Chapter 2

A half hour later, I had all the information I needed from the captive. I dragged him by the hair outside to the barn and thrust him inside. I tossed the older woman my knife. "Do what you will with him," I said. "He is of no more use to us." As I went back into the house to search it more thoroughly, I heard the man begin screaming. It was a long time before he went silent.

I found the keys to a pickup in the pocket of one of the dead men. I pulled it up to the front door of the ranch house and started loading it with anything useful I could find. The biggest prize though was a trailer-mounted generator that would provide electricity up at the cabin.

When the women emerged from the barn, they found the blankets that I had left by the door. The older woman cut holes in them and they put the blankets on like ponchos. The older woman returned my knife. "I am Sheila Davenport. My sister is Christie and my daughter is Tammie." "I'm Michael," I told her. "Get everyone into the truck. We leave here in five minutes with or without you." She wasted no time in herding the others into the truck. I took a last look around, then got into the truck and started the motor. "Where are we going?" Sheila asked. "To my place." I replied. 'Where you'll be safe from men like that."

It was well after dawn when the four of us pulled up to the cabin in the ambusher's pickup. I could see several guns tracking our movements from the upper windows and the tree line. When I stopped the truck, I got out carefully, not knowing how itchy the fingers were on those triggers. Once I was recognized, Melissa came outside carrying her AK47. "Take care of these ladies," I told her. "They've had a rough time." "What about the men that you went after?" she asked quietly. "All dead," I said shortly. "Did they bring back the bodies of the team that got ambushed?" "Yes," she replied. "Carl and Deke are out digging the graves now." I took her in my arms and held her tight. "Damn it, I should never have let them go out without more training." She hugged me tight and them pushed away to go tend to the newest members of our band.

I went inside and got out of my bloodstained clothing. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I started to undress. With blood on my arms, chest and face, I looked like something from West Hell. No wonder the women had been scared of me.

After I was cleaned up and dressed, I went out to the gravesite with the rest. Long after the service was over, I stood there looking at the three fresh graves. Two men and a woman gone because they hadn't been prepared enough. I wouldn't make that mistake again.

The mood in the cabin was somber and quiet for the next couple of days. The other teams had returned with enough supplies to last us for a while, and one team had even brought a few head of cattle back with them.

I led another heavily armed party back to where I had rescued Sheila and the others. We got the horses out of the barn and onto the big 21⁄2-ton truck for the trip back to the cabin. The horses would be used for mounted patrols. Quieter than a motorcycle or ATV, and they wouldn't use any of our dwindling supply of gasoline.

I took Melissa back to the cave for a proper good-bye before I made another run back into town. For all I knew, it might be the last chance I would have to be with her. Tonight though, we didn't make love. Melissa seemed to know what I needed more than I did myself, and she just held in me her arms all night long. In the morning, I felt better than I had in years. There's something about the love of a good woman that does wonders for healing a damaged soul.

"Be careful." Melissa said as I shrugged into my battle harness. "Come back safe."

"Always," I said. I gave her a kiss, then fired up my motorcycle and headed back to Billings. This time I was going to do a recon of Logan International Airport.

I found my way to the airport easily enough, and for once I didn't see any Changelings along the way. I left the bike alongside one of the big hangars where I had a clear view and no place nearby for Changelings to lurk. It was a long and nervous hike to where the private planes were parked. And I was seeing signs that changelings had been there recently. Fresh turds were clearly visible where the Changelings had passed within the last hour or so. I re-checked the loads in my H&K, and then moved on, trying to look in all directions at once. Finally I spotted what I had been hoping to find. An old Douglas DC3 sitting on the parking apron by a charter service hangar.

I made my way closer to the plane without being spotted by any of the changelings that I could hear moving around somewhere nearby. From what I could see on the outside, the plane looked to be in good shape. But the only way to tell if it would start would be to actually get into it and fire it up. But that would bring every Changeling at the airport on the run, and I was all-alone. Time to go get some help.

I was almost back to the bike when the Changelings found me. Their rank stench was the first clue I had that they were closing in on me. I turned fast and saw the closest Changeling only a few yards away and coming fast. I shot for the center of mass, and the creature went sprawling limply. I flicked on the laser sight on the H&K, and then put a quick burst into each Changeling as the red dot showed on their bodies.

