Small Town EMP (Book 3): Survive The Conflict

by Hamilton, Grace

  One day away from the pitying looks of the others, and she was already feeling better about things. She decided she’d been born to be alone. She was supposed to be a hermit, like Sarah had been. She could do it, too. She could totally live on her own.

  She walked back to her tree, pulled her bottle of water from her pack, and took a drink. She’d wait to eat breakfast, she decided. She wasn’t all that hungry anyway. She was too anxious to find her new home. Her mind briefly went to thoughts of her dad. Would he be sad or relieved she’d left? She’d seen him with Amanda and felt real jealousy. She didn’t like the way it had felt, but maybe he’d be better off.

  Truthfully, she liked Amanda. She admired how strong and independent the woman was. Savannah even wanted to be like her one day, but the only way that would happen was through the same practice Amanda had gone through. Savannah needed to be alone and gain her own strength and wisdom.

  With her pack on, she bridled Raven and took up her reins, mounting the horse easily before guiding her back up the small hill they’d climbed down last night to find their resting place. There was a hiking trail she’d been following and wanted to get back to, though she hadn’t wanted to risk making camp too close to the trail and having someone stumble upon her.

  It was a cool morning filled with the songs of birds and bugs she couldn’t identify. The sound reminded her of a channel on TV that had played nothing but nature sounds—supposedly to help a person relax. After living with the sounds day in and day out, and knowing that bugs went along with those noises, the harmony wasn’t quite so soothing anymore.

  She preferred the mountains to flatland because they were so much cooler. Riding was easier when she wasn’t hot and uncomfortable. The downside to the forest was the bees and other flying insects that bit when they landed. She didn’t know if they’d come from flies or bugs in general, but she was covered in little bites up and down her exposed arms. She decided to find a stream and dig for some mud to slather over her skin; that would give Raven a break, as well. She’d also keep her eyes down in areas that were exposed to lots of sun and look for plantain. It was a plant Gretchen had shown her several times. When the leaves were crushed and macerated, it could be applied to bee stings and bug bites to limit itching and stinging.

  The sound of Raven’s steps over the pine needles and leaves littering the trail, which appeared to have been ignored for months, was cathartic. The quiet gave Savannah time to think and mull over everything. She hastily pushed aside any guilty feelings for taking Raven. She knew deep down that she should have left her behind—especially after what had happened with Charlie—but she also knew that her only option had been horseback. Otherwise, her dad and the others would have been sure to follow and catch up with her. This way, they didn’t have that option. She only hoped Amanda would understand. It was one more thing to feel guilty over, though.

  She couldn’t help thinking about Nash’s death, too, which then had her thoughts turn to Malachi’s father’s death and the other losses they had suffered. Wrestling with thoughts of everyone they’d lost, she didn’t even have to think about being alone and away from her dad to start feeling saddened by everything.

  Lost in thought, she wasn’t truly paying attention to her surroundings when she nearly ran right into a little boy. Raven stopped in her tracks, neighing softly. Savannah’s first reaction was to go on the defense and look around for his family. She grabbed the stick she had whittled down to a point and been using as a spear, waving it menacingly from atop the horse.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped.

  The boy stared down the trail, his face dirty and his clothes hanging off him, covered with dried mud. It was like he didn’t see her. She guessed him to be maybe eight or nine. He was also very thin, and looked unkempt.

  “Hello! I asked, what are you doing out here? Where’s your family?” she demanded.

  When he turned to look at her, his big brown eyes were so blank that they creeped her out. Savannah tugged on the reins, encouraging Raven to take a step back. He kept staring up at her, his face pale and hollow at the cheekbones. His eyes had big, dark circles under them, so that he reminded her a great deal of something out of a zombie movie. She didn’t believe in zombies, or at least she didn’t think she did, but it was hard to deny what was right before her eyes.

  She decided to use a different approach. Dismounting, she kept the spear at the ready and approached the boy slowly. “Hi,” she said, her voice soft. “Are you lost?”

  The boy stared at her before slowly shaking his head.

  She offered him a smile. “Are your mom and dad around?”

  He nodded.

  Not a big talker, she mused. “Why don’t I take you back to them? I bet they’re worried sick about you.”

  He stared at her, and she thought she sensed pain and fear. Maybe he’d run away from them. Maybe they’d been mistreating him.

  He slowly started to walk up the trail, and she followed behind him with Raven, still worried it was a trap. The starving boy thing could be an act meant to trap others into feeling sorry for him, only for them to be jumped and attacked by his family. Savannah kept her eyes and ears open, just in case someone was lying in wait.

  Suddenly, there was an assault on her senses. Flies buzzing, the stench of rot, and what smelled like copper nearly made her vomit. Raven didn’t want to follow and tugged against her reins, so Savannah looped them around a low-hanging branch and continued without her. They broke through some trees and she immediately noticed a red tent set up in a clearing with a firepit in front of it. There was a makeshift clothes line strung between two trees with a tattered towel hanging from it. It was clearly a camp where the boy’s family must have made their home.

