User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
NY, USA
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Posted: 11/9/2007 4:52:38 PM EDT
[#1]
ive been wating for u to add more and your still doing a great job. thanks for the good writing and am looking for more. keep up the good work
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Posted: 11/9/2007 8:56:23 PM EDT
[#2]
Thank you. I'm glad its not over. |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 11/28/2007 1:51:01 PM EDT
[#3]
thanks, I've been kind of busy just lately |
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MO, USA
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Posted: 12/1/2007 11:14:26 PM EDT
[#4]
Yet agai another great chapter, unexpected, but great.
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Posted: 12/2/2007 7:05:12 PM EDT
[#5]
Good story. My only suggestion is separating the paragraphs better.
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 12/8/2007 9:49:07 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Seadra_tha_Guineapig]
[#6]
Chapter 19 Dana was at the Saturday market. It was held every week in the courthouse square and was as much a social gathering as it was a place to make deals and sell goods. Dana was there to sell this particular day. As partner in a farming operation in Dewey she had received a dividend of 500# of milled flour. This had been the second harvest that she had benefitted from. The deal was that she had supplied and maintained the irrigation equipment and also helped out during the harvest. The owner of the land did day to day crop management and Olsen grain company supplied the seed and milled the finished product. She’d already traded 300# of the flour for 150 gallons of gasoline the week before and was looking to sell the remaining 200# at 5# for a dollar in silver or for any other negotiable goods. So far she’d raised $15 and had a deal pending for a cord of firewood. August was a good time to buy firewood and she would need it for the coming winter. It was a hot day and Dana was in the mood for a cold drink. She left her pile of bagged flour under the awning she’s erected for shade and walked over to the stand that was selling cold lemonade. A glass of lemonade was 25c and there was a 25c deposit on the cup. No-one made disposable styrafoam cups anymore so drink vendors charged a deposit and you got your drink in a real glass. After you were done you returned the glass and you got your deposit back. This was a new concept to Dana and also a lot of the younger members of the population. There was much less waste in the new world, goods were not overly packaged, people grew a lot of their own food and hogs or chickens ate any food scraps. The town didn’t have a garbage collection service because there was virtually no garbage to collect. The proprietor of the lemonade stand was a 12 year old girl. Like everyone else in town Dana had seen her around, but didn’t really know her. Since the stand was named “Claire’s lemonade” Dana figured this must be Claire. Dana took a sip of the drink “this is good lemonade Claire, where did you get the lemons from?” “I picked them down in Phoenix, there’s a bunch or lemon and orange groves down there if you know where to look. My family went down to pick up some other supplies and these looked too good to pass up.” “Did you have any problems with the bandits at Crown King on the way there or back?” Dana asked. “No, we travelled at night with our lights turned off on that stretch of the road. My dad has a pair of night vision glasses and they work really well. So no-one even saw us. You’re the deputy sheriff aren’t you? My dad was part of the citizens militia that raided the Crown King camp with you and sheriff O’Neil a couple of years back. He said you were a stone killer. Said you kept on fighting even after you got shot.” Dana involuntarily moved her hand to cover the area on her left forearm where the bullet had grazed her. It had been a superficial wound but it had bled a lot and left a long ugly looking scar. Dana was self conscious about it and as a result always wore long sleeved shirts. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear” Dana replied in a friendly voice and with a smile she left to go back to her flour pile, taking the cup with her. Dana was enjoying the day and watching people go by, most acknowledged her with either a wave or greeting of some sort. A man in his mid 30s was making his way over to her, visiting each stall in turn. He looked like he was trading apples and had made quite a few deals on the way. Dana didn’t recognize him at first, but she felt sure she’d seen him somewhere before. He stretched out his hand to shake, “Jack Warner, ma’am”. Dana shook his hand “Dana Sczupak” she replied. “I’m trading apples from my orchard out in Spring Valley, they’re full of goodness and are a little on the tart side. They’re great for eating either as they are or in pies. You can make them into apple sauce or chutney and they’ll keep canned for over the winter. I have a jar of chutney I made from last years crop if you’d like to try a sample bite.” Dana liked Jack’s pitch and took the sample of chutney on a spoon from the jar. “Yeah, this is really good, do I get the recipe for the chutney if I buy the apples?” Jack shook his head yes. “So what kind of deal are we looking at here?” Dana asked. “How about 20# of apples for 20# of flour?” Jack replied. Dana thought it over and agreed, shaking her head yes. “Hey you look hot out there, why don’t you come sit in the shade a while” Dana asked Jack. “Thanks, don’t mind if I do. I don’t get into Prescott much except to do some trading, it’s nice to see so many people around, gives you hope for the future. I lived the first winter up in Durango where I’d worked at the phone company. The cold killed off just about everyone that the sickness didn’t.” “Is that when you moved down here?” Dana inquired. “No first off I travelled around with a school teacher woman I met in Durango but there was nothing between us and she decided to stay in Santa Fe with a group that lives there. They were into that communal living back then but I figure by now they’ve probably wised up by now” he said winking at her. “Yeah that whole to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities thing only works until the producers realize they’re getting screwed by the leaches” Dana replied. “Then I drifted down to Albuqueque and stayed there for a while but there was really nothing going on there at the time. I hooked up with a couple of other drifters and we went down in to Mexico for the next winter, spent time on a fishing boat out in the gulf as well. Things were picking up down there for a while and then people started getting sick. They blamed me and the other guys I was with. We were lucky to get out with our lives. After that I headed north and found myself here”. “So, Jack, what’s happening in Spring Valley?” “It’s a nice place to grow apples, I’ve also got a stand of pear trees that should give me a crop next year. I grow all my own vegetables and the hunting is good for game as well. We don’t have mains electricity out there yet so I use a combination of solar and propane to generate my own. There’s currently 25 families in the area and a couple of single men and women living with the families. I have an old guy living with me and he helps out in the orchard in return for his board and lodging. So how about you Dana?” “My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15 year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet.” Jack laughed reckognizing the line from "Austin Powers, international man of mistery", “Yeah that was a funny movie, so what’s the real story?” Dana gave him the condensed version of her life story since the sickness, leaving out all the violent parts and focusing more on the positive aspects of her life and community work. She sensed there was more to this conversation on both sides than just idle chit chat. “So what else do you like to do on a Saturday apart from selling flour?” Jack asked in a leading way. “I like to go have lunch with charming gentlemen, unfortunately I don’t get to do it very often but I think my luck as changed today. Later on this afternoon I’ve got a bridal shower to go to, one of my girlfriends is getting married next month and tonight I’m working with sheriff O’Neil.” “You should take an apple pie or two to the bridal shower, nothing says bridal shower like an apple pie” said Jack in a joking kind of way. “How about you bake the pies while I make us lunch, I baked some bread earlier this morning and I have some nice cheese that’ll go with your chutney. Simple kind of fare but tasty none the less.” “That sounds great, I was going to go get a beer over at the Palace but this is too good an offer to refuse.” Jack said very enthusiastically. They packed up Dana’s stall and loaded everything into her wheel barrow. They walked together and Jack pushed the barrow the 2 blocks to Dana’s house. It had certainly been easier packing up than it had been setting up. She wished they didn’t have the barrow so she could have held his hand while they walked. She felt totally at ease with him and could tell he felt the same way about her. Back at her house Jack got to work preparing the apples for 2 pies, whilst Dana made a quick pastry crust to go along with it. The pies were put in the oven to bake and Jack and Dana went outside to eat lunch. The oven heated up the kitchen pretty quickly and whilst Dana had air-conditioning in the house she didn’t think it worth turning it on plus she had a large pinon pine tree in the back yard that gave plenty of shade. She threw a blanket on the ground underneath it and transferred some beers from the fridge into a cooler to complete the picnic atmosphere. They sat under the pine tree and ate in a comfortable silence. “I never really saw my life turning out like this, but there is absolutely no way I’d ever trade it for what I had. I mean sure I miss my wife and all and we were planning a family, but it seamed like we were always too busy to actually get round to doing it. We were both working long hours for stuff that really we didn’t need. The sickness pushed a big reset button on society and now it seams like people value each other a lot more now instead of just taking each other for granted. People are so much more pleasant to each other, when you meet someone you give them the time of day and it seems like you kind of know everyone.” Dana didn’t entirely share Jack’s rose tinted view of the new world, she’d seen too much of its bad side. He was right that the good people who were left valued each other but there were a lot of people out there that would kill you for the contents of your pockets. “I was still pretty much a kid when it happened, I hadn’t thought about what I was going to do. I was signed up at ASU to do business studies. I wanted, want a family but hadn’t thought about it much. