Gathering Home

by JEFF MOTES

  “It’s all right, Jill. You don’t have to talk about it.”

  “No, Mother, I do. I really do. They were on top of me, holding me down, taking my clothes off. Suddenly, two of them fell away, and the third fell across my chest. I passed out. The next day, I discovered John had come upon us and killed those evil men before they could rape me. He stayed with me and cared for me while I regained enough strength to travel again.”

  I look at my mother. “Remember how I was upset about having to go to that meeting with such short notice?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Shortly before I found out I had to go, John got a call that one of his cancelled projects was now a go, and he had to travel to Leeds. He was on his way home when the EMP happened. Mom, it’s clear to me God was looking out for me. He sent my protector even before I left for my meeting.”

  Mom’s eyes are watering. “Oh my!”

  “John had been to the barn earlier in the day. He found some teenagers who were tied up and had been raped by the same vile men who attacked me. He freed them, and they went home. He had encountered those vile men the day before on the road. When he saw them on the highway with someone unconscious on the back of the truck, he followed them. He didn’t know it was me. When he saw what was going to happen, he attacked and killed them. He saved my life.”

  “Oh, Jill!” Mom sobs. “Thank God John was there!”

  “I was too hurt to travel, so John took care of me while we stayed at the barn for a day to let me recover. Then we left in the truck that was there, thinking we could be home before dark. Not long after we were on the highway, the father of one of the raped girls recognized the truck as belonging to the rapist. He and some others attacked us. John was shot in the head.”

  Tears begin to blur my vision as I recall John slumped over the steering wheel with blood pouring from his head.

  “Mom, there was so much blood! I thought John was dead. Our truck tumbled over an embankment, and I was knocked out. When I woke up the next day, I found myself in a nice soft bed with John beside me. He was hurt really bad. It took him nearly a week to recover enough to travel. As it turns out, the man who led the attack against us was very sorry for his mistake and took us to his aunt Betty’s house. She stitched John up, and she and her husband allowed us to stay until we were well enough to travel. It was there we were able to get the ATV.”

  The image of John staggering down the hall, coming to my aid, flashes through my mind. Despite his pain and incapacitation, he was coming to fight for me. How can I explain what that meant to me?

  “It was during that time I knew I would never leave John’s side. We left five days later. John would only travel at night. The first night out, we encountered some men intent on raping a woman right in front of her children. John stopped them. The next night, we helped some people in another community defeat a gang who had been raping and killing people. The next day, a gang of vile militia men were assaulting a man and his wife close to where we had camped. We fought them.”

  The images pour out my mind. John fighting amongst those evil men, the giant on top of him, the descending knife. Tears spring to my eyes.

  “John was almost killed that day. It was so horrible. I still see the evil giant on him with the upraised knife! Mom, John is so brave. We had to kill those evil men. It was too late to prevent them from raping the woman, but we were able to save her and her husband’s lives. That’s where John got his black eye. The people we helped, Theo and Casandra, were traveling to Jackson to be with their grandfather, Coach Joe Jones. You remember him, don’t you?”

  “Yes. He was the basketball coach, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes, he was. While we were recovering from the battle, another militia showed up. These were good guys searching for the bad ones. It was pretty intense for a while. We spent the next night and day close to their compound near Marion. John made a deal with them to give us an armed escort home. We left that day, in a truck again. The Perry County militia had two trucks and brought nine men. Somewhere close to Catherine, we were ambushed with an IED, like what you would see on the news from Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the militia’s trucks was destroyed and on fire. Snipers were on both sides of the road. We drove clear, but I urged John to stop, and we went back to help. Well, John did. He wouldn’t let me go. While he was gone, Theo pulled a gun on me and stole the truck, but he let me keep the ATV. When that battle was over, more than a dozen bad guys were dead and one of the militia guys. The militia guys had to return home for medical help. There were so many bullets being fired. I know it was only with God’s protection John wasn’t seriously injured. The cuts on his face are from that encounter.

