Haven From Hell (Book 3): A Young Man's Game

by Won, Mark

  Once he got close I could smell the manure on him even from my impromptu hiding place. Janet said, “Hi, we’re set up over at the motel and I was wondering if we could borrow some food. All we’ve had to eat for days is boiled bird.” I was actually kind of fascinated listening to her make every conceivable mistake. I wondered what stupid thing would come out of her mouth next.

  What he said was, “Well, howdy, miss. My name’s Brandon, and I’m glad to make your acquaintance. I’m sure we could spare some vittles for you. If you want I could drive you back to your friends. Why don’t you come along the fence a piece until you come to a gate? It’s right over there.” I couldn’t see where he was motioning because as soon as Janet opened her stupid cow mouth I’d naturally ran and hid behind a tree.

  Janet said, “Sure, come on Gideon. Gideon… Where are you?” She turned about, trying to find me, but I remained hidden. There was no way I wanted that stranger to know my location. What if he had a gun and an evil intention? I mean, if Janet wanted to get herself killed that was her decision, why did she need to drag me along with her?

  She continued, “Gideon was here just a second ago. He’s a strange kid, he must have been scared when you came over. I’m so sorry.”

  Brandon said, “Well, don’t you worry none, I’m sure he’ll turn up with the turnips sooner or later. I didn’t catch your name, miss.”

  “Oh! I’m so sorry. Where are my manners. My name’s Janet. Janet Hawk.”

  “Well, aren’t you just the prettiest little bird? I can’t wait to introduce you to Ma and the family.”

  By that time, Janet had made it to the gate and been let through. I heard their voices dwindling in the distance and figured that I should get back to everyone at the motel before Brandon showed up.

  I suppose it sounds mean of me to just leave Janet in the clutches of some unknown element, but look at it from my point of view. She was where she wanted to be, and for all I knew the man in question was a really nice guy who had a love affair with manure. Maybe he was as good as his word and everything had just got better for all of us. But, if he were a bad man, I had to figure he wouldn’t just kill her. First, he’d learn from her that the main group was unarmed, and then go to the motel and kill everybody. So that’s why I wanted to get back, to warn everyone. I could deal with Brandon then.

  At a full out run, I managed to cut through the woods and get back to the motel shortly before Brandon showed up. Right off Mr. Hawk wanted to know where his daughter was.

  I said, “I left her with some farmer she met. She managed to get Brandon to promise to give her some food. They should be driving up pretty soon.”

  June, “Finally, something besides burned bird! I’d blow a bull for some decent food.” At least I think that’s what she said.

  Avery asked, “Why didn’t you stay with her?”

  “Are you nuts? I didn’t trust that guy. He smelled like pig crap!” Was that really why I didn’t trust him? I mean, aside from common sense. How shallow of me.

  “So you let my daughter run all the risks! You little *$%^&*, I ought to tan your hide you little chicken*$%^&*” Mr. Hawk was understandably upset. No excuse for the bad language though, what with two little kids present.

  I was saved from the general disfavor of the group by a beat up old pickup truck pulling up to the road out front. I ran and hid again, like anyone with sense would do, while everybody else stood around waiting to see what would happen. Only Mr. Owen even looked like he was ready to run.

  Brandon got down out of the driver’s seat slowly while Janet flew out of the passenger’s side and ran over to her father. She gave him a big hug and told everybody what wonderful luck it was that she found such nice people. Apparently we were saved. Brandon’s ma had said it would be a ‘perfect delight’ for all of us to stay with them for the duration. Apparently there were ‘plenty of vittles to go around’ and Ma wanted to have everyone over for supper that very evening. I still thought he stank to high heaven and couldn’t imagine how Janet had been able to sit in an enclosed cab with him.

