by Boyd Craven
Raider let out a chuff and jumped over the couch and started chasing her. She let out a laughing squeal, only to be followed by both dogs that had waited behind. We both turned and watched as she ran in a circle in the room, avoiding the dogs. I knew Raider could have ran her down, but he stayed just far enough behind her to keep her running fast. Yager and Diesel kept pace with Raider, each nipping at each other and barking happily.
“This place is huge,” I told her.
“This is the lower level. That staircase,” she pointed to a metal staircase that went up and turned out of sight, “leads up to the main level. It looks like they stored extra stuff there, but that’s the main door in and out. It used to have more of a flat approach to the main door, but we took care of that.”
“Took care of that?” I asked, watching as the girl made another lap.
“Yeah, we blasted part of the rock face, taking out part of the hill to make the approach more difficult. It was risky, but it worked, and the loggers never come near here. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve forgotten about it.”
“We can hope,” I said as Raider broke off the chase and walked over to me, his tail wagging, his whole body moving in his excitement.
I pet him as I heard a door bang shut somewhere.
“Sounds like Emily is back,” Jess said, shooting me a look and then poking me in the ribs.
“I’m a guy, and I’m usually pretty blind to things, but…”
“Oh, I know. We’ve actually talked about that,” Jess said, a mischievous smile on her face.
“And...?” I asked, wondering if I was in trouble, or if there was going to be a jealousy thing going on.
“She can’t help how she sort of feels, and you have this habit of charging in, trying to save damsels in distress. She knows you and I have this thing… but she teased me that I better not mistreat you, because she’d be ready to snatch you away.”
“It’s… Lord, I thought I could have been wrong. I feel sorta stupid for asking,” I said softly as Mary slowed down, though both Yager and Diesel still followed her.
“No, it’s pretty obvious. I felt awkward when she insisted on being the one to look after you, but then she showed me the scars.”
“Yeah, she showed me too,” I said and watched her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. “Right here on her side,” I said, pointing nearer to the waist.
“They’re all up her side, back, back of the legs…” she whispered as Mary was coming close, “but not all cigarette burns. I guess he used to beat her with his belt. A spanking fetish that turned dark and left marks. She said you’d saved her from her husband, as well as those men at the park.”
“She said she had been planning on leaving her husband anyway,” I whispered back as she got close to me.
“Are you two going to start making out?” Mary asked suddenly.
“Maybe…” I looked at her.
“Ewww. Come on Raider, let’s go upstairs and find the ball.”
All three dogs’ ears perked up at that and then Raider looked at me, head tilted.
“I don’t mind, but you have to stay close to her. Go ahead and have some fun.”
Raider made a grumbling sound deep in his chest, then rubbed his head against my leg before turning to the little girl. They started up the stairs but stopped as three people walked down from what had to be a landing between floors. Emily was in front, followed by Linda and Dave. The latter two wore camouflage and carried their guns. That made me think of the room I’d woken up in. I’d seen my pack, but not my guns. My pistol could have been in my backpack, but I doubted it. Unless they’d sent it back with Grandma?
“Hey, he’s up,” Dave said, seeing me.
“And he isn’t stinking up the joint anymore,” Emily said, a spring in her step.
“She’s so stinking happy it’s making my teeth ache,” Jessica said in a low voice, her lips barely moving.
“Jealous?” I asked her.
She put her arm around my waist and leaned in, kissing me hard. I kissed her back but was careful. The way I was turned made the skin pull tight around my left shoulder. Her breath caught, and I ran my hands through her hair briefly. She let out a laugh around my lips when I got to the singed part that had been trimmed off.
“Hey, you two,” Emily said, “I think you’re about to have some visitors.”
I broke away and turned, able to make it to my feet on my own for the first time.
“Hey, guys, thank you. For everything,” I said, holding my hand out.
Linda took it, but her expression was neutral, and her shake was firm. But Dave was giving me a sour look. I shook his hand too, and he gave me a brief nod.
“Henry and Carter are headed over,” Dave said, then motioned to the chair. “Go ahead and sit. You almost died, you shouldn’t be out of bed anyway.”
“That’s what I told him,” Emily piped up.
I felt Jessica’s fingers dig into my side where her arm still was. A signal? Nerves? Or did Emily bug her more than she let on?
“You must be famished,” Linda said suddenly.
“I’m a bit hungry,” I admitted, because as soon as I heard that, my stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten much in a long, long time.
“I can hear your stomach from here,” Dave said. “I packed some food in case you were ready,” he said, putting his rifle down on the couch across from us and taking his pack off.
He dug in his pack and pulled out a soft sided cooler. I watched, not knowing what he was about to pull out, but my mouth was suddenly watering, and my stomach rumbled once again. A Tupperware container of what looked like a thick stew was handed to me. It was almost hot through the plastic, but he wasn’t done. He pulled out a plastic bag with two thick slices of what looked like Texas Toast, a bread that was sliced close to an inch thick and toasted, covered in butter. My mouth was drooling, much like I imagined Diesel’s did. I set the bread on the arm of the couch next to me by my left arm and then tried working the top of the stew off.
“One handed won’t work well for you,” Jess said, “want a hand?”
