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

The bodies were cut down and loaded into the bed of the little red truck. We took them over to the police department, I wanted to see the other man, the one Shane killed. I asked Aric to ride over with us to verify it was him since he knew the man best.

We parked in front of the roll-up door and Shawn came out. He looked over the side of the bed and nodded. “It’s done.”

“Where’s the other one?” I asked. Then I noticed his face. Both of his eyes were blackened and his nose looked broken. “Damn, dude, you look like you were hit by a truck.”

He jerked his head towards the roll-up door, “The truck’s in there. Hang on, I’ll open it.” And he went inside the building.

We waited out front as the metal door clanged and banged as it rolled up. As the door rose, the feet of man came into view. I watched as the view slowly crept up his body until the man was revealed. The man’s shirt was stained with blood and flies buzzed about his open mouth and hazy eyes. Shane was standing beside him. He too had a black eye and was holding his left arm close to his chest.

I jutted my chin at him, “You alright?”

He kicked the form on the ground, “This fucker broke a rib I think.”

“You seen the docs yet?”

He nodded, “Yeah, we’ve both been to the clinic. Nothing time won’t fix.”

Aric stepped into the dim bay and looked down at the body. He knelt down and grabbed the man’s chin and turned his face up. Looking up, he said, “This is him. His name’s Niigata. He was their torturer. Of course, they called him an interrogator. But he was a sadistic bastard.”

Shawn snorted, “He’s not going to torture anyone else.”

“How’d it go down?” I asked.

“We were following him. He went behind the old Ace Hardware. When we walked around the corner, he jumped us. Sum bitch was quick and hit like a damn mule,” Shane said.

“He was enjoying it. He smiled the entire time.” Shawn said. “It was no contest trying to fight him. He hit me in the face, then went after Shane. I drew my pistol and shot him in the back. He actually turned around to look at me. Started walking towards me. So, I kept shooting him until he fell.”

“And this one?” Aric asked, pointing to a bullet hole over the man’s left eye.

“Insurance,” Shane grunted. “I didn’t want the bastard getting back up.”

“It was worth it,” I said. “The old man knows where they’re operating out of now. The Russians and Cubans have teamed up with the remnants of the DHS. They’re holed up in the auto auction off the 429. He’s working with the DOD guys up at Eglin to deal with them.”

“What do you want us to do with him?” Shane asked.

I pointed at the truck, “If you don’t mind, I’ll leave these three here for the night. Tomorrow, take them to the farm and bury them there. Let them fertilize the field.”

“Will do.”

“I’ll get with Cecil. He’ll have a hole dug for them.”

We unloaded the bodies from the truck into the bay. It was surreal seeing so many bodies piled up as they were. But it was the reality. Dead bodies didn’t faze me anymore than seeing a road-killed opossum now. It was just another part of the fabric of life. We shook hands and said we’d get with them later before Aric and I loaded into the truck and drove back to the park.

We found everyone gathered around Sarge’s Hummer. Cecil and the old man were talking when we walked up.

“Was it him?” Sarge asked.

I nodded, “Yeah, it was him. One less vermin to worry about.”

Sarge nodded. “Good. I’ll get with the General and we’ll put together a plan to hit those pricks at the auto auction.”

Mike clapped his hands, “You mean I’m going to get to blow some shit up with that big ass gun? Goodie, goodie, goodie!”

“Stop acting like a damn snot-nosed runt for cryin’ out loud. Act your age for a change.”

“He is,” Ted quickly replied, “he is acting his age. He stopped aging at thirteen.”

The old man snorted, “Explains why yer nuts ain’t dropped yet.” He said it quickly and without thought. Then he looked at Mel and said, “Sorry, Mel.”

Mel didn’t miss a beat. “It’s alright,” she replied. Then she looked at Mike and said, “Don’t worry. They’ll come down on their own.”

Mike blushed and adjusted his crotch, mumbling, “They did a long time ago.”

Mel patted his shoulder, saying, “Sure they have.” And she walked towards the little red truck. Naturally, this got a big laugh out of the old man, and Ted. It made me smile too. Mike looked at me and I shrugged.

“How’s that field of corn coming, Cecil?” I asked.

“’Bout ready. I checked a couple of ears earlier today. They’re drying out nicely.”

“You got security on that field?” Sarge asked.

Cecil nodded with a laugh, “You’re damn right! You think you could plant acres of corn and expect it to be there when you come back? Not hardly. We’ve run a few people off. Mitch sentenced a couple we caught in there poaching corn to labor at the farm. But for the most part, it’s all there.”

“That’s going to make a shit ton of corn meal,” I said. “How’s the mill coming along?”

“We got it working. Have to run a generator, but it’ll turn out some corn. We even found a Burrall corn sheller at Renninger’s and got it working. We’ll be able to shell the corn out a lot faster,” Cecil replied.

“We’ll be up to our eyeballs in grits and cornbread,” Sarge said.

Cecil smiled and patted his belly, “I ain’t going to complain none. Cornbread will go nice with the beans we got in those supplies.”

“Cecil, we’re going to be having a wedding out at the ranch here shortly. You should come