“Our way of saying thank you, Leo.” Corey said. “The trailer’s yours.”
“You’re kidding me.” Leo said. “Mom, Dad, you guys okay with this?”
“Why not?” Sydney asked. “We could use the extra room in our camper anyway.”
“The way that dog’s sticking to him, I imagine you just freed up her spot too.” George added.
“Oh, she’s definitely moving in with me.” Leo said.
“We figured.” Stu said.
“Thank you so much, guys!” Leo said “This is awesome. I can’t wait to show Liv.”
“You’ve got a bit of cleaning to do before you have any guests over, kiddo.” Stacey said. “The boys hauled it out and got a small wood stove in there for you, but I doubt very much they scrubbed the place down at all.”
“No, we most definitely did not.” Stu said. “I don’t remember him ever cleaning our room.”
“I don’t remember you ever cleaning our room.” Sydney said.
“Harsh, but fair.” Stu said.
Looking towards the Baker camper, they saw the kids all hurrying over followed by Brian and Fran. They all looked very excited to be meeting the mysterious new girl that had come to visit them yesterday. Of course, being let out of school early had certainly contributed to their enthusiasm.
“You sure about this, Nichelle?” Fran asked. “They’re all a little hyper right now.”
“We’ll let them visit with her two at a time for a few minutes each.” Nichelle replied. “Kids, she’s still not feeling all that well, so you need to be mindful of that. Don’t ask her a bunch of questions because she can’t speak at all. Just say, ‘Hi, Liv’ and introduce yourselves. Maybe you can tell her to get well soon or something like that, okay? Jenny, you’re in charge.”
The children all acknowledged that they understood and filed into the cabin.
“Leo, you should head back in there too and keep an eye on things.” Stu said.
“You got it.” Leo said. “Thanks again, guys.”
“Our pleasure, Leo.” Stacey replied.
Their parents went back inside and retook their seats at the kitchen table. While Leo escorted Cindy and Barry Baker in, Jenny waited outside the medical room door with Brody, Joey and Dion. She was determined to make sure that the parade of younger children ran smoothly.
“You think Grace and Cole will find anything out there?” Stu asked.
“Shit, I don’t know.” George replied. “The clothes Liv had on smelled to high hell of two stroke exhaust. She was definitely on a snowmobile at some point.”
“Hopefully, she doesn’t have anybody out there still waiting for help.” Terrell said.
“Even at just a few degree below freezing they’d be gone by now.” Nichelle added. “I don’t think Liv would have lasted another hour or two.”
“Did Hal even have a snowmobile, Stu?” Sydney asked.
“They ‘inherited’ four of them from those Sudbury guys.” Stu replied. “Why she would take one here, though, is beyond me.”
“You think it was just to come see Leo?” Fran asked.
“Man, I hope not.” Stu said. “Leo doesn’t need anymore guilt on his conscience.”
“He’s suffered enough in the girlfriend department already.” Sydney added, referencing the heart breaking death of Leo’s first girlfriend, Hannah.
“I assume Hal told her how to find us.” George said. “Our location isn’t common knowledge… right?”
“Only Hal and Rob know our location, George.” Stu said. “I’m sure Nora and Hess… I’m sure Nora has some idea too, but he swore to us that he wouldn’t tell the others.”
“Oh, shit, that reminds me.” Terrell said, tapping at his two chest pockets. “I found a map in her coat. It had a direct route laid out on it leading straight here. It was just a hand-drawn sketch sealed in a plastic baggie, but it was fairly detailed.”
“Sounds like Hal’s handy work.” Stu said. “The guy’s got a real knack for it.”
“Crap, it must be in one of my other shirts.” Terrell said, giving up on his search.
“Well, at least we know how she found the place now.” George said. “You find anything else on her?”
“Just a couple of those disposable lighters and a small flashlight.” Terrell replied. “I imagine she had a bag with her too, but she must have lost it before I found her.”
