Land

by Theresa Shaver

  After about fifteen miles, Dara turned down a dusty gravel road and continued on it for a mile. She then did a U-turn to face back the way they had come and shut the engine off. The van and camper had a harder time turning around but after some back and forth they finally got lined up behind the smaller truck. They all got out and Dara rushed to open the rolling door on the van to give the children fresh air. She explained what they were doing and told them to sit tight, stay in the van so they could leave quickly and stay quiet so they could hear when the motorcycles went by. Once again, none of the kids answered her. They just sat blinking owlishly at her in the bright sunlight. Only Luke responded with a thumbs up.

  Dara joined her friends at the front of the truck where Quinn was trying to figure out one of the assault rifles. After turning it over a few times, Cooper stepped forward and took it from his hands. He smoothly and competently ejected the magazine, turned it around and punched it back in. Next he pulled the cocking handle back. He then calmly handed it back to Quinn.

  His friends were all staring at him in disbelief. “What? It’s not a big deal. My old man always let me go with him to gun shows. They always had a shooting range set up and there was a gun dealer there that he knew. He always demonstrated different types of guns and let me hang out with him. I got pretty good with one of these. I can show you guys what to do if you want.” he explained to them. They were still staring at him so he kept talking. “It might actually be a good idea. If these guys come after us, we don’t want to be in a prolonged gun battle. These babies are really easy to use. You just point and spray. We could annihilate them in seconds. None of them were carrying these, just shot guns and hand guns. It would be no contest.”

  By the time he was done his face was bright red and he was beginning to wish he had kept his mouth shut. Cooper stared at his feet in misery as his friends looked to one another. It was Alex who stepped towards him and took his hand. He looked into her smiling sea green eyes and she said, “Show me.”

  Cooper had been showing them how to reload the guns and where the selector and safety was. He explained what the gun dealer had told him about shooting them. The gun barrel tended to rise as you shot it, so start aiming low and keep correcting down if you could. They all wanted to practice firing but knew that they had to stay quiet to hear the motorcycles going by. They had been on the side road for twenty five minutes when they heard the rumble of engines in the distance.

  Dara ran to the back of the van and looked inside. Most of the kids were slumped down. Some were sleeping and others were sipping water or eating.

  “Okay guys, we’re going to be leaving in a minute. We are taking you all home and we’re going to be going fast, so I want you all on the floor and try and brace yourselves in case we have to swerve around cars.” Dara said with a smile as they started to scramble down onto the padded floor. She gave them a cheery wave and pulled the door down, flipping the latch so it wouldn’t open while they were speeding down the road. She ran back to the truck and scanned ahead.

  They couldn’t see the highway from where they were parked but she could hear the engines very well. Dara had to remind herself to breath as she waited for the noise to fade in the distance. They waited a few more minutes to let the bikers get further down the road and then she jumped in the truck and they all started their vehicles up and slowly made their way back to the main highway. They turned right onto the paved road and quickly started to accelerate. They had to weigh the cost of safely getting around car crashes with the certainty of being chased once the gang discovered the ruins of their home. They all knew without a doubt that the bikers would come after them. It was whether or not they would make it to town first which was in doubt.

  The three drivers went as fast as they could and tried to move around wrecks without slowing too much. Cooper watched behind them from his perch half out of the air vent on the roof of the camper. He had stacked cases of water and other solid items to stand on. Quinn was watching the front and sides for any trouble. They made good time but the ride felt endless with all of their nerves strung tight waiting for the bikers to catch up to them.

  Quinn was looking back when he felt Dara start to slow the truck. He turned around and saw that they were approaching a roadblock. There were cars pulled across the road three deep and an old bus was in the center of it all. There were men on top of the bus, all armed and pointing their weapons at the lead truck and more behind the cars blocking the road.

  Quinn yelled at Dara through the open window, “Stop about ten feet from the cars!”

  He slung his gun behind his back and got ready to jump out. He hoped the guards weren’t trigger happy and would give them a chance to explain. Quinn vaulted over the side of the truck bed down to the road and raised his hands. He started to walk forward to the front of the truck and stopped just past the driver’s door. He wanted to be able to run back quickly if they started to shoot.

  When no gunshots came and none of the guards made a greeting he yelled out to them.

  “I’m looking for Sheriff McCormac!”

  There was a brief pause while the guards talked to each other and then one man dropped down and appeared around a car and walked towards Quinn. When he was five feet away he stopped and scanned the three vehicles.

  “Do I know you son? I’m the sheriff.” he asked. He was tall and broad with a face that needed shaving but his uniform and hair were clean.

  “No Sir, but we have something that belongs to you. My friends and I were attacked on the road by a biker gang and taken prisoner. We managed to escape and we brought a bunch of kids that were there with us. They say this is the town that they live in.” Quinn told him.

  A look of desperate hope crossed the man’s face, “My son, Luke?” he almost begged.

  “Yes Sir, he’s with the others.”

