Blood in the Ashes (27 page)

How degrading! Emil Hite thought, as he shuffled along, carrying dirty clothes to the women to be washed. One day I'm king of the mountain, the next day I'm a fucking gofer.

“Hurry up with that laundry, you asshole!” one of the women squalled at him.

Just think, Emil pondered the frailties of being a god. One day they are groveling at my feet, the next day, they are shrieking at me like a bunch of fishmongers.

Oh, woe is me! Emil thought.

“Get your stupid ass over here with those dirty clothes!” a woman howled at him. “And be quick about it.”

Emil stumbled on the hem of his robe and the laundry basket flew from his hands, dirty clothes spilling out onto the ground.

Everybody started yelling at him, calling him the most awful of names.

Emil got to his knees and looked upward. “Why me, Blomm?” he said aloud. “Why me?”

One of his captors put a number twelve sized boot on Emil's ass and that put an end to any questioning of the Great God Blomm.

As Emil hurriedly picked up the dirty clothes, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, the young girl, Lynn, being led into what had once been Emil's house. She was giggling and simpering and allowing the man to touch her in the most intimate of places.

Lynn had been Emil's favorite. She gave great head for someone barely in her teens,

Oh, well, Emil philosophized. Easy come, easy go.

“Hite!”
one very large lady squalled. “Get over here with those clothes, you stupid prick.”

“Yes, Sister Hilary,” Emil said.

“And knock off that ‘Sister' shit, you phony,” Hilary yelled in a voice that made Emil's head sting.

Bitch had a voice that would crack brass, Emil thought.

“And you better not wear yourself out, either,” Hilary warned. “'Cause tonight it's my turn with you.”

Jesus! Emil thought. And again, Why me?

Emil fervently wished he was back in Chattanooga, selling used cars.

“Got a new truck for you, General,” Colonel Gray told Ben. “My Scouts found this one up in Knoxville.”

“Looks brand new,” Ben remarked, as he walked around the Chevy pickup. No doubt about it, the truck was a nice one. Everything that could be put on a truck was on this one. It was a long wheel base, four-wheel-drive Chevy. The camper top was new and bolted down securely. The cab held enough radio equipment to transmit anywhere in the continental U.S., Ben reckoned. Bucket seats, with new clamps bolted between the seats for Ben's Thompson. The truck had two gas tanks and two spare tires bolted inside the camper.

“It is new,” Dan said. “Well ... the last model made, back in '88. My people found it in a private garage out in the suburbs.”

“Uh-huh,” Ben said. He wondered how many tracking devices Dan had hidden in and on the truck. Several, he concluded.

“We, uh—” the usually eloquent Englishman seemed at a loss for words—“well, we just thought you needed a new vehicle before you, ah, left us, sir.”

“Thank you, Dan,” Ben said quietly. “It is, ah, common knowledge that I'm taking off soon?”

Dan nodded his head. “Yes, sir.”

“I see. I won't be nursemaided, Dan.”

“I know that, sir.”

“But you'll probably send teams out to try and keep an eye on me, won't you?” Ben asked with a smile.

“Oh . . . probably, sir.”

“Good luck, Dan.”

The Englishman smiled. “Thank you, sir.” He patted the hood of the truck. “Enjoy, sir.”

As Dan was walking off, Doctor Chase walked up.

“Hello, you old goat,” Ben greeted him.

“Old goat to you, too, King Raines,” the old doctor fired back. “When are you planning to leave on your idiotic odyssey?”

“Soon.”

“I see. Gale is not going with you, I hope.”

“No. She's staying.”

“Who are you leaving in charge?”

“Cecil. I'm going to call all the troops together tomorrow sometime and pin general's stars on Cecil's shoulders. I suggested I do the same with Ike, but he rather bluntly informed me he never wanted to be any type of fucking officer to begin with.”

Doctor Chase laughed. “That sounds like Ike.”

“While I'm gone, Lamar, I'm going to lay out the route for outposts. I discussed that with you. I'll be back next year and we'll start heading westward, setting up forts as we go. I think, Lamar, that is the only way we'll ever have a chance for any type of civilization.”

“I agree. Well—” he cleared his throat—“you bastard, I'll miss you.”

The two men shook hands.

Doctor Chase returned to the overseeing of his new clinic, and Ben walked to the quartermaster's new area and began drawing supplies.

“Be sure to put an old portable typewriter in with the other gear, Sergeant,” Ben instructed. “And round me up several boxes of white paper. Good bond.”

