The Death: The Complete Trilogy

by John W. Vance

  “We’re good. Don’t shoot!” Alex said. A strange calmness emanated from him, strange because he was so young to display this type of cool behavior.

  “Miss Slattery, Miss Slattery, is that you?” a little girl yelled. She had appeared from nowhere.

  Brianna swung the Humvee around and pulled up to Devin, blocking Alex.

  “Miss Slattery, Miss Slattery!” the girl again yelled. She ran to the driver’s side and began smacking the window.

  Brianna looked down at the dirty-faced girl who was no more than seven years old. Brianna could see the desperation in her eyes.

  Tess looked, and the expression on her face shifted. “Stop the vehicle!”

  Brianna did just as Tess ordered.

  Tess jumped out of the Humvee and ran around to the little girl with arms wide open. “Meagan, oh my God, Meagan, it’s you.”

  Meagan jumped into Tess’s arms and clung tightly. She whimpered, “Don’t leave. Please don’t leave. We need you. I’m scared.”

  Tess returned the girl’s embrace with the same love she had received. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

  “You’re leaving. Please don’t leave!” Meagan pleaded.

  Tess pulled her away to examine her. Meagan’s face was smeared with dirt and grime; her thick long brown hair was tangled and greasy, similar in look and feel to dreadlocks.

  Tears began to stream down Meagan’s face, and her body began to tremble. “Please don’t leave us.”

  “Where’s your sister? Is Melody with you?”

  Meagan nodded and pointed. “She’s sick.”

  Tess stood, grabbed Meagan’s hand, and said, “Take me to her.”

  Devin watched the entire scene while keeping a watchful eye on Alex.

  “Hey, lady, you’re not allowed in there,” Alex barked.

  Tess ignored him and walked briskly towards the house where the kids claimed they had been staying.

  Devin walked over to the open passenger window of the Humvee and said, “Pull down the street and park. Get up in the hatch behind the big gun. I don’t trust these little fuckers.”

  Not debating his order, Brianna did just as he said.

  Alex’s age and maturity began to show. His temples throbbed, and his teeth clenched as he watched Tess walking towards his house.

  While the other boys began to rip apart the MREs, he marched towards the house.

  Devin was right on his heels. “Hey, Alex, where are all the adults?” he asked in an attempt to steer the conversation and get more information.

  “I told you, they’re all dead,” he answered as he strode quickly, his eyes focused on Tess’s back like lasers.

  “There are no adults anywhere?”

  “No good ones.”

  Devin raised his eyebrows, intrigued by Alex’s response.

  “Hey, lady, I said you can’t go in there!”

  Tess had reached the screen door. She turned and replied to Alex, “Meagan is my friend and so is her sister. If Melody is hurt, I’m going to help. Plus I don’t take orders from children.” She opened the door and walked inside the dark and smelly living room. The pungent smell of feces hit her hard, to the point she almost gagged. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she looked around the room. Garbage, debris was everywhere; the place was a total dump.

  “Where’s Melody?”

  Meagan escorted her through the maze of garbage to a bedroom. There on soiled sheets lay little Melody. Her tiny five-year-old body was curled up and shivering.

  Tess bolted to her side. Brushing away her curly blonde hair, she found her face.

  “Melody, hi sweetie, it’s Miss Slattery,” Tess softly whispered as she petted her head.

  Melody opened her eyes slightly and looked at Tess. She attempted to smile but couldn’t.

  An intense heat radiated off her tiny body. Tess began to look at her more closely to see if she could identify what was wrong with her or what might be causing her intense fever. She pulled the stained sheet back and found a small puncture wound on her calf that was red and inflamed. “What’s this from?” she asked Meagan.

  “Alex hit her with a rake.”

  “Nice kid that Alex,” Tess murmured loudly.

  “Screw you, lady,” Alex blurted out. He was now standing in the doorway.

