The Independents (32 page)

A soft crunching
noise
alerted Todd that someone was walking onto the roadway behind him. Confused, he didn’t dare make a sound. He saw the outline of
legs
approach
the dead men lying in the road
,
and then the newcomer leaned over, picked up their weapons
,
and threw them out into the desert. He watched as the legs moved around the trucks and then stop
ped again at the rear of the vehicle where he was hiding.

Suddenly a hand reache
d under the truck and pulled
Jake
out
by his shirt. Todd could see
the
hand check
Jake
’s pulse and then pull hi
m
further
out into the roadway.

A wh
ispered voice broke the silence.
“Hey, you alive under there? Can you hear me?”

Todd responded, “Yes…thank god…I can move
…
I think.”

“Well come on, they might not be
finished
. Get your ass out here.”

Todd pushed out his rifle and someone grabbed it, pulling it the rest of the way. A second later, a hand was under the truck helping him out. He was pulled up rather roug
hly and handed his weapon. “Your buddy is
in pretty bad shape. Watch my back
,
and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Todd watched a
s his rescuer bent over and heav
ed
Jake
up and onto his shoulders. Without another sound, the man moved off the road and out into the desert. He had to hustle to keep up. Off in the distance, a horn honked three times.

Pete rushed
to the street from behind the telephone pole he had been
using as cover. The townspeople
had b
een listening to the gunfire,
waiting to defend their homes and businesses. A pair of headlights
,
flashing in the distance
,
indicated friendlies were on their way in.
As the pickup truck
skidded to a stop in
front of T
he Manor, Pete was
relieved to see Bishop
hop out of the back and
help Todd jump down. Bishop looked u
p at Pete and yelled, “Get the d
oc.
I’ve brought him more business.” The request was really unnecessary because the doctor was already on his way, rushing to the back of the truck to see the injured
Jake
lying in the
bed
.

Bishop turned to Pete, “I think they’ve left, but I can’t be for sure. It was the Colombians from Big Bend I was telling you about. We took out a lot of them, but they may still be back. I’d keep everyone standing guard for a while.”

Pete nodded and moved away quickly
to spread the word around. 

Bishop made sure the doctor was getting help moving his patients and then headed toward his room. He grabbed the latch and pushed open the door about three inches when bullets splinted the
doorframe
right in front of his face. “Fuck!”

It seemed like everyone started yelling at once. Bishop thought one of the Colombians was in his room holding Terri and the kids as hostages. The shouts and screams coming from
inside
only added to the confusion.

Bishop was squatting about three feet from the doorway when Terri’s voice finally overrode the bedlam from inside, “Quiet! Quiet! Everyone just settle down!”

Bishop yelled, “Terri – it
’
s Bishop. What the hell is going on?”

Terri was relieved,
“Bishop, that was you?”

Bishop exhaled,
“
Yes that
was me. Are you guys okay?”

Terri answered in an unusually loud voice.
“Yes, we’re fine. We didn’t know it was you.”

“I’m coming in – don’t shoot,
please.”

“Okay.”

“You’re
not
going to shoot – right?”

Terri sounded annoyed,
“
It was an innocent misunderstanding, Bishop. We aren’t going to
shoot.”

Bishop slowly rose up and moved to the
doorframe
. He could
see
light through two holes in the door.

He couldn’t help himself and warned again,
“Coming in now
;
don’t shoot me
,
damn it.”

He pushed the door open just a tad and popped his head around the corner. He saw a snapshot of Terri,
Samantha,
and Betty all hiding behind the bed, with Terri and Betty pointing their guns at the door. David was behind then,
aiming
the MP5 from the bathroom.

Deciding to milk it for all it was worth,
“Okay, did you see it was really me?”

Terri had had enough,
“Quit being such a
drama queen
,
Bishop
,
and come in. We didn’t know it was you before.”

Bishop put his hands in the air and walked into the room. Terri put down her rifle and climbed over the bed
,
throwing her arms around him. She kissed his cheek and hugged him, then pulled away and hit him on the chest with both fists
.
“You scared the shit out of me. I love you. What the hell were you doing walking in on us without warning us first? We could
’ve
killed you. Oh my god
,
I’m glad you’re back safe. Bishop that was stupid, what w
ere you thinking? Are you okay?
What happened?
Baby,
I love you. Is everything okay in the town
;
we heard lots of
gunfire
. I was worried about you. Are you okay? Let me look at you. I love you. If you ever scare me like that again…”

Bishop
held
his wife
close
and let her go
on
.
While hugging Terri, he
looked over her shoulder and noticed
Betty just smiling at
them
.
She winked at
Bishop and then leaned
the weapons against the wall. Bishop felt another set of arms
wrap
around him and looked down to see Sam had joined the embrace. He
could
also tell
she had been crying.

“Mister Bishop, I’m glad you’re back safe. I can’t hear anything, but I’m glad you’re okay.”

Terri looked down at
Sam
and in a loud voice said
, “What
,
baby? What did you say?”

