Surviving the Fog (34 page)

"He was a member of our village," Ahmad said,
he expression grim.  He looked at Rasul.  "I think that I
know what the Chief would do if he were here."

"Hang them," Rasul said, nodding.

"Yes."

"We have a rifle," Rasul said.

"Have you ever fired one?”

"I never even held one before we left, except
for that one time when I fired a single shot," Rasul admitted.
 "And I wasn't even close then."

Ahmad thought.  "I have my spear," he
said.

"We took down the bikers with our
spears.”

"Yes."  They thought some more.

"If we could get close to them in the dark
while they were sleeping, I could spear one of them," Ahmad
said.

"And I could bash the other one’s head with
the rifle," Rasul added.

"What if they’re awake?" Ahmad asked.

Rasul thought about that.  He looked at
the woman.

"What if the man on guard thought we were the
women coming to surrender?" he mused thoughtfully.

"How are we going to make him think that we
are the women?"

"They are looking for two women."

"And a baby," Ahmad said.  "We don't
look like two women."

"If we attacked them when they could barely
see us... I have a plan, Ahmad," Rasul said.  He explained his
plan to Ahmad.

"That might work," his friend said.
 "Even if one of the men is awake, it might work."

In the early morning hours, the man with the
cold voice was watching.  It was just light enough for him to
distinguish individual trees, close by.  The wind was still
blowing hard, and the man was tired and cold, but he was alert.
 When he heard the snap of a tree limb behind him, he sprang
up and looked around.  He saw two shapes wearing dresses.

"It's the bitches," he yelled as he kicked
his sleeping comrade.  The two figures turned and fled.
 "Come back, you stinking bitches," he roared as he followed
them.  The other man grabbed his rifle and hurried after.

Abandoning their plan, Ahmad and Rasul ran as
hard as they could, up the ridge, away from the direction of the
women.  They could hear the pounding feet of the man
following.  He was closing in on them.  He was still
screaming at them.  Their young hearts pounded with fright,
and their breath became ragged as they ran.

"Rasul, fall down now," Ahmad yelled, as they
began to pass the steep cliff on their left.

Ahmad dove behind a boulder.  Rasul
looked back.  He had never been so afraid, but he fell to the
ground with the rifle beneath him.  The man came running up,
and as he passed the boulder, Ahmad sprang out at him, and the
teenager jammed the wooden shaft of the spear into the man’s ribs.
 The man cried out in pain, as Ahmad forced him to the side.
 He stumbled at the edge of the cliff, lost his footing, and
then he screamed as he fell over the precipice.

Ahmad turned to look for the man’s companion,
just as the other man swung his rifle and smashed Ahmad in the
face.  Ahmad fell backwards as blood gushed from his mouth and
nose.  The man raised his rifle to give Ahmad another blow,
but instead he took a blow in his own face from Rasul's rifle.
 He staggered back.  Rasul dropped the rifle, grabbed
Ahmad's spear, and shoved the point into the man's belly.  The
man screamed, staggered back, and then he too fell over the cliff
with the spear still stuck in his body.

Crying, Rasul ran to Ahmad and fell to his
knees beside the Muslim boy.  "Ahmad, Ahmad," he yelled,
panicked, tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Oh, man," Ahmad managed to gasp.  "That
was one screwed up plan."

Rasul sat down next to his friend, weak with
relief.  "I thought you were dead, man," he huffed.

"I think I was already falling backwards when
he hit me," Ahmad moaned, the pitch of his voice markedly different
due to his injury.  "Did we get them?  He caught me off
guard."

"Yes, we got them.  I think they are
both dead," Rasul answered, staring at the rim of the cliff.

"We better get back to the women," Ahmad
said.

"You stay here.  It's getting light.
 I'll go back and get them.  You rest."

"Help me back to their camp.  They might
have something there that I can use to stop the bleeding."

Rasul helped Ahmad to his feet, and as the
sky lightened, they stumbled their way to the men's campfire.
 It was still burning, and gratefully, Ahmad sank down next to
the warm fire.  Rasul searched the men's packs and found a
cloth that Ahmad held against his face.

“I think my nose is broken,” Ahmad said.

