by David Nees
“You stop and let her go.” Billy yelled. He couldn’t think of anything more forceful to say.
The men were all focused on him now. The one holding the girl still had her in a tight grip, his hand clamped over her lower face.
The man who had called to him grinned and flashed a knife. “You don’t want to get cut up, do you?”
The man holding the girl from behind took his hand from her mouth and pulled a knife of his own, putting it to the girl’s throat. “She could get her neck cut if you don’t get outta here,” he shouted. The girl started to yell, but he jerked the knife up against the bottom of her jaw and hissed something into her ear. Billy thought he saw a dark trickle start from the knife point.
“So what’s it gonna be?” the man called, grinning. “You want her to get cut from ear to ear? Better get along and she won’t get hurt. We’re just gonna have a little fun with her.”
“Yeah, she won’t act so uppity after we’re done,” another said.
Billy slowly swung his aim over to the man holding the knife at the girl’s throat. The man was shielded by the girl, but he stood a head and a half taller than her.
“Don’t leave me with these pigs,” shouted the girl.
The man scowled down at her and the knife started to move. Billy had the man’s head centered in his scope. Without hesitation, he gently squeezed his hand and the rifle bucked against his shoulder with a sharp explosion of sound and flash. The .30-06 bullet struck the man’s forehead. He never heard the sound. The hollow point delivered the maximum amount of kinetic energy to the target. The back of his head exploded, scattering brains over the concrete. He snapped back, his hands losing their grip as signals to the muscles were abruptly shut off. He was flung to the ground.
The other three froze. Billy worked the bolt action in a fluid motion, chambering another round. He shifted the rifle to the man standing nearest the girl. The man saw the barrel swing towards him and jumped to the side, turned, and ran down the street. The other two followed. They were soon around the next corner.
“Holy shit!” the girl exclaimed. She jumped back from the body on the pavement. “You almost killed me!” She looked at her blouse and then bent down and peered at the sidewalk. “That asshole tore my buttons off. You can’t find buttons nowadays, and this is still a good shirt…fucker.”
She stooped and picked up three buttons and stepped away from the dead man lying in a pool of blood and brains. She trotted up to Billy. Her sky-blue blouse flew around her, and Billy’s eyes were caught by the bounce of her breasts, now covered, now uncovered. He stood transfixed.
“You’re a hunter,” she observed, looking down at the deer carcass. “What’re you gonna do with that?” Billy just stared at her. “Oh, my name’s Lori Sue, what’s yours?”
“Billy. Billy Turner.”
“Glad to meetcha.” She stuck out her hand. “Very glad to meet you tonight.”
“What were they doing?” Billy asked. He didn’t really know what to say.
“Whaddaya think? They were getting ready to rape me. They’re pissed ‘cause I won’t give ‘em a tumble. Wouldn’t even if they had something to trade. Shit, I got standards.” The girl looked over her shoulder at the body lying on the sidewalk in a pool of blood and brains. “That bastard in particular. He’s probably got the clap. He sure does stink.”
She turned back to Billy. “We better get out of here. Someone coulda heard that shot. They might be coming soon.” She reached for his backpack. “Let me help you with that.”
“No, uh, I got it.” Billy put on his backpack and hoisted the deer carcass back over his right shoulder.
“Follow me.”
She led Billy through a maze of streets and alleys, off to the right from the direction he had been heading, until they came to a five-story apartment building. It had probably looked seedy even before the EMP attack, and now many of the first-floor windows were broken. The front hall was filled with wind-blown trash, and when the girl pushed the door shut it didn’t close properly. A horrible reek hit Billy, and he quickly held his breath. There were piles of feces in the corners.
