The last kids brought in by Arthur had been back in September and he’d told Wendy they would be the last. She’d been with him, along with several others including Arthur’s ‘mini-mes’. Unlike other times, Arthur had asked everyone if the kids gave them funny vibes. The oldest was thirteen, youngest seven, and there were only eleven of them. Wendy hadn’t felt anything and everybody had said the same, but Wendy had seen Shawn eyeing the new kids with suspicion. When she’d asked why, Shawn had said the only other time Pops had asked that was with Dean.
Now knowing why, Wendy understood. If Arthur had told her killer kids were about, none would’ve been brought back, and they had two hundred and eight now at the ranch with twenty-eight adults. Just thinking about the kids they’d picked up since LL had arrived, Wendy shivered to think about them being left. They were all good kids, and she moved over to Arthur’s back as he held the wire up to the window. She hugged him from behind, “You were right not to tell me. I’m sorry I got angry.”
“We have to tell the other groups not to bring in kids until we know how many are out there, and which ones are involved,” Arthur told her, patting her hands. “I just warned them to stop bringing in anyone in September.”
Letting Arthur go, “Maybe some gangs have used kids to get inside and hit other sites?” she offered.
Digging in the toolbox and pulling out a cordless impact drill, “There was. You and I hit them in Russellville on Date Night,” Arthur told her then turned to look her in the eyes. “Wendy, it’s more than one group of kids,” he told her flatly.
Taking the chicken wire from Arthur, Wendy held it over the shot-out window. “It’s Date Night, I don’t want to know more until you’ve figured it out,” she responded. Pulling out some self-tapping screws, Arthur went to work tacking the wire over the window. For the top, he had to sit Wendy on his shoulders so she could do it.
When she had the last screw in it was dark, and as Arthur put her down Wendy saw Samantha outside shining two flashlights at the ground, with Jason on his knees taking a picture of the ground. “When you hunt them, I’ll come,” Wendy said watching Samantha motion Jason over to another spot in the yard to take a picture.
“If it calls for it, you can come, but I know of one spot the kids have hit that people needed to die,” Arthur told her. “The three men and four women on Dugan Road, they needed to die. Someone hammered wooden fucking stakes in their chests, and it was younger people, kids.”
Having seen them on patrol with Arthur, “Why? They seemed fine,” Wendy responded.
“Yeah, until you went inside that shop. Holy fuck, you wouldn’t believe the child porn in there. I’m not talking home movies and pictures. There were actual production movies and subscription magazines of child porn. If that didn’t give it away, there were cages in the shop and nude photos of kids in those cages on the walls everywhere,” Arthur told her. “I noticed I hadn’t seen them out in a few weeks, so Jason and I stopped by. All of them were dead and the cages were empty. I view that as a rescue operation by the killer kids. I don’t know how much food was there, but there were several empty rooms you could tell had been used for storage. That was the spot that made me go back and question another site and Jason agreed. Kids hit it, but those there weren’t child predators, or they didn’t have it displayed.”
Arthur paused, turning in the darkness to the house. “I talked to these people and have been inside and so has Albert, and they weren’t predators. They loved those kids.”
Patting Arthur’s face and then handing back the impact drill, “When you figure it out, I’ll go with you,” she said and would, but hoped the kids would just leave the area if they were killers.
Jason and Samantha came over looking at the wire over the window, “Sorry I shot so many times,” Samantha said, cutting her eyes to the front windshield because she alone had done those.
Scoffing, “I’m not!” Arthur blurted out. “You see tigers trying to eat our asses, you shoot as much as you want, girlfriend! Spare no fucking ammo!”
Knowing Arthur loved his Blazer, “I’ll help work on it,” Samantha offered.
“Nah,” Arthur grinned. “I’ll get Jason to help patch her up. You and Wendy have enough shit to do at the ranch.”
Rolling her eyes, “Like you and Jason don’t,” Wendy moaned, and she knew there would be no ‘patching up’ on the Blazer. When Arthur was done it would look like it had before, brand new.
“Let’s end Date Night at the swimming spot,” Arthur laughed and opened his door. As Wendy went to climb in, he picked her up, lifted the back of his seat up, and put her in. Clapping her hands Samantha took off to run around to the other side, only to have Jason catch her and throw her over his shoulder. After he pulled his seat up, he put her inside.
