by Payne, T. L.
As Maddie walked back to the tables with the soiled tongs, she heard yelling coming from inside. She stopped and listened. It was Miranda. Harmony? Next, she heard a slap—a hard slap on bare skin. Someone was crying. Maddie caught movement inside the doorway and moved closer to see who it was. Miranda appeared. She was dragging something—someone. They were screaming and crying, but not really putting up much of a fight. Maddie stood aghast as the young girl from earlier was pulled out by her hair and thrown to the ground.
Miranda bent over and was cursing the girl as she curled into a ball and sobbed into her knees.
“You stupid, stupid girl. I told you that I keep a sanitary kitchen. I said if you feel sick, let me know. Then you go and vomit on my clean floor. It’s bad enough that I have to have you filthy, smelling beasts in my kitchen in the first place.” The veins in Miranda’s neck looked like they were about to explode. The woman was so angry Maddie thought she might have a stroke.
“Get up!” Miranda demanded. “You’re going to get the mop and a bucket, and you're going to clean it up.”
The girl slowly rolled over onto her knees. As she attempted to stand, projectile vomit spewed onto Miranda’s black work shoes. Miranda raised her foot and kicked the girl. Maddie took a step forward. Frank’s leathery hand gripped her forearm.
“Don’t.” He pointed to the guard tower.
Maddie pulled her arm free, throwing the little man off balance. She looked to the tower then back to the girl. She couldn’t just stand there and watch the woman stomp the girl to death. Maddie bit down on her bottom lip and balled her hands into fists.
Think of Harmony, Zach, and the others.
Maddie turned away. She stepped around Frank and grabbed a stick of wood. She couldn’t save the girl without risking her family. With armed shooters aiming right at her, any attempt to intervene on the girl's behalf would be futile, but it wasn’t in her nature to let brutality like this go without confronting it. Everything in her wanted to kill that woman with her bare hands. Maddie stabbed at the fire, causing flames to shoot into the air around the pot. She wanted to put her hands over her ears. She wanted to drown out the screams, but she couldn’t.
Images that haunted her sleep ever since her escape from Chicago forced themselves to the forefront of her brain. Another young girl being brutally attacked. Maddie was cowering behind a dumpster, her hands covering her ears. The same feeling of helplessness. She vowed to herself to make the woman pay before she left this place. She would make them all pay for the lives they had destroyed.
“Miranda!” a male voice yelled. The stocky man and the pockmarked kid rushed over to the girl. “Damn it, Miranda. That’s the second one this month. How the hell am I going to explain this one? Huh?” the stocky man asked, bending down and brushing bloody strands of light brown hair from the girl's face.
Maddie looked away. She didn’t want the girl's lifeless eyes haunting her dreams, too.
“Jared, go get Bart. You two get her out of here. I have to go talk to Red and West. I gotta try to convince them to keep their mouth shut.”
“Good luck with that,” Miranda said as she turned and walked back inside.
“Maybe I should just let them…”
Miranda whipped around and stomped over to the stocky man. “Let them what? Tell the boss?”
“He’ll fry your fat ass this time,” Stocky Man said.
Miranda stepped closer, nearly touching the man. “And you think I give a damn? Nelson ain’t going to do shit to me. He may hate my guts, but he’s afraid of my baby girl.” The stocky man huffed as Miranda slowly turned and walked inside, closing the door behind her.
“What? Get back to work!” he yelled.
Maddie and Frank each picked up a tray of food and turned toward the grills.
At the start of mealtime, Miranda returned and ordered Maddie to go help serve the food. Trays had been set up on tables in the pavilion, and black-clad men filed past them single file. Maddie recognized the Nelson tattoo. These were his henchmen—the men he sent out to do his dirty work. Maddie wished she would have spit in their food. The stories Maddie had heard about them made Miranda look like a saint by comparison.
