Survivors of the Sun

by Kingslie, Mia

  ‘Something real bad ma’am, I’m talking real sick. We got word yesterday morning that a young boy had gone missing in the night, kidnapped, and well ma’am, to be very blunt, turns out he was killed and eaten.’

  Georgia felt her stomach rise into her throat. ‘Jesus,’ she said. ‘When was this?’

  ‘It would have been two days ago now. We caught three of them this morning, they still had the partly eaten remains of the child with them. We hung them right then and there, but two more got away. We don’t have any I.D. on the other one, just a description from one of the men who chased him. Easy to recognize though, apparently he is heavily tattooed.’ He paused to look at her again. ‘You haven’t seen anyone like that have you?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, but we did have a canoe stolen from us about a week ago,’ she said.

  ‘No, that would have been someone else, this crowd seem to have been making their way down the I-51, down from the prison up past St Louis. My guess is they have only been in the area a couple of days. The other one dropped his knapsack in his hurry to get away, and unfortunately for him, his I.D. was inside.

  Relief flooded through Georgia. Josh had nothing to do with this then. She guessed that the men that had tied him to the car had kept his knapsack. She remained silent. There was no way that these men would accept that explanation. They were out for blood.

  ‘So, are those your kids?’ he said, looking up the hill past her, to where they sat around the fire, eyes wide and terrified as they clutched the dogs to them.

  ‘Yes, and that’s Ruby my mother, and Lola my sister. The others are my children, Rebecca and Deedee are the girls and Jamie and,’ she hesitated, she had so nearly said Josh, ‘and my oldest son Will.’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ he said, ‘how come one of them is black?’ His tone had suddenly become harsh.

  The blood was thudding in her head. Think, think, she screamed inwardly. ‘That’s my son Will, he’s adopted.’

  He stared at her, a steely glint in his eyes. ‘Odd that,’ he said, ‘normally they don’t let you adopt cross racially. Least they sure don’t where I come from.’

  ‘He’s Aboriginal, it’s different over there.’ Georgia babbled, saying the first thing she could think of as the first lieutenant pushed past her and began to walk up the hill.

  She hurried after him. ‘We adopted him in Australia, when we found we couldn’t have children, but then wow, one of God’s miracles, I fell pregnant with Rebecca…,’

  He wasn’t listening.

  ‘Will,’ she called, Will, come down here and meet this gentleman.’ Josh stared at her, not understanding.

  ‘Do you have children?’ she asked as she tried to keep up with Wilson.

  He paused, studying her face. ‘Yes ma’am I do, three of them.’

  ‘How do you deal with them, when they won’t speak to you? He blames me you see.’ She was talking rubbish now, but she didn’t know what else to do. He was minutes away from discovering Josh’s true identity.

  ‘I can’t say, I’ve never had that problem,’ he said as he began walking again.

  ‘Oh, you are so lucky, its driving me crazy, he’s been refusing to answer me for nearly a week now.’

  ‘Well ma’am, I find corporal punishment is always the answer.’

  ‘Maybe I should try that,’ she said. She called out again.

  ‘Will, come here now.’ Josh you idiot, how can you not pick up on what I am saying!

  They reached the small group, their faces pale with fear and Georgia flew at Josh.

  ‘I have just about had it with you Will, she screamed, striking him across the face. She knew she was behaving hysterically, but not all of it was put on. ‘I can’t take you ignoring me any longer. Do you hear me Will?’ Josh took a step backwards, stunned by her behavior.

  ‘It’s bad enough that you are so mean to your sisters but I will not tolerate this rudeness any more. I just wish your father was here he would sort you out.’

  Josh continued to gape at her in shock.

  ‘Now say hello to the nice gentleman,’ she said, ‘he’s looking for a bad man called Joshua.’

  ‘Ma’am, I need you to stand back from the boy. Please let me do the talking.’

  Nervously Georgia moved away from Josh, her eyes pleading with him to understand.

  The older man cleared his throat. ‘So Will, your mother tells me you are an Aborigine, from Australia.’

