by Riley Flynn
Where the skin didn’t stretch back easily, he nicked at the sinews and folds with the knife. The skinless flesh – without a head, without feet – sat on the countertop. Alex was given the fur and the feet and told to take them out, away from the cabin, and leave them for the crows.
While he was gone, they gutted the rabbit. They’d used a smaller knife to make an incision across the belly. The skin broke beneath the sharpened edge with ease. Careful, Cam had said, not to slice open the colon or the bladder. The smell, the first sign, would be rancid. Timmy used a delicate touch to peel back the flesh from the intestines and spread the muscle and fat away from the offal.
His hands weren’t shaking anymore, Alex noticed. Perhaps he was healing. Perhaps the knife was just a lot lighter than a gun.
The membrane between the chest and the ribcage was cut. Soon, it was possible to pull the bones and the organs away and out of the body. Carefully, with Cam pointing out the issues, Timmy nicked at any remaining waste.
While he operated, Timmy listed the cultures around the world which would eat the heart, the lungs, or the kidneys of certain creatures, and which cultures shied away. The words fell on deaf, preoccupied ears.
After this, they washed the rabbit. Bottled water held over the sink, cleaning away the blood and scraps which littered the body. Cam took over, demonstrating how to remove the legs. He made the others watch, ready to repeat his actions. Then, nearly finished, he cut apart the individual sections of meat. As the sun set outside, the rabbit was ready. They cooked.
* * *
They ate, combining the fried rabbit meat with the MRE packs. Fresh food tasted different. There was a nostalgia to it, after so long without.
As the table was set, the space not quite enough for four people, a map was laid out. Plates and bottles and candles sat on the map, occupying Pittsburgh and Raleigh. This was the first time Cam had seen the plan.
“So. What do you think?” Alex asked.
“Of your plan? Good enough, I guess. This farm of yours, you’re still sure it’s there?”
“There’s a man who’s been taking care of the place since I left,” Alex admitted, “but there’s not much that can go wrong with empty space.”
“Unless it ain’t so empty anymore,” Cam muttered. “Like this place.”
“You mean-” said Joan.
“I don’t mean you folks,” Cam said. “I mean government types. Taking up space where they wasn’t before.”
“The army?” Timmy looked from one face to the next. “Did you see them again today?”
Alex hesitated. He had planned to tell the others about the incident later, when he could have told them, too, about Cam’s strange reaction. He wondered whether Cam would bring it up himself.
“We saw some people. Two guys. A black SUV. A small satellite dish. I think they were trying to connect to something,” Alex told the room, picking the details carefully.
“Trying to contact someone?” Joan had adopted curiosity into her voice.
“Possibly,” said Alex. “They didn’t look pleased. I think they were annoyed, actually.”
“Could be searching for something,” said Timmy.
“Someone, maybe.” Cam spoke at last. “They were connecting to a drone, I think. I didn’t see much. Couldn’t hear much, neither.”
“They were hunting,” Alex agreed, “but it didn’t seem like they had much to go on.”
“If they’ve got control of them drones,” said Cam, “it’s important. But they’re acting on their own, I think. No radio contact through the whole time. Drones are a local matter, these days. Don’t need much to run them but batteries and know how.”
“Do you think they want those flash drives?” Joan asked, looking to Alex.
“Maybe. Or just us.”
“Or me,” said Cam. “I seen a lot, remember. Bet they wouldn’t want me to talk.”
“Should we maybe just give them what they want?” Joan asked. “The flash drives, I mean. Not us. Not you, Cam.”
“Thank you, ma’am. But how would we do that?”
“Leave them somewhere they’ll find them?”
“Nope.” Cam shook his head. “That’ll just show them there’s someone out here. Then, if they want more, they know where to look.”
“How do we know they’re not bugged?” Timmy picked at a piece of gristle in his teeth.
“Because we’re still here,” Alex told him. “They haven’t found us yet. Plus, I want to know what’s on there. I’m not giving up a chance to find out what the hell is happening.”
“How do we do that?” Joan swiped at Timmy’s hand, stopping him picking his teeth. “We don’t have a computer. Timmy, please. Stop. Get one of the toothpicks, I could swear we had some…”
“Sorry. I’ve been thinking about that. We’ve got some pieces. I got my charger, the wind-up one. Cables. Find me a computer and it shouldn’t be too hard to get her going again.”
Cam wiped his finger on his trousers.
“So you folks want to get to Virginia?”
“Yep,” Timmy said. “Perfect hideout spot.”
“What if they follow you there?”
The question had been hanging over the feast, the only thing Alex had been thinking about since he first worried that someone was following them. But he had his answer.
“We can lose them in the national park. Right on the border. We’ll have to swap the car, get a new one anyway. We can lose them.”
“You’ll have to take back roads,” Cam advised. “Steer clear of the freeway. Avoid everyone.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then best of luck to you, that’s all I can say.”
There was a moment’s pause. Alex, Timmy, and Joan all looked at one another. The silence seemed to stretch out, filling up with a flood of emotions.
