Fallen Earth | Book 1 | Remnants

by Morrow, Jason D.

  The two of them tore through the woods at a pace that alarmed Henry, but they didn’t have a choice if they were going to stay away from their pursuers. In about five minutes, Leland held up a hand and the two of them came to a rest.

  “I’m sorry,” Henry said, his breaths labored. “I didn’t mean to trip. I didn’t mean to let them see me.”

  Leland shook his head. “It’s not your fault. I think we’re in the clear.”

  “But they know we’re up here,” Henry said.

  “They know someone is up here,” Leland corrected him. “The only inmates who saw us are dead. As far as anyone else is concerned, we are just one man. Or two. Or twenty. They have no idea, which works to our advantage.”

  Henry looked at Leland and chewed the inside of his lip. “So what’s the plan, Sheriff?”

  Leland didn’t say anything, instead, his eyes remained on the town, his teeth grinding together.

  “Well, I have an idea,” Henry said.

  “Yeah? What’s that?“

  “Let me go down there,” Henry said. “Take off the hoodie, take off the jeans, I’m one of them again.”

  Leland hesitated, started to say something, then stopped himself.

  “The truth is,” Henry said, “I can’t make you trust me, no matter what I do. But you have to. I know that’s hard for you to do, but you just have to. Otherwise, you won’t have any idea what has happened to your daughter, and you won’t know how to proceed. I can go in there, get some information, and come back to you. There really shouldn’t be a lot to find out.”

  “And if one of them recognizes you?”

  “Then they recognize me. There are only a handful of people that I need to avoid because I did them wrong by escaping. That said, there are hundreds of prisoners in that facility, and I doubt a handful of them are going to run into me when I get down there.“

  Leland studied him for a moment, and Henry couldn’t tell what he was thinking. There wasn’t much the sheriff could lose at this point.

  Finally, Leland seemed to come to the same conclusion and nodded. “I’ll wait here for one hour.” He held up the binoculars he had nabbed from his bedroom closet. “I will try to watch as much as I can with these. If you have anything, try to communicate to me, all you have to do is stand in the middle Main Street and gesture something. I can see it from here.”

  “Gesture? Like what? What kind of gesture?”

  Leland looked at him with a blank expression, then shrugged. “I don’t know. Thumbs up if you find Gwen. Thumbs down if you don’t.”

  “What does she look like?”

  Leland grabbed for his wallet and pulled out a worn picture and handed it to him. “Now, she’s a bit older than this. I mean, she’s eighteen now.”

  “And when was this?” He stared at a discolored picture of a young girl with braces and large glasses.

  “Seventh grade,” Leland said. “Actually, she won’t look anything like this to you.” He snatched the picture back and stuffed it into his wallet. “Just ask around. You know how to do that, right? Inconspicuously?”

  Henry nodded. “Yeah, I can figure it all out for you. Want me to ask how Savage is doing? See if he wants to stop by for dinner?”

  “You better get going before my patience runs out.”

  Henry got the message loud and clear. He shed his hoodie and jeans and tossed them to the ground. “You want me to take the gun with me? All the prisoners down there have guns.”

  Leland thought for a minute, checked his pistol and extra magazine, then nodded slowly. Hours ago the sheriff had been hunting him. Now, the sheriff was letting him take his gun.

  Leland then pulled out his pistol and rested it on his knee and nodded. “Good luck in there,” he said.

  Henry nodded, then turned toward the town.

  Chapter Thirty

  The chaos in Hope didn’t subside with the end of the gunshots. When prisoners got scared or had an extreme concern they tended to do stupid things. Alex had seen this many times as a guard at Lone Oak.

  His current guard, a fidgety man with tattoos crawling up his neck, spent most of his time on his tiptoes as though that would help him better see what was happening toward the woods on the edge of town.

  Alex had been guarded by several prisoners over the last few hours, and none of them paid much attention to him. Most of the time they liked to rummage through the groceries in the store, looking for sweet snacks that were unavailable to them in the prison. He watched one of his guards devour an entire box of Twinkies and it didn’t even phase him. If these townsfolk had any chance of defending themselves against the prisoners, it would only be if they took advantage of the inmates’ lack of discipline.

  There was no real chain of command, they weren’t formed into ranks, and they didn’t tend to listen to orders very well even if they had come from Savage. Most of them were like children. Strong, scary, deadly children. The prisoners who were not so easily influenced, the ones who didn’t like to be told what to do, had already fled and we were miles and miles away. Savage had created himself an army, only they lacked sense.

  It was clear to Alex now, having observed them for the last few hours, that Savage had probably handpicked these men over the years, using his influence to create a position of leadership over them. Many of them were alike—not too smart, skittish, needing to be told what to do. Alex could only guess as to why Savage had picked them up. Maybe it was Savage’s original, larger escape plan and was hoping to get enough followers to start a prison riot. If a hundred or so prisoners started setting fire to Lone Oak, it wouldn’t take long for others to join in the chaos. Instead, the power went out and now they had made it here.

