Eagle People (36 page)

They were less than a mile from the village, so smiling, Amon gathered ten of his best Dog Soldiers. It was cold and getting colder as they moved back to the village.  

Once there, Amon threw a few blankets on top of the snow and then they planted mines around them in the hard soil. It was time consuming work, but once completed, they covered the mines lightly with soil and then sprinkled snow on top. In the middle of the blankets was a buckskin bag that one of the men had found in the village, and it held dried beef. Under the bag was a grenade, with the pin removed, so if someone got past the mines, but picked up the bag, the spoon on the grenade would fly off and it would explode. The snow was tapering off and he figured it'd stop within an hour.

They quickly gathered up any loose clothing on the ground or foods that they could find and there was little. Moving to a lodge where they could still see the blankets from the window, they sat on the hard cold floor to wait.

It would be a long chilled wait, because the Snake warriors would not return on this day. Amon glanced at Mongoose. She met his eyes and smiled, as only a lover and wife would do.

The day was long, cold and boring for Masheck and his men, with little to do but sleep or watch the snow fall. One of the warriors, a man called Nimrod, had a few strips of jerky, which he shared with the group. Finally, once the snow stopped, the other warrior, Ned, decided to hunt for rabbits, which were usually found in abundance around the base of mountains.

An hour later, the men heard a shot, followed about ten minutes later by another. Masheck was not worried about being followed by the Cheyenne Mountain warriors, because the falling and blowing snow had covered their tracks. No one could track if tracks could not be seen.

A little later, Ned returned packing two rabbits, which he quickly skinned and gutted. He then skewered the rabbits whole and placed them over the small fire to roast.

“Cold as hell out there.” he said as he sat on a log beside the fire.

“It's below zero.” Zedock said and then asked, “Did you see any tracks?”

“Just animal tracks, no human. I think anyone with any sense will be holed up right now, because the snow is deep enough that just moving in it caused me to sweat. I had to open my coat to allow myself to cool as I moved. An inexperienced warrior would continue to sweat and then once he stopped, it'd freeze over and kill his ass.”

“It's called hypothermia.” Masheck said.

“What is?”

“The lowering of the bodies internal temperature and it's serious business.”

“Yep, it's serious and I've seen a few men get it before. We had to stop, get a fire going and feed them hot drinks.”

“That's enough talk. Words carry far in snow country and we have no idea if the warriors will come for us, but if they do, I'd not be the least be surprised if they wore snowshoes.”

The rabbit was good and the men left no scraps of meat on the bones as they tossed them in the woods around them.  

“Settle in, no talking, and pass the time. I want two guards on duty all the time, until we leave in the morning. All will stand guard except Masheck, and I don't expect a chief to guard.”  Zedock said.

“Who's first and how long are the shifts?” Ned asked.

“Me and Nimrod, then Luther and you. Four on and four off, until we leave this place.”

The day passed slowly, with nothing to do except sleep, stare at the flickering flames of the fire, or whittle on soft pine. It was late afternoon, when Ned said, “I'm going hunting. Maybe I can down something for supper.”

“Do as you wish, but get your ass back in time to pull your shift.”

Grinning, he replied, “Hell, you worry about you, Nimrod, because I'll be back in plenty of time to pull my shift. Just thinking another bite of food will help us sleep better.”

Nimrod nodded, but said nothing.

Right at dark, Ned walked from the shadows, threw two rear quarters of a small deer by the fire and said, “Caught a doe in a clearing by the lake. I had to leave the rest and was lucky to get here with this, because wolves moved in on me.”

“Damn me,” Masheck said, “that'll make a fine meal. Seems you're the only one with any brains in this group, Ned, so from this point on, consider yourself the chief of my scouts. Thanks to you and you alone, we'll not gone hungry while here. That makes your position fourth in total leadership of the tribe.”

Ned laughed and asked, “What scouts and what tribe? I'm not being a smart-ass, but our tribe consists of five men, with no women. If we consider Nimrod a scout, I'm a chief scout to one warrior.”

Masheck, livid by the comment, didn't show it and said, “Once we've recovered, we will attack a small village of Fish People I know by the lake. We'll gain control easily with our guns. Then, we'll allow men who will swear allegiance to us to live, give them a few women each, and slowly build our tribe up again. The only ones with guns will be us. We'll rule by fear and intimidation, which always works well.”

Nimrod was cutting the dark red meat into chunks and placing each on a stick, which was sharpened at both ends. He then pushed the sharpened end furthest from the meat into the hard soil by the flames, leaning it toward the heat of the fire. A couple of minutes later, oils started dropping into the fire, which caused flames to flare up, and oils to sizzle. The wonderful scent of roasting meat filled the small camp.

Not waiting for the meat to completely cook, the men pulled a stick and started eating.  Nimrod placed more meat on sticks to cook as they ate.

“Ned,” Zedock said as he ate, “this meat is a real lifesaver. It will only fill our bellies, but improves our morale, which is important.”

“I strongly agree.”  Masheck said, and then wiped blood from his chin with his hand.

“It's funny,” Luther said, “how a simple thing like a good meal can make a man feel good about life again.”

“We have enough meat for now, breakfast, and all day tomorrow, so we're in good shape. I just got lucky is all.” Ned said.

“Lucky or not, if Zedock or Luther falls in future battles, you'll be promoted into their position.”