  Before Quinn could explain further the Sheriff turned and waved at his men. “They’ve found Luke and the other kids! Get out here!” he yelled and turned back to Quinn. “Where are they?” he demanded as four guards rushed up to stand behind him.

  “Sir we have to get inside. We killed the leader of the gang and some of his people and burned the place down but there were more that had left to get friends from your town. We hid on a side road until they passed us, then booked it here. They’ll be after us by now for what we did. We need to get these kids into town before they get here.” he said in desperation. He could feel the minutes slipping by.

  “You killed Skull and burned his place down?” one of the guards asked skeptically.

  A voice from behind him answered, “Yes we did, as well as two of his men and a woman. Now can we please get behind that road block and get the kids to safety?” Dara asked from the open window of the truck.

  Quinn heard the sound of footsteps and turned to see Alex and Josh coming towards him. Cooper was still on the top of the camper scanning back down the road. He turned back to the Sheriff and his men. They all looked doubtful at Dara’s statement. The Sheriff looked Alex and Josh over and glanced at Dara with a frown.

  “So let me get this straight. A bunch of teenagers killed the leader of one of the worst biker gangs in the state, some of his men, rescued some kids and then burned their place to the ground? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” he asked sarcastically.

  Josh stepped forward, “Yup, they had a basement full of drugs, like millions of dollars’ worth and we couldn’t leave that for their friends, so we torched the place. Sir, do you want your kids back or not?” he said in exasperation.

  “Too late, they’re here!” Cooper suddenly yelled from the top of the camper.

  Dara jumped out of the truck and joined her friends as they all made their way back down the road towards the oncoming bikers. Over his shoulder, Quinn instructed the Sheriff.

  “These guys aren’t coming to talk Sheriff. Get your men ready!”

  Josh stopped at the van and grabbed extra ammo clips for the rifles that they all were carrying. Cooper stayed up high
and braced himself to start shooting. When he saw Dara, Alex, Josh and Quinn line up behind the camper he called advice down to them.

  “Remember to keep your gun barrel down. It’s going to keep going too high. Just stay calm and aim and spray. Remember what these guys were going to do to us and what they did to Luke and the kids. We’re going to stop them from hurting anyone else.”

  Alex took a deep breath and steadied herself. She was surprised to see that her hands weren’t shaking. She reminded herself how she felt hanging from the hooks and the emptiness in Luke’s eyes. That was all she needed to harden her resolve for what she was about to do.

  There were four bikes that roared up with each one carrying two men. They skidded to a stop twenty feet from the back of the camper and quickly jumped off. The biggest of the bunch roared at them.

  “I’m gonna skin you alive for what you did to my friends!” as he pulled his sawed off shot gun from behind his back.

  The rest of the gang fanned out in a line and they were all pulling guns when Quinn yelled out, “Fire!”

  There was nothing pretty or accurate about the wave of bullets that swarmed towards the bikers. Many bullets hit the road and ricocheted up from the ground or went flying too high, but enough of the wall of fire hit their marks to completely slaughter the eight men facing the teens. The sound of automatic weapons was amazingly loud and it continued until all of their clips ran dry.

  The silence that followed the shooting was almost as deafening. They all stood there staring at the massacred pile of bodies and it was then that Alex started to shake. It was the sound of a shot gun being cocked that brought them back to the real world.

  Quinn dropped his weapon and raised his hands into the air as he turned to face the sheriff. The other teens followed his lead and did the same. Only Cooper kept his weapon and in the silence they could clearly hear a fresh clip being slammed home into his gun. The four standing on the road had all turned to face the Sheriff who was pointing his shot gun at them.

  “Five teenagers with Ak47’s just opened fire and killed eight men in front of the Law and you expect me to believe that you are the good guys?” he asked with shock on his face.

  “Sir,” Quinn began, but Alex cut him off.

  “Eight men who were going to rape and kill me and my friends and who put a dog collar on your son and beat him!” she yelled at him, furious. “Luke! Luke your Dad’s out here and he thinks we are the bad guys!” she yelled toward the van.

  Sudden loud banging came from the inside of the van and a faint voice could be heard yelling, “Dad!” over and over. The look on the Sheriff’s face changed from shock to uncertain.

  His men had come up behind him and he looked over and said, “Cover them while I check this out.”

  He walked over to the vans rear door and unlatched it. He rolled it up and was immediately hit by a small flying bundle that wrapped itself around him. The Sheriff staggered back at the weight of the boy but his arms closed over him in reflex. Before he could speak, Luke started jabbering at him.

  “Dad! Dad, Alex saved me. She saved all of us. She’s a hero not a bad guy!”

  “Luke? Oh God Luke! I thought I’d lost you.” and he started to sob as he clutched the child to his chest.

  One of the guards looked away from the reunion and lowered his gun. He looked at the kids with disbelief and asked, “Who are you kids?”

  Of course it was Josh who answered in a pure Josh way, “We’re the motherfucking Maple Leaf Mafia!”

  His friends all groaned and laughed.

