Alpha Farm: The Beginning (Prepper Chick Series Book 1)

by Annie Berdel

  His jaw moved awkwardly as the soldier hit him once again. “Where is she at?” Tom heard him say as blood began to stream from the cut on his lip. Once again Tom’s face absorbed the blow from the soldier’s powerful arm. Again and again the bones in his face were rearranged like a jigsaw puzzle. Blood sprayed across the room as teeth were dislodged from their socket.

  “Let’s take a break for a bit,” Tom barely heard above the ringing in his ears. Not being able to see from the swelling setting in, Tom tried to keep from passing out by concentrating on the voices yelling at him.

  A man shuffled down the steps into the root cellar and was taken aback by the scene he was witnessing. Walking across the room, he whispered in the ear of the soldier in charge. Looking behind him, the soldier addressed the man casually leaning back against the wall.

  “Sheriff, we think we found her,” the soldier said.

  163

  Emma tried to hear what the voices were saying but she couldn’t make out the words through the door. “Damn it! Who the hell would be in the cellar this late at night? Just a few more minutes and she would have been inside the house and no one would have known she had left! Back tracking, she would have to use the exit through the spring house. The only problem was she would have to sneak across a section of the backyard and onto the porch before she could get into the house through the kitchen door. “Deep breath, girlie” she said to herself, trying to calm her nerves.

  The spring house was set back in the bank behind the house and always stayed cool. It was a good thing for the water pool to keep it chilled, yet another for the amount of spiders that lived there enjoying the dark mustiness of the small room. Peering out the door, Emma could only see part of the yard and house. There just was no way to see behind the building and up the bank to where Nina lay in the dirt.

  Edging herself out the door, she kept her back tight up against the building and in the shadows. Easing herself to the corner, she peered around the side as best as she could. The light was glowing from the back porch. “Shit,” she mouthed not allowing sound to exit her lips. Looking around, there was no way she could get through the porch and into the kitchen without being seen.

  Frustrated she leaned her head back against the spring house and closed her eyes. A silent breeze blew across her lashes. Opening her eyes, Emma saw the moon glistening off the metal of the TV tower that ran up the side of the house. “Oh ya!” Emma said louder than she should have. Waiting, she listened for anyone approaching. With enough time passing, Emma scurried uphill across the yard towards the shadows beneath the tower. Just as she almost reached the sidewalk going alongside the house, her foot slipped and she landed face down in the dew-covered grass. She lay as still as she could.

  164

  The two men picked Emma up by her upper arms and damn near ripped them from their sockets as they escorted her into the house. Sitting her down at the kitchen table, one man stayed with her as the other walked down the steps to the root cellar. Emma swallowed as she had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well.

  Hearing the approaching footsteps of several people coming up the stairs, Emma was surprised to see Sheriff Olan coming through the door.

  “Ben! There must be some kind of misunderstanding here!” Emma said directly at him.

  “I doubt it,” he replied. “Where the hell have you been?”

  Emma looked at the man standing before her. She had never seen him filled with so much anger.

  “Fucking answer me!” he screamed at her, making her jump in her chair.

  “I…I” she stammered.

  “We found Nina’s body,” he hissed at her.

  Not being able to talk, she just stared into his dark eyes.

  Walking over to the door that led down into the basement and root cellar, Ben yelled “Bring him up.”

  Emma’s could feel the contents of her stomach rise up to her throat.

  Staring at the entrance into the basement, several soldiers emerged dragging a limp body. Emma gasped in horror as she recognized the tattoo on the victim’s shoulder. Tommy’s griffin that he had gotten in Germany when he served in the Army was partially hidden by the blood that was smeared on his arm, but Emma recognized it immediately. She had spent countless hours tracing the outline with her fingers late at night while they lay in their bed together. She loved to watch him sleep, listening to him snore, trying to memorize every detail of the man she adored.

  The soldiers dragged Tommy’s lifeless body over and dumped it in the middle of the floor.

  “Now, what were you saying?” Ben said as he turned to look at Emma.

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  The two men flanking her would not allow her to leave the chair she was sitting on. Pushing her down as hard as they could, they underestimated the strength she possessed.

  “Nooooooooo!” she screamed out when she saw Tommy’s body lying on the floor. Struggling against the men, Emma didn’t hear what Ben was saying to her as the men picked Tommy back up and took him out the door.

  “Stop!” she screamed “What are you doing? Where are you taking him?” she was screaming through her tears.

  “You fucked up big time and now it’s time you learned a lesson,” Ben spat back at her. “Keep the rest of the people in this house locked in their rooms and don’t let them out,” he instructed his men.

  “Leave him the fuck alone you fucking asshat,” she snarled back as she frantically tried to free herself. Just one hand was all she needed.

  “You want me, you fucking come here and get me. Be a fucking man for a change. Leave my husband out of this!” she screamed at Ben.

  “You’ve fucked up my plans for the very last time. Hell, I didn’t even get me a little bit of the Latino bitch before you had to off her. That pains me, Emma. That truly pains me. I was planning on ruling these here United States with her as she rebuilt them, but no, you had to go put your meddling ass nose into things and destroy the chance I had. Do you know how long I’ve waited for this? How long I’ve waited to rip that fucking smile off of your face? Since the day I met you and your pansy-ass husband. Fucking spic lover is all you are. You have no business being called a white woman with a dick like his being shoved in you. Fun and games are all over now though, aren’t they, little Miss High and Mighty.”

  Emma stared at Ben. “It was you,” she said under her breath.

  “Me what?” Ben replied.

