Bloody Sunset

by Gwendolyn Harper

  Max nodded solemnly. “I know,” he whispered. “But we’ll figure it out.”

  Caitlin sneered. “Is that what you all said after half your group was gunned down?”

  It was a low blow but she didn’t care. She was angry and grieving and she couldn’t see a way out for them.

  Not yet. Not now.

  Luna sobbed into her hand behind her and Caitlin whirled on her.

  “Trish. Steve. Edward. Over a dozen others. They’re gone now,” she snarled. “Because no one was paying attention. Because you people got soft. What, did you just forget the world ended?”

  “Caitlin, this wasn’t their fault,” Nicole said, stepping towards her.

  She hadn’t even realized she was there.

  “No?” Caitlin countered, facing her best friend. “They’re the ones everyone elected. They’re the ones people put their faith in.” She turned on Nathaniel and Luna again. “We told you. We told you time and again that someone in this group was damaged and sick and going to escalate, and you did nothing but sit on your hands and whimper about keeping the peace. And now look where we are. People are dead, our home was burned down, and Donna…” She curled her lip, staring at Luna. “We found Donna. Turned, and shoved in a goddamn closet.”

  Nathaniel gaped. “What?”

  “Donna was a rotter?” Luna asked, voice trembling.

  Disgust pulled at Caitlin’s features. “Someone managed to lure her away, get her bit, and then brought her back to the school to keep under a padlock. We found her when we went looking for fire extinguishers. She almost killed me and Nicole.”

  Luna struggled to take a deep breath. “I… I don’t under…stand.”

  “What’s not to get?” Caitlin asked her. “We have a psychopath living with us. And all of this happened while you people were having fun playing city council.”

  She took a step back, glaring at everyone in front of her.

  “If you ask me, none of you are fucking fit to lead. Not with this much blood on your hands.”

  Shaking, and with a foul taste in her mouth, Caitlin turned her back on them and started back towards the others.

  “Don’t look at me,” Booker said in response to something she didn’t see. “I happen to agree with her.”

  Brushing past several people, Caitlin B-lined for the Jeep if only to be secluded from everyone else.

  She wasn’t sure if what she said was just her grief pouring out or her real thoughts finally surfacing, but she knew she couldn’t just go sit back down and pretend she hadn’t verbally cut everyone at their kneecaps in only two minutes.

  Opening the passenger side door, she climbed in, ignoring the sound of someone calling her name, and slammed it behind her.

  * * * * * * *

  The night was long and cold.

  So was the day.

  Most gave Caitlin a wide berth, having heard her tirade despite the barrier of the bus.

  As they struggled to find a suitable place to hole up for even a few days, Caitlin decided two things.

  The first was that the only person she’d apologize to would be Max.

  And the second was she’d never allow other people to make judgement calls for her again, no matter how much others trusted them.

  The reward didn’t outweigh the risk.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Oklahoma

  One week later

  Their salvation came from an overrun trailer park.

  It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was better than lean-tos and sleeping in shifts inside the bus, huddled under flimsy blankets for warmth.

  Luna had been against clearing the trailers, saying she didn’t want to risk more lives.

  Booker and Caitlin volunteered easily.

  Since the blow up, they’d taken to keeping mostly to themselves. Nicole and Scott stayed close of course. And no matter how little they had, Caitlin always found something to share with Max, David, and Matilda.

  Desi always found her way back to them for one reason or another. Tutoring with Nicole and Scott, playing with Fancy, helping Booker to keep the Jeep running, sitting quietly and reading while they planned their next scouting trip.

  Caitlin was aware they were closing their own ranks, choosing who was part of their inner circle over others, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop.

  She’d brought dozens of people out into the apocalyptic wilds and had failed to keep them safe like she’d promised. The less people she had to worry about, the better her odds were of keeping the ones she loved alive.

  Luna had argued with them about going into the trailer park alone, telling them it was too risky. That was when Nicole stepped up, saying three was better than two.