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently, my girlfriend Marisol, that does the TV news show, has had 3 kids in the last 5 years and I love babysitting them. I agree with you about people valuing each other, but there’s also a lot of bad people out there and I’ve seen too many of them. Maybe working with the sheriff has left me a little jaded or maybe I was insulated from the bad parts of the old world.” “No you’re right there are bad people out there, but they’re out there. Here in this community it’s like I described it. I’ve never felt so much at home anywhere as I do here.” Jack opined. A beeping sound from the kitchen told them the pies were cooked and they went into the kitchen. Dana took the pies out of the oven to let them cool. They looked and smelt delicious, “I might have to lie and claim I made these myself. If I let on a tall, handsome, charming man cooked them the women will be beating a path to your door.” “Oh you needn’t worry about that, I doubt any of them are as fun to be with as you are”. Jack returned the compliment. Dana looked at the clock on the range, “Oh crap, I’ve got to get ready for the shower” she said. “I’ll scrub your back for you if you want” Jack quipped. “Jack!” she exclaimed in a coy manner pretending to be slightly offended “You know I meant the bridal shower” and they both laughed easily. “Well I guess I’d better go, do you want to come over to my place sometime and I’ll show you around the orchards. And you can try some of my cider?” asked Jack. “Yeah that sounds great, can I call you tomorrow and we can chat some more?” replied Dana. “Sure, my phone number is JACKW”. Dana woke up to her phone ringing, she looked at the alarm clock and it said 10:30am. The bridal shower had been a fun event, but she had spent the whole time practicing signing Dana Warner on her napkin and planning on what to wear on her visit to Jack’s place. The Saturday night shift with sheriff O’Neil had been quiet and she had gotten to bed around 4:00am. She walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone “Hello?” “Dana it’s John O’Neil, listen kid we’ve got big problems, the settlement at Arcosanti was attacked yesterday, there were only 2 survivors. And one of them doesn’t look like he’s going to make it. Listen we’ve got to get out there and find out what happened, I’m pretty sure it’s those lowlifes at Crown King that are behind this, so get your stuff together and I’ll pick you up in 15. OK?” “Yeah OK John, I’ll see you in 15 minutes” Dana hung up the phone. Shit, I’d wanted to do laundry and then go hang with Jack she thought. Dana made herself a large sandwich and then quickly washed the sleep out of her eyes and got dressed. She judged by the tone of John O’Neil’s voice that today was a day for doing rather than thinking so she pulled on her desert camo pants, boots and T-shirt. She also put on her webbing harness and packed 6 extra mags for her M4 and 3 for her Hi-Power. John rolled up outside and she grabbed lunch and her canteen on the way out of the door. “Dana, you know what we’re going to find all over the place at Arcosanti, don’t you? You know I never really liked those hippies and I was sure the colony was going to fail, but goddamit they had every right to live their lives as they see fit. I’m 99% sure it was those MZBs at Crown King that are responsible for this and we’re going to have to go sort that area out again”. Shit, Dana thought, I really don’t need this. First time I find a guy who really could be the one and I’ve got to deal with this. John filled her in on the details. According to the survivors the attack had happened late Friday night. The attackers had come in 4 trucks and the hippies had welcomed them inside their compound. Once inside the compound one of the trucks had opened up with a heavy machine gun and killed most of the men folk who had come out to welcome them. Then the other occupants of the trucks had spread out and killed the rest of the colony members. After this they had ransacked the place and taken everything of value. The 2 survivors who were a teen age boy and girl had escaped by hiding in an attic. After waiting a whole day they had walked 5 miles to Cordes Junction to summon the sheriff. The teenage boy had lost a lot of blood and if not for blood transfusions from Cordes Junction residents he would have been dead. John and Dana pulled up outside the general store in Cordes Junction and went insde. “Morning Meg” John said to the proprietor of the store, “Where are the kids?” Meg gestured to the back room and John and Dana went in. Liz Wozniak was already there and attending to Skylar, the boy, who had lost a lot of blood. Sunshine, the girl, was sitting in the corner of the room sobbing to herself and rocking backwards and forwards staring blankly into space. “OK the female’s catatonic and the male’s week but coherent. He took a bullet to the upper leg and it fractured his femur. He’ll be fine with some more blood and plenty of rest. I don’t know about her, I’m not a psychiatrist so she might just be in shock, probably suffer some PTSD, but then who isn’t these days.” Liz’s assessment had been cold and professional. It was the only way she could cope with situations like this. “Thanks Liz, is it OK if we ask Skylar some questions?” asked John. “Sure, just take it easy OK?” Liz replied. John talked to Skylar and heard the same story he’d heard earlier on. Skylark was pretty sure there was no-one left alive at the colony. John figured it was time to go and check it out. He walked back into the store “Meg, are your boys around? Me and Dana might need some back up going out to Arcosanti.” “Sure sheriff, do you want them armed?” Meg replied. John shook his head yes. Dana had sat down beside Sunshine and was trying to comfort her. Liz had been all business and was attending to Skylar’s wounds. Liz knew that mental wounds could be more damaging than physical ones but she just wasn’t equipped to deal with them. Dana held Sunshine and told her everything was OK, she was going to be looked after and the rest of the colony had gone on to a better place. Sunshine just continued sobbing and rocking back and forth on her heals. Dana got up and went back into the store “Shit, Meg you’d better see what you can do for her. Maybe she just needs to cry it out for a while?” “OK Dana, the sheriff and my boys are out front, you’d all best better go on up to Arcosanti and see what’s left of it” Meg replied. They stopped about 100 yards short of the gate to Arcosanti. John and Dana got out of their truck and Stewie and Chris got out of theirs. The 4 pow-wowed and it was decided Chris and Dana would go round the back whilst John and Stewie entered the front. Chris had an AR15 but only 2 mags, so Dana gave him 2 of hers. She wasn’t anticipating having to fire it but better safe than sorry. They swept the rear of the compound and found 13 bodies, all of them dead from gun shot wounds. John and Stewie had found another 11 which accounted for all of the outstanding residents. Stewie looked around at the carnage and spat out a wad of chewing tobacco juice, “Shit, it don’t look like they even fired off a round in defense, must have really caught them unawares to do that.” Chris shook his head in agreement with his brother’s assessment. John handed Dana a cartridge case, she knew what it was, Turkish 8mm mauser. “Do you boys have a backhoe or something similar around these parts? We need to give these folks a burial, since they all lived together I guess they won’t mind being buried together. And Stewie, the reason they never got off a shot is because they believed in love and peace and didn’t own any weapons.” John said. |
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NY, USA
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Posted: 12/9/2007 7:55:38 PM EDT
[#7]
sweet, thanks for the new chapter, good as always keep up the godwork.
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Posted: 12/10/2007 8:25:35 AM EDT
[#8]
+1 |
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Posted: 12/10/2007 10:04:18 AM EDT
[#9]
Thanks!
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Posted: 12/11/2007 5:03:59 PM EDT
[#10]
thanks
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MO, USA
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Posted: 12/11/2007 9:00:57 PM EDT
[#11]
That chapter was f'ing great, keep up the good work! Merry Christmas!
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NY, USA
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Posted: 12/12/2007 11:36:58 PM EDT
[#12]
Good job so far!! Keep it coming
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 2/26/2008 6:29:03 PM EDT
[#13]
Chapter 20 The sight of al the dead bodies was making Dana’s stomach turn. She was no stranger to death and had killed more than her fair share of people. However all the people she’d killed had needed killing. As far as she could tell, none of these people had needed killing. John sat himself down beside her, “How you feeling kid?” he asked. “I just don’t get it John, why would someone do this. I mean these guys just rolled over, they put up no resistance, right, so why kill them all? The bad guys could have just come back in a few months and hit them again for, like, a regular pay check.” John didn’t understand it either. He could understand the attacks on traffic passing by the Crown King settlement, the MZBs were just hitting targets of opportunity there. But this was different. This time they had travelled 30 miles north and specifically sort out a community. They probably knew the community was unarmed and would offer no resistance yet they rolled in like the Japanese through Nanking. “It’s almost like they were sending out a message, leave us be or this could be you.” Dana continued. John thought this over, the implications of it were pretty frightening . They had all worked hard to rebuild Northern Arizona, John’s family had been some of the original pioneers that had settled it in the 1870s and he had grown up hearing the stories re-told by older relatives of those times. Most people thought he was related to Bucky O’Neil the Arizona pioneer who had been the sheriff of Yavapai county in the 1890s. Bucky O’Neil had been killed charging San Juan hill with Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish American war in 1898. John had tired of telling people the surname was just a coincidence and just let people think what they wanted. John had inherited the sheriff job after he led a posse of citizens that ran off a band of looters in the first winter after the sickness. “John, I can’t do this. I can’t be here when you shove all these men, women and children into a hole. Look, I want to have something like a normal life with a husband and a family and I just don’t think I can if I have this all this shit hanging over me.” John looked at her, he had known her for a couple of years and she was a ballsy girl, not afraid of anything.”OK honey, you beat it out of here and we’ll take care of things”. Dana looked at him and thought she saw a tear welling up in his eye. John grabbed her and hugged her close. He’d never done this before and it was in a completely non-sexual way. “I’ll take care of it all” he whispered to her, she wasn’t sure but it seemed like he was almost crying. Dana drove John’s police cruiser back to the Cordes Junction general store and parked outside it. It was a little un-orthodox as a police cruiser, having started out as a 2006 Mustang GT. John had added a light bar and sirens too and it was more like a highway patrol vehicle than a rural police car. John also had a F250 for the heavy duty work but he liked to drive the Mustang for fun. She went inside and acknowledged Meg. “I need to use the phone, is it OK?” she asked. Meg nodded yes. She dialed JACKW and the phone rang on the other end. Jack picked up “Spring Valley orchards, this is Jack”. “Jack, this is Dana. Listen I’m at Cordes Junction and I really need someone with broad shoulders that I can cry upon, and I’m talking about wet snotty tears. I need someone who’s not going to ask me why, but just trust me that this is something I need to do”. Dana woke up the next morning feeling a little rough around the edges. She was still in her clothes from the day before and was in Jack’s spare bedroom. She had spent the night at Jacks and they had gone through quite a bit of his liquor last night. She couldn’t remember how much she had told him about the previous days events but somehow she felt more at ease about the situation. