by A J Newman
“For not asking you to come with us. I don’t want you to feel that I’m always sheltering you. You would have fought as well as any of the others,” Joe said.
“Joe, after the past few months, it felt good to know that you were protecting me and the others. I won’t lie. I felt a tinge of jealousy when you left with Jane in the Jeep,” Cobie replied.
“Babe, Jane is a good friend and will become Ben’s woman.”
“Where are they?” Cobie asked.
“They volunteered to stay behind and watch for any others trying to come up the mountain,” Joe said.
“I’m glad they are bonding. Sarah has done well by Ben. I don’t know if I could do the same,” Cobie said.
“Darling, you are the strongest person I know. I believe that when faced with an issue, you will always do the things needed to protect the family,” Joe told his wife.
“That’s funny because I was thinking the same thing. We would both give our lives for the others in our family. I’m so happy that you hung in there with me when I was being difficult,” Cobie said.
“We both had reasons to be leery of committing to a stranger. I just fell in love with you first,” Joe teased.
“You just keep thinking that big boy.”
☆
Chapter 14
Joe woke up early as usual and took his coffee concoction out on the deck behind their cabin. The air was cool, but spring was well underway, and Joe liked watching the clouds float by in the spring breeze. The air around him was dead calm thanks to the tall pines; however, there was a slight breeze that moved the top branches above him.
Joe heard the Sparrow first then saw several flitting about the woods. Joe didn’t have the patience for bird watching but did like looking at birds. The tranquil mornings were the only time Joe could enjoy their bright colors and listen to their cheerful songs. He thought he heard an Eagle in the distance, but the calm was shattered as Emily and Cloe bounded out on to the deck.
“You ask.”
“No you ask,” Emily replied.
“Dad, can you take us treasure hunting today? We’ve been studying the maps and clues your Grampa left, and we think we can find several of the caches,” Cloe said.
“Let’s check with your mom when she gets up. I only have one chore that I have to do today and can put the others off. Where do you think we need to look first,” Joe replied.
“Wait a minute; what do you two wayward waifs need to check with me about?” Cobie asked.
“Mom, we have found several of Mr. Harp’s caches.”
“Cloe, don’t you mean that you think you know where they are,” her mom replied.
“No Mom, we are certain we know where they are. We have analyzed the map and clues. We will be digging up treasure today. That is if you take us treasure hunting. Please, pretty please,” Cloe pleaded.
“Get the rabbits fed and all of your morning chores done, and I’ll talk Joe … err .. your dad into going,” Cobie replied.
Joe looked over at his wife who had her hair in a ponytail and wore sweatpants. “I guess the honeymoon is over. It’s sweatpants and cold meals from now on.”
“Girls, if you want to go treasure hunting today, go fix breakfast and bring us a refill. I’ll take tea,” Cobie said.
The girls left, and Cobie curled up in Joe’s lap. “I didn’t have sweatpants on last night, and I didn’t hear you complain.” Cobie kissed her husband and enjoyed the cuddling until she heard the door open. Cloe walked toward them with two plates covered in scrambled eggs and thin slices of fried bear meat.
“You two need to eat this or go back to bed until you can behave yourselves,” Cloe teased.
“We’ll behave but only because I’m starved,” said Joe.
The girls had their chores done by seven o’clock, and Joe and Cobie gathered their gear for a daylong trip. Joe had promised that he would bring the second Jeep back from the hideout at the old quarry so the others would have transportation in an emergency. He planned to get the Jeep first, and then they would come back up the mountain and begin the treasure hunt.
“Why do we have to take our backpacks? We’ll only be gone for five to six hours and won’t get more than a few miles from home,” Emily whined.
“Dear, we have learned that the best-laid plans can go to crap and it’s always best to be prepared. We can survive for three days on the food and water in our backpacks. With the LifeStraw, fishing tackle, and guns we can hunt, fish, and stay hydrated for months. Quit yer bellyaching and get your butt in gear,” Joe said.
“The pack only weighs about twenty pounds. Get used to it,” Cobie said.
Cloe strapped her holster to her waist, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and placed her one point sling for her M&P15 around her neck. “Emily, we don’t go anywhere without our gear. It will save your life one day and much more importantly might save mine. I really, really like me,” Cobie said then broke out laughing.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Emily said as she geared up to go down the mountain to the quarry.
Joe decided to walk down to the quarry to enjoy the scenery and to get Emily broken in on traveling with a load on her back. Joe handed each girl an Army entrenching tool before they left and said, “You are the treasure hunters. You do all the digging and get to carry the shovels. We’ll have the Jeep on the way back so out of the kindness of my heart I’ll transport the treasure back to the cabin.”
“Joe, I’m sorry for making a fuss this morning. I guess I had it too easy growing up. Mom and Dad sheltered me from most of the hard work and let me concentrate on my schoolwork and sports. I ran track and played volleyball. I didn’t like you being mad at me this morning,” Emily said to Joe as they walked through the woods to the Forest Service road.
“Emily, I wasn’t mad at you. You are always free to complain unless we are in a dire situation or under attack. Then you jump when I say jump. Complaints are good. We need to know what you are thinking. Sorry, but the backpacks will always be mandatory for all of us,” Joe gently said.
