“No, I’ll be okay,” he said. “Besides, someone has to look after Madge.”
“Sorry,” Madge whispered and I could hear the frustration in her voice.
“Don’t be,” Ryan assured her. “Staying behind is probably braver than leaving.” There was an awkward silence as we realized how dangerous this was going to be.
“Let’s go, then,” Robert said. “If we delay any further, our chance will be lost.”
Ryan opened the tent and we followed him outside. He agreed to lead us to the edge of camp but no further and only if we waited an extra ten minutes before we made our move. It would be a risky wait but it was the only way Ryan could get back to his tent and free of suspicion if we were to get caught. I guess it was the least we could do for him after all he’d done for us. We ducked behind a pile of covered wood to wait. My feet were already soaked and I could feel a chill start to run through me. Once we started running, I’d warm up. I looked at Robert who was facing me and we silently counted to sixty ten times.
I peeked over the pile and saw no one. The lookouts were somewhere across the camp hunkered down by the fire with a bottle of whiskey to keep them warm. The ever-burning fire in the center of camp had gone down a little but someone had been smart enough to rig a tarp over it so it would still provide lots of heat, enough to keep them nice and toasty. Why should they have anything to worry about anyway? As far as they knew I was supposedly too drugged to do anything and Robert and Madge were still unconscious and, in this rain, it was unlikely that anyone would attack the camp tonight.
I squatted back down and nodded to Robert. The two of us kept our backs hunched down and slowly crept into the surrounding woods. It was really dark out tonight. The cloudy sky was blocking any stars and the moon was just a sliver. I couldn’t wait until we were far enough to use the lantern; I didn’t like this total darkness. I clung to the back of Robert’s coat afraid to lose him. Even if he walked two feet away from me, I wouldn’t be able to see him. He must have realized my fear because he walked slow enough for me to keep up with him.
We walked like this for quite a ways and I could feel my back start to cramp up. Finally, Robert stopped and felt safe enough to talk to me. He tried to whisper but the rain was so strong I couldn’t hear him so he raised his voice a little.
“We have to go south for a little,” he said. “The river is just ahead and I don’t think it wise to try and cross it here.”
“Okay,” I said. “Can we use the lantern yet?”
“Not yet. Just keep hold of my coat; I won’t go too fast.” We continued but it was easier because we didn’t have to hunch down anymore and we could walk side by side now. We walked for another hour before Robert took out the lantern and, with shaking hands and me trying my best to shield the rain, managed to light it. I could finally let go of his coat. It didn’t provide a lot of light but it was enough for me to keep him in my sights.
We hiked through thick bush and I almost lost my shoes a few times in the sucking mud. I had to stop once to pull thorns out of my pants and Robert slid down a hill and smashed his knee. He was okay but he would have a nasty bruise come tomorrow. The rain coats Ryan gave us kept us dry for awhile but then they just seemed to get in the way. We were soaked and if we didn’t catch pneumonia, I’d be surprised. We must have walked all night. I think Robert got lost a couple of times but he’d never admit it. He just kept mumbling to himself and checking the lantern as if it were to blame for his misdirection.
The rain started to let up as the darkness faded. I could hear the birds start to chirp and a more peaceful silence settle on the rain soaked trees around us. I doubted the sun would show up today but the black skies were turning a pale grey and I knew that morning had come. I hadn’t said much to Robert this whole time, letting him find his way without any interruptions, but now I had to find out if we were close.
“Are we almost there?” I asked. He let the lantern die and I was afraid I’d made him mad. “Robert?”
“Shh,” he pushed me back and we peeked out from behind a huge pine tree. “I’m pretty sure that’s it over there.” I looked and saw nothing.
“But, I don’t see anything.” I squinted and searched where he had pointed. Then I saw it. It was the base of a mountain and there, buried beneath some bushes and small trees was a crack in the rock. “That’s it? That crack?”
“Yes, the crack leads to a cave,” he said. “It’s really quite ingenious. I think Marshal stole it from a bear or some sort of wild animal.” We stood there a few more minutes.
