JAA Ch. 01: Aftermath

"He in?" she asked Waylon on her way to his office door.

"Yep," Waylon answered without looking up from his paperwork.

Pushing the door open roughly, Susan barged into Cappy's office not bothering to close the door behind her.

"What the hell is going on Mister Abernathy? Just what the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"What?" Cappy replied groggily.

"It's been two weeks and you haven't been out on a patrol. You haven't been to the infirmary to flirt with Michelle or me. You haven't been over to see the kids. You haven't invited me to join you..." Susan stopped as a tear leaked from Cappy's eye. "You haven't grieved for her yet?"

It was a rhetorical question as she stepped around his desk and wrapped her arms around him. She squatted there beside him and held him as all his emotions came boiling to the surface. Maybe he had been waiting for a catalyst like Susan's tirade to settle things inside his mind. Maybe it was just the sight of Susan. The two of them held on to each other as one sobbed and one cooed trying to sooth.

Eventually, they both stood, holding each other tightly. Waylon hearing the silence softly rose and gently closed the door. As the latch clicked, Susan broke their tender embrace and looked Cappy in the eyes. She smiled at him, then slapped him across the cheek hard. Hard enough to snap his head to the right, his hand came up to softly rub his stinging flesh. He leaned forward just enough to kiss Susan's forehead.

"Thank you..."

"You needed that. I know. I'm sorry if I hurt you but, you needed something to snap you out of the funk you are in," Sue told him.

"I know. I could barely get up. The sadness just overwhelmed me. Then I would think about all the things I needed to do and I'd hurry on down here. And when I got here, so much reminded me of Jenny I just couldn't do anything.

"I knew I had to let her go, let the grief wash over me but, I couldn't. Then you came barging in and I suddenly realized that I did have something to look forward too, you and Michelle."

Susan gently pushed him back into his chair, sat in his lap wrapping her arms around his neck. She looked into his eyes and saw the sadness. She placed her head next to his, placing a hand on the back of his head.

"Just know that I, we all love you and care about you. Also, know we are here to help and comfort you." As she spoke these words, she could feel his emotions come forth from deep in his soul as sobs wracked his body once again.

The tears from his eyes dripped on to Sue's neck sending a shiver down her spine. Cappy's emotions broke him down. He was finally grieving, allowing himself to feel the sorrow of losing a loved one. Sue knew she should have come to him sooner but she thought he might be able to handle this on his own.

The two sat still as statues for a long, long time. The only motion was Cappy's shoulder as they moved with his sobs of pain and anguish. The only sound was of Susan cooing to him and whispering sweet things in his ear. Things someone she loved had whispered in her ear a long time ago at the death of her mother.

After about an hour Cappy quieted down and pushing Susan away from him enough to look into her eyes. He kissed her lips gently, then pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely. She hugged him back just a fierce.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you too," he replied. "You better go now."

Susan pulled back looking deep into Cappy's eyes, then smiled and got up from his lap.

"See you at supper tonight or I'll come and get you and drag you by your ear. Do you understand?"

"Yes dear," Cappy answered her.

"You better," Sue said turning and walking to the door. She opened the door and stepped out of his office. "He's all yours now Waylon, make sure he's at supper tonight."

"Sure thing Sue," Waylon said without looking up from his desk.

As Cappy walked into the dining hall that evening he was surprised to see how many people the community hall was feeding. He learned later tonight was special he was attending. Sue had spread the word and the community had responded. They were all here to show their support and deliver their condolences.

Cappy sat at a table that was higher than the rest. Susan and Mark were on his right side, Michelle and George on his left. Waylon was at the head of the table to the right and Linda to the head on his left. Doctors and their spouses filled in the seats in between. It reminded Cappy of a book he had once read about feudal knights and their troops and the common folk they protected.

Well, Cappy was certainly not a feudal knight, at least he did not think of himself that way. During the dinner, almost every adult there came up and offered their condolences to Cappy. Most he just nodded to some he looked at and smiled thanking them silently. Then a small child, one of Sue's girls, came skipping up to stand beside Cappy.

"I'm sorry Uncle John when I heard Aunt Jenny was no longer here I cried. My mommy wiped my nose and told me she was now in a very beautiful place with all of her family and friends and that made me happy. I hope that makes you happy Uncle John."

