Traveler

John S. Wilson

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by John S. Wilson

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to my first fans – your encouragement kept me writing.

Prologue

Finally there came the reckoning and with it the end of a nation. The United States suffered a complete economic collapse, society rapidly descended into chaos. Millions perished. Millions more would die in the next four years as the world went through a bloody reformation. Those that survived the initial rioting and lawlessness soon faced new enemies: starvation, disease, and “Travelers,” ruthless bands that took what they needed to live.

Chapter One

“You don’t really know what you’re capable of ... you really don’t. Not until you’ve gone days without a thing in your belly. Not until that hunger in your gut starts driving you out of your mind. It won’t let you think straight or let you sleep at night. You don’t know what you’re capable of ... not until you accept the idea that you’ll do whatever is required to survive. Do you see what I’m saying? Do you know what I’m talking about, kid?”

The boy stared up at him; he was small and scrawny and appeared fifteen or so. His hair was cut short and rather rough, and it was quite obvious he did it himself. “Well ...”

“Hey, what’s your name?” A friendly looking man offered out his meaty hand. He was tall; about six foot even and somewhere around fifty. He wore an honest smile but his hardened face gave the appearance of someone that had seen a lot of the uglier side of life.

Around them were seven other men of varied ages from their twenties to fifties, and one boy. They all stared him down, not one offering a word. The men were dressed in camouflaged fatigues, no two exactly the same. Among them was an assortment of patterns and colors on their clothes and gear. A wide-ranging collection of what the US military had produced in the last forty years.

“I ... I think I know ...”

“What’s your name?” He continued to stand over the boy, graciously offering out his hand.

“James.”

“James?” The stranger’s smile grew wider as he reached out and took hold of the boy’s reluctant hand. He gave it a larger-than-life shake. “James, I like that, it fits you. My name is Robert, Robert Delby. All these guys just call me ‘Boss.’ But you can call me Rob if you want.” After a long pause, he loosened his grip and the boy took back his hand. “James what?”

Staring up from the ground, he studied the soldier hovering over him and those all around. Then he looked back to the stranger, trying with no success to hold back the tears in his eyes. “Mister, what do you want from me? I don’t want no trouble. Please ... just tell me what you want.”

The older man seemed unmoved by the tears as he continued with his friendly tone. “Well, first, I want you to tell me some things, and you can start with your full name. That’s not asking much, is it?”

“No, I guess not ... my name is James Leightman.”

“James Leightman. Is that what people call you, James?”

“Yeah, I guess.” James scanned all of their intense faces, and when he noticed the repulsed expression of the younger boy staring at him was suddenly quite embarrassed. He turned away and hastily wiped his runny nose and eyes. “Mister, you checked my bag. You know I’ve got nothing. Can’t you just let me go?”

“Maybe, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you just answer the rest of my questions, and we’ll go from there.”

“What else do you want to know?”

“You could start by telling me how old you are.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“Seventeen? You look younger than that. I would have thought at least a couple of years younger.”

“No, I’m seventeen. I guess I’m just small for my age.”

“Yeah, it’s called malnutrition. There’s a lot of it going around. Are you all alone?”

“Yes ...”

“No parents, no family or friends either?”

“No, it’s just me ... now.”

The older man sat down in the grass next to him, still speaking with his kindly voice. “Your parents, they were both killed, afterwards, I mean.”

“Yes ... my dad ... he died when it first really got bad, when we were trying to escape South Bend. My mom got killed about a year after that.”

“And you’ve been on your own ever since?”

“Yes.”

“That was four years ago, so you’ve been fending for yourself for three years now? Since you were fourteen?”

“Yes.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight. For the last three years you’ve been surviving this nightmare all by yourself, with no help?”

“Yes.”

The man offered out his hand again. “Kid ... James, I just want to tell you you’ve got some guts. I know plenty of grown men that couldn’t survive out here alone for very long, and you’ve done it for three years now.” Rob shook his hand again and this time it seemed more sincere, the boy felt a little more at ease.

“James, let me ask you something ... and I need you to be completely honest, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You think we’re bad men, don’t you?”

The boy shifted his gaze between all of them, “No ... no,” and back to where the question began. “No, I don’t think that.”

“James, don’t lie. I can see it in your eyes ... the way you’ve been looking at us. You think that we’re bad.”

The boy continued to passionately deny it, “No!”

“James, I know you’re lying, but I’m not mad at you. I understand what you’re thinking and why you think it. We’re not really bad people, James; we’re just trying to survive, like you’ve been doing for the last three years. If anyone knows how tough it is out here, it’s you. You know, don’t you?”

“Yes, I know ...”

“And you know sometimes to survive you’ve got to do things you don’t like, things that you’re not proud of.”

“Yes ...,” he dropped his head in his hands, “I know ...”

“I’m not judging you, James. I want you to know that none of us are judging you. You did things you’re ashamed of; you must have if you’ve survived this long on your own.”

“Yes ...”

“You’ve probably begged, stole, cheated ... only you know the awful things you had to do to survive.”

“Yes.” The tears returned to the boy’s eyes.

“James, I want you to know we understand what you’ve gone through. We don’t hold anything against you. We understand you were just trying to live ... and we would hope you could do the same for us. You could, couldn’t you?”

He lifted his head again, and now, for the first time in a long while, felt that maybe someone understood what he thought. “After the things I’ve done, I couldn’t hold anything against anyone.”

“I knew you would feel that way. That’s why I asked so many questions. That’s why I want to offer you something.”

“What?”

“I’m offering you a chance to have a family again.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We’re always looking for people for our group. I think you’re just the kind of people we’re looking for. I think that you would fit in real well with us.”

“I don’t know.”

“I understand your apprehension, James. You’ve been on your own for so long. It’s kind of scary to think about relying on others.”

“Yes ... yes it is.” The boy looked around at the men surrounding him again; there wasn’t one smile among them.

“But let me tell you something, it’s a lot easier out here when you have others you can count on, friends that can share the burden. I think if you gave it a try, you wouldn’t ever want to be alone again.”

“Maybe, but ...”

Rob got a little closer to the boy. “Let’s try this, you come with us a few days, hang out and see if you like it. I think you will, but if you don’t you can go your own way again. But like I said, I think once you get used to being in a group you won’t ever want to go back to what you were doing before.”

The older man pulled a canteen from a pouch off his belt and offered it to the boy. “Here, thirsty?”

James reached out and took it, “Thank you,” drank less than he wanted and handed it right back.

Rob took a sip himself, “Does that sound like a fair deal to you?”

“Yes, I guess so.”

“Good, here’s what we’re going to do. We’ve got a camp hidden in those trees down past that creek. We’re all going to go back there and we’re going to give you a hot meal. How long has it been since you’ve had one?”

“Uh ... actually this morning.”

“This morning?” The older man’s friendly face now had a question. “Well now you’re going to have another. I bet it’s been a while since you’ve had two in a row.” He punctuated the sentence with a boisterous laugh.

The boy laughed too and for the first time wasn’t afraid. He thought maybe this could all work out.

“Okay, so we’re agreed, that’s what we’re going to do. You try us out for a couple days. If you want to join us you can, if not, well, you can go your own way again.” Rob picked himself off the ground and snatched up the boy’s bag. The rest of the group got up in unison, as if following a silent command. He helped the boy up and put his hand on his back, “Come on, James, let’s get you that meal.”

They sat around a small campfire while one prepared the food. Two others acted as guards, their rifles in hand. The rest sat together in the low light of the fire, most quietly laughing and joking like friends.

Rob and James sat close together as they ate their meal, beans and rice with a scarce few bits of Spam on top.

Softly, they continued their discussion. “Remember, James, try to keep your voice down. We wouldn’t want any unwanted ‘guests’ in the middle of the night,” he paused for another hardy laugh. “Well, I guess I should introduce the guys. First, guys this is James.”

Some, but not all, waved or mumbled a restrained hello.

Then ‘The Boss’ singled them out one at a time.

There was Peavey, D’Cruz, and Alton, they were all in their twenties, in the prime of life. Rob made a special effort to single out John Alton from the others. He was tall and had athletic good looks; it wouldn’t have been hard to believe he was once a football star. He said Alton was an Army veteran like him, the only other one in the group. He also noted the young man was twenty-nine and the only person here with prior combat experience, stating that at this time seven years ago he was over in Afghanistan. Alton waved another modest hello but seemed quite uncomfortable with the extra attention he was now getting.

Martinelli was in his thirties and looked like a regular guy, one you might see cheering a car race from his sofa, a beer in his hand. The only feature that really set him apart was a smooth burn scar that ran from the bottom of his left cheek right down to the edge of his jaw. He looked quite odd to the boy with a bald spot in the middle of his face where his beard wouldn’t grow.

Rudd and Cornwell were both in their forties and seemed about the same as the others, except maybe a little more battered by life. Cornwell was the cook that night and as he dished out the food seemed happy with his job. Rudd had a gruff demeanor and his body appeared entirely covered with crude tattoos, everywhere as far as the boy could see, everywhere but the palms of his hands. James didn’t like the way Rudd was looking at him. It gave him a chill he could feel right down to his bones.

McCain, Albert McCain, was the oldest of the group. Robert said he was fifty-five years old. He just silently stared at the boy never even offering a simple “Hi.” James couldn’t help but watch him there by the fire, searching to find anything there in his dark, lifeless eyes.

The men were all dressed out in military equipment and clothes, which looked like it had been used hard. All of them had their hair cut short and in a military style, and with the exception of three, they made at least some effort at being clean shaven. Martinelli, Rudd, and McCain did have beards but still they kept them cut close enough that you couldn’t use it against them. To a man, every one of them was lean, fit and tanned; obviously they had all spent the last few years working hard at staying alive.

Finally, Rob announced he “was saving the best for last” as he pointed out the only boy amongst these hardened men. The entire group clapped and gave a restrained hurrah as he briefly stood up and took a flamboyant bow. Rob said his name was Nicholas Mayer and he was ten. He described “Nicky” as “the best guy I’ve got.” James laughed at first as he thought it was a joke but was quickly set straight again.

“I’m not kidding. Look at him. That kid can go anywhere. He can walk right into places the rest of us couldn’t shoot our way in. He makes all of our jobs easier ... sometimes too easy.” Robert addressed his men, “Right guys?” and they all wholeheartedly agreed, giving the boy an even louder cheer and slaps on his back.

“Just look at that face.” Rob continued to stare at the child, “I tell you that kid can talk anybody into anything. It’s a shame he has to grow up.”

James didn’t know how much of what he heard was true or not. The boy wasn’t much to look at, that was for sure. Nicky was just a skinny little kid with a mop of dark blond hair and pale blue eyes, to James he looked exactly like the youngest son on that home improvement show.

As they were finishing their plates, the conversation got around to James again. Robert addressed him with that friendly voice, “James, earlier you said you already had a hot meal today. Where did you get it?”

“I ... uh ... I made it myself.”

“Really? What’d you have? How’d you make it?”

The boy gazed around, trying to think up an answer, “I ... uh ... well ...”

“James, you really should stop lying. You’re no good at it.”

“I’m not lying.”

“When we picked you up you didn’t have a thing on you except one can of condensed chicken noodle soup. You don’t even have a pot to put it in. How did you heat a meal?”

“I ... uh ...”

“Come on, James, we’ve played fair with you. We did exactly what we said we were going to do. We brought you here, fed you, treated you like a friend. We deserve the whole truth. There’s something you’re not telling us. What is it?”

“I promised not to tell.”

“It has something to do with that town you just passed through when we found you. Doesn’t it?”

“I promised.”

“Do you know why we picked you up? Why we picked you up right there?”

“No.”

“We came through that same town two days before you did. We searched it pretty good but didn’t find a thing. We certainly didn’t find anyone living there. But you know what happened just as we were leaving?”

“What?”

“We smelled food. We couldn’t track down exactly from where but we could smell someone cooking food in that town. So you know what we decided to do?”

“No, what?” The boy was becoming nervous now.

“We just kept walking, like we didn’t know nothing, like we didn’t know someone was there hiding in that town. Once we left we set up this camp to hide ourselves, and watch. We set up teams on both ends of town. What do you think we were watching for?”

“I don’t know.”

“We were watching for someone to come out of that town, and that someone was you.”

“No, it wasn’t me.”

“Come on, James, like I said, you’re not a good liar. We watched you go into town last night and come out again this morning. You’ve got food stored away there, don’t you? You’ve probably got a nice little place, maybe in a basement somewhere, topped off with food and supplies. But every once in a while you’ve got to come up for air, maybe to go out foraging for more stuff, or maybe just to keep yourself from going nuts.”

“No!”

He could now hear the ire growing in Robert’s tone, “This isn’t fair, James. It’s not fair you’re holding out on us. We fed you, and I want you to know the offer we made was real. We want you to join us. We want you as a friend. But you’ve been lying all along. You didn’t want to be friends with us. You just wanted to take from us ... but you didn’t want to share what you have.”

“No!” The boy looked around at all those angry faces staring at him, lit by the fire, and then back to Robert who was now standing over him.

“You never did want to be friends with us. You just wanted to use us!”

“No! It wasn’t me, I wouldn’t do that to you guys; it was the Whitmans! It wasn’t my food! It was theirs!”

Rob sat down again, curiously the anger now gone as quick as it came, “Who’s the Whitmans?”

“I promised.”

“Come on, James, just tell us.”

“I promised I would never tell.”

“If you’re really our friend, you will tell us. Come on.”

“I can’t.”

“Come on, James ...”

After a few more moments of all those stares weighing heavy on him, the boy’s resolve was at long last gone, “Mark and Sarah Whitman.”

“They live in that town?”

“Yeah ...” The boy wouldn’t look at him, instead staring at the ground.

“Where exactly do they live?”

“At Chestnut and Main, there’s an old brick building on the corner. It’s three stories tall and there was a pharmacy on the first floor, and there were apartments above that.”

“Yes, I remember the drug store, we searched it real well. It was burned out and the stairs to the second floor were destroyed too. They’d completely collapsed. Are you saying they live above it?”

“Yes, the first two floors are trashed, they live on the third floor.”

“So how do they get in and out?”

“They have a rope ladder they lower from a window down to the ground.”

“This is hard to believe. How did you ever find them?”

“I didn’t; they found me. I was searching that pharmacy too and as I was leaving Sarah yelled out. I guess she felt sorry for me. I probably looked pretty pathetic; I hadn’t eaten in three days. They dropped the ladder and let me climb up. They searched me for weapons, though, I’m sure that was Mark’s idea. They gave me a meal and let me sleep there last night. This morning they fed me again but said they couldn’t help me no more. They said I had to go. They gave me that soup and made me promise I wouldn’t tell anyone about them. When I made that promise I thought I could keep it.”

“It’s okay, James, you tried.”

“You’re going to rob them, aren’t you?”

“Yes, we are. Does that bother you?”

“Yes ...”

“Have you ever stolen from people, James?”

“Yes ... but I never hurt anyone.”

“Taking their food, that’s not hurting them?”

“You know what I meant. You’re going to hurt them.” The boy continued to gaze at his frayed tennis shoes, the tears coming again.

“James, look at me ...” Robert waited until the boy grudgingly stared up at him, “I want you to know we’re not going to hurt them, unless they try to hurt us. It’s one of our codes.”

“Codes?”

“We have codes we live by, James. When we join this group, we take an oath; if you decide to join us, you’ll take it too. One of our codes is that we never hurt anyone if we don’t have to. Unless your friends decide to fight us, I promise you they won’t be hurt.”

“You promise.”

“I promise ... so tell me all you know about them.”

“I don’t know anything else.”

“Sure you do, you probably don’t even know how much you do know. You’re sure it was just the two of them? How long were you there?”

“I was there over twelve hours. I didn’t see or hear anyone else the whole time. I’m sure it was just them.”

“Do they have some kind of alarm, or maybe a dog? Do they have any kind of animal that might warn them?”

“No, I don’t remember any animals, or alarms.”

“Do they have guns?”

“Yes ... Mister Whitman had three I could see.”

“What kind?”

“I don’t know anything about guns.”

“Come on, James, describe them to me.”

“Well, the one he carried around with him most of the time was a shotgun ... I’m pretty sure of that. He kept calling it his ‘twelve gauge.’ He had a handgun too, in a holster on his belt. I didn’t get a good look at it though.”

“Was it a pistol or revolver?”

“A revolver, maybe, he never took it out.”

“You said there was a third gun, what was it?”

“Another long gun, maybe a rifle, maybe another shotgun, I don’t know. He had it standing in the corner next to the window facing Main Street.”

“You don’t know what it was?”

“It must have been a rifle because I think I remember it had a scope on it.”

“Okay, James, is there anything else you remember, any other kind of weapons like knives, or maybe a bow and arrows? Did they have any kind of booby traps on the windows or doors? Did they have a lot of food?”

“I saw some kitchen knives, but nothing else, no traps either. They had plenty of food though. Their kitchen cabinets and counters are crammed full, their closets too. Lots of store bought canned stuff and home canned to boot, you know, in those glass jars with a metal lid. It makes me hungry thinking of it all. I was so disappointed when they only gave me that one can of soup. I thought they were going to give me a whole lot more.”

“Okay, James, you’ve done good. Hasn’t he, guys?”

James felt a little bit better when everyone agreed and gathered around to give him a few pats on the back.

Robert sat there in the dappled light of the fire and thought about it a moment, then he turned to John Alton. “Alton, I want you to do some reconnaissance. Pick two guys and head out early in the morning. I want you there before the sun comes up. Watch the place all day and come back tomorrow night and give us a report.”

Without delay Alton stood up and looked around, “We’re going have to leave early if we’re going to get there and find a good observation spot all before sunrise. D’Cruz ... Cornwell, you’re with me. Get some sleep, we’ll be getting up at three hundred hours.”

After that the group broke up and started making their beds, except for McCain who had the first watch.

Robert was making his own bed when he noticed the boy still sitting by the fire, watching everyone else getting comfortable for the night. “James, you don’t have a sleeping bag, do you? Not even a blanket?”

“No ... a couple stole mine about two weeks ago. They stole my good pair of shoes too. Don’t worry about me though, it’s not so cold, I’ll just sit here by the fire.”

Rob went right to a large two-wheeled cart there at the edge of their camp. It was an odd-looking thing filled to the top with all the pilfered valuables they had stolen through the years. Affixed to the back was a large plastic drum that held the group’s water supply and strapped along each side were two long stout poles. James would later discover they were there so the men could carry it on their shoulders when the terrain was bad, or if they needed to move in a hurry.

He rummaged through it a few moments then quickly returned with something under his arm. “James, here’s a sleeping bag. It’s not much to look at, but it will keep you warm. I want you to have it ...”

“For tonight?”

“No, you can keep it. I want you to have this whether you stay with us or not.”

With a smile, James lay out next to his new friend, kicked off his dirty shoes and settled in too. Just as he was falling asleep a nudge to his side woke him again.

“James, I forgot to tell you something. You remember when we came here this afternoon and there were those trip wires we had to step over?”

“Yes ...”

“You don’t know where they are, and you’ll never see them in the dark. You probably don’t know what to look for anyway. If you’ve got to piss later just go in that open area right over there. Don’t go anywhere near the trees; we’ve got so many trip wires around us you’re bound to set one off.”

Later in the morning the boy woke again, and now he had to go. He looked around in the dim light from the dying fire. Martinelli was on guard now, sitting there watching him, and Alton and his men were long gone. He thought about getting up and relieving himself but just couldn’t, instead deciding to wait for daylight and go behind a tree. James lay there wide awake the rest of the morning, holding his urine until the sun came up.

That next day they waited for their team to return but still had many things to do. McCain, Peavey, and Rudd went out to observe a nearby road. Many of their best leads would come from refugees they caught wandering the highways.

The rest stayed in camp as there was work here too. Checking their traps and regular maintenance on the weapons, cooking, even their guest found he had some chores of his own as it was only his first meal that was free.

James spent most of the day boiling water he had to haul from a nearby stream. Making thirty gallons of sanitized water was quite a job when he could only carry five gallons at a time.

By dark the men started returning; Martinelli was cooking and had them all a hot meal ready as McCain and his guys walked into camp. McCain said, “The pickings were thin today.” About ten minutes behind him Alton and his men came wandering in. After they were all fed, Alton pulled a tablet out and everyone encircled him there by the fire.

“Okay, Boss, this is how it looks. First, James’s intel was right on the money.”

James found himself the recipient of a few more friendly pats on the back.

Alton began pointing out features on the handmade maps on his pad, “It took us to nearly daylight to find some good observation spots, but we did find some. I hid in an old flower shop, right here,” he pointed it out with his pen, “on the other side of Main, about twenty-five meters north and east of the drugstore. It’s probably the best observation spot near the building. I had D’Cruz set up down the street on the west side. I sent Cornwell the other way, one block south and east so he could watch the back of the building.”

Alton continued to point landmarks out on his map and then Rob interrupted as he handed him a fresh cup of freeze dried coffee. “Were you able to confirm what James told us, it’s only the two of them?”

“I would have to agree with that. We were there thirteen hours and the two of them were all we heard or saw. If there’s anyone else they must be in a coma because we didn’t hear one other peep.”

“Okay, tell us about the layout.”

“It’s just like James said. They’re in that old brick three story on the corner and they’re dug in real good.”

“How many ways in?”

“There’s two windows each facing north and west. As far as I could determine they are the only way in ... or out. The south and east sides of the building have no windows at all. That east side has another building next door and a narrow alley between them.”

“Could we climb to the windows from the roof of that building?”

“No, it’s only one story tall and it just can’t be done.”

“What about coming at them from underneath?”

“I thought of that too, late in the day I snuck in through the back door to confirm what I already thought.”

“Which is?”

“That you can’t get at them that way either, there’s just too much junk to get through. There is a door where the top of the staircase was but it’s nearly impossible to get to. It might be conceivable to get at them that way ... but there’s no way to do it quickly, or quietly.”

“We’ve still got some bug bombs, think they might work?”

“I thought of that too, I don’t think they would work either. You would have to throw them close from the street into a third-story window. Trying to put one through a small window from fifteen ... twenty meters away, and probably with someone shooting back at you, not much chance of success. Just going to waste them ... and get one of our guys killed.”

“How about throwing them into the drugstore underneath?”

“Again, not much chance of success, I doubt the fumes would even get to the third floor.”

“Okay, so what’s your opinion, how would you do it?”

“Well, Boss, there’s only two ways as far as I can see. Like I said, they’re dug in pretty good. So we’re either going to have to wait them out, or we could try a Trojan Horse, but I don’t really want to put Nicky in danger.”

“Well, we agree on that. I’m not going to send Nicky up there. I’m sure he could talk himself in ...” Robert stopped and ruffled the mop of hair on the smiling boy at his side, “but that husband sounds very cautious. James looks harmless enough and he searched him. He would probably search Nicky too ... and what if he got caught trying to lower the ladder down? That could turn into an ugly situation, quickly.”

“Yep, that’s how I saw it too.”

“Okay, so you think we should wait them out. How long are we going to have to wait? Did they even come out when you were there?”

Alton finally took a sip of his coffee, “No, they didn’t,” then stroked his chin. “How long are we going to have to wait ... well, that’s the big question, isn’t it?”

Robert sat there a moment rubbing his short cropped hair and turned to James who was at the back of the crowd. “James, do they have a toilet?”

“They’ve got one but it doesn’t work, they’re using one of those camping toilets ... you know, like a bucket with a lid on it.”

“So they have to empty it. Did you see anywhere in the apartment where they might empty it out?”

James thought about it a moment, “I don’t remember seeing anything like that ... or smelling it.”

Robert turned to Alton again, “Did you see them dumping anything out the windows?”

“No, not a thing.”

The boss was deliberating while they all watched, “Well they’ve got to do something with it. They must be coming out and dumping it somewhere.”

Surprisingly Cornwell had something important to say, “When I was watching the back I noticed something, didn’t think much of it at the time ...”

He now had all of their attention, especially the boss, “What?”

“Back behind that building is an empty lot, there was a shovel stuck in the ground, and it looked like there were several small holes that had been dug and covered back up.”

Robert had a plan now. “They’re burying their waste back there. All we have to do is wait until one of them comes down, then we’ll take them hostage. Once we have one hostage we can make the other one surrender.”

Rob and Alton worked out the plan while the others took note. It was decided they would get some sleep right then because this time they would all be waking at three hundred hours.

James lay there in his bed a while unable to sleep, wondering if he just got somebody killed.

At five hundred hours that next morning, they approached the edge of town, only two blocks down from their intended target. Nicky, James, and Peavey were left there with the cart, and told to settle in but come running when they were called.

The rest of the group got ready, taking only their guns, ammo, and several days’ worth of rations with them. Then they silently crept through the dark alleys taking their assigned positions, and waiting.

The first day was a long one and nothing happened. James spent most of the day sitting in the shadows keeping out of the sun, wondering if this would ever end. That night he hardly slept at all, every unknown sound unnerving him. Peavey and Nicky on the other hand had no trouble sleeping. In fact, the child lay there, wrapped in a blanket on the hard concrete, peacefully dreaming.

Just after seven hundred hours that next morning, things started stirring. By 7:35, it was time for the show.

Robert softly spoke into his radio, “This is Wolf, radio check, everybody check in.”

Through some static came Alton’s voice, faintly, “Coyote, checking in, you’re good.”

After another few seconds the silence was barely broken again, McCain this time on the other end, “Jackal, checking in.”

Hidden amid the garbage in the front of the flower shop Robert coordinated the attack. “They’re looking out the windows right now. Everybody stand by. They’ve checked every one and now they’re in the east Main Street window.”

With another minute of the tension building, and more than a day of waiting, it finally started happening. Rob was quick with the play by play, “Okay, here we go. They’ve lowered a bucket down to the ground with a rope. Now they’ve dropped the ladder. Coyote, they’re using the window closest to the alley, so this will be your show. Jackal, you stand by, if they try to run west you be there to stop them. But everybody remember, there’s another one up there with a gun, so whoever comes down grab them quick and get back out of the line of fire.”

Now a figure appeared in the window, feet first, clumsily lowering himself to the ground.

Rob was still quietly giving orders from the trash strewn storefront, “This is it. It’s the man. He’s armed with a handgun on the right side of his belt. He’s also got a shotgun slung across his back. Coyote, this guy is yours; I’ll let you know when he’s almost on the ground.” With another few seconds the time for discretion was gone, “COYOTE GO!”

Just as the man dropped to the pavement he found three men atop of him. D’Cruz and Cornwell knocked him face down on the ground and fixed him there with his arms twisted back and his mouth clamped shut.

Alton snatched the revolver out of the holster and shoved it into his own waistband. He pulled a knife and hastily sliced through the sling of the shotgun, taking it right off his back. The three hurriedly got him on his feet and rushed him back into the alley, all before he had the chance to make a sound.

Right then came a desperate yelling from the third-story window, it was the woman’s, “Mark! Mark, what’s going on?! MARK!”

Alton used zip ties to bind his arms back behind him while Cornwell held him against the wall, D’Cruz held him too and covered his mouth with his hand.

“MARK?! MARK, ANSWER ME!”

From the broken out front of the old flower shop there came an unfamiliar man’s voice. “We’ve got your husband, if you want to see him alive again you’ll come on down.”

Without warning, three loud shots rang out in quick succession. She had no idea where the voice was coming from and was firing wild. Still, everyone got down. She screamed out at the unseen stranger, “Where’s my husband?!”

Robert gave her a moment to settle down and then tried to calm her with his reasonable voice. “We have your husband, lady. We haven’t hurt him, and we don’t want to. We don’t want to hurt him or you, all we want is your stuff. If you come down, unarmed, you have my word that neither of you will be hurt.”

The woman wasn’t entirely believing as her screaming became even more frantic, “Where’s my husband?! You killed him, didn’t you?! WHERE IS HE?!”

“Your husband is fine.” Rob got on the radio with Alton, “Coyote, let the guy talk, maybe he can calm her down.”

Alton signaled D’Cruz who let go of the man’s mouth, “I’m okay, honey. They haven’t hurt me. Stay calm.”

“Where are you?!”

“I’m in the alley, three guys are holding me. Stay where you are! Don’t come down! Whatever you do don’t come down!”

Robert was back on the radio again, “Shut him up!” and then right back to the wife with his sensible tone. “That would be a mistake, lady. All we want is your stuff. We don’t want to hurt either of you. But, if you don’t come down right now you’re going to make us hurt him. Please, come down. You have my word if you do no one will get hurt.”

The husband broke loose of D’Cruz’s grip, “Don’t believe them, honey! They’re liars, they’ll say anything! Stay where you are! You’re safe right there! They know you’d kill all of them before they could get to the top!”

The boss was on the radio again and now he could hardly contain the anger, “SHUT HIM UP! I’m coming over!” Robert could see the woman as she was hanging out the window, trying to peer around the corner. He stood up, and jumped right through the broken storefront. Rob hit the ground at a sprint, dashed across the street into the alley and made it to cover as a single shot rang out. The bullet was ten feet behind him. Then he got back on the radio again, “Jackal, from your position can you still see all the windows?”

McCain had watched it all from the opposite end, “Yes, we can see all of them.”

“Okay, just continue watching them for now.”

He turned to the husband; D’Cruz and Cornwell held him while Rob tried to talk some sense into the man, “I want to have a sane conversation. You think you can talk without screaming or name calling ... or cussing or spitting?”

The man gave a nod.

“D’Cruz, let him go. You know you’re going to get your wife killed, you know that, don’t you?”

“You’ll kill her anyway ... if you get a hold of her. No telling what you monsters would do to her. But you won’t get her. She’s a good shot, she’ll kill all of you before you get anywhere near her.”

“I told you I don’t want to hurt anyone ...”

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t believe you. I’ve seen your kind before, and I’ve seen what you do to people, especially women. So no, I don’t believe it when you say you won’t hurt us.”

Rob was frustrated, and it showed, “Okay, I can see it’s no good talking to you. D’Cruz.”

D’Cruz shut him up again.

He thought things over and after a moment Rob got back on his radio, “Jackal, do you still have some of those incendiary shotgun rounds?”

McCain was quick with a reply, “You mean those ‘Dragon’s breath’ rounds? Yeah, I’ve still got some.”

“From where you’re at, can you put some through one of the Main Street windows? You think you could set the curtains on fire?”

“Yes, I could do that, It’ll have to be the window furthest from you. I’ve got a much better shot at that one. Do you want me to kill the woman when she tries to put out the fire?”

“No! Don’t kill anyone. Just set the curtains on fire. Give me five seconds and do it.” Rob grabbed him by his collar and all of them moved the husband to the front edge of the alley, barely peeking around the corner. “Watch this.”

Just at the designated time, McCain stepped out around an old van with his favorite weapon, a well-worn Remington 870 with the barrel professionally cut down to twelve and a half inches. Without delay, he shouldered it and began; it threw a stream of fire thirty-five feet right through the window. After rapidly shooting four rounds, McCain dropped back down out of sight.

He made the husband watch the horror of it all and immediately dragged him back into the alley. Then Rob’s men held him against the wall and kept his mouth shut. Rob seized the man by the neck and got right in his face. “You’re going to get her killed. You’re going to get her shot ... or worse; you ever see somebody burn to death? It’s not pretty. It’s not quick, and it’s not painless. Now imagine watching the woman you love dying like that. This is your last chance to get out of this alive. I’m giving you this chance because I made a promise. If you’re smart you’ll take it. I know you’ve seen ‘my kind’ before so you don’t have any real reason to take my word for it, but you better. And this is it. I’m giving you my word that you or your wife will not be hurt if you give up now. You can either take my word for it, or we can go back around the corner and you can watch your wife die.”

Rob got back on the radio again, “Jackal, what’s going on?”

McCain answered, “She put out the fire. I had a perfect shot but now she’s stepped back from the window.”

Rob turned to the husband again, “What’s it going to be? D’Cruz, let him go.”

Mister Whitman was beaten at last, “Okay, I guess I don’t have a choice.”

“No, you really don’t.”

The husband talked his wife down and the two to them were searched and tied to street signs, sitting on the sidewalk with their hands locked behind them. Rob made sure they were shaded from the sun.

After that was done, they yelled for Peavey and the boys to bring the cart up. Robert, along with McCain, D’Cruz, and Martinelli, stayed down on the ground while the rest shimmied up the rickety ladder. After a few moments, an assortment of loud hoots and cheers could be heard when the men first saw all the treasures that surrounded them.

As Peavey and the boys were coming around the corner, the husband got the first good look at his betrayer. James was startled, but happy, when he saw both of them were still alive.

Mr. Whitman had some things to say, “I knew it! You miserable little bastard! I knew you were the reason for this! We fed you! We took care of you ... and you betrayed us! I hope you rot in hell for this! You hear me?! ROT IN HELL!”

James stood there silently taking the abuse, until finally Robert had to intervene, “Okay, that’s enough!”

“Enough?! Not nearly enough! Rot in hell! You hear me, you betraying son of a bitch?! ROT ... IN ... HELL!”

Rob gave Whitman the back of his hand, “Not another word! So, he did tell us about you. What kind of loyalty were you expecting for a can of soup? For the record, he didn’t volunteer a thing, we had to trick it out of him. You might also want to note he’s the one I promised that you wouldn’t be hurt. If it wasn’t for him, I’m reasonably sure the two of you would be dead now.”

Two stood guard while all the rest labored at emptying the apartment. It took the rest of the day for the work to be done. They searched it all, going over the Whitman’s home like locusts, and when they left nothing of value was to be found. The men and boys loaded up the cart, and their bags, with all they would hold. Food was the most valuable commodity, but they still had room for so much more.

They took their guns, a Mossberg 590 shotgun with an evil-looking bayonet attached. Then there was a blued six-inch Colt Python revolver Robert kept for himself, a scoped Winchester Model 70 in .30-06, and a Ruger .380. There were a few hundred rounds of ammunition for each, except for the Ruger, which had less than half a box.

There were other prizes to be found as well, first aid supplies, and toiletries like soap and toothpaste, those the men hadn’t seen in a while. A few odd gems were discovered too: a nice pair of binoculars, water purification tablets, and several pairs of quality boots. They even found five bottles of Scotch whisky and two bottles of vodka, and it was the first time Rudd had smiled in quite a while.

At last done, late in the day and laden down, they were ready with just enough time to leave before the sun went down.

Robert looked at this couple, and then up to their apartment that held the tangled mess of what was left of their lives. “If you’re smart you won’t try to follow us.” He then focused on the wife, speaking to her with his sensible voice. “You seem like the more rational of the two of you. I’m telling you now, don’t come after us. Talk your husband out of it. That’s what he’ll want to do, but I’m sure you can persuade him not to. I promised not to kill you and I didn’t, but if he comes after us, all bets are off. If you don’t want to be a widow, you’ll talk him out of it.”

He took out his long trusted KA-BAR from the sheath on his belt and cut the zip ties that held her there. “Yes, we stole your possessions but you still have your life. This is the last time I will say it, if you’re smart you won’t follow us, you’ll just get on with your lives.”

An hour after dark they arrived, weary under the heavy burden of all their plunder. They started a fire and a well-deserved feast, picking only the best from their new stores. They all sat together, eating, laughing, joking, and having a grand time. Even the sentries were in on the fun. For once in a long while they were all full, finally satisfied. Nicky even said he was feeling a little sick from eating so much, the first time he could remember that ever happening in his young life. The men passed around a bottle taking well-mannered sips, except for Rudd who swallowed great gulps. They all babbled on about their never dying friendship and this most successful mission.

At long last Rob stood up with the bottle, moved over, and sat down by James, who looked a little uncomfortable amidst these rowdy men. “Want to try some?”

“No, that’s all right.”

“It’s okay, James, we’re not going to make you. You can be yourself with us.” With one hand he gave the bottle to Peavey and put the other around the boy’s shoulder, and scooted up closer to him. “So this is what we do, James.”

James just sat there, stiff as a board, “Yes ...”

“This is what we do. We steal from people. That’s what we do. Do you think you could do that? Do you think you could do what we did today? Most importantly, do you want to be one of us?”

The boy sincerely answered, “I’m ... I’m still not sure.”

Rob got closer to the boy. “I understand your hesitation; it’s not an easy decision. I don’t want to put pressure on you, I really don’t, but the time has come to make up your mind. I really like you, James, I do, but I can’t let you hang around freeloading off of us anymore. It’s not fair to these guys, or to you. So we need a decision right now.”

James looked at his almost new friends staring back at him from the flickering light. Nicky and some others were urging him with their quiet pleas to “come on.” Finally after a very long minute considering it all, he said, “Yes ... okay,” and with that most of the group gave out a hurrah.

Robert was now wearing that large honest smile as he stood up again and addressed his newest friend. “James, stand up.”

The boy stood up too and the entire group surrounded him there by the fire.

“James, repeat after me. I ... state your name.”

“I, James Leightman ...”

