Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (13 page)

Inside the circle of chairs, Nathan saw four kids kneeling beside the woman on the ground. The man he freed came over. “Thank you, sir,” he said, handing Nathan his knife back.

“Do you have gear here?” Nathan asked.

“Yes sir,” he replied.

“Get it,” Nathan said, going to the woman on the ground. He looked at Ares. “Go get Amanda,” he said, and Ares took off as Nathan knelt down. He moved the woman’s hands to find a small hole high in the left abdomen with dark, almost black blood oozing out. “Damn,” Nathan said.

“That’s about what I said too. We have bad bedside manners,” she said.

“Yes ma’am, but I’m a nurse and I should know better,” he said.

She smiled at him, her eyes bright. “So am I.”

Nathan looked at her and wanted to cry. “Ma’am, I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what? You saved my babies. That man said—” she stopped as tears started rolling from the corners of her eyes.

“He—he’s gone, okay,” Nathan said. “You’re all safe. I can give you something for the pain, but—” he stopped.

“It will lower my blood pressure, making me sleep, and I’ll slip away,” she finished. “No, I think I’ll spend the time with my kids,” she said, trying to smile.

Nathan looked down and for the first time noticed she was nude. Jumping up, he looked around and found a blanket lying on the ground and covered her up. “Thank you,” she said. “My name is Lillian.”

He nodded. “I’m going to have someone come over here in a minute, okay. I have to make sure this area is safe.”

“I’ll stay right here,” Lillian said and then looked to her kids, who started hugging her and crying.

He headed over to the four men he’d shot and grabbed the first rifle he came to. It was an M-4 police issue. There were three more. The last one, an AR-15, was leaning against a chair and Nathan picked it up, noticing it had every bell and whistle known to mankind. The man and the two boys came up just then.

“Can I have my rifle back?” the man asked hesitantly.

“Thought this was too high dollar for this fool,” Nathan said, handing the rifle to him. The man and boys had on their packs and the two boys had shotguns in their hands. “You need to get out of here,” Nathan told them, looking at the mom and her kids.

“If you don’t mind, we’ll stay for a bit,” the man said.

“Sir, the others might be here soon,” Nathan said.

“That’s what I hope,” the man said.

“Fine, but if you stay, we attack them my way. Nathan Owens,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Howard Mans. My wife Jackie and my sons, Glen and Leon,” he said pointing.

“Howard, move the two that don’t have their heads blown off into chairs so it looks like they’re just sitting there. We’ll figure out how to arrange the others,” Nathan said.

“Will do,” Howard said, and they went to work. Nathan saw Ares coming back with his woobie in his mouth. Jasmine, John, and Amanda were right behind Ares and even from where he was, Nathan could tell they’d been crying. Jasmine and John each had a strap of his pack and were more or less dragging it. Amanda was trying to carry Ares’ pack and run, barely doing either.

Nathan went to them and Jasmine and Amanda dropped the stuff and ran at him with John right behind them. As they reached him, Jasmine slowed and slapped the shit out of him, sending Nathan’s sunglasses spinning off his face. Before he could do anything he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down to see Amanda kicking him in the shins.

“What the fuck!” he yelled and the three lunged at him, wrapping their arms around him and crying. The anger left Nathan’s body faster than it had arrived and was replaced by confusion.

“I’m shooting your damn dog!” Jasmine cried out in hysterics.

“He’s so stupid!” Amanda yelled in tears. John just blubbered something out.

Nathan wrapped his arms around them, giving them all a big hug. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“We heard shots and some kids screaming. Then we see Ares just bouncing down the road. He ran up to Amanda and then turned around. Thinking everything was okay, we started to move and Ares ran to his pack, grabbing his woobie. We thought you’d been killed! We were crying as we tried to put the pack on him so we could leave. He pulled his woobie off and ran up here. That’s when we knew you were okay,” she said, her story punctuated by sobs.

Nathan looked at Ares sitting there calmly on his woobie, “I’m so kicking your ass!” Nathan yelled at him. Ares just barked once—
Woof!
—like “Bring it.”

“I’m cutting that woobie up,” Jasmine said, burying her face in Nathan’s chest.

“Ah Jasmine, he’s a trained attack dog. That wouldn’t be a good idea for you,” he said.

