I walked over and looked into the trailer. “Are those kids okay?” I asked, pretty sure they weren’t.
“I think two of them aren’t going to make it,” Chantal whispered. “But we can’t just leave them here.”
“Of course not,” I said, backing away. Then speaking to the group, I raised my voice. “Okay, if you want to go with us to check out this ranch - which I’m not even sure exists - you’re welcome to ride in the trailer. I’m going to be in the cab. If you’d rather wait by the side of the road for us to come back, feel free.”
All but one of the kids got back into the trailer with help from Chantal, who appeared to be the most physically fit of the group. She trembled from the effort of assisting the kids in, but she didn’t quit. It made me think she’d be a great addition to Haven. Probably any of these kids would. Everyone had something to offer our new world, and everyone made a difference in some way or another.
The lone kid who didn’t join them stood off by himself, thin, dirty, his hair in knots.
“What’s your name?” I asked, walking up to him. I could smell his unwashed body long before I got near.
“Dane,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
“You going to wait for us here?”
He shrugged the slightest bit.
“If you want us to stop and get you on our way back south, put something on the road as a signal.”
“Something like what?” he whispered.
I looked around me for something that wouldn’t look so out of place it would alert anyone else coming by that someone was there. A dirty baseball hat came flying out of the back of the trailer.
Dane stared at it for a long time, his expression stricken.
I walked over and picked it up, handing it to him. “Put that in the middle of the road if you want us to stop for you.”
He held it in his hand so listlessly, I thought it was going to fall out. But then he turned and limped off the highway, disappearing behind some scrub beyond the ditch.
I shook my head, watching him go. That kid was on his last legs. I made a mental note to check that bush on my way back, regardless of whether the hat appeared or not. In his condition, he’d probably fall asleep back there for three days straight and forget to put it out.
Turning back to Chantal, I was struck again by how pretty she was, even standing in the back of a nasty trailer covered in grime. She was going to be a serious hit back in Haven if we made it that far. Hopefully she wouldn’t cause any riots. My heart burned at the idea of Bodo falling for her like Rob seemed to have.
“You okay?” she asked. “We can all wait here if you prefer.”
I waved her concerns off. “No, don’t worry about it. I’m cool. I’ll try to make the ride as comfortable as possible, but no promises.”
“Don’t worry. We’re used to it.”
“How long have you been in here?” I’d caught a whiff of something that smelled like outhouse, so I had a feeling it had been a while.
“Too long,” she said. “Close the doors and lock them. I don’t want anyone falling out like before.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I walked over to swing the big doors shut. Jumping up on the back step, I secured them in place, hating that I was closing people in and not letting them out.
Soon, I promise. I banged on the door. “You guys okay?”
“Yes!” came a muffled voice from within.
I leaped to the ground and walked around the passenger side of the truck, climbing up into the cab to join Jackson and Bodo. Neither of them said a word as I settled into the passenger seat.
***
We reached the ranch in about a half hour. We left the highway and bumped over paved roads and then dirt ones, finally arriving at a small house with several outbuildings around it. A group of dogs came out to greet us, all of them barking and some of them growling. I quickly counted eight of them running around in the dust kicked up by our arrival. Out in the fields nearby there were cows grazing. It was almost surreal how normal it looked.
“Dose are some bigk cows,” said Bodo, staring at the herd that paid us no attention. “You got lots of doggies too.”
“They’re charolais - the cattle. Biggest breed out there, pretty much. They were my father’s pride and joy before … well, you know.” Jackson climbed down from the cab. “The dogs are part of the family, and they do a lot of the work around here with us.” He looked at the ones bold enough to approach. “No, Bully! No Drake! Get back! They’re friends!” The dogs obeyed, most of them turning to either go over to the house or out into the field with the cows.
Three of the mutts stayed near Jackson. I didn’t know enough about dog breeds to know what they were, but they looked scary regardless. I was glad we didn’t have Buster with us. He would have been an appetizer for these beasts.
