by Sage du Toit
Sherry sat back and looked around at the other women. “I know it’s getting late, and my story is long, but I think all of you need to know more in order to judge these men. This house belonged to my parents. I’ve never met you other women and I’m sorry that these men couldn’t be stopped before they took you, but believe you me, we tried!” Sherry nodded toward the woman sitting next to her that was holding her hand.
“Bonnie and I started dating in college and she came home with me for the summer. It was supposed to be a relaxing fun summer break, but who could have predicted the nerve gas that changed all of our lives?”
Sam saw Bonnie squeeze Sherry’s hand. Bonnie had bright red curly hair and green eyes, with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Sam thought she was one of the prettiest women she had ever seen, but she had a haunted look on her face of someone that had been through hell.
Sherry went on to tell them how they had survived the nerve gas thanks to her Dad. He was an architect that designed and built custom homes and had specially designed their house and when it was built, he had top quality of everything installed including a fallout shelter that was below the house. She explained that the shelter was airtight and had a controlled ventilation system that kept them from getting sick. Her Dad had connections high up that contacted him as soon as the attack happened and he got everyone down into the shelter.
She said there were six of them in the shelter; herself, Bonnie, her Dad, Mom, the gardener, Jose and their house keeper, Margaret. They had spent the first four months after the nerve gas attack in the shelter. She explained that it was very cramped with six people because it was originally built to house just the four people in their family. Sherry got a really sad look and then explained that the fourth member of her family was her twin brother that had died the previous year.
Sherry glared at Craig again and explained that he and her brother Jerry had been friends. Craig would come over to the house all of the time and play video games with her brother. One night he came over when their parents weren’t home and they all sampled her Dad’s liquor cabinet. She said that after a few drinks she went to bed and when she woke up in the morning, it was to her mother telling her that Craig and Jerry had taken her Dad’s Corvette for a joy ride. Craig had been driving and he crashed the car into a tree. Craig had walked away without a scratch, but her brother Jerry was killed on impact.
They charged Craig with theft of the car and man-slaughter. Sherry said she didn’t think her Dad did anything more to punish Craig, other than hiring the best lawyer he could get to prosecute him. She said she knew that Craig didn’t mean to kill Jerry but she also knew that taking her Dad’s prized Corvette for a joy ride would never have her brother’s idea.
Sherry had wiped her tears from her face and continued on to tell them how her Dad had gone out of the shelter when they ran out of food and brought them all out with gas masks. He had been the first one to take his gas mask off inside of the house. She said her Dad had gone to all of the neighbor’s homes and checked on them and told them everyone was dead. They had thought they were alone.
When they saw the large group of ten men coming to their house a few weeks later they had all thought it was a rescue. The men were all wearing Army camouflage and had gas masks on. They looked like soldiers with their guns and uniforms. Her Dad had let them in the house willingly and with smiles, but then things went downhill from there.
Sherry was visibly shaking as she told them how they shot her Dad and Jose right in front of them. She said they then took turns raping and beating them. She said she fought back at first but there were too many of them. She said her mother went ballistic and eventually they shot her and Margaret too.
She said at first, they were kept in the Great Room area, they had them tied up and guarded. The men found two more women somewhere and brought them there. She said the two women they brought in told them there was a group of people in Centreville that had survived and were starting a community for survivors. They worked out a plan to escape but after they were caught and brought back, the men split them up and chained them in the bedrooms so they couldn’t conspire to escape again.
Sherry said she didn’t know what happened to the other two women, but since they weren’t here, she had to assume they were dead. She knew they had captured another group of women about a month ago because she heard the women screaming. She said she was ready to give up but she knew they still had Bonnie and she couldn’t give up if there was even a chance of still saving her. Sherry had put her arm around Bonnie and hugged her close.
When Sherry stopped talking, Sam looked over at Alice, “Did Craig tell you about Sherry’s brother Jerry?”
Alice had her arms crossed and was looking accusingly at Craig, “No, he never mentioned Jerry or that he was in for man-slaughter, he just said he was in for stealing their car. Well Craig? What do you have to say for yourself? I’m not speaking up for you now! You lied to me! What else did you lie to me about?”
They were all looking at Craig now, he was looking down at his lap and refused to meet anyone’s eyes. Finally, he looked up and looked at Alice, “I’m sorry Alice. I didn’t want you to think of me as a murderer. I didn’t mean to kill my best friend! I loved him but I couldn’t ever tell him. We were just having fun! It ruined the rest of my life, I just wanted a chance! Please understand!”
Craig looked over at Sherry, “Sherry, you knew how close Jerry and I were! I’ve wanted to tell you since the accident happened that I was sorry. We shouldn’t have taken the Corvette, I admit it was a stupid thing to do after drinking.”
Sherry’s face was hard as stone as he pleaded with her. A single tear was trailing down her cheek as she told him, “Craig, my brother would have done anything for you. Didn’t you realize he was in love with you? He wasn’t just your best friend…he wanted more but he didn’t think you felt the same way he so never told you he was gay.” Craig’s face drained of blood and his jaw dropped.