  It wasn’t easy, but in under an hour the grounds of the Sunny Ridge mobile home park were Geek free.

  Most of the trailers were double-wides, with plenty of space for families to bunk together. A few were in dire need of repair, and a particularly ancient trailer that looked like it had been there since the seventies had a caved in roof and dead raccoons inside.

  They left that one alone.

  Sticking to the edge of the park, Booker and Caitlin took a small single with a steel fire pit set up near the front under what was left of an awning.

  They were a little surprised that Nicole and Scott took the trailer to their left, and even more shocked that Max and David had chosen the one to their right, away from the new homes of the elected officials.

  It wouldn’t be a permanent homestead, but it would keep them alive for winter.

  They hoped.

  Sister Agnes took to watching over the trailer with the orphaned children like it was a summer camp, setting them all up with their own sleeping areas and giving them daily activities and chores.

  On the second night, after everyone had gone to sleep, a knock sounded at Caitlin and Booker’s trailer door.

  Sitting up with a start, Caitlin stared at the door like she expected a monster to burst through.

  “’S alright,” Booker told her, climbing out of the twin sofa bed. “I got it.”

  Peeking through the window, he scowled and opened the flimsy wooden door a crack.

  “Desi? What’re you—”

  “I can’t sleep,” she said, sounding so small it broke Caitlin’s heart.

  Quickly, Booker ushered her inside out of the cold.

  “Ain’t you supposed to be with Sister Agnes?” He asked, watching Desi shuffle into the narrow kitchen-dining-living area.

  Desi glanced from Caitlin to Booker. “I don’t like it over there.”

  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Caitlin said, “Sister Agnes will be worried about you when she sees you’re gone.”

  “I left a note on my pillow,” Desi said with a casual shrug.

  “Oh, well, if ya left a note then…” Booker muttered, walking back to the edge of their fold out cot.

  Big hazel eyes tracked him. “Can I stay here with you?”

  Before either of them could argue, she added, “Please?” with the most sympathetic pout Caitlin had ever seen.

  Sighing, Booker looked over his shoulder at Caitlin and lifted an eyebrow.

  Couldn’t hurt.

  She tilted her head.

  I’m fine with it if you are.

  “A’ight,” Booker said, patting the flimsy mattress. “But if ya kick me in your sleep, I’mma kick ya back.”

  Desi smirked. “No you won’t.”

  Caitlin covered her mouth to hide her grin. The girl sure could go toe-to-toe with Booker.

  Just before she could climb into the middle of the bed, another knock at the door brought all their heads around.

  “Well ain’t we popular,” Booker said, going to answer it for a second time.

  Caitlin expected it to be Sister Agnes looking for Desi, but when she heard a man’s voice she went perfectly still.

  “Hey…” Nathaniel greeted, keeping some distance away from their stoop.

  Crossing his arms, Booker leaned
his shoulder into the frame. “Bit late for a social call, ain’t it?”

  “Yeah, I know. Sorry,” Nathaniel murmured. “I, uh…” He cleared his throat. “I need to talk to you. Both of you.”

  Booker frowned. “’Bout what, exactly?”

  “About something I’d rather other people didn’t overhear.”

  After a beat of consideration, Booker exhaled and stood up straight. Stepping to the side, he gestured for the other man to come inside.

  As Nathaniel entered, he glanced at Caitlin and immediately blinked in surprise to see Desi settling under the blankets.

  “She couldn’t sleep at Sister Agnes’ place,” she explained. “So we told her she could stay with us tonight.”

  Nodding, he didn’t comment. Looking at Booker, it was obvious he wanted to speak as privately as possible with the two of them.

  Placing a pillow behind Desi, Caitlin whispered, “Why don’t you get cozy and rest your eyes, okay? We’re just going to be right over there talking.” She pointed to the small built in kitchenette table and bench seats a few feet away.

  “Okay,” Desi said, already rolling onto her side and pulling the blankets up to her chin.