Bet
ty came over and yelled as well.
“We can’t hear anything. When David shot at the
door,
it was awful loud in here. I think we’re all deaf.”

Bishop winced at the thought of the gunfire in the small room, but then realized what Betty had just said. He looked at Terri and said, “That wasn’t you shooting at me?”

Terri
scowled at her husband
, “You think I would
’ve
missed?”

After everyo
ne had settled down, Bishop
managed to wash up and get a few
hours’
sleep. W
hen he awoke, it was already day
light
,
and he busied himself getting ready for the day.

As he left the room, Terri was still deep in dreamland
,
and he quietly closed the door
behind him. He checked around T
he Manor’s grounds and noticed one of the town’s men standing guard at the corner of the hotel. The two men nodded at
each other and then Bishop headed
to check on all of the patients. The doctor was nowhere to be found
,
and
the Colonel
was sleeping.
Jake
and Todd both were being watched closely by family members
,
and Bishop was informed both would survive. The news started off the day the right way.

Betty was evidently still asleep as the kitchen and office area of the hotel were still dark and quiet. Bishop decided to check on Pete and see if an
ything more had happened after he
crashed for the night. He could smell the coffee at Pete’s Place before he even knocked on the door
, and a muffled voice answered him,
“Come on in.”

Pete was brewing coffee for the men helping guard the town. Bishop was impressed at the organization and communication the town’s guardians displayed. Pete’s Place, being in the center of Main Street was the logical headquarters
,
and while Bishop was downing his first cup of Joe for the day
,
two different runners had come and gone delivering status reports and coordinating shift changes.

Pete came around from behind the bar and motioned for Bishop to
step outside. The two men meandered
down the street to get out of earsho
t of the constant traffic
in and out of the bar. Pete lo
oked Bishop straight in the eye.
“We’ve got a little problem brewing
,
and I want to let you in on it first thing. A lot of t
he men are worried about you and
Terri being here. It seems you’re a magnet for trouble
,
young man.”

Bishop was hurt by what Pete said. It must have shown on his face because his fri
end continued in a gentle voice.
“Now I tried to tell everyone it wasn’t your fault. You did this town a great favor cleaning out those hoodlums, and I know you wouldn’t bring trouble here on purpose. I’m just letting you know some of the men are concerned about this
.
”

Bishop took a sip of coffee, “They’re right
,
you know. I seem to have trouble chasing me around. I should’ve known those guys would come here looking for me. Maybe Sam and I should’ve hidden out at the ranch. Let things cool down.”

Pete patte
d his friend on the back. “Hind
sight is always twenty-twenty
,
my friend. Don’t make more of this than what it is. I just wanted to let you in on w
hat folks are thinking
. Todd has a wife and two kids. His bride was in here already this morning worried about feeding them.
Jake
lives with his granny and takes care of her. We’ll figure out a way to make sure everything works out, so don’t let it trouble you.”

Despite Pete’s words, Bishop felt like shit. He remembered Billy, and how it had been his fault the old cowboy had been murdered the last time he was in town. He was tempted to go load up Terri and get
out before someone else got hurt, but he couldn’t do that just now.
The Colonel
, the country, and the kids all weighed on his mind.

Bishop knew
the Colonel
wasn’t going to make it. It was a testimony to the man’s willpower he had survived this long, but even that wasn’t going to be enough. It also wasn’t right to just up and leave the town with two teenage children. Food was hard enough to come by, let alone the responsibility of raising two kids.

Terri
and he
were barely surviving at the ranch, and he knew Terri’s need for calories was going to do nothing but increase. He didn’t know, but assumed she would continue to need extra food while
breast-feeding
the baby. While they had not gone hungry so far, they weren’t gaining weight either.

As Bishop continued
down Main Street, he was deep in thought about how to solve all of these problems.

When Terri and he
had first arrived at the ranch,
they had busied themselves setting up their new home and tending to
the
basic needs of life.
While even the simplest of daily human needs could be challenging, they were essentially happy
,
and moreover – content.
The routine of rebuilding their lives was therapeutic in a way. Establishing daily routines, constant hard work
,
and the challenges
of living
without modern conveniences
,
healed their minds and bodies after the ordeal of the trip west.

At first, Bishop had trouble settling down and focusing. He had constantly felt the need to patrol the area, set up tripwire alarms
,
and monitor the surrounding countryside. After a few weeks of n
ever seeing another soul, he
finally reached a point where he
could
relax a bit and go hunting. The first deer he encountered escaped to live another day. Its good fortune had nothing to do with Bishop’s capability using a rifle. The shot would have been easy
and his skill with a rifle had been proven time and again since the collapse
. Bishop froze because he didn’t want the noise of the shot to give away their location.

When
he returned to the camper empty-
handed, Terri had not questioned his decision. She had learned to trust his judgment on such things, despite their dwindling food supply. She was, however, beginning to worry that his paranoia was never going to fade. She supported his attempts to set snares and bring home some food silently, and never complained when the traps were always empty.

