Over the Horizon

Nathan and Lara heard the hushed laughter below of Cole and Monica as the two of them snuck back to camp. He and Lara were already nestled into the look-out post where Len wanted Nate on his watch.

He bent toward her and kissed her hard on the mouth, and she kissed him back with heated fervor.

He pulled back and chuckled huskily, as he heard them stumble around trying to get into the tent and Lens heated scolding to hurry up and get to bed.

He looked at Lara softly and pulled her to him, slipping his hand under her shirt, to caress her breasts.

She slowly unbuttoned her shirt for him allowing her breasts to spill out.

He unfastened her bra, and leaning in, took one in his mouth, swirling the tip of his tongue over her nipple that was rock hard. Her breath came in stilted gasps. It was sensuous and he left the one hurting for more as his mouth gave attention to the other. Her little sounds of pleasure raced all down to his toes and back up to his groin where he was already throbbing in desperate need.

His lips brushed against her brow and she leaned her head back, giving him her mouth, her breasts, and her body. Nathan took what she offered, and they melted into each other, savoring the moments alone.

〰️

It was the ceaseless whining of Yolo that woke Deag. He sat up with a grunt, frustrated with himself that he had fallen asleep. Having no idea how long he had been out, moments later he realized it must have been quite awhile since he heard Hollis and Seth approach from behind him. It was already time to change the watch.

He got up and dusted off his jeans, grabbed Lens rifle and stepped out from the trees.

The first shot echoed through the night like a steam engine train at dawn, shattering the peaceful silence and leaving no doubt who it was meant for. A bullet struck Seth and flung him back, knocking him to the ground with a heavy thud, taking his breath with the force of the impact.

A barrage of gunfire erupted, from every direction and Deag hit the ground and crawled to Hollis. They grabbed Seth and dragged him back into the tree line.

Hollis thought Seth was dead, checking for a pulse as Deag looked on with an expression of horror. Hollis met Deag's gaze and nodded his head but wasted no time. He took Deag by the shoulders and forced him to look him in the eyes and pointed toward the tent.

"I want you to make a run for it," he whispered. "Help Len. I'll stay with Seth."

Deag nodded but the vein in his neck pulsed with fear. He nodded and when Hollis waved, he made a break for the main camp, as bullets danced all around him. When he reached the tarp tent, Len was there to pull him in, and he followed Len to the back where they wiggled through an opening and behind the boulders they had used for an inside wall.

Verbena had all the children gathered there with Haven, Keith, Donelle and Monica. Nathan, Lara, Buck and Cole were still out there. Verbena crawled to Deag and grabbed his arm.

"Where's Hollis! And Seth!" she shouted.

When she received no reaction from him, she shook him angrily. "Where are they, damn you!"

Len snatched her arm and threw a hand over her mouth, his arm around her waist and pulled her back. "Be quiet," he whispered hotly, "your going to get us all killed!"

She fought against him trying to free herself, but Len threw her on the ground and laid on top of her. "Verbie..."

She gave up and lay there sobbing.

Len got up and Deag gave him his rifle, and he left slipping around through the darkness for the trail that led up to where Nathan and Lara had been. He scrambled on his hands and knees using small brush limbs and rocks to find a way up without being seen.

As more gunfire pelted the area around them sending small rocks and debris flying Len muttered a curse, frantic now to reach the top.

When he got closer to the top Len hollered for Nathan but Nathan was already there, pulling Len up the last few feet and they ran to cover. Lara sat on point with the scope of a rifle trained on the area, beside her were Buck and Cole.

"What the hell, Buck!" Len called out.

"I took off up here with the first shot," Buck answered, "I couldn't see a damn thing from down there!" His voice was strained. "Is everyone okay down there?"

"If they stay down on the ground," Len bit back. "You got any sights on anyone?" he rasped.

Lara interrupted. "I do. We got five. They spread out around the camp. We should be able to take them if we can wait it out, but if they have more than I counted we might be screwed."

Another round of gunfire sprayed the camp area with a few reaching their position.

Lara returned fire on them in the general direction she could determine but she was answered with more of the same.

Len joined her at the ledge with his fifty calibers. A volley of bullets struck the trees surrounding them and they all hit the ground and took cover. Instantly Lara and Buck returned fire again but this time they were met fire from the west. A bullet struck the limbs above Nate and he fired back in that direction as Lara and Buck continued defensive fire.

