by Deb Rotuno
Derek snorted, shouldering his compound bow. “Yeah, Hank.”
Standing up from the table, I zipped up the backpack I’d put together for them—bottles of water, a first-aid kit, some food, and extra ammo. I handed it to Derek, who set it down in the backseat, leaving the passenger side for Josh.
He busied himself, checking the Jeep over, then his weapons. Without looking my way, he spoke softly. “This is one of those times I wish Jack was here. He’s good in the woods. He always was, but then…you probably wouldn’t let him go.”
Snorting, I shrugged, toying with the dog tags I now refused to take off. They comforted me, and they seemed to keep Derek’s feelings in check. He’d backed off a little, though I wasn’t sure that wasn’t due to my dad’s presence, not just my husband’s name around my neck.
“I don’t know, D,” I told him, shrugging a little. “I can’t say what I’d do if he were here. That’s a painful game to play. I want him here so badly, it makes me physically sick to speak of it.”
Derek sniffed and nodded. “Even if you knew, had closure…” He trailed off, changing directions. “What if he never shows?”
“What if he does?” I fired back.
There was the pity I’d come to expect from everyone when Jack—or even Rich, Dottie, or Joel—was mentioned.
“Don’t,” I snapped. “Don’t do that. Derek, it took us nearly a week to travel a hundred and fifty miles. It took my dad almost two. How long would it take to come across the country?” When he didn’t answer, I went on. “Then, ask yourself this…If Jack had enough knowledge to call me, to prepare me for coming to this place, wouldn’t you think he’d prepare for the worst where he was? He’s never been stupid, Derek Dunn. And neither are his parents, as you could tell from how Dottie stocked that bunker.”
Derek grimaced but nodded. “Believe me, I hope like hell you’re right, despite…” He finally smiled, and it was the lazy, friendly, half smile that was just Derek. “Look…I love my cousin, my aunt and uncle, and even that big oaf Jack dragged home so long ago. Joel’s a loyal-as-hell friend. They’re my family. I promised Jack I would watch over you and Freddie…and I intend to keep that promise, Sara, even if I have to fight his ghost to do it.”
“Derek,” I sighed and groaned at the same time.
“No, I get it,” he said through a laugh. “Jesus, Sara, you’ve forgotten I was there the day he set eyes on you…and you on him. There’s nothing like that in the world. Believe me, I wish there was. And now the world is even smaller.”
I heard approaching footsteps, and I turned to see Josh and my dad walking toward us. Turning to Derek again, I whispered, “Please, be careful out there.”
“Yup,” he grunted, pulling himself up into the Jeep and looking past me. “Twenty-four hours, Hank.”
“Good,” Dad replied. “Watch each other’s backs out there. It won’t destroy us if you don’t find anything the first time. Got me?”
Josh nodded as he got in beside Derek, who cranked up the Jeep. They circled around us, heading down the long driveway, with Brody and Mose closing a makeshift gate behind them.
“You’re killing that man, Sara,” Dad muttered with amusement.
I rounded on him so fast that he flinched. “I’m doing no such thing.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “He’s a good man, kiddo. He’s done a helluva job with keeping you two safe, with this whole place, really.”
“He has. And he’s a good friend.”
Dad smirked, narrowing his eyes on me. “And he’s well aware that he’d take second place in your heart for the rest of his life. That’s tough for a man to swallow. Hell, he sees where your heart is every time you set eyes on Freddie.”
“I can’t help that, Dad. I just can’t.”
“He’d take care of you, you know, if—”
“Really, Dad?” I asked incredulously. “This is coming from the man who never stopped pining over my mother for how long? I was…what? Two when she left? So fourteen years, right? Don’t even go there with me, Daddy. It’s an argument you won’t win, especially when you and Mom accused me of being just like you my whole damn life.”
He snorted, holding up his hands in surrender. “I’m just looking out for you, Sara. The world has changed…”
“But I haven’t.”
With that, I walked away to relieve Travis on the security watch.
