Pulling the trailer with the improvised hitch was harder than he had imagined that it would be and he had to re-hitch the trailer twice before they had gone five miles. After the second time he made a few adjustments that made the hookup a bit more secure but he would be happy when they reached the spot that he had picked out for his stand.
"What's your name?" Ann asked in a soft voice.
"He doesn't have a name," Bennie piped in, "I've been trying to find out and all I get is a grunt."
"Carl Partley," he said while looking straight ahead.
"Well now that you're so talky Mr. Partley, where did you learn to use those toys that you have here? Army... Marines... Air Force?"
Carl sat without answering Bennie. He knew that she was acting brave for his sake and the girl's. He also knew that the horror that she had witnessed back at the farm would hit her soon and she would crack. Right now, she was acting as if nothing had happened back at the farm.
"Both of you keep an eye out for trouble," Carl snapped, "I saw the sunlight glint off of a piece of metal. It was up on the side of the mountain. We have to consider everyone that we meet is an enemy until we prove otherwise. Sing out at the slightest thing that you even suspect might be trouble. There's a National Guard Military Police unit just outside of Cumberland that I want to check out. They might have been able to rein in some of the violence in the area."
"That the outfit that was in trouble over Abu Ghraib?" Bennie asked.
Carl didn't answer; he just concentrated on his driving. Sure, those soldiers did it all wrong, big time, but the media kept harping on it and harping on it; making sure that the whole world knew about the soldier's mistakes. There would be many American lives lost just because the newspapers wanted to increase circulation. He scanned the areas all around them, watching for anything that would indicate that there was someone wanting to do them harm.
Both of the women began to scan the mountain side. Although the mountains of Western Maryland were not as heavily populated as the urban areas around Baltimore and Washington they hadn't seen anyone for a long time. Carl wasn't sure if the roving bands of criminals had been out this far or if the people were just trying to stay out of site.
"According to the map there's a state park up ahead," Carl said as he studied the map, "There are usually small access roads in the park for maintenance vehicles, fire equipment and such. We'll try to find one that's a little hard to see from the main tourist areas of the park and we'll pull the Humvee and the trailer out of site and camp out for a couple of days."
"Why don't we keep on going," Bennie asked, "The further we get away from the towns the better off we'll be."
"I need to take stock of the equipment that we've been throwing into the trailer and try to get a feel of what's happening around here. I'm wondering why we haven't seen anyone in a while."
"Everybody's probably hiding," Bennie said.
Carl saw the entrance to the state park and pulled into it; watching for any signs that there were people in the park. He knew that he had to watch out for everybody. Even people that would never even consider doing anything wrong would turn into animals when they were starving or if their family was in danger. The park seemed deserted.
In back of the park's lodge, which had been gutted, he found a road leading off into a remote part of the park. Carl pulled onto the road and slowly drove as far away from the lodge as he could. When he came to a fork in the one-lane dirt road he pulled into a small clearing by the side of the road and stopped his vehicle.
"Get out three tents, sleeping bags and the Sterno stove," Carl snapped at the girls, "We don't want to be making any smoke. We'll stay here for a day or so and then I'll drop you two off in Cumberland."
"Bennie looked shocked, "What the hell do you mean that you'll drop us off? I thought that we were going with you."
"There's no way that I can take you with me," Carl said none too politely, "I don't intend getting killed because someone doesn't know how to survive in the woods. Don't worry; I'll leave both of you a gun."
Bennie jumped up on her feet, "You rotten bastard. We wouldn't last two minutes out there alone. With the three of us together we might stand a chance."
Carl got a small grin on his face but there was no mirth in it, "You think that the two of you know enough about survival to take care of yourself?"
Both girls said that they did; although Ann wasn't as sure of herself as Bennie seemed to be.
Carl began preparing the camp for their stay. The girls attempted to help but Carl had to fix everything that they set up. He managed to get the things that he would need to show them that they didn't know enough to keep them alive without the two girls noticing. He stashed the articles a few feet into the woods. When the camp was set up he fixed them all dinner.
After they had all eaten Carl said the he had to relieve himself in the woods. He walked into the woods a short way and began to take a piss. He looked behind him and saw that the girls could see him if they were looking. Suddenly he dropped to the ground and began to make his way to the stash of gear. The stash included Camo clothing and a ghilly suit and face paint. When he had donned all that he needed to become invisible to anyone that hadn't been trained to watch out for people like him he made his way toward the camp. He stopped at the edge of the woods.
Carl noticed that Bennie was the first one to get nervous that he was taking so long in the woods. She kept looking into the woods trying to see where he was. Carl lay motionless at the edge of the woods. He had done this more times than he cared to remember as a sniper for the CIA. He was one of the best at this and he had instructors standing inches from him and hadn't detected him until he jumped up and held a knife to their throat.
By the time darkness fell the girls were panicky. Both of them kept coming to within a few feet of him, peering into the woods. They never noticed him. After it had been dark for a couple of hours they huddled together in the dark and began to imagine that every sound that they heard was something that would jump out at them and harm them.
"What do you think happened to him?" Ann asked in a shaking voice.
"The bastard probably took off. He didn't want to have us with him.
Bennie didn't sound like she was too convinced that he had taken off and left them. Carl could only imagine what was going through their minds. They both climbed into their sleeping bags about one o'clock in the morning. It was at least another hour before they fell asleep. Carl listened to their breathing until he was sure that they were really asleep.
He slowly made his way toward Ann, being very careful to make no sound. Both girls had slept out in the open in their sleeping bags so Carl had a perfect shot for what he was planning. When he got to Ann he quickly snatched her off of the ground with his hand over her mouth and nose and began to put a sleeper hold on her. Within seconds she stopped struggling and went limp. Carl gently picked her up and carried her into the woods and then took his place at the edge of the woods.
Just before dawn he picked up a stone and threw it at one of the cans that had held some on their dinner. Bennie bolted upright and looked around. She saw that Ann wasn't in the camp and a look of terror came to her face. She began to call out for Ann very softly. After several calls she got out of the sleeping bag and walked to the edge of the woods with the gun in her hand. She tried to look into the woods in the semi-darkness. After a while she walked back to the camp and sat down and began to cry.
Carl stood up and began to walk toward her. Bennie screamed when she saw the thing that was walking out of the woods. She was so terrified that she didn't even attempt to grab for the gun. Carl slipped off the ghilly suit and continued toward her.
"Do you still think that you know enough to survive out here?"
Bennie jumped up and threw her arms around his neck and started crying harder. Carl finally had to pry her arms from around his neck.
"Where's Ann?" she asked.
"Sleeping in the woods," he said, "I had to show you why I can't take you with me."
He got up and walked to where he had put Ann and lifted her and took her back to the camp. Bennie began to fuss over the girl, trying to see if she was harmed.
Ann woke up several minutes later with a sore neck. Bennie kept casting dirty looks at Carl for what he had done to the girl.
Carl stood up, "I'm going to see if I can find anyone still alive
around here. I might be gone for a day or so. Remember what you just
learned and don't let anyone get close enough to you to harm you.
Bennie, you should have shot me as soon as I stood up. If I had been
looking to hurt you you'd be dead now or worse."++