“Her coat and stuff is still in that closet over there if any of you what to take another look.” George said.
“You think you still have that map, Terrell?” Brian asked.
“I’m sure of it.” Terrell replied. “I meant to show you guys earlier, but it completely slipped my mind. I’ve never been there, so I’m not sure where they live, but I remember finding it strange that the route began out in the woods instead of on a road. I really wanted to ask you guys about that.”
“Maybe you can find it and show it to us later then.” Brian said.
“No problem.” Terrell said.
As the kids walked out of the medical room, they all took a seat around the woodstove and chatted amongst themselves while they waited for the others. Jenny and Dion were the last to go in, but after Dion walked out Jenny had lingered a while longer. When she came out she immediately walked to her father’s side to ask him a question about their new friend.
“Daddy, why aren’t you doing something to help?” Jenny asked.
“Doctor Terrell and Doctor Nichelle are doing everything they can, Jenny.” Corey replied. “She’ll feel better soon. You don’t have to worry about Liv.”
“I’m not talking about Liv.” Jenny said. “I’m talking about her family.”
“Her family is just fine, sweetie.” Stacey said. “We’ll be seeing them again soon.”
“Not according to Liv.” Jenny said. “She kept telling me that they need help.”
“When did she say that?” Stu asked. “Just now?”
“Yes sir.” Jenny replied. “She kept saying ‘we need help,’ ‘we need help,’ over and over again.”
“Corey, Jenny, come with me.” Stu said. “You too, docs.”
They got up and went over to the medical room. Curiosity getting the better of them, all the other adults had hurried over to the door as well.
Stu walked over to Olivia where Leo had resumed his position sitting at her bedside. Looking down at the young woman, she appeared to be awake, but disoriented. To Stu, she looked to be in the same state that she was in the last time he had checked in on her.
“Leo, has she said anything to you?” Stu asked.
“No, she keeps trying to say stuff, but nothing really comes out.” Leo replied.
“Jenny, do you want to try again?” Corey asked.
“Hi, Liv, it’s me again, Jenny. Would you tell them what you said to me earlier, please?”
“What? She didn’t say any…”
“…Quiet, Leo!” Stu said.
“Eendlb. Eendlb… Eendlb!” Olivia said.
“That’s the same thing she’s been repeating since yesterday.” Nichelle said.
“Liv, please tell Jenny again what you said to her earlier.” Corey said.
“What are you talking about, Daddy?” Jenny asked. “She did just say it again. We need help. We need help. We need help!”
“Oh my goodness… that is what she’s saying.” Nichelle said. “Eendlb, we-nd-lp, we-need-help. The feeling in her mouth isn’t able to form the words properly, so she’s melding them into one abbreviated word. To her ears, it may sound perfectly normal, but to ours the words sound like gibberish.”
“Liv, say something else.” Terrell said. “Anything else at all.”
“Fiay”
“Anybody get that?” Terrell asked.
“She said ‘finally.’ What’s the matter with you guys?” Jenny asked.
“Liv, can you say ‘yes’ for me, sweetheart?” Nichelle asked.
“E.”
“Now say ‘no’ if you can.”
“Oh.”
“We’re in business.” Terrell said. “Ask your yes or no questions, guys.”
“Hang on.” Nichelle said. “First, I want everyone nonessential out. Liv doesn’t need to be overwhelmed right now. That means you and Jersey too, Leo.”
Olivia reached out for Jenny’s hand and Jenny immediately took it and squeezed it tight.
“Jenny, you and your dad can stay.” Stu said. “Do your thing, Bri. We’ll wait for you guys in the kitchen. Find out what’s going on over there.”
“I’ll try.” Brian said.
“Five minutes is all you get, guys.” Nichelle said before closing the door and leaving them alone.
“Hi, Liv.” Brian said, turning to the young lady. “My name is Brian Baker. Do you remember me?”
“E.”
“Are we at Weyr Resort right now?”
