* * *
“We’re not going to find him before night,” Mitch said, turning to face Jason and Corey, who were following close behind him. “It’s too dark to follow the trail. We need to find a place to camp and look for him at first light.”
“There won’t even be a trail in the morning,” Jason said. “All this rain will wash what little blood there was away.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s probably already lying up somewhere and may have already bled out. We’ll find him in the morning.”
“We should have just gone back to the house then;” Corey said, “got a good night’s sleep and started out fresh. It’s going to suck, camping here out in this.”
Mitch knew Jason and Corey would gripe about spending the night out here in the rain. He would have preferred to be back at home too, especially now that April was there. But part of his reason for deciding to stay out was for the benefit of his two apprentices. They needed to appreciate the consequences of a less-than-perfect shot, and the difficulties of tracking wounded game in tough conditions. The more uncomfortable they were, the better. It was no big deal to Mitch, because he had been doing stuff like this for fun since he was old enough to follow his dad. He still loved it now, even though it meant a night away from April. It was great having her there, but with all the others now living there too, the house sometimes felt crowded and confining to Mitch. He would always need his time away in the woods, through preferably in better conditions than this.
But Mitch had come prepared for a night out in bad weather, as he usually did on hunts like this. In the small backpack he wore there was an eight by twelve ripstop tarp, the grommets already fitted with lengths of paracord to secure the corners. He selected a spot near the creek on a slight rise where the rainwater would drain and stretched another piece of heavier line between two trees. With this to serve as a central ridge, it was a simple matter to rig the tarp into a makeshift A-frame. They were already wet from trailing the deer in the rain, but at least they wouldn’t have to sleep out in it all night.
“Well, I guess this is a good opportunity for you guys to practice your wet weather fire-building skills.”
“Great,” Jason said. “Then we can sit around it and eat cold venison jerky. Sounds like a party to me!”
“Well, it could be worse. At least we have the tarp… and the jerky…”
“It could be better, too,” Corey said. “We could all be back at the house, eating a real supper and sitting by the fireplace. It’s going to get cold tonight. Wouldn’t you rather be spending it with April than the two of us?”
“Nah, I can do that any time. This will make her miss me and it’ll be better than ever when I get back tomorrow!”
“Well, if it was me in your shoes,” Jason said, “I wouldn’t give a girl like her the opportunity to miss me. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight! The only bad thing for you I guess is that she comes as a package deal. How’s it feel being a dad at freakin’ 17, dude? And what are you going to do if David ever gets his memory back? You see that kind of thing with amnesia in movies and stuff. Somebody gets hit in the head, loses their memory for a while, then it all comes back to them all of a sudden. Boy, when it does, I reckon he’s gonna be pissed, seeing you’ve taken up with his girl and his kid and all!”
“Yeah, he’s gonna realize the kid’s really his. He thinks she’s just confused about that right now and he’s going along with it because he thinks he should.”
“I’m not worried about David. April told me it had been over between them for a long time, probably three or four months now. They broke up way before she talked him into helping her sneak out of Hattiesburg and come out here. Even back when I helped her get there, things weren’t that good between them.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be jealous. He’s bound to be. You said he was the first time you met him. He’s not going to like it when he realizes he’s been replaced.”
“Yeah, but it won’t matter. It’s not up to him anyway. It’s April’s choice. Besides, we don’t know that he’ll ever get his memory back.”
“He’s sure as shit doesn’t know anything right now; he’s almost like a little kid. The way he follows Tommy around you’d think they were a couple of ten-year-old school buddies.”
“Yeah, Tommy’s kind of simple, but he’s solid. I always feel pretty good when I’m away, knowing Tommy and Benny have got the house. They’re good people, and Benny’s a real woodsman. Both of them are. They’d have to be, living out of a canoe for nearly seven months the way they did. And you guys are bitching about one night camped out in the rain… You’ve already forgotten how good you’ve got it!”
Mitch knew they had not really forgotten; he was just giving them a hard time, trying to make light of their discomfort. Jason had been beaten nearly to death in the early days after the collapse, and Corey had found his parents murdered and his family home ransacked and burned. Both of them were survivors, and they were doing fine considering their total lack of experience at this kind of thing in their lives from before. Mitch was sure they would find Jason’s deer nearby in the morning, and soon after, the three of them would be packing meat back to the house, another successful hunt completed. As he imagined April’s arms around him again, he also thought back to the three gunshots they’d heard that afternoon. Tomorrow he would find out what that was about as well, although he was sure it wasn’t anything significant.
Eleven
LISA AND STACY RAN to the barn to get the travois and found it still piled high with firewood that Tommy and David had left on it that morning. The two of them quickly tossed the load of cut logs aside and then practically ran back to the house pulling the empty rig behind them. It was a great design Benny had come up with shortly after he and Tommy arrived there with April. Seeing how far they were having to go into the woods to carry wood, he looked around the barn and found a wheel from an old mountain bike Mitch had broken in half years ago jumping ditches. Benny had mounted it between two long support rails made of oak lumber he also found in the barn, carving handles at the towing end so that it resembled a stretched wheelbarrow one person could pull behind while walking. The travois was narrow enough to weave through the woods yet stout enough to haul two or three hundred pounds. The loading surface was narrow but wide enough for Tommy to fit as long as they were careful not to dump him off on a bump. Lisa figured if David could do the towing, she and Samantha could walk alongside him on either side and make sure he stayed aboard.
