Laura Jo Phillips (20 page)

Grace nodded and set her jaw, her hazel eyes sparking with determination.  “Okay then,” she said as she turned back to look out the window.  Hope watched the rock moved back a couple of feet, then rise up a few inches as Grace took careful aim.

“Hard enough to knock him out, but not kill,” Hope whispered.  “Just remember, Grace, if it does kill him, we all know it wasn’t what you meant.  We have to do what we have to do.”

The rock wavered for a moment, then shot forward, smashing into the back of the man’s head.  The rock fell to the ground and the man fell to his knees where he swayed for a moment before falling forward onto his face in the dirt.

“Good girl,” Hope breathed.  “Let’s go.”

They grabbed the makeshift restraints they had cut from the bed sheets they’d found in the linen closet Berta had told them about, and went outside.  Hope knelt beside the man closest to the house and checked to see if he was still alive. 

“Perfect,” she said.  “He has a bump, but it barely even broke the skin.’

Grace smiled with relief.  She had never imagined killing anyone before.  The idea of it made her feel a little sick, though she had accepted that it might be the price she’d have to pay for her own life.

The women bound the men, taking the time to do it carefully.  Once their arms and legs were restrained they dragged them into the house.  They put one in the room Hope had awakened in, and the other across the hall in what had been Grace’s room. 

Grace spared a few minutes to flush the sand out of the second man’s eyes and mouth.  When she was finished, they slipped pillowcases over the men’s heads and tied them in place by wrapping a wide strip of sheet around their head like a blindfold and tying it in place.  There was a chance they would eventually be able to rub the pillowcases off, but they didn’t want to risk strangling them by tying anything around their necks.  They meant to be free, and they would do what they had to do in order to accomplish that, but that didn’t mean they wanted to kill if they didn’t have to.

As a finishing touch, since they had so much bedding available, they wrapped each man up in bed sheets, then tied them in place.  When they were finished the men looked like mummies, but Hope thought the chances of them getting free on their own were slim.

They had to leave the men lying on the floor rather than in the beds as there was just no way they could lift either man.  Dragging them into the house had been difficult enough.

Once they were certain that both men were securely bound, they locked them in their rooms and went back to the dining room where Aisling and Berta were sorting food, dishes, and pots into three piles. 

“You’re going to need water more than food,” Berta advised.  “The problem is, water is heavy.  This time of year there are lots of little streams and rivers from snow melt in the mountains to the north, so you have a chance to replenish as you go.  If you’re lucky enough to cross one.”

“If we can keep a good, steady pace I’m hoping we can reach that town in three days at best, four if we go slower,” Hope said.  “That means we’ll need about two gallons of water each.”

“That’s a lot of extra weight,” Grace said.

“There are some one liter bottles of soda in the pantry,” Aisling said.  “We can empty those and fill them with water.  Smaller bottles will be easier to carry.”

“Good idea,” Hope said.

Aisling and Karma headed back to the kitchen as Grace and Hope began loading up the makeshift packs with the food and supplies Aisling and Berta had gathered together. 

“Those packs you made up are genius,” Berta said. 

Hope grinned.  She and Grace had thought to use some of the sheets and blankets to create packs with.  They’d grabbed a stack each from the closet and headed into the living room where there was more room to spread out.  Hope dropped her stack on one of the big leather sofas, and had a sudden idea.  She slid the sheets to the floor and lifted one of the thick, leather covered cushions.  She turned it around and, sure enough, the entire thing was made of leather, and there was a zipper set into the back edge.  She unzipped it and pulled out the foam rubber cushion, leaving her with a large, square, leather bag.  She turned around and held it up for Grace to see. 

It only took Grace a moment to understand.  “Brilliant,” she said as she leapt to her feet and reached for the second cushion as Hope reached for the third one.  Using knives from the kitchen, they cut long strips of leather from the back of the sofa and ran them through slits in the leather bags to use as straps.  The tops zipped closed, which was nice, and they wouldn’t have to worry about them tearing or coming apart since the leather was very thick and heavy.  In far less time than they had imagined possible, they had three sturdy packs. 

