Redaction: The Meltdown Part II

by Andrews, Linda

  The Marines formed an orderly queue, carrying the heavier bundles as they helped the survivors into the backs of the personnel carriers. As she’d ordered earlier, the servicemen allowed the people to separate into their own groups.

  The snowplow belched black smoke as it stopped. Two young men hopped aboard the John Deeres and backed them down a driveway.

  No sooner had they cleared than Brother Bob strode toward them with his hand outstretched. “Doctor Spanner, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

  Mavis shook his hand with her free one. “You were worth waiting for. Are you sure you wish to leave behind members of your flock?”

  “Noticed that did you?” Brother Bob offered his hand to David. “Twenty-seven folks remained, hardheaded relatives of some of the town’s founders. There’s a few mine shafts they can hide in, plus they wanted to help those who follow you.”

  David shook the man’s hand. “I’m glad you made it.”

  “We would have been here sooner but it took about twenty minutes for me to remember what I did with the keys to ol’ Bertha.” Brother Bob pointed to the snowplow. “My old bones tell me we’re going to be blessed with snow all the way to Colorado.”

  Blessed was not the word David would use. Still, it might not be so bad with Bertha clearing the road.

  “Would you like to ride with us in the Humvee or would you prefer to ride with the others?” Mavis practically glowed with happiness.

  “I always wanted to ride in one of those.” Brother Bob winked at her and offered his arm. “Besides, now I can grill you on how you plan to help us survive.”

  Grill Mavis. Good luck with that. David reluctantly released her hand. The Doc would reveal her plans in her own time. Anyone who tried to find out beforehand just ended up with a headache. He’d watched Lister chew his way through half a bottle already.

  “I’d be glad to, Brother Bob.” Mavis’s eyes twinkled. “And I really hope you’ll consider being one of my advisors.”

  “Well, I don’t know…” Brother Bob rubbed his chin.

  Damn, she was already at work. David secured her in the vehicle then climbed behind the wheel. Rogers jumped in the passenger seat as he started the engine.

  Mavis pulled her laptop off the floor and opened it. “Sergeant-Major, I’d appreciate it if you could inform the General of our current status.”

  “With pleasure.” A snowplow, Brother Bob and survivors. Lister was going to be eating crow at the Doc’s success. Perhaps things had finally turned in their favor.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The scream ripped from Audra’s throat and flew past her lips. Blood pounded through her veins. Had she finally lost her mind? Was she seeing a ghost? There was only one way to know. She leaped forward and poked Tina the Teacher’s Assistant. “I thought you were dead.”

  Audra encountered soft flesh and warmth. She wrapped her arms around her friend and felt the wetness on her cheeks.

  Tina hugged her back. Black hair slipped out the braid running down her back. “You’re not the only one.”

  Audra held her away. “How did they miss? I saw you fall then that odious cretin planted his foot on you like he was on some African safari.”

  Inserting her finger in her left ear, Tina wiggled it. “They fired next to my head then pushed me down.” She turned around, showing the dusty footprint on her jacket. “This was to hold me down.”

  It had been an illusion. Audra rubbed the red marks on her wrists. Well, not all of it. “What do you suppose it means?”

  Tina turned her head so her good ear faced Audra. “That they want their women alive.”

  Becky, the high school student, wrapped her arm around her waist and shivered in her jeans and teeshirt. “They’re going to rape us.”

  Nodding, the two teenagers next to her sobbed. By the light of the bare bulb hanging from the exposed rafters, Audra watched the bleak reality settle over the faces of the ten women. Friends or newcomers, it was her duty to protect them. Lead them. She drew herself up to her full five seven. “No they won’t. We’re getting out of here.”

  She scanned the small room. Bare wood. Jagged nails on dark studs. Wind whistled through the gaps around the door, ripped off the peeling green paint. She acknowledged two shiny brass deadbolts and their keyless locks. No way out there.

  Rose print curtains dry rotted where they hung from a drooping black rod. Curtains! She squeezed Tina’s shoulders then released the young Asian and slipped through the group. Curtains meant windows. And windows meant an exit.