It was a long day and an even longer, quiet night. We were all worried about Derek and Josh. It was a complex set of emotions. We needed the food, but we needed them safe. It was hard for any of us to sit still. Freddie followed my dad around like a lost puppy the next morning. He’d missed his grandfather so much, and the fact that they were attempting to fish together again, just like they used to, made me smile.
I’d promised Millie I’d help wash clothes. It was a long, drawn-out process, doing it by hand, but we’d kind of gotten the hang of it. As I made my way from my cabin, I noted all the changes around camp that had taken place in a little less than a month. They were enormous. Most of us had sorted out a schedule for standing watch—one on the tree stand Brody had built and one on top of Jonah’s RV. At my dad’s insistence, all of the adults stayed armed at all times. With the fence still incomplete, the occasional pack could still sneak up on us, especially in the rain or at night.
Millie’s garden was small but green and healthy. The picnic table now had two large folding tables with it. And the fire pit had been expanded, not to mention my dad had brought a fairly large grill. Ivan and Jonah were still working on our water. Without power, the pumps wouldn’t work, so they wanted to find a hand pump—or build one.
Millie was already at work as she poured a bucket of water into an aluminum tub when I found her between Rich’s cabin and mine. She smiled sweetly, pointing to the few remaining bottles of laundry soap.
“See what you can get out of those, sweet pea,” she told me. “I’ve already separated everything into easier stacks. We’ll do sheets first, then underwear. We’ll save the dirtier stuff for last. We may have just enough sunlight to get it all done today.”
I let her ramble. It was sweet and soothing. She chattered on and on about nothing in particular, and I loved it. There was no agenda when it came to Millie, and I was able to lose myself in my head for a bit and watch Freddie with my dad at the same time. She was worried about Josh, so I knew she was hoping that time would fly by.
As load after load were wrung out and hung on the lines between the two cabins, I could feel the camp grow more and more anxious. Derek and Josh were due back at any moment, at least we hoped.
When the laundry was done and lunch had come and gone, anxiety kicked up to murmurs of worry, of what steps to take to find them.
“I need you guys to calm down,” Dad said firmly at the table. “We’ll give them a little while longer.”
“Any longer, and you’ll lose daylight,” Jonah advised. “If you know the area they were going…”
“I do, and I also know Derek well enough that he wouldn’t do anything foolish,” Dad countered.
“Derek, maybe. Josh is just a kid,” Brody stated, rolling his eyes.
“Brody Leonard Matthews, I can still put you over my knee, son,” Millie warned him. “I used to do it when you were a child, and I’ll do it again.”
Brody’s tan skin blushed a deep red, especially when there were cheers to see it. He started to get up from the table, but the rumble of a familiar engine caused all of us to stand up.
Mose rushed to the gate, pulling it open enough to let the Jeep through. I had to smile because strapped across the hood was a beautiful, healthy doe. Dad and I met them just as Derek turned off the engine, and instead of the usual laid-back smile, it was somber and serious that greeted us.
“We have a problem, Hank,” he stated, shaking his head. “We’d have been back sooner, but…we ran into some people.”
Dad grunted, his eyes narrowing. “Survivors?”
“Yeah, and desperate
ones.” Derek nodded, gesturing to Josh. “Josh here gave up some rabbits, tryin’ to help them out.”
“How many we talkin’?” Dad asked.
“There were two of them. Just kids, really. They looked pretty ragged. But they spoke like there were more and that they weren’t far. I just…wanted to give you a head’s up, Hank.”
Dad gripped his shoulder. “No, no…You did the right thing. Both of you.” He inhaled deeply, letting it out. “We’ll just keep watch, stay sharp, but this is a big forest, so hopefully they’ll leave us be, yeah?”
“I hope so,” Derek agreed.
“In the meantime, let’s dress this deer,” Dad praised, slapping Josh’s shoulder. “Well done, guys.”
Chapter 9
JACK
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
4 Months & 10 Days after
Hurricane Beatrice
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?” Quinn hissed in a whisper as we crouched low in the woods.
