The Blue Ridge Resistance

by Steven Bird

  Nate dug around in his pocket for a second and then pulled out a Tool Logic SLP4 multi-use knife. “How about a key?” Nate said with a grin. “I was military police in the Navy, remember? I’ve got cuff keys stashed all over me.”

  Jason, not believing something could actually work out so easily in their predicament, took the key from Nate with a look of relief and freed the young girl’s wrists from the pain of the handcuffs. Her wrists were raw and bruised from days of struggle while wearing them and she was thankful to have them off.

  “Thanks, man,” he said, handing him back the key. “Okay, guys, let’s get ourselves together here. Is anyone hurt?”

  Nate and Charlie looked at Jimmy as Jimmy said, “My arm, but we can worry about that later.”

  “Nonsense,” Evan replied. “Let’s get that wrapped up, at a minimum, for now. Nate, if you can help him with that.”

  Nate nodded in the affirmative, led Jimmy over to the sofa, and sat him down; he had him remove his load-bearing vest, jacket, and shirt so they could get a good look at the extent of his wound. While they were dealing with Jimmy’s injuries, Charlie said, “Where’s Roxanne?”

  He immediately realized the full extent of the situation when the girl looked down and broke into tears once again. Ed then realized his fears and knew exactly whom he had stumbled across in the woods earlier. Their moment of glee from having defeated the predators, quickly turned dark once again as they let the full extent of the situation, as well as what the young girl and her mother had gone through, sink in.

  “Let’s get her out of here,” Jason said, interrupting the somber mood.

  “Jimmy’s not in a position to hustle on foot at the moment. Ed, how about you and Charlie go get the ATVs,” Evan said to get the ball rolling once again. “We’ll get her back to the trailer on one of them and get her some clean clothes. They won’t fit, but they’ll be warm and clean. We can use the other ATV to transport her mother somewhere so we can give her the respect she deserves. We can’t leave her here, not after what she went through in this place.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement as Charlie looked at Ed and said, “Let’s get moving.”

  “Roger that!” he replied.

  Jason sat Sabrina down on the sofa and offered her some venison jerky and a drink of water. She was desperately hungry and tried to eat but was so distraught she got nauseated after only a few bites. She took a few drinks of water and with a mere whisper from her sore, dry throat, said, “Thank you,” as a tear rolled down her cheek.

  Evan sat down next to her and said, “The Gibbs family is on their way to somewhere safe. A place where women are girls are sheltered and protected from atrocities such as this. We will get you there to them. I’m sure they would love to have you with them. They were very worried about you and were devastated about what happened to you.”

  “Did they pay you to come?” she asked.

  “Pay us? What do you mean?” he asked in reply.

  “Why did you come for me? Why did you risk your lives and get hurt to save me? You didn’t even know me.”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” he said softly. “I know you’ve seen and gone through a lot of horrible things since this all started happening, but I promise, there are still some good people in the world. The Gibbs family are good people, and we just want to get you back to them.”

  She tried to smile in appreciation for what he said but simply harbored too much pain. She laid her head on the arm of the sofa and closed her eyes, falling asleep for the first time in days, knowing that she had her own guardian angels keeping her safe.

  Chapter 23: Intensive Care

  He could hear muffled voices, but the relentless pain made him unable to focus on the words being said. The light in his eyes blurred his vision; he squinted, trying to see. A blinding light in his right eye sent shooting pain through his already pounding head, and then it moved to the left. “Griff… Griff…” he heard from a voice behind light.

  He tried to speak, but merely moving the muscles in his face to make his jaw work caused blinding pain. Struggling to open his eyes, he saw a figure standing over him. “Honey, it’s me. Are you in there?” said the voice of his wife, Judy, as he felt a woman’s touch on his forehead, gently dabbing a cold, damp cloth to ease his pain. “I think he’s awake,” she said as others crowded around him.