“Let’s go,” I said. “I want to get out of all this wetness.”
“Just wait, I want to make sure we’re alone.”
“Do you think someone followed us?” I looked around, suddenly afraid.
“No.” We stayed back another couple of minutes. “Okay, let’s go.”
We approached Marshal’s slowly. If he was there, we didn’t want to scare him and get ourselves shot. I hoped there was some kind of fire inside; my body was starting to shake uncontrollably from the cold. My hands were stiff and I needed something warm to eat. Robert tried to make some weird whistling sound but he must have been cold too because his lips didn’t want to form the shape necessary to blow.
“Oh, come on,” I said. “It’s Marshal.” I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled as softly as I could. “Marshal, Marshal you in there? It’s us Robert and Nicky.”
“We must be...”
“Robert, Nicky?” It was Billy. He came running out and I could tell he was happy to see us. “Holy crap, where’ve you guys been?”
“Camping,” I said. “Is it warm in there?” I walked past the boy and made my way inside.
I had to squeeze to get through the crack but, once inside, I saw that Marshal had taken good care of his cave. It wasn’t big but it had everything anyone would need to survive for a few days. It was lit up with lanterns and I could see a good supply of food piled up in the corner. There was no furniture in here, just blankets and sleeping bags. Marshal was sitting on the floor across from the entrance. He was tending to someone on one of the blankets. I tried to see who it was but he was leaning over them and I couldn’t make it out. They were small, though, not much of the blanket was used. Then I heard a low whine and I knew exactly who it was.
“Barker?” I ran over to the wounded dog. “Barker, hey boy. What happened to you? Are you okay?” I looked to Marshal for answers.
“He came to us this morning,” the red head said. “He was limping badly and he’d been cut on the side. I tried to cut his fur away so I could clean his wound. I did the best I could but he’s lost some blood and he’s pretty weak.”
“Hey, boy.” I pat the fur on his head and scratched behind his ear. He opened his eyes and looked at me. He seemed happy I was there as he tried to lick my hand. “That’s it; good boy. Just sleep now. You get better. I’m right here. I’ll look after you.” I started to feel a rage boil inside. “I bet that jerk did this.” I knew that, somehow, Max had a hand in this.
“What jerk?” asked Marshal but he was interrupted before I could answer.
“Hey, Marshal,” it was Billy. He and Robert had finally come into the cave behind me. “Look who I found. Robert says he’s been at the out-of-towns’ camp with Madge and Nicky. They was bein’ held prisoner by the new guy.”
“New guy?” Marshal looked at us, confused.
“Yeah, you know, Maxwell, the wannabe pirate dude.” Marshal still looked confused. “You guys know who I mean. You can’t miss him. Dresses funny, wears fancy boots and speaks with a Scottish accent.”
“Nicky, I told you I’d never heard of him,” Robert said.
“Yeah, but,” I started, “I just thought you didn’t know his name. If you saw him you’d probably know him, right? I mean why would Pig’s men follow somebody new to the area?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Ryan doesn’t seem to trust him.”
“Ryan?” asked Marshal. “The blond boy?”
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“You mean you know Ryan but you don’t know Max?” I asked. Barker whined and I pat him slowly until he went back to sleep.
“Ryan was a newcomer two years ago,” said Billy. “He got captured by Pig. Pig liked the strong newcomers. They made good slaves for him.”
“Well, Ryan was an athlete at school,” I said.
“You know Ryan?” asked Billy.
“Yeah, he went to my school,” I said. “He was a couple of grades ahead of me.”
“Ryan was very helpful in our escape,” added Robert, “and he has promised to keep an eye on Madge until we come back to rescue her.”
“What happened to you guys anyway?” I asked. “I mean you ran by us like a bat out of hell and then poof you disappeared.”
“There’s an old abandoned well Billy knew about,” said Marshal. “We hid there for a few hours and then we headed for the cave.”