  Audra flung them open and coughed on the cloud of dust. White bars molded around the frame. Maybe they could be loosened. She slapped open the latch and shoved up the sash. Her arms trembled but the stupid thing didn’t move.

  “It’s painted shut.” Tina ran her finger over the green wood.

  Audra rubbed the glass with her sleeve. Grime smeared across the pane and turned the Kelly green fabric gray. Snow gathered on the brown leaves of the overgrown hedge.

  “Do you see them?” Tina rose on her toes as if to peer around the plant.

  Following her friend’s example, Audra tried to see over the top. Nothing doing. “All I can see is the bush.”

  The muffled sobs continued.

  Like crying helped anything. She clapped her hands, waited until everyone faced her. “Alright ladies. Let’s look around and see if we can find any weapons.”

  Not that she held out much hope. Her gut was telling her their kidnappers were experience in abductions. She swallowed despite her dry throat. Now that was a depressing thought, especially as there was no one else here but the women who had traveled with her.

  Had they raped and killed their previous victims?

  Or worse?

  She shook her head, clearing it of speculation. Paralyzing herself with fear wouldn’t help anyone and these women needed her, depended on her. Fisting her hands, she set them on her hips. She would not disappoint them again.

  “The walls are bare, Missus S.” Becky bit her lip.

  Audra squeezed her cold hand. At least the high schooler wasn’t crying. “What about those nails?” She grasped hold of the rusted metal. It slipped through her damp fingers. Gritting her teeth, she wiggled it back and forth.

  “What good is a nail going to do?” One of the girls collapsed to the ground and hugged her knees.

  Tina focused on the nail.

  Sighing, Audra sunk to the ground and set her hand on the girl’s knee. Blond hair hung from the two inches of brown roots. Mud clung to her purple Van’s and the hem of her DKNY jeans. Free of make-up, her smooth cheeks and four pimples put her age around fourteen or fifteen. Not much older than Audra’s students. The bastards were pedophiles. “What’s your name?”

  “Cindy.” The girl hiccoughed. Blood pooled around her thumbnail where the French tip had been destroyed.

  “Well, Cindy.” Audra swept the girl’s bangs out of her green eyes. “A nail can kill.”

  Doubt wrinkled Cindy’s brow. “How?”

  Audra stuffed a brittle leaf between her index and middle finger, forming a fist with it sticking out. “When your attacker gets close.” And the bastards would, as they would no doubt rape the women they’d selected. “You shove it into their eye.” She punched the air, then with her free hand caught the leaf and held it. “Then hammer it home with the base of your palm.”

  Cindy’s mouth dropped open. “That’s gross.”

  “Yeah.” Tina wiped her hands on her jacket. “Where did you learn that?”

  “I’ve taken some self-defense classes.” Daddy had insisted when she’d moved out to the wilds of Arizona. Then when she’d slummed in the middle-class suburbs, her father hired a personal coach to teach her a combat system that focused on maiming and killing.

  No one messed with a Silvestre.

  Becky raised her hand. “I don’t think I can do that, Missus S.”

  Tina shrugged. “It’s moot anyway. I can’t get the stupid nail out.”

/>   Audra ran her fingers through her hair, winced as she pulled through the knots. Maybe that was a blessing. Assaulting a dummy or a man in padding wasn’t the same as the real thing. “Okay, what else do we have to work with?”

  “There’s another door back here.”

  Everyone stepped aside until nothing stood between her and the door. Another door. Wood creaked as she walked toward it.

  Tina materialized at her shoulder. “I really wish I had my bat right about now.”

  “You and me both.” Audra wished Eddie and his shotgun were handy too. She sucked in a breath. Eddie. Was he okay? The bastards had beat the tar out of him. Blood had dripped down his face and he hadn’t even looked at her as Mrs. Rodriquez helped him onto the bus. She hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye.

  “There’s no locks.” Tina raised her fists. “Do you think it’s a trap?”

