by Eric Vall
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.
“Yeah,” Anna said. “He made his choice.”
“Yeah, but we all know he didn’t want to be here,” Bailey said. “We saw him at the outposts, he was only there because Brody knew he could control him.”
“Exactly,” Tara said. “Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever really felt bad for killing anyone before. We always just kill assholes. This is more complicated.”
“It’s not your fault,” I told her. “He’s a victim of Brody’s, not yours. When we take out Brody we’ll avenge him.”
“It really is Brody’s fault,” Paige said.
“It is,” I sighed. “He sent that poor kid to his death knowing full well what we’re capable of. But we’re going to try our best to give everyone the opportunity to abandon Brody, that way nobody has to feel this way.”
“How did he know where we lived anyways?” Anna asked in a low, concerned tone.
“Yeah,” Paige said, “it shouldn’t have been easy to figure out. This is a small campus, it’s not like it’s a big sign on any map.”
“Maybe not,” I said, “but Brody’s smart. Remember what I said earlier about not underestimating him.”
“I guess it’s a good thing we had guard duty back up and running,” Anna said as she looked down at the dead man on the ground and shook her head.
“I knew he’d find us eventually,” I said. “I didn’t think it’d be this quickly, but I knew he’d be looking.”
“I still don’t understand how he found us that fast,” Paige said, and her eyes narrowed in concentration.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “He knows where we live now, and he’s obviously not afraid to send men to attack us on our own turf.”
“You think he’ll send more?” Tara asked.
“Not right now,” I said. “Those men are terrified, and he lost a lot more than he gained today. The only thing he had going for him was an ambush, but we put a stop to that rather quickly.”
“What a fucking coward,” Tara scoffed. “He sent these poor guys out here to do his dirty work.”
“I don’t think he wanted to be here,” I said with a gesture down at Roman, “but the guy I took down seemed pretty sure of himself.”
“I noticed that, too,” Anna said. “He was giving the other guy orders.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Brody might have a few loyal guys after all.”
“Why didn’t he take them to Lebanon and Burlington, then?” Bailey asked. “It seemed like none of the guys that were there actually liked him.”
“Maybe he had to leave them in charge of the fort,” Anna said.
“That would make sense,” Paige agreed. “If you don’t trust your citizens to not stage a revolt, then the only thing that would keep them in line would be someone who has your back while you’re gone.”
“I think you’re right,” I said. “Brody’s not going to send his men back just yet, but we’re still going to keep guard duty going, and we need to get this taken care of, and fast.”
“Yeah, I don’t like him knowing where we live,” Bailey said. “I was already on edge from having to do guard duty again. This sucks.”
“We took out four of Brody’s men today,” I said with a smile. “He doesn’t have very many to spare.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Anna said. “Still, I don’t feel too much better about the whole thing. I mean, we were attacked at our own home.”
“Yes,” I said. “But now we know what Brody knows. We know that he knows where we live, and we know that he’s down four men. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it’s a good thing that this happened.”
“You wanna elaborate on that a bit?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Brody’s desperate to get rid of us,” I said. “He knows what we’re capable of, and he’s scared.
“He fuckin’ should be,” the platinum blonde mumbled.
“Right,” I agreed. “This gave us the opportunity to thin his numbers, scare the rest of his men, and make them question his authority even more. He already was low on numbers, and now he’s even lower. When we get into the fort and take him down there’ll be barely anybody standing in our way.”
“That makes sense,” Paige said. “That was probably half of the men he trusted.”
“Exactly,” I said. “And we already know that the other civilians only fear him, they don’t respect him. All Brody did was help us create our plan today. He knew he was sending at least some of his men in as a sacrifice, but I’m sure he was hoping he’d take a few of us down in the process.”
“Idiot,” Tara sneered.
“Definitely,” I chuckled. “Brody’s recklessness just put the ball in our court.”
“We need to work on a plan, then,” Anna said. “I’m ready to fuck this guy up.”
“Yeah,” Tara said. “I’m pretty sick of his bullshit by now.”
“I know,” I told her. “First things first, let’s gather up these bodies. Bailey, I want you back on the roof keeping watch.”
“Alright,” the blonde said with a nod.
“Let’s get the ATVs,” I told the other girls.
We all made our way back to the courtyard, and I headed over to the ATVs to get them ready to gather the bodies in the woods. It was spring and the animals were out, I couldn’t leave them there or we really could have another case of man eating wolves on our hands. It would also give me a minute to figure out our next move with Brody.
How in the hell had he figured out where we lived so quickly? I knew he would, but I never thought it would be that fast.
“Tav!” Rolly called, and I turned to see the old man coming toward me.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Everyone’s scared,” he sighed, “but nobody’s hurt. Is it over?”
“Yeah,” I told him. “It’s over for now. We’re still keeping someone on guard duty at all times, though.”