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of bed and put her boots on. She figured the noise in the house was Jack moving around and so she went out to see what was going on. Jack was in the kitchen pouring water into a coffee maker, he looked at her and smiled. God, he’s got such a wonderful smile she thought, what did I do to deserve him? “Hey, how are you feeling this morning?” he asked. Dana kind of shrugged her shoulders in a non-committal way. She felt like shit, a combination of the events she’d witnessed the day before and a hangover, but none of those were Jack’s fault. “The hens have been good to us today and I squeezed you some fresh grapefruit. How about you go sit out on the patio and I’ll bring you some breakfast?” Dana smiled at him and went out on to the patio. The patio was raised up about 4 feet from the ground. Jack’s house was a double wide trailer that was set partly into the hillside, and the patio was off the back of the house over looking the orchards in the valley below. The orchards looked to be apple, pear and apricots, the apricots were probably the ones that had made the brandy that was giving her the slight hangover. Jack came out with a skillet of scrambled eggs, ham, fried peppers and fried potatoes. “Man food, sorry but it’s all I’ve got. Here try some of my tomato chutney with it as well.” Dana tried the tomato chutney with the eggs, it was really good. He handed her a mug of steaming liquid, “English tea with milk, I save it for special occasions” he said. Dana blew on the mug to cool the liquid, “Wow this is really nice, where did you get this from?” “My folks came from the UK in the 1960s, this was the one thing they really missed. Every time we went back to visit family they’d stock up on tea and I kind of developed a taste for it. luckily places over here started selling it as well”. “So are you going to quit the deputy job, you seemed pretty adamant about it last night?” John asked her. Dana paused mid bite, the hot breakfast and the tea had made her feel a whole lot more human again, she swallowed. “Yes I’m done with it. I can’t keep on witnessing things like I saw yesterday. I’ll give John a chance to find a replacement for me before I do, but I’m out of this game. I’m going to stick to being a plumber”. “How about a career change?” Jack asked her. “To what?” She replied. “Homemaker, mother, arborist. This place is doing good and I have had a decent crop with surplus these last 2 years. I was just thinking maybe we could raise a different crop” he said gently squeezing her hand. Dana flushed slightly, this was exactly what she wanted. “This is all a little bit sudden Jack, I mean we haven’t known each other very long. Don’t get me wrong I love you, I just want to make sure that this is the right time for us.” “I understand that Dana, I love you to. I’ve seen a little more of the world and I’ve had a lot of relationships before and as such I know the real thing when I see it and you’re it. It’s fine if you want to take your time.” “I need to take a shower and freshen up, you should take one too” she said. Dana walked out to the cruiser and retrieved her pack with a clean set of clothes. It had been a long time since she’d slept with a man but felt that the time and person were right. As she came back into the kitchen she saw Jack was on the phone with someone, he looked over at Dana. “Yeah, she’s here, yeah sure OK. Dana, it’s John O’Niel.” FUCK she thought as she took the phone from Jack, tenderly stroking his hand as she did so. “Hey John, how did you find me here?” she said in a jokey kind of way. “Meg told me, listen kiddo, how far are you from highway 69 and the freeway?” John replied. Dana could tell from the urgent tone in his voice that whatever was coming was not going to be good news. “I’m about 10 minutes west of it, why?” she replied. “There was a robbery at Goodwin’s pharmacy about 20 minutes ago, 2 crazies came in and took a bunch of drugs. They shot Goodwin’s daughter but she’ll be OK. Any way they took off down fain road in an older black ford full size truck. We ried to stop them with a road block at Glasford hill but they crashed through it. A citizen radioed in they took 69 east and are headed towards you, if I was a betting man I’d say they’re part of the crew that hit Arcosanti yesterday and they’re headed for Crown King to share the wealth. I need you to stop them by whatever means you can. Get under way and we’ll update you on where they are.” “Roger that” Dana replied in an unenthusiastic manner. “I gotta go Jack” she said. “I’m coming with you” he replied reaching into a closet for his FAL and a chest harness of spare mags. They both hurried out to the cruiser, Dana started the engine and let it warm whilst she put on her webbing harness. “I’ll drive” she said and Jack took shotgun. She slid in behind the wheel, blipping the throttle she threw the transmission into reverse and let out the clutch. Pulling onto the spring valley main road she accelerated up to 40 mph shifting smoothly from 1st through 2nd and into 3rd. It was a mile to highway 69 and she took it easy, letting the big ford V8 warm up. Downshifting into 2nd and checking both ways she ran the stop sign and entered highway 69. As she exited the turn she punched the throttle, the inside wheel chirped then the locking diff locked and the rear end slewed to the right. Dana counter steered to correct it and soon both rear tires bit launching the car forward real hard. Dana shotgun shifted into 3rd as she hit the rev limiter and the car surged forward again. Jack looked at the speedo, it was showing 115mph as she shifted into 4th. He gripped the grab handle on the dashboard. Dana looked over at him and said “You better strap yourself in Jack, don’t want to be a widow before we get married”. Jack couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, he sincerely hoped she was. They approached Mayer pulling almost 140mph, Dana hit the siren and light bar and down shifted into 3rd as she dabbed the brakes. The car drifted slightly as they negotiated the left turn that was signposted 50mph. the drift scrubbed off more speed and Dana could see main street Mayer was deserted. She accelerated up the hill out of Mayer and shifted back into 4th. The radio crackled “Dewey station calling Yavapai SO”, “That’s us Jack” Dana shouted over the roar of the engine. Jack keyed the mike and replied “Yavapia SO, come in”. “Yavapai SO, suspects just passed through highway 169 intersection at high speed” “Roger that” jack replied. Without warning Dana flicked the steering wheel slight left and the right and the Ford negotiated a gap in the median to run on the east bound lanes. “Dana, we’re on the wrong side of the fucking road” Jack yelled over the noise of the engine. “I know” she replied. Jack looked at the speedo, it registered a little over 120mph. Jack looked straight ahead, he could see the target vehicle, it was about a mile ahead. Jack looked over at her again, she was concentrating hard on the closing gap between her and the truck. “Don’t worry Jack, they always blink”. In the truck the woman driving saw Dana approaching. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Dana set the car so it was straddling the white line of the road and the gap between the 2 vehicles closed at almost 200 mph. at the last second the woman in the truck blinked and swerved to the shoulder. Jack could see the 2 people in the truck, they looked little more than skeletons. Dana hit the brakes as hard as she could, blipping the throttle and down shifting into 3rd and then 2nd. She could feel the brake pedal pulsing as the anti-lock brakes kicked in. when the vehicle had slowed down to about 20 mph she dipped the clutch, swung the wheel left and yanked the handbrake on momentarily. The back and of the ford swung around 180 degrees and pointed the right way down highway 69. Are soon as it started it’s turn she let the handbrake go and dropped the clutch, simultaneously punching the throttle. The car lurched forward again and she accelerated hard after the truck. Jack was busy catching his breath and looked forward to see the man in the truck leaning out of the back window with a shotgun. He rolled down the window of the ford and stuck his FAL out of it. Dana saw this and moved the car over so he could get a better shot matching her speed to the truck and trailing it by about 100 yards. A few pellets of birdshot hit the ford and Jack opened up with the FAL. It looked like he was hitting the truck when it suddenly lurched right and dropped into the drainage ditch by the side of the road. Dana hit the brakes again and brought the car to a stop about 25 yards from the truck. The truck was enveloped in a huge cloud of dust. Dana got out of the car as soon as she could and took cover behind the left front fender of the ford. The engine block would provide real cover if needed. Jack came round the back of the car and knelt down beside her. His heart was racing and he could hardly breath. “Jack slow down, you’re going to hyper ventilate.” Jack breathed into his clenched fist and it helped. “There’s a good chance they didn’t survive that or at best are pretty messed up” she said. “Holy shit Dana, I thought we were fucking dead back there. I didn’t think they were going to swerve”. “They always swerve Jack, even meth head MZBs don’t want to die”. The dust was beginning to clear. Dana could see into the truck, it looked like some movement from the male passenger. “I’ll take the passenger side, you go for the driver”, Jack looked at her quizzically, “Men are slow to shoot a woman, it’ll give me an edge if I need it. I strongly suspect the driver’s neck is broken and she’s dead by the looks of things”. This made sense and the slowly approached the truck guns at high ready. Dana rounded the passenger side and the man saw her. He had a sucking chest wound, Jack must have hit him as he was turned sideways. He was barely conscious but made a move for a weapon. Dana shot him through the window with her M4, the shot hit him breaking his right forearm. “It’s over buddy, I don’t think you’re going to make it. Your woman’s already gone. Have you got a benediction for me, save your soul get it off your chest.” The man looked at her through sunken hollow eyes. He paused for a moment, swallowing hard a couple of times. “We didn’t kill them all, there were some women taken back to the Crown King settlement.” The man paused, obviously the shock was wearing off and he was starting to feel the pain. He winced as he continued “I know I did some bad things but I’m not a bad person. Can you find it in your heart to pray for me?” Dana backed away from the man and raised her M4, shooting him twice in the head. “No I guess I can’t” she dead panned. Jack looked at her and gulped. “I guess you put him out of his misery”. “Yeah I guess I did” she replied. Dana came round to the drivers side and Jack opened the drivers door. The woman was dead, she had an exit wound on her shoulder, Jack leaned in and pulled her out. She had hit something in the impact of the crash and it had broken her neck. Jack set her on the ground by the side of the truck, she didn’t feel like she weighed more than 90lbs and looked as ravaged as the man had. “Boy, meth’s a hell of a drug” he commented. There was a tote bag in the passenger foot well, he retrieved it and handed it to Dana. It was the haul from the Goodwin’s pharmacy heist. She put it in the back of the truck. As she did she could hear a siren in the distance. |
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IA, USA
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Posted: 2/26/2008 8:43:19 PM EDT
[#14]
Wow, lots of action in that chapter.
