“We’re not going back?” Without warning, McCain was now in the discussion.
Rob turned to him, annoyed, “No, we’re not. Why would you think that?”
“They kicked our asses, they killed Peavey, it’s time for some payback.”
Robert didn’t think this needed to be explained. “McCain, even after all of them we killed, they still outnumber us at least four to one. They’ve got the rest of our guns and most of our ammunition. They have the house and will be watching for an attack, there’s no way to take them by surprise. And ... and this is a good enough reason all by itself, they are just plain nuts, there is no way to predict what they might do. The last thing I want to see is thirty or forty of these wackos coming at us, every one of them on a kamikaze mission.”
“Fine, I just want to note for the record that my vote is to go back and kill all of them sons of bitches.”
“Fine, we’ll note that, but I’m assuming the rest of you guys would like to live a while longer. We’re not the toughest guy on the block anymore, McCain, you’re just going to have to get used to it. Now, what was I saying?”
Alton started the discussion again, “You were saying you wanted to go west.” But it was stopped once more when he felt a tug on the back of his coat.
It was James behind him, “You said you would talk to Rob.”
“I will, James, I promise, but this is a little more important right now.”
Rob wasn’t sure what that was about and didn’t have the time, “Yeah ... I want to head west, maybe Radley and the surrounding area, that looks like a good place to start again. There might be some good hunting down there.”
“That’s a good walk from here, especially this time of year.”
“You’re right, but I want to put some distance between us and them. This new group, they’re going to be like a cancer on all of the surrounding area. They’re going to consume everything around them. We can’t fight them so we’ve got to go somewhere else. I don’t like it, but we’re going to have to start over again.”
Alton reluctantly agreed, “Yeah, I don’t see any other choice either.”
“But we have a more immediate problem, winter is here, well, not ‘officially,’ but at least the weather, and all we’ve got are the clothes on our backs. We only have enough food and water to keep going just a few days.”
“What are we going to do about that?”
“We’re going to start towards Radley, but we’ll also have to hit any refugees we see along the way. Take whatever we can use from them, but more importantly we’ve got to get some good intelligence; we’ve got to find some people worth robbing. We need ...” Rob looked around again, “a lot, some tents or sleeping bags, or at least blankets, we need more food. We’ll be needing ammo. Without at least that much were not going to get very far.”
Just then a shout came from Rudd who was watching from a window, “We’ve got company!”
Rob went right to the door, “There’s six of them, two are trying to flank us from the south. Everybody get to a window! You boys get down!”
The attack lasted only a minute and by the end all of their would be conquerors were dead.
Rob stood over the body of one of the fallen soldiers. “They look like the same ones that attacked the house. They must have tracked us in the snow. Do you see what I mean about being crazy? Six guys, only two armed with guns, the rest with clubs and knives, and they attack a building they know has several men with automatic weapons inside. In broad daylight too! These guys are just plain nuts! We’ve got to go before more show up. If they came at us a few at a time we could take them. I’m just afraid they’re all going to come at once ... and we couldn’t handle that many. Everybody go grab your stuff, and somebody get D’Cruz on his feet. COME ON! LET’S GO!”
They all marched along a snowy road until hours later they came to a lone house at the intersection of two highways. Martinelli, D’Cruz, Rudd, and the boys stayed there while the rest broke up into two groups and went their separate ways. Coyote, Alton and Cornwell, took the north highway while Wolf, Rob and McCain, took the west hoping to find anything worth stealing.
At the top of the hour, Coyote had something to report. “Wolf, come in.”
“Come back, Coyote, we hear you.”
“We’ve got something, head back to the house, we’ll meet you there.”
“What have you got?”
“Something you’re not going to like.”
“What have you got?”
“We’ve got Peavey and a couple of refugees.”
“We’ll be back at the house in half an hour.”
Team Wolf was the last to arrive, Alton sat waiting for them on the front step and he had nothing good to say. “We found Peavey wandering beside the road, two refugees were trying to help him.”
Rob was surprised to say the least, “I was sure they would kill him.”
“It probably would have been better if they did.”
“What do you mean?”
Alton reluctantly stood up, “Come on inside.”
They came into the front room and Peavey was lying on the floor, naked and wrapped in a dirty blanket. His face was heavily bandaged, so were his hands. Two strangers were against the far wall. All the other men stood around solemnly watching while the sound of both boys’ crying filled up the empty room.
Rob had more questions, but he was sure he didn’t want the answers. “How bad is he?”
Alton went on with his grim report, “They gouged out his eyes. They’ve cut off his thumbs and all his fingers too, except the middle finger on each hand.”
“You think that’s some kind of message for us?”
“I don’t know, but now I agree with you ...”
“Yeah?”
“These guys are just plain nuts.”
“Has he said anything?”
“This couple found him near the road without a stitch of clothing, they stopped the bleeding as best they could ... they said we came along about an hour later. They say he never spoke one word.”
Rob looked at the couple, an older man and women that looked familiar in their ragged clothes. They could have been the couple they gave the pineapple to but he couldn’t say for sure, they all looked the same anymore. “You found him?”
