Avenging Home by Angery American Read Free Book Online

“You are a subject matter expert on dumb.”
    Ted laughed. “After spending so many years with your dumbass, I am indeed.”
    I laughed and looked at Dalton. “So what’s that make you?”
    He jumped up on top of the bunker and struck a pose with his hands on his hips. “Why, the Mad Hatter of course!” And he followed it with a maniacal laugh.
    Ted looked up at him. “Yes, yes you are.”
    Laughing, I added, “Indeed.”
    Danny pointed to a long green tube leaned against the side of the bunker. “What’s that?”
    Mike smiled. “That’s a Goose. It’s a recoilless rifle. It blows shit up.”
    Danny was impressed. “Nice.”
    “Yeah, those assholes show up with another MRAP and I’m turning it into scrap metal,” Mike replied.
    “It’s nice to have something to deal with them,” I added.
    Ted nudged the weapon with the toe of his boot. “This will more than deal with them.”
    “Let’s just hope we don’t need to,” Danny said.
    We all agreed to that sentiment. We said goodbye and headed home. I wanted to check on Taylor and hang out with her a little while. As we walked, I looked at the little raised spot on my arm where the TB shot was given. Danny looked over and asked, “How’s it looking?”
    I shrugged. “Hell if I know. Looks swollen to me, but I wouldn’t know good from bad.”
    “Doc check it lately?”
    “Going to have him look at it at dinner.”
    “Hopefully it’s good news.”
    I shrugged. “I don’t think I have it. I mean, I don’t feel sick. I’m not coughing or anything. I’m sure it’s fine. But it’s still kinda creepy waiting.”
    Danny grunted. “No shit. I wouldn’t want to.”
    I looked sideways at him. “You know, if it’s positive, then everyone’s going to have to be tested. If they have enough tests.”
    Danny cut his eyes at me. “Then you better be negative.”
    Laughing, I replied, “I’m pretty negative these days.”
    Danny laughed. “Yeah, I guess.” Then with a serious tone, he added, “But you better be negative.”
    I laughed as I slapped him on the back, and we parted ways at my driveway. Little Bit was sitting on the porch with the dogs when I walked up. Meat Head’s tail thumped the porch as she scratched his belly. Drake barely lifted his eyes to acknowledge my arrival. At least Little Sister got up after stretching and wandered over for her obligatory scratching.
    “Look at these lazy dogs,” I said with a smile.
    Little Bit looked up. “They’re so cute.”
    “They’re lazy!” I replied with a laugh.
    She lay on the floor and snuggled up to Meat Head and smiled. “I like it.”
    Grinning, I shook my head. “How can you snuggle up to that smelly hound?”
    Meat Head rolled his head over and licked her face. “He doesn’t smell that bad.” I laughed and went inside.
    Mel was sitting in the living room and looked up from a book. In the Before she never read. It just wasn’t normal for her to sit and read. Now, however, she and Bobbie scoured the houses for books, and both of them were always reading. If they weren’t reading, then they were talking about books. I guess that was a bit of a return to the old ways. Books were now, once again, a distraction. An escape from the harsh realities of daily life. They seemed to really get into the romance novels. Little Bit also spent a lot of time reading, though she preferred adventure stories with fairies and dragons. I had a stack of books too, though I’d already read most of mine from before. For the rest of the group, they weren’t much fun to read. Books on edible plants and the Fox Fire series weren’t nearly as exciting as romantic interludes on a sailboat or the trials of a fairy princess.
    “What’cha reading there, babe?” I asked as I sat on the couch.
    Folding the book closed, she laid it cover-down in her lap. With a smile, she replied, “Nothing you’d be interested in.”
    I reached and turned the book over to expose the cover, depicting some muscled hunk