Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (8 page)

The boy held up one finger to his mouth and with the hand that was previously cupped over her mouth he pointed to the roadway. Less than
fifty
yards away a fatigue covered behemoth of a man seemingly appeared from nowhere out of the woods on the opposite side of the highway almost directly
across from
their position. He was
heavily
armed.

God, he has
to be strong just to be ca
rrying all the weaponry he had
,
s
he thought.

“Where are you
,
bitch!
”
he yelled. “
I know you’re close, I can smell your fear!”

And she didn’t think he was
lying
.
H
er
pupils dilated
, her chest heaved, sweat poured
out of her
. The boy crouched even lower into the forest floor. She followed suit. The man crossed the westbound lanes and stood m
otionless in the divider for what seemed an eternity.

“You can’t hide forever
,
bitch! I know you have no food and I know you have no weapons
.
I found the gun you killed my brother with! I’ll never stop hunting you! If you come out now I promise to make your
death sort of fast!” At twenty-
five yards
,
Beth could see the rage that possessed him. He quaked with the force of it. She was almost tempted to take him up on his offer, better to get it over with now than to keep up this cat and mouse chara
de. He began to cross the
south
bound lanes almost on a direct route to their hiding spot. Fifty feet
…
fo
rty-
five
…
forty. Beth thought her heart might just crash through
her
ribs at any moment. And then he stopped, his gaze swiveled f
a
rther up the
road. He grunted as he set out on a slow trot, a pace that Beth felt she couldn’t match right now if she was at full
tilt

“Johnnie
,
head
toward
F
ort
O
ne
,
”
h
er small savior said into thin air.

“Huh?” Beth muster
ed
, her senses still in
hyper-
drive
,
the cascading adrenaline rush was beginning to subside and her limbs felt like stone. Heavy motionless stone, exhaustion washed over her. It was then that Beth heard the tinny response.

“Roger
,
that Max
,
”
t
he voice r
esponded a little out of breath
but not panicky.

“What’s going on
here?” Her
curiosity
began
to peak now that the initial threat had been averted.

“Well
,
first things first
,
lady
.
L
et’s get back to Fort One. And then I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Max
was
doing his best John Wayne impression. Beth wanted to laugh, but she didn’t want to hurt
his
feelings
.
H
e had saved her life
—who was she to question him?

“Alright, Max? That’s your name?” The boy nodded. “
D
idn’t you tell your friend to meet us there?”

“That’s right
,” he answered
,
doing his best to not be annoyed by th
e
grown-up
’
s
lack of understanding.

“So won’t that man follow him there
?” she
asked
,
having
no desire to run into her adversary again, especially now that she had seen him, he had been much less scary before
that
.

“He’ll try, I’m sure
,
”
t
he boy said as he turned to head deeper into the forest. “Davy Crockett himself couldn’t follow Johnnie the way he’s going. And if he somehow did stumble upon Fort One he’d be in for a couple of nasty surprises.”

“This just gets better and better.” Beth snorted
and
shook her head
before being
swallowed up by the woods.

To Beth it seemed
like
they
had
walked for hours, the best she could do was to
keep
put
ting
one foot in front of the other. She watched her feet because she didn’t trust her balance
;
one bad footfall and she knew she’d end up on her ass, and
being
this
exhausted,
she’d probably just start kicking and screaming on
the ground like a five year old.
S
he didn’t want to give Max that satisfaction. It didn’t look like he much cared about grown-ups as it was.

'
What
’s
his story?
'
s
he wondered
.
I
t was then that she placed her foot in a stream for the second time. “How many times am I going to get my feet wet?”
s
he grumbled. “Hey
,
this stream looks the same
,” she said
more than a little exasperated.
She finally lifted
her head
and
looked from side to side
.
I
t was difficult to tell where
she was but she would’ve sworn they had passed that old twisted oak tree an hour ago.

She caught up to Max and a little more forcefully than she meant to, grabbed his arm and jerked him to a
halt
He glared at her with hate-
filled eyes, eyes that had seen probably more than their
fair share of death and cruelty;
likely more death in his short life span than seasoned mercenaries
had
their whole career, but sadness and fear were not part of the equation
for the mercs
.

“You grab me like that again
,
lady, and I’ll leave you here. I’ll leave you for him
,” he said
with all the pre-pubescent menace he could muster. The words may have sounded funny coming out of such a small figure, but she in no way doubted he would do just as he said he would.

