Chapter 2

[Janice]

We watched as two wagons pulled by horses came toward us with people waving excitedly.

We stood with hands hanging loosely at our sides until they came close. We waved back as they came close. They pulled up about fifty feet from us and piled out. Two men and two women approached us slowly and with a little care. I noticed one of the men eying me a little harder than really appropriate. Bennie saw that and gave him "the look." He moved his gaze away from me. The other three seemed to be normal people. They looked us over but without the lewd hunger of the other man.

The kinder looking man said, "Hello. Welcome to Champaign. I'm Glenn. This is Sandra." He pointed at the woman next to him. "They are Ed and Lisa."

Bennie responded, "I'm Bennie Sullivan and this is my wife, Janice. We're from the communities of Preservation and Protection checking out the area to the north of our territories." I was watching Ed and Lisa's faces as the introductions were made. Lisa looked troubled. Ed was back to looking at me hungrily.

Bennie continued, "We believe in freedom and responsibility. We are open to associating with like-minded groups that we find." I kept silent and watched the four and those in the wagons. He continued, "As you can see, we possess some technology. Our communities have electrical power and we can communicate. Our leaderships are elected by the members of our communities. Between the two, we are many hundreds strong and growing at a healthy rate mostly from children. We also have doctors and hospitals.

"What's your situation?"

At that moment, I heard a noise and turned to see a man trying to sneak over to our plane. I said, "Unless he's suicidal, call him away from the plane or I will shoot him." No one said anything. He was about fifty feet away from the plane when I drew and shot him with my pistol. He fell dead on the tarmac. I kept my pistol out and turned to face them.

Bennie said, "Glenn, that wasn't smart. I think that you should go back to your wagons and leave."

Glenn's eyes hardened. "We don't want you but your little wifie will stay with us. Ed and I need a new play toy."

Bennie chuckled, "I don't think that will work either. Now, one of you is already dead. If you don't want anyone else to wind up that way, I suggest you move away."

Glenn went for a gun and I gut shot him. The two women froze. Ed started for me with a knife. I tossed my pistol to Bennie and said, "Come on, fool." He advanced on me holding the knife like you saw in the movies. I let him get close and, when he started to grab me, threw him shoving the knife in his stomach as he went over. His eyes had a shocked look as they glazed over. He had fainted but, based upon the blood, probably regaining consciousness wouldn't matter.

"Ladies, keep your hands clear." Sandra looked like she might try something. Lisa merely looked sick. Bennie was not going to fool around. He handed my pistol back to me saying, "Nice takedown, Hun. I'll check the perimeter while you hold them."

I nodded and said, "You two will stay here. If anyone tries anything, you will be the first to die."

A few minutes passed and I heard Bennie's voice say, "Drop the rifle." There was the boom of Bennie's pistol. He came out a minute later. "There was one other. He wasn't smart." He moved over to the wagons and said, "Everybody out." He motioned with his pistol. They all got out. Four teenaged girls eased out. They were holding two smaller children and one baby. There were two young teenaged boys who got out, also.

As they came over toward me, I said, "Lisa, what was going on?"

She answered, "Glenn, Ed, and the other two took over about three weeks ago. Sandra was with them. They killed my husband and two other young men and forced us to have sex with them and to serve them. They were going to take you, too."

I chuckled harshly. "Ed's who were trying to rape me haven't been lucky in the past. That still holds true today." I noticed that Glenn and Ed had both passed out from blood loss and were very close to passing on (pun intended). I looked at Sandra with hard eyes and said, "What's your story, Sandra?"

"They took me about six months ago killing my man. We didn't have any children and were just scratching out a living at a farm we had found and taken over. I didn't have any choice except to go with them or die. Glenn could be all right most of the time. Ed was the bad one. I think Glenn might have been okay but Ed would egg him on to doing things that were bad. It was Ed who killed John."

She looked at me. "We're not bad looking but you are beautiful. They wanted you from the moment they saw you. The plane was the goal but it changed to you when they saw you."

Bennie said, "Well, that didn't work out very well for them. The question now relates to you folks. Are you going to try to make it here, go separate ways, or try to find a community?"

Lisa said, "I don't know about the others but I want to be part of a community. Preservation and Protection sound like good places to be safe and prosper."

Bennie said, "You will find that Protection, which is the closest, like the other, is a good place. Everyone works and the children go to school. We have a lot of technology rebuilt or restored. You can see one example in the airplane. Janice and I are using it to explore with the blessings of the leaderships of both communities. I can draw a map to head you in the right direction. I will also let them know by radio after we leave so they can expect you."

One of the teenaged girls looked at me and said, "They may have made me pregnant. What will your people do to me?"

"Nothing bad. It will be your choice to have the baby or not. Rapes have occurred and, unfortunately for those not in a safe community, will occur again. You were not at fault. There is no stain attached to you nor to any child now or in the future."

She looked relieved. Sandra said, "It would be nice to be with good people again. This world has been hard. I had a husband before the Day but the virus got him. We had plans. Now, I just want some peace and a fresh start. Protection sounds good to me."