After a lot of discussion about what was at her grandparents’ home Jenny admitted it would be worth another trip north. On Veteran’s Day with his E350 pickup and seven feet by twenty feet trailer Robert with Krista as a passenger led Ed Nelson in his 2005 Expedition with Ruth, Jamie and Jenny inside to drive to Pennsylvania to go through Jenny’s grandparents’ property. Having learned from the last trip, they packed lunch and plenty of drinks. The nearly four hour trip was uneventful and they arrived at the homestead a bit after 10am.

With a bit of trepidation Jenny led the way inside. In the livingroom she retrieved a set of keys hidden inside the winding door of an imposing ornate grandfather clock and pointed Robert and Ed to the two gun cabinets filled with rifles, shotguns and pistols. Ruth was clearly bedazzled by the clock.

Jenny smiled. “I’ve always loved that clock. It’s an 1895 Riefler. My great grandfather served in the 5th Infantry Division of Patton’s Third Army and was one of the first Third Army troops to cross the Rhine. He bought the clock after the war ended from a German widow while serving as part of the occupying force.”

As the girls looked around the rustic livingroom Ed and Robert checked out the gun cabinets. Both were awed by the sheer firepower held within. Among the pistols were two Desert Eagle .50 caliber with six 7 round magazines and holsters, two Springfield Armory Model 1911 .45 caliber with six 9 round magazines and holsters, two scary CZ-USA Scorpian EVO 9mm with six 20 round magazines, two WWII German Army P38 9mm with three 8 round magazines that Jenny’s great grandfather brought back from Germany, and two Walther PK380 .38 caliber with six 8 round magazines. The shotguns consisted of four 5 shot 12 gauge pump action, two 4 shot 12 gauge semi-auto, and two 12 gauge side by side double barrel guns. In addition there were two AR-15 assault rifles .223 caliber with six 30 round magazines, a Springfield Armory M1A semi-automatic .308 caliber with two 10 round magazines, an auto-ordinance Thompson style semi-automatic .45 caliber with two 50 round drums, a Henry Big Boy lever action .44 magnum caliber with 10 shot capacity, a Winchester Model 1873 lever action octagonal barrel .44-40 caliber with 13 shot capacity, two WWII German Army Karabiner 98k Mauser 7.92mm with sniper scopes that Jenny’s great grandfather brought back from Germany, and a Remington 700 ADL Varmint bolt action .223 caliber with 5 shot capacity. There were seven scopes that could be attached to the rifles as well as thousands of rounds of various caliber ammunition for the weapons. There were also a pair of crossbows with forty bolts and three compound bows with quivers and thirty hunting and eighty target arrows.

After going through the gun cabinets Robert shook his head. “Jenny, your grandfather was ready to start a war!”

“Yeah,” Jenny agreed. “That was my family. Some of those guns were my dad’s. I noticed his gun cabinet and guns were missing when we cleaned out that house. The Remington .223 caliber bolt action rifle was mine.”

“I don’t foresee a need for them but with what’s happening in the financial markets you never know if the need for self defense might arise,” Krista sighed. “Would you object if we bring the weapons back to the Clan?”

“I don’t think it would hurt,” Jenny agreed. “I enjoyed target shooting it’s just hunting I disliked. I don’t object to hunting if the meat is consumed I just don’t want to do it. Maybe we could set up a shooting range.”

“I ike the idea. Somewhere out on the tip of Wells Point would be a safe place to put a shooting range together,” Robert said. “We’ll have to get the ownership of all these weapons transferred.”

Jenny nodded her agreement then moved on. “Krista, can you help me check the fireplace?”

As Krista walked over to the large walk-in fireplace she asked, “Are we looking for a hidden stash?”

“Yes,” Jenny said as she used the wooden handle of a fire poker to tap on the bricks on one side of the fireplace. “Memorial day a year and a half ago I was told there was a hollow storage space inside but I don’t know where.”

Krista began doing the same using another poker on the other side. Brick by brick they checked the huge fireplace. After several minutes Krista found a loose brick. The excited girls eagerly pried and tugged on the brick until they wiggled it out enough to grasp and pull it out. As it slid out two other bricks loosened. By the time they pulled all the loose bricks out there was a hole sixteen inches wide and nine inches high. Inside was a steel box that virtually filled the space. Grasping the handle Jenny tugged the box.

