“Sir, I’m traveling with a woman and girl. She’s been shot, and the wound is infected. I don’t need anything else, just antibiotics if you have any to spare,” Devin said, now sounding like a broken record.
“Oh, Daryl, enough, the man seems scared and honest. Just give him a Z-pak or something,” a woman’s voice said from inside the house through an open window.
“Mary, stay out of this,” Daryl yelled.
“For heaven’s sake, he doesn’t look like he could hurt a fly,” Mary countered.
“Daryl, my name is Devin Chase. I’m Immune, and I didn’t come to harm you or your family.”
“How do I know that, huh? How do I know you don’t have a group of thugs around the corner?”
“If I had a group of thugs, I wouldn’t stand here. I would have approached with my little gang and wouldn’t have asked, I’d just start shooting. Believe me, I’ve run into those types; I’m not one of them.”
“Bring the girl here; let me see for myself,” Daryl responded, his tone lowered from before.
“Thank you, I’ll do that,” Devin answered, the smile on his face giving away the happiness he felt inside. Without second-guessing, he turned, jumped off the deck, and ran down the driveway towards their hiding spot. When he reached them, Tess had found some strength to sit up, but she was extremely weak.
“I found some help, but they want to see you first to prove I’m not lying.”
Tess didn’t say anything. She lifted up her arms in a sign she agreed.
He scooped her off the ground and began to walk back to the house.
Tess squeezed his arm.
He stopped and looked down at her.
She gathered enough strength to whisper, “Have Bri and Brando come, leave everything, but give her my pistol.”
“I told him—”
“You don’t know for sure what we’re getting into.”
Devin turned back and gave Brianna the instructions. She followed them to a tee by tucking the pistol in her waistband and ran up to them, Brando at her side.
“Let’s go get you healed,” Devin said and walked her to the house.
Halfway down the drive, Devin saw who he assumed was Mary standing at the top of the stairs.
“Bring her on in here,” Mary said as she stood back and opened the screen door.
Devin looked for Daryl but couldn’t see him anymore. He cleared the steps and entered the house.
Mary followed right behind and said, “Turn right, first door on the right. Lay her on the bed.”
Devin did just as she said.
Mary came to Tess’s bedside and asked, “Where’s the wound?”
Tess slowly lifted up her shirt.
“It’s infected, all right. Stay here, I’ll be right back,” she said and left the room.
Devin, Brianna and Brando were in the room watching over Tess, not sure what they should be doing.
Mary came back in with a box of medical supplies, a small bowl of water, and a glass of drinking water. She began to attend to Tess’s wound by cleaning it.
Daryl stepped into the doorway and said, “I wish to speak with you.”
“Sure,” Devin answered.
Both men walked outside, and Daryl didn’t wait to dictate just how things would be with them under his roof. He finished by warning Devin not to try anything. Devin agreed to all of his demands.
“Where you from?” Daryl asked.
“New York City.”
“You’re here all the way from New York?”
“Actually, no, I was in New York, ended up in Decatur six months ago. I was bunkered down in a farmhouse similar to this since mid-October until just last week. I’ve been walking since with Tess and the other girl, Brianna, who we saved from some bad people in Lovington.”
“You were just in Lovington?”
“Yes, three days ago.”
“Did you happen to see Turner’s Raiders?”
“I don’t know who that is, but we ran away from a small army of men with military equipment.”
“That’s them. Those bastards have been going across the countryside raping and pillaging. Some say they’ll be heading here soon.”
“I don’t know who they are or where they’re going; I would agree that they’re a bunch of bastards.”
“Give me the details. When did you see them? Had they just arrived? Where do you think they might be heading? How many?” Daryl asked.
“Three days ago, they had just arrived, they were terrorizing the survivors there, not sure where they’ll be heading, and I counted two dozen vehicles, tanks, and I’d guess about two hundred armed men.”
Devin could see fear in Daryl’s rugged bearded face.
“Here’s the deal. In exchange for taking care of your friend, I need you to come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’re coming into town with me. We’re going to warn the mayor; we have to make plans.”
Denver International Airport
Chancellor Horton dismissed his staff and cleared his calendar so he could be available for Lori. As he waited for her to arrive at his office, he cleaned himself up, brushed his teeth, and combed his thick hair.
The tap at his door alerted him to her arrival.
“It’s open. Come in,” he called out.
The heavy metal door opened, and Lori walked in.
He looked at her and could tell her emotions were again riding high. He found her hot temper somewhat amusing for a variety of reasons, one being that most people would find the circumstance she was in to be ideal and wouldn’t question a thing. While he found her stiff determination for the ‘truth’ to be humorous, he also found it and her enticing.
She stood at his desk and waited for him to offer her a seat.
Opening a small refrigerator that sat in the corner of his office, he asked, “Can I get you anything to drink? I have sodas, juice, beer, water, you name it.”
“I want answers, that’s what I want,” she barked.
“Mrs. Roberts, or can I call you Lori?”
