2nd Earth 2: Emplacement

by Edward Vought

  She can finally tell us approximately where the farm is that we are looking for. She says they keep the prisoners chained wherever they are. In the fields they have chains running down the aisles that they work in and in the barn, where they sleep, they chain them in a stall. She says that they have been very busy picking vegetables and fruit. They aren’t allowed to eat any while they are picking. If they get caught they get whipped or worse. Gary, Roy, Dan, and I decide to go in on foot. Ray says he would like to go, but I hesitate to leave the women and the vehicles unguarded. Besides I know all the men with me, I don’t know how he will react if he has to kill someone. Actually, in this case it’s when, we can’t let these animals live to do this to others. Please do not think we enjoy killing, we don’t, but we have no organized law, so we have to do what is necessary to survive. Believe me; those men will be trying to kill us as much as we will be them. The young lady whose name is Amy wants to go with us, she says the others won’t trust us because they don’t know us. It takes a lot of courage to go back into a situation like that one, but we are sure she is correct.

  We are waiting until we see the layout before we make any plans. We work our way to the farm, if you want to call it that. It is a group of rundown buildings that was a farm once. These guys probably came upon it, with the fruit trees and vegetables growing wild like at our places, and were too lazy to work it, so they captured slaves to do the work for them. Man’s inhumanity toward man never ceases to amaze me. Getting into the barn will not be any trouble, but getting all ten, if Amy is correct, will not be easy. It is getting dark quickly so we make our way down to the back of the barn. There are so many boards missing that we can see pretty much everything going on in there. The nights get cold, and almost none of the people we can see even have coats on.

  The back door to the barn is broken and hanging on one hinge, so Roy and I go in that door while Gary and Dan work their way around to the side door. It is so dark inside plus we are in the shadows so no one even sees us come in. We start to take a step toward the first stall when two of the filthiest people I have ever seen come in the side door carrying a lantern. They head to a stall toward the front and we hear a young woman’s voice pleading for them not to take her. That is followed by an older woman’s voice pleading with them to take her and leave her daughter alone. She tells them she is only twelve and they will hurt her too badly. They just laugh and say that will make it all the more fun.

  They unlock the chain and drag the screaming girl out the side door that they came in through. I hand the bolt cutters to Roy and tell him to start freeing these people. I’m going after those two who just left. I back out the door and cut toward the back where I am hoping to cut them off before they can attack that poor girl. I am almost too where I am hoping to meet them when I hear a blood curdling scream that came from a man not the young lady. I keep going and I see Gary and Sara coming toward me with the young lady between them sobbing. The scream brought everyone coming from what is obviously the main house. The man who was screaming is still crying for help. I ask Sara what happened and Gary asks me if I have ever seen a man gelded.

  Apparently Sara decided to join us and just happened to walk straight into that pair that had the girl. Gary saw them leave the barn so he followed for the same reason I did. He got to them just in time to see the young girl thrown on the ground and one of the men taking down his pants. The one that was watching lurched suddenly and fell to the ground with his throat cut from ear to ear. He didn’t make a sound. The second one wasn’t that lucky. Gary says he saw the knife flash and heard something hit the ground then that guy let out the scream that I heard. Sara just says he will never assault another young girl or old girl for that matter. I was going to ask her what she is doing here, but in the mood she is in, I will wait until later.

  We can see four men running toward the sound of the dying man so we cut loose with our hand guns and all four drop where they were standing. We stick our head in the barn door to see how Roy and Dan are doing getting all the captives loose. Amy tells us that four of the women were taken up to the house earlier. As angry as I am, I start toward the house with a gun in each hand. Sara and Gary are only a step behind. The people in the barn are now helping our guys get the rest loose. We hear gun fire and the bullets kick up dust around our feet. That reminds me that I have far too much to lose to get myself killed foolishly. I duck behind a car that is parked in the yard. Gary and Sara are behind a small truck that is parked behind the car. I no sooner get behind the car when the window directly above my head is shot out. I look toward Sara and she smiles and tells me it’s about time I realized where I am. I definitely have to agree with her.

  We are exchanging gunfire with the people in the house. I can count five different guns and that is just about right for what Amy told us. I am looking for a way to get closer to the house or to at least get a decent shot at those inside, but there is just nothing big enough to do that. I am wishing for the .50 I used to use when I was a Navy SEAL when I hear my .307 coming from the loft in the barn. I look back and can see just enough of Roy to know he has the rifle and is obviously putting it to good use. There is another volley from inside the house, only this time I can only count four guns. The .307 roars again and we can hear someone fall out of a second story window and hit the ground hard. He isn’t moving so I am pretty confident that they are down to three.

