by Sally Six
He turned to watch as the other gang members followed suit. He also looked over the area that they were now in and around on the hills. He smiled as he saw small dots of people climbing the mountains and hills around them and a few riding down the road on bicycles.
Big Jim pointed to his men. He called them his hounds and pointed up the hills and down the road. That’s all it took. Seven men headed for the hills and seven down the road after the bicyclers. They had nets and bolos around their shoulders. Big Jim then turned back to the house and checked the door. He thought he was going to have to break it down, but all he had to do is turn the knob. This was a little fishy. There didn’t seem to be anyone around to put up a fuss. Where in the world was that flea Scat? He didn’t think it was going to be such a cakewalk. He had expected somewhat of a fight so he was disappointed. He loved a good fight. He walked back out the front door.
“Weasel, Whitey, Tag and Pitbull, go around the back of the house. If anyone finds that Scat having fun when he shouldn’t be. Let me know right away? Now go.”
Big Jim thought about how well trained his men were. All those practices that he had them go through while they grumbled about the whys had really paid off.
The men took off quickly around the house, two to the right and two to the left with guns drawn, but still trying to be stealthy. They didn’t see a thing as they met up at the back door. The back door opened and Big Jim came out of it. He looked at his men.
“Not a soul in the house,” he said. “Anyone look in that shed or the garage?”
With that remark from Big Jim, they didn’t have to be told twice. Weasel and Pitbull headed for the shed while Whitey and Tag headed for the garage. The garage was closer so Tag and Whitey came right back out. “No one in there,” said Tag.
They heard a gang yell come from the shed. They all, including Big Jim, headed that way. With guns in hand, they sided up to the door and Big Jim looked inside. He holstered his gun and went in when he saw there was no danger. Weasel and Pitbull were standing around Scat who was trussed up good. “Hog tied, yeah that’s it,” thought Big Jim. “This is called being hog tied. I like it.”
Scat was awake, but didn’t look very good. He was white and looked sweaty. No one had made a move to remove the rag from his mouth. They hated to do anything without orders from Big Jim while he was with them. They knew the consequences.
Big Jim said. “Okay take the rag out his mouth. Let’s see what he has to say for himself.”
Whitey bent down and pulled the rag from Scats mouth. That made Scat howl with fear. When he had calmed down, he started chanting. “Water, water, I need water. Please water.”
Big Jim looked over at Weasel and told him to go grab some water from the kitchen of the house so they could get more out of this idiot than just the words water. Weasel went to the house as fast as he could grabbing a coffee cup from the sideboard by the sink. It had some water in it and he rushed back out to the shed. By the time he got back to the shed, Scat was untied and trying to sit. They didn’t know that Scat had broken bones and were being very impatient with him.
“You dumb crap. Sit up so that we can talk to you.” Big Jim said.
Scat managed a kind of sitting leaning against the shed wall.
“I’m hurt Big Jim. She hurt me bad. Beat me with a baseball bat.” Scat said groaning and moaning.
“What do you mean? Beat you with a baseball bat. A woman did this to you all by herself. What happened to the other two people that were with her?”
If Scat had been in his right mind and not in this condition, he would have never told the truth. He would have known better. Instead the tale came out of how the two on the bikes disappeared. When he went to look for them around the house, he woke up all tied up in this shed. At least that’s what he guessed the place was with all the tools and such.
“Then this woman started to ask me questions. Before I could even answer, she whacked me with that bat of hers. She kept asking me questions and whacking me. I think she broke some bones in my left arm and in my legs.” He was down to gasping at this point and getting slower in speech. “I need a doctor, Big Jim.”
All Big Jim did was swear at Scat and tell Scat what a screw up he was for losing the people on the bikes and for letting a broad do this to him. Big Jim stood up from where he was squatting and said to the others, “Let’s go.”
They all walked out of the shed following their leader. The only one that looked back was Weasel. He and Scat had gotten along pretty good. He would miss him, but not enough to go against Big Jim. Even the fact that Scat had shot the man that had knocked Big Jim down a few days back didn’t count for anything with Big Jim. It was just something that he expected from his men. Scat watched them walk out. In his fevered mind, he thought they were going for a doctor for him. It never dawned on him nothing could have been further from the truth.
By the time that they reached the front of the house, Big Jim could see his men were rounding up the slaves very nicely indeed. The ones that had rode bicycles were now being herded back on those same bikes and were almost to the house. His other men were going from house to house looting and stealing anything that looked good to them. They also knew that Big Jim would get the lion’s share of everything and anything that he wanted.
The gang spent the night here. As Big Jim’s usual, they partied all night and slept until 12:00 to 1:00 PM. Big Jim, his two captains, the historian and a couple of others went back to Boise while the hounds and others herded the new slaves to Boise.
The slaves had been tied neck to neck with three feet of room between them. The old had been killed right out as well as the very young. Those children six years old and over were kept. On the way back some parents were allowed to carry their young if that didn’t slow them down. That way the children could grow into slaves not remembering what freedom really was. At least that was Big Jim’s idea of things.
