by K. M. Fawkes
“Do you think everything is going to be better now?” he asked eagerly. “Maybe they came to tell us everything’s okay!”
Her heart twisted at the hope in her son’s eyes. “Not yet, honey,” she said gently. “They’re probably here to take us to one of those safe houses we keep hearing about on the news. It might be good to…”
She trailed off, the thought of packing a few extra belongings into their emergency bags leaving her when the massive tank rolled in. Why the hell would they need a tank to get people to a safe house?
“Mom?” Sammy whispered. “What’s that for?”
A huge soldier got out of the jeep that had led the procession. The other soldiers exited their vehicles and stood at attention beside him, waiting on their orders. The big man raised a megaphone to his mouth.
“All citizens of Sewall Street! Present yourselves, now.”
For a moment, everyone must have been as paralyzed as Anna, because not a single door opened. The soldier raised the megaphone again.
“On the sidewalk!” he yelled. “Now! Stand on the sidewalk in front of your homes. Do not speak to one another. Do not try to hide.”
Their neighbors filed out onto the sidewalks, but when Sammy moved toward the door, Anna grabbed his arm.
“No. You stay here.”
Sammy stared at her in surprise. “But the army guy said—”
“Who do you listen to?” she demanded. “Do you listen to some random soldier or to me?”
“You,” he said without hesitation.
“That’s right.”
She glanced to the window again. The soldiers were moving now, checking the houses that no one had lined up in front of. She knew that a few of them were still occupied. That would buy her a few minutes.
“Okay, listen up, kiddo. Go get those backpacks I packed and put them at the back door. Do not leave this house, do you understand me? Wait for me here. Do you understand?”
Sammy nodded, his dark eyes worried at her tone. “Okay, but—”
“No buts. Go.” She looked out again. The soldiers were nearly to their house. “Stay away from the windows. Do not let them know you’re here.”
He nodded quickly. “I won’t. Cross my heart,” he said seriously.
Anna returned the gesture and then cupped his small face in her hands. “Good. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Be ready to go.”
She hurried out of the front door just as a soldier was coming up the sidewalk. He looked annoyed, but she pretended not to notice.
“Hey, soldier.”
“What took you so long?” he demanded, looking over her shoulder.
She met his eyes boldly. “I just had to get dressed. I didn’t think you’d want me to come out here in just my bra and panties.”
Anna knew his type. The muscular, forceful guy, the kind she’d regularly brought home from the town’s one bar until the day she had seen those double lines pop up on the pregnancy test. Everything had changed after that. But that didn’t mean that she had forgotten how to appeal to the audience. His eyes skimmed her from head to toe, creating just the mental picture she’d been hoping for.
“Get in line,” he said, but his voice wasn’t as emotionless anymore. He fell into step beside her. “Stay where I can see you.”
“That’s fine with me, soldier.” She sauntered down the sidewalk, her whole body burning with shame. She really hoped that Sammy wasn’t watching. She’d made damn good sure that her son hadn’t seen that side of her.
She felt the soldier’s hand brush the back of her neck as she stopped on the edge of the sidewalk. She pushed her hands into her pockets to keep from rubbing the feeling away.
“What’s going on?” Eric Watson, from three houses down from her, asked.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep it down. You’re about to find out,” the soldier Anna had spoken to said as he moved past them to stand with the rest of his regiment again.
The big soldier with the megaphone looked around, finally satisfied that everyone was on the sidewalk. He raised the megaphone again.
“If you’re between the ages of fourteen and sixty-five, please step forward.”
After half a second's hesitation, most of the people on the street stepped forward. Anna’s mind was racing as she tried to figure out what they were looking for here. Everything from death camps, to forced war games, to safe houses raced through her mind. Sammy wasn’t between those ages. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
“If you’re a woman, you can step back.”
Anna took advantage of the order, making sure that she ended up in the shadow of the two men beside her. Jason, the landscaper who lived next door, looked back at her, noticed that Sammy wasn’t there, and edged slightly more to the side and front, shielding her a bit more. She gave him a grateful look.
“I’m sure you saw what happened to those soldiers in Louisiana. We will not allow that to happen again,” the big man said. “This is a recruitment, which is our right by the declaration of martial law. Those of you still standing in the front will now be serving your country as part of the United States Army.”
A ripple of shocked exclamation ran through the crowd. Maria Parker frantically pulled her sons back to her. Anna knew that Evan and Xander were fourteen and sixteen, respectively.
“What are you doing?” the big soldier barked. “Get those men back in line!”
Maria shook her head. “No.”
Anna bit her lip. A direct refusal wasn’t the way to go with a man like that. His face darkened.
“What the fuck did you just say?” he demanded.
“They aren’t men,” Maria corrected herself desperately. “They’re just boys! You can’t take them; I won’t let them go with you!”
“We’re not asking,” he snapped.
“Please!” she said raggedly. “They’re just kids, they won’t—”
The muscular soldier reached out and grabbed the girl standing beside Maria. Her daughter. The little girl gave a short scream as her arm was yanked up and back behind her.
