“Not you,” Abby said turning to Hank. “I want Barry to do this.”
She glared at Barry. Barry knew his grandmother wanted him to take the girls out to the field because of his liaison with Anne. She’d teach him a lesson, too. This is how he would “undo” cheating on his wife.
She turned to Hank and said, “The CB says there’s a pair of cars coming down the road. They’s north of Nesika Beach and heading our way. I want you and the boys to put on the uniforms, take the police cars, and go out there and see what they got.”
“Aw, let me go out to the road,” Barry said.
She turned and faced him. “No, Hank’s better out there. You do what I’m telling you to do. Now, get goin’.”
Barry pushed himself away from the wall. “Shit,” he said under his breath.
“You watch your mouth,” Abby warned.
“Come on,” Barry said.
The girls didn’t get up.
“What do you mean, ‘Don’t waste a bullet on the baby’?” Danielle asked Abby, who ignored her.
Barry directed the anger he felt toward his grandmother at Danielle and he grabbed her by her hair. She clutched Whoops as he dragged her out of the chair.
“Wait a minute. Answer my question!” she yelled.
Abby still ignored her and, with a kick, Barry directed her toward the door.
“You heard Grandma, she wants you out of here,” Barry said forcefully.
But Danielle stopped short of the door. “What do you mean?”
Abby continued to prepare the stew at the sink as if the girls had already left. “Betty, get me two more quart-jars of green beans,” she said.
Betty got out of her chair and ran to the pantry.
A girl of sixteen named Alice Humphrey confronted Barry. “Can I have the jeans she’s wearing?” She pointed to Danielle.
“You’re not getting anything of mine,” Danielle said firmly.
“Please?” Alice asked Barry.
“We’ll see.”
“Make her take ’em off so she don’t shit in ’em.”
“Watch your mouth, young lady,” Abby scolded without turning around.
“Sorry,” Alice said.
“Why would I shit my pants?” Danielle asked. But Barry pushed her toward the door then grabbed Anne by the shoulder and steered her there, too.
Anne looked at Barry with desperation in her eyes. “Barry, please? Don’t do this.”
“Out!” he yelled at her.
A stocky man named Eddie McFaddin stepped ahead of them and opened the door. Eddie was looking forward to the trip to the field.
“Gram, please don’t make them go,” Joel pleaded.
“Take him, too,” Abby said. “He’s gotta see what’s gotta be done. He needs to be toughened up.”
Barry grabbed Joel and pushed him toward the door ahead of himself.
“Easy on my Sweetie,” Abby warned without looking.
Barry eased up.
“It’s cold out. I need a coat,” Joel said.
Barry grabbed one from the hooks near the door and jammed it into his hands. “Put it on,” he said as he pushed his cousin out.
Near the door Hank leaned toward Barry and, in a low voice, said, “You lucky bastard.”
Barry nodded. Though he hated having to take the girls out to the field, taking them out there came with benefits.
“Come on,” he said to Andrew Ingram who was leaning against the wall. Andrew smiled and followed him out the door.
Close behind was Alice. Now out of the hearing of those in the kitchen she said, “Please, Barry, I want her jeans…and the shirt, I like that, too. I’ll make it worth your while.”
He was about to say yes when he saw his wife, Terry, had followed them out.
“We’ll see,” he said and turned away.
Alice turned to see what had caught Barry’s attention and saw Terry standing there watching them, and Alice walked back into the house, passing Terry as if nothing had transpired. Terry followed her into the house but stormed off to her room.
Once Barry and the girls were gone, Abby looked absently out the window above the sink and said, “You know, Joel’s my Sweetie, but he’s gonna have to learn not to be so soft if he’s gonna survive in this world. It ain’t like it used to be, and he can’t be like his grandfather. You gotta be tough or die.”
She stopped the preparation and wiped her hands on her apron. She crossed the room to a girl named Clara. Clara was holding her infant daughter, Edna, in her arms.