  Chapter 14

  The camper was set up in the town’s campground, located in a park in the downtown area. There had been lots of offers given to the group for places to stay but they had all wanted some time alone so they chose the campground. It didn’t stop people from coming by to thank them or just chat but it was away from the bulk of the town’s population. They had had to tell their story again at the road block but it was the children that had convinced all the guards that the teens were their saviors. Once the children had seen the Sheriff and men they recognised, they had come to life and all started to talk at once. Once their status as “good guys” was confirmed, they were allowed into the town.

  They followed the Sheriff, who was driving an ATV into the downtown area. Word spread fast about the rescued children and parents came running. There were tears and sobs of relief and many thank-you’s and God bless you’s for the teens.

  Once all the children had been returned to their parents, it was decided that there would be a town party held later that night as a celebration. The town was in good shape thanks to the Sheriff and his men. They had a few old generators working and had water pumps going at different locations. They had kept strict control over the food stores and were rationing and planting as much seed as they could. They were lucky with the climate and could grow certain plants year round.

  The group of teens had been very careful with their water and had only been hand washing themselves and their clothes but with a party on the schedule the girls wanted to clean up properly and wash their hair. The Sheriff sent the girls off with a local lady to the community center. They were using it as a central meeting place for the town and it had one of the precious generators hooked up to it so they had hot water for the gym’s showers. The girls grabbed towels and toiletries and raced after the woman. They were so excited about having their first hot shower in six days.

  The Sheriff stayed with the boys after handing his son off to his sobbing mother. He quizzed the boys on what they had seen on the way from Disneyland. He also wanted to talk to them about their automatic weapons. They had a few in town, but he would like to add to that number for the defence force he was building. The teens had decided not to tell anyone about how many guns they had taken from the basement.

  All told they had carried out forty six Ak47 automatic rifles from the basement and forty cases of ammunition. It would make for very good barter and once they got home, they would have it for defence if things there were as bad off. After talking it over they had decided to give the Sheriff three of the guns and three cases of ammo as a goodwill gesture and for stocking them with more water and supplies when they left.

  The kids wanted to stay in the town for a few days to let Josh’s face heal. Both his eyes were swollen almost shut and his lips were both split. One of the town’s doctors had come by and checked him out. Nothing was broken in his face so time would heal it.

  After taking their luxurious, hot showers, the girls were delirious with happiness to discover blow dryers and curling irons in the change rooms. With the generator powering them they styled their hair and felt for a few minutes that things were back to normal. Alex kept expecting the ordeal they just faced to set in with some kind of shock but it never came. She talked to Dara about it while they did their hair.

  “I’m feeling really weird that I’m not more upset about what we just went through.” she explained to Dara.

  Dara paused curling her hair with a thoughtful look on her face.

  “I think what happened will always stay with us and we will all carry a dark place in our hearts for having to kill those people. But I also think what we did was right. Those people were evil. They enjoyed causing pain and torment and we stopped them from doing it ever again. Think about it this way, one hundred years ago, those types of people would have been executed on the spot. For decades now, criminals have been able to do whatever they wanted with very few consequences. Barely any jail time or maybe even none if they have a slick lawyer and even in jail it’s us, the victims that really have to pay. We pay to feed and house them. I mean, they have better health care than a lot of people, not to mention food and TV. The death penalty is a joke. Twenty years after the crime and maybe they finally get executed. Why do they get to live a long time but their victim doesn’t? It’s not fair and it’s so not justice. So I think the clock has been set back and now justice will finally be served. That’s what today felt like to me Alex
, justice. And I’ll tell you something else, it felt right.”

  Alex thought about all the times she read news about bad guys getting off on a technicality or hardly even getting any jail time at all. She remembered hearing stories about victims being sued by criminals for different reasons and the bad guy winning; or repeat offenders doing the same crime again and again and being released from jail. Dara was right, justice was served today and Alex felt her spirit lift even more.

  When the girls got back to the camper and trucks, the boys gave appreciative looks to the styled girls and Josh let off a wolf whistle. They were due at the party soon so the boys went for their own showers while the girls changed into clean clothes and watched over the vehicles. After the Sheriff had left, the boys had repacked the van with all the guns and ammo and used a pad lock to secure the latch. They didn’t want to be stuck guarding it while they were in town. When the boys came back they were ready to go to the party. They left the machine guns locked up but all of them carried hand guns in holsters that they had picked up on their travels.

  As they approached the town square, they could hear music from a band playing and smell the wonderful aroma of home cooked food. There were long tables set up around a cleared area for dancing. The biggest table was piled high with dishes of steaming food and as people arrived they would add whatever they had brought to it. Alex and Dara had made buns before they were captured by the gang and they were still in the grocery bags in a cupboard when they checked so they brought them to contribute.

  The Sheriff waved them over to his table and they sat and dined with him and many of his deputies. They told their story over and over as people came by to greet them. With filled bellies they were all relaxed and having fun watching the dancers. The Sheriff was talking about the men who were with the bikers that came after the kids.