by Anna Abner
“Malcolm was a decent guy,” Rodriguez spoke up, “but he wouldn’t let us use our skills for anything good. I’m stuck in the garden every day when I could be designing all kinds of stuff for the camp.”
“Hey.” Stein stood up. “I’m really good at hunting. No offense to Harris, but he hardly ever brings back meat. If you let me out there I’ll bring back all kinds of deer, rabbit, birds… Whatever lives out there I can kill it. But Malcolm said because I was a good shot I had to stand on a roof every night while we’re all starving.”
More clapping. More grumbling.
“Speaking of meat,” Durand said, shouting from the corner where he lounged with his boots on a table. “You know how we always cook it on a spit over the fire pit? Well, I figured out if I cook it in a pan I can make sauce from the drippings. Like gravy.”
As the men voiced their hearty appreciation for gravy, Pollard leaned toward me. “He didn’t figure that out. I told him. He doesn’t know how to cook anything except bread.”
I believed him. The day I’d spent in the kitchen I’d never heard him say a word about sauces.
“The food here sucks,” Carr piped up. “No offense, Durand. But why do we have to eat sucky glop when we could be making real food? We have generators. Let’s use them for something good!”
“How many generators do we have in camp anyway?” Hoyt asked.
“Two in the kitchen,” Durand answered.
“And Smart has one,” Rodriguez said. “Maybe two.”
I knew for a fact he had at least two. “Where is Smart?” I blurted out.
All heads swiveled in my direction as if no one could grasp why I had spoken up in their meeting.
“Gomez was injured,” Hoyt finally answered. “In the attack. Smart’s with him, doing what he can before…”
Before Gomez died. I was sorry about Gomez, but at the same time relieved Smart wasn’t with Ben at that exact moment. Because I’d rather not have to fight him to get to Ben.
“And why do we have to live in a prison?” Hoyt called out, finding his righteous anger groove once more. “Why can’t I have a recliner in my room? Or a pillow top mattress? What, if I want to lay my head on silk sheets, I’m a bastard? That’s not fair!” He totally lost it and kicked an empty chair. It skidded across the floor and banged into the wall.
Pollard gripped my hand, and as I glanced at him I saw he had a hold of Hunny as well.
“This isn’t the place for us,” he whispered in my ear. “We don’t belong here.”
Finally, we were in agreement.
“And another thing,” Hoyt continued, pacing like a caged leopard. “No more free rides for people like Juliet.” The girl in question shrank in on herself until she was little more than spine and blonde hair. “Malcolm was too soft. Whatever deal he made with the girls, it’s over. If I have to do chores, so do the girls.” This brought out the loudest cheer all night.
I was tempted to remind Hoyt that I had worked every day, as had Simone and Hunny. Juliet might not have to do chores, but only because she had some creepy agreement with Malcolm and some of his favorite followers. I’m sure, given a choice, she would’ve gladly done chores. But I didn’t bring this up because it would embarrass Juliet, and the men involved would probably deny it anyway.
“If we have generators just sitting around,” Stein said, “then I propose a game night. XBox. Whatever we can find.”
“This is what I’m talking about,” Hoyt agreed, grinning. “Let’s come up with new ideas. This is no longer a dictatorship.” Another cheer and some foot stomping. “Who else has an idea?”
“I want days off,” shouted out a voice.
Right over him someone else said, “Why can’t we plug in the refrigerator and have cold beer once in a while?”
“I want to wear nice clothes, even if I have to steal them myself.”
“We should have a turret on the roof like in World War Two and crap.”
“Two turrets!”
“I want a machine gun!”
Pollard tugged on my hand, and we all snuck outside. As excited as the men in the rec room were, they didn’t even notice.
“We gotta get out of here,” I said quietly as we headed up to our room. “I’ll pack.”
“Yes. Let’s do this,” Pollard agreed. “Malcolm may have been a prick, but he was holding the camp together.”
“Those idiots down there don’t know anything about surviving the end of the world,” I said. “Maybe I don’t either, but I do know that cold beer isn’t a priority right now.”
