Published: 27 Oct 2016

Starts Day +15

Angus continued to drive the tractor down what roads he could find in the general direction the man was certain he came from. After nearly an hour and the man pointing out another landmark, this a farm the man had checked out and found badly damaged and abandoned, Angus raised an eyebrow, “Mister, are you sure? Cause you came way further than what you first said…”

A few tears dripped out of the man’s eyes as he looked into Angus’s eyes and the hard stare he was getting, “I was here, really! I was about to brave the falling down house but something inside growled at me, so I backed away.”

“How much further?”

Kurt let out a short sob, “I thought we would already be there, but we are going the right way, really!”

Angus let out a long breath and nodded. “OK, but I need to stop and check the trailer if we are going to go much further.” He pulled to a stop and eyed the farmhouse with the partially collapsed silo just behind the main barn. He made his way back to the trailer and made a show of checking the chain then moved back to the van.

Hunter had to all but pry his fingers off the steering wheel before he could roll down the window, “What’s up, Gus?”

“He says he was here, but we are way past how far he said he walked, way further.”

Hunter let out a long breath. “Gus, if he is certain he was here, let’s give him some leeway. If I had been in a plane crash and half starving I sure wouldn’t be able to tell you how far I walked.”

“Hey, I still believe this guy, but we are over fifteen miles from Selden and he is certain he checked out this farmhouse. He says there was a tractor in the barn with the silo half on it. He also said he thinks something growled at him. I want to check it out just to be sure he is not totally wacky, and maybe we can get some more diesel and find some other stuff. If we are really lucky, I can even get the tractor going, because he said he walked a while before he found a road, so at some point we are going to have to go through the mud if he is right.”

“Let’s give it a once over,” Gage stated from up on top. “Besides, I’d love to stretch my legs.”

Hunter gave a short nod, “I wouldn’t mind having someone else drive for a while either.”

“Can I?” Ramsey asked with some eagerness, “I have never been allowed to drive anything but ATV’s, a lawn tractor, and the small hay tractor at Gus’ place.”

Hunter started to say no, but realized he was being way too paranoid. “Sure, let’s get close to the barn so we are partially hidden and you can take over when we head out again.”

Angus quickly moved back up to the tractor. “I need to tighten the chain and we want to see if the tractor in there has any gas, so we’re going to stop here for a few then head out again.”

Kurt looked over with a great deal of fear written on his face, “You aren’t just saying this so you can leave me here, are you?”

“No, we’ll get you to the plane. It’d be helpful if you could give us a better idea of how far though, so we know just how much gas we are going to need.”

Kurt nodded understandingly but was still clearly fearful.

Angus chose to ignore Mr. Banks. Instead he looked over at Vernon. “We are going to check out the farm and try to get some more gas if there is any around here. Keep your eyes peeled.”

“Not a problem. Kind of glad we are stopping for a bit, though.”

“I think we all need a break.” Angus admitted as he jumped back behind the controls and angled into the drive. A few crows took off out of the badly damage barn as the tractor got close, but otherwise nothing moved. Angus powered the backhoe down and pulled his pistol before jumping down with the keys in the other hand, since in the back of his brain he couldn’t help but wonder if the guy would try to take off with the tractor and the trailer if given the chance.

Hunter jumped out with his shotgun out and motioned for Zeki to cover the back of the house with Devin, while Vernon and Angus moved around the back of the barn. He then glanced over at Luke, “You haven’t been through the drills Mr. K. made us go through, so watch how we secure this place from back here. When we get more time, we’ll show you how we were taught to do this.”

Luke looked relieved as he hopped out of the back and watched as his friends spread out, covering each other, while also getting in position to have pretty much every angle covered. They also all did a good job of staying behind cover from both the house and the barn. It kind of reminded him of cop shows where the SWAT teams moved out to do a drug raid or something.

Five minutes later Gage gave the all clear signal after carefully poking his head into the main house. He moved back to the van as the others assembled around it. “The whole place is about to come down. There is pretty much no second story left and I can see sky when I look up. I saw a dog and it snarled at me, but when I snarled back it took off deeper into the house.”

This got bit of a pout out of Luke, “Poor dog!”

“Smart dog.” Vernon corrected Luke with a snicker. “Trust us, we know it is not a good idea to growl at Sniper.”

Hunter giggled in agreement, “What about the cellar?”

“Part a back wall fall on it.” Zeki spoke up softly. “Porch all broke too. Lots of burn and no back shed no more either.”

Angus moved over, “Propane tank went up at some point. I could see it from the barn. Matter of fact, I think it probably took out part of the back of the house and maybe even part of the barn.”

“What about the dog?” Luke demanded to know.

Kurt spoke from behind the group of boys, “You don’t want to get bit. Dog bites can get infections and unless you have a doctor and medicine…”

“We have both, but we don’t want to waste any antibiotics.” Gage cut Kurt off, getting some disapproving looks from several of the others. He cringed, “Sorry, mister.”

“It’s not a problem. I am counting on you and just along for the ride at this point, but I sure don’t want to see any of you get bit or get sick because you got bit.”

“Mr. Banks is right, Luke. Also we need to get you back to Jennings so you can get a tetanus shot at some point. Mr. K. made sure we all got one and you should too.”

Luke frowned as he looked toward the house, “One of the guys from Jennings gave me one when they came down to help us. He said it was Mr. Korbal’s orders… It just doesn’t seem right to leave a dog…”

“None of this seems right,” Ramsey grumbled. “If we find some dog food we can leave it out it for or something, though.”

Hunter gave a short nod, “We’ll try to do something for it. Angus, what about the tractor?”

“It’s not going anywhere. The back left tire is flat and the steering column is bent after getting hit by part of the silo, but there is quite a bit of diesel in the tank. I bet we can top off the backhoe again and even fill up the four empty cans we have. There are a few gas cans in there too. I need to check them out to see what is in them, if anything, and if we can use them for whatever is left in the tractor. I shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes or so.”

“Luke, help Angus.” Hunter ordered. “The faster we can get moving again, the faster we can get help to the plane crash. Vernon, Gage, guard duty. Zeki, Devin, let’s see if we can get into the cellar. If nothing else there may be some dog food down there. Luke, again, I want you to watch. We have already run into a cellar with dead people, and Mr. K. has told us exactly what he expects us to do and not to do when around long dead bodies.”

Kurt eyed Hunter, “Can I ask who this Mr. K. is?”

“One really mean Army Ranger who someone talked into becoming a scout leader.” Luke responded blandly.

“Not mean, but real tough.” Angus corrected Luke.

“And caring!” Vernon spoke up. “He even made sure to get you a tetanus shot, Luke.”

“And way smart.” Gage chimed in. “He even taught us how to do a surgery!”

Luke held up both hand as he saw both Ramsey and Hunter start to speak up as well, “OK, I get it already, you like him! Geesh!”

“You would too if you would have given him a bit more of a chance.” Vernon stated forcefully. “Even with as hurt as he was, all he cared about was showing us as much as he could. He was sure he was going to die, sure of it, but all he wanted was to teach us as much as he could. I bet Sheriff Will had to handcuff him to the hospital bed to stop him from being out with us right now, too!”

“Probably two sets of handcuffs,” Devin joked, getting laughter out of most of the others.

Still snickering, Hunter jerked his head to the others, “Let’s get moving guys. People are starving somewhere around here and counting on us!”

With Mr. Bank’s help, it took only twenty minutes to get what they could out of the all but destroyed farm. They left a half dozen cans of Alpo out and open, but didn’t encounter the dog again.

