by Eric Vall
“Why?” I asked, and I narrowed in on her.
“There were stories,” she said, and she looked down at her hands on the table. “Terrible stories.”
“I heard them too,” Rolly said. “But I thought those were just meant to scare the kids.”
“They were,” Betty said. “But those were the fake stories, the real ones are even worse.”
“What’s going on?” Jenny asked, and the three of us looked over to see her standing in the kitchen doorway.
“Go back to bed,” Betty said softly. “Everything is okay.”
“Are you sure?” the redheaded girl asked, and she rubbed her eyes.
“Yes,” the older woman said with a soft, but firm, tone. “We just need to talk now.”
“Okay,” Jenny said with a wary look, and she turned around and headed upstairs.
“I’m sorry,” Betty apologized. “I don’t want my granddaughter hearing this.”
“I understand.” I nodded. “But we need you to tell us what you know about those people.”
“Years ago,” Betty started, and she began to pick her thumb while she spoke. “Years ago there was a police raid up in the mountains.”
“Police?” Rolly asked, and he leaned in closer. “What for?”
“They had got a call,” Betty said with a shrug. “I don’t remember what about, but I heard it on the scanner.”
“What did they find?” I asked.
“Well,” Betty said, and she took a shaky breath. “I had a friend on the force, he was up there that night. Mind you this was years and years ago.”
“What did he see?” Rolly asked with a hard voice.
“He said they found babies,” Betty breathed.
“Babies?” Rolly asked.
“Yeah,” the old woman said softly. “They had all come from the daughter of the family.”
“I’m guessing the dad was someone in the family too,” I said.
“Yes.” Betty closed her eyes and nodded. “It was like a cult or something. They were trying to repopulate the planet with their genes.”
“Repopulate?” Rolly asked. “But there’s still so many people, how could they think the world needed repopulating?”
“Word had it that they were all kinda inbred,” Betty explained. “None of them ever went to school, they just stayed up there with their parents, generation after generation.”
“What happened to the kids?” Rolly asked.
“As far as I knew they were put into foster care,” Betty said. “Though I don’t think anyone in the family faced any charges for it.”
“What?” Rolly asked. “That’s incest.”
“Yes,” Betty agreed. “But the girl was young, and since the kids belonged to the brother or the dad, they just removed the girl and the kids. I’m sure they had some sort of fine, and I think the dad spent a few weeks in jail, but nothing else came of it.”
“That’s terrible.” The old man frowned.
“I thought so too,” Betty agreed. “But that’s why we don’t go up on the mountain. There’s something wrong with those people.”
“I don’t doubt that,” I told Betty with a soft voice, since I could see that story had shaken her. “And I appreciate you telling us.”
“You have to be careful, Tav,” Betty said, and she grabbed my hand and looked me in the eye. “Those people aren’t right.”
“We will,” I said. “We know all that we can now, it’s time to make a plan.”
“Are we safe here?” Betty asked, and she looked at me with wide eyes.
“I believe so,” I said. “I think they targeted Briar because he was alone.”
“There’s a lot of people staying here right now,” Rolly added. “Keep someone on watch and make sure to keep an eye on the back woods.”
“This situation is unsettling,” Betty expressed her feelings. “I’m concerned for Briar, but I also worry about my grandkids’ safety.”
“They’ll be fine,” I assured her. “If you really don’t feel safe, you’re welcome to come to the campus as soon as you want.”
“I just might take you up on that,” Betty said seriously. “Now, if you all have got your information, I’ll ask you kindly to go, I don’t want the whole house waking up and worrying.”
“I understand.” I smiled gently at the woman. “And please let us know if you need anything.”
“I will,” the old woman said, and she led us to the door.
“Everything okay?” Dan called from his guard post as we walked to the truck.
“It will be.” I smiled at the young man.
“That’s pretty vague,” he chuckled. “But I guess I’ll take it.”
“I’d appreciate that,” I said.
Rolly and I hopped in the truck once more, and I took it slow down the driveway.
We rode in silence down the dark road with the headlights leading our way. I could feel the tension in the cab of the truck, and I knew that part of it was my own. What Betty had told us was disturbing, to say the least, and though I had plenty more questions, I wasn’t going to push an old woman to continue to talk about a subject that already made her uncomfortable. We had more information than we did earlier, and for the moment that was enough.
I pulled up to the campus and saw the girls looking down at us from the rooftop with Winchester standing by Bailey.
“We’re coming up.” I smiled at them.
“Okay,” Anna called down.
I led Rolly up to the roof, and we all took a seat in the chairs, and Winchester laid in the middle of the circle.
“So what did Betty say?” Paige asked.
“Well, she wasn’t happy about us asking,” I said, and she raised a brow.
“What do you mean?” the brunette asked with concern.
“She seemed upset,” Rolly said with a frown.
“I hope we didn’t get you into trouble,” Paige said.
“Oh, no,” the old man said. “I could just tell that it brought up bad memories for her.”
