“Leader, do you read?”
There was static and then the radio came alive.
“This is leader. What’s up?”
“We have some captives and I want to know what we should do with them. We’re about to head out toward the north. We have coordinates for the main slaver camp. We can’t take them with us, and we can’t leave them behind. Any suggestions? —Over.”
“We’re on our approach to you now. Should be another forty-five minutes and we’ll be there, and we will discuss it then—Over.”
Eric replied,
“For heaven sakes don’t shoot us by mistake!”
“No worries,”
Eric signed off the radio.
In another forty-five minutes Chris and the sailors came walking through the yellow grass. They all sat down and drank some water.
After taking stock of the situation, Chris gave instructions.
“Strip all the prisoners down to their underwear, including their shoes. Blindfold and gag them. This will prevent them from communicating with one another and keep them quiet for a while. They will be hard-pressed to run away without shoes. When you’re interrogating them do it one at a time and out of hearing and sight of the others. You’ll get better results when they can’t see or hear any of the others being questioned. All of the prisoners should remain securely bound with their arms and hands behind their backs. Make sure you search each one thoroughly.
“Try to build a rapport with a few of them. Observe them individually and try to determine which one can be persuaded to confide in you. We’ll rest here for a while. This is vital in developing communication with your captives. If you handle it properly, you’ll see their demeanor change, and a few of them might look to you as critical for all of their needs; food, water, or in this case, their lives.”
Once the slavers was stripped, blindfolded, and gagged, each one was taken to widely separated places to be bound in place once again, but not in the scissors position this time. They were hogtied and left to lie on the ground. The dirtbags knew by now what that process would do to them and none were eagerly waiting for it to happen again. They remained docile.
Now the dilemma… What should they do with them? Several of the women wanted them shot on the spot. Some of the soldiers, Marines, and sailors wanted to shoot them as well.
Eric didn’t feel sympathetic toward the slavers and he felt it was foolish to release them, which still begged the question, what should they do?
Chapter 13
Justice
Difficult times require difficult decisions. Eric understood that. Although they were all trained to kill, they weren’t cold-blooded murderers like the slavers. This was a dilemma for him in a world gone mad.
He understood the impact that an execution would have on his men, and he didn’t want to make a decision that would turn his troops into a vigilante posse. There were rules, processes, things common sense dictated to every man and woman. However, he knew there were moments when acting outside of the box is appropriate. They had already executed one slaver, killed some of them in a firefight and it looked like they may have to kill these people too. They were compelled to move on toward the north as a group, but now they had the women hostages to think about. It would be a daunting task with ten extra people eating their provisions and consuming their precious water.
No one here wanted to preserve the life of men who would kill or enslave their fellow man. There was a consensus amongst them they would be better off killing them and being done with it.
Eric knew it wasn’t that simple, and as he discussed it with Chris, his recommendations were, they would have a trial of sorts. If any of them could come up with a defense or a reason why they shouldn’t be executed on the spot, they would be released. It was the right thing to do. It was a civilized thing to do.
Chris gathered up the majority of their small force, it was important to have a dozen jury members gathered together, as well as the women who had suffered at the hands of these people, who would testify as to what happened to them or what they saw happen to others; to bear witness to those acts. Once this was taken care of, they started back to the main road to gather the supplies they had hidden earlier in order to make better time. The slavers had a pretty good jump on them when they started this chase.
Eric turned as they departed,
“Take the blindfold off the slavers and remove their gags.”
When the slavers were ready Eric had each one stand up and face the group.
“As you all know, we’re going to move north from here as soon as possible. We have seven of you, and we can’t take you with us. I do not advocate murder, so we decided that we will give you a fair trial, at least the best that we can manage under the circumstances.”
Some of the bad guys simply sneered and only one of them refused to look up from the ground.
Eric continued with his explanation,
“If any of us can find mercy, or if we determine any reason why any of you should be released unharmed, we will do that now. The decision that we make must be by consensus of everyone here.”
One by one the slavers’ questioning began. Their names were written down on a piece of paper that Chris saved in his breast pocket. When that was taken care of the questioning was done by anyone who wanted to know anything that would sway them one way or the other. The first two slavers were the ones who caught two of the women hostages. One was named Gary Pell and the other was Kyle Martin. Gary was twenty-eight and Kyle was thirty-one. Both joined Bone Breaker, the notorious leader of these cutthroat outlaws, right after the war began. They both joined once the formidable leader began gathering his group together. They eventually moved north with the large contingent of outlaws, which grew larger by the day as they traveled, some with their women.
They looted and pillaged everywhere they went. They strictly adhered to Bone Breaker’s law. There were no rules except one, and that was to maintain loyalty to Bone Breaker. Everything else was okay to do because there were no consequences for any of their actions. It was mass anarchy. Everything was allowed and there were few reprimands.
