“And your daddy?” I asked, wanting to get the whole story out of the way.
“He got sick by a gun a few days ago, and we just had to keep walking.”
Now I knew exactly why she was not afraid of Mike. She had already seen pure evil, and anything else would likely be better than that.
Lonnie called Chad on the radio. “Come on down here, and quick, on a four-wheeler. We’ve got a young girl that needs to get up to see Nancy right away.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Chad, without asking any questions.
We prepared for another assault—this time bigger and meaner for sure—and we were two men down.
Chad pulled up minutes later, eyes fixed on the dead man in the hole.
“Chad,” I told him, shaking him just a bit.
“Please take this little girl. What’s your name?” I asked.
“Darly, mister, that’s my name, but my mommy calls me Darling.”
“Okay, Darly, this is Chad,” I said, “and he’s going to take you straight up to the house where you will see a sweet lady named Nancy. She will make sure you are safe and get you something to eat.”
“Are you hungry?” asked Chad.
“Yes,” she said softly. “I haven’t eaten all day.”
They rode back towards the house, and I snapped back into focus.
We retook our positions, with Mel now more valuable on fireworks duty than tree climbing.
We all knew they were coming now. The only questions remaining were when and how many.
The waiting is the hardest part, I sang in my head, recalling days of driving straight through from Los Angeles to Saddle Ranch for nearly 17 hours as a young man, listening to a cassette of Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever” over and over.
I didn’t want to use the radio, but I wanted to be clear about the next step.
“Lonnie,” I radioed quietly. “What do you think?”
“They make the first move, and we give them all we’ve got.”
“Hey, man,” said Mike, jumping into my hole from behind.
“Crap, you scared me!” I said.
“You should always look behind you,” he added. “What’s shakin’?” he asked casually, like we were headed out for a drink or to see the latest movie. I wondered if this was just another exciting day in the world of Mike, but didn’t ask.
“Okay, since you’re here and arguably have the biggest cajones on our side, what do you think?”
“It’s tough, man,” Mike replied. “We turned back the first wave of bad guys, but now we have another one that knows we have something to protect. Those men over there are scavengers, and nothing more. It’s simple math. They need supplies and more weapons, and we have shown that we have both.”
“How did we show we have supplies?” I asked.
“We stayed to fight, that’s how they know. I’m sure most others they come in contact with run for the hills, as your hole mate did.”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah, that was some funny stuff. Jake and I were both laughing. You probably told him he was going to die, right?”
“Well, kind of,” I replied, “but only if they crossed the river.”
“That’s all it takes, and it’s why they now know we have something worth protecting. It’s not just the ammo and food they are after. I saw firsthand how they treated the women over there, and we have more than a few of those. Look across the river,” he said, as I saw Mel walking around in the trees.
“What’s he doing over there?” I asked, as the answer came to me. “Dynamite, right?”
“That’s all eight sticks.”
“But we can’t detonate them from over here!” I said.
“Nope, but I can. See ya later, I hope,” Mike said, crossing the river to talk with Mel.
* * * *
Mel came back across and was relieved to see Jake still on our side.
Jake walked towards me, staying low and smiling.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“It’s full circle,” he replied. “It was just you, Nancy, and me at the very beginning with those thugs by the RV. The only difference now is that there are a lot more bad guys, and we have more ammo,” holding up all six hand grenades. Even if the cavalry doesn’t show, we’ve still got a chance. They are the ones who have to cross the river—not us.”
“You’re right,” I said. “That’s it!
“Gentlemen,” I said over the radio, “pick your shots and no 60s unless they are crossing. Stay low while they are in the trees.”
“Single clean shots,” added Lonnie. “We’re not in a hurry here.”
“Remember,” called David, “when air support gets here, no off-target shots.”
“I’m ready with the last of the fireworks,” called Mel, now safely back on our side.
Mike, already across the river, was on the radio giving a pep talk for the first time to the group.
“We are the title champions,” he said, “and they are our opponent. We slow it down and fight our fight. Let them shoot, duck and cover. When you see the first blades of the helo, unleash hell and let them do the cleanup. And no matter what happens, no one gets across the river. See you on the other side, gentlemen.”
“That’s your boy,” I said to Jake.
“Well, he hasn’t tried to kill me yet!” he responded.
“Seriously, though. We started this, all of this, back in Texas,” I told him. “This can’t be the end, halfway through our journey to freedom.”
“It won’t be, I feel it,” said Jake. “Plus, I have a lunch date scheduled with my wife tomorrow that I can’t get out of.”
“I get it,” I replied, thinking I should have set up the same thing with Joy. It was symbolic, at best, but effective.
We sat in silence, canvassing the river,
