FIRST GROUP ARRIVAL
Andrew Robinson, or Andy as he preferred to be called, had just come from a meeting with the site leaders of their twenty Children's Rescue Homes. They were all located in North America and Mexico and there were thirty-eight thousand children living in those facilities. There were small hospitals at each location and a large, central hospital was located right there at the Home Location, near the old Arizona town of Greer.
Andy's older cousin, Jeff Yellowfeather, was the senior Physician of the healthcare system and he had been banging on Andy about the sudden upsurge of injured children at all of the locations. It was puzzling, all the injuries seemed to have been inflicted during brutal beatings and it was primarily boys, although the number of injured girls was heartbreaking.
Like his father, Andy was addicted to coffee and he was headed to the cafeteria for a cup of rejuvenating coffee and, hopefully, another of his addictions, a sweet roll.
It seemed that Andy was immune to gaining weight and his Life Partner was Gordon Lane, a several times Great Grandson of George Davis, brother of Buddy (Kenneth) Davis, the life partner of the Great Robby Robinson himself. Gordy was always after him to try and put some more weight on, but it was just something Andy could not do, no matter how much he ate.
Somehow, Gordon was able to almost sense whenever Andy was in the cafeteria and he soon joined him. Andy never realized that Gordon had charged his secretary, Mollie Yellowfeather, to watch for her cousin, Andrew, along about break time each day. Gordon was also the head research scientist for the corporation and had his administrative office just down the corridor from the Cafeteria.
Gordon sat down beside Andy, with a plate containing two sweet rolls. He plunked one of them down on Andy's plate and proceeded to eat the other roll. They engaged in small talk and Gordy told Andy about a group of intake patients they had received from the eastern border with the Elder's Republic, Jeff had called him down to the Hospital to collect samples that had been imbedded in the children's injuries and Gordy had determined the grains were sand and salt, a vicious combination. Andy cringed as Gordy described the awful wounds and illnesses that the thirty youngsters had.
Andy's temper was rising as Gordy described lash marks on their backs and ears that had been cut off, apparently to mark the boys as criminals. Andy asked, "What are the children's ages?"
Gordy replied, "They range from four years old to the oldest boy who is just fourteen years old!"
He thought for a moment and then continued, "The older boys carried the younger children all the way from the Mt. Nebo Prison to our Ranger Border Station at Ely!"
Andy's temper, which was famous, rose to the red face stage and he growled, "All across that damned desert?"
Gordy cringed a bit, his mate's temper was notorious. He replied, "Yep, they had acquired a mule to carry their small collection of supplies. They walked all that way to get away from the Elders. They carried the smaller ones on their backs and their leader, Will Castor, told me that they did not lose a single child on the way!"
Andy had such a grip on the edge of the table that he snapped the corner off. He almost shouted, "I want to meet this boy!" That was the opening that Gordy was waiting for he knew his mate well and was sure he would ask to meet Will Castor.
He waved towards the door and a young man entered the room, a little hesitant as he saw Andy with the broken piece of the table still in his hand.
Gordy hurried over to the young teen boy and put his hand on his shoulder as he whispered to him, "Don't worry, he is not angry with you, only those who hurt you and your children!" Gordy led the young man over to the table where Andy was sitting.
The boy was worried, all the kids he had led to this place called him "Papa" and he loved it, it gave him a warm feeling all over whenever a child called him that and he hoped this huge man would allow him to stay with his kids.
Andy saw the frightened look on the boy's face and he tamped his own anger back down, he knew from experience that his temper could frighten others.
As the youngster approached Andy, he smiled and held his arms out to the boy. In an instant, Will saw love and acceptance on Andy's face and he dove into those open arms, tears flooding down his face. All the emotions he had held back during their terrible trek across that desert came flooding out.
He sobbed uncontrollably, wetting the man's shirt. Apparently, Mr. Andy didn't care, he just held Will until he had cried himself out. Will was at the hiccup stage as he looked up and saw a smile on the man's face, so he figured he had better "come clean" right away.
Before Andy could even ask him any questions, Will said, "Theys tossed me out cuz I love another boy. They tossed all the kids I brought here cuz they said I had po'luted em!" Andy had heard that story before and he also had a partner himself, Gordy Lane, for whom he would die to protect!
