Odd Billy Todd (42 page)

“Tomorrow?” George asked, watching as his young friend worked through something. Billy looked at him for a long moment, then nodded.

“Tomorrow.”

*****

“And I’m supposed to just sit here, while you go out and ‘see for yourself,” Rhonda huffed. “Is that it?”

“Don’t ‘spect you’ll do much sittin’,” Billy shook his head as he finished putting his bag together. “Plenty o’ work to do. Course, I ‘spect you to have those two doin’ as much as they can. They got to learn, in case somethin’ happens to us. This place’ll be theirs, if that was to happen. They need to know how to live.”

“What?” Rhonda stammered.

“Well, we took’em in, didn’t we?” Billy shrugged. “Reckon we’re responsible for’em. Somethin’ happens to us, they need to know how to get by without us.”

“Then shouldn’t you be here, teaching them too?” she demanded.

“Will be,” Billy nodded. “I’ll be back.”

“And if you ain’t?” she challenged, eyes watering.

“I will be,” Billy said firmly.

“You’re going, no matter what, ain’t you?” Rhonda asked.

“Reckon so,” he nodded. “It’s got to be done. We ain’t goin’ far. Maybe fifty miles. See what we can find that’s still usable. Might find people. Might find more kids, like those two,” he nodded in the general direction of the living room, where Danny and Mary were reading. Rhonda’s attitude softened at that.

“That’s why you’re really going, isn’t it,” she asked, her voice soft.

“Mostly, yeah,” he admitted, turning to look at her. She took the three steps that separated them, and they embraced quietly.

“Promise you’ll be careful.”

“Always am.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

They had taken it slow, out of the gate. Billy was driving, since he was the most familiar with the territory they were traveling. Two Bears and George took the rear seat of the Ford, so they could provide fire on the flanks, and the rear, if it became necessary. They all hoped it wasn’t necessary.

On the second day they made camp less than ten miles from Columbia. The snow was gone, now, and several days of sun and light wind had dried a good deal of the mud. Enough that Billy had found a small dirt road that had led them through a pasture, and into a copse of woods, near a small stream. The stream was clear, and swelled with run off, a good source of water, once it was filtered.

So far their trip had not been that fruitful. A few smaller stores had yielded some items, including ammunition, canned goods, and some fuel. The fuel had been marked on the map for possible later use, the rest added to the back of the long wheel based truck.

They had seen horrible scenes of destruction, where fires had burned out of control, with no one left to contain them. They had seen cars on the side of the road with the bodies of occupants who had died on the road still inside. They had noted an abundance of wild game, and even some domestic animals, which they also noted on their map.

What they had not seen, anywhere, was people.

“Maybe they ain’t none,” Toby suggested as they sat around a small fire, eating their supper.

“Could be,” George agreed. “Unlikely, though,” he added. “We all made it. Imagine others did. Was a right smart o’ folks in Franklin at one time, remember.”

“And that train,” Billy reminded them. They had been very careful about train tracks.

“Right,” George nodded. “It’s not unrealistic to think we’ll find other people, Toby. The thing is, they might not want to be found.”

“Huh? Why?” the teen asked, dumbfounded.

“They’re scared,” Peter shrugged. “They don’t know us from the man on the moon, Tobe. They see us coming along, armed to the teeth, and their first reaction will be fear. It’s natural,” he added, seeing the boy frown. “Like I said, they don’t know us. How are they to know we’re peaceable, and don’t mean them harm?”

“Yeah,” the boy nodded, seeing the point. “I hadn’t thought on that. I. . .heck, I just figured it they saw someone else, they’d at least want to talk.”

“And they might,” George told him. “But, think of this. If you were a woman, alone or with others, or maybe with kids, and you saw four armed men around, how likely would you be to want to talk to them?”

“Makes sense,” Toby nodded. “Hadn’t thought about that.”

“Same goes for young’uns,” Billy noted. “If Mary and Danny made it, some others may have too.” Everyone nodded at that, not wanting to think of a child, alone, in this hard new world.

“Let’s get some rest,” George ordered, standing. “I’ll take first watch. Then Billy, then Toby, then Pete. We’ll break camp at first light, and get on the road.”

*****

“Hey, look there!” Toby pointed. “Ya’ll see that?”

‘That’ was a column of smoke to their front. Dark and angry looking against a clear morning sky. They had been on the road less than an hour.

