by Payne, T. L.
"They could be on their way here now."
"Maybe," Jacob said.
Maddie let go of Jacob’s hand, stood, and walked to the front of the barn. She peeked between the missing boards. Not seeing anyone, she fought the urge to pace as the gunfire continued.
Jacob sat on a hay bale with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Maddie tried not to look at him. It hadn't escaped her attention that they were alone for the first time since they'd met.
I'll never hear the end of the teasing now.
She dreaded the game of twenty questions her mother would play to get her to tell her about it.
Suddenly, Maddie noticed that the gunfire had stopped. Maddie listened.
"I don't hear anything."
"Me either," Jacob said.
A moment later, another round of gunfire erupted, followed by another period of silence.
Maddie tried to remember if she'd seen Maria load ammo into her pack. There had been a lot of rounds fired off.
"Maria can't have much ammo left," Maddie said, walking over to the barn door.
“Maria's experienced. I imagine she knows how to conserve ammo. I bet most of those rounds have been from the shooters just trying to keep Maria pinned down."
Maddie looked over her shoulder.
"You think so? That would be smart. Make them use up all their ammo then hit them hard.”
Jacob nodded. “It's a sound strategy, I think."
Maddie paced back-and-forth as they waited for the next rounds to begin. Thirty minutes passed—then an hour. They heard nothing.
Maddie stretched out on top of the stack of hay bales and put her arms over her head. She tried to think of some way out of their situation. She knew that eventually Lugnut and Rank would come looking for them. She hoped they would find them before the gunmen did. She felt helpless and vulnerable waiting in the barn. The guilt of leaving Maria behind to fight alone was eating at her soul. Her mind raced with all kinds of scenarios, including one where a group of gunmen were attacking the cabin at that very moment.
"We can't stay in here. We have to go check on Maria and get back to the cabin. They could’ve gone after them next," Maddie said, jumping to her feet.
Jacob grabbed her arm. "No. Maddie, we can't go running around in the woods unarmed. They’re likely still out there."
Maddie looked down at Jacob's hand on her arm. She felt a warmth move through her and jerked away. Jacob grabbed both of her hands and spun her around.
"We have to wait. I know that waiting is killing you. But we really don't have a choice. We have to wait until dark. We stand a better chance then. We'll hope that those guys don't have infrared and night vision."
“That’s crazy. How is stumbling around in the dark any safer?" Maddie asked.
"I know these woods. I've hunted them all my life. I can get us to the cabin."
Jacob looked her in the eyes. "Please, Maddie."
Maddie felt her shoulders relax. She wanted to look away but couldn't. She hated the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.
"How long?" she asked, sliding her hands out of his and turning away. She walked back over to her seat on the hay and looked through the crack in the wall.
"A couple more hours. I'd say it should be getting dark by then.”
Time passed slowly. Maddie looked up to the sky through the broken barn wood. The heavy fog that hung over the valley that morning had burned off, and the clouds had moved on. From the position of the sun, Maddie guessed it was about three in the afternoon. They had been there at least eight hours. Her mom wasn't expecting them back until dark, so no one would be looking for them yet.
Neither of them spoke as they waited for the sun to go down and the light in the valley to fade. Maddie was hungry and thirsty. She just wanted out of that barn.
A crashing sound sent them both to their feet, causing them to bump into each other’s arms. Maddie stepped back and nearly fell over a box on the floor. Jacob reached out and caught her by the arm and pulled her back upright. When he did, she stepped down hard on his foot, causing him to bend over, and the two of them bumped heads.
Maddie's right hand flew up to her forehead just as a calico cat leaped off the top of the stall next to her. A second cat tore after the first. Maddie burst into laughter as Jacob hopped on one foot while holding his head. Jacob raised his head, gave Maddie a dirty look, then burst into laughter himself.
Maddie stepped back and her foot landed on a third cat’s tail. She lunged forward and crashed into Jacob. They held each other, laughing hysterically as the cats chased one another through the barn and finally exited through a hole along the bottom of a wall.
