Page 13

13

LOURDES

‘Styx’

What the hell is wrong with people today? This last call has all of us feeling useless. The call was to a rather large property on the outskirts of town. As soon as we drove down the bumpy long-ass driveway, we could see this was going to be a battle. A beautiful house with outbuildings surrounded by dead trees and branches. Not to mention all the leaves on the ground from fall are in piles all over this land. Then once we get off of our trucks, we hear the sounds of God knows how many dogs barking, howling, and crying. I looked to Danny, who is already taking off to the back buildings. Grabbing a Halligan bar and fire axe, I go after him to have his back. Well, until I almost plow into Coma, who’s standing right in front of me.

“Move your ass now. Danny needs backup so either come with or get out of the way, we don’t have time for one of your ‘conversations,’ Coma. Come on, dude, move now.”

For a quick minute didn’t think he’d listen but then he slightly shifts and I take off, hearing him behind me. When we pass the house and see what Danny’s battling, my heart almost stops. Paco’s handling a hose to try and fight the flames down around the buildings. Danny runs up to the both of us.

“Buildings are full of animals, not sure what kind. Get the doors and windows open and, if possible, free the animals. Don’t show fear because they are all highly agitated already. I let Chief know we need him to send more people to help. Let’s go before those fires around the buildings catch and we have a major disaster. Only good thing we have on our side is these buildings are pole barns so made outta metal. Though it’s gonna get hotter than hell quickly.”

Danny turns and runs right up to the largest building and touches it to feel for heat. Then he grabs bolt cutters and fights to get the padlock off. Once it’s gone, right before I make my way past that building, I hear so many animals moving to get out of the building. Till and one of the paramedics are trying to keep it tight, so once the animals are away from the fire they can be herded to a safer paddock. Keeping my eyes on the smaller gray building, when I get there I feel the door, it’s cool. When I reach for the bolt cutters one of the guys handed to me, someone beats me to them and pulls them out of my pocket. I know who it is before I turn around, but I do it anyway to see the huge smirk on Coma’s face. What a total asshole, I think to myself.

Surprisingly, he gently shifts me to the side then cuts the two locks off. He slowly opens the door and to our utter surprise this building has dogs, goats, and holy mother of God, three little kids covered in either human or animal feces stumble out of the building. Immediately I call it in, requesting EMT assistance. Coma has one kid under each arm so I go to pick up the last one, though when I put my hands on the child’s shoulders it actually sounds like it growls or hisses at me. Its tiny bony body jerks away from me and turns around. My breath catches in my chest as I look down into the battered and bruised face of a little girl. The terror on her face breaks my heart but, unfortunately, we don’t have time so I get down and kneel on the ground in front of her.

“Sweetie, I didn’t mean to scare you but we need to get you somewhere safe. Can you walk? Or do you want me to pick you up?”

The odor coming off this poor child tells me these children have lived in this filth for quite a while and have been severely abused and starved by how skeletal they all look. She’s looking at me then back at the building. Finally, she wipes her face with her dirty little arm.

“I can’t leave, have to get them out.”

My head jerks to the building but don’t see anything human or animal through the smoke.

“Who, sweetie?”

Suddenly, I hear Rome’s whistle, which tells me we got some major issues going on in that smaller building. Just then the EMTs arrive and take over the little girl, who as soon as she sees them runs toward me, grabbing on to my legs. Julie and Mike, the two EMTs, give me a look and I hold up a finger.

“Sweetie, what’s your name? I’m Lourdes or you can call me Styx.”

Her little eyebrows shoot up.

“Styx, like what falls off a tree?”

“One day I’ll tell you the story but for now, your name.”

“They call me the Little Crazy Bitch. But before here, when we lived at home, my name was Ellie, though if they find out I told you, I’m going to get the switch.”

My eyes meet Julie and she shakes her head, eyes watering up. Leaning down, I gently touch Ellie’s shoulders, my eyes never leaving hers.

“Well, Ellie, meet Julie and Mike. They will take care of you and I’ll be back. What else do I need to get out of that building?”

“My two younger sisters. And the fourteen puppies that Squeaky had and the six barn cats. Oh, and our three baby pigs and two, no, three baby goats.”

Her eyes are huge, with so much in them I can’t stand it. I lean down and kiss her forehead, praying I don’t get anything, and then turn and head into the dark building. I yell for Rome, who calls me farther into the building. It’s bigger than I thought and from the smells hitting me, even after using my Vicks nasal inhaler, it’s beyond horrible. I can’t grasp what it is until, holy shit! Rome is in a guess you’d call it a pen or stall, and in the far corner are two younger girls hanging on to each other for dear life. And all around them are puppies, pigs, a ragged cat with kittens, and three baby goats. What a fucking zoo , I think to myself as I reach for my radio.

“Chief, going to need the Humane Society out here. This building alone has more than I’d say twenty to twenty-five animals in deplorable conditions. Also need more EMTs, found two tender-age females. They need to be checked out.”

“Copy, Styx, on it. Will you stay with the girls or continue checking the other buildings?”

I look to Rome, who is having a real hard time with the girls. Well shit, I know he has nieces and nephews so this could be hitting close to home, not sure why he’s reacting like he is.

“Yeah, Chief, I’ll hang around until the backup shows. Then I’ll catch up to the rest of our company. Just a warning, Chief, it’s bad and I mean really bad. Might want to contact some children’s advocates and counselors. From the little I just heard from Ellie; this isn’t her home. They were brought here, all the kids, and I think she might have seen whoever was running this place kill her parents. They’ve been here a while.”

