Dara frowned in concern at the anger and bitterness in his tone. “I’m sorry about your dad, Cooper.”
He finally turned to look at her with shocked confusion. “What? Why would you be sorry? I’m the one who’s sorry! My father did all of this! He’s the reason all of your families are suffering!” His sharp blue eyes were filled with anguish and a sheen of tears before he turned away.
Dara couldn’t believe they had missed it. All this time, Cooper had been blaming himself for what his father had done. He kept his distance because he thought they all blamed him. She had to try and fix this and make him understand that he wasn’t to blame. Dara rubbed at her face and tried to come up with the words that would reach this sad boy.
“Did you know that my mom is a drunk? She doesn’t just drink. She guzzles the stuff until she’s passed out. She spends more time in an alcoholic coma than she does awake. She’s been doing it for years. My little brother and I have been taking care of ourselves for so long. I hope he’s okay but I wasn’t here when the pulse hit so he might be…dead. That’s my fault.” Her voice broke on the word dead.
Dara felt guilt for not being here to protect her brother but she knew it wasn’t her fault. She’d done her best to take care of him, but it was her parents who had failed him. She was trying to make Cooper understand that he wasn’t to blame for what his father had done and the incredulous look he gave her made her hope he would.
Cooper kneeled down in front of Dara and took her hands. “That's not your fault! You didn’t make your mom drink. It was her and your dad’s job to take care of you and your brother. This is their fault, not yours!”
Dara lifted her head and met Cooper’s eyes. She raised her eyebrows and her expression said ‘SEE?’ Cooper was confused by her response and asked “What?”
Dara tilted her head and asked him softly, “How come it’s not my fault what my mom did, but it’s your fault what your father did?”
His eyes darkened and he tried to pull away from their joined hands. Dara wouldn’t let him go and told him, “This isn’t your fault! Your father sold out this town. He was a very bad man and that has nothing to do with you! I don’t blame you for any of what he did and no one else does either. Let this poison go, Cooper.”
His expression softened, and he looked hopeful for a split second before the sound of a motor starting up came from close by. They dropped hands and quickly scrambled around to the opposite side of the structure and crouched under the slide. The motor sounds were getting louder, and it was clear that it would pass close to them, so they flattened out on the sand and kept their heads down. The vehicle traveled past them on the street and as it drew away, Cooper risked raising his head enough to get a look. The car was an old antique convertible that had been restored and he could see two people in it. When the car turned the corner and traveled parallel to the small park they were hiding in, he got a better look at its occupants. There was a woman driving and it looked like a teenage girl in the passenger seat.
Cooper stared at it in confusion until it was out of sight and then helped Dara to her feet.
“That was really weird. I don’t know who they are, but there was a woman and girl in that car,” he told her.
Dara’s face showed surprise. “Really? Maybe there are some people that are free!”
Cooper looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. If there were people free, we would be seeing more of them around. Let’s get going. The only way we’re going to figure out what’s happening here is if we go look.”
Dara nodded, and after taking a good look around, they left the playground and entered the pathway system that ran between two houses that faced the playground park. Moving closer and closer to Fairways Park, they still didn’t see any movement. When they came to a street that was only two blocks from their school, Dara turned down an alley and motioned for Cooper to follow.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“My house is just down here. I want to go in and grab a few things.”
Jogging down the alley, they stopped at the fifth yard down and slowly peeked over the gate, looking to see if anyone was around. It seemed just as abandoned as the other houses they had passed, so they entered through the gate and made their way to the back door. Dara tried not to look at Jake’s toys scattered all around the backyard. She didn’t really need anything from the house. She was hoping there might be a clue inside to tell her what had happened to him. When they got to the door, they looked through the window but couldn’t see anything. Instinctively, Dara reached for her pocket to get her house keys. She almost laughed out loud when she remembered that they were in her suitcase in California. Cooper gave her an inquiring look but she just waved it away before trying the knob. She wasn’t surprised when it turned freely in her hand and the door popped open. Her mother wasn’t very good about remembering to lock the doors.
They stepped into the dim house and stood still listening for any movement. They both felt that the house was empty and when Dara went further in, Cooper closed the door behind him. The kitchen had been cleaned out and most of the cabinet doors had been left hanging open. She walked further into the house and expected to see her mom passed out on the couch like always. Dara felt nothing when she walked around it and saw that it was empty. The coffee table in front of the couch was piled with empty wine bottles and an overflowing ashtray. Turning away with disgust, Dara left the room and went down the hall to her brother’s bedroom. She knew right away that some of his things were missing but she didn’t know if he had taken them on his sleepover when she left for her school trip or if it was later, after the pulse. She huffed out a frustrated breath and left his room. She went to her own bedroom and grabbed some clothes and personal items before joining Cooper back in the living room.