"Jordan," Cappy started, tears welling up in his eyes, "thank you very much. You are such a sweetheart."

Cappy leaned over and picking her up placing her in his lap, hugging her tightly. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Sue tried to take her away but Cappy waved her off. Jordan sat in Cappy's lap and helped him eat. She picked what he should eat next and popped the chosen morsel into his mouth for him to chew. Then Cappy started to pick pieces for her, which she gladly accepted from his fingers.

For the rest of the evening, Jordan sat with Cappy, watching him and every once in awhile reaching up to stroke his cheek. When she did that he would stop whatever he was doing and look down at her and smile. Eventually, she fell asleep in his arms. Susan signaled Mark to get her and take her home to bed. Cappy finally let go of her little form as her dad gently picked her up in his arms.

Susan sat smiling at Cappy as most people had left to go to their homes or rooms, depending. Soon it was Cappy, Michelle, George, Susan, and Waylon sitting at the head table in a group talking a laughing. Mark returned and stood behind his wife as they all talked and joked.

About midnight Susan and Michelle helped Cappy to a room upstairs that was vacant. They stripped him down to his underwear and put him to bed.

Cappy woke confused and disoriented. He was not in his bed. He did not know whose bed he was in as he looked around the room without moving a muscle. Then everything came into sharp focus. He was in one of the rooms in the community building. Looking around he spotted his clothes on the chair by the wall.

Cappy got out of bed and dressed, he could smell the eggs and bacon cooking even with his door closed. Just as he was finished lacing his boots, the door opened and Susan just walked right in.

"Ah, you've dressed already. Good. Come on I'll treat you to breakfast."

"Your treat huh?"

"Yep, my treat," she said laughing.

"What time is it?"

"Oh-seven hundred," Sue responded.

"Good," Cappy said pulling Sue to him and hugging her.

She kissed his cheek as she hugged him back. Cappy released her and taking her hand pulled her with him out the door and down the stairs to breakfast.

After breakfast, Cappy walked over to his office and was surprised that Waylon was not at his desk. Cappy went into his private office, sat down, and started going through the paperwork required of their small yet populace village.

Chapter 30

Waylon was trying to circle around to the right of the boulder he was behind when bullets started to pit the rock in front of him. He quickly stepped back around the boulder. Linda was up the hill peeking up from under a fallen tree when she spotted the man shooting at Waylon. Pulling her rifle to her shoulder, she lined up her sights and pulled the trigger. The man pitched around as the bullet struck his shoulder just above his gunstock. McCaskey opened up with his SAW pinning the other shooter behind his hill.

Waylon rounded the boulder and zipped across the small clearing into the brush covering the hill where the shooter hid. The SAW stopped firing. Linda looked up at where McCaskey was and saw him reloading the weapon. She pulled her rifle to her shoulder once more and started firing on the position McCaskey had been firing on. Linda stopped firing when she saw Waylon coming up from behind the shooter.

Waylon fired once. The man in the depression yelled in pain grabbing his arm, his weapon forgotten. Linda and McCaskey jumped up and ran to Waylon's position. Both stood on the lip of the depression looking down at the shooter.

"Mac, go check the other shooter," Waylon said.

"He should be alive, so be careful, I only wounded him," Linda told McCaskey as he left on the run.

"You shot Jimmy? A woman?" Linda rolled her eyes at his questions.

"And why were you shooting at us?" Waylon's deep voice caused the shooter to turn his head toward him.

"You were trespassing."

"Excuse me, but that is a county road we were traveling."

"A road that goes through our claim."

"Claim? So you just shoot anyone who travels down this road?"

"Yep."

"Just shoot the dumbass and get it over with."

"Now Doctor that's not a good attitude and you know it isn't."

"Doctor? Patch me up doc it's hurtin' somethin' awful."

"You should have thought about that before you started shooting at us, dumbass."

McCaskey came walking back with Jimmy walking in front of him. Jimmy was holding his arm and blood was seeping out of the hole in his shoulder. Linda walked over to him and ripped the sleeve of his shirt open looking at the wound. Jimmy winced in pain but stood there as Linda probed the wound.

"You'll live," Linda pronounced. "But that bullet will have to come out and I don't have the tools to do that kind of field surgery."

"Doc my arm is really hurtin'."

