Reduced

by Robin Tidwell

  “Come on, Jules, let’s go for a walk.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  By noon, Abby and Juliet had arrived back at the shelter for lunch. They’d tromped through the creek just beyond Site 3 until they reached the meadow where the first camp had been set up initially. They walked down the gravel road, all the way back to Site 1. Along the way, Abby pointed out different trees to Juliet, explaining that since trees were usually the biggest thing in the woods, it would be good to recognize particular kinds and shapes.

  They were in no real hurry; it was a beautiful day, not too hot for late August and slightly overcast. They stopped frequently to listen to the birds singing, or just to rest for a moment and sip some water.

  However, when it was time to head back, Juliet was clearly too tired to walk much farther. She climbed up on a nearby rock and then onto Abby’s back.

  Millie saw them arrive and came out to meet them. “Oh, mercy, is she okay?”

  “Of course,” Abby told her, “She’s just tired. We had a nice long hike, didn’t we, Jules?”

  Juliet blinked. “Oh, yes, Grammy! We had the most fun! Abby took me for a walk, just like you said. After we cleaned her guns, of course.” She jumped down. “What’s for lunch?”

  “What?” said Millie. “Guns?”

  “Well, yes,” said Abby. “She does have to learn, you know. Especially now. And,” she added hastily, “She didn’t actually do anything, just watched me clean them. And she had a lesson in gun safety.”

  “Yes, Grammy, Abby said to never, ever touch guns unless I was with a grown-up and they told me to. And she told me all about trees and birds and things too!”

  Juliet skipped off to wash her hands and was back at Abby’s side in a nanosecond. Millie just stopped and stared at them.

  “Well, mercy me!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. She took Juliet off to get sandwiches and milk, Juliet chattering the whole time.

  Abby felt like she could take a nap as well, something she never did. She wondered just what else she was supposed to do on this “day off.” She grabbed a sandwich and wandered over to a tree and sat down.

  An hour later, Abby awoke with a start. Emmy had just sat down beside her and she, too, jumped a bit.

  “What the heck,” said Emmy. “Did I scare you? I thought you were asleep!”

  “Wow,” Abby replied. “Had no idea one small kid could wear me out like that.” She rubbed her eyes and stretched. “That’s more work than tromping around in the woods by myself all day long.”

  Abby picked up her forgotten sandwich and wolfed it down. She took a swig from her water bottle. “So, what’s next on the agenda for our day of leisure?”

  “I don’t know,” said Emmy. “I’ve been helping Lorie all morning and I’m tired of sitting still. Hey, want to go to the lake? No one’s been there yet, far as I know.”

  “Well,” said Abby. “I don’t know, Em. I mean, I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet and I don’t think anyone else has, either. It might not be, you know, safe.”

  “Come on, Ab. We can both scout it out; you know I’m up to it!” Emmy stood up and pulled Abby to her feet too. “I’ll run find Meg and let her know we’re going, and meet you at the tent.” Emmy took off, full of energy.

  Abby shrugged. It would be something to do, guaranteeing that she wouldn’t fall asleep again, like some, well, four-year-old! She climbed the path to their tent to gear up for the hike.

  Thirty minutes later, Abby and Emmy set off for the lake. Bob decided to join them, apparently; the big German shepherd wasn’t much for taking naps. They walked past the old campsite but, instead of going left towards the old office buildings, they turned right to cut through past an old barn. A short time later, they found the overgrown entrance to the path that led up yet another hill, then around to the lake. Bob took turns running ahead of them, then dashing back, barking joyfully every few minutes.

  It took nearly an hour to hack their way through the undergrowth and finally reach the lake. They had paid close attention to both the trail itself and the surrounding woods, and the girls had neither seen nor heard any signs of humanity. However, before they stepped out from the trailhead into the clearing, Abby stopped Emmy with a tap on the shoulder; using hand signs, she told Emmy to wait just a moment.

  Abby pulled out her binoculars and scanned the lake itself, and just beyond, all around the perimeter. She set them aside and, using only her eyes and ears, repeated the process. Bob sat down obediently, watching and waiting.