“Mama!”
Xander stepped forward, holding his hands up. “Hey, come on. She’s only nine. We’ll go, okay? We’ll go with you.”
“Goddamn right you will,” the big soldier growled. “This is just a reminder not to fucking question your superior officers.”
A shot rang out and Maria screamed, an animal sound of pain that nearly ripped Anna’s heart in two. She turned and bolted while everyone’s eyes were on the house across the street. She didn’t want to see the girl’s body fall. And she wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to Sammy.
She ducked around the hedge in the side yard and dropped to her hands and knees so that she wouldn’t be seen from the road. She headed for the back door at a top-speed crawl, not standing up until she was sure that the house would block their view of her. Sammy met her at the door, his face pale.
“Mom, what happened? I heard Mrs. Parker—”
“Later,” she said, cutting him off as she looked around frantically. She couldn’t talk about it now. She needed to be focused and if she thought of little Audrey Parker—if she let the tears of rage and fear come—they might not stop. “Where are the bags?”
Sammy pointed to where he’d obediently placed them by the door. “Right here.”
“Okay.” Anna forced herself to take a breath. Her heart was beating so hard that her vision had gone blurry. She couldn’t lose it, now. Not when her son’s life was on the line. “Listen to everything I say, okay?”
She waited for his nod before she continued.
“We have to go and I need you to be quiet. As quiet as you can. We’ll have to be quick, too.” She took another breath, trying to think of how to make him understand what was happening and how important speed and silence were without telling him that one of his friends from school was lying in the street, cold and lifeless. “Those soldiers aren’t good guys. You have to do whatever you can to stay away from them. E
ven if something happens to me.”
He nodded, but his bottom lip had begun to tremble. “What if something does happen to you?”
“Then you hide out and when the soldiers are gone, I want you to go to a neighbor's house,” she said. “You know the right ones.”
Sammy nodded again. “Okay. Just…don’t let anything happen to you.”
Anna put her hands on her son’s shoulders and looked down at him seriously. “I will never leave you on purpose.” She shouldered one of the packs and then strapped the lighter one onto her son’s back. “Do you remember Mr. Brayden’s horse?”
Sammy nodded. “Bo?”
“That’s right. We’re going to get Bo. We’re going to have to stay away from the front of the house, though. Come on.”
They inched out the backdoor and around the house. People in the street were yelling now and she heard a few more rounds of gunfire. Sammy flinched and she put her arm around his shoulders.
“It’s okay,” she said, keeping her tone light. “Some soldiers just like to show off, that’s all.”
Mr. Brayden’s house was all the way at the end of the block and Anna’s heart was pounding in her ears by the time she pulled the barn door open. The horse snorted in surprise when it saw her and not his owner, but she didn’t have time to feel too much sympathy.
“Come on, big guy,” Anna said, her voice as soothing as she could manage—if she didn’t calm down, the horse would be nervous, too. She leaned over and picked up some sugar cubes, holding them on her open palm. “Want to go for a ride with me and Sammy?”
The horse’s ears flicked forward and she felt the tickle of its lips on her hand as it took the sugar. She managed to fit the saddle and bridle on relatively quickly, thanking her past self for that affair she’d had with the rodeo guy so many years ago. She’d never imagined using anything he’d taught her, but she was glad it had stuck around in the back of her mind anyway.
Anna settled herself astride the horse and reached down for Sammy’s hand. He stared up at her, his eyes wide as he took half a step back.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Give me your hand.”
“I…I’m scared.”
She was, too, but she couldn’t admit that. “Of what?” she asked instead. After all, there was a lot to choose from.
Sammy looked up at the horse, as if it should have been obvious. “What if he throws us off?”
What if soldiers come through this door and shoot you right in front of my eyes? Anna forced the thought away and took a deep breath so that she could continue to speak calmly.
“That won’t happen. He would have thrown me already if he was going to. I know what I’m doing.” When that didn’t seem to impress her son, she tried a different angle. “You’ve seen Mr. Brayden riding him all the time and he’s never been thrown off once. Come on, Sammy. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Her son slowly stretched out his hand and she grabbed it firmly, before he could change his mind, and pulled him up in front of her. His backpack dug into her stomach, but she didn’t care. She tapped the horse’s sides with her heels and he stepped forward, shaking his head and whickering. Another, more impatient tap and he began a lazy canter. She kicked harder and he finally began to run.
Sammy caught his breath, his hands gripping tight on the horse’s mane. “Mom!”
“It’s okay,” she said soothingly. “We won’t go fast for too long. Just until we get out of town.”
Chapter 12
“I headed toward the lakes,” Anna said to Brad. “There are blackberry bushes and other things growing near there and I was thinking that we might be able to get some food from some of the lake house gardens. And we’d have water to drink and be able to keep clean. It seemed like a bad time to risk an infection.”
“That’s exactly right,” Brad said, happy that someone else had followed his line of thought on the importance of keeping clean at the end of the world.
He leaned back and looked at her, saying the first thing that came to mind. “I’m amazed.”
