Avalon: The Retreat (28 page)

The crowd went wild, and when Caroline pushed her way to the bar, he lifted her over it to his side and she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a splendid kiss. As she pushed against him, he felt a little as if he was going to melt and there was a weakness in his knees. They would be excusing themselves from the festivities soon. They had to check on the puppy he got for Christmas, one of Pretty Girl’s pups and a delight to him. He imagined that was as good an excuse as any other.

The flag came up again at the next meeting a few days later, and the committee Dan formed made a decision from among the many designs submitted. Dayna won and was given a letter of appreciation and three watches she could skip as a reward.

Her design was thus;

It was the standard rectangle as the American flag, but different. At the top from left to right was a dark blue background. This area encompassed a third of the flag from the top down. In the middle of the blue rectangle was a drawing of the main building and on both sides of the building was a fir tree. Directly above the building and centered was a single white star. Just below the main building was an arch with the word Avalon going from left to right and there was a quarter moon sitting on its back with the two points straight up. Under that were crossed swords. From the blue rectangle there were stripes that came down from the bottom of the rectangle emanating out in every direction toward the sides and to the bottom of the flag. There were ten stripes, five white and five red.

At the award ceremony Dayna was asked to describe the meaning of the symbols and she said,

“The dark blue rectangle represents the sky above us and the rest of the world. The building represents Avalon, our home and where we all come to do things together, where we live. The white star represents us as a territory or possibly a new state and it could also represent us as a country unto our own. To one side and the other there are two fir trees. They represent what we are surrounded by. Below the arch are the crossed swords. That means we will take up arms to defend our home against anyone or any threat. The stripes represent many things but I’ll start with the colors first, the white represents peace, for we are a peaceful group of people, and the red represents our lifeblood, which we are willing to sacrifice to preserve our home, our territory and each other if need be. The number of stripes represents first Eli Cameron who began this ranch; second is for the coal. The next is for the trees, and the fourth is for the cattle Eli brought and raised here. The fifth is to remember the railroad, and the sixth stripe represents us as a group of people. The seventh represents sacrifice; the eighth reminds us of the war below; the ninth represents our determination; and the tenth and last stripe represents Freedom.”

Beth crept up the side of the large rock that was slanted and sticking out of the ground at a thirty degree angle. It was huge; below was a natural shelter with half of its bulk buried in the ground and the rest was what she was crawling on.

She heard dogs howling far away and wanted to see if she could see anything from the top of the rock. Off in the distance, coming through an opening of an outcropping of rocks like the one she was perched on, she saw them.

Slavers were coming around and meandering in between the huge rocks. They had people roped at the neck, each in front of the other in a long line. Their hands were tied behind their backs and about half of them were children and the other half were half-starved teens.

They appeared to be coming her way and if she timed it right, the trail they followed would pass below her prominent view point. The dogs incessantly howled and bayed at nothing. It was if they were out for a casual walk and enjoying themselves. She had to be careful; the dogs had great noses.

Her plan was to kill the Slaver at the end of the line and then the guy in front, if she could get to him quickly enough. They were both armed and carrying long guns casually over their shoulders. As she scooted down from the rock, she guessed they were about five minutes out so she had to get ready. She went below the rock and crouched down; waiting for her was Matthew and Glory.

“I want you both to get down in that corner over there and hide and stay put until I come back for you,” she said in a hushed tone. “There’s something I have to do. Whatever you do, don’t move and don’t go anywhere until I come back. Okay?”

She pointed to where she wanted them to hide and they nodded their heads. As she turned to take care of business, Glory grabbed her arm and began to whimper. She had become much attached to Beth and had separation anxiety every time she moved out of her sight.

“Glory,” Beth said as she put a hand on the girl’s shoulders and stooped to talk to her face-to-face, “Listen to me. It’s important that you do exactly what I tell you.” She considered her next words carefully, deciding that reality was a better teacher than drama. “Those men coming this way are bad men like the ones that came in your house and took your mommy and daddy away from you. You have to be quiet and do what I tell you and don’t make any noise because if they find us, they will hurt us. All of us!”

She turned her by the shoulders and with a gentle push, headed her toward the hiding place.

“Don’t make any noise, Glory,” she reminded. “Matthew, make sure the two of you don’t move from this spot until I get back.”

She grabbed Matthew and whispered in his ear, “If I don’t come back…”

He flinched and pulled away from her and looked at her with a look of absolute terror on his face.

“Matthew,” she said quickly, “I’ll be back. It’s just that in these uncertain times, we have to have a backup plan just in case, okay?”

She pressed her fingers to his lips and said, “Take care of Glory, Matthew. I love you both.”

She gave him a hug and turned and walked toward her spot to prepare for the ambush. She bent over at the waist and moved swiftly. They came, oblivious of the danger ahead. The two dogs were in the front of the procession, which was a break for Beth. If they were in the rear she would never get this opportunity. Her thoughts raced and her breathing was coming in fast gulps of air. She was afraid, but her hatred for the Slavers drove her forward.

She stepped behind the last Slaver, her knife came out of the sheath; and she drove it forward hard, but she hit a military-style web belt and all her knife did was wound the man. He let out a yell in pain and as he turned to face her, she slit his throat, turning the scream into a gurgling sound. She thrust again and the knife went into his chest. She left it there and pulled out her .357 Magnum, taking aim at the guy in the front as he struggled to get his gun off his shoulder.

