Feral Nation Series Box Set 2 [Books 4-6]

by Williams, Scott B.

  She turned away, unable to watch as two of the men set fire to the cabin. She couldn’t help but feel that everything that had happened to Bob Barham was her fault. If she hadn’t stopped in that one spot along the Divide Trail, Jonathan wouldn’t have fallen and broken his leg, and she wouldn’t have hiked down this particular drainage and found the cabin. That discovery and the old man’s generosity had marked the beginning of the end for him. Now with the cabin and barn gone, and his beloved horses taken away, the only thing remaining of him was his solitary grave at the edge of that lonely high meadow.

  Shauna couldn’t watch all that go up in flames, but without making it obvious, she was watching the surrounding forest for any sign of Jonathan and Vicky. She couldn’t imagine that they had gone far, but they had taken Tucker, the strongest and best trained of the horses they had available, so anything was possible. Shauna could tell that Jonathan had a crush on Vicky almost from the day he met her. She didn’t think Vicky felt the same, but there was no way to be sure. It wasn’t like they had to leave the cabin to be alone together though, even if that were the reason, unless maybe they were afraid she would return much sooner than expected. Whatever it was that had taken them away, it had saved them for now, and when the other horses were loaded, and the fires were burning with unstoppable fury, the chief ordered his men to move out, and Shauna was led away with them.

  They headed back down the drainage in the same direction from which the men had arrived, making Shauna wonder once again if they already knew about the existence of the cabin and had come here specifically to target it. She wasn’t going to ask, but she figured that had to be it. If they were indeed working on contract for the military, they probably had access to satellite photos taken before, even if online mapping imagery wasn’t available to them now. The cabin would have been visible, and it was likely they were systematically clearing all such remote dwellings if any of what the chief said was the truth.

  Bob Barham had told her that the drainage crossed a small gravel road several miles downstream, but Shauna hadn’t wandered that far in her hunting and exploration forays from the cabin. Her captors followed the creek all the way down there though, and sure enough, they came to the road Bob described after two or three hours of hiking. Knowing what she knew now of the local area, she wondered if it might be the same road that eventually led up to the site of Vicky’s grandparents’ ranch, but the contractors weren’t going that way. They turned north instead, following the road a short distance before turning off on a narrow, dirt two-track leading out into a flat area of tall pines. Shauna saw why after they’d gone another quarter mile. Hidden there among the trees, were three crew cab pickups and a Land Rover SUV. The men spread out and checked the vehicles, making sure the area was clear before unlocking and starting them. Then, Shauna saw them begin unloading the guns and other supplies from the horses to pile everything into the beds of the pickups. She was shoved into the back seat of the Land Rover, but just before the door was slammed shut, she heard one of the men ask the boss what to do with the horses.

  “Shoot them! We can’t take them with us.”

  “NO!” Shauna screamed at him. “Just let them go! They’ll be fine on their own!”

  The chief came over to the Land Rover and got into the driver’s seat. “Until another group of outlaws comes along and uses them to escape justice or attack other citizens. I’m afraid turning them loose is not an option!”

  Shauna couldn’t look back as two more men climbed into the vehicle with them and the chief pulled away ahead of the trucks. She shuddered when she heard the rifle reports, but she knew it was useless to protest further. How this man could call anyone else an outlaw was beyond her. He was taking the law into his own hands and she found it hard to believe that the U.S. government was paying him to do so. If she ever did get a chance to present her side of the story to any real authorities, she wasn’t going to leave out what happened here, but she knew even as they drove away that the odds she’d get to tell someone who cared were looking pretty slim.

  When they came back out on the main road, the convoy followed the gravel until it ended at a T-intersection with a paved road. From there, they turned west, and Shauna had no idea where they were going; most of the scenery along the way just mile after mile of the same desolate mountain wilderness. At one point they crossed a high pass, winding back and forth up a series of steep switchbacks and then down again in an equally steep descent on the other side. Just to the west of that, the convoy turned off the pavement onto another gravel road, at the end of which was a closed U.S. Forest Service work station that they had apparently converted to their headquarters. The vehicles stopped at the gated entrance to the compound, and the chief chatted briefly with the armed guards there before they proceeded to what appeared to be an equipment building and the chief parked the Land Rover in one of the garage bays. Shauna was then taken to a supply room with a single entrance through a heavy metal door. Once inside, she saw there was just one small window and lots of shelves with boxes of what appeared to be mechanical parts and other related inventory that had probably been there since before the place had been converted over. There was nothing in the room to accommodate an overnight stay; no bathroom, couch or anywhere else to sleep, just a metal desk with an old swivel office chair.

  “We don’t normally bring guests or prisoners here, so we’re not set up for it,” the chief explained. “You’ll have to sleep on the floor while you’re here. Someone will be back with a blanket and a bucket you can use for a toilet. They’ll bring you food when we get our evening chow.”

