Kate turned and walked back towards her home without another word. A home that until that moment, she had felt comfortable staying in, even after the previous night’s events. However, with Trey’s release, she had to rethink her strategy. With Gary gone and the look on the crowd’s face, the community was as good as dead. Calls for help were clearly not going to be answered anymore. The people crowded around the corpses, not knowing what to do. They had lost a leader who had guided them, given them their strength and courage. As a group, they could be a force, but without Gary that force was spent, and as individuals they were weak, indecisive and clearly, from the way they’d looked at Kate, looking for someone to blame. Warm Springs Mesa had suddenly become a very dangerous place to be.
Chapter 36
The nod to his sentries had sent Gary and his two companions to the grave. Three shots ended their lives before they’d even realized they were in danger. It was a clinical kill, a kill that Bob took no pleasure in, but for him it was necessary. For anyone to think they had any power or ability to imprison or kill his men, for whatever crimes they’d committed, was unacceptable. The militia had to be seen as an untouchable authority. In his Boise, his authority was to be complete, unquestioned and uncompromising. That authority would extend to his men. Anyone taking action against one, would answer to all.
An example had to be made. The bodies of Gary and his men had to be displayed for the Warm Springs Mesa community to understand who was in charge. The militia made the rules; they were the judge, jury, and executioner. They were the new law in Boise, not Gary, not their community effort.
Bob appreciated his cousin Trey, Neil, and his horses being returned. That appreciation would be rewarded, a reward that meant the community would be spared a reprisal attack. Their punishment would be the execution of Gary and his men. They would be spared a posse riding through their streets, shooting their automatic rifles into their homes and their families. Bob could be merciful, but he would not be forgiving. His men had been wronged. If they wanted some action, it was their right to take it. They were going to watch over and keep Boise safe. For that, the community needed to understand and assist with their needs. Whatever those needs were.
“Duke, I’m sorry,” Trey said for what seemed like the fiftieth time since his return to the base.
Bob ignored him. His mood was not improving with Trey’s apologies. If anyone else had done what Trey had done without his approval, they would’ve been dead already. Neil had saved himself by admitting he had just followed Trey’s orders, although Bob was going to have to keep a close eye on Neil. That same admission was likely to cause Trey to seek some retribution and Neil, given his expertise with horses, was not someone Bob wished to lose. All in all, the whole event had left a bad taste in his mouth. Bob would publicly back his men, of that there was no question. To the outside world, they could do no wrong. To Bob, they could.
“That bitch is going to pay for breaking my finger,” winced Trey, as he caught it once again, pushing himself from his seat.
“The bitch who could’ve killed you? That one? Who instead just shot a gun out of your hand. That bitch?!” fumed Bob.
“Yes, but––”
“But what?” he snapped, “Have you not done enough today? We lost a man and have just sent a troop of men, who by the way, had plenty of work to do here, to hang three bodies from street lights in a community miles away that was no concern of ours!”
“She killed Eddie!”
“I don’t blame her! He was about to rape her daughter and thanks to your FUBAR of an operation, was on his own and she had a gun. What the hell did you expect her to do? When will you get it into your thick skull? The reason Eddie is dead and your finger is broken is you! You screwed up!”
“But the men?”
“The men will never know how I feel, of course they won’t. You are my number two and as long as you don’t pull any more self-gratification stunts without okaying them with me, you will remain so.”
“But that bitch needs to pay! I can’t have the men think I let a damned woman get the better of me,” said Trey, looking at his finger. He had walked Bob into a corner. Back him or sack him.
Bob looked at him with derision. Trey was right. The woman was testament to his failing. She had to be dealt with.
Chapter 37
Kate locked the door behind her and let out a deep breath. Whatever had just taken place had fundamentally altered their chances of riding out whatever was happening. The community blamed her and more importantly, Trey was alive and back with the militia, free to attack them again whenever he wished. She had no illusion that wouldn’t be very soon.
“Mom?”
Kate lost the worried look on her face and turned to face Ava.
“What’s wrong?”
“Some bad news about Gary.” There was no point lying. “How’s your leg?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.
Ava looked down at her bandage, covering the three-inch wound she had sustained the night before. “To be honest, sore. But what about Gary?” Her eyes were back on her mother. Ava wasn’t a child to easily distract. Danny or Sophie, no problem. Not Ava.
“Can you round up Sophie and Danny, please? We need a family talk.” Ava didn’t question her; she could see the concern etched on her mother’s face.
“Do you want Zach as well?”
Kate had come to see him as part of the family. He and Sophie were all but joined at the hip.
“Yes, Zach as well.”
The time for sugarcoating was over. Their lives were all at risk. Kate laid out exactly what had happened. Zach and Ava didn’t need any follow-up, they got it. The looks on their faces made that very clear. Sophie and Danny took a few supplementary explanations. Until finally, they both got it. Trey would be back and there was no Harry or community to help them. At least, not as far as Kate was concerned.
“So what do we do?” asked Ava.
