by Reed, N. C.
The woman had almost reached them now, her hand visibly trembling in the air. She was close enough at this point for Clay to see that some of the blood on her dress was still wet.
“Please... help us,” she said finally, her voice cracked.
“Ma'am, please come over here and sit down,” Tandi said, pointing to the bumper of the Hummer. Kurtis moved very slowly to make sure he was covering Tandi while the medic moved the woman to the Hummer and began to take a look at her.
“You said 'us',” Tandi spoke as he checked her for wounds. “How many of you are there?”
“Sev... no, it's just six, now,” the woman corrected herself. “Robby died during the night. I tried to help him but... the damage was too great. He bled so much that I... I couldn't stop it.”
“Six including you?” Tandi asked. “Or six besides you.”
“Including me,” she replied. “I wish you'd help them first,” she asked him. “I'm okay, more or less. They're all hurt worse than me.”
“That arm is broken in at least one place,” Tandi told her, rigging a temporary sling for her. “That's not a minor wound, Miss...”
“Charley?” Daisy's voice startled most of them as no one had heard her exit the Hummer. “Charley, is that you?”
The woman twisted far too fast, turning in place on the bumper and then crying out a little as the movement caught her arm. She recovered quickly as she realized who Daisy was.
“Daisy?” the woman squeaked. “Oh, my God, are we safe?” she cried, standing up in spite of Tandi's urging that she remain still. “Does you being here mean we're safe?”
Daisy looked at Clay who fought off a sigh as he nodded. There was no way to leave this alone. Not now.
“Yes, Charley,” Daisy gave the woman a brief hug, trying to avoid her arm. “You're safe. Who else is with you?”
-
“Her name is Charlene Wilmeth,” Daisy told Clay as Tandi, Heath and Kurtis moved to check the room Charlene had been keeping 'the others' in. “She always went by Charley. Her father owns... owned a small horse ranch about three miles down that road,” she pointed to a small one lane road branching off the road they had arrived on. “She wanted to be a nurse, I remember,” Daisy almost smiled. “She's about twenty, I guess, at most. She had stayed to help her father run his business rather than do what she wanted to do. She's a good kid. Woman I should say.”
“Miss Wilmeth, can you tell me what happened to you here?” Clay asked. The morphine that Tandi had given her was kicking in and the young woman was enjoying her first time in no telling how long without pain.
“We were gathered together for Sunday services,” Charlene replied with a drunken smile. “Going to have a picnic. Grateful for what we had instead of bitter for what we didn't. There was no warning, nothing to let us know what was coming. One minute everything is fine, and the next men in vehicles like yours are pouring into town, shooting everywhere.”
“A few people in the crowd were armed and they shot back, but it was useless. Pretty soon most of the men were down. The men on the vehicles dismounted and began shooting anyone they didn't take. They took most of the younger women and a few of the smaller children. The children they didn't... they didn't want, they just... they just shot them,” she lowered her head, weeping now in spite of the morphine.
“I was in Miss Sue's house helping with the food. I hid with two other girls, a boy who was a little brother to one of them, and Miss Sue. Robby Taggart crawled to the back door, trying to get out of the way, but one of them followed him. He started shooting in the house, shot May and Laura, then shot Toby, May's little brother. I stabbed him with a butcher knife I had been using, and it must have hurt. He swung his rifle and hit my arm,” she raised the broken limb slightly, wincing as she did so.
“He staggered out of the house and fell, over there,” she pointed to a garden beside the house. “His friends came looking for him, and when they found him, they came looking for us. I hid us all beneath the kitchen table with the cloth pulled down, trying to hide. Miss Sue... Miss Sue, she started screaming like a Banshee and ran out the door straight at them with a knife. I thought at first she was crazy until I realized she did it to keep them from finding the rest of us,” Charley sobbed. “They shot her to pieces.
