Home: A Stranded Novel (19 page)

He flexed his healing leg and looked up into the branches before nodding. “It’s been a while
, but yeah, I think I can do it.”

Josh gave him a disbelieving look. “Dude, if you fall out of that tree right before the big raid, you’re going to be pissed!
”

Quinn gave him a withering look and took the glasses from Alex. “At least I won’t break half the branches on the way up and down, you lumbering fool!”

Josh lifted his nose in mock disdain. “What can I say? I make my presence known wherever I go,” he said in a haughty, high class voice.

Quinn didn’t respond but a smirk crossed his face as he turned and studied the lowest hanging branches. Josh gave a long suffering sigh as he came over and cupped his hands to give Quinn a lift up.
Once he was over the first branch, Quinn quickly disappeared from view. Alex sat down next to the supplies and stifled a yawn. The waiting was draining and she just wanted to get moving with the plan. She pulled out some jerky and handed a piece to Josh. They worked on the meat for a while and Alex got tired of Josh shooting her looks so she asked him,

“What?”

He looked up in to the tree and not seeing Quinn, gave her a devilish grin. “About time!”

Alex shook her head and asked again, “What?”

“You and Quinn! It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for you two to figure out you belong together for a few years now.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Really, sort of like you and Dara? How long have you been sitt
ing on those feelings? Hmmmm?” she asked sarcastically.

Josh ducked his head and his cheeks flushed red before he mumbled, “Just
sayin!”

He was saved by the rustle of leaves above as Quinn made his way down the tree and joined them. Quinn had a light in his eyes that made Alex smile.

“Did you see your grandpa?” she asked him.

“Yup!
He was getting a bowl of food and then he turned and looked right over here before going into the barn. He definitely thinks something’s up. The guards put a beam across the doors of the barn once all the workers were inside. I counted six of them before they went into the house. Let’s go get the others and get back here. I want us all to move forward to the tree line and watch for a bit before we lose all light. We need to make sure that they aren’t doing patrols. When we hit them, it would be great if they were all in the house.” He paused and bit his lip in thought. “Emily said Dr. Mack told you guys that there were some men on your farm that stayed in the house with the guards, right?”

Alex
made a face in disgust. “Yeah, he said there were ten men that worked for the guards for extra food. Why? What did you see?”

He shook his head.
“Nothing. The only people that went in the house were the six guards. I guess nobody here sold out.”

Josh smirked. “More like, nobody wanted to cross your
grandpa! Can you imagine having to face him every day if you picked the wrong side? That would just be stupid!”

Alex nodded her head in appreciation. “He’s right
, Quinn. Harry’s probably the most respected man from here to Red Deer. No one would want to be on his bad side if they could help it.”

Quinn laughed softly
, “Grandpa might be old but he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, that leaves us with just the six guards to take out. Josh, you and I will stay here and Alex can go back to get the others and then we’ll get in place. We need a little light to see by to get ready so let’s get going.”

Alex swung her rifle on to her back and took off through the tree
s to get the rest of the group. She was happy to be moving and anxious to start the plan they had come up with. It was just the first step in freeing the town, but the next step was freeing her father.

She and the others made it back to Quinn and Josh just as the sun was setting. The forest was dim and getting darker by the minute. Quinn went over the first part of the plan one last time.

“Okay, it’s almost go time guys, so pay attention. We will move to the tree line until we can see the house. It will be dark but there should be lights in the windows, either lanterns or candles so we will be able to see it. We stay still and watch for an hour to let them get settled in, then at my signal we move in. We use the barn, shed and anything else we come across as cover until we can get up beside the house. Leave the barn alone. Don’t try and make contact at all. The last thing we want is to give ourselves away. We can deal with opening the barn after we have the guards secured. Once we get to the house, we need to be completely silent. We need try and find out where they are in the house, so I’m going to do some window peeking. Hopefully they will all be on the main floor and we can split in to two groups and come in from the front and back door. If any of them are upstairs we will have to split up even further and send some of us up. We won’t know until I can get a look inside.”

They would leave the extra rifles and
backpacks at the base of the tree and just take what they needed to secure the guards. Once that was done some of them could come back and retrieve them to pass out to some of the men. They walked the forty feet to the tree line and spread out and crouched down. The yard was empty of people and all they could see was the dim outline of the outbuildings. There was faint light coming from around the curtains of the house but only on the main floor.