“This feels really heavy,” Jenny declared as the box slowly pulled out. “Krista, can you help me lift it out?”

“Sure,” Krista answered as she grasped the corners of the box. For it’s size the box was heavy but the girls easily handled it. By the time they set it on the floor everyone gathered around curious to see what treasure might be hidden inside. They all gasped when it was opened. On top were twelve bundles of 50 hundred dollar bills, $5000.00 each for $60,000,00. Under the cash they found gold coins which Robert identified as one troy ounce Krugerrands. When counted they had five hundred coins. The current price of gold was worth $860.00 per ounce for a worth of $450,000. In all the box held $490,00.00. They were all stunned by the value.

“I take it your grandparents didn’t like banks any better than lawyers,” Ruth shook her head. “Your lawyer said they only had a checking account that they used sparingly.”

“They didn’t trust any government or big businesses,” Jenny sighed.

Ruth and Jenny kept checking through the house where they gathered the loose photographs and photo albums, several beautiful hand made quilts, sheets, blankets and towels as well as numerous antiques including numerous oil lamps. Robert, Ed, Jamie and Krista headed out to the Quonset hut garage behind the house. There were garage doors at both ends of the thirty feet wide by sixty five feet long steel building. Inside the back garage door were two ATVs and a box trailer seven feet wide and twelve feet long and six feet high with a thirty two inch wide door near the front on the right side. They began sorting through the contents. The task of seeing was junk versus good took quite a while as they had to go through all sorts of tools. Picks shovels, pry bars, rakes, hoes, axes, picks, scythes, sledge hammers, chain saws, power tools, oil, nails, screws and other supplies as well as hundreds of small hand tools the Clan could put to good use was set aside. As they were working Jenny came out to call them into the house for lunch.

The box trailer was hitched to the back of Ed’s Expedition and driven back to the house. The gun cabinets and grandfather clock and most of the antiques were loaded inside. The ATVs were loaded on Robert’s flat trailer above the wheels, then the tools and supplies were loaded onto the trailer. By the time they had loaded what they wanted it was nearly 3:00pm.

As they pulled onto the long driveway Jenny suddenly called out “WAIT! STOP!”

Ed stopped, blew his horn and flashed his lights at Robert as Jenny leapt from his Expedition and jogged over to the large pond. Robert stopped and got out of his truck as did Krista. Ruth Jamie and Ed got out of their vehicle, all following Jenny to the fifty feet wide by one hundred eighty feet long pond created by a low wide damn.

“I learned to kayak on the pond in this kayak,” Jenny reminisced as she stoked the green smooth polyethylene hull as she gazed almost longingly at the still water. “We can use the kayaks and canoes at the Landing.” With that said she knelt down by the log rack upon which the upside down watercraft were chained to retrieve the hidden keys for the padlocks quickly unlocking both chains.

While the men carried the two kayaks to Robert’s truck to slide them atop the built in ladder rack Jenny led Krista and Jamie to a six feet by eight feet rusted shed on the far side of the pond where the paddles were stored.

Jenny retrieved two double bladed kayak paddles and two life vests, Krista four single blade canoe paddles and Jamie four more life vests. As they were returning Jenny stopped to look at the water flowing from the pipe that drained the pond. The twelve inch pipe extended three feet from the dam breast that formed the pond. The normal outflow exiting the pipe was just a bit more than the flow of an unrestricted garden hose. It was only during heavy rains the pipe filled. The water arced out of the pipe to drop five feet to the small channel through which the water flowed further down the valley. The cascading flow had carved a three feet rounded basin about eighteen inches deep with the water trickling out the lowest point. The impact of the water created foamy bubbles that floated about the surface before popping.

“When I was little I used to love coming out here to just sit on the grass and watch the patterns the bubbles made,” Jenny sighed. “It was a lot like looking for stuff in clouds.”

