They followed the sheriff, who was driving an ATV, into the downtown area. Word spread fast about the rescued children and parents came running. There were tears and sobs of relief and many ‘thank-yous’ and ‘God-bless yous’ for the teens.
Once all the children had been returned to their parents, it was decided that there would be a town party held later that night as a celebration. The town was in good shape thanks to the sheriff and his men.
A few old generators were working and they had water pumps going at different locations. They had kept strict control over the food stores and were rationing and planting as much seed as they could. They were lucky with the climate and could grow certain plants year-round.
The group of teens had been very careful with their water and had only been hand washing themselves and their clothes but with a party on the schedule, the girls wanted to clean up properly and wash their hair. The sheriff sent the girls off with a local lady to the community center. They were using it as a central meeting place for the town and it had one of the precious generators hooked up to it so they had hot water for the gym’s showers. The girls grabbed towels and toiletries and raced after the woman. They were so excited about having their first hot shower in six days.
The sheriff stayed with the boys after handing his son off to his sobbing mother. He quizzed the boys on what they had seen on the way from Disneyland. He also wanted to talk to them about their automatic weapons. They had a few in town, but he would like to add to that number for the defense force he was building. The teens had decided not to tell anyone about how many guns they had taken from the basement.
All told they had carried out forty-six AK-47 automatic rifles from the basement and forty cases of ammunition. It would make for very good barter and once they got home, they would have it for defense if things there were bad. After talking it over, they had decided to give the Sheriff three of the guns and three cases of ammo as a goodwill gesture and for stocking them with more water and supplies when they left.
The kids wanted to stay in the town for a few days to let Josh’s face heal. Both his eyes were swollen almost shut and both his lips were split. One of the town’s doctors had come by and checked him out. Nothing was broken in his face so time would heal the aftermath of the beating.
After taking their luxurious, hot showers, the girls were delirious with happiness to discover blow dryers and curling irons in the change rooms. With the generator powering the devices, they styled their hair and felt for a few minutes that things were back to normal. Alex kept expecting the ordeal they had just faced to cause some kind of aftershock but it never came. She talked to Dara about it while they did their hair.
“I’m feeling really weird that I’m not more upset about what we just went through,” she explained to Dara.
Dara paused curling her hair with a thoughtful look on her face.
“I think what happened will always stay with us and we will all carry a dark place in our hearts for having to kill those people. But, I also think what we did was right. Those people were evil. They enjoyed causing pain and torment and we stopped them from doing it ever again. Think about it this way, one hundred years ago, those types of people would have been executed on the spot. For decades now, criminals have been able to do whatever they wanted with very few consequences. Barely any jail time or maybe even none if they have a slick lawyer. Even in jail, it’s us, the victims, who really have to pay. We pay to feed and house them. I mean, they have better healthcare than a lot of people, not to mention food and TV. The death penalty is a joke. Twenty years after the crime and maybe they finally get executed? Why do they get to live a long time but their victim doesn’t? It’s not fair and it’s so not justice. I think the clock has been set back and now justice will finally be served. That’s what today felt like to me, Alex, justice. And I’ll tell you something else. It felt right.”
Alex thought about all the times she read news about bad guys getting off on a technicality or hardly getting any jail time at all. She remembered hearing stories about victims being sued by criminals for different reasons and the bad guy winning, or repeat offenders doing the same crime again and again and being released from jail. Dara was right, justice was served today, and Alex felt the last of her doubts and guilt at what they’d done melt away.
When the girls got back to the camper and trucks, the boys gave appreciative looks to the styled girls and Josh let off a wolf whistle. They were due at the party soon so the boys went for their own showers while the girls changed into clean clothes and watched over the vehicles. After the Sheriff had left, the boys had repacked the van with all the guns and ammo and used a padlock to secure the latch. They didn’t want to be stuck guarding it while they were in town. When the boys came back, they were ready to go to the party. They left the assault rifles locked up but all of them carried handguns in holsters that they had picked up on their travels. Going unarmed in this new world was no longer an option.
As they approached the town square they could hear music from a band playing and smell the wonderful aroma of home-cooked food. There were long tables set up around a cleared area for dancing. The biggest table was piled high with dishes of steaming food and as people arrived they would add whatever they had brought to it. Alex and Dara brought buns from the camper that they had made before they were captured and the bikers had missed in the cupboard.
The sheriff waved them over to his table and they sat and dined with him and many of his deputies. They told their story over and over as people came by to greet them. With filled bellies, they were all relaxed and having fun watching the dancers. The sheriff was talking about the men who were with the bikers that came after the kids.
“We knew some of those guys from town but we didn’t know they were working with Skull and his gang. When we went to their houses we found a lot of stolen and stockpiled goods, as well as a ton of drugs and guns. They were probably telling him about our security setup so they could attack us at some point. You kids did a really good thing by burning that drug den down and killing them all. It’ll save us a lot of problems in the future.”