  Savannah almost smiled despite the smell, imagining making her own comfy home in a place like the one she was looking at. Her eyes moved to the left of the firepit then, and she stepped forward so that she could see just to the side of the tent, where she encountered the most horrific sight she’d ever seen.

  “Oh God!” she cried out, slapping her hand over her mouth and turning away.

  The little boy stood five feet away from the two bodies of a man and woman lying grotesquely askew, their throats nothing but gaping holes and their bodies lying in a pool of congealed blood. The woman’s hair, long and once blonde, was a deep brown, clumpy mass.

  Savannah grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him away, running through the forest back to where she’d left Raven. Grabbing the reins, she headed back to the trail. Once they were back on it, she stopped to inhale clean, fresh air, realizing that the boy at her side still hadn’t spoken. Her stomach was rolling and she couldn’t stop shaking. There were goosebumps covering every inch of her body as her mind kept replaying the horrible vision.

  “Was that your mom and dad?” she finally managed to ask.

  The little boy looked at her before slowly nodding. Her heart jumped in her chest, imagining what the poor kid had lived through. That was a scene she would never forget for as long as she lived. She wondered if the boy had been there to witness the horror, or if he had simply found them.

  “Can you tell me your name?” she asked, bending down to look him in the eye.

  He opened his mouth and then closed it before swallowing. “Andy,” he whispered.

  “Your name is Andy?” she asked, thrilled to have finally gotten something out of him.

  She took off her backpack and fished out the bottle of water, handing it to him. “Take a drink, Andy.”

  He took it and started drinking like he hadn’t drunk in days. Water ran down his chin, creating streaks of pale skin under the dirt and grime. She reached for it after he’d had another few swallows, carefully taking the bottle and putting the lid back on. There wasn’t much left, but they could go back to that stream she’d passed earlier and resupply.

  She took a deep breath, trying to think of what to do next in general. She couldn’t take care of a child. She was struggling to take ca
re of herself. She knew there had to be more people hiding in the forest, though, so she’d have to make do till then. She’d take Andy with her until she found one of those camps and could drop him off with adults who could care for him.

  She looked down at the little boy with mousy brown hair that hadn’t been properly cut in a while. She suspected his selective mutism was the result of something horrible he’d lived through. He was clearly traumatized. Heck, she was traumatized after seeing the aftermath. She shuddered again, the forest suddenly feeling too big and too dangerous. Whoever had done that to those people could still be out there.

  But… maybe not. She wasn’t an expert in decomposing bodies, but she’d seen her fair share of fresh dead. Those people had been there for at least a few days, she guessed. And Andy had survived this long, hadn’t he? But there was no putting off traveling away from here, either.

  “We need to go, Andy. We’re going to get on Raven and ride out of here. We’ll look for a place for you to stay, a new family for you to live with,” she said in a gentle voice.

  If the boy heard her, he wasn’t saying. Leading him over to Raven, Savannah lifted him up, situating him on the horse before mounting behind him. Giving the reins a bit of a snap, she kicked lightly at Raven’s sides with her legs and the mare started walking, setting a slow pace. Andy held tight to the pommel, never speaking a word.

  18

  Malachi plodded along on Charlie, following the narrow hiking trail he was convinced Savannah would be sticking to. The trees were thick in the area, and trying to walk around them and avoiding getting tangled or tripped up wouldn’t be her first choice. The trail seemed relatively deserted, though, with no signs of humans going back at least a mile by his estimate.

  He walked for a long time, stopping and surveying the area, looking for any signs she’d been there. It was late afternoon when he picked up a scent wafting through the trees—not a pleasant smell. It was something rotting. He assumed there might be an animal carcass left to rot, but decided to check it out. There was a slim chance Savannah had caught an animal and that the heat of the day was speeding up the decomp process.

  “You stay here, boy,” he whispered to Charlie as he looped his reins around the branch of a tree.

  Something felt off. He didn’t want the horse revealing his presence. He crouched low, choosing every footstep with great care, setting the heels of his feet down first before carefully shifting his weight to the balls of his feet and taking one slow step at a time. All of his senses were on high alert. He could feel something wrong. He kept telling himself to turn back and walk away, but the chance that Savannah could be ahead, and potentially in trouble, pushed him to move forward.

  And then he recognized the smell. He hovered in the trees and surveyed the scene, seeing no sign of Savannah. The bodies of a man and a woman were gruesome. He couldn’t bring himself to go any closer, though, and chose to head back for Charlie and get as far from the horror as he could. He wondered if Savannah had come across that scene, hoping she had not.

  He climbed on top of Charlie and spurred him on, all the more desperate to catch up to Savannah before nightfall. He did his best to look for tracks or signs of her from atop Charlie, but was finding nothing. He opted to stay on the trail instead of venturing off again, too afraid of what he might find hidden in the trees. He rode for almost an hour, growing more and more worried that he wouldn’t find her before nightfall. The sun had already started its downward slide to the west. It got dark fast in the mountains. He had less than two hours to find her before he’d have to make camp for the night.

