by Reed, N. C.
“So, Evelyn,” Clay turned back to business. He really didn't care anything about fruity smelling soaps, but he could tell Lainie did, so he was going to see what he could do. “What does it take to trade you out of some soap? And how much of it could you produce, if we could offer a suitable barter for it?”
Lacey studied him for a minute before replying.
“How many people are you trying to buy soap for?” she asked finally.
“Right now, just one,” Clay smiled, looking at Lainie. “But she's right. We do have a lot of people. Having a steady supply of real soap would be helpful. What would you want for it?”
“Well,” Lacey looked contemplative, “actually, there's something I need. And I need it worse than anything that I want at the moment.”
“What is it you need?” Clay asked warily, expecting her to want her own armored car.
“I need safety, Mister Sanders,” Lacey declared flatly. “I need a safe place to lay my head at night, and a good safe place for my goats to graze. And, when I run out of ingredients that I have on hand, I'll need some type of oils and things like fruit,” she pointed to the soap that Lainie had not yet put down, “to make my products with. That's what I need at the moment. And while there are things I want, the things I need are a little more pressing, to be honest.”
“Having problems?” Clay asked.
“I'm beginning to,” Lacey nodded. “I had to hide my goats before coming here this morning. I can only hope they're still there when I get back. Some of my 'neighbors' have been doing their best to take and eat them. I have two stock dogs, and one was shot two weeks ago. It was a minor wound, thankfully, and so long as I can keep the wound from getting infected, she should recover, but-,”
“Oh, we have a vet!” Lainie exclaimed, soap still in hand. “Oh, sorry,” she added as she realized she had interrupted.
“You do?” Lacey asked, her interest clearly ratcheting up a bit.
“A vet assistant, actually, but yes,” Clay fought a sigh. This was not going to go his way. He could see that now.
“Well, that's what I need,” Lacey told him. “I can produce soaps and other products so long as I can get the things I just mentioned, and some electricity on occasion. I don't suppose you have a generator or a solar panel, do you?” she cocked her head to the other side this time as she studied Clay.
“Yes!” Lainie exclaimed again. “Sorry,” she ducked her head this time as she apologized.
“What kind of accommodations are you expecting, Miss Lacey?” Clay asked. “We're a little cramped for room at the moment, and will be for a little longer. About all we can offer you is a room. Truthfully it may just be a bunk in a house with other women,” he admitted.
“I need a place to work,” Lacey said. “As far as living arrangements, there are some things I'd like to bring with me, but if you have storage room, then a small room or a bunk is fine for the time being. I'm willing to compromise to be safer. And get clear of my neighbors.”
The last thing Clay had intended was to become the landlord for a goat farmer. He looked at Lainie's hopeful expression, however, and realized he might as well give in now and avoid the rush.
“Where is it you live, Miss Lacey?” he asked. “And just how many goats are we talking about?”
-
“Where are we going, man?” Titus Terry asked as he crawled into the truck with Nate Caudell. Behind the truck was one of the box trailers the first group had used to bring their things to the farm before the lights went out. Behind them, Cliff Laramie was driving another truck, pulling their largest horse trailer.
“Apparently we're going goat wrangling,” Nate sighed as he put the truck in gear.
“Huh?”
-
The first thing was to pack up Lacey's gear and products at the market, which caused a little bit of a stir, but things soon settled down again as passersby lost interest.
“How did you get here with this stuff?” Clay asked.
“With a game carrier,” Lacey replied, pulling out a folding game cart from a big sporting goods store chain. “And a back pack,” she pulled an enormous pack, similar to what mountain climbers might use, from beneath her table.
“Damn,” Clay muttered. If he was figuring things right, she lived almost ten miles from Jordan...
“I rode a bicycle,” she added, helping him figure it out. “I have a three-wheel bike,” she pointed to the spot behind her booth. “It was a challenge,” she assured him.
“I bet,” Clay readily agreed.
By the time they had her things loaded in the truck they had brought, Nate had pulled in with Cliff right behind him.
