Luke's Trek (America Falls Book 5)

by Scott Medbury

  The big guy emerged from the trees at a fair speed and she took a good look at him. Tall and well-built, his face was handsome but dirty with travel grime. He looked like he’d been on the road a long time. Interestingly, he looked unconcerned by his pursuers. No doubt he knew they were there, but his long strides ate up the distance between the trees and Willatan Green at a steady rather than panicked pace.

  “Must be slow in the head,” she said, as she lowered the glasses.

  He was close enough to watch without assistance now. He was heading straight for the unprotected entrance of their village.

  Tommy, her 15-year-old brother, and his friend Jacob came running and she turned on her perch and held out her hand.

  “Don’t climb up. Pass me the shotgun and get to the gate quick. Stay out of sight with your bows drawn, there’s a stranger comin’ and when he steps one foot through the entrance I want you to turn him into a pin cushion.”

  Tommy passed up the weapon.

  “Once you shoot him, let him lie where he drops and restring your bows real quick; there’s dogs chasing him, with a bit of luck we’ll bag a few. Go!”

  “Yes ma’am!” said Jacob, and they turned to run.

  She had confidence the boys would do their job; the shotgun was just in case of an emergency. It was their only gun. The only one the Brothers had let them keep. They didn’t know about the bows or they’d have been confiscated too.

  She turned back to watch the stranger coming and saw the dogs come out of the trees behind him. Close now. She leaned over the wall in anticipation. Then he stopped and looked up at the sign and scratched his chin with his hook as he looked through the opening to the town.

  “Come on,” she urged, in a whisper.

  He didn’t. In fact, he turned around to look at the dogs. That’s when he reached under his jacket at the back and pulled a pistol out of his belt.

  Shit!

  She was about to turn and run to the boys when the stranger glanced back at the entrance. She held her breath. As if coming to a decision, he put the gun back in his belt and turned abruptly and began marching towards the dogs.

  Diana turned and threw the shotgun to the grass, jumping down from the platform and picking it up smoothly as she ran for the entrance. The boys looked around in surprise as she sped towards them.

  “Quick, he’s going to take them on. He’s got a gun in his belt. Get the dogs first and shoot him if he reaches for it.”

  She flew through the gate as if the devil was on her heels and they followed.

  The fight was already on as they ran through the gate. Two dogs were bleeding and twitching on the ground and as they ran up, the stranger was hit hard, crashing to the asphalt as they sped towards him. In a flash the other three dogs were on him and he disappeared beneath the quivering, heaving mass.

  “Shoot ‘em, while they’re busy! Quick!”

  The two boys skidded to a halt and nocked their arrows again.

  “I’ll take the big one,” said Tommy as he closed one eye and pulled the string back. “You take any of the others.”

  The leader of the pack looked up, his muzzle red with blood, a split second before Tommy’s arrow took him in the side. He yelped then he fell to the ground. The second shot was not as clean, hitting another dog in the haunches near its spine. Its yelp was more like a scream and it tried to flee, its back legs dragging behind it.

  Another arrow hit it in the eye, putting it out of its misery.

  “Finished him for ya,” yelled Jacob.

  Tommy grunted. He had already nocked another arrow and loosed it before Jacob could beat him to the third dog. This one was too intent on worrying at the leg of the big guy to notice the danger it was in. The arrow took him in the neck and he collapsed, jaw locked on the leg of its erstwhile meal.

  The last dog seemed to sense danger and took off with its tail between its legs, only to fall a second later as Jacob’s arrow took its left rear leg out from under it. Diana was on it in an instant, saving precious buckshot by clubbing the wounded dog hard over the head. She pulled a knife out of her jeans pocket and ended it.

  Tommy and Jacob high-fived each other.

  “Two each!” said Jacob.

  “No way, dude, Di killed yours! I win two to one!”

  “No! I took it down…”

  “Enough!” yelled Diana, racking her shotgun and walking over to the unconscious man.

  She looked down and pointed the shotgun at his face. He was out cold but apart from the bleeding lump on his head and a superficial wound on his neck courtesy of the lead dog, his leather pants and jacket appeared to have protected him from the worst of the attack.

  Tommy walked over with the arrow he’d pulled from the lead dog.

  “We got all of ‘em sis. Well, with a little help from him,” Tommy said, kicking the man in the hip. He nocked the gore-stained arrow and pointed it at the stranger’s chest. “Want me to finish him?’