He just smiled and said, "So what, you were there for all the children you rescued, is this young man with you also?" Will was confused, he had been sure that he and 'Bert were going to have to hide their love for each other. He shyly said, "Yeeeess ssirr, hhhhe iis iin the hall wwith thhhe children."
With a huge smile on his face, Andy said, "Ok, how about you bring them all in here and we get some sweet rolls and milk down them to hold them over until lunch?"
The young man raced back to the hallway and grabbed a teen boy in a hug, "Bert, Mr. Gordon were tellin' us true, the Big Man hisself hugged me and held me n' tol' me ta bring you n' the guys in ta' meet him!"
Albert Taylor smiled at the love of his life and said, "I 'tol ya'!" They gathered up the children and brought them to meet Andy.
When they got to the table, there was a huge pitcher of cold milk sitting on the table next to enough glasses that every one of them would have his or her own glass and would not have to share with someone else! There was a tray filled to overflowing with sweet buns and a stack of clean cloth napkins to wipe their faces.
The children just stared at the food, wondering if they dared take a small piece. The two huge men standing there just leaned over and picked up a child, placing them on a clean chair, just for themselves. When they were all seated, the big man with the flaming red hair said, "Eat as many as you want, if we run out, there are more in the kitchen!"
Will and Albert hustled around to each child and filled the glasses with milk and placed a sweet bun on their napkin. The children looked on in wonder, they had never been allowed a whole glass of milk before and they had only seen other people eating sweet buns.
Both Andy and Gordon saw the love and care the two older boys showed towards their young charges and Gordon whispered to Andy, "Do ya' think that group cottage is big enough to hold them all?"
Andy giggled and replied, "Yeah, if two of them sleep in the same bed!" Gordon just shook his head as he laughed at his cousin. While the children all looked fairly clean, he knew that they had not bathed after his staff had done the initial medical evaluation, so he called one of his Junior Orderlies and asked her to take the children out to the Group Cottage and get them settled in and to tell them about the procedures for meals and recreation. He added, "Be sure to show them how to use the showers and where the soap and towels are kept."
SueAnn Joyner gathered up the youngsters and led them all out to an area where there were a bunch of houses. She took them to Group Cottage "Shady Lane" and led them in the door. Both Will and Al were dumbfounded when she showed the group Leader's room and it had a double bed in it! They were red faced when she told them it was their room!
The children were busy picking out their own rooms, it was two children to a room and each room had its own private shower and toilet facilities! Two six year old twin boys came rushing up to Will and Al saying breathlessly, "An annnnnn, we gots a potty jus' fer usins n' we don't gotta share wid nobodies else!"
As the children were exploring the building, there was a knock on the door and Will opened it to three young men, loaded down with new, clean clothes and shoes. They had not realized that they had all been measured by the medical people who had checked them in.
The younger boys just stared at the clothes and wondered if they were allowed to touch them. The four girls just stared, numb in fear that someone would come in and want to do nasty things that hurt them in exchange for clean clothes. The oldest girl was only twelve!
For the next hour there were wails and tears coming from all the bedrooms, including Will's and Al's room! SueAnn and her "friend" Betty Jo helped each child put their new clothing in the dressers and suggested they all take a shower before putting on their new clothes.
The children were amazed that there were no time limits for the showers and there was real hot water! Some of the boys were actually singing as they scrubbed themselves down before going to help their younger brothers!
When the children realized that their new clothing was brand new and that nobody had ever worn them before, they sat on the floor and cried.
SueAnn told everyone that she and Betty Jo would come back and take them all to lunch at twelve noon. She pointed to a clock up on the wall, before the two young women left the cottage.
The children were in overload, and both Will and Al were wondering if it was all just a dream. The two teens hugged each other and exchanged a shy kiss, something that had never been safe to do before. Their faces were wet with tears, and Al said, "Love, pinch me, I think I am dreaming!"
Some of the younger children were worn out in overloaded emotions and they were soon asleep on top of their beds. They were sure they would be punished if they crawled in under the blankets. It would be several days before the realized that there were few rules and NO violent punishment, no matter what "crime" they committed.
The young girls took a little longer to realize there would be nobody snatching them out of their bed to perform sex acts and that they could choose what clothes they were to wear, not some old man who wanted to watch them get dressed!
