“Dillon?” she asked, fear dancing in her eyes.
“He volunteered to be the last one at the post, to give us the best chance. He will catch up with us.”
Carly bit her lip and her eyes brimmed. “You’ll make sure of it?”
“I will,” Blake said earnestly. “Be safe. Stay in the middle of the group.”
She nodded, biting at her trembling lip again.
Blake squeezed her shoulder before walking toward his family.
“Let’s go,” he said before reaching down to take Tucker’s hand and then Kris’s. Butler followed silently behind them.
He second guessed himself about bringing Butler along, but he told the guards the truth. He would be a vital source of information, someone who was trained to observe and report. He would give them all the intel needed about the circumstances in the city and the men that would be funneling into their camp in a matter of minutes.
His family, now loaded down with packs and standing next to their carts, was ready. Was he? Was he ready to take fifty people into the wilderness and survive off the land?
~*~
Kris watched in horror as people screamed and cried in the meeting area. Everyone wore packs or baskets. Mothers and fathers held the shaking hands of their panicked children. Terror filed everyone’s voice.
“Where are we going?”
“Will they catch us?”
“We will freeze to death!”
Arland did his best to calm everyone’s fears, but their fear was too great to listen to his calm rationings.
Blake shifted his weight next to her, urgency pouring off him. She lifted a hand and rested it on one of his folded arms.
“Blake, you have to go talk to them.”
“Arland’s their leader,” he said between clenched teeth.
“You hold the power to break through their fear. They don’t need a calming leader right now, they need a commander.”
“I agree with your wife, sir. You could lead an army into hell itself.” Butler met his gaze, and then looked out into the chaotic group. “Either that or leave them to get slaughtered.”
Kris gasped, appalled that the man could think such a thing. When she met him with her hard glare, though, he nodded toward Blake. Her husband’s jaw muscles worked, and his hands clenched and unclenched. Then he strode toward the stump where Arland did his best to calm the crowd.
Kris saw the relief fill Arland’s eyes when they met Blake’s. He mouthed the words, thank you, as he stepped down for Blake to take his place.
Whispers traveled through the crowd. She heard the name Survivalist repeated over and over. Soon every eye was on her husband. She sent him strength and said a small prayer, asking for the others to listen to him. He had commanded soldiers; certainly he could command this community who prepared to fight for their survival—a battle for their life.
“Fear is not a bad thing. It is a tool,” he called out in his most commanding voice. “A tool that needs to be managed and aimed, just like a hammer or an arrow. Right now you need to aim that fear in a direction that will serve you best. You aim it toward survival.”
A few people yelled out agreement.
“Use that fear to push your body to walk as fast and as far as possible. Use that fear to ensure you have your family’s wellbeing in mind. Use it to carry you away from the danger that is advancing toward us. Use it to survive!”
The cheer this time held more strength. Kris watched them and turned back to her husband. He didn’t have them all yet. She watched him meet eyes with each group, and then linger on Pastor Rob.
“Right now is a time for faith. We all have been shown mercy before. We were all delivered from disaster over a year ago, and we survived. No, we thrived!”
Blake paused, waiting for the crowd to quiet. Kris’s heart thundered, he almost had everyone.
“We will thrive again. Have faith we will be delivered from this darkness and kept warm by its embrace. We are leading you to a land of beauty and abundance. A place for new Forest Glen to thrive again!”
Everyone, even the children, cheered loudly. They would follow him now, but as she saw his eyes rest once more on Pastor Rob, she knew he had an even greater plan. A way to cement that faith into them by stealing a few more minutes they really didn’t have. Yet, united, they stood a much better chance than not. Yes, her husband was a commander.
He held up his hand one last time and the crowd quieted. “Before we begin our new journey, let us have Pastor Rob send us off with a blessing and a prayer for mercy.”
Pastor Rob quickly made his way up to the stump. He took Blake’s hand in his and met his eyes with a deep inner faith she wished he could see in them all.
“You saved us all, today,” he said before stepping onto the stump.
“As Moses led the Israelites into the promised land, so will we be led into safety. Bow your heads with me.”
As Pastor Rob led them in prayer, Kris felt a shift in the community. An inner peace filled her as if each person shared their peace with everyone else. It was an understanding, a belief that they would thrive, that they would keep their faith and make it to their own version of the promised land. It felt like the granting of mercy.
~4~
Blake stood at the front of the line with his family, and now Butler, by his side. Snow fell down softly at first but it rapidly increased its pace. Mercy had woken up and was cooing and gurgling happily at Tucker.
“Look at that! Mercy has her top tooth, just like in my...” Tucker’s eyes grew wide as he looked toward Butler and back.
“She sure does, doesn’t she?” Blake acted like Tucker hadn’t almost spilled his greatest intel in front of a man he really had no idea if he could trust. Sure he had trusted Butler with his life while they served together, but times have changed, people have changed, and every man really only fought for himself and his own family.
“My son had just gotten his first few teeth before I left, too.” Butler pushed forth a sad smile. “I bet he’s walking by now.”
“Mercy can’t walk yet, but she can say Dada. Can’t you baby sister? Say Dada.” Tucker talked with her.
