Chapter 6: Shaman

Day 6

Outside the garage

Mike

I had just picked up and folded the last of the chairs when something flew past me and hit the wall. Turning, I saw a spear lying on the ground. I dropped to the ground and rolled, trying to get to the BAR leaning against the table and radio. I grabbed the weapon as I neared it and just avoided another spear. I looked around and saw a dozen figures darting in and out of the firelight.

I heard a noise and glanced over my shoulder as Nakita came out and I turned back to the danger just as two men stepped out. One raised his spear to throw, and I pressed the trigger down and four rounds hit the man. He flew backwards into the other man as I shouted to Nakita, "Back in the cave my love."

I noticed the other man was painted like the girls once had been. I fired at his feet. He started dancing where he was standing. Then I clipped one of the skulls hanging from his waist and he spun away into the darkness.

Gunfire erupted behind me as I scooted back to the cave and scrambled back to my feet.

"Come on, Mike," Walter said from behind me.

I turned and ran for the doorway. With my rifle empty, I turned and grabbed my web belt hanging near the door. Ejecting the rifle's clip, I fed a new one into the heavy World War Two weapon and stuck the barrel around the corner.

Walter was picking his shots carefully when several spears landed around him from above, before he could move. Mike's gunfire erupted behind him and he scrambled for the cave.

With both of them inside, Mike hit the 'lower' button, and the steel door descended and shut down as Walter grabbed a screwdriver and drove it into the wheel to lock it in place.

"Who the fuck are they?" I said.

"Shamen," Nikita said as she hugged me.

"They come to check on us, to see if we were taken," Katia added as she hugged Walter.

"Shit!" Walter said as he looked through the gun flap and fired the weapon.

"We should be able to wipe them out!" I said as I walked to a second gun flap.

"We probably could, in the daylight. But out there, they are hard to see," Walter replied and then continued, "Be right back. I am going to go close the shutters on my door. Keep an eye on yours."

"I will," I replied and fired at a figure I saw running out to grab one of the bodies. The round hit him in the leg and he went down screaming in pain so I put a second round in his head.

"That's Korko; you will like his wife, Siska. She is cute, and she has the most adorable daughter named Lena," Nikita said as she peeked out the other flap.

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I fired at what I thought was a leg, and a piece of driftwood blew apart.

"I think they have fallen back. We should get bodies," Katia said.

"Could be, but we are not opening this door," I said as I heard the rattling of a steel door shutting.

"What was that?" Katia asked.

"Walter just closed the steel door like this one, and what do you mean I will like his wife?" I said.

"You killed her mate, she becomes yours. It's the way of The People. Siska is a good cook. You will like her food when she gets done making it. She is also a weaver of the reeds so we will never need baskets," Katia replied as she saw movement along the wall and hissed out, "near your door, man there."

I turned and saw the man crawling towards my door and I put a round in front of his face. Sand sprayed up and hit him in the eyes and he rolled away pawing at them. A second round hit him in the chest and he flew back against the wall.

Katia smiled and looked over at me, "You killed Mongo. His wife will thank you."

"I didn't shoot him," I said as I looked for Walter.

Walter

I knelt outside my door, the BAR clutched firmly in my hand. At my feet was one of the combat shotguns loaded with birdshot. On my hips were the two 44s. Scanning around, I waited for the attack I knew was coming and I spotted it forming to my left. Six of the Cro-Magnons were slipping through the darkness. I turned and opened up with the BAR and emptied the clip into the group. As the last round was fired, I dropped it and picked up the shotgun and fired. I watched as the three unhurt turned and ran for the darkness.

Kneeling there, I heard what sounded like a boat pushing off and then the splash of ores. I waited a few more minutes and then went and checked the dead. The three I had hit with the BAR were dead, and I found two more in the darkness. I dragged the bodies to the fire and then stripped them of their weapons. On what looked like a shaman, I found an old three-barreled revolving flintlock pistol. Pocketing the ancient weapon, I dragged his sorry ass to the pile, and checked him for more weapons.

Mike came out and stood guard while I worked and when I dropped the last man on the pile I motioned him inside. The girls had taken the weapons as I found them and we had a collection of 8 spears with very large flint spearheads, twelve knives that the girls took and the pistol.

"Well what have we gotten ourselves into?" I said.

"Walter, we must go to my home. We must bring their families here or they will starve because no one will help them with their mates dead on the sacrifice," Katia said.

I looked at her, and nodded my head. I wouldn't let anyone starve if I could prevent it. "Do you know how to get there?" I asked.

"Yes, its four day travel on the big water," Nakita said.

"Up the coast, or down?" I asked.

"No. You don't understand. Four day travel out on the ocean, we live on island," Katia added.