“I… sure,” I admitted, realizing that without my left hand in use, there were a lot of things I was going to have to figure out how to do one handed until it healed.
Jessica took the stew and popped the top. “Dad, pull the table closer, would you?”
Dave pushed a small, rough coffee table that had been built out of plywood and two-by-fours closer to me until it was almost touching my knees. Jessica put the container on that, and Dave produced a spoon from his lunch bag.
“Thank you,” I said simply and dropped the spoon in.
“Westley…” Linda started, “your grandpa was able to trade us several gallons of high proof ethanol yesterday, but Henry is wanting you to make some things for us while you heal up.”
“I’ll help where I can,” I said, leaving that open for interpretation.
“He’s worried that you’re going to run out before paying your debt,” Dave said, sitting down across from me and pulling on his wife’s hand.
“My debt?” I asked, shoveling potato and venison stew in my mouth as fast as I could.
“Medical supplies, time, resources…” Dave continued.
“Dad, this isn’t the time, he just woke up,” Jessica cut in, her voice sharp.
“Don’t start, dear,” Linda said to her. “None of us would be in this position if you hadn’t gone after him.”
Her words pissed me off. My hands started shaking as I paused, a spoonful of food halfway to my mouth.
“He would have died if I hadn’t gone after him, and none of the prisoners would have escaped.” Jessica’s words dripped in poison.
“And according to the pact we all signed onto, community resources must be decided by majority vote, or Henry’s word, before they are used up.”
“He would have died,” Jessica said again.
I put the food down. I wanted it, but not if the guilt and strings were goin
g to be overwhelming.
“What do you and Henry want me to do?” I asked Dave, my words acidic.
“What Duke was talking about. We have defenses in place, but no way to make more. We’d like you to make some stuff up for us. Help us make antibiotics to replace what we used on you. Making a sterilizing solution, among other—”
“For digging a bullet out of my shoulder and giving me a couple shots of penicillin?” I asked, my voice rising.
Linda put up her hands as if to placate me. “It’s not our decision.”
“So, I get no say in this?” I asked, amazed.
“Well—”
Emily was looking between all of us, very still. “I have to check on Mary.”
I waited until she was jogging up the steps and then turned to face Jessica’s family. “I’m not even awake for a full day and you’re putting conditions on my care, talking about a debt I owe everyone here?”
Linda swallowed, but Dave stared at me. I decided the food I’d eaten wasn’t enough. I didn’t care what they thought; I started eating again, waiting on them to speak.
“It’s not like it’s much,” Dave said, breaking the staring match and blinking first, “and it’s stuff that’s probably pretty easy for you to make.”
“Sure, and you guys could do it too,” I said, shoveling food in again, ignoring the heat of the stew.
“We don’t know how,” Linda said.
Jess let go of my side and pulled her arm back. I’d almost felt like I was getting squished, but I could see the tension in her, the veins in her neck standing out.
“Sterilizing solution… Get some bleach, add some water. Boom. Anesthetics, take some of that high-proof moonshine, mix that with bleach, and you have chloroform and a strong acid. Separate them and be done with it. Antibiotics… I’ve never done that, but with the right books, I can figure out how to grow a strain and make a slurry, but—”
“You aren’t required to,” Jessica told me, interrupting my tirade. “You’re still laid up.”
“And I’m going to need to get back to my family,” I said simply, “soon.”
Footsteps from the stairs had us all turn as Carter, Henry, and Mary came down, followed by the dogs.
“Not until you’re medically discharged,” Henry called.
“Where are my guns?” I asked Jessica with a hiss.
She shot me a look, then turned back to her parents who were looking at me with a puzzled look; evidently, they hadn’t heard me.
“Not now,” she whispered back sweetly, louder than I had been talking, and patted my knee as Henry walked in.
Everyone stood to shake his hand, but I remained seated, shoveling food in my face. I gave him a nod, already hating the man. Debt? I hadn’t asked for anybody to follow me into the Crater of Diamonds. They had made it plain that they were not going to help.
“Glad to see you up and around. We could use a man like you around here,” Henry said.
“Oh yeah?” I asked him, noting he had a softer tone in his voice than he’d had earlier.
His words as he’d walked in set me off though. I hadn’t appreciated the implication that they weren’t going to let me go until I was ‘medically discharged’. Bullshit.
“We could. Losing the pharmacist to those people really hurt us. He was good at making some of the things he couldn’t outright sell to us, but with his death…”
“You are wanting to do some horse trading by the sound of it,” I said, trying to keep the annoyance and anger out of my voice.
“Eventually, once you repay our kindness,” Henry shot back, sitting on the third couch so we were all looking at each other.
Carter looked out of place as he stood there. Jessica was grinding her teeth, I could hear it from here and wondered if others could too. Her jaw was pinched tight, and she was sitting so still that I could almost feel the tension emanating from her. Her parents were looking everywhere but at me and Henry.
“Want to sit, Carter?” I asked him, motioning to all the empty spaces.
“Actually, I need to check you out,” he said, coming over to me and pulling his medical bag off his shoulder.
Dude was still big, but nowhere near the mountain that Duke was.