Sam couldn’t help but think this sounded like a soap opera. Sherry said, “As much as I don’t want to speak up for Craig, I can tell you he never raped anyone. I know he got derided by the other guys for not participating in raping us at first, but he wasn’t the only one. Clyde over there never raped us either.” She was looking back and forth between the two men, “But that’s because you two are a couple, aren’t you?”
The two men looked at each other and nodded, “Yes, I guess it’s time I came out and admitted it. I’m gay and yes, Clyde and I have been an item since we were cellmates in prison, but once we were out, we didn’t want to separate but we knew these other guys wouldn’t accept it. It’s different in the pen, but once you’re out it’s better to pretend otherwise. So, when they gave me Alice, I had to pretend. I also didn’t want her to be given to someone else that would rape her. I may not have stopped the others from being abused but I at least prevented her from getting raped!” Craig pleaded.
Sam glanced at her watch, this soapy kept revealing more and more, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take, it was already late and it had been a long day. It was decided that Craig and Clyde would eventually be released, but for now they would be locked and chained like the women had been. The two other men had not only participated in raping the women, Bonnie’s captor, Jack, had also let the others abuse her and do unspeakable things to her while he watched. She testified that the other man had been one of those men, his name was Oscar. Janet, one of Alice’s sisters spoke up and said Oscar had been in charge of keeping her captive and even though he didn’t share her out like Jack had done, she knew what he must have done to Bonnie because she had also suffered the same abuses.
Sam listened to the women talk about the vile things that had been done to them and realized they had been through worse than hell. They were going to need some serious counseling and she wasn’t sure where they were going to get that, except maybe between themselves as a group. It was decided that the two men that were left would be execute
d for the atrocities they committed. The two men started struggling against their bonds when they heard the decision. They had to gag them and put tape over their mouths because they wouldn’t stop yelling. They knew what they had done was terrible, but they didn’t want to face the sentence the women had decided on.
The men were carried out to the garage, still taped to the dining chairs. Bonnie had requested that she be allowed to do the executions since they had done more to her than anyone else. Lights were brought out to the garage and the men were placed next to each other and Bonnie was given a gun.
She stood looking at each of them, then with tears flowing down her cheeks she lifted the gun and carefully fired two bullets without saying a word. Her hand hadn’t even shaken and both bullets hit their mark, dead center in the middle of each man’s forehead. Sam was surprised at the accuracy of her shots, even though it was up close, she wasn’t sure she could have hit so accurately in that situation.
The two dead men’s bodies were placed with the others. Tom told the women about the pile of six bodies that were out in the woods to the side of the house that was most likely the bodies of Sherry’s family and friends, based on what she had told them. They would have to dispose of all of the bodies as soon as they could.
It was already very late and everyone was tired. They quickly decided where everyone would sleep for the night. Sherry and Bonnie went to a room upstairs that was her original bedroom. Meagan’s family decided to all bunk downstairs in front of the fireplace and keep the fire going all night, it was a very chilly night and they had plenty of firewood. Sam and Tom went upstairs to where Lucky and the kittens were and bunked there for the night.
Sam was happy to finally be alone with Tom. She felt drained from the activities of the day and she still had a bit of pressure in her chest and started coughing as soon as she tried to lay down to sleep. Tom checked her over and told her she still wasn’t completely well yet and he gave her something for the cough. It also made her drowsy and soon she was fast asleep with Lucky and the kittens all on the bed laying around them.
Chapter 19
-----------------------------------------------------
17 February 2021
Brent, AL
Sam woke up to the smell of food cooking and the sound of children laughing from downstairs. Tom was still laying in the bed next to her and she could feel Lucky cuddled up to her back. Sam couldn’t help but smile, it was such a relief to know the kittens and Lucky were safe, but they had also helped to liberate these women from an awful situation. Sam didn’t feel bad about any of the men’s deaths and she was looking forward to the day ahead. She realized she needed to remain optimistic, even after all they had seen. There was also good left in this world.
Mew saw that Sam was awake and walked up her side and started rubbing her face against Sam’s. Sam cuddled and petted her and when she looked back up Tom was looking at her, “I love you, Sam. We did a good thing helping these women. But we aren’t done yet…we are going to have to help them find a safer place. Somewhere they can survive long term. I’m also thinking we need to go locate the group in Centreville, they have our gear that the prisoner’s traded for the fresh food. Maybe they can also take in this group of women.”
Sam agreed with him and they decided to talk to the woman and see if they would be interested in taking a trip with them. They also decided to take the two men with them and let Centreville know what that group had been up to. They also needed the men to testify that they stole their items and hope the Centreville group would return them without argument.