A much cleaner Luke came running up and gave his dad a hug, a cheeky smile to Alex and dashed off again to play with his friends.
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing him back to us. His mother, well, she was barely hanging on for the past few days.” The sheriff turned away, the sheen of tears in his eyes.
As he was getting his composure back, a man walked up to the table that they hadn’t met yet. He had a smile on his face as he looked the kids over but his eyes were cold. Alex felt herself shiver when he looked at her.
“Well, here are the heroes of the day! You must be a tough group of kids to take out Skull and his men. Yes, sir! You all did this community a great service by ridding us of them,” he exclaimed in thanks, but the smile on his face never reached his eyes.
The sheriff beamed at the man. “They sure did, John,” he replied, turning to the teens. “This is my right-hand man, John Harper. He’s on the town council and helped us get organized and security setup after the lights went out. John, this is Quinn, Alex, Josh, Dara, and Cooper. They brought my boy back and the other missing kids from the field trip. You probably heard that the biker gang had them.”
John had been nodding as the Sheriff was speaking.
“Yes, and a great day it is to have our children home. I’d love to hear more about this great escape. Tell me kids - how did you manage to get off of the wall hooks?”
Within seconds of him asking the question, there were five guns pointed at him.
Sheriff McCormac shoved his chair back and jumped to his feet.
“Whoa, whoa. What’s going on here kids? Why are you pointing guns at John?” he asked frantically as his hand moved toward his own holstered weapon.
Without taking her eyes off John, Alex answered him in a cold voice.
“Because we never told anyone about the wall hooks they put us on. The only way he would kn
ow is if the bikers told him or he’s been in the place. Either way, it means he was working with them.” She glared at the man. “Tell me, John, did you know they had the children, too?” Alex asked him in a disgusted voice.
The man was red in the face and tried to act surprised at the charges but it was clearly an act and he couldn’t keep the hate from his eyes.
The music had stopped and in the silence everyone had heard Alex clearly. All of the townspeople were staring at the drama unfolding at the sheriff’s table and some had even drawn their weapons. The sheriff was studying his friend’s face when he drew his weapon and turned it on him.
“Where were you this afternoon, John? I sent a man to your place and you weren’t home. With all the excitement I figured you would show up. Where were you?” he asked in a harsh voice.
“I’ll tell you where he was,” Dara spoke up. “He went with the guys from town out to the house we burnt down. You went to join the party, didn’t you? They told you they had a couple of young girls strung up on the wall, hanging from hooks and you went out to have some fun. And when you found the place burnt down, you hung back while your friends chased after us. That’s what happened, isn’t it?” She was yelling by the time she finished.
The man turned to the sheriff in desperation. “You have to believe me! I just went to try and get them free. I was negotiating with Skull to get the children back. I never would have hurt them. I was trying to help the town!” he pleaded, looking around at the confused and angry faces.
The sheriff grabbed John’s shirt, bunching it up, and yanked him so they were face to face.
“You knew where my son was? All along, while Jane and I were frantic and you knew where he was? You were with us when we found the empty bus and watched as we grieved. You knew he was being kept like a dog with a collar on his neck and being beaten and you let us weep?” He threw the sniveling man away from him. “You were my friend!” he roared in disbelief just as a shot rang out.
John Harper crumpled to the ground face first and there was a large bloody hole in his back. Standing behind him with her gun still raised was Luke’s mother, Jane.
She looked to her husband and stated simply, in a calm voice - “They burnt my baby’s skin with cigarettes,” and then she turned and walked away.
The crowd parted for her and when she was gone, everyone started talking at once. The sheriff scrubbed his hands across his face and turned to the kids before following his wife.
“Thank you again. I think the party is over.”
Alex motioned to her friends. “Let’s go, guys. I’m tired and just want to sleep.”
They went back to the camper and decided that they would need to stand watches after all. There might be more people in town that had worked for the bike gang.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
After the excitement of the first night, the kids enjoyed the next three days of peace. They took stock of their supplies and repacked them for easier access. They had decided to take the van with them in case one of the other vehicles broke down. They traded the guns and ammunition to the sheriff for things that they didn’t have and took as many hot showers as they could. They knew that once they left, it would be back to sponge baths and boiled water. By the third day, Josh’s face was a rainbow of colors but most of the swelling had gone down so he could see clearer. It had been nine days since they left Disneyland and they were all anxious to keep heading homeward.
Alex couldn’t help thinking of Emily and David and wondering how far they had gotten and if they were safe. She tried hard not to think of her family and all the “what-ifs” or she would sink into depression. They planned to leave the next morning as early as possible to take advantage of the daylight and get as far as they could. The days were getting longer but the sun still went down before seven at night and they wanted to push hard after staying in the town for three days.
