Chapter 14
The mid-morning sun was causing a glare that made Deb wince. She placed a hand down to shield Jimmy’s forehead and eyes as the baby continued to sleep comfortably against her chest.
She had managed to keep him calm and quiet for the remainder of the previous evening, and he had slept well.
She envied him for that. Deb hadn’t slept much, if at all.
She wished she could just forget about the stress of this horrible environment and innocently doze off the way Jimmy could.
But every breath she took in this place was a stark reminder of the dangers and hopelessness of the situation.
The air was starting to reek as the sun beat down on the prisoners with no mercy. The entire area carried an aroma of sweat and human feces. It was disgusting, and if she’d had anything in her stomach, she would have vomited several times by now.
But the food they were provided was scarce, and it had been dropped in unceremoniously, causing a feed frenzy of ravenous animalistic people who shoved, elbowed, and viciously fought over scraps.
While her hunger was intense, she hadn’t waded too far into the fray, concerned for the safety of Jimmy in such an environment. She had managed to secure just a small amount of rations, which she, of course, provided to the baby.
He was the priority here, not her. She would give everything she had to ensure that he continued to survive in this hellish place.
All through the night, Deb had gazed out at the sky, listening for the sound of some form of armed rescue.
She wondered, not for the first time, if Sean knew where she was and what had befallen them.
She also wondered if Sean were still alive.
She knew if her husband still drew a breath that he would figure out what had happened and come for her. But this camp was crawling with soldiers, all well-trained and battle-hardened. She knew Sean couldn’t pull something like this off by himself, and that worried her.
It wasn’t so much a worry for herself—more so, it was worry for Sean. It would be impossible for him to conquer this camp by himself and save them. However, Deb also knew that Sean would do or try anything to ensure their safety, and that included putting himself up against impossible odds.
Her mind also traveled to Vin, though not on purpose.
Vin had always prepared for something like this, and she wondered how he was adapting to this new powerless world.
She knew Vin was more than equipped not to only survive in an environment like this but to thrive.
She actually had always believed that Vin would be more successful in a post-apocalyptic world than he was in the normal world.
He was an old-school cowboy, and it was that rugged manliness that had first drawn her to him.
He could live off the land, navigate by the stars, and hunt food with the best of them.
Knowing that Vin was likely fine and would continue to be was the lone positive thought she had throughout this incarceration.
The sound of the cell door opening could be heard throughout the fenced-in area, and people started to stir at the activity.
The soldiers typically came inside when they were going to drop off food or conduct an inspection of the prisoners.
People surged forward in hope but still kept their distance.
Usually, their captors arrived armed and in force, and no one in here was willing to risk taking them on.
Deb was thankful for that. If someone had decided to try to challenge the soldiers, it was likely that bullets would start to fly.
In those situations, there was always collateral damage.
It was one of her greatest fears throughout the course of this experience.
A stray bullet could spell the end for her or for Jimmy, even if the two of them had nothing to do with the scuffle that birthed the shot.
The surge of eager prisoners desperate for nourishment suddenly recoiled back as one, and Deb could hear the sound of horrified screams coming from the front of the assemblage.
“No, no, no!” a woman screamed. “Please, no!”
“Shut up!” rang out an authoritative voice, and soon more screams could be heard.
Many of those were small and high-pitched, and they sounded terrified. They were the fearful screams of children mixed with the horrified cries of adults.
A sinking feeling of dread and horror was spreading through Deb’s stomach as the crowd continued to come alive with cries, belligerent threats, and anguished wailing. As the soldiers drew closer, the mystery of their presence became clear instantly.
Deb gasped in horror at what she saw. The soldiers were assaulting people.
More specifically, they were assaulting imprisoned parents who were holding their children.
They were then wrestling those children away and dragging them off.
Kids, toddlers, and even babies were being taken, screaming for their parents and reaching out little arms for them.
Many of these parents tried to resist and tried to fight back, but they were being met with harsh violence. Billy clubs and rifle butts were being slammed into faces, causing countless prisoners to fall back and away from this scene of the abduction.
Deb backed up as far as she could go until her back and shoulders pressed into the steel mesh of the prison. She pushed back against it, wishing against all reason that she could somehow pass through the bars and escape the inevitable fate that was coming for the two of them.
She looked down at Jimmy, who seemed calm in his ignorance of the matter.
He looked up at her with big soulful eyes, and Deb felt the sting of tears hit her face.
She could hear the desperate cries and utter anguish extending from the crowd before her, and her heart was breaking with the impending doom of knowing that these monsters were coming for her baby next.
“No, no, please, God, no!” a woman ahead of her screamed as her daughter was torn from her arms. She tried to reach out and grab at her child the wrestle her from the harsh grip of these soldiers as the little girl wailed and reached out for her mother.
Another soldier came up and booted the woman in the chest, knocking her back and away as the soldier who took her daughter continued back toward the exit. The soldier who had kicked the woman looked over in Deb’s direction, her eyes settling on both Deb and Jimmy.
Deb felt desperation and the crushing weight of the inevitable press down on her shoulders with extreme force. She cried out, one long anguished syllable transporting her rage and horror into the air. She had come all this way protecting her son, trying to keep him from danger.
