Reduced

by Robin Tidwell

  When the snow stopped and the sun came out, they’d planned to dig their way south and head home. As they emerged from the shelter, they heard the choppers. They ducked back inside, hoping the truck wouldn’t be noticed; they hadn’t taken any precautions, believing they were pretty much alone.

  As night fell, they came back outside and camouflaged the truck and then made their way toward the city center.

  Noah smiled briefly at the memory; Ted had sure enjoyed playing commando. He recalled thinking at the time that it was kind of fun.

  “Anyway,” he continued after his brief pause. “There were soldiers everywhere, mercenaries I suppose. And some higher-up guy that everyone deferred to—he had a different chopper, some emblem on it.

  “The next day, that one flew off across the river but the rest stayed behind. With all the men. They’d rebuilt the north barracks, not very well, but it was holding. Seemed like they were here for the long haul, oh, maybe a few hundred or so.

  “And that’s what I needed to tell you.”

  Abby had stopped shaking and was thinking furiously. So, Colonel Barton was back. And his men, or at least some of them. For how long? Noah seemed to think it was somewhat permanent.

  She wondered why he’d bombed the whole city, if he was coming back. Of course! To stop the rebels, yes, but talk about overkill…there must have been some inkling that things were not going well. Why did they bomb the whole county? Or rather, several counties? Population control. Only certain persons were allowed to live and breathe in this new society, particularly those who did what they were told and never thought for themselves at all.

  And that most certainly did not include Abby, or Cal, or any of them down here.

  “We have to tell Cal,” Abby said.

  “I know. But I wanted to tell you first. Cal’s not . . . she’s pretty fragile, Abby. I know you’ve seen it. I’m not sure how this’ll all go over with her. We’ve all been through a lot, but she thinks she’s responsible . . . for us, for not stopping VADER, for a lot of things out of her control.

  “She’s slipping, Abby, and this could send her over the edge. I worried, especially about you and Juliet. And Emmy,” he added.

  “I picked up some meds while I was up there this time. For Cal. I think it will help, but I might need to convince her.”

  Abby had only been half-listening. She was thinking of her cave . . . she’d have to slip away and go up there, check supplies, bring in some more as well. She wondered, too, about other areas of the country—had they been bombed into submission as well? Was Co-opCom intent on destroying everything, starting over? Or not?

  “What? Cal?” Oh yes, she’d noticed Cal’s behavior lately . . . even more so her attitude and demeanor. “I’ll talk to her, Noah. I’ll see what I can do.” She got up from the rock to walk back.

  “One more thing, Abby. We may all need to hide again. In fact, I’m sure of it. And I think we should split up this time, make it harder for them.”

  Abby smiled. “I know,” she said. “I’m ready.” Noah looked at her carefully, but she was done talking.

  They went back to the others.

  Ted outdid himself on Christmas dinner. Abby had shot a turkey the week before, and he and Noah had brought plenty of food from the city. Even working with canned goods, Ted was a master chef.

  After dinner, Juliet played with her new toys; however, she seemed a lot more interested in the tin soldiers than in the dolls. At least she wasn’t into playing shooting games with toy guns and knives, thought Abby. She preferred the real ones, of course. Probably not the way to raise a little girl but, after all, extreme circumstances called for extreme measures. Or something like that.

  Soon after Juliet went to bed, and they were reasonably certain she was asleep, Noah dinged his glass and got everyone’s attention. With a nod from Ted, standing near the back with Abby, he began to tell them about the choppers. He watched Cal closely without being obvious.

  As his story progressed, even though he kept it purposefully short and to the point, Cal became more pale and raised a hand to her throat. As she became slightly more agitated, he signaled to Ted.

  Ted whispered to Cal, who nodded, and he and Abby helped her to her own cubicle. Abby stayed with her, holding her hand, speaking calmly . . . she told Cal that she understood, they all felt that way sometimes, and that she must get this under control, for all their sakes.