Kate looked around her kitchen, her home. It had already been tainted. Eddie’s blood stained the basement floor. He and Trey had already breached their sanctuary. Useless appliances and gadgets still littered the room as she finally began to see it for what it was, a husk, a dead husk. Nothing worked, the faucets no longer dispensed water, the sockets no longer created power, the TVs sat dormant. Even the toilets failed to flush. She looked out at the tent in the back garden with some disgust. Up until that moment, the house had offered them a safe place to sleep. Even that was no longer the case.
“We have to move!” she said with determination.
“Where?” asked Sophie, looking at Zach with tears welling in her eyes.
“And how?” asked the much more practical Ava.
“Cool,” said Danny. “Can we go somewhere where the TVs are still working?”
Kate opened her arms for Danny to come in for a hug. She hugged him tightly. His mind didn’t allow the scarier realities to cloud his world. “We’ll try, baby. We’ll try,” she said, kissing him on the top of his head as he snuggled into his mom.
“Mom, really, how?” asked Ava again. “We have no car, no transport, and there’s nowhere to go.”
“I’m not leaving Zach,” blurted Sophie, holding his hand tightly.
Kate should have seen that one coming. Sophie was fifteen, she’d do what she was told.
“You need to stay with your family, honey,” she said calmly.
“Zach is my family!” shouted Sophie.
“Your mom’s right,” said Zach, trying to calm everyone down.
“Do you love me, or don’t you?”
Zach’s face exploded into a deep red as four faces awaited his answer. He’d never said those words out loud to anyone but Sophie.
“That’s not fair, Sophie. Zach’s only trying to do what’s best for you,” offered Kate, trying to save Zach from the firing line.
“Well, do you, or don’t you?” asked Sophie, ignoring her mother.
“You know I do.” said Zach quietly. His world was in j
ust as much turmoil over the thought of losing her.
“If you had just killed that Trey guy…” Sophie stopped herself from saying any more. She knew Kate had done the right thing and was proud of her for it.
Kate looked around at the husk. Damn it, it was still their home. She thought about what Tim would do. He’d never run from anything in his life. When needed, he’d stood up for what he believed. It had cost him his life and taken him from her, but she couldn’t fault the man for who he had been, nor would she have wanted him to have been any different. He was a man she would forever be proud of.
Kate stood. “You’re right!” she announced and left the table. The four faces followed her as she walked down the hallway before taking a right and heading down into the basement.
“What have you done?” asked Ava of Sophie.
Sophie shrugged. She had no idea.
Kate appeared a few minutes later, carrying two rifles and a bag full of ammunition. One rifle was adorned with a scope. The other looked more like an automatic rifle.
“What are you doing?” asked Ava warily, concerned she already knew.
“I’m going to practice some shooting and then I’m going to make us safe again.”
“But the only way you’re safe is if…” began Zach.
“Trey is dead!” finished Kate.
Chapter 38
Nick and Alex watched the events unfold in the community below, the riders tying the bodies to the streetlights. Then the community circling the bodies, nobody appearing to know what to do. The summoning of the woman whose child had been attacked, and from the location of her house, the person they believed to have been attacked the night before. They wished they could hear the conversation, which appeared heated, and resulted in the woman marching back to her house. The crowd hung around awhile longer before dispersing, and the bodies remained in place.
“Told you,” said Alex as the last member of the community shut their door and the streets emptied, despite only being mid-afternoon. “Coffee?” he asked brightly.
Nick shook his head as he looked down at the community he had felt sure were going to prove Alex wrong. His hope for a future had rested with the hundred or so homes that lay below. He focused his binoculars on the three bodies. Nobody had come back to cut them down, bury them, do anything for them. They had just been left to swing gently as the afternoon breeze picked up. It was a sad and depressing sight.
“I think we’ll give it one more night and then move around the hillside,” said Alex. “I want us to get a feel for what’s happened in downtown after a week.”
Nick nodded somberly. He wasn’t in the mood for talking and quite frankly, not having to watch the destruction of the community he’d had so much hope for wouldn’t be a bad thing. He felt as though he’d been invested in their futures. He’d built up backstories in his mind over the last couple of days as he had watched their lives transpire. They’d saved that boy from an unimaginable fate. He didn’t even want to think what would’ve become of him, or his mother. Under other circumstances, he most definitely would’ve liked to get to know her. Whether the father wasn’t around out of choice, or by accident because of the power outage, he didn’t know but he’d certainly noticed that a father wasn’t around.
A movement on the street caught his attention. It was the boy’s house. The family were coming out. The older boy, who’d been hanging out with the older daughter, was leading the children away with him, while the mother stood by herself by her door. He could sense her despair as her kids walked away, each turning and waving frequently. Once again, he wished he could hear what was happening.