“What do we do now?” Rolly asked, and for the first time in a long time I saw fear in the old man’s cloudy eyes. We’d built so much together, and I knew he didn’t want to lose it any more than I did. To be attacked at your own home was one of the worst feelings you could have, and I was pissed that Brody had brought that fear to my people. He had made them feel unsafe in their own home, and that upset me more than anything.
“We’re going to handle the threat,” I told him in a low voice. “I promise.”
“Alright,” he said with a small nod, and he let out a shaky breath.
“It’ll be okay,” I said, and I put my hand on his shoulder. “I won’t let them take away everything we’ve worked for.”
“I know,” he said, and he gripped my hand with his own and gave it a squeeze. “I know you won’t.”
“Take care of everyone inside,” I said. “We’re going to get the bodies cleaned up, then I’ll come talk to the group.”
“Alright,” he said, and he headed back toward the dorm building.
“Tav!” Bailey called from the roof, and my heart rate immediately sped up again.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my hand already on the pistol on my hip.
“There’s another boat in the river,” she said, and Rolly, who was halfway to the dorm building right then, turned and looked at me.
“Rolly, take over guard duty,” I said.
“On it,” he agreed, and he rushed inside.
“Did she say another boat?” Tara asked.
“Bailey, get down here,” I instructed. “We need to check this out.”
“You think it’s Brody?” Paige asked.
Brody’s men had already left in a jeep, but that could have been part of Brody’s plan all along. It would be a great cover to send in a shitty team of amateurs to let your enemy think they’d won, all while you crept up in preparation for a blitz attack. Most people would have let their guard down after a victory, but I wasn’t most people. Luckily I had sent Bailey to the roof when I did, if this was part of
Brody’s plan then he could be in our woods right then.
“I don’t know,” I answered Paige’s question. “But it could be, and we need to treat it like it is.”
“That’s brilliant if so,” Anna said.
“What?” Tara asked.
“Send in a bunch of dumbasses who retreat,” the redhead explained, “that way your enemy thinks they’ve won, and you can get the real surprise attack going.”
“That was exactly my thoughts,” I said, and I couldn’t help but give Anna a proud smile. It never ceased to amaze me how quickly she picked up on military maneuvers and basic attack planning, it was part of the reason she had become my second in command. She was savvy on the battlefield.
Bailey burst through the door of the dorm building a second later and ran over to us.
“How big was the boat?” Paige asked as she approached.
“As big as ours,” Bailey breathed. “If not bigger.”
“Our boat can fit at least ten people easily,” Paige said, and she looked at me and let out a deep breath. “You think he has that many men that are loyal to him?”
“I doubt it,” I said. “But he’s definitely got that many that he’s willing to sacrifice. Come on.”
I started to run down our old driveway with the girls right behind me as we headed toward the creek at the bottom of the hill. If Brody was here, then we needed to get to him before he got up to our home.
It wasn’t only his people that I was worried about him sacrificing.
Chapter 18
It didn’t take long for us to get to the bottom of the hill, but before we went the rest of the way to the bridge I stopped my team.
“We don’t know who’s out there,” I told them. “Keep your weapons up at all times and don’t hesitate to shoot.”
“Right,” Anna agreed.
“Let’s get a view of what’s going on,” I said. “Paige, you’re with me on the left. Tara, Anna, you’re on the right side.”
“Where do you want me?” Bailey asked.
“Get into the woods and find a vantage point,” I told her. “Just do what you do best.”
“Okay,” the blonde said, but she blushed slightly at my compliment before she took off behind the houses and into the forest.
“Let’s go,” I told the girls, and they nodded.
We split up and Paige and I made our way through the trees to the left side of the boats. There was no longer a bridge since we’d blown it up during winter, but our boat sat down in the water still from our last excursion. We’d need to move it after this was over, it couldn’t sit out in the open any longer, regardless of how difficult it was to spot from the main road.
Paige and I slowly made our way to the tree line and crouched down. I lifted my rifle and looked out to see two boats parked in the water. The first was ours, but the second was definitely not. It was a sailboat, but it was made of a deep colored wood, and it was significantly larger than our own. It looked like it hadn’t even been properly docked, it just was just pushed up against our own boat so it was barely held in place.
It was quiet as I took in the sights around us. The sun was high in the sky and I felt a bead of sweat drip down my forehead, but I didn’t dare move to wipe it away. The only sound around was a small rustle as the wind blew through the trees and caused the leaves to stir.
Paige looked at me and shook her head slightly in an attempt to nonverbally ask what was going on. I wished I had a better answer for her, but all I did was shake my head back and look out to the boat again.
The large wooden vessel swayed slightly with the water, and I focused on the deck to see if I could find anybody who might be hiding on board.
A loud cough struck the air, and I nearly jumped. I had been so laser focused on the deck, and it had been so quiet, that the sound was eerily startling.
“I think that’s Henry’s boat,” Paige whispered to me.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I can’t be positive, but I also never saw one like that around the fort, did you?”
‘No,” I said.
“I really think it’s Henry’s,” Paige repeated, and her eyebrows pinched together as she thought.