  She couldn’t tell if it was doing any good at all, but Cal’s breathing had calmed and become more even. She gripped Abby’s hand tightly, but managed to lie back and try to relax.

  Abby could tell that Noah had finished by the sudden murmur of other voices down the hallway. Within a minute, he appeared at the door and took Abby’s place. She wanted to stay, but she needed to see Emmy; at any rate, Noah seemed to have things well in hand.

  She slipped out of the room and found Emmy staring out the window, looking up at the sky. She put her arms around her and rested her chin on Emmy’s shoulder.

  “Now what, Abby? Are we ever going to be done with this? What was the point of making it this far?”

  “It’s okay, Em. It’ll be all right. I have a plan.” And she told Emmy about the cave.

  Her friend almost sagged in relief. “When can we go? Tomorrow? How soon?” Emmy was near tears.

  “Not now. But very soon. We have to get more supplies up there. We have to move fast, before . . . before they come back. But we have to take care of Cal, and Pops. We all need to make plans, but let’s keep the cave just between us.” Abby hesitated, but didn’t mention that Noah, too, knew about it.

  Noah came out and told them that Cal was sleeping and that she’d be just fine. Ted and Pops were deep in discussion about the new information and trying to formulate some sort of plan. Noah glanced at Abby, but said nothing and joined the men.

  Abby and Emmy slipped off to the room they shared with Juliet and whispered long into the night.

  By morning, it was snowing again. Ted, Noah, and Pops continued their discussion of the night before. They agreed that some more reconnaissance needed to be undertaken, before any definite plans could be made, but they also knew they needed to move fast.

  Finally, it was decided that, as soon as the weather broke, Ted and Noah would return St. Louis. Noah, however, wished to stall a bit until he was sure Cal was okay; he planned to do that without making it an issue, as Cal had requested. He was confident that he could do this, as long as Cal showed improvement.

  Abby and Emmy went back to their room after breakfast. They sat Juliet down to explain the situation to her; they tried to give her information that was age-appropriate, but Juliet was smart and asked a lot of questions. They finally gave up and just answered honestly and straightforwardly. Neither of them mentioned the cave.

  “Okay,” said Juliet, and went back to playing with her toy army. Abby and Emmy went into the living area and began to make lists of needed supplies.

  “Do you think she’s okay?” asked Emmy.

  “She said she was,” Abby responded. “I think we should leave her alone for now and just keep answering her questions.”

  “But she seemed so . . . used to it. Like this is normal!”

  “Em, for her it is normal—she’s been here almost four years and this is likely about all she remembers. Let it go, and help me figure this out.”

  The girls kept their heads together for the better part of the morning and no one disturbed them. The snow had stopped by lunchtime, so they took Juliet outside for some much-needed exercise. All three, however, kept stopping to look up at the clearing sky.

  Cal joined the conversation that night, after Juliet had been tucked into bed.

  “I’m sure you all think I’m a sniveling weakling, but the truth is that I haven’t been myself for a long time. I had a nice talk with Noah last night, and he’s convinced me to start some medication.

  “I expect to be fine, sooner rather than later I hope, and I insist that you all stop keeping things
from me.” She’d spoken her piece and she sat there, arms crossed, almost daring anyone to argue. Ah, for the moment at least, she was the Cal they all knew and loved . . .

  Pops was the first to speak. “I’m taking you out of here, Cal.” He held up his hand as she started to interrupt. “Nope, no arguing. I know you love it here and I do too, but there’s nothing left for us and you know that as well. You haven’t left the site in a long time; me either, much. And, well, it’s time.

  “We’ll head south, see what we can see. The sooner we get away from here, away from any major city, I think things will improve. And that’s that.” He mirrored her pose, as well as her look, and even Cal smiled at this.

  “Okay then,” she said.

  Everyone let out a collective breath; they had all been expecting an argument. A lot of arguments. Only Noah looked sharply at Cal, but it went unnoticed.

