Tribulation

by Scott B. Williams

  Two

  AS HIS WORDS RANG out across the yard, Eric carefully watched the intruders to study their reaction once they realized they weren’t alone on the property. There was surprise written on their faces, but no one went for a weapon or made a move to leave. The man in front with the AK already in hand kept his rifle down as he turned in Eric’s direction, scanning the house and surroundings for the source of the voice. He raised his other hand high above his head, two fingers forming the “peace” sign as he glanced at his companions to make sure they were remaining cool too. Eric could hear the murmur of low voices as they talked amongst themselves, but he couldn’t make out what was said. They hadn’t spotted him where he knelt motionless behind the KLR, and that was the way Eric wanted it until he knew what they were going to do now that they’d been told to leave. The answer came when the lead man finally shouted back in reply:

  “You must be the local sheriff? We saw your truck heading this way and followed. We didn’t mean to trespass without permission, but we really need your help!”

  Eric kept quiet, thinking about his options before he answered. Would it be best to let them go on thinking he was the sheriff, or should he tell them the truth and let them know that he couldn’t help them? The only thing he wanted was for them to be gone from Keith’s property so he could be on his way. He considered that if they thought he was in a position of authority, they might be more inclined to comply. But that could go either way, and he knew it. Still, he decided to let them continue believing what they already assumed.

  “PUT YOUR WEAPONS AND BACKPACKS ON THE GROUND AND STEP AWAY FROM THEM. KEEP YOUR HANDS HIGH WHERE I CAN SEE THEM IF YOU WANT TO TALK!” Eric yelled back.

  It took them half a minute of fiddling with backpack straps and other gear, but the strangers did as Eric asked and moved away from their stuff. With his M4 at low ready and pointed in their general direction, Eric rose to his feet and stepped out from behind the motorcycle, still cautious as he scanned the group for sudden movements.

  “Is that rifle necessary, Sheriff?” the same man who’d spoken before asked, as his gaze fixed on Eric and his weapon. “We’re not criminals.”

  “Yes, it’s necessary! You came here armed, trespassing on my property, and I have no idea who you are or what you want!”

  By this time, Eric was standing in front of the steps leading up to Keith’s front porch. He was close enough to talk to the strangers without shouting, but far enough to give him time to react if one of them tried something stupid.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but like I said, we saw your marked trucked go by right when we turned off the interstate. It’s hard to trust anyone these days, and we’ve been generally keeping a low profile, but we need help and you’re a law enforcement officer, so helping people is your job.”

  Eric wondered what new favor would be asked of him now, after he’d already spent hours driving Cynthia and her kid to the hospital and delivering a message to her folks to let them know where she was. He’d missed Keith because of all that, and now he had a whole group of strangers thinking he was the sheriff and expecting him to help them with whatever problem they had too. He would hear them out, but he wasn’t making any promises just yet. His real goal was to simply be rid of them so he could leave.

  “Helping the folks here in my jurisdiction is my job,” Eric informed the man. “A big part of that job has been protecting them from outsiders coming here and bringing trouble with them.”

  “We’re certainly not here to bring trouble. We’re just passing through and have no intention of staying. But surely your duty to protect and serve isn’t limited to only those who elected you to your position?”

  Eric was already regretting his decision to let them think he was a lawman. Maybe it would have been easier to simply fire some warning shots to run them the hell off the property. It was a little late for switching gears now though, so he figured he might as well try to handle it diplomatically.

  “Look, I don’t know where you came from, but I’m sure you’re aware of the problems law enforcement organizations all over this country are facing right now, if they’ve managed to survive at all. I’m working with what little I have out here and I’m doing the best I can, so yes, my priority is looking after the local folks in my jurisdiction, and doing that is stretching my resources to the limit. That’s the reality of the situation, just so you know. Now, if you want to tell me about your particular problem, I’ll listen, but I can’t promise you that I’ll be able to help you out.”

