by N. C. Reed
The noise of the gunshots, inside the store, was almost deafening. The three of them had worn electronic ear plugs that mitigated the sound, but it was still loud. Even the best hearing protection could only do so much, and still let them hear what they needed to in order to survive.
“Four to go, plus the women,” Terry called. They kept moving.
*****
Billy watched as two men exited the grocery side doors, heading for the Chevy Blazer sitting between the two main entrances. He sighted on the lead figure, and loosed a round. The target was moving, which made the shot more difficult. The round Billy had intended for the target’s chest, struck him instead in the right arm. The blow put the man on the ground, and left the arm useless. Ignoring him for the moment, Billy sighted on the second man.
The second target had hesitated as the sight of his friend hitting the ground. Instead of seeking cover, he looked wildly around, firing his rifle in all directions.
That simply made it easier for Billy to put a .308 round into the center of his chest, which he did two seconds later. The man hit the ground as if he’d been de-boned. Billy turned his rifle back to the wounded man, to see nothing. The man had taken those few seconds to find cover.
And Billy had no idea where he was.
*****
Inside, the three former soldiers were again moving, heading through the housewares section carefully. Their element of surprise was now gone. Worse, they had no way of knowing if any of the other women would be prisoners, or perpetrators. That made their work slower, and more difficult.
George looked down one aisle, only to see an armed man at the other end, looking the other way. George ducked back, signing to his friends. Peeking around the endcap again, he could see that the man was still there, obviously expecting them to be coming down the main aisle. He raised his rifle, taking aim. Before he could shoot, Terry shouted a warning.
“Action front!” George instinctively ducked, just as the man he was targeting turned, spraying round after round in his direction. George scrambled for cover as yet another man, the one who had prompted the warning from Terry, cut loose with a shotgun. George was showered with bits and pieces of plastic and rubber containers as the two men chewed through the items still on the shelves trying to hit him.
Terry Blaine brought his rifle to bear on the shotgun armed man, letting go with a pair of three round bursts. He didn’t score a hit, but did make the man hunt cover, which was good enough for the moment.
Meanwhile, Peter Two Bears was working his way around the other side. He knew what aisle George had been looking down, and made his way to the opposite end of the same aisle. Going prone, he moved forward just far enough to see the man still crouched in the aisle. Moving the MP-5 forward along the floor, he triggered another burst down the aisle, and was rewarded with a scream of pain as the nine millimeter rounds tore into his target’s feet and legs. Satisfied, he scurried back behind the counters, and out of the line of fire.
There was still one active shooter, and at least three women, unaccounted for.
*****
Billy searched the parking lot on row at the time, looking for the wounded man that had disappeared. He knew the man was hurt, and losing blood. Would probably lose the arm, if he didn’t get medical attention, whether Billy found him or not.
But he was still a threat to the men inside the store, if they needed to exit through the front.
He kept looking.
*****
Terry had ran down the aisle opposite of George as soon as he’d forced the man with the shotgun to seek cover. George was now in a position to keep the man occupied, and was shooting steadily to keep the man’s attention. Terry eased around the shelving, making sure his way was clear, and moved slowly toward the shooter’s back.
Suddenly a large woman with wildly unkept hair lunged out of the aisle, pointing another shotgun at him. Caught by surprise, Terry threw himself into the next aisle as buckshot rattled the shelves behind him.
“I got him!” he heard a woman’s voice screech in delight.
“Shut up!” a man’s voice demanded. “There’s more than one!”
We should have watched longer, Terry decided. They had assumed the women were prisoners. Some of them might be, he allowed, but at least two were part of the ‘gang’.
Know better than to make assumptions, Terry, he chided himself. He drew his pistol, and crawled back to the endcap. Using it for cover, he peered around the very bottom of the shelf, and saw the woman was still standing there. But looking back down the aisle at the man.
“I know I hit him. . . .arggh!” Her claim was cut short as Terry took advantage of her poor discipline to pump three .45 caliber rounds down range, striking her square in the chest with two of them.
“Damn you!” the man swore, seeing his partner fall. He erupted suddenly from his cover, shooting the shotgun from the hip as fast as he could work the pump action. George was forced to pull back under the hail of buckshot. At this range, the shotgun was far deadlier than his rifle.
He heard Pete’s MP-5 rattle away on full auto, and heard the other man gurgle, then hit the floor. There was another short burst after that.
“Clear,” Pete whispered, changing magazines.
“Clear,” George agreed.
“Clear,” Terry called, having checked the woman. She was dead.
The three reassembled. George took his radio out. He needed to know how Billy was making out.
*****
“Billy, what’s your count?”
Billy never took his eyes off the parking lot as he raised his radio.
“I got four down hard, and another wounded, but hid in the parkin’ lot somewhere. He’s hit good, but made his way to cover. I’m lookin’ for him. Ya’ll come out the front, be a lookin’. I got no idea where he got to.”
George did the math. All eleven men were accounted for. That left the women. Of the five they had seen, two had been part of the outfit, and were down. That left three, plus the teenage girl, and the man.
“Let’s get looking,” he ordered.