“Do swear my loyalty to the group ...”

“Do swear my loyalty to the group ...”

“And promise I will defend my friends, with my very life if need be ...”

“And promise I will defend my friends, with my very life if need be ...”

“And I will only harm others to protect the group from harm ...”

The boy paused for only a moment and went on. “And I will only harm others to protect the group from harm ...”

“And promise I will put the needs of the group before my own needs, always, this I swear.”

“And promise I will put the needs of the group before my own needs, always, this I swear.”

As he finished, Rob pulled out his knife and handed it to the boy. “Now, cut the palm of your hand and drip the blood into the fire.”

James took it, hesitated briefly, and without another thought committed himself fully. He split open his hand and made a fist, squeezing his blood into the fire. As his blood sizzled on the rocks below, the entire group gave out a resounding cheer that must have been heard for miles.

The young man looked around at all these dissimilar faces, his new family all, and for the first time in his seventeen years felt like he belonged.

Chapter Two

They were all up again as the sun rose; despite last night’s celebration, there was still work to be done. Rudd made breakfast and for twice in a row they had their fill.

As others were tending their own duties, James was helping him clean the breakfast dishes, when suddenly an expensive pair of boots dropped right in his lap.

He looked up to see Robert towering above him, “James, put those on, you’re coming with me.”

Rudd had other plans, “Boss, I thought he would work with me today, see how we set up camp. There’s some stuff I need to show him.”

But there was no doubt Rob was in charge, “No. James, get up. Grab your boots and come with me.”

Rob took off in a brisk pace towards the cart.

James grabbed up the boots and followed behind. “Can I use these boots today?”

“You can have them.”

“Have them? Really?” From the boy’s face you might have thought it was Christmas.

Rob stopped and let him catch up. “Yes, you can have them. I know this is all new to you, but remember you’re part of the group now. You’re one of us. So when one of us is in need of something, like, for instance, some new boots, he’s first in line when we get some. As long as you’re with us you’ll always be taken care of.”

The boy lifted a foot and lined up the sole of his brand new boots against the ratty old tennis shoes, bracing himself with his arm against his new best friend.

“Will they fit? Those were the smallest ones we got yesterday. I think they’re for a woman, but they still look a little too large for you.”

“They’ll fit good enough, and they’re so much better than these I’ve been wearing.”

“I’m glad you like them. You certainly needed them. We’ll be doing a lot of walking today, and in the coming weeks. I couldn’t have you lagging behind because of sore feet.”

“We’re going to be doing a lot of walking?”

“Yes, we are. I am going to be training you personally, James. I want to make sure you’re taught right. So for the next few weeks, everywhere I go you’ll be going too. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but when we’re done you’ll be able to do anything the guys can do. Well ... at least you’ll be able to take a more active part in our missions.”

Rob started rummaging through the cart, “We’ve only got two extra uniforms ... and it looks like they’re way too big for you. I’m sorry, but for now you just have to keep wearing what you’ve got. At least until we find something that halfway fits you, or you grow into what we already have.” He stopped again with that robust laugh the boy was growing to love.

“That’s okay, these are fine.”

“No, they’re not fine, but they will have to do. Actually ...” he spun the boy around with his hand, “they’re not too bad. Mostly subdued colors ... except this stripe of red that goes across the back of your jacket. Turn around again.” He examined the jacket closer and took out his knife. “I thought so. The red part is another piece of cloth sewn over the top, shouldn’t be too hard to take it off.” Rob took his knife and sliced the stitches that held it there. Once it was started with the knife, he got his fingers underneath.

James heard a loud rip and tugging at his back.

He turned around and Robert handed him the red stripe from his coat.

Rob went to the cart again, and with a few seconds searching, retrieved a web belt with two pouches attached. “Here, this is all you’re going to need for now. Go over and fill the canteen up, then go see Rudd.”

“Thanks!” The boy wouldn’t look up, instead playing with his newest gift, trying to get it to hang off his hip just right.

“I need you to listen to me, this is important, James. Are you listening?”

He finally looked up, “Yes, sir ...”

“Every day someone cooks the meals; they’re also in charge of the food and ammunition. Every day it’s a different person. Today it’s Rudd. But whoever is in charge that day they have the final say. You don’t ever take anything without their permission. Understand?”

“Yes, sir ...”

“So go get your water and then go see Rudd. Have him fill that other pouch with some canned goods, enough for lunch today, anyway.”

James did as he was told, filled his canteen to the top and went to see Rudd. Rudd did seem stingy at first but eventually gave him one can of Vienna sausages, one can of baked beans, and a metal spoon of his very own. Rudd said that was, “more than enough.”

Rob waited for him at the edge of the trees. After a while he grew impatient and produced a loud whistle. “Let’s go!”

The boy came running back and noticed behind him both Cornwell and Peavey were fast approaching and they were bringing their rifles.

“Are they going too?”

“Yeah, we’re all going.” Rob cautiously approached the edge of the tree line and stopped. “Okay, James, this is your first lesson. I need you to pay close attention. Peavey, Cornwell ... I need you guys to just be quiet today and let him learn on his own. James, you see this?” He pointed out a nearly invisible strand of fishing line, just off the ground and spanning several feet between two large trees.

“Yes, I see it.”

“What is it?”

“You said it was a ‘trip wire.’”

“That’s right. What do you think will happen if you trip it?”

“Nothing good, I’m thinking.”

All three men stopped for a laugh.

Rob started the lesson again with a smile on his face, “That’s right, nothing good,” then got serious once more. “We have trip wires set up all around this camp. They’re here to warn us that we’re being attacked.”

“Attacked?”

“That’s right, we aren’t the only ones looking for food. We have several different kinds. Some, like this one for instance, just make a noise. There’s a device hidden in that brush over there that will fire a blank round when it’s tripped. Most of our trips are to warn us, they make light or noise. Some are very simple, just some tin cans that make a racket when you trigger them. There are others like this one that are more complicated, like shoot off a blank or flare. Then there are some that are really dangerous. See that one way down there where the trail begins?”

He pointed off to something that the boy wasn’t sure he could see, “That one is connected to a sawed off double barrel shotgun partially buried under that old log. If someone trips it, they’re going to get cut off at the knees.”

He stepped over the wire and waved James along, “We don’t have time today, but later on I’m going to show you how to look for them, how to make and deploy them too. But for now I’m just going to point them out so you can see where they are.”

It took them twenty minutes to clear the trees, Robert pointing out each and every trap. When they finally made it to the road, they crossed to the other side.

“We’re not going to follow the road? Where are we going, anyway?”

Robert answered the boy’s questions but never once let up his quickened pace. “To answer your first question, we are not using the road. We don’t ever use the road. You surprise me; I thought you would have learned that lesson on your own. Remember this, James, and don’t ever forget it. The road is for losers. The only people that use the roads are those that want to be victims.”

The boy was shocked, “They want to be victims?”

“You heard me. Those people that stay on the roads ... some are stupid, a few are crazy ... but most of them are just plain lazy. They don’t care enough about their own safety, or even their own lives, to do anything hard. Even now they just want to do as little as they can get by with. They always take the easy way out ... and that’s the road. So don’t you ever feel sorry for them. They know they’re easy targets but don’t care enough to do anything about it. If they’re on the road, they want to be victims.”

James continued in step right behind him taking every word in.

“As to your second question, we’re going to a junction in the road; it’s about two miles from here. You probably noticed McCain’s patrol leaving early the other morning?”

“Yes, I noticed.”

“Unless we’re already watching a target, we send a three man patrol out every morning. We call it ‘Highway Patrol’ and do it each and every day.”

“What will we be doing?”

“We’re going to watch a road. Today will be watching the intersection of two roads.”

“You just said stay off the roads.”

“I did, but I meant for traveling. For what we’ll be doing, the road is where you need to be.”

“What are we going to be doing?”

“Fishing, James, fishing.”

“I know you don’t mean fishing fishing. So what do you mean?”

“We’re going to be fishing for people.”

“People?”

“That’s what I said. What did I just tell you about the road? Who’s on it?”

“Stupid people.”

“And?”

“Lazy people.”

“And?”

“People that want to be victims. Are we going to rob them?”

“Maybe, I doubt it though. Most people on the road have already been robbed, probably many times. They don’t have much left to steal, but they do have something else we can use.”

“What’s that?”

Rob stopped, looked right at him and tapped the side of the boy’s head with his finger, “Information, James. These people, they do a lot of traveling, they see a lot of things, know a lot of things. They know who’s giving out food to refugees, and who has electric lights. They know who’s not freezing in the winter, or still don’t look half-starved even though the last grocery store closed four years ago.”

“You mean like the stuff I told you about the Whitmans?”

“Yes, is that still bothering you?”

“I guess it is ...”

“James, you’re going to have to get past your feelings of guilt, if you want to survive out here.”

“I’ve been surviving.”

“Really? How were you doing? You didn’t look like you were doing too well when we picked you up.”

“I was doing okay.”

“When was the last time you ate before the Whitmans?”

“I told you, three days.”

“And before that?”

“Four days.”

“That’s not surviving, James, that’s slowly dying. You can’t live very long on two meals a week. If we hadn’t found you I doubt you would have lived to see twenty.”

“I ...”

“Let me ask you, your parents, they probably used to take you to church when you were young.”

“Yes ...”

“And they filled your head up with nonsense like ‘thou shalt not steal.’”

“Yes they did, what’s wrong with that?” The boy was becoming indignant now.

“Nothing is wrong with that, in that world. That’s your problem, James, you’re still living by the old world’s rules. This is a new world and it has new rules. If you keep trying to live by the old ones you’re going to die young.”

“But ...”

“‘But’ nothing. There just isn’t enough food for everyone, really not enough of anything for anyone anymore. Whatever you need to live ... well, there’s a shortage of it. That’s what I was talking about when we first met. You are going to have to decide how much you want to live, how far you’re willing to go to survive. You’ve stolen before, you’ve already admitted it.”

“Yes ... but not too much.”

“Not too much; that makes you feel better about it, doesn’t it?”

“I only stole what I needed; you guys stole everything the Whitmans had.”

“We stole everything because we needed it. How are we to know when we’ll get another chance like that? How are we supposed to know how long it will be before we find food again?”

“Well ...”

“‘Well’ nothing, we’re both thieves, James. But unlike you, I recognize to succeed, to thrive in this new world, you’re going to have to always put yourself first. Thinking of other people will only hurt yourself, or your family. You don’t want to hurt your new family, do you?”

“No, I don’t want to hurt you guys.”

“Look at Peavey back there.”

The boy turned back to see Peavey marching about thirty feet behind quietly listening to their chatter, but still keeping alert for any danger nearby. Cornwell was an equal distance ahead and also enthralled.

“Peavey is just five years older than you. He’s like your big brother. Like the rest of us, he wanted you to join our group. Are you telling me you would take food away from him and give it to some stranger you don’t even know, just so you could feel better about yourself? I can’t believe you’re that selfish ... that you would put your feelings ahead of the welfare of your own family. You know what your problem is?”

“I don’t have a problem. What problem?”

“You just want to be a little thief. You just want to take a little from people so you can tell yourself you’re not really hurting anyone. You know why that is?”

“Why?”

“Because of what I was saying before, because of that brainwashing you had as a child.”

“I’m not brainwashed.”

“Sure you are and I can prove it.”

“How?”

“You’ve already told me over and over. You would rather starve than have bad feelings about stealing from others. You’ve still got a bit of a conscience left in you. We’re going to have to fix that, kid, before it gets you killed.”

The rest of their journey was made in silence, keeping near cover and out of sight. The boy spent the trip following right behind Robert and thinking about their conversation and if there was any truth in it at all.

When they did arrive, they immediately set up for the task at hand. Cornwell and Peavey took cover behind a culvert north of the highway with Robert and James hidden from view by a turned over panel van about one hundred yards south by southeast.

With less than an hour of waiting, they spotted their first target approaching from the west. An older couple, about sixty or so, wearing nothing but mismatched rags, they were soiled from head to toe. The man pushed a red plastic shopping cart that now held their entire lifetime’s efforts.

As they approached the culvert, the man stopped, whispered to his wife, and both immediately began backing up and turning around.

Rob stood up and produced a shrill whistle, right then Cornwell and Peavey jumped out and stopped the two at gunpoint. Robert and James came running and surrounded them.

The old man had no argument left in him after the last four years of living in hell. He spoke to Peavey, “Listen, fellas, we don’t want it. Here, take it,” and pushed the cart right at him.

Peavey stood there silent with his rifle still trained on them.

“Please don’t hurt us. You can have all we got, but please don’t hurt me or my wife.”

Robert let the old man know that he was in charge, “Mister, maybe we don’t want your things,” he said while casually pawing through their possessions in the cart, “we might even be able to help you.” Searching through it, there was nothing really of interest, some more dirty clothes and a blanket, old photos, and a dozen or so cans of various vegetables, most of them rusty and bloated. “Mister, we’re going to have to search you, you understand why?”

“Yes ...”

Peavey and Cornwell thoroughly searched them both for weapons and none were found. The couple just stood there unfeeling, like being abused was daily routine.

Rob went on with that reasonable voice. “As I was saying, we might be able to help you. Cornwell, what’d you bring along today?”

Cornwell removed his pack and put it on the ground while Peavey still kept them covered. He opened it up and started pulling prizes out. “Well, let’s see. Here’s a good one,” he held up an extra-large can of beef stew. “Meat and potatoes, how long has it been since you’ve had meat, old man?”

The old man’s eyes grew large.

Robert went on with the sales pitch. “We’ll give you that stew, and we have more we’ll give you, if you help us out. Cornwell, what else you got in there?”

Cornwell started pulling more goodies from his bag and placing them on the ground. “There’s also four cans of peaches, three cans of baked beans, and one can of pineapple.” He looked up at the couple, neither of them able to hide their desire. “Either of you like pineapple? Pineapple comes all the way from Hawaii. You hardly see any around these parts anymore.”

You could easily hear the eagerness in the old man’s voice, “What kind of help do you need? What do we have to do?”

Rob continued with his friendly tone, “Not much at all. You see, we’re looking for some friends of ours. We’re not from around this way and we’re kind of lost. Maybe you know where they are.”

“Maybe, how would we know your friends?”

“Oh, that’s easy. I bet everybody around here’s talking about them. You see, they have a lot of food. You might’ve even smelled their cooking or heard about someone that did. Our friends, they’re really nice too, they’re so nice that they’re probably giving it away to people down on their luck, people like you.”

“I think I know the ones you’re talking about. If we help you find your ‘friends’ you’ll give us all that food?”

“Well that depends entirely on you ... and how helpful your information is.”

Although willing, the old man was still not trusting. “How do I know you’ll give us the food after I tell you?”

“How do you know I won’t have one of these guys shoot you if you don’t? I guess we’re just going to have to trust each other.” No one could tell if Rob was joking or not.

After a moment considering it, the old man went on, “Okay, I see what you’re saying. There’s this nice family northwest of here, they wouldn’t let us stay with them but did give us a few days’ worth of food.”

“This junk in your cart?”

“No, all good stuff. This stuff here, we found it in the trunk of a car back down the road about five miles. We’ve been avoiding eating it unless we absolutely have to, and I think we’re about there.”

“Maybe not, keep talking; where were these people?”

“I don’t know exactly where, I’ve lost track. I know they were north of the town of Mendon. It’s been over two weeks, I can’t remember much more than that.”

“Well, that’s a lot of country to check. You’re going to have to narrow it down some if you want to be paid.”

The old man thought hard with the rest of them standing around watching the gears turn; the wife was no help at all. Just as they were all sure this was leading nowhere, the old-timer finally came up with a thought. “Wait! I remember now! You could see a water tower from their house, off in the distance. It was about a mile south of them. That should make it easy to find your friends.”

“How many were living there?”

“I don’t know exactly; while we were there I saw three or four men and at least two women.” The old man turned to the wife, “Isn’t that right?” and she silently agreed.

“And you’re sure they have a lot of food?”

“Oh my, yes. More than I’ve seen in a long time. Come on, pay us. That should be enough for you to find your ‘friends.’”

Rob was feeling charitable today. “Okay, you’ve helped us a little. We still have to do some searching though. I tell you what; you can pick out three items.”

The couple chose the stew and one can each of peaches and pineapple. They were sent on their way much happier than when they were stopped.

As they were going, Rob blocked them, “I don’t have to threaten you, do I? About what’s going to happen to you if you’ve lied to us?”

The old man stared at him, the understanding in his voice and eyes, “No.”

Rob let them go on and Cornwell broke the silence when at last they were out of hearing range, “We going to stake out this road the rest of the day or head on back?”

“We’re going to head back; this lead sounds like a good one and I want to get started on it right away.” He checked his watch, “Only twelve minutes until eleven hundred hours. Let’s go over behind that truck, we’ll have our dinner and I can check in at the top of the hour.”

They all sat behind the truck out of view from the road, having good food and some soft conversation, waiting for eleven hundred hours to come.

The boy still had plenty of questions for Rob, “What are we doing?”

“Eating.”

“I meant what you said about waiting for the top of the hour?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed our radios.”

“Yes, you don’t use them very much.”

“That’s because they’re old. We only have the three and it’s hard to keep them charged.”

“How do you charge them?”

“We have a solar unit that does the job well enough. Unfortunately, the batteries don’t hold a charge very long anymore. At most we might get two or three hours out of them before they run down again. So we try to conserve them. What we do in situations like this, where one team is away, we’ll only turn them on a few minutes and check in once every hour. Even then we only stay on as long as we need to. Of course, if there is an emergency, that’s another thing altogether.”

“Oh ... what are we going to do now?”

“Well, in a minute I’m going to call them up and tell everyone to start packing. We’re going to find that place those refugees told us about.”

“What’s wrong with the place we’ve got, I like it.”

“It’s too vulnerable, too many ways to attack it. We’ve already been there longer than we planned. That was meant to be a temporary camp. We only set it up to find you, remember?”

“Oh yeah ...”

“Besides, winter will be here soon enough, we got to find a place to sit it out. This place that couple told us about might just be it.”

At the top of the hour, Rob called Alton and told them of their newest target. He gave the map coordinates and told his second in command to pack up and meet them at the rendezvous point as quick as he could.

As they were putting on their packs getting ready to leave, Peavey suddenly had something important to say, softly, “Boss.” With his rifle, he pointed out an unknown backpack sitting against the backside of the truck.

Robert noticed it and made a gesture with his hand. He, Peavey, and Cornwell spread out while keeping their rifles trained on the van.

After a tense moment, Rob at last spoke, “Whoever is in the truck, come on out.”

There was a minute of nothing but silence.

Rob now shouted in a more aggressive voice, “You in the truck, come on out! If you don’t come out now were going to unload our guns into it. It’ll look like Swiss cheese when we’re done!”

Finally the silence had something to say, “Okay, we’re coming out! Don’t shoot! Here we come! The back door of the panel van dropped open and two people squeezed through with their hands in the air. “Don’t shoot us.” It was a man and a woman, they appeared in their mid-twenties, and like the other couple they were skinny and their clothes were dirty and disheveled; it was all the fashion this year, and the three before.

Rob let them know he was in charge, “Just stand still. Search them.”

Peavey and Cornell made a detailed search of the two and their bags; the only thing of interest was a Glock found on the man. It held seventeen rounds but only nine remained. Cornwell handed it over to the boss and Rob started speaking again with his fake friendly tone.

“Listen, we don’t know each other, we don’t mean you no harm. You see, we’re looking for some friends of ours ...”

The stranger had heard this before. “Save it. We were listening the first time. We don’t know what those geezers were talking about. We came from the other direction.”

Rob appeared disappointed he couldn’t finish his spiel, “Oh, well I guess you can go then; we’ll keep the gun.”

But the young man had other ideas, “I know of another place you might be interested in.”

Robert perked up, “Where?”

“If I tell you can I have my Glock back?”

“Is it very far from here?”

“No.”

“Okay, why not.”

“Right down this road, not even a mile,” the young man pointed east down the highway, “on the left there’s a house about a hundred feet off of it. There are two women living there. We tried to beg some food off them but they didn’t give us a single thing. Bitches.”

“Are they armed?”

“Yes, the older one had a shotgun.”

“Dogs?”

“No.”

“And nobody else there with them?”

“No.”

He cleared the chamber and removed the magazine from the pistol. Rob started thumbing the rounds out into Peavey’s waiting hands. The couple couldn’t do a thing but watch.

Rob handed him back his gun and magazine, minus the rounds, and the man had something else to say. “I know of another place. Tougher than the one with the women, but I bet you guys could take it.”

He had Rob’s attention again, “How far?”

“Almost a day’s walk from here, but it’s worth the trip.”

“What do you want?”

“My ammo back ... and you could throw in a few cans of food.”

“All right ... if your intel is good. You know better than to lie to me, right?”

“Yes ... I know what would happen if I did.”

The young man told Rob everything he knew about this newest target, its strengths and weaknesses, and what treasures it held.

Robert turned to his men, satisfied. “Peavey, give him back the ammunition. Cornwell, give them three cans of food, whatever they want.”

The couple grabbed up their old belongings and new riches and were scurrying down the road and out of view in less than a minute.

Alone once more, the conversation restarted and Cornwell had questions, “What are we doing, Boss?”

“We’re going to check those two women out first, since they’re the closest.”

“But we already called the guys and told them to meet us.”

“So what? We’re going to take a look at both of these places. They’re not too far out of the way. We’re going to see if either is worth taking, and if they are we will. You can’t throw away opportunities.”

Before leaving, James said he had to go and asked for some privacy behind the truck. As the three of them were waiting, Robert was thinking of what he would have to do to make this boy grow up.

Chapter Three

In less than an hour, they were spying on the couple’s home from some dense brush right across the road.

After forty minutes of observing, Rob was raring to go. “I can’t believe these women; they don’t know the slightest thing about security. That one has a shotgun with her; like it matters, it’s like she’s in a fog. The two of them have been coming in and out of the house and they don’t even stop a second to look around. Those damn vegetables must be important. I’m going to check in with Alton at the top of the hour and get the guys over here. This one’s too easy to let go. We’ll take this place tonight.”

Hours later, Alton quietly approached with McCain in tow, and with less than an hour of sunlight left. “Sorry we’re late; it took some time to get packed up. Then we had to find you. So what’s up?”

Rob kept low to the ground, “After I called the first time we got some more info ... about a couple in this house here. We’ve been watching them since I called the second time. Where’s everyone else?”

“I stopped them behind that old barn there,” Alton pointed back to a broken down building about five hundred yards off. “I didn’t want to get them any closer until I found out what was going on. Okay, what are we doing?”

Robert was slightly annoyed, “What we’re doing is taking this house. Go on back, and after it gets dark bring everyone up. We’re going to do it tonight.”

“Tonight? You don’t want to gather more intelligence first?”

“No, we’ve been here for hours waiting for you. I’ve already seen all I need to see.”

“Okay, I’ll leave McCain with you and have everybody else up here right after it gets dark.”

Just as he said, Alton had the rest of the group there when the sun went down. They all sat around, their faces dimly lit by the moon above. Rob filled the rest of the group in.

“This is the situation. We have two women in there, looks like they’re in their late thirties and mid-forties. There doesn’t appear to be anyone else in there. No dogs or other animals either ... as far as I can tell. One woman has been armed with a single shot shotgun, the other didn’t have any gun on her at all. Here’s what we’re going to do, we’ll send Nicky up there to talk his way in ...”

Alton interrupted, “You sure you want to do that? Do we know enough about this situation ... about these women?”

From his expression it was obvious Rob was in no mood for questions. “Like I said before, we’ve been watching these women all afternoon and have a good idea about the ‘situation.’ Nicky is in no danger, if that’s what you’re thinking. These two women have been running back and forth from that garden the whole time we’ve been watching them. They’ve got to be pretty tired by now. They’ll sleep heavily tonight, I’m sure of that. But ... their windows and doors appear to be reinforced, that’s why we need Nicky on the inside. Once they’re out he can open a door or window for us. Then we walk right in.”

Although Alton didn’t seem impressed by the plan, he silently agreed.

Rob brought the boy to the front and gave him his mission, “Nicky, you’ve done this before. You know what to do. It’s not so hard, right?”

“No, I can do it.”

“This will be just like the last time. Go talk yourself into the house. They’ll have plenty of questions for you so answer them and get them to relax. You know what they want to hear. Be nice and friendly, do whatever they ask, get them to trust you. Look around for the easiest window or door to open, when they’ve been asleep a few hours go open it, and put this light stick out so we can see it,” Rob put the plastic stick in the boy’s small hand.

“Okay ...”

Rob pushed the child out of the brush and into the open. The boy slowly approached the house in the dark as he put the light stick in his pack. When he got to the front yard, he started yelling out. “Hello! Hello!”

The older woman opened the heavy front door while a window was opened and its curtains were swept aside. A lone shotgun barrel came out the window aiming in Nicky’s general direction. The woman at the door spoke to the boy through the screen door that was still closed. “What do you want?”

The boy took one step forward. “I saw your lights. Can you help me?”

The one at the door took a good long look all around, scanning the surrounding countryside with her flashlight, then shined it back on the boy, “I said, what do you want?”

The child took another couple steps closer to the porch, under the heavy glare of the light, “I’m hungry, I’m cold, can you please help me?”

She shut the door and for a moment the muffled sounds of an argument could be heard inside. She opened both doors this time, “Come here, kid.”

Nicky approached and got a far as the steps before the woman stopped him. She searched his pockets and bag while the gun in the window now held the light and kept the boy covered.

At last, she announced he was “good” and took the boy by his shoulder and walked him through the front door. With no delay the doors and window were sealed back up with the three of them inside.

Rob waited a while then sent team Jackal around to watch the other end of the house.

At approximately 02:45 the next morning, the window that held the gun gently crept up. When it was wide open a green light stick fell from the dark cavernous hole and landed on the front porch. Teams Wolf and Coyote were ready and quickly moved into position. In less than a minute the operation was over.

Just as Robert predicted, it was an easy mission, the easiest they had in a long while. The two women had an abundance of food and the group stole it all, along with their shotgun and ammunition, and a few knives and some quality hand tools they found. They took all their water too, except the tears in their eyes. With their work done, they got a few hours rest and were ready to move on to their newest opportunity.

As their informant said, their next target was a good walk for them. They arrived just out of sight of their intended victims late in the afternoon. Rob sent Alton and McCain out to investigate and return by morning.

Both of them came back before daylight, Rob let them get some sleep and got them up for breakfast. When everyone had their fill, it was time for school to begin.

Alton was teaching today, “Well, Rob, that refugee wasn’t lying, this one’s going to be a lot tougher than those two women were.”

Rob was a little too positive for this early in the morning, “That’s all right. It’ll be worth it ... if that guy was right about all they had.”

“We couldn’t see anything they had inside, but I can tell you the outside is going to be a bitch.”

Rob’s optimism was already wearing thin. “Okay, let’s hear the ugly details.”

“They’ve set up inside an old drainage pipe, reinforced concrete with about four feet of dirt and a layer of asphalt on top of that. The pipe is five feet in diameter and about fifty feet long, it runs under that highway right before that on-ramp.” Alton started sketching out a map on his tablet. “Look here, each end of the pipe has a concrete highway divider pushed up against it, it covers most of both openings. They’re really shielded from gunfire. That pipe is an excellent defensive position too, each end has an unobstructed view for at least two hundred meters. They do have a blind spot, though, the road right on top of them, but they’ve taken care of that as well. There on the highway they’ve arranged three more of those dividers into a triangle. They have a guard up there all the time. Whoever is up there has a three hundred sixty degree view for at least two hundred meters too. They’ll see us coming long before we get there.”

“Could we take that guard out with a sniper?”

“Yes, but they would still know we’re coming long before we got there. No way to fix that problem.”

“How many are we talking about, anyway?”

It was obvious Alton wasn’t sure. “We never did get an exact count. It’s dark in there and they have the tunnel sectioned off with curtains. They always had a guard there on top and at least one of the entrances covered. My guess is six. It’s seems to be one family living there, an older couple, probably the grandparents, another couple in their forties, and two younger girls.”

“That would jibe with what that roadie told us, he said six or seven.” Rob turned to McCain, “What about you, McCain? Agree or disagree with that estimate?”

McCain was also not sure. “No, that’s probably right. There might be seven but six would be my guess too.”

Robert’s enthusiasm was now completely gone, “Okay, it’s probably six but we’ll assume seven for our plans. This is the toughest one we’ve seen in a while. I hate to give it up, that guy said it was jammed with food.”

But Alton still had hope, “Yes it is tough, but McCain and I did discover one weak spot.”

He had Rob’s attention again. “What?”

Alton smiled, “Water. They’ve diverted the drainage so water wouldn’t run through the pipe anymore. Now they have to go to a small creek about a hundred meters north of the highway. It runs parallel with the road and it’s just this side of a thick stand of trees,” he quickly sketched it out on the tablet.

“So maybe we could take some hostages, just like the other day?” Rob was now smiling too.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Rob started drawing on Alton’s tablet, “Okay, here’s what we do ...”

They made their plan, rehearsed it over and over through the day, and when the sun was nearly down they put it in motion. As darkness covered the world, Coyote – Alton leading Cornwell, D’Cruz, and Rudd – moved out, finally finding a good hiding spot in the trees north of the stream. Jackal – McCain with Martinelli – set up their rifles, covering the north side of the bunker, while Wolf – Rob, Peavey, and the boys – moved in a little closer to cover the south side.

Nothing happened during the night; they took turns resting, and waiting. As the sun came up things started stirring.

Two women brought out a large pot and started a fire by the entrance of the north side. A minute later the oldest man came out and replaced the younger one acting as guard on top of the road.

After a few more minutes, the younger man, armed with a Ruger Mini-14, and the youngest girl, about thirteen, started walking towards the stream taking the large pot with them. By now all three teams turned their radios on.

Rob was ready to go, “This is Wolf, everybody check in.”

“Coyote checking in, you’re fine.”

“Jackal checking in.”

“Okay Coyote, you’re running this show. When you’ve acquired the targets, call back in.”

The man and girl crossed the field to the stream as quickly as they could, carefully scanning in every direction as they went. The old man on guard kept a close eye on them.

Just as they arrived, Alton made his move. He, Rudd, and Cornwell rushed the man and knocked him to the ground. Alton disarmed him while Rudd and Cornwell hauled him back into the woods. At the same time, D’Cruz grabbed the girl while covering her mouth, dragging her kicking back into the shadows of the tree line.

Gunfire rang out. The old man fired two quick shots from his scoped Browning BAR at Alton and his men.

Rob was on the radio again, “This is Wolf. Everybody remember, no shooting unless I say. I’m talking to you, McCain. I can’t see what’s happening on the north side of the bunker. Somebody clue me in.”

“This is Jackal. Why do you have to call me out on the radio? You act like I’m a maniac or something ...”

“McCain, just shut up and tell me what’s going on.”

“There are three of them right in the opening, but they’re not coming out. They’re yelling to that guard. I could kill them all right now. Just give the word.”

“I told you no shooting unless I say. I’m going out to talk to them.”

“Fine, if you want to do it the hard way.”

Alton was at last able to get a word in, “Coyote here, we’re okay and we’ve got the targets under control. Standing by.”

“This is Wolf, good work, Coyote, stand by. Everybody listen up! I’m going out to talk to them and I don’t want any shooting,” Rob paused and thought for a moment, “unless they gun me down, then feel free to kill them.”

He turned to Peavey, “I’m going. You watch the bunker. If they try to come out this side you can shoot, but just to keep their heads down. If they get clear of the bunker, you have my permission to kill them, but only then.” Rob then addressed the boys, “You two keep behind cover. When you hear me calling, you help Peavey bring the cart up.”

Both boys nodded as they lay flat on the ground.

Rob left his guns with Peavey and took off running, keeping his head down. He made a long loop and then approached in the open, right up from the east side of the highway.

At last the old man saw him approaching and trained his rifle on Rob as he casually walked into earshot. “What do you want?! Where’s my son and granddaughter?!”

Rob slowed but still approached with his hands in the air. He spun around holding his coat open, making it quite clear he was unarmed. “What do I want? I want all your food. But I didn’t come empty handed. I’ve got something to trade.”

“What?”

“The lives of your son and granddaughter.”

The old man brought his eye back up to the scope and took steady aim, “I should kill you right now, scum!”

Rob stopped about thirty feet from him and started using his sensible voice, “You could do that. But then you would never see your loved ones alive again. Isn’t your son and grandchild worth some food? You would let them die over some pork and beans, or canned ravioli? We both know you’re not going to do that.”

“There’s no way we can trust you. You’ll kill us all if you get the chance.”

“I’ll tell you what ...”

Suddenly the sharp report of a rifle was heard and everyone instinctively ducked. It was Peavey firing from cover on the south side.

After a nervous moment, the oldest woman appeared from the north side entrance and yelled out to her husband, “Andrea tried to sneak out the other side and they shot at her.”

The old man never took his eyes or gun off Robert, “Is she all right?”

“She isn’t hurt, just shook up. Beth is taking care of her, she’s hysterical right now.”

Rob could tell the old man was angry and decided to get the conversation back on track before it became any more emotional. “We have your place covered from both ends, you’re not going anywhere. We’ve got your son and granddaughter. All we want is your food, we don’t want or need to hurt anyone. Just give us the food and we’ll go.”

“Like I already said, how can I trust you, my son and grandbaby might already be dead.”

He lifted up a finger as if to say give me a minute, then Rob got back on his radio and spoke quiet enough that the old man couldn’t overhear. “Coyote ...”

“Go ahead.”

“Make the girl scream, loud, but just for a second or two.”

“Copy,” Alton turned to D’Cruz who was still holding the child, one hand wrapped around her and the other clamped down on her mouth. “You heard him, D’Cruz, make her scream for a second.”

D’Cruz let go of her mouth and then grabbed her by a pigtail and twisted it with all of his strength. She tried not to but at last started screaming.

Her father was face down in the mud, his arms behind him bound with zip ties, his ankles restrained too. He struggled on the ground as Cornwell held him there with one boot. “You bastards, leave her alone!”

Then there came an unbearable sound that echoed through the quiet forest, a little girl in anguish, screaming at the top of her lungs. In a moment it ended and only the silence remained.

The old man lowered his gun, turned towards the sound and back to Rob, now unable to conceal the loathing inside. “I should kill you.”

Rob didn’t think he could, or at least hoped, “You should, but you won’t. Like I said before, you’re not going to let the people you love die over some food. If I don’t get some cooperation out of you right now, not only is your granddaughter going to be killed, but it will be very unpleasant too. Several of my men would love to make a woman out of her before she dies.”

The old man raised his gun again and right at that moment Robert wasn’t sure if he was going to live or not. Without taking his gaze off him, Rob brought the radio to his mouth, this time making sure he could be heard, “Coyote ...”

“Go ahead.”

“Rape the little girl, all of you. Then kill her. Make the man watch and then kill him too.”

Enraged, the old man closed one eye and took aim as he started to squeeze the trigger, but his wife came running out on the road, blocking her husband’s shot. “Please, please don’t hurt them! We’ll do whatever you say!”

Rob was relieved he could have a rational conversation with someone. “You seem like a reasonable lady. So I’m going to be reasonable with you. I know you’re afraid I am lying and your granddaughter and the rest of you will be killed. That’s not an unfounded fear in this day and age. So here’s what I’m going to do to make it easier for you. I will stand here and let your husband hold his rifle on me. Then I’ll have my men bring up our cart. You’ll let them fill it up with all the food it will hold. Once that is done my men will go on their way. When they’re out of range, your loved ones will be released and I’ll leave, the end, and we all live happily ever after. But there is a caveat. You knew there would be, didn’t you? If I or any of my men are killed, or if you try to come after us, all of you women will die horribly. Your men will be forced to watch it too, before they die.”

She agreed and talked her husband into the deal, although it was obvious he would rather be committing murder. Rob called Peavey and the boys, along with Cornwell and Martinelli to help pack up the food. McCain and Rudd stayed on standby with their rifles just in case. It took them over an hour of careful packing before they were ready to go.

When the group left later that morning, their cart was so full it was overflowing, along with their packs that were nearly bursting. They did leave the family some, but only because it wasn’t enough to warrant returning for. The cart was so laden it took three men and both boys to get it moving, even then traveling was slow.

When they were finally out of view, Rob got on his radio again, “Coyote, release the prisoners. Coyote and Jackal, proceed to point Cherry for rendezvous.”

In just a few seconds the girl and her father came running out of the woods; they were frightened and dirty but didn’t appeared harmed. As they approached, Rob turned to say adieu. The old man still held his rifle on him.

“You would like to kill me, wouldn’t you?”

“I most certainly would.”

“But then you know what would happen.”

“Yes ...” He continued holding the gun on him.

The girl came running, “Grandpa, no!”

