Haven (Book 1): Journey

by Switzer, Brian M.

  “Damned if I know, but I’d hate to be coming through here on foot,” said Will.

  The caravan passed a housing development on their left. Five streets extended out from the highway, each perfectly straight and level and about eight blocks long. Ranch-style tract houses lined the streets. They had all the accouterments of two-income families with children, living beyond their means. Most of the driveways held two SUVs, boats sat alongside houses and wave runners sat in front yards. The backyards housed cheap above-ground pools and big wooden play-sets. Several creepers wandered each street in the subdivision.

  “They are everywhere,” Will said, looking at a creeper in the filthy remains of an evening gown.

  Further down the highway and on the opposite side of the road another housing development arose. This one was a single street that extended far back into an otherwise empty field. The street snaked left and right, and the houses looked to be unlived in. About twenty yards down, a man-made barrier blocked anyone from going further. A wall of corrugated tin in a wooden frame ran the width of the street and stood eight feet tall.

  “What the hell?” Danny wondered. “What good is a barrier like that? Even creepers would figure out to go around it.”

  “Maybe it was there from before the outbreak,” Becky offered.

  “As what? The world’s oldest tollbooth?” Danny craned his neck, continuing to watch the barrier as they drove away from it.

  After that, they drove by a few more houses, then a couple of farms. “And that was Bolivar,” Justin said.

  “Weird,” Danny said. “I wonder what the deal is with all the creepers and that wall across the street.”

  “We’ll never know. That’s one of the big differences from before.”

  “What do you mean?” Will asked, eyeing Justin in the visor mirror.

  “Before all this happened, when you wondered why a small town had so many big, expensive houses, for example, you could strike up a conversation with a guy at a bar and ask him. Or you could stop at a diner and ask the waitress, ‘What’s that big barrier across the street down the road’. More often than not you’d get an answer, and then you had a little piece of information filed away. And if that didn’t work, there was always the wonder of Google. Now all you can do is wonder.”

  “We’ll get it pieced back together, Justin,” Will said. “You stick with me. It may take a while, but we’ll get it pieced back together.”

  Will split the group in half- one team to stay with the trucks and one to go inside with the sisters. He instructed the truck team to fire a shot at the first sign of trouble, then led his team toward the house. They hurried across the overgrown lawn, not stopping until they were under the covered front entrance.

  “Are you girls sure no one is in the house?” Will asked them.

  “Yes. We’re sure,” said the older one in a rush. “Thank you so much for stopping. We’ve been trying to get cars to stop for three days but no one would help us. We’re so hungry and we’re scared, and our Daddy...”

  “You can tell me about that later,” Will interrupted. He fixed the girls with a hard stare. “The reason I need you to be sure nobody is inside is this- do you see that big Mexican right there?” He waved a hand at Casandro.

  The girls indicated they saw him.

  “Kidnappers grabbed his whole family, seventeen brothers and sisters plus his Mom and Dad, and forced them to work as servants for a bunch of spoiled American kids and teenagers. And now he hates anybody from this country under the age of eighteen.”

  They looked at Casandro with fear in their eyes. Andro played the part, looking as hateful and menacing as he could.

  “Now, I promise you this. If there is anyone else inside, whatever else happens, Andro here will shoot you both.” He paused for a long moment and avoided looking at Tara, who was glaring at him from across the porch. “Are you absolutely sure that this house is empty?”

  They edged as far from Andro as they could, and wouldn’t glance in his direction. The young one teared up again. The older girl gave him a solemn look and bobbed her head.

  “Great. What are your names?”

  “I’m Ashlee,” the older one said. “And my sister is Meghan.” She pointed at her sister. “But mister, I swear, we’re the only ones here.”

  “I believe you, Ashley. I do. But the reason I’m still alive is that I’m a cautious man. So we’ll check inside, and then we’ll get you girls something to eat.” He looked to his group. “Let’s sweep it.”

  Guns drawn, they entered through the foyer and stepped into a great room. It had twelve-foot vaulted ceilings and an enormous stone fireplace that took up one whole wall.

