by Sally Six
All Brian could think was. “Stupid, stupid. Caught by old-fashioned highway robbers. At least he hoped that’s all they were.”
The man on their right was dressed in desert camo. His cap was pulled down so that you could hardly see his eyes. He was about 35 with what must be a three week old beard with brown, greasy hair. He looked like he needed a haircut, about two months ago. His friend didn’t look much better. He was in blue jeans with a green army jacket and cap. He had black hair, but it looked like he had a very close haircut, almost shaved. He had a beard that he must have had before the bombs dropped. His eyes flashed in all directions making sure there was no one else anywhere around. He nodded at his friend as he walked them passed him.
“Set your bikes up to the left there beside the café. Then head into the café.” The man said as he pointed his gun toward the café door. Brian got off and un-strapped Karen from her seat at the back of his bike.
When they had all stepped inside the café, they discovered another man leaning against the counter at the back of the store/café. He was guarding five other people. He glanced over at them as they came in and began to straighten up as he noticed his comrade step through the door at the back of everyone. This one was also in blue jeans with a camouflage hunting type jacket with several pockets in it and brown boots. He held what looked like to Brian an M16.
“I see you brought us some fresh meat.” He said to the one at the back. Brian really didn’t like the way the guy said, “Fresh meat.”
Brian looked around. He didn’t see Mr. Dale who owned and ran the place in among the other prisoners that were sitting in either one of the two booths. He hoped Mr. Dale had just left or something, but he really didn’t think Mr. Dale would take off and leave his place to looters.
“Kit it looks like stocks are pretty good now. Ain’t they?” The one by the counter said. Brian was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all this. Kit hadn’t even attempted to have them open their backpacks or anything to see what they had.
The one called Kit said gruffly to his friend George. “George would you shut that big mouth of yours.”
Brian looked over at the others who were sitting at the booths. Their eyes told him everything he needed to know. He knew no matter what that they needed to get out of here or they wouldn’t be alive long.
Kit glanced over him and the kids, but the scum’s eyes stopped a bit too long on Barb, Lysbeth and his mom, Beulah. George’s eyes were doing a bit of roaming also, but his eye’s reminded Brian of something deadly. It gave him the creeps just looking at the man.
Kit said. “All of you new ones take off your packs, knives, guns and canteens too. Sit them to the right of the door and then get over behind the booths and sit down on the floor. Brian, Beulah and Barb had their canteens fastened to their belts. Karen was beginning to whimper. She was scared of these men. They reminded her of the men who killed her mommy and daddy.
“Shut that brat up or she won’t make noise long.” Kit told Brian. Brian had been holding her this whole time.
Brian looked down at Karen. “It’s okay Karen. Just quiet down okay and we will get out of this as soon as we can.”
Sniffle, sniffle. “Okay Uncle Brian.”
She buried her face in his shoulder after they sat down and a few minutes later she was sound asleep.
Beulah’s mind was racing. What were they going to do? She wasn’t going to be a slave for anyone. She knew being older they would just use her and throw her away. She felt her mind slipping away like she did the first few days of this nightmare.
Brian saw his mom’s eyes begin to glaze over. “No oh no, I can’t lose her again now. We need her too much.”
Brian scooted over to where he could deliver a swift kick to her thigh.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHH,” Beulah yelled. “Brian why did you kick me?”
George and Kit just looked over and laughed, but then Kit said. “I don’t care what you do to each other, just keep it quiet or I will make sure of the quiet. Remember that.”
Kit then walked over to where they had set down their guns and moved them to the other side of the door to the left and walked back outside.
Tears were running down Beulah’s face. Lysbeth and Barb were hissing at Brian and asking him. “What in the world he thought he was doing kicking his mother.”
The kids were in shock at seeing this and just got quieter, but Beulah’s screaming had woken Karen.
Brian patted Karen and told her. “Everything’s okay.” She then settled back down and her eyes began to droop again. The other women’s eyes were like daggers as Brian looked up at them after settling Karen back down.
Beulah was settled back down herself and was rubbing her leg. “Brian I want an answer. Why did you kick me?”
“I’m sorry Mom that I had to do that. You had that same look in your eyes the day you acted like all was okay and forgot our problems and started to let the water out of the bathtubs. I didn’t know what else to do. Talking to you sure, but I didn’t have time for that and they may not have let us have a good long talk. Beulah looked at her son and realized she had been losing it. She hung her head and said. “You’re right Brian. I did feel myself slipping like I was going into a soft dark place. You were right to do something. I would have been no good to any of you like that.”
Both Barb and Lysbeth looked at her like, NO WAY. They had not seen her like that through all the hardships that they had been through so far. Beulah seemed so self-reliant. They had both wondered why Brian took the lead so much. They had figured she had taught him to be forceful and make decisions. That he had a sixth sense for this sort of thing. This made them both stop to think what jumping to conclusions can do. They were sitting next to each other and began to whisper back and forth. They decided they would watch for these signs in Beulah also to make sure she stayed with them in mind as well as body so she could help with whatever was needed when the time came.
