“Welcome to Monett,” said Andrea. “Guess you’ve come at the wrong time.”
“Or the right time,” said Skip. “Your reputation precedes you.”
“Reputations have a way of doing that, I suppose,” said Ben with a grimace.
“And this is Dorothy and Tom,” said Brian. Ben wondered if there would ever come a time when last names would be used again.
The couple seemed to be in their late-fifties, in good physical shape for their age.
They shook hands and Ben asked, “So you were captives of the Nebraska people?”
“We were,” answered Tom. “We managed to slip out one night—just a fluke thing, because they usually guarded us well. We were able to disable two of their trucks. They won’t go anywhere unless all of the trucks are able to move, so we figured we gained a couple of days from that.”
“How many more captives do they have?” asked Brian.
“Ten,” said Dorothy. “We were all part of a small settlement. They caught us by surprise. A few people managed to get away, but they got most of us.”
“How many people are we going up against?” asked Ben.
“Close to thirty,” answered Tom. He must have sensed a confidence coming from some of the group, because he followed it with, “all heavily armed. Thirty may not sound like a major force, but these guys know what they’re doing. You have, what, maybe 200 people here?”
“One-sixty-five,” replied Brian.
“And a lot of them are children, right? And how many of the adults are fighters—real fighters?”
He was met with silence.
“I’m not trying to be negative, but you’ve got to understand, these people can take out a town this size in a matter of an hour.”
“Anything you can tell us about them?” asked Ben. “Any weaknesses that you observed?”
The couple looked at each other, then shook their heads. “You’re not going to like what I’m going to say, but,” he hesitated, “you might want to consider not fighting them.”
“Are you crazy?” sputtered Skip. “Can you see what we’ve built here? You want us to give this up? Did they brainwash you?”
“No,” answered Tom. “I’m only saying that because I’ve seen what they can do. Even before they captured our group, we were aware of their strength and viciousness. Refusing to go with them isn’t an option. If you fight, a lot of people might die, and some of them might be kids caught in the crossfire.”
There wasn’t much they could say to that.
Tom added, “I don’t like their methods, but they might be right about some things. That town they talk about, the one that has electricity, there’s something appealing about it. Already most of the folks they took from our settlement want to go there, so they are not really captives anymore.”
“So why did you escape?” asked Ben.
“For your sake. We knew this was a pretty big settlement, and we figured you’d elect to fight back. So we thought about it and decided it was more important to warn you to avoid people getting hurt. If you decide to take their offer, Dorothy and I are no worse off than we were before.”
Steve offered to take them over to the now-empty guest house and get them situated. Brian thanked them for the information, and they headed out the door with Steve.
“Suggestions?” asked Brian, when they had gone.
“Well, we’re certainly not going to give up,” said Skip.
“Of course not,” said Brian. “So what’s the best way to proceed?”
They all looked at Ben. He sighed. Once again he had become the de facto leader.
“Like it or not, they were right about one thing. If they get this far, people could die. So I think the answer is to fight them on our terms. We go after them. Guerrilla warfare. It’s always been the most effective form of fighting. We ambush them. We make sure they never make it this far.” They talked for another half hour, discussing their options. Finally, Ben said, “We’ve got a couple of days to plan for it, so I suggest we sleep on it tonight and come back fresh tom...”
Steve had walked in on Ben’s last statement. Ben stopped when he saw Steve’s face.
“I don’t think we have that long,” said Steve.
They all stared at him.
“I think we were duped. They just stole a couple of horses and rode out of town.”
“Shit!” shouted Brian. “They were gathering information. And I told them exactly how many people we have in town. How could I be so stupid?”
“We all were,” said Ben. “We took them at face value. It was naïve on our part. If we’d been in the wilderness, we would have been on alert, but here it’s easy to let our guard down.”
“So what does it mean?” asked Skip.
“It means they could be on our doorstep tomorrow,” said Andrea in disgust. “We should have been suspicious when they showed up on foot. That convoy can’t be very far away.”
“There is one bit of good news,” said Ben. “They made a major mistake.” They all looked at him in anticipation.
“They showed their hand. It would have been so easy for Tom and Dorothy to stay here and work to sabotage us from the inside. Or, if nothing else, stay a while longer until they knew our plans, then take off. By leaving now, they’ve tipped us off to the fact that Nebraska is a lot closer than they indicated.”
“So what do we do?” asked Steve.
“We do what Ben suggested,” said Brian. “We don’t let them penetrate the town. We attack them before they get here. Steve, go to the tower and tell whoever is up there to keep an eye out for any movement. We don’t know where they are, but we have to assume they are close by.”
“How many people do we have who can fight?” asked Ben.
“About twenty people live out on the farms. When we subtract them, the kids, and the adults who have to care for the kids, that leaves eighty or so.”
