by Alex Gunwick
“You will leave tonight,” Elijah said. “I expect you to return with the woman and her kids by sunrise.”
“What about their father?” Gunther asked.
“So far, we haven’t seen him,” Turner said. “We’ve had the place staked out for well over a week and he’s never been spotted. At this point, I’m ninety-five percent sure they’re living alone.”
“What kind of problems are they causing?” Jim asked.
“Dissent,” Elijah said. “They’re meeting members of our community in the forest and are poisoning them against me—us.”
“What will you do with them once you have them?”
“I only plan on talking to them,” Elijah lied. “Once they understand that we’re a safe, loving community, they’ll choose to join us.”
“And if they refuse?”
“They won’t.” Elijah smiled. “The clock’s ticking. You should get going. Turner?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Please see to it that the men are properly armed. Proceed with caution. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes made on other missions.”
“Of course not.”
“What mistakes?” Jim asked.
“Nothing that couldn’t be resolved,” Elijah said quickly. He cast a warning glance at Turner, who kept his mouth shut. “I can’t wait to formally welcome you into the community. You will be great assets.”
“Thank you,” Gunther said. “We’ve spent the last few weeks eking out an existence in the city. It will be nice to have a safe place to hole up.”
“Were you traveling together?” Elijah asked.
“We met up at Cook’s Corner. We all used to ride, so we know each other. Not well, but enough to know who’s good people and who isn’t.”
“That’s what I’m looking for,” Elijah said. “Good people. We have the opportunity to build a great community together. I’m really looking forward to working with men like you.”
“We should head out,” Turner said.
“Of course.”
Elijah stepped back as Turner unlocked the gun shed. He handed a rifle to each man before grabbing one for himself.
“We’ll be back by sunrise,” Turner said.
“Good. Good.”
Elijah nodded as the men headed into the forest. With the new recruits and Turner’s usual team, they shouldn’t have any problem capturing the woman and her brats. Once he had them, he’d find a way to discreetly get rid of them. Trying to get them to see his point of view was a worthless endeavor. If anything, letting them linger around the community would help spread their cancerous ideas. The sooner he could be rid of them, the better.
Sierra woke with a start. The phantom sound of bells ringing echoed through her head. Had it been another nightmare, or had she really heard the bells from the tripwires?
She slipped out of bed and wrapped a robe around herself. She crossed the loft to where her brother slept. Unless a horde of zombies came tearing through the house, he wouldn’t wake up. She envied his ability to sleep like the dead.
As she descended the stairs, she listened intently.
There. Bells. This time she definitely heard them. And they were closer.
For a split second, she wondered if it could be her mom. But, no. She’d never set off the tripwires. It had to be someone else. Maybe the preacher’s men back to steal from them again. Not that they had anything left to steal.
“Kyle,” she yelled. “Get up.”
He didn’t move. Damn him.
She hurried toward the front door to check the two by four barricade. The back door was also locked and barricaded.
Back at the front window, she peeled the curtain back an inch. Darkness pressed in from outside. Without a single light, she could only make out the slight change in darkness between the open space and the tree line. Her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness because they kept every light in the house off during the night. Even so, she couldn’t see a damn thing.
She grabbed a rifle from the gun rack and chambered a round. She ejected the magazine and checked to be sure it was full before slamming it home.
She walked to a window on the side of the house which faced the shed. If they were coming back to steal more food, the joke would be on them. They’d already taken everything. Assholes.
Maybe she was totally overreacting and it was just an animal. She returned to the front and checked outside. Nothing moved as far as she could tell.
Wait. What was that?
She squinted. Her mom had taken the night vision goggles with her. Too bad, because they would have been a huge help right now.
Her breath came out in shallow bursts. A minute passed. Then another. The tension in her spine relaxed slightly. It had probably been an animal.
After setting the rifle down, she plopped down in a chair at the kitchen table. She lowered her face to her hands. Was life always going to be like this now? Would she always be on edge, jumping at the slightest noise or shadow?
Although she hadn’t been getting along with her mom, she missed her. She’d promised she’d be home by sunrise. Without a watch or any way of telling time, she had to read the color of the sky and guess at the time. Probably close to five a.m. Two hours until sunrise.
She poured a glass of water to quench her suddenly parched throat. Upstairs, Kyle stirred. His footsteps moved across the ceiling before reaching the ladder. He met her in the kitchen.
“What are you doing up?” he asked.
“I thought I heard something.”
“What?”
“The bells.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“An airplane could buzz the house and you wouldn’t hear it,” she said.
“I’d wake up for an airplane. I haven’t heard one in weeks. Do you think we’ll ever be able to fly again?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think the power will come back on?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about—”
“Stop asking me shit I don’t know,” she snapped.
“Why are you such a bitch all the time?”
“Because I want my life back. I never thought it would end up like this. I thought I’d go to school, get a degree, get married, have kids, have a life. Now none of that’s ever going to happen.”
