Joshua (Book 2): Traveler (22 page)

She was becoming frustrated and Hannah finally started yelling. “VIRA! Please answer me!” Then the girl could hear people approaching through the snow covered ground.

Two men dragged another person to the truck and laid them on the bed, just to Hannah’s left. It was Carol, she was bound up like the other two and softly crying. The three women lay there in a row like cordwood.

Hannah wanted to reach out and comfort her friend but couldn’t, her voice would have to do. “Carol, we’re going to be okay, don’t cry. We’ll be okay, please don’t cry.”

Carol at last noticed her friend lying right beside her, “Hannah, you’re alive! I thought everyone else was dead.”

“No, we’re not dead.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Vira and me.”

“Vira?” Carol strained her neck trying to see around Hannah. “I can’t see her, is she all right? Vira?”

“She won’t talk. She’s just staring off in the distance. It’s like she’s in a trance.”

Carol stopped trying to get glimpse of Vira and addressed Hannah once again. “The poor woman is probably in shock. She might be the lucky one.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re the only survivors, Hannah. Everyone else is dead, including the boys.”

The tears filled Hannah’s eyes when the ugly memory returned, “I know, I was there. They killed Adam and Nicholas, shot them right in the back. I tried to stop them but I couldn’t. I couldn’t help them. I wish they had killed me instead. It should’ve been me.”

“Don’t talk like that. It’s not your fault. These animals are to blame. No matter what happens, Hannah, you remember that.”

“What are they going to do with us?”

Carol gazed around in every direction she could see, her voice no comfort to her friend, “I don’t know, Hannah, I don’t know.”

Just then they could hear the sound of more people trampling through the snow and quickly approaching them, yet completely out of their line of sight.

Then there came the raised voice of a man and he was clearly angry. “Why is there a dead woman lying on the ground over there? Why is she dead?”

Another man’s voice, more nervous than the first, tried to answer the question, “She attacked the men, she had a shotgun. They had to defend themselves.”

“They couldn’t subdue her like the others?”

“No, they said there wasn’t enough time.”

The angry man was growing angrier, “I said kill all the men and take all the women alive. Is that really so hard to understand? Is that too complicated for you guys?”

“No, but ... they were defending their lives.”

The angry man still was not satisfied, “Yeah, you said that. You also said there were two. Where’s the other?”

They walked some distance away but still close enough to be heard, after a moment the one in charge shouted out, “DAMMIT!” There was an awkward pause. “Look at that gorgeous red hair; she would have brought a great price.” There was another long silence and then the angry man spoke again. “She’s been shot in the back. Are you going to try and tell me the men were only defending themselves this time too?”

The nervous one only became more anxious, “Well ...”

“Who shot this redhead?”

There was a long uneasy silence.

“I said, who shot this redhead?!” It was obvious there were going to be problems if the angry man had to ask again.

Reluctantly the other one spoke up. “It was Wrangle.”

“Wrangle, you’re sure?”

“Yes, it was him.”

“Did he not hear my orders?”

“Yes, he heard them, he was there.”

“Well then, go kill that son of a bitch.”

One walked off, and after a minute they could all hear the loud echo of single gunshot. He came walking back addressing the first, “He’s dead, just as you ordered, sir.”

“Great, from now on you let the men know I expect my orders to be followed.”

The women could now hear the sound of the two quickly coming back towards the truck, the one in charge speaking again. “So we have three?”

“Yes sir.”

“When’s this truck going to be fixed?”

“Well sir, the right fender is badly damaged and it had a bent tie rod ...”

“All I need to know is how long.”

The nervous one yelled out, “Snooper, how long?”

The pounding of metal finally stopped and there came another voice from underneath the front of the truck. “I still have to get this fender off the tire. I’ll need another ten minutes, sir.”

“Ten minutes, you’re sure?”

“Yes sir, ten minutes, I’m sure.”

The boss seemed marginally pleased, “Okay, that’s not too bad. I can wait.”

The pounding immediately started again.

As the leader came closer, Hannah thought there was something she recognized in his voice. She craned her neck and suddenly saw Rob just above them.

“James! I never thought I would see you again. I was sure you died out in the cold that night. You might not believe this, but I’m glad you’re alive.”