  Danny walked on Will’s left side. “I didn’t know that,” he said. “About Andro.” He snickered. “How many brothers and sisters did he have?”

  Will kept his eyes dead-ahead. “Seventeen.” They crossed into a large dining room. Wide, interlocking hardwood planks made up the walls and stone arches accented the entryways. Twelve high-back chairs were arranged around a mahogany dinner table.

  “Seventeen. That’s tragic.” He paused. “You know you’re going to hell, right?”

  “Bubba, most days it’s like I’m already there. Let’s finish up this sweep.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  * * *

  The sweep proved uneventful. Like the girls said, there was no one else in the house. Afterward, the sisters sat at the big dining room table with seven people from Will’s group. He had three people on guard duty and four more combing the outbuildings and sheds on the property. Tess was upstairs, keeping an eye on Tempest. Ashlee, the older sister, had opened the girl’s old playroom for the eight-year-old. When Will checked in on her before coming down, she had four dolls in various states of undress and was whipping them up a meal on a play kitchen in the corner.

  Becky and Kathy put together a simple meal of tuna, roasted nuts, and peaches for the girls. They ate like refugees and washed it down with two Cokes each. Ashlee showed Becky a cabinet filled with warm cans of the sugary drink; apparently, their dad liked his Coke and believed in keeping plenty on hand.

  Meghan, the younger girl, produced a prodigious belch after a big chug of soda. Her eyes popped open wide and her cheeks reddened as a titter ran around the table.

  Becky patted her hand. “It’s okay dear, warm Coke makes me burp, too.”

  Once they had food in their bellies, it was time to talk.

  “Ashlee, right?” Will asked, pointing at the older girl.

  She nodded, and his fingers swung to her sister. “And Meghan?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The girls were leery of Will, and he knew he had work to do to make up for the story he fed them on the porch. That wasn’t some of his best work.

  “There is a plaque on the porch that says Hendrickson Farms. Is that your last name?”

  That earned him another head-bob from Ashlee and a quiet ‘yes sir’ from Emily.

  “How old are you girls?”

  Ashlee spoke for both of them. “I’m fifteen, and she’s thirteen.”

  Will made a steeple of his fingers under his chin. “How long have you girls been alone?”

  Ashlee bit her bottom lip. “We lost Mama and Gene on the fourth of September. Poppa hung himself because he got sick, two days later.”

  Will raised his eyebrows. “You’ve been on your own for three months? That’s impressive. What did you do for food?”

  “Mama always kept a lot of canned stuff. We had meat, too, until the generator ran out of gas and everything in the freezer spoiled.”

  Will had never heard of Matt Hendrickson until an hour ago but was starting to admire the man. “So after the electricity quit, your dad rigged up a generator to keep some of the lights on and the fridge and freezers running.”

  “Yes. He called it a Jenny- it’s out back, with all the cords and everything. But our gas tank is empty and before Poppa went in the shed, he made us promise we wouldn’t leave the pr
operty.” She gave her sister, who was busy playing with Stebbins, a sidelong glance, and then continued in a quieter voice. “Poppa said you couldn’t trust people anymore, especially men. He said men might seem nice but then want to... do bad things.” Her face reddened and she cast her eyes at the table.

  Will breathed in a long slow breath of air. He glanced at Becky and Tara and could tell right away that their hearts had melted. While Ashlee struggled to overcome her embarrassment, he inspected her. She was pretty- high cheekbones with a flawless complexion, ink-black eyes, and a willowy build. No, she wouldn’t fare well at the hands of many of the men who roamed the land nowadays.

  Changing the subject, he jerked a thumb in Megan’s direction and kept the same quiet tone Ashley used. “Is she okay? She doesn’t talk much.”

  The teen leaned over the table and lowered her voice another octave. “Meghan found Poppa. After... you know.” Her eyes were wet, but no tears fell.

  Will changed the subject again. “You mentioned Gene. Was he your brother?”