When the subgun ran out of ammunition, there wasn't time to change magazines. I dropped it and let it hang from the sling as I drew my .45. The last Changeling dropped almost within arms reach just as the slide on the .45 locked back. I dumped the empty magazine and reloaded as fast as I could, then I reloaded the H&K as I moved on toward the bike. All that noise was sure to bring other Changelings, and I didn't want to be around when they got there.

As I approached the gate I had come in through, I saw a group of changelings right in the middle of the road. I rolled on the throttle and blew by them doing nearly 90. I was by them too fast for them to do more than make a futile grab for me as I blazed past. After that, the rest of the trip home was smooth and uneventful.

Back at the cabin, I sent Tammie to round up the others for a briefing. Once everyone was gathered in the living room, I laid out my plan. "There is a plane out at the airport that we can use," I said. "But getting to it is going to be tricky as hell. There are changelings all over the place, and when we try to start the engines on the plane, the shit is going to hit the fan." I paused to let them absorb what I had just said. "If the plane does not start, then we're going to have to fight our way out again. If it does start, we'll all have to be aboard and secure within a minute, or else the Changelings will tear us apart."

Deke raised his hand. "I'll go," he said. "I can't fly the plane, but I can keep the Changelings off your back while you get it running." He gave a chuckle. "Besides, I'm getting bored just hanging around here."

Melissa nodded. "We'll need a truck that we can just abandon there," she said. "Drive up to the plane, get in and take off before too many Changelings have a chance to gather." I gave her a proud smile. She had a good head for tactics, and I wondered again about her past. For damn sure she hadn't been just a simple housewife.

Tammie spoke up so softly that I almost didn't hear her. "I'm going too." I looked over at her and shook my head. "Sorry hon, but you don't have the training yet." "I don't need training to drive the truck." she replied. "If I drive, that leaves the rest of you free to fight." I wasn't too sure about her mental state after what she had been through, but I couldn't fault her reasoning. "OK," I said. "Tammie, Melissa, Connie, Deke, Vicki and Carl. That's about all we'll have space for in the truck, and also about all we'll have time to board the plane before all hell breaks loose."

"When do we go?" asked Carl. "I want to give the Changelings a couple of days to settle down after all the fuss today," I replied. "And we're going to need to rehearse un-assing that truck until we can all be out and ready to go in under 10 seconds." That brought a couple of groans from Deke and Vicki, and chuckles from the rest.

I drilled the team mercilessly over the next few days, including extra work with Tammie on firearms and other basic skills. Tammie attached herself to me like a shadow, much the same way that Vicki had adopted Melissa. In training, she proved to be fearless and aggressive, ready to take on anyone who was willing to practice with her. A couple of the younger guys tried to be friendly with her, and she accepted their friendship, but remained aloof as far as getting romantically involved with any of them.

Melissa watched the whole thing with amusement. "You know that Tammie thinks of you as about two notches above God don't you?" she said to me one evening as we relaxed in the cave after a session of intense lovemaking. "She refers to you as "The Avenging Angel." I laughed. "Well I ain't no Dannite, and I seriously doubt that heaven would allow me in." Melissa stretched and gave me a slow smile. "Well I want you in," she said. "And I think I'll start right here," as she slid down the cot to take my cock into her mouth. "You're all the heaven I'll ever know." I said. "And all the heaven I'll ever need." She didn't reply, her mouth being full at the time.

When I was about to come in her mouth, I tried to pull her up and on top of me, but she resisted, taking my cock deeper into her mouth and throat, swallowing to suppress the gag reflex, then pulling back just far enough to breath before taking me deep again. It was all too much, and I came, spurting my semen straight down her throat. She nursed on my cockhead for a while, making sure that she got every drop, then let my dick slip from her mouth as she moved up to lay alongside me and snuggle some more.

As I lay there with her in my arms, I wanted to ask her about her past. To learn more about her. But something inside my head told me that prying would be a bad idea right now. She would tell me more in her own good time.

About two weeks after my trip to the airport, we were ready to make the trip back for the plane. Melissa had chosen an old Ford pickup that had seen better days, but was still mechanically sound.

As planned, Tammie did the driving while Connie rode shotgun. We all had our personal weapons, plus all the heavy armament that I'd had stashed in the cave.

A couple of belt fed .30 caliber machine-guns and an old M2.50 caliber heavy machine-gun that I had rigged a pintle mount for in the bed of the pickup. Tammie was a good driver, and we made good time to the airport. She had worked at the airport one summer, so knew the layout well enough to take a more or less direct rout to the charter service where the DC3 was sitting.