“Well, what was it?” Paige asked again. “What did she say?”
“Apparently there was some big thing years ago,” Rolly started.
“Yeah,” I said. “The people that live up there are inbred and the daughter got taken because she had several babies by her father and brother.”
“Ew,” Paige grimaced.
“Right,” Tara agreed with a grimace.
“It’s like The Hills Have Eyes meets Wrong Turn,” Anna said.
“Anna.” Bailey eyed the redhead. “Why do you seem excited about this?”
“I’m sorry,” Anna said, and she bit her lip. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, it’s just like a horror movie come to life.”
“I don’t see how that’s anything to be excited about,” Tara chuckled.
“I’d have to agree with Tara,” Rolly smirked.
“Right,” the redhead said again. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I smiled gently at Anna. “But we need to remember what’s important here.”
“They have Briar,” Bailey said with a frown.
“Right,” I said. “So we need a plan to get him back.”
“What did you have in mind?” Tara asked.
“Well,” I started. “We have an advantage right now.”
“What’s that?” Rolly asked.
“We didn’t disarm any of their traps,” I said. “So we know where they are.”
“But they don’t know that we know,” Anna continued.
“Yes,” I said. “But we also have a disadvantage.”
“There could be more traps we don’t know about” Bailey said, and she bit her pink bottom lip.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “And they have someone on guard.”
“I say we go in during the day,” Anna said with an air of authority.
“Why during the day?” Paige asked.
“If there are other traps, it will be easier to see them.” I smiled at the redhead. “Good call.”
“Okay.” Tara nodded. “So we go in during the day, but what’s our plan of attack?”
“Hang on,” Paige said, and she sprang up out of her chair and ran into the dorm building.
“Where is she going?” Anna asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said.
“We needed paper,” Paige came rushing back through the door breathing heavily. “It will help if we can draw it out.”
“Good thinking,” I told the brunette.
I drew out an outline of the hillbilly’s camp and marked where the booby traps we knew of were.
“So there’s a junkyard out there?” Rolly asked as he looked at the sketch.
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “We hid behind an old boat when we were there.”
“What if we wait until most of them go inside and then we light the place on fire,” Tara suggested.
“Whoa,” Bailey said with wide eyes.
“What?” the platinum blonde asked with a shrug.
“It’s not a bad plan,” I said. “But this is fall, and we don’t want to start a forest fire that we can’t put out.”
“He’s right,” Rolly agreed. “If we did that, then we would be in deep shit if it came our way.”
“Oh, yeah,” Tara said with a frown. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “It was a good thought.”
“Well, these guys are sneaky, right?” Anna asked, and I nodded. “What if we beat them at their own game?”
“How do you mean?” I asked, and I leaned back to listen to the redhead’s pitch.
“We go in during the day,” she started. “And we take them out one by one.”
“How would we do that without them noticing?” Bailey questioned.
“You,” Tara said, and she turned to Bailey excitedly. “You can use my silenced Ruger and take out the guy on guard duty.”
“What about everyone else, then?” I pushed, since I wanted to see if the girls could come up with a viable plan.
“I bet they’ll come out during the day,” Anna said. “We can each post up and take a target that’s in our zone.”
“Okay.” I nodded, and I looked at the crude map I had drawn up and traced out five zones and positions that I thought would work well.
“Why are there only five?” Rolly asked, and his gray brows pinched together.
“I know you’re upset about Briar too,” I said, and I looked the old man in his eyes. “But I think it would be better if you stayed here on guard duty.”
“I understand,” Rolly said. “But just because I’m sitting this one out don’t think I’m not capable.”
“Never,” I told him with a smile. “You work your ass off for us all the time.”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “Let us handle some of the heavy lifting.”
“Alright,” the old man said.
“Good.” I grinned back at him, then I looked at each of the girls. “We need to remember that we’re dealing with an enemy that’s well armed.”
“Right,” Tara said. “Vests are a must.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “We have some helmets too from the Guard outpost, and I want everyone in one of those as well.”
“Okay,” Anna said with a hard nod.
“So we stick to our zones,” Paige clarified. “And we wait for Bailey to take out the guy on guard duty.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But we’ll have to be careful if Briar is still in the yard.”
“And we don’t know for sure how many people there are,” Bailey said with a frown.
“Right.” I nodded. “You focus on taking out the guy in the guard tower. Once he’s gone and everyone else starts shooting, I want you to take out anyone who comes out of the house or anybody that you see through the windows.”
“Got it,” the blonde said.
“Everyone else stick to your zones,” I said. “Keep cover on you and be careful, there’s bound to be more traps than we know of right now.”
“Let’s fucking do this,” Tara said.
“Yeah, fuck those inbred fucks,” Anna added.
“Alright,” I said. “We’ll leave in the morning. Rolly, do you have keys for this dorm building?”
“Yeah,” the old man said. “Haven’t used them in a while though.”
“We’ll lock the door tomorrow,” I told him. “I don’t want anyone to have a way of getting to you.”
“Okay.” Rolly smiled softly.