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“I figure Cornelius is hiding out somewhere with Emma Lee,” said Marshal. “He doesn’t know about my cave but he does have everything he needs with him.”
“Do you think he went back to the valley?”
“No, well, he may have took a peek to see if any of us was there, but I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to camp out there,” said Marshal. “No, no, no I bet Cornelius is perched somewhere on top of the mountain so he can look down on everything.”
“And Sarah?” asked Robert. “What has become of her?”
“Didn’t you see her?” asked Marshal. “I thought she’d have been captured and locked away at the camp. She was so close when the blast happened and we just ran. I just assumed she got away. I was more concerned with warning the others. She’s not with you?”
“No and she’s not at the camp,” I said. “She must be hiding out somewhere too. Does she know about this cave?” Marshall shook his head. “Then she must be somewhere. Hopefully, she’s found cover because it rained hard last night.”
“Yes, yes, yes let’s hope she is safe.” Marshal turned away and I thought I detected a new worry settle down on him. Could it be that our friendly neighbourhood clown had feelings for the school teacher? Imagine that. I patted Barker, lifted the makeshift bandage Marshal had made and looked at the cut. It looked deep but Marshal had done a good job of cleaning it. It was still bleeding but it could have been much worse. I began to probe his paws. He let out a smell yelp when I touched the right front one. I tried to see what kind of damage was done to it. I didn’t see any thorn or rock and it didn’t seem broken. Then I saw that the pad had been bleeding and realized he had scraped the skin off; probably from scratching at something. I took a wet cloth and gently wiped it. Barker lifted his head and looked at me; he appreciated my effort. I settled him down and got him to go back to sleep. This is what he must have done for me those first few days in Marshal’s underground hideout when I had been upset about Cocoa. If anything happened to Barker, I would lose it.
Marshal got me some blankets and I changed out of my wet clothes and hunkered down beside the wounded dog all night. I wasn’t hungry but I was tired and I slept for a few hours. The next day it was decided that Robert and Marshal would go out searching for Cornelius. The rain had completely stopped and they had a feeling they knew where he was. I was happy to stay behind with Billy and Barker. I felt exhausted still from the trek through the rain and the drug slipped to me in the hot chocolate. My clothes had finally dried and I put them on and began to search for some food. There was no dog food here but I was sure I could find something that would satisfy him. I did; a can of stew.
“Are you hungry Billy?” I asked as I turned the handle of the can opener.
“Kind of, but I don’t want stew,” he said as he watched me.
“Oh, no, this isn’t for me it’s for Barker,” I said. “It’s the closest thing to dog food I could find.” I searched in the pile of supplies for a spoon and tried to coax Barker into eating at least a little. He lifted his head and licked a bit and then started to gobble down everything on the spoon. I laughed. “You’re hungry aren’t ya boy.” I continued to feed him until he ate about five spoonful’s and then he lay down and went back to sleep.
“Hmm, let’s see,” I said. “What can we make for breakfast?” I searched through the cans for something breakfasty. “How ‘bout fruit cocktail?”
“Nah, I want something hot for a change,” he said.
“Hot, can we cook in here?” I asked. “Is there some kind of stove or something?”
“No, but we can use one of the lanterns to heat up a pot can’t we?”
“I don’t see why not,” I grabbed a can and a pot. “How ‘bout hot ravioli for breakfast?”
“Sounds good.”
Billy and I stayed in the cave alone for two days. Two days we had no word from Robert or Marshal or anyone. Barker was recovering nicely. He could now make it just outside the cave to go to the bathroom. He wasn’t limping too badly now and I could tell he was starting to get stir crazy. Kind of like me and Billy. I tried to keep the boy amused but it was hard. He was still a ten year old after all. He wanted to go out and search for the others on his own. He was driving me nuts and I was almost ready to kick him out and tell him to go, go find everyone and if he saw Max tell him I said hi. Thank God Marshal came back.
Chapter 13
It was late afternoon when we heard someone come crashing through the trees in front of the cave. I didn’t know what was happening so I told Billy to stay back until we knew what it was but he didn’t listen. He ran right past me and outside. Stupid kid, I thought.
