It was Jasper taking care of business. She felt so proud of those boys, she could hardly stand it. They were good shooters after all and true to their word about being able to kill when necessary. A Slaver came up behind her without her being aware and grabbed her; she tried to get to her knife but could not reach it. A shot rang out and he went down in a crumpled pile. It was Tom Wyatt and he waved at her. Several more Slavers jumped on their dirt bikes, kick-started them, and took off. She fired at one and it looked like she got him, but he didn’t fall and instead rode off leaving behind a trail of dust.
Beth went over to the rope tether and let the hostages go. They were so undernourished they hardly knew they were free. One man thanked her and said,
“Come here, I want to show you something.”
She followed him and off to one side of the camp was a pile of bones. All small bones of children, more than thirty of them. It was too much for her and she bent over and vomited. The boys came to her side and one of them rubbed her back. Just when she thought it was over, she convulsed and retched some more.
The entire camp was on fire and dead bodies were lying all over the ground. Many of the Slavers had limbs blown off and they had lots of side arms on them. Once Beth recovered, she had the boys go around and collect all the food, weapons, and water.
“If you see any clothing and blankets or anything else of value, take those too.”
Beth picked up a shotgun that was lying on the ground and checked to see if it was still loaded. In the eerie red light from the torches all around the camp, she saw a Slaver laying there with a leg blown off. As he begged her for mercy, she blew his head off with a blast of the shotgun. The boys cut the throats of those who appeared to still be alive and left them there for the bugs and birds to pick their bones.
Chapter 27 The Trek Continues
During a search of the Slavers, Beth found a map and spread it out on the rock before her so she could study it in detail. As best she could determine, Bishop was off to the right about fifteen miles from this spot, which is how she had planned it. Approaching Bishop to the left was safer than coming at it head on.
She saw a road that led from Bishop over to the coast, but it bore straight into a small town by the name of Fitch. The road continued toward the west, bypassing Fitch and then split in three directions according to what she could see.
Another stretch of the highway went south toward Chico and one more bore right and headed north toward Mount Shasta. It was an interesting intersection. There must have been a reason for Fitch being located there. As far as she could tell, it was a small town of no particular significance. As in her approach to Bishop, she wanted to side-step this little town, if at all possible. If her memory served her correctly, the old railroad track bed was somewhere over to the left of Fitch but did not show up on the map.
There was plenty of food from the ambush, and the children and captives were eating as she came over to them and sat down. Glory offered her a tin can full of pork and beans and she accepted, realizing just how hungry she was. Tom Wyatt strolled over to her carrying a pair of binoculars in his hand. He stopped in front of her, handed her the field glasses, and smiled. She took them and examined them for a moment.
They were great glasses… 8x50 zoom with “wide vision,” whatever that meant! They looked new, hardly used at all. She put them up to her eyes to try them out, and off in the distance, she saw a tree standing alone. As she focused the lenses, first one and then the small slider that brought the two sides together into sharp focus, she shifted the zoom slider and everything came toward her.
“These are going to come in handy.”
She spoke the words to no one in particular, just a comment of admiration… and then she saw the movement. It was subtle but he was there, a man on a dirt bike near a rock. He had a pair of binoculars and was looking at her group. He let the glasses rest against his chest and the bike began to move toward Bishop. The man was studying her and the children and that could mean trouble. They needed to get moving before he could come back with reinforcements. They were no match for armed men. They were just children after all.
“Everybody!” She was talking in a loud voice, but not screaming. “Listen to me!”
They all looked at her and when she thought they were paying attention, Beth continued, “We may be in for company. I want everyone to gather up their things and form a group over there.” She pointed to the place where she wanted them to gather. “We’ll be leaving this place in a little while.”
They stirred at her request to move, though some still ran in play, not fully aware of their circumstances. One of the captives came toward her and she studied him as he walked. She remained seated as he approached.
“Hi, I guess I should introduce myself, I’m Doctor Len Stroud.”
“Are you a medical doctor?”
“No, I’m a dentist. That is, I was before the war.”
“You’re still a dentist, Doctor Stroud.”
“Please, it’s Len.”
“Okay, Len it is. I’m Beth Kelly; it’s nice to meet you.”
He smiled and she saw that his teeth were perfect. She guessed it was one of the perks of being a dentist. Regardless, the man had a nice smile and he was tall and slender and not bad to look at. He seemed nice enough and when they shook hands, she noticed he had a firm grip.
“What’s your plan?” he asked. As he waited for an answer, she thought for a brief time and responded casually,
“Just a minute ago when I was testing out these new field glasses, I saw a man on a dirt bike. I’m positive Slavers are watching us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t try an attack, especially once they realize we’re mostly children.”
He looked to where she had indicated with the movement of her head and squinted his eyes but didn’t see anything.
“He’s gone,” she surmised. “He moved out just after I saw him. Do you have any military training?”
He smiled at her, showing those perfect teeth again, and said,
“Sergeant Leonard Stroud at your service, ma’am. U.S. Army Airborne.”