  Tess hadn’t seen him walk in and really didn’t care. She looked around the room. The filth, decay and disgusting smell were repulsive. She needed to care for Melody, and this wasn’t the place to do it. She shoved her arms under Melody, who let out a slight whimper, and heaved her up. “C’mon, baby girl, I’m going to take care of you.”

  Melody was so weak she couldn’t hold on to Tess. Her frail arms dangled like small sticks.

  Cradling her tightly, she walked to the bedroom doorway.

  Alex defiantly stood in the way. “You’re not taking her anywhere. She’s part of our group,” he snapped.

  “Get out of the way!” Tess said.

  “No!”

  “Listen, kid, I don’t know what your problem is, but get out of the way,” Devin said and touched Alex’s shoulder.

  Alex shrugged his hand off and pushed him away.

  Devin, tired of Alex’s behavior, had had enough. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and forcibly removed him from the doorway.

  Alex resisted, but he was no match for a grown man.

  “Get off of me!”

  Devin pinned him against the wall and yelled, “Listen, kid, I don’t give a shit if you survived till now. This little girl needs medical attention. Now you can help us or get the hell out of the way. Consider this one less mouth to feed.”

  “Two,” Meagan said as she followed right behind Tess.

  Alex stopped squirming and gave Devin a hard look.

  Devin let him go slowly and said, “We good?”

  Alex didn’t answer; he kept staring.

  Tess didn’t concern herself with the spat between Devin and Alex. Her objective was finding a safe and clean place for Melody. When she reached the front door, she kicked it open. Once outside, the fresh air filled her nostrils and lungs. Never in her life had she experienced anything as disgusting as the squalor the children were living in. With purpose she marched ahead, down the stairs, across the driveway and into the street. Her first inclination was to go to her old house, but she stopped just short of the driveway and paused. She looked at the house she had once called home and decided she didn’t want that either. To her right was another property, similar to hers but with an additional bedroom. Not sure what to do exactly, she looked at Meagan. “How about we go to your house?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Oh, c’mon, it will be fine. It’ll be good to have things around you’re familiar with,” Tess said and began to walk towards Meagan’s old house, three doors down from hers.

  “No!” Meagan yelled.

  Tess stopped, turned and looked at her.

  “No, we can’t. Mommy and Daddy are there.”

  This said it all for Tess. Not wanting to waste another minute, she headed directly for the larger house next to hers. While size was important, she prayed the condition of it was good enough.

  Devin ran up beside her and asked, “Where are you going?”

  “This house will be better, larger,” she said as she swiftly traversed the abandoned cars in the driveway. “Please get the door,” she ordered Devin.

  While Tess and Devin were making their way to the house, Brianna watched with curiosity from the hatch of the Humvee.

  The boys who had remained in the street only gave them glances, as their attention was still on eating the MREs.

  Devin raced up the long set of stairs and stopped just outside the front door. It too had been damaged. The handle was broken off with part of the wood cracked off near the deadbolt, a clear sign that someone had kicked it in. He pushed it open to find a scene similar to Tess’s house. Old personal items were broken and strewn on the floor, but to his surprise upon entering, it w
as in better shape overall. He swiftly cleared each room and came back to the front to find Tess waiting for his okay.

  “It’s clear. The second bedroom on the left looks perfect,” he said, motioning down the long hallway.

  She rushed past him. Entering the room, she saw exactly what he meant. The bedroom was painted pink and had posters of kittens and rainbows on the walls. She remembered the girl who lived here but only in passing.

  Tess carefully set Melody on the bed, but just before she pulled the sheets over her, she stopped.

  “Devin, get me some clean water, soap, a hand towel and Advil!”

  Devin raced out of the condo.

  “Sweetie, find me some pajamas in the drawer there,” Tess ordered Meagan.

  “Here,” Meagan said, handing her a long nightgown with a princess embossed on the front.