Zedock, his anger obvious by his red face and narrow eyes, said, “Now, that's some shit to bring up with us sitting beside you.”

The chief smiled and said, “Yes it is, but in our current situation, it's very likely one or both of you will die. Hell, I might even die, then he'll be the grand chief—of one man. Relax, I didn't mean to anger you, just telling what
could
come to pass. Anyway, as of this moment, Ned, you'll have two wives, if we ever get any women.”

“I'll smile about the wives if I survive this and we overrun a village.”

All laughed and then Masheck said, “We're all survivors, that's why out of all in the village, we're the only ones by this fire. Now, we have to remain smart, like a small pack of wolves and select our prey, or villages, carefully. I see no reason why we can't be sleeping in the Fish People's village in a few days.”

“Well, I hope so. Now, as the new leader of the scouts, I suggest we eat all we can hold, quiet down, and then get some sleep. That is, if you still plan to return to the village in the morning.”

“We need to return, if nothing else to dig up the supplies and gear I have hidden. I also think we might find some foods left behind or blankets. Then, we'll move toward the Fish People and look the place over.” Masheck said.

“Same shifts?” Nimrod asked.

Masheck met Ned's eyes and nodded.

“Yes, same shifts.” Ned said and the leaned back against the rough bark of a pine to watch over camp.

Morning was cold as the small group of Snakes moved around the village, seeing if it was safe to enter.  It was cold, light wind, but no snow. They saw no smoke and surely anyone in the village would have to have a fire to survive. Finally, Masheck sent his new chief of scouts, Ned, into the place to check out a few lodges and the village center. He was to return and report, unless he ran into trouble.

Ned moved to the edge of the village, but saw nothing but dead bodies of warriors and a few women, and one child. The bullets had torn the dead apart and did a lot of damage to human flesh. The first body he saw was of a warrior who'd taken a bullet to the chest, but it'd exited near his knee. From the blood around the dead man, he'd suffered much and eventually bled out.

He walked from one end of the village to the other, but saw no evidence of anyone alive. His eyes constantly scanned and he spotted the blankets and the jerky bag, but kept walking. He moved to a lodge, kicked the door in, but all he saw inside was blood spattered walls and the mangled bodies of two men. He checked two more lodges with the same results.

He returned to Masheck and said, “I saw nothing alive, and I mean nothing. I've never seen a bullet do the damage I just saw done to our dead. It must tumble or something. I saw one man hit in the chest and it came out just above his kneecap. That's some nasty shit.”

“Did you see any food, blankets, or supplies?”

“Well, I didn't check every lodge, but in the village square there are some blankets and a big leather bag like we usually keep jerky stored. I didn't touch anything, because I was a mite busy.”

Masheck thought for a second and then said, “Luther, I want you, Ned, and Nimrod to collect the blankets and jerky bag. Once you do that, check the lodges. Anything of use, I mean anything, stack it in the center of the village. That means you'll have to check the bodies too, to remove things in pockets, on belts, and so on. Even bloody clothing we will need.”

“Sure, we can do that.”

“While you're doing that, we'll dig up my supplies and gear. I had a feeling the day I buried it, I'd have use for it one day in the future. Oh, did you see any horses?”

Ned replied, “No, except for two dead ones. I'm sure the Northern Mountain People took all our horses with them.”

“Remove the rear quarters of both animals. The weather has been cold, so it may take you some time, due to the flesh being frozen. I don't know how well hunting will be over the next few days and a meal of horse meat will be better than going hungry.”

Nimrod was smiling, so Zedock asked, “Why are you grinning like a village fool?”

“I just realized we'll survive this, and things aren't nearly as bad as I thought.”

“We'll live,” Masheck said, “but only if we take everything of possible use. Even with all we'll soon have, it'll be rough. Now, let's move.”

The men separated and moved toward their targets.

Ned walked cautiously to the village and asked, “What do you want done first?”

“You get the blankets and jerky while we strip bodies near you. I don't want us to spread too far apart, in case we run into trouble. Three guns put out more bullets than one or two.”

 Once near the blankets, Luther and Nimrod started going through pockets and pulling clothing off. Ned walked toward the blankets when suddenly a wall of fire erupted all around him, a loud blast was heard and he felt himself flying through the air. He landed flat on his back and in shock. He heard screams, only he had no idea one of the screams came from him and the other from Luther.

His eyes were blurred and then a pain started radiating up his legs, both of them. He raised his head, look down and saw his right leg was missing from mid-thigh down and his left was gone at the knee. Long coils of his purplish-gray intestines were on his lower stomach and in the snow beside him. He saw smoke from his clothing, as well as steam from his intestines, rising in the cold air and the pain became worst. He gritted his teeth against a sudden wave of anguish, but finally he could resist no more and let out a loud scream.

Zedock, digging beside Masheck heard the explosion and asked, “What in the hell was that? It was too close and loud to be thunder.”

The chief was already on his feet, the knife he'd been digging with still stuck in the ground.  “I'm not sure what it was, but you can bet your ass Luther is in trouble. Let's check it out now, but be careful. Hell, the warriors may have returned or something.”

When they neared the village, all was quiet and no movement seen, except for all three men on the ground. A thick cloud of smoke covered the area directly over Ned and Luther. Nimrod was off from the other two a bit, but other than being on the ground, there was no smoke around him.