Silent Interruption (Book 4): Of Tragedy and Triumph

by Russell, Trent

  Matt was so petrified that he only could point behind him, back in the direction of the dirt road that led into East Creek.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Carl knelt by the body. Jed lay on the ground on his side, blood trickling from the side of his head, his eyes closed in permanent sleep. “When’d you find him?”

  “Not long ago,” Matthew said. The boy had calmed down enough to finally speak. “Probably half an hour ago.”

  Carl felt the man’s arms. “Rigor hasn’t set in. He wasn’t killed long ago.” He rose to his feet. “His knuckles are bruised. He put up a fight for sure.” He looked around. “We need to check the tent, see if anything’s been stolen.” Carl then caught Harold’s attention. “We also need to check for the killer’s tracks.”

  “You want to organize a hunting party?” Harold asked.

  “Yeah, and quickly. We should try catching him,” Carl said.

  “You better cough him up quickly.” Noah walked up between Carl and Harold. “We haven’t had any problems with murders until you all showed up. So, the way I see it, you all are going to have to wait out here until you got the murderer hog-tied.”

  “Sir, we have some women and children out here with us and our supplies are running low,” Preston said. “We won’t last long.”

  “Then you better act fast,” Noah said. “We’ve worked hard to keep East Creek safe. We won’t let anyone in that could threaten our safety.” His expression softened. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t provide some water and rations to keep you going a little while longer.”

  Carl couldn’t blame Noah for being so stern. Damn! How could things be going south again like this? Was there a bad apple lurking among the seventy people they had brought with them? It was possible, but for God’s sake, they were trying to find shelter and provisions. What could possess someone who had lived through the destruction of their community to kill like this? It didn’t even look like Jed’s tent had been ransacked.

  “Help! Help!”

  That voice. “Thomas!” Harold called, racing from Jed’s tent toward the trees. “Thomas, where are you?”

  Harold didn’t wait for an answer. He dashed off into the forest. Carl, Lorenzo and a few of the Adam’s Point survivors followed. Carl tried to keep up, but he coughed a few times. He still wasn’t in prime shape. He worried that he never would be.

  Harold was so intent on reaching Thomas that he didn’t care when the branches smacked against him, with one even drawing a cut on his right cheek. He hurried until he found his son, backing away from a tree. A man’s arm was slumped by the bark.

  “Thomas!” Harold knelt down next to him, where he also could get a good look at the man. It was Chip. His eyes were closed but he was breathing heavily. Blood was trickling down his forehead from a bruised spot.

  “My God,” Carl said as he finally caught up to them.

  “Chip, Chip!” Harold grasped him by the arm. “C’mon man, wake up.”

  Chip’s eyes fluttered. “Harold?” His voice was slurred.

  “What happened? You were ambushed, weren’t you? Who did this to you?” Harold asked.

  Chip then turned to peer over Harold’s shoulder. “Your son. Thomas. He spotted me.”

  “Yeah, he found you,” Harold said.

  Chip smiled. “Good boy.” Then he coughed. “I’m sorry. I tried to be a hero. I saw them go for Jed. I tried to stop it, but there were two of them.”

  “Who were they?” Carl asked, “Anybody in town?”

  “One guy, tall.” Chip raised his arm over his head. “Dark hair. Didn’t look smart. Other guy, short man, kinda as tall as me, but wearing army boots or whatever. Had a brown mask over his face. Oh, his right leg. It was bandaged up like he got hurt there.”

  Carl’s heart raced. No, that couldn’t be right. Chip’s description was too close to the man who had been the author of their recent horrors. “Name,” Carl said softly, “Did he give a name?”

  “I didn’t…try to talk.” Chip coughed. “I just told him to stop. He asked me if I knew someone called Soldier Boy because I was acting too much like him.”

  Carl’s blood burned. He couldn’t deny it now. That sounded too much like who he was thinking of.

  As his eyes met Harold’s, it seemed Harold had guessed it as well. “Ben?” Harold asked.

  Carl nodded. “Yeah.”