“Let Granny Great have that little bundle of joy,” Abby said and Clara proffered her daughter to the old lady. “Come to Granny Great,” she said as she took her. Then she went to her stuffed chair and made herself comfortable with the baby cradled in her arms.
“I don’t begrudge those girls anything, but we can’t save the world…It breaks my heart to see that baby go…Would have made a nice playmate, wouldn’t she,” she said raising Edna up in the air. Then she sat her in her lap, again.
“That Danielle girl has quite the mouth on her, doesn’t she? And that shirt she was wearing is the disgusting stuff only them sluts wear. She’d have brought us all to grief…that Anne is as useless as a bucket under a bull…and she can’t be trusted. She’d sell her own mother out to save her skin.”
No one interrupted her soliloquy.
“Now, Colin said he heard on the CB there’s more folks coming this way. Hank, I want you and the boys to put on the uniforms and go out and greet them. Don’t get in the way of no convoys,” though Hank knew better than to do that. “There’s some of them comin’, too. I hope you know better’n to mess with them. Just the lone cars, or the small convoys.”
She stopped playing with the baby and turned to the men.
“What are you doing? Get a move on.”
Hank and the others left the kitchen to get the uniforms and guns. After they left, Abby said, “You know, Hank’s not a bad man. Sometimes he’s a little rough around the edges, but Joel would do a lot better if he was a little bit like him.”
They just listened.
“Clara, I want you and Terry to finish the stew.”
“Terry’s in her room crying. She an’ Barry just had a big fight, this morning,” Clara said.
“I know. That’s why Barry’s gotta take the girls out to the field. But she’s got to get busy, and she’s got to learn to control her man. You go get her, now.”
Clara left the kitchen.
“And the rest of you: Clear out! You all got chores if you expect to live here. I’m not feeding you so you can just hang around like barn flies.”
Δ Δ Δ
In the front yard Danielle stood bewildered in the newly fallen snow and more was coming down. Anne cried hysterically. Danielle was beginning to wonder what it all meant. All she had on her feet were thin shoes. She knew they weren’t going to keep their feet warm. Anne was already complaining about snow getting in her shoes.
“This way,” Barry said.
Danielle didn’t know what “this way” meant. But Andrew and Eddie started walking through the snow. They were glancing at each other and smiling as they proceeded. Barry pushed Danielle in their direction.
“Barry, honey, I’m cold,” Anne said.
Barry kicked her. “Get moving.”
“But we need better coats.”
Barry stepped toward her to kick her, again.
“Okay, okay,” she said and turned and began to walk through the snow. She tried to get well ahead of him to keep some distance between them.
Danielle held Whoops close to her to keep her warm. But Whoops began to cry. Danielle knew she was getting cold. They hadn’t let her feed her yet and she was hungry.
They crossed what had been good pasture just three years ago. With the new cold weather it didn’t support much anymore, and, with last night’s snow, there were no signs of life in it at all.
They passed through several stands of trees. Anne cried softly and kept pleading with Barry. “I lo
ve you,” she said again and again. “I’ll do anything for you.” She kept complaining that she was cold.
And it was cold. Danielle almost couldn’t feel her feet, now.
Whoops cried loudly. Nothing Danielle did consoled her.
“Can’t you keep that damned kid quiet?” Barry shouted.
“She’ll be okay,” was all Danielle could think to say. But she couldn’t stop her from crying.
They walked quite a ways until they came upon another large field. Barry, Andrew, Eddie, and Joel walked the two girls to the far edge of it.
Danielle figured they were now at least a mile and a half from the house. She saw something sticking out of the snow. It took a moment before she realized it was an arm with most of the flesh gone. There were a few other bones sticking out. She suddenly realized what this was. This was where they took people they brought in from the road when they didn’t want them anymore. She began to feel panic welling up inside of her.
She now understood what Abby meant when she said, “Don’t waste a bullet on the baby.”