  “The little girl over in the next county. The one that lost her baby after she was brutally raped. She kept telling me the man her kept thrusting his little penis into her kept calling her a Latino bitch, just like you just referred to Nina as. It all makes sense now,” Emma said in disbelief.

  “You’re sorry ass can’t prove a fucking thing. Little penis, whatever,” he said as his face turned a more intense red than before.

  Grinding her teeth, Emma looked at the sorry excuse of a man standing before her. The anger was coursing through his veins. If she stood any chance of saving Tommy, God, if he even was still alive, she had to get this prick out of her face.

  Sheriff Olan turned to walk out the door. Looking back at the pile of distraught woman lying on the floor, he walked over and grabbed a handful of her hair. “Don’t leave this house,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Fuck you,” she screamed as she lunged for his throat.

  Backing up, Ben smiled when she missed him. To save face before his men, he released her hair and pummeled the side of her head with his boot, sending her back down onto the floor. Pointing down at her with his finger, the smile left his face. “Don’t leave,” he said.

  Emma lay on the floor sobbing, several men guarded her from leaving, even if she wanted to. Was he alive? Was he one of the voices she heard when she was outside the cellar door? God, if she had only walked through that door it might have saved him. What had she done? These thoughts all screamed within her head.

  Picking her up by both arms, two men heaved her up the stairs into her own bedroom. The room she had shared with
her husband. Barely being able to walk into the room, she collapsed along his side of the bed, her mind reeling from the all the events that had just unfolded. What if he was gone? What if she never saw him again? She frantically tried to recall the last moment they had together, the arch of his nose, the smell of him. Her body shook from the gasps of breath that she struggled to take. The pain was just too much as she couldn’t catch her breath. Frantically grasping at the bed, trying to grab onto something to stand, she ended up pulling the bedspread down as she fell backwards, hitting her head and knocking herself unconscious.

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  As the moon started to part way for the morning light, the alarm on the nightstand started to play the last song that Tom had programmed to awaken them to begin the day.

  Emma could barely hear the words as the song played against the silence. They tried to push their way past the fogginess in her head, past the pain…

  ....a story to tell....wounds to be healed... Is there... beauty in this mess...from the ashes... Where? ~ so tired of holding on ~ let go, move on ~ Meaning here? In this mess?

  The tears fell silently over her lashes and down her face. Damn it! She never asked for this…. Why! There has to be a reason! Her faith wrestled frantically within her spirit, screaming out for answers.

  Cry out..... She was crying damnit... God, why won't you hear me....

  Take this...take the pain....The words were coming faster...embedding themselves into her soul.... strength... she had to find the strength

  Just keep breathing?

  Keep breathing…. Keep breathing she chanted to herself over and over as the sobs raked her soul. Her shoulders shook with such fury as the pain engulfed her, bringing her straight to her knees… “God please!” Her soul screamed out. “I can’t do this… I don’t want to do this…Take this from me…make the pain stop!”

  ....a road I didn't plan....how did I get here... I'm trying.... to hear.... that still small voice ~

  That still small voice.... Be still.....still...and know....

  I'm trying to hear above the noise... The noise was getting louder....so loud... It screamed in her head and ripped her heart from beneath her chest....tighly squeezing all the life from her innermost being...The pain was enormous....The pain.... hurt.

  Her fists pounded the floor with intense fury as her voice screamed, “Take this! Take it all! I don’t want it! I never did and you just gave it to me anyway….. How could you do this? This isn’t fair! I can’t do this!” Her voice turned to a whimper as her feelings betrayed her. “Please,” she begged as she lowered her head into her hands as the torrent of tears broke through. “God please,” barely escaped her lips as her body shook with torment.

  Though I walk.....

  Though I Walk through the shadows

  I am so afraid... so very afraid...God I am so fucking afraid... Please don't leave me....

  Emma curled up on the floor beside her bed, her body exhausted. The stains on her face had almost dried. Her breathing came in deeper gasps and finally evened out, her muscles started to relax. “Listen …” she heard cutting through the noise… ”Listen to me…”

  I need you now.... Now more than ever...

  Her eyes closed, she let her soul escape from the emotional prison she had been holding it in. She finally felt peace… His peace.

  Dragging her weary body to the window, she looked out across her land, a land that would one day gather her dust back to itself and allow her to rest. Raising her chin in defiance, her warrior spirit returned. She knew what she had to do.

  She blew out the candle and watched as the smoke drifted toward the stars. What a beautiful night it was, soon to be lost to the morning. The clouds danced playfully in front of the moon causing shadows across the open field. If she stared hard enough, she could just barely make out his figure coming out of the tree line. Tears ran down her cheeks as she tried so hard not to blink, for she knew if she drew her lashes even slightly together, he would be gone. She turned away quickly…one day soon they would be together again. Until then, she had work to do. Taking a deep breath and straightening her back, Emma turned and ran downstairs and back into the kitchen just in time to witness the unspeakable. A beast of a dog was hanging from her wrought iron pot rack in the middle of the room, his beautiful white fur had been slit and his hair stripped from his neck down and now hung from his feet in a pool on the floor beneath him. A knife had been thrust into his body with a piece of bloody white paper. On the note, written in a color of lipstick that Emma could not ignore, were the words…… “One by one, all you love will die the exact same way.”

  Thank you and please consider leaving a review for Alpha Farm, The Beginning at Amazon.

  Please visit Annie's website, www. AnnnieBerdel.com to learn more about current and future projects.

  The author welcomes any comments, feedback or questions at AnnieBerdel@yahoo.com