  A scream cut through the air, causing Malachi to pull up on the reins and bring Charlie to a dead stop. His body broke out in goosebumps as he turned his head, trying to better identify where the scream had come from. It wasn’t far. After the initial shock, he spurred Charlie into a fast trot, racing towards the screaming. A little boy stood in the middle of the trail. Once again, Malachi pulled Charlie to a stop and jumped off the horse to rush to the little boy.

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” he asked, looking the boy over for obvious signs of injury.

  The boy stopped screaming, his eyes wide as he stared at Malachi.

  “Are you hurt?” Malachi asked again, his heart pounding hard and fast against his chest.

  The boy pointed it to the trees. Malachi followed his gesture, not seeing anything. He shook his head and looked at the boy again. “What? Why were you screaming?” he demanded, frustrated by the boy’s lack of communication.

  “Bad men,” the boy whispered.

  “There are bad men in the trees?” Malachi asked.

  The boy nodded, and held up a small piece of cloth that Malachi immediately recognized as Savannah’s. They all had small rags they carried for cleaning up with, and this boy had Savannah’s. His eyes darted towards the direction the boy had pointed.

  “Did they take her?” he asked, his voice revealing his desperation.

  The boy nodded again. Malachi only had a second to make a decision. Clearly, Savannah had been with the boy. He couldn’t leave him, either, but he couldn’t very well drag him along on a rescue mission.

  “Do you know how to ride a horse?” he asked.

  The boy nodded before pointing off to the side, where Malachi suddenly noticed Raven happily munching away on some grass perhaps twenty feet away. Malachi thought quickly.

  “Okay, we’re going to play a game of Hide and Seek. Or, in this case, simply Hide. Do you think you can do that?” At the boy’s solemn nod, Malachi led the boy and Charlie over to where Raven was. Grabbing both sets of reins, he took the boy’s small hand in his and gently pulled him over to a crop of trees that was set off even further into a thick wooded area. Looping the reins around some branches, he made the boy sit down against a tree. “I need you to stay here with the horses and hide, and I’ll be right back,” he told the boy. He hoped the trees would be enough to hide their presence.

  “You stay right here, okay?” Malachi asked.

  The kid nodded. Malachi wasn’t all that sure he understood him, but it would have to do. He patted Raven’s nose before pulling the small gun from the back of his waistband, choosing to carry it at his side like Amanda had taught him. His finger rested along the barrel, staying off the trigger in case he tripped or got spooked. He didn’t want to shoot his foot.

  With that, he moved fast, light on his feet and heading across the trail in the general direction of the aforementioned bad guys. He had no idea how many there were and hadn’t thought it worthwhile to ask the boy—who knew if he’d gotten sight of all of them. Silently, Malachi prayed it was only one or two. In the back of his mind, he remembered the look on Austin’s face when the man had agreed to let him go after Savannah. Malachi couldn’t let him down.

  “Stop! Let me go!” he heard Savannah shout.

  His blood ran colder as he picked up the pace, hoping to use the sounds of the struggle to hide his approach. It was another trick Amanda had taught him—moving with the surroundings to better hide his movement. The sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves could be easily ignored when the subject he was pursuing was making the same sounds. When the noises stopped, he stopped, doing his best to breathe through his nose to keep from panting loudly.

  Malachi could hear Savannah’s muffled shouts and screams, and knew she’d been gagged. The sound was enough for him to follow. He hoped she kept fighting, and kept leaving him a sound trail to track her with. He could tell they were on the move, and he couldn’t let them get away. Through the trees, he finally got a look at who it was that had kidnapped Savannah. He counted three men, scrawny and gross. They had long, greasy hair and looked like they had either spent the last few years in prison or a meth house. Savannah was being held by a tall, skinny man. Malachi saw her thrashing about, kicking back as she fought against him. When she whipped her head to the side, he saw the dark piece of cloth tied around her face, effectively gagging her.

  Distracted by the sight
of her, he stepped on a stick, making it crack loudly. One of the men turned to look in his direction. That’s when he saw what had to be blood staining the yellowed t-shirt. The splatters covered the front of his pants, as well. Malachi shuddered, suspecting part of the clumpy texture he could see was also dried blood.

  They were deadly. He sent up a silent prayer, asking God to forgive what he was about to do. Then, using everything Amanda had taught him about shooting, Malachi aimed, using a tree as his shield, and released the breath he’d been holding and pulled the trigger.

  The sound of the gunshot combined with the man dropping and the other two spinning around to face him all in the span of a second was stunning. He refused to let himself be distracted again, however. He stepped forward, letting Savannah see him. She knew exactly what to do when she did, and dropped like a sack of potatoes. Malachi could practically hear Austin speaking to him, Amanda guiding his aim as he pulled the trigger again, hitting the next attacker in the chest.

  Savannah was crawling towards him as the third man just looked at him, wild-eyed. Malachi hesitated, his natural instinct telling him to let the guy go, but Austin’s voice and Amanda’s teaching told him never to leave a threat open. He prayed again, pulling the trigger, and his aim rang out true. The young man dropped to the ground in a heap.

  Malachi immediately moved to Savannah, who ripped the gag out of her mouth and spat several times. He moved to check the men next, holding the gun on the fallen attackers as he kicked a knife away from the first man. They were all dead.