by Poe, S. B.
“I’d like to but it’s up to my dad.” She said.
“He won’t let you?” He asked.
“It’s not that. I’m not going to leave him. Wherever he goes, I go. We have to stay together. That’s what my mom wanted.” She said.
“Maybe he’ll want to stay too.” Scott said.
The Hour Grows Late
Bridger leaned forward in his seat. The road had almost disappeared completely as they drove between the trees.
“You sure you know the way?” He asked.
“We’re here.” She smiled.
She stopped the truck. He could see the gate swung open and the fence disappearing into the trees on either side of the road.
“Did they leave the gate open?” Bridger asked as they all climbed out of the truck.
“It wasn’t open the last time I was here.” Cyrus said.
“When was that?” Jahda asked.
“A week ago.” He said.
“How many times have you been here since they left Cyrus?” Naomi asked.
“Three.” Cyrus said. “I came the day you asked me to. I watched them leave. I came back two days later to make sure they had gone.”
“And the third time?” Bridger asked.
“I came back last week to see if any of them had come back.” Cyrus said.
“Why?”
“I miss them. Some of them.” Cyrus said. “They were my friends.”
“We’re your friends Cyrus.” Hannah said.
“I know.” He nodded his head. “Always. But they were too.”
“Maybe we’ll see them again.” Joel said.
“I hope so.” Cyrus said.
“Well, now that we have that out of the way, who opened the gate?” Bridger asked.
“Maybe some of them came back.” Cyrus said. Bridger looked at Naomi. She shrugged.
“You think that’s possible?” Bridger asked Naomi.
“Maybe.” She said.
“If they did, how would they react to seeing you?” Jahda asked.
“I’m not sure.” She said.
“How much further down this road until we get to the trailers?” Bridger asked. “Scott said y’all had lots of trailers.”
“Half a mile. This was the back gate. This pine thicket runs for another quarter mile and then everything opens up.” Naomi said.
“If it is your people would they fire on us? Would they fire on someone they didn’t know just showing up?” Bridger asked.
“I don’t know. Before this happened, before Noah died, I could have told you no, they wouldn’t. But I don't know now.” Naomi said.
“Well, we’ll just have to take a chance. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” Bridger started.
Naomi stopped the truck just as the top of the first trailer came into view. She waited a few seconds and laid down on the horn. The sound ripped through the air. She counted ten and laid down on it again. She opened the door and jumped out.
She ran into the woods and ducked down one tree over from the one Bridger sat behind.
“Now what?” She whispered.
“We wait.” He said. “It won’t take long if someone is in there.”
Ten minutes later Bridger heard a motorcycle coming down the crushed gravel road from the direction of the trailers. The bike stopped beside the truck and the two people on it got off. He looked at Jahda and held up two fingers. He pointed at her, held his palm towards her and then towards him. ‘Wait until I go then follow me.’
She held her ground. He turned to Naomi.
“You see them?” He whispered.
“Yeah.” She said.
“You recognize them?”
“No. I don’t know who they are.” She whispered back.
“Okay. Stay here.” He said.
He turned his head towards Jahda. He put his palm towards her again and gave her a thumbs up. He slipped around the tree and shouldered his rifle. Jahda fell in behind him with her pistol in hand and they started towards the truck that was a few dozen yards through the trees. The two people were climbing up on the running boards and looking inside. As Bridger and Jahda cleared the tree line, he gave a short whistle.
“Hey guys. Can I help you?” He said as he shouldered his rifle.
The two people, a man and a woman turned at the sound of his voice. Both of them stuck their hands in the air. Jahda held her pistol on them.
“Hey, hey no reason to do that.” The man said.
“That’s our truck.” Bridger said.
“Oh, I didn’t know. I just heard the horn blow and came to see what was going on.” The man said.
“Came from where?” Bridger asked.
“Down there.” The man nodded towards the trailers.
“What’s down there?” Bridger asked.
“Our place.” The woman said.
“That’s not your place. Lie one more time.” Bridger said as he flipped the safety off.
“Okay, okay. It’s not really our place. We just found it.” The man said.
“What makes you think it was lost?”
“Sorry?”
“You’re trespassing.” Bridger said. “How many more of you are down there?”
“No one. It’s just us.” The woman said.
“Where did you come from?” Jahda asked.
“Now look, we ain’t trespassing. There ain’t no sign.” The man said.
“The gate was locked.” Bridger said.
“Yeah well a lot of gates got left locked. How was we to know this one was any different?” The man asked. “Look buddy, we didn’t know this was your place.”
“Well now you do.” Bridger said.
“That’s a lot of stuff down there for just the two of you.” The woman said.
“You’re half right.” Bridger said. “That is a lot of stuff down there, but it’s not just the two of us.” Bridger said.
“How many are you?” The man asked.
“Enough to need all that stuff down there.” Bridger said. “How many of you are there?”
“Just us two.” The woman said.