  “Of course.” Audra licked her lips. Her hand shook when she reached for the handle. Cold metal sweated against her palm. “Everyone stay back.”

  She heard the others footsteps as they obeyed.

  Tina bounced on the balls of her feet. “I don’t suppose you learned any offensive skills in those classes.”

  Audra twisted the knob. The clearing of the latch bounced like a shot around the room. “All defense.”

  And Daddy never thought it proper for a girl to learn hunting. How he justified twisting a man’s scrotum in her hands or ramming a nail into his brain, she’ll never know.

  “Ready?”

  “No.” Tina squeaked.

  The door swung open on silent hinges, revealing a short hallway. She heard the drip of water then the stench hit her. Fecal matter. The smell of death. Her lungs seized. Is this where they stored the women when they were done with them?

  “Ohmygod.” Tina buried her nose in her collar.

  Audra fought the urge to slam it closed. Black spots danced on her peripheral vision and she forced herself to breathe. If she had to walk through a cesspit to escape, she would. Releasing the knob she crept inside. The wood floors creaked underfoot. One step. Two. Three. At five she pulled abreast of two closed six-paneled doors. The divot in the white painted wood indicated they were sliders. She slipped her fingers inside the handle.

  “Listen first.” Tina hissed.

  Audra pressed her ear against the clammy door. Buzzing overrode the pounding of her heart. “I think it’s the generator.”

  Tina assumed a boxer’s stance.

  “You know how to fight?”

  Her friend shrugged. “Tai bow.”

  Great. Maybe they could aerobicize them to death. Audra eased the panels apart. They stuck halfway in the pocket. Flies buzzed out. She batted them away. Blankets and sheets covered bodies. They filled the sofa and carpeted the floor. She slammed the doors shut and leaned against them. That would not be their fate.

  Bending over at the waist, Tina panted. “Oh, God. I hope the rest of the house isn’t a fricking morgue.”

  “Yeah.” Audra closed her eyes, ignored the images of the corpses and tried to recall the windows. Digging her nails into the door, she sighed. The picture window in the front of the parlor had been barred. No way out. They had to go forward. She pushed away from the door. “Come on.”

  Tina slowly straightened.

  Ten baby steps later, Audra reached the end of the hallway. Weak light cut rectangles on the wall. After a wide opening, the left turn dead ended in a linen closet. On the right, there was another opening and a door with shiny keyed dead bolts.

  She turned left and crept forward.

  Tina clawed at her arm. “Did you hear something?”

  It was hard to hear anything above her own breathing. Still, she paused near the opening, ears straining. Then she heard it. A soft moan and a low whistle of air leaving congested lungs.

  “Not everyone is dead.”

  Tina shook her head. “Do you think it’s them?”

  Them. Such a benign word for the bastards who kidnapped them. “Why would they be quiet?”

  Audra peered around the corner. Six beds filled the twenty-by-twenty foot space. Each one occupied by a shivering figure. She scanned the room. Hopelessness washed through her. Each window had bars on it. “Let’s check the other room.”

  “What did you see?”

  “Sick people.” Was it possible that they’d been kidnapped to nurse and not… breed? Eddie would probably scoff at her naïvety. Actually, he’d bust a gut laughing at it then tease her unmercifully.

  But Eddie wasn’t here.

  Please, Lord, let him be somewhere safe. Audra strode to the other room. Soiled linens covered the warped linoleum floor. Bare shelves lined the kitchen in an L-shape. A small door appeared in a bump out. She passed the dripping sink, the barred window in front of it and yanked open the door. Rust ringed the bowl of the commode within.

  Deflating like a balloon, she sunk to the floor and stared at the only unbarred glass in the place—six inserts of four by four inch frosted glass in the yellowing walls.

  They were well and truly stuck.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “I’ve had enough.” Trent peered through windshield at the drifting snow. The highway had disappeared under the interstate nearly an hour ago and they weren’t through Flagstaff. At this rate, the military would beat them to the stash of supplies and he would be stuck with the leftovers. “Pull over.”