An hour and a half later, Kurt pointed to a set of low bluffs to the southeast, “Over there somewhere. I can tell, because this was the second spot where I had to cross water. This was the only one over the road, though, and almost fell, but I used the metal rail and pulled myself across the bridge. This isn’t far from the road with the farmhouse blocked by the trailer I told you about.”

“Vern,” Angus shouted as he stopped just short of the rushing water, “jump off. I am going to drop the trailer, spin around, use the hoe to check to see how solid this road is. Have Hunter hook the winch from the front of the van up to this beast once I figure out how we are going to hook the trailer up, but make sure the line is above wherever I have the trailer hooked up. This way, if I get stuck, I can get back by holding onto the line. Besides, if I make it and the van can’t, we can get it across with the winch too.”

It took another hour for Angus to find a way to use the chains he had found to get the trailer hooked up to where he could pull it. It then took all the kids and Mr. Banks to manhandle the trailer so they could actually secure it. Still it took Angus to slip under it and use his legs to help hold it up while Hunter and Ramsey wrapped the chain around the frame of the tractor.

While Vernon and Gage hooked up the winch line, Kurt looked down at Angus, “You are a beast! Without you we would have never lifted the trailer high enough to hook it up!”

Angus snickered, “Beast is my troop nickname. I wish you could see me play football. Once the game starts and I feel the rush, I get even stronger!”

“You must scare a whole lot of kids.”

“Mister,” Luke spoke up with a smirk, “Angus scares the parents. One of the reasons they moved him up to a play with older kids is some of the parents didn’t want their kids playing against Angus. My dad wouldn’t even let me play on the same team as him because I would have to practice against him.”

Angus gave Luke a playful shove, “You wanted to play soccer anyway.”

“And thanks to you, Dad let me!” Luke grinned. “He saw the way you hit the running back from Hill City in the first scrimmage and decided he really didn’t want me to get a concussion just because he wanted me to play football. By the time they moved you up in age groups, I was in soccer so he let me stay.”

Angus glanced over at Mr. Banks with a gleam in his eye, “Luke, here, asked me to hit the kid as hard as I could, since he knew his mom and dad had a talk about him getting hurt in football, so the second play of the scrimmage I got a clean shot at Hill City’s best running back and crushed him!”

Hunter giggled at the memory, “Hit him so hard, both of his shoulder pads came out from under his shirt and his helmet popped off. For a few seconds we thought you really hurt him, but he got lucky and only had the wind knocked out of him.”

“But you should have heard the parents!” Luke snickered. “Some of them even pulled out phones to call 911!”

This got a genuine chuckle out of Kurt, “So how was it moving up an age group?”

“Started every defensive play all season and even jumped in as a blocking tight end a few times a game.” Angus stated with a great deal of pride. “I got a great block on the defensive end from Hoxie in the championship game to spring Gary, our running back, for the winning touchdown too. I knocked the loudmouthed kid clean off the field and into his coach!”

Hunter glanced over at Kurt, “After the game my mom was wondering if the kid was crying because Colby won or because Angus blocked him as hard as you did.”

“Oh, part of it was the hit,” Angus assured Hunter. “He spent half the game calling me names, since by the time we played them, everyone knew I was the youngest in the league and my parents had to sign waivers for me to play up. So when I saw him coming up the line to get Gary, I put everything I had into the block. It was perfect too; cause all he was looking at was Gary. He never saw me coming and I got him with my shoulder dead into his chest and was able to use my legs to launch him. Knocking him into his coach and seeing them both tumble over the bench was just a bonus.”

“I heard the Hoxie coach had to get his arm casted after the game.” Ramsey added in. “Most said it was because he broke his arm from going over the bench.”

“He deserved it,” Angus spat into the swiftly rushing water. “Our coaches are mean and tough, but they would never let any of us taunt the opposing players the way the kids from Hoxie tried to do to me and a few others. We were told over and over to let our playing do the talking, not our mouths and taunting a kid from another team was a sure fire way to get laps and lots of other punishment at the next few practices.”

Angus moved back over to the backhoe and fired it up. As he did so he noticed Mr. Banks was looking up at him. “You want to stick with me or them?”

“You may need a hand and I am feeling better after eating the applesauce and getting some water in me.”

Angus nodded and yelled back to Vernon, “Mr. Banks is staying with me!”

Getting a thumbs up, Angus waited for Kurt to climb in before he moved forward and probed the road under the flowing water with the hoe. It was slow going and twice he found real soft spots so he angled around them. He also stopped once as the body of a mostly nude woman floated past, banged into one of the metal rails and continued going down the swiftly moving stream. Finally, as he got close to getting out of the water, he felt the tires slip, so he slammed the hoe into the road and used it to pull himself out. Thirty minutes later, with the van safely on the other side, they stopped to check everything over. After a short discussion, they moved the trailer around so it was hooked to the hoe again since it was way sturdier and could be manipulated with the hoe.

True to Kurt’s word, it took only another five minutes to come across a side road with a horse trailer blocking it.

“Looks like it has bullet holes in it.” Vernon stated loudly from up top as he looked over the makeshift barricade. “Did it when you came by it the last time?”

“To be honest I don’t know.” Kurt admitted with a shout, “But we heard lots of gunshots one night and it was from this direction, so it might have.”

“Signal the van, Vern,” Angus demanded. “Let them know we could be in a hot spot.”

Vernon quickly waved back to the van, held up his rifle and pointed to the trailer as way of warning. Those in the van clearly got the message as he saw Gage turn toward the side road and Hunter who was riding shotgun, pulled up his shotgun, which struck Vernon as to why the front passenger seat was called the shotgun spot. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was right.

It was a nervous few minutes for all the kids, but tensions eased considerably as they got clear of the area. Vernon’s eyes suddenly went wide. He banged on the window of the tractor as he pointed to the northeast.

Angus slowed and glanced in the direction Vernon was pointing. It took only a few seconds to see a section of a wing and a large gouge in the ground heading up between two rocky hills. He nudged the man next to him, “Mr. Banks, I think we are here.”

The man looked up and let out a long breath, “I guess I came way further than I thought.”

“Well over twenty miles, probably closer to thirty.” Angus agreed.

“I guess I just kept putting one foot in front of the other… I’m surprised I was strong enough to make it as far as I did.”

“Lucky you were, although Hunter will tell you it was the will of God.”

“He may be right,” responded Kurt softly as he looked at some of the wreckage. “I am amazed any of us lived seeing it from here.”

“Good point.” Angus agreed as he pulled over.

Hunter came up to the side of the tractor and looked up, “Ramsey says he knows this area since his grandfather has taken him fishing here a few times. He says just beyond those lines of trees to the south is Antelope Lake. He is all but sure the same stream we just crossed is now between the wreck and us. It is all off road above the lake too.”

Angus let out a long breath, “Crud… So we have to do this all over again?”

Hunter let out a long breath, “He says if we can get around the lake there is a highway with a real bridge over the stream. He thinks we should try there since the van almost didn’t make it back there and there are no bridges to cross between us and the wreck.”

“I went across on some fallen trees.” Kurt admitted, “But I didn’t know it was the same stream over the bridge… I’m sorry boys…”

Gage surprised everyone by speaking up, “Not your fault, and you never said this would be easy.”

“Are you actually enjoying this?” Luke asked with confusion in his voice.

“Yeah!” Gage admitted without any shame. “This is real adventure stuff, not like the stupid stories we read is school! Just look out there. The plane is right there and we can’t get to it but have to try to save people, how much more exciting can you get?”

Kurt started to say something but only ended up pointing at Gage with an open mouth.

