Home: A Stranded Novel (12 page)

“
Everyone keeps saying over sixty guards so let’s just call it sixty-five for now and we took out seven of them on the road. As we fill in the map, we can subtract the number of guards as we find out where they’re posted until we know where they all are.”

Quinn folded his arms and looked at the map before nodding at Dara and then Cooper. “You did good
, guys. You were right to make contact. We now know a lot more than we did and we’re getting closer to being able to make a plan.”

Dara glanced quickly at Cooper and then away. Neither of them mentioned the first two girls he had approached and their reaction. They could only hope that the woman would make sure they kept their mouths shut.

Lisa led Dara to their new camper and showed her around before they both started to pull supplies out to make supper. Dara was laughing at the sheer amount of pancake mix they had scavenged when she heard Josh make a strangled yell. Both girls flew out the door and saw Emily with her hands on her knees panting to get her breath back. Dara looked around but didn’t see Alex anywhere. She turned to Josh just in time to see him pull at his hair and mutter, “I’m going to kill her!”

Alex’s heart was roaring in her ears and it felt so loud that she was sure that whoever was coming towards her hiding place would be able to hear it. Her brain was frantic with the thought that Dr. Mack had given her away and the guards were searching for her. Her rifle was too long to manoeuvre in the close confines of the tree, so she leaned it up against the trunk and pulled out her handgun, using her thumb to flip off the safety. She saw the outline of the person pass her tree through the thick needle encrusted branches and heard him grunt when the toe of his boot caught on a root. She let out the breath she didn’t even know she was holding as the man passed by and stopped at the tree line and looked out into the barnyard.

Alex closed her eyes in frustration and flipped the safety back on as she holstered her gun. The g
runt she had heard was all she needed to identify the person in front of her. Leaving her pack and rifle under the tree, she slipped soundlessly between the branches and crept up behind the person. Using her pointed finger she poked it into his back and whispered, “BANG! You are now covered in pink neon paint!”

Josh whirled around and grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. She was a little shocked by his intensity but hugged him back. She was just as surprised when he shoved her back and keeping a hold of her arms gave her a little shake.

“Alex, what the hell are you doing?!” he asked in a low, fierce voice.

She checked the yard over his shoulder but it was too dark to see anything so she pulled him back into the trees where she had hid her pack before answering. His accusatory tone had her temper rising. This was why she hadn’t gone back with Emily to get the medical supplies from base. She hadn’t wanted to fight with anyone
about her decision to sneak into the barn where the men were being held. They had all agreed not to make contact with anyone on this first scouting mission and she had broken that earlier, when she approached Dr. Mack. She knew there would be an argument when her friends found out that she was going back.

She left Josh fuming as she crawled into the tree and retrieved her pack and rifle. When she emerged with her things and stood up he tried again.

“Alex…” he got out before she cut him off.

“No! I’m sorry Josh but I have to do this. My father is hurt and sick and if he doesn’t get the medicine I have he could lose his leg or die! I know we said we wouldn’t make contact but this is too important!”

“Alex, will you shut up for a minute?! I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to back you up! Of course you have to help your dad. Jeez, any of us would have done the same. I was just pissed that you tried to do it alone!”

Alex took a step back and looked away. She was feeling somewhat foolish that she hadn’t given her friends more credit. Turning back to Josh
, she gave him a sheepish shrug before grinning.

“So
, let me get this straight, they sent the bull crashing through the china shop to come to my rescue? I mean, I could hear you coming from a mile away!”

Josh crossed his arms across his chest and gave her a baleful look. “Well
, I was a little worried I wouldn’t get here in time!” he said in frustration before looking around with concern. “Emily told us Dr. Mack said he didn’t think they patrolled. Have you seen any guards?”

Alex shook her head. “No. They seem pretty confid
ent with everyone locked in the barn. I guess no one would try anything with their families being held in town anyway.”

Josh looked relieved that his loud approach hadn’t given them away. “So
, what’s your plan?”

“Nothing too
elaborate. I’ll climb the hay elevator and go in through the hay loft opening, hand over the supplies, give my dad a hug and then get out. I won’t be in sight of the house at all so I shouldn’t have any problem.”

