Jack smiled, extending his hand. “Sounds like a deal.” Luke reached out his own and shook it, looking back at the guys in the wagon; all of whom seemed uncertain of this decision. Their awkward shifting around saying more than they knew. Adam at least tried to remain professional.
About an hour later, the group, as well as Jack and Trevor, made it to an area completely barricaded by wooden walls standing about ten feet high. It went out for several hundred yards, and seemed to be held up fairly well.
“You did this with fifteen people?” Luke asked, shocked at the condition of their defenses.
“Well, there used to be more of us. Something like fifty, maybe sixty, back in our hay-day, but eventually… well, you know how it goes…” Jack explained, trailing off.
“Yeah, yeah I get it…” Luke acknowledged, looking away from Jack. Adam called bullshit. No way forty-five people just drop dead. That was impossible.
Jack took a deep breath, and then whistled loudly, the gates to the campsite creaking open slowly; the wood seemed to have old chips falling off as it did. Two guys, roughly the same age as everyone else, heaved the doors open, allowing access inside.
“Welp, welcome to the last surviving civilization this side of Maine!” Jack said, extending his arms outward as to present the camp to the guys.
“You’re it? For miles?” Jeremy asked.
“Yessir, we’re just about the last thing you’ll see from here to North Waterford, all the way down to…to mid-New Hampshire, I’d say,” Jack explained proudly. Jeremy jotted that down in his notes.
They all entered slowly, the guys still hidden within the comfort of the wagon, while Luke and Derrick still pulled from the outside. Jack and Trevor walked alongside them.
There were small tents all around the wall, and there was a big fire pit in the center of the camp. There were a few people walking around, carrying things like logs and dirty clothes.
There was a small circle of about three people, two guys and one girl, all doing laundry by a currently extinguished massive fire pit. It was absurd how big this thing was; Adam couldn’t believe it.
The two guys by the gates closed the doors back up, and eyeballed the others as they walked in, seemingly blocking it. To Adam they were, anyhow.
Adam also couldn’t help but notice: They were all kids; young adults at best. The oldest no more than a year older than them, maybe two. Where were all the adults?
Everyone got out of the wagon, and left it just a few feet from the front door. The two members of Jack’s group grabbed the ropes once the others let go, and carted it off somewhere. Adam tried to wave them off, but it did no good. This was a lot of bullshit going on, and Adam was not a fan.
“Now, most of our people came from down there, and out in the upper parts of Maine. We all congregated somewhere here, and eventually set up a base camp. That was about a year or so ago,” Jack reminisced.
“Where are all the adults? Everyone here seems like they’re the same age; they’re all teenagers,” Cody said, peeking out from the group and searching around skeptically. Unlike Adam, however, Cody noticed this with seemingly no hint of worry; only curiosity.
“Well like I said, there used to be more of us…” Jack reiterated, somewhat bitterly. “The adults, the elderly, they worked their asses off to build this place, and keep us alive. Said we needed to live past this; be the next generation of human beings or some shit. They let us have most of the supplies and eventually… there wasn’t enough for all of them. Our numbers dropped, and our age diversity massively fell to the wayside. Now I’m the oldest one here, at only 21, almost 22.”
“Oh…” Cody muttered. Chris whacked him across the arm and looked at him disapprovingly. Nolan glared at him as well. Jeremy just wrote it down in his notebook. Adam tried to play it stone-faced. He didn’t want his skepticism to show just yet.
“So uh, how old’s your youngest?” Luke asked. “Haven’t seen a kid in, God, almost two years now.”
“Yeah? Our youngest’s about three. We don’t know his real name, found him all alone, so we just call him Tyke,” Jack said, smiling a little.
“No shit?” Derrick remarked. “That’s awesome, dude.”
“Yeah, he’s alright,” Jack replied, weakly grinning a little, though it quickly died away.
They stopped walking and everyone got out of the wagon. Jack once again whistled, and seemingly everyone in the camp walked over to him. There were the five they had already seen, and then about six more from out of the tents.
