Fire From the Sky: Trial by Fire Read online

  “What?” Tandi was brought up short by the question. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, like you said, we 'll play hell getting any more, now,” Leon pointed out. “So, I gotta get something out of them since I can't replace them.”

  “What you got in mind?” Tandi asked warily.

  “Well, I would like to learn to throw knives,” Leon admitted. “Use them like Gordy and the others learned to do. And I've got a couple hatchets from Hibben knives I'd like to learn to use, too.”

  “Hibben, huh?” Tandi mused. “I suppose I could teach you to use them,” he nodded. “Hibben is good stuff usually,” he added.

  “Well, if you're willing to help me learn, then the least I can do is supply you with art material from my stash,” Leon said sagely. “Come on and let’s go have a look. See what you can use.”

  “Okay!” Tandi smiled for the first time since opening the bag with his art supplies inside.

  -

  “I saw you throwing knives with Tandi, earlier,” Leanne said to Leon later on that evening. “What did it cost you? His turn at what?”

  “Oh, I just traded him some art pencils and sketch pads,” Leon shrugged casually.

  “You what?” Leanne's voice was absent any emotion or other inflection.

  “I traded him some art pencils and sketch pads I bought before everything went to hell,” Leon told her again. “I had more than I probably need and he forgot to get any so. . .we made a trade. No big deal.”

  “No big deal?” Leanne looked aghast. “I have to do his turn at stinking laundry for as long as I need lessons and you traded him some art pencils and paper and now you say it's no big deal!”

  “It's not my fault you don't know how to negotiate, you know,” Leon pointed out. “I just found something that he needed that I had, and then I worked out a deal with him, that's all. You did the same thing, didn't you? You offered to do his laundry in exchange for sword lessons, and he took you up on it.”

  “You traded him once and got your lessons and I have to do his turn at laundry forever!” Leanne almost screamed.

  “Not forever,” Leon scoffed. “Just until your lessons are done, that's all. How long can it take?”

  “AHHH!!”

  -

  “What is Leanne so upset over?” Alicia asked. She was sitting up in bed a bit pale faced, an ice pack on her head.

  “No telling,” a worried Ronny answered. He didn't care what his children were yelling about so long as they weren't in danger, and they shouldn't be in danger here in the house. His wife however had been sick off and on through most of the winter. That wasn't like her and Ronny was concerned.

  “Look, we're going to see Patricia,” he said finally. “This has gone on long enough.”

  “Ronny, it's just a bad-”

  “-cold, yeah,” Ronny cut her off, unwilling to listen to that any longer. “Colds run their course eventually and it's been almost two months, Ally. Enough. With things the way they are now we can't afford to let this balloon into something major.”

  “Ronny, come on-,” Alicia tried again but Ronny was already getting her coat.

  “No, you come on,” he ordered, shaking the coat at her as he held it open for her to slip in to. “We're going to see Patricia before she closes the clinic for the day. Get this on so I can help you with your shoes. Kids!” he turned his head to bellow at his children. A few seconds later they could be heard thumping down the hallway.

  “What is it Dad?” Leanne asked as she walked inside.

  “I'm carrying your mother to the clinic,” he told them. “Help me get her outside and into the truck, all right?”

  “Sure Dad,” Leon said at once. “Come on Mom,” he moved to place one arm around his mother.

  “I 'll get her things,” Leanne offered.

  “Leanne I'm only going to see your Aunt Patricia,” Ally objected. “I won't need anything for that. But I would appreciate it if you came with me.”

  “Sure thing, Mom,” Leanne agreed even though it was the last thing she wanted to do.

  “Okay guys, let’s go,” Ronny ordered. “I want to get there before they close the clinic.”

  -

  Patricia Sanders stretched, groaning as her back popped and cracked.

  “I'm too old for this,” she told herself, shaking her head.

  “Ain't we all?” Kaitlin Caudell snorted from across the room. “At least it was a slow day, right,” the nurse from Houston smiled.