  Diana knew that would be easiest. It seemed lately there were no good men left in the world. Murderers and rapists all of them. Best to end this one clean. Still. There was something about the way he carried himself. Something about the way he showed no fear in going back to face the dogs without his gun. And, had he sensed their trap?

  “No,” she said, putting her hand on her brother’s forearm and gently lowering his aim to the ground. “We’ll take him back.”

  “What? Why would we do that?” Tommy asked, his eyes wide.

  She didn’t really have a good reason.

  “Just a feeling.” She turned back towards the entrance. As she suspected, she had an audience. She put her hands to her mouth. “Bring the cart! We’re having meat tonight!”

  A cheer went up from the watchers. She turned and dropped to her knees, pulling the gun out of the stranger’s belt.

  13

  Brooke was cooking at the stove when he walked into the farmhouse kitchen. Whatever it was, it smelled good. Real good. He told her as much.

  “What are we having, babe?”

  She didn’t turn. She didn’t answer.

  “Brooke?”

  She must be annoyed with me, he thought. He walked over to her. But something wasn’t right. No matter how many steps he took he couldn’t seem to get any closer. It was like he was on a moving walkway going the wrong way.

  He tried to angle so he could see her face, but no matter how he strained, he could only see the back of her head. Maybe she couldn’t hear him. It was no wonder, the loud laughing and talking was damn annoying. And why was it so freaking hot?!

  “Brooke!”

  Luke’s own shout woke him up and the loud laughter and conversation ceased abruptly. He looked around. It was dark. He was surrounded by a bunch of unfamiliar faces lit by the glow of a big fire a few feet from where he sat.

  He was in some sort of a chair. It was low to the ground, like a deckchair or something similar. A boy of about 15 and a woman who looked a little older than Luke himself stood up and approached. The boy’s lips glistened with the grease of a recently consumed meal. The woman was picking at her teeth.

  Feeling dazed from his second concussion in a week, he felt like he was still dreaming. He tried to sit up. He couldn’t. He was restrained, and the side of his head pulsed angrily in time with the beating of his heart.

  “No use struggling, Mister. You’re tied up nice and tight,” said the woman. She had straggly dark hair pulled back off her face in a loose ponytail. Her face was pleasant without being beautiful. The set of her mouth was hard and determined.

  He eased his aching head back down and his most recent memories came flooding back.

  The dogs…

  “You saved me?” he asked, but all that came out was an unintelligible croak.

  The boy laughed.

  “He’s a retard, Di.”

  She cuffed him over the ear.

  “Get the man some water, you idiot.”

  The boy scowled but did as he was told, disappearing behi
nd Luke and returning a second later with a ladle of water.

  Luke gulped it down.

  “Thanks.”

  “You hungry?” Diana asked.

  Luke looked past the woman and saw meat on a spit over the fire behind her. The aroma caressed his nose and his mouth filled with saliva. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak without dribbling.

  “Cathy, can you slice off some meat for our guest?”

  He saw a girl who looked to be a couple of years younger than Diana. She smiled shyly at him.

  “Sure can.”

  While she worked at the spit, he took the opportunity to look around. The fire had been built in the middle of a suburban street. Neat homes, some with candlelight in the windows lined both sides of the road. Apart from the unkempt lawns and the worn clothes the people around him wore, it could have been a 4th of July street party.

  The girl walked over holding a beaten-up aluminum plate stacked with steaming slices of meat.

  “Want me to feed it to him, Di?”

  “No Cathy, hand it over. I’ll take care of it.”

  The girl looked disappointed but smiled at him again.

  “Don’t bite my fucking fingers,” warned Diana, as she picked up a slice and held it over his mouth.

  Luke was hungry enough to swallow it whole but took it between his teeth and forced himself to chew it thoroughly, so he could savor the hot, salty morsel.

  While she hand fed him, Luke regarded the group of people around him. Most had gone back to their own eating, although he was still getting a lot of attention. One thing stood out. There were no full-grown men, even though he saw at least four women in their twenties. The boy who had called him a retard seemed to be about the oldest of the males.

  His belly was satisfyingly full by the time she finished. Somehow even his aching head felt better.

  “More?”

  He shook his head. He could have easily eaten more but knew he would probably only sick it up later if he over ate after close to three days of near fasting.

  “Just some more water if you have enough.”

  The boy brought him another ladle of water and then went back to the fire.

  “I’m Diana,” the woman said, after taking the empty plate back to the fire.

  “I’m Luke,” he said. “Thanks for the meat.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, with a brief smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thanks for bringing it our way.”

  Luke suddenly realized what he had just eaten.

  Diana laughed at the look on his face.

