Misfits Of Whiskey Bend #4

The Beginning

Pappy Masterson stepped up and shook Saint’s hand. “I’m glad to see you made it back, man.”

Saint stared at the man who made sure he got out of the POW camp they were in.

The six of them had spent a year and a half in that fucking hell hole but Pappy and his group had liberated them while laying waste to the rest of the camp.

He and his men had been amazed when Pappy showed up after so long.

“Good lord man, I thought I’d never see you again, Pappy,” Daniel Leroy/ Saint declared as he shook his hand. “What are you doing here?”

“We are going to honor a good man by taking his ashes across the country. He was loyal and saved us more times than I can count. Never cared about his own safety.”

Saint nodded at him. “I knew a man like that once and I was proud to call him my brother. Damn, I miss that man.”

Pappy frowned at him, as he looked perplexed. “I’m surprised to see you here, Saint.”

Daniel turned to glare at the other man. “Where the hell else would I be? I got no other family once Nick died.”

Pappy looked shocked. “Nick is dead? How?”

Saint took a step forward and glared at him. “You know damn well what I mean, Captain. He was killed shortly after he was ambushed, just before me and my men were taken prisoner. You were over there when this all went down.”

Pappy shook his head as he looked upset and gazed around the room. “You were never told?”

“Told what?” Saint growled fiercely.

“Nick was rescued four months after the ambush. He walked out of that camp with four of his men.”

Saint was stunned. “What the fuck, Captain?” He grabbed Pappy’s cut and dragged him closer. “Are you sure about this? The last I heard Nick and his men were ambushed. I was never told he was rescued. No one ever told me otherwise.”

Pappy removed the hold Saint had on him and took a step back. “Yeah, I’m sure of the intel. I should be, me and my men rescued him. We had to almost carry them out of that fucking camp but they were alive when we set fire to the entire set up. Nick, I heard, wasn't happy, but he’s alive.”

“Where the fuck is he?” Saint demanded. “He’s my brother, I need to see him for myself.”

“He and his men have been settled for a couple of years now. He was kicked out of the service due to PTSD from the four months he spent in that fucking camp. He took his men and created an MC. Now, he helps us out when we need it.” Pappy paused and shook his head.

“Oh, fucking hell,” he gasped. “This means he doesn’t know you are still alive either.

When we rescued him and his men, the military told him you and your men were taken and you were in POW status. Then they shipped them all home.”

Saint closed his eyes and hung his head for a moment. When he raised his head again, he glared at Pappy. “He’s at our grandfather’s farm, isn’t he?” He began to shake. “I have to go and see him.” He turned to the other man standing there. “My big brother is still alive, Phantom.”

“I heard man, that’s great.” Phantom shuffled his feet and nodded. “The rest of the guys will be happy for you man. We’ll miss you.”

Saint looked disgusted and growled. “Miss me, hell. You guys are coming with me. I won’t leave you behind. I didn’t do that in the sandbox and I won’t do it now.”

“But maybe Nick won’t want a bunch of misfits around him, man. You know this group isn’t completely right in the head.” Phantom stared at him. “We’re doing better, I agree, but we aren’t like everyone else and we know it.”

“You know something?” Pappy called out softly.

“I think you’ll fit right in with that group.

His men aren’t quite all there either, yet they work together like a fine tuned unit.

They have nightmares from the time they spent as prisoners too.

But what they got going on works for them.

And more importantly, they help each other through the worst of it.

” Pappy looked over at Saint. “I think he would be very happy to have you all join him.”

Pyro looked over at Saint. “You said this was a farm? A real working farm?”

Saint shrugged. “I’m not sure if it’s a working farm or not at the moment, it was abandoned for a number of years after grandpa died, but it could be I suppose.”

“That would give us all something to do,” Phantom suggested. “It's hard work but we need something to take our minds off what we lost in the sandbox and working a farm could do that.”

Saint nodded at his men. “I’m going home and my brother is waiting for me.

Nothing better than that.” He looked over at Pappy and asked, “I know you got to do this trip too, but I’d appreciate your help with this.

Can you ride with us? And meet up with this group later?

I may need you as a buffer between me and Lucifer. ”

“Oh, I doubt that. He might just kill me for not telling him you made it.” Pappy shook his head while looking baffled again.

“I never realized neither of you were told. Somebody sure as hell dropped the ball when we carried you guys back.” Pappy hesitated then let Saint know something about his brother, “I do think you need to know something about Nick. He had a problem with human touch. The enemy came very close to breaking him and that was one of the results. I haven’t seen him in a while but the last time I saw him, no one could touch him and he didn’t touch anyone either. ”

“I get that man.” Saint nodded. “Two of my men have the same problem to a certain extent. May not be that bad but they don’t like large crowds either.”

“Hang on a minute while I tell Bones what’s going on.” Pappy walked away and went over to where Sam and Donnie were chatting.