“We’ll have to leave a force here, just in case, and maybe send a few out to reinforce the farms—again, just in case,” said Ben.
“That gives us about fifty,” said Skip. “That should be enough to take out thirty of them.”
“If there are really only thirty,” observed Andrea.
“I don’t think they were lying about that,” said Ben. “If anything, they might have exaggerated the number to get us to consider surrendering. I saw a convoy. Granted, it was smaller, but they had two to a truck. Assuming the same here, plus a few extra to guard prisoners, I’d say thirty would be the max.”
“Andrea,” ordered Brian. “You need to go ring the bell.”
“On my way,” she said, and was out the door.
Brian turned to Ben. “We have an emergency bell. When it rings, people come running. We should have everyone outside this building in ten minutes.”
Brian overestimated the time. The space in front of the town office was packed in less than five. Someone had alerted Lila, and she was right in front with Katie and Ralph. Ben called her over to the side and quickly filled her in.
“I want to be a part of it,” she said quietly so Katie couldn’t hear, “but obviously I need to stay here with Katie.”
“You do. But you can probably help organize the town, just in case they make it past us.”
Ben moved over to Brian.
“Lila’s going to stay here, but as you know, she is battle-trained. So anything she can do, she will.”
“Actually, I’m going to put her in charge. There won’t be any objections. Everybody knows her experience. They will appreciate having her here to lead.”
Brian called the meeting to order and proceeded to divvy up the responsibilities. Those heading out to the farms for added protection left as soon as their names were called. He introduced Lila to the group—many of whom hadn’t yet met her—and explained that she was going to help get the town fortified.
“As for the rest of us, those who don’t have your horses here need to get over to the stable and saddle up.”
Ben froze. He
had only had one lesson. Brian caught the movement. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We won’t be doing any galloping. You might learn more about your horse today than you would in a dozen lessons.”
He addressed the crowd again. “Grab your weapons and plenty of ammunition. We may be busy.”
“What’s the plan?” someone yelled from the crowd.
“We don’t have a plan yet, but we will. We’ll figure it out on the fly. We meet back here in an hour, mounted and ready to go.”
Ben walked with his family to the house to retrieve his rifle and crossbow.
“I won’t say it” said Lila.
“I won’t either. We’ve been through a lot of battles. We know how to take care of ourselves. We’ll come through this just like we always have.”
They hugged and shared a long, passionate kiss.
“Come back safe,” said Lila.
“Thought you weren’t going to say it,” said Ben with a grin.
“Couldn’t help myself.”
“Take care of our girl,” said Ben, lifting Katie and giving her a big kiss.
“Be careful, daddy.”
“I will, honey,” answered Ben, amazed once again at her ability to perceive what was going on.
He made his way back to the meeting place, the familiar feel of the rifle and crossbow slung over his back. He arrived at about the same time as most of the others. He looked around at the townspeople.
I saw determination in those faces. Such a far cry from most of the people we ran across seven years earlier. These were people who had fought their way through some of the worst a person could experience. And they had made it when so many others had given up and lost hope. Even if they hadn’t had to fire their weapon at another human being, even if they hadn’t had to take another life, it didn’t matter. They were fighting for the life they had carved out for themselves. It was beyond courage. They were willing to fight for their right to live, and there was no one else I would want next to me in battle.
As a group, they walked the mile to the stables. Ben was nervous—not about the battle to come, but about the prospect of riding the horse. He was already so sore it was uncomfortable to walk. What if he couldn’t control the horse?
“Seriously,” said Brian, reading his thoughts. “You’ll be fine. You’ll remember more from that lesson than you think.”
“Do I have some sort of billboard on my head flashing my thoughts?” asked Ben. “Lila does that to me all the time. I think I’ve got to be careful what I think.”
Brian laughed, then quickly turned serious. “Any predictions?”
“It all depends on how close they are and how much time we have to prepare.” He looked around. “These people are willing. But are they skilled enough to go up against something like this? I guess we’ll find out.”
One of the stable hands brought out Ben’s horse and helped him saddle it.
Here we go, thought Ben, as he pulled himself up into the saddle. The horse was steady, as if it recognized a neophyte in the saddle.
“Let’s get to it,” shouted Brian, and they all started off.
Ben counted. Forty-one men and fourteen women, all looking somber. There were no cowboys in this lot. A job needed to be done. No one was happy about it, but they were all ready to do what they had to.
He just had to keep thoughts of General Custer and the Little Big Horn out of his head.
Chapter 15
They turned left when they exited the town. It brought them through the remains of what used to be Monett, Missouri, now overgrown. Very few intact buildings remained. Those the fire hadn’t destroyed, the earthquake had finished. There were deep fissures in the concrete—in some places no concrete at all—but Brian led them through. Ben could see a well-worn path.