  Though his captors weren’t disciplined or particularly skilled, that didn’t mean Alex could simply sneak away and not be caught. One of the prisoners could see him running off and wouldn’t think twice about shooting him in the back even if Savage wanted Alex alive. That was the thing about most of these prisoners. They didn’t often think about the consequences of their actions. He figured that was why many of them had been imprisoned in the first place. From his experience dealing with and talking to some prisoners throughout his years there, Alex had determined that most people within the prison system were not simply coldhearted criminals, rather they were people who tended to act first and think later—if they thought at all about what they were doing.

  Still, the law had been hard on each of them, and for the most part rightfully so. He didn’t know how much mental illness played a part in the crimes they had committed, and he wasn’t certain whether or not that warranted prison time. He did know, however, that prison was a better place for some of these men than their previous living conditions. And that was saying something, considering how bleak of a place Lone Oak really was.

  Alex only recognized the faces of one or two prisoners, but the rest were strangers to him. He had to learn to approach them all the same, which meant he couldn’t trust them. He tried looking at each prisoner that walked by, hoping to find one who might not be following Savage. But there was just no way to tell.

  There was no compassion for someone like Alex, particularly since he was a prison guard. His life was to make sure prisoners didn’t get out of line. Alex was surprised he hadn’t already been shanked. All it would take was a well-placed stab and he would be a dead man. Alex’s uniform didn’t represent what it did when the prisoners were behind bars, though. Here, at least for a time, the inmates were free. His uniform meant nothing.

  In the early morning hours, there was a face he did recognize. At first, he wasn’t sure how he knew the face. The night had been so crazy. So much had happened in the last eight hours. He thought perhaps it was just a prisoner he had recently interacted with, but after a moment he realized who the man was.

  He wore a khaki jumpsuit just like the rest of them and he held a shotgun. He was younger than most of the other prisoners, though he seemed different. He had a look in his eyes that said he was on a mi
ssion—that he was determined to accomplish something important. Then it clicked in Alex’s brain. This prisoner had escaped Lone Oak before everyone else in the prison had broken out. This inmate was the reason the prison had gone on lockdown.

  It was Henry Tash.

  Alex almost turned away when the two of them met eyes. When they saw each other, Henry looked like he was about to dash away, but in the last moment decided not to. He looked over both of his shoulders then made his way toward Alex. When he reached Alex’s guard he cleared his throat and tried to stand taller.

  “I’m here to relieve you,“ he said.

  Alex’s guard looked at Henry with a raised eyebrow. “I just started ten minutes ago.“

  “Yeah, well the boss wants us to switch out fairly often because he doesn’t want us to get bored. Bored people do stupid things. Didn’t you just hear the gunshots? We need to be rotating.”

  Alex’s guard didn’t seem to believe him, but he also didn’t want to guard Alex any longer. He was probably bored and relished the idea of exploring the town as a free man rather than being held back by a prison guard. Finally, Alex’s guard shrugged and walked away.

  For the time being, it would just be Alex and Henry Tash. Alex wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He had wondered a couple of times during the night whether or not Henry had something to do with the power outage. The coincidence of his escape and the outage seemed incredible. But he realized, as the night had progressed, it would have been impossible for one man to cause such a large power outage. It would have been impossible for him to do it inside the prison, much less to an entire region. Even if the town was small, it didn’t make sense that there was no backup, that there were no cops storming the town and taking out all of the prisoners. That meant this whole thing was much more widespread than any of them realized. Someone would’ve tried to call the prison by now. A lot of calls had gone out about Henry Tash and his escape earlier in the night. News would have gotten out about the power outage at the prison or even in the small town. Yet they were alone, and no one was coming to help them.

  “I really didn’t expect to see you here,“ Alex said. “I guess Jim Savage has you under his spell too?“

  “No. I’m here with someone else. I need to get some information from you.“

  Alex raised an eyebrow. “What kind of information?“

  “I need to know how many prisoners there are. I need to know if they are all armed, and I need to know where Jim Savage is.”

  Alex shook his head. “I don’t know where he is. He took off when the gunfire started. As for the number of prisoners, I think there are about fifty. All of them are armed. I mean, I see new faces every few minutes, like yours, so it could be more.”

  Henry kept looking over his shoulder every few seconds, as though he was afraid someone would catch him talking to Alex. Alex didn’t know what he had to be afraid of, considering the people in power wore khaki jumpsuits like he did. Yet, he had escaped before anyone else had. It was possible he had enemies here.

  “So, you haven’t been here the entire time?”

  Henry didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned around and held his gun out in front of him. It was as though someone had startled him. He was so on edge Alex was afraid he was going to give their conversation away to people standing blocks away.

  “You really need to relax. It’s fine if you’re not one of them. If that’s the case, then I need your help.”

  “I’m the one that needs your help,” Henry said. “I’m here on behalf of someone who can’t exactly show their face.”

  “All I know is they are going to kill me. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when. I have no idea why Savage wants to keep me alive, but I know his plan has nothing to do with keeping me alive long-term. Maybe he thinks of me as a valuable hostage, and if that’s the case, it’s not going to last long. So if you are here to help, you better help me quickly, or I’m going to be dead soon. On top of that, I think my parents are being held in the library. I have to help them.”