*****
They found the others locked in a store room. All were malnourished, and showed signs of abuse. The teenage girl had a black eye, and her lips were swollen. Someone had worked her over pretty good, and recently.
The older women weren’t in any better shape, and the man was favoring is side. Seeing the bruises and the swelling when the man raised his shirt, Terry announced that he likely had some cracked ribs. The man nodded.
His name was Robert Billings. He’d been traveling when the gang had caught him trying to siphon gas from a nearby filling station. Surrounded, and unarmed, he’d had no choice but to surrender.
“I was just trying to get home,” he shook his head. “I’m from Lexington, Kentucky. Was working construction in Birmingham Alabama when things went south. Was trying to work my way home.”
The women had similar tales.
“I’m Vivian Shell,” the older of the three women told them. “This is my sister, Meredith, and our sister-in-law Katherine. We were in Biloxi at a real estate convention. We started back home when things started getting so bad. This is as far as we made it, I’m afraid. We’re from Cleveland, Ohio. Or whatever’s left of it,” she sighed. “We have no idea if our families are even still alive.”
The teenager was different.
“My name’s Megan Johnson. I live here. These bums did too,” she waved an arm to indicate the now deceased gang of misfits. “They caught up with me salvaging food from a grocery store, I guess three months ago, now.” She didn’t say more, but looked at the floor, hiding her face. The men gathered around her could guess the rest.
“Well, what do you folks want to do?” George asked. “You still want to try and get home?” All nodded. Megan just shrugged. She was home.
“Well, let’s get you four set-up to travel, I guess,” George told the adults. “Reckon you can travel together a ways, for safety.”
&n
bsp; “Can’t you take us?” Katherine asked.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Terry shook his head. “We got families of our own to see to. But we’ll find you good vehicles, fuel, and supplies. Get you some good maps. You can find your way home okay, I imagine.”
“But what if someone else, like them, attacks us?” Vivian asked. “I don’t see why you can’t take us!”
“Just told you, lady,” Terry didn’t quite growl. “We got families to take care of. We can’t just up and go. Best we can do is set you up good for your trip. We’ll make sure you’re armed well enough to keep yourself safe.”
“I’ve never touched a gun!”
“Ain’t our problem,” Terry shrugged. “We’ll show you how. After that, it’s up to you.”
“Look, I ain’t with them,” Billings said. “You get me outfitted, and I’ll get along toward home. I got a family too. Just hope they’re okay.”
That pretty much ended the conversation.
*****
It took most of the day to get the former prisoners equipped. The women complained non stop, to the point where George finally told them if they complained any more, they were on their own. That had shut them up.
No one had even approached the idea to let the women stay with them.
Billings had picked out a new truck at the local Chevrolet dealership, armed himself, packed supplies for his trip, and headed out long before sundown, thanking the men profusely for their assistance, and for rescuing him. The women, having chosen a large and comfortable luxury car, despite warnings about fuel economy, followed him. Billings had warned them he wouldn’t be stopping at every opportunity, so keep up.
The five men watched them go, glad to be rid of the women, whose whining and complaining seemed to have no end. That left them with Megan Johnson.
Their remaining loose end had yet to be tied up when Toby had brought the truck up. He and Rommel had found the man Billy had wounded, or at least his body. Billy’s round had pretty much mangled the man’s right arm, and he had bled out shortly thereafter.
No one was really bothered by that.
“We need to get the big trucks, and come back here,” George announced, having surveyed the area. “There’s a lot of things here we could use.”
“True enough,” Terry nodded. “We can look for more trailers, and just use them for storage until we can do better. Plus, it’ll make the job go faster, if all we have to do is drop the trailers and head back.”
“There’s a few things we’ll want to do today, or tomorrow, before we go back,’ George told them. “Or at least I do,” he added, looking at Terry. “You okay with that?” Terry shrugged.
“As long as I can go back tomorrow, yeah,” he agreed.
“We might as well get busy, I guess,” George sighed.
“What about her?” Billy asked, pointing to where Megan sat, watching them.
“Damn,” George swore softly. He hated to admit it, but he’d forgotten about her.
Billy looked over at the girl, and waved for her to join them. She did so, reluctantly.
“You want to come with us?” Billy asked her point blank. “There’s other women back there, includin’ some from here. Might be you know’em,” he shrugged. Megan looked interested.
“Who?” she asked.
“Regina Townsend, for one,” Toby answered. “Two twins named Pinson, and Miss Townsend’s niece. Don’t, ah, recall her name, exactly,” he admitted sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“I know Regina,” Megan nodded eagerly. “She ran Little Tykes. Daycare?” she added, when the men didn’t react.
“Yeah, she ran a day care,” George nodded.
“Gone now, though,” Billy told her. “We moved her and the rest down to a house in our community we’d set up for such as that, just in case. Reckon you can join’em, you want.”
“I’d. . .I’d like that,” Megan agreed. “I don’t wanna stick around here alone, that’s for sure. Didn’t work out so well the first time. I would like to go and get my things, if they’re still there, anyway.”