The son was right behind, “Dad, put the gun down. We can’t fight their kind. We’re not hurt, we’re alive, just let it go.”

The father at last lowered his gun. “Get out of here, scum. You think you’ve won, but sooner or later God will make you pay for the things you’ve done.”

“You really believe that, don’t you?”

The old man nodded.

Rob scoffed and walked on.

It took Rob a half hour to catch up with the group and everyone was pulling or pushing the cart along.

As soon as he arrived, James came to his side, “Rob, can I ask you something?”

“Sure ...”

“You weren’t really going to hurt them, were you? You weren’t really going to hurt that little girl?”

Rob looked James right in the eye, “Did you think I was going to hurt her?”

“Yes, kind of ...”

“Good.”

“Good?” The boy was confused.

“James, I wasn’t going to hurt anyone. But we have to make people think we would. If we can’t make them afraid of us we would never eat. People won’t give you much unless they fear you. Oh, if they pity you they might give you a little, but not enough to live on, though. But when they fear you ... well, you can get anything you want.”

Rob continued to march out in front. “It’s like with the Whitmans. I wouldn’t have hurt that lady, I certainly wouldn’t have burned her to death. But I had to make the husband believe I would. If I didn’t he would have never gave us a thing. We would have had to use force to get what we wanted. Then one, or both of them would have probably been killed, and some of our guys too. You see, James, you really don’t have to hurt a person to get what you want, that’s not important. What’s important is that they believe you would.”

“Oh, I see ...”

With their work done they were ready to move on to their newest opportunity. All weighed down, they slowly made their way towards their next mission. They had a third of the journey under their belts before Rob decided it was time to stop for the day.

They slept under a highway overpass that night, without a fire, and James bundled himself up in his sleeping bag to cut the cold breeze that blew through.

Just before sunup they were awakened by gunfire.

Rob was on his feet right away, yelling out to D’Cruz who was on guard duty on the overpass above, “What’s going on?! Where? How many?!”

D’Cruz took another shot at something unseen and turned back to Rob, “There’s at least two of them, one just over that hill northeast and another west of us past that car!” He pointed at an old derelict about two hundred yards away. “They both took off running when I returned fire!”

By now everyone was on their feet and armed.

And there was no doubt Rob was in charge, “Alton, you take D’Cruz and Martinelli and go after the one northeast. McCain, you take Rudd and Peavey and go after the one down by that car.”

All of them were quickly off.

Robert yelled out after them, “Bring them back alive if you can! I need to question them!”

In the dim pre-dawn light, Nicky and James were under the cart and out of sight, terrified.

By their arms, Rob quickly pulled the two out and lifted them up. He quietly spoke to them, “James, Nicky, come on, get up.”

James was clearly frightened and you could hear it in his voice. “What’s happening? Where are we going?”

But Rob didn’t have time to talk, “Come on, I’ll explain it to you later. Nicky, you too.”

He led the boys to a ditch nearby and they all got down.

James still needed answers, “Rob, what are we doing?”

“James, be quiet for now, I promise I’ll explain it all later.”

After about three minutes of silently waiting, they could all hear a faint rustling in the grass, then see a shadowy figure stealthily approaching the cart.

Rob whispered, “Stay here, boys,” jumped up and pulled his gun. Instantly he was on top of the figure, aiming his Colt right at them and shouting, “STOP! Show me your hands!”

A woman recoiled in fear and instantly put her hands up. All she had with her was a soiled and empty pillow case.

He gave her a good look in the faint light. Rob at last spoke, “I know you from somewhere.” He only had to think about it a second more. “The other day, we caught you and your boyfriend hiding in that truck. He gave us some information and we paid the two of you. Was he one of them shooting at us?”

The woman wouldn’t say a word.

Rob spoke again and motioned with his Colt, “Just sit down, right there, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

She dropped right to the ground.

He kept his eyes on her while pulling the radio from his belt. Rob asked, “Alton, McCain ... any luck yet?”

A familiar voice came back over the radio, Alton’s, “We caught one guy. We’re heading your way now.”

Then another voice came, McCain’s, “We’ve got ‘em on the run! I’ll call back when we’ve got him!”

Shortly after dawn, Alton and his men returned with a prisoner in tow, a man about twenty years old. He was filthy and in tattered clothes. Alton was holding his gun, a .22 Remington rifle, a ‘Nylon 66.’ Robert had never seen him before.

Alton spoke up as he approached, “Where did the woman come from?”

Robert gave his report, “I had an idea, so me and the boys hid right after you left. A few minutes later this one came crawling up, thought she was going to help herself to our food.”

He made sure the rifle was unloaded and Alton placed it in the cart. “Yeah, these two, and that third one must be working together, two of them try to divert us while the third steals our stuff. Heard back from McCain?”

Rob picked up the little plastic rifle and looked it over while he talked. “Yes, he just called. He said they caught one man and I bet I know who it is.”

“You’ve already met him?”

“Yeah, we picked up this woman and a man the other day on highway patrol. They were the ones that gave us the info on those two women, and that family in the drain pipe. This isn’t the man but I’m betting the one McCain captured is.” Rob tossed the rifle back in the cart.

“Has she said anything?”

“No, but I haven’t tried real hard. I was waiting for everyone to get back.”

Just then McCain and his men were heard yelling out as they came over the top of a hill. They all turned to face them.

As they approached, Rob could see it was the man he was thinking of. Unlike Alton’s prisoner, this one was bruised and shaken. McCain shouted out, “Look what we caught! Had a nice gun on him too,” and waved in the air the captured Glock pistol.

Rob walked up and took it from him, “Any rounds left?”

McCain answered, “Four.”

He checked the chamber and Rob smiled, “Well, that’s one more than we need.” Then he addressed the man he met before, “You’ve got some guts, fella,” Rob casually pointed the gun right at him. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you?”

They all stood there nervously waiting for something to happen, but then Alton broke the tense silence, “Why don’t we question them, Rob? There’s some answers we need.”

Rob didn’t say a word but took aim at the man’s head.

“Rob?”

He still stood there, his finger on the trigger, looking the man right in the eye.

“Rob?”

Finally Robert lowered the gun, “All right, why not.” But he kept his eyes right on the man, “Alton, did you search your prisoner? How about you, McCain?”

Alton spoke, “Just a brief weapons search.”

And then McCain, “Yeah, same here.”

Now Robert had a thought, “I didn’t search the woman yet. We might as well do it right now, and let’s be thorough about it.” Rob stepped back and pointed the Glock at the ground. “All three of you, stand right here.”

The two men and the woman formed a line, shoulder to shoulder, right where Rob told them, “Take off your clothes.”

The three of them awkwardly looked at one another.

Rob started waving the gun around, “All of you, take off your clothes!”

The three started slowly undressing with everyone watching them, each filthy piece of clothing landing at their feet. In a minute they stood there shivering, naked in the cold.

Rudd never once stopped staring at the woman, a disturbing glint in his eye.

Robert seemed quite pleased with himself as he addressed the man he met before. “Like I was saying, you’ve got a lot of guts. Did you really think this was going to work? Did you even consider what was going to happen to you if it didn’t?” He waited a moment for an answer, none came, and the anger only grew, “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

The man stood there trembling both from the cold and the fear that was quite apparent to everyone there. “Mister, please don’t kill us.”

“Why shouldn’t I kill you? You knew what would happen if you screwed with us. While I’m trying to make up my mind whether you’re going to live or not, why don’t you tell us all about it, tell us about your big plan.”

The man still stood there silent and shaking.

And Rob’s anger was only growing, “Start talking!”

Finally the man found enough courage to speak. “It’s nothing against you, mister, or your guys here. We were hungry, we had to have food.”

“We just gave you some food, what happened to it?”

“We ate it.”

“You ate it all, already?”

“Yes, we were hungry.”

“You were following us, weren’t you?”

“Yes ...”

“You were planning this the whole time?”

“Yes ...”

“Okay, so tell us all about this ‘Big Plan’ of yours.”

The man stood there shaking, almost crying. “We didn’t want to hurt anyone. We wanted some more of your food. We thought we would fire off some shots, make you chase after us. Then she could sneak up while you were gone and steal us some more, that’s all.”

Rob scoffed, “Oh yeah, brilliant plan, Einstein. Didn’t you even consider that some of us would stay behind to protect the food? What were you going to do then? Your wife is not even armed. She could’ve been killed.”

The man had very little left to say, “We weren’t thinking that far ahead ... we were hungry.”

“Who is this guy?” Rob motioned to the other man with his gun.

“Just a guy we met on the road.”

“You just met him?”

“Yes ...” He still stood there shaking, cold and exposed.

“And you decided you knew him so well the two of you could pull off this robbery together.”

“I figured there would be a better chance of success if you had two people to chase.”

Rob turned to the other man who was also trembling. “What about you, anything you would like to add to the conversation?”

He covered himself with his hand as he spoke, “We’re sorry, mister. It was a bad idea. We know that now. We weren’t looking to hurt anybody, especially no kids, but we were desperate, we had to have food. You have so much.”

Robert turned to the first man once more, “Who else have you told about us?”

“No one, I give you my word ...”

“YOUR WORD?!” Rob stretched out his arm, putting the Glock right to the man’s forehead. “Your word?! I should kill you right now just for saying that!”

The man was petrified. He urinated on himself and on the toe of Rob’s boot.

McCain and Rudd started laughing and couldn’t stop.

Rob stepped back and looked down at his wet boot, their laughing still in his ears, brought the pistol up again, aiming it right between the man’s eyes.

Alton tried to intervene for the three, “Rob, we don’t have to do this. We’ve got their guns. We can let them go, I’m sure they won’t bother us again. I’m sure they’ve learned their lesson.”

Rob took the pistol in both hands, taking precise aim, their laughter still in his ears.

Unexpectedly, James came between Rob and the man. “Please, Rob, please don’t kill him. Let them go, please ... for me.”

Instantly Nicky was there too, right next to James. “Please, Rob, please don’t do it.”

Rob stood there a few seconds more, ready to take the shot. Everyone stood there completely quiet now, unsure what was about to happen.

Without warning, he dropped the pistol to his side and addressed the man again. “I should kill you ... but I’m not. You should thank these boys.” He tousled Nicky’s mop of hair. “They’re the only reason you get to walk away from this with your life. Thank them.”

The three of them wholeheartedly thanked both boys.

Very shortly Rob tired of their groveling. “Now get out of here. If I ever see you again, I won’t be so nice.”

The three scooped up their clothes and started running down the road. In a moment they were gone.

As Rob was watching them scurry out of sight, he felt a tap on his back. It was James behind him. “Thank you, Rob. I know you was mad, but thank you for not hurting them.”

“You’re welcome, James ... and thank you for stopping me. I was so angry I couldn’t think straight. You should never do anything out of anger. Never try to do anything out of emotion. Always try to think things through. You’ll live a lot longer.”

Their laborious journey continued and by mid-afternoon the entire group was ready for a break, one Robert wouldn’t give them just yet.

Suddenly they all heard a loud thud and the sound of a gunshot a fair distance away. They turned to see water pouring from a hole in the side of their drum.

Before anyone could even move, several more shots rang out, the bullets coming down all around them.

Robert shouted out, “We’re under fire!” He looked around for a split second, “Everybody down in the ditch!”

The group ran for a shallow trench there by the highway twenty feet away.

Nicky slipped and fell to the ground. Without slowing, Rob picked him up and covered the boy’s body as they both slid headfirst into ditch, the sound of gunfire still in the air.

Alton checked his rifle, “This is a bad spot to be ambushed!” He lifted his head out just enough to see all around. Then he dropped down again, “I heard at least three different rifles, and one of them is firing from that hill southeast.”

Rob checked around himself, “Yeah, another one is coming directly east of us. I don’t know about the third ...”

McCain interrupted, “The third is southeast too, about a hundred yards further back than the other.”

After a few seconds more frantically glancing around, Rob now had a plan. “Okay, Alton pick somebody to go with you. The two of you head north for those trees while the rest of us cover. See if you can’t come around behind them.”

John Alton looked around as the gunfire continued, “Okay, McCain, I guess it’s you and me. You’re the best shot here, besides me.” Alton laughed.

But McCain wasn’t so amused, “Yeah, that’s what I let you think.”

They both got ready to go and Rob addressed the rest of his men. “Listen up! When I say, Rudd, you, Martinelli, Cornwell, and D’Cruz start firing on those two southeast. Peavey, you and me will fire on the one directly east.” He turned to James and Nicky who were crouching low to the ground. “You boys just stay down.”

The sound of guns at a distance remained, but slowed some.

Alton turned to Rob a last time. “We’ll either get them, or get them running this way; be ready.”

Rob checked to see if he had a chambered round. “All right,” turned again to the men. “Everybody ready?! GO!”

All of the men popped up and began firing on the enemy, Alton and McCain waited a half second and took off. As they ran, bullets started hitting the ground at their feet, both men began twisting and turning, running faster, heading for the tree line.

Rob and his men continued firing from cover and with Alton and McCain gone in the trees, all three rifles concentrated on them.

Suddenly Rob shouted, “Stop! Everybody back down, hold your fire!” The whole group dropped back down in the ditch. “They made it. Everyone conserve your ammo, I think we’re going to need it in a minute.”

The enemy continued to fire on them for a few seconds more and then the shooting came to an abrupt stop.

After four minutes of uneasy silence, more rifle fire could be heard, this time they all recognized the sound; it was Alton’s and McCain’s rifles this time.

They could hear two distinctive groups of rifles, battling each other; Rob’s men with their M4s against an odd assortment of guns.

Rob kept watch, his eyes just above the edge of the road, “Okay guys, get ready, if I say, everybody get up and start shooting.”

The gun battle continued and then at a distance Rob saw something; it was a man running and firing his rifle right at them.

Rob popped up and shouldered his M4, “Fire!”

The man was cut to pieces as Rob and all his men unloaded their guns into the attacker. He slowed and then dropped dead, not fifty feet away.

Rob shouted out another order to his men as he motioned with his hands, “Cease fire, down!”

All of the other gunfire had stopped and now Rob and the group waited, keeping low. After a few more minutes, a voice came over his radio.

It was Alton, “Rob, come in.”

“Go ahead, Alton.”

“It’s all clear. We got them all.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, send the men out east of your position. You’re not going to believe what we’ve got.”

Rob stood up, “Everybody, you heard him, go out there and meet him. Boys, you come with me.”

All of the men did as they were told. Rob and the boys went to the cart. “Nicky, James, you stay here, I’ll be right back.” Rob started walking but then stopped and turned back to them. “Check and see if you can’t stop the barrel from leaking ... and how much water we have left.”

Rob took off running right for the dead man. He looked the man over a few seconds, picked up the corpse and threw it over his shoulder. Rob stretched out his arm, picking the rifle up off the ground and started back.

When he arrived, the boys were standing there next to the cart waiting for him. “What about the barrel?”

James was quick with an answer, “It’s got two holes. I think it can be fixed, if we have some tape or something. We lost about two thirds of the water though. I guess we’ve got about fifteen gallons left.”

“Okay,” Rob dropped the dead body on the ground right at James’s feet. “Go through this guy’s pockets, see what he’s got on him.

Both boys got on their knees and went right to work, trying hard not to touch the bloody parts.

Then Rob could hear several of his men yelling. He turned to see them returning with the prisoners leading far out in front. From another direction Alton was returning too, carrying a body over his shoulder. Cornwell and Martinelli were following behind. Rob watched both groups for a few moments.

By now Nicky and James were ready to report, this time Nicky doing the talking, “Rob, look.”

Rob turned around again.

“This is all he had in his pockets,” Nicky held a fistful of twenty-two rounds and some waterproof matches. James was holding a pocketknife, a cheap compass, a metal fork, and another loaded ten round mag for the rifle Rob was still holding in his hand, a Ruger 10/22 carbine with scope attached.

Alton yelled out as he came closer, “Look at this,” and dropped a dead body right next to the other one laying there. It was the man Rob wanted to kill this morning.

Rob was not surprised, “Damn! I knew I should have killed him, that was the smart thing to do.” He cleared the rifle and threw it in the cart. What about his wife ... or whoever she was, any sign of her, or the other guy?”

“Nope ... no sign of either,” Alton reached out and took the Ruger in his hand. “But maybe those other two can tell us about it.” He looked the rifle over briefly and placed it back where it came from.

The rest of the men crossed the field; from a distance Rudd and Peavey held two men at gunpoint. McCain was out ahead now and had his own rifle slung on his shoulder, and one in each hand.

McCain approached and dropped two more rifles in the back of the cart, a beat up World War I era British Enfield and a cheap semi-auto AK-47 clone that didn’t have a mag.

Alton stopped McCain right there, “You did unload them first, right?”

“Yes, do I look stupid to you?”

“Should I answer that?”

Rob stopped them both before it got beyond the half-joking stage; he didn’t have the time. “Okay guys, stop it. Don’t I have enough to worry about from these clowns?” Besides, Rob had more immediate concerns. “McCain, is something wrong with these prisoners? Why are all of you keeping your distance?”

But before McCain could even speak, Rob heard the answer. The younger prisoner now had his attention. The man was in his mid-thirties and painfully thin. His skin was ashen and he barely had the strength to walk. He had a disgusting wet cough; it was a disturbing sound that couldn’t be faked no matter how hard you tried. It was a sound they all recognized, that sound of someone dying.

At last McCain answered him, “That guy has got something, something bad. Just keep away from him.”

Rob stopped the man before he got any closer, “Rudd, hold him out there, don’t come any further.”

Rudd stopped his man while Peavey, D’Cruz, and the other prisoner continued to approach. At last they came to a halt right in front of Rob.

Carefully Robert undid the snap on his holster and pulled his Magnum out. He held it at his side as he addressed the older man.

Peavey stepped aside, as did everyone.

“All right,” Rob continued to stare the man down, “I’m telling you right up front, I am in no mood for games. I’m going to ask you some questions, and if I suspect, even for a moment, that you’re lying ... you’re going to die. Understand?”

The man solemnly nodded.

In the background, the other prisoner continued hacking, it sounded like he was going to die at any time.

“Was it just the four of you that attacked us?”

The healthy prisoner stood there mute.

Rob pointed his gun right at the older man. He appeared in his mid-sixties, his clothes were tattered and his face was a leathery mask marked by many hard years. “Okay, talk now, before you get me angry. How many was in your group?”

The man finally found his voice. “Four ... just us four.”

Rob pointed out the dead man he already knew with his revolver. “How do you know this guy?”

“We just met him, a few hours ago.”

“You didn’t know him before?”

“No.”

“Was there anyone with him?”

“Yes ... a woman, and another guy.”

“Where are they at?”

“They took off, they didn’t want no part of this. The woman said we were crazy for trying.”

“So why did you try? Are you crazy?”

The old man sneered, “For a chance at this much food, I’d gladly kill all of you, or die trying.”

Rob laughed, a little, “Well, you’re honest, I’ll give you that.” He pointed to the corpse again, “What did this guy tell you?”

“That you guys had a whole cart full of food and a lot of other good stuff too, just ready to be taken. He said we would divide it up evenly.”

“He didn’t tell you we were armed?”

“No, he told us; eight men with machine guns.”

Rob laughed again, “And that didn’t bother you?” He moved over to the cart. “You with your,” and looked down at the newest guns in their collection, “which one is yours?”

“That’s my three oh three.”

Robert was astonished, “So you weren’t scared to take on eight men with automatic weapons, you with your Enfield, your friends here with a single shot AK and a twenty-two?”

“Mister, all I’ve had in two days is half a chipmunk. I’d take all of you on alone, for a tenth of what you’ve got.”

“You’re still thinking about taking it now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah ...” The old man looked around at all of them, and then stared at the two boys standing there, “I’d kill all of you right now and take it ... if you gave me half a chance.”

With his gun Rob got his attention again, “Did this guy tell anyone else about us?”

“I have no idea.”

“Just you three?”

“That I know of.”

“Would you tell me if you knew?”

“Probably not, not my business who or how many this guy told about you.”

Robert laughed again, “Well, I appreciate the candor, you are an honest SOB, I’ll give you that. Now put your hands on the cart.”

As the man was being thoroughly searched, his partner collapsed to the ground.

Rudd guardedly approached the prisoner before Rob stopped his man, “Rudd, don’t go anywhere near him, just leave him there.”

Then they tied the old man by his neck and arms to the front of the cart.

Rob was ready to go, “Start pulling.”

The entire group helped as the prisoner slowly pulled the cart down the lonely road towards that next target.

They left the other one laying there on the ground, struggling to breathe. He tried several times to stand on his feet again, but never did get back up.

After about a mile of pushing, Rob dropped out; he let the cart get about fifty feet ahead, “Alton!”

Alton stopped and let Rob catch up. They both stood there in the road until Rob was sure they couldn’t be overheard. Both started following behind it again.

Rob broke the silence between them, the cart about fifty yards ahead. “Alton, we’ve got a serious problem here.”

Alton was grave in his tone, “I know ...”

“That dead guy could’ve told a lot of people about us, and even if he didn’t, that woman, or her new boyfriend, could be telling a lot of people as we speak.”

“Yeah ...”

“Right now this cart is more of a liability than anything else. Sure, we’ve got a lot of food and other valuable supplies, but it’s so heavy it takes the whole group to keep it moving. We don’t have enough manpower left to even send out scouts. It’s so heavy we’ve got to keep it on the road too, where all the refugees can see it. You know how they talk. Another day or two of this and everyone within twenty miles will know about us. We’re sitting ducks out here.”

“I’ve been thinking the very same thing. I have some ideas; what’s yours?”

“This next target, this house, if it’s good enough to serve as a base of operations, well, none of this matters. We can hole up there for a long time. If it’s not good enough, or if we can’t take it, we’ll have to come up with another plan. I was thinking we could cache a lot of this stuff. Bury some, hide some, break the supplies down into manageable pieces so we can come back for them later. The most important thing right now is that we become mobile again. We won’t survive out here like this for very long.”

“Yeah, that was my thinking too. I’m also thinking about this prisoner; we can’t let him know where we’re going. We’re going to have to get rid of him soon.”

“Yep ...”

“I want to take Peavey, we’ll lead him on a good long walk, blindfolded, get him real confused. It will be a long trip, I figure it will take a day for us to do a good job of losing him and get back.”

“Okay ...”

“Can you handle it while we’re gone?”

“Yeah ... we’ll manage, we might as well do it right now, before we get any closer to Mendon.” Rob made a loud whistle and the group and cart came to a complete stop.

Alton told Peavey the plan while Rob tied the prisoner’s hands and blindfolded him.

Just as Alton and his group were leaving, Robert came running after them, Rudd and McCain right behind him. “Alton! Hold on!”

“What’s up, Rob?”

“I’ve been thinking, I’m going to need you to stay, Peavey too.”

“Why, what’s the problem?”

“I need your expertise, Alton. We’ll be in Mendon in a few hours, I’ll need your help assessing the situation, right then, we can’t wait. Besides, you and Peavey are younger and stronger, we need your help pushing.”

“Okay ...” Alton looked at Rudd and McCain silently standing a few feet behind Rob.

“McCain and Rudd, I’m sending them instead.”

“McCain and Rudd, really?” Alton was doubtful, “I don’t think they can handle this.”

“Oh yeah, they can handle it good enough.”

At last Alton agreed and McCain and Rudd took off with the prisoner. As he watched them leaving, Alton had a bad feeling he couldn’t put a name to.

Chapter Four

They stopped briefly for the night and started again before dawn. Late that next morning, they arrived in Mendon and that water tower was the first thing they could see as they approached. Like so many towns before, this one was gutted and desolate, it appeared to have been years since anyone lived there.

They set up a temporary base in an old post office; it was the only building nearby that still had windows.

As they were preparing for the mission, Rudd and McCain showed up only a few hours behind them. Alton was suspicious as he thought the job should take twice as long, but didn’t say a word.

Rob sent out two teams in the known direction of their target hoping to make contact with the enemy. Coyote – Alton, Cornwell, and Peavey, and Jackal – McCain leading Martinelli and Rudd – set out midday in search of treasure.

Late in the afternoon, Alton checked in with command and had only good news to report, “We’ve found them. That older couple you questioned, they weren’t too far off. They’re approximately three klicks north, bearing three hundred fifty degrees from your position.”

“Good work, Coyote! I want you to stay there and observe, try to locate some good spots for reconnaissance. Send the rest of your team back to help us. Jackal, come back to base.”

They waited until near dark before leaving, the entire band loaded down with all they owned. In the black overcast sky, they finally arrived with Alton there to greet them. The boys were already exhausted, so Rob let them get some sleep, but for the men there was still plenty of work to be done. Into the early morning they labored, first splitting up and then digging in, setting up three different observation posts surrounding the home.

Alton set up a half mile east, while McCain was nearly the same distance to the northwest. Robert and the rest of the men set a cold camp, concealed in some trees three quarters of a mile south of their target.

After three days of careful observation, they could write a book on the subject of their latest victims. Robert called Alton and McCain back to base camp that night.

When everyone had a good supper, they all gathered around and Rob got them started on the real work. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got,” throwing Alton’s handmade map on the ground and pointing out various features with a sharp stick he found. “First, the building itself doesn’t seem like anything remarkable. It’s an old one-story farmhouse with an attic, wood with siding construction, definitely susceptible to fire. I’d say about a thousand square feet in size. They have a working outhouse and a pump out back, so I doubt it has indoor plumbing. No electricity either, looks like they’re using lamps at night. McCain, you said it might have a root cellar?”

McCain pointed it out with his finger on the map, “Yeah, in the back there was some type of small door, on the northwest corner of the building. No one went into it the whole time I was watching.”

Rob turned to his second in command, “Alton, the house is not much, but they have reinforced it, right?”

“Yes, they’ve reinforced the outer walls with sandbags, I’m assuming filled with top soil; the bags are stacked about four feet tall.” He took the pointer from Rob’s hand, “They’ve done a lot of work. Look at this, ten meters out the entire house is surrounded with a chain link fence, ten foot tall and topped with razor wire. There’re only two gates, one on the north side and one on the south. All the way around, inside the fence line, are lengths of old telephone poles set in the ground. They’re set about four feet apart and probably buried deep. Obviously they were put there to stop vehicles, and I bet they will. Not that it matters to us. But I mention it to show the effort they’ve put into their defenses. Beyond the fence line it’s all open field in every direction. They have a large garden tilled on the northeast side but even so they’ve got a clear shot in every direction for at least one klick. Their defensive perimeter is well thought out; it will be a tough nut to crack.”

‘The Boss’ took his stick back and seemed more than a little annoyed, “Okay, Alton ... your usual good work. Now let’s talk about their personnel.”

Promptly Alton took over again, “Five men and four women are living there for sure. No children have been observed. It’s possible there is another person there we haven’t seen. I noticed several times people talking to someone in that southeast bedroom. It could be a small child, or ... I’m betting there’s an invalid in there.”

Rob tried to take over again, “What about their schedule?”

But it was no use, this was Alton’s show now. “They have guards, at least one on patrol during the day and two at night. The shifts run eight hours and the sentries always change things up, they don’t follow any set path. Ain’t that right, McCain?

“Yep ... you’re right.”

“Like I said, this is a tough nut to crack.”

“Weapons?” Robert tried to take control one last time.

“Standard stuff, the guards have all been observed with the same rifle. It’s hard to tell from a distance. But it looks to me to be a stainless steel Remington 700 with a high magnification scope, eight, maybe ten power. Assuming that it is in 7.62 NATO, and the guards know what they’re doing, they could easily kill anyone before they even got close. The second day, McCain noticed some of them cleaning weapons on a picnic table on his side. What was the count, McCain?”

“They had three M16 rifles ... or more likely AR-15 semi-autos. All of them had open sights. There were two shotguns, one a Remington 870, the other I couldn’t identify, probably both twelve gauge, and some handguns.”

Alton went on like he was in charge, “Yeah, we observed all five men, and two of the four women with various handguns we couldn’t recognize. They are wearing them in holsters and they have them on at least during the day. This is a tough one, Boss, in my opinion I think we should pass it on by.”

But for now Robert was still running the show. “What? Are you crazy? Can you imagine how much food and supplies they must have on hand to support that many people? Then there’s the building and location itself, winter will be here before you know it and this place would be great to ride it out.”

“I’m just saying ...”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying if we’re going to do this we’ll have to use Nicky, it’s the only way it can be done. You know I don’t like doing that. Also, while I think we could take the target, we’ll most likely have casualties.”

“You know I don’t want to put Nicky in jeopardy any more than you, but he’s part of this team, and a willing one. Aren’t you, Nicky?” Rob reached out and ruffled his hair again.

The boy smiled and looked around at all of his friends, “You know you can count on me, guys!”

“As for casualties, well, that’s a chance we all take every day. I say we take this place. Does anyone not want to do this?”

All of them looked around at each other and there was not a word to be heard.

Finally McCain broke the silence, “Well you know I’m in. I’m always looking for a fight.”

Reluctantly, the rest fell into line behind their leader, Alton agreed too, although it was easy to see the reservations in him.

At last Robert put on that huge winning grin of his, “Okay, it’s settled. Let’s get started on a plan. I doubt we can take this place tomorrow ... but I would like to take it the next day if we can.”

They spent the rest of that night making a plan then spent the entire next day practicing it on paper and in their minds. With one full day of training, Rob said they were “as ready as we’ll ever be.”

They got to bed early and were up long before dawn. McCain and his men started making their way west of the target; Alton with his men set out for their southeast position. Robert and Nicky, with James close behind, advanced straight toward the house from the south.

As the sun was rising, all teams were in position and waiting for 08:00 hours, exactly one hour after both nighttime guards went off duty. Robert and the boys crawled through the brush to the edge of the field; from there Nicky was on his own.

Rob tried to brace the boy, “Nicky, how you feeling?”

“I’m all right ... a little nervous though.”

“That’s normal, you’re going to do just fine. You remember the plan, and your part of it? Remember the last minute changes we made?”

“Yes ...”

“You ready to do it?”

“Yes ...”

“Okay, when I give you the signal, you start walking across this field like we talked about. You turn like you suddenly just saw the house and then you head right for it. Well, the rest, you know what to do. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll be coming up right behind you. Just remember, when the shooting starts, do your job quick and get out of the line of fire.”

“Okay ...”

“Ready?”

“Yes ...”

“Good luck.”

James wanted to encourage the boy too, “Good luck, Nicky.”

“Thanks ...”

They sat there a while longer, all of them counting the minutes, especially Alton who was convinced this was a bad idea. At last the time came and Rob, lying in the grass only feet from the boy, whistled a perfect imitation of a Bobwhite.

Nicky jumped up and went right to his work. He began to cross the field, his bag in hand, then suddenly turned when he “noticed” the old farmhouse in the distance.

It only took about five seconds for the sentry to spot him and begin blowing a whistle hanging from her neck. In less than a minute, every window of the house was filled with people and guns.

Wolf, Coyote, and Jackal were all in position, waiting for the boy to do his job. “This is Wolf, all teams stand by, as soon as Nicky sets them up we’ll knock ‘em down.”

Nicky approached the fence line, the sentry on the other side giving him a careful look. “Can you please help me? I’m all alone, my mom died in that town back there. Won’t you please help me?”

The guard scrutinized the child in front of her, with his dirty clothes, shoes and dinosaur backpack. “You’re all alone?”

“Yes, my mom got sick ... she died, in that town back there,” the boy pointing off in the general direction of Mendon and it looked like he was about to cry.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes ... I haven’t eaten in two days. Please help me.”

The woman yelled back to her friends inside without taking her eyes off the boy, “Can I let him in?”

After a moment came a single response, “You can let him in ... but check him first.”

“Hold your hands over your head and slowly turn around for me.”

The boy did just as he was told.

“All right, throw your pack over.”

The boy tried several times to throw it over the tall fence, but each attempt was worse than the one before. Finally he gave up with an exhausted sigh.

“It’s okay,” she said, as the woman removed the key and whistle from around her neck. She undid the stout lock and chain that was wrapped around the gate and she pushed it back to let the child inside.

Just as she let the boy in, he shifted his hand to the small of his back. From under his long shirttail he pulled out a pistol and shot the woman right through her eye.

Before she could hit the ground, the child was heading towards the house in flat out run. They started firing at him but the boy was too fast, weaving and jumping between gunshots.

Rob was on the radio again, “EVERYBODY GO! REMEMBER NICKY! WATCH YOUR LINE OF FIRE!”

One man each from Coyote and Jackal began firing on the house from their positions, everyone else ran towards the firefight while keeping their heads down.

Nicky crouched under one of the windows and unzipped his pack. He pulled out a white canister, opened a valve and threw it into the nearest window. He crawled with his pack to the next window in line. Two more times the boy did as before, tossing a container inside. Then he dropped flat on the ground, dragging a sandbag on top of him as he covered his face with a rag.

By now the group was right on them, still partially concealed in the tall grass. The current owners of the home were firing from inside with little success as a thick cloud of insecticide was impeding their eyesight. A single man burst from the front door the house. He was running for the sentry’s rifle but was gunned down twenty feet short of the goal.

From inside, the sound of coughing could be heard as the thick fumes completely obscured the building, both inside and out.

The team made it to the front and around both sides when those left alive in the house came running out. There was another short exchange of gunfire and then it was over, most of the former home’s owners lying dead or dying, strewn out in the yard.

James lay there in shock watching it all. Telling himself this was all a nightmare that couldn’t be real.

Robert called everyone up and they all quickly went to their assigned jobs. Most secured the site, checking to make sure both the living and dead were disarmed. Martinelli was busy tending to his own men’s injuries and most came out fine. There were a few minor cuts and scratches, although Cornwell slashed his arm on the fence as he dashed through the gate. Some alcohol and clean bandages were all it should take to set him right. Peavey’s injury was the most serious, as he took a bullet right through his leg. Martinelli quickly closed the wounds without anesthesia while Peavey lay face down on the ground screaming, his teeth clamped down on a knotted cloth shoved in his mouth.

Both James and Nicky tried to keep his mind occupied; they stood by holding his hands assuring him he would be all right.

Everyone gathered in the yard while D’Cruz stood guard over the enemy survivors. From out the front door came Alton, returning from a brief tour from inside the house. Even with his mouth covered it was obvious he was not a happy man.

“The house has been cleared. There are two bodies inside. One woman was shot in the chest here in the front room. The other one is what I thought, an elderly lady in this front bedroom. She probably couldn’t walk. I don’t know what killed her but she wasn’t hit by a bullet. Maybe the poison got her, or maybe she died of a heart attack. I don’t know ... guess it doesn’t matter now anyway.”

Robert glanced all around, fiercely proud of the work his men had done. In the background the only sound was that of the woman prisoner wailing aloud. “No, it doesn’t matter now. Martinelli! Come here!”

Martinelli came running from the other side of the yard, “Yes, sir.”

“Give me a report on the wounded.”

“Well, that man I was tending over there ...”

“Start with our wounded.”

“Yes, sir, the worst is Peavey. He took a bullet right through the calf muscle, in and out. There’s no bone damage though, but even so he won’t be walking for a while. I don’t know how long it will be before he’s one hundred percent again. Cornwell has a bad cut on his arm; I’ve stopped the bleeding but he might need some stitches. Otherwise he should be fine. A few others have some bumps and cuts, nothing serious. As for those two over there ...”

“They’re the only survivors?”

The woman’s hysterical weeping continued to fill all their ears.

“Yes, sir. The man was shot in the shoulder. He definitely has damage to the bone. I’ve got the bleeding under control but that’s about all I can do for him. He needs a surgeon.”

“What about the woman?”

“She’s got a head wound, maybe a concussion. I’ve wrapped it up. She must’ve fell when she ran from the house.”

“All right, you and D’Cruz get them out of here.”

“Sir?”

“March them south to the highway and let them go.”

“Like they are?”

“No, on your way down stop by our cart, give them three days of food and water.”

“Well ... sir ...”

“Well what?”

“What I meant was ... is if you want me to help them some more?”

“You’re not a surgeon, what more can you do for them?”

“I guess not much ...”

“Then do what I told you.”

After that dirty chore was done, Martinelli and D’Cruz returned for another one. While they were gone, the rest of the group retrieved their cart and other supplies and now there was a mass grave all of them had to work on. They dug a single deep hole fifty feet downwind of the house and began the work of stripping and dragging the dead to their final resting place. They toiled for hours in silence and once this last duty was done, they could relax for the night.

Despite his injury, Cornwell volunteered for cook duty and gladly prepared supper. As he was dishing out their victory celebration meal, the group all sat around the fire, quiet, except for Alton, who after all these hours still was not a happy man.

He watched Rob for several minutes, staring right into his eyes. Finally he had something to say, “So ... when did the plan change?”

This wasn’t an argument Robert wanted to have right then, or ever. “They changed at the last second.”

“Yeah, I noticed. I thought the plan was for Nicky to get through the gate and then throw the bug bombs through the windows, that’s all, and while they were occupied with him we would overrun them.”

