Chapter 3: Homeward

We topped off on fuel and made our regular pit stop at a truck stop just outside of Highland Bluff. Since we had decided that whenever we stopped one of us would always be on guard I too first watch while I fueled the truck. All three girls ran for the restroom as soon as we stopped. They really had to go bad. Cheryl grabbed some chips and beef jerky when she was finished in the restroom. Michelle went to the beverage area after she came out of the restroom. She picked up some Pepsi for herself, Dr Pepper for me, Grape soda for Cheryl, and Diet Coke for Brenda. When Brenda was done with her potty break she walked up to me and said, "You can go use the little boys room now!"

When everyone was loaded up we pulled out and started for home. Brenda was feeding me chips and jerky from the seat behind me. Cheryl was in charge of giving me my Dr Pepper when I wanted a drink since she was sitting in the shotgun seat. Michelle was behind her feeding her chips and jerky along with some kisses and a few bites to the neck. All in all we were just having a good time driving home.

We saw a kid walking along the highway. We all saw him as we topped one of the rises in the highway. He was about a quarter of a mile ahead of us. He did not look back, didn't look around, just kept walking. Everyone was reaching for a weapon. Things did not look right to any of us!

Cheryl said, "I'll check the boy out, Michelle you watch my back." Brenda spoke up when Cheryl was finished saying, "Keal and I will take over watch." "Things just don't seem on the up and up!" Michelle answered, "I will keep and an eye on you Cheryl, you don't have to worry." I had the same bad feeling about the situation. The girls appeared to have things well in hand and I decided to just go along for the ride. When we stopped Cheryl checked the boy out and Michelle walked around the truck checking both sides of the road, while Brenda and I stood guard.

The boy introduced himself as Ben Greene. He was 15, stood 5'4" and weighed 140 pounds. He had an average build, maybe looked a little on the skinny side and also looked a lot younger than he was; I thought he was around ten or twelve. Ben said, "My uncle Jacob had come to get Renee and me. Our mothers were his younger twin sisters." I asked about his father. Ben paused for a moment, took a deep breath and said, "Both of our dad's were Air Force pilots, our mother's met them after they were assigned to the Air Force Base where our mother's worked as clerks in the BX. They both were killed in the last war." We all said we were sorry to hear about the whole situation. Ben went on to explain, "When my mom, Dee Dee, died in a car crash a year ago I moved in with Renee and her mother Donna. Donna died after the meteor storm like most people. Both Renee and I were afraid we were going to die too. When we guessed that we were not going to die Renee called all the relatives we knew. The only one we were able to reach was Uncle Jacob. Renee explained what had happened. He decided to move us in with him since he lived alone in his four bedroom home."

Ben told us how after packing their stuff they had driven out of Highland Bluff. About 10 miles out of town, four crazy guys on motorcycles had started to chase them. Several miles later they succeeded in running Jacob's car off the road. The bikers pulled his uncle out of the car and started to beat on him. Renee pulled Ben out the other side of the car and they ran. As soon as Jacob was unconscious the punks started chasing them. Renee had told Ben, "Run down into a ravine and hide." She was sixteen and was trying to protect him. She led the bikers away from Ben and out into a field.

When they caught her they knocked her to the ground. Then they tied her arms behind her and put a rope around her neck to pull her like a leashed animal. When they got back to the motorcycles the largest put her onto his bike and they drove off. They took the car with them; putting the smallest bike on the trunk. One guy drove the car following behind the three motorcycles. They just left Ben to die.

Ben went on, "Uncle Jacob was dead so I put him in the ravine and covered him with dirt and rocks. I was trying to find the bad guys to get Renee back."

Michelle and Cheryl were almost crying because they were so angry. Brenda was too pissed off to cry. Me, I just wanted to find these creeps and rescue Renee! Ben gave us the direction the bad guys had driven; it was the way we were going! We loaded him into the truck and took off after the biker trash. Everyone was looking for any sign that they had left the highway. We stopped at every exit and looked to see if there was any indication they had been this way. About three hours later we saw bike tracks taking a dirt road away from the highway. The dirt road was headed up into the foothills. We turned on to it and followed the bike tracks. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when we saw a building in the distance.

I backed up so I was just out of sight of the building; about 2 miles away from what looked like a ranch house. I told the girls to wait for me where they were. I said, "If you hear shooting, be ready to defend yourselves." I went light to be quick and quiet. All I took was what was on my combat harness, a radio, my knives, pistols and extra magazines. I dropped into an arroyo and walked up to the ranch. I wound up just about 20 yards from the house. I saw Renee; she was naked, tied between the poles for the clothesline. She was hanging by her wrists and looked like she had been whipped. I was not sure if she was unconscious or dead. I did know that I couldn't do anything for her until I had cleaned out the nest of outlaw bikers.

I had no idea how many of them there were. Ben had said there were four when they were attacked. I was guessing there were more here. I heard Brenda ask me what I was doing and almost jumped out of my shoes! It took all I had not to yelp in surprise. I turned to ask why she had followed me and had not stayed at the truck? Then I realized it was the radio that I had with me. It was a shock to hear her voice so clearly that is sounded like she was whispering from behind me. I laughed and answer her.