“At what?”
“At you!” he said. “At everything you did to survive.”
“Anyone would have—”
“No,” he cut in, shaking his head emphatically. She’d done as well as he had and she hadn’t even been raised part-time by a survivalist nut-job. “Plenty of people wouldn’t have. Plenty of people just laid down and died, and you know it.”
“I might have,” she admitted. “I was so scared for so long. But I wasn’t going that let that happen to Sammy.”
“Have you been alone for long?” Brad asked. Anna cast him a quick glance and he held his hands up. “I’m not trying to assume anything, it’s just that my mom raised me by herself for the most part. I feel like I kind of recognize that in the two of you.”
“You said this was your dad’s cabin,” she said sharply.
“It is,” he said quickly. Great. First he’d nosed into her living arrangements and now he was creeping her out. “But you’ll notice there aren’t any pictures of me past the age of fourteen out there.” He waited for her to nod in acknowledgement before he went on. “He and my mom divorced when I was five, so I was only out here during the summers. I was with her the rest of the time.”
After a moment, Anna seemed to relax.
“Yes,” she answered. “It’s been just the two of us since he was born. Well, actually since I found out I was pregnant. There was no way I was going to raise a kid with the loser I was living with back then.” Her cheeks flushed a little and she picked at a small hole in the calf of her jeans.
Brad nodded, thinking back to the fraught arguments that formed the background of his earliest memories.
“Yeah, some people aren’t exactly cut out for the parenting thing,” he said quietly.
“Like your dad?” Anna asked.
Brad shrugged and then gave a half-laugh. “He was a good dad, mostly, only he had this crazy idea that the world was going to end.”
Anna’s mouth twitched. “These crazy doomsday preppers and their wild ideas.”
“Exactly. I feel like an idiot for complaining about it now, but when I was kid, it drove me crazy. And it drove my mom away. I guess I just wish that he could have been a little more logical about it. But if he had, I might not have had this place to come home to. He always goes all in on everything he does.”
She cleared her throat, looking down again. “I have to ask you something. I just have to know.”
“Sure,” he prompted when she didn’t speak again.
“Do you…do you expect us to leave in the morning?”
Brad thought for a moment. He’d been an introvert his whole life. He’d just come from an apartment complex filled with people he didn’t know. Part of what had driven him here was the thought of being alone again. And yet…
“No, you can stay. If you want to, that is. I mean, there’s safety in numbers and everything.”
Anna eyed him for a long moment and then got up, stepping over to stand in front of him. She put her hand out and he took it.
“Thanks. It’s a deal,” she said, shaking firmly.
Chapter 13
Brad rolled over and stretched till he felt his back crack. It was strange to wake up in this bedroom again. He couldn't remember ever being really happy to wake up here before. Before his parents had divorced, he’d been mildly aware of the tension between them whenever they came up here. In the years after that, he’d usually been up before dawn at Lee’s insistence.
His father always had a summer project—or ten—saved for Brad when he showed up. The year he was eleven, they’d dug the cellar out to twice the size it had previously been. He couldn’t think back to that summer without remembering the sting of the blisters on his palms and the exhaustion the twelve-hour days Lee had insisted on. He was the only kid he knew that had slept more through the school year than he did in the summer.
So why had Lee kept everything in this room exactly the sam
e? Obviously, his father wouldn’t have thrown any of it away; Brad didn’t expect that. But why wouldn’t he have packed it away and put it all in storage? Had he kept it this way in hopes that Brad would return? Or was it simply easier to close the door on his son’s life with him?
That line of thought wouldn’t do him any good, so he sat up, leaning back against the headboard and rubbing his eyes. The temptation to catch up on some sleep was strong, but he knew that he had a lot to do. He’d promised to show Anna and Sammy around the cellar and the orchard. It would probably be a good idea to show them both how to fish, too, as they’d apparently been surviving off of berries and canned stuff for five weeks. Sammy needed a little meat on his bones for sure.
Brad reached over and pulled the window shade up, making the movement quick like removing a Band-Aid. It was always easier to wake up when the sun spilled in, and while he knew that it had something to do with circadian rhythms, he tended to attribute it to the shock sudden light gave a sleepy, contented human. He groaned and pressed a hand over his eyes, slowly widening the spaces between his fingers until his vision had adjusted.
He could hear Sammy and Anna talking quietly in the room across the hall, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He sat there for a few more seconds, just happy to hear other people the cabin. He’d thought that he wanted to be alone, but he was actually pretty relieved that things had ended up this way.
The bed squeaked as he swung his legs over the side of it. He looked at the clothes piled on the floor in a heap with distaste. He really didn’t want to wear them again. At least, not until he’d had a chance to wash them. Rinsing his shirt in the creek had done some good, but after a twelve-hour journey, he was pretty sure the clothes needed soap.
He eyed the wardrobe in the corner. He’d had a growth spurt at the age of thirteen, and while he’d grown more since then, he’d preferred his clothes baggy back in his adolescent years. It was possible that there was something in there that he could wear.