Samantha was ready to go when they reached the house and was carrying her rifle and a couple of blankets to put under and on top of Tommy. April watched from the porch, Kimberly in her arms and her carbine slung from her shoulder: “Be careful!” she warned. “Don’t fool around out there; just get Tommy and get right back as quickly as you can. If Uncle Benny doesn’t find whoever shot him, Mitch will when he gets back in the morning!”
They hurried down the drive at almost a jog; the fastest pace Stacy could pull the travois. Samantha was behind her with her rifle and Lisa was in front, taking point with her 10/22 carbine, for which she now had three extra magazines in her pockets. Lisa knew that April really wanted to go and would have gladly taken her place in the lead, but Kimberly had to come first for her, so she would wait this one out. Lisa was determined to make that wait as short as possible. When they were half way to the road, she turned off into the woods to take the shortest route back to Tommy. They had just entered the trees when she heard the sound of someone running, crashing through the underbrush and apparently coming right at them. Lisa stopped and motioned to Stacy and Samantha to do the same. She barely had time to raise her rifle to her shoulder before a surprised figure burst into view, almost on top of them. Lisa’s finger had just found the trigger when she realized who it was.
* * *
Benny was moving slow and stealthy through the woods, careful to stay back, well out of sight of the six men he followed. They were far too alert and too much on e
dge to risk shadowing them close, and besides there was still the other shooter to think about. Benny still had no idea where he was, so he had to consider the possibility of being spotted by him with every move he made.
As he pushed his way quietly through the wet pine branches, he wondered what David would do when he saw these other strangers. The men were bound to find the two dead steers, because they were plainly visible from the road. Then they’d spot the body of the dead boy he’d shot, lying just a short distance from where David and Tommy were hiding. When they closed in to investigate the scene, would David be able to keep his composure and remain quiet? Or would he panic and start firing at them at once? Benny didn’t know what to expect from David. Hell, the boy didn’t even know who he was! What he did know though, was that if he started shooting at those six men, he might get lucky and get one or two, but the rest would kill him quickly. Then they would find Tommy and it would be over for him too.
Benny was trying to come up with a plan, even as he eased closer. Six armed men in a group and another unaccounted for didn’t make for good odds in an outright gunfight. Then, there was the issue of the girls coming back with that travois for Tommy. They had no way of knowing these other men had arrived and Benny had no way to tell them, unless he circled around and tried to get to the house or meet them before they got back so he could head them off. But that would leave Tommy and David vulnerable. It was a choice Benny had to make, but Tommy was his boy. He had to see what was going on. Maybe… just maybe… if David could keep his composure and remain quiet… the strangers wouldn’t discover the two of them immediately. Then he might have a chance of somehow diverting their attention, drawing them away. He considered doing that even now, firing into the air or something to lure them back the other way, but the problem with that was that there were enough of them that they might split up. Then, some of them would still find Tommy and he wouldn’t be able to help, being occupied with evading those who were looking for him. At any rate, it was probably already too late for that. They’d had time to reach the spot of the shooting already, and Benny was half expecting at any moment to hear David fire Tommy’s rifle and then all hell to break loose. But that didn’t happen. Instead, what he heard was something else, a sound completely and totally unexpected, coming down the road behind him from the west, just as the six men had.
Benny turned at this new sound, peering through the branches to see. He had no doubt about what he was hearing; the sound was unmistakable. His eyes proved him right when the first of the horses appeared around the bend. Benny counted eight riders and at least as many more saddled animals on a string behind the one bringing up the rear. The horses were approaching at a trot when he’d first heard the sound of their hooves, now the lead rider raised his hand and the riders slowed their mounts to a quiet walk. Benny was absolutely stunned. Where in the hell had all these men come from and what was he going to do now? He’d thought it couldn’t get any worse when he saw that the cattle rustlers had six more companions. But now it was clear that there were more than twice as many yet again! This explained why the first two had been brazen enough to shoot into Doug Henley’s herd inside a fence on private property. There were enough of them that they felt they could do what they wanted with complete impunity.
Twelve
DAVID WORKED QUICKLY TO pile leaves over Tommy as quietly as he could. He didn’t know what else to do. He had to retreat farther into the shadows before the men were on top of him. There was no possibility of moving Tommy by himself. To drag him, he would have to stand up and they would immediately see him even if they didn’t hear all the noise that would make. All he could hope for is that they wouldn’t look too closely and wouldn’t spot Tommy lying there under the leaves in the darkening woods. When he had done the best he could, he crawled backwards, working his way into some low-growing bushes another ten yards away. The men were crowded around the dead one now and he could hear everything they said:
“I’m sorry they got Ken Jr., Kenneth. Did you see how many of them there were?”
