by Sally Six
Louise jumped again. Tammy had asked her something. Gads too much wool gathering as she sat thinking of the past few weeks.
“Louise would you like some more milk for breakfast?”
“Oh no Tammy thank you. I am stuffed to the gills. I haven’t eaten that much in over a month at one sitting.”
Tammy had already asked Betty. Betty had also declined.
“All right then, Betty and Louise I am going to take this milk back to the spring house. I’ll be back in a second.”
As Tammy was headed back into the house, she could see Toby going around the barn on his rounds. She didn’t know where Carla was, but Tammy knew she had to be close and having her grandmother around made her feel safe. Man I wonder what my friends are doing back in the city. I guess that I should say how they are doing. Some of those girls are freaking out I bet because they can’t blow-dry their hair. I wonder if we will ever be able to do things like that again?
When Tammy stepped back into the kitchen she found the two women washing their dishes and cleaning things up. They were slow but they were doing it. Tammy thought, “good the sooner they help and get on with things. The sooner they will feel better.” Both women were black and blue with old and new marks and that’s just the ones Tammy could see.
Noise could be heard outside like a lot of people coming up on the porch.
Tammy exclaimed, “Wow, they’re back already.”
Tammy took off for the living room as the door was being opened. Olive was the first through the door. Louise and Betty were walking in behind Tammy and felt out of place. It wouldn’t take them long to not.
David came in after Olive.
“Man alive, I sure am glad to have that chore done. I know it won’t most likely be the last time but I sure hope so.”
Gramps was standing beside David with a strange look on his face.
“What’s wrong Gramps? You looked worried about something.”
“I am David. Those four bikers that got away have me worried. The last thing that I want is for them to get more people together and come back for revenge. I think we need to be extra vigilant for a while maybe a few months. I just don’t like it that they got away.”
The family that was already in the house took in what Theo had said. They thought he had a good point. This should worry them all. Later they talked about it with the others so they could make sure everyone was more watchful during guard duty for quite a while to come.
***
If only they had known at the ranch what was being told around to the different biker gangs that Canker and Whitey had met up with. Then Big Bertha and Chrissie also. The main theme was you didn’t want to go to a certain place in the Sierras. A very large gang had taken over a ranch there off the main highway a little over an hour from Reno. They had wiped the road up with the Hornets. They were the only ones left. Yep just the two of them had survived. Each duo thought they were the only survivors.
It was about eight months before Canker and Whitey met up with Big Bertha and Chrissie at a bar in Barstow, California. The bar was lit by lanterns and had homemade moonshine. The town had pretty well been taken over by bikers. They made a big night of it and Bertha and Chrissie joined up with the new gang that the men were in. Well it was an old one really. They were all in the Hells Angels together now and the only way out was death and that didn’t take long to happen. A fight broke out between the Hessians and the Hell’s Angles who had been enemies for decades. Half of both gangs died after three days of all-out war including the former Hornets.
* * *
Back at the ranch, Toby found five three-week-old wolf pups further out on the ranch weeks later when he was doing a round of guard duty. They were nearly starved to death. He brought them in and he and the others helped hand feed them. They turned into the most loyal dogs a family could have asked for.
As things go, six months later Red married Betty and Buck married Louise.
It was more of a hand fast double marriage with Theo officiating until a real preacher came along some day, but that’s all they had. Then a month later Juan asked Carla for her hand in marriage. She accepted. Juan walked around every day with this huge grin on his face.
Life got into a pretty good routine at the ranch. The mini calf grew up and now they have two more mini cows.
Theo’s fears were never realized about being attacked by a bigger Biker gang. Kate and Bert were fixing to marry in June of the New Year.
They made contact with the Carleton ranch twelve miles away to the north and the families traded milk, eggs, cheese, one wolf and chickens with the O’Dell ranch. They bred the Brown Swiss with the Carleton’s Guernsey bull and are waiting to see what the calf looks like. The O’Dell ranch now has three sheep, one ram and four ewes traded for a mini cow. Theo thinks that mutton doesn’t taste so bad after all. He wondered about it after being a cattleman all his life.
After five months of labor and the small shack he was locked up in every night, Wilbert became a ranch hand. You wouldn’t have recognized him. He didn’t recognize himself. Healthy again, muscled and he even started going to Theo’s Sunday morning Sunday school meetings. He couldn’t figure out how he had gone so wrong and been so stupid. He apologized to Olive and the rest of the family for the trouble he had helped cause. Wilbert had started to date a girl from the Carleton ranch. He went back to the things he had been taught as a child, manners for one and consideration for others.
They still fight off a few men now and then. They stopped some cattle rustlers, but that was the extent of the battles for the next few years. The wolves were good guards and alerted the family to most people before they got too close. Word got around. Don’t bother the O’Dell ranch or you will end up six feet under in a pit. But you know some people they never listen.