  “So then we were traveling alone with the ATV. The next day, we finally made it into Clarke County. We followed some sheriff deputies from Grove Hill. When we neared Jackson, we were attacked by a biker gang. With the help of the deputies and a local man, we were able to defeat them. The deputies were injured pretty bad. John patched them up as best he could, and then they went to the ER.

  “John and I went down Echo Ridge Drive, where the bikers came from. My boss lives there. We found her dead. She had been abused. We buried her. I was so distraught I wasn’t able to help John. He dug the grave by himself, but he didn’t complain.”

  Tears are flowing down my mother’s cheeks. “Oh, honey! I had no idea how bad things were for you. I have been praying for you every night. But I had no idea of the struggles you were facing.”

  “Mom, I have no doubt God was with us the whole way. He is the only reason we were able to make it home. We traveled into Jackson, to go to our house. At the checkpoint, we encountered Eric Wilson. You know, the police officer who wouldn’t leave me alone? He started again, right there in front of everybody. John took care of that. I don’t think he will be bothering me anymore.”

  Mom gasps. “John didn’t kill him, did he?”

  “John is not a murderer! Next to Dad, he is the best man I have ever known!”

  “I’m sorry, Jill. That didn’t come out right. Your father and I have known John for a long time. I know he is a good man. Your father would be so pleased to know you are marrying him.”

  “Mom, I watched you and Dad for so many years. The love you shared together, how you complemented each other to form a perfect union of two souls. I sense that with John. He is brave and strong, steadfast and confident. Yet even with all his strength, he is still a fragile man, with fears and needs. I can’t explain it. I sense when he needs me. When I touch him, I have felt the fear leave him, and I’ve felt him grow stronger. I’ve seen internal strife fade away when he looks into my eyes. I love him more than I can express, and I know he loves me.”

  Mom wipes away more tears. “What you have described is something very few couples will ever experience and understand. I bless you both with all that I have. I know you don’t know this, but after your father learned he had cancer, he prayed every night for you to have a good man in your life. Jill, he prayed God would draw you and John together. Let me pray with you now.”

  I move to sit beside my mother. She reaches for my hand and begins to pray.

  “Dear God in Heaven, I thank You so much for bringing my baby home to me. I thank You for sending John into her life for such a time as this. I pray You will continue to bless them together. Bring their children home safe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” Mother stands and takes my hands. “Now let’s see about making your wedding arrangements.”

  “Mom, we don’t want to make a big thing out of it.”

  “Jill, trust me.”

  She steps over to the kitchen counter and picks up the radio.

  “Glinda calling the Wizard.”

  “Glinda?” I inquire.

  “That’s the name Johnathan gave me for the radio. I don’t know why.”

  I consider Glinda and the Wizard, and I crack a faint smile.

  The radio crackles. “Go ahead for the Wizard.”

  “Johnathan…I mean, Wizard, can you come ov
er?”

  John’s dad replies, “10-4. Will be there in five minutes.”

  “Mom, what are you doing?”

  She smiles. “You’ll see.”

  In a few minutes, someone knocks at the door. Following what I observed John do, I check from a window to see who’s there. It’s Mr. Johnathan.

  Mother calls out, “In the kitchen,” when he steps inside.

  We sit at the bar in the kitchen, and Mom hands a cup of coffee to Mr. Johnathan.

  “Thank you, Beverley.”

  Mom leans slightly forward on the bar opposite of John’s dad and says, “Johnathan, let’s talk about your son.”

  Chapter 60

  Jimmy

  You Bastard!

  Day 13

  Clyde forces me on his motorcycle and cuffs my hands to the back sissy bar.

  “Jimmy, you’re going to guide me to those kids,” he says. “If you do, as a reward for your services, the sheriff’s office is going to give you enough food to last the rest of your life. If you don’t, I’m going to bring you back and let you watch our personal introductions to your wife. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah, I do,” I respond, my voice shaking.