That was a stroke of luck. He saw the question in her eyes and followed up by saying,
“G.I. Bill.”
“What was that?”
“I got out after six years and went to dental school at U.C.L.A. using the G.I. Bill. I’m a Bruin, but don’t hold that against me.”
She was laughing and he wasn’t sure why; she saw the look and explained,
“I’m a Bruin also, Accounting.”
Now he was smiling.
“Do you have any objection to my grabbing one of those street sweepers over there? I’m sure I can do a better job with it than that kid.”
“Help yourself,” she answered, her voice betraying a slight annoyance, “But don’t ever underestimate those boys; they follow orders and they can shoot. They also have a lot more guts than some men I’ve met in my days.”
He smiled at her and asked, “Incidentally, are you ex-military as well?”
“Special Agent Beth Kelly,” she straightened up in an effort to mirror his formal Army introduction, “Federal Bureau of Investigation, at your service.” The temporary humor over she relaxed again, not having the energy to continue the charade. “I’ve been trying to evade those Slavers since right after the nukes began to fall. I hate those sickos more than anything I’ve ever hated in my life… all twenty-six years of it. How’d they get you?”
“Kind of an embarrassing story really; I was asleep under a tree when they came along, and the rest you know. I was with them for about ten days. I think that woman over there might be a little gone upstairs.” He was nodding toward a particular woman in ragged clothes. “I think they not only raped her, but ate her child in front of her.”
Beth looked over at the woman sitting on the ground, staring at nothing, and rocking back and forth. She looked devoid of any feeling or emotion whatsoever. She hadn’t eaten, from what Beth had seen, and it seemed she may
have given up completely.
“Beth,” Matthew interrupted her train of thought, “I think those are motorcycles over there.”
He pointed, and when she looked she could see them sitting on their bikes looking at her little group from on top of the hill. It would take a few minutes for them to get to her people once they started down that hill.
“Everybody over here,” she immediately screamed at the kids as she jumped up. “Get behind those rocks over there, now!”
The children, hearing the edge in her voice, stopped playing and ran for cover. The woman who was staring at the ground just sat there.
“Tom and Davey; bring me some of that dynamite,” she directed. “Be quick!”
She started digging in her pack and found the Blue Tips in the plastic sandwich bag. She distributed the matches by giving five to Tom, five to David, and five to Len. Each of them took three sticks.
“Toss them when they get close enough to you to nearly be able to hit them with it,” her instructions were hurried. “Light it, count to ten, and throw!”
“These are thirty second fuses,” she said, turning to Len. “We test-burned a piece of one way back, so wait ten seconds before you throw. They work pretty well, but be careful. We have some decent fire power now between us. I wouldn’t trust anything longer than ten seconds. Now get movin’!”
“Children!” she yelled, looking around at all of them, “Stay hidden. Boys, make sure you keep each one of those creeps on the “O” before you fire!”
The bikes were moving toward them now, by twos and threes. She counted about thirty in total.
“Don’t fire until I tell you and make sure you’re behind some cover.” She was a bit quieter, speaking mainly to those in her immediate group. “Here they come, so get ready.”
As they watched the Slavers approach, they could see only hand guns. It made sense that they would only bring their handguns to this fight, as long guns would have been a little difficult to use while they were riding. They were headed straight for her little group.
“Get ready,” she hollered. “Get a good bead on them… steady now… not yet… not yet… NOW!”
Four of the Slavers went down in the yellow grass at the first volley and their motorcycles either fell or kept going and then fell. A loud boom went off and ten or more of them went flying through the air along with their dirt bikes. One bike landed on another biker and crushed him instantly. One more man blew into pieces and several bikes caught on fire.
A new loud boom went off and more of the scumbags went flying through the air. Five of them stopped, turned around, and headed toward the crest of the hill, back to where they had come. Her boys fired several more shots and several more bikers fell into the dirt. Another stick went off and at least a dozen bikers flew through the air.
“Cease fire! Cease fire!” she yelled as a few more shots went off. “Cease firing!”
Suddenly everything was quiet. The yellow grass was burning fiercely and the blaze was moving away from them.
“Tom, Wyatt, everybody get over there and stomp out those fires or the whole place will go up in flames, hurry! Len, go around and check out those bikers and make sure they’re all dead. No survivors and no prisoners. We’ve all seen how they work and they don’t deserve any mercy… damn them!”
Len walked around and surveyed the dead and mutilated bikers. Some Slavers were still alive. He tapped one man with his foot and David ran over and slashed the man’s throat. Beth watched Len and saw that he was appalled.
“Hey Doctor,” Beth yelled, “Come over here.”
He walked toward her with his sub-machine gun hanging limp and pointing down at the ground from his grip on the handle. Before he reached her she said, her voice low and coming from deep inside her throat as if it was a growl, hoarse and hissing, “Let’s get something straight right now Mister. When I give you an order, you either do it or you can pack it up and get the hell out of here right now! We are not going to leave anyone who can come after us from behind if there is anything we can do to prevent it. Dead men don’t tell tales and I don’t want anyone giving anyone else any information about us. Those people are scum and none of them deserve mercy or any human charity from anybody. You got that Mister!?”
