CHAPTER 28: Kayleigh
We rode straight to Dubois County, only stopping to let the horses rest and have water every once and a while. We got there after dark, staying amongst the forest that surrounded the little town. The buildings were old and worn, I could see a large church that stood in the middle of the town. From our hiding place amongst the trees me and Miles watched as militia soldiers were ushering the towns people into a large building.
"That's the court house" Miles said pointing to it.
"What are we going to do?" I said.
"I don't know, I'm still working on that"
"You don't have a plan!?" I asked frantically.
"That's nothing new, you know me I just go along as it comes to me"
We had guns, swords and I had my bow and quiver of arrows in case we ran out of ammo. I hoped Miles knew what he was getting into, I couldn't see a plan that came out with no one innocent getting hurt.
"Miles...Miles-"
"Sh! I'm thinking..."
"Miles!"
He turned to look at me,
"He wants you more than me" I said, "If you create a distraction, I can sneak in the court house and get the people out and into the woods"
"That'll have to work, look" he said pointing back at the court house. It was on fire, smoking and flame bursting from the windows and door ways.
"Go!" he said shooing me in the direction of the back of the court house. I ran as fast as I could and stayed low as guns started going off where Miles had run. Hiding behind the skeleton of a car I could see a man guarding a back door. Luckily his back was to me as he had his gun aimed at the door to stop anyone from leaving the burning building. I snuck up behind him and hit him over the head with the butt of the gun, and dragged his body back towards the car. Taking the zip ties from his own pocket I tied him down so that he couldn't move once he came too. I ran into the building, covering my nose and mouth with my shirt so I wouldn't inhale the smoke from the building fire. I could hear the screams of the trapped citizens coming from a locked room. Remembering my pin I reached into my shirt, but when I had changed this morning I had forgotten to remove the pin from my old bra. I cursed to myself for being so stupid and tried breaking down the door by ramming it with my own body. The growing heat of the fire and smoke was starting to get to me and I grew weak as I continued to ram the door. The roof collapsed over the door way where I had come in. I could hear gun shots still ringing as Miles continued to distract the soldiers. And it must have been working because Miles came rushing into the court house from the front entrance and right towards me.
"I can't get it open!" I yelled in panic.
"Get away from the door!" he yelled back, then taking his gun he shot the lock, pushing back the door we helped the people from the room.
"Miles..." said a red haired woman, looking up at him in shock.
"Come on, we gotta move" he said. I continued to help people out of the basement, pretending that I didn't notice the tension between Miles and that woman. As we ran back towards the front, we met bullets that came bursting through the door and windows as the soldiers tried keeping us in.
"Get down!" Miles yelled at everyone, as the bullets started flying towards us. The people screamed and huddle amongst each other as they dived to the floor.
The fire was starting to over take the entire building, we couldn't stay here any longer or else the whole place was going to collapse on top of us, leaving us trapped. But we couldn't leave either or else risk getting shot down by militia guns.
"What are we gonna do?" the red head asked Miles.
"It's good to see you again" he said, ignoring her question knowing it was hopeless.
"Yeah" she replied slightly smiling, but it faded as fire over took the ceiling above us and the towns people screamed in terror.
"Miles" I said grabbing him by the arm and pointing to the side door "I still have a full clip"
There was two militia soldiers just outside the side door with their guns pointed right inside. I handed Miles my gun, knowing he'd be a better shot then me. But before he even cocked it bullets rang out, but they didn't come from the soldiers. Instead they hit them and as they fell to the ground Nora and Jim Hudson appeared from outside the door.
"Miles, come on!" Jim yelled.
"Everybody let's move! Let's GO! GO! GO!" Miles yelled at everyone. I helped Miles make sure everyone got out of the buildings as the fire started to collapse the ceilings, causing it to fall over where we had just been.
"Get to the woods behind the high school" Miles said to me and the woman as he picked up the dead militia soldiers gun.
"What about you?" the woman asked.
"Just go! Kayleigh get them out of here!"
I nodded as the woman helped me lead the people away from the gun fire Nora and Jim were trying to hold back. Miles ran to them as we got away, the woman leading the towns people towards the high school. I stayed at the rear, making sure no militia soldiers were following when suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and put a gun to my head.
