by T A Williams
Ally laid the bow and her arrows on top of the dresser and sat the rabbit on top of them. Tiger whined for a moment and she shot the dog a look. Tiger put his head down and moped over to the mattress where he laid down. The dog was getting better with bringing the food to her after she made her kill but still struggled with waiting for it to be cooked properly.
She opened one of the drawers, grabbed her knife, picked up the rabbit and pushed her way back out into the workshop. She had learned early on not to try to clean the animal in that small space. It was messy, and she could only hold off Tiger for so long. She hadn’t known how to clean an animal for a long time. She had watched Gruff do it all the time but had not paid much attention. She remembered the steps he used to take and watched what the people in the town did. After that it was just working up the courage to actually do it. That had not been as hard either; it was amazing what she was willing to do, and eat, when she was starving.
The large house sat there in the distance and Ally finally glanced over at it. The place was gigantic and would have had plenty of room for Tiger and her, but its size also called out to others. The overgrown hedges and trees did a great job hiding it but from time to time people would still stumble across it and go instead looking for supplies. Before they left they would usually check out the workshop as well but Ally always remembered to close the wooden plank behind her making their hidden room all but invisible.
They would have been proud of her.
Ally tied the rabbit up to a nearby post and began to prepare lunch.
Alec
The last mile was the longest of the trip.
Every inch, every foot, every yard brought him closer to his brother and to his home. He was returning without the person he had left for but he was returning, and there was a time when he didn’t think that was going to be possible. Behind him was a caravan of vehicles filled with people who had no home. They were people who, after the world went dark, had been victimized, and people who no longer had a place to call home. Alec was going to change that.
The driveway loomed in front of him, so familiar and somehow so different, as if it was from a different time.
“This it?” Trevor asked beside him.
Alec nodded and felt his stomach tighten, it seemed so lonely.
Gently the truck pulled up the driveway, crunching the gravel under its tires and flattening the weeds that were sprouting from between the scattered rocks. They stopped well before the house just as Alec had asked, and he immediately got out and put his arms above his head.
“Ben, Jack, it’s me.” he yelled. “It’s Alec.”
He stepped forward a few more feet and took a quick glance back to make sure no one else had gotten out of the vehicles, they hadn’t. The last thing he wanted was to have brought all these people across the state only to get them shot just outside his house.
The sound of the front door opened and Alec couldn’t help but smile. He hopped forward a step and waved when Jack appeared.
“Alec? Are you serious?”
He didn’t think it was possible to be so happy to see the old man.
“I’m back.”
The old man lumbered down the steps and Alec was already upon him before he hit the last step. He grabbed the man by the shoulders and gave him a firm hug, Jack returned it.
“Good god boy, after the winter I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again.” The old man looked back at the dozen or so vehicles behind him. “Did you….you found her?”
Only then did Alec’s smile disappear. “No,” he said simply. He had known that both Jack and Ben were going to ask him this question and everyday he had thought about what he was going to say. Would he go into everything he had been through? Would he tell them all the places he had looked? Would he tell them that he had just given up? No was the only word he could find now that the moment had arrived.
“I’m sure she is fine, don’t you worry. Do you mind me asking who these people are?”
By this time a lot of the people had gotten out of their vehicles and were watching them intently.
“It’s a long story and I’ll tell you every second of it, but first I’d like to see my brother.”
Alec looked up to the front door and noticed his brother still had not walked out. Part of him wasn’t surprised. Either Ben was still mad at him for leaving or he was out running through the woods just like the old days. The look on Jack’s face told him it wasn’t that simple.
“Where is Ben?”
Jack opened his mouth but words didn’t come out.
“Jack, where is my brother?”
“He’s fine.” The panic rising in Alec disappeared. “He’s…he left.” Jack finished.
And at that, the panic was replaced by anger.
“What do you mean he left?” Alec asked.
“A man came by…a soldier, he was injured and we helped him get better. Whenever the soldier left…Ben went with him.”
Alec grabbed ahold of Jack’s shirt with both hands and shoved the man back against the side of the house. “What the hell do you mean he went with the soldier? Why In the hell did you let me go?”
Jack’s weathered face seemed to melt and he looked down at the ground. “I didn’t let him go Alec, he snuck off with him.”
Alec balled up his fist. “I trusted you! I asked you to watch over him while I was gone and you fucking let him leave?”
He raised his fist but someone grabbed him from behind.
“Don’t Alec.” It was Trevor’s voice. “This won’t solve anything.”
Alec felt like he was about to burst. He had left his brother so he could find Ally, now he didn’t have either of them. His family was gone.
Jack slid down the brick wall onto the ground. He looked ten times older than he did when Alec arrived.
“I’m sorry, Alec. I went looking for him but he was gone.”
