by Jack Hunt
A second or two passed and Calvin appeared, looming over him still gripping his shoulder. He extended his good arm. “Told you, you’d need someone to watch your back.”
Chapter 12
Brent brought Elliot and Rayna to a rocky precipice that overlooked the compound. It had been the third spot they’d shifted to in the last half an hour. Once again he peered through the binoculars and scanned every inch.
“Any luck?” Rayna asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t see them.”
“Maybe someone else took them.”
Mack got close to the edge and looked out. “No. They’re in there. We’ve been around these parts for the last six months and roving gangs stick to the highways and towns. The few that have wandered into our neck of the woods are buried in shallow graves.” He turned back to Elliot. “What do you want to do?”
“Now you ask me?” Elliot replied.
Mack offered back a thin smile. “Well I know it wasn’t you that decided to come back, so what were you planning on doing?”
“Walking in there.”
Mack looked at Rayna. “Well, it looks as if your wife just saved you from committing suicide. If Lucas locks eyes with you it’s over. They won’t let you walk out of there, and there won’t be a long drawn-out punishment. He’ll kill you.”
Elliot turned to him. “Not if I give him a reason not to.”
Mack shook his head. “Elliot, that might have worked on others but Shelby is a different kettle of fish.”
“No, hear me out.”
Mack looked at Brent as if they weren’t expecting much.
“He doesn’t know the location of your camp, does he?” Elliot asked. His eyes darted between them.
“No, and we plan to keep it that way.”
“And yet you want to get at him.” Elliot looked over his shoulder towards the compound. “You’re not getting through those walls and even if you did you are going to have to tackle all those people, and who knows how many he has under his control. And by the looks of it, his numbers have grown. Now the way I see it we have a few options. A. We try raiding the place, which you already said didn’t work for some other group. B. We wait until they come out and then pick them off but now we know they are going to be more cautious. Or C. We draw them out.”
“What?”
“I go in with a simple request. They let my group go in exchange for me giving them the location of your camp.”
“No, you’re not doing that,” Rayna said.
“Your wife’s right. It’s not happening.”
“Look, man, you can pussyfoot around all day hoping to pick them off one by one but just like a wasp’s nest, you’ll eventually piss them off and they’ll come after you and perhaps you won’t be ready or worse they’ll lock themselves in. What I’m proposing is speeding up the inevitable. I’ll lead them into a trap. You’ll have the advantage.”
Mack walked a short distance away as if he was thinking about it before turning back to him. “No, he’ll expect it.”
“Of course he will. That’s what I’m banking on.”
Mack looked at Rayna. “You want to translate what he’s trying to say? Because I’m lost.”
Elliot scoffed. “Look, I don’t want to do this anymore than you. I had every intention of not returning to your camp before this happened but now I have no choice. My kids are in there. My friends are in there, and maybe, just maybe your friend is still in there too. Now you don’t have the manpower to storm that place but you know that forest like the back of your hand. A little bit of planning and I think we can come up with something that would work.”
“You want to endanger every life back at camp for a few lives?”
Elliot leaned in. “You already have. The moment you sent Lucas back in you hit go on the countdown. If Shelby is as bad as you say he is, that kind of person doesn’t wait.”
Brent pulled up alongside Mack and whispered something in his ear. He nodded then looked back to Elliot. “Okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, how do you want to do this?”
Rayna’s face twisted up and she got between them. “Hold on a damn minute. How did we go from it’s not happening to okay?”
Mack sighed. “Your husband’s right, Shelby isn’t going to wait.”
“And you would know this because?”
“Because he sent out two trucks earlier today. We attacked them.”
“How early?” Elliot asked.
“This morning about an hour after you left.”
Elliot saw red and lashed out. His fist connected with Mack’s jaw. Mack stumbled back and Brent, Morgan, Ray and Tatum all raised their rifles.
“You son of a bitch! I knew it. You’re the reason why my kids are in there.”
Mack wiped at his lip and told the others to lower their rifles. “We did what needed to be done. I had no idea he would find your camp. Hell, I didn’t even know where you went. We thought you were miles away.”
Rayna stepped in before things got worse. “He’s right, Elliot.”
That didn’t make it any easier. He turned back towards the compound and eyed their defenses. He could just make out figures in the guard towers. There was silence. No one knew what to say after that outburst.
“I’m going in.”
“Hold on. We need to discuss this.”
“It’s pretty simple. You get ready for a battle, I’ll bring them to you.”
He trudged away leaving them speechless. Rayna was quick to catch up with him. She got in front of him and pressed a hand against his chest. “You didn’t tell me about this.”
“Because I knew how you would react.”
“We lost our kids, I’m not losing you. I’m going with you.”
“No, I need you to stay out of harm’s way,” Elliot said.
He went to move past her.
“I was sexually assaulted in Lake Placid, Elliot.”
She finally found the words to say it. No bouncing around what he knew had happened. She just blurted it out. Elliot stopped walking and stood there looking down at the ground letting the words sink in. She slowly made her way over to him. “But I survived. There isn’t anything they can do to me that hasn’t already been done. If you’re going in, so am I. Those are my kids as much as yours.”