Krista and Jamie smiled as they too watched the swirling bubbles coalesce into a shape. The three girls drew in a gasping breath. The image formed was one they’d seen several months before... during the ash scattering celebration... Susan Warren! The image repeatedly mouthed three words. It was almost as if the girls could hear her saying “Wait ten minutes!” As soon as they understood the image broke apart. The startled girls exchanged looks of surprise and trepidation.

“What are you looking at?” Ruth asked as she joined the girls after helping the men lift the canoes atop the box trailer.

“We were looking at the bubbles,” Jenny whispered clearly spooked. “I used to spend hours sitting here watching the them.”

“I take it you saw something that spooked you,” Ruth stated as she looked between the girls.

“We saw Susan Warren,” the awed Jamie answered as the men joined them. This was her first direct interaction with the clan’s supernatural guardian angels “She told us to wait ten minutes.”

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Then Robert spoke. “I don’t understand this spiritual stuff with guardian angels but I have learned to believe it. We wait ten minutes.”

Everyone nodded agreement as they went back to the vehicles where they double checked the tie downs on the kayaks and canoes. When the ten minutes passed they loaded up and anxiously began the trip home. It was obvious to all of them they’d been told to wait because something was going to happen... and while driving it would most likely be an accident of some sort... never a good thing.

Thirty two miles later they had just crossed from Berks into Lancaster County on southbound US Route 222 where it was a four lane limited access interstate with a sixty foot wide grass strip dividing the lanes. They were a mile and half south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike when the reason for Susan’s warning happened. It was 3:50pm.

“Look at that idiot,” Robert who was on high alert pointed out to Krista. They saw a sports car in the northbound lanes passing other vehicles in the 65mph speed zone as if they were sitting still. As they watched in horror as a car following a tractor trailer signaled and moved into the passing lane unaware of the excessively speeding sports car closing in. The speeding car futilely slammed on the brakes and steered into the grass median but still slammed into the left back of the innocent car. The front of the sports car disintegrated and began flipping end over end down the median. The struck car was violently knocked into the saddle fuel tank of the tractor cracking it open before it spun into the median. The tractor slid sideways as the driver fought to regain control. Suddenly the drive tires regained traction. The tractor with it’s trailer rumbled forward straight across the median into the southbound lanes. The tractor trailer t-boned a southbound mid sized two door sedan bulldozing it off the road. The side of the road was shaped in a drainage swale behind which was the mowed slope of a bush and tree covered hill. The car was shoved into the swale where the passenger side dug into the hill stopping the tractor trailer while pinning it to the hill. Sparks from the impact ignited the leaking diesel fuel.

The southbound lanes were going uphill so as soon as Robert saw what was happening he got off the gas and when the crash occurred he braked. Ed did the same. Both stopped with Robert about fifty feet from the tractor trailer now blocking both southbound lanes and shoulders.

The flaming leaking fuel ran beneath the tractor and flowed down the road, fortunately running off into the swale before reaching Robert’s truck. The driver’s side of the car was partially crushed and some of the flaming fuel was flowing beneath it. Without a thought for their own safety Robert and Krista jumped out of their truck to assist. Ed, Ruth, Jamie and Jenny did the same. Being closer Robert and Krista made it across the swale before the burning leaking fuel cut it off. Scrambling to the car they looked inside while Robert fruitlessly tried the passenger door. The flames were licking up the driver’s side and back of the car.

“Oh God,” Krista gasped “There’s kids in car seats!”

“Ed, get the big pry bar out of the trailer,” Robert yelled. “We’ll have to pop the door!” By the time he turned back to the car Krista was scrambling through the shattered rear window into the rear seat. Robert knew yelling at her was useless as once more his spunky granddaughter simply leapt into the fray.

Ed, Ruth, Jamie and Jenny ran to the trailer and searched for the tool. They found it and also a wrecking bar. Running north about fifty feet they were able to cross the swale and head to the car.

As she got herself inside Krista saw both babies appeared uninjured and were crying healthily. She saw the flames licking up the crushed driver’s side. The passenger, apparently the mother, appeared dazed and bruised with a bloody nose, saved by the air bag. The driver was unconscious and as she checked she was horrified to note his left arm was trapped with the humorous bone snapped off just above the elbow protruding from the shredded flesh and bleeding profusely. Realizing he would quickly bleed out she removed her braided leather belt, wrapped it twice above the shredded muscle and bone and tied it off as tightly as she could.