He started to rush forward again but Trevor held him in place. His anger spurred him forward again until he realized it wasn’t Jack’s fault. It was his. He had left Ben behind, regardless of the reason. Ben had not been able to grasp Joseph’s death, let alone their father’s, then Alec left. The anger slowly began to seep from his body and was replaced by exhaustion. Alec wanted to fall to the ground, he wanted to close his eyes and never open them again.
He was all alone.
“Is everything alright?” came a voice from the caravan of cars.
Alec looked back and saw the group of people he had been traveling with. The group of people without a home who had decided to follow him to this place. They were tired, dirty, and hungry. He couldn’t lose it, not now.
He placed a hand on Trevor’s arm. “I’m ok.” he tried to say as calmly as possible.
Trevor let him go but didn’t step away.
“Trevor, have everyone grab their stuff. I’ll help get some water and see what we can do to find them a place to sleep before night falls.”
Trevor nodded. “Are you going to be ok?”
Alec looked to Jack who was still sitting on the ground, his head down unmoving. He looked to the house he had been so determined to get back to and realized it was nothing more than an empty building. Then he remembered what was behind him.
“I have to be.” he answered.
Ally
The walls blocked any breeze that may have existed and the humidity felt thick enough to cut. Within seconds of entering the building she had begun to sweat and was completely soaked in minutes. During the day she preferred to be outside and in the shade, but she didn’t want to pass this find up.
The abandoned school had just been sitting there. All alone with only a few cars in the overgrown parking lot and ivy that had already made their way to the top of the building. There were a few boarded up windows and evidence that it had been looted in the past, but Ally was good at finding things that other people missed.
She made her way down the dark hallways that were decorated by faded posters on the walls and dry le
aves that nearly covered the entire floor. Everything smelled just like her favorite blanket after she had accidently left it out in the rain when she was younger. Tiger followed at her side, his claws clicking every time they found the floor and not a leaf. It felt strange being there. She remembered going to school but their elementary school had been so small and this place, especially being as empty as it was, seemed like a never-ending cave. She followed the hallway down until the posters began to turn more cartoonish in nature and then she ducked into one of the classrooms. The small desks sat all in neat rows waiting for children that would never return. The windows to the side were completely covered by the vines so only a few slivers of sunlight were able to make it into the dark room.
She went into the back and was met with what she was hoping to find. In front of her were row after row of cubbies and hangers, most of which contained some type of clothing. The shirt she had on was in near tatters and she had nearly outgrown her shorts. She found a few shorts that looked too big but fit perfectly. She was growing, her mom always said – she was going to grow up and be tall.
The thought stopped her. She concentrated and tried to remember her mother’s face. It was still there but there were features missing. How big was her mother’s nose? Was her hair past her shoulders? Was it really the color of brown she was remembering? She couldn’t forget. If she forgot her mother, did that mean she was going to forgot her dad, and Ben, and Alec, and-
She didn’t want to think about him. He was dumb. He thought he was a hero but he wasn’t. She was the tough one, not him. At that moment, Tiger nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck and snapped her out of it. She normally hated it when he did that but he had saved her from her thoughts. She rubbed his head and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Tiger’s tail began wagging so fast his butt couldn’t help but be jostled about.
She had brought a ratty backpack with her but replaced it with a new larger one that had been left. Ally threw the few pairs of shorts and shirts she had found into the bag along with a pair of shoes. The shoes looked like they were for a boy and were still a couple sizes too big but they would do. The teacher’s desk was filled with pencils and papers but in one of the large drawers she found three large candles. The three distinct aromas filled her nose, driving out the musky scent of the abandoned school. Lilac: she wasn’t sure what that was but it smelled good; Red Apple: she didn’t remember apples smelling like that; and Spring Morning were the scents. She placed the candles in her backpack and left the room.
Her shirt began to stick to her as her body poured out sweat trying to deal with the suffocating heat in the building. She wanted to make her way to the second floor to see what else she could find but was beginning to double think that.
Then Tiger began to growl. It started as a low grumble before rising in intensity. Before Ally could ask what was wrong, she heard the footsteps echoing down the hallway. Ally grabbed Tiger by the scuff of his neck and pulled him back into the classroom. The dog resisted at first but eventually relented while continuing to growl. She pointed at him and tried to give him the same look her mother used to give her when she wanted Ally to know she was serious.
“Tiger, stay” The dog just stared at her. “Tiger, stay.”
The dog’s ears laid back and his head drooped down. He thought he was in trouble but there was nothing she could do about that now.
She took a few steps, saw he wasn’t moving, and then moved back to the door. The sound of the footsteps bounced off the empty hallways and walls as they traveled throughout the building. It was hard to tell how many there were and where they were coming from, but then she heard the thing that still haunted her dreams. She heard people talking but not the language that everyone she had ever known spoke.
The bad soldiers were there.
