“How many chickens do we have left out there?” Corey asked as he looked up from his bowl with a look of pure delight.
“No doubt!” Stu said. “I could get used to eating like this.”
“Ha! I think there’s only eight hens left plus the rooster.” George replied.
“Well, you need to put that rooster to work then.” Corey said.
“Yeah, Georgie, get some speed dating going on out there.” Stu added.
“Ha! Elite Chickens.” Sydney said.
“Chicken Friend Finder.” Stacey countered.
“How about, ‘C’ Harmony?” Gwen offered.
“Or Plenty of Chicken.” Fran said.
“Ha! That’s the one!” Grace said. “Make it happen, Dad.”
“I’m not running a damn poultry dating service out there.” George said. “You want chicks, you go out there and make the introductions. Maybe set up a nice romantic candlelight corn pecking.”
Throughout the absurd exchange, the group had been chuckling fairly consistently, but they had all grown accustomed to each other’s quirky sense of humour. Olivia, however, hadn’t been around anything remotely resembling a happy gathering in weeks. As a result, she suddenly dropped her spoon and burst out laughing. Tears ran from her eyes as she struggled to regain her composure. The ridiculous images that these silly people had placed in her head was absolutely hilarious to her. The mere idea of chicken match making, with everything else that was going on around them, had her laughing hysterically.
The rest of them were soon splitting their sides as well. Apparently, after the last few days they had endured, Olivia wasn’t the only one that needed a good laugh.
“Should we be concerned that you ladies know all of these dating sites?” Brian asked.
“If you spent any time online, Bri, you would have gotten hammered with their ads too.” Sydney replied.
“I was online all day, everyday.” Brian said.
“You were on a secured government server, Brian.” Fran said. “I don’t think the feds permitted eHarmony to buy ad space on there.”
“Ha. ‘G’ Harmony.” Corey said. “The dating app for the lonely G-Man.”
And off they all went again.
◆◆◆
“Grace and Cole said they found this in the road at the entrance to our trail.” Brian said as he passed Olivia’s backpack over to her. “They followed your footprints a few kilometres up the gravel road, but they couldn’t find your snowmobile.”
“Oh, it’s a lot further away than that.” Olivia said. She accepted the pack and set it on the floor without concern or even bothering to look inside.
In Brian’s mind, Olivia had just failed her first test. She didn’t care at all about her bag or its contents. That meant leaving it behind may or may not have been intentional.
When Grace and Cole had returned with it, George had voiced his concerns to Stu about the unfortunate location of the find. ‘If she wanted somebody to find our trail, she couldn’t have chosen a better way to mark the entrance,’ George had told him. Stu didn’t believe that Olivia was being manipulated by Xander, but his repeated assurances hadn’t alleviated George’s suspicions at all.
At George’s insistence, Stu had informed Brian and Corey of George’s concerns. Surprisingly, something Brian said would cause Stu to drastically reconsider his own position. ‘If Liv somehow learned that we were responsible for her mother’s death, she may have been more inclined to sell us out to buy some favour with Xander’s men.’
After hearing that possibility Stu was happy with the decision he had made to double the guards.
They decided to leave Leo and the others out of the loop until Brian was given a chance to do his thing. Only those that already knew what was going on, Brian, Grace, George and Corey, attended Olivia’s questioning.
Brian would have preferred that only Grace accompany him, but George couldn’t be convinced to stay away. Stu had sent Corey in for one purpose only, to make sure George didn’t get in Brian’s way or cause the situation to get out of hand. Grace’s role was simply to provide a young female support person for Olivia, a sympathetic friend for an obviously distraught young girl. Instead of sitting across from Olivia, as the others were, Grace was seated beside her within hand holding distance. They would soon learn that Olivia didn’t need any such support.
“Where did you leave your snowmobile, Liv?” Brian asked.