  “He’s still in a lot of pain. I don’t think he’s ready,” another voice said. He then felt a stinging in his arm followed by the voice saying, “This will help him sleep. He’ll come out of it in time…” as he faded into darkness.

  ~~~~

  Opening his eyes once again, he saw that the room was now dark, which was pleasing to his pounding head. He struggled to figure out where he was, but it hurt too much to move his head to look around. His neck was sore and stiff and his head throbbed with pain. “Griff?” he heard again as a female’s soft touch caressed his arm.

  “Baby,” he quietly mumbled.

  “Yes, yes, honey, it’s me,” sobbed Judy as she kissed him on the forehead. “Oh, thank the Lord you are awake. I’ve been so scared I was going to lose you.”

  “Where… Where is Daryl? Beth… Where is Beth?” he struggled to ask.

  “Daryl is fine,” she said as she stroked his hair and gazed at him with watery eyes. “He’s out on patrol with some of the others, keeping us safe.”

  “Where’s Beth?” he asked through the pain.

  “She didn’t make it. There was nothing you could do.”

  He just lay there, soaking in what she said as he realized it wasn’t just a bad dream. It had all really happened, although he had no memory of how he had gotten where he was now, or what had happened to him.

  Just then, Rachel entered the room and said, “Oh, thank goodness he’s awake.” She checked his pulse, listened to his chest with a stethoscope, and said, “How are you doing, Griff? Are you feeling any pain?”

  “Yes, all over, but especially my head, my chest, and my shoulder,” he sluggishly answered.

  “That’s to be expected,” she replied as she took his temperature. “You took a nasty fall off of your horse and got banged up pretty bad. We were worried about you for a while.”

  “I need to help Daryl. I need to get back out there and help Daryl,” he said.

  “Daryl and the others have everything under control. They’ll be fine. You’re in no condition to even get up, much less go running off again. You hit your head pretty hard. You also collapsed a lung and possibly broke a few ribs. How do your arms and legs feel? Do you have any pain anywhere else?”

  “My neck and shoulders ache, but my right shoulder really hurts,” he replied.

  “You may have torn something in your shoulder. Without any real diagnostic equipment, it’s hard for me to tell. We will work with you as you begin to get up and about to see if we can tell the extent of the damage and try to figure out how we can best rehabilitate you, but for now, we have to focus on the more important stuff.”

  She then began to check his pupils and basic eye function to assess the extent of his head injuries. After completing his exam, she gave him an anti-inflammatory and said, “This should help a little. I’ll leave you to your family now.” Rachel turned to Judy and said, “Just give us a yell if you need anything. I’ll bring you something to eat when Mildred serves dinner later so you don’t have to leave his side.”

  “Thank you so much, Rachel. You’re a godsend,” Judy replied.

  As Rachel left her basement office and joined the others upstairs, she gave them the good news that Griff was awake and responsive and updated them all on his continually improving condition. She turned to Luke and said, “If you hear anything from Daryl, please let him know Griff is doing much better and is on the road to recovery. I know he’s been worried sick about him.”

  “Of course,” Luke replied. “The last time he checked in with us, he said he was riding back out to Jimmy’s place to see what he could do with Beth’s remains. He wants to make sure she is w
ell taken care of until Jimmy gets home. We really need to get her buried soon, but Daryl doesn’t want to take the moment away from Jimmy. He doesn’t just want him coming home to a gravestone.”

  “What did he have in mind?” she asked.

  “He said something about wrapping her in some industrial type shrink wrap. The stuff that comes in a large roll. I guess he wants to wrap her up nice and tight to keep the air and pests out. He wanted to start working on a grave for her, but he decided that Jimmy may want a say in where she’s laid to rest.”

  “Thanks for that, Luke,” Judith said as Mildred and Rachel nodded in agreement. “Daryl means well, but he’s not thinking straight right now. He blames himself for letting this all happen and is trying a little too hard to carry the entire burden.”

  “We are blessed to have a man like Daryl Moses as a part of our community,” Mildred added, taking a break from cooking. “Ollie always thought highly of him, and every man didn’t automatically get his respect; it had to be earned the old-fashioned way, but he sure loved Daryl.”

  Chapter 24: A Fork in the Road