"Guess we take the fishing boats," I said as I walked over to the knives and checked them. The glue was dry, so I went to the buffer.

"What do we do with the bodies? I sure as hell don't want to bury them," Mike said.

Standing the rifle against the bandsaw, I said, "We take them with us. Strap them down on the bows of the two boats."

"Ok, then I better get some tarps and wrap them in. I don't want to look at them," Mike said as I turned the buffer on. I started running the tooth back and forth on the buffer pad when Katia pushed me out of the way and took the knife. I stood there watching her and then she looked at me.

"Go help, Mike. We handle this," Katia ordered.

With a sigh, I went over to Mike and helped him lay out the six-foot tarps and we dropped a body on each.

"I think I have just been kicked out of my workshop," I said as we rolled the man up and bungee corded the tarp closed.

"I think it's the way they have been raised. The men hunt and fuck, while the women do everything else," Mike said as we rolled the shaman up after we dropped him on the new tarp.

We finished with the bodies, and then we carried them back to the cave and closed the door. We walked over and checked on how Katia was doing and she had the first hilt shining from the buffing while working on the second. Nakita had unwrapped three of the captured knives and had the leather lying out in front of her.

She picked up the first strand and started wrapping the hilt. She reached over and grabbed my hand and compared them, and then she started working again. I kissed both of them and went over to one of the refrigeration trailers, and opened the door. Going in, I grabbed a six-pack of coke and walked out. I opened the bottle and handed it to Nikita who looked at it in confusion.

"Like this," I said and opened one and took a sip.

She took a tentative sip and smiled as it flooded her mouth. She lifted the bottle and drank a quarter of it down.

"I like it. What is it?" she asked.

"It's called coke, we brought some with us," I said.

I opened a bottle for Katia. She shut down the buffer and I handed her the bottle.

She had watched her sister and followed her example. A frown came to her face and I knew she didn't like it, so I went back to the fridge and grabbed a Sprite. Carrying it over to her I said, "Try this. You may like it better."

She took the bottle, and opened it. Taking a sip, she smiled and started drinking it as I took her opened coke.

"Now we need to stock the coolers to take food with us. There are galleys onboard both boats, so we will be able to cook our food," I said.

Mike came up dragging two of the large plastic coolers and we loaded them with food and drink. Enough for eight days and then I got to thinking about the people we would be bringing back and I went and got four more. We loaded the food, covered it with ice and then stacked them into the cooler to keep them ready for morning.

Katia and I bade Mike and Nakita good night. We went to our bed, where we made slow love all night long.

Day 7; 4 am

Boat storage

Walter

I looked up at the first fishing boat as it slowly descended to the water. The coolers, our weapons and the bodies were stacked on the deck. Mike came up with two tackle boxes and a dozen poles just as the keel touched the water. The girls were behind him carrying a backpack of ammo, and a small bag each. They wouldn't let us know what was in the bag, and after the third time of trying to peek, I stopped.

I lowered the sling, until the straps hung loosely. I slid them forward so they were out of the way, and raised the sling back to the roof. The carousel rotated and the second boat was in position. I turned to Mike and helped him load the fishing gear, the food, and the bodies. He backed the boat up out of the way, and I lowered the second boat. We soon had it loaded, as well. We wrapped the bodies in larger tarps and tied them down to the bows.

I helped Katia onto the boat and then ran over to the shelf built into the wall. I pulled a dozen bumper floats and put six on each of the crafts. Mike waved to me as I walked to the door and sealed it. With our home shut tight, I walked back to my boat, and climbed aboard. I followed Mike out into the bay. As we cleared the entrance, I looked to the beach and saw the war canoe beached there, that they would never need again.

I sped up until I was alongside Mike and we turned towards the west and out past our sheltered cove. I couldn't figure out how they got the cruiser into the inlet, as it was too narrow to get past the island in the center of the bay. Shrugging my shoulders at it, I sped up a little and activated the echo finder.

We turned into the deeper swells and the boats lurched as we turned south, towards the ocean. I watched the sky for any rain to start forming.

I put the autopilot on when the fish finder pinged about thirty minutes later. I went back to the fishing gear and set up a line. I threw it out to the side of the boat and let it drift back. I watched the line and it jerked as something grabbed it. I snatched the pole up, fed the fish some line, and then jerked it. That set the hook deep into the fish's mouth I waited. The fish turned and jumped and I saw it was a large Blue Marlin. Katia stood beside me watching as I worked on the six-foot long fish and fought it for an hour. With my arms weary from the fight, I said, "Katia see that pole with the hook?"

"Yes," she said as she picked it up.

"I want you to go to the cleat. Tie the cord to the rail, lean over and hook the fish's side behind the gills," I said.