Chapter 14
The camper was set up in the town’s campground, located in a park in the downtown area. There had been lots of offers given to the group for places to stay but they had all wanted some time alone so they chose the campground. It didn’t stop people from coming by to thank them or just chat but it was away from the bulk of the town’s population. They had had to tell their story again at the roadblock but it was the children that had convinced all the guards that the teens were their saviors. Once the children had seen the Sheriff and men they recognised, they had come to life and all started to talk at once. Once the group’s status as “good guys” was confirmed, they were allowed into the town.
They followed the Sheriff, who was driving an ATV into the downtown area. Word spread fast about the rescued children and parents came running. There were tears and sobs of relief and many thank-you’s and God bless you’s for the teens.
Once all the children had been returned to their parents, it was decided that there would be a town party held later that night as a celebration. The town was in good shape thanks to the Sheriff and his men. They had a few old generators working and had water pumps going at different locations. They had kept strict control over the food stores and were rationing and planting as much seed as they could. They were lucky with the climate and could grow certain plants year round.
The group of teens had been very careful with their water and had only been hand washing themselves and their clothes but with a party on the schedule, the girls wanted to clean up properly and wash their hair. The Sheriff sent the girls off with a local lady to the community center. They were using it as a central meeting place for the town and it had one of the precious generators hooked up to it so they had hot water for the gym’s showers. The girls grabbed towels and toiletries and raced after the woman. They were so excited about having their first hot shower in six days.
The Sheriff stayed with the boys after handing his son off to his sobbing mother. He quizzed the boys on what they had seen on the way from Disneyland. He also wanted to talk to them about their automatic weapons. They had a few in town, but he would like to add to that number for the defence force he was building. The teens had decided not to tell anyone about how many guns they had taken from the basement.
All told they had carried out forty-six AK-47 automatic rifles from the basement and forty cases of ammunition. It would make for very good barter and once they got home, they would have it for defence if things there were bad. After talking it over, they had decided to give the Sheriff three of the guns and three cases of ammo as a goodwill gesture and for stocking them with more water and supplies when they left.
The kids wanted to stay in the town for a few days to let Josh’s face heal. Both his eyes were swollen almost shut and both his lips were split. One of the town’s doctors had come by and checked him out. Nothing was broken in his face so time would heal the aftermath of the beating.
After taking their luxurious, hot showers, the girls were delirious with happiness to discover blow dryers and curling irons in the change rooms. With the generator powering the devices, they styled their hair and felt for a few minutes that things were back to normal. Alex kept expecting the ordeal they had just faced to cause some kind of aftershock but it never came. She talked to Dara about it while they did their hair.
“I’m feeling really weird that I’m not more upset about what we just went through,” she explained to Dara.
Dara paused curling her hair with a thoughtful look on her face.
“I think what happened will always stay with us and we will all carry a dark place in our hearts for having to kill those people. But I also think what we did was right. Those people were evil. They enjoyed causing pain and torment and we stopped them from doing it ever again. Think about it this way, one hundred years ago, those types of people would have been executed on the spot. For decades now, criminals have been able to do whatever they wanted with very few consequences. Barely any jail time or maybe even none if they have a slick lawyer. Even in jail, it’s us, the victims, who really have to pay. We pay to feed and house them. I mean, they have better healthcare than a lot of people, not to mention food and TV. The death penalty is a joke. Twenty years after the crime and maybe they finally get executed. Why do they get to live a long time but their victim doesn’t? It’s not fair and it’s so not justice. So I think the clock has been set back and now justice will finally be served. That’s what today felt like to me, Alex, justice. And I’ll tell you something else. It felt right.”
Alex thought about all the times she read news about bad guys getting off on a technicality or hardly getting any jail time at all. She remembered hearing stories about victims being sued by criminals for different reasons and the bad guy winning, or repeat offenders doing the same crime again and again and being released from jail. Dara was right, justice was served today and Alex felt her spirits lift even more.
When the girls got back to the camper and trucks, the boys gave appreciative looks to the styled girls and Josh let off a wolf whistle. They were due at the party soon so the boys went for their own showers while the girls changed into clean clothes and watched over the vehicles. After the Sheriff had left, the boys had repacked the van with all the guns and ammo and used a padlock to secure the latch. They didn’t want to be stuck guarding it while they were in town. When the boys came back, they were ready to go to the party. They left the machine guns locked up but all of them carried handguns in holsters that they had picked up on their travels.
As they approached the town square, they could hear music from a band playing and smell the wonderful aroma of home cooked food. There were long tables set up around a cleared area for dancing. The biggest table was piled high with dishes of steaming food and as people arrived they would add whatever they had brought to it. Alex and Dara had made buns before they were captured by the gang and they were still in the grocery bags in a cupboard when they checked so they brought them to contribute.
