| General Fiction posted March 21, 2014 | Chapters: |
...23 24 -25- 26... 
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Confrontation is short and a standoff begins.
A chapter in the book Yosemite
Asylum and Prayers
by michaelcahill
| Background Global disaster of unknown origin has stranded campers in Yosemite. Survival is a day to day struggle as they try to organize. |
Previously, our militia came upon Russians as they captured a group of survivors without a struggle. Johnny and Christine led the recon group and went ahead of the group and discovered them. Johnny sent Christine to get the rest of the group in case they had to act immediately. We continue with the story now as the group is poised to strike. They prefer to wait for the rest of their forces to arrive, but the hostages that the Russians have taken might be executed and action my have to be taken immediately. We join the story now as the scene unfolds.
Several of the prisoners were being lined up. We had signals worked out for almost everything. My hand shot up with the fist closed. "Ready!" They were more than ready. One finger pointed at the officer nearest my position quickly pulled down and across my throat. All eyes were on me. As one they all nodded in the affirmative. My shot would be like the starter pistol at a sprint. Ready. Set. Hopefully, we could manage a stand off until our back up arrived. I looked at Christine. Not a bit of fear, just a smile and a darling wink. Did I mention that I loved her. I took careful aim. I think it was the commander of this group. I squeezed the trigger. I wanted to tell my squad that each and every last one of them would be receiving commendations regardless of race, creed or color, but their wasn't time. Go! I dropped my target in the mid-sentence. The people talking to him froze in shock. My people had them at knife and arrow point before they could draw another breath.
The nearest soldier to me felt my hand grasp his neck and the pressure of steel against his head. "English? Who speaks English?" I added a suitably insane expression for emphasis.
No doubt they had the impression that I would keep firing until someone yelled, "Nyet!", but in English of course.
A female voice shouted out something in Russian. It was Linda. I laughed out loud. I didn't bother to ask if she spoke Russian to my credit. "What did you say?"
"I told them you were crazy. I told them someone better learn English or there would be a lot of dead Russians here." Linda smiled.
"Sir, I speak English. Nikolai Volkov. You have no chance. We don't wish our comrades killed, but you will not take over our whole camp in this manner."
The man trembling in my grasp said something that sounded official. Nikolai looked deranged. I turned to Linda. "What did he say."
He said, "We still shoot traitors."
Nikolai deranged expression quickly turned to anger and his anger to disgust. He approached my captive speaking in animated Russian. I didn't ask for a translation. Without losing eye contact with my hostage he said, "Blow his head back to Mother Russia."
A shot rang out followed by a burst of fire and the whoosh of an arrow. Two bodies hit the ground motionless. Nikolai wheeled and shouted what sounded like a command in Russian. Weapons raised at the ready returned to a more relaxed, but still at the ready position. Linda already aimed another arrow. Her captive froze in terror, though no longer even guarded by her. The thought was enough. The soldier with the AK47 was in full battle mode.
"At ease." It was the only military sounding phrase that occurred to me at that moment. "Christ!", I thought, "I'm glad I didn't say parade rest or quote a commercial for marine recruitment…the few, the proud, the Marines!" I laughed. Christine snickered. The tension level in my people reduced, but the fear level in our hostages increased ten-fold.
"Nikolai. Here's the situation. Our troops are already deployed. This is an ambush. You're lucky it went down like this. We were just going to wipe out your invading party. You best tell these ladies here to lay there weapons down or we can started now." I gave him my best Clint Eastwood "I hope you let me start shooting everyone soon" look."
Nikolai surveyed the situation. He looked at Christine and quickly looked away as he sensed my disapproval. He paused at Linda a bit, in deserved awe. He considered our soldier and his AK47 steady and at the ready. He cast arrows of fiery hatred towards the man I still had at gunpoint.
He turned and faced the tense crowd. He spoke briefly in Russian and turned to face me. As he began to speak, the Russian soldiers each put their firearms on the ground in front of them and stepped back placing their hands on top of their heads. The hostages we had all slowly dropped to their knees except for my defiant one. A squeeze of his carotoid artery put him in position quickly.
Nikolai spoke to me, "I formerly request asylum for me and my men in…in this paradise. I suggest you dispose of this one. He dreams of spooning naked with Putin."
As always, our adventures seemed to end with Christine bursting into insane laughter and her minions, including Nikolai, joining in unable to resist her magical powers.
Our troops arrived in the nick of time to find us rounding up the Russian soldiers and making plans with Nikolai to assimilate our new arrivals into the group. Sometimes luck lends itself to legend in the most fortunate of ways. I could imagine a campfire in these very woods a hundred years from now with a mom and dad telling this tale by the campfire.
