Maybe there was nothing to figure out. I remembered my study of world history and from the earliest of times, armies took advantage of the civilian population as they moved across the land. The textbooks used to teach in public schools watered down the truth, but still I got the idea.
These raiders represented a new, terrible army loosed in our lands. With no laws or threat of force to hold them in check, they were raping and pillaging to their black hearts’ content. All the while, they tore down the foundations of our crumbling civilization.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Scott thought to bring two trucks, so we loaded one with the Trimbles and Cass. Well, more to the point, Cass and I loaded the first truck. The ladies latched on to Cass well enough, but they never got over the shivers when one of the other men came around. For some reason, they seemed okay with my presence. I was afraid to ask why at first and just went with it.
I got to carry first Shay and then Delilah over to the truck, which had a mattress thoughtfully laid out in the bed for ease of travel. Neither girl spoke to me, or made eye contact, even as I boosted them up on my back to do the carrying, piggy back style. Cass brought a military surplus stretcher, but neither girl would agree to lie down on the stretched canvas.
As I left to go get Delilah, Shay sat with Cass, hand in hand, and made little mewling sounds like a kitten. The girl’s face, even after her mother’s thorough washing with creek water, still looked discolored and I realized it was from multiple bruises. Some half healed, and others fresh.
I noticed the same pattern of bruising on little Delilah’s face, as well as the vacant, lost look in her eyes. She was barely four foot tall and weighed maybe seventy pounds, and I barely felt her weight as she clung to my neck. I’d seen variations of that hollow eyed stare a couple of times on my cross-country trek, and I wondered if we could ever get the little girl back.
When Delilah rejoined her sister, they linked hands immediately but exchanged not a word. For that matter, I’d never heard Delilah speak. Cass murmured something to both girls, her tone gentle and calming, and I remembered that Cass too had a little girl in that throng of children inhabiting the main house. Again I was grateful for the barracks.
“Are they okay?” Mrs. Trimble asked anxiously as I made my way back over to her seated position. She had taken the opportunity to wash up as well, and she at least could make eye contact for brief moments.
“Yes, ma’am. They are sitting with Mrs. McWorter. I’m sure they will be glad to see you as soon as we can get to them. Are you sure you won’t let us use the stretcher? Nick or one of the other guys would be glad to help.”
Mrs. Trimble looked down, shivering suddenly and shaking her head ever so slightly.
“They…carried us around on doors, Luke. Ripped them right off the frames in our house, then tied us to them when they decided to move out here. Then just strapped us to the roof of one of the trucks they were using. Like we were luggage. Said it was easier to move us around that way.”
I had to turn away at the woman’s reaction, but her words spurred a thought.
“Where are their vehicles now? We didn’t find anything like that when we searched.”
Mrs. Trimble shrugged and rose slowly to her feet. She’d also dressed herself in a pair of baggy jeans and a long sleeved button up shirt, with the cuffs rolled up, but we’d found no shoes to cover her feet. She had very small feet, even for a woman. Instead, Mark came up with a pair of old rubber boots.
“They left out early this morning, I think. I heard the engines, anyway. That woke me up. Then, those…men started hurting Sean again. They started yesterday…still trying to find out where he’d hidden our food.” She paused, blinking rapidly, before continuing.
“I think they did it today just for fun. The boss, he wasn’t even asking questions. He might have gone with them. The boss, I mean. He didn’t come by the tent, this morning…”
With her pause, I got what she meant.
“What’s his name? The boss. Did you ever catch what the other men called him?”
“Randall, I think. Some of the men called him Rand or Randy.”
While we had been speaking, the two of us were walking carefully down the rough trail that existed between the campsite and the dirt road. With a careful grip on my left forearm, Mrs. Trimble made her way slowly; on legs I knew had to be feeling rubbery and unsure.
I paused frequently, allowing her to pick a path through the deep ruts in the ground. Clearly, somebody had been driving back and forth between the raider base and the private road of the timber company.