  Ashlee shook her head. “No, Mr. Gene was Poppa’s foreman. All the hired men quit to go be with their families, but Mr. Gene has worked for Poppa twenty-five years. He said his family was here on this farm.”

  Becky reached out and covered Ashley’s hand with her own. “So, you said your mom and Gene died together?” she asked the girl.

  Ashlee took a long pull on her Coke, then covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed a belch. “Goodness,” she said shaking her head. She looked at Becky. “It’s kind of a long story.”

  Becky gave her a warm smile. “We don’t mind hearing it if you don’t mind telling it.”

  “Okay. Poppa said we would always have plenty to eat as long as he could keep the monsters off the cows and pigs and keep the cows and pigs fed. But he was worried because the grain bin was low, and the feed store was out of feed. After they quit making deliveries in June, I guess other farmers drove in and took what they needed.

  “On that day, Poppa came and said he was going to drive the combine to the Sweeton’s farm down the road. They put out corn this year and then they left, so the corn was just sitting there. Poppa said it could spoil in the husks, or feed our cows. He said he’d harvest it and Mama and Gene would keep a watch out for the monsters.”

  She paused and took a deep breath, steeling herself. When she let the breath out, her shoulders trembled. “We heard the combine coming back and ran out to meet them. But I could tell right off something was wrong. There was blood and stuff all over the combine thingy in the front. And when Poppa got out he was all bloody, and his hair was all messed up.

  “He told us to go in the house and stay there. We heard him drive the combine around and put it up. Which was weird, because he always cleaned up the tractors and the machines before he put them away, but he didn’t this time. He drove it into the shed with that gunk on it. He came in and took his boots off. Didn’t talk to us or anything, just went upstairs and showered for a long time.

  “When he came down he was all cleaned up, his hair was combed, and he wore a bandage right here.” She touched a spot on her forearm. “He sat us down and said that the monsters got Mama and Mr. Gene. He was crying- I never saw Poppa cry before. He told us he wanted us to know that he got the monster that killed them, he drove over them with the combine.”

  She paused again, her features the picture of sadness. Her shoulders drooped and she hung her head, looking at the table as she spoke. “We didn’t ask about the place on his arm and he didn’t explain anything. He said he didn’t feel good and was going upstairs, and it was really important that we not come check on him. He made is promise that. Then he stayed in his room for two days.

  “I only saw him one more time after that. He came downstairs and called us together again. He looked terrible, like really sick. And he said that he had to leave because he was going to be a monster and he didn’t want to hurt us. He was crying again, and we were crying...” The teenager looked up- her cheeks were wet with tears and her eyes were filled with grief. “He told us... some stuff, some personal stuff. And then he made us swear not to follow him, hugged us both, and walked out the back door.”

  Becky’s sniffles were the only sound in the room. Tara cried silently and Jiri’s eyes shined in the candlelight. Will’s heart ached for the girl.

  Danny broke the silence. “And now he’s a creeper, loose in one of those sheds out back.”

  Ashlee looked at him, puzzled.

  Tara waived her hand and smiled at the teen. “Hi, sweetie- I’m Tara. We met on the porch earlier.Creepersarewhat we call the monsters.”

  Ashlee raised her eyebrows. “Oh. I get it. But no, he’s not loose. He hung himself.”

  “Ashlee,” Becky said, her voice filled with warmth and kindness, “would you like these men to take care of your poppa for you?”

  Ashlee broke down into sobs, nodding her acceptance. Tara and Becky went to her and comforted her as best they could. After a couple of minutes, she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hands and looked across at Will. “You have to hurt their brain, right? The monsters?”

  Will leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. “Yes, if you want to put them to rest, that’s the only way to do it.”

  “Okay. Anything is better than what he is right now.” She looked at him again, pleading with her eyes. “But be as gentle as you can, okay?”

  “I promise, honey. Why don’t you get your sister and the puppy and go on upstairs, and we’ll let you know when you daddy’s at peace.”

