by C A Gleason
“You should have kept your mouth shut this whole time then.” Jonah was sweaty as he dug, feeling cool spots beneath his clothing. “You haven’t made me laugh yet.”
“Oh yeah, it’s funny you even said so. Don’t lie to me, man. You know I’m a comedian.”
“All right. You got me.”
Salgado shrugged. “I care about my battle buddies is all. If you really need to talk, of course I’ll listen to you, dude. I don’t need to be funny all the time.”
If someone like Salgado, who always seemed like he was in a good mood, got down sometimes too, for some reason it made Jonah feel better about his woes.
But men could talk about their feelings for only so long. Especially when Jonah raised his head up and noticed Salgado was still no longer digging.
“Hey! We gotta get this done!”
“I thought we were having a moment.”
“Moment’s over.”
“There ain’t nothing here, though. Seriously, how deep did you bury everything? And how do you know this isn’t one of those fake places you made with an empty tarp?”
“I’ll prove it if you help dig.”
“I already dug up a bunch at those other sites.”
“Yeah, but not lately.”
“What kind of nutcase decides on some random number like thirty-one anyway, and in the direction of where the sun rises or sets or whatever the fuck? Who would do this crazy shit?”
“It’s good you’re getting all your swears out away from the cabin and young ears.”
“Why do you think I’m doing it so much?”
“Thirty-one paces north, south, east, or west from the direction of the cabin. I told you. It’s preventative.”
“Yeah, no kidding, but it prevents me from knowing what to do even after you explain it to me.”
“In detail.”
“Yeah. Exactly. How do you think the other guys are doing? You see their faces before we left? They’re probably as confused as I am and just as pissed. Walking around in circles and cursing your name.”
Molters and the gravemounds they dig to bury their kills had given Jonah the idea to bury supplies. He appreciated Salgado’s humor, but didn’t want to ruin it with the real.
Standing up straighter, Jonah thrust his shovel toward Salgado dramatically, brought it back close to his waist, turned it downward and stuck it in the dirt, scooped out dirt, and then tilted his head up at him and smiled.
“Get it?”
“Oh, that does it.” Salgado started digging again. “I’m gonna school you now. I still think what I think, though. This would be going a lot quicker if you didn’t make it so stinking complicated.”
“I didn’t know we would be doing this today.”
“What do you mean? If you didn’t know, why did you do it so ass backwards? You knew you were going to one day, right?”
“I already told you . . . Hey, man, less talking. More digging.”
“Oh, OK. We’ll compare when we’re done.”
“Compare what? The UV is full and we didn’t keep track.”
“Fucking . . . piles of dirt homie!”
“There’s only so much daylight.”
“Keep it up, Jonah. Keep it up.”
Jonah and Salgado had already dug up so much of what Jonah buried he would need to redraw his maps if he ever intended on digging up more burial sites. Thankfully, he remembered to cross them off his hand-drawn map.
Combined with what was dug up at the other dig sites, they’d crammed the UV completely full. There wouldn’t even be much room for them in the driver and passenger seats.
Hopefully, the others who were assigned the same task, didn’t have as much trouble as Salgado complained about.
Jonah reached down and scraped dirt away from a tarp full of weapons. “Time to go back.”
“Finally.” Salgado’s humor faded. “What’s in there you think?”
“Open it up and find out. Honestly, I don’t remember.”
“Shocker.” Salgado plucked at the tarp with a gloved hand before finally taking the glove off. “Hopefully there’s no spiders in here.”
“Seriously?”
“I ain’t the only one scared of spiders. I even lied when I enlisted.”
“Yeah, what else did you lie about?”
“None of your business.” Salgado carefully plucked at the tarp zipper as if it were filled with flying tarantulas. “Rifles. This really helps. All of it. Good work.”
“Thanks.”
Salgado grew serious. “Even with an arsenal, I just hope at the end we’re not scared and screaming anyway. I don’t want to go from who we are to frightened animals. You know what I’m saying?”
“We won’t,” Jonah assured him. “We’ll die old men.”
“When we’re old, let’s get together and go for a run,” Salgado cleared his throat, “I mean a run, but a run that’s actually a jog, and laugh about all this.”
“Definitely.”
CHAPTER 9
When they drove up, there were familiar faces and also some unrecognizable ones. Doreen distributed leftovers from the meal she’d made earlier. Jonah knew better than to mention anything about saving the food for the road. There was plenty.
Someone came out of the outhouse, and someone else went in. Both newcomers. Strangers. Jonah wasn’t sure how many new people to expect but for some reason, he was ready for a hundred to be waiting.
Turned out there were six more, thankfully not all of them strangers, and all six arrived in two pickup trucks. Combined with the UVs, it made six vehicles altogether.
Not nearly as many vehicles as Jonah imagined driving north, but they would be enough to distribute and load up everything acquired from the dig sites.
With six more people that made thirteen altogether, it felt like they were arriving at a party. It was refreshing. A long time coming. But, also, rather overwhelming. Jonah had been solo for a long time and it’d been years since he’d been amongst a group.
The last group of strangers attempted to murder him.