“Joe you always call Cloe Baby Girl. What are you going to call me?”
Joe paused for a minute and said, “Tiger or Kitten are the two that come to mind. A young girl can be playful like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn or strong and fierce like a Tiger. I love you and want you to be both as the situation warrants. Which do you want to be called,” Joe said with his fingers crossed.
“I like Tiger. I know I have to learn to be tough and maybe I can live up to the name. My future husband can call me Kitten,” Emily answered.
“Okay, it’s Tiger from now on.”
Emily hugged Joe and then ran up to walk with Cloe. Cobie had been listening in on their conversation. “Joe that was sweet of you to pull that out of your ass so quickly. You didn’t have a clue what to say when your mouth started talking. Did you?”
“Nope. I didn’t have a clue what to say. I just thought about how sweet Emily is and how we need her to be for her own good. I guess I didn’t screw that up too bad,” Joe said.
“I was so proud of you and your answer. I am so happy that Cloe and Emily have a good daddy,”
“So I can bank the attaboy for the next time I screw up?” Joe asked.
“It kinda depends on the screw up. Yes for a bonehead dumb mess up but never for a make me cry and make you sleep on the couch foul-up,” Cobie teased.
“Well, we’re making headway on the groundwork for marriage rules,” Joe replied.
“Joe, my best advice to you is when you want to contradict me or think I’m wrong is to say, “Yes Dear,” Then come back later and politely find out why you are wrong.”
“You are kidding, aren’t you?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Cobie replied.
A short while later they walked into a clearing in the woods about 500 yards from the quarry when Cloe froze in place. Cloe pointed down toward the buildings at the Quarry and said, “I just saw someone go behind that building. Duck!”
&n
bsp; They all quickly moved behind the cover of the trees. Joe pulled out his field glasses and couldn’t see anyone at the quarry buildings. He looked to the left and right of the quarry and didn’t see anything either. Then he scanned on down toward Ashland and saw movement. He spotted two men walking to the quarry. One stopped from time to time and looked at the ground
“Damn, that man is tracking someone. I’ll bet his prey is hiding in the quarry,” Joe said.
“Dad, look. A woman is sneaking along that pile of rock heading this way. Oh, shit, the men see her,” Emily said.
“Everyone stay hidden. We don’t want to borrow trouble from these men. She might be a runaway kid and just needs to go home with her dad,” Joe said while not believing a word he uttered.
The girl steadily advanced toward the stand of trees Joe’s family hid in and had not noticed that the men were running after her. The men had to travel behind a huge pile of rocks just as the girl ran in front of Joe. He jumped out from behind the young woman and held her from behind with his hand over her mouth. Cobie and the girls came to the girl and calmed her down.
“We won’t hurt you. Why are those men following you?” Cobie asked.
Joe took his hand from the girl’s mouth, and she said, “They want to catch me and take me back to the Boss. He wants me to work for him.”
“Is that the man who runs things in Ashland?” Joe asked.
“Yes. He calls himself the Governor. His men still call him the Boss,” She answered.
“Why did you run?”
“My Dad couldn’t pay the protection tax, so the Governor’s tax men offered to take me instead of food, ammunition, or weapons,” She said.
“Why not work off the debt?” Joe asked. He then asked, “What kind of work did they ask you to do?”
The girl began crying and said, “I had to belong to one of his managers for three months.”
“Bull shit. Slavery has been gone since 1865,” Cobie said.
“Dad, let’s help her,” Cloe said.
“Okay, I want you girls to take her back through the woods about a hundred yards and wait. Your mom and I will make sure they don’t find us,” Joe said.
The poor girl was covered in scrapes and scratches, and Joe could only imagine what she had been through on the way here while escaping from town. He and Cobie stayed hidden and slowly backed up into the forest following behind the girl’s route. Joe quickly led Cobie back in a circle toward the men and then lay in wait for them to pass.
Joe watched as the men slowed where Joe had captured the girl. One of the men dropped to one knee, brought his rifle up, and scanned the forest looking for who had taken their prey.
That’s when Joe knew there wouldn’t be a peaceful ending to this problem. He knew the men could track them back to their homes. That was unthinkable and brought a completely new concern to Joe’s list of dangers to worry about. The previous men he had fought and killed weren’t experienced trackers and never tried to find Joe or his family. These men had to be kept from finding their hideout.
Joe hated all of the killing and turmoil but quickly decided that he and Cobie had to dispatch the men for good.
“Darling, when I tell you to shoot, please aim for the man on the left and hit him in the gut. Only shoot him once. We need to know what they know about us up here in the hills. I’m waiting for them to cross that clear area and shoot when I do,” Joe whispered.
The men advanced following the tracks. The one performing the tracking noticed the extra footprints that had joined the ones of the person who had snatched the girl. The man jumped behind a tree, and the other man followed suit. They stayed in this position for several minutes and then cautiously walked toward the ambush.
The men were only fifty yards away when Joe alerted Cobie to be ready. Then Joe heard the men talking.