After a couple of hours went by, both Gil and Karen who had awakened again needed to use the restrooms. Brian thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea if he had a restroom break either. Most everyone must be in the same condition by now.
Beulah spoke up before Brian could get the words out. “Excuse me sir. I think most of us need a restroom break. I know the children do. Would it be okay if you or one of your friends escorted us to the restroom?”
George picked a whistle out of his pocket and blew on it. A few minutes later Mr. Gas pump came strolling in.
“What’s the problem George?”
“They need a bathroom break Pike. I suppose they all do by now, the old ones and the new.”
Pike had an ugly look on his face. “What do we look like babysitters? Ah I guess so. I’ll take two at a time starting with the kids. It’s better than having to clean that kind of thing up.”
Pike turned and walked over to them. “Okay, two at a time like I said. Pick the first two and get with it. Come on. Oh and don’t flush it. That’s for the last person to go to do with the bucket in there.”
Karen was scared so she took Bea’s hand. Bea looked up at the man and asked where the bathroom was. He raised his left hand and pointed to the back left of the room behind a rack of VCR tapes in the corner. (Yep really VCR tapes.) He walked behind them all the way and then stood in front of the door until they came out. They didn’t have to worry about escape from the bathroom. There were no windows and he made sure the door was ajar because it was so dark in the restroom with no lighting. There was a bucket of water sitting beside the toilet for flushing the toilet.
After the newbies with the brats were all finished, Pike had the others take their turns. This was really the first time Brian had really got a good look at the other captives. He wondered why they held them here instead of say in the home out back. He had looked at them when he had first come in but had not gotten a real good look at them. There were two couples and a single man. The couples were both in their 60’s and the single man was about 40 to 45 Brian guesse
d. The man looked more like a man that sat at a desk all day and was about 60 lbs. or better over weight even with taking in less food these days. He huffed when he walked and had a pasty look to his face. He didn’t look well at all.
As the overweight man was walking back, he grabbed his right arm and then his chest and fell to the floor groaning. The other man beside him bent down to see to his fellow captive.
George and Pike watched the scene. George had a smirk on his face. Pike walked over and looked down. “Get away from him. He will live or die on his own.”
“But I can help if need be. I have had some medical training.”
Pike pushed the kneeling man over with his foot. “I said get away from him and I mean it. Go take your place. NOW!” He put the barrel of his rifle to the man’s head. The man scooted over and got up and went to his part of the booth where his wife sat scared out of her wits for her husband.
“Oh Frank why did you talk back to him? You know what they can do.”
Frank patted his wife’s hand. “Betty I do know, but I have to do what I think is right even in this mess. I wouldn’t be any kind of man if I didn’t.”
She leaned on his shoulder and told him she loved him no matter what, but to just please be careful. The man on the floor whose name is Ernie continued to groan for a while and then he made less and less noise. It didn’t take long for him to stop moving altogether.
Brian knew the man was dead. No one needed to tell him that. The women looked at each other and nodded. They knew too.
Pike had stayed in watching to see what would happen. When Ernie stopped moving after a few minutes, Pike took Ernie’s feet and drug him to the back to the kitchen of the café. George kept careful watch on the rest of the prisoners. No one said anything, after all what was there for them to say. Pike walked back out and continued going outside. He gave George a small nod as he went by him.
Brian was sitting right behind the booth behind Frank. He looked up at the back of the man’s head. “Frank,” he whispered. “Frank, what’s the other couples names?”
Brian could barely hear Frank. Frank had turned his head like he was laying his head on his wives shoulder.
“Les and Flo. They’re from Winchester. We’re from the town of Culdesac at the bottom of Winchester Grade.” Then Brian didn’t hear another word as George looked over their way again.
By then everyone was done with the restrooms and the children were hungry. “Come to think of it,” thought Brian. “So am I. How can I be with all this happening and a man dying a few feet from me just a short time ago, what does that say about me,” he wondered.
“Is everyone as hungry as I am?” Asked Lysbeth.
Yes they all were. Beulah stood up. Brian was shocked at his mother. She had never put herself forward before. George was looking at her and Brian can’t say it was something he liked to see.
“What is it now lady?”
George hiked his gun a little and pointed it towards her.
“We’re all pretty hungry. Were you planning on feeding us or having us feed ourselves from our food?”
George took the whistle back out of his jacket pocket and blew what code they had set up, but Brian noticed it was three short blasts. A few minutes later Pike came back in.
“What in the world is going on George? I just got back outside. This is more trouble than its worth.” He grumbled.
“They’re all hungry this time.”
Pike looked exasperated. He looked over at Brian and then Henry. “You two boys come over here to your packs and get some food out for all of you. Last thing we need is a bunch of crying hungry carpet crawlers.”
Brian told Henry. “Come on let’s do it before they change their minds.”
They went over to their packs trying to not do anything that would make the men suspicious of their moves. Meanwhile Pike had George pick one of the older people to get the rest of them some food from the store part of the café. He picked Les. Les wasn’t in the same shape as Frank. He had a harder time moving and bending. George was beginning to get upset with how slow Les moved when Les finally made his decision on the foods and brought them back to the table. Brian and Henry brought back MRE packets, utensils and a couple of canteens. They set in eating without any talking.
