“You see that young bull there, that one is yours.”
“Really?”
“Yes sir. Do you see that crease just behind the front shoulder, that is where your goin to aim.”
“Why don't we shoot them now?”
“There is any number of things, that would be drawn to the smell of dead elk. Got no interest in hangin out here all night, fightin them off. We also don't want to be drivin back out of here, in the dark. Don't worry, they'll still be there in the mornin.”
“What if I miss?”
“Then you miss, ain't no shame in that. I've missed plenty a shots, over the years. You’re a good shot, I wouldn't be askin you to do this, if I didn't have faith in you. We pull this off and we'll have three months, or more of meat.”
Prescott put his hand on Turk's shoulder. “Thanks for bringing me instead of Will, I won't let you down.”
“You never could son, now go get some shut eye. I'm goin to keep an eye on these critters till dark, then it will be your turn on watch.”
In contrast to the group at home, Turk, Red and Prescott enjoyed a fairly quiet campout. Their biggest threat so far, was the buzzing mosquitoes. Turk wouldn't allow a fire for fear of spooking the elk, so at dusk Turk woke Prescott and gave him a cold supper of venison jerky and raw beans. Prescott took a watch position, atop the willys.
“Remember, you’re on watch. You even get a sense that something is wrong give us a holler, don't try and deal with it alone.” Turk advised.
Red had rearranged the salvaged clothes and supplies, making enough room for she and Turk to stretch out, in the back of the wagon. Turk enjoyed these moments of closeness to Red and as she lay on her back, he lay at her side gently running his fingers through her hair. In hushed tones, Red filled him in on her conversation with Prescott.
“He's such a remarkable boy, I should say young man, I don't want to see him get hurt.”
Turk chuckled, “He just faced down three zeds, I think he'll pull through. I remember when I was his age, we had a teachers aide, Miss Gibbens. I had the biggest school boy crush on her. When she offered after school tutoring, I was the first to sign up. When she flashed me a smile for answerin correctly, it was just like Christmas. The next year, Lisa Mackey moved to town. She loved to fish and hunt and we were soon always together. Now you and I have found each other, time does have a way of making things right. ”
“That is my point, these kids are convinced that we are it. Prescott doesn't believe there is a Lisa in his future. You don't think we are the last group of decent people out there, do you?”
“I've passed over a few groups out there, that had gone to desperate. I know the Hansen's didn't make it, but they had the right idea and they looked like they cared for each other. I've got to believe, somewhere, there are more like that.”
Red thought about what he said and then put her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss her. “I'm glad you found me.”
Turk moved his hand from her hair and gently slid it under her shirt, to caress her stomach and run the tips of his fingers, along her side.
Turk took final watch and woke Red and Prescott, well before first light. He guided them down the three hundred some yards to the shooting spot, he had selected. Red struggled with the agonizingly slow pace, he set for the three of them. Turk did not want anything to spook the elk. As the sky started to glow orange with the first rays of sunlight, they reached the large boulder Turk had picked for them to shoot behind.
Turk took a towel out of his backpack, folded it and placed in on top of the boulder. After peering over the boulder, confirming that the elk were still unaware of their presence, he had Prescott ever so gently slide up his rifle and rest it on the towel. He pulled out a second towel and followed Prescott's example. The elk were still bedded and barely visible in the tall grass and brush, surrounding the pond.
“They'll start moving soon, just keep breathing slow and easy.”
What seemed like an hour to Prescott, but in reality was just about ten minutes, the young bull they spotted last night rose up and started to feed.
“Hold on there son, we want to let some of the others get up too.”
Shortly after, the bull was joined in the field by a small group of cows and their calves.
“Okay take off your safety, take aim on the bull and fire when your ready.”
Prescott took the rifle off safety, took a couple of slow deep breaths, flexed his trigger hand a few times to limber it up, then laid his finger next to the trigger guard. Prescott waited for the bull to put its head down to feed, took careful aim and slowly placed his finger on the trigger. Seeing that Prescott was nearly ready to shoot, Turk placed his crosshairs on a big cow, feeding near a calf. Prescott slowly squeezed the trigger, then rocked back with the recoil of the rifle. At the sound of the report of Prescott's rifle Turk fired, chambered a second round, located the calf in his scope and fired again. In moments, the three elk lay kicking out their last as the rest of the herd bolted away.
Red gave Prescott a high five and Turk a hug.
“So, that's it?” Red asked.
“All over, but the shoutin my dear. We'll head back up and get the willys. Prescott nicely done sir”
Turk wasn't able to drive as close to the elk as he liked, but close enough that he could attach a rope to the elk and pull them closer with the winch. When they were close enough they opened the animals belly and as the winch pulled them up top of the car they gutted each animal. Prescott insisted on handling the bull even though he had to practically crawl inside to clean out the animal. Turk took a cooler and placed the hearts and livers of the animal inside to keep them for later.