“Is it true the first team assigned to this project was killed out at the site from an attack similar to the one we encountered the other day?”
He pulled a beer out, popped off the cap, and began to pour the amber-colored beer into a pint glass.
“Are you listening to me?”
He was listening and thoroughly enjoying her feistiness, but he knew he’d have to take control of this confrontation and quickly. If there was anything he’d learned in life, it was that he needed to show he was the one in control and had the leverage.
“Mrs. Roberts, please take a seat and calm down,” he said in a low tone as he motioned to the leather chair at the front of his desk.
“I won’t calm down until you start giving me answers.”
Now he was ready to show he had some bark and to establish he wasn’t going to be pushed around. “Mrs. Roberts, sit down, shut your mouth now. If you don’t, you can go pack your trash and go back to whatever little dirty camp you came from with no chance of ever leaving it again. Do I make myself clear?”
Lori’s eyes widened as she was taken aback by his forceful demeanor.
“Do I make myself clear? It’s a simple yes or no question. If you can’t answer it, then leave, I’ll have you on the first truck back to your camp.”
“Yes,” she answered and quickly sat down.
“Good, glad to hear it. Mrs. Roberts, we chose you to be a part of a valuable team, but don’t think that this is your place of business. You don’t own this, you don’t manage this, you don’t do anything unless we tell you to. You don’t demand anything. This is our project, and your expertises are well documented, but make no mistake, we will find someone else if you don’t work out, and I can say that you are now officially not working out.”
Lori began to regret her hotheaded behavior and was concerned it just might have gotten her into hot water. She was accustomed to being the boss and giving orde
rs, not taking them.
“Chancellor, I apologize. I do wish to stay here and work on this project. To be honest, I’m just…scared. I don’t like uncertainty, and I hate not knowing everything.”
“Mrs. Roberts, get used to it. There are thousands of people out there in camps from Canada to Mexico and points in between that would take your job with no complaints in a heartbeat. Some of those out there are architects like you, albeit not as good, but people we can work with. Talent can only get you so far; you need to be able to play with a team. If you can’t, you become a problem not a problem solver. We already have enough on our plate; we don’t need high-maintenance people demanding things all the time.”
Lori was really scared that she had destroyed her one opportunity to get her family to Camp Sierra. Sensing this, she began to beg, “Please, Chancellor, I’m truly sorry. I am, really.”
Horton loved the groveling and begging. His plan had worked; he had the leverage and was now applying the pressure to get whatever he wanted, including her, if that was an option.
“Mrs. Roberts, I’m happy to hear you understand. So, now that you’re calm, what is it I can help you with?” he asked as he sat down finally and took a drink of beer.
Lori thought and had now changed her mind. He was right; she had no stature to be demanding things, especially when they had been nothing but good to her.
“Never mind, I know you’re busy, and to be honest, I don’t want to make you mad again.”
“That’s passed, and I think you understand that yelling and demanding doesn’t work with me. I operate better when someone talks, and respectfully.”
“Was there a team working this project before us?”
“Yes, they were murdered by the Scraps in an attack that was similar to the one the other day. This is why Chance had an Osprey this time with armament and why he decided to leave Maggie instead of risking the entire crew.”
“His decision now makes sense when I have some context.”
“Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s it.”
“Are you sure I can’t get you a drink, something? Maybe a beer will take the edge off.”
“No sir, I’m fine. I apologize for bothering you and for my immature outburst. It wasn’t right, and it’s not professional. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“It’s all forgiven. Don’t worry about it.”
She stood and headed back to the door when he stopped her, “Mrs. Roberts?”
Facing him, she said, “Yes.”
“Will you have dinner with me, say tomorrow night? You might have more questions, and I promise to answer all of them.”
Lori didn’t know how to take this, but after just being threatened with what could amount to exile, she didn’t think she had a choice. “I’ll have dinner with you. What time?”
“Let’s do seven thirty, in my quarters.”
Again she wanted to say no but couldn’t. “That’s great, thank you. See you tomorrow.”
“Have a good day, Mrs. Roberts.”
Lori said her goodbyes and left. She couldn’t get out of his presence fast enough. A strange pressure began to emanate from her chest bone, and her breathing became shallow. A fear began to come over her as she imagined she was having a heart attack. Needing a place to sit, she plopped down in the first chair she found and laid back with her hands on her chest. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she imagined this was it for her, she had screwed up her family’s chance, and now the stress had resulted in a heart attack.
Minutes went by and the pain subsided. She steadied her breathing and chalked it up to an anxiety attack.
Feeling better and with a strong desire to go hide, she fled out of the executive office space and back to her quarters.
Reed, Illinois
Reed looked and felt like the average small Midwestern town. It wasn’t just a town, it was the county seat, and therefore the wheels of local government functioned out of it.
Devin was willing to discuss what he knew with anyone, specifically if the result was to save Tess and others.
Daryl had put him in a Ford F-150 truck and took him straight to the central court building. There Mayor Thomas Rivers worked and could be found most of the time.