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Posted: 2/26/2008 9:54:22 PM EDT
[#15]
 Great chapter!
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Posted: 2/27/2008 9:23:48 AM EDT
[#16]
Daaaaaaaammmmmnnnnn!
With chapters like that, I'll wait for the next one without crying. |
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Posted: 2/27/2008 10:29:09 AM EDT
[#17]
No shit! Thanks!! |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 2/27/2008 2:23:37 PM EDT
[#18]
yeah sorry it took so long, I got stuck in Tampa on business yesterday and felt like expressing my anger in a constructive way.
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OK, USA
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Posted: 2/27/2008 6:13:01 PM EDT
[#19]
good stuff
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MO, USA
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Posted: 2/28/2008 11:00:06 AM EDT
[#20]
Well worth the wait, let's now see the good guys mount a rescue mission!!!
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WY, USA
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Posted: 2/28/2008 1:11:19 PM EDT
[#21]
Out-freaking-standing!!!
WDS |
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Posted: 2/28/2008 1:30:28 PM EDT
[#22]
VERY nice!
Cant wait for the next chapter!!! |
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Posted: 2/28/2008 1:37:09 PM EDT
[#23]
OST for later
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CO, USA
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Posted: 2/29/2008 2:29:42 AM EDT
[#24]
I only wish the formatting of the text and spelling was better.
Waiting for more. |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 2/29/2008 9:03:49 AM EDT
[#25]
yeah, it looks good when i write it in MS word and I use the larger font here so it's not just a block of text. I just wish there was some way for it to be double spaced here on arfcom. 
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 2/29/2008 6:29:51 PM EDT
[#26]
Chapter 21 Sheriff O’Niel saw the scene ahead as his truck crested the hill on highway 69. Ahead was his cruiser parked diagonally across both lanes of the east bound carriageway. Ahead of it in the ditch was a black ford F150. He saw Dana and Jack pulling the passenger out of the truck. Sheriff O’Niel pulled up just behind the Mustang and got out of his truck, heading towards Dana. “Great work Dana, do I need to call Liz Wozniak to administer aid?” John said enthusiastically. Dana shook her head no, “They didn’t make it John. Before the guy expired he told me they took a couple of women from Arcosanti back to Crown King with them. Also the stuff they took from Goodwin’s is in the back of the truck. I sure hope it was worth it”. John thought about what she had just told him, “Well there’s not much we can do about that right now. Last time we went in there they didn’t have much stomach for a fight, and even then we were lucky we didn’t lose anyone. That’s going to require some serious resources and planning.” John went to the back of the truck and retrieved the tote bag with the drugs in it. He took the tote back to his truck and was on the radio with someone for a while. When he was done he came back over to the wrecked truck. “What do we do with them?” Jack asked, gesturing to the 2 dead MZBs. John responded “Put them in the back of my truck and I’ll see that they’re buried. Dana, I want Marisol to come out and do an on-scene interview with you about the apprehension you just made. I think it’s important that we get the word out to the citizens that we’re being pro-active about the Crown King MZBs. The Arcosanti story has got a lot of people spooked and this new angle to it won’t help matters none. I want to quell peoples fears, I think this is going to be a great way to do this”. “No I don’t think so John, in fact this is probably where I should tell you that I can’t do this anymore and you need to find a new deputy”. Dana responded. “John this job is turning me into something I don’t want to be and I can’t do it anymore.” John was not expecting this and it really threw a wrench into his plans. He looked at Jack, hoping for some kind of support. “Hey don’t fucking look at me to back you up, 15 minutes ago I was certain we were going to die when she played chicken with those MZBs. When we found them in the truck, the woman was dead and she shot the guy twice in the head to finish him off! I mean I’m all for pulling my civic duty and all and these two were pieces of shit, but I got to draw the line somewhere” John looked at Dana and she shrugged her shoulders, “The guy was at death’s door, I just opened it for him”. Satisfied with this explanation John nodded his head in agreement adding “Maybe next time spend a little more time interrogating prisoners first”. Jack was a little taken aback, it seamed that wasting injured suspects was SOP. “So what, that’s OK with you? I thought you were the fucking sheriff, whatever happened to due process and a court of law?” Jack was getting pretty upset over what John and Dana considered a closed case. “Jack, would it have made you feel better if I’d let the guy bleed out instead? He had a sucking chest wound, he’d have maybe lasted another 10 or 15 minutes. You shot him through the lungs while he was trying to kill us both, it was a good shoot. Look I know that sounds callous and I don’t feel entirely comfortable with the way I can say it so easily, and that’s the main reason that I’m quitting”. Dana’s words didn’t seam to assuage Jack’s feelings. “Shit, look Dana, Marisol is on her way over. How about doing this one last thing for me? Come on you’re a hero, girl. Right now we need heroes, the people need someone that they can believe in. There are a lot of people that are scared, we don’t want them to leave our community because they think we can’t protect them. Just think of the role model you could be for all the young girls in Northern Arizona? You could be an inspiration for them all”. Jack wasn’t sure that the side of Dana that he’d just seen would be a good role model for anyone and he was having some serious doubts as to whether he’d been a little hasty in his earlier judgment. “OK John I’ll do it, if you think it’s that important” Dana acquiesced A decent sized crowd of people and vehicles had now gathered on the road, most of the people were from the settlement at Poland junction. Jack saw his neighbor Steve in line in his truck and waived him over. Steve had heard the radio traffic and went to high five Jack, but stopped when he caught Jack’s mood. Jack leaned into the cab of Steve’s truck. “Hey buddy I really need a ride home”. Steve was confused but kicked open the passenger door for Jack. As he was getting into the truck Dana caught his eye, she looked at him with a puzzled look in his eye. He looked back at her and said “I need some time to myself”. Jack removed the mag from his FAL and cleared the chamber. He went to insert the ejected round back into the mag and saw that the mag was empty. He didn’t remember firing 19 rounds during the firefight but he must have. He got into Steves truck and they took off back towards spring valley. Dana watched the truck heading away from her and she hoped this wasn’t the last she would see of Jack. A wave of exhaustion hit her and she slumped down on the ground next to the wrecked truck she didn’t hear the crowd that had gathered around the sheriff. People were congratulating him on a job well done and talking about raising the militia to go burn down Crown King. John kept reminding folks that it had been Dana that had made the bust, but he was enjoying the adulation none the less. Dana was sitting on the ground with her back against the truck and her face buried in her knees. She wanted to cry, not because of the two people she’d killed but because she was sad over possibly losing Jack. Someone stroked her hair, she looked up and Marisol was smiling down at her. She took Marisol’s hand and held it to her face. Finally she was able to let the tears flow, it was a welcome release for her. Marisol sat on the ground next to her and hugged her as she wept. Marisol didn’t say anything, she just kept hugging and let Dana cry herself out. “How are you doing chicka? I heard all about it on the police radio, the story is all over town as well. I wanted to come and talk to you and do a spot on the news show about you. I’m glad you got these people, I saw what happened yesterday at Arcosanti. It was too terrible for me to report in detail, the sheriff was worried people would get too scared if we showed pictures of it”. Marisol said. Dana looked at her with bloodshot eyes, “They took some of the women from Arcosanti to Crown King” Dana told her. Marisol shuddered, remembering her ordeal at the farm. “Then we got to go and get them, chicka. Only this time we’ll have a bit more than just me and you to do it”. Dana shook her head no, “I can’t do it Marisol. I can’t do it.” Dana wiped her eyes and sniffed, choking back more tears, “I can’t do it anymore, this was it for me today. I should have quit yesterday, if I had maybe I’d still have him” Dana broke down into uncontrollable sobbing again. Marisol held her again, she figured Dana was talking about Jack, since he was pretty much the only thing she’d wanted to talk about at the bridal shower last weekend. Marisol pulled her head over to rest on her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s going to be OK chicka, don’t you worry, I’ll take care of things for you it’ll be OK.” It was easy to say the words, all Marisol had to do was to figure out what the problem was and how to make it better and that would be a little harder. “Come on chicka, I’ll take you home and we can can talk about this when you feel like it”. Marisol helped Dana to her feet and they both walked over to Marisol’s truck. Marisol drove back to Dana’s house and Dana told her what had happened the previous day that had led up to the car chase and subsequent shooting and Jack’s reaction to it. “I don’t know Marisol, I think I’ve crossed some sort of line and I don’t know if I can go back” Dana confessed as they sat at her kitchen table over a glass of wine. “I really love Jack and I’m afraid what happened today scared him off for good”. “He needs to see the real you chicka, he always sees the deputy sheriff” Marisol replied. “Well maybe that is the real me?” Dana offered. “Nonsense, is the real me the stripper or the loving wife and mother of three children?” Marisol countered, Dana wasn’t sure how to reply. “Well it was both I guess?” she offered. “No I always wanted to be the wife and mother, I was just doing the other thing till what I really wanted came along” Marisol replied. “Look chicka if you want to get this guy you’ve got to show him what you’re not and show him what you are that he also wants you to be. I’ll tell you what kind of woman is he looking for, smart, fun, honest, modest, intelligent and confident. And you’re all of those things, we’ve just got to market you a little better that’s all. The first thing we got to do is drop the G.I.Jane/Ellen Ripley image, Jack is a real guy he can do the looking out for the family bit himself, you’ve got to offer him something different, something he can’t do himself. What he really wants is a smart, fun, resourceful woman who will bear him strong sons. OK so you’re done