by E A Lake
During the second hour, somewhere around 4:30, they noticed light in the eastern sky. Just a little, a pink tint, at first. But with each passing moment, the darkness gave up its hold on the night. Relief showed on the faces of the three. With light in their world it was much easier to see than to have to strain and listen in the dark.
Karen leaned back in her chair and looked at Theresa. “Have you ever had sex, Sister?” Karen asked the question so plainly and harmlessly. Sara’s jaw dropped, glancing between Karen and the Sister.
Theresa only shook her head. “No, I never did. I’ve kissed some men, mostly boys, I suppose…back in high school. But that fall after graduation I joined the church, so I’ve been quite faithful to myself ever since.” Theresa spoke to Karen like it was not a big deal, something Sara couldn’t comprehend. Karen spoke again.
“So never even touched, just a little kissing?”
Theresa shrugged still staring at the road. “Oh, I’ve had to fight off my share of Russian hands and Roman fingers back in the day. I’m not as pure as you might think.” Theresa chuckled. “Just more pure than most of my classmates.” Theresa looked past Sara and over at Karen. “What about you, have you been faithful to yourself thus far?”
Karen shrugged. “I pretty much grew up in Church, Missouri Synod Lutheran. My mother drilled it into my head from the time I started to blossom: no touching, no kissing. Before I went to DeepHaven, the only boy I ever kissed was my cousin. And even at school, I only ever let one boy kiss me. But no touching, absolutely none. I have nightmares of going to hell for even thinking of boys, much less any courage to get too involved.” Karen and Theresa laughed lightly.
Sara was in shock. Theresa finally nodded at her. “How about you Sara? Any experience with boys?” Theresa asked as Karen looked down the road. A small deer crossed a ways to the south of them.
With a beet-red face, Sara’s mouth hung open in disbelief. “Sister, look at me. I look like I’m ten. What boy would even glance my way? And I believe it’s a sin to even think about it. Isn’t it?” Sara was frantic. She couldn’t believe how the other two had spoken.
Theresa smiled at her. “Sara, it’s natural. It’s okay to ponder. It’s okay to even talk to us about. No one will think less of you.” Sara wasn’t sure, but she lightened with Theresa’s easy words. There was a sound from the inside of the house that startled them all.
“If you move onto the birds and the bees, let me know.” Hunter addressed the trio with a large grin. The talk must have woken him. Sara looked down and excused herself, plainly embarrassed. Hunter grinned at the other two. “All quiet out there?” They both nodded. The sun was about to peek out from behind the eastern horizon, and they could see everything now in the light of dawn. The morning appeared to be another cloudless blue-skied one for central Wisconsin.
“We’ll have to get at the watering right away. Right after breakfast.” Hunter walked to the front of the porch and peered down the road to the south. Still empty, good. “I want everyone to shoot a gun after that. Let’s do it all at once so we get it over with. Less sound attracts less people, ya know.” Theresa could hear Sara in the kitchen; perhaps she was making coffee. Hunter’s face lit up when he heard this.
“I suppose the girls and I should get going on the wash after that. We’re getting low on diapers, I’m afraid.” Sister Theresa spoke as she rose from her chair; Karen got up, as well. This would be another busy and hopefully quiet day of country life for the group.
By late morning, the garden was wet and clothes hung on the line. The girls worked on the boxes of clothing Hunter had brought. Theresa and Hunter arranged the pantry to fit everything she desired. They were well-stocked, and that made Theresa extremely happy. Between the canned goods from yesterday, and what the garden would provide, they’d be covered for the next four months. At least well into the fall when more would be needed. By then, she hoped they’d have something to trade to fill their needs at that time.
After lunch, Hunter went back out to inspect the garden. He’d noticed earlier that the carrots appeared to be crowded, so he checked them again. They’d need thinning, according to what he knew. He searched inside for Theresa and another able body for this new project. Sara volunteered, as Matty had just laid down for his long afternoon nap.
