The Ocean in the Fire

by Renee N. Meland

  He squeezed her tighter. “We will still experience life, just a little differently. We’ll have new firsts, I promise. Our firsts might just be a little more unusual this time. First garden, first berry picking, first gun lesson…” He smiled and was grateful that she smiled back. No matter what happened to him during the day, even before their lives had changed forever, if he could put a smile on her face everything else seemed to fade into the background. That smile was enough to make him close his eyes.

  The next time Drew awoke, it was to the sight of the back of Blake’s head as she followed Poe up the stairs. He started to rise from his sleeping bag, but felt a gentle and firm hand hold him in place, steadying him as it always did. He turned to see Vera staring at him with a loving but authoritative expression on her face. “Let her go,” she whispered.

  “She shouldn’t be anywhere alone with these monsters. You saw what they did to those people outside. They sent them away without a second thought.”

  “Blake’s a smart girl. She’ll be okay.” Vera paused. “Besides, if Blake can make friends with one of them, all the better for us. God knows we could use an ally in this place. It’s certainly worth a try.”

  Drew sighed and settled himself back into his sleeping bag. A feeling of acceptance swept over him, the kind that comes when you realize that the person you married is smarter than you are. The thought of letting Blake be alone with any of them made his head spin, but Poe especially. She seemed nearly as threatening as Connor: a protégé who seemed to have the same twinge of sadism that her father did. She knew what was going to happen when they reached the top of the hill that day, and she smiled as she led over half of them to almost certain death. If she had been a patient of Vera’s, she would have been one of the ones that she couldn’t quite shake even after the session was over.

  But, as usual, Vera was right. If Poe seemed to gravitate toward Blake, for whatever reason, it could only work to their advantage. Maybe it would take some of the flame out of Poe’s eyes that flashed every time she looked at the group. At the very least, maybe it would keep her and Jackson safe in a way that he couldn’t. That realization made another thought sail through his mind: if Poe’s friendship can protect them, maybe he should send Vera upstairs too.

  He’d always been able to keep his family safe from harm. He’d never once needed someone else’s assistance, and he had never thought that the first time he might require some help, salvation would come in the form of a sociopathic sixteen-year-old girl. He began to think of ways that Vera could win her trust too, in case she needed it someday.

  A second voice startled him, deep and rasping. “Drew we have to have a plan. These people are crazy. They don’t care about us and they’ll kill us without blinking an eye. The minute we walked in here we may have just traded one kind of death for another.”

  Cassius. His face took on a deep hollowness in the dark.

  “Yes they might be thinking that about us, but that’s more reason to avoid pissing them off!” a third voice hissed from a spot across the room. Darius turned from his post and looked at Drew. His eyes hardened as he looked for an ally. “What do you think?”

  “You’re both right.” The brothers looked at each other, then at him. “But for now, they have the upper hand, so we have to play by their rules. We are at a complete disadvantage right now.”

  He heard a rustling as Vera propped herself up in her sleeping bag. “The three of you have to remember something: we don’t know a damn thing about surviving out here. I don’t know rosemary from poison oak, and I’d probably shoot myself if I tried to kill a dear for food at this point. We have to keep in mind that we can learn everything we need to know from the people in this house. Let’s take a second and be grateful that we’re here in the first place. They could have sent us away with the rest of them.”

  “You’re right. And that also means that we are valuable to them in some way. Let’s make sure we remind them of that every chance we get.” He gestured to the brothers. “Remind him about your assets… your strengths. Make them see that they made a good choice when they decided to keep you. For the time being, we need to all be polite and keep our heads down.” Drew stared at Cassius. “All of us.”

  Cassius slammed his fist down on his pillow. “I’m telling you, they’re crazy. They misplaced their humanity somewhere on this hill. Especially Connor. He’s playing with us, taking pleasure out of this whole thing. It’s sick.”

  Remembering Connor’s face during his “selection” process, Drew couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “You’re right. It’s the worst thing I have ever seen human beings do to each other.” A cramp seemed to hit his stomach as the words came out, as if the lie had to crawl its way straight out of his bowels. He had seen something much worse. He had done something much worse. And that was before the world fell. “We just have to wait it out, gain their trust. He’ll have his fun then we can all get back to the business of living our lives out here. They may even learn to trust us if we don’t give them a reason not to.” He directed himself toward Cassius again. “But we have to stick together and watch each other’s backs.”

  “Agreed. And then when they least expect it…we take out the leader. It’s the only way to keep us—”

  “No!” Vera interrupted. “Don’t you dare. If we do that, then we’re no better than he is.”

  “I can deal with being just as bad as him if it means staying alive.”

  “Cassius, we can’t do that. No matter how much we learn, he will always know more than us. Living off the grid has been his expertise for years. It’s a lifestyle that’s been engrained in all of them.” Drew looked at his wife. “We just have to have a change in leadership. No one has to die.”