  Josh stared at him and then looked over at Georgia and back to the hypnotic stare of Wilson. ‘I um,’ Josh began, then Deedee interrupted him, talking to Wilson,

  ‘No silly, he’s American.’

  Jamie, who was struggling to hold onto Ant, kicked her.

  ‘Ow,’ Deedee shrieked, ‘what was that for?’

  ‘So, he’s American?’ Wilson’s harsh grey eyes had turned to Georgia.

  Georgia’s blood ran cold. ‘I told you he’s from Australia.’

  ‘What do you mean I’m not American,’ Josh wailed, catching all of them by surprise. ‘I’m an Aborigine? And from Australia no less and you never told me. Why didn’t you ever tell me about my true heritage?’ He was yelling now. ‘I hate you, and Dad. I hate you all. You’re all liars.’

  Georgia whirled round on the Lieutenant. ‘Are you happy now? My husband and I worked very hard to keep that information from him. You might be a lieutenant in the damn Free Ozarks Army or whatever you call it, but that does not give you the right to tell my son that he is not American. We worked very hard to keep that a secret and you, you with your pomp and whatnot.’ As she spoke she poked him in the chest and with each poke he took a step back. And all the while she was terrified she was pushing things too far.

  ‘I’m sorry ma’am, just doing my job,’ he said and then looked down, ‘I’m sorry, I seemed to have stepped on something.’ He didn’t sound sorry. He bent down to pick up the greeting card that had fallen from her hands earlier. They all stared at the card in horror.

  The card with all their names, with Joshua Hennessey scrawled across the bottom in fat curly letters. In a few seconds this First Lieutenant Wilson was going to stand up, with the card in his hands, open it, and see those fat curly letters and they would take Joshua and hang him for something he didn’t do. For a second she seriously considered going for her shotgun. But did nothing, she might kill him, but she couldn’t kill them all. It would only get them all hung.

  First lieutenant Wilson finger’s closed around the card and he began to stand up, and as he did so Deedee snatched it from him.

  ‘That’s mine,’ she screeched.

  ‘No it isn’t, it’s mine,’ Rebecca yelled, snatching it violently away from her.

  ‘It’s mine,’ Deedee said, trying to tug it away from Rebecca.

  First Lieutenant Wilson began to reach out his hand towards the card.

  ‘Stop it, both of you,’ Lola yelled, as she seized the card, shredding it and throwing the remains into the fire. ‘There, now neither of you have it.’

  Georgia stood in total shock as the flames hungrily licked across the torn pieces of card turning the paper black, the edges curling up as the fire engulfed them.

  First Lieutenant Wilson stood up, a twitch just below his left eye. ‘I see you have your hands full,’ he said, ‘clearly I was mistaken. I wish you a safe journey, to Marion was it?’

  ‘Yes Marion,’ she said, ‘thank you for that, and my apologies for my outburst.’

  ‘No need ma’am. I can see you are under a lot of stress. Times are hard enough, without having to deal with four totally out of control children as well.’

  ‘Thank you for your understanding.’

  ‘A word of advice though. Until you reach your husband, you might want to consider using a strap to get those kids of yours under control.’

  ‘Thank you again, First Lieutenant Wilson,’ Georgia said, smiling in what she hoped was a grateful manner. As he turned and walked away Georgia rounded on the others.

  ‘As for you lot,�
� she shrieked, doing her best to sound like a frazzled mother, ‘you can all get up to the barn right now. Things are going to change around here. Mark my words.’

  They all ran for the barn and Georgia sank down onto one of the chairs, her legs no longer able to support her and with shaky hands reached down for one of the packets of cigarettes, all the while keeping an eye on the retreating soldiers.

  ‘He seemed very nice,’ Ruby said.

  Georgia looked over at her startled, she had forgotten that Ruby was still sitting there. Not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, she lit a smoke. Partly because she desperately needed one, but mostly as a reason to sit there and watch the men slowly dissolve into the darkness.