“You can see they’re coming in nicely.” Hunter pointed at the green carrot tops. “But they’re too tight. We need to thin them a little, otherwise they won’t have any size to them.” Hunter started at one end; Theresa and Sara started at the other. Another 45 minutes passed and the carrots were now to Hunter and Theresa’s liking.
“Do they need more water now?” Sara thought maybe they could use a little drink.
Hunter nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go get a bucket of water, and you two can go back inside. Kind of warm out here again today, almost hot already.” Theresa shut the gate as they left the garden. Hunter turned to go around the front of the house; Theresa and Sara started around the back. He took two steps and stopped when he heard a funny ping from the wire behind, almost like a strand had broken free. He turned to look for the source of the sound, and heard Sara say “Ouch” and saw her lying on the ground. Mid-thigh, on the outside of her left leg, was a streak of red. Hunter and Theresa inspected the mark; they were at a complete loss as to what had just happened.
Hunter looked toward the house and saw a narrow object sticking out of the ground at a 45-degree angle. Theresa bent down to inspect Sara’s wound, as Hunter looked closer at the foreign item. Some sort of feather adorned the end. Theresa was just about to say something when Hunter’s eyes jerked open, and he reached down to scoop Sara from the ground.
“In the house, NOW!” he shouted at the nun. Theresa froze; she stood dazed for a second. “Move it, Sister. Someone’s shooting at us!” Hunter raced around the corner of the house with Theresa hot on his heels.
Chapter Thirty-two
Carrying the wounded Sara, Hunter and Theresa rounded the back of the house; all seemed quiet again. Only after they burst through the porch door, and ran into the kitchen, did another arrow shatter one of the glass windows on that same porch. Theresa lost her nerve. A high-pitched scream alerted the rest of the group.
“Everyone down and away from the windows,” Hunter called to the four unsuspecting teens inside the house. “Get those babies in their seats, and back in the pantry. Emily, you and Sheila stay back there with them.” The two frantic teens crawled on their hands and knees collecting the smallest of their group. Karen crawled toward Sara, who lay on the kitchen floor with Theresa hovering over her. Theresa looked up at Karen with a brave, yet scared expression.
“It just nicked the side of her leg. What was it, Hunter?” He crawled over by the far window on the garden side, to get a better look at the object in the yard. He was sure it was an arrow. Just which type, he didn’t know yet.
“It appears to be an arrow from a crossbow. The top looks notched, and it’s shorter than a standard arrow.” Hunter crawled toward Theresa who was still inspecting Sara’s wound. “How’s her leg?” Theresa responded to Hunter finally.
“A scratch mostly, but a deep scratch. It’s like it hit something first and ricocheted off her leg.” Theresa watched Hunter scurry back to the pantry. Once there, he stood amongst the babies and loaded the pair of shotguns. Then, he crawled to the back porch and grabbed his rifle. He handed Karen one shotgun and the other to Mary.
“You…” He pointed at Karen. “…go into the living room. Sneak some looks out the side window toward the garden. If you see anything moving let me know. If you see someone coming at the house, and they’re closer than the garden, shoot through the window at them. You’ve got five shots in there. I took the plugs out already. Just shoot until they drop.” Next, he looked at Mary. She appeared less confident than Karen. “Be brave. Just watch out the front window in the dining room here. Just let me know what you see.” Mary nodded quickly and crept toward the front window.
Hunter next crawled into
the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Handing it to Theresa, he spoke as confidently as he could. “Get some of this on that wound of hers, and get her in the back with the others. Then you go by Mary and help watch. I’ll go watch out the front in the living room.” Hunter took a clean handkerchief from his back pocket and handed it to Sara with a quick smile. “It’s clean, just press it against that mark until it stops bleeding.”
Karen called out from the living room. “Hunter, there’s two men out in the tree line. They seem to have some type of bows with them.” Hunter stayed low and dashed to the side window. He pointed his rifle at the only man he could find in the brush. When the gun went off, it exploded the old glass in the window and roared its loud repeat inside the house. Five babies began to scream as five teens, and a nun screamed just as loud. Sara and Emily began to cry.