  “Okay. Thank you, guys. Thanks for everything.” She gathered her sister and Stebbins and left the room.

  Will slid his chair back. “No sense waiting. Becky and Coy, keep a discreet eye on those girls- especially the little one. I don’t want either of them going out like their old man. Jiri and Danny, you are with me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  * * *

  They were back around the kitchen table, with the rest of the group spread across the house. They decided to stay the night at the Hendrickson’s and get back on the road the following day. Will always tried to have the group tucked away before dusk. You have to be able to see the dead to fight them. If creepers swarmed them as they traveled in the dark, or one just got close enough to bite somebody... well, it wouldn’t be easy to live with himself after something like that.

  They ate, and the girls had another meal in their bellies. Soft, yellow candlelight cast dancing shadows on the walls and a fire roared in the huge fireplace in the great room. A handful of creepers had wandered close over the course of the afternoon. One had traipsed into the front door of the Ford, then spent a couple of minutes snarling and batting its hands at its reflection in the window.

  The sisters settled down and cleaned themselves up. For the first time, Will saw them calm and relaxed, and he realized that Ashley was going to be a stunning woman. Her brown hair had a reddish tint to it. She wore it parted on the side with long bangs that she tucked back behind her ears, and it flowed softly almost to the middle of her back. Her full lips broke into an easy grin that revealed perfect teeth. She had sculpted cheekbones, cute little dimples, and a flawless complexion. Her willowy build didn’t prevent her from having well-toned arms and legs. Her eyes were her best feature. Wide and oval shaped, they were dark pools that sparkled when she smiled. He was thankful he warned Danny off of her, and he wondered if he had been forceful enough.

  Meghan was a thirteen-year-old tomboy. She kept her fly-away hair just long enough to pull back in a ponytail. Her knobby knees bore the scars from years of scabs. She had an open face splashed with freckles and eyes a shade or two lighter than her sister’s. Stebbins, Sally’s fat little pup, had run to her on a beeline the first time he saw her and hadn’t left her side since. This display of disloyalty hurt Coy and Sally’s feelings, and they both wandered by often, hoping to win the puppy back.

  “Here’s the bottom line, girls,” Will told them. “We are headed to a place nor
th of Carthage; we understand it may be safe there. But we don’t know for sure. If it is a safe place, and we can stay, we’ll try to make a go of it. If not, we don’t know. We’ll take you girls with us for as long as you want to travel with us. But you need to understand two things if you come along.

  “First, you’re teen-aged kids. If you come with us, you’re not going to a party or on a road trip. You’ll listen to and obey the adults in the group as if we’re your folks. The first time I hear ‘You can’t tell me what to do’ or ‘You’re not my Dad’ out of one of you I’m dropping you off at the nearest crossroad.” He gave them a warm smile to take the sting out of his words.

  “He won’t drop you off on the side of the road,” Becky said. She shot Will a black look. “But don’t say those things, either,” she added to the girls.

  “Second,” Will continued, “Everybody in the group contributes. Can you girls shoot?”

  Meghan raised her a tentative hand. “I can shoot a .22 pretty well.” She had a soft voice and a shy manner, and it was the first time he’d heard her speak a full sentence.

  “Meghan liked to go shooting with Poppa and our brothers,” Ashlee said. “I’ve only shot a gun a few times, but Poppa was always going on about how good a shot Meghan is.”

  Will and Danny made eye contact across the table and Will raised his eyebrows. Another skilled shooter would be a windfall. There was no telling how she would feel about shooting at living people or creepers at her age, but unless the girls were wrong about her ability, there was tons of upside there.

  “Okay. Like I said, everyone contributes. You’re not slaves, and we won’t work your fingers to the bone, but we expect you to help out when there’s work to do. Okay?”

  The girls smiled and nodded their agreement and Will went on.

  “We’ll teach you how to defend yourself against the dead, teach you basic defense. If you want to learn more than the basics, that’s a discussion we can have down the road, once we get stabilized somewhere. How are we sounding so far?”