“Go ahead,” I told him and sat back, taking Jessica’s hand in my good one.
Henry made a sound, and I stared at him until Carter stood in front of me. He shone a flashlight in first one eye, then another. I grunted as he grabbed my left arm, under my shoulder, and felt around the open wound. I gritted my teeth as he poked and prodded and did deep breathing exercises as he listened to my heart rate. Finally, he checked out my head, tracing the stitches with his fingers.
“It’s healing up well,” he said, “and the stitches come out in a few days, as long as you don’t tear them open again. Concussion is still affecting balance? Dizzy? Headaches?”
“Yes, to all,” I told him, breaking eye contact with Henry, looking at him, now blocking me from my food. “My head feels like a rung bell.”
“Did they tell you how bad you were hurt?” Carter asked me softly.
“Said I could have died?”
“Yeah, the shock was bad. I thought that alone would have killed you, but once we were cleaning you up and you were going in and out of consciousness, I started working on your head. You know you cracked…” he motioned to my head.
“Figured it was something bad, the way you guys keep avoiding the issue.”
“Cracked your skull. We were worried that the swelling wasn’t going to go down. Without trained people and equipment, all we could do was keep you hydrated and drugged up, so you didn’t thrash around and hurt yourself and pray.”
“I really almost died?” I asked, scared.
“I thought you had,” Jessica said, giving my hand a hard squeeze.
Carter sat down on the same couch with Henry, but at the other end. I noticed everyone was keeping a distance from the fiery older man. He had to have been in his sixties, but he seemed to exude confidence and something else I couldn’t put my finger on. His voice carried. It wasn’t big or deep like Duke’s was, but there was a note of command in every word he spoke.
“Which is why we could really use a guy like you,” Henry said.
“Well, like I said, sounds like you want to do some horse trading. I’m open to hearing your offers,” I told him, hoping my repeated words would set the tone for what I was hoping would be a short conversation.
Jessica and Duke had been right though—I needed more help, and my grandparents wouldn’t have been physically capable of taking care of me. I lost two more days as soon as I’d got here. Somebody had to have been feeding me, helping me to the bathroom, or cleaning me up if… I didn’t want to think about that.
“I figure you owe us a good two- or three-weeks’ worth of work already. Once that’s done, we can work out some kind of trade. Once you’re healed, that is.”
Linda seemed to wince, and Dave just stared at me, then down at his shoes.
“I used up enough supplies to indenture me to three weeks’ of servitude?” I asked coldly.
“It’s not just supplies; it’s expertise, repayment for our people’s injuries, then what we had to do with the people you set free. We couldn’t just put them on the road without a token measure of supplies.”
“You sent them away?” Jessica and I chorused.
“We don’t have the supplies to take care of twenty or thirty people. I suspect many of them are going to return to their homes.”
“To get swept up by the gangs again?” I asked, acid dripping off every word.
“Mom, Dad, did you know this?” Jessica asked before anybody else answered.
“Yes,” David said, his eyes locked on her.
“You people are just as horrible as I thought you were,” I said, looking right at Linda. “You’re almost as monstrous as Lance’s people.”
I wobbled to my feet and grabbed the bag with the toast.
“Where the hell do you thi
nk you’re going?” Henry asked.
Without turning, I said, “Apparently I have a cracked skull. I just woke up from a medically-induced or unnatural coma. I’m tired, and I’m frankly full to the brim of your bullshit.”
I tucked the baggie in the sling and used my good arm to brace myself as I neared the hallway that led to the bathrooms and the closet room I had awoken in. I heard an argument break out behind me, lots of angry voices rising up. This was not how I wanted things to go, and the hurt look in Linda’s face as I told her what I really thought of them felt like a pyrrhic victory. I felt bitter, vindictive, but I wasn't wrong in the end.
16
I ignored the knock at my door and pretended to sleep, right up until they knocked again, and I heard Raider bark.
“Come on in,” I said to the darkness.
Now that my eyes were used to it, I could see inside my room despite the darkness. The glow from the light coming under the door was enough for me to see somebody was standing in front of it. The door cracked open, half blinding me, and a furry shape came in, making happy whining sounds.
“Come here, buddy,” I told my pup who was already complying with my request.
He rubbed his head on my leg. I rolled and sat up awkwardly, running my hand through his coat, and looked to see who had brought him. I was expecting Jessica or Emily. Instead…
“Wes, listen…” Linda said, walking in the room and closing the door behind her. “I don’t think you’re being fair, and you’ve put my family in a horrible position.”
“Good buddy, Raider,” I said, ignoring her.
Even though my arm was still in a sling, I rolled my shoulder experimentally. No lightning bolts of pain shot out, nothing tore loose, no sudden blood flowed out. I did it some more. It hurt, but the more I worked at it, the less sore the joint itself seemed. Sure, the open gunshot screamed in pain, but having my entire arm in a sling helped. I wondered if I still needed it and unclipped it, pulling my arm out slowly.
“Wes, you shouldn’t…”
“I don’t know how you put up with these people who claim to be patriots, yet would indenture me for help that I never asked them to give. What’s a country boy to do?” I asked my dog, being deliberately rude.