“I decided it would be better if he took care of the guard as soon as the gate was opened. So she wouldn’t have a chance to stop him or fire at us. I thought there would be a much better chance of success that way.”

Alton had his answer but still wasn’t satisfied, “So at the last second, and without informing the rest of us ... you decided that instead of going with the operation we all planned together and trained for, that it would be better to send a ten-year-old out on an assassination mission.”

Anger could now be heard right below Robert’s amiable tone, “I said that I thought it would be better this way. I didn’t have the time to explain the changes, and it’s not required that I do; you knew everything necessary to do your job.”

McCain intervened before the anger could grow any more; he seemed one of the few in the group not bothered with the outcome today. “What are we arguing about here, guys? So it didn’t go off exactly as planned. We got what we wanted. No harm, no foul.”

Alton didn’t say another word but stood up, moved down, sitting right next to Nicky.

The boy was unconsciously wiping his gun with a rag, a Ruger “Hunter” 22/45 with a very short barrel. He sat rubbing the blued steel pistol, staring deeply into the fire.

Alton got close to the boy, “Nicky, how are you doing?”

“Me? I’m fine.” He continued to scrub the gun.

“Are you all right ... about today, I mean?”

“Yeah, I’m okay ...” His gaze affixed to the flames.

“If you want to talk about it ... ever, you can talk to me. I know what it’s like.”

“I’m okay. Rob said it had to be done. He said it was them or us. He said if I didn’t, that some of you might get killed ... and I couldn’t let anything bad happen to you guys, you’re the only family I’ve got.”

“Right ...” Alton stood up and refused to even acknowledge Robert as he walked right past him and went to make up to his bed for the night.

The rest of the group broke up after that, except for Rudd and McCain who both stayed up with the whisky celebrating for them all.

They slept out under the stars that night; Alton said they should let the industrial poison air out of the house for a day or two.

James lay in his bed trying to sleep, rolling around for hours but unable to unwind. At last he nudged Rob who was heavily sleeping right next to him. After several tries, he woke and James had a question that couldn’t wait till morning, one he whispered as quietly as he could, “Rob, could I just leave?”

“What?” Robert was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“What would happen if I left?”

“You mean run out on us?”

“Yes ... I don’t belong here. I want to be on my own again. I made a mistake.”

“What would happen if you ran?”

“Yes ...”

“James ... some of these guys, well, you can probably tell by now, they’re not nice guys. And they take that oath we give very seriously. If you ran out they would come looking for you. I couldn’t stop them.”

“They’d ... they’d kill me?”

“Yes ... probably, but ...”

“But what?”

“But not before they violated you a dozen different ways.” Robert rolled over and went right back to sleep, apparently without a care in the world.

James sat up the rest of the night, wondering if there was any way to get out of this family with his life.

Chapter Five

With nearly a month in their new home, everyone settled in. Their supplies, both what they brought with them and those captured, were overflowing. For the first time since this nightmare world began, they actually had too much, more than they could carry. It was decided between them all, but strongly suggested by Rob, that they should dig in before bad weather arrived. It wasn’t too hard a decision for anyone, fall was slowly turning into winter; outside in the world the cruelest time of the year was nearly here. It was agreed between them they should stay put until next spring, but to move on while they had a least a month’s worth of provisions. So they would have an edge when they started hunting again.

Even though the hard labor of eating every day was gone, there was still plenty of work to be done. There was sentry duty and regular maintenance on the guns and equipment, cooking, cleaning, and laundry to do. There were also improvements to be made on the home’s security, and gallons of water to be boiled each and every day.

Peavey was mending well, he could walk now but with a pronounced limp, carrying a heavy load and moving quickly was still somewhere in the future.

As for James, he had his chores and schoolwork too. Robert spent time with him every day trying to turn this boy into a soldier. He was taught how to read a map and use a compass, basic survival skills Rob said he should have known already. He was also trained to hide and move without being seen, and what to look and listen for when his time came to be on patrol. He was also shown their traps, how to set them and find them too. Martinelli taught him basic first aid and how to help his family if and when the time finally came. The one lesson he avoided learning until now were guns, and killing, a skill he secretly wished he would never have to use.

Through it all he longed to somehow escape this house that now felt like a prison. He found he made a deal with the devil, and payment would be shortly due.

Over the weeks he also found himself getting closer to the only other boy in this bloody band.

Since the raid, Nicky and Rob hardly talked, you could see the distance between them, and James seemed to fill a hole left inside the boy. Sometimes at night after the work was done, they would find themselves alone on the porch, talking until bed time.

Rob now seemed more distant and the camaraderie between the group suffered without his constant attention. Despite their good fortune, morale was down, that no one could deny.

Alton was often gone on some private mission and never seemed to have time for his boss.

Early one morning right after breakfast, Robert approached James at the kitchen table, Cornwell, D’Cruz, and Martinelli were around him, all of them talking and joking. Rob walked up, a battered old BB rifle in his hand. That time had finally come, that time James had eluded for so very long.

“James, come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Out in the back field, it’s time we started teaching you to shoot.”

“I don’t want to.”

“What did you say to me?”

“I said I don’t want to learn to shoot a gun. I don’t need a gun.” It was the first time the boy ever talked back to his former best friend.

“I don’t care what you want.” Rob grabbed the boy by his arm, pulled him out of the crowd and dragged him through the back door and out into the yard. “I can’t believe you could be so disrespectful to me ... talking to me like that, in front of all of them, after all I’ve done for you.”

“I’m sorry, I am grateful for what you’ve done. I just don’t want to learn about guns.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

“I said why not?”

“I just don’t.”

“Why not, James? Come on, tell me, why not?”

At last the boy found a little bit of his backbone. “I don’t want to ... I don’t want to be a killer like you.”

“You don’t want to be a killer like me. You don’t want to kill.”

“No.”

“But you don’t mind if others kill for you, right?”

“What?”

“Take a look around you, all that you have here, a warm house, food to eat three times a day, enough water to drink ... and even bathe. You have it because we killed those people and took it from them. You don’t like to think about that, do you?”

“No.”

“But you don’t seem to care about enjoying the fruits of other people’s labor.”

The boy couldn’t take his eyes off his feet, or offer a word.

“You will learn how to shoot. You will learn to kill. No one told you to like it, but you will learn to do it. You don’t miraculously get to keep your hands clean while the rest of us wallow in the mud for you. You’re going to start earning your keep around here.”

“What about our oath? I thought we weren’t supposed to hurt others?”

“That’s right, if they don’t try to hurt us. But the truth is most of the time people are not going to give us a choice. Sooner or later, James, whether you like it or not, you’re going to have to kill.”

“No ... no I don’t.”

“This isn’t even about the oath you took. I know what your real problem is. I’ve known it since that day we went on highway patrol.” He dropped the rifle right at the boy’s feet. “Well, you can forget about the shooting lessons. We won’t have to worry about them until we fix your more urgent problem.”

“What problem are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about that conscience of yours. It keeps you up at night, it makes you a liability to all of us.”

“I’m not a liability.”

“You most certainly are. You think you’re doing your fair share because you help wash the dishes and clothes ... or boil some water? Anybody could do that. I could drag some mental deficient off the closest highway and he could do that, and he’d probably be less trouble too. What I need are soldiers. We’ll be out of food soon enough and then we’ll be scavenging again, and when we do I won’t need dishwashers, I’ll need men that can kill. More than that, I need men that can kill and still sleep at night. I’m not sure you’re up to that, or ever will be.”

“I’m not like you.”

“You are nothing like me ... but I used to be like you. My parents were just like yours, they dragged me to church every Sunday, pounded all that junk into my head every week. At first I was just like you, I felt bad when I broke their rules. But after a while I saw through their lies, through the hypocrisy of it all. All the rules they tried to make you follow ... but didn’t apply to them. When I finally realized there was no ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but only what you could get away with, then I was truly free. Once I grasped that, I could never be like your kind again.”

“My kind? Just because I think killing is wrong. So you think killing is not wrong? God thinks it is.”

“Really? You must’ve not studied your Bible very long. You must have never looked at the Old Testament at all, or else you would know your God sent his people out to slaughter their enemies over and over again. You must not think killing is so wrong either. I’ve noticed you’ve never missed a meal since we’ve been here.”

The boy was flush, so angry he couldn’t speak.

Rob stopped, like there was nothing more to say on the subject. He let himself calm down and spoke again in that reasonable voice James was growing to dread.

“Okay, James, I can see we’re never going to agree on this. I can see now I’ll never make you into a man no matter how hard I try. I like you. I wanted to toughen you up, so you could survive out there in the world. But now I can see it’s never going to happen.”

“You don’t have to kill to be a man.”

Rob went on in that voice, “Some of the guys were complaining about you the other day.”

“About me?”

“Yes, they were saying ... well, basically what we were just talking about, that you weren’t doing your fair share, that they were carrying you. They suggested another way you might earn your keep.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The guys figured out, even before me, that we would never make you into a soldier. They had another job for you to do. I didn’t mention it before. I thought they were wrong about training you, and I was sure you wouldn’t want the job. But now I can see it’s probably the only way you’ll get to stick around ... and you need to stick around, James; you can’t survive out there on your own.”

“I still don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, what job?”

“Some of the guys ... they thought since you weren’t up to being a soldier you could stay at camp all the time. You could cook the meals, boil the water, do the dishes, stuff like that.”

“Oh ...”

“But you would also be required to service the men when they wanted it.”

“Service them?”

“Yeah ... do you understand what I’m saying? Do you know what I mean when I say service? Do I have to say it, James?”

James stared at Rob until finally the ugly meaning of the word started screaming in his mind. “No!”

“It’s okay, James, they’re not going to make you. I only thought ... well, if you wanted to.”

“NO ... NO!”

He rushed past Robert and ran into the field beyond, and kept running until he just couldn’t breathe any more. He dropped to the ground lost, confused, and exhausted, not knowing where he was, what he should do, or where he should go. After sitting under a tree most of the day thinking about his situation, he eventually admitted there was only one place he could go.

He returned just after sunset, Nicky was on the front steps in his normal spot. Martinelli and Rudd were pulling sentry duty; the rest of the crew was inside playing cards and sounding wild tonight.

James sat down on the stoop a few steps up from his little brother, who was pondering the stars above.

“James, do you know about God?”

“I don’t know ... maybe a little. Why?”

“I heard Rob talking about you. He said your problem was religion.”

“I don’t know, maybe it is. What do you want to know?”

“Since I ... killed that lady, I keep seeing her face all the time. That look on her face, she looked surprised ... like she couldn’t believe I killed her.”

James slid down right behind him and wrapped both arms around the tormented child, holding on tight. “What are you asking, Nicky?”

“Am I ... Am I going to hell, James, for what I’ve done?”

“I don’t know, Nicky. I think that maybe we’re already there.”

Chapter Six

The rest of the night James avoided Robert, not wanting to talk about his job offer. He waited until Rob was asleep before creeping across the front room and into his own bed, like he would be able to sleep much that night. Very early in the morning, they were all awakened by a shrill whistle coming from outside.

Rudd came through the front door nearly taking it off its hinges. “Everybody up! We’ve got intruders!”

Instantly Rob was on his feet and in charge, “Everybody get to your defensive positions! RIGHT NOW!”

It was complete chaos as six men and two boys were all scrambling for their clothes, boots, and guns. Rob tried to question Rudd over the uproar, “What happened?! Did you see someone?! Where’s Martinelli?!”

“One of our flares has been tripped, in that brush south of us. Martinelli is in the southwest spider hole.”

Abruptly they heard the loud report of Martinelli’s Remington rifle, and off in the distance a full burst of automatic gunfire coming from south of the house. In only a moment more gunfire could be heard, this time coming not only from the south again, but east and northeast. By this time their training set in and everyone was where they were supposed to be.

Rob was watching from under the reinforced front window interrogating Martinelli by radio. “Martinelli, what do you see?”

“Nothing, Boss, not since the initial exchange.”

“What can you tell me?”

“I think there were four, possibly five trying to approach from that undergrowth just south of us. I never even saw where the other shots were coming from.”

“What were you shooting at? Did you hit anything?”

“I took a shot, but no, I don’t think I hit a thing.”

“Okay, Martinelli, keep your eyes open.” Rob switched to McCain who was now holding position on the north side. “McCain, are you seeing anything your way?”

“No, not a thing. Alton is coming your way. Don’t shoot him.”

No sooner than McCain had said it Alton came bounding through the back door, he approached the front room keeping his head down low and addressing his boss, crouching in the window. “Whoever they are, I think they’ve backed off. I went out a little from the house and there’s no sign of them now.”

Despite the situation, Rob seemed amused, “They must scare pretty easy, Martinelli only got off one shot.”

“Maybe they scare easy, or ...”

“Or what?”

“Maybe they were just trying out our defenses, seeing how we would react, what we would do. It’s good tactics; they only have to waste a few mags of ammunition and they get paid with a lot of good intel on their intended target. If you recall, we’ve done similar things ourselves.”

“Yeah, you reminded me of the time we made those roadies cross that farm couple’s field, just to see what would happen.”

“Exactly, without expending much effort and no ammo we got a very good idea about their defenses.”

“Okay, what’s your recommendation?”

“Well, we’ve got no choice but to prepare for an immediate attack. I don’t think it’s coming, but what else can we do?”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Everyone is already in their assigned positions. I guess we’ll have to leave them there, at least till daylight.”

“Yep ... that’s how I see it too.”

It was only a few hours until daylight, but by then it had been a long day. While everyone else continued to guard their home, Alton and Cornwell went out on patrol, making a wide loop around the entire property. Shortly after the lunch hour they returned.

Alton had nothing good to report. “Whoever they were they’re gone now. But they’ll be back.”

That was the news Robert didn’t want to hear and it showed. “What makes you think so?”

“It’s like what we were talking about before I left. I think they set off the alarm on purpose ... to see what would happen.”

“Are you guessing or do you have any proof?”

“Some of our best traps have been taken. The shotgun, all the rest of our flares, the blank firing one, if they had set off that first one by accident I don’t think they would have time to take the rest. I think that flare was set off on purpose for just the reason we were saying, to get a good idea about our defenses.”

Rob was in a place he never was before. “This feels weird. I’m used to being the one on the attack, not defending. What do you think will be their next move?”

“Well, assuming they were watching close, they know we have limited manpower, and they know we’ll have to use all of it to guard from attack. If it were me I would wait all night and hit just before dawn. When we’re tired and our senses are dulled. If I had enough men, I would attack from three directions, from that line of trees to the south, from over that small hill southeast of us, and from the other line of trees to the west. I would sneak in as close as I could and send one group in for the attack, probably from the southeast. I would have them attack but then fake a retreat, see if I could pull any of your guys out. If your men fell for the bait, I would send in both my others teams to cut you off and wipe you out.”

“You have any idea how many enemy numbers we’re talking about?”

“No, not an exact count, I do know they outnumber us.”

“You’re sure?”

“Definitely, you could hear it from that first attack. They were firing off multiple guns from three distinct directions. If they don’t have at least twelve to fifteen men, I would be very surprised.”

Rob was as close to panic as anyone had ever seen him, “So, what are we going to do?”

“Well, first we’re going to have to make a very basic decision, do we defend this place or run?”

“Run? You have to be joking. We couldn’t possibly get away with more than a month’s worth of food, and then what? Even if we got away clean, we’re going to be out in the cold and starving, right as winter really gets started. Run? Think again.”

“Okay, so we’ll be defending this place. We already know the most likely locations and time for the attack. We’ll have to hold the line, though, and not fall for their tricks. I say we keep every man inside the fences except for leaving two out in the north and south observation posts. No matter what happens we stay inside where it’s safest.”

“You think it will work?”

“Maybe, there’s too many variables to prepare for every possible attack, but we’ll do what we can. I think it is safe to assume they won’t be coming midday. We should let most the guys get some sleep, if they can.”

They waited throughout the day for the attack that never came, the men trying to get some sleep if they could. When the sun went down, the guards were doubled, but still the attack did not come.

As the sun was rising again in the east, a disheartened mood settled over the house and Robert’s men. They knew the attack would be coming soon.

Just as the morning frost was gone, there came a strange sound from the south, one none of them had heard in such a long time.

Rob went to the window with Alton right behind him. “What is that? Alton, you hear it?”

“Yes ... it’s a motor.”

“You’re right! They’ve got some kind of vehicle, that’s a diesel engine.”

Alton scanned at a distance with the binoculars, “This changes everything.”

Rob got on the radio and yelled out the front door too, “Everybody get ready, they’ll be coming soon! Hold your positions, whatever happens, hold!”

Just then the sound of the engine began racing and through the brush an old flatbed truck leaped forward. At that exact same time, the house started taking fire from several positions from the south and east.

Bullets started tearing through the house and everyone got closer to the floor, some started shooting back at the enemy still to too far to be seen.

Alton was almost in charge now, “Save your ammo, guys. Wait until you can see them. It’s not time ... yet.”

The truck was quickly approaching from the south, lightly bouncing as it made its way through the field.

D’Cruz was in the south observation post. He jumped from his hole and sprinted back towards the fence line. Martinelli crawled from his position with the key for the gate. He opened it just in time to let D’Cruz in and locked it again. Both got back into their firing positions. The truck was now nearly on top of them.

Rob yelled out, “FIRE!”

Everyone on the south side of the house poured gunfire into the truck without effect, it continued rushing forward at a breakneck pace. The truck never even slowed as it crashed right into the fence and soared over the posts. It was stopped midair, the motor still roaring, sitting on top of the flattened fence and telephone poles. The driver was dead but it didn’t matter, the truck’s purpose was now quite clear.

Across the bed and cab of the truck lay three sturdy metal ladders attached to the top. The entire south side of the fence was crushed and the truck made a perfect bridge over it and right into the perimeter of the camp.

Rising over the noise of the engine they could hear another sound that quickly drowned it out. Along the east and south sides they could now see them, a large group of attackers rapidly approaching through the fields, the air filled with their feral screams and shouts.

Rob turned to see a large army charging the house, the drone of the mob now completely obliterating the engine’s roar. For the first time ever, panic could be heard in Rob’s voice, “There’s got to be sixty or seventy of them! Everybody keep firing! Kill them all!”

The horde rapidly advanced on the south fence line, running, shooting, and screaming like savages.

The men did as ordered, concentrating on the group now scaling the ladders. They continued to pour rifle fire into the mob, but for every enemy soldier they cut down, another two kept coming.

Martinelli and D’Cruz retreated from their positions, heading back for the house. As they did, the first few attackers cleared the collapsed fence and dropped to the ground on the inside.

Both men were in the house and by now nearly a dozen of the enemy were inside the perimeter, firing and advancing without hesitation.

Rob was at a loss for new words, or ideas, “Everybody keep firing! KILL THEM ALL!”

So Alton decisively took command, “Everybody out the north gate! Grab your bug out bags and go! You know your lines of retreat, get out of here! Check your maps! We’ll rendezvous at point Echo at twelve hundred hours tomorrow! GO!”

Alton grabbed Nicky by his arm and lifted up the terrified boy, who was screaming, prone on the floor. “Nicky, grab your stuff! GO ON!” Then he turned to James lying there looking up at him in a stupor, “You heard what I said, grab your stuff and follow me!”

Both boys had their bags and were following right behind Alton as he paused and turned back to Rob, Martinelli, and D’Cruz still firing from the front window. “We’ve got to go!”

Rob turned, a little more in control than he was a minute before. “I heard you, we’ll hold them here, give you and the boys a little head start. We’ll meet you at point Echo at twelve hundred tomorrow. Good luck.”

The three rushed out the north door, the rest of the men were waiting for them there. All four were watching for trouble as that awful sound from the other side of the house continued to grow.

There was no time for a discussion so Alton went right to the plan, “Cornwell, you’re with me. McCain, you take Peavey and Rudd, use the second escape route on your map, we’re taking the first one. We will rendezvous at point Echo on your map at twelve hundred hours tomorrow.”

McCain took aim with his rifle as the horrible noise only grew louder, “All right, you guys go first, we’ll cover you.”

“Thanks, remember, point Echo, tomorrow at twelve hundred, good luck.” Alton, Cornwell, and the boys made a mad dash out the gate. As they did, they could hear the sound of their own men firing on the approaching mob.

Then in the distance they could hear more shots being fired. Another group of enemy soldiers was rapidly advancing on them from the field to the north.

They ran west across the grassy meadow towards a thick patch of forest, the sound of bullets coming closer by the moment.

When they made their way to the cover of the woods, Alton stopped them again behind a stout old walnut tree. “James, I want you to take Nicky and keep going, me and Cornwell are staying here. We’ll take out any that follow us.”

The older boy protested, “I don’t want to go without you guys ...”

But Alton still had no time for talking as the sounds of gunfire and the fanatic mob were only growing by the second, “Shut up! Stop your crying! James, you have to get going. You’ll have to look after yourself and Nicky too. I’m counting on you. Here,” he took his map and thrust it into James’s hand, “follow this line, see it,” as he traced with his finger. “There’s a drainage ditch just past these trees. Follow it west until you can see an old silo. It’s easy to find, wait for us there. But if we don’t show up in an hour, both of you continue moving,” he put his compass on top of the crumpled map in the boy’s now shaking hand, “Follow the compass at two hundred ninety-five degrees from that silo. Can you remember that? Two hundred ninety-five degrees and approximately four miles of walking, will bring you to our rendezvous point. It’s an old country grocery store all by itself next to the road. You wait for us there. We’ll all meet up there tomorrow at twelve hundred hours.”

The boy still objected as that horrible noise continued to grow louder, “But ... what if ...”

“There’s no time left for talking. James, I know you’re afraid, but you have to ignore it. The two of you have to go now! GO!”

James seized Nicky by his hand and they both took off running. As they hurriedly made their way through the trees, wet leaves, and thick underbrush, they ran for a clearing they could see on the far side.

From behind them came the sound of Alton’s and Cornwell’s rifles. They were on full auto and the boys could hear the bark of their short, controlled bursts ring through the trees as they engaged the enemy at point-blank range.

The boy thought of the friends he was leaving behind, maybe forever, and knew that John Alton was right. There was nothing he could do for them, his first duty was to get Nicky out of there and save himself too.

As the two boys walked out past the last tree and into the bright sunshine, they stopped to catch their breath. In the distance the muted sound of automatic fire continued to echo in the forest behind them.

Moving once more, James spotted the ditch Alton told him about. They began following it and with a few minutes of running it was all quiet again, the world they just left behind feeling like a bad dream, not the nightmare that was all too real.

With nearly a mile of walking, the two found the silo and took a well-deserved rest under a tall buckeye.

They waited in silence and James started thinking of what he would do if Alton or Cornwell never came. He tried to recall the instructions he was given, was it 295 degrees or 290, he just couldn’t remember after all the excitement of the day. He sat there unsure of anything, except that if his and Nicky’s survival was in his hands, they were both in real trouble.

After over an hour of sitting in the quiet shade of that tree, Nicky finally had something to say. He turned to his friend, “James, what if ... what if John and Cornwell are dead? What if they’re all dead? What are we going to do then?”

James remained silent as he didn’t have any answer for the boy. Fortunately, he was saved from admitting it when he saw Cornwell and Alton fast approaching from across a bit of pasture land off on the horizon.

The four had their short reunion with Nicky excitedly hugging both men. James thought the boy was never going to let John Alton go. The boys got the PG version of what happened from Alton as he took his compass and map back, folding the map into its original crisp square shape again. After another brief rest to catch their breath and have some water, they were all on their way carrying everything they owned on their backs, along with huge smiles on both the boys’ faces.

With about a mile of marching and thinking, James once more had the weight of the world on his back, and finally it broke. “I should have never joined you guys. I should have stayed on my own.”

Alton was understanding, as much as he could be considering all the facts he didn’t know. “James, I know what happened scared you, and you have a right to be scared, but this is how the world is now. You have to accept that. You have to accept the good and the bad. At least you’ve got us, you’ve got your friends ...”

“Some friends I’ve got.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Rob told me what you guys wanted. He told me what you would do to me, too, if I ran away.”

“What are you talking about? What would we do to you if you ran away?”

“He told me you would track me down and kill me. He told me about the new job you had for me too.”

Alton stopped and turned to Cornwell with a bewildered look on his face, “Have you heard any of this? Have you heard anyone say they were going to hurt James if he tried to leave?”

Cornwell seemed just as confused, “Nope, this is the first I’m hearing of it.”

James went on in his mournful tone. “Rob told me what you would do. He said you guys would come looking to kill me, if I ran away, but only after you hurt me real bad.”

Alton shook his head, completely disbelieving, “He said we would all come looking to kill you?”

“Not all of you, he said ‘some of the guys’ and I never knew exactly which of you guys he meant.”

“You must’ve misunderstood Rob. We’re not holding you against your will, James. You’re free to go any time. We wouldn’t want you here if you didn’t want to be here. You understand if you do go you can’t take the equipment with you. That belongs to the group. But otherwise you can go anytime you want to. No one’s going to stop you.”

“What about our oath?”

“That oath was Rob’s idea. It meant much more to him than the rest of us. Right, Cornwell?”

Cornwell nodded.

“Besides, where in the oath did it say you couldn’t leave the group if you wanted to?”

James paused and considered the question.

Alton turned and started marching again, Cornwell and the boys were following right behind. “I just don’t understand this ... how you could get this idea?”

James caught up with Alton and went on with his sad story, the boy now looking like he wanted to cry, “He told me about the job you had for me too. I thought you were my friends ... I thought you liked me.”

“We do like you. What is this job you keep talking about?”

“Since I didn’t want to learn about guns, Rob said I couldn’t be a soldier. He said I could keep the camp running though ... wash the clothes, stuff like that.”

“Yes, that was discussed. What’s wrong with that? James, you’ve made it quite clear since you’ve been here you didn’t want to have anything to do with guns. We were just trying to find some job you could do.”

The boy laughed and wiped a tear from his eye, “Yeah, like my other duties?”

“What other duties?”

“You know.”

“No, I don’t know. What duties?”

James stopped and looked at Nicky, who was staring at him, utterly confused. “Rob said ... he said I would have to ‘service’ you guys, anytime you wanted me to. You know what I mean ... when I say service?” He eyes shifted back to Nicky who still didn’t have a clue to what the two were talking about.

From the look on Alton’s face he had now heard it all. “I don’t know what to say, James. I think there has been some kind of mix-up. I think maybe Rob was teasing you ... or maybe playing some kind of joke. No one wants to do that to you. You’re our friend and we wouldn’t ask you to do that, any of us, well ...” He stopped and brushed his short hair down with his hand, “I don’t think I’ve told you about Rudd, have I?”

“No, what about Rudd?”

“Nicky has known for a while now, I guess we just forgot to tell you.”

“Tell me what? What about Rudd?”

“You don’t ever want to go anywhere alone with Rudd, especially if he’s been drinking. You understand what I mean? Do you understand what might happen to you if you and Rudd are alone together? So don’t take that chance. Don’t go anywhere with him by yourself.”

Suddenly Nicky was in on the conversation, “Oh ... that’s what you were talking about.”

Alton ignored Nicky and continued to address James, “Do you understand me, James, I mean about Rudd?”

“Yes ... okay.”

“As for your ‘job offer,’ I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding. No one would expect that of you. The next time we see Rob we’ll get this all straightened out.” He bent down, patting James on his head, “Do you feel better, now you’ve got this off your back?”

“Yes ... I guess I do.” The boy had another laugh and wiped his eyes again. Maybe it was simply a misunderstanding after all.

The sun was setting as they arrived at point Echo, and by now the temperature dropped some and it began to snow, the first one of the season.

They were the first group to arrive and quickly set up camp inside the derelict structure. It had no glass in the windows and the doors were gone, but the roof did keep the snow off of them. There were no trees nearby so they tore the wood studs out of a wall to start a small fire right there on the cement floor. Without their sleeping bags and blankets, it was a long, cold night as the winds blew through the hollow structure. They huddled together under the light of the fire, trying to stay warm and get some rest if they could.

Early the next morning, Alton was on guard duty and woke them as two figures approached.

It was McCain and Rudd plodding along in the snow covered road, both were covered with numerous small cuts and abrasions and Peavey was nowhere to be seen.

Alton came out and met them halfway. “Where’s Peavey?”

Both of them gave him awkward looks and finally McCain spoke, “Peavey didn’t make it.”

“Peavey is dead?”

“Probably ... yeah, he’s dead.”

“You don’t sound very sure. Is he dead or not?”

Rudd spoke up, “We’re not sure. We think he’s dead.”

Alton couldn’t believe he was having this conversation, “So, you really don’t have any idea whether he’s dead or not?”

Both of them answered this time, “No.”

Alton was getting angrier by the second, “McCain, you were in charge, explain it to me. Explain to me how you don’t know if one of your men is dead or not.”

“He couldn’t keep up, and as we were running we got cut off from the planned escape route. We had to improvise and Peavey just wasn’t fast enough.”

“So they caught him?”

“Yes, I assume they killed him when he was captured.”

“But you don’t know.”

“No.”

Alton walked away, sure if he stayed in this conversation any longer he would be throwing punches in mere moments.

Rudd and McCain both said, “We’re sorry” as he was walking away.

At about 09:00 hours, Rob, Martinelli, and D’Cruz were spotted coming over a hill. D’Cruz had his forearm bound up resting in a crude sling made out his shirt. Rob and Martinelli were helping him along and Rob had a limp of his own.

Alton was waiting at the front door of the structure, “Has D’Cruz been shot?”

Rob was the last to come in out of the cold. “No, one of those maniacs tried to take his arm off with a machete. It was buried so deep it was stuck in the bone. Me and Martinelli didn’t think we would ever get it out.”

“Is he going to lose that arm?”

It was obvious Rob didn’t have a clue, “Martinelli?”

From the look on his face, Martinelli didn’t know much more than the boss. “Maybe. It’s a pretty bad cut, it took forever to stop the bleeding, like Rob said he was cut right down to the bone. If he doesn’t get an infection he’ll keep the arm, might even get back some use of it. Will he get it all back? Well, we’ll have to wait and see.”

The three of them laid D’Cruz out on the cleanest bit of floor they could find and tried to make him comfortable. Alton started questioning Rob again. “How bad are you hurt?”

“Not bad at all, actually I was real lucky. One of them shot me but hit my radio instead. I’ve got a good-sized bruise on my hip, the radio is totaled though. Did you bring the other two radios?”

“Yeah, we’ve got them.”

“Please tell me you got the charger, too, I didn’t see it on the mantle when I was leaving.”

“Yeah, that was the last thing I grabbed before we went out the door.”

“Good. I want to do an immediate inventory of our supplies and equipment.”

“I already did ours.”

“And?”

“We’ve got the two radios and the charger. Four rifles ...”

“Four?” Rob turned and thoroughly scanned the room, “Where’s Peavey?”

“He was captured.”

“I hope they killed him quick.”

“Why would you say that?”

“You didn’t get a good, up close look at these monsters; I did. I’ve never seen anything like them. They were out of their minds. I don’t know what they were on but it must have been something. They were even killing their own men ...”

“Their own men?”

“Yeah, when they were charging the house, there were several of them that got hurt and were slowing the others down. They got gunned downed or clubbed, and stepped over. Like I said, I’ve never seen anything like that. What else you got?”

“Let’s see, I have the Beretta nine millimeter and three full mags, forty-five rounds of ammo. Between us we have the four rifles and seventeen magazines, most nearly full, four hundred ninety-one rounds to be exact. We all have five days’ supply of food on us, and one canteen each. We’ve got some medical supplies and a few other odd items. What’ve you got?”

“We have three more M4s, twenty-four mags with exactly six hundred ninety-nine rounds. I have the Python and two boxes of ammo, one hundred rounds. Martinelli managed to save the Remington but we’ve only got one box of ammunition for it, twenty rounds. And we’ve got five days’ supply of food too.”

Alton tried to laugh, but couldn’t, “Not much, is it?”

“No, not much.”

Martinelli interrupted, “I need to change D’Cruz’s dressing. I hope somebody has some more medical supplies.”

Cornwell handed him a bag off the floor while Alton let him know, “That bag is all we’ve got, only use what you have to.” Then he went back to his and Rob’s conversation. “What’s your plan?”

“My plan is to get the hell out here. I think we should head west ...”

“We’re not going back?” Without warning, McCain was now in the discussion.

Rob turned to him, annoyed, “No, we’re not. Why would you think that?”

“They kicked our asses, they killed Peavey, it’s time for some payback.”

Robert didn’t think this needed to be explained. “McCain, even after all of them we killed, they still outnumber us at least four to one. They’ve got the rest of our guns and most of our ammunition. They have the house and will be watching for an attack, there’s no way to take them by surprise. And ... and this is a good enough reason all by itself, they are just plain nuts, there is no way to predict what they might do. The last thing I want to see is thirty or forty of these wackos coming at us, every one of them on a kamikaze mission.”

“Fine, I just want to note for the record that my vote is to go back and kill all of them sons of bitches.”

“Fine, we’ll note that, but I’m assuming the rest of you guys would like to live a while longer. We’re not the toughest guy on the block anymore, McCain, you’re just going to have to get used to it. Now, what was I saying?”

Alton started the discussion again, “You were saying you wanted to go west.” But it was stopped once more when he felt a tug on the back of his coat.

It was James behind him, “You said you would talk to Rob.”

“I will, James, I promise, but this is a little more important right now.”

Rob wasn’t sure what that was about and didn’t have the time, “Yeah ... I want to head west, maybe Radley and the surrounding area, that looks like a good place to start again. There might be some good hunting down there.”

“That’s a good walk from here, especially this time of year.”

“You’re right, but I want to put some distance between us and them. This new group, they’re going to be like a cancer on all of the surrounding area. They’re going to consume everything around them. We can’t fight them so we’ve got to go somewhere else. I don’t like it, but we’re going to have to start over again.”

Alton reluctantly agreed, “Yeah, I don’t see any other choice either.”

“But we have a more immediate problem, winter is here, well, not ‘officially,’ but at least the weather, and all we’ve got are the clothes on our backs. We only have enough food and water to keep going just a few days.”

“What are we going to do about that?”

“We’re going to start towards Radley, but we’ll also have to hit any refugees we see along the way. Take whatever we can use from them, but more importantly we’ve got to get some good intelligence; we’ve got to find some people worth robbing. We need ...” Rob looked around again, “a lot, some tents or sleeping bags, or at least blankets, we need more food. We’ll be needing ammo. Without at least that much were not going to get very far.”

Just then a shout came from Rudd who was watching from a window, “We’ve got company!”

Rob went right to the door, “There’s six of them, two are trying to flank us from the south. Everybody get to a window! You boys get down!”

The attack lasted only a minute and by the end all of their would be conquerors were dead.

Rob stood over the body of one of the fallen soldiers. “They look like the same ones that attacked the house. They must have tracked us in the snow. Do you see what I mean about being crazy? Six guys, only two armed with guns, the rest with clubs and knives, and they attack a building they know has several men with automatic weapons inside. In broad daylight too! These guys are just plain nuts! We’ve got to go before more show up. If they came at us a few at a time we could take them. I’m just afraid they’re all going to come at once ... and we couldn’t handle that many. Everybody go grab your stuff, and somebody get D’Cruz on his feet. COME ON! LET’S GO!”

They all marched along a snowy road until hours later they came to a lone house at the intersection of two highways. Martinelli, D’Cruz, Rudd, and the boys stayed there while the rest broke up into two groups and went their separate ways. Coyote, Alton and Cornwell, took the north highway while Wolf, Rob and McCain, took the west hoping to find anything worth stealing.

At the top of the hour, Coyote had something to report. “Wolf, come in.”

“Come back, Coyote, we hear you.”

“We’ve got something, head back to the house, we’ll meet you there.”

“What have you got?”

“Something you’re not going to like.”

“What have you got?”

“We’ve got Peavey and a couple of refugees.”

“We’ll be back at the house in half an hour.”

Team Wolf was the last to arrive, Alton sat waiting for them on the front step and he had nothing good to say. “We found Peavey wandering beside the road, two refugees were trying to help him.”

Rob was surprised to say the least, “I was sure they would kill him.”

“It probably would have been better if they did.”

“What do you mean?”

Alton reluctantly stood up, “Come on inside.”

They came into the front room and Peavey was lying on the floor, naked and wrapped in a dirty blanket. His face was heavily bandaged, so were his hands. Two strangers were against the far wall. All the other men stood around solemnly watching while the sound of both boys’ crying filled up the empty room.

Rob had more questions, but he was sure he didn’t want the answers. “How bad is he?”

Alton went on with his grim report, “They gouged out his eyes. They’ve cut off his thumbs and all his fingers too, except the middle finger on each hand.”

“You think that’s some kind of message for us?”

“I don’t know, but now I agree with you ...”

“Yeah?”

“These guys are just plain nuts.”

