Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

“Could you ask Mike, Teddy and Doc to come out here?” Sarge asked. She nodded and went back inside. The old man cut his eyes at me, “That was some underhanded shit right there. You’re an asshole.”

I shrugged, “Learned from the best.”

It didn’t take the guys long to come out. Sarge got up and said, “Come on. Let’s walk down to the bunker and talk to Dalton.”

We filed out and headed into the darkness. Walking down the road, we discussed the upcoming nuptials. Everyone agreed it was a happy thing. Mike even managed to not show his ass, which kept the conversation going in a positive direction.

“Y’all make more noise than a gay pride parade,” Dalton said from the darkness at the side of the road.

“Personally, I wouldn’t know what one sounds like,” Sarge shot back. “Come on up to the bunker. We’ve got business to discuss.”

He emerged from the black and we all walked up to the pile of logs and dirt. Ian and Jamie were sitting on top of it. Jamie was smoking a cigarette.

“You know those things are bad for you,” Mike said as he climbed up and sat down beside her.

She flicked the butt at him and it bounced off his chest, the dim cherry cartwheeling in the air. “Alright, folks,” Sarge said. “We’ve got a mission.”

“What are we doing now?” Ian asked.

“We’re going to make a run up to Eglin for some gear and face time with the general.”

“I thought they were turned to ash in Tampa,” Jamie said.

“No. They’d all pretty much unassed that place prior to the attack. He’s back up north. We’re going to get a couple of trucks from town and make a run up there.”

“Who’s going?” Jamie asked. You could hear in her voice that she expected to be told she wasn’t making this run.

Sarge was quiet for a minute before replying. “All of us here.”

“What about Perez?” She asked.

“No. He can stay here. I love the beaner. But he’s about as worthless as a menstruating nun.”

From somewhere in the blackness, Perez replied, “Fuck you too, old man.” Then the cherry on his smoke flared as he took a drag.

“Who’s going to provide security here?” Dalton asked. “You’re taking most of the shooters. That’s going to leave this place vulnerable.”

“We’re going to have some of the Guardsmen come out and stay while we’re gone. I don’t expect any trouble any time soon.”

“That’s when it usually happens,” Dalton countered.

“You are correct. But we need to get up there and grab some stuff for the job ahead.”

“And just what is that job?” Ted asked.

“Good ole infantry work,” Sarge replied. “Locate the enemy. Close with him and destroy him. But we need some heavy weapons to deal with armor. I don’t want a repeat of our last encounter.”

“It’s about time for a proper fight,” Mike said.

“Careful what you wish for, Mikey. These aren’t a bunch of Joe the lob cob can kicking Feds. We could very easily come up against Russian Spetsnaz or even Cuban SF.”

“Ah,” Dalton said. “Comando tropas especiales. I’d like to talk to both of them.”

“You’ve got some kind of gay ass man crush on those commies, don’t you?” Mike asked. “Especially those Russians.”

“It’s more of a respect. I’ve interacted with the Russians before. They’re tough bastards.”

“Maybe so,” Sarge interjected, “but hopefully we only have to deal with the Cubans. Their people are alright, but they’ve lacked equipment and other materials to train with for a very long time, so it’ll be like going up against the JV team. Spetsnaz on the other hand, will be like playing in the NFL.”

“I don’t care either way. I want some commie scalps,” Mike replied.

“You ain’t scalping shit,” Sarge shot back. “We’re going to town in the morning for the trucks. Everyone be ready first thing tomorrow. Once we’re back with the trucks, we’ll get everything ready to go and probably head out in the afternoon.”

“You going to try and drive straight through?” Ian asked.

“I don’t see no reason to stop unless we need to. Things have settled down a lot, so we shouldn’t have much in the way of trouble.”

“Everyone get some rest. It’s a long ride. I don’t want anyone falling asleep driving,” Doc said.

“I’ll be fine,” Jamie replied. “I’m driving one of the trucks.”

“That’s fine with me,” Sarge replied. “We’ll sort out duties tomorrow.”

“You going?” Dalton asked me.

“Looks that way.”

“Alright then. You guys all go get some rest. Me and Morgan will stay here for now. Danny and Thad will be down later to relieve us.” Sarge ordered.

Everyone wandered off without much more said. Once the old man and I were alone, I looked at him and said, “Thanks for volunteering me to hang out here all night.”

“Dry up,” he replied. “You’ll be able to sleep in the truck. I need these people ready for the job.”

“Didn’t know you were going to have Ian and Jamie go.”

He scratched his head. It was still warm out, but there was a breeze blowing that thankfully kept the mosquitoes away. “I wasn’t going to originally. But with them, we can take the Hummer too. Just in case.”

“Do these trucks have the range to get up there?” I asked.

“We’ll take some extra fuel with us. In the morning, we’ll round up some fuel cans. There’s plenty of them lying around. We’ll fill them from Sheffield’s bladder.”

“He’s going to get suspicious.”

“Then you better sell it to him.”

We hung out in the dark. Off in the west, lightning lit up the horizon from time to time, followed by the low rolling rumble of a heavy thunderstorm. It was nice to watch, though I dreaded the rain that was sure to follow.

Thad and Danny showed up a couple hours later. Thad was in good spirits and I felt kind of bad that he had to leave Mary on this night to stand watch.

“You should be at home with Mary,” I said.

“She’s still at Danny’s house. We’re going to pick out our own house soon,