  Carl locked eyes with Noah so closely that he nearly touched the bridge of Noah’s nose with his own. “You have to let them in! They’re no threat to your town! There’s a maniac out there and any of these people could be next!”

  Noah did not flinch. “I sympathize with you, Carl, really. If it was my call, I’d do it. But sometimes even women and children can be used as Trojan horses.”

  “Then we won’t send them in with guns! We’ll let you guard them!” Carl shouted. “I have to get the women, children and the sick into your town! I know the man who’s after us. He attacked an army base, killed soldiers! He slaughtered a family in their own home! God knows he’s probably after me but he’ll kill anyone I’m close to.” Carl glanced at Shyanne, who was grasping Tara’s hand. “Please.”

  “Sir.” Chip limped closer to Noah. Chip’s head sported a fresh bandage. “I tried to stop them. I couldn’t. Don’t put these people in any more danger because I failed.”

  “I give you my word that we’ll do all we can to hunt down Ben and his accomplice,” Carl said.

  Noah turned to Chip. “You fought him with your bare hands. That takes a lot of guts. I can’t imagine not honoring what you tried to do here.” Returning his attention to Carl, he said, “I can probably gather your people in three safe houses at the edge of town. But you’re going to be watched very closely.”

  “Dammit!” Carl’s fury erupted as soon as Noah left and he was able to start walking back toward the camp, with his friends in tow. “How the hell did he follow us all the way here? Was he trailing us this whole time?”

  “And who was the guy with him?” Lorenzo asked.

  “Seth. It had to be him,” Tara replied. “Chip pretty much nailed his description.”

  “So, Seth hooked back up with Ben and then high-tailed it all the way here?” Preston asked, “Am I the only one who finds that a little weird? Seth was running away from us when we left. I can’t believe he doubled back like that.”

  “What if they weren’t following us?” Lorenzo asked, “What if they just came straight here? They probably heard of East Creek. They didn’t have to go all the way to Adam’s Point with us.”

  “Lorenzo’s got a point.” Carl kicked up a small stone. “They could have made it here at walking speed while we were in Adam’s Point. It’s just our rotten luck that we all were bound for the same place.”

  “So, why’d those two go after Jed?” Preston asked, “All they did was reveal themselves. Seems like a stupid move, if you ask me.”

  “Not unless he’s got another band of flunkies ready to cause trouble,” Tara said.

  “C’mon, this isn’t a James Bond movie. He can’t have a ton of henchmen working for him,” Preston said.

  “Preston’s right. I bet he’s probably down to just himself and Seth,” Carl said. “But we can’t dismiss the chance that he does have additional help.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” Alicia asked.

  “Like you heard me say, we get the women, children and the sick into East Creek, or as far as they’ll let us go. Then the rest of us arm up and hunt for Ben and Seth. If we don’t find those two, East Creek may not let us stay.”

  Noah pointed to the three houses that lined the street. The road that snaked into town was blocked off by a chain-link fence. “This is our refugee point. We initially planned it for quarantine in case people showed up with illnesses, or in your case, we have to hold people out here until we know they are safe.”

  He turned around, facing the large gathering that made up Carl’s immediate circle of friends, plus the Adam’s Point survivors. “This is the best we can
do.”

  “It’ll be enough,” Carl said.

  Noah gestured to the gathering of women and children to Carl’s right. “Come.”

  The survivors marched toward the houses. Ten men with guns kept watch over them as they trekked toward the homes. Only now did Carl wonder if their people would be safe under the watchful eye of the East Creek militia. He thought these were upright people, but he realized he had not much of a chance to verify their intentions.

  The infirm followed. There were not many, thankfully. An elderly couple was being assisted by a couple of young people. Preston, with his injured lungs, was accompanying them, though he initially resisted the call to join them. And finally, there was Chip. Harold escorted him.

  Chip looked at Harold’s two boys. They walked with Ricardo and his mom. “Your boys aren’t going to help you?” Chip asked.

  “I put them in danger once before. I won’t make that mistake again,” Harold said. “This time I’ll take on the beasts by myself.”