* * *
As the three entered the beginnings of McCall not far from the Welcome to McCall sign, they had just gone past a small Baptist church. A larger church was about a half mile down the road from it. They saw a big gathering in the churchyard of the bigger church. It looked new. The name of the church was the Mountain Life Church. They could see the sign as they rode up. Brian looked over and saw a heavyset man talking to two young men and pointing their way.
They had been spotted apparently and the young men started running towards them yelling. “Wait, wait. Do you have news? Where are you from? Wait. Stop.”
Brian thought. “Gee whiz what do we look like, the daily news. Do I have a sign on me or something?” The three of them were even with the entrance when the boys reached them. They came to a stop and dismounted from their bikes. As they stopped, they could see the others in the churchyard had stopped talking and were mostly all turned around looking their way.
Brian looked over at his mom and Barb. “One of these days these stops are going to get us in trouble. The only reason that I can see for stopping is because these folks are where they are.”
Brian could see people standing around barbeque grills and fire pits right out here in the open like everything was just hunky dory. There were tents and tarps out back on the large lawn and in the trees behind that. Children by the score were running willy-nilly everywhere.
Chapter 17
Friends
The taller of the two boys decided to speak up before his buddy.
“Please, Pastor Bill was wondering if you would come over and talk to him about any news you have. It would be greatly appreciated.”
Beulah and Barb looked to Brian.
“Oh why not? We might as well as we’re stopped now. Take us to your leader.”
Everyone got a chuckle out of that line.
His mom and Barb just gave him a nod and smiled. The two young men just looked strangely at each other. Like huh, what’s going on? These two older women have the boy make the decisions. As they walked over to where the Pastor and three other men st
ood, they all introduced themselves. The two teenagers’ names were Ted and Bret Campbell. Ted was the oldest. They ran errands along with a couple other teams of teens. By the end of this conversation, they were at a picnic table. A rather large man stood up and introduced himself as Pastor Bill Williamson. The other men were also standing by now and the Pastor introduced them as Amery Black, Phil Knoll and Merle Lester.
“I am Brian Reynolds. This is my mother, Beulah, and our friend, Barb Yoder.”
The Pastor spoke up. “We were wondering where your trio has come from? What you’ve seen? What’s going on out there? We haven’t had any news for quite a while now from the outside world. We were about to send a party down to the Boise area in a few days to see what was going on and when the National Guard or someone was going to be coming up this way.”
Pastor Bill then sat down and invited Brian, his mom and Barb to sit with them. Brain took in all the people around the church building as he sat and frowned. Brian was surprised. So that’s why they are all out here in the open like this. They’re waiting to be helped in some way.
Brian could only shake his head. “Well Pastor Bill, my mom and I are from Mountain Home, but our friend, Barb, is from Horseshoe Bend.”
Bill brightened up with that bit of news and so did the other men.
“The problem is that we don’t have any good news for you. We barely escaped with our lives both from where we lived and Horseshoe Bend.”
Brian then left it in the Pastor’s lap with that statement. Just then, they were interrupted by a young lady of about twelve years of age.
“Pastor Bill, its lunch time. Do you and the Elders want your lunch here?”
Bill turned to her. “Yes Betty, go ahead and have them bring it over here. Make sure there are plates for our three guests also.”
Young Betty took off right away. Brian could see that she ran over to where a woman matching Bill in size was cooking over an outdoor grill.
Bill noticed the trio looking at the line of grills and cooking pits.
“We also have a small kitchen in the building, but we can’t cook in there. It’s of no use to us. It’s an all-electric kitchen. That’s really one thing that I wish I had listened to somebody about and put in propane. The only saving grace on our water is that I did let Festus talk me into putting an old fashion pump up outside. All I saw was it coming in handy for cookouts and things like that. It’s in the small shed to the right of the building.”
Everyone looked over to where a few youngsters were seen hauling buckets from the shed.
“Yep, that sure was a smart. We wish we had listened about more things, but can’t cry over spilt milk.”
Bill was shaking his head and glanced at the other men. They nodded their ascent like they knew just exactly who and what he was talking about.
Merle piped in. “What were you saying young man about not having good news for us?”
Brian went on to recount his mom’s and his experiences since the trouble began. The men’s’ frowns grew deeper and deeper. Then Barb went on to tell them what happened at her house after Brian and Beulah left her place. You could have heard a pin drop around the table when she finished. Phil asked Barb a few more questions and asked if she was one hundred percent sure of that gang really existed.
Barb grew red. “Don’t you dare treat me like what I just told you wasn’t true? My husband is dead and I have left my home. The two of us worked hard for all we had. Do you really think I would leave my home on a whim? Don’t you think I’d made sure that gang member was telling the truth?”
