Home Fires Burning (Walking in the Rain Book 2) (12 page)

“Thanks man.  I wanted to talk yesterday and we just haven’t slowed down long enough.  How are you doing?”

“Uh, okay.  The burn on my arm is nothing and my ribs are still sore, but didn’t affect my shooting.”  I said truthfully, not sure where Nick was going.

“Good, that’s good,” Nick said.  “What I really wanted to know is, how you doing up here?”

Nick pointed to his temple, and I finally got it.

“I was just a little worried.  That’s all.  Back at the camp yesterday, you went a tiny bit loco, you know?” he said.

The man had a point, and it was his job to make sure we managed to get our jobs done.  I decided to answer his questions as best I could.  He deserved it after bucking his father’s wishes and taking a chance on a unknown drifter like me.

“That’s the first time I ever…Well, I’ve never done anything like that before.  Any of it.  Taking out a guard or two is one thing, but hunting men like that in broad daylight in their freaking camp? No way.”

“Don’t forget jumping into what was essentially a bunker surrounded by enemies and going all Tarantino on them.”  Nick added helpfully.  “That was scary to watch.  I couldn’t imagine what you were thinking doing that.  I mean, I’ve seen guys go berserker in combat before but that was something else.”

I thought back.  Berserker?  All I could remember was fighting for my life while outnumbered, as usual.

“Nick, what do you mean, berserker?”

“Well, I don’t know what else to call it.  Once they figured out you weren’t one of their men, you just started, uh, howling and shooting.  You looked in control of what you were doing, but I couldn’t understand anything you were screaming.  Scott swears you were foaming at the mouth.”

“Oh, that.” I said, trying to play it off.  I didn’t remember it that way at all.

“I guess it was just the stress of the moment triggering all the bad things I’d been forced to ignore all the way here.  When I saw the Trimble girls in that tent, it just set me off somehow.  That was just the last straw.  I’ve been living in fear and having to run away instead of helping.  I tried, I really did, but I was all alone.  I had to pass up on taking larger groups of raiders and ..that just eats you up inside when you can’t help.”

Nick nodded somberly.  “I think I understand.  The thing is, Luke, now that you know you have that inside you, you have to be careful.”

“I’ll keep it under control, Nick.  Almost three months now, and that’s the first time it ever happened.” I lied, but I didn’t want to talk about the rest stop right now.

“I didn’t lose my cool today,” I continued, “just got the job done.”

“Don’t get me wrong.  What you did yesterday, that was amazing.  I don’t know if I could have done it.  I don’t mean would have.  I mean, could have.  You slotted those guys like a professional.  One in the chest, one in the head.  Every time. And you did it so fast, like a machine.”

“Doesn’t make me bulletproof, boss.”

“No, but it shows you have a talent.  A gift at fighting.”

I looked down, examining the pattern of fallen leaves carpeting the forest floor.  Finally, I managed to squeeze out a reply, my throat suddenly feeling tight.

“You mean killing, don’t you?”

Nick nodded before continuing, but when he spoke he made a point of maintaining eye contact.

“Yes, Luke.  A gift for killing.  But I’ve never seen or heard of you to kill anyone who didn’t have it coming.  And, you don’t act like someone who’s learned to enjoy the act.”

“Well, I guess I have that going for me.  Am I supposed to be some kind of Jedi Knight in training?  Do I get one of those cool swords and get to call you Obi-Wan?”

“Well, your father did hang you with the right name, Luke.”

I had to laugh at that.  I’d never thought about it.  Those movies were so old I’d only seen them a few times on cable.  I remember hearing about a new trilogy set for release, but the first one never made it to the theaters before the lights went out.  Likely now, it never would.  That thought, of all the cool movies I was looking forward to seeing, all the books I was waiting to read next, made me unaccountably sad.  Like I’d lost a friend.

I headed back to the rest of our crew, following Nick as he led the way.  Yes, I had a certain flavor of crazy living in my head, but the idea didn’t scare me like it would have before the lights went out.  I was alive and probably cheated the odds to get this far. 

I had a place here for a while with the Keller family where I could hopefully rest and recover while preparing for the next leg of my journey.  I had a girl worth protecting, and friends too.  If the cost was killing a few, or more than a few, outlaws and raiders to protect these people, I figured that was okay.  What these folks had was worth fighting for.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

We were late getting started back to the farm.  The ambush by the road yielded two more heavy trucks, one an enclosed delivery van and the other a stake bed farm truck.  Once Stan diagnosed the third truck as inoperable, he started stripping everything useful off the truck itself while the rest of us transferred the cargo to the other vehicles.  The three girls, the oldest couldn’t have been more than fifteen, all sat in the grass nearby and waited silently. 

None of the men in our group recognized the girls from any of the surrounding farms or the neighborhood.  They watched us with covert glances and worried faces.  Finally, I just couldn’t take their fearful eyes anymore and walked over, taking a seat on the grass.

I looked over at the one I pegged as the oldest, a dark eyed girl with deep auburn hair cut short in a rough pixie cut.

“Hi” I said softly.  “My name’s Luke.  What’s your name?”

“Lori,” she finally said.  She sat stiffly, her head bent.  I noticed she was only wearing a thin t-shirt and cut off blue jeans and no shoes.  If she decided to bolt, she wouldn’t get far in these woods.

“Lori, I know we might not look it, but we really are the good guys here.  No one is going to hurt you or do anything bad to you or your friends.”