“Everyone, these are our guests!” Jack announced loudly, gesturing to all the guys, who awkwardly waved at everyone. “This is Luke, Derrick… Alan, Jeremy, K-Kevin… Cody, and… Nick? Sorry, I’m not great with names,” he finished.
“I’m Adam,” Adam corrected.
“Chris,” Chris added, raising his hand.
“Nolan,” Nolan said, giving another small wave.
“Ah, well four outta seven’s not bad!” Jack said chuckling. “Guys, these are some of my people. The two gentlemen at the gates are Michael and Thomas. The three washing clothes are Margaux, Teddy, and James. And the rest here are Sarah, Jenna, Kristen, Max, Grace, and Jaime,” Jack said, pointing to everyone as he did. “Jenna and Kristen are our cooks. Max focuses on sewing clothes and making spears and such. And Grace and Jaime are our at-home doctors!”
Nolan looked down and noticed that Grace and Jaime’s hands were both covered in blood. It wasn’t dry either, it was still wet.
“That would explain all the blood then?” he asked, pointing to them. Grace and Jaime just nervously shot their gaze to Jack, who laughed.
“Yeah, it certainly does. Don’t worry there,” he assured them.
“Y-Yeah, we were just patching up another one of our own, don’t worry. Nothing too… serious,” Grace said, now smiling a little.
“Oh, were they attacked?” Nolan asked, curious. “You know, I was trying to become an orthopedist back in the day, maybe I could help?”
“No, no it’s fine, really,” Grace insisted. “This one might already be uh… too late,” she added somberly.
“Yeah, it’s…it’s not looking great.” Jaime agreed, trailing off.
“Hey, I’m sure they’ll pull through! No need to get all down and sour right now! Now’s the time to celebrate! We’ve found each other, and we’re alive!” Jack interjected, raising his hands up in the air.
Everyone settled down a little, and Jack smiled. He turned to Adam, and all the hairs on Adam’s neck stood up.
“Now uh, Adam right? You seem like an interesting character, you too Nolan. I haven’t really gotten to know either of you, and from what Luke explained on the way over, you two were on supplies when you left your old HQ,” Jack recalled. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk trade with you. As for the rest of you, feel free to walk around the general campus, get to know everyone, and take a look at what we have to offer. We eat in about an hour,” Jack permitted joyfully. “Hopefully we can settle on some kind of a deal by the end of the night!”
All of Jack’s people marched back to their previous posts without another word. As Luke and the others split up, Adam grabbed him by the arm, and turned away from Jack, taking a few steps in another direction.
“Luke, I don’t like this place,” he admitted quietly. “I mean, 45 people just… die? Just like that? And no bodies or… graveyard or…or anything!?”
“We haven’t even looked around that much. There could be one somewhere,” Luke said.
“Okay well what about those nurses or whatever the hell they claim to be?” Adam asked. “They seem like professional healers to you? Or even novices, at that!?”
“They said they were working on one of their people who just got attacked. I’d be pretty shaken up too, if that was us. Calm down man, Jesus,” Luke insisted, confused at Adam’s intensely hostile attitude. Adam was only growing in hostility however, at Luke’s blindness to the seemingly obvious.
“Yeah? Don’t you t
hink we would’ve heard something in there if that were true? Screaming? Groaning? Anything!?” Adam questioned further, waving his arms around a bit. “Because I sure as hell didn’t hear a god damn thing coming from that tent.”
Luke stopped for a moment, thinking to himself, and then put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. He could tell, that Luke could tell, that Adam felt like there was sincerely something bad going on.
“Look, I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe they already lost whoever it was and just didn’t want to break the news then. But, I’ll look around and tell you what I find. You just play nice, alright? See what we can get from this guy. You’re the businessman. Plus, you’ve got the gun anyways,” Luke whispered, patting his shoulder and walking away.
“Fine,” Adam agreed, “but if shit hits the fan, even a little, we’re out of here,”
Luke saluted him, and then turned and walked away. Once he was a fair distance away, and Adam had decided he could trust Luke’s word, he turned back to Jack and Nolan. After all, Luke was right– Nolan might have been an ortho-whatever, but Adam knew how to talk trade.
