The Guardians (26 page)

The four on horseback had gathered the herd just behind Evan.  Jason was on Mildred's Massey Ferguson, and was positioned behind the cattle, with the
smaller livestock loaded into the livestock trailer that he had in tow.  Charlie on his ATV took point, while Jimmy took the rear position.  Both of the men on the ATV's were armed, and had their rifles handy so that they could respond quickly to any potential threat.

As Evan received word from Jason via their hand held radios that the rear was all formed up and ready to go, he gave Charlie, who was on the lead AT
V, the thumbs up and Charlie led the drive off of Mildred's property.  It took him and Evan a few moments to learn how to match the pace of the cattle, but within a short distance, they had it all working smoothly.  As they began to turn onto the country road from her property, Mildred looked back at her and Ollie's beautiful home that they vowed to live in until the died.  If the Lord is willing, she thought, I'll return home someday to live until I fulfill my end of the bargain.

The first few miles went relatively smooth.  The occasional cow had to be turned back into the herd by one of the horses, but they were making good time overall.  As they winded down the country road, they were bordered on one side by a steep and heavily wooded hillside, going nearly straight up in places, and to their right, and a ledge that led twenty or so feet down to a creek with heavily wooded banks below.  The cattle were reasonably easy to manage
, as they were moving through a funnel that did not give them many options, but to follow straight ahead.  Although Evan and Jason appreciated this for the control it gave them over the cattle, their experiences over the past year have made them wary of this type of topography, as it is also ideal for ambushes and sniping.  It would not be the first time they have rounded the corner and found a roadblock designed to entrap travelers in the kill zone of a shooter.

After a few more miles, they came upon an opening in the terrain
, where a side road led off to the right.  The road was Yellow Ridge Road, and was used to access the properties to the east side of their alliance.  As they came to the opening, some of the cattle, which were not accustomed to being driven, began to stray off to the sides in an attempt to graze.  The riders on horseback did a fairly good job of getting them back in line, but as none of them were experienced at moving cattle the old fashioned way, one heifer managed to slip through and head up Yellow Ridge Road and around the corner out of sight before they could stop her. 

Linda Cox yelled, "I'll get her," and turned and rode off around the corner to turn the cow back to the herd.  As she ran her horse at a quick pace
, she rounded the corner to see the heifer go just out of sight and around the next corner.  Damn it, Linda thought.  She sure did not expect to have to get this far from the group.  She looked back over her shoulder to see if anyone else had came along to help, and as she turned to look back in front of her, she saw a man in standing in the ditch along side road with a rifle pointed at her.  She immediately pulled back as hard as she could on the reigns to bring her horse to a sliding stop and began to turn in order to try to escape back to the safety of the group.

"
Go! Go! Go!" she yelled aloud to her horse, while kicking her boots into his sides.

As she turned
broadside to the man while desperately trying to get the horse turned around, he yelled, "Off the horse!"

She ignored his commands and when coming full turn
, another man jumped out of the woods alongside the road and attempted to grab the reigns of her horse.  She plowed through the man, knocking him down and out of the way.  As she began to pull away she heard a shot and could hear the bullet whiz by her head.  She then heard another shot, followed rapidly by a third.  On the third shot, she felt a violent thump on her back, followed by a deep pain and the inability to breath.  She rode like she had never rode in her life, rounding the two corners and rejoining the main road.  Once back on the main road, she saw that the group had moved on past the open area.  She continued running her horse as hard as she could towards the safety of the group.  As she gained on them, Jimmy saw her riding at a frantic pace and yelled to Jason to stop the herd.  He then turned his ATV broadside to the road for cover, dismounted and aimed his rifle behind Linda cover her, in case she was being pursued.

As she reached the group and brought her horse to a stop Jason yelled, "What is it?  What happened?"

She couldn't answer, she was still unable to breath and was getting light headed.  As she tried to climb down off of her horse, she fell to the ground.  Jason jumped off the tractor and ran over to her, as did Daryl, who nearly leapt off his horse to help.  The others tried to maintain control of the herd that had become spooked by all of the commotion.

As
Linda struggled to breath, everything began to get quiet and fade to gray as she laid there helplessly looking up at Jason and Daryl.  The next thing she knew, she was coughing and struggling to breath and awoke looking up at Mildred and Judith.  "Linda, Linda Dear, wake up," she heard Mildred say.

"Was I shot? W
as I shot?" she asked in pain.

"It appears that you were My Dear," answered Mildred. "But luckily for you, that pack on your back had lots of stuff in it and it looks like your metal mess kit and a few other things together saved your life.  Your back is bruised up pretty bad though, so you may have a few broken ribs from the impact."

Linda looked around and started to sit up, but the pain was so severe she had to lay back down.  When she tried to sit up, she had just realized she was laying on the flat bed trailer being pulled by Evan.  "Where's my horse?" she said.  "Is he OK?"

"He's fine," said Judith.  "Daryl tied him up to the livestock trailer and he is following along nicely."

They rounded the corner onto the gravel road leading onto the Homefront.  "We are in the home stretch now," Mildred said to Linda with a smile.  As the herd was directed away from the house towards their new temporary home, Evan turned the tractor, leaving the rest of the group to deliver the women to the home.

Evan climbed down from the tractor where Molly and the kids met him and gave him all sorts of hugs and kisses in their excitement for his safe return.  "Let's get Linda in the house," he said.  "She's a little banged up."  Molly, Sarah, and Judy helped her down and led her into the house.

Peggy asked Griff's wife Judy, "Where is Zack?" She had hoped and somewhat expected him to be running to her open arms.

