“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, SLAVE!”“Yes, Master, right away.”I looked at the other girls as Heather ran in to get the strap, “WELL!”All of them...except Melly replied in unison, “YES MASTER!”“You think you're special Melly?”“NO MASTER!” Melly responded.Heather returns with the strap. “All of you except Melly, go wait for me in the first bedroom,” I exclaimed.The girls trudge off, leaving me with Melly. I hug Melly tight for a moment, then we sit on the couch.“Melly sweetie, what’s going on, why did. We gathered around. None of our vehicles was overly fast. They had been picked for fuel and carrying capacity. Dad was at the back of the monster with rifles and ammo. I said, "Dad and I are going to sneak behind them. They need to be attacked to keep their heads down and to maybe whack a few." Everyone nodded. Linda and Tom were our least practiced shooters. Tom would drive while Pat and Heather would shoot. Linda's job was to shoot and stay down. Chuck and two other men would approach the. She tried to imagine how she'd feel if she used it.There was nothing. No guilt. But also no particular drive to pick it up and put it to work. Those flutters in her belly only told her that, when she had used it, it must have been a positive experience.She tried to think like she assumed the old Claire would have thought. She was a good girl. She suffered in silence the fact that her marriage had gone downhill. She had been driven to buy this thing. She had used it. The next day, while talking. Also, General Brown is dead so you won't be getting any more orders from him."I watched as the shock set in from my news about General Brown, I could see he didn't know what to do now that his direct line of command was shut down. I guess he decided that discretion was the better way to go since he didn't know that I knew all about him."Have the men stand down, Captain. Bring them all into the cave area and load the trucks so we can go. Sorry about the attitude Sir, but we thought the weapons.