Hell Happened

by Stenzelbarton, Terry

  “Thank you,” the woman, who was the senior specialist of the three, said to Jerry and Juan. “Thank you so much.” Jerry felt there were very few things in life that would make him feel as good as he did with those words.

  “You’re welcome, ma’am,” he replied. “We’re now going to get you home.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Randy spent the day wondering between how his dad’s rescue mission was going and how his date with Cheryl would go later tonight. He finished the chores in the barn then showed Danny where to clear a spot for the motor home.

  When he was ready to start on the security system he went back to Cheryl’s room. His dad had told him that if she wanted to be outside the room, she had to wear leg cuffs. When he knocked she told him to come in.

  Her smile told him she was glad to see him. He didn’t know how fake it was.

  “Ready to go?”

  She nodded and put her legs straight out for him to put the leg cuffs on her like she did every morning. Her smile went away. Randy saw her smile go away. Her lower lip pouted and she clasped her hands on her lap. Randy picked the cuffs up from the corner he’d put them in the night before. “I want to spend the day with you, but I hate those damn things,” she whimpered. “They hurt so bad.”

  “I know,” Randy said, “but my dad said if you don’t wear them, you can’t go outside.”

  “But I want to go outside because you’re outside.” She was getting into the act of being petulant. “I won’t tell him if you won’t.”

  Randy hesitated but kneeled down in front of her and opened the cuff. “Please,” she begged and placed her feet flat on the floor. “I promise I won’t run away before our date tonight,” she teased, spreading and closing her knees, right in his eye level.

  Randy loved the looks of those legs and knew she was teasing him. He was naïve, but he wasn’t stupid. He thought she just didn’t want to wear the cuffs because they hurt her ankles. What he didn’t realize was the real reason she didn’t want to wear them. He knew it was a risk, but he believed she was a good person and he could trust her. He really believed she wouldn’t run.

  He also thought if he allowed her this favor, even after what his dad had told him, maybe he’d be allowed a favor during their date.

  “Okay, I won’t put them on,” he said, putting the cuffs on her bed. “But I’m going to work your cute little butt off today because I have a lot to get done.”

  He stood up, thinking she would give him a hug and maybe a kiss for not making her wear the cuffs, but instead she gave him a smile and thanked him. She reached around him for another shirt to put over her tee shirt.

  “Let’s get started then,” she said, nearly bouncing out the door.

  They spent just part of the day together with Randy doing the work and Cheryl asking questions about his life. Randy thought she was interested in him so he told her freely of his life, what he liked to do and things he’d done. Randy made witty comments and she obligingly laughed every time.

  She really was interested in him and the story he told about the death of Jeff. She asked a lot of questions about Eddie and his part and Jerry’s reaction. Randy thought she was just curious so he told all he could remember. He talked about the guns they’d found on their trip to Trussville and how close Monica had come to being killed. He embellished just a little and she seemed awed by his fearlessness.

  They worked their way around every area of the farm except the buildings. Randy kept her away from the kids and the other people. He suggested sharing a lunch with her in her room, but she talked him out of it, saying a picnic-like setting would be nicer. He accepted her reasoning, but it was just another lie.

  Cheryl listened to Randy ramble on through the day. She thought he was boring and uninteresting. He talked a lot about video games, the internet and playing online. These all bored her, but she feigned interest to keep him talking. When he talked about the layout of the farm and the people on it, that’s when she paid attention.

  She made sure he told her all of what had happened since her capture. Her injuries had mostly healed and she was ready to blow this taco stand. She was surprised she hadn’t been executed that day. That’s what she would have done if their situations had been reversed. Law and order were gone. The law of the land was kill or be killed. She learned a lot about the lay out of the property and the people who lived here. She couldn’t understand how this untrained bunch of yokels had gotten the better of her and her team.

  Cheryl let Randy talk and kept memorizing important facts she would need.

  At lunchtime, Randy left her in her room, foul-smelling hole she’d had to live in for the past 11 days. She hated the place, but hadn’t come up with a good plan to escape until Randy began showing interest in her. There were always too many people around or she was wearing those damned leg irons like a prisoner at a military correctional facility.

  He came back to her room with sandwiches, fruit and two juice boxes. He wanted to sit in the room, out of the possible sight of everyone, maybe to get intimate, but Cheryl had other plans. First, she wanted to get out of the foul-smelling barn, and second, she wanted Randy teased into doing something very stupid. She wanted him trusting her completely. He was already violating at least one of his dad’s rules which was a good start.

  During their lunch she found out most of the people who lived here at the shelter were gone. Randy mentioned that Tia and a crew were gone. She also knew from Randy’s ramblings that Jerry was gone with four or five others, including that fat ass Monica, who had put the final bullets into her Army friend’s head.

  That left the two older women and some kids on the property and one other man. She guessed the one called Danny who was running the tractor and chainsaw today was one of the newest people on the farm. She’d caught a glimpse of him and he was tall, sandy-haired, well-built and carried two revolvers all the time. He was also someone Cheryl would like to have on her side, and if he was new here, and not part of the two crews out on the road, maybe he was ripe for being recruited.