“They might be okay.” He sounded doubtful. “But the fence is still down and nobody’s even come out to fix it.”
“They’re too busy talking about silk sheets.” I laughed and Pollard joined me. For a moment it felt nice. Laughing together released a tiny bit of the tension between us. Not all of it, but a little.
Quiet as a whisper, Juliet followed us outside and stood uncertainly a few feet away. Simone emerged a moment later.
“We’re leaving,” Pollard said, but with a guilty inflection as he fixated on Simone.
“Why?” she demanded. “Why can’t we stay?” She swung her gaze back and forth from Pollard to the closed rec room door and finally to me.
He inhaled deeply, and then said, “I think you should stay.”
She rocked back on her heels. “You don’t want me to come with you?”
I was as shocked as she was. Pollard and Simone had been part of the same team since the world went dark.
“You seem happy here,” he said. “Happier than I’ve seen you in a long time. Maybe you should stay and help them rebuild.” He rushed on, not letting her interrupt. “They can protect you. They have food. Water. Medical supplies. And you’re making friends.”
“I am.” She lifted her chin with lots of showy attitude. “And I’m not going anywhere. I like it here. I like the men here.”
Pollard’s mouth thinned. “Can I ask you to do me one favor and not tell anyone our plan or where we’re going? Let us get out of here and then you can say whatever you want.”
“I’m going back inside.” She flounced to the door and pulled it wide, but then hesitated. Over her shoulder, she added, “Be careful.” And then she was gone and the heavy, metal door closed behind her.
I tried to catch Pollard’s eye, but he wouldn’t look at me. Instead, I turned my attention on Juliet. “Do you want to come with us?” I asked, taking a chance the girl wouldn’t tattle on us to Hoyt or one of his buddies.
Her wide, doe eyes focused on me and I felt immediately protective of her the same way I felt protective of Hunny.
“Don’t leave me here,” she said in a breathy voice. “Please don’t.”
Pollard laid a hand on her shoulder. “We wouldn’t leave you,” he said. “We’ll all go together, or we won’t go at all.”
I was relieved to hear him say that because it wouldn’t be easy getting to Ben.
“But you know it’s going to be dangerous, right?” he added.
“I’ll help,” she said. “I can shoot a gun.”
“Good.” Pollard sent me a questioning look over her head and I nodded assent. The girl had a pretty rotten life in camp. I’d be happy to help get her out. Hopefully we’d either find a better place or we’d build one ourselves.
“You guys want a smoke?” Stein snuck up on us. Grinning, he offered me a pack of cigarettes. “I’ve got like a hundred cartons in my room. Go ahead.”
“No, thanks,” I said.
Undaunted, he smirked at me in a way that made my insides twist. “I’m really glad you showed up. We should get to know each other better, don’t you think?”
Pollard stepped between us. “She doesn’t smoke. Thanks anyway.” He made the words a threat.
Stein took the hint and moved around the side of the building before lighting up.
“This isn’t the place we thought it was,” I said, my eyes tracking the red tip of Stein’s cigarette.
�
�I agree.” Pollard smiled shyly at Juliet. “All those weeks in the truck stop I believed if I could find a group of people and a safe place, we could start over.”
“It’s still possible,” I said, “but not here.”
“No.” Pollard agreed. “Not here.” He gestured toward the stairs and we all ascended in single file. Three adults and one child was a crowd in our tiny barracks room, but we squeezed in.
“We could all probably sneak away pretty easily,” I said, taking a seat beside Pollard on his single bed, “but I’m not leaving Ben. It’s my fault he’s here. I need a plan.”
“There are no guards on the roofs today,” Pollard said. “At least not yet. If they go on a materials run, they might leave a lookout behind.”
Juliet glanced nervously at me. “They have a guard on the main road.”
“Yes.” I remembered. “We saw him. So, we’ll go out a different way. Just in case.” I folded my arms. “But how do we trick our way into the other barracks? And we’ll have Smart to deal with.”