“We heard the vehicles leaving, could hear shouting and begging and the occasional gunshot, but we stayed put. I had to cover Toby's mouth to keep his crying from giving us away and he... he eventually passed out. They must have figured Robby was already dead since they just walked over him and didn't bother shooting him again. They tore the house apart it sounded like, but when I looked later, it wasn't as bad as it sounded, just broken doors and stuff thrown on the floor.”
“I waited for a long time after the last vehicle noises left and then came outside after I had managed to stop the other's bleeding. I found Mister Welch and Mrs. Foster were still alive so I drug them inside and tried to treat them, too. There was no one to call anymore, so I just did what I could do. That was all I knew to do.”
“Sounds like you did just fine, Charley,” Clay consoled her. He looked up as Kurtis returned, motioning for Clay to step away from the girl.
“Doc says there's one still alive,” Kurtis said softly. “A girl about the same age as me, probably, but that's hard to tell at the moment. She was shot near the shoulder but lost a lot of blood. She's alive but unconscious. He doubts she'll make the trip but we'll board her and he'll work on her during the trip back. The rest...” he shook his head slowly. “There are obvious signs of where she tried to treat them, but the wounds... it's brutal, Boss. Very brutal.”
“I don't doubt it,” Clay was fighting to keep himself in check. “Get the board and whatever else Doc needs to...” He stopped as he saw Tandi emerge from the house, shaking his head slowly.
“I think that's it,” Clay said softly as Heath followed Tandi out of the house. “We really need to police these bodies, but we don't have enough help or time for that. Get everyone other than Zach and get them over there to pull the bodies from the house and lay them out carefully. We can at least do that much. Let’s hurry, though. We're in Indian country at the moment.”
“On it,” Kurtis nodded and ran to gather the help he needed. Soon, bodies wrapped in tablecloths and curtains were being carried from the house and laid beside one another in the shade.
“What's going on?” Charley asked.
“Miss Wilmeth, there's no easy way to tell you this so I'm just going to say it,” Clay kept his voice soft. “The people you were trying so hard to care for didn't make it. That isn't your fault,” he added as he saw the young woman's face register with the impact of what he'd said. “It's obvious from looking at the scene you did all that you could and honestly more than would have been expected of you with a broken arm and so little to work with. You did all anyone could expect of you and went the extra mile in doing so.” Tandi walked up as Clay finished.
“Ma'am, you did a fine job,” the medic told her. “I've been a combat medic for a long time and I've never seen anyone do better with what little you had to work with. I know it doesn't mean much right now, but you have every right to be proud of yourself and what you did. If you were in the military, you would be in line for a medal. I'd be proud to have you by my side, helping me, if the occasion ever called for it.”
Tandi knew the words wouldn't mean anything to the woman at that point, but he hoped later she would remember them, and tell herself that she'd done all that was humanly possible to save her friends.
“You want to recon?” Mitchell asked Clay quietly.
“I do, but I don't,” Clay admitted. “There's too much going on and we're too weak for this. Miss Wilmeth, do you know of anything we need to take with you? Clothing, personal items and what have you?”
“Take with me where?” she asked, a bewildered look on her face.
“We can't leave you here, Miss Wilmeth,” Clay informed her. “If nothing else, we need to let a doctor look at
that arm. We can take you with us to the farm and let that happen. You'll be safe there.”
“But my... my horses,” she whispered. “With my father dead, what about my horses?” she sounded almost like she was in shock.
“How many horses are we talking about?” it was Gordy who asked. “And what kind of operation did you have, Miss Wilmeth?”
“There are... there's over forty head of prime breeding stock,” Charley replied woodenly. “Another twenty or so that were sold or were up for sale. My father made his own shoes, his own tack, even his own saddles. You look familiar,” she said suddenly. “Who are you?”
“I'm Gordy Sanders, ma'am,” Gordy replied politely.
“My father bought hides from your family,” Charley said quietly. “Cowhides he tanned and made into gear. It was a hobby he did to supplement what we made from the horse sales.”
