Chapter 9

[Preservation – Janice]

A voice answered back, "How do we know you won't shoot us?"

Mark grinned and yelled back, "You don't. However, you know we will if you don't surrender. Make a choice." He took aim at the truck's radiator and put a bullet in it. I could see water coming from the hole. He shot the other truck's radiator. After another long few seconds, the hands opened a door and one man exited the truck with his hands in the air. "Move forward, but leave your pistols behind. No weapons even in holsters. We won't tell you again."

The man dropped his hands only long enough to remove his pistol and toss it away from his body toward the front of the truck. He came over to the side of the road. Mark said, "Sit down. Keep your hands up." He did both. Mark said, "Anyone else had enough or should we finish taking you out?" Slowly, one after another came out and walked to the edge of the road sitting beside the first one.

We had fifteen captives. I was the only one with a vest so stood where I could be seen. "Are there any more in the trucks?"

Captive One looked around and then said, "This is all that are left. I don't think there are any alive in the other trucks."

"You had better be right. Your lives depend upon telling me the truth and upon not trying any stunt. We didn't want this war but we won't lose it at this point."

Jerome, who had once gotten drunk and made a pass at me, said, "Missus Janice, I'll go down there and check it out if that's okay with you. You can cover me." I gave him my vest that he put on.

"Okay, Jerome, but be careful. I don't want to lose you."

"Yes, ma'am. Missus Janice, thanks." He went down to the road with only a pistol. The men sitting by the road watched him. Not a one made a move. He went to each truck and checked to be sure there were no survivors. He found one wounded man in one truck. "You two on the end, come here and pull him out so we can bandage him." The wounded man had been hit in the leg when a bullet penetrated the door and another bullet had gone across his chest. He would have a scar if he lived. Jerome found some rope and began to tie our captives' hands behind their backs.

When he finished, Mark and I came down as if others were still in the woods though only our Grenade launcher operator was still there. "Good job, Jerome. You did well."

"Thank you, Missus Janice. I told your husband I would watch out for you." He chuckled. "He said that you might do something brave that you didn't have to do. You're our leader, ma'am. You don't have to prove anything."

I laughed at that.

"Bennie, this is Janice. We have sixteen captives from the trucks and are waiting for instructions."

"We're just about finished here. Call you back in five."

It was a little less than five when he called, "I'm sending five to help you. Bring them down here and watch your back trail. I'm not sure I trust these bozos."

When Bennie's five men joined us, I told Mark, "Join Edmond. Keep a watch until you're told to come in or you're relieved."

He saluted me and said, "Yes, ma'am," moving back into the woods.

"Jerome, stay with me. Let's herd these to where Bennie has the others."

"Yes, Ma'am. Just one second." He went into one truck and returned with a stretcher. He pointed to two of our captives and untied their hands but retied them to the shafts of the stretcher. He and one of Bennie's men loaded the injured man on the stretcher and we all made our way down the road to Bennie.

"Good work, Jerome. Okay, folks. Let's get down the road." Our little party traveled to High Falls dam and met Bennie and his group.

Bennie asked, "Where's Mark and the launcher?"

"I sent them further up the road. Just in case, there was another incursion."

"Good thinking, Jan." He said, "What do we do with all these?"

"I think we need to get some questions answered by each one separately. There is the possibility that there are sheep and goats."

Bennie thought for a minute. Finally, he said, "Pick one of yours. We can take him to the Park Office for questioning."

"Okay. I'll meet you there." I went over to a rough looking one and helped him to his feet. I said, "We are going to question each of you and you're first." My only weapons were my knife and a pistol. I cut his ropes and watched as he flexed his arms.

He looked at me and said, "Where are the guards?"

"Just me. Let's go." I said. He charged me and I flipped him over my shoulder wrenching his arm and probably tearing a tendon or two.

"That wasn't smart. I will break it next time." Maybe he thought it was just luck that I flipped him. He charged again and I flipped him but held on and you could easily hear the crack of his arm breaking. He screamed loudly this time. Bennie and Jerome came running. They came close and began to laugh.

Bennie said, "Two tries thus far?"

"Yes. I hope he has learned a lesson. If not, I will have to hurt him this time."

Jerome looked over at our erstwhile prisoner and said, "You heard the lady. Come quietly or you will really suffer." He added, "By the way, she probably the best at hand-to-hand in Preservation. I tried her on once. It wasn't pretty and you aren't either." He and Bennie laughed.

I looked down at the guy and said, "It's been fun so far. If you get up quietly and come along like a good little boy, my husband and I have some questions and we'll get you patched up. Otherwise, I will damage you seriously. What's it going to be?"

He groaned with his arm hanging loosely. "I give up. I'll come with you quietly. Please fix my arm."

"Get up and follow me." I said as I moved toward the small building. He got to his feet painfully and followed docilely. I showed him to a chair and he sat down heavily. Bennie had been following. If he had tried something, he would have died.

Jerome had someone find a medic. Dr. Ollie came in and saw the prisoner and said, "You didn't listen, did you?" He looked more closely at the prisoner and said, "What's your name, son? I can see your arm is broken. Where else are you hurt?"

"My shoulder hurts, too. My name is Gene Travers. What are you going to do with us? I have a woman back at the camp. I want to see her again."

Bennie said, "First, Doctor Ollie is going to fix your arm. Second, while he is doing that, we have some questions to help us determine your future, if you have one." He paused. "Tell us your history, Gene. We're not in a hurry so take your time and be thorough."

"Before the Day, I was a corporal in the National Guard, just a grunt. When everything started to go down, we were called to active duty. Only about half of us could make it and most of those were sick. I'm not sure what we were supposed to do as we lost our officers before the end of the day. There was only one non-com left and he didn't know what we should do and was sick himself. His wife was a nurse and he brought us to the hospital where we worked to help with crowd control and with transporting patients. He died two days later along with his wife. Over the next two days, the rest of our troop died. I was alone. I had come to South Carolina for school and liked it so I stayed after graduating from college. I had a degree in accounting and worked for a CPA firm while paying my student loan. I enjoyed the National Guard and it gave me people to be with and a chance to be part of something. My parents were quickly dead from the virus. I had been adopted so I don't know about my biological parents. I never knew them. My folks were good people and I loved them. They were going to come see me in another month but the Day happened.

"I moped around and then found a small group of survivors. We didn't know each other or have much in common other than being alive. We lived by raiding the stores. I met a girl there and we came together. Carol's waiting for me at the main camp. We would like to be married but that's not allowed in the Triple-A's. It is a warrior group and I learned to shoot better and to kill. Don't send me back but help me get Carol out.

"We would like to have a life together. We don't want to be part of the Triple-A's. There's just no other choice. One of the Six uses her, which is against the rules since we have a relationship. If you argue, you go out on a patrol and don't return. Then woman goes into the rape pool. We have seen it happen to other couples."

Bennie said, "Doc, are finished with him?" Doctor Ollie nodded. "Gene, we're going to put you in a different area. There is still fighting going on west of here. Once the issue is decided and we are assured of winning, we will consider what comes next. My father in-law is our leader and he will set our direction for our next steps. I will let you know."

I left to get another volunteer. I stepped up to them and said, "Who's next?"

One of them said, "I'll go next."

I said, "Okay, are you going to come peacefully or do you want to try something?"

He said, "I'll go peacefully. You took Travers easily and I've practiced with him. You're a mighty pretty lady to be so tough. Your husband is a lucky guy."

"Tell him, you'll see him in a minute." I pulled him up by one arm and we went into our temporary interrogation room.

He came in and Bennie said, "You've met my wife, Janice. I'm Bennie. What's your name?"