Terms For Survival by John Reeves (the best e book reader .TXT) 📖

day she was captured. She had began changing since that day, and didn't even realize it.
When one human controls another, something happens inside the captive person's mentally. Lori saw John as the master of the situation. He did everything a father or husband would do to provide for their family. She knew he was providing whether she'd liked it or not, and she was becoming more fond of the way he handled things. There was good in John, where at first she'd not seen it. Maybe she could see the man he'd once been, or perhaps she saw the man she wanted to see.


9

There was something happening between John and Lori. She didn't exactly love him, although she'd come to understand him in many ways. She could actually sympathize with his reasons for taking her. Beside the fact that he was alone, he was also a man, and she understood that he'd been attracted to her. The world she knew wasn't civil, and never had been. If he took her just because she was a pretty female, or just because he didn't want to be alone, she had come to accept both reasons as legitimate ones. She could understand why he didn't kill her, and she could see why he'd have wanted a female to be with.
There had been changes between both of them, and there were going to be more. John had thought about leaving. He told Lori that he'd let here go free, but she began questioning whether she wanted out or not. The White Star group had shielded her from the evil world that was out there. She saw John as someone who was a survivor in the brutal world. He'd never told her that he was in a group. Lori thought he'd been alone, and she's always been told that you couldn't live in the world alone. Nobody can survive alone, but John had managed to do it.
John had been a part of something good. Hendersonville had stood longer than many groups did. There had been times when he'd dwell on the past, but he'd made a promise to himself to only look forward. He knew he could not indulge in what might have been. His life had depended on facing the obstacle at hand. Days had turned into months, and then a year into multiple years. Although John had no reference, or use for time keeping, he'd been alone for years. Lori had no longer had a concept of time, and she too had tried to forget the past.
Lori's stomach was starting to grow, and that was how the two of them figured out she was pregnant. They didn't need someone to tell them that a baby couldn't survive without the protection of a group. Raising a child in the rough was near impossible, and John had fully intended on letting Lori go back to the White Star group. He'd fallen in love with her, and he realized that releasing her would insure that the baby had a chance. John knew White Star soldiers were in the area, because he'd rode the horse to the river where he saw them.
They watched the sunset from the top of the tower, and they just talked about the future. Both of them wanted to keep feelings and emotions out of the conversation.
"I never should have taken you in the first place." John explained.
"But you did. You created another life inside of me, and if I'm to go back to White Star, then you must come with me."
"I can't do it. There is no way I could ever be a part of a group again."
"Again?" She asked.
"Yes, I was a part of a group before I got on my own. There's no way I could do it again after living like this. Being alone has shown me I want to be this way. I don't need people deciding what's best for me, because believe me I've had bad luck with it. Sorry Lori, but there's no way I could live like that again." John hoped she understood.
"Well what if I have become attached to this lifestyle, what if I told you I couldn't go back now either?" She used his logic against him.
"You had a life there, you have people there that love you. You have a man there that I've taken you away from. I'm sorry that I did it too. I had a family before the war. That's why I want you to go back to White Star. I cannot stand to lose anyone else."