“You weren’t getting away,” he chuckled.
Pulling the seat back so Jason could get in, “Get away!” Samantha cried out as everyone put on night vision goggles. “You better get your game face on, bitch! There will be no ‘making love’, we’re having sex! I don’t have to be quiet hoping the kids don’t wake up, walk in the bathroom or wonder what that ‘noise from the loft of the barn is’ and climb up in the loft to find out.”
“Quickies suck,” Wendy laughed as Arthur pulled out on the road.
Samantha was about to agree when Arthur punched the accelerator, pinning everyone in their seats. On the dirt road in front of them, she saw two figures walking away until they heard the supercharged 454 engine roar behind them, and they turned around. She wasn’t the least bit surprised when the crazies charged the blacked-out Blazer barreling down on them.
Wendy was surprised because Arthur was steering right at the two in his precious Blazer. The massive off-road front bumper hit the two and one’s head exploded on impact when it hit the bumper and the other went sailing back as the bumper hit her chest. Hitting the dirt hard, she never had a chance to move as the forty-inch tires ran over her.
Everyone turned to see Arthur laughing and he just shrugged, “Got to work on it anyway, what’s a little more damage to knock out?” he said and jerked the wheel going off the dirt road, and everyone saw another crazy running through the field away from them. It fell under the massive tires and Arthur plowed through a wooden fence and back onto the road. “Let’s see how many we can get before reaching the ranch,” he challenged.
The other three threw up their hands cheering, seeing another crazy in the distance. Crazies weren’t the only things that came out at night.
It was nearly midnight when they pulled through the south gate and Arthur drove them around the house to the south creek that was filling the lake and parked. The creek here formed a pool and was just known as ‘the spot’. Everyone climbed out but the wives stopped after seeing a picnic table, grill, ice chests, and tiki lamps beside the pool.
“In the bags, you’ll find towels and stuff to get cleaned up,” Arthur said, and Samantha turned to Jason.
“I brought your shampoo,” he grinned at her. “We decided our girls needed a dinner on Date Night,” he winked.
Looking at the stream that fed the pool, “That water has got to be fucking freezing,” Samantha gasped.
Reaching over and pulling Samantha toward the pool, “No, that’s why it’s so wide here, the spot’s fed by a hot spring. You can see the floating digital thermometers. Look at the one in the center, the water’s one hundred and seven there and that’s the hottest spot,” Wendy told her.
“Holy shit,” Samantha moaned then started shucking gear off and Wendy joined her.
As the women hit the pool, Arthur started the grill and Jason opened one of the coolers. When he saw one-liter bottles of beer that had metal flip-top lids, Jason groaned. “I hate German beer.”
“So do I,” Arthur chuckled. “That’s beer we brew. We use those bottles because we can reseal ’em.”
Snatching one up, Jason grabbed the metal lever and flipped the top off. Not even sniffing or testing, Jason turned the bottle up. When h
alf was gone, he came up for air. “Man, that is good,” Jason stated, smacking his lips.
“Hey, quit being pussies!” the girls shouted. “We’ll eat later, come here!”
Running to the pool, they both pulled off what they could before jumping in, then threw what they didn’t get off out on the bank. Sacrifices for Date Night had to be expected.
Chapter Five
Well, I couldn’t just leave it
The sun would be up shortly Joseph knew, standing out on the back porch. He lifted his left arm, holding a coffee cup, and breathed in the aroma. With his right hand he pulled Sarah, who was snuggled into his side closer, hugging her tight. “Can’t believe you let the kids get in the bed,” Joseph chuckled, looking down at her.
In the crook of Sarah’s left arm, cuddled between her and Joseph, Nicole was looking around with a smile as Sarah took a sip of coffee. “Jo Ann and Sally looked pitiful when you told them to lay on the floor,” Sarah told him. “I can’t believe you even entertained the idea of putting Nicole in a crib.”
“Hey, Jo Ann and Sally have a room in the dorms and do sleep there some nights. And for your information, Nicole has slept in a crib,” Joseph stated with a nod.