“Sniper is a bit off,” Ramsey snickered as he moved over to the group looking at the parts of the plane wreckage, “but he is right kind a right…”

Hunter looked up to the sky and said another very short and silent prayer asking God for some help with getting Gage to think like a normal kid.

At the same time Vernon moved to stand next to Gage, “Not kind of, he’s right. It is us against the river, hills, weather, all of it. Let’s try to get down to the highway and see if the bridge is there. If not, we’ll have to figure out something else!”

“And time spent standing here is not helping those up at the crash.” Angus reminded everyone.

Hunter let out a long breath realizing Vernon was either becoming more and more like Gage or was at the very least starting to really see him as a friend. He hoped this was a good thing, but seeing a weird gleam in Vernon’s eyes over this whole mess made him wonder. He dismissed the odd thought as he looked over at Ramsey, “You know the area so you are on the tractor…”

“My breathing isn’t the greatest Hunter and the wind…”

“I know the area a bit,” Devin jumped in. “I have been to Antelope Lake a couple of times in our RV. Just never from this direction.”

Hunter held up his hand. “OK, Angus, try to find a way to take us down to the highway Ramsey says is to the south. Gage, back up top, and Mr. Banks, you’ll have to ride with us since I am putting Devin with Angus.”

“I could drive…”

Ramsey shook his head, “No way, I am having too much fun driving a real van!”

Kurt shook his head even as a hint of a grin appeared on his face. “I definitely want kids at some point in my life.”

Hunter scanned the area with his shotgun before jumping into the passenger seat. “If the world ever gets straightened out I bet you would make a good scout master.”

As everyone mounted up, Mr. Banks moved back to the van and wiggled in between all the supplies the kids had collected. “I think I would like that, actually. You kids are really exceptional though. I bet most scouts aren’t doing what you all are.”

“Then them not have no leader like Mr. K.” Zeki spoke up just loud enough to be heard.

Ramsey quickly agreed, “Without Mr. Korbal I would either be dead or still trying the light switch wherever I was.”

This got some snickers out of all of the others except Luke, as they realized Ramsey was speaking for all of them.

Small talk continued as they probed for a way to get down to the highway. It was well into the afternoon, before they found it. Even as they pulled onto Highway 24, however, they could see cars both on and off the road. One semi was in ditch on its side and a partially skeletonized hand was sticking up out of the window of the driver’s side as if trying to signal for help. The gruesome sight killed the discussion.

Up on the backhoe, Vernon suddenly pounded on the glass and held a fist in front of the window. Angus quickly pulled over and stuck his head out the window, “What’s up?”

“Back up some, but slow!”

Trusting his friend, Angus did as instructed without knowing why. After going back down the hill only a few yards, and seeing a fist in the window from above, he stopped again. “What’s going on, Vern?”

“There are some more cars just down the hill from us. They are blocking the road and I don’t think it was from an accident, it is too neat and they aren’t, like, slammed into each other or nothing. I wanted you to back up so I could just see over the hill while keeping as much of the tractor behind this hill as possible.”

Hunter hopped out of the van and moved up to the tractor “Problem?”

“Vern says he has a bunch of cars blocking the road and doesn’t think it was an accident.” Devin stated nervously.

Hunter looked up to Vernon, “Ambush point?”

Vernon glanced down, “I think it might be. It sure looks like the type of thing Mr. Korbal told us to watch out for.”

“Great…” Devin sighed, “so now what?”

“If it really is a spot to ambush people, then they are bandits.” Angus growled. “They need to be taken out before they hurt someone.”

“They already are hurting someone,” Vernon spoke up while keeping his eye on the line of cars. “They are stopping us from getting to the plane crash and I can see a couple of men on the far side pointing guns at a small car.”

Seeing Gage make his way forward, Hunter clenched his fist, “Looks like you are up again, Sniper.”

“Awesome!” Gage smiled as he handed his rifle up to Vernon and climbed up so he could see what the problem was. Before he even made it all the way up he let out a light whistle. “Road block and no way past it without going off into the mud.”

“Not a wreck either.” Vernon added.

Gage put his scope up to his eye and looked over the scene. “It’s a trap, no question. I see four people from here. Two are making some people in a really old Chevy hatchback give them stuff at gunpoint. I got another one in the bed of the blue Chevy pick-up and the last one I really can’t see but he is smoking a cigarette or something behind the Camry. I think there is a guy looking up this way, too. All I see is a flap of a coat, but it seems to be moving some. If he is there, he is tucked behind the Mustang and the Camaro.”

“At least he has good taste in cars,” Vernon joked, causing Gage to spit in a burst of laughter.

“Do they see us?” Ramsey asked while snickering over Vern’s twisted humor.

Gage shook his head, “I don’t think so, but they are ready and the one guy in the pickup keeps glancing back this way, so they may have heard us or something. I could put a bullet into the guy in the back of the pickup with no problem if you want me to, Hunter.”

“What?” Kurt croaked out as he looked up at Gage.

“One shot, one kill, no problem.” Gage stated back coldly. “There isn’t even much of a breeze, so it wouldn’t even have to be a very hard shot.”

Seeing Mr. Banks looking up with a shocked expression, Angus gave the man a light nudge, “He’s done it a few times already and it sure sounds like we are going to have to take these jerks out if we are going to get to the plane.”

“Agreed, and they are going to continue to hurt others if we don’t stop them.” Hunter announced with a resigned voice. “Vern, let’s stay low and move up on the right and left so you can keep the two SUVs between us and them and I’ll make sure the big tow truck blocks their line of sight to me…”

“No, Hunter.” Zeki spoke while shaking his head, “Me go with Vernon. You need lead and can shoot more far then me.”

Ramsey patted Zeki on the back, “Are you sure? We need you to drive trains and stuff.”

Zeki took a deep breath, “Me is sure. Let me go, Hunter.”

Knowing it wasn’t the greatest idea, Hunter tried to figure out another good job for Zeki, but couldn’t. “OK, but if you go you have to use a rifle…”

Zeki moved back to the van and pulled out the .22.

Vernon spoke up before anyone could tell Zeki a .22 wasn’t exactly the rifle needed for this kind of task. “Gage, are they armored?”

“The two making the people toss stuff out of the hatchback are in jeans and windbreakers. One has a 12 gauge, but can’t tell type from here, and the other has an AR-15. He’s got to go. The one in the back of the truck sure isn’t and there is a guy by the Camaro. He just moved over to talk to someone else I can’t see and they are looking this way so they must have heard us. He doesn’t have armor, but he is carrying a Savage Arms Axis, looks like a .270, but they make a lot of Axis models so I can’t be sure from here. At least he doesn’t have a scope. The guy in the truck moved enough for me to see he has a Mossberg lever action 30-30, and looks like a .357 in a hip holster so he also needs to go, but I can’t tell what the others are packing. No armor on the guy in the pickup unless he has something real thin under his jacket. It is too tight to be hiding good armor. But I have a bullet to the head with his name all over it. Just say the word.”

Angus looked at the .22 and took a deep breath, “One thing we found out the first time we faced those Army pukes was a .22 doesn’t do anything if you shoot into armor, Zeki.”

“So me need to learn to shoot begger gun?”

“Bigger, not begger, Zeek.” Hunter gently corrected the boy. “Devin what do we have with a little more punch than a .22?”

Luke quickly spoke up as he moved back to the van. “He can take my .243. I first got it when I was nine and it wasn’t too bad but Dad still put on a gel butt pad. Now it is nothing. It has a seven times scope too. Besides, I really prefer my 7mm.”