“Oh.”
“Good.” Brian said, pleased with her answers to his sample questions. Time to get down to business. Five minutes would be up before he knew it.
“I know you were walking for a while, but were you on a snowmobile before that?”
“E.”
“Were you alone on that snowmobile?”
“E.”
“Is everything alright at home?”
“Oh.”
“Was your home attacked?”
“E!”
“Liv, I’m really sorry, but I need to know this… Was anybody hurt?”
A tear started to run down Olivia’s cheek as she struggled to reply to Brian’s last question.
“…E.”
◆◆◆
…and an eidetic memory doesn’t necessarily account for her ability to hear words that aren’t there.” Nichelle said. “Jenny seemed genuinely surprised when none of us could hear what she was hearing. I think there’s a lot more going on inside of that beautiful mind of hers than even her father knows.”
“If the world didn’t go crazy, I imagine Jenny would be well on her way to her first university degree by now.” Terrell added. “Stacey, did either of them ever mention Jenny’s level of education?”
“I’m sorry, guys, but Corey doesn’t really like me talking about Jenny’s intelligence.” Stacey replied. “He believes that people treat her differently when they find out about her special abilities.”
“Well, I can certainly understand that.” Terrell said with a sly grin. “My parents struggled with the same thing.”
“Terrell Jackson, will you give it a rest? You skipped grade four, for Pete’s sake.” Nichelle said. “You’re hardly the next Albert Einstein.”
They heard the med room door open and Brian walked back out to the kitchen. His face was almost white and he looked as though he was ready to be sick.
“Fran, please take the children home.” Brian said as he took a seat. “Leo, you can go back in to see Liv now. She’s asleep again, so just let her rest. That was all pretty upsetting to her.”
“To us all.” Corey added as he and Jenny entered the kitchen. Jenny had obviously been crying and Corey looked positively shell shocked.
“I’d like to go home too, please, Daddy.” Jenny said.
“Come on, sweetie, I’ll go with you.” Stacey said.
Once the others had left, the ones that remained stared at Brian and Corey waiting patiently for one of them to speak up.
“It’s not good, guys.” Brian finally said. “We can try to get some more details from her tomorrow, but here’s what we know so far. Xander’s group attacked two or three weeks ago… It sounds like some of our friends are dead.”
Chapter 20
After arriving at the luxurious lodge in Burwash, anyone that didn’t serve some critical purpose was eventually eliminated. The first two to learn of Xander’s strict new policy were Helmut and Ursula Krüger, the nice old German Canadian couple that owned the place.
On the day of Xander’s arrival, the hunting party had returned to find that they had some new ‘guests.’ Xander had calmly introduced himself while his men stood behind him with their rifles slung innocuously over their shoulders. After asking politely that the staffers surrender their firearms in the name of ‘safety’ they had all gone off to dress the day’s catch and to tend to their regular duties. Meanwhile, Xander graciously invited the two elderly owners to a private meeting, so that they could discuss how best to proceed.
Leading them to their own office, Xander asked Helmut and Ursula to take a seat on their beautiful white leather sofa while Xander closed the door behind them. He then sat down in an equally beautiful chair and guided a perfectly civil discussion. Xander soon found that they did indeed present as a friendly old couple, more than willing to cooperate and work together towards the common good. In less than one half hour, though, it was made perfectly clear to Xander that the Krügers would not be handing over control of their beloved lodge to him or anybody else.
Xander never mentioned exactly what was said during that meeting, but it had ended far less amicably than anyone had expected. When Xander walked out of that room, both husband and wife were left sitting side by side on that sofa with matching bullet holes to the forehead.
It had taken Helmut and Ursula 25 years to build their dream into a reality and only 25 minutes for Xander to tear it all away. Xander would later comment that it was a ‘crying shame’ what he had been forced to do… to that beautiful white leather sofa.