Once again, Alex fought a yawn. She was nervous about the mission and sitting and waiting was making it worse. Just like at her own farm
the other night, the guards came out one by one and did their bathroom business. She felt Quinn stiffen every time the door to the house opened, spilling light into the yard. Alex kept her eyes on the second floor of the house for signs of light. She didn’t want the group to split up any more than they had too. Ten minutes after the sixth guard had come out and gone back in, she nudged Quinn.

“We should go now before they
go upstairs to sleep. It would be better if we caught them all on the main floor so we don’t have to split up.”

He swallowed hard before his face took on a grim expression and nodded. He turned to Josh who was beside him and murmured in a low voice that it was time to go. Josh turned to pass it on to Dara so Alex told Emily who passed it down the line in the other direction. When Quinn stood everyone else came to their feet and they moved out of the cover of the trees and into the yard. They made a diagonal line to the back of the barn and stayed in its deep shadows as they skirted around it and the house came in to view once again. In groups of two
, they crossed the empty yard on silent feet until they were all pressed up against the side of the house. They stayed low under the few windows on this side and waited as Quinn crept around the house peeking in windows.

Alex could hear the faint noises of men talking but couldn’t make out the words. A shiver ran down her back when a loud burst of laughter rang out. She turned her head and tried to make out the faces of her friends but they were only dark outlines. Quinn was only gone for a few minutes but it felt like hours to Alex
, as nervous sweat started to coat her body. She was concentrating so hard on keeping her heartbeat down and staying calm that she flinched when Quinn tapped her on the arm.

He put his mouth against her ear and whispered,
“They’re all in the kitchen playing cards. I counted all six of them. We split up now. Our team takes the back door and Josh’s team takes the front.”

Alex nodded her understanding and he moved down the side of the house telling the others and then returned to Alex’s side. They split apart and moved to the back and front of the house. Alex, Quinn, David and Emily were taking the back door and Josh, Dara, Cooper and Lisa went to the front.

Alex’s group crouched at the back door that led directly in to the kitchen and paused. They wanted to give Josh’s group time to get into place. When the walkie talkie clipped to Quinn’s belt clicked twice he turned to the others and nodded. They had practised how to enter the house back at the campsite and they all took their positions. Quinn was on the left of the door and Alex was on the right. She would turn the knob and push the door open for Quinn who would enter first and move to his left with Alex coming in right behind him and moving to the right. Emily would follow and go left with David last. He would stand in front of the door. Four faint clicks happened at the same time as they slipped the safeties off their rifles. Alex was surprised to find her heart and hands steady as she reached over to turn the knob. A quick thought passed through her mind that she would be a quivering mess after this was over. She turned the knob and shoved the door hard.

Quinn was moving before she even had time to pull her arm back and she swung her body up from its crouch and followed him through the door. As soon as Quinn moved to the left, she brought her rifle up and stepped to the
right. She saw Emily come in from her peripheral vision but her eyes were on the six guards. Five were seated around the kitchen table she had eaten at so many times and one was standing with a bowl in his hand at the counter, a spoon halfway to his gaping open mouth.

Quinn barked out a command,
“Hands where we can see them!”

The split second of shock had frozen the guards
, but it quickly wore off and Alex saw one of them reach for a handgun at his waist. Her eyes narrowed and she let out a warning.

“Touch it and you’re dead!”

His hand froze for a split second and Alex saw the calculation in his eyes before he went for it. She didn’t have time to squeeze the trigger of her gun before the man was blown backwards and a loud shot rang out in the room. Her eyes tracked over to where it had come from and she saw Josh standing in the doorway that led to the front of the house. He gave a curt nod and moved to his left so Dara and Cooper could enter the kitchen. Alex turned her eyes back on to the guards and without any feeling called out, “Next!”

The guards all looked at her and they must have saw something on her face that convinced them they would all die if they if they tried anything
, because they all slowly lifted their hands.

Quinn shot a glance at Josh and Cooper. “We’ve got them covered. Start checking them for weapons.”

They both slung their rifles over their backs and moved forwards to search each man. One of the guards had a permanent scowl on his face and when Josh patted him down for weapons he growled at them.

“Those people out there aren’t going to thank you for this when our associates take their revenge
out on their wives and children!”

Josh had taken a step back from the man but before he could respond, Quinn took two steps forward, reversed his rifle and slammed it into the scowling man’s jaw. Josh smirked as the guy slithered to the floor unconscious. He spared a look at the other men.

