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MadDog · (01-24-2023)

Snow flurries glistened in the dawning sun over the Appalachian mountains. Mad Dog crawled slowly over the ridge top for the perfect view of the Johnson’s cabin down below in the hollow. Mad Dog peers down the scope of his Winchester 270, Mad Dog has dropped many deer with this rifle, but today he has different prey.

Mad Dog was an expert marksman, on track to be a scout sniper in his USMC days, but decided not to reenlist when his wife became pregnant with their first child. Now Mad Dog would use what he learned fighting the Taliban to take out the Johnsons and rescue his father.

Mad Dog was overwatch, but his brother Daniel, nicknamed "The Demon" preferred to be hands-on, once a door kicker, always a door kicker. From the end of the hollow, a light flickered, Mad Dog's cue that his brother was in position. Mad Dog looked through the scope to confirm his brother, who is a mountain of a man, was alone and moving toward the cabin. With a clear path to the cabin Mad Dog had time to let his thoughts flow.

Raion Kido, I thought you were supposed to be some big bad butt whipper, the king of the jungle, the lion. But you've exposed yourself, you ain't a lion, you're just a little pussy cat. Just a seaman, lost and needing help with your little dinghy.

Kido, you say you got no problems with me, but then you grab your shovel and get to burying me like you were an aristocrat from Greenwich Connecticut in the nineties who had an Evolution into an evil prick in the two thousand. Maybe you really are a "lyen", but if you think old Mad Dog ain’t top-notch competition you kiddoing yourself.

I ain't a name here in Ex Dub Ef, but ya boy old Mad Dog done held gold everywhere he's been. I ain’t no pushover, and I ain't no chump, so you best quit looking past me boy. You got ya eyes set on Vaughn and Flynn, but that means ya got your back to Mad Dog, and ya never turn your back on a Mad Dog.

Ya keep looking ahead of old Mad Dog, talken about me like I ain't nuthin but a peanut and it's gonna bite ya in the butt. Cause old Mad Dog gonna take that Leap Oh Faith briefcase and shoves it so far up ya backdoor you gonna have to use your tongue to put the combination in.

Don't get it twisted like a spliff Kido, I ain't heeling on ya, but you done went and pissed old Mad Dog off. You gonna say you got no ill will toward me, then dump a truckload of manure on my name and say I ain't on ya level. That's Ike saying "with all due respect", then verbally assaulting someone. Ya nice guy act doesn't give ya a license to disrespect someone and cut down their name and reputation.

Kido you be talking out both sides of your mouth, and most prominently you be talking out ya ass. Old Mad Dog ain't a pushover, and he dang sure ain't a tune-up. After Snow Job, you gonna be putting some respect on old Mad Dog's name when ya speak it over ya gums.

Yeah, I said speak it over ya gums, cause ya disrespect my name again ya gonna be crapping out ya teeth for the next three weeks. Yeah, have ya fishing through ya turds for your veneers, and I won't be saying that with any ill will to ya Kido, and with all due respect ya done had your fifteen minutes of fame and now it's time for old Mad Dog to get his shine.

You say you were in my spot last year, but ya wasn't. In coming into this hungrier than you Kido, and fighting for something different than you. You're fighting for yourself and your own glory, I'm fighting for my family. We ain't the same Kido, not by a long shot. Our situation isn't the same, you came in with the hype train behind you, and I'm coming in with a zero in the win column and a check in the loss column. I could very well be fighting for my job at Snow Job.

I'm looking to get to where you're at, and even higher Kido. You're wanting to climb even higher yourself, but there is only room for one man at the top of the mountain, and that mountaintop scene is already pretty crowded. That means, we gonna have to start chucking people down the mountain. That means I'm gonna have to stop your assertion to the top and chuck you off the mountain back to the bottom.

I’m the one on the climb, and you're about to be brought back down to Earth. Some mighty lion huh? Being brought down by this nobody who isn’t worth the time it takes to lace up your boots huh Kido? Why not admit that is what you really think of old Mad Dog, that I ain’t good enough to be in the ring with ya. That old Mad Dog is just a doormat at your doorway to the championship.

Your Lion's roar ain't shake me one bit, it actually had the opposite effect and stoked the fire under my butt. So, go on and roar little pussy cat. Hurl ya lightning bolt, cause old Mad Dog eats lightning and craps Thunder. Snow Job and your future isn't headed the way you think Kido. Na brother you ain't going to the top, you're going to go mad.