“Has he said anything?”

“This couple found him near the road without a stitch of clothing, they stopped the bleeding as best they could ... they said we came along about an hour later. They say he never spoke one word.”

Rob looked at the couple, an older man and women that looked familiar in their ragged clothes. They could have been the couple they gave the pineapple to but he couldn’t say for sure, they all looked the same anymore. “You found him?”

The old man located his voice, “Yes.”

“You helped him?”

“Yes.”

“Is that your blanket?”

“Yes.”

“We need it.”

“You can keep it.”

Rob turned to Alton, “Give them some food and let them go.”

But Alton still had something to say. “There’s more. They know of a place we might want to look at.”

“You’ve already got the info from them?”

“Yes.”

“Then give them some food and let them go.”

It was too late in the day to do anything but wait out the night. They took shifts, half stayed up on guard duty while the other half tried to sleep with little success. In the morning the sun arose, a new day was beginning, but not for one of them.

Martinelli checked on Peavey, his diagnosis was right to the point, “Peavey is dead.”

Rob got up, hovering over the body that appeared exactly the same as the night before. “What killed him?”

“I’m guessing, mostly likely it was blood loss. He lost too much and his body couldn’t overcome the trauma. Or ... maybe he just decided he didn’t want to live anymore.”

They packed their gear and left him there naked on the floor as they didn’t even have a shovel to bury their friend. Before leaving, Rob said a few words over Peavey. The boys were in tears and Rob was nearly himself, as the rest of the men stood there looking down on him. Then the group was off again, towards that next chance at staying alive.

Chapter Seven

Alton told Rob of the opportunity only a few miles north, several people living in an old church just off of the highway. They were told by the couple that found Peavey and Rob decided it was the best option they had.

The group found it early that afternoon but waited until dark before they got close, stealthily setting up an observation post behind a tractor trailer down the road. The truck had gently rolled over into a ditch and despite lying on its side, there wasn’t a mark on it.

The men traded off between observing outside and resting in the old livestock trailer. It stunk but was still better than sleeping in the snow. The temperature was just at freezing that night and the men were cold without a fire, the two boys huddled together under the group’s only blanket.

Rob was already up as the sun was rising, Alton came in from the cold and offered him half his can of pork and beans. Robert wasn’t hungry and he kept his voice low, “No thanks, I had a few crackers. We can only stretch out our rations a few days more, and then we’re done. At least all this snow makes it easy to find water.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s all I’ve been thinking about. We’re going to have to take this house today, while we still have the strength. You want me to get the guys up, so we can brief them?”

“No, let them sleep a little more. Give it an hour or so.”

“Me and Cornwell went all the way around that church last night, to get a better look.”

“You weren’t seen, I hope.”

“No, we made sure of that. We kept far enough out so they couldn’t see us or our tracks. I’m going to take a short nap and then I’ll get everybody up.”

An hour later they were all awake and fed, as much as they could spare, and ready to work. Alton was prompt with his report as he quietly spoke. “Okay, everybody has had a look at that church by now. There’s five people inside, three men and two women; they’re all armed. Two of the men were up all night on guard duty so they’ll be tired. Martinelli, you said they just changed guards?”

“Yep ... about fifteen minutes ago.”

“I think we should get ready and take this place within the hour. Normally I don’t like to rush these things but everyone can see we’re kind of desperate here. We need to get some food and get out of the cold, now.”

Rob interjected, “What about the building?”

“It’s just a small church, a wood-framed building with a front and back door, no windows at all except in the doors which they watch all the time. They’ll see us coming, hopefully they won’t have enough time to do anything about it though.”

“I think we should use Nicky.”

“I’m not sure. You know I don’t like to.”

“I know that, and I don’t either, but we need him this time. He can keep them occupied at one door while we rush the other one.” Rob got up and sat down again right next to the child. “Nicky, we need you to do this.”

The boy was reluctant, “I don’t want to. I don’t want to do that anymore.”

But Rob turned on the charm, “This isn’t like last time, Nicky. I will never ask you to do that again. All you have to do for this one is talk yourself in, find a reason to go to the other door in back, then make a commotion. Just keep them occupied for fifteen seconds, that’s all you have to do. It’s easy. You’ve done that plenty of times before.”

“I don’t know ...”

“Come on, it’s easy, you’ve done it so many times, what’s one more? Besides, we’re all counting on you ...”

Alton had already heard enough from Rob, “Pouring it on a bit thick, aren’t we?” Then he turned to the boy, “Nicky, you don’t have to do this. You’re part of this family whether you do it or not.”

The child was now willing but not enthusiastic, “I guess I can do it.”

Rob was thrilled and that winning smile returned to his face. “All right, that’s settled.”

They made a plan and ran through it a dozen times and quietly exited the back of the trailer, leaving D’Cruz behind sleeping.

Rob, Alton, Martinelli, and James cautiously approached at the bottom of a snow-filled ditch until they stopped right across from the church. They waited ten minutes for McCain, Rudd, and Cornwell to stealthily take their position around the back side of the building.

At the designated time, Rob whistled and Nicky came around the truck heading for the church’s front door. A guard immediately noticed him from the window but did nothing, continuing to closely examine the child as he drew closer.

Unexpectedly, a burst of shots rang out. Martinelli had slipped in the snow and accidently pulled the trigger of his M4.

Hell was unleashed as the guard thrust his rifle through the window pane and began firing. Nicky stopped, dropped to his knees, and finally fell face down in the snow.

Rob gave the command to charge and the men rushed the church from both sides.

Instantly Rob and James raced to the boy with bullets flying in every direction. They turned him over and he was covered with blood, a single bullet hole centered there in his small sunken chest.

The firefight continued for only a few moments more and then the sound of gunfire ended as quickly as it began. Rob found himself there in the silence on his knees, kneeling next to the boy. He took his hand, “You’re going to be all right, Nicky ... I promise. Martinelli!”

Nicky was coughing on the blood in his mouth and staring up at the sky, at something unseen. “I can’t feel my legs. I don’t want to die in the cold.”

“You’re not going to die, stop talking like that. You’re going to be fine.” Rob turned and yelled towards the church again, “MARTINELLI!”

James frantically cut open the front of the boy’s shirt and pulled a large bandage from his pack. He put it to the child’s chest, applying pressure. “You’re going to be okay, Nicky, you’ll see.”

But the boy wasn’t hearing them anymore, “I don’t want to die. God ... please forgive me. MOMMY!”

Martinelli and Alton came running but it was far too late. The boy remained perfectly still as the life quickly drained from his eyes. All of them silently watched over him a moment, lying peaceful there in the blood spattered snow, looking like an angel.

Alton broke the silence, barely able to speak, a stone in his throat and the tears in his eyes. “We’ve secured the building. We’ve ... we’ve taken three prisoners.”

Rob stood up, his pants wet from the snow, and wiped his red, swollen eyes dry with the sleeve of his coat. “Is one of the survivors a man with dark curly hair and a green shirt?”

Still Alton could hardly speak, “Yes, him ... another man ... and one woman.”

He turned and marched right for the front door, something now inside Rob none of them had ever seen before. He stepped into the church and it was nearly empty. The podium and all but two pews were gone, obviously used for firewood over the years. Rudd, McCain, and Cornwell held three prisoners against the back wall, two corpses were lying on the floor.

As soon as Rob entered, he saw the man he was looking for, “You! You there with the green shirt! You murdering son of a bitch!”

Rudd, McCain, and Cornwell stood there confused. McCain spoke for them all, “What’s going on?”

They could all see the hate in Robert’s eyes. “That son of a bitch murdered Nicky!”

“Nicky?”

“Yeah ... he shot our boy!”

In a moment the realization came, and then you could see the hate in all their eyes.

The man denied it, “No, I ... it was an accident!”

“You lying bastard! I watched you! I watched you do it! You took steady aim on a little boy and you shot him right in the chest!”

“NO!”

Rob bounded across the room and pinned the man against the wall by his throat, “SHUT UP! I don’t want to hear another thing out of your lying mouth!” He pulled his KA-BAR and handed it to McCain, grip first. “McCain, show this piece of shit what we think of liars.”

McCain took the knife and that was enough to release the evil inside he had held back for so very long. While Cornwell covered the others, he and Rudd dragged the man to the ground. Rudd held down his legs as McCain straddled his chest, holding his arms down. Then he started and for more than half a minute there came the awful sounds of that man screaming while Albert McCain did some of his finest work. At last McCain held in the air a few bloody inches of the man’s tongue. He threw it against the wall were it stuck, and then it slowly slid down to rest on floor.

Alton and Martinelli were inside the door and by now Alton had his voice again. “What the hell is going on?! Rudd, McCain, get off of him!”

But this was Rob’s bloody show, “Shut up, Alton, I’m in charge here!”

“That’s enough, Rob! Martinelli, go help him.”

Martinelli ran and shoved a rag in the man’s mouth, which was promptly soaked.

“This isn’t right! Let’s just go, Rob!”

“I’m in charge! I say what’s right and I say when we go!” Rob turned to the other two still being held there at gunpoint by Cornwell, who wasn’t looking so well. “What about you two? You got anything to say for yourselves?!”

The woman, attractive and around thirty, spoke up. She seemed to know her life was nearly done and it gave her the courage to speak her mind. “We’re not to blame! You bastards were the ones that attacked us! You’re the assholes that put that child’s life in danger! His death is on you!”

Rob looked her up and down, the raw hatred still there in his eyes. “I don’t like your attitude one bit. Rudd, McCain ... any of you, you want her, take her.”

Rudd and McCain jumped up, they knocked her to the ground and started tearing off her clothes. She fought back but Rudd’s second punch to her face knocked her out cold. They bent her limp body over a pew, and then the fun began.

Alton had seen more than enough, “Martinelli, Cornwell, come on, let’s get out of here.”

Cornwell made a hasty retreat for the door while Martinelli stayed behind.

Alton was surprised, “Martinelli, come on!”

“No, I’m staying,” he said as he licked his lips in anticipation.

Alton turned to leave and there was James in the doorway with his mouth agape. Alton kept walking and turned the boy out the door. “Don’t look, James, don’t look at them.”

For nearly twenty minutes from inside the building came the vile sounds of the woman pleading and screaming, and Rob’s men having a good time. The others waited outside trying not to listen while all along Alton was pacing and in a deep deliberation. Finally it grew quiet inside.

At the end of their guns, they marched the three out into the snow covered yard, the man with a bloody rag dripping from his mouth, the woman, bruised and naked, and the other man that hadn’t said a single word, the only reason he remained unharmed.

By now Alton had made up his mind, “I’ve had enough, Rob.”

But Rob was preoccupied, “All of you start digging.”

The prisoners all got down on their knees and started tearing at the ground.

Although Rob wasn’t listening, Alton had plenty to say. “Rob, you’re not fit to run this group.”

The woman already had enough, “I’m not doing this, we can’t dig in the frozen ground with our bare hands.”

Rob was growing angry again. “You will do it! Start digging, bitch!”

“No!”

“DO IT! Or so help me I’ll kill you right where you are!”

The woman knew this was the end, “To hell with you, you sick bastard! We didn’t kill that little boy, you did, so you should dig!”

Rob reached out and took McCain’s carbine from him, “Let me see this a minute, McCain,” and aimed it right at the woman’s back.

She lowered her head as if in prayer.

Rob fired a short burst into the woman and she tumbled face first in the snow. He fired a second time as the bullets ripped through her lifeless body there on the ground. He stepped over and probed the woman’s wound with the end of the gun, her naked flesh was shredded and her shattered shoulder blade was protruding half way out. Rob handed McCain back his weapon and addressed the remaining survivors, “Keep digging.” Then turned and faced Alton, “I’m sorry ... you were saying?”

“I was saying you’ve gone too far, that you are not fit to lead these men, and you just proved it again.”

Soon Rob began speaking in the affable tone all of them knew so well. “Listen, Alton, I know you’re upset about Nicky, we all are, so just stop now and think about what you’re saying. We can still forget this. We’ll take what’s left of the day off, in the morning we’ll head out for Radley. After a good night’s rest, I know you’re going to regret what you’re doing. I understand, though, and don’t hold it against you, like I said, I know you’re upset.”

Alton had heard all of this before, “It’s not going to work, Rob. I can’t work for you anymore. It’s bad enough we have to steal food from hungry people, but this, I can’t take it. You’ve turned into a monster, and you won’t be happy until we’re all monsters too. You’re no better than that mob of animals that attacked us.”

“No better than them? Wow ... that’s saying a lot. Again, I’m going to ask you to stop and think about what you’re saying.”

“This is all I have been thinking about. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but today, this is the last straw. I’ll say it again, Rob, you’re not fit for the job.”

“I guess you think you can do better than me.”

“I couldn’t do worse.”

Rob put his hands in his pockets, “All right, I can see there’s no talking to you. I know now you’re not going to change your mind. I guess we’ve gone beyond the kiss and make up stage. I think the only thing we can do is split up. How about this, we’ll go our separate ways, the men can go with whoever they want, and we’ll split the equipment evenly, fair enough?”

“Okay, I can live with that, everyone that wants to go with me come over to my side.”

Cornwell and James stepped over to Alton’s side, Martinelli didn’t and appeared ashamed of himself, “I’m sorry, Alton, you know I like you but Rob has kept us alive this long and I’m staying with him, sorry.”

From behind them, D’Cruz stumbled forward, he seemed weak but was able to stand on his feet. “I heard most of the conversation and I know what side I’m on.” He walked right past Alton and stopped next to Rob.

Rudd and McCain took another step closer to their man and Rob grew a wide smile. “You three can go your own way, no hard feelings?” Rob pulled his fleshy hand out of his coat pocket and offered it out in Alton’s direction.

“No thanks.”

“Okay, be that way.” Rob put his hand back in the coat, he immediately pulled it out again and it was holding a Ruger .380. He fired two quick shots and Alton fell straight to the ground.

Rudd and McCain immediately trained their rifles on Cornwell and James. Suddenly Alton was on his feet again, but shaky, and emptied the magazine of his carbine as he sprayed bullets in their direction.

Everyone hit the ground, and when they looked up Alton was racing towards the front door of the church.

McCain got up and started firing and Rudd was only a second behind him, but by then Alton had leapt through the door.

Rob was still belly down in the snow when he yelled out to his men, “Kill him!”

McCain and Rudd cautiously approached the front of the building and Martinelli was just as prudent as he went around the back.

Rob got up off the ground, put his Ruger away and pulled the Colt from its holster, now leveling it on Cornwell. “Drop the gun!”

Cornwell stood there dumbfounded and didn’t appear to hear Rob although he was looking right at him.

“I said drop the rifle!”

This time he heard him and carefully put it down on the snowy ground.

“Cornwell, James, both of you step over here, away from the rifle,” Rob said while motioning with the Magnum.

Both did as they were told.

By now Rudd and McCain were about to go through the door, but the sound of gunfire stopped them short.

There was another two rounds fired and then came the sound of someone shouting from behind the building, it was Martinelli, “He ran out the other side!”

Rob handed his pistol to D’Cruz, “Watch them,” and took off running around the back of the building along with Rudd and McCain.

Cornwell and James just stood there in silence, D’Cruz holding the gun on them.

After a few minutes, the men all came back hurriedly marching with Rob out in front; Alton was nowhere to be seen, “Martinelli, check the building.”

Martinelli broke from formation heading for the church, the other three continued right for Cornwell and James.

Rob was clearly angry, “Your boy got away, he ran into some woods back there but he won’t get far, you should see the blood trail he’s left behind.” He took the Magnum from D’Cruz’s hand and turned back to Rudd and McCain, “I want you two to go after him, take this radio and get some provisions, and go.”

Martinelli returned, obviously with bad news, “He took another rifle when he ran through the building.”

News Rob didn’t want to hear, “Which rifle?”

“I don’t know. I remember there were five rifles, three on the bench and two more standing in the corner. The three on the bench are still there but one of the others is missing. One was an SKS, I know that, it’s still there, but I don’t remember the other. I had something else on my mind.”

McCain had the information they wanted to know, “It was a Savage lever action in two forty-three and it had a four power scope mounted. It had two or three rounds inside and a holder on the stock that had another ten rounds.”

Rob glared at McCain. “I want you and Rudd to go after him right now, you’re in charge. I want him dead before morning.”

McCain had the look of an unchained attack dog, “Don’t worry, I’ll get him. I can’t wait to find that asshole. I never could stand him, self-righteous prick. When I catch up to him I’m going to give him what they gave Peavey, even worse, I’m going to castrate that son of a bitch too.”

“Just kill him and come right back.”

“I can’t have some fun?”

“Have your fun, just so long as he’s dead when you’re done ... and you’re not gone very long.”

“Fine,” McCain and Rudd took off leaving Rob, Martinelli, and D’Cruz to finish up.

Rob yelled after them, “And check in every hour!” He dropped his eyes down to the two prisoners; both were still kneeling on the ground and wearing unbelieving faces. “Nobody told you to stop digging,” and then to his two remaining mutineers, “What am I going to do with you two?”

For the first time in his life, James had hate in his eyes, “Damn you! Why?! Why couldn’t you just let us go?!”

“Why should I have to put up with traitors? I’ve kept him and these other guys alive for years now and suddenly he wants to take my job. Or I’m supposed to give up half my equipment when I’m already short and winter is here? I don’t think so. To hell with him, ingrate.”

“You won’t catch him! He’s going to kill all of you!”

“James, I know you look up to Alton but he’s just a man, and he can die like everyone else.” Rob pointed to the ground. “Look down there, see that blood? That’s his and he’s not going very far. If I used my Magnum he’d be dead already, damn three eighty. McCain will kill him, don’t worry about that. What you should worry about is yourself.”

Rob picked up the rifle, handed it to D’Cruz and turned to Cornwell and James again, “What am I to do with you? I guess there’s two ways we can go here, you can leave or stay. Well, let’s look at both options. If you leave you’re not taking the equipment with you, and you won’t get any help from us; you are entirely on your own. On the other hand, if you stay I am going to be expecting your complete loyalty. You’ll have to follow my orders to the letter, and it goes without saying that if you try to betray us you will die, very unpleasantly. I’ll let McCain handle your execution if it comes to that, and as I’m sure you’re well aware he’s not a ‘people person.’”

Martinelli and D’Cruz had a good laugh.

“You just watched me shoot Alton so I know you don’t think much of me right now. I know he was your friend so I won’t hold it against you. But in my defense, let me say that all of this today was an extreme set of circumstances, you know, with Nicky and all. I’m not normally like this, it was just ... let’s say that I felt threatened and compelled to defend myself. Cornwell, you’ve been with the group a long while, you know I normally treat you guys, well, like family. I’m just going to stop talking and let you decide yourselves. Feel free to discuss it between you. I’ll let these guys finish digging Nicky’s grave and after the burial I’m going to need your answer. But until then sit down and relax.”

It took another two hours before the prisoners finished digging and by then their fingertips were bloody pulp. They buried Nicky with care and finally covered him over, and then Rob said some words over the small grave.

“Today we say a final farewell to Nicholas Thomas Mayer. I think we can all agree he was a very special person. He grew up in this hell, too young to remember much of that world we left behind. But he never complained or shirked his responsibilities, and he was always faithful to us, his friends. He was a remarkable little boy and it’s everyone’s loss he won’t have a chance to grow into a man. I am sure there is no one here that will not miss him deeply. Good-bye, Nicky.”

James said a prayer and then looked around as he wiped his eyes; there wasn’t a dry eye among this crowd of killers. Even the grave diggers were in tears.

Rob stepped over to the prisoners while he pulled his gun. He cocked the hammer of the revolver and shoved the end of the barrel right under the chin of the one that killed the child. The man started screaming, the muffled sound could scarcely be heard through the soaking rag he still held in his mouth. Just then a sharp bang rang out as the prisoner’s brains and the top of his skull were sent flying through the air. Rob kicked the other man’s legs out from under him and knocked him to the ground. He put one boot on his spine and the gun to the back of his head. Another shot was heard and what was once the man’s face was now a large bloody stain that covered the ground in front of him.

James and Cornwell just stood there stunned.

Martinelli and D’Cruz stripped the dead of valuables and dragged them into the ditch across the road, covering the bodies with snow.

Rob kept James and Cornwell covered while his men went on with their work. “I said that I would give you until the burial to make a decision but I’ve changed my mind.”

Both stood there paralyzed, unsure of what was about to happen.

Rob went on in his friendly tone, “I’ve decided to let you stay with us overnight, you can give me your decision in the morning. We will, of course, be watching you. It’s going to be dark soon and from the look of the sky it might start snowing any minute. I thought it would be nice of me to give you a bit more time to decide. I will need your answer before breakfast.”

James sat in the corner of the church all night sleeping very little as he tried to think what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, if only he could, if only he could find the will. He would like to kill Robert and for the first time in his young life knew what it was to have murder in his heart.

Throughout the night he was haunted again and again, thinking of Nicky and their talk about God. He could only pray that the child had found some peace in the end.

Cornwell slept heavily through the night without making a sound.

Martinelli watched over the two the entire time; James thought it ironic that less than a day ago he considered him a good friend.

Later in the morning, the boy made his decision and after nodding off a while was abruptly wakened at dawn by Rob kicking his feet. “Get up! The time has come! Get up!”

James and Cornwell stood against the wall and Rob stared them down, Martinelli and D’Cruz were on either side with their guns. Robert turned to the older one, “Okay, this is it. Cornwell, what’s it going to be?”

Cornwell looked disgusted with himself, “I guess I’ll stay.”

“Are you guessing or do you know?”

“I’ll stay.”

“Do I have your complete loyalty?”

“Yes ...”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes sir.”

“Do you agree that if you betray us again you deserve to die horribly?”

Cornwell had nothing to say.

Rob wasn’t letting up, “You heard the question, don’t make me repeat it.”

“Yes ...”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, if I betray you again I deserve to die horribly, sir.”

Rob seemed amused as he turned to the boy. “James, before you answer, let me answer some questions you might have. You’re probably wondering what is going to happen to you if you do stay. Well, you’ll have two options and I’ll let you pick which one you want to do. Whichever one you pick you should know part of your duty will be doing Nicky’s old job. You’re not as cute as he was, but you do have your own charm, in a pitiful kind of way. I guess it might work on someone. First, you can train to be a soldier. You will learn to shoot and you will kill when I need you to. I might just make a man out of you yet. Or, the other option we’ve already discussed. You can take care of our camp and you will be expected to give the men your full attention, whenever they want.”

D’Cruz softly chuckled as he looked James right in the eye.

“So what’s it going to be, James? Let’s have your decision, I’m hungry and want to have breakfast.”

James wasn’t 100% sure before, but now he was. “I’m going. I wouldn’t stay here for anything. I hate you Rob and I hope you die. I hope you die for what you did to John, and to Nicky. I only wish I could do it myself ... but I can’t.”

“No, you can’t, can you? I killed your buddy Alton and you don’t even have enough balls to try and get revenge. You are pathetic. Just get out of here, go, go back to what you were doing before, begging, petty thievery, whatever you did to scrape by. You were just another worthless roadie when I found you, begging to stay alive ... I guess that’s all you’re really good for. Just get out of here, go. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

Cornwell turned to James, the weight of shame hanging heavy on his face, “Sorry, kid, I’m just too old to be on my own out there again. Good luck.”

James picked up his things and turned for the door.

He got two steps before Rob stopped him, “Where do you think you’re going with our stuff?”

“This is my stuff.”

“That’s our bug out bag and everything in it is ours. Except your clothes, everything you’ve got belongs to the group, including the boots; take them off.”

“You gave them to me.”

“The only thing I gave you was an old sleeping bag you managed to lose. Everything else you have belongs to the group. Take off those boots.”

The boy threw the bag down and grudgingly untied the boots. He kicked them off in Robert’s direction. James got to the door before Rob stopped him again.

“Are those our socks? Never mind ...” He went to a bag by his feet. Rob pulled out something and walked straight towards the boy. “Here, don’t say I never gave you anything.” He put in the boy’s hand a few crumpled plastic grocery sacks.

James tied the bags around his feet and opened the door without saying another word. He stepped out into the cold.

Overnight two new fresh inches of snow had fallen. All the blood on the ground was covered and the pristine front yard looked like a Christmas card, only the slight bulge that was Nicky’s grave was there to remind him of the events from the day before.

James started down the highway, zipping his jacket all the way and pulling his hood up. Trudging through the snow he wondered how long he might survive.

Chapter Eight

Robert was pacing across the room and back again, the echo of his boots on the wood floor filled the empty hall. Occasionally he would stop to look out one of the open doors, both of them ripped off their hinges. “Why in the hell hasn’t McCain checked in? It’s been a long time since we heard those shots,” he checked his watch, “it’s been over fourteen hours. We could have been heading for Radley by now. I knew I couldn’t trust him to do anything. Well, you know what they say, if you want something done right.”

Martinelli, D’Cruz, and Cornwell warmed themselves by the heater, they never said a word as he went to and fro.

“I shouldn’t have let James go either ... I can’t believe I was that stupid. I think I’m going to go get him and bring him back.”

Finally D’Cruz had something to say, “Why? We don’t need that sissy.”

“D’Cruz, there’s only six of us now. All of us are going to be busy just trying to find food. We need him to look out for the camp when we’re gone. I can’t afford to leave any able man sitting around right now. There’s a lot of little jobs he could do to free the rest of us up for the real work.”

D’Cruz now had a large smile on his face. “Does that mean we get our ‘fringe benefits’?”

“No, he won’t come back if that’s part of the job. I want him to return on his own. We can’t have him running away every time we turn around.” Rob took the radio off his belt and handed it to Martinelli, “I’ve made up my mind, I’m going after him. He couldn’t have got very far. Martinelli, you are in charge while I’m gone. I should be back in a few hours, certainly by dark. If either one of those idiots calls in, tell them to get back here right now.”

Martinelli took the radio, “I don’t think James is coming back. He was pretty mad.”

“I can smooth talk him. I’ll get him to come back.”

“You sure? You did take his boots, you said some things ...”

“Don’t worry, I know just the kind of crap that boy needs to hear.” Robert grabbed up his rifle, pack and James’s boots and headed out the door. He crossed the yard and found James’s prints in the snow. Rob immediately started following the tracks down the road.

Chapter Nine

James struggled through the snow for nearly three hours and by now his feet were completely numb. He found a house along the way but it had been abandoned years ago, there was nothing of value inside the vacant structure. The windows and doors were broken and the interior of the house facing the wind was heavy with snow. A little further on he found an abandoned car, one of the doors was torn off making it useless as a shelter.

The boy checked his pockets and it only took him a second to inventory all he owned: a small pin knife, a disposable lighter, and a medal of Saint Aloysius, the only thing he had left to remember his mother.

He took the knife and cut two large pieces of cloth out of the car’s seat covers, wrapped them around his deadened feet and bound it up with the plastic bags again. The boy knew if he was to survive he would have to find someone to take him in, and very soon.

Later that morning he saw a commercial truck parked on the shoulder of the highway. One front tire was low, its rim sitting on the ground. Behind it was a large metal container used to import goods from overseas and its two large doors were hanging wide open.

The boy picked up his pace, hoping, praying there was something inside he might use, some clothes, boots, or even food! Stumbling closer he could see the back of the container was packed with cardboard boxes. A wall of them stacked right to the top. A few boxes had been pulled out and were on the ground along with some strange items scattered about, covered with fresh snow, but still with a little crimson color showing through.

His heart sank when he finally recognized what was lying on the ground. The container was filled with identical boxes, each one marked exactly the same,

“7527661960 – ROSES, RED – QUANTITY 144 – MADE IN CHINA.”

They were spread across the road, plastic long-stemmed roses; the kind you might see for sale at gas stations and convenience stores on Valentine’s Day.

In desperation he pulled a few more boxes from the container, opening each one with his knife, only to be disappointed again and again. They were all the same and now a new layer of fake silken roses covered the ground at his feet.

Trying to find a silver lining, he decided to use the cardboard to make himself a fire. The boy started limping around the truck searching for the best spot that blocked the wind.

As he went around the front of the truck, he detected a very faint smell; something he knew but couldn’t yet name. Finally it came to him, it was kerosene!

Frantically he searched until the source of the odor was clear; it was a length of plastic hose that was affixed by wire to the back of truck’s cab jutting out the top. With his eyes James followed the hose down the cab, across the hitch and to the side of the container, where it abruptly stopped. The end threaded through a small hole in the metal wall and it was sealed with tape. The boy started wondering and suddenly it occurred to him; there was someone living inside!

He gently rapped on the side of the shipping container with his knuckles making a dull metal sound. After a minute he tried again, but louder. Still, nothing happened. The boy did it again, but this time knocking as hard as he could. Now he had his answer.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!” came a gruff reply. The boy wasn’t sure if it was a woman or a man.

The boy lightly rapped on the metal again, “Can you let me in? I’m cold.”

The voice was short and to the point, “NO!”

“Please ... I’m freezing, my feet are numb. Please let me in ... if you don’t I’m going to die out here.”

After a pause the voice from inside the box came again, “So what, we’re all going to die out here.”

But the boy wasn’t giving up without a fight, “Please ... don’t let me die. Please, help me. Please ...”

Suddenly he heard a strange sound and he crouched down looking for the source that was coming from underneath. There was a hole in the bottom of the trailer just big enough to climb through. Unexpectedly a head dropped down from it, upside down. The head had a shoulder and arm attached that was holding a gun aimed in his direction. The head’s long gray stringy hair hung there in midair.

“Listen, brat, this isn’t going to work, go away!”

Still James kept at it, this person was the only chance he had of staying alive. “Please let me in, just for a little while, until I can get warm. Please ... you can save me. Don’t let me die out here, please.”

At long last this person’s resolve broke, some, “Okay, you can come in, but I’m not going to feed you. You understand? You understand that? I’m not going to feed you.”

“Yes ...”

“Take your coat off and turn around.”

James nearly stumbled as he tried to turn on his deadened feet.

The pistol waved him up inside, “Come on.”

The boy pulled himself up into the near darkness. Once he was there he heard that strange sound again as a thick piece of plywood was slid over the hole in the floor.

James steadied himself against the wall as he strained to see in the small shadowy room. It was roughly eight foot square. One wall was made up of boxes like at the other end while the other three and the ceiling were raw metal. The floor was wood with a rough hole cut in the corner through the wood and metal below. On the front side was a small kerosene heater vented through the hose James had found. There were a few meager sources of light; from the center of the ceiling hung an LED lamp and along the walls on both sides were several small holes used for ventilation. They let some precious beams of sunlight in too. On the ground was a rotting sleeping bag, a few books and trinkets, and next to them a small stack of canned foods and several plastic milk jugs filled with various liquids. In the other corner by itself was a small cardboard box full of what appeared to be wet shredded newspaper. The entire room was permeated with the stench of filth and urine.

This person stood across from him in the small room and at last it stepped out of the shadows. He could now see it was an old woman and she must have been seventy, at least. The woman was dirty, she looked and smelled like she hadn’t bathed in a while. Her hair was long and limp and almost completely white, except a scarce few streaks of dingy brown here and there.

After she sealed the hole, she dropped her gun into a pocket of her soiled pink bathrobe and addressed the boy. “I’m not going to feed you. Don’t even ask, all right? If you ask, I’ll throw you right out!”

“All right.”

“You said your feet were numb, right?”

“Yes, they were hurting, now I don’t feel much at all.”

She took one of the jugs and poured some water into a small metal pan. “Sit down and take that stuff off.”

As the boy unbound his feet, she held the pan over the heater. At last he was done and she took a sip from the pan, “That will do, not too hot.” She placed it in front of him and put his feet into the warm water. They were pale but the boy could still feel a little. After a moment, James said it felt like his feet were on fire.

The old woman smiled, “That’s good! That means it isn’t very bad.”

He sat there soaking a while then broke the silence between them, “Thank you, ma’am ... hey, I don’t even know your name. My name is James ...”

She lifted her shriveled hand and stopped him right there, “Don’t say nothing else. You’re not staying very long and I don’t want to know anything about you. You can stay until morning if you want, but then I want you gone. If you have to go in the night use that box,” she said pointing with her bony finger. “I’ve got some tape and I’ll help bind your feet up before you go. I’m sure I can do a much better job than you did. But that’s all I’m going to do for you ... and you should know I’m not helping because I’m a ‘nice’ old lady, or care what happens to you. I’m only doing it because you made me feel guilty, you sniveling little whelp.”

James wasn’t feeling too good about himself just then. “I’m sorry if I made you feel bad. But I really needed help ... I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? You got what you wanted, didn’t you, brat?”

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way. But I am very grateful for what you did. I want to thank you.”

“You really want to thank me?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

The old woman crossed the small room, “Okay,” and stooped down in front of him. Then she grabbed him by the back of his head and pressed her face right into his, hard. As she did the boy could feel her tongue fill his mouth.

It took all the boy’s strength to push her away, “Get off of me!” as she landed on the grimy floor. The boy spit and wiped his mouth; he was sure he could taste the old woman’s last meal.

Instantly she was on her feet again, towering over him, “Come on, give Grandma a big wet kiss.”

James found himself terrified, screaming at the top of his lungs, “GET AWAY FROM ME! YOU’RE CRAZY!”

Suddenly there was a pounding from outside on the metal wall, “What in the hell is going on?! Who’s in there?! JAMES?!”

The woman took the pistol out of her pocket as she stopped and listened.

James was happy to hear a familiar voice, even an ex-friend, “Help me! She’s crazy!”

It was Rob’s voice he recognized, “How did you get in there?!”

“There’s a hole underneath!”

From below came a shove as the plywood sheet barely budged. The old woman was standing right on top of it.

James tried to push her off of it but was not up to the job, “Get off!”

Now she had something to say, “No, that guy is not coming in ... and you’re not leaving.” She turned and started yelling at the one outside, “We’re not coming out, and you’re not coming in! Go away!”

Rob was angrier by the moment, “Open this thing up, or you’re going to regret it!”

“NO! WE’RE NOT COMING OUT!”

James was now right in her face. “Get off of it! I want out!”

But the old woman seemed strangely calm, “No, I’ve changed my mind. I want you to stay. I’ll even feed you ... you’re a good kisser.”

James continued trying to push her off the board but she would not budge.

After a few more unsuccessful tries at shoving his way in, Rob was in need of a new plan. He quickly walked around the truck and trailer taking a good look. Climbing on the hood and to the top of the cab, he closely examined it. Studying the trailer he noticed a few small holes cut in the top and his new plan came to mind. He took off his pack and rummaged around inside until he found what he wanted: a bottle of pepper spray. Rob held it against one of the holes and started drenching the inside.

With a few seconds waiting, he now heard the sound of both of them coughing. He grabbed his bag and climbed down. When he got back to the ground, the two had already scrambled out from underneath. Rob grabbed the old woman’s gun and pushed her down. “James, are you okay?”

The boy was violently coughing and fluids were pouring from his eyes, nose, and mouth. “I can’t see!”

Rob gripped the boy by his arm and led him to a large, fresh pile of snow there by the road. “Here, scrub your face; you’ll be all right in a few minutes.”

After some time vigorously scrubbing, the boy was almost his old self again, although his face was as red as a beet.

“You okay, kid?”

“Yeah ...”

“What was this woman doing to you in there?”

The boy spit and wiped his mouth again. “Nothing ...”

The old woman was finally on her feet again; she appeared harmless enough but Rob wasn’t taking chances. “Just stand right there, don’t move.” The boy was still his first concern, though. “James, where’s your socks?”

“Up in there.”

“Well, go get them. Here ...” Robert took from his pack the boy’s boots and another pair of thick wool socks, “Dry your feet and put these on.”

The boy took them and crawled back up inside.

Rob spoke to him through the metal walls, “Hurry up! And if she’s got any food bring it with you!”

James dropped back down, ready to go but empty handed.

“She doesn’t have any food up there?”

“Yes, but I’m not taking it.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

Rob was not amused as he tried to climb up inside, “Well, I’ll take it.”

The boy grabbed him by the tail of his coat, “There’s something wrong with her. Just leave her alone!”

Rob climbed back down; he had more important things to discuss. “All right, I’ll leave it. Come on, James, you’re coming back with me.”

“No I’m not!”

“Come on,” Rob grabbed James by his arm again but he immediately wrenched it free.

“I’m not going with you, Rob ... remember, I hate you.”

Robert did his best to make that fake charm sound as real as he could, “Listen, James, I came after you for several reasons. First, I wanted to give you back your boots.”

“So you agree they were mine all along?”

“Yes, I also wanted to apologize to you, James. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I treated you like that. I’m also sorry I said those things to you. I had no right. I was upset ... you know, with Nicky and everything.” Rob put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “I want you to come back, you can take care of the camp for us, and that’s all.”

“Nothing else? Just take care of the camp?”

“Yes, that’s all you will have to do.”

“Nothing else, no ‘services’?”

