by Marla Monroe
“Who has houses big enough to accommodate more than one family?” Grant asked, looking around.
Simon sighed and raised his hand. “We’ve got five bedrooms total and three baths.”
“We’ve got a large house, too,” Gary admitted.
“Well, we’ll see how things go and talk about it again another time. I hope we don’t have to make such a drastic decision.”
“If we’re going to do it, we need to decide before spring though,” Owen pointed out. “We’ll have to change how we garden to support two families.”
“Owen’s right,” David agreed. “Making a change in the middle of summer would be a disaster.”
Everyone grumbled for a few seconds, and then Grant said they would discuss it again at the end of winter if nothing happened to push it forward. It ended their conversation and signaled their need to get ready to go hunting.
Simon and Owen gathered the dishes and carried them into the kitchen where the women relieved them of their burden.
“We’re going to start taking you downstairs in about fifteen minutes, ladies.” Owen smiled at the five women.
They all hurried to do the dishes then made one last bathroom stop. Owen and Luke waited for the women to hug their men before escorting them to the cellar. They were both armed with plenty of ammunition should they need it. Simon nodded at Owen as they closed the cellar door. He heard the bar on the inside settle into place before he closed the pantry door.
“Ready?” Grant asked him.
“More than ready. Let’s hunt some wolf.”
* * * *
Skyler sat next to Valerie with Rachael on the other side of her. They were talking about some of the things they had been through since the year of catastrophes. She couldn’t imagine setting out on her own like Valerie had or even with a group of women like Rachael had. They were stronger than she would ever be.
“Did you have much trouble with morning sickness, Rachael?” Valerie was asking the other woman.
“Not much, thank goodness. I’ve been lucky.”
“What do you all think about sharing houses so that there are two families instead of one in each place?” Rachael asked.
Valerie shrugged. “It would take some getting used to, but we’d be safer that way.”
“I’m not sure that the men really like that idea, though.” Skyler knew her men didn’t like it.
“They don’t like the idea of not being able to care for us alone.” Rachael moved around on the chair as if she couldn’t get comfortable.
Skyler couldn’t imagine being pregnant or raising children in the world they lived in now. She had long decided that she couldn’t get pregnant since it hadn’t happened in all the years she and Owen had been together. Part of her mourned that fact, but another part of her felt relieved.
“It would help once you got further along in your pregnancy though,” she pointed out.
“Having two women to help with all the chores and watching the children would be a good thing as well.” Valerie smiled at them.
They all talked in quiet whispers about the pros and cons of a joined household until a noise upstairs had everyone growing quiet. Skyler glanced over at where Owen and Luke were standing with their rifles ready.
There hadn’t been enough noise for it to have been the men back from hunting. Even she knew that. The other women all stared toward the door. Could the wolves be upstairs? Rachael had mentioned that once wolves had broken into a house by jumping through a window.
Another sound, and then the stomp of feet above them told them otherwise. No, it wasn’t wolves. Whatever was up there was human, and it wasn’t their men. Skyler’s eyes met Owen’s and she could see the fierce determination in them. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He and Luke would keep them safe.
More footsteps joined the first set, and they spread out throughout the house. Finally, they congregated near what would be the pantry door above them. She could hear their murmurs as they discussed something among themselves. Then everything got quiet.
The seconds ticked by as everyone tried to be quiet. Skyler was afraid they would hear their breathing or the pounding of their hearts. She could sure hear hers.
Suddenly the pantry door slammed open and someone was trying to open the cellar door above them. The woman muffled their frightened yelps behind their hands as the men above them cursed and beat against the door. Then there was silence once again. Skyler looked over at Owen and watched as he kept his attention focused on the barred door above them. She could barely make out the pulse at his throat as it throbbed with the adrenaline she was sure would be coursing through his veins.
The gunshots took them all by surprise as bullets splintered the door. Everyone screamed and huddled out of the way of the bullets. Owen’s arm was bleeding where one had scraped him as he jumped out of the way. He had Luke next to him with blood running from a cut on his forehead.
Skyler searched the women to be sure they were all okay. Rachael and Valerie sat together behind her. Fighting to keep from crying, Skyler covered her ears from the loud echoes of the gunshots and prayed the ricocheting bullets wouldn’t hit anyone else. Her ears were ringing from the loud noises, and she wasn’t sure if they had stopped firing on the door or not.
When the door suddenly flew apart and pieces fell down the stairs, she knew they had stopped firing and were now coming to take them. She hugged herself, praying for a miracle. The first man to ease down the stairs led with his gun, but Luke shot him. He fell down the steps head first. The next set of legs hurried back up.
“Either put down your guns or we’ll start firing from up here and there’s no telling who we’ll hit that way.” The stranger’s voice had a nasal twang to it.
Owen immediately started turning chairs over in front of them and hunkered down in front of them with his rifle at the ready. Luke was backed up on the other side of him. Both men were prepared for the worst. Skyler felt tears on her cheeks as she struggled to keep from sobbing. She was going to lose her lover. He would sacrifice himself for them. There was no way they would live and let these men take them. She couldn’t even reach Owen to touch him. She needed him to know she loved him.