Luke grabbed the rifle and showed Zeki how to load it and the safety. As Zeki looked it over Luke added, “Way better than a .22 and I have like nine boxes of ammo for it since Dad was going to take it give it to my sister as her first rifle this summer and wanted to have enough rounds for her to be really comfortable with it. I took it though, since it is still mine. Dad was going to buy it from me at some point but never did.”

Seeing Hunter rub his hand across his face, Gage looked down. “Zeek, grab a couple of light colored blankets so they can’t makes us out when we start shooting and come up here. You can help me cover them. This way if you have problems with the rifle I can help you. You can go next time. Ram, are you OK to go?”

Ramsey nodded, “Yeah, I’m doing pretty good and it hasn’t rained all day. I’ll go with Vernon.”

Seeing Zeek look up to where Gage was with some surprise and hustle back to the trailer to get some blankets, Hunter let out a long and silent breath of relief. “Devin, Luke and Angus you have guard back here.”

“Where are you going?” Angus demanded to know.

“I am going to get closer and shout for them to drop their guns and leave the people in the other car alone. We have to at least give them a chance.” Seeing everyone start to argue Hunter forced a grin, “Don’t worry. There is going to be a big Jeep Cherokee between me and them.”

“I’m going to shoot if I see them move to aim at you at all, Hunter.” Gage informed everyone. “They’ll never get a shot off.”

Hunter nodded, “Gage you are going to have to signal me when Vern and Ram are in a good cover fire spots. Then, once I shout out, give them a few seconds unless they open fire or something really stupid. There has been enough death over the past couple of weeks.”

Gage nodded but whispered just loud enough for Zeki to hear, “There’s about to be some more, Hunter.”

Zeki glanced over and gave a nod of agreement as he settled in next to Gage, who in turn quickly pulled the blankets over both of them to break up their outlines and adjusted the boy’s grip and talked him through how to target properly through the sight.

Gage then looked down, “What range is your Marlin sighted in at?”

“Seventy-five yards.” Luke responded while watching how everyone spread out as if this was normal for them. He actually found himself starting to wish he had spent more time around Mr. Korbal, because it was very clear to him, those rest of the kids for his patrol had learned way more than just some extra survival stuff from the man.

Gage gave a short snort of disgust as he glanced back over to Zeki, “Aim for right between the shoulders. The bullet will drop some and hit them in the lower chest or gut; this way you won’t miss.”

“No aim for head?”

“No, not till you get way better. One of the first things my dad and his buddies taught me about shooting actually came from the movie The Patriot. It took a while to understand why they had me watch the scene so many times, but in it the good guy tells his kids to remember what he taught them about shooting. They answered back and said, ‘Aim small, miss small. Aim big, miss big.’ He then had me watch the kids fight the red coats. I had to see it like ten times before I really understood, but they wouldn’t take me shooting until I did.”

“Not understand, Gage. Aim small? Aim big?”

Gage turned his attention back to the three boys who were moving down toward the ambush point and the men down at the blockade. “Aim small, miss small. Aim big, miss big.” He repeated. “In simple terms aim carefully for a spot center of the target. This way if you miss you will probably still hit. If you aim big, as in just pointing your rifle at your target or just shooting for the head, then if you miss there is good chance you will miss everything. Right now, since you are really new to shooting. I want you to aim carefully at the center, right between their shoulders. It is the widest point on the body. Take your time too. One hit in three seconds is a hundred times better than four misses in two seconds. Also remember, you will have to reload after five shots.”

Zeki mulled over what Gage had said as he finally found one of the men below in the scope of the rifle.

Gage reached over and put a hand on Zeki’s shoulder. “Slow your breathing. There is no way you can hold a rifle steady breathing as heavy as you are. Don’t worry about it, Zeek. I am right next to you and will talk you through this. Now, the guy by the sports car is your target. Find him and keep the scope on him and just breathe like you normally do.”

“But, me’s sacred!”

“Yeah, me too. Kind of a rush, isn’t it?”

“Rush?”

Gage chuckled, “You know, like riding on a roller coaster or jumping off the high dive at the swimming pool.”

Zeki glanced over with a bewildered look, “No… I mean, yes… Um… Kind of?”

Gage chuckled again, “There is way more of the rush doing this, I know. But it’s the same, it really is, only lots, lots better. I pretty much live for this feeling. Nothing better in the whole world; now get ready and keep the guy’s upper chest in the center of your scope. Don’t worry about nothing else. Even if I shoot, don’t. I want to talk you through your first one.”

Hunter got behind the Cherokee without being spotted and turned to look back at the backhoe. As he looked back he realized Vern had done a good job with where he had Angus put it. By moving it back down the hill so it was almost totally hidden from this side, it left the top for good view while protecting the tractor. Even better, with the blanket trick Gage was using, all he could see was the very top along with Gage and Zeki, but both were positioned to look like they were almost suspended in air. With the blankets they were covered with, even knowing they were, the light color blended into the background of the sky making it almost look like a cloud. “Nice thinking Gage,” he whispered with admiration.

After a few seconds he saw Gage hold up a hand and hold it. The hand was the only thing he could see sticking out of the blankets which made it look like a floating hand suspended in mid air which actually made him look twice. Hunter double checked his M4 assault rifle and closed his eyes. “This is crazy. Why can’t everyone just be nice to each other?” He muttered as he tucked himself in against the back tire of the SUV as tightly as he possibly could. After nearly three minutes he saw Gage give a thumbs up and the hand disappeared as Gage settled down to get a good fix on the person he was aiming at.

Shaking his head Hunter took a couple of deep breaths and shouted as loud as he could, “You guys down at the roadblock, drop your weapons and leave the people in the car alone or we will shoot you!”

Gage clenched his jaw, as he saw three more he couldn’t see before put their heads up and look in Hunter’s direction. All had rifles, one with a scope. “Crap, change of plans, Zeek. You shoot the guy in the pickup since he is the most exposed and I’ll take the jerk with the scope.”

“Me can shoot one by the sport car.”

“No, take the guy in the pickup. He has a very fast weapon to shoot and reload. He has to go, but the guy with the scope really has to go away. Now find the guy in the pickup and tell me when you have him in the scope.”

The man Zeki had originally been aiming at, shouted out as he ducked behind the cars again, “You sound kind of young. Why don’t you throw down your guns, if you have them, give us some stuff and we’ll let you keep going.”

“We can’t let you rob people. We really don’t want to shoot you, but we will!”

“Oh, you aren’t going to let us rob people!” the man laughed. “Come on kid, give us what you have and go back to mommy before we come after you and her!”

Ramsey frowned from where he was positioned behind an old El Camino with a few pretty fresh bullet holes in it. Hearing someone making fun of her when his mom was most likely dead really pissed him off. “We are trying, dick weed, but people like you keep trying to stop us! Now drop your guns!”

“Another kid.” The man shouted and pointed in the general direction of Ramsey’s voice. “Find him!”

He didn’t get a chance to say more. Instead a bullet ripped into his pointing hand from a single round fired by Vernon who was also seething. The man dropped his rifle and screamed in pain, while most of those spun in the direction the gunshot came from.

“Time to die.” Gage stated as he pulled the trigger of his .308. A split second later the guy holding the rifle with the scope crumpled as his head all but exploded. Gage then spoke to Zeki. “You still have the one in the pickup?”

“Uh Huh…”

“Good, now breathe, keep the cross hairs on his upper chest and squeeze the trigger. Don’t jerk, just pull back nice and easy while keeping the crosshairs on the guy.”