  Unexpectedly, while still gazing out the window from his post, Darius whispered, “Someone always has to die.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CONNOR

  When Connor wanted to, he could move like a ghost, weaving in and out of the background undetected, except for the little hairs on the back of someone’s neck as they stood straight up. On the second full day with their guests, he decided to use this gift. That morning, he had grouped everyone up for lessons: Vera went downstairs with Kate and Harper to learn how to skin and prepare meat, Cassius and Darius followed Gabriel to the garage where he would teach them basic mechanical skills, and Blake and Drew went with Poe to practice medical training. He was originally going to assign Poe to teach Drew how to shoot (without live ammunition of course), but she had begged him to learn first aid. If it was important to her, he figured there would be plenty of time for shooting later, and left them to pull apart their stash of medical supplies. And, of course, he wasn’t planning on giving any of them a gun any time soon.

  His first stop was the top of the stairs that lead to the basement. He was careful to open the door and sit down after he could already hear the familiar ripping and tearing that came with shedding an animal of its skin. The deer they had shot was large and muscular, a perfect way to let Vera gain experience. They would be cutting, curing, and slicing for hours, giving him plenty of time to observe the other groups. Vera, with her calm eyes, and easy attitude, struck him as the kind of woman who could adapt well to any circumstance she found herself in: practical, and unyielding. How she had ended up with someone like Drew was a question he couldn’t possibly answer. She did not seem like someone who was any cause for concern.

  Some of the other guests were other matters entirely.

  He propped his head against his hands and waited, listening. His breath came out steadily and silently, in and out without leaving a trace that would leave him detected. Though he preferred the quieter parts of caring for the compound, he was a hunter at heart, and could will his body to remain as still as his surroundings.

  He heard the three women struggling against the beast before them, the first steps of preparing the carcass not going as smoothly as usual since a new person had joined them. “Ugh, do you ever get used to the smell?”r />
  “I kind of like it.” He heard the smile in Harper’s voice.

  “If you like that smell, we’ve been having you do this for far too long,” Kate said with a laugh. “Better move you on to the garage with the boys. Maybe some chemicals would do you good.”

  “Naw, you know you’d rather have me down here with you than Poe. She’d probably name it before we cut it open.”

  “Not as easy to cut into Bambi as John Doe.” Vera chuckled. “I didn’t even realize I made a pun just now.”

  Between more cutting and pulling sounds, Kate said, “Haha, very true. I like my food to remain anonymous.” A pause. “You’re doing very well, Vera, now that you’re actually hanging on to everything.”

  “Yes, it definitely works better now that I’m touching it with more than one finger.”

  “You still got that sour look on your face though.” He heard what sounded like Kate giving Harper’s ribs a nudge with her elbow. “I mean you’re doing great, Vera. Really great.” Her voice dripped in sarcasm, but Kate let it go. As soon as he had enough noise to cover his movements again, he got up and shut the door to the basement behind him. There were other places that required his attention more urgently than where his wife and daughter were making small talk.

  His next stop was the garage. There was a small, high window on the far side of it, which he could open slightly so he could hear, and where he could look through while standing on a ladder without anyone noticing if they passed by. As he gazed down into the garage, it struck him how much it resembled a medieval torture chamber: metal objects hanging from the ceiling, tool after dangerous tool lined up in alphabetical order on a peg board that stretched the length of the building, and of course, the truck that had been given its own suit of armor as a means of last-resort escape. The contraption seemed to have every scrap of material from every corner of the earth nail-gunned into it, but somehow, it looked professional. Gabriel always had a knack for building things, though Connor knew he didn’t tell him that enough. The boy tended to get the idea that he knew best if he encountered too much praise, so Connor was careful to keep it to a minimum to avoid any conflict. He had to make sure that Gabriel understood who was in charge, and as he got older, that had become increasingly more difficult.

  From his vantage point, he could see Cassius, Darius, and Gabriel hovering over a piece of metal and wood that sat on the workbench in the corner of the garage. Gabriel was furiously hammering away at it, forgetting to wear his protective goggles as usual. With one final swing, he picked up what he was working on and held it up over the workbench. “You see? You can make pretty much anything into a weapon?”

  “What did this used to be?” Darius asked.

  Gabriel’s back was facing Connor, but he could hear the smirk in his voice. “Used to be an old mud flap and a chunk of fencing. A little more useful this way if you ask me.”

  “Looks great. What other stuff have you used?” Cassius surveyed the shop as he asked the question. Just curious? Connor doubted it. This was the kind of conversation he had been waiting for, the kind that would help him see who was just itching to take everything Connor had built and steal it for himself. He had guessed it would be Cassius, given the conversation they had already had the previous night, but now he would have an idea what was coming. This was why he paid attention. This was how he would keep his family alive.

  Gabriel dug something out of a drawer and laid it in the palm of Cassius’ hand. “Used to be part of a disposable camera. But if you rig it to a doorknob, an intruder’s going to get quite a jolt. Won’t kill anybody but might make them think about moving onto the next place. It gives them a little preview of what we’ve got going on here.”

  The three men had a chuckle, picturing an intruder getting an unexpected buzz as they attempted to enter the house. “That’s a good one,” Cassius said. “But what about something you can carry on you, like in your pocket, in case we’re out on the property and see somebody?”