“No, just take care of the camp for us. That’s all. We all want you to come back.”

James thought about it a moment, broke Rob’s hold, and started heading for the road. “No, I still hate you.”

Rob was right behind him, “Well, you can hate me and take care of the camp at the same time, can’t you? James, if you think about it, we need each other. This is the best thing for all of us.”

Both of them turned as they heard someone behind them. They had already forgotten about the old woman still standing barefoot in the snow. You could hear the honesty as she spoke, “You boys come back to visit any time!”

James started walking down the road.

“Hey James, you’re going in the wrong direction. We’re this way.”

But the boy was resolute, “I told you I’m not going. Besides, John is going to kill all of you, and even though I hate you, Rob, I don’t want to be around to see that.”

“Alton is dead.”

James stopped, turned back, racing towards Robert standing there in the middle of the road. “What did you say?!”

“McCain and Rudd found him about an hour after you left. He froze to death in the night. I don’t think he suffered much. Probably just lost consciousness and died in his sleep. We buried him right next to Nicky. I think he would have wanted that.”

The boy started slapping Robert in the face again and again, and he stood there taking it. “Damn you! If you had let us go everything would have been all right!”

“I couldn’t let you go, kid, I couldn’t let any of you go. To try to split the group in half ... especially in the middle of winter, that would have been suicide. I had to kill Alton to save the rest of the group. If I hadn’t all of us would have been dead long before springtime.”

James still wasn’t convinced and continued to smack Rob in his face as hard as he could. “Damn you! Liar! You don’t know that for sure!”

Robert finally stopped the boy’s hand, “I do know. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m sorry I had to kill Alton, but it had to be done. Breaking up now would have killed us all.”

Depleted, the boy fell to his knees crying.

Rob went on with all of the sincerity he could pretend. “I know you don’t believe me, James, but I am truly sorry I had to kill Alton. He was a good man. I’ll miss him too.” He helped James back to his feet and put his arm around the sobbing boy. “That’s why you have to come back with me. You can’t survive out here all alone, and we need you too. We’re going to have to work together to survive this winter. Come on ...”

He turned the boy in the right direction and they started walking down the highway. James suddenly had something important to exclaim, “I don’t need you! I don’t need any of you! I can make it on my own!”

Rob didn’t say another word but continued to march the boy towards their newest home.

James had another objection as he wiped the last tear from his eye, “I don’t do anything I don’t want to, either!”

Rob continued to lead him back and although he kept saying he didn’t want to go, the boy never once stopped.

With less than an hour left of walking from the old church, the boy came to a halt. “I have to pee.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“No.”

“All right, go.”

James took a good long look around them; it was all open fields except for a large elm about one hundred yards off.

“I’m going to go behind that tree.”

“Seriously? You can’t just go right here?”

“No, I can’t. But I’ll be right back.” The boy took off running.

At first Rob thought James might be planning an escape, but there was nowhere for the boy to go. There was another three hundred yards of open field behind that tree and with his rifle the problem could be solved with one easy shot. He stood there puzzled, and it was only after he saw James returning that something at last just ‘clicked’ there inside Robert’s mind.

The boy slowly approached.

Robert quietly studied him, saying nothing until he got close. “James, I want you to show me your penis.”

The boy was taken aback and stopped dead in his tracks, “What?”

“You heard me. Show me your dick. Pull it out and show it to me, right now.”

“I will not!”

“I’m not joking, James. Show me your dick! RIGHT NOW!”

“I won’t!”

Instantly Rob was on top of him and knocked him to the ground. He struggled but the boy was no match for the stronger man that held him down. With the weight of his body on one arm he pinned him there and began curiously groping the boy’s crotch with his other hand. After a few moments searching all around, finally he realized there was nothing to be found.

Rob let her go and jumped back to his feet again, “Son of a bitch! You’re a woman ... a girl!”

She got back up, brushing the snow off, “I’m not ...”

“Are you going to try and deny it?! Do yourself a favor, BOY, and don’t say a thing!”

“I ...”

“SHUT UP! DON’T SAY A WORD!”

James stood there silent for a long while watching Robert march back and forth in the snow, deep in thought. At last Rob had some things to say. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you fooled all of us, especially me. What’s your real name?”

“My ...”

“STOP! Never mind, I don’t want to know your real name. If I know your name I might use it, then the guys would find out about you.”

“I don’t care if they do. I’m tired of pretending I’m a boy. I want to be myself again.”

“You should care. This is bad, James. You don’t know how bad this is. Where did you get this silly idea anyway?”

“My mom.”

“Your mom?”

“Yes, when she got shot she didn’t die right away. It took her two days. She made me do this. She made me cut off all my beautiful hair. She made me dress like this, act like this. She said I would be safer in this world as a boy.”

“I don’t know, your mom was probably right.”

“What do you mean?”

“James, I’m just going to keep calling you James, all right ... we can’t tell the guys about you. I don’t know what would happen if we did, but I don’t think it would be good.”

“The guys, they know me, they like me, most of them. I think it will be okay. Besides, sooner or later they’ll figure it out; you did.”

“No, James, I don’t think it will be ‘okay’ if they find out.” Rob started pacing again, “Let me tell you a story, a very sad and true story. This won’t work out. I know because we already tried it before. You see, a while back we had a couple of women in our camp. It was years ago, before Alton showed up. They were two sisters; their names were Megan and Mary. Megan, she tried to be a soldier, she really tried, but it ended badly. She just wasn’t cut out for that kind of work. She showed some sympathy for a prisoner and it got her killed. He stabbed her in the base of the skull with a screwdriver.”

Rob stopped again and looked James right in the eye. “And then there was Mary. She never wanted to be a soldier, her idea was to stay at camp and do all those jobs the guys didn’t want to. It worked for a while, we got three hot meals a day, when we had them, our clothes and bedding were clean and we had plenty of water. But then something else started happening. She started having sex with some of the men. Pretty soon she was doing all of them. After a while nothing was getting done, by her or the men either. She became more and more depressed and finally she killed herself, she couldn’t take it anymore. Putting out for every man in the camp, anytime they wanted, which by then was most of the time. That what’s going to happen to you, James, if they find out you’re a woman. They’ll turn you into a prostitute, screwing men for three meals a day. I know you don’t believe this, but I like you, I don’t want to see that happen. I’m trying to help you.”

“You didn’t seem bothered by it when you thought I was a boy. You said I would have to do THAT, if I wanted to stay.”

“I wouldn’t have done that to you, James, ever. I needed soldiers and I was desperate. I was trying to make you cooperate. I thought I could scare you into becoming one. Besides, the guys wouldn’t have done that to you, well, except Rudd ...” Rob paused and thought about it another moment, “and maybe D’Cruz. But if they find out you’re really a woman that’s all going to change.”

Rob started walking again with James following right behind, “Believe me, it’s best this way. If they find out you’re a woman, what happened to Mary will happen to you. I’m sure of it. But you don’t have worry, I’ll keep your secret.”

But as far as James was concerned, the argument was far from over, “I’m tired of living like this, I can’t stand it anymore. I want to be myself. The guys ... we were friends, they’ll understand.”

“No they won’t. I told you what’s going to happen when they find out.”

As they made their way, James would stop every few minutes with another reason why she was right.

At long last Robert was tired of the fight, “I don’t know why I’m arguing about it anyway. It doesn’t affect me one way or the other. Now that I think about it, it might be better for me if they do know. Then they would have you to occupy their time while we’re in camp. You could help me keep them under control. I was trying to do you a favor, that’s all. I was trying to take care of you.”

James exploded with an anger Rob had never seen before, “I don’t need your favors! I don’t need your help! I can take care of myself! Nobody’s going to make me doing anything I don’t want to!”

“Really? You want to put that to the test? I tell you what, you’re going to get what you want. When we get back, I’m going to tell all the guys your little secret. I bet within two hours you’ve had sex with every one of them. But no one makes you do anything you don’t want to, right? So that must mean you’re a little slut who wants to hump every man she sees.”

She was incensed, “SHUT UP!”

“Yeah, I’ve got a new job for you when we get back. You’re going to be the camp whore. Well, that’s a little harsh, isn’t it? I know, we’ll say your job title is ... ‘camp morale officer.’ Your job is going to be keeping every one of the guys happy, and after a while I bet you’ll be happy to do it too. I bet you’ll happily spread your legs every time one of them asks.”

“SHUT UP!”

“Before that I’m going to give you to Rudd, so he can train you right. He could hardly contain himself when he thought you were a boy ... when he finds out you’re a girl there’ll be no stopping him. He won’t even have to get liquored up first. Oh, the two of you are going to get real close. He’s going to rape you five times a day, and ten times on Sundays!”

“SHUT UP!”

“I think I’m going to have you first, though. I want to be the one that breaks you open. They say you always remember your first, and I want you to remember me, always.”

“SHUT UP!” James tried to pull Rob’s revolver from its holster but the safety strap held it in place. Rob smacked James in the face with the back of his hand, enough to knock her to the ground but with no serious damage except a welt across the cheek.

James got right back up and attacked Rob again and the results were exactly the same. She landed right on her rear when shoved to the ground. She got up and charged him once more and Rob stopped her with his hand.

“You keep doing that I’m really going to have to hurt you. You’re no match for me, James. I can make you do anything I want. What was that you said a while back? Oh yeah, you don’t need a gun. Change your mind? Did you just figure out you might need one after all? I’ve been trying to tell you the whole time you’ve been with us, but you weren’t listening ... and now it’s too late. Look at you, you’re not very strong, you have no fighting skills, you can’t use a gun or even a knife. You know what that means? That means you are at the mercy of anyone stronger than you; people like me, people like all of your ‘friends’ waiting for you back at the church. We’ll make you do anything we want and there’s not a single thing you can do to stop us. If we want to make you cook our food, or scrub our dirty underwear, or screw us all night, you’ll just have to do it. Why? Because you, little girl, have absolutely no say in the matter. This is the real world, and here the strong are in charge.”

Rob took James by the arm and started pulling her along.

“Get off me!”

“Oh no, I want to get you back before dark. So we can see all that you’ve got in broad daylight.”

“I SAID GET OFF OF ME!”

Rob continued to pull her along, the girl dragging her feet in the snow. Before long both could see a small church there in the distance.

Chapter Ten

Alton ran through the door and into the church, racing across the large single room. As he quickly approached the back door, he saw two rifles there against the wall. He had less than a second to make a decision; he slowed just long enough to grab a scoped rifle and then leapt through the back door.

Back outside he made a quick survey and was running once more for a patch of trees about a hundred yards north on the side of a shallow slope. Just as he arrived, he heard the sound of gunfire behind him. He could see someone, he thought Martinelli, firing at him from a covered position. Instantly he jumped behind an old walnut tree. He landed in the snow facedown, clumsily picked himself up and was running again in just over a second.

After a minute of flat out running, he had to stop. His chest was aching and he felt his inner shirt, it was soaked. He gazed down and his blood was randomly scattered in the white snow behind him. The blood, along with his footprints, made sure he would be easy to find.

Alton knew the first thing he had to do was get the bleeding under control, but he had very little time. Taking cover behind another large tree he took off his jacket and peeled off both of his shirts, then he got his first good look.

Robert was a good shot. He hit Alton twice in the chest at a distance of ten feet and in the blink of an eye. The first shot hit him square in the sternum; with his fingers he could feel the bullet buried deep in the bone. It hurt like hell but to his surprise there was very little blood. The second round entered to the far right of his chest, just below his armpit, but didn’t pass through. From the amount of bleeding and his shortness of breath he reasoned it must have hit his lung.

From a pouch on his belt, he unpacked a small trauma kit and found two bandages inside, including a chest sealing one. He took a packet of antiseptic towlettes and wiped both wounds down, then applied the dressings. Hastily he put his clothes back on and was once more up and moving again.

Alton knew someone would come looking for him. From his two years together with Rob he knew the man couldn’t let him go. But he was weak; he had to find some shelter, somewhere to catch his breath if only for a minute. At a distance he saw a clearing, countless columns of light cutting through the thick patch of forest on the other side. He made his way for it.

He had to assume they were right behind him, whoever was coming. As he stumbled into the open, he searched around until a plan finally came to mind. Alton staggered down the hill, across a county road and to the other side. He crawled into the ditch and out of view and started taking off his clothes.

Working as fast as he could, he packed his coat, pants, and gloves with snow. He formed them into a rough shape and placed them on the road next to the ditch along with his boots, where his footprints ended. He did the best he could with the time and strength he had, and it didn’t look half bad.

At a distance, to someone in a hurry, it looked like he collapsed there by the road.

Alton grabbed his guns and equipment and crouched down as he made his way along the bottom of the ditch out of view. He looked for someplace to hide, but there was nothing nearby, nothing he could get to without having his tracks and blood seen from the road.

He took a quick weapon inventory. He had his Beretta with three mags, a Savage rifle with twelve rounds, and his M4 held exactly six rounds. From his pouch he retrieved a small emergency blanket. He unfolded it and wrapped it around his tired body. Alton began digging in the soft snow until he made a deep depression in the side of the ditch. Then he got in, wrapped the blanket around him again, and covered himself over with snow, as much as he could.

Waiting there in his long underwear, shaking, he knew someone would be coming, but didn’t know who it was or how long it might take. Rudd or D’Cruz could be fooled by his trap; Rob, McCain, or Martinelli, maybe, if they weren’t paying close attention. He only knew he would have to kill whoever it was and hoped he didn’t pass out before the time came.

After about fifteen minutes fighting to remain conscious, he could hear voices and someone coming out of the trees on top of the hill. He got down and clutched his M4, and steeled himself to kill whoever it was.

As they got closer he could hear the two arguing, one was McCain, he was sure of that. “Look! There he is! Damn, I hope he’s not dead yet!”

He could hear them running through the snow and fast approaching, now they were nearly on top of ‘him’ before McCain spoke again, “Wait, that doesn’t look right. Something’s wrong! Rudd, hold on!”

Alton heard a burst of full auto fire, and he immediately pulled off his blanket and popped up. He squeezed the trigger and unloaded his rifle into the first one he saw.

Rudd grabbed his belly and immediately collapsed to the ground.

Alton dropped the carbine and picked up his pistol.

But now McCain was running and coming right at him as both men were firing. McCain emptied his rifle too and immediately threw it aside and pulled out his knife.

Alton braced his arm on the shoulder of the road. He shot McCain at least twice but he never even slowed. Suddenly the gun wouldn’t fire, Alton looked and the slide was locked back, the pistol empty. He dropped the mag and searched in the snow for another as McCain rapidly advanced.

He was blindly grabbing for another mag, or the other rifle, whatever he could find first.

But by then McCain was on top of him, his knife raised over his head. He jumped and landed on Alton and they both slid back down to the bottom of the ditch.

As they struggled, Alton grabbed his own knife there on his belt and thrust it in McCain’s belly. While McCain sunk his blade deep into Alton, right through the top of his shoulder.

Before either knew it, they were both in a clench, each trying to kill the other. Rolling around as they both struggled for control. Alton was able to make a deep slashing cut to McCain’s hand. They broke apart and quickly stood up again at the bottom of the trench.

The two soldiers stood there staring at each other about six feet apart, both bloodied and cut. After a second to catch their breath, they both charged and hit head on. Alton blocked McCain’s knife with one hand while he sunk his again and again into his adversary’s stomach and chest. At last it ended when McCain dropped his knife and collapsed into Alton’s arms.

He let him go and McCain dropped to the ground. Alton stood there, bleeding heavily and struggling to breathe. After a second he noticed a movement in the corner of his eye. It was Rudd staggering away holding his belly, his rifle left behind.

John Alton climbed out of the ditch and started quickly walking in his direction. Rudd saw him and tried to pick up his slowed pace, with no real effect.

He rapidly closed on Rudd, the knife still in his hand.

“No, Alton ... NO!”

Alton wrapped his left hand around Rudd’s face. Then he shoved his knife deep in his back, up under his ribs, where the renal artery should be, making a long, wide cut.

Rudd feebly grasped at his back, took a few stammering steps and was dead when he hit the ground.

Alton checked Rudd for magazines and there were none. Rudd’s rifle was covered with blood. It was jammed, an empty casing halfway in the chamber and another loaded round wedged right behind it.

He inspected McCain’s rifle too, it was empty but he still had one partially loaded mag on a pouch there on his belt. It held thirteen rounds.

Armed once more, Alton did a quick survey. He was covered with numerous cuts and scrapes, but there were only three wounds that gave him cause for concern. He was shot through is outer bicep, the bullet passed straight through the meat but fortunately did no damage to the bone. There was also a puncture wound on top of his shoulder, and a deep ten-inch gash across his stomach. He was out of bandages so instead bound up the wounds using some clean socks and a lot of duct tape.

Alton picked up his clothes and started shaking out the snow inside. As he dressed, he knew he had to find shelter soon; he lost a lot of blood and was wet and cold.

Then he started picking up the weapons that littered the snow covered ground. He retrieved the lever action he never got a chance to use. Alton also found his Beretta and one loaded mag; he never did find the second one. His M4 was fine once he brushed off all of the snow. He also went through Rudd’s and McCain’s gear finding a few items he could use including their food and some dry socks. The radio’s battery was dead and no use to anyone.

He took out his map and compass, looked at the setting sun and knew where he had to go.

Alton didn’t get very far before he had to stop. His main priority now was starting a fire. No matter who saw him he had to get warm. He found a nice spot, the canopy under a large Scotch pine, and with scraps he collected nearby he quickly had a fire going. After only a few moments he passed out.

He awoke just before dawn and didn’t feel much better. He ate some and was quickly moving again. Using his compass and map, he finally arrived at his destination mid-morning, a small church there by the road.

Setting up a modest observation post about two hundred meters south, he settled in and waited.

After a short while he noticed two sets of footprints in the snow, one of a boy and the other a man, he assumed James and Cornwell had been banished out in the cold.

But as he observed a while longer he could see Cornwell there inside the building. Now he wondered who left with James and where they might be going.

After another twenty minutes of observing, he could see the only men left were Cornwell, Martinelli, and D’Cruz. Alton knew he could kill one of them in the door but couldn’t wait the rest out. He would never get a chance at the other two. Alton thought about it a while, took out his map and checked his compass again.

On his way once more, he tried to make the best time he could, but now with a plan.

Later that afternoon, he came into view of a large water tower and knew the house couldn’t be too much farther.

Alton quietly crept up as close as he could, without setting off one of the many traps he found. He laid out his blanket on the new snow and started working on the plan already there in his mind.

Observing with his rifle scope, he could see the truck had been pulled off the poles and the fence repaired, as best it could. Inside the perimeter he could see most of the enemy, although there were several on patrol outside the fence line. He assumed they were also using the spider holes he helped construct.

As he watched the old farmhouse, he could see several of the enemy there in the yard. Two were waiting for their turn with the barber, standing on the front porch with his current customer sitting on a stool. On the steps another man seemed to be applying tattoos and had a few waiting in line. A group of seven sat on a large tarp out in the yard, beside them a carton of something Alton couldn’t identify.

Alton studied them a while and now his plan was ready; it wasn’t perfect but he was feeling weaker by the hour, so he had no more time to waste.

Pulling the Savage rifle to his shoulder, he took precise aim on the truck out in the yard. He squeezed the trigger, the rifle bucked in his hands and a second later the front tire exploded. He took aim again and this time the back tire was destroyed in his scope.

By now gunfire could be heard coming from his former home.

Alton reloaded, killing one of the barber’s customers standing on the porch. He continued firing and reloading until the rifle’s ammunition was exhausted, managing to kill the only two serious marksmen the enemy had. With the rifle he also put down a lone man watching from the front window. Alton could only hope it was the man in charge. John Alton knew he could have easily done much more damage, if he wanted to, but he needed most of them alive.

The mob was now stirring as he could hear the sound of their fury only growing louder. A group numbering over forty charged out the gate; the sound of their rage made him feel real fear.

Alton aimed again, firing one last time. He didn’t hit a thing and he didn’t care; it wasn’t needed by now. He threw the rifle down in the snow; it was empty and had served its purpose.

He got back up, started moving as fast as he could, that sound of the enraged pack quickly coming up from behind him.

Martinelli was standing in the front doorway watching the road, Cornwell and D’Cruz were both lightly napping on the floor.

At last Martinelli spoke, if only for himself, “I wish Rob would hurry up ... and where in the hell are McCain and Rudd? I want to get moving.” He gazed across the room and saw a human tongue, shriveled up and in a puddle of nearly dried blood, and then the pew where he had his fun. “This place gives me the creeps.”

He looked out the door again and suddenly from behind heard the sound of heavy boots on the hardwood floor. Martinelli turned just in time to see John Alton coming right at him from across the room.

Alton slowed for only a second, as if looking for someone, and then jumped over Cornwell and D’Cruz laying there on the floor. Before Martinelli could even lift his gun up, Alton hit him head on, slamming him against the wall. He leapt out the front door and just kept running.

By now Cornwell was on his feet and helping D’Cruz get up too, “Who the hell was that?!”

Martinelli picked himself off the floor and thought he might be in shock. “I think it was Alton!”

“Alton?!”

Martinelli snatched his rifle off the floor, “Yeah ... you think we should go after him?”

Cornwell grabbed up his rifle too, “We better, if we don’t want to be in trouble with the boss again.”

Just as the three of them made it to the door they could hear a terrifying noise coming from behind them. Not too far off over the hill came a sound they had heard before ... one they hoped to never hear again.

Chapter Eleven

Rob continued to drag her through the snow, the girl kicking, biting, and fighting every inch of the way.

As they made their way closer, the sun was near to setting. A strong gale was bringing another heavy snow that was now starting to fall.

When they got their first good look, Rob let her go and just stared at them, the girl stood there in shock too.

Robert slowly came closer, stunned and staggering through the front yard. James was following right behind him, the two dumbfounded with the horror of what they saw.

Around them were twenty-two men, all stripped naked and scattered about the church yard, the majority having gunshot wounds. Most were dead but the low groans of a few could still be heard over the sound of the approaching storm.

The yard of the church was littered with anonymous bodies, most already corpses, the others soon would be. They didn’t recognize any, except two faces.

Cornwell was hanging in the front door of the church, right under the steeple. His hands were nailed to the top of the doorframe and he had a look on his face neither Rob nor James would ever forget. Like all the others, he had no clothes. His whole body was covered with deep puncture wounds. It appeared someone used him for bayonet practice and did a thorough job of it.

Martinelli was laying out in the front yard and was much the same, the same kind of holes all over his body. It appeared his death was just as unpleasant as Cornwell’s but he also had the privilege of being the first.

They found D’Cruz around back, or at least they thought it was; he was stripped too and his head was gone. If it wasn’t for his wounded arm they couldn’t have been sure it was him at all. From the amount of blood, Rob was certain he was beheaded alive.

For only the second time since she had known him, James could hear panic in Rob’s voice. “Let’s get out of here, before they come back.”

The both of them came around the building and Alton stood there in the front yard of the church.

Rob instantly fired his rifle from the hip and hit Alton in the chest. At the same time Alton ran right at him, unloading his M4 as he closed the distance between them to nothing.

Alton hit him with all the strength he had left and both plunged to the ground.

They rolled around a few moments, a single mass toiling, covered with snow and blood. Suddenly Rob broke free and was back on his feet again. He stood up; his right arm was bloody, hanging there lifeless by his side. He tried to reach for his revolver using his weak hand.

Alton pulled the pistol from its holster and started shooting from the ground. But his hand was badly shaking and he was firing wildly; he didn’t even come close to hitting his former boss.

Rob ran around the back of the church and right for the woods as Alton continued to fire. He left a heavy trail of blood behind him.

This entire time James stood there stunned, unable to speak or move. When the gunfire ended, the trance was broken and she came to Alton’s side.

The girl quickly approached her friend, a smile on her face, “You’re alive. Rob told me you died.”

Alton lay there, bloodied and broken. It was obvious, at least to him, that his time had come. “Rob has been known to lie, at times. I was hoping you wouldn’t come back ... but at least you missed the party.” Alton managed a small laugh as he continued to gasp for air. “James, you’re going to have to go. Take the Beretta, there’s still a few rounds left. My pack is behind that truck just down the road. Take it, there’s some food in it and some other things you’re going to need to survive.” He stopped to catch his breath again. “You need to go, James, now, before Rob finds enough guts to come back.”

She tried to get Alton to sit up, “Please get up. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

By now the sun was down over the horizon and darkness was quickly falling. The snow began to fall heavily on the ground. It started collecting on Alton’s clothes.

She tried to get him up again, “John, please get up. Come on, you can do it, at least try.”

Alton was struggling with every breath now, “I’m all used up, I can’t go. I couldn’t walk ten steps. You have to go, James. You have to find a place where you can belong, not here with guys like us.”

Suddenly there was a loud blast behind the girl and she instinctively jumped. Alton’s face exploded, the bullet taking his lower jaw completely off. Instantly John was gone and she was covered in his gore. She turned to see Rob, bracing himself and his revolver on the back corner of the church, taking aim with his weak arm again. He fired once more and she could feel the bullet as it went right by her.

She got up and took off running for the truck. In a moment there was another shot, and another, but neither were close. She found Alton’s pack and started running again as she kept her head down low.

James ran into the black void, the heavy snow coming down all around her, with no idea where to go.

Chapter Twelve

James kept running most of the night, keeping down and trying to stay close to cover, only making short stops occasionally to catch her breath. She was exhausted, cold and hungry, and had no idea where she was going. There was no time for mourning, she had to concentrate on staying alive right now.

It had been hours since she was shot at and the snow kept piling up. She didn’t think Rob followed but couldn’t take that chance. The girl also knew she couldn’t survive much longer out in the cold.

As she made her way through the snow and half frozen mud, she looked for shelter but nothing was to be found. There had been a couple of vehicles by the road but all the windows were broken out.

Eventually James couldn’t stand it anymore. She looked around for the nearest tree, fuel for a fire to keep her alive. She had to get warm, even if Rob tracked her down.

She made it to the nearest old tree and started collecting fallen branches. As she kneeled on the ground, stacking them for a fire, the girl noticed something far off, there in the distance.

It was just a small speck of light hanging there in the blackness. Although it wasn’t much, it told her all she needed to know. The speck told her there was someone out there in the dark, someone with light and heat, maybe someone that could help her stay alive.

The girl started trudging through the snow as it only got deeper, towards that single small hope she might survive.

She continued her marching, frequently falling to the ground. The small spot of light began to grow, but slowly. But her strength was fading and nearly gone now; nonetheless, she kept going as long as she could. At long last she fell to the ground and this time didn’t have the strength to get up again.

James lay there numb from the cold, staring at the spot of light not too far off, and the girl knew it was her time to die.

Chapter Thirteen

She awoke to the sound of good people talking and laughing, a sound so wonderful to hear. Her hands felt the blanket that covered her. She was in a warm bed, the late morning sun shone down of her face. For a moment she thought it might be heaven. The sound of a woman’s voice nearby quickly drew her attention.

“She’s up.” A woman came into the room. She was in her early forties, a little thin but appeared healthy otherwise. Her long light chestnut hair had one thin line of white there at the temple and it was held in a loose ponytail. The woman came to her side and sat down next to the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

Several strangers, three men, three women, and a boy holding a tot came near the door. They all stopped to gape at their visitor from just outside the room. All of the adults seemed a little thin but both children looked well cared for.

The woman asked again, “How are you feeling, honey?”

At last the girl found her voice as she stared up at this stranger. She had no idea where she might be or who this woman was. “I’m okay.”

“Can you feel your fingers and toes?”

She felt her fingertips with her thumb, “Yes, they seem fine.”

“I didn’t think you had frostbite but I wanted to make sure. What’s your name?”

The question brought a moment of confusion, and then clarity came. “James ... I ... I mean, Hannah. My name is Hannah Leightman.” She smiled, it was almost a revelation, “My name is Hannah Leightman.”

“Well, Hannah Leightman, my name is Carol Avery. I’m glad to meet you. Where ...”

Hannah had something she wanted to confess right away, “I’m a girl. I want you to know that. I’m not a boy, I’m a girl, and my name is Hannah Leightman.”

“Okay ...”

“I’m a girl.”

“All right, Hannah, but you didn’t need to tell me. I could see that myself.” With her eyes Carol indicated there was something under the girl’s blanket she needed to see.

Hannah lifted the blanket, her rotten old clothes were gone and replaced by a clean and warm flannel sleeping gown.

“You were filthy when Frank found you. You were covered with blood ... and stuff. It was all over your face and your clothes. It was even in your hair.”

“Oh ... yes, I forgot.”

“I had to undress you, to get you cleaned up. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No ... thank you for saving me. I thought I was going to die.”

“You’re welcome, Hannah ...,” Carol paused for a moment then went on with a question that had to be asked. “That blood, it wasn’t yours, was it?”

The girl tried to speak, but instead starting crying. Carol moved over to the bed and reached out, taking the child in her arms. “No. It was John’s. He was my friend and Rob killed him. Then he tried to kill me ...” The girl struggled to continue, but Hannah began sobbing so loudly she couldn’t be understood anymore.

Carol held her tighter, “It’s okay, Hannah, you’re safe here.”

The girl wept uncontrollably and it took several minutes before she was coherent again. At last she regained some composure, “I’m sorry,” Hannah blotted her eyes with the cuff of her gown, “You must think I’m a little baby or something.”

Carol at last lessened her hold. “No, we don’t think that, Hannah. It’s clear you’ve been through a lot. Talk about it, if you want to.”

“No, not now, maybe sometime though.”

“All right, but promise me that when you do need to talk about it, you will. Don’t hold it inside. If you don’t want to talk to me, at least talk to someone.”

“Okay ...”

“You feel up to meeting the rest of us?”

The girl looked back to the door; the same group was still watching her from the outside. They were wearing a differing collection of friendly or awkward smiles.

She wiped her eyes again, “Okay ...”

Carol waved them in, “Come on in, guys,” and the group poured through the doorway a few at a time.

There was Frank, he was Carol’s husband and this old farmhouse belonged to the two of them. Like his wife, he was around forty, although his dark brown hair had the gray of a man ten years older. He was of normal height but appeared quite gangly.

Brigid and Jason Henderson came in behind Frank. They looked to be in their mid-thirties but with their affable faces they might have been older, the girl just couldn’t tell. But no matter their age, they were honestly friendly; they were like those good-natured neighbors everyone used to know.

A tall, attractive couple was the next to step inside. They were in their early forties too and brought their only son. Bohdan and Vira Hubenko immigrated here from Ukraine in 1995; they were both twenty at the time. They originally settled in Boston but moved to Columbus nearly ten years ago. After it all came apart they ended up here. Vira was a natural blonde beauty with stunning blue eyes; she might have been a model in another life. Bohdan was good looking too, although his appearance was slightly marred from some light acne scaring there on his cheeks. Both spoke perfect English through their heavy east European accents. Their son was named Adam, he just turned nine and had his mother’s hair and eyes. He was born in Ohio and looked just like the all-American boy that he was.

Danielle Dawson was the last through the door and she brought with her a beautiful one-year-old boy. She was alone; her husband was killed before their child was even born. Danielle was twenty-three and kept her striking red hair cropped short, although it wasn’t quite as harsh as Hannah’s was. She introduced the joy of her life and told the girl his name was Nicholas as she at last managed to get him to smile.

Hannah tried not to but started crying again.

Carol took the girl in her arms once more, “All right, I think maybe she’s had enough. Let’s not overdo it on the first day. We all have things to do.”

The entire group said their good-byes and quickly left the two alone in the room.

The older woman tried to comfort the younger one, “Are you going to be okay? Am I going to be worrying about you all of the time from now on?”

Hannah stopped crying and wiped her eyes, “I’m sorry ... Danielle’s baby, he reminded me of another Nicholas I knew. He was killed too, I’m sorry.”

“Why, for having feelings? You’ve been through a lot, Hannah. You are not a robot; you’re a person and people sometimes hurt. Don’t try to hold it inside. Are you sure you don’t want to tell me about it?”

“No, I’m okay, now.”

“All right ...,” Carol stood up from the bed. “I have to get supper started. Why don’t you take a nap. When you feel up to it come on out.”

She left the girl alone there with her thoughts, Hannah spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon crying, trying not to think too much about all she had been through.

Carol peeked in around four to tell her supper was ready but the girl said she wasn’t very hungry right then.

Hannah could hear all of them through the door at the dinner table, laughing and talking like friends do.

At near five in the afternoon, she finally got out of bed, sitting down in front of an antique vanity there by the window. Clearly it had been cherished for a very long time. Hannah picked up a tube of lipstick from a collection of makeup in a tray on top and examined it.

Carol came back into the room and shut the door behind her, “You feeling better?” She pulled a chair from the other side and sat right next to the girl.

“Yes ... a little bit. You’re going to keep bothering me until I talk, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s the kind of person I am. My husband says I’m only really happy when I’m trying to fix someone else’s problems.”

“I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m grateful for all you’ve done.”

“Don’t worry, it’s hard to offend me. My husband is right. If I see someone with a problem I just have to try and fix it. And Hannah, you seem like a girl with a problem.” She pointed out the lipstick in the girl’s hand. “You wear much makeup?”

“No.”

“Never had a chance?”

“I was thirteen when this happened. My parents, they just started to let me wear makeup, but only on special occasions. I got to wear some to dances a few times. They wouldn’t let me wear too much, though; Dad said ‘his little girl’ wasn’t going out looking like a ‘floozy.’”

A smile quickly formed on Carol’s face, “Yeah, my dad said the same thing. I think all dads do.” She took the lipstick from Hannah and popped the top off, then handed it back to the girl. “That’s my favorite shade of red, it’s my husband’s favorite too. I use to wear it when I wanted to really drive him wild. I used to love getting dressed up, going out. Frank would open the door for me. Every once in a while, usually on our anniversary, he would even take me dancing. He doesn’t look like much of a dancer, does he?”

They both laughed.

“Well he’s not, but at least he tried, and I love him for that. I don’t wear makeup much anymore. There doesn’t seem to be a point to it. I will put some on occasionally, to make Frank happy. Or sometimes I just do it for myself ... to try to feel like I used to, when all of our worries were so small.”

She took the tube back from Hannah and put the cap back on, and she placed it back on the table top right where it belonged. “This morning, when I asked you your name, first you called yourself James. Then you went out of your way to tell me you were a girl. You want to talk about that?”

Hannah got up and sat down again on the edge of the bed, “I’ve been living as a boy, for a long time.”

“How long?”

“Years.”

Carol got up herself and sat down right next to the girl. “And you kind of forgot you were female?”

Hannah laughed out loud, “Yes, I guess I did.”

“Why were you doing that?”

“It wasn’t my idea, my mom made me. She thought this world was too dangerous for a girl. She thought living like that would make me safer.”

“Did it?”

“I don’t know, I guess she was right, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I had to be me.”

“Well, I’m glad you worked that out for yourself. I hope you don’t forget you’re a girl again. You’re not, are you?”

Hannah laughed as she looked at the floor, “No.”

Carol laughed too but then became a little more serious in her tone. “But that’s not the only thing bothering you. I know there’s something else you want to tell me. Something you’re afraid to tell me. Hannah, we’ve only known each other a few hours but I want you to know I’m your friend. I’ve been through a lot too, maybe not as much as you, but if you give me a chance I think I can help. Just talking about it would probably help. You can’t hold all of that junk inside you forever; sooner or later it will come out. So why not right now, when you have a friend that will listen.”

“You’re not going to give up, are you?”

“No, Carol Avery doesn’t give up.”

The girl continued to gaze at the floor and began finally confessing all those things she never wanted to admit to anyone. “I’m a thief. I steal from people, that’s how I’ve been surviving. Usually I would beg food from them. I’m an expert on how to make people feel guilty, how to make them give me what I need. Other times, if I had the chance, I would steal it too. I would rather steal than beg, anytime.”

“You would rather steal?”

“Yes.”

“Why is that?”

“Oh, I don’t know ... I guess it’s because of how you feel when you’re begging, like you’re nothing. But when you stole and they didn’t see you, they didn’t know you, it was so much better that way. But ...”

“But what?” Carol put her arm around the girl.

“But lately I was with some men, they robbed people ... killed people.”

“Did you kill people, Hannah?”

“No, but I profited from it. A lot of people died so I could eat three times a day. So I could have a roof over my head. I’m guilty too.” The girl dropped her head in her hands and started crying again.

Carol held her closer, “Do you believe in God, Hannah?”

She lifted her head and turned to her new friend. “I do. I haven’t been acting like I do, but I do.”

The woman pulled a medal of Saint Aloysius from her pocket and dropped it in the girl’s hands. “I thought you might. I’m glad you said you do. What I’m about to tell you, it might come off as crazy ... if you didn’t believe in God. Do you know how we found you?”

“No.”