“Both of your lips are split, but luckily
none of your teeth are damaged.”

"My beautiful smile is intact," Ahmad
mumbled.

"Yes," Rasul said with a grin.  Ahmad
was rather vain about his smile.

Rasul left to find the women.
 Presently, he returned with the three fugitives and the boys’
gear.  Gently, Diana examined Ahmad's face.  She wiggled
his nose, and he yelped.

"Yes," she said.  "Your nose is
definitely broken."

She used a t-shirt from one of the men’s
packs to bandage Ahmad's nose.  She was surprised when Rasul
handed her a tube of Neosporin.

"Chief's rules," the boy explained.

Diana gave him a wan smile.  “He must
have a good understanding of teenage boys,” the nurse said.

“You could say that,” Ahmad croaked.

Rasul looked at the women who were dressed in
the boys’ clothing.  Even Diana, as tall as she was, had
struggled into Rasul's clothing.

"Um... about our clothes," he said.

"Oh, yes," said Diana.  "I'm sorry.
 It's just that we have been so cold for so long.”

Imee started to unbutton Ahmad's shirt.
 She shivered.  Rasul looked at Ahmad who shrugged.

"Ah... why don't you wear them for a little
longer," Rasul said. "But only until the sun comes out.”

“Thank you,” said Diana. “But at least take
back your jackets.”

The two women and the two boys built the fire
higher and rested for a time, and then the boys hoisted the packs
of the two men onto their shoulders.  Rasul led the way, as
they started back toward Petersburg.  He carried Imee’s baby
inside his jacket.  The women followed Rasul, and Ahmad
brought up the rear while alertly watching the trail behind them.
 The women answered some of the boys’ questions as they
traveled.  The boys learned that Imee was from Hawaii, and
that she was the daughter of Filipino immigrants.  Diana was
from Bodega Bay.

“I was there once with my parents,” Rasul
remarked.  “We collected sand dollars along the edge of the
ocean.  That is where they filmed a famous horror movie.”

“Yeah, 'The Birds’,” Ahmad mumbled.

They walked back along the ridge, and when
they got to the cliff they looked down.  The two bodies were
awkwardly arranged.  One of them had Ahmad’s spear still stuck
in his belly.  A large grey bird stood nearby.  The bird
looked up, became aware of the people high above, and flew away.
 Already, the scavengers were about.

Imee leaned over and spat down the cliff.
 She pointed to one of the men.  "Diego's father," she
said, indicating the baby.

Rasul and Ahmad looked at one another.
 There was nothing to say.  They found two rifles at the
edge of the cliff.  One of them looked familiar, and the other
belonged to Rasul.  They left the cliff.  There was no
talk of climbing down and burying the bodies.

It was a cold cloudy day.  They made
their way back towards their original trail.  At noontime,
Rasul could stand it no longer.  He had to get out of this
dress, and get into his own clothes.  But, before he could say
anything, they heard a noise.  The two boys quickly put the
women and the baby behind them.  They pointed the rifles in
front of them and held their breath.  They could feel fear
emanating from the women, matching their own fright.

"It's Jacob," they heard a voice call.

Ahmad expelled an exhausted breath.
 Rasul was so happy, he felt like weeping.  Jacob stepped
out of the trees.  He stared at them as they stood there in
the dresses, but he didn't say anything.  Ahmad and Rasul
looked at one another and then at the scout.

"Jacob, I know that you like my pocket
knife," said Rasul.  "I'll give it to you, if you promise
never to tell anyone that you saw me wearing a dress."

The next day, the group met up with the
burial detail.  The detail listened to Diana, and then they
heard the story of the fight on the cliff.  There was a
certain satisfaction in knowing that Luis' killers were dead.
 The burial detail made its way back to Petersburg.

By the time the burial detail returned to
Petersburg, Tyler and his unit had left.  Tyler felt strange
leading the guard post unit down the road.  At any moment, he
expected someone from Petersburg to catch up to them, and to tell
him that a horrible mistake had been made.  He would never
forget the look on Gabby's face when he told her that the Chief had
put him in charge of the guard detail.