“Down, on the ground now!” she screamed at the chain of slaves, “All of you… NOW!”

They dropped and she fired. She got the guy in the neck as his shotgun came to his shoulder, which caused him to drop the weapon and grab his throat. The dogs were howling and barking and took off running, dragging their leashes behind. She went back to the first guy, retrieved her knife, and wiped the blade off on his pant leg. She looked in his face and his eyes were dilated and stared at nothing; he was dead… she could tell by looking at his eyes.

The blood was bubbling out of his chest where the knife had finished him off and the whole of his chest was glinting from the shiny blood spewing from his throat. He reeked from the sweet smell of fresh blood and sweat. She had the urge to vomit but suppressed it. Beth turned and cut the rope binding the last kid in line and handed him the knife.

“Hurry,” she said, “We don’t have a lot of time. Make sure they’re all freed and search those two for whatever they have on them… food, water, guns, ammo. Understand? Take it all, and hurry!”

It didn’t take long before she was walking toward the slanted rock buried in the ground. The Slavers had some food, canteens that were almost full, a sawed off twelve gauge pump, two pistols, a double-barrel shotgun, a 30.06 rifle, sheath knives, and wrist watches. The long guns all had slings, which made them easier to carry. One of the Slavers had a leather bag that was full of old silver quarters, maybe fifty dollars or so in actual cash value Beth guessed. Then she saw that one boy had collected three handguns and handed them to her. She looked them with a critical eye.

“Do any of you have any firearm training?” she asked. “Don’t lie to me, it’s important that I know.”

One boy who looked to be about eleven raised his hand and said he was a member of the NRA and did a lot of shooting with his dad before the war. Others had their hands raised as well. She selected the older boys and made sure they were armed. She explained,

“I’m Beth and since we’re now a team, I will observe you and we’ll turn this group into a semi-military unit. Everyone understand that?”

They all murmured something and nodded their heads. It was time to get back to Matthew and Glory.

“I have a couple of more kids behind that rock,” she said absently. “Once we get them, we need to be making tracks out of here because there may be more Slavers coming this way.” Taking further stock of her surroundings, she continued, “It looks to me this is a well-worn path and someone may have heard the shot I fired.”

She did an about face and approached Matthew and Glory, who hadn’t moved from the spot she put them in. At first they were intimidated when they saw all the others, but it didn’t last long. Everyone was thirsty, so they took a good drink and shoved off in single file a few minutes later.

They traveled a bit off the trail that appeared to be very used and worked their way toward the tree line off to the right. The two five-gallon water bottles that Beth and Matthew had been carrying on their backs were now carried by two of the older boys.

It was rugged terrain with sticker bushes everywhere and it was still desert here so they had to be especially aware of where they walked and where they put their hands and feet. They looked and didn’t see any snakes, but they saw an occasional jack rabbit darting off away from their approach, a centipede crawling on a rock, and a dog that stared at them from a distance, but quickly darted out of sight. They found themselves climbing a little at a time as they walked.

In a few hours they stopped in an area that had shelter and posted a couple of lookouts. One guarded the rear and the other watched ahead. Beth made everyone understand the dangers of the situation by saying,

“Keep a sharp eye peeled for bad guys because we don’t need a firefight with anyone. We are poorly armed and would probably all wind up dead or slaves when the fight was over, so make sure you pay attention. Don’t stand out in the open either; hide behind something. Do you need any water before you go?”

The two that would be standing guard drank a little water and walked off toward their assigned areas. Beth wanted to take a few minutes to do an inventory of what they had, which amounted to fifty rounds of loose pistol ammo, fifteen rounds of shotgun shells, ten rounds of 30.06, four sheath knives, a folding Buck, a cowboy lariat, three pistols, a couple of wrist watches, several canteens, some silver coins, and minimal food.

The two bad guys had several packets of MREs, a few candy bars, three packs of cigarettes, Marlboro Reds, a Cuban Cigar, about a hundred strike anywhere matches, several cans of Campbell’s Soup, and a quart of Jack Daniel’s Black Label. She unscrewed the cap and took a sip. It burned all the way down and continued to burn until a rosy feeling enveloped her for a couple of minutes and then passed.

She decided to wait to feed the kids and concentrated on keeping everyone hydrated. After about an hour of rest, she sent two boys to tell the sentries that they were moving out and for them to re-join the group.

After two grueling hours of climbing over loose rock and hard pan, they came to a ridge. On the other side was a cliff that was nearly, but not totally, a sheer drop-off straight down to the valley floor. In the distance, although she couldn’t see it, Beth knew Bakersfield was there, though she had no idea its current condition.

Off to her right was a very old cabin that looked to be abandoned and sat on a shelf near the cliff. She motioned for all of them to get down, and she put her fingers to her lips and looked at them. They got the message as she crawled forward, ran a few yards hunched over at the waist, and then crawled some more until she arrived at the side of the old cabin.

It was the color of rust with black streaks running with the grain, mixed with a few scatterings of dark brown stains. It was weathered and definitely old, and the roof was made of tin sheeting. She wasn’t surprised to see there was no glass in the windows, just old shutters. One hung there by a single nail and would not open or close.

She eased toward the opening, crouching down as she moved and reached down to pick up a few pebbles. When she got to the door, she threw them inside and they clattered on the floor. Three birds burst out the door and away from the cabin, flapping their wings and squawking as they departed. The abruptness nearly caused her to pee her pants.