Beyond the New Horizon: The Last Sun, Page 4

“Where are the others?”

  “On the other side of the clearing at the base of the cliff. There’s only room for John and Mark to shoot from there and Lucas if they get in his range. He’s up on the point but has no way of firing directly down on them without exposing himself.”

  Sam looked but couldn’t see where Lucas was hiding. “Okay. So, we can put them in a crossfire down on their level. I just hope no one shoots us by mistake.”

  “I sure hope you got that ammunition you went after because we don’t have enough to make this a prolonged battle.”

  Charlie walked back and handed Abby the water bottle, without looking, she reached for it, never taking her eyes off the men down below.

  “I did and then some. Fill me in quick, so I can get back down there before one of those boys of yours gets antsy and does something stupid.”

  “Boys? My boys? Here?” Wide-eyed, Charlie’s mouth hung open in disbelief. By the surprise on his face, he really hadn’t expected to hear of or see his boys again.

  “Down there and I need to get back to them, so talk fast.”

  “These guys have turned the road down there into their own highway to hell. I could tell you…” Charlie shook his head, “we’ll talk later, for now, the guys out front need to be eliminated, and the ones in the trees by the rock are ours. Now get down there and try to keep those boys of mine alive.”

  Sam gave Sam a one-handed salute and hurried down the slope. Charlie was right, he didn’t want any of Charlie’s boys nor Andy or Ben to shoot the wrong people. They needed to make short work of the guys on the valley floor or risk losing one of their own to friendly fire. John had no way of knowing they were here and could easily mistake one of them for a bad guy. Sam almost laughed at his thoughts, to label these men as the bad guys, was like calling Chernobyl a nuclear waste spill.

  As soon as he reached Joe, he waved the others to him. He wasted no time explaining the situation. “The people against the rocks are ours, and everyone in between is fair game. Use your bullets selectively. No pot-shots, leg shots, or the hope that you hit them type shots…..and please, know who it is you’re hitting. Joe, your Dad, says for you guys to stay safe and he’ll see you when we’ve cleaned this mess up.”

  By pointing out the best locations to shoot from, Sam dispatched them to safe places and waited for a clear shot. He realized the advantage of being up on the hill and wondered if he shouldn’t have stayed up there.

  Sam had barely aligned himself out behind the trunk of a fallen tree when he heard the sounds of motors. “What the hell now?” He squirmed around half under the trunk to see. “Well, shit!” he breathed out and looked around to warn his friends. From his ground position covered by limbs, he couldn’t see any of them and knew they would have to think for themselves. Sam couldn’t draw unwanted attention to himself by hollering a warning. He wondered what the chances were that they would ride in to help their friends, rather than set up putting him in the same position they thought they’d had the invaders in. The only advantage he had was that the guys in front of them didn’t know they were there, but he was sure the guys on the vehicles would see them, or at least find out when the shooting started. The best they could hope for was the new arrivals would be intent on reaching their cohorts and drive right on by.

  The vegetation along the road was sparse, and he was not under the illusion they were all well-hidden. Without the protection from his tree, he would be fully exposed to the new arrivals. Over his shoulder, Sam saw the sunlight glint of metal and pulled himself as close to the tree as he could get. He still had hope that the new guys would ride on by.

  “Of course not,” he said to himself when the quads came into view, and the men bailed off behind their line of defense. He couldn’t risk shooting at the men who had John trapped at the base of the wall without drawing attention to himself, and he hoped Charlie’s boys understood the situation as well.

  Sam belly crawled the length of the tree trying to find a space under the trunk high enough he could get to the other side of it. The men in front of them didn’t know they were there, but any second now, the ones behind them could open fire. Sam froze when thuds from running feet came in his direction and whoever it was dropped to the ground where Sam had just been lying.

  “Yeah boss, we’re here. Where do you want us?”

  Through the crackle of a radio, Sam heard the response, “Stay back where you are. Gus is going to send them a surprise any minute now.”