  With just the one truck Brandon had to make three trips to pick everyone up. I had no intention of going. Tracer and I had been fine long before falling in with these suicidally optimistic morons and we’d be fine long after they were dead and gone. Which, if my instincts were right, would be in about an hour. My only question was the point of it all. I understood that Janet, June, and Aria were all pretty, but if they were all Brandon wanted then why not just kill everyone else and be done? I wish he had tried, I’d been ready for that. Maybe he didn’t have a gun. Maybe it was just him and his ‘ma’ and he didn’t want to take any chances. I decided to go back to the farmhouse and find out for myself.

  The last of them had left without me. They were all so eager to be off in the clutches of the unknown that they hadn’t even bothered to call out for me. Which was just as well, I guess, since that had made it easier to remain hidden.

  I made my way back to the farmhouse, running by the pale moon light. The way the silvery moon leered over the forest and fields, casting its baneful shadows, showering me with the promise of terrors unknown, made me shiver in anticipation. I began to hum the ‘Hymn to Joy’. I just knew I was in for an exciting night.

  Chapter 9

  The first thing I did when we got to the electric fence was ask Tracer if there was anybody on guard. He said no. After that I stealthily made my way over to the gate and checked it out. It was, in fact, a gate. One easily opened, at that. The only problem I had with that idea was that as soon as I did so the current to the rest of the fence would be interrupted. I wasn’t sure if there was any kind of alarm system linked to it or not. I didn’t think Brandon and his ‘family’ would necessarily have possessed the skill set needed to rig up the equivalent of a bank vault alarm system, but I did think that a simple idiot light, maybe attached to a noise maker, a radio or some such, probably wasn’t beyond them. It wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation to assume that the fence had something to indicate when the current had been disrupted.

  With that in mind I approached an amateurishly made section of wire and wood. It was only four feet high so I could have easily dove over it, but I had to consider Tracer. He has little legs and I wasn’t sure he could make the jump. Also, I had a sneaking suspicion that the current running through that fence was higher than the law would allow. Right off, I warned Tracer to keep back from the whole thing.

  I would have liked to have tried an experiment. Maybe knock off the lower wire with some strategically placed ‘deadfall’ and see who, if anyone, came out to investigate. But I didn’t feel like I had the time, so I just ordered Tracer to go on patrol while I jumped the fence.

  Once on the other side, I made my way to the main house, keeping low and moving through the corn until I got quite close. I noted no security cameras en route, nor any floodlights. Also, no dogs started barking, which I thought was strange. When I got up to the side of the house I began making my way along the perimeter, keeping my ears open for any voices from inside. I had to figure that a whole family with a bunch of visitors would make plenty of noise while either getting acquainted or committing murder.

  If my guess was right then was that Brandon’s family would want to continue to put everyone at ease until all the newcomers were asleep. Then they would attack. Or maybe the next day Brandon would lead them off one by one by using a series of pretexts, and then dispatch them, until only the women and kids were left. That’s how I would have done it, anyway. The whole thing implied a shortage of ammunition on the part of the villains.

  On my way around the house I found where the wires to the electric fence went into the basement. I could faintly hear the hum of a generator but couldn’t see through the window well, it was too dark. Eventually, as I made my circuit, I did hear the general hubbub of a social gathering. The clink of plates, tableware, and glasses, the happy voices, so full of gratitude and graciousness. All that noise. I must have been right under a dinin
g room window. By counting voices I could tell that there were only four people playing host inside. Three men and one woman. Good. If push came to shove four people would be a snap to kill under the right circumstances. The part that got me was how much the farm near that window stank of pig crap. I know that sort of thing is supposed to be normal for a farm, but those hicks had clearly taken fertilizer to a whole new level. Situated, as I was, just under the window, my eyes were beginning to water.

  The stink hadn’t been so bad at first, just the faintest whiff and hardly noticeable, but the longer I inhaled that porcine wretchedness the worse it got. The cloying miasma had started to feel like someone had poured hydrogen peroxide in my eyes, and it was all I could do to not vomit. I had to retreat.

