Chapter 7

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and were heading over to the farmhouse where Rhonda and Tracy's group were staying when my cell phone rang. It was Rhonda and she sounded really upset. "Mike, there's a guy outside with a bullhorn and a gun. He spouting some really strange shit about how he's been given some vision telling him that he is king of the earth and all women are to be his slaves. He has four naked women he's placed dog collars on, handcuffed, and connected with leashes to the back bumper on his truck. We're scared Mike! Can you come help us?"

"We're already on our way Rhonda; but don't let him know that. Tell me a bit more about this farmhouse you're in and the lay of the land around it," I instructed.

The farmhouse was set back from the road and hidden somewhat by the trees. There were two barns nearby and several large fenced in areas adjacent to them. A couple of other outbuildings were scattered about the property and might provide some cover. She apologized for not being able to give me a better picture of the place; but I told Rhonda that I understood and thanked her for what she was able to tell me. She didn't live there and had probably never thought she needed to know the kinds of details that would have been useful to me.

We were all piled into the Cherokee since this wasn't a supply run. I was glad because it let me tell everyone what was going on without having to repeat myself.

"Gil, I know the Street Sweeper freaked you out a bit, but you didn't seem bothered by my guns in the store; you ever have to use one before?"

"My Uncle and I used to do a bit of hunting from time to time; quite a bit actually I guess. What did you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't like the idea of any of those women getting hurt and I don't want any of us hurt either. On the other hand I'm not at all concerned about the safety of the bastard who wants to make them his slaves.

Did you ever do any bow hunting?"

"Some. I'm better with a rifle though," Gil told me.

"Well I'm more interested in knowing if you can move quietly through the woods. Rhonda said the farmhouse is quite a ways off of the main road. There's supposed to be a thick stand of trees between the road and the house. I was thinking that if you could work your way through the wooded area without alerting him to our presence that I'd come from the side she said was shielded by a barn. We can kind of triangulate on his position.

I don't know which of us will have the better shot and there are the women to be concerned about to. I've got a half dozen flash bangs and a couple of smoke grenades as well; but if he's still close to the women he's already taken captive, there won't be any choice but to ice the bastard. Like I said, I don't know which one of us will have the shot; but if you had to, could you kill a man?"

Gil was quiet for a while but then he answered me, "If he's hurting those women I know I could Mike."

"That's good enough for me Gil. As far as I'm concerned we can't afford to have lunatics like that running around. If we have to drop him, and I have the shot, I won't hesitate."

"Me neither."

I was really starting to get pissed. This was the first day we'd ventured out of the Cabin and we are met with wild dogs and insane assholes! What the fuck was happening to the world?

When I found the crossroad that Rhonda had mentioned was our turnoff, I parked the Cherokee hoping that we were still far enough away not to have been heard at the farmhouse. Dawn still had her Glock and all of the women had their radios tuned to the frequency we had agreed on. Gil and I headed out at a fast jog for the tree line. Gil and I both had two of the little radios; one set to the frequency the women would be using, and another that was set to a different frequency that he and I would use to coordinate our moves.

Rhonda's directions had been accurate and the picture she had given me of the place over the phone was pretty good as well. Gil moved very quietly through the trees until he was about fifteen feet in from the edge of the tree line nearest the farmhouse. I skirted the back edge of a hill and ducked into the barn from the side away from the house. I climbed up into the hay loft and listened for a moment.

The bastard was still making a lot of racket on the bullhorn; I figured he must be the kind that loved to hear his own voice. As loud as he was I figured I could probably slide the loft doors open five or six inches and target him from up here without him hearing anything to alert him to my presence.

"Mike," Gil's voice came very softly over the radio, "the son of a bitch is hiding behind one of the cars. That's probably why Tracy hasn't bagged him with the Glock. He's a bit closer to you than he is to my position and he keeps hopping all over the place. I don't know what he's on but the fucker is so jumpy I don't know if he'll stay long enough for me to get him with a single shot."