“It’s worse when it’s fresh. The stink goes away a bit after it dries out,” she said as she led him to the stairs. Billy was about to put the deer carcass down, but she told him no. “Someone’ll steal that, sure as you’re standing there. That or some dogs’ll get it. There’s a few dogs left…don’t know how they survive. Come on,” she said and started climbing the stairs. On the fourth floor she stepped into the hall and went halfway down it, pulled out a set of keys, and unlocked a door. “Come on in. We’ll be safe here.”
Billy stepped in and set the carcass down against the wall inside the door. He unslung his pack and set it next to the deer, along with his rifle. The door opened directly onto a living room. There was a red corduroy couch with tears in the arms and cushions, and across the room from it a low table and two similarly broken-down stuffed chairs. To the left he could see a small kitchen with pots and pans lying out, unwashed. A short hallway led off to the right.
“It ain’t much, but it works,” Lori Sue said. Her smile looked a little embarrassed. “No one wants to live in this area of the city, so I can be pretty much alone. There’s only two others in the building, older people on the second floor. No one wants the first floor, too easy to get robbed. And I got the keys to the whole building.” She held up a set of keys on a large ring that had been lying on the table and smiled at her declaration of victory over landlords and building owners.
“But you can’t lock the front door.”
“Yeah, that’s a pain…but I can open up every other door in the building.” She smiled at him.
“I got to take this deer to the central feed station.”
“Can we take some meat off it first?” She had an eager look on her face.
“No, I can’t do that,” he said, surprised. “They expect the whole deer. That was one thing they made a big deal about, taking meat for myself.”
Lori Sue knelt and began to rummage through Billy’s pack. She pulled out two rabbits. “Looky here. We could keep these. How’ll they ever know?”
“I’m supposed to bring all the meat to the center.”
“I hear you, but I ain’t had a good meal in two days. And don’t almost getting raped qualify me for a good meal?”
Billy didn’t have an answer. “Look,” he said awkwardly, “I gotta go drop this deer off.”
“Okay. But leave your pack here. I’ll keep it safe.” Billy shook his head. “Well, leave one of the rabbits at least and I’ll cook you a meal you won’t forget when you get back.” She stuffed one of the rabbits back in.
Billy hesitated. “Not sure I should do that.”
“No one will know. And it looks like you could use a meal yourself. Come on. We’ll have a good meal when you get back, and I can repay you for saving me.” She stepped up close to him. His eyes kept shifting from her face to her now-and-again exposed breasts. She reached up and put her hands to the sides of his face. “You’ll be happy you returned, believe me,” she said, her voice now husky. “I want to thank you properly. You saved my life.”
Billy swallowed hard and nodded. “You know how to skin that?”
“No, but I’ll get a fire ready. I’m sure you can do it when you get back. Hurry, I’m hungry.” He pulled his pack back on and picked up the deer carcass while she darted to the kitchen to set the rabbit on the counter. When she got back he could see the hunger in her face.
“The sooner you get back, the sooner we get to eat,” she said as she pushed him out the door.
Billy returned in a half hour. Lori Sue had thrown on a gray sweatshirt, and when Billy knocked she grabbed the rabbit and led him up to the roof of the building. The little fire she had built out of scraps of wood was crackling merrily on a piece of sheet metal she had taken off the side of an air conditioning unit. “We can cook up here. Anyone who smells it won’t know where it’s coming from.” She held up her ke
y ring. “And no one can get to the roof but me. See, I’ve got the keys.”
Lori Sue had torn off a piece of an old TV antenna to use as a skewer for the rabbit. Billy expertly skinned the rabbit and impaled it on the metal shaft. They sat back against the air conditioning unit, with one of them turning the spit every minute.
“How long you been in town?” she asked.
“How’d you know I’m not from here?”
“You’re too country.”
Billy looked hurt at the comment.
“I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” Lori Sue hastened to add. “It’s just that you have a…a woodsy way about you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. Shit, don’t give me a hard time. It’s just that you know how to shoot and clean a deer, catch a rabbit and skin it…how the hell do you catch one anyway?”
Billy smiled. “A rabbit? You set a snare.”