  Ernest raised his eyes at the cars and trucks cramming the interstate and stopped in the middle of the road.

  Trent twitched. How could he expect his people to follow him when his hand-selected minions were willfully disobedient? “Tell them to unload the trucks.”

  Ernest diddled with the keys in the ignition. “Boss?”

  “Get everyone out of the trucks.” Trent bit off each word. Was the cretin deaf as well as inbred?

  After turning off the personnel carrier, Ernest shoved open the door and jumped to the ground.

  Trent shivered in the draft then raised his bare hands to the vent. The fucker had turned off the heat. He heard men yelling. A woman screamed. That bitch had to go. She was messing up his happy empire. He watched in his rearview mirror as his people stood on the side of the road.

  Scrawny boys shivered in lightweight jackets and jeans. The girls wore similar clothing but he detected a few curves here and there. Of course, they’d be more than willing to flaunt their wares once he explained the rules. The engine ticked as it cooled. Still, the world really was at an end if this was the pick of the litter.

  All the more reason to set up along the official exodus routes. He could choose the worthy from the dregs.

  Hunching his shoulders, Ernest trudged through the snow. His footprints punched holes in the pristine whiteness. He rapped twice on the door but made no more to open it.

  Trent counted to ten then pushed it open.

  “Everyone’s out.”

  “Good.” Trent climbed down and stepped onto the road. Snow dribbled icy fingers into his boots. The cold soon soaked his jacket. He’d have to do a little shopping. These clothes wouldn’t do for a man in his position.

  Following the path Ernest cleared, Trent reached his people. Faces turned to him. Young and full of fear. Soon they would transform into an eagerness to please.

  “My good people…” He opened his arms like the preacher had done. “As you can see, our path is blocked by these cars.”

  “Where are the soldiers?” a woman piped up. The skinny teenage boys shifted until he spied her. The bitch that had made trouble earlier.

  “They have deserted us.” Trent waited until his words sunk in. “But I have not deserted you. We will unite under my leadership and form a new society.”

  “That isn’t right.”

  Trent scanned the crowd until he found Gary Everett leaning against the tree, cleaning his nails with his knife. “Gary perhaps you can teach that woman some manners. It isn’t polite to interrupt when someone is speaking.”

  “You can’t do
this!” she yelled at him.

  The girls cowered in a heap to the right. Most of the boys fell back but a few remained blocking the path.

  Not moving forward, Gary twirled a knife in his hand.

  Trent’s fingers curled into fists. He eyed the man with the gold cross. “Jake.”

  Jake brandished one of the rifles they’d collected after tossing aside the soldiers. He fired off two shots. The crowd ducked and covered their heads. “Trent is our leader and you will do as he says.”

  The boys moved aside.

  Gary sauntered closer to the woman.

  She raised her hands. “Stop right there.”

  Gary slashed at her palms.

  She turned on her heel and sprinted for the woods.

  Gary pounced on her before she made ten feet. With one hand, he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her toward the pines. She kicked him until he backhanded her. Once. Twice. On the third time, crimson sprayed the snow. He kicked her once then reached down, pulled her up and slung her over his shoulder.

  There. Much better. Trent smoothed his clothes. “Now, I know some of you are under age so this next bit is going to be a treat.”

  His audience still faced Gary and the woman. What is wrong with them? Trent clapped his hands. A few heads turned. “Jake.”

  The man fired two more rounds.

  Finally his people gave him their full attention. “As I said, your new orders will be a treat. I want you all to pick a car and drive it off the road. Crash them up a little if you want.”

  A pimply face youth in front raised his hand.

  “Yes?”

  “When do we eat?”

  Trent smiled. Yes, he had the power here. “After we’re through and… the person who clears the most vehicles gets two MREs and the person who clears the fewest gets none.”

  Brilliant motivation, if he did say so himself.

  They didn’t move.

  “Get to it.”

  The boys dashed forward. The girls were slower to respond. Useless females—only good for one thing.

  “We’re going to need warmer clothes.” Resting the barrel of his rifle against his forearm, Jake Turner loped toward Trent.