Maddie endured their vile comments and leering stares without losing it. She was actually quite proud of herself for not reaching out and hitting them over the head with a pan. Now was not the time. She’d have her chance. She imagined herself standing over their lifeless bodies. Sometimes, she felt bad for wishing people dead, but this wasn’t one of those times.
There were so few people left. Pastor Brown used to say that every life was precious and capable of redemption. Maddie saw nothing redeeming about these people. They were brutal, vile, hate-filled people. But was she so different? More so today than yesterday, less so than tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
She hoped to not be there by then.
They’ll come for us.
She was sure Maria had gotten away. Maria was up there right now, waiting for an opportunity—for a distraction. Maddie recalled the toy fire engine that Gene had used the day before. Would they fall for another one? Maddie scanned the pavilion. She hoped so.
Chapter 22
The Nelson Ranch
Dent County, Missouri
July 15th
The convoy slowed to a stop. Rank’s heart raced—not from fear or anxiety of the mission but at the sight of the soldiers dismounting their Humvees and establishing a perimeter. He had missed this. Even though they weren’t Marines, he still felt a sense mission and purpose going on. He missed the excitement of going on missions. Watching them was like the clock had been turned back nine months. It warmed his soul.
“We’re assuming they have comms, right?” Sharp asked.
“Yeah. They have radios. Not long-range, but they can definitely communicate within the compound,” Ryan said. He rubbed his leg. Rank was concerned about him humping two miles in hilly terrain, but he was tough. He’d fight through the pain. He could count on Ryan to have his and Lugnut’s backs, no matter what.
“And sentries? You sure they don’t have lookout posts this far out?” Sharp asked.
“They may have lookouts in the farm on the right a mile from here. Leave them to Rank and me,” Lugnut said. He’d left Ryan out again. If he was upset about it, he didn’t show it. “Give us a twenty-minute lead. We’ll clear the way.”
Sharp turned. “Gear up. Just ammo. Nothing rattling. We need the element of surprise.”
As the soldiers tightened up their gear, Rank and Lugnut took off toward the Nelson farm. Lugnut had been right. The occupants of the farmhouse one mile from Nelson’s carried radios on their hips. The two men were definitely with Nelson’s crew. Nelson was the only one with communications equipment for fifty miles, at least. That was the range of their raids. Up until now, they’d mostly spared Texas County.
“We need to know how many are inside,” Lugnut said with the binoculars still pressed to his eyes.
Rank shifted, trying to dislodge the sharp rock poking him in the knee as he knelt. He placed his elbows on top of a large boulder and looked for himself. “There's at least one inside. I see someone through the kitchen window. It could be a woman. I can’t tell.”
“Let’s move around to the front and get a look inside that barn.”
“If we’d brought Stephens, she could get them all to come outside.” Rank cupped his hands under his chest. Lugnut didn’t appear amused. He’d totally lost his sense of humor in the apocalypse. That type of banter was what got them through some shitstorms in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Lugnut had changed since he’d taken on the lead role of their group. He’d forgotten how to laugh.
Lugnut stuffed his binoculars into his pack and stood. “We don’t want them to get suspicious and call headquarters. We’ll have to go in. We have to take them one by one, quietly, since we can’t take them all at once.” He unsheathed his knife. “Quietly—and we don’t have much time.”
They watched the front of
the house and barn for five minutes before moving in to clear the barn. It was empty, so they moved to the house. All the windows were open, so getting in was a breeze. Tying up women was not. Lugnut gathered the radios and weapons as Rank watched the back door.
“Are the two men still back there?” Lugnut asked as he joined him.
“The tall one just went to the shitter. The older one just crawled under that truck.”
Lugnut eased the door open and slipped outside. “You take the one in the shitter.”
Rank flipped him the bird as he headed toward the outhouse. He wasn’t thrilled about having to hang outside the smelly place as he waited for the man to do his business. He tried to think of ways to get the guy to pinch it off and come out without causing him to be alarmed enough to use his radio, but he couldn’t think of anything. Lugnut reappeared, wiping blood from his hands. “Drop your pack. We’re going in,” he whispered.
