Chapter 11: Sunday, November 18th, 2012 - 3:35 PM

Mary's mouth hung open in astonishment as she watched Bill disappear over the hill. She looked at the strange woman sitting in the back.

Susan gave a rueful grin and said, "I guess he could have at least introduced us. I assume that you are Mary?"

Mary nodded and tentatively smiled back saying, "And I assume you are Susan?"

Susan nodded in reply but her face turned serious. "We should get started if you don't mind driving. I need to try to keep him calm and we need to hurry."

Mary walked around and climbed into the driver's seat of the big F-250.

"Adjust the seat first so you can reach the pedals," Susan instructed.

Mary looked for the metal hoop that she was used to under the front of the seat but Susan said, "The seats are electric. There is a knob on the side that you can push forward to move the seat forward. You should be able to raise it a little more too so you can see over the steering wheel."

Mary fiddled with the knobs on the side of the seat for a moment and found the right ones and moved the seat around until she could reach everything with her feet and still see over the dash. She was a little small for her age so it was a close thing.

Susan instructed her in how to start the big diesel then they were heading down the hill. They hit a particularly deep rut and the truck bounced. Rob groaned and Susan said, "Slow down a little honey and try to go around the worst of the dips and holes."

Mary grasped the steering wheel even tighter as she stared wide eyed over the top of the dash. She was driving, finally. She had wanted to drive on the dirt roads but her mom had told her that she couldn't because she was too young. Now she was driving and she was scared to death. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles were white. It felt like a weight was on her chest and she couldn't breath as she guided the big truck over a lot more ruts and holes than she remembered on the trip out on the quad. It was easier after she got through the only big gully they had to cross because she didn't have to keep trying to slow the truck down. It was easier to ease it over the worst spots.

Finally, after what seemed like a millennium to the poor girl they reached the turn off for the earthship. Mary eased the truck off the road and stopped next to the earthship door. She let out a breath that she felt like she had been holding for an hour. She opened the door and started to get out but the truck lurched.

"You need to take it out of gear and put it in park honey," Susan instructed.

Mary's face was burning with embarrassment as she hurriedly shifted the gear shift into park and got out. She opened the back door of the crew cab that was closest to the earthship and tried to help Susan scoot the long frame of her husband, Rob, across the seat.

The door burst open and Cherie rushed out with a call of, "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Bill's son was shot and we need to get him inside," Mary replied puffing as she tried to gently pull Rob across the back seat. Cherie hurried to help and the three of them were able to wrestle him out of the truck.

Rob's pale face and the loose way his head rolled on his shoulders scared Mary half to death. They carried him inside and into the bedroom that Susan indicated with her head. As gently as they could they lowered him onto the bed. The only sound from Rob throughout the ordeal was weak groans of pain.

"We need to get these off him," Cherie said as she tried to look at the wound through the rip in his pants.

Susan didn't hesitate and started unbuckling Rob's belt.

Mary turned a bright red when she realized what the woman was doing and said, "I, ah, need to put the truck away." She hurried out of the room.

Susan looked at the girls retreating back and smiled saying, "I remember being that innocent, once upon a time."

Cherie glanced at her retreating daughter and said, "I don't think anyone will be innocent by the time this is over."

Susan only nodded grimly.

"Grandpa," Jimmy said. "Who is that girl?"

"Sorry Jimmy. That's Mary," Bill replied. "Her and her mom ran into some trouble about 50 miles back with some of these bandits and I helped them. I guess when you help someone you have to keep helping them until they can stand on their own." Bill felt a tremor run through Jimmy at his words and asked, "What's wrong Jimmy?"

Jimmy was silent for a moment and said, "We saw a lot of girls, women I guess that the bandits caught. They were all dead." He shivered again. "We found out they aren't killing them around Heber. They are putting them in the high school and forcing them to, to, to..." The boy trailed off.

"I know what they are forcing them to do Jimmy," Bill said as gently as he could over the noise of the quad.

"Dad said he didn't know who were luckier. The dead ones or the live ones," Jimmy replied.

"Some time it can be a toss-up," his grandpa said quietly but Jimmy heard him anyway.

"I'm glad they didn't catch Mary and her mom. Mary is cute," Jimmy said into the silence following his grandpa's statement.

Bill just smiled to himself. In the middle of all this, 13 year old hormones are still in control. He still had a grim smile when he said, "Now watch the wreck and the area around it. If anyone got out they might be waiting to ambush us. Just because Mary didn't see any movement doesn't mean there aren't any survivors."

Bill slowly circled the wrecked truck from about 100 yards away. He would stop every 40 or 50 feet and study the ground then the truck with the binoculars. He didn't see any foot prints leading away or movement. He was almost half way around the truck when he saw a trail where someone had crawled away from the truck. He looked at the truck to make sure again there was not movement then turned off the quad.

Bill stepped off the quad and motioned for Jimmy to trade him weapons. "Guard the quad, watch the truck," Bill instructed and slowly started following the trail through the brush. He stayed low and well to the side of the trail by about 10 feet. He had learned in Viet Nam not to follow the same trail an enemy left. They often left unwanted gifts and that knowledge had cost him some friends and a little blood. He stayed close enough to not lose the trail but not so close an enemy would have a good position on him if he was waiting. Bill had gone about 40 yards when he came to a ravine. The way the edge of the ravine was crumbled at the trail it looked like the bandit had simply slid over the crest.

Bill moved farther away from the trail before getting down on his belly and inching up to the edge of the ravine. He was about 25 feet from the crumpled edge where the bandit went over and he used a clump of brush growing from the brink to shield him from whoever might be waiting. Ever so slowly Bill looked over the edge of the ravine through the brush.

His caution was rewarded. A bearded man was sitting on the bottom of the ravine and propped against the other side. The man's face was bloody from what looked like a deep scalp wound and one leg seemed to bend at an odd angle. The man's arms were OK though. His rifle was steady and aimed at where he had slid over the edge. He was sweating and seemed to be panting.

Bill considered a moment. He could easily shoot the man with no qualms but he needed information. He also couldn't afford to take a chance on a firefight. He couldn't afford to get hurt out here. Too many people were depending on him and with Rob wounded, he was the only man available to protect them.

Bill shook his head and gently eased the rifle barrel forward. He aimed carefully, and then shifted his aim slightly. His shot went through the man's hand and shattered the firing assembly of the rifle. The big man's scream hadn't even ended before Bill landed on the bottom of the gully and rushed forward with his rifle trained on the man.

"Don't you move," Bill growled angrily.

The man was whimpering now but he sat still with his hands held against his chest. The man's eyes were filled with pain and his eyes were locked on Bill.

Bill stood five feet in front of the man with his own rifle trained right between his eyes.

"I have some questions for you and you are going to give me good answers," Bill said in a low menacing voice.

"Give me some water and some medical attention and I will tell you anything you want to know," the big, burly looking man whined. One hand was shattered and his other forearm looked like the rifle had ripped it badly before spinning away in pieces.

Bill hesitated a moment then dropped his rifle muzzle and shot the man in his good leg right below the knee.