He exhaled hard and knew he wasn’t going to change her mind. He let out a lungful of air, exasperated by arguing. “Okay.”
They went over a rise in between the trees and pitched sideways making their way down a steep rocky hill. Elliot didn’t look back at Mack. He figured this could go one of two ways — either Mack would take the opportunity to kill Shelby or he would run. But based on what he’d told him about the attacks, about what Shelby had done to his family, he was confident Mack would be there.
As they made their way through the forest, and got closer to the compound gates, Rayna said a few last words. “There’s a chance we won’t make it out of this, isn’t there?”
He nodded. “Yep. At least I won’t.”
She went quiet after that. He wasn’t sure why she brought it up. It seemed obvious but maybe she was hoping he had something up his sleeve, some idea of how to escape death — as at the end of the day that’s what he was facing. He knew full well they wouldn’t let him walk out of there alive but if he could ensure the safety of his kids that’s all that mattered.
“Stay right there!” one of the guards in the tower yelled. Both of them froze and waited for them to open the gate.
Damon and the others were led out and integrated with the rest of the newcomers in the outer ring. They were on the far northeast side and had been put to work digging ditches. What they were for was anyone’s guess but rumors had spread that the luxury golf course was going to be turned into a graveyard. In the boiling heat of the day he could see heat waves moving above the surface of the road that snaked its way up to the driving range.
“Does anyone else get the feeling we are digging our own graves?”
There were about ten armed guards watching them at any given time. He was beginning to see why no one had attempted to escape. They had this place running like a well-oiled machine. He’d become accustomed to the way prisons worked from his time in Rikers, and this was a scary reminder of his past.
“I bet you thought you’d seen the last of barbed wire,” Jesse said looking up at the wall where several people were rolling out a line of it around the edges. “Looks like they are upping the ante to make sure folks don’t get in.”
“Or don’t escape,” Damon added.
Ryan returned about twenty minutes later.
Damon stopped digging and leaned against his shovel. “How did you get on?”
“I tried to speak to my brother but it looks as if something big is going down. He said he would try to arrange a meeting with Harlan later tonight. It’ll be tricky but he should be able to make it happen.”
“Can’t you just have him swipe the blueprints?”
“They’re in his office which now belongs to Shelby. So no.”
A guard ordered Ryan to stop talking and get to work. He scooped up a shovel and jammed it into the dry earth. Everyone was sweating. Even the kids had been put to work.
Farther down on the south side, Elliot and Rayna had initially been treated like any others who’d arrived seeking asylum inside the compound, except once they were brought in, Elliot told one of the guards that he wanted to speak to Shelby.
“I have information about who killed his men.”
They were led into the chapel and told to wait. The doors were locked and they gazed around. No expense had been spared in building the place. They’d passed a hotel on the way in, and even stables full of horses. There were multiple trucks and Jeeps that had been parked inside, by all accounts they had everything they needed. Elliot wandered down the center of the aisle. Either side of the room were pine pews, twenty to be exact. There were six arched windows, three on the south and north side, and at the far end three more with colorful stained glass portraying Christ and two of his disciples. Off to the right was a cherry wood piano that Rayna ambled over to. She lifted the lid and pressed a few of the white keys. An out of tune sound reverberated before she closed it. Elliot looked up at an image of Christ.
“You think he exists?” Elliot asked without looking away.
“God?”
He nodded.
“If he does he’s forgotten us,” Rayna said.
There was a long pause.
“Or maybe this is all part of his plan,” Elliot added.
“Right. Where was he when I was sexually assaulted? Huh? Oh yeah, the religious folks will say he was there but that’s like saying you were a witness to a murder and had the power to stop it, but you did nothing. In my eyes that makes him an accessory.”
Elliot chuckled. “Rayna, it used to be you going on at me about having faith.”
“That was before this EMP. Before…” she trailed off.
He kept looking up at the stained-glass windows. “You know, when I was in New York I met all types of people looking to help the homeless. There used to be these folks that came around at night handing out blankets and soup. It was good of them. I mean they could have been doing any number of things with their evening but they chose to do that.”
“Probably trying to earn brownie points,” she said.
“Maybe.”
He closed his eyes and tried to pray. He was never good with that. Unlike Rayna, Elliot’s upbringing had been the furthest thing from holy. He didn’t dwell on the memories of his father or mother, and the arguments they had, but instead he dropped to his knees and said a quick prayer. There was nothing religious to it. It was more of a cry for help. If you’re out there, we could really use your help about now.
The doors behind them opened and Elliot twisted to see a stream of men in military fatigues walk in led by a man he believed to be Frank Shelby.
“I’m sorry, did I interrupt?” he asked as a flicker of amusement spread on his face.
Elliot rose to his feet. “I’m finished.”
The weathered man reached him. “My name’s Frank Shelby and you are?”
“Elliot Wilson.”
Shelby clasped his hands behind his back and wandered over to where Rayna was. “And who might you be?”