“What?” Rank gasped. He could feel his stomach start to roll.
“I’ll get the door. You rush in,” Lugnut said.
Rank thought he saw a glimmer of a smile cross Lugnut’s face.
“How about I get the door, and you rush him?” Rank asked. He wasn’t joking. No way did he want to go inside there.
“Just make sure he doesn’t go for his radio.”
Lugnut stood to one side and Rank to the other. Rank pulled his bandana up over his nose. It still faintly smelled of rotten eggs. He prayed it was enough to keep out any poop particles in the air.
Lugnut held one finger up and mouthed the countdown.
“One…two…” He yanked open the outhouse door, and Rank rushed in. Adrenaline flooded Rank’s brain, and he didn’t even notice the smell. It was quick, and he was backing out in less than ten seconds. Rank pulled the bandana down and took a deep breath. He held up the blood-soaked radio. “He’s not alerting anyone.”
When the forward team reached the farmhouse, Lugnut gave them the radios and weapons he’d taken, and he and Rank pushed on toward the Nelson farm. None of the houses between there and the farm were occupied. They encountered sentries about half a mile from Nelson’s residence. If Nelson had been smart, he would’ve had more of them. Two guards weren’t enough to compel anyone attacking with significant numbers. Rank imagined Nelson felt he dominated the area enough not to need heavy guards.
The barricades on the road to the ranch were pretty substantial and must have required heavy equipment to install. A vehicle would have a difficult time breaching the gate. It was too tall for a horse to jump. Overall, they would likely be pretty effective for the average threat. But reaching them had been no problem for Stephens and her men.
“You take the one on the right,” Lugnut said, dropping his pack and shoving it under the large cedar tree concealing them from the sentries view. A moment later, they were within twenty feet of the guard shack. An image of the man in the outhouse flashed before him. The look of surprise. The shock when he realized what was happening to him. “You getting the door?” Rank asked as they crouched behind the pillar holding the gate.
“It’s open. I got the one on the left,” Lugnut said.
Rank nodded and pulled his knife from its sheath on his thigh. He glanced down at it. Blood still filled the crack where the handle met the blade. How many would this make? He’d lost count. Rank shook it off and followed Lugnut toward the shack. One small window faced the woods.
Stupid. Were they only concerned about someone approaching from the road? Amateurs.
Rank waited for Lugnut to close the gap between the tree line and the shack before crouching and rushing toward its back-right corner. Lugnut ducked under the window and stopped at the front corner. Rank moved around to the other side and crouched. Lugnut again mouthed the countdown, and on three, they moved. Lugnut was the first one through the door this time. By the time Rank crossed the threshold, Lugnut had taken out his target. The second man reached for his radio. There wasn’t time to cross the room and take him out before he depressed the mic, so Rank threw his knife, and it landed in the man’s right eye. Lugnut swung around and finished him, easing him onto the floor and removing the radio from his hand.
“You think he clicked it?” Rank asked.
“Maybe. Hard to say. We’ll know soon if he did.”
Rank and Lugnut stepped outside and scanned the road ahead for signs of any reinforcements. They saw none. They waited a few minutes, watching, before proceeding toward the farm.
From the bluff overlooking the farm, Rank could see the ranch was bordered by two creeks—one all-weather creek, and the second one dry. They watched the movement of the residents and guards. It seemed Nelson was more concerned about security within the compound than from outside forces. He had guard towers overlooking fields and security forces walking fence lines where men in gray uniforms tended livestock. It looked like the stories about Nelson having forced labor camps were true—not that Rank had doubted it. It was just that seeing it with his own eyes was upsetting. A pang of guilt stabbed at his heart. Now, with the gravity of the situation here, and the fact that Larry, Aims, and Harding had brought up doing something about Nelson, Rank regretted that he’d never even considered it. He’d thought that most of the workers had been willing to join Nelson—out of desperation, but still willing. But the scene below told a different story. No matter how willingly they were to come here, they were obviously not free to leave.