“Er, Cam.” Timmy was the first to speak, starting slowly and speeding up as he went. “We kind of assumed you were coming with us. Didn’t we?”
Alex and Joan nodded. Another recruit. Even if there were questions of trust. Someone to split the load. Someone to help wile away the hours. Cam had skills. Skills they needed. A calculated risk.
Ever since Alex had seen him freeze when the agents had arrived, most of his doubts had evaporated. Here was a man more scared of being caught than anyone else. They should move together. Safety in numbers. He liked Cam, for the most part. But perhaps it was odd that they had all assumed the same thing without actually mentioning it to one another. Still, Alex thought to himself, it’s nice that we’re on the same wavelength.
Cam sat and thought. Alex was sure he could see a slight twitch at the corner of the man’s mouth: a smile threatening to break out.
“I guess it’s better than wasting away in this here shack,” he said, choosing his words very carefully. He smiled. “I’m in.”
“Great,” Alex told him, a happy kind of relief spreading through his thoughts. “Might be a tight fit in the car, but you can share a space with Finn.”
Cam leaned down and stroked the dog. A morsel of uneaten rabbit made its way from the table to Finn’s mouth. A tail wagged.
“Ain’t that something,” Cam said, chuckling. “Guess I’m in the mystery machine with the lot of you.”
They ate and talked and, one by one, fell away to sleep. Timmy took first watch until Alex took over. Soon, they’d have Cam to help as well. Another man with his eyes set on Virginia. Alex was pleased. Another pair of healthy hands. Another person to help ease the burden. Not just physically, but emotionally.
They were crossing state after state, picking up strays, Alex realized. First Joan, then Finn, then Cam. If the latest recruit was anything like the first two, they’d have struck gold for the third time.
Then, a worried little niggle crept into his thoughts. Sooner or later, their luck would have to run out. Alex banished the thought. He kept smiling. It didn’t help to let anyone else in on his fears. Best to just aim for Virginia and stay positive.
> Chapter 17
The car door slammed shut, the sound echoing around the forest. Tank filled, supplies packed, they were ready to drive. Once a mid-sized SUV sitting in Joan’s driveway, Timmy and Alex had ripped out anything unessential and transformed the vehicle into a more rugged beast. But they had only thought to fit three seats and a small space for the dog.
That left Cam squeezed in between a large bag and a metal floor, trying to balance on the middle seat while a young German Shepherd tried to sit in every place at once. Even the back was filled, sequestered with supplies and guns, with boxes of ammo and readymade military meals. No one had anticipated a fourth person joining the trip. But they could not turn back now.
Cam knew the routes. They’d sat there over the map, him telling the group when and where he’d seen the drones in the sky, when the military drove laps around the area, and where best they would avoid trouble. Everything marked down in pencil, Timmy sat with the map balanced on his thighs as Alex checked the cabin one last time.
“We’ve taken everything?”
“Yeah, man. We didn’t have that much to begin with.”
By the time everyone was ready, it was almost noon. They left the cabin behind.
“It’s left here, down this road.”
Timmy spoke from behind a crease in the map.
“Right. Turn right here,” Cam corrected from the back seat.
Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw the map rotate.
“Ah, yeah. Right. Right here. Then straight ahead.”
Alex’s eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror. Cam was perched on the middle seat, trying to balance the dog on his lap. Catching the glance, he nodded. Right on track.
* * *
Driving out of the woods took longer than expected. Once they’d overcome troubles with the guidance system, with Timmy’s holding the map the right way around, they discovered a new issue.
The patterns for the drone were regular, Cam said. Familiar. They could be learned. Every day, especially in the days before he’d stepped up to Alex, it had circled at the same times, over the same spots. Whoever was controlling the aircraft was methodical.
In an ideal world, Alex knew, they would leave the agents behind them, turning over every leaf and muddy stone for the rest of winter. Meanwhile, they would escape unseen along the service roads leading them through the countryside and into Virginia. Once on the other side of the Washington and Jefferson park, it was only a short distance to the farm.
But that meant avoiding the eyes in the sky. Cam would tap on the driver’s seat when he was worried. They never saw the machines, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Clouds were gathering overhead, restricting their view.
Every time Cam tapped the seat, they stopped and sat without a word by the side of the road. Hoping there were no eyes overhead, hoping no one would appear ahead or behind.
In these moments, Alex rested his hand on his holster. If someone appeared, did they drive or fight? He would only know if it happened. He didn’t want to know the answer.
On any other day, in any other age, Alex could have made the rest of the journey in a day. On that first drive up to Detroit, his mind ravaged by army recruitment parking lots and the fallout from Sammy’s words, he must have made the trip in about six hours.
Nonstop.
Not caring if he careened off every corner, flipped the car, and died at the side of the road.
Now, there were four people in the car – and a dog. Plus all their supplies. The difference between life and death. The engine struggling to heave them forward, the brittle electric motor whining the entire time. Stop. Start. Hide.
Sitting by the side of the road, waiting for Cam to tap the seat again and send them on their way, Alex noticed the first drops of rain falling on the windshield. A storm was coming. A big one.
