Chapter 44
Sarah was blissfully lost in a dream when it came to a crashing halt several hours after she had dozed off.
She woke with a start, pain shooting through her side at the still-fresh wound before she remembered she was no longer alone on the road and in danger.
Her eyes quickly adjusted to the light from the moon outside, and she saw Adam standing over her.
Sarah bolted upright. He had never been in her room before, and if he was there now, she knew there had to be a reason for it.
Instantly, her eyes shot around in the dark to find the danger, but everything looked the same as when she had fallen asleep.
Outside, she could hear that everything was calm and quiet.
Her heart fluttered, wondering if he was there for a more personal reason, but the concern in his eyes told her something else was going on.
He jerked his head for her to follow her out of the bedroom, and Sarah didn't hesitate to nod in agreement.
Two minutes after he had woken her, Sarah was quietly moving to the main part of the house to join the rest of the group.
The only light was two lanterns dimly burning in the kitchen.
She could see the others gathered and whispering amongst themselves.
Sarah could feel the tension in the room as soon as she entered.
Whatever was going on, they were obviously worried about it.
Instantly, she went to the window and pulled back the curtain, but she didn't see any torches or angry mobs approaching the house.
They wouldn't be safe until the mayor and his men were dealt with.
Sarah was certain that until that time came, none of the adults in the house would be able to sleep easy.
“We have movement from the village,” Adam said. “I can’t tell for sure what’s out that way, but there’s definitely something.”
“Did you happen to see the sentry?” Sarah asked.
“Not really. I moved up through the edge of the woods and toward the town. Once I was able to get a good line of sight on the village, I could see them starting to gather at the main entrance.”
“If you had to take a guess, how many do you think were there?”
“I couldn’t quite make out a solid number, but I’d easily put it around two dozen. None of them were on horseback, so they’ll be coming here on foot.”
Sarah knew the time had come to protect what was rightfully theirs.
She thought they would have a little more time, but looking at the family surrounding her, the fear was real.
She would do whatever it took to protect them.
Though she wished she could have more time to prepare for an attack, she knew the group was well-trained and ready to fight by her side.
“How long do you think we have before they get here?” Sarah asked. “Is there enough time for us to get set up?”
“I couldn’t give you a good time, but from what I could tell, they were all checking their weapons and passing around ammo,” Adam said.
“What are we talking about then?”
“I’d say that between the time it will take them to get ready and the time they’ll take traveling here at a regular pace, we have about half an hour—tops.”
Given the girth of the mayor, Sarah doubted they would be moving at anything faster than a leisurely pace.
Adam hadn't mentioned seeing any animals with them, but it was still possible that the mayor had pilfered a horse from a local farm to move things along quicker.
In either case, there was no time for them to wait around.
They needed to have a plan in place, and she wasn't going to have their homestead shot up in the process of protecting it.
As a matter of fact, she didn't want the gun-slinging drunken idiots anywhere near the farm.
The group had to have a plan put together that took the posse away from the homestead.
It was nearly impossible for her not to think about the worst-case scenario.
They now had five small children living on the homestead.
While there was no question in her mind that the mayor didn't value their lives, Sarah saw every human as a potential for greatness.
They weren't going to shoot to kill with the men, but they weren't going to let the children be put in harm's way, either.
If it came down to their lives or the homesteaders, Sarah wouldn't hesitate to shoot to kill.
Yet the very thought of taking another human life made her nauseous, not for herself but for her parents and her friends.
She could do what was necessary, but the weight of those actions would be harder to carry for some of the others.
In particular, her mother and Becky were caregivers.
They believed in healing, not killing. The group needed every able-bodied person over the age of eighteen who could shoot a weapon.
Her mother's hands were unsteady thanks to years of arthritis.
The best place for her was going to be watching over Pepper and the other kids while the rest of the adults dealt with the encroaching gang.
“Mom, get the kids all rounded up and take them down to the cellar,” Sarah said. “The best thing you can do is to keep them safe and quiet down there while we take care of the situation up here.”
“What are we going to do?” Becky asked. “Do you have a plan?”
“My only plan is to fight for what’s ours and to protect our own. We’re going to grab as many guns and as much ammunition as we can.”
“So, we’re going to defend from the house?”
“No, I think it would be better if we plan a surprise attack and take them off guard. We’re severely outnumbered, but it’s likely that most of them have been drinking.”
“Where would you like us to set this into motion?”
“We’re going to have to move fast for this to work. We need to get to the other side of the road if we really want to take them off guard. They don’t know how many people we have, and they think there are a few less than our actual number.”
“We’re with you, Sarah. Whatever it takes to keep this a safe place,” Adam said.
“Good. I’m glad we’re all on the same page here. I want to keep that gang as far from the house as possible. Whatever happens, we don’t need the kids to see or hear any of it.”
Alan smiled. “So, the grenades might be a little too much?”
“I wouldn’t want to use them, but you never know what kind of weapons they could have. We need to get moving if we want to keep the momentum in our direction.”
“All right, let’s get going then,” Alan said.
“There’s one more thing. I don’t want them to catch on too quickly,” Sarah said. “Let’s use bird calls to signal to each other. Let’s hit them with everything we have and not give them an inch.”
She could feel the fear and trepidation in the air around the group, but to their credit, they all jumped into action.
Her mother and Becky had disappeared outside to get the children and bring them into the house.
Despite the late hour, Henry and Alan went to the bedroom to get the rest of their weapons.
Sarah quietly went to the twin’s bedroom and woke them both, telling them to grab their blankets and pillows.
They were streetwise children who knew Sarah wasn't telling them everything from the very beginning.
Yet neither argued when she insisted they were going to have a sleepover with the others in the cellar.
Sarah knew Connie was going to make the event a fun one for all five of the children, despite the terrifying chaos about to happen outside the homestead.
She waited until Connie and the kids were safely in the cellar before bringing out the arsenal of weapons from her parents’ bedroom.
When every adult besides her mother was strapped down with two to three guns each, they split into two groups and headed out the front door.
Alan, Henry, and Meredith were going to take the far side of the road, moving parallel to Becky, Sarah, and Adam on the homestead side.
The group moved out silently as her heart started to pound in her ears.
In the stillness of the night, Sarah was sure they would have an advantage over the approaching people.
Among her group were a few sharpshooters and seasoned marksmen.
They were sober, scared, and protective of the property and people on the land.
They were going to win because they had more to fight for.
Losing to the men was simply not an option for the homesteaders.