I Hate It When That Happens by cmsix

Chapter 5

What the hell, I opened a package of hamburger meat and fried a couple of patties to make two big cheeseburgers, then gobbled them down with a cup of coffee. I might be stuck back somewhere in time but damned if I wasn't eating good.

Opening the hamburger meat did make me realize that the food they'd provided wasn't going to last a whole year, unless I spent a big part of that year with nothing but oatmeal. I was going to have to go out and kill something, but that wasn't what gave me pause. Killing game should be easy. The rub would come when it was time to gut and skin it.

I'd hunted off and on pretty much all my life, but I'd never cleaned my first kill. Fish didn't count, I knew how to clean fish, but even though I'd probably killed twenty deer I'd never even field dressed one. I always loaded it up into whatever vehicle I was driving and headed to a butcher I knew. He had a shop that did custom work during hunting season.

There was no help for it and I'd just have to learn. At least my gadget gene had always made me buy things that might be handy, and I had a couple of Wyoming knives, even though I'd never used either one. It would be time to try one out before long.

When I went back into the living room, after my lunch, I saw the medical supplies greenie had provided and damned if the picture didn't make me laugh. Right there on one end of the couch was a big black doctor's bag, just like they used to use. I looked inside it and it seemed to be chock full of crap, most of it didn't ring any bells with me.

Picking up the bag I headed back to my bedroom and damned if I didn't see another door in the hall. I pushed my way in and found my hospital room. It was more than a room really, though it did have a regulation hospital bed. It also had a normal examination table like you'd see in any family practice clinic. Surrounding the table were cabinets and drawers, and checking a few doors I saw that they looked like they contained the same sort of stuff you'd see if you started opening drawers while you were waiting for the doctor to come in and stick a finger up your ass.

I set the bag on a clear spot on the cabinet and left. If I needed to work on someone I'd look around in there more carefully, if not, so much the better.

Damned if greenie didn't page me again.

"We are about to leave. This will be your last chance for a request," he said.

"Can't think of a thing. Have a good 'en, and call me when you get back," I said, and the pager went dead.

I guess you could say that what happened next was the reality of the situation crashing down on me. That's what it felt like anyway. I was alone on a planet that I hadn't known existed a few days ago. I think I might have lost it if I wasn't in my own house. That helped a lot, and another episode of Star Trek helped even more. If Picard could maintain, so could I.

Since I figured I had a couple of hours of sunlight left, I decided to go outside through the big door in my warehouse and take another look around. I wasted some time putting on my native clothes but drew the line at the moccasins. I laced up my lineman Redwings instead. Hell, surely the footwear wouldn't stick out badly if I ran into someone in the neighborhood.

Changing firearms was on the agenda too. The faux M1 they'd sent with me was fine, but I had my own rifles here now too, and I decided that I'd rather have the Marlin 336C in 35 Remington with me. I was more familiar with it.

With the Marlin in hand and the Glock on my web belt I was off out the back door. I wasn't really expecting to see anything spectacular and even if I slipped up on something edible I wasn't going to shoot it. I still had plenty of meat and today didn't seem like a good day to experience gutting and skinning a kill.

About half an hour of stalking around trying to be quiet was enough for today, and I was about to head back when I heard a female voice shrieking. True to greenie's word, the translation kicked in right away.

"Let me go, Carga, let me go. I am not your woman and don't want to be," came across loud and clear.

The next thing I heard pissed me off to the max, since it was obviously the sound of a blow. It silenced the female for a second, and then I could hear sobbing.

Whoever they were they had to be close for me to hear so clearly. Whoever Carga was, he was about to find himself up shit creek. I'm a live and let live kind of guy, up to a point, but men hitting women had always been beyond that point for me, and even my trip into outer space hadn't changed that.

I headed for the voices, or for where I'd thought they came from; a second blow had pretty much silenced the crying.

Laying my eyes on the two was a real experience. I assumed that Carga was the name of the male and I'll be damned if he wasn't carrying a club and dragging the woman by the hair, just like in the cartoons.

I wasn't sure if the full meaning of Hold it right there asshole would translate, but when I shouted it Carga got the gist of my message. He turned to look my way and when he saw me he headed toward me. When whatever he said came through as I will kill you, I figured that the translating was pretty much right on the money. When he came within thirty feet, swinging that cave man club, I shot him in the pump with my Glock.

From the look he gave me, I was sure Carga had been amazed. Regretfully I didn't get the time to find out if it was from the loud noise or the sledgehammer blow to his chest. The impact knocked him back on his ass and he was as good as dead by the time I got near him. Sure enough, he was even deader a few seconds later, and he was making an awful mess on the forest floor.

