The Fall of America: Premonition of Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

pool of blood under him. I emptied my entire clip into the rag-heads body. That was the first and last time in my life I ever took a prisoner. Maybe I'm cold and heartless, but I'm still alive.
    Skillet and I entered the house and made our way down to the basement. It was quiet down there and as I neared the group, Tom asked, "Did I hear a shotgun?"
    I started to lie to him, but said, "Yep, one of the men that probably stepped on a toe popper was hiding in the dark."
    "Look at all the blood on Skillet! Is he okay?" Sandra asked.
    "Skillet let me know about the man quick enough and I turned the big boy loose."
    Tom, looking confused asked, "Then why the shot?"
    "I thought the man might have a pistol. But, just so you all know, I don't take prisoners and never have."
    Sandra gave me a surprised look, blinked a few times and then asked, "Never?"
    I explained what had happened in Iraq and it was quiet for a long time. I think one of them may have thought I was a killer, another a man without any mercy at all, or that the war had made me a man suffering from severe PTSD. Only one person's thoughts really mattered, and that was Sandra's. I didn't gave a rat's ass what the other two thought.
    "I wish you hadn't killed him, but we don't have a place to keep prisoners. Where could we lock them up and really feel safe?" Sandra said.
    Sue gave a weak smile and said, "I thought about that and the amount of food we'd have to give them as well. I don't agree with murder, only we have no idea how badly the man was wounded either, so you may have ended his agony. We could have used up a lot of our medical supplies trying to keep him alive, only to have him die anyway."
    Tom simply said, "From now on, we'll take no prisoners. But, understand me when I say this, we will kill cleanly and with no torture. I can justify killing in my mind by what's been said here tonight, torture I cannot accept. If any of you have a problem with this, speak up now."
    No one spoke up, so I pulled a towel from a shelf near me and started drying Skillet off. He was soaked, but his tail wagged and he was grinning when I finished the job. I squatted in front of the big boy and gave him a hug. As soon as we broke apart, he licked my face from chin to forehead and I broke out laughing.
    When I looked around, only Sandra had a smile on her face and that worried me, I didn't say anything. After all, we'd just survive a vicious attack and some folks react differently following combat. I know, because I used to drop to my knees and puke.
    "How's the weather out there?" Tom asked, all business once more.
    "Winds from the south, I'd guess 40 miles an hour, with gusts over 60. It's raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock, except horizontal, and dark as all get out. I noticed hundreds of lightning flashes and if the television still worked, I'm sure some weather channel would have shown a radar image with hundreds of strikes around us."
    "I find it hard to believe after all the effort we made to prepare for this day; we forgot to get anything to help us with the weather. We could have installed a battery operated weather station for less than a hundred dollars."
    "All I have is an old thermometer nailed to the barn door and that's it. We either have what we need now or steal it."
    "What I'd like to have is a barometer so I could see what the barometric pressure is doing."
    There sounded a loud bang upstairs and suddenly the wind could be heard clearly. A number of other loud sounds followed the bang immediately and I knew we had a twister. I could hear things crashing, breaking, and creaking. At one point, I actually heard my home moan.
    "Everyone, get under my work bench and do it now!" I screamed as I grabbed Sandra's hand and started moving.
    We had to crawl to get under my bench, but once there I said, "We'll stay under this thing until the storm dies down. The frame is solid steel, so even if the house falls on us we'll be safe, maybe."
    Tom, always joking said, "With my