“I ran it off the road when I was trying to turn onto the gravel road from the main highway.” Olivia replied. “Hit a patch of ice and slid straight into the ditch. It was buried so deep that I had no chance of getting it out. I tried for at least an hour before I gave up. I took what I could carry and started walking. I was just starting to get the hang of riding the stupid thing too… sucked.”
“Is this the spot you mean?” Brian asked, pointing to the intersection on the map.
“Yeah, that’s the place.” Olivia replied dismissively. “Hey, listen, are we gunna talk about going to help my family or not?”
“We will, Liv, I promise.” Brian said. “I just don’t want to miss anything important. We need to know that the people here are safe too.”
“Is Stu joining us, Brian?” Grace asked.
“No, he’s out on guard duty tonight with Sydney.” Brian replied. “I’ll fill them in later.”
“How did you get away from the resort without anyone noticing?” George asked, already disrupting the flow of Brian’s questioning. “A snowmobile’s a pretty loud machine to just sneak away on.”
Corey was ready to step in and shut George down, but he had been wondering how she would respond to such a question as well. They were all sure that they knew the answer already, but her response would serve as an important second test. This time, however, she would pass with flying colours.
“The snowmobile was brought out to a friend’s place weeks ago, long before we were attacked. I didn’t know about it until Uncle Hal wanted me to come out here. He gave me that backpack full of supplies and told me how to get to his cabin. I snuck out through the woods and crawled through a drain pipe to get across the road. Took me over an hour to snowshoe all the way out there. I don’t know if any of you guys have met Donny before, but he’s a nice old guy. Once I found the place, Donny took me in and let me warm up while he prepped the snowmobile for me.”
“And the map?” Brian asked.
“It was hidden on the snowmobile.” Olivia replied. “Uncle Hal didn’t want me showing it to Donny, so I didn’t even take a look at it until I was out of there. Donny told me how to follow a bunch of old bush trails out of the area.”
“Sounds like Hal did everything possible to keep our location a secret.” Brian said to the others.
“He even made sure Liv wouldn’t be caught with a map on her.” Corey added.
“Even Donny wouldn’t be able to give us up.” George said, starting to admit the story was sounding plausible.
“What else do you want to know?” Olivia asked, growing impatient now.
“Liv, that intersection where you left the snowmobile is an hour away from our trailhead by car.” Brian said. “It takes another hour to drive down the trail to this cabin. That’s probably a good 24 hours on foot, even without the snow.”
“Really? Honestly… I’m having a hard time remembering a lot of that walk, but I know it went on for two nights.” Olivia said. “I spent the first night in a car, but I walked through the second.”
“Why did you drop your backpack, Liv?” Brian asked. “There’s still a lot of food and supplies in there.”
“I don’t even remember losing it, Brian.” Olivia said. “If you didn’t just hand it to me now…” Olivia stopped talking as she was suddenly struck by a wave of emotion. Trying to remember every detail of her slow, arduous journey towards death was no doubt taking a tremendous toll on her. Add in the fact that she was worried sick about her few remaining family members… she was getting dangerously close to a nervous breakdown.<
br />
Brian knew all of this, of course. He also knew that time was running short. Brian was already starting to believe that Olivia was being truthful with him, but he needed to be sure, so he gave her a few more seconds to gather herself and dove straight back in.
“I’m very sorry, Liv, but we really need to keep going if we’re ever going to figure this all out.” Brian said.
“I’m alright, Brian.” Olivia said. “Go ahead.”
“What else can you remember about the trip?” Brian asked.
“I remember coming up on a really bad car accident just before dark.” Olivia said. “This one car and a delivery truck didn’t look too bad, but a minivan was completely torched. You don’t want to know what I saw inside that thing.”
“We’re aware of the accident scene up the road, Liv.” Brian said. “We know every square metre of that road.”
“Right… of course.” Liv said, giving her head a shake. “Anyway, the snow was really starting to come down, so I tried sleeping in the wrecked car. It was just too cold though. Uncle Rob gave me his… oh crap!”