“Anybody else got something they want to say?”

When they just stared back at him, he shrugged and checked the next man for weapons. Once the men had been searched, Josh and David left the kitchen and cleared the rest of the house to make sure it was empty. Josh came back with a roll of duct tape and started taping the unconscious man’s arms and legs. The group of teens stood guard until the all the men were secured. Emily and David offered to stand guard over them while the rest of the group went out to open the barn and explain to the men inside what the plan was. Cooper stepped forward after studying David’s pale sweaty face.

“I’ll stay with Emily. I think David could use some fresh air.”

Wh
en everyone looked at David, his face flushed and he looked away. Josh stepped up to him and squeezed his shoulder.

“Come on, man. Let’s go give the good news to the people.”

David shrugged Josh’s hand off and walked out the back door. Josh stared after him sadly. He knew his friend was having a hard time with them killing people, but it was something he would have to get over. This was only the first step in the plan, and there would most likely be more killing before the night was over.

There were five lanterns in the room so Quinn and Dara grabbed two and with Alex, Josh and Lisa left the house and headed to the barn. They walked across the yard to the barn and Quinn handed the lantern to Alex. He went to the beam holding the door closed and paused. After a minute had passed, Alex set the lantern down on the ground and walked up to him and put her hand on his arm.

“Quinn?”

He kept his head down and his eyes on the beam.

“I…he…I’m not…” he trailed off, not finding the words he needed.

Alex knew what was going on in his head. She had felt the same way when she saw her father.

“It’s okay, Quinn. He’ll know you did what you had to do. He’ll understand.”

Quinn turned his head and met her eyes. His were full of gratitude that she understood what he was feeling and he gave a nod before lifting up the beam and stepping back. Josh and David garbed the handles on both doors and pulled them back leaving Quinn and Alex standing in the middle of the doorway. Alex lifted her lantern higher and the light shone on Harry Dennison’s face. He was standing just inside the doorway like he had been waiting for them all along.

Harry Dennison’s faded watery blue eyes locked on to his grandson. The years of hard living
working the land showed in every line and fold on his face. They stood staring at each other as emotions fought across the older man’s face. He finally took a step forward and reached out his work gnarled hands to grip Quinn’s shoulders. His voice was gravelly and chocked full with emotions.

“I knew…I knew you would make it back. When I saw the flash in the trees a few days ago I hoped it was you. I heard a gunshot. Are you all ok
ay?”

Quinn made a muffled noise that was half
-sob as he nodded yes. Harry’s face broke for a half second before he used his powerful hands to pull his only grandchild to him and wrapped him close against his chest. He closed his eyes and thanked the Lord for bringing the boy back to him. A sniff and whimper had his eyes opening and zeroing in on Alex who was watching the reunion with tears pouring down her face. One of his long arms let go of Quinn and he reached out and plucked a curl from her shoulder and he gave it a gentle yank before pulling her into his arms with Quinn.

“Red, I never doubted for a minute that you would get my boy home.”

Alex let out a half laugh against his chest before pulling back and wiping her face of tears.

“What can I say? I must have been a sheepherding dog in a prior life
, but it took all of us to get this far.” She waved Josh, David and Dara forward.

Harry took in their faces and smiled and nodded at them all. He looked past them and when he didn’t see anyone else, turned concerned eyes on Alex.

“Emily?”

Alex smiled.
“In the house with Cooper, watching the guards.”

Harry’s face went hard and he took in the rifles they were all carrying. He cleared the emotion in his throat.

“Leave it to you bunch to get some new toys at the end of the world! I’m guessing you know what the situation is. It’s not just our farm that’s in trouble.”

Quinn had finally found his voice and he peered deeper into the barn at the men who were staring back at them.

“We do know what’s going on at the other farms and in town. We have a plan but if we want to be able to free everyone then we need to work together. If anyone goes running to town right now we will lose the chance to free everyone,” he said the last part to the men who were moving closer to the group.

Harry nodded curtly and turned around to address the men he had been held captive with.

“Alright, I know everyone is worried about their families but my grandson is right. We can’t go storming the town without a plan or they just might take it out on our loved ones. The first thing we need to do is…dispose of the men in my house. We can’t take the chance of them getting away and alerting the rest of the gang.”

He named five men who stepped forward and he had a quiet conversation with them before they left with Josh to deal with the guards.