Now, here came a harbinger of doom, a demon in camouflage fatigues that was prepared to undo all of her work, drag her son away from her, and take off with him to God only knew where.
“Give me the kid,” the soldier barked at her, reaching out as if Deb were just going to hand him over willingly.
“No!” she cried out, cradling the baby and folding in on herself in the fetal position to try to ward off the approaching storm.
“I said now, prisoner!” the female soldier cried out, grabbing Deb by the back of her hair and wrenching her head back.
“No, you can’t take him!” she screamed, thrashing in desperation, a clump of her hair tearing off in the woman’s grip as Deb wiggled free, ignoring the pain and trying to flee through the mob.
“Stop her!” the soldier commanded, and suddenly there were two more soldiers pushing their way toward her. The female soldier who had initially grabbed her was in hot pursuit, and Deb turned on her heel, lashing out with one leg to kick the advancing soldier in the chest.
The woman seemed more shocked than hurt and fell back, tripping over her own feet. Deb tried to run, but the two advancing soldiers had reached her now.
“Grab her!” one of them yelled, reaching out for her.
Jimmy had started to cry now, the movement and commotion terrifying him.
As the soldiers reached for Deb, she tucked the baby under her arm and rammed into the man with her side and hip.
He doubled over, and Deb tried to move, but she found herself boxed in by the other prisoners, many of which were lying on the ground, too emotionally horrified to move.
The other soldier who had been approaching her slammed his fist into the side of Deb’s head, and she dropped to her knees, still managing to keep enough mental function going to protect the baby as she fell.
The entire world was spinning, but Deb scrambled back to her feet.
The original soldier who she had kicked was suddenly up and back in action, tackling Deb into the chain-link fence.
At the last moment, Deb turned, ensuring that the baby wasn’t hitting the steel as she absorbed the impact with her side.
“Give us the baby!” the female soldier screamed, pressing Deb into the fence with intensity brought on by rage. A male soldier rushed up and started to grab at Jimmy.
“No, not him!” Deb screamed, part rage and part pleading. “Please, not my baby!” She fought madly, lashing out with kicks and headbutts and squirming to keep the baby from the arms of these enemies.
But she was one untrained person against three armed and armored soldiers.
It wasn’t long before they wrestled Jimmy from her grip, grabbing the screaming baby and tossing Deb to the ground.
She instantly scrambled to her feet, moving beyond the pain, beyond the sorrow of the moment.
All of that emotion compounded into a ferocious drive that caused her to pounce at the soldiers in an attempt to get her baby back.
But they were trained fighters, and they were ready for her this time.
The female soldier met Deb’s advance with a fist to the face that snapped her nose like a twig and split her lips open.
Deb smashed back into the steel mesh of the communal cell, but the soldier wasn’t done with her yet.
She gripped Deb by the throat, pressing her back into the steel and holding her there.
Deb struggled weakly, but her body was injured and exhausted.
The woman’s crushing grip was pressing on her windpipe, closing off her airway and causing her to gasp.
Deb’s eyes remained trained on Jimmy as the soldier carrying him shouldered his way through the crowd toward the cell’s exit.
She tried to scream and cry out, but no sound was escaping through her restricted throat.
She simply held out an arm, fingers desperately clawing at the air trying to will her baby back to her.
However, the soldier holding her still wasn’t done.
She slammed a fist into Deb’s ribcage again and again, and Deb doubled over in agony.
She felt at least one of her ribs break and could taste blood welling up within her mouth from internal injuries.
The soldier then punched her across the face, releasing her throat and letting Deb fall onto her hands and knees in the dirt.
Once there, the soldier proceeded to kick at Deb’s torso with a steel-toed boot over and over until a steady stream of bright-red blood was pouring from her lips onto the dirt.
Finally, Deb’s arms gave out, and she pitched forward face-first into the ground. The soldier seemed content with the damage she had caused. It was ample payback for the desperate kick that had sent her sprawling only moments before.
Deb barely noticed the pain. She simply lay there in the dirt, mouth open in aghast horror as tears fell down her face, mixing with her blood. The only sound that escaped her bruised neck was an anguished sob as her arm reached out with shaking fingers in the direction of Jimmy’s kidnappers.
She couldn’t even see them anymore. They had vanished into the throngs of people, and she was unable to rise from the ground.
Her father’s lessons flashed through her mind. His every word about the inherent kindness and goodness found within the human heart seemed like a cruel joke. These were the lessons she had based her life on, the conversations that shaped her worldview.
What a load of crap that had been.
She saw the world as it was now; she could see life as it is. She saw pain, cruelty, and misery beyond all reason. She had watched and seen how quickly civility and honor went out the window the moment the chips were down.
The world wasn’t a good place. It wasn’t full of nice people who genuinely cared and wanted to help.
It was the opposite of everything she had been raised to believe.
It was a dark, harsh, and cruel place full of horrible, cruel people who wanted only to take.
People who would step on your corpse if it would help them raise even a single step.
And so, Deb lay there, weeping bitterly into the soil as her baby was taken farther away from her with every labored breath she took. The world shattered around her, and at that moment, Deb hated just about everyone and everything that crawled along this Godforsaken mudball.
She wanted it all to burn.