1
“Are you guys ready to go?”
Marshal and Jimmy nodded their heads. It had been several hours since the last sound had come from the house. Billy wanted to make sure that they were asleep, but he was also feeling more and more like he wanted to turn around. It wasn’t going to end well no matter what happened, and there was still the issue of the kid. He didn’t want the boy to get into the middle of all of that kind of bloodshed. He was his own boy's best friend. It was the inevitable though, and Billy knew that if they went in that house, there would be consequences. He didn’t know what kind they would be, but knew that either way, they wouldn’t be good.
They were there for all of the right reasons, but despite the pact he had made so long ago to avenge his friend’s death, he had to admit that there was more to the story. Jessa had defended herself against Chase. He knew that she had a reason and had been more than likely defending herself, but he couldn’t just let it go. Even if he physically could, the people he had rallied around him were not going to let it happen. Marshal and Jimmy were part of the reason that he was outside of the damaged home in the woods.
Billy reminded himself that it had to be done and looked at the two eager faces looking back at him. He could see the gleam in their eyes and he knew that they were beyond the point of calling it off. They were there for their own reasons, and Billy’s mind went to the sounds that had made the men even lustier than before.
“Let’s do this. Marshal and Jimmy, go through the back. I'm going to go through the front.” Billy moved towards the door while the other two slunk around to the back of the small cottage. The man’s heart was beating hard in his chest and he wished that he had never gone away from his woman and child. But he was there and he had to make it work somehow. There had to be revenge, no matter how ugly it might get.
The door was locked when he got to it and his hands went to his jean pockets to find his knife. The night was so quiet that he could hear the sound of the metal pieces jingling in his pocket. Everything seemed amplified and he stopped where he stood when he thought he heard something.
There was a loud bang from behind the house and then the sound of fighting. He heard his friend Jimmy scream and then there was an eerie silence. Billy was frozen in place. He should have gone ahead to see what was going on, but there was a cold fear that ran through him. Billy needed to get out of there. Fast. He was terrified about going into that house, and his worst fears were confirmed when he heard another scream that wasn’t Marshal or Jimmy. Something may have happened to the child, and he was to blame. Not only that, but he knew what Jessa could do and didn’t want to be around when she found out that he had orchestrated the attack.
Billy ran. He was ashamed of himself for doing it, but all he could think about was saving himself. He didn’t know if his friends were alive or dead, but he was not going to be a casualty. That was all that he knew.
His chest was tight and there were sharp pains in his side because he had been running for so long. Billy held his breath for a moment, trying to tell if he had been followed or not, but it was simply impossible over the slamming of his heart in his chest. He had narrowly escaped the bloodshed, but knew that he had to get some distance between the house and himself. If what he thought happened had happened, there was no way that he wanted to cross paths with them again.
He looked back one last time at the cottage in the distance and he could hear yelling and see people scrambling over the yard. There was no joy in the painful wails that he heard. There was nothing but fear in his heart and he could have sworn that there was someone that stopped in the yard and was looking his way. Billy tried to assure himself that he was just being paranoid, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Jessa knew it was all his fault. And if she didn’t yet, she would know soon enough, she would be coming for him. That was one thing that Billy was sure about.
***
Chaos was the only way that Jessa could describe what was going on around her. She had heard Michael shouting and then he was scuffling with someone. She had barely registered the intruder when another man jumped him from behind. Milo was smacked down twice as he tried his best to stop the dark-haired man who was smashing Mike in the face. Michael was strong and virile, but there were two men on him at once and he just couldn’t physically overpower them.
Jessa called out to him, afraid for his life. When the attacker looked over at her, she instantly knew who they were and why they were there. Billy’s cronies were there because of what she had done at the settlement. Her cry had pulled Michael’s attention as well. When his attention was taken away from the fight, Mike was hit from behind with something large. She heard a sickening thud and Michael fell to the ground. Her heart hammered in her chest, unsure of how badly hurt he might be. Jessa tried to get to him and quickly found herself in her own tussle.
Before she was able to get a handle on the situation, Shane came out of his room, sleepy and confused. She was powerless as Marshal lifted her son and grinned down at her with his prize. She was completely helpless as he sneered at her.“Now what are you going to do Jessa?”
She ordered him to put down her son, but the man just dangled him in front of her. It soon wouldn’t make a difference, and she was relieved to see that Michael had defeated his attacker and was making his way toward Marshal, who was whipping the boy around as if he were just a rag doll.. When he saw Michael, Marshal pushed the small boy to the side and Jessa watched in horror as her son’s head hit the hard wooden beam on the side of the room and crumpled to the ground. She didn’t remember much after that, and Milo and Mike watched in awe as she blacked out in fury, her body taking over to finish the job. She didn’t stop until neither one of the intruders were breathing. Michael had to hold her back from during further damage to the bodies. She was out of it and ended up hitting him in the chest as tears ran down her face. She was mad at him, mad at herself.
Going back to her son, she tried to revive him, but he wasn’t responding. Jessa was heartbroken and so consumed with fear and rage that she didn’t even notice that her head was bleeding. She didn’t know how any of this had happened, but she was angry at the world. “Go out there and make sure there isn’t any more of them. I want them all dead.”
Michael looked at her strangely and then did as she asked. Cradling her son in her arms, she laid him out on the bed. He was still breathing, but his breaths were shaky and shallow, and it seemed like she was on the brink of losing him. There were no hospitals to go to and she didn’t even have any herbs, though she knew that they wouldn’t have helped anyway. It wasn’t a cut or cold that he had, but a head wound. There was a lump on the back of his head and she cursed the men who were responsible. She knew that Billy was behind it.
The men came back in from outside and she could tell there was no one else out there. Michael grabbed the arms of one of the guys on the floor and Milo grabbed his legs. They struggled to get him out of the house while Jessa just looked on in a daze. She felt like she wasn’t actually there, just watching everything happen slowly around her from above herself. Her son still hadn’t moved and Jessa knew that it was going to take some time for him to wake up.. If he ever would.
She was torn between the need to get her revenge and her need to stay and wait for Shane to get better. Michael had seen someone in the distance, but the next minute they were gone and he couldn’t be sure. Jessa knew in her gut that it was Billy.
“I want you to go find him, Michael. Find him and end him. It’s Billy. I know it is and he doesn’t get to live.”
Michael was shocked and looked into her eyes, hoping there was a little give in them, but there wasn’t. He didn’t want to leave her alone. They were still close to the city and though she had been fine on her own before him. It didn’t make it any easier to think about leaving her alone with a hurt child. “Do you really want me to go now?”
She nodded without a second thought and he swallowed hard. “At least let Milo stay here with you. I don’t want something to happen.”
“I’m fine. You guys need to go. The sooner you take off the quicker you will be back.”
There was nothing left to argue about and Michael found himself getting used to the idea. He knew that if he didn’t go, she would. He didn’t want to put her in that position, though she had no problem putting him in a tight spot. All it took was a look down at the boy for him to realize that he had to do it. People like Billy and his friends had to be stopped or they would just do it again to someone else. There were no police anymore, so it was men like him that had to make a stand or the country was never going to come back.
“If that's what you want Jessa. But I hate to leave you like this. You’re hurt and Milo is cut.”
“I will bandage him up before you go. Why don’t you go see if you can find anything for your trip while I take care of Milo?”
Michael nodded dumbly. He was getting used to how demanding she could be. When things got hard, Jessa just took over, and he had no choice but to let her. Going against her wasn’t a viable option. It hadn’t done any good in the past and it wouldn’t do any good now either..
“Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”