Chapter 27Plague

He heard the whine of the engines before he saw the glow from the headlamps.

Snowmobiles!

Flashing through the hundreds of possible permutations and finally casting out all those that didn't fit, Sheldon came to a too-little-too-late conclusion.

The jack-knifed truck had been carefully staged at a point where bypassing it was impossible. It was a trap and he and his friends were now caught in it.

And the trappers were checking their traps.

Bomber took one SAW and stood out of sight behind the fuel tanker and Winkle took the other and ran down the highway and looped in behind them. She was gasping for breath and having a really hard time in the swale between the interstate lanes. There were drifts almost waist deep in places. By the time she reached her position she was on the verge of a physical collapse.

Tasha grabbed Penny Blossom and dressed her as quickly as she could and then used the coach to mask her flight up the slight grade and into the tree line. She wrapped her daughter in a blanket and then took aim at the third snowmobile that was slower then the rest and appeared to be hauling a sled of some sort.

Wyatt and Penny stood casually leaning against the big RV, shotguns held loosely in their hands. The first snowmobile stopped and a large man in camouflaged coveralls got off and pulled off his helmet.

"I see you cleared the jackknifed truck out of the way. None of us could keep it running long enough. We come down here 'bout evening every night to see if anyone's hung up here and offer them bed 'n breakfast and a place in Tilton. Lots of empty houses and the land's pretty good for farmin'. That's what we do…we're farmers."

Wyatt introduced himself and said he was a farmer, too, and asked a few innocent questions that the dirty man couldn't seem to answer, even thought they dealt with things like planting times and what grew well.

Penny watched the other snowmobile rider count the heads of the convoy and then say something into a handheld CB radio like they used. She didn't like the phrase 'fresh meat'.

Wyatt shot the man in front of him when he heard Penny mutter 'Bazinga', the code word for 'enemy', into her CB. The other snowmobiler was unslinging his rifle when Bomber cut him down with a burst from the SAW.

Sheldon heard the BOOM of a shotgun and the BRRRP of a SAW. He was already headed in the direction of the third snowmobile that was idling just off the roadway and between the 18-wheeler and the army fuel truck, guided by its headlamp.

Winkle couldn't maintain a sight picture. Between her gasping for air and fatigue, she couldn't steady her aim and she wanted a prisoner and the snowmobile.

The driver gunned the snowmobile up onto the road, made a sharp reversal and then headed back down into the swale in the direction he'd come from. Winkle stood up and fired a burst over the driver's head and he swerved sharply away from the tracers, too sharply. The snowmobile turned over in the deep snow, sending the driver sailing into the drift.

Sheldon struggled through the deep snow in the swale and when the driver sat up, Sheldon jammed the muzzle of his shotgun under his face shield and forced him back down on his back.

Winkle foundered her way up to where Sheldon stood over the enemy and quickly searched him, taking his rifle from around his shoulders and a wicked knife from a sheath on his belt.

"Go see what is in the wooden box on the sled he was towing, Leslie. I'll just ask our friend here a few questions. Oh, leave the knife, please and take your time and don't kill yourself in this snow. You're breathing like a 3-pack-a-day smoker."

Any witty comeback was lost in her sudden hacking cough.

"See? I told you so. Nya Nya. Now be a lamb and see what's in the box, Leslie."

A scream. A scream from someone in mortal agony and then there was the loud sound of silence.

Penny ran towards the capsized third snowmobile scream "Sheldon!" every third or fourth step. Winkle tackled her and they rolled around in the deep snow until Winkle managed to get her attention and yell "He's okay, Penny, he's okay."

Penny tried to sidestep Leslie but the smaller woman just grabbed her by her parka and pushed her back down.

"Don't go there, Blondie. He's doing what has to be done." Winkle could hear Sheldon's 'lecture voice' but couldn't make out the words.

She held up some chains in her hands and shoved them into Penny's arms. "They were going to chain us up and do God knows what. They're not people anymore, they're…they're goddamned animals."

Sheldon was struggling up onto the roadway and Penny shoved the chains back at Leslie and took off running towards him and slid into him, knocking them both down into the snow bank.