  “We have a plan.”

  “Who is we?” Alex asked.

  “I have another question for you,” Henry said. “Have you heard anything about the sheriff’s daughter?”

  Everything started to make sense to Alex. He didn’t know why or how, but Henry Tash had been connected with the sheriff of this town, and he was here to get information. For some reason, Savage wanted the sheriff dead. Alex had been able to gather that there was some rift between the two of them, and he remembered stories about the sheriff of Hope being the one who had captured Savage. He knew that there was some bad blood there, but he hadn’t read the details specifically.

  “You’re with the sheriff?” Alex asked.

  Henry didn’t answer. Instead, he said, “Have you heard anything about his daughter?”

  “Most of the hostages are being kept in the library. You go down the street that way a little, and you will see it. I know at one point she was there.”

  “But she was captured? She is alive?”

  “Yeah, as far as I know she’s still alive. Savage wanted her specially guarded.”

  “Well, at least she’s alive. Have the inmates organized well?”

  Alex shook his head. “They don’t have any idea what they’re doing. Savage seems to be the only one who has his head on straight, which is something I thought I would never say. But I don’t have to tell you that these guys are dangerous. You lived with them.”

  “Thanks for your help.”

  “What about me? What about my parents?”

  “You all aren’t my priority right now,” Henry said. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance. Just keep your head low, and don’t look anybody in the eyes. And when Savage comes back around, do whatever it is that’s keeping you alive. He wants you alive for some reason, so stay that way. If I try to break you out right now, they’re just going to kill us both.”

  It was a truth Alex didn’t want to accept. He wished there was a way for him to just run for it and make his way back home. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen, and he couldn’t simply leave without knowing his parents were safe. He still hadn’t seen them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t being held somewhere. Besides, there were too many inmates in too many spots in the town and his guard uniform was a dead giveaway. He would be shot down the moment someone realized he wasn’t being watched.

  “I don’t have another weapon, or I would give it to you.”

  “This has to be the strangest day of my life,” Alex said.

  “Well,“ Henry said, “let’s hope it’s not your last.”

  Alex nodded. “There are a couple of inmates inside the grocery store. Might be better to reassign me to be guarded than to leave me here alone.”

  “Why is that?”

  “If I’m here alone, I will be tempted to make a run for it, which would probably get me killed. If I’m guarded, then I can make myself stay put.”

  Henry gave him a strange look but eventually nodded and assigned the two prisoners to guard Alex. They looked like they wanted to protest, but agreed to do it. Then, without looking back, Henry walked away and down the street.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  He is here. He has to be.

  Jim Savage looked down at the bodies on the ground. Buckshot in three of them. The fourth had been finished off with a pistol. The wounds were large, too, which meant the fight had been close. Who would have been coming after them? This was not the work of a SWAT team. This wasn’t the work of any police force.

  The answer was obvious in Savage’s mind. Sheriff Leland West was here. He couldn’t think of another reason why there would have been gunshots. And the proximity from the woods to Leland’s house was too much of a coincidence. The men he had left here saw Leland near the house, chased him into the woods, and were too stupid to go after one man without getting killed.

  Unless he wasn’t alone…

  Followers surrounded Savage. He wished he were alone. He cou
ld think better that way, but that would have put him at risk. There was no sense in risking his life yet. Things weren’t ready. He wouldn’t be able to capture Leland in the woods. Not with these men. The sheriff knew this area better than any of them and he could hide as long as he needed to.

  But if Leland was in these woods, that meant he would be watching the town, looking for his daughter, or trying to gather information about the prisoners’ actions. It was clear that he was alone, or at least, he didn’t have much help.

  Savage wasn’t a tracker. Neither were any of the men next to him. They had spotted some tracks leading up the hill, but after ten feet, the forest floor just looked like a mass of dead leaves blown about in every direction.

  Besides, Savage didn’t want to get into a firefight with Leland. He wanted to have a talk. He wanted to capture him. He wanted to make the sheriff watch his daughter die.

  Is that what you really want?

  Yes.

  Are you sure? What will it help?

  I’m not doing this to help anything.

  So, self-satisfaction then?

  No. Justice.

  The back-and-forth was constant in Savage’s mind—the two parts of him battling for control.

  He worried that during the commotion, he had come to this town and wasted all this time only to find out later that the sheriff had been in a wreck and killed. What an easy end for the sheriff that would be.

  Would Savage still kill the sheriff’s daughter? By his own code, the girl had done nothing worth dying for. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t lied to him. She was brave, she was determined, she was just like the prison guard.

  Sure, he would kill her if he had a chance to do so in front of her father. That didn’t defy his code. When it came to sin against him, Savage believed in true justice. His daughter had been taken from him, so the sheriff’s daughter should be taken as well. However, if the sheriff was already dead, justice could not be served. Savage wasn’t certain what he would do. He would probably just leave under the cover of darkness without a trace. He would try to navigate this world as a regular human being.