deflected upward several inches, and struck West on the side of the head. The slug blew off the man’s ear, taking a thick patch of hide and hair with it. He jumped out of the van, howling in pain, one hand to the side of his bloody head, and tried to run. Ben shot him in the knee, almost blowing the lower part of the leg off. If he could do it, he wanted West alive.
West’s men found themselves trapped in an increasingly bloody box. There seemed to be no way out. The rage of the men and women they had brutally subdued and abused and oppressed howled to the surface, erupting like a savage trapped beast. When the men attempted to surrender, they were hacked to pieces by axe-and machete-wielding men and women. The blood and gore slicked the old highway.
“Cease fire!” Ben yelled. “Cease fire! Back off, people! Back off! It’s over, goddamn it!”
Silence settled over the smoky, bloody carnage-filled highway. The men and women looked at what was left of that which they had so feared for so long.
“Doctor Barnes!” Ben yelled, standing up.
“Here, General.”
“See to West’s wounds. We want him alive for barter. The rest of you gather up the weapons and tear down the barricades. Get the road clear of nails and glass.”
“We did it!” a woman cried, crying tears of joy and relief and disbelief. “We really did it!”
Ben looked down from the overpass, his eyes touching Doctor Barnes.
“Might rules once again, right, General?” the doctor called.
“An armed, disciplined, organized people cannot be enslaved, Doctor. were I you, I would keep that in mind.”
“Still the writer, aren’t you, General?” Barnes said, his voice carrying to the top of the overpass. “Still carrying your liberal-hating message to the masses, right?”’
“Somebody damn well better continue doing it,” Ben said.
The doctor turned away. The canvas patch on the seat of his trousers had worked loose.
His ass was showing.
Chapter 6
One hundred and fifty of the town’s residents were now armed, with plenty of ammunition for the weapons. Only a handful of West’s men made it out of the ambush alive, and two of those died during the night. West’s leg, from the knee down, was amputated by Doctor Barnes. It really was not that tough an operation, for Ben’s bullet had done most of the work. When Barnes complained that he had nothing to knock the man out with, Ben looked at the doctor as if he were an idiot.
The doctor got the message.
“It’s going to be very difficult closing all this off,” the doctor bitched.
“Cauterize it,” Ben said.
The doctor finally lost his temper. “You’re a fucking savage, Raines! Goddamn it, the man is a human being.”
Ben met the man’s hot eyes. “West has killed, in cold blood, no telling how many hundreds of people. He has raped, tortured, mutilated, degraded, enslaved, and
God only knows what else, to countless hundreds more. If you’re expecting me to feel any degree of pity for that scum, you’re going to have a long wait, doctor. Like forever!”
“Now I know why the Tri-States was virtually crime-free!”
“That’s right, Doctor. We just didn’t tolerate it.”
West lay on the table, tied down with ropes, and cursed Ben.
Ben looked at the man and spoke quietly. After his words, West shut his mouth and kept it shut.
Ben had placed the muzzle of his pistol against West’s temple and said, “I can put you out of your pain permanently, West. The choice is yours.”
Doctor Barnes said, “God, Raines! I’d hate to have to live with your conscience.”
“I don’t have any problems with it at all, Ralph,” Ben replied.
The contingent of Rebels rolled in just after first light. They were commanded by a Captain Chad.
“You made good time, Captain,” Ben told the young officer.
“We took shifts at the wheel, General. Only had to detour three times and then not too far.” He looked around at the looted and nearly destroyed city. “This going to be our first outpost, General?”
“One of the first, I suppose. I’d like to set up at least two more between Base Camp One and here. We’ll see how this one works out.”
The Rebels were introduced all around. The men and women of what was left of Dyersburg could only stand and stare at the healthy, well-dressed, and fit Rebels. A young woman, dressed exactly like her Rebel counterparts, walked up to Ben. She wore a .45 belted at her waist and looked very comfortable with it.
“I’m Doctor Walland, General. We met briefly back at Base Camp One.”
“Yes, I remember, Doctor,” Ben said, shaking the woman’s hand. He waved for Doctor Barnes to come over. He introduced them and said, “I’ll leave you two alone. Doctor Barnes doesn’t care for my company.”
Gloria Walland looked at Ben and smiled. “You’re joking, of course, General.”
“According to Doctor Barnes, I am a barbarian and a savage,” Ben said bluntly. “He doesn’t care for the Rebel system of justice.”
Doctor Gloria Walland, a captain in the Rebel Army, faced Doctor Ralph Barnes.
Ben leaned over to see if the doctor had changed trousers. He had.
“Let’s clear the air, Doctor Barnes,” Gloria said.
“That would probably be best, Doctor Walland,” Ralph said. “Captain Walland,” Gloria corrected.
“But of course.”
“I am a physician, Doctor Barnes. If you bring two wounded people to me, one a member of the Rebel Army, the other a prisoner of war, I will check to see which person is the more severely wounded. But I would not, and will not, allow a member of the Rebel Army to die in order to save the life of the enemy. Is that clear, Doctor?”’
“Perfectly clear, Captain,” Barnes said stiffly.
“One more thing, Doctor Barnes,” Gloria said. “Two years ago I was seized at gunpoint by armed men. Scavengers, looters, scum. They raped me. One of them made a mistake and turned his back to me when he had finished. I grabbed his pistol, a .38-caliber revolver, took very careful aim, and shot the bastard squarely and precisely in his asshole. He was still screaming as I killed the other two and drove away. Does that give you some insight as to what I think about criminals, Doctor?”
“I get a very clear picture, Captain Walland.”
“Fine, Doctor Barnes. Now if you’ll help me with my equipment, we’ll see about giving everybody here a checkup and see where we have to go concerning vitamins and diet.”
“With pleasure … Doctor,” Ralph said. As Walland walked away, Ralph looked at Ben and smiled. “Very … ah, forceful young woman, General. I think we’re going to get on splendidly.”
“I hope so, Ralph. I’m told she’s an expert shot.” When Ralph had gone, Captain Chad said, “General? I’ve known Gloria for five years. She never was raped.”
Ben smiled. “Yes. I’ve read her file. She’s just telling Doctor Barnes how the show is going to be run, that’s all.”
Leaving half the newly arrived contingent of the Rebels behind, Ben took the mortar crews, the machine gunners, and one hundred of the newly armed citizens with their newly acquired vehicles and led the column toward the first of West’s labor camps. Ben’s heavily armed force rolled up to the gates of the forced labor camp, located some twenty-odd miles from Dyersburg.
A strange silence greeted them. There were no guards in the crudely built towers, no guards to be seen behind the high barbed wire that surrounded the camp.
“I don’t think we’re going to like what we’ll see in those barracks, General,” Captain Chad said.
“Nor I, Captain,” Ben replied. “Blow the gates and let’s take a look.”
Several of the civilians lost their breakfast and many more turned green around the mouth.
The prisoners in the labor camp had been machine-gunned in their barracks. The rough wooden floors were slick with blood. The stench of loosened bowels was nearly overpowering.