  “They had a good chew on you before we killed ‘em,” she said, looking down at his lower legs.

  He followed her gaze. His leathers were torn up pretty good, and there was a clean bandage around his lower left leg. He hadn’t felt it till she pointed it out, but now that he was aware of it, his leg started stinging. Funny how the body worked.

  “Guess I have to thank you on two counts.”

  “It’s fine. We cleaned and disinfected the bites, but if they had rabies, that probably won’t help. We’ll have to shoot you.”

  Luke laughed. She didn’t. Because she wasn’t joking.

  “Where are you from?” she asked.

  “Rhode Island, originally.” Luke then gave her an abbreviated version of his story and told her where he was heading.

  “Portland?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

  The talk around the fire hushed and all eyes were on them again.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Exactly. Why? Why Portland?”

  Luke suddenly felt he was on dangerous ground but had no idea why.

  He shrugged. In this case, he decided honesty was the best policy.

  “I went there as a kid. It was the best holiday I ever had. I guess I just wanted to see the ocean again.”

  She seemed to relax.

  “I see.”

  “Is there a problem with Portland?”

  “Don’t know,” she said, and her face told him the subject was closed.

  He didn’t push it.

  “So, I couldn’t help but notice there are no men.”

  “Nope.”

  “Why?”

  “All dead.”

  “I’m sorry… what happened?”

  “You ask an awful lot of questions, Mister.”

  “Sorry, I’m just curious. Tell me to shut up if I bug you too much.”

  She regarded him a moment, as if trying to read his thoughts.

  “So, you don’t know what’s in Portland?”

  He looked at her blankly.

  “Old shops, the seaside…”

  “Not what, I mean like… who.”

  He shook his head. Diana bit her lip as if weighing up something. She looked at the one called Cathy who gave a quick nod.

  “Have you heard of the Brotherhood?”

  “No, should I have?”

  “Not sure, but you sure as hell wouldn’t be thinking of going to Portland if you had.”

  “Who are they?”

  She spat on the ground.

  “They’re the reason there are no men older than fifteen here. When the boys turn sixteen they come and take them to God.”

  “What?”

  “They take them to God. It’s a fancy way of saying they draft them into their army.”

  Luke thought about this.

  “I take it you don’t get a choice?”

  “Nope. There’s a graveyard right behind that house over there marked with the crosses of those who said no.”

  “You fought them?”

  She nodded.

  “When?”

  “The first time?” She looked at him fiercely. “Two years ago. Looked all friendly and God fearing, wearing their crosses and carrying staffs like fuckin’ monks.”

  “What happened?” he asked, noting that everyone had started listening, some moving closer to hear better.

  “We let ‘em in. We had gates then. They didn’t look no trouble and we had lots of guns. We were being neighborly. Stephen always said,” her voice hitched. “We can’t lose our humanity – and now – well he was the first one they killed.”

  Cathy went to her and put her hand on Diana’s shoulder.

  “They came in and ate with us,” Cathy said. “Then Brother Mike, the leader, told us that he wanted the men to come and serve God.”

  “Stephen said, thanks for the offer but we serve God in our own way. And we did, still do. The community center is our church.”

  Luke felt like he had some unfinished business with the man upstairs.

  “That’s great. I’d like to pray there some time if you’ll let me.”

  He wasn’t lying, Diana’s raw emotion had triggered his own thoughts about Brooke. Praying was the one thing he hadn’t done since losing her. It felt about time.

  “Anyway,” Cathy continued. “Brother Mike said, it’s not an offer, and that’s when things went south, real fast.”

  Diana took over again, her eyes far away.

  “Long story short, things got a little heated and we kicked them out. I remember Brother Mike saying, you don’t want to do this my son, and Stephen spitting on the ground at his feet as we shut the gate on them. Stephen said, I’m not your son. Stay away.”

  “They came back the next day. Drove their stupid truck with its golden crosses all over it straight through the gate. They poured out of that truck. At least twenty of them and some had guns. We managed to kill a few, but they had too many men.”

  Cathy took up the story again.

  “They shot all the men and two of the women before the rest of us surrendered. We had to, or they would have killed us all.”

  “Of course. You did what you had to.”

  Cathy looked down at Diana who was quietly weeping again. Diana nodded.

  “One by one, they executed our people who had been injured but not killed and then Brother Mike dragged Stephen out into the middle of the main street, so everyone could see.

>   Let this be a lesson to you, he said. God punishes those who shirk their responsibilities and we are the hand of God in this world. They shot him in the head.”