With the kids out of sight, she walked back into the house. He was just about to follow the kids when he noticed the garage door come to life. Once opened, she wheeled out her bike and with some effort, lifted a bag. The strain in her movements made it clear that the bag was heavy. Her clothes were unlike any she had worn previously. Trousers, boots, and a long-sleeve top, all in black. It was almost like a tactical outfit. He focused more closely on the bag, long and slim, a lot of weight. It was a gun bag.
He scanned back to the kids and the older boy was leading them to his house. A few streets away.
She hoisted the bag over her shoulder and cycled off.
“And where the hell is our little redhead off to?” asked Alex. He had noted Nick’s sudden increase in interest.
“No idea, but I don’t think she’s planning to have a coffee!”
They followed her movements as far as they could before losing sight of her. She was heading east towards the militia base. Nick looked at Alex. He shrugged, what the hell, he was just as intrigued. They quickly covered their camp, grabbed their kit bags and jogged east along the hillside.
***
Waving her kids off was one of the hardest moments of her life. Every single thought that passed through her mind was screaming at her not to do what she was about to do. Yet one thought overrode them all. It was their only option. She cycled a mile from the community and stopped. She laid out a bunch of targets, old bottles and cans, and picking up her kit and bike, measured out three hundred yards.
She pulled out Tim’s Remington 700. It was a beautiful piece, she thought, surprising herself. The hatred she’d had for guns had evaporated in an instant. She appreciated them for the finely manufactured functional tools they were. She had killed a man with one, no remorse, none. He had meant her daughter harm. It’d been either him or Sophie who would have died and perhaps, even the whole family. She wanted Sophie alive. Therefore, his death meant she lived. That simple thought almost brought a smile to her face. She stopped herself. Smiling about killing someone was perhaps a step too far. Even recognizing that fact comforted her.
She knew the weapon. Tim had talked about it in her presence. Not with her, but while she was in the room. Chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum with a twenty-six-inch barrel. She thought of her father as she nestled the rifle into her shoulder. The last time she had been in that position, he’d been there guiding her every movement. She remembered his instructions as though he were standing over her, twenty years later. He had taught her how to respect and use guns from a young age. She moved through her setup as though reacting to his exact instructions. She lined up her first shot. She knew her distance and conditions and factored them all into the shot. It was only three hundred yards. The target fell.
She walked back another two hundred yards. Tim had told all his friends how it easily handled a thousand yards. She repeated her preparations and breathed just how her daddy taught her. Her finger pressed gently, increasing the pressure on the trigger. The rifle kicked, she followed the bullet, the target fell but only just, she had caught it on the corner. It wouldn’t have been a kill shot. She lined the shot again, talking through all of her father’s instructions, ingrained in her memory. Once aimed, she focused on her breathing and pulled the trigger. Dead center.
Kate rose and walked back another two hundred and fifty yards. A total of seven hundred and fifty yards. It took her five shots before she felt ready to stretch the rifle to its limits. A thousand-yard shot.
Kate lay down, exactly as her daddy instructed. Every movement had come back to her, the preciseness and intricacy of how she set up her position, crucial to how well she performed. The more mechanical and robotic she could be, the better the result. She had to clear her mind of every other thought. She and the weapon had to become one, one purpose, to hit the target from wherever you were.
***
“You have got to be kidding me! I’m in love!” exclaimed Nick, watching Kate’s shooting. “That has got to be a thousand yards she’s shooting down there, and she’s hitting the target, one after the other. Did you see her first few shots? It was like she hadn’t even used the rifle before, like it was her first time, and now, she’s pinging targets from a thousand yards! Holy shit!”
Alex couldn’t disagree, it was seriously impressive shooting. “But what do you think she’s practicing for?” He looked
off to the distance and the militia base.
“We should stop her,” said Nick, following Alex’s gaze. Whatever the woman was planning, going up against the militia was nothing more than suicide.
“We cannot expose ourselves to the populous. You know that.”
“She has no idea what she’s going up against. She can’t have. She’s a mother with kids!”
“Maybe she’s doing it to save the kids? You hear about that sort of thing, mothers sacrificing themselves for their children.”
“Maybe, but I’d bet a lot of cash none of them could shoot like her!”
“She’s moving. Come on, we’d better get going or we might miss what she’s planning,” said Nick, as he packed away his binoculars. Alex was just as caught up in the story as he was. He just didn’t want to show it. They both tracked along the hillside continuing east. Being on foot, they would struggle to keep up with her and needed to get moving fast.
***
With the bag repacked, Kate climbed back aboard the bike. She couldn’t believe how well she had remembered everything her father had taught her. She felt a closeness to him she hadn’t felt since the day he had killed himself. It was as though she had re-found him. He had become a disappointment, a failure in her mind. The hours he had spent each weekend with her had been erased with one cowardly bullet. He had been a wonderful father, doted on her, and loved her above all else. He spent every moment he could with her, answered her most inane childish questions. He had never once complained about taking her to any gymnastics practice or competition, no matter what time they needed to get up or how far they had to travel. Up until that one bullet, she didn’t think there could have been a more perfect father.
TRIAL: A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Thriller Page 15