“Do you mean they are eating children?” Eric’s shock was evident, “Literally?”
“Yes! They butcher them, cook them and eat them barbeque style. That’s why we ran when we saw you coming. We don’t have much in the way of defense. We have a few weapons back at our camp, but not nearly enough to hold a stand against those slavers. We’ve looked for more weapons to protect ourselves, but firearms are very hard to come by these days. The slavers have most of the weapons. They collected them early on, at the beginning of the war.”
“Well, we’re well armed,” Eric said, “and we have more than enough weapons and ammo. Take us to your camp and we’ll make an effort to get you set up with what you might need to protect yourselves from the slavers.”
Eric sent for their gear from further up the beach and they all headed toward the stragglers’ camp. Many of the young Soldiers were busily talking to the women. None of them had seen a woman for months. It was a welcome change.
“Even the plainest one is pretty,” one of the young Lance Corporals commented.
They climbed the cliff, crossed the highway and continued east for an hour until they reached a small stream that flowed to the south. There they turned due north through a rock outcropping at the base of a large group of rolling and rock-encrusted hills. Yellow grass grew as far as the eye could see, and the hills were interspersed with small clumps of trees. The small creek flowed through the rocks and fell from a high embankment, coloring the rocks with green algae and moss. Eric tasted the water and told Charles it was delicious, but Charles just patted his canteen as he brushed on by.
“That’s the source of our fresh water. It flows from the mountains further north. It’s pure as far as we can tell. We boil and filter it for drinking and cooking just to be safe, even though that won’t do much good if it’s got radiation. We haven’t notice any side effects so far.”
They continued the climb and soon came upon a natural tunnel formed by the upheavals of the earth in a time long gone… They came to an opening through the tunnel that revealed a broad meadow filled with grass, trees, more rocks and boulders and the camp where these stragglers had made their home.
Charles turned to the Soldiers and Marines, gesturing to the camp in front of them, “This is our home and our security. I hope you enjoy our hospitality.”
Chapter 6
Box Canyon
IT WAS A natural mountain meadow situated inside a large box canyon that had few outside visitors… until recently. It was covered in grass and wildflowers, and there was a sizable garden near the creek. Eric saw that the stragglers had constructed eight nice sized huts for several families.
They had three shotguns and two .308 caliber rifles, but no more than fifty rounds of ammunition. Several people sported compound bows and arrows and a few had crossbows. The rest of their defensive weapons consisted of hatchets and a few hunting knives.
Off toward the far end of this box canyon was a large stand of trees covering about thirty acres. The canyon was at least a couple of square miles in size.
“Our primary defense here is the entrance to this place, because it’s well concealed,” Charles beamed as he spoke. “You’d have to know it was here to find it, and though it was known throughout the ages by mostly robbers and renegade Indians, few remember it now.”
“One of our people…” he paused and pointed to a teenage boy named Walter, “found it while hunting before the war. He told his parents about this place, and they led the rest of us here right after the war started. It has been our salvation and our means to an end.”
“The creek is the source for all of our water needs. We are fairly safe here. We go to the beach once every two weeks and spend a day or two fishing, then bring our catch back here. There is only one way in and one way out. The entire area is completely surrounded by nearly vertical cliffs.”
Eric was impressed with their survival skills. “Where did the lumber come from to build all those houses?”
“We dismantled several homes out in the surrounding area and brought everything here piece by piece. It was a slow and tedious process but the results have been remarkable. We just finished the bulk of the construction in the last week.”
The tour lasted for a couple of hours. Charles showed the men the beehive ovens the women used for cooking, and the waterwheel they constructed to help drive tools that would have formerly been operated by electricity. They had even constructed a foot-driven turntable to make pottery and a large kiln to fire it with.
They had a gasoline-powered generator but they used that sparingly, as when they needed light in an emergency or a power tool that was essential to get a job done. Otherwise, it sat there untouched, waiting until a real need arose. It’s gas had been treated so as not to gum up after non-use.
All in all, however, they were becoming accustomed to doing without much of what modern man had so ready available at one time; things that people took for granted before the war.
Eric looked around in awe at what the group had accomplished with so little. “You people have my respect for what you have done here. The only suggestion I have is that you be more careful while at the beach. You should cook during the day and harvest the fish under the cover of darkness. No fires at night. It’s too dangerous. Do all of your cooking here once you return.”
Charles led Eric and his group of Soldiers and Marines over to the group. “Please, introduce yourselves to our folks. We are thirty five people… mostly younger women. The youngest of the women is Charlene.” He gestured to a young girl standing off to the side.
She blushed at the mention of her name. “She’s fourteen. The rest are at least sixteen or older. That one is Sarah, she’s my wife.” He pointed to a pretty woman who smiled at them warmly.
“We all live here in harmony. We seem to have enough to eat so far, we’re relatively safe and we watch each others backs. I trust you and your men will do the same. Some of us have children, and we’ve rescued stragglers we encountered and have more or less adopted them.”