  With that, the door slammed shut and Shauna heard the sound of a hasp and padlock clicking into place on the outside. There was enough daylight coming through the window for her to see well enough, but the opening section was far too small to accommodate even a slim woman such as herself without breaking out the entire frame, so there was no point in even thinking about trying to escape. Shauna slumped into the office chair as the long and eventful day replayed in her mind. She knew now she should have listened to her gut reaction that day she discovered that Eric had left without them. She should have followed him immediately, insisting that Jonathan and Vicky do the same. Sure, it would have been dangerous, but anything would have been preferable to this. She’d made another mistake by not going with her first instinct, and Shauna spent the rest of the night agonizing over it and wondering if she’d ever see her daughter again. All she knew for sure was that her present situation meant that it was out of her hands for now, and the only thing that gave her a little peace was knowing that at least Eric had a pretty good idea of where Megan went. As long as he got to her and kept her safe, Shauna’s main purpose in coming out here was accomplished, even if she never got to share in it. And that was worth dying for if that was the way it had to be.

  Six

  VICKY HELPED JONATHAN STEADY himself while he dismounted from the saddle and then she took the heavy revolver when he handed it to her. He was about to unbuckle his belt to remove the holster, but she stopped him.

  “I don’t need it. I’ll carry it in my hand and be ready to use it, but don’t worry, I won’t have to. I know how to move quietly in the woods. Grandpa taught me a lot more than just riding. I’ll be careful, and I won’t get too close, so they’ll never know I’m there. I promise!”

  With that, Vicky gave Jonathan a quick hug and left him sitting on a big rock, Tucker’s reins in his hands. If he needed to remount the horse on his own, he could stand up on the rock to assist himself. But Vicky didn’t plan to let that happen. She knew Jonathan would be helpless out here without her and Shauna, so she couldn’t let him down. But at the moment, she was far more worried about Shauna. After finding her rifle destroyed like that, there was little doubt as to whether she’d been taken by those men. And Vicky didn’t want to think about what they might do to her. She didn’t know what she would be able to do to stop it, but she had to know for sure if they had her and if Shauna was still alive. It
was too dangerous to attempt to follow the tracks from where she’d found the rifle, because she had no idea how many more of them might be nearby in the woods or whether or not some were posted along their route, standing guard. She wouldn’t be able to see much of the area around the cabin from that approach anyway, so Vicky climbed back up to the crest of the ridge, retracing the route she had taken with Jonathan and Tucker. From up there, she would be able to get a good view, and find out exactly what it was those men intended to do now that they’d discovered the cabin and all the supplies and weapons inside.

  Vicky hadn’t exaggerated too much when she told Jonathan that she knew how to move quietly in the woods. Although she’d never been interested in hunting and killing animals during her summer visits to her grandpa’s ranch, she still loved learning about how the Indians and frontiersmen had survived out there, and the old man had delighted in teaching her what he knew of woodcraft. The main takeaway she got from it was that if one wanted to move unseen and unheard through the woods, the key was to be slow and deliberate about it. She had moved faster when climbing up the backside of the ridge, but once she was descending towards the cabin, Vicky slowed down and paid careful attention to where she put her feet with every step. Although there was a covering of snow, it was still possible to make out the shapes of fallen branches on the ground beneath it with careful scrutiny, so she took the time to avoid accidentally breaking one.

  Jonathan had warned her about getting too close, saying the men might begin a sweep of the area at any time. When she finally reached the overlook where the two of them had first observed the men approach the cabin, Vicky saw that she didn’t need to get closer to see what she was looking for. Shauna was there. She was standing right in front of the cabin with her hands apparently tied behind her back. There were more of the camo-clad men there than she and Jonathan had seen before, some of them standing near Shauna while others moved things out of the cabin and barn. Vicky was relieved and happy to see that Shauna was alive and apparently unhurt, but she was in the hands of those strangers and there was no way of knowing what they were going to do now that they had her.

  As she watched them sorting through the rifles and other firearms that had been in the cabin, Vicky could tell that they were questioning Shauna, even though she was much too far away to hear anything that was said. Shauna probably wondered why she and Jonathan weren’t there, and Vicky didn’t know if the men knew about the two of them or not. She doubted Shauna would tell them anything she didn’t have to, but would the men figure it out by looking around in the cabin? Now that they were here, were they planning on taking over the place and staying, waiting them out until Jonathan and Vicky were forced to return that evening because of the cold? Vicky thought they might, until she saw a couple of the men lead the other horses into the barn and then emerge several minutes later with all of them saddled or fitted with Bob’s pack saddles. The horses were then led to the pile of stuff in front of the cabin and the men began loading it onto them. They were taking the horses and all their supplies and firearms with them! Even if they let Shauna go and left her behind, this was going to put her and Vicky and Jonathan in a desperate situation. But she doubted they would let Shauna go though, and she saw that she was right when some of them began moving back down towards the meadow, leading Shauna and the horses with them. It appeared that they were going back the way they’d came from when Jonathan first spotted them, but three or four of them were still doing something in the cabin and barn as the others waited at the edge of the woods. Vicky knew she had to get back to Jonathan as fast as possible to tell him about Shauna, but she wanted to wait until she knew all of them were gone. When the last of them finally came back out of the cabin and barn, it was only a moment later before Vicky saw smoke—lots of it—and realized what they’d just done. By the time they began disappearing into the woods, the smoke was pouring out of both structures and she caught a glimpse of flames through the open cabin door. Vicky took one last look before turning to hurry back to where she’d left Jonathan. The only good news she had to tell him was that Shauna was alive; for the time being. But they’d lost their shelter, their horses, supplies and weapons, and Jonathan still couldn’t walk. She had no idea what they were going to do next.