with the sheriffs office and now you’re going to concentrate on your business? Well we need to emphasize that you’re not just the woman that unclogs toilets, you are part owner in a couple of other ventures, like the crop share deals you’ve got at young’s farm. So we just play that angle up more, you’re a businesswoman. OK you promised you’d do the interview with me for John so we can use that to launch the new Dana. Instead of it being you wearing camo carrying a M4 and posed in front a wrecked truck with bodies hanging out of it, we’ll do something different that shows who you want to be, not how everyone has seen you up till now”. Dana thought about it and figured she might as well try it, but she wasn’t very optimistic. “Well OK I guess we could give it a try, although I’m not sure Jack will buy it.” “Please chicka, I think there’s one thing I’m good at and that is marketing. We’ll give you a make over that’s simple but stylish and keep repeating the interview with the new Dana on the news show to create a buzz. Jack will see it and I’m sure it will get him thinking. Once you get talking to him again you just show up at his house naked and bring beer”. Two weeks later Jack was at the Cordes Junction general store negotiating a price on a half a deer with Meg, the owner. Jack had shot the deer that morning on the last day of a week long hunt down by bloody basin road and had dressed it out saving a half for himself. He intended to smoke his half in sections and maybe make jerky out of the rest. Meg ran a bar and grill on the back of the general store and Jack went in for a beer. The beer was brewed locally and the menu was mostly game that was harvested locally. “Hey dead-eye Jack, sit yourself down and have a beer!” Stewie the bartender called out to him. Jack sat down at the bar and took the beer. The TV behind the bar was showing the news show, Jack checked his watch, it showed 4:30pm. “Hey Stewie, what’s with the news on, isn’t it kind of early?” he asked. “I taped it from last night, most people that come in here can’t get the signal where they live so I tape it and run it through the day and people can come by and watch the news” replied Stewie. “It’s a great excuse to stop and have a beer” Stewie continued. Jack wasn’t really interested, he’d seen the news show once or twice before and 99% of it was the same everyday. Usually it was general gossip like who’s getting married, who’s just had a new baby or is pregnant, fashion tips and cooking recipes. About the only time he liked it was when the rodeo was held and then they showed stuff that guys were interested in. jack pulled a notebook from his shirt pocket and studied it for a moment, he was trying to figure out the best use of the money he would get from the Deer he was selling to Meg. Stewie came back into the bar and said “Hey Jack, here’s your story on the show”. Jack looked up at the TV, Marisol was interviewing Dana at the crash scene where they had killed the two MZBs a couple of weeks before. He must have missed the first few moments of the interview. Dana was on screen wearing a fitted white collared blouse and a pleated knee length gray skirt with hose and heals. The heals made her legs look longer and the fitted blouse really accentuated her figure. Her hair had been cut and styled to look feminine business casual and she had just enough make up on to look hot without looking trashy, she looked like she’d just come from negotiating a new legal representation account or closing a sale on a house. The legend on the screen read “Dana Schupak, local businesswoman”. Dana had her hands clasped in front of her down by her waist, she was trying to look casual but Jack could tell she was distinctly uncomfortable. “And then what happened next after you got the call from sheriff O’Neil?” Marisol asked, angling the microphone towards Dana. Dana cleared her throat and said “Well I enlisted the help of a local citizen, Jack Warner, and we set off in the sheriff’s cruiser to intercept the two suspects. We had a report that they’d already run a roadblock at Glasford hill and that they were heading towards the freeway and were thought to be part of the Crown king gang. We were getting updates on their progress and we passed them going the other way as they came over the rise at Poland junction. We stopped and turned round to follow them and eventually caught up to them a mile or so later. They started shooting at us and Jack Warner returned fire, disabling their vehicle. The suspects lost control of the vehicle and it slid into a ditch. By the time we got to the vehicle we found that the female suspect was already dead. She’d died of a broken neck, I guess she must have hit her head on part of the vehicle interior in the crash”. “So definitely people should wear their seat belts then?” Marisol interrupted her. “Oh yes, had she been wearing her seat belt she might have survived the crash”. Dana continued. “The male suspect was fatally injured and died of his injuries before the paramedics could get to him”. “Well we’re all certainly grateful to you and Mr Warner for apprehending these two for us”. Marisol paused and then continued “I understand that was actually your last day with the sheriff’s office? You certainly went out on a high note”. “Yes I’ve left the sheriff’s office to concentrate on my irrigation business, I’m also looking to develop other business opportunities out in spring valley.” “Holy shit, is that that little girl that comes around to fix the sprinklers over at Young’s farm?” came a rough sounding voice from the back of the bar, “She sure cleans up pretty, hey little lady I’ve got some business you can come develop right here” said the man rubbing his crotch. The two cowboys he was with both laughed heartily at the joke. Angrily, Jack turned around to face them. “You ought to shut the fuck up fat man and save those kind of cracks for those camp verde whores you frequent. You obviously don’t know a real lady when you see one.” He said with a lot of anger in his voice. The fat man looked at his two buddies and all three of them laughed good heartedly, they had a lot of beer between them, “Shit Jack, where’s your sense of humor these days?” the fat man continued. Jack turned around to face the bar again, in doing so he saw sheriff O’Neil come into the bar. John sat down beside him and ordered a beer. “So how did it go Jack?” John asked. “Well kind of good and bad sheriff. The two women are OK, I talked to them and in fact I think maybe they’ll fit in OK up there”. Replied Jack. “How so?” inquired John. “Well it turns out they were the “chemists” at Arcosanti, which is why they were spared. The MZBs took all the pot plants from Arcosanti and a bunch of other stuff they were using to make a synthesized form of LSD. I think the idea is to get themselves off meth, which is getting hard to make due to lack of certain chemicals, by using the synthesized LSD. Kind of like how heroin was used to get people off opium in Victorian times” John explained. “Wow, that’s some pretty fucked up logic, so what do you think of our chances of assaulting the place?” John asked. “That’s the bad news John. OK it took me 2 days to hike to a vantage point overlooking the settlement. You remember the basic layout of the place right? It’s a main street about 1/8th mile long with 2 bars, a store and a couple of boarding houses on it. There are about 50 people living there and most of them are fucked up at least half the time. There’s a trailer court on the side of a hill on the west end of town where most of them live. That’s where the chemists are staying.” “Are they locked up, under guard or anything?” john asked. “No, there’s no need, like I said I don’t think they are really being held there against their will. Even if they wanted to escape there’d be nowhere for them to go. The vehicles are all kept in a compound on the side of the hill facing the trailer court. They park up their because none of the vehicle batteries will hold charge any longer so the only way to get them going is to roll start them. There is a serious roadblock on the entrance to main street that would need an armored car or a Bradley or something similar to breach it. In my opinion a frontal assault on the place is out of the question. As you know there are 2 ways in, the road from the northeast and the jeep trail to the south. The NE route from Cleator is about 12 miles of switchback mountain roads with about a thousand places where someone could mount a serious ambush. It looks like they’ve got some kind of watch tower set up on the hill that over looks the mountain road. There are also 4 bridges over deep ravines, and they’re rigged with charges. Now I don’t know much about laying charges but I do know about running cable and it looks to me, judging by the cabling, like whoever set them knew what they were doing.” “Well that’s kind of disheartening, last time we just rolled in and cleaned the place up. I figured they might have done something to harden the place but if they’ve gone to the bother of placing charges on the bridges then they probably do have other prepared ambush spots. How about the southern route in?” asked John. “The senator highway is too rough for any size force to move at reasonable speed. I rode my motorcycle around the southern side of the mountain the first night I was out, I figured that would be the best way up. The trail has vehicle sized boulders all along it and it’s washed out in several places. It looks like it had been maintained after a fashion before the sickness but it’s had nothing for the last 7 or 8 years. It’s a none starter.” Continued Jack. “So how did you get up there?” asked John. “I started out on the senator highway and left my bike at the bottom of the mountain. I had about 10 days of food and 3 days of water. I ran parallel to the highway about 200 yards in the forest. It took me 2 days to climb up to horse thief lake and I used it as my base camp. It’s a good source of water and it must be where the settlement gets theirs from. I scouted around the town for 3 days trying to see if there was any kind of set routine or anything, but it’s total anarchy up there. On the 5th day a deuce and a half came up the road from Cleator and off loaded a bunch of supplies”. “Any idea who it was?” interrupted John. “No, but there can’t be too many people around here with deuce and a halfs. After that I made my way back down to Cleator and that’s when I saw the charges on the bridges.” Said Jack. John took his hat off and rubbed his bald head. “OK Jack thanks for the brief, did anyone see you going out or coming back?” “I don’t think so, but I picked up a deer this morning near bloody basin road, so anyone would probably just assume I’d been out hunting.” Replied Jack. “We’d best keep this quiet Jack, someone’s trading with these people and we don’t want word of us raiding the place to get up to them before we’re ready”. “Oh I hear you on that Sheriff”. Replied Jack. The TV segment with Marisol’s interview with Dana came back on the TV again, John looked up at it. “She’s a fine woman Jack, be a shame to let her slip away without giving her at least one more chance”. Jack grunted and excused himself, saying he had business to finish with Meg. |
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Posted: 3/1/2008 12:57:07 AM EDT
[#27]
Thank you! Please keep it going.