  “I guess that's true,” Patricia agreed. “And now I guess we can go-”

  “Aunt Patricia, my mom is sick!” Leanne Tillman came running into the room. “She threw up just now between here and home!”

  “-home,” Patricia hid a sigh. “Do you know what's troubling her, Leanne?” she asked with a smile.

  “I dunno, but she's sick to her stomach for sure,” the girl said. “Daddy and Leon are-”

  “Patricia, Ally is sick,” Ronny Tillman said as he and Leon helped Alicia into the clinic.

  “That's what I hear,” Patricia nodded. “Here you go,” she patted the bed with her hand. “Take a seat here and tell me what's wrong, Ally.”

  “It's just a cold, Pat, I promise,” Ally told her sister-in-law as she levered herself onto the bed.

  “We 'll see in a minute,” Patricia promised. “All right you bunch, head outside and take a seat while we see what's going in.”

  -

  “-and that's it,” Ally finished describing what her last few weeks had been like.

  “I see,” Patricia fought off a frown as her sister-in-law reported her symptoms. “Ally, I have an idea, but you. . .I want to be sure,” she admitted. “There's something we need to do. Something I want to rule out before we go any further.”

  “What's that?”

  “I need you to pee in a cup.”

  -

  “You're kidding,” Ally's face was pale as she listened to her sister-in-law deliver her news.

  “No, I'm afraid it's pretty conclusive, dear,” Patricia shook her head. “I've ran the same test three times to be sure.”

  “I don't. . .I can't. . .why now?” Ally finally managed to get out.

  “I don't know sweetheart,” Patricia shrugged helplessly. “If it were any other time. . .” she didn't finish.

  “I know,” Ally nodded, wiping a single tear away. “What do I do now?” she asked, talking to herself more than anyone else.

  “First, we need to tell Ronny,” Patricia pointed out. “And I 'll be here for you through it all. You know that,” she hugged Alicia tightly.

  “Thanks,” Ally tried to smile and was mostly successful. Patricia returned the smile and then went to the door, calling the Tillman family inside. Ronny went straight to Alicia and sat down beside her, hugging her to him. He didn't miss her teary look.

  “What's wrong?” he asked at once.

  “Well, it's not wrong, per se,” Patricia told him. “The simple fact is. . .Ally is pregnant.”

  “What?” Three voices spoke as one, all echoing the same surprise.

  “Alicia is pregnant,” Patricia said again. “At a guess, I'd say seven weeks, give or take.”

  “H-how?” Ronny was stunned.

  “Ronny, if you haven't figured out the mechanics by now. . .” Patricia's mirth was plain as she teased her brother-in-law.

  “Not if front of the kids!” he protested at once.

  “We are six-teen!” two voices complained at once. “Stop treating us like children!”

  “You are children,” Ronny shot back. “My children. What I meant was,” he turned back to Patricia, “is how is this possible? After all this time?”

  “All I can guess is that somehow or another whatever has been keeping you from conceiving up until now was overcome. At least for a short time.”

  “Pregnant,” Alicia said it again. “We tried so hard. . .”

  “The timing could be better, but. . .congratulations!” Patricia smiled at them.

  �
��Yeah,” Alicia looked underwhelmed but still managed a faint smile.

  “Congratulations.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  -

  “Just because it's nice this minute don't mean winter's over,” Leon warned the assembled men of the Sanders' farm. “We've had major snow storms as late as April before. Gordon, you know what I'm talking about,” he looked at his son.

  “Yeah,” he nodded in agreement. “Anything like that is possible for sure. But we've already had a hard winter. If we're lucky this chi-nook is the start of the real thing. It's almost seventy degrees!”

  “Gordon it's sixty-three degrees,” Leon sighed in exasperation. “That ain't nowhere near seventy as it is to sixty for cryin' out loud.”

  “It was just an expression, Pa,” Gordon shook his head, a look of faint amusement showing on his face.

