all god's orphans
Chapter 39

Breakfast at AGO November usually consisted of powdered eggs and some bacon, but this place was filled with Southern women and they weren’t about to allow their men to go on without some good biscuits if they could help it. Today happened to be one of the days they had found a working oven somewhere and whipped up a batch of buttermilk biscuits. The entire camp smelled like a bakery and every face broadcast a butter induced smile. Brian couldn’t believe how much he had missed this. He held the fresh baked nugget of golden happiness up to his nose and breathed deeply in.

“What are you doing?” Carla asked him.

“Just savoring the moment.” He told her. Wes chomped into his own biscuit.

“I would kill for some grape jelly right now.” He said through a mouthful. Brian made sure no one could hear him and bent towards Wes.

“So what’s the plan?” Wes seemed confused.

“What plan?” Crumbs erupted from his mouth.

“To go check on my brother?” Wes scrunched up his face.

“There’s no plan. As soon as we get out of the gate we’ll go check on him. It’s not that hard, dude.” He seemed confident. “You say he’s in a house nearby?” Brian nodded. Wes considered this for a moment. “I wonder if there’s any jelly there.” He had a one-track mind.

Wes and Brian left Carla to her laundry duty and headed for the section of camp where all of the black SUVs sat in tidy lines. They were all the same but that didn’t stop people from wanting a certain one. Wes found one nearer to the front, opened the back up and situated himself on the tailgate to enjoy the last of his coffee and a cigarette before starting the day. Every morning before breakfast, their platoon sergeant would give out the day’s assignment. It was generally either guard duty or foraging and they had once again been given foraging duties. Brian was relieved to finally be on his way to see Daniel. He only had two weeks of insulin left and Brian was impatient.

Wes got halfway through his cigarette before Sgt. MacDunn happened to spot him. Wes had heard through the grapevine that MacDunn had been a youth pastor before and he still treated his soldiers as though they were at church camp or something. He was older than Wes, but only by a little. Holt and Buck followed close behind him.

“Why is it that every time I hear about someone breaking the rules it’s either you or you’re very close by?” He asked as Wes blew out a cloud of smoke.

“Probably because this camp is really small, so everything is very close by.” Wes didn’t bother to look him in the eye.

“You’ve got a real problem with authority, don’t you Wes?” He asked. Wes shrugged.

“Depends on the authority, I guess.” MacDunn had suffered enough indignity. He stepped forward and snatched the cigarette from Wes’ mouth, throwing it to the ground.

“Littering is also not allowed on base.” Wes smirked.

“You’re such an a-hole.” Holt observed. Wes clutched imaginary pearls.

“My Heavens.” He blared in a false Southern belle accent. “Such salty language.” Holt stepped forward but was stopped by MacDunn.

“I’ll handle this, corporal.” MacDunn told him. “You need some discipline.” Wes hopped down from the back of the SUV.

“No.” He said. “What I need is another cigarette.” Wes tried to walk back to the front of the vehicle to retrieve his pack but MacDunn put a hand on his chest.

“I’ve got an assignment for you.”

“We already have our assignment.” Brian said. “We’re foraging in town.”

“Not anymore you’re not.” MacDunn informed him. “I’ve spoken with your sergeant and you two are getting a special mission.” Brian could tell by the way that Holt was smiling that this special mission was going to be shit.

“There are two dead bodies near the Sonic drive-in on route 41. You are to pick them up, take them to the field behind the IGA grocery store near there and bury them.” Brian sighed with relief. At least that wasn’t going to take all day. “Also,” MacDunn continued. “You will bury the other bodies that are already there waiting.” Wes fumed, but kept his tongue. “I’m going to come check on you and if the sun goes down and those corpses are still above ground, I’m going to charge you with dereliction of duty and have you sent for a court martial in Atlanta. Do you know what the penalty is for that under martial law?” Brian’s heart sank. Holt handed them both a shovel. “Get to it, gentlemen.” Said MacDunn. “It’s going to take a while and the day is much shorter than you think.”

“All right,” Said Wes as he drove towards route 41. “I’m officially sick of this place.” Brian nodded. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Brian didn’t respond immediately. “We need to get the fuck outta here.”

“I can’t leave without my brother.” Brian said. “Or my mother.” He almost forgot about Carla.

“Okay, so let’s get them and ditch this joint.” He made it sound so easy. Brian wanted to believe they could do it, but so many things could go wrong that he had a hard time convincing himself that they could get away with it. They were both on file as soldiers. If another patrol found them and checked their database, they’d be arrested for desertion and shot. These days there wasn’t much mercy to be found. Judgments were severe.

Wes continued along route 41 until he could see the sign for Sonic in the distance. As they approached, he wondered how in the Hell they were going to replace these bodies, but it soon became obvious. Across from the drive-in was a streetlight bearing two hanged men dangling about fifteen feet in the air.

“Jesus fuck.” Brian gulped. He had never been so close to anything like this. They parked and got out of the vehicle. Even at this distance they could smell the decomposition.

“What does that say around their necks?” Asked Wes. Brian looked through his scope. Rough wooden placards had been hung around their necks with string. The signs said simply ‘rapers’. He could see the men’s piebald tongues protruding from white lips. It seemed so surreal that Brian expected them to start speaking any minute and announce that they were on a hidden camera reality show, but they merely twisted in the gentle breeze. Wes removed a machete from the SUV and whacked at the ropes that were secured to a nearby fire hydrant. The bodies fell to earth and the clear crack of breaking bones tore little rips in the air. It was so sharp that Brian knew he would never forget that sound as long as he lived. The bodies lay in a strange heap, their arms and legs at wrong angles that made him sick to see. Wes didn’t seem too bothered.

“All right.” Wes chirped. “Let’s get these rapists buried and go replace your brother.” That thought help Brian push everything else from his mind as they loaded the corpses into the back of the SUV. They had to roll down all of the windows and even leave the back open to deal with the smell. This place was so far from the main town that it was empty. There were no pod people or any real stores to speak of. The nearby grocery store was likewise emptied inside. Brian had been looking forward to a warm energy drink, but there was nothing. As they walked around to the back to look for the field, they could still smell the dead bodies in their truck. Or at least, that’s what they thought it was. Instead, lying in a neat line almost shoulder to shoulder, they found fifteen dead bodies, all naked with a single gunshot wound to their head.