Chapter 16

Lodge, near Driggs 8:45 PM:

Mathew:

I grabbed my shotgun with my right hand, as my left grabbed Anastasia's arm as the door was pushed open. With a yank of my arm, she went stumbling into Regina who was pulling out her pistol. The shotgun came up and I fired as the barrel of a rifle pushed through the opening. The steel pellets ripped through the thin door and the gun was withdrawn as I snapped out, "Everyone down!"

Everyone started hitting the floor as an automatic rifle opened up from the other side. I heard a scream behind me and a crash as I worked my way to the door. Before I reached it, it was kicked open and two men stepped through. Before they could take one step into the room, they were ripped apart by pistol fire as everyone, who was armed in the room, fired.

The two men bounced off the walls, leaving a blood smear as they slid to the floor. I was up and running before anyone else came through the door. Hitting the door, I rolled in as gunfire ripped the wall apart above me. Coming to a stop behind the couch, I heard a clip hit the floor as another was slapped into the Kalashnikov. Standing up, I swung the shotgun around and fired the first round. As I jacked the chamber back, a second man came screaming into the room with his AK firing. The burst of steel shot hit the man in the upper chest and face and he went down hard.

Dropping behind the couch, I crawled towards the doorway past Sampson who lay on the floor breathing heavily. When I reached the doorway I heard voices from outside. Looking out, I saw three people running away. Dropping the shotgun, I grabbed the Marlin I had stashed behind the door and leveled it on the first man. Pulling the trigger, I didn't even watch as the bullet hit the man, for I was already tracking the second man as he scrambled through the deep snow. It was so easy; I gently squeezed the trigger and went looking for the third man.

"All right, you asshole, where are you?" I mumbled as I scanned the snow for the third man. I was still looking when a shot rang out from upstairs and a scream was heard. Turning the rifle, I saw an arm sticking out of the snow. It twitched a little, and then stopped moving, but I could hear whimpering.

Kneeling there, I watched and waited for anything to move outside. When nothing did, I stood the rifle up, picked up my shotgun and went out to check the bodies. Pointing the shotgun down at the first man, I saw he was clearly dead. I could see through the hole in the man's back. Rolling him over, I looked at the face and didn't recognize him. Walking to the second man, I didn't bother to stop because my round had hit the man in the neck and his head was barely attached. I walked over to third man and looked down at him.

"Get up, scum!" I said as I kicked the moaning man in the side.

The man rolled away from the kick, revealing that he was a boy of around fifteen years of age. He just lay there crying, his broken arm lying useless at his side.

The boy groaned and then screamed in agony as I stepped over to him and brought my foot down on the broken arm.

The boy started crying and sputtering in Russian.

I understood him and snarled out, "Get up now or I'll slit you from belly to throat and let the animals have you."

"Please, don't kill me. I don't want to die!" he cried out and grabbed my leg sobbing as he clutched me.

With disgust on my face, I lowered the shotgun and pressed it against the boy's left ear, "Let go of me you piece of shit!"

"No kill! Please no kill me!" he replied as he scrambled away.

"I should just kill you right now," I said as I raised the shotgun to my shoulder.

"MATHEW! Stop it! He's just a boy," Anastasia shouted as she ran past me and knelt beside the boy.

"Anastasia get out of the way. He and his friends just tried to kill us. Let me get this done, and I'll get rid of the bodies," I replied as I tried to step around her.

Ana stood up so she was in front of me, and snapped out in anger, as she stamped her right foot, "No! He is a boy! You stop this instant!"

"But!"

"Don't you but me. Go get rid of the bodies. I'll deal with him," she snapped and turned around.

"He needs to die! Otherwise..."

I hit the ground. How I got there, I didn't know, all I knew was my cheek hurt and Anastasia was jumping around and shaking her hand.

"OW! OW! Damn that hurts!" Anastasia said with tears in her eyes.

"What the fuck?" I said shaking my head.

Standing up, I rubbed my jaw and then reached out and pulled Ana to me.

"Why did you hit me? Let me see that," I asked as I checked her hand.

"You pork headed!" she replied.

I chuckled and said as I kissed her hand, "It's pigheaded. You ok?" I asked.

"It hurts. No laugh at me. Now go get rid of the bodies, I'll deal with boy," she said with a sniffle.

"Ok, I'll deal with the bodies first, then deal with the boy," I replied as the rest of the girls came out.

Seeing the sad look in their faces, I asked, "What's wrong?"

Judy started crying and ran into my arms while the others gathered around.

"Minnie is dead. So is Rod, Rod tackled the guy who came in the back as he was going to shoot Norman in the back ... they fought over the pistol, and it went off," CodieAnn said as she started crying.

I held my wives as they cried and then led them back to the house. Getting everyone situated in the living room, Norman and I went back outside and searched the bodies, and then loaded them on the sleds connected to the snowmobiles. We then drove out into the forest and stopped about two miles from the house and left them in a pile.

"Should we bury them?" Norman asked.

"Fuck no. Wolves have to eat, too," I said as I started to get on my snowmobile to go home.

"That's harsh," Norman replied.

I turned and looked at my wife's father and replied, "Sir, they brought this down on themselves. The way the world is now, I'm not wasting resources on their bodies when I have two loved ones at home to bury. So as far as I'm concerned, they can lie there and rot away. I won't lie in bed thinking of them at night, what I'll be doing is holding Judy while she cries herself to sleep thinking of her aunt and uncle."

Norman stopped and watched as I drove away and shivered at my coldness. He later told me he had to agree with part of what I said, but the rest made him realize that they were now living in a cold hard world since the collapse of all governments. Looking down at the pile of bodies, he shivered again, placed his rifle on his shoulder, and climbed onto his snowmobile. He started driving. He followed my tracks and came almost to a stop, by the barn. I pulled the door open for him while he was looking at the three Suburban's parked in the driveway, and then he drove into the barn and shut down his snowmobile.

Climbing off, Norman started to walk to the house when I called him.

"Mister Reese, I'm sorry if my way of life upsets you..."

Norman turned and looked at me, before replying, "You didn't. You are correct, the old way is gone. We have to conserve our resources for us. I just have to get used to it. I told you to call me Norman or Dad. When you say Mister Reese, I expect to see my dad come through the door. Now come on, let's go have a drink and get to bed. I'm sure tomorrow will be a busy day."

"Yeah, it will," I replied and we went inside.

As we closed the door, the snow started falling again. By midnight, a blizzard was racing through the mountains. They put Doc and Regina into two connecting bedrooms. Sampson was sleeping in our bedroom in a large crate recovering from his wound. The Saint Bernards were sleeping around the bed, or scattered through the house watching the doors. The prisoner was handcuffed to a bed and had his wounded arm taken care of by Doc. Doc said he would take the boy to his house to take care of in the morning. Seems Regina is infatuated with him, and the boy was the same with her.