Looking down at Nicole with a smile, “Jo Ann and Sally may have started nights off in their dorm room but they’ve never slept there all night,” Sarah sang out, making Nicole laugh. “And little princess Nicole has never stayed longer than an hour in her crib before Pops gets her out, has she?” Kicking out her feet as she squealed, Nicole informed the world that she loved Sarah talking to her.
Becoming profoundly serious, “Sarah, what if I had rolled over on one of them?” Joseph asked.
Looking up into Joseph’s eyes, “You didn’t move last night,” she told him. “I’m just glad you don’t let your dogs sleep in the bed.”
“I could have. I sleep wild and wake up turned sideways in the bed,” Joseph informed her. “My dogs won’t sleep in the bed. I left them upstairs so Robin would have someone to talk to when she woke up.”
Thinking that was smart, “You do remember, I sleep in your bed, right?” Sarah asked and Joseph grinned. “I don’t know why you think you’re an Olympic wrestler after you go to sleep. You can’t change positions more than four times during the night. You should’ve been worried about me rolling on the kids.”
Squeezing her tight, “You’re light enough the kids would only think someone threw a heavy blanket on ’em,” Joseph chuckled then kissed her forehead. “Thank you for not waking up Robin.”
The smile fell off Sarah’s face. “You think I want to piss off Little Momma?!” Sarah cried out. “You’ve lost your fucking mind.”
Like she’d known someone was talking about her, hearing the back door open, they both glanced back and saw Vicki walking out. Joseph couldn’t help but grin. Little Momma was wearing one of his grey t-shirts that had ‘NAVY’ printed across the front. It’d been two weeks after he and Sarah had hooked up that one evening Vicki had just walked into his room. Ignoring Sarah sitting on the bed, Vicki had looked at Joseph and told him, “I want a t-shirt to sleep in.”
Giving a nod, Joseph didn’t say shit, he simply turned to his dresser and opened both t-shirt drawers and said, “Choose, and take how many you want.” Smiling at Joseph, Vicki had sorted through until she’d found three she liked and then skipped out of the room.
Even though it was chilly outside, Vicki was only wearing crocs with her sleep shirt. She moved around to see Nicole smiling up at Sarah and Vicki lifted her eyes up and studied her, like Sarah had put mojo on Nicole. “You’re very good with Nicole, Sarah,” Vicki stated, and Sarah fought the desire to curtsey to the ruler of the little people.
“I fed her a bottle, wiped her down, and put this outfit on her before Pops gets here,” Sarah told her. “I think this is the one she chose, but she squealed when I held up two. I think she was nodding to this one, though.”
When Sarah finished, Vicki busted out laughing and bent over holding her stomach. Not knowing why, Sarah wondered if that was good or bad. Still laughing, Vicki threw her arms out, wrapping them around Sarah and hugging her. “Oh, that was good,” Vicki chuckled. “I’ll have to tell everyone I do that for the little ones.” Joseph knew Vicki thought Sarah was joking. He knew for a fact Sarah wasn’t. For some reason, Sarah thought if you lowered your voice and cooed using baby talk, babies and toddlers understood every word you said.
“Want me to take Nicole?” Vicki asked letting Sarah go and then it hit Joseph, he’d never seen Vicki hug Sarah before.
“Um, can I keep her? I want to show Pops we took care of the kids all night and didn’t even wake up Robin,” Sarah stated with pride.
Turning to Joseph, “Thank you for telling her,” Vicki said.
“Anyone wakes that kid up besides Mom, I’ll punch ’em,” Joseph declared and meant it. The little nudist was ruthless in her torment. “I’m sorry. I tried to get Ryan to eat some oatmeal. But he just put the bowl on his head. I was going to wash him, but Chloe stopped me and took Ryan.”
“You don’t put Ryan’s bowl where he can reach it, and Joseph,” Vicki called out, crossing her arms over her chest, “When you bathe a little boy, that doesn’t mean you put aftershave on him, and he doesn’t need underarm deodorant.”
Getting nervous from the serious stare and taking his arm off Sarah’s shoulders, “Um, Nolan. I don’t know what the hell he ate, but it didn’t like him and he didn’t like it. I wanted to make sure the smell was gone before Mom got home,” he stated nervously.