〰️

The moments seemed like hours to Haven who sat trembling in fear, holding her daughter to her breast. Her brain tried to process the facts, but all thoughts led to Seth. Her breath caught in hiccupping sobs and she fought back a screaming cry, holding her breath tightly in her throat and looking down at the infant that fidgeted and squirmed in her arms. The child fussed and cried out with the frustration of being so tightly pressed against Haven. Haven looked up for help and Verbena crawled over to them.

"Give her the breast Haven, and she'll settle."

Haven lifted her shirt and cradled the baby to her breast and as Verbena said she immediately calmed down after latching and Haven let out a sigh. Verbena stayed there beside them as Donelle hugged the kids, and Monica made her way over and they all huddled together in the dark.

Keith kept his pistol trained toward the dark emptiness around them. Deag grabbed a rifle and took a stance in front of the huge boulder that hid his kids and his Mother.

As gunfire exploded around them, Monica jumped in terror and Keith knew they were closing in on the camp.

Rois, Neala and Payton started to cry, and Monica grabbed her son pressing his face into her chest. Donelle embraced Monica and felt her slight body trembling with fear.

Deag put his rifle to his shoulder and leveled it, getting ready to fight to the death.
He and Keith looked at each other. They both knew the score. Kill, or be, killed.

They made their way to the tent flap to take a look. When they crawled under the flap, they were met with the hard stares of three men. One stepped over and took the rifle from Deag and shoved him back, while the other two kept their guns trained on them.

Deag looked them over with contempt.

"Ya'll wanna see some more killin," the one who took Deag's rifle asked. "Cause if you keep staring at us like that, I promise, you will. You ain't in control of this no more. We got your buddies up on the hill covered and Ya'll are gonna do what we say till were done here."

"Just take what you want and get the hell out," Deag shouted.

In answer Deag got a fist to the face. He fell back and lay there with an accusing glare and got two hard kicks in the ribs for his trouble. He groaned and rolled over on his side doubled up with pain.

"Daaaaad!" Somehow Rois had followed them under the flap and ran to Deag dropping down to hug him. With tears in his eyes he turned to the assailants. "Leave my Dad alone!" he screeched. His voice trembled with anger and fear. "Leave us alone!"

Neala and Payton hearing Rois's scream began to cry, and Verbena pressed them to her pounding chest but she knew their hiding place was discovered and as if on cue they heard a man telling them to come on out. They could do nothing now, to stop it.

〰️

They crouched on the ground over Deag, and Verbena held her breath as one of the men looked them over with scornful calculation.

As he looked around the tent, Verbena carefully slipped a small dagger she kept strapped to her leg into her hand and kept it hidden behind her to protect herself and the children, if this attacker continued his assault. He was not much bigger than her, but his friends were armed, and she knew there would be no reasoning with them.

He walked over and took a rifle from one of his men, and instructed him to head over to where they had their horses tethered off.

Verbena held her breath and kept her eyes averted, praying that Hollis was still hidden.

"Gather up all their mounts and gear, and gim'me a whistle when your ready," he said and turning back to his perusal of them, he added with cocky pretense, "Now, we are going to take your horses. And your guns. It's all we want, because nothing' else matters anymore. You ain't got nothin' else worth taking, except maybe that pretty young girl." He glared at Monica with eyes like slits.

Donelle gasped at his lewdness and Monica shrank back behind Keith.

"I think I will," he nodded thinking to himself. He walked over and pushed Keith aside as he took Monica by the arm with a vicious jerk. Keith reached for her but the last man walked up and Keith found himself staring down the barrel of his rifle. Donelle turned away sickened. She pulled her grandkids into her side and hid their faces from what was happening. Verbena shoved Payton behind her as he screamed when the man pulled his Mother from them.

Monica screamed and he slapped her hard across the face. "Shut up you little alley cat. We don't want to worry my partners up on the hill. Besides, if they see what we're doing, they might just want a piece of you themselves," he alluded. "And I couldn't disparage them from having some fun." He pushed Monica toward the tent flap as she screamed, fighting and kicking but Verbena screamed at him to stop.

"You take me, not her!" she yelled. "She's just a child!" Verbena willingly lied and it stopped him momentarily.

He smiled ruthlessly. "Well then injun girl, I'll be expectin' extra if that's the case cause I like'em young," he drawled, smelling Monica's hair with hungry eyes. He pulled her up to his face pressing his lips to her neck and she screamed, clawing at his face but he only laughed. "I like'em feisty too, you gonna be feisty injun girl?" he suggested.