“Bison,” I answered, aiming the compound bow. “Think of it as a big, hefty cow.”
He groaned in appreciation. “Oh my fucking hell…Steak.”
“Exactly,” I sang low, waiting until the big bastard turned just right and it was completely oblivious of us as it grazed along the small clearing.
“We can’t carry that shit.”
“We’re not taking all of it. Just enough to feed us for a couple days,” I told him, smiling when the bison finally moved perfectly into my sight. The arrow left the compound bow in a whoosh, landing exactly where I needed it: the head. “I hate to waste it, but we don’t have a choice. C’mon, let’s get this done,” I said louder as I stood, pulling out my knife.
“Did you hunt? You know, before?”
“Yeah. More so as a kid, but yeah. My cousin is the big game hunter,” I stated with a grunt when my knife went to work on the bison. “After I joined the Army, killing shit—even animals—tends to be not so…exciting anymore. When you’ve shot people…” I shrugged, looking up at him. “Now, it’s just…”
“Survival. Yeah,” he said with a nod.
He was a good kid and had proven himself more times than I could count over the last couple of weeks. I’d been off on his age when I’d first set eyes on him but only by a year. He was seventeen. He’d lost his entire family to the virus—mother, father, baby sister. They’d been attacked on the way home from church. All of it made him a bit harder than he should’ve been, but my mother had already adopted him without shame. Actually, all the women doted on him, and I was pretty sure my buddy, Ava, had a crush, which I teased her about relentlessly. It was the guitar, I was damn certain of it. The kid could play well and even sing a little, and he’d do it at night around the fire. I wasn’t sure if it was for all of us or to soothe himself, but he wasn’t half bad.
I was still cutting the meat when I heard the telltale grunts, growls, and heavy breathing. “Aw, shit!” I snapped, jerking my chin. “Try to hold them off. I’m almost done. When we leave, they’ll fall on this thing quick, fast, and in a hurry, so it’ll give us a chance to run. Yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah…on it.”
He stood up, pulling out the machete he’d been using the last few days. It was a silent weapon he’d used when we went through the outskirts of Denver. That city had been pure hell, something we should’ve known when “Welcome to Hell” had been recently spray-painted across the city-limits sign. Joel was sporting the Velcro cast again because we’d gotten into a scuffle with some asshole survivors who’d wanted one of the Hummers, which they’d succeeded in taking—but only after Joel beat the living hell out of one of them. It had been the one my parents had been driving since Florida. Fortunately, most of my mother’s research had been in the RV, as well as the meager amount of food we’d been able to salvage along the road, but we’d lost a shit-ton of first-aid supplies and camping equipment.
Joel had sprained his wrist in that fight, and that was why Quinn was hunting with me instead of him.
I wrapped the meat up in newspaper, then in several sheets of plastic, before shoving it into my backpack. Glancing up, I saw Quinn take the heads of two zeaks stumbling from the tree line, though a few more were zoning in on the scent of blood in the air. They could have it.
I whistled sharply. “Let’s go, Quinn. Let them have it!”
He backed away several steps, only to turn tail and run my way. The zeaks followed him, but the fresh meat on the ground was irresistible. They fell on the bison in a heap of snapping teeth, fierce growls, and tearing fingers.
We needed to get back to the edge of the small town where we’d left the four-wheeler. Those bastards had come in handy. We still had Ruby’s RV, my Hummer with the store of ammo, and now a large pickup truck with a trailer for the two four-wheelers we’d taken in Dodge City. They used less fuel and were perfect for short excursions like this one.
It was downhill back to the street. The layout of Jackson Hole was right in front of us, situated in Jackson Hole Valley. In the winter, the place would’ve been overflowing with skiers, but it being summer, it was green…and really fucking quiet.
Reaching the four-wheeler, I quickly dumped the backpack into the storage compartment, scanning around us for more zeaks. There were a few here and there, but they were moving slowly enough that we could afford to catch our breaths.
“Okay, check the list. What else we gotta find?” I asked him, straddling the seat.
