Chapter 29

I dropped my rifle as I jumped from the truck and started to run towards the cave.

Emily yelled after me, “Andy! Where are you going? What are you doing?”

“That’s Kendra up there defending the cave! I have to get up there and help her.”

“Are you crazy? You’re not even armed! What are you planning to do? Yell at them to scare them away?”

I stopped and turned around just as Karen walked up. “She’s right you know. It would be suicide charging in there unprepared and unarmed. Do you have any idea what you are going to do to help her?” I gave her a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look. “I didn’t think so. Let’s see, we can either let you charge in by yourself and get your butt kicked or work together and come up with a plan to rescue them.”

I climbed back up on top of the truck and sighted back in on the cave. They had decided that this was the best place for me because my thinking tended to get foggy when it came to Kendra, especially when she was in danger. They cited my dropping my weapon to run up and try to help as an example. They are right of course, I did not think and just reacted when I saw her. So now I am here on the truck, with Emily to keep me focused, watching for anyone trying to sneak in and attack. Keela was minding Keedo while Lita, Jenny and Johnny were preparing for any medical emergencies that might come up. Takim, Karen, and Andrea are making their way toward the cave, eliminating any threats they find on the way. Once they make it near the cave, they are supposed let Emily and I know it is safe, at which point Shahana and I would drive the vehicles up.

Kendra had resumed her defense of the cave, assisted by several natives. I assumed those inside were members of the defender’s clan. Then someone briefly moved into the light at the mouth of the cave before disappearing back into the darkness.

“Em, did you see what I think I just saw?”

“I didn’t see anything unusual. What do you think you saw?”

I scanned the cave mouth with the scope, hoping to catch another glimpse. “I can’t be sure, but I swear that I saw someone in the cave wearing a Letterman’s jacket.”

“A Letterman’s jacket? That’s not possible! But if it’s true, that means there are more of us here than we thought. Where did you see the jacket?”

“It was pretty close to the left side. Whoever it was wasn’t in the light for long so I’m not sure if it’s male or female. See if you can spot them or maybe catch a glimpse of their light. I need to talk to Mali.”

I contacted Mali and explained what I thought I saw.

“I don’t see how that’s possible Andy. The only other person our group has transported is your mate Kendra. Perhaps it was a trick of the light and it just looked like that.”

“I guess that is a possibility, but I’m almost positive it was a school jacket.”

Emily nudged me. “There’s a boy wearing a jacket and he looks scared and confused. Oh my gosh! It is a Letterman’s jacket! And I think it’s from my school! What is going on Andy? How can there be someone from my school up there? We’re not expecting any males.”

“Andy, my scan shows fifteen individuals between you and the cave plus thirty-six more inside. Correction. There are now ten individuals between you and the cave, seven are moving away. The other three are Karen, Takim, and Andrea. They are discussing whether to go after the ones that are leaving or head up to the cave.“

“Karen, this is Andy. Let the ones that are leaving go. I think they’ve had more losses than they expected and are going to lick their wounds. Do not approach the people in the cave. We have something strange going on there and we need to have a meeting before we do that. Mali says the area is clear and can let us know if something needs our attention, so you three make your way back to the trucks.”

“Okay Andy. Let me tell the others.” There was a pause. “Andy, Takim says he is going to stay here to keep an eye on things. He understands that he has to keep out of sight and not to approach those in the cave. Andrea and I are on our way back to your location.”

Karen and Andrea managed to return in about ten minutes without any problems. Emily kept an eye on the cave while I gave Karen a brief rundown of the situation. When I finished, she gave me her thoughts and suggestions.

“One thing’s for certain Andy, they don’t have any weapons like we do. If they did they would have made short work of the attackers. Until we find out more about them I think it would be smart if don’t show ours firearms. The only shot fired was when you picked off the one above the cave, and he ended up at the bottom of the hill. I’m pretty sure nobody heard the shot over the fighting, especially from this distance. I think we should lock the firearms in the vehicle storage areas and just go in with knives and spears. We’ve all practiced self-defense with them so we shouldn’t have any problems if something unexpected comes up.”