  “Fair enough,” the other man said, tentatively stepping closer for easier conversation when Eric nodded that it was okay. “The problem is that there is another young lady riding with us who is badly injured. She crashed her bike last night after hitting debris in the road that she didn’t see in the dark. Her collarbone is broken and I’m quite certain her right femur is too, not to mention all the bruises and road rash she suffered. The accident happened on the long bridge just to the east of here. We had to leave her behind because she couldn’t walk or ride a bike and we had no way to transport her. My road map shows a town not far west of the bridge, so we carried on, even though we normally stop before daylight for safety reasons. I had ridden a bit ahead of the group and had just reached the first exit on this side of the bridge when I saw your truck go by on the road that passes under the interstate. I waited for them to catch up and to see if you were going to come back by. When you didn’t, we followed the road, hoping to find you, and then we spotted your truck parked at this house, so here we are.”

  “So you left the injured woman alone on the highway?”

  “No, not exactly on the highway, and not alone. The accident happened several miles back, near the last exit to the east of here. We were able to carry her down the ramp and find a safe place to leave her hidden in the woods so we could go and look for help. One of my students stayed behind with her, but she needs to see a doctor as soon as possible. She’s in a lot of pain and she’s in serious trouble considering that she can’t move on her own. With things the way they are now, she won’t survive this without help. That’s why we took a chance coming down this road to try and find you. Some of my students wanted to turn around when we came to the dead bodies and shot-up vehicles along the way, but insisted we push on, knowing you must have passed them too. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to see your truck here. Look, all we’re asking is that you help us get her to a doctor or someone who can help her. It’s not far back to where she is, not in a motor vehicle.”

  Eric glanced at the man’s companions as he took in what he’d just heard. Now that he was closer to the entire group, he could tell that most of them were indeed the right age to be students, as he’d first thought, even before the older man referred to them as such.

  “If she’s got a broken femur, she won’t be riding a bicycle again for a long time, if ever. I don’t know where you’re going or where you came from, but that might be a problem if you don’t have a way to take her with you. I was just at the hospital in Lafayette this morning, and I can tell you that their resources are stretched pretty thin dealing with local cases. They may be able to take a look at her leg and maybe even set it, but I seriously doubt they can keep her there until she’s able to walk or ride.”

  “We’ll worry about all that after we get her there. Anywhere would be better than leaving her where she is. Will you help us? I’ll ride back there with you and show you where she is if you will.”

  Eric couldn’t believe what he’d gotten himself into in just a matter of minutes. Because he let them believe he was the sheriff, he would lose the rest of the morning dealing with these people. First he would have to go east to wherever this exit was the man spoke of to get the injured woman, and then he’d have to drive all the way back to the same hospital in Lafayette he’d just left that very morning. It would be at least noon by the time he did all that and then he’d barely have time to get down the river before the day was gone. He could, of course, tell
them no and go on, but he doubted they were simply going to get back on the road and ride away, leaving their injured companion. This was a job for Keith, as he was the real lawman here, but Keith wasn’t coming back anytime soon, because he was in fact doing Eric’s job today, going downriver to work on freeing the schooner that Eric himself had driven aground. But Jonathan’s note said they had lined up help, so Eric figured they could probably get the job done whether he was there or not. Thinking of it like that, he figured he might as well fill in for Keith up here. If he didn’t, these strangers were liable to make themselves a nuisance by hanging around, and Keith didn’t need more problems than he already had. It would be best if this group moved on to Lafayette without delay, and after that, Eric didn’t care what they did. By the time he helped them do it, on top of saving Cynthia and her kid too, Eric figured he would be fresh out of good deeds for the foreseeable future and maybe it would be his turn to catch a lucky break.

  “Okay,” Eric said. “But if we do this, we need to make it quick. I’ve got other business to take care of today, and I was just about to leave when you all showed up. The best I can do is take your injured party to Lafayette. The rest of you will have to get there on your own, on your bikes.”