  Thinking that everyone was at least safe for the moment (although wondering how any of them could stand such a dreadful malodorous aroma), I decided to try looking around the place. I wanted to see what I could discover about my friends’ new hosts. Rushing in and killing them all did come to mind, but if I had just burst in on them during dinner, and killed all of Brandon’s family, who would have thanked me? Suddenly I would have been the bad guy! It may not seem fair but that’s the way the world works. Also, I was beginning to seriously consider that I was having an overreaction. So far, I hadn’t actually seen anything suspicious. I’m not sure what I hoped to find by poking around, but a secret stash of.44 caliber ammunition would have been nice. The garage was closest so I went there first.

  Immediately outside the garage I was impressed by a bunch of big farm machines that looked like the kind of things that are supposed to get hauled around by a tractor. Inside, I was unimpressed by the lack of ammunition. There was a nice big tractor, however, and the pickup truck that I’d seen earlier. Also, there were a bunch of long handled farm tools stuck in a couple of heavy cardboard barrels. More tools, of a dizzying variety, were hung up on a wall near a workbench, behind the vehicles. About what I’d expected. Time to check out the barn.

  On my way over to it I had the feeling that something was missing. It took a second before I realized that it was the cats. Uncle had told me once that cats were so common on a farm that some farmers considered them as pestilential as the mice they hunted. That’s why it was so important for farmers to have their barn cats fixed.

  I had very little personal experience with such things, only having visited a farm with Uncle on one occasion, but I had to trust him. After all, he’d never been wrong about anything else. With a smile I concluded that cat was probably what everyone was eating for dinner. Give me a grilled country pigeon any day! Not a city pigeon, though, those things would gag a maggot.

  I also had discovered no dogs whilst traipsing about the property, and that was very strange. I could see eating all the cats, but the dogs, too? And what kind of self respecting farmer wouldn’t own a dog? That didn’t make any sense. Dogs are way more useful than cats, even in greatly fewer numbers. One thing they’re especially useful for is, for example, protecting the property from total strangers wandering around after dark. When I’d conceived my intrusion plan I had thought that I would either have to kill a few dogs or maybe bribe them with some leftover juicy bird bits. As things were, I was beginning to become a little embarrassed by the ease of it all.

  There was a building behind the barn which I recognized as a chicken coop. It was surrounded by chicken wire and what I took to be some kind of feeding machine. All the chickens were in for the night.

  The barn was simple enough to slip into. I was surprised to find a couple of cows enclosed within stalls. They both looked over to me with curious bovine expressions, entirely fearless. I didn’t want to disturb them at such a late hour, for fear of bringing Brandon or one of his brothers out to investigate. They did make me wonder, though. If my previous guess regarding the fate of all the cats and dogs were correct, then what were Daisy and Bessie doing outside of the farmers’ bellies?

  I didn’t see any evidence of pigs anywhere, either. So where did all the pig manure come from, which I’d been smelling around the house? I hadn’t seen any anywhere, but wherever it was, it was pretty fresh and of a distinctly separate aroma from cow manure. Even from just my one trip to a farm I could tell that much.

  I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to learn anything else by searching the outbuildings, so I went back to Tracer and set up a tree camp. Without my usual accoutrements, sleeping in a tree is next to impossible. Tracer had to stay on the ground. I made sure to set my internal clock for just one hour. Then I headed back to the house to see what everyone was doing after supper.

  I crept back to my previous hiding spot, and noting a lessened stench, discovered that the dinner had ended and the party had moved into some other room. I was only able to catch a few faint notes of conversation, nothing I could translate into words, but I could tell everyone was still alive. The voices were coming from an unknown adjacent room.

  Said room was easy enough to discover. All I had to do was follow my nose. Where the stench was the most pervasive, there was the window of the room which had everyone in it. Again the vomitous foulness crept up on me, but in spite of the stink I listened in, hoping to learn what everyone’s sleeping arrangements would be. Someone would have to keep guard through the night, and it was a sure bet nobody else was going to do it. Shortly after I began eavesdropping, I overheard enough to learn that everyone would be sleeping upstairs that night, and that it was ‘passed time to be turning in for the night’.