By then the others had reached the car. Robert jammed the wrecking bar into the space between the frame and the door and heaved. With a groan the gap widened. With a few tries the gap was wide enough to get the heavy five foot long steel pry bar in the gap. Both men began working the gap.

Ruth was looking for Krista wondering where she’d gone.

“My God she’s in the car,” Jenny gasped as they looked into the car where the flames were igniting the headliner.

“Take this one,” Krista shouted as she slide an occupied car seat sideways out the back window after cutting the seat belt.

Carefully avoiding the flames coming up from the back of the car Jamie grasped it feeling the building heat. After she handed the seat with crying infant to Jenny, Krista used her Swiss Army knife to cut the seat belt holding the second car seat.

The door finally yielded to the men’s Herculean effort, groaned and popped open. Robert reached inside to push down the deflated airbag then leaned over her to unbuckle the seatbelt. Then he pulled the confused woman out of the burning wreck. Ruth assisted the woman to stumble up the hill away from the flames to where Jenny sat holding and soothing the cries of the six week old baby girl.

Coughing from the smoke and ducking to avoid the burning headliner Krista handed the second car seat out the back window to Jamie who scurried away to join her mother and sister where she removed and hugged the crying eighteen month old boy.

Robert crouched in the passenger seat unsuccessfully trying to tug the driver out. Krista turned to help instantly realizing the man’s arm was too badly trapped to free him. “His arm is trapped,” she coughed. “We can’t get him out this way. I’ll have to cut off his arm.”

Shifting a bit Robert could see the shattered arm and tourniquet and realized Krista was correct. With disbelief in her stamina he watched as she once more unlimbered her Swiss Army knife and shrugged her jacket over her head to protect her hair from the flames. Leaning into the flames she began cutting through the deboned shredded meat of the man’s arm. Robert kept tension on the man’s right arm to make the cutting easier. Nearly the entire roof liner was aflame by the time Robert felt the release as the arm separated. By then the flames was singing his hair through his baseball cap. Dragging the man by his remaining arm he backed out the wrenched open passenger door where Ed knocked Robert’s burning hat off his head.

Quickly shifting about Ed grabbed the man’s legs as Robert shot his arms beneath the unconscious man’s shoulders. The two men then carried him up the hill.

As Krista scrambled out the door right behind them the flaming roof liner dropped on her. Just as she got out the interior went up in flames. Somehow she’d managed to snag the diaper bag and scooped up the woman’s purse before sprawling to the grass outside the car. She had to slip out of her burning jacket before she ran away from the fully engulfed car.

The distraught woman was seated on the hillside crying as she cuddled her children as she watched the men carry her unconscious husband from the wreck. Jamie and Jenny ran down to assist Krista patting out the smouldering spots on her clothes and hair. Less than five minutes had passed since the crash.

Other motorists stopped by the epic crash had checked the initial two vehicles. Several were attending to the occupants of the nearer car while a few walked around the shredded sports car. Most were silently standing back watching, many with cell phones out recording the carnage. Emergency personnel had yet to arrive.

Ruth got up to assist the heavily coughing Krista sit beside the mother as Jamie and Jenny ran back to Ed’s vehicle to get several bottles of water and blankets.

Ed and Robert, who had to stop several times to catch their breath were both panting from the exertion as they staggered to the group carrying the unconscious man.

The woman saw his missing arm and gasped. “Ben! Oh my God!”

“I’m (cough) sorry,” Krista apologized. “His arm was (cough) trapped and the flames (cough) were getting closer (cough) and hotter. (cough) I had to (cough) cut it off to (cough) get him out.”

“You... you cut it off?” The woman asked in disbelief.

“It was the only (cough) way to save him, (cough)” Krista sniffled as the enormity of what she’d done hit her.

“Is he going to survive?” The woman asked softly.