“Well we’re looking for new recruits all the time. You wanna join us?” Bridger asked. Jahda shot him a look. He ignored it.
“No, no. Appreciate the offer though.” The man said. “That wasn’t a join us or die offer was it?”
“If it was?” Bridger asked.
“Was it?” The man asked.
“No, but it was a join us or I better never see your ass again offer.” Bridger said.
“That won’t be any problem at all.” The man said. “So we can go now?”
“One more question.” Bridger said. “What’s your name?”
“Well before all this happened I was someone else.” The man said. “I guess we all were, huh?”
“I’m interested in who you are now.” Bridger said.
“Now, I’m just another nobody. But folks have taken to calling me Little John. Not sure why but hey, gotta call me something I guess.” Little John said.
“And you?” He asked the woman.
“Trish.” She said.
“Do you have a name?” Little John asked.
“You don’t need to know it.” Bridger said.
“Then why do you need to know ours?” Little John asked.
“In case you come back, I need something to write on your tombstone.” Bridger said. “Get on your bike, go away. Now.”
The two looked at them for another few seconds. They climbed onto the motorcycle and drove away. The others came out from behind the trees and joined Bridger and Jahda beside the truck.
“You didn’t know them?” Jahda asked.
“No, never seen them before.” Naomi said.
“Well, we need to get in here and get out as quick as we can.” Bridger said.
“You think they’ll come back?” Hannah asked. “It’s just the two of them.”
“They’re part of a group.” Bridger said. “And they’ll be back.”
“How
do you know they’re part of a group?” Joel asked.
“How much stuff is in those trailers down there?” Bridger asked.
“Lots. Everything. Food, clothing, shelter, weapons. You name it there’s a bit of anything needed to help rebuild from natural disaster and it was bulked up ahead of this with anything else they thought would be useful.” Naomi said.
“And how many places like this are out there?” Bridger asked.
“Seventeen sites spread out all over the country. Or there were.” Naomi said.
“How many within a hundred miles of here?” He asked.
“Just this one.” She said.
“Well they were going through that stuff down there.” Bridger said. “What’s down there is more precious than gold ever was. If it were just the two of them, they would have jumped at the chance to join in on that. But they turned me down when I offered without any hesitation. No, they’re part of a bigger group. And they’ll be back. We need to get what we can get and then get home before they get back with their friends.”
“You think they’re dangerous?” Joel asked.
“If what you say is down there is there, yeah. This new world has a made people desperate and people are always dangerous when they’re desperate.” Bridger said. “Ain’t much left of the old world except people and people ain’t changed one damned bit. And I would just as soon not have to deal with them.”
The motorcycle rolled to a stop under an overhanging oak. He waited for the woman to get off before he put the kickstand down. He threw his leg over the seat and leaned against the bike as he lit a cigarette and listened to the wind blow. The woman came from the other side of the tree zipping her pants.
“So?” She asked.
“So what?”
“So what do you think?”
“Well our new friends weren’t lying about it being there. But they did lie when they said no one else knew about it.” He blew the smoke through his nose as he talked.
“Maybe they didn’t know.” She said.
“Maybe. But she’s already pissed the ones we laid out for her never stood back up. When she finds out the ones we left alive were lying to us, she’ll lose it. And that could get all of us laid out.” He said.
“So what do we do?” She asked.
“I think we’ll bring some of her children back over here. Then we’ll see just how tough that asshole is.” He said.
“You think she’ll do that? Bring the children?” She asked.
“Well, it’s going to take some smooth talking but yeah, she will.” He smiled.
“What about that lying asshole that sent us here?” She asked.
“I don’t know. She’ll probably feed him to the beast. I would. If I work it right, she may end up thanking me for bringing them to her anyway.” He said.
“But they ain’t walking. She ain’t going to thank you for that.” She said as she climbed back on the motorcycle.
He stubbed the cigarette out on the gravel in the road. He looked back towards where they had just come from. He stepped over the seat and hit the starter button on the bike. It fired up.
“Yeah, but she’ll be happy when I tell her we found some replacements.” He smiled as he eased off the clutch. The back tire spun a little gravel as he gripped the throttle. The bike straightened up and he steered it into the afternoon sun.
Music for What Remains
Katie Herzig
Ben Nichols
John Moreland
Lyle Lovett
Young Summer
The Dead Tongues
Lee DeWyze
Flatland Cavalry
The Be Good Tonyas
Townes Van Zandt
Leo
Jamie N Commons
The Belleville Outfit
The Dirty River Boys
Andrea von Kampen
Jose’ Gonzalez
Amy Stroup
Passenger
John Fullbright
Mandolin Orange
The Honey Dewdrops
Dead Horses
Parker Milsap
Matthew Perryman Jones
The Greencards
Patty Griffin
Thieving Birds
Rock Plaza Central
Crooked Still
Coming Soon
Wasteland
Book 14
The Marionette Zombie Series
By
SB Poe