  “You’re a good father,” Chip said. “I’ll do my best to make sure your boys are taken care of.”

  Harold smiled. “Thank you. But you should worry about yourself. I heard there’s probably a surgeon in town. Maybe he can mend your leg finally.”

  Chip looked down at his leg. “I hope so.”

  Harold and Chip then parted, with Harold rejoining Carl. Tara, Michael and Shyanne were about to move out to join the other refugees

  “Hopefully, this won’t take long,” Carl said, “but I’ll feel a lot better knowing you’re safe.”

  Shyanne nodded. “Please be careful.”

  Carl hugged Shyanne. “I will.”

  Michael sighed. “I’d feel better if I could help you.”

  Carl stood up. “Thanks. But your condition does qualify you to join the others, and I’d like to have many of us keep watch over the others as possible.”

  Michael coughed, but it was a fake cough. He still was recovering from his ordeal in Ben’s house, but he seemed strong enough to join the hunt. Yet, Carl instructed him to play up his symptoms so he could join Tara and Shyanne and the others.

  What Carl didn’t say out loud was that if the worst came to worst, Shyanne would be with a whole family, a mother in Tara and a father in Michael. Carl would make sure Shyanne was well cared for if something happened to him.

  Carl and his hunting party surveyed Jed’s tent. Jed had been taken, his body examined to determine how he had died. It was definitely blunt force trauma, but it took a few hits to end his life. Carl figured that Ben or Seth had to have been hurt. Chip also had intervened. Did he get in a good blow or two before he was knocked out of the fight?

  “The thing I don’t get is that if Ben or Seth did this, why didn’t they just shoot him? They didn’t have any guns left?” Lorenzo asked.

  “Ben was out of the house when Thomas shot him,” Harold said, “I guess Ben didn’t waste any time trying to find a new gun when he fled the house.”

  “And we disarmed Seth before kicking him out,” Carl said. “No, I think this is very plausible.”

  Harold pointed his gun to the trees off to the side, where they first had heard Thomas scream. “Guess this is where we start.”

  “Check the ground carefully. We ran this way, so we probably fouled up Ben’s tracks. Let’s go to where we found Chip,” Carl said.

  Once the party reached Chip’s location, they searched the surrounding area carefully for tracks or disturbed foliage.

  However, as the hours passed, their search turned up nothing. There were clear dirt paths that cut between trees, but not a single one of them was disturbed. Carl looked for broken branches or crushed grass or weeds, any sign that Ben and Seth had walked this way, but he also came up empty.

  “This is ridiculous,” Lorenzo said. “They couldn’t have just disappeared! We should have found something by now!” He threw up his hands. “Did the Starship Enterprise just beam them up or something?”

  “Maybe he climbed a tree?” asked one of the young men from Adam’s Point who had accompanied them. “You know, to mask his trail?”

  Carl looked up. “Yeah, but he’d have to hop from tree to tree to get away. I don’t think a lot of these trees can support a grown man. The branches are too small. And we are talking about two of them. No, this really doesn’t make any sense. All the tracks just vanish as soon as they reach Chip.”

  “I hate to bring this up, but isn’t it possible that Chip is not remembering things quite as well as he should be?” Lorenzo asked.

  “What do you mean?” Carl asked.

  “If his story isn’t checking out, maybe the problem is with him,” Lorenzo said. “I mean, nobody actually has seen Ben and Seth except for Chip, and the only other witness is dead. But we…” Lorenzo pointed to all of them. “…we have seen Chip with a bloody bruise. Who’s to say he didn’t get that fighting with Jed?”

  “You’re saying Chip made up Ben and Seth?” Carl asked.

  “Hey, I’m not saying he did it, but this does seem a little odd, don’t you think? We told him about Ben and Seth, right?” Lorenzo turned to Harold. “Didn’t you exchange some stories about him?”

  “I did, but not in great detail.” Harold glanced at Carl. “Chip was very specific. He told us about Ben’s mask, his height, the place of his leg wound and how Seth looked. I never told him any of that.”

