#72 : He had a new Buddy now

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Or something like that. Leonard didn’t remember lyrics too well but that was the gist of it. His voice was NOT meant for singing...it did rather well screaming curses as he'd done for years as a combat marine. Not so good for crooning love songs to a heartsick gargoyle.....but Leonard meant what he said. His cat had been his forever cat...he had kept it, he stood by it and protected it come hell or high water, till he and it were parted by death.

It’s death or his, but he didn’t just throw a pet away because it became inconvenient.

He had a new buddy now. It was a symbiotic relationship. They would each cover the other's six.

But Gawd was it ever ugly...did he mention that it was ugly? Yup...ooooogly. It was ugly enough to make a Chinese pug scream in terror. The sight of it would make a Shar-pei whimper from shock . A naked mole rat would pale with dread. A star nosed mole would back away in panic.. It was uglier than an Aye-Aye.

Poor thing.

The bat-kitten and the old man just sat there for a long time. Purring…content.

Waning sunlight?

Awww shit!

Suddenly the old man jerked as if from an electric shock. He realized it was getting late. It wouldn't be long until the sun was going to be down and he had no place to shelter from the night. He had no clue as to what kind of animal life was native to where he was now and from the looks of things it might get pretty cold.

Where WAS he anyhow? That was the question. But no time.

Well little guy...I'd love to just sit and cuddle but we're burning daylight. I need to get stuff done. Can you stay out of my way while I do it? Sit here OK? Leonard talked to his cat.

Leonard didn't' talk much to people..but he talked to his animal buddies. It was better that way..they hardly ever talked back. They rarely argued....except this one.

Yes said the cat.

Leonard just stared at the cat...this was new. Apparently this one DID talk back....Huh? Did I hear you say something?.

Yes the cat repeated. ...am I speaking the wrong language? Sí., Oui, Ja. ,Sim, Hai, Ndiyo, Haa'n,
….the cat rattled off dozens of more words...supposedly all meaning 'yes'.

Hmmmmmm, muttered Leonard to himself everyone likes a little ass but no one likes a smartass...but you aren't an ass ...you are a cat. Are you a talking cat?

yes said the cat. I talk. In fact I know many, many languages...and other stuff. Lots and lots of other stuff. I'm an educational child's companion. I teach things. I am a teacher.

No kidding said Leonard thinking that he had gone crazy, possibly that blow to the head where he’d split his. That split lip was going to suck until it healed...but he had other fish to fry right now. He’d think about his teeth later.

That's likely to come in real handy. But not just now. I need to find us a place to sleep for the night. I got to get busy. You're a little guy so try to stay out of the way ok? I don't want you getting hurt.

Yes said the cat. In a vaguely oriental accent...or perhaps it was something else.

Leonard looked at the chains he had holding the trailer in place..then thought about how far down it was below the tractor. He'd been in free fall just a little while ago. He hadn’t enjoyed it. Nah...the chains were good but he still didn't trust them. Not while he slept. It'd be like running team and trying to sleep behind a rookie driver. The key word would be TRY. It would never happen. He needed to move the truck.

He had a plan. He set to work.

First...was opening the WarWagon door, the truck he had on the trailer...he thought of it as the WarWagon. He had a key, in his truck, that might do it. For some reason he was reluctant to get back into that truck.

Leonard didn't realize that he'd been talking to himself the whole time. The cat had been listening. Suddenly it launched from his shoulder and flew to the tractor cab that was hanging over the abyss It vanished inside. Moments later it returned with a key ring full of keys.

Is this what you need? the cat asked, hovering before the man like a hummingbird hovering before a flower. He offered the old man the keys. Damn if that cat's front paws didn't look like hands...perhaps the fingers retracted like claws? Leonard accepted the keys as offered.

Hmmm..yes I think it just might be....lets see...Leonard walked over to the trailer and climbed aboard. He misremembered which key was which and tried several keys on the door and eventually one worked. The door opened.
Leonard then began pulling stuff out of the cab. He needed room to get inside. He paid scant attention to what he was handling. Some of it seemed oddly familiar thru the wrappings though.

Soon he had enough room cleared to enter the cab and he did so. Shortly afterwards he started the War Wagon's engine, which hadn’t been running at the time of the EMP and consequently wasn’t affected, or perhaps the military had good EMP shielding. Being Mil-Spec might have done it. Shortly after that he set the front winch to unwind....Leonard left it run on idle and exited the cab...he pulled the cable off into the forest.

After most of the cable was unwound Leonard stopped the wench. He wrapped the end of the cable around several trees, big trees too..the biggest he could find. He then secured the cable with a shackle. Nothing was coming loose unbroken.Then he got back into the war wagon's cab.

Stand clear....let's see what it will do...and he set the wench to turning…

Wenches are wonderful things. To those unfamiliar with them it's absolutely amazing what they can do. This was a 'mil-spec' wench meant for worst case scenario recovery in 'Oh- shit-oh-dear!!' situations. Pulling the loaded rig back from the cliff was no strain for it.

That went amazingly well said Leonard as he walked around the WarWagon while releasing the securement and rewinding the wench cable.

The sun was going down and the view off the 'edge of the world' was spectacular. There must have been some volcanoes erupting somewhere and throwing junk into the stratosphere because the sunset was fabulous.

Leonard barely had time to unchain the WarWagon from the trailer and move his duffle bag and guns into the WarWagon and then it was dark...as the inside of a coal mine. The haul truck wasn’t gonna move again under it’s own power after having been EMP’s so Leonard saw no reason to stay chained to it.

That’s what he told himself anyway. Actually he didn’t like being confined. Being truck that couldn’t move was confining. He fixed that pretty quick.

Leonard and his new buddy was safe inside the WarWagon, far back away from the edge of the world.

Leonard and his new comrade familiarized themselves with the WarWagon a bit. They prowled and examined things.
In his time in the Marines Leonard had operated many different types of machines, weapons and equipment of various types. Bemused he noted that this thing seemed to be the Bastard LoveChild of a Hemet and a Gunship.

Yup...those were definitely twin mini-guns. HUD aimed, hydraulically deployable, and remotely operated. What he’d have given for something like that in the old days.

Being a former Gunnery Sergeant and just generally not a stupid person Leonard was of the opinion that a gun, any gun, was just a pretty toy unless it was loaded and ready to go, so he loaded the guns, and readied the WarWagon, and it’s equipment as best he could.

That chore done he and Guru curled up in the bunk and fell asleep...almost instantly.

Next Episode
#73 :War Wagon
Previous Episode
#71 : Not a Quitter
First Episode
# 1 : In the beginning…

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