by Eric Vall
“I don’t know,” I said with a shake of my head. “He said he was alone, and I didn’t see them on board.”
“We have to find them,” Rolly pushed. “Henry would never leave those kids.”
Winchester pressed himself against the old man’s leg in an attempt to calm him. It was clear even to the dog that Rolly’s movements were agitated.
“We can’t rush up to the harbor,” I said. “It could be a waste of time. We need to wait for Henry to tell us where they are, then we’ll go get them.”
“No,” Rolly said, and he put his head down and shook it fervently. “We gotta find Rosy and Donny. They’re just babies.”
“Hey,” I said, and I put both my hands on his shoulders to calm him down. “Wherever those kids are, I’m sure they’re safe.”
“Yeah,” Anna added. “Like you said, we know that Henry would never leave them, but if he did he must have left them somewhere safe.”
“Marla’s in there taking care of him,” Bailey said, and she put her hand on Rolly’s shoulder as well. “I’m sure he’ll be able to tell us where they are soon.”
Winchester pushed his face into Rolly’s hand, and the old man instinctively stroked the dog’s head.
“Alright,” Rolly breathed, and he reached up to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Go find Betty,” I told him. There was nothing I could say to make him feel better at that moment, but the presence of his beloved might help somewhat.
“Right,” he said, and he reached up and squeezed Bailey and mine’s hands. “You--”
“We’ll let you know as soon as Henry’s able to talk,” I told him, and he nodded, then went back inside.
“Well, that was fucking heartbreaking,” Tara said, and she flopped down onto the ground. “What the fuck is happening today?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shake of my head, and I sat down next to her.
“Poor Rolly,” Bailey said with a deep frown as she sat down across from us and stared at the door the old man had disappeared through.
“Yeah,” Anna agreed as she took her place on the ground as well. “I didn’t even think about the kids, I just saw the way Henry was and rushed to help.”
“We should go back down to the boat,” I said. “Paige and I didn’t look through it, we just rushed him back up here.”
“Tav, don’t,” Anna said, and she put her arm out to stop me as I moved to stand up. “We cleared the boat before we followed you guys up here.”
“There was no sign of the children?” I asked.
“No,” the redhead said sadly.
“I didn’t think about them, either,” Tara said. “We cleared the boat then rushed up after you and Paige.”
“You really think the kids are somewhere safe?” Bailey asked, and she bit her lip.
“Henry’s a good grandpa,” Tara said matter of factly. “I’m sure he did whatever he could to protect them.”
We were all quiet after that. Tara was right, Henry would have done whatever he could to protect his grandbabies, but that was what worried me. That could be exactly how he wound up looking the way he did right then.
I let out a shaky breath, then I stood up quickly and got down to business.
“Let’s get the ATVs,” I said. “We still need to pick up the bodies.”
“Okay,” Anna agreed, and she got to her feet.
There was no sense in us sitting around right then, it would only add to the anticipation. Paige was inside and she would alert us when anything happened, but until then there were still things that needed to be dealt with. Those bodies couldn’t stay in our woods, and the girls needed something to distract them from thinking about Henry and the children.
I hopped on one of the ATVs with Tara behind me, and Anna and Bailey jumped on the other one. Tara and I went to the right, and Anna and Bailey went to the left. There were four bodies around that we needed to gather, so it wouldn’t take long, but hopefully it would be long enough for Marla to be able to give us some sort of news.
I pulled up to the bodies of the men that Anna and I had taken down, and shut off the ATV.
I threw my leg over to get off of the machine, but Tara pressed herself against my back and squeezed my stomach hard, so I reached down and placed my hands on top of hers. Her small fingers disappeared under my own, but I could feel their warmth on my palms, and for a second I enjoyed the feel of her pressed up against me before I undid her grip and turned around to face her.
The platinum blonde had tear streaks on her cheeks, and she looked down to avoid my gaze.
“Hey,” I said softly, and I pulled her chin up so she had to look at me. “It’s all going to be okay.”
“I just...” she breathed, and more tears fell from her beautiful blue eyes onto her flushed cheeks. “I just want to be able to make this all stop. All of our people are scared now, hell, I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared,” I told her with an amused smile. Sometimes it seemed that the girls forgot that they were humans with natural emotions. Of course they’d be scared at a time like this, that was a perfectly rational response, even if you knew you could handle the situation.
“No, it’s not,” she said with a shake of her head. “We’re supposed to protect everyone. We can’t be scared.”
“We do and will continue to protect everyone,” I told her, my voice more stern than before. “You are one of the most badass women I’ve ever met, and I know that even if you’re absolutely terrified right now, you’ll step up when the time comes. You’re scared because you care about what we have here. Use that fear to your advantage.”
“You’re right,” she breathed after a moment, and she looked at me with her old determined spirit. “Fuck Brody for thinking he could rattle us. And fuck whoever did that to Henry. I’ll shoot both of them in the dick.”
“That’s my girl,” I said with a grin.
After we loaded up the bodies onto the back of the ATV we made our way back to the courtyard and found Anna and Bailey with the other two bodies.