Olivia had just reminded herself of something important… very important.
“What is it?” Brian asked.
“Where are the boots I was wearing?”
“They’re in a closet, Liv.” George replied. “They’re safe.”
“Uncle Rob tucked a note in them that I was supposed to give you guys.” Liv said. “It’s stuck inside the liner in a plastic bag.”
George looked at his daughter and asked, “Would you mind grabbing it, Grace? This could be important.”
As Grace ran off, Brian turned back to Liv and encouraged her to go on.
“I was just gunna say that my feet were okay because of the ridiculous boots that Uncle Rob gave me to wear. The rest of me though… I was going numb from the cold. You know how that delivery truck was completely loaded with wooden planks and stuff? Well, I built a small pile of kindling on its bed and lit it up with one of the lighters Uncle Hal gave me. I ended up setting the whole thing on fire. The car was nice and toasty after that.”
“You set that truck on fire and then went to sleep?” Brian asked.
“Totally.” Olivia replied. “There comes a point where you just gotta say, ‘screw it,’ you know? Anyway, the flames were far enough away that it ended up being alright. It was still smoldering when I woke up in the morning. I even managed to fill a couple of water bottles in the puddles of melted snow before I headed out again.”
It wasn’t lost on Brian or George that Corey had been out to that very accident scene only a day earlier. If he had of delayed his departure only one more day, the two of them probably would have returned to camp together. Nobody bothered mentioning that unfortunate fact to Olivia though. Some things are definitely better left unsaid.
“You happen to see any other vehicles out there, Liv?” Brian asked. “Is there anything else we should know?”
“I didn’t see any other vehicles, no.” Olivia replied. “I did see a few moose though… That was pretty cool.”
“Have any difficulty finding the opening to the trail?” George then asked. By this point, he was convinced that he was wrong to suspect Olivia of something nefarious, but her answer to this question would seal it.
“I… I really don’t remember finding the trail at all, George.” Olivia replied. “One minute I was walking along thinking that I was gunna die, the next I was waking up in a bed wondering how I got there.”
“We understand, Liv.” Brian said, offering George a reassuring nod. “You’ve been through a lot. George is just concerned that our entrance might not be hidden well enough.”
“Well, if I found it, I’m sure anybody can.” Olivia said, suddenly becoming concerned herself. “We should go out there and…”
“…Take it easy, Liv.” Brian said. “Stu has it covered. Nobody gets past him and his team. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Grace came back into the room holding a plastic sandwich bag with a folded up piece of paper inside.
“I found it, Dad.” Grace said handing the note to him. “Those boots are crazy insulated.”
“I know, right?” Olivia said. “Good thing Uncle Rob’s feet are so small or I never would have been able to walk in them.”
While George opened the bag and unfolded the note, Liv looked longingly back at Brian.
“Are we gunna talk about the resort now?” Olivia asked.
“Yes, I think it’s time.” Brian said. “I want you to try your best to stick to the facts, Liv. Tell me how many of them we’re dealing with and how they’re organized, that sort of thing. We don’t need to talk about any of the shootings right now. We have to keep our emotions in check as best we can, so we can get this figured out without any tears slowing us down, okay?”
Olivia pursed her lips and looked at Brian with a determined expression.
“I’m all cried out, Brian. I’m not sad anymore… I’m fuckin’ pissed.”
Chapter 22
“Good morning, Syd, Stu.” Brian said as he stepped out of his camper.
“Morning, Brian.” Sydney said.
“Hey, Bri.” Stu said while he got out of the Bronco. “You’re up early.”
“Yeah, I was hoping to speak with you before you went off to bed.” Brian said. “Quiet night?”
“Very.” Stu replied. “Corey, Stacey, Jenny and Cole just got out there in the pick up.”
“Yeah, Stacey dropped Emma off with Fran a half hour ago.” Brian said. “Looks like they’re getting an early start too.”
