by Redding, Mae
“My name is Quinn Jackson. Give this to Kane and tell him we stopped by… And the rules will be enforced!” The brute slammed a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of me and I jumped. My breaths, still ragged from our altercation hitched and I held my breath. Tightness welled inside my chest, ready to burst.
As the men left through the broken front door, I released my breath quickly. My trembling hand absently touched my forehead feeling the warm tackiness of blood. Still in shock, tears forced their way to the surface and spilled over the rims of my eyes. Emery sobbed as she clung to me, afraid to let go.
“That was a stupid thing to do, Jade!” Emery cried.
“I know… I’m sorry.”
“Who were they?”
“I don’t know.”
Why did they take our food?”
With paralyzing fear, we stayed on the couch as Emery’s tears finally slowed and she looked at me, terrified, her face, red and blotchy from tears.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I think it slowed.”
She started to cry all over again when Kane and Trey stumbled through the demolished front door. “What!” Kane paused, stunned. His blue eyes, icy with rage. “What happened?” Shock apparent on their faces’ they stared blankly at the sight of us, the front door and the splotches of blood in the carpet and on the wall. I handed Kane the paper, my bloody fingerprints smudged along the side.
“I already saw it,” Kane said, as he crumpled it into a ball and tossed it to the floor, then asked again. “What happened?”
“Those trucks we saw… They took our food!”
“You should have let them! It’s not worth you getting hurt!”
Kane kneeled in front of me and carefully peeled back my hair to look at the bloody gash as Trey angrily paced behind him. The sting throbbed through my head and I felt the fresh warm blood run down the side of my face again as the clot was disturbed.
“That’s not why I got hurt! They grabbed Emery!”
I looked at Kane with a moistened glance, his jaw tensed as he held something back. He returned a glance but his expression was full of rage and disgust with an understanding as to why I couldn't sit and watch them torment her. His breaths, more deliberate as he tried to control his temper. My eyes turned from Kane to Emery and I felt my own tears start to surface again at the sight of hers. She became more panic-stricken by the minute so Trey sat next to her and tried to calm her down.
“Kane! What happened?”
My attention turned suddenly to the front door as Joel and Gage walked through the busted up hole through the front of our house with Chale and Elias not far behind them. Apparently, it was as unexpected for Gage to see my condition as it was for me to see him. His reaction surprised me as his shocked stare quickly grew heated and his jaw set firmly as he looked at me bleeding and at the blood on the wall.
“They broke in! Who was home?” Joel asked. Kane headed upstairs and returned shortly then sat next to me with the first aid kit.
“Emery and Jade,” Trey said. Disgusted, Joel picked up the front door and set it against the wall.
“What happened?” Joel asked.
“They pushed them around and shoved Jade into the wall. The cut doesn’t look too bad. It could have been a lot worse,” Kane said. Then he scolded me with his eyes.
“Her head needs stitches,” Trey said angrily.
“Well, you’re not stitching it! I’m fine! Just glue it or something.”
Kane washed away the blood with a damp cloth and pulled the glue from the kit.
“Ouch!” He disregarded my plea as he pressed the inch long gash together.
“They… Did more… Than push!” Emery said, through stifled tears. Her voice caught with each tear-induced hiccup. “He almost shot Jade!”
“He did not!” I yelled.
“He did too!”
Emery took a deep breath then proceeded to tell Kane and the others what happened down to every detail and not leaving out anything I did. Trey shot me a punishing glare as he learned the details of what happened, as did Kane.
“They took a lot of our food, Kane,” I added to draw away the attention of my altercation with the man and direct it elsewhere. “And they asked where you kept your guns.”
“Yeah… they didn’t find the guns,” Trey said, his response quick, “but half of everything that we had left downstairs is gone.”
“They emptied out Marge’s store.”
“The fuel?” Kane asked, as he whirled around to look at Gage who revealed the information.
“It’s still there. I don’t think Morrison knows about it.”
