The Grey Ones

Chapter 13

  “I will give you to the count of three to let my son go. If you do not obey that order, then I will be forced to shoot you in the head. Do you understand me?” Travis says with his rifle aimed the man standing directly behind Ty.

  “One.”

  His face is hardly visible beneath his thick beard and dirty skin. As his hand grips Ty’s shoulder, I notice the gold band on his finger. It’s not the only thing shiny on him. The end of a barrel sticks out from under his greasy long brown hair. Dressed in full hunter’s camouflage, he reminds me of a mountain man.

  I shift my focus to the rest of the armed group. They all have similar characteristics and matching attire. They range in age, the youngest looks to be a girl around Ty’s age while the oldest seems to be the mountain man.

  “Two.”

  A few of the people aim their guns and arrows directly at our heads, but most are being pointed at Travis. I scan them for other weapons and find they all have multiples. Knives, guns, bow and arrows, and hatchets are strapped to their bodies.

  “You really shouldn’t leave kids alone.” The mountain man replies calmly. With his dark blue eyes focused on Travis he lifts his hand off Ty’s shoulder.

  The moment his grip loosens, Ty sprints towards us as fast as his little feet will carry him. Instinctively, my legs move towards him. As I race towards him, a few of the strangers point their weapons at me. They could shoot me at the slip of a finger, but I don’t care. I ignore them and keep moving.

  He slams into my body. Tears streaming down his cheeks, he wraps his arms around my waist. I squeeze him back and let him hold on until he’s ready to let go. When he is, I scan his body for any bumps or bruises. Physically, he appears to be okay.

  “We weren’t going to hurt him.” The man says, his deep voice sounding sincere. Waving his hand down, he signals for his group to lower their weapons.

  Still aiming his rifle at his head, Travis walks towards Ty and me. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

  The man smiles, revealing his slightly yellow teeth. As he stands up straight, he replies confidently, “I’m Steven. And this,” Raising his arms to his sides he continues, “is my family.”

  Travis’s knuckles turn white as he grips the gun even tighter. His voice drops low, angrily, “You have ten seconds to tell me what you and your family want, Steven.”

  “My brother disappeared yesterday while we were hunting out here. So we’ve been looking for him ever since. When we smelled the fire, we were hoping that it could have been him.” Steven replies quickly. As he looks around the camp he continues, “Obviously, we were wrong.”

  Travis lowers his rifle. His eyes bounce around the family suspiciously. Focusing on Steven, he replies, “What did he look like?”

  “He looks like me, minus the epic beard. We’re twins.” Steven says with a nervous laugh.

  I stare past his greying beard and realize that he does look familiar to me. There’s something about the way his face wrinkles around his green eyes. The wave of memories of the man murdered on the bridge flood my mind. His face was badly beaten, but I’m sure of it. Those green eyes – there was so much pain in them. Which means I have no good news for Steven or his family.

  “Oh no.” The words slip out of my mouth quietly. My eyes shift around the family, whose facial expressions haven’t changed. They must not have heard me. But someone else did.

  Travis skims a finger across my arm and whispers, “What is it, Isabelle?”

  “I think they’re telling the truth.” I move past Ty and make my way towards Steven. Behind me, Cano’s soft growls escape his throat. Twigs break under his paws as he walks after me.

  When I step in front of him, he seems confused by my direct approach. His green eyes lock with mine as he asks, “Do you know something about my brother?” He searches my face for answers. Even though I could only see the man on the bridge from afar, I can see the resemblance between the two.

  To be a hundred percent certain, I ask, “What was your brother wearing the last time you saw him?” The dying fire pops next to us while I glance around the group. Everyone starts talking at once describing his clothes.

  “Camouflage pants like these.” Steven says tugging at his pants.

  “A brown shirt.”

  “A camouflage coat.”

  “Boots!” The young girl’s voice rings out.

  That’s exactly what the man on the bridge was wearing, minus the camouflage coat. Feeling stuck between telling them the heinous story or lying so I don’t have to be the bearer of bad news, I begin chewing on my cheek. A few seconds of silence passes before anyone speaks.

  “Did you see him? Did you see my daddy?” A soft voice calls out.

  Behind Steven, a little girl stares at me with wide, hazel eyes. I force a small smile in an attempt to disguise my concern. Her long light blonde hair is fish braided to the side where her arrows are strapped. Her fingers fidget with her bow as she waits for me to respond. She looks so sweet and innocent - I can’t be the one to break the news to her. This is something she shouldn’t have to find out from a stranger.

  Instead, I look her in the eyes and say, “You know what? I’m not sure if it was him. Let me talk to Steven here real quick about it. Okay?”

  She smiles and nods, “Okay.”

  I direct my attention back to Steven. My voice becomes quiet so no one hears me, “Can we talk? In private?”

  Hesitantly, he nods before turning back to his family. With a firm tone he starts giving out orders. “Alright everybody split up. One or two of you get the fire going while the rest get to fishing us some dinner.”

  As soon as he finishes speaking, the group scatters to accomplish their tasks. One of the men has a rifle strapped to his back and a camouflage bag on his shoulder. He drops the bag in the dirt, stirring up the dirt. Unzipping it, he pulls out a few collapsible fishing rods.

  “What is it? Did you find him? Is he alive?” Steven’s voice becomes unsteady.

  His green eyes plead for answers. They remind me of the shade of pine. Softening my tone, I say, “I’m so sorry. I’m not a hundred percent sure it was him. The guy I saw was hurt and his face had blood on it.”

  “But he was alive?” His voice sounds enthusiastic, full of hope.

  “He was. But…”, When I trail off Steven cuts in.

  “But he’s not anymore.” His voice becomes unsteady at the thought of his brother being dead. When I don’t reply he walks away from the fire and rubs a hand over his face. “Did you see what happened?”

  “Um…” I hesitate when the memory of the girl with the pixie cut stomping on the back of his skull flashes through my mind. There was so much blood by the time they threw his body over the bridge, he was definitely dead before plummeting into the water.

  “Just tell me.” He says firmly as tears begin to well up, making his eyes appear even darker.

  Hot breath pushes past my lips as I sigh. I peek over my shoulder at the little girl from earlier. She giggles as she plays on the beach. Careful not to let her overhear us, I respond quietly, “There were these people, looters I think. They beat him and then threw his body over the bridge… into the river.”

  A tear escapes from the corner of his eye and streams down his face, disappearing into his beard. He rubs a sleeve over his eyes to dry the tears welling up. After a moment of silence, he clears his throat with a rough “Ahem.” His red eyes narrow in on me again. Through clenched teeth, he asks, “These looters. What did they look like?”

  When I finish telling him everything I had seen with the looters he shakes my hand firmly. “Thank you,” He says, sadly, then returns to his family fishing on the river. The water ripples from the raindrops falling from the dark clouds above. When a cold wind blows through the trees, chilling my body, I walk over to the fire to warm up. A skewer type rod is sticking through the fish that Travis has cooking above the open fire. As I sit on a boulder next to Travis, I breathe in the aroma of the roasting
meal.

  “Where’d you get that?” I ask, pointing at the skewer rod stabbed through the fish.

  “You caught the fish, remember blondie?” Travis teases with a small smirk. He turns the fish over to cook the other side.

  “You’re so funny.” I reply sarcastically while trying to hold back a smile from forming on my lips. In a more serious tone I ask, “Seriously though, where’d you get the skewer?”

  “Lilly gave it to me.” Travis nods up at a teenage girl standing a few yards away. Her short dark brown hair touches the top of her shoulders and like the rest of her family she’s wearing hunter’s camouflage. There’s a black handgun tucked into the back of her waistband.

  “That was nice of her.” I reply looking back at Travis.

  “Yeah, they’re good people.” The fire pops and crackles in front of us. The aroma of roasted fish fills my nostrils, causing my mouth to water even more. It seems to be cooking evenly with Travis flipping it repeatedly.

  “My mouth is watering so much I may drool.” I joke, leaning in a little closer to the flames. The heat warms my cold face quickly as I watch the twigs burn black. I ignore everything around me and breathe in the burnt wood scent.

  “It’ll be done in one minute.” Travis replies.

  “Hello.” A soft voice says next to me.

  Turning to the side I find the little girl from earlier standing beside me. Her hazel eyes stare into mine while she continues to speak softly. “My name is Allison, but you can call me Allie.” A big smile spreads across her face revealing her two missing front teeth.

  “Well hello, Allie. My name is Isabelle.” With a comforting smile I continue, “And this is my husband Travis, and our son Ty.”

  “Yeah and this is Cano. He’s my dog now.” Ty says proudly. He stretches an arm up to pet Cano behind his bat ears. The big dog leans into it as he stands tall next to the rock Ty sits on. His round eyes shift around the site while he watches everyone around us. His curiosity in Steven and his family is similar to his initial curiosity in ours.

  “Who’s that?” Allie asks while pointing a skinny finger across the fire. Propped up against a tree twenty feet away Billy fidgets with the old ham radio. He speaks so loudly into the microphone his voice echoes in the gorge. I listen to him repeat the frantic call for his family.

  “That’s Billy.” I say looking back at Allie, “He’s a new friend of ours.”

  “Why is he sitting all the way over there?” Allie asks still watching Billy with wondering eyes.

  “I think he likes his privacy.” Changing the subject, I continue, “Hey, I have an idea. How about you and Ty play together for a bit before we eat? You could teach him how to use a bow and arrow.”

  “Okay!” Allie exclaims. She pulls the handmade weapon off of her back and says, “We can practice shooting my bow and arrow at targets.”

  “Alright.” Ty says, shrugging his shoulders. When he stands up, he pats Cano on the head once more before leaving.

  The kids run off to the left of us, talking about which tree to shoot at. When they find one they both approve of, Allie hands her bow over to Ty. He grabs it eagerly and inspects it while she pulls out an arrow to use. He takes the arrow from her hands and looks it up and down. Even though he’s too far away for me to hear, I can see his lips mouth “Wow”.

  “Belle, grab something for me to put this fish on for us.” The sound of Travis’s voice brings my attention back to the fire.

  Lilly appears by my side with a clean blue towel in hand. Her hazel eyes appear bloodshot, like she’s been crying. With an arm extended outwards, she says, “Here ya go.”

  “Thank you Lilly.” With a smile I take the towel out of her hands. She raises her eyebrows in response, then turns to walk away. Before she can get more than a few steps away I raise my voice, “So, Steven is your uncle?”

  She stops suddenly, then turns back to me. Nodding, she replies, “Yeah. My dad is the one who’s missing.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. So that would make Allie your little sister?”

  She nods again before looking over at Allie and Ty. With a small smile on her face she inches closer to me; twigs break underneath her boots. As she sits down next to me, her fingers swipe a few tears off of her pale cheeks. Her hazel eyes stare into mine and she forces a smile. Her teeth are overcrowded, but her smile is still pretty.

  She clears her throat and swallows hard, but it doesn’t prevent the unsteadiness in her voice. “Our dad’s dead, isn’t he?”

  My body freezes at the question. Feeling uncomfortable, I shift my gaze away, “You should really talk to your uncle about this.” Continuing to avoid eye contact with her I lay the towel down at our feet.

  “I already tried and he won’t tell me anything. But I know something is wrong because he was crying and I’ve only seen my uncle cry once before and that was when my aunt went missing.” She speaks quickly, tears sliding down her cheeks.

  I feel bad for her, but this is something she should find out from her family. “It’s not my place to say anything. I really believe you should talk to your uncle.”

  Quietly, Lilly sits next to me for a little longer. I can feel her eyes shifting back and forth between Travis and me, waiting for one of us to give her an answer. In an attempt to avoid looking at her, Travis focuses on getting the fish ready to be divided up four ways. I grab the dagger out of my backpack sitting on the ground next to me. Even though Lilly isn’t saying anything I can feel her watching my movement. My eyes stay focused on the fish as I dig the blade into the darkened meat.

  Lilly sniffles next to me as she rises to her feet. She stands there for a moment in silence. When she speaks, her voice has gained more strength. “I think I have my answer.”

  I stop cutting the meat and glance up at Lilly. I want to say something, but what? She walks away with her head down and continues to weep.

  Allie doesn’t notice her older sister standing behind her; she’s too busy helping Ty hold the bow correctly. I watch her move his arms up a couple inches and say something. Focused on the tree ahead, he lets the string slip through his fingers releasing the arrow. The homemade arrow flies straight into the middle of the tree trunk.

  “Yay!” Jumping up and down, Ty looks over at me and yells excitedly, “Did you see that mom?”

  “Yeah, I saw. You’re a natural.” I shout and clap loudly for him.

  Travis must have been watching too because out of nowhere he says proudly, “Looks like you found your weapon little man.”

  Allie smiles and says proudly, “I can teach him how to make his own bow and arrows.” Turning to Ty she says nervously, “I mean, if you want.”

  Ty smiles widely and replies, “Yeah! And I can teach you how to fight!”

  “How to fight?” Allie says with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah, you need to know how to fight and protect yourself.” Ty replies.

  “Why would I need to learn that? My dad says the boys are supposed to protect the girls.”

  “Not necessarily.” Lilly speaks up. Her voice is still unsteady. She’s trying to hide her sadness, but isn’t doing a good job at it.

  Allie looks back at her curiously while Ty continues, “Well, my dad taught my mom how to fight, and now she protects me.”

  “Really?” Allie says glancing over at me. She stares at me with wide eyes before turning back to Ty. “I thought girls aren’t supposed to fight.”

  “I dunno about that. My mom fights, works out, and shoots guns. Yesterday, my mom even climbed to the top of a tall tree! You should have seen her!”

  With a confused expression Allie glances back at me and asks, “Why?”

  “Oh she saw some crazy people and they hurt a guy pretty badly. Huh, mom?” He looks at me to back him up, but all I can see is Lilly standing beside him. Her widened hazel eyes are filled with terror.

  Changing the subject, I say with an unsteady voice, “Time for dinner. Come on, Ty!”

  “Yes! Dinner. I’ll b
e back.” He leaves his new friend and sprints our way.