“Gordy, Sam, Kevin,” Clay said as the trio returned from meandering through the market. “Take the Hummer and ride shotgun for them,” he pointed to the trucks. “They're going to gather the lady’s things and take her to the farm. She's had issues with her neighbors, so be prepared to deal with that.”
“Awesome,” Kevin said as Gordy and Sam both nodded.
“Want me to go?” Zach asked, looking at the market. “There's not really anything here I'm gonna want. I ain't got a way to pay for it if I did,” he added with a negligent shrug. Which reminded Clay that he had to work out some kind of system to 'pay' at least the people working to defend the farm. He had completely overlooked that.
“If you want to go along, sure,” Clay nodded. “Just watch out for the neighbors. They've already shot one of her dogs.”
“Well, we can't have that,” Zachary said, sounding so much like Xavier that Clay almost made him stay behind after all.
“Try to avoid trouble, Zach,” Clay told him.
“Of course,” the teen replied. “I don't go looking for trouble, Boss. It finds me all by itself.”
That was true enough as far as it went, and Clay couldn't argue against it.
“Get her stuff and head straight back to the farm by the shortest route. If you have any trouble, call us,” Clay told Kevin.
“Will do, Chief,” Kevin promised. “Load up gang!” he spun his finger in the air as he took the wheel of the Hummer. Gordy and Sam would drive the pickup they had loaded Lacey's booth contents into, while Zach swapped the turret in the Cougar for the one in the Hummer. Lacey climbed carefully into the Hummer's passenger side front seat.
“Where to ma'am?” Kevin asked.
-
The trip that had seemed so far and took so long on her bicycle was just a twenty minute jaunt for the small convoy of vehicles. Far sooner than she had expected her house came into view. She was cursing as soon as it did.
“Those bastards are in my yard!” she all but hissed.
“Take it easy,” Kevin told her. “We'll get rid of 'em, get your things, and be home for supper. Zach!”
“I got 'em,” Zach called back, turret motor whirring as Zach slewed the gun around.
“Just hang on, now!” Kevin called. “We may not have to shoot 'em!”
“I'm just preparing for the possibility, man,” Zach replied easily. “I'm good either way.”
“That's what I'm worried about,” Kevin muttered to himself as he pulled the vehicle into the yard. The trucks followed without hesitation, everyone parking on the grass in front of Lacey's home. The door had been broken open it appeared, and three men were on her front porch while another man and two women were in her yard. Lacey was out of the Hummer before Kevin could get parked good.
“What the hell are you doing here!” she shouted, storming toward the trespassers without any regard for her personal safety.
“Where the hell are those damn goats!” one of the men on the porch shouted. “I've tried being nice and it's gotten us nowhere. I'm done being nice!”
“You may want to rethink that, Hoss,” Kevin said simply, M4 resting easy in his hands as Zach watched over him from the turret. Less than a minute later, Gordy, Sam and Nate had joined him as Titus Terry watched behind them.
“Who the hell are you,” one of the women demanded,
hands on her hips.
“Well, that's not really important, now is it?” Kevin smiled at her. “What is important at the moment is that you are all trespassing, and have broken into this nice lady's home. That's just not cool. Not at all.”
“She's got something we want,” one of the men on the porch said. “Once she gives it to us, we'll go.”
“No, you'll go now,” Kevin assured him. “One way or the other. The one way is a lot easier on both of us, well, on all of us really, but if you want the other way,” he pulled the charging lever on his rifle, loading a round into the chamber, “we can accommodate you. We're flexible like that.”
Gordy, Nate and Samantha all mimicked Kevin's actions, standing ready for trouble. It seemed to finally dawn on the group of thieves that they were not in a position to be making demands.
“We'll be back,” the apparent leader threatened Lacey as he stomped down the porch steps and into the yard.
“Dude, you do realize the situation here, don't you?” Kevin asked incredulously. “I mean, hello? Military vehicle, machine gun, angry people with automatic rifles, shit like that? You need to start making better life decisions, neighbor dude. Before someone pulls your head off or something.”