“That’s a house fire,” George said softly. “See how that smoke is different shades of gray? Dark and light mixing together? House fire is almost the only thing that burns like that.”

“Want to check on it?” Billy asked from behind the wheel. “We’re still about three, maybe five miles from Columbia.” George weighed the decision, then nodded.

“Let’s get near, and then we can do some recon. Running up there in a truck, and jumping out armed and ready is asking to be shot.” Billy nodded, and started easing the truck along. It took ten minutes to get within what Billy deemed earshot of the fire, and he found a seldom used trail, by the look of it anyway, nearby. He pulled the truck safely off the road, where it would be hard to spot, and the four of them dismounted.

“Me and Billy will go have a look,” George ordered. “You two stand a watch. Keep your radios on,” he added. “Quietly, though.” With that, he headed into the woods, and Billy followed him, silent as a ghost. Two Bears watched Billy heading into the trees, and nodded in approval of Billy’s skills.

“He get’s ten feet in there, you won’t never find him,” Toby said softly, looking back toward the road. “Billy’s a ghost in the woods.”

“Looks like it,” Pete nodded, glancing at the boy. When he looked back, Billy was nowhere to be seen. He grunted, scanning the woods.

“Told ya,” Toby didn’t gloat, just spoke. Pete looked at him.

“You like him a lot, don’t you?”

“Used to didn’t,” the boy admitted, never taking his eyes off the road. “Didn’t know him. Never bothered to. But yeah, I do. First one to treat me like a man.”

“Means a lot,” Pete agreed.

“So, what about you and my sister?”

*****

George led the way. Billy watched their flanks, allowing George to concentrate on their trail. Every so often he stopped and made an arrow on a tree with a large white grease marker. It never pointed in the direction they took.

“Move it ninety degrees clockwise,” George whispered. “Pete knows.” Billy nodded. Smart.

They continued on. Some five minutes careful walk from the truck they began to hear indistinct voices. Some loud, others not as much. Moving more carefully, the two came to the tree line near the source of the smoke, and went prone, crawling the last few feet.

It was, as George predicted, a house fire. The house was engulfed in flames. Billy counted four women and seven children in the small group standing in the yard. And he counted three men holding guns, surrounding them.

“You had no right!” one of the women yelled, only to be back handed by one of the men. Billy growled deep in his throat, but George laid a hand on his arm, shaking his head. Billy looked at him, about to challenge, when two more men came stalking around the house, pulling small wagons.

“Look at all these goodies!” one crowed in triumph. Billy looked at George, and nodded his thanks. George winked at him, and pulled his radio.

“Leave Toby to watch the truck, and tell him to take a good hide. Then make your way up here. We got a little business here, it looks like.” Two clicks answered him, and George put the small radio away.

“We’ll wait for Pete. Meantime, let’s see what we learn,” he whispered.

Another woman in the group had gone to help the fallen one, while the two remaining tried to shield the children, especially the girls, from the other men.

“Figured you was out here,” a wiry man armed with only a handgun grinned unpleasantly. “Been watching you for a spell, sneakin’ into town, stealin’ from us. Started once to take you, but I thought you was haulin’ too much for one person. See now I was right.” Billy frowned at that.

“We weren’t taking anything you needed,” the oldest woman in the group all but snarled. “Just enough to take care of these kids. And now you’ve burned up everything we’ve worked for!”

“You ain’t gonna need it,” the man sneered. “You’re all comin’ with us, back to the house. Figure ya’ll can wait on us. And provide some much needed entertainment.”

“Hell will freeze, first!” the older woman snapped back.

“Well, then I’ll just have to kill one o’ these little ones, to convince you I mean business, then, won’t I?” He aimed his pistol at the nearest boy.

“Don’t you dare!” the woman moved to cover the child. “What you want is me. Harm these kids, and I’ll kill both of us, first chance I get. Leave them be and. . .” she swallowed hard, “and I’ll do what you want.” Her voice was bitter with defeat. Billy admired her courage.

“See, you can be reasonable, now, can’t you?” Billy heard a quiet whistle, and turned to see Pete crawling silently up to them.

“Well, what do we have here?” he asked.

“A pack of hyenas,” George snarled. “You take the two on the right,” he ordered without preamble. “Billy, the two center. I’ll get the tough guy, and provide overwatch.”