RESCUE PLANS
Andy was fuming angry as he watched the new children come out of their shells. Little by little, he learned their stories and it was enough to make him lay awake at night, unable to sleep. He wondered how many more children were there living in that place of horrors.
He spoke at length with Will and Al and they were unable to give him numbers beyond, "LOTS." Finally, he called back to Headquarters and asked for the Chief Pathfinder.
The Pathfinders were an elite Ranger group, composed of older boys who had trained hard to be included in the 'Finders. They were all in their late teens or early twenties and Andy knew them all well, he was a Pather himself. Pather was how they described themselves and to earn the right to call oneself, "PATHER" took years of hard work, only about half of those who tried, made the grade. It was a brutal test of will power as well as cunning, to be named, PATHER and was recognition of all the applicant's hard work. To the younger boys, a Pather sat at the right hand of God himself.
He spoke to Roy Belcher, the Chief Pathfinder, and told him what he had in mind. Roy was nearly as huge as Andy and had a frightening shock of bright yellow hair that looked much like a haystack! He also had a heavy beard that he let grow and it, also was sunshine yellow. He looked like a hardened mountain man, but Andy knew for a fact that he was kind and loving as a small kitten. Roy had married his childhood sweetheart, Melissa, and they were expecting their first child soon.
When he had described to Roy just what was going on, Andy was afraid the man would climb through the phone at him! He learned later that Roy was in such a towering rage, only Melissa could calm him down and she, herself was so angry she was trembling with the same rage as her spouse.
Sooner than he thought possible, the husband-wife pair were knocking on his door. Roy told him that there were twenty Pathfinders standing outside, waiting for orders and that Melissa would be their coordinator! Roy had absolutely forbidden her to participate in any rescues until after the baby was born.
Andy invited them all in and assigned them guest quarters for the night, he knew, beyond any doubt, that they would be gone by the next day, leaving Melissa with him. He did not know then, that she and Roy were setting up a radio in the guest room and that every Pathfinder, including her husband, Roy, was equipped with a handheld radio.
When Andy found out about the radios, he was shocked, the base radio was huge and covered a whole wall in the guest room! It was even equipped with batteries should the main electric power go out.
Each Pathfinder carried three extra sets of batteries for his own handheld radio. Batteries were a scarce item and precious, so each Pathfinder carried a small fortune in his batteries and radio.
Each Pathfinder had his own horse, and they all spent an hour each evening caring for their horse.
Two of the Pathfinders were expert farriers and could completely re-shoe a horse in less than twenty minutes! Each Pathfinder had a complete set of replacement shoes for his horse in one of his saddlebags and the supply wagon had blanks that the Farrier could make into shoes for any of the horses or mules. The Farriers' two wagons were pulled by six mules each.
The Pathfinders all carried a variety of knives and a bundle of arrows for their bows, but they also had .45 caliber pistols and plenty of ammunition for them. There were twelve .30-06 rifles in each wagon and sufficient ammunition to start a war!
They spent a week going over plans and collecting special supply items to rescue an unknown number of children and teens from the prison camp at Mount Nebo and anywhere else they discovered. Towards that end, there were six empty wagons going along, driven by volunteers from Headquarters. The volunteers were older men, who were no longer able to withstand the rigors of being a Pathfinder but refused to be retired! They all had emergency medical training and would be the Medics for the expedition.
To say the anger level was high was like telling someone that water was wet, the level of rage was near to boiling over! They had been fighting these fiends for three generations and they were damned well tired of it, it was time to make a finish of them all!
When all the plans had been gone over and every person in the party assigned a task, Roy Belcher announced that they would depart at dawn, two days hence. The wagons were loaded and everything tied down.
They would be two days out before the Pathfinders discovered their passengers, who were found by Will and Al! They had burrowed down under the supplies and hid out until they thought they were too far out to be sent back. They would not learn until later that the "Pathers" knew they were there and had expected them.
A departure supper was given the Pathfinders and their friends. Andy noticed Will and Al with their heads together at the supper, but did not think much about it. He would not know for sure until they received a radio report from Roy telling them that they had Will and Al and six teenaged boys with them. No one was truly surprised, and they wished the eight boys well.
The boys had slipped eight horses into the Ramada, thinking that nobody would notice, but Roy HAD noticed and approved of it before they ever departed on their journey! It was hard to put anything over on a Pathfinder, especially one who had been in the "rescue business" for as long as Roy had! He liked to say that he was not so old that he did not remember being a boy himself, once upon a time.
