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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Crime
- Published: 09/01/2024
Time alone
Born 1941, M, from Santa Clara, CA, United StatesZartag, a name I really don’t ever want to hear again. If you Read my article, you understand why. If not, well you can look it up. Its titled “There, Here.” I can tell you there are at least 2 generals in the Pentagon with noses in their desk drawers with my name on them. In my defense the doctors and engineers Xilli brought with her gave us information to cure several of the worst illnesses on our planet and enough information to build a defense against their ever returning to Earth.
I was going through stuff I collected while the Zartagiens were here, and I found an article in a Scientific American magazine, it had a five-page story about the Zartag’s, and a two-page story about meteorites in the Mojave Desert. I have all the equipment I need for that Zartag event and figured the desert would probably need more.
My granddaughter’s boyfriend is the manager of a Por Shop specializing in wilderness survival. I’d check in with him. He set me and my wife up with boots and leggings to fend off snake bites, clothing to survive the heat and the civilian equivalent of the military M R E’s. He even showed my wife how to stock the pantry. We were ready.
The trip to the desert took a week and we travelled slowly and spent quite nights together. I took the time to show my wife the different guns I took along, “just in case.” I had a Remington pump 12-gauge shotgun, a 360 Berretta automatic and a 30.06 cal. Remington rifle with a night scope. On the trip I showed her what to do with Each, and when we got to the desert, I had her fire each one.
We found a camp site and settled in. The next day we headed for town to check in with the sheriff or the local law enforcement officer who ever that may be. I must admit the term town is a misnomer. It was a bar/brothel, a general store, a medical center (open Mondays and Fridays only, and five homes, oh, yes, a jail, I was told the sheriff spent most of his time in the saloon, I should look for him there.
I parked in front of the place; it looked like the courthouse for hanging Judge Parker. My wife and I went in. It was dimly lit from the light coming through the dirty windows. There were four people in the place and a bartender.
I went up to the bar and the man behind it said, ”name your poison bub.”
I said, “the sheriff, please,”
“That’s me. How can I help you?
I proceeded to tell him where we were set up and what we intended to do there.
He said, “Scientific America. I read the article. Hay wait a minute, you’re that guy. The guy from outer space.”
“Whoa. Let me stop you right there. I was the man who found the planet. The Space Agency took over from there.”
“Sure, Sure what can I do for you now?”
“I am just checking in to let you know we are here and you can come by to check on us anytime.”
“That’s no problem. These are three of my deputies right here. Be more than happy to drop by now and again.”
We shook hands and my wife, and I left. I didn’t like what I saw. I had more I could have told him, like the safety measures I set up around the camp site but held off. I would be glad about that later.
Our next stop the general store. It was a nice clean place with a smell of groceries and cotton goods. The proprietors were Maw and Paw Kettle themselves. Maw took my wife under her wing and fixed her up with the essentials. Two of nicest people you’d ever want to meet.
We drove back to our camp site and there parked near the trailer was a car with a man leaning against its fender. “Can I help you,” I asked.
“No sir I was sent by the sheriff. My Name is Jeff. I am a deputy and assigned to his area. I just wanted to stop by and get acquainted.”
“Thank you, sir. Can we get you anything to drink?”
“No Got other calls to make, but if you ever need anything here is my number.” And he handed me a card. Jeff was nicer than the others, but an unmarked car and no uniform. Something ain’t right in Denmark!
The next couple of weeks were uneventful. Deputy Jeff made some more stops. He even took me up on my offer to have lunch with me and my wife, what a nice gut, yeah. I figured he was doing recon.
During his stops I showed him the samples I had collected. They ranged from a few ounces to one thar was over a pound. I even shared the money I had been offered for the ones a put up on the internet. The one that was over a pound was liked by the school of astronomy with the University of New Mexico. There was a problem with that one. I am a supporter of higher education, but not free and that was their offer, we got more work to do there. With this last visit I thought he was more impressed with the money than the samples. My Spidey since began to tingle. I began to think my nights would not be so restful from here on.
Two more nights past and all was well. Then, after a tiresome day, I lay down without supper and fell asleep almost instantly. I don’t know how long I slept, but my alarm sounded. I checked the clock 3 A, M, I turned on the infrared cameras and my four TV screens lit up. There on screen 4 was a car parked with two figures at its trunk. The images were at the camera’s maximum range so definition was not the best. Still, I could make out that the figures were male and they were unloading guns, SHOWTIME,
I woke my wife, and we went through the training I had given her. She took her position, and I handed her the 380 Berretta to hold. I told her she was not to open the door unless I said her sister’s name before I told her to unlock. If the door opened and someone entered, she was to shoot for the center of that person’s chest.
I took the 30.06 with the night vision scope an left the trailer. I climbed to the roof of the trailer and took up a shooting posture. I could see the two men walking their way to our location. They were holding flashlights to watch for snakes and other undesirables besides themselves, that would be funny a snake biting a snake.