“So, shall we begin, gentlemen?” Jack asked, still with a smile on his face. Adam walked toward him, putting on as best a fake smile as he could.
Not too much later, off in the camp, Jeremy, Cody, and Chris were venturing around, exploring. They had seen a few tents, seemingly the homes of all the people, but nothing too extravagant. They were all worn out and molded, like there was nobody tending to them.
“This place isn’t half bad, dude,” Jeremy said, thinking out loud.
“Sure, but it’s no home,” Cody countered.
“True,” Chris replied, “but still, it is nice as hell. Walls, tents, warmth, doctors.”
“Yeah, teenage doctors,” Cody retorted. “Moldy tents.”
“Still, that’s two more doctors than we’ve got,” Chris said.
“And none of us could put together tents like that out of scratch. Not even Derry could do that,” Jeremy added.
“I bet he could. He’s good with his hands like that. Plus, I mean Nolan was going to be like… a foot doctor or something, right? What was it? That counts… sort of…” Cody defended, though his point didn’t carry much weight to the others.
“Yeah, and… Oh shit! Look! Horses!” Jeremy shouted, tripping over his own thoughts. He ran over to them and immediately stroked one by their mane once he was close enough.
There was a stable off on one side of the wall, with three horses all residing in them. The stable was shotty, but it was able to keep the horses confined to their spaces, so it worked well enough.
“Dude! Derry’s gonna lose his shit!” Cody exclaimed excitedly.
“Guys, what are the chances of this! We can take these horses and use them on the wagon!” Jeremy yelled excitedly. “And we get away with never having to pull the damn thing once!”
They all high fived in excitement, and further admired the horses. Their stables all came with additional equipment as well; leads, saddles, and even brushes for the manes. Jeremy took note of every little detail he could find. Chris took a step back, both to keep his sanitary distance, and realizing something their excitement blinded.
“Wait though, you think they’d actually just let us take two-thirds of their horses? I mean, that’s a big ask,” Chris said.
“We have a lot of food. Maybe if we give them some, plus a weapon or two, they’d be willing,” Jeremy replied, thinking things over.
“I don’t know man…” Chris said, considering their options. “That’s a lot to give away just for two horses,”
“With saddles and all…” Cody said convincingly, trying to coax Chris. “And we could ride them, like cowboys…!”
Chris frowned, as did they all subsequently, knowing they’d likely be unable to strike a deal firm and fair enough with Jack to get even one horse, let alone two.
“Well, Adam always used to be the business man, right? He took all those boring-ass classes in high school,” Jeremy said. “Maybe he can manage it.”
Just then, a whistle could be heard cutting through the distance, and Jack shouted from back at the fire pit.
“Dinner time!” he yelled.
“Alright, let’s see what we can do at dinner, huh?” Cody said, “hopefully Adam and Nolan haven’t totally screwed us out of any good deals,” The others both nodded with smiles on their faces. They said their goodbyes to the horses, and walked away from the stables, going to join everyone at dinner.
Meanwhile, Luke and Derrick traveled farther out in the camp, unable to hear the boisterous announcement of dinner. They had been keeping to the “general campus,” but soon strayed further out into the living quarters of the campsite.
They inspected several of the tents, most of which were empty. They seemed to be able to fit up to five people max, but were meant for sleeping with only two. Possibly three, if the people residing in it were smaller.
“Damn... “ Derrick admired. Luke looked at him and grinned slightly. “Look at the craftsmanship on these tents! It’d take me like a full day to make even one!”
“I know,” Luke replied, then pausing for a moment to think. “Hey, do you…do you think that there’s anything… fishy, about Jack’s story? That all the adults just… sacrificed themselves for the others to live?”
“I mean, not really. Seems plausible; I can definitely see some people we knew doing that. Why? You think it is?” Derrick asked, trying to clarify what Luke’s point was.
“I don’t know… Adam’s all wishy-washy about the whole thing… He just got me thinking, I guess. It’s probably nothing though, right?”
