Beyond the New Horizon (Book 4): Dark Times

by Conaway, Christine

  “You’re just plain lucky that Silas didn’t cut your throat or shoot you. He sure did like that little gal. Now you got to find him another,” the man laughed, “and I sure don’t see no young things out here.”

  “Oh fuck off! That girl didn’t have many more days left in her anyhow. Now get your eyes back down on the trail and look for them tracks we saw.”

  When the men had walked by without giving the row of trees and bushes a secondary glance, John nudged Lucas, and when he looked, his Dad put his finger to his lips.

  Lucas nodded that he understood and peered under the lowest branches of the cover they had planted for disguise. They had succeeded in covering the entrance to the cave opening, but it had also given them a restricted view of the trail. The men always came through on the noisy quads, giving whoever was standing watch plenty of notice. The few times a group had been on foot, they were always loud and boisterous as if it hadn’t dawned on them that someone was watching.

  These were the men that Lucas had feared would notice the gap in the rocks or the sweep marks where they had tried to erase their tracks. In his mind, these were the men, had they been vigilant, who should have noticed that others may be using the roadway. As thoroughly as he and the others had tried to obliterate their tracks, Lucas knew a trained eye should have seen them. Only the repeated passing of the four-wheelers would disguise the marks, and for the last week, the motorized vehicles had been coming through less often.

  The past few days they had not ventured out of the safety of their valley, but they needed the things his Dad and the others had left behind. Lucas had looked on going and retrieving them as another great adventure away from the tedious gathering of weeds he and the girls had been doing. The weeds were fewer and farther between than when they’d first begun and harder to spot, but his mother had stressed the need to continue bringing even the smallest of specimens.

  Lucas felt the air shift and his father’s warm breath on his ear, “Go back and tell the others to be ready for anything. It looks like these guys have an agenda and it seems to be finding us.”

  Taking care to not let his gun or body drag in the dirt, Lucas scooted back until he was inside the opening. He stood, let his eyes adjust to the gloom and moved across the cave. When he broke through into the sunshine on the other side, he startled the adults who were sorting the pile of dried weeds. One look up told him that Abby was still up on the lookout, but he didn’t see the girls and hoped they were far enough away to not be heard. Several times one of the adults had already cautioned them about how well their higher pitched voices carried.

  “Dad wants…” Lucas really didn’t know what exactly his father wanted. He’d told him to tell the others to get ready, but he hadn’t said to what extent they needed to be prepared. “There are men out there and Dad thinks they’re looking for us, or maybe the cattle and he wants us to be ready.”

  Charlie looked at each of the startled faces around him. “Just when we were beginning to get comfortable, but I guess we knew this was inevitable.”

  “Where are Sherry and Maggie?” Lucas knew there was no way the girls were exposed to the men outside, but he knew his father would want to know where everyone was when he went back out.

  Evelyn pointed down the field, “gathering,” she said.

  “Maybe someone should go,” Lucas fell silent.

  “I’ll go,” Evelyn volunteered.

  Lucas nodded and turned to go back to his father and Matt. With only a small area in front of the cave, there really wasn’t room for all of them out there unless they left the safety of the trees.

  “Lucas, why don’t you go up top with Abby?”

  Lucas nodded and turned to climb the ladder when several shots rang out. Lucas recognized the sound of his father’s 308 and ran back through the cave. He, Charlie and Mark arrived in time to see John scurry back through the opening followed closely by Matt.

  Matt’s shirt was torn, and he looked disheveled. He used the back on his hand to wipe the blood off his chin, but all he accomplished was to smear it across his cheek.

  “Dang, that guy was fast for an old dude. I’m sorry I couldn’t catch him.”

  “Not your fault,” John said as he grabbed Matt by the chin and tipped his head to see how badly he was hurt. “Still got all of your teeth?”

  Matt ran his tongue around inside his mouth and nodded, “He’ll come back won’t he?” He wiped his mouth again using the hem of his shirt.