Nikki had died in 2031, but Ben would go on to become the leader of White Star. The leader of the group can only be compared to a king. He could have his choice of woman, and any parent would be glad to give him their daughter. There was something special about Lori, and he'd watched her grow from a teenager into a woman. He always thought there was something special about her. That's why he was going into battle with the cannibals. Ben had gotten word from the church that they'd abducted Lori. Then he took it up with them about backing him in war.
"I'm not selfish enough to want to engage them for revenge. They are a dangerous group, and they must be stopped. especially if we want to control this part of the river, and that is vital to our success as a whole. Groups like those cannibals must be destroyed."
The church agreed with him, and would back him in combat. They knew that the cannibals needed to be destroyed. They supplied weapons, horses, and additional soldiers to White Star. Ben had not been honest when he told them that revenge wasn't a factor, but they knew better. They also wanted him to take out the cannibals and didn't care whether there was a revenge factor involved. It was by no means a battle he couldn't win. The church knew that Ben would find victory among the savage. It had been confirmed that they were in fact coming toward the river.
The cannibals thought there was a group down by the river that they could overtake. They didn't know it was White Star. There would have been no attack planned against an outfit the size of White Star. No the cannibals weren't among the most intelligent groups, but they knew better than to attack large groups. There was no chance for them to win that kind of battle. They'd hide on the outside of the villages, and they'd take one person at a time as they became available without risk. Time had shown them the most effective way to hunt their prey.
The White Star soldiers were on the river ready to enter combat with the cannibals. Ben was waiting on extra supplies and soldiers. Then they could move down the river's edge to find the enemy. What if they didn't kill Lori? What if they've kept her captive? There were horrible thoughts going through Ben's mind. There was reason to believe they kept her for sex, and were going to breed more of their kind from a trophy woman. He could see them taking turns fucking her. While she lay there virtually defenseless for them. He knew he couldn't let his emotions cloud his judgment.

Chris had assembled a small following to protect him as he headed toward Billoxi. The group that had captured him had been defeated. The prisoner were then released, and where many of them bolted to Louisiana, Chris with a couple of others headed for possible freedom with the church. They didn't know anything about White Star. Unfortunately he didn't know about the cannibals either, or the battle that about to take place north of the river. He did know that the traveling could be deadly. He'd expect to walk into a peaceful situation, but would quickly see otherwise.
Ben had not moved the calvary when they were spotted by the small group led by Chris. If they'd been seen up there on the hill they'd have been killed. Chris knew that too. He ordered the group to keep watch on them. When more soldiers showed up with extra horses, the small group knew they couldn't attack the large group of more than a hundred. Chris realized that the group was about to move into combat. Surely they wouldn't need that many guys to take eight people. There was no way they'd call that many. He thought they might be searching for his tiny little group.
The cannibals had come out of the state park, and were just north-west of where John's tower was built. John was hunting in the woods. Had he been in the tower he'd have seen the cannibals. Lori might have saw them if she'd been in the top of tower, but she was in the lower level. White Star was moving in their direction. Chris then knew for sure they weren't after his small group.
"There not coming for us, and I think we should trail behind them." Chris told the others.
"Do you really think we should do that?" Someone asked him.
"I can only see the good that could come from it. We could get supplies, food, maybe even some horses. Yes, I absolutely think we should follow them." There were no more questions, and they followed them. The White Star had horses and moved fast, but because the group was so large Chris was able followed them. Everyone was ready for what might happen, except John and Lori.


10

John approached the backside of the hill where he saw the cannibals. They weren't quite to his spot, but he knew they'd beat him there. He dropped the dead deer, and made a run for it. He didn't know whether he could make it, however there was no way he wasn't going to try. The foliage hid the tower very well, but someone walking the path might take enough time to notice it. John didn't know it was the cannibals, and he couldn't see White Star coming from the other direction. Not that any of that mattered. He'd promised Lori that he'd protect her, and he was caught off guard.
The hooves of the horses shook the ground like deep rolling thunder. It was something the cannibals heard before they saw the White Star soldiers. They hid from White Star knowing it was a much larger group than theirs. The cannibals hid in the woods along side of the path opposite the river. John had delivered the first blow. His blade caught the man where the neck and shoulder meet. It was quick and quiet, but another guy saw him kill his partner. With his adrenaline pumping he attacked the other guy before he realized he was doing it.
Other cannibals were alerted to the conflict in the brush, but none of them could move. White Star was right on them. John had no idea that White Star was coming, or that they weren't affiliated with the cannibals. The fact is, John didn't even know the cannibals were who they were. He didn't take the time to think that it was probably the end, although the vast number of soldiers should have told him it was. Lori was locked away inside the tower. John knew Lori's survival depended on him. That thought never crossed his mind either, because he intended to kill, and never stopped after killing the first two men.
White star had spotted the cannibals, and they'd seen John fighting his way out to the path. Slinging that blade into the cannibals. The White Star didn't know who the man was fighting his way through