“I saw three in all, but I think there was at least one more. First, there was the one that slipped up along that fence line and got the drop on Kenny. He was saying something to him, probably about the cattle, and he was pointing a rifle at him. I decided I’d better take him out before it went too far. I hit him dead center and he went down, but then this other one comes running out of the woods all crazy-like and throws a spear at Kenny! It missed him and Kenny moved in on the lunatic with his blade. I was gonna let him have at it, because I could see that the fool didn’t have a weapon, other than that stick spear he’d already thrown. Kenny would have gutted him easily, but then I hear a shotgun blast from out of nowhere and see Kenny go down hard. He never had a chance because some other son of a bitch neither one of us knew was there ambushed him! I tried to shoot the one that had been carrying the spear, but he dove into cover with his buddy somewhere behind those trees over there. Then somebody else opened up on me with what sounded like a .22. I’ll bet they must have shot 20 rounds!”
“I know; we heard it.”
“When the shooting finally stopped and I looked up, they had moved the one I knocked down. I guess they dragged him back to wherever they came from. I never saw any of them again after that. I waited a while to make sure, and was finally coming down here to see about Kenny when I saw y’all coming.”
From what he’d heard already, David gathered that the man who had spoken was the father of the dead boy Benny had killed. He was bent down over the body now, and David could hear what he was saying:
“Kenny, I don’t know what you expect me to tell your mama now! I’ve been telling you over and over again you needed to be more careful. I thought you’d listen eventually, but you never did, and now it’s too late. I hate it for you, son. I really do. All I can tell you is that we’ll find those folks that shot you and they’ll pay. We’ll kill them all and round up every last one of their cattle. There’s a house around here somewhere and we’ll find it. If any of them are still in it, there won’t a one of them be alive come daylight. I promise you that, Kenny.”
“How many head was in that cattle herd?” David heard one of the others ask the man as he got to his feet again.
“I counted 25, including those two over there. I hit another one but didn’t put it down.”
“Well, if that’s the case there’ll be enough to feed everyone for weeks, just on the beef. And there’ll probably be other stuff in the house when we find it. I’d say we scored pretty good on this one, Kenneth, other than losing your boy.”
“I’ve been expecting it to happen. But there’s nothing any of us can do about it now. How far back is Drake with the horses?”
“He’s close. We sent Jimmy on to get him. They should be here any minute. But you know the others probably won’t get here for a couple of days. The rain ain’t helping; you know how it is.”
“It doesn’t matter. When Drake shows up there’ll be enough of us to do what needs doing without them. We don’t need to wait for them. We can go ahead and find the house and get moved in.”
“Yep, and if the folks that shot at you were dragging a wounded man, there ought to be a trail,” one of the other men said.
“Let’s find it then, before it gets too dark,” another said.
David’s worst fear came true in the next instant. All of the men were walking straight towards the clump of trees where Tommy was lying hidden under the leaves! David didn’t see how he could stop them from finding his friend now. There were too many of them for him to shoot them all by himself and Tommy was helpless, unable to move. All David could do was watch as the men began combing the ground looking for sign.
“Well would you look at this!” one of them said with delight. “Hey Kenneth, it looks like your new friends gave up on their man and lit out for home! They tried to bury him before they left, though!”
“Is he dead?” One of the others asked as he walked up to the one who’d found him.
Before he answered and before David could grasp what was about to happen, much less react, the man who he now knew was the dead boy’s father stepped up as he reached for something behind his back. Then he suddenly knelt down and hit Tommy hard with it, the sound of the impact a dull whack that made David shudder when he heard it.
“I don’t really think he was, but I know he is now, the sorry bastard! That was for Kenny, and I’ll get the one that shot him too!”
When the man stood back up, David could now see that he was holding what looked like a hatchet or tomahawk in one hand. He had just hit Tommy in the face with it—hit him and killed him right in front of his eyes and there was not a thing he could do about it! David wanted to shoot them all. He wanted to make them pay for what they did to his friend, but if they killed him too, who was going to warn Lisa and Stacy? And what about Samantha and April with her little girl back at the house? This was turning out far worse than Benny had thought when he left to look for the one who’d shot Tommy. There were so many of these men! And they were talking about even more people that were further behind, all of them coming here too! David knew he had to get away alive. He had to warn the rest of his friends what was coming. It was too late to help Tommy but maybe he could save the others. He didn’t know where Benny was or if he was even coming back and there was no time to look for him. Besides, these men could have already found him and killed him too. David just didn’t know.
He remained as still and quiet as he possibly could until the men lost interest in Tommy and turned to discussing their plans for finding the house. As soon as they moved farther away to regroup by the road, David wormed his way backwards on his belly until he felt it was safe to stand. Then he turned and ran back towards the house for all he was worth, practically running right into Lisa, who was aiming her rifle at his face when emerged from the woods into her view.
The Forge of Darkness (Darkness After Series Book 3) Page 6