“Yes, sir.”

As he left, Cecil fell in step with him. “You do plan on keeping in touch, don't you, Ben?”

“You know I will, Cec. But you're not going to run into any problems you won't be able to handle easily.”

I hope, Cecil silently prayed. “I've instructed everybody to be in formation at 1200 hours tomorrow, Ben.”

“Good.”

Cecil still did not know what Ben planned to do at the formation. Ike had been sworn to secrecy. “You going to make a speech, Ben?”

“A very short one. I plan to be up in Kentucky by nightfall.”

“Well ... see you tomorrow, Ben.”

“Tomorrow, Cecil.”

Tony Silver stood naked over the girl who whimpered in pain and fear on the bed. Ann was naked. The marks of the belt vividly crisscrossed her flesh. Tony tossed the belt to the floor and slapped her viciously across the face, rocking her head and bloodying her mouth.

“Bitch! I wanna know what the hell you're up to.”

“Nothing, Tony,” the child cried. “I swear it. Nothing.”

“Then how come I don't believe you?”

In reply, Ann rolled over on her back and spread her slender legs. She watched Tony's face change and heard his breathing quicken.

Tony hefted his growing erection and smiled at her. “Come over, here, baby, and kiss this for me.”

Ann scooted across the bed and put her small, bare feet on the carpet. Her right hand slipped under the pillow and gripped the handle of the sharp knife. When she looked up at Tony, he was slowly masturbating himself, his eyes closed.

Quickly she moved to him, and faced his hardness, one slender leg on either side of Tony's hairy legs.

He pushed the head of his penis against her mouth. “Suck it for me, baby,” he said.

Ann gripped the knife with both hands and drove it into Tony's soft lower belly, just a few inches above his pubic hair line. She savagely jerked the blade upward, for she had driven it in with the sharp edge facing upward.

Tony made a low choking sound and opened his mouth to scream. Ann jerked the knife out and, using all her strength, drove the blade as deep as it would go into the center of his chest. The blade tore into his heart and Tony fell backward onto the carpet, dying soundlessly in his own blood.

Peg and Lilli came into the bedroom. They looked at the sight, no emotion at all registering on their young faces. They were survivors; they had seen far worse than this in their young lives.

“It's dark out,” Lilli said.

“Get your stuff together,” Ann said as she hurriedly dressed.

The girls raced for their slim bundles. Each girl had packed her favorite dolly inside.

All except Ann. She looked at her small collection of dolls scattered on the floor and shook her head. She looked at the blood on her hands.

“Too late for that,” she muttered.

She picked up Tony's .38 snub-nosed Chief's Special and checked it as she had seen him do many times. All five chambers were filled. Ann knew something about guns, although she was far from being an expert shot.

Ann gave the knife to Peg with this warning, “Don't hesitate to use it.”

Lilli darkened the lights and pulled back the drapes. “Only one guard, and he's clear down at the other end. No, wait! He's walkin' off down the corridor. He's around the corner and out of sight. Come on!”

The girls raced down the corridor and within seconds were on the ground level. Ann looked toward Patsy's room.

“You two wait for me down on the corner. Right over there.” She pointed. “Go on. I got something to do. If I'm not there in fifteen minutes, you two take off. Head north. That's where Mr. Ben Raines is. Find him. Shove off!”

They ran and were soon out of sight in the dark night. Ann walked silently toward Patsy's room. She stopped once, to pick up a brick from the ground. She knocked softly on the motel room door.

The door opened. Patsy had only a second to register her shock at seeing the young girl before the brick smashed into her face, knocking her backward. She fell to the carpet, her face broken and bleeding. Ann hit her several more times with the brick, hearing and feeling her skull pop. She tossed the brick to the floor.

“Bitch!” she said.

Then she was gone in the night, joining her young friends.

The trio headed north. Toward the Base Camp of Ben Raines.

“We're too late,” Captain Jennings told his commanding officer.

Sam stood in the middle of what was left at Live Oak.

“Yes,” Sam agreed. “We'll drive over to Perry, but I have a hunch we're going to be too late to do any good over there, as well.”

Had Sam not elected to take the interstate for faster traveling, and chosen the southern route instead, he would have intercepted Lou and his bunch of freed slaves just as they were pulling out from Perry. As it was, the two groups remained miles apart.

When Lou caught up with Joni and George at Cross City, they traveled on to Chiefland, only to find the battle was over. The slaves were victorious.