As we joined Jackson on the ground, the front door to the single story home opened and a girl came out with a smaller dog at her feet. Two of the welcome-party dogs walked over to greet her and then followed behind when she launched herself off the porch.
“Jackson, where have you been?! And what is that damn truck doing here?! And who the heck are these people?!”
Jackson gave us a conspiratorial smile. “That’s my sister, Katy. She gets riled up easy, but don’t worry, her bark is much worse than her bite. Usually.”
“Ease up, there, Katy,” he said with more volume, walking toward the back of the truck.
She barely spared us a glance as she strode by, following close on his heels. “Do you know how worried I was? Tater ’n me have been pacing so much we nearly wore a hole in the floorboards!”
“You can stop yelling any second now,” he said. It sounded like laughter wasn’t that far away for him.
She punched him in the back. “That’s for leaving us behind and almost gettin’ yourself killed!”
He arched his back and shuffled a couple steps, but kept on walking. “Damn, Katy, ease up. Can’t you see my nose is broke?”
“I’m-a break your damn neck! How about that?”
He stopped at the back of the truck, turning to face his sister. “Katy. Chillax, girl. I brought some people.” He smiled wide.
I’d drawn even with Jackson, so I could see the expression on her face when it went from mad to excited. “Really? You found hands?”
I felt instantly sick.
Extending my palms out towards both of them and putting some distance between us, I said, “Hold up … you guys brought those people here to take their hands? What is that … some kind of sick fetish?” I backed up farther, taking my gun out of my waistband and holding it with two hands at waist-level, pointed at the ground.
The girl looked at me for a second like I was nuts. Then she turned to her brother and jerked her thumb in my direction. “Who’s the dumbass?”
Jackson chuckled. “She ain’t no dumbass. She’s the ball-biter.” He nodded a few times to drive home the point.
Katy’s mouth dropped open as she stared first at her brother and then at me. “No! Say it ain’t so!”
I wasn’t sure, but it was possible I’d just gone from dumbass to testicle-chomping celebrity in her eyes. This was one twisted family.
“Yeah. And she busted my nose and could probably bust yours too in a heartbeat, so if you could just tone it down about eighty notches, that’d be great.” He hopped up onto the back step in an easy, practiced motion and opened up the big doors, pushing them both wide as he jumped down.
Katy stepped back, a shocked expression on her face as she waved her hand in front of her nose. “Shew-eee, damn that smells. Oh my god, there’s kids in there!” She scowled at her bother. “You put them in there like that? They ain’t cattle, you know. They’re humans!”
“You were going to eat their hands,” I reminded her, my gun still out.
“Girl, you are some kinda stupid, ain’t ya? No wonder you’re runnin’ around bitin’ balls.” She snorted. “Darwin’s gonna take care-a you, mark my wo
rds.”
Bodo put his hand on my shoulder. I recognized it for the moral support it was. I appreciated it since I felt about as dumb as a box of rocks at this point.
Jackson looked at me with a smile. “Did I mention my sister is easy to rile up? And just to clarify, we were looking for hands as in ranch hands. You know, cowboys? People to help out around here?”
The lightbulb popped on above my head. “Ooooh, raaaanch hands. That makes waaaay more sense than what I was thinking.” I wiped my brow. “Phew. My mind went a little nuts there.”
“Nuts. That’s funny, comin’ from you,” said Katy, walking up closer to the trailer. She wasn’t laughing. Facing the kids inside, she said, “You guys wanna come out? I got some beef stew on the stove.”
All of the kids who were able to shuffled forward, most of them falling in the dirt when they tried to get down. Bodo, Jackson, and I helped them up while Katy led the way to her house. We left the sleeping kids where they were inside the trailer.
“It ain’t much, but it’s better than starving,” she said as she disappeared behind the door. “Wait on the porch! I’ll bring it out!”
“Jackson, how in the hell have you managed to keep all these cows out here without getting them taken?” I asked, marveling at their sheer size and number. They were all a whitish-creme color and looked as big as pick-up trucks from where I was standing.