  A surprise? Sam wondered what kind of a surprise it could be. It came to Sam in a flash, they were going to use fire to bring John out into the open. Sam felt the tree move as the man made himself comfortable in his hiding place. The guy must have turned his radio down; all Sam could hear was barely audible static, interspersed with voice commands, but not the instructions being given. Sam wished he had the radio in his possession.

  He lay with his forehead on his arms, thinking. When he felt the tree move again, he peered through the brush. The guy had sucked himself under the trunk the same as Sam had. Sam tried to remember exactly what he could see and how much effort it had taken him to move when he had been in the same position. He wondered how he could retrieve the radio.

  The man must have wedged himself into the same space where he had, but from the grumbled swearing Sam was hearing, the guy must have been of a more robust build than Sam, and if he heard right, the guy might be stuck.

  Sam reached for his belt and drew his K-Bar from his sheath, waited for the guy to move and then use the noise of his actions to slither closer.

  Chapter Four

  Within minutes the women and Willy were mounted and ready to ride. Without dragging the wagons and cart along, Gina chose to ride Sailor allowing Willy to use her gelding. For the first time in a while, Lucy and Gina were mounted on their own horses. Journey had loaned Bess to Andy, so she rode the mare he had picked out for her. With Willy taking the lead position, they loped toward the gun battle.

  With a wave of his arm, Willy instructed them to remain on the dirt part of the road. The sound of shod hooves on the pavement would have been a dead giveaway to anyone listening.

  As she rode, Gina thought about what they would find. She imagined they would arrive just in the nick of time to save the men’s asses. She almost laughed at the picture in her mind. A glance at Journey and Lucy’s grim faces said that her thoughts wouldn’t be appreciated. She tried to remember how many engines they had heard and for the life of her Gina couldn’t remember. She thought maybe a half dozen, but they hadn’t been in a position to see them. So Gina had no idea how many bodies on each of the machines.

  Gina almost ran into the back of Willy’s horse when he slowed to a jog, and if not for Sailor’s quick reactions, because her mind was elsewhere, she would have.

  “We’ll tie up here and go by foot the rest of the way.” Staying well within the line of brush, they followed Willy.

  When he squatted, so did they and waited while he duck-walked back to them. “The machines are right in front of us, and I could see someone guarding them. I’ll take him out, and we’ll go in. Remember to identify who you’re shooting at because it seems to me that our men will be trapped somewhere in the middle.”

  All three women nodded and followed Willy silently through the brush. He held his hand up, fist clenched and continued alone. The person standing watch over the machines was sitting with their back to them and had both of their legs on the same side of the four-wheeler’s seat. Gina pointed her 30/30 at the head of the individual while Willy crept closer. He pulled the person over backward and dropped them to the ground. Willy wasn’t prepared for the hellcat he had unleashed. Before he could restrain him, the person flipped over, lunged to their feet and with a wild banshee scream, came flying at Willy a lethal looking blade in her hand.

  Willy was momentarily stunned and stepped back when he realized who it was he had in front of him. Tammy opened her mouth and screamed again as she hurtled toward him.

  “You t
ouched me! No nigger gets to touch me ever!”

  Gina pulled the trigger and watched as an empty expression developed on Tammy’s face. It wasn’t like the movie’s, she didn’t go flying backward or drop lifelessly. Tammy didn’t even drop the knife. She stood paralyzed as a red rose bloomed high on her chest. Gina jacked another shell into the breach. With a sigh, Tammy took half a step and crumpled to the ground at Willy’s feet.

  Stunned, Willy bent down and removed the knife from Tammy’s hand. Again, it wasn’t like in the movies when he used one hand to close her eyes. They slowly opened, staring lifelessly up at him. Willy backed up, the knife held loosely in his hand.

  He jumped when he felt someone lay a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, are you okay? She was going to use that knife on you, and I could see you weren’t reacting fast enough.”

  Willy gave his head one shake, “I didn’t expect it to be her. I thought the person was possibly a young boy and was only going to incapacitate them. I never dreamed…”

  “Willy, we don’t have time for this right now. We have our men to rescue. Pull yourself together.”