DESERT WARFARE
They took their time and it was a week before the prison fortress on Mount Nebo came into view. They bivouacked in a gorge that could not be seen from the prison and sent observers out to spy on the enemy.
Will and Al insisted on going with the observers, they argued that they had been there before and could point out things to the observers. Roy agreed and the two teens were allowed to go with the Pathfinders.
The two youngsters would become initiates into the Pathfinders that same day after they saved the life of Lonnie Richards, the Observer Leader. They hurled stones down on a scout from the prison, killing him instantly, just before he would have shot Lonnie! Lonnie's story was a little different, but nobody said anything to detract from the two boys' pride in having saved Lonnie's life!
The prison was a poorly constructed adobe structure that had wooden gates front and back. The back gate was never used, and there was no guard on it full-time. In fact, they did not appear to be even locked or bolted.
Will and Al told them that there were twenty cell blocks that could hold as many as sixty children each. The guards all lived in a barracks outside the front gate, and the Prison Governor lived in the big house some distance from the prison. It was there that he entertained bigwigs and brought children from the prison for their enjoyment.
They observed the prison for two days, carefully noting the guards' routines and when the Prison Governor made his visits. Will and Al drew a picture in the dirt of where the latrines were and the shower house that seldom had water of any kind in it and most certainly the water was never hot.
They told the Pathfinders that the cells were not actually locked, the keys had been lost long ago and the doors were held shut with pieces of chain and a bolt that could not be reached from inside the cell.
On the third day, they made the decision to raid the prison the next morning, just before daybreak. The guards that worked the dayshift would still be asleep and the nightshift guards would be groggy and ready for their own beds.
There were only the two shifts of guards who worked a twelve-hour shift, and they all appeared to be dirty and slovenly dregs from the low corners of Salt Lake City, where their kind had their Capitol and government center. They neither made perimeter inspections nor did they check the prisoners' cells.
Will and Al were wound up as tight as clock springs. Roy had told them that they would be coming along with the raiding party! It was hard for them to get to sleep that night, but they both had friends who were still locked up in that awful place, and they were determined to "bust them out"!
They were sound asleep when Roy came around to rouse them, but they jumped up and slipped into their clothing as all the other Pathfinders were doing the same. They already thought of themselves as Pathfinders and they were going to prove to Mr. Roy that they were Pathfinder material!
The Pathfinders slipped up to the back gate and quietly lifted the hinge pins out and drew the gates back, leaving a wide opening for their escape. Four Pathfinders remained behind and were to bring the wagons up to the rear gate as soon as they heard the ruckus inside the prison.
The Pathfinders' horses were trained to wait, where their reins had been dropped, so there would be rides away from the scene as soon as they had released the prisoners.
They crept into the prison and bound and gagged the guards as they came upon them. Two of the guards were just teenage boys who pleaded and begged to go away with the raiders. Both Will and Al agreed that those two boys had never done anything to hurt the prisoners and had never abused any prisoner sexually.
The raid went off as planned, and, fortunately, the prison was not full. There were less than six hundred children being held in the cells. Roy figured that by stuffing all the wagons chock full of children, nobody would have to walk, even if it meant that the smaller children would have to ride in the laps of their older comrades.
He had Will and Al do the opening of the cells while most of the Pathfinders were disposing of the guards. They would reserve time at the very end to hang the Prison Governor!
Most of the prisoners recognized Will and Al, especially after they told them, "See, we promised we would come back fer ya' and here we are an' we bringed the Rescue Pathfinders ta' sprang ya'!"
Some of the smallest children had to be carried, either from weakness or injuries; Roy could not tell in the gloom of the prison. By the time they would make the first night out, he would be so angry, he could crunch rocks and spit sand!
The Pathfinders tied up all the guards, except for the two boys they were going to take with them and sat them along the front wall of the prison, where they had a good view of a huge desert oak growing near the only spring in the area.
They didn't wonder long why they were put there; Roy and six Pathfinders goose marched a huge fat man, wearing only his underwear and barefoot, up the path from the big house. The Pathfinders did not say a word, although the fat man was screaming dire threats at them about what he would do as soon as he got loose.