“He’s one of them,” Pollard mused. “If he makes a big fuss—”
“Which he will,” I cut in. He wouldn’t give up Ben easily. He’d been too secretive and possessive to suddenly change his mind.
“—the others will side with him,” Pollard finished. “But if we create a diversion big enough to get everyone’s attention focused over here,” he waved his right hand, “we can sneak over here,” he lifted his left hand, “get Ben and get out before they know what we’ve done.”
My mind was spinning. Just because it sounded simple, didn’t mean it was. The guards we were going to fool had loaded weapons. Low ammo supplies didn’t mean no ammo. If one of them freaked out or suspected a threat, they could kill one of us. Or all of us.
“I’ll do it.” I stood as if we were leaving that moment. “I’ll sneak into his room while you three create a diversion, cut through the fence, and then make a run for it. We’ll follow your trail out.”
Pollard stood up, too, and towered over me. “No, it’s too dangerous. If you can’t get into Ben’s room, or you get caught, you’ll be on your own.”
“I’ll find a crowbar or something. And if you come to protect me, who’s going to protect Hunny and Juliet?” I could tell that argument was working. He glanced at the girls. “One person,” I added, “can sneak around a lot easier than two or three or four.”
“I don’t like it,” he grumbled. “If you don’t make it out, I think we all know what they’ll do to you.”
I thought of Juliet and her many friendships. Yes, I knew.
“I’m the fastest runner,” I said. “The fences are made to keep the zombies out, not to keep people in. I can climb one if I have to. They don’t all have razor wire on the top.”
“She’s smaller and faster than you,” Juliet chimed in, smiling sympathetically at me. “She’s right.”
I turned on Pollard before he argued further. “What’s your diversion? And it better be a good one.”
He shrugged. “I’ll set fire to our room. With no running water, everyone will be frantic to save the building. All hands on deck in that kind of situation. Even the guards on the roof.”
“We’ll wait until night,” I decided, though it pained me to stall another minute, let alone hours. But under cover of night we’d be harder to follow. “And then we’re getting out of this place.”
Chapter Eighteen
Time had never passed so slowly. Hunny played with her Saddle Club doll until she got bored. I plucked my guitar, and she signed the song Ben had taught her. Lunchtime passed, but no bell clanged to announce it. We snacked from our private supplies.
As day faded into dusk, no one came to collect us. For anything. I heard a vehicle start up and drive away, but we weren’t invited to go along. Dinnertime came and went without any fanfare. If Durand distributed MREs and bread, no one told us.
I checked out the window for the one-thousandth time. Dark settled over the camp and the only light shone from candles and lanterns. Fewer than the day before.
“Juliet,” Pollard said, turning serious and using his five-star-general voice on the girl. “You’re the least suspicious person here. I need you to sneak into the supply room and steal tools. Crowbars. Screwdrivers. Hammers. Whatever you can find to help Maya break into Smart’s lab.”
“I can do that.”
His mouth tensed. “Can you do it now?”
“Right now?”
Pollard glanced at the window as if to verify it was still night, though the curtain was drawn. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it now.”
“But where will we go?” Hunny exclaimed, climbing onto my lap and blocking my view of everything but the back of her blonde head.
“Back to the truck stop?” I guessed, shifting positions so I could see the others.
“We might as well keep moving,” Pollard said. “Washington, D.C. isn’t that far. Maybe there are more survivors there.”
Another road trip. “But what if we get separated?” Suddenly, I missed cell phones. And GPS. And Google Earth. “We should have a plan in case I can’t get out of camp right away.” I pictured the surrounding landscape in my mind. Virginia swamps, forests, hills and… “The beach,” I decided. “Head east until you hit water. Wait for me there. I’ll be right behind you.” That was best-case scenario. Worst-case scenario—I would get caught trying to rescue Ben and disciplined Camp Carson style.
“You better be,” Pollard said grimly. “And if we don’t meet up there, we’ll meet at the base of the Washington Monument.”
“I won’t forget.” I draped my arms around Hunny’s chest. “What else do we need for the distraction?”