“Frank went out on his late patrol last night. He didn’t see a thing and came back. When he was taking off his belt, he noticed his magazine pouch was gone, so he went out looking for it. He searched a while and found it on the ground, not five feet from you. He was sure you weren’t out there the first time he came through. Let me tell you something, Hannah, my husband has had that pouch for years. It’s got a spring steel clip on the back that locks it on your belt. He has never had a problem with it, but of all the nights, it breaks last night and falls off at just the right place for him to find you. He found you just in time, too; you couldn’t have survived a whole night out there in the cold. If he hadn’t found you right then, Jason would have found your body on his morning patrol. You know what I think, Hannah?”

“No, what?”

“I think it was no accident. I think God led my husband there to save you. I don’t believe in coincidences like that. I think God brought you to us, maybe so you could have another chance at life.”

The girl wiped her eyes again but couldn’t find much to say, “Maybe ... I don’t know.”

“I’m just giving you something to think about,” Carol got back off the bed and walked towards the door. “I’ve saved you some food. Come on out and have some, I know you’ve got to be hungry by now. Then you can go back to bed if you want, or, you can come into the living room and talk to your new friends.”

Hannah got out of bed and had something to eat. Afterwards she reluctantly went into the front room where the entire group, minus Bohdan who was out on patrol, was sitting around the fireplace talking. After a long while quietly listening, she started speaking herself. Before it was time for bed again, the girl truly knew she was among friends.

Chapter Fourteen

Over the next nine weeks, Hannah found herself very busy as there was plenty of work to do and new things to learn too. Her body and soul were healing and she was slowly feeling like a human being again. She started letting her hair grow out too, and made an effort to look and act more feminine. She never wanted to be mistaken for a male again.

Along with the regular work, some of the group would also occasionally travel to help other families in need nearby, if only for a day or two. Hannah got to travel three times since she first arrived. Once aiding a neighboring group rebuild part of their house destroyed by fire, and twice helping some road refugees recover from cholera. Seldom would they have anyone come to them, maybe a family would come by for a visit. It was rare they would see refugees since they were so far off the road.

Hannah became a friend to all of them but especially to the women in the group, and particularly with Carol. She would become a close friend and almost another mother to the impressionable young woman only now coming to terms with herself.

The eating wasn’t as good as when she was with Rob and his men; in this house adults were on short rations as part of their crops were destroyed by storms earlier that year. But she didn’t mind so much that hunger in her belly when she had a clear conscience and real friends to talk to.

Christmas came and went, there were no presents to give except each other’s companionship. The entire group was Christian, although of various denominations. But they put aside their differences and all came together every Sunday morning to worship together. Hannah halfheartedly joined in at first but over the weeks her faith grew.

At last, the New Year arrived and the group sat around the fire talking about their hopes for 2018, and how it had to be better than the year now ending.

As Jason and Bohdan marked the New Year with their watches, they all yelled out a cheer and exchanged hugs and kisses, along with well wishes.

Carol took Hannah in her arms and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the top of her head, “Happy New Year, Hannah!”

The girl smiled too and for the first time in years she could honestly return the sentiment, “Happy New Year!”

Carol’s smile went away as she took the girl by her arm, “Hannah, can we talk, alone I mean?”

“Yeah ... sure.”

She led the girl into the back bedroom while the others continued in their revelry, “Let’s go in here, Hannah, where it’s quiet,” and gently closed the door behind them.

Hannah was still in a joking mood, “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble again, aren’t I? What did I do?”

But the girl could see in Carol’s face that this was no joke. “You’re not in trouble, just the opposite really. I’m actually worried about you.”

“Why? What have I done?”

“It’s not what you’ve done, it’s what you haven’t done. That’s why I worrying about you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Frank, Jason, Bohdan, each of them have told me how they tried to teach you to shoot but you didn’t want to do it. You would put them off, or make some kind of excuse why you couldn’t just then. Is there a problem, Hannah? Would you rather be taught to shoot by another woman? I’m not as good as Frank, but I can teach you, if you want.”

Hannah looked up with dread in her eyes, it was now time for the discussion she avoided having since she arrived. “You know I love you, don’t you? I love everyone here.”

“Yes, Hannah, we all know that.”

“But ...”

“But?”

“But I can’t agree with you guys on this. I don’t want to kill.”

Carol patted the bed, “Here, sit down.”

They both sat down on the old bed and Carol could see Hannah was quite uncomfortable sitting next to her there.

“Hannah, tell me what you think about guns.”

“My parents, they were both killed by guns. Guns are for killing people, guns are for murdering people.”

“Like when Jason took his twenty-two and got us that squirrel yesterday, and that rabbit a few days ago? That was murder?”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about, that’s different. But those pistols you carry, and those black rifles, they’re for murdering people. I don’t want to do that, I love God. I want to follow God’s laws.”

“And you don’t think the rest of us love God, or want to follow the commandments? Hannah, let me ask you, do you have any experience with guns? How did your parents feel about guns?”

“I’ve only had one experience with a gun. I tried to take Rob’s from him. I wanted to kill him with it. I was so mad I could have murdered him, and if I could have got his gun would have. As far as my parents, guns weren’t allowed in our house. My mom and dad, they told me over and over again, and now I know it’s true. Guns are for murdering people.”

“Oh ... I see.” Carol pulled from her front pocket a Smith & Wesson Model 642 and placed it in the girl’s lap.

Hannah stared at the pistol, afraid to touch it; there was no doubt it was loaded.

“What do you see there, Hannah? You know what I see? A tool. It’s a piece of metal without a conscience. It’s no more evil than an axe or hammer. Guns aren’t evil, Hannah, only people can be evil. A gun is just an object, it can’t murder anyone. I also think you are confusing killing and murder; they’re not always the same thing. God told us to not commit murder, but we are allowed to kill, under certain circumstances. I think I’ll ask Frank to make this Sunday’s sermon about it.”

“But ...”

“Let me ask you another question. You know everyone in this house pretty well by now. Do you think anyone of them is capable of cold-blooded murder? Danielle, Bohdan, Vira ... all of the rest of us, you think we’re looking for a reason to kill someone?”

“No ... I don’t think that.”

“You’re right, Hannah, murder is wrong, God tells us so. But God doesn’t want us defenseless, either; we are allowed to protect ourselves. If your parents killed those trying to kill them, would they be murderers?”

The girl had to think about it a moment, “No.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” to the girl’s relief, Carol picked up her gun again, “You can’t commit murder if you’re defending your life.” Carol got off the bed and put the revolver back in her pocket, “I’m going to ask you to think over what we’ve just talked about. Think about it hard. I’m also going to leave you with one more thing to consider. The man that murdered your friend, you said his name was Rob. He tried to murder you too. Would it have been murder if you picked up that pistol and killed him instead? Would God have seen that as murder? Would God see you as a murderer?” She crossed the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Hannah there deep in thought.

The following Sunday Frank gave a sermon on the subject and it helped clarify the questions in Hannah’s mind. With some more thinking and prayer, three days later on the tenth, she asked Carol to teach her to shoot a gun.

The next day they started her training; it was mostly dry fire practice as they had little ammunition to spare and there was also security concerns. But in a few days she had the fundamentals down. She was “issued” her very own rifle, an old military M1 Carbine. It was all they had that was small enough for the girl to carry but still powerful enough to get the job done. She was told to have it nearby her at all times and shown how to load and maintain it too.

Another month went by and Hannah continued with her chores and lessons, finally getting in some real shooting experience. With some hard work, she became comfortable using her weapon. She still didn’t like guns but had to admit Carol was right; it was only a tool, evil can only reside in the hearts of men.

Valentine’s Day arrived and the couples got some extra attention and a little time alone that day. Danielle and Hannah were down at first but after breakfast were given a pleasant surprise. Adam asked them both to be his Valentine and gave each a card he made with his own hands. The boy turned a deep shade of red when in front of the entire group his mother called him “My little ladies’ man” while Hannah and Danielle covered him with kisses.

The next day started off normal enough, although by midday it seemed something was wrong.

Jason came in through the front door having just finished the late morning patrol. Everyone was in earshot, “Something is going on.”

The whole group came into the front room. Frank was the first to speak his mind. “Something doesn’t feel fight, does it? I noticed it when I was out there earlier this morning.”

Jason set his Colt HBAR in the rack by the front door, “Yeah ... something just doesn’t feel right today. I can’t say what it is.”

Carol helped him take his heavy coat off, “Is there anything specific, Jason, or is it just a feeling?”

“A feeling, I guess, but I know enough to trust it.”

Every one of them knew from past horrible experience that if you had a feeling in your gut, it was most likely true.

Jason thought about it another moment and finally it came to him. “Birds, I didn’t see or hear a single bird this morning.”

Frank agreed, “Yeah, now that you mention it ...”

Brigid knew what to do. “I think we should call some of the other groups, see if they’ve had any problems. The Kurtzmans are the closest. Carol, try to reach them.”

Carol sat down at the radio before Brigid finished the sentence. She tuned the dial of the old unit, “This is the Avery house, can anyone hear me?”

Jason and Brigid went to the front of the house and Frank and Bohdan went to the back, they cracked opened the doors and quietly listened.

After a few seconds of static a woman’s voice came over the radio, “This is Kurtzman house, how’s it going guys?”

“We might have a problem here, we’re not sure yet. How are you doing over there? Is everything all right?”

After a worrying pause the voice came back, “Yes, we’re fine. What kind of problem are you having?”

“We’re not sure at the moment. It might just be a feeling, we wanted to check around, see if anyone else had any problems this morning. We ...”

Abruptly Jason cut in, “I hear something!”

Frank and Bohdan both came from the back and now all of them listened there in the perfectly still room. After a second they could all hear it. Hannah was instantly paralyzed with fright when she realized where she had heard the sound before.

Jason was the first to put a name on it, “It’s a truck motor, a diesel truck.”

The time for waiting was over and they all knew it, Frank took command. “Carol, make the distress call! NOW!”

Carol was immediately back at the microphone, “MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is the Avery house declaring a code black emergency! Anyone that can hear this signal please come immediately! We are under attack! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is the Avery house declaring a code black emergency! Anyone that can hear this signal please come immediately ...”

Frank took his AR-15 off the rack and handed Jason his, “Everyone take their positions for a front attack!”

Hannah sat there in shock; she had been told before but now it was unclear what she should do.

Frank had to help her remember. “Hannah, take the boys and go to the safe room. Get in and don’t come out unless someone tells you to! Go on!”

She got off the couch and started to go but then turned right around. Hannah retrieved her rifle and slung it over her shoulder. She took Nicolas from Danielle and grabbed Adam by the other hand. “Come on, Adam.”

They went right to the kitchen and there it was, completely sunk into the floor was a five-foot-square box constructed of cinderblocks filled with steel rebar and concrete. She gave Adam the baby and pushed aside the table and chairs, then slid the steel top off. Hannah helped Adam and the baby get in, finally she got inside too. Jason came into the room and helped her slide the metal lid back over them, sealing the three in the darkness.

At the front of the house it was controlled chaos.

Carol put down the microphone and grabbed her gun, “I was able to get Kurtzman house. They said they’re on their way and they would contact the others.”

Vira only said aloud what they were all thinking, “They are thirty minutes from here, at best! They will not get here in time!”

Bohdan took his wife by the hand, immediately calming her, some, “We will be fine; we will hold them off until our friends come.”

Frank and Carol finished closing the steel shutters in front while Jason did the kitchen and Brigid the back bedroom.

Danielle, Frank, Carol, Bohdan, and Vira all took firing positions at the front of the house, towards the coming sound.

Jason and Brigid watched the back.

By the time everyone was at their assigned positions, the sound had grown unbearably loud, and now another came with it, the horrific sound of men ready to kill or die, the mob’s wild screaming filling all their ears.

Jason was at the window in the kitchen and tapped on the steel door with the butt of his rifle. “Hannah, can you hear me?”

Hannah’s muffled voice came from the abyss, “Yes”

“If I tell you to get out of here, you go immediately, understand?”

“Yes, where do we go?”

“Go out the back door. The three of you head for the cornfield. Keep your heads down and follow it to the far side. When you get to the creek cross it and go down past that old barn, follow the gravel road north until you get to the Kurtzmans. You’ve been there before, you can find it again, can’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Just stay down, unless, until I say.”

The sound of the roaring motor and the frenzied mob flooded the whole house now. The house was shaking with that awful sound.

Frank checked his rifle scope and prepared to fire, “Everybody ready?! Hold your fire until I say!”

All of the group, front and back, checked their weapons and got into firing positions.

The old truck sped through the snow, lightly bouncing as it came ever closer. Finally it was within range.

Frank could hold back no more, “FIRE!”

Everyone at the front of the house began shooting at the truck and driver but still it kept coming right at them. They continued to pour gunfire into it and yet it just kept coming.

Bullets started tearing through the unprotected sections of the home’s front room. Everyone kept down but continued to return fire.

The truck was still advancing, it was now nearly on top of them.

Frank called out, “EVERYBODY WATCH OUT!”

They instantly scattered and the truck came right through the front window, tearing the shutters right off the walls. It stopped halfway in, its frame hung on the foundation, the windshield filled with bullet holes and the cab’s occupants all dead. Underneath it lay Bohdan, crushed under the front wheel of the truck.

A thick toxic smoke began pouring from the cab and flooding the inside of the home.

Frank quickly put a handkerchief over his mouth and tried to make himself understood through the confusion, “Everybody get out!” He grabbed Vira who was weeping on the floor trying to reach her husband. “I said everybody get out of the house!” He picked his friend up off the floor and dragged her through the hole in the front wall.

The rest of the group all began jumping out of the destroyed front side of the home. They rushed outside and fired their guns at the horde that was nearly there.

In back there came a pounding on the safe room door; it was Jason with his rifle. The metal lid suddenly slid open and let the light in, he stood over them. “Hannah, all of you, go! All of you go now!” He helped them out and went to the back door, opening it and taking a look around, “It’s clear, GO!”

Jason held the door open. Hannah had the baby in her arms and Adam by the other hand as she jumped off the back porch. She turned back and tried to think of something to say. Nothing came to her.

Jason spoke instead, “GO!”

She turned again and they took off running for the cornfield.

Jason ran back into the front room and the house appeared empty, but he could hear screaming and gunfire from the front yard. He jumped on the hood of the truck, slid across the roof and onto the flatbed.

Out in the yard he could see Frank under attack by five men. Jason shouldered his Colt and began firing. Two of the enemy immediately dropped while the other three drug Frank down. He tried to take another shot but it was impossible as his friend and the enemy rolled around together on the ground. Jason jumped from the truck heading right into the fight.

The three attackers were beating Frank with hand weapons as Jason rapidly approached. As he got closer he found another shot. Jason started firing and two more men fell. He pulled the trigger on the last one but his gun wouldn’t fire.

A lone man was savagely beating Frank using a baseball bat studded with roofing nails. Jason rapidly advanced knowing he had very little time left, checking his rifle, it was hopelessly jammed. Taking it by the hand guard, he started smashing the butt stock over the attacker’s head. Jason kept beating him until at once the stock of his gun and the enemy’s skull both broke. He threw the useless rifle down, pushed the body aside, and checked his friend.

Frank was unconscious and bleeding heavily from a deep gash in the back of his skull.

Jason heard more shouting and turned to see eight more coming right at him. He frantically searched all around for a weapon and pulled his skinning knife as the crowd surrounded him.

Brigid jumped through a massive hole in the front wall; it was complete pandemonium outside. Everyone was shooting, smoke and the sound of wild screaming hung thick in the air.

She began firing her Mini-14 as fast as she could pull the trigger, taking a heavy toll on the enemy. She stopped to change mags and as she did glanced all around. At a distance, Brigid could see her husband being attacked by a group of several men. She ran right at them firing her rifle. Three fell dead to the ground before she emptied her gun again.

The young wife quickly advanced, firing on the enemy and inserting her last magazine. She was nearly there and when her rifle was spent threw it down. She stopped, urgently scanning around for another weapon. Finally she saw it lying there in the snow in a dead man’s hand, a Mossberg shotgun with a bayonet attached. She picked it up and cycled the action and took aim on the crowd. Brigid cut down another two before she emptied the gun, paused only a brief moment, then charged right at the mob leading with the bayonet. Five more men closed around her.

Danielle shot one of the enemy in the face at a distance of ten feet, the man dropping straight to the ground. She got behind the cover of a tree and exchanged a fresh magazine for the depleted one. Looking all around she could see Vira drifting across the front yard, oblivious, right in the middle of a war zone.

She yelled out to her friend, “Vira!” but the woman continued to wander about as if in her own world.

Vira kept casually walking while all around her was screaming and killing.

Danielle shouted out to her friend again, “VIRA! OVER HERE!” Danielle gave up trying and took off running towards her friend. She could see two men approaching Vira fast, one bringing up the butt of his rifle to strike her in the head. Danielle dropped to one knee and took steady aim, taking both men out. Suddenly from the other direction there were five more running right at Vira.

She turned and switched the selector on her M16 to full auto and fired a short burst into the mob. A few men fell but the others continued their advance. Danielle began firing longer bursts into the group, as much as she could without endangering her friend.

Danielle stood up, changed mags once more, and took off running towards Vira. She was almost there when she felt a searing pain between her shoulder blades. Danielle dropped to the ground, tried to stand, but never got up again.

Carol continued to fire on the enemy as she remained behind the cover of a stack of firewood forty feet east of their home. At a distance she could see Danielle running, then stumble and fall. She got down low to the ground and peered around the corner of the pile, getting into a better firing position to cover her friend. Carol heard a sound behind her and turned just in time to see the end of a police baton come down on her head.

They made it halfway to the cornfield before Hannah turned and looked behind her. There were six men closing on them fast. She handed Nicholas to Adam, “Here, take him, go!” pulled the gun from her shoulder and fell prone on the ground as she was shown so many times before.

Adam took off running holding the baby close to him.

Hannah braced the rifle against her shoulder and began firing as the men spread out and quickly advanced on her. She was shooting as fast as she could while still taking aim. The one out front clutched his chest and fell to the ground. She continued to fire and a second man fell, the rest quickly closed on her, none were using their guns.

She squeezed the trigger while taking aim on a third man but this time the gun wouldn’t fire. She checked, it was empty. The remaining four attackers were nearly on top of her by then.

The girl pulled a magazine out of the pouch on the stock but fumbled it in a panic and dropped it on the ground. She stood up, trying to run, but before she could move one of her attackers smashed her in the head with the butt of his rifle.

Hannah lay face down on the ground and looked up in a daze. She turned and could see Adam running as fast as he could with the baby in his arms. Suddenly there was the sharp crack of a rifle just above her. Adam was shot in the back and there was a spray of blood as the bullet went through both the boy and the child. They tumbled and landed in the snow, neither moved again.

She lay there on the ground, weeping. As she lost consciousness, the last thing she could remember were four strange men standing there, staring down on her.

Chapter Fifteen

Hannah awoke to the sound of metal striking metal. Someone just a short distance from her was pounding away at something. She looked up to the sky above her and tried to sit up, but couldn’t. Except for her aching head, she couldn’t move at all. She was completely trussed up with rope, like an animal ready to be slaughtered.

The sound of clashing metal continued to drum in her ears but seemed to fade as more important things filled her mind. The girl noticed now that she was lying on the back of a flatbed truck and took a good look around, as much as she could. It was the front yard of this house she now called her home.

Beside her, to Hannah’s right, was Vira. Her friend was staring blankly into the vast sky above. She was bound with rope like the girl. Hannah watched her and for a moment thought her friend was dead, she was perfectly still and made not one sound. But then she noticed Vira’s chest gently rise, fall and rise again; she was alive.

Hannah tried to talk to her in whispered voice, “Vira, what’s going on? What’s happening?”

Vira didn’t move nor make a sound.

The girl tried again but at a slightly more elevated tone. “Vira! Vira, what’s going on? Are you all right?”

She was becoming frustrated and Hannah finally started yelling. “VIRA! Please answer me!” Then the girl could hear people approaching through the snow covered ground.

Two men dragged another person to the truck and laid them on the bed, just to Hannah’s left. It was Carol, she was bound up like the other two and softly crying. The three women lay there in a row like cordwood.

Hannah wanted to reach out and comfort her friend but couldn’t, her voice would have to do. “Carol, we’re going to be okay, don’t cry. We’ll be okay, please don’t cry.”

Carol at last noticed her friend lying right beside her, “Hannah, you’re alive! I thought everyone else was dead.”

“No, we’re not dead.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Vira and me.”

“Vira?” Carol strained her neck trying to see around Hannah. “I can’t see her, is she all right? Vira?”

“She won’t talk. She’s just staring off in the distance. It’s like she’s in a trance.”

Carol stopped trying to get glimpse of Vira and addressed Hannah once again. “The poor woman is probably in shock. She might be the lucky one.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re the only survivors, Hannah. Everyone else is dead, including the boys.”

The tears filled Hannah’s eyes when the ugly memory returned, “I know, I was there. They killed Adam and Nicholas, shot them right in the back. I tried to stop them but I couldn’t. I couldn’t help them. I wish they had killed me instead. It should’ve been me.”

“Don’t talk like that. It’s not your fault. These animals are to blame. No matter what happens, Hannah, you remember that.”

“What are they going to do with us?”

Carol gazed around in every direction she could see, her voice no comfort to her friend, “I don’t know, Hannah, I don’t know.”

Just then they could hear the sound of more people trampling through the snow and quickly approaching them, yet completely out of their line of sight.

Then there came the raised voice of a man and he was clearly angry. “Why is there a dead woman lying on the ground over there? Why is she dead?”

Another man’s voice, more nervous than the first, tried to answer the question, “She attacked the men, she had a shotgun. They had to defend themselves.”

“They couldn’t subdue her like the others?”

“No, they said there wasn’t enough time.”

The angry man was growing angrier, “I said kill all the men and take all the women alive. Is that really so hard to understand? Is that too complicated for you guys?”

“No, but ... they were defending their lives.”

The angry man still was not satisfied, “Yeah, you said that. You also said there were two. Where’s the other?”

They walked some distance away but still close enough to be heard, after a moment the one in charge shouted out, “DAMMIT!” There was an awkward pause. “Look at that gorgeous red hair; she would have brought a great price.” There was another long silence and then the angry man spoke again. “She’s been shot in the back. Are you going to try and tell me the men were only defending themselves this time too?”

The nervous one only became more anxious, “Well ...”

“Who shot this redhead?”

There was a long uneasy silence.

“I said, who shot this redhead?!” It was obvious there were going to be problems if the angry man had to ask again.

Reluctantly the other one spoke up. “It was Wrangle.”

“Wrangle, you’re sure?”

“Yes, it was him.”

“Did he not hear my orders?”

“Yes, he heard them, he was there.”

“Well then, go kill that son of a bitch.”

One walked off, and after a minute they could all hear the loud echo of single gunshot. He came walking back addressing the first, “He’s dead, just as you ordered, sir.”

“Great, from now on you let the men know I expect my orders to be followed.”

The women could now hear the sound of the two quickly coming back towards the truck, the one in charge speaking again. “So we have three?”

“Yes sir.”

“When’s this truck going to be fixed?”

“Well sir, the right fender is badly damaged and it had a bent tie rod ...”

“All I need to know is how long.”

The nervous one yelled out, “Snooper, how long?”

The pounding of metal finally stopped and there came another voice from underneath the front of the truck. “I still have to get this fender off the tire. I’ll need another ten minutes, sir.”

“Ten minutes, you’re sure?”

“Yes sir, ten minutes, I’m sure.”

The boss seemed marginally pleased, “Okay, that’s not too bad. I can wait.”

The pounding immediately started again.

As the leader came closer, Hannah thought there was something she recognized in his voice. She craned her neck and suddenly saw Rob just above them.

“James! I never thought I would see you again. I was sure you died out in the cold that night. You might not believe this, but I’m glad you’re alive.”

Robert looked the same as Hannah last recalled, except his right arm was gone at the shoulder. He turned to his man, both of them staring down on their spoils of war.

The other was much shorter than Rob, although about the same age. He was covered with numerous little scars and his face was pockmarked. His head was shaved smooth except for his thick eyebrows and a mustache, and a short tuft of hair just under his bottom lip. On the back of his right hand was a tattoo of black billiard ball and on the other a pentagram.

“Eightball, this is James. I know I told you about her.”

“This was the one pretending to be a boy?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“She’s not much better now.”

“Eightball, you’re being rude; so she’s not the prettiest one here. At least she’s trying now. Look, she’s letting her hair grow out. We put a dress on her and we’ll get a decent price. That blonde, on the other hand ...”

Hannah had enough, “Rob, you bastard!”

Robert put his finger over the girl’s mouth, “Shhh, I’m talking. The merchandise doesn’t interrupt people when they’re speaking. The merchandise only speaks when she’s spoken to.”

The girl tried to bite his hand. “Rob, let us go!”

Robert clamped his hand down hard over the girl’s mouth then turned and addressed his man again. “Eightball, go into the house. Find the nicest clothes you can find, dresses if there are any, makeup too. Before we go we’ll get these girls fixed up real nice. I bet we can double the price!”

Eightball took off running and now Carol had something to say, “I know who you are. Hannah told me all about you. Your name is Robert, and you’re a cold-blooded killer.”

Rob addressed Hannah again as he finally let go of her mouth, “James, who is this woman?”

But Carol still had plenty to say, “Her name is Hannah! She’s told me all about you! I know what kind of man you are!”

Robert looked down on the girl and shook his head, “Hannah? That just doesn’t sound right.” He smiled, “You’ll always be James to me.”

Carol went on, “You’re a killer! I know all about you! You’re going to answer to God someday for all the evil things you’ve done!”

Rob shook his head at Hannah again and gave out a heavy sigh, “I guess this woman is a friend of yours. Leave it to you, James, to find the Bible thumpers.”

“Her name is Hannah!”

Rob ignored Carol but went around the other side of the truck and lifted a heavy duffel bag onto the bed. He rummaged through it a moment and produced a roll of silver duct tape.

With his mouth and one arm he pulled off a length of tape then bit into it, tearing it off. Then he went right towards Carol who was still in her tirade.

“God will make you answer for every evil thing that you’ve done! You can be sure of that! You won’t escape God’s justice! I won’t bother asking for your mercy either because I know you have none!”

Robert slapped the tape right over Carol’s mouth and made sure it was a tight fit all around.

Hannah found her voice again, “Leave her alone!”

With his finger and thumb, Rob pinched Hannah’s nose and with the rest of his hand sealed her mouth shut.

The girl struggled to breathe and speak, “MMM!”

But Robert wasn’t allowing either, “Shhh! You need to be quiet right now.”

After an intense half minute with Hannah unable to breathe and Carol’s muted screaming in his ears, Rob at last let go of the girl.

Hannah gasped for breath, “Rob, I hate you, you bastard!”

He put his hand over her mouth and started to pinch her nose again, “Shhh.”

The girl went quiet.

“You need to listen to me, James, and understand it, the merchandise only speaks when she’s spoken to. Don’t speak again unless I ask.”

Rob walked to the side of the truck and jumped up. With only his one arm he clumsily climbed on and took a seat on the duffel bag behind the truck’s cab. The two women looked up at him, sitting there upside down.

“James, I know you just think I’m being mean to you, but I’m not. I’m really trying to help you.”

Hannah laughed.

“I am.”

The girl laughed once more at the ridiculous thought.

“You need to pay attention to what I’m saying right now, kid,” he turned to Carol for a brief moment, “you too lady,” and back to the girl again, “what I’m telling you is going to keep the both of you alive. Where you two are going ... well, the guys there, they won’t put up with this kind of stuff. You talk to them like you just talked to me, they’re going to hurt you, real bad. So here’s some advice, I’m hoping you’re smart enough to take it. When you get there, do whatever they tell you to do. No argument, no backtalk, just do what they say with a smile on your face. No matter how disgusting it is, act like you don’t mind. If you can do that, you’ll probably have a relatively long life.”

Rob put up his feet and got comfortable, addressing Hannah once more. “But that’s enough talk of that. Let’s talk about something else, something more pleasant. I know! I bet you’re dying to hear what happened to me after we last saw each other.”

Hannah’s hatred was only growing, “I don’t care what happened to you! I hoped you died horribly! I hoped you suffered! You murderer!”

With his hand Rob reached out towards the girl’s mouth again, “Shhh!”

The girl went quiet.

Rob sat back once again and casually went on, “Well, after me and Alton tangled, I was really hurt. That bastard did some real damage. I don’t mind, though, because I got him back,” he said with a smile on his face. “He shot me right in the arm, the bone was shattered. I knew I had to get some help or I wasn’t going to live very long, but I couldn’t think of anywhere to go. Everybody was dead ... oh, I never did find McCain or Rudd by the way, Alton must have killed them. Anyway, I didn’t have a place to go to and no one to help me. I certainly couldn’t go to any of those people we robbed, could I?” He barely stopped for a short laugh and then went on. “The only thing I could think of was this gang and that old house of ours ...”

Hannah rebutted him, “It never was our house. You killed the rightful owners!”

“James, don’t you know by now ‘rightful’ has nothing to do with it; whoever can take it is the rightful owner. And please stop interrupting or I’m going to get the tape out again.”

The girl shut her mouth but still told Rob what she thought of him with her hate filled eyes.

He didn’t seem to mind. “Anyway, that house was the only place I could think to go. I thought they might let me join up with them. So I stopped the bleeding the best I could and made my way there. When I got in sight of it, I suddenly got real scared. I’m not ashamed to tell you, James, I was scared shitless. I remembered what they did to Peavey and the other guys. I didn’t know what they were going to do to me, but figured it wouldn’t be nice. But I didn’t have much in the way of options; if they didn’t help me I knew I would be dead soon anyway. So I took the chance.”

Robert leaned forward staring at girl, her loathing quite apparent. “So you know what I discovered when I got there? They didn’t have a leader, he was recently killed ... and most of these guys, well, they’re not management material. They were just looking for someone to lead them and you know how I am. Once I started talking, I kind of talked myself into the job.”

“How could you, Rob? These monsters murdered your friends.”

Rob sighed again, “There you go again, James, still living by the old world’s rules. If you’re going to survive out here, you have to learn to be more flexible. You have to learn to change with the circumstances. I don’t like what they did to Peavey, Martinelli, or Cornwell ... or whatshisname. But I can accept it and move on. But it’s like with Alton, I’m not holding a grudge. You can’t if you want to survive out here. You should learn that lesson, James. Besides, these guys aren’t so bad. Okay, they did kind of enjoy it when they held me down and sawed my arm off ... and let me tell you that hurt like a son of a bitch ...” Rob rubbed his stump as is reliving the pain, “but they’re not so bad otherwise. These guys don’t even want much. They’re real easy to keep in line, they don’t even care if they eat every day. You know what most of them want? Spray paint, they huff paint, and hell, that’s easy to find. Every town we go to, there’ll be a department or hardware store, it’s still sitting on the shelves. Think about it! Nobody ever looted spray paint! Of course there are drawbacks too, these guys aren’t the most reliable, and you usually have to tell them the important stuff several times before it sinks in. They’re not as good as Alton and the guys, certainly not as smart or resourceful, but they do have unused potential. That’s mainly their last leader’s fault, he wasn’t using them very wisely. Before me they were just killing for fun, now I’ve got ‘em killing for profit!”

“What are you talking about?! What are you going to do with us?!”

He put his finger over his own lips, “Shhh. If you would just stop talking I’ll tell you. Like I was saying before you interrupted me again, their last leader, he liked to call himself ‘Vor-Gan’ but his real name was Leslie,” Rob said as he rolled his eyes. “He was a sad little man, just this sadistic asshole who went from place to place killing and torturing people. Not with any real plan, mind you, just because that shit is what got him off. My second in command, Eightball, you just met him.” Rob motioned to the house with the thumb of his only hand. “He told me all about it. Eightball is smart but isn’t much of a leader, doesn’t have any ambition. Anyway, he told me about a lot of opportunities ‘Vor-Gan’ never took advantage of. Once I heard about them, I made some big changes. This group has a purpose now, it has a job to do.”

Rob leaned towards Hannah, his warm breath right in her face. “Did you know there’s a large gang of men just northeast of Fort Wayne and they have an entire warehouse full of food? They captured it right when all of this started, a distribution warehouse for a large grocery store chain. They control a building with over a million square feet of nothing but food! I’d never heard of them and I bet you hadn’t either. They’ve been running some raids of their own and contacting other gangs too, including this one. You see, while they’ve got a lot of food, there’s something else they’re very short of, can you guess?” A smile came back to Rob’s face, “Women! They don’t have any women and they’re willing to pay a hefty reward for people that bring them some!”

Rob leaned back against the duffel bag and folded his arm behind his head, “That’s what I’ve been doing since I last saw you, James. We’ve been going house to house collecting women and running them over to Fort Wayne. You won’t believe how much you three will bring. I bet your blonde friend there will bring a month’s worth of food by herself.”

Hannah finally had enough, “Carol is right! Rob, you’re evil! You’re going to answer to God for all that you do! Repent now before it’s too late!”

“You should stop worrying about my soul, James; you should worry about yourself. You’re the one in a lot of trouble right now.”

“I’m not worried about me or my friends. God loves us. God will take care of us. It’s you who should worry! You will answer to God for everything you’ve done!”

Rob sighed as he struggled to get up and then went through the bag again. He found the tape and tore off another piece with his teeth, fixing it over Hannah’s mouth.

“I don’t understand you people, I really don’t. I just killed everyone you love, including a baby. Now I’m going to sell the three of you into sexual slavery to some filthy degenerates, where the rest of your life will undoubtedly be short and miserable. And yet you can still sit there and talk to me about God’s love ... how God will take care of you. Like I said, I just don’t get it.”

Shortly after Rob finished shutting Hannah up, the hammering completely stopped. Now a voice yelled out from below, “It’s ready to go!”

Just then Eightball came running back with some frilly things draped over his arm. “This is all that I could find. Some pretty dresses, some lingerie, and makeup too. I also brought a hairbrush and a mirror.”

By now Rob was ready to go, “Good thinking, Eightball, throw it in and let’s get going.”

“I thought we were having them change first?”

“No, I had another one of my brilliant ideas while you were gone. We’ll wait till we get there. Then we’ll strip the ladies down and make them change ... right in front of them. That will drive those guys nuts. I might even get a bidding war started!”

“THAT IS BRILLIANT! Sir.”

“Thank you ...” Rob seemed quite proud of himself right then.

The driver stepped in and started the motor, its lumpy idle reminding Hannah of all the friends she lost. Eightball threw the dresses in the passenger side window and got in himself.

Rob made a sharp whistle with his hand and four armed guards jumped onto the bed of the truck. They took a seat at each corner while Robert looked down at his merchandise, “Okay, girls, you ready for your new life?”

Carol and Hannah were both incomprehensible as they screamed at him through their muzzles.

He put his hand to his ear, “I’m not understanding you too well, does that mean you’re ready? I guess it does.” Rob turned to the two in the cab and tapped on the window, “Eightball, let’s go!”

The truck backed up and made a U-turn, then stopped. It gradually started forward again down the driveway of the old farm. The other seven remaining men grouped up and started marching behind. The truck slowly made its way over the snow-covered ground creaking and groaning all the way. At last it turned right as it stopped at the main road.

Rob knocked on the back window again. “Keep it slow, slow and careful. The last thing we need is to slide off into a ditch. They can wait ... they won’t mind the wait when they see these three, especially this blonde.”

Eightball acknowledged his man, “Yes sir, slow and careful,” and turned to the driver, “you heard him.”

The battered truck eased out into the road.

As they were pulling out, a “lump” in the snow on the side of the road stood up. Simultaneously, several heavily armed soldiers jumped out of the nearby bushes and a ditch by the highway.

Rob heard the roar of automatic weapons fire and turned to look as the truck came to a slow stop. The driver and Eightball were both dead, their blood and brains all over the inside of the cab. He jumped to his feet as his own men started firing. The four on the truck fell dead to the ground one right after the other. His men behind him spread out and started shooting but in another second they were all dead too. Rob stood there in disbelief until he finally went for his Colt in its holster.

The white “lump” quickly closed on him, a woman with her 1911 pistol drawn and dressed in snow camouflage. From the ditch came another woman and a man, dressed the same and armed with M4s. Four more men and three women all in normal clothes rapidly advanced with their rifles from the underbrush ten yards northeast.

Rob grabbed for his gun as the woman with the pistol took careful aim and fired. Rob’s hand exploded, all four of his fingers coming off. One of the men came from behind and swept his feet out from under him. Rob toppled off the truck. He tried to pick himself up but a boot to his back knocked him back down.

Hannah and Carol lay there unable to see what was going on. At last the woman with a pistol at her side came into view. She loosened her white scarf and pulled her hood back. It was Nancy Kurtzman’s friendly face both ladies at last recognized standing over them.

As gently as she could, Nancy peeled the tape from Carol’s mouth. “Carol, are you all right? Are you all right, Hannah? Vira?”