Now, as they loaded the packs with food and supplies, Hope was very glad she’d thought of the leather cushion covers.  She didn’t think cotton sheets and blankets would have been sturdy enough to last them on a three or four day trek through the desert.

“How much time do you think we’ll have before more of the Brethren come to the compound?” she asked Berta.

“My best guess is about three days,” Berta replied.  “They’ve never left four new
berezi
here longer than that before, but it could be less.”

“Let’s say they come back tomorrow,” Hope said.  “How will they go about searching for us?”

“They used to use infra-red,” Berta said.  “But that was many years ago, when I last tried to escape.  But, I will tell you a secret.”

Hope glanced up at Berta and smiled at the older women’s sly expression. 

“These bozos leave me here alone most of the time since I can hardly walk.  I’ve done a little exploring in the other houses now and then, when I got bored.  I found the infra-red unit they used to find me years ago.  I promise you, nobody will ever use that thing to find anyone again.”

Hope laughed.  “Thanks, Berta,” she said.  “That’s great to know.”

“That doesn’t keep them from getting a replacement, mind you,” Berta warned.  “But it will slow them down some.” 

“I understand,” Hope said.  “And thanks for telling us.”  She finished putting the last of the dishes into her pack and zipped it closed.  “It’s about noon now, but I think we should leave as soon as we’re ready.  I know we won’t get too far before dark, but I don’t think we should wait.”

“We’re not going to be able to walk at night,” Grace said.  “We couldn’t find any flashlights or portable lanterns.  We haven’t been able to find anything to start a fire with either.  That’s going to be a problem.”

“The guards must have flashlights of some sort,” Hope said.  “Maybe they’ll have something for starting a fire too.  Which one of the buildings do they stay in?”

“There’s a small brown house on the far side of this one,” Berta said.  “And you’re right, they do have flashlights.  I’ve seen them.”

“I’ll run over there and see what I can find,” Grace offered. 

“Okay,” Hope agreed.  “I’ll finish up here.”

Once all of the packs were loaded, Berta helped Hope work out the best way to tie bedding onto them.  They ended up cutting another set of slits into each pack which they ran long strips of sheet through as ties.  Then they used the ties to attach several tightly rolled blankets and sheets to the back of the packs.  Hope added as many as she could to each pack.  They weren’t very heavy, and she thought there might be a way for them to use them as a tent or tarp. 

None of them had any clothing aside from what they were wearing.  Berta had offered whatever they wanted from her closet, but she had only a few changes of clothes herself, and no coats or hats.  They were very lucky that it was spring, so it wouldn’t be too hot during the day.  But it also meant that the nights would be very cold. The extra blankets would be needed when the sun went down, even if they just wrapped themselves up in them.

Hope was wearing jeans, a tank top and sneakers, so she knew she would be cold at night.  Grace was dressed almost the same, only she was wearing a cotton t-shirt instead of a tank top.  But Karma had been wearing flannel shorts and a thin, oversized t-shirt style top with cloth slippers.  Aisling had been wearing jeans and a fleece top, so she offered to swap clothes with Karma, which surprised Karma a great deal. 

As the women were much the same size, Aisling’s clothes fit Karma comfortably.  The problem was with the shoes.  Aisling was wearing sneakers, but her feet were just a bit bigger than Karma’s, so they were loose on Karma’s feet. 

Karma had stuffed a few small pieces of torn sheet into the toes of the shoes and said that they would be fine, but Hope was worried.  They would be walking sunup to sundown as fast as they could over rough terrain for the next few days, and the condition of their feet was going to be of critical importance.

Hope had wondered if perhaps it wouldn’t be better if Karma stayed behind with Aisling.  When she met the other woman’s gaze with her own, she knew Karma was set on going, and she was clearly ready to fight about it if necessary.