As we became more comfortable with each other’s presence, I finally screwed up my courage to ask the question that had been bugging me.
“Mrs. Trimble, why me? I mean, I would never hurt you or your girls. Never. But why do you trust me and not Mark or Nick? They are your neighbors and you know their family. The Kellers are good people, and they’ve taken in complete strangers, so surely they would help you.”
For a long time, I thought Mrs. Trimble would not answer, and I feared my question had made her withdraw again. Then she spoke as if no time had passed.
“You came for us. When I was through begging God to save us, you came. I was praying to die, Luke. I wanted to die, and for my girls to die, to stop their suffering. When I had no more hope left, that’s when you showed up. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I think that’s why.”
The sensation on my cheeks warned me of the tears as they fell, but I felt no shame. How could I feel shame after what this woman endured? After a beat, she spoke again, her voice low and ragged again, like rough stone.
“I saw you, when you killed Jimmy. No hesitation, no expression on your face when you stuck that knife in his eye. You didn’t enjoy it, but you did it just like anybody would, doing a dirty chore. Like chopping off a chicken’s head or cleaning out a horse stall. I hope you will teach me how to do that, to kill and feel nothing. I will learn to protect my girls, and this will never happen to us again.”
For the first time, I heard iron in her raspy voice and a little hope began to grow inside. If she could recover from her physical trauma, I thought she might be able to find her way back from what happened.
“I’ll teach you everything I can, ma’am. As soon as you feel up to it, I promise.”
When Mrs. Trimble squeezed my arm in reply, I had to bite to cheek not to call out. Crap, that burn still hurt. But, I thought darkly, it did distract me from the ache in my chest.
“There’s something else, Luke. Something you should know. I know you said you aren’t from around here, and for me that isn’t a bad thing.”
We were nearly at the truck when Mrs. Trimble finished telling her story, and my blood was near to boiling as I helped her step up into the truck bed. When I looked around, I saw the other truck was piled high with materials, mainly stacked rifles and cases of ammunition. Nick and the rest of the farm contingent had not been idle as I tended to the Trimble family.
“Ya’ll ready to roll?” Nick asked, his normal good cheer somewhat restored at the idea of getting the hell out of here. I wondered how he would be feeling when I shared Mrs. Trimble’s last bit of news with the council.
“Let’s get going. We’re wasting daylight.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Nineteen?” Darwin whispered, looking from face to face as we sat in the study once again. With me were the rest of our team, Darwin Keller, Sid Stevenson, and Stan Schecter and a few more of the grayhairs I still couldn’t reliably put a name to match the face. Bruce was out on patrol and my good buddy Gary Keller was only notable to me in his absence.
“Yes, sir. According to what we saw and our witness on site, we didn’t get them all either. We could have even missed the leader of the gang, but I’m confident that we did get the bulk of them.” Nick explained.
“And the Trimble family? Sean’s dead, and his wife and daughters forced to…”
Darwin paused, at a loss for words. Then he looke
d at me.
“Is this what it is like, out there? Casual murder and the widespread destruction of lives and homes? Is this what you were trying to warn us about?”
I thought for a moment before answering, and gave Nick an apologetic glance before opening my mouth.
“Yes sir. Partly. You haven’t seen the mobs of starving city dwellers yet, but I fear they are coming. You may have some time before those mobs work their way into the countryside around here. And Mr. Keller, I don’t know how to say this, but I think you have another problem I hadn’t anticipated.”
“Well, that can’t be good,” Stan muttered under his breath. The words were clearly not meant to be overheard, but in the silence he could quickly tell he was wrong. His blush of embarrassment almost made me smile.
“Nick, I didn’t want to ambush you with this news, but Mrs. Trimble was so scared she only dared to discuss this subject with me right before we headed out. Frankly, I need to ask her more questions, but here’s what I suspect right now: somebody tied in with a city government nearby has been trading with at least this one gang of raiders. I think this person or persons are responsible for selling the locations of farms that are still inhabited. Further, I think this is why we had our buddy Murray snooping around.”