"You'll be fine, it's a through and through. Just keep it clean and you'll be just dandy. Mac, pour some alcohol on that wound."

"So, have you two learned your lesson? Or do we do as the Doctor suggested?"

"Huh, you wouldn't?"

Linda walked over to the dumbass on the ground and pointed her rifle at his head.

"Now what do you think, dumbass?"

Waylon's hand pulled the gun out of line with the man's head as Linda squeezed the trigger. The round discharged just above the man's head.

"Linda, back off."

"Geez, she's a ruthless bitch..."

Waylon's rifle report shocked the man on the ground. He was even more shocked to find out he actually had been shot in the upper left leg.

"What the fuck, what the fuck, are you crazy? Oh my god, that really hurts."

"Kurt I told you it wasn't a good idea to go shooting at everyone that came down that road."

"You told them my freakin' name..."

"Just who do you think we are Kurt?"

"The gubmit."

"Sorry to disappoint you, there is no government they all left over a year ago."

"No, the state gubmit."

"Ah, the state government, there aren't enough of them to be bothered with what's going on up here. And what exactly is going on up here that has you all worried about the government?"

"Never you mind..."

"We're mining gold back up the canyon," Jimmy said.

"You addled-headed sidewinder..."

"Shut up Kurt." Waylon pulled a small black book from his pocket. "What mine are you working?"

"Selena West," Jimmy told him.

"Damn you, Jimmy."

"I told you to shut up, Kurt. How long you been here?"

"Two months. This is the first time we have come this far south, though."

"That's why we never saw you before. Doc, can you fix Jimmy up here now?"

"Sure why not." Linda shrugged her pack off again and dropped it to the ground. She pulled a clean sheet out and with the help of Mac spread it on the ground.

"Jimmy, come lay down and I'll take the bullet I put in your shoulder out."

"You said you couldn't...you lied?"

"Shut up Kurt," Waylon said softly.

Jimmy scoffed at Kurt as he lay down on the sheet. Linda pulled a pair of scissors out of her pack and started to cut away his shirt.

"Jimmy, you should really get rid of that old man," Linda whispered.

"I can't he really is my old man."

"Oh, dear and your mother?"

"She's back at the cabin and will be worrying about both of us. You weren't really going to shoot my pa where you?"

"No. I didn't really pull the trigger until Waylon had already moved my rifle barrel. It's a stunt we have done before to get people to talk to us when they are as obstinate as you old man."

"But you did mean to shoot me?"

"You were shooting at my friends, what can I say."

"You're sorry?"

"I have no feelings of remorse for shooting you."

Jimmy yelped as Linda plunged the hypodermic into his shoulder. Linda sat back on her heels pulling things out of her bag and laying them out in front of her.

"Thank you, the pain has gone away."

"You're welcome but, it will be back as soon as I start digging around in there for my bullet."

Linda picked up a pair of forceps and as gently as she could, inserted the tip into the wound, searching for the bullet. Jimmy's face scrunched up and he clenched his jaw in pain. Linda felt the forceps scrap against the bullet. She slowly opened them until the two halves slid down the sides of the chunk of lead. Slowly she pulled on the metal as Jimmy's face became red from his grimacing. The bullet popped out and Linda held it in front of her for a moment, then dropped it on the ground.

As Jimmy was relaxing, Linda opened a bottle of alcohol and quickly poured it on Jimmy's wound to sterilize against infection. Jimmy stifled a scream of pain. Next, Linda put in one stitch to pull the hole closed. She then bandaged the wound and put the instruments she had used in a plastic bag.

"All done. Here," she said pushing a bottle of pills into Jimmy's hand, "take one twice a day until they are gone."

"What are they?"

"Antibiotics."

"Okay."

"Should I fix up the dumbass?" Linda directed her question to Waylon but Jimmy answered instead.

"Please, for my mother's sake."

"For you, I will Jimmy."

"What did you tell her boy? You bring them into the world and raise them, train them and this is how they pay you back..."

"Shut up Kurt!" Linda told him as she squatted down next to him.

Taking a bottle of alcohol out, she poured liberal amounts on both wounds.

"Jesus H Chri..."

"Shut up Kurt," Linda told him, giving him a pop in the head.

Linda went to work on his arm wound, disinfecting both sides before putting a stitch in each hole. Then she did the same to his leg wound.

"You there get away from him..."