  John sighed, “He will. We don’t know how far he has to go to find help, but shooting that guy pretty much guaranteed their return, so people, we need to be ready.”

  “What happened?” Charlie asked.

  “We had our eyes on the one guy, and we were kinda out under the bushes when the other one stuck his gun barrel through the brush. I shot him, and the other guy took off running. Matt took off after him and almost had him down when the guy tried to cold-cock him. I was shocked when he didn’t finish Matt, but took off running instead.”

  “And you didn’t pick him off?”

  “Matt was unknowingly between him and me and I didn’t want to take the chance of hitting Matt. By the time I got out of the brush he was long gone, but he’ll be back, and we need to be waiting for them.”

  “What makes you so sure there is a them? Maybe it was just the two of them?”

  John pointed to where the other guy was laid out against the rock, “His uniform for one thing and we heard them talking.”

  The man wore the traditional green prison uniform pants of a lifer. The rest of his clothes were a mishmash of rags, rust stained and dirty. He was unshaven, and they could smell his body odor from where he lay.

  John elbowed his 308 onto his back, walked over and picked up the rifle the man had dropped. He ejected the magazine and caught it before it fell. John looked at the slotted edge, “This guy wasn’t very well prepared. This isn’t full, which could mean they didn’t have any more bullets.” He flipped it in his hand and reinserted it.

  “Or he has more than one magazine,” Matt said. His lip had quit bleeding but was already twice the size of normal. He used his tongue to test the size of it. He took the rifle John handed him and cradled it in the crook of his arm. There was no carry strap like all of theirs had, and Matt found it distasteful to hold. In his mind, he saw the people it had killed, and he decided it carried a black aura. It wasn’t a gun that he thought any of them should carry. If they hadn’t been short on bullets for theirs, he would suggest throwing it far away.

  John knelt, rolled the guy onto his back, wrinkling his nose against the stink, and searched the man’s pockets. When he’d turned out the pockets and found nothing more than a pocket knife, and a few pieces of women’s jewelry. He stood up and handed the knife to Mark and pocketed the trinkets.

  “Charlie, grab the other leg and let’s move this guy away from here.” When he saw that Mark had the branch in hand that they used to sweep away their footprints, “No point in wasting the energy. They already know where we are.”

  With a nod, Mark dropped the branch and began rolling the boulders they had set at the bottom of the rock wall, for just the purpose of blocking the entrance into place. Matt hurried to help him because he knew the bigger ones for the bottom tier were too heavy for one person to move.

  With all but the last couple of rocks in place and the adults on the cave side of the rock pile, Lucas handed the last few up to his Dad and slithered over the top. They set them in place and stepped back to survey their wall. They had less than a two foot high and four-foot long opening to shoot from, but with the way the rocks were piled in a double row, they would afford plenty of protection.

  Mark thought that to scale the rock face and attack them from above or behind, that the climber would have to be an experienced rock climber. Matt, Abby, and Lucas had been able to climb up to the crest from the valley side, but the sheer cliff face from the road side would be impossible. The one drawback to being inside was they wouldn’t be ab
le to see if someone did try to scale the vertical surface.

  They had discussed the possibility of someone trying, and Lucas had come up with the idea of the rope ladder and the lookout post. The formation along the ridge-line provided adequate cover and still allow them to see below without exposing themselves. The drawback was that there was only room for two or three of the smaller people at one time.

  “What’s going on? I waited for someone to come up and let me know what the shooting was about but no one came.”

  “Who’s up top?” John asked her, stepping toward her. Abby stepped back, and John realized his tone of voice had probably sounded harsh. “Sorry, we had a problem. We need to keep someone up there at all times.”

  “Maggie is up there now, and Sherry was going to join her when I came here.” She pointed at the wall, “I can see that something happened, but I couldn’t see anything from up top. I heard the shot and looked over but other than the trees and bushes moving, you guys weren’t visible.”