With the dirty work done, they washed as much of the blood off themselves as they could. While Red sponged herself off, Turk enjoyed the way the sun glistened off her red hair and made her skin glow.
“What are you looking at, did I miss some?”
“Just appreciatin how you look, in the mornin sun.”
Red shook her head. “Men.”
“Beauty ain't everything Darlin, but it shore is nice to look at.”
“We're fixin to leave with the dozer, we should be back within the hour.” Turk radioed.
“Be careful coming in, we've had quite the build up again.” Tom cautioned.
“Damn, sorry we weren't there to help, but we've had a pretty good run.”
They left Hansen's excavation with Red leading the way, driving the willys. It pained Turk somewhat to hear her grinding the gears, but she soon got the hang of it. Prescott rode shotgun with Turk in the dump truck, that was pulling the dozer.
“Okay, we'll try and pull them from the fence and take em out.” Turk radioed to the camp.
Turk goosed the throttle a few times and pulled the airhorn, to get the zeds attention and then made a slow pass around the lot, drawing the zeds from the fence. As he came around again, he picked up speed and headed the truck into the mass of zeds as if they were just so many corn stalks, in a field. A half dozen more passes and the fence was nearly clear and the lot was littered with broken bodies.
“I'll climb out first and make sure we ain't got no clingers. When I call to you, you come on out so we can finish thems that didn't get their skulls cracked.” Turk instructed, Prescott.
As Red drove in, Will, Emma, and Tracey came out to help, with the clean up.
When done, Tracey came up to Prescott. “Pretty handy tool you got there.”
Prescott who had barely said more than a handful of words to Tracey in the past, choosing to just admire her from afar, was glad for the recognition she gave him. “Thanks, Turk helped me make this, I got to test it out on a nest of zeds we ran into out there. See these two notches, Turk put them there for my first kills.”
Tracey flashed him a smile and bumped him with her elbow. “Pretty cool Bud, let’s go check out those elk you brought us.”
Sister Agnes came into the RV, Brother Andrew had to only look at her face to know this
group had once again, foiled his plans. “Is there no stopping these people?”
“Calm yourself Brother, Satan is on their side to be sure, but Mother isn’t finished with this lot. Their time is coming, have no doubt of that.” Sister Agnes replied.
Red had pulled up near the workshop garage,so they could butcher the elk out of the heat and away from the flies and bees, attracted to the fresh meat. Turk and the group of teens, joined up with them there. Pete was at work skinning the calf, but everyone else was gathered around, looking at the salvaged goods.
Tim and Tom were looking at the pile of ammunition, they had brought back. All usable stuff, 9mm and .45 caliber pistol rounds, 30.06 and 7mm rifle rounds, 12 gauge buckshot and slugs. There was also several containers of both smokeless and black powder.
“Red said you left a cache of food and weapons at the spot you collected this?” Tim queried
“Yup we kinda figured it would be nice to have a fall back. We mussed it up around there so's to make it look like it had already been looted.” Turk informed him.
“I'd like to see this place.” Tim replied.
“Well now that you mention it there was this backhoe I was eyeballin there. I shore would like to have that around here. If we head out directly we could be back by supper.”
“What are you thinking, we would use the backhoe for?” Will asked.
“Will, we are kind of at the bottom of a bowl here. The zeds don't seem to like, climbing the hills much. I was thinkin if we dug an L-shaped trench, down along the entrance drive and over to the rise at that end, then another such trench, along the service road. Using the dozer, we'll tear up that parkin lot and pile up some mounds, to slow up both zeds and folks drivin in.” Turk answered.
Tim looked to Tom. “What do you think, Tom?”
“I'm all for making this place, more defensible. Getting pushed out, has got to be the last resort. Living on the run, always scrambling for our next meal, I don't want to go back to that.” Tom replied.
“Tom, do not worry as long as I'm around, these children will never have to go hungry. May not be what we are enjoyin here, but I do know a thing or two, about livin off the land.” Turk advised.
“When do you want to leave?” Tim asked.
“Say an hour, let me help Pete get the elk skinned, I want to tan the hides, we'll find some use for the leather. If you two, would get some water to add to the cache and we'll bring a couple more drums for fuel, I'm thinkin any diesel we don't use on the equipment, we could use to make some home brew napalm.” Turk answered.
On the way back, another bunch of zeds was starting to build up at the fence and again, Turk steamrolled over them, with the truck and trailer.
As they pulled in, Prescott mused. “I been thinking about your plan to make mounds in the parking lot, I don't think that is enough.”
“How so?” Tim asked.
“Someone can still drive straight down this service road and up to our gate.”
“I know, but we do need a way to get in and out of here.” Answered Tim.