Another cough sounded, but it went on for longer. It was wet sounding, too, like when someone is sick and they try to hack up all the phlegm that’s stuck in their lungs.
Paige moved to go toward the boat, but I held my arm out to stop her.
“If that’s Henry, then he’s sick or injured,” she protested, and her face told me that she was going to go whether I tried to stop her or not.
“You really think it’s him?” I asked. I’d never been big on boats, and I hadn’t paid much attention to the boats at Henry’s marina, so I had no way to say for sure what his boat even looked like, but Paige grew up around them. I had to trust her.
“I do,” she told me.
“Alright,” I agreed, and she moved to leave once more, but I put my arm out again and raised my voice loud enough to be heard by anyone nearby. “Henry? Is that you?”
Another coughing fit started, but after a moment a small voice called out.
“Tav?” the voice asked, and I recognized it as the old man’s.
“Are you alone?” I probed.
“Only me,” he said, but his voice trailed off into another coughing fit.
“Go,” I told Paige, and she took off toward the boat.
I was right behind her with my pistol raised, just in case. The brunette reached the boat quickly, and she hopped on board, which made the vessel toss even more.
“Here,” she said, and she threw me a long rope so I could tie the boat off to a tree.
I quickly secured the rope, then climbed on board myself. I found Paige crouched down next to Henry, but the closer I got the worse everything seemed.
Henry had blood on his shirt, chin, and hands that I assumed was from him coughing it up. His face was swollen and he had a nasty gash through one eyebrow, and underneath the gash was a black eye so swollen it was completely shut.
“Henry,” I breathed. “What happened?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but he coughed again and turned to the side as a mix of blood and spit hung from his mouth down to the deck of the boat.
“He might have internal bleeding,” Paige informed me, her voice and face serious. “We need to get him to Marla.”
“Right,” I said, and I leaned down to scoop up the old man into my arms. He weighed barely anything, and as soon as I had him against my chest his head lolled back and he seemed to pass out.
“Is it Henry?” Tara asked as she and Anna ran out of the woods.
“Yes,” I said as I carefully stepped off the boat. “He’s injured, we need to get him to Marla.”
I passed by the girls, and Tara covered her mouth when she saw the shape that Henry was in.
“Did he say who did this?” the platinum blonde asked as she started to jog up the hill beside me.
“He can’t talk,” I told her. “Get Bailey from the woods.”
“Got it,” Tara said, and she dropped off.
Paige was still beside me, and we ran up to the dorm building, though I went slower than I could have in an attempt to lessen the jostling that Henry’s body suffered during transport. If he did have internal bleeding, then moving him around would just make things worse.
“Run ahead and get Marla,” I told Paige as we reached the top of the hill.
The brunette didn’t respond, she just took off in a sprint toward the dorm building.
I looked up to the roof as I ran across the courtyard, and Rolly met my gaze. I wasn’t sure if he recognized his friend or not, but I didn’t stop to find out, I ran right into the dorm building and nearly crashed into Paige and Marla.
“Put him on the couch,” Marla instructed, quick to regain her composure in such a serious time. “Paige, I need hot towels.”
I set the old man on the couch, and he leaned up
and coughed up more blood.
“That’s it,” Marla said as she put on her stethoscope and pressed the end to his back. “Try to take a large breath.”
Paige returned then with hot towels and started to clean up Henry’s face so Marla would be able to see where the blood came from.
I stood there in the living room with my hands pushed into my hair and felt the world come crashing down around me. Not only had my home been attacked less than an hour ago, but now I had a brutally beat up old man at my doorstep.
I felt my heart rate quicken as my brain blocked out all the sounds around me. I stepped outside into the fresh air and suddenly I could breathe again.
“Is he okay?” I heard a voice ask, and I turned to see Tara, Anna, and Bailey coming toward me.
“I don’t know yet,” I said honestly.
“He didn’t say what happened?” Bailey asked.
“He could barely say anything,” I said. The reminder of Henry’s beat up face made me clench my fists. I couldn’t stand when people took advantage of those who were weaker than them. Women, children, the elderly, they all needed to be protected. It was only a true monster that could do something like this.
“You think it was Brody?” Anna asked.
“How would he have known about Henry, though?” Tara asked.
“That’s a good point,” I sighed. I wanted to believe that it was Brody as well, but maybe that was too easy of a solution. Maybe we had another threat on our hands, or maybe this was a random attack and Henry knew that he needed medical attention but couldn’t do it himself so he came to find us. I couldn’t be sure until he was able to talk, but one thing I was certain of was that I wasn’t going to let him leave after this was over. He would live with us from now on, and that was final.
“Tav,” Rolly breathed as he burst through the door with Winchester right behind him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The children,” the old man said, his breath strained from rushing down the stairs, no doubt.
“The children?” I asked, and for a second I didn’t comprehend what he was asking. “Fuck. Where are the kids?”
“Right,” Rolly said, his eyes panicked and wide. “That’s what I’m asking you, where are the children?”