“You really believe that?” he asked softly.
“Yes!”
“I don’t. I think the power’s going to come back on and that everything will go back to normal.”
“Enjoy your delusion.” She couldn’t stop herself. His Pollyanna-like view of the future enraged her. He couldn’t be more wrong. Life was over and no one seemed to get it.
“I can’t wait for Mom to get home,” he said. “Or Dad.”
“I miss Dad too.”
“He should be here soon.”
“I hope so.”
“I’m going back to bed.” As he turned to leave, something thumped against the back door. “Did you hear that?” he whispered.
“Go hide in the bathroom.” When he didn’t immediately move, she shoved him. “Now!”
As she ran toward the discarded rifle, one of the back windows shattered. A hail of glass crashed to the floor a split second before two men vaulted into the cabin. She screamed and grabbed the rifle.
She spun toward them and managed to get off one wild shot before a man shoved her against the wall and ripped the rifle out of her hands. Before she could react, he slapped her across the face.
“Stop fucking moving or we’ll hurt you,” he growled.
She thrashed and struggled to no avail. He turned her around and slammed her against the wall hard enough to make her teeth cut her lip and draw blood. He put something around her wrists and yanked it so tight it cut into her skin. She kicked backward at his knee, but only grazed it. He slammed the butt of his gun into the middle of her back. She screamed as pain flared out in every direction.
“Check the bathroom,” the second man said.
“No!”
“Where’s your mother?” the first man demanded.
“Fuck you.”
When he backhanded her, she took a second to recover before spitting in his face. He laughed and wiped it away.
“Did Mommy run off and leave you all alone?”
“She’ll be here any minute and she’s going to kill you all,” Sierra lied. If only it was true.
When the second man dragged Kyle out of the bathroom, her heart sank. She hadn’t been able to do a damn thing to protect him. Sure, he was a little brat most of the time, but he was still her brother. She’d completely failed him. She’d completely failed her family. Again.
The man shoved Kyle against the wall. They stood shoulder to shoulder in silence.
“Check upstairs,” the first man said.
After climbing the stairs, the man stomped around. Furniture scraped across the floor. Pillows flew over the railing to land on the bottom floor.
“No sign of her,” the man called down.
“Let’s wait and see if she comes back. Maybe she’s out on patrol.”
“I’ll let the others know.”
Others? The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. There were more of them? How many? What if her mom did show up right now? She’d be totally outnumbered and outgunned.
And all of this—all of it—was Sierra’s fault. Her careless mistake in talking to the preacher’s people had started them down a path ultimately leading to this moment.
Ten minutes passed. Then thirty. Then an hour. Outside, the sky brightened from black to a dull gray.
“Sunrise is coming,” the first man said. “We need to head back.”
“I’ll get the boy. You take her.”
“If you give me any problems, I’ll shoot you and leave you on the front porch for your mom to find,” the first man said. “Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now move your ass.”
He shoved her toward the back door and continued to shove her all the way through the forest. She wasn’t surprised in the least to find herself being herded toward the preacher’s compound.
A dull sunrise cast shadows over the land. Instead of walking toward the church, they corralled her toward a house about a half mile deeper into the canyon. Once inside, they sat her and Kyle down in wooden chairs at a kitchen table. They tied rope around their chests, securing them in place.
As they walked toward the door, she jerked her head toward them.
“Hey, assholes.”
“Should we gag her too?” the first man asked.
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head.
“Then shut the fuck up. If I hear one word out of you, I’ll come back in and gag you. We’ll be outside.”
After he’d slammed the door, Sierra tried to scoot her chair away from the table. It wouldn’t budge, as if it had been bolted to the floor.
“Shit!”
“We are so fucked,” Kyle said. “Mom’s never going to find us here. Do you think they’re going to kidnap her too?”
“I don’t know.” But she silently hoped they would, because at least then it would mean she wasn’t dead.
17
Luke leapt out of bed and grabbed his SIG from the nightstand. He raced to the door and stood with his back to the wall. With the streetlights out, the entire house was cloaked in darkness. If he tried to use a flashlight, he might as well pin a bull’s-eye on his forehead. He peeked into the hall, but couldn’t make out a thing.
He’d left his pack in the living room so he wouldn’t be able to get his night vision monocular without putting himself into the line of fire. He closed his eyes and listened for any hint of movement in the hall. As a SEAL, he’d been tasked with breaching enemy bases in the middle of the night, but there’d always been at least some ambient light.
After stalking halfway down the hall, he heard another crunch of glass coming from the kitchen. He held his gun close to his chest. If someone tried to grab it, he’d have a better shot at retaining it if he kept it out of reach.
As he moved into the living room, he tried to pinpoint Boyd’s location. He’d left him sitting near the back door. Was he still back there? Was he somewhere else in the house? He couldn’t call out to him without risking his own life.