"Mom, she's a doctor..."

Waylon appeared behind the woman who had somehow snuck up on Linda and Mac grabbing the barrel of her shotgun and pulling it up into the air.

"Let go, it's not even loaded..." she shouted.

Waylon pulled it from her hands as Jimmy ran to his mother's side.

"Mom, they won't hurt us."

"But look what they have done to you and your father!"

"Dad shot at them first, mom. They were just defending themselves."

"You old fool, I told you not to just go shooting at everyone who wanders by."

"But, they had guns..."

"Shut up Kurt," Linda told him as she bandaged his wounds.

Silence hung over the group, except for a grunt of pain from Kurt as Linda tied the bandage off around his leg. She then pulled a hypodermic out of her bag and plunged the needle into Kurt's leg. To his credit, Kurt made no sound at all.

"How did you do that?"

"What?" Linda asked.

"Get him to keep quiet?"

"It helps a lot if you have a gun and know how to use it," Linda smiled at Kurt, as his wife's eyes got wide with fear. "You don't have to fear us but, Kurt knows why he should keep his mouth shut. Don't you Kurt?"

Kurt nodded his head as his eye narrowed to slits as he stared at Linda.

"Is he able to walk, Linda?" Waylon asked.

"Yep, he's good to go. The morphine should be kicking in right about now." Linda watched as Kurt's face relaxed and his eyes got droopy. "Yep, he's not feeling any pain now."

Waylon reached down, grabbed Kurt's hand, and pulled him up. His wife walked over to him and slapped him across the face, hard.

"He may not feel this but, he will remember what will happen next time he pulls a stupid stunt like this again. And I won't wait until he's feeling no pain to do it, either."

Waylon and Linda laughed as Kurt's eye widened with surprise. Jimmy walked over to him and slapped him on his wounded arm, smiling at him all the while.

"And if you won't heed mom then I guess I'll have to put another bullet in your good arm to keep you from fucking up again dad. And you sure as hell won't be loaded up with morphine then."

"All right, we're burning daylight. Let's get these three back to their cabin and safety so we can head for home ourselves," Waylon said laughing loudly pointing for Jimmy to lead the way. Mac came up to Kurt and helped support him as they walked back into the canyon. As they disappeared into the trees the last sound heard was Waylon's laughter.

Chapter 31

With more and more people wandering into the valley, the housing boom was continuing. Two miles outside the valley, the loggers had almost stripped the hillsides bare. Yet trees looked to still cover the hillside. Selective felling is what they called it, they only cut every third tree and they kept the pattern as random as possible. They built a mill and lumber cut each day for the needs of the next day.

Cappy sat at his desk going over the reports of the builders. The population figures put the number of people in the valley at four-hundred-fifty, more than three times those who had first come here to settle. So far, the hydroponics greenhouses needed expanding twice. There were now enough cows to keep the population in milk, with a few left over every month for food. Wild game was becoming scarce and was all but extinct.

"Cappy," Waylon said poking his head in the door, "there is a group of men at the far end of the valley. Mike is watching them and they seem to be checking the place out."

"Are they armed?"

"To the teeth," Waylon informed him.

"Get our Alpha force ready, you gear up and we will go have a little talk with them. The Alpha force is to stay out of sight. Have them use the tunnel to the first cabin by the gate."

"You got it, Cappy," Waylon replied and was gone.

Cappy stood and started to buckle, snap and clip on his combat gear. Most of the men in the valley had been in the military or law enforcement officers before coming to this valley.

"I hear you're going out there?" Susan asked.

"Yep."

"I'm going too," Susan said.

"Sure, the more the merrier."

Susan's eyes widened in surprise and then she was gone. As Cappy stepped into the hallway, he met Waylon who fell in beside him. As they walked down the stairs, Susan joined them as she snapped the last of her gear on. Outside they climbed in the humvee and roared down the road to the main gate.

Susan stood in the turret loading the fifty. Unlocking it, she swung it around to the front of the vehicle. Cappy roared up to the front gate just as the outsiders reached the gate. There was no obvious hazard stopping them from just opening the gate and walking in. In addition, to the outsiders the gate and the fence it was attached to looked purely decorative. However, the presence of a humvee mounted with a fifty-caliber machine gun belayed that idea.

"What can we do for you, gentleman?" Cappy asked as he dismounted.