff at Fort Navajo. They were going to fly to the Fort and do just that.
       We headed out on as much of a direct course as we could and pushed till just before dark.

We had water at this camp and had a hurried meal, and sacked out, the girls chattering about the coming battle, me just counting stars; I think I was asleep by two hundred.

Morning came and by first real light we were on the road again and moving at a good clip. I kept an eye on Walker but he was doing ok as was the mule so we kept pushing and by dark we were only hours out from home Camp was the same as the night before but no water so we used the water bags and everybody got a good drink.

Morning found us moving with just some dried trail mix and coffee in us but we were almost home so that wasn’t an issue. Just before mid-day we rode into the canyon and were surrounded by everybody. It felt good to step down off of Buck who was just as happy to have me off of him.

The older boys took the stock away and unloaded the packs at our cave door then took them to water then into the deep blind canyon that had graze.

I stood there for a minute and then headed for the lake where I pulled off my boots, emptied my pockets and removed anything water might damage and fell over backward into the cool water, close to shore it was warm and a dozen yards out it was cool, I just hung there floating while the girls hurried to catch up. Being smarter then me they took time to pull clean cloths and soap and towels from the pack and then joined me. In the water they peeled off their clothes and turned it into a skinny dip. I joined them.

Everybody stayed away and let us have some privacy and we really scrubbed the road dust off. May swam back to shore and walked out in her beautiful birthday suit and returned with a bottle of JW!! God I love these women.

Walker did come down and wade around but he was not gonna ever be a water dog. We soaked and just relaxed for an hour then got out and dried off and put on the sweats the girls brought. We wrung out the wet clothing and carried it to some bushes near the cave as I insist on calling it.

We went in and fell into bed and never moved till early evening, then we went out front and sat down in the deck chairs salvaged from a hardware store. After a few minutes the girls went off and returned with a lot of food. In the canyon you could get a platter and wander from fire to fire and fill up on whatever was being served. Everybody was welcome at anybody’s fire and it made for some great conversation and fellowship. People would leave their fire and go eat some at a different fire. We have a good life here and I intend to see we keep it.

Willy drifted over and was followed shortly by Joe then Ralph. All that was missing was Charley whom I missed a lot when we were off on some trip. Sandy leaned over and smiling gave me a kiss and said “It’s ok baby.” And there come a pickup that pulled up and Charley got out. I should have been surprised but I really wasn’t, this is the canyon, this is Navajo land, nothing surprises me anymore, in fact I would have been very surprised if Charley hadn’t arrived right after Sandy said that.

I stood to meet him and told him I was happy he was here. He smiled and said “I’m happy to be here my brother.” I’ve never had such a bond with another human with the exception of the girls. It’s a wonderful thing; a gift to be cherished.

We sat in the cooling evening and drank some new kind of tea made from some weed the women of the canyon had found that hadn’t killed anybody yet and it was good and pretty cold too, since it was pulled from the depths of the lake. As I said, we have a wonderful life here and we will keep it.

Charley said the comm geeks had called his people and since we used only Charley’s people as our talkers nobody knew what was what unless they had somebody who was able to translate it. Doubtful. Anyway, he headed this way as soon as we arrived so it worked out very well

We talked late into the night about how to save the folks in this turds line of march and all we could come up with was to have people moving along his route a day or two ahead of him spreading the word to get out of the way, and hope they would. We also thought about offering a new home here on the lake, but only to the ones who looked like they were workers and who had built a decent community, anybody else was on their own. The one way to really screw up what we were building was to invite in trashy elements and that was out of the question. Picky? You bet, non PC? Fkn A.

Everybody here was a worker, a grower or a builder or a shooter who guarded the area. In other words doers welcome takers not so. Hard yes for sure, but we here in this place were not going to make the same mistakes that were made just a few years back. We were no longer an entitlement society.

Here everybody was entitled to get up with the sun, entitled to work and build and be a productive member of the community or they were entitled to pack their ass on down the road. Minus any small kids, teens fine, they could choose, under that and they couldn’t, they would have a nice home here with people who cared for them and would show them a better way. Of course that was just talk; it had never been an issue, not once. I couldn’t even think of anybody who shirked any job, people would just show up to help with anything being done and when it was done they would wander off looking for something else to do. We have a good life here. Did I mention that?

After a couple of days talking about how to deal with the guy who was coming to fuck with us Charley headed home but not before making me promise to bring the girls to see the Old Woman and of course I did, like I have a choice.

Now it’s time to get the plans we made going and then work out our battle plan. War sucks but damn it we sure seem to spend a lot of time doing it.

For now it’s days end, the nights are cold here in the high desert but the cave is warm with a couple of sticks burning in the fireplace, more to look at then anything else. The girls are reading, I’m just staring at the fire and Walker is trying to weasel up onto the bed but that ain’t happening.

The girls just had the idea of getting the bearskin out and putting it on the bed.

“I wonder why?”

Until next time.
TJ

Thank you all, I hope this book pleased you all as much as it did me. I was stuck for a week trying to come up with an ending and one came up. I like how that happens.

Book eight will be starting soon..

Thank you for enjoying my efforts and if you didn’t then thank you for trying and I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.

TJ