Well, that sure set them off. I sat quietly while the elders discussed the possibility of a betrayal by the very people they were aiming to help. The volume quickly rose to a dull roar until Darwin cut off debate with a sharp word.
“Hold! Luke, that’s a pretty darned inflammatory thing to toss out in this meeting. What exactly did Mrs. Trimble have to say?”
“Four days ago, somebody showed up at the camp shortly after she and her family arrived. She did not see them drive up, and she did not hear a name mentioned, but the man she saw arrived with two bodyguards dressed as police officers. This man met with the leader of the gang, someone named Randall or Randy, and afterwards her youngest daughter was given to the man as entertainment for the night.
“The next morning, when Delilah, battered and bleeding, was returned to their tent, she thought she saw a gang member leaving the camp. She heard his name mentioned. It was Murray. That’s all she said, but she might know more and not realize.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Sid Stevenson muttered softly. I sounded more like a prayer than a curse. “What she saw, no wonder she was worried about confiding in you. If this person is dealing with these raiders you described, he would not hesitate to kill her and the rest of her family to keep that connection secret.”
“Uncle Sid’s right,” Nick said, joining in the conversation. “That information can’t leave this room until we know who can be trusted. Luke, do you think she could describe this man?”
“I reckon. Once she’s had some time to recover.”
“Actually” Scott chimed in for the first time, “if we want as accurate a description as possible, we need to collect her statement immediately. Maybe she can give us a description of the uniforms she saw as well. Could be imposters, or guys wearing rent-a-cop outfits instead of actual law enforcement.”
That made a lot of sense, and reminded me we actually had unused resources right here on the farm. Scott was not, as I suspected, a professional hunting guide or a poacher. Nick had revealed he was actually a game warden, which in addition to chasing poachers and hassling drunken boaters, also meant he had law enforcement training.
“Yeah, well that’s why I held off on repeating anything she said over the radio. No sense in broadcasting what we know. By the way, is Murray still alive or …”
“He’s alive. For now. Tied up and dumped in a drainage pit over in the hog barn.” Nick said angrily. “He’s still got questions to answer and now we have more information to work with. I wonder why he told us the location but lied about their numbers?”
I shrugged. “Maybe he was hoping we would just roll in there and get ourselves killed. That would lead his friends straight back to the farm. Maybe you can ask him that very question.”
“Bet on it. We went easy the first time.” Mark chimed in, and I saw the dark cast to his eyes. Seeing what Murray’s friends had done meant the gloves were off for the younger Keller brother.
“We’ll find out what he knows, Dar” Scott agreed. “What is the plan for tomorrow?”
“Tonight. We still have a little daylight. Nick, you and Scott should go have another talk with our guest. Mark, will you and young Luke take care of unloading the weapons and ammo from the truck? Looks like ya’ll hauled back enough weapons to start a war.”
Darwin’s two sons and his youngest brother all agreed and stood as if to leave, but the old man wasn’t done.
“Tomorrow, you all need to go back out there bright and early. Take more trucks and as many men as you think you need. Bring back those poor innocent victims for a proper burial here. Then I want to visit with each and every neighbor within a ten mile radius. We won’t say anything about what Mrs. Trimble confided, not directly. But, Nick, if you and Scott can do it, I want a name. Find out who is willing to trade with raiders and rape little girls, and we will see about getting a little justice.”
Pounding the table once with a big, work scarred fist, Darwin Keller was letting off some of the steam that had accumulated during the discussion. Nobody had anything to say after that. What was there to say?
I was the last in line to exit and once out in the hallway, I found Amy waiting for me once again. She looked at the bandage on my arm but I shook my head.
“Just a burn. Nothing to it. I’m sure you’ve done worse with a curling iron. How are you?”
