A Long Road Back: Final Dawn: Book 8

by Darrell Maloney

  Alone in the world. That’s where she’d be. So she continued to deny that Nathan was anything less than what he claimed to be. Her husband. The one who fed her and protected her from outsiders. The ones he’d always said would someday break into their farm house and do them harm.

  These men.

  Bryan had given up trying to talk to her. So had David. Her initial trust of David waned when he’d joined Bryan in his attempts to sway her. Then she decided she no longer wanted him to treat her husband after all.

  “Leave him alone,” she commanded. “It looks like he’ll survive, no thanks to you.”

  Her eyes shot glaring daggers in Bryan’s direction.

  “No thanks to any of you.”

  She softened a bit, then looked at David and said, “Thank you for dressing his wounds and stopping the bleeding. He’ll be okay now. I’ll care for him. You men be on your way.”

  Martel gave her the support she so desperately wanted. It was ironic that the only man in the room who took her side was the one she should have feared the most.

  “Yeah,” he snarled vehemently. “You bastards get the hell out of my house and don’t come back. I’ll kill every last one of you.”

  Sarah placed a finger on Martel’s lips to shush him.

  “Honey, please. You’re not helping.”

  Martel turned on her again.

  “Don’t you tell me to shut up, you stupid bitch. I’ll kill you along with them!”

  Sarah was in tears. She didn’t know what to do or what to think.

  She turned to David and once again said, “Leave. All of you. Please.”

  But the resolve had gone from her voice. She was no longer sure of herself. No longer certain that this vile man was the one she’d chosen to marry.

  It was Bryan Too who came to the rescue, after Sarah rushed out of the room in tears. Bryan Too looked at his friends and none of them had a clue what to do.

  So Bryan Too went after her.

  He found her downstairs, in the study, looking out the window at a robin who was pacing back and forth on a tree branch.

  He stood in the doorway and asked, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  She turned to look at him and saw something in his face. Perhaps a sense of kindness or humanity. Perhaps something else.

  In any event, she relented and invited him in.

  “I just don’t know what to do. Nathan is the only other human on this earth I know. He’s been telling me that few other people survived. And that those who did have been trying to come in here and do us harm.”

  “Look. I know you don’t know me from Adam. But let’s look at this logically. If there are just a few survivors out there, then the world is free for the taking. The other survivors can go anywhere they want. Take whatever they need, with few others to challenge them. Why on earth would they risk injury or death by tangling with someone like Nathan?”

  “I… I don’t know… I…”

  “And why were you naked when we walked in?”

  “Nathan told me I was a nudist. That I haven’t worn clothes in years. That I hated wearing clothes.”

  “Let’s look at that logically too. I couldn’t help but notice that some parts of your body are tanned, and others aren’t.”

  She looked away from him, as though embarrassed.

  “You looked?”

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. You are a very beautiful woman. I didn’t mean to make you blush.”

  “But why would he tell me I was a nudist if I wasn’t?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he enjoys looking at you that way. But I think it’s more likely he convinced you of that so that you wouldn’t run away. He probably figured you’d be less likely to walk away from the farm while he slept if you were completely naked.”

  “Maybe…”

  She seemed to chew on his words, analyzing them to see if they made sense.

  “Can I ask you something, Sarah?”

  “Yes.”

  “You covered up your body. It’s still covered. Is that because you don’t feel comfortable in a room full of strangers?”

  “Not particularly, no.”

  “And is that something you feel a nudist would feel? Embarrassment at being naked in front of strangers?”

  “No. I suppose not. What is your name?”

  “My name is Bryan. You can call me Bryan Too.”

  “That’s a very odd name.”

  “It’s a nickname your husband gave me.”

  “The man who claims to be my husband. He said his name was Bryan as well?”

  “Yes. You see, I’m a soldier in the United States Army. The Army sent a team of soldiers to assist in the search for you. I was assigned as your husband’s driver. Since we have the same first name, he was introducing himself to people we talked to as Bryan. Then he introduced me by saying, ‘This is Bryan too.’ And it kinda stuck.”

  “I’m so confused, Bryan. I just don’t know what to think.”

  “I think I might be able to offer you some proof that he’s telling you the truth.”

  She looked forlornly at him. She wanted so much to know one way or the other who was her husband.

  “Go on.”

  “Bryan and I spent several days together in an Army Humvee, driving from town to town and asking about you. We had a lot of time to talk, and to get to know one another.

  “He told me all about you. How the two of you met. What your favorite foods were. Your hopes and dreams.”

  “If you’re going to compare what he told you about what I know, it won’t work. Not even I know what my hopes and dreams are. I don’t even know my favorite food. I seem to have forgotten almost everything since I fell down the stairs and hit my head. Or, by your account, Nathan hit me in the head and kidnapped me.”

  “He told me about your tattoos.”

  -3-

  Without thinking, Sarah’s hand went to her shoulder. She touched the tiny bluebird in flight.

  She’d asked Nathan where it came from and he said he didn’t know. She thought it odd that her husband of several years wouldn’t know the origin of her tattoo.

  “What did he say about them?”