"I copy. Just give me a minute Gil."

I'd just met Gil this morning, now here we were dealing with an armed man high as a kite who'd already proven to be violent; but somehow I knew I'd be able to count on Gil and it seemed as if he trusted me as well. It felt better to have backup in the situation in any case.

Through my binoculars I had a view of the bastard as if he was two feet away from me. His blue eyes were as bloodshot as could be; he was on somethin' all right. On top of that the women he'd captured looked in need of some medical attention. I saw that they were about two hundred feet away from his position. The flash bang might still hurt their ears for a while, but it would still be better than putting them into the middle of a gun fight if my first bullet didn't manage to put the asshole down permanently.

"Gil, cover your ears and turn your head away. I'm gonna stun that asshole with a flash bang grenade."

I pulled one from my vest, pulled the pin and threw it so that it landed right at assholes feet. Even from my position some 50 yards away the noise was tremendous. If I was lucky the bastard would be blinded temporarily and deafened long enough for me to get to him. As soon as the grenade had left my hand I was hustling down the ladder and out of the barn as fast as my legs could carry me. Gil had beaten me over to the fucker and busted him over the head with the butt of the Mossberg putting him down for the count.

"You move awfully fast Gil. Good job."

Moving quickly, I pulled two plastic wire ties from my vest and used one to truss assholes arms behind his back and the other to bind his ankles. Gil held the shotgun on the downed lunatic while I thumbed the radio and signaled my mates that we had the situation under control and they should head on in.

Rhonda and Tracy were headed my way by the time I reached the four women. It was easy to see that they'd been having a hard time of it. Asshole had obviously enjoyed throwing his weight around and had left them bruised. The sick fuck must take pleasure in the pain of others. He had pierced the women's nipples and had a thin metal wire running through them connecting all four women together. I'd never seen anything like it before and I hoped never to see anything like it again. As soon as Tracy saw the shape these poor innocent women were in, she started to cry.

"Rhonda, I know the rest of your crew hasn't met me yet and might be a little nervous; but these ladies need help. You need to gather some of the members of your group and get them out here right now please."

She headed back to the house at a run just as Maureen pulled the Cherokee into the drive. Maureen was an RN and had years of E.R. experience. Even so, she went a bit green around the gills as she looked at the sight before her. Soon enough she pulled herself together and began to issue directives. "Mike, we need to get these women in doors and warm as soon as possible. Do you have any idea how we can get rid of this awful wire linking them together?"

"I'll be right back."

Running to the Cherokee I grabbed the locking pliers with the built-in wire cutter from my tool box. I went back to the battered women and speaking softly said "Ladies, I'm going to be as careful and gentle as I can; but I need to cut this wire. Do you understand?"

I looked into four tired faces and received four slow nods of understanding. Patty, Dawn, and Becky had already removed the collars the bastard had fastened around the women's necks and I was able to get at them from the front. Patty stood on my left side and Dawn on my right, each holding the wire on both sides of the wire cutters so that it wouldn't jar the women's tender and sore nipples too much when I cut it. I made the three cuts as quickly as possible and then Maureen, with assistance from several women from the farmhouse, took the newly freed captives inside to get them cleaned up.

With Gil still standing guard over asshole, I searched his pockets until I found the keys to the handcuffs. I also removed the two knives and the handgun tucked into his belt. He started to come to when I rolled him onto his back so I could search his front pockets; I was so mad at the bastard that I kicked him really hard in the ribs when I stood back up.

Making sure Asshole could hear me I told Gil, "If the bastard moves, shoot him. If he speaks, shoot him. If you don't like the way he's looking at you, shoot him. Got it?"

"Yup!"

Gil looked into Asshole's eyes and said in a cold voice "Please act up Asshole! I'm dying to send you to hell you sack of shit!"

