by Ricky Sides
“God no, man, I love my girl. I’d do nothing to harm neither her nor a baby, if it came to that,” he said with tears in his eyes. “You’re a hard man to ask me that.”
“Hating your daughter because of something beyond her control is being a hard man. Seeking to protect the innocent isn’t,” Pete stated with a no compromise attitude. “Now let’s see if we can get these vehicles started.”
In the infirmary, the doctor examined Sally’s wound and treated that wound first. The medic had applied field dressings but the wounds needed to be properly treated. With that accomplished, Maggie looked the young woman in the eyes and asked, “Were you physically abused during your captivity, Sally?”
The girl began to cry then, and she admitted that the man had abused her that morning and then she described what the man had done in detail as the two women listened sympathetically. When she had finished her descriptive narrative, the young woman fearfully asked, “Am I going to have a baby soon?”
“No, dear. That’s impossible,” Maggie said reassuringly.
“I didn’t want to do it, but he made me. I’m so scared. Are you sure I won’t have a baby?” the young lady asked innocently.
Lacey realized that the fourteen-year-old living in this community had much less knowledge of a sexual nature than girls her age living in other environments. She sympathized with the young woman.
“No, dear, you cannot possibly become pregnant. The sexual term for what the man forced you to do is oral sex, and conception cannot arise from oral sex,” Maggie reassured the girl and then looked to Lacey for support realizing that sometimes hearing the same news from multiple sources reassures the young.
Lacey shook her head and said, “There is no possibility of pregnancy, if that is what he did to you.”
Looking relieved, Sally asked, “Do you have to tell anyone? I really don’t want my father to know about this. I don’t want anyone to know.”
“We won’t tell your people, dear. You have no worries there,” Maggie answered glancing to Lacey in an appeal for her also to confirm her silence.
“No, of course not. What happened wasn’t your fault. The man was an animal,” Lacey responded.
“I’m glad he’s dead,” Sally said angrily.
“That’s only natural considering what he put you through. Try to forget him and move on with your life,” Maggie said. “I will be speaking to your father about your medical condition, but you have my word that I won’t tell him what you revealed to me. That is doctor patient confidentiality. Do you know what that means?”
“I think it means doctors aren’t supposed to talk about their patient’s personal stuff,” the girl stated.
“Close enough, dear. Mind you, watch that arm. Keep it clean and dry for a week. It may drain some, that’s to be expected. Don’t pick up anything heavy for a couple of weeks and don’t overwork the wounded arm.”
Taking a bottle of antibiotic pills from a shelf, Maggie counted out a supply and put them into a smaller bottle. “Take two of these in the mornings and two late in the afternoons. Always eat right after. It doesn’t have to be a big meal, but taken on an empty stomach, these will make you feel sick. Take them all, starting this afternoon.”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll remember,” Sally said and thanked both women for their help.
Lacey led the girl back through the ship, past the guards, and then out the door in the control room. Maggie used the private channel once more and asked Pete to bring the girl’s father to the infirmary where she would be waiting to speak to the man.
When they arrived, Pete opened the door to the infirmary and let the farmer enter the room. He stood framed in the doorway undecided for a moment. Maggie smiled and thanked him for leading the man to the infirmary. She asked him to please wait outside. Pete closed the door but stood near it, ready should the man become unruly with the doctor.
Inside the infirmary, Maggie gave the man specific instructions regarding the treatment of his daughter’s wounds and then she spoke of the medication she’d given the girl, mentioning the dosage and the need to eat when she took the pills. Looking into the father’s eyes, she then said, “I was a doctor in the trauma center at a large hospital in Chicago before the world went crazy. I had a lot of experience treating abused young girls. I know what is best for the girl in this case,” she finished letting that soak into the man’s brain.
“Then she was abused?” the man asked and his face paled.
“She wasn’t raped if that’s your fear. But right now the young lady is fearful.”
“The men who took her are all dead. What is she afraid of?” asked the man in confusion.
“You and the people of this community,” Maggie answered truthfully.
“What?!” the man asked raising his voice and the door to the infirmary opened at once.
“It’s all right, Pete. Something I said just surprised Brandon. Why don’t you go to the galley and get a cup of coffee,” she said, dismissing Pete again.
“He’s sort of overprotective,” said Maggie, winking at the farmer who smiled despite the seriousness of the situation.
“All right, Doctor, why is my girl afraid of me and the people here?” he asked.
“It’s common for girls taken captive to fear interrogation by their friends and family. Everyone means well, but put the girl through hell, insisting that she talk about what happened to her. They don’t realize that what she needs most right now is a chance for the trauma to her mind to heal, and that process is hindered by constant reminders.”
“It’s like how soldiers feel when they return from a war then?” the farmer asked. He could readily relate to that. His brother was a veteran. It had taken well over a year after his discharge for him to begin to speak of what he’d experienced, and when he did begin to talk about the matter, he’d only discussed it with their father. Brandon remembered his father’s warning that he was never to question his brother regarding his experiences in combat. If he wanted to speak of the matter, then his brother would do so in his own good time.