“They wanted to relieve us as early as they could.” Stu said. “Good thing too because Syd is looking a little wobbly over there.”
“Thanks and you look as fresh as a daisy.” Sydney said as she struggled to help an equally wobbly Brody out of the back.
“Thanks for the help, babe.” Stu said to his exhausted wife. “Straight to bed, Leo. I’ll join you guys in a little while.”
Sydney only offered her husband a half hearted salute as Brody walked off without a reply of any kind. Brian thought that both of them might fall asleep before they even reached their camper. Night shifts were always extremely hard on the younger kids, but bringing them along eased the pressure on the adults considerably. With their assistance only two adults needed to be on shift instead of three or four.
Sydney always struggled with the graveyard shifts as well, the experience never proving as ‘delightful’ as her husband would promise. Much of her difficulties were due to the inexplicable sounds that inevitably came from the darkened forest, but some were because of Stu himself. Night shifts just made Stu grumpy, plain and simple. Brian had learned to laugh off Stu’s irrational comments, but Sydney was still far from finding them remotely funny.
“Did Joey behave himself last night?” Stu asked.
“He was fine.” Brian replied. “Barry and Cindy love his little sleep overs. We’ll keep them all in school until you guys get up this afternoon. I still can’t believe you took Brody along with you. He’s welcome to spend the night with us too, Stu. I’m sure Joey wouldn’t have minded sharing his bed with his big brother.”
“Thanks, Bri, but the little guy wants to help out.” Stu said. “He just stayed in the truck the whole night anyway. I imagine he slept through most of it.”
“Was it really worth bringing him out there then?” Brian asked.
“Not really, but I wanted as many fresh adults today as I could get.” Stu replied. “That was Brody’s last night shift. The kids can rotate through the afternoon teams from now on.”
“That makes more sense.” Brian said.
“I assume you wanna know if I came up with any ideas.” Stu said.
“I do.” Brian replied. “Sorry for driving out there last night, but I wanted you to know what Liv told us. I figured I’d get your brain working on it while you were out on watch.”
“That’s fine, Bri. I actually think that I might have a workable plan, but it needs the B
aker touch. Corey and Stacey gave us permission to talk in their camper.”
Looking around the grounds, Stu noticed that there was no longer any smoke coming from the chimney of Leo’s little trailer. He had been very clear with his son that he was to move out of the medical room immediately. With Olivia awake and feeling better, having him staying in there with her was no longer appropriate.
“Any idea if Leo slept in his little bachelor pad down there?” Stu asked. “Before we left last night, I made it pretty damn clear to him that he was to move out of that med room.”
“Not sure.” Brian replied. “He was still out there working on it when I went to bed.”
“Damn it… I’m gunna have to go check.” Stu said as he started walking towards it. “This better not turn into a whole thing. That’s all I need right now is another problem around here.”
“So… you gave Hal’s situation some further thought then?” Brian asked as he matched stride with Stu.
“The situation… All I did was think about the situation, Bri.” Stu replied. “You’re convinced that Liv’s deal is legit? It’s not some sort of bullshit scam?”
“Completely.” Brian replied. “She adores your son, Stu. She keeps asking to see Jenny too. There’s no way she’d want to see them harmed.”
“Well, in that case, I think we have to go. I can’t find a way around it. We made a deal with those people that I think we should honour, but it’s about more than just that.”
“Doesn’t Hal’s message negate that deal?” Brian asked. “He told us not to come, Stu.”
Stu stopped and turned back to his friend.
“I’ve given that a lot of thought too, Bri. You know why Hal sent us that discreet message instead of just writing us a clear note like Rob did?”
“Hal obviously didn’t want Liv to know what he was telling us.” Brian replied.
“And why wouldn’t he want Liv to know?”
“I see what you’re saying, Stu. She would freak out if she knew that Hal didn’t want our help.”
EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4 Page 35
