The moon gave just enough light to enable them to see the attack on the seemingly innocent people. Rick pointed at the woman. “Darn, he’s going to rape her.”
Jackie nudged her brother’s shoulder. “Tom.”
Tom raised his compound bow and took aim at the one attacking the girl. “Jackie, take the big sumbitch. Rick, watch our backs.”
Tom aimed and held his breath as his heart raced. The adrenaline pumped through his body, and that queasy feeling hit the pit of his stomach about the same time he released the arrow. The feathered shaft struck the man on his right arm and went on through deep into the man’s chest. The man stumbled, trying to regain his balance with his underwear and pants around his feet. He fell to the ground, and his head made a sickening sound as it struck the concrete.
Tom hung the bow on his backpack and motioned for the others to follow him. Jackie tugged on his arm. “Aren’t we going to help them?”
Tom’s brows furrowed, and he gave her a stern look. “We just saved their lives. It’s up to them what they do with the gift. They can take the men’s guns and get the hell out of Ashland before some of Carlos’s men finish what these asshats started.”
Rick faced his girlfriend. “We can’t take them home with us. You know that.”
“I guess you two are right, but what if one day, we need other people to help us?”
Tom stopped and huffed in exasperation. “Grandpa always said – we had to keep to ourselves and not bring others to the ranch. It’s hard for me to break away from a lifelong fear of adding people to our family. I know we need to add more families, but how do we vet them adequately?”
Rick interrupted the conversation. “Look at what the couple is doing. He grabbed the weapons while she searched the bodies. Now, they’re hiding them under that pile of rubble. These two might be keepers.”
“Let’s follow them and see where they go and what they do. I’d like to bring them to the ranch,” Jackie pronounced.
Tom shook his head but replied, “Okay. We’ll follow them for an hour or two and see what happens.”
The couple finished hiding the bodies and ran across Highway 66 to the Community Hospital before turning west. Tom led the others but stayed about fifty yards behind the couple. The man pointed at the street sign and walked south on Normal Avenue. He stopped behind a truck and hid in the dark for a minute. The couple appeared to be arguing until the man suddenly ran to the home across the street. The woman followed him, and Tom was surprised to see the man kick in the front door. A few seconds passed, and then flashes of light and gunfire rocked the inside of the house. The woman shot through one of the windows at an unknown target, and the battle ended.
The man came out the door with two young girls trailing behind him. Their hands were tied, and a rope was tied around both of their necks. Jackie gasped. “The women have been captured.”
While the man and woman were distracted by their captives, Tom moved closer to the home. Jackie and Rick joined him. Rick said, “Our innocent couple has some explaining to do.”
The man pushed them to the ground and left the young lady guarding them. He came back a few minutes later with an armload of small bundles. The man placed all but one of the bundles on the ground and opened the remaining packages. Tom couldn’t see what was in the box but gritted his teeth when the man snorted something from his own hand. “The people we saved just ripped off drug dealers. Do you still want to take them back to the camp, dear sister?”
Tom’s twin sister, Jackie, raised her bow. “Brother dear, you can be such an asshole,” she said before letting the arrow fly. Rick quickly nocked an arrow and shot it through the air. Jackie’s arrow struck the man in the back. The second one hit the woman in the back of her head. She turned as she fell, and they could see the arrowhead sticking out of her eye socket.
Jackie huffed as she turned to leave. “I don’t want to hear it. Put a cork in it, big brother.”
Tom followed. “It’s not a game where we keep score on being right. I’m just overly cautious, and you use your heart too much. That keeps us on a level keel. Do the same with Rick, and you two will have a good marriage.”
Jackie stopped and hugged her brother. “We do make a great team,” she said and then walked away.
Tom wanted to scavenge a veterinarian office on Highway 99 on Ashland's northwestern end before heading home. The Animal Hospital looked as though no one had looted it from across the highway. Tom always liked to watch a store or area before risking their lives by barging in without surveilling the situation. The trek to the Animal Hospital took too long, and they found themselves with only three hours to search the place and get back out of Ashland before daylight.
Tom looked at the area around the front of the building and passed the night vision scope to Rick. “I think we’ll search the place and fill our bags but spend the day there before going home tonight. I don’t want to rush into a trap.”
Soon after Tom spoke, a horde of people walked out of the shadows behind the gas station beside the Animal Hospital and came across the street. Small groups split off and searched every building in their path. Tom exhaled in relief when they passed by the veterinary facility without stopping.
Jackie whispered, “The mass migration and die-off have