Sam looked up as he came closer. “Who are the newbies?” he asked Pappy.

Pappy shook his head. “Would you believe he’s Nick’s little brother?”

Sam frowned. “I thought he was dead? Lost over in the sandbox when his group went POW.”

“I suppose that’s what Nick thought too, but our team found them and brought them back after a year and a half as POWs.

But by that time, he and his group had been shipped home, neither of them knew the other was still alive.

” Pappy shook his head. “He wants me to escort him and his group back to the family farm. He needs to see for himself that his brother is still alive.”

Sam nodded. “Then you need to go with him.”

Pappy nodded. “Yeah, I think I do. I’ll meet you and the Silver Warriors on the road when I get done”

Pappy and the Misfits rode most of the night. Then at about four a.m. they stopped for gas and something to eat. They were close to Chicago. They had driven eight hours and everyone was tired but they still had a little over four hours to go.

Pappy rubbed the back of his neck for a moment then looked over at Saint and his men. “I’m too old for this shit.”

“You feelin’ the road now Pappy?” Saint grinned.

“Yeah, you little fucker, I’m feeling the road. I need a nap.”

A few of the men laughed.

“I could use a nap too,” Turbo grumbled.

A couple more of the men nodded as well.

Saint sighed. “Yeah, I’m getting tired too. Let’s get on the other side of Chi town and we can stop for a while.”

“Sounds good to me.” Pappy nodded.

“Pappy, let me ask you something,” Pyro commented. “You think these guys will welcome us? All of us?”

Pappy looked at the small group of men waiting for his answer.

“I think Lucifer will welcome you with open arms. He knows first-hand what you went through as POW’s.

The bastards that held him and his men tried to break him but they never could.

Then he came home and he brought his men with him.

He gave them back a little of what they all thought they’d lost. He gave them a home and a place they could breathe in.

They aren’t perfect, hell they all have shit they can’t and won’t talk about and by any stretch of any imagination they shouldn’t fit together but they do.

” He looked around again. “And I have a feeling so will all of you. They won’t pressure you, they won’t push you, but they will be there if and when you need them to be. ”

“You said he works for you,” Thrasher said. “What’s that all about?”

“Lucifer missed being in the military. He missed it but couldn’t go back.

He always felt he was bent but not broken from his time in that fucking camp.

But after being there for a while, he found out I had a network all over the nation.

My old boss Shay Montross didn’t want another 9-11 to happen here on our soil, ever again.

Sam Tory and his MC helped me set it up and now we have a network of vets all over the nation that watch and let us know if there’s anything going on that could lead to another breach on our soil.

They don’t try to stop it, they just tell us and let us deal with it.

We keep our eyes open and our ears to the ground and we’ve stopped it from happening. ”

Saint glanced at his friends before he looked back at Pappy. “And Lucifer helps you with that?”

“He’s one of the many that help us, yeah. Most of his men are ex-military but there are a few Marshals in his group as well. He also runs a clean MC. They don’t run drugs or guns.”

Saint nodded. “That’s a good thing. We had our own struggles with that when we left the military. All they wanted to do was push drugs on us to keep us calm, instead of having us work on our problems.”

“We never wanted the pills or the booze. We just wanted the nightmares to be over, you know?” Dax stated.

Pappy nodded. “I hear ya brother, I really do. We all have to find a way to cope with what we did during war time. There are still nights when the screams wake me up and I can still hear them even now.” He shrugged.

“Any man that’s ever gone to war knows them.

Some can’t live with them and some just give into the madness.

It takes a hell of a strong man to deal with it.

” Shaking his head he said, “Some men just want the screams to stop.”

“We’ve all been there and done that Pappy.” Phantom nodded.

Pappy looked at all of them again. “That’s why this place is so important to Lucifer. He came home and brought his men here too. They are there for themselves and for each other.”

“That’s my big brother, Pappy.” Saint grinned.

Shaking his head he said, “I never thought he’d go to the farm though.

That place meant so much to both of us as kids.

We loved going there and playing in the woods and discovering the caves.

Then we grew up and he swore he’d never change, he also said he’d never be tied down to one place.

He wanted to travel the world and find his own place, not be just another generation attached to a piece of ground that had been overworked for years. ”

Pappy nodded. “Maybe he discovered that piece of ground had more to offer him than just land he couldn’t farm anymore.”

“Like what?” Pyro wanted to know.

“Maybe like a family history,” Pappy suggested. “When you have everything in your life stripped away from you and you’re left all alone while thinking no one cares whether you live or

die, it’s always nice to come back to a simpler time. A time where you can remember only the good stuff.”

A couple of the guys nodded as they really understood this statement.

Saint had to agree with him too, “Yeah, we loved the summers spent on that farm.”

Pappy shrugged. “He was going back to a safer, simpler time.”

“Maybe we can do that too,” Saint said.