“So they agreed to work together?”
“They agreed to try,” Ella said. “They’re still trying. Every day is a struggle, though.” She shook her head. “They fight about every decision they make.”
“They fought about whether to let me stay or not.”
“Of course they did. They probably didn’t even really disagree about it. They’re just so used to taking different sides and digging in their heels.”
It was a frightening thought. If Richard Birkin had had his way, Adam would have been shot. Had he just been insisting on that to thwart the McTerrells? Had Charles McTerrell only defended Adam’s life for the sake of being contrary?
“Come in here,” Ella said, opening the door to what looked like a small shed. “This is where we keep the extra stores.”
Adam stepped into the shed. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but as they did, his jaw dropped.
It was more food than he’d seen in months.
It was enough to open a small supermarket. Cans and cans of soup, fruits and vegetables, beans and potatoes. Huge bags of rice and flour. Enough boxes of cereal to feed an army.
“You could live for years on this,” he managed.
Ella nodded. “That was the other reason the families decided to work together. Combining resources gave them more variety, and that’s a hard thing to turn down these days.”
Adam picked up a seed packet. “Is this really pumpkin?”
“We planted some in May,” Ella said. “Come on, I’ll show you the garden.”
“I can’t believe there’s a garden,” he said, following her back out of the shed. “We tried to grow fruit on the boat, but we never had much luck.”
“We’re having pretty good luck with the potatoes, and we’re hopeful about the carrots,” Ella said. “But the squash would make a big difference. Potassium, vitamin E, vitamin B6—”
“How do you know all that?”
“I used to try to eat a balanced diet,” she said. “Lately, we’ll all eat whatever we can get to stay alive. But if the garden flourishes, we’ll be able to get the vitamins and nutrients we need to stay healthy, not just survive.”
“What about meat?” Adam asked.
Ella pointed to the side of the shed. Three rifles leaned against it. Adam wondered if one of them had been pointed at his head this morning. “We hunt,” she said. “We’ve all taken turns to go out with the weapons. And there are fish in the ocean, of course.”
He was impressed. “That’s really resourceful.”
“It’s part of the reason Santa Joaquina Island was such a perfect choice for a refuge,” she said. “The island is stocked with wildlife for members of the country club to hunt. Deer, mostly, but venison makes a great meal.” She shook her head. “We used to be able to live for weeks on a single kill, storing the meat in the icebox, but now that the power’s out that might have to change.”
“We could make jerky out of the meat,” Adam said.
She looked at him. “You know how to do that?”
“Not really. But I bet we could figure it out. And then it wouldn’t go to waste.”
“That’s a good idea,” she said. “You should suggest it to the others.”
He nodded. “Who’s in charge around here?”
“No one, really. Mr. Birkin would say he is. He’s the oldest, though not by much. More important is the fact that he’s been a member of the Santa Joaquina longer.”
“How long?”
“All his life, I’m pretty sure. I think his father was a member, maybe even his grandfather.”
“And the McTerrells just joined, I guess?”
“Yeah, sometime in the last year, I’m pretty sure,” Ella said. “They’re not friends of the Birkins, but I’d heard of them before. Mrs. Birkin likes to complain about how the Santa Joaquina is letting any old riffraff in these days.”
Adam laughed. “She isn’t going to like me,” he said.
“What, you didn’t inherit a large sum of money from a wealthy ancestor?”
“Hardly. I was a child actor.”
“Oh, that’s definitely not fashionable.”
“No. Not the best career path, either. Doesn’t really set you up well for adulthood. I’ve been drifting for a while. How about you?”
She shrugged. “I’m a housekeeper.”
“Do you actually still clean for them? He must have been joking about that, wasn’t he?”
“I’m not sure he was,” Ella said. “They don’t pay me anymore, but they do treat me like I’m here to work for them. And it’s hard to say no, because the things they tell me to do need to get done.”
They entered another outbuilding. This one had beautiful architecture, with wide windows looking out over the golf course and a mosaic-tiled floor.
“This used to be the spa,” Ella said. “When we first got here, Mrs. Birkin had ideas about restoring it for use, but it never happened. Now we use it mostly to store ammunition.” She opened a door to a room that had clearly once been a sauna. On the wooden benches were piles and piles of boxes, boxes that Adam knew contained bullets. The walls were hung with knives and fishhooks.
“Did you ever consider moving out here?” he asked her, remembering Richard’s description of her living situation. “You’d have a place of your own instead of just a pantry for a bedroom.”
Ella shook her head. “It’s really not that bad,” she said. “Mr. Birkin calls it that because he thinks it’s funny that his housekeeper is sleeping in the pantry, but the truth is that I chose the room myself. I don’t want to be sequestered off with the Birkins or the McTerrells, avoiding the other side of the house. I didn’t want to choose sides in their stupid feud. So I took the pantry off the kitchen. I moved in a rug I found in one of the closets and a rocking chair from the porch, and I took a mattress from one of the upstairs beds. It’s as nice as the room I had at the Birkins’ house, and I have more privacy.”