Carga wasn't the only one that took note of the thunder from my hand. The female wasn't whimpering and crying anymore but she was every bit as amazed as Carga had been right at the last. She was also very frightened, and who could blame her. At least she didn't look dismayed by Carga's exit.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" I asked, hoping some of it would make sense to her.

"He bruised me and maybe broke my ribs. What did you do to him?" she asked.

"I killed him. I do not like for men to hit women," I said, and I could tell that this statement surprised her.

"But how did you kill him. What was that noise?" she asked.

"I killed him with this," I told her; waving the Glock so she could see it.

"But how? You never touched him."

"I will tell you later. Where was he taking you?" I asked.

"Back to his camp. His father is the leader. Carga followed my Father, Mother, Sister, and I after we escaped. He hit my Father on the head with his club and I'm afraid Father is dead. He also beat my Mother with his fist, and I know she is hurt badly. My sister ran away when he captured me, but maybe she returned to help mother after Carga took me away," she said.

"Were they holding you prisoner?"

"No, it was our camp too, but we left after Carga killed Dendal, who was to be my mate. We tried to get away from them, but Carga followed us. He said his father, the leader, gave me to him," she said.

"How far away is your mother? Should we go and try to help her?" I asked.

"I'm not sure how far it is, a mile, maybe a little more, but it will be dark before we could get there," she said.

"Can you walk?" I asked, and she stood up and took a few steps.

"It doesn't hurt very badly. I can walk if we go slowly. I don't think I can trot though," she said.

"We will walk then. I think we should go and see if she needs help."

"But it will be dark. We might not be able to find the way. There will be no moon tonight," she said.

"I have something that will help us. Come with me," I said, and she followed as I left for home.

I didn't pay attention to what I was doing when we were back to my warehouse entrance, and the girl let me know that I had fouled up right away. She couldn't pass through the entrance like I did, just as advertised. I had to turn around and take her by the hand for her to make the trip.

Battery flashlights were something that I'd always hated, and when the rechargeable models that could just be plugged into a wall socket started appearing in Wal-Mart I had been quick to buy plenty. It only took me a few minutes to find six and put them in my pockets. We were headed out again in no time.

We traveled silently for a few minutes with the girl leading the way. Finally I thought I might as well ask her name.

"Teechi. My name is Teechi."

"My name is Frank. Are you having any trouble walking?" I asked.

"My ribs are sore, but I don't think they are broken. I will be fine, but it is getting dark now," she said.

"Watch this," I said, and flicked on one of the lights.

Teechi was amazed, and a little frightened. I took the time to show her how to work the switch and after a few tries she seemed to settle down. I gave her the light, since she was leading the way.

During our walk I managed to get a few more details out of her. Apparently Carga's father had always been somewhat of an asshole, but a good enough leader otherwise. As Carga had grown up he had taken more to the asshole ways too. What he'd done by killing Teechi's prospective mate was practically unheard of. His father giving Teechi to him was even worse.

"Do you think they will be out at night, looking for you and your family?" I asked.

"No, we never move about at night unless the moon is very bright and we have much need to, but some will probably be looking tomorrow, when Carga doesn't return."

"How many are in the camp?" I asked.

"Nearly forty, before we left. Probably about ten men will come looking for Carga, including his father. Most of them will be relatives, and two of Carga's best friends too, probably," Teechi said.

We came upon the scene of the crime then. A girl that seemed a couple of years younger than Teechi was tending to a woman that was lying on a pallet on the ground. The woman was conscious though, so I had hopes. About twenty feet away a man was crumpled to the ground too, but he was not conscious and he never would be again.

The girl and woman were surprised and frightened when we approached, but Teechi settled their nerves quickly. She introduced me to Teecha, her sister, and Taachicha, the mother.

After talking Taachicha into letting me examine her I knew that she did have some fractured ribs. At least none of them seemed to be doing her lungs any damage and she was breathing well enough, even if it hurt quite a bit.

Taachicha was alarmed when she heard of my exploits and she wanted me to take both girls away at once. She said that Carltaga, Carga's father, would be looking for him shortly after first light.

"That is good, we will need some men to carry you back to my home. I will build a litter so that they can give you a smooth ride," I said.

"They will not carry me, they will kill me, they will kill us all," she said.

"You are wrong mother. They will not kill any of us, and they will be dead if they do not do as Frank says. Believe me, they have no chance against him," Teechi told her.

"I don't understand how that can be," she said.

"You will understand as soon as someone gives Frank trouble. He killed Carga before he could take two steps," Teechi said.

Teechi and Teecha spread furs for us to sleep on and in after that. I had them build up the fire more than they normally would and told them I'd be getting up in the night to keep it going.

"But why," Teechi asked.