He continued with a note of tension in his voice. “Eric, we have invited you and your men into our home… please don’t give me any reason to regret that decision. I brought these young women into our fold because they had no one else to look after them. Most were trying to hide or were wandering aimlessly. We make a conscientious effort to protect them from those who would do them harm. We live together here in peace as a large family and we get along fairly well most of the time. I’d hate to see any harm come to any of us.”
Eric smiled and nodded. He understood what Charles was saying and vowed to himself that he would keep a tight rein on his troopers as best as he could. It was easy enough to do during the day, but darkness might be a problem.
The young girls seemed to be very friendly, and his troopers loved that. There was always that element of ‘boys will be boys and girls will be girls.’ It’s sometimes difficult to control human emotions, and these young men had been deprived of any interaction with the opposite gender for quite a while now. These were extreme times for all of them and the compulsion to live life without thinking about consequences was too easy, especially when they didn’t know if they would live from one day to the next.
That night there was a great gathering of the survivors, Soldiers, and Marines. One of the women played a guitar and sang songs from an older era of Rock and Roll. Little by little others joined the singing, and it was the group’s harmonizing that lifted everyone’s spirits. One of the Soldiers had a harmonica and joined in with the music. The meal consisted of fish, roasted chicken, bread from the beehive oven and fruit juice made from wild berries. Everyone was having a good time and the merriment continued for several hours.
Many of the Soldiers and women began to pair up or gather in smaller groups. The laughter was like the tinkling of crystal chimes gently colliding together, almost melodic, and pleasant to hear. It was contentment on a large scale, infectious as it touched each person with a happiness they all needed.
The night air was pleasant and only a small wrap or a long-sleeved shirt was needed to dispel the chill.
Eventually several of the Soldiers slipped away with some of the women. One by one they melted into the night. No one seemed to notice, or at least they were not very concerned. Most of the Soldiers were in their early twenties and were a hit with some of the teenage ladies. It was a diversion all of them needed. The music, songs, good food and company of either a nice looking woman or young man was a welcome way to top off the festivities.
They had all been under stress from the war and the deprivations it had brought. A gathering of friendly people was welcomed, even though they were strangers. They quickly acted as if they had known each other for years. Things couldn’t have been better… until a piercing scream shattered the peaceful night.
Charles jumped up to determine where it had come from when one of the women came running into the camp. She was holding her obviously torn top together with one hand and she held her other hand to her mouth. A young Soldier was right behind her in pursuit. The girl’s name was Susan, and she was crying hysterically.
Several people jumped to their feet and ran to the distressed woman. Charles’s wife put an arm around her shoulders and held her close. The girl sobbed uncontrollably. There was blood on her dress. The young Soldier immediately melted back into the darkness, away from the campfire’s light, and was gone before anyone could restrain him.
After talking to some of the others, Eric determined that the Soldier was Al Gomez. He had slipped away with her earlier in the evening. They had all been having a good time… that is, until the woman ran back into the camp sobbing hysterically.
“I kept telling him no,” Susan whispered, “but he wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
Eric yelled out to the other Soldiers, “Spread out and look for him; don’t let him get away!” The young Soldier was nowhere to be found. He left in such a hurry that he didn’t grab all of his gear. The next morning, Eric gave it all to the campers… along with three M-16 rifles, some ammo, and a few grenades. He decided it would be best for them to move on.
There was both sadness because of the tragic event of the previous night, and a reluctance by the campers to relinquish the protection these armed Soldiers offered them. Charles showed them the way to the entrance, and once outside the natural tunnel through the rocks, Eric decided to head away from the beach to see if they could find anything.
Most of the Soldiers were reluctant to leave. Some vowed revenge on Gomez if they ever saw him again for ruining a good thing, and for dishonoring the trust they had been given.
Al Gomez resisted the urge to break out into a full dash. It was dark and he could easily fall or run into something and suffer a serious injury.
“No,” he said to himself, “if I can’t see, neither can the others if they come after me.” He had no doubt that they would come for him. He realized he made a bad decision by raping that young girl, but he didn’t have any real regrets and would do it again if given another opportunity. He had a hard time finding the exit to the camp in the darkness, but once he made his way into the tunnel, he was home free.
Survival was his only concern. He would head to the highway and see if he could hook up with the motorcycle riders he heard passing on the highway, one of those nights on the beach. It would take him a while to get to the highway, but once he got there all he had to do was wait. It was his only option after what he had done.
He doubted that any of the Soldiers would come after him in the dark, but he kept moving west, just in case. He realized he wouldn’t get sympathy from any of the Soldiers, especially Eric who was a ‘Dudley Do-Right’ anyway. He had needs of his own and he had taken care of them. Too bad if some couldn’t understand that. Regardless, he walked a little faster in the night.
When he arrived at the highway, he found a place to wait, and would sleep there until morning light. There was no traffic on the road. All he could hear was the breaking surf on the beach down below the cliffs. A cricket signaled to a would-be mate with a steady shrill sound.