The Sheriff waved them over to his table and they sat and dined with him and many of his deputies. They told their story over and over as people came by to greet them. With filled bellies, they were all relaxed and having fun watching the dancers. The Sheriff was talking about the men who were with the bikers that came after the kids.
“We knew some of those guys from town but we didn’t know they were working with Skull and his gang. When we went to their houses we found a lot of stolen and stockpiled goods, as well as a ton of drugs and guns. They were probably telling him about our security setup so they could attack us at some point. You kids did a really good thing by burning that drug den down and killing them all. It’ll save us a lot of problems in the future.”
A much cleaner Luke came running up and gave his dad a hug, a cheeky smile to Alex and dashed off again to play with his friends.
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing him back to us. His mother, well, she was barely hanging on for the past few days.” The sheriff turned away, the sheen of tears in his eyes.
As he was getting his composure back, a man walked up to the table that they hadn’t met yet. He had a smile on his face as he looked the kids over but his eyes were cold. Alex felt herself shiver when he looked at her.
“Well, here are the heroes of the day! You must be a tough group of kids to take out Skull and his men. Yes, sir! You all did this community a great service by ridding us of them,” he exclaimed in thanks, but the smile on his face never reached his eyes.
The Sheriff beamed at the man. “They sure did, John,” he replied, turning to the teens. “This is my right-hand man, John Harper. He’s on the town council and helped us get organized and security setup after the lights went out. John, this is Quinn, Alex, Josh, Dara, and Cooper. They brought my boy back and the other missing kids from the field trip. You probably heard that the biker gang had them.”
John had been nodding as the Sheriff was speaking
“Yes, and a great day it is to have our c
hildren home. I’d love to hear more about this great escape. Tell me, kids, how did you manage to get off the wall hooks?”
Within seconds of him asking the question, he had five guns pointed at him
The Sheriff shoved his chair back and jumped to his feet, “Whoa, whoa. What’s going on here, kids? Why are you pointing guns at John?” he asked frantically as his hand moved toward his holstered weapon.
Without taking her eyes off John, Alex answered him in a cold voice. “Because we never told anyone about the wall hooks they put us on. So the only way he would know is if the bikers told him or he’s been in the place. Either way, it means he was working with them. Tell me, John, did you know they had the children too?” Alex asked him in a disgusted voice.
The man was red in the face and tried to act surprised at the charges but it was clearly an act and he couldn’t keep the hate from his eyes.
The music had stopped and in the silence everyone had heard Alex clearly. All of the townspeople were staring at the drama unfolding at the Sheriff’s table and some had even drawn their weapons. The Sheriff was studying his friend’s face when he drew his weapon and turned it on him.
“Where were you this afternoon, John? I sent a man to your place and you weren’t home. With all the excitement I figured you would show up. Where were you?” he asked in a harsh voice.
“I’ll tell you where he was,” Dara spoke up. “He went with the guys from town out to the house we burnt down. You went to join the party, didn’t you? They told you they had a couple of young girls strung up on the wall, hanging from hooks and you went out to have some fun. And when you found the place burnt down, you hung back while your friends chased after us. That’s what happened, isn’t it?” She was yelling by the time she finished.
The man turned to the Sheriff in desperation. “You have to believe me! I just went to try and get them free. I was negotiating with Skull to get the children back. I never would have hurt them. I was trying to help the town!” he pleaded, looking around at the confused and angry faces.
The Sheriff grabbed a bunch of John’s shirt, bunching it up and yanked him so they were face to face. “You knew where my son was? All along, while Jane and I were frantic and you knew where he was? You were with us when we found the empty bus and watched as we grieved. You knew he was being kept like a dog with a collar on his neck and being beaten and you let us weep?” He threw the sniveling man away from him.
“You were my friend!” he roared in disbelief just as a shot rang out. John Harper crumpled to the ground face first and there was a large bloody hole in his back. Standing behind him with her gun still raised was Luke’s mother, Jane.
She looked to her husband and stated simply, in a calm voice “They burnt my baby’s skin with cigarettes,” and then she turned and walked away. The crowd parted for her and when she was gone, everyone started talking at once. The Sheriff scrubbed his hands across his face and turned to the kids.
“Thank you again. I think the party is over.” He followed his wife out.
Alex motioned to her friends. “Let’s go, guys. I’m tired and just want to sleep.”
They went back to the camper and decided that they would need to stand watches after all. There might be more people in town that had worked for the bike gang.
Land A Stranded Novel Page 17
