Chapter 17

We arranged for the women to eat, clean up, and dress in real clothes. Heather and Dad came into the square. Heather's arm was in a sling and Dad was limping and using crutches. Pat was with them. I said, "Dad, how bad is it?"

"It's bad enough. Miss Mabel ways I will fully recover though will know more about the weather from now on." He grinned a little. "Heather will be fine. Give me about a month and I'll be getting around okay."

The former Kings were either stubborn or stupid. Only two survived the questioning. I have to admit that I was more inclined to kill with Marie and Bill having been killed and seeing the captive women. In the end, only two men were left alive. The third man who had told us about the women. The other was the last one left after the last three in line tried to escape. They broke away from the other man and started running. The first two went down to our sentries' shots. The last was taken out by a Bradley gunner. Three cannon shells destroyed him pretty completely. It took a while for the four that the captive woman had shot to succumb to their injuries but they eventually did, probably from blood loss. We had Bob McRae and Jack Ellis left along with the women.

Heather and Miss Mabel examined the women. They told Karen and me that the one who was the worst off might never recover from the savagery to which they had been subjected. Miss Mabel had talked to her and one other. They would go with her. Two others would stay with Karen as they figured out what to do with their lives as would the two men. The last two would live with us. One of them was the one who had shot the four men. Susan Hart was the shooter and Morgan Wallace had known her for some period before their capture.

Susan said, "Thanks for taking us in. We'll work for our keep. We had avoided the gangs for so long and then we were caught about a month ago. I was hanging on hoping for a chance to escape. If not, I planned to die in the attempt. What we were being forced to do was not living." Morgan nodded.

It was late afternoon but we all loaded up and went to our various homes.

Upon our return, we put the two ladies in rooms and Pat showed them the shower facility. Heather and Dad went into their room to sleep off the pain killers that Miss Mabel had given them. I went into the kitchen to start some supper. Pat came in and said, "Nothing too heavy. They haven't been fed well. Let's do a sweet onion soup with deer burgers. I'll do a salad."

That's what we did. The four of us ate quietly. After supper, Susan asked, "Do you mind if we use the same bedroom for a while? Morgan and I need someone close right now."

Pat said, "That's no problem. Mark, Junior, will be glad to get his bedroom back."

Mark, Junior, said, "Are you going to stay here with my mom and dad?" They nodded. He continued, "That will be nice. Granddad and Grandmom will appreciate having someone around here while they get better."

I said, "That doesn't mean you get out of your chores at all. You will have to help more because your granddad and grandmother are hurt."