"I'm not letting you get away that easy" a familiar voice whispered in my ear as the crook of his arm wrapped around my neck. Monroe pulled me back towards the square, where his soldiers were in a stand off with Miles, Nora and Jim. As he pulled me closer I even caught a glimpse of Charlie and Captain Dixon.
"Miles!" Monroe yelled, "Come on out!"
Monroe pushed me towards the middle of the square. Miles and the others were taking cover behind large marble statues that laid in front of the still burning court house. I could hear the clicking of their guns as they pointed them at me and Monroe. But he was smart enough to use me as a shield, I could feel the barrel of the gun against the side of my head as he pushed me a couple steps farther forward.
"We got the family back together!" he yelled at Miles, "Just me, you and Kayleigh. Like old times right! When you use to watch her for Sarah. You'd take her and Charlotte out in that old mustang of yours..."
There was silence from Miles's side...They disappeared behind the statues when Monroe had moved closer.
"Come out Miles or i'll kill her"
"Go ahead, kill her I don't care!" Miles yelled back...I hoped he was bluffing...
"Right! You don't care! She's your goddaughter Miles! You're like a father to her right? More then I ever was" Monroe yelled back, "I'm counting to five Miles!"
"Please!" I said gripping his arm that was tight around my neck, "I don't want to die..."
"ONE!"
"TWO!"
"Please" I continued, "I'll do anything, please you don't have to do this!"
"THREE!"
"Please...Dad!"
He froze, I could feel the gun move a bit farther away from my head.
"Get him to come out" he whispered.
"What would she say? What do you think she'd say if she could see you now" I said to him, tears rolling down my cheeks,
"I'm your daughter...I'm your daughter"
I looked up at him, his lip quivered as his mind flowed to memories of my mother. I could see on his face that he wouldn't have hurt me...I knew he wouldn't hurt me...Tears started to roll down his face as well,
"I'm sorry I have to do this" he said, but he was lying I knew he wasn't going to kill me because his grip loosened around my neck. I tried to force a smile as I looked up at him.
A shot rang out.
I felt a blinding, sharp pain pierce me as we both fell to the ground. I fell on my back, my eyes moving up towards the sky. It was dark as the clouds covered the view of the stars that were just beyond them and glistening somewhere above us. A flash of a woman with blonde hair popped into my mind as she spun a little girl around by her arms, they were both laughing. The little girl squealed with glee and a wide smile spread across my face...
Suddenly, Monroe's face appeared over me, covering my view of the darkened sky. He was screaming now, the tears still rolling faster down his cheeks. He turned away from me and started firing back in Miles direction. My vision grew blurry and it was hard to focus on him or anything else. The last thing I saw was Monroe being dragged away from me by his own men...
"Sir we have to go! You're hurt, you need a doctor!" I heard one of them say.
"NO! I won't leave her! Not again!"
I felt numb and cold as I laid there on the ground, feeling my own blood run out of my body.
As everything...
Started...
To...
Go...
Dark...
"But daddy!" I pleaded with him as he looked down at me with a hardened glare.
"No, you can't go with your mother. I don't like the idea of it being just the two of you out there"
"So come with us" my sweet faced mother replied, looking up from the pack she was stowing jars and tin cans into.
"You know I can't"
"Then Zach can come with us" she said, pulling back the string of the pack so that it was tightly closed.
"The boys are still out hunting, they won't be back for a few more days"
"I have to collect the herbs now before the storm comes and I could use the help" she said, winking down at me.
"Please! Please daddy!" I said grabbing the sleeve of his shirt and jumping up and down.
"All right! But don't stay out long and don't leave this area!" he said firmly.
"Thank you!" I squealed throwing my arms around his waist. But he pushed me firmly back away from him,
"I'll be out"
My mother watched him as he grabbed his coat and left in a hurry. Her face was sad as she watched him walk down the road and towards town from beside the window.
"What's wrong mommy?"