  Satisfied that no one was close by, she motioned for Emmy to follow her. They stepped out into the cleared area, gazing at the sparkling lake.

  Lake Atwood was nearly nine acres in size, and about one- third of the shoreline was a sandy beach; the rest was ringed by trees and rock outcroppings. There was a falling-down shelter to their left and a dilapidated boathouse opposite.

  The girls walked down to the edge of the gently lapping water and splashed some of it on their hot faces. They started walking around the shoreline, watching and listening. Before long, they came to the gravel road leading up a hill to the old barns. Trees had naturally fallen to block the way and the road itself was full of weeds. It was obvious that no one had been up there in years.

  They turned around and walked back to where they had come out of the tree line, and further, until they reached the large rocks. Seeing and hearing nothing but the few wispy clouds and the songs of native birds, the girls went back to the old shelter and beach area.

  Abby pulled some beef jerky out of her pack and handed some to Emmy. Bob lay down and gave her a pitiful look, so Abby handed him a piece as well. They drank from their water bottles and relaxed under the scant amount of shade.

  “Nice and quiet here,” said Emmy. “But you know, I haven’t been swimming in ages . . .” With that, she was up and stripping off her boots, jeans, and t-shirt. She ran for the water and plunged in, but came up immediately, sputtering.

  “D-dang, that’s cold!” She shook her head, her brown curls flattened, and wiped water out of her eyes. “Brrrr!”

  Abby laughed. “What did you expect? Spring-fed, remember?”

  “Yeah, I remember, but still! It must be 95 degrees today and you’d think the sun would have warmed it up a little. Come on in, Ab!”

  “Nope, no thank you! But Bob appears to be enjoying himself.” The big dog was paddling close to shore; within a few minutes he landed on the beach area and shook himself mostly dry. Abby walked to the edge of the water and, removing her boots and rolling up her jeans, placing her knife on the sand beside her, put her feet in the water. It was nice and cooling.

  Just a few short minutes later, Emmy came out and sat next to Abby, drying in the sun.

  “Wish we could just stay here,” said Emmy. “It’s so nice and quiet.”

  “Hey,” said Abby. “Look!” They saw a fish jump into the air and then disappear; then another. “At least the lake is still stocked.”

  “Too bad I don’t have a pole,” said Emmy, stretched out on the sand, unmoving.

  “Yeah,” said Abby. “’Cause I can see you hustling up to go fishing right now.” Emmy mumbled something, under her breath, and rolled over.

  Abby nudged her with a foot. “Don’t go falling asleep now, we have to be heading back. I’m going to go take a look at the boathouse, I’ll be right back.”

  Abby walked around the outside of the old building. It wasn’t in great shape, but still standing. She stood on tiptoe and tried to see inside the one grimy window, but it was too dark. She circled back to the door.

  It was padlocked, but Abby was sure she could simply wrench the handle off the door itself; the wood was practically falling apart already. Grasping it tightly with both hands, she twisted once, then again. She staggered backwards, almost falling, when it came loose.

  The wide door swung open as Abby pulled her gun out and clicked off the safety; better prepared than something else, something worse, she thought. Nothing, or no one, rus
hed out and Abby gave herself a minute for her eyes to adjust to the darkness inside.

  Surprisingly, the tall racks to both her right and left were full of canoes; paddles were stacked along the back wall, and from the rafters hung a few dusty old lifejackets. In the center was a jon boat. Cobwebs were thick, and the floorboards creaked as Abby stepped inside for a closer look.

  Fifteen minutes later, she woke up Emmy and the two girls, and Bob, were on their way back to camp.

  Juliet saw Abby and Emmy coming up the road before anyone else and, with her grammy’s permission, ran to meet them. She jumped onto Abby, nearly knocking her over, and began asking questions almost immediately.

  “Where’d you go, Abby? What did you see? Did you miss me? I missed you!”

  Abby rolled her eyes at Emmy. “Slow down, Jules. Give me a minute, okay?” They reached the shelter at Site 3 and Abby unloaded the little girl and then sat down. It was nearly dinnertime and people had begun to gather. Jules promptly climbed into Abby’s lap.