“Who are you people?  Are you with the Army?”

The question didn’t come from Lori, but from one of the other two girls.  She was a rail thin blonde with hair cut off close to her head.  I guessed her age at about twelve, but honestly I wasn’t good guessing girls’ ages in that range.

“I work for the Keller family.  See that guy there,” I said, pointing at Nick. “He’s in charge of security for the farm.  We had just finished cleaning out this raider camp when the guys holding ya’ll rolled up.  Probably part of the same group, I’d guess.  So you’ve seen the Army out and about?”

The tiny girl nodded.  She couldn’t have been over five feet tall but had the barest hint of curve to her shape that initially made me think she was nearly into her teen years.

“Soldiers came by the aid camp every few days.  They had water in these big trucks and we had to stand in line for hours to fill out buckets.  They seemed nice but people kept yelling at them.  Saying they should do more.  That really makes the soldiers mad, but they don’t do anything back.”

“Where was this?”

“Over outside Bentonville, I think.  We’re not from around here so the towns are confusing.”

Interesting.  So the Army, or more likely the Arkansas National Guard, was doing something after all.

“Where’s home?”

“McAlester.  In Oklahoma.”

Crap.

“Miss, how many in your group?”

“I think there’s like twenty five of us left at the school.”

“How did you get stuck in Bentonville?”

“We were actually at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  Summer camp for cheerleaders.  The day the lights went out, our group was taking a tour of a WalMart storage place up in Bentonville.  They let us stay a few days; then made us walk over to the school when the director there figured out the lights weren’t coming back on any time soon.”

What a heartless move.  I hoped the cannibals got that guy.  That might sound terrible, but in my mind I really hoped that happened.  Or something similarly horrific.  Sending these girls out into the open, unprotected, was essentially signing their death warrants.  After they had been through a virtual hell first.   I didn’t ask if they had been raped, yet, and I really didn’t want to know.

“What grade are you in, miss?”

I try for an adult tone and must have carried it off.  Her eyes misted up as she tried to answer.

“I was going into the seventh grade in the fall.  I just want to go home, mister.”

That triggers the tears and all three girls started crying.  Just then, Nick came over to check on our newest group of rescued hostages.  Or sex slaves.  I think we all knew the score there.

“What’s up Luke?”

“These young ladies were just telling me about their situation.  Miss?  I’d didn’t catch your name?”

Lori finally stopped crying long enough to make introductions.

“I’m Lori, that’s Carrie,” she says, pointing to the young girl who spoke last, “and this is Hailey.  We were all at the shelter in Bentonville when those men came.”

“How did they get you out of the shelter?” Nick asked.

“They just gave the guards some food,” the last girl, Hailey wailed.  “That guy, Randall, he just walked up to the Red Cross man and they argued a price for us.  Well, for three girls.  Randall picked us out of the crowd and his men loaded us up.”

“Just like he was buying cattle,” Lori whispered.  She had gotten past the tears and anger etched her tanned features.  From her dark skin and hair, I suspected there might be a touch of Native American blood in her background.  Not that it mattered to me, but I knew there were plenty of Cherokee in Oklahoma.

“Well, like I said you before, you ladies are welcome to come back to the farm until we can get something worked out.  We already rescued another batch of prisoners from these…men.”

I listened to Nick’s words but my thoughts were on what Hailey had said.  I knew bad things, terrible things, were going on out there in this country.  I’d seen the rape tents in the National Guard camp outside Jefferson City.  I’d heard the screams of women and girls being assaulted nightly as I tried to get out of the hell that was Illinois.  For some reason, though, this casual sale of girls to bandits for food just got my blood up.

“How did they even know to go there?” I asked, more to myself than anyone present.

“Mr. Rufus sent them,” Hailey said without hesitation.

“What?” Nick asked, trying to keep his face straight.

“I was listening” Hailey explained.  “They didn’t know I was listening at the door in the principals’ office.  Lori had tried to get the soldiers to take us home.  They took down some information on us but the man said he couldn’t promise us anything.  That was last week, okay?”

I nodded my understanding, and for the girl to continue.

Hailey shivered, though the air was warm even in the shade.  “This morning, these men showed up.  They called the guards to the gate and Randall said Mr. Rufus sent them.  He knew how many girls were there and where we came from.”

I looked at Nick but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.  Shit, this must be bad.

“Alright then, if you ladies would be so kind as to come along.  We are heading home and my brother Mark has found a place for you to ride.”

“We are not going back on those boards,” Lori announced.

“No ma’am.  In the back of the delivery truck.  My brother unrolled some of the blankets to make a cushioned area for you all to ride in comfort.”

“Why do we have to ride in back?”  Hailey complained, and I looked her in the eye when I answered.

“If we get attacked, you will be behind some boxes that will hopefully stop the bullets.  Also, we don’t want any more bad men getting a look at you all.  We have lots of guns and are obviously willing to use them, but if somebody with bad intentions sees the three of you, they might attack anyway.”

“Oh,” the young girl said.  Lori, at least, gave me a grateful nod for giving it to her straight.  Carrie looked like she might ask for a rifle to help repel the attack.  I liked her attitude.  She reminded me of another spunky blonde I knew.

As we walked over to the trucks, I tried to catch Nick’s eye.  I saw, and shook his head ever so slightly.  I got the hint.  We would talk later.  We would definitely have that conversation, whether he wanted to or not.  Clearly, Nick thought he knew Mr. Rufus and for some reason the news would not be good.