“What are we going to do with them?” Anna asked.
“Load them into one of the trucks,” I said. “We’ll drive them far enough away from campus and set them on fire.”
“Alright,” the redhead agreed, but right then Paige came through the door of the dorm building and started to walk over to us.
“Hey,” I greeted her. “Any news?”
“Some,” the brunette answered. “Marla thinks she’s figured out why he’s coughing up blood, but she can’t be sure without an x-ray.”
“What does she think it is?” I asked.
“His nose was broken in the fight,” Paige said. “And he has bruises all over, so he could have had a severe nosebleed and throat trauma that caused blood to run down his throat, which is now being coughed up.”
“Okay,” I said. “And what are the other diagnoses?”
“He could have a chest infection from his injuries going untreated,” the brunette answered. “But if he doesn’t then she’d be giving him antibiotics for nothing.”
“Do it,” I said quickly. “We won’t take the chance of treating him for the easier option.”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Paige said with a small smile.
“He’s going to be okay, though?” Bailey asked.
“It looks like it,” Paige confirmed with a nod.
“Wait,” Anna said with narrowed eyes, “you said something about his injuries going untreated. What do you mean?”
“Yeah,” Tara added, “they looked pretty fresh.”
“They weren’t,” I said. “I didn’t think about it before, but Marla’s right. That black eye is nasty as hell, that doesn’t happen right after you take the hit.”
“I’m guessing all the blood was from him coughing, then,” Anna said.
“You’d be right,” Paige said.
“Can he talk?” I asked.
“A little,” the brunette said. “Marla said you cou
ld come and ask him a couple of questions, but his throat is in bad shape so be patient with him.”
“Thanks,” I said, and I immediately headed toward the dorm building with the girls right behind me. I wasn’t about to wait any longer. We needed to know where the kids were so we could go get them. Wherever they were, they had to be scared.
“Did you ask him anything yet?” Anna asked Paige as we walked.
“Only about his condition,” Paige answered. “I figured Tav would want the first word.”
“We need to figure out where the children are,” I said.
“Oh, god,” Paige breathed, “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Nobody did,” Anna assured her. “We were all focused on Henry. Rolly came out and asked us about them.”
“It wasn’t until then that we realized they were missing,” Tara added.
I opened the door and stepped into the living room. Marla sat by Henry, who now sat up on the couch with a water bottle in his lap.
“Henry,” I said softly as I took a seat across from him. “Can you speak?”
“A little,” he said, and his voice was raspy and weak. The old man was almost unrecognizable with the injuries that covered his face, but I tried to focus on his good eye instead of how angry I was that this had happened in the first place.
“Where are Rosy and Donald?” I asked, and the old man stared at me for a second.
His lip trembled, and he began to sob into his hand. There was nothing worse than seeing an old man cry.
This wasn’t a good sign. I closed my eyes and tried to prepare myself for the news that the children were dead.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Bailey said, and she sat down next to him and put her hand on his knee. “Just breathe.”
A minute later Henry regained his composure and wiped his face.
“Sorry about that,” Henry said, his voice still low and strained.
“Don’t be,” Bailey told him with a small smile. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“The kids and I,” he started, and he took a deep breath before he continued. “We were out on the water doin’ some fishin’ like always. I’d seen the speedboats around a couple of times, but I knew their usual route by then, so I avoided them.”
“Did someone get onto your boat?” Paige asked.
“Well, this speedboat came up on us,” he said, like he was still in shock that it happened. “It was weird because usually they ride around in groups of two, and we were off of their normal route.”
“When was this?” I asked.
“Three days ago, I think,” he answered.
That was the day that Brody and his men had taken the speedboat from Port Kent. It could be them after all.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “please continue.”
“Yeah,” Tara added. “What happened when they saw you?”
“They were real nice,” Henry said with a shake of his head.
“How many of them were there?” Bailey asked quietly.
“Two or three,” he said. “But only one of them talked. He was a large fellow. Said his name was Brady or Brondy, something like that.”
“Brody,” I said coldly.
“Yeah,” Henry rasped out, “that was it.”
“What did he say to you?” Anna asked.
“He said he was looking for his friend,” he answered. “He said he knew you all, even described you with your names and everything.”
“What did you tell him?” Paige asked.
“Nothin’ at first,” Henry said, “I wasn’t sure if he was a friend or not, but then he said that he was looking for the college, he had just gotten turned around. I shouldn’t have… I’m so sorry.”
“You told him where the college was,” Bailey said with a small nod.
“I did,” Henry sobbed. “I’m sorry. I thought he knew you all. He said he was an old buddy from the military.”
“Did he tell you the name of the college?” I asked.
“I…” Henry paused for a second, and his eyes grew wide. “No, he never did. He knew that it was a college, though, but he never said the name.”
“It’s alright,” I told him. “You didn’t know.”
“I shouldn’t have told him anything,” Henry said, and he wiped a tear from his cheek. “He pulled out a map, and I leaned over to take a look, but he hopped onto my boat and started pummeling me.”