“I don’t care. We almost—” she stopped crying abruptly, angrily wiping tears from her face. Nathan looked at John and lifted his chin up with his hand.

“I’m good,” Nathan said, looking him in the eyes.

“I’m sorry I’m crying,” John said, wiping his face.

Nathan smiled. “Don’t be, it’s what makes us human,” he said. He pushed them back gently. “Guys, look at me. We don’t have time. That woman over there was shot. She has four kids, and she is going to die,” he told them.

“We have to get her to the hospital,” Jasmine said.

“Remember, shit doesn’t work,” Nathan said, and Jasmine’s face crumpled; she felt stupid. “I’m sorry,” Nathan said, lifting her chin up and she smiled at him. “I need you to get a pen and paper and start writing. I want their names, dates of birth, social security numbers, where they were born, and whether they have any family left. Basically I want to know as much as you can get in twenty minutes. Get my camera and take pictures of the mother and kids. Record her talking to them, okay,” Nathan said and she moved to get his camera and start writing.

“Amanda, John, there are M-4s over there. I’ve taught you how to tell the difference between the M-4 and the AR-15. Find any M-4 and put it by my pack. Don’t go near those buildings, okay,” he said and they took off.

Howard walked over. “I’m sorry they beat you down for rescuing us,” he said, motioning to the three.

“Nothing to do with that. The darned dog told them I was dead,” Nathan said, glancing around. Howard looked at Ares, wondering how the dog could talk. “Where do they park the tractor?” Nathan asked.

“They left from over there,” Howard said, pointing towards a pile of stuff. “They load the trailer and haul it up here and dump it.”

“How fast do they drive up the dirt road coming here?” Nathan asked.

“Not very. The tractor isn’t in that good of shape.”

“You have your stuff ready?” Nathan asked, looking at the bodies. He nodded approvingly; three of the bodies were in chairs and the one missing half his head had a cowboy hat over his face like he was asleep.

“Yeah,” Howard said.

“Get your gear to the other side of the clearing. If it goes bad, get out,” Nathan said as Amanda and John came over.

“We could only find three,” Amanda said.

“Okay, you two take our gear to the other side of the clearing by that big oak tree over there,” Nathan told them, pointing at the tree thirty yards away across the small meadow. The two took off after grabbing their things. He looked back at Howard. “Get some blankets and stuff and make it look like you and the kids are still in the same places,” he said, and Howard called for his family.

Just ten minutes later everyone froze, hearing the tractor off in the distance. Nathan ran over to Lillian. “Ma’am, we can’t move you,” he said.

“Just get my kids and go,” she said.

“We can’t; they’ll catch us. We have to kill them,” Nathan said and she nodded. “I will leave you here and get the kids and the others to the far side of the field. At least they’ll have a chance, okay?”

“Kids, go with Jasmine for now. You can come back later, okay,” Lillian told them. “Natalie, keep Emma quiet, and that goes for everyone or those men will kill us.” They each kissed their mom as Jasmine came over.

“Jasmine, head over to that tree where our things are, and take the kids with you. If you see them shooting at me, light their ass up and tell Howard the same, but I will be here so check your shots,” he said. “Remember, wait till they shoot at me so you can take them by surprise.” She nodded and kissed him on the mouth. Spinning around, she guided the kids across the field. Standing there in shock from the unexpected kiss, Nathan shook his head and turned to check on the others.

He watched Howard lead his family away and Nathan looked down at the mom to find her smiling up at him. “I’m all right, I’ve got a little time,” she said.

“From the sound of the tractor we’ll know how much in fifteen minutes,” Nathan said, walking over to the last man, who was missing most of his head. Nathan dragged him over to Lillian and put the blanket over his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, if this is what I can do to help,” she said.

Nathan nodded and ran to where he’d ambushed the first group from. Looking around for Ares, he felt him bump his leg. “Okay, one more time and don’t get me in trouble this time,” Nathan said, changing magazines and crouching down in the bushes.

He heard the tractor pull off the road and turn down the dirt path and his heart started beating fast. Taking slow, deep breaths, Nathan tried to calm down as he heard faint hooting and yelling over the loud tractor. As he heard the tractor make the final turn he slowly twisted his head and looked down the dirt track.