Sheila grabbed Emily’s hands in the panty. She focused on the frightened teens eyes and spoke quietly. “Emily, focus. We have to keep these babies quiet. We have to settle them down. They’re really scared, Emily.” Emily nodded her head, quickly coming back to the moment. She shushed two babies as Sheila did the same to two more. Sara, now in the pantry with them, quieted the last one, Mary’s Rachel.
Theresa crawled over by Mary, still reeling from the sound of the rifle going off inside the house. The Sister rubbed Mary’s small shoulders saying a prayer of encouragement for them. When she ended, she called out for Hunter. “What’s going on over there?” Hunter peered carefully out the window.
“Well, there’s one less than before. Not sure how many that leaves, but there’s only one more on this side.” He had barely finished his sentence when Mary called out.
“There’s three out by the road, out front.” Hunter ran to the opening onto the front porch and knelt, pulling his gun up. He took careful aim and fired again. The last man in the group dropped as the gun went off. Two down. At least three more out there. Probably more. Theresa glanced out her bedroom window.
“I just saw one more sneak down by the barn. Only one, but he had a bow.” That made four still alive, in Hunter’s mind. He scanned the road carefully again. He could see the two from the front scurrying around the bushes by the pump. He thought about shooting, but didn’t want to waste the ammunition. He again noticed that the five little ones were screaming. There was just too much action for their little ears up here.
“Sheila,” Hunter called out for one of the caregivers behind him, “see if that basement is decent enough for you all to hole up in.” He hadn’t been down there and wasn’t sure if it was a standard basement or just dirt. He heard Sheila open the door and descend the steps. Quickly she was back up with her report.
“It’s kind of yucky, but I think it’s okay. Do you want to check it out?”
Hunter shook his head still watching the road. “Take those kids and a lamp down there. They’ll be safer, and it will be quieter. They won’t scream every time we touch one off up here.” Sheila agreed quickly; she, Emily and Sara took the babies below. She left the basement door open so she could hear what was going on upstairs.
Theresa shook Hunter’s shoulder and pointed out front. He could still see the two men moving in the brush by the pump, but a third larger man stood up waving a piece of white material. He started down the far end of the drive toward the house. The man wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt. He was mostly bald with a long gray beard. Covered in dirt and sweat, he limped slightly.
He called out to the house. “I want to talk. Come out and meet me on the drive. I’m unarmed. Just want to run something by you.” Theresa shook her head at Hunter. He nodded sideways and raised his eyebrows. He needed to go meet the enemy.
“Karen, keep watch out that far side. Close the door to Emily’s room. If that sucker squeaks, shoot the door.” He placed his hand lightly on Mary’s shoulder. She jumped not expecting his touch. “You just keep watching those two out by the water. If you see them moving around, yell for me.” He looked back at Theresa. “Come on, Sister. Time to meet the devil face to face.” Theresa sighed heavily and stood with his help.
From inside the back porch, Hunter and the Sister watched the bald, dirty man. He didn’t look overly mean or aggressive. But he did look like trouble.
The man started slowly looking between the two; Hunter still armed. “Okay, here’s the way I see this. There’s five of us still, and seven of you. Ten if you count the three babies I think you have in there. But you only got one man and six girls. So it’s like five on two, or five on three at the best. We got plenty of arrows and can pluck away at you all day if we have to. Or, you can give us what we want.” Hunter glared at the low life ruffian.
“And what might that be?” Hunter didn’t sound impressed.
“Well, we’ll give you an hour to clear out. You, the girls, and the babies, hit the road. You must have friends around here that will take you in. We just want your house and your food. We figure, with that many people in there, you must have quite a stockpile of good stuff to eat. We won’t have to kill any of you that way.” The man shot a toothless grin at Hunter and then over at Theresa.