“It’s not for me to say whether you go or stay,” Hope said.  “That’s a decision for you to make.  But understand this; if you can’t walk, we will leave you behind.”

Karma’s brows rose in surprise.

“I don’t mean we will abandon you,” Hope said quickly  “We’ll find a safe place for you to camp, leave you with food, water and fire, and we’ll mark your location.  We will come back for you.”

Karma relaxed.  “All right then, that works for me.”

“Be sure, Karma,” Hope warned.  “Neither Grace nor I can carry you.  You would have to stay in one place, on your own, until we come back for you.”

“I understand,” Karma said.  “Don’t worry, Hope.  I’ll be fine.”

Hope nodded, though she was still doubtful.  But, as she had said to Karma, it wasn’t up to her to tell the other woman what to do.  The decision to go, or to stay, was Karma’s to make.

Hope and Berta finished tying on the last of the rolled blankets just as Aisling and Karma came in with arm loads of liter sized plastic bottles filled with water.  There were twenty-one bottles in all, seven for each of them.  The problem now was how to carry them. 

Hope picked up one of the bottles and turned it around in her hands.  “The necks are narrower than the rest of the bottle, and the lids form a small lip.  I think we can tie a strip of cloth around the neck of some of the bottles, then hang them from a belt around our waists.  We can put the others in our packs.  There’s plenty of room for them, and that will help distribute the weight a little.”

The other women all nodded.  Working together it didn’t take long for them to create three belts from more strips of leather cut from the now ruined couch.  They used strips of cotton sheeting to hang three bottles from each belt.  Hope tied one around her waist and frowned.  It was heavier than she had thought it would be, but there was no help for it.  Without water, they would never reach their destination. 

Just as they finished putting the rest of the water bottles into the packs, Grace came in with an armload of stuff which she dumped onto the table. 

“You found flashlights,” Hope said as she looked through the pile. 

“And extra batteries, a couple of butane lighters, plus three knives, and some extra large sweaters.  They smell a little musty, but I don’t think we’ll care much when it gets cold.”

“Good girl,” Hope said happily, reaching for the knives.  They were large hunting knives, each in its own leather sheath.  She slid each blade from its sheath, then selected one and tested the weight in her hand.  She held it by the tip of the blade and flipped it into the air, catching it by the handle.  It hadn’t been sharpened in a while, but it had good balance.  It was the best of the three, she decided.  She picked up the sheath and turned to add it to the belt with her water bottles, noticing for the first time that all of the other women were staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

“Looks like you know how to use that knife,” Grace said.

“Like I said, my cousin is an Agent.  He taught me a thing or two about self-defense, and insisted I learn how to handle a knife.  I’m no good fighting with the thing, but I can hit a bull’s eye at twenty yards.”

“Wonderful, if any bulls come after us, we’re in luck,” Karma said.

Hope shot her a startled look, then burst out laughing when she realized the other woman was joking.  Karma smiled and reached for the sweaters, shaking each one out before folding it up. 

They quickly divided up the new supplies, then helped each other on with the packs.  The packs were a little difficult to get on the first time since they had to adjust the straps for each of them, which took some time.  Once they all had their packs on and adjusted, they thought they’d work fine.

“Oh, I have an idea,” Berta said.  “You should each tie a pillowcase to your belts so you can gather fuel for your fires.  You’ll find lots of dried brush everywhere, but that stuff burns very hot, very fast.  It’s a good idea to collect heavier sticks and wood as you go if you want a fire that will last.”

“Great idea, Berta, thanks,” Hope said as Grace headed for the linen closet.  A few minutes later they all had a collection bag tied to their belts along with their water bottles and knives, and were ready to go.

“Now Aisling, remember, don’t talk where the guards can hear you, or take the blindfolds off of them,” Hope reminded her.