Chapter 26
The Leaving
The Idaho cave:
Today was the day that they were to leave the well-enforced cave. Six long months had passed. Ellen’s husband, Ed, and his best friend, Peter, had gone out a little further from the cave each day for two weeks to see how things were. They had found a few dead at the closer homes on the main road. The folks had been killed which was an easy one to tell.
The families looked like they had been dead a few months, but by now they didn’t even smell. It was now April and beginning to warm up at least into the 40’s to 50’s during the day. After finding the first dead couple both shot in the head and their home ransacked. They had waited a couple more days before heading back out again. That had really shaken them up. But it hadn’t mattered. It looked like the killers had gotten theirs too in the long run. The next two homes they found had dead lying inside and out. Too bad the bad guys had taken the good with them. If some had gotten away, hopefully by now they were long gone out of the area. The cave families would just have to be careful and keep good guards as yet if not indefinitely.
The families in the cave had voted and they were all headed to Ellen and Ed’s home. It was the farthest out away from anyone else. They would use the old sawmill a few miles down the road and get lumber to build extra homes during the summer. Ellen and Ed’s home and garage would have to house some of them for the time being.
It was 7:00 AM, they had been up for two hours to feed everyone and pack the rest of their things. The other things had been packed for days now and the chickens prepared to move. Ellen was pretty darn nervous about leaving the cave and upset to think she may be facing killers outside and putting her children in danger. But they couldn’t stay in here forever and now was the time to leave. They needed to start getting the ground ready for a large garden and rounding other things up that they would need to survive the next winter. Not to mention the months and years to come. Hard to believe in the 21st century that they had gone back in time. The spring, summer and fall would be spent preparing for winter like a hundred or more years ago. Ellen was so glad of the things that her parents had taught her in her youth. She sure would use them now.
The last six months hadn’t been idle. They had held home school to the moans and groans of all the children. Along with schooling, all were taught old axe throwing, skinning, trap making, tracking, cooking wild animals, tanning, making moccasins and clothing from the leather, knitting and other yarn arts and finding wild foods. This and other things that they were learning was from what they knew from experience themselves or from books Otis had brought. Also anything else the families thought they might need to know in the years to come. So they had a pretty intense learning period.
Margaret was taught these things along with the children to her chagrin. But her husband, Peter, insisted that there wouldn’t be any more frozen pizzas and boxed meals for her to cook. She learned how to bake a pretty mean loaf of bread and pot of beans. Peter was much happier about that fact. She got back at him for teasing her when he also had to learn yarn craft to help keep the family in socks, mittens, sweaters and other articles of clothing. In the years to come even with the boys learning, he had to help to keep them better clothed. He wasn’t the best at it by a long shot but he got the hang of it.
The time came to leave and they were all packed. Ed looked around at his family and friends as they stood by the three vehicles with the trailers. They had gotten his dad’s truck running after going to town and finding the parts. Thank goodness it wasn’t a new truck. Not being able to buy a new truck had been a blessing in the long run. Who would have thought such a thing just a few months back?
“Alright,” Ed said. “Time to load um up and head out.”
His dad looked at him and chuckled. “Who do you think you are Will Favor from Raw Hide?”
Ed just grinned. Maybe that old western show had been in his mind at the time. He hadn’t really thought about it. So all their goods, minus a lot of food, a few things from the cave they wanted, plus chickens and away they went.
Ed and Ellen along with their children led the way out of the cave. Ed thought maybe they should have had the women and children in the last vehicle, but he had been voted down. His dad, Otis, and his mom were next and then Peter and his family. This seemed very strange now. Everyone being out of the cave at the same time. But they had looked forward to the fact they could see sunshine again anytime they wanted too and breathe fresh air.
They had the vehicles spaced about a quarter mile apart so they wouldn’t be all clumped together and get fired on all at once if that situation came up. It wasn’t long and they were halfway home. Ellen could hardly wait to be back in her own home even if it would be crowded for a few months. They were rounding a long corner in the road when they started to pass the motorcycles.
Ellen and Ed both gasped at the same time. Many tough looking people were turning and looking their way from the side of the road. Most were dressed in black and seemed to be a bit on the ragged side.
The children in the back seat sank back into their seat trying to not be seen. They could hear squealing tires behind them as Otis stomped on his brakes. Peter saw Otis come to a stop among smoke from his tires. Peter also came to a stop, but more controlled and less noisy. Peter hoped what or whoever was ahead of his vehicle hadn’t been seen yet.
Margaret looked scared and told the boys to hush in the back seat as they came to a complete stop. They began to back up and park close to the tree line on the right side of the road.
Up a head Ed put the pedal to the metal and began to pick up speed to get the heck out of the middle of all these black attired people. Someone ran out into the middle of the road. It was a woman with long blondish gray hair in jeans and a leather coat with a hopeful look on her face.
Ellen turned to Ed.
“Do you think she needs help and is trying to get to us to escape?”