He returned two minutes later with Marshal who looked horrible. It was the first time I had ever seen him looking so untidy. His clothes were covered with mud and what looked like blood. His hair was all messy and tangled and his face looked dirty and sweaty. He was out of breath and could hardly speak. I helped him into the cave and gave him a bottle of water. I waited about thirty seconds before I bombarded him with questions.
“What happened? Where’s Robert? Did you find the others? Did you see Max? What happened?”
“We just barely made it out,” he started and then took another drink of water. I looked at him, desperate for him to continue and annoyed that he was taking so long. “They were there, waiting for us. I thought we were dead for sure, Nicky.”
“Who was there?” I asked. “Max?”
“No, other men from the camp. I didn’t see this Max,” he said, then continued. “There must have been half a dozen of them, all armed and waiting for us like they knew we were coming.”
“What did you guys do?” I was pretty sure I knew and I was upset. If they were going to raid the camp to rescue Madge then I wanted to be a part of it.
“We found Cornelius and Emma Lee,” he said. “They were up the mountain like we thought. Been camped out there since the dam blew. No one even went up there to check it out.”
“Did they say why they blew the dam?”
“They had nothing to do with it. They were just as surprised as we were when it exploded but Cornelius is smart, smart, smart. He knew to hide. He knew Pig would be looking for whoever done it.”
“Didn’t he know Pig was dead?” It was hard to believe they didn’t know this.
“No,” he said. “Anyway we found them and told them everything we knew about the camp. We told them that Madge was still there and they said we should go get her so we went.
“We thought we had enough weapons,” he said shaking his head and wiping the sweat off his face with the edge of his shirt. “We thought we’d surprise them; have the advantage but they were waiting for us. They knew we were coming.”
“Where are the others?” I was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Marshal, where are they?”
“They’re comin’. They had to get Robert to come,” he said and I could see pain float across his face. “They had to tie him up to come. They’re about ten minutes behind.”
“What happened to Robert
?”
“Madge is dead.”
“What!?” I was too stunned to say anything else. She had been fine when we left three days ago.
“We found her in the tent,” he explained. “She was just lying there, eyes wide open but nothing inside. You know what I mean?”
“Madge? Our Madge?” Billy, I had forgotten he was there. I reached out and put my arm around him. “But she makes such good bread.” He turned away from us and I saw him wipe his eyes.
“Was she...I mean,” I didn’t know how to ask my question without sounding cold, “was she injured?”
“No, there wasn’t a mark on her,” he said, still seeing the image in his mind. “No bruises, no cuts; she was just lying there all dead-like.”
“Is Robert okay?” Of course he wasn’t okay; what a stupid question.
“I don’t thinks so,” Marshal said. “He’s all crazy and sad. He wanted to stay with her and then he wanted to go and kill everyone in the camp. We had a hell of a time getting him to leave.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked down at the ground, shaking my head. Madge was dead. Someone must have gone into the tent and killed her because she just didn’t die on her own. That didn’t happen down here. There was a commotion outside and I heard Emma Lee’s strong southern accent trying to calm down Robert. He was swearing at them, using language I never thought a dignified man like him knew. Then they struggled through the crack and entered the cave. He looked like a madman. His hands were tied behind his back and his head was shining with sweat. He had lost his glasses somewhere and I wondered if anyone had thought to pick them up. I could see the grief filling every part of him and I wanted to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay but that would be a lie. That’s what everyone said, though, wasn’t it? When someone died everyone always said, ‘It’s going to be okay’. I walked over to him and searched his eyes.
“You must feel like shit,” I said and gave him a hug. He seemed to collapse in my arms and suddenly he was sobbing uncontrollably. I nodded to Cornelius to untie his hands and when they were free he held me like a father holds his child and I tried to comfort him as he cried. I stood there with him until he was done. When he lifted his head, I said, “Now, lets sit down, have a drink and you can tell me all about it.”
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