“She’s a friend of mine,” Elliot said. Rayna glanced at him. He knew what was going through her mind. Why did you call me your friend and not your wife? There was a reason and the main one was he didn’t want Shelby using her like a pawn in a game in order to get what he wanted out of him. No, he wouldn’t let him use her as leverage.
“I’m sure she has her own tongue.”
She hesitated for a second then replied with a different name. “Rayna Stanton.”
Frank looked suspiciously at the both of them. “And how did you two come to meet?”
“We were from the same city.”
“Which is?”
“Phoenix, Arizona,” he replied.
Frank nodded and walked back over to Elliot.
“I’m told you have some news for me?”
“About your men. I know who killed them.”
“So do I. Tell me something I don’t know.”
Frank walked over to the piano and ran his hand across the top.
“I know where their camp is.”
He turned and looked at Elliot, his eyes widening. If he was excited he wasn’t showing it. “And tell me… Elliot. How did you come to know where their camp is?”
Here it was, the barrage of questions, and the need for proof.
“Would you believe me if I said they kidnapped us?”
He offered back a thin smile. “Sounds like them. Go on.”
“We were traveling on the main highway in an old Jeep. We pulled over for the night to get a little shut-eye. We were awoken in the dead of night by flashlights being shone in our eyes and rifles jammed in our faces. The next thing we knew we were being hauled out and forced into the forest. They took everything we had and forced us to work for them.”
“How many of them were there?”
“Twenty, maybe thirty.”
He tossed out a lower number to make it seem like less of a threat.
Frank looked at one of his men and smiled. “And?”
“We were there for close to a week before we managed to escape. They ambushed a truck, killed four men and tortured a man. I tried to intervene but they wouldn’t listen to me. The one in charge goes by the name Mack. He said that you’d done something to his family. Anyway, I couldn’t give a shit what’s going on between you two. The reason I’m telling you this is because you have our friends.”
He narrowed his eyes and smiled again. “Really? And who might they be?”
“Damon, Jesse, Maggie, Brianna and two kids.”
He decided not to say they were his. The less Shelby knew the better.
Frank breathed in deeply and walked between his men. “And let me guess, you want me to release them?”
“We’re just traveling through. We don’t mean any harm.”
“I’ll determine that,” he said before twisting around and speaking into the ear of one of his men. His guy jogged away and exited the chapel. “Please, take a seat. I’m just waiting for a friend of mine to arrive, someone who might be able to confirm your story.”
Chapter 13
Gary’s thighs screamed in protest as he assisted Calvin. By the time he made it to the small, unincorporated community of Rosevine in northwestern Sabine County, Texas, he was tired, hungry and ready to collapse. Although his injuries were minor compared to Calvin’s, he was still in pain. He’d considered for a minute turning back and returning to Mack’s camp but they were too far away. Rosevine was closer and with a bullet in Calvin’s shoulder, time was of the essence.
There had been moments when he’d nearly passed out from blood loss but Gary kept slapping him awake. His jacket and shirt were caked in blood and if he didn’t get that wo
und treated soon he was liable to die from hemorrhagic shock.
They’d traveled through the woods, following winding trails, and made it out of the Sabine National Forest. They’d passed numerous abandoned vehicles and saw how nature was starting to grow up around the steel frames. They’d pressed through a graveyard when they finally arrived in the town.
There was no telling where those guys came from as there were numerous small communities, cities and towns on the outskirts of the forest and since the EMP, many had set up camps and charged people tolls if they used the roads. He’d stuck to the tree line to avoid running into anyone but there was a chance that the men they’d killed had come from a larger group and if they encountered the rest, it might not take much to piece together what had happened.
Gary stopped for a second and leaned Calvin up against a gravestone. Tombstones marched away into the distance like an army, all in alignment. He took a deep breath and scanned his field of vision. He gave Calvin a slap. “Hey, stay awake. I don’t want you dying on me, you hear?”
He nodded and groaned, his eyes opening and shutting.
“Besides, who else is going to show me where the FEMA camp is?” He smiled and tried to make light of the situation but it was hard not to take it seriously. He reached into his bag and pulled out a canister of water and brought it up to his mouth. Calvin sipped it and then Gary took a hard swig.
“I would take out the bullet but often it’s safer to leave it in. I don’t know what kind of damage it’s done.” He looked around. “We’re near Rosevine? How much farther to the FEMA camp?”
“Quite a ways,” Calvin responded. He told him the location and said that it was going to take them until tomorrow to get there. It was late in the afternoon and it would soon be getting dark. The last thing he wanted was to be caught outside at night in an area he wasn’t familiar with. There was no telling who or what else was roaming the streets. He frowned and sighed. Was it worth heading to FEMA? Had this been his fault? No, he shook the negative thoughts from his mind. He couldn’t go down that road. He was doing this for Elliot and the others as much as he was doing it for himself. There was a good chance FEMA would offer them something especially if he presented his credentials. He reached into his bag and fished out his old wallet. Money, credit cards, his ID, they had all been essential at one time, now they were nothing more than a memory of his old life. However, the ID would come in handy. Gary was sure they would want to know how he could contribute. Being a police officer had to count for something, didn’t it?