Alex knew what he had meant when he said to dispose of them. Her hardened heart knew it was what needed to be done but she was glad it wasn’t her that would have to do the killing. Her head came up with concern when she thought about the guards being shot, so she stepped over to Harry.

“They can’t shoot them!”
she blurted out.

Harry’s brow sank in compassion. “I know it’s hard to understand that we have to kill them Alex but…”

Alex was shaking her head and she cut him off. “No no, that’s not what I mean! I agree they need to disappear, but the sound of a bunch of gunshots might carry over to my place and alert the guards there!”

His face changed to one of surprise. “I mentioned that to the men I sent in to the house. No one from your place will hear anything.” He paused and studied her relieved face. “You understand why they have to go?”

A faint flush came up onto her face but she kept her eyes steady on his. “We didn’t fly home, Mr. Dennison. We've had to fight our way through in some parts. We…had to…” she trailed off, not able to say the words to this man she admired and respected so much.”

Harry turned his eyes onto Quinn, who was looking down at his feet and then to the other teenagers that had fought their way home. David looked like he was about to break out into tears. Harry saw what they had to do on each of their faces and took a ragged breath.

“It’s alright, Alex, all of you. You did what you had to do to survive. As long as you fought on the side of good you did the right thing.” He looked to each one of them and saw that David had begun to weep, so he strode over to the boy and laid an arm around him.

“You listen to me, all of you listen! I’ve lived long
er than almost all of your years combined and this is what I know. The good Lord gave us the means to fight evil and he is only disappointed when we stand back and let bad triumph. The meek shall NOT inherit the earth! The strong and the right will! Let this weight on your shoulders go. You all fight for good and He is proud!”

The men that had been watching and listening since the
barndoors opened came forward and reinforced Harry’s words. There were pats on backs and hugs given. Kind words were spoken and thanks given for all that the teens had done. One by one, the teens that had fought so hard felt a weight lift from their hearts.

There wasn’t enough room in the farmhouse for all the men while they went over the plan for the rest of the night’s mission so the
y stayed in the barn with a few more lanterns to light it up. Emily, Alex, David and Cooper ran back into the trees to retrieve the supplies they had left there, and the girls were happy to pass out some of the buns they had made earlier in the day. Quinn unfolded the hand drawn map on a table they had taken from the house and explained the plan that they had come up with. He laid out all the locations of the guards and what they needed to do to keep the element of surprise. There were a few people that wanted to just take off towards town right away but they were quickly dissuaded by more level heads.

Once everyone had been briefed on the next step, ten men were picked for their hunting and firearms knowledge to go to Alex’s farm with the teens. It was decided that Lisa, David and Emily along with three more men would walk back to the truck and ATVs and bring them forwards to Quinn’s farm. As soon as Alex’s farm was liberated
, they would drive it over and hand out more guns and food. There was some grumbling about the kids continuing with the raids. Some of the men wanted them to stay back and let them take over, but they were soon silenced when the teens made it clear that they would be a part of rescuing their families or they would go it alone. After all they had done and how far they had come, there was no way they would not be included. After much arguing, it was finally agreed upon that the teens would stay out of the houses and open the barns once the guards had been neutralized.

Alex checked her watch and was surprised to find that a few hours had passed since they had first left the tree line and started the raid. She was anxious to get moving and see her father
again. They had a lot to accomplish before the sun rose with three more farms to free and then get into position at the roadblocks. When everything was finalized and they were ready to move out, Alex gave Emily and Lisa a hug and they cautioned each other to be careful. The three teens and three men going for the vehicles would have to go on foot. If they took the guard's vehicle, they would have to travel on the road in between Quinn's and Alex's farm and there was too much chance of the guards at the next farm hearing it.

Ten men and five teens ghosted across the field and road that separated the two properties. Alex, Quinn, Josh, Dara and Cooper stood guard in the yard with their weapons ready as the ten men entered Alex’s house. No light shone from the windows and Alex guessed that everyone inside was asleep. As she stared up at the house she wondered if the taint of these evil men would ever be erased from her home. Light flashed through a few of the upstairs windows with the sound of gunshots. Alex counted eight shots before silence came again. The sound of a window being shoved opened came to her ears and she moved around the house in the direction it came from.

Josh’s voice had a hard tone to it as he yelled out, “On your knees, hands up!”