Outside the sun was setting. Brian thought it had to be about 6:00 PM. Pike was still inside and soon they were joined by Kit. He guessed that they figured there was no sense in waiting to jump people at this time of night. If anyone was traveling, they would be camping by now. All three of the men grabbed some canned spaghetti and chips, opened the cans and began to eat. Pike told Les to get the two Coleman lanterns lit pronto. One was on the counter and one sitting on the table at the first booth where no one sat now.
Les moved slowly like he was in pain, but got them lit without too much trouble. Flo, his wife, just sat at the booth with a strange look on her face and watched her husband go about his task like he had getting the food.
Brian could see the thoughts going through the minds of the three scumbags as they looked over the women as they ate. He didn’t like what he saw one bit. When the three finished eating, they just threw their cans down on the floor. Brian hadn’t really noticed this before but there were several cans and other trash already on the floor kicked over to different places. Then the three started to confer and kept glancing over to the women. They were so busy and they felt so safe that they didn’t notice the face pop up and then down behind them in the window at the other side of the café.
Beulah gasped and then covered it up with a cough. The three sleaze balls looked her way and she continued to cough like she had swallowed wrong. She took a drink from a canteen like she was trying to ease her cough. The men went back to talking in low voices and a brief argument started between Kit and Pike. Beulah caught Brian’s eye and then looked over at the opposite windows. Brian looked at this and that and then at the windows. He continued his look around and came back to his mom and gave her a slight nod. For some reason the men had been so sure of things they hadn’t made sure none of their prisoners had things like pocket knives.
Brian had been pretending to scratch his right leg. In the process he had slowly unzipped the pocket he held a few things in and had managed to get his pocketknife out of it and had it in the palm of his hand. He leaned towards Henry like he was trying to put Karen on a different spot on his lap. He hid putting the knife beside Henry which was more or less under his pants leg. He looked over Henry’s way and looked down. Henry caught his eye and moved to get in a better position and palmed the knife. The next one to get the knife was Barb and then onto Beulah. Barb had a look of surprise then she looked up at the ceiling. It had just come to her that she also had a pocketknife in her right hip pocket. Henry also had one and he passed it down the line to Lysbeth.
Pike didn’t look any too happy, but Kit was their leader. He had been the one to come up with this idea in the first place so he conceded to him. So Kit got first choice. Kit being the oldest at 38 didn’t like girls he liked women. Some men at his age like Pike always liked the younger girls. It was like he had never grown up from his high school days. Kit walked over and stood about five feet from Beulah.
Kit looked into her eyes. “All right sweet thing. Get up your coming with me.”
Beulah just sat there and stared at him. She decided she wasn’t going to go extremely easy to make it look good. The pocketknife was now in her pocket and it was laying crossways. She had to be careful because it was open. Brian acted like he was going to get up and he sat little Karen off his lap. Kit took his 44 out of its holster and pointed at him. “Don’t even think about it boy. Now little lady, you get up or I put a bullet in this boy.”
Beulah got up slowly and started to hang her head. Kit grabbed her right arm and hauled her the rest of the way up and started to haul her towards the back of the café and through the kitchen. They proceeded out the back door. They were headed for the house out back. Meanwhile Beulah had been slowly ge
tting the knife out of her pocket and now had it in her hand. Beulah started to pull back and Kit started to pull harder and was about to punch her when she went forward and head butted him in the face. She reached up and stuck the pocket knife in Kit’s throat right under his chin and ripped it downward while he was still stunned. Kit stopped and was gagging and trying to pull the knife from his throat. Just then a dark figure slammed into Kit and knocked him to the ground. It didn’t matter. Kit was still gagging and being knocked to the ground didn’t seem to bother him too much. The figure didn’t care. His Bowie knife finished Kit off. The figure slit what was left of Kit’s throat. Beulah just stood there watching the man slit Kit’s throat and then stand up. She flung herself into his arms.
“Oh Kurt, Kurt how? Why, it’s so good to see you.”
She clung to him and cried for a few minutes. “Now what do we do? How do we get the other two?”
Kurt hugged her to him and took a deep breath of her hair. They just stood there for a bit. Kurt was also enjoying this as well as thinking about what to do as fast as he could. He pulled her away and tried to see her in the dark. Luckily it was a moonless night, but it sure made it hard to see when you wanted to.
“Here I thought I was rescuing you. You pretty much take this guy out, but we’ll talk about that later. Ok, all I can think of Beulah is to wait about 20 more minutes. Then you go in and tell one of the others that. What’s this guy’s name?”
“It’s Kit. His name is or rather was Kit.”
Beulah was still amazed to find Kurt standing in front of her.
“All right, you’re going to go in and tell the next one that Kit said he needs to talk to him pronto and bring his woman with him. I want you to act meek and like your spirit is broken. Here we better mess you up a bit.”
They pulled her shirttails out of her jeans and Kurt put his hands in her hair and messed up her hair. He smeared her face with a bit of dirt with her smiling the whole time about it. He looked down into her face and though dimly he saw that she was smiling.