Hannah nodded.

Carol coughed and at last spoke, “Vira is in shock, but both of us are all right.”

Nancy studied Vira for a moment and turned back to Carol with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry ... I’m sorry we couldn’t get here sooner. I’m sorry all of your people are dead. Maybe we could have saved the rest of you ... if we had been faster. But when we got here it was too late, you had already been captured. Please forgive us.” She holstered the gun with one hand and wiped her eyes with the other. “Since we couldn’t make it to the fight we thought it would be best to ambush them out here on the road.”

Carol was sympathetic to her old friend as she started crying herself, “Nancy, don’t even think that way. You saved our lives. This isn’t your fault, none of this is, it’s his.” The three looked at Rob who was now standing, blood pouring from his mangled hand, a small army surrounding him.

Chapter Sixteen

It took nearly a month for the trial to begin, most of that time spent just trying to gather a jury. They searched far and wide among this close-knit community but most everyone knew or at least heard of the victims. After twenty-six days, they were able to find seven women and four men that could swear before God that they would give Rob a fair trial.

Witnesses were easy to find as they came to them, most amassing at the Kurtzman’s farm to see Rob die.

It was decided to have the trial in the Kurtzman’s old barn; it was large enough to do the job and one of the stalls could be used as Rob’s holding cell the entire time.

Hannah, Vira, and Carol moved in with the Kurtzmans. Their old house was not fit to live in anymore as the entire front side collapsed. They were all in mourning for their lost loved ones and preparing for the trial helped them deal with the pain in some small way.

Vira was speaking again but said she couldn’t recall a thing that happened that day. Every morning she would make the long walk to the Avery’s old home to visit her husband’s and son’s graves.

Between the residents and trial guests, the house was packed. In some cases four to a bed with many more sleeping on the floors. But none minded, and only eagerly waited for it to begin.

Many more camped out on the front lawn; over the weeks a small tent city grew there.

When the final juror was found at last, a judge and lawyers were chosen. All three also had to swear on a Bible that Rob would be treated fairly before the law.

On the morning of Wednesday, March 14th, the trial began. Rob immediately started it off with controversy by refusing to have a lawyer represent him, saying he could do a much better job himself. His first official act for his client was to decline giving an opening statement.

The prosecution gave a short statement of its own and afterwards a long line of witnesses began coming through. Carol and Hannah were called and testified about the attack on their house. Their testimony lasted most of the morning. Vira was also called to the stand but was unable to help at all, and only started crying after asked the same questions again and again. It was then the judge decided to break for lunch and Carol and Hannah ran up to comfort their friend.

After lunch, more witnesses were called, all people Rob and his gang had victimized over the years.

Hannah recognized a few faces among those testifying. With tears in her eyes, Sarah Whitman told how everything they owned was stolen and how her husband was later killed by a gang trying to trade his boots for some food.

The older couple that lived in the drain pipe also came to testify and for the first time the girl found out their name, Greer. Old man Greer said he came all this way just to see Rob’s execution, he “wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Many other faces unknown to the girl took the stand. Apparently Rob and his men had been pillaging the region for years.

Through it all, Robert declined to question a single witness.

Late in that first day, the whispering began.

Sarah Whitman, the Greers, and two road refugees saw Hannah and thought she bore a remarkable resemblance to a boy in Rob’s gang. They all went to the judge.

After the show was over for the day, Hannah sat at the table prodding her dinner, trying to find a reason to eat. She was hungry yet couldn’t finish a thing.

Carol came into the room. “Hannah, we need to talk somewhere, alone.”

Hannah looked up to her friend, “I know, where do you want to go?”

She looked around, “Nancy is still over at the barn, making preparations for tomorrow, let’s use her bedroom.” It was obvious to the girl that Carol had bad news to report.

They walked into the room and three unknown women were there getting ready to go to bed early. Carol tried to be as diplomatic as she could. “Would you mind leaving for a few minutes, there is something I need to speak to this girl about privately, thank you.”

The three quickly put their clothes back on and quietly left.

Carol closed the door behind them and turned to her friend. They both sat down on the bed. “Hannah, I want you to know that Judge Stewart ...” Carol paused and wiped the tears from her eyes. “She’s signed a warrant for your arrest.”

Hannah was not surprised, “I know ... I saw Sarah Whitman pointing me out to the prosecution attorney, later on I saw her, the Greers, and a couple others talking to Judge Stewart. They know about me, don’t they?”

Carol took her friend’s hand. “Yes, they figured it out. They were going to come here and arrest you, take you out to a holding cell in the barn. But I talked Judge Stewart into letting you stay in the house for now. So you wouldn’t have to be near Rob. She said you could stay in here but when you go outside there would have to be a guard with you at all times.”

She put her arm around Hannah and hugged her young friend. “It’s going to be okay, Hannah. I’ve already talked to the defense attorney and he’s agreed to take your case. I wish we hadn’t made you testify.”

“You didn’t make me, I volunteered. I had to testify, it was my duty.”

“There was enough witnesses to get Rob convicted. You didn’t need to testify.”

“I had to, it was my duty. Rob has to pay for his crimes, and now so do I.”

“Hannah, don’t talk like that, you’re still a child. You’re not guilty.”

Hannah looked right into her friend’s tear-filled eyes. “I am guilty. I know right from wrong. I knew what we were doing was wrong but didn’t care enough to do anything about it. I am guilty.”

The conversation abruptly stopped when there was a light knock on the door, then it opened wide. It was the judge, the prosecuting attorney, and several armed men. Judge Stewart held a folded paper in her hand as she spoke. “Hannah, I guess Carol has already told you everything?”

The girl looked up at the judge, “Yes.”

The judge reached out and handed Hannah the paper. “You are under arrest. There are five charges against you, four counts of robbery and one count of murder.”

Carol stood straight up in shock, “Murder?!”

Judge Stewart stayed calm and professional as she continued to address this girl she knew and liked, “Yes, that’s right. Hannah, you are charged in the death of Mark Whitman.”

Carol tried to argue with the judge but she put her hand out and stopped her mid-sentence. “Carol, you’re not going to change a thing. Those are the charges and they won’t be changed. If you want to help Hannah, help her defense.”

The next day Rob’s trial began again early. There were several more witnesses against him and all that was left was closing statements.

For the first time, Rob stood up to speak and asked the judge if he could give his closing statement last. Both the judge and prosecution agreed and she gave her summation first.

When the prosecution finished, Rob stood up again. He made a long eloquent plea that lasted nearly an hour, but essentially his legal argument came down to “survival of the fittest.”

The jury was not persuaded.

The judge finished her instructions to the jury at 11:02 AM; they came back out with their verdict in twenty-one minutes. To no one’s surprise, especially Rob’s, every verdict was guilty and the sentence was death.

Most of the audience stood up and cheered. It sounded like they were going to tear the roof off the old building.

Judge Stewart confirmed the sentence, telling Rob that “you are to be hanged by the neck until dead” as soon as the gallows could be built.

Rob didn’t have a thing to say.

Later that afternoon, Hannah came out to the barn; two armed guards escorted her there. When she came inside, Rob was sitting in an old horse stall, his only arm threaded between the planks in the gate. He had a few guards of his own.

They could all hear men hammering away at something outside.

He lifted his eyes to her and stood up, a wide smile came to his face. “James! Glad to see you!”

The girl approached him and was stopped short by one of his guards. “My name is Hannah. Would you please call me Hannah. Could you do just that one thing for me, Rob?”

For the first time since she met him, Rob looked like he was ashamed of himself, “All right, Hannah.” Then that smile returned to his face. “I’ve got to tell you, though, I still like James better. So why did you come out to see me, to gloat?”

“No Rob, not to gloat, you know you have very little time left, don’t you?”

“Yeah ...” Rob stopped to scratch his back with his only remaining digit, “The judge said they were going to hang me as soon as the scaffold was finished. From the sound of it I’d say it won’t be too much longer.”

They both stood there for a moment listening to the enthusiastic hammering coming from outside.

“They say it will done by morning,” Hannah replied.

“I don’t know why they waited until the end of the trial to start building it. Everyone knew what the verdict would be before it started. Hell, I don’t know why we even had a trial at all.”

Hannah sat down across from him. “Judge Stewart said it might prejudice the jury if they started building it before the verdict ... and we’re having a trial because we’re civilized.”

Rob smiled again, “We’re civilized?”

“I don’t mean you, Rob, I meant these people. We’re building a real community here, it’s going to be just like in the before times.”

Rob’s smile grew wide.

“What’s so funny?”

“Kid, I think you’re only going to end up being disappointed in your new friends. The wheels are about to come completely off of your ‘civilization,’ it won’t be too much longer before we’re swinging from the trees again.”

“‘Civilization’ is going to be just fine, Rob. We’re going to rebuild it.”

Robert nodded as he grinned, “Uh-huh.”

“Stop smiling, Rob; not everyone is like you. There are lots of decent people still out there and we’re going to make this world a better place. It will be as good as before, maybe better.”

Rob’s smile was suddenly gone. “Okay, kid, I won’t destroy your delusions. I don’t guess I could talk you out of them anyway. But it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that we’re on the down side of the slope. Resources are getting scarcer every year ... people are getting more desperate ... more vicious. It doesn’t take a fortune teller to see which way this world is really going.”

Hannah didn’t bother arguing, she was sure he was wrong.

“As for the gallows influencing the jury, no, I don’t think that would have mattered at all. Besides, what are they going to do about you? Won’t it prejudice your trial?”

She stood up again, “So you’ve heard?”

“Yeah ... I’m sorry, I know you won’t believe this but I didn’t have anything to do with it. I didn’t want to get you involved.”

“I believe you, Rob. I know you wouldn’t tell.”

“Thanks, I’m glad you can admit I’m not a complete monster. So, what are you going to do?”

Hannah thought about it moment, “Nothing, I’m not going to do anything, Rob. I’m as guilty as you. I’ll let the jury decide what my punishment will be ... I can live with that.”

“You’re going to plead guilty?”

“No ... I’ll have a trial, I’ll go through the whole thing. I don’t deserve to get off with a plea ... and the victims deserve to have it, to hear about every awful thing I’ve done.”

“So why did you come out here?”

“To talk to you about God, you only have a few hours to live. Rob, don’t you want to be saved?”

Robert was growing a little angry now. “No, I don’t want to be saved. I’m not ashamed of what I’ve done, I did what was required to survive. If your God didn’t want me going around robbing and killing people, he shouldn’t have made this whole world go to shit!”

“Don’t try to blame what you’ve done on God, Rob.”

Rob paused, and that honest smile he had returned to his face, “I’m sorry I snapped at you, kid. You need to understand, I’ve been fed that church crap all of my life. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now. This leopard is not going to suddenly change its spots.”

Hannah was deeply saddened, her whole manner said so, “Okay, but you understand, I just had to ask.”

“All right, I understand. I hope you understand me too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hope you didn’t believe all that rhetoric the prosecutor was spewing out. Like when she said I was as ‘bad as Hitler in his own way.’ Come on, I’m not even close,” Rob said as smiled. “Okay, I’ve done some things that in the old world would have been considered ‘bad’ but I’m not so bad.”

“They were bad things, Rob. Killing, stealing, selling people into slavery, it was wrong in the ‘Old World’ and it’s wrong in this one too.”

Rob had to laugh, “Well, obviously we’re going to have to disagree on that. But at least you can admit I was always loyal to you guys. I always looked out for my men.”

“I don’t remember it that way at all.”

“What?” Rob was truly surprised.

“You killed John. You put Nicky’s life in danger many times.”

“I killed Alton because he tried to break up the group. I told you we wouldn’t have survived this winter if we separated.”

“Yeah ... that’s what you said; what about Nicky?”

“I never used Nicky unless it was absolutely necessary. He knew that, he didn’t mind. He was a good little soldier.” For a split second it appeared Rob might cry.

“He looked up to you, Rob, he would have done anything for you. In the end it got him killed.”

“We were at the end of our rope, we needed to take that church and using him was our best chance of success. I’m sorry you can’t see that the group was always my first concern. Maybe I haven’t given you a good enough example. I’ll give you a better one, Peavey. I loved that guy. He was like a kid brother to me. I died a little inside when I had to kill him.”

“You killed Peavey?!” Hannah rushed at Rob in his pen but a guard held her back.

“Sure, you don’t think he just died, do you? I suffocated him in his sleep that night. Like I said, I died a little too. But it had to be done, for the group.”

“Why, Rob?! Why would you do that?!”

“Don’t you remember how he was? He wouldn’t have wanted to live like that. Besides, the whole group was being jeopardized by trying to keep him alive. He was slowing us down, eating up resources we didn’t have. It was the best thing for all of us he died.”

“How could you, Rob?! You don’t know he wanted to die!”

“Sure I know. Just like me he lived for the group. He wouldn’t want to be a burden on his friends. He wouldn’t want to go on suffering. It’s like with Mary, I didn’t want to kill her either, she was a nice girl. But I had to. It’s the only way the group could survive.”

“Mary? Wasn’t that the girl sleeping with all of your men? You said she killed herself.”

“Well, actually, no,” Rob awkwardly told her. “I crawled up to her bed that night. Shot her through the roof of her mouth with a twenty-five Beretta, made it look like a suicide. But I had to do it! She was a nice girl but she was going to get us all killed!”

Hannah rushed him again but couldn’t get past the guard, so she finally backed off. “Rob, you’re a killer. You are evil, you might even be insane.”

“All right, I’m a killer, that goes without saying. But I’m not evil or insane. If anything I think I’m too soft-hearted.”

She was stunned, “Did you just say you were too soft-hearted?”

“That’s what I said. I’ve thought a lot since Nicky was killed. I can’t believe all those times we robbed people and let them live. I was so stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking, anyone of them could have come back and killed us. It was just dumb luck that it never came back to bite me on the ass. I guess it took Nicky dying to make me come to my senses. McCain was right all along, the best thing to do is kill them all before they have a chance to take one shot at you. You never want to leave any enemy alive, that’s just asking for trouble. You know what my problem was?” Rob didn’t wait for an answer, “I was just too nice.”

Hannah stood there without a word in her gaping mouth.

Rob went on, “Well, I can’t complain. I’ve lived like I wanted to and I’ll die like I want to. I never bowed my head to anyone, not even God. I won’t beg for my life either. I won’t give the scum that come to watch me die the satisfaction. But enough about me, what are you going to do after all of this?”

At last Hannah found her voice again, “My trial starts in the morning, Rob. I’ll probably only live a few days longer than you.”

The sound of Rob’s hearty laugh filled the whole barn, that honest smile he had returned to his face too. “Kid, you still don’t know a thing about human nature. If all of your jurors thought like me you might be executed. But these people here, they’re still living in that old world. They don’t have the balls to hang a teenage girl. Oh ... you’ll be punished, of course, but they won’t kill you. Like I said, they’re still living in that old world. Either they’re too afraid to jump into this new one, or, even sadder, they think the old one will be coming back.”

The girl honestly asked, “So you don’t think that old world will ever come back?”

“Nope ...” Rob stood up, straight and tall, then patted his chest with his mangled hand. “Look at me, Hannah, I’m the future. All of your ‘nice’ friends out there, they’re the past. A few years from now they’ll be extinct, they’ll all be as dead as the dodo, but people like me will still be here.”

Hannah turned for the door. “I think you’re wrong, but thank you for calling me Hannah anyway.”

“You’re welcome. Are you coming to my execution?”

The girl stopped and looked back at him, “No, I don’t think so. A month ago I would have come, might have even took some satisfaction in it. Now, I don’t think I would.”

“Well, I guess we won’t see each other again.”

“I wouldn’t think so.”

“Then I’ll just say good-bye, Hannah ... and wish you luck in whatever you do.”

Hannah turned for the door again and kept walking. Even though Rob didn’t deserve it, she felt like crying for him.

The workers finished constructing the gallows at 11:25 that night; Judge Stewart ordered Rob’s execution for midnight. She said they wouldn’t wait for sunrise because he wasn’t worth one more meal.

Rob was brought up on the platform, his one arm tied behind him. He was offered some last words but he kept his promise; he didn’t beg but only politely declined. A preacher also offered to pray with him but he refused that too.

At last he was walked out over the trapdoor and the rope was put around his neck. It was time, justice would finally be done. The door suddenly dropped and so did Rob. When he came to the end of the rope, his head was ripped off. His headless body lay below the scaffold. They say his heart kept pumping for over a minute, the blood saturating the snowy ground.

They all stood there watching, half the mob in horror and the other half in delight.

Afterwards, an investigation showed that the hangman was all new to this and had made the rope too long. He wouldn’t make that mistake the next time.

Hannah lay in her bed with a guard just outside. She could tell by the sound of the crowd the exact moment Robert died. The girl said a prayer for his soul although she knew he didn’t want her to. She spent the rest of the night tossing around in the bed, wondering if her fate would be the same.

The girl’s trial started promptly at 9:00 that morning. Judge Stewart told all of them there were only a few witnesses and she hoped it would be over in no more than a day or two. The same jury was sworn in for this new trial and made to promise they wouldn’t hold any testimony, evidence, or the outcome of the previous one against the girl.

Both sides gave their opening arguments and the prosecution proceeded with its side of the story. Then they started swearing witnesses in.

Several people identified the girl as the same one that was with the gang that had robbed or harassed them. The most damming witness was Sarah Whitman. While on the stand talking about her husband, she began weeping, telling the jury how he was dead and it was all Hannah’s fault.

Several members of the jury and Hannah were brought to tears.

After lunch, it was time for the defense to make its case. They brought several witnesses, including Vira, Nancy Kurtzman, and Carol, all of them testified to how the girl had changed her life and deserved a second chance. Carol made the best impression on the jury, telling them how Hannah had worked for the welfare of the group and about the good works she did for refugees and other people she barely knew.

Late in the day, her attorney asked Hannah to get on the stand but the girl refused. Carol tried to talk her into it too but Hannah wouldn’t budge. At that point her attorney asked for another short recess so they could talk to the girl.

The three went into the laundry room of the old house but Carol stopped the girl’s attorney at the door. “Do you mind if I speak to her alone?”

“No, if you think it will help.”

Carol shut the door, only the two of them in the room. “Hannah, what’s going on? Don’t you know how serious this is? Sarah Whitman’s testimony was damning. You could be convicted of murder if you don’t testify. You have to get on that stand.”

The girl was resolute, “No, no I don’t. I don’t want to and I don’t have to.”

“What do you mean you don’t want to? Do you want to be convicted?”

“Did it ever occur to you, Carol, that I am guilty?”

“No, you’re not guilty, Hannah.”

“Did it ever occur to you that Sarah Whitman is right, her husband is dead and it’s all my fault.”

“No ... she’s not right.”

“I didn’t think so either, when this trial started, I guess I was just fooling myself. But sitting there listening to all the testimony, I have to admit they’re right. I led Rob and the guys to the Whitmans. I showed them where they lived, told them about their defenses. That poor couple was left with nothing, that’s the reason they were out wandering on the road in the middle of winter, that’s why Mister Whitman was killed trying to get some food. If it wasn’t for me they would still be living in that nice little place of theirs. Sarah Whitman, the prosecutor, they’re both right, I am guilty. I deserve to die.”

Carol’s resolve was gone. “I don’t know what to say, Hannah. If that’s how you think, it’s best you don’t testify. I would tell you again that this isn’t your fault, but I can see you wouldn’t believe me.”

The two got up and went back to court. Without any more defense witnesses, closing arguments began.

Hannah’s attorney did a competent job. He told them the girl wasn’t the cause of Mark Whitman’s death and noted she was miles away from where it happened, and how he died from his own mistakes. The attorney also had to admit that while the girl was a thief, she had turned her life around and deserved a second chance.

Then the prosecution attorney began, speaking for a half hour, recommitting all Hannah’s crimes to the jury’s memory. She spoke about Mark Whitman’s unnecessary death and how Hannah was the cause of it all. She closed her summation by noting that there were no jails now, death could be the only true penalty for murder.

Judge Stewart gave her instructions to the jury but as she finished Carol stood up and interrupted. She asked if she might say a few words to the jury herself.

The judge and the prosecution both reluctantly agreed.

Carol started by repeating what Hannah’s attorney said, that the child was miles away when Whitman died and how it was his own bad judgment that killed him in the end. She then discussed Hannah changing her life and committing herself to God. Carol recounted several instances where the girl had put others first since and had done a lot of good for this world. She asked the jury if mercy wasn’t deserved when people truly changed their lives. By the end, she was on her knees right in front of them, crying, begging for Hannah’s life.

Judge Stewart ended it there, reprimanding Carol for the “theatrics” and then repeating her instructions to the jury. By now it was late in the day but the judge sent them out to deliberate right then.

They considered the question of Hannah’s guilt through the night but couldn’t come to a decision. That morning they sent the judge a note. The question they asked was if it was theirs to decide what exact punishment the accused might receive.

In open court, Judge Stewart informed them they could recommend any punishment, if it was used in America at any time it could be used by them. She then informed the jury that theirs was the final decision. She could only make recommendations to them.

Just before noon the jury returned.

Hannah sat at her table staring at the jury, Carol by her side. The older woman took her friend’s hand. “It’s going to be all right Hannah, I know it is.”

The judge finally spoke, “Has the jury reached a verdict on all counts?”

The jury’s foreman, a kindly looking older man Hannah didn’t know, stood up. He addressed Judge Stewart, “Yes, Your Honor.”

Judge Stewart turned to the girl, “Hannah Leightman, stand up.”

Hannah stood along with her attorney and friend by her side.

The judge began reading from a list, “On the first count of robbery, how does the jury find?”

“Guilty, Your Honor.

The crowd started muttering amongst themselves.

“On the second count of robbery, how does the jury find?”

“Guilty, Your Honor.”

“On the third count of robbery, how does the jury find?”

“Guilty, Your Honor.”

“On the fourth count of robbery, how does the jury find?”

“Guilty, Your Honor.”

Judge Stewart stopped and looked back at Hannah a moment, then went to her list again. “On the fifth count, murder, how does the jury find?”

The man paused and looked right at the girl as he spoke, “Guilty, Your Honor.”

The crowd went wild.

Hannah felt numb. Carol put her arm around the girl to hold her up, and she started weeping herself. Nancy Kurtzman and Vira came running to the girl’s side, both with tears in their eyes.

At last Judge Stewart calmed the crowd down. “Has the jury decided on a sentence?”

It went completely quiet again.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Was the decision unanimous?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Please inform the court your recommended punishment.”

“We the jury recommend the following punishment: for each count of robbery, five lashes on the bare back with a whip. For each count of murder, thirty lashes on the bare back with a whip, and permanent banishment.”

The crowd went wild again.

Sarah Whitman began crying too.

The judge stood up and waved her hands in the air, “Everybody settle down! Quiet!

It took a short while but the crowd went still again.

Judge Stewart sat back down as she wiped a tear from her own eye.

Hannah stood there shaking, her friends at her side.

“Hannah Leightman, having been found guilty of four counts of robbery and one count of murder, I order that the following punishment be carried out immediately. You are to be taken outside and tied to a post. Your shirt will be removed. You will be given fifty lashes with a whip. You will then be given your rifle and one week’s worth of provisions. You then have exactly seven days to be out of the jurisdiction of this court, which for this proceeding I will assess at fifty miles. I also order that if you ever return to this jurisdiction again, the penalty will be death by hanging.”

Sarah Whitman suddenly screamed out, “You call that justice?!” A guard restrained her as she cursed Hannah and tried to make her way towards the girl.

Two guards took Hannah by both arms and escorted her outside. Judge Stewart, Hannah’s friends, and the rest of the mob were right behind.

The judge directed them to the gallows where Rob’s life had so violently ended. They stopped at the base of the tall wooden structure and Judge Stewart spoke again. “Take your top off, Hannah.”

The girl started to take off her blouse, her fingers trembling as she undid each button. She slipped out of it and gave it to Carol, and reluctantly pulled her undershirt off over her head. She stood there in front of the mob shivering, covering herself with her hands.

A guard came with a length of rope and they tied her by the wrists to the corner beam of the scaffold.

Hannah stood there with her back exposed to the crowd, her arms tied above her head, her entire body shaking.

Carol tried with little success to comfort her friend, “It’s all right, Hannah, this will all be over soon.”

They all stood there waiting in the silence, the girl more frightened with every minute that went by.

At last a man came running through the crowd with a leather whip, “Here you go,” and handed it to the hangman. He seized it by the handle and took a tight grip on it. He stood there, waiting for his orders.

Judge Stewart gave the word, “Just do it, get it over with.”

Hannah stood there waiting for it, and then it came, a blinding pain running the length of her back. She jumped when it hit her and braced herself for the next one right as it came. The girl tensed up her arms and back trying to control the pain as the lash hit her yet again.

A shouting started coming from the crowd, some appalled and some cheering the hangman on.

The blows were coming fast and hard; the girl told herself to hang on, there couldn’t be many more.

Then she could hear among the throng a growing sound as she tried to hang on for just one minute more, “ELEVEN! TWELVE! THIRTEEN! FOURTEEN! FIFTEEN! SIXTEEN! SEVENTEEN!”

Hannah’s back was aflame but each new bite of the whip was as agonizing as the first.

She prayed to God that this would be over soon as she listened to the mob put a number on her pain. “TWENTY-TWO! TWENTY-THREE! TWENTY-FOUR! TWENTY-FIVE! TWENTY-SIX!”

Through the anguish there came a peculiar feeling to her, a warm and wet sensation running down her back.

At that moment a single voice pierced the chant of the crowd. It was a women’s voice the girl didn’t know. “PLEASE STOP THIS!”

The blows continued to come, each one as cruel as the first. Hannah didn’t think she would survive to the end.

“THIRTY-THREE! THIRTY-FOUR! THIRTY-FIVE!”

The girl stood there as long as she could. Suddenly her strength was gone and her legs gave way, they buckled but she was held there hanging by her wrists.

She heard the voice come from the crowd again, “THAT’S ENOUGH! PLEASE STOP THIS!”

Hannah tried to stand up but didn’t have the strength; she swung there hanging from the post, the agony without end.

The pain kept coming again and again. “THIRTY-NINE! FORTY! FORTY-ONE! FORTY-TWO!”

The unknown woman screamed out, she spoke for at least a few in this crowd, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE STOP THIS!”

Hannah knew it was near the end now, if she could just hold on a few seconds more.

“FORTY-SEVEN! FORTY-EIGHT! FORTY-NINE!”

Hannah smiled, somehow she survived.

“FIFTY!” The crowd shouted out with a deafening cheer.

Someone ran up and cut the ropes that held her in the air and Hannah collapsed into Carol’s waiting arms. Her friend held her there, keeping the girl from falling in the blood spotted snow. “Hannah, you’re going to be all right. I promise.”

Hannah blacked out for a moment and was in Carol’s arms again, the woman’s eyes filled with tears and her hands and arms smeared with blood.

A single soldier ran up with a clean towel and wrapped it around the girl, he took her in his arms and quickly cut a path through the mob.

Carol was right behind her friend as they made their way to the house through the applauding crowd, some of them spitting or cursing at the girl, most calling out for more. “I can’t believe these people ... I’m ashamed to know them.”

They put Hannah on Nancy’s bed, stomach down, and in and out of consciousness. The doctor was called.

The girl woke again and from a haze could see Judge Stewart and Carol standing there across the room.

Judge Stewart’s was the voice she first recognized, “I can’t believe it. I’ve never seen a public whipping before. I didn’t think it would be that bad.”

Then she heard Carol’s voice too, “Bad? That wasn’t bad, it was horrific. That’s one of the ugliest things I have ever witnessed. What’s Hannah supposed to do now, put her shirt back on and get out of town?”

“No, of course not, I’ll give her some time to mend. I didn’t think it would be that bad ...”

Hannah passed out again and woke with a painful tugging to her back. The doctor had his hands full stitching this mess up.

Doctor Todde could see she was awake again, “Hannah, do you know who I am? We’ve met once before.”

The girl was weak, but there, “Yes, you’re a doctor, your name is Todde.”

“That’s right. Do you know where you are?”

Hannah looked over her shoulder and all around, “This is Nancy’s bedroom, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“How am I? Am I bad?”

“You’re pretty cut up, but I can fix you, don’t worry. Is the pain bad?”

“Yes ...”

The doctor turned to a shadowy figure standing in the corner, “Carol ...”

Carol suddenly came into view and picked up a bottle and a glass of water sitting there on the dresser. “Hannah, take these, they’ll help with the pain.” She helped the girl sit up some and take the pills; even swallowing was excruciating. “Lie back down; the doctor has a lot more work to do.”

The girl tried to get up, “I have to go; if I don’t they’ll hang me.”

But with little effort Carol and the doctor eased her back down on the bed. Carol said, “Don’t worry about that. Let’s get your wounds healed first.”

It took fifty-two stitches to put Hannah back together again and then the doctor and Carol bound her wounds up tight. For the next two and a half days, the girl came in and out of her dream world, but by Tuesday morning she was feeling well enough to sit up in bed and eat again.

Carol sat in a chair reading while Hannah rested in bed; since the sentence she hardly left the girl’s side.

Hannah slowly sat up and put her feet on the floor, the first time in days. She had to talk to her older friend. “Carol, I’ve got to go. Help me get up.”

“You’re not going anywhere right now, Hannah, you have to get better first.”

She tried to stand but barely had the strength, “I’ve got to go. I heard you and Judge Stewart talking last night ...”

“What did you hear?”

“I heard her say that I had to go, that people were threatening Nancy for letting me stay here ... that they were even threatening to burn this house down if I didn’t go.”

Carol sat there holding her book and the words didn’t come easy, “Oh, I thought you were asleep.”

“No, I heard all of it. Carol, I know you love me, that you want to take care of me, but you’re just making this worse.”

“How so?”

“You were in court, you heard the sentence, banishment. I can’t stay here, and the longer you put it off the worse you’ll make it for you and my other friends. Do you think you can talk Judge Stewart out of it?”

Carol now had a self-conscious look on her face. “Well, I’ve been trying to do just that ...”

“You know you’re not going to talk her out it. I’ve been sentenced, she’s just following it. You won’t change her mind. I’m not above the law.”

“Hannah, you’re just a girl, you don’t understand ...”

“Please stop calling me a girl. I’m not a little girl, I’m a woman, please start treating me like one. I’m almost eighteen, I’m a convicted felon. I’ve been convicted of murder. I know I look younger than I am but I’m an adult. The court treated me like an adult, I wish you would too.”

“What do you want, Hannah?”

“I want you to face up to reality.”

“Which is?”

“That I can’t stay here much longer. There’s a lot of people around here angry with me, they thought I got off way too easy. I heard you talking, don’t deny it.”

“Yes, that’s certainly true. But give them time, Hannah, they’ll forgive you.”

“No, no they won’t. Something like that ... there is no forgiveness, ever. Carol, you’re going to have to accept the fact that I have go. You have to.”

Carol had nothing left to say but began crying. Hannah reached out and took her friend in her arms.

That night Hannah told the judge she would be going the next morning and thanked the kindly woman for giving her a bit more time with her friends.

Early that next morning, just as she said, Hannah was ready to go. She was carrying her rifle and pack because she was avoiding wearing them on her back as long as she could.

She said her good-byes to all the friends she made since arriving last year, Vira and Nancy being amongst her closest. Carol came out the front door and had a surprise for the girl. She made a loud whistle and that flatbed truck rolled around from the back of the house.

It stopped right in front of Carol and Hannah; a soldier was driving and three more armed guards were in back. All the windows were gone but it had been cleaned up and without the blood and mud looked like an entirely new truck, or at least a different one.

Carol opened the passenger side door for the girl, “Step in.”

“Are we going in this?”

“Yes, we are. If you have to go, you’re going in style. This might be the last running truck within five hundred miles.” Carol put the girl’s gun and bag behind the cab and got in after her.

They pulled out toward the road and Hannah waved good-bye to all of her friends one last time.

As they slowly made their way down the long drive, Carol finally spoke again. “Hannah, do you know where you’re going?”

“I have no idea, I’m going to leave it in God’s hands.”

“Can I make a suggestion?”

“Sure ...”

“You should head south; I’ve heard there’s a large settlement just west of Zenas. I’ve heard they’re nice people down there.”

The girl thought about it a moment, “Oh, okay, if you think I should.”

“I do. So that’s the way you want to go?”

“Yes ...”

Carol spoke to the driver, “Tony, head south when we get to the main highway.”

The driver nodded.

As they approached the main road, they could see another crowd. This one didn’t look friendly at all.

When the truck got close, the mob started throwing stones and branches at it. Carol put her back to the open passenger window and covered the girl’s head. “Get down, Hannah.”

The crowd continued to throw things and curse and spit as they passed by, but made no attempt to stop them.

The driver turned south on the main road.

Carol was ashamed for her ex-friends, “I’m sorry, Hannah.”

“Don’t be, this is how it is.”

“Well it shouldn’t be. You were punished, more than you deserve. They should just forget it now.”

“There’s no forgetting, Carol. Even if I could somehow stay, those people would never let me forget, and I shouldn’t. I hurt a lot of people. I only pray I have the chance to make up for what I’ve done.”

Carol took Hannah by her small hand. “You already have, as far as I’m concerned, and a lot of people around here feel the same way too.” The woman’s expression abruptly changed, it was obvious there was something important she needed to say. “I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you ... ever since you were sentenced. I didn’t know if I should, though, you’ve got so many other things to worry about. But last night I decided to tell you, you deserved to know.”

Hannah could see the gravity in her friend’s face and hear it in her voice, “What is it, Carol?”

“I want you to know, Hannah, that I considered going with you. But I just can’t.” The tears started to form in Carol’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, tell me.”

“I’m pregnant.”

“You’re sure?”

“Oh yeah, I’m almost three months along, Frank didn’t even know. I wasn’t sure at the time; I wanted to be completely certain before I told him, now it’s too late.” Carol’s crying only worsened as she leaned heavily on her friend. “That’s why I can’t go with you. To be forty-two and pregnant, that’s risky enough. But living like a refugee, I’d lose Frank’s baby, I know I would. I can’t take that chance. I’m sorry, Hannah, otherwise I would go. I wouldn’t send you out there alone.” She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her eyes. “I feel like I’m abandoning you. I love you, you’re my best friend.”

The girl reached out and put an arm around her sobbing friend. “It’s okay, Carol, this is all part of God’s plan. Do you believe in God?”

She looked right at the girl with swollen eyes, “You know I do.”

“So this is God’s plan for both of us. I have to go and you have to stay. You’re an important part of this community, they need you here. Me, I’m needed elsewhere.”

Suddenly Tony spoke up; both women forgot he was even there. “The county line is coming up. You said to tell you when we got there.”

The truck slowed then turned around in the road and came to a stop.

Carol opened the door and stepped out with Hannah right behind her. Carol helped the girl put on her pack as gently as she could, finally handing the girl her rifle. “Well, I guess this is it.” She wiped her eyes again.

“Yeah ... I guess this is it.” Hannah was trying hard not to cry herself.

“You remember what I told you about Zenas, you check them out first. I don’t know anything about them but I’ve heard there’s some good people there.”

“All right ...”

They both looked at each other for one long awkward moment.

Reluctantly Hannah spoke again, “I guess I should go. I can do a lot of walking before the sun goes down.”

“Yeah ... you’re right.” Carol blotted her eyes a last time.

They both looked at each other for a few moments more and suddenly Carol bounded to her friend taking the girl in her arms. “I love you, Hannah.”

“I love you too.” The girl returned her friend’s embrace.

After a while, Carol finally broke their hold, “You should go. Be safe, be happy. You have to find your place in this world, girl.”

Hannah rolled her eyes and sighed.

“I mean ... woman.”

They both laughed.

Hannah waved one more good-bye and turned, pulled the compass from her pocket, and when she had her bearings started walking and never looked back.

Late that day, Hannah saw an old farmhouse there on the horizon and changed directions marching straight for it. Even at a distance you could tell it had been abandoned; the windows were shattered, the doors were swinging in the wind.

She stepped up on the porch, knocked, and then announced herself although it was apparent that not a soul had been inside for years.

Hannah walked from one end of the quiet house to the other, the only sound the wind that blew through. The furniture was overturned and broken, drawers were pulled out, cabinets open, the house had been thoroughly searched by someone.

No one lived here now except the spiders and the mice, but still askew on the walls were photos of the happy family of five that once called this their home.

She exited out the back ready to resume her journey and noticed an old-fashioned well there in the yard. Walking up to it, she threw the bucket in, it landed at the bottom with a dry hollow echo.

Hannah took a light from her pack and shined it down into the void. At the bottom was a dense collection of human bones all in a tangled pile.

Among the bones were five skulls of different ages and it appeared they all died exactly the same way.

As she stared down on one child’s skull, a single bullet hole in the back, Hannah couldn’t help but recall her last conversation with Rob, and what he said this world was coming to.