Josh nodded in agreement. “Ok
ay, I’m going to take cover behind the woodshed so I can see the barn and the house. If someone comes out while you are climbing, I’ll give a bird call and if they come out while you are in the barn, I’ll book it over and knock on the back wall. You should just try and hide inside if anything happens. We still want to keep the element of surprise if we can, so just shooting these guys is not in the cards unless we get desperate.”

Alex kneeled down and opened her pack and started to pull her supplies out.
“Yeah, about that? I have a better idea. Instead of you making a sound like a bird is being tortured, how about you just call me?” she said as she pulled out two of the handheld radios and handed him one.

Josh took the radio in surprise and flicked it to life. The soft green glow reflected off of his shocked face and his expression changed to delight.

“Right ON! Where did you get these? Never mind, tell me later!” he exclaimed as he flipped through the channels.

Alex just smiled as she turned her
own radio on and set the channel before clipping it to her belt. She pulled the other six radios out of her pack to make it lighter. She didn’t want to lose these precious resources if she was caught, so she put them under the same tree she had just hidden under, stowing her rifle as well. They could grab them on their way out if all went well. She shrugged her pack on and tightened the straps so it wouldn’t move too much while she was climbing. Once she was ready, she gave Josh a thumb’s up and turned to go. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Listen Alex, if it all goes to hell
, just use the gun and get out of there. We will figure out a way to free our people no matter what, so don’t let them take you. Okay?”

Alex’s face was stone dead serious when she replied. “Don’t worry
, Josh. I’ll kill them all if I have too.”

Josh felt a shiver run down his back at her words and tone. They had been through so much in the last month and it had changed them all. Alex had always been a firecracker but now she was a little bit scary too. As he rushed to get in to position
, he hoped that she wouldn’t suffer long term damage by the things they had been forced to do. Sadly, he knew that in the coming days they might have to do much worse.

Alex stood at the edge of the
trees and watched the dark outline of her friend dash across the open ground until he disappeared behind the shadow of the woodshed. She waited until she could just make out his arm waving her forward and took off like a shot, streaking the hundred yards to the back of the barn and stopping with her back against the old boards. She closed her eyes and listened to the night around her, she could make out a faint murmur from inside the barn, but the rest of the yard was silent.

Alex crept along the back wall
of the barn, towards the slide-like hay elevator. She stopped directly under the hayloft door that was high up on the barn wall, then moved underneath the elevator and away from the barn until it was low enough to the ground that she had to go around to the side of it. Being as quiet as she could, she rolled over the lip on to the conveyer belt and froze. Still hearing only silence around her, she rose up onto all fours and started to climb. The metal creaked and flexed under her, sounding loud to her anxious ears, but she kept going. She was moving so slowly that it didn’t seem like she was making any progress. Her mind flashed back to all the times she had run up this very elevator, using the round metal rollers like a fun balance beam. As she got closer to the barred loft door, she wondered if she’d ever be able to see her home without the taint of what these men had done to it.

Alex reached the top of the elevator and lifted the first two by four from the newly installed brackets. She placed it in front of her knees
, balancing it across the metal rails of the elevator and repeated the move with the second. She would have to bring the boards in to the loft with her so they wouldn’t fall to the ground, and then replace them when she left so the guards wouldn’t know that anyone had been through it. Grasping the handle on the door she used slow, steady pressure to pull it open. The hinges on the door made a racket when opened too fast.

Alex froze in confusion and panic when the door only
moved a fraction of an inch and would go no further. She tried again with the same result. Leaning her head against the cool metal of the door, her brain tried to process what to do next. She had told Dr. Mack to make sure the latch was unhooked. Why hadn't he done it? She stayed that way for a full minute wondering if she should abort her plan when a picture of her father in pain flashed through her mind. Alex gritted her teeth in anger. This door would not stand in her way of helping her dad.