I got an idea. If the girls could trick these guys into coming outside, I would be able to count how many of them we had to deal with. The girls could use the horn and make it look like they were helpless females lost and needing a big, strong man to save them. If we could get everyone out of the ranch house I might be able to take all of them out before they knew what hit them. I got on the radio with my suggestion. Brenda said that she would sneak out of the truck with Ben first and leave Michelle and Cheryl to play the role. She and Ben would take out whoever showed up at the truck with Michelle and Cheryl helping her as they could.

Taking most of the firepower with her, and locking the rest in the trailer Brenda and Ben moved into place. Cheryl and Michelle rigged the truck so it would not start and hid their weapons where they could get them quickly and easily without being in the open. When everyone was ready we started the plan.

Sure enough six guys came out when they heard the horn blast. A slick looking blonde haired guy pointed to two others and said to check it out. I let the girls know how many were coming and not to do anything right away but to see what happened. Michelle thanked me and then hid her radio.

Brenda had the guys in her crosshairs the whole time. Michelle had the 12-gauge pistol right in the pocket behind the driver seat with a hat over the pistol butt. Unless you were looking for it you would not see it. Cheryl had a .22 pistol on top of the passenger front tire. Without really searching for it you would not notice it.

When the guys arrived at the truck they saw the two girls; saw the truck and trailer loaded down, and asked them what they were doing. Cheryl told them, "We were with our boyfriends back at Highland Bluff and loaded this up to head for the hills." Michelle continued with the story, "Just as we were getting ready to leave town the guys got into a fight with some other guys that came along." Cheryl added, "While the guys were fighting we drove off before one of us got caught up in it too." Michelle then explained, "The stupid truck died and wouldn't start, I hit the horn cause I was mad and... then you showed up to save us!" Both girls smiled at that statement.

When one biker tried to start the truck with no success, they both said at the same time, "Alan!" Michelle asked, "Who is Alan?" One of the guys said that he was a friend and could fix anything. They talked for a bit, then decided that one would ride back, while the other waited with the girls. I saw the guy who came back. He explained to the leader what was going on. The honcho seemed happy to hear the news and sent Alan and the same guy back to the truck on one bike.

I'd only have three guys here to take care of. This left three guys for the girls or one for each of them. I felt that it was a fair fight! I'd used the radio to let Brenda know to shoot as soon as they got to the truck. I was waiting and, sure enough, when shots were fired the leader started cussing. Brenda had shot and killed the guy who had been waiting with Cheryl and Michelle just as Alan and the other guy drove up. Michelle and Cheryl each pulled their weapons. Michelle blew them off the bike hitting the driver in the chest with the shotgun. Cheryl shot Alan when he tried to stand up and pull a pistol from his belt.

The blonde honcho yelled to the others, "Lets get them!" As the three were jumping on their bikes I stood up and drew a bead on them with both my pistols. They didn't see me until I started shooting. My first shots knocked them off their motorcycles; I kept firing as I walked up to them. They were rolling on the ground trying to stand up, twisting with every bullet hit, then falling to the ground again! I didn't stop until I was out of ammo. I quickly reloaded, then checked to make sure they were dead. "Three in the head you know they're dead - or something like that right?"

The girls had driven up by this time. They were worried about me because I had fired so many times. They looked like a swat team or maybe something out of a bad military movie. Cheryl was driving, Brenda was hanging out the rear window on the driver side and Michelle was hanging out the window on the passenger side. Ben was sitting next to Cheryl holding her rifle ready to had it to her if needed.

I had just finished checked on Renee and had found that she was alive but in really bad shape. I was cutting her down when the girls pulled up and got out. Ben ran to Renee. He was really distraught and was crying. Cheryl and Michelle started treating her wounds immediately. Brenda was on the hood of the truck standing watch.

I started to search the ranch house. I told Brenda to keep standing watch. I carefully cleared the house and found a woman dead in the bedroom, and a guy dead in the bathtub. It was obvious the woman had been raped, beaten and tortured. This had taken quite a lot of time. She had been stripped naked, put in the center of the bed, after a rope had been wrapped several times around her waist so tight it looked like she would have had trouble breathing. More rope was pulled through the rope at her waist and tied to each side of the bed frame. She could not move the way she was bound. More rope was wrapped around each of her wrists then pulled out to the side of the bed and also tied to the frame. A rope was wrapped once around her throat and the ends pulled up over the top bar and outside end posts on the headboard. Her ankles were pulled up to the corner posts and tied to the ends of the rope. If she let her legs down it would tightened the rope around her neck. After all the abuse she was not able to keep her legs up and strangled herself. I cut her legs free, took the rope off her throat and put a sheet over her.

The guy had been shot in the head. He was not bound or anything and it looked like he didn't get a chance to put up a fight. I made a guess the two dead people were the owners of the ranch. We buried them together and checked the house for anything we could use. Ben and Renee's car was next to the garage and there was a nice Toyota land rover in the garage. We helped Ben move all of their stuff to the Toyota since it was newer and in better shape. Renee could ride in the back and Michelle and Cheryl would ride with her and Ben. One of them would drive while the other would watch over Renee. She still had not regained consciousness.