Chapter 18

My adopted niece, Alice is fifteen. She is a beautiful young lady guided by an active, intelligent mind. There are now other teens her age around.

Trevor is getting a run for his money with a fairly new young man, Sam Martin. He and his parents joined us after talking to Ed on the radio. They were the first to travel to join us as a result of our radio efforts. A fourth came on the scene six months ago. It’s a girl who is about sixteen though I believe she’s younger. She’s had a rough life but has learned to protect herself quite effectively. She has no last name. She claims not to remember it. That may be true, it holds bad memories or there is trauma blocking it. The four are all good looking, smart, and knowledgeable about conditions outside our group’s area.

I include that last because they have become our first rank of explorers. All four of them are widely read and study tactics and weapons including shooting targets regularly. They have been taught to drive anything and can ride horses, mules, and even cattle. They have brought in all the new stock we have as well as have knowledge of the status of every group for fifty miles around. A couple of those groups don’t even know of us for good reason.

One particular group had claimed Monroe. Their claim was not complete as our intrepid quartet had spied upon them extensively. So it was that, one day, they came to me and said, “I think we have a problem. The Monroe group has heard a rumor that our group exists and is sending a group of their warriors to claim our land and women. We think we can stop them but it will take a bit of a war to do that.”

Alice looked at me. “I don’t think Sue or I would like them. We’re gonna have a fight. The question is where we fight. I would prefer it be in their backyard rather than ours.”

“Well, Niece, do you have a plan?”

She grinned, “Yes, sir. As it happens, I do. The four of us worked it out as we traveled back.

“We’ve looked at their route to attack based upon their methods and what they know of us. It follows your methods and keeps things simple. We’re expecting ten or fifteen in their attacking party. They won’t want less but will have a real challenge within their own ranks if they took more. We will need to clear their attacking party and then go after the rest of them which will be in twos and threes. They are spread very thinly but can’t gather without a revolt.”

Trevor said, “We know the leader and his two primary helpers. We expect the rest to surrender with those three out of the picture. It won’t be too hard to take them out.”

Sam said, “We expect their leader and one of the other two leading the attack. We’ll get those. After they’re down, we expect the rest to hang it up. We’ll need numbers to stop them from trying anything. Then, we can head into town. We know all their spots and how to hit them.”

I said, “It looks like you have it planned out and just want reinforcements if your plans go south. I can get ten or fifteen to back you up easily.”

“Thanks, Hank. I appreciate your support. We need to leave early in the morning to be at our ambush spot before our targets get to our planned ambush spot. We expect them to be in trucks. If they’re not, there will still be a big bang.”

The four grabbed some supplies and left on their horses. Sarah got on the radio and called for volunteers. She quickly received plenty of people who would go and would be prepared to fight. There was a large group who were close to Monroe who would make up about half our group. When she counted, we had over twenty people plus our intrepid four. We set a time for early in the morning. We gathered about half the party at our house and moved out. On the way, we met the rest of the group and then moved quietly to join the quortet who showed us our positions. I looked it over and liked the positions. We waited.

It didn’t take long for the bad guys to show up. They were all riding motorcycles and entered the clearing where there was a crossroad with a convenience store. The rumble strips were hidden and the front four motorcycles ran over them with expected results. According to the plan, all roads had rumble strips. The gang stopped, knowing someone did this. From a low bush, Alice’s voice came to them. “Where were you going? The area that you’re entering is occupied and protected.”

One of the men said, “We go where we want. We’re the bosses around here. Show your face, honey, and we’ll see what ‘you’ve’ got.”

From the other side of the clearing, Alice stepped out. “I’m right here, ‘asshole.’ and what I’ve got is not for you.”

The gang’s spokesman didn’t like that. He said, “Bitch, you can’t tell me what I can or can’t do or have. We’re coming through here. I will take you ‘cause I like ‘em young. You’ll do.”

Alice raised her rifle and, in one motion, shot him between the eyes making the back of his head explode. She then dived for cover as his friends pulled their guns and started shooting. Our party joined in and the field was quickly cleared of the gang except for one guy who surrendered. Alice had her doubts about him being allowed to live.

We regrouped. We had no losses and moved onto Monroe picking up two bad guys as we traveled. They were taken into custody. Before we arrived in Monroe proper, we went toward an ambush which we foiled. We took two more prisoners. Leaving five of theirs dead. Our next target was a large store which had been converted into a jail and women’s dormitory. The men were killed. The women were glad to get out. All listened to Sarah and Alice tell of our group and wanted to join us giving us eight new members.

Alice reported that the gang was gone now and we could stand down. She said, “We have six prisoners but they aren’t worth keeping. I suggest giving the women they had captured guns and let them do what they will though it will be messy. I don’t think any of them will receive mercy.”

“They shouldn’t abuse women.”

“That’s true, Uncle Hank.”

We armed the women who dispatched the men to die slowly. None of them laughed but did show signs that they had wiped some demons from their lives. We leaded up to return to our homes. As was usual when a large group of us were traveling, we were organized with point and rear guards. We arrived back at our house without a problem.

It was our usual practice to house new people at our house as they got their bearings. This time proved to be no exception though one younger girl did move in with her aunt and her fairly new husband. I hoped that would work well.

According to Alice, that was working well and that Sam was interested in her.

As time went on, our boarders left for places of their own, some with a husband and some living with other women found and brought to freedom by some action of ours.

It’s been another year and all is well. Maybe, it’s even better. Sarah is pregnant with our child. We have read and studied the books. Sarah was having an easy pregnancy. I was glad because we had no doctor though did have two solid nurses, one of who worked with newborns. Alice was almost as excited as we. She was still traveling though the quartet was now a quintet. They were all involved in knowing what was going on in the area. Brittany and Sam were solid as a couple and Alice could have Trevor any time she wanted. I told her that making a selection would be a good idea before another girl showed up and took his heart.

The weeks roll by and we are into summer. Everything seems to slow down. Our quintet is still going strong checking out any new people or hints of people who are mistreating others. I’m always concerned about that type of group because our five could run into such a group and be in trouble.