  “Me neither.” Carl approached Lorenzo. “I know we’re all frustrated with this, but Chip couldn’t have made up those details. If he wanted to fake an attack, he could have just claimed he couldn’t make out who they were, or made the attacker look like one of the Adam’s Point survivors. We’d be going out of our minds trying to find the killer from among them.”

  “I get what you’re saying, but we’ve only known Chip a few days,” Lorenzo said.

  “Well, he seems to be a fine man to me,” Harold said. “I don’t get the feeling that he’s a liar or a killer.”

  “Damn.” Carl shook his head, turning away from his hunting party. “I guess this is how life is, always suspecting the worst of new strangers. No wonder East Creek is so suspicious! Who could blame them?”

  Lorenzo gazed at Harold. “I don’t mean to pour cold water on your friendship with Chip. Maybe this is nothing. But you got to admit this whole situation does look a little weird.”

  Carl swallowed. Thanks to Lorenzo, he now was not so sure he should continue the search through the woods. If there was even the slightest possibility that Chip wasn’t being truthful, should he accept it?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chip gripped the mattress below him. “Almost done,” Doctor Wales said, “Almost…there!” She lifted her head, showing off a pair of tweezers that held a shard of metal in its grasp. “Whatever nailed you doesn’t seem to have caused any infection but I’d still keep a watch on it.” She then set the tweezers down on the tray next to her. “And you were the only survivor?”

  Chip nodded. “I’m lucky to be alive,” he said through clenched teeth. He had done his best to handle the pain. Unfortunately, anesthesia was in short supply, and Wales couldn’t afford to use it if she could help it. Chip agreed as long as she could get the bullet out of his leg.

  “We all are.” Doctor Wales then picked up a wet cloth. “I’m afraid it’s not over yet. I still have to clean the incision and stitch it up. You’re doing fine. Just keep it up for a few more minutes.”

  Chip nodded. However, he couldn’t help but scream as Wales applied the cloth. “Almost there. Just hold tight,” the doctor said.

  Unfortunately, the pain was agonizing enough for Chip to shout a few more times before Wales was able to start bandaging him up. He panted as Wales sealed up his wound with the gauze.

  “Now, about your head,” Wales said, “Is there any residual pain?”

  Chip rolled his eyes up to the tops of his eyelids. “Aches here and there. Nothing bad.”

  “Even so, if you feel sudden dizziness or if you experience vomiting, you
should come see me at once. You may have suffered a concussion,” Wales said. Chip then looked down at her. “The boy, Matthew. The son of Harold. He took a hit to the head. You should look at him.”

  “Oh, I will. I just wanted to make sure all the urgent cases like yours were dealt with first.” Wales stepped back while ripping the latex gloves off her hands. “But it’s nice that you think about him.”

  Chip smiled wearily. “Thank you.”

  With his leg freshly bandaged, he slid off the bed. His right leg wobbled, and he had to quickly grab onto the bed for support. “Easy!” Wales quickly said, “You need to stay off that leg.”

  Chip chewed on his bottom lip as he nodded. “I will.” Then he limped out of the room.

  Tara cursed under her breath. As high as she tried to push up the blinds, the increasingly cloudy skies were killing a lot of the sunlight. The inside of this paint store soon would have to be lit by lanterns if rain started pouring.

  She turned to the store’s interior, which was filled with about forty of the Adam’s Point survivors. Michael, Shyanne and Preston were with her. The paint store had been under construction at the time of the EMP burst, so none of the shelves or interior rooms had been installed yet. Fortunately, the roof was completed just in time, so weather would not be a problem.

  Shyanne stopped to chat with Ricardo and his mother, who both sat on the ground near the right wall. Tara continued nursing her anxiety as she returned her gaze to the window.

  “I should have gone with them,” Tara said. “Carl needs all the help he can get.”

  “These people also need you,” Michael said. “Shyanne, too. Better for us to watch them until we know the East Creek leadership’s okay with us, or if they’re okay for us.”

  Tara turned to Preston. “What?” Preston asked.

  “I thought you were going to tell us not to be so suspicious and believe in the goodness of humanity,” Tara said with a smile.