Keeping one hand on the frame to keep her balance, she worked her
other hand into her pocket and came out with a Swiss army knife. She got the longest blade open and leaned her upper body against the frame. Using one hand to move the door she slid the blade in her other hand into the thin opening. Alex pictured the latch on the other side in her mind and slid her blade until it made contact with the metal latch. Using gentle pressure, she pushed at the latch while wiggling the blade as much as she could. She didn’t want to snap the blade off so she couldn’t push too hard. Alex felt like she had been working on the latch for an hour and her fingers were starting to cramp. She felt tears of frustration build behind her eyes, and was about to give up when she felt the latch give.

She held her breath as she gripped the handle and once again tried to
pull it open. A sob of relief almost escaped her when the door moved an inch. Moving the door a fraction of an inch at a time to keep it as quiet as possible she made a gap wide enough to slide the two boards through. Once they weren’t in danger of falling to the ground, she inched the door open enough to squeeze through with her pack. Alex took a quick look around the loft and saw hay bales but no people. There was dim light coming from the bottom of the barn, but only silence greeted her. She had one panicked thought that the guards were down below, waiting for her to show herself, but she shook it away and trusted Josh to alert her to any danger. Even so, once the loft door was closed again, she unholstered her gun and crept on soft feet to the rail that overlooked the main floor of the barn.

Swallowing past a bone
-dry throat, she leaned over the rail and peered down into the dim light of the main floor. This time a gasp did escape her. At least sixty men were packed together and all of them were staring back at her.

Vertigo struck her and she stepped back with dizziness. A low murmur came from the men below before a harsh voice shushed them. She could hear the men shuffling around below her before a quiet voice called her name. Alex’s hands were slick with sweat as she clutched her gun and she stepped forward and looked down again. The men had made a small clearing
, and in it stood Dr. Mack. His face was full of concern as he stared up at her.

“
It’s okay, Alex. It’s just us in here,” he called up quietly.

Alex scanned the men’s faces anxiously. She
recognized quite a few of them but didn’t see her father.

“You didn’t unlatch the door.”

Dr. Mack shook his head, “I didn’t have time to tell you earlier. There’s no way to get up there. They took the ladder out. You’ll have to drop down whatever you brought for your dad.”

Alex was feeling very nervous with all the men watching her. She wanted to see her
dad and she didn’t understand why he hadn’t shown himself yet. She had a panicked thought that he was dead and Dr. Mack just didn’t want to tell her.

“Where is he?!”
she demanded.

Dr. Mack held up his hands in a calm
ing gesture at her tone, “He has a fever and he’s sleeping. He doesn’t even know you are here, Alex.”

Before Alex could respond she saw someone push his way through the crowd to the doctor. She
recognized her old gym teacher, Mr. Beck. The man was built like a bull and moved easily through the packed men as they made room for him. When he got to the doctor he launched into a tirade.

“What is this
, Mack? Why didn’t you tell us you had talked to this girl? Are you trying to get all of our families killed?” he asked, red-faced and outraged.

Alex wasn’t going to come this far without seeing her father and she had to try and defuse the situation before Mr. Beck gave them away with his loud
voice so she called out to them.

“I’m coming down!”

As she walked along the rail, Alex thought it might be a good thing that her dad wouldn't be able to see what she was about to do. This wouldn’t be the first time that she had pulled this stunt, and if he ever caught her she knew he would kick her butt black and blue.

When she was even with one of the central support beams that ran across the barn, she threw her leg over the rail and climbed over until she was standing on the one foot wide surface.
Her arms out for balance, she stepped away from the rail and calmly walked out over the heads of all the men looking up. Alex kept her eyes on the rope tied to the center of the beam and confidently walked to it. The end of the rope had been looped up and wrapped around the beam. The other end of the rope was attached to a thick metal pulley. Her father used the rope and pulley system to hang game carcasses for butchering. Balancing carefully, she lowered herself to one knee on the narrow beam, unwrapped the rope, and dropped it down to the floor. She checked that the thick knot on the other end was tight and secured against the pulley with a hard yank. Once she was sure it would hold, she dropped down onto her belly on the beam and slid off the side so only her upper body was still on the beam. Using her legs, she hooked the dangling rope between her feet and swung an arm over to grab the rope. After that it was a quick slide down to the floor using her feet as brakes to spare her hands from rope burn. She felt hands steady her and had the floor under her feet in no time.