The smell of horse manure and moonshine brought him back to his current circumstances. Caleb observed as men held up their bandanas, bidding on human beings; putting a price on intimacy, companionship, familial duties, and offspring. One by one they sealed their fate. With every bid, just like every share, like and forward five months ago, the world became a darker place.
Within twenty-four hours of Judgement Day, the world was reporting and sharing the false hype which then led to hoax photos and events. Soon, due to the viral nature of it all, every country’s primary focus was on protecting the females. But, not everyone was a simpleton. A few news sites and outspoken social media personalities with access to the internet continued to state the truth. Unfortunately, most people didn’t care to listen.
Caleb was shaken from his thoughts when he heard a man scream, “That’s my little girl. I’ll kill you! I swear to God, I’ll kill you. She’s only fifteen. She’s a baby!”
A handful of armed guards forcibly escorted the man from the premises. Tye’s eyes were wide open, his breathing heavy. “What the hell? How can they allow this?” Caleb shook his head in response to him.
For two years prior he’d addressed it on his radio show. Challenging his listeners to think for themselves and not rely on memes, headlines, and article skimming for their information. He urged them to research every angle before sharing or posting and when possible, correct others by offering references and URLs with accurate information. While he never dreamed the social media hype train would cause this type of dire circumstances, he called it. Then, he watched as it unfolded in front of him.
Stretched out on a sofa, in the comfort of a secure building with generators, food, and security, he watched it fly past him on the screen of his cell phone. He had nothing else to do trapped inside, waiting for help to come, so he became fixated on it. He kept up with the news cycle and social media craze until he lost all service on Judgement Day Six. Based on his study of human responses in history and social behavior patterns, he jotted down dozens of issues he believed would arise. The same notebook he now carried with him everywhere they went.
Caleb pounded his fist into the post in front of him. “People have gone nuts. They’ve lost their collective freaking minds.” He took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose and forehead. For just a moment he was quiet as he watched the young girl on stage, in tears, nude, contemplating what, if anything, they could do about it. In a low but authoritative voice, he said, “Dammit! I said this would happen. I knew it.”
Standing there helpless, he recalled the notes he’d written down. He predicted the media’s self-manifested breakdown of society would prompt otherwise law-abiding men to succumb to their evil desires, and everyone else would suffer at their hands. He wanted to be wrong. Every day they spent waiting before they ventured out into the real world, he hoped he’d been wrong. It only took one day outside the comfort of the protection that was initially provided for him to realize he’d barely scratched the surface with his deductions.
Many times on his radio show he’d explained that the raw truth is most people are only law abiding until there’s no longer a system in place to enforce that law. What he didn’t see coming was how society would adapt.
Caleb continued reading the flyer in his hand. Since women became endangered, they became the hottest commodity in the trade market. He read out loud, “Childbearing women with green or blue eyes, light skin color, never had a c-section or under the age of 40…those are worth the most.”
After he had said it, both men looked at Maia. They couldn’t help but notice she was at least three of those. For all they knew, she may have never had a c-section and could be all four. They looked at each other knowing what the other was thinking. They had to get her out of here and fast.
“They’re up to 5200 now,” Junior said. “I guess the young girls sell for more?”
That statement was a wake-up call to them. They were only focused on Maia because, even with everything they’d seen and experienced, their mind still couldn’t comprehend that anyone would be so morally bankrupt as to kidnap little Sadie to sell to the highest bidder. They knew it was happening, but it just didn’t register with them as truth. And yet, the girl currently being paraded around wasn’t much older than her. “Let’s go,” Tye said with urgency in his voice.
Maia was about to lean over again to look at the flyer again when she felt someone bump into her. It was hard enough that Tye almost took off after him, but Caleb grabbed his arm and pulled him back. They watched the man walk away, and when he stopped at a trash can about three yards from them, he turned around to face them. He pulled his sunglasses down to reveal his eyes. Maia exhaled and stood up straight. She nodded her head once and pulled her sunglasses part of the way down for a moment then right back up.
The man by the trash can pushed his sunglasses back on and with his hands down in front of him. He made a fist then stretched three fingers out. Maia squeezed between Tye and Elex to put her hand on Caleb’s shoulder. The man nodded once and walked away.
“What the hell was that and who was that guy?” Tye asked.
“It’s okay. I know him. Caleb, in three minutes a guy is going to walk by and put something in your hands,” she went on, “don’t make a big deal about it. Just hand it to me after he walks away.”
“Who was that?” Caleb persisted.
“Someone that I can’t stand,” Maia replied. “He obviously has something he wants to tell me.”
They both looked at her sideways. She didn’t blame them. She wasn’t vague for mystery’s sake. She didn’t think this was the right place to have an hour-long discussion about her previous employment and co-workers.
On cue, about three minutes later, a man walked right up to Caleb, looked him in the eye and reached out to shake his hand. He placed a piece of paper in his hand when he shook it. After the guy walked away, he casually handed it to Maia. It was a note.
“Let’s go this way first,” Caleb advised her moving them to a more secluded area.