With the plan set I prepared us a small dinner and sent everyone but Rolly to bed early, I knew it was asking a lot to have him on guard duty for so long, but he understood that this was an extreme circumstance.
I waved goodnight to the old man and headed down to the dorms to curl up with my girls, I looked around at their sleeping faces and remembered what fearless, compassionate warriors each of them were.
Those asshole hillbillies had better be ready, because my team was, and we took no prisoners.
Chapter 9
The next morning I woke at dawn like usual and headed up to the roof where Anna was on guard duty.
“Hey.” I smiled at the redhead.
“Morning,” she said.
“How was watch?” I asked.
“I didn’t see anything,” she said.
“Good,” I said. “Are you ready for today?”
“I’m always ready for a fight,” the redhead said, and she grinned wide.
“I know you are,” I chuckled.
Rolly opened the door to the roof, and he came out with the rest of the girls.
“Good morning,” Paige said. Her long brown hair was not yet in its messy bun for the day, and it fell around her shoulders in a cascade of beautiful chestnut.
“Hey,” I said.
“Are we ready for today?” Tara asked.
“I am.” Bailey smiled, and she reached down to pet Winchester who happily wagged his tail.
“What time are we leaving?” Paige asked.
“In an hour or two,” I said. “I want to give it time for the sun to fully rise.”
“I’ll go check the traps,” Rolly offered.
“I’ll come,” Anna said, and she smiled at the old man.
“Okay,” I said. “You two be careful out there. I’m going to get things ready for our trip.”
“I’ll fix us some breakfast,” Tara offered with a smile.
“I’ll take watch,” Bailey said, and she smiled at Paige. “You can go get ready.”
“Thanks,” the brunette said.
I looked around at my group and smiled. They were all supportive of each other and helpful, and I was happy to have them on my team.
Everyone dispersed, and I headed to the gym to gather us some provisions. I made sure not to pack too much since this was intended to only be a day trip, then I gathered us some ammo and filled up the truck with gas.
I found Paige and Tara cooking near the fire pit, so I sat down with them for a moment.
“Are you all nervous for today?” I asked.
“No way,” Tara said, and she shook her head. “I’m stoked.”
“I’m a bit nervous,” Paige admitted. “I don’t like attacking a place I’ve never been.”
“Smart girl,” I said. “It’s okay to be apprehensive, this is not your typical attack plan.”
“Yeah,” Tara said. “But don’t worry, we’ll all be there to have your back.”
“Thanks,” the brunette said. “Let’s hope you don’t get shot again.”
“I will fuck somebody up if they shoot me,” the platinum blonde seethed. “That shit hurt.”
“I know it did,” I chuckled. “But you handled it like a champ.”
“Thanks,” the platinum blonde said, and she winked at me. “You know I can take it.”
“It’s too early for all that,” Paige laughed.
“It’s never too early,” Tara cooed, and she pushed her chest out toward me.
I had a smart remark all prepare
d, but just then Anna and Rolly returned from checking traps, and their faces told me that something was off.
“What’s wrong?” I asked seriously and I shot to my feet.
“We should go on the roof,” Anna ordered.
“Okay,” I said with a nod. I wasn’t about to argue, I knew that she must have a reason for calling us up there.
“My breakfast will burn,” Tara said. “I’ll stay here and cook.”
I looked to Anna, and her face showed distress, so I turned back to the platinum blonde.
“Take the skillet off the fire,” I instructed. “Everyone needs to come to the roof now.”
The girls could hear the seriousness in my voice, and nobody argued, so I led us up to the roof where Bailey sat with Winchester at her feet.
“Hey,” the blonde said as we walked into the cold morning air once more.
“Everyone take a seat,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” Bailey asked, and the smile dropped from her face.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But Anna and Rolly will tell us.”
“We saw footprints,” the redhead whispered.
“Were they new?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed in on her and Rolly.
“They were new,” Rolly said. “Only a few hours old it looked like.”
“Were they the same footprints as last time?” I asked.
“I’m sure of it,” the old man said. “But there was more than one set this time.”
“Shit,” I breathed.
“They were watching us last night?” Bailey asked with a panicked voice.
“Seems that way,” I said with a hard tone.
“Fuck,” Tara said, and she shook her head.
“Do you think they heard our plan?” Paige asked with wide eyes.
“No,” I said. “We were careful to whisper.”
“Then why are you still frowning?” Bailey asked.
“I’m still worried that they might have heard something, even if the chance was small,” I admitted. “Anna, you were on guard duty last night, are you sure you didn’t see anything?”
“Nothing,” Anna said, and she shook her head in despair. “I can’t believe I missed it.”
“I was on duty before her,” Paige interjected. “And I didn’t see anything either.”
“What do we do?” Paige asked, and I could hear the panic in her voice.
“Hmmm,” I said as I thought through our options. “I want to push back our attack. They’ve been watching us, so let’s watch them for another day. If they do think we are going to attack them today, then it will throw them off their game.”