“I see.” Personally, Adam didn’t think the pantry room sounded too great, especially after the nice room he’d been given the night before.
“Besides,” Ella said, “I don’t want to be off on my own. The Birkins and the McTerrells drive me crazy, but it’s better than being alone.”
“I know what you mean,” Adam said fervently, remembering his companions on the yacht. Remembering his own despair when he’d realized the last of them was gone and he was on his own. “What do they do to drive you so crazy?”
“It’s mostly the fact that they never talk,” she said. “They go out of their way to avoid each other, when they should be helping each other. Your arrival, the way they handled it, that was rare.”
“How do you mean? Also, how do you know how they handled it? You weren’t there.”
“Well, I was out fishing with Chase McTerrell,” Ella said. “But Langley told me about it later. Everyone came out to meet you, didn’t they?”
“I assume so. Richard and Kathryn, Charles, and Marsden, Langley and Rhett and Olivia.”
“Yes, that’s everyone. It was only me and Chase you didn’t meet.”
“You get along with Chase McTerrell, then?”
“None of the kids are that bad. It’s the parents I can’t stand.”
Adam couldn’t agree with her assessment of the younger generation. Rhett Birkin had held him at gunpoint, and he wasn’t going to forget that in a hurry. Still, it was good to know that there were some among this country-club set she found tolerable. He trusted her judgment, he realized. She was certainly the most down to earth person he’d met on this island, and the easiest to get along with.
“So they just stick to their separate sections of the building?” he asked. “They never talk?”
“No, not never. Someone decided early on that it was important for us to know what the others were doing if our survival was going to be a joint effort, so there are nightly dinners.” She let out a little laugh. “You have to see it to believe it. They still go through all the moti
ons of upper-class life, right down to using salad forks.”
“Salad forks! Do they have salads?”
“Sometimes we have salads, and when we do, we use the salad forks,” she said. “Then everyone talks about the progress being made on various projects—the garden, the traps, things like that. But it’s always tense. The Birkins don’t want to sit down and talk pharma with the McTerrells, and the McTerrells are always really touchy about the Birkins’ social climbing and ties to people in powerful political positions.”
Adam scoffed. “Is anyone in a powerful political position anymore?”
She gazed at him. “Did the power go out on your boat?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“It went out here too.”
“What’s your point?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just know that when something big happens, there’s a chance somebody at the top made it happen. I’m willing to believe there’s someone out there still pulling some strings.”
A chill settled over Adam. He had to admit she was probably right.
Chapter 4
“How do they manage the dinners together if things are as awkward as you say?” Adam asked as they emerged from the spa into the sunlight. “I’ve seen them together. They were practically at each other’s throats. Doesn’t it ever turn into a fight?”
“In a way,” Ella said. “But the way they fight—it’s not what you might imagine.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see. At dinner tonight.”
“Adam! Ella!”
Adam turned. Richard Birkin was striding toward them across the grass. “Where have you been? A tour can’t possibly take this long.”
“I had a lot of questions,” Adam said quickly, hoping to spare Ella a scolding. “And it’s a very impressive setup you have here,” he added. Maybe he could get Birkin in a good mood. “I like how you made storage spaces out of the spa facilities.”
“My wife would still have us trying to get the Jacuzzi running again if she had her way,” Richard said. “First time in her life she hasn’t had access to a whirlpool, I think. But I’ve told her no one has luxuries like that, not anymore. It’s a brave new world.”
Adam, who had had access to a hot tub on Cody’s yacht, said nothing.
“Well, the day won’t keep,” Richard said, clapping his hands together. “If you’ve seen enough of the grounds to satisfy you, Adam, maybe you’d be willing to pitch in with the rest of us? That was why Charles and Marsden were so keen to keep you, after all.” He raised his eyebrows, as if daring Adam to refuse.
“I’d be happy to help,” Adam said mildly. “What can I do?”
“Oh, there’s plenty that needs doing,” Richard said. “Come with me and we’ll get you set up with a chore or two.”
Adam and Ella followed Richard back toward the main house.
“Where are all the others?” Adam asked.
“They have chores of their own,” Richard said. “Don’t think you’re the only one who has to work around here.”
“Was the breakfast ever made?” Ella asked.
“Of course.”
“Would you mind if we got some?”
Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out a few strips of dried fruit. “Have these,” he said. “The grits are gone. The boys ate the last of it.”
Adam bit into his fruit strip. It was no substitute for a hot breakfast, but he hadn’t eaten since the day before and he was glad to have something.
“Thank you,” he said, and meant it.
“Ella,” Richard said, “why don't you head down to the beach and see if you can catch something for dinner? We ought to have a feast tonight, in honor of our newcomer.”
Adam was surprised. Richard had seemed so unwilling to have him as a part of their group. Now he wanted to put on a welcoming feast? It was a complete one-eighty.
He remembered what Ella had said about the Birkins and the McTerrells simply wanting to defy each other for no real reason. Had Richard ever really worried that he'd been carrying the nanovirus, or had he simply been fighting against what Charles and Marsden wanted?