“I don’t know, (cough)” Krista answered with compassion. “The arm was (cough) pretty well busted (cough) up and he was (cough) bleeding out. (cough) I put a tourniquet (cough) on to stop the bleed. (Cough) When the paramedics (cough) get here they’ll (cough) have to stabilize him (cough) then get him to a (cough) trauma center.”

At that point the car’s fuel tank exploded. Several people who had approached the inferno with cell phones recording the scene were struck by debris although none were seriously injured.

Jamie and Jenny returned handing out water bottles and blankets to everyone. Krista promptly opened a bottle and downed about half to soothe her smoke irritated throat.

“You saved my babies too,” the battered woman looked at Krista noting her singed hair clearly awed. “You risked your life going into a burning car to save strangers. I can’t ever thank you... all of you... I don’t even know your names.”

“I’m Robert Scott,” Robert introduced himself. “This brave young lady is my granddaughter Krista Scott. This is Ed Nelson, Ruth Ewell and her daughters Jamie and Jenny.

“I’m VERY pleased to meet you. You saved us. With out your help...” the woman shivered as she clutched the children closer while glancing at the fully engulfed car. “My husband is Ben Johnson. I’m Kelly Johnson, this is our son Grant and daughter Penny. If Ben dies...,” tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“He won’t die,” Krista firmly stated. “It wasn’t an accident that we were right behind you.”

The woman sniffled and looked at Krista a bit strangely.

“We come from Maryland,” Krista explained. “We were up near Virginville getting things from Jenny’s grandparents estate. As we were getting ready to leave... I know this will sound strange but it’s true... an angel appeared to Jenny, Jamie and I telling us to wait ten minutes. We’ve had encounters with angels before and know to do what they say so we delayed out departure. If we’d have left when we first tried, we’d have missed the accident. Your family might have died horribly in the crash.”

Kelly looked at Krista in disbelief, wondering if she was telling a tale but a quick glance at the others revealed they thought the weird tale was true. “An angel appeared... so you would be here to save us?”

“Yes,” Krista declared. “That means your family is now tied to us. We’re all part of the Clan Wells Point. We currently have ninety members and live on the Clan property. We have two guardian angels looking out for us. One was my mother, Carol O’Brien and the other was Susan Warren. Susan is the one who told us to wait.”

Kelly looked uncertain and a bit fearful. “Are you some sort of cult?”

“No,” Robert smiled. “We’re family and friends who have been drawn together by Krista. We formed nearly a year and a quarter ago.”

Kelly looked confused. “So Krista is head of this clan?”

“No... although she is the nexus,” Robert smiled to ease her concerns. “Positive things seem to happen around her. I’m one of four elected directors of the Clan Wells Point. We’re a self help group with public outreach. Saving your family aren’t the first people we’ve rescued because of Krista. A year and a half ago she led her younger sisters in walking from Cape Cod to Wells Point after her mother died. Then she and the angel her mother had become had a hand in saving my youngest son’s best friend from suicide. After that her boyfriend’s estranged and jailed father broke out of jail, killed three guards, kidnaped Krista, her boyfriend and his mother intending to kill them. Krista intentionally caused their car to crash then wrestled the killer for control of the gun in the overturned wreck and killed him with a windshield wiper through his eye into his brain getting shot twice in the process. As she was recovering she and Tony, her boyfriend, were walking in the park by the football fields where my grandsons play Pop Warner football, the exercise was to help her recover from her wounds. She heard a little girl hiding in some bushes crying and coaxed her out. The six year old girl had been raped. The rapist was killed in prison and the girls is now Krista’s adopted sister. Then she was instrumental in unraveling the Apple Tree scandal in the process saving the life of a comatose girl. All that happened in a six month span. We formed the Clan Wells Point to continue and expand the spirit of caring and giving that Krista exudes.”

“I heard about those things,” Kelly replied as she looked in awe at the blushing unassuming Krista.

The sounds of approaching sirens interrupted further discussion. Within minutes a fire truck screamed to the wreck. The blazing car and tractor trailer were assaulted by the firefighters. The paramedics and ambulance were right behind. Police quickly arrived. The attention of the medical personnel centered on the people in the first car and the driver of the tractor trailer who had been able to bailout safely with only bruises.