“Guess you’ve been out here a lot,” he said. He was riding in the front of the group next to Brian, very self-conscious of what the others might be thinking about his riding. It occurred to him that he hadn’t felt that self-conscious since before the event. After all I’ve been through, I’m worried about how I look? he thought to himself. After having that thought, he no longer cared, and could focus on the task at hand.
“Can’t tell you how many times we’ve been this way scouting over the years.”
“How did you know to turn left and go through the town, rather than right and past the farm? Are you sure they’ll come this way?”
“Positive. We have to assume they are coming from the northwest. Because of the terrain and the new canyons, it would take them five times as long to go around the other way. No, this is the most advantageous route for them. So my question for you is, when’s the best time to confront them?”
“Preferably never. Usually night is a good time, but I have a feeling we’re going to meet up with them before then. Also, with twelve trucks, they might even make camp like the old settlers and put their trucks in a circle, giving them a tremendous amount of protection.”
“But if we meet them while they’re still traveling, they can plow through us. They might have some sort of protection covering the windshields.”
“Then we go for the tires,” said Ben, with a germ of an idea. He fleshed it out as he talked. “They have to go single-file. There are some wide open areas, but we have to figure that for the most part, they’ll be in a line. Ideally, we get them if they reach a ravine they have to put their bridge across. When the first truck is halfway over, we go for the tires and get the truck stuck on the bridge. If we can get close enough, we try to destroy the bridge. If we catch up to them when they’re not going over a ravine, we go with the same plan and get the tires. Without their trucks, they are more vulnerable than we are.”
They rode in silence for another hour, each lost in his thoughts, but constantly on the lookout for a sign of Nebraska. They had been following a fairly intact piece of road, but were now off it, going through farm country.
“I know why Tom and Dorothy left when they did,” Ben said suddenly. It was the answer to a question that had been nagging at him for a few miles.
“Those assholes,” muttered Brian, more angry at himself for not seeing through the couple’s charade.
“They were scouting the easiest path into the town,” said Ben. “Nebraska needed someone to scout the way, and by sending in Tom and Dorothy, they accomplished that—as well as finding out how strong we were.”
“Why didn’t they just try to take us by surprise?” asked Brian. “Why warn us like that?”
“Hey Brian,” one of the group called out. “Does it look to you that there are some tire tracks here?”
Ben stopped his horse. “Oh, shit!” he exclaimed. “This is why! I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been. They warned us so we would come out in search of them. They knew it wouldn’t do any good for us to make a stand in the town. We wouldn’t stand a chance. They knew we’d form a posse and try to head them off. They tricked us. They’ve split us up. We made it easier for them. We probably passed right by them. They’re on their way to the town right now!”
Brian turned his horse around and quickly passed the information on to the others. There was a lot of swearing. They reversed direction as one—reminiscent of a flock of birds—and started galloping back toward the town. Ben was about to get a crash course on hard riding.
I was self-sufficient. I could handle myself in many different situations. But I never wanted to be a leader, and this proved to me that I wasn’t. While my idea of guerrilla warfare was sound, I realized that I didn’t have the make-up of a leader. Granted, we didn’t have a lot of time, but I should have taken more time to explore the possibilities. If I’d really thought about it, I might have put two and two together and realized that this was their plan all along. But I didn’t, and now some people might die. Brian was happy I had shown up, knowing he could look to me for advice. I couldn’t have given him any worse advice.
This time Ben was at the rear of the pack. His lack of riding skills was hampering his progress. The gro
up had left him far behind. Even Brian, who had been so supportive, had more important things to think about now. Ben cursed himself for being so inept on his horse, wishing he had had more time to practice. Lila and Katie were in danger and he couldn’t do anything about it. The only saving grace was that he believed Nebraska wanted people alive to bring back. There was no reason to kill, unless they encountered resistance. Of course, if anyone was going to resist, it would be Lila. She had vowed never to be imprisoned again—and that would be the last thing she would want for Katie.
His horse was in a trot. He tried to remember how to make it go faster. Suddenly, on its own, it picked up speed. Maybe it just wanted to keep up with the other horses. It broke into a gallop and Ben hung on for dear life. He remembered hearing a story of some actor who had fallen off his horse and was paralyzed for the rest of his life. He thought he remembered hearing that the guy played Superman in an old movie. How ironic. Nevertheless, it was that thought, combined with the urgency of getting back to his family, that kept Ben on his horse. He was sure it wasn’t pretty, but he didn’t care about that now.
His horse was big and strong, and in a few minutes had caught up with some of the slower riders. He shot past them, much to their amazement. The horse only slowed down a fraction when it reached the rest of the group.
When they got within a couple of miles of the town, they all slowed down to a trot, suddenly realizing that they had no idea what they would do when they arrived.
Ben found himself next to Brian again.
“Suggestions?” asked Brian.
“From me? Haven’t I screwed things up enough?”
Eden Lost (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 2) Page 10