“They shot six cows Kane, and one of your bulls,” Chale reluctantly added.
“Are you serious?” Kane's anger grew with intensity and being distracted, unaware he pressed harder into the gash on my head.
“Kane! That hurts!”
Kane glanced at me as he peeled his fingers off my forehead and placed a butterfly bandage on the wound. “Oh, sorry, you’re done.” I was relieved as Kane quickly forgot about me and turned back to Chale. “Which bull?”
“The older one.”
“Hang them up for slaughter. I guess that old bull will be good enough for something, dog food maybe. Get them ready for the freezer. We’ll have to give some to Marge to hand out. We won’t have enough room for all of it.”
“Maybe people will think twice now about letting Morrison run everything now that he brought a Militia here to raid their homes,” Joel fumed.
I bent over to pick up the shattered glass jars and mess of peaches while they talked. Their words muddled by the intruding flashbacks of earlier and Rubin’s angry face imprinted in my mind. I didn’t realize my emotions caught up with me until I looked at my hands covered in dried blood. They trembled. Tears flooded my eyes and I swallowed at the increasing knot in my throat in an attempt to force them back. Now was not the time to burst into tears and I internally chided myself. Panic and fear surged to the surface in a way I couldn’t understand or control and I felt I would explode.
Someone crouched next to me. I couldn’t look. I would break if I did. “I can get this,” Gage said, in regards to the mess. His words a pin prick to my fragile bubble of emotions and I couldn’t hold them back. Tendrils of my blonde hair fell around my face as I dropped my chin, still staring at my hands. They blurred before me. He carefully took the glass from my hands.
My body shook as silent tears spilled down my cheeks. I wiped them away as I sniffled. My chest caved with each panicked breath. I glanced up at the decorative, etched mirror on the door of the china hutch. I gasped as I looked at myself. Dried blood stained into my blond hair and down the side of my face, smeared from wiping tears.
“Thank you,” I whispered, then I stood quickly and ran up the stairs.
CHAPTER 9
Emery and I swung on the front porch swing under the shade of the climbing vine that consumed the nearby trellis. The warm weather along with orange trumpet flowers now in full bloom attracted humming birds and the soft buzzing sounds of honeybees. Hundreds of shelled peas sat in a bowl in my lap, with hundreds more still waiting between Emery and I in the bucket.
Mike walked up to the front of the house with a steady stride. In spite of the new rule of no closed meetings, Mike talked to Kane and Joel about his plan while they worked on the front door. Emery and I watched and listened from where we sat.
“This Militia Morrison formed is way out of control and we need to put a stop to it. Prescott is putting the pressure on me. He wants to get this thing started. Men are coming forward now. They're ready to make a stand. You still plan on making the run?”
“How am I supposed to go now? They attacked my sisters, Mike!”
“I know… But everything is just hanging in the air waiting for that shipment. We have to get it. We can’t start this without that arsenal and you know as well as I, hunting rifles are no match for Morrison’s assault rifles. We need to be in the same ballpark
and we can’t make the run without you. You established the contact… They aren’t the kind of men you can just switch contacts on.”
I drew in a sharp breath at Mike’s plea. Kane paused for a moment, tossed his tools into the chest and sighed as he rested his hands on the vinyl railing. He looked out across the front lawn, his brows strained into sharp points. “What about Darby?”
“I’ve talked to him and he’s in now. I guess he decided after the Militia raided his house.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t behind Morrison sending the Militia through my front door?”
“They searched everyone, Kane… Not just us.”
“You and I both know he didn’t hit everyone… What about Grant?”
“He’s in.”
“Are you sure they can be trusted?”
“Grant? That pencil pusher has done nothing but sit at a desk for the last ten years, trust me, he’s harmless and as for Darby, I know he’s a wild card but he’ll come through when it counts… Hell, how do we really know who can be trusted? We have to start somewhere… You in or not?”
Kane looked at Joel and they exchanged momentary glances as something unsaid passed between them. “Yeah, I’ll make the run.”