"I'm sorry I yelled, honey, but sometimes you make me so damned mad I could wring your scrawny neck but now all I want to do is hold on to you and never let go."

Sheldon's voice was very subdued and Penny had to concentrate to hear it. The others were coming to see if anyone was hurt and she wanted to apologize again and make sure things were –

"Let me up, Penelope. We have things to do. This can wait until later, and no, you don't have a choice. None of us do."

There was no debate about whether or not it should be done. The only debate was the 'how' and it was heated and loud and when the decisions were finally made, there were angry glares exchanged.

The 'rescue' was accomplished without casualties to the team and went so smoothly that everyone kept waiting, anticipating the Universe's 'Bazinga' that always seemed to follow such actions.

Wyatt, Bomber and Sheldon drove the three snowmobiles back to the small fenced collection of cement block buildings that had once been a self-storage facility. Penny, Winkle and Tasha Myers each rode behind one of the men, seated backward and 'wearing' shackles.

It was almost dawn and the snow had stopped but visibility was still poor enough that the guard at the gate simply threw it open and then walked out to inspect the new 'workers' his friends had 'rescued'.

He died quietly with a look of shock and surprise on his face, the large hunting knife his companion had carried on their 'raid' imbedded in his throat. Penny's father had a good idea of what they'd find and he was in no mood to take prisoners.

Bomber took the lead with Leslie sitting backwards behind him. That was how the raiders handled their prisoners and that was what they expected to see. They wouldn't expect to see a woman wielding a SAW, that fact was certain.

Another certainty was that they all died, caught in a cross fire between Penny and Winkle when they all piled out of the trailer that used to be the company's office. Tasha covered Sheldon and Penny's dad while the two checked out the office trailer they were using as their headquarters. There were two of the raiders unaccounted for and there were at least 10 of the long cinder block storage units they could be hiding in.

More important was finding and freeing the 'workers' but both Sheldon and Wyatt had insisted on eliminating all the raiders without exception so while the others checked out the stage units, Sheldon and Wyatt went hunting.

The back gate was open and they could see the taillights of a truck disappearing in the distance towards the small rural community of Tilton about a mile away.

"We'll see what the others have found and then we'll take on after them. Maybe they've holed up in town. If your boy was telling the truth, they're the last of them. We should check out the town anyhow and see if there's a pharmacy or a doctor's office and maybe we'll find some insulin for Bomber."

"No, Wyatt. They'll just hide somewhere in town and then come back and start robbing and killing travelers again. Let's go back and get the snowmobiles and track them down. Never leave an enemy in your rear."

'Alive' was not said but was clearly understood by both of them. The two told Bomber of their intentions and took two snowmobiles and headed into the small cluster of buildings.

Penny and Tasha walked down the aisles checking out the open storage units that the raiders had already opened. Furniture and storage boxes littered the cement lanes between the units.

Winkle used the thermal imaging thing that Sheldon had 'borrowed' from the National Guard back in Pasadena ('I'll return it if they ask me to') but so far they hadn't had any luck. The first 4 rows were looted and cold as death.

She turned a corner and it was the stink that stopped her and then she scanned the last bay of units and found many heat sources.

"Penny? Tasha? Got something here. Lots of hot spots. I think we should wait for the guys to come back with the heavy firepower."

"No, Leslie, I think this is what we're looking for. Smell that? Bet there are people locked up there and that stink – no toilets. You have a SAW and I have a shotgun and Tasha's pretty damned good with those Berettas…"

They used the heavy duty bolt cutters to clip the locks on the first unit with 'hot spots' and Penny pulled up the metal door ramp and stepped back in shock.

It wasn't just the smell that shocked her. Winkle shined her Mag-Light into the area and then almost dropped the flash. There were more than a dozen people packed into a very small 8X10 storage locker. They were all women and all were naked and showing signs of abuse.

"Tasha, run back to the office, sweetie, and bring whatever clothes and blankets you can find. Penny, I saw some stuff they can wear in the last aisle. I'll go get it. Just – just don't let anyone leave. Don't let them panic."

A familiar voice from the back of the storage unit called out, "Penny? Penny? Is it really you?"

A/N: Bringing things to a head. This is not the end of the story, more like the end of the beginning. I will press on so long as people read.

Reparata