BW

Tim and Bob came across Alex as they made their way back to town. He was pale, and still a bit shakey, but was standing on his feet unaided.

"Dad. Are you hurt bad?"

"I'll live son, thanks for asking."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to you. I was..."

"Indisposed." Bob finished for him. "I know, Tim told me. Don't worry about it. I'd be more concerned if you weren't upset by this. Come on, lets' go see Kathy."

When there reached the edge of town, Sam came running up to them.

"Dad? Mom says to take Mr. Bob to the doctors office. She's there."

"Thanks Sam. Run ahead and tell her we are on our way."

"Yes Sir." and with that the youngster turned and ran back the way he came. As they entered the office, Kathy called out from the back of the building.

"Bring him in here. Last exam room on the right."

After taking off his jacket earlier, Bob had simply hung it around his shoulders on the way back. Kathy removed it and carelessly tossed it to the side.

"Lie down on the exam table. Face down."

"Let me take off the shirt." Bob said.

"Don't argue with your doctor. Lay down."

Bob did so, and Kathy walked over to him with a pair of scissors. Once cutting the hem on the bottom, she slid them up through the shirt, slicing it cleanly until she reached the collar. With a couple of snips, she was through that as well, and opened it to get a look at the wound. At this point, Kathy realized she had too much company.

"Tim, Alex, go somewhere else."

"Hey! Wait a minute, that's my Dad."

"Alex, do as she says." Bob hissed through the pain. "Tim, that flare needs to be replaced. And I'd appreciate it if you could check the pockets on those three."

"Yeah. I remember. Come on Alex."

The two of them left, and Maria said,

"I guess I'd better go as well."

"No. I need you here. Talk to Bob."

"What do I say?"

"Anything. Just try to keep his mind off of what I'm doing. Bob, I'm giving you a shot to help ease the pain."

Maria move around to where she could see Bobs' face, and asked him,

"How did you know they weren't gunfighters?"

"Their jackets. They had their guns under the jackets. Hard to do a quick draw that way."

"So did we."

"Yes, but our jackets have snaps. Theirs had zippers. I noticed that when we went down there, you undid the bottom two snaps. Why?"

"John always told me that if I needed to get to it in a hurry...Oh. I see."

"Exactly. You and I undid those snaps, so we could reach our weapons in a hurry, they had to either pull up the jacket, or unzip them. That takes longer."

"Speaking of weapons, what is that cannon you're carrying? I almost went deaf when you fired it."

".44 Magnum. Same as my rifle. I know, I know, a lot of people like the .9mm. But I prefer the penetration of a .44. Besides, with rifle and sidearm chambered the same, if either runs dry, I reach in my pocket, and feed whatever comes out to either weapon."

As they had been speaking, Kathy had worked quickly to clean and disinfect the wound. She happy to see that the round hadn't done more damage, but she knew that it would require stitches to close it. When she told Bob what she was going to do, he protested.

"Kathy, I can't do much with stitches in my back. Just put a bandage on it, and I'll be fine."

Kathy looked at Bobs' back for a moment, and then told him,

"Roll onto your left side. I'm going to give you another shot."

"Why? I'm not in pain anymore."

"Maybe not, but if you are going to be stupid about this, I want to give you some antibiotics to fight infection."

Bob did as he was told, and Kathy gave him the shot, with more orders.

"Bob, your wound has stopped bleeding on its' own. I want you to stay here for at least thirty minutes, and give the blood a chance to clot a little more."

"O.K."

Kathy felt a tug on her sleeve. Turning, she saw the girl who had been brought in by Maria. She couldn't have been more than sixteen, probably younger. The girl didn't speak, but crooked her finger and moved away from the others. Turning her back to Bob and Maria, she signed for Kathy to stand in front of her. Once Kathy had, the girl looked shyly down, and opened the front of her blouse slightly for Kathy to see. Kathy inhaled sharply at what she saw. Closing the girls blouse she spoke to Maria.

"I have to take care of something. Will you please make sure he doesn't go anywhere for thirty minutes?"

"Of course."

Kathy led the girl across the hall into another exam room and patted the exam table, telling her,

"Sit here, and take off you shirt please."

She did so as Kathy got gauze bandages, disinfectant, and water for the job ahead. When she turned back again, the girl was nude to the waist. Her chest was covered with what seemed to be cigarette burns. Clearly the child had been through hell.

As gently as possible she began the task of cleaning the burns and treating the injuries. A cold hatred began to burn in her while she did what she could for the girl. She wondered silently what kind of animal could do such a thing. After finishing the front, Kathy walked around behind the girl, only to find more of the burns. So intent was she on treating the girl, she didn't hear Maria until she had opened the door and entered the room. She gasped at the sight.

"What happened to her?"

"Cigarette burns. Some of them have to be a week old. Maria, are you sure those three are dead?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I wanted to get my hands on them. What did you want?"

"Oh, Bob seems to have fallen asleep. Is he going to be alright?"

Kathy smiled. "You heard him. Stick band aides on it and let him go. If I did that, he'd be a lot worse within a week. That wasn't antibiotics. I gave him something to put him out, so I could sew him up. He'll be out for a couple of hours."

Maria smiled. "I wondered why you gave up so easily. What is it about him?"

"Maria, I've known him for a long time. He's always been this way. Everybody else's needs come before his own. Every time." After a moment, Kathy continued. "Maria, Bob is a good man, and I don't know if you've noticed how he looks at you, especially if he thinks nobody is looking. I don't know how you feel on the subject, but you could do far worse than a man like him."

"That's always been the problem, hasn't it?" Kathy looked questioningly at her. "A shortage of men. Oh there's always been plenty of adult males, but far to few men."

"I know what you mean. So does that mean you're interested?"

Maria told her about the meeting between them in the shed earlier. Kathy nodded approvingly.

"I'm glad to hear it. He needs a good woman, and you strike me as just the sort he needs."

"That's funny. He said the same thing. just before he passed out, as we were talking he told me, 'You know, I like you. You're my sort of woman.' I just wonder if he'll remember it when he wakes up."

"If he doesn't, I'LL remind him."

The women smiled at on another as they finished treating their second patient together.

---

Director Claire hated to admit that someone might have had a better idea than he did, but this time he was forced to admit it. The western regional director hadn't gone after the Christians as he had. Instead, he had relied on infiltrators to gain access to the scattered groups of believers. Then when they would gather some place for whatever reason, law enforcement officers would swoop in and arrest everyone they could put their hands on. Each arrest, after enough 'questioning', would yield more names of resistors and Christians to be picked up, and their likely hiding places. Then the process would begin again. it had proved to be quite successful. Now Claire would implement it here in the southern region, and bring an end to resistance to the new order once and for all. When that was done, the decreased number of fighters would enable the Russian, Cuban, and Mexican troop to finally finish their task. The death of America.

---

Tim entered the doctors office, and fund Kathy and Maria sitting at a table, sipping coffee, and chatting after having gotten the stitches finally in place in Bobs' back. Now all they had to do was figure out how to keep him from being too active while his wound healed.

"Maria?"

"Yes, Tim?"

"Are you sure you didn't know any of those guys from this morning?"

"Quite sure. Why?"

"We went back up there and checked them for anything that might give us an idea of what they were up to, and if they might have been working for someone else." He paused.

"And what did you find?"

"One of them had a list of names. Some of them were crossed off, others weren't. Your name, and Michelle's' were next on the list."


BW, Vietnam Vet