  “Well, it's nice to have this weather, but it means I got work to do,” Gordy said as he stood. “We need to pause our workout today and maybe tomorrow to allow us to get some ranch work in while we can,” he told Jose Juarez. Juarez had taken over as the 'sergeant' of the group's security team with the death of John Barnes. A death that was still being felt throughout the group.

  “I think we can do that,” Juarez nodded slowly. “There's a lot of stuff we need to do as well, including vehicle maintenance. And we need to take advantage of this to take a look around, too. A lot can happen in two months,” he pointed out.

  “How far you thinking about?” Clayton asked. No matter how things changed, he was still the Boss.

  “Five miles?” Juarez said with a raised eyebrow. “I got to be honest, I don't expect to find anything or anyone in that area,” he admitted. “It's been a hard winter and…well...,” he trailed off, unwilling to mention what they were all thinking.

  The winter had been especially hard, perhaps the wettest in ten years. Five major snowstorms and one minor ice event, not to mention at least a dozen minor snowfalls with measurable accumulations. Snow had literally been on the ground most of the winter with the ground frozen for more than six weeks.

  How many had starved to death in that time? How many had succumbed to hypothermia or influenza? How many had been killed outright by others in acts of theft, rape or other unsavory acts that good people wanted desperately to believe only happened in the movies?

  The group had been fortunate not to have to turn anyone away during the winter the way they had expected. No one was certain they could do it. Even Leon the Elder had admitted it would be hard to turn away someone they knew, or someone with children. No one had looked forward to such an episode and all were grateful that it hadn't happened. None more so than Leon.

  Leon was known to all as a curmudgeon and the epitome of a grumpy old man. It was an image he had nurtured over the years and was careful to maintain. For all of that, Leon had dreaded the day they would have to turn away someone in dire need simply because they lacked the resources to help.

  It had been an uncomfortable truth that while the Sanders group had been uncommonly well prepared for the disaster, there were holes in their preparations and a limit to what they could accomplish. Before winter had set in, Leon had set out on a mission to gather people with needed skills to them, forming a small new community that could function with limited autonomy in the world's new dynamic. While moderately successful, it has also meant that their available resources would be strained to the limit. Not only would they have to feed so many through the winter, they would of a necessity have to continue feeding all those mouths until harvest time. To say this was a strain on their resources would be an understatement.

  As a result, Leon had warned them all that the time would inevitably come when they would have to turn away someone they knew, or someone with children, or perhaps both. That they would be unable to take care of others when there was serious doubt they could take care of themselves.

  But whether it was the winter, or perhaps the distance between them and so many others with so few operable vehicles, whatever the cause might be, no one had wandered into the farm nor come begging for help, either. While most chose not to look a gift horse in the mouth, to use an old southern expression, others, like Leon and his grandson Clayton for instance, wondered why they had not been approached, and when that would end. Neither doubted for a second that it would end. There was no way that the farm could be left alone like this for long. With winter over, those who had survived would be those strong enough to endure and willing to do whatever it took to live.

  Those most desperate and dangerous in other words.

  The question the two of them were pondering was when this quiet would come to an end.

  “C'mon guys,” Gordy told his friends that had joined the family just before winter had set in with gusto. “Time you earned your keep,” he jeered.

  “I'm too delicate for manual labor,” Zach Willis replied as he got to his feet. “Why just day before yesterday I broke a nail! Can you believe it? Still hurts something awful,” he shook his hand. “Maybe I better go see the nurse, yeah?”

  “You don't get a move on and we 'll give you a real reason to see the nurse,” Kade Ramsey slapped the complaining Zach lightly in back of his head. “You ain't weaseling outta this so dry up.” The other three voiced agreement with Kade, all giving Zach a hard time.

  “Wow, I never imagined you guys would turn on a brother so quickly,” Zach shook his head in mock disbelief. “I should have known this day would come,” he sighed heavily in mock regret and anguish.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Gordy snorted. “Should o' known all right. Do your mouthin' while we head for the barn.”

  The teens moved away still enjoying the back and forth ribbing of each other, leaving the older men to watch them go.