“That is actually a very good analogy,” Maggie said, nodding her head in approval. “The same thing applies. They’ve just survived hell on earth. Everyone means well when they ask about the experience, but the constant reminders don’t help them to begin to recover from the god awful traumas they’ve had to endure.”
“I understand, Doctor. Then I shouldn’t ask her questions or refer to what happened at all?”
“Just be there for her. A time may come when she decides she wants to speak of the experience. If that moment comes, it is important for her to control the discussion. Let her decide how much she wants to tell of her experiences. If she only speaks a bit and stops, then let her decide the stopping point. Don’t badger her for further details once she begins to speak of the experience. Most people will eventually want to talk to someone they know and trust. That could be you, or it might be a friend. That’s a portion of the healing process. But don’t let anyone badger the girl. Not even yourself.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I understand now. At least she wasn’t raped,” the father said in relief.
“She’ll be fine, so long as no one adds to the emotional trauma in this community. Though she may suffer nightmares occasionally,” Maggie replied honestly to the father.
“I may have a few of them myself, Ma’am,” the father said and then he added, “You have my word that I’ll follow your advice. No one will badger my girl about what happened. Not in my presence.”
Brandon thanked the doctor for the care she’d given his girl and for helping him understand her immediate emotional needs.
“Mind she takes all of that medicine. It will make her sick to her stomach if she takes it without eating and some people stop taking it because of the nausea, but she should take every pill or the wound may become infected,” the doctor reminded Sally’s father.
“I’ll see to it, Doctor, don’t worry,” the farmer said grinning and thanked her again as he open
ed the door.
“Well that went well,” Maggie said to herself as the door to her infirmary closed.
***
As the last of the bodies were tossed into the mass grave, the Peacekeeper left to pick up the refugees and return to the community the women and children who’d been hidden at the secluded barn for their own safety.
The decision was made to spare the women and children the sights of the dead being collected and buried. By the time the ship returned to the community with the refugees, the task of burying the dead was completed.
The Peacekeeper left late that afternoon for the trip to the Marauder’s base. They would attempt to locate the base, which was sure to have an assortment of necessities that the farm community could use, stockpiled. Jim promised to try to find a fuel truck to bring back to the community. Fuel was in critically short supply and what little remained was now being conserved strictly for the farm machinery to produce the food needed to sustain the community.
Following in the wake of the Peacekeeper were Sergeant Wilcox and his five-man strike force. Each drove one of the pickup trucks that had previously belonged to the Marauders. They kept the Peacekeeper at an average speed of about fifty miles per hour so that the trucks could easily manage to keep up.
The peacekeepers stopped for the night well off the main road about twenty miles from the spot indicated on the atlas as the Marauders point of origin. The strike team boarded the ship and everyone had a huge meal that Lacey and Maggie had prepared while they were flying at such a relatively sedate speed that there was no need for abrupt changes in course or altitude. They sat down to a meal of chicken and dressing, green beans, potato salad and macaroni and cheese. When Evan saw the food spread on the tables he said, “Oh boy this is a great dinner, Mom!”
The crew shared the boy’s excitement. Busy the past few days they had settled for battle rations of cold MREs more than once and they were ready for a proper meal.
When they finished their meal, they had an impromptu meeting. They decided to commit to assisting the farm community in getting on their feet before they returned to their base. They figured that would take about a week and they could also use that time to cross train the control room crew.
Listing the priorities, they decided that the community would need fuel for their vehicles and propane since they almost all heated with gas and none had enough to last out the winter while some had none at all. They had good crops near ready for harvesting but still lacked in several items so Jim suggested that they seek out supplies of food to load aboard the trucks. Lacey reminded them that the people would also need disposable items such as toilet paper and paper towels, which were so universally helpful to all women. In addition, they would need feminine hygiene items Maggie pointed out and laughed at the reddening of the faces of many of the male crewmembers.
“All right then, it looks like we are going on a huge shopping spree,” Jim said with a smile. He asked everyone to compile a list of items the community would need. They would address that immediately after investigating the former Marauder base.
Chapter 8
As it turned out, the peacekeepers had no difficulty in locating the base. It was an abandoned factory located on the corner, just as the small circle drawn on the map had indicated. They found most of the meat that the Marauders had taken as well as a whole lot more. The Marauders must have stripped everything they came across because the place looked like a department store. There were crates of clothing, food, tools, electronics, and computers. Patricia picked up several boxes of computer supplies and asked for help taking most of the computer parts aboard the ship explaining that they needed the spare parts, or might one day.
Jim pointed out that the contents of this facility would keep the farming community afloat for at least a year but they’d need at least one tractor-trailer in addition to what they could transport back aboard their vehicles.