“Ma'am, would you like to move your operation to our ranch?” Gordy spoke before Clay could. “We can try and mount an operation to go to your house and get your things, load your horses and gear and move them to our place. Lock, stock and horses. We could use the horses and the equipment, and if you know how to handle horses and equipment like that then it's a giant plus for us. There are several of us trying to survive in this climate, and horses are an important part of that, or will be. Are you interested?”
“I... Daisy?” Charley turned to the only truly friendly face she knew. “What do you think, Daisy? Do you live there?”
“I do, and wouldn't live anywhere else even if I could,” Daisy said without hesitation. “You'll be safe there, Charley, and Gordy's right in that your horses would be a big help. Once the fuel is all gone, horses will be more important than ever.”
“I... I can get my things?” Charley asked Gordy hesitantly.
“Yes ma'am, assuming we can get things moving in time,” Gordy promised. Clay had given up trying to talk and was just listening. Gordy would be in charge one day after all. This was good experience for him.
“Then yes,” Charley nodded slowly. “I... I can't handle all of that on my own,” she started to cry yet again. “And there's no one left here now.”
“Let’s get spun up and moving,” Clay ordered as Daisy helped Charley into the rear of the Hummer. Five minutes later they were well on the way home.
CHAPTER SIX
“I hate to be the one to bring this up,” Mitchell said as they debriefed from their mission, “but did anyone else catch the girl's statement 'vehicles like yours' and 'dressed like you'?”
“I did,” Clay said grimly. “I've dreaded it, dreaded hearing it, but I have expected it. Before now, if I'm honest.”
“Rogue outfit?” Nate asked, looking around at them.
“Sounds like it,” Tandi nodded. “Wounds looked right for it, and some of the damage to the buildings had the look of a fifty cal. I doubt she saw or can recall any kind of patch or unit markings, but I also doubt it would do us any good, either. Whoever it is could be a rogue unit or could just be someone who stole the equipment and knew how to use it.”
“We need to warn Jordan about this,” Clay sighed. “If it ain't one thing, it's something else.”
“We have to lay on a mission for tomorrow to go and get her things and her horses,” Jose mentioned. “Gordy is already checking to see what we need in order to get it done. With this new development our manpower issues are going to be much more difficult.”
“This is it, for now,” Clay ordered. “We're going because we can use the horses and whatever equipment her family had, but we have to stop. If there's a wildcat unit running and gunning around here, we cannot be weak on defense. We just can't. Even doing this tomorrow is giving me the willies.”
“We can always put it off,” Jose suggested.
“No,” Clay was firm. “Every day we delay is another day that we're asking for trouble. If we're going to do this, and I think we have to, then we need to do it and get it done. Tomorrow. We need to have the convoy that's making the trip lined up behind the buildings and ready to roll at first light. We need plenty of help, muscle I mean, and we will need at least two escorts. I'm thinking one six-wheel and one four-wheel. Suggestions?”
“I'd recommend a Hummer in case you need a scout or a quick mover,” Jose mentioned.
“I thought about that, but I don't think we can man them all,” Clay admitted. “The fact is we can't take too many people away from here and count on it being safe. If those bastards in Jordan were more dependable then we could ask for a squad of their folks to help stand guard here until we could get back, but I think yesterday pretty much sealed that deal. They aren't going to honor any agreements we've made for mutual defense, though they 'insist' that we do.”
“Fuck them,” Nate said flatly. “We've helped them plenty, and it's cost us a lot in material that we won't see again. Material they haven't even offered to compensate us for. As far as I'm concerned, they can pound sand.”
“I'm in agreement,” Clay nodded. “But we can't just ignore them. There's too many of them, and we need to have communications open in case they see something we need to know. It really is that simple. I hate it, but it is what it is. That still leaves tomorrow, however,” he got the discussion back on track.
“Ellen and Tandi in the Beast, of course,” Jose began. “Thatcher and maybe Laramie in one of the armored rigs. We can pull the stock trailer with it and the box trailer with the Beast. We should check to see if the lady has horse trailers, and if so, how many, and how they're pulled. I know we have three fifth-wheel capable trucks we can send if necessary.”
