She made another face. “Ugh, you sound like a teenage bestie. You don’t say it to your actual girlfriend, she already knows.” She squeezed his hand back. “Although I wouldn’t mind being introduced that way.
Right. Trev was just glad he’d managed to get her mind off what she’d just gone through. “If you’re okay to walk we can leave any time. I’m sure you’re ready to crash for the night.”
“You have no idea.” She pushed to her feet, legs still wobbly. She’d taken off her backpack for Terry’s examination, and as she stooped to pick it up Trev held out his hand in a silent offer to carry it. She handed it over without even token protest, obviously more exhausted and shaken than she let on.
“Your room is finished, right?” she asked as they started off.
Trev blinked. The only reason she’d be asking that was… well obviously she didn’t mean it like that, but even if she was just looking for a safe, quiet place to spend the night it was still unexpected. “Yeah. It’s got a few last finishing touches to go, but I’ve already moved in so it has a bed, and I redirected the stovepipe to run through it for heating. It’ll probably be more comfortable and quiet than a house full of other women and kids.”
Deb nodded. “Yeah, if you don’t mind me crashing there. I can grab one of your spare cots or something, and I’d rest a lot easier there without the noise. Although—” she cut off, blushing slightly. “Although that’s not the only reason I’d rest easier there.”
Well if that didn’t boost a guy’s confidence, knowing he made his girlfriend feel safe. “Sure,” he said. “But you should take my bed if you want. I can set up a cot in the main room near the door in case you need me.”
Trev really hoped she’d agree, since he wouldn’t feel quite right making her sleep on a cot. One of the projects his dad, mom, Linda, and Jim had been involved with over the last few weeks was making proper bed frames and sewing canvas and other cloth together for straw tick mattresses for everyone in the family. The beds were crinkly and often scratchy when some grass poked through, but they were also more roomy and way more comfortable than the simple cots.
“I wouldn’t want you to kick you out of your bed,” she protested. Then she hesitated. “Although I’ll admit I could use a good night’s sleep. It would help if you’d bring a cot and sleep in the room, though, so I know you’re there.”
Trev grinned. “Sure. After crowding in with my family for so long it’s been a bit lonely without a roommate. And you can trust me to be a perfect gentleman.”
Deb gave him a long, serious look. “I know I can trust you,” she said quietly. “And it means more than you know.”
He couldn’t think of a response to that other than to nod resolutely. He’d be there for her so she could get the rest she needed, and anything else to help her get over this newest trauma.
And if his parents had an issue with them spending time together again he’d tell them he and Deb were now officially dating, and if they had something against him hanging out with his girlfriend they could pound sand.
He’d say it more politely than that, of course.
Chapter Thirteen
Justice
These monsters.
Matt had fought Razor’s gang, he’d fought Turner’s raiders, and he’d fought the blockheads. He’d watched Williams and his men hung up to die painfully. He’d seen plenty of violence, and more death than he ever wanted.
But most of that had been with guns. Bullet wounds could be ugly, especially if they hit in certain places, but that ugliness was usually hidden before it was time for the bodies to be viewed. The closest he’d seen to this level of brutality was a man getting beat long past the point of death in Midvale, when he and Trev went to find April and her family. Although that had been in poor light which was a small blessing.
There’d be no hiding this from grieving loved ones. Brandon’s patrol hadn’t been killed by firearms but by blunt objects and blades, their murderers rushing them en masse and falling on the group with shocking brutality. And there were even hints they might have kept going after their victims were dead. Not even the goriest movie Matt had ever seen could prepare him for the horrific sight.
He’d seen plenty of fighting, plenty of death. He turned away and puked his guts out after only half a minute of taking in the scene in front of him.
He wasn’t the only one. None of those with him looked in any better shape, and even those who weren’t vomiting were pale from grief and disgust. This wasn’t the sort of sight you could get used to, or for that matter should. Langstrom and Terry, who’d both worked with their share of serious injuries, were visibly shaking as they checked the bodies.
“Looks like they gave as good as they got, at least,” Jane said. Her face was pale, but she didn’t look as bothered as the others. Matt had always admired her ability to detach herself from a situation until she had time to process it.
It may not’ve been the best time to make that observation, with the doctors still looking over the bodies and everyone silently grieving. She wasn’t wrong, though. When they fled the bandits left five of their companions behind where they fell, and spots of blood indicated at least one more had been wounded but made it away.
Once Matt finally got his stomach under control he wiped his mouth with a shaky hand and stumbled over to where Lewis and the others waited. “According to Deb and Trev one of the men who ambushed her was the same guy who attacked Trev four days ago. Our defenders followed that group back to the camp northwest of here. I think it’s reasonable to assume this was them?”
“Some of them, at least,” Lewis agreed. “It may be hasty to blame the whole camp.”
That seemed like just the sort of advice Gutierrez could use right now. Speaking of which… Matt toggled his radio. “Raul, what’ve you got?”
Gutierrez and half a dozen defenders had followed the bandits’ trail, going slow and cautious in case of further ambush. “We’re still tracking them, but I’m willing to bet money it’s that camp a few miles northwest of here,” the former soldier replied, tone oddly flat. “The trail leads straight back to it.”
That confirmed their suspicions, although honestly if dozens of men had attacked Brandon’s patrol there weren’t really all that many other options, especially in that direction. Most of the displaced refugees sent by Rogers had split into smaller groups or moved out of the area, searching for some refugee camp or community that would take them in. The largest group by far was in that camp.
From observing the hundred or so men in there they didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of providing for themselves, and there’d been more than a few suggestions that men from there were attacking and robbing people farther north of them, not just south towards Aspen Hill.
“All right, so we think we know who they are,” he replied over the radio and to the people around him both. “Now the question is: Are they insane? They’ve got what, a crossbow, some clubs and knives, and a few guns they looted from the patrol?”
“As far as we know,” Lucas agreed quietly.
Matt grit his teeth in frustration. “And they thought they could get away with this. Didn’t they get the message when we lined up hundreds of armed townspeople as a warning not to screw with us? Or when we sent their guys who tried to sneak into town slinking back with their tails between their legs?”
Lewis shook his head. “Maybe they don’t think we’ll be able to track them. Maybe they think our shows of force was a bluff, so they’re trying to lure us into a fight because they think they can take us and want to steal more of our stuff. Maybe they’re desperate and plan to flee now that they’ve pissed us off. Maybe they think a town will be bogged down by procedure and bureaucracy and won’t come after them in force. Or maybe, like I said earlier, this was just a portion of the camp acting without the knowledge or approval of the others.”