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MN, USA
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Posted: 3/1/2008 10:20:53 AM EDT
[#28]
Wow... I just found this story. I like it and just started chapter 3.
 Please keep the chapters coming. |
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Posted: 3/1/2008 2:55:25 PM EDT
[#29]
Thanks again for keeping the story going.
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ME, USA
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Posted: 7/13/2008 3:24:54 PM EDT
[#30]
Thanks for keeping this story going its a great read thanks again John
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 7/16/2008 5:38:59 PM EDT
[#31]
yeah sorry I've been procrastinating with new chapters. I had an issue with the copy of MS word I was using, the temporary license for it ran out and it locked me out of the program. anyone got any ideas how to unlock it? I'm using vista and it was the free trial version that came bundled on the PC. |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 8/15/2008 1:14:13 PM EDT
[#32]
Chapter 22 Dana was sitting in the waiting room of the Prescott health center. There was nothing wrong with her, she was meeting Tensie for lunch. The two of them were going to the fabric store for a final fitting of Tensies wedding dress and Dana’s bridesmaids dress. She was leafing through a very old copy of Arizona Highways magazine when the door opened and Tensie came out dressed in her scrubs. Dna stood up, “hey little sister how are you?” The two girls hugged each other “I’m good,” Tensie replied. She stepped back from Dana, “So is this part of you’re new look?” Tensie asked. Dana flushed slightly, she was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans, a western shirt that was open 3 buttons, red cowboy boots and a matching “Coach” purse. “Yeah, I thought I’d go for the ranchers daughter look rather than a fantasy character in a first person shooter”. “Good choice, is that one of Marisol’s old “work” shirts”, Tensie quipped, noting to herself that Dana did not have her usual fashion accessory on her belt and was showing a lot of skin. Dana slapped her arm in a playful shocked way. The two of them walked the 3 blocks to the fabric store. “So did Jack R.S.V.P. yet to the wedding invitation?” Dana tried to ask casually. “No, not yet but it’s only been 2 weeks and maybe he’s been out of town. Hey Dave and I closed on the house on Mount Vernon street last weekend, so we’re going to be neighbors!” “Wow that’s great Tensie, what’s it going to cost you?” Dana replied enthusiastically. “I’m doing a travelling free health clinic every Saturday morning to the outlying areas. I’ll be doing vaccinations, well baby and well woman checks and a lot of the general health maintenance stuff that Liz doesn’t charge for anyway. So it’s kind of a win-win for the business and the community, the mayor is even giving me use of one of the county vehicles.” Tensie had been acting as Liz Wozniaks nurse for the last 4 years. Liz had had to step up into the role of community doctor and had done a good job. Most of her work was general day to day illnesses, delivering babies along with setting broken bones and even simple invasive surgery. It was a lot different from treating gun shot and stab wounds which had been a mainstay of her work as an E.R. nurse before. Tensie had worked alongside her and had gotten an education that money couldn’t buy. She had also studied all the college texts for a nursing degree and Liz felt she was more than qualified to be a R.N. They entered the fabric store. Dolores, a rather matronly looking woman in her late fifties sitting behind a sewing machine, looked over her glasses at them. “Ah good morning Miss Gonzalez, Miss Schupak I’ll be right with you”. Dana looked at Tensie quizzically, “Gonzalez?” she asked. “Well yeah, it was my old name. I mean how do you think it would look on the wedding invitation, Wozniak & Wozniak?” Dana smiled to herself, “Yeah really, I mean it’s not like we live in West Virginia or anything.” The two girls burst into a fit of the giggles. Dolores came over to Tensie with the wedding dress on a hanger, she rotated the dress so Tensie and Dana could take a good look at it first. “It took quite a lot of altering to make it fit, the last girl that got married in it was 5’-8” and weighed about 140 lbs. Still it’s worth it, I figure this dress is doing it’s part to help re-populate Northern Arizona.” Dolores looked at Dana, “Wouldn’t take much to get it to fit you Miss Schupak”. “Well I don’t think I’m quite ready for it just yet” Dana replied. Dolores nodded her head, “Yeah, the next girl will probably be an Amazon and I’ll be lengthening it again”. “Why don’t you just make another one Dolores?” Dana asked. “Well I’d love to dear, but no-one is making silk like this anymore and I do want to see you girls looking your finest on your wedding day. Tensie took the dress from her and went to the fitting room to put it on. Dolores turned to her “That was a bad piece of business at Arcosanti, I hope we’re not just going to let it go. I heard they took some of the people from Arcosanti up to Crown King, why do you suppose they did that?” Dana shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know and who’s this “we” you’re talking about? Maybe you should ask Sheriff O’Neil, in case you haven’t seen the news I’m no longer with the department?” “Dana, we have a duty to rescue those people, how would you feel if it had been you, or someone you loved?” Dana paused slightly, “Well first off, if it had been me then I wouldn’t have let them take me and several of them would have been dead at the scene, so it’s kind of a moot point. But I’ll tell you what”, Dana opened her purse, she took out her PPK and handed it to Dolores butt first. “I’ve done my part, how about you do yours. You told me yourself they’re in Crown King, why don’t you go rescue them?” Dolores blushed and handed the PPK back to Dana. “I took one of your self-defense classes Dana, thank you and I’m well armed. You know I grew up in the 60s and was active in the women’s liberation movement. Now that I look back on it I realize it was more about hating men than empowering women. Since the sickness women and men have had to revert back to traditional roles, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it’s just the way things are. You have always been a great example of strength and femininity in a way that a thousand bra-burning lesbians could never be. You’ve been a great role model to our girls, thank you for your service to our community. You’ve given more than you needed to. I will be talking to the sheriff about this and I intend to do whatever I can to help out, I’m not going to be able to charge up a hill with fixed bayonets but I’ll find a role to help”. “Dana, can you come and give me a hand with this?” Tensie called out. Thank God, thought Dana. Tensies request had broken a very awkward moment of silence between her and Dolores. Dana excused herself and went into the fitting room. “Can you zip me up, I can’t reach it?” asked Tensie. Dana zipped the dress up and stood back while Tensie turned around. Dana carefully looked the dress over, “It’s perfect Tensie, seriously, there’s no way it could be improved upon, you look just like a Disney princess.” Dana was so happy for Tensie, the dress was perfect she was marrying a wonderful man, they would have a great life together. She hugged Tensie and tears of joy came to her. “Oh Tensie, I love you, I’m so happy for you! You and Dave are going to have a wonderful life together and have lots of children I’m so proud you chose me to be your maid of honor” Tensie hugged her back, “How could I let anyone but my big sister be my maid of honor?” Dana’s dress was a little more casual but still elegant and definitely practical. She came out of the fitting room with it on. The dress was a mid calf length strapless sun dress in a floral print, with a black bolero style jacket. She looked at herself in the full length mirror. “Oh yeah, this is going to get a lot of use after the wedding. I really like it Dolores, but there’s something missing” “A pair of red heals, matching purse and a beige wide brimmed hat, and I’ve got them all here, try them on” Dolores replied. Dana put them on and looked at herself in the mirror, she loved what she saw. “That’s it, a great blend of class and sex appeal, Jack won’t be able to keep his hands off you” Dolores said. “Bloody hell, good news sure travels fast around here doesn’t it!” Dana exclaimed, “That’s if he even shows up” she added soberly. “Anyhow, how do you know about Jack, not that there’s anything to know?” asked Dana. “Marisol” was the one word reply. “Ahh”, that made perfect sense to Dana. “Don’t you worry he’ll be there. If you want to know anything about anything or anybody, just talk to Marisol. I’m not saying she’s a gossip at all, and she looks out for those she loves. Yeah I do all her clothes for the T.V. shows, we also filmed a segment on me doing Tensies dress and are going to do interviews with all the other girls that have gotten married in it, show their wedding photos as well kind of thing.” “Wow, no kidding! That’d be great” said Tensie enthusiastically. “We also filmed me making Dana’s outfit, it started as an old set of drapes from a house up on Iron Springs road”. “I hope it’s not someone I know, that could be embarrassing” Dana replied. “You’re not going to have to worry about that Dana” Dolores replied, the implication being that the former owners of the drapes were no longer with us. “I don’t know, I’m going to have to talk to Marisol about that and a couple of other things as well” said Dana, it wasn’t that she was mad at Marisol but she would have liked to have been asked first about everyone knowing her dress used to be someone else’s drapes. The girls had finished their business and left Dolores’ shop. Tensie still had a half an hour till she had to be back so they went to the Palace for lunch. “I can’t believe you guys are having the reception here, it must be costing a fortune” Dana remarked over lunch. “It’s all paid for, we did a trade off with the owner a while back. You remember his niece almost died last year from appendicitis? Well Liz and I did the operation for the cost of my wedding reception. It’s her and Dad’s present to us. It doesn’t cover the cost of the bar but Marisol and Ted are taking care of that.” Dana shook her head in satisfaction, “Dana and Ted Jr are going to be so cute as flower girl and paige.” “Yes, you’re going to have your hands full with them during the ceremony.” Tensie replied. “I’m going to have my hands full with Jim Olsen as well, it’s a shame Dave had to pick a complete douche bag as his best man. You know I arrested him one time for public urination on the courthouse lawn, he was totally wasted. I mean OK it was a Saturday night and all but the bars were still open and he could have gone inside to do it. He tried to grope me when we were putting him in the cells and the Sheriff gave him a hickory shower.” “ Well then I doubt you’ll