“What, like a drum?”
“It’s a loop of wire. You set it out where the rabbits usually run, and when they go through the loop they snag it and the loop closes and catches them.”
“You hang ‘em?”
“Like in the air? Not quite, but sometimes they get their necks broke or choke to death.”
Lori Sue felt a moment’s sadness. Then she inhaled the aroma of the rabbit wafting over her. “That’s gonna taste real good.” She snuggled up close to Billy.
They ate in silence, concentrating on tearing the rabbit apart. Lori Sue ate ravenously, happy that Billy was letting her eat more than her share. She could have put away two or three rabbits by herself.
When they were done, Lori asked, “Where you staying?”
“In the building where most of the militia are. I got my own little room there.”
“Not tonight,” she announced, standing up and wiping her face with her sleeve. She took his hand and led him back to her apartment.
She told him to take a bowlful of water from the buckets in the kitchen if he wanted to wash up. She went into the bedroom, stripped down to her panties, and took out a precious vial of perfume. She put a little behind her ears, between her breasts, and on her belly. She only had to wait a moment before Billy was standing in the doorway. His eyes went wide and he started to pull back, but she went up to him and kissed him hard on the lips.
She could feel him tense up, but she persisted until he relaxed and began to respond. “You ain’t been around girls much, have you?” He started to protest, but she shushed him and led him to the bed. “It’s okay. Has to be a first time for everyone. Besides, I like it.”
She helped Billy out of his shirt and sat him down on the edge of the bed, kneeling to unlace his boots and pull them off. His pants followed, but she was wise enough to leave his underpants on for the moment. She sat down next to him and they began to kiss, with Billy awkwardly exploring her body. His eyes were opened in wonder one moment and closed the next as they kissed. His hands explored her curves and forbidden places.
When she was ready she slipped off his underpants and her own. He wasn’t sure what to do, so she guided his hand to that most mysterious place. Billy was panting now. Lori Sue pulled him onto her.
It was over in a few short minutes. Billy lay back, breathing deeply, seemingly somewhere else. Lori Sue gently kissed him back to the moment. “You sure were in a hurry. We have to try that again.”
“Can we?”
“Of course, stupid. As much as you can handle.” She smiled at him. Billy was young. He smelled nice—woodsy, not dirty or unhealthy like so many of the men in town. And he could provide food, he was gentle, he was a bit innocent and yet energetic. Yes, she wanted more.
It turned out Billy could handle quite a lot; the night proved energetic for both of them.
Chapter 20
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C harlie needed more information. He wrestled with the question of who to talk to for a whole day. Who could help him shed some light on what was going on without tipping off Frank Mason, or, worse, Joe Stansky? Finally he decided he had to go back to the water mill and talk to Bob Jackson, the superintendent, about Jim. He got on his bicycle and began to make his way through the streets out towards the river.
The head of the water project gave him a baleful look when he entered the mill. That palpable distrust was the one reason that Charlie felt he could talk with him…that and a hunch that the man might have some information
“Look,” Charlie told him. “I know Jim’s missing. His son’s over at the school. His wife dropped out of sight, and then she was recently spotted in the militia block. Now, I know something is wrong. I didn’t have anything to do with all of that, but I’m trying to find out what’s going on so I can help his family.”
“You’re telling me you don’t know what’s going on? That’s a laugh. You been in a coma for the past year?”
“What do you mean?”
The man shook his head. “I shouldn’t be talking to you. You’re part of the problem, along with Mason and Stansky.”
Charlie thought about that for a moment. “I know it looks that way. But I haven’t told anyone about my investigation. I don’t want anyone but me to know about it until I know what’s going on.”
“Then what’re you gonna do? Report to the authorities?”
“If there’s a problem, if something is wrong in the city—”
The man snorted and gave Charlie a disdainful look. “There’s plenty wrong in the city.”