  I am getting ready to work my way around the car and maybe get to the house keeping in the deeper shadows. I see movement out of the corner of my eye, I hear the whooshing sound of an arrow and see a figure stand straight up and fall face down in the dirt. Dan is sure pulling his own weight and then some on this trip. I signal for Gary and Sara to draw their attention while I try to get inside and end this thing now. I hear the two guns left firing back so I crawl around the car and into the shadows beyond. When I have only a few steps to go I rush the house in a crouching run. I was going to knock the door in, but it is open. I almost fall down because I was expecting to come in contact with the door. There is one man at the front window firing when I come into the room. He turns quickly, but not quick enough to shoot before I do. He falls out through the window. There was very little glass in it anyway.

  The last one must be upstairs, there is no more firing so maybe he is out of ammunition or someone got lucky and hit him. Two of the women that they brought in tonight are lying on the floor, kind of behind a beat up couch. They are scared, but other than that they don’t appear to be hurt. Gary and Sara rush the house expecting to be shot at, but no shots are fired. I tell them to cover me, and start to go upstairs, when a man starts coming downstairs holding a young woman in front of him like a shield. He has a hand gun pushed out in front of him. He says that if anybody tries to shoot him, the girl will get killed first. I take a couple of steps back keeping my gun ready to shoot. The man is coming down the stairs slowly and finally we can see his face.

  “Bennett, is that you? How did you get here?”

  Sara recognizes him as soon as I do, I didn’t even know that she knew him. He was a SEAL like Tim and me. I never cared for him, but I would never have guessed that he would be behind something like this. He says he thought he recognized the sound of Sara and my Sig Sauer’s. He asks how we came to be here, so we tell him. Ray, Carol, Amy, Dan, and Roy have come into the house. The people who were being held are sitting around outside talking. Ray, Carol, and Amy think that Bennett has lost his mind, believing a story like the one we are telling. When we finish he says it sounds like what happened to him. He was on leave in Atlanta and was on an underground train and fell asleep. When he woke up he was definitely not in the same place or time. He managed to get a car running and finally found the guys he was partnered with here. They found this farm, but none of them wanted to work it so they went looking for women and some men to do the work for them. He says that was about six months ago.

  Here is a man who could have helped all these people instead of using them like animals. He says he
will leave and we will never see him again if we will let him go. If we don’t, he is going to start shooting until one of us finally gets him. I am tired of all the killing so I ask the others what they think. As soon as he thinks he has the upper hand he starts making demands. He says he wants one of our vehicles and four women of his choice to take with him. I tell him that is just not going to happen. When we knew each other in the other world he was always trying to pick a fight with me. I was not afraid to fight him then and I am still not. I ask him if he would like to settle this between him and me. If he wins he goes free without the women unless they wish to go with him. He asks me what happens if I get lucky and win. I tell him he knows the answer to that, only one of us is going to survive this fight. He smiles and says that’s more like it.

  I hand my gun to Gary, Bennett starts to raise his at me and Sara tells him to try it, he will be dead before he hears her gun go off. He smiles and lowers his gun. He tosses it on the floor and pushes the girl in front of him towards Gary. As he does that he jumps at me from about two steps up. I am expecting it, but his momentum pushes me back against a table. He is trying to knee me in the groin, and he is trying to get his hands on my throat to choke me. I block the knee with my knee and throw a forearm into his face to push him back. That separates us for the moment. He is a vicious fighter who was known for putting his opponents in the hospital. I know of five confirmed kills he had in hand to hand combat, so I know I have my work cut out for me. I am no stranger to hand to hand combat either, I once heard a soldier bragging in the barracks that he was undefeated in hand to hand combat. One of the guys he was trying to impress told him that was obvious. If you lose in hand to hand, you don’t get to talk about it.

  He is throwing kicks and punches in rapid succession trying to knock me off balance. I have been blocking what he is throwing, but I decide I have to go on the offensive to win. I counter what he throws and start moving in throwing combinations of kicks and punches first high, then low. One of my punches gets through to his face and I can see blood flowing from his nose. Another series of combinations gets a kick into his midsection, knocking him back a step. He is not smiling anymore, nor is he talking, earlier he was telling me how he was going to kill me. He rushes throwing punches and kicks, but I can feel the power has diminished considerably in his hits. I have been working my butt off on the farm while he has been sitting back living a life of self indulgence and debauchery. He is much farther out of shape than he would have guessed about five minutes ago.

  I retaliate with combinations that his reflexes are no longer able to block. I am thinking of asking him if he has had enough when he grabs for a gun he has hidden in his boot top. He draws it and starts to aim it at me when I hear the blast of more than one gun and see him jerk erect and fall to the floor. I look toward Gary and Sara, they have their guns raised, but so does the young lady he used as a shield coming downstairs. The second young lady who was upstairs comes down slowly making sure that the danger is over. I look down at Bennett trying to figure out what makes someone who has so much to offer be so selfish. There are too many people outside to stay here for the night, so we decide to go get the vans and take most of them back to the city, at least for the remainder of the night.