After the sudden and horrific murders of their treasured employers it was perfectly clear to the rest of the staff that their nice cozy cooperative was officially gone. Even Finn’s men quickly learned to drop the pretense of friendship, replacing ‘please’ with ‘now’ and ‘thank you’ with ‘about damn time.’
The staffers already thought that their lives had taken a horrible turn, being stranded in the wilderness away from their family and friends, but they were now stuck in a living nightmare. They were forced to work diligently everyday to prove their worth and earn their keep. Regardless of their efforts, however, most would end up being escorted on a long walk deep into the forest. They would be left behind where their bodies would eventually be picked clean by the resident wildlife.
Within a week, the husbands of the three maids were the first to be taken out on such a hike. Completely unwilling to have their wives participating in Xander’s ‘associates’ program, the three doomed men had been brusquely marched off. Xander and his men got their play things and the creatures of the forest got three additional mounds of meat to get them through the winter.
The choice to simply leave the lodge was never offered for fear that the exiled might come back with armed reinforcements. ‘The prepper weirdos are still out there,’ Xander had told them. As a result, he insisted that nobody be set free and given an opportunity to make contact with them.
By the third week, with their food stocks quickly depleting, Xander had some drastic cuts to make and he didn’t hesitate to make them. It made no sense to him to keep the kitchen staff on with so little to actually cook, so they were promptly eliminated. The lodge’s groundskeeper followed a week later. His only job was to keep the fires fed, a task that Xander’s men were perfectly capable of handling on their own, so he was out.
The last people to go missing were actually company men, two young guys by the names of Mel and Trey. Two days before Xander ordered everybody to start packing, they had failed to return from a last minute hunting trip. Whether they had gotten hurt, lost or attacked nobody knew because Xander hadn’t permitted a single search party to go out after them. Considering their food was almost completely exhausted, Xander had no interest in going out of his way to bring back more mouths to feed. The Company was already travelling heavy three associates, so he had taken the loss of two low level foot soldiers without a hint of guilt or remorse.
By day 30, the three maids, Alyssa, Cathy and Hailey, were all that remained of the staffers. All combined, 35 company men and staffers had called the lodge in Burwash home. Only 24 pulled out heading for Weyr Resort. The for
est had claimed the rest.
A few kilometres short of their destination, Xander had Mars stop the convoy, so the men could have a quick bite to eat and be filled in on their individual assignments. Judging by the vehicles they all rode in, they already had a good idea of what they would be doing, but only Xander and Mars in the plow truck had discussed the plan in any great detail.
Their men would soon discover that the attack on Weyr Resort would be a well choreographed surprise assault and Xander would insist on nothing short of perfection in its execution. He drilled into his men that even the smallest screw up could put the entire operation in jeopardy. Xander warned them all in the simplest of terms… messing up today would have dire repercussions for the culprit tomorrow. He then went on to give some examples of things that would seriously piss him off and the following consequences should he find out about it.
Most were small things with lesser punishments.
“If three men show up at a cabin door that only has two assigned to it, I’ll see to it that the errant man gets the tar pounded out of him.”
A few were more serious with deadly consequences.
“If one of you shoots an unarmed person or someone that is clearly surrendering, I’ll place a bullet in the back of your head myself.”
And one was an outright atrocity that would cost the perpetrator dearly.
“If any of you kill a woman or a child needlessly, I’ll have you dig their grave yourself and then I’ll throw you in there with them… alive.”
All of these rules were put in place for one simple reason… this resort was useless to them without the people that knew how to keep everything running smoothly. Xander needed them alive, healthy and ready to work. The fewer they needed to kill, the better.
Xander didn’t truly give a damn about the women and children, but having a bunch of dead family members lying around would seriously mess with this community’s moral and willingness to keep the place going. Xander figured that if they didn’t care to keep that boiler running, he and his men would freeze right along side of them.
Once he was sure that everybody knew exactly what was expected of them, Xander told them to saddle up.
EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4 Page 32