  “He said you have a tattoo of a bird on your shoulder. I don’t remember what kind. But he said you got it to celebrate your twenty fifth birthday, but that you didn’t like pain so you made your friends take you out and give you tequila shots to make you brave first.”

  He was hoping to trigger a forgotten memory, but the blank look she gave him told him he’d failed.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to believe him. It was just that she no longer knew what to believe.

  And it could have been that he’d seen the tattoo on her shoulder before she covered it. And that he was making up a story about it just to win her trust.

  It was possible he was trying to take advantage of her memory loss to manipulate her mind. The same way he and his friends accused Nathan of doing.

  Then Bryan Too went on.

  “Bryan told me that was your second tattoo. That your first one was a small rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike, sitting atop a tiny banner with the words, ‘BACK OFF.’ And that the snake tattoo was on the back of…”

  She finished the rest of his sentence at the same time he did: “Your neck.”

  She’d discovered the snake tattoo the day before, when she was examining herself in the bathroom mirror. It was hard to see, since her hair went to the center of her back and was quite thick. She almost missed it, but caught a glimpse of what looked like words when she brushed her hair off to one side of her face.

  She knew that when Bryan and the others came rushing into the bedroom where Nathan was beating her, they couldn’t have seen the covered tattoo on the back of her neck.

  Bryan Too now had her undivided attention.

  “Bryan said that was his favorite tattoo. That he thought there was something… sexy about it. Like it told everybody how tough you were, that you couldn’t be taken
advantage of. He said it made you look tough.

  “He said you used to wear your hair very short. Then you got tired of short hair and he seldom sees the snake anymore. I’ll bet if you went and checked you’d see it was there.”

  She said nothing to confirm or deny the snake’s existence. She merely nodded her head.

  “This… place. This compound, as you call it. You say I have friends there?”

  “Oh, yes. I don’t remember their names. I don’t live there, you see. But I know at least one of them is named Hannah. She’s the one who was injured in the helicopter crash.”

  Sarah suddenly looked puzzled. And concerned.

  In her mind’s eye was a fleeting glimpse of a tall woman. A strikingly beautiful woman with chestnut hair and a wicked smile. She didn’t know why it was there, but it was gone again in an instant.

  “This Hannah. What did she look like?”

  “That, I don’t know. I’ve never met her. They sent me to your compound to help out in the search effort for the missing helicopter. After the helicopter was found, they reassigned me to the search for you, and made me Bryan’s driver as long as he needed me. But they took the crash survivors to the military hospital in San Antonio, and I never got to see her. Or the other survivor. They tell me his name was Joel. He’s in the Army too, but I didn’t know him.”

  “This… this is all getting very confusing. Do you mind if I sit down for a moment?”

  “Of course. Please do. Can I get you anything? A glass of water? A damp cloth?”

  “No thank you… You are so kind. That’s what makes this so unsettling. You’re so kind, all of you. Even the one who says he’s my husband. After he beat Nathan half to death that is… after that he became so… tender, almost. The rest of you have been like that too. Why?”

  “I can only speak for myself. I don’t like to see women abused. Or anyone else for that matter. Bryan has become my friend. I trust him and can vouch for him. He told me you were being abused and I believe him. I know he wouldn’t lie to me. And where I come from, men don’t abuse women. Never, not under any circumstances.

  “Bryan is telling you the truth. I know you don’t believe him, but he is your husband. The man you’ve been living with has been lying to you. I don’t know the other two men, but if Bryan says they are good men then they are. I trust Bryan and you should too. He only has your best interests at heart.”

  Sarah swallowed hard.

  She struggled to find the words that would explain her confusion, without making things more difficult or angering the man in front of her.

  “I wish I could believe you. But you have to understand that the only man I know is lying up there in that bed, beaten bloody by a man who says he loves me and has my best interests at heart. Granted, Nathan was mean to me and didn’t treat me the way a husband should treat his wife, but how can you expect me to just discount everything he’s told me? How can I do that and just accept what you say?”

  The door to the study was open, and there was a knock on the door jamb.

  Sarah and Bryan Too looked up to see Bryan, out of breath, standing there like a little boy asking permission to come in.

  He had something clutched in his hand.

  “I have something to show you,” he said to Sarah.

  Sarah looked to Bryan Too, unsure what to do.

  Bryan Too nodded his head.

  Sarah said, “Come in. Please don’t try any more of your strong-armed tactics.”

  “I won’t, honey. I promise.”

  Bryan noticed her wince at the word ‘honey.’ As though it were something vile. She obviously wasn’t comfortable with him using the term of endearment as it related to her.

  Undeterred, he walked over to her and held out the frayed and slightly worn photo he’d showed to what seemed like half of Texas.

  “I left this in the Hummer. I ran back to get it so I could prove what I’m saying is true. This is a photo of you I took last year, in the apple orchard at the compound. I’ve been showing it to anyone who would listen trying to find you.”

  Sarah took the photo in her trembling hand. She was surprised to see his hand was shaking as well.

  She gazed at the photo for only a few seconds, then quickly handed it back. She began to feel faint. Her knees started to buckle.