They got within range of one of my speakers and I said, “gentlemen, not a good time to come calling. Why don’t you go back to your car and come back in the morning, say about 11 A. M.?” They stopped surprised by the voice for only a minute. Then started up again. I said, “wrong move,” and fired a warning shot. “The next one will be for real!”
The man in front fired back he was carrying a shotgun; I assume. The pellets landed nowhere near me. I took aim and fired hitting him in the knee. I said, “I bet that hurts! You, number two. If I were you, I’d get him to a doctor ASAP. He was just hit with a Frangible, not much penetration but nasty wound. Without immediate medical treatment he could lose the leg or die from gangrene. OH …, just leave the shotgun. I’ll clean it and return it tomorrow.” The shooter dropped the shotgun, and the second man grabbed his partner. They hobbled back to the car. I said, “see ya.” I thought of adding, “but I wouldn’t want to be ya,” and left it at that.
Two days passed without further incident. I decided to go mto town. I wasn’t going to leave my wife out here by herself. So, I loaded the 30.06 and handed it to her. We drove into town and the first thing I saw was Jeff with his leg in a cast. Standing next to him was his partner. I pulled up in front of them and got out. “Jeffery7, Jeffry, Jeffry, I bet that hurts.”
“Like hell, and you will pay for it. The Doc says I’ll probably only be able to walk with crutches for the rest of my life.”
“I guess this means no more lunches. Oh, I think this is yours,” and I tossed him the shotgun. He had to move quickly to catch it and the move hurt his leg. I noticed a painful flinch. He grabbed it and just as quickly retched the slide lowering the barrel and clicking the trigger. I said, “I think you need these,” and dropped 4 shotgun shells on the floor in front of him. His partner reached for his gun and I said, “whoa partner before you do something very stupid. You better check out the window of my truck.” Sitting there was my wife and the ‘.06 aimed at his gut. I slowly drew my 380 and said, “very carefully take out your gun and place, not drop, place it on the ground.” When he had accomplished that I told him to push it away with the toe of his right foot. “Now boys this could end here, but if you and your boss have to press the matter beyond this point be advised there will be a price to pay.” I didn’t wait for a reply. I kept my gun pointed in their direction as I got into my truck and drove away.
At this point there was no way we could do anything else in town. I did watch as we left and in my rearview mirror, I saw the guy pick up his pistol, look at it, dusk it off, and rebolster.
When we got back to camp, we both got out. There was nothing to say. I would check the grounds, and she would get the trai9ler ready. Once that was done there was nothing to do but wait,
Midnight came, 1 A.m., 2 A.M., 3:30 A.M. the alarm sounded. I turned on the monitors and there on screen 4 was 3 men getting out of two cars. From what I could see they armed for bare. “Show time Hun. You going to be, ok?”
She nodded and I left to go to my snippers den that I set up earlier. The den overlooked their earlier approach. I added night vision binoculars so I could see their cars. When they had gone about 100 yards, I triggered an IED near their front car. The explosive was 6 sticks of TNT. The blast lifted the car 4 feet into the air, ruptured the gas tank flipped it over and set it on the ground in flames.
“Boys this could end here. It’s up to you.”
I could see them. They stopped and seemed to be talking among themselves. But they began to walk in my direction again. This time I triggered 3 Parashoot flares. Knight turned into day. I had shut my eyes to preserve my night vision, they didn’t. When the light dimmed, I opened my eyes and saw they were still rubbing theirs,
At this time, they hadn’t fired a shot. I said, “boys it only gets worse from here.” That must have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. The man in front emptied his shotgun. None of the pellets even came close. I drew a bead and fired taking out his right kneecap. He let out a whine and dropped to the ground. “No more nice guy boys,” I said.
Now the other 3 began to fire in all directions. High, low it didn’t seem to matter. Enough is enough I thought. I targeted the sheriff himself and fired, I hit him in his left shoulder. He spin around and went down. I used my PA system one more time, “you ain’t hurt yet, yeah, I mean you. Do you want to keep this up or call it quits? If you want it to end, get your friends back to the car and get out of here. Did you hear me?” He said something and I didn’t hear him, I said, “ say it like you got a pair>” I heard him that time.
I watched as he helped them back into the car and left. I don’t know where they went or where they got medical treatment, I don’t care, they were gone.
Two days passed and my wife and I were in the process of packing to leave when I saw a dust cloud coming our way. I told my wife to get in the trailer and get ready for anything. There were 5 cars and 20 people. I didn’t know what they wanted but I knew I couldn’t handle it. When they stopped the doors flew open and the people charged at me. “Look.” I said, “it was self-defense.”
“No. That’s not why we are here.”
“What then?”
“We want you to be our next sheriff. You write your own ticket.”
What would you say?
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