  “Understood, and I appreciate it, I really do, Sheriff…?”

  “Branson,” Eric said. “The name’s Branson.”

  “Sheriff Branson… good to meet you. I’m Tom Russell. These kids still insist on calling me Dr. Russell, but I’m more comfortable with Tom.”

  “Doctor?”

  “The academic kind, unfortunately, so not much use for our current situation. I am, or I should say was, a history professor at a certain university in Chicago. Needless to say, things have changed now and some of my students and I got out while we could. Others were not so lucky.”

  “Chicago? You have been on the road for a bit then! I figured you had from the way you’re packed.”

  “Yes we have, and we still have a good distance to go.”

  “We can chat about that on the way,” Eric said. “I’d love to hear all about your journey and get some intel on the situation in the parts of the country you’ve seen, but we need to get going. You need to tell the rest of your group to get rolling on their bikes too. They can’t stay here.”

  “They’ve been riding all night, Sheriff. Before Katelyn fell, we’d already covered over 50 miles since our last camp. We all need rest, and besides, it’s too dangerous to be out on the open road in broad daylight. Riding at night on the bikes without any motor noise, we’ve been able to avoid most trouble. I wouldn’t want to risk it by day though.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t accommodate company, and like I said, I’ve got important business to attend to as soon as we get this done.”

  “We’re completely self-sufficient, Sheriff. We’re carrying everything we need to make camp and we have our own food. All we need is a place to pitch the tents and maybe some water to top off our supply.”

  “Not on my property. I’m operating on the bare minimum right now and I can’t have any interference in the event some new emergency might come up. You can find a place to camp nearby on the levee or in the woods, but you can’t do it here.”

  “Okay, okay, I understand. We will all want to go on to Lafayette anyway as soon as we get some rest, if that’s where Katelyn will be. But first we have to go get her, and I’ll have to go with you for that. Can my students just wait for me here while we’re gone? They won’t go near your house. They’ll stay out here in the yard until I get back, and then we’ll move on and find another place to camp.”

  Eric glanced at the rest of the group as they stood waiting for the former professor to get all this worked out. Eric could see the effects of the long journey in their lean faces and in the grime and dust that soiled their tattered clothing. These university kids were no doubt road-weary and in need of rest. He doubted they would take advantage of him while he was going out of his way to help one of their companions, but if anything was missing when he got back, Eric figured they wouldn’t be hard to catch. At least that’s what he told himself.

  “Okay, but I’m bringing you back here to your bike before I take the injured woman over to Lafayette. You’ll all have to get moving when I do.” Eric turned to the group of students: “Listen up, folks. I’m going to let you stay here in the yard until we get back, but the house and dock are off-limits. Got it?”

  “Yes sir, Sheriff,” one of the young women said, as her friends all nodded in agreement.”

  “They won’t bother anything,” Dr. Russell said. “If you don’t mind though, I think it would be a good idea if a couple of the guys jump in the back of your truck and ride with us. They can carry Katelyn out of the woods so you and I don’t have to. These young bucks have stronger backs than us.”

  Eric didn’t care one way or the other, but taking two more of the riders with him meant two less to worry about leaving on Keith’s property. He waited by the truck while Dr. Russell talked with his students again, and when he was finished Eric saw that he’d picked the two biggest and strongest looking of the lot. Eric doubted the extra muscle would be needed for such a simple task, but if they wanted to do all the work, that was fine with him.

  “You won’t need that,” Eric said, when Dr. Russell stooped to pick up his AK from where he’d laid it on the ground at Eric’s order. “I’ve got security covered.” Eric patted the receiver of his M4, now hanging freely in its sling in front of him.

  “If you say so, Sheriff. I’d feel better being armed though.”

  “Just leave it here with them. You won’t need it while you’re with me. Things are under control here for now.”