The old man located his voice, “Yes.”
“You helped him?”
“Yes.”
“Is that your blanket?”
“Yes.”
“We need it.”
“You can keep it.”
Rob turned to Alton, “Give them some food and let them go.”
But Alton still had something to say. “There’s more. They know of a place we might want to look at.”
“You’ve already got the info from them?”
“Yes.”
“Then give them some food and let them go.”
It was too late in the day to do anything but wait out the night. They took shifts, half stayed up on guard duty while the other half tried to sleep with little success. In the morning the sun arose, a new day was beginning, but not for one of them.
Martinelli checked on Peavey, his diagnosis was right to the point, “Peavey is dead.”
Rob got up, hovering over the body that appeared exactly the same as the night before. “What killed him?”
“I’m guessing, mostly likely it was blood loss. He lost too much and his body couldn’t overcome the trauma. Or ... maybe he just decided he didn’t want to live anymore.”
They packed their gear and left him there naked on the floor as they didn’t even have a shovel to bury their friend. Before leaving, Rob said a few words over Peavey. The boys were in tears and Rob was nearly himself, as the rest of the men stood there looking down on him. Then the group was off again, towards that next chance at staying alive.
Chapter Seven
Alton told Rob of the opportunity only a few miles north, several people living in an old church just off of the highway. They were told by t
he couple that found Peavey and Rob decided it was the best option they had.
The group found it early that afternoon but waited until dark before they got close, stealthily setting up an observation post behind a tractor trailer down the road. The truck had gently rolled over into a ditch and despite lying on its side, there wasn’t a mark on it.
The men traded off between observing outside and resting in the old livestock trailer. It stunk but was still better than sleeping in the snow. The temperature was just at freezing that night and the men were cold without a fire, the two boys huddled together under the group’s only blanket.
Rob was already up as the sun was rising, Alton came in from the cold and offered him half his can of pork and beans. Robert wasn’t hungry and he kept his voice low, “No thanks, I had a few crackers. We can only stretch out our rations a few days more, and then we’re done. At least all this snow makes it easy to find water.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s all I’ve been thinking about. We’re going to have to take this house today, while we still have the strength. You want me to get the guys up, so we can brief them?”
“No, let them sleep a little more. Give it an hour or so.”
“Me and Cornwell went all the way around that church last night, to get a better look.”
“You weren’t seen, I hope.”
“No, we made sure of that. We kept far enough out so they couldn’t see us or our tracks. I’m going to take a short nap and then I’ll get everybody up.”
An hour later they were all awake and fed, as much as they could spare, and ready to work. Alton was prompt with his report as he quietly spoke. “Okay, everybody has had a look at that church by now. There’s five people inside, three men and two women; they’re all armed. Two of the men were up all night on guard duty so they’ll be tired. Martinelli, you said they just changed guards?”
“Yep ... about fifteen minutes ago.”
“I think we should get ready and take this place within the hour. Normally I don’t like to rush these things but everyone can see we’re kind of desperate here. We need to get some food and get out of the cold, now.”
Rob interjected, “What about the building?”
“It’s just a small church, a wood-framed building with a front and back door, no windows at all except in the doors which they watch all the time. They’ll see us coming, hopefully they won’t have enough time to do anything about it though.”
“I think we should use Nicky.”
“I’m not sure. You know I don’t like to.”
“I know that, and I don’t either, but we need him this time. He can keep them occupied at one door while we rush the other one.” Rob got up and sat down again right next to the child. “Nicky, we need you to do this.”
The boy was reluctant, “I don’t want to. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
But Rob turned on the charm, “This isn’t like last time, Nicky. I will never ask you to do that again. All you have to do for this one is talk yourself in, find a reason to go to the other door in back, then make a commotion. Just keep them occupied for fifteen seconds, that’s all you have to do. It’s easy. You’ve done that plenty of times before.”
“I don’t know ...”
“Come on, it’s easy, you’ve done it so many times, what’s one more? Besides, we’re all counting on you ...”
Alton had already heard enough from Rob, “Pouring it on a bit thick, aren’t we?” Then he turned to the boy, “Nicky, you don’t have to do this. You’re part of this family whether you do it or not.”
The child was now willing but not enthusiastic, “I guess I can do it.”
Rob was thrilled and that winning smile returned to his face. “All right, that’s settled.”
They made a plan and ran through it a dozen times and quietly exited the back of the trailer, leaving D’Cruz behind sleeping.
Rob, Alton, Martinelli, and James cautiously approached at the bottom of a snow-filled ditch until they stopped right across from the church. They waited ten minutes for McCain, Rudd, and Cornwell to stealthily take their position around the back side of the building.
At the designated time, Rob whistled and Nicky came around the truck heading for the church’s front door. A guard immediately noticed him from the window but did nothing, continuing to closely examine the child as he drew closer.
Unexpectedly, a burst of shots rang out. Martinelli had slipped in the snow and accidently pulled the trigger of his M4.