She opened the note; it read, “MSgt. RC 10-74 10-57 10-25 10-101”
She gasped, “Master Sergeant Rob Cameron 10-74? Think…10-74, 10-74, ooh…negative. Okay, 10-57 is missing, negative missing, not missing!” Her hands shook, and she could barely contain her excitement, “I think he knows where my brother is! 10-25 is meet in person, 10-101 is what's your status? He wants to make sure I’m safe. Okay, let’s go.”
They started walking toward the gates to leave. Tye had to ask, “Some guy you can’t stand gives you a note like this, and we’re supposed to go after him?”
“I said I couldn’t stand him. I never said he wasn’t somewhat trustworthy,” she clarified. “If there’s a chance my brother is still alive I have to find out. Besides, we’re not going after him. He finds me.”
As they walked past the exit gates, they noticed the man who’d handed Caleb the note. He pulled his sunglasses down and looked at Maia. She pulled her sunglasses down and pushed them right back up and while he was still watching she put the note in her pocket and tapped it.
Once they were past the crowds of people and approaching the trees on the other side of the field, Tye asked about the hand signals and codes they’d used. Giving a laugh, she told him that was what they called their love language.
“When we drop our sunglasses and show our eyes it means we’re opening communication. He signaled with his hands that he would deliver me a note in three minutes. I tapped Caleb to tell him that’s who he should give it to since he is on the outside of the group. The codes are police radio code.”
“Why didn’t he just talk to you?” Tye asked.
“He thinks that would draw attention to me and I’m sure he didn’t want either of you to know what we were talking about. He doesn’t trust anyone,” she replied. Then just as she was about to clarify further, they heard something they didn’t want to hear.
“The dogs!” Maia shrieked, grabbing onto Caleb’s wrist.
Chapter Seventeen
Suddenly, they stood still; searching for any sign of where the dogs were. They listened to determine what direction they were coming from. It was as if every second dragged on. After a minute or so Maia scanned the area and saw an old moving truck on its side. Needing cover, she grabbed Sadie’s hand and pulled her along. The guys followed.
Once they were out of the line of vision on most sides, she gave Tye the spray bottle and told him they needed to fill it. While the guys took care of that, the girls put on more activated charcoal and Vaseline.
They moved in a single file line, Caleb leading and Junior at the end spraying. They moved like this for several minutes. With the spray long gone and no other signs of the dogs, they hoped they were in the clear. They stopped for a moment to rest, refuel, and rehydrate.
Before they could get their backpacks open, they heard the barking. It was louder this time. She stood up and looked in the general direction of the sound, and this time she saw them coming.
“Run!” she yelled, as she grabbed Sadie by the arm and took off.
“Don’t look back!” she reminded the girl. She heard the guys, but she didn’t dare turn to look at them, that would only slow them down and break their momentum. They jumped over logs, squeezed between trees, ran around debris and when they could hardly run anymore she told Sadie, “We’re almost there!”
Maia saw a bicycle leaning against a log. She judged the distance and decided they could jump it. As soon as they approached it, she yelled for Sadie to jump but the girl’s legs were too short. She hit one of the pedals and tripped. She stopped and turned to grab her, but Tye had already pulled her up. They kept running until they came upon four abandoned army transport trucks.
“Quick! Junior get in here with them,” Maia said. She grabbed her pistols and checked the number of bullets. Her Glock 17 only had four rounds left. She switched the magazine with the Baby Glock since it had ten rounds then she put the gun in Junior’s hands.
“You only have four bullets,” she told him.
“What are you doing?” Caleb yelled.
“We’re gonna to have to fight. There’s too many of us to try to get away,” she said between breaths.
“I can’t see them, but I can hear them. They’re not far,” Tye said, jumping down from one of the trucks.
“Then you and Sadie go. We’ll stay here and fight them off,” Caleb said.
“No! They’ll split up when they get to you. They’ll torture you, and then they’ll kill you, and they’ll find us anyway. Trust me. I know.”
Caleb pointed at the truck. “Get in!"
“No, there’s only two of you and at least ten of them. I’m a good shot. We have a better chance—”
“Maia, get in that damn truck. I’m not asking you,” Caleb demanded again.
Tye cornered her, “You know you don’t have enough ammo and they’re after you and Sadie. Please, get in the truck." Then with more emphasis in his voice, he continued, "I need you to get in that truck.”
She didn’t know if they stood a chance by themselves. But she also knew by their reaction that they wouldn’t be able to focus on the fight if they thought she was in danger, so she climbed into the truck closest to the side where the hunters would be coming from. Maybe she could take some of them out from there. The canvas-like material camouflaged her inside the truck, and she could duck for cover when she needed to.
Seconds after she climbed in, she heard the dogs approaching. She braced herself, waiting for the first shot to fire. It didn’t take long. The men yelled at them to send out the females, and he would let the men walk away alive. Caleb and Tye refused. Then someone pulled the trigger.
Maia looked through the holes in the canvas, and she could see at least seven of them. Only three of the hunters were within firing range for her. She laid as flat as she could on the bed of the truck and put the gun through the canvas then pulled the trigger three times. Two men fell.