  Climbing out of bed, Caitlin adjusted the waistband of her thermal leggings and the oversized sweatshirt she wore.

  It belonged to Booker, but she enjoyed sleeping in it. Not that he complained seeing her in his clothes.

  Offering a seat to Nathaniel on one side of the table, Caitlin and Booker sat across from him, waiting expectantly.

  “Look, I know things have been… tense lately,” Nathaniel started.

  Caitlin coughed to cover up her snort of laughter.

  “Honestly, I don’t blame you guys for being upset. I’m angry too, and I blame myself partly for letting the fire happen. I mean, Jesus, I was a fireman in New York. I should have been paying better attention.”

  “So why weren’t you?” Caitlin asked, not caring if her tone was just shy of bitchy.

  Nathaniel shrugged, staring down at his hands. “I guess I was focusing on everything else going on. Setting up for more Ark escapees, planning for possible crops, personal stuff…”

  She decided against mocking the fact that getting laid again distracted him.

  “And…” Nathaniel looked up at them. “I guess part of me didn’t want to believe we’d have someone that sick and twisted in our group. When the Rejects first found each other, we were like a family. We loved each other, cared for each other, watched each other’s backs. There was no way any one of us would do something like this. But now…”

  “Guess your Brady Bunch time ran out,” Booker said, leaning back against the bench’s ragged upholstery.

  “I guess so,” Nathaniel agreed, disheartened.

  Caitlin narrowed her stare on him. “Nathaniel, what got you to change your mind?”

  “You know the supply run Brooke and I went on yesterday?”

  She nodded.

  “We didn’t just go look for food,” he said. “We went back to the school.”

  “You what?”

  He leaned forward on his elbows. “I wanted to see for myself,” he said. “Look for any clues as to what happened.”

  Booker shifted in his seat. “And?”

  “And the fire didn’t just start in the clinic,” Nathaniel said. “There were multiple ignition points and an accelerant was used—probably cleaning solutions from the janitor’s closet.”

  A rock sunk to the bottom of Caitlin’s stomach.

  “Where were the other fires set?” Booker asked.

  “Other than the clinic, one was set in the library, one in a bunk on the west side of the school, and then the cafeteria.”

  Caitlin’s head snapped up. “The cafeteria?”

  “Yeah, from the burn pattern, it was probably the last one set,” Nathaniel said with a nod. “Why?”

  Flashes from that horrible night flickered behind Caitlin’s eyelids.

  “I know who set the fires,” she said. “And I think I can prove it.”

  * * * * * * *

  Breakfast was a quiet, tense affair as everyone tried imagining the flavorless, watery oatmeal they ate was anything else.

  Caitlin barely registered the food she forced down.

  She was too busy tracking Seth as he wandered around the camp, saying hello to a few people, bringing firewood over, smiling at the cluster of children playing some version of hopscotch in the frost covered grass.

  Chewing, she rolled her options over in her head again and again, examining them for possible weak spots.

  She and Nicole were witnesses to an extent. They’d only seen Seth come out of the cafeteria with fire extinguishers, they hadn’t seen him enter with chemicals and they couldn’t be certain no one else went in after he left.

  They needed him to slip up. To admit some element of guilt.

  And the only way to do that was to interrogate him.

  Caitlin just needed the prime opportunity, believing the element of surprise would give them an advantage.

  If they let him know they suspected him too early, he’d have time to come up with explanations to everything, maybe even get rid of evidence.

  She watched as Seth took a seat close to some of the older kids as they poked sticks into the burning logs of the cooking fire. Smiling, he chatted quietly with a few of the boys and then handed another forked twig to Desi.

  Whatever he said made her smile, but something rotten coiled in Caitlin’s gut.

  Why would a grown man be sitting that close to a child he barely knew? A child he didn’t look after or love.

  “Hey Desi,” Booker called sharply. “Why dontchu help Scott and Nicole with the washin’, alright?”

  Caitlin turned to look up at him, and caught the suspicious fury barely hidden beneath the surface.

