Chapter 2

[Janice writes from Houston]

He said, "It is now. A screwdriver was in the works. The engine might have exploded when it sucked it in. I've been checking the rest of the plane out."

I left our current prisoner with Bennie and walked over to the original captive with the dislocated shoulder and twisted it. He screamed. I said, "I thought you said you hadn't done anything to the plane. It appears you lied and that can be deadly for you."

"I didn't do anything. I must have dropped it when I jumped down when you scared me." I have his arm another twist.

"I don't believe you. You won't need any medical help. I kill people who try to harm my family." I walked around the plane. I started to look it over carefully. For some reason, I looked at the tires. I saw nails that were set to puncture the tires when we started out. I got down on the ground and began to inspect each tire very carefully visually and manually. I found more nails. I collected them. I retrieved a hammer from the tool bag and walked over to our first prisoner. He was on the ground. I took the hammer and a nail and slammed the nail into his leg close to his knee. He screamed. That brought Bennie and the other prisoner and Robby and Pam over to the two of us. I had a second nail and was preparing to nail some more of his pants leg to his leg.

Pam said, quietly, "What are you doing, Janice?"

I said, "I found these nails at the tires ready to puncture them when we rolled later. I decided to put them to use on the perpetrator instead."

"Oh. You might move it about a quarter inch to the right. It should catch the main nerve going down the leg." I moved it and slammed the nail into his leg. He screamed again and passed out.

"Bennie, perhaps our other guest would like to be more forthcoming about their purposes and instructions before he is nailed."

Bennie grabbed him where he had been shot and said, "Talk!"

The man screamed in pain. He moaned, "I'll talk. I'll tell you anything you want to know."

I looked at him and said, "You know, if I even think you are not being completely and absolutely honest with us, you will eventually die but it will take a while and hurt the whole time." He looked at me and I think he believed me totally.

Robby says that an open threat that is believable and delivered in a matter of fact manner can be more effective than real torture unless you just want to torture the victim. I always had the feeling that he knew all this from personal knowledge though I never asked and he never volunteered. Robby wasn't quite as big as Bennie. He is a gentle and loving husband as is Bennie and is almost as strong. Both were capable of violence and looked threatening without really trying.

"Now," I said, "what were the instructions regarding the plane and it occupants?"

"We were told to sabotage the plane and take the people captive. Our people are short on women. When we arrived and saw that there were women in the party, it was really good. Women don't fight in our group."

"That didn't work out so well. You mentioned your group. Tell us all about your group."

"I lived in Houston before the Day. I was a child when it occurred. My parents, sister, and I survived the virus. We got along for a few years raiding the stores until the power finally went out. We weren't prepared. We began to search for a new place and ran into people during the process. We had avoided people previously. My sister met a guy her age and they liked each other. She moved in with him. My parents didn't like that but she was sixteen or seventeen by then. I would see her occasionally but my parents avoided her. We lived on the outskirts of a loose group of people and were doing okay until an organized group from another area of Houston came in. My parents fought and were killed. I had been visiting my sister and her guy. They heard the fighting and were more prepared. She and I and some others were hidden. Her guy was killed in the fighting. Both groups were hurt but the loose group that my family had been a part of was no more. We came out of hiding. My sister was taken away with the other women and I was put to work helping clean up the bodies. I only saw her one more time. She was naked and being forced repeatedly by the men from the new group. She died a couple of weeks later.

"The group that took over was called the Missioners and were led by a big man named Fred. He was cruel and ruled with an iron hand. A husband caught him raping his wife and managed to kill him. After that Myron took over. Three or four years ago, he was killed and Nolan took over. He split us into groups and my group was assigned this northeast area and the airport. Our standard instructions for anyone entering the area was to take them captive and bring them to Nolan at his headquarters in a mansion further in town. Until the year before Nolan took over, we still had power in some areas. About twice a year, someone will wander into the area and we will capture them and bring them to Nolan. Usually, the men were killed and the women sent to the headquarters. Mosley, our group's leader, said that we would use the women before taking them to Nolan this time. All the women are kept in a building next to Nolan's headquarters and aren't available to us up here."