Phil hung his head and Bill spoke up. “Sorry about that madam. I don’t think Phil meant it the way that he said it.”
“Well he darn well better not have.” She had a hard time not glaring at Phil.
She thought, “Calm down, calm down.” She just tried to look around and not say anything else. As Barbara looked around, she noticed food being taken into the building with a few women coming out to help bring other trays inside. A few young women with little ones went inside as the food was being taken inside.
The Pastor saw her watching and told her most of the little ones eat inside where the mothers have more control over them. The food was good. It included hot dogs, venison burgers, beans and whatever everyone could donate to the meal.
The churchmen seemed very concerned as they all finished their meal. They weren’t saying a whole lot and seemed deep in thought.
Brian finished his last bite. “I hate to mention this, but aren’t you and your people a little nervous about being this out in the open? I haven’t really noticed any guards. I certainly didn’t as we got closer to you today. Don’t you think you really ought to find a more secluded place to live for now?”
Pastor Bill said. “Well, Merle here is our security officer. He had been mentioning that very same thing this morning, but quite a few of us thought moving our fellowship wasn’t necessary. We may have to rethink that now. So many of our people were so sure the government was going to get this straightened out and back to normal quickly.”
Brian was surprised at this remark. He thought all of them being out here in the open like this did give him a clue on their mindset.
“Look, I hate to say anything to you, but I think this may end up a very dangerous situation with your people out here like this. If someone sometime sees you they are going to come looking to see just what your group has that they want such as food or anything else. I wouldn’t be expecting any help from the outside for a long time to come. They have enough trouble on their hands with the nuked cities to be worrying about any of us. That includes the criminal element that is running rampant right now. My grandfather has been telling me and preparing as much as he has been able to for something like this. They even moved out into the boonies to get away from town and the problems that would bring. He told me this last summer to watch the news as things didn’t look good around the world and wouldn’t you know he sure was right. Haven’t you had anyone in your church group or that you know that has had an idea something like this could happen?”
The four leaders exchanged glances and Merle said. “I have to admit it but there is. We have a man and his family that don’t stay here with us, but comes every other day or so to check on us. He brings us cheese, eggs and milk. His name is Festus Plummer. He tried to get us to come out to his place which is further in the mountains by about ten miles east of here up further in the woods. Festus found us gathering here and said that he was all set for people to come to his place. He had been setting up for something like this for years. We just thought that he was a bit out of his gourd, but now it seems he was the smart one. We told him we wanted to be available for help as soon as the National Guard or some other branch of the military rolled in here. He said he would be back and to set up guards, but we just haven’t gotten around to it. So you think no one will come here with all the trouble and your grandfather thinks this too?”
Brian looked down at his empty plate then looked up at Merle. “Sir let me ask you something.”
“Go ahead son.”
“Here goes. If you still need some convincing, we have been attacked by other countries and from what we understand we’re in the middle of World War III.”
Brian met the eyes of each of the older men. “Many cities have been wiped off the face of the earth. There are dead and dying maybe by the millions. We may even be invaded or have already been. I bet they will wait for fallout to dissipate and starvation to take its toll first so they have less people to fight. Another thought is that we have hit them back hard enough that they have some of the same problems. They may never be able to invade now. That’s the one I am hoping for. The thing for sure is that there is no way we are going to have things go back to normal anytime soon or see any help and food coming from branches of the government. You are in deep trouble and need to be worrying about how you are going to make it through the winter.”
The Pastor wasn’t looking very happy. “Festus basica
lly told us the same thing. I thank you young man for your input and your grandfather is a smart man and he has taught you well. Thank you as well Barb. I know this must be difficult for you at this time. We need to gather the folks and tell them what’s going on and begin to pack. We also need to send a couple of young men to Festus’s place and tell him we have changed our minds. We will gladly take him up on his offer of refuge at his place. Hopefully he can bring his two wagons to help bring the young to his place. We have a few horses, but not many so many people will have to ride bikes and walk.”
Merle got up and went over to the Campbell camp to get Ted and Bret to take word to Festus.
Amery who hadn’t said a word as yet stood up. “You mean you are going to take their word for it that this stuff is happening out there? Well I for one will not be going to that nut Festus’s place and neither will my family. I bet several others won’t either if I have anything to say about it. We need to be here when help arrives, right where they can find us.”
“WHAT? Haven’t you heard a thing? The bad guys are killing people and taking slaves out there.” Barb was shouting. People around the camp stopped and stared at what was going on at the leaders table.
“Sorry, I didn’t really mean to shout. I just can’t believe you are unwilling to believe us Amery.”
“That’s Mr. Black to you young lady. How dare you speak to me like that. There is no way that I can believe the world has sunk to barbarism that quickly. A few local incidents maybe have occurred. We are just too civilized now for such things. I for one do not believe it’s that widespread. The government always takes care of its people. Look what they did for all those people after Hurricane Katrina and the other hurricanes. Why should we be any different?” With that he stormed off.
