by A J Newman
The eerie silence was disrupted by the sound of gunshots in the distance all too often. Every now and then, there was the sound of screams or people yelling. Cobie noticed that while the air was crisp, it didn’t smell clean. There was the slight scent of sewage mixed with wood smoke.
Cobie had to get after Emily about talking too loud several times, but Emily finally learned to whisper.
“I hope we find my mom.”
“Me too. I hope she has been well taken care of and is working in the gang’s garden or kitchen,” replied Cobie.
Cobie knew deep in her heart that the best they could hope for was that Gail was still alive and could recover from being repeatedly raped and abused. That made Cobie wonder if anyone was waiting for her and if they were looking for her. Could this man Joe, the man she desperately tried to remember, be still looking for her? Did he love her enough to risk his life to find her? Her chain of thought was broken when a seedy looking man and woman ducked into a house.
Cobie checked to make sure no one was watching and then ran across the street to the house. Emily followed, and Cobie told her to watch for the gang. Cobie peered through the window and saw the woman undressing, and the man had already stripped down to his boxers. In a few seconds, they were having sex and oblivious to anyone else. The act only took a few minutes, and Cobie listened in on their post-sex conversation.
“Rex, I’ll do this as often as you want if you get my daughter away from the gang. Please, she is only thirteen and too young to be doing this. I’ll do anything you want if you get my daughter out of this,” the woman pleaded.
The man laughed and said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll be gentle when I break her in tonight. I’ll teach her everything about sex so she won’t be afraid when the boss places her in his little harem.”
The raging woman screamed at the man, and he backhanded her knocking the poor thing to the floor. The woman reached for her clothes and came up with a knife in her hand.
“You son of a bitch. You tricked me. I’ll kill you, you sorry bastard,” the woman said as she lunged at the man.
She slashed at the man several times, as he tried to reach for his pistol. He was too quick for her and avoided the knife but not fast enough to get to his gun without being slashed. Cobie wanted to talk with both of them, so she ran around to the back door and entered the house through the kitchen. She came around the corner from the kitchen to the living room and saw the man had a pistol in his hand. The woman had dropped her knife, and the man was yelling at her.
Cobie yelled, “Drop the gun or die.”
The man turned toward Cobie and shot wildly as he swung the gun in her direction. The bullet struck the wall several feet from Cobie. Cobie aimed, took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger in one fluid motion. The bullet hit the man in his gut. He stood there for a second with a confused look on his face, clutched his stomach, and fell to the floor.
“Lady, are you okay?” Emily asked as Cobie kicked the man’s gun from his hand.
“Bitch, you kilt me. I’m gut shot and going to die. Oh, my God, this hurts. Shoot me in the head. Put me out of my misery,” the thug begged.
“Emily, get the woman’s knife. Lady, what’s your name?” Cobie asked.
“I’m Amanda, and I’m from Medford,” she replied.
“Get dressed. I need some information,” Cobie said.
While the woman dressed, Cobie’s attention shifted back to the man. “Yes, you are going to die a slow and painful death. We can’t take you to an ER or doctor, so you caused your own death. I just wanted to talk with you, but you just had to pop a round off at me.”
“Kill me now. This pain is unbearable.”
Cobie got close to the man and kicked him in the stomach near his wound. The man writhed in pain and wallowed on the ground.
“Now tell me what I want to know, and I’ll put a bullet in your head. I’m looking for two women who were brought here by a scumbag that goes by Mal. The women’s names are Lyn and Gail. Have you seen or heard of them?” Cobie asked.
“No, one piece of ass is the same as all of the others,” the man said as he held his stomach.
Cobie struck him on the head with the butt of her pistol and said, “Gail is this young woman’s mother and isn’t a piece of ass. Have you heard of Mal?”
“Hey, that hurt. Everyone knows Mal. He is the Boss’s brother. He scouts for … err young women for the boss,” the man replied.