They went downstairs and received a warm “Good Morning” greeting from the whole group. The women had made a large breakfast for everyone, using some of the items the men had brought back yesterday. They had fresh sliced tomato, eggs, pancakes, hash browns, orange juice and coffee. There was also milk on the counter and when Sam tasted it, she didn’t think it tasted like reconstituted powdered milk. When she asked Janet, one of the sisters, she said it was UHT milk that the prison men had found in a warehouse. The milk carton was marked to have a shelf life of two years. Sam hadn’t heard of UHT milk but Tom knew of it, he said UHT stood for Ultra High Temperature, which referred to the pasteurization process that was used. He told them it was popular oversees but he hadn’t seen much of it here in the US so he was surprised they had found some, especially the extended shelf life type. He did warn them that once the carton was open, they would need to drink it up since they didn’t have a way to refrigerate it.
Sam sat down with her breakfast and when she tasted the eggs she was surprised again. She realized they were real and not reconstituted powdered eggs. That was when she noticed the egg shells in the garbage. That meant the group in Centreville must have live chickens! She was even more excited about going to visit them if they had live animals!
During breakfast they discussed what they wanted to do and they all agreed that going to Centreville sounded like their best bet. Even if it was just to establish a relationship with them for future trades. They also wanted to see what type of set up they had and Sam was hoping she could trade for a chicken and rooster. Eggs would be invaluable for her family back in Texas.
The group of sisters also discussed going back to their family farm. They explained that on N-day they were all there with their kids for their annual get together to can the produce from the farm and to make jam from the berries that could be found growing wild on their parent’s farm. The group of sisters were a gregarious group and the mothers and children were so happy to be back together, they made a very lively gathering.
When Sam asked them how they survived N-day they all quieted down and looked toward Meagan, she was sitting with her son Caleb in her lap. Meagan was the oldest of the sisters and Sam noticed that they often turned to her to talk for them. Meagan wrapped her arms tighter around her son and told how they had spent the day before N-day picking the fresh berries and gathering the produce they wanted to can. They were all down in the cellar of the old farm house getting out the jars and lids and going through them. She explained that the basement had been refinished a few years ago to accommodate all of them and the kids for their annual canning. They had a full kitchen, a single toilet and a play area in the large cellar so they could keep an eye on the kids while they worked. She explained that during the hot summer they spent a lot of time down in the basement because it was so much cooler.
Meagan went on to describe how they all grew up as a close family on the farm but had each gone their separate ways after college. They had all married and moved to different areas. Their annual reunion for canning was something they all looked forward to and their husbands and employers knew that getting in touch with them during that time was not easy to do. They had made it a rule that all of their cell phones went into a basket at the door so they wouldn’t be disturbed. So, when the basket started vibrating and ringing with all of their phones going off at once, they knew something big was happening. They had all checked their phones and Meagan said she had a message from her husband. He told her to get everyone into the basement, seal the doors and vents and to not go outside for anything. He also told her that if anyone wasn’t already inside it would be too late.
Meagan said that was a hard message to believe, but when her Mother went up the stairs to get their Father, Meagan stopped her before she opened the door. They looked through a closed window and could see their Father laying in the front yard with blood coming from his eyes and foamy blood coming from his mouth. Their farm hand, Greg, was also hanging oddly off the seat of the tractor and wasn’t moving. They had gone back down into the basement and sealed the door and taped over the vents and windows.
They had plenty of food in the basement from the previous year’s canning and they had the current years food too. The stove was gas so they were able to do their canning and preserve the fresh food they had, but they used it sparingly after that because they didn’t know how long the gas would last. Luckily there was the single
toilet but since there wasn’t a shower or bathtub, they had improvised with buckets to clean themselves. She described how hard it was for the kids at first, but they adjusted and the women tried to keep them busy by having scheduled learning and play time. The basement was used for storage of a lot of different things, including old clothes and candles. She said the biggest problem they had was light. The basement was completely dark without light, so they kept a single candle burning most of the time, but when the candles started running low, they didn’t know what to do.
Meagan went on to explain that she lived in Birmingham with her husband who was an FBI agent. So, they all had to believe what he said and they were scared to leave the basement. They knew that eventually they would have to when they ran out of food and medicine. Meagan had looked across the room at this point and Sam saw she was looking at Alice, who was sheepishly looking down. Meagan said that after discussing the lack of light one night, Alice snuck up the stairs and brought back down two oil lanterns, flashlights, batteries, and more of their mom’s medicine. But afterward she had gotten sick and they knew it wasn’t safe to go out yet. Luckily, their sister Denise was a nurse and she recognized the signs of nerve agent poisoning and administered an atropine injection. Alice had recovered, but they realized she must have gotten a small dose of nerve poisoning, she had taken a big chance.
Meagan described how they spent a lot of time talking about their husbands and friends. She said they all recognized that her husband’s message had saved them. She said she hoped he had survived, but after seeing all they had seen she had serious doubts. Tom told her there was always a possibility he did survive, but he also told her what they heard about Birmingham and the issues with ruffians that people had had with people from that direction. He suggested they go back to the farm and leave a message for where they are, if her husband was still alive, he would look for her there first.