“Dada, Dada,” she said reaching toward Blake.
Blake started toward her and her smiling mom who held her in her wrap, when he heard the commotion. Down the other side of the hill was Dillon scrambling down the slope as fast as he could.
“It’s time.” Blake’s heart felt like it would stop, and then it began to race. “Kris, do you remember how I told you to go?”
“Yes, but...”
Blake ended her rebuttal with a kiss. He bent down to his son. “Tuck, you remember as well. I know you do. Help your mom and sister. Do your best to move the cart. If it becomes too much, push it aside and I will bring it when I catch back up. I’m counting on you, son.”
“I won’t let you down, Dad.”
“You never do.” He kissed the top of his son’s head and then his daughter’s. “We always return to each other.”
“We always return to each other,” they said together and Kris tugged Tucker to move along with her.
“Sir?” Butler shifted his weight.
“Come with me,” Blake said as he turned and started off at a jog.
“Yes, sir.”
“Use that fear and faith to push you forward. Move your families along as quickly as possible,” he called as he moved through the line of people.
On his way he grabbed Arland, David, Mitchel, the military men, Kevin and John, and a couple other men with guns.
“We take up the rear. When Dillon catches up, we’ll decide how to proceed,” Blake told the men assembled with him.
The line felt like it lasted forever. He remembered Pastor Rob’s statement. How did Moses lead that many people out of Egypt? Blake shook his head. The fifty or so he had felt overwhelming. Several of the children already complained, and they hadn’t even made a hundred yards.
They would have to dump some loads in the carts and tr
avois in order to make room for children. They would never make it otherwise, and the trek would only get more difficult as the snow piled up. He stopped his pace as he came alongside Tyler, the young man who had eyes for Hannah.
“Tyler, I need you to run ahead. Tucker will have a shovel in his cart. Take it and have him lead you ahead the trail a good mile and start digging a deep hole.”
Tyler’s expression showed his confusion and almost horror.
“It will be for a cache. We will need to start carrying children soon. I’d rather gear get stored for later retrieval than have some not make it.”
“Agreed. Will do, sir.”
He turned to Hannah. “Would you go with him and take over the cart Tucker is pulling? I’m sure Kris will appreciate your company.”
“Of course, Blake.” She smiled as if they weren’t being chased down by marauders. The innocence of young love. He shook his head.
People were on their way to attack them, take what they had worked so hard to attain, and kill any who got in their way. Blake needed to focus on the task at hand. His family and their community were not safe yet.
It would be a taxing, arduous journey, one that he prayed everyone would survive, but first he had to keep the bad guys from following them. Otherwise those prayers would be worthless.
Blake and his nine comrades hid themselves in the trees at the edge of camp. Several of their hands shook, with cold or fear he couldn’t be certain.
“Remember those hand-warmers you could buy when you went skiing?” David asked.
“Yeah, you shook them to activate them,” another guy responded.
“What I wouldn’t give for some of those right now.” David smiled.
“I’d be fine with a real pair of gloves,” another said, blowing into his hands.
“Butler, how many are in this coalition and what is the normal protocol?” Blake asked while the men bantered about cold hands.
“This unit has about a hundred men. There are more, but we split at the Jackson junction. Meyers leads this division and sends the most expendable force in first with orders to kill anyone they feel will be trouble. This first battalion is ruthless, lawless, and downright evil if you ask me. They don’t get fed much, and that does something to a man’s brain.”
“I’ve seen that before.” Blake nodded, pushing the memories into the recesses of his mind.
“Meyers’ men aren’t far behind, to make sure the first battalion doesn’t get too out of hand. Bullets are a scarcity, though, so this first group only gets a handful. After that, they resort to their swords, axes, or whatever they can get their hands on.”
“Straight out of Vikings,” one of the men said.
Blake turned and watched them. Only Butler, Kevin, and John, besides himself, had any military experience. How would he hold out on an organized force of a hundred men?
Dillon had almost made it to them. Maybe he wouldn’t have to face that army.
“Will they follow?” Blake asked, blinking back the snowflakes catching in his eyelashes.
Butler shrugged. “Depends on what they got from the neighborhood and what you all have left in the shelters. I’ll tell you what, though, it would be the first time we ever strayed into the forest. They hit houses and bunkers. They would have no idea how to survive in the wilderness.”
“Then we’ll use that to our advantage.” Blake grit his teeth and watched the horizon on the other side of the camp for any movement.
~*~
Kris’s hands already felt tender, and she knew blisters were forming. She led the line, ignoring the discomfort. Showing weakness was not an option. Yet, every step she took weighed her down. Between the heavy pack, Mercy in the front, and the cart, she would have to pull from her deepest reserves to make it the five to eight miles Blake wanted to accomplish before sundown.
“Tucker,” Tyler said as he ran up to them with Hannah just behind. “Your dad gave us a job. We need your shovel, and you need to run ahead with me about a mile up the trail.”
“What’s going on?” Kris asked, pulling up to a stop.