The tractor slowly came up the small rise and he could see a man in the driver’s seat with a woman sitting beside him. As the tractor pulled forward, Nathan saw the trailer come into view with four men in it. The only one who appeared to be unarmed was the woman. He stayed down as they drove past him at a normal walking speed.

When the group saw their buddies sitting in the chairs, all facing a man lying with the woman by the fire, they started cheering. Nathan stepped out behind them. The trailer was thirty feet long and Nathan crept up to the back edge and brought up his weapon. The four men in the trailer were standing up behind the driver, lined up along the front brace and facing forward. Nathan aimed at the one on the far right in the back of the trailer. Letting the crosshairs settle in right between the shoulder blades, Nathan squeezed the trigger.

Not even waiting for impact, Nathan moved his sights to the left, squeezing the trigger. With the sound of the tractor they couldn’t even hear the muffled report of the shots as Nathan dropped the third one in the trailer. The fourth man in the trailer looked curiously at his friends just as three bullets hit him in the side.

Some blood from the shot hit the woman and she turned just as Nathan’s gun bucked. His shot hit the driver in the spine and he fell over, knocking the woman off the tractor as he slid to the ground. Nathan took off running and saw the tractor bounce as it drove over the driver’s body.

Trying to get to the tractor before it ran over Lillian, Nathan saw the woman who’d fallen off get up and turn toward him. In mid-stride, Nathan reared back with his right fist and lashed out, punching her in the jaw. The woman’s body spun two complete twists before she crashed to the ground.

Nathan ran up to the tractor, pulled the throttle down and reached over and pulled the choke out, killing the engine as the tractor bumped the first chair in the circle. With the engine off, quiet returned. Suddenly Nathan heard a scream and a dog growling.

Spinning around, Nathan sprinted for the trailer and found Ares tearing into a man holding a pistol. It was one of the men he had shot in the trailer. Nathan aimed at the man’s head and squeezed, watching it disappear. Ares moved to each body as Nathan climbed up on the trailer and shot the other three in the head. With an irritated look, Ares rolled his eyes at him and moved to the back of the trailer and sniffed. At first Nathan thought it was some clothes lying there all piled up then noticed it was a dog.

Knowing Ares could handle it, Nathan jumped down and looked at the woman, who was struggling to stand back up. She slowly raised her hand and pointed to the driver’s body. “You killed Stevie!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“You really want to shut up. I’ve had a bad day,” Nathan said in a normal voice.

“You bastard, you killed Stevie!” she screamed.

“Sucks to be you,” Nathan said, raising his rifle and shooting from the hip. Two of the three bullets hit the woman in the gut, sending her to the ground screaming as Nathan walked over and stood beside her.

When they heard the tractor’s engine die, Jasmine and Howard had crept across the field with rifles ready. Jasmine saw Ares sitting down at the back of the trailer and motioned the kids to go to their mom. “Howard, will you get that body away from her?” Jasmine asked and Howard motioned to his boys to help move the body.

The kids ran to their mom, Natalie holding little Emma in her arms. They all knelt down next to Lillian and started talking to her. Still not seeing Nathan and hearing a woman scream, Jasmine moved to the front of the tractor then walked to the other side. She found Nathan with his foot on a woman’s bleeding belly; he was putting pressure on it to make her scream. He lifted up his foot and Jasmine could see the woman talking frantically. He did this a few more times. Then, without a second thought, Nathan raised the rifle with one hand and shot her between the eyes.

Nathan turned around and walked over to Jasmine. “There’s no one else that knows about this place, but they have family and friends about six miles from here. They’re all scared to even try and find this place. She was the first one they brought up here. She was married to the driver,” Nathan said. Then he looked at Howard, who was dragging the body away.

“Ask Howard to get the boys to drag all those bodies to the other side of the tractor. They’ll start to smell soon, so the further the better. I want you to fix something to eat for these kids and Howards’ family. They haven’t eaten in a while. Get Amanda to love on Ares,” Nathan said.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I want to be alone. I’ll be over there,” he said, pointing to the house and the two adjacent buildings. “There’s some things over there I don’t want any of you to see, so don’t come and get me. Send Ares,” he said and dropped his vest on the ground. He laid his rifle on it and walked away. Jasmine stared after him sadly before making her way over to the kids.