Ally tried not to panic but still felt the slight urge to puke. She did her best to avoid everyone but she took special care to avoid the bad soldiers. They were always around driving in their big jeeps or flying over in their helicopters and planes but left everyone else alone for the most part. The people in the town didn’t seem to mind them and didn’t act like they were afraid of them, but they should be. Ally had seen what they had done to the military base and to Jess and Gruff.
The bad soldiers were evil.
As the footsteps became near deafening she finally saw them. There were seven of them, all wearing the same strange uniform and each carrying the same large guns. Ally quickly pulled herself back and quietly closed the door. She clicked over the lock and then looked for something to try and block the door. The only things she could find that were big enough to stop the soldiers from getting in were much too big for her to move. She looked around in a panic as the footsteps grew louder and as Tiger’s growl began to grow in intensity. Her eyes settled on the few beams of light on the ground, and she followed them up to the windows covered in ivy. That was their way out.
Quietly, she grabbed a nearby chair and pushed it up against the wall. Standing on top of the chair she was able to reach the window, but as she attempted to push it out, it didn’t budge. She pushed again and felt a slight give, but it remained closed. Ally checked and confirmed it wasn’t locked.
The footsteps sounded like they were right outside the door.
She looked closer and noticed the green ivy growing along the side, so thick it was preventing her from opening the window. Ally threw all of her weight into the window and it creaked open a few inches.
Suddenly, Tiger began to bark, causing Ally to jump. She turned to yell at him when she noticed one of the bad soldiers staring at her from the other side of the door.
Ally threw her weight into the window again and heard a loud snap as a large vine broke off allowing the window to slide open. She heard a shout from the door and heard the soldier attempt to open the door. Without thinking twice she jumped down from the chair and picked up Tiger who was now barking hysterically at the man attempting to break it. The dog squirmed in her arms, nearly causing her to drop him.
She climbed the ladder just as she heard a gunshot from the direction of the door and the unmistakable sound of the door swinging open. Ally pushed Tiger out the window and jumped off the chair after him just as the sound of footsteps came from directly behind her. Ally fell to the ground, tumbled and shot right back onto her feet. Without looking back she ran with Tiger at her side back into the safety of the woods.
Ben
They traveled down empty roads for miles upon miles. Ben watched as empty fields gave way to seemingly abandoned towns. From time to time they would spy another vehicle in the distance or a group of people standing about. They kept their distance from the other vehicles and the people made a point to keep a distance from them.
It felt like they lived in the vehicle, but things were better. Mason, while he was still irritated at what Ben had done, was at least talking to him. From time to time they would joke about something they saw or something that happened during the previous winter. It seemed like things were almost back to normal between them. If Ben blocked everything else out, it almost seemed like he was on an extended field trip, until he looked at the window and was reminded of what the world had become.
They approached the outskirts of what appeared to be a small town and Mason pulled the vehicle to the side of the road. The man checked the rear view mirror and the returned his attention to the town.
“Ben,” he pulled his sidearm from the holster and held it out to Ben. “We’re going in here and we need to watch each other’s backs.”
Ben just stared at the handgun, unsure if this was some kind of test.
“Take it.”
He did. The gun was heavier than he expected and was warm from being pressed up against Mason.
“This is the safety,” Mason told him, pointing to it. “This means it’s on, this means it’s off. Unless you’re about to use it keep the safety on. Understand?”
“Y….yes.”
Mason stared at him and s
eemed to be grappling with something. “Until we get somewhere safe you’re going to have to take care of yourself. I have your back but things can turn to shit pretty easy out here. Understand?”
“I can take care of myself.” Ben muttered.
“From what?”
Ben didn’t understand what he was asking.
“Can you take care of yourself against a group of people that want to kill you and take your stuff?”
“I have this gun.” Ben said, holding it up awkwardly.
“And if they have guns?”
Ben said nothing.
“I’ve been a solider a long chunk of my life. I’ve been in warzones and I’ll be the first to tell you that being overconfident can kill you. I understand that you’re tired of feeling like a child and want to prove yourself, there is nothing wrong with that. But out here,” he waved his hand towards the buildings. “That feeling will make you do something stupid and get you killed.”
“Ok.” Ben said softly.
“Follow my instructions no matter what. You’re old enough to handle this; you just need to get over the fact you think you need to prove yourself.”
Ben followed Mason as they began their small trek towards the town. Mason had his assault rifle out and it was resting on his shoulder. From far away he may have seemed relaxed but Ben could see his eyes. Mason’s eyes scanned the horizon constantly and his body was tense, ready to spring into action at any moment. They made their way past the first few buildings, a gas station where half the pumps had been knocked loose and were laying on the ground next to where they should be. A grocery store whose glass pane entrance had been shattered to a thousand pieces.
Mason stopped and held his fist up. Ben had watched enough movies to know that meant stop. Mason crouched down and checked something on the ground. Ben came up slowly next to him.
“Bullet casings.” He looked up and scanned the horizon again. “Only .9 mils.”