  As they waited for Ed and Charlie to return with the ATVs to transport Sabrina to the trailer, Jason took up an overlook position on the roof with his Remington 700 while Nate covered the rear of the home after he had done his best to treat Jimmy’s wound for the time being. While Jimmy stayed with Sabrina, Evan searched the house to look for anything that could be useful to them. The first item of interest to him was the M249 SAW that was used by the assailants at the front of the house to keep Ed, Jimmy, and Nate pinned down outside. A SAW, or Squad Automatic Weapon, is a light machine gun that fires the same 5.56mm round as a military M16 and M4, as well as a civilian AR15. The M249 is used to enhance the firepower of smaller military units, and has never been available to the public.

  Evan walked over to the sofa where Jimmy was resting while keeping an eye on Sabrina and said, “I wonder where these bastards got this thing?”

  “That’s the son-of-a bitch’n gun that shot me!” exclaimed Jimmy. “It was like a bee’s nest of bullets being unleashed on us.”

  “There were two other ammo cans of 5.56 green tip over by the scumbag that used it on you. Looks GI to me. I wonder where these boys came across this stuff.”

  “Those bastards probably stole it, or did some other dirty deal to get their hands on it,” remarked Jimmy as he rubbed his bruised chest.

  “Well, it will surely come in handy on our little journey, as well as to help fortify the homesteads when we get back. I’m gonna go through the house and look for other weapons and ammo. Keep an eye on her,” Evan said, nodding towards Sabrina who was still asleep.

  “This poor girl could probably sleep for days and not catch up on what she’s lost,” said Jimmy softly, trying not to wake her.

  Evan then went around the house, retrieved the weapons and ammunition from the dead kidnappers, and staged it all in the living room. In all, he found a cheaply made 12-gauge Chinese pump shotgun, two Beretta M9 9mm pistols, two government-issued select-fire M4 carbines, a Romanian semi-automatic WASR-10 AKM, a 9mm Glock 19, and a Turkish made Sig Sauer clone in .40 S&W. He also found two 840 round ammo cans of 5.56 NATO green tip, several boxes of various commercially available shotgun shells, several boxes of 9mm pistol cartridges, and twenty-three government issued 5.56 NATO STANMAG magazines for use in AR pattern rifles as well as other NATO compliant 5.56mm weapons.

  “That’s quite the little weapons cache you’ve got there, Ev,” Jimmy commented as Evan tossed the last box of ammo onto the pile.

  “Tell me about it. If these guys weren’t so undisciplined, we’d have never been able to take them. They had a serious firepower advantage,” Evan said looking at the pile of weapons. “The SAW, the two M4s, the 5.56 ammo, and magazines are all military issue. These guys either had a serious connection or stole it. Either way, these would be hot potatoes if a man was caught with them by the feds.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing we’re here in the sticks, where the feds don’t tread,” replied Jimmy with a grin.

  “Yeah, for now. Anyway, there was some food and water in the kitchen. We’ll take the food that’s in sealed packages, but the rest of it doesn’t look so good. The water doesn’t look clean either. I don’t trust these scumbags’ hygiene enough to risk it. I’d rather filter river water if it comes to it. When we roll back through here with the tractor and trailer, we’ll stop by and load it all up. We’ll hide the weapons of course, just in case someone else comes along while we are on our way to get it. By the way, I’ve got an idea… and a favor to ask.”

  “What’s that?” asked Jimmy.

  “We’ve come to a fork in the road here,” Evan explained. “You’re injured…”

  “I’m fine, I’m fine,” interrupted Jimmy.

  “Well, you may be fine, but you still need to get that cleaned out and closed up right—and maybe get some antibiotics. We don’t want your arm turning green and falling off on us while we’re out here. We also need to do something to get Sabrina to Del Rio with the Gibbs family. I would like to ask you and Charlie to get her there to safety on your ATVs, and then for Charlie to accompany you back home so Rachel can look at that wound and treat it properly. You’ve got a pregnant wife at home and don’t need to be out here, dying on her from infection when she needs you the most.”

  “But what about you guys, though? You’ll be down to four men and no four wheelers,” Jimmy said in protest.

  “Four guys and no ATVs are better off than six guys with a young girl to protect if shit hits the fan. We really need to get her to the Gibbs family,” Evan said in a serious tone. “Do this for us, Jimmy, and then get home to Beth and get yourself taken care of.”

  Jimmy knew Evan was right, and from the look on his face, he would not be taking no for an answer. In a reluctant voice, Jimmy said, “Okay, Ev. You’re right. We’ll get her there safe and sound.”