“Hear me out, there is a post hole auger for the bobcat. If we sink some posts in the road it would slow somebody down, having to weave back and forth around them. It would give us a little more time, to react.”
Tim nodded, in agreement. “I guess we'll add that to the to do list.”
As they headed in to clean up for a dinner of roasted elk tenderloin, Turk excused himself saying he would return directly.
Chapter 7 - Rituals
Sitting down to their evening meal, Pete remained standing. “I haven't done this in quite some time, but we have such a bounty now, Sheila would want this. Please join me in giving thanks.”
Once Pete finished grace, Turk stood up. “I'm not one for makin speeches, but I wanted to take a moment of silence, to recognize the boy we lost on this run. Prescott has proved himself courageous in the face of danger, trustworthy when called to act, and skilled in providin for our community. Prescott, would you come over here son.”
Prescott walked over to Turk. “Prescott, this is a tip from the antler of your elk. As you wear this, let it remind you that your days of bein a boy are over and your days of becomin a man, are startin.” Turk had strung the antler tip to a strip of leather and slipped it over the young man's head.
Turk's pride brought him near to tears and as Prescott extended his hand in thanks, Turk pulled him close and gave him a quick hug. Prescott beaming with pleasure, went back to his seat fingering the antler tip.
“Well what the hell are you all waitin on, my stomach's startin to think my throats been cut, lets get these vittles a movin.” Turk joked.
After dinner, Turk invited Tom to get his crossbow so they could, again, slide out of the fence and take out any advancing zeds. Once again, the pair rested at the top of the rise, allowing Tom a chance to speak. “So, why are we really out here?”
“You know these folks better'n I do, I didn't want to cause a panic with my suspicions. I just got the feelin that these zeds, are bein driven towards us. The way they always mass towards evenin, I just ain't seen nothin like this before.”
“Sue and Miri are as tough as they come at crunch time, but the unknown can weigh on them. Why not come at us outright, why go to all the effort of herding zeds?”
“I don't know, maybe they are trying to get us to waste ammo, maybe they want to see how we react, maybe just exhaust us, killing zeds all night and building fences all day. It's just all down right strange.”
“You got any advice for me?”
“Nope. I mean, I think everythin we are doin is in the right direction, but if you agree with my notions, then you got to have a talk with folks. We need to be more alert, but I don't want folks jumpin at shadows.”
It had been just over a week since the trials had begun and Preacher Josiah went to request a report. “Zachary, what can you tell me about that group, holed up in the park?”
“That gang is digging in more and more, everyday. They've turned that park into a fort.”
“The zealots you sent, have they been able to herd any of the fallen, on to them?”
“Every damn day, it doesn't stop them. We load up the fences every night and they clear them, every day. I've lost two good men, herding fallen and they haven't wasted one bullet. Now they pulled in with some elk, so they have a winters worth of meat. They also brought in, some heavy equipment. We need to hit them soon, or we'll never get them out of there.”
“To hit them Brother, we need the army Mother has requested. What progress, is being made on that?”
“All due respect Preacher, these people have been livin on the road for so long, struggling against the fallen is second nature to them. When the world hits them, they hit back, they are not like our people. Our folks have been protected, making them soft. I have no military experience and we have no one with a military background.”
“Be that as it may, we need to be ready to march in days. Send word, the next time they leave the protection of their walls, cut them off with a herd and scoop them up. We will use those to leverage the others.”
“We can't afford to lose another group, like we did Cain and his men.”
“Cain was taken by surprise. This time, we will be the ones on the attack.”
“That is a start, but we need to be done with these games and get started with a more direct approach.”
“Patience is a virtue, but soon. Send the Cross woman in to speak to me. I think a wolf in sheep's clothing, may be an edge we could exploit.”
A short while later, Abigail Cross knocked on the Preacher's door. “Ah Mrs. Cross, come in please. Do you mind if I call you Abigail?”
“Mrs. Cross will do just fine.”
Josiah surveyed the young woman, across from him. She was not overly tall, definitely less than 5'6”, but had a classic beauty. Her black hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, she had a complexion that allowed her to tan rather than burn. What struck him most was her brown eyes so da
rk that they were close to black. They were lit by an inner strength and her steady gaze at him demonstrated her resolve. “As you wish, my dear.”
“Whatever, I was told you wanted to speak to me.”
“I did. When was the last time, you saw your daughter?”
“Too long ago. Those bastards that forced me here took everything from me, but my daughter. Now whatever you people are doing to her, is causing her to slip further and further from me. There are two things that keep me going. The first was when Silas turned those things on the scum who abducted me. The second, is the hope that I'll get my daughter back.”
“I'm glad to hear that, it will give you motivation on the task I have for you.”
Red Rises (Book 2): Dead To Rights (HZA, Vol. 4) Page 16