have to worry about him making improper advances to you at the wedding”. Tensie replied. Dana knew Dave’s friendship with Jim was a bone of contention between them and decided she’d said enough. Tensie looked at the clock on the wall, it was time for her to get back to the health center and open it for the afternoon. “Well I’ve got to go, only 4 days till the wedding! I’ll see you at the rehearsal Friday night if I don’t see you before”. Both girls got up and hugged, then Tensie left. Dana was checking inventory in her supply shed out back of her house. She was getting low on schedule 40 fittings of all types and low on schedule 40 tubing lengths as well. The list of parts she needed meant that a trip into one of the cities was going to be needed in the near future. She had used up all the supplies in the Prescott area and there were settlers in Flagstaff and Payson meaning she would have to go down to Phoenix. This was not that unusual, foraging parties had been going to Phoenix to salvage for supplies for the last couple of years. The locations of usable stocks were fairly well known and usually a party would go down once a month. There was a sign up list at the city hall that people would register on and then contact other members to arrange transport and co-ordinate efforts. Dana shut the shed door and decided to go and sign up for the next trip. It was only a 2 block walk to the city hall so she washed up and walked over. City hall was empty but the sign up sheet was posted on a message board. Dana took out her pen and added her name to the bottom of the list. Eight people so far and the trip is in 6 days time. Dana checked the list for names, the third one down was Jack Warner. She wasn’t sure how Jack felt about her yet, if he came to the wedding she would have a perfect opportunity to find out. It had been a month since he had walked away from her and he had been in her thoughts constantly. She kept hoping to get a phone call from him or a letter or something. Maybe Marisol was right and you sometimes have to go out and get the guy yourself. Well if he didn’t come to the wedding a trip down to Phoenix would be a good opportunity to do that. Dana walked back home, she sat down in her front room and decided that now was as good a time as any. She reached for the phone and dialed Jack’s number. The phone rang at the other end for an eternity before going to voice mail. Dana cleared her throat and in a cheery voice left him a message. “Hi Jack its Dana. Hey I was over at city hall to sign up for the salvage trip since I’ve got to go down to Phoenix and get some plumbing supplies. So I saw you were going as well. I thought maybe we could ride down together and catch up on things, you know since it’s kind of been a while. So let me know and maybe I can get us a picnic sorted out if you think we’ll have enough time for it. Hey, maybe I’ll see you at the wedding Saturday? Talk to you later, bye”. |
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Posted: 8/17/2008 8:42:48 AM EDT
[#33]
Welcome back please keep the story going.
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 8/17/2008 7:00:29 PM EDT
[#34]
thanks it's a fun story to write, I've lost count of how many times I've re-read it. |
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Posted: 8/17/2008 8:29:31 PM EDT
[#35]
Enjoying it! Keep it rolling!
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MO, USA
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Posted: 8/17/2008 11:41:53 PM EDT
[#36]
sweet!
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NV, USA
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Posted: 8/18/2008 4:33:20 PM EDT
[#37]
I read the whole story in one pull!
I really like the content, style, etc. Keep up the good work - Waiting for more!!! |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 8/18/2008 11:30:33 PM EDT
[#38]
glad you liked it. |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 8/25/2008 1:08:01 PM EDT
[#39]
Had to do some research on womens clothing for this chapter, eh, Fourays2?
Or, is there something you're not telling us here... Glad to see another chapter, hope for another soon. Good work... |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 8/26/2008 11:56:07 AM EDT
[#40]
well it's like this, Mrs Fourays2 has been subjecting me to that crap "project runway" on the gay (bravo) channel. Basically it's a bunch of weirdos in a fashion design elimination. So I guess I did learn something from it after all. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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FL, USA
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Posted: 8/26/2008 1:41:54 PM EDT
[Last Edit: KBL]
[#41]
Oh, I can relate, Fourays2... Many years ago, I started buying clothes for my wife. I didn't know crap when I started, but now I know more about women's clothes than I ever wanted to know. I can tell by looking if something will fit my wife better than she can. I know brands, how they fit, sizes, and I've always had a really good (and accurate) eye for color. As gay as this might sound, there's a very major upside here. It's much harder - no, damn near impossible - for my wife to give me that, you think you're buying what?, look. I'm now on the inside, in the inner sanctum where the secrets are kept. I'm a willing accomplist and confidant, offering encouragement and advice all the way. Supporter and facillitator in her compulsions. So now when I want something for myself, there's more of the consent of an ally than the confrontation of an enemy. Even better, is that she can't get a thing past me that I won't notice, while I could parade a new rifle a week past her and she still wouldn't know one from the next. Still, I'm careful to self regulate in my behavior, lest I blow my cover. Pretty Machiavellian of me, if I do say so myself. It is good to know the ways of your adversary, don't you think?
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WY, USA
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Posted: 2/13/2009 4:55:19 PM EDT
[Last Edit: WDS]
[#42]
What happened to this story?? I was really in to it, and it's been a while since we got an update. Hopefully the author is still working on it.
Thanks for the hard work WDS |
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 3/9/2009 4:38:24 PM EDT
[#43]
Originally Posted By WDS:
What happened to this story?? I was really in to it, and it's been a while since we got an update. Hopefully the author is still working on it. Thanks for the hard work WDS uh yeah, sorry about that  . The dog ate my computer, there was an earthquake, an old friend came in from out of town, IT WASN"T MY FAULT! (apologies to Jake Blues). I need to get back on this.
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Posted: 3/11/2009 1:23:55 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Kar15]
[#44]
the chapter was Posted: 15/8/2008
it is now: 11/3/2009. hrmn  , more than half a year has gone by, MORE NOW, DAMN IT! K.
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 3/13/2009 1:05:55 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Seadra_tha_Guineapig]
[#45]
Originally Posted By Kar15:
the chapter was Posted: 15/8/2008 it is now: 11/3/2009. hrmn , more than half a year has gone by, MORE NOW, DAMN IT! K.all right, quit your bitching
Chapter 23 Jack hadn’t got Dana’s message yet. It was early Friday morning and he was sitting in a hide towards the top of a canyon over looking the first of the mined bridges on the road up to the crown king settlement. It was his 3rd morning and he was about ready to pack it in when he hit pay dirt. It was the deuce and a half he’d seen on his previous trip and it was on the road about 2 miles distant from him, heading his way. Jack adjusted his position and set the scope on it’s highest magnification. It was hard to keep the truck in the field of view at the range, so he figured he’d wait till it got closer. The truck was going to have to stop before it got to the bridge to move the boulders Jack had left in the road. It looked natural and Jack hadn’t completely blocked the road. The boulders were also in a bad spot for and ambush, the idea was to get the occupants out of the truck so he could identify them. He’d figure out how to deal with them later. The hide was pretty comfortable, he’d taken it over from another concerned citizen who the Sheriff had recruited to help gather intelligence on the crown king settlement. The first observer had seen nothing and had spent his spare time making an oil painting of the road and the bridge. Jack wasn’t really into art but this guy could paint, he was thinking about having him do a painting of his own place. Jack took the spotting scope off the tripod and replaced it with a 35mm camera. The camera had a 400mm zoom lens on it and would be ideal for taking pictures of the deuce and a half when it stopped. The distance from the hide to the boulders was about 200 yards and jack had the sun behind his back. He considered it extremely unlikely that he would be discovered, but just incase he was ready to scoot as soon as the deuce and a half crossed the bridge in case they came back with re-enforcements. The guys in the truck obviously had their wits about them and spotted the boulders about 300 yards out. That was fine, Jack had intended that the boulders look as little like an ambush as possible. He moved away from the camo netting towards the back of the hide to minimize the risk of being seen. The camo netting was interwoven with branches from the ground, it was kind of a giant ghilli suit and Jack had only been able to find it from the bridge because the previous occupant had talked him up the canyon. The truck had been stationary for about 15 minutes before it slowly started towards the boulders. Jack noticed there was someone in the ring mount with an M60 who was sweeping the area. “I’m over here dumbass” Jack said quietly to himself. The truck stopped at the boulders and 2 other men got out. They quickly moved to clear the boulders away whilst ring mount guy continued sweeping. “That’s it boys, look up over this way and smile for the camera” Jack continued quietly. With the road clear the truck started up and continued on it’s way to crown king. Jack had shot almost an entire roll of film, and had some very good photos of the men. He didn’t know who they were, but they stood a good chance of finding someone who did. Moving as quickly as he could Jack packed up all his gear into his pack and policed up all his trash. It had been about 10 minutes since the truck had left and he checked the road for any signs of them. All that could be seen was a faint haze of dust hanging in the air. He waited another 20 minutes before moving carefully into the wash next to the hide. The wash led up to a cut in the ridge above. Jack walked up backwards facing towards the road with his FAL at the ready. He went through the cut and onto the other side of the ridge. His quad was hidden in a bush and covered with another camo tarp. Jack got on the quad and started it up. He planned on going