“Joel?”
“Gage and I are in.”
“We’ll just let Morrison think we’ve backed down for now, but it’s going to get ugly. You ready for that?” Mike asked Kane with a raise of his eyebrows.
“Oh… I’m done being nice… I’ll get your shipment. You just tell me when it starts… I’m in.”
***
I woke from the warmth of the late morning sun as it heated my blanket and shone on my face. I didn’t usually stay in bed this late but after a restless night, I didn’t fall asleep until sometime after one.
From hearing Kane’s conversation with Mike the other day, the Militia had established themselves in the abandoned neighborhood homes south of Marge’s, closer to the center of town. Militia stood on every street corner. At the City Hall of Little Creek, the abandoned fire and police stations, the elementary school and I saw them in front of Marge’s yesterday when Trey and I took her some supplies Kane wanted traded. They patrolled the outskirts of town twenty-four seven and I watched several times a day as Militia passed by our house.
Emery hadn’t come to wake me yet which surprised me. The events of almost a week ago had been hard for her. She stayed around me almost constantly and when she wasn’t clinging to me, she attached herself to Kane or Trey.
I stretched on a tank top, pulled on my faded blue jeans and brushed through my hair then ran down the stairs. With a muffin in one hand and a glass of milk in the other, I peeked out the window. I saw Emery and smiled to see her outside with the horses. The floor creaked behind me and I glanced back.
“Will you go ride with her?” Kane asked as he stepped up behind me. “She needs something to get her mind off the other day.”
“Yeah, I was thinking that myself,” I said, then walked to the door.
I skipped down the back steps and neared the barn. The fresh aroma of newly cut hay wafted in the light spring breeze. The first cut of the year, if we were lucky we would get five. I looked through the open doorway to see Trey, Chale and Elias in the shadows stacking the one hundred pound bales. Muffled thuds echoed as they tossed them into place.
I looked at Emery and caught her eye. She grinned, hiding for now the underlying fear that never seemed to leave her eyes. Proud of her accomplishment she looked over the big, blue-roan gelding we called Blue Dodger, my dad’s pride and joy, his beautiful cutting horse. He got his nickname from his implausible athletic ability to dodge back and forth when cutting a cow from a herd. A cow could not get past him. He knew his job and did it well and Emery loved to ride him. I smoothed my hands along his velvety black coat with flecks of white and grey giving his hide the blue hued appearance. My hand grazed over his muscled rump as I walked behind him then to his side to inspect Emery’s work.
“I caught him myself and he’s ready to ride,” she said, her eyes brimmed with excitement. He was, at times difficult to catch when we put him in the far pasture.
“Looks good,” I said, I smiled with a raise of my eyebrows as I inspected her work.
My hands followed his curves with gentle strokes as I smoothed his coat with the direction of his hair over his strong muscled shoulder and neck up to his ears. I stroked the white blaze down his long slender nose, starkly contrasted against his solid black face. His head dropped as his already gentle eyes relaxed with my touch.
Emery’s bright hazel eyes illuminated even more with the sun and I smiled, glad she felt better today after the trauma she went through. Emery and I both laughed as Fire snorted at me and nipped at Dodger with her ears pinned feeling left out, she wanted attention.
I quickly threw my English saddle over Fire’s back and cinched the straps. I tickled her chin as I held the bridle under her nose and she opened her mouth willingly and accepted the bit. Once properly geared, I swung up into the saddle and followed Emery in the arena then closed the gate as she trotted around the perimeter of the fence line to warm up. I followed her around once then broke off to the center as I nudged Fire gently with my heel. She moved on command as she switched leads with a slight hop and loped slow circles to stretch her muscles.
I glanced up at Emery. She looked calm as she practiced. Her form improved greatly since last year and I smiled at the sight of her with her back straight, heels down with her hand steady in front, as she moved in-sync with Dodger. His own form, perfect like always, collected and smooth with his nose tucked in, beautiful to watch.