Cooper turned around when he heard her come in and held something out to her. It was a piece of paper, but it was too dim in the room to read it. They went into the kitchen and Dara opened the blinds over the window above the sink to let some more light into the room. When she finished reading the words in the note, she wordlessly handed it to Cooper and closed her eyes in relief. Tears streamed down her face as she said a silent prayer of thanks to Josh’s parents for taking care of her brother. She might not know what happened to him after the gang took over but she knew that Josh’s parents would have done everything they could to protect him.
Cooper gave her a one-armed hug before pulling back. “Let’s get to the school and see what’s happening at the community centre. You never know, we might even get a glimpse of your brother!”
Dara gave him a grateful smile. “Do you want to go to the high school or the middle school?”
Prairie Springs had three schools in town. The high school and middle school were separated by the community centre making it easy for the students to walk across the parking lot to use the centre’s pool. The third school was an elementary school for the younger grades and it was located further away.
Cooper thought about it for a minute before speaking. “High school. I know how to get on the roof if we can get in. The sports fields all connect so we can circle around to the middle school if we need too. We’ll just have to see what we find when we get there. We don’t even know if they are still being held at the centre so let’s play it by ear for now.”
Dara nodded and took a final look around the house she used to live in. Even if they freed the town, she didn’t think she would ever live here again.
“Let’s get out of here. There’s nothing here for me anymore.” She walked out and closed the door firmly behind her.
They stayed in the alleyways as they made their way closer to their school. This was Dara’s area of town and she knew the best way to approach the sports fields. She had traveled this path every day to and from school for the past few years. When they came to the last street of houses that butted up against Fairways Park, Dara pointed out the pathway that ran between two of them.
“If we take that path it leads to the
main park and the schools are on the other side,” she told Cooper. “There are a few sections that have good tree cover we can use.”
“Good idea. I wish we had binoculars but hopefully we can get close enough to see what we need,” he said.
They ran down the street and turned onto the pathway between houses. They’d only gone halfway when Dara skidded to a halt. She turned and waved Cooper back the way they’d come. He didn’t waste any time asking why - just turned and followed her back to the street. Dara cut across the lawn of one of the houses and paused at the gate to the house’s backyard. She turned to Cooper with a concerned look.
“There’s a chain-link fence blocking the path. It wasn’t there the last time I walked this way to school, so we need to get a look at what’s happening in the park before we try and go into it.”
Cooper looked around the street and then up at the house they were standing beside. “Okay, let's see if we can get inside this house. It’s a two-storey so we should be able to get a good view of the park from the back upper floor windows. Stay here. I’m going to check the front door to see if it’s locked.”
Dara nodded and Cooper ran to the front door and put his ear against it. He stayed there for a minute before trying the doorknob. Just like Dara’s house, it was unlocked. Briefly wondering if all the doors in town were unlocked, he waved Dara over and they slipped into the empty house.
Both teens had not had very loving homes and it had made them wonder about how other people lived, but being in a stranger's house was just plain weird. It felt really wrong to just walk through someone else's house and Dara had the urge to take her boots off and leave them by the front door. Pushing the feeling away, she pointed out the stairs to Cooper and they headed up. They picked a child’s bedroom that faced the park and each took a side and carefully pulled back the pink lace curtains until they could see out over the backyard and into the park.
The extreme changes to the park left them both speechless. The whole area had been transformed, and Dara couldn’t even imagine how many people it had taken to change it so much. There were no longer any trees in the park. They had all been cut down. She could see a few stumps sticking up from the ground but everything else was gone. The next big difference was all the grass had been removed, and in its place was row after row of tilled soil. There was some new growth in the rows, and she guessed they were some kind of garden crops. With all the trees gone, Dara had a clear view of the back of the schools and community centre. She could also see the new fence went all the way around the park and schools. Inside of the fence were people. She could clearly make out women on their knees working along the rows and further away there were groups behind the school. She pulled away from the window and settled on the child’s bed to think.
Cooper paced the room as they both thought about what they’d just seen. He finally settled down beside her and took a deep breath.
“That wasn’t what I expected at all! I thought they would all be in one building. It looked like they were using both of the schools and the community centre. I could only count six guards in the Fairways but there has to be a lot more. We’re too far away to see how many are around the buildings.” He was silent for a minute and when Dara didn’t respond he asked her, “What do we do now?”
Dara stood up and went back to the window. She stayed there for a few minutes before turning away and looking at him. “We need info, we have to make contact.”
Cooper stared at her in disbelief. “What…No! We all agreed not to make any contact today. It’s too risky! If we tip our hand and the gang finds out, we’ll have no chance at all of freeing this town.”
Dara shook her head. “And if we don’t find out what’s going on here and how many guards there are, we won’t be able to make a plan. I know it’s a risk but we don’t have a choice!”