  I’m scared witless. This guy is no deputy; he’s a devil. I think of my beautiful wife and the look on her face. Tears fill my eyes, and I want to kill him with my bare hands. I doubt I could do it.

  I’m sorry, Lynn!

  “All right, let’s go!” he hollers out.

  Motorcycles crank and follow us to the highway. The sound is deafening. I glance at our house. Lynn is still inside. This house used to be such a loving home. It’s now a house of pain. I should have accepted Pastor Ezell’s offer. My pride kept me from doing it, and now both my wife and my daughter have been raped, all because of my own selfish stupidity. But it’s not all my fault. If that boy hadn’t come out here, none of this would have happened. I’m sure I could have worked things out with Roy Hilton, and none of this crap would have happened. None of it! I hope he gets what’s coming to him.

  The only thing that might save Lynn is if these bastards get their hands on Will and Lizzy. If they do, maybe they’ll go away and leave us alone. But why do they want the kids? It can’t be because of the law, for this is a lawless gang if there ever was one. Maybe he killed one of their brothers before coming out here. I know he killed two more this morning.

  “Which way, Jimmy?”

  My mind is drawing a blank. Panic starts to rise inside.

  “Which way, Jimmy? I’m not going to ask you again.”

  My heart racing, I concentrate, trying to force my memory to work. Finally, I pull the images from my brain. “Turn right up there. We have to go to Choctaw Bluff. We’ll turn again when we get there.”

  He takes the turn and slows as the paved road soon becomes gravel. A few people are standing in their yards, and most run inside as we approach. A 4-wheeler up ahead darts down a woods trail. The sight and sound of this gang of miscreants will clearly bring fear to any man’s heart.

  What is going to happen to Amy when we get to Tom Hickman’s place? I haven’t thought of that! What else can I do? If I don’t take them there, Lynn is going to be raped by all these bastards.

  It takes nearly twenty minutes before we reach the road for Tom’s camp.

  “Next dirt road, turn right. Tom’s place is the first camp you get to. Maybe a half-mile down the road.”

  “For your wife’s sake, you better not be lying to me,” Clyde says.

  I come up with an idea. “You know Will’s going to hear all these motorcycles. When he does, all of them are going to run for the woods.”

  “We’ll be on top of them in moments. They won’t have time to get away. If they aren’t there, Jimmy, you’re going to watch everything until your wife decides to be one of our biker girls.”

  “Listen, I don’t want them to run. I want you to get those two kids then go and leave us alone. Stop up ahead and let me go on foot. I’ll talk him into coming up here, and then you can nab him.”

  He slows way down, gives a hand signal, and they all drive into a small clearing on the right side of the road. Maybe this will work. If I can only warn Amy to leave before these bastards get there.

  He gets off the motorcycle and unlocks my cuffs. “Rat!” he calls out. “Get Snipe and three more guys. We’ll walk from here. Everybody else, stay with the bikes and bring them when we call.”

  We cross the road and walk next to the trees. I’m right behind Rat, the bastard who raped Lynn. If I could get my hand on a gun, I’d splatter his brains. Clyde prods the muzzle of his rifle in my back, pushing me along. We soon reach the opening for Tom’s camp.

  Rat stops and kneels, then holds up a hand. Clyde moves past me, and a different rifle is pressed against my back. Shortly, Clyde and Rat return.

  “Jimmy, you’re going to walk about halfway up to the house, then talk them outside. You do that, and I’ll spare your daughter. I want to hear every word you say. You say anything I can’t hear and Snipe over there is going to take the top of your head off.”

  Snipe, holding a bolt-action rifle with a large scope, grins.

  “I’ll do what I said I would do,” I say, “but you’ve got to do what you promised, too.”

  He laughs. “Of course, Jimmy. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t keep my promises? Rat, you guys listen up. Don’t shoot the boy or the girl. I don’t care about the rest.”

