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Doug Simpson (The Duke) had drug his men away from their fort which was a beached barge 15 miles up river from Arlington and headed for the town for fun and plunder both of which he had to give his men on occasion or have them turn on them. Thirty-three years old he’d been a teen and bully when it had all gone to hell.

He’d been lucky and found safety in the town of Ayer which had been only a subdivision before the fall of man. It was a small community and easy for his mentor and former boss Harry Lysander to take control of forcing the weak into slavery to the gang’s whims.

It had lasted for about 4 years till there had been a power struggle between himself and ole Harry but during their infighting they had somehow managed to burn it all down and scatter the slaves they had held sway over. 

Forced from their comfort he gathered up the few men left who’d listen to him and hunted down anyone near his base taking what he wanted and even recruiting from the survivors till he had a pack of bloodthirsty dogs who’d kill or torture anyone their master told them to.

The dead had made his profession as a bandit raider like a wolf hunting in a sandy desert and several times he and his men had nearly starved and he’d been forced to eat their horses but they were still alive and hungry.  

Two months ago they’d caught an old man and were about to kill him when he told them of how he’d come across a town that was fat and happy 25 miles down river so he’d sent some of the boys to check it out.

They’d come back with fresh women and goods as proof of the old man’s snitch telling the Duke of a large community made almost entirely of women and children as well as a good fortified position on the river that overlooked one highway and had another dead end at it.

His boys had almost mutinied and headed to the town a few days ago but The Duke knew even women in a well fortified position could chew up too many of his small force and he couldn’t afford to lose even 3 of them till he found better replacements. The Duke knew that if he was weakened too much another raider group could come along and eat them as they’d eaten others.

So he’d waited and used the fresh women to entertain his men and extract information from the women once their spirits had been crushed and what he’d found out made him a very happy man.

They had marched downstream for two days leaving only four of their number back at the barge to watch over the new girls and hold the position till he captured Arlington and could use it.

The march had been uneventful and he’d gotten to within a mile of the town and sent three guys over the hill to attack the gate on hwy 19 when his main force distracted the town’s defenders and everything was going well till suddenly two of his men were dropped by gunfire that was so accurate both were head strikes and the report of the weapons maybe two or three seconds after they fell.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening, the people of Arlington were farmers armed with as many as 14 shotguns and maybe on small rifle but his men had been killed by something bigger. Was their another bigger and badder Raiding party out here and they saw him as a threat? Doug didn’t know but he did know that they were in a bad way so like any Bully he turned tail and ran urging his old horse to flee at it’s best speed without even calling to his own men to retreat.