"Are you okay?" Maddie asked as she tried to control her giggling fit.
"Yeah. You?"
"I think I nearly wet myself when I stepped on that cat's tail and he squealed."
"You should’ve seen the look on your face." Jacob grabbed his stomach and burst into laughter once more.
Maddie slugged him in the arm. Jacob gave her a slight push. It wasn't hard, but it was enough to knock her off-balance. This time, when he caught her arm, he pulled her in close and wrapped his arm around her.
At first, Maddie was laughing so hard that it didn't register with her what he had done. As Maddie regained control of herself, she realized that Jacob was no longer laughing. She looked up. Jacob was staring down at her, his gorgeous brown eyes staring into her soul. Just as Jacob slowly began leaning in to kiss her, a banging sound near the front of the barn caused them both to jump.
Maddie tried to use that as her opportunity to pull away, but Jacob held her tight.
"It's just barn cats," Jacob said.
"We should check it out," Maddie said as she wiggled out of his grasp.
She rushed to the front of the barn and slowly opened the door. She peeked around the open door but saw nothing. She was just closing it when she heard a familiar voice.
“Knock, knock," Maria called from outside the barn. "You guys decent?"
"Maria! It's Maria!" Maddie said over her shoulder as she flung open the door.
Chapter 6
The Farm
Evening Shade, Missouri
Event + 20 Days
Maddie and Jacob followed Maria through the woods back to the Jeep. There was spent brass everywhere on the ground around the vehicle.
"Over here, Jacob," Maria said, pointing to a spot on the opposite side of the highway.
In the tall grass on the other side of the ditch lie a young man dressed in hunter's camouflage, but without the typical bright-orange vest.
"You recognize him?" Maria asked as she rolled the man over onto his back.
Blood soaked the man's shirt. His eyes were open and lifeless.
"Rodney Jewell. Mark and Brittany Jewell's cousin," Jacob said, shaking his head.
Rodney Jewell looked young. Maddie guessed him to be in his late-teens to early-twenties.
"I guess the other two are his kin as well," Maria said, pointing to two more bodies lying in the roadway.
Jacob nodded.
"We should get back and tell Rank and the others what we found," Maria said.
Something in the way Maria said Rank's name bothered Maddie.
Maddie turned and headed back across the road. Maria was close behind. When they reached the Jeep, Maddie looked back. Jacob still stood staring down at Rodney Jewell's lifeless body.
"Let's go, Jacob," Maria said.
Maddie stuck her finger in one of the bullet holes in the driver's side door and shuddered. Just like that, her life could have been over. She looked around at the trees lining the road. A shooter could be concealed behind any one of them, and they would never have noticed as they drove by.
All of the windows were shot up. After pulling on the handle and opening the driver's door, Maddie pulled her tactical knife from its sheath and scraped the broken glass from her seat to the floorboard, then slid more broken glass off the dashboard. The windshield had d
ozens of round bullet holes through it, but it held together in its frame, just as safety glass was designed to do. As Maddie slid into the driver's seat, she looked through the softball-sized hole just inches above the steering wheel and shuddered again.
Maddie had the Jeep started and in drive when Jacob opened the right front door, scraped the glass from his seat, and hopped in. She was surprised it started.
"Maybe they didn't hit the radiator or anything vital. She looks bad, but she still runs," Maddie said.
"The left front tire is flat," Maria said as she opened the right rear door.
"I'll change it," Jacob said, and disappeared around the back of the Jeep.
A second later, he returned with a grim look on his face. “The spare is flat, too."
"Just drive slow," Maria called from the back.
Maddie looked at Jacob. He shrugged and got back in.
Maddie made a U-turn in the road. The brass crunching under the tires made a weird sound. As they slowly drove down the road toward the cabin, Maddie worried what her mom was going to say about all the broken glass and bullet holes in her Jeep.