“Let me get this straight,” Hunter thought before he spoke again. “You fire on us first, striking a 14-year-old girl, then you try and surround our place and make me kill two of your men. Now you want to kick us out of here and take everything that’s ours?” Hunter laughed. “Another ten minutes, and this war is over. You’ll all be dead. We got three rifles and you got four, maybe five bows.” Hunter shook his head again. “Sorry friend, this doesn’t add up to me. You’re in no position to bargain.” Hunter had the higher ground and he knew it. Well, mostly.
“First off, we were shooting at you, not the girl. The arrow must have gotten deflected. And I think you’re missing something here.” The dirty man paused to rub sweat from his face. “We’ll wait you out until dark. Then we’ll take you one by one. You lose your advantage when the sun goes down. We’ll kill you first and then what? You can only imagine what we’re going to do to those girls once we get our hands on them. Want me to explain in detail? We’ve been talking it through.”
Theresa stepped forward. She’d had enough. “Sir, these are five young girls taking care of five orphaned babies. I am a nun here helping them.” The man gave a bolder toothless grin. “I beg of you to reconsider. Move on. In the name of our Lord Jesus, I ask you to pass this house over.” The man laughed at her words.
“Sister, there’s no God, and we all have the proof. There’s nothing out here. No law, no help, and most certainly no God.” The man looked at Theresa pathetically. “We’re tired, we’re hungry, we’re dirty, and we all need to lay with a woman after all the shit we’ve been through the past year and more. And you’ll do just fine for me. I promise you that. You’ll know you’ve been with a man when I get through.” Theresa slid slightly behind Hunter.
For his part, Hunter was mostly quiet. Finally, he grinned at the situation. “I think you almost had her there, with all that sweet talk of yours. You were close. But I think she’ll probably pass on the opportunity to sleep with you. Especially since you’ll all be dead by morning. That doesn’t sound like much fun for her I bet.” Hunter gave a quick wink to Theresa. Her head swiveled slightly. “So, you’d better find some good cover out there. When we get done with you, you’re going to look like Swiss cheese.”
The man laughed and turned to rejoin his ranks. “We’re going to put so many arrows in that house it’s going to look like a pincushion when this is over. And any woman left alive is going to get used as a pincushion after that. I hope you’re barely alive still, so we can tie you down and have you watch, mister. When I’m done with you, I’m going to piss in your lifeless eyes.” Theresa took hold of Hunter’s arm from behind.
Hunter gazed back briefly. “He wasn’t very nice,” Hunter said toward Theresa. “Maybe you could have left the nun part out.” He raised his eyebrows as he watched the man amble back to his group. “Consider letting me do all the talking from
now on.” The pair turned to rejoin their group inside.
“Hunter, we have to win this battle. We have to.” Theresa sounded desperate to Hunter. He turned to face to her.
“Oh, there’s no doubt about that, Sister. We have to either win big or all die trying. And I ain’t ready to die, so let’s win one for the big guy upstairs. Just to prove He’s still there.” Theresa agreed, greatly. That’s what she needed to hear.
Chapter Thirty-three
Hunter and Theresa made it back inside safely, and knelt in front of Mary and Karen. Hunter went between the girls as he gave precise instructions for their plan.
“Karen, I want you in the front corner of the living room. Over on the southeast wall. That puts two windows and Emily’s door in your line of fire. If anyone tries to come in through those windows, blast them. If that door opens, fire on it. I’ll be in the northwest corner behind the chair, so I can see your position and the two in the dining room.” Hunter came back to Mary and Theresa.
“I want you two up front on the east wall, on either side of that window looking out.” Hunter thought for a moment and shook his head. “Actually, I want you in that spot, Mary. Theresa, I want you in the corner directly across from her on that east side. That way if anything moves in the kitchen, you can alert me, and I can take care of it. Though I wouldn’t expect them to walk in through a door.” Hunter rubbed his chin and grinned. “I guess I never expected someone would fight us for this dump. We need to be relentless, though.” Everyone nodded and scurried for their positions.