“Where can I find Mal and the Boss’s women?” Cobie asked.
“The Ashland Springs Hotel. Mal has a room there, and the women are kept on the second floor until they are sold,” the man said.
“Amanda, come with us if you want to free your daughter,” Cobie said.
“What are you going to do with him? He might crawl outside and ….”
The fire belched from the end of Cobie’s gun, and the bullet passed through the thug’s head blowing bits of brain and skull all over the wall behind the man. His head slumped forward, and he would never hurt another person.
Amanda finished dressing and was ready to go with them. “How do you plan for three women to rescue three more women from a lot of heavily armed men without getting us all killed?” Amanda asked.
Cobie surprised the lady when she answered, “I don’t know, but I’ll bet it involves killing a bunch of those assholes that captured and raped these women. Let’s take a good look at the hotel and buildings around it before we put a plan together.”
“Cobie, the bad guys will expect Amanda and the man to return. We need to hide the body first, and then Amanda could go back and be our eyes and ears from inside the building,” Emily said.
“Does the boss know you were with this scumbag?”
“No one knows because Rex snuck me out of the hotel. I told him I’d be his woman and I needed some new clothes. Since the stores are empty, he took me to a couple of houses to find some clothes that fit me. I should be able to sneak back in to find out where they are keeping the two women you are looking for. Mal never brought them to the hotel,” Amanda said.
“Is Mal’s brother the gang leader?” Cobie asked.
“Oh, no, Mal’s brother is a powerful man who helps the gang leader control the local population. He is a smooth talker and was some kind of crooked politician before the bombs dropped. He and Mal were in the same prison,” Amanda said.
The walk to the hotel was slow going, but they arrived there before the sun was up. Amanda walked up to the front door with a good story about being attacked while she was out with the dead man. Cobie watched as the guard allowed Amanda to go into the hotel.
Amanda’s job was to find out where Emily’s mom and her friend were being kept and drop a note out a window overlooking the parking lot. The note would contain where to find the women and Amanda’s daughter. Amanda would unlock the door facing the parking lot to let Emily and Cobie into the building. They would try to sneak the women out without firing a shot.
Nothing would happen until that night, so Cobie and Emily found an abandoned building and took turns sleeping while one kept watch. Cobie cleaned her guns while pulling guard duty and read Atlas Shrugged. She was very apprehensive about breaking into the hotel and getting the women out without getting everyone killed. The day wore on until it was finally late afternoon.
Cobie could see the back of the hotel and the window Amanda would drop the note from to the ground. Amanda appeared at the window and opened it. She stuck her head out to make sure no one was around and dropped a small box to the ground. Cobie slinked through the parked cars to the hotel, retrieved the small box, and returned to the hiding spot.
The box contained the note and a key ring with several keys. The note read:
“I’ll open the door at 2 am. The keys are to several rooms on the second floor. There will be a distraction at the front of the hotel at 2:30 am. Plan to escape when you hear the noise. I’ll catch up to you before dawn at the Bellview Elementary School off Highway 99 southwest of here. My d
aughter’s name is Ashley.”
“Cobie what kind of distraction could she be setting up? This scares me a bit,” Emily said.
“Me too. If this doesn’t work, we will become sex toys for those assholes. We have to make this work. Double check your guns and sharpen your knives,” Cobie replied.
“You could go and get away from this now. Go find Joe and Cloe,” Emily said.
“I wouldn’t know where to look. I started this search with you, and I will see it to the end. Emily, you are the only family I have now,” Cobie replied.
“You are like a mother to me, and I don’t want to lose another mother,” Emily cried.
They spent the rest of their time plotting their route to the school and planning how to handle any possible deviations to their plan. At 1:30, they left the safety of their hideout and worked their way to behind a car that was close to the back door. A few minutes later they went to the door, opened it, and went into the darkness.