The Jeep struggled to make the turn in the gravel onto Slabtown Road. As slow as they were going, Maddie thought it would’ve been better to have gotten out and pushed the damn thing. By the time they made it to Ron's barn, there was no rubber left on the rim.
Jason appeared around the side of the barn, followed by Beth and Harmony.
Maddie heard a gasp, and then her mother appeared in the driver's side window. "What the hell happened?" Beth screeched.
"We ran into a little trouble on the road, but everyone’s fine," Maria assured her, as she exited the Jeep.
"What the hell?" Zach said as he approached from the opposite side.
"Language, Zachary," Beth said, pointing to Zach.
"Sorry."
"Convicts again?" Zach asked, coming up behind them.
"No. Not this time," Jacob said, turning to face Zach. "This time it was one of the Jewell bunch."
"Jewells. The ones they hung in Houston?" Zach asked.
"Their kin," Jacob said, grabbing his pack from the back seat.
"I think we’re going to need new transportation," Zach said, poking his finger into one of the Jeep’s new bullet holes.
"Let's get to the cabin and let Rank and the guys know what happened. We need to plan our response," Maria said, grabbing her own pack and heading toward the driveway.
Maddie narrowed her eyes and glanced over at her mother.
Beth frowned.
"What?" Maddie asked.
"Oh, nothing," Beth said.
"It's never nothing with you," Maddie said, grabbing her pack and following after Maria.
“What's that about," Jason asked.
"Nothing," Beth said.
As they passed the pawpaw trees, Maddie's stomach growled so loud that Jacob turned to look at her.
"I'm starving. Too bad we gathered all the pawpaws already. I'm about to drop."
She stopped and dropped her pack. After unzipping it, she pulled out an empty water bottle followed by a drenched bag of jerky. Running her hand around inside her rucksack, she pulled out a soggy bag of dried fruit.
"A round must have hit my pack. Everything’s soaked."
Maria stopped, reached into her pack, and produced a package of nuts and some dried fruit, followed by a bottle of water. She held them out to Maddie.
As Maddie shoved dried apricots into her mouth and washed them down with water, she tried to get the image of Rank and Maria together out of her mind. It was silly. She knew it was. She just had never seen Rank with anyone. She knew Rank would never see her as anything but a kid sister, but she resented the ease with which Rank and Maria interacted. She wanted to be happy for them if they ultimately got together, but a part of her just wasn't ready.
As they rounded the barn and headed toward the cabin, Maddie saw Rank standing on the porch with his hand on the handle of the screen door. Roger stood beside him tightening the straps on his pack. Buster ran over and nudged Maddie's hand. As Maddie ruffled the fur behind his ears, she looked around for Mugsbie. He was lying under the shade of the oak tree next to the barn. He lifted his head, then put it back down.
He’s still sad about Ron.
"You guys back already?" Rank asked, turning to face them. "We didn't expect you until after dark."
"We ran into trouble," Maria and Maddie said at the same time.
Maddie shot Maria a dirty look. Maria raised her eyebrows and stiffened, slightly. Maddie stepped past her and approached Rank. Roger walked up beside them.
"What kind of trouble," Roger said.
"Let's go in. I only want to tell the story once," Maddie said, looking over her shoulder.
If Maria was upset, she didn't show it. Maddie felt momentarily guilty for her attitude. She was acting like a brat. She knew it. But right now, she didn't have time for guilt. There was too much at stake.
Harmony and Dawn were huddled over the wood cookstove preparing something, while Ryan sat at the dining table with Krista. On a long, white cloth lie black gun parts along with the contents of a gun cleaning kit. Krista was all smiles as she inspected the rifle barrel she held in her hands. The smell of Hoppes gun oil, and whatever food was boiling in the iron pot on the stove didn't mix well. Maddie's stomach began to feel a little queasy. She was likely still dehydrated. She needed to lie down, but they needed to fill the group in on the new threat, eat, and get back on the road to Houston before it got dark. Judge Farley was probably getting pissed that they hadn’t arrived yet.