cross country to pick up Bloody Basin road and then ride back to Spring Valley via Cordes Junction. The ride back was uneventful, in fact he saw no-one at all on the road. He came into his orchard and Spencer was in the barn wrapping apples. Jack parked his quad into the barn and took off his helmet. “Howdy Spencer, how’s everything been the last couple of days?” he asked. “Pretty quiet Jack, I see you didn’t get anything this time.” He replied indicating the empty rack on the back of the quad. “No, didn’t even get a shot off at anything, not even any Javalinas. I sure hope this area isn’t hunted out”. This wasn’t true, Jack had seen plenty of game and he had gotten exactly what he wanted, he just didn’t want to tell Spencer what he was looking for. Spencer was a decent enough guy, but he liked to go get drunk in Cordes Junction and he had a big mouth. The last thing Jack wanted to do was to let word get out that they were looking for the owners of a deuce and a half. “Any beers in that fridge Spencer?” Jack asked, knowing the answer would be yes. Spencer handed him a beer and took one for himself. “Anything need my desperate attention, or can I go shower and clean up?” Jack continued. “One of the pumps in the south section stopped working, don’t know if it’s an electric problem or something else” replied Spencer. Ah perfect, Jack thought. That gives me a good reason to call Dana. Jack had had a lot of time to think things through and had decided that his first impression of Dana had been right and she was the one for him. The other side of her was going to take a little getting used to but at least he’d never have to worry about her being left home alone and defenseless. Jack finished his beer and said “OK I’ll take care of the pump later on, I’m going to go shower and shave, I’ll see you later.” Spencer shook his head yes and Jack left. He walked into the house and emptied his pack, noticing the answering machine light blinking he played the messages. It was mostly work related stuff and then there was the message from Dana. Jack’s face lit up, alright he thought looks like I’ve got a date for tomorrow afternoon and Monday as well. He didn’t recall getting an invite for any wedding though. Jack went into his bedroom and looked through his closet for suitable wedding attire. Shit, he thought to himself, there’s nothing in there I’d really want to be seen in at a formal do. Well he had to go to town anyway to drop off the film with Sheriff O’Neil so he could pick up something while he was there. Jack showered, shaved and put on a clean pair of jeans and a polo shirt. He tucked a Glock 22 into an IWB holster and headed out to the driveway. Jack’s A to B car was an old Honda Civic, it was a fun car to drive and it got over 40mpg on a run. It was 25 miles into Prescott, Jack figured he’d drive in get some lunch at the palace, talk to the sheriff and check out the county store for a decent sports coat and a new pair of pants. The county store consisted of goods that were taken from enterprises that no longer had any owners. It was understood that anything you got from the county store was no newer than 2007. In the case of food stuffs this was an issue, for clothing it was less of an issue and for durable goods it wasn’t an issue at all. It had been debated at first whether or not this was a good idea, since it would reduce incentives for entrepreneurs to start up businesses in some areas. However it was decided that the market would take care of these eventualities as society matured. The drive was uneventful and Jack pulled into a parking space outside the courthouse, just across the street from the palace. He’d called Dana from his cell phone when he got into cell range in Prescott valley but it had gone straight to her answering machine. He’d left her a brief message telling her he was coming into town and confirming he’d be at the wedding and was looking forward to riding down to Phoenix with her on Monday. Jack checked his watch, it was a little early for lunch so he elected to go visit with the sheriff first and eat later Jack walked up the steps into the court house and followed the signs to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff was out and about but Janice, his secretary, radioed him and called him in. Jack spent 15 pleasant minutes flirting with Janice, who was in her early 50s and a very attractive pleasantly plump woman, not really Jack’s type though. The subject of the Wozniak wedding came up and Jack could feel the conversation being steered towards Janice needing an escort to it when John O’Neil entered the office. Thank fuck for that, thought Jack as John led him into his office. “Janice, why don’t you go take lunch, oh and lock the door behind you” said the sheriff in an authoritarian manner. John motioned Jack to sit down and he did so in the chair across the desk from John. John took off his hat and sat down. Jack reached into his pocket and handed John the vial containing the roll of film. John took it from him and rolled it between his fingers. Looking at Jack he said “so what are we dealing with here?” “Three white males of indeterminate age, could be anywhere between 25 and 55. Probably some military experience on the part of at least 1 of them, maybe all of them.” “Did you recognize any of them?” “No, never seen them before in my life.” “So what happened then?” “Well John they spotted the rocks about 300 yards out, so I figure it wasn’t the driver that saw them first, since he’d have his hands full dodging the potholes. They took time to evaluate the site before proceeding with caution and there was a guy with a ’60 in a ring mount who kept the area swept whilst they cleared the rocks. They moved very efficiently, and even though there was no threat they still kept security up. I didn’t notice any armoring on the deuce so I figure they’re comfortable with the threat of firepower as their defense. I don’t think these guys are doing raids themselves, but I sure as shit wouldn’t want to run afoul of them.” “OK, thanks Jack, I’ll get this roll of film developed and we’ll see if we can figure out who these guys are. I’m hoping we can appeal to their better nature, but since they must know what’s going on, they probably don’t have one. Jack, you’re not on the community service roster I can let you have another 3 days value of trade goods from the county stores. You can figure out what you need and tell them it’s on my tab. If they ask any further questions, just tell them it was for the Goodwins pharmacy heist you helped stop”. Jack got up, shook John’s hand and bid him farewell. As Jack exited the courthouse into the bright sunlight he had lunch on his mind, until he saw Dana sitting on the front fender of his car. It was quite a sight to take in in once glance. She was wearing a black and white zebra striped mini skirt and a very clingy red tee-shirt cut low showing a lot of cleavage that Jack didn’t remember her having. Her hair was back in a pony tail and she had just enough make up on to look fresh and natural, she slowly turned her head towards him as he approached her, looking up slightly and tilting her head back so as to give him her best side. “So is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?” she asked him. Jack smiled back a huge smile, “well actually it’s in an inside the waistband holster, but yeah, I’m still pleased to see you.” She slid off the fender of Jack’s car without making her skirt ride up too badly, her stomach was in knots as Jack approached her. He bent down slightly as he neared her and wrapped her in a firm embrace, “I really missed you babe” he whispered in her ear. Dana thought she was going to cry tears of joy, “Oh Jack I’ve missed you too!” The embrace seemed to go on for ever until finally they both sensed it was time to let go. They both stood facing each other holding each others hands. “Can I buy you lunch, I was going to go to the palace?” he asked. “I’d love lunch, but I’m going to the palace tonight for the dress rehearsal dinner, how about we get a sandwich from the deli and eat it on the courthouse lawn instead?” Jack shook his head yes, it seemed like a more intimate proposal and more in fitting with prolonging the moment they were sharing than going into a smoky restaurant. They got sandwiches and sat on the lawn, Dana was filling him in on all the details of the wedding, normally he would have been bored by such things. But he couldn’t keep his eyes off her and found himself hanging on her every word, and everything she said was fascinating. “You are coming to the rehearsal dinner, right?” she said to him. “Uh yeah, of course. When is it?” “It’s tonight, silly”. Jack suddenly remembered his mission. “Hey you know I’ve got to go get some clothes for the wedding”. “And you’ll need an outfit for the rehearsal dinner as well” Dana added. “So where are you going to get them?” She asked. “Well I was going to go to the county store, since I’ve got some credit there.” Dana was about to give Jack shit about wearing 7 year old clothes when she realized the logic behind it. She figured the best thing to do was to go with him and make sure he at least picked out an outfit that matched. “Yeah, that’s a good idea, they have some good stuff in there sometimes, mind if I tag along, and it’s always fun to go clothes shopping?” Jack looked at his watch, “We’d better get a move on, the county store closes at 4pm”. Dana agreed, she stood up in front of Jack with her back to him. She slowly ran her hands down from above her waist to her hips over her butt, and down to her thighs, at first glance it was a move to brush grass off her clothes, but the real reason was to draw attention to how fertile and feminine she was and to let Jack know that she would bear him many children and that she was his for the taking. Dana did this sub-consciously and Jack didn’t get the micro subtleties of the move but he picked up on a macro level thinking how much he wanted to fully consummate their relationship. |
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Posted: 3/13/2009 4:07:46 PM EDT
[#46]
It's Alive!!!!!
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MO, USA
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Posted: 3/13/2009 4:50:36 PM EDT
[#47]
Thanks for writing this. I think you have great talent and look forward to next chapter.
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Posted: 3/13/2009 6:42:20 PM EDT
[#48]
Originally Posted By k12lts:
It's Alive!!!!! yeah, it's a lot of fun writing this one
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Posted: 3/13/2009 6:44:45 PM EDT
[#49]
Originally Posted By sumo61:
Thanks for writing this. I think you have great talent and look forward to next chapter. well thanks, I appreciate that. However I don't think I'll quit my day job just yet.
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CA, USA
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Posted: 3/17/2009 2:09:56 AM EDT
[#50]
Originally Posted By k12lts:
It's Alive!!!!! Fuck yeah, its been too long. |
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