Sam and JR were locked tight in an embrace kissing and murmuring thankfulness’s between them. More than a few tears flowed down their cheeks as they thanked God they both survived the gruesome ordeal. Smokey raced to them and stood on his hind legs dancing and licking JR’s bare skin.
Brodie sauntered down the hill with Sam’s equipment.
JR finally noticed she and Mona were buck naked and suggested they go inside to wash and find clothes to fit them. Smokey followed her closely.
Brodie passed Sam’s guns and backpack to him. “You didn’t tell me we were coming to rescue two beautiful pinup models. And man, are they wildcats; I’ve never seen women braver or fiercer than those two.”
Sam grinned. “I’ll introduce you to JR and Mona when they come out. . . . What do we do now with this place?”
“After we take everything either of us can use or want, we drag the bodies inside and burn the house. I don’t ever want to come back here to fight more renegades.”
“Alright. We can use one of these pickups to haul the loot to our place, then you can use the motorcycle to get it to back to your place if you want.”
“Thanks, Sam. I’ll do that. The trail between our places is a much easier ride than the one we made this morning.”
Inside the house Mona ask, “Who is that guy dressed like a soldier?” She followed JR into the kitchen where the stench of overcooked bacon and scorched grease drew them.
“I’m not positive, but it must be a guy named Brodie. He lives somewhere deep in the woods and was in the Army.” JR grinned. “I think he’s about your age.” With both hands gripping a towel on the large cast iron skillet’s handle, she moved it from the wood burning stove to a wood tabletop. She smirked at Mona. “Liked his looks, huh?”
Mona blushed.
JR grinned. “Uh huh. That’s what I thought.”
Their boots lay in the corner near where they’d been confined. After washing the blood and grime off their bodies at a granite lined wash pan, they scrounged clothing from the bedrooms upstairs. JR said, “One of the first things I’m doing when I get home is burn these clothes that belonged to those crude sluts.”
Mona nodded. “Amen to that. They were incredibly vicious.”
The women exited their old house of horrors in ‘borrowed’ clothing. Both showed bruises on exposed skin, but neither was seriously injured physically. In due time, with loving care the emotional trauma they’d suffered would ease and finally pass but would never be forgotten. Introductions were made and the men’s plan for the corpuses and the house was approved by all. Both women thanked Brodie profusely for assisting Sam. “Hell, without Brodie we’d all be dead; I couldn’t have done what he did.” Sam uttered. “But if he’s willing to teach me, I’m eager to learn combat skills.”
Brodie nodded.
JR said, “Charlie told us you lived further back in the forest than we are and said we might see you once in a while at a distance. Plan on coming to our place in a few days for a bar-b-que so we can say thanks properly.” Both women hugged Brodie and kissed his cheeks; he blushed at the unanticipated attention. Sam and JR exchanged smug looks when each noticed Mona clung to Brodie’s hand long after her thank-you was said.
In several hours a pickup bed was piled full of plunder. Canned and dry foods were the primary objects everyone focused on. A few firearms and many thousands rounds of ammunition would be split between Sam and Brodie. Sam searched the shop building and liberated hand tools and a small three foot tall cast-iron wood burner to heat the cabin when the temperature wasn’t cold enough to build a roaring fire in the fireplace. Simple meals could be prepared on the stove’s ten inch flat iron top. Brodie confiscated his own array of hand tools and an old two man saw hanging above a doorway. One of the sheds yielded a single blade plow with wood handles Sam latched onto. A horse would be needed to pull it to break ground for a garden.
“If you’ll move these two pickups down the lane a bit, Brodie and I will start dragging bodies inside before I splash diesel around the first floor,” Sam said to JR. “This dry wood is a tinderbox. It’ll be nothing but ashes in twenty minutes.” When the bodies on and near the porch were laid inside, he followed Brodie’s directions out past the box truck until he located another body. He shuddered when he saw the man’s throat was slashed ear to ear. Sam thought it was no wonder the guard didn’t yell a warning.
Brodie spoke, “Sam, how about I ride the bike back to your place and meet you there.” He turned and walked six feet, then stopped and turned. “Mona, would you like to ride back on the bike with me?” She grinned widely at JR, then ran to place her hand in Brodie’s.”
Sam cut a section of bed sheet three feet square, put half a brick in the middle, then gathered the corners and tied the cloth tightly at the weight. The four corners were dipped in diesel, then the torch was laid aside. He used a three-quarters full five gallon can of diesel to splatter the fuel generously throughout the downstairs rooms.
JR smelled diesel fumes before Sam walked out the front door. He stood back from the opening, lit the torch, tossed it across the room, and then sprinted away from the house. They stood with anticipation. The fire started slowly but increased in size and