“Fuel,” he said. “While Juliet is gone, I’ll steal gas from one of their jeeps.”
“Do you know how to do that?” I only knew how to put gas into a tank.
“Yes.” He turned to Juliet. “You ready?”
She nodded.
“And if you have any weapons or ammo in your room, bring those, too.” Pollard blew out a long breath, and then he and Juliet slipped out of the room together.
“I’m worried about Ben,” Hunny said quietly.
“Me, too.” Urging her off my lap, I visually inventoried our room. Clothes. Basic medical supplies. Some food. A little water. “Help me pack our gear into backpacks, okay?”
In the time we’d lived at Camp Carson we hadn’t collected much. In fact, it seemed like we had less than what we’d arrived with. I sorted water into nearly equal portions and packed them into three bags along with clothing, toiletries, and first aid. There wasn’t much food left, but I divvied it up, too.
I tested the weight of my pack. Not bad. I could run with it on and still be fast.
The door swung open and my pulse sped up.
But it was just Pollard with a pitcher of gasoline.
“That was fast,” I said, my palm pressed to my chest.
“I hurried.” Setting the fuel on the dresser, he piled the bedding into a mound in the middle of the room. “Gather everything flammable.”
We made a mountain of sheets, blankets, pillows, clothes, and mattresses. When we were finished Hunny leapt onto the top, smushing it all and waving her arms and legs like a struggling swimmer.
The fact that she found delight in such a macabre task actually made me feel a little better.
The door opened again and a narrow figure whisked inside. “All I could find in the supply room was a screwdriver.” Juliet produced an extra long and heavy flathead from her pants leg. “And this.” She offered me a handgun and an extra clip.
“I’ll just take this.” I collected the tool. “Thanks.”
Pollard, though, had no problem accepting the gun and checking if it was loaded. It was. “This is great.” He smiled warmly at her. “Thank you.”
Blushing, she waved at our pile. “Do you need more?”
“Sure,” he said.
She hurried next door and, after a coup
le minutes, returned with bedding and clothes of her own.
“Before we light this,” Pollard said, glancing at each of us in turn, “get your packs on. And be ready to run. The moment we leave the fence we have to be fast in case they follow us.”
Juliet returned to her room to pack, and the silence was unnerving.
“I wish we’d never come here,” Hunny grouched, still playing in the pile of bedding, wiggling and belly-flopping.
“We had to,” I said quietly as I scooted to the edge of Pollard’s bed and pressed my forehead to the cool window glass. Only a few candles in the camp remained lit. “We have the cure to 212R. We have a responsibility to help others.”
“Like Ben?” she asked.
My eyes snapped to the fourth door on the second floor of the east building. Why didn’t he answer me when I called to him? Why hadn’t he stood at the window, at least, so I’d know he was alive and safe?
“Yes,” I said. “Like Ben.”
“I’m ready,” Juliet announced, slipping inside our room. She carried a shoulder bag and a picture book in her arms.
“What’s that?” Hunny demanded, bouncing off her cloth mountain.
“Oh.” Frowning, Juliet stared at the book as if not sure how to answer. “I brought it from home.” Dropping to her knees in front of Hunny, she opened the book to the first page. Peeking around them, I detected a princess and a rainbow. “I used to read it to my little sister Renee.”
“It’s a special book?” Hunny asked, turning the pages with care.
Juliet nodded, her eyes shining in the candlelight. “It’s a very special book.”
“Sorry girls,” Pollard said, stepping around them. “But there’s no reason to stall any longer.” He carefully emptied the pitcher of stolen gasoline atop the pile of clothes and bedding. “Stand by the door. This is gonna get hot.”
I helped Hunny into her pack, grabbed my guitar, and backed into the door.
The actual building was made of cinderblocks and tile. We probably couldn’t get it to burn to the ground without an explosive, but the plan was to burn enough to scare everyone into thinking the barracks would blow up.
Pollard edged toward us, lit a match, and let it sail toward the pile. With a ferocious whoosh the room exploded into flames. I ripped open the door, and we all tumbled onto the landing.