Hell was unleashed as the guard thrust his rifle through the window pane and began firing. Nicky stopped, dropped to his knees, and finally fell face down in the snow.
Rob gave the command to charge and the men rushed the church from both sides.
Instantly Rob and James raced to the boy with bullets flying in every direction. They turned him over and he was covered with blood, a single bullet hole centered there in his small sunken chest.
The firefight continued for only a few moments more and then the sound of gunfire ended as quickly as it began. Rob found himself there in the silence on his knees, kneeling next to the boy. He took his hand, “You’re going to be all right, Nicky ... I promise. Martinelli!”
Nicky was coughing on the blood in his mouth and staring up at the sky, at something unseen. “I can’t feel my legs. I don’t want to die in the cold.”
“You’re not going to die, stop talking like that. You’re going to be fine.” Rob turned and yelled towards the church again, “MARTINELLI!”
James frantically cut open the front of the boy’s shirt and pulled a large bandage from his pack. He put it to the child’s chest, applying pressure. “You’re going to be okay, Nicky, you’ll see.”
But the boy wasn’t hearing them anymore, “I don’t want to die. God ... please forgive me. MOMMY!”
Martinelli and Alton came running but it was far too late. The boy remained perfectly still as the life quickly drained from his eyes. All of them silently watched over him a moment, lying peaceful there in the blood spattered snow, looking like an angel.
Alton broke the silence, barely able to speak, a stone in his throat and the tears in his eyes. “We’ve secured the building. We’ve ... we’ve taken three prisoners.”
Rob stood up, his pants wet from the snow, and wiped his red, swollen eyes dry with the sleeve of his coat. “Is one of the survivors a man with dark curly hair and a green shirt?”
Still Alton could hardly speak, “Yes, him ... another man ... and one woman.”
He turned and marched right for the front door, something now inside Rob none of them had ever seen before. He stepped into the church and it was nearly empty. The podium and all but two pews were gone, obviously used for firewood over the years. Rudd, McCain, and Cornwell held three prisoners against the back wall, two corpses were lying on the floor.
As soon as Rob entered, he saw the man he was looking for, “You! You there with the green shirt! You murdering son of a bitch!”
Rudd, McCain, and Cornwell stood there confused. McCain spoke for them all, “What’s going on?”
They could all see the hate in Robert’s eyes. “That son of a bitch murdered Nicky!”
“Nicky?”
“Yeah ... he shot our boy!”
In a moment the realization came, and then you could see the hate in all their eyes.
The man denied it, “No, I ... it was an accident!”
“You lying bastard! I watched you! I watched you do it! You took steady aim on a little boy and you shot him right in the chest!”
“NO!”
Rob bounded across the room and pinned the man against the wall by his throat, “SHUT UP! I don’t want to hear another thing out of your lying mouth!” He pulled his KA-BAR and handed it to McCain, grip first. “McCain, show this piece of shit what we think of liars.”
McCain took the knife and that was enough to release the evil inside he had held back for so very long. While Cornwell covered the others, he and Rudd dragged the man to the ground. Rud
d held down his legs as McCain straddled his chest, holding his arms down. Then he started and for more than half a minute there came the awful sounds of that man screaming while Albert McCain did some of his finest work. At last McCain held in the air a few bloody inches of the man’s tongue. He threw it against the wall were it stuck, and then it slowly slid down to rest on floor.
Alton and Martinelli were inside the door and by now Alton had his voice again. “What the hell is going on?! Rudd, McCain, get off of him!”
But this was Rob’s bloody show, “Shut up, Alton, I’m in charge here!”
“That’s enough, Rob! Martinelli, go help him.”
Martinelli ran and shoved a rag in the man’s mouth, which was promptly soaked.
“This isn’t right! Let’s just go, Rob!”
“I’m in charge! I say what’s right and I say when we go!” Rob turned to the other two still being held there at gunpoint by Cornwell, who wasn’t looking so well. “What about you two? You got anything to say for yourselves?!”
The woman, attractive and around thirty, spoke up. She seemed to know her life was nearly done and it gave her the courage to speak her mind. “We’re not to blame! You bastards were the ones that attacked us! You’re the assholes that put that child’s life in danger! His death is on you!”
Rob looked her up and down, the raw hatred still there in his eyes. “I don’t like your attitude one bit. Rudd, McCain ... any of you, you want her, take her.”
Rudd and McCain jumped up, they knocked her to the ground and started tearing off her clothes. She fought back but Rudd’s second punch to her face knocked her out cold. They bent her limp body over a pew, and then the fun began.
Alton had seen more than enough, “Martinelli, Cornwell, come on, let’s get out of here.”
Cornwell made a hasty retreat for the door while Martinelli stayed behind.
Alton was surprised, “Martinelli, come on!”
“No, I’m staying,” he said as he licked his lips in anticipation.
Alton turned to leave and there was James in the doorway with his mouth agape. Alton kept walking and turned the boy out the door. “Don’t look, James, don’t look at them.”
Joshua (Book 2): Traveler Page 11