  Her head was reeling, her thoughts racing in different directions. She had never told so many lies in her life. That Wilson had fallen for their charade was next to unbelievable. Even to her it had been like watching a badly performed play. But he had apparently believed her. And he had left them, gone back to his men, continuing on his search for the…, her stomach heaved, the horror of what those escaped prisoners had done filling her mind and that they had done it within walking distance of where they were staying.

  It made her skin crawl, just thinking how she had let the Apaches go off on their own to hunt. It could have been one of them, murdered and eaten. As she played the whole episode through in her mind it occurred to her, that Wilson, as he disappeared into the shadows with his men, would also be replaying it, going over her words, and their actions.

  Would he become suspicious and come back? The odds were that he would. They could not stay here any longer. They were going to have to leave tonight, as fraught as riding at night without any illumination was going to be.

  Chapter Seventy One

  Georgia gathered up the fallen packets of cigarettes, then helped Ruby up out of her chair. ‘We need to go now,’ was all she said, and Ruby nodded agreeably, tucking her wrinkled hand in the crook of Georgia’s arm. Together they walked up to the barn.

  They had to leave. It was way too risky, she decided even if Wilson did not come back, there were still two men, no, not men she corrected herself, two disgusting low life escaped convicts, roaming around in the vicinity.

  She slid open the barn door. It was nearly completely dark in there now, but she could make out their drawn shocked faces.

  ‘It’s okay,’ she said, ‘they have gone.’

  ‘Oh thank God,’ Lola breathed, ‘I have never been so afraid and I could have wrung Deedee’s neck when…,’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Deedee said, her voice sounded pale. ‘I was only trying to help.’

  Georgia felt her way over to where the hurricane lamp was suspended, and lit it, filling the room with its subdued light.

  ‘Never mind that now, we need to get out of here. I have a strong suspicion they will be back. Also, the men they are looking for could be anywhere around here, he did say they were headed in this direction. So we need to get the last of the stuff onto the Spyder and leave.’ As she spoke she bent down and began rolling up the blankets.

  ‘Who are they looking for and why did they think Josh was one of them?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Jamie said, ‘what did they do? Must have been awful whatever it was.’

  Georgia suddenly realized that of course they had not heard any of Wilson’s early conversation with her. They only knew that it had something to do with Josh. They’re looking for two escaped prisoners, one of them had Josh’s stuff, and his student I.D. So they think they are looking for Josh.

  ‘So what did they do?’ Lola asked, her voice wavering.

  ‘They, uh,’ Georgia began but Rebecca interrupted her. ‘Josh wouldn’t do anything bad! You wouldn’t would you Josh?’

  ‘No, I don’t think I have done anything,’ Josh said, sounding more than a little bit bewildered.

  ‘He had nothing to do with it,’ Georgia said, ‘he was with us when it happened. Here, Rebecca hold these while I rope them together, and Lola, don’t just stand there, all of you, come on, lets pick up this stuff and go.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Lola said, ‘you were telling us what Josh was supposed to have done, what those convicts did.’

  Georgia drew the rope round the blankets and began tying the ends together. ‘Yesterday morning they kidnapped a child from the township on the other side of the water, took him up into the hills and…,’ she hesitated, uncertain what she should tell them. Then decided to tell it how it was. They had the right to know what they were dealing with here. ‘They killed and ate him,’ her words coming out in a rush.

  Lola gave a little moan. ‘And you want us to leave now, in the dark? They could be anywhere.’

  Josh interrupted her, ‘Georgia’s right, we have to leave and the sooner the better, because I think the soldiers will back, in fact I am certain they will.’

  Georgia turned to look at him. ‘Why do you think that?’

  ‘Because I recognized one of the men.’

  ‘You did?’ From where? For a moment Georgia was confused. How could he possibly have recognized…, was he one of the killers after all? Then almost immediately she shook the thought from her mind. Of course he wasn’t. He had been with her, helping her with Spyder.

  ‘Yes, you remember I told you about the three men I walked part of the way with, the ones who shared my food. Well, I am sure one of those men was Stevens.’

  ‘Oh Jesus, the corporal?’ she breathed.

  ‘Yeah, and I am pretty certain that he recognized me.’