His stomach fluttered. He was nervous. Strange, because of all the danger he’d lived through. Not just him, but also everyone else, Jonah remembered. He wondered if they were thinking the same way.
No matter how normal he was feeling, how human, it vanished, suddenly engulfed by a familiar fog. A blip on his inner radar snapped him into focus. Everyone was facing one another. Their backs were to the forest surrounding them.
Although it was obvious it was already a happy reunion, Jonah proceeded to scan the area to ensure they were not being hunted.
Salgado stared at him as he stepped out of the vehicle. “I got you. You go visit. I’ll keep an eye out.”
Jonah gave him a curt nod. He and Salgado never served together. They went on one self-assigned mission before Jonah made his way to Henrytown. Then they fought together at the firing line.
But ever since, he’d felt like they were battle buddies and they’d been friends their whole lives. Jonah trusted him.
Salgado noticed Jonah’s hesitation. “Don’t be scared. Too easy to get up in your head these days. Everybody loves you. Let’s go.”
Jonah grinned at him. Jonah was quite social when he was young, but many years had passed since then. These days, he was more comfortable in mission mode. But he was happy to see others, especially those he knew.
Alive, as he’d always hoped. And at the cabin. It would have been great if they could have stayed and continued to live there. Build other cabins near the one. The land was flat enough. They could build another Henrytown.
Henry wouldn’t want his name on the new sign but Sven had made a joke about it years ago, how there would be a Sventown. He was sure Sven wouldn’t object. Thankfully, Jonah would be able to ask him if he wanted.
Sven, who’d been Henrytown’s doctor, was among those newly arrived. He was examining Henry, no doubt discussing the cuts and bruises on his face from his fight with Archard. Of course there was a cig
arette hanging out of Sven’s mouth.
“Philip, Nico,” Salgado shouted, “either of you have trouble finding stuff at Jonah’s dig sites?”
Both of them had been tasked with doing the same as Jonah and Salgado, but they shook their heads.
“Whatever! You two are liars!”
There was laughter. Jonah knew his burial method was cryptic but the mission had been successful. The proof was the extra weapons Nico and Philip laid out on the tarps. Some of them Jonah had buried years ago.
Trusting his battle buddy’s mission to guard everyone, Jonah couldn’t wait to shake hands. He glanced over everyone in sight: Doreen, Henry, Salgado, Donnelly, Jacobs, Bernard, Sven, Nico, Philip, and a few who he hadn’t met yet. But he was about to.
Jonah made his way toward the group when he stopped short, noticing who was missing.
“Where’s Heike?” Jonah threw looks in every direction. She wasn’t in sight. “Heike. Where is she?”
Doreen pointed. “She’s inside.”
Heike popped out the door onto the porch. “I’m here, Jonah.”
“She’s OK,” Doreen reassured him.
Jonah relaxed. Bad things happened too quickly these days. He needed to make sure Heike was safe.
“Looks like you got a full load,” Doreen said. “Well done.”
Glancing back at the crammed UV before marching toward the group, he said, “Thanks.”
Sven waved, flicked what remained of the ash of his cigarette off and stomped it on the ground, and put the empty butt in his coat pocket.
Jonah waved back. “Good to see you’re all . . .” Jonah nearly said alive. “Here.”
He remembered fearing that the first Molter he saw attack Henrytown might have molted Donnelly, Salgado, or Jacobs. He was so glad it was only a fear. All three of them were alive and well.
Bernard, who’d lived at Henrytown as the cook, had been a lot heavier the last time Jonah saw him, so he’d clearly lost a lot of weight.
As Sven got nearer, Jonah said, “Still smoking, I see.”
“Yes, yes. To my embarrassment. Giving me trouble already?”
“You deserve it.”
“If you say so. How are you feeling, Jonah?”
“Always great.”
“How’s your lower back?”
Jonah’s injury from the first battle with a Behemoth was a distant memory. As he thought about his physical condition, he realized he felt stiff, was still sore from his fistfight with Perry and likely would be for a few more days.
It was the toughest fistfight of Jonah’s life and the stakes were never higher. Losing would have meant his death. He wasn’t going to talk about it, though. Bringing it up would bring up too much more, and he didn’t want to focus on bad men right now.
This was a time for healing. Jonah respected Sven’s professionalism. Good doctors always started from the beginning of a diagnosis.
“My back?” Jonah said. “It’s OK. I don’t drive often so that’s about the only time I feel it. If I sit for too long on a chair, I get twinges every once in a while, and it bothers me . . . But it’s fine.”
“Good. Let me have a look at you. Open your mouth. Stick out your tongue. Say ‘ah’.”
Jonah did and Sven peered into his throat.
“OK then. No sickness in anyone? Normal sickness I mean.”
“Nope,” Jonah swallowed and coughed to the side. “All good.”
“Very funny. Good to know.”
“How about you? How are you?”
“All things considered, I am well.”
“As you said years ago, do not discount the resiliency of human beings. I’m glad you told me once. It’s helped.”
“Resilience.”
“What?”
“I said resilience, not resiliency.” Sven smirked, seemingly at himself. “Same meaning. Never mind. It does not matter.”