Smiling, my imagination took over, "It was back in the dark times kids. The only hope for the world then was Recon Johnny, leader of a rag tag group of forest dwellers. There were the Amazon Archers, Christine and Linda. It is said that if you looked into their eyes that mortal women would never satisfy you again. There was Red Dog Ronnie. He was the most steely-eyed soldier that ever carried an AK47 into battle. It is said that he still roams the forest lookin' for kids that don't mind their parents, ready to jump from behind a tree at any time and say: BEDTIME KIDS OR I SHOOT!"
Well, no time for my fantasy world at the moment. We had to get back to camp and sort this out. I nudged Christine, "No more sleeping for you, Darlin'."
"Oh?" she leaned into me. "You makin' promises or just braggin' again Recon Johnny?" She smiled and blushed, but only inside.
I smiled slightly, but I had a request for her, "Christine. You need to tell one of your stories to these people. It is about time we remember who and what we are. There's two dead bodies right there, human beings. Either one of us would have been happy to kill one of them. I don't like being that person. I know that you don't either. Before we return to camp, they deserve a proper burial. It would relieve a lot of tension if you would say something over their graves. You'll know what to say. Would you?"
"I will, Johnny. I think I know what you want. It's what I want too. Yes, I'll do my best."
Being the leader had become second nature to me. I spoke in my best command voice, "Before we return to camp we need to pay our proper respect to these two people. That looks like a nice place over there by that large redwood that overlooks the meadow. After that we'll be on our way…we'll be on our way home."
It finally dawned on me that this place was now home. That hit me hard. Did the others feel the same way? Graves were dug and the two deceased were buried.
I stood by the two gravesites with my arm on the shoulder of an older woman. Her name was Brenda. One of the gravesites held her daughter. She had no one in the world now besides us. This would be a moment to remember. It had to be remembered for us to remain human.
Christine stepped forward to deliver her benediction. She closed her eyes and held her palms up. "I know that your name is not important. We are small and you are large. We name things when you understand things and have no need to name them."
Nikolai translated to the Russians softly to a group off by a stand of trees.
Christine continued, "Even now we have to explain to each other what our words mean. We have to discuss even what your name is and how we should speak to you. Well, I will just speak to you without a name for I know that you must understand. We are sorry for what we have done to these two people, your people that you placed in our care. We have failed you and our hearts our heavy." She paused and waited for Nikolai to finish his quiet translation. She continued on,
Several of the prisoners were being lined up. We had signals worked out for almost everything. My hand shot up with the fist closed. "Ready!" They were more than ready. One finger pointed at the officer nearest my position quickly pulled down and across my throat. All eyes were on me. As one they all nodded in the affirmative. My shot would be like the starter pistol at a sprint. Ready. Set. Hopefully, we could manage a stand off until our back up arrived. I looked at Christine. Not a bit of fear, just a smile and a darling wink. Did I mention that I loved her. I took careful aim. I think it was the commander of this group. I squeezed the trigger. I wanted to tell my squad that each and every last one of them would be receiving commendations regardless of race, creed or color, but their wasn't time. Go! I dropped my target in the mid-sentence. The people talking to him froze in shock. My people had them at knife and arrow point before they could draw another breath.
The nearest soldier to me felt my hand grasp his neck and the pressure of steel against his head. "English? Who speaks English?" I added a suitably insane expression for emphasis.
No doubt they had the impression that I would keep firing until someone yelled, "Nyet!", but in English of course.
A female voice shouted out something in Russian. It was Linda. I laughed out loud. I didn't bother to ask if she spoke Russian to my credit. "What did you say?"
"I told them you were crazy. I told them someone better learn English or there would be a lot of dead Russians here." Linda smiled.
"Sir, I speak English. Nikolai Volkov. You have no chance. We don't wish our comrades killed, but you will not take over our whole camp in this manner."
The man trembling in my grasp said something that sounded official. Nikolai looked deranged. I turned to Linda. "What did he say."
He said, "We still shoot traitors."
Nikolai deranged expression quickly turned to anger and his anger to disgust. He approached my captive speaking in animated Russian. I didn't ask for a translation. Without losing eye contact with my hostage he said, "Blow his head back to Mother Russia."
A shot rang out followed by a burst of fire and the whoosh of an arrow. Two bodies hit the ground motionless. Nikolai wheeled and shouted what sounded like a command in Russian. Weapons raised at the ready returned to a more relaxed, but still at the ready position. Linda already aimed another arrow. Her captive froze in terror, though no longer even guarded by her. The thought was enough. The soldier with the AK47 was in full battle mode.
