The Quell

by E S Richards

  The man was frantically trying to reload the gun, his hands shaking as he held it and making the task much more difficult for himself. Harrison didn’t delay. He leapt to his feet and turned his pistol on the half-armed man inside, pausing for just a second as the man looked up, noticed Harrison, and accepted his fate.

  Two down. The third and final round of explosions erupted just as the man’s body slumped over, the sawn-off shotgun still clutched in his hands. Through the noise, Harrison picked up on the sounds of bodies running toward him. The men from the tent where Amy was being kept were on the move now. The explosions from the dynamite carried them past the tent where Harrison was currently hidden and toward the back of the camp where Len and James lay out of sight behind a ridge.

  Cracking his neck from side to side, Harrison let the four remaining men jog past him, shouts carrying from one of them to the other and also beckoning for the two men Harrison had just subdued to help them. There was no time to waste now. It would take only a few seconds for the men to realize the explosions had merely been dynamite and then just a few seconds more to notice they were down two men.

  Holding his Glock fiercely in front of him, Harrison stepped out of the tent and sighted it at one of the men in the distance. They had all run past him and were now huddled around the holes in the ground that the dynamite had dug out. One of the rounds looked to have set off a bit closer to the fence than they had planned, bringing it down slightly and making it so someone could get in or out that way. Harrison didn’t like the look of that, knowing how close Len and James were to the four men. Readjusting his sights slightly, he squeezed his finger over the trigger and fired a shot, bringing a third man to the ground in front of his companions.

  Gunfire then filled the air. The three surviving men dove to the sides, jumping away from their friend who was instantly killed by Harrison’s shot to the back of his head. As Harrison hid once more inside the tent, watching through one of the bullet holes, he watched the men scrambling for pistols they kept in their waistbands, each firing wildly in random directions.

  It was a pointless exercise. None of them knew where the shot that killed their friend had come from and so, after they had each expanded their magazines, silence overtook the camp once more. Harrison continued to watch them carefully. Two withdrew spare magazines from somewhere on their person and reloaded their weapons. The third merely cowered in his place, his eyes darting around the camp in an attempt to try and find out what was happening.

  Harrison breathed deeply, taking his time as he assessed the situation. The men in front of him weren’t warriors. They weren’t fighters or men who had previously held roles or jobs of any great responsibility. They were thugs. Cowards who had seen the solar crash as an opportunity to exert authority over other people, picking on only those they knew were weaker than them. It was pathetic. Harrison knew exactly what they would have been like before all of this happened. Drinking too much in bars and ogling at women they could never get before becoming offended and aggressive when said women turned them down.

  With that in mind, what they had done to the women in this camp made sense. Harrison could understand their motives, but that didn’t mean he agreed with them. Though two of them had now reloaded their weapons, Harrison wasn’t troubled by that fact. He straightened his body and walked out into the open, aiming and firing his 9mm Glock at the men.

  One was dead before the others even reacted to what was happening. Harrison tried to take out those with weapons first, though one of them somehow managed to jump out of the way of his bullets. He kept walking forward though, confident in his abilities and unafraid of the man who was now firing at him. Bullets seemed to whizz past his body but thankfully none of them hit him. Harrison channeled that feeling and squeezed the trigger of his own weapon over and over, not stopping until he was the only surviving man in the camp.

  Letting out a low whistle in the silence that superseded the short gunfight, Harrison signaled to Len and James behind the ridge that he was the only survivor. It took only a couple of seconds for Len to appear, his eyes bouncing from one body to the next before they finally landed on Harrison.

  “Where is she?” Len quickly spoke up once he had determined his friend was safe and the camp no longer presented any danger. “Is she safe?”

  “I’ll get Amy,” Harrison replied, neither of them needing to raise their voices as the eerie silence that often followed death encompassed the camp. “Can you get our stuff over to those bikes?”

  Len nodded, knowing that it wasn’t his job to get to Amy but still wishing that it were. James beside him kept Len grounded though; in order for all four of them to escape the camp together, he needed to do what they had planned. Turning away from Harrison, Len turned back to where they had left their supplies. Despite Harrison killing the men in the camp, time was still of the essence to get everything sorted and make their getaway.

  Harrison echoed the same thought. Once Len was on the move he turned around and started jogging toward the tent where Amy was being kept. He didn’t know whether one of the men had locked it back up as they left and if so, he needed to find a way to get Amy out of there before Len and James returned. Both being around James and being en route to his daughter were giving Harrison strong paternal feelings and for some reason he didn’t want James to see his mother locked up in a tent. Even after everything the young boy had surely already experienced.

  That wouldn’t be a problem though. Not slowing his jog, Harrison watched as Amy and then Maggie exited the tent where they were being kept. Both stared at Harrison with confused expressions on their faces before they slowly recognized his figure. Slowing to a halt beside them, Harrison placed his hands on his hips and smiled, pleased to see both women had made it out alive.

  “Harrison,” Amy breathed as she came to terms with the fact the man stood in front of her again. “Where’s James? Where’s Len?”