At the barricade several more figures scrambled around trying to pinpoint where all the gunfire coming from, even as Zeki did as instructed. The gun fired causing Zeki to give a scared sounding yelp, but as Gage looked through his scope he saw the guy drop the lever action rifle and grip at his lower back. “Nice shot. Now find him in your scope again and do the same thing. He isn’t done yet.”

Even as Gage selected another target and talked to Zeki, gunfire erupted from Hunter, Ramsey and even Luke, who saw a round come way too close to Vernon for him to sit idly by any longer. The two men pointing guns at the car on the opposite side fired wildly as they moved back toward the line of cars, but one didn’t make it. Instead, someone from inside the car shot the guy with the shotgun in the back.

The other turned and fired a single shot at the car, busting the front window, but fell face first in a pool of blood as Gage put a shot into the man’s lower back.

This gave an opening for the people in the small car to jump out and get behind it. It was obvious to all the kids from the scout troop it was a man, woman, and kid which only made the boys angrier. Vernon and Ramsey each dropped a guy and Hunter took out two.

Gage let Zeki re-acquire his target as he sighted in on the guy with the shot arm. He was about to pull the trigger only to see another bullet rip into him. By the way the guy fell he had no doubt who had fired the fatal round. “Nice shot, Vern!” Again Gage adjusted his aim and put a round into the shoulder of someone crouched down behind a Corolla. Whoever it was, crumpled from the hit and Gage could see blood pooling around the body so he moved on to find another target.

At the same time, another man at the ambush point fell to the man in the car, who pulled up a massive handgun of some sort. The high caliber round ripped through one side of the car, out the other and shattered the bandit’s breastbone, then embedded in the engine block of the car behind the man.The guy handed a much smaller gun to one of the two behind the car, slid around to get a good shot while staying behind the small car, and pulled up his big handgun again. This time he fired at a woman who was pumping round after round into the Cherokee Hunter was hiding behind. The force of the shot picked her up off the ground and flung her lifeless body over the hood of the car in front of her.

Next to Gage, Zeki fired again, but this time he jerked back hard on the trigger sending the round wild.

“Whoa, slow down, Zeek.” Gage commanded. “Remember one hit is worth a hundred misses. Now find him again, breathe… Now breathe again until the front of your rifle stops shaking… Good…. Now remember to keep a nice regular breathing pattern, aim center mass and slowly squeeze. Take your time, but stay on him. He still has a heavy pistol and is not totally out of the fight until you take him out of it.”

Gage spotted enough of another bandit to fire again, all the while wondering what the guy from the car was shooting. The guy’s massive pistol was beyond impressive. His chain of thought didn’t prevent him from hitting what he was aiming at, however. This time, his bullet hit the bandit in the lower leg and nearly took it off. A woman screamed and fell clutching the grievous wound. He started reloading even as he spoke, “Should have dropped your rifle like a good little girl.”

Luke also muttered as he saw another bullet hit the car on the far side of the barrier. “Fifteen or so on a guy, a woman and a kid, huh, sorry Dad, but this jerk is going down.” He lined up his crosshairs on the guy shooting at the car and put a 7mm bullet dead center between the guy’s shoulder blades. The force of the shot slammed the man into the car he was hiding behind and he slid down, leaving a gruesome red streak, giving proof the bullet had gone all the way through.

Having reloaded, Gage focused in on the woman. This time the shot hit her dead center and ended her squealing.

Zeki took a few more breaths and fired again remembering to squeeze the trigger. He was rewarded with a second hit. This time the bullet pierced into the man’s right shoulder.

Realizing he was a target to someone he couldn’t see, the guy finally rolled out of the back of the pickup, but in doing so opened himself up to Ramsey who put a third bullet into his stomach. The guy hit the ground and didn’t move any more.

One of the men pulled up a shotgun and fired in the general direction of Ramsey but paid for it as both Hunter and Vernon shot him within moments of each other. This seemed to be the final straw. Three others jumped up and made a break for it, but one only got four or five steps before a bullet from Gage’s rifle went in just above his left ear and exited on the right side taking a considerable amount of brains and skull within it.

The second fell to the man in the car who had his handgun up and ready. The gun sounded more like a cannon than a pistol and pretty much had the effect of one. The massive bullet entered the guy’s left shoulder and blew out the far side leaving a fist-sized hole. The round didn’t even seem to slow down. Instead it ripped into one of the cars in the barricade and caused the gas tank in the car behind the one the bullet first hit to explode.

The last guy almost made it off the road, but fell to Zeek who simply kept the scope on the man’s back until he was ready and gently squeezed the trigger. The man spun and hit the concrete hard as the round slammed into his left hip. At the same time his rifle hit the road, fired off once and bounced well away from the fleeing bandit.

“Nice shot, Zeek!” Gage all but shouted.

“No not aim there. Aim for middle of back.”

“Aim small, miss small.” Gage reached over and patted Zeki on the side. “You missed what you were aiming for but still hit. It’s all good.”

The boy’s brown eyes went wide as what Gage was telling him suddenly made sense. “Oh! Miss spot but still hit. If me just aim for back not middle of back me miss everything… Me get it!”

“So did he.” Gage gestured to the man who was rolling on the highway clutching his hip.

Before more could be said, the man in the small car pulled the out a speed loader, cleared the five spent rounds and pushed in five new ones. With rage all but dripping off him he used both hands and aimed at the man Zeki shot. The huge gun roared again. The gun once again showed its power as the bullet caused the concrete to crack where the bullet went through the wounded man and into the road surface below.

At the barricade two sets of hands went up, while one of them shouted, “You win! You win.”

Kurt moved up and bellowed as loudly as he could, “Stop shooting! For the love of God, stop shooting! That sounds like a kid!”

Hunter poked his head around the SUV he was behind just enough to chance a glance. “Mr. Banks, get back. We still need you to help us find the plane and let them know who we are!”

“But…”

Angus grabbed Kurt by the back of his coat and pulled him back behind the backhoe, “Come on, mister, we are kids too and you just saw what we did! Now we are out here because of you. Stay behind something.” He looked up, “Gage, what can you tell us?”

“Two sets of hands, one kind of small, the other real small. There was one other adult I saw, a guy in a green jacket, but I lost him when the car exploded. Man, I want to know what that guy is shooting down there!”

Angus moved forward to the edge of the tractor, “Hunter, Gage says he thinks there is a guy with a green coat still up down there!”

“No he’s not.” Ramsey called out. “I got him. He fell behind the Camaro.”

“You sure you got him?” Hunter called out.

“Oh, I’m sure.” Ramsey shouted with a degree of annoyance in his voice. “I may not be Gage, but I can still shoot. The jerk jumped up and fired at Vern when the car went up. I put a shot into the back of his neck.”

Hunter let out a long breath, “Is everyone OK?”

“I got some glass in my cheek from a near miss.” Vernon called out, “He didn’t miss me by much at all. Thanks Ramsey!”

“Anytime.” Ramsey shouted back sounding much more satisfied.

Hunter took a deep breath, “Mister, you from the car, are you OK?”

“My wife got some glass from the shot into our front windshield but I think we are good. Who are you?”

“Friends, at least I hope we can be.” Hunter shouted back. “Do you see anymore with guns?”

“No. Just two sets of hands attached to thin arms.”

“Um, would you mind putting away your gun?”

“Give me a minute.” The man shouted as he quickly reloaded the one spent shot from his revolver and ducked down to take a look under the cars to make sure he couldn’t see anyone crawling around. He then looked at the two sets of hands. “Kids, the ones with your hands up, move toward me and keep those hands up and open. If you don’t I’ll put a round right through the cars you are hiding behind and blow chunks out of you. You helped shoot at my wife and boy, so don’t think I won’t drop you like a bad habit!”