“I want to get a look at the other side of those buildings. We need to know for sure where all the doors and windows are,” Lugnut said.
“You thinking of taking that wet-weather creek?” Rank asked, nodding toward the creek along the backside of the property.
“We’d be concealed all the way to that last building there with the tall antenna. That’s the communications building. We need to take that out to cut off their comms so they can't contact reinforcements,” Lugnut said.
“All righty then. Let’s roll,” Rank replied.
Chapter 23
The Nelson Ranch
Dent County, Missouri
July 15th
Traveling the creek had looked a lot easier from the bluff. In places, the cut became so shallow that Rank had to crawl over rocks on his hands and knees to stay out of view of the guards. Lugnut stopped and glassed the field between them and the main house.
“Something’s up. I think they might have discovered the dead guards.”
“Or Stephens and her team,” Rank said.
“Let’s hope not.”
Rank and Lugnut took advantage of the guards being distracted on the other side of the property to close the distance between them and the communications building.
“Moving,” Lugnut said, climbing out of the creek bed.
Rank covered him as he ran toward the building. When he’d reached it, he moved along the wall to the corner. He held his fist in the air, signifying for Rank to hold tight at his current position. A second later, he motioned for Rank to join him. As he began to climb out of the creek, Rank heard someone whisper his name. He spun around, his rifle at the high ready position.
“Rank. It’s me. Maria.”
“What the hell. What are you doing here?” Rank asked as she slid down beside him.
“Let’s catch up with Lug, then I’ll tell you,” Maria said, climbing out and sprinting the distance to the communications building.
“Zach and Harmony are here? You’re sure?” Lugnut grilled her.
“I’m positive. I followed them here. They took Zach away, though. He, along with some of the other men, were taken to another location. I wasn’t able to follow them. But Harmony is here. I watched them take her into that building there.” Maria pointed to a long, narrow building about half the distance from the house and the communication building.
“What about Aaron, John, and Erick?” Lugnut asked.
“We found orphans on the road and separated from them to get the kids back to the farm. Aaron, Erick, and John rode ahead to Eminence to locate the
herd. We were going to drop the kids off and turn around to immediately head back that way. We didn’t make it, obviously.”
“Wait. What kids?”
“It’s a long story. The point is that we have to get Harmony and then go find Zach.”
“That complicates things,” Lugnut said.
“How so? We go find Zach and the others. Fuck the gold,” Rank said. He knew Lugnut wouldn't abandon Zach and Harmony, but Lugnut’s unwillingness to abandon the gold could put them at risk. Rank wasn’t willing to do that.
“Gold?” Maria asked. “Why are you after gold?”
Lugnut waved dismissively. “It’s a very long story. We don’t have time…”
“We’re here looking for a wagonload of gold coins for the government,” Rank said.
Maria opened her mouth, and Lugnut held up his hand. “We don’t have time to explain right now. We have to find Harmony and Zach—” He glanced at Rank. “—and then find the gold.”
Maria looked dumbfounded. She stared at Rank like he’d lost his mind.
“And you’re never gonna believe who we brought with us,” Rank said.
“We can fill her in about it later, Rank. Right now, I think we should take advantage of the distraction Colonel Sharp and his men have provided us.”
Maria leaned around the corner of the building. “If there’s gold, it would be in that building closest to the house, or in the main house. The rest of the buildings house workers and farm equipment.”
“You didn’t get a look inside that one?” Rank asked.
“No. There are two guard towers looking down on it. There’s no way to get close without being seen.”
Lugnut stepped in front of Maria and leaned around the corner. “Looks like only one guard is left. The others must have gone to check out our mess at the gate.”