Chapter 5

They had heard the firing but weren't ready for our two-pronged attack. Their positions were good against George but not against us. We began to pick them off as George's party kept them down. When they turned to respond to us, they exposed themselves to George's people. We had cornered three and they stopped. They dropped their rifles and lifted their hands in surrender. Their own people quickly mowed them down. Then, the fight became more between the Missioners as some wanted to surrender and some tried to stop them. Robby and I snuck close taking out any who got in our way. We cornered some more who surrendered and weren't where their fellows could shoot them. We pulled them down and hogtied them. We continued to slowly move on the main house and the building beside it.

We were closing on the main house and adjacent building when that building exploded. Internal firing was going on in the main house. We rescued four women from the building plus two who were so badly burned that they died moments later. The fight was over but the main house hadn't been taken.

George had a bullhorn and said, "You Missioners in the main house, listen to me! This is your one and only chance to surrender! You can come out now or stay in there and die! You are surrounded and have thirty seconds to give up."

We were close to George when the ground erupted behind him. He and his men went flat, stunned. Robby and I started firing as soon as we saw people coming from the smoking hole. We didn't ask anyone to give up and gave them no chance. I could see most of George's guys move painfully as we advanced toward the hole. The rest of our party stayed in position at Robby's command. They were attacked moments later from the front door. Neither worked and we cleared every Missioner from the fight. Robby had an explosive that he lit and threw into the hole ending the fight there. George and his people were back on their feet and able to care for themselves. Only one couple that was closest to the blast didn't move but lay limply.

Suddenly, a large man charged out the door shooting a pistol at us. He was cut down with multiple shots. After that, a white flag was waved from the doorway.

I took George's bullhorn since he wasn't really in good shape yet. I said, "Come out with no guns, your hands raised. Try anything and you will die. If you don't surrender, you will be exterminated like the vermin you are. Do it now!"

The flag dropped to the ground outside the door. A man slowly appeared with his hands raised as instructed. Six came out and were directed to our lines and tied. I asked the first one, "How many are left?"

He looked at me in shock but said, "There's two or three left."

"Any women in there?" He shook his head. I looked over at Robby. "Robby, can you fire the house? We'll wait for the rats. There's no profit in going in after them."

He nodded and carefully moved close to the house. He did something and then skittered away. Moments later, the house's side where he had been had a small explosion. A fire began to lick the side of it. The fire spread quickly. A few minutes later, a man ran screaming from the front entrance and was immediately shot dead. A few minutes later, two men charged out of a side door and also died in a hale of bullets.

There were still two northern groups left but, for all practical purposes, the fight was over. The Missioners were finished and the reign of terror was over. George split his group in two and each one went after one of the remaining groups. Those groups surrendered. It was time to clean up from the fight.

The two of our people closest to the explosion were dead from the blast.

We took stock of our losses. We lost three killed and one wounded from the Lavacans. The new group lost two. We had thirty-six new prisoners from the two surrendering groups and the few who surrendered from the main house. We also had Todd and Travis of the broken finger along with their two fellows. We had four women from the building adjacent to the main house that we had retrieved from it before the fire from the explosion wiped the rest out. They were walking by our prisoners when one of the women cried out, "Todd, you're alive!"

She rushed over to Todd and was hugging him. I went over and said, "Miss, do you know this man?"

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "He was part of our group until the Missioners captured us. I was brought to the women's building and I didn't know what happened to Todd and the rest. I have been holding on hoping that something would happen to free me and that Todd would be around."

I reached down and cut Todd's ropes. I said, "You must be Lois." She nodded rapidly. I continued, "Todd, I'm releasing you but I want you two to stick around. We will talk later."

They both nodded but only really had eyes for each other.

At that time, George's wife drove Bennie and Pam up to our location. The three of them hugged spouses. The four of us were standing together. Pam said, "We did it. We helped the Lavacans help themselves get rid of a threat and to free others from tyranny. It makes for a good day." The four of us hugged. Then, it was time to help the Lavacans consolidate their victory.

Robby said, "We're going to have to get the Lavacans back on track. The threat from the Missioners needs to be resolved. A few more may have to die. We have to make sure that Nolan and his sub-leaders are gone. The rest may have some salvageable guys like Todd but I'm not hopeful."

I said, "Why don't we let the female survivors help guide us. That's worked before. They suffered from Nolan and his leadership group."

We went to George with that suggestion. He asked, "What about the ones they reject?"

I said, "George, many years ago, I was a victim and forced into sex. I escaped and was recaptured before being finally rescued. Rapists are put to death.

"That leaves a second group. There will be some that the women don't know and they should be questioned. At that point, you're looking at future members, exiles, and those to be executed. Pam and I have participated in those sessions and both of us are good at getting into men's minds. Personally, I don't like exile. Those people considered too bad for becoming a member of society might become a threat if given the chance ... I was taught not to inflict bad people on others or allow them to become a problem to my society."

George said, "That's a tough point of view but we're in tough times. We'll do it your way. Will the four of you handle things up to executions?"

"We'll oversee things." Pam said. "However, your people have to participate. That's part of finishing with this type of people." George nodded. His people helped and took part in the questioning. This became even more true after the treatment of the women by Missioners came to light from the four women rescued. Lois was particularly vocal about the terrible and terrifying treatment women received at the hands of Nolan and his henchmen.

After questioning, the few who survived from the main house plus the sub-group leaders were all marked for execution. The four women survivors from the destroyed building were quite graphic in the ways they and the other women were treated. Nolan, who was killed when he tried to charge us, was a true sadist and many of the men who stayed in the main house had embraced his ways.

None of the other women had a man who survived. One woman described the torture of her husband after he was forced to watch her being repeatedly raped. She was made to watch his slow, agonizing death. Some Lavacans were sickened by this revelation of the depths to which the Missioners sank during their reign. One of those made physically ill was one of the Lavacans who had originally spoken against executing anyone.