Two kids moved out from the mass of cars on badly shaking legs, the younger one’s face covered with the blood of one of the bandits who had been shot. The older one had to give a bit of a hip thrust into the smaller boy’s back to keep him moving once the younger one saw the gun aimed right at him. They both then went to their knees as the man from the car moved up and made a downward motion with his left hand. As this happened, the kids turned enough for those at the tractor to get a good look.

Up on the hill, Angus pulled up his binoculars, “Oh, you have to be kidding me!”

“What?” Gage asked with a great deal of concern as he put the taller of the two kids in his scope site.

“The older one,” Angus kicked at a rock, “starting tight end for Hoxie’s all-star team.”

“You sure?” Luke asked.

“Oh yeah, I’d know those wide-looking eyes anywhere. His name is Patrick; a real wuss. I ran over him at least a dozen times the last time we played them. They quickly moved to double-teaming me, but I just aimed for him since he had the muscles of a jellyfish. I knocked him back into the running back and got credit for a tackle for a loss twice and a drove him into the quarterback once and got a sac for it all without actually hitting the person I got credit for tackling. They pulled him halfway through the second quarter, not that the kid they put in was any better, but at least the other kid didn’t back away from me when I came at him, like the punk down there kept doing.”

This got a snicker out of Devin. “You ask me, the kid down there was the smarter of the two of them, then.”

This got a snort out of Luke, “I’d have to agree with Devin on this one.”

The conversation was brought to an end as the man towering over the two boys scanned the line of cars and finally dropped his beyond huge sidearm back into an oddly shaped shoulder rig. “They say we are clear, come on down, but keep your eyes open. There are lots of hiding places.”

“I got nothing else,” Gage shouted, “but the smoke from the burning car is blocking my view to the south.”

Hunter let out a long sigh and poked his head fully into view. He looked over at the carnage he could see with a shudder, but forced himself to ignore most of it as he slung the M4 over his shoulder, while his hand moved down to his pistol without drawing it. “Luke, I know you can drive. Bring the van down here. Angus, the tractor is still all you. Gage, keep your eyes open, but I think we are done here.”

Hunter waited until he had plenty of support before moving through the line of cars and over to the man eyeing the two kids who were still on their knees with their hands up. He did pause to grab a first aid kit out of the van, pull a piece of safety glass out of Vernon’s cheek, put some anti-biotic cream and a bandage on it, though.

The guy eyed Hunter with a raised eyebrow as Hunter moved close with the first aid kit still tucked up under his arm, “Well I’ll be damned, you really are nothing more than a pup yourself.” Scanning those who jumped out of the tractor and van he whistled softly, “You all are!”

Hunter kind of shrugged looking up at the man who had to be a bit above six foot four. “I guess I was, but not after all this.”

The man nodded solemnly, “Well, let me tell you, I owe you, all of you. Where you from?”

“Well, we were from Colby, but from what we are hearing there may not be anymore Colby. Now we are from Jennings.” Hunter answered as he noticed Gage moving through the cars picking up weapons and double-checking everyone with the help of Zeki and Vernon, while both Ramsey and Angus kept a careful eye out. “Hey Angus, would you mind pushing the burning car out of the way and down the embankment so it doesn’t cause anything else to blow up.”

“No problem.” Angus stated with a hard nod, while point to Luke to take his place on guard duty.

The man stood pretty much speechless as Angus dropped the trailer with the help of the only adult, fired up the backhoe, and used the hoe to shove the burning car well down the slope. Finally he spoke again, “To say I am impressed is a huge understatement.”

Hunter managed a smile, “Thanks. What about you, sir…”

“Tom, not sir. No way can I let anyone who saved the lives of my family call me sir.” Seeing Hunter cringe slightly the man smiled as warmly as he could, “Not something your parents would approve of?”

Hunter shook his head. “Not even a little.”

“OK, then. Thomas Meeker,” the man extended his hand, “Mr. Meeker if you insist.”

Although a bit nervous still, Hunter extended his own hand and found the man’s grip every bit as strong as he expected it would be. The guy quickly backed down on the pressure, however. With his hand free, Hunter turned his attention back to Gage, “Hey, don’t go putting all those guns in the van. Mr. Meeker, here, may want some.”

“Take what you want, boys.” Tom called out, “But if you come across a small shotgun, I’d love to have one for my wife.”

“I got one here.” Gage called out while holding up the 20 gauge. “A box and a half of ammo too. You want it?”

Tom gave Gage a nod of gratitude before turning back to Hunter, “We were coming from Grainfield, heading to Hill City. Grainfield’s pretty much flooded out and water system was overwhelmed, so pretty much everyone packed up and left. We tried to hold out since I had no vehicle left I could get started, but one of our neighbors who left yesterday, tossed me the keys to this old beater so we could pull out too. I had to break the seat so I could fit, but it runs pretty good so here we are.

“Anyway, I got a brother in Hill City, so we are hoping it’s still in one piece. You don’t happen to know, do you?”

“No clue, sorry.”

“But you come from down that way…”

Angus spoke up as he moved closer, “We cut over on the highway only a few miles back. We are trying to get to the far side of Antelope Lake from this way. The guy over at the van is Mr. Banks. He says there is a downed airplane with lots of starving survivors up there. We got to a point where we could see part of the wreck, but was hoping the bridge was good down here so we could work our way back up to it.”

“The road and bridges are good all the way to Hoxie, but steer clear of there,” Tom warned. “The place sounded like war zone. We could hear gunshots coming out of it from over a mile away, so we went around and almost got stuck a couple of times on the dirt roads.”

Angus made a growling sound as he moved over and glared at the older kid who was crying as softly as he could, while his hands were shaking like leaves in a stiff breeze. “Some tight end you are, can’t even hold your hands up. The Colby coaches would have kicked you down to rec level in a heartbeat. How’d you ever make all-star?”

The kid’s eyes went wide as he recognized Angus and if more fear was possible, his face seemed to show it.

“You know him?” Both Hunter and Tom asked at almost the same instant.

“Played against him…” Angus snarled as he looked down. Taking a moment to quell his anger, he made a jerking motion with his head, “Pat, stand up and if you have any kind of weapon at all, you best tell me now. If I find something you don’t tell me about, I’ll feed it to you!”

The teen almost fell as he tried to stand on quivering legs. It didn’t help in the slightest to see a couple of the others kids turn and point guns at him.

With a roll of his eyes, Angus grabbed him by the front of his jacket and pulled him up to his feet. “Any weapons?”

The boy’s voice shook so badly it was kind of hard to understand, “Pocket knife… right pocket…”

Angus didn’t hesitate to shove his hand into Patrick’s pocket and pull out the small folding blade. He tossed it over his shoulder then proceeded to check the kid over from head to toe. Finding nothing other than a wallet with a five dollar bill in it, he pushed the kid back hard enough to knock him onto his butt. “Stay put, and you can keep your hands down.”

Angus then glanced down at the smaller kid. As he looked into the dark brown eyes he saw pretty much the same expression Zeki had right after the first earthquakes. Taking another breath, he knelt, “No one here wants to hurt you, but I need to make sure you don’t have guns or knives on you, OK?”

The nearly blank look, coupled with the quivering lip made Angus suddenly feel very sorry for the kid. “Luke, get some water and something to wipe this kid’s face off with.” He then glanced over at Patrick, “Is he your brother or something?”