  As if the reminder from Gina sparked something inside of him, Willy turned to continue. They didn’t have far to go, but Gina was surprised that no one had come to check out the shot from behind them. Was it possible that no one had heard it?

  As soon as the person was on the ground, Gina had recognized her and remembered how the girl’s personality could flip-flop in a heartbeat, and she wasn’t going to allow Tammy to destroy another person’s life. Many times, since Tammy’s escape, Gina had thought about the unloaded 45. Had Tammy been a fully functioning person that day, Gina would be dead and she had no illusions that her hypothesis wasn’t correct. Tammy had meant to kill her that day, even if Gina wasn’t solely the one responsible for her incarceration. They had agreed it was for Tammy’s benefit, but truthfully, they all knew it was for all their safety.

  Gina crouched down beside Willy with Journey and Lucy on the other. They studied the men in front of them until one of them took aim.

  “Hope you ladies are ready for this. Spread out.”

  Gina thought it had taken forever to get in position but in reality, killing Tammy and getting in place had only taken minutes. From her location, she tried to see any of their men. She knew Journey and Lucy were doing the same as she was; trying to spot their spouses.

  Gina didn’t recognize the men in green trousers as being prison inmates, but she did understand the demeanor of the men crouching and behind bushes and trees. She knew better than to judge someone because of how they look, but these men were all pointing guns in the direction of their friends and husbands.

  Looking to Willy for guidance, she saw him twirl his finger above his head. She took it to mean, let’s get this show on the road.

  Gina already had a man in her sights and releasing her breath, she tightened her finger on the trigger. Before the man fell, she had set her sights on another.

  Something moving in the branches of a downed tree caught her attention, and she waited to see who or what it was. Never could she have imagined seeing Sam rolling away from the trunk with his arms wrapped around another man. She saw the flash of sunlight on steel and her mind saw a knife. She could either stand and take aim and hope she shot the right one without making herself a target, or she could let the scene play out.

  She heard someone cry out and turned to see Lucy on her knees beside Journey. A man ran toward the two women. He pointed his pistol at them and pulled the trigger…something went wrong, and he stopped. From where she was, Gina could see the slide was locked open. He dropped the clip into his hand and flipped it over looking at it. He did something and dropped it, his hand reaching into his pocket, and Gina pulled the trigger. She looked to her friends, and Lucy was pulling Journey back behind a bush. When Gina made to run to them, Lucy waved her away, “She’s okay, help Sam.”

  Gina turned back to the struggling men and saw that Sam was covered in dark red, the man was on top, but as Gina raised her rifle, Sam flipped the man over and presented his back to her. Hands shaking, she dropped her aim. She could easily have shot him, and it was apparent that Sam didn’t know they were there.

  It was then that other than the grunts coming from the two men, there was only silence. She saw the man freeze and then fall on top of Sam, but Willy stood ready to help him, and while Gina was torn between Sam and Journey, she knew Journey had been hit, and her medical skills may be needed. Leaving Willy to help Sam, she rushed to her friends.

  Journey was sitting up and holding Lucy’s shirt pressed against her head. Gina dropped beside her, “Is it bad?”

  Lucy who was kneeling beside Journey, shirtless. Goosebumps covered her chest and shoulders, “I think it’s just a graze, but she’s bleeding like a stuck pig.”

  “Let me see,” she said and pulled Journey’s hand and the shirt away. Lucy was right. Journey has a gash above her right eye that was weeping blood. Gina inspected the wound and pressed the shirt back against it, “You’d think we’d have our medical kit and some gauze instead of a nasty, smelly shirt to use for stopping the bleeding, wouldn’t you?” She turned to Lucy, “And look at you. Sitting there half naked showing off your little boobs.”

  Gina’s use of humor was all it took to release the tension. Lucy swatted at her and Journey sagged against her. Gina used both arms to surround her friends. She felt Journey’s shoulders shaking and held her tighter. Finally, Journey struggled against her and Gina let her pull away.