“I’m fine, now. The first thing Scott did when he got back was let everybody know ya’ll were okay. I thought Mark’s wife Candace was going to have a heart attack she was so worried.” Amy said, taking my hand in hers so naturally I didn’t even protest.
I looked over this girl I had grown so attached to and gave her my best smile. She was clean and smelled nice and appeared happy. I realized at that moment there was no way she would be accompanying me on the next leg of my journey. If the Keller family would agree to it, I would leave Amy here while I continued on to Texas.
“What’s wrong with Mark’s wife?” I finally asked, my attention coming back to the here and now.
“She’s about six months pregnant, silly. She was worried about her man.” Amy explained. She waited a beat before adding, “We all were.”
“Well, we are back safe and sound,” I replied, “and now I’ve got to get to work before Mr. Darwin comes looking for me with a switch.”
Amy gave me a wry smile before leaning in close to speak again. She spoke softly, her words for my ears alone.
“Silly, nobody is going to come after you with a switch. They’re all too scared of you.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“At Saw Creek. I heard Scott telling Mr. Keller about what happened. They were in the cattle barn and didn’t know I was there feeding the calves. He told his father that you killed half those men by yourself, with nothing but your knife. I think word got around pretty quick after that.”
“Great. They went from thinking I’m a no-good drifter to worrying I’m Billy the Kid. Or worse.”
Amy frowned, her tanned features drawing up in a look of concern.
“Luke, I don’t think it will be like that. Not for most of them. Not even the homebodies believe you’re a threat. Not after they saw the condition of those poor girls you brought in with Doc Cass.”
“Homebodies?” I asked stupidly.
“You know, the people who haven’t been off the farm since the world came unglued?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that description. I figured that label applied to most people here until today since Nick, Scott and Mark did the bulk of the scouting and handled the milk and egg runs into town. Maybe Bruce. Stan and Ruth definitely knew the way the world was trending outside the front gate.
Shaking off my woolgathering, I asked Amy if she had a few minu
tes to help me with something. She agreed without hesitating. No surprise; Amy was always willing to do her part and more. Taking Amy’s hand again, I guided her out the back door and around to the garage where Mark was already waiting.
“Hey, Mark. Sorry I’m late but I enlisted a little assistance here,” I said, and gave a wave to indicate Amy.
“Well, thanks, Miss Landon, but some of these guns are nasty and need a thorough cleaning and the ammo cans are really heavy.”
Amy laughed. “I’m not here to do any of those things. That’s for you big strong men. Luke asked me to come supervise.”
After leaving Mark to stand dumbfounded for a second or two, I finally stepped up to explain.
“Mark, she’s going to inventory what we unload. I figure since it has to be done anyway, why not handle that little chore now? Just keep tally of what you are pulling off the truck and tell Miss Smartypants here. For example, this is one can, 420 rounds, 5.56x45, 62 grain, full metal jacket.”
Amy, pencil in one hand and notepad in the other, jotted down the particulars as I listed them for her. Mark watched and nodded along before climbing up in the truck bed to start handing down more boxes. I stacked the metal cans neatly while Amy checked another hashmark on her list.
“Wow, that’s a lot of ammo,” Amy said when we finally finished uploading the cans.
“Let’s see, 420 rounds by 20 cans equals…8,400 rounds” I said, doing the math quick in my head. “Mark can tell you, this is not really all that much in a fight. There’s probably another 10,000 rounds of mixed 5.56 and .223 in a bunch of different boxes. We’ll want to keep track of the weight in grains and also if it is FMJ or what.”
Mark finally spoke up. I could tell all the stuff he’d seen and done today was weighing on his mind. He nodded absently in my direction, as if conceding something, before his words come.
“Yeah, you can burn through a basic load of 210 rounds in before you know it. Now, full auto stuff is where you really chew it up. Dad said we picked up enough guns and ammo to fight a war. After today, something tells me we are going to need it.”
Home Fires Burning (Walking in the Rain Book 2) Page 7