“Like you?” the man actually sneered. Behind Kevin, Zach pulled the charging level on the M240, which got everyone's attention.
“More like me,” he said easily. “I'm the actual trouble maker in the group,” he smiled slightly.
“You think we're scared of you?” one of the women asked, despite one man's attempt to drag her from the yard and keep her quiet.
“Might want to be, but that's up to you,” Zach replied calmly. “Won't hurt me either way.”
The hostile group left after that, making their way down the road, satisfying themselves with throwing threats back as they withdrew.
“Sons-o'-bitches,” Lacey muttered. “Look at my door!”
Her house had not been totally trashed but a good many of her things were on the floor, and some were broken.
“No reason for this,” she sighed sadly as she picked up the pieces to a figurine. “This doesn't get them what they wanted, so why do it?”
“They're bullies, ma'am,” Kevin shrugged. “There's not much rhyme or reason to anything bullies do, in my experience. We'll start loading your furniture, but you may want to go ahead and get your goats and your dogs now. Will the goats come back here with you alright, or should we try to get the trailer to wherever you have them stashed.”
“They'll come here just fine,” Lacey promised. “Jack and Jill can herd them without any difficulty.”
“Jack and Jill being your dogs, I guess?”
“Yep.”
-
“I'm not gonna end up being hit by a goat and throwed across the road or nothing, am I?” Titus asked, walking beside Lacey with his head constantly turning, watching for the neighbors.
“No, young man,” Lacey replied, still angry about her house, both the damage and the invasion of her privacy. “None of them are strong enough to do that.”
“That implies that I might get hit by a goat, and just be throwed across the yard,” Titus frowned.
“You well might,” Lacey agreed. “They're cantankerous animals, after all. The older billy is quite a rascal, I'm afraid. But you'll have more trouble with Jack.”
“And Jack would be?” Titus asked.
“Jack and Jill are Aussies,” Lacey replied absently as they neared a secluded barn. When Titus didn't reply she looked up to see him looking at her blankly.
“Australasian Shepherds,” she clarified. “Livestock dogs,” she added.
“Oh, Clay will be tickled at that,” Titus chuckled. “Are they able to have pups?”
“Assuming Jill can recover from being shot, then yes,” Lacey nodded. “I've allowed her to carry two litters of pups and she did fine. Why?”
“We've got a herd of Kangal pups that are growing into the role of guardian dogs, too,” Titus informed her. “But four thousand acres is a lot of ground to cover. And, most of the pups have adopted, and been adopted by, at least one person, so they're not always out in the pastures.”
“I see,” Lacey nodded. “Stay here,” she ordered as they got to within twenty feet. “Jack will growl a bit, but if you don't show fear, he'll leave you alone. Jill is hurt, but able to walk slowly, so I doubt she'll pay you any mind, but don't press in on her. Being shot has left her short tempered.”
“Does that to most people, in my experience,” Titus nodded sagely.
“And just how much experience would that be?” Lacey's tone was not quite mocking, but it was close.
“Lost one of my best friends a couple months ago,” Titus replied evenly. “Two more were shot but recovered. One of them is helping load your furniture.”
“So, things haven't been all peaceful for your group, either?” Lacey asked as she pushed a sliding barn door open.
“Peaceful? No,” Titus shook his head. “It takes work to keep us safe. Sometimes it takes blood,” he added philosophically. It was a sad sound, coming as it did from a teenager, Lacey thought.
“I'm sorry I said it like that,” she told him as goats came spilling out of the enclosure, glad to be free of the confines of the small building.
“No worries,” Titus promised. “Where's your-, oh, shit,” he started backing up as a very large, hairy dog with startling blue eyes came out of the barn and made directly for him.
“Don't give ground,” Lacey told him forcefully but calmly. “He's challenged by your presence, and so he's returning that challenge. Give him a chance to see that you aren't a threat.”