Eventually, he started bri
nging home meat from his hunts, but they couldn’t survive on meat alone. The book they had found on useful desert plants had helped some, but they still weren’t very good at harvesting from the land.

Bishop wished he had paid more attention in school. One of his classes covered local mineral deposits, but he had blown the topic off as boring and not useful. He would
give anything to have that text
book now. Were there any salt deposits in the local mountains? What about sulfur for wounds? Coal for fuel? There were so many things he simply didn’t know.

He had read in the book that pine needles were an excellent source of Vitamin C. Since they couldn’t go to the market anymore and buy oranges, he had gathered up a bag
ful
on one of his
trips
to the
mountain
s
. Terri
and he
had spent an entire day trying to figure
out how to make the things edible
. It
finally dawned on them to boil the green needles in water and make a tea. It
was
so bad they could barely swallow it, but when they added some roots that tasted like lemons, it was palatable.
Now they
made pine tea once a week and forced it down.

There was simply no way the land around the ranch could feed two more mouths. He liked Sam and David just fine, but felt like their need for food, medical care and parenting was beyond his reach. 

Bishop’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a motor, and he looked up to see a truck towing in one of the shot up vehicles from the roadblock. He watched as the wrecker pulled into a gas station down the street.

Curious about the condition of the vehicles and what was going on down at the scene of last night
’s fight, Bishop turned
toward the gas station. Besides, he needed a distraction and realized he hadn’t been to this side of town
lately
. Along
Main Street to the east, the
storefronts
and commercial buildings thinned out quickly. The gas station was the first business one would encounter if
driving into town from that direction. Positioned
in the midst of an open area, Bishop was surprised to see that the place now more closely resemble
d a medieval castle than a spot
for a fill up or repair. The owner had built an impressive ring of fortification
s
around his business
,
and Bishop didn’
t blame him one bit. The below ground tanks held probably one of the most valuable, sought after resources in the entire world right now – fuel.

As he approached the station, Bishop realized just how much work ha
d gone into fortifying the business
. The entire perimeter surrounding the
buildings
was protected by a ring of junk cars. Carefully placed bumper to bumper in a complete circle, there wasn’t even room to walk between them. Strung all around the cars was
barbwire
, probably acquired by bartering with a local rancher. The roof of the main building was a typical flat commercial roof with a raised edge all around. There were tents set up on the roof and Bishop wondered if the family of the owner lived up there. He could see the top of sandbags at each corner, indicating that at minimum they could defend their property from the elevated positions.

As Bishop approached, he noticed
that the exit drive was blocked by an old
delivery truck. As he got nearer
, he heard another engine start
. T
hen a younger boy ran to the delivery truck
,
and started it as well. The kid moved the blocking hulk out of the way
,
and the wrecker pulled out onto Main Street, obviously headed back to the roadblock to retrieve the other shot up pickup. As so
on as the wrecker had pulled
onto the street, the big delivery truck rolled back into its blocking position and was shut off.

Bishop recalled the owner of the station was of Mexican descent and had a large family. He couldn’t
remember
the man’s name, but knew he mostly kept to himself.
Seeing
Bishop outside his perimeter
and no doubt noticing the rifle he wore, the wrecker driver stopped next to Bishop and looked him up and down. “Could I help you
,
Senor Bishop?”

Bishop smiled
, trying to be friendly.
“I was just curious
what it looked like in the
daylight at the roadblock. I thought I would stop by and
ask you what was going on.”

“I’m heading that way;
ride with me if you like?”

Bishop unslung his rifle and climbed up into the cab. He extended his hand to the driver, “Bishop.”

The driver shook his hand, “Roberto.”

The two men rode to the roadblock in silence. As they approached, Bishop could see several of the town’s men were
already wandering around
the site
.
The dead men he had left on the road were no longer there, the only remaining evidence being large dark
pools
of blood.
As he wa
lked around the area, he absent-
mindedly bent over and picked up spent cartridges, placing them in his dump pouch. He had reloading equipment back at the ranch, but the
finite
supply of brass ha
d been yet another item that
concerned him.

A short distance from the road
, Bishop observed
three mounds of freshly turned dirt. The last resting place of the Colombian men he had killed the night before. As Bishop walked toward the g
raves, one of the men from Meraton joined him.
“I didn’t want to bury them. I wanted to hang their bodies from a sign post with a warning on it – ‘T
his is what happens to looters,’
but I got voted down.”

Another man soon joined them and asked
Bishop what had happened. As Bishop recounted his story of the night’s events,
he re
membered throwing the dead
men’s
’
weapons out into the scrub. After finishing his stor
y, Bishop toured the vicinity and retrieved
the weapons. He was gathering quit
e a collection of sub
machine guns.

Roberto had
the
remaining
pickup
in tow
and
was getting ready to head back into town. One of the men whistled
,
and everyone started climbing into the bed of the wounded truck. Bishop took his scavenged weap
ons and started to climb in when
Roberto approached him.
“Senor, I am interested in those weapons if you do not plan to keep them. I can trade many things.”