  “Are you sure about that? What about the bodies just up the road there? We saw a dead man inside a car and two more on the ground nearby. Surely you saw them too? You went right by there.”

  “Yeah, I went by there, but that wasn’t the first time I saw them. Like I said, it’s under control now. Come on, we’ve got to get going. I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

  With the two helpers riding in the back and Dr. Russell in the passenger’s seat next to him, Eric pulled out of Keith’s driveway and headed north on the gravel road. He wanted to find out everything he could of what the man knew of the conditions in other parts of the country along their route, but as soon as he’d shut the door and started the engine, the former professor began bombarding him with more questions about the shooting scene his group had passed beside the road. Eric didn’t have to answer, of course, but then again, there was no good reason not to. They would have to drive right by it again anyway to reach the highway.

  “The dead man on the side of the road and the one at the edge of the woods were in the pickup truck. They killed the driver of the car with a shotgun and were about to rape and probably kill the woman that was with him. I happened by just in time to stop them. Then I drove the woman and her five-year-old old son to the hospital in Lafayette. That’s why I was there just this morning. The boy had been snake bitten and would have died without treatment.”

  “So, you shot those two men yourself? Why didn’t you just arrest them?”

  Eric couldn’t help but laugh a little at that thought. “Arrest wasn’t a practical option, given the circumstances at the time.”

  “Did you personally witness them killing the driver of the car?”

  “Nope. That happened before I got there. The men in the truck had followed the car off the interstate. Then they shot out a couple of tires to stop it, killed the driver and pulled the woman out. I got there just as they were forcing her into the back of their truck.”

  “So, you don’t really know that those men killed the driver. You just assumed they did, right?”

  “Right. Maybe it was a suicide? Or maybe the woman was lying and she killed him herself?” Eric gave him a hard glare. “Look, Dr. Russell; it was pretty obvious at a glance what happened. And the woman confirmed it after I got her out of her predicament.”
>
  “Good thing you came along when you did then—a judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one—how convenient! Is that the job you were elected to do, Sheriff Branson? Is that how things work down here in Louisiana?”

  “It is now, considering I’m the only thing standing between the citizens of my parish and thugs like those two.” They were passing the scene now; Eric glanced at the bodies that were still lying where they had fallen. He didn’t let the professor’s questions bother him, but thought the man had a lot of nerve to make such critical comments when Eric was going out of his way to help him and his group. Maybe he didn’t mean to sound as accusatory as he came across, but Eric figured it might have pissed him off if he really was the sheriff here. As it was, he could care less what some dipshit professor thought. Still, he was curious how anyone could be so oblivious, considering the situation they were all in. “You’ve been on the road for what, a couple of months? Longer? Surely you know this kind of thing is happening everywhere, including up north. That’s why you left, right?”

  “It is why we left, and yes, it is happening everywhere; widespread abuse of power by the police and military, targeting innocent civilians. Some of my own students were shot in the streets by the police; others were severely beaten and hauled away in handcuffs. I have no idea what happened to them afterwards.”

  Eric said nothing, but wondered what the students had been doing that resulted in them getting shot. If even half the rumors he’d heard were true, he had a pretty good idea, and he seriously doubted the police had started it. If this bunch had been involved in that stuff, it was a wonder they made it here at all. He had little sympathy for troublemakers that contributed to the breakdown of law and order, but he’d already said he would take the injured woman to Lafayette. If doing so would get them on their way and out of Keith’s hair, it was worth the trouble. Eric held his tongue as he drove, saying as little as possible, but listening as the professor explained that they were headed to Austin to join a group of friends they expected to find there. He also learned that they had taken a rather long route south, going out of their way to travel back roads and remote highways like the Natchez Trace that avoided cities and towns. They camped in the woods by day and did all their traveling at night. They had only gotten on I-10 the night before to cross the river basin, and until they arrived in south Louisiana, they had no idea of the hurricane damage they would find here.