Many towns and all the cities fell to The Death and became hubs of chaos and civil unrest. Reed didn’t have that fate. Mayor Rivers quickly determined that the only way to keep the town’s remaining population of one hundred and fifteen people from going after each other was to rule it like a dictator. The actions he took had been controversial at first, but many fell in line. Daryl had stopped coming into town months ago for two reasons. He didn’t want one thing to do with Rivers’ tyrannical power play, and he wasn’t well liked.
After arguing with the small army of townsfolk who now guarded the mayor, Daryl managed to make it through to see the man. Once inside his office, he walked up to his desk and barked, “Mayor, we got a problem!”
“Daryl Jenks, to what do I owe this random visit?” Rivers asked from behind his large mahogany desk. Mayor Rivers was a small man, not standing more than five foot six inches, but if you were to only hear his booming voice, you’d swear he was six foot six. To add to his small stature he had lost most of his hair and now sported a shaved head.
“Mayor, this man was in Lovington three days ago. He and his small group barely made it out alive. They fled in fear because Turner’s Raiders showed up and began to terrorize the town.”
“Is this true?” Rivers asked Devin.
“It’s all true, sir.”
“What are we going to do?” Daryl asked.
“Do we know if they’re heading here?” Rivers asked both men.
Devin answered right away, “I don’t know where they’re going. I was in Lovington; they came into town with a small army, took over, and began to do what they do. My companions and I left within a couple hours of their arrival.”
“Tom, because we don’t know is the exact reason why you need to prepare the town defenses,” Daryl stressed.
Rivers sat back and swiveled in his chair, his mind deep in thought.
“I plan on defending my property, but I felt I had an obligation to give you a warning,” Daryl said.
“Daryl, I have to laugh at you,” Rivers said, then turned to Devin. “You see this guy here? He’s the biggest prepper slash survivalist in these parts. After the virus came through, some of the town folk came to ask him for support. What did he do? He welcomed them with his shotgun not open arms.”
“I’ve seen that shotgun,” Devin cracked.
“What was I suppose to do? Why was it my responsibility to take care of those who didn’t prepare, some of whom mocked me before. I always knew something would happen, so I prepared for it. I spent my own hard-earned money on making my property self-sufficient and stockpiling. If you want to keep tearing off an old scab, then fuck it and fuck you.”
“See, now there’s the old grouchy Daryl Jenks I know. So, here you are again, coming into town telling us that we need to do what you suggest. Listen, our defenses have never been better, and I now have a small army of my own. If Turner and his Raiders get within a day of here, I’ll know, and we’ll figure out then what we’ll do. There’s a lot of countryside between here and Lovington, so there’s no telling where they’ll go next.”
“Always so smug,” Daryl quipped.
“What you call smug I call know-how.”
“I call an idiot.”
Devin watched this back and forth with amazement.
“If you’re done insulting people, you can take your rude self out of my office. Go defend your little bunker and just hope Turner’s men don’t come knocking because you’ll get no help from the Town of Reed.”
“I thought…”
“You thought what?”
“I thought we could finally find common ground to help one another,” Daryl exclaimed.
“That’s not it, Daryl, you finally realized that the lone wolf can’t sur
vive and have come here for my help. Well, you’re not going to get it, now see yourself out,” Rivers said, motioning to the large wood door.
Daryl snarled and stormed out with Devin close behind.
Empty-handed, Daryl and Devin left the mayor’s office.
“Can I ask a personal question?” Devin asked.
“Sure.”
Both men were sitting in the cab of the truck parked out front of city hall.
“There’s obviously some past history here, so what happened between you and the townspeople after The Death swept through.”
“What didn’t happen? God, humans are such an interesting lot, always full of BS stories and self lies to get by each day, or at least that’s how it was before. In town before everything happened I was given the moniker of the ‘doomsday guy’ because I prepped and stressed to the town leadership to do the same. I’d go to town hall meetings and press upon the mayor, city council and county commissioners to work as a town to prepare for something like this. I asked them to stockpile simple supplies like food, water and medical supplies. Needless to say, I was mocked; the town found it more important to buy pretty banners for each season and holiday to ‘beautify’ the town as well as flowers and planter boxes to line the streets. Now look at them, worthless garbage. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem making things look nice, it’s just how you prioritize things. They got it wrong because they thought that nothing would ever happen, and if it did, they thought the government would come to the rescue. You know, some idiots actually took off for one of those FEMA camps. Needless to say, we’ve never heard from them again.”
Devin sat quietly listening to Daryl; he could tell the little speech had been well rehearsed. He didn’t want to give any input for two reasons: one, he was one of those idiots who never prepared, and two, his input was useless. He felt Daryl only wanted to be heard and wasn’t looking for a real solution or compromise.
Daryl sat with his hands tightly grasping the steering wheel as his thoughts replayed the earlier events that had isolated him from the town.
The Death: The Complete Trilogy Page 10