“That bitch is mine first when we get her. I don’t care how many of these squatters we have to kill,” the tracker said.
“Bill, Harry said not to damage or sample the merchandise.” The other man replied.
“Fuck Harry!”
Joe placed his sights on the tracker’s stomach, took a deep breath, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. The .223 bullet exploded from the barrel and struck the man four inches below his ribs. He was knocked to the ground and laid there screaming. Cobie’s shot hit her man on the side and destroyed his liver. The man died before Joe and Cobie could get to him.
“Why did you shoot me?” the tracker named Bill asked.
“Why were you chasing that girl? What did you plan to do to her?” Joe asked.
“What do you think I was going to do to her? Take her to church?” the man replied.
“Who were you referring to when you said squatters?” Joe asked.
“The damn people who took over the cabins up here in the mountains. The Boss wants to come up here, find his woman, and kill the woman who stole all of his whores. Please get me a doctor,” the man answered.
“Does he know the name of the woman?” Joe asked.
“No, but she was a short dark haired bitch. Just like this bitch with you.”
“When does the Boss plan to send his men up into the mountains?” Joe asked.
The man gasped for air and said, “Soon.”
The man died before Joe could finish questioning him. Joe and Cobie dragged the bodies deep into the woods and left them for the coyotes and varmints to eat. They took the men’s weapons and ammunition and then went to find the girls.
“I’m Bobbie Gantt, and I live in a home just off Main Street in Ashland. My mom, dad, and brother are somewhere up in these hills. Dad mentioned hiding out at a Bed and Breakfast over by one of the lakes,” the new girl told everyone after dinner.
She filled them in on what the Boss had done to take over the city. She told them that everything was getting better in the city if you could overlook some of the negatives the Boss brought with his Iron rule. The gangs were gone, food and water were rationed but enough to live on. The new police didn’t tolerate drugs, theft, or any sort of crime, so the city was now safe to live in for most.
The huge negative was that everyone had to pay taxes to the Boss and his men for law and order. No one spoke about it, but most knew the Boss and his men had a large harem of women they had captured from the surrounding towns. The Boss’s men also took sex in trade for not being able to pay the protection money. Many decent people fled Ashland and others were too afraid to make an attempt. The roadblocks and guards were never meant to keep people out. They were the prison guards keeping the people in the city.
“That was an eye-opener,” Dan said in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, we’ve got it made compared to the people left in this shit hole of a city,” Wes said and then added, “I’m glad we escaped and you good people could help us.”
“Joe, how soon will the Boss and his men become a problem for us?” Jane asked.
“They already are. We now need to get some better binoculars or maybe spotting telescopes and keep a full-time guard watching for intruders from the city. They could launch a surprise attack and wipe us out in our sleep,” Joe replied.
“Perhaps we turn the tables on them,” Earl replied.
The next day Ben and Jane drove Bobbie to the lake and found her parents at the same Bed and Breakfast where Emily’s parents had been killed. There was a small group of about ten occupying the hotel, and they were happy to see other likeminded people. Ben told them that he would return with some others from his group to discuss trading and common security issues.
“Ben that is great. We will have much more food than we need if the crops come in as expected. It will be great to be able to trade for other goods,” Jane said on the trip back home.
Ben pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road and cleared his throat. “Jane, I need you to come to my house tomorrow. Sarah is in extreme pain and will be leaving us after lunch. I fought her on this until I realized how much pain she has endured,” Ben said as he broke down into t
ears.
Jane held him and said, “I’ll be there for you and Sarah. Ben, I’ll always be there for you when you need me.”
“I know.”
Sarah died from an overdose on Monday, and she was buried the next day. The pain had gotten so bad that Ben was easy to convince to be by her side as she took the pills and was dead an hour later. Jane and Ben stayed with her through the night and then went to tell the others the next day. Jane helped prepare Sarah for the funeral. Ben was a wreck, so Jane had to clean and dress Sarah in her best dress and fix her makeup and hair.
Ben saw how gentle Jane was while taking care of his beloved wife and fell in love with Jane on that horrible day. He felt guilty about his feeling for Jane while his wife lay dead on the table but told himself that Sarah would be happy that he was getting on with her plan. Ben cried at random times for the next week, and Jane was with him every minute to support him and make sure he took care of himself.
They had a nice funeral with Dan performing the eulogy and everyone saying kind words about this gentle and good woman. Joe had made a nice wooden cross with her name carved into it. Ben later planted flowers around the grave and erected a fence around the several graves that had joined his wife in peace.
The next day everyone was invited to lunch at Joe at Cobie’s place. They ate a large meal, and then Cobie banged a spoon and a glass to get their attention.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and young adults, I have an announcement to make. The older adults already know what I’m about to say, but this was kept from you young folks. Sarah was a strong and great woman. She knew she was dying over six months ago. Surgery and Chemotherapy could have saved her life, but that was ruined by the nukes. She wanted her husband to live a good life and move on, so several weeks ago she asked her husband’s and Jane’s permission to develop and implement a plan for Ben to move on with his life and to help Jane have a better life.
The short story from there is she got the two together and gave them her blessing to date and if they were compatible to marry as soon as possible after her death.”