They stopped.
“Take your clothes off,” Barry commanded. “I don’t want ya shittin’ in ’em. Those clothes are promised.”
The girls didn’t move.
Barry stepped forward and punched Anne in the jaw. When she fell in the snow he began to kick her.
“Stop! Stop!” she screamed.
“Get up.”
She got dizzily to her feet.
“Now, take your clothes off.”
She began to remove her clothes. The jacket, the blouse, the pants. There was no underwear. They’d taken hers, too.
“You, too,” he yelled at Danielle, and she began to take her clothes off while she tried to hold Whoops.
Soon, they were both naked except for their shoes.
“What are you going to do with us?” Danielle asked, though everything was now clear to her.
“Pick up the clothes,” Barry said to Andrew, and he gathered them up.
“Shoes, too,” he said to Anne.
“But my feet, they’re already too cold,” Anne whined.
He made a fist and started walking toward them. “Shoes too,” he commanded.
“Okay, okay,” Anne said.
Reluctantly they both took off their shoes and Anne danced from one foot to the other trying to keep them out of the snow.
Barry grabbed the shoes. “You take them,” he said as he tossed them to Joel who missed catching them.
Danielle met Joel’s eyes and he quickly looked away. He was pale. He looked sick. He knew what was coming.
“Come ’ere,” Barry commanded Anne. When she came to him he forced her to her knees. He took his penis out. “Do it.”
She stared up at him.
“Do it!” he shouted. “You’ve always done it good. Now I want you to do it again.”
She tentatively took him in her mouth.
“Do it better!” he yelled.
“Yeah, like that.
“You boys should take advantage of this,” he said looking at them over his shoulder, then nodding toward Danielle but none of them moved.
“You know, I once read that rich Roman men used to use babies that were still nursing to do this. Maybe that baby would be good for this.”
Danielle clutched Whoops closer.
“It’s a shame to waste you girls,” he chuckled.
Anne pulled her head away.
“Why are you stopping?” he screamed.
“I’m cold. I don’t have any clothes on. I’m kneeling in the snow.”
“What do you care? You’re not going to feel anything in a few minutes, anyway?”
“I can’t,” she cried.
“Shit,” he said and walked around behind her.
“Don’t you boys be tellin’ my wife ’bout what I was doing with Anne,” he said.
He drew a large revolver from under his coat and put it to the back of Anne’s head.
“Barry, please don’t,” was all Anne could say.
The cylinder clicked as it turned when he drew the hammer back. “But you can tell her about this.” Anne’s face exploded when he pulled the trigger and the snow was speckled with the spray of her blood. She fell forward. Her body twitched and kicked in the snow, but she was dead.
“Look at that!” Barry said. “She’s jumpin’ like a headless chicken!”
Eddie and Andrew laughed. Joel got paler and started to sway. He was close to passing out.
“I want a piece of the other one,” Eddie said and laughed.
“Yeah, I’ll have a piece of that,” Andrew said.
“After my turn,” Barry said.
“You should get some,” he said to Joel. “I seen how you look at her. “’less you wanna fuck her dead body, after.”
The other boys laughed.
Danielle wanted to run. But there was nowhere to go. She stared in disbelief as Barry, gun in hand, walked toward her. “You do it,” he said pointing at his cock.
“Get one of your boys to do it, you fucking faggot.”
He slapped her.
She began to cry. Again, she cried like her mother, lowing like a cow. She held Whoops up. “I know what you’re going to do. Please, do her first.”
“I can’t waste no bullets,” Barry said soberly. “Get on your knees.”
Danielle fell to her knees. “I’ll do it. But, please, do her first; I don’t want her to suffer. You can’t just leave her here to freeze.”
“What do you care? In a few minutes, yer gonna be in hell and yer not going to know if she’s freezin’ or not.”
She held Whoops out. “Please.”
He wrenched Whoops from her hands and threw her out into the snow.