A light breeze brushed back my hair and it flowed freely down my back. I lost myself quickly to the rhythmic movements and steady muffled beats of Fire’s hooves in the sand. I had gone too long without riding her through the winter, my means to unwind and escape and I felt restrained tension seep from my body. One-two-three-jump, I counted in my head to her steps then we sailed over the jump with the sensation similar to having wings, then we moved onto the next jump and over again as we practiced several times through the course.
The high-noon sun warmed me quickly as the morning burned away. My skin warmed with the increase in temperature and moistened under my shirt. I pulled fire to a stop. She slid perfectly as she tucked her hind end under and dug in her back hooves. I smiled at her talent, pleased that a winter of missed riding didn’t make her rusty.
I swung a leg over her neck and sat sidesaddle for a moment, my leg dangled over her side as we stopped for a rest. Her flanks heaved slightly with each breath, her head bobbed down as she snorted, then sneezed to clear the dust. Her black coat glistened with sweat under the sun as the heat grew exponentially and I stripped off my tee shirt down to my tank top underneath. I took the ponytail from my wrist and twisted my hair up into a high ponytail to pull it off my back. The warmth of the sun kissed the skin of my shoulders and down my back as the warm breeze hit my moist skin. It cooled me slightly and I wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead.
“Why don’t you put the jumps up higher?” Emery asked, as she rode up to me. Dodger’s nostrils flared as he sucked in air.
“Because I don’t want you to try jumping any higher than you are now. He’s not a jumper and you are jumping high enough.”
“I won’t jump them… just raise two, you can keep the others lower for me. I’ll help you,” she said, then hopped off Dodger in no time to raise the jumps as I watched. She had it done before I had a chance to think about it. “I just like to watch you jump like you used to.”
I loved to jump and so did Fire. Her excitement grew obvious underneath me as if she knew Emery increased the height. Powerful muscles lunged underneath me as Fire and I sailed over the jumps again. Emery’s innocent smile and infectious laughter replaced her fear from the other day as she watched and I was relieved to see her forget about the craziness of our life.
“Someone is watching us, Jade,” Emery said, in a hushed tone as she ro
de up to me. Her smile disappeared, replaced by worry. We sat in the middle of the arena as I casually looked over. My curiosity turned to dread. I noticed Damian as he walked our direction and the beat of my heart quickened suddenly. The comfort of our fenced arena suddenly left me claustrophobic and trapped with the only way out being past Damian if he made it to the front of the gate before us.
“Maybe we should go back to the barn.” Emery’s concern in her voice rose. I looked to the barn and noticed the tractor was gone. Trey, Chale and Elias must have finished up. My unease grew, compounded by our distance from the house.
“Yeah, let’s go in.”
Damian stopped us at the closed gate. With slow, precise steps, he walked in front of Emery and grabbed Dodger’s reins. The horse startled briefly at the sudden movement, then settled.
“Expensive horse you’ve got there, Emery.”
She sat frozen, unable to respond, apparently shocked that he spoke to her and knew her name. His boldness infuriated me, scaring her the way he did. It was one thing to harrass me, but to harrass Emery he pushed it too far.
“You’re leaving so soon, Jade? I just got here.” Damian turned his steely-eyed glare from Emery to me.
“Move.”
“Hey… I just want to talk to you. You still owe me a ride, remember.”
“I don’t owe you anything, Damian. Why are you here?”
“Well, apparently Kane has a few issues with how Morrison is running things so Quinn and Rubin are here making sure we all understand each other.”
“Oh… So the losers are back again,” I said, sarcastic and obviously overconfident. “Didn’t they do enough damage when they broke through my house?”
“Wow, Jade… You really have a mouth on you… I may have to do something about that… There will be a day when you’ll have to bite your tongue… You should start practicing now.”
I had no idea what he meant but had no intentions to ask him to elaborate. I jumped down and unlatched the chain that held the gate closed. The old hinges creaked as the gate slowly swung open. I tried to grab the reins from Damian but he jerked them back.
