Rise From the Ashes: Lena's Story by Laura Franklin Read Free Book Online Page B

almost missed the sound of engines, almost missed getting his flock off the road and into hiding before danger passed.
     
    He was going to have to take this on faith. He looked deep into his heart as they were taking a lunch break. The feelings of peace that sunk into every ounce of his body couldn’t be denied. He was going to give over to his dream and take it on faith that he was being led to safety.
     
    I’ve always been faithful to my God, I have to trust that this is His way of helping me and helping the people that are following me.
     
    The priest had a renewed energy as they started out for the second half of the day. He tapped back into his motivational personal training skills as he kept them moving on, quietly and with sore feet.
     
    Kim was the biggest challenge, she wanted to bitch and moan out loud. Time and again he had to walk beside her when she started in. She could drag the mood of the whole group down, and lay them all open to despair if left to rant on about all her ills. So Steve would make sure to touch her on the arm, face her full on and give her a nice glimpse of his eyes, his strong chest and muscular arms. He was shaking his head at himself, but it worked for Kim. She got quieter and softer and tried to flirt with him. He got what he wanted; a quiet Kim. He would softly squeeze her shoulder and say he had to go back to the front of the line, he would be back later, and please, for him, speak only in whispers. It’s hard to bitch and moan in a whisper.
     
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
     
    The second day out from Brattleboro we heard motorcycles in the distance. All of us were immediately tense. Mick had his gun out and Ed took his rifle off his saddle. Sue and I headed into the trees with the horses again. This time I realized that Mick and old Ed were my only line of defense in this new world. I was going to have to step it up because they were not going to be by my side every second and Ed now had a bullet hole in his arm.
     
    I am not a religious girl. But listening to the rumble of the motors coming closer, and seeing Mick standing at the side of the road with a gun, I started to say, “Let him be ok, let him be ok,” over and over again. Kind of like a chant or prayer.
     
    It hit me hard, the biker killers must have been watching, just waiting to ambush any small group that went far enough away from the city.
     
    This time there were four bikes. Each riding double like before. I squinted; ugly red hair. Doug! The guy on the first bike was my neighbor Doug!
     
    “Don’t shoot!” I threw the reins to Sue, then I was running out toward Mick and Ed.
     
    The bikes were actually speeding up, they must have seen us and were eager to get to us.

    “NO!”
     
    Mick’s arm was coming up. He had never seen Doug, had no idea who the hell he was.
     
    “STOP, PLEASE STOP!” My words were overpowered by the rumbling of the engines.
     
    The gun was leveled right at the riders now. Here is where Doug proved he was no dummy. He raised his hand signaling the riders behind him to stop and he came to a very, very fast stop. He put his hands up. No talking, no arguing.
     
    “Who the hell are you?” growled Mick as the echo of the engines faded.
     
    “That’s Doug! Friend, dude. Put down the gun.”
     
    Doug saw me and smiled with relief.
     
    “Oh, sorry.”
     
    “My God! You must have been the ones that killed those other riders? They looked pretty rough, did they try to hurt you guys?”
     
    “Hurt? No, they opened fire on us before they were close enough to say a word or even ask for our food or whatever. They were plain bent on killing us.”
     
    “Wow.”
     
    “Yeah. So you guys were catching up to us?”
     
    “Yeah. It took some us a little longer to decide what we couldn’t live without.” He gave a backwards nod at the others. “But we wanted to head north with you guys, we sure don’t feel safe right now, and we figured we can always come back in the spring if nothing