Roger spoke to everyone, “Go ahead and bust open those thermoses. Crack open the hand warmers too. I’ll see if I can’t order up some hot food, but stay alert. Weapons checks too and let me know if you need ammo.”
Mark was sitting next to Lisa holding her hand. She was very weak, but doing fairly well. The past couple of days they had had little food, expended a lot of energy travelling, and the stress from the assault and everything else combined with the injury had worn her down. She looked up at him. “I’m fine honey, I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said.
She said, “Go help the others. I’ll be fine.”
Mark called out to Haliday. “Anything going on out there?”
Haliday told him, “No, just some cold hungry troops.”
Mark said, “Lisa is doing great. She wanted me to help out. You mind?”
Roger thought about it a second. “Sure, come on out. I’ll see about getting these guys some hot drinks and food.”
“I have an idea as well,” Mark replied. Mark went and put a stack of wool blankets over by the wood burner.
Mark went outside and relieved Roger who went inside to check on everyone inside. He walked over to David who was being worked on by Rich and Bev. Bev had managed to flush his wound and get everything cleaned out. She even managed to get the bullet out which had stuck in his bone.
She packed it and bandaged it. Haliday was thinking he might need to pay that doctor a visit or at least get the nurse over here as soon as he could. He had pain killers and antibiotics and some other meds stashed for occasions like this, but he had limited medical knowledge. He had taken some first responder training and that was it.
Karen had put some water on to boil so she could make some hot coffee and cocoa for everyone and she had started a big pot of stew. She left the meat out so that Dawn, Diana and she could have some as well. Haliday could hear Diana telling her to make sure she left it meatless; she was actually a full blown vegan. They’d add the meat afterwards. Freeze dried beef cooked up fast.
He walked over to Diana. “How bad is it?” he asked.
Karen walked over and said, “It went through and broke her collar bone. We got it cleaned up and she’ll be fine.”
Haliday reached into his cargo pocket and fished around. He pulled his hand out and offered it to Diana. “You’re an ass,” she said. He chuckled, took a big bite of jerky and then blew his breath in her face. “You’re disgusting,” she offered.
He grabbed a milk crate and put the pot of stew inside. He stuffed some rolls and plastic spoons and bowls on the side. He carried it outside along with an empty one and made his rounds dishing out the meal and a couple of words of encouragement and thanks. He collected the thermoses and took drink orders. After his rounds, he went back inside and set to filling the orders.
He filled half the thermoses with coffee and half with hot cocoa. He grabbed an armful of the blankets which were nice and toasty now and delivered them outside. After making sure everyone was good to go, he went back over to Mark. “What do you think, Mark?”
“It’s your call, Roger. We have about two hours until dawn.”
Roger told him they would be waiting it out until then. He did have a little thing he needed to take care of. He went in the house and changed out his gear load. It was light, just a very few items he would need, and he would only be gone no more than 30 minutes he hoped. Rich asked him, “Where you going Roger?”
“I’m going to pay the neighbor a visit.”
After he walked back outside, he touched base with Mark. Mark looked at him, “Where you going?”
“I’m going across the street for some tea and biscuits. I’ll be back very soon. Take charge here and make sure they don’t shoot me on my way back in.”
Mark promised, “Won’t happen.” Haliday took off and made his way across the street.
He went around to the back and made his way to the porch. He stopped and listened. He didn’t really hear anything. He pulled out a small telescoping mirror and raised it up and glanced through the window. He didn’t see anything, just a couple small candles glowing. He slowly reached up and twisted the handle of the door and it opened.
He entered the house and moved at a snails pace, his .40 ready. He was in the large kitchen and slowly went down the hall, checking the rooms as he went. He found one closed and made a note of it. He made it to the front of the house and stopped by the living room. He saw two figures, one in a chair, and one on the couch lying down.
The woman was on the couch and Lance was sitting in his chair. He had a bottle of whiskey by him. Haliday looked over at the woman, who was motionless. He watched Lance for a couple of minutes. Finally Haliday spoke. “Lance, what happened?”
Lance didn’t turn around. He just spoke, “She’s dead.”
“Who’s dead, Lance?”
He pointed to the couch.
“Is that your daughter, Lance?”
“No, that’s my wife. I shot her.” He said it with no emotion at all.
“Lance, you don’t look like you’re tied up in this crap. I mean, it looks like you’ve been here in that chair all night.” Lance didn’t speak. Haliday moved a bit closer with his pistol still aimed at the back of Lance’s head. He spotted the picture in Lance’s hand. It was his daughter’s graduation picture. On the table in front of Lance was an opened bottle of pills.
Haliday moved over to the couch and dropped one hand down and confirmed the lady was dead. On the floor in front of Lance he saw a pistol laying there. He also saw an empty pill bottle on the floor. Lance looked at him. “She did it Roger, I told her to mind her business, to tell Nicole to get the hell out of that cult or whatever the hell it is. She wouldn’t listen. Neither of them would. I begged them both. My wife thought it was a good idea, broaden Nicole’s horizons. I didn’t think they would go this far.”
“Lance, where’s your daughter?”
“She’s in the bedroom. I put her to sleep in there.” Lance picked up the bottle of pills from the coffee table and emptied them into his mouth and washed them down with whiskey. He drank quite a few more swigs after that. “Roger, can you do me a favor?”
“What’s that, Lance?”
“Bury my daughter for me. She deserves it. She didn’t know any better. She was young, in love and caught up in a fantasy. They left her out there laying on the ground. My wife almost didn’t seem to care.”
“I don’t care about my wife, or even me, but you’re a father. You understand. She always liked the tree house I built her. That would be nice over there. I’m sorry Roger, I really am.”
Roger walked up, “I promise Lance, I’ll do that for you.” Haliday slowly retreated keeping his guard up. He heard the whiskey bottle drop and shatter. He continued on. He checked the closed room on his way out.
He passed through the kitchen and looked at the table closely. There were hand drawn maps of his property and everything surrounding it. He reached down and grabbed them all. This lady had been spying on them since he bought the place. She had the aerial photos and drawings of the place before the cabin even went up. The pile was a good two inches thick.
He looked at the notes and had figured just as much. She had started from the moment the group set foot on the property. She had the days and times written down and everything that happened, everything they did. She had it marked when he and Blake had returned as well. Every move they made. It was like a journal though: I saw, I noticed, I think. Poor Lance was mere labor around here it seemed like. Never knew what was coming.
He walked back toward his house slowly and solemnly. Nothing he could have done would have prevented this. She had his number from the beginning and even if he would have shot her on day one, the militia knew everything already. He would return tomorrow and bury them as promised. He reached the house. “What happened over there?” Bev asked. “What did you do?”