He laughed and said to no one in the darkness, “I hear you bud… getting laid is where it’s at.”
The stars above him were a brilliant cacophony of billions of twinkling lights that were occasionally interrupted by a star that would suddenly make its presence known, streaking brightly across the sky in a blaze of illuminated splendor for a second and then would disappear as suddenly as it had arrived.
The night was long and lasted for what seemed an eternity before the rising sun steadily revealed things that had been concealed by the darkness. He remained alert as best he could. He knew that if Eric and the others caught up to him it wouldn’t be pleasant. He regretted leaving his rifle and ammo behind, but he still had his sidearm and several loaded magazines. That should be adequate for now. What choice did he have? He wondered how long he would have to wait for someone to come along.
Around noon, as he was walking north, he heard them coming from behind. A steady rumble that turned into a roar as the bikers came closer. There were twenty of them. He stood there as they drew nearer. Several passed him before a few pulled over and turned off their motors. Some had skinny women on the seat behind them. Most of the women were, in his opinion, ugly.
One of the bikers put his kickstand down and swung a leg over and off the seat. He eyed this lone Soldier with a look that didn’t appear to be very friendly. Other bikers pulled off the road and turned off their motors as well. Several bikers that had already passed by came back and stopped. One of them approached him with a shotgun resting on his shoulder.
“What’s your story?” he let the pump action fall onto his other hand. “And it better be good.”
Al told the guy about Eric and the other Soldiers, the trip they had coming down from Washington State, the survivors on the beach, and how he got here. He left out the part about the rape.
“Can you lead us to where these women are right now?”
“We were originally shown to the location by their leader and it was dark when I left last night. I was just following along and I’m not sure that I can find it again. It was complicated getting there. I know it’s about a three hour walk from here. Getting into the main camp is tricky and it’s well-hidden. You would have to know where certain places are to get there. I’m sure that I couldn’t find it again.”
“Why did you leave your fellow Soldiers?”
“Because I’m tired of being a Soldier. There’s nothing in it for me now.”
“Sounds like an honest answer to me. Hop on one of the bikes and come with us to Crescent City. We need experienced Soldiers in our ranks. My name is Slasher and these here are my boys.” Al Gomez walked over to one of the bikes and hopped on the back.
They all started up their machines and took off in a roar toward the north. In a few hours they would be at the main slaver’s camp and he would get a chance to tell his story to their leader, Bone Breaker.
Eric and his men moved inland for a few hours. It was a wasted trip of desolation. A few deserted homes and businesses were all they found. They headed back toward the beach.
Once there, they would continue south to San Francisco. They weren’t far now; it was another two or three days at most. Eric was disappointed that they hadn’t found Gomez. He would have killed him himself if they had caught him. Gomez was smart and Eric had a pretty good idea they wouldn’t find him. What a pity.
Scum like him… a rapist… needed to be killed.
Chapter 7
Canyon Dwellers
ERIC AND HIS men were making their way toward the beach when they came across a sight none of them would ever forget. A woman, a man and two small children lay collapsed on the ground. They might have been missed if the woman hadn’t cried out in pain.
They approached her, reaching for a canteen when she weakly spat out, “Don’t! We’re all sick. It came on us suddenly this morning and we’re already dying. Stay away, and don’t touch u
s. Don’t even breathe our sickness into your bodies.”
She collapsed and appeared to have stopped breathing. Eric took out his field glasses and saw that the four of them were covered in purple pimples that oozed puss. It was a terrible sight, and Eric had no desire to go closer. After all, what could he and his men do for dead people?
There was a voice screaming in his head, warning him to stay clear of these people, and he was more than content to listen to it. Perhaps they had been infected with some sort of epidemic. When a Corpsman, coming up from the rear of the group, started toward the small group, Eric warned him away.
“There isn’t anything we can do for them. Let’s head for the beach.”
“Aren’t we going to bury them?” the corpsman asked.
“No, there isn’t anything we can do for them now,” Eric said, sadly shaking his head.
When they finally reached the beach highway, they took a much needed break. From their vantage point, they could see people lying in the surf. Eric used his field glasses to assess the situation. The people were covered in purple oozing pimples and all of them appeared to be dead.
Eric had this nagging feeling that something wasn’t right with what he just saw. He also found it strange that in all of their travels since leaving the Mountain Climbing Camp, they only come in contact with a few living people. It was puzzling. Perhaps their pain had driven them from hiding.
He was sure of one thing… if they encountered any more sick people, they were going to steer clear. If this sickness was something that someone knew about, he needed to know the details.
The Soldiers and Marines moved up off the beach highway and settled down to eat. Eric tuned the radio to see if there was anything coming in on the shortwave. It took a while as he twirled the dial through the frequencies to find someone talking. He paused briefly when a man was saying something about a plague.
Avalon: Beyond the Retreat (The Avalon Series Book 2) Page 6