“We’ll see to it,” George agreed. “Meanwhile, there’s some things we want to do, right now, before we head home. Reckon you can help us out?”
“I guess,” Megan nodded. “What you need me to do?”
“We’re interested in finding any guns shops, sporting goods stores, that sort of thing. See what’s left. . . .”
Soon, with new vehicles taken from the long abandoned car lot, they were on their way, gathering useful and needful things.
There was a lot of work to be done, now.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Rhonda saw the Ford coming, with four other trucks behind it, and frowned in concern. Then she relaxed, slightly. There was no chance that Billy would lead anyone back here who might be unfriendly.
Her confidence was confirmed five minutes later as the vehicles pulled into the yard at the Todd farm, being driven by George, Peter, Terry and Toby. Toby had a passenger.
“About time,” Rhonda grumped, to hide how relieved she was to see Billy back safe. He snorted.
“What a fine welcome,” he teased, then embraced her. She hugged him back for a second, then pushed him away.
“Ewww,” her face contorted. “You need a bath, Billy Todd!” He nodded.
“Spect I do, at that,” he agreed. “While I see to that, how ‘bout you help this young lady here find her way up to the Clifton House. Megan, this is Rhonda. Rhonda, this here is Megan Johnson. She knows the women up there, and is gonna be stayin’ with them.”
“I can do that,” Rhonda smiled. “I need to go up there anyway, and check on Mary, I guess. She and Amanda are helping Amy with the kids. We’re swapping out for a few days to let them get some rest,” she added.
“Sounds good,” Billy nodded. He turned to the others.
“We heading back tomorrow?” he asked.
“The four of us will,” George nodded. “We can scout out everything, get everything in order. Make it easier to get everything with one go, I should think.”
“Okay by me,” Billy nodded. “See ya’ll then.”
“You’re going back?” Rhonda demanded. “What for?”
“Found a whole bunch o' stuff, that’s why,” Billy told her, already in the house. “The four of us are gonna get it all bundled, see can we find some semi-trailers, and then get Jon and Terry to start hauling it home. There’s enough lumber, hardware, and even food to last a good long while. Not to mention some clothes and what not, especially at the Wal-Mart and a few other places. Ain’t no need o’ lettin’ that go to waste. So, we’re gonna go get it.”
“And leave me here alone,” Rhonda ground out. “Again.” Billy stopped and looked at her.
“You make it sound like I don’t want to be here with you, or want you with me,” he frowned. “That ain’t how it is. You oughta should know that, by now.” Rhonda colored a bit at the dressing down. She had it coming. Maybe.
“And you ain’t alone,” he pointed out. “You wanted to take Mary in, and we did. Now we got Danny too. That makes us responsible. And besides, it ain’t like I want to go. But George is right. This here is a big find, and we can’t leave it go to waste. Rightly, should have some of us stayed there, and kept a look out. We decided if we went straight back, then we could all come home, rest, and be with our families, even was it for just one night.”
“All right,” Rhonda grumbled. “I. . .that does make sense. I just don’t like not being able to go with you.”
“What did you do when you stayed at the Clifton place?” Billy asked her.
“Well, I took Mary with me, and left Danny guarding the farm,” she admitted.
“Well, reckon you can do it that way now, you want to go so back. We can ask Jerry to keep an eye on things. But it’s rough goin’,” he added. “Ain’t no runnin’ water nowhere. It’s a rough camp all the way.”
“Why don’t you wait and come up with the trucks?” he reasoned. “See what you want, look around for t
hings you want, and then come on back when the trucks make their next run?”
“I. . .you think that would be okay?” she asked.
“Can’t see why not,” Billy nodded. “Now, you need to get that girl settled, and I need a hot soakin’ bath.”
“Yeah, you do,” she nodded.
“That ain’t nice,” Billy told her.
“You’ll get over it, you big baby. I’ll be back in a bit.”
When she got back, almost two hours later, Billy was sound asleep on the couch, with Rommel tucked in at his feet. She covered them both with a blanket, and let them sleep.
After talking to Megan Johnson, she knew they’d earned it.
*****
The group wasted no time. The four of them were back in Columbia by eight the next morning. Jon and Terry were waiting for the word, with Jerry and Ben watching the farms close. They were running short of people, that was for sure. Billy voiced a concern as they drove into town.
“I don’t like this,” he told them. “We ain’t got enough people. We got to think on how them trucks is gonna look to anyone who spots’em. They might attack Jon and Terry. Or worse, just follow’em back to the Farms. We got to make sure that don’t happen.”
“Hadn’t really given that any thought,” George nodded, considering. “What have you come up with?”
“Think two of us need to go back with the trucks,” Billy said at once. He had been thinking about it. “Way I see it, we take three, four days, make sure we’ve found most all we want or need, and get it loaded onto a trailer. Once all the trailers is loaded, then we call Jon and Terry, and start convoyin’ this stuff home. Leave two here to guard the trailers, the other two ride shotgun.”
“Me and you can ride shotgun,” Two Bears said. “And that will give Toby some experience here that he might not get elsewhere,” he looked over at Toby, who nodded.