Verbena laid the baby on the ground, stepped over to him and grabbed his crotch. "Oh, I can be feisty," she whispered.

He looked at Monica with lust filled eyes but pushed her to the ground and grabbed Verbena, telling the remaining gunman to keep things tight and he'd let him go next. He pushed her out of the tent ahead of him and kept pushing her over to the burned-out campfire. She stood stiff and stoic as he clawed at her clothes. He ripped her shirt open, and buried his face in her breasts, jerking her pants to her knees. He threw her on the ground and she never uttered a sound as he pulled his filthy jeans down in front of her.

〰️

Cole heard Monica's screams and he knew.

The five men who stood with rifles trained on them knew also and one cocked a pistol he had and aimed it at Cole. "Is that your screamer down there," he asked with a sneer. "Don't worry, Beetle won't hurt her too bad. And if you decide you don't want her no more after he's done with her, that's just fine. She can come with us." He threw his head back and laughed.

Cole's hands clenched open and closed. His heart beat louder and louder in his ears until an explosion erupted in his mind and a guttural cry poured forth from his mouth. Both Len and Nate jumped and tackled him to the ground hoping to save him from himself.

The men holding them burst out with laughter, and finally one of them went over and crashed the butt of his gun down on Nathans head knocking him out. Another grabbed Len and threw him off to the side, and Cole was pulled over to the edge of the rock ledge and forced to watch what the man thought was 'Beetle' having a good time with his girlfriend.

He yelled her name at the top of his lungs.

The man behind him put the pistol to the back of Coles head and pulled the trigger. Cole slumped limply to the rock.

When Verbena heard the gunshot above her, she brought her hidden dagger up and with every ounce of strength she had, thrust it deep in the temple of the man who lay on top of her and his body went limp, his weight pressing her into the ground, his blood running down to soak her torn shirt. She rolled him off of her in disgust and crawled away, struggling to stand up as she got her pants back on and she darted into the darkness as a piercing whistle greeted her ears. As the last of their perpetrators ran from the tent, he barely gave a second look to the dead man by the fire pit, instead disappearing into the woods. Verbena picked up a hefty rock and ran, following him deftly through the trees and when he paused to mount one of their horses, she ran up behind him and jumped on his back slamming the rock against his head. He crumped to the ground with a curse, and it was the last word he would speak as she plunged her dagger into the back of his throat and slashed it downward almost to the middle of his back. The horse took off snorting nervously, and Verbena watched it run on after the others. She wiped her knife off on her pants and returned to camp.

〰️

Lara, Nathan, Buck, Cole and Len had stood there with mounting anger. They had been brutally disarmed and beat, as the band of outlaws took control of the ledge where she and Nathan sat on watch. With no light and the cover of the trees they hadn't been able to pinpoint from which direction they were being attacked. They could only guess by listening to the random gunshots as they echoed through the night, and like slithering snakes, the miscreants had moved in on them, taking them by surprise and dislodging them from their defensive position, and leaving the camp below unprotected.

〰️

Nathan moaned and rolled over, and Lara dropped to his side and held him, hoping somehow to keep him from being next. The moments were excruciatingly long. They waited helplessly. Then a whistle greeted their ears and Lara's heart started to beat with the deep thump of fear, but the men, one by one faded into the underbrush, taking all their guns and Bucks horses with them.

Lara shook Nathan until he finally moved and struggled to stand up with a hand on his head. Lara helped him up with Len on the other side and when Nathan saw Cole, he looked at Lara and his expression was heartbreaking.

She and Len helped him, and they slowly limped behind Buck and Len down the steep trail and back to camp where they found the others huddled with each other on the ground in front of the tarp.

Hollis materialized out of the shadows with Seth hanging on his shoulder. Verbena ran to Hollis with a cry and they embraced as she cried.

Deag was sitting with his children and Monica, her pale skin bruised. When she saw that Cole wasn't with them her cry turned to anguish and Lara ran to her, wrapping her arms around Monica's trembling body as she cried. Payton stood with his arms around her legs, his eyes wide with fear. Nathan and Deag hugged and Buck picked up Rois and Neala, looking around for Haven.

Keith, holding the baby nodded toward the tent and Buck took off there with the kids.

Len took the baby and asked Keith if he was alright. He said he was and Len asked him to tend to Seth's wound.