“Well, lemme tell ya … it’s been a challenge. But I’m a diplomat, so that’s made it easier. And they ain’t all cows, obviously. We got bulls and steers, too.”
I frowned. “How does being a diplomat make it easier? I don’t get it.”
“I ain’t got no enemies, see? I deal with everyone square. You got somethin’ to trade, you eat my beef. You ain’t got nothin’ to trade, but you can work, you eat my beef. But you try to steal my beef? You get killed. No questions asked. And I bury you out by the road so everyone can see what happens to people who get stupid and greedy at the Triple Bar D.”
I nodded. “I guess that’s diplomatic. But are you saying you feed canners?”
“What’s that?”
“Cannibals. Do you feed the kids who eat other kids?”
He shrugged. “Maybe I do. I dunno. It ain’t like I ask ‘em when they show up what they ate before. Besides, as far as I’m concerned, if they’re eatin’ beef for a change, that’s a good thing, right?”
“You’re so matter-of-fact about it.” I was concerned he wasn’t getting more upset about the idea.
“It’s a strange, cruel world we’re livin’ in. Like the wild, wild West or the animal kingdom. Can’t say as it’s all that different than the one I was in before, personally speaking, but I aim to make a new life for myself and my sister however I can. Adapt and overcome, that’s what my daddy used to say, that sonofabitch.” His expression went from bland to angry.
“No love lost there?”
“Nah. He drank a lot. You ain’t the first person’s broke my nose. Maybe you knocked it straight for me.” He lifted his head and grinned, giving me a profile view from one side and then the other. “Whattya think? Is it straight now?”
“No, but I could straighten it for you if you want.” It did look like it was going to be a little crooked. I hadn’t noticed before I hit him whether it was straight or not. I’d been too busy thinking I was going to have to kill him.
He held up a hand. “No thanks, doc. I’ll just leave it be if it’s all the same to you.”
All this talk about fixing noses was fine, but it was time to get down to business. I didn’t know how to broach the subject in a casual way, so I just went for it. “So what’s the deal? Can we take some of your cattle or what?”
He laughed. “Where you gonna take ‘em?”
“We’ve formed a new community down south, at the Everglades Correctional Institution, as you know. We’ve got about fifty kids there now, but we plan to have hundreds. And eventually we’ll grow to city-size. But we need livestock. Lots of other things, too.”
He crossed his arms and rubbed his chin while he thought about it. “Normally, I’d just say no right outta hand. Them cattle’s about all that’s keepin’ us alive. But maybe this is worth some thinkin’.” He stopped with the chin-rubbing and grinned. “Let’s go eat and talk it over. Maybe we can strike a bargain.” A twinkle came to his eye which told me he liked to wheel and deal. Hope trickled into my heart.
I glanced at Bodo in time to see him smiling too, but when he caught me looking, he stopped, going back to having his little tantrum.
I had about another hour of patience left in me before I was going to blow my top at Bodo. Hopefully he’d get his head out of his butt before then so I wouldn’t have to.
We followed Jackson up to his porch where Katy was already ladling out stew to anyone who could hold a bowl.
A few of the dogs milled around, probably hoping for something to fall. “Scoot!” Katy yelled, gesturing at them fiercely with her ladle. Three of the four took off, but the little one stayed. “You too, Tater,” she said, nudging him with her foot.
But Tater wasn’t hearing any of it. He went right back to his begging and was rewarded a few seconds later with a chunk of potato that I was pretty sure Katy had dropped on purpose. He reminded me of Buster, a dog who was impossible to dislike or send away.
Two kids had fallen asleep on their backs before they could get any stew, mouths hanging open and slack. Their color didn’t look very good either. I had a feeling Jackson was going to be digging some more graves soon.
“This is the best stew I’ve ever eaten,” said Chantal, some of it dripping down her chin. Seeing it made me realize how hungry I was. My salivary glands started working overtime and my stomach growled loudly. I felt a little guilty that Winky and the others wouldn’t be getting any of this, but that wasn’t going to stop me from taking my share.
