Free Avenging Home by Angery American Page B

care of this,” Thad said.
    Wiping sweat from my face, I said, “I also have to close up the broken sliding glass door. Not to mention clean all the blood off my kitchen floor.”
    Thad smiled. “I’ll take care of that too. I’ll just get a door from one of the other houses around here. They’re pretty standard, and we should find one that will fit.”
    I left Thad with Mike and Ted to keep looking. We went over to my house where Sarge’s Hummer was waiting. Doc came out the door holding one end of a collapsible stretcher. Ian had the other end and Jamie was lying on it with her eyes closed, wrapped in a blanket. Aric was inside the truck and helped pull her inside. She winced a couple of times as it wasn’t the easiest thing to get her inside.
    Once she was in, Ian sat down beside her and wiped a couple loose strands of hair from her face. He smiled and said, “You’re going to be alright. You’ve got to come back so I can see what you look like in that dress.”
    Without opening her eyes, she replied, “Pshh, fat chance. Are you coming with me?”
    “You want me to?”
    “You need adult supervision. Someone needs to keep an eye on you.”
    Ian smiled again. “Alright. I’ll go so you can keep an eye on me.”
    I asked Aric where he was last night. I hadn’t seen him since the shooting began.
    He nodded at Ian. “I was with him. When the shooting started, we moved to flank the truck. Then the damn thing blew up. Almost killed us. A couple of guys got out of it and we shot their asses.”
    “Oh, ok. That was you guys shooting up there. We didn’t know who it was,” I said.
    “It was us alright. I just wish we had been down here to help deal with all these assholes,” Ian added.
    Looking around, he asked, “Where’s Perez?”
    Ian snorted. “Oh man, he’s sick. Got the shits real bad. You thought he was a pain in the ass before. Holy hell. He’s the biggest freaking baby I’ve ever seen.”
    “Is he alright?” I asked.
    Ian nodded. “Yeah. Doc checked on him. He’ll get over it.”
    “Tell him to suck it up,” Sarge said.
    “What was the explosion back there?” I asked, pointing to the rear of the neighborhood with my chin.
    “That was a couple trying to get out I think. They hit Dalton’s surprise. There’s pieces of them hanging in the trees back there,” Sarge replied.
    “Let’s get this on the road. We need to get Jamie to the clinic,” Doc said.
    Whispering, I asked, “How’s she doing, Doc?”
    “She’s alright, but might need surgery. That’s why I want to get her to the clinic. There’s only so much I can do here.”
    We loaded up. Doc sat in the back with Jamie and Ian took the turret. I drove and Sarge rode shotgun. We didn’t want to take too many people from the neighborhood. We didn’t know what these guys may try next. As I pulled around two bodies lying in the road next to the still-smoking truck, Sarge said, “Good work, Ian.”
    This truck was like the others, an MRAP. I shook my head, thinking back to the days in the Before when people would look at you like you were crazy for being upset that the DHS was acquiring such equipment. But I have to admit, even I didn’t foresee this.
    I pushed the speed on the old truck, not wanting to waste time getting Jamie to the clinic. It was odd seeing the market in Altoona busy with people trading. They surely had heard the shooting last night. Maybe they didn’t care. Not that I expected anything from them. After all, they had more pressing issues, like feeding themselves and their families.
    As we came into Umatilla, I noticed the old Kangaroo there was busy as well. I briefly saw a sign that said milk. It intrigued me, and I made a mental note to stop by on the way back. As we passed the old Golden Gem plant, I hoped we’d be able to get the turbine running. And I really hoped these engineers knew something about it. The car barricade was opened as we approached, and I was able to pass straight through. Pulling up