Robert and Ed were shouting and waving their arms hoping to attract the attention of the paramedics. Krista shrugged off her blanket and sprinted off down the hill.

“There she goes again,” Ruth shook her head as she picked up the discarded blanket.

They watched in amazement as the young spitfire dodged through the onlookers and firefighters to the paramedics.

“We pulled the people from the car that burned up,” Krista explained as she grabbed a paramedic by the arm to get his attention. “I had to cut off the driver’s arm so we could get him out and he’s lost a lot of blood. He’s unconscious but alive and desperately needs help. He’s up on the hill. My grandfather is the one waving his arms.”

The paramedic looked at Krista with his mouth hanging open but followed her pointed arm to see two men waving standing half way up the hill. With amazing speed he called to his partner, grabbed their gear and followed the girl to the hill.

The paramedics quickly assessed Ben’s condition. While one paramedic took vital signs and accessed his injuries another started an IV to get fluids into him to supplement what blood remained. A third called for a medivac. The paramedic Krista approached checked the amputated arm and looked her in disbelief. He simply couldn’t believe the teen had amputated the arm.

The Life Lion EMS was based in Hershey, about twenty straight line miles away. By the time the chopper landed they had Ben on a litter and moved him to the road. Quickly loaded they took off for the fifteen minute flight to transport him to the level one trauma unit at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Other medical personnel arrived to check out the children and Kelly. Ruth insisted they also check Krista. The paramedic checking her gasped as he saw the first degree burns on her hands and the left side of her face. Not once had she complained but Ruth had detected her discomfort. They treated her with burn ointment but no dressings advising that if the discomfort grew too intense she should seek immediate medical assistance. Kelly was deemed non critical but they recommended she go to the hospital for treatment for observation for a mild concussion. The children were cleared.

While the medical treatments were happening, the police were canvassing witnesses to determine the cause and responsibility of the crash. Robert told them all he’d seen and what they had done to rescue the Johnson family. His sequence of events was the most complete and tied together the other witness’ partial reports. The officer clearly didn’t believe that Krista had been so instrumental including cutting off a man’s arm. However when he questioned Krista he noted the burns on her hands and face as well as her singed hair. Obviously she had crawled in the burning car! The officer was clearly impressed.

The driver of the sports car wasn’t using his seatbelt and was ejected as his car disintegrated and flipped end over end for three hundred feet. His body was found a hundred feet past the main wreckage of his car. The driver and passenger of the car he hit were wearing seatbelts. They suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital as a precaution. They were discharged after overnight observation. The trucker was just shaken up refusing to go to the hospital. All vehicles involved were totalled.

As the import of what had happened finally hit, Kelly began to tremble and cry. Ruth comforted her as Jamie and Jenny took care of the kids.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Kelly sobbed. “Ben had been laid off and out of work for five months so our savings were gone and our credit cards nearly maxed when he got a new job two months ago. I was a paralegal. We couldn’t afford daycare so I asked my boss for six weeks off after Penny was born. He refused and fired me. We have no health insurance, I have no job, Ben certainly won’t be going back to work. We owe the obstetrician and hospital for Penny’s birth. We’re so far in debt and behind on our rent we’ll soon be evicted.”

Ruth shook her head. “Do you have any family that can help?”

“No,” Kelly sniffed. “Ben and I met at community college and we just clicked. When we refused to break up our families shunned us. Both are dead set against interracial dating. Our families disowned us when we married.

“That’s just stupid,” Krista declared. “Pappy, Susan didn’t delay us just so we’d save the Johnson family today. We need to save them, period. They’ll make good additions to the Clan.”

“We’ve been talking about hiring a paralegal,” Ruth nodded.

“Ben could recuperate with us and rehab at the Hostel,” Jamie added. They can move into one of the apartments over the daycare and the kids could go to the daycare.”

“We can find a meaningful job for Ben when he’s able to return to work,” Jenny stated.

“Okay, okay,” Robert chuckled. “Kelly, I’d like to invite your family to join the Clans Well Point.”