  “So that means we have a problem then. We counted on the lookout being able to see when we can’t.”

  “Can I suggest something?” Charlie asked.

  “Go ahead. I don’t know how long we have before that guy returns with help so spit it out.”

  “Who is the best shot we have?”

  John looked at each of them in turn, mentally evaluating what he knew. His eyes finally settled on Abby. “That would be Abby and then Matt.”

  “Then my suggestion is to put her and someone else up on the hill across from us, and I’d like to volunteer for the second position. If nothing else we would have them in a crossfire.”

  John thought for a moment and nodded. “You okay with doing that?”

  “I am. But this won’t be much help if you want me to pick them off, just like your 308 won’t do you much good for close-up shooting. If we were to trade rifles, I’d feel more confident in my ability to take them out from the longer distance and having a scope would up my chances for accuracy.”

  Mentally, John counted the shells he had for his 308. He was sure there wasn’t more than three or four dozen, and he thought that was a generous count. He knew that Abby, with her Dad’s training had the talent to snipe, and if Charlie was correct, she had the courage to be their sniper. Could he put her in harm's way? Could he trust Charlie to give her all of the protection she would need to do the job? John wanted to kick himself for being put in the position of having to decide to send a young girl out to be their sniper.

  He felt a hand on his arm and realized he hadn’t heard anything that had been said.

  “Mr. Akins, I don’t have to use your rifle. I can use my own.”

  “Oh Abby, it isn’t that at all, and you should call me John because I like to be on a first name basis with anyone who uses my firearms, especially if that someone is protecting my family and my ass.” He realized what he’d just said and felt his face turn red. He heard Abby giggle and felt a little of the guilt lift. “I feel bad that you’re put in this position, but like Charlie says, you are the best of this lot. I don’t have to say that out of necessity you have to make every shot count. We are short on ammunition for all the rifles and handguns except your Kel-Tec, and from what Lucas told me, you have a small arsenal for it and your .45.”

  “Yes sir. Probably a thousand rounds give or take a few and another half dozen boxes of the .45, but I gave the .45 to Lucas because my .9mm uses the same ammunition as the rifle.”

  Unable to waste any more time, “Let’s clear the way and let these two out of here.”

  “Wait a minute,” Mary puffed. She handed the Hello Kitty pack to Charlie. “Water and some jerky.” Once it was safely in his hands she flung her arms around him, “Stay safe and look after our girl,” she whispered into his neck.

  As soon as Charlie let her go, Mary flung herself at Abby almost knocking her over. “Please, please, please be careful, we need the both of you to be safe. We all love you Abby girl.”

  Unable to control her emotions, Mary hurried back to camp. Her sniffles audible as she ran.

  Matt and Lucas had removed the top row of rocks, and Lucas stood watching his father and the others hugging Abby and telling her to be safe when it should have been him going with her and not Charlie. He understood why Charlie was the one going, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He should be the one hugging her and telling her to be safe. “Well hell,” he walked over and put his arms around her and breathed a sigh of relief when her arms slid around his waist. “Stay safe, and we’ll talk later.”

  She nodded against his chest, and he turned her loose. She held on for an instant longer, and it made Lucas very happy.

  “Let’s do this.” Charlie, armed with his Judge and an AR, climbed over the wall of rock and held his hand up to help Abby over. He made sure they had everything they needed before giving John a half salute and he and Abby ran across the trail. He and John already had a plan, and he hoped to get up to the wide spot where Clyde had fallen before the men returned. While it was less than half way up the incline, it still put them high enough to see the trail and the surrounding area. They felt it was a perfect spot to set up their crossfire and defense.