  Even if they really had managed to fool the lieutenant (which she seriously doubted), if this Stevens character had recognized Josh, then he for one would know that she had lied. It was only a matter of time before that information would be shared. Then they would be back, and there would be no talking their way out of this.

  ‘Right, that’s it then. No more discussion.’ She stood up, ‘Lola, take these blankets. Jamie you carry Millie. Rebecca pick up Badger, Josh, you help Ruby. We’re are out of here. Ant come here,’ Georgia said, bending down as her little princess ran up to her. ‘Here, hop in your bag.’

  ‘Even if they do come back,’ Lola said, still not moving, ‘they won’t do anything to Josh. We will just tell them the truth and they …,’

  Georgia felt a flash of anger surge through her as she unhooked the lantern. ‘No,’ Georgia cut across her words, ‘if they come back there will be no talking, they will take him and hang him.’

  ‘Oh course they won’t…,’ Lola began.

  ‘Oh yes they will. They hung the other three this morning, no trial, no questions asked, they just strung them up.’

  Josh turned a horrible khaki color. ‘Man, I didn’t realize that.’

  ‘But they can’t just do that,’ Lola said, ‘I reckon you misunderstood him.’

  Georgia wanted to shake Lola. Instead, speaking through her teeth she hissed, ‘you know what Lola, we don’t have time for this. We are leaving now and…,’ as she spoke she slid open the barn door, and then gave an involuntary scream, nearly dropping the lantern.

  For there, standing in the pooling light, was First Lieutenant Wilson, Corporal Stevens, and one other man. Behind her she heard a collective intake of breath, and Deedee began to wail, or it could have been Lola, she wasn’t actually sure.

  Instinctively she took a step backwards.

  Any friendliness that had been there earlier, was gone. The expression on all three men was chilling to say the least, and Georgia knew they had come to kill.

  ‘Stand right there,’ Lieutenant Wilson said as he stepped closer towards her, and raised a handgun, pointing it directly at her head. Georgia froze, wetting herself just a little, as she slowly raised her hands up in a sign of submission, still clinging to the lantern with one hand. His sidekicks came up next to him, pointing their weapons at the others.

  ‘Nobody move,’ Corporal Stevens said, totally unnecessarily as it seemed to Georgia they were all frozen in place, even the dogs were motionless.


  Wilson indicated Georgia with his chin. ‘Corporal Davidson, disarm her and hang that bloody lantern up somewhere.’

  The third man stepped up to her, keeping his weapon leveled at her as he slowly slipped the strap from her shoulder. She was totally helpless to prevent him. She knew from their expressions that if they made one wrong move they would all be dead. She could have snatched the shotgun from her shoulder and she could just maybe, possibly, if luck were on her side, killed two of them. But not three, there were only two cartridges in her weapon.

  Her fingers twitched unconsciously as she considered this, part of her screaming go for it, another part flashing up images inside her brain of what a bullet could do. The white cloud of cordite that would hang over their twisting turning bodies as they went down in a hail of bullets. Their bodies falling to the ground one by one as their life blood spurted from them.

  Then Corporal Davidson freed the shotgun from her and slid their last chance over his own shoulder, now he took the lantern from her hands and glancing round the barn, found the hook and hung it up. They were screwed and Josh was as good as dead.

  Wilson turned to Stevens. ‘So is that him?’

  In the silence of the seconds that followed, waiting for Stevens to reply, Georgia became conscious of the popping and spitting sounds the hurricane lantern made. She had barely noticed it before and now it seemed to her to be unbearably loud. She swallowed, her throat agonizingly dry.

  ‘Yeah, he’s cut his hair since I last saw him, but it’s him.’ He said it loud and clear, with as much confidence as the reaper knocking on someone’s door in the dead of night, announcing his intentions.

  ‘Right then, hang him,’ First Lieutenant Wilson said in the manner of someone saying, ‘right then, lets grab another beer.’

  With brutal efficiency Stevens grabbed Josh by his hair and forced him to his knees as Corporal Davidson wrenched his arms behind his back and began tying his wrists together.