“No… his dad…” Patrick pointed at the pickup where the guy with the lever action rifle had been hiding. “That’s his truck…”

Hunter moved over, looked down and saw the lifeless eyes of a man staring back up at him. As he looked down, there was no question this had been the boy’s dad. The man he was looking at looked way too close to not be. Even as he was out here looking for his own, they had just killed someone else’s dad. The pent up frustration and anger of the past two weeks broke loose all at once. He punched the side of the pickup a dozen times, and would have done so more, but was stopped by Tom who had to pull Hunter back and all but wrap him in a bear hug. The big man then held on until Hunter calmed down, letting the boy he hadn’t met until a few minutes ago cry himself out in his grasp.

While this was going on, Angus closed his eyes, not being able to stand the pair of brown eyes looking back at him, almost as if the person inside had left. “Pat, what is his name?”

Getting the sense he was not going to be shot and maybe not even beat up, Patrick’s voice became a little less high-pitched. “Peter, but most people call him Re-Pete, since his dad is also Peter.” Patrick gulped but figured it wouldn’t hurt his own position to offer more information. “He just turned ten a few days ago.”

Shaking his head, and looking up at an increasingly cloudy sky, Angus used every trick his coaches had ever taught him about controlling his anger. He so badly wanted to jump up and do exactly what Hunter had just done, only to someone, not something, and the only someone he could take it out on at the moment was Patrick. Angus stayed kneeling, fists clenched so hard a couple of his fingers broke through the skin on the palms of his hands. He let the pain of this flow through him, knowing if he didn’t he would beat Patrick to within an inch of his life, if not outright kill him and there was very little chance of anyone stopping him.

Luke moved up and put a hand on Angus’ shoulder, “You OK?”

“No.” Angus responded through tightly clenched teeth, “I need one of you to clean up Peter the best we can and a couple of others to get Patrick out of my sight for a while.” Angus pressed his now bloody hands against the sides of his head and let out a pent-up shout of pure rage, then jumped to his feet. At the same time he resorted to what the football coaches made him do after getting pushed too hard. “Guys, I need some space. Just let me walk around and don’t talk to me for a bit!”

Gage didn’t hesitate, he glanced over to Zeki, “Keep gathering weapons, ammo, and whatever else you can find…, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Zeki gave Gage a nod, “Me’ll put everyting next to the van. But you need tell me why so many gun, all with different bullet. Why so many type?”

“I think I can help you understand it when we have nothing better to do.” Gage assured Zeki before he moved over to Patrick, while pointing his pistol in the boy’s general direction without actually aiming at him, “You, get in the minivan over there and don’t come out until we tell you, or I will shoot you.” He then escorted Patrick over to the badly shot up minivan and made sure there were no weapons in it before he jerked his head of the kid to get in. He almost turned away, but stopped and stared the older boy down as he spoke, “I’m about to sound exactly like someone I hate more than anyone or anything else in this world, but his words seem it fit right now.”

Getting a slight nod of understanding out of the teen Gage took a deep breath, “Just over a year and a half ago a man shoved me down and said this and, while you don’t belong to me, the words fit pretty well. This was his exact words, since they are burned into my brain: ‘You belong to me now. Your best bet is to keep your mouth shut unless asked and be really nice when asked. You do what you are told, when you are told, and smile about it, or you’ll wish you had never been born.'”

Gage looked away, composed himself and spoke with a bit more compassion to the kid, “For a long time after he said those words I was pretty sure I wished I had never been born anyway, but I played his game and I’m in one piece. I’d recommend you do the exact same thing right now, cause I am pretty sure Angus is a hair away from turning you into a punching bag and none us, including you, want to push any more of his buttons. Something tells me the big guy with the hand-held bazooka isn’t far behind, either. Some of you shot at him, his wife and his kid, and I know what my dad would do to anyone who shot at me. We have all been through enough and you being a good… servant… or whatever you what to call yourself for the time being, is in your better interests. Got me?”

Seeing the Patrick nod, Gage shook his head, “If I had done what you just did after getting asked for a response, I’d have gotten hurt, hurt bad.”

“Sorry…” Patrick gulped, “Yes, I got it.”

“Good. Now stay put and don’t move, not even if you have to pee until one of us says you can.” Gage made sure his words had gotten through before turning his back on the kid and moving back to check on the woman and boy behind the car only to find Ramsey talking to the woman who was clutching a kid, who had to be six or seven, given the fact he was missing his top two front teeth. The boy let out a little squeal of fear as he saw Gage.

Ramsey nodded at Gage and pointed at the pistol in Gage’s hand while making a downward motion. “Hey, this is Gage, he’s a friend of mine. You know, he has some candy bars in the van, you want one?”

The boy looked up to his mom with hope in his eyes. Getting a nod from the woman, he looked back to Ramsey, “Yes please.”

Gage forced a grin as he got the unspoken message, “Be right back.” He finally holstered his pistol, then took off to grab a couple of different types for the kid.

After handing a trio of candy bars to the boy and checking to make sure Zeki was still OK, Gage made his way over to Devin and gave him a light push, “Dude, stop standing there and help or something!”

“With what?” Devin asked with a combination of fear and resentment in his voice.

“You know first aid. The woman behind the car with Ramsey got some glass in her face and is bleeding on her kid. Help her. Or help Zeek get gear off those we shot, or see if there are keys in any of these cars and find out if they start. Just do something. You are looking kind of stupid at the moment.”

Devin’s eyes narrowed and he took a couple of angry breaths but seeing Gage’s hand clench into a fist he took a step back, “I just want to go home.”

“Look around, Devin. So does just about everyone else here. Hunter and Angus are both out for now and I get why, so you need to man up and start acting like the leader you were voted in to be. Now go help the woman and her kid while Zeek and me take watch. The burning car is putting up a whole bunch of smoke and could attract all kinds of bad attention.”

Gage shook his head, wondering why Devin ever got voted in as a leader as he watched the kid finally grab the first aid kit Hunter had dropped and move behind the small car.

Vernon watched Angus as the boy moved well away from the others and started pacing. Once he was sure his friend was not going to do anything stupid, he moved up to help Luke clean up the nearly catatonic blood splattered ten-year-old. He spoke to Peter, doing the best he could, to tell the boy what he was doing, but got little in the way of response. Although the kid did turn his head when asked, so Vernon could get some blood off the back of the boy’s neck, which both Vernon and Luke took as a good sign.

It took a good hour for things to calm and to finally return to some semblance of normal for all the kids in the patrol. Tom basically took control of everything, made the kids cook a meal and tried to get them all to go to Hill City with him so they could get adult help. Seeing he was getting nowhere, he finally relented and took control of both Patrick and Peter, saying he would make sure they didn’t get in too much trouble and would be taken care of. He also promised to send help to the plane wreck if at all possible. Before he left he made it a point to give both Hunter and Angus a good hard hug and let all the kids know they could always come to Hill City and get help from him if they needed to.

Angus helped load some of the supplies the bandits had taken from others into Peter’s dad’s pickup since it ran well and was way better than the small hatchback. At the same time, Patrick pointed out the old Suburban parked well off to the side also worked, so the boys took it. Even better it had a large engine and a trailer hitch, so they hooked up the trailer to it instead of the makeshift chain around the backhoe.

The trip to the bridge took only ten minutes from the site of the firefight. Fortunately, they came to the bridge Mr. Meeker had said was there and it was intact. This lifted the spirits of all of them a great deal. Hunter glanced over, “OK, what now?”

Ramsey responded after a few seconds of thought, “The next turn goes to the lake but there is another dirt road not much further where Granddad took me to work on ATV driving right after our ATV class. We need to try it, cause I think it goes right up to where we saw the wing.”