  “My daughter,” I say. “You promised not to hurt her.”

  “Yeah,” he says, “don’t shoot any teenagers. We’ll save them for later, except of course for Jimmy’s daughter. What’s her name?”

  “Amy. Her name is Amy. Don’t hurt her!”

  “Do as you’re told and you both can go free. Now move!”

  He shoves me into the opening, and I draw near the house. About halfway there, I stop and call out. “Tom! Tom Hickman!”

  In a moment, the door to the front porch opens up, and Tom Hickman steps out. He has an AR15 rifle in his hand, probably the same one he pointed at my face earlier this morning. They should have banned those things years ago. Nobody has a need for a rifle like that.

  “Jimmy?” he inquires incredulously. “How did you get out here?”

  “I fixed Will’s truck.” I realize I’m talking at a normal voice level, and I quickly repeat myself much louder. “I fixed Will’s truck and left it up the road. Tell Will and Lizzy everything is okay. They can come get their truck and leave. I won’t bother them.”

  “Why didn’t you drive on up here?” Tom asks.

  “I didn’t want to startle any of y’all. Let Amy stay here with you for a few days while we get things fixed up at the house. I’ll replace whatever food she eats. Tell Will and Lizzy to hurry up.”

  His eyes are scanning into the trees, then a look of shock widens his eyes. “You bastard! Jimmy, you brought them right here!”

  He starts to raise his rifle, and the firing begins.

  Chapter 61

  John

  The Wrights’ Place

  Day 13

  Ryan and Ted are outside near Ryan’s truck. Jill looks up at me. Those eyes. Those beautiful green eyes.

  “Jill, I love you. I will bring our children home.”

  Standing on her toes, she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me down towards her waiting lips. She kisses me softly. “I know you will.”

  I step out the door, bracing myself for another day of uncertainty. I share Jill’s feelings of concern and unease.

  “Lover boy, have you got time to go for a drive?” Ryan taunts.

  I smile. “Got to admit it feels good being kissed by a beautiful woman. But let's discuss how we want to handle getting Lizzy and Will. What do we actually know about this biker gang? According to Ben Hunt, the reports they’re getting indicate the size is anywhere from twenty-five to seventy-five bikers. Jill and I, along with some others, encountered twelve of them yesterday near the Toddtown and US43 intersection. Nine of
them are no longer a problem. You guys took out eight this morning. That leaves us with eight to fifty-eight bastards we may have to deal with. Of course, that’s assuming they’re all part of the same group.”

  “We also know they’re looking for you for some reason,” Ryan says. “You sure you don’t know why?”

  “No, I can’t think of anything. I know people who own motorcycles, but none I know would want to do me any harm. Whether any of them are in a gang, I don’t know. We see bikers in group rides all the time. All the ones I’ve ever met seemed like good people.”

  “From what we’ve heard, these guys aren’t local,” Ted says. “They came from the west on US84 and shot their way through Coffeeville. Chief Mark was injured, but he’s okay. I think they beefed up security on US84 after that.”

  “The county and these towns better start working together or this whole area is going to fall apart.”

  “They must have some local connection,” Ryan says. “Maybe a local guy in the gang with a beef against you? They knew to come here for you. The bikers here were pretty well armed with AK47s and a variety of pistols, but they couldn’t have had any tactical training at all. They bunched up, expecting us to just walk down the highway, I guess. No flank sentries. Nothing.”

  “The ones we encountered were using pistols. I saw some rifles attached to their bikes, but they weren’t using them. They were driving and shooting. Slim chance of hitting a target. It’s the only thing that saved our lives and those of the deputies.”

  “We have a couple of options for getting to Jimmy Wright’s place. We can go through Jackson and hit Walker Springs Road. Or we can go down Toddtown Road, hit US43 then turn on Maubila Road until we hit Walker Allen Road. There are other ways, but I think these are our two best options.”