Lara took Monica inside the tent to tend her needs, Verbena joined her with Buck and the kids, Len brought the baby to Haven, and he and the men went back up to retrieve Cole's body.

After Lara got Monica settled and calm, Verbena approached her. They hugged each other and Verbena thanked her for all her help. "I kept him from raping her," she whispered in Lara's ear.

Lara pulled away and looked into Verbenas eyes.

"He got none of me either," she indicated with a raised brow. "But Hollis and I are about to head out. We have to find weapons and transportation. Deag is going to look after Haven. We'll get back as soon as we can."

Lara nodded. "Just be careful. There is no telling where those murdering bastards went."

"We will Lara, don't worry. We'll get back as quick as we can. Keith is going with us. He said he could find vehicles, and he needs a drug store too."

Hollis, Verbena and Keith headed east, knowing they were at least close to a gas station and within five miles of a town.

No one said much the rest of the day and when the heat started to fade as dusk neared, they buried Cole in silence, burned the bodies of the two who encountered Verbena's wrath and retreated to the tent, except for Nathan who stood outside and hollered for the dogs. Len joined him out there and offered him a smoke he had salvaged from his backpack he found over where the horses had been, Nathan took it and lit up, taking a long hard drag and blowing the smoke into the air over his head.

"If they aren't dead, they'll come back Nate."

He nodded. "I know. I'm not too worried about them. We got issues far beyond Yolo and Biggie. What are we going to do Len?"

"Let Hollis and Verbena get back and then we'll make a decision. Keith swore he'd get a vehicle. There is no way we can walk out of here with the kids and a baby."

"No, we sure can't." Nathan stuck his head in the tarp flap and looked around. Deag was laying down with the kids and Monica was next to him with Payton. Lara and Buck sat quietly talking among themselves.

"You think those bastards have left this area Len?"

"Yeah. They're long gone Nate. We didn't have anything else they wanted. Hell, they left all the backpacks, some of them full of ammo."

"Well let's bring all that over," Nate said chunking his cigarette down.

Nathan and Len walked down to the trees where the horses had been tied off and started gathering up the remaining supplies there when he saw a movement in the distance beyond the reservoir. It was Biggie and Yolo, running next to a slow-moving car. Nathan smiled. "Hell yes, look Len!"

They trotted up the hill and waited by the dirt road that led into the park and pretty soon the dogs reached them barking and circling around their legs. Keith pulled the car to a stop and got out.

"Where's Hollis and Verbena?" Len yelled.

"They're coming right behind me! We got two vehicles!"

Len and Nathan were elated. They piled in the car when they saw Hollis and Verbena drive up in an old truck and Keith steered the car through the small stand of trees parking by the tarp tent. By then Lara and Buck had come out hearing the commotion and she smiled gratefully as Verbena ran over with several bags. She had baby formula and a couple of plastic baby bottles and several cans of Ravioli for the kids, bread and various other snacks.

"We found a dollar store! Can you believe it!"

"Thank God!" Lara breathed. "I had no idea you would make it back so quick; did you have any trouble?" she asked as they hurried in to put away the

"No, no trouble. The roads are barren out here except for the Sleepwalkers. They are everywhere Lara, but Keith found that truck with the keys still in it, at a gas station right up on the highway so we went on up to a nearby small town to find what we needed.
There was a Dollar Store, a couple of fast food restaurants and Woolsey's that actually had a small pharmacy. Keith got supplies to take care of Seth and we loaded up with all the waters we could find. They've literally already been picked clean but we got what we could. I found this baby formula under the register. Then Keith hot-wired that old car. It was left in the parking lot of the grocery store. We can get the hell out of here now."

Len, Nathan, Buck and Hollis started loading the things they had left into the truck as Lara fed the baby. She wanted to help Haven save her strength and after the stress of what happened it could be hard for her to nurse.

Deag got the kids ready and helped Monica bring them outside, where they waited with Buck as the rest of the men tore down the tarps and rolled them up, throwing them in the back of the truck.

Verbena loaded the kids in the backseat of the car, with her Haven and the baby, and Buck got behind the wheel with Monica and Deag. Len got in the truck with Keith and Donelle. Hollis, Nathan and Lara jumped in the back with Yolo and Biggie.

They drove slowly up the hill passing Cole's simple grave with a cross Len had made with branches.

They left as survivors. Fighters. Young men and women of unique quality, Haven with her quiet strength and Lara, a stranger who fought with them, now one of them, and onto the dirt road which would take them away from the memory of such pain and loss.