Jonah laughed. “OK.” Then he thought of something far more important. “Did you examine Doreen?”
“I did. She is healthy, I assure you.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
No doubt Doreen had mentioned her miscarriage to Sven.
“I understand we’re heading north to the sea. This is wise. Even if Molters find us there, they will mill about on shore in frustration.”
“Molters can’t swim?”
“Of course not. They’re a new species. They haven’t established generations of natural instincts to do so. Surely there are others who’ve discovered the fact but with communications down, it isn’t widely known.”
Jonah laughed. He couldn’t help it. “I didn’t realize all I needed this whole time to combat them was a kiddie pool.” Noticing Sven’s seriousness, it’d surely been a harsh lesson. “What happened?”
“We, myself, and a few others, who are no longer with us, came across a young girl stranded on a dock in the middle of a lake. Fortunate to our position, Molters were flooding the shore opposite us. They kept trudging into the water.”
“But they didn’t resurface?”
“Not a one.”
“Following one another.”
“We waved to get the girl’s attention, she waved back, dove in, and swam for us.”
“Fast thinking.”
“We didn’t think she would make it to shore. Poor little thing. She was so exhausted. I could see her shivering even before she dove into the water.”
“How did the Molters react?”
“They got wise and started around in an attempt to get to us. We readied our weapons but didn’t have to fire a shot. Exhausted and soaked little Patty ran up on shore, into our vehicle, and we sped away. The first Molter reached our position seconds later.”
Jonah motioned to a dark-haired girl a few years older than Heike. “She must be her. Patty?”
“She is.”
Heike and Patty were talking and laughing. It made Jonah smile. Heike had made a friend. Patty waved to Sven, and Sven waved back.
“I never thought of it,” Jonah said. “Them not being able to swim.”
“Yes, yes. Water isn’t a way to fight them during typical battle conditions. The question is, can they learn to swim?”
Sven seemed to want to continue the conversation, but changed his mind. Because Jonah and Sven had fallen into discussion so quickly, it felt like no time had passed between today and Henrytown.
But so much had happened. To all of them. And Jonah wondered about all Sven had been through.
“We’ll chat more later,” Sven said.
“Yes, we will,” Jonah agreed.
“Salgado,” Sven said, “where do you think you’re going?”
“Hey, Jonah made me guard the perimeter.”
“You’re next for an examination.”
“Aww, man. I hate going to the doctor.”
Jonah laughed as Sven marched purposefully toward him.
CHAPTER 10
Bernard shuffled into Jonah’s view. “You’re too skinny, American.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Bernard patted his slim midsection. “Doreen fed us. I hope that was all right.”
“Absolutely. Did you eat enough?”
“I did. We all did. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Seeing you takes me back to your kitchen. I bet you miss preparing meals as much as we miss enjoying them.”
“I do. I really do. Such a terrific distraction, like you soldiers going on missions. As soon as I can, once it’s safe—wherever we end up going—I’m going to do something about it.”
Jonah clasped his shoulder. “I look forward to it. I think we all do.”
“Good to see you.”
“You too.”
“Jonah Molter-killer-Browne.”
Jonah turned. “How you doing, brother?”
“Good, man,” Donnelly said. “Real good. Went on one mission together. Feels like a hundred, doesn’t it?”
“It does.”
Donn
elly still wore the same baseball cap on backward and still impressed Jonah as a team leader. Donnelly and Jacobs naturally grouped together, as they had when Jonah had first met them.
Jonah eyed the rifleman. “Same weapon?”
Jacobs lifted the pristine automatic rifle up slightly in admiration. It had probably been cleaned that morning. “It is. How can we help?”
Jonah eyed the vehicles. “What’s the status of the engines in those trucks?”
“Fully mission capable.”
“Talk to Doreen. She’ll have something for you to do.”
Doreen overheard the command, smiled, and waved them over. Donnelly and Jacobs went to her for further instructions.
“Are we all going to stay together now?” Heike said.
“Sure, we are,” Salgado said, walking past them as he guarded the perimeter, “what do you think?”
Heike’s new friend, Patty, whispered something to her and she giggled.
Further introductions were necessary. Even though Jonah knew almost everyone, he still felt like a guest. He headed toward one of the strangers. He was on his way to introduce himself to the man he didn’t know, when he felt someone step up behind him.
“You Jonah?”
Jonah spun to see Patty staring up at him.
“I am.”
“I’m thirteen, just so you know. Older than Heike if you ever need a babysitter.”
“I don’t need a babysitter!”
“Exactly what I said when I was your age. But guess what? I did.”
“Jonah,” Heike towed the spunky, dark-haired thirteen-year-old closer by her hand. “This is my friend, Patty.”
Jonah waved. “Hello, Patty. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too. So, how long were you a soldier?”
“How did you know? Did Heike tell you?”
“No. It’s obvious. I have uncles who walk like you . . . I meant had.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too. How long did you serve?”
“Long enough, kid.”
“You were in the war? The one before this one?”
“I was.”
“Good to know.”
He smiled at her. “Thanks, I guess.”
Patty was assertive and even though she was young, she reminded Jonah of female officers he knew while in the military.