  Sniffing loudly, Journey asked, “Is it over? Did we win?”

  “This time,” Gina replied, “this time I think we did.”

  Gina had one of Sam’s tee shirts on under her outer shirt and peeled the outside shirt off. Shoving it at Lucy, “Cover yourself up, or you’ll be attracting too much attention from the boys.”

  “You’d think we had something for me to put on but a nasty stinky used shirt.” Lucy laughed as she said it, throwing Gina’s words back at her. When Gina went to pull the shirt away, Lucy clutched to her breast, “Only teasing.”

  Now that she knew Journey was okay, she was reminded she’d left Sam in Willies care and looked toward them.

  Lucy saw the dilemma on Gina’s face, “Go! I’ve got this.”

  She ran back to where she found Willy helping Sam to roll the man away from Sam. “Oh my God, are you okay? Where are you hurt?”

  Sam stared at her blankly and looked down at himself. He patted his chest and took a few seconds to review his injuries, he wiped the blood on his chest and looked at it, “I’m not. I think it’s his.”

  While she wanted to fling herself down on Sam, she wanted to make sure the man was dead. She felt his neck for a pulse. Once on his back, she saw the knife buried to the hilt just below his ribcage and knew the wound was deadly. She shook her head at Willy.

  Willy stood, satisfied the fighting was over, hollered out, “Everyone check the bodies and make sure they’re dead.”

  “No, wait…” Gina hollered, “John, put your guns down. It’s us. Sam and Gina. It’s all over.”

  “Gina? Sam?”

  “Yes, and we’ve brought friends.”

  Willy leaned away from her and covered his ears. “Dang! Did you have to yell quite so loud?”

  “Well, I didn’t want him to shoot one of us, because, John doesn’t know you and may have thought you were one of them,” she said to Willy.

  “And I appreciate that,” Willy said and showed her his teeth when he grinned at her.

  The whine of a motor turning over broke the silence, and Willy turned to run toward the sound, but after a few steps, Willy realized he’d never reach it in time to stop them. The sounds of an over-revved motor faded away to the east.

  “Damn, now we have to go and find them,” Willy said in disgust.

  “Oh, there’s no need for that, they’ll be back. I can almost guarantee it,” John said as he and Mark walked toward them.

  John held out his hand to W
illy and introduced himself and Mark.

  Mark, tipped his head and squinted, as he shook Willy’s hand, “Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.”

  “Depends on whether you spent some time in St. Regis, but I don’t think so.”

  “I usually never forget a face. Given enough time, it’ll come to me.”

  All three men turned to look at the sound of breaking branches and rolling rocks. Charlie and Abby burst from out of the underbrush, both carrying their rifles. Red-faced and out of breath, from his hasty decent Charlie looked around for his son’s and spotted the three of them standing together. He hurried toward them. Kenny appeared the most distressed with his pale face and hollow eyes, and Charlie seemed to understand just how hard it was for Kenny and pulled him into his arms, the other two pressed close.

  Gina would have expected the reunion to be filled with back-slapping and smiles, but it was anything but. It was easy to see the emotion on the boy's faces, but they were also trying to deal with the dead bodies strung around through the brush. Gina turned away from the father-son reunion. Everywhere she looked, her friends stood in groups of two or three, some laughing and some somber. She could feel the emotion in the air, and it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns, but enough to make her feel good knowing they were finally all together.

  Ben had both of his arms wrapped around Abby who appeared to be having an animated conversation with him. It seemed that Abby was the one doing all of the talking and Ben was indulging her by letting her talk.

  They had all taken lives this day, but it didn’t matter that they had been defending themselves, taking a human life under any circumstances was hard emotionally. Somehow, each of them would have to deal with it in their own way. Gina thought that for Charlie, having his boys together would be his reward for the hard-fought battle.

  It surprised Gina that the reunion of John and Sam wasn’t as physical as she would have expected. John stood looking down at him. All he said to Sam was, “That’s not your blood?”