“Where were Rosy and Donald?” I asked.
“I had sent them under the deck when I saw the boat comin’,” Henry said, “but when they saw me fall down they ran out to try to stop it. You know how kids are… don’t know if it’s bravery or stupidity.”
“I understand,” I said, but part of me was waiting for the part where he described how Brody killed them in cold blood like he had so many others recently.
“He said you wouldn’t be able to resist saving a couple of brats,” Henry said quietly, and he looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“Wait,” I said quickly, “the children are alive?”
“As far as I know,” Henry said, and a tear rolled down his cheek. “He pulled them onto his boat after he beat the shit outta me. I tried to stop him… I…”
“It’s not your fault,” I told him.
“It is,” he said, but it came out as more of a sob than anything. “I told him where to find you. I shouldn’t have said anything. He took my grandkids… it’s my fault they’re gone.”
“We’ll get them back,” I told him, my voice one of total resolve.
“I’m sorry,” Henry said, and he hung his head and sobbed.
“We’re going to bring them home to you,” Bailey said softly, then she stood up, and we all followed and left Henry alone with Marla once more.
Once we were back out in the courtyard I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second.
“What a total piece of garbage,” Tara seethed. “Brody was already a murderer and a rapist, might as well add kidnapper to that list.”
“He doesn’t want the kids,” I said.
“He’s got a funny way of showing it,” Tara snapped. “Taking innocent fucking children. What kind of monster does that?”
“We all know who Brody is by now,” Anna said.
“Tav’s right,” Paige said. “I don’t think he actually wants the kids. He just wanted to try to lure Tav to him sooner.”
“Well, he did a damn good job of it,” Tara said, “I’ll be there, alright. I’ll cut off his balls and hang them on my fucking mantle.”
“We don’t have a mantle,” Paige pointed out quietly.
“That’s not the point, Paige!” Tara said, and she paced around in a huff.
“He’s not going to hurt the kids,” I said. “He knows that they’re leverage. He won’t do anything to compromise that.”
“You don’t think they’re in danger?” Bailey asked.
“Danger, yes,” I said, “in danger of being killed, no. Not at the moment at least. Brody wanted to piss me off. He wanted to get me to come after him in a rage because that’s when people get sloppy.”
“Oh, I’ll come at him alright,” Tara mumbled as she continued to pace.
“We’re dealing with a guy who killed his own father,” I reminded them. “These kids don’t mean anything to him.”
“Yeah, because he’s a fucking psychopath,” Anna said.
“Right!” Tara exclaimed.
“That’s right,” I agreed.
“If they don’t mean anything to him, then aren’t they in danger of being killed?” Bailey asked. “I thought you just said you didn’t think they were.”
“They’re useful to him right now,” Paige said, and I nodded in agreement. “As long as they’re useful to him they’re safe.”
“He’ll use them as coverage,” I said. “He knows I won’t kill innocent children. As long as they’re alive he thinks he’s protecting his own ass as well.”
“As if what he did to Henry wasn’t bad enough,” Bailey said with a shake
of her head. “Rosy and Donald are probably terrified right now.”
“I’m sure they are,” I said.
“And poor Henry,” Paige added.
“I can’t believe he told him where the college was,” Anna said.
“I can,” Bailey said.
“What?” Anna asked, clearly taken aback at Bailey’s comment.
“Think about it,” Bailey said, “we know how crazy Brody is, but don’t you remember when we first met him? He’s good at playing a part.”
“Bailey’s right,” Paige said. “Brody’s charismatic. That’s how he got all of the people at the fort to stay there in the first place. You don't realize what a bastard he is right away.”
“Henry fell for his trick,” I said. “It’s not his fault.”
“So what do we do?” Anna asked.
“If we charge into the fort then we’re playing directly into Brody’s plan,” I said. “Besides, there’s still too many civilians there, and now the children, too.”
“We need to be sneaky,” Paige said.
“I love being sneaky,” Tara growled. “I’m gonna sneak up on him and fucking shoot him in the fucking dick.”
“What about our plan from earlier?” Bailey asked. “We can go to the refinery and see if they’ll help us sneak in.”
“It’s a good plan still,” I conceded. “I just hate leaving those children with Brody for a second longer than we have to.”
“Knowing him he probably pawned them off on one of the women there,” Anna sneered.
“You’re probably right,” I said. “And the people at the refinery are still our best bet. He still needs fuel regardless, and if we can convince them to sneak us in then we can overthrow him with as few casualties as possible.”
“So we’re going to the refinery,” Anna said. “When do we leave?”
“In twenty,” I said, “I need to talk to Kimmy first.”
“What for?” Paige asked, her eyebrows pulled together in concern.
“I saw her earlier, and she was working on some CB radios so we could communicate between the farm and campus,” I explained.
“You think she could set one up so we can have communication while we’re at the refinery?” Paige asked.
“We’ll see,” I told her, and I headed back inside, but turned around quickly before I got to the door. “Twenty minutes.”