"Nothing sweet thing" she replied, looking down at me and stroking my hair, "Come on dear, we need to pack some things for you"
She took my hand and led me down the hall to my room. She helped me pack some of my clothes in my small pink polka dot backpack, including my stuffed teddy, the one I could never go anywhere without. We left through the back door, walking through the back yard we headed out towards the woods to collect herbs together...
"Is she going to be okay?"
"She's very lucky, Miles. Very. Im surprised that she even survived a hit like that, she should be dead"
"She's a fighter" he replied, a hint of pride in his voice.
"She'll need to rest here a few more days before you move out. But that's only if she ever wakes up she it's possible she might not..."
The voices seemed so close, and as my eyes opened and adjusted to the light I could see they were. Miles and the red headed woman were standing just under the doorway of the tiny room I was in. The floral wallpaper made me feel queasy as I stared at it, the covers over me were just as bad. I sat up, my entire body ached and I could feel pressure below my chest as I tried swinging my legs off the bed. I was only wearing my bandeau and a pair of soft pajama pants. I looked down to see a large, but short scar running down my abdomen. I moved my fingers over the impressive stitching, trying to remember what had happened. I looked up at Miles and the woman, they were staring at me when I did. Miles ran over to me and lifted my legs back onto the bed and gently pushed me back against the pillows.
"You need to rest" he said.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice sore and raspy. The woman picked up a cup from atop a dresser across my bed and poured water from a glass pitcher into it. She brought it over and handed it to me.
"Dixon shot you trying to take down Monroe" Miles replied.
"And where's Dixon so I can give him a piece of my mind...Or my fist" I replied after chugging down the glass of water.
"I shot Dixon" Miles said looking at me sheepishly.
"Are you going to get in trouble for that?" I asked, concerned that he had just killed a Georgian officer...but not at the same time, because it was Dixon.
"I don't care about that" he replied.
"What...What about Monroe"
"He was hit, but he got away. I can only assume he's still alive"
"Kayleigh!" Charlie said when she ran into the room and saw me awake. Nora followed behind her as they came over to give me hugs.
"I'm glad you're okay" Nora smiled after pulling away.
"Thanks" I replied smiling back at both of them, "when can we get out of here. I want to go home"
"As soon as you heal a little more" the red headed woman said.
"If it's all right with you Emma, I'd like to get out of here today" Miles said, turning to look at her.
"She's not strong enough"
"I'm fine" I said looking up at Emma, "I've had worse"
"You always say that" Charlie said to me, as she sat down beside me.
"That's because it's true" I replied.
"Yes, I noticed the scars on your back" Emma said to me.
Charlie's threw me a concerned gaze, "What scars?" she asked.
"Just some scratches I got from an animal attack...No big deal"
Emma looked over me with the same concerned expression, I could tell she knew I was lying but she didn't say anything about it.
"I'll let you guys be on your way. But you have to take it easy, I know you're a rebel but you can't be off fighting militia or else you'll just make things worse on yourself"
"I know, I can handle it" I told her.
"Then it's settled, we leave in half an hour" Miles said then left the room with Emma running after him.
"Whats the story with them?" I asked Charlie and Nora after they had left.
"I don't want to know" said a clearly jealous Nora. Charlie and Nora helped me into my Jeans, but since being shot had ruined my muscle tank I had to get another shirt from someone else. It was mint green, it's sleeves short like a tank but lace lined the top just under the peter pan collar. It definitely wasn't something i'd ever wear but I didn't want to be rude about it since they had saved my life, so I put it on reluctantly. Charlie helped me outside the small town house they used as a hospital and towards my grey and white speckled horse I had rode here on. I was starting to get acquainted with my tall companion and he butted his head into me when Charlie brought me over.
"Looks like someone else is happy to see you're awake too" Charlie said smiling as he nibbled the end of my shirt.
"Hey Indy" I whispered, ruffling his grey mane.
Charlie helped push me up onto his back, then untied his reins from the fence post and handed them up to me.
"Will you be all right?" she asked.
"Yep" I said smiling down at her despite the intense pain shooting through my abdomen. Nora had went ahead and brought Charlie's horse over to her and they both mounted as Miles came over to us, already on his tall brown steed.
"Come on" he said looking annoyed, "Let's get the hell out of here"
