Chapter 13

After a throughout inspection from 'Murl', he let us in his rather ran down, dust-drenched house. I leaned on it, years of dirt stuck to my hand to reveal clean white paint from underneath it.

"Kay, so you like him. Why you brought him here?" He pointed at me, I held back a cringe his hick accent was as thick, as his words were uneducated.

"He taught me how to make penicillin?" The Rancher explained.

"Well, haw't dog." Merl struck his leg, in relief, then leaned in, and glared at me. "Ain't not a thing as a free lunch." He said. "Nor should tere be." He leaned back, scratching his back on the corner of something.

"All he asks, is we play Jesus like with the tight ass..."

"Ahh, haha, ha,..." He roared. "All that man wants is free lunches."

I went to speak, But the rancher shook his head. "Yes, but the 'Man' has what we need, right now he has the road to my ranch guarded, he in good faith, gave me enough starter to make all the antibiotics we'll ever need, all he asked me to be fair, he'll deal with prick for brains, but if you don't do this, who's going to drink all that milk, or eat all your cheese"

"You need the power to make that kind of milk." Murl objected, proudly like he had won the argument.

The rancher nodded at me, but I already started. "I can get you power, and almost anything you'll reasonably need."

"Ok, now you are cooking, with gas." He leaned in. "I need fifteen strong men, to dig a ditch, Without it, I am not going to be able to grow enough hay."

I looked at the rancher. "Do most farmers grow their own hay?" He shook his head. "How much hay can you grow?" I asked.

"I have a few hundred acres if I had a big enough ditch."

The gears in my head turned. "Ok, you provide, antibiotics, and milk, you the beef, and hay for the other ranchers..." I pointed at Murl. "I bring the power, labor, protection, and hard to come by spar parts...." I explained my metal 3d printer and laser CNC.

"Well, I think we can make something like that work." He stood spit in his hand and offered it to me. It was by far not the most disgusting handshake I had done, but it was unpleasant.

"Well, let me get this planned, out, and I already have got the manpower planned out, but I am sure we can find some good volunteers." I paused, I wanted to get out of the matching dingy interior, so moved us along. "Please, make a list of what you may need."

"Ahh." He groaned, took a piece of paper out of his back pocket. I took it, it was a paper towel folded in fours, a few coffee mug circles stained in it, with a list of a dozen or so things.

"I can probably get most of this." I nodded at him.

"Well, tat's all I asks."

"Thank you for your time." I Smiled, I practically marched out of the house back to the rancher's truck.

"I should've warned you." He laughed. I nodded at him. "Another ranch?" He asked.

"Nah." I shook my head. "If we win over ole Murl here, everyone else will come around easier." I sighed.

"Smart man." He sighed, then paused. "You piss off Murl... And that ain't hard to do..." He wagged his finger at me. "It will be a lot harder too."

"Now you warn me..." I laughed. "Commander tight ass..." The rancher laughed at my comment. "... Still has his base on OP time." I looked for and found the rancher's confused look. "If he says he'll be there at noon, you better get worried if it's 12:01 and he's not there. I tell him what to bring, when, and where it will be there."

I handed him the list of things. "Ohh, he wants three cases of twinkies." He rolled his eyes and handed me back the list. "Well, this is a test, he wants things he doesn't think you can get... Rest assured, this may be easy, but he's a pain in the ass..." He sighed. "And I am his friend and I say this." He shook his head.

We got back to the ranch, Jeff came out to meet us. "How'd it go?"

"Just like I expected." I nodded at him.

"So bad?" He asked glumly.

I shook my head."If I don't expect things like this to go good, I don't do them." I paused. "He's a pain in the ass.. but I think we can control him."

"Thank God your back!" Becky, the rancher's wife smiled at us.

"What's wrong hun?" The rancher asked.

"Oh, nothing, someone was just worried to death about you two." She smiled, at Jeff.

"Come here then." I smiled at him holding my arms out.

He clung to me, I had seen it so many times, the wives of my buddies, clinging to them, I never understood why they looked so happy. I put my arms around him. "I'm glad you are safe." He whispered.