Mad Dog refocuses his attention as Daniel reaches the back corner of the cabin. From his backpack, Daniel removes a kerosene can and pours the fuel onto the cabin. Daniel lights a match and tosses it onto the kerosene. Instantly the back corner of the cabin burst into flames, and as it does Daniel runs around to the other side of the cabin. Mad Dog takes aim right at the front, and only door of the cabin.

Lay down the bible and take up the rifle

Our blood runs thick down the banks of the crooked creek

These grassroots have all been tilled for generations next in line

Our heaven will never be filled while death overfloweth the mines

The door of the cabin flies open and the first of the three brothers rushes out and around the corner to check the fire. He begins screaming for his brothers, and then I see the other two come out and head for the back corner. As they exit Daniel moves around the corner and heads for the front door to enter the cabin, but as he gets to the threshold The Johsons turn around to see the older Wright brother.

Thurman, the older of the Johnsons reaches for his sidearm, but as he does Mad Dog squeezes the trigger of the 270 and lets the hammer drop. The crack of the rifle echoes through the hills as the older of the Johnsons brothers falls right where he was standing. As the echo of the rifle dissipates through the mountains and hollow there is a brief moment of peace and silence, but only a split second.

The remaining brothers snap around to the hillside where they believe the shot came from, with their pistols drawn. The Johnsons begin firing blindly, allowing Daniel to run into the cabin. Mad Dog hunkers down, and none of the pistol shots land close enough to bring worry, but he doesn't want to give away his position.

Mad Dog keeps looking toward the cabin entrance, nervousness growing by the second as the flames spread and he awaits the sight of his brother and father. After what seems like an eternity, but in reality is only a few minutes Daniel appears in the doorway, helping his father out of the burning cabin. As Mark sees his father, clearly beaten and battered, being dragged out of the cabin by as brother, as he is barely to walk, it gives Mad Dog great relief but also fuels a rage inside of him.

Mad Dog takes aim again, a slow, deep breath, followed by a slow and controlled exhale. As he gets to the end of his exhale Mad Dog squeezes the trigger again Another crack of the rifle echos like thunder through the treetops, and another of the Johnsons falls dead where he was standing. The third, and youngest of the Johnsons looks at his brother laying next to him, dead with a bullet wound in his head.

“AAAAHHHHH!!!”, Harmon, the youngest Johnsons brother, shouts before throwing his gun down for Mark, and all present members of the Wright clan to see.

‘’I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! PLEASE KILL ME!” he shouts as he steps out from behind the old woodshed he has hidden behind with his hands up. Daniel turns and aims his gun at the head of Harmon. Harmon takes a few steps backward, and through his scope, Mad Dog can see the crotch and legs of Harmon’s pants become wet as he pisses himself.

Mad Dog has no intention of shooting Harmon. Mad Dog had gone to school with Harmon and even played baseball with him. Harmon may have been from a sh*t family, but he was the most polished of the turds. Harmon had given up, probably didn’t even want to be there in the first place, just dragged there by his older brothers.

Daniel lowers his gun and signals for Harmon to leave. Harmon slowly turns and then begins running as fast as he can toward their vehicle. As Harmon gets his hand on the handle of the truck, Mad Dog fires another round from the 270, blowing the tire out on the beat-up old Dodge truck. Mad Dog may not want to kill Harmon, but he doesn’t want to make things easy on him.

Harmon panics for a moment as he looks at the tire, and then begins running down the road on foot. Harmon makes it about ten yards from the truck when Daniel raises his gun and shoots Harmon in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

Mad Dog grabs his walkie-talkie and shouts at his brother. “WHAT DID YOU DO!?!”, Mad Dog shouts with anger and remorse in his voice.

The walkie-talky is static for a moment as Mad Dog waits for a reply. Mad Dog presses the button on the side again and speaks another message, “WHAT THE F**K!?!”.

Again there is static, but after a moment a reply comes through.

“F**k um, he was just a liability. Now get down here and help me dig these holes. Over.”, Daniel replies.

Mad Dog drops his walkie and takes a moment to reflect on what had just happened. Flashbacks from Afghanistan began to run through his mind as Mad Dog looked down at his weapons and his hand,

What have I done?

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