“Right. Probably not. Adam’s just bitching on again,” Derrick said, laughing. Luke chuckled along with him, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling he was getting.
They continued to walk and peer into more of the tents. There were a handful of them in pockets deeper in the camp, like mini-neighborhoods; all of them residing closer to the walls, with some in between. With plenty of open grassy areas for work, leisure, or whatever it is they may have wanted to do. Even space for the kids to play in.
“Wait,” Luke noted, stopping.
“What?” Derrick asked, confused. “What’s up?”
“You hear that?” Luke asked.
“Hear wha…” Derrick trailed off, listening.
There was the crackling of fire in the distance, what sounded like whispers of conversation happening near it, and the steady sound of the wind, but he could hardly hear anything else.
But no, there was something. Something else breaking through. It was closer, surely, but it was so quiet. It may as well have been all the way at the firepit. It took him a moment more to hone in on it, to really hear it, but then he did. Clear as day. It was the sound of a child. A crying child. It was very faint, almost inaudible, and yet it sounded so close by.
“Shit…!” Derrick muttered worriedly. “Should we tell Jack!?”
“Find the kid first!” Luke directed, already taking off to inspect the tents.
Luke and Derrick ran around, looking through all the unsearched, as well as many of the previously searched tents. They had split up, and double-checked tents they’d already seen, beginning to feel hopelessly lost in the sea of empty homes. Suddenly though, Luke burst into one and stopped, falling helplessly onto his knees.
“Oh Jesus Christ…” he muttered under his breath. “Der, I…! Come here! Now!” he shouted shakily.
Derrick ran over and gazed into the tent. As soon as he saw what Luke had, he put his hand over his mouth, looking around to see if anyone else was seeing what they were seeing. But it was only them. Them, and a three year old with the malnourished, skinny, pale, and just plain sickly body of a prisoner. Of a captive. A victim.
“Luke, what the hell is this!?” Derrick shrieked, taking a shaking step closer.
“I… I don’t know…” Luke stuttered, shocked over what he was seeing. “Derrick go… go look for help or something, quick! Get t
he doctors! Get somebody, just… go!”
Derrick nodded with a spacey gaze taking over his eyes, and ran off. Luke got a little closer to the child, cautiously outreaching his hand.
There was a small toy with the child’s name etched onto it. It was the three year old. It was Tyke. He was a boy, short, brown hair, and blue eyes. His face was stained with tears and dirt. Fresh pockets of tears rolled down his ill-stricken face, and he weakly reached out for Luke’s hand with his own.
“P…Papa…” he whispered meekly, as though every letter that slipped out of his cracked lips was a struggle to express. Luke couldn’t help but cry. He grabbed the boy gently and held him in his arms.
“No, no I’m not your papa, Tyke. My name’s… Luke. Don’t worry, I’m…I’m gonna help you.”
“Papa… Papa…” Tyke whimpered meekly, gripping onto Luke as tightly as he could. Unfortunately, this was not saying much.
“Shh. Shh,” Luke cooed, tears now rolling down his face. “We’re getting help buddy, don’t worry. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna–”
“Luke!” Derrick screeched, horrified. Luke shot his head up and burst up off his knees, Tyke still in his arms.
He ran over to Derrick, who was standing outside another tent, vomiting onto the ground. It pooled by the entrance to the tent, almost as a warning sign.
“Jesus, Derrick, what is it!?” Luke asked, scared out of his mind, and gripping onto Tyke’s tiny body all the tighter. “What could be worse than…than this…?” He trailed off, looking into the tent.
It was a doctor’s tent. At least, it appeared that way. There were rusty old medical and surgical tools of every sort. They were placed delicately on a rotting wooden table off to the side. And in the center of the tent, on a long, decaying slab of wood, laid another child. A towel wrapped around his mouth. His throat cut open. His head, tilted to the side, with eyes closed, and dirty face stained with tears.
“Oh…Oh my God…” Luke pulled Tyke closer still to his chest, trying to hide his fluttering eyes from the horror.
The Way Back (Book 1): The Way Back Page 7