The fat man's eyes got huge when Roy tossed a rope over a limb of the oak tree and fashioned a noose at one end. The fat man gurgled and screamed as they fitted that noose around his neck and his screaming did not end until Roy's horse pulled the rope up short, with the man's feet dangling four feet off the ground! His cries suddenly gurgled off and there was silence.
Roy tied the rope off on another limb and watched the fat man until his face turned purple and he ceased struggling. Roy was the only Pathfinder who spoke or even made a sound, he turned to the guards and said, "If you can get free of your ropes, you may go free; otherwise, the coyotes will come for you soon."
The whole Pathfinder force led their horses around to the rear of the prison and checked on the children in the wagons before the party rode slowly westward, towards the AzMex border station at Ely. It would be a week before they finally got back to Robinson Ranch!
FREEDOM
It was a slow trip back to their home, and the wagons were overloaded with children. Some of the older boys offered to walk but there were enough spare horses for a few of them to ride and the rest hitched a ride in the supply and Farrier wagons.
The food supply wagons emptied quickly, and children were riding in the empty space almost as soon as the cooks retrieved the food to prepare a meal. There was no shortage of food, however, and by the time they reached the hospital at Robinson Ranch, as Greer was called now, came into sight, the shrunken tummies on the little guys had begun to fill in and they no longer whimpered in hunger at night.
Despite their injuries, the tales that Will and Al had told them each night before they went to sleep had raised their excitement level to "FRANTIC" as they entered the grounds of Robinson Ranch! The older boys and a few of the more bold girls jumped from the wagons they were riding in and ran for the front door of the hospital.
Everyone had been warned by radio, and there was a crowd of children waiting for them. It was well known that the rescued children would be leery of any adult at first.
The front yard and lobby of the Hospital was filled with laughing and crying children and teens of both sexes. The Pathfinders dismounted and, suddenly, they were covered with hanging children, like Christmas Tree ornaments!
The Pathfinders did not mind; they had cuddled and held those same children every night since they had rescued them, calming their fears and even singing them to sleep. That most of them sang like bullfrogs made little difference.
The hospital had called in every person available to assist in processing the new children. The final count was five hundred and eighty-six children ranging from late teens to less than three years old!
The Pathfinders smiled and grinned at each child, laughing with them to raise their spirits, while inside, their souls were cringing and surging, pouring bile into their stomachs. They were beyond anger and many were into hate against those who had done this terrible crime against all humanity!
They had not allowed the children to see their anger however and whenever a Pathfinder had run out of sight, his fellow Pathers knew he was screaming inside and he had to hide it from the children. The small children thought there were howling coyotes around, but the teens knew and loved the Pathfinders even more.
That there were no girl Pathfinders concerned Roy, and he was determined that there would be a Platoon of Girl Pathfinders just as soon as he got the chance. In less than a month, there were forty girls training and working out to become Pathfinders, they did not feel they were in competition with the men, but they were determined that they would be their equals!
It would take two weeks to process all the new children, some of them were so severely injured that it took several surgeries just to save their lives.
Two youngsters had been blinded, and the doctors were in tears that they could do nothing to restore their sight. The two were brothers and they had an older brother who insisted on tending their every need. The three Peterson Brothers were seen all over the facility, with Gary Peterson leading the other two.
The two blind brothers were independent youngsters, and they were eventually able to wander the compound on their own. Everyone who saw them made sure they were not wandering into trouble, but they almost never did. Somehow, they always knew where they were and how to get back to where they had been!
All three of the brothers were handsome young men, and the oldest, Gary, finally admitted he was gay. He could not understand that no one was angered and, in fact, he soon found himself with a boyfriend! His two younger brothers, Zeke and Caleb did not lose a brother, they gained another big brother to help them out, and all four of them formed a tight-knit family group that lasted even past the time that Caleb and Zeke discovered girls.
Fortunately, neither Caleb nor Zeke could see the red faces on their two older brothers when the blinded boys would walk into the two older boys' bedroom and want to talk!
The time was coming that there would be a showdown between the Robinsons and the hated Elders of Salt Lake City. Roy and his Pathfinders were determined that The Robinsons and all their children were not going to come out second best.
TBC
While warfare was against all the Pathfinders believed in, Roy was going to make sure that the hated Elders would be fortunate if they escaped with their skin still intact!