Kelly couldn’t believe her ears. Not only had this remarkable group rescued her family from death, they were offering to take them in. “Not that I’m not grateful, but why would you offer to take in total strangers?”

“It’s what the Clan Wells Point does,” Krista simply stated. “The ambulance wanted to take you to Lancaster General Hospital but they took Ben to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. I say we take Kelly there so she can be closer to Ben. They can check her out there.”

“I’ll stay with Kelly,” Ruth declared. “Jamie and Jenny can look after Grant and Penny while you head home. I’ll call Elisabeth Rich to give her a heads up. I know she’ll look after them until Kelly can joins us.”

Ruth turned to Kelly. “Liz is a mother of four and grandmother of nine and is head of the Clan Wells Point Daycare so she is well versed on childcare.”

Reassured Kelly breathed a sigh of relief.

“We can swap out people staying with Kelly so she can get to know us,” Ruth continued. “I’d recommend two of us be with her at a time just to make logistics easier. The first can bring me a change of clothes and a car up to Hershey tomorrow. We’ll bring up a new person each day and send another home. Once we’re sure Ben’s okay, Kelly and I will go back to their apartment. When Ben is stable enough we can take Kelly to Bozman so she can see the Clan Wells Point first hand. We can begin packing between visits to Ben. As soon as Ben’s able to be moved, you send a truck up to load their things and we bring him down.”

“I just can’t wrap my head about what you’re offering to do,” Kelly sniffled. “No one has ever gone out of their way to help Ben and I. Since our parents rejected us we’ve struggled. I just don’t understand why?”

“As we said one of the Clan Wells Point guardian angels told us to hold our return trip home so we’d be here to save your family,” Krista stated forcibly. “We really have no choice but to help you. The moment we began saving you, we committed ourselves and the Clan Wells Point to bringing you into our extended family.”

Kelly shook her head. “It’s as simple as that?”

“Yes,” Krista, Jamie and Jenny simultaneously answered.

Kelly just looked at them with stunned disbelief. But when she looked at the adults they exuded the same sense of assuredness. Tears flowed from her eyes. “Thank you.”

Everyone hugged her. By then night was falling and so was the temperature so they gathered their things to head back to the vehicles to stay warm. Jenny and Jamie joined Krista in Robert’s truck while the car seats with the kids were secured in the rear seat of Ed’s Expedition with Kelly seated between them. Ruth sat in the front.

After the accident the police and fire police had detoured traffic off the interstate. Then they began directing the vehicles stuck in the mile and half backup to turn around and exit into the detour. By the time darkness fell the only one’s still stuck were the CWP vehicles.

By that time a tilt flatbed towtruck and a large wrecker arrived. While the wrecked but relatively intact car in the median was loaded onto the tilt-back the wrecker hooked up to the rear of the tractor trailer. Once the tilt-back was clear and despite the tires being burned off the front of the tractor the powerful wrecker was able to drag it into the median. It was 6:45pm when the police allowed Robert to drive up the passing lane as crews cleaned debris from the driving lane and another flatbed tow truck prepared to load the burned out remains of the Johnson’s car.

Ed took the lead so Kelly could guide them to her apartment. Three miles down the road they turned off US 222 onto US 322 westbound into the town of Ephrata. The Johnson apartment was a mile past the intersection where US 322 was East Main Street.

They parked along the street and all went inside the small two bedroom apartment. The kids were fed and changed and their clothes were packed. Kelly showered and changed. Krista cleaned up and the burn ointment was reapplied. Soon they were headed west on US 322 out of Ephrata. It took forty five minutes to travel the thirty miles to the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. It was 8:20 when Robert and Krista accompanied Ruth and Kelly inside the trauma unit to check on Ben while Jamie and Jenny joined Ed to look after the kids.

It took a few minutes for the doctor to come out to them. “I’m Dr. Scornivachi. Mrs. Johnson, we’ve stabilized your husband. He’ll need further surgery but we need to give him time to recuperate from the blood loss. In all we had to give him five pints of blood. The good news is there appears to be no head or internal injuries.”

Kelly released the breath she’d been holding since the doctor approached. “Can I see him?”

