Chapter 12

Davey was sitting at the table when they entered the kitchen. He stared at them through large eyes, looking a little bit scared and a little bit overwhelmed.

"Is she going to be OK?" he asked no one in particular. Junior shrugged, Sarah nodded her head yes and gave Junior a sharp look.

"We hope so Davey," Junior explained. "We did the best we could with what we had. We got the bleeding stopped, and if she doesn't get an infection, she should be alright." Seeing the dirty look he got from Sarah he went to her. "He needs to know the truth, and he's going to see much more before this whole thing is over with. The days of sheltering our kids from the bad side of life are gone. Kids like Davey already have done some growing up in the last few weeks, and unfortunately, are gonna have to do a bunch more in the days to come." Junior turned to look out the window, watching as Carr went from man to man, checking to see if they were still alive. He saw the man crouch over one prone form, sliding a large knife into the man's chest. Junior shook his head violently, as if to clear the picture from his mind. Turning from the window he headed for the door. "Keep everyone else inside," he instructed Sarah as he headed out the door.

Outside he met with Warren, who was checking another body for signs of life. Nodding to the man, he walked to the next, finding him staring at the sky from unblinking eyes. Watching a fly crawl across the man's eyeball left little doubt the man was dead. Junior moved on, checking each body for signs of life. Those that showed any sign of life were quickly finished with a blade through the heart. Thankfully there weren't many left alive and they were soon finished with the distasteful chore. Junior had no problem with killing, but standing over a dying man and looking into his eyes while your blade pierced his heart was different. It was up close and personal, and totally unlike killing in the heat of battle. Junior watched the light fade from the pleading eyes of the last man as he cleaned his knife with the man's shirt tail. He stood with Warren in silence as they looked around at the carnage. A shadow crossed their faces and they looked up to see a buzzard cruise by overhead.

"How's Juanita?" Carr asked, eyes still following the soaring carrion eater.

"She's got a fighting chance." Junior replied. "Shelley was able to stitch up the artery, and if it holds, and no infection sets in, she might make it. She lost a lot of blood, and I'm surprised she's still alive. If she makes it through the next 24 hours, I'd say she'll be alright."

Carr nodded, eyes still sweeping the yard and road, alert to any movement. "I saw an old John Deere backhoe out behind the barn earlier. If it runs it will make clean up a lot easier on us."

"No time like the present," Junior stated. "Let's see if we can get it going. Ever run one before?" he asked as they walked toward the back yard. Carr shook his head, then nodded at Janet who had stepped to the back door.

"We're gonna try to get the backhoe going to do some clean up," he told her. "Do you know if it runs?"

"It did the last I knew. Grandpa bought it to bury hogs or cattle that died. I don't know when it was started last. Check under the dash for a key hideaway. He started hiding the key there when the grandkids got old enough to start messing around with things. He didn't want one of them accidentally starting it up."

The key was where Janet said it would be, and after several minutes the pair of men had the backhoe fired up. Junior had experience with tractors, and as this was just a tractor with a backhoe attached to the rear, he soon had it figured out.

Cleaning up the aftermath of the battle took most of the remainder of the day. They all were exhausted by the time the last body was dumped into the long trench Junior had dug with the back hoe. He had dug deep, wanting several feet of dirt over top of the bodies. The sky was filled with circling buzzards by the time Junior began refilling the mass grave. All the adults had helped load the bodies in the loader bucket after stripping them of anything useful. They had found thousands of dollars in now nearly useless cash. Stuffing it in a garbage bag, they set it aside. A day might come when it regained value, but Junior doubted it. Jewelry and weapons were collected, as they would all have value in the coming days. No attempt was made to identify any of the deceased, and no marker would be erected. Sarah had said it all, "Let the fuckers rot."