Whoops screamed. Danielle screamed, jumped to her feet and ran to Whoops and scooped her up in her arms. Whoops was inconsolable.
Barry came up behind her.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But I don’t want her to suffer. Please, do it.” She fell to her knees holding the baby above her head. “I’ll suck you, I’ll fuck you all. I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t let her suffer.”
“Whatever you want, Honey.”
Looking at the boys he said, “Don’t tell grandma I wasted no bullet on the baby.”
“Well, don’t go shootin’ Danielle, yet,” Eddie said. “I want my turn.”
Andrew smiled and he nodded in agreement.
Barry smiled back. He brought the gun up.
Danielle held her sister up in the ultimate sacrifice as they both cried. She clinched her eyes shut and heard the ratcheting of the cylinder as it turned again. There was the shot and she felt a warm spray splatter across her face and body and Whoops abruptly stopped crying.
Now she clutched the baby to her breasts.
Whoops began to cry.
Danielle opened her eyes and began to shake.
Whoops was covered with blood and brains. So was she. She looked up to see Barry still stood in front of her, his body was quivering, a frozen look of bewilderment written on his face, his mouth was moving as if trying to say something. But a large chunk of his head was gone and little spurts of blood squirted out of the chasm where the side of his skull had exploded away. Andrew, Eddie, and Joel were looking around in stunned panic.
Barry crumpled to the snow and lay still.
There was another shot as Eddie’s head exploded and he fell.
“Run!” Andrew screamed and dropped the girls’s clothes and began to run.
There was another shot and Andrew fell; a bullet in his back.
Joel dropped the shoes and started to yell for his grandmother as he struggled to run through the snow, his feet working like pistons as he tried to escape from the unseen tormentor.
A fourth shot, and he went down. Then, all was silent.
Except for Whoops. She screamed.
Kneeling naked in the snow, Danielle clutched her sister to her body and waited for the final shot.
The snow was cold. It
would end, soon.
But nothing happened.
She looked around. A man on skis, dressed in white from head to toe, glided like a phantom across the field. A white dog ran beside him. He stopped when she turned and brought his rifle up. He watched her through his sights for a moment, then lowered his weapon and continued skiing toward her.
He reached them and picked up Barry’s revolver. He crouched and rolled his body over and checked his pockets, removing and pocketing what he thought was important, discarding the rest onto the snow. He kept looking across the field from where she and the others had come.
He turned to her. “Are there any others?”
The ski mask, with its gaping hole for a mouth and unblinking slits for eyes, made him appear ghoulish. In his crouch he resembled a wild animal.
He took the boots, jacket, and socks from Barry’s body.
He turned back to Danielle and this time shouted his question, “Are there any others?”
She shook her head as she clutched her sister.
The dog started licking up Barry’s blood and brains. The man stood up and watched for a second, as if not knowing what to do. Then he ignored it.
Whoops cried louder.
The man went to Eddie’s body. In one pocket, he found another handgun. In another he found some loose ammunition. He put it all in his own pockets. He scanned the tree line in all directions before he took Eddie’s boots. Then he stood back, looked at the full body. Eddie was bigger than he, but after some thought he took the shirt and pants.
He looked back at Danielle.
“Get dressed,” he ordered.
She started putting her clothes on. But she was already shivering violently and had trouble trying to simultaneously hold the baby and get dressed with fingers numbed by the cold.
The man approached her and read her T-shirt:
Fuck Off
or I’ll Kill You ’til You’re Dead
She turned away.
He reloaded his rifle then continued to the other bodies, taking some things and tossing what he didn’t want, into the snow. But he constantly scanned the tree line. He picked up the shoes Danielle and Anne had worn out into the field. He examined them then turned to her. “Did these keep you warm?” he shouted. He sounded angry, but he also sounded scared.
She shook her head again and he threw them away.
Danielle Kidnapped: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Ice Age Page 10