  “Perfect,” Tess said. She began to undress Melody. As she removed the filthy clothing, she was shocked by Melody’s physical condition and lack of hygiene.

  Just as she removed and tossed the last piece of clothing, Devin entered the room with everything he was instructed to get.

  “How’s she doing?” he asked.

  Tess didn’t answer for fear of concerning Meagan; she looked at Devin and grimaced.

  “What can I do to help?” Devin asked.

  She looked again at Devin and said, “Settle in. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

  Devin nodded and left the room.

  Tess gently closed the bedroom door and walked into the living room, a look of pleasant surprise on her face to find it clean and tidy. In the hour it had taken her to wash and attend to Melody’s wound, Brianna had cleaned the condo.

  “Looks great,” Tess exclaimed.

  “I had help,” Brianna said, pointing to Meagan.

  “And look at you, such a beauty,” Tess remarked on Meagan’s appearance.

  “Where’s Dev?” Tess asked.

  “Out front on watch,” Brianna answered.

  Tess walked towards the door but stopped for a moment to give Meagan a hug.

  The intimate touch from another person melted Meagan, who firmly returned the embrace. She whispered into Tess’s ear, “Thank you.”

  Tess whispered back, “You’re welcome, sweetie.”

  She gave her another hug and exited the room.

  Sitting like a hawk on a power line scanning the area was Devin with his AR-15 rifle across his lap. The afternoon sun was hitting him at an angle, casting a long shadow against the condo. Shielding his eyes from the bright sun, Devin wore an old New England Patriots hat he had found weeks before. Devin’s dark hair was the longest it had ever been in his adult life. From underneath the hat, it curled and jutted out. He had thought about cutting it, but he just didn’t care. This same disregard even went for his facial hair, which had now grown a solid quarter inch. It was lighter than his head hair and had patches of gray throughout.

  Tess found his new, rougher look more attractive than the scared and clean-shaven man she had found in Illinois.

  “All tucked in. Hopefully, she’ll do better now that she’s out of that shit hole,” Tess said.

  Devin looked up, grinned and said, “I was going to ask earlier, but it just seemed the timing was off, but I’m assuming finding these girls changes our schedule?”

  “Scoot over,” Tess said.

  Devin slid over and Tess took a seat next to him on the wooden step.

  “Yes, the plan has changed. Not my intention, obviously, but how could I leave these little girls?”

  “I’m not debating at all. It would be inhuman for you or anyone to leave them in the hands of the lord of the flies.”

  “Lord of the flies?” Tess asked.

  He cocked his head and asked, “You’ve never heard of the book Lord of the Flies?”

  “Should I have?”

  “How old are you again?”

  “Enough, what is it?”

  “So what did you guys read your junior or senior year in American Lit?”

  “Whatever.”

  “Lord of the Flies was a fictional book about a group of boys stranded on an island. They created a society of sorts, and soon it turned violent and barbaric.”

  “Now I understand.”

  “What the hell was that earlier today, anyway?”

  “In regards to what?”

  “Giving them food and trying to negotiate with Hannibal Lecter’s son.”

  “That one I get.” She laughed. “That, my friend, is called taking care of a situation before it can go badly.”

  “You know and I know those boys are bad news.”

  “You’re right, but I don’t think they’re evil like the fucking cannibals we dealt with,” Tess snapped back.

  “I’m not making this up, but I watched a program about the apocalypse on the Discovery Channel or maybe it was the History Channel. Regardless, they had experts on discussing people’s reactions to living in the exact world we have now. Anyway, when the topic turned to children, all the experts agreed that some of the most ruthless killers in situations like this are children.”

  “So I assume you would have started shooting?” Tess challenged.

  “I mean, looking at it now, no, but then yes, you have the advantage of hindsight to validate your position.”

  Tess calmly said, “You’re right about those boys. They probably meant to do us harm, but I know that sometimes people just need things. I gave it to them; they were distracted by it. I also showed I wasn’t afraid of them. That confidence was disarming for them, and of course, you had a bead on them the whole time. Will those boys eventually hurt other people? Yes, but it’s not my business until it’s my business.”