The door to the garage swung open.
Luke froze as someone stepped into the kitchen. More glass crackled when the intruder reached the sink.
Luke carefully lifted his foot straight up, toes pointing down to avoid snagging on the carpet. He placed the outside of his foot down first, pressing the ball of his foot into the floor and rolling from the outside in. After bringing his heel down, he slowly shifted his weight to that foot. He repeated the process with his other foot, making a soundless approach.
The faint outline of a man stood out against the midnight blue sky in the window. Less than two feet from the man, Luke raised his gun to the back of his head. He took a final step forward, pressing the barrel of the gun to the back of his head.
“Don’t fucking move.”
“Holy shit, don’t shoot. It’s me,” Boyd said.
“What the fuck?” Luke stuffed his gun in his waistband. “What the hell are you doing? I almost shot you.”
“Jesus, I didn’t even hear you coming.”
“I thought someone else was in the house. I heard glass breaking.”
“The cat was meowing again. I was trying to find more food and I kicked a piece of glass.”
“Did you cut yourself?”
“No. I kept my shoes on. I didn’t hear anything, so I doubt anyone else is in the house,” Boyd said.
“I’ll check anyway.”
Luke flicked on a flashlight. An unopened can of cat food sat on the counter. The cat was perched next to it. She let out a demanding meow.
“I’m working on it.”
When Boyd grabbed a can opener, the cat trotted over to rub her face against his hand. Luke left them and headed back through the house to make sure they were alone.
After confirming no one else was in the house, he returned to find the cat face down in the bowl. She’d already scarfed half a can of food.
“I’m wide awake now,” Luke said. “You should get some sleep. I’m guessing we only have an hour or so before sunrise. I’d like to get on the road at first light.”
“Me too. I want to get home today. I don’t need to sleep. I’m wide awake too.”
“You need to be fully alert. Whoever tore through this neighborhood could still be out there. If you’re too sleepy—”
“I found caffeine pills in one of the kids’ dresser drawers,” Boyd said.
“You searched the rooms again?”
“I was bored.”
“You were supposed to be on guard.”
“After I took those pills I was so alert I could hear my own heartbeat.”
“Probably because it was trying to explode out of your chest.”
“Nah, the ticker’s just fine. Also, I’m too excited to try to sleep. If you were this close to home, you wouldn’t sleep either.”
“You’re right,” Luke said. Jealousy flashed through him for a moment. “Let’s get you home.”
“What about the cat?”
“We can’t take her with us.”
“Yeah, but we can’t leave her here either,” Boyd said.
As Luke scrubbed his hand over his face, he tried to come up with a good solution.
“We could leave all the cans of food open and leave as much water as possible.”
A key scraped into the front door. Luke whipped around, gun drawn. Boyd grabbed the can opener and wielded it like a hammer.
The door opened and two kids ran into the house. One was a boy, about ten years old. The other, a girl, around seven. The moment the kids spotted them, they shrieked.
“Someone’s in the house,” one yelled.
A woman raced inside to grab them. She pushed them behind her.
“Who are you?
” she demanded.
“We, uh…We were using your house as shelter.”
“We fed the cat,” Boyd said.
“Brutus!” the girl yelled. She raced out from behind her mom and headed for the cat.
“Madeline, get back here,” her mom snapped.
“We don’t mean any harm,” Boyd said.
“Then why’s he still pointing a gun at me?”
Luke lowered his arm, but didn’t put the gun away.
“Is anyone else with you?” he asked.
“No. Why?” Fear flashed in her eyes. “Please don’t hurt us. We walked all night to get home from my parents’ house. We left to check on them two days ago.”
“Where’s your husband?” Luke asked.
“He died three years ago, cancer.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. We’re not going to hurt you. We were just leaving.”
“We were trying to figure out what to do with your cat,” Boyd said. When she gave him a horrified look, he quickly added, “We weren’t going to hurt her. We were trying to figure out how to help her without taking her with us.”
“Him,” the boy whispered. He remained partially hidden behind his mother.
“Sorry,” Luke said. “We’ve got to get on the road. We’re trying to get back to our own families.”
“We didn’t ransack your house,” Boyd said.
Luke groaned. He’d been hoping to get out before she realized everything was gone. If they tried to stop and help everyone along the way, they’d never make it home.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Before we got here, someone broke into your house and stole all of your food,” Luke said.
“What?” She pushed past him, apparently more concerned about the lack of food than with the presence of a gun.
As she tore open cupboards, Luke jerked his head toward the front door. Boyd nodded and started slowly moving toward the living room. They had to get their packs before they could leave.
The woman burst out laughing.
“This is unbelievable,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. “My parents begged me to stay with them and I told them we had more food at our house. There’s nothing left. Nothing.”
“I’m sorry,” Luke said. “But it’s good you weren’t here when they got here. Your neighbors are dead.”