“Hon, we just can’t stop to find out. I can’t believe we ran into them. Who would have thought after all this time?”
As they started to pass the woman, more people further up the road started to enter the road. Not enough to get run over if it came to that but close. Funny thing was not one was pulling out a gun. Ed could see two men take off their black jackets and turn them around. Ed thought his heart was going to pound right out of his chest and he was breaking out in a sweat.
As Ed and Ellen looked they saw in big letters across the back of the jackets the words POLICE. Ed slowed a little. Was this a trick? How could he know?
“Ed, do you really think they’re police?”
Another man just turned his whole body and they read LEWISTON FIRE DEPT. Ed’s truck continued past the group as he couldn’t take the chance. After they got about one-third of a mile past, he pulled over into a driveway hidden by trees. This driveway had belonged to one of the local families they had found killed. Ed hopped out and stood by the truck looking in at Ellen and the kids.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do since I don’t see Dad behind us even though we heard him squeal to a stop. He may just have backed up to get away instead of running though the motorcycle gang like we did. I am going to get as close as I can to talk to them. Ellen you will be about fifty feet behind me in the trees.”
He turned to his oldest son, Frank, who had turned 14 two months ago and was now 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighed 140 pounds.
“Frank if you hear shooting, you get this truck to our place. Do you hear Frank? You don’t come looking to see what’s going on. If your mom and I can make it home after that we will. But I don’t want to take any chances with you kids.”
Frank gulped and his eyes grew wide. He felt like he could hardly breathe.
“Yes Dad no problem. I’ll take care of the other kids and get them home, but Dad I hope I don’t have to do it and leave without you and Mom.”
Ed could see the tears forming in his son’s eyes and how much Frank was trying to control himself.
“It will be okay bud no matter what happens. We’ll see you later.”
Ellen turned around on her knees and leaned over the seat and gave each of her three children a hug and kiss. For once Frank didn’t care.
“I love you. Take care of each other. We will be back soon okay.”
The kids nodded and nine year old Ken broke out in tears. Lori shortly to turn twelve got teary eyed, but was determined to act her age (she thought) as their mother slipped out of the truck.
As Ed and Ellen headed for the tree line by the road, they talked.
“Ellen I don’t want you to be seen. We will stay in the tree line here until we get closer. Then I will leave you to be backup and I will go ahead and get close enough to talk to someone. All right?”
“Is that the only way we can do it Ed? It just seems your putting yourself in a lot of danger.”
“I don’t know how else to do it. We need to see if Dad and Mom got backed out of there because they didn’t join us or they were caught.”
As they reached where he thought she should stay. He gave her a very nice kiss and a hug.
“I love you sweetheart. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if this comes to no good, I’ll see you on the other side. Just keep praying we will get through this.”
He then turned quickly and headed out onto the road. “What did I get myself into? Now I am talking out loud to myself.”
He wasn’t far now maybe fifty feet from the nearest motorcycle that a man was sitting on and looking down the road from where he and Ellen had come. Ed walked another ten feet and stopped. He could see a bit more around the corner and the roadside tables that were sitting in a small park like area. He and his family had stopped here a time or two also to use the outhouses. It also had an old-fashioned water pump. Ed was running many things through his head of what to say. Ed raised his rifle in the general direction of the biker.
“You there on the bike. Did someone want to talk?”
The man turned in surprise and smiled. Ed hadn’t expected a smile unless this was really a good guy or a real fiend, but as he thought about it he could see this wasn’t a nasty smile.
Meanwhile on the other side
where Peter had stopped, he had gotten out of the truck and had Margaret and the kids get out and go to the woods while he snuck up further to see what was going on. He saw Otis’s truck backing up and Peter ran down to the road and waved at them as they came to a stop not far down the road. Otis and Betty got out of their truck and met Peter.
“Peter, have you seen anyone coming back this way besides us?”
“No, Otis I haven’t seen anyone. I was just about to head that way and see if Ed’s truck was coming too. Now what’s going on?”
“Motorcycles, Peter. There are lots of motorcycles. It looked like Ed and the family were right smack dab in the middle of them before they knew it. I put the brakes on and backed out of the edge of them as quick as I could. So I don’t know if they got clear and what’s going on one way or the other.”
Otis looked over at his wife. He thought about leaving her behind here at the truck and how she would take to that. She wouldn’t clear and simple.
“Hon, I need you to back us up. I need you to follow us at about 100 feet and try to not get closer to us then around 75 feet, okay. We have to see what’s going on. This could be life or death to us. We may have to get Ed, Ellen and the children out of a rough spot and high tail it back to the cave.”
Betty got a determined look on her face and told Otis and Peter.
“Nobody messes with our family and gets away with it, nobody. Let’s get going. What are we still standing here for?”
The men just stood there wide-eyed. Otis cleared his throat. “Yes Mother, let’s get going.”
Otis grabbed Peter by the arm and spun him around and they started down the side of the road by the trees.