  “We went to the lake today, Jules. It’s a big, beautiful lake over that way.” She gestured vaguely in the direction from which they’d come; it occurred to her that it might not be a good idea for Juliet to decide to try to go there herself. “And we saw boats, and fish,” Abby finished.

  “Fishes!” exclaimed Juliet. “My daddy took me fishing once.” Her small voice trailed off and she stuck her thumb in her mouth, snuggling against Abby. “I miss my daddy.”

  Abby felt an unexpected lump in her throat as she hugged the little girl tightly.

  Folks were starting to eat and Millie came bustling over. “Come on, Juliet, let’s go eat. You need to give Abby some time to rest and you can see her after dinner.” Juliet went along with her grammy and Abby went to get her food, wondering what the evening held in store.

  The command group met again in the commissary, that being the space which offered the most privacy, should they require it. The mood was much lighter than all the previous meetings; the day off for nearly everyone had made a huge difference in their outlook.

  “Okay, folks, listen up!” said Meg, breaking into the general chitchat. “Here’s our plan for next week.

  “September 1st is in two days. That gives us just two months, more or less, until the weather starts to really cool off and things might get a bit uncomfortable.

  “I know you’re all wondering just how long we’re going to be holed up here, especially if we’re getting ready for winter. Cal?”

  Cal stood up. She looked tired.

  “Noah and I have been going over all the intel we’ve gathered so far. He’ll talk to you in a minute about some of that. What we’ve decided, with input from Meg and Sandy, is that we’re all much safer here than anywhere else; at least for the foreseeable future.

  “This is why we’re going to plan on staying put. Through the winter, at least. So, in order to do this, we’re keeping Zoe’s crew on firewood duty; the cooks will tend their own fires. Brad and his group are going to be winterizing as much shelter as they can manage, but priority goes to storage facilities, either building or repurposing.

  “Some of you may have to pull double duty and pitch in wherever you’re needed most on a particular day, but all-in-all we’ll keep assignments as regular as possible. I want everyone to check in each morning after breakfast for any changes.”

  Cal paused for a moment and looked at her notes. “We’ll be sending a crew into town to scavenge every morning, at minimum, until we have the supplies we need. And Sandy will be doubling her security team.

  “That’s all I’ve got for now, except for individual assignments. Noah, you’re up.”

  Noah’s tall, lanky frame almost reached the rather low ceiling as he stood and moved to the center of the room. “Well, he said, “I think we may have a handle on this whole scenario.”

  Silence. Complete and utter silence greeted his statement. Apprehension shone on the faces of everyone in the group. For several months they’d all lived with the possibility of a mysterious occurrence, for nearly a week they’d hidden away after escaping the consequences. For a few hours today they’d almost been able to stop wondering, to halt their fearful thoughts.

  Noah cleared his throat. He looked around the room slowly. “Biological,” he said.

  “I’m sorry,” Noah apologized. “That’s all I’ve got.” He shrugged. “I know it’s not a disease, per se, and I know it’s neither bacterial nor viral.

  “I don’t think anyone here can catch it, and I don’t think we’ll be seeing any new cases. In other words, everyone still living appears to be immune.”

  Silence. Again.

  Minds were racing, taking in all the implications of Noah’s report. Some looked baffled, others appears slightly dazed. Meg’s booming voice brought them all back to reality, this new reality.

  “So, what you’re saying is that you think you know what it’s not, but there’s more work to do to find out what it is, right?”

  “Yes.” Noah looked relieved. “Exactly. I think we’re pretty safe, for now, but I need to run more tests and go back over the information. I know there’s a key, I just have to find it.

  “And,” he glanced around, apprehensively, “I’m still going to need blood samples from all of you. Later, I’ll probably have to expand it to the entire group; but I’d like to keep things under wraps, just us, for the time being.”

  Meg seemed a bit pale, but she put on a brave face. “Okey dokey, then. Who’s next? Cal?”

  Cal stood up. “That’s really all for tonight folks; we’ll keep you updated as we go along and please, remember not to let this out of the group. We don’t want to start a panic.