* * *
The rain lashed down, falling vertically. No wind to guide it. No drifting drops cutting sideways paths down to the ground. Just water hammering down hard from the skies.
As they emerged from the forest, finding themselves on twisting backroads and passing through nothing towns, there was a reassuring emptiness. As the rain washed the mud and leaves from the roof, the car rode the wave, nearer Virginia with every moment.
“I ain’t seen rain like this in a long time.” Cam talked loudly to make himself heard over the leaden patter on the roof.
“Nice weather for ducks,” Joan mumbled into the car window, watching the gray world go past. “That’s what my grandmother told me.”
She’d spent the first part of the journey running her trained eye over all the medical supplies they’d looted. They didn’t quite have everything they might need, she’d said, but they had enough. Field medicine, she’d said, triggering a flush of pride in Alex’s mind. But not a full pharmacy. Now, she was left to look at the rain.
“Not sure she meant like this,” said Alex. “This is heavy. The car doesn’t like it.”
He loosened his grip on the wheel for a second, making a point, as the entire car began to rattle.
“Maybe we should stop for the night?” Timmy said, still pouring over the map. “Don’t know where though.”
“You know where we are, Cam?” Alex asked over his shoulder.
“Beats me. I was with you in the woods, don’t know this country much at all.”
Timmy lifted his head from the map.
“We crossed the Ohio River, right?”
“Not sure. Everything looks the same in this rain. Haven’t seen a road sign in a few hours. No street lights.”
Alex had been searching. The problem was the thickness of the storm. All the raindrops crowded together, thicker than fog. Couldn’t spot a river if the whole world was this wet.
“I think we’re running down Route 77.” Timmy turned the map around again. “But don’t ask me where exactly.”
“As long as we’re heading south, mostly, we’ll be all right,” Alex reassured his friend. “These roads, though. They’re terrible.”
The back roads – those joining up the nothing towns of rural America – were washing away. Abandoned for weeks now, without people or government to keep them honest, many of the roads were littered with obstacles, mud patches, and potholes. Navigating the troubled waters was tough.
“I think I see something.”
Joan’s voice was energized. Her head lifted from the window.
“There. It’s a big building. Could be a farm house. We could pull up there.”
“You want to stop at a building?” Alex was wary of civilization, even if it was an isolated farmhouse.
“I don’t want to have to fumble with the tent in this weather.”
She made a good point.
“What do the rest of you think?” Alex asked the car, watching in the mirror for reactions. “Should we stop for the night?”
“I could stretch my legs.” Cam’s cramped position on the backseat was hurting him, Alex could see, but he hadn’t mentioned it.
“I’m quite hungry as well, I guess. Hey, maybe they’ve got a computer, man.”
“It’s a farmhouse, Timmy. Even if they had a computer, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I don’t think we’re cracking any government files with Windows Vista.”
“You never know, man, you never know.”
They’d put a few hours between themselves, the woods, and whoever they’d left behind. The rain had helped, in a way: a swirling, raging blanket which had settled down and smothered the world, hiding their escape. That was the hope, anyway.
Alex struggled to see the building Joan had been pointing toward. All he could see was the exit.
Keep driving in this weather and they were more likely to crash than to reach Virginia.
Dangerous roads in a dangerous world. He turned the wheel and took the exit.
“All right, we’re stopping. Keep one hand on a gun until we’re absolutely sure, right?”
The rain hammered against the roof like a heavy roun
d of applause. The weather cheered their arrival, wherever they happened to be. He dropped a hand to his hip, checking the holster. Time to find out.
Chapter 18
A dark road leading along a flat stretch of land. No hills, no huge mountains. If it wasn’t for the rain, they would have been able to see for miles. All across the even earth, all level except the one raised point, the swell in the ground on which someone had built a home.
The farmhouse sat on top of this inflammation of soil, raised perhaps fifteen feet above the surrounding fields. It could see all across the land and the occasional cloister of trees. The buildings acted as a beacon, dragging the car closer and closer along the winding road.
As they drove closer, the dark, brooding shape was thrown into sharper focus. What had been a single black shadow was revealed as a clutch of buildings, grouped together around a small courtyard.
Between these buildings were entrance points, for cars or horses or cattle. Flower beds and forgotten tools lingered in the empty spaces. Not a single sign of human life.
Alex stopped the car under an awning. It spread around the buildings, creating an overhanging square which kept off the rain as everyone exited the car.
“It’s a farm.” Alex was almost shouting to be heard, his wet clothes clinging to his skin uncomfortably. “I don’t think there’s anybody here.”
“Do you want to search? It’s getting dark.” Joan’s glasses were covered in rain drops. “I think we should just find shelter.”
“Where? There’s, like, four buildings,” said Timmy, hand over his eyes, fishing a flashlight from his pocket.
“Here.”
Cam’s voice came from behind them before being buried by the sound of a heavy door sliding open. The barn, an all-wooden construction, was straight out of a daytime movie about the Amish. Old school.
The rusted wheels in rusted tracks whined and wailed as Cam dragged the door open. Everyone ran inside.