“It’ll be about half an hour until we get him settled in ICU,” Dr. Scornivachi said. “It could be hours until he wakes up. I’ll have someone take you up once he’s settled.”

“Thank you for saving his life,” Kelly sniffled.

“Whoever got the tourniquet on his arm saved his life,” Dr. Scornivachi replied. “I was told it was a young girl who did that and severed his arm. She must be one tough and courageous girl. I wish I could meet her.”

“This is Krista Scott,” Ruth said introducing the girl who had hung back so the adults could talk freely. “She’s the one who did it.”

Dr. Scornivachi raised his eyebrows as he looked at the blushing Krista. He noted the ointment covered burns on her hands and face and singed hair. “Young lady, I’m impressed. Obviously you risked your life to get Ben out. You managed to cut low enough to leave enough flesh to close the wound. I’m curious, what did you use?”

Krista dug in her pocket and pulled out her still bloodstained Swiss Army knife. “I used this. I read about that hiker a few years ago who cut off his own arm so I figured I could do it.”

“I’m doubly impressed,” Dr. Scornivachi declared. “Would you mind if I borrowed your knife to show the other doctors? We’ve all been wondering what was used. I’ll clean it up and get it back to you in about ten minutes.”

Dr. Scornivachi returned ten minutes later with three other doctors. “Krista, here is your knife, cleaned and disinfected. This is Dr. Rightmyer, Dr. Fletcher and Dr. Westfield. We all worked on Ben. When I told them you were here and showed them the knife you used they asked to meet you. Gentlemen, I’m pleased to introduce Miss Krista Scott.”

“Young lady, I’m delighted to meet you,” Dr. Rightmyer declared. “You’ve restored my faith in the youth of today. I don’t know many adults who would risk their life in a burning car to save a man they didn’t know.”

“Although I didn’t see it she saved my children too,” Kelly gratefully added.

“The children were unhurt in the rear seat in their car seats,” Robert explained. “Krista crawled through the shattered back seat, saw the kids were okay and that Kelly was stunned. When she checked Ben she saw his arm was trapped and he was bleeding badly. While Ed and I used pry bars to open Kelly’s door to get her out Krista took off her belt to use as a tourniquet for Ben. We got the door open and pulled Kelly free while Krista cut the car seats free and passed them out to Jamie and Jenny, Ruth’s daughters. The roof liner was burning as Krista cut Ben free. I tugged him out once he was freed and she grabbed the diaper bag and Kelly’s purse as she scrambled out seconds before the interior was engulfed. She had to struggle to take off her jacket which had caught fire. When it comes to helping others my granddaughter knows no fear.”

“I’m doubly impressed, Krista,” Dr. Fletcher smiled. “You ARE a hero! You saved not only Ben’s life but the children as well. Now, let me take a quick look at your burns.”

Gently he checked her face and hands determining the burns while tender and painful were all first degree burns. “You’ll be tender and sore for about three days. Keep the burns coated with a good anesthetic burn ointment and you should make a full recovery.

“Krista, you look somewhat familiar,” Dr Westfield mused as he tried to place the recognition.

“She’s been in the news several times,” Ruth smiled. “She’s the girl who lead her sisters from Cape Cod to Maryland on foot. Then she wrestled a murder for his gun and killed him with a windshield wiper after crashing the car he was kidnapping her, her boyfriend and his mother in. Later she rescued a child rape victim, broke the Apple Tree scandal, and helped pull a girl from a coma. She was the guiding force behind a local veterans’ trip to DC on Saturday.”

“Okay,” Dr. Westfield smiled. “I just saw you on the news for being the driving force for organizing that trip to the veterans memorials in DC. They mentioned some of your past exploits. Now I’m doubly delighted to meet you! You are indeed extraordinary!”

“Krista, if you ever decide to pursue an education in medicine, I think I speak for all of us when I say we’ll give you letter’s of recommendation,” Dr. Scornavachi declared. “This hospital is the teaching medical school for Penn State University. We’ll also sign recommendations for scholarships. You have the courage and stamina to do great things in whatever career you chose!”

Krista smiled and blushed at the praise. She didn’t really think she was all that brave. She just helped others.