"Take off your shirt and get in bed," Shannon ordered Alex.
"Uh, excuse me?"
"I still need to re-stitch your wound. What did you think I meant?"
"Oh. Uh, nothing," he said as he complied with her orders.
"Leave the watch to JJ. You need to get some sleep. Doctor's orders," she grinned.
"Yes doctor."
"And lock your door. Otherwise Alisha will get in and keep you up all night."
"Yeah, I don't think she was very happy when you insisted on giving her a separate room."
"If looks could kill..." she laughed. Then more seriously, "Do you need sleeping pills or alcohol?"
"No drugs. I want to be sharp if something happens in the middle of the night. Otherwise you might be hauling me around like you did when I was shot."
"You're still shot. So sleep."
"Yes ma'am."
Hey, I'm Derek," the new guy introduced himself with a friendly smile.
"JJ," they shook hands, "you any good with that pistol?"
"I'm a'ight," he said simply.
"Good. We need more fighters."
"Hey, I ain't no soldier. I just know how to take care of myself."
"Good enough for me. This is John, Karen, and Tony."
They all shook hands with him, then Tony asked, "Are you a gang banger?"
"Tony!" Karen said, "that's rude!"
"Naw, it's a'ight. I used to be," Derek admitted, "long time ago, back East."
"Huh. I thought I heard the hint of an accent."
"So how do you know Alisha?" Karen tried to change the subject.
"We met when Gareth was rounding up 'recruits' in J.C. Mostly strippers and druggies."
"That explains it," Tony muttered.
"Yeah, not a druggie, thanks," Derek said defensively
"I meant strippers."
"I ain't no stripper neither."
"I wasn't talking about you."
"Oh. I get it," Derek looked sideways towards Alisha.
"Can we stay here for a few days?" John asked the next morning.
"If we can stay off their radar, then I don't see why not. Why, what's up?"
"There's a salvage yard just a few blocks from here, and there's a project that I've been working on. I want to see if it's viable. It would be really good for us."
"Sure," Alex said, "as long as it's alright with everyone else."
"Thanks boss."
"I'll try to get a satellite uplink for internet," Karen said, "where's the nearest Radio Shack?"
"I'll take Marcus and raid the local National Guard armory for ammo and whatever other supplies we can find," JJ said, "okay Marcus?"
"Works for me."
"I'll..." Alex started to say, but was interrupted.
"You'll stay in bed and get some rest," Shannon ordered him, "I'll bring you food or whatever else you think you might need."
"Yes, Doctor."
"I'm going to stay in bed too, and watch some pay-per-view porn," Tony announced.
"Thanks for sharing."
The next day, gunshots drew Shannon to a hallway on the other side of the motel. There she found Alex facing down the hall with Alisha pressed up against him, her back to his front, his arms wrapped around her.
:What the hell is going on?" she demanded angrily, just as the gun in Alisha's hands went off.
"What?" Alex asked, turning around and taking an earplug out of one ear.
"What are you doing out of bed?" she changed the question.
"I'm teaching Alisha how to shoot. Do you want to join?"
"Bed," she said heatedly, "you're supposed to be in bed."
"I'm fine. Besides, they couldn't keep me in bed in the hospital either."
"You are so infuriating," she fumed at him before turning on her heel and walking off.
"I guess she doesn't," he said.
"She likes you, ya know," Alisha told him, watching the nurse stalk away.
"Of course she does. And I like her. We're very good friends."
"No, she likes likes you."
"I don't think so," he chuckled, "we tried that once, and it didn't work out very well."
"Okay, whatever. But I'm telling you, she's really into you."
"She's just overprotective, and hates my stubborn streak."
"Pot and kettle," she said, shaking her head, "pot and kettle."
"That was pretty good," Alex praised Alisha's shooting when she finally managed to hit one of the dozen 'Wet Floor' signs he had set up down the hallway.
"I hit one in ten, and you call it pretty good?"
"Since you actually hit one, yes," he grinned impishly, "now try again. Remember to breathe, don't hold your breath. You know that it's coming, so don't flinch. Pull the trigger, don't jerk it."
The gun roared, and the nearest sign, maybe fifteen feet away, flipped over onto the floor. She put the barrel of the gun up to her lips and blew on it, like the cowboys always did in those cheesy western movies.
"Don't get cocky," he warned her.
"Let's see you do it then."
Alex accepted the pistol from her, ejected the clip, and slammed a new one in. It took all of three seconds. It took him about a second to gauge distances, then he pulled the trigger nine times in nine seconds. Every single target went down, at least one bullet hole in each.
"How do you do that?" she asked incredulously.
"Practice," he said as he slid another clip in, "that's what I'm trying to get you to do here."
"Fine," she said, accepting the gun from him, "go set up the targets and we'll do it again."
It was early evening on the second day when they were all drawn outside by the sound of a large diesel engine coming into the parking lot. What they saw made their jaws drop.
"Howdy folks," John said, leaning out of the window of a semi tractor truck with an extended cab.
The truck looked mostly normal, other than a hastily painted black UFO with a red circle crossing it out. But the trailer was a Frankenstein of other trailers and equipment.
At the front of the trailer was part of an old school bus, only about ten feet long, but with a dozen seats in it. Behind that was part of a cargo trailer, then three sections of tanker trailers, followed by the rear of the same school bus. At the very back of there was a backhoe mounted to the trailer frame.
The cab, too, had some modifications, though much less extensive. A turret hole had been cut in the roof of the extended cab, and a bulldozer blade was mounted to the front bumper.
"Where in the hell did you find this thing?" JJ asked, still taking it all in.
"I made it. That's what I've been doing for the last two days. Or hadn't you noticed my absence?"
"No, I thought that we were just finally rid of you," he smiled.
"Nice. I bring you a present and all I get are insults. Too bad I lost the receipt or I'd return it an get my money back."
"That's quite a beast you've got there, John," Alex said, "JJ and I got some party favors that I think might go pretty well with it."