  It was Ted’s turn. “I was thinking of going west. You know, like those old cattle drives and stuff? It’s a thought, anyway; right now I guess I just don’t have a clear idea.

  “But I’ll come up with one, and soon too. I mean, it’s just me, and I can take care of myself okay. No real plans to make, I guess.”

  They all knew Ted was the wandering sort; since they were all kids together, he’d been the one to head off to strange places, cooking his way around the country. He could live outdoors, indoors, any place he could flop. He always ended up back here, though. He’d probably be just fine, as long as he stayed under the radar.

  So far, Noah had stayed out of the conversation, but now all eyes turned to him. “At the moment, like Ted, I’m not sure.” But he looked only at Abby.

  “Abby and I are taking Juliet away somewhere. We haven’t really decided either. But we’ll probably stay pretty close to the area.”

  Pops looked sad for a moment. “Sure will miss that little girl.” The others looked equally unhappy. Unfortunately, Juliet couldn’t be divided and they all knew she’d never go anywhere without Abby.

  That broke up the meeting for the evening, and Abby volunteered herself and Emmy to take the news up to Martin. Whether he stayed or left was up to him.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Martin had elected to remain in his new home, as Abby suspected he would. He became downright angry when she told him about Ted and Noah’s trip to the city and what they’d seen. He ranted and railed against Co-opCom and said he was tired of hiding and running. If they wanted him, they could come get him. His wife agreed completely, as did his daughter.

  They were resolute. They were staying.

  Ted and Noah made one more trip to St. Louis, driving as far as they could, going on foot the rest of the way. Their report afterwards was disheartening, at best. The colonel had been busy. All three barracks had been rebuilt, plus a spanking-new command center downtown. There were few signs of civilians. Ted and Noah agreed that this was a purely military area now, one most likely tasked with bringing in strays and serving as an

  outpost, given its location in the center of the country.

  Abby and Emmy spent the next couple of weeks either on the road or hauling supplies up to the cave. They had to go at night, without lights, so as not to be seen; in fact, all of them had begun sleeping during daylight hours and emerging only under cover of darkness.

  Several more weeks passed, and the ground began to thaw. The trees came out, a few wildflowers showed themselves. Ted was still vague about his plans, Noah even more so. He kept watching Abby, but she was too busy to notice; he assumed no one else noticed either, but he was wrong. There was a lot of speculation when neither were close by, and outside of Emmy’s presence as well.

  And one day, the choppers flew over the camp. As they knew they would.

  Preparations had been in place since the beginning of the year; sleeping during the day had its advantages. They were awakened by the noise, but by the time they’d gathered in the main room, the choppers were gone.

  Every day, for a solid week, it was the same thing. Noise, blades, whirring, running to the living area. Just as they’d about decided to forgo sleep altogether, the flyovers ceased.

  A week later, a lone chopper flew in, very low. Then it left, banking and flying east. The following week, another. This one dipped even lower, flattening the long meadow grass.

  That was beyond alarming—the colonel and his henchmen were done checking, they knew, they were playing with them. Pops assigned two to keep watch at all times. Whoever wasn’t on duty was supposed to sleep, but no one did. Not anymore. They were exhausted and frightened.

  It was time to go.

  They huddled together the next afternoon, packing their personal belongings which hadn’t yet been loaded into the trucks. This would be the last day, they’d all be going their separate ways. There was no way to communicate anymore, and hadn’t been for quite some time but it hadn’t mattered until now. Ted had finally decided to head west. Noah claimed to be tagging along, and Ted was okay with this. He figured four eyes were better than two and anyway, he was pretty laid back and took whatever came his way . . . more or less.

  Abby had finally spilled about the cave; Pops had already figured it out, of course. He’d grown up right here, back when the camp was just another farm, and he knew every inch of the place. He approved of her choice, while he worried constantly about all three of them.