  The afternoon dragged. Cheryl begged off mid afternoon, saying she needed a nap because she wanted to “be fresh” for their date this evening. Her real reason was because she really was tired, both physically because she hadn’t slept well the night before even without the collar, but also she was tired of Randy’s compliments. He seemed to pepper every conversation with something nice to say about her looks or her eyes or her hair.

  Cheryl also tired of his attempts at showing how deep he was by using big words and spouting some diatribe about his faith, almost like he was trying to convert her.

  What really gnawed at her gut was his constant fawning. He was always smiling at her and her smile was beginning to wear thin. There was only so much she could take before she felt should would lose it and begin punching him in the face.

  She went back to her room to sleep for an hour. She was going to be busy this evening. Her plan had a lot of holes and a number of unknowns, but it was her best chance to get free of these weirdos. She wasn’t going to let them hand her off to some other encampment where she’d have to work her way back to the top. They weren’t going to let them drop her on some island somewhere where she would have to live alone.

  Most of all, she sure as hell wasn’t going to be some love interest for an immature 22-year-old.

  She put together a kit she would need of items she’d lifted off the farm the past three days. She’d had to be very careful not to raise suspicions of Randy and took care to hide them in the bathroom of the barn. The bathroom was disgusting and no one but she used it. She had an iron bar about eight-inches long, a blade from a piece of farm machinery she’d made into a knife, and several lengths of wire long enough to tie someone up. The garage, she knew, was still unlocked and it was where the deJesus minivan was parked. Randy’d had to move the van out of the garage to do repairs and she saw he left the keys in it.

  She heard Randy in the barn late in the afternoon, so she pretended to be asleep
. She figured he was doing the evening milking which would take him about 45 minutes. Danny brought the tractor back and she watched through her little window as he drove it into the far side of the barn. He was dirty and tired she could tell and didn’t look at all happy being made to do the shit work on the farm. He closed and locked the barn door and then walked around the barn, probably to get a hot shower and a hot meal then back to his tent to sleep before another day of working for Randy and his dad.

  Cheryl thought about going after him to try recruiting him, but the timing was bad.

  She heard the equipment in the parlor shutting down. Randy would be visiting her for their date soon. She had to be ready.

  ~ ~ ~

  Randy shut down the equipment in the milking parlor. He went out the back door and over the hill. Cheryl, he believed, wanted their date to go well. He pictured her cleaning herself up in the bathroom in the barn. It was the only bathroom his dad would allow her to use.

  Throughout the day he had talked and worked with her. She always was ready to help if he asked and she had such a wonderful smile. She didn’t talk a lot about herself, but he figured that was to be expected after the hell she’d been through. He talked about how happy, all things considered, the group here was.

  For lunch he’d brought a blanket that he spread out on the ground beside the large maple tree that had fallen during the storm. They talked a little and she asked more about the people in the group. He told her about how Kellie and her dad were becoming close, how Monica and Eddie were his best friends and the rescue of the astronauts and Tony making contact with the Smith Compound in Kentucky.

  The afternoon went slow for him. After he’d finished the security system and the repairs to the garage, he helped Danny move some brush after Cheryl said she wanted to get a nap.

  Danny had been doing good work today and had a large area cleaned out. The older man helped Randy run some wires from the shelter to the clearing.

  The man from Texas was working with a chip on his shoulder. After a while of working in silence, Randy asked why. Danny, never afraid to speak his mind asked Randy why he hadn’t got to go on one of the crews but was left here to do manual labor.

  Randy was straight with him and didn’t think to lie. “That’s probably my fault, Danny. You told Jamal you had been in jail for auto theft. I told dad because he is in charge here.”

  “You mean your old man doesn’t trust me? After the shit we went through yesterday to get your food, you told your dad not to trust me? You son of a….” Danny’s face became red and his anger boiled. Randy backed off from the larger man because he was afraid.

  “No, no, no,” Randy told him quickly. He knew the large man was in better shape and had a ton more experience than him and his hands looked like they’d seen a lot of fights. “I told him if you knew how to steal cars, you were probably good at driving things. I wanted you to use the tractor because I’m not real good at it,” he admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

  Danny looked at Randy. His anger level dropped like a rock in a fish tank.

  “You’re shitting me? You wanted me here because you can’t drive a tractor and you’re a farmer’s son?” Danny asked incredulously. “Dude, what is wrong with you.”

  “I can drive one,” Randy admitted, seeing that he wasn’t going to get the shit beat out of him. “But you must be really good at driving things. Dad wanted this clearing done before Tia got back and I told him you’d probably be the best person for it. I don’t care that you were in jail. That was before. You’re a nice guy and Jamal likes you, and what happened before you came here is none of my business.

  “If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”

  Danny was still mad about being left out, but now he understood more. “Well shit. If that ain’t the shit. Here I was pissed at your dad and it was you I should have been pissed at.”

  Randy, still a little afraid of the big man, said “sorry,” and walked away, leaving Danny to think about what had been said. Danny was nearly finished with the clearing and Randy had to get the milking chores done, and now Danny felt like hell for thinking bad about Jerry.