"He's in the hall closet again," she replied.

"What do you mean again?" asked Peggy.

"Ever since you left to go on that run
, he has been hiding, Judy replied.  "Griff got him to come out once to eat, but other than that, he seems to be content to just sit in there.

Peggy just dropped what she was doing and ran off to find Zack.  She felt like a horrible mother for le
aving him in such a condition.

As Judith and Mildred wal
ked into the house to start planning on what to do with Mildred's important belongings, Haley ran to Mildred, gave her a huge hug, and began to cry.  "Oh thank God you're home.  I was so afraid I would lose another family."

Mildred just held her tight, as her heart was warmed by the fact that Haley considered her family.  She had always thought that if Ollie died, she would want to join him soon after, but now young Haley had given her something to live for.

After putting the tractor away, Evan walked into the house to talk to Linda about what had happened.  She explained how she had went after a stray cow and was confronted.  She also told him that the men fit the same basic demographic as the gang out at the Muncie place, and how they had tried to capture her.

"Well, you get some rest," he said.  "A lot is about to go down around here, and since you live alone, you may want to stick around this place until it all blows over."

****

Chapter 27: The Flight

The morning came early for Nate, as he had tossed and turned all night thinking about how much closer he would be to his mother and father the very next day.  He tried to keep a positive attitude that both of his parents would be found in good health, but in the uncertain and dangerous world they now occupied, he felt he needed to keep realistic expectations that things simply may not work out.  After all, he didn't even know the location from where his mother made contact with the Survivor's Locator Network, other than that at the time she was somewhere in the state of Tennessee.  He would not give up hope however, as no matter how dark things had gotten during his journey over the past year; he was always able to keep moving forward.

It was 0300 in the morning and N
ate got up early and double-checked his gear, making sure the Colt M4 carbines that were broken down and rolled up in his pack were still secure.  They only had to remain hidden for one more leg of the journey, so he did not want loose gear to give it a way now.  He showered and shaved, being thankful that the accommodations granted to him by the TSG had electricity and running water.  He knew he did not know the next time this luxury would be available.

At 0400
, he met Luke and Rachel in the lobby for their escort to the aircraft.  Everyone was early, as they knew the importance of getting on this flight.  Rachel's medical contacts within the TSG would soon start to wear thin, as they discovered she was no longer serving as a part of their team.  A young TSG Airman from what was formerly the Texas Air National Guard met them in the lobby at 0350 for their 0400 escort.

"Are you folks the Stewart team?" he asked.

Rachel spoke up and said, "Yes, I'm Doctor Stewart.  I assume you are our escort to the aircraft?"

"Yes Ma'am, I'm Senior Airman Castillo.  It's kind of a long walk.  There aren't many outside vehicles allowed on the flight line for security reasons.  I can try to find a cart for your bags if you like," he replied.

"No thanks, we're traveling light with just our packs so we can just carry them," Luke said.

"Oh, I guess I was expecting some medical gear or something," he replied inquisitively.

"They have what we need where we are going," added Luke.

"Of course," Airman Castillo said getting back to business.  "I won't waste any more of your time then.  Just follow me please."

The group left the lodging facility and walked across the parking lot, into what was formerly the commercial passenger air terminal.  As they walked through the old terminal, they arrived at a security checkpoint.  Airman Castillo explained who the group consisted of and where they were going.  The senior guard on duty demanded their travel orders before they could proceed onto the terminal ramp.

"Only crew, passengers, and aircraft handling personnel are allowed on to the ramp Airmen.  You know that," he said.

"Well, I thought," Airman Castillo attempted to speak as he was interrupted by the guard.

"You know better than that.  If they've been reserved space on the flight, there will be written orders," he said.

A sinking feeling came over Nate.  Did we just go through hell in the wrong direction just to miss our flight over an administrative procedure, he thought to himself.

"Perhaps orders were left here for us," Rachel said in desperation.  "This was all arranged on short notice over the radio," she added.

Just then, a man called out from across the room, "Doctor Stewart!" Rachel turned to see Doctor Leonard Stafford, a grey haired man in his mid-sixties walking to the checkpoint from across the room.  As he walked to the security checkpoint, he approached the desk and said," I'm so sorry, I'm Colonel Stafford with the TSG Medical Corps.  I arranged the flight for Doctor Stewart and her team.  The whole thing was last minute, and I did not get the paperwork to the flight operations personnel in time for them to get it Doctor Stewart prior to her arrival.  Here is a copy of my approved request," he said as he handed some forms to the Sargent in charge.

While the Sargent was reviewing the paperwork
, Doctor Stafford turned to Rachel and said, "I'm so glad I caught you before you left."

"It's good that you did, otherwise it was looking like we wouldn't have been allowed through," she replied.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that.  Without the benefit of email and fax machines, sometimes just getting the administrative side of things accomplished these days can take some time.  But anyway, I'm so sorry to hear about what happened in Victoria.  They were such good people and did so many great things for us there."

"That's just the world we live in now isn't it?" she said.

"For the time being my dear, I'm afraid it is.  So are you going to introduce me to these fine young gentlemen?" he asked reaching out his hand to Nate and Luke.

"Oh, of course," she said.  "This is Luke
, and this is Nate."

Nate and Luke both reached out their hands and shook his, saying th
eir pleasantries with a smile.

"I've heard a lot about you Luke.  I'm glad you're on her team now as well Nate," he said with a wink.  "You two take goo
d care of Doctor Stewart while on your assignment in Tupelo," he said as he turned back to the Sargent.