The dogs jumped at the trucks signaling that females were inside. She didn’t want to shoot them since that would’ve been a dead giveaway and a waste of a bullet. She remembered she had beef jerky in her bag, so she grabbed it and threw it out in hopes of distracting them for at least a few seconds.
She kept listening for Tye or Caleb, but all she heard was shots firing. Looking through the canvas again she saw several of the men down and one getting closer and closer to the truck. She pointed her gun, held her breath and fired. He went down. She saw a dozen or so more men approaching. One of them saw her peering through the hole and ran straight for the truck. She didn’t have the time to aim through the canvas. She turned to the back of the truck, and the second he peeked through she shot him.
She paused for a moment to be sure no one else was coming. She looked out the hole again and didn’t see anyone on that side anymore. Suddenly she heard a whole lot of yelling and the sound of gunshots one after the other. Fear set in. She couldn’t hear Tye, Caleb, or the kids. She heard nothing, and she couldn’t bring herself to look out again.
Maia held the gun in her hands, shaking. She looked to see how many bullets were left. Five. Only five bullets left.
She heard some mumbling, but couldn’t make out the voice. Then she heard someone say, “Where the hell is the woman that was with you?” She began preparing herself for what was going to happen when they got to the back of the truck. She contemplated turning herself in instead of shooting. That might earn her some merit. Then she remembered the women they auctioned on the stage at Bottleneck. Then she heard her name.
“Maia!”
Tye pulled the canvas on the back of the truck. She gasped, “Ty!” and crawled as fast as she could to him. He pulled her into his arms and out of the truck. He held on to her tight. Looking over his shoulder, she saw Sadie. Junior was covering her eyes, and Elex was standing on the side of them crying.
“Caleb?” she asked, backing out of Tye’s arms. “He’ll be okay,” he said pointing in the direction around the trucks.
Maia approached the edge of the last truck slowly, unsure of what she’d find once she rounded the corner. She peeked around and saw him sitting on the ground leaning against the truck. He was bleeding.
“Caleb!” She yelled, dropping down to check on him.
“I'm all right,” he mumbled. “Thank you for staying in the truck.”
She noticed his smile was weak. She opened his jacket and pulled his shirt back to see what was causing the bleeding.
“It was a clean shot; through and through. He needs medical attention though.”
She recognized that voice. It was Jason.
She turned to look at him. “Where did y’all come from?”
He walked over to her and Caleb. “I followed you. I didn’t know who these guys were. I wanted to make sure you were okay. We got here right when their second wave was arriving.”
“I told your errand boy I was fine,” she snapped back. “But, thank you."
As she was assessing his wound Caleb grabbed her hand, “Are you okay with him here?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she reassured him. “What were you going to do about it if I wasn’t?”
“Make Tye whoop him!” he joked. “Seriously, are you going to tell us who these guys are?”
Looking back at them she made the introductions, “Caleb and Tye, this is Jason, Tony, Dale and I’m not sure who these other guys are. Guys, meet Caleb and Tye.”
Tye walked over to Jason and thanked him for their help. Though Jason wasn’t paying much attention, they talked a bit and realized they’d met before. Tye trained newbies at the police academy from time to time, and they'd met there a few years back.
“Why didn’t you tell us this guy was a cop?” Tye asked her.
“Five months ago that guy was a cop. What difference does it make now? We all used to be somebody else." She looked around. A dozen or so bodies lay on the ground: men and canine. “Are they all dead?” she asked.
Jason stooped down beside her, “The ones lay
ing here are. Did you take out the guys in the back?”
Her throat suddenly felt dry. She swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
Though he didn’t understand it, pride rose up in Tye. He leaned over and patted her back. “You are a good shot.” She forced a smile.
“Some of them got away. They’ll be back, and they will track you. Mark my words, you won’t make it back home before they get to you and they’ll be looking for someone to pay for this.”
“Just get to the point, Jason,” she prodded.
“You need to come back with us. We’re close, and we have the numbers to keep them out. They don’t mess with us.”
“I’m with them,” she replied.
“Fine. They can come too. He needs to be taken care of anyway.”
They both stood up. Annoyed, she looked him in the eye, “And what? Follow Allen’s rules again? We have kids with us.”
“You know I wouldn’t let anyone do anything to you. Don’t play that crap,” Tony objected.
She remembered the note. “What do you know about my brother, Tony?” she asked. “Jason? Tell me, please.”
“We found something. I think it’s a note from him. We found the same one in several places. We’ll talk about it back at camp. I’ll have to show it to you,” Jason replied.
“We don’t have the time to talk about it now. Let’s go,” Tony urged her while he and Dale tossed the last body into one of the trucks.
Jason climbed into the truck Maia had hidden in and came out with her backpack and pistol. He grabbed Caleb’s bag too. “I got this,” he said.
Maia and Tye helped Caleb up. He stumbled. “Are you hurt somewhere else?” she asked him, checking him all over now.
“No, I just got light headed. I’m good. Let’s go,” he reassured her.
They followed Jason and Tony into the woods. Three of the guys stayed behind to cover their tracks and throw off the dogs. In addition to the tactics Maia used, they kept pieces of cloth that the women from their camp used during menstruation and they would distribute them in random places.
Amitola: The Making of a Tribe Page 16