Cobie turned on her small flashlight and led Emily to the door to the stairs. They cautiously climbed the stairs and stood in the stairwell as Cobie cracked the door open a bit and looked for any dangers. Cobie looked both directions several times then shinned the flashlight to see the room number on the room across from the staircase. The room was number 202, and they needed 205, 207, and 209.
Cobie looked at her watch and saw it was 2:29 and a few seconds later, there was the faint sound of gunshots coming from the front of the building. Then they heard more shooting as they unlocked the first door and went into the room. There were four very scared women in the room.
“Ashley, Gail, Lyn, are you in here?” Cobie yelled
One woman answered, “There isn’t any Gail or Lyn here, but a young girl named Ashley is in the next room.”
“Stay here for a couple of minutes, and you can go,” Cobie said.
“Go where?” one woman asked.
“Any damn place you want to,” Emily answered.
Emily opened the next door and called all three names again.
“I’m Ashley. What do you want?”
“Your mom sent us to get you free. She will meet us later come on,” Emily said.
Cobie asked, “Has anyone seen Gail or Lyn? Mal brought them in several days ago.”
“Yes, Lyn was sold to a man heading up to Portland and Gail was killed by the big boss the day she got here. She bit him when he tried to force her to have sex with him,” one of the women said.
Emily dropped to the floor crying. Cobie picked her up and said, “Woman, get your act together, or we will be the ones getting raped. You knew it was likely your mom was dead. Suck it up and let’s get out of here.”
“I don’t have anyone now.”
“Baby Girl, I just adopted you. I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t get off the floor and follow me. The rest of you need to get out of here. One of you take these keys and let the women out of the room next door. Ashly, come with us,” Cobie said as she tossed the keys to a woman and pushed Emily out the door.
Two men came running down the hallway toward Cobie. She dropped to the floor as they turned the corner; she took aim and killed them with two shots each.
Cobie pulled Emily along with Ashley following. They ran down the stairs and out the door, and then they ran into a thug that pointed his rifle at Emily. Cobie had her pistol in her hand and shot the man before he saw her. He tried to get up, and she shot him in the forehead.
They heard more gunshots, which came from the other side of the building and the three were a mile away before the boss, or his men knew they were gone. Half of the women stayed in their rooms because they had no place to go and at least were fed and had a roof over their heads.
Cobie led them to the school where they waited a full day before they gave up on Amanda.
“My Mom’s not coming is she?” Ashley asked.
“No dear. I’m afraid she sacrificed herself to make the distraction that kept the guards busy so we could escape. She gave her life for you,” Cobie replied.
☆
Chapter 7
Cloe missed her mom and Joe but kept busy improving her rabbit ranch and helping Dan startup their farm and ranch. Cloe and Butch were now dating according to Cloe, which prompted Ginny to give her son the birds and bees talk. Ginny felt she shouldn’t give the talk to Cloe, so she asked Jane to talk with Cloe. Jane and Ginny compared notes afterward.
“I’m embarrassed to say that Cloe not only knows more about human reproductive organs and sexuality than I do but the girl also has no interest in the topic. She sees Butch as a great friend and the only mental equal from our group. The girl only wants to get into his mind and not his bed,” Jane said with a red face and holding back laughter.
“Well, that’s a good thing because my son has noticed her assets and we’ll have to keep an eye on them. He would never force the issue but … oh …” Ginny fumbled with the words.
“You’re trying to say that he’s a typical horny teenage boy,” Jane said. Remember I have sixteen and fourteen-year-old boys. I’ve already found girlie magazines under their mattresses,” Jane said.
“What do we do? I didn’t start having sex until I was sixteen and Dan had better not find out it was with his nineteen-year-old brother. These kids are much more mature than we ever were,” Ginny said.
“I think we have a bunch of very level headed kids and we just need to make sure we don’t get too heavy handed and make them do something dumb just to resist us,” Jane said.
“Darn, my Dot is the same age as Cloe. Your boys will be wanting to date her any day now.”