“Go ahead and pass Angus, then. I’ll wave for them to follow us, just make sure you slow back down once you pass them.”

Ramsey didn’t hesitate to pass the backhoe. As he slowed back down, he looked over to Hunter with a grin, “I can’t wait to be able to drive when we can go faster.”

In the back Kurt couldn’t help but snicker again, even as Devin rolled his eyes and Zeki sighed.

The jovial moment came to an abrupt halt, as Ramsey pulled to a stop on the edge of the road and pointed to the road. Most of it appeared to be in decent shape but the turnoff was totally submerged. “It looks pretty deep, Hunter.”

Angus pulled up behind the van and jumped out. He pulled off a hunk of rock off the edge of the cracked concrete and tossed it into the water getting a large splash. “Oh, man, I don’t see the van getting through here. The Suburban has four wheel drive, but even then…”

“The road to the lake doesn’t cut over this way and we need to get up to those rocky hills though!” Ramsey all but shouted.

Hunter rubbed his chin as he looked over the rest of road leading further to the north. The last few hours had worn him out and he just wanted to sleep, but he stayed focused on the problem. After nearly two minutes he eyed the backhoe and turned to Angus. “Hey, Gus, how good do you think you can handle the backhoe?”

“I can drive it just fine…”

“No, the actual hoe part, do you think you could dig enough dirt to make us a path over this?”

“You’re kidding,” Kurt gasped, “right?”

Angus grinned widely, “Nope, he is dead serious! Let’s give it a shot!”

While Angus started playing with the backhoe, seeing what he could and couldn’t do with it, Hunter had the others reorganize the supplies between the Suburban and the van so there was more room for everyone while not putting all their gear in one vehicle. Since there was nothing for the others to do, Hunter decided to refill the backhoe with gas and drive back to the truck to see if there was more diesel, leaving Vernon and Ramsey on guard along with Mr. Banks.

Hunter’s idea turned out to be a decent one. While Gage and Luke pulled the big gas tank off the side of the flipped over rig, Hunter and Zeki managed to get the dead guy out. They buried him and put up a cross, although Zeki carved in a crescent shape. They also stopped off at some cars back at the roadblock and pulled as much gas as they could out of them, until they once again had full tanks on the van, Suburban, and all the gas cans were full.

Devin spent the whole time searching for more stuff to trade with. He didn’t have much luck. The back of the big truck was in water and he couldn’t find a way to open it and most of the cars had already been looted by the bandits and again by Zeki and Gage, but it still gave him something to do. He did find a couple of tire irons, one small tool kit, and a container of zip ties in the trunks of a couple of cars and took them, however.

After nearly three hours and with the sun going down, Angus finally figured he had pulled out enough water and dumped in enough dirt from off to the side to pack it down with the hoe. He glanced over at Hunter, “Let’s take the van across first, since if it gets stuck we have the tractor to get it out, but back down so the winch is facing the highway.”

The back tires sunk in some, but after a nervous few seconds and a bump with the backhoe, it got out of the rut and made it the rest of the way. Angus let out a sigh relief. He packed down the soft spots again, allowing the four-wheel drive of the Suburban to get down to the road with no problem, but without the trailer. “The tractor is heavier but has wider tires. Let’s get it down the slope and then I’ll pull the trailer with rope down so it doesn’t slow me down.”

While Kurt helped get the ropes out of the van, Angus gunned the backhoe and drove it as fast as he could down the slope. It tilted dangerously for a few seconds, but it straightened out and made it. As soon as it was on the rocky road heading up to the hills beyond Angus jumped down with shaking hands, “Oh, that was WAY to close!”

“It looked kind of fun!” Gage grinned. “Almost like an amusement park ride back in St. Louis or something!”

“Fine!” Angus growled as he took a few more big breaths, knowing in his heart he had come within inches of tipping the whole thing over and rolling it. “Then you can get it out of here when we leave!”

“Just show me what to do and I’ll be happy to.”

Angus banged his head on the muddy tire, “Dude, you have never seen a tractor roll before. Once it gets started, it doesn’t stop. You either jump and get clear or die. One of the kids in my sister’s 4-H group lost his dad from a tractor roll. There is nothing fun or funny about a tipping tractor.”

Gage shrugged, “Sorry, but it sure looked cool.”

This got a slight grin out of Angus. “I used to think the same thing the couple of times I saw a tractor almost go over, until Dad and me went out to Tim’s farm to help right the tractor his dad rolled. Seeing the blood on the seat was enough to make it not so cool anymore.”

Gage pressed his lips together, rather than say what was really on his mind. He figured he would ask Angus about learning to drive it later. Instead he started helping with the ropes and the one long chain, hooking up the trailer to the tractor. This time, even though it left a big rut in the dirt mound Angus had made, the tractor was more than a match for the job.

Even though dragging the front of the trailer through the dirt and back up onto the road damaged the trailer, none of them really cared, figuring they could just leave it behind if needed. Once what was left of the hitch was once again chained to the backhoe, since it was too badly messed up to hook to the Suburban again, they moved out. The road was in good shape, so it took only minutes to get to the rocky hills. As they rounded a sharp curve to the left, taking them further west, the moon broke out of the clouds revealing the tail section of a large aircraft and all sorts of debris around it. There was also a section of shattered fence and a piece of the landing gear only a few yards from the road.

Ramsey brought the van to a halt just before slamming into the stopped backhoe, since he was paying too much attention to the sights of the wreck instead of what was in front of him. None of the others, other than Kurt, seemed to notice the near collision as they all jumped out and looked over the devastation with wide eyes.

Before any words could be said, a man in his early twenties came into view waving his arms wildly and shouting for help. Behind him a few other survivors could be seen standing and moving toward them.

“Oh God…” Luke whispered as he realize one of the people making their way down toward them was missing an arm and he could see wire hanging down just above where the arm was missing. Another had cloth wrapped around part of his head and where the eye behind the makeshift bandage should have been was now a red crusty glob of dried blood.

“Guys!” Hunter shouted in horror at what he was seeing. “Let’s get to helping!”

Angus jumped down from the tractor as he played his flashlight over the dozen or so strong enough to move down the hill, “We have food, water and are here to help, don’t rush us!”

Gage could tell Angus’ words weren’t getting through, so he pulled his pistol and fired a pair of shots into the ground, well off to the side so there was no chance of a ricochet. Even as those coming down the hill stopped and a few dove for cover, Gage held the pistol up, so it could be seen in the moonlight. Knowing his actions were going to make Hunter freak out, he shouted out, “Just getting your attention! No shots fired at you! Now listen!”

Still, Hunter turned and glared at Gage, only to feel a hand on his back. Looking behind him, he found Kurt holding onto his shoulder. “He did the right thing. This could have been a mess and now everyone knows you all are in charge.”

He gave Hunter another pat on the back as he moved forward, “I found us help, but we have to let them actually help us! There is enough food, water and even blankets for everyone!”

A man poked his head out from behind some rock, “Kurt?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“I can’t believe you got through to someone!”

“Wasn’t easy, Leonard, and these boys have worked their butts off and even risked their lives to get me back here, so listen to them and let them help.”

The man stood while keeping a close eye on Gage, “Just a group of kids with guns?”

“Not just a group of kids, Leonard, a group of very tough scouts. And yeah, they are armed and trust me they know how to use what they are armed with.”

While Kyle likes feedback, he really likes it in the form of criticism. If you don’t like something, find errors, or just want to bitch about something, email him at: KyleArrons at CastleRoland dot net. If you are only reading this and you are enjoying the story, you may still let him know at the above email addy.

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