Nodding, “Okay, but just don’t do it anymore,” Vicki told him and Joseph smiled. Quickly he reached out, grabbing her and pulled her to him, hugging her tight.
Seeing Vicki smile in bliss as Joseph hugged her, Sarah had the funniest feeling she wasn’t the only one in love with him. The back door opened and Shawn came out with Jo Ann and Sally holding hands. “I think Pops is going to shit,” Sarah declared.
“Nah,” Joseph smiled adjusting his hat. Watching Shawn lead the twins over, Joseph saw movement coming around the side of the house. “Kong, go somewhere that isn’t here before your girlfriend shows up!” he shouted. Kong never acknowledged him as he strolled to the back porch and sat down regally.
Everyone looked around for Medusa. Medusa was a female, long-haired gray cat who was just a tad bit smaller than Kong, but because of the hair, looked bigger. Much bigger. Medusa had shown up one day last month, and nobody knew how since there was a fifteen-foot fence around the farm with electric wires at the top. It was Arthur who’d named the cat Medusa. One morning he’d come outside and let out a scream seeing two giant cats sitting on a dead opossum that was huge. Wendy had come out and told Arthur to leave both the cats alone. It had been wise on her part to come outside because Arthur had already pulled his pistol.
The backdoor opened and more people came outside. “Joseph, does your mom love me enough that I could get away with killing that cat?” Sarah asked because she was terrified of Kong and his new girlfriend.
“Hon, Mom loves you more than me, and the answer is no,” Joseph stated with conviction. “And the thing is, you can’t do it because it would lead to the worst fight ever between Mom and Dad. Why, you may wonder? Well, Dad isn’t going to let Mom hurt the one who’s going to give him grandbabies and you may have noticed, Dad always gives in to Mom, but he won’t let her touch a hair on your head over Kong.”
Groaning, “Will you please beg Pops to stop asking me if I’m pregnant every fucking morning?” Sarah whined, and Shawn snorted as he slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.
Taking a breath, “Hon, be glad he isn’t making you piss on a stick in the dining hall every morning in front of everyone,” Joseph told her, and Sarah’s face paled as the others giggled. Looking around at all the hats, Sarah could actually see Pops pull her to the front of the dining hall to piss on a stick, just so he could shout out to everyone if it was positive; he had a grandbaby coming.
Comin
g out the back door and adjusting his hat, “They were only out one night, but I watched them drive in the gate before midnight, so I didn’t have to call the law,” LL grinned then sipped his coffee.
“Compared to the last time they had Date Night, this is tame,” Joseph said winking at Shawn. “Um, where’s Kirk?”
“Robin wanted him to hold her,” Shawn stated, and Joseph felt sorry for one of his dad’s mini-mes but in truth, Joseph was glad it wasn’t him who Robin claimed for the day. Every adult there had mini-mes and the minis were part of the eight kids each adult was responsible for. Joseph was still happy Dad had told everyone the name tags were staying on until the end of next year.
Donald, Daisy, Adam, and Eve ran onto the back porch and moved about the group to let them know they were fine, and any love would be welcomed. When Adam got to close to Kong, Kong gave a low growl, then hissed. All four dogs and six kids bolted off the porch. Vicki stomped her foot, letting out a yell and all six kids froze, even though all were older than Vicki, the oldest being sixteen and the youngest twelve. “Get your butts back on this porch!” Vicki demanded.
All six looked at Kong, then Vicki, and moved back to the porch. It was clear they would rather face Kong than Vicki.
Hearing an engine coming, everyone turned to see the Blazer round the house and pull up behind the back porch. Everyone gasped at the shot-up Blazer that had blood, and what looked like an arm hanging from the front bumper near the winch. “Oh, I’m so glad Dad’s truck got messed up on Date Night and not on a patrol,” Joseph sighed out.
“Joseph, Pops loves that truck!” Shawn cried out.
Nodding, “Like I said, I’m glad it happened on Date Night,” Joseph informed him. “If it’d happened on a patrol, we’d be killing everyone we saw and burning down every building in the state.”
Glancing at Joseph, “You’re kidding, right?” Sarah asked.
“Nope.”
Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations Page 7