Alex skidded to a stop beside him and pointed her rifle at the dark shapes of people spilling out of the window. A lantern flared to life and Dara held it high so the light spilled on a jumbled pile of bodies trying to separate themselves under the open window. Alex was studying each man’s face as they managed to remove themselves from the pile
, and her confusion turned to cold anger when she remembered Dr. Mack telling her that these men had collaborated with the guards. Once they had all separated and gotten on their knees, one man called out to Josh.

“Is that Josh Green? It’s me, Billy Stover, don’t shoot! We’ve been held hostage by a horrible group of men and forced to work as slaves!”

Josh kept his eyes and rifle steady on the pleading man.

“I know who you are
, Mr. Stover. I can honestly say I didn’t much care for you before this all happened and I’m not really surprised you’re in your current situation.”

The man frowned at Josh, “Watch your tone there
, young man! I’m a respected member of this community and you will talk to me with respect!” he proclaimed with indignation.

Josh let out a bark of laughter before he spoke coldly. “Do I look like I just fell out of the stupid tree? You sold any respect you might have deserved for a few extra bowls of food. It’s not my place to judge what happens to you and your friends but there will be consequences for what you all did.” A sneer crossed his normally good natured face. “Now shut your yap trap!”

The man whined and blubbered and tried to justify what he had done, but Josh just faked a yawn. Alex had to turn away to hide her smile. Josh always could make her laugh.

The men filed out of her house with grim expressions and the teens handed over their prisoners. Alex didn’t know what would happen to them and to be honest, she didn’t really care. She only cared about one thing right now and it was opening the barn doors and seeing her father.

The people inside the barn had been alerted by the commotion in the yard and the gunfire from the house. When the beam was taken down, they were all on their feet staring at the doors. Alex didn’t have to look far for her father. He was standing just inside the door with a panic-filled face that changed to relief when the first person he saw was his daughter. Alex’s face broke into a huge smile as she rushed to him and the tension left her shoulders when she saw him standing on his own two feet. He limped towards her with his arms spread wide and caught her up in to a hug that only a father could give. He pushed her back to arm’s length to get a good look at her.

“My pretty girl!
I thought maybe I dreamed you had come. When I woke up the day after you snuck in it all felt like a dream.”

Alex smiled and sniffed back her happy tears. “You had a pretty high fever,
dad. I’m so glad you’re better. I was so scared!”

Jonathan Andrews pulled his daughter close again and gave thanks she was safe. He saw Quinn and the others over her shoulder and sent them a smile of gratitude. Harry Dennison walked into view and came over to shake his hand. His deep gravelly voice was full of determination when he explained the situation and what had to be done. Dr. Mack had joined them and listened to the plan for the rest of the night and next day.

His voice was grim when he asked, “What happened to the guards?”

“They won’t be
needing your services, doc,” Harry told him with a meaningful look.

Dr. Mack’s shoulders slumped a little
but he nodded. “I can’t say I agree but it’s probably for the best.”

Harry took a good look around the barn and scanned the men who had been held captive.

“We need to round everyone up and let them know what’s happening so we can get over to The Mather’s farm and then the Green’s. Let’s get to work. There will be plenty of time to talk once we finish this.”

Alex left them to go over the plan with the other men and headed back outside to talk to her friends. Josh had already alerted Emily that the farm was secured and she, David and Lisa where headed their way with the vehicles and extra supplies. Quinn rested his arm around her shoulder while they waited. Her heart was li
ghter after seeing her father safe and on the mend, but she knew they had a long way to go before the rest of their families were safe. A loud obnoxious voice rang out from the barn and she turned to look in the door. She didn’t really need to see who it was to know that her old gym teacher, Mr. Beck, was squawking out his opinion. It did make her smile when she saw Quinn’s grandfather place one of his big hands on the man’s shoulder and squeeze in a not so friendly manner while talking to him. She turned away at the slightly pained expression on his face.

Josh was watching with an expression of glee and he snickered. “How many times have we all wanted to accidentally throw a dodge ball at that guy’s head?”

It wasn’t long before the truck and ATVs pulled down the drive and supplies were handed out. Twenty men were heading to Emily’s farm and they planned on taking another ten from there to Josh’s. His farm had the most guards and they wanted to have plenty of guns to take them down. A brief argument came when Alex’s father insisted that the teen’s stay back but he caved in when they promised to not enter the house where the guards would be. They had come too far not to see this fight through.