"Mostly to make sure no one is approaching us. I will get up, look around, mend the fire, and then go back to sleep."

"If you wish, but no one will come at night," Taachicha said.

And she was right; no one came during the night. That didn't keep them from showing up within an hour of sunrise though. As advertised there were ten of them and it was easy to see which one was Carltaga. Once we were spotted, and especially me, he came at a run with a spear in hand, intending to deal with me right away.

Hell, I was all for getting the show on the road and as he raised his spear I sent him to join Carga, doing the same for the two young ones that were on either side of him. It was a showstopper, and for a few seconds the others in the group didn't know what to do.

I filled the void by telling them that all who wanted to live should drop their spears. One of the older ones lifted his to try his luck then, and after I dealt with him the rests were convinced. I herded them into a small bunch and took a look at the dead meat. I didn't see a damned thing on them that I wanted to steal.

I set them to work on litter construction then, and I only had to shoot one more before they got the idea that I wasn't going to give up just because they didn't want to do this. Soon enough we had Taachicha in the litter and two of them picked it up. When I wanted them to be careful with their cargo, they took me seriously. I had the others pick up all the girl's belongings and then we headed for my place.

Our captives were even more upset when we passed Carga's remains near my house. They didn't give any trouble though. They were surprised by my antics when they entered with the litter though, since I had to put a hand on the first bearer as he entered the barrier, and then on Taachicha, and finally the last bearer. I had them take her into the hospital room and then put her in bed.

When I took them back outside to turn them loose I could tell that the others had only now discovered that they couldn't get inside without my help. They were flummoxed but I didn't give a shit. I pushed the litter bearers out and told them all to beat feet. I even sent a couple of rounds into the ground near them when they weren't in enough of a hurry to suit me.

While Teechi and Teecha tended to their mother, I went to my computer to see if I could find any information about wrapping ribs. It wasn't nearly as big a job as I'd feared. At least finding the information wasn't, doing the actual wrapping turned out to be hell, for me and Taachicha both.

Of course I fixed her some chicken soup after that, and made cheeseburgers for the rest of us. Taachicha was delighted with her soup and the other two were amazed by the cheeseburgers. Coffee was going to have to be an acquired taste for them, if they ever acquired it. They weren't very fond of it now.

"Will they come back to attack again?" I asked, after we'd finished eating.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. In fact, I think they'll all leave now. What happened to them must be very frightening; I know it frightened me at first. They don't have any idea what happened, except that each time you made the loud noise, one of them died," Teechi said.

"Well, I hope they don't try anything. I don't like killing them but if they don't leave us alone I'm going to keep it up."

"They may be too worried about how they will keep everyone fed. Many of the most disagreeable ones, those you killed, were the best hunters. Their mates will be struggling to feed themselves now?"

"Won't the others help them?" I asked.

"If their fathers are still alive they will help, but most of their fathers have been gone for years," Teecha said.

"Surely they won't be left to starve?"

"If their mates had been killed while hunting, everyone would help feed them. If a woman's mate is killed by another man, he usually takes care of her," Teechi said.

"So, I should go and collect the widows?" I asked.

"If it were one or two maybe, but there are too many. You can never feed them all, and their children too," Teecha said.

That hit me where it hurt. I didn't feel a bit bad about killing the ones who'd made me, but I hadn't even considered I might be sentencing their families to starvation. I wasn't going to do it either.

"One of you must stay here to watch over Taachicha and the other must take me to the camp. I will not let women and children starve because of what I did," I said.

"But how can you feed so many?" Teecha asked.

"The same way I killed so many. You will see later, right now we must go," I said, not really understanding what the hurry was, but feeling it.

Since Teechi said she'd come with me I took a few minutes to show Teecha how the stove worked, both to warm up more soup for Taachicha and fry more meat for her. Then Teechi and I were headed out again.

When we reached the camp I wondered why I'd been in such a hurry. There was mass confusion as they tried to decide who was going to take over as leader. Apparently I had dealt the chain of command a death blow. I let Teechi do the talking for the women and children I'd come to fetch and I was surprised when everyone seemed to think it was a great idea.

My reception was even better when I had Teechi tell the women not to bother with bringing any food they might have stored, or their huts and such. I did ask that they bring their bedding, but that was about it.

Things weren't nearly as bad as I'd first thought either. Though I'd killed six men in all, I'd only acquired three widows and five children. Luckily they were all girls. Hell, I could live with that. I might have even been able to put up with a couple of boys if they'd been young enough.

Of course the women had been unsure about leaving their former homes, but Teechi promised them that they'd like where they were going. I hoped they would, and though it might have been unkind of me, I was already hoping they would become fond of the shower. Some of the ladies were on their way to being ripe.