  “I am, however, going to call a meeting after breakfast tomorrow. Some folks are getting restless, and I want to give everyone the option of staying here for the winter, or not. That’ll give us an idea of numbers and a way to come up with a better plan if we can manage it.

  “Abby, Emmy, I need to see you two for a minute. Oh, and Janey, you too.”

  Everyone filed out after Noah took his samples, most heading for the campfire, some to their tents. It was barely 8:00, but in the valley there it was starting to get dark. Abby stepped outside for a moment, lighting a cigarette and wishing she had a beer. She went back inside just as Janey was leaving.

  “See you in the trenches,” said Janey, winking.

  Abby raised a questioning eyebrow, but continued through the door. She figured she’d know soon enough what Janey was talking about. She sat down beside Emmy, to whom Cal was speaking.

  “All right then, we’ll start tomorrow, Em. You and Pops and Lorie can head out after breakfast. I wish I could spare someone else, but it can’t be helped just now.

  “Abby,” Cal continued, “You’re going to have it pretty rough the next couple days but, like I told Emmy, that’s just the way it is. I’ll know more, of course, after we talk to everyone in the morning.

  “I need to know what’s going on around our perimeter; yes, I know that the immediate area is safe, but I think we need to expand our borders, so to speak. Things are going to get a lot rougher, I’m afraid.”

  Abby looked up, still wishing for that drink. “How far out?” she asked.

  “All the way up, top of the hills,” replied Cal. “Especially after we see who’s staying and who’s leaving. You should probably plan on an overnight, but I’d rather you not do two in a row.”

  “Sure,” said Abby. “No problem.” She thought for a minute. “I’ll head out in the morning and start with Pioneer. No reason not to make it back down in the afternoon, far as I know.”

  “Here,” said Cal, handing Abby a two-way radio. “Just a matter of time before we lose cell coverage; surprised it hasn’t happened yet. Oh, and some extra batteries.” She rummaged around in a box behind her and pulled out a few.

  “Lorie’s over at the commissary waiting for you, to issue whatever you’ll need. I’ll see you in the morning before you leave.” They all stood up
to walk outside. It had gotten quite dark by then, but the campfire over by the shelter offered more than enough light to see the way. Emmy and Cal continued on, but Abby turned the corner to the commissary door.

  She knocked and entered, all at the same time, only to see Lorie and Ted jump apart. Both looked guilty, and Ted was blushing. “Shall I come back later?” asked Abby with a grin.

  “No, no.” Lorie busied herself with some paperwork. “We were just, you know . . .”

  “Ha,” said Abby. “Oh yeah, I know. Ted was just er, getting supplies for tomorrow taken care of, right?”

  “Right,” said Ted, straightening up. “Thanks, Lorie, I’ll see you later.” Ted walked out quickly, closing the door carefully.

  Abby burst out laughing. “You two! Do you really think no one knows what’s going on?”

  “Well, no.” Now it was Lorie’s turn to blush. Then she turned to business. “Okay, here’s what I’ve got for you. What else do you need?”

  Abby scanned the list. Jerky, granola, Gatorade, dehydrated meals . . . all the essentials. Two extra canteens. Coffee, of course. “Looks good, Lorie, I should be all set.”

  “Great, let’s head out then; just let me lock up.” The two left the commissary and walked towards the fire pit. “I’ll see you in the morning, Ab, I think I’m just gonna go crash.” She yawned, a little obviously Abby thought.

  “Yeah, right! Sleep well, I’ll see you in the morning.” Abby smacked the other girl playfully on the shoulder. “Tell Ted I said good night!” Lorie climbed the hill and Abby kept walking, finding a spot next to Emmy near the fire.

  Emmy handed her a beer. “Just what I needed,” said Abby. “Long day.”

  “Ain’t over till it’s over,” said Emmy, pointing toward the small girl running for Abby. Bob was hot on her heels.

  “Abby!” said Juliet. “I missed you!” She plopped into Abby’s lap and began chattering about her evening. Bob kept pushing Abby’s free hand with his nose, wanting attention. Sheesh, thought Abby; she sure was popular tonight.