Robert looked the same as Hannah last recalled, except his right arm was gone at the shoulder. He turned to his man, both of them staring down on their spoils of war.

The other was much shorter than Rob, although about the same age. He was covered with numerous little scars and his face was pockmarked. His head was shaved smooth except for his thick eyebrows and a mustache, and a short tuft of hair just under his bottom lip. On the back of his right hand was a tattoo of black billiard ball and on the other a pentagram.

“Eightball, this is James. I know I told you about her.”

“This was the one pretending to be a boy?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“She’s not much better now.”

“Eightball, you’re being rude; so she’s not the prettiest one here. At least she’s trying now. Look, she’s letting her hair grow out. We put a dress on her and we’ll get a decent price. That blonde, on the other hand ...”

Hannah had enough, “Rob, you bastard!”

Robert put his finger over the girl’s mouth, “Shhh, I’m talking. The merchandise doesn’t interrupt people when they’re speaking. The merchandise only speaks when she’s spoken to.”

The girl tried to bite his hand. “Rob, let us go!”

Robert clamped his hand down hard over the girl’s mouth then turned and addressed his man again. “Eightball, go into the house. Find the nicest clothes you can find, dresses if there are any, makeup too. Before we go we’ll get these girls fixed up real nice. I bet we can double the price!”

Eightball took off running and now Carol had something to say, “I know who you are. Hannah told me all about you. Your name is Robert, and you’re a cold-blooded killer.”

Rob addressed Hannah again as he finally let go of her mouth, “James, who is this woman?”

But Carol still had plenty to say, “Her name is Hannah! She’s told me all about you! I know what kind of man you are!”

Robert looked down on the girl and shook his head, “Hannah? That just doesn’t sound right.” He smiled, “You’ll always be James to me.”

Carol went on, “You’re a killer! I know all about you! You’re going to answer to God someday for all the evil things you’ve done!”

Rob shook his head at Hannah again and gave out a heavy sigh, “I guess this woman is a friend of yours. Leave it to you, James, to find the Bible thumpers.”

“Her name is Hannah!”

Rob ignored Carol but went around the other side of the truck and lifted a heavy duffel bag onto the bed. He rummaged through it a moment and produced a roll of silver duct tape.

With his mouth and one arm he pulled off a length of tape then bit into it, tearing it off. Then he went right towards Carol who was still in her tirade.

“God will make you answer for every evil thing that you’ve done! You can be sure of that! You won’t escape God’s justice! I won’t bother asking for your mercy either because I know you have none!”

Robert slapped the tape right over Carol’s mouth and made sure it was a tight fit all around.

Hannah found her voice again, “Leave her alone!”

With his finger and thumb, Rob pinched Hannah’s nose and with the rest of his hand sealed her mouth shut.

The girl struggled to breathe and speak, “MMM!”

But Robert wasn’t allowing either, “Shhh! You need to be quiet right now.”

After an intense half minute with Hannah unable to breathe and Carol’s muted screaming in his ears, Rob at last let go of the girl.

Hannah gasped for breath, “Rob, I hate you, you bastard!”

He put his hand over her mouth and started to pinch her nose again, “Shhh.”

The girl went quiet.

“You need to listen to me, James, and understand it, the merchandise only speaks when she’s spoken to. Don’t speak again unless I ask.”

Rob walked to the side of the truck and jumped up. With only his one arm he clumsily climbed on and took a seat on the duffel bag behind the truck’s cab. The two women looked up at him, sitting there upside down.

“James, I know you just think I’m being mean to you, but I’m not. I’m really trying to help you.”

Hannah laughed.

“I am.”

The girl laughed once more at the ridiculous thought.

“You need to pay attention to what I’m saying right now, kid,” he turned to Carol for a brief moment, “you too lady,” and back to the girl again, “what I’m telling you is going to keep the both of you alive. Where you two are going ... well, the guys there, they won’t put up with this kind of stuff. You talk to them like you just talked to me, they’re going to hurt you, real bad. So here’s some advice, I’m hoping you’re smart enough to take it. When you get there, do whatever they tell you to do. No argument, no backtalk, just do what they say with a smile on your face. No matter how disgusting it is, act like you don’t mind. If you can do that, you’ll probably have a relatively long life.”