  “Thanks, Jimmy,” Evan said with a smile as he patted Jimmy on the shoulder.

  “Crap!” exclaimed Jimmy, flinching with pain.

  “Oh, sorry man, wrong shoulder,” Evan said with an embarrassed grin.

  Up on the roof, Jason was glassing the area with his riflescope when he saw Charlie and Ed returning with the ATVs. He covered them until they drew near and then climbed back down from the roof to join the others below. “How’d it go?” Jason asked as Charlie and Ed shut down their engines and began to dismount.

  “Uneventful,” replied Ed.

  Evan then joined them out front, leaving Jimmy inside with Sabrina, to work out a plan. “I’ve got an idea that I’ve already got Jimmy on board with. I just need you guys to sign off on it.”

  “Shoot,” Jason replied.

  Evan explained what he had discussed with Jimmy about taking Sabrina to Del Rio to get her reunited with the Gibbs family and then for Jimmy to seek medical care at home with Rachel. He assured Charlie that even though they would be returning home early, he and Jimmy would both share in the spoils of whatever supplies they acquired along the way, as they were part of the team through the end. He then explained, “By the way, guys, in addition to the SAW, I found two select-fire M4s, two M9s, a bunch of mags, and some ammo, all of which, of course, were probably stolen from a guard unit or a regular service component. There was also a crappy pump shotgun and some shells, but the mil-spec stuff has me concerned. We can definitely use it in the current state of things, but if the pieces start getting put back together, or if we encounter any federal forces, they would be a huge liability.”

  “The mil what?” asked Charlie.

  “Oh, mil-spec means military specifications. In other words, the government-issued weapons we found. The long guns of which would be restricted class III weapons regardless of the state of affairs.”

  “That SAW sure would come in handy back at the homesteads if we encountered any more major trouble like last fall,” said Jason. “But we would need to keep that stuff stashed for the reasons Evan stat
ed, only to be pulled out in the event that shit hits the fan again.”

  “We won’t have room on the four-wheelers for any of it, so you guys just hang on to it all for now and bring it when you come home. Besides, you might need to fight your way out of a mess down the road for all we know,” Charlie added.

  “Well, let’s get the show on the road,” Evan replied. “I don’t want to keep that poor girl in this hellhole for one minute longer. This place has got to be a nightmare for her.”

  “What about the mother?” Jason asked.

  “Oh yeah, I figured we could put Sabrina on one ATV and her mother on the rack of the other, following behind, of course; Jimmy on one and Charlie on the other. Just run the quads slow, and the rest of us will hoof it and take up point, rear, and flanking positions to escort you to the trailer. Once we get there, we will make camp until the sun comes up. We can then give her mother the proper burial and respect before we go our separate ways.”

  “What about the guns?” asked Charlie.

  “We’ll be coming back this way to head east towards Hot Springs. We can duck back in and get them then. For now, we can hide what we want to take with us in the woods in case someone comes along behind us between now and tomorrow, after the burial.”

  Jason looked at Charlie and said, “Does all that sound good to you? You and Jimmy are the ones being put out the most.”

  “That sounds fine with me. We need to get that girl taken care of. If we keep dragging her along with us, there’s no telling what will happen. So let’s go with Evan’s plan.”

  After a brief discussion of specifics, Evan, Jason, and Ed moved the weapons into the trees and covered them with brush the best they could while Charlie stood watch out front. Once that was accomplished, they turned their attentions to the least desirable task at hand, which was dealing with Mrs. Jackson’s body. While Ed and Jason retrieved her body from the woods and brought her to the front porch, Evan began searching for something rigid to place on the rear cargo rack of the ATV to support her body, as they wanted to be able to transport her in a dignified manner. After a few moments of scavenging around the house, he realized he was forgetting the materials that were all around him. He went out to the tool shed by the carport and found an old, rusty axe. He pulled the axe out and said, “Hell, I think I’ll take these tools with us, anyway.” Swinging the axe at the hinges on the door, Evan quickly separated the door from the shed, creating the perfect backboard to transport her to the trailer. He then took a few extra swings to the side of the shed before throwing the axe to the ground, and thought, I needed that.