Rank, Roger, Ryan, and Krista sat on one side of the table across from Maddie, Maria, and Jacob. Maddie listened as Maria filled them all in on what occurred after Maddie and Jacob were forced to flee the Jeep.
"Down to your last mag? How lucky is that?" Jacob said.
Ryan, Roger, and Rank stared at Jacob. Maria turned in her seat.
"That wasn't luck. That was training."
"I know," Jacob said sheepishly.
"When I found out that those guys would shoot at anything that would move, I just kept giving them targets to shoot at until they ran out of ammo."
"Smart," Jacob said.
"So," Maddie said. "What are we going to do about the Jewells?"
Maddie turned her back on Maria and stared at Rank.
"We can't be pinned down here at the cabin with the military pulling out tomorrow. We have to get to Houston and get that prison secured before they do."
"We'll get Lugnut and Zach and go see if the Jewells have any more ambushes set up along the road," Rank said.
“Who's going to guard the cabin and Ron's place if you’re out on the highway?" Maddie asked.
"You aren't going back out there are you?" Krista asked.
"We have to. We have to get Judge Farley's list and get the people over to the prison. The military is pulling out tomorrow," Maddie said.
The door opened and everyone turned.
"You can't go back out there, Maddie. It’s too dangerous. Let Jacob, Roger, and Maria go," Beth said as she unslung her rifle and placed it next to the cabinet by the door.
Maddie felt a vice-like pain in her temples. She took a deep breath before she answered. Maddie knew her mom was overprotective. It just annoyed her, and she didn't have time to dance around her mom's feelings today.
"She has to go," Maria said, turning in her seat. She stood and faced Beth. "That judge isn't going to give that list to anyone but Maddie. Roger can still come with us. Right, Roger?"
"Sure, I haven't seen the prison. I wanted to get a feel for the distance and terrain, anyway," Roger said.
"Wait. Who is guarding the cabin?” Maddie asked.
“Jason, Beth, and Harmony," Rank said.
Harmony turned and smiled.
"And me," Ryan said.
Maddie looked at him. She looked at his pupils. He didn't look high.
“How's your pain today?" Maddie asked him.
"I'm good. I'm not smoking today."
"And hooch?"
"Na. Too early in the day for drinking that shit."
"You'll stay in the cabin?"
"I will, Mom," Ryan said, a broad grin on his face.
"I guess we don't have much choice. We have to get to Houston. We really need more people to secure this place. We should talk to the neighbors about setting up roadblocks and stuff, I guess," Maddie said as she stood.
Maddie walked over to her mom. She reached out and rubbed the back of her mother's arm.
"I know you’re worried about me. I'll have Roger and Maria. The guys are going to patrol the road and clear out any threat before we head out. I love you, and we'll be back after we get the volunteers set to guard the prison."
"Why you, Maddie? Why does it have to be you?"
Maddie leaned in and whispered, "Because I'm Greg Langston's daughter, and this is what he would’ve done."
She squeezed Beth's arm and kissed her on the cheek. Beth grabbed her and hugged her tight.
"You just be careful out there. Don't take any chances, okay?" Beth whispered in Maddie's ear.
"I won't, Mom. My babysitters will see to that," Maddie said, pointing to Roger and Maria.
Chapter 7
The Farm
Evening Shade, Missouri
Event + 20 Days
To Maddie's surprise, Zack had managed to get Ron's old truck started, but it coughed and sputtered and then died completely.
"I almost have it figured out. I wish we would’ve stopped by that guy's house—the one Dave told us about. He would probably know why it won't run,” Zach said.
Ron had converted his old, Ford pickup to run on a gasifier. A couple of old, metal drums stood upright in the truck's bed with valves and pipes running from the smaller drum attached to it.
"When we get this situation with the Jewells figured out, we'll go pay him a visit," Roger said.
Rank threw his leg over the seat of the all-terrain vehicle and turned the key.
"Lugnut and I will ride the ATVs, and Zack will take his bike. We’ll ride ahead of you. Give us about a fifteen-minute head start before you head out."