  Connor hoped Gabriel would say he couldn’t think of anything, or at the very least, tell him he’d build him something later and just conveniently never get around to it. But Gabriel did neither of those things. Instead, he opened the drawer again, and handed Cassius a piece of twisted metal that had a long flat section, with a piece that stuck vertically out of the middle, almost in the shape of a wine bottle opener. “I made this out of an old pair of glasses.” He handed it over. “It fits perfect in a pocket and doesn’t take on much shape there, not like some of the knives would. No one will even know you have it. But, if for some reason you were ever captured and got a pat down, you would get caught with it. I’m working on coming up with some other things, smaller stuff that might be missed if we were searched.”

  Connor watched as Cassius slid the device into his pocket. “Thanks man. I’m not exactly a skilled knife guy yet, and I don’t think your dad’s going to give me a gun. I just don’t want to be defenseless. It doesn’t really do much good for me to be here and help defend everyone if I have nothing to do but sit on my hands.”

  “No problem. The whole point is for us all to protect each other right? You can’t do that very well without any weapons.” Gabriel shrugged, completely ignoring the fact that he didn’t know the man he had just given a stabbing implement to. He trusted the safety of his sisters and his mother to a man he’d barely met twenty-four hours before. How disappointingly unsurprising, Connor thought. “Just don’t tell my dad okay? He’ll freak out.” Cassius nodded.

  Connor knew that there was a very good chance that Cassius intended to stick that tool straight through his neck. He felt a twinge of pain tingle down his spine just thinking of it and the fact that his only son gave it to him made it hurt even more.

  “I agree. Maybe you have something I could use too?” Darius asked.

  Gabriel paused for a moment then started digging through the drawer once again. This time, he pulled out a small toothbrush that looked harmless enough, until one looked at the non-bristled end: it had been sharpened to a point. “Not as glamorous as the glasses, but put it in the right area of the human body and it’ll definitely do the trick. This’ll do until I make you something else.” Connor had a difficult time not crying out in frustration, seeing that his son had just armed yet another person, and especially one related to the man he was certain wanted to kill him.

  “Thank you, I appreciate it. As high up in the hills as we are, people will be getting desperate I’m sure. You never know when somebody might come by.”

  “For sure.”

  Cassius turned away from the tools and gestured toward the truck. Connor noticed his strong arm muscles, and pictured him thrusting the weapon into his flesh. In his imagination, it plunged straight through to the other side, like it did when they hung animal carcasses up for curing. “So tell me about this. It looks like it’s from a video game.”

  Connor watched as Gabriel’s eyes lit up, eager to talk about his favorite contraption. “This is in case what will never happen happens. If for some reason we get overtaken and we have to leave, this will keep us alive, provided this thing isn’t airborne.”

  “I’m sure it’s not,” Darius said.

  “Why?”

  “Because we would all be dead already.” Connor had to agree. Though there was no proof, if they were wrong, he had to think they would know by then in one way or another. However, they also had no idea if the disease could mutate, in which case something that was not airborne today could be airborne tomorrow. Unfortunately, with a world on the brink of total annihilation, they would have to get used to knowing the answers they were so desperate for may never come.

  Gabriel thought about it for a moment then continued. “It will carry all of us, cramped of course but it’ll work. There’s a secret supply storage in the floor of the truck, with water storage rigged in the cab.” He patted the side of the truck with his hand. “It’s my baby.”

  Cassius circled the truck, taking in every detail. Connor bit the side of h
is cheek to keep from yelling at Gabriel right then and there. He was supposed to be teaching their guests how to build fencing, vegetable cages….things that the family needed done but couldn’t be used against them later. But instead, Gabriel was showing them ways to take over what they had built, and perhaps kill them all in the process. He thought of his wife and daughters, their faces under the knife of intruders; only the intruders had been invited in, welcomed with an open door and watchful eye.

  “Well, we better go get to the not-so-fun stuff before we get caught in here.” He handed Darius and Cassius each a tool belt. “We’re going to go around the property and check everything: the fences, the garden, everything. If we see something that’s loose, we tighten it. If we see something broken, we fix it. Pretty common sense stuff.” He adjusted his own belt. “Oh, and I’m putting the finishing touches on another underground refrigerator that you can help me with.”

  “Underground?” Cassius asked.

  “Yeah. The earth stays cool if you dig deep enough. You can make a storage area and cover it up with moss. It’s a great way to have extra supplies and also keep them hidden. Pretty cool actually.”

  As they left the garage, Connor slowly climbed down the ladder. He would have to have a very urgent conversation with his son, but it would have to be at the right time. Common knowledge: never let the enemy see a chink in your armor. He would have to find a time where they could be alone, and he would put the fear back into his son that he had thought had been there all along. He was sure he had taught him right. Granted they didn’t agree on every aspect of their lifestyle, but he thought when the situation was dire, Gabriel could be counted on to be smart.

  Evidently, he was wrong.

  As he headed toward the house, he didn’t notice anyone behind him until he felt a tug on his leg. He turned around to see the top of Jackson’s head at his waist. Jackson smiled as he looked up at him. “Hi, sir.”