Quaranteam - Dave In Dallas: Part 11

Cleanup: The Air Force arrives with a mop.

Based on a post by RonanJWilkerson, in 12 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.

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Dave's second quandary was his position, nearly on the middle of the pad, left him seriously exposed. Applying the aggressiveness taught by Carter, he knew Liv had him protected to the right, so he closed with the occupied building, moving to the far corner. A quick look showed him there were again two doors, like the other building. And two men emerging from the far door. Turning their backs to him as they followed a third man who was just rounding the opposite corner. That put him out of Dave's sight, but into Liv's.

As the men receded, Dave fired into their backs. Neither was at a sprint, so they fell forward without the dramatic tumbling of the earlier target. A simultaneous rifle crack announced the death of the lead in that trio.

He paused. Dave couldn't hear any sounds coming from the building. He remained wary, uneasy. How many more will it take? He waited.

An eternity later, the door on one of the smaller buildings slowly opened. Two hands held high and outward came into view, followed by the woman they were attached to. She moved slowly. She was too far away for Dave to read her facial expression but she was giving all the big outward signs of surrender.

Two more women exited another of the smaller buildings. One was an average build, the other rotund. The latter's feet seemed reluctant to move.

Great. Don't know if there's anyone left in the big building, and now I have unknowns coming in from the houses.

Other women began issuing from what must be the dwellings. Eight in all. As they neared, most had curious, guarded expressions on their faces. The big one had a look like she rarely smiled, ever.

"Alright, that's close enough! Just stop where you are. Pick a leader and send her forward."

There was a brief discussion which resulted in a medium height brunette walking towards him. The third woman out glared daggers into the back of the brunette's skull. The angry one argued hard with all of them, but none seemed interested in anything she had to say.

Dave waited until the brunette reached easy speaking distance.

"Stop right there. What's your name?"

"Sandy."

"How many of you are there?"

"I don't rightly know." She looked thoughtful. "All the men were in the community building. Us women and our kids were in our homes. Jeb, the man that bound me to him, came in awhile ago with a new woman. She was out, like from the shot he gave me before."

That confirms they're using the QT serum . "If he bound you to him with that shot, why are you awake?"

"Oh, that was a few weeks back for me. I knew him a little bit before lockdowns started. Then he just shows up and says he has this safe place to stay and we can both be safe from the virus runnin' round, but I have to take this shot and sleep with him. He's been an okay guy, and I ain't had no boyfriend in several months anyway. 'Sides, he didn't tell me that I couldn't be with anybody else after that. Which sucks, but mostly he's been okay. Only been an asshole a few times, but that's pretty fair for most guys I've met. No offense."

Dave smirked. "Sandy, how many men are there in your community?"

She stopped, looking off to the side, thinking. "Well, there was the ten that left saying' they's gonna raid a rich man's house for somethin', never told us what. Now we know why. They were out collectin' poon like we's just a bunch a deer and no tag limit." Sandy paused. "Is that why you're here? You come to scoop us up and make us your whores?"

"No, ma'am." We killed more than ten, so that can't be all . "If you ladies were bound to these men, we'll need to take you to the people that hand out the vaccine to see what they can do for you. But ma'am, please, how many men total are there?"

The far door of the community building opened slowly, and a woman stepped out. It was the one Dave had seen inject one of the women right before she got raped.

"Get over with the others. Is anyone else inside?"

The woman shook her head no and moved swiftly to join the pack.

"Oh, right. Well, after the ten left, all six of the others took off saying' they could do just as good somewhere else. But only three of them came back, including Jeb. As soon as they's back they took the nurse, that's the woman that just came out, well they took her and the two women bound to two of the guys that didn't come back and a bit later those women are out cold again. I thought the whole shot thing was permanent, but maybe not if the guy's dead? I hope so, 'cuz we're about to be in a bad way aren't we?"

Thirteen. Thirteen men here. Dave counted off in his head. He thought they'd taken out thirteen, but he wasn't going to make assumptions. Especially when one part of his brain was parodying an old farcical movie about how many bullets had been fired from a gun. An 80's flick set in the 50's.

"Alright Sandy, is there anyone else left in the houses?"

"Just the kids, and some unconscious women. The men said they'd gotten them; reassigned?" She looked frustrated. "Guess I still wasn't good enough to keep that asshole by m'self."

Dave deliberately gave Sandy an appraising look. "I think that has more to do with his greed than your looks or personality."

"Well ain't you sweet?" Sandy licked her lips and looked Dave up and down.

"Easy, I meant every word I said, but I already have several partners. Those six that left attacked my house."

Sandy's face dropped. "I don't know if I should hate your guts for killing Jeb, or thank you, for the same thing." After a pause she spoke again. "You should be careful of Debbie. Her husband brought her here for some kinda rebel nation shit. She's already pissed he came back with some hot blonde from a rich man's house. But not so mad at him she's just gonna let you killin' him slide."

"Is she the rather large woman that looks like she sucked on an entire lemon tree?"

"That's the one."

"How 'bout we settle on neutrality for now? Look, let's get all of you back in your homes and warm. I'll need to call the authorities to make sure you all get taken care of before that serum starts doing ugly things."

Sandy walked back to the assembled throng. Another debate broke out. Debbie leading a third of the group in angry objections. Then she turned to face Dave.

"Where's our men? What gives you the right to come bargin' in here?" She headed for the far end of the building. Several others followed, more than just the ones that had agreed with her.

Dave knew things would turn ugly as soon as these women saw the dead bodies. His fastest route into the open yard space was behind him. He sprinted the way he'd come, entering the yard through the gap just as the women began kneeling near selected bodies. By the women's placement, some of the men must have sprinted from the building's edge. Instead of a clump near the corner, there was a line of a few reaching towards the tree line. Dave felt a cold turn inside. Rationally, he could see the line ended well before the trees, suggesting Liv had taken all of them down before they got close. But could one have gotten through?

That thought was interrupted by Debbie leaving the line of dead, beginning to search the yard and moving as quickly as her thick legs would carry her. Dave moved to get clear of the gap and the bodies just beyond it.

Several of the other women left the line of dead as well. They slowly swarmed about the open space while Debbie made a beeline for the gap. Then she noticed a body in the grass. Fury returned to her face after a brief look of relief. Then she paused. Her chest was already heaving from exertion. When she faced Dave, the anguish was obvious.

"You fucking coward! You shot 'em in the back! You shot my husband!" She began a slow charge at him.

Dave sorted through his options. The only sure way he had of stopping this woman was his weapon, but he had no desire to shoot an unarmed woman grieving her husband. He could outrun her easily, but he needed to stay in the area. For a moment, Dave's brain played an image of him making short sprints and the woman chasing after him like some schoolyard game. Not helping dammit . Dave took a few steps backwards, bringing him near the back wall of the community building. He noticed the dryer vent again, which meant the pile of pipes wasn't far. He'd have to be careful if he backpedaled any more. Falling on his ass would not engender obedience or respect.

Debbie's tirade ended in a screech as she reached into her pocket. Her hand came back out with a small revolver.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Dave brought his weapon up faster than her and pulled his trigger. Click . No round fired. The weapon jammed. Shit .

Dave dove sideways and backwards just as Debbie fired. He felt a smack on his shoulder as he fell. His hand landed on the pipe pile. He grabbed and rolled away from the wall as another shot spanged off the brick. As he rolled, he swung one arm, releasing one of the two rods he'd snagged. He threw one leg out and came up from his roll, facing Debbie as she r