“What about my chance to see that he's not a threat?” Titus demanded, though he stopped moving away.
“That's not how this works,” she informed him.
“Of course, it's not,” the teen shook his head. “That'd be too easy.”
Jack didn't charge him, but did advance menacingly, growling quietly as he did. Titus instinctively tightened his grip around the rifle, but stood his ground, waiting. Jack circled him slowly, sniffing as he went, and Titus waited, though he did extend a hand for the dog to smell if he wanted.
“You've done this before,” Lacey said approvingly.
“Kangals are touchy,” Titus agreed softly. “But there's also a huge German Shepherd and two Belgian Malinois at the farm, so yeah, I've had to do this a time or two.”
“That's quite a menagerie of dogs,” Lacey mused. “I don't know how my two will fit in.”
“Don't ask me,” Titus semi-apologized. “I don't know a lot about dogs, period, and what little I could say about livestock dogs I've learned since we got the hounds, so that ain't much.”
There were thirty-two goats in all, it turned out, with one large billy goat whose horns curled around the sides of his head twice.
“Watch him,” Lacey warned. “His name is Diablo, and he earned that name.”
“Diablo,” Titus muttered. “A demon goat. Great.”
Meanwhile, Jack had decided that Titus was alright and had moved to collect the goats. While Jack was working, another shepherd, this one a little smaller and wearing a blood-stained bandage along a clean shaven spot on her hip, came limping from the barn behind the goats.
“That's Jill,” Lacey explained. “Like I said, give her room, since she's a little short tempered at the moment.”
“Got it,” Titus promised.
“Jack!” Lacey called sharply and the dog stopped to look at his master.
“House!” she ordered. Immediately the dog began herding the goats toward the house, moving from one side to the other of the group to ensure none of them strayed.
“That's pretty cool,” Titus smiled at the sight.
“I thought you had livestock dogs,” Lacey replied. “Surely you've seen this before.”
“Well, like I said, they're still pups,” Titus shrugged. “And I try my best to avoid the large animals. I'm a city kid. I try not to do cows and horse
s if I can help it.”
“I see.”
-
It took less than two hours to load Lacey's things onto the trucks, trailer and into the Hummer. Aside from a small amount of furniture, the bulkiest items were either the ingredients for her products, which she had in large bulk stores, and supplies for her goats, which for the most part consisted of a scant number of near empty feed bags and various health care products.
“I wish I could carry part of that fence,” she sighed, looking at the very secure fencing around the bulk of her small 'farm'. “That was a lot of money and no small amount of work.” Gordy looked at the cattle panels and nodded.
“We use something similar all over the ranch,” he told her. “If you want, I'll ask Clay if we can bring a flatbed back over here and get it. We can put it to good use for your goats there, too. There's not much those idiots can do to damage it. About all they can do is steal it.”
“They're too lazy,” Lacey snorted. She turned a bit introspective as she examined the small house while Gordy moved to help Titus and Kevin with the equipment she used to make her products.
“I've lived here a long time,” she said aloud, but to no one in particular.
“I'm sorry,” Samantha said softly, having come to her side without Lacey noticing. The older woman jumped a bit, but turned to look at her.
“I had to leave my home, too,” Sam told her. “It was trashed while I was... gone. Had I been there when it happened, I might not have survived, I don't know,” she shrugged. “I left a wonderful place behind that had always been my home. The only home I'd ever known before I came to live with the Sanders.”
“You and that tall one are a couple, aren't you,” Lacey stated rather than asked.
“We are,” Samantha blushed cutely.
“You look good together,” Lacey complimented. “He's a fine-looking boy. And coming into his manhood nicely, it looks like. Good for you,” she smiled suddenly.
“Thank you,” Sam mumbled. “And he is a fine young man,” she agreed. “The best,” she added with just a little pride.
Finally, everything was loaded. Lacey made one last walk through of her home and out buildings, ensuring that nothing she needed or valued was left behind. That done, with goats bleating and dogs barking, the small convoy turned around and headed for home.