Cooper leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees. He stared at the carpet between his feet. Dara stayed silent and let him work through it. She knew he would agree but she didn’t want to push him so she turned back to the window and watched the people closest to them and the fence. She had just picked out the most likely candidates when Cooper stood up and joined her at the window.
He looked down at the people doing gardening and asked her, “How are we going to talk to those people?”
Dara pointed out two girls working together further down the fence line. “See those two? If we count the backyards along the fence, we can figure out what house is closest to them. We go into the yard and call out to them to come closer and ask them what we need to know. With any luck, they won't do something to give us away. As long as the guards stay over where they are, it should be safe enough. If they don’t work, there’s a woman working close to the fence in the other direction. We do the same thing with her. It’s the best I can come up with right now. I don’t want to go back to base without some serious info to make a plan. The longer we sneak around like this, the more chance we have of getting caught.”
Cooper took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, but we have to be really careful. What color is the house closest to those girls?”
Dara turned back to the window and studied the backyard closest to the two girls that were weeding one of the planted rows. She couldn’t see the house from this angle but she could count how many yards were between the house they were in and the one they wanted to be in.
“I can’t tell what color it is but its six houses down. The nearest guard is half the park away and he looks like he’s sleeping on the bench he’s sitting on. I think one of us should go into the house if it’s unlocked and keep watch from a window and the other should try and get their attention through the fence.”
Cooper went to the window and took one more look at the park before turning away and walking to the door. They left the house after scanning the street to make sure it was still clear and made their way down the block to the house they had targeted. Again, they found the front door unlocked and they came to the conclusion that the whole town had been searched by the gang. This house was a bi-level so they made their way to the highest level and found a room with a rear facing window. Nothing had changed in the park in the few minutes since they had last looked except that the two girls had moved to a row closer to the fence.
Cooper looked around the room and went to the closet. He opened the door and looked up before grabbing a nearby chair and placing it just inside the closet door. He climbed up onto the chair and used the built-in shelves to climb higher. Pushing on the ceiling, he raised up a panel that revealed the access opening to the attic. Cooper stuck his head through the opening and looked around before quickly climbing down. He faced Dara and gave her a serious look.
“If for any reason I get caught, I want you to climb up into the attic and hide while I lead them away. Just climb the shelves and put the hatch back in place. Wait until dark and then slip out and get back to base.”
Dara opened her mouth to argue but Cooper held up his hand to stop her. “Listen to me, Dara, I have no one left. You have Jake so I want you to promise me that you will hide and let me lead them away from you.” He could see that she wanted to protest but the thought of her little brother made her slowly nod her head in agreement.
They went to the window and looked out at the two girls again. Cooper checked that the guards were still in the same position before opening the window an inch and telling Dara, “Keep a close watch on the guards. If it looks like any of them are headed this way, try and let me know but don’t give yourself away.” Dara nodded and gave Cooper a tight hug before stepping back.
“Be careful. Don’t tell them too much, just try and get numbers and locations for now.”
Cooper nodded briskly and turned and walked out of the room. He made his way down to the front door and after a quick look to make sure the street was still empty, he slipped out and crossed the front lawn to the gate to the backyard. He winced at the creak of hinges when he opened it but didn’t think it was loud enough to carry into the park.
He closed it as quietly as he could and followed the wooden fence to the back of the yard. The panels in the fence had a half inch of space between them and he stopped a couple of times to look through the openings. When he was even with the two girls, he took a deep breath and clenched his fists before calling to them in a low voice. The girls didn’t respond. His body thrumming with tension, he called louder.
The girl closest to him froze as she was reaching down to pull a weed, then slowly lifted her head and glanced around. When she was looking in his direction, Cooper called out again and he saw her flinch. She looked to be around the same age as Cooper and he thought he had seen her in the halls at school, but he wasn’t sure from this distance. He watched as she said something to the other girl and then turned to look back where the nearest guard was sitting on a bench. They both stood up and picked up the garbage bags they were filling with weeds before moving a few rows closer to the fence. When they settled back down and started to pull weeds again, he was going to call out until he saw one of the girls looking right at the fence he was hiding behind. She used her body to shield her hand that was in a stop gesture so he settled back to wait.
Cooper’s nerves were strung tight and he had to fight himself not to fidget. He turned and looked up at the window that Dara was watching from and he saw her hand appear with a thumbs up so he relaxed a fraction. The wait was agonizing, feeling like hours as the two girls slowly made their way closer. When they finally were at the last row, all that separated them was the paved walkway and a few feet of grass that ran up to the other side of the fence. Cooper looked up at Dara one more time and she gave him the all clear. Before he could start talking, one of the girls beat him to it.
“Who’s there?” she asked, in a low nervous tone.
Cooper tried to keep his voice steady as he replied, “We’re friends. We’re trying to make a plan to free everyone but we need information.”
The two girls shared a quick look with each other before continuing to pull up weeds. Cooper was confused by their response and was going to say more when the other girl spoke up.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 49