Both men nodded, and sighted their rifles. Billy’s targets were armed with a shotgun, and an SKS. He decided the shotgun was the bigger threat to the women and children, and took aim at him.

“On three,” George whispered. “One. . .two. . .three!”

The rifle sounded as one, and three of the five men fell. Billy and Peter looked their second shots, but their targets were already moving, and Billy had to hold his fire as his target took off, placing the women and children between them. Billy stood, and watched as the man ran for the woods. Sighting carefully, Billy led him just a little, and shot. The man tumbled to the ground, and stayed there.

Peter Two Bears took a snap shot at his second man, but missed. The man ran for the house, and escaped behind it as a round from George’s rifle tore wood from the burning building near his head.

“Get’im!” George ordered, and Two Bears was on his feet. George grabbed his radio. “Toby, one of’em is moving! He may double back and come your way, so be alert!” Two clicks were his answer, and George nodded in approval. He moved out of the woods to where the women stood, still placing themselves between the children and any threats. Billy took a flanking position, and watched in case the runner came back around.

“Ladies, my name is George Purdy. Can we be of assistance?”

*****

The man Two Bears was chasing headed straight into the woods, once he got the house between him and his attackers. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw the young Apache pursuing him, alone, and made a mistake. He stopped, turned, and raised his rifle.

Peter hit the ground rolling, bringing his rifle to bear as he did. A three round burst from his M4 cut the legs from under his target, and left him screaming in agony on the ground. Two Bears walked carefully up to the man, and stood looking down at him.

“Now you, my friend, are in a pickle,” he smiled nastily, and drew his knife.

*****

“Pete, was that you?” George asked over the radio. “He dead?”

“Not yet, but I’m about to fix that,” came the calm reply.

“You nick him?” George asked.

“Yep. I’ll be along after we talk a bit.”

“No! I want him able to talk. I got questions I want answered.”

“Aw, George!”

“Bring him around,” George ordered.

“On the way,” came the exasperated reply. George shook his head.

“Danged injun,” he chuckled. Billy just looked at him, then went back to scanning the woods.

“Toby, you can bring the truck up. We’re in the yard at the fire, all secure.”

“On the way,” Toby replied. George had to smile at that. The boy sounded as calm as he had the day they had all moved to the Farm. He turned his attention to the woman again.

“As I was saying, I’m George Purdy. This is Billy Todd,” he pointed to Billy, who nodded. “Our young friend in back is Peter Two Bears, and the young one bringing up our truck,” he nodded to where the Ford was making it’s way into the drive, “is Toby Silvers. Can we help?”

“I’d say you already have,” the older woman replied. She was in her late thirties, George decided. The others were younger, one looked like she might still be a teenager.

“I’m Regina Townsend,” the woman told him. “This is, was, my home,” she sighed, looking at the still burning house, tears welling in her eyes.

“These are my friends, Sissy and Barbara Pinson, and my niece, Ruth Townsend,” she pointed first to the two older woman, and then to the teenager. “These children are orphans we’ve been trying to care for. This used to be a day care center,” she sighed again. “No one came for them,” she explained softly. George nodded.

“They were lucky to have you,” he said. “All of you,” he added, looking at the other women. “Is there anyone else?” She shook her head.

“Not here. Well, except the rest of these idiots,” she pointed to the dead men in her yard. “There’s plenty more of them, but I’m not sure how many.”

“And he was the boss?” George pointed to the man he killed.

“Oh, no,” Regina shook her head. “He was just a piss ant,” she snorted. “No, I don’t know who their boss is. I’ve seen him once, from a distance, when they attacked some townspeople, not long after things went to hell. He’s huge. I mean, professional wrestler huge, at that. Never seen him around here.”

“Are there any other children in town?” Billy asked. Regina looked at him closely.

“Why?”

“Because I’m lookin’ for any kids that may need help,” Billy told her. “We set up a house for just that purpose. Two kids wound up stumblin’ on to us, all alone and needful. Starvin’, and sick. I don’t aim to leave no kids like that if I can help it.” She studied Billy closely for a minute, apparently weighing his words to his actions. Finally she nodded.

“There may be some children in town,” she said slowly. “But. . .you can’t help them,” she added sadly.

“And why is that?” Billy asked.

“They’ll have them,” she pointed again to the men on the ground. Just then they heard a loud groan as the man Two Bears had captured came crawling around the house, dragging his useless legs behind him.