  We don’t have to go get the vans because those who were still with them could hear the shooting and guessed when it was over that everything was safe. With the vehicles they have here we can get everyone in so we all head to the city. By the time we get there it is only a couple of hours until sunup so we decide to go back to the farm. We have to drive slowly in the dark, but not much slower than normal. When we told everybody what we are proposing we gave them their choice of either coming with us or we would leave them in the city. One of the men asked what the difference is of where they were and where we are going. He said it sounds like they are just going from working for one group to working for another. We already proved we are stronger and better prepared to fight than their last captors.

  At first I feel like telling him to get out and stay if that’s what he wants, but then I realize that I would be thinking the same thing if I was him. Before I can answer him Ray and Carol tell all of them that they have been to our farm.

  “We understand how you feel because when we first went with these kind people we were as scared and as nervous as you all are. None of us have ever known anything, but running and scavenging to survive. We didn’t even trust each other enough to join forces for strength. Where we are going there are four farms, not one and four different groups living on those farms. We will all have to work, but it will be to build our own homes, where we can raise our families in safety and go to a warm bed at night with a full stomach. We know it sounds too good to be true, but we have seen it with our own eyes. A year ago they were all just like us, living in small groups, being hunted by predators and hoping to find enough food to feed our families. What have we got to lose going with them even if we didn’t know what was in store. Can it be any worse than what you have already been through?”

  One of the women in the van we are in asks me if all that is true. I tell her all except the part about having four farms. Some start to ask them why they lied, but I cut them off and tell them that there will be five farms either by the time we get back or soon afterward. The fifth one is for them if they want it. We will help them get settled in and show them how we do everything and they can take it from there. We are getting close to home and it is still only mid-morning, but the people in all the vehicles are getting excited. Every time we see a deserted farm they ask if that’s where we are going. When we finally get to our farm and they see the newly painted buildings, the windmills spinning, and several people out in the yards doing different chores they are very much impressed. Everyone is expecting us, we were able to call on the CB and let them know. Tim, Ken, Billy, and Ryan come to meet us when we park in the area we have laid out for that. The people we brought back are very self conscious because their clothing is very dirty and worn out. They don’t look any different than our groups did when we first got together.

  We have some quick introductions, mostly introducing some of our people to them. There will be plenty of time to get to know each other later. I don’t know about anyone else but I smell bacon and fresh breakfast sausage cooking and I won’t be surprised if there are some pancakes and eggs to go with the meat. Dayna comes running out of the big meeting house and yells at me for not inviting our new friends to breakfast. This breakfast is for the new people and for those of us returning. Many of our family come over to meet the new people and to welcome them to the family. While we are eating, one of the ladies that was riding in the vehicle with us turns to the gentleman who was nervous earlier.

  “Paul, did our last hosts welcome us this way? If we are going to be this warm and fed this well they can hold me prisoner for the rest of my life.”

  The others laugh and agree with her. For all, but a few this is the first time they have eaten fresh meat and had milk to drink. The fresh bread and toast is a big hit as well. Many of the people ask us if we think they can learn to grow and make the great things they are eating. We smile and tell them if we can do it, they sure can. Someone must have sent a signal because just about the time they are all through eating, our friends arrive from the other farms. We all go outside to introduce everybody and we can see that many of our new friends are cold, because although not exactly winter, the temperature is probably only in the high forties, low fifties right now. Our friends and our people come to the rescue with heavy sweaters and jackets to give to our new friends.

  The younger boys and girls are met by our contingent of young people and are getting a tour of the farm. We are showing the older people around as well, but not quite at the pace of the younger people. Most of what we are showing them is totally new to them. They are not sure that they can do everything we have, but we assure them we will help them and they will have no trouble at all. When we get the tour completed most of our people are acting pretty ants
y. Finally I tell them they may as well say what they want to before they bust. Dayna and Robin ask our new friends if they are ready to see their own farm now. They are careful to tell them that it isn’t as finished as ours are, but they will be able to get it in shape pretty quickly.

  We load the vehicles and all head to the new farm. Even I am surprised at the amount of work that has been done on the new farm. There are six houses and three barns on this farm. The windmills have already been serviced and are working fine, so all the houses have electricity. The electric baseboards have been installed so they have plenty of heat, plus each house has a fireplace and a woodstove with plenty of wood cut and stacked at each house. Each house also has a good supply of canned goods from the stores we have visited and a good supply of the fruits and vegetables we canned. The houses are in good shape, except for needing a good coat of paint, and some minor repair work. Most of the people have tears in their eyes as they walk around seeing their new home.

  Doc McEvoy and Barb tell them that some of their people as well as some of ours have volunteered to move in here with these people to help them get settled in. That way if some of these people would like to stay with one of our groups to learn by helping us, they are welcome to do that. Most of the people in the new group don’t really know each other very well, but they are all willing to live as they have seen us living. They are not quite sure how to get started, so we help them divide the people into the six different groups that will live in the houses. As we already said, some will come back with us, and stay with us for a while, and others will go with the other groups who will send people to help them. All in all we know it will work out fine.