He stood there towering over her five foot-five stature. The man must have been close to six foot seven.
“We are not animals,” he said finally. “I am not an animal and I refuse to do that.”
She pulled the slide back on her sub-machine gun, made sure a round was chambered, stepped back about three feet, pointed the weapon toward his head, and screamed at him,
“Then you best be moving along partner, ‘cause you don’t belong with us anymore! Thanks for your help in the fight but we don’t want you with us any longer!”
She shouted at Tom and Davey,
“Make sure they’re all dead and then escort Doctor Len here out and away from us! If any of you ever see him again after today, shoot to kill! For now, give him food and water and make sure he leaves us!”
Several of the children were screaming and crying and scared witless. The woman, who was staring at the ground got up and went to them and motioned for them as she went down on her knees, encouraging them to come to her. She wrapped her arms around those who were crying and comforted them. One little girl was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm and the woman stroked her hair and they put their heads together.
“I’m waiting, Mister, and I suggest you don’t mess with me. I’ll off you so fast you won’t know you’re dead for a hundred years; I said git!”
“Is it too late to offer an apology?” His voice was soft and non-threatening. “Of course you’re right.”
She glared at him for a long moment, trembling with rage. No one knew what she was going to do until she dropped her weapon’s working end to the ground and slid the safety in place with her thumb. She said in a low voice as she made eye contact with the man when she spoke,
“Don’t ever challenge me again. The next time, I will shoot you dead and there will be no more conversations like this. The only reason I’m doing this is because I believe we may need your expertise later where we’re going. But you will obey me and I will not tolerate any insubordination, period. We are at war and I can’t afford to watch my back because I can’t trust someone. I offer no apologies; the only reason we’ve made it this far is because we have worked as a team. You can be a vital part of that team but you are not that important until you have proven yourself. Look at those boys over there; they aren’t boys anymore, they are men in mind if not in body and they are good soldiers; they do what they’re told. So it’s settled; we will talk no more of it.”
“Everybody,” she said, turning toward her small soldiers, “Let’s go through all these bodies, check them out, and see what they have on them. Gather up all the firearms and put them in the cart we picked up at the last Slaver’s Camp. Take it all… watches, rings, bracelets, gold chains around their necks, bullets, everything… don’t leave anything that can be used. Check out the bikes too; if you find anything on them, take it. None of these guys will be needing anything from now on. Burn the bikes in a pile.”
She turned to her three little warriors,
“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes.” She had made up her mind. “We’re going to a place called Fitch.”
Chapter 28 Fitch
It was a good haul from the dead Slavers. Beth’s group had lots of arms and ammunition, an assortment of gold neck chains, bracelets, watches, rings, canteens full of water, pistols, sheath knives, folders, and some good clothing. It would all come in handy.
She decided to split some of the blankets in quarters, making squares out of them and then put a slit in the middle of each with her sheath knife. One of those over the heads of the children made for great makeshift coats, covering them down to their hip area. With a piece of rope or cloth tied around the middle, it stayed out of their way. If their arms got cold all they had to do was put them inside t
he blanket.
Most of the bikers had hats and she distributed them among the children and adults. They counted thirty-one dead Slavers lying on the ground that would feed birds, insects, and probably a few coyotes.
They stopped several times because the children needed to rest, eat, and drink some water. There was quite a bit of food on the bikes and that added to their stock, but every stop depleted it that much more. They would run out of food completely in another few days, at the latest. She was nibbling on a piece of dried fruit when the quiet woman who stared off into space all the time came walking toward her. Beth waited as she approached and stopped in front of her.
“If no one cares,” she asked emotionless, “could I have something to eat?”
Beth blinked and was caught without anything to say, but recovered quickly,
“Someone bring this woman something to eat.”
One of the younger boys ran over with a can full of pears and handed it to the woman. “Thank you very much,” she said in a soft voice that was barely audible.
She turned and walked back toward the children and sat down among several of them. They seemed to like her and sat close. She began to eat the fruit quietly.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Len asked as he walked up beside her.
Suspicious at the comment, she studied his face to see if there was any sarcasm in the remark. Not noticing any, she relaxed. She smoothed the map out and picked up a small branch that was laying off to one side of her foot.
“As best I can determine,” she said, pointing to an area on the map with the twig, “We are here.”
“If we continue our compass course in this direction we’ll be on the southern outskirts of Fitch, that’s this little town. I expect with the speed we’re traveling, we should make it there in another three or four days with lots of rest in between and stops to eat. The place I’m taking everyone to is over here, approximately. When I was a kid, I went there with my father and we camped out along the way. There is an old railroad track bed that skirts the side of the mountain and it will take us right to it. It is a large ranch house as I recall. I can’t remember that much about it but I remember it was very large, abandoned, and well equipped.”
Avalon: The Retreat Page 22