Rob put up his feet and got comfortable, addressing Hannah once more. “But that’s enough talk of that. Let’s talk about something else, something more pleasant. I know! I bet you’re dying to hear what happened to me after we last saw each other.”

Hannah’s hatred was only growing, “I don’t care what happened to you! I hoped you died horribly! I hoped you suffered! You murderer!”

With his hand Rob reached out towards the girl’s mouth again, “Shhh!”

The girl went quiet.

Rob sat back once again and casually went on, “Well, after me and Alton tangled, I was really hurt. That bastard did some real damage. I don’t mind, though, because I got him back,” he said with a smile on his face. “He shot me right in the arm, the bone was shattered. I knew I had to get some help or I wasn’t going to live very long, but I couldn’t think of anywhere to go. Everybody was dead ... oh, I never did find McCain or Rudd by the way, Alton must have killed them. Anyway, I didn’t have a place to go to and no one to help me. I certainly couldn’t go to any of those people we robbed, could I?” He barely stopped for a short laugh and then went on. “The only thing I could think of was this gang and that old house of ours ...”

Hannah rebutted him, “It never was our house. You killed the rightful owners!”

“James, don’t you know by now ‘rightful’ has nothing to do with it; whoever can take it is the rightful owner. And please stop interrupting or I’m going to get the tape out again.”

The girl shut her mouth but still told Rob what she thought of him with her hate filled eyes.

He didn’t seem to mind. “Anyway, that house was the only place I could think to go. I thought they might let me join up with them. So I stopped the bleeding the best I could and made my way there. When I got in sight of it, I suddenly got real scared. I’m not ashamed to tell you, James, I was scared shitless. I remembered what they did to Peavey and the other guys. I didn’t know what they were going to do to me, but figured it wouldn’t be nice. But I didn’t have much in the way of options; if they didn’t help me I knew I would be dead soon anyway. So I took the chance.”

Robert leaned forward staring at girl, her loathing quite apparent. “So you know what I discovered when I got there? They didn’t have a leader, he was recently killed ... and most of these guys, well, they’re not management material. They were just looking for someone to lead them and you know how I am. Once I started talking, I kind of talked myself into the job.”

“How could you, Rob? These monsters murdered your friends.”

Rob sighed again, “There you go again, James, still living by the old world’s rules. If you’re going to survive out here, you have to learn to be more flexible. You have to learn to change with the circumstances. I don’t like what they did to Peavey, Martinelli, or Cornwell ... or whatshisname. But I can accept it and move on. But it’s like with Alton, I’m not holding a grudge. You can’t if you want to survive out here. You should learn that lesson, James. Besides, these guys aren’t so bad. Okay, they did kind of enjoy it when they held me down and sawed my arm off ... and let me tell you that hurt like a son of a bitch ...” Rob rubbed his stump as is reliving the pain, “but they’re not so bad otherwise. These guys don’t even want much. They’re real easy to keep in line, they don’t even care if they eat every day. You know what most of them want? Spray paint, they huff paint, and hell, that’s easy to find. Every town we go to, there’ll be a department or hardware store, it’s still sitting on the shelves. Think about it! Nobody ever looted spray paint! Of course there are drawbacks too, these guys aren’t the most reliable, and you usually have to tell them the important stuff several times before it sinks in. They’re not as good as Alton and the guys, certainly not as smart or resourceful, but they do have unused potential. That’s mainly their last leader’s fault, he wasn’t using them very wisely. Before me they were just killing for fun, now I’ve got ‘em killing for profit!”

“What are you talking about?! What are you going to do with us?!”

He put his finger over his own lips, “Shhh. If you would just stop talking I’ll tell you. Like I was saying before you interrupted me again, their last leader, he liked to call himself ‘Vor-Gan’ but his real name was Leslie,” Rob said as he rolled his eyes. “He was a sad little man, just this sadistic asshole who went from place to place killing and torturing people. Not with any real plan, mind you, just because that shit is what got him off. My second in command, Eightball, you just met him.” Rob motioned to the house with the thumb of his only hand. “He told me all about it. Eightball is smart but isn’t much of a leader, doesn’t have any ambition. Anyway, he told me about a lot of opportunities ‘Vor-Gan’ never took advantage of. Once I heard about them, I made some big changes. This group has a purpose now, it has a job to do.”