It reminded her that she hadn’t told Simon that she loved him either. If they got past Owen and Luke, they would take them away. She would never see Simon again, and she hadn’t told him she loved him. For some reason, that bothered her more than being kidnapped.
“Are you going to put down your weapons?” Again the man called down the stairs.
“You’re not getting them. They belong to us.” Luke’s voice was steady despite the overwhelming odds.
“You’re risking their lives. Think about it.”
“There’s nothing to think about. You’ll sell them to the highest bidder and there’s no telling how they will be treated. We won’t give them to you.” Owen spoke this time.
The sound of raised voices could be heard as the men above them argued. No doubt some of them didn’t want to risk hurting or killing the women. They weren’t worth anything to them dead. Skyler felt a shaky laugh bubble up inside of her. She shook her head and willed it down. She didn’t need to get hysterical now. It wouldn’t help anything.
That’s when she noticed the silence from above. Then the room erupted in gun fire once again. Bullets flew wildly around the room, hitting the ceiling, the floors, and the walls. They ricocheted and sprayed splinters and dirt all over them. The noise alone was deafening.
Skyler felt pinpricks of pain all over her arms and shoulders as she attempted to shield her head and the women behind her. Her body felt as if it were on fire, and the roaring in her ears didn’t help matters. She couldn’t stop the tears now and didn’t want to. She was losing everything and everyone important to her. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Hands grabbed at her and she screamed, fighting for everything she was worth. She couldn’t hear for the torrential ringing in her ears. She wouldn’t let them take her without
a fight. Not matter what else happened, she would know that she had fought. More hands worked at getting to the other women around her. She couldn’t help them and she couldn’t help herself. Pain lanced through her body and then everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen
The sound of gunshots in the distance stopped them all in their tracks. The eight men looked at each other and broke into a run. Something was very wrong. With everything they had talked about concerning the wolves, Simon felt sure that the wolves had circled behind them and attacked the house. Worry rode him hard as they raced through the woods.
Before they made it to the house, more gunshots broke out, and it was obvious that wolves weren’t the problem. There were too many shots fired. There had to be more than Owen and Luke firing them. Black market agents had returned to take the women. With all of them gathered there and only two men left to protect them, the bastards probably thought they had hit the jackpot.
More than likely they had watched all of the men leave the house to hunt and waited until they were long gone before attacking. He bet they hadn’t expected the women to be locked in the cellar. It had bought them some time.
His heart raced as he pushed himself to run faster. Every gunshot tore through him as if it were him the bullets were hitting.
They raced up to the house and burst through the already gaping door. He counted four men standing in the kitchen with weapons. They easily took them down and then advanced on the two in the pantry trying to back out. Once they were eliminated, they raced down the stairs calling out that it was them. He desperately searched for Owen and Skyler. Owen lay facedown on the floor in front of the women. Luke was not far to his left. He could hear sobbing and screams, and over it all, Micah’s voice telling everyone what to do.
He ignored Micah and located Skyler’s bloodied form huddled over Rachael. When he tried to pull her into his arms to check her, she fought him like a wildcat. He tried to soothe her, telling her it was him, but she didn’t seem to hear him.
“They can’t hear you. The gunshots down here were probably deafening.” Micah was trying to pull Rachael from beneath Skyler.
“Baby, let go. It’s okay now. You’re safe now.” He wrapped his arms around her, pinning hers down by her sides. “Oh, baby. Look at you.”
She was covered in blood, dirt, and wood. He didn’t know how much was hers and how much was someone else’s. Her body suddenly went limp in his arms. Fear that she was seriously wounded filled his throat with bile as he carried her across the room toward the stairs. Owen’s body wasn’t there any longer. One of the other men must have moved him and Luke. He wondered if they were dead. Pain at the thought of losing his best friend had him hurrying up the stairs to be sure that he didn’t lose Skyler, too.
He gently laid her down on the floor in front of the fire so he could check her wounds. He started at her head and moved down her body until he had identified every scratch, cut, and injury. She had numerous small nicks and splinters in the back of her neck and all along her arms and hands. There was a more serious cut on her temple that looked as if a bullet had grazed her there.
The main concern he had was that she had a through and through gunshot wound on her left side. It had left a half-dollar-sized hole on the exit side of her front. The dime-sized one on the other side didn’t worry him nearly as much. He didn’t think it had hit anything major since he couldn’t smell bowel, but she was bleeding.
Someone had dropped several towels and supplies near them, and he took advantage of it to hold pressure there in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. She still hadn’t woken back up. Had the bullet at her temple caused a serious concussion? He had a bandage there to stop the bleeding as well.
“Let me see. Does she need stitches?” Micah had knelt beside him at some point.
“I’m not sure what it needs. It went right through her.” He pulled back from the wounds and let Micah get a good look. “How is Rachael?”