As we pulled up to the plane, I heard Connie's AK47 start yammering as she laid down suppression fire toward the closest buildings. I bailed out of the truck as soon as it slowed down enough, and raced for the rear door of the plane. I got the door open and moved up the stairs and into the plane as fast as I could move. I slid into the pilot's seat and started scanning the gauges. I started the port engine first. It turned over so slowly at first that I thought we were screwed, and then it caught with a cough and a roar.

Tammie slipped into the co-pilots seat and started strapping herself in. I got the starboard engine going just as all the other guns outside opened up. I could hear the people boarding the plane, and as each one entered, the volume of fire outside diminished slightly. Connie came forward and said that Deke was the last one, and that he was bringing the .50 with him. "Son of a bitch!" I said. "I forgot the goddamn tie down cables!" Carl yelled back 'I'll get them!" and dove out the still open rear door.

A moment later, Carl ran out in front of the plane with a half dozen changelings in hot pursuit. Carl looked back and gave me a thumbs-up as he ran, then stopped, turned around to face the pursuing Changelings and drew his revolver. He dropped the first 5, then calmly raised the gun to his head, put the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Tammie screamed at the sight, but it was a cry of rage, not squeamishness.

I jammed the throttles forward as someone belatedly closed and secured the back door, and the plane started to roll forward. I taxied the as fast as I dared to the closest runway, then pushed the throttles to the firewall. The old Gooney Bird rose from the runway as smooth as silk and we got the hell out of there.

The ancient DC3 handled like a dream. There was enough fuel to get us to the meadow that I was going to be using as an airstrip, but not much more than that. I made one pass to recheck the area, then put down as close to the trees as I dared. The landing was rough even by my standards, but we made it safely and with the plane intact.

When I shut down the engines, I could hear Tammie cursing in a low steady tone. I unstrapped myself and went back to see how the others had fared, leaving the teenager alone with her thoughts.

Everyone else seemed to have made it OK although they all were stunned at Carl's loss.

That night, a lot of firewood got chopped as those who had been on the raid vented their frustrations on the woodpile out back. Myself included.

"Carl saved us all by his actions." I announced at supper. "To honor his sacrifice, I hereby declare this community to be named Carltown."

That night as I sat with Melissa down by the creek, Vicki and Tammie came down to sit with us. It was a strange feeling having a family of sorts, and I wasn't sure how to handle it. I figured the best thing to do was to play it by ear and see how things developed.

The next problem was how to get fuel for the plane. Tammie was the one who came up with the solution that I should have thought of in the first place. "Why don't we just take a couple of the fuel trucks from the airport? They should hold enough fuel for the plane several times over." I could only nod in agreement. Damn it, I was going to get someone else killed if I didn't get my head out of my ass and start concentrating on the details.

This time only two people would go, one to drive each fuel truck. I figured that if the keys weren't in the trucks, I could hot-wire them easily enough. It wouldn't be the first time. Tammie was adamant about being the other person to go, and after the way she had handled herself on the last raid, I had no real reason not to take her. Besides, she knew where the fuel depot was and where the trucks would be.

The next morning bright and early, we left for the airport again on my motorcycle. I would have to abandon it there, but I could always find another one someplace.

Tammie directed me to the fuel depot and we got there without any problems. I left the bike sit where it was as she pointed out which trucks held gasoline and which ones held jet fuel. The first truck had the keys in the ignition and it started right up. I put Tammie in the driver's seat and ordered her to get going. The second one I had to hot-wire, and I was nervous about how long it was taking. Then I heard the horn of Tammie's truck start blaring in an attempt to draw the Changelings into following her, giving me the time I needed to get the truck started. At last the motor rumbled to life and I scooted up behind the wheel. I put the truck in gear and started moving just as the first Changeling appeared in front of me.

I stepped on the gas and ran right over it without slowing. As long as I kept the speed up enough, the Changelings wouldn't be able to climb aboard.

I roared through the gate, scattering a crowd of Changelings that Tammie had left far behind. I looked for her on the way back to the cabin, but saw no sign of her truck until I pulled up to the cabin.

Tammie and Melissa came running up as soon as I got out of the truck, both of them laughing and hugging me. "Good thinking with the horn" I told Tammie. "You most likely saved my ass back there." She blushed beet red, but grinned happily at the praise.