"At ease." It was the only military sounding phrase that occurred to me at that moment. "Christ!", I thought, "I'm glad I didn't say parade rest or quote a commercial for marine recruitment…the few, the proud, the Marines!" I laughed. Christine snickered. The tension level in my people reduced, but the fear level in our hostages increased ten-fold.
"Nikolai. Here's the situation. Our troops are already deployed. This is an ambush. You're lucky it went down like this. We were just going to wipe out your invading party. You best tell these ladies here to lay there weapons down or we can started now." I gave him my best Clint Eastwood "I hope you let me start shooting everyone soon" look."
Nikolai surveyed the situation. He looked at Christine and quickly looked away as he sensed my disapproval. He paused at Linda a bit, in deserved awe. He considered our soldier and his AK47 steady and at the ready. He cast arrows of fiery hatred towards the man I still had at gunpoint.
He turned and faced the tense crowd. He spoke briefly in Russian and turned to face me. As he began to speak, the Russian soldiers each put their firearms on the ground in front of them and stepped back placing their hands on top of their heads. The hostages we had all slowly dropped to their knees except for my defiant one. A squeeze of his carotoid artery put him in position quickly.
Nikolai spoke to me, "I formerly request asylum for me and my men in…in this paradise. I suggest you dispose of this one. He dreams of spooning naked with Putin."
As always, our adventures seemed to end with Christine bursting into insane laughter and her minions, including Nikolai, joining in unable to resist her magical powers.
Our troops arrived in the nick of time to find us rounding up the Russian soldiers and making plans with Nikolai to assimilate our new arrivals into the group. Sometimes luck lends itself to legend in the most fortunate of ways. I could imagine a campfire in these very woods a hundred years from now with a mom and dad telling this tale by the campfire.
Smiling, my imagination took over, "It was back in the dark times kids. The only hope for the world then was Recon Johnny, leader of a rag tag group of forest dwellers. There were the Amazon Archers, Christine and Linda. It is said that if you looked into their eyes that mortal women would never satisfy you again. There was Red Dog Ronnie. He was the most steely-eyed soldier that ever carried an AK47 into battle. It is said that he still roams the forest lookin' for kids that don't mind their parents, ready to jump from behind a tree at any time and say: BEDTIME KIDS OR I SHOOT!"
Well, no time for my fantasy world at the moment. We had to get back to camp and sort this out. I nudged Christine, "No more sleeping for you, Darlin'."
"Oh?" she leaned into me. "You makin' promises or just braggin' again Recon Johnny?" She smiled and blushed, but only inside.
I smiled slightly, but I had a request for her, "Christine. You need to tell one of your stories to these people. It is about time we remember who and what we are. There's two dead bodies right there, human beings. Either one of us would have been happy to kill one of them. I don't like being that person. I know that you don't either. Before we return to camp, they deserve a proper burial. It would relieve a lot of tension if you would say something over their graves. You'll know what to say. Would you?"
"I will, Johnny. I think I know what you want. It's what I want too. Yes, I'll do my best."
Being the leader had become second nature to me. I spoke in my best command voice, "Before we return to camp we need to pay our proper respect to these two people. That looks like a nice place over there by that large redwood that overlooks the meadow. After that we'll be on our way…we'll be on our way home."
It finally dawned on me that this place was now home. That hit me hard. Did the others feel the same way? Graves were dug and the two deceased were buried.
I stood by the two gravesites with my arm on the shoulder of an older woman. Her name was Brenda. One of the gravesites held her daughter. She had no one in the world now besides us. This would be a moment to remember. It had to be remembered for us to remain human.
Christine stepped forward to deliver her benediction. She closed her eyes and held her palms up. "I know that your name is not important. We are small and you are large. We name things when you understand things and have no need to name them."
Nikolai translated to the Russians softly to a group off by a stand of trees.
Christine continued, "Even now we have to explain to each other what our words mean. We have to discuss even what your name is and how we should speak to you. Well, I will just speak to you without a name for I know that you must understand. We are sorry for what we have done to these two people, your people that you placed in our care. We have failed you and our hearts our heavy." She paused and waited for Nikolai to finish his quiet translation. She continued on,
 Recognized |
This is rolling along and into territory that is unknown to the campers. Information should come from the Russians. But, in a sense they are in the same boat as the campers. Well, some of you will notice that I do hear your ideas and often they heavily influence the direction of the story. So, please keep the suggestions and thoughts coming. I know I am way behind in responses. I apologize again and assure you that I am reading them and trying to keep up. I review first and then answer responses. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support. I would be lost without you. Thank you so much. mikey
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