Page 19 of Stone Blind

“Yes Sir,” the boys replied.

Ricky entered the door, carrying the camping cot, placing it near the fireplace, and laying out a sleeping bag. Helen, seated in her chair in the common room, was not ready, not prepared to let the boy go. She wanted to hold him, comfort the child, as well as pray over him. Never had she been one who was overtly religious, but today she wanted to pray for this child.

Jeffrey looked at Ricky, then at Apple. “How do we dig in?”

Apple answered every question each of them had in their heads. The initial thought of buying the property was to teach the Cranberry how to set up a homestead and prepare a living space for a Technician. A plan had been put in place to starton her second month at the house, but they had to start now. Everything had to start now, but he would not wait for the men to come find him. Once the homestead was secured, The Cranberry would get her first lessons in tracking. Apple would take the hunt to the hunting lodge and blow that fucker into a million pieces.

“Ms. Helen, first things first,” Apple said. “We need to do inventory of weapons, and build the weapons cache in the house.”

She nodded, remembering the opening in the floor at Slow’s cabin where he stored his weapons. At the home she and Cherry had formerly shared in Indiana, each room had a hiding spot on the ceiling tiles for a locked and loaded weapon. There were no dropped ceilings in this house, but there was a basement, which could work to make a basin under the floorboards to house weapons, but there were too many windows.

“There are so many windows. Are you planning on bulletproof blinds of some sort?” she asked.

“Something like that, but first, we need to create lines of sight with interlocking fields of fire for each window. You will have to work with the boys to get the marking lines right for each window,” he said, watching her eyes to see if she understood what he meant.

“Roger that,” Helen replied, “How many weapons for each window? Does that include crossbows or any automatics?”

“I have four automatics, which will go for each corner of the home,” Apple said, turning to Ricky. “We need basic fencing in the yard, electrified, a few land mines, and booby traps, nothing over the top to start. Reinforce the doors and add more locks on the windows as well.”

Oscar began to shiver. He was scared for himself and also scared for the child in the blanket. The boy didn’t look good. He’d seen that look before in the children who crossed theborder with him from Teguice. The child would not live for long. He would not live and everyone would be sad, but he could be sent away to live in another place where people shouted and hit him.

Stephen wasn’t satisfied with the plan. “Sir, those men are like animals. They are like a roaming pack of wild dogs, always hunting down fresh meat. We saw kids on the street who were taken in by those people and branded, and they came back to recruit more kids. They were like zombies. There were horror stories about the men who owned them and even a few were owned by women who wanted girls. How do you dig in against something like that?”

Apple would not be deterred from the mission at hand. “I don’t run. You will not run nor will you live in fear. We work, we prepare, and most of all, in September, you’re going to school. Your focus is on school. Help us where you can by doing your part in this house, and the rest, you leave to me, Ricky, and Ms. Helen.”

Stephen didn’t want to hear the platitudes shouting at Apple, “And what is she going to do, take the big tough men shopping?”

Helen stood, placing the small child on the cot, her crossbody bag still hung across her chest as she faced Apple. She gave a slight bow, and he read her intention to spar with him in front of the boys. For the sake of the demonstration, whatever her plan would be, he would go easy on her.

Apple made his move at Helen. He didn’t know what happened, or how he found himself on all fours like a confused dog about to be washed, with her knee in his back and two knives at his throat. Her eyes were on Stephen.

“Boy, you’d better recognize that anything that is unfriendly coming through that door for any of you, any of you, I will slice to pieces and make a snack of their livers. Do you understand me?” she asked with wide eyes. “I said! Do you understand me?”

“Yes!” They all shouted, including Apple and Ricky.

She released Apple. “We have work to do, family,” she told them. “Jeffrey, you’re with me. Oscar, you’re on sitting duty; keep an eye on Kendrick- that’s the boy’s name. Stephen, get him broth and liquids, no sugars. He has internal injuries, so go carefully.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” they replied.

Ricky offered Apple a hand up from the floor. He watched Helen walk away to look at the windows, searching the home for places to make a weapons cache. He didn’t know what to make of the woman.

“I think I love her,” Ricky said.

“You?” Apple said. “For a minute there I wanted to be hetero so I could snuggle with her after making sweet love.”

They both chuckled at the absurdity of it all, but work needed to be done. A home fitted for a Technician was required to prepare to live in a shadow world of covertness. That just didn’t happen by itself.

Chapter 6 - Static

Tampa, Florida

Clive Edell James got called on the carpet. It was days like this which made his job and life more difficult than necessary, but he’d fucked up. He knew he fucked up. His boss knew and now, everyone in The Chrysalis knew it as well. A child, bearing his mark, had escaped the workhouse in Milwaukee. Much to his dismay, the child had escaped with his wallet.

In his tiny little fist, he’d taken Clive’s wallet with all of his information and credit cards. This also meant the powers that be would locate his home and take everything he owned. All of it, years of working hard, building his fortress, and climbing the rungs with gusto of the organization, only to be taken down by a tiny asshole. It was why he hated kids.

“Kids are jerks,” Clive muttered under his breath while he awaited sentencing for his failure.

The painful truth of his fiasco radiated in his eyes, knowing the justice meted against him would be harsh for such an infraction that no one could have prepared for, even on their best day. A shiver ran down his spine as he heard his name bellowed by the Sargent at Arms, a no-necked man with prison ink covering most his body. They called him ‘the shank’ in all lowercase letters because he could make a prison shank out of anything, then fatally stab you with it, in nocuous places, as he watched you bleed. The Chrysalis was loaded with folks like him and worse. Again, Clive heard his name being bellowed.

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