They had dinner at Sheriff McCormac’s house the night before they left and they were all happy to see Luke full of energy and happiness. With the resilience of young children, he seemed to be none the worse for his ordeal. The physical scars on his small body would take time to heal but his mental state seemed good. His mother, Jane, was a charming hostess and bustled around mothering all the teens. She seemed not to be affected by the fact that she had shot a man in the back only days ago.
Alex remembered what Dara had said in the change room, about a return to the old ways and guessed that it really would be a new world. They left the sheriff’s house feeling good about what was to come and went to bed early for the next leg of their trip home.
Chapter Fifteen
Six days later, Alex was happy to see the mountains of Montana after taking so long to get through Idaho. They had left the town and cut through the northwestern corner of Utah without running into any problems. They tried to stay away from towns as much as possible and Idaho made that easy with its low population.
Of the six days they had traveled since leaving the town, two of the days were spent in frustrating backtracking. On some roads it had been impossible to get around car crashes and at one point they saw a homemade sign warning travelers to turn back or be shot. They didn’t want to get into another fight so they turned back and searched for another route. Local maps were getting hard to find as it seemed that all the gas stations they stopped at had been looted. The group did see other people but not as many as in the first few days.
On the second day, they saw a woman pushing a stroller down the side of the road and stopped to offer her a ride. She was very suspicious and clutched a small pistol in her hand. When Dara explained she could ride alone with her, the woman relaxed and was very friendly. Her baby was under a year old and she had been stuck in a bigger town where she had gone for a shopping trip when the power went out and her car quit working. She and the baby had stayed as long as they could with friendly strangers but the food supply was tight and she wanted to go home.
The kids gave her fresh baked buns and water and dropped her off outside of her town. The group had discussed helping people, especially people with children, when they could but all agreed that avoiding people was better. Not all the people they stopped to help were nice.
In southern Idaho, they saw a man walking with two boys and they stopped to offer a ride. The two boys were skinny and dirty and didn’t speak. The man took in the three working vehicles with calculation and envy. He accepted the ride and they climbed into the camper.
Alex was driving with Josh taking a turn keeping watch out of the roof vent. Alex tried to engage the man in conversation but he just answered her questions with grunts. She could see him in the rearview mirror, taking in all the supplies piled up in the rear of the camper. He kept taking quick looks at Josh’s legs braced on the water cases.
Alex had a bad feeling about the guy and wondered about the silent boys. She’d given them juice boxes and more of the buns that they kept stockpiling. The boys ate in small bites with their heads down. She was getting nervous about the way the man kept checking on Josh’s position. She eased her handgun out of its holster and set it on her lap. They had been driving in silence for twenty minutes when the man made his move.
He stood up from the dinette table and stretched. As soon as she saw him in the mirror take a step towards her, she tapped the brakes twice and grabbed her gun, keeping it down on her lap. He came in a rush and got right beside her. There was a small revolver in his hand and he pointed it at her side. He was trying to hide what he was doing if Josh came down into the camper.
In a normal tone of voice, like they were just having a conversation, he told her, “I don’t think it’s really fair that you kids have three working cars. That seems very greedy to me so I think you should give me one. At the next side road, I want you to turn off and give it some gas. We’re going to ditch your friends and then when we are safely away, I’ll let you and your friend go.”
Alex didn’t know if the man was blind or just stupid. He didn’t seem to remember
the assault rifle that Josh had in his hands where he was on the roof or the two guns Alex had strapped to her waist. He was seriously out-gunned.
“That’s not going to happen, mister. How about I pull over and let you leave my camper alive instead?” and she nodded downwards. With her right hand on the wheel, she had the gun in her left hand and her arm was across her stomach which meant that the gun’s barrel was inches from his ribs.
The man looked down and paled a bit but his resolve hardened. “Put that away, little girl. You know you aren’t going to shoot me in front of those boys,” he ordered.
“I wouldn’t mess with her, mister. That “little girl” snapped the neck of a biker with nothing but her thighs and if she doesn’t take care of you, I will!” Josh told him. He had come up behind the stranger, alerted by Alex’s braking pattern.
The man slumped in defeat when he felt the barrel of Josh’s gun against the back of his head.
He whined, “I wasn’t going to hurt you. I just want the camper. It’s not fair that you kids have three vehicles!”
Josh ignored the whining man and plucked the gun from his hand.
“Alex, toot the horn twice and put your signal light on. Pull over and we’ll get rid of this trash.”
Josh grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him back onto his butt, then dragged him back toward the side door. Alex pulled over and put the transmission into park. She slid out of her seat and went into the back of the camper. She looked at the two boys and felt bad for them.
“I’m sorry, boys. You’re going to have to go back to walking with your dad,” she told them.
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