“I’m…
I’m sorry
,
”
s
he stammered
,
loosening her grip on his shoulder. I just think we’re going in circles, is all. Are we lost?” She let go,
the offending hand falling
uselessly by her side.

“We are and we’re not.”

Beth could only stare at the boy. Confusion
wrinkled
her brow.

“We are going in a circle and no we’re not lost, God you’re pretty thick for a grown-up.” Max could tell his words had hurt the lady but right now he wasn’t quite sure
he cared. “Listen lady, that guy looked like he was military which probably means he has some survival and tracking skills, I am not going to give him any
opportunity whatsoever to find us, and if he does I want to make sure we have ample time to prepare for our g
uest.” He flashed her a humorless big gap-
toothed grin
“Are you satisfied?” And without waiting for her response he turned and started heading back deeper into the woods. At least that
wa
s the direction she figured he was heading. 

“Um…
okay
,
”
s
he answered
,
he was already out of earshot. She stumbled after him to catch up, wet shoes and all.

It was another
forty-five minutes
until they reached
Fort One, but to a mi
serable,
cold
,
wet
,
and exhausted Beth it seemed like three times that, for all her discomfort she made sure not to display anything to her diminutive surly guide. Max began to make a series of arm gestures of which Beth could make no sense. They looked nothing like the old hand signals on her dad’s old war films which he used to like to watch on cold Saturday afternoons. Beth didn’t much care for those movies but the thought of being able to curl up with her father for the day and garner the majority of
his attention made it all
worth
while
. A stab of nostalgia panged her
she was able, with some difficulty,
to push it aside, she just didn’t have the strength to sustain such a strong emotion.

Cautiously
,
Max moved forward, gesturing her to follow him, at least
that’s what it looked like
. When she tried to move quickly enough to walk side by side with him
,
he quickly put his hand up to
stop
her.

“What the hell, Max
,
you just told me to follow you
,” she said
,
exasperat
ed
.

“Lady
,
you have at least two rifles pointing at you, if you make any kind of threatening move, they’ll open fire.” Beth halted the second she heard
‘
rifle
’
. “I’m going to walk in slowly, you follow me about ten
feet
behind.”

Beth stood st
ock
still
,
not yet knowing whether she should leave this twi
sted
N
everland or continue on down the rabbit hole. Just then
,
a small breeze rippled through the barren tree top
s, the cold cut through her ill-
prepared clothing. Her mind made up, the rabbit hole suddenly seemed inviting.

Beth walked slowly
,
hands held high for all to see, she had no desire to find out how accurate a kid could be with a rifle, if in fact it was a child. She had not heard Max say anything about the inhabitants of his sanctuary. She just assumed, there was the boy who had diverted her stalker and
Max
.
S
he couldn’t imagine any sane parent letting their kids out unescorted
these days
. As she neared the opening of a large culvert
,
she saw as many as three youngsters make their presence known, each one standing to garner a cleaner shot if need be. When Max reached the mouth of the opening
,
he must have given the signal for the all clear. The three guards melted back into their stations, they looked young
,
but Beth didn’t think they’d hesitate a moment if the threat was real.

“Come on
,
lady, you stand out there any longer and they might just use you for target practice.” Max snorted when Beth jumped and headed briskly into the corrugated steel opening. Max had to
dip
hi
s head a little, Beth was
uncomfortably stooped over
, the strain on her back was unbearable. Just when she thought her mild claustrophobia and lower back pain might get the better of her
,
the culvert pipe ended and opened up into what could only be described as a
child’s slice of heaven. Toys and stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes were scattered about
; S
tar
W
ars posters,
H
ulk flashlights,
Spider-M
an action figures were everywhere in direct contrast to the wall of small fire arms
lining
the far
side
.

“What is this place?” Beth nearly stammered.

“It’s Fort One, of course
,
” Max an
swered smugly, letting his new guest
soak it in.

“But what exactly is it?” Beth asked
,
looking for clarification. The room was vast for something underground, possibly
fifty
yards to the far wall and
twenty-five
yards from side to side. Bunk beds and air mattresses where pushed up against the wall to her immediate right.
She looked
closer
and
noticed some of the beds were occupied with kids that may have been previously sleeping but were
now staring raptly at her.