They explained proudly how Bone Breaker and his gang headed for the high mountain valley and had taken over a small town. He didn’t mention the battle later and the defeat Bone Breaker suffered at the hands of “a bunch of farmers.” He and Kyle were laid up from a motorcycle accident during this time.
Most of these men had been members of the gang for some time; around the time Bone Breaker came back from a mountain town named Fitch. It was a good lifestyle for them. Eric asked them to describe the reason they became part of the gang, and Gary was the first to volunteer his thoughts.
“We did what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. When we had something to drink, we drank. When women came into the group, we picked from the women that were left over after Bone Breaker and his head men made their choices. Sometimes we drew straws, sometimes we drew cards, and sometimes we just got the ones we wanted. There were fights of course, and the winner got to choose first. The fights served as entertainment. It became a Saturday night event, when we weren’t out on raids. We did what we wanted to do, and it suited everyone.”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe the women might not want to be trophies?”
He spoke up.
“Nobody gave a rat’s ass what the women wanted. They weren’t important. We are warriors. And to the warriors go the spoils of war.”
Tim was angry when he walked up to the slaver.
“Warriors? You’re nothing but cowards. What makes you feel you have the right to rape these women?”
“Because Bone Breaker said we had the right.”
Gary was smug, and his attitude left everyone with the feeling he believed what he said. The women who were raped by these two men had their say and their statements were quite emotional. One woman was a clerk in a convenience store and the other was a dental assistant. Both had been forcibly taken as they were out foraging. Jana Colema
n, the clerk, was in search of small pieces of firewood to cook with and to warm herself and her elderly mother. She was out in a wooded area on the day of her capture. A slaver came at her on his motorcycle, knocking her down with a blow to the head, and proceeded to rip her clothes off and rape her right there on the ground. She passed out and woke up bound and enslaved. To this day she has no idea what became of her mother.
The other rape victim, the dental assistant, was walking down a trail behind her small house when two of them knocked her to the ground, ripped her clothing to shreds, and had their way with her. Her ordeal was lengthy, and she was taken captive by both of the men standing before her. She was consequently passed among many men who in turn raped her repeatedly. It had continued that way until yesterday.
Eric addressed them both.
“Can either of you think of any reason why we should let you go?”
Gary was quick to speak up.
“You soldier boys are making a big mistake! Sooner or later our main force is going to realize that we haven’t gotten back. We’re all sent out in groups of ten or fifteen men in search of children, women, able-bodied men, food and drink, and anything else of value that we can find, and bring everything back to our main group. That means your days are numbered. You may have a superior force over us, but you won’t when a thousand men come down on you. So, what I would suggest to you fellows is this—you better let us go right now if you know what’s good for you. Even if you let us go it may not be enough, because you killed some of us and you’re going to have to pay for that. But let us go and I’ll see what I can do on your behalf. I am after all one of his principal lieutenants.”
He was obviously proud of that status and smiled arrogantly.
Eric moved to the next three slavers, ignoring what Gary had just said.
“Stand up and face us.”
The three slavers stood. They appeared nervous and fidgeted about continuously.
“Let’s hear your stories boys. I will give you fair warning here and now; you’d better make it good. None of you will get a second chance after today unless the group of people you’re facing right now will have mercy on you and let you go. Let’s start with you.”
Eric pointed to one of the men.
“My name is Donnie Stevens and I’m a native Californian. In fact, I’m from Stockton.”
“Okay Donnie, why do you think we should allow you to go free?”
“None of us expected the war to happen, but it did, and the whole world changed in an instant! We just survived day-to-day. We took most of the people as captives and we took their things. They were weaker, and most of them didn’t put up much of a fight. When Bone Breaker came along, I decided right then and there I would join his group because it was a very big deal and made me feel strong by being part of the group. That made things easy, and I tend to like easy. Also, with this large group there was plenty to eat. I like to eat.”
The slaver laughed at his own joke and several of the other cut-throats joined in the laughter.
“You have anything else to say in your defense?”
“Not really, this is all one big joke and the biggest joke of all is you wanting to be soldiers and pretending to have this bullshit trial.”
Eric looked at the next man and asked him if he had anything to say.
He felt bad about some of the things he had done, but rather than back down and not participate with the others, it was a lot easier to just go along with everyone else
“I don’t have any excuse. I was just trying to survive. Bone Breaker’s army provides everything: camaraderie, food, party time, sex and pretty much everything else that we wanted and needed. I realize that much of what we did was wrong, but we live in a different world now, and they must all adapt.
“Is there anything else you’d like to add to your statement?”
The young man looked at Eric and shook his head in the negative.
“You’re next, what’s your name?”
“Danny Fowler.”
“What about you? Would you like to make a statement?”
