The Fall - Ch 6

         Mike really didn’t want to spend the night in a town filled with dead people, but his conscience wouldn’t let him leave until he figured out what had happened. Mike managed to clear most of the crows by firing into the air until they all took off.

         Once they took off Mike laid out all 35 – 40 of the bodies. These were all people that he had known at one time or another. There was Tim, who owned the General Store and Alice who owned the dry cleaners, just lying here in the street. All of the bodies showed exit wounds in their chests and abdomens, which means they were shot in the back while facing away from whoever attacked them. The even spacing on the holes seemed to indicate that it was some form of automatic weapon that had killed them, which looked like it was confirmed by the charring around some of the holes that made them look like they were made by tracer rounds.

         Since these were people that Mike considered friends, he decided that he could try to take a break from travel for the day within the town, and instead of traveling tomorrow night he would spend it burying the people of this village. There was nothing that he could do during the day, so one by one he moved the bodies, using his ATV, into the freezer in the back of the grocery store. He wanted them to be as dignified as possible, and that included making sure that the birds couldn’t get to them while he rested today.

         After he was done with moving all the bodies, Mike moved throughout the town and knocked on the doors trying to see if anyone had survived what looked like an attack on this small village. He moved cautiously, moving mainly through the backyards and crawling through the split rail fences that seemed popular in this area. He would then approach towards the back door and try the handle. If the door was locked he would knock lightly too see if anyone was inside to answer the door.

         The whole time he was moving towards the house his right hand would not move far from the Desert Eagle in its drop down holster. He wasn’t sure if he was scared of running into the people who did this, or the people in the town who may have survived and would now possibly be trigger happy and on the defense.


         Mike was approaching the house that he had seen at the edge of town with the swings in the yard, when Tasisure whined quietly. The hair on his back was still down, but the wolf looked anxious. Suddenly, the wolf broke into a run towards the house. Mike took the hint at this point and ran towards the house and slammed his shoulder into the door, which gave way under his weight. As the door slammed in, Mike let himself fall towards the floor, while his right hand pulled the Desert Eagle out. He hit the floor with his left shoulder and let his momentum carry him through a complete roll to the side, preventing anyone from taking a clear shot. Tasisure was through the kitchen and into the dining room. Mike could see the edge of the table and a few chairs. In another part of the house there was a growl and then a howl of pain, but not from Tasisure.

         Mike ran through the dining room and found a man that was naked from the waist down and a girl that he knew was the daughter of the town mayor. She had no clothes on and had blood running from the corner of her mouth, along with a dazed look in her eyes. Mike knew instantly what had been going on and, as if it had a mind of its own, the Desert Eagle came up, and a split second later the wall on the far side of the standing man was covered with blood and gore as the mans head came apart under the impact of the fifty caliber round.

         Tasisure was standing with Amanda and licking lightly at her face to bring her out of her trance. There was no question that she was well under 18 and Mike knew her to be just entering her teen years. In fact, there had been an invitation to her thirteenth birthday party in the cabin when Mike had burned it to the ground. He looked at the shape of the man on the floor and didn’t feel bad at all for what he had done. Mike spotted the digital camouflage that was in use with the military at this point on a chair in the corner of the room and walked over to it. The patches on the combat uniform were for a local National Guard unit.

         Having served himself, Mike was disgusted with what he had walked into. He quickly recovered his bearings and turned and walked over to Amanda.

         “Amanda, sweetheart, is there anyone else in the house?” he asked, careful to keep his voice quiet and even. He wanted to avoid making her distrust him, and this wasn’t the first time that he had been in this situation.

         “No, this one brought me here when everyone else left. What was he doin Mr. Mike?” Amanda asked him. All the younger people in the town knew him as Mr. Mike. He had insisted on it, since using his last name had felt too much like the time he had spent in the Army.

         “Nothing that he will ever get to complete, sweetheart. Don’t you worry about him. Are you ok? Did he hurt you at all?”

         “No Mr. Mike. He was telling me to open my mouth and then he hit me when I wouldn’t, but I think I’m ok. Thanks for helping me.”

         Mike had to look away. He was still letting his emotions rule him, and right now he was disgusted with the fact that people like the dead man next to him were going to be the comparison that people would have of the military.

         “Come on sweetheart. Let’s get you out of here. Think you can walk?”

         “Sure Mr. Mike” Amanda said as she stood up. Mike took her arm and walked with her outside. They walked towards downtown and the bed a breakfast that was there. Mike had already decided that he would be staying there tonight. Now he was going to have to make sure that there was a second room that was made up and clean. But rather that than what the poor girl would have gone through if Mike hadn’t shown up.

         By this time it was starting to get dark. Mike took Amanda to the bed and breakfast and put her in the room next to his and stayed with her as she fell asleep. As soon as she was out, he went and moved the bodies of all the villagers on the ATV to a clear area where the trees and the town started to blend back together.

         Once all the bodies were moved, Mike started digging. He had all the bodies laid out side by side since he was going to have to make this one mass grave. He didn’t like it, but at the same time he didn’t want to spend the time required to dig individual graves for everyone. Once he finished digging he had a trench about six feet across and 4 feet deep. He started gently setting all the bodies into the grave, trying not to think about who they were and when he had last seen them.

         Towards the end of the row he came across Amanda’s parents. Then and there he made them a promise. “I swear to you, I will make sure that I keep your daughter safe. She will make it through this” Mike said, with his voice cracking with emotion towards the end.


         After he had finished filling in the grave, Mike went back to the bed and breakfast and jumped into the shower in the room. Tasisure laid down next to the door that connected to the room that Amanda was asleep in, with his head on his paws and closed his eyes. Mike could tell when he came out of the shower that the wolf was not asleep, since every sound that Mike made, the wolf’s ears would perk forward.

         Tasisure’s head came up as Mike opened the door to Amanda’s room and walked over to the bed where she slept. Mike then repeated his promise while looking down at her angelic face. “I swear to you Amanda, while I might not be there for Zoe right now, I will see to it that you are safe. You will get through this, no matter what.” At that moment he saw how much she looked like an older version of Zoe