I headed to the house, but not before seeing that Asshole had been listening to Gil's words; he'd pissed his pants.

As quickly as I could I removed the handcuffs from each of the women. Maureen had raided the medicine cabinet in one of the bathrooms. She handed two Motrin tablets to each of the women to help with their pain and discomfort. Then, as gently as she could, she removed the wire from their swollen and bruised nipples. Their whimpers and shrieks of pain left no doubt that it hurt a great deal. Once the wire was out, Maureen bathed and cleaned the wounds with hydrogen peroxide and dressed them as best she could with the supplies available.

Except for Maureen, the other women all seemed to be in shock. The captives from the horrors they'd been subjected to, and the others from the shock of what they'd seen.

"Excuse me, but which one of you is Stephanie?"

"I am Sir!"

"Are you in charge here?"

"I was."

"What does that mean? Aren't you still in charge?" I asked somewhat surprised by her previous answer.

"No. You are. I think, if you'll let us, that we'd be better off following your lead Sir."

Oh shit! Here comes the 'Sir' stuff again.

"Well in any case, don't you think we should find some clothes for these four ladies?" I said as I gestured to the newly freed captives. "They've been through a lot and their probably cold, hungry, and tired."

Looking at them in turn I said to each of the four women "You're safe with us now. I won't let anyone harm you or force you to do something you don't want to do. We're getting you some clothes, but would any of you like to take a bath or shower first? Or maybe do you need to get something to eat or drink first?"

They all wanted water first. The farmhouse had three good sized bathrooms which was probably one of the reasons Stephanie had selected it in the first place. In the next hour each of the four women were bathed, clothed, and fed. While that was taking place I helped Gil take care of Asshole.

I grabbed a fistful of his hair and dragged him into the barn. Then, unpleasant as the task was, I used his own knife to cut his clothes off of him and put one of the sets of handcuffs he'd been using on the women on him. I found some rope and threw one end of it over the rafters in the barn. I tied the other end to the handcuffs and pulled the rope tight, raising his arms behind him into an unnatural and extremely painful position. I tied it off and left him like that. Gil didn't want to let the fucker out of his sight so I carried a chair out to him along with a blanket. Tracy and another woman brought him some coffee and a bite to eat and stayed to talk with him for a while.

When I went back into the house I was led to a comfortable chair and handed a cup of coffee. Each of my mates had paired up with one of the four victims helping them get cleaned up since they were quite weak from their ordeal. I used the time to meet the other women and talk a bit more with Stephanie. She had sort of been appointed as leader by default since she was the group's only faculty member left alive. Stephanie was in her early thirties and seemed quite intelligent.

"I have to ask you again Stephanie, how is it that you and the other women here want to join up with my family so quickly? After all, you don't really know me from Adam. After what's happened here today, how can you trust that I'm any better then the Asshole in the barn?"

"Well Sir, the women who are with you seem to respect you and you treat them with courtesy. They're all healthy and have no fear in their expressions when they look at you. On top of that, though it may sound a bit strange, it just 'feels right' to trust you. I don't know how to explain that Sir; but I don't know how to explain very much of what has happened in the past few weeks either," Stephanie answered as the other women in the room were nodding their heads in agreement with her words.

"Okay, but the name isn't Sir; it's Mike Telford."

"Alright Mr. Telford Sir."

"No!" I said with some exasperation. "Please call me Mike. Not Sir and not Mr. Telford. Okay?"

"I guess; but somehow that doesn't feel right."

Again, the other women were nodding their heads in agreement.

"What do you mean it doesn't feel right?" This was starting to freak me out just a bit and I wanted to know what she meant.

"It feels just a bit disrespectful to call you Mike; kind of like calling the President by his first name."

"Well I'm not the President! Even if I was, I bet that he has lots of people who are on a first name basis with him. Look, I'm asking you to please consider me your friend and call me by my first name. I'm Mike. Okay?" I asked with a smile.