“Okay,” Charlie said, “I admit it. We have martial law, we’re still only a couple of steps from starving, there’s limited freedom, and everyone is under strict control. I know that, but think about the times we’re living in.”
“Easy for you to say. You get all the perks. You get to make up the rules. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at a food center…got your own eating arrangements? I’ll bet you’re eating better than the rest of us.”
Charlie felt his expression betray him.
“I thought so,” Jackson said in a sharper voice. “Now why don’t you go back to your special arrangements and leave me alone.”
Charlie sucked in his breath. “”No,” he said quietly. He met the other’s gaze. “Because something’s wrong, something beyond martial law issues and it’s my job to find out what it is.” His voice was rising. “And you’re going to help me. Maybe I’ve had special privileges but I’ve helped keep order. Now if there’s something else going on, something worse, I’m not a part of it, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it.” He was almost shouting now.
“Shhh. Everyone can hear you. Let’s go outside.” The superintendent grabbed Charlie’s arm and led him out a side door. The man let go of his arm and they walked along the side of the building.
When Jackson spoke again, his voice had lost its contemptuous edge. “Maybe you are concerned…or maybe this is just an act. But you know something’s going on. Something that got Jim killed.”
Charlie nodded, waiting.
The man took a deep breath. “I may be doing a stupid thing, but if you come down here in one week I’ll take you to meet some people. You come after dark. You come alone, and you’ll get blindfolded. You won’t see who you’re talking to. You agree?”
Charlie nodded.
“If we see anyone following you, no one will be here. Got it?”
Charlie again nodded. His gut twisted. A week from now he was going to know more than he probably wanted to know.
When Jackson told the others, the table erupted with voices of concern and dissent.
“Have you gone nuts?” one of them shouted. “This could get us all killed.”
“It may help us,” he replied. “We’re not getting anywhere and we need some help. Chief Cook won’t know who he’s talking to. We’ll watch him with lookouts. If we see he’s being followed, we arrange a signal and we all just disappear. No one will know we were there. If he’s alone, we can talk to him and maybe get him on our side.”
“Look, I’m the one at risk. If he’s going to use a meeting against us but doesn’t know who anyone is, he’ll only know who I am and they’ll come for me. I’m the one putting his life on the line.”
Some nodded at his point.
“They’ll get to us through you,” someone said.
“No, they won’t. Because I’ll make them shoot me. I’m not going down without a fight.” Jackson knew the fate that would await him if they captured him. He was tired of living in fear. He glared at the others. “I’m not going to let them torture me. May as well take a few out, ‘cause I’ll be killed one way or the other.”
His sincerity was obvious. It swayed the group, and they agreed to the meeting.
Chapter 21
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T he old pickup truck rocked and bumped its way carefully along the country road. Leo was driving. Frank was squeezed in next to him, with Charlie on the other side. Behind them, the four militia guards bounced around in the back, holding their M16s close. At the abandoned town of Clifton Forge, Leo turned left to follow the Pickering River. Twenty minutes down the road, he saw the girders of the bridge. He pulled up and stopped the truck about ten feet short of the turn onto the bridge. He got out. “Stay in the truck,” he said over his shoulder to the guards.
He walked towards the bridge, examining it. It was a truss bridge, with the iron beams rising on each side, crossing over the top and laced with a triangular pattern of supports bolted to them. The murmuring river below was perhaps three car lengths wide; the bridge itself was about five car lengths from end to end and single lane. The valley’s farm wagons must have been a tight fit. He heard the others climbing out of the cab.
“So this is the site of the famous battle?” Frank said.
Leo walked onto the edge of the bridge and looked across it. There were only a few signs left to suggest a battle had occurred. On the roadside beyond the bridge one could see a few bones half-embedded in the earth that you might not have recognized for human if not for the skull barely visible in the grass. The bloodstains were long gone, the full skeletons had been torn apart by animals, and any personal items had been scavenged.