"It was just a talk." I whispered back. "But it was a good one." I Squeezed him and let him go

"Well, then, I have the freshest cheeseburgers you're ever going to eat, ready to go." Becky smiled. "Someone said he'd help if we had cheeseburgers, and I have to say, he's a damn good cook." She smiled at me. "You're a lucky man."

"I brought you something, let me get it." I said to the rancher, while I headed to the Humvee, and grabbed the special box. "It's not quite, too dis-Similiar to bourbon." I sighed. "With a medicinal flair."

"OH?" the rancher asked, holding the door for me.

"CBD." Jeff sighed. "He's putting it in everything." He groaned,

I set the box on the table. "Look kid, those airmen, and everyone else lost in a bottle. has a real need for some anxiety meds, you never turn it away..." I wagged my finger at him.

"Well, let's see it." The rancher said inspecting a bottle. He pulled the cork and sniffed it. "'Well, like you said it's almost right..." He took a swig.

"Honey!" Becky scolded walking up with three glasses.

"We are all friends here." He said handing me the bottle, his face torn as if he was still trying to figure out what he thought of it.

"Thanks." I nodded at him took a swig, Jeff looked absolutely delighted, until I took a glass and poured him some.

"Well, it's a great substitute, but, you find any crown out there..." The rancher smiled.

"Got it!" I smiled. We ate and got ready to leave. "See you next week, The commander is working hard to take the power plant, he is just clearing the road to it, from what he says, I should have more news then."

"Always business with you isn't it?" Becky asked.

"Maam?"

"Hun, he's got a government to rebuild, do you think he has time for much?" The rancher chuckled.

She looked at me, then glanced at Jeff. "I hope so." She sighed.

"Oh, he does." Jeff said, tiring to help.

"Well then we ought to be going." I stood and chuckled, deflecting the innocently personal nature of Jeff's comments. We went home did, nothing exciting, and went to bed, Jeff like usual was the first to fall asleep, I liked to watch him sleep, sometimes when he was asleep he would tell me he loved me, while he was sleeping.

On the way home, we met a convoy of three Humvee's I stopped to let them by, they stopped the commander got out and walked over to my window. "Sir." I nodded at him.

"Why do you do that? There is no Airforce, and if their is, your not in it." The commander shook his head. "I wanted to bring these milk bottles back personally, and offer a few bottles of Pennecillin."

"That is great!" Jeff said from the turret. "It's going to be a few weeks before they can make their own."

"Shh." I gurnted up at him.

"I see, you are a nation builder." The commander chuckled.

"That one was just I needed someone who was invested in it's success, and who could work on a massive scale." I chuckled. "Like a tool, there is a person right for every job."

"You know?" The commander grinned. "That's right, my wife is going to like that one." It was good to see him happy, he needed it." Well, anyway you look at it, so far you have sourced, important medicine, two of them, by the way..." He nodded at me. "That has been great, for them, stayed the course and captured, the dorms, and I hope you'll both be at the BBQ, and we can talk about the wind farm."

I rolled forward. "Just make sure he gets an extra hot dog." I pointed out the window back up at jeff

"A bad day?" I asked.

"They are all bad, this one was no more or less so." He sighed

"No, I don't want to." He mumbled. His face torn with disgust, that quickly faded. "Stay back...." He started on mumble. "I'll shoot." Now he looked scared.

"Jeff." I whispered softly and touched his shoulder.

"NOOO!!" He shot out of bed." Gasping for air.

I made the breath sign. "Breath," I whispered

He took a few deep breaths. "Thanks." He said while exhaling. He laid back down. "Do they get better?" He paused. "The nightmares?"

"Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad." I sighed as I put my arm around him, I kissed his head. "I don't want anyone else to have to go through this." He sighed. He was right, I wept for him. He was up for another hour, then he finally fell back asleep.

Jeff was of course perfect, did the right thing, and stood by his word, good in combat, so he could come along, he had my back, and gave me the only reason I needed to fight. A family that slays together stays together. I mused to myself, Me with a family. Jeff could be family, and I'd like that,