The Long Road Home

Chapter Forty

'Page!' Kidd's panicked call woke her instantly from sleep. She rolled to the right and the baseball bat slammed into the ground where her head had been. She wanted to curse as she struggled to get free from her sleeping bag. The bat again came for her head and she again was able to dodge it. Page slipped free and was able to get to her feet. She grabbed a log they had for the fire and flung it as hard as she could at Mark. The heavy hunk of wood slammed into his chest and he let out a surprised sound as all the air was forced from his lungs. A quick glance around, and she knew what had happened.

Mark's two friends were on Connor. One was pinning him down as the other worked to tie the struggling man's hands with paracord. Kidd was off to the side laying very still. Dogg was at his head whimpering and licking the unresponsive boys face. Rage Page had only felt one other time in her life, flowed through her at the sight of the still child. She snatched up the bat Mark had dropped and yelled out her rage as she swung the bat at the man. It connected with his upper right arm and he let out a howl of pain. As he tried to run, she got him again in the back and he fell. She did not wait to see if he would get up again. Page turned her rage onto the two men on Connor.

Seeing her coming, the men forgot Connor and tried to get up. Connor however grabbed onto them and tripped them up. The bat connected with one's head as he was falling forward. He hit the pavement and did not move again. Page jabbed as hard as she could driving the head of the bat into the second man's stomach, before cracking him on the head too. Once she made sure Mark was still down, she went to Kidd dropping the bat. Dogg moved aside as she knelt beside the child. Page pulled her knife and with a great deal of care, she cut the ropes on his hands and feet. As soon as the boy was free, she gathered him into her arms and held him close.

'Kidd,' she whispered worried when she saw blood in his hair. 'Come on boy, stop scaring me.' Page stroked his cheek as the boy let out a weak grown. 'That's my strong boy. Open your eyes for me little man. Show me you're okay.' The child's eyes flicked open and Page let out a sigh of relief.

'Page.' Connor said joining her. He had Kidd's backpack in his hands. She nodded and he opened it pulling out the ton of first aid supplies she kept it stocked with.

'My head hurts.' Kidd muttered

'Well boy,' Connor teased gently. 'That is what happens when you head-butt someone.' Page frowned confused and Connor chuckled. 'When Kidd yelled to wake you, that blond fella grabbed him. Kidd couldn't use his hands to fight, so he head butted the guy. Poor Kidd knocked himself out cold.' Page shook her head and smiled down to the blushing boy.

'Now that's using your head.' She teased. He giggled and then winced rubbing his head.

'Easy boy.' Conner said 'You have a nasty gash there.' As the man went to work, he said to Page, 'You should tie those three up before they recover enough to try again.'

The last thing she wanted to do was let the boy out of her arms, but Connor was right. Page eased Kidd down and went to her cart. She broke into the stash of handcuffs she had found. The cuffs would cut into the wrist after a long period of use. After what these three had tried however, she did not care about their discomfort.

The two men she had gotten with the bat were both still. Mark was still awake, but on the ground groaning in pain and clutching his ribs. With no care of his pain, she grabbed him forcing him onto his stomach before jerking his arm around. She put the cuff on his left wrist first, followed by the right. Page tied his feet next ignoring his curses. As she headed for the other two, Mark snarled.

'You're lucky that brat woke you up bitch.' He said moving onto his side. 'I will tell everyone that your one of those freaks.' Page made a b line to her cart and pulled out a roll of duct tape. She went back to Mark and taped his mouth shut effectively shutting him up. After tossing the tape back into her cart, she went to check on the two fallen men. Both were still unconscious. After handcuffing them, she checked over their wounds.