“Kurtis has experience with horses, so he's a must,” Mitchell added. “Gordy too, for that matter. Anyone else here that's a solid hand with horses that we can use, Boss?”
“My father, but that's a non-starter,” Clay shook his head. “Otherwise... Ronny isn't a bad hand at it, but with Alicia expecting I doubt he wants to be away from her.”
“We need Goodrum on this, along with Brick and even Big Jake if he's willing,” Jose added. “We need muscle and they have more than anyone.”
“Goodrum will kick up a fuss,” Tandi warned. “He's been doing it every time he's had to go off the farm, and it's getting worse with each trip.”
“He can make one more trip,” Clay said flatly. “We'll tell him this is likely the final trip, at least for a while. Let’s take one of the Guardians,” he said suddenly. “I'd like the firepower if we should need it. Sienna can drive and we'll add Stacy and... who?” he looked around.
“We can let Gordy do double duty there,” Jose suggested. “Stacy can command, but man the gun while Gordy is working the horses.”
“Good idea,” Clay agreed. “If we're taking the Guardian then we'll end up with the six-wheel on the end. Zach on the gun, Titus on the wheel and X in command. Riders can load up there as well. Titus can help with loading the things from the house, too.”
“Heath for overwatch,” Mitchell added. “Sam can take the tower down here and Gary the one up top. I doubt we'll need it, but if not, he can always help load. We have to consider all of that I guess.”
“If we do that, we leave Titus here,” Clay ordered. “We're taking too many as it is. I want this done and done quickly, but not at the expense of leaving this place bare.”
“By my count we're leaving eleven fighters here even if we take Heath,” Tandi said. “That should be enough with all the others trained. And if we get cut off and get the shit kicked out of us, then we're no better off that way, either. We're taking ten with us, counting you, and one of them is Kurtis, who has yet to see action, and another is Gordy, who will need to be helping with the horses, just like Kurtis. We can pull an alert tomorrow with half the farm residents and be on restrictions until we return. It'll work.”
Clay considered that for a moment and finally nodded his head once.
“We'll go with that, then,” he stood. “Anything else for the moment, or that impacts tomorrow's job? If not, we need to get the lineup ready to
roll. I seriously want to be moving before the light is up good. In fact, lets dig out the NVG gear. If Roddy can't use it then we'll get someone who can to drive his rig out until he can see to drive. The sooner we get there and get done, the sooner we're back.”
“What about warning Jordan?” Mitchell asked, forcing Clay to groan. He'd forgotten that.
“Get a Hummer ready,” he ordered. “Me, you, Zach and Heath. Thirty minutes. We're there and back.”
“Suggestion?” Mitchell said.
“What?”
“We take a smaller Cougar instead of a Hummer. Just to remind them who the power is, and to make our visit safer.”
“I'm good with that,” Clay agreed at once. “Make it happen. Jose, make sure the convoy is ready to go, and inform the lucky participants. Also, check with Jaylyn to make sure that Charley is able to make the trip. She doesn't have to do anything, just be there to make sure we don't forget anything.”
“Yes, Great One.”
The last view they had of Clay was a middle finger over his shoulder as he left the building.
-
“Again?” Darrell Goodrum almost yelled but thought better of it as he looked at Nate Caudell standing in his door.
“Probably the last trip we'll make for a while,” Nate nodded, leaving out the reason that it might be so. “Going to gather a herd of horses and some associated gear. May be some equipment to shoe horses it sounds like. Be down behind the buildings at zero... at five in the morning. We're going to head out before light and try to be there as soon after sunup as we can. Quicker we're in, quicker we're out.”
“I'm getting tired of-,”
“No more tired than the rest of us,” Nate cut him off smoothly. “Just the way it is, Mister Goodrum. We don't have to like it, we just have to get it done. See you in the morning, dark and early.” Nate turned and walked away before Goodrum could reply, already thinking about who else he needed to speak to and what about.
He did hear the slamming of a wooden door behind him and muffled yelling. He shrugged and kept moving.