“Why do we need to hide them? They don’t work for anyone we haven’t authorized.”

“Because if those people are from where we came from then they know what firearms are and may try to take them. You remember how people were back home. They don’t know they won’t work for them and if they find out, they may try to force us to activate them. No, until Emily can get a read of their colors, I think it’s best they believe that spears and knives are all we have. That also means going up to them on foot. Since we won’t need to try to hide ourselves, we can be there in a few minutes.”

“I don’t see why we should go on foot. If we leave the vehicles, we’re going to have to come back for any supplies, especially if we end up spending the night here. I would rather have the vehicles with us. We don’t have to let anyone mess with them.”

As we neared the cave, I could see a flurry of activity. Kendra was standing just outside of the cave watching our approach while several natives were using their spears to keep others inside.

“Hello the cave! We saw the fighting. Is everyone okay?”

The response wasn’t what I expected. “Hello yourself. We have a few injuries and one fatality but otherwise we’re fine. I have to say it’s about time you showed up. What took you so long?” I started to approach the cave. “You better keep back for now. My friends are a bit edgy, as you can imagine.”

“Kendra, is it really you? I thought ... no, I was sure it was you when I saw you fighting off the attackers. You said there are injured. I have a couple of top-notch doctors with me that can take a look at them. What do you mean what took me so long? How did you know I was coming?”

“I knew you would be coming for me, I just didn’t know when you would get here. When I woke this morning I knew you would be here today but I expected you hours ago, not so late in the day. We can discuss that later though. Right now we have a bit of a problem. Let me get...”

A male voice called out from the cave. “What’s going on out there girlie? Who ya talkin’ to? Why, it ain’t nothin’ but more kids. Heh, more fun for me. Why don’t you have ‘em come up and we can get to know each other better.”

Emily grabbed my arm tightly as Kendra turned and pointed her spear at the man who was exiting the cave. As she spoke, I realized that we had been speaking in the local language. She addressed the man using broken Earth English. “CoachFoust.” she ran his name together as if it were one word, “You return to your people. You have already lost several of yours as well as some of my people as a result of your foolishness. This man is the leader of a clan that is known to me and I will not have you cause bad relations for us with them. Now go.” She jabbed the spear in his direction and he returned to the cave.

During Kendra’s confrontation with the coach, Emily pulled me down and whispered “He’s worse than your attorney, Matt, was. We need to keep an eye on him.”

I was about to ask her to elaborate when Kendra called out in the local language. “Ahn-dee, I’m talking like this so my guests can’t understand us. They are not getting along with my native friends so I will send them to join you. Once the guests are safely with your group, you and Em-lee come with your healer. We will talk while your healer takes care of the injured. And don’t forget your knife and spear.”

She turned and spoke to someone in the cave. There seemed to be a difference of opinion, resulting in a change of plan.

“Ahn-dee. Kara is sending her people down instead. Our guests are to remain in here, guarded by two of her hunters.”

Soon a stream of natives emerged, some carrying bundles of skins while others worked in teams to carry litters loaded with other items. The guards made threatening gestures as some of the non-natives attempted to leave. Except for the guards, there were twenty natives that joined us, led by a woman that appeared to be the oldest of the group. By my estimation, two-thirds of them were no older than fifteen and half of those were female. Emily noted no aggressiveness or anger so I sent them to Andrea and my clan that were waiting on the plain. Johnny joined Emily and I as our healer and the three of us headed for the cave. I still had not seen Takim.

“Oh Ahn-dee and Em-lee, I have missed you so much.” We gave each other a quick hug before she continued. “Laarusk said you would be along to find me when he dropped me off with Kara’s group, but he didn’t tell me it would be a week. I was starting to worry.” She looked hard at Johnny, who had gone to care for the injured natives. “Em, isn’t that one of your neighbors kids?”

“Yeah, it is. Johnny and his sister managed to stow away in one of Andy’s containers. You’ve been here a week? Never-mind. We can talk about all that later. First off,” she pointed to the coach’s group, “what are they doing here? I mean how did they get here?”