I took a bowl from Katy and dug in.
“Holy crap,” I said around a chunk of carrot a few seconds later. I never thought carrots could taste so good. “This is … heaven.” I couldn’t believe it. It was like being transported back to the school cafeteria. I’d always scoffed at the stew there, never daring to try it, but now I realized I should have paid it more respect. My stomach was cramping in ecstasy. The food in Kahayatle was pretty damn good, but there was nothing like real beef in authentic beef stew.
“Aw, it ain’t that good,” said Katy, clearly pleased by the compliments she was receiving.
“No, dis is goodt,” said Bodo, poking a hunk of meat with his spoon, his cheeks bulging with food. “Where didt you find all da vegetables? Carrots, potatoes, and onions? Even da salt.”
“In our garden, of course. What? You think I walked to the supermarket?” Katy snorted. “That’ll be the day.” She ladled more stew into Bodo’s bowl. “We get the salt from the ocean, believe it or not. Evaporate the water right out. Works like a charm.”
“We’re totally self-sustaining at the Triple Bar D,” said Jackson, addressing all the kids who’d come out of the trailer. “If you want to stay, you can, but you’ll have to work. And when I say work, I mean, work your tail off. Work your fingers to the bone.”
Katy held up a manual-labor-worn hand, wiggling her fingers a little. The fingernails were ragged all the way to the quick and not from being bitten. I could see the callouses on her palms from several feet away.
“He ain’t jokin’ neither,” Katy added. “It’s dawn to midnight around here and then there’s guard duty. Luckily we have help with that part of it.” She nudged the little dog at her feet.
“I can work,” said Chantal. She looked at me. “But I’m not sure if it’s as safe here as it will be with her.”
“Bryn is my name, by the way, you guys. And this big strapping German guy with me is Bodo.”
He nodded his head at them, his mouth too full to speak.
“What’s a guy from Germany doing all the way over here?” asked Chantal. She gave him a special smile that made me instantly sick to my s
tomach. There was no way Bodo would want to be with me when Chantal was around. Even dirty and raggedy, she was ten times prettier than me.
“I wass doing an exchanche and den the bomb dropped on da worldt and dat was da end of my Cherman life. I’m Hamerican now.” He looked back down at his bowl, preparing another giant spoonful for his mouth.
Katy could obviously care less about Bodo. She didn’t even spare him a glance before she was responding to Chantal’s earlier comment. “It’s plenty safe here.” She sounded defensive. “We got dogs up the yin yang, rifles, shotguns, bows and arrows … you name it, we got it. And we know how to use all of it, too.”
“So how does that help you when some kid comes up in the middle of the night to snag one of your cows?” I asked.
“First of all, ain’t no one gettin’ on this here property without us knowin’. We got dogs can smell outsiders from a mile away. Plus one of us always stays awake while the other one sleeps. And the herd’s never far from the house.” She shrugged. “It gets a little pungent sometimes, but until we have more hands, that’s the way it’s gotta be. Plus, we got the ewes.”
“The ewes?” Now I was really confused.
“Dat’s da girl sheeps, Bryn. I know da English for farm animals because my granfadder had a farm and he hadt lots of American friends.”
Bodo’s explanation did nothing to help me understand. “I didn’t know ewes were so aggressive. You actually use them to protect your ranch? Like guard ewes?”
Katy and Jackson both started laughing. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of either one of them for a full five minutes.
When Katy could finally speak, she put her hand on my shoulder. “Ball-biter … you’re one-a the funniest girls I ever met. You’re all right by me, though. You’re aaaaalll right by me.” She patted me a few times before picking up her beef stew pot and walking towards the front door.
I rolled my eyes. “The name’s Bryn, okay? Call me ball-biter one more time, and I’ll pop you in the boob.”
She sobered up quick, turning around. “Them’s fightin’ words, girl. But I’m gonna keep my fists to myself because I don’t wanna lose a chunk of my girl parts when you decide to get all angry and hungry at the same time.”