  “Who in the hell are those bastards?” Jonathan fumed when Vicky told him what she’d seen. If they are soldiers, they have no business taking stuff that doesn’t belong to them and burning down private property! And they had no reason to take Shauna! What could they possibly accuse her of?”

  “Having all those weapons, for one thing. That would be hard to explain. I’m sure she tried, but it must have been no use. But she didn’t tell them about us being with her, or else they wouldn’t have all left. That tells me she didn’t trust them and couldn’t convince them of the truth, so they probably aren’t soldiers. I’m terrified of what they will do to her, Jonathan!”

  “We’ve got to follow them! We can’t let them take Shauna away without knowing where they went, even if there are way too many of them to do anything about it. If we can find out where they’re taking her, maybe we can come up with a plan then. Dammit! Maybe Shauna was right! Eric shouldn’t have left us here. This wouldn’t have happened if we’d all gone with him.”

  “Now when he comes back, he’s going to find us all gone and Bob’s place burned to the ground. He’ll think we’re all dead, even if we aren’t!”

  “We can’t worry about that right now, Vicky. The important thing now is to follow those men. We’ve got to get going before we lose the trail. There won’t be much snow, if any, the farther down that creek they go.”

  “We can both ride Tucker!” Vicky said. “He won’t have any problem carrying the two of us. Come on, I’ll help you back up into the saddle and then I’ll climb on behind you.”

  “Maybe for a short distance, but once we pick up their trail, it would probably be best if you walk and lead him by the reins. It’ll be easier to move quietly that way, and if they spot us, we’ll have a chance to split up and run for it.”

  Vicky agreed, and once Jonathan was situated in the saddle, she pulled herself up behind him and held on. She knew Jonathan was feeling frustrated and worthless with his bad leg, but with the horse, he had his mobility back, and she was determined to stick with him no matter what. He was a good guy, and he’d come all this way to help people he didn’t even know just because Megan’s father had befriended him after their chance meeting in Florida. Now Jonathan needed help, and she was all he had. She knew she needed him too, because without him, she would be alone out here again like she was when Eric found her, and that wasn’t something Vicky wanted to contemplate even for a moment, so she pushed it out of her mind and reached her arms around Jonathan to take the reins. Jonathan was learning how to handle him, but she and Tucker were old friends and it was best if she were in control now.

  Since Vicky had seen the men heading back down the creek when they left the cabin, it seemed probable that they were going back to wherever they came from by the same route that brought them there. She and Jonathan followed the little side creek until they came to the place where it joined the main one, and after a careful pause to look and listen to make sure no one was still in the area, they proceeded on until they found evidence in a patch of snow that the raiding party had indeed passed that way.

  “We’ve got to be careful from here on,” Jonathan said. “They could stop almost anywhere, and we could run into them before we realize it.”

  “You’re right. I’ll walk from here.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t take a turn at it.”

  “You’re fine, Jonathan. You’ll have a better view from up there. Just keep a lookout and keep that rifle handy.”

  Jonathan did, and Vicky still stopped often to listen, to make sure they weren’t following too closely. They didn’t see or hear a thing though, but knew they were still on the right trail by the boot prints here and there, many of them pointing downstream, so she pressed on, lead
ing Tucker until the creek came to a place where a gravel road crossed it on a small wooden bridge. There was no snow there, but a quick scan of the sand and mud along the shoulder of the road revealed more tracks, including the hoof prints of horses.

  “It looks like they turned right onto this road,” Jonathan said.

  “If we follow it, we’ll be out in the open. I don’t like that at all.”

  “Me either, but I don’t see another option. It’s the way they went.”

  The road was indeed the only option, as there was a steep drop-off on one side of it and impenetrable thickets of dense spruce on the other. It would be impossible to follow parallel to it while keeping out of sight, so if they wanted to go the way Shauna had been taken, they had to take the risk of being caught out in the open.

  “Let’s do it then,” Vicky said. “But they may not have stayed on this road for long. We should look for any sign that they turned off again.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking too. They probably have a camp set up somewhere nearby since they came to the cabin on foot.”

  This theory seemed to prove true when they came to a narrow two-track leading off the main road a couple miles to the north. They found tracks indicating that the men had turned that way, but there was something else too.

  “Somebody’s been driving in and out of here.”

  “Their camp must be down there for sure then,” Jonathan said. “There could be even more of them than the ones we saw.”