  “What’s your plan now? Those kids are our business since they’re our neighbors,” Devin said as he stared at the house the kids resided in across the street.

  “Lucky we have you to protect us from a ten-year-old and his gang of second graders,” Tess joked and patted his leg.

  “Glad to see you’re taking this seriously.”

  “Oh, I am, but there’s fucking dangerous situations everywhere. At least I know this town.”

  “I disagree; you don’t know this town anymore.”

  Tess was about to counter but paused to think about what he said. It took only a few moments for it to sink in that he was right. She knew the streets, the lay of the land, but she didn’t know the dynamics of who was out there or what they were dealing with.

  “I swear, you guys are sounding more and more like my parents, always squabbling. Ever since that final dinner at Daryl’s you’ve been feisty, Tess,” Brianna said.

  Tess and Devin looked back and saw Brianna standing behind the screen door.

  “I agree,” Devin said.

  “And you, you’ve been mister trigger-happy,” Brianna remarked to Devin.

  “Just trying to keep us safe,” Devin said, defending his recent actions.

  “Brianna has that right; what about the guy at the mall outside Salem?”

  “He was coming at us fast, and I didn’t know if he had a weapon.”

  “Ha.” Tess laughed. “He was limping, not coming at us fast, and he was like eighty years old.” Tess said, referring to a situation the trio had encountered a few days back.

  “Both you two can go fuck yourselves. I only shot him because he refused to listen to my commands to stop.”

  “Because the old man’s battery was dead in his hearing aid,” Tess joked.

  Brianna started to laugh loudly.

  “Screw you two, really,” Devin said.

  Brianna opened the door and stepped out. She looked at the lapping waves on the beach.

  Tess turned and looked at the sulking Devin. She patted his leg and said, “Cheer up. We’re just busting your balls.”

  “I can’t tell sometimes.”

  Tess faced Brianna and said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  Brianna hesitated answering; she looked longingly towards the beach. T
he sun’s rays were shimmering off the water. She gasped loudly and lamented, “I really want to jump in the water.”

  “Have you ever been to the ocean before?”

  “No.”

  Tess looked at Devin, winked and said, “Then you should go for a quick dip.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, why not?” Devin agreed.

  Brianna’s face lit up. “Let me go see if I can find a bathing suit.” She flung the door open and disappeared inside.

  “You go with her. I’ll hold the fort down,” Devin said.

  “Holler if Melody wakes up,” Tess said, and then went inside to gather her belongings for the beach excursion.

  Brianna fell onto the sand, giggling; a large toothy grin graced her face.

  A large shadow cast over her. “Was that fun?” Tess asked.

  “Oh my God, you have no idea. I’ve always wanted to swim in the ocean. It was amazing, thank you,” she said, then sat up and gazed at the seemingly endless sea.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Tess said.

  “I wish I could feel like this all the time.”

  “I wish we all could.”

  “I’m sorry about your house. Was it really messed up?” Brianna asked.

  “Yeah, but I found what we came for.”

  “I’m so sorry I forgot to ask. With those boys, Meagan, Melody, all of it, I didn’t…”

  “Nothing to apologize for.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “Not sure. Here, need a towel?”

  Brianna took the towel and began to dry off her long blonde hair. The joy she felt inside from this brief respite was priceless, and she was happy to hear they would be staying put for a bit. Life on the road was hard and unpredictable. She understood there were no guarantees, but having a temporary home gave her a small sense of security.

  “So you knew the girls before?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happens now?”

  Tess sat on the damp sand and leaned back onto her elbows. She cocked her head and stared at the deep blue sky above. “First thing we need to do is make sure Melody gets better. When she is, we make for Denver.”

  “Never been there.”

  “You’ve never been anywhere, have you?”