  Randy finished his evening chores and went to the shelter. He didn’t give his conversation with Danny another thought. He wanted to clean up before going to meet with Cheryl.

  Kellie was still out in the garden with Mrs. deJesus, Katie and the kids so he had the shelter to himself. He showered quickly and changed into clean clothes. It took all of 10 minutes.

  Randy was just about to leave the shelter to pick up the brand new TV and DVD he had stored in the garage with the beer and a movie. He’d also put together a meal of shaved ham sandwiches, dill pickles, and chocolate chip cookies. He was so excited about the date and nothing else mattered until he heard Kellie’s walkie-talkie. “Are you there, Kellie?”

  Randy reached for the walkie-talkie. “This is Randy. What’s up Tia?”

  “We ran into some problems and we won’t be back for about an hour. But have we got a present for you!” She sounded excited and happy, and he wanted to know what the present was, but more about what problems they were having. “What happened?” he asked.

  “We blew a tire on the car hauler, but we’ll get it changed and be there in about an hour. Just get something for us to eat because we’ve had a busy day,” she told him, not answering his question completely. He really liked Tia and her attitude. “Tell the kids to be good and I’ll see them in about an hour.

  “Roger, Tia. I’ll tell them.” He took the walkie-talkie to Kellie out in the garden. Katie was finishing cleaning up the weeds they had pulled and Jamal was pushing the smaller kids in the wheelbarrow.

  He walked out of the shelter, into a cool breeze and found Kellie. Randy passed on the message to Tia had asked him to and handed her the walkie-talkie. “I’m taking Cheryl supper and will watch for Tia,” he told her. She didn’t comment about his clean clothes, but did furrow her brow. That was okay with him. She’d come around when his dad did that Cheryl was a good person and should be welcome into the clan they were building.

  The big downside to the message was that as much as he wanted to be with Cheryl the rest of the night, he knew at some point in the next hour or so, he was going to have to help her and her crew when they got home. He hoped the TV and DVD for Cheryl would make her less upset that they couldn’t have an entire date.

  “Okay. We’re going to feed this bunch of hooligans so they can help when their mom gets here,” he heard Kellie say as he headed to the barn. The twins squealed because Jamal pushed them over a bump. Hannah was helping Katie rake up the last of the weeds and Josh and his daughter, who still looked frail even after a week, sat on a blanket husking sweet corn. Randy left them to what they were doing and headed for the garage. He gathered up the TV and DVD from the garage and went to his date.

  He knocked and she opened the door. She had cleaned up, but had dressed a lot more conservatively than he’d hoped. “Hey you!” she said, acting like she was genuinely pleased to see him. “Come on in.”

  He brought the boxes in and handed her their supper meal. “I know it isn’t a meal fit for a queen, but it’s fresh made bread and the ham is good.” She took the meal and he started unpacking the TV. “Where’s the beer?” she asked.

  “Oh, that’s the bad news,” he said, standing back up. “Tia’s running late, but will be here in less than an hour. I am going to have to help her when they get here, so I thought maybe we’d hold off on drinking until later tonight?” he formed it into a question, hoping she’d see the logic of waiting.

  She grimaced and sat the food down on her bed, not saying anything. “But we can get the DVD and TV set up,” he said, bending back over to open the boxes of new electronics. “That’ll give you something to do while….”

  Randy’s world then went dark. He never saw the short piece of steel bar Cheryl had stashed under her pillow. She hadn’t thought she’d need it. Her plan was to get Randy drunk until he passed out, something she
knew she could do as she’d done something similar in her life.

  ~ ~ ~

  Randy’s bad news of Tia showing up in an hour would mean at least four more people would be at the shelter and less of a chance of her escaping. She needed to move now or she might lose her chance to get away altogether.

  She slugged him as hard as she could in the back of the head and he dropped like dead man. He fell face first onto the floor and blood started flowing from his nose and mouth. She looked at the young man with absolutely no pity for what she’d done to him.

  “Sorry my little friend, but I can’t be your princess and I ain’t staying in this rotten hole one more minute.” She kicked him hard in the crotch, fortunately missing his jewels, to make sure he was not faking. He didn’t move.

  She picked up the knife she’d made and looked out the barn door. She needed some weapons and Randy had told her they kept them next to the door in the shelter. She didn’t want to go up there, but was pretty sure if she ran into anyone, she could talk her way out of it.

  She ran up the path to the shelter entrance. She saw Josh’s daughter walking back to their camper, so that accounted for two people. She worked her way closer to the shelter doors, which were open, and where she’d been shot almost two weeks earlier. She heard kids talking and laughing and instructions by an adult. She assumed it was Mrs. deJesus by the accent. Randy had told her she was an older woman. The kids, regretfully, would have to be frightened into doing what they were told, but life wasn’t fair.

  She listened for a minute, making sure she had a good idea where everyone was located in the shelter. She didn’t hear any men in the building so she assumed Danny was back in his tent, at the far end of the clearing. It was another piece of information Randy had passed on. She hoped he was too tired after his hard day of work and sleeping in his tent and out of her way.