They spent that day organizing the things they would transport. The food and other necessities would take priority because there was no way they could take it all in one trip. It would take two trips at best. They loaded the pickup trucks that afternoon and left them inside the locked up facility inside the drive in loading bays. The crew spent the night inside the Peacekeeper but left at dawn.
Several hours later, they pulled back into the farming community and spent the rest of that day offloading and distributing the items that they’d found. The men of the community were pleased at such a windfall and worked diligently throughout the afternoon to store everything in the most efficient manner possible. The women prepared a huge feast for everyone to celebrate. The supplies that the Peacekeepers had delivered should see them through the coming winter months.
The next morning, the peacekeepers left bright and early for the return to the Marauder facility. This time they loaded as much as they could aboard the vehicles, but then went in search of a tractor-trailer rig and a fuel truck. They located a rig and a propane fuel truck quickly but it took the rest of the afternoon to locate a gasoline fuel truck. Even after finding the fuel truck, it took another two hours to top off the tank from various abandoned service stations.
There seemed to be rather a lot of fuel remaining in this area, which caused Jim to wonder where all the people had gone. Later that night, they found an answer when one of the strike force men found a flier that said the governor was issuing evacuation orders. The flier explained that scientists suspected a major earthquake swarm would soon hit the area due to its relative proximity to a fault line that had become increasingly active. Noting the date on the flier, Jim realized that this was in the aftermath of the quakes that killed so many in the midsection of the country, but was prior to the night of the quakes. He’d seen the news broadcast about that, just before Pete had called him from Chicago. In the wake of that tragedy, it would have been political folly to ignore the scientist’s warnings. Therefore, the governor had issued the evacuation of a place that had survived untouched. Jim couldn’t help but wonder how many of the people who’d fled their homes had died as a result of that decision. Not that they’d had any choice.
It took working late into the night but by 10:00 P.M. The fuel truck and the tractor-trailer rig had both been loaded. They ate a light meal that night and went to sleep exhausted. On the way back to Arley, they took a slight detour to try to locate another propane truck. It took two hours but they did find one. The peacekeepers who arrived in Arley that afternoon were very tired. However, they had removed everything of any possible use to the farming community from the Marauder base.
Most of the farmers had their own fuel tanks on their farms and Jim spent the afternoon distributing fuel. Thankfully, one of the farm men had experience delivering propane and he volunteered for that job. The farmers took one look at the exhausted peacekeepers struggling to unload the cargo into a storage barn the community was using to house the overflow, and put a stop to their work. As one farmer said, “You good people did the part we couldn’t do. We couldn’t leave our families to go find what we needed. But we are men, and we’ll do what we can do. Let us handle it from here. You folks deserve a rest.”
The peacekeepers rested in the shade that afternoon as the farmers flew into the work with enthusiasm. This was life for their families and they were overjoyed at the need for this particular work.
The next day, Sergeant Wilcox and his strike team spent training the men and women of the community how to shoot and gave them a course in firearms safety. Sergeant Wilcox spent two hours going over battle tactics with the people explaining how to tell when an enemy is about to attack.
During this time, Maggie set up a small clinic in a tent beside the Peacekeeper where she saw any of the people of the community in need of medical attention. But for the most part, the people of this community were fairly healthy. She attributed this to their rigorous lifestyle. They walked almost everywhere and conserved their gasoline supply for the farming machinery needed to feed them. She spoke with two women who had acted
as midwives in the aftermath of the disasters and gave them a generous supply of items useful in that occupation. She also gave them instructions on dressing wounds and treating injuries. She gave them the supplies needed for most such emergencies.
While the strike team was working with the farmers, the control room crewmembers were busy cross training. That training progressed well and before the end of the day, most could quite easily perform simple maneuvers safely with the ship, such as leaving town and parking behind barns and similar places of concealment.
The crew spent two more days in the community with the strike force training the people in self-defense and the use of firearms, and then it came time to say goodbye to the people of the community of Arley.
All of the people of the community turned out to bid them farewell and for once Jim broke with protocol enough to order all hands outside the ship though two armed guards stood beside the door. Standing at the front of the ranks of the peacekeepers, Jim said, “It has been an honor for us to be among you and come to know you all. We thank you for your friendship. Remember, if you are ever in need of help use the radio. We will come if we hear your call,” he said with a sober expression on his face. They had done everything that they could for these people, but he was afraid trouble would one day seek them out again. At least this time they would be better prepared.
Turning to the peacekeepers, he faced them and motioned for Pete to join him. Pete did so and turned to face the peacekeepers lined up in military formation before the ship. “Peacekeepers, Attention!” Pete shouted.
All of the peacekeepers came to rigid attention. Pete turned to Jim and handed him a slim black box. Taking the box in both hands, Jim turned to the assembled crew and said, “Communications specialist, Patricia Wilison, front and center!”
Surprised Patricia made her way to the front ranks and stood at attention before the Captain who looked at her solemnly.