  Booker saw it too. Felt it. And no way in hell was Seth getting any closer to Desi on his watch.

  With a blessedly oblivious shrug, Desi stood up. “Okay.”

  She might have been borderline genius, but Caitlin was forever grateful Desi didn’t have knowledge of what they were all thinking. She’d been kept from that horror at least.

  Seth cocked his head, expression questioning and deceitful at the same time.

  Feigned innocence.

  It set Booker off instantly.

  Dropping the hatchet he was using to break up firewood, Booker strode over, motioning for Seth to come talk to him.

  “You stay away from her,” he warned the moment Seth was close enough. “In fact, stay away from all of these kids. Ain’t a single good reason to be buddy’n up to ‘em.”

  Seth held out his hands in subtle defense. “Hold on, I wasn’t… Booker, I’m sorry if you thought I was being inappropriate. I’d never—”

  “That’s what they all say,” Booker cut in, keeping his voice down.

  “I was only trying to keep them entertained,” Seth explained, a little too calm given the circumstances. “It’s hard for these kids. No families, no structure. I just thought—”

  “I don’t give damn what you thought,” Booker snapped. “Y’keep your hands and your words to yourself.”

  Taking a step as if to leave, Booker thought again and turned back, pointing a finger at Seth.

  “If I catch you near Desi again, I’ll string ya up a tree and leave ya for groaner bait.”

  Bewildered, Seth stayed put, running his hand over the back of his head.

  As Booker returned to the wood pile, the window of opportunity appeared to Caitlin in an instant.

  She just hated how it presented itself.

  Setting her bowl down next to the trailer stoop she’d been sitting on, she locked eyes with Booker.

  Please trust me.

  “You didn’t have to be so harsh,” she said, voice just loud enough for Seth to hear.

  And he did.

  Seth stared intently as Caitlin faced off with Booker.

  Frowning, Booker replied, “He’s been lingerin�
�� around them kids too long. I don’t care what he thinks he’s doin’—”

  “You didn’t have to embarrass him though,” Caitlin argued. “He’s just trying to help.”

  Confusion and anger bled into every corner of Booker’s expression.

  “Cae, what in the hell has gotten into you?” He asked in a harsh whisper.

  She couldn’t risk Seth hearing her explain. All she could do was hold Booker’s stare and hope.

  “I’m sick of you bullying people,” she snapped. “Not everyone has to do what you say, Jack.”

  For a millisecond, pure, blindsided pain flashed in Booker’s eyes.

  I’m sorry.

  I’m sorry.

  I’m sorry.

  Curling his lip, he waved her off. “A’ight, if you’re so sick of it, why dontchu go on then?”

  Caitlin clutched her silver bird pendant, staring up at Booker.

  “Fine,” she said, never looking away from him.

  “Fine.”

  Turning on her heel, Caitlin tossed her hair over her shoulder.

  “Jackass,” she muttered, loud enough for anyone paying attention to hear.

  Striding across the short lawns, she wove around the back end of one of the trailers and slowed.

  Footsteps followed her but they weren’t Booker’s.

  “Hey,” Seth whispered, catching up to her.

  Caitlin took a deep breath, steadying herself.

  Facing him, she wrapped her arms around her middle. “I’m so sorry, Seth. He had no right—”

  “It’s okay,” he told her, offering a smile. “Guys like Booker just like to blow a lot of hot air.”

  She let out a dark chuckle. “You’re telling me.”

  It felt like setting a snare. Careful loops and knotwork, all for a single purpose.

  “He can be such a tyrant sometimes,” she continued. “And the way he manipulates the officials and everyone else… It makes me sick.”

  Intrigue lit up Seth’s eyes. “Booker has their ear, huh?”

  “He has them all in the palm of his hand,” she said. “But no one sees it ‘cause he’s handsome and so charming with that southern drawl.” She sneered. “If only they knew what he was really like.”

  Taking a measured step closer, Seth said, “It sounds like you need someone to talk to.”