“Thank, Styx, I’ll get the probie to make those calls. Reach out if you need anything. Chief out.”

Before I can reply he is gone. I’d hate to have his job today. What a fucking clusterfuck. I give Rome a chin lift which he returns, mouthing to me “Thanks, Styx.” He turns to the girls and tells them that Auntie Styx will stay with them so he can go find the rest of the kids. My eyes pop open widely. What does he mean, the rest of the kids? I ask him that exact question when he walks by. He puts his head toward my ear to try and whisper.

“They told me that there are more children in the farther buildings. Those ‘houses’ are for the kids who misbehave, so I’ll go take a look. Styx, who the fuck does this to children? I mean, I know how Danny gets when it’s the animals, but for Christ’s sake, these are human beings. I don’t think either of those girls have had a good cleaning in only God knows how long. Okay, let me get my ass moving. Be careful, keep your eyes peeled. I don’t need that mega-millionaire of yours chewing my ass out today.”

Again, before I can say a word, he’s gone. So I walk slowly to the girls then plop my ass down. Immediately, I have puppies galore walking, running, and pissing all over me. One of the little girls crawls my way and gets on my lap. There’s nothing to her.

“Are you going to be our new mommy? Grammy said they’d had enough of us and our new Mommy and Daddy would come and get us, so we have to be good. She said if we did exactly what she told us to do today, later she’d set up the doggy pool and let us have a bubble bath. Sounds fun, don’t it?”

My heart is not only heavy but slowly breaking. Who in their right mind not only steals children but then, I’m just assuming, sells them to people who either want children and they don’t want to go through the legal adoption process, or fuck, don’t want to go down the other path, but sick motherfuckers who buy kids for their own evil intentions. My mind is flipping through so many scenarios that when the other little one climbs onto my lap, I just open my arms wider. I ask them their names and I’m told their names here are Stinky Bitch and Cry Baby Bitch. Then just like Ellie, they give me what I’m guessing are their given names: Wren and Lottie. Little Lottie tells me they have an older sister, Ellie, and two brothers, but haven’t seen the two boys in a while.

I’m not sure how long we sit on the feces-covered stall with little to no hay. I learn they have been sleeping out there with the baby animals. Wren, embarrassed as hell, answers my question on how they go potty. The two girls had dug a hole all the way in the back and each time they had to potty, they go to the hole and put a light dusting of dirt on top. They ran out of the, I guess, Wet Ones Grammy gave them and they didn’t know how long they’d been in the building. Once or twice a day, if the old bat remembers, she brings them clean water, bread, cheese, and one piece of fruit for each of them. There have been times when she didn’t show and they would share some of the leftover kitten kibble. What a fucking shitshow. One thing I know for sure is, if Grammy shows up, I’m going to kill her with my bare hands.

By the time the EMTs make their way back here, the girls are clinging to me. Slowly I tell them they are safe and I’ll see them soon. Holding hands and tearing my heart out they cautiously walk out of the building, shielding their eyes from the sun. I didn’t realize inside how pale they truly are. Once they are being assessed by the EMTs, I walk to the rest of the buildings. Each one already has either a firefighter or police officer there, along with paramedics and other medical staff. I’m thinking Chief called in the troops by the mass of folks here to help. As I’m walking toward the back of the property, I hear a familiar voice, which shocks me. Lil Man and, holy shit, Jeremiah walk out of a side building both filthy, almost as bad as the girls. When they see me, they share a look that has the hair on the back of my neck standing up but move toward me. Jeremiah comes to hug me, but I put both hands up.

“No, you don’t want to do that. I’ve just spent I don’t know how long sitting my ass in human and animal shit. I feel beyond grubby. What are you doing here anyway? Who called you? I told you, I don’t need a babysitter, Jeremiah.”

Pulling me close like I didn’t say a word, his arms wrap around me and just hold me. Nope, he’s actually hanging on to me like something freaked him out. It takes me a few seconds to feel the tremors going through his body.

“My God, Lourdes, who does this kind of shit? And to kids? Motherfuckers, I’ll bury them. They need to feel how these kids have felt. Oh shit, Lil Man and I found a shallow grave behind that rusty as fuck building. No idea but there were the remains of two adults in there.”

As the three of us continue to hash out all this shit, my mind is swinging back and forth. How could no one know what was going on? With the way society has been lately, everyone is either afraid or just doesn’t give a damn about anyone but themselves anymore. There’s going to be some deep digging going on with this one. Once all the outbuildings have been gone through, Jeremiah, Danny, Lil Man, and I head toward the area around the house, just as we see headlights from an old truck trying to get through. When they can’t go any farther, two women jump out; one older, one about my age. It’s like they don’t see the massive number of first responders on their property because I’m assuming the old one is “Grammy.” It takes everything in me not to jump the ugly, old, wrinkled bitch. And those thoughts shock me because that’s not me, but I’ve just had to try and calm down three girls who were freaking out. As soon as I can, going to make my way to the hospital to check on Ellie, Wren, and Lottie. They begged me and that was the only way to get them in the ambulance. The younger girl with Grammy started to chase the ambulance, screaming that we can’t take the girls, they are spoken for. That has everyone standing around, heads jerking to that comment. Yeah, this is some shady-ass shit and it sounds like some form of human trafficking. Damn, this is truly going to fuck with my head. Like I need more stuff up there.