Free Kill Them Wherever You Find Them by David Hunter Page A

wife beamed with pride as their newest
boarder nearly breathed in her cooking.
    "Yes ma'am, I surely am. This here's been a
mighty long journey without my horse. 'Fraid I had to put her down
'n have been on foot ever since."
    "Sorry to hear that son, where are ya'll
headed to?"
    "Richmond, ma'am."
    "Well that's one long trip ahead. There's a
stable down the road where ya'll can rent yurself a fine horse,
reasonable rates."
    After finishing his food, having accepted a
second helping, she showed him to his room. Two flights up
well-worn stairs that creaked with each step, Jeff was eager to get
some rest. "Much obliged ma'am."
    "Breakfast is served at seven sharp. We have
a full house, so ya'll had best be getting down on time!"
    As Jeff closed his eyes he mentally reviewed
the layout of the hotel and the street leading to it. He could hear
muted conversation coming from the room across the hall mixed with
muted snoring from the room opposite the wall where his bed was
located.
    Sleep descended with ease despite the
astonishing fact that history wasn't only being made, but remade as
well. He could scarce believe his role.
    Shouting, screaming, gruff voices of men
yelling harsh commands in the hallway awoke Jeff with a start.
Pulling on his pants and shirt he opened the door cautiously. He
partially opened the door to survey the hallway, chaotic with
people moving in every direction. Somebody kicked his door open -
knocking him to the ground.
    Two large men also dressed in Confederate
uniforms grabbed Jeff by both arms, lifting him to his feet.
Roughly pushing him out to the hallway, he just barely maintained
his footing.
    This seemed to be some kind of a raid, which
didn't make sense. As he stumbled into the hallway, still trying to
gain solid footing, he saw another soldier push a woman face-first
into a wall. Breaking free from the two men securing him Jeff made
a move to protect this woman - placing himself between her and the
soldier strong-arming her.
    An excellent fighter, Jeff could easily have
taken this animal. Seconds into the fight though, the other two
soldiers came to the aid of their comrade significantly tipping the
balance of power. Delivering and receiving several well-landed
blows Jeff heard an explosion a millisecond before he experienced a
searing pain tear through one of his legs, followed by the
sensation of warmth running down the inner thigh.
    Lightheaded, he realized that he was rapidly
losing consciousness as he slumped to the floor, completely unable
to help the woman who was hauled away in what appeared to be thick
iron shackles. No longer able to help her he found that he was
equally incapable of helping himself as he lost mastery over his
own thoughts. Before completely passing out he felt hands slip in
under his armpits, raising him slightly to be dragged down the
stairs, heels of his feet bumping with each stair descended,
matching the descent of awareness into a blissful void.
    ~ ~ ~
    The warm noonday sun and cool breeze play on
my face and exposed arms. The Spring air nearly vibrates with
honeybees and the flitting wings of shimmering white cabbage
butterflies in this glorious and expansive lawn filled with
flowering clover and radiant dandelions. It could be more
accurately defined as an expansive field of clover and dandelions,
interspersed with blades of grass.
    Nearby is the considerably smaller blacktop
for hop-scotch and a single basketball hoop, enjoyed daily by the
girls and boys in higher grades than mine – absolutely forbidden to
we who dwell in the lower realm of kindergarten.
    I'm lazily content watching the bees,
children playing, and billowing structures of cotton candy filling
the sky. Hearing the occasional sound of cars on the bordering
street I'm reminded that this piece of heaven, wondrous and magical
as it may be, is of this world.
    A sister who is one year older than I is
somewhere in the building, the eldest in a far away school which
I'll one day know as my own. Whatever