He supposed it was possible that Richard had simply gotten some distance from the situation and changed his mind. In fact, that was probably likely. It had been very intense up in the bedroom, with Marsden performing his medical exam while Richard held a gun. And it was intense, too, to see a stranger after so much time in the presence of the same people. Adam could vouch for that, having found himself surrounded by a group of strangers. Richard had grown used to seeing the same eight people every day, people that he knew he could trust not to harm him or his family. And then along came Adam, someone he didn't know. Someone who might pose a threat.
Of course Richard had been cautious. Even over-the-top defensiveness was to be expected in a situation like this.
He would let it go, he decided. He would forgive Richard and try to get to know him afresh, as if they hadn't gotten off to the bad start they had. But he wouldn't let his guard down. He would be cautious of this man. He couldn't afford to trust strangers any more than Richard could, and after what had happened to his friends on the yacht, he would be a fool to try.
Ella's shy demeanor had returned. She made a study of her feet as she answered Richard. “How much fish do you think we need?”
“Two or three big ones ought to do it,” Richard said. “If you can't catch any of the big guys, then nine or ten small ones. Try wading out into the deep water and see what you can pull up there.”
“Is that safe?” Adam asked.
“She'll be fine,” Richard said dismissively.
“I'll see you at dinner,” Ella said to Adam, giving him a meaningful glance. Adam knew she meant to convey that he would see the behavior she’d referenced earlier when they sat down to dinner.
He was apprehensive about it. On the yacht there had been a division between the passengers who had just been there to party and exhaust their supply of narcotics and those who had been seriously concerned with survival. Would the situation between the McTerrells and the Birkins mirror that? He hoped not. If there was one thing he had learned from his experience at sea, it was that survival situations required everyone to work together.
Ella ran off, back toward the spa, where Adam presumed she would take down some of the fishhooks. Richard opened a shed Adam hadn’t yet seen the inside of.
“You can mow the lawns,” he said.
“Mow the lawns?” Adam had expected to be given a job that would contribute to their survival, something that would help put food on the table or secure them against outside threats. Mowing the lawn seemed superficial. “Shouldn’t I go hunt, or maybe help with the fishing? Or I could chop wood.”
“No, we need someone strong enough to operate the mower,” Richard said. He reached into the shed and pulled out an old push mower. “We had an electric one, of course,” he said as he passed it to Adam, “but it died along with everything else.”
“But I don’t understand,” Adam said. “Why mow the lawn at all? Why not just let it grow? Surely there’s something more productive we could be doing.”
“Are you saying you won’t help?” Richard asked.
Adam sensed a test. If he refused to mow the lawn, if he even continued to push for a more worthwhile task, Richard might return to the others and say that Adam had refused to pull his weight. It might be enough of a reason to reverse their decision about letting him stay.
“No, I’m not saying that,” he said, and took the mower. “If the lawn needs mowing, I’m happy to do it.”
“All right, good. Make sure you get the whole of the property,” Richard said. “Don’t worry about the golf course. We’ll do that a different day. But everything else.”
“Okay,” Adam agreed, giving the lawn mower an experimental push. It squeaked in protest. This was going to be a difficult job, no doubt about it.
Richard retreated back to the main house. What was he going to spend
the day doing, Adam wondered. He hadn’t seen any other members of either family outside yet. He knew there was probably cooking and cleaning to be done inside the house, but what about the garden Ella had showed him? What about the hunting she’d spoken of? And was anyone keeping a regular inventory of the food and the other supplies? If there was going to be a roster of chores assigned, it seemed to Adam that these were the really important things. Not jobs that could be done inside the house. And certainly not mowing the lawn.
Then again, at least it would be nice to get away from the suspicious looks and constant questions. Spending the day outside on his own would give him a chance to clear his head and collect his thoughts, something he hadn’t been able to do since his boat had crashed. He would use this time to work out what he thought about his new housemates.
The work was hard. The mower jammed over and over again, and over and over Adam had to stoop to remove clumps of grass from the blades. It was slow going, too. If he had tried to free the blades too quickly, he knew, he would have risked cutting his hands. He had to take his time.
The sun continued to climb in the sky. By the time it was directly overhead, Adam had only managed to mow a third of the lawn and he was drenched in sweat. He stripped off his T-shirt and continued.
It occurred to him, as he crossed the halfway point, that he wasn’t the only one who’d been given free time to think about the new living situation. Whatever the others were doing today, he was sure they were thinking about him. They were probably talking about him too, although if Ella was to be believed the Birkins would be talking only amongst themselves and the McTerrells would be doing the same.
He wondered what conclusions they were coming to. Kathryn Birkin had seemed to agree with the McTerrells that if he wasn’t infected he ought to be allowed to stay, although she hadn’t come right out and called it agreement. Maybe she would be able to convince Richard that having Adam around was a good thing.
Escape The Dark (Book 2): Fearful World Page 3