  “I remember what it was like to be that young,” Mitchel Nolan grinned at the others. “I didn't think I could get hurt, neither,” he laughed.

  “Same here,” Clay nodded in agreement. “I'd say they're about as ready as they can be without some real experience. Pancho?” he looked at Juarez, who was nodding in agreement.

  “Yeah,” the son of a second generation Mexican-American replied. “They're all good shots, all have done well in PT and hand-to-hand instruction and all of them have passed the tactics courses with shining colors. All that's really left is to see how they do when it's on the line.”

  “Take 'em out tomorrow,” Clay ordered. “Take two vehicles and let them take the lead with appropriate supervision. See how they do if they run up against anything.”

  “Roger that.”

  -

  “All right you guys,” Jose 'Pancho' Juarez looked at the assembled 'newbies'. “We're headed out today to do a patrol. We're going as observers,” he pointed to himself, Tandi Maseo and Mitchel Nolan. “You guys are trained so it's time to see if you can walk as well as you talk. Gordy, you're senior so you're in command.” He pulled a map from his vest without further comment and spread it on the hood of the Humvee.

  “You will follow this circle,” he traced a rough circle around the farm, averaging five miles out from their home. “This is all back roads, but you should all be familiar with them. Your orders are to investigate anything that looks suspicious or threatening, remembering that if it isn't a threat to us it's not our business,” he looked at each teen in turn. “Got that?”

  “Yes sir,” the boys chorused.

  “Your rules of engagement are simple; return fire if fired upon. Otherwise, you may use deadly force in defense of innocents, but again, remember; if it's not a threat to us?”

  “It's not our business,” came the chorus again.

  “Outstanding,” Juarez nodded, handing the map to Gordy, who handed it to Corey Raynard. Corey nodded as he took it, understanding that he was to be the navigator.

  “Mount up,” Juarez ordered. “From here on out, you're on your own. Don't get dead.”

  “Yes sir,” one more chorus came from the group, then Gordy turned to look at the others.

  “Lo
ad up,” he ordered. “Heath, you got the wheel. Zach, take the gun and lookout. Corey front, Kade rear. I've got right and Titus takes left. Let's get it.”

  The teens clambered aboard the Cougar and took their places. Heath Kelly fired the powerful engine on the freshly serviced Cougar and watched the gauges climb into the operating range, nodding to Gordy when everything was green.

  “Move out,” was the simple order and the Cougar eased onto the drive and made for the road way.

  Behind them an armored Humvee followed, M-2 machine gun cleared for action on the roof. Mitchel Nolan rode the turret with binoculars while Tandi Maseo drove. He looked over at Jose Juarez in the passenger seat.

  “Who had this idea now?” he asked.

  “Bossman's idea,” Jose shrugged. “But I agreed it was a good one. These kids have taken everything we've thrown at them and are still upright. In the old days that's all it took for us to want to see what someone could do.”

  “That's true,” Maseo nodded. “They're shaping up good.”

  “That they are,” Juarez nodded. “So, let’s make sure nothing happens to 'em, eh?”

  -

  “This is some cool shit, man!” Titus Terry exclaimed from his position along the left of the Cougar. “We the man, now!”

  “Knock it off,” Gordy chuckled. “They're right behind us. This is a test of some kind, you can bet on it. You guys stay sharp, hear? There's no way they don't have something out here for us to 'find'. Get what I'm saying?”

  “Yeah, man,” Corey agreed. “This is. . .it went too easy. Wasn't even our idea, but suddenly they turn us loose with this bad ass vehicle and a machine gun? At our age? Nah, man, Gordy's right. They're testing us, that's all.” Agreement ran through the length of the 'bad ass vehicle'.

  It didn't occur to any of the boys that they were about the same age that the hardened soldiers that trained them had been when they went on their first patrol.

  -

  “We're going left on Granville Road, Heath,” Corey said.

  “Got it,” Heath nodded. They had been on the road for twenty minutes, moving slowly but steadily. This was the first 'leg' of their circle behind them, but there were five more to go before they turned for home again.