  “I… I need to sit down for a minute. This is too much for me to handle. I can’t…”

  She could say no more. Both Bryans reached out to her, from opposite sides, and each held an arm to steady her. They helped her into a chair and Bryan Too left the room to get a damp cloth.

  He returned a couple of minutes late and handed it to Bryan. It was Bryan’s place to comfort her, not his.

  He caught Bryan’s eye before making his exit.

  “I’ll be outside. Yell if you need anything.”

  Things had quieted down inside the house, except for Nathan Martel. He was thrashing about upstairs, trying to get loose. Failing that, he made it his mission to throw himself against the furniture, trying to knock off as many lamps and other things as he could, to make the maximum amount of noise he could muster.

  It wouldn’t help gain his freedom, but apparently it made him feel better.

  Bryan was confident that Martel was no longer a danger to anyone other than himself, and hoped a heavy lamp would fall from the dresser and onto his head. Knocked out cold, he’d be a lot quieter.

  In the meantime, David was quite capable of keeping an eye on him.

  Brad tried to raise the compound on the radio.

  “Frank. Karen. Sami. Whoever’s on the desk, please come in.”

  There was no answer.

  Once again: “Frank. Karen. Sami. Whoever’s on duty, please come in.”

  “All right, Brad, hold your horses.”

  Karen muttered under her breath as she made her way back to the control center from the kitchen after refilling her coffee cup.

  When she finally answered, she was just a bit out of breath.

  “Go ahead, Brad. What’s up?”

  “Karen, spread the news. We found her. And she’s all right!”

  -4-

  If Bryan thought he won over Sarah and earned her trust with the photo, he was wrong. She mellowed but didn’t give in. She still didn’t acknowledge him as her husband. But she no longer treated him as the devil incarnate either.

  Rather, she simply didn’t acknowledge him at all.

  Instead, she retreated within herself. For the two additional hours they spent at the farm house, trying to decide what to do, she sat on the living room couch, curled up into the fetal position. Her eyes glazed over. She didn’t say a word to anyone. She stared into space.

  In short, she was a serious mess.

  Bryan wasn’t sure exactly what to do. One thing that wasn’t going to happen, though, he was certain of. He wasn’t going to lose her. Not again.

  He posted Brad in the corner of the room to keep watch over her.

  “Keep an eye on her. I don’t know what’s going on in that mind. She may try to bolt. If she gets up, follow her. If she goes to the bathroom, call one of us so we can watch the bathroom window outside.”

  “You don’t really think she’s going to run away, do you? I mean, where would she go? If she doesn’t remember us and doesn’t remember the compound, how would she find her way back?”

  “That’s just my point, Brad. If she gets away again, there’s no way of telling where she might wind up. I can’t chance it. I hate keeping her prisoner, but I can’t take the chance of losing her again. I just can’t.”

  Brad nodded his head. He understood Bryan’s reasoning, and worried for his friend. He hadn’t known Sarah at all when he was invited into the mine to ride out the seven year freeze Saris 7 brought upon the earth. But in the years since they’d become best friends and confidants. That Sarah didn’t even know who Bryan was scared the heck out of him. Had she really been hit that hard? And would she ever be the same again?

  Bryan dispatched Brya
n Too to retrieve the vehicles, which were still parked more than a quarter mile away. David sat guard over Nathan Martel, who’d calmed down some but still cursed a blue streak whenever anyone tried to converse with him.

  Bryan called in to the compound.

  “Karen, are you still there?”

  “Right here, Bryan. I’ve got Debbie, Hannah and Sami here with me. What can we do to help?”

  “I don’t know. What I need more than anything right now is advice. I showed her the photo I’ve been passing around central Texas. She seemed to recognize herself, but then she went into this… I don’t know what you might call it. She just crawled inside herself. Almost a comatose state. We can’t communicate with her, and she’s just staring off into space.

  “Do you think it would be helpful for one of you women to come here and talk to her? She doesn’t seem to trust any men right now, and I guess I can’t blame her. There’s no way of telling what that bastard did to her, and right now she lumps us in the same category as him.”

  Karen looked to the others for their thoughts. Sami was nodding her head and saying, “I’ll go. I’ll go.”

  Debbie was shaking her head no just as vigorously. She thought it was a bad idea.

  Frank Woodard had walked up in time to hear Bryan’s words and was also shaking his head no.

  “Hold on a minute, Bryan. Let me discuss it with the others and I’ll get right back to you.”

  Sami spoke first. She said, “I’ll volunteer to go. I can help her bring back her memory.”

  Hannah countered, “No. You just lost your dad. You have enough to deal with. Besides, I’ve been her best friend since we were school girls. If anyone can help her retrieve her past memories, I’ll be able to.”

  Karen looked to Frank.

  “I don’t like it. We’ve got way too many of our people outside the compound as it is. The more we have out there, the more the likelihood we won’t get somebody back. The mere fact she was kidnapped should serve to remind us it’s still a very ugly place out there. Call me sexist, but I want you girls here where you’re safe. Let’s not take the risk of making a bad situation even worse.”