“No, I don’t, but I’m with Danny. I never killed anybody, and I only raped a couple of women. But it wasn’t just me; it was everybody in our group doing it too.”
“Anything else?”
He shrugged his shoulders and Eric moved to the next man.
“What’s your name?”
“George Wells.”
Tim spoke up.
“Why do you think you should be released unharmed?”
“There are no rules. We do what we want to do because there are no rules. The rules ended when the war began. Those of us who survived did so because we are the ruling class of what once was America. If I was you, I’d be very careful about what you think you can get away with. Personally, I think this is all one great big stupid bluff because if you do anything to us, you’ll be staked out and fed to the ants when Bone Breaker catches up with you.”
There were only two slavers left to talk. Eric looked at them and asked them to give their names and a statement. He pointed to one.
“You first.”
The young man stood up and spoke quietly.
“My name is Billy Rich. I’ve only been riding with these fellows for a week. They came along one day, and I pretended I belonged to the group already. They accepted that and here I am. I haven’t raped or stolen from anyone. Truthfully, I never plan to. I was just looking for an opportunity to get away from them when you fellows came along. I was just trying to survive these terrible times.”
Eric looked over at Gary.
“Is this true?”
Gary stood there, spat on the ground and with a low growl said.
“Yeah, I thought he was one of us. Instead, it turns out he’s some punk turncoat.”
Eric looked at the other fellow.
“What is your name?”
“I’m Ralph Wall. Most people call me cotton because of my blonde hair.”
Eric asked him if he had anything to say in the defense.
“I think this is one big bluff and I don’t have anything to say to any of you about nothin’!”
Eric looked at them for a long while without speaking there was a warm breeze blowing inland from the ocean, it was getting stronger as the day grew longer. Scattered little clumps of white clouds moved with the predominant wind. As they moved across the blue sky, they unfolded like balls of cotton spreading out to become long threadlike white streams. It was strange; there were no birds up there flying around.
Eric gathered his men and the women out of earshot of the slavers. He pulled out a small tablet and pen and began to write on it. Occasionally, one or all of them would look over at the captive bikers and Eric would say something and then write on the tablet again. The small conference lasted about a half-hour and then Eric walked over to the prisoners.
Everyone walked back to where the slavers stood. Eric stopped in front of them and stared. It was obvious he was troubled but determined to do his duty. It was part of being a professional Marine. You take the bad with the good, always knowing the bad part will be over soon and you can move on. You just gritted your teeth and got past it. This was for the betterment for a lot of people and particularly these women who were ravaged by some of these terrible men. Eric snapped out of his deep thoughts, it was time. The sooner they were done with this part they could move on in hopes of something better.
“Are we all in agreement?”
He spoke to the jury in a soft voice. His face wrinkled at his brow. His jaw was twitching. He was gritting his teeth.
The decision of the soldiers and the women was unanimous. Eric walked over to Billy Rich, pulled out his knife and cut the ropes that were binding his wrist and elbows together.
“Billy, you can stay with us or leave. But if we capture you with this group or another group doing the same thing that these outlaws do on a regular basis, you will suffer their fate. The choice is yours, you are free to go. You can go over there and get
dressed.”
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to stay with you people.”
Eric smiled and nodded at the young man. He reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder and squeezed. Tim and a few of the other soldiers marched the remaining bikers over to a Madrona tree, bound their ankles together, threw ropes up over a large lower horizontal limb, fashioned makeshift nooses on one end of the rope and secured the other end to the trunk of the tree, making sure of the proper length.
A large log was rolled under the dangling ropes. The condemned slavers were forced to climb up and stand on top of it. Each man had his head inserted into a noose and all of them were ready to be hung by their necks.
“We have listened to your statements. You raped, plundered, you’ve taken advantage of the weak, and flaunted the laws of mankind. We have judged you guilty of your crimes. It is the consensus of all of us here that you pay for your crimes by forfeiting your lives. Does anyone have anything to say in their defense before you’re hung?”
“You’ll never get away with th—!”
He never had a chance to finish the statement as a Marine on each end of the log rolled it away from under their feet and the slavers dangled on the end of the ropes with their feet about a foot from the ground. One of the women bent over and collapsed onto her knees and began to vomit. The creaking branch shed a few leaves and they swirled to the ground. Most of the hanged men twitched, a shoe fell from the foot of one, some seemed to raise and hunch their shoulders in an upward appearing movement. A couple of them shook violently and some of them defecated, the foul-smelling excrement rolled down their legs and dropped out of a pant leg as death released control of all body functions. In a few more minutes they would all be dead, but they weren’t going to be cut down. They were to be left there with a sign as a warning to others who wanted to live outside the common laws of man and a civilized society. A Christian burial wasn’t warranted for these lawbreakers. Amazingly flies were already landing on some of the faces of the dead or dying outlaws.
A sign was fastened to the middle slaver, it read,
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