“Your wife saved her and the baby’s life. She only has some scratches and cuts that are minor.”
Simon made himself ask about Owen, almost too afraid to speak the question.
“He’s alive, but he has several bullet wounds. It’s going to be touch and go for both him and Luke. Grant and Valerie are taking care of Luke. She was lucky and escaped all but a few cuts from flying wood.”
Simon just nodded, his focus entirely on Skyler and keeping her alive. Micah disappeared for several seconds then returned with a first aid kit and someone he hadn’t seen before.
“This is Brice. He’s going to take care of Skyler’s bullet wounds. One of the other men went and got us some help.”
Simon looked at the new man and gritted his teeth. He didn’t like someone he had never seen before touching her, but he knew he needed to back up and let the man work. He seemed to know what he was doing.
As soon as he finished with her, he nodded and hurried to work on someone else. Simon covered her up and rested her head in his lap hoping she would wake up soon. Her pale face worried him. How much blood had she lost? Had it been too much?
“Sky, I need you to wake up and tell me you’re going to be okay. I can’t stand the idea of losing you. I love you, baby.”
He whispered over and over how much he loved her and needed her. Looking up, he watched as everyone seemed to be busy working on one of the others. It looked like Brice was working on Owen now. He prayed the other man made it. Not just because he was a friend, but because Skyler loved and needed him.
He let his head drop back against the stone of the fireplace and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Someone walked up and knelt by him. He opened his eyes and stared into Rachel’s tear-filled one.
“I brought you some coffee and a glass of water for when she wakes up.”
“Thank you. Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine. She will be, too. She kept me safe.”
Simon smiled at her and sipped the coffee. He nodded that it was good, and she stood up again and walked off. Then Micah was back.
“Owen’s awake. He’s fighting us because he wants to know that Skyler is okay. He’s going to bleed out if he doesn’t settle down. I think you need to go talk to him, and then we’ll carry them both upstairs and put them in bed together.”
“I don’t want to leave her.” Simon wrapped her hair in his fist.
“I’ll sit with her. It won’t take but a minute to calm him down. Then you can carry her upstairs and we’ll carry him.” Micah knelt by her and nodded at Simon.
Simon squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds and eased her head onto a pillow Micah handed him. Then he hurried over to where he could hear Owen’s weak demands to see Skyler. The other man was just as pale as Skyler was. He knelt by him and grasped his hand.
“Owen. Listen to me. She’s okay, but she’s going to need you to help her get well. You’ve got to calm down or you’ll upset her.”
“Let me see her. I need to see her.” The other man’s eyes were wild with fear.
“We’re going to carry you both upstairs and put you to bed. You can hold her hand so she knows you’re there, but you’ve got to be still.”
“How bad is she, Simon?”
“She’ll be fine. She has a bullet wound in her side, but Brice sewed her up. You’ve got to hang in there for her.”
Owen’s eyes closed and he nodded. Simon could tell he was unconscious once again. His breathing was so shallow that he wondered if he would make it. He stood up and hurried back to where Micah was kneeling by Skyler. He nodded and Micah helped him pick his love up to carry her upstairs.
Once there, he carefully stripped what was left of her clothes from her body and covered her in a loose-fitting T-shirt from his drawer. Then he pulled the covers up over her and readied the other side of the bed for Owen when they brought him up. He kissed Skyler’s cheek and whispered in her ear once more how much he loved her before pulling up a chair and sitting next to the bed.
After what seemed like hours
, he heard the sounds of feet on the stairs. He got up and walked out into the hall to see them bringing up Luke. They carried him to the next bedroom and disappeared inside the room.
“We are going to have to take care of him here for now. He wouldn’t make it back home in the truck.” Brice’s frown told him it was bad.
“Everyone is welcome to stay that needs to. We’ve got plenty of room.” He almost didn’t recognize his voice. It sounded so dejected and weak.
The other man nodded. “They’re bringing Owen up next. I wanted him to stay where he was a little longer before we jostled him getting him up the stairs. If I didn’t know that he’d fight to see Skyler, I’d make him stay down there.
“Thanks for all of your help. You don’t even know us.”
“You’re part of the community. We all help each other as much as we can. With this”—he spread his hands out—“it looks like we may have to start living in groups to be safe.”
“I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m afraid you’re probably right.”
He shook Simon’s hand then hurried back down to where the others were. He felt a little guilty in not checking on the other women, but his first priority was to Skyler and Owen. They needed him now. Micah was handling the others. A noise behind him had him hurrying back to the bed.
“Skyler? Can you hear me?”
Her eyelids fluttered open for a split second, but she didn’t keep them open. She sighed and was still once more. He took it to be a good sign that she’d moved and opened her eyes. He gently stroked her cheek before bending down and kissing her lightly on the lips. He sat down once again to wait for her to awaken.
A noise jerked him awake at some point and he stood up after checking to be sure that Skyler was okay. Several men walked in carrying Owen between them.
“I have the sheets turned back.” He hurried over to help settle him in bed after the others moved out of the way.