  Puffing before they got very far up the incline, Charlie pushed Abby in front of him. They would have to stay with it the whole way or risk the others being attacked without their aid. He admired Abby’s tenacity when he stopped pushing her from behind she grabbed his arm and pulled him along. By the time they reached the landing, Charlie could barely move. His knees screamed out in agony, and his breath came in short, painful puffs. Abby helped him to sit and forced a bottle of their water to his lips.

  He gulped a few swallows down and turned his head away careful to not spill any. “Save some of it.”

  Abby nodded, her concern for him lessening when she went to stand at the edge of the drop, and her eyes roamed the terrain below.

  While Charlie regained his strength, he studied the young girl. She may have only been in her teens, but he felt like he was observing a warrior. She stood without moving and closed her eyes. Charlie had seen Lucas do the same thing and knew she was opening her mind up and listening.

  She appeared to be satisfied that no one was coming and with a smile, she turned away from the ledge.

  “How are you feeling? You had me worried there for a minute.”

  “Hell, I had myself worried,” he chuckled, “Sorry I keep forgetting how young you are. I guess I should just give you a blanket apology because I’m sure when this rodeo gets started you’ll hear more than just that.”

  Abby tipped her head and looked at him, “Is anyone considered young anymore? We’ve all had to take a life, including Maggie. You can’t be young and a killer at the same time.”

  Charlie sat up straight, “You…none of you are killers. You have only done what is required for our survival. You never went out looking to harm anyone. Dang it girl, you can’t think like that. We are survivors, period.”

  “See, that’s what I don’t understand. How are we any different than those other guys? We think our way of life is in jeopardy, but I’m sure they feel the same way. Who’s to say which of us is in the right?”

  “We don’t go looking for trouble, nor take prisoners, nor do we steal or do harm to other people.”

  “We’re guilty of some of it. We stole those goats, and we’ve killed, but you’re right, we never went looking for trouble unless you consider what Lucas, Gina, and Sam went through to get the goats.”

  “Girl, you’re starting to make sense, so what do you say we talk about something different. Tell me about your family.”

  “You’ve already heard everything there is to tell about my Dad. Why don’t you tell me about your sons?”

  Charlie talked until long after the sun went down and by the time he nodded off, Abby felt as if she knew everything about his boys including when each of them had lost their virginity. He admitted that they hadn’t come out and told him, but how he detected the ch
ange in each of them. They walked taller and seemed more sure of themselves. He was disappointed when not one of them brought a special girl home for him to meet.

  While Charlie slept, Abby fixed herself a shooting blind where she could fire from without being easily detected. She had the strength of a pine tree to protect herself and the stub of a limb she had whittled off to rest the heavy rifle.

  Just before the final star winked out, Abby heard sounds that were man-made. She heard the even cadence of several small motors and knew it was time. She went over and gently shook Charlie awake. She leaned close when she saw his eyes blink in confusion, trying to focus. “It’s time.”

  *****

  Lucas sat up on the lookout most of the night. His mother had called for him to come down and rest, but he felt sure that she wouldn’t come up and force him to come down. None of the adults had enough confidence in the rope ladder to risk climbing it. Sherry and Maggie had taken turns sitting with him until they had both fallen asleep, Sherry up with him and Maggie somewhere down below. He had watched as Evelyn, and his mother took the milk cow to the other end of the valley to be put back with the other cattle. Before he’d decided to stay in the eagle's nest, his name for the lookout, he’d taken some of the left over logs from the building of the smoke house, and penned Lucky, and Bear with the last puppy in one of the nooks in the rock wall, inside the cave. He knew that at least Bear would try to help defend them from anyone who got inside.

  Lucas stared up at the night sky and identified the constellations that he knew and gave his own names to others that he didn’t know. He thought she must be thinking about their future together when he felt her eyes boring into him. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was certain that Abby was doing the same as him. She was looking at the same stars thinking about the future. As he sat with his eyes closed he felt a wisp of air, tickle his face like a caress from her hand. She was awake and listening. She heard the individual motors the same as he did and she was ready for whatever was coming, just like he was.