Now more than two hundred strong, the group traveled to Newberry. There, they assisted in mopping up what was left of Tony's guards, and without stopping to take a rest, immediately left, heading north on Highway 41. They followed that until it intersected with Interstate 75, and continued north, only stopping for refueling and bathroom breaks.

By the time Sam and his mercenaries finally reached what was left of the plantation at Chiefland, Joni and George and Lou and the freed slaves were a full seventy-five miles up into Georgia. And rolling northward toward freedom.

Sam told his men to stand down and camp for the night. He walked to his communications van to call in to Tony. When he learned Tony was dead, and the three young girls gone, Sam chuckled. He relayed the story to his officers and noncoms.

Captain Jennings summed it up. “So now we got controlling interest of the only game in town, eh, Sam?”

“That is correct,” Sam said, lighting a long, slim cigar. His men never asked where he got the cigars, and Hartline never offered any explanation, “Such as the game has turned out to be.”

“Who killed Tony?”

“Who gives a shit?” Hartline replied, puffing smoke to the slight breeze that wound through the trees. He was thoughtful for a moment. “We can forget the slaves that were here,” he said. “Come daylight, I want a full platoon to stay in this area, and start picking up anyone who comes wandering through here. Start getting these places back in shape. The crops are harvested for this season, so we'll have some months to rebuild. Fuck Tony Silver.” He smiled. “I was going to kill him first chance I got, anyway.”

Ben pinned the silver stars of a general on Cecil's jacket. He smiled at the man and shook his hand.

“I wish you had warned me about this, Ben,” Cecil muttered so only Ben could hear.

“If I had, you'd have run off and hidden,” Ben replied.

Cecil joined Ben in laughter.

Ben turned to face his people, now more than three thousand strong, counting Abe Lancer and his mountain people and Dave Harner and his group from Macon. Ben lifted a bullhorn to his lips.

“There is a lot I could say, but I never liked long speeches. But let me say I am so very, very proud of you all. I'll be leaving in a few moments, heading out to at least start what I had planned on doing back in '88. That is to chronicle the events leading up to and just after the great war that brought this nation to its knees.

“I am leaving in charge a man I have the utmost faith in, General Cecil Jefferys. I don't want any emotional goodbyes. For I will be back. And when I return, I want to see permanent homes, schools, farms, and an orderly, productive society. You've all done it before, you can do it again. And you don't need me standing over you telling you what to do.

“Call this a small vacation for me. Just getting away from the office for a time. I'll see you people in about six months. That is all. You have duties to attend to, get to it.”

Ben lowered the bullhorn, handed it to Cecil, and walked toward his new pickup.

The cheering behind him lasted for more than five minutes before Cecil shouted them down and sent them back to work. To rebuild something out of the ashes.

Gale was waiting for him at the truck. She smiled and said, “Well, Raines, if you're expecting me to get all mushy and sentimental, you're going to have a long wait.”

“Heaven forbid, Gale. That would destroy my image of you.”

“Uh-huh,” she said dryly. She rose up on tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “You take care of yourself, Ben.”

“I'll do that, kid.”

She slipped from his hands and walked away to where Tina was standing. Tina flipped her father a salute and Ben returned it. He got into the pickup, and drove off, heading north into Kentucky.

“You handled that rather well,” Tina said.

“Damned if I was going to cry,” Gale said. “One thing I learned about Ben, he doesn't like weepy women.”

“Well, you can have a good cry when you get behind closed doors at your house.”

“No,” Gale said. “Ben wouldn't want that. I've got him growing within me, and that is enough. He'll be back. Whether to me, or to someone else, only time will tell. I think this, Tina: Ben is a man whose destiny is carved in stone. And he'll see that in a few months. He will see where his duty lies. And he'll come back. His destiny is not to wander the earth like a nomad, but rather to build, to bring order out of chaos, civilization out of anarchy, towns and cities out of rubble. He knows all that. He's just got to clear his mind. And when he does that, he'll be back.” Tina smiled. “You know him pretty well, Gale.”

“Knew him,” she corrected softly.

Both women looked up at the sounds of engines drawing closer. White flags flew from radio antennas on each vehicle.

James Riverson walked up. “The slaves from down south,” he said. “They radioed us they were coming in.”

“Survivors,” Tina said.

“From out of the ashes,” Gale softly said. “More men and women looking for order in a world gone mad.” She looked toward the north, toward the now-empty highway Ben had taken. “Good luck, Ben.”