“Ginny, both of them are keeping an eye on Dot since Cloe is already spoken for,” Jane said.
Butch was fifteen and followed Cloe around like a puppy dog. He was helping her expand the Bunny Ranch over at Joe’s cabin, and they were doubling the size of the pen and building little log cabin rabbit hutches for the bunnies. Since they planned to build the chicken coops, in the same style, they walked into the woods east of the cabin to get wood from some of the many fallen trees. They trimmed off the useless branches and cut the small diameter logs to no more than ten feet so they could drag them back to the cabin to cut down to size.
They had made several trips to their work area and enjoyed each other’s company. They talked about everything from what caused the apocalypse to life without iPhones and TV. Neither one had ever had a boy or girlfriend, so they were feeling their way around the topic.
“Cloe, do you think it would be okay if when your mom gets back that I can ask her if I can date you?” Butch asked.
“Don’t you think you’d better ask me first,” Cloe fired back at him.
“Well, I assumed that …”
“You do know that assume makes an ass out of you and me. Don’t you?” Cloe said.
“I’ve heard that before. I thought you liked me.” Butch said with hurt feelings.
“I do like you, but I’m not doing anything that will get me knocked up,” Cloe said.
“Cloe, I would never …”
“Yes, you would, but I’m not going to let you. We can date, and you can kiss me if you keep your hands to yourself,” Cloe replied.
“Cloe, have you ever kissed anyone?” Butch asked.
“No, but I watched Joe and mom kiss. I think they were very good at it,” Cloe answered.
“I promise to keep my hands to myself. Can I kiss you now?”
“Yes, but I’ll break your arm if you get grabby,” Cloe warned.
They sat on a log and embraced as Butch drew her face to his. They kissed quickly with just a peck on the lips, and then Cloe said, “Do I have to show you how to do everything?”
She planted her lips on Butch’s and gave him a passionate kiss that made him melt in her arms. They were too busy learning how to kiss to notice the stranger slipping up on them from the woods. He had been watching them for several minutes and lusted after the young woman. He planned to kill the boy and take the woman with him.
Cloe and Butch were still kissing when they heard, “Well isn’t that sweet. Young love is a splendid thing. Step away from that rifle Bud, or I’ll kill you before you move.”
“Who are you and what do you want,” Cloe demanded.
She kept her right side away from the man so he wouldn’t see her pistol.
“I’m your new boyfriend, and if this boy wants to live he’ll lie down on the ground and let me tie his hands behind his back,” the stranger said.
“If you touch her, I’ll kill you,” Butch said in a low guttural voice.
The man raised a large revolver and said, “Boy that’s big talk for a boy facing a .44 Magnum. I think I’ll blow your head right off your shoulders.”
The man didn’t see Butch wrap his hand around the handle of the hatchet. The man raised the pistol to eye level when Cloe drew her pistol and shot the man in the chest. He stood there for a second not believing that this sweet young woman had shot him. The hatchet hit him between the eyes and felled him like a tree. He toppled over and hit the ground with a thud.
“Butch, you only hit him with the back of the hatchet. I think he’s still alive,” Cloe said as she aimed, squeezed the trigger, and put a hole in the man’s forehead.
“Cloe, why did you kill him? He was down with a bullet in his chest and a big lump on his head,” Butch asked.
“Butch, you can be so dense. That man was going to kill you and rape me. By shooting him, we only stopped this crime. By killing him, we stopped him from hurting anyone else, ever.” Cloe said in a calm voice.
“Cloe, we should have turned him over to the adults to let them decide what to do with him. I think you enjoyed killing that man,” Butch said.
“Butch, I did. I hate it that there are sleazebags like him in the world, but I will have no problem sleeping tonight knowing he is dead and can’t hurt anyone,” Cloe said as she holstered her pistol.
A few minutes later Dan and Jane came running up and asked, “What happened? Who did the shooting?”