“Let’s see.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper. “Your mom still needs first-aid stuff, so whatever we can find. Doc wants razors.” He huffed a laugh. “Apparently you and he are looking like cavemen.”
Snorting, I rubbed the beard on my face. “It’s a bitch, for real. My wife would’ve already cut it off in my sleep.”
Quinn smiled, going back to the list, but his face paled. “Um…Lexie and Ruby need…”
I rolled my eyes, starting the engine. “Right, they need pads or tampons or whatever. Got it. You and Joel, I swear.”
“It don’t squick you out or nothin’?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Trust me, kid. It’s just a part of life. I’ve bought more boxes than I can count for Sara, so…It’s no different than toilet paper or fucking condoms.”
“Of which we need both,” he said, looking back at the list before hopping on behind me.
“Condoms?” I asked, swerving around two gnarled and decayed zeaks stumbling and reaching for us. Quinn swung the machete left-handed, taking the closest one out.
“Joel and Ruby,” he mumbled, making me laugh.
“Okay, okay,” I sighed, shaking my head as we left the wooded hill and entered the small town. “Pharmacy, it is.”
We rolled down streets devoid of any movement, with cars parked here and there, some with dead inside. Quinn was watching out for stores we could use, but my eyes scanned upper-floor windows, shop doorways, and alleyways. We’d stopped at a lot of places since the very beginning, and I’d seen shit I never wanted to see again, but this place with its lack of chaos was almost creepier than if the streets had been filled with zeaks. It truly was a ghost town; all it was missing was the rolling tumbleweeds.
I came to a slow stop in the center of what looked like the downtown area. A small park that was now overgrown seemed to be the town square. But it was the archway leading into the park that caused me to stop.
“Wow, dude. That’s really…”
“Disturbing,” I finished for him softly.
I could imagine that at one point, the archway had been a focal point. At about twenty feet tall, it was completely made up of antlers—white, sun-bleached antlers. It looked like a combination of deer, moose, and whatever else, but still, it may have been some sort of art installation. However, the antlers were now being used…like flypaper. Skewered in several random places were zeaks. All told, maybe ten or so, but I couldn’t see the other side. Some were still, some saw us and started to writhe, but they were hanging there,
unable to move other than flailing arms. I couldn’t decide if it was a deterrent or some sort of display of human mental illness.
“Did’joo ever see Texas Chainsaw Massacre?”
Chuckling at Quinn, I nodded and pulled away. We drove around the small park to the other side of town. It was there that more movement started to catch my eye—in windows and along the streets.
“There, Jack,” Quinn said, tapping my shoulder and pointing to a storefront on the corner.
I pulled up onto the sidewalk, right at the door. It was obvious the place had been abandoned, because there was no sign of raiding or of someone having broken in.
“Perfect,” I muttered, taking the key out of the four-wheeler once I turned off the engine. “Quinn, we’re gonna go in quick. I need you to watch my back and our ride. I think we’re being watched. And fuck that machete…Use your gun.”
He nodded fervently, reaching for the door of the pharmacy. A bell chimed at the top, making me flinch at the sharp sound piercing the silence in the streets. I reached up to stop it, freezing long enough to listen inside the store. No shuffles, no growls, no stumbling met my ears, so I let out a breath, and we let the door close behind us.
“You stay at that door,” I ordered him. “Eyes and ears open for anything. Got me?”
“Yeah, just…hurry, Jack. Will ya?”
“Trust me, kid, I understand. Now, let me have that list.”
I worked quickly, filling the empty duffel I’d brought with the shit we needed. The place was pretty bare, but there were a few things left on the shelves. I reached the feminine products, grabbing what I could find, but the condom section made me chuckle out loud.
“What’s so funny?” Quinn hissed in a whisper across the store.
“Apparently safe sex is not a priority anymore,” I stated through a chuckle. “The shelf is practically untouched.”
Quinn snorted into a harsh laugh. “Seriously? Well, I guess an STD isn’t the worst thing you can catch nowadays.”
“Very true,” I muttered, snagging a bunch of boxes just to shut Joel up.