  I thought about climbing the exterior of the building and trying to keep watch from that position, but it seemed like too much work, so I went to the front door and rang the doorbell. When the door opened it was like getting hit in the face with a sledgehammer made out of raw sewage. A man, presumably one of Brandon’s family, stood there as I choked back my vomit and my eyes teared up. I was so repulsed by the fecal assault I was reduced to speechlessness. The man said something, but I couldn’t make it out past the pounding in my own ears. An elderly woman made her way to the door, and the strength of the aroma nearly doubled.

  I fought to get control of myself. Eventually I became conscious of a whole crowd of people at the door, including all my new friends. Everyone looked real concerned for my well being. Finally, I remembered my mace and riot gas training. I was able to master my reactions enough to pretend to be merely crying.

  I said, “I’m so sorry I ran off. I don’t know what to do. Please help me.” After that everyone was exceptionally conciliatory. Brandon’s ma, Mrs. Bradbury, took me under her wing with the utmost sympathy. Keeping the tears flowing required absolutely no effort on my part as she placed one stench riddled arm around my shoulder and ushered me inside, into the kitchen. She said something about leftovers and that was just too much. I lost it. Next thing I knew I was on my knees vomiting up yesterday’s dinner (sparrow, corn mush, and mourning dove).

  Mr. Hawk was only to happy to gloat about the dangers of eating wild fowl, not that he hadn’t been eating from the same pot. Janet seemed to have forgotten everything we’d spoken of in the woods and had developed a new look of condescending pity for me. Mr. Smith had the good grace to appear embarrassed by my unmanly behavior while his wife tried to offer some words of comfort. Jeremy just looked on in wide eyed wonder at my uncharacteristic display. June was mostly disgusted by the vomit. Kim looked concerned but out of his depth (as usual). Aria had her eye on Brandon’s family, looking to see how they’d react. She was mostly worried about my behavior being an embarrassment and wondering what she might have to say to excuse it. Mr. Owen, real casual like, had placed one of his hands on a (cleaned) hammer head (he always kept his hammers in his belt loops). That man saw straight through me. Poor Isabella looked totally confused. She knew I was faking, too, but had no idea why or what it could mean. All of Brandon’s family seemed completely taken in by my impromptu deception. After all, they didn’t know me.

  Eventually, everyone calmed down and I was hustled off to bed. A room had been prepare
d. While being tucked in, Mrs. Bradbury and Mrs. Smith took my girls from me. I got stripped and got some some little kid pajamas instead, something with bright cars and bunny feet. There wasn’t much I could do about it unless I wanted to break my cover. They got my liberated cop gun, Zippy, and Bob too. Mrs. Bradbury snagged both derringers and my multi-tool. Those two ladies even got my belt off me (I didn’t think either of them noticed the little secret pocket stitched to the inside or the tiny sharp point riveted in the middle of the back). I got the distinct sense that Mrs. Bradbury was searching my clothes. She reeked so bad I might have just given her everything if it would’ve gotten her away from me an instant sooner.

  As soon as I had been tucked in, Avery and Mr. Owen came in to see me. Avery chuckled to see my humbled circumstances but not in a mean way. He said, “You just try to get some rest now. We’ve found some real help,” implying either that I wasn’t really helpful or that the ‘Haven’ I’d mentioned wasn’t real, I couldn’t tell which. He continued, “You don’t have to pretend anymore. Just relax and we’ll talk in the morning.” Then he left, thank God.

  After Avery left Mr. Owen got real close, and very quietly asked, “Are we in danger?”

  I answered, “Maybe. Sleep on the floor in front of your door tonight.” He nodded and left.

  I got out of bed and moved around the room. I listened at every wall, trying to tell what was being said. Although I could hear the sounds of voices, they were to distant to make out. I decided to take my own advice and got down on the floor with my feet at the door. I thought that the stink of the place would make sleeping impossible but I was wrong. I wondered if we’d all wake up in the morning. I wondered if I had just been overreacting. I wondered where all the cats and dogs were. I wondered if the moonlight were mocking me. Then I slept.