“Blake asked Tyler to have Tucker show him the trail and start digging a cache. I swear he thinks of everything. He said the kids will need to be carried soon, so caching the gear is our best bet.” Hannah said.
Kris nodded. She had to agree, Blake did think of almost everything, but sending their son ahead without them? “I’ll go.”
Tyler stopped from helping Tucker search for the shovel and looked at her. “No offense, Mrs. Chantry, but with your baby and the pack, you won’t be able to run very fast.”
“Mom, I got this. I’ll only be a mile ahead, and the bad guys are behind us, not in front. Animals will be holed up in this storm.”
“What if you get lost?” She worried about not being able to find her son in the storm. Horror rocked through her.
“I have the landmarks, Mom. As long as you remember them, too, we’ll find each other again.” He looked down at the snow starting to build up on the ground. “Besides, you can follow our footprints.”
As much as she didn’t want to let him go, she kissed him on the forehead, and whispered. “We always return to each other.”
“We always return to each other.” He kissed his sister and then took off at a jog. “Come on, Tyler. This way.” He waved the young man to him.
“I’ll see you soon.” Tyler held gazes with Hannah who nodded before he took off to follow Tucker.
“I like how you guys always say that same thing when you part. It’s very sweet and meaningful.” Hannah picked up the handles to the cart Tucker left behind.
“Blake started it when he had to go on his missions, and he has always made it back.”
“Just like on the day it all happened.” Hannah’s gaze followed Tyler as he disappeared behind the trees and sheet of falling snow.
“Like that,” Kris said, feeling her heart sink when she could no longer see Tucker.
“Tyler is good in the woods. He’ll keep Tucker safe.”
Kris nodded. Tucker was resourceful. As long as they found each other on this non-trail, he would be okay. At least, that’s what she told herself.
Mercy fussed and started rooting. Kris looked back at the long line of people following her. She didn’t want to delay them further. Increasing her pace, she lengthened the distance between her and the group behind her.
“I’m not sure the others can keep up this pace, Kris,” Hannah panted after a short while.
Kris glanced behind her. The distance should give her enough time. “I don’t expect them to.” She said as she dropped the handles of the cart and adjusted her wrap so Mercy could nurse, and then she tucked the wrap over her head. Kris quickly touched her daughter’s tiny hands and feet through the wrap to make sure they were covered and warm. Once reassured with Mercy happily gulping her lunch, she pulled out her gloves from from her pockets. The warmth helped soothe her hands, but not for long. Picking the handles of the cart, her palms still screamed even through the extra layer.
“That wrap is pretty handy isn’t it?” Hannah said as she picked up the other cart and followed her.
“It is a life saver.” It truly was. Kris didn’t want to remember all the times having Mercy tied to her had saved her daughter. Too many to count. Hopefully this new location would provide the haven that Laurie thought it would. She could use a break from constant threats and fighting for her life and the life of her family.
“You helped Janene make one, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I helped her set it up before we left.” Kris looked back as best she could. “I hope she’s doing well back there.”
“We’ll be okay, right? I mean, Blake wouldn’t lead us into harm?”
“We’re choosing the lesser of two evils, Hannah. This journey won’t be easy.”
“We’ve been through worse.” Hannah smiled at her.
“Yes, I guess we have.” Kris did her best to return the girl’s smile, but it felt more like a grimace.
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From what she could gather with her limited skills, she guessed that they might be a mile to a mile and a half in. Her hands had already blistered even through her gloves, her feet already felt frozen, and her back screamed at having so much weight on it.
Hannah was right, though. They had been through worse. She had pushed through more physical pain than this. She could do it again.
“Wait! Stop!” a woman yelled from somewhere down the line.
Kris eyed Hannah, looked up ahead where her son’s footprints filled in with snow, and then set the cart down.
“We don’t have time for this.” Kris could hear Blake’s voice coming through her.
It all hit her then, she was leading the camp. Blake and the others were at the end of the long line, probably waiting at the trailhead to make sure they weren’t followed. As Hannah watched her, she realized so did everyone else.
Laurie wove her way up through the line until she, Ethan, and their cart were right alongside them.
“What’s going on back there?” Kris asked.
“Marie is having a difficult time to get her three year old son to keep moving. She can’t carry him and their pack, much less pull their cart.”
“Tyler and Tucker are working on a solution right now, but we need to make it there. Can someone else pull the cart and carry the boy for another half-mile or so?” Kris asked.
People started to complain and whine. Where was Blake and his inspiring talk now? She wasn’t a leader, and Laurie wasn’t stepping up. In fact, the other woman looked to her as did everyone else.
“I know herbs, plants, and things like that. I don’t know how to get them moving.” Laurie shrugged.
With a sigh, Kris shouldered out of her pack. “How far back is she?”
“Only a hundred feet or so.”
Kris nodded and hoofed her way through the churned up snow until she saw Marie crouching next to her crying son. David, her husband, must be with Blake. Their other two children stood by, adjusting the packs they wore.
Marie looked up at her. “I can’t get him to walk any further.” The tears in her eyes spoke of her desperation.
Grant Us Mercy (Book 5): Grant Us Mercy Page 3