"We have a couple of pretty good daughters don't we?" Melissa said later that day. "And we just might be adding to them soon." "Huh?" was the most intelligent thing I could think of to say. "I'm a week late with my period." Melissa told me. "I think I'm pregnant." I sat down hard. "Well I'll be damned." Now this was something I hadn't expected and should have foreseen. "That's great Honey!" I told her. Melissa sat down in my lap smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

Tammie and Vicki were getting as thick as thieves lately, and I was keeping a wary eye on them, remembering all too well how much mischief a couple of teenagers could get into. Sure enough, they came to me with a hair-brained scheme.

"Michael," said Vicki. "We want to take some people out to scrounge again. There are plenty of places that we missed the last time." "Yeah dad," added Tammie. "We talked it over and figured out the best places to look." "Whoa there you two," I said, holding up my hand to still their protests. "Nobody is going anywhere for a little while yet." "But Michael," started Vicki. I shushed her. "There will be another scavenging run in a couple of weeks, and you two can lay out your ideas then. But until that time, everyone is staying put to help get the new buildings up so that everyone can have shelter this winter. The cabin is getting too damn crowded as it is." The girls grumbled, but didn't press the matter. I was suspicious that they had given up so easily and resolved to keep a closer eye on them.

The new cabins were going up quickly, especially now that we had the horses to help haul the logs from the surrounding forest to the building sites. There were few disciplinary problems, and the offenders were put to work digging the wells that would be needed to supply water for all the people, the one currently in use being woefully inadequate for the job. Even Tammie and Vicki wound up doing a few shifts in the wells for mouthing off at the wrong time. It was coming on mid fall now, and the snows would soon be coming. I knew that we had to lay in enough supplies for the winter, as we would likely be snowed in for months at a time.

"Ok you two devilettes," I told Vicki and Tammie, 'Where do you think we should be looking for supplies?" Vicki ran off to get the maps that they had prepared, and I called in everybody for another meeting. Vicki spread the maps on the table and stepped back to let Tammie do the talking.

"We know that old man Parkins hoarded all kinds of stuff before the Hellbug plague," she began. "We think that we can find quite a bit of food and other essentials at his place. There also ought to be a lot of stuff over at the Schmidt ranch. Neither place was visited in the last round of sweeps." Deke nodded in agreement. "Parkins was an old skinflint who was always ranting about the end of the world coming. He had all kinds of stuff over at his place in case someone dropped the bomb or something." He laughed, "The old buzzard must be laughing his ass off in hell right now about how he was right all along."

"All right," I said. "We'll make the run tomorrow. Everybody goes except for Melissa, Becky and the kids." "But I want to go along too!' protested Melissa. "I'm not that far along yet!" "You are starting to show, and that will slow you down." I told her.

"And if I take you along right now, I'll be worrying about you and our baby, and not concentrating on the job at hand. We can't afford that right now." She pouted a bit, but said no more.

She was as loving as ever that night, but I could tell that she was disappointed about being left out of the scavenging foray. I knew better than to try to bring up the subject while we lay together at the cave, and in turn, she did her best to let me know that she still loved me.

The scavenging trip went without incident. If there had been anyone intent on ambushing this party, they changed their minds when they saw all the guns and determined people. We left with three trucks and came back with seven, each of them loaded to capacity with all kinds of goodies. The girls had been right about old man Parkins. We found a bonanza at his place. Canned goods by the case, enough ammunition and guns to fight a medium sized war, and best of all, a huge assortment of medical supplies including antibiotics and surgical instruments.

From the Schmidt place we brought back two big farm trucks, one full of barrels of gasoline and fuel oils, and the other full of sheep.

Some of the other places we visited had already been stripped, and at least one of those had been emptied within the last day or so. I left notes at each place setting a place and time for a rendezvous in case anyone was inclined to join our community. But far enough away from the cabin that those with hostile intentions could be dealt with at a safe distance from home.

The notes had an effect, and a week later, I met with the Johnson crew. They were well equipped and eager to join the fight to retake Billings. They brought with them much needed building supplies, several trucks, and of all things, a WW2 surplus half-track complete with a huge-ass snowplow blade on the front.

Thus our numbers increased by 15 men and 17 women. There were about a dozen kids along with them, some of whom had been orphaned by the Hellbug or by the Changelings.

The extra manpower enabled us to complete the construction of the extra cabins in plenty of time before the snows hit. Pete Johnson had the brilliant idea, and the engineering know-how, to build a wooden aqueduct to bring water from the stream to a holding pond hastily dug a few dozen yards from the cabins. Thus ensuring a steady supply of water throughout the winter months.