At first, she thought he was joking.
 Then she was perplexed.  She wondered what devious plan
the Chief had conceived, that he would put Tyler in charge.
 To her surprise, no one else seemed to think that putting
Tyler in charge was all that unusual.  Finally in the days
before they left, Gabby had looked upon him with grudging
admiration.  He would always treasure that look.  The day
they left, she had kitchen duty and she personally packed a set of
two day rations for his unit.

My unit
.  
That sounds so
cool.

Tyler's unit hiked southeast to the RV guard
post and spent the night there.  The RV guards kidded him good
naturedly about his new found respectability.  He just
laughed, and the other members of his unit did not laugh at all.
 The Chief had not seemed amused when he told them that Tyler
was in charge of the unit, and they got the feeling that the Chief
would not be happy at any sign of disrespect toward Tyler.
 And, after all, no one wanted to incur the wrath of the
Chief.

The next morning, Tyler's unit continued on
to the Brown farm.  They arrived that evening, just in time
for dinner.  Meals at the Brown farm were definitely a perk.
 Everything tasted scrumptious, and there was always plenty to
eat.  That night they feasted on rabbit, chicken, mashed
potatoes slathered with fresh butter, Chinese peas, and cold milk.
 Paige asked about Nathan.

The boys in the guard post unit were given
the attic as their quarters.  The only girl in their unit,
Makayla, stayed in the girls’ room at Mary's insistence.
 Comet demanded to be allowed to stay with the boys, but his
dad refused to permit it.

“The older boys needed their privacy,” he
said.  Tyler had a serious talk with the small, unhappy
child.

"I need you to guard the back porch," he told
Comet.  "The Chief is expecting visitors.  If they get
past us, you’ll be the next line of defense."  Wide eyed,
Comet agreed to protect the back porch from invaders with the blunt
edged spear his father had made for him.

Tyler set up his guard post a mile to the
east of the Brown farm.  One person stayed on the road, while
the other three were hidden in the trees, back toward the Brown
farm, well away from the road.  The guard on the road carried
the radio phone.  They alternated positions early every
morning, because the Chief had insisted that they be in place
before sunup.  It was boring to be the person on the road, but
the Chief had insisted that there must be no interaction between
the guard on the road and the guards in the trees, unless they made
contact with the Army.

In mid-May, on a late afternoon, Tyler was
the guard on the road, when suddenly he was grabbed from behind.
 A large hand reached around him and snatched the radio
phone.

"Hey!" he yelped as he spun around and backed
away.

Standing before him were two men wearing
United States Army uniforms.  They had packs on their backs
and were carrying rifles.  Pistols were strapped to their
sides.  The older man had a sprinkling of freckles across his
face.  Tyler put his hands in his jacket pockets and waited
for them to speak.

"I'm sorry, son," the older officer said as
he smiled grimly.  "But I’d like to arrive unannounced.”
 He handed the radio phone to the younger officer.

"I'm afraid you'll have to come with us,"
Major Collins told Tyler, indicating the road ahead.

Tyler shrugged and began walking.  The
three of them trudged toward the Brown farm.

They had not gone far when Lieutenant Kennedy
remarked, "Sir, this radio phone is dead."

He handed it to the Major.
 Major Collins studied the phone and wondered.
 
Why was he carrying a dead
phone?

Then Lieutenant Kennedy spoke again.
 "Uh, Sir we have company."

The Major looked around.  Two boys and a
girl were walking quietly behind them.  They carried what
looked like handmade spears, and their feet were wearing moccasins.
 The Major looked at Tyler who still had his hands in his
pockets.

"Apparently we were expected," he said.

Tyler nodded.  "Mrs. Brown's place is
over there," he said, pointing in the direction of the farm.
 "She has little kids there.  I know she would like it if
you let us carry your rifles.”

“I don't mean that you should surrender
them," added Tyler hastily, seeing the Major's stony look.  "I
just mean that we would like to carry them for you.  We'll
stay right beside you, and you can keep those."  He pointed to
their sidearms.

The Major glanced at the Lieutenant, and then
he looked back at the boy.  "Very well," he said.

He handed his rifle to Tyler.
 Lieutenant Kennedy handed his rifle to one of the other
boys.

“Be careful with those,” Major Collins
instructed Tyler.