  Emmy was quiet, but resigned. She’d get to stay with Juliet, and with Abby. She was just so very tired of running and hiding.

  Juliet, while frightened at least as much as the rest of them, was excited about this new place. She’d been there once, when James and Candy set off that horrific explosion, but she didn’t remember it very well.

  They were all fairly calm, considering the circumstances, and waited for darkness.

  BOOM!

  They rushed for the windows, peering outside. That had been close, but not here, not . . . Abby turned pale. She could see the plume of smoke. It was coming from Martin’s place. She moved away from the window. Then she noticed Cal.

  The woman who had warned them of VADER . . . the woman who had brought them all together, who had survived the threats, death, destruction, and every horrible event, had completely fallen apart. She slid to the floor, pale, trembling, gasping for breath for no apparent reason. Abby ran to her side; the others turned, stupefied.

  BOOM!

  The walls shook, some of the interior ones fell, and Juliet screamed. Noah was the first to react. He grabbed Juliet and thrust her at Abby, shoving them both toward the back door.

  “Run!”

  He scooped up Cal as though she weighed nothing more than a small bird and half-ran, half fell into the small kitchen. He saw Abby then, standing by the door with Juliet. “Emmy!” he hollered.

  “Get out! Everyone out!”

  Emmy and Ted appeared as smoke from the meadow began drifting inside the shattered windows. They were dragging Pops by the arms as the old man clutched his chest. “Noah,” he rasped. “Go, go now. I mean it!”

  And he died.

  That was all Cal could handle. She leapt to her feet, shoved the table aside, and grabbed Noah’s gun. One shot to her own temple, and it was over. She slumped to the ground. Dead.

  Emmy blinked. She blinked again. She tried to take it all in at once, and failed. Ted, however, recognized the signs and shoved her out the door. Noah was right behind them. Abby was waiting.

  BOOM!

  “Abby!” screamed Emmy. “Run! Take Juliet and go!” Abby ran.

  BOOM!

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Abby climbed up on the large, rocky overhang at the top of the hill behind the cave. She scanned the immediate area, then further afield; this was a routine that she hadn’t broken in the last six months since she and Juliet had fled the main camp. Every morning, every evening just before dusk. Satisfied, for the moment, that there were no intruders, she stuck the binoculars in the case and headed down the trail.

  Juliet was finishing the breakfast
prep; not that there was much to it, anymore. Supplies were dwindling and Abby knew that, in spite of finding some mushrooms and wild strawberries and a few herbs, she’d have to venture out soon.

  She’d just about made up her mind to go into town today, leaving Juliet with strict instructions to stay hidden in the cave until she returned, but she agonized over the possibility that she might not make it back. She sighed. Best not to overthink, just do it. Things were getting desperate. Hell, they’d been desperate, but the time had definitely come.

  “Thanks,” said Abby, accepting a bowl of runny oatmeal with a few strawberries drowning on top. “Jules, it’s time. I have to go into town. We’re running out of . . . everything. I need to see what’s going on and see what’s available out there.”

  Juliet looked at Abby. “I want to go with you.”

  “Sweetie, you can’t go. I have no idea what I’ll run into and it’s a long way into town. You need to stay here, inside, until I get back.”

  Suddenly, Juliet jerked her head up and stared at a point past Abby’s shoulder. “Someone’s coming,” she whispered.

  Abby was immediately alert, the conversation forgotten as she reached slowly and unobtrusively for her .357. She turned her head ever so slightly as she pulled the knife from its sheath with her left hand. Juliet had already faded back, unseen, into the brush, just as she’d been taught in case of an emergency. Abby quickly rolled to her right, stopping behind a scrubby hazelnut shrub.

  She watched and waited. Abby knew that the person walking towards the little camp couldn’t yet see them and likely hadn’t heard them either. It was amazing how finely tuned Juliet’s hearing had become in the last six months, and how well she had acclimated to their life of concealment.