“I don’t know. They came running into the cave about an hour ago being chased by that group you helped drive off. Seems the coach there managed to really piss off the people of that tribe and they want his head. All I knew then was that they are from our school on our old world and they needed help. He lost a few kids during the chase and the last one there got caught by a thrown spear.”

That last comment caught my attention. I looked at the jacket covered body. “Did you say a thrown spear?”

“Yeah. Coach said it flew in and caught the boy in the back.”

“Ken ... ah, the natives here, at least all the ones I’ve encountered, use stabbing spears. I mean, look at the ones the guards have. Do they look like they would fly well if they were thrown? What do you know about the dead boy?”

“His name was Gene, that’s all I know. The two youngest girls and the older one with them kept calling his name and crying over him. I hadn’t noticed that about the spears but you’re right. It probably wouldn’t fly the length of this cave.”

“There’s something very strange going on with them.” said Emily. “Notice how almost everyone is near the coach except those three? Of the ten of them, we have two obvious couples, one angry young man, one boy that is practically drooling over the coach, and the three girls who are obviously terrified of him. Judging from his colors, they have every right to be. And did you notice how they are looking at us? When they look at him, their colors are all negative. When the oldest looks at as, I get conflicting readings, happy and sad, joy and fear, confusion and realization. It’s like she is happy to see us, but sad as well.”

I turned and pointed to the older girl of the three. Using my best faked English I called out, “You, come here. I wish to speak with you. And bring the little ones.”

I expected them to be shy and take their time coming over. Instead, the older girl leaned down and whispered something to the younger ones, then they all got up and ran to us. I then experienced my third shock of the day.

“I recognize you. You’re Kendra Dawson and Emily Davis.” said the older girl in a half whisper. “I wasn’t sure because you were talking so weird but it is you, isn’t it?”

Kendra and Emily looked at each other before nodding.

“I knew it! So that means you must be Andy. I thought you were older though.” She pulled the younger girls to her. “Does this mean we’re dead too?”

I held up my hand to forestall any answers and started to usher the girls outside where we could talk openly. I wanted some answers without the coach hearing us. He had other ideas.

“Hey! Where you think you’re goin’ with my girls?” One of the guards blocked him with his spear. “Hey, watch it with that thing, you almost stabbed me. Girls, you get back here right now! You cain’t go off with no natives. I’m in charge of you!”

I told the girls to keep going, then turned and rested my hand on my knife. “CoachFoust, these girls belong to no one. I am taking them into the sun to speak with them and will return. If they choose to remain with you and the others they will be allowed to do so. If they choose to join my clan, they will be welcome. This offer is open to all in your group. The choice will be their own and not commanded by you. Now return to your people and be silent.”

The coach was definitely perturbed by my telling him what to do, but kept his mouth shut. I turned and went to where the girls were. It looked like the older girl was talking until she noticed my approach.

When I finally joined them, Kendra made the introductions. The two younger girls were Abby and Gayle Adams, twelve-year-old twin sisters of Gene Adams, the dead boy.

“And this is Sheila Fox. She and Emily were in the same grade.”

“It is good to meet you all, although I wish it were under other circumstances. I can’t tell you how bad I feel about the loss of your brother. Do any of you know how you got here?”

The younger girls just shook their heads no and Sheila choked back a sob. “I don’t know how we got here. The last thing I remember was that semi swerving across the highway in front of our bus and a big fireball, then waking up on the ground here with everybody else. Once everyone came to, Coach got us moving towards these hills. Everything was fine until we came up on that bunch of barbarians. The coach and six others went to see if they could tell us where we are and maybe get something to eat. I don’t know what happened but the next thing I knew, Daniel was on the ground with a spear in him and the others were running back towards us yelling for us to run. We didn’t stop until we got to the cave. That’s when we found out that TJ, Gene, and the coach were the only ones that made it.” She looked over at the body. “Well, Gene almost made it. If it weren’t for Kendra and her friends, I doubt any of us would have survived.” She broke down crying. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”