  “They’re fine,” Harrison replied quickly, understanding Amy’s worry for her family. “They’re going to meet us at the bikes. Are you okay? And you too, Maggie?”

  “Yes,” Amy answered while Maggie offered a nod, the woman quite clearly anxious of their situation. “The bikes?”

  Harrison opened his mouth to reply but decided against it as Amy herself noticed the fleet of motorcycles that were kept in one corner of the camp and nodded. Her gaze didn’t stay on them long though, the sight of two figures jogging into the camp pulling it away. Len and James. They ran toward them, bags and supplies slung over their shoulders as they brought everything the group needed to survive. Harrison smiled. As far as he could tell, the rescue mission had been a success and they were going to make it out of the camp alive.

  Chapter 3

  As Amy flung her arms around James, Len felt like his world suddenly became complete again. At the same time however, he felt a surge of awkwardness and embarrassment over the whole situation. It was clear to him now that he loved Amy. He wasn’t sure whether he’d ever really stopped loving her, even throughout their separation and divorce. He had resented her for taking James away from him and for a number of other things, but when he seriously thought about it, he was uncertain whether he’d ever technically fallen out of love with the women.

  Now he was certain. Seeing Amy again and knowing that—aside from the damage caused in her fight with Maggie—no serious harm had come to her, Len felt incredibly relieved and thankful. He desperately wanted to wrap his arms around her body and never let go. To hold on to her until everything had gone back to normal and they could live their lives together in happiness like they had for many years. What made Len feel awkward though, was that he knew how unlikely that fantasy was.

  As Amy released their son from her arms and turned to face Len, gingerly embracing him in a hug and thanking him for saving her, Len couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. He loved Amy, yes, but he had no idea if she felt the same way. In fact, he was almost certain that she didn’t. She had been the one who said it was ove
r. She had been the one who decided to end their marriage and then, a month later, decided to move to a different state. Len had played a part in it all, but all the decisions had come from her. How could he expect her mind to have changed so much just because the world around them had?

  “Are you all right?” Len eventually forced himself to say, pushing all his emotions to the back of his head for the time being. This wasn’t the moment to think through his past relationship with Amy, nor to dwell on his rediscovered love for her. He hoped there would be a time in the future, but for now he had to get his family out of the labor camp and away to somewhere safe.

  “Yes,” Amy nodded, “thank you for coming for me.”

  “Of course, we came for you,” Len shook his head and resisted the urge to reach out and take Amy’s hand. “We couldn’t just leave you.”

  Amy closed her eyes for a moment and took in Len’s words. It meant a lot to her that Len and Harrison had rescued her; thinking about it now she doubted whether an escape would’ve been possible without them. But it wasn’t over yet. The group of them still loitered in the labor camp and the longer they stood and discussed, the more likely they were to be apprehended or caught.

  “We need to get out of here,” Harrison eventually spoke up, ever the voice of reason in their party. “I doubt anyone heard what happened, but there’s always a chance of it. We should take the bikes and go. Now.”

  “Okay,” Len nodded, quietly thankful for the distraction as he pulled his gaze away from Amy and to one of the motorcycles instead. “Err, how do they work?”

  Harrison quickly set about explaining the bikes to everyone. Len and Amy both listened intently, while Maggie hung about awkwardly to the side of their group. No one had said anything to her yet, and Len wondered whether the woman would be joining them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a couple of other women creeping out of the tent, their eyes scanning the surroundings before eventually landing on Len’s group.

  “I think we should get a move on,” Len interrupted the end of Harrison’s explanation, drawing the prepper’s attention to the increasing number of women watching them.

  Harrison nodded, wrinkling his brow slightly at the sight of the women. “Basically, keep the gear low and remember where the brake is,” he finished up. “I can take James on mine if you’d like?”

  “Okay,” Amy agreed after a short pause, contemplating how confident she felt driving a motorcycle. She and Len had rented quad bikes once when on vacation, but that was several years ago now and she had all but forgotten everything about them. At least if James was riding with Harrison then he was more likely to be safe. “Maggie, are you coming?”

  All the attention in the group was suddenly focused on the one outsider, Amy directly addressing whether Maggie would be joining them. Len had no strong feelings either way in regards to whether Maggie came with them, so long as she didn’t slow them down or put them in any further danger. As that thought occurred to him, he realized how much he had changed since everything happened. He should have been eternally indebted to Maggie for helping them rescue Amy, but no more than a few minutes had passed and he was already willing to leave her behind. Perhaps it was due to the people he had met previously on their journey from Chicago, or perhaps it was due to another reason. Whatever it was, Len didn’t carry the same regard for a stranger’s life that he once had. He wasn’t sure how that fact made him feel about himself.

  “I’ll come,” Maggie eventually replied in a quiet voice. “But I don’t think I can drive one of those.”

  “That’s all right,” Amy replied with a nod, “you can come with me.”

  “Okay then,” Harrison took a step forward to one of the bikes, lifting a compartment under the seat and shoving some of their supplies inside it. “Let’s get going, looks like these three all have the keys in the ignition.”

  Len bit his bottom lip and followed Harrison’s lead. He had hoped that Amy would be able to ride with him; the thought of her arms wrapped around his waist as they drove sent a shiver down his spine. Again though, that was a thought he was going to have to entertain later, if at all. They needed to leave the camp quickly and as a result he needed to take control of a bike himself.

  Swinging one leg over, Len mounted one of the vehicles and sat down, struggling to make himself comfortable with his rucksack still strapped to his back. The bow and quiver of arrows hung off his right shoulder as well, though Harrison had reclaimed the A3 rifle. Still, Len carried a lot of baggage and none of it was really the right shape to store within his bike. As a result, he shifted the items around on his back slightly until he felt more balanced, trying to determine where his center of gravity lay before turning the key in the ignition.

  At the roar of the bike’s engine—Len’s being the first one to start up as Harrison and Amy were both still getting situated with their riding partners—a gasp escaped Len’s mouth. Though he had traveled in the Dodge Fargo to South Haven not that long ago, the working technology still impressed him. As the motorcycle came to life, the whole thing started to shake beneath him, Len gripped the handlebars slightly tighter as he slowly became comfortable with it.

  “All right, Len,” Harrison spoke to the side of him, the prepper starting up his own engine as he spoke. “Now tuck in the kickstand.”

  Len watched as Harrison flicked the kickstand of the bike back up into the body with the heel of his right foot. James sat in front of Harrison, his son grinning at the power of the motorcycle that sat beneath him. Smiling at the fact that James at least was enjoying this to some extent, Len copied the action that Harrison had performed and flicked his kickstand up into the bike, allowing the vehicle to stand more upright with a little help from Len’s own legs.

  With all the noise and commotion, several more women had now joined those who were waiting near the entrance to the tent. Len kept an eye on them while Harrison guided Amy once more through starting up the bike; Maggie finally sat securely on back.

  “Do you know any of them?” Len called over the sounds of the engines to Amy and Maggie, drawing their attention to the other women as well. “Do you want to tell them that they’re free? They should make a run for it before the other men come back.”

  Neither woman replied to Len’s statement, though he watched Maggie lean forward slightly and whisper something in Amy’s ear just as she managed to get the bike up and running. It looked like Amy nodded in response and then a second later; Maggie dismounted the bike and jogged over to the group of women, all still watching the scene in disbelief.

  “Is she coming back?”

  “Yeah,” Amy called back in response to Harrison’s question. “She’ll meet us at the gate.”

  Upon hearing Amy’s statement, Harrison nodded and let his bike lurch forward, earning a small yelp from James, though Len was thankful to see his son looked perfectly secure tucked between Harrison’s body and the front of the bike. Seating James in front allowed Harrison to wear his rucksack on his back. And it appeared to have the added benefit of keeping James slightly safer, which Len was happy about.

  Following his friend’s lead, Len did as Harrison had instructed and slowly started to ease out on the clutch, listening for what Harrison had described as “the friction point.” Reaching it, Len felt the bike slowly start to creep forward, causing him to suddenly squeeze down on the clutch again and bring the bike to a halt. With a little more assurance, Len then repeated the motions, noticing Amy doing the same out of the corner of his eye. This time when he reached the friction point he twisted the accelerator, pushing power into the engine of the bike and forcing it forward.

  The journey was jumpy and unnerving at first, but as Len drove his bike closer and closer to the camp entrance, he gradually began to feel more control over the vehicle. Pulling up next to Harrison’s bike, he forced himself to feel confident in his ability to drive the bike over a longer distance.

  “Nice one, Dad,” James grinned at Len as he rested on his stationary bike while Harr
ison tugged open the large gate to the camp. Len assumed Harrison must have found a key from somewhere to get the gate open and was thankful his friend had thought of such a thing.

  “Not bad, eh?” Len smiled back at James just as Amy pulled up on the other side of him. “We’re like a little biker family.”

  James let out a giggle and even Amy cracked a smile, though Len could see how anxious she was feeling. He didn’t know what she’d experienced in the camp so far and he didn’t want to force her to endure any more time there than necessary. With the gate finally open, it was time for them to go.

  “Where’s Maggie?” Harrison questioned as he climbed back onto his bike, James shuffling forward slightly to make room. “It’s time to go.”

  “She’s coming,” Amy replied as she looked back over her shoulder, noticing Maggie jogging toward them at pace. “She’s coming now.”

  Len looked back to see the woman approaching, the group behind her having divided somewhat. A couple of the other women were standing next to the fourth and final bike, trying to figure out how to get the thing started so they could make their own escape. Some of the others were running over to the other tents, searching for supplies or something. There was one woman, though, who couldn’t have been any older than twenty-five who simply stood at the entrance to the tent and stared at their group. One of her arms was in a cast, while the other was housed in a poorly made sling, limiting her movement entirely. Still she stood there, motionless, watching Len and his group with a strange expression on her face.