Stan Morris - Surviving the Fog

“Did you see them?” Yuie asked anxiously. “Did you see Jackie and Maria?”

Jacob glanced furtively at Yuie and Ralph, and then he whispered to Mike, “It’s them. One guy has a rifle; he’s sitting down and watching the others. Another guy is standing and drinking a beer and watching the third guy. The third guy is on the ground … busy.”

Ralph made a sound as if he was choking, and Mike grabbed his shoulder. “We can’t lose it, man,” he whispered frantically. “We have to keep ourselves together, so we can help them.” Ralph nodded, although his breathing was ragged. Mike turned to Yuie.

“Do you think you can shoot an arrow into the guy holding the rifle?” he asked.

Yuie was trying to control her shaking. “Yes, yes, I can do it,” she whispered bravely, although her teeth were chattering.

“Okay, listen,” he said to the others. “We’re going to move close to them, and then Yuie is going to shoot first. She’s going to shoot the guy holding the rifle. Ralph, as soon as she shoots her arrow, you and I will spear the same guy. The rest of you will spear the guy standing up. Then we’ll all grab a second spear and get the third guy. Got it?”

They nodded. All of them were nervous and frightened, but the teenagers were resolute. Mike gestured, and they moved toward the men. They were not particularly quiet, but the men had a loud boom box playing, and so they were not heard. They crept towards the clearing until they could see what was happening. It was a scene of horror. Jackie was lying on her back. She was naked, and there were three gaping wounds on her torso. It was immediately clear to them that she was dead. Maria, also naked, was making choking sounds because the man raping her had his hands around her neck.

As soon as he saw what was happening, Mike shouted and he drew back his spear. By the time he threw his spear, Yuie had already shot her arrow. It sped straight into the stomach of the man sitting with his back to a tree and holding a rifle. The man looked down at his torso in disbelief, even as a spear pierced his mouth, drilled through his head, and lodged itself into the tree behind him. The second man was hit in his back by two more spears, and he fell forward onto Maria and the third man.

The man raping the girl yelled, and he stumbled to his feet, just in time to feel one spear crease his shoulder and another spear glance off the side of his head, knocking him senseless.

The kids rushed into the clearing, rage and fright pumping through their young bodies. As they pulled the speared man off Maria he groaned, and someone stabbed another spear down through his body. In their haste to reach Maria they ignored the rapist, but he was unconscious and not a threat.

Maria was gasping for breath, and when she finally caught her breath she began crying, great pealing sobs of deep anguish. She cringed away from the boys, but she allowed Yuie to take her in the archer’s arms. The two girls rocked and cried together as Ahmad removed his jacket and covered Maria.

Mike turned away overcome with emotion, only to see Ralph sobbing over Jackie’s body. Then his courage broke and his tears flowed, and he didn’t try to stop them, and he was vaguely aware that the other kids were crying also.

Mike never knew how long it took for him to collect himself. At last his tears subsided, and he looked around. Yuie and Maria were still sitting on the ground. Yuie was still holding the traumatized girl, and she was speaking to Maria in a low whisper. Maria had stopped crying. Ralph had covered Jackie’s body with his jacket and shirt and was sitting there, lost in his sorrow.

Jacob had recovered first, and while searching the area, he found a large recreational vehicle nearby. Inside, he found a picture of a man and a woman. None of the motorcyclists matched the picture of the man. The kids never discovered what had happened to the man and the woman.

There was a shack next to the RV that might have belonged to one or more of the bikers. Eric and Ahmad took the door off the shack to use as a stretcher for Jackie’s body. Rasul dragged the surviving unconscious man far away from Maria and Yuie.

Mike had the boys tie the hands of the unconscious man behind his back, and then they wrapped some cord that they found in the RV around the man’s arms. He had to cajole and beg Ralph not to kill the man outright.

“I promise you we’ll take care of him,” he told Ralph in a whisper. “Just wait.”

Slowly, the prisoner regained consciousness. When he realized what had happened, he snarled at them and threatened them, and in return he was answered with an occasional sharp poke from a spear point.

Mike and the other kids collected their weapons and those of the men. No one wanted to spend the night there, so when they were ready they carried Jackie’s body away from the clearing and down the dirt road. They pushed their prisoner ahead of them, and whenever he refused to walk they gave him little stabs to keep him moving. When they came to the gravel road leading to their camp they rested for an hour, and then they began walking back toward their camp. For Maria’s sake, they moved slowly. Finally they stopped, threw themselves on the hard ground, and tried to sleep until daybreak.

At dawn, still weary and heartsick they began their trek back to their camp. Jacob seemed less tired than the others, so Mike sent him on ahead to tell Howard what had happened, and to bring food and water. When noon came, they were about a mile from the camp, and they stopped to rest. There, they were met by Jacob, Howard, and some of the other boys and girls who had hurried to them from their camp. Maria’s friends accepted her from Yuie, and they tried to comfort her.

“Get some of these guys to take Jackie back to the camp,” said Mike to Howard, pointing to the new arrivals. Ralph took charge of the young woman’s body, and he led the sad procession toward the camp while the other rescuers lay exhausted on the ground.

“What are you going to do with him?” Howard asked anxiously, indicating the prisoner.

Mike had been thinking about this. And he had been looking for a tree. A hundred yards back, they had passed the tree that he had been looking for. It had a large root stretching out toward the road, and on the lower side of the root the land fell swiftly downward.

“I want you to go back to our camp, and bring the rope that we use to play tug-of-war,” he said to Howard. “And bring one of the big barrels that we use for the recycled cans. Turn it on its side, and roll it down here. Tell all of the kids to come down with you. We’ll wait.”

Howard looked troubled, but he nodded and left. Mike went to Maria and her friends.

“I need to speak to Maria alone,” he said.

“It’s okay,” Maria said when the other girls protested. “Leave us alone.”

When they were alone, before Mike could speak, Maria said, “Thank you, Chief. Thank you for coming for me. He told me that he was going to kill me just like he killed Jackie.”

Mike felt terrible, and the memory of what he had seen stabbed at him. “I’m sorry, Maria,” he mumbled. “I sorry I didn’t protect you.”

Maria looked at him sadly, and then she said, “It’s not your fault, Mike. You’re just a kid.”

Mike nodded, and then he told Maria what he intended to do. Maria paled, stared at the ground for a moment, and then she nodded.

“All right,” she whispered.

“Do you want to go back to camp first?” Mike asked.

Maria looked up